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- Nov 27, 2019
Hmm...I read the book probably 12 years ago at this point so perhaps I remembered it wrong. Hopefully someone who read it recently can clear it up for us
Thoughts on Stephen King?
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Hmm...I read the book probably 12 years ago at this point so perhaps I remembered it wrong. Hopefully someone who read it recently can clear it up for us
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- Dec 16, 2019
I remember reading this too, in his little memoir, I think. I could never finish Tommyknockers.
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- Jun 18, 2019
I find the revival of interest in King in recent years interesting, because when I first got into him in the mid to late 2000s was somewhat of a lull in his popularity.
Between Dreamcatcher in 2003 and the Carrie remake in 2013 there were only two theatrically released movies, 1408 and The Mist, both of which were 2007.
Of course there was also a few TV miniseries* and the Marvel comics adaptations of The Stand and Dark Tower, so it was hardly a desert, but not like today.
*the only miniseries of that era I've seen is TNT's Nightmares and Dreamscapes and it's actually really good and a very clever idea, each installment was an adaption of a different short story, I'd love to see someone try that idea again and I'm honestly surprised it hasn't been done again already.
Between Dreamcatcher in 2003 and the Carrie remake in 2013 there were only two theatrically released movies, 1408 and The Mist, both of which were 2007.
Of course there was also a few TV miniseries* and the Marvel comics adaptations of The Stand and Dark Tower, so it was hardly a desert, but not like today.
*the only miniseries of that era I've seen is TNT's Nightmares and Dreamscapes and it's actually really good and a very clever idea, each installment was an adaption of a different short story, I'd love to see someone try that idea again and I'm honestly surprised it hasn't been done again already.
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- Jul 23, 2019
I liked Tommyknockers. It was a good throwback pulp story about aliens but set in "Lovecraft country" (likely the whole point).
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- Sep 25, 2019
I can see you are a woman of taste, as several of those appeared in Night Shift which I keep referencing throughout this thread as perhaps his best work.
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- Nov 27, 2019
I really liked the short story Jerusalem's Lot, the scene in the church was so creepy. That always stuck with me.
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- Sep 25, 2019
The Soviets, yes, actual Soviet Union did Battleground better though. Somehow this happened. In 1989.
But the Rambo figure during Nightmares and Dreamscapes was a neat touch not in the original. And I do agree the format was cool for an anthology show.
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- Dec 13, 2016
You've got a good list there. If you're looking for recommendations, I would recommend The Shining because it's basically mandatory if you're interested in Stephen King at all and the book is a totally different beast from the movie. I wouldn't call it scary per se, but it is an effective character study and family drama, certainly far more tragic and sad than the movie.
However, the book you should definitely read is Pet Sematary. Bar none, it's his darkest book, at least out of the ones I have read. Misery is probably equal in terms of creepiness, but Pet Sematary is relentlessly morbid with its constant discussion of death and what that means for the Creed family. Pet Sematary is truly frightening, and easily one of my favorite King books (it's neck in neck with Misery as my absolute favorite).
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- Nov 28, 2014
Night Shift is fantastic, but I think my favorite is Skeleton Crew (Night Shift is a very close second though). It’s really hard to pick though, King has so many amazing short stories scattered among a lot of different collections.
I do really want to read both of those! I’ve heard Pet Semetary is deeply unsettling and has given a lot of people nightmares (sign me the fuck up). The Shining is obviously a classic, although I’ve heard it’s very different from the movie in terms of tone and characterization (specifically Jack Torrence).
Like you, I also really love Misery. It’s actually my favorite novel of his. The movie is phenomenal and a great adaptation, too (Kathy Bates is the perfect Annie Wilkes).
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- Dec 13, 2016
Yeah the book is more about Jack's constant struggle with alcoholism and how he wants to provide for his family but his own flaws prevent him from doing so where the movie is about his loss of sanity with the recovering alcoholic thing being more of a supporting detail rather than a fundamental aspect of his character. King wrote a lot of himself into Jack which is why he hated the movie so much (that and the movie excises a lot of plot threads, so I wouldn't call it a faithful adaptation).
