I was kind of hoping you'd be more specific.
― Mince Pramthwart (James Morrison), Sunday, 10 June 2018 02:31 (six years ago) link
Almost done w/ outsider I enjoy King while engaged but I always ultimately feel that I kind of wasted my time
― calstars, Sunday, 10 June 2018 14:00 (six years ago) link
King name drops Coben in the Outsider
― U. K. Le Garage (wins), Monday, 11 June 2018 15:56 (six years ago) link
Anyway at the fair yesterday I bought a book of king interviews for a pound. Also read his and joe hill’s story “in the tall grass” and liked it a lot! Much better than the only other hill I’ve read, his novel the fireman
― U. K. Le Garage (wins), Monday, 11 June 2018 16:01 (six years ago) link
He's still not as bad as Ian Rankin
Michael Connolly at least has the politeness to namedrop LA jazz randos no one has heard of
― Chuck_Tatum, Monday, 11 June 2018 16:02 (six years ago) link
Heh I'm currently reading the new Bosch and was really impressed when Michael Connelly namedropped Horace Tapscott in the opening chapter
― Ward Fowler, Tuesday, 12 June 2018 05:26 (six years ago) link
“in the tall grass” was total rancid balls
― Mince Pramthwart (James Morrison), Tuesday, 12 June 2018 06:24 (six years ago) link
Castle rock looks kinda intriguing, it’s not gonna be available in the uk tho. I did watch the first series of mr mercedes, it’s not a marked improvement on the book (so, it’s all over the place in terms of quality) but gleeson is great as ever. I really hate the character of holly in those books but if ever a character were made to be in a David Kelley joint
― jeremy cmbyn (wins), Wednesday, 25 July 2018 17:05 (five years ago) link
Stuggling to get into 11/22/63 - worth persevering?
― Chuck_Tatum, Friday, 12 July 2013 09:39 (five years ago)
BOO this guy. What a wonderful, intense book. So glad I finally made it through.
I kind of want to dive into another giant one straight away - Talisman, IT or Duma Key, which is best?
― Chuck_Tatum, Wednesday, 13 February 2019 02:23 (five years ago) link
I'd go for It of those three, though if you've read (& liked) Ghost Story and Shadowland, Talisman gives you the back and forth of King & Straub.
― the body of a spider... (scampering alpaca), Wednesday, 13 February 2019 02:31 (five years ago) link
Talisman is currently 99p for the Kindle version in the UK.
Black House followed that up about 20 years later
― koogs, Wednesday, 13 February 2019 02:38 (five years ago) link
Duma Key is dumb fun but IT is probably a good recommend if you've never done it.
I would recommend Talisman 100% with the caveat that you should try to dive into the Dark Tower pretty soon after as it is a good way to grease the wheels towards that series and get you in the mindset.
― Squeaky Fromage (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 13 February 2019 02:46 (five years ago) link
Yeah, IT.
Reread Talisman in the last year or so and it was ok but not as good as I remember from reading it as a kid.
Also: been working through the Castle Rock show which has been pretty decent but fuck me, what an absolutely fantastic piece of television episode 7 was.
― groovypanda, Wednesday, 13 February 2019 12:05 (five years ago) link
I recently read The Outsider and liked it a lot. He doesn't really stick the ending - there's a very "really? That's it?" quality to the climax - but everything before that is really good.
― grawlix (unperson), Wednesday, 13 February 2019 12:35 (five years ago) link
Swap out the title and that's my loose review of almost every King book ever.
― Shaved Cyborg (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 13 February 2019 12:46 (five years ago) link
I mean, that's his thing. That's what he does. Or doesn't do, rather.
― Shaved Cyborg (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 13 February 2019 12:47 (five years ago) link
Yeah, 11/22/63 had by the far the most satisfying, *right* ending to any King novel I've read - perhaps it's the exception to the rule. Was impressed by how little conspiracy stuff was in the book, too, and how that wasn't a disappointment.
