treeduck Posted June 26, 2007 Author Share Posted June 26, 2007 QUOTE (Huck @ Jun 26 2007, 03:54 PM) QUOTE (treeduck @ Jan 5 2007, 01:33 AM)http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/5999/stephenkingpeterstraubtlc9.jpg After reading 11 Stephen King books in a row, it was easy to spot the difference in the writing of The Talisman compared to King's solo works, the difference being the presence of Peter Straub. Obviously I hear you cry, as he co-wrote the novel, true but I never really noticed this the first time I read it back in the 80s, as it was my first Straub experience. In the interim decades however I've read quite a few Straub books and I did actually recognise his hallmarks in the story here. He has a subtler style than King, he's kind of slow to build his own stories and yet at the same time he sometimes dumps shocks on you all of a sudden and you then need to feverishly recap and reabsorb. Not here though, with King at his side he's at his most immediate and crystalline in his clarity. I used to wonder how two guys like this actually could write a book together, but I then read somewhere recently how they did the follow up book to this one Black House (which will feature in this fest later this year). One of them, say SK would write 50 pages and then paste it into an email and send it to Straub, who would read it and then do the next 50 pages and then email that to King and so on until the last 50 pages were written. I've no idea how they arranged rewrites and other drafts but I imagine it would be the same process and I imagine back in the early 80s it was the same process with The Talisman, only without the emails... As for the Talisman as an entertaining read, well it was excellent, almost as good as The Wizard and Glass and it was easy to compare it to this novel as they're similar fantastical style tales. In fact The talisman, the actual object that is, is a kind glass ball as well, but in fact it's closer, in terms of what it actually is, to the Dark Tower itself. Both are the "axis of all possible worlds" they may even be the very same thing. The Talisman is The Dark Tower the Dark Tower is The Talisman... Only messers Straub and King really know though, maybe I'll find out more when I read the final three volumes of The Dark Tower and Black House... My favourite part of this book was the section concerning the character Wolf which culminated with the events in the Sunlight Home, this section was exceptional and it had my heart pumping and I had to actually get up a few times and pace about to cool off!! While it never reached these dizzy heights again it was still great right to eventual conclusion. The villains were very good, Sunlight Gardener/Osmond, Morgan Sloat/Morgan of Orris, Elroy and Smokey Updike all suitably bad. One thing about Morgan Sloat, that I probably wouldn't have noticed if I'd not read Rose Madder just before it, was the bad habit he had of squeezing his fists till his fingernails dug into the flesh of his palms until they ran with blood just like Norman Daniels in Rose Madder, which suggests a King device rather than a Straub one... My favourite character of all had to be Wolf the friendly werewolf, friendly that was, until the time of the change... What a great character I was genuinely upset after the story moved in a direction that no longer included him... Of the 12 books that have come so far in this King Fest, this is the second best of the lot. Second only to The Wizard and Glass, so if you haven't read this one yet you should do so ASAP. As for the King fest itself this is where I'm gonna take a little break. Don't worry though it's not the end I'm only exactly one third of the way through it so far, yes that's right I've still got 24 books to go. Still to come are my personal top 5, my favourite short story collection, the last three volumes of the Dark Tower, King's latest novels, some more Bachman works and lots of other stuff... Meanwhile I'm going to be occupying myself with another book thread that I'll start in a minute, this King thread will reappear probably after the North American leg of Rush tour is over, yeah it could take that long to find my way back here or it might be sooner, who can tell... That's it though for the King fest for now... I read the Talisman and then Black House about a year ago, I'd definately say that there's a connection between those 2 books and the Dark Tower series, though it's not completely clear. Black House was a little hard to get into at first but I thought it was excellent. Have you read it yet Ducky? I've just started reading Song Of Susannah, it's looking quite interesting up to now. I found the previous book in the series Wolves Of The Calla a little dissapointing at times compared to The Drawing Of The Three and Wizard And Glass which I loved. I guess your thread came back sooner than you thought No, I've not read Black House yet, I've got it ready in a draw somewhere along with about 25 other King books I've either not read yet or haven't read for ages, most about for about 20 years, so I'm looking forward to that. In the Dark Tower Series I read Wizard and Glass back in 98 and then again last October (described on here) and that's the latest one I've read so far. I'm interested in the Salem's Lot connection as regards the Wolves volume. The Wizard and Glass and The Drawing of the Three are the best two, for me anyway. I've got my old copy of The Drawing, ready to go too, so I'll read that again before I hit the newer ones... And yeah I didn't think this thread would be seen again for ages... