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Local Group Bus posted:I am going to have to recant my original opinion on the worst King book and say that it's Under The Dome for me. drat. I'm really enjoying Under the Dome, and while a lot of people probably won't enjoy it saying it's King's worst has to be a joke.
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Dec 10, 2009 02:54
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I recently listened to the Insomnia audiobook and frankly the book is more suited to audio format then printed by far.
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Dec 10, 2009 04:42
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kosherpickle posted:Wait, how can something be set between Wizard and Wolves? Doesn't Wolves basically pick up right off where Wizard ended? maybe this one will pick up as a different iteration of the saga, and king will rewrite books 5-7? Inspector 34 fucked around with this message at 06:13 on Dec 10, 2009 |
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Dec 10, 2009 06:00
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That'd be stupid, frankly. Books 5-7 could use better editing thats all.
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Dec 10, 2009 06:10
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it was a joke, smarty pants
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Dec 10, 2009 06:13
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That quote about it being set between DT 4 and 5 is obviously wrong, seeing as it has Roland teaming up with Cuthbert and all.
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Dec 10, 2009 10:58
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RagingHematoma posted:I am still not understanding the whole '19' thing. Can anyone explain? Didn't see this answered yet: Stephen King's accident happened on June 19, 1999. As a result, the number 19 (and, to a lesser degree, the number 99) featured prominently in the remaining DT novels (so, #5 and onward). And they pretty much came out of nowhere, too. All of a sudden the ka-tet is obsessed with the numbers and they start cropping up EVERYWHERE. Junkenstein posted:That quote about it being set between DT 4 and 5 is obviously wrong, seeing as it has Roland teaming up with Cuthbert and all. Not really. Roland spends most of book 4 in storytelling mode, relating his adventures with Cuthbert and Alain. It wouldn't be much of a stretch for King to insert the story into that time period, and have it be Roland telling Eddie/Jake/Susannah about an adventure that he and Cuthbert had.
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Dec 10, 2009 20:09
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Astfgl posted:Didn't see this answered yet: I'm quite sure I recall seeing nineteen mentioned in a meaningful lane in The Waste Lands and Wizard and Glass, as well as some other pre-accident Tower-related books.
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Dec 10, 2009 22:58
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fishmech posted:I'm quite sure I recall seeing nineteen mentioned in a meaningful lane in The Waste Lands and Wizard and Glass, as well as some other pre-accident Tower-related books. I don't think so. Maybe you're thinking of Little Sisters of Eluria. King wouldn't have come up with an idea that bad before the accident.
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Dec 11, 2009 00:22
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Super Ninja Fish posted:I don't think so. Maybe you're thinking of Little Sisters of Eluria. Didn't some books have retroactive Dark Tower references added?
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Dec 11, 2009 01:58
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Magnificent Quiver posted:Didn't some books have retroactive Dark Tower references added? Only the Stand did, but that was a good 5+ years before the accident.
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Dec 11, 2009 02:33
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Max22 posted:True story: when I read Dreamcatcher, I accidentally skipped over a hundred pages. And then I didn't realize it until after I'd read another couple hundred pages. Everyone hates on Dreamcatcher. I didn't think it was that bad. I put it in the books that fall back on the "magic retard" for the ending. Even so, it's not the worst magic tard he's ever used. I think I noted that I like this book a way back in this thread. Click on that little "?" button under my avatar if you really care to hear what I have to say. The movie however, was pretty much complete poo poo and the changed ending was absolutely awful. I DUDDITS!!
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Dec 11, 2009 20:51
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Yeah, I actually enjoyed Dreamcatcher too, although I thought the shitweasels were a bit much. The movie was awful, of course, but it was so strange (and strangely awful) that I couldn't help but enjoy the spectacle of it all. I'll tell you, though - if you took Dreamcatcher and Cujo and asked a disinterested observer to read them both and then guess which one was written during King's "all drugs all the time" phase and which one was written during his clean and sober years, they'd get it wrong every drat time. He came up with some weird stuff in Dreamcatcher.
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Dec 11, 2009 20:58
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I'm going to go the route not taken and say parts of Dreamcatcher were good (the on character who gets locked inside his own head and Mr. Gray were good, but the making GBS threads stuff and the generally slow pace of the first few hundred pages were not). Actually, a more interesting direction would've been if King scrapped the poo poo weasels, had them be some sort of other aliens who possess people, and then just developed the Jonsey/Mr. Gray sections into a story about a guy trying to regain control of his body and the friends who try to help him before "he" kills again. And the Dreamcatcher movie, as I recall it, was okay until about the time Morgan Freeman's character shows up.
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Dec 11, 2009 21:31
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I thought the poo poo weasels were hilarious and I loved it. I kinda thought them being awesomely ridiculous was the point.
