Best/Worst Stephen King Novels????

[JinnTolser]

I actually got pretty impatient with the biographical part of that book. Given that the title was On Writing, I expected him to spend more time talking about the actual writing and less about his own life, although the part about "Oh, my god. I've been killed by one of my own characters" was pretty good.

[BigBadQDaddy]

It is actually funny that I really enjoyed reading Danse Machabre for much the same reason as some of you enjoyed On Writing. The little side trips he takes into his own life are very interesting, and funny. I am thinking I should pick up a copy of On Writing.

[Yattara]

It is actually funny that I really enjoyed reading Danse Machabre for much the same reason as some of you enjoyed On Writing. The little side trips he takes into his own life are very interesting, and funny. I am thinking I should pick up a copy of On Writing.

You should. As said before, when he's succinct, he's good. And the advice he gives on writing is to the point, basic, and not too esoteric.

I liked the biographical part of On Writing as well.

I never could finish It. As soon as I hit the first mention of Jack of Tears called 'inappropriate and unnecessary' I gave up.

I quite enjoy most of King's books, when I am in the mood for them. Christine is probably my favourite. Liked Rose Madder as well, even if most people seem to think it weak. Tommyknockers I haven't read in years, and I am not going to anymore.

[Ornum]

I've mostly loved what I've read of the Dark Tower series to date (though I've only read the first five). Personally, I'm a fan of all the different references to various works of both his own design and other writers. Admittedly, though, I did think that the inclusion of the Harry Potter and Star Wars references in Wolves of the Calla were a bit much. Currently, I'm still looking for book 6 because for some reason, that's the only one that my local bookstore is stocked out on.

[JinnTolser]

Since my last post I've read two more of King's works. Bag of Bones was alright, a thousand times better than Carrie for sure. I couldn't help but wonder how closely Mike Noonan mirror's King's own personality and history, and the story does get very gripping.

Dreamcatcher I'm more on the fence about. I thought the main characters were well-developed and real, but the ending I found extremely disappointing. Also, while I agree with his stated opinion that gore and vulgarity shouldn't be censored from the story if the story calls for it, I think he went WAY overboard in this book. Didn't love this book, but didn't hate it. I've certainly read worse, but I don't see myself reading this one again.

[JinnTolser]

I just finished reading IT, which I was looking forward to since the TV adaptation scared the everloving crap out of me as a kid. For the most part it was good, though I had a few problems with the book. First and foremost:

... not to mention the end of the children's scenario was inappropriate and unnecessary.

If you're referring to the scene that I think you must be, then I agree with you completely. There was NO reason for this to be included in the book. It added nothing to the story, it was needlessly vulgar even above and beyond the norm for Stephen King, and I'm willing to bet this scene alone has gotten the book banned from more than a few libraries and schools.

Also, that convoluted storytelling makes an appearance again. King has a bad habit in some of his works of getting ahead of himself in telling the story, particularly this one and Carrie. He drops a lot of offhand comments (for no reason that I can see, usually) about something that's going to happen in the future of the story, completely spoiling what could otherwise have been an intense, gripping event. I'm left wondering if he thinks this is how foreshadowing works, or if he's trying to replicate the non-linear storytelling style used in stories such as Catch-22, or if he just plain can't contain himself.

But there were a lot of good parts to it as well. I found all seven of the main characters to be compelling (although I felt King destroyed the "power of the group" theme a few times by putting too much emphasis on one or two characters), I found his descriptions of people, events and locations very vivid, sometimes too much so in a few of Pennywise's more brutal doings. And I sure never looked at clowns the same way again after seeing the miniseries.

I read on wikipedia that there may be a remake of It as a four-hour movie. Given the vast number of differences between the book and the miniseries, I can see how it might turn out well if they can resist the temptation to "update" the setting to 2008.

[Eric the Light Bringer]

I was a big fan of his early work...now I feel being a superfan of King's books is a required teenaged coming-of-age requirement, like loving the Doors music or watching Floyd's "The Wall"

I can say that I loved The Stand, Christine, The Shining (hate the movie) and "It" is the only book that ever really tramatized me (I was 13 or so when I read it)

I have read the whole Dark Tower series...I loved and hated the end all at the same time...though the whole Roland's son thing was a bit too soap-operaish in my opinion...

[BigBadQDaddy]

I agree regarding the Mordred situation. I thought it highly unnecessary to even include that little side story. Plus the fact that --




***SPOILER ALERT***



--The little creep takes out the greatest recurring villain to ever appear in Stephen Kings works. That really turned me off.

[Eric the Light Bringer]

I agree regarding the Mordred situation. I thought it highly unnecessary to even include that little side story. Plus the fact that --

***SPOILER ALERT***

--The little creep takes out the greatest recurring villain to ever appear in Stephen Kings works. That really turned me off.

That really sucked..plus I was also disappointed how the sucky the Red King was...reminded me of the old Donkey Kong game, throwing the barrels at Mario