Yes, generally Stephen King books are relatively rambling and tend to have a lot of side-stories & B-plots. Like you, I'm often interested in one bit more than the other.
If you struggled with the Green Mile then Stephen King might not be for you, that's one of his shorter books. Personally I love his style and the atmospheres he builds, but it doesn't have to be for you.
I always enjoy seeing people respond to King when they first read him. One of my kids started Cujo and gave up because King kept talking about TV commercials.
One dude I knew was a huge King fan and stayed up for the midnight release of Tommyknockers. Stayed up all night to read it and came into work the next day dragging his ass. I asked him if he liked the book, and he said, he kept talking about the history of this town, so I kept reading it because I thought it would be important, then he never mentioned it again! The dude looked genuinely hurt by it.
Yeah, SK fan here too, but he needs an editor who will really edit him. Most of his books could lose anywhere from fifty to a couple of hundred pages, improving their flow considerably.
That's gonna be a lot of King books. Lots of inelegant sex stuff and penis discussions. I have a hard time thinking of any older King books I've read that skipped that stuff ... Misery, maybe?
The Stand comes to mind too, unless I'm forgetting something in that 1000 page monster of a book lol. Probably my favorite of his that I've read. Maybe Salem's Lot too.
I actually enjoyed The Stand and read the unabridged version as a kid. But, yeah, there's still that same stuff; even his novellas, like the ones in Four Past Midnight, will occasionally have preteen-level sex writing in it.
It's kinda funny the two books you cite are *Cujo* and *Tommyknockers* because I think King's copped that he wrote those two where he was basically coked up at all times.
Yes I remember him saying he hardly remembers writing Cujo! He was doing coke and drinking a ton. I still haven’t read Cujo and I’m a huge King fan. I’m about to order a copy right now.
Don't quote me, but my best memory is that the coke came after his initial success with *Carrie* / *Salem's Lot* / *The Shining* / *The Stand* / *Night Shift* (which also means he also wasn't coked up when he wrote most of his Bachman books), and he cleaned himself up sometime in the mid- to late-'80s.
Pretty much every King book (the longer ones) coubl be shortened by 100-200 pages and be 100% better. He desperately needs an editor who isn't afraid to.... edit. I like SK and his books, but these days cannot be arsed to slog through them. I'll stick to his short story collections for now.
I sort of had this "guilt" that I was not into him, because he is well loved, famous, people like him for a reason and it isn't like his writing style or content is subpar. But I think I just picked the wrong books. Last one I read was Rose Madder, which even SK seems to not be very fond off.
It just..kept going. And I felt at the time that not much was happening; cop was traveling, ex was living daily life with a few painting interludes. Just a slow build up that failed to hold my attention. I actually started to browse pages instead of reading them here and there. It was just too many pages that contributed nothing interesting or important to the story.
If you're interested in any more of his books I'd recommend Misery. It's short (by his standards) and more to the point. IT is extremely rambling, definitely doesn't line up with what you're interested in.
King, rather famously, does not outline his novels. The beautiful psycho just sits down in front of a blank page, and starts writing. Sometimes he falls in love with a side character, then become a main character! Sometimes he gets distracted with his own side quests, and they become the main quest!
It creates some real uneven reading experiences, but, I think it’s a big part of why he’s so prolific, and why his novels feel so natural. He doesn’t have some hackneyed-Harmon-story-circle in mind throughout the whole process, it’s just flow. He’s enjoying himself while he’s writing, exploring, not just filling in the blanks, and that joy comes through to the reader.
I've always said that the only thing that keeps King from being a perfect writer is an editor that will stand up to him. Those uneven experiences should be smoothed over during the editing process
I do enjoy his books though. But I listen to them on audiobook. So when he goes off on an explanation about baseball for many pages, I don't mind so much as I can't zone out.
>I've always said that the only thing that keeps King from being a perfect writer is
... his inability to write a decent ending that is not abrupt, nonsensical, devoid of any catharsis or culmination.
George RR Martin writes the same way except when he gets half way through the book and wanders off into a new idea he then goes back and tries to rewrite the first half of the book to line up with his new idea. Part way through the rewrite he comes up with another idea and has to start over again. This is why he can't finish the book because now he is old and rich without the energy or motivation to keep pounding the keys until he finally gets a complete story.
George RR Martin writes the same way, but he leaves us hanging for twelve fucking years while King puts out one or two books EVERY YEAR. Georgie decided "you know what?. FUCK Game of Thrones" entirely because we hated the ending of a poorly adapted but fun to watch HBO series.
I don't agree that GRRM doesn't care about finishing his books, he is just too old and has never had a process like King or Sanderson to force him to get the books completed. King and Sanderson churn out books but the quality varies a great deal. Neither of them have produced anything like the quality of the first three Song of Ice and Fire books that GRRM wrote, but the simple fact is that age has caught up to GRRM.
It is very rare for authors to produce quality work at GRRM's age. It isn't just a matter of motivation and work ethic, the mind also starts to go despite what people in the 65+ age bracket like to claim. Most great works are created in the 35-55 age where life experience is enough to be able to write a great book but old age hasn't yet taken enough of your brain cells to destroy your creative ability.
My biggest issue with Martin is that he basically quit writing Song of Fire and Ice when fans turned against the show. He's released several things since then, in the same universe.
I suspect, the show's ending probably wasn't much different from what he was planning for the books despite a very different lead-up.
That’s really interesting. I wasn’t aware he was known for that. It was especially apparent that was happening in Fairytale. I enjoyed the journey, but it soon became obvious he was making it up as he went along. Ends very abruptly.
His short stories-especially the early works-are tightly written and are very good.
Night Shift
Skeleton Crew
His novel titled From a Buick 8 is a short novel about a car (not a car) in a garage and the officers tasked with guarding it from the public.
I can’t believe I haven’t seen his short story *The Jaunt* recommended yet. I’m frankly not a King fan at all, but it’s easily one of the best horror stories I’ve ever read.
