Stephen King's The Dark Tower

[tragabigzanda]

Whenever there's active promotion on the part of somebody else, whenever I see somebody all dolled up for a fancy photograph and someone's handing out flyers or whenever there's active promotion for something like that, as an imposition on my day, I hate all those people and I want them to fail. I have a visceral reaction to advertising and promotion. There's just something about salesmanship that grates on me on a very base level and I react very negatively towards it. I want those people to suffer and I want their enterprises to fail.

[epilogue]

I haven't read all of those. But I'd 100% put Lisey's Story in the 'Unfuckwithable' category. And 'It' in a category somewhere between 'Decent but Flawed' and 'Really Bad.'

I think many would agree with you on Lisey's Story, I just found it to drag a bit too much, and got annoyed by all the little turns-of-phrase that were unique to their relationship. My biggest problem with King has always been his dialogue, and Lisey's Story is perhaps the greatest offender, despite having a great plot and some really lovely passages.

My issues with It are really simple: Everything set in the 50's is top-notch; everything set in the 80s is garbage.

That's interesting because I'd probably disagree with you about It. I love all the adult stuff. Most of the kids stuff reads like tin. And that ending is easily his absolute worst. Kiddy gangbangs just aren't my thing, maybe.

I wouldn't change a thing about Lisey's Story. It's one of my all time favorite books by anyone.

Yea, the ending to It is pretty awful, though I do like the turtle imagery.

Did you ever read Bag of Bones? Lisey's Story was such an odd followup, in that it dealt with nearly identical subject matter, but from the woman's point of view.

I have not read Bag of Bones yet. It's next on my list after the Mr. Mercedes Trilogy.

Have you started that trilogy yet? It's high on my list, but I'm taking a self-imposed break from King for a while. I think it looks terrific, though.

I have not. I've got a big 2 week vacation coming up in November. I'm saving all three books for the beaches of Yelapa Mexico.

[bune]

I have not read Bag of Bones yet. It's next on my list after the Mr. Mercedes Trilogy.

Since we're talking about dumb endings...

The first book is pretty good. The second book has an interesting story to it, and is a nice continuation of a series about a cop and normal, not-supernatural events.

Spoiler: show

Then the end of the second book brings it in and the third does the whole "we only use 10% of our minds / his brain is rewiring itself!" bullshit and it goes off the deep end.

And even though I said it has a bad ending, that's just for the book. The trilogy's ending is actually pretty touching.

[tragabigzanda]

Whenever there's active promotion on the part of somebody else, whenever I see somebody all dolled up for a fancy photograph and someone's handing out flyers or whenever there's active promotion for something like that, as an imposition on my day, I hate all those people and I want them to fail. I have a visceral reaction to advertising and promotion. There's just something about salesmanship that grates on me on a very base level and I react very negatively towards it. I want those people to suffer and I want their enterprises to fail.

[Brett]

I'm doing some major procrastinating today. My ranking of King's works, excluding The Dark Tower series, collections like Night Shift, and the odd one-off like The Plant:

Spoiler: show

Unfuckwithable
'Salem's Lot
The Shining
Hearts In Atlantis
11/22/63
The Dead Zone
Misery
Pet Semetary (though I subjectively hate this one -- it's just too dark -- it is a terrific work)

Really strong
The Eyes of the Dragon
It
The Regulators
Desperation
Bag of Bones
Joyland
The Long Walk
Dolores Clairborne
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon
From a Buick 8

Pretty Good
Insomnia
The Green Mile
Revival
Cycle of the Werewolf
Duma Key

Decent but flawed
Needful Things
Lisey's Story
Dr. Sleep

Really bad
Thinner
The Dark Half
Gerald's Game
Carrie
Cell

I don't think I've ever seen anyone attempt to do a ranking like that. I noticed some missing titles, like Under the Dome and Firestarter (I assume the Bachman novels are part of your exclusion list). Are those ones you haven't read, or just omissions?

I quite like Cell, so I can't agree on it being really bad. Besides the Tower stuff, I think my favorite King novels would Hearts in Atlantis (technically a collection, but it's all part of the same storyline), Duma Key, Lisey's Story, From a Buick 8, and The Stand. I like King's richer, world-building side more than the batshit insane stuff.

Speaking of bad endings, as much as I enjoy Duma Key, I have a love/hate relationship with it's ending.

[tragabigzanda]

Whenever there's active promotion on the part of somebody else, whenever I see somebody all dolled up for a fancy photograph and someone's handing out flyers or whenever there's active promotion for something like that, as an imposition on my day, I hate all those people and I want them to fail. I have a visceral reaction to advertising and promotion. There's just something about salesmanship that grates on me on a very base level and I react very negatively towards it. I want those people to suffer and I want their enterprises to fail.