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huck Posted June 26, 2007 Share Posted June 26, 2007 QUOTE (treeduck @ Jun 26 2007, 09:43 PM) QUOTE (Huck @ Jun 26 2007, 03:54 PM) QUOTE (treeduck @ Jan 5 2007, 01:33 AM)http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/5999/stephenkingpeterstraubtlc9.jpg After reading 11 Stephen King books in a row, it was easy to spot the difference in the writing of The Talisman compared to King's solo works, the difference being the presence of Peter Straub. Obviously I hear you cry, as he co-wrote the novel, true but I never really noticed this the first time I read it back in the 80s, as it was my first Straub experience. In the interim decades however I've read quite a few Straub books and I did actually recognise his hallmarks in the story here. He has a subtler style than King, he's kind of slow to build his own stories and yet at the same time he sometimes dumps shocks on you all of a sudden and you then need to feverishly recap and reabsorb. Not here though, with King at his side he's at his most immediate and crystalline in his clarity. I used to wonder how two guys like this actually could write a book together, but I then read somewhere recently how they did the follow up book to this one Black House (which will feature in this fest later this year). One of them, say SK would write 50 pages and then paste it into an email and send it to Straub, who would read it and then do the next 50 pages and then email that to King and so on until the last 50 pages were written. I've no idea how they arranged rewrites and other drafts but I imagine it would be the same process and I imagine back in the early 80s it was the same process with The Talisman, only without the emails... As for the Talisman as an entertaining read, well it was excellent, almost as good as The Wizard and Glass and it was easy to compare it to this novel as they're similar fantastical style tales. In fact The talisman, the actual object that is, is a kind glass ball as well, but in fact it's closer, in terms of what it actually is, to the Dark Tower itself. Both are the "axis of all possible worlds" they may even be the very same thing. The Talisman is The Dark Tower the Dark Tower is The Talisman... Only messers Straub and King really know though, maybe I'll find out more when I read the final three volumes of The Dark Tower and Black House... My favourite part of this book was the section concerning the character Wolf which culminated with the events in the Sunlight Home, this section was exceptional and it had my heart pumping and I had to actually get up a few times and pace about to cool off!! While it never reached these dizzy heights again it was still great right to eventual conclusion. The villains were very good, Sunlight Gardener/Osmond, Morgan Sloat/Morgan of Orris, Elroy and Smokey Updike all suitably bad. One thing about Morgan Sloat, that I probably wouldn't have noticed if I'd not read Rose Madder just before it, was the bad habit he had of squeezing his fists till his fingernails dug into the flesh of his palms until they ran with blood just like Norman Daniels in Rose Madder, which suggests a King device rather than a Straub one... My favourite character of all had to be Wolf the friendly werewolf, friendly that was, until the time of the change... What a great character I was genuinely upset after the story moved in a direction that no longer included him... Of the 12 books that have come so far in this King Fest, this is the second best of the lot. Second only to The Wizard and Glass, so if you haven't read this one yet you should do so ASAP. As for the King fest itself this is where I'm gonna take a little break. Don't worry though it's not the end I'm only exactly one third of the way through it so far, yes that's right I've still got 24 books to go. Still to come are my personal top 5, my favourite short story collection, the last three volumes of the Dark Tower, King's latest novels, some more Bachman works and lots of other stuff... Meanwhile I'm going to be occupying myself with another book thread that I'll start in a minute, this King thread will reappear probably after the North American leg of Rush tour is over, yeah it could take that long to find my way back here or it might be sooner, who can tell... That's it though for the King fest for now... I read the Talisman and then Black House about a year ago, I'd definately say that there's a connection between those 2 books and the Dark Tower series, though it's not completely clear. Black House was a little hard to get into at first but I thought it was excellent. Have you read it yet Ducky? I've just started reading Song Of Susannah, it's looking quite interesting up to now. I found the previous book in the series Wolves Of The Calla a little dissapointing at times compared to The Drawing Of The Three and Wizard And Glass which I loved. I guess your thread came back sooner than you thought No, I've not read Black House yet, I've got it ready in a draw somewhere along with about 25 other King books I've either not read yet or haven't read for ages, most about for about 20 years, so I'm looking forward to that. In the Dark Tower Series I read Wizard and Glass back in 98 and then again last October (described on here) and that's the latest one I've read so far. I'm interested in the Salem's Lot connection as regards the Wolves volume. The Wizard and Glass and The Drawing of the Three are the best two, for me anyway. I've got my old copy of The Drawing, ready to go too, so I'll read that again before I hit the newer ones... And yeah I didn't think this thread would be seen again for ages... I know what you mean, I have about 20 King books yet to read...most of them classics. In total I think we have about 200 books yet to read in the house, I hope I can fit them all in before I lose my eyesight or worse The reference to Salem's Lot in Wolves was freaky but entertaining although I've not read Salem's lot yet Enjoy Drawing again, I won't go into detail on the later Dark Tower books, at least until you've read them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treeduck Posted June 26, 2007 Author Share Posted June 26, 2007 QUOTE (Huck @ Jun 26 2007, 05:00 PM) QUOTE (treeduck @ Jun 26 2007, 09:43 PM) QUOTE (Huck @ Jun 26 2007, 03:54 PM) QUOTE (treeduck @ Jan 5 2007, 01:33 