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My Mom is a huge fan of King's work & I've been thinking about checking his stuff out. Now, I'm kind of obsessive-compulsive with going in chronological order, so should I start with Carrie and just go on from there? Or does it really matter at all? If it doesn't, I'd like to just start with Carrie and move on from there. Also, I'm only a Sophomore in High School right now, will I be able to understand his books, are there a lot of confusing words/concepts that I won't understand? King's style of suspense/horror writing seems to be great for me. So what are your guys' recommendations?

 

Also, should I read the book first and THEN see the movie? Or vice/versa?

 

 

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It really doesn't matter which way you attack them, or whether you've already seen the movie(s). And as a high school soph, you should have no problem reading.

 

If you're really truly anal about the chronological thing, I believe they go:

Carrie

Salem's Lot

The Shining

The Stand

 

That should get you started.

 

 

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the books are always better than the movies, so definately read the books first!!!

Misery is one of my all time favorites....

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QUOTE (deadwing2112 @ Sep 26 2006, 09:06 PM)
Start with Desperation.

my all time fav king book yes.gif

 

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His 70s stuff is his best work...

 

A lot of stuff from the 80s is cool too

 

Needful Things and Desperation are good...

 

The Dark Tower series is worth following too...

 

I notice something about King's writing though from the 90s onward...

 

King was always known for his rich underlying subplots with feuding folks and salacious secrets etc, which really enriched his work and fleshed out the main story. By Needful Things though he had no main story and was relying solely on those subplots, those feuding folks were all he had left... With Insomnia he stretched one subplot (the abortion feud/demonstration) and made it last the whole book like it was the only idea he had left... That would have been a minor subplot that was dealt with by page 165 of the 600 page novel in the old days...

 

So what I'm saying is by and large King used to be good but he burned out along the way somewhere...

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The Stand remains my favourite King book, but I must confess a recurring problem I have with King is his endings can be weak.

 

This was underlined for me again this year when I read Cell.

 

To the list of recommended reading, I'd add

 

It

Different Seasons (Four novellas, three of thenm filmed, must be a record)

Dolores Claiborne

Hearts In Atlantis

The Dark Half

The Bachman Books (Particularly The Long Walk)

 

 

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QUOTE (madra sneachta @ Sep 27 2006, 01:36 PM)
The Stand remains my favourite King book, but I must confess a recurring problem I have with King is his endings can be weak.

This was underlined for me again this year when I read Cell.

To the list of recommended reading, I'd add

It
Different Seasons (Four novellas, three of thenm filmed, must be a record)
Dolores Claiborne
Hearts In Atlantis
The Dark Half
The Bachman Books (Particularly The Long Walk)

I think "The Dark Half" is a perfect example of those "weak endings" you speak of. It builds and builds and then... a cliche Hollywood ending. The premise was weak to begin with: an author's nom-de-plume comes to life and tries to overtake him. That's the kind of thing that might happen in a comic book, but King novels should be better than that.

 

My faves:

The Stand

Pet Sematary

The Dead Zone

Misery

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QUOTE (GeddyRulz @ Sep 27 2006, 02:10 PM)
QUOTE (madra sneachta @ Sep 27 2006, 01:36 PM)
The Stand remains my favourite King book, but I must confess a recurring problem I have with King is his endings can be weak.

This was underlined for me again this year when I read Cell.

To the list of recommended reading, I'd add

It
Different Seasons (Four novellas, three of thenm filmed, must be a record)
Dolores Claiborne
Hearts In Atlantis
The Dark Half
The Bachman Books (Particularly The Long Walk)

I think "The Dark Half" is a perfect example of those "weak endings" you speak of. It builds and builds and then... a cliche Hollywood ending. The premise was weak to begin with: an author's nom-de-plume comes to life and tries to overtake him. That's the kind of thing that might happen in a comic book, but King novels should be better than that.

 

My faves:

The Stand

Pet Sematary

The Dead Zone

Misery

It's a weak idea GR altogether...a guy haunted by his own pseudonym?? it's not just weak it's daft. Somehow King crafted an exciting book out of it because he's good but if you start with a weak idea there's a good chance you're gonna finish weak...

 

The Stand is a good read, for the first half, but once all the disperate survivors found each other it went right downhill. The characters all got a little too comfortable with everything and were more than a little annoying. In the end I was rooting for Harold and Flagg. But the villains turned out to be sheep in wolves clothing defeated by hope and desperation to survive created by the author's own sentimentality for the protagonists. I just didn't believe how this evil being that had been built up as such a bad ass over hundreds of pages then turned out to be such a damp squib.

 

"It" was a little like that, this all-powerful being defeated by a group of burnt-out self proclaimed losers by means of a gang bang?? Ludicrous...