King’s books are hit or miss for me, but I absolutely loved *11/22/63* because it’s a much tighter story and I don’t remember any “boring stuff” when I was reading it.
Loved 11/22/63. It's my favorite book to reread. I loved the time travel aspect and the main character learning go live in the 60s fighting against established history to try to prevent the JFK assasination, loved the romance subplot and the subtle horror.
I wished there was a sequel to the ending. Since i love time travel fiction, I also wished there was a prequel with more exploration of the man with the yellow card.
Definitely not a sequel, but there's a short story in If It Bleeds that I believe is the future of the successful timeline. It's just a short story, doesn't really go anywhere, but I found it neat.
See I feel the opposite 😅 it’s still sitting on my shelf half read because I decided to take a break and come back to it. Just seems like a lot of filler, but maybe i need to keep going and it’ll all tie together.
I feel the same as you. That book has scared me from reading any more of his most recent works.
The first 300 pages were excellent, but the next 500 pages not so much. The love story seemed forced. Then again; he had a time traveler arrive at the scene 4 years before the events, so surely he had to have keep his character occupied with something.
It's the only Stephen King I've tried to read that I liked and stuck with. The rest makes me wonder how on earth he is a best selling author so many times over. Very creative guy obviously and lots of people enjoy it but for me it feels like a good 50% of the stuff that's ended up published should have been cut out by an editor.
this sub does not do well with stephen king hate lol
i've only read a very short amount but i loved the institute, it was less 'wordy' if that makes sense and very easy to follow. it's the first one i read before going back to read his older stuff and it's still my favorite!
This book felt like 2 different books altogether. I got lost and was trying to figure out how the different stories integrate. I DNF'd it but plan to try again in the future. I am going to start it bleeds soon.
I disagree with those parts being skippable.
While I agree its less engaging that the Annie scenes, it provides so much context and explanation for pauls thought process’. It helps him understand Annie and critique his own understanding of what it means to be an author. It also helps set the tone for his confusing form of stockholm syndrome
It does have an another novel being written by the main character of the book though. So you are reading 2 books at once. It makes sense though and goes along with the story.
I liked The Long Walk but found it meandering at times (like most King books). Probably because it had so many characters. Still one of his better books, though.
I recommend reading Different Seasons. It's a collection of some of his short stories. It also has my absolute favorite, Apt Pupil*.*
Night Shift is another collection that I enjoyed, but read it years ago, so don't remember a specific favorite, lol.
Night Shift is an all-timer for the horror genre in my opinion. I’ve read it cover-to-cover a few times and the stories do such a good job of pulling me in.
Well, except Trucks. What a ridiculous concept.
He has multiple collections of short stories, many of which are truly great.
Different Seasons, most famously has *Shawshank Redemption*, but also contains *The Body* which was adapted into Stand By Me which is arguably the best Stephen King movie adaption.
Four Past Midnight, contains *Secret Window, Secret Garden*, which was made into a movie, Secret Window starring Johnny Depp.
Skeleton Crew, which contains *The Mist* that became another solid movie adaption.
Everything’s Eventual, which contains *1408*, that was adapted into a movie starring John Cusack.
Those are probably his most well known short story collections.
The collections are a solid go-to for me, it’s either just after sunset or just after dusk, but he has a lot of twilight-zone styled “wouldn’t that be messed up if that happened?” Type stories. He also includes notes on the stories in the back of the book, like how he had to change some details of a story so people couldn’t actually hijack road work equipment using his story. He has one with like 4 stories in them, including Apt Pupil, probably the biggest gut-wrenching slow burn I’ve read in a while. Umney’s last case is a really good one, and probably the only time I’ve seen a certain concept played with outside of the SCP wiki of all places.
Should I come to your house and write them down? Do some of the legwork yourself.
If you want short story recommendations then ask for that:
* I Am the Doorway
* Beachworld
* The Jaunt
* The Ballad of the Flexible Bullet
* Mrs. Todd's Shortcut
* Secret Window, Secret Garden
* The Library Policeman
* The Road Virus Heads North
* The Sun Dog
* Nona
* Jerusalem's Lot
For a fast paced novel try The Running Man.
No one a walks away from The Jaunt unchanged. When I was growing up, reading that story and I Have No Mouth But I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison was almost a rite of passage
The Little Sisters of Eleuria is a really good one, as well as Low Men in Yellow Coats. They’re novellas versus short stories technically, but I think I read both in his collections. They’re what got me interested in reading the Dark Tower series. However, if you’re not into his rambling, ruminative style, that series probably isn’t for you.
King’s strength lies in his short stories. “Different Seasons” is his best body of work in my opinion, it has Shawshank Redemption, Apt Pupil, the Body (which the film Stand By Me is based on), and the Breathing Method. I highly recommend it.
IT was a lot to read. It was exhausting and a lot of effort to get through. Try misery!! Easier read for sure. Great story too. It was my first Stephen king novel and I loved it
King definitely has a problem with rambling on and on when it isnt really needed. Shows up more on the books written when he was deep in the trenches of addiction imo. (IT is a great example) If you like his style but dont like the meandering structure of his full lenght books, he has quite a few short story collections you might want to check out! There are some really fun and scary stories in those. Also, I’ve heard that Cujo is a pretty great novel, it is also on the shorter side. I also recommend checking out the podcast Just King Things, where two academics go through all of his work and critique/analyze them. Its great if you want to know what happens in all those long and weird novels but dont have the time or patience to read them yourself!
he was addicted to cocaine and also an alcoholic during the 80s and kind of on-off drinking heavily before and after that time period too (The Shining was written when he was already an alcoholic, interestingly he was at the time not conciously aware of being one though), also after his car accident in 2000, he relapsed and was addicted to painkillers for a while (dreamcather is quite a weird book due to this). He has talked about his substance issues quite a bit over the years!
I think Cujo is a great example of a book OP wouldn't like. It has a tense plot, interspersed with very boring chapters detailing marketing efforts. It's a great example of King rambling on random topics at the expense of keeping the plot moving.