AM)http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/5999/stephenkingpeterstraubtlc9.jpg After reading 11 Stephen King books in a row, it was easy to spot the difference in the writing of The Talisman compared to King's solo works, the difference being the presence of Peter Straub. Obviously I hear you cry, as he co-wrote the novel, true but I never really noticed this the first time I read it back in the 80s, as it was my first Straub experience. In the interim decades however I've read quite a few Straub books and I did actually recognise his hallmarks in the story here. He has a subtler style than King, he's kind of slow to build his own stories and yet at the same time he sometimes dumps shocks on you all of a sudden and you then need to feverishly recap and reabsorb. Not here though, with King at his side he's at his most immediate and crystalline in his clarity. I used to wonder how two guys like this actually could write a book together, but I then read somewhere recently how they did the follow up book to this one Black House (which will feature in this fest later this year). One of them, say SK would write 50 pages and then paste it into an email and send it to Straub, who would read it and then do the next 50 pages and then email that to King and so on until the last 50 pages were written. I've no idea how they arranged rewrites and other drafts but I imagine it would be the same process and I imagine back in the early 80s it was the same process with The Talisman, only without the emails... As for the Talisman as an entertaining read, well it was excellent, almost as good as The Wizard and Glass and it was easy to compare it to this novel as they're similar fantastical style tales. In fact The talisman, the actual object that is, is a kind glass ball as well, but in fact it's closer, in terms of what it actually is, to the Dark Tower itself. Both are the "axis of all possible worlds" they may even be the very same thing. The Talisman is The Dark Tower the Dark Tower is The Talisman... Only messers Straub and King really know though, maybe I'll find out more when I read the final three volumes of The Dark Tower and Black House... My favourite part of this book was the section concerning the character Wolf which culminated with the events in the Sunlight Home, this section was exceptional and it had my heart pumping and I had to actually get up a few times and pace about to cool off!! While it never reached these dizzy heights again it was still great right to eventual conclusion. The villains were very good, Sunlight Gardener/Osmond, Morgan Sloat/Morgan of Orris, Elroy and Smokey Updike all suitably bad. One thing about Morgan Sloat, that I probably wouldn't have noticed if I'd not read Rose Madder just before it, was the bad habit he had of squeezing his fists till his fingernails dug into the flesh of his palms until they ran with blood just like Norman Daniels in Rose Madder, which suggests a King device rather than a Straub one... My favourite character of all had to be Wolf the friendly werewolf, friendly that was, until the time of the change... What a great character I was genuinely upset after the story moved in a direction that no longer included him... Of the 12 books that have come so far in this King Fest, this is the second best of the lot. Second only to The Wizard and Glass, so if you haven't read this one yet you should do so ASAP. As for the King fest itself this is where I'm gonna take a little break. Don't worry though it's not the end I'm only exactly one third of the way through it so far, yes that's right I've still got 24 books to go. Still to come are my personal top 5, my favourite short story collection, the last three volumes of the Dark Tower, King's latest novels, some more Bachman works and lots of other stuff... Meanwhile I'm going to be occupying myself with another book thread that I'll start in a minute, this King thread will reappear probably after the North American leg of Rush tour is over, yeah it could take that long to find my way back here or it might be sooner, who can tell... That's it though for the King fest for now... I read the Talisman and then Black House about a year ago, I'd definately say that there's a connection between those 2 books and the Dark Tower series, though it's not completely clear. Black House was a little hard to get into at first but I thought it was excellent. Have you read it yet Ducky? I've just started reading Song Of Susannah, it's looking quite interesting up to now. I found the previous book in the series Wolves Of The Calla a little dissapointing at times compared to The Drawing Of The Three and Wizard And Glass which I loved. I guess your thread came back sooner than you thought No, I've not read Black House yet, I've got it ready in a draw somewhere along with about 25 other King books I've either not read yet or haven't read for ages, most about for about 20 years, so I'm looking forward to that. In the Dark Tower Series I read Wizard and Glass back in 98 and then again last October (described on here) and that's the latest one I've read so far. I'm interested in the Salem's Lot connection as regards the Wolves volume. The Wizard and Glass and The Drawing of the Three are the best two, for me anyway. I've got my old copy of The Drawing, ready to go too, so I'll read that again before I hit the newer ones... And yeah I didn't think this thread would be seen again for ages... I know what you mean, I have about 20 King books yet to read...most of them classics. In total I think we have about 200 books yet to read in the house, I hope I can fit them all in before I lose my eyesight or worse The reference to Salem's Lot in Wolves was freaky but entertaining although I've not read Salem's lot yet Enjoy Drawing again, I won't go into detail on the later Dark Tower books, at least until you've read them You've not read Salem's Lot yet???? That's amazing mate! It first came to my notice in 1980 when I saw the