Wash: Psychic, though? That sounds like something out of science fiction. Zoe: We live in a space ship, dear. Wash: So?

'Objects In Space'


Literary Buffistas 3: Don't Parse the Blurb, Dear.

There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."


Seska (the Watcher-in-Training) - Jan 10, 2011 9:01:29 pm PST #13502 of 28282
"We're all stories, in the end. Just make it a good one, eh?"

My favourite Stephen King is the lesser-celebrated Needful Things. It's creepy as anything.


Becky - Jan 10, 2011 9:16:49 pm PST #13503 of 28282

King definitely needs an editor, although the original Stand is my favorite book of all time. Maybe it helps that I was living in Boulder at the time I first read it and everything felt so much more real in a way. Scary for sure. Then again I do love me a good postApocalypse/dystopia.


zuisa - Jan 11, 2011 1:45:02 am PST #13504 of 28282
call me jacki; zuisa is an internet nick from ancient times =)

I've had Salem's Lot sitting on a shelf for years, and I'm not sure why I never read it. I really ought to!!

Firestarter holds a special place for me as it was the first King I read, and I caused quite a scene in the library because I was trying to check it out when I was 12 and the librarian was sure this was a terrible idea. My mother was all... "Why on earth shouldn't I let her read it?"


Fred Pete - Jan 11, 2011 5:27:51 am PST #13505 of 28282
Ann, that's a ferret.

I re-read It over the summer. I was struck with how King re-created not just one, but half a dozen children's worlds in the 1958 sections. It's also the one I'd most like to see the author's background materials for -- I suspect a lot about Pennywise never made it into the book.

And may I pimp "Richard Bachmann's" The Long Walk? Completely implausible premise at the time (though not so much in today's reality-TV mad world?) but utterly compelling.


Amy - Jan 11, 2011 5:35:23 am PST #13506 of 28282
Because books.

I loved It so much. The children's voices, their connection, their fear, everything. And then the end sucked so incredibly, I literally threw the book across the room. Only time King has ever really disappointed me.


§ ita § - Jan 11, 2011 6:11:54 am PST #13507 of 28282
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.

Okay, so I"m looking at a wide choice of SK ebooks.

  • Complete and uncut Stand Y/Y?
  • The Dark Tower Y/N?
  • The Colorado Kid Y/N
  • Salem's Lost
  • The Shining
  • It
  • Misery N/N
  • Talisman Y/Y
  • Cujo y/N
  • Thinner y/N
  • Insomnia Y/N
  • Carrie y/y
  • Night Shift Y/Y
  • Skeleton Crew Y/Y
  • Dead Zone y/n
  • Firestarter Y/Y
  • The Mist Y/N

Help me choose.


erin_obscure - Jan 11, 2011 6:16:27 am PST #13508 of 28282
Occasionally I’m callous and strange

stand - yes! dark tower - yes! it's a long series, and you have the benefit of not having to wait for the rest of the series. I enjoyed the earlier books of the series more, and the later books less for many reasons. colorado kid - meh. i wasn't enthused.


§ ita § - Jan 11, 2011 6:19:42 am PST #13509 of 28282
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.

Oops I edited in a big bunch there. I was interested in the Colorado kid because it seems to have sparked Haven in a really lame way. I want to the connection there.


Amy - Jan 11, 2011 6:23:23 am PST #13510 of 28282
Because books.

The Stand is completely worth it, even uncut. One of my all-time favorite books of any kind.

The Shining is fantastic, and has a much more satisfying ending than the movie.

Misery is actually wonderful, so don't cross it off the list entirely. Great, tight POV, incredible tension.

Carrie is fantastic, and really inventive, too, in style and format.

Night Shift and Skeleton Crew are both totally worth it, and full of gems.

The only ones you don't have on here that I'd really recommend are Desperation and The Regulators, which you should really read as a pair, in whatever order you like, and Delores Claiborne, which gets overlooked, but which I really loved.

For just starting out, though, I'd go with one of the short story collections and then either Carrie, Salem's Lot, or The Shining.


Connie Neil - Jan 11, 2011 6:28:53 am PST #13511 of 28282
brillig

I've been thinking about reading The Dark Tower. Good to hear it's worth it.