I like both the movie and the book but for entirely different reasons. The movie's more surreal psychological horror while the book is more drama with supernatural horror. If you've already seen the movie I'd advise you to go into the book with a different set of expectations.
I still haven't seen the movie but I really want to. It's the kind of story that can be easily adapted to other forms of media (honestly you could probably make a decent stage play out of it considering most of it takes place in a single room), and from what I hear the movie does an excellent job of taking the story and putting it into a visual form.
I am also curious how the changes affect the general horror. The hobbling scene was my favorite part of the book and I know they toned it down significantly for the movie, but from what I hear it's still disturbing, and I think that's what interests me the most.
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- Sep 25, 2019
You know that's the real tragedy of Mr. Stephen King as far as the author we know him as goes. His short work is some of the best ever put to page. Pick whichever collection you like, but scroll through this thread and everyone seems to like that more than his longer stuff.
They say brevity is wit, I suppose.
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- Nov 27, 2019
Correct. I read Misery before watching the movie and that scene was so toned down I didn't even flinch because the book was so much more visceral. Still a great movie though and I thought the rest of it was well adapted but there is only so much violence they can put into a movie, you know? And while that is the standout violence in the movie she does lots of other stuff in the book later on that they cut entirely. I'm okay with that because it was hard enough reading about it without having to see it, too.
Misery is an interesting example of a woman being violent to a man, usually in King's work it's the other way around (or it's man against man.) Annie is such a sick person and uses both the psychological (withholding his pain meds to get him to cooperate) but also physical (she's strong enough to carry him) which made her an interesting villain.
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- Sep 25, 2019
I missed reading that one in my youth but that is an interesting opinion because that scene in the movie is a fucking nightmare I will never unsee as long as I live.
Christ, now maybe I need to ask my relatives for the novel back with that advertising.
Wanted to mention this too since I posted above about all the spousal abuse scenes/plots in his books. This is a keen observation.
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- Nov 27, 2019
Which King books does everyone plan to read next year? I've been persuaded (after the discussion in this thread) to read The Shining and I've been meaning to read Christine for a while so those two for sure. I don't know about any new releases for next year but if anyone else does I'd love to hear about them!
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- Sep 27, 2019
I've read everything he's written, but I may reread Hearts In Atlantis soon. Haven't read that since I was in college. I recall liking the themes well enough, and I enjoy going back to old books I haven't read in decades and seeing how (if at all) I may newly interpret them, see things from a new perspective with age and greater life experience. Hearts seems like a perfect book to do that with.
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- Apr 22, 2015
What's the difference between the novel and film adaptation of Thinner? I watched it recently and was highly amused by the camp factor.
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- Sep 27, 2019
it's fairly faithful except for a few things. Ginelli ends up being killed by the Gypsies (heavily implied to be the girl with the slingshot that did it.) Billy is horrified that his daughter ate the cursed pie, doesn't invite Dr. Mike inside to eat a slice and commits suicide by ending the novel eating a slice for himself. He's in despair, not acting like the vengeful personality in the movie. It's also more ambiguous if Heidi was cheating on him in the novel or if she and Dr. Mike just had misguided concern. I felt it was more strongly implied they were fucking in the movie. It's pretty close to the book though aside from those things
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- Dec 13, 2016
I've always wanted to read Rage because it's out of print for one thing and for another it's probably the most unintentionally real and disturbing book King has ever made.
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- Sep 25, 2019
Given all the disturbing shit that's been in the news since the book came out, that's a good pick.
Damn, 1977. This book is probably the reason he became so anti-gun and was infected by TDS in the first place.
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- Jan 7, 2017
I tried uploading an epub copy of it to your profile but it didn't show up in preview so I abandoned ship. if you have a throw away email I will send it to you. it's not amongst my favorite of his and I don't think it's as disturbing as lore has made it to be.