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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
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
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!!!!!!
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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
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
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?
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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
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
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
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
Zack, read Big Driver, it's a novella in the Full Dark, No Stars book. I think you'd like it. :)
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I'll have to track it down! Thanks for the recommendation, Libby! :)
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