Stephen King (not dead, just spooky)

Entertainment!
81

also never read any of his stuff

if you were to suggest ONE good entry point, at an accessible length, what would it be?

1 Like
82

Misery - about 300 pages :+1:

2 Likes
83

Plump for one of his novellas - The Body or The Mist perhaps

1 Like
84

Misery would work

3 Likes
85

Yeah if I wanted to sell someone on King I’d say Misery is a totally fair shout. Also maybe The Outsider in terms of more modern efforts.

@JaguarPirate yeah hang on don’t do misery if you’ve watched the film. It will lose the key hook of slowly unfolding dread totally coz you know all the key beats.

2 Likes
86

I’d probably go Carrie, TBH

4 Likes
87

I love Carrie, but I don’t think its epistolic structure is necessarily typical of King in general.

2 Likes
88

Misery is a good book, but maybe not the best example of his work, as it is completely lacking in supernatural or fantastic elements. One of the story collections would be a good jumping on place, maybe Skeleton Crew (which includes The Mist iirc)

2 Likes
89

This is a good shout tbf. Succintness and brevity are definitely not a King traits so starting with the novellas and/or short stories would make sense. Night Shift was a good collection I would recommend.

2 Likes
90

Cujo was great imo

91

His just released collection is fucking phenomenal if you’re yet to hit it btw

2 Likes
92

Speaking of movie adaptations, I watched ‘The Life of Chuck’ the other week and enjoyed it.

1 Like
93

Both fantastic

Would add cabal for my barker top 3 (much shorter/less epic though)

1 Like
94

And occasionally reads a little too much like garth marenghi, but king does sometimes too tbf

2 Likes
95

Yeah I think Carrie isn’t great in general although it is a quick read

Needful Things was my first exposure and I loved it. I think it’s perfect for a mix of supernatural spookies and the detailed King small-town community that he’s so good at creating where you know every single person in that town by the end of the book

4 Likes
96

Loved Weaveworld, but isn’t Imajica another one of those series he started and never finished? That’s what put me off Barker in the end - where’s the third book of The Art, Clive, and the rest of Ararat?

1 Like
97

My two faves are

The Shining
Dolores Claiborne

I think both of these are all-time works of art TBH.

Below that I have loved:
Hearts in Atlantis
From a Buick 8
The Dark Tower I-IV
Desperation
The Eyes of the Dragon

Then there are the flawed ones:
‘Salem’ s Lot - first of his I read, loved it but prose is just a little ‘off’ in an adult re-read

11/22/63 - a lot of great stuff in this but his age really shows through in how scrappy his attempt to bring his contemporary hero to life in the opening is. Quite “hello fellow kids”

IT - Parts 2 and 4, and the interludes are King at his best. Parts 1 and 3 are mostly dull. Part 5 is King at his worst.

The Stand - a great idea mired in a too-long and meandering story.

I also loved The Talisman and Black House and will read the 3rd one.

1 Like
98

Also because I loved The Talisman and Black House I recently read Ghost Story by Peter Straub, which I think if you loved early 70s/80s King you will love. A fantastic book.

I have Joe Jill’s Heart-Shaped Box waiting to read on my Kindle.

2 Likes
99

Hard to disagree. Sorry, YDF :disappointed_relieved:

100

For me the ending does enough. It’s one of those books where getting there is the vital part as opposed to a grand finale, and some of the revelations that hit hard equal eg Tad Williams

2 Likes