posted
I raised this about a week ago at the tail end of the Shawshank Redemption thread, which was petering out at that stage, and got a couple of suggestions, but would like to try for some more: I'd only ever read The Shining, by Stephen King, 20+ years ago, and was too freaked out to read any others. However, this year I've read From a Buick 8, Hearts in Atlantis, and The Green Mile, all of which I loved. Also seen The Shawshank Redemption and thought it was great. What really got to me was King's ability to tell powerful, beautiful stories about believable characters that I cared about, and to do it in a way that left me moved by, and grateful for, the good in ordinary people. What I'd like suggestions on are other stories of King's that have similar qualities, but that are non-horror (bit of a wuss, over-active imagination, if you get my meaning ). Somebody on the other thread suggested Dolores Claiborne and Bag of Bones (bought Bag of Bones today). Anybody got any other ideas??? Thanks in advance.
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The Stand is brilliance, and will - or at least should - be hailed as one of the greatest novels of the 20th Century some day.
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Amen to the recommendations for The Stand--one of my very favorite books of his. I'd also suggest Rose Madder; though that seems to be strangely unpopular compared to his other books, I loved it.
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Try Eyes of the Dragon. He said he wrote that one so that there would be one book in his collection that he wouldn't be afraid for his kids to read. It's almost more fantasy then horror and it's a beautifully written story that I think you'll really love. And I totally agree with everyone's suggestion of the Stand. It's on my top 5 fav book list I'd want to have on a desert isle!
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Written with, um, I forget, but it is the only Stephen King book I have read. (I get way too creeped out by horror)
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I'd second Taalcon's suggestion from the other thread and try Different Seasons. It's 4 very well written short stories, one of them being Shawshank.
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Wow, thanks everybody, that's really helpful, I've written them all down, appreciate the input. I'll be starting Bag of Bones as soon as I've finished my 3rd re-reading of Pastwatch (about 2 days). And will buy The Stand next. Thanks again.
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posted
I also vote for the stand and The Dark tower series
I also liked the short story "The langoliers." I am sure it has been published in a few places...though I know it was in the collection "4 past midnight"
The story "Secret Window" is also in that book...it is also good, though that is a rather creepy story.
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quote:I did not like Black House. I read abut fifty pages or so. Too creepy.
The first hundred pages or so were absolutely horrid. That freaky flying overhead point of view was just way too strange for me - definitely Straub's influence. However, once things actually got moving, it was a pretty decent book. (and one of the two I now have signed by The King <G>, the other being Talisman... now to track down Straub and get him to sign too)
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Black house is a good book. It's connected to The Talisman, but only by its main character. I'm not even sure if it counts as a sequel,since it's so different.
If you don't want to read ALL of the Dark Tower (why you wouldn't want to finish is beyond me) At least read The Gunslinger. I think it may be my favorite book of all time.
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I think Gunslinger IS the voice of DT. Sometimes, especially after Wizard and Glass, something about the story strikes me wrong. Usually just a phrase that strikes me as completely Not Dark Tower. Not Roland. Usually I throw the book across the room and pick it up again ten minutes later. ::shrug:: Or I could just really like gunslinger because it's a story in itself, without neeidng hte other parts. I wouldn't have read the other ones if they didn't have Roland in them.
Which may be the problem. As much as I love Eddie and Susannah and everyone else, DT is about Roland. And the later books just aren't ENOUGH Roland for me.
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I think the more involved you get in the culture of Roland's world and the more you get to see how he relates to it is the best. The Wastelands is my favorite part.
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I freakin' loved Black House. Just absolutely loved it. Probably up there with Bag of Bones as my favorite non-Dark Tower King book. You do need to read The Talisman beforehand or I don't think that it would be anywhere near as complete.
It is also a big fav of mine. The monster parts were good, not great, but the kids and their interactions were wonderful.
A sort of odd recommendation is Danse Macabre, his non-fiction book on horror. I thought it was pretty interesting, if kind of scattershot.
Oh, and the only King book that I've ever actually been scared by was Gerald's Game, which, over all, I didn't really like that much. If you've read it, you probably know that part that I'm talking about (the bit with the car). SPOILERS FOR BLACK HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . The flying perspective thing in the introduction comes because you're riding around on Gorg as it's surveying the town. I actually liked this part. It felt a little like the intro to Needful Things, but with you going to the characters and spots instead of them coming to you.
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What is so hot about The Gunslinger? I mean, the gunslinger guns down an entire town, and that's just for starters. He's a compulsion-driven super monster, something like the vicious minor deities cast out onto the earth in Greek mythology. I had read most of King's novels before I read The Gunslinger, and I had no idea how dark King's mind really could be until I read that. He said he started it in college, and it has been like a literary driving force in his muse. Despite all the horror, all his other stories have been about good people.
