In middle school I saw the Kubrick version of The Shining and loved it. So I read King's original book and was really bored. Never read any other King. Then when IT: Chapter One came out, I liked the movie so I read the book. And I hated it.
Recently I have decided to get back into writing because I loved that when I was younger. Somehow I was talked into reading On Writing and I am loving it. It is making me think that maybe I had King all wrong and should try reading him again.
Any recommendations for other King material based on what I said?
Go spend some time in Gilead with Roland. The Dark Tower series is really fucking awesome.
It was around 1991-1992, so there are definitely some classics in there. There's also some utter garbage, and a lot of forgettable stuff. I can't even remember WTF happened in Hearts in Atlantis or From a Buick 8 anymore. On the other hand, I remember the primal terror in Cujo, even if the story was an unmitigated clusterfuck from a narrative structure standpoint.
Not really; he was still pretty hit or miss. On the one hand, Needful Things. On the other, whatever the fuck this is.
The Stand, Cujo, and the first few Dark Tower books are pre-sobriety. Of course, so are Insomnia and The Tommyknockers.
More info, if you can stomach Quora:
https://www.quora.com/Did-Stephen-Kings-writing-change-after-he-got-clean
On Writing is great! It was like the TV Tropes of its day -- I think that was also the book where he recommends Strunk & White's Elements of Style, which is a goldmine.
As for recommendations, what are you normally into? Here are the usual suspects:
- Distant future post-apocalyptic western sci-fi/fantasy: The Dark Tower series (The Gunslinger, The Drawing of the Three, The Waste Lands, etc.)
- Basically 2020: The Stand
- Lighter fantasy; almost tween/teen/YA territory: The Eyes of the Dragon
- Car culture, redux: Christine
- Parasocial relationships and their unexpected consequences: Misery
- Wot if time travel, but only to Maine in the late 1950s: 11/22/63 (TV miniseries was decent, albeit nowhere near factual re: Lee Harvey Oswald, but otherwise has some real Quantum Leap vibes)
Short story collections:
- Night Shift (Trucks, The Lawnmower Man, Children of the Corn)
- Different Seasons (Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption, Apt Pupil)
- Skeleton Crew (The Mist)
Note: this is by no means exhaustive, because I haven't really kept up much since the early 2000s.
yeah different seasons is a good starting point. the green mile and dead zone are shorter and more "standard" than fucking it. misery is pretty cool too.
I remember Christine being really good. The movie is very different from the book because the way it is good doesn't translate well to a movie.
Needful Things is pretty great and IT is also very good. Haven't read anything else by King but those two stand out as good books that are worth reading and recommending.
