Stephen King

That was in "Four Past Midnight," which contains the original short story for one of my favoritest movies EVER, "Secret Window, Secret Garden."

I liked the Langoliers. I thought it was a strange story, but I thought the characters were interesting enough that you had to keep reading to find out what on earth was going to happen on this airplane...

Cell was a wonderful read. Except for the ending. By which I mean, the last paragraph. Honestly, Steve, all I needed was five more pages. One more page. One more damned paragraph! The ending drove me NUTS.

PeeDee said:

That was in "Four Past Midnight," which contains the original short story for one of my favoritest movies EVER, "Secret Window, Secret Garden."

I liked the Langoliers. I thought it was a strange story, but I thought the characters were interesting enough that you had to keep reading to find out what on earth was going to happen on this airplane...

Cell was a wonderful read. Except for the ending. By which I mean, the last paragraph. Honestly, Steve, all I needed was five more pages. One more page. One more damned paragraph! The ending drove me NUTS.

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I got the best offer EVER for Four Past midnight (perhaps, on a subconscious level, thats why The Langoliers is my favorite? because I got a good sale on it?) I was doing my normal library sale stake-out rounds, when my instincts brought me to the super-sale section. And there it was, sitting there with the most beautiful "Only 1.50!" sticked on it. I almost cried. Then, when I went up to the desk, the librarian (a good friend of mine) said "How bout I give you all this for a quarter?". THAT was when I really cried. Such a glorious day.

I read IT many years ago, and the creepiness and darkness of it all turned me off clowns forever.

One story that sticks in my mind is a short story called The Body. His description of the boys' overnight trip transported me. I felt, heard and smelled everything. It was later adapted for the big screen in Stand By Me.

I think that was the one piece that inspired me to write, although I didn't really begin writing until two years ago.

Also, don't forget On Writing.

I loved the Stand....epic! The Shining, Pet Semetary, Salem's Lot - all my favs.

I have read most every book he's ever written (save three or four of the Dark Tower stuff - don't care for that series) and am currently looking forward to his latest. Lisey's Story looks interesting.

As a Sox fan, I loved The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon (until he went to the yankees - ha!).

A cluster of his books written before Dream Catchers were written while he was seriously in the throes of alcoholism and pill popping. The book Rose Madder, is a prime example of the meandering he went through. Awful book but still Kingesque.

He's a brilliant writer, an inspiration for the closet writer in us all, and I would give my eye teeth just to be able to walk up and shake his hand.
spooky spooky spooky!

PeeDee said:

That was in "Four Past Midnight," which contains the original short story for one of my favoritest movies EVER, "Secret Window, Secret Garden."

I liked the Langoliers. I thought it was a strange story, but I thought the characters were interesting enough that you had to keep reading to find out what on earth was going to happen on this airplane...

Cell was a wonderful read. Except for the ending. By which I mean, the last paragraph. Honestly, Steve, all I needed was five more pages. One more page. One more damned paragraph! The ending drove me NUTS.

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I agree with you on Cell. A good scary book. Reminded me of the Stand (my favorite) in a few ways. As much as the ending was frustrating, I admit it was probably better than some canned artificial ending.

His short work "The Mist" is also kick*ss.

MFM

MyFirstMystery said:

I agree with you on Cell. A good scary book. Reminded me of the Stand (my favorite) in a few ways. As much as the ending was frustrating, I admit it was probably better than some canned artificial ending.
MFM

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I just finished the Cell the other day - it was a fun read, and like you stated, reminiscent of the Stand.

I have a question - in Cell and The Stand his characters never take vehicles because of the congested traffic pileups somehow makes this impossible. I don't understand, especially on the highways. What's wrong with driving down the shoulder or on the side of the road or 4X4 on the fields next to the roads.

Does he use this as a literary device to lenghten the travels for character development?

They took vehicles in Cell. They took a school bus and a van, I believe. Or maybe jsut the school bus again.

And I agree. The ending ripped my heart out, but I wouldn't change it. I just want to know what happened. Here I am, eyes shining going "What happens next?" And Uncle Steve leans down and says "That's a story for another time. Good night, Pete" and I lie there, imagining all the things that happen next.

I adored Cell, actually.

I've read every Stephen King book as they came out since 1978 (except for about 2 years when I had a baby/toddler, had to play catch-up then! ) and he's always been one of my favorites. If I had to pick a favorite book, I couldn't, but I can pick two: The Stand and Drawing Of The Three. I love the whole Gunslinger series (I've always been a sucker for a Spaghetti Western, though), but DOTT was one of those books with a lot of surprises in it. Gotta love it!

Cell was very cool, especially the ending.

