Anyone read Stephen King?

[Tattoo Bradley]

I'm sure I'm not the only one. And, I'm sure there are those that can't stand his writing. That's ok too.

I read a lot of his books in High School (Gerald's Game was the first.) I just recently began reading (anything) again. So, I naturally went back to what I knew I liked: Mr. King. I searched out his most recent and found a paperback of Lisey's Story. Read it, loved it, and decided to try Bag of Bones (I somehow missed this one as I was reading his books at that time. Probably was reading something else when my mother bought this and forgot to pick it up after she was done) loved it even more. I think I'll finally read the Dark Tower series. Everyone swears by them, so time to see what the hype is. But first, there's the hardback copy of The Cell mom's been practically scolding me for not reading. lol.

Oh and yeah, I get my taste from my mother.

[Arlen]

I'm not a huge fan of Stephen king though I have read a lot of his earlier books.

Personally, for that genre, I prefer James Herbert.
And Clive Barker.

[ccga3359]

No I don't read him but I've seen Carrie a couple dozen times. Sissy Spacek is in it .

[Ozman1944]

Big Stephen King fan here! Oddly enough I just couldn't get into the Dark Tower series, Got too confusing as to who's who....

Really enjoyed the latest movie (the Mist) it extends his original short story of the same name.
The three ladies I went with were horrified (!) But I loved it.
They've been eyeing me strangely ever since...

[Panache]

Bradley,

I have a lot of his books and have enjoyed quite a few of them.

Bag of Bones is one of his very best books. He is very strong on character development though sometimes his plots ramble and don't have the most saatisfactory resolutions.

Here are my Stephen King favorites.

Different Seasons
Bag of Bones
It
Dead Zone
The Shinning
The Dark Tower I : The Gunslinger
The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass
Thinner (as Richard Bachman)

and

From a Buick Eight (though this one I think is best enjoyed after reading other Stephen King stories first. I haven't met many people who enjoyed it as much as I did but if you have read a lot of Stephen King and especially those stories that relate to the Dark Tower tales it is a very good one)

Another Highly recommended read is Stephgen King's nonfiction Danse Macabre where he takes a look at Horror in various media from the last 50 years.
I found these Books to be enjoyable but not perfect:

Christine
The Stand
The Dark Half
Pet Semmetary


Ones that I would avoid would be:

The Tommyknockers
The Regulators
Firestarter
Dream Catcher

Good Reading (and Pleasant Dreams ! )

Cheers

Jamie

[Arizona Scot]

I in fact do like Stephan King, but have more recently gotten into Dean Koontz. I really like his style of writing and the fact that he lets the story develop and doesn't feel the need to give three chapters of background information on a character that is killed two pages later.

[Ozman1944]

Am also a Dean Koontz fan - he's beginning to overtake King in my reading material. His characters seem to be easier to grasp. With King I keep having to flip back or I lose track of what's going on.

[Panache]

Of course for horror fiction it hard to beat H.P. Lovecraft and his circle!

Cheers

Jamie

[LordKiltClad]

Only Stephen King I hate but love at the same time is Maximum Overdrive. The short story was okay, but seeing Emilio Estevez in the movie made it not okay. *sigh*

[Big Mikey]

Count me in as a fan. Some of my favourites include Different Seasons, Thinner, The Langoliers and a short story called The Word Processor of the Gods. It was in one of his anthologies. And how could we not mention his best film adaptation Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption.

If you enjoy off-beat and bizarre, check out Michael Slade. That is his nom de plume. He is actually a criminal defense attorney from Vancouver.