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/lit/ - Literature

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1291294 No.1291294 [Reply] [Original]

Quick question.
Just finished Gerald's Game, Stephen King now my favorite author.
Which other books of his do you recommend?
I've read Dolores Claiborne, The Mist, and The Tommyknockers.

>> No.1291308

you've managed to read four of hs shittiest books
great job

>> No.1291307

Richard Bachman is far superior.

>> No.1291311
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1291311

>>1291307

>> No.1291313

>>1291308
The Mist was good.

>> No.1291320

>>1291308

At least he didn't read Insomnia, *the* shittiest book.

OP: Read The Stand, Different Seasons, The Dark Tower, and Hearts in Atlantis.

The rest of his stuff is either gutter-tier airport bookrack shit or meh supernatural stories ruined by being stuffed to the gills with words.

>> No.1291321

It and The Shining are obviously his most famous, I'm surprised you haven't read those yet.

>> No.1291339

>>1291307
He SHOULD read his Richard Bachman stuff. I thought it was pretty good.

>> No.1291349
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1291349

>>1291294
For some reason the way she described "Death" made me think of Salad Fingers, which made it kind of funny instead of scary.

>> No.1291353

>>1291294

Read Salem's Lot. Its not talked about much but its pretty good.

I've actually got a copy of Gerald's Game in my closet that my brother left behind for me. I haven't touched it yet and /lit/ bashing it really hard the last time I saw it mentioned didn't make me want to pick it up.

I really like King's short stories more than his novels though. I heard he came out with a new short story collection recently. Is it any good?

>> No.1291367

I'm halfway through Under The Dome. So far it's equally as good as The Stand (my measuring stick for King). Hopefully the ending isn't as anti-climactic/bullshitty.

>> No.1291371

>>1291353
I thought Gerald's Game was pretty good, near the 3/8 mark. Before that it's pretty lame. But it's good for the most part.

>> No.1291373

>>1291353

His short stories tend to be excellent. Like literary twilight zone episodes except much more morbid. Usually.

>> No.1291374

>>1291353
According to Washington Post it's "satisfyingly bleak" and "a disturbing, fascinating book."

>> No.1291390

It's weird, I can feel the 404 incoming, but for some reason I want this thread to stay alive.

>> No.1291400

I can see I'm the only one who thinks this way.

>> No.1291404

Aw, fuck it.
Go ahead, 404.

>> No.1291407

>>1291390

Ditto. OP, you did start out with some of King's lower tier work. I guess the good news is you can only go up from here.

The Stand and Dark Tower series are usually considered his magnum opuses. Spoiler alert: both have weak endings.

Salem's Lot, as mentioned, is also really solid. No sissy pansy Twilight, Interview with a Vampire shit.

>> No.1291413

can't believe no one has mentioned "cycle of the werewolf". you can go through it in a couple hours, but it's well paced and creepy

>> No.1291429

>>1291349
I knew I wasn't the only one. To be honest it made it scarier for me, because Salad Fingers scares the FUCK out of me.

>> No.1291431

No one wants to have a Stephen King thread?

>> No.1291435

>>1291431
I do. As do
>>1291390
>>1291400
>>1291404
>>1291407

>> No.1291437

>>1291431

I would like to have a Stephen King thread, but I distinctly recall there being a huge /lit/ bitchfit about how King is complete shit, not literature, genre crap, etc.

Sans bitchfits, I think a King thread would be nice. I prefer his short story collections and have been looking for a free copy of his latest offerings. It seems no one here has it yet, either.

>> No.1291439

THIS THREAD IS NOW ABOUT STEPHEN KING

>> No.1291440

Your favorite King short story. Go!

And King is very much real literature. He's a master of character creation and development.

>> No.1291442

>>1291440

Under your aegis, I offer The Jaunt.

HIS TIGHTEST FUCKING SHORT STORY. EVER.

>> No.1291447

>>1291440

The Raft? I think that's what it was called. The one with the oil slick-esque monster.

There was the other one about the villain being buried alive in a Cadillac. It was a bit long winded, but just such a horrible way to die.

>> No.1291448

I just read From A Buick 8, which was surprisingly good, especially for later King. So I'd suggest that, or maybe Different Seasons, which has 3 near-perfect novellas in it.

>> No.1291449

>>1291349
Whaaaaaaat. I always thought he was cute. Just him, not the videos.
Ugghh, in my NIGHTMARES.

>> No.1291455

>>1291448

Is Different Seasons the one with 4 novellas?

>> No.1291457

>>1291449
Oh God, don't get me started. I swear to God "Picnic" will haunt my subconscious forever.

>> No.1291468

I love how there's a King conversation going on at the same time as a Salad Fingers conversation.

>> No.1291471

Full Dark, No Stars

Just got it today. Haven't opened it yet.

>> No.1291478

READ THE SHINING.
NOW.


Also, Four Past Midnight has some good stories in it.

>> No.1291483

This thread lasted waaaaaaay longer than I expected.

>> No.1291486

How many stories (not including the DT series) does Randall Flagg appear in in some form or another? I've heard many King stories have antagonists with the initials R.F.

>> No.1291494
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1291494

>mfw no one has mentioned IT

>> No.1291497
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1291497

>>1291494

See >>1291321

>> No.1291522

The Moving Finger is God-Tier

>> No.1291527
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1291527

>>1291497

>> No.1291542

Read The Stand over and over. I've read it 10 times and love it every time.

>> No.1291554

I am about to hit book five on the DT series.
This shit is pretty. I actually haven't slept for a night once and read the second one.
Fourth was pretty shitty though.

>> No.1291563

>>1291353
'Salem's Lot by far has the best character development i've ever read, AND shits all over twilight.
>>1291494
I've seen the movie too many times to read the book >< like 20+

>> No.1291565

Running Man is a good short. And I thought Dead Zone was pretty solid, even though I don't see it mentioned here a lot. I could be wrong though, read it when I was a kid.
Also the Rita Hayworth one that was made into Shawshank Redemption. All I remember is Red graphically describing prison rape.

>> No.1291570

20th Century Ghost was pretty good. oh wait..

>> No.1291991

I really liked SK when I was a teen, up until about '94. The books I liked enough to re-read are The Stand, It, Different Seasons, Danse Macabre, the first three Dark Tower books, Misery, The Talisman, and Skeleton Crew. Did not care for most of his later books, (the ones I read,) especially Dreamcatchers, which sucked so bad i couldn't believe he actually wrote it.

>> No.1292015

OP do you see how things are progressing? It's all "Well I like this book and that one is complete shit" "No it's not wtf are you that one is awesome" "It's alright but this one is better" "That's his worst book"

You're just going to have to jump in. Go to the bookstore, or the library or wherever and read the back covers and pick the one that sounds interesting. Or if you like you can read them in chronological order
>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_King_bibliography

>> No.1292022

>>1292015
This is a good idea.

It, Duma Key, and The Dark Half are some of my particular favoirtes, but many others are great, and some are better.

King is literature (he recieved an O. Henry award for "The Man in the Black Suit" (one of his weakest stories, actually) and has editted the Best American Short Fiction 2009), but he won't be accepted as such because he comes out of a pop tradition. He's the same teir as Margaret atwood, but with less respect.

Modern literature is in a sad state. The Cult of the Sentence... Priv-Lit.... :(


A great defence of Mid-Brow lit; any writer should read this:
http://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/issues/2001/07/myers.htm