Top 5 Authors You Would Read Regardless

[[deleted user]]

Julianne, not sure who you posed the question to, but my favorite King is The Stand. Next favorite was The Dark Half.

[Julianne]

Macy/Jeremy-

I think mine would be Salem's Lot, but I haven't read it since high school and I think I was on a bit of a vampire kick then (read Anne Rice, too).

I haven't read the Stand (I have visions of hundreds of you rolling your eyes skyward and audibly groaning). Don't worry, it's on my list.

I liked the Dark Half, too. Bag of Bones is on my "owned but not yet read" list (it was one of those I found on my shelf and have no idea where it came from--hardback, too).

I read the Gunslingers when only 1-3 came out and I loved them. I think I may have read #4, b/c when I picked it up it seemed familiar. I think, to avoid confusion, I'm just gonna start all over again--now I gotta find my copies!

[Chloe]

All of this love for The Stand makes me think that I missed something when I read it. My favorite King is easily The Shining. No other comes close, except the first four books of The Dark Tower.

[[deleted user]]

I can't say for sure what it is I like most about The Stand. It just seemed well put together, fascinating plot and characters. It is a book that I think literary critics should give him some credit for. I haven't read The Shining but loved the movie.

I wouldn't roll my eyes, though, about not having read it. It was merely a choice I made at the bookstore to pick it not knowing that it would become my favorite.

My least favorite is Gerald's Game.

My most recent favorite is Lisey's Story

[Macy]

Jeremy - I loved Lisey's Story - it's the first in a while that really creeped me out.

My favorite thing about The Stand was the characters. I remember feeling so close to them by the end of the book. The Shining is also a great book. I've been to the Stanley Hotel a couple times, which is where King was staying when he got the idea for the book. They also filmed the TV version of the movie there. It's definitely a creepy hotel, and really adds some more dimension to the book (not that it lacks any on its own).

[[deleted user]]

Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeere's Johhny!

Where is the Stanley Hotel? For some reason Lisey's Story did not creep me out. He had me right on the edge, though.

Julianne - I liked On Writing, as well. It was amazing to find out about what was going on while he was writing and how candid he was. Which remind me. Misery is probably actually my 2nd favorite.

[Macy]

The Stanley Hotel is in Estes Park, CO. Check it out online, it's a beautiful hotel (and town) and I think their website has some info about the various ghost stories in the hotel. We did a ghost tour there, and some of the areas made me feel very uncomfortable!

[April]

I just inherited a dresser from my grandmother and it's full of stuff. However, in the very back of the bottom drawer, I found 10 books! One is Nightmares & Dreamscapes and one is The Stand- neither of which I have read yet so I'm stoked!

The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon is my least favorite King and Gerald's Game is next.

[Charity]

Oh! There is one of the creepiest short stories in N & D that I've ever read. I can't remember the name of it right now, but it got under my skin BIG TIME!

[April]

Uh, it wasn't about spiders, was it?

[[deleted user]]

April - we're on the same page (or book) about least favorite King novels!

[April]

In TGWLTG I kept hoping for a mutant to pop out of the stream or a killer dog to catch her scent, ya know?

[Charity]

No...it was about a guy doing an experiment on himself...to make himself smarter, I believe.

[April]

WHEW! I'm starting it tonight-- I can handle all that crazy stuff but put a spider in it, and I'm done for!

[Charity]

Question for King fans...what is the name of the short story with the toy monkey with the cymbals? And what book is it in?

[Charity]

Oh April, I found it...the short story is called "The End of the Whole Mess". Very creepy, but a bit of a rip-off of Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes.

[[deleted user]]

Flower for Algernon...yet another unread book on my shelf at home...

[Charity]

Did you ever see the movie adaptation, Charly? Amazing!!

[Charity]

Any ideas on the toy monkey w/ cymbals story??

[Chloe]

I can't think of the name of the story, but I know that I've read it (so basically I guess I'm saying I'm useless here).

I still haven't read Flowers For Algernon either, but it's one of those books I feel like I've already read via osmosis because I know so much of the story. Stupid cultural touchstones...

[April]

Charity: According to Wikipedia it's called "The Monkey." Go figure? And is in Skeleton Crew.

[Lori, Super Mod]

Thats an oldie but goodie. Kings old stuff was much much creepier ... Musta been all the drugs. .Just sayin'.

[[deleted user]]

And that kids, is why you shouldn't do drugs. Because you never would want to become a best selling novelist.

[Lori, Super Mod]

Hahaha...

[Charity]

Thank you, April. That had been driving me crazy.

[Julianne]

Jeremy,

LOL!!!!!

Though, I agree, his short stories are by far the creepiest, most messed-up stuff he wrote.

I agree with Gerald's Game as a least favorite--though only Stephen King can make being chained to a bed naked THAT scary.

My other favorites would probably have to be Delores Claiborne and The Dark Half.

I bet people would have enjoyed TGWLTG more if it hadn't been written by S. King. Not one of his more horrifying works, so I think people probably expected something different.

If I hadn't been on bedrest I never would have finished Lisey's Story. It was sooooo confusing for the first 1/3. When I finished, I liked the story, but it took a while before I got what the heck was going on. Plus, there's an obscure reference to Laurel, MD (and it's crime) at the end of the book that made the rounds through the LPD after I shared with my husband and some friends. Figures of all the places King could write, he chose car theft in Laurel, MD! :-P

[Charity]

Anyone read The Regulators? I'm curious about it, especially since it is set in Ohio.

