a highly selective stephen king poll

only read The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon but that was a great little novel so that one.

T/S: Late period King vs. late period Spielberg

Have to choose between Claiborne, Under the Dome, Green Mile and 11/22/63 basically. And maybe From A Buick 8, which was better than it had any reason to be.

huh so I should finally get around to reading Claiborne?

I didn't realize until posting in the other thread that '90s King stopped my fandom (w/r/t his new works, anyway...still a fan of a lot of the earlier stuff) dead in its tracks. Although I've heard a lot of good buzz about his recent stuff, so maybe I should give it a shot.

Rose Madder and Green Mile are the only ones of this lot that I've read, apparently. I have to give it to Rose Madder by default, I guess.

out of what i've read here it's comfortably black house

I forgot I read from a buick 8 (ugh)

black house was good, but the experience paled in comparison to the talisman. I am sure though, that this is because I was 10 or 11 when I read the talisman.

I went with the girl who loved tom gordon. it has a lot of heart and SK is economical and engaging.

I've read nothing else on this list

Under the Dome, but thats the only one I read. I also had previously quit with Needful Things.

Only read 5 of these, and 11/22/63 was the best of them.

The main problem with later SK novels is the way WTF is so often replaced by smh.

(Dreamcatcher excepted of course, so filled to bursting with 50 pt WTF).

I've read about half of these. I've enjoyed The Regulators, 11/22/63, Under the Dome, and the Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon. I liked From a Buick 8 a lot too, despite how throwaway the plot felt; the way he describes the indescribable things that manifest through the gateway creeped me out more than anything else in his recent books.

I unashamedly love 99% of his stuff.

I voted for Insomnia, which I enjoyed more than the other things I've read on here (but not as much as the Dark Tower series, which you haven't included).

The only one of these I've even heard of is Dolores Claiborne. But then I guess I did stop reading horror tomes about the year after that was released, so it's not that surprising (heading towards teenagerdom and getting into 'serious literature').

Oh, uh, scratch that. Obviously, I've also heard of the Green Mile. Only through it being one of the world's worst films, though.

I've read almost all of them. Gerald's Game & Rose Madder were enough to make me think I was going to abandon him for good...still smarting over how badly those 2 sucked. I mean...UGH.

Insomnia, Dreamcatcher, Under the Dome and Duma Key are definitely up the top of my list for late-period but 11/22/63 easily blows even those away.

See I really liked most of Dreamcatcher but the monsters & the ending just pissed me off so much, and this is someone who has cranked out many a limp or awful ending in his time. It was actually the most recent non Dark Tower one of his I've read (though I own several later ones on the list).

Included: Bachman books

where?

The Regulators & Blaze were by him.

is dreamcatcher the one about the anal aliens?

only read Dreamcatcher - it's pretty hilarious/terrible

I've read everything up through The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, but the only ones I really remember as books are Delores Claiborne and Rose Madder, which for some reason I didn't hate? So I'll vote for Rose Madder, just to be contrary.

I also remember wanting to read Black House because boy oh boy did I love the shit out of The Talisman but I don't think I ever got around to it.

ah sorry didn't notice it said "post Gerald's Game" so I was looking for The Long Walk.

Hard to believe how many of his recent books I haven't read - I read pretty much everything up to Tom Gordon then very little other than The Dark Tower books (which pissed me off no end, in the end). I had no idea he was still so prolific.

I suppose I should go spend £5 in a charity shop and catch up.

I suppose I should go spend £5 in a charity shop and catch up.

― we are not bemused (onimo), Monday, 30 April 2012 22:44 (Yesterday) Bookmark

Yeah, think i'm gonna pick up a couple this week

i repped for "bag of bones" back in the day since it was king's foray into "literature," but i think maybe there was an element of youthful defensiveness in that pick. i re-read it a few years ago and it didn't hang together as well as i remembered.

I loke his chamber-novels most, so am voting for the one-character Tom Gordon.

love, that is.

s.king is the great popular artist of our times

voted for cell

where's the stand?

post gerald's game pol.

i repped for "bag of bones" back in the day since it was king's foray into "literature," but i think maybe there was an element of youthful defensiveness in that pick. i re-read it a few years ago and it didn't hang together as well as i remembered.

― supreme sundae (reddening), Tuesday, May 1, 2012 1:17 AM (6 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

How was it supposed to be more literary? I couldn't get past this description in the wiki:

It focuses on an author who suffers severe writer's block

So, okay. Early on, we have Salem's Lot, The Shining, then as far as I can tell things stayed pretty cool until IT, but in that case the writer was part of an ensemble cast. Then we get BAM! Misery. BAM! The Dark Half. BAM! Secret Window, Secret Garden.