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Dec 11, 2009 23:04
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Chairman Capone posted:Isn't it supposed to be set in between Wizard and Glass and Wolves of the Calla? How would Cuthbert even be in that? More flashbacks, I guess... Maybe at the end of book 7, the reason he has Cuthbert's horn is because Cuthbert is actually alive. Hell I'll just go and extrapolate all the way and say that Roland could succeed by having nobody die, since it's continuously implied that he keeps letting people die and that's why he'll fail.
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Dec 12, 2009 01:18
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cuthbert's horn? lol i can't imagine cuthbert wielding that thing. especially not given the power and influence implied in its ownership. cuthbert running things in midworld? no wonder everything went to poo poo lol the horn was passed down by the rulers of gilead, it was roland's last. edit: i couldn't tell if your post was supposed to be a joke or not lol if not then the above stands. but, in your theory about the book do you mean nobody dies? or just that roland doesn't let people die? i always kind of thought that the reason he wasn't worthy was that he kind of missed the point of the quest, not that he just happened to lose all his friends along the way. (USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)
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Dec 12, 2009 04:35
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I'm going to wait until all five parts come out before I read it, but I hope they don't gently caress this up:
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Dec 12, 2009 14:51
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I gave up on the comics after the second arc, but the Jericho Hill adverts have made me consider reading them. Apparently they extended the comic contract as well, Jericho Hill was supposed to be the last one but now they're doing an adaptation of The Gunslinger after it. Although if it's the same standard as their adaptation of Wizard and Glass then it will be poo poo.
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Dec 12, 2009 19:57
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I've definitely been enjoying Duma Key - mostly because of King's ability to have characters bullshit for 100 pages and still have it be fun to read - but now that it's getting into the real weird poo poo it's great. (Didn't want to derail the Under the Dome thread... since this has kind of become the de facto King thread)
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Jan 3, 2010 19:48
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I'd have to go with either Insomnia or Cujo Insomnia was just completely lacking and not having read any of the Dark Tower series, I was pretty much lost on its significance. Even after reading the Dark Tower and revisiting, I still didn't like it. Cujo seemed to be a ghost story to start and then it just turned out to be a rabid dog. Definitely a letdown in my opinion
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Jan 5, 2010 19:04
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Back in November (page 15) I asked about The Tommyknockers. I finally got around to reading it and I have to say that many of the comments from this thread were correct. 1) It wasn't terrible, and it wasn't even close to King's worst. 2) It needed massive amounts of further editing (I could have done without at least 80-100 pages). C) Coke machines are not scary. All in all, I do not regret reading it, and it was a nice book to read in between more difficult books.
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Jan 6, 2010 01:19
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All the talk about his short stories got me thinking of my favorite, but unable to come up with the name, it's the one about the guy and his genius brother and how he tries to cure all the world's problems with the water he brews from that town in Texas that has the lowest incidences of violence in the nation? The ending with him slowly losing his faculties, reminiscent of the guy stranded on the island slowly eating himself, was really heart-breaking
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Jan 6, 2010 03:41
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Blarticus posted:All the talk about his short stories got me thinking of my favorite, but unable to come up with the name, it's the one about the guy and his genius brother and how he tries to cure all the world's problems with the water he brews from that town in Texas that has the lowest incidences of violence in the nation? The ending with him slowly losing his faculties, reminiscent of the guy stranded on the island slowly eating himself, was really heart-breaking "The End of the Whole Mess" from Nightmares and Dreamscapes.
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Jan 6, 2010 03:47
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cheerfullydrab posted:"The End of the Whole Mess" from Nightmares and Dreamscapes. Thank you! Also am I the only one that thinks King could pull off a Charlie/Danny Torrance team-up, hell let's keep em young and throw in John Coffee, they'll need a mentor too how about Johnny Smith from Dead Zone?
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Jan 6, 2010 03:51
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Blarticus posted:Thank you! John Coffey: Yes sir boss. Like the drink, only not spelled the same.
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Jan 6, 2010 06:45
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Blarticus posted:Thank you! No, they need to be old enough to start dating so they can buy an old car and do it up by running it in reverse in their yard. Christine is still out there, I tell you. Also Johnny Smith now exists in the Dead Zone. Maybe Danny and Charlie could drive Christine to Derry and the Pennywise Lives thing would be cleared up finally.
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Jan 6, 2010 09:11
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I know I said earlier in the thread that I was eagerly awaiting King's extra big article in Fangoria, sort of a follow up to Danse Macabre, detailing King's faves on horror since that book was published. I got the Fango mag and its a complete poo poo article. This is pretty much what it says in a nutshell: "Boy, its been awhile since Danse Macabre and I know you're all eager to hear what I think is really scary since then.... The Blair Witch Project! Why can't more movies be like Blair Witch Project?! Oh Yeah, did I mention I was hit by a car?!"  Save your money and don't waste your time with it.