I've heard good things about the stuff he published as Bachman...particularly about The Long Walk.

[Chloe]

Charity, The Regulators is the only Bachman that I've read but I really enjoyed it. Not so much horrifying as it is interesting but I'd definitely recommend it.

[Charity]

Do you have to read Desperation with it? Or is it a fine stand alone?

I've also heard nothing but raves about Thinner...

[Chloe]

It's a fine stand alone. At least I never noticed anything missing from The Regulators. I read Thinner when I was really young but remember it being semi-creepy.

[Charity]

I didn't know if they were companion books or not. I know the dust jackets match up to form one picture and I thought I heard they have some of the same characters in them, but I could be wrong about that.

I did read that King was originally going to publish Misery as a Bachman book until he got 'outed'.

[Charity]

And isn't The Dark Half based on him and his pseudonym, Bachman...or something to that effect?

[[deleted user]]

I liked Thinner so much that I stayed up until 5 in the morning to finish it. And I remember that from 14 years ago.

I just remembered that I have 2 books written by Stephen King and Peter Straub that I need to read sometime. I've never read Straub but I have the impression that he even darker than King.

I also need to finish the King and O'Nan book about the '04 Red Sox season. It got moved to the inside of my night stand drawer and it wasn't exactly compelling since there was a giant spoiler called me watching most of those games!!

[[deleted user]]

The Dark Half is based on an author trying to bury his pseudonym, so one would think that is where he got the idea. But I never really thought about it. It was just such a neat idea, I thought, and pretty well carried out.

I also didn't know that about Misery. I wonder why. I know he said in On Writing that it was based on his addiction, but you wouldn't know that reading the book...I don't think.

[Charity]

Okay, now I have the feeling that I might have to go out and O.D. on some King. I've only read a few short stories here and there, so I really feel like I'm missing out.

The next time I'm at HPB, I'm going to go crazy in the clearance paperbacks and have a little King-fest in the fall.

[Chloe]

You've got a nice little season of Horror lined up. I'm jealous.

[Charity]

Let's see, in addition to the Stephen King, I'll be reading:

American Psycho
House of Leaves
A Clockwork Orange
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
and rereading some Poe

I'm stoked for fall!

[Lori, Super Mod]

Desperation and Regulators are both by King, and I think were supposed to cause controversy at the time, as they both were released together, one by Bachman and one by King and they had the same character names, as if one stole bits and pcs from the others manuscript.

At the time I was a HUGE stephen king fan and bought both novels in hardcover. I remember liking them both, but dont really remember much of either one.

Its interesting to read them back to back as, like i said, they seem to feed each other as far as characters.... But they are totally stand alone novels as well.


Charity.... One Flew Over the Cuckoos nest is a great novel. I really enjoyed that one. And Clockwork Orange was another great one, once you get used to the slang. "Shut your Rot or Ill pound you with my Rooker in your Glossies".

[Koori no hi]

im new but here r my top authors.

1. Garth Nix
2. Diana Wayne Jones
3. There was another one but I can't remember it off the thp of my head.

[Sherry]

I hope this is the right place to post this question but with all the SK love I thought that maybe one of you guys might know.I am currently reading book4 of the Gunslinger series and I have come to the part where they end up in another world which just happens to be wiped out by a killer virus.Does anyone know if this is taking place in the same world as The Stand?A reference is made to Captain Trips(the virus)and I can't recall for sure if that was the same as in The Stand.

[Sherry]

Great quote Lori,and you're quite right about Desperation and The Regulators.I hadn't realized what he had done with the books until after I had started reading the second one,The Regulators.

[Lori, Super Mod]

eh, Sherry, I dont think that was a word for word quote, but it gives you an idea of the language.... hee hee

[Macy]

Sherry - I always assumed that they were in the same "world" as The Stand. Especially based on stuff later in that book and in the series.

[[deleted user]]

Ok, so I haven't read The Stand in 14 years and The Gunslinger in probably 6. I guess I have to go back and read both when I read the series...

[Chloe]

The Dark Tower, especially in the later books, tends to mash together a ton of Stephen King's various worlds and characters. I think it was partially this which turned me off to the end of the series. You can't keep returning to the same well for ideas. Ripping off your own works is cheap.

[[deleted user]]

Bummer. Well, at least you can't get sued that way. Seriously, do you think he was just trying to be clever or just unimaginative.

[Macy]

I know Logan will probably disagree with me, but I thought it was neat having the various characters in the last couple books of The Dark Tower. He pulls ideas from a lot of places for the books, I think the ones from his other novels just seem to stand out more. For me, it made all the books seem more real - it's like running into someone you haven't seen in a long time & it reminding you of a different time in your life.

[Tisha]

I am only through Book 4 in the Dark Tower series... i need to get back to those so I know what you guys are talking about?? I'm guessing characters from his other books appear? interesting to see how he does that...

[Sherry]

Macy,I don't know.They've landed in another world that is very similiar but the super flu hit in the world they landed in a year before Eddie was taken from his,so it can't be the same. That' why I'm curious,it kind of shifts my perspective of The Stand a little though not in a bad way.I tried to find a reference in The Stand to Captain Trips,which is what I believe the flu was called but there is just way too many pages and it's been too long since I've read it.

I think that it's rather creative how he ties the worlds together.King always seems willing to do something a little different which is something I like about his work.

[Sherry]

Lori,it does make we want to go out and get a copy!