― Chuck_Tatum, Wednesday, 13 February 2019 14:49 (five years ago) link
I looked at the length of IT and was like, shit, I need something shorter. I see CUJO's been getting reappraised lately so I'll probably try that.
― Chuck_Tatum, Wednesday, 13 February 2019 14:50 (five years ago) link
Cujo, yes. Recommended. Also, as always, The Long Walk if you haven't already.
― Shaved Cyborg (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 13 February 2019 14:58 (five years ago) link
I find the thing about king’s endings is really overstated, I find most of them satisfying enough tbh. The outsider has a particularly bad and boring end run tho
― gray say nah to me (wins), Wednesday, 13 February 2019 16:21 (five years ago) link
has it maybe gotten worse over the years? I remember a lot of the early books having perfectly fine endings
― bhad bundy (Simon H.), Wednesday, 13 February 2019 16:22 (five years ago) link
They almost all end with either “the entire town is destroyed” or “some handwavey magic happens” or both, which winds a lot of people up - it’s pretty clear he doesn’t care much about how things get resolved. I can get with that.
― gray say nah to me (wins), Wednesday, 13 February 2019 16:27 (five years ago) link
I guess I wouldn't say it's an always thing but it happens often enough and is glaring enough in its 'let's say...Moe'-ness when it happens that it tends to stick in my brain.
But as you say, I don't get particularly wound up about it as long as the journey is sound.
― Shaved Cyborg (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 13 February 2019 16:29 (five years ago) link
I think there’s a disconnect between the type of writer he is (a yarn-spinner) and the way he writes (ultra-prolific, never uses outlines, works on instinct) - so people think that because he’s so much about ~storytelling~ that he should care a lot about the conventions of plotting, but I really don’t think he does. It’s not just the endings, the deus ex machina stuff happens all the way through. He just wants to move from one wacky, pungent idea to the next. Sometimes it is really fucking silly (one novel ends with someone randomly doing shadow puppets to defeat the villain because reasons) which makes a lot of people feel like they’ve wasted their time with the previous 8000 pages, but it’s way down the list of king’s faults for me personally and I often like the way his endings feel tonally which is what matters to me, I mean it’s all silly shit when you get down to it. I fucking love the ending of it, and the “is that it?” bathos just adds to it for meThat said I just slogged through the last two dark tower books and that’s essentially a king ending stretched out over two whole books and it is painful.
― gray say nah to me (wins), Wednesday, 13 February 2019 16:47 (five years ago) link
god the last 3 dark tower books are dreadful... i get seriously worked up thinking about how bad they are, especially considering how much potential the first few books had. wish he had finished the series when he was in his prime
― boobie, Wednesday, 13 February 2019 23:35 (five years ago) link
His new one (out later this year) sounds like a mash up of Firestarter and It
― groovypanda, Thursday, 14 February 2019 08:01 (five years ago) link
talisman for me, chuck
whats kings best, did we ever just straight-up ask
think wizard and glass maybe
― ɪmˈpəʊzɪŋ (darraghmac), Thursday, 14 February 2019 21:53 (five years ago) link
Long Walk. I'll evoke it as many times as is necessary. Long Walk.
― The kids call it 'artisinal going to the bathroom' (Old Lunch), Thursday, 14 February 2019 23:22 (five years ago) link
I'll have to give it some thought but Long Walk is not far wrong, definitely WAY up there.
― Squeaky Fromage (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, 15 February 2019 05:32 (five years ago) link
Important sidebar: did anyone see the news that the new Creepshow tv show might attempt an adaptation of Survivor Type? I am VERY excited because it is really not something that should ever be brought to a visual medium but if Greg Nicotero could pull it off it would be fucking AWESOME to see ... :D :D :D
https://birthmoviesdeath.com/2019/01/17/new-creepshow-tv-series-might-be-adapting-one-of-stephen-kings-most-gnarly
― Squeaky Fromage (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, 15 February 2019 05:36 (five years ago) link
also the first Stephen King story I remember ever reading. VERY formative. Also may say alot about me idk
― Squeaky Fromage (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, 15 February 2019 05:37 (five years ago) link
Ohhhhh boy, did not know that was happening. Love Creepshow, love horror/sci-fi anthology shows, want this to not suck. I guess it won't take much to transcend the original quasi-Creepshow show (the wildly uneven Tales from the Darkside). And holy cow @ 'Survivor Type'! That is ballsy.
