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Stephen King |OT| - Era Ka-Tet
- Thread starter Dalek
- Start date
- Entertainment OT
I gotta read Talisman and Black House next! I've been eyeing the box set of them
Yeah I forgive it. I'm around 30% through it now and really enjoying the story now.
Audible had a deal on the first Dark Tower audio book. I already have read through the book 3 times but got it anyway. I loved listening to it and I found I picked up on some stuff that I never did while reading it. Now I'm tempted to buy the whole series on audio even though I have read through it all already and should be reading something new.
Finished The Institute, it was okay. It was a neat little story, not scary in the least, I'm certain it will be a movie or series, it has that feel.
Already being brought to series by David E Kelley. Network tbd, but probably some obscure streaming service, going off of his apparently very good Mr Mercedes series that no one has ever seen.
I am going to watch Mr. Mercedes thanks to Hoopla Digital which has it that I get through my library.
On that note I was at my library today and on a whim checked the section Stephen is in ( here in MA it's just K in fiction. However when I was in Maine my library-Newport to be specific-actually had a dedicated Stephen King section, local boy done good an all that New England jazz) and they had a copy of elevation tucked away in a corner, so I picked that up (cute little thing that it is).
On an even funnier note my library has been expanding its comic section and I have been using that as an excuse and opportunity to re-read Gaiman's Sandman. It's the 30th anniversary collection so it has new prefaces, intros, and forwards alongside the originals from the first time they were collected as they are still included. Right before posting this I started up the Worlds End collection which has a new pre-face by Joe Hill. And towards the end Hill says and I quote " And how inspiring was it when these stories first crashed into the public consciousness? Turn the page, and a better writer than I will tell you all about it." And then you turn the page and the original introduction is there written by Stephen King, because of course it is. Oh Joe, you really get me sometimes, got it?
I'm in the last quart or so of The Institute, and I'm not loving it.
It's well written and has been an ok read, but mostly I feel like there's just no real drive or reason to keep reading. There's no real mystery, there's no suspense, you start the book basically knowing what's going to happen at least in broad terms so the first 3 quarters of the book really just feels like wading through a formality. I just feel no drive to keep reading this at all.
There's a few small developments that come out of left field, but they aren't too consequential because it never really derails from what you know will eventually happen.
It's well written and has been an ok read, but mostly I feel like there's just no real drive or reason to keep reading. There's no real mystery, there's no suspense, you start the book basically knowing what's going to happen at least in broad terms so the first 3 quarters of the book really just feels like wading through a formality. I just feel no drive to keep reading this at all.
There's a few small developments that come out of left field, but they aren't too consequential because it never really derails from what you know will eventually happen.
This is one of my major beefs with King. I love him, but he sucks at suspense. Like even with the whole place, there's no real mystery about how Luke will escape. Because he makes it clear from jump that it's in a state of neglect. Everything is just so convenient. He's a great writer but he's been phoning it in lately.
Yeah, you basically know from the first 100 - 150 pages everything you need to know and the rest is basically just going through the motions. You know how he'll escape, you know where he will go, you even know how he will get there. Other than the ultimate conclusion there is just no real question of what you're ever reading.
I'm just over 13% on The Institute, it was released last Friday in Brazil. I'm really liking it, not only for the book itself, which reminds me of 11/22/63 for some reason, but for the fact that I'm reading a new King book as soon as it releases. I'm usually late to the party and right now it's feeling great to be able to experience this as something new for everybody.
yeah i had basically these exact feelings upon finishing
Just finished Wolves of Calla and I liked it. I thought this was not so well appreciated but maybe I'm confused with Song of Susannah. Anyway I'm followind a guide saying that it's recommended to read The Shining, The Regulators and Desperation before Song of Susannah.
I've already read The Regulators and I want to read The Shining. My questions are: Is Desperation really needed? Any other book that I should read before Song of Susannah?
Thanks in advance!
I've already read The Regulators and I want to read The Shining. My questions are: Is Desperation really needed? Any other book that I should read before Song of Susannah?
Thanks in advance!
Desparation I think is more regarded as the better book, even if I liked Regulators a bit more.
Desperation has just as many ties, is probably more "canon" and most importantly is a much better book than the regulators, and also in my opinion one of the higher tier King books in general.
Welp, it seems that I need to read Desperation then. I liked Regulators btw.
Nope, didn't skip even if it's sometimes recommended to read at the end (book release order). But I read it before Wolves
I'm not really a fan of the Regulators and love Desperation, so if you liked the regulators you should be in for a treat of a read.
I'm reading The Outsider right now, about 50% through and I'm really enjoying it. Haven't read much of King since 11/22/63, which I felt never really paid off.
I seem to be in the minority on this one but I loved The Outsider, hopefully you enjoying it continues.
Also as someone who is pretty passionate about HBO's original programming and find their slate to be the majority of episodic television I both still watch and enjoy I am really excited about the fact that they are adapting The Outsider, I cannot wait.
I loved the outsider, but I feel it kind of just throws it's hands up in the air at actually having stuff develop in some natural way. So it just throws something in there to explain everything and let stuff move on. It feels like it took the first act of a story and the last act and just threw in a character to replace a second act.
I think that's pretty consistent with all of King's work. For better or worse there is a sense of inevitability in his writing. To the point where one his most frequently used devices is to flat out tell the reader in advance about an upcoming event well before it actually happens. He's never a guy that builds to a twist or a whodunit. The main source of suspense in King, for me, is that he is always willing to have awful things happen to good people at any moment. Especially if things seem to be going well for them.