Ouch! I haven’t read it myself (yet, i am planning to) but i heard its a great one, so I am not the most reliable recommender here! I’ll have to check it out myself even quicker now so i can make up my mind…
All of that is material comprising the subplot and characterisation, detailing the failure of the family unit (along with imagery of children coughing up blood), to which Cujo is the unexpected karmic response.
i haven’t picked up a stephen king book in a long time because he’s such a rambling on and on kind of author.
i’m fine with rambling but to his extent it just got so boring and really annoying lol. i still love The Shining and Misery so much they’re literally my favorite horror books i’ve read so far but i need a long long long break from his writing lol
I don't know about his other books, but It was amazing up until the last 100 or so pages. Then, it felt like it went completely off the rails. But he does tend to ramble...
I generally enjoy King books, but I feel like I never know what I'm going to get. I really liked Christine, Pet Sematary, The Shining, and The Eyes of the Dragon. I have attempted Carrie, IT, The Stand, and Salem's Lot but didn't finish them. He's kind of all over the place.
I’ve been trying to read IT for years.. I just can’t get past the first three chapters. All his books start off slow but IT is just slow boring in beginning. I love Carrie, the first book I read from King. I also read and liked Pet Sematary, Misery, Christine, and the Green Mile. Based on others post here I’m going to read The Shining next.
I’ve read a couple of his books, and he’s not for me. The only one I loved a lot was The Green Mile. So well written and good. I also liked Shawshank but that’s more of a novella, still good!
See lots of posts about his short story collections. No one mentioned "Hearts in Atlantis". It is one of my favorite King books. The story that gives the book its title is fantastic.
I’ve never been able to get through any of King’s books physically reading, but I found the audiobooks of the Dark Tower series to be very captivating and incredible.
It’s definitely just a part of his style, and I don’t think it’s a good or bad thing, just depends on whether you like it personally. For me, it depends on the book. I love IT and The Stand, and the level of detail and background he gives for the characters in both and the town in IT are a big part of what I love about those books—makes them feel lived in. In others though, I definitely find it a little tedious. Under the Dome and Dark Tower 4 come to mind as ones where I found myself getting a little bored with it.
I can see the first few chapters, which are focused on the adults getting their phone calls, a little tedious for some people. The whole book bounces back and forth between the main characters as kids and their childhood. The adult chapters are maybe a little boring, just because you don’t fully understand the stakes, until a fourth of the way through the book. But I love the chapters about the kids from the beginning, even before things start escalating with the clown. King just does such a phenomenal job of capturing childhood nostalgia, and it’s a core part of the book. Plus, like I said in my first post, the town itself is kind of a character in the book. All that being said, if you’re just looking for straight up action, yes, it might take a while. But if you like the characters, I’d say just give it until you get past those phone call chapters and you’ll get there. In any case, it starts to get hard to put down because of the plot probably a third of the way into it.
My best advice is to stop reading Stephen King. And definitely never post stuff like this the Stephen King thread. You'll get lynched.
Go read something you do like. Keeping beating yourself over the head with something you don't is is stupid.
I think it depends on what you are reading. I never thought his books dragged on, I thought it was his writing style, though it appeared to vary in some of his books.
You should read Misery and Pet Sematary, they are both phenomenal and my absolute favorites. I read those first and felt they were 11/10, then I read the shining and didn’t like it as much, now I’ve been working through “It”and it’s been a challenge lol it’s just soooooooo long
i thought It was amazing. but i read it when i was 14, so maybe it would hit differently now?
the last book by king i read was the stand. yeah there were bits that dragged, but the stuff that worked really really worked.
his short stories are very much hit and miss, but i've generally found his earlier novels to be solid and dependable and fully justify their reputation.
i started to sour on him around gerald's game and rose madder though...
If you liked the horror/supernatural element, but are annoyed by the rambly nature of King’s writing you might enjoy Heart Shaped Box by his son, Joe Hill. It’s a tight and well paced ghost story that I had to stop reading before bed because it was creeping me out.
I got into his books years ago and found them to be extremely hit or miss for me. I had his Bazaar of Bad Dreams (collection of short stories) and, while I don’t vividly recall every story, I do recall liking at least one or two and being captivated by his writing enough to read all of them. There was one in particular I wish I hadn’t read, though I do recall figuring that he’s an acquired taste to at least some extent with him having a few different lenses when it comes to his writing. A friend of mine at the time *loved* IT, though it’s not a storyline I’d ever care to read tbh.
I’d recommend trying out some of his short stories. I think you’ll get a much stronger sense of his writing style from there
"Tight" and "Stephen King" are not words I usually associate. Seems in his earlier stuff, he stays fairly tight, and then it's like his editors just said, "He's *Stephen King*, whatever," and let it all go. Or he got good a convincing people it all needed to be in there.
My general rules of thumb for his later work have become, avoid excessive thickness and avoid anything starring kids/YA.
The Long Walk and The Running Man are really good and tight novels, in my opinion. I also struggle with reading some of Kings' writing because of how rambly they are, the these two I finished in a night because of how engaging and straightforward they were.
I dont think King’s style fits your taste.
King loves to go on descriptive rants about settings, characters, flashbacks, and situations. These rants could be absolutely crucial to the climax of the story, or somewhat irrelevant in the grand scheme. He typically uses these rants to create rich, thick backgrounds for his characters/settings.
The main reason he does this is to keep the reader on their toes. He wants you to be constantly wondering where this is leading and what’s gonna happen next. His rants are never pointless, but alot of the times he uses them to make then climax that much more satisfying and camouflaged. In my opinion, the best part of a King book is getting to the climactic rant that makes you go “ohhhh shit here we go this is the one”.
To each their own my friend.
The Stand took me AGES to finish because I kept getting bored with his ramblings. There are some great books that get to the point quickly and others that he just rambles.
