Stephen King: Your Favorites and Not-So Favorites

[Renny]

I think I can narrow it down to:

Favorite - The Stand

Least Favorite - The Dark Tower

Yeah, I've never really been able to get into his Dark Tower series. I'm sure if I liked fantasy stories, I'd love them, but it just doesn't do anything for me. Now, I want to make clear, you're welcome to this thread even if you HATE Stephen King and everything he stands (rimshot) for. I want all kinds of opinions.

[KingOfShippers]

Favorite: IT!

Least Favorite: The Cell

My dislike for this mainly streams from, that King never quite explained where the signal, that turned people into the phone-zombies orignated from, or even really got into detail about it.

[DixieRoadrash]

My favorite was actually a co-authorship between King and Peter Straub called The Talisman. My least favorite has to go to The Langoliers. 

[Fuzzy Necromancer]

I'm currently leaning towards The Shining. That book has incredible mental dialogue, and whenever I listen to the book on cd of it I tend to find myself grinning maniacally and gibbering. Salem's lot was also very enjoyable, as I like really long audiobooks.

Not so favorite, I would have to say Dark Tower, and I >>am<< a fan of fantasy series. It's just too monotonous and gritty for me. My desire to find out what happens to the characters and unravel the mysteries of the novel is overcome by disinterest in the pace and the mundane, miserable-ness of all the little lives in it. It just seems to combine the random with the depressing.

[Tripe]

Favorite: The Shinning

Least : Gerald's Game

And I had to think about least favorite for a while because a good King novel is like deep lying gold surrounded by tons of rubble.

[Bob]

I really like King's work, so it would be hard to me to come up with one favorite.

Favs:   The Stand, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, The Shining, Rose Madder, The Green Mile.....

Least Fav:   The whole dark tower series.   I tried, but I just could not get into them.

[SmilinJackRoss]

I've read probably about half of King's stuff, and I've liked most of it.  The Stand is definitely one of my favorite books.  It's the only book that has brought me to tears.  I also really liked The Eyes Of The Dragon, which is the only book I've read more than twice.  I really liked his Dark Tower series too, even if many of the strands and story lines were never resolved.  I have some major issues with the way his Dark Tower story unfolded, but for it's girth, overall it's quite spectacular.

Least favorite?  Probably Cycle of The Werewolf.  Actually, i didn't even finish it.

[YoohooRiffer]

Favorites: The Stand and Cell

Least Favorite: From a Buick 8

Similar to others here, The Stand is one of my favorite books ever.  I also quite liked Cell as I used to be of the same belief that cell phones were pointless and unecessary.  I have crossed over into the dark side since then but I still like the concept of them bringing about the world's demise.

I've never read the Dark Tower series because I'm not a fan of the fantasy genre, so I doubt I would like them.  From a Buick 8 was just not as compelling as his other books.  I found it to be slightly dull.

[bratpop]

Never read anything of his. I watch all the mini-serieses and have seen maybe half the movies. I'll pretend this is relevant. I half Four Past Midnight but I haven't gotten to it yet.

[Grillslinger]

I have read most of his stuff. Believe it or not, I haven't come across a single one haven't fully enjoyed.

[YoohooRiffer]

Never read anything of his. I watch all the mini-serieses and have seen maybe half the movies. I'll pretend this is relevant. I half Four Past Midnight but I haven't gotten to it yet.

I really liked The Stand miniseries.  I thought it was very true to the book.  I also very much liked The Storm of the Century miniseries ABC had awhile back.  It was a very well made miniseries with a great plot.

[Sheik Yerbouti]

I've been a big fan of King since reading The Long Walk in the 8th grade.  This was so long ago that the book was under the Richard Bachman pen name and not in the Bachman Books collection.  God, I'm old.

The Shining is probably my all time favorite even though it pretty much started King's tradition of having a big storm and/or evil thing blowing up to end the book.  The Stand, Christine, The Long Walk, Bag Of Bones, IT, Misery and The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon are all right up there as favorites as well.  I'd also heartily recommend any wannabe writers read On Writing, his part autobiography, part writing guide. 

I'd have to rank Cell among the worst, partly because its a blatant retread of The Stand only without the wonderful detail and memorable characters.  Dreamcatcher and Insomnia were also pretty damn bad, along with at least a half a dozen others I can't think of right now.

He's written some incredibly lazy books but at the same time he's given me years of reading pleasure.  As an aspiring fiction writer, I wish I could be a fraction as prolific or successful as he has been in his life.

[Teaflax]

I used to love King as a teen, and I was pretty much there for his rise, reading The Stand and The Dead Zone more or less as they came out (maybe a few years afterwards). I remember enjoying them a great deal at the time, but once he really got going and I noticed that most of his books have a great premise and start with some enthusiasm, then slump towards a the end and are hastily wrapped up with a deus ex machina or two and more dangling threads than any pre-plotted book would allow. Not surprisingly I kind of lost interest then. These days, I could probably list a hundred writers I find more interesting, stimulating and rewarding - maybe fifty if you stick to SF/horror.

There is no doubt that the man loves to write and that he can write when the will is upon him, but I think he would do well to spend more time on his books, rather than just churn them out.

That said, The Dead Zone still holds up, I believe.

[anais.jude]

I have only read (in order) Dolores Claiborne, Different Seasons, Christine, and Cell. They were all pretty good, with Different Seasons (the collection that has the shawshank redemption and stand by me (the body) being the best of them. I really want to read the shining and the stnad though. Assuming I ever get our of school and have the time.

[yamshark]

Hi

Gotta say I just like his style of writing and one-liners his charcters come out with. Have never read The Dark Tower books so don't know how they fair up. I recently re-read Dreamcatcher then got hold of the film. Oh My God! Why do directors etc etc change these things so wildly? As you probably guessed I thought the film was pretty bad.

I heard that him that they call Stephen King doesn't like the movie version of The Shining. Is this true does anyone know? If true I can see how he may not like the fact his book isn't fully the film but they both are pretty darn good experiences imho. If you aint gonna stick to the book then at least make a great film. And The Shining is a great film imho (again).