Killing Our Monsters: On Stephen King’s Magic by Sarah Langan

[miguel1626]

Originally Posted by taosaur

I've never heard anyone have anything bad to say about either of those books. I think I read Tommyknockers three times as a teenager. Dreamcatcher seemed like largely a retread of the same premise (alien possession), and I'd throw it together with Cell and Under the Dome as being almost nothing but a premise, with forgettable characters and none of the "resonance" the article linked in the OP talks about.

I haven't read Under the Dome, but Cell is forgettable, alright. However, I still enjoyed Dreamcatcher. It's execution was very different from Tommyknockers, and as for the characters, I liked Henry Devlin and Colonel Kurtz quite a lot.

Originally Posted by taosaur

Personally I think King had his duds in the '70s and '80s, too. The Shining and The Dead Zone were dull, wandering and maudlin, and Firestarter was just okay.

I never really liked The Dead Zone as well. The book is too big and there's very little going on (besides, John Smith was rather dull as well). The Shining is among my favorites, while I agree with your opinion on Firestarter. But it's quite clear that King's output was way better on up to the beginning of the 90s.

Originally Posted by taosaur

(though I haven't read Lisey's Story, and some people liked it quite a bit).

I've read it recently, and thought it was okay. If it were not so long and rambling, maybe I'd rate it higher. Alas, that's not the case.

Originally Posted by JD Gumby

I dunno. Given previous King adaptations, I figure they did a pretty good job - right up until the ending. An even worse alteration to the ending than The Mist (the army coming to save the day just as the lead suicides, instead of the ending which gave him a shred of hope) or Cujo (where Danny Pintaro lives).

Come on, Duddits as an alien? By itself that's enough to ruin the movie... And Jonesy sometimes turning into a monster while possessed? That was gratuitous B-movie stuff (oh and there's also the good guys from the army who take over the operation - gotta love those army heroes). The script plainly sucked.

I thought The Mist was a pretty good adaptation, right until the end. Then it sucked. But at least you can stop the movie soon after they leave the market, and pretend it's an open ending like in the novella

[miguel1626]

Originally Posted by spindlegirl

I am a major re-reader. It's like having more servings of a favorite dessert.

When I was a teenager I re-read a lot of books. But that was mostly because I was poor and had a very small selection available (and no nearby library to bail me out).

These days I don't have a lot of reading time (my yearly average would be 1.5 books/week), so I rarely re-read: the opportunity cost is too high.

Games, on the other hand... I play Final Fantasy almost every year, and Civilization is always there for me when I want it. I guess I just draw comfort from another class of familiar experiences

[nursedude]

I enjoyed King for a number of years but agree with those who feel that the overall quality of his work deteriorated after time. My favorites would be The Stand, IT, Cujo and most of his short story compilations. The man writes great short stories.

As far as the re-reading goes. There are certain books I pull out every so often to caress again. No real genre preference but for some reason I'm drawn to "classics" like Alas Babylon, Lucifer's Hammer, Reilly's Luck, The Apocalypse Troll and first person histories/memoirs.

For me re-reading a book I love is a lot like reuniting with a lost love.