I've had many "SK moments", one of my favorites was riding through the Nevada desert while reading The Stand. Uber creepy!

Shades: Some of the characters used vehicles in The Stand. Mostly the bad guys -- symbolism, anyone?

I've read just about everything he's written, except for the Dark Tower series...Still have yet to read those. I want to read Lisey's Story too...

My favorite one of his though is MISERY

Just hope that he can continue putting out stories...

I was delighted at the adaptations of his stories in Nightmares & Dreamscapes on TNT. Particularly the one starring William H. Macy. And Ron Livingston ("The End of the Whole Mess.") God they were good.

And "The Road Virus Heads North" (which is a magnificant story) was going mostly well, but I thought the ending needed to be about two minutes shorter.

I absolutely love SK. He's the reason I became a writer. My favorite book of his is "Salem's Lot." Making vampires scary is such a difficult thing and this book REALLY does it.

aspiringwriter said:

I've read just about everything he's written, except for the Dark Tower series...Still have yet to read those.

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I love nearly all the King books, but the best by far are the Dark Tower books. I paid hardcover retail for the last couple, and that's a freaking miracle. I haven't read Cell or Lisey's Story yet, but they both showed up for Christmas so will soon.

There's also a short story, called something about the Little Sisters of Eluria? I can't recall the exact name or the collection it's in, but it's related to the Dark Tower series and quite good on its own.

I really quite liked Rose Madder but nearly didn't finish The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon. Maybe it's the baseball thing.

I loved The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon. I also really liked Bag of Bones. To me, BoB was such a touching story, quite romantic actually, while still being creepy. I've read most of his books except the latest ones and the Dark Tower series. I have to say my favorite was The Shining. I am a sucker for a haunted house story--a good haunted house story, and that one is about as good as they come.

Sassenach said:

I never slept on a plane flight since reading "Langoliers."

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I watched the mini-series way back when, shoot 10 yrs ago maybe? That was creepy. I can only imagine reading it.

I just finished putting four grand shelves up in my new house's den to accomadate (spelling?!) my books. Stepho took up a whole shelf of course. I just need to figure out why I have only thirty three... where's the eyes of the dragon gone, who's pinched salem's lot and why do I have two Dolores'??

A number of years ago I read the Stand but got board in the middle so I never finished it -- I never read another King book of fiction since.

However, I just read King's book on writing and found it inspiring, helpful, entertaining and informative -- I highly recommend it.

MyFirstMystery said:

His short work "The Mist" is also kick*ss.

MFM

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Wow, totally agree.. I don't know what it is about King, but I feel like I knew the charcters in his books. And 'The Mist' is a book I often recall during day to day activity, and I actually have to remind myself that it was just a book and I never met the people in the supermarket!!

dyljos said:

I just finished putting four grand shelves up in my new house's den to accomadate (spelling?!) my books. Stepho took up a whole shelf of course. I just need to figure out why I have only thirty three... where's the eyes of the dragon gone, who's pinched salem's lot and why do I have two Dolores'??

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If you need to get rid of one of your Dolores Claibornes (spelling??) I'll take it.

Levi said:

A number of years ago I read the Stand but got board in the middle so I never finished it -- I never read another King book of fiction since.

However, I just read King's book on writing and found it inspiring, helpful, entertaining and informative -- I highly recommend it.

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WOOOOHOOOOOOOO.........I may have mentioned a million times on here, that I just purchased "On Writing" online. And I can't wait to get it!

'On Writing' is a great book. It really inspired me to get back into writing.

One of my favorite movies is "The Shawshank Redemption." I was shocked that it was based on his work, "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption."

I saw in an interview that he met a woman who said she hated his work because it was all horror. He told her he wrote Shawshank; and she told him that he couldn't have written that because she like that one!!!!

I just finished Misery. It blew me away. Absolutely blew me away.

I'm reading Bag of Bones now.

Eyes of the Dragon is next, if only because it's such a wildly different sort of book for him.

PeeDee said:

I just finished Misery. It blew me away. Absolutely blew me away.

I'm reading Bag of Bones now.

Eyes of the Dragon is next, if only because it's such a wildly different sort of book for him.

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It's so hard to pick a favorite of his, because I've enjoyed so many. But, Bag of Bones has to be one of the best, if not the best, ghost story I've ever read. It's scary but it's also a beautiful story.

Southern_girl29 said:

It's so hard to pick a favorite of his, because I've enjoyed so many. But, Bag of Bones has to be one of the best, if not the best, ghost story I've ever read. It's scary but it's also a beautiful story.

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My thoughts exactly. My husband adored Bag of Bones too, as well as The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon.

eyes of the dragon is amazing!