TV version starring David Soul of starsky and Hutch fame and James Mason. It totally blew me away and it scared the shite out of me too. Loking back now it's got a great cast of actors, Bonnie Bedelia, Lew Ayres, Elisha Cook Jr., George Dzundza, Ed Flanders, Geoffrey Lewis, Kenneth McMillan, Fred Willard, Marie Windsor, and ultra scary Reggie Nalder as Kurt Barlow. Still stands up well today too. As for the novel, I didn't read it till 1987 i didn't start reading his books till then. This one is the great though, it's hands down King's best horror novel. It's totally brilliant, not a page is wasted, the atmosphere is terrific, there's about 100 classic spooky/scary scenes starting right from the outset. The characters are great, the town they live in is another character in itself. The Marsten House is a masterful creation, the most effective "haunted house" in a book I've ever come across. It really scares you. This is genuinely scary, to the point where you start to actually believe in vampires as you read it. Its no Buffy tale with disposable demons, this is the real deal Huck mate. I envy you being able to read this for the first time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huck Posted June 26, 2007 Share Posted June 26, 2007 QUOTE (treeduck @ Jun 26 2007, 10:29 PM)QUOTE (Huck @ Jun 26 2007, 05:00 PM) QUOTE (treeduck @ Jun 26 2007, 09:43 PM) QUOTE (Huck @ Jun 26 2007, 03:54 PM) QUOTE (treeduck @ Jan 5 2007, 01:33 AM)http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/5999/stephenkingpeterstraubtlc9.jpg After reading 11 Stephen King books in a row, it was easy to spot the difference in the writing of The Talisman compared to King's solo works, the difference being the presence of Peter Straub. Obviously I hear you cry, as he co-wrote the novel, true but I never really noticed this the first time I read it back in the 80s, as it was my first Straub experience. In the interim decades however I've read quite a few Straub books and I did actually recognise his hallmarks in the story here. He has a subtler style than King, he's kind of slow to build his own stories and yet at the same time he sometimes dumps shocks on you all of a sudden and you then need to feverishly recap and reabsorb. Not here though, with King at his side he's at his most immediate and crystalline in his clarity. I used to wonder how two guys like this actually could write a book together, but I then read somewhere recently how they did the follow up book to this one Black House (which will feature in this fest later this year). One of them, say SK would write 50 pages and then paste it into an email and send it to Straub, who would read it and then do the next 50 pages and then email that to King and so on until the last 50 pages were written. I've no idea how they arranged rewrites and other drafts but I imagine it would be the same process and I imagine back in the early 80s it was the same process with The Talisman, only without the emails... As for the Talisman as an entertaining read, well it was excellent, almost as good as The Wizard and Glass and it was easy to compare it to this novel as they're similar fantastical style tales. In fact The talisman, the actual object that is, is a kind glass ball as well, but in fact it's closer, in terms of what it actually is, to the Dark Tower itself. Both are the "axis of all possible worlds" they may even be the very same thing. The Talisman is The Dark Tower the Dark Tower is The Talisman... Only messers Straub and King really know though, maybe I'll find out more when I read the final three volumes of The Dark Tower and Black House... My favourite part of this book was the section concerning the character Wolf which culminated with the events in the Sunlight Home, this section was exceptional and it had my heart pumping and I had to actually get up a few times and pace about to cool off!! While it never reached these dizzy heights again it was still great right to eventual conclusion. The villains were very good, Sunlight Gardener/Osmond, Morgan Sloat/Morgan of Orris, Elroy and Smokey Updike all suitably bad. One thing about Morgan Sloat, that I probably wouldn't have noticed if I'd not read Rose Madder just before it, was the bad habit he had of squeezing his fists till his fingernails dug into the flesh of his palms until they ran with blood just like Norman Daniels in Rose Madder, which suggests a King device rather than a Straub one... My favourite character of all had to be Wolf the friendly werewolf, friendly that was, until the time of the change... What a great character I was genuinely upset after the story moved in a direction that no longer included him... Of the 12 books that have come so far in this King Fest, this is the second best of the lot. Second only to The Wizard and Glass, so if you haven't read this one yet you should do so ASAP. As for the King fest itself this is where I'm gonna take a little break. Don't worry though it's not the end I'm only exactly one third of the way through it so far, yes that's right I've still got 24 books to go. Still to come are my personal top 5, my favourite short story collection, the last three volumes of the Dark Tower, King's latest novels, some more Bachman works and lots of other stuff... Meanwhile I'm going to be occupying myself with another book thread that I'll start in a minute, this King thread will reappear probably after the North American leg of Rush tour is over, yeah it could take that long to find my way back here or it might be sooner, who can tell... That's it though for the King fest for now... I read the Talisman and then Black House about a year ago, I'd definately say that there's a connection between those 2 books and the Dark Tower series, though it's not completely clear. Black House was a little hard to get into at first but I thought it was excellent. Have you read it yet Ducky? I've just started reading Song Of Susannah, it's looking quite interesting up to now. I found