The Stephen King Master Thread

[Lacit170]

So, with Kings TV show, Under the Dome under way, I figured I'd start up a master thread to all things King...

I grew up watching his horror movies at a young age, where watching The Shining up at our ski house in Vermont with friends was a ritual and rite of passage. The Shining is my all time favorite horror movie

[Show spoiler]the Kubrick version, i know its different than the book!

and Pet Sematary were big movies that hooked me into the world of horror at a very young age.

I started watching King movies/mini series over the years, starting in the 80's with The Shining, Pet Sematary, Creepshow and Children of the Corn to the 90's with IT, Misery, The Langoliers and Thinner and countless other titles in between. The 2000's have a lot to live up to but he has given us some greats in 1408 and one of my all time favorites of Kings in The Mist

[Show spoiler]again, i know Kings ending was different!

.

All that said, I've grown up and started to read his books starting 5-6 years or so ago. My first must read was obviously The Shining and i was not disappointed and came to understand why Kubrick decided to make a few changes. I love what King wrote in every single way but lets face it, his literary works dont always translate well to film especially with the lack of technology way back when.

I want to try and read all of his greats and started this thread to discuss your favorites and anything else related to KING!

So far I've gotten to The Shining, Carrie, 'Salems Lot, The Stand, Under the Dome and one of my all time favorites of King but in a whole new direction for him; The Dark Tower series.

What are some of your MUST read recommendations as well as movies?

[akayw0718]

So, I haven't really seen any King movies, and I've only just started Under the Dome, but I had to stop in and recommend 11/22/63.

One of the best books I read in 2012. Such a great, great read.

[Lacit170]

Originally Posted by akayw0718

So, I haven't really seen any King movies, and I've only just started Under the Dome, but I had to stop in and recommend 11/22/63.

One of the best books I read in 2012. Such a great, great read.

my fiance actually bought 11/22/63 for her brother when it came out. He is a HUGE JFK fan and i dont believe i followed up with him to see if he liked it or not.

thanks for the recommendation though, i will be sure to borrow it from him in the near future. Currently reading Dan Browns Inferno but intend to jump into another King novel afterwards. I tend to read a King novel every other book...

How are you liking Under the Dome? I personally loved it and think the show is going to be great. the first episode was great i thought!

youre not watching the show are you?

[chris_sc77]

Ive read almost every book of his save for The Tommyknockers, Danse Macabre, and The Colorado Kid and seen nearly all of the TV and film adaptations

Best Stephen King Books - Dark Tower series (Especially Dark Tower II, II, IV, V) ; Insomnia; The Shining, The Stand , The first 3/4 of the book IT ; The Dead Zone ; 11/22/63 ; The Green Mile ; Night Shift ; Full Dark No Stars ; Different Seasons ; Misery; Nightmares and Dreamscapes ; Under The Dome ; Skeleton Crew ; Needful Things

Worst Stephen King Books - Rose Madder ; Gerald's Game ; The Dark Half ; Lisey's Story ; Duma Key (starts good but awful last 1/3)


Best Stephen King film adaptations - The Shining ; The Dead Zone ; Shawshank Redemption ; The Green mile; The Mist; The Dead Zone; Pet Semetary ; Misery; Dolan's Cadillac ; Dolores Claiborne ; Needful Things


Worst Stephen King film adaptations - Children of the Corn ; The Dark Half ; Graveyard SHift ; Dreamcatcher (Well made film that is ruined by the tard and way different ending) ; Secret Window ; Sleepwalkers


Best Stephen King TV adaptations - The Stand ; IT ; Langoliers (despite having the worst CG creatures ever) ; Storm of the Century (good screenplay read as well)


Worst Stephen King TV adaptations - Bag of Bones ; Golden Years ; Desperation

[akayw0718]

Originally Posted by Lacit170

my fiance actually bought 11/22/63 for her brother when it came out. He is a HUGE JFK fan and i dont believe i followed up with him to see if he liked it or not.

thanks for the recommendation though, i will be sure to borrow it from him in the near future. Currently reading Dan Browns Inferno but intend to jump into another King novel afterwards. I tend to read a King novel every other book...

How are you liking Under the Dome? I personally loved it and think the show is going to be great. the first episode was great i thought!

youre not watching the show are you?

Inferno is supposed to be good. I'm so behind on my reading.

