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Chamberk posted:I'm overdue for a Salem's Lot reread. The showdown between Callahan and Barlow was awesome and one of the good things about the late dark tower books is Callahan's redemption.
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Feb 17, 2012 23:44
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I just finished Full Dark, No Stars. I'm not as crazy about it as some. I didn't care for the ending of "Fair Extension" and, to a lesser degree, "A Good Marriage". I kept expecting a Twilight Zone-like twist and the protagonists to get hosed over in the end. Well, it's on to The Regulators.
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Feb 18, 2012 01:20
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Mister Kingdom posted:
Lemme stop you right there. If you HAVEN'T read Desperation yet, go read Desperation. If you HAVE read Desperation already, go ahead and read it again. Continue with life.
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Feb 18, 2012 16:16
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Ozmaugh posted:Bill Denbrough with a ponytail after someone calls him chrome dome in the book is hilarious. 
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Feb 18, 2012 16:32
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ConfusedUs posted:I honestly believe that Pet Sematary is the scariest book King has ever written. I think I was too young when I first read Pet Sematary because it scared the poo poo out of me. I was around 8 years old and I had an anxiety attack when I was done because that was the first time I took my mortality into consideration. edit: Let me add that my Grandmother had just passed away and she was the first person that I was close to that died. Not good timing on my part for that book. Whargoul fucked around with this message at 16:38 on Feb 18, 2012 |
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Feb 18, 2012 16:35
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oldpainless posted:Lemme stop you right there. I HAVE read Desperation and I don't want to read it again. Is Regulators that bad?
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Feb 18, 2012 16:40
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Mister Kingdom posted:I HAVE read Desperation and I don't want to read it again. Is Regulators that bad? I thought it was loving terrible when it first came out. Then I gave it another chance 2 years ago because maybe I wasn't fair? It was loving terrible again.
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Feb 18, 2012 16:47
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Ozmaugh posted:I enjoy reading him even if I kvetch about some of his stuff here. I went back to read Pet Sematary a few years ago, and couldn't finish it. Once I had kids, it scared me on a whole new level, and I couldn't get through Gage's death and resurrection. Also, seconding The Regulators as a shite book. I did enjoy Desperation, though.
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Feb 18, 2012 21:40
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Regulators was a really strange book. It's not very good, but I have to admit I loved the part where the group of neighbors goes to get help and discovers that they're trapped in this kid's fever dream, there is no way out, just an endless surreal desert.
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Feb 19, 2012 01:15
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How you take Regulators probably matches how "serious" the frame of mind you get into when you read is, and if you can appreciate the craziest, randomness stuff being thrown at you. I liked it because it was ridiculously goofy and over the top, unlike Desperation, and think it should be read similar to watching some of Takashi Miike's wilder films. If you read it "flat," then you probably won't like it.
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Feb 20, 2012 16:45
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Darko posted:How you take Regulators probably matches how "serious" the frame of mind you get into when you read is, and if you can appreciate the craziest, randomness stuff being thrown at you. I liked it because it was ridiculously goofy and over the top, unlike Desperation, and think it should be read similar to watching some of Takashi Miike's wilder films. If you read it "flat," then you probably won't like it. I started it today. The more ridiculous, the better. I really didn't care for Desperation (but I did Netflix the TV-movie, just for the hell of it).
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Feb 21, 2012 00:16
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Ok, what is the deal with Pet Semetary? I don't mean the book itself, it's a great book. But why does it seem to be hidden from modern access? There's no U.S. version of it on the Kindle store (not that I'm totally raring to pay $9 for a digital copy of a novel written decades ago of course), and Audible has a million King audiobooks but no Pet Sematary. Kiiiinnnngg!  *edit* Screw it, bought a used hardcover for $3.99 and it'll get here in a couple days. t  *edit2* Oh yeah, and while I'm bitching, the only versions of both the Regulators and Desperation on Audible are abridged. Locus fucked around with this message at 03:42 on Feb 21, 2012 |
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Feb 21, 2012 00:24
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Whargoul posted:I think I was too young when I first read Pet Sematary because it scared the poo poo out of me. I was around 8 years old and I had an anxiety attack when I was done because that was the first time I took my mortality into consideration. I was 16 when i read it and still had to put it down at several places because i was too freaked out. The scene walking to the cemetary towards the end was freaky as poo poo.
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Feb 21, 2012 03:13
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Darko posted:How you take Regulators probably matches how "serious" the frame of mind you get into when you read is, and if you can appreciate the craziest, randomness stuff being thrown at you. I liked it because it was ridiculously goofy and over the top, unlike Desperation, and think it should be read similar to watching some of Takashi Miike's wilder films. If you read it "flat," then you probably won't like it. I'm one of those people who preferred the Regulators over Desperation, precisely because Regulators was batshit insane. It's a weird book. Love it.