In that sense I didn't think The Institute was much different than his other work. It's not one of his best works but I definitely don't think he's phoning it in at all.
I'm reading the Outsider right now. About halfway through and absolutely loving it! It's actually my first ever Stephen King book.
What do you all recommend to read next? I know he has a TON but what is the most essential starting point? I heard a lot about The Dark Tower but that's more of a series rather than a one off novel correct?
What do you all recommend to read next? I know he has a TON but what is the most essential starting point? I heard a lot about The Dark Tower but that's more of a series rather than a one off novel correct?
Dozens I say! Also while more on the mystery side of King, From A Buick 8 also scratched that itch for me.
Honestly? I'd go with The Shining. You probably know the basics of the story through the movie/cultural osmosis, and it's fascinating to read the original work that inspired so many tropes.
I would say (in any order):
'Salem's Lot
The Stand
Pet Sematary
Wait for The Dark Tower until you've read more of his work.
Thanks! Im curious though, why wait for Dark Tower. Is it heavy?
No more than his other work. It's two things really:
First, tonally it's dramatically different from his other work. Specifically, The Gunslinger. It just doesn't read like a Stephen King novel (even revised) It was one of the earliest things that he wrote to see eventual publication and it feels like it.. I like The Gunslinger a lot but it's a bit of a slog. The Drawing of the Three (the second book in Dark Tower) is much more accessible but you really need the first for foundation.
Second, and more importantly, as the books go on it becomes clear that it's the nexus of everything he's ever written. I think you would get more out of the later Dark Tower books if you see some of the connections he brings in from his other work.
I tend to think they are pretty obvious anyway. I had only read The Gunslinger at the time that I read Insomnia and I still knew it had huge implications for DT.
EDIT- Also, I think it's probably more than fine to read DT 1-4 at any point in a reader's run through King. But once you get to Wolves of Callah it starts to become more important IMO to have a bit of grounding in King's other works.
Wait a bit to get into Dark Tower. It's better if you read it after reading other stuff. Stephen King likes to interconnect stuff in cool ways that make it more fun the more you've read. None of it is required reading.
My personal favorite is Desperation. I lost an entire day to that book. I started reading and looked up a second later and 6 hours had flown by. If you like Outsider, Mr Mercedes is more of the same. Outsider does spoil who the villain is for that one.
Yes The Dark Tower is an 8 deep series but oh so worth it.
You can do it and more or less forget his other work.
Grain of salt and all that because it's been 20 years since I read it but I consider it one of his lesser works. It still has good character writing so it isn't outright bad or anything but my main memory of it is how much I disliked how the fantastical aspects of it was executed when it becomes a major player in the final third or so.
Finished The Institute. It was OK, kind of blah. I think the weirdest thing I could say about it is that it felt like a Dean Koontz(I don't really mean this as an insult, the story and basic plot really just remind me so much of standard Koontz) style plot but without all the actual suspense and mystery. You'll basically know everything you need to know within the first hundred pages or so and from there on out everything more just feels like formality or over indulgent plodding. There was never really any drive to read this because you weren't ever waiting for any kind of questions to be answered. I enjoyed it while I was reading it, but if I ever sat this down for more than a day I would have probably forgot about it and never thought about it again.
Finished The Institute this weekend. I thought the middle to near-end of the book was really exciting. I'd agree that there wasn't too much suspense, part of me was expecting a twist that didn't happen. Mrs. Sigsby was my favorite character.
Almost done with Eyes of the Dragon and I can't believe I took so long to read this
Almost done with Eyes of the Dragon and I can't believe I took so long to read this
As much as I loved the first 3 books I'm struggling to get through Wizard and Glass. I've made it further than previous attempts so far but the flashback nature of the story bores me so far.
I remember stalling out on that one a few times too. It's worth the struggle to get through it.
I had that issue too, took a break and went back a few years later when the next book was finished and am now in the camp that thinks it's the best of the series. Takes a much different headspace.
Just power it so you can get to the better books.
Hell go read it in comic form super trimmed and lean adaptation.
I stopped at Barnes and Noble to grab The Wolves of Calla as incentive to finish Wizard and Glass. It's a different release than my Signet 2003 reissues and they don't match my set and I want to rebuy them all over again.
Wizard and Glass is great but the Wasteland wrap-up stuff goes on way too long All of that should have been in book 3 with W&G just having a minimal framing device for the flashback.
I mean The Wind Through the Keyhole is the one to read after W&G...
And being more recent it would not match still....
My friend who is super into King told me to read them in release order. I had the same thought of doing Wind first but I was assured I would be fine.
They were reissued for the movie so they all fit together now.
I don't know why Drawing of the Three looks like that on their page, the new version is this.
I think I'm one of the rare people who really liked Wizard and Glass. I struggled more with Wolves of the Calla.
Pretty sure thats one of the most highly regarded in the series. Its my favorite for sure. The only one i reread repeatedly.
Which one? Wolves of the Calla? I can see it. With all the connections and meta stuff I'm sure it's a big hit. Dark Tower was basically the first thing I had ever read of King so a lot of that stuff was lost on me and the meta stuff mostly bothered me at the time.
I still have never read Wind through the Keyhole. I think I'm waiting until I go back and do a reread to go through that one.