the previous book in the series Wolves Of The Calla a little dissapointing at times compared to The Drawing Of The Three and Wizard And Glass which I loved. I guess your thread came back sooner than you thought No, I've not read Black House yet, I've got it ready in a draw somewhere along with about 25 other King books I've either not read yet or haven't read for ages, most about for about 20 years, so I'm looking forward to that. In the Dark Tower Series I read Wizard and Glass back in 98 and then again last October (described on here) and that's the latest one I've read so far. I'm interested in the Salem's Lot connection as regards the Wolves volume. The Wizard and Glass and The Drawing of the Three are the best two, for me anyway. I've got my old copy of The Drawing, ready to go too, so I'll read that again before I hit the newer ones... And yeah I didn't think this thread would be seen again for ages... I know what you mean, I have about 20 King books yet to read...most of them classics. In total I think we have about 200 books yet to read in the house, I hope I can fit them all in before I lose my eyesight or worse The reference to Salem's Lot in Wolves was freaky but entertaining although I've not read Salem's lot yet Enjoy Drawing again, I won't go into detail on the later Dark Tower books, at least until you've read them You've not read Salem's Lot yet???? That's amazing mate! It first came to my notice in 1980 when I saw the TV version starring David Soul of starsky and Hutch fame and James Mason. It totally blew me away and it scared the shite out of me too. Loking back now it's got a great cast of actors, Bonnie Bedelia, Lew Ayres, Elisha Cook Jr., George Dzundza, Ed Flanders, Geoffrey Lewis, Kenneth McMillan, Fred Willard, Marie Windsor, and ultra scary Reggie Nalder as Kurt Barlow. Still stands up well today too. As for the novel, I didn't read it till 1987 i didn't start reading his books till then. This one is the great though, it's hands down King's best horror novel. It's totally brilliant, not a page is wasted, the atmosphere is terrific, there's about 100 classic spooky/scary scenes starting right from the outset. The characters are great, the town they live in is another character in itself. The Marsten House is a masterful creation, the most effective "haunted house" in a book I've ever come across. It really scares you. This is genuinely scary, to the point where you start to actually believe in vampires as you read it. Its no Buffy tale with disposable demons, this is the real deal Huck mate. I envy you being able to read this for the first time. Okay you've sold it to me, I'll read it next That could be a good idea as it ties in with Wolves and SoS I'm not sure if we have it, if not I'll pick up a copy from somewhere I only vaguely remember the film with David Soul but it was a long time ago since I watched it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treeduck Posted June 27, 2007 Author Share Posted June 27, 2007 QUOTE (Huck @ Jun 26 2007, 05:40 PM) QUOTE (treeduck @ Jun 26 2007, 10:29 PM)QUOTE (Huck @ Jun 26 2007, 05:00 PM) QUOTE (treeduck @ Jun 26 2007, 09:43 PM) QUOTE (Huck @ Jun 26 2007, 03:54 PM) QUOTE (treeduck @ Jan 5 2007, 01:33 AM)http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/5999/stephenkingpeterstraubtlc9.jpg After reading 11 Stephen King books in a row, it was easy to spot the difference in the writing of The Talisman compared to King's solo works, the difference being the presence of Peter Straub. Obviously I hear you cry, as he co-wrote the novel, true but I never really noticed this the first time I read it back in the 80s, as it was my first Straub experience. In the interim decades however I've read quite a few Straub books and I did actually recognise his hallmarks in the story here. He has a subtler style than King, he's kind of slow to build his own stories and yet at the same time he sometimes dumps shocks on you all of a sudden and you then need to feverishly recap and reabsorb. Not here though, with King at his side he's at his most immediate and crystalline in his clarity. I used to wonder how two guys like this actually could write a book together, but I then read somewhere recently how they did the follow up book to this one Black House (which will feature in this fest later this year). One of them, say SK would write 50 pages and then paste it into an email and send it to Straub, who would read it and then do the next 50 pages and then email that to King and so on until the last 50 pages were written. I've no idea how they arranged rewrites and other drafts but I imagine it would be the same process and I imagine back in the early 80s it was the same process with The Talisman, only without the emails... As for the Talisman as an entertaining read, well it was excellent, almost as good as The Wizard and Glass and it was easy to compare it to this novel as they're similar fantastical style tales. In fact The talisman, the actual object that is, is a kind glass ball as well, but in fact it's closer, in terms of what it actually is, to the Dark Tower itself. Both are the "axis of all possible worlds" they may even be the very same thing. The Talisman is The Dark Tower the Dark Tower is The Talisman... Only messers Straub and King really know though, maybe I'll find out more when I read the final three volumes of The Dark Tower and Black House... My favourite part of this book was the section concerning the character Wolf which culminated with the events in the Sunlight Home, this section was exceptional and it had my heart pumping and I had to actually get up a few times and pace about to cool off!! While it never reached these dizzy heights again it was still great right to eventual conclusion. The villains were very good, Sunlight Gardener/Osmond, Morgan Sloat/Morgan of Orris, Elroy and Smokey Updike all suitably bad. One thing about Morgan Sloat, that I probably wouldn't have noticed if I'd not read Rose Madder