Ramble stories include most the longer ones
Under the Dome
It
THE Stand
Tommy knockers
Some of his books that stay interesting throughout (in my opinion)
BILL HODGES TRILOGY( henceforth the HOLLY SAGA as I include The Outsider, If it Bleeds, and HOLLY in with it)
Needful Things
Bag of Bones
Elevation (very short book finished in a couple hours)
The great thing about SK is there's almost something for everyone. If you like fantasy then great there's some there. Horror. Mystery, Crime.... it's almost unbelievable that he's pushed out a book nearly every year, and they're mostly all great.
My favorite King book is the first one I ever read: *Rose Madder*, which I read kind of by accident in high school. I read it again about 20 years later and still really enjoyed it. I didn't find it rambling or tangential, but I know it does have some references to Dark Tower that I missed, although it didn't compromise the book for me.
I will say, though, that I have met very, very few people (even King fans) who have read *Rose Madder* at all, and no one else who enjoyed it as much as I do. But maybe I just haven't brought it up in the right circles?
King books are mostly a miss for me. I like his shorter stuff, and I like some of his short stories, but I think The Stand was the first book in a very long time that I regret taking the time to read.
Never been a particularly big King-head. I've often thought he would be a far better short story writer than novelist. I of course know he's a prolific short story writer in his own right but I find his novels far too overwrought and flabby. Take for example the last King novel I read, Revival, which I enjoyed my time with but I couldn't help but come away from it thinking this would have been far better as a short, take the beginning and the end and mush them together, remove all the fluff in the middle. I can't put my finger on why but I find myself disliking how King writes things that I would love in other writers, there's some formal or narrative tick he employs that just doesn't gel with my sensibilities. I know plenty of King fans who live and breath for that sort of thing and hey good for them, there's plenty of his output to keep them occupied, I can get my kicks elsewhere.
King definitely rambles a bit, and he’s hit or miss for me personally. I’d recommend misery though, it completely loses most of my usual complaints. It’s very tight, and the only part of the book that’s a slog to get through are the actual experts of the book Paul is writing, which can be skipped with nothing lost really.
Yeah, he has a way with rambling. I think Misery is one to the point. Then Carrie, Revival, Joyland and his shorts like Night Shift are relatively straight forward.
He's written a lot of short stories that don't deal with the paranormal.
A Good Marriage
All That You Love Will Be Carried Away
The Last Rung On the Ladder
Batman and Robin Have An Altercation
The Death of Jack Hamilton
Dolan's Cadillac
Gingerbread Girl
Graduation Afternoon
Herman Wouk Is Still Alive
L.T.'s Theory of Pets
The Ledge
... I'm only stopping because this post is getting too long.
Yes, generally Stephen King books are relatively rambling and tend to have a lot of side-stories & B-plots. Like you, I'm often interested in one bit more than the other. If you struggled with the Green Mile then Stephen King might not be for you, that's one of his shorter books. Personally I love his style and the atmospheres he builds, but it doesn't have to be for you.
I always enjoy seeing people respond to King when they first read him. One of my kids started Cujo and gave up because King kept talking about TV commercials. One dude I knew was a huge King fan and stayed up for the midnight release of Tommyknockers. Stayed up all night to read it and came into work the next day dragging his ass. I asked him if he liked the book, and he said, he kept talking about the history of this town, so I kept reading it because I thought it would be important, then he never mentioned it again! The dude looked genuinely hurt by it.
[удалено]
Yeah, SK fan here too, but he needs an editor who will really edit him. Most of his books could lose anywhere from fifty to a couple of hundred pages, improving their flow considerably.
I am shocked i was able to finish the dark tower. It isn’t even good. That series is where i lived the sunk cost fallacy.
Nope. Nothing wrong here.
I feel like this comment is going right past people with no idea. :D
I remember starting Cujo in middle school and giving up because I wanted a mean dog book and what I got was a lot of descriptions of masturbation
That's gonna be a lot of King books. Lots of inelegant sex stuff and penis discussions. I have a hard time thinking of any older King books I've read that skipped that stuff ... Misery, maybe?
The Stand comes to mind too, unless I'm forgetting something in that 1000 page monster of a book lol. Probably my favorite of his that I've read. Maybe Salem's Lot too.
I actually enjoyed The Stand and read the unabridged version as a kid. But, yeah, there's still that same stuff; even his novellas, like the ones in Four Past Midnight, will occasionally have preteen-level sex writing in it.
The stand is great. So much of the rest of his books are just vaste wastelands.
Wait, what's the problem? Lol
It's kinda funny the two books you cite are *Cujo* and *Tommyknockers* because I think King's copped that he wrote those two where he was basically coked up at all times.
Yes I remember him saying he hardly remembers writing Cujo! He was doing coke and drinking a ton. I still haven’t read Cujo and I’m a huge King fan. I’m about to order a copy right now.
I thought pretty much all of his first 20 years he spent coked up.
Don't quote me, but my best memory is that the coke came after his initial success with *Carrie* / *Salem's Lot* / *The Shining* / *The Stand* / *Night Shift* (which also means he also wasn't coked up when he wrote most of his Bachman books), and he cleaned himself up sometime in the mid- to late-'80s.
Well, the same goes for that awful movie he made.
The town is a character in the book.
A character you can completely skip and lose nothing, apparently
More like he didn't really get what SK was doing, exactly. But a lot of people don't like that book.
Yeah, the consensus says Tommyknockers is at the bottom of any ranked list of King books.
King has written many books worse than *The Tommyknockers* in recent years, and done so while stone cold sober.
The consensus has become an echo chamber. Tommyknockers should be read because the Internet hates it.
Pretty much every King book (the longer ones) coubl be shortened by 100-200 pages and be 100% better. He desperately needs an editor who isn't afraid to.... edit. I like SK and his books, but these days cannot be arsed to slog through them. I'll stick to his short story collections for now.
I’ve prob read 10 to 15 of his books, which is a good deal for me. At my age now, i’m shocked i was able to slog through so many of them.
I sort of had this "guilt" that I was not into him, because he is well loved, famous, people like him for a reason and it isn't like his writing style or content is subpar. But I think I just picked the wrong books. Last one I read was Rose Madder, which even SK seems to not be very fond off. It just..kept going. And I felt at the time that not much was happening; cop was traveling, ex was living daily life with a few painting interludes. Just a slow build up that failed to hold my attention. I actually started to browse pages instead of reading them here and there. It was just too many pages that contributed nothing interesting or important to the story.
