More_Badass
Member
Cool, hope it interests you enough to check out his other books
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GAF Reads Stephen King's It
- Thread starter Vincent Alexander
- Start date
Megalosaro
Banned
My first Stephen King Novel was Dreamcatcher. I enjoyed it alot.
If I recall... the order I went in was something like
Dreamcatcher
The Stand (top 3 book for me)
The Gunslinger
Drawing of the Three
Wastelands
Wizard and Glass
IT
Tommyknockers
Wolves of the calla
Song of Susannah
The dark tower
Been a while. What else should I read?
If I recall... the order I went in was something like
Dreamcatcher
The Stand (top 3 book for me)
The Gunslinger
Drawing of the Three
Wastelands
Wizard and Glass
IT
Tommyknockers
Wolves of the calla
Song of Susannah
The dark tower
Been a while. What else should I read?
More_Badass
Member
Xamtheking
Member
This was a good book
Praise be to turtle
Kyleripman
Member
That's actually an interesting distinction - I'll have to pay attention to how it's framed when I get there again.
I was introduced to King via his short stories. Skeleton Crew and Night Shift in particular. I still go back and read those stories now and then. Those were followed by:
It
Salem's Lot
The Stand
Pet Sematary
Dreamcatcher
Insomnia
I read a few others after, but not many. I might pick up more of his work after getting through IT again.
Confession: when I was a kid I skipped the Interludes. Read a few pages, got bored, skipped'em as optional world building. Something I was curious about now that I'm reading it at age 40 was whether I'd appreciate them more.
Having gone through the first Interlude last night, the answer is a resounding "yes". They're fantastic world building, but also much more tightly tied into the narrative fabric of the story than I thought they were, when I read the story 20+ years ago. This first one did double duty as Mike's introductory chapter, weaving in a great deal of his character and personality through the voice used, which is distinctive from the first three chapters.
Living in a small town now for 13 years has just made all the small town history that much more interesting.
It
Salem's Lot
The Stand
Pet Sematary
Dreamcatcher
Insomnia
I read a few others after, but not many. I might pick up more of his work after getting through IT again.
Confession: when I was a kid I skipped the Interludes. Read a few pages, got bored, skipped'em as optional world building. Something I was curious about now that I'm reading it at age 40 was whether I'd appreciate them more.
Having gone through the first Interlude last night, the answer is a resounding "yes". They're fantastic world building, but also much more tightly tied into the narrative fabric of the story than I thought they were, when I read the story 20+ years ago. This first one did double duty as Mike's introductory chapter, weaving in a great deal of his character and personality through the voice used, which is distinctive from the first three chapters.
Living in a small town now for 13 years has just made all the small town history that much more interesting.
Merchandise
Member
I'm reading It right now and I don't know.. It's reallyyy slow for me during the child sections. About 1/4 through and the boys just built a dam recently and I'm like, ok?
Ya.
Ya.
More_Badass
Member
The story, the pay off, and sense of danger doesn't work if you don't see the bond develop and the friendship form between the group. It's like the most important and critical element of the narrative
I only just got my copy in the mail, so I'm just up to Bev's introductory chapter. Each character introduction is wonderfully unique how the "call" affects them in different ways. For some, it's the worst thing ever, while for others it puts their current problems back into perspective. For Stan, it's something he just refuses to deal with, while for Beverly, it's something that has her fight back against the overbearing abuse that defines her life.
Very interesting, and human, way to show them reacting to the news.
Very interesting, and human, way to show them reacting to the news.
Finally finished the audiobook last night. God damn that was long. My initial reaction is that I hope they heavily rewrite the adult segments for the second movie. There's a lot of good stuff in there but anything involving Bev besides Tom Rogan was awful. Bev doesn't really serve a purpose at the end other than for
. It's not just her though, Ben doesn't really do much other than
I also think the adult sections aren't as scary and kind of flat. There are some great moments such as the library fight and the Kersh visit but it's not enough and pales in comparison to the childhood scenes.