just before it, was the bad habit he had of squeezing his fists till his fingernails dug into the flesh of his palms until they ran with blood just like Norman Daniels in Rose Madder, which suggests a King device rather than a Straub one... My favourite character of all had to be Wolf the friendly werewolf, friendly that was, until the time of the change... What a great character I was genuinely upset after the story moved in a direction that no longer included him... Of the 12 books that have come so far in this King Fest, this is the second best of the lot. Second only to The Wizard and Glass, so if you haven't read this one yet you should do so ASAP. As for the King fest itself this is where I'm gonna take a little break. Don't worry though it's not the end I'm only exactly one third of the way through it so far, yes that's right I've still got 24 books to go. Still to come are my personal top 5, my favourite short story collection, the last three volumes of the Dark Tower, King's latest novels, some more Bachman works and lots of other stuff... Meanwhile I'm going to be occupying myself with another book thread that I'll start in a minute, this King thread will reappear probably after the North American leg of Rush tour is over, yeah it could take that long to find my way back here or it might be sooner, who can tell... That's it though for the King fest for now... I read the Talisman and then Black House about a year ago, I'd definately say that there's a connection between those 2 books and the Dark Tower series, though it's not completely clear. Black House was a little hard to get into at first but I thought it was excellent. Have you read it yet Ducky? I've just started reading Song Of Susannah, it's looking quite interesting up to now. I found the previous book in the series Wolves Of The Calla a little dissapointing at times compared to The Drawing Of The Three and Wizard And Glass which I loved. I guess your thread came back sooner than you thought No, I've not read Black House yet, I've got it ready in a draw somewhere along with about 25 other King books I've either not read yet or haven't read for ages, most about for about 20 years, so I'm looking forward to that. In the Dark Tower Series I read Wizard and Glass back in 98 and then again last October (described on here) and that's the latest one I've read so far. I'm interested in the Salem's Lot connection as regards the Wolves volume. The Wizard and Glass and The Drawing of the Three are the best two, for me anyway. I've got my old copy of The Drawing, ready to go too, so I'll read that again before I hit the newer ones... And yeah I didn't think this thread would be seen again for ages... I know what you mean, I have about 20 King books yet to read...most of them classics. In total I think we have about 200 books yet to read in the house, I hope I can fit them all in before I lose my eyesight or worse The reference to Salem's Lot in Wolves was freaky but entertaining although I've not read Salem's lot yet Enjoy Drawing again, I won't go into detail on the later Dark Tower books, at least until you've read them You've not read Salem's Lot yet???? That's amazing mate! It first came to my notice in 1980 when I saw the TV version starring David Soul of starsky and Hutch fame and James Mason. It totally blew me away and it scared the shite out of me too. Loking back now it's got a great cast of actors, Bonnie Bedelia, Lew Ayres, Elisha Cook Jr., George Dzundza, Ed Flanders, Geoffrey Lewis, Kenneth McMillan, Fred Willard, Marie Windsor, and ultra scary Reggie Nalder as Kurt Barlow. Still stands up well today too. As for the novel, I didn't read it till 1987 i didn't start reading his books till then. This one is the great though, it's hands down King's best horror novel. It's totally brilliant, not a page is wasted, the atmosphere is terrific, there's about 100 classic spooky/scary scenes starting right from the outset. The characters are great, the town they live in is another character in itself. The Marsten House is a masterful creation, the most effective "haunted house" in a book I've ever come across. It really scares you. This is genuinely scary, to the point where you start to actually believe in vampires as you read it. Its no Buffy tale with disposable demons, this is the real deal Huck mate. I envy you being able to read this for the first time. Okay you've sold it to me, I'll read it next That could be a good idea as it ties in with Wolves and SoS I'm not sure if we have it, if not I'll pick up a copy from somewhere I only vaguely remember the film with David Soul but it was a long time ago since I watched it Cool, don't forget to tell me what you think of it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turn Me On Dead Man Posted August 10, 2007 Share Posted August 10, 2007 (edited) The King books I have read are: It, The Long Walk, Misery, The Green Mile The King books I want to read next are: The Shining, The Regulators, Desperation, The Dead Zone Edited August 10, 2007 by Turn Me On Dead Man Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Digital Man Posted August 11, 2007 Share Posted August 11, 2007 QUOTE (Turn Me On Dead Man @ Aug 10 2007, 02:04 PM) The King books I have read are: It, The Long Walk, Misery, The Green Mile The King books I want to read next are: The Shining, The Regulators, Desperation, The Dead Zone The Stand is a must read & then The Dark Tower series. