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What is your favorite Stephen King novel?
Posted by askcherlock • 4/19/09 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: novels, reading, stephen king
Since I love politics, I obviously read a lot of "heavy" articles, blogs, etc. I am also a Private Investigator and see more than I want to at times. So when I need escapism, I will get a Stephen King novel. I have my favorites. What are yours?
User Comments
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The Stand and It-
The Stand is essential reading for any King fan. They are both good choices!
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I have a soft spot for "Dolores Claiborne".
I also loved "Misery" and "Pet sematary"
Obviously, there are the classics, like "The shining" and "Carrie", but these, I read after seeing the movies, so they didn't have the same impact as if I hadn't known the story beforehand.
I love-love-love Stephen King!-
So few of King's novels are captured well in film but I thought they did a great job with Misery.
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I absolutely agree. Kathy Bates was both terrific and terrifying!
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The last Stephen King book I read was the Pet Cemetery.. or something like that.. I got halfway through and couldn't read it anymore. It was just too real.. the way a human would react with their child. Was a fan of his... but after that book I have never been able to pick up another of his books. He is a very good writer.
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You might want to give him another try. He has matured a lot in his writing. I read Duma Key last year and gave it to my husband when I was done. We talked about it for days and love it.
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Funny, I just told my husband that he has to read Pet Sematary! He is a newly recruited King fan.
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Mmmmm---again I am the iconoclast...I don't like Steven King.-
That's okay. He's not for every taste.
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I don't like him much, either, but I did like Misery.
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Not a big fan because I think they are all a bit samey but I did enjoy the shining.
That's interesting that you are a private investigator, what sort of stuff do you investigate?-
The Shining was great and the film with Nicholson was unforgettable.
I investigate fraud, do some surveillance and stay away from the "cheaters" stuff. Too dark. I can pick and choose the cases I take. If I tell you anymore, I'd have to.... -
Oh man I would love to be a private investigator I always wanted to go on surveillance or even just sit in my black and white office and have Lauren Bacall hire me to find her missing sister.
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Loved Cujo. I almost couldn't finish Tommyknockers, just didn't hold my interest.-
I actually was in a situation on my job where I encountered a dog just like Cujo. I remember thinking, where is Stephen King when you need him!
Didn't care for The Tommyknockers either.
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Misery. I read it in 2 sittings.
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Me too! And it gave me nightmares. The only one that did.
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I read 2 or 3 from him, among which shining when I was a child: I had to sleep with the light after reading it ! He's a good writer but I don't like horror movies or stories so can't really tell.-
Usually the films don't do the books justice. The books are almost always better. We watched Hearts in Atlantis last night, but it only covered about a third of the novel.
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I saw Salem's Lot on tv when I was young and only got up the courage to read it recently. The Shining was the same way for me. I can read the book and not be bothered but in movie form I get scared silly.
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I loved The Stand, It and Misery, after which I lost interest and stopped reading him. He has a new book coming out in November that is said to be 1100+ pages long and supposedly a throwback to those earlier types of novels. I have already placed a hold request at the library, and was thrilled that for once I heard about the book early and got in near the front of the line so that I will be among the first to get it when it comes in.-
I am anxious for his new book. We read Duma Key, which was so different for King. I would really recommend that one.
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I thought Duma Key was classic Stephen King and the better for it. I've been a fan since Cujo scared the snot out of me at nine. I think my favorite book is Four Past Midnight, but my favorite single story is "Dolan's Cadillac". That one contains not one single supernatural element outside of the narrator's head, but it's creepy as all get-out and the vivid imagery really lasts.
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The Stand was my favorite for years; he's written a lot of books that I found disappointing, but there are a few that stand out. I really liked Hearts in Atlantis, Dreamcatcher, and Lisey's Story.-
I didn't read Lisey's Story. That's one for me to check out.
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You might want to try King's Insomnia.
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I'm still awaiting Stephen King's forthcoming tome about a couple being attacked by a vicious lamp monster (see: Family Guy).-
Hmmmm...monsters. I don't know about that. He develops some strange ones.
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"The Dark Half". I thought it was brilliant. -
Has anyone read the Dark Tower graphic novel series? I've had my eyes on that for awhile now...-
I read the series. I started out of order and had to find the first one to read it after I'd read the second but I thought the series was pretty good.
I also liked The Talisman which he wrote w/ Peter Straub. I wasn't as thrilled with part II but I do want to read part III when it comes out -
That's great, thanks for the info!
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I haven't read the graphic novels (I didn't know there were any!) but I read the novels as they were released. I absolutely adore them, but then I'm a sucker for a saga.
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I haven't read that series. Now I need to!
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I didn't know it was released in a graphic novel format either, but a huge King fan at work told me about them. Sounds like this series is a good pick overall!
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"Needful Things" It wraps up a lot of the Castle Rock stuff in interesting ways.-
It's been a while since I read it, but I loved the premise of Needful Things. However, I remember finding it getting kinda silly halfway through.
I feel that way about quite a few of his books; as much as I love the beginning, he often loses me in the way he chooses to develop his stories.
I thought the premise of both "The Stand" and "Gerald's game" was absolutely brilliant, but then, he adds all this weird supernatural stuff, and that's usually when I lose interest.
What I adore about "Misery" is the fact that it's rooted in reality; it's a story you could actually hear on the news. And I find reality to be WAY scarier than fantasy. The idea that it *could* happen is what makes a story scary IMO. -
Gerald's Game creeped me out badly. The whole premise was horrifying and yet I couldn't stop reading it.
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@legbamel: The getting out of the handcuffs bit was horrifyingly horrible. I don't think I'll ever forget that.
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And then the hallucinations that may not have been. [shudder]
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I actually owned an antique shop when Needful Things came out. Scary...
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Actually, now that I think about it, some of my favourite King novels are some of the ones he wrote under his pseudonym of Richard Bachman.
I would really recommend "The running man", the ending of which totally blew me away.
"Thinner" was also excellent. It's been made into a movie which was also quite good.
For a last suggestion, it's not as good as the other two I've mentioned, but "The long walk" has probably one of the most screwed up premise for a story as I have ever seen. You have to be wondering what kind of man Stephen King is, and what the hell goes on in his mind for him to come up with stuff like that all the time.-
I really liked Thinner.. it was excellent!
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Also under Bachman was Blaze which King did in 1985 and re-released in 2007. It was excellent.
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"Blaze" you say?
Interesting... Thanks for the recommendation, I'll check it out.
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The Talisman, and the Dark Tower series. Though I've read Misery and The Shining a number of times, too.-
Oh the Dark towers, that's the one with the erm... "twin" right? I liked that one a lot too.
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this might be a bit weird... but i absolutely loved his book "On Writing". it's helped me out!-
I read it too, and I really enjoyed it.
OMG, I've just realized, I'm a complete Stephen King fantard, lol! -
Ha ha!! It is a great book... Count me in as a fantard too then!
Totally some down to earth advice. I have been reading WAY more books and as a result I am writing a lot more. Before I used to focus too much on the writing and wasn't reading enough new material, so I'd get writers block a lot. -
Now you have me! I have to read this. Do you ever wonder what Stephen King's nightmares are about?
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The Storm -
The scary one where the guy has a supernatural experience. -
The Shining.
Oh, and Christine.-
I've never looked at those big old cars the same after Christine.
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The Stand.-
I always said that hands down it was The Stand----until I read Duma Key. As legbamel said, it is classic King only in a mature way. The writing as excellent as the plot.
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Pet Cemetery-
Not only have we read this, but it is on our film rental list as well. Good choice!
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