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Feb 21, 2012 03:36
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I still love the way the covers between The Regulators and Desperation matched up.
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Feb 21, 2012 21:09
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Locus posted:Ok, what is the deal with Pet Semetary? Yeah I had the same problem trying to get Pet Sematary. It's odd because King seems to be one of those authors who is embracing ebooks, given he's written 2 (3?) strictly in eformat. I know that authors don't "own" their stuff and it's probably a problem with the publisher. I ended up getting 'Salem's Lot instead and it's like a completely different author wrote it, compared to It. No obnoxious slang, no hateful characters, the writing is a lot tighter, and the pacing is much better. Hard to believe it was his second book.
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Feb 21, 2012 23:46
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King has had a fairly uncomfortable relationship with Pet Sematary:Wikipedia posted:In 1978, King returned to his alma mater, the University of Maine at Orono, to teach a year in return for the education he had received there. During this time his family rented a house on a busy road in Orrington. The road claimed the lives of a number of pets, and the neighborhood children had created a pet cemetery in a field near the Kings' home. King's daughter Naomi buried her cat "Smucky" there after it was hit, and shortly thereafter their son Owen had a close call running toward the road. King wrote the novel based on their experiences, but feeling he had gone too far with the subject matter of the book it became the first novel he "put away" on the advice of his wife Tabitha and friend, author Peter Straub. King reluctantly submitted it for publication only after Doubleday insisted on receiving a final book due on his contract I remember in an introduction to one of the paperback versions he mentioned that Ellie's temper tantrum about Church's mortality was more or less verbatim from his daughter. Anyway, I don't get "scared" by horror writing or films and never have. That being said, Pet Sematary got under my skin in a godawful, existential way that horror usually doesn't. The scene where Louis skulks around the graveyard, before quietly rocking with the body of the newly-disinterred Gage is easily the most disturbing thing I have ever read. Put it this way: my own mortality doesn't usually bother me, but the mortality of my family and friends does. Hence, it turned the screws in a way nothing else has even come close to (aside from Jacob's Ladder, anyway). I'm more afraid of grief and loss than death in and of itself.
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Feb 22, 2012 02:30
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I guess that makes sense, that maybe he's kind of dropped it from being renewed in other formats. It's been years since I read it, but I honestly think it's pretty much the best horror piece he's written, in terms of being effectively disturbing and scary, and having a really perfect ending. But yeah, I totally see what you mean about the content, Rev. Bleech_. I don't think I could ever recommend it to a lot of people I know just because of that. I'm interested in experiencing a re-read over the next week or two regardless...
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Feb 22, 2012 08:23
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Rev. Bleech_ posted:King has had a fairly uncomfortable relationship with Pet Sematary: And that may well be why it works so well. I dunno, when he's dealing with super outlandish ideas it can be interesting but it never really works out that well for him. When he's sticking to horror that isn't too far fetched he can do it well. It makes sense that he's better at turning the screws in Sematary when that stuff was close to home, whereas something like Under the Dome... I'm inclined to think that even Tommyknockers, which gets into weirdo stuff, works because he's basically Gard anyway. Was Tommyknockers the first big thing he wrote while getting sober after his big meltdown? Or did he only truly get sober after it?
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Feb 22, 2012 08:41
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Isn't Tommyknockers the one that King can't remember writing because he was blitzed out of his mind all the time?
Aatrek fucked around with this message at 14:42 on Feb 22, 2012 |
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Feb 22, 2012 13:29
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That's Cujo, a book he enjoys very much and wishes quite sincerely he remembered writing it. (It seems like it would have been fun.)
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Feb 22, 2012 13:30
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Haven't read On Writing in a few years, but I think Tommyknockers was the last book he wrote before he started to sober up. He talks about how it has a lot of thematic resonance with addiction which he didn't really realize until afterwords. Of course, he explored basically identical themes in later books anyway.
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Feb 22, 2012 20:28
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Kentucky Shark posted:He talks about how it has a lot of thematic resonance with addiction which he didn't really realize until afterwords. I finished re-reading Rose Madder quickly. I did a lot of quickreading on Norman's parts. It gets tedious, though the core of the story itself is still kind of interesting. On to Gerald's Game I guess, since I'm reading stuff I haven't read in years.