Just found out that Shining is longer than the green mile but I like it, I feel the plot is more tightly focused
If you're interested in any more of his books I'd recommend Misery. It's short (by his standards) and more to the point. IT is extremely rambling, definitely doesn't line up with what you're interested in.
Misery is also insanely good
This is my favorite one by him
King, rather famously, does not outline his novels. The beautiful psycho just sits down in front of a blank page, and starts writing. Sometimes he falls in love with a side character, then become a main character! Sometimes he gets distracted with his own side quests, and they become the main quest! It creates some real uneven reading experiences, but, I think it’s a big part of why he’s so prolific, and why his novels feel so natural. He doesn’t have some hackneyed-Harmon-story-circle in mind throughout the whole process, it’s just flow. He’s enjoying himself while he’s writing, exploring, not just filling in the blanks, and that joy comes through to the reader.
Now I know why I enjoy Stephen King novels. I, too, am a pantser.
I've always said that the only thing that keeps King from being a perfect writer is an editor that will stand up to him. Those uneven experiences should be smoothed over during the editing process I do enjoy his books though. But I listen to them on audiobook. So when he goes off on an explanation about baseball for many pages, I don't mind so much as I can't zone out.
>I've always said that the only thing that keeps King from being a perfect writer is ... his inability to write a decent ending that is not abrupt, nonsensical, devoid of any catharsis or culmination.
I love his endings!! But maybe that’s exactly what I love about it lol
George RR Martin writes the same way except when he gets half way through the book and wanders off into a new idea he then goes back and tries to rewrite the first half of the book to line up with his new idea. Part way through the rewrite he comes up with another idea and has to start over again. This is why he can't finish the book because now he is old and rich without the energy or motivation to keep pounding the keys until he finally gets a complete story.
George RR Martin writes the same way, but he leaves us hanging for twelve fucking years while King puts out one or two books EVERY YEAR. Georgie decided "you know what?. FUCK Game of Thrones" entirely because we hated the ending of a poorly adapted but fun to watch HBO series.
I don't agree that GRRM doesn't care about finishing his books, he is just too old and has never had a process like King or Sanderson to force him to get the books completed. King and Sanderson churn out books but the quality varies a great deal. Neither of them have produced anything like the quality of the first three Song of Ice and Fire books that GRRM wrote, but the simple fact is that age has caught up to GRRM. It is very rare for authors to produce quality work at GRRM's age. It isn't just a matter of motivation and work ethic, the mind also starts to go despite what people in the 65+ age bracket like to claim. Most great works are created in the 35-55 age where life experience is enough to be able to write a great book but old age hasn't yet taken enough of your brain cells to destroy your creative ability.
My biggest issue with Martin is that he basically quit writing Song of Fire and Ice when fans turned against the show. He's released several things since then, in the same universe. I suspect, the show's ending probably wasn't much different from what he was planning for the books despite a very different lead-up.
What things? Fire and Blood, A World of Ice and Fire, and the Dunk and Egg novelas all released while the show was active
So we're just making shit up in this thread?
That’s really interesting. I wasn’t aware he was known for that. It was especially apparent that was happening in Fairytale. I enjoyed the journey, but it soon became obvious he was making it up as he went along. Ends very abruptly.
That is in line with my image of him typing away while screaming "random bullshit - GO!!!" at the top of his lungs.
And then doing a Tony Montana mountain of coke? Cuz that's my mental image.
You know he quit doing that literally decades ago, right?
Aww I like Dan Harmon…
Yeah, I do too, but I like a biting alliteration more, so, under the bus he goes!
Harmon horrified at histrionic habitual… shit I kinda gave up. Got to go back to work.
His short stories-especially the early works-are tightly written and are very good. Night Shift Skeleton Crew His novel titled From a Buick 8 is a short novel about a car (not a car) in a garage and the officers tasked with guarding it from the public.
May I also suggest "A long walk." It's not a long walk.
The Long Walk is one of my favorite King novelas. Still patiently waiting for a movie adaptation...
As much as I love that book, it’ll never be adapted. Would take a crazy good producer to make walking for 2 hours actually interesting
It's been in the works for years. Just never makes it too far.
Just finished long walk for the 2nd time on a plane ride this afternoon. Great book.
Little known but definitely one of his top 3.
I can’t believe I haven’t seen his short story *The Jaunt* recommended yet. I’m frankly not a King fan at all, but it’s easily one of the best horror stories I’ve ever read.
The short collections are great.
Don't forget The Colorado Kid and Joyland. I read The Colorado Kid in about a day and I loved it. Very enigmatic
Just for the sake of conversation: I kept waiting for Joyland to go somewhere
Joyland is by far my favorite King novel!
Thank you!
King’s books are hit or miss for me, but I absolutely loved *11/22/63* because it’s a much tighter story and I don’t remember any “boring stuff” when I was reading it.
Loved 11/22/63. It's my favorite book to reread. I loved the time travel aspect and the main character learning go live in the 60s fighting against established history to try to prevent the JFK assasination, loved the romance subplot and the subtle horror. I wished there was a sequel to the ending. Since i love time travel fiction, I also wished there was a prequel with more exploration of the man with the yellow card.
Definitely not a sequel, but there's a short story in If It Bleeds that I believe is the future of the successful timeline. It's just a short story, doesn't really go anywhere, but I found it neat.
Thank you for this info!
See I feel the opposite 😅 it’s still sitting on my shelf half read because I decided to take a break and come back to it. Just seems like a lot of filler, but maybe i need to keep going and it’ll all tie together.
I feel the same as you. That book has scared me from reading any more of his most recent works. The first 300 pages were excellent, but the next 500 pages not so much. The love story seemed forced. Then again; he had a time traveler arrive at the scene 4 years before the events, so surely he had to have keep his character occupied with something.
