So, no, I'm not really referring to making my way through Stephen King's Dark Tower series. I've already completed that. The title of this post is just a lame Stephen King reference, much like the name of my blog.
I simply want to write something
at the outset that gives a little of my history as a Stephen King fan. I
haven't read all of his work, but I am on a determined course to do so.
In the last ten or so years, I've come across more and more of King's writing
that continues to persuade me that he is more gifted, and capable of deeper,
more eloquent writing, than he is frequently given credit for.
This post will highlight what I've read up until now, and hopefully express a little about why I value his writing so much.
I consider myself an avid fan of Stephen King’s books, but my journey began with his movies. I was a young adolescent when I first encountered the frightful, gory, and depressing “Pet Sematary.” Based on that movie, my first impression of “Stephen King” planted him firmly in the horror realm. This is not an entirely wrong conception of his work, but it is—I found over time—a limiting one. I came to understand that truth somewhat quickly after my introduction to “movie” King, once I began to read a couple of his books. I believe the first novel of his I read was Carrie, which would have been a copy I found in my local library at the start of my high school years. That book began to challenge my idea of King as being someone who cared primarily about scares. It was scary in ways, but it was also an emotional story, one that caused me to empathize with Carrie White’s pain, and I recall being surprised by how vivid and affecting the conflict was between Carrie and her zealous Christian mother.
I know that I read The Running Man early on as well, after I saw the Arnold Schwarzenegger film. Reading the book was appealing for me, since I thought the concept of the movie was so cool. At the time, I was a fan of Michael Crichton’s books, so sci-fi/futuristic elements in stories were attractive to me. I remember thinking The Running Man was a very well written book, and also that the style was different than I’d been expecting. (This would make more sense later on, once I understood that King was writing under his pseudonym Richard Bachman, and thereby altering and stretching his “voice” in certain ways.)
I think the next books I tried to work through were Firestarter, Misery, and It. I can’t say that Firestarter worked very well for me (I probably didn’t even finish it on the first try), but Misery was absolute dynamite—bold, confidently written, and compulsively readable—and It likewise blew me away. It, despite being oppressively large, was full of good characters, a real sense of time and place, and was very effective at conveying what it feels like to be afraid. As with Carrie, I was a little surprised to find It to be so engaging on an emotional level.
A little later on, a friend recommended The Long Walk to me. This friend was not typically a fan of fiction, so his endorsement of the book got me excited. I remember reading that one in just a few sittings, burning through the pages at an uncharacteristically fast pace.
I liked a lot of what I read from King in the beginning, but the book that finally got me to give in and fully accept his staggering authorly powers was The Stand. This is a book I’ve never really stopped being impressed by. It exists in my mind as a book with a hefty burden placed on it, given its bold premise. But I feel it delivers.
Shortly thereafter, I became aware of The Gunslinger--and by extension, the broader "Dark Tower." The experience of reading those books helped me see how much genre-bending King was capable of, and gave me my first glimpse into the interconnected universe of his fiction. This was highly attractive to me, and it deepened my fandom considerably.
The other works that really solidified my deep appreciation for King’s writing were his short story collections. Some of the stories from Everything’s Eventual, Night Shift, and certainly Just After Sunset. By the time I got to his recent collection of novellas, Full Dark, No Stars, I had taken on the proud, absurd opinion that anyone who doubted King’s abilities was just wrong.
I often try to persuade people to check out King's shorter works (to little avail, most of the time). For me, that's where some of his best prose is found. King is well known for turning out expansive tomes, replete with staggering numbers of characters and subplots, but what a joy to discover that he is a master of short form writing as well!
A complete listing of the works I've read by King is as follows:
(Novels) Carrie, 'Salem's Lot, The Shining, The Stand, The Long Walk, Firestarter, The Running Man, The Dark Tower Series, Pet Sematary, It, Misery, Needful Things, Gerald's Game, Dolores Claiborne, Insomnia, Bag of Bones, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, Under the Dome, 11/22/63, Doctor Sleep, Mr. Mercedes, Revival
(Collections) Night Shift, Different Seasons, Just After Sunset, Full Dark, No Stars
Obviously, I've read a fair number of the essentials. But there are plenty of his books I haven't gotten to yet! Plus, as I re-read things, I'll likely be apt to post some thoughts about it here.
