Stephen King..

[The Curmudgeon]

I'm in a bit of a King obsessed mood this week, after beginning to read Misery on the plane and then finding it damn near unputdownable. It was an exhilarating yet depressing read; The Curmudgeon plans one day to become a writer himself, and I know full well that I'll NEVER be as good as King.

So let's talk SK. Favourite books? Worst books? Hate him, love him? Wished his appearance on the Simpson's had been longer?

King is, by some degree, my favourite ever author. I love how he makes the fantastic seem like it could happen next door. The way he describes things by inserting local idioms and dialect turns every character into a fully fleshed, living breathing entity.

Anyway, gushing attempts at literary discussion aside, my favourite King work would have to include IT, Desperation and The Regulators (a mind bending concept of the same story - sort of - told twice), Misery and Insomnia. Oh, and the Shining. And The Stand. And.. I'll stop now. Your up.

[trashcanman]

The Stand (deerrr!), The Langoliers, Salem's Lot (double deeerrr!),and The Dark Tower (first 5 especially). By the way, they are planning an adaptation of the last one. If you know anything about the series, you know that is going to make doing LOTR justice look like a walk in the park. I hear the plan is to adapt The Gunslinger as a feature film and then continue as a television series. Hopefully on cable with fewer restrictions. I went through a phase where I read almost nothing but King. Most of his classics I never got a chance to read because I focused on works that hadn't been adapted into films, and I ended up on a schedule where I seldom get to read comfortably without interruption anymore. I will get to The Shining and It someday.

[The Curmudgeon]

I bought the first four DT books, and I really hope I'm wrong and they improve later on or something, because I didn't care for the first book much at all. I mean, I read it till the end and didn't think it was terrible or badly written or anything, but I just wasn't into it one bit. My mum assures me the series is probably the best thing he's ever done, so it must pick up.

The Langoliers is one of the King books I'm still on the hunt for 'cos I've never read it. Thankfully, Mrs C caught this bug before me and went out and bought, like, 20 King books in a row, so I can make my way through them one by one, and I just buy ones I don't have when I see them.

Have you read "Cell", Trashy? That's some good shit, and especially for what we're into. Basically, a pulse goes through cell-phones, sending anyone who was using a phone at the time to turn into, essentially, a zombie. My mum didn't care for it, but then she's not into the whole Romero type of story. That one is well worth picking up.

[Ben]

Salem's Lot and Pet Sematary for me. I've read some King, but I'm (*prepares to deflect blows*) more of a Dean Koontz guy.

[The Curmudgeon]

No, er, blows from me (you have to buy me a drink first). I'm not a huge Koontz fan, but I did read the first two of his (supposed) trilogy on the modern telling of Frankenstein. Absolutely loved those books, and it was only because of Katrina that the third was shelved. No idea if he's back on track with it or not.

[trashcanman]

I didn't read Cell because I heard that they were making a movie out of it (with Eli Roth directing, supposedly) and I try to avoid reading the source material before I see a film. Almost ruined Kick-Ass for me. But the Cell film hasn't materialized so it's likely to be among the first books I buy if I can ever get more reading time. The first five Dark Tower books were awesome in my opinion (the last two not so much), but since it is essentially King's attempt at LOTR, you probably wouldn't care for it. It does, however, essentially tie together all of King's stories in a Marvel universe kind of way that I think you'll appreciate. For example, the true identity of The Man in Black from the first book.....