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SimplyScripts Screenwriting Discussion Board  /  Fiction– There Are Other Worlds than These  /  My Recent King Reads
Posted by: Warren, December 4th, 2022, 6:37pm
So after finishing Fairy Tale I decide to give a few King novels a go that I have been putting off for a while due to generally negative or neutral reviews. The novels being Sleeping Beauties, Dreamcatcher and Form a Buick 8

Sleeping Beauties

Loved it from start to finish, great characters, completely engaging story, and some interesting ideas thrown around. Mainly, I hear that this book is boring and too long and takes too long to get going. I don't really understand the criticism as it's full on from the start.

Dreamcatcher

I loved this as well! King always does such a great job of interpersonal relationships. I loved the bond been the guys and I loved the time jumps. Also, who doesn't love anything about Derry and references to Pennywise. I will most definitely be reading this one again.

From a Buick 8

There are only two King books, so far, that I genuinely have not liked, The Tommyknockers being one of them and this the other. I feel like it had potential to be something amazing but as I got further and further in I realised that that potential wasn't going to be met. This is such a nothing book in my opinion. It just felt like nothing happened and then it ended.

My current read is The Green Mile as a bit of a pallet cleanser, I think I only have about 50 pages left. You forget how truly amazing a book is sometimes when you haven't revisited it for a while. Poor Del, poor John :(

And in a crazy turn of events I will actually be reading a non-King novel for my next book. And stranger yet it's a western!!!!!!

I've heard so many good things about Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy that I feel compelled to give it a go.

What are you currently reading?
Posted by: Grandma Bear, December 4th, 2022, 6:49pm; Reply: 1
Interesting. I personally never finished Sleeping Beauties. I didn't like it. Dreamcatcher took me a couple of tries to get into, but I eventually did and I liked it. From a Buick 8 was good IMO. Been awhile, but I remember liking it.

What am I reading right now? Nothing.I just finished Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde yesterday and was going to give Mary Shelley's book a try later tonight. To my surprise, I noticed someone had written a modern day take on Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and posted it here at SS today.

A couple of weeks ago I finished Where The Crawdads Sing. Someone gave me the book in Swedish, but that didn't work for me at all. I just couldn't read the dialogue and hear it correctly in Swedish. I ended up buying the English version and I liked it. I watched the movie after that, but it was not very good.
Posted by: Warren, December 4th, 2022, 7:04pm; Reply: 2

Quoted from Grandma Bear
Interesting. I personally never finished Sleeping Beauties. I didn't like it. Dreamcatcher took me a couple of tries to get into, but I eventually did and I liked it. From a Buick 8 was good IMO. Been awhile, but I remember liking it.

What am I reading right now? Nothing.I just finished Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde yesterday and was going to give Mary Shelley's book a try later tonight. To my surprise, I noticed someone had written a modern day take on Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and posted it here at SS today.

A couple of weeks ago I finished Where The Crawdads Sing. Someone gave me the book in Swedish, but that didn't work for me at all. I just couldn't read the dialogue and hear it correctly in Swedish. I ended up buying the English version and I liked it. I watched the movie after that, but it was not very good.


We can't all like the same things, but Sleeping Beauties really is a head scratcher for me. Maybe give it another go :P

I've never read any of those old horrors, maybe one day. I think I have about 10 to 15 King books left (So I will be done by no later than the end of next year) and I was just going to start again but if I like Cormac McCarthy I might give a few more of his ago (The Road and No Country For Old Men). I'd also Like to delve into my Joe Hill collection at some point.
Posted by: Arundel, December 10th, 2022, 4:57pm; Reply: 3
Have you read Blaze? (written as Richard Bachman). I liked the simplicity of the writing, much different to the style King would later adopt.

I just started reading 'Berserk,' which is a biography of South American boxer Edwin Valero
Posted by: JEStaats, December 13th, 2022, 2:47pm; Reply: 4

Quoted from Warren

There are only two King books, so far, that I genuinely have not liked, The Tommyknockers being one of them....

And in a crazy turn of events I will actually be reading a non-King novel for my next book. And stranger yet it's a western!!!!!!


Tommyknockers, ugh. Did he write that during his addiction phase? Just a lot of ramblings and tangents. This remains at the bottom of the list for me.

And a Western?! What's gotten into you, Warren? If you need another, try 'Welcome to Hard Times' by E.L. Doctorow. So bizarre. Loved it. Has anyone else read it? Curious.