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turn Me On Dead Man Posted August 11, 2007 Share Posted August 11, 2007 QUOTE (Digital Man @ Aug 11 2007, 06:35 AM) QUOTE (Turn Me On Dead Man @ Aug 10 2007, 02:04 PM) The King books I have read are: It, The Long Walk, Misery, The Green Mile The King books I want to read next are: The Shining, The Regulators, Desperation, The Dead Zone The Stand is a must read & then The Dark Tower series. I started to read The Stand, but I lost interest. I may try again in the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rush! Posted August 12, 2007 Share Posted August 12, 2007 I must start reading some King again... I'm really looking forward to Firestarter and Christine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treeduck Posted October 14, 2008 Author Share Posted October 14, 2008 (edited) Edited October 14, 2008 by treeduck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeddyRulz Posted October 14, 2008 Share Posted October 14, 2008 QUOTE (Turn Me On Dead Man @ Aug 11 2007, 03:33 PM) QUOTE (Digital Man @ Aug 11 2007, 06:35 AM) QUOTE (Turn Me On Dead Man @ Aug 10 2007, 02:04 PM) The King books I have read are: It, The Long Walk, Misery, The Green Mile The King books I want to read next are: The Shining, The Regulators, Desperation, The Dead Zone The Stand is a must read & then The Dark Tower series. I started to read The Stand, but I lost interest. I may try again in the future. I kept losing interest, too. It took me three attempts before I could stay with it... but then I couldn't put it down! Probably the best King novel there is, just ask King fans. As for Dark Tower, I never want to commit myself to that much reading on one story. I read the first, and stopped. I just re-read "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption" and am currently reading "The Body." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthemic Posted October 25, 2008 Share Posted October 25, 2008 QUOTE (Digital Man @ Aug 11 2007, 06:35 AM) QUOTE (Turn Me On Dead Man @ Aug 10 2007, 02:04 PM) The King books I have read are: It, The Long Walk, Misery, The Green Mile The King books I want to read next are: The Shining, The Regulators, Desperation, The Dead Zone The Stand is a must read & then The Dark Tower series. The Stand kicks serious ass, one of my favorite books of all time not just Stephen King. I'm talking about the REAL version of it, the original one from the 70s not the expanded version, editors edit for a reason and updating the cultural references is just pathetic. The first book of the Dark Tower series is The Gunslinger and it's a great book too, just amazing. The rest of the series not so much. The thing about the Gunslinger is that King wrote it when he still cared. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turn Me On Dead Man Posted October 25, 2008 Share Posted October 25, 2008 QUOTE (Rush! @ Oct 8 2006, 07:37 PM) Cool Treeduck. Post some reviews in the Stephen King thread I have too. Yes! I agree. I just adore Stephen King books. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treeduck Posted November 11, 2008 Author Share Posted November 11, 2008 QUOTE (Turn Me On Dead Man @ Oct 25 2008, 09:01 AM) QUOTE (Rush! @ Oct 8 2006, 07:37 PM) Cool Treeduck. Post some reviews in the Stephen King thread I have too. Yes! I agree. I just adore Stephen King books. I've still not gotten around to restarting this yet...soon though... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DiscipleofLerxst Posted November 12, 2008 Share Posted November 12, 2008 I used to read King all the time starting about 20 years ago when I discovered reading was something more than just what your teachers forced you into. Although....I haven't read any of his never stuff...kinda like I love the purity of the older material. What I've read. Carrie Cycle of the Werewolf The Dead Zone Gunslinger (I think that was the first in the Dark Tower series) Dolores Clairborne The Eyes of the Dragon Gerald game It Misery Needful Things Salems Lot (possibly my favorite book of all time. Read it at least 5 times, twice this year and I just finished it the other day) The Shining The Stand (both cut and uncut versions) The Talisman The Tommyknockers Different Seasons (Compilation of short stories) Four Past Midnight (Compilation of short stories) Nightmare & Dreamscapes (Compilation of short stories) Nightshift (Compilation of short stories) Skeleton Crew (Compilation of short stories) I think that's it...I guess I should at least try some of his newer stuff...anyone got any suggestions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treeduck Posted November 13, 2008 Author Share Posted November 13, 2008 QUOTE (DiscipleofLerxst @ Nov 12 2008, 06:21 PM) I used to read King all the time starting about 20 years ago when I discovered reading was something more than just what your teachers forced you into. Although....I haven't read any of his never stuff...kinda like I love the purity of the older material. What I've read. Carrie Cycle of the Werewolf The Dead Zone Gunslinger (I think that was the first in the Dark Tower series) Dolores Clairborne The Eyes of the Dragon Gerald game It Misery Needful Things Salems Lot (possibly my favorite book of all time. Read it at least 5 times, twice this year and I just finished it the other day) The Shining The Stand (both cut and uncut versions) The Talisman The Tommyknockers Different Seasons (Compilation of short stories) Four Past Midnight (Compilation of short stories) Nightmare & Dreamscapes (Compilation of short stories) Nightshift (Compilation of short stories) Skeleton Crew (Compilation of short stories) I think that's it...I guess I should at least try some of his newer stuff...anyone got any suggestions? The best newer King novel I've read (though From a Buick 8 is the latest one I've read thus far) is the fourth volume of the Dark Tower series Wizard and Glass. That novel is right up there with his old stuff. Watch this thread for my opinion on his newer stuff, I have most of his new novels ready to go... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GedHead Posted December 10, 2008 Share Posted December 10, 2008 Duma Key is a great read. It only took me 2 1/2 days CREEPY Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treeduck Posted December 10, 2008 Author Share Posted December 10, 2008 QUOTE (GedHead @ Dec 10 2008, 01:59 PM) Duma Key is a great read. It only took me 2 1/2 days CREEPY Cool... I'm finally getting my KINGFEST going again this week... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turn Me On Dead Man Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 (edited) QUOTE (GedHead @ Dec 10 2008, 01:59 PM) Duma Key is a great read. It only took me 2 1/2 days CREEPY That one was good, but it was VERY strange. Edited December 12, 2008 by Turn Me On Dead Man Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treeduck Posted December 12, 2008 Author Share Posted December 12, 2008 Ok fellow Rushiac "Constant Readers" I'm finally back in this thread, for the duration, hopefully. I've just been digging some old King books out of the attic, part of the reason for the delay with this. So here's another recap of what I've read so far in this King fest in the order I read them, or in all but two cases re-read them: 1 Wizard and Glass (1997) 2 Bag of Bones (1998) 3 Hearts in Atlantis (1999) 4 The Regulators (1996) 5 Desperation (1996) 6 From a Buick 8 (2002) 7 Everything’s Eventual (2002) 8 Christine (1983) 9 Cujo (1981) 10 Pet Sematary (1983) 11 Rose Madder (1995) 12 The Talisman (1995) At the top of the list there you'll see the fourth volume in the Dark Tower series, the one I started this thing off with about 14 months ago. And although I'll be reading them out of order I'm going to re-start things with volume 2 in the series, The Drawing of the Three, because it's so good and i didn't want to leave it out. In fact it's almost as good as Wizard and Glass itself which surprised me at the time as I wasn't at all impressed with The Gunslinger volume, which I found confusing and boring. When I read this one though wow I was blown away, this book is vintage King I thought. It's an important volume as this is where Roland first meets the sidekicks that will be with him on the journey to come. I've yet to read the final three volumes in the series, I'm going to read them in sequence later in this King fest, stay tuned for that. Anyway here's what my copy of The Drawing of the Three looks like: http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/9020/drawingqd9.jpg This second volume was first published in the UK in 1989 by Sphere books (it was originally published in the US in 1987). Nowadays his usual UK publisher Hodder and Stoughton own all the Dark Tower books. This Sphere copy I have here though is tres cool, in large softback form with all the original Phil Hale full colour illustrations. I've luckily kept it in good condition too (much better than the one in that ebay pic above) So I'm coming back to this book some 20 years after I first read it. I think that's plenty long enough to justify a re-read, don't you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treeduck Posted December 14, 2008 Author Share Posted December 14, 2008 http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/9020/drawingqd9.jpg I'm already well on with this one and it's an enjoyable read right from the prologue. Much more enjoyable than the Gunslinger volume. You're better off reading that one first though as it sets up the character and introduces us to the World That's Moved On. When he interacts with characters from "our world" like Eddie Dean it makes the subsequent scenes much more significant as we "know" Roland rather than him being just one more of a collection of all new characters. King has a certain flair for making a single sentence become an unsettling mantra that we see repeated at crucial moments like the voice of the man in black to the gunslinger about Eddie Dean as he struggles with his infected arm: A trifle upsetting, isn't he? Oh yeah I read paragraph on page 37 that made me think of a TRFer, the man who in fact is the quartermaster of this very sub-forum, Jack Aubrey. I'm not sure if he visits this thread but I'll submit the paragraph anyway. And, so far as he could tell, not one of them was armed - he saw no dagger or sword let alone a gun. What kind of trusting sheep were these? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhosyn Helena Posted December 16, 2008 Share Posted December 16, 2008 I'm currently ploughing my way through the Dark Tower series which I *borrowed* from my mum. She doesn't have 1 or 3, but I've read 2 and 4 and I'm now halfway through 5... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treeduck Posted December 16, 2008 Author Share Posted December 16, 2008 QUOTE (Rhosyn Helena @ Dec 16 2008, 12:47 PM) I'm currently ploughing my way through the Dark Tower series which I *borrowed* from my mum. She doesn't have 1 or 3, but I've read 2 and 4 and I'm now halfway through 5... Don't tell me what happens in 5 and I won't tell you what happens in 3... Meanwhile I'm on the beach with Roland, Eddie and Odetta...and Detta... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ozzy85 Posted December 16, 2008 Share Posted December 16, 2008 QUOTE (GedHead @ Dec 10 2008, 01:59 PM) Duma Key is a great read. It only took me 2 1/2 days CREEPY I just finished reading this one a few days back. Good read. Creepy in only some parts, mostly the end. Almost an empowering story of recovery in a way. I read Blaze just previously, another good one. I go through phases of reading his books. Seems like he's hitting a good stretch after writing a few I didn't care much for earlier this decade. I gave up on From a Buick 8. I guess I was hoping for something akin to Christine (my first King novel.) I see there's another short story compilation on the shelves... I'll have to get one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GedHead Posted December 17, 2008 Share Posted December 17, 2008 Ya, After Sunset short stories I believe it is called. Bought it for myself for christmas. So I haven't read any of it. I'm going to have to go back and read From a Buick 8. It's been a while.. I don't remember to much about it except a car and cops. Maybe I'll do that during the holiday vacation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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