Other King Books

[rune]

What other King books have you all read? Not just his fantasy series but his horror works too

[erickad71]

I've read quite a few of his books...The Stand, It, Pet Sematary, Carrie, Firestarter, and several other of his short stories and novels. I like his older stories mostly.

[Silk]

You know I never actually realised that Steven King wrote anything other than horror; books about aliens and the odd short story (e.g. Green Mile and The Body).

Could you recomend some of his fantasy works?

[I, Brian]

I've read the horror novels Pet Sematary, Dark Half, Salems Lot, and the Stand (unabridged). The overwhelming sense I had with them is that King cannot wrap up a novel with a proper ending - everything is left pretty much open-ended without being properly resolved. Possibly a stylistic issue, though.

I read the Bachman Books - very provocative short stories, and certainly worth reading.



!!!!SPOILERS!!!! THE STAND


The Stand I rate as the most pointless novel ever written. It creates multiple protagonists who seem to serve little purpose excepting to go to a certain place and then die pointlessly. I came away feeling I'd read not a story, but a post-modernist work on pointlessness. There felt like nothing was achieved or overcome - it was simply: go somewhere, die needlessly. And padded out over 1200 pages.

[Silk]

I had similar feelings over the tommyknockers, especially after i read half the book and nothing had happened!! I gave up at that point feeling like I'd just lost a out on part of my life I'd never get back!

Having said that though I thought IT was fab and Dreamcatcher wasn't bad if a little confussing

[erickad71]

I couldn't really get into Tommyknockers either. I actually didn't read all of Pet Sematary...I just couldn't get past one certain part **spoilers**... where the father goes to dig up his son, that was just too much for me.

Personally, I enjoyed The Stand...and It is probably the scariest book I have ever read. Dreamcatcher was ok, probably one of his more disgustingly graphic stories though.

[Rane Longfox]

I really liked The Stand, but its his only other book I've read outside The Dark Tower...

(yes, all the others I read inside)

[rune]

I also read a book under his Bachman publishing name. It was called Thinner, and I remember really enjoying it.

I have only read a few of his horror books because I tend to find his work difficult to read. I love watching the movie versions of his books, but trying to get my head around the books are hard work

However, I do have an uncut version of The Stand on my shelves. And in the past read Pet Sematary, Carrie, IT, Saloms Lot

[None_Elf_Ear]

I have not had the time to read them all by now, but as a quick selection I would mention : IT (my all-time favorite), Carrie, Christine, Pet Sematary, Shining, The Langoliers (trixy this one), The Long Walk (more than deep, I'd love to disscuss it in a more detailed manner) and Gerard's Game.

[Leto]

I can't stand his fantasy work (not my type sorry, I'm extremly picky in fantasy), but i used to enjoy his horror and thriller work, until Dreamcatcher which was confuse and From a Buick 8 (not sure of th tile) which was just boring and dull.
My favorite were : Firestarter, IT, Salem's lot (not the best but some good laugh), Running Man, Rage, Bazaar...

[littlemissattitude]

I haven't seen anyone mention "The Dead Zone", which is really a very good novel.

I've read most of King's early stuff - "Carrie", "Salem's Lot", "Pet Semetary" (which I really hated, not because it wasn't well done, but because he plays with the reader's emotions without mercy - hope that's not too much of a spoiler), "The Stand", "Different Seasons", "Christine", "It"...I'm sure there are more. I think that last King book I read was "Insomnia", which I didn't like much at all. Oh, I also pretty much hated "Tommyknockers". And I never have read "Cujo" and I don't intend to.

But, I really did like "The Stand".

[Leto]

Originally Posted by littlemissattitude

I haven't seen anyone mention "The Dead Zone", which is really a very good novel.

I've read most of King's early stuff - "Carrie", "Salem's Lot", "Pet Semetary" (which I really hated, not because it wasn't well done, but because he plays with the reader's emotions without mercy - hope that's not too much of a spoiler), "The Stand", "Different Seasons", "Christine", "It"...I'm sure there are more. I think that last King book I read was "Insomnia", which I didn't like much at all. Oh, I also pretty much hated "Tommyknockers". And I never have read "Cujo" and I don't intend to.

But, I really did like "The Stand".

Pet semetary and Cujo, is there a pattern here ?
oops, I've forgot Christine. Although for me the name is more associated to John Carpenter's movie than to the original book, as Stanley kubrick and Shining BTW. Two of very few examples where movie adaptation were better than the original work.

[Space Monkey]

I've read a few King books, and some were amazing, but others were fun yet hard to finish.

Carrie was fun and quick. The Shining was the scariest book I ever read, absolutely brilliant.
I enjoyed From a Buick 8 and Dreamcatcher, although they didn't strike me as being anywhere near his best.
I loved Insomnia - one of my favourites - until they went inside the tree and started to get all silly rather than scary.
Desperation was fun, yet predictable and kinda candy in the sense that I didn't care for a single character.
Salems Lot was spread too thin, and was about the whole community, lacking in empathy for any particular character. The film was much more effective. (Same with Dreamcatcher).
I started reading 'It' at work, but somebody "removed" the book (along with Firestarter and Skeleton Crew) and I never got another copy.
I think that's about it. I liked some of his short stories.

I've noticed King is at hs best when he sticks with one person's perspective all the way through. Ralph Roberts (Insomnia), Jack (The Shining), Carrie white.

The best thing I ever read by King was 'On writing'. Very inspiring.

[littlemissattitude]

I knew I forgot some: I've also read "Skeleton Crew" and "The Shining". Also "The Dark Half", which was a pretty good book but a lousy film, and "Needful Things" is the same (although the presence of Ed Harris in that film made it watchable, at least for me).

And, as Space Monkey has mentioned "On Writing"...I actually like King's non-fiction writing quite a bit more than I like his fiction. "On Writing" and his earlier book "Danse Macabre" are both really good.

[Wandaful]

Originally Posted by None_Elf_Ear

I have not had the time to read them all by now, but as a quick selection I would mention : IT (my all-time favorite), Carrie, Christine, Pet Sematary, Shining, The Langoliers (trixy this one), The Long Walk (more than deep, I'd love to disscuss it in a more detailed manner) and Gerard's Game.

Love all those.... and as stated in another post in this forum The Long Walk is my fav story.....

I have forgotten about The Langoliers... AWESOME... When I read it I had it so well pictured in my mind how it all looked and when they made the movie (mini series or whatever) it was exactly as I had seen it in my poor old mind...

Carrie and Pet Semetary are certainly up there with my favs too...

Cheers