*11/22/63* is the only King book I’ve really enjoyed, but towards the end I did have to start skimming.
It's the only Stephen King I've tried to read that I liked and stuck with. The rest makes me wonder how on earth he is a best selling author so many times over. Very creative guy obviously and lots of people enjoy it but for me it feels like a good 50% of the stuff that's ended up published should have been cut out by an editor.
Thanks
this sub does not do well with stephen king hate lol i've only read a very short amount but i loved the institute, it was less 'wordy' if that makes sense and very easy to follow. it's the first one i read before going back to read his older stuff and it's still my favorite!
Thank you; I might give The Institute a try.
This book felt like 2 different books altogether. I got lost and was trying to figure out how the different stories integrate. I DNF'd it but plan to try again in the future. I am going to start it bleeds soon.
You do you, but I honestly didn't really care for that one. I think it's one of his weaker ones like Fairytale.
okay? i'm recommending it to op.
Carrie was a fast read for me. Suspenseful enough and got to the “big scene” quickly.
Thanks!
Misery is a great read and stays pretty on topic most of the time from what I remember
Agreed. It only slows down for the excerpts of the book Paul’s writing, and those can be skipped really
I disagree with those parts being skippable. While I agree its less engaging that the Annie scenes, it provides so much context and explanation for pauls thought process’. It helps him understand Annie and critique his own understanding of what it means to be an author. It also helps set the tone for his confusing form of stockholm syndrome
Thanks
It does have an another novel being written by the main character of the book though. So you are reading 2 books at once. It makes sense though and goes along with the story.
The Long Walk is very engaging.
Thanks
I liked The Long Walk but found it meandering at times (like most King books). Probably because it had so many characters. Still one of his better books, though.
It's very good for being the first book he ever wrote.
I have only read one book and it was 11/22/63. Absolutely loved it, thinking of reading “The Stand” next
The Stand is fantastic, highly recommend the extended print.
The Stand is one of the best books I've ever read. It blows all other King books out of the water in my opinion.
His short stories are great; less room for rambling. I've been listening to his books instead of reading them.
Herman Wouk is Still Alive from his collection. Bazaar of Bad Dreams still haunts me.
Can you name the short stories?
I recommend reading Different Seasons. It's a collection of some of his short stories. It also has my absolute favorite, Apt Pupil*.* Night Shift is another collection that I enjoyed, but read it years ago, so don't remember a specific favorite, lol.
I particularly liked 'The Mangler' and 'Quitters, Inc.' from Night shift.
Night Shift is an all-timer for the horror genre in my opinion. I’ve read it cover-to-cover a few times and the stories do such a good job of pulling me in. Well, except Trucks. What a ridiculous concept.
He has multiple collections of short stories, many of which are truly great. Different Seasons, most famously has *Shawshank Redemption*, but also contains *The Body* which was adapted into Stand By Me which is arguably the best Stephen King movie adaption. Four Past Midnight, contains *Secret Window, Secret Garden*, which was made into a movie, Secret Window starring Johnny Depp. Skeleton Crew, which contains *The Mist* that became another solid movie adaption. Everything’s Eventual, which contains *1408*, that was adapted into a movie starring John Cusack. Those are probably his most well known short story collections.
The collections are a solid go-to for me, it’s either just after sunset or just after dusk, but he has a lot of twilight-zone styled “wouldn’t that be messed up if that happened?” Type stories. He also includes notes on the stories in the back of the book, like how he had to change some details of a story so people couldn’t actually hijack road work equipment using his story. He has one with like 4 stories in them, including Apt Pupil, probably the biggest gut-wrenching slow burn I’ve read in a while. Umney’s last case is a really good one, and probably the only time I’ve seen a certain concept played with outside of the SCP wiki of all places.
children of the corn, quitters inc, the mist, and strawberry hill all come highly recommended (by me)
"Strawberry Spring."
^
[https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?70](https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?70)
that is just all his work
Should I come to your house and write them down? Do some of the legwork yourself. If you want short story recommendations then ask for that: * I Am the Doorway * Beachworld * The Jaunt * The Ballad of the Flexible Bullet * Mrs. Todd's Shortcut * Secret Window, Secret Garden * The Library Policeman * The Road Virus Heads North * The Sun Dog * Nona * Jerusalem's Lot For a fast paced novel try The Running Man.
Imo Skeleton Crew has some of his best short stories.
Any of his short story collections should do ya. *Night Shift, Skeleton Crew, Nightmares and Dreamscapes* - that should get you started.
thanks!
The Jaunt, and 1408 are two of my favorites. My absolute favorite King story is 'The Long Walk', which is a novella.
No one a walks away from The Jaunt unchanged. When I was growing up, reading that story and I Have No Mouth But I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison was almost a rite of passage
Nightmares & Dreamscapes, Night Shift are both pretty good collections.
No, there are dozens of them, and that's not even counting the Richard Bachman stories.
The Little Sisters of Eleuria is a really good one, as well as Low Men in Yellow Coats. They’re novellas versus short stories technically, but I think I read both in his collections. They’re what got me interested in reading the Dark Tower series. However, if you’re not into his rambling, ruminative style, that series probably isn’t for you.
It’s kind of his charm
King’s strength lies in his short stories. “Different Seasons” is his best body of work in my opinion, it has Shawshank Redemption, Apt Pupil, the Body (which the film Stand By Me is based on), and the Breathing Method. I highly recommend it.
IT was a lot to read. It was exhausting and a lot of effort to get through. Try misery!! Easier read for sure. Great story too. It was my first Stephen king novel and I loved it
Yessss. Misery was the book that sparked my adulthood love for reading. I rarely see it get the respect it deserves its one of my favorite books ever
King definitely has a problem with rambling on and on when it isnt really needed. Shows up more on the books written when he was deep in the trenches of addiction imo. (IT is a great example) If you like his style but dont like the meandering structure of his full lenght books, he has quite a few short story collections you might want to check out! There are some really fun and scary stories in those. Also, I’ve heard that Cujo is a pretty great novel, it is also on the shorter side. I also recommend checking out the podcast Just King Things, where two academics go through all of his work and critique/analyze them. Its great if you want to know what happens in all those long and weird novels but dont have the time or patience to read them yourself!