First up will be some discussion on The Dead Zone, which I am currently reading for the first time. More on that soon!
This post will highlight what I've read up until now, and hopefully express a little about why I value his writing so much.
I consider myself an avid fan of Stephen King’s books, but my journey began with his movies. I was a young adolescent when I first encountered the frightful, gory, and depressing “Pet Sematary.” Based on that movie, my first impression of “Stephen King” planted him firmly in the horror realm. This is not an entirely wrong conception of his work, but it is—I found over time—a limiting one. I came to understand that truth somewhat quickly after my introduction to “movie” King, once I began to read a couple of his books. I believe the first novel of his I read was Carrie, which would have been a copy I found in my local library at the start of my high school years. That book began to challenge my idea of King as being someone who cared primarily about scares. It was scary in ways, but it was also an emotional story, one that caused me to empathize with Carrie White’s pain, and I recall being surprised by how vivid and affecting the conflict was between Carrie and her zealous Christian mother.
I know that I read The Running Man early on as well, after I saw the Arnold Schwarzenegger film. Reading the book was appealing for me, since I thought the concept of the movie was so cool. At the time, I was a fan of Michael Crichton’s books, so sci-fi/futuristic elements in stories were attractive to me. I remember thinking The Running Man was a very well written book, and also that the style was different than I’d been expecting. (This would make more sense later on, once I understood that King was writing under his pseudonym Richard Bachman, and thereby altering and stretching his “voice” in certain ways.)
I think the next books I tried to work through were Firestarter, Misery, and It. I can’t say that Firestarter worked very well for me (I probably didn’t even finish it on the first try), but Misery was absolute dynamite—bold, confidently written, and compulsively readable—and It likewise blew me away. It, despite being oppressively large, was full of good characters, a real sense of time and place, and was very effective at conveying what it feels like to be afraid. As with Carrie, I was a little surprised to find It to be so engaging on an emotional level.
A little later on, a friend recommended The Long Walk to me. This friend was not typically a fan of fiction, so his endorsement of the book got me excited. I remember reading that one in just a few sittings, burning through the pages at an uncharacteristically fast pace.
I liked a lot of what I read from King in the beginning, but the book that finally got me to give in and fully accept his staggering authorly powers was The Stand. This is a book I’ve never really stopped being impressed by. It exists in my mind as a book with a hefty burden placed on it, given its bold premise. But I feel it delivers.
Shortly thereafter, I became aware of The Gunslinger--and by extension, the broader "Dark Tower." The experience of reading those books helped me see how much genre-bending King was capable of, and gave me my first glimpse into the interconnected universe of his fiction. This was highly attractive to me, and it deepened my fandom considerably.
The other works that really solidified my deep appreciation for King’s writing were his short story collections. Some of the stories from Everything’s Eventual, Night Shift, and certainly Just After Sunset. By the time I got to his recent collection of novellas, Full Dark, No Stars, I had taken on the proud, absurd opinion that anyone who doubted King’s abilities was just wrong.
I often try to persuade people to check out King's shorter works (to little avail, most of the time). For me, that's where some of his best prose is found. King is well known for turning out expansive tomes, replete with staggering numbers of characters and subplots, but what a joy to discover that he is a master of short form writing as well!
A complete listing of the works I've read by King is as follows:
(Novels) Carrie, 'Salem's Lot, The Shining, The Stand, The Long Walk, Firestarter, The Running Man, The Dark Tower Series, Pet Sematary, It, Misery, Needful Things, Gerald's Game, Dolores Claiborne, Insomnia, Bag of Bones, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, Under the Dome, 11/22/63, Doctor Sleep, Mr. Mercedes, Revival
(Collections) Night Shift, Different Seasons, Just After Sunset, Full Dark, No Stars
Obviously, I've read a fair number of the essentials. But there are plenty of his books I haven't gotten to yet! Plus, as I re-read things, I'll likely be apt to post some thoughts about it here.
First up will be some discussion on The Dead Zone, which I am currently reading for the first time. More on that soon!
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