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Jan 6, 2010 09:57
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cheerfullydrab posted:"The End of the Whole Mess" from Nightmares and Dreamscapes. I read this just last night in the really cool Wastelands anthology (get this book). I loved it. It didn't read like a Stephen King story at all, which just made me appreciate even more how Stephen King can do almost any genre, and it kinda sucks he's always pinned as "master of horror" or something. Some of his best stories and novels have no horror at all.
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Jan 6, 2010 11:40
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I'm getting into Duma Key and I love the way Eddie is written. He's believeable, and King seems to have left off his usual weird writing "tics," for lack of a better term. The daughter Ilse, though, is really awkwardly written. I'm only ~150 pages in, but I can't wait to finish it.
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Jan 6, 2010 19:46
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Wiggles Von Huggins posted:C) Coke machines are not scary. When they are sitting there dispensing tasty beverages, no. When they are flying down the road, yes.
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Jan 7, 2010 01:28
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cheerfullydrab posted:"The End of the Whole Mess" from Nightmares and Dreamscapes. This was also turned into a TV movie (well hour long) a while back for TNT. They did a couple of his short stories and man were they crappy. This one was pretty good though.
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Jan 7, 2010 01:35
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Mister Kingdom posted:When they are sitting there dispensing tasty beverages, no. When they are flying down the road, yes. 600 pounds of steel box with jagged glass bottle necks pointing towards you, homing in on your brainwaves at 60 MPH as it glides silently over the roadway is pretty goddamn scary.
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Jan 7, 2010 15:59
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There were plenty of things in The Tommyknockers that were scary. Its been two months since I read the book, and every time I've driven out in the country, I've had the thought in the back of my mind that I was going to start feeling sick and having my teeth come out. And all of the stuff in the shed was really disturbing. The coke machine would obviously be scary in real life, but I didn't find it that frightening in the context of the book. In comparison, it seemed like kind of a merciful way to die. I read It right after Tommyknockers. That book could have been edited down a little bit, too, but it was a much stronger book. There is a place near my apartment complex with a big concrete pipe draining out into some wetlands, and when I'm by myself, I walk by that place a little faster now.
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Jan 7, 2010 20:36
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Malaleb posted:
I disagree about It needed to be cut down a little. Maybe its because It is one my favorite three books to read, but even at its 1100 pages I wished the book was longer and had more stuff. And I usually think every one of King's books could stand to lose 10 percent or so of length.
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Jan 8, 2010 00:20
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Mister Kingdom posted:When they are sitting there dispensing tasty beverages, no. When they are flying down the road, yes. It just seemed like he was drawing from the "how can I make mundane, everyday-life stuff frightening" well. While there is nothing wrong with that, this time it just seemed more funny than frightening. "Leandro turned to find a six foot dildo quickly approaching. The top half of the silicone phallus was twitching and flopping back and forth as it bounded down the country road. Leandro's perplexing last thought as the 400 pound prancing penis plopped down on his head was that of a baby's arm holding an apple." This is more ridiculous and stupid, but you get the point. I do agree that that there were some creepy things in the book, and I too am disturbed by the idea of my teeth falling out and tubes in my eyes. I liked the rest of the book, but the coke machine made me roll my eyes is all.
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Jan 8, 2010 00:50
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I want an entire 100,000 page King book that consists solely of fleshing out a town and then utterly destroying it. Like at least a hundred towns, and just let King do what he does best.
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Jan 8, 2010 01:08
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fishmech posted:I want an entire 100,000 page King book that consists solely of fleshing out a town and then utterly destroying it. Like at least a hundred towns, and just let King do what he does best. Quoted for utter and complete agreement. King shows you a small Maine town's most intimate moments. He introduces you to the most minute and most interesting characters. And then he rips down the goddamn foundation.
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Jan 8, 2010 01:19
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stevpear posted:Quoted for utter and complete agreement. King shows you a small Maine town's most intimate moments. He introduces you to the most minute and most interesting characters. And then he rips down the goddamn foundation. I'm reading Needful Things for the first time right now, and I'm loving the gently caress out of it. Between this and Dome, I am fascinated by the random people in the story. Actually, everytime the story goes to one of the parts with Mr. Gaunt, I kind of wish it wouldn't, and would instead deal with one of the denizens of the town.
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Jan 8, 2010 04:10
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Platypus Farm posted:I'm reading Needful Things for the first time right now, and I'm loving the gently caress out of it. Between this and Dome, I am fascinated by the random people in the story. Actually, everytime the story goes to one of the parts with Mr. Gaunt, I kind of wish it wouldn't, and would instead deal with one of the denizens of the town. Always wanted to read Needful Things. Let me know how it ends up. Tommyknockers gets (rightfully) poo poo upon, but it also plays on the "small town gone to Hell" pretty nicely.
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Jan 8, 2010 05:02
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