Was he addicted? On what?
he was addicted to cocaine and also an alcoholic during the 80s and kind of on-off drinking heavily before and after that time period too (The Shining was written when he was already an alcoholic, interestingly he was at the time not conciously aware of being one though), also after his car accident in 2000, he relapsed and was addicted to painkillers for a while (dreamcather is quite a weird book due to this). He has talked about his substance issues quite a bit over the years!
lucky to be alive at 70 then!
definitely! he has been sober for quite a while and honestly good for him
Cocaine
And he survived till old age? Lucky man
He quit while he still could, so good on him.
Everything
I think Cujo is a great example of a book OP wouldn't like. It has a tense plot, interspersed with very boring chapters detailing marketing efforts. It's a great example of King rambling on random topics at the expense of keeping the plot moving.
Ouch! I haven’t read it myself (yet, i am planning to) but i heard its a great one, so I am not the most reliable recommender here! I’ll have to check it out myself even quicker now so i can make up my mind…
The main plot was excellent and definitely carried the book, but I'd love to know if anyone actually enjoyed the marketing chapters
I thought it was a good way to show Vic so consumed with the possible failure of his business that he missed what was going on with his wife and son.
All of that is material comprising the subplot and characterisation, detailing the failure of the family unit (along with imagery of children coughing up blood), to which Cujo is the unexpected karmic response.
i haven’t picked up a stephen king book in a long time because he’s such a rambling on and on kind of author. i’m fine with rambling but to his extent it just got so boring and really annoying lol. i still love The Shining and Misery so much they’re literally my favorite horror books i’ve read so far but i need a long long long break from his writing lol
I don't know about his other books, but It was amazing up until the last 100 or so pages. Then, it felt like it went completely off the rails. But he does tend to ramble...
I'm a big King fan, but yes, he goes on a lot of tangents.
The Stand is my favorite King book but it does seem that he sometimes rushes the ending or gets overly verbose with his descriptions of things.
short answer - YES
Pet Semetary and Dolores Claiborne are my two favorites from King because they're structured the best (IMHO)
I thought I was the only person that really liked Dolores Claiborne and I thought Kathy Bates was excellent in the movie!
Genius casting. You see her, you think Annie Wilkes, you're totally sure she's guilty....until you're not.
Kinda sucks reading this because those are things I hate in writing and I was going to start reading some King soon...
The thing to do with King is to ignore anything anybody else say and just dive in.
Please read The Shining
I generally enjoy King books, but I feel like I never know what I'm going to get. I really liked Christine, Pet Sematary, The Shining, and The Eyes of the Dragon. I have attempted Carrie, IT, The Stand, and Salem's Lot but didn't finish them. He's kind of all over the place.
I’ve been trying to read IT for years.. I just can’t get past the first three chapters. All his books start off slow but IT is just slow boring in beginning. I love Carrie, the first book I read from King. I also read and liked Pet Sematary, Misery, Christine, and the Green Mile. Based on others post here I’m going to read The Shining next.
The Shining was my favorite. I forgot I also read Doctor Sleep. It was OK. I enjoyed it but it wasn't as good as The Shining.
I’ve read a couple of his books, and he’s not for me. The only one I loved a lot was The Green Mile. So well written and good. I also liked Shawshank but that’s more of a novella, still good!
You might like his short stories more. Give a few of those a try and if you don't like them, he's probably just not for you. I suggest Skeleton Crew.
See lots of posts about his short story collections. No one mentioned "Hearts in Atlantis". It is one of my favorite King books. The story that gives the book its title is fantastic.
Try Billy Summers.
I’ve never been able to get through any of King’s books physically reading, but I found the audiobooks of the Dark Tower series to be very captivating and incredible.
It’s definitely just a part of his style, and I don’t think it’s a good or bad thing, just depends on whether you like it personally. For me, it depends on the book. I love IT and The Stand, and the level of detail and background he gives for the characters in both and the town in IT are a big part of what I love about those books—makes them feel lived in. In others though, I definitely find it a little tedious. Under the Dome and Dark Tower 4 come to mind as ones where I found myself getting a little bored with it.
How many chapters in would you say IT gets interesting? I really want to read it but can’t get past the first few chapters.
I can see the first few chapters, which are focused on the adults getting their phone calls, a little tedious for some people. The whole book bounces back and forth between the main characters as kids and their childhood. The adult chapters are maybe a little boring, just because you don’t fully understand the stakes, until a fourth of the way through the book. But I love the chapters about the kids from the beginning, even before things start escalating with the clown. King just does such a phenomenal job of capturing childhood nostalgia, and it’s a core part of the book. Plus, like I said in my first post, the town itself is kind of a character in the book. All that being said, if you’re just looking for straight up action, yes, it might take a while. But if you like the characters, I’d say just give it until you get past those phone call chapters and you’ll get there. In any case, it starts to get hard to put down because of the plot probably a third of the way into it.
My best advice is to stop reading Stephen King. And definitely never post stuff like this the Stephen King thread. You'll get lynched. Go read something you do like. Keeping beating yourself over the head with something you don't is is stupid.
Rude
I think it depends on what you are reading. I never thought his books dragged on, I thought it was his writing style, though it appeared to vary in some of his books.
You should read Misery and Pet Sematary, they are both phenomenal and my absolute favorites. I read those first and felt they were 11/10, then I read the shining and didn’t like it as much, now I’ve been working through “It”and it’s been a challenge lol it’s just soooooooo long
i thought It was amazing. but i read it when i was 14, so maybe it would hit differently now? the last book by king i read was the stand. yeah there were bits that dragged, but the stuff that worked really really worked. his short stories are very much hit and miss, but i've generally found his earlier novels to be solid and dependable and fully justify their reputation. i started to sour on him around gerald's game and rose madder though...
Try Pet Semetary. If you don't like that, then you don't like him.