I tried Mary Shelley's Frankenstein not too long ago and just couldn't finish it.

I've been on a Hemingway kick lately: A Farewell to Arms, To Have and Have Not, For Whom the Bell Tolls, and The Sun also Rises. A Farewell to Arms (to me) is the most beautifully written work I've ever read. Any Hemingway fans out there?
Posted by: Warren, January 3rd, 2023, 11:09pm; Reply: 5

Quoted from Arundel
Have you read Blaze? (written as Richard Bachman). I liked the simplicity of the writing, much different to the style King would later adopt.

I just started reading 'Berserk,' which is a biography of South American boxer Edwin Valero


Blaze is the only Bachman book I am yet to read. It's coming up soon.
Posted by: Warren, January 3rd, 2023, 11:15pm; Reply: 6

Quoted from JEStaats


Tommyknockers, ugh. Did he write that during his addiction phase? Just a lot of ramblings and tangents. This remains at the bottom of the list for me.

And a Western?! What's gotten into you, Warren? If you need another, try 'Welcome to Hard Times' by E.L. Doctorow. So bizarre. Loved it. Has anyone else read it? Curious.

I tried Mary Shelley's Frankenstein not too long ago and just couldn't finish it.

I've been on a Hemingway kick lately: A Farewell to Arms, To Have and Have Not, For Whom the Bell Tolls, and The Sun also Rises. A Farewell to Arms (to me) is the most beautifully written work I've ever read. Any Hemingway fans out there?


Yes I believe he did, I hated it. My least favourite King.

I know right! I wanted to love it because of all the great reviews but sadly I did not. It was super violent, but everything felt so matter of fact and under developed. I also struggled to get behind a protag that was addressed only as "the Kid". I did strangely enjoy the last few chapters, but it wont be a book I return to. I think my western reading days have also come to an end :P

I'd like to read some Hemingway eventually, I'll put A Farewell to Arms at the top of the list.
Posted by: flower_heart, March 26th, 2024, 4:24pm; Reply: 7
I know there no one written whole year but this whole thread reminded me of my past Carrie obsession, god i love Carrie
Posted by: Zack, March 26th, 2024, 5:03pm; Reply: 8
I recently read my very first Stephen King story. Trucks, from the Graveyard Shift collection. I loved it. Wouldn't mind seeing a proper film adaption of this one. :)

Children of the Corn is next on my list.
Posted by: Grandma Bear, March 26th, 2024, 6:09pm; Reply: 9
I have many favorites, but Salem's Lot is the scariest one for me.  8)
Posted by: Zack, April 6th, 2024, 5:35pm; Reply: 10
Finally read through another of the shorts from Night Shift. This time it was The Mangler! Surprised at how much I loved the bizarre concept. It's a great short story. Until it's not. Holy fuck, that ending is batshit crazy. And not in a good way. Just my opinion, of course.

Trucks was better.
Posted by: LC, April 6th, 2024, 11:40pm; Reply: 11

Quoted from Zack
Finally read through another of the shorts from Night Shift. This time it was The Mangler! Surprised at how much I loved the bizarre concept. It's a great short story. Until it's not. Holy fuck, that ending is batshit crazy. And not in a good way. Just my opinion, of course.

Trucks was better.


Zack, read Big Driver, it's a novella in the Full Dark, No Stars book. I think you'd like it. :)
Posted by: bert, April 7th, 2024, 9:50am; Reply: 12

Quoted from Zack
Wouldn't mind seeing a proper film adaption of this one.


Have you not heard of this film? Not the greatest ever, but qualifies as "proper" in most respects. OK, it is actually kind of bad. King was doing a lot of drugs during this time. But still a fun movie if you ask me.

Posted by: Zack, April 8th, 2024, 12:44am; Reply: 13

Quoted from bert


Have you not heard of this film? Not the greatest ever, but qualifies as "proper" in most respects. OK, it is actually kind of bad. King was doing a lot of drugs during this time. But still a fun movie if you ask me.



Oh yeah, I'm familiar with Maximum Overdrive. Never been a fan. Maybe it's the awful ACDC soundtrack? I actually prefer the syfy channel remake, Trucks. Still not very good, though.
Posted by: Zack, April 8th, 2024, 12:45am; Reply: 14

Quoted from LC


Zack, read Big Driver, it's a novella in the Full Dark, No Stars book. I think you'd like it. :)


I'll have to track it down! Thanks for the recommendation, Libby! :)
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