lol   

"Harry, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it, don't wait for it, just let it happen. Could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black coffee. Like this."  -Dale Cooper

i liked him when i was younger. i believe insomnia was(next to the dark tower series) my overall favorite of his. ive been meaning to go back and read it, because as i went through my teenage years, my lit tastes started to get weirder, and king's "folksy"(and you are right coolspringsj, thats exactly how i would describe him, i don mean it as a put down) style started to irk me. and the dark tower series was great for the first 3 or 4 books, but after that, i think it was "the wolves of calla", i just couldnt pick it up. i'd try and read it for a few pages, then find myself not caring and putting it down. but thats not really what ruined king for me.
so i saw the shining when i was about the age that TP was on orignally, and loved it even if i didnt understand it. fast forward 5 years or so, and i learn that kubrick and johnson changed the story quite a bit from the novel. and that king thought he ruined the story. i AM a kubrick lover, so i had to read king's version to compare. and i thought it was terrible. king's style of telling the story of the torrence family and the haunted overlook hotel felt dumbed down in comparison to the film. i hated it. absolutely hated it.
so yeah, that about ended my liking or interest in king.

The Shining is one of those rare instances where the movie is better than the book, thanks to Kubrick and a great performance by Jack Nicholson.

I thought The Gunslinger was really rough around the edges and I enjoyed books 2-4 (even though Wizard and Glass was a prequel of sorts).  Books 5-7 seemed rushed and disconnected from the previous books in a sense.  I didn't like how he inserted himself as a character in the story and didn't like the ending. 

Pennywise is my favorite villian.  Clowns are scary (like in Poltergeist).  IT I have only read once, but I need to read it again badly.  Tim Curry's look and performance was classic in an otherwise forgettable IT miniseries. 

Most of SK's movies blow with the exception of Stand By Me, Shining, Shawshank Redemption, Green Mile, etc.

Does anybody reread SK books?  If so, how often and which ones?

"Harry, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it, don't wait for it, just let it happen. Could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black coffee. Like this."  -Dale Cooper

 Stand By Me and Shawshank Redemption are novellas from Different Seasons.

I liked the parts of the novel IT pertaining to the Losers Club kids, but the miniseries sucked except for Pennywise.  They changed the ending and left out so much of the 1000+ page story to create a 4 hour miniseries.

I thought Kubrick did create some visuals in The Shining movie that definitely stand the test of time.

The Dead Zone - forget the Christopher Walken movie and the USA TV series.  This book is an absolutely haunting drama of what one man has to go through with his power or curse.  I would recommend this book even to non-SK and non-horror fans.

Also for ****s and giggles, what Lynch/TP actors have appeared in SK films (good or bad :))? Off the top of my head Gary Busey - Silver Bullet, Miguel Ferrer - Night Flier and The Stand, Dean Stockwell - The Langoliers, Kiefer Sutherland - Stand By Me.  I'm sure there are many more.

"Harry, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it, don't wait for it, just let it happen. Could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black coffee. Like this."  -Dale Cooper

Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie - Carrie

And Everett McGill is in Silver Bullet!

Brad Dourif in Graveyard Shift

Richard Farnsworth in Misery

Madchen Amick in Sleepwalkers

Harry Dean Stanton in The Green Mile

Anthony Hopkins in Hearts in Atlantis

David Duchovny in episode Chinga of The X-Files written by Stephen King (which was AWFUL)

This should make him proud - Dennis Hopper in Firestarter 2 - Rekindled (WTF?!?)

Diane Ladd in Kingdom Hospital TV series

William H. Macy in Umney's Last Case - part of Nightmares and Dreamscapes

"Harry, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it, don't wait for it, just let it happen. Could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black coffee. Like this."  -Dale Cooper

Favorite SK books...Pet Sematary, Christine, Insomnia, Needful Things, and the collection Nightmares and Dreamscapes.

Favorite villain for me has got to be Christine...it's a car, yes, but dang...that's one pissed off and bitchy car. :)  That is one of the books of his that I re-read the most, the other being Pet Sematary.  I saw a '58 Fury not long ago that was all restored and gorgeous--had bright green lights under the car as well as in the dash.

Never really got into the other series as much.

King is also very adept at writing a short story or novella.  I love his first short story collection Night Shift which has Children of the Corn, Trucks, Graveyard Shift, etc.  The novella Secret Window, Secret Garden is also great fun with a twist ending and is contained in Four Past Midnight.  These are for people who want to read SK in the form of a much shorter read.

What books by SK that are reviled by most fans did you actually enjoy?  I actually loved Gerald's Game.  I think a lot of females on here would enjoy it as it concerns a female protagonist and her deeply troubling backstory.  I also liked Dreamcatcher and loved one particular reference in it to my favorite SK book.  The worst SK book to me is Lisey's Story, chock full of ego and made-up language between husband and wife that is vomit-inducing.

"Harry, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it, don't wait for it, just let it happen. Could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black coffee. Like this."  -Dale Cooper

 Most people pick The Stand, IT, or the Dark Tower as their favorite.  I loved The Stand as well, but I loved the exploration of the magic of childhood in a small town and facing your own biggest fears in IT.  Stephen King threw the Carrie manuscript away and his wife Tabitha got it out of the trashcan and said it was good enough to get published.  Good thing she did being that was his first novel and all and the rest is history (although I believe he had published short stories prior to this in magazines).

It is also fun to geek out when SK references other SK short stories and books in most of his books and how a lot of the works are intertwined, especially the Dark Tower saga.

"Harry, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it, don't wait for it, just let it happen. Could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black coffee. Like this."  -Dale Cooper

Never read any of his books but I loved this :

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=FhbrLjcAPw0

"Harry, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it, don't wait for it, just let it happen. Could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black coffee. Like this."  -Dale Cooper

"Harry, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it, don't wait for it, just let it happen. Could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black coffee. Like this."  -Dale Cooper

Arr yoo tryin' not ta get suuued?

Logic Hat Online- logichat.org

Lynch could use the stories like a skeleton and flesh them out however he felt at the time.

The Body would be great (much darker and more unsettling)

The Langoliers (time coming after you unseen)

The Dark Half (duality)

Gerald's Game (sick sick tale in lakeside home with very few cast members)

Bag of Bones (haunted writer and the unraveling mind)

DL could make these jump on the screen and be even better than the book which is very hard to do.

"Harry, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it, don't wait for it, just let it happen. Could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black coffee. Like this."  -Dale Cooper

I am currently not reading any books and October is the perfect time for a little light SK reading in honor of Halloween and his upcoming short story collection Just After Sunset dropping on 11/11/08.

I am going to go the short story and novella route because they are short and sweet.  I'll have to browse my collection tonight and see which ones are on the gory side

Do you Gazetteers reread books?  Not just SK, but any of your favorites?

"Harry, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it, don't wait for it, just let it happen. Could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black coffee. Like this."  -Dale Cooper

nice, logichat. i got the simpsons reference, as it seems no one else did!

just wanted to say how much i hate post-accident king and love pre-accident king. they are two completely different people.

the last two dark tower books might as well have been written by brian herbert and kevin j anderson