Stephen King Fans - The Books (2 Viewers)

[Zack Lee]

I went through the list of all his books. I was curious how they rank among other fans.

I almost made this a list of the best 3 and then best of the rest because my top three are that far above the others but #4 and #5 deserve there own space because they both really good and a whole lot of pages of really good. (am I the only one who gets really dissapointed when you realize 50 pages in that your holding a GREAT book and its only 300 pages?)

1. It
2. Pet Sematary
3. Salems Lot
4. The Stand
5. The Shinning

honorable mention: Misery, Different Seasons, The Tommyknockers, The Green Mile and The Eyes of the Dragon.

Many many of his books and shorts translated extremely well to movies but this thread is about the books.

 

[antipop]

The Drawing of the Three

 

[Yatman]

Liked a lot of his earlier stuff. Quit him with the rest of fictioners because got tired of slogging thru hundreds of pages of great book for an underwhelming finish.

All things considered, my favorite written work from King is Apt Pupil. Favorite film adaptation by far is Shawshank.

 

[Madmarsha]

I like the "Night Shift" collection of stories the best.

 

[Zack Lee]

Liked a lot of his earlier stuff. Quit him with the rest of fictioners because got tired of slogging thru hundreds of pages of great book for an underwhelming finish.

All things considered, my favorite written work from King is Apt Pupil. Favorite film adaptation by far is Shawshank.

Very true in too many of his books but not all. Pet Sematary, Shining, Misery to name a few

 

[zeetes]

the dark tower???

it is my favourite though.

 

[Cage1]

This is an interesting note. King swears that you don’t need drugs or alcohol to be a great writer. But if you lay out a list of his books, you can tell the exact moment he went sober based entirely on when his books started being overwritten garb. All his great stuff was on the sauce. After it was Gerald’s Game and Rose Madder. First 3 Dark Tower - Drunk as a skunk. 4-7 stone sober and terrible.

Look it up and see that I’m right.

 

[Sun Wukong]

First 3 Dark Tower - Drunk as a skunk. 4-7 stone sober and terrible.

Look it up and see that I’m right.

Nah, Wizard and Glass (IV) is the best Dark Tower book by a long shot and one of King's best period (I personally believe it to be his best book but recognize few are going to share that opinion). Things don't really get sideways till Wolves of the Calla. But even then I'm not as harsh on the Dark Tower overall as some seem to be.

It's less that he got sober and more that, as his success continued through the end of the 80's, he ended up with much less editorial oversight and his books got increasingly bloated, meandering, and indulgent. This also happened with George R.R. Martin. If you compare the first three Song of Ice and Fire novels with A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons (both written after the series had blown up), it's obvious that once he became a "name" and the editorial oversight lessened, his books just got way less focused and the quality declined. The presence of good editing in writing and film can't be overstated, and too often once somebody reaches a certain level of success the gatekeepers/purse holders (studios, publishers, producers, etc.) don't force the issue as much and it shows.

 

[Thunderchild]

1. Salem's Lot
2. The Stand
3. Christine
4. Needful Things
5. Duma Key

Hon. Mention: Mr. Mercedes & Dreamcatcher

 

[Dago]

I think there is more to it with the Dark Tower series
After the hit and run that almost killed him, he was freaked out at the idea of not finishing the series. I think the big difference is that books 1-4 came naturally and kind of wrote themselves while the rest were forced

 

[Optimus Prime]

I haven’t read a whole lot of King’s books

But of the ones I’ve read my favorite is Green Mile, I’ve listened to the audiobook for it a dozen times at least

I also really liked under the dome (except for the end)

I’m just now starting to get into “classic” King

I’m about to start It, I’ve never read it before but I loved the movie

I also loved apt pupil and Shawshank

I did not like desperation or the girl who loved Tom Gordon

 

[Zack Lee]

I haven’t read a whole lot of King’s books

But of the ones I’ve read my favorite is Green Mile, I’ve listened to the audiobook for it a dozen times at least

I also really liked under the dome (except for the end)

I’m just now starting to get into “classic” King

I’m about to start It, I’ve never read it before but I loved the movie

I also loved apt pupil and Shawshank

I did not like desperation or the girl who loved Tom Gordon

for the most part, I have defined the King era as being everything up to Tommyknockers and then the rest. The Green Mile came after but that book was released one chapter at a time and seemed to be written with the movie in mind. So while it was really good, it wasn't like the old stuff.

 

[Zack Lee]

I so wanted to believe King was back with 11/22/63 but not so much. Such a good idea and not his usual. And it had a fantastic beginning. But then he waddled through the middle with some of the most uninteresting King characters ever. And then didn’t know how to wrap it up as is his case more oft than not.

Speaking of characters, to me Kings strongest writing feature was always the backstories and tangents. He developed tangents in top of tangents and actually made you feel emotionally invested in characters.

About two thirds through 11/22/63 i realized I didn’t give a shirt what happened to those characters.

 

[Zack Lee]

Now if he should write another prison book, I’d have to be in. The two best prison movies all time are his responsibility

 

[Scorpius the Allfather]

I've only read It, Tommyknockers and Christine.