All these fucking authors...

was the last one of those even noticed by anybody

It was part of the collection Four Past Midnight and about 10 years later made into a major motion picture with Johnny Depp.

Sorry about the BAM's by the way. Don't know what overcame me.

It's notable in that it's basically the exact same thing as The Dark Half.

yeah but the depp movie was a 'they're adapting that?' deal - the langoliers must have been optioned pretty much immediately, but four past midnight seems to have been a not-a-big-deal stephen king book*

i was going to raise the caveat that the tommyknockers was in between misery and the dark half, but ha er the protagonist in that is also a writer . oh, what to do

i mean i would like to try and excuse it according to some Grand Unified Theory Of Stephen King but basically the answer is 'drugs'

-

*it's interesting that his books lately seem to have become More Of A Big Deal, but i don't know whether that's because he has a better agent now or what -- i mean, i think he's been on a genuinely interesting roll at least since he got the dark tower out of his system and possibly before but i am not going to read those three books any time soon

fuck, somehow I remembered the woman from Tommyknockers as the sheriff or police or something. Guess it's been a while since I read that. I liked that one a lot, at the time.

Speaking of Tommyknockers, did he ever bring back The Shop?

no hearts in atlantis?

Hearts in Atlantis is listed under "short fiction collections" on wikipedia.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
? <3 ?

Have read The Regulators, Insomnia, and Under the Dome. First two were pretty bad. Under the Dome was fine but like almost every King book way too long and crappy ending. Would have voted for Wizard and Glass if Dark Tower books were included.

wizard and glass might be my favourite of his, full stop

Hard to believe how many of his recent books I haven't read

Cosign!

I voted for The Regulators, even though it's in some sense a much longer rehash of "It's A Good Life." It's so weird and shut-in and messed up! Under The Dome had some of those enjoyable Big King features but was so unedited and the "this is just like GWB" stuff was too much and too plain. Cell has a virtuoso first act but never really figures out what to do afterwards. Of the ones I've read, I'd rate them Regulators > Cell > Under the Dome > Black House > Desperation > Insomnia. And actually I think the collections are better than the novels in this era!

Under the Dome was fine but like almost every King book way too long and crappy ending.

I read an excerpt from it and it seemed like a horror version of the Simpsons movie.

Also, I can't forgive the Dark Tower's metafictional turn.

xp He was kinda butthurt about the whole Simpsons thing and as a result published some excerpts from a much earlier, unpublished version of the book which was confined to a single building rather than a whole town.

Of the ones I've read, I'd rate them Regulators > Cell > Under the Dome > Black House > Desperation > Insomnia

that vulture thing has 'desperation' much higher than 'regulators' which is just crazy talk

actually i think those two might be where i'd want to argue he got good again, such a weird thing for a writer of his level of success to do

Also, I can't forgive the Dark Tower's metafictional turn.

Yeah, the last Dark Tower book is really, really bad. I don't understand the defenders at all.

the last three, tbh. Once SPOILER

he turns up for fuck's sake

END SPOILER

it was a struggle to stay into it

i was just looking at this 80s book of interviews with him and he bitches about people who are proud to read john barth but will hide his, king's, books

I liked Wolves of the Calla, even if it was all a bit pointless.

Ok so I just reread "It's a Good Life" and man, there's an argument that Stephen King never in his great career matched this.

http://web.archive.org/web/20091126104154/http://nickelkid.net/docs/greats/its_a_good_life.html

Looks like Under the Dome is going to be my first foray into King's 21st century works since it was the one that peaked my interest the most and has been getting favorable talk here... I absolutely loved him and Anne Rice in junior high.

I think my favorite thing ever of his though is his non-fiction book on horror called Danse Macabre. That and the first third of The Stand.

Danse Macabre is great

not really on-topic but whenever I get a crushing I headache I secretly hope it's my unformed evil twin plotting to take me over a la the Dark Half

i vote for this:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/04/30/stephen-king-tax-me-for-f-s-sake.html

the last three, tbh. Once SPOILER

he turns up for fuck's sake

END SPOILER

it was a struggle to stay into it

I've read the whole series a few times and yet I struggle to recall anything from him showing up, yet I can remember details about how Cuthbert supposedly looked etc.

Also, this reminds me, I have the new Dark Tower one which I have to read now.

I forgot how he wrote himself in

god I hated that

re: Bag of Bones being more "literary" than his previous stuff -- the book is nominally about a house/town that's haunted by a malevolent spirit, but the first 3/4ths of the book is surprisingly realist, for king. the main character is a lolwriter who's dealing with the loss of his wife and unborn child, his feelings for a new woman, his grief and writer's block, etc. the last quarter of the book eventually does go full-on thriller, but until that point the paranormal stuff is handled with a pretty light touch.

bear in mind i haven't read it in forever, so these are my remembered opinions from when i stanned for it in high school.