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Feb 22, 2012 21:15
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Aatrek posted:Isn't Tommyknockers the one that King can't remember writing because he was blitzed out of his mind all the time? I saw this debate going back and forth and got the gumption to check in on it in my copy of On Writing. This is the first paragraph of 37 of "C.V." found on page 99. Stephen King posted:At the end of my adventures I was drinking a case of sixteen-ounce tallboys a night, and there's one novel, Cujo, that I barely remember writing at all. I don't say with pride or shame, only with a vague sense of sorrow and loss. I like that book. I wish I could remember enjoying the good parts as I put them down on the page.[Emphasis mine, ed.] Also, I found Tommyknockers to be tedious. The whole middle part (I think it was called "Town" or something like that), while I could see what he was doing, just didn't click with me. I mean, yeah, I saw that it showed the town slowly going from human to alien-thing, but the execution was off and it made me have to slog my way through it. e: And yeah, Ozmaugh, he's been writing about alcoholic writers since 'Salem's Lot, which one would think that would be him just straight talking about himself... BirdOfPlay fucked around with this message at 21:21 on Feb 22, 2012 |
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Feb 22, 2012 21:17
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BirdOfPlay posted:Also, I found Tommyknockers to be tedious. The whole middle part (I think it was called "Town" or something like that), while I could see what he was doing, just didn't click with me. I mean, yeah, I saw that it showed the town slowly going from human to alien-thing, but the execution was off and it made me have to slog my way through it. Some was lame, but I did enjoy Ruth and Hilly's parts.
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Feb 22, 2012 21:43
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BirdOfPlay posted:I saw this debate going back and forth and got the gumption to check in on it in my copy of On Writing. This is the first paragraph of 37 of "C.V." found on page 99. Yeah he didn't remember almost anything from Cujo BUT he also was blacked out for large amounts of the Tommyknockers. But for Tommyknockers it was nowhere near all or even most of the book.
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Feb 22, 2012 21:51
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Rev. Bleech_ posted:King has had a fairly uncomfortable relationship with Pet Sematary: Same here. I can't even look at the cover of Pet Sematary since I had my kid. I don't see myself reading it again for years.
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Feb 23, 2012 05:08
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BirdOfPlay posted:I saw this debate going back and forth and got the gumption to check in on it in my copy of On Writing. This is the first paragraph of 37 of "C.V." found on page 99. I can agree with some of this but I'm sorry, having Jesus gossip and kick a lamb away when it came near him in the painting kinda makes me think King needs to do some comedy instead of horror. Might not work now he is clean, but coked up? Oh boy, he could make me laugh in even the worst situations with a good line.
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Feb 23, 2012 07:39
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Local Group Bus posted:I can agree with some of this but I'm sorry, having Jesus gossip and kick a lamb away when it came near him in the painting kinda makes me think King needs to do some comedy instead of horror. Pretty sure that was Needful Things, not Tommyknockers.
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Feb 23, 2012 10:46
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Stroth posted:Pretty sure that was Needful Things, not Tommyknockers. Nah, I just read Needful Things and that wasn't in it. One of the first side-stories in Tommyknockers was of the Jesus freak lady hallucinating that her painting of Jesus was telling her to mess with her TV to get back at her husband, and it would up making the TV into a bomb that killed her.
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Feb 23, 2012 10:57
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Farbtoner posted:Nah, I just read Needful Things and that wasn't in it. One of the first side-stories in Tommyknockers was of the Jesus freak lady hallucinating that her painting of Jesus was telling her to mess with her TV to get back at her husband, and it would up making the TV into a bomb that killed her. Okay, guess I need to go re-read those then.
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Feb 23, 2012 10:58
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Well, I couldn't take it anymore, so I gave up on The Regulators. TAK!
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Feb 23, 2012 23:47
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oldpainless posted:I still love the way the covers between The Regulators and Desperation matched up. I love that they match up while still thematically relating to their respective novels. Desperation is, very much, about despair. Characters in the book pretty much uniformly have no hope for their situation, and die left and right without a moments notice. Characters in The Regulators, on the other hand, are largely frightened about the events because it's all very unrealistic and ridiculous and stupid, right down to the perfectly cone-shaped bullets being shot at them and the cartoony wolves stalking the streets, but it all still very much works and is very much designed to kill them. Also, I like The Regulators! It's a great way to fill a Stephan King novel bingo sheet quickly.
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Feb 24, 2012 04:28
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Mister Kingdom posted:Well, I couldn't take it anymore, so I gave up on The Regulators. Why didn't you just listen to me in the first place?!?! TAK!
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Feb 24, 2012 05:22
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oldpainless posted:Why didn't you just listen to me in the first place?!?! I had to see for myself. 