 

It was really good most of the way through though, just a ridiculously disappointing ending...

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The only benefit to reading the books in order is that he will reference something from another one of his books when giving the history of an area or background on a character in later books.

 

The ending of IT was more than a "gangbang". Maybe it was the love all the kids felt for Bev & each other. They gave of themselves to each other. Bev gave to all the boys, each of the boys was able to put aside their own feelings and share Bev with the others. THAT is what drove the monster away, and it wasn't killed or they would not have had to come back to Derry as adults.

 

The Cell did have a horrible ending, or maybe non-ending is better. wink.gif

 

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QUOTE (Digital Man @ Sep 27 2006, 04:04 PM)
The only benefit to reading the books in order is that he will reference something from another one of his books when giving the history of an area or background on a character in later books.

The ending of IT was more than a "gangbang". Maybe it was the love all the kids felt for Bev & each other. They gave of themselves to each other. Bev gave to all the boys, each of the boys was able to put aside their own feelings and share Bev with the others. THAT is what drove the monster away, and it wasn't killed or they would not have had to come back to Derry as adults.

The Cell did have a horrible ending, or maybe non-ending is better. wink.gif

Yeah "gangbang" was a little too simplistic and dismissive but you have to admit it's a disappointing and lame way to end the reign of terror of a creature that had supposedly ruled over the area for centuries albeit in 30 year cycles...

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QUOTE
The Stand is a good read, for the first half, but once all the disperate survivors found each other it went right downhill. The characters all got a little too comfortable with everything and were more than a little annoying. In the end I was rooting for Harold and Flagg. But the villains turned out to be sheep in wolves clothing defeated by hope and desperation to survive created by the author's own sentimentality for the protagonists. I just didn't believe how this evil being that had been built up as such a bad ass over hundreds of pages then turned out to be such a damp squib.

 

I think you're being hard on "The Stand." If anything, the second half was better than the first, in my opinion. The first half was just the death of Earth's population to a "super flu," and the handful of survivors having bad dreams as they travel to Boulder (the "good" guys) or Las Vegas (the "bad" guys). The second half was more dynamic - the relationships between characters, the infiltration of Flagg's city by the three "Scouts" (the Judge, Tom Cullen, and Dana), and the heroes' final "stand." As the tagline to the mini-series says, "The end of the world was just the beginning." The real "stand" between good and evil is in the second half.

 

And Flagg was a "damp squib" all along, posing as a greater threat than he was. That was the point - "the devil" isn't the threat he's cracked-up to be, though he's still a formidable opponent. Flagg was called out on this by the arthritic old man, Glen Bateman:

 

"You're nothing!" Glen said, wiping his streaming eyes and still chuckling. "Oh pardon me...it's just that we were all so frightened...we made such a business out of you...I'm laughing as much at our own foolishness as at your regrettable lack of substance..."'

Edited by GeddyRulz
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QUOTE (GeddyRulz @ Sep 27 2006, 04:22 PM)
QUOTE
The Stand is a good read, for the first half, but once all the disperate survivors found each other it went right downhill. The characters all got a little too comfortable with everything and were more than a little annoying. In the end I was rooting for Harold and Flagg. But the villains turned out to be sheep in wolves clothing defeated by hope and desperation to survive created by the author's own sentimentality for the protagonists. I just didn't believe how this evil being that had been built up as such a bad ass over hundreds of pages then turned out to be such a damp squib.

 

I think you're being hard on "The Stand." If anything, the second half was better than the first, in my opinion. The first half was just the death of Earth's population to a "super flu," and the handful of survivors having bad dreams as they travel to Boulder (the "good" guys) or Las Vegas (the "bad" guys). The second half was more dynamic - the relationships between characters, the infiltration of Flagg's city by the three "Scouts" (the Judge, Tom Cullen, and Dana), and the heroes' final "stand." As the tagline to the mini-series says, "The end of the world was just the beginning." The real "stand" between good and evil is in the second half.

 

And Flagg was a "damp squib" all along, posing as a greater threat than he was. That was the point - "the devil" isn't the threat he's cracked-up to be, though he's still a formidable opponent. Flagg was called out on this by the arthritic old man, Glen Bateman:

 

"You're nothing!" Glen said, wiping his streaming eyes and still chuckling. "Oh pardon me...it's just that we were all so frightened...we made such a business out of you...I'm laughing as much at our own foolishness as at your regrettable lack of substance..."'

I enjoyed the unexpurgated version more, what about that for a character saved from the cutting room floor so to speak? THE KID!! "Don't tell me I'll tell you!!"

