Do you like to read Stephen King, or see his movies?

I do like to read Stephen King books, and see his movies. Although I haven’t read all of his books or seen all of his movies by a long shot!!!

I do, however, have all of the books written by Raymond E. Feist, and also Katharine Kerr’s books. I read all of their books at least once per year, usually when they are about to release another book in one of their series, so that I can refresh my memory, and also because I enjoy their story telling. It’s a win-win situation for me.

Oh, and not forgetting Charles Todd, Lee Child, Fern Michaels, Lisa Gardner, Lisa Unger…

you know, I could go on and on, I’m a confirmed bookoholic I’m afraid!!

I like some of his books, though I will admit I haven’t even checked him out for a long time now. The author that I read over again is Jane Kirkpatrick. She writes historical fiction and tends to do series, featuring a place or character. They are sooooo good.

One of my absolute favorites is The Green Mile, and The Shawshank Redemption. But then again there is also Stand By Me, another good one.

Read, yes; movies, heck no.

When it comes to Stephen King, for some reason I love to read all his books containing short stories (Graveyard Shift, Skeleton Crew, Four Past Midnight, Nightmares & Dreamscapes) but I never really got into his novels themselves, except for one. I loved the book The Stand and I thought it was excellent.

Now, as far as watching all the different movies that were adapted from his books, I’m all over that and I have enjoyed watching them all. Some are better than others, of course, but for the most part, I’m not complaining.

No to his books, and hell no to his movies.

The Stand was the last book of his I read, and I thought it was very good. That said, I started to find reading his other books almost depressing. His movies have never been of interest to me. I did see somewhere that he is (or has) released another collection of short stories.

I’ve only ever read The Dead Zone and a couple stories out of The Bachman Books. I LOVE the movie The Dead Zone, it is one of my favorite movies of all time. I also liked It (remember that day after Thanksgiving Gimme) and Misery. That is the extent of my Stephen King fandom.

The Stand is one of the greatest books ever written. It’s the only one by him that I’ve read but I do plan to read more.

you got it sweets! you know i love him and his books. he is from my state and he lives in Florida near my cousin as a vacation spot.And you need to tell everyone what book is in your tiggers hand.LOL! that is totally cool!! wait til you hear this all! sorry you have to wait for tigg to tell you. :)

I’ll concur, the Stand is one of the greatest books in history, but you’ve got to read the uncut re-released version from 1991. I’ve read that thing several times, it’s just such a powerhouse story.

I’ve been a big fan of his books since I was about 12 years old, though I’ve found many of the movies made of his books have been horrible.

I read everything of his as soon as it comes out, there are a couple books that I lost interest in and haven’t gone back to yet, and I’ve found that his more recent work just doesn’t have the punch his older work used to, but sometimes he surprises me.

I’m currently reading his newest book which just came out a week ago, it’s called Just After Sunset, and it’s a collection of short stories.

I think Needful Things was probably my 2nd favorite King book after The Stand. I also really enjoyed the Gunslinger series, I particularly thought he did an amazing job in wrapping it up in the last 2 books (one example of how his later work can sometimes surprise me). I do also have to say that Cell was probably his best work in 15 years.

As for his movies, Christine is a perfect example of one which should never have been made into a movie…read the book and see the movie, there is no comparison. Conversely though, Stand By Me, based on his novella “The Body” is one of my all time favorite movies.

One other side story, for most of his life/career, he lived in Bangor, Maine, and I had family out there. We were visiting in 1991, which was shortly before he moved away, and I was told that his house was like 3 blocks away. So I grabbed my camera, walked over there, and you coulnd’t miss it. There was this huge, pink mansion which looked like something out of well, a horror movie, with this wrought iron gate all around. The gate was clearly custom made as it had a huge spider in a web in the center, and gargoyles on the posts. I was told that up until recently, he was a fixture in the town, you’d go to the park and he’d chat with people, but I think some psycho fan had sort of made him retreat a bit and he wasn’t quite so visible anymore.

FYI, one of his sons also wrote a book under the name Joe Hill…it’s worth reading…not the greatest thing I’ve ever read, but not half bad.

Was it a S. King novel about the failing author, who starts using a pseudonym and then holds his own funeral? He then kills a bunch of people for ‘material’...

