Current Events > Recommend me the one Stephen King book that you think is his best

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11/22/63

Pet Sematary

the Langoliers. there is also a television mini-series, if you prefer that

It

hexa posted...

the Langoliers. there is also a television mini-series, if you prefer that

SCARING THE LITTLE GIRL!?

I dunno if it the best, but my favorite is The Eyes Of The Dragon.

As a reasonable read? Misery.

If you want to take on a real commitment? IT.

Bishop_Hastur posted...

I dunno if it the best, but my favorite is The Eyes Of The Dragon.

still one i need to read.

I'm half way through fairy tale.

The Stand is my personal favourite.

hexa posted...

the Langoliers. there is also a television mini-series, if you prefer that

Lmao I'm currently listening to the audiobook. Tangential: I love Willem Dafoe but god damn is he terrible at reading an audiobook.

Thought thered be one or two that would just get a ton of suggestions. Its more spaced out between a buncha options than I thought.

Not a book, but The Jaunt

It/The Green Mile/The Stand

All good options

The Stand: The Complete & Uncut Edition

The Shining

The Shining is my favorite. 11/22/63 is the one I would recommend the most to the average person.

The Green Mile

Is the hulu mini series of 11/22/63 any good?

I've only read his Dark Tower series but Wizard and Glass is my favorite.

drawing of the three is fantastic, like, it's paced so damn well. i almost read the entire thing in one sitting the first time. i noticed i was three-quarters through and i was like shit, i should stop.

I suggest you read The Gunslinger, it's probably not his best but I believe the Dark Tower series is his best and you might decide to read that after.

If you really just want one, The Stand I guess.

Not my favorite but one that never gets mentioned is Black House

Just an excellent haunted house story

It's a co-op, but The Talisman. Stephen King is very good at dark fantasy. The Talisman and The Dark Tower series were excellent. I'm actually not much of a fan of his horror. I think he could have been truly great if he stuck with dark fantasy.

Pet Semetary, The Stand, or It.

11/22/63 is also my answer.

ThyIlls posted...

I'm actually not much of a fan of his horror. I think he could have been truly great if he stuck with dark fantasy.

Yeah, for all that he's known for his horror, his best works are definitely not his horror. I think the only one I'd really rate up there with things like The Stand or 11/22/63 is Pet Sematary.

ToastyOne posted...

Is the hulu mini series of 11/22/63 any good?

I couldn't get past how idiotic they made the protagonist. Like you know how in the book, he's extremely careful with his betting to make sure no one gets suspicious? In the show, literally the first thing he does is find the first skeevy dive bar he can and bet the 60s equivalent of $10k on the long shot.

Bishop_Hastur posted...

I dunno if it the best, but my favorite is The Eyes Of The Dragon.

Awesome underrated King novel. I think I've reread it more than anything else.

11/22/63

Very close runners-up are It and Wizard and Glass

I'm surprised at the love for Eyes of the Dragon. I didn't really love it. I felt like it was a book with 90% buildup, then the climax didn't live up to it.

Dr. Sleep had the same issue.

came in to say The Talisman.

HM: The Long Walk.

The Stand.

The Long Walk.

HMs: Running Man, Salem's Lot, and the usual suspects Green Mile, Pet Semetary, The Stand.

ToastyOne posted...

Is the hulu mini series of 11/22/63 any good?

It did okay, I think. There are some (necessary) deviations from the book that end up causing trouble in the long run, like the fact that, while in the novel the fact that Jake is acting alone isn't a problem because we have access to his thoughts, motivations etc., that can't really work on screen for the audience so they had to give him a sidekick character for the years he spends planning so that he has someone to explain his various plans to (so that the audience then knows). This works better than expected at first, but then when the story enters the final third and Sadie takes on that role, as in the book, suddenly there's this whole other character with his own storyline that they need to try to incorporate into a plot that no longer has space for him, and it gets a little messy.

Honestly, I kinda wish that they'd swapped its runtime with Under The Dome. The latter was a novel that took place over a matter of days inexplicably stretched out over a multi-season show, while the absolute joy of 11/22/63 was the stretch of the novel where Jake is just biding his time living in the past, knowing that he has several years to wait before his "mission" really kicks in, and with only 8 (?) episodes to tell the whole thing, that side of things is the stuff that (again, understandably) gets largely cut in favour of the "proper" story of the novel. While Under The Dome was screaming out to be a tight miniseries, 11/22/63 would really have benefited from being a multi-season show that allowed for more slice of life filler episodes.

TomClark posted...

the absolute joy of 11/22/63 was the stretch of the novel where Jake is just biding his time living in the past, knowing that he has several years to wait before his "mission" really kicks in, and with only 8 (?) episodes to tell the whole thing, that side of things is the stuff that (again, understandably) gets largely cut in favour of the "proper" story of the novel.

Yeah, I didn't get that far, but that's what I was afraid of.

In a weird way, the book is not really about the Kennedy assassination. That's just the framework. What Stephen King did was write a romance novel and hide it with a time travel assassination plot.

The Shining

After reading it, I can see why he was so pissed about the Kubrick movie. Fantastic though it may be, it really butchered the characters, which I think are some of the strongest he's written

pegusus123456 posted...

In a weird way, the book is not really about the Kennedy assassination. That's just the framework. What Stephen King did was write a romance novel and hide it with a time travel assassination plot.

Yeah, I agree.

Like I say, I totally get the changes they made, and for a miniseries I legitimately don't think they had much choice, so I do believe they did the best job that they could in the format that they'd chosen (the wrong format IMO, but...)

But the problem is that while on the surface the story should be easy to translate to screen (small cast, fairly simple and self-contained story, minimal need for special effects for the most part...), I actually think that it's deceptively un-adaptable. It's basically a 1,000-page-plus behemoth where the majority is a guy not really doing anything significant and not telling anyone what he's up to. Which you barely notice when reading the book, because we're in his head not doing much and not telling anyone anything right along with him, but it just... isn't easy to do on screen.

hexa posted...

the Langoliers. there is also a television mini-series, if you prefer that

Holy shit what a terrible mini series

Ive always believed that if a person can only read one book of his, it must be The Stand.

Others have said them already but, The Stand, 11/22/63, The Long Walk, The Shining (the movie is a little different, the book is more akin to the miniseries starring the dude who played Brian Hackett in Wings)

The Dark Half is probably my favorite stand-alone (mostly) novel.

Wizard and Glass is great, but it's part of a larger series.