I like it so far, I'm barely started though. I review books for publishers, so they have to go first so that they publishers don't get all mad at me.

I'm waiting to watch the show until I read the book. I don't like seeing something that was a book before I read the book.

[Hucksta G]

Just getting in to him only read The Dark tower series and The Stand, loved both

[Lacit170]

Originally Posted by chris_sc77

[Show spoiler]
Best Stephen King Books - Dark Tower series (Especially Dark Tower II, II, IV, V) ; Insomnia; The Shining, The Stand , The first 3/4 of the book IT ; The Dead Zone ; 11/22/63 ; The Green Mile ; Night Shift ; Full Dark No Stars ; Different Seasons ; Misery; Nightmares and Dreamscapes ; Under The Dome ; Skeleton Crew ; Needful Things

Worst Stephen King Books - Rose Madder ; Gerald's Game ; The Dark Half ; Lisey's Story ; Duma Key (starts good but awful last 1/3)


Best Stephen King film adaptations - The Shining ; The Dead Zone ; Shawshank Redemption ; The Green mile; The Mist; The Dead Zone; Pet Semetary ; Misery; Dolan's Cadillac ; Dolores Claiborne ; Needful Things


Worst Stephen King film adaptations - Children of the Corn ; The Dark Half ; Graveyard SHift ; Dreamcatcher (Well made film that is ruined by the tard and way different ending) ; Secret Window ; Sleepwalkers


Best Stephen King TV adaptations - The Stand ; IT ; Langoliers (despite having the worst CG creatures ever) ; Storm of the Century (good screenplay read as well)


Worst Stephen King TV adaptations - Bag of Bones ; Golden Years ; Desperation

Gerald's Game actually sounds really good.... i have it on my list of books to buy and read soon.... should i hold off on this one?

and i actually liked Bag of Bones mini series...did you like the book?

Originally Posted by akayw0718

Inferno is supposed to be good. I'm so behind on my reading.

I like it so far, I'm barely started though. I review books for publishers, so they have to go first so that they publishers don't get all mad at me.

I'm waiting to watch the show until I read the book. I don't like seeing something that was a book before I read the book.

good idea...even though things are different in the show, better off going in to both the book and TV series fresh

Originally Posted by Hucksta G

Just getting in to him only read The Dark tower series and The Stand, loved both

well you picked two great ones to start with ! whats next for you?

[little flower]

I ordered a unabridged audiobook of 'IT' by Stephen King read by Steven Weber from Books A Million. The audiobook came in the mail today. The audiobook is around 45 hours long and it's on 35 CDs. Here are 2 photos of my audiobook.

[BladeRunner2007]

Fininshed The Stand yesterday. Wow, what a disappointing ending. I relly enjoyed the last 3rd of the book until

[Show spoiler]Trashcan Man returns with the A-Bomb.

From there on, it's a total letdown.

[Show spoiler]Flagg is so weak and whiny at the end,

it does not sit well with me at all. And what's with

[Show spoiler]Stu and Tom's journey back to Boulder?

It is sooooo damn long. It ends so anti-climactic. That whole part of the story just drags on and on forever. Was that included in the original release of the book too? Or is it part of the new uncut version?

[philzilla]

Originally Posted by BladeRunner2007

Fininshed The Stand yesterday. Wow, what a disappointing ending. I relly enjoyed the last 3rd of the book until

[Show spoiler]Trashcan Man returns with the A-Bomb.

From there on, it's a total letdown.

[Show spoiler]Flagg is so weak and whiny at the end,

it does not sit well with me at all. And what's with

[Show spoiler]Stu and Tom's journey back to Boulder?

It is sooooo damn long. It ends so anti-climactic. That whole part of the story just drags on and on forever. Was that included in the original release of the book too? Or is it part of the new uncut version?

Most of that was in the original, and SK is always weak when it comes to wrapping up a story.

[BladeRunner2007]

Originally Posted by philzilla

Most of that was in the original, and SK is always weak when it comes to wrapping up a story.

I've only read IT and The Stand so far. Nothing else from King. I loved the ending of IT. He wrapped it up perfectly imo. But The Stand gave me a real WTF!? moment. Kinda like this:

[Filmmaker]

Originally Posted by BladeRunner2007

I've only read IT and The Stand so far. Nothing else from King. I loved the ending of IT. He wrapped it up perfectly imo. But The Stand gave me a real WTF!? moment.