― The kids call it 'artisinal going to the bathroom' (Old Lunch), Friday, 15 February 2019 05:54 (five years ago) link
truly a swing for the fences. i’m into it!
― Squeaky Fromage (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, 15 February 2019 06:14 (five years ago) link
Has anyone else read his latest little novella, "Elevation?" It's a fast read and it's fine? I guess? But the more I think about it the central metaphor may be a little problematic.
― Plinka Trinka Banga Tink (Eliza D.), Friday, 15 February 2019 14:39 (five years ago) link
I hated everything about it tbh
― gray say nah to me (wins), Friday, 15 February 2019 15:42 (five years ago) link
That and his other recent pamphlet-sized attempt at (I guess) Bradbury-esque lyrical whimsy, gwendy’s button box. Just completely flat, irritatingly cutesy first drafts of nothing much. Elevation is worse cause it has the added bonus of the straight male saviour character helping the upright man-hating lesbian to get the chip off her shoulder
― gray say nah to me (wins), Friday, 15 February 2019 16:12 (five years ago) link
Hah, OK, it's not just me. "If you're a cishet white dude and are nice enough to lesbians, you can ascend straight into Heaven!"
― Plinka Trinka Banga Tink (Eliza D.), Friday, 15 February 2019 16:35 (five years ago) link
Best short: The Mist or The Long WalkBest novel: It or Salem's Lot
― Good cop, Babcock (Chinaski), Friday, 15 February 2019 16:42 (five years ago) link
is that the one where the guy ... eats himself?
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 15 February 2019 16:49 (five years ago) link
That's Survivor, innit?
― Good cop, Babcock (Chinaski), Friday, 15 February 2019 17:47 (five years ago) link
I can't believe I remembered that from when I was in middle school.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 15 February 2019 17:59 (five years ago) link
it’s hard to forget
― Squeaky Fromage (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, 15 February 2019 18:13 (five years ago) link
Hint: 'Survivor Type' is the one where when you first read it you end up like the kid in 'The Jaunt'.
― The kids call it 'artisinal going to the bathroom' (Old Lunch), Friday, 15 February 2019 18:23 (five years ago) link
I wonder if this series is going for the campy tone of the original creepshow film. That would probably be a good fit for this story, it could be very early Peter Jackson “ha ha gross”
― gray say nah to me (wins), Friday, 15 February 2019 18:27 (five years ago) link
"The Jaunt" was actually the one that fucked up my mind the most as a kid.
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Friday, 15 February 2019 18:29 (five years ago) link
Yeah, “The Jaunt” ftw. Love that it’s tone is so Tom Swift *isnt technology grand* until the very end.
― George R. R. Caro (PBKR), Friday, 15 February 2019 18:43 (five years ago) link
God help me I’m about 12 hours into 11:22:63. Please remind me again how not racist you are, Stephen King.
― Right column Leftist (sunny successor), Monday, 18 February 2019 21:14 (five years ago) link
I'll toss Pet Semetery in the discussion for his best novel.
― sofatruck, Friday, 22 February 2019 13:50 (five years ago) link
First teaser for IT: Part Two. Beverly has visible bruises on her arms here, so I guess the abusive husband plotline is in there.
Witness the end of IT. Watch the new trailer now. #ITMovie pic.twitter.com/EEqX6jVT8r— IT Movie🎈 (@ITMovieOfficial) May 9, 2019
― Plinka Trinka Banga Tink (Eliza D.), Thursday, 9 May 2019 16:26 (five years ago) link
Nice eye for detail Eliza!
― ☮ (peace, man), Thursday, 9 May 2019 16:38 (five years ago) link