[ September 30, 2004, 12:12 AM: Message edited by: Ron Lambert ]
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The Gunslinger SPOILERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . For anyone who read the original and revised editions of The Gunslinger, did you find Allie's whole "Shoot me. He told me the secret and now I can't stand to live." thing a little too Greedo shooting first for your tastes. One of the things about Roland (especially at this time) is that he would blow this relatively innocent woman away if he had to in order to continue on his quest for the Tower. I thought that the bit where he cooly shoots her without her first pleading for him to do it underlined the total lack of any limits to what he would do to obtain the Dark Tower better than him abandoning Jake to death. Reading the revised version felt very off to me.
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posted
Ron Roland is a good person, mostly. Well, he's on the good side anyway. He's just really, really, unbelievably hard. In The Gunslinger, especially in the pre-Jake parts, he's the hardest he's even been. At this point he's most likely hundreds of years old, and nearlly all of that time, he's been alone and focused on the Dark Tower. His entire world has unravelled around him and this has become the only focal point his existence. Anyone who wasn't as hard as Roland had become would have died long ago.
The desert theme was great for this book and, despite it's flaws, I liked it a great deal. It was just so spare and hard and sort of barren and fit Roland so well. It's really rare to come across a book written with this sort of perspective and atmosphere.
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posted
What Goody says. Both of the books written with Straub are rough in places, and I felt like I could see the seams between the two writers. The first hundred pages of Black House were not too good. It took a hundred pages of mind-numbing pretentious writing before anything happened in the freaking book, and another fifty to get caught up again with the freaking protagonist! And still, both books are worth it, because once they get going, they really get going. . . . . . Possible spoiler coming, though I'm going to be intentionally vague. . . . . ..In the Talisman, there is a point maybe 2/3 of the way through the book where a relatively minor character dies. He is only introduced halfway through the book; he is with us for maybe a hundred pages or so. But he is so well-realized that I actually freaking wept when he died! I put the book down and wept, and then picked it back up, because I knew I couldn't go to sleep with that being the last thing I read.
I can't think of another time anything like this has happened to me.
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posted
Ick, I agree. In Black House I remember thinking to myself "Jeez, they're breaking all the rules about viewpoint characters and interjecting comments to the reader into the narration, but it still so darn good that they get away with it."
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posted
Just to re-iterate what may already be said about Roland... he does come across as a souless killing machine in the first book. It fits.
I'm not sure this would be considered a spoiler, but since i do mention parts of several of the books (nothing that couldn't be discovered by reading back covers) i'm gonna say: Possible Spoiler Warning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .(enough space yet? i think so ) The fact that Roland is such a single minded entity in the beginning has everything to do with the story, including the end of bookVII.
In gunslinger we see the addition of Jake Chambers to the story, and this hard-ass gunslinger must come to grips with the choices he makes/is forced to make for the sake of his quest.
In Drawingof3&Wastelands we see 2 more people added to the gunslinger's ka-tet, Eddie & Sussanah. Roland's "too tough" changes as he grows to know, and care about, these people. These 2 people grow at the same time, making them integral parts to the story.
In WizardandGlass we see some of the reason he's such a hard ass... he's had a lot stolen from him, and a lost a lot of those he once cared about.
All through the entire series we see this progression of character from only caring about the Tower to caring for his ka-tet as well (the Tower never loses importance, as is mentioned several times by himself & his ka-tet)
The fact that King takes these characters that he describes so well.. then shows us growing as people (for in fact, every character in the story does grow into a better person throughout the series.. Including King ) Anyone who's finished Book7, and read the CODA (despite warning) knows what i mean.
Why can i not describe them as anything but ka-tet? Guess its the only thing my mind can contemplate it.
okiedoke post getting too long. end with something slightly on topic, but silly
quote:..In the Talisman, there is a point maybe 2/3 of the way through the book where a relatively minor character dies. He is only introduced halfway through the book; he is with us for maybe a hundred pages or so. But he is so well-realized that I actually freaking wept when he died! I put the book down and wept, and then picked it back up, because I knew I couldn't go to sleep with that being the last thing I read.
That was the first time that a King book truly made me cry. Yes, serious bawling tears over that particular character. And given that death seemed to be a doorway to the DT worlds, I really really hoped he'd show up again. Those two so needed to be reunited. The close-cousins that came in later just wasn't good enough for me.
And why would someone not want to finish DT? How about the CODA of 7? AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH I could have absolutely screamed over that last sentence!
Just had an interesting thought... s p o i l e r s p a c e f o r d a r k t o w e r
perhaps the Revised Gunslinger was an attempt at continuing the story. I would honestly be VERY surprised if King took the time to write the next loop, but the implication at the end of 7 was that Roland having the Horn of Eld would change events on the next go-round. Perhaps the changed scene with Allie was one sign of that. Small changes each time that slowly get him closer to truly acheiving his goals - or maybe deflecting him from his obsession with the Tower completely.
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). Somebody on the other thread suggested Dolores Claiborne and Bag of Bones (bought Bag of Bones today). Anybody got any other ideas??? Thanks in advance.
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