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Feb 24, 2012 13:36
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arinlome posted:I am a huge King fan, but I loving hate Dolores Claiborne with a burning passion. I read it once, just because it was the only King book I hadn't read, and then put it on a shelf and will never touch it again. I agree. I was a HUGE King fan forever and then Dolores Claibone came out and I was genuinely confused. After it, I gave up on King. Wasn't until Full Dark, No Stars when I needed something to read for a plane trip that I started rereading his poo poo. Stand (my fav book of all time probably) and It down (2nd fav king book). Oh and also 11/22/63. Read it in two days. Figured he must be back on the sauce and blow because I found it exceptional. I will probably pick up under the dome this next week. Unlike alot of you I don't find his slang to be so hard to get through. I do, like alot of you, loving despise his endings. And I should mention, I gave up on King when I was about 15-16 because I found (ahem) more so·phis·ti·cat·ed writers like Kerouac, Hunter S Thompson, and Hemingway. You'd have to put a gun or a bible to my head to read ramblings from Kerouac again. I'm 35 and find HST a bit eh now but back in my drug fueled days he was amazing. Hemingway's still cool as poo poo though. Anyways, my point is I came back to King and I love him more now. Much more then the the literary genuises of the beat area, which I truly believe should be required learning for a 17 year old but not so much for a 35 year old business man. It's like poetry to me. Amazing when I was a kid but not so much now. If you'd ask me on the street I would tell you its a cross between the Stand and On The Road for me for my fav book.
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Feb 24, 2012 23:52
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My used copy of Pet Sematary came in. It has a note written on the inside, that says "Merry Christmas 1983 To Dusty with love forever Sheri" Kind of a weird note for this book. It also made me wonder if either of them are dead now, which I guess is a good way to set the tone for reading. 
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Feb 25, 2012 02:20
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Locus posted:My used copy of Pet Sematary came in. It has a note written on the inside, that says That is why I always enjoy used books. My copy of Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone has a really long, heartfelt inscription in it that makes me feel a little guilty when I pick it up but it's still kind of interesting. I have a copy of Cider House Rules that just says "READ THIS BOOK!!" on the first page, ahahha. "Wow, thanks! This book about abortion and thwarted love is totally neat and I appreciate the gift!"
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Feb 25, 2012 02:24
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You reminded me, I once bought an art book secondhand and found a long handwritten note someone had carefully written inside to whoever they gave the book to as a gift, and it was dated about two months from before I bought the book. Always wanted to know what that was all about. Re: the character design for the vampire in Salem's Lot, I believe it was based on Nosferatu: Full movie here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcyzubFvBsA Still puzzled at how Firestarter seldom seems to turn up in used bookstores around here, though the ebook is available on kobo.com (for about twice what it would cost used). Drimble Wedge fucked around with this message at 07:06 on Feb 27, 2012 |
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Feb 27, 2012 07:03
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Until last summer, I had only ever read one Stephen King book. It was The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon. I read it in middle school and honestly don't even remember how I got my hands on it. I remember it being really hard to get through, and not really enjoying it. So I didn't read any Stephen King until last year, when a friend of mine finally pressured me into the Dark Tower series. I had many friends in the past who had read them and had told me to steer clear because of the ending. I decided to go for it anyway because I hadn't given it a chance. I really liked The Gunslinger. I thought it was intriguing and weird and I really couldn't put it down. I wasn't really sure what to make of it, even, but it just entertained me. Calling of the Three didn't do it for me quite as well but I still liked it a lot. The Detta section made me uncomfortable, but besides that I thought it was a really fun book. Waste Lands was probably my favorite of the first three without a doubt. I finished Wizard and Glass about three weeks ago and I loved it. I was really frustrated with it for a long time before I started enjoying it, though. I actually knew the book was more about Roland's past, but I had no idea that's pretty much all it would be. When I finally accepted that and started catching on to the story, I couldn't put it down. All in all that book probably took me three months or longer to read because I was so bored/frustrated by it, but once I got to the last couple hundred pages I just burned through it. It's weird, I was so anxious to read the conclusion to the ride on Blaine. After reading W&G all the way through, it's almost like I forgot that even happened in the same book. I feel like the non-flashback parts of that book (Blaine/Wizard of Oz weirdness) could have been an effective ending to Waste Lands, with W&G being its own book entirely. Now I'm burning through Wolves of the Calla. I'm enjoying it so far, but I'm getting sort of sick of hearing about Callahan's post-Salem's Lot story. Maybe I'd be more interested if I'd read Salem's Lot, but like I said, all I've read is the first 4 DT books and Tom Gordon. I've heard so much poo poo talked about Dark Tower, especially books 5-7, that I'm just waiting for this one to turn to poo poo. I'm still enjoying it, though. I'm approaching these books the way I watched the show Lost. It's not high art, but it's fun and entertaining. Sorry for the rambling post, but the only other person I interact with regularly who has read all the books is my wife. She's generally less critical than I am and doesn't want to accidentally spoil the story for me, so we don't really talk about it. I'm always curious about how many callbacks to other stories he's making. I've caught the obvious ones so far (The Stand, Salem's Lot) but I'm sure, since I've read such a small amount of his stories, that I've missed a lot of references.
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Feb 27, 2012 23:13
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