Also, I think one of his grandkids wrote Heart Shaped Box, too.

he still owns that house as far as i know dalepetrie. and several other here in Maine. the one that he had that accident in that almost killed him is even cooler than the one he has in Bangor. it sits back away from the road and very sucluted and it looks like a castle. very cool. i can’t remember how to spell the town the correct way but it is something like lovell Maine. and his home in Florida is just the spookiest house you can dream of. i have meet him personally and he is awesome. he can carry on a conversation for hours. he goes into alot of video store and you can see him and he will be more then happy to talk to you,just be prepaired to be there awhile.

yes bythebay it was him that wote that.it was a dream that he had when he had his accident here in Maine when he was hit by the van. the hospital was in Lewistion. the name of the movie which became a short series was kingdom hospital.

Cool, if I ever run into him, I’ll be sure to chat him up. I used to have family in Maine and Florida, but no more alas, so might never run into him though… But I will cherish my pictures of his Bangor house always. (And I think Lovell is correct).

Heart Shaped Box was the Joe Hill book I’m talking about, that was his oldest son.

And I’m wondering if you’re thinking of Dark Half?

yes, dalepetrie – it was Dark Half!! That was a long time ago…thanks for remembering that, I’d have been still pondering it at 2am!

oh ok that is right. kindome hospital was one that is kinda like that too. but it is better then dark half.

no problem!

I read Bag of Bones years ago and I liked it very m uch but I haven’t been able to get into any of his other books or movies for that matter.

I’m going to have to go back to the Dark Tower series based on that recommendation, dale. I gave up on it when I had to wait years between the installments. I was impatient enough to wait for the last three installments of the Green Mile.

I agree that a lot of the movies have turned out to be mostly bunk. Once they get to the screen, King loses his ability to control the story. He also said that he thought Kubrick was trying to hurt people with the film version of The Shining.

Lisey’s Story was the last one I read.

Re the Dark Tower series, I found the first book to be almost like an appetizer, not much meat to it, but it was kind of a good setup. The second book really wowed me, but by the time we got to the third book, I kind of felt it shined in some places, let me down in others. The fourth was kind of a low point in the series, but when the fifth one came out, it started to redeem itself, and the last two just pulled it all together so nicely. You just kind of have to plug through the middle, but if you can do that, the payoff is worth it.

I kind of disagreed with King about the Shining, I think Kubrick did a great job, whereas King’s own miniseries version, though more true to the book, really was not all that well acted and moved far too slowly (though I think the miniseries treatment was definitely the way to go with The Stand).

I was not all that keen on Lisey’s Story…it was OK, but mostly forgetable.

oops i just realized i did a typo it is kingdom hospital. sorry.:)

Sounds like it is worth rereading the series then. I remember the let down from the second to the third and wanted no part of the fourth at the time.

I’m a big fan of Kubrick so I had no problem with the Shining, but I can see King’s point. He intentionally made it more about the hotel in the book and Kubrick made it about the man. Kubrick definitely has a style of his own which is why his scenes stand out in AI as being so much darker than the rest of the warm and fuzzy Spielberg movie.

Lisey’s story has its moments. The thing I took most from it was the lake in Booya Moon, where all the writers come to connect with the source. It sticks with me more than anything else in the book.

My first King book was Pet Cemetary at the age of 12; I have been hooked ever since. I have read every book and reread my favorites every few years. My favorites are Eyes of The Dragon, Insomnia, The Stand, Dark Tower Series, and It. Did I mention he’s my favorite author? As far as the movies, I always watch them regardless of how they turn out.

There was another book before the Dark Tower series came out, it was The Eyes of the Dragon, and Randall Flagg is a culprit in this book as well.
I love the short stories, one of my fav’s is The Raft, with the black ooze on the water, and the kids are stuck on the raft. Also there is Uncle Otto’s Truck, another great short story, just recently re released in The Secretary of Dreams, which is much like Creepshow and is like a comic book.
I still haven’t gotten to Blaze, that hasn’t been released on the shelves yet that I know of.

go tigg! :) but you forgot to tell them about what book you have in your tiggers hand!! :(

I did that in the form of a question. I like that, wait until I go on a food asking frenzy, lol!

I know what book it is, it’s the Pittsburgh Steelers : P

I love his book. They are so hard too put down when i start reading them.

I know, I read at bedtime, and my husband will wake up at 3 in the morning, and tell me I have to put it away. lol

no, fireside not the book. but that is the helmet! :) good job!!

lol. its like why cant i just go to another room.