I can't go with you there. Don't get me wrong, I had some major disappointment with THE STAND's ending, too (as an

[Show spoiler]atheist

, how could I not with what must be the must overt deux ex machina ending in modern literary history?), but for me, IT takes the cake on King losing complete control of his narrative and running right off the rails. It didn't ruin the entire experience of the book for me, but I certainly read those final 100 pages shaking my head and mubmbling, "Oh Steve...Stevestevesteve..." to myself over and over...

[Spikes-of-Fury]

King books I've read:

The Stand (uncut)
Insomnia
Hearts in Atlantis
On Writing
From a Buick 8
All 8 Dark Tower books
Under the Dome
11/22/63
Joyland
Just After Sunset

I actually started with The Gunslinger and the Dark Tower series as my first King books, and then read some of those others because of their connections to the series (it was fun to spot the references). I have to say I didn't love Just After Sunset (one of his short story collections). There were a few good ones in there, but I found that he tended to be more on the nose in the short story format, as if he didn't have room for subtlety because of the length constraints. I enjoy his novels more. I'm also not the biggest horror fan, so I haven't really bothered with King's horror stuff even though it's what he's most known for.

A note about The Gunslinger: depending on your taste, you may find it slow and dull or you may love it. It doesn't necessarily reflect the rest of the Dark Tower series, which gets much more interesting (and throws in more fantasy elements) by the second book.

[eightslicesofpie]

I'd never read any King before reading "It" last October, which instantly became one of my favorite books and started me on a binge that I haven't stopped since (with a few books from other authors sprinkled in every once in a while, though).

I decided to read The Dark Tower series along with all the tie-in books, using this list as a guide: https://www.amazon.com/gp/richpub/li...R10YBYAJZD1OGQ

During my lunch break today I finished "Hearts in Atlantis" and am going to start "Wind Through the Keyhole" before diving into "Wolves of the Calla" since it chronologically takes place before.

Gotta say I've been loving this experience, reading about Roland and the ka-tet while also getting these deep connections and references in the other standalone stories. I'm trying to get it all done before the movie comes out in February, and it seems like I'm on track to have that done without any problem!

[BladeRunner2007]

IT and The Stand are two of my favorite novels of all time. I just finished reading the graphic novel adaption of The Stand the other day and it was absolutely brilliant. The pacing was great, the dialog was spot on as well as the 3rd person narrator and the visuals were almost 100% (at least 95%) identical to what I had imagined while reading the book last year. This is definitely my favorite visual adaption of this novel. Much better than the already great(!) TV mini-series adaption from the 90s. Loved every second, every page, every image of it. 5/5 for this brilliant graphic novel adaption of The Stand.

Now, I just hope that somewhere down the line the exact same team will do a graphic novel adaption of IT. It would work so wonderfully and they could do it justice, because they could literally include everything from the novel and make it work. Especially the ending with the Ritual of Chüd. And the constant timeline shifting would work so well with this medium. This could easily become the most faithful and satisfying visual(!) adaption of IT.

King's writing in general is perfect for graphic novel adaptions as he writes so elaborately that he creates these amazing pictures in your head and now they just need to be slapped on a page and bam there you have your graphic novel adaption

[eightslicesofpie]

Finished The Dark Tower in early December and got the new box set of the series as a Christmas gift, which looks really beautiful. I really liked the series, and I hope the movie does it justice (or is at least not bad, haha)

I think "11/22/63" might overall be my favorite book I read in 2016

[Travis]

Never read any of the Gunslinger books, but have heard nothing but great things. One of these days.

I really loved The Eyes of the Dragon. I read it around 1990 I guess. Thinking of ordering it. Hope it still holds up.

Have 11/22/63 sitting on my table. It will keep me busy for a while.

[ChainsawJedi]

I read Revival while on holiday. Blitzed it in about four days.

I think King is now a better writer than he's ever been. His early stuff is classic but then he had that middling period of which I wasn't too fond. Since that terrible accident he had, he's become a much better writer. I'd hate to think the two events were related.

[VictoryAtNight]

I bought my first Stephen King book over the weekend. It is Doctor Sleep.

[VictoryAtNight]

Finished Doctor Sleep, which is a huge accomplishment for me. I dedicated a lot of time reading this book, a total of 11 days.


Job well done.