All the shit with Cuthbert and his "lookout" in Wizard & Glass is serious LOLz.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

I have read zero of these books, though I think I read everything up through The Dark Half. The only post 1990 books I've read are the Dark Tower series (mixed bag) and On Writing (the best of his I've read). I'm going to use the results of this as a guide to the last 20-odd years of King.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

weird

well that isn't helpful at all!

On Writing (the best of his I've read).

I actually don't like On Writing as much as I like Danse Macabre, but they're both up there for me.

I don't feel like Tom Gordon getting 3 votes over a whole cluster that got two votes is any indicator that I should start with Tom Gordon. I'm most intrigued by ideas behind Under the Dome, the Regulators, and Cell though, so maybe I'll start with one of them.

I mean, if two people each agree they don't totally blow...

More than one person out there thinks Dolores Claiborne doesn't totally blow. Don't know how that one ended up so underrated.

tom gordon was only ok for me, but i enjoyed the pulpiness of the regulators.

Cell has a virtuoso first act but never really figures out what to do afterwards.

Ahhhhhh, worried about this. I'm about halfway through the book at this point (when they get ready to leave the boarding school) and it hasn't faltered a step for me so far. Very vivid and well-paced.

Regulators was really good too. Although it was almost too brief (I guess there's more to learn about Tak in the companion novel) the ending and epilogue are satisfying.

The main problem with later SK novels is the way WTF is so often replaced by smh.

― bit.ly sno cone maker (Jon Lewis)

bears repeating

Ahhhhhh, worried about this.

You should be. King can't write an ending that isn't utter shit.

I really, really liked the second act of Cell, btw. Haven't explored any of these since last summer though.

Wait, I started on 11/22/63, but only made it a couple of chapters in.

Cell was fine. I dunno that I'd go back and reread it but it was enjoyable enough.

I'm about 200 pages into Dreamcatcher, and it's the first King book I'm tempted to just give up on. I don't care about any of the main characters, or their life-changing childhood friendship with Duddits, the aliens plot is taking waaaaaay too long to kick into gear, and all of the farting/belching stuff is just ridiculous rather than scary.

Anyone want to convince me to keep slogging through it?

I've never read it (the movie is completely ludicrous) but I've been intrigued inasmuch as it's the thing he wrote while recuperating from his accident and is reportedly a document of his state of mind at the time.

The book not only does not get better, it gets an order of magnitude worse.

His recent police procedural trilogy starting with "Mr. Mercedes" wasn't too bad.

Dreamcatcher was the first one I read, around when the movie came out. Too much farting

Man, if this was the first King book I ever encountered I never would have read The Stand or It.

ha i think the second one I read was the collection that had Secret Window or whatever in it, the rebranded movie reissue with Johnny Depp on the cover. Read The Shining and The Stand shortly after that though... finally got around to Carrie and Misery this year, gonna read It real soon....

The movie of Dreamcatcher is hilarious.

shit weasels

is Doctor Sleep any good? I read a review (which was a good review) and it sounded ridiculous

I didn't care much for Dr Sleep.

Dreamcatcher is terrible and yet so memorable

I liked Doctor Sleep, though it felt less like a direct sequel to a weighty novel, and more like a Dean Koontz novel. The book reads fast, and should be worth satisfying your curiosity re: the direction an adult Danny would go.

11/22/63 is great so far (first third), I’m kind of scared how King will fuck it up in the last third.

imo you may be pleasantly surprised

has anyone who read doctor sleep also seen the movie

if i think the movie is ok is it worth reading the book?

answers, i need answers

You'll get more backstory. The movie's faithful, though Dan turns out to be Abra's half-uncle as Jack Torrance fathered Abra's mom and the True Knot gets defeated differently, with Dan living at the end.

Cell was so fucking weird

Dreamcatcher is terrible and yet so memorable

― his eye is on despair-o (Jon not Jon), Friday, January 6, 2017 1:07 PM (four years ago) bookmarkflaglink

fwiw I managed to finish this book 4 years ago, and I just now had to go read the Wiki synopsis to recall what happens, so no, not memorable. But yes terrible.

Not sure if I read this one so I read the Wiki synopsis and I'm still not sure

I guess I don't even remember the movie properly because I sure don't remember this

https://s3.birthmoviesdeath.com/images/made/dreamcatcher1_600_446_81_s.jpg

Just why

shitweasels