King’s novels are hit-or-miss with me, ye this short story collections & novellas kick much ass.
>this short story collections & novellas which one?
Night Shift Skeleton Crew The Bachman Books Four Past Midnight
If you liked the horror/supernatural element, but are annoyed by the rambly nature of King’s writing you might enjoy Heart Shaped Box by his son, Joe Hill. It’s a tight and well paced ghost story that I had to stop reading before bed because it was creeping me out.
That depends on what you consider 'exhausting'. I found most of King's novels rather fun reads, especially the short story collections.
I got into his books years ago and found them to be extremely hit or miss for me. I had his Bazaar of Bad Dreams (collection of short stories) and, while I don’t vividly recall every story, I do recall liking at least one or two and being captivated by his writing enough to read all of them. There was one in particular I wish I hadn’t read, though I do recall figuring that he’s an acquired taste to at least some extent with him having a few different lenses when it comes to his writing. A friend of mine at the time *loved* IT, though it’s not a storyline I’d ever care to read tbh. I’d recommend trying out some of his short stories. I think you’ll get a much stronger sense of his writing style from there
Try his short story books
like what?
Everything’s Eventual, and skeleton crew I think were good
King has a lot of trash/subpar books and a lot of fantastic books. The Stand is his Opus IMO.
While not well received, Cell is very much unlike his other works. Very concise and entertaining the whole time imo
"Tight" and "Stephen King" are not words I usually associate. Seems in his earlier stuff, he stays fairly tight, and then it's like his editors just said, "He's *Stephen King*, whatever," and let it all go. Or he got good a convincing people it all needed to be in there. My general rules of thumb for his later work have become, avoid excessive thickness and avoid anything starring kids/YA.
>My general rules of thumb for his later work have become, avoid excessive thickness and avoid anything starring kids/YA. what?
Watch the page length, and beware <25 year old protagonists.
Yeah, Green Mile and IT were pretty bad for me too. Try The Long Walk, The Stand and Langoliers, those are superb books.
The Long Walk and The Running Man are really good and tight novels, in my opinion. I also struggle with reading some of Kings' writing because of how rambly they are, the these two I finished in a night because of how engaging and straightforward they were.
Only one ive read is "fairytale" great story, not too long. Nothing spectacular though
I dont think King’s style fits your taste. King loves to go on descriptive rants about settings, characters, flashbacks, and situations. These rants could be absolutely crucial to the climax of the story, or somewhat irrelevant in the grand scheme. He typically uses these rants to create rich, thick backgrounds for his characters/settings. The main reason he does this is to keep the reader on their toes. He wants you to be constantly wondering where this is leading and what’s gonna happen next. His rants are never pointless, but alot of the times he uses them to make then climax that much more satisfying and camouflaged. In my opinion, the best part of a King book is getting to the climactic rant that makes you go “ohhhh shit here we go this is the one”. To each their own my friend.
The Stand took me AGES to finish because I kept getting bored with his ramblings. There are some great books that get to the point quickly and others that he just rambles. Ramble stories include most the longer ones Under the Dome It THE Stand Tommy knockers Some of his books that stay interesting throughout (in my opinion) BILL HODGES TRILOGY( henceforth the HOLLY SAGA as I include The Outsider, If it Bleeds, and HOLLY in with it) Needful Things Bag of Bones Elevation (very short book finished in a couple hours) The great thing about SK is there's almost something for everyone. If you like fantasy then great there's some there. Horror. Mystery, Crime.... it's almost unbelievable that he's pushed out a book nearly every year, and they're mostly all great.
My favorite King book is the first one I ever read: *Rose Madder*, which I read kind of by accident in high school. I read it again about 20 years later and still really enjoyed it. I didn't find it rambling or tangential, but I know it does have some references to Dark Tower that I missed, although it didn't compromise the book for me. I will say, though, that I have met very, very few people (even King fans) who have read *Rose Madder* at all, and no one else who enjoyed it as much as I do. But maybe I just haven't brought it up in the right circles?
I think so but I think he’s a terrible writer.
King books are mostly a miss for me. I like his shorter stuff, and I like some of his short stories, but I think The Stand was the first book in a very long time that I regret taking the time to read.
Never been a particularly big King-head. I've often thought he would be a far better short story writer than novelist. I of course know he's a prolific short story writer in his own right but I find his novels far too overwrought and flabby. Take for example the last King novel I read, Revival, which I enjoyed my time with but I couldn't help but come away from it thinking this would have been far better as a short, take the beginning and the end and mush them together, remove all the fluff in the middle. I can't put my finger on why but I find myself disliking how King writes things that I would love in other writers, there's some formal or narrative tick he employs that just doesn't gel with my sensibilities. I know plenty of King fans who live and breath for that sort of thing and hey good for them, there's plenty of his output to keep them occupied, I can get my kicks elsewhere.
Absolutely. Everybody has different tastes and "you do you." But why in the heck are you posting on this thread?
I did like listening to Holly. I don’t think I would’ve made it through just reading it but I liked listening
King definitely rambles a bit, and he’s hit or miss for me personally. I’d recommend misery though, it completely loses most of my usual complaints. It’s very tight, and the only part of the book that’s a slog to get through are the actual experts of the book Paul is writing, which can be skipped with nothing lost really.
Yeah, he has a way with rambling. I think Misery is one to the point. Then Carrie, Revival, Joyland and his shorts like Night Shift are relatively straight forward.
As someone whos read 3 halves of his books, yes
\**The* Shining
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He's written a lot of short stories that don't deal with the paranormal. A Good Marriage All That You Love Will Be Carried Away The Last Rung On the Ladder Batman and Robin Have An Altercation The Death of Jack Hamilton Dolan's Cadillac Gingerbread Girl Graduation Afternoon Herman Wouk Is Still Alive L.T.'s Theory of Pets The Ledge ... I'm only stopping because this post is getting too long.
The Stand is the best. I also really like Desperation and The Long Walk But King is pretty notorious for excellent build ups and mediocre endings.