Embarrassingly, I've never...

[nice90sguy]

read anything by Steven King. I've heard he's quite good.

 

[Altissimus]

Not my genre. Thanks, pass.

 

[Demiurging]

I tried to read the dark tower series.

The first one is good. That's it.

He's a little hit or miss, I hear, and too dry for my taste in the genre.

 

[alohadave]

read anything by Steven King. I've heard he's quite good.

11/22/63 is fantastic. Not horror, but it does tie into his comprehensive Kingverse.

 

[onehitwanda]

Jerusalem's Lot terrified the actual fuck out of me, especially since we had a village called Salem not far from where I lived at the time.

 

[alohadave]

He has great ideas and strong starts, but his endings often lack the same luster and draw as the build up, in my opinion.

He's a famous pantser. Doesn't plan his stories out in advance other than he comes up with an idea and ru a with it.

He has tied nearly all of his works together though via character cameos and shared locations.

 

[SeraphNocturne]

He's a famous pantser. Doesn't plan his stories out in advance other than he comes up with an idea and ru a with it.

He has tied nearly all of his works together though via character cameos and shared locations.

That’ll explain why The Cell went off on the weirdest freaking plotline and

He baffles me sometimes. But I dig his prose and flow, so I’ll keep reading.

 

[SimonDoom]

1. Been to a Bruce Springsteen concert. Everybody I know says he's great in concert.
2. Been to Paris.
3. Gotten in a fight in a bar. I did get in a fight OUTSIDE a bar once. It did not go well.
4. Gone scuba diving.
5. Become fluent in a foreign language.
6. Finished James Joyce's Ulysses. I've started it many times.


I have read many of Stephen King's books. My favorite novel was Salem's Lot, although I highly recommend his short story collections as the best representation of his talent.

 

[Dearelliot]

Not to late to try them..
I like some of his books, but often just up until the last 20% of the book, a few times I just stopped reading the book. What I like about King are his page filling side stories and back story.
In particular I did enjoy "Needful Things"

 

[Carnevil9]

I tried to read his stuff. Got through about two and a half novels before I decided not nearly enough interesting things were happening. I didn't know he was a "famous pantser" but I can easily believe it. His stories kind of ramble like he's making it up as he goes along.

Maybe that's why I like movies based on his stories? Some screenwriter takes his good ideas and works them into an interesting story arc.

 

[PhiloDaddy]

1. Been to a Bruce Springsteen concert. Everybody I know says he's great in concert.
2. Been to Paris.
3. Gotten in a fight in a bar. I did get in a fight OUTSIDE a bar once. It did not go well.
4. Gone scuba diving.
5. Become fluent in a foreign language.
6. Finished James Joyce's Ulysses. I've started it many times.

This is a thread about being embarrassed about things you've NEVER done. Not the ones you HAVE done.

 

[gunhilltrain]

He has great ideas and strong starts, but his endings often lack the same luster and draw as the build up, in my opinion.

Mostly true, I wouldn't be embarrassed by never having read him. He can write some good scares, as in The Shining. However, usually his books could be improved by some judicious editing - shorter, in other words.

 

[nice90sguy]

watched any of The Godfather movies in spite of my (adult) kids telling me how brilliant they are. -- Actually I'm not embarrassed about that at all -- I'm sure the movies are brilliant in their way (I loved "The Conversation") , but, hell, they're about Mafia people -- who are basically a bunch of murderous, amoral, greedy scumbags shitting on each other and everyone in their "community". Give me a nice romcom or mind-stretching SF movie, or anything by Pixar.

 

[Jackie.Hikaru]

I have read many of Stephen King's books. My favorite novel was Salem's Lot, although I highly recommend his short story collections as the best representation of his talent.

I concur with this. My favorite Stephen King story is Children of the Corn, which is a part of my favorite Stephen King anthology, Night Shift. Highly recommended. As for novels, Cujo and the Shining were my favorite, but short stories is definitely his strong suit imo.

 

[SimonDoom]

I concur with this. My favorite Stephen King story is Children of the Corn, which is a part of my favorite Stephen King anthology, Night Shift. Highly recommended. As for novels, Cujo and the Shining were my favorite, but short stories is definitely his strong suit imo.

Night Shift is wonderful. I think there are many King fans who perhaps haven't read his short stories, and they should. His short stories contain all of his virtues, but none of his greatest vices-- his long-windedness and his inability to wrap things up in a satisfactory ending.

There are a lot of gems in that collection: Gray Matter, Graveyard Shift, the Mangler, the Boogeyman, along with the one you named, which is deliciously chilling.

 

[KeithD]

I haven't read any Stephen King. I'm not embarrassed that I haven't. Just haven't picked one up.

Later: I'll take that back. I did read his book on writing.

 

[Mom_nxtdoor]

You haven't missed much

 

[lovecraft68]

IMO anything after Dark Half is trash.

I've reached the point where even if its a movie when I hear "From the mind of Stephen King" is an immediate pass.

 

[RoperTrace]

I've read several, maybe five or six? None of them have really stuck with me, except The Shawshank Redemption and possibly Misery. Had those two not been made into movies and played ad nauseam on cable tv, they may have faded also. The ones that are horror-fantasy aren't really my taste.
My daughter probably owns most of King's books, I'll ask if I can borrow the one of short stories.

 

[theWollstonecraftWoman]

Jerusalem's Lot terrified the actual fuck out of me, especially since we had a village called Salem not far from where I lived at the time.

He taught at CU in Bolder for several years. He traveled all over the state. His hotel in the Shining was modeled on the the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, which isn't a park but a small town. They used the hotel in the movie of the same name for the Hotel interiors and some of the exteriors. The maze was in England. His city often meantioned in the books Castel Rock, is a town southeast of Denver a little bit. It is also the name of his production company.

 

[ElectricBlue]

He taught at CU in Bolder for several years. He traveled all over the state. His hotel in the Shining was modeled on the the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, which isn't a park but a small town. They used the hotel in the movie of the same name for the Hotel interiors and some of the exteriors. The maze was in England. His city often meantioned in the books Castel Rock, is a town southeast of Denver a little bit. It is also the name of his production company.

Kubrick's version of the Overlook was constructed entirely within a film studio in England. Similarly, his maze was a movie set, not a location.

You must be referring to the later TV production, I think, which isn't the cultural reference for The Shining.

 

[Emilymcplugger]

…watched THE GODFATHER, TAXI DRIVER or GOODFELLAS.

…been a fan of alcoholic drinks.

…taken illegal substances.

 

[theWollstonecraftWoman]

Maybe, even the exteriors weren't here in Kubrick movie. They used Timberline Lodge, Mount Hood in the Hood River area of Northern Oregon, for the movie. But the rest of my shit is right.

Kubrick's version of the Overlook was constructed entirely within a film studio in England. Similarly, his maze was a movie set, not a location.

You must be referring to the later TV production, I think, which isn't the cultural reference for The Shining.

 

[theWollstonecraftWoman]

Yes, the 1997 mini series, The Shining, staring the dreamy and handsome Steven Weber as Jack, was shot on location at the Stanley Hotel. No actual REDRUM happened during the making of this series.

 

[alohadave]

Maybe, even the exteriors weren't here in Kubrick movie. They used Timberline Lodge, Mount Hood in the Hood River area of Northern Oregon, for the movie. But the rest of my shit is right.

IIRC, the lodge asked him to change the room number for the redrum, so guests wouldn't be freaked out and to minimize movie fans from trying to stay in that room.