[epilogue]

A'ight. Here's a first crack at a ranking of the King books I've read:

Lisey's Story
11/22/63
'Salem's Lot
The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla
Under the Dome
Four Past Midnight
Dolores Claiborne
The Dark Tower IV
The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands
The Long Walk
The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger
The Stand
The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower
The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah
The Dark Tower: The Wind Through the Keyhole
The Green Mile
The Eyes of the Dragon
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon
The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three
The Shining
Doctor Sleep
It

[tragabigzanda]

Whenever there's active promotion on the part of somebody else, whenever I see somebody all dolled up for a fancy photograph and someone's handing out flyers or whenever there's active promotion for something like that, as an imposition on my day, I hate all those people and I want them to fail. I have a visceral reaction to advertising and promotion. There's just something about salesmanship that grates on me on a very base level and I react very negatively towards it. I want those people to suffer and I want their enterprises to fail.

[E.H. Ruddock]

Under the Dome was good, then TV went and fucking ruined it for me.

[epilogue]

Looks good to me; Lisey's Story and The Shining are the only two big disagreements we have.

Happy to see the love for 11/22/63. Apart from that minor shoehorned-in scene with Beverly and one of the other kids from It, it's basically a flawless story.

Also happy to see The Long Walk in the middle. I was pleasantly surprised at how great that one was.

And you've just bumped Under the Dome to the very top of my King reading list.

The big (*) next to The Shining is that I adore Kubrick's film and I saw that thing about 128 times before picking up the book. And I picked up the book after having only read one other Stephen King book and that was Eyes of the Dragon. So, I was really uninterested and let down by The Shining at the time. That was in 7th grade. I need to revisit the book with all that baggage far, far behind me and with fresh eyes.

[epilogue]

Looking over my list... 'Salem's Lot should probably be above 11/22/63. I don't know. Those three are my top three and the order probably changes depending on what conversation I'm having.

[bada]

Problem with reading the Shining after seeing the movie is the majority of the most iconic parts of the film aren't in the book.

[epilogue]

Problem with reading the Shining after seeing the movie is the majority of the most iconic parts of the film aren't in the book.

Exactly. And the stuff that should be scary in the book comes off as super hokey. And that ax is way scarier than that mallet.

[tragabigzanda]

Whenever there's active promotion on the part of somebody else, whenever I see somebody all dolled up for a fancy photograph and someone's handing out flyers or whenever there's active promotion for something like that, as an imposition on my day, I hate all those people and I want them to fail. I have a visceral reaction to advertising and promotion. There's just something about salesmanship that grates on me on a very base level and I react very negatively towards it. I want those people to suffer and I want their enterprises to fail.

[epilogue]

Problem with reading the Shining after seeing the movie is the majority of the most iconic parts of the film aren't in the book.

Exactly. And the stuff that should be scary in the book comes off as super hokey. And that ax is way scarier than that mallet.

But isn't there an ax at the end of the book?

Spoiler: show

Doesn't Jack starting cutting himself in the face? Or is that with the mallet?

I really don't remember, actually. Good question. I'll trust your memory since you're a bigger fan of the book.

[tragabigzanda]

Whenever there's active promotion on the part of somebody else, whenever I see somebody all dolled up for a fancy photograph and someone's handing out flyers or whenever there's active promotion for something like that, as an imposition on my day, I hate all those people and I want them to fail. I have a visceral reaction to advertising and promotion. There's just something about salesmanship that grates on me on a very base level and I react very negatively towards it. I want those people to suffer and I want their enterprises to fail.

[epilogue]

Problem with reading the Shining after seeing the movie is the majority of the most iconic parts of the film aren't in the book.

Exactly. And the stuff that should be scary in the book comes off as super hokey. And that ax is way scarier than that mallet.

But isn't there an ax at the end of the book?

Spoiler: show

Doesn't Jack starting cutting himself in the face? Or is that with the mallet?

I really don't remember, actually. Good question. I'll trust your memory since you're a bigger fan of the book.

Spoiler: show

Nope, I googled it, it's a mallet at the end of the book. But it is very bloody.

Ah. Cool. I remember it being violent but I thought it was a mallet the whole time.

[bune]

Under the Dome was good, then TV went and fucking ruined it for me.

Under the Dome was great until the bit in the middle where it was "explained". Ruined the whole book for me. The entire book was great and then that happened.

I'd have to take a bit to rank his books that I've read. Mostly because there are only a handul that I haven't read and ranking that many books would take awhile.

[bada]

Dark Tower Series
Salem's Lot
Night Shift
The Stand
Doctor Sleep
The Shining
Pet Sematary
Cycle of the Werewolf
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon
Under the Dome


I haven't read as much King as I thought. Kinda cheating with just putting the Dark Tower series but I don't remember what part is in what book. I plan on reading 'It' at some point this fall.

[CopperTom]