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QUOTE (GeddyRulz @ Sep 27 2006, 04:22 PM)
QUOTE
The Stand is a good read, for the first half, but once all the disperate survivors found each other it went right downhill. The characters all got a little too comfortable with everything and were more than a little annoying. In the end I was rooting for Harold and Flagg. But the villains turned out to be sheep in wolves clothing defeated by hope and desperation to survive created by the author's own sentimentality for the protagonists. I just didn't believe how this evil being that had been built up as such a bad ass over hundreds of pages then turned out to be such a damp squib.

 

I think you're being hard on "The Stand." If anything, the second half was better than the first, in my opinion. The first half was just the death of Earth's population to a "super flu," and the handful of survivors having bad dreams as they travel to Boulder (the "good" guys) or Las Vegas (the "bad" guys). The second half was more dynamic - the relationships between characters, the infiltration of Flagg's city by the three "Scouts" (the Judge, Tom Cullen, and Dana), and the heroes' final "stand." As the tagline to the mini-series says, "The end of the world was just the beginning." The real "stand" between good and evil is in the second half.

 

And Flagg was a "damp squib" all along, posing as a greater threat than he was. That was the point - "the devil" isn't the threat he's cracked-up to be, though he's still a formidable opponent. Flagg was called out on this by the arthritic old man, Glen Bateman:

 

"You're nothing!" Glen said, wiping his streaming eyes and still chuckling. "Oh pardon me...it's just that we were all so frightened...we made such a business out of you...I'm laughing as much at our own foolishness as at your regrettable lack of substance..."'

I enjoyed their struggle to find each other in the first half of the book more, the communal love in afterwards left me cold and I really did start to root for Harold and Flagg... I think I expected more from the novel...

 

I never felt Barlow from Salem's Lot was a damp squib he was a perfect bad guy and was dealt with in a wholely satisfying way, ie is wasn't a cakewalk... Barlow scared the shit out of me and that's what you want from a horror villain...

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Actually speaking of King I meant to buy/borrow this volume this year...

 

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0385516487.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

 

With two new stories and updated text, this definitive illustrated edition of "Salem's Lot" contains two new stories relating to the novel and updated text throughout. Upon its initial publication in 1975, "Salem's Lot", with its 'intended echoes of Dracula'. was recognized as a landmark work. The novel has sold millions of copies in various editions. Now, with the addition of fifty pages of material deleted from the 1975 manuscript as well as material that has since been modified by King, an introduction by him, and two short stories related to the events of the novel, this edition represents the text as the author envisioned it. It also features lavishly creepy photographs by acclaimed photographer Jerry Uelsmann, printed interior endpapers, and a stunning page design.

 

http://foros.kaliman.com.mx/discus/messages/42/5467.jpg

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I've been checking out King at numerous websites, this sounds like some great material here. I will probably start with Carrie and move on from there. Firestarter and Cujo sound very good particularly, as well as the main plot for The Stand. How long are his books on average?
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Ok here's my full assessment:

 

Great King books:-

 

Salem's Lot

The Shining

Nightshift

The Dead Zone

The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three

The Dark tower IV: Wizard and Glass

 

Great King books with poor endings/second halfs (my complaints don't ruin the my overall love of the book):-

 

The Stand

It

 

Nearly great King Books:-

 

Misery

Desperation

The Regulators

Thinner

The Tommyknockers

 

Good King books:-

 

Rage

The Long Walk

Firestarter

The Talisman

Christine

Different Seasons

Skeleton Crew

The Running Man

Four Past Midnight

The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands

 

King books with a weak idea that turned into a very good book because of King's ability to write something interesting about almost anything:-

 

The Dark Half

Gerald's Game

Needful Things

 

Humdrum king books:-

 

Carrie

Cujo

The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger

Pet Semetary

The Eyes of the Dragon

Delores Claibourne

 

King books that suck ass:-

 

Insomnia

Rose Madder

The Green Mile

The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon

Bag of Bones

Hearts in Atlantis

 

Books I never got around to:-

 

Cycle of the Werewolf

My Pretty Pony

 

Books I've yet to read that sound good:-

 

Black House

The Dark Tower V: The Wolves of the Calla

The Dark tower VI: Song of Susannah

The dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower

The Colorado Kid

 

Books I've yet to read that sound like they suck ass-

 

The New Leiutenant's Rap

Dreamcatcher

From a Buick 8

Everything's Eventual

Cell

Lisey's Story

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QUOTE (Rush! @ Sep 28 2006, 09:01 PM)
I've been checking out King at numerous websites, this sounds like some great material here. I will probably start with Carrie and move on from there. Firestarter and Cujo sound very good particularly, as well as the main plot for The Stand. How long are his books on average?

They go from 200-1200 pages

 

Carrie is on the short end , It and The expanded version of The Stand are the huge long ones...

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QUOTE (treeduck @ Sep 28 2006, 09:22 PM)
They go from 200-1200 pages

Carrie is on the short end , It and The expanded version of The Stand are the huge long ones...