Another room? Does it scare you? Sorry.

Eyes of the Dragon – was that the one with the guy sneaking behind the castle walls?
Something about a poison that burned from the inside out?
If that is, I didn’t realize it was about Roland when I read it.

Yes that is the one, it was a great story. That was Randall Flagg doing all the sneaking around.

Oh yes, Randall Flagg is in the Stand, Eyes of the Dragon, The Dark Tower AND Hearts In Atlantis (where he goes under the name Raymond Fiegler). He also appears in some of the short stories. You see initials R.F. in a Stephen King book, it’s Randall.

Blaze is definitely out on shelves, I read it a while ago. It wasn’t bad.

Yes you do, and did you realize that he has written several stories of writers with various issues, Misery, The Dark Half, Secret Window, The Shining, Stand By Me and a few others I believe.

Stephen King is my favorite author. I believe I’ve read everything he’s ever written (even non-fiction) except the Dark Towers series. For some reason, I just couldn’t get into them. His short stories are my favorites. As for the movies…eh, it’s kind of hit and miss. Even when they’re good, the book was always better.

A couple movie exceptions prove the rule. Stand by Me, The Shawshank Redemption and The Mist…everything else I could get by without seeing.

Even the first Shining? And don’t get me wrong, I loved Shawshank Redemption. Misery wasn’t too bad, but the book was so much more gruesome!

What about Bronson Pinchot getting eaten by a vicious Pac-Mac?
How could you do without that?

Langoliers?

yup – tv mini-series

Yes, the Langoliers, and then there are the Tommyknockers too, not the best movies, but his just the same.

Oh, I almost forgot, someone asked about what book tigger is holding, it is Pet Semetary, a friend of mine made that avatar just for me. Go Steelers!

Yeah, the first Shining is great and I’ll agree, Misery was too, but I liked the books much better, whereas the other three I mentioned were almost as good as the books.

Did anyone see 1408? I loved it! Really scared me when the radio came on! I rarely jump, but that one got me. Then the ending of the mist, how messed up is that? I remember reading it, (shivers). I never really cared for the remake of The Shining, nor the remake of Carrie.

Saw it…liked it, didn’t love it. Thought the story was better. But had I not read the story first, I would have had to have said it was better than most horror movies that come out now days.

Yeah, like them b movies, that you can tell the monsters are bad graphics, and crappy blood, or too much blood for a little cut. lol Same old story lines from Halloween. lol
I have to admit, what was the reasoning with the different colored crystal balls, and why was 13Black put in the World Trade Center in the final book the the Dark Tower series?

Good question. Not sure what the significance was beyond just the general idea of “focal points” that tie together the various versions of the world.

augustlan – I have the same problem with the Dark Tower series, just can’t get into it at all. I loved the Ellen Rimbauer book and movie tie-in. I shouldn’t watch that one at night although I do, it gives me the creeps big time. I should watch it during the day, making sure the kids aren’t around, with my cuppa tea and my choccy biccies, and a hankie to stuff in my mouth so that I don’t scream out loud during the exciting/scary bits (thats when I’m watching it at night when I really should’t coz it scares the bejesus outa me!)

I like Rose Red too, any one read Rose Madder? Not to bad.

Did you know that there is a team of people that were put together at one college to study The Dark Tower series, (I forget what college), and compile a book to help people navigate the stories? Interesting.

I liked Rose Madder.

The Dark Tower has taken on a life of it’s own…there’s a companion guide and even a graphic novel series now.

I love Stephen King, I’ve read a good portion of his books, my favourites being It, Misery, Pet Semetary and Desperation.
I also enjoy most of the movies, at least the ones that I’ve seen, anyways.

Incidentally however, I haven’t read any of the Dark Tower books, because I don’t like the idea that all his stories are related to that universe. Takes a lot of the fun, fear and imagination away, bah. I’ll prolly read them some day anyways though.

I love his books and i want MORE! But our library doesn’t have all the newest stuff. As usual, many of the movies don’t do the books justice. The movie Cujo was alright, but i wish they’d make a modern remake of it. :D The movie IT was a big disappointment after reading the book (which i’ve read twice), and the book The Stand was such a huge disappointment and i found it to be quite boring, but only because the whole time i was waiting for the good stuff to start and it never really did, the end was disappointing.

I also love reading Dean Koontz.