Stephen King

[GotThatSwing]

I have a question about this author. I liked some of the movies based on his books, but I have never ever read any (yes, shame on me ). If I was to read his book, which one should I pick up as a first one and why?

[StephenKingman]

In my opinion there are two books from King which are ideal starting points for the novice- The Shining is not only a classic tale of the supernatural, it also taps into some very primal fears like isolation and the fear of the unknown- essentially a haunted house story which has some very creepy psychological aces up its sleeve, the tale of Danny Torrance and his family coming to live in The Overlook, Colorado certainly is in my top 3 Best King Books and is a great place to start sampling the delights of King.

Also, his debut novel- Carrie, is another excellent book which is written in classic King style. A bullied and tormented schoolgirl with a strange gift unleashes hell on her town. These two books are a great start but if they dont sound like your cup of tea, then there are plenty of other books which i recommend to start off with:

IT
Geralds Game
Christine
Misery
Dolores Claiborne

Good luck!

[GotThatSwing]

I was thinking about The Shining since that's one of my favourite movies, but then read somewhere that it's been a good movie made out of not so good book, but thought I'd look for further opinions. I like the fact that there's this psychological accent.

I never read much horror books but I just read one and it turned out it is my cup of tea after all so I thought I should read some of this genre. And Stephen King came first to my mind

Well, thank you for sugestion. I think I'd go for The Shining first.

[StephenKingman]

No problem, as for the movie, it is widely known that King hated the 1980 Stanley Kubrick adaptation of the book as it omitted key elements of the book and changed the ending. The movie is excellent and scary, but it does leave out a huge chunk of the book so i can see where King is coming from. But he decided in 1997 to make a mini-series of the book in the vein in which he originally envisioned it (even making a cameo appearance as a long-dead 1920s orchestra conductor!). The movie was very good, except for the child actor who played Danny who in my opinion ruined the character with his amateur and sloppy portrayal.

I hope you enjoy The Shining.

[GotThatSwing]

I'll let you know if I enjoy it after reading. But first I must buy it

And then probably later I should see the other adaptation of The Shining that you mentioned. Sounds interesting.

[Nickywilliam]

Nice posting!!!

[Mairin]

My personal favorite of his is The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon... very eerie!!
And you can't go wrong with the Green Mile either.

[GotThatSwing]

My personal favorite of his is The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon... very eerie!!
And you can't go wrong with the Green Mile either.

What's the first one about?

[Mairin]

My personal favorite of his is The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon... very eerie!!
And you can't go wrong with the Green Mile either.

What's the first one about?

Its about a young girl who gets lost in the woods and is being hunted by a man killing bear. I guess it freaked me out mostly because I'm an avid camper and those thoughts always are in the back of your mind.

[GotThatSwing]

My personal favorite of his is The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon... very eerie!!
And you can't go wrong with the Green Mile either.

What's the first one about?

Its about a young girl who gets lost in the woods and is being hunted by a man killing bear. I guess it freaked me out mostly because I'm an avid camper and those thoughts always are in the back of your mind.

Ooh, sounds interesting and realistic!

[Mairin]

What's the first one about?

Its about a young girl who gets lost in the woods and is being hunted by a man killing bear. I guess it freaked me out mostly because I'm an avid camper and those thoughts always are in the back of your mind.

Ooh, sounds interesting and realistic!

That's why I love it so much. It doesn't have any eerie clowns or monsters.. its totally plausible.

[Hazelrah]

There are so many good Stephen King books, and usually they are far better than the movies.

For me:

Best = IT
Scariest = Pet Semetary
Underrated = Gerald's Game


-Shane

[GotThatSwing]

Its about a young girl who gets lost in the woods and is being hunted by a man killing bear. I guess it freaked me out mostly because I'm an avid camper and those thoughts always are in the back of your mind.

Ooh, sounds interesting and realistic!

That's why I love it so much. It doesn't have any eerie clowns or monsters.. its totally plausible.

And I go to the woods every summer

[Sophius]

The Shining is definitely a good place to start. I started with The Tommyknockers which in my opinion is a bit creepier than The Shining. Just one thing a bout Stephen King though. Be careful which books of his you pick up, as some (like The Dark Half) are starkly(no pun intended) lackluster.

[StephenKingman]

The Shining is definitely a good place to start. I started with The Tommyknockers which in my opinion is a bit creepier than The Shining. Just one thing a bout Stephen King though. Be careful which books of his you pick up, as some (like The Dark Half) are starkly(no pun intended) lackluster.

Yes, he has his fair share of poor books, especially Bag of Bones, Tommyknockers and Insomnia but he has recently been criticized for changing the tempo of his books since his car accident in 1999 in works like Lisey's Story and Duma Key but personally i like this as it gives the reader a bit more time to wear the character around their heart and become totally familiar with their fears and motives before the drip feed of terror inevitably begins. Agree with the above poster about Geralds Game, its a hugely under-rated King classic and anyone who loved Tom Gordon will love this.