Yes, my Mom told me that The Stand & It were the longest ones that she's read. I believe she has the "Uncut and Expanded" version of The Stand.

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QUOTE (Rush! @ Oct 1 2006, 07:56 PM)
QUOTE (treeduck @ Sep 28 2006, 09:22 PM)
They go from 200-1200 pages

Carrie is on the short end , It and The expanded version of The Stand are the huge long ones...

Yes, my Mom told me that The Stand & It were the longest ones that she's read. I believe she has the "Uncut and Expanded" version of The Stand.

Yeah, when I read the unexpurgated, expanded, un-cut version of the Stand back in 1990 (I'd already read the original) it was about 1200 pages, but that was a hardback in paperback it's like 1400. A lot people have pops at King for the length of some of his books but pre-1994 King always made every one of those pages interesting, but he began lose that ability, for me anyway, after that with novels like Rose Madder, Insomnia, Bag of Bones and The Green Mile which are filled with useless waffle that I really felt like skipping and I never felt that way before and in the end I gave up on the guy. I am gonna get the last three volumes of the Dark Tower though and I'll revisit some of my favourites in the near future...

 

Oh yeah as I pointed out a few posts ago, they've done an un-cut version of Salem's Lot but instead of including it in an expanded version of the novel they've just added it at the back of the original edition like an index or an appendix, which is totally crap, so don't buy that just get a paperback version...

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QUOTE (treeduck @ Oct 1 2006, 09:51 PM)
Yeah, when I read the unexpurgated, expanded, un-cut version of the Stand back in 1990 (I'd already read the original) it was about 1200 pages, but that was a hardback in paperback it's like 1400. A lot people have pops at King for the length of some of his books but pre-1994 King always made every one of those pages interesting, but he began lose that ability, for me anyway, after that with novels like Rose Madder, Insomnia, Bag of Bones and The Green Mile which are filled with useless waffle that I really felt like skipping and I never felt that way before and in the end I gave up on the guy. I am gonna get the last three volumes of the Dark Tower though and I'll revisit some of my favourites in the near future...

Oh yeah as I pointed out a few posts ago, they've done an un-cut version of Salem's Lot but instead of including it in an expanded version of the novel they've just added it at the back of the original edition like an index or an appendix, which is totally crap, so don't buy that just get a paperback version...

I'll definitely buy the expanded & un-cut version of The Stand when I get to it. Barnes & Noble is the nearest bookstore to me, but that place usually has everything I'm looking for. I'd actually like to look for the original books for the most part, with the original covers.

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QUOTE (Rush! @ Oct 1 2006, 08:56 PM)
QUOTE (treeduck @ Oct 1 2006, 09:51 PM)
Yeah, when I read the unexpurgated, expanded, un-cut version of the Stand back in 1990 (I'd already read the original) it was about 1200 pages, but that was a hardback in paperback it's like 1400. A lot people have pops at King for the length of some of his books but pre-1994 King always made every one of those pages interesting, but he began lose that ability, for me anyway, after  that with novels like Rose Madder, Insomnia, Bag of Bones and The Green Mile which are filled with useless waffle that I really felt like skipping and I never felt that way before and in the end I gave up on the guy. I am gonna get the last three volumes of the Dark Tower though and I'll revisit some of my favourites in the near future...

Oh yeah as I pointed out a few posts ago, they've done an un-cut version of Salem's Lot but instead of including it in an expanded version of the novel they've just added it at the back of the original edition like an index or an appendix, which is totally crap, so don't buy that just get a paperback version...

I'll definitely buy the expanded & un-cut version of The Stand when I get to it. Barnes & Noble is the nearest bookstore to me, but that place usually has everything I'm looking for. I'd actually like to look for the original books for the most part, with the original covers.

That'd be expensive, even I've not read a lot of Kings stuff with the original covers. Mind you over here in the UK we have a whole different set of covers for King books. I still have a lot of hardcovers from the 80s like Misery, The Tommyknockers and so on. Here's a site with all of his covers from around the world...

 

http://www.stephenkingshop.com/bookcovers.htm

 

 

 

 

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I think if one is going to read (or re-read) "The Stand," one should stick with the original release. Forget about that "expanded" edition; the story is well-covered with less pages in the original. The larger edition just contains a lot of unnecessary information about Trash Can Man; who needs all that?

 

 

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QUOTE (GeddyRulz @ Oct 2 2006, 06:07 AM)
I think if one is going to read (or re-read) "The Stand," one should stick with the original release. Forget about that "expanded" edition; the story is well-covered with less pages in the original. The larger edition just contains a lot of unnecessary information about Trash Can Man; who needs all that?

Well, Stephen King, since he released it...

 

tongue.gif

 

 

 

 

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