The Ritual of Chud itself was great in both eras. It has a sort of cosmic wonder to it and should look insane if filmed properly. I hope they nail it visually as I always love these sort of mind fights.
Bill to fuck her in some sort of weird self-insert writing
egg stomp.
The Ritual of Chud itself was great in both eras. It has a sort of cosmic wonder to it and should look insane if filmed properly. I hope they nail it visually as I always love these sort of mind fights.
Junior Asparagus
Member
I started too! Gonna be slow going because I have a lot of stuff going on, but I'll get through it eventually. Pretty good so far, although I'm just past the intro chapters. First Stephen King in a while. He's so easy to read.
More_Badass
Member
I think the adult movie could work more as a psychological thriller/drama that has horror elements gradually bleed into it, rather than a straight horror movie
I could see that working but they need to rewrite Bev completely once she arrives in Derry. Both Ben and Bill could do with one too. That's the thing I liked the least about the adult segments in that certain characters didn't feel as useful or needed (Bev and Ben). The childhood segments had everybody serving a clear purpose.
Also there weren't what I would deem as necessary emotional confrontations. Bev needed to meet Rogan one last time and overcome him. Similarly I felt Ben needed to do the same with Henry. It does give Eddie a good moment but he gets one later during the second Ritual.
I'm not sure how they're going to handle Mike as a lot of his characterization comes in the Interludes, which are damn great.
mariachi507
Member
Just finished chapter 17. This was the most chilling chapter for me since the opening with Georgie.
Reading the descriptions of the dog being slowly suffocated were enough to have me turning away at a few spots. Also, despite Patrick being an absolute psycho, his vision of Leeches was terrifying. Especially the one that exploded blood and pus in his mouth, it'll make for an insane visual if the movie follows suit. His death was the most disturbing thus far.
RuinerPrime
Member
got to chapter 11 last night.
The fortune cookie scene is much better in then book then in the bad tv movie lol
SteveMeister
Hang out with Steve.
My wife and I have been listening to the Audible version, narrated amazingly well be Steven Weber. We're well into the book -
It has been many years since I first read the book, which was right about the time it came out, so I was 22 or 23. Listening to it now at 52, I'm definitely getting a lot more out of the book as a whole, and I identify more with the adults' stories than I did back then. Such an amazing story.
I highly recommend the Audible book. It's fantastic.
the adults are all in Derry, and they've had their lunch at the Chinese restaurant and I think we just finished the last of their individual encounters but they haven't yet made it back to the library for their planned evening meeting.
It has been many years since I first read the book, which was right about the time it came out, so I was 22 or 23. Listening to it now at 52, I'm definitely getting a lot more out of the book as a whole, and I identify more with the adults' stories than I did back then. Such an amazing story.
I highly recommend the Audible book. It's fantastic.
Forgot about that interlude. They really make the book for me.
BrightLightLava
Unconfirmed Member
I want to do that from time to time, but I almost exclusively read on my Kindle, and I doubt it would be good for it.
Finished the book.
I haven't watched the new movie yet, but I caught the Georgie scene and it seems to lack this little technique King uses in the novel.
I haven't watched the new movie yet, but I caught the Georgie scene and it seems to lack this little technique King uses in the novel.
So, the moments in the novel that spooked me the most was Stanley's wife finding his body, Pennywise grabbing Georgie from the drain and Pennywise's face becoming the moon. In all three of those moments there is a moment where time slows to a crawl and King details the response of the character in some abstract way, prior to the reader discovering what they're terrified/horrified of. Henry screams or rage morph into wild, unthinking fear, Stanley's wife stares in shock and then screams in horror and georgie, in that small moment between Pennywise grabbing his arm and his death, see's something so terrible his sanity is destroyed.I found this really effective, as in that moment, my imagination came up with something worse than the book could ever describe.
The Georgie scene seems to lack that moment, which is seems like a shame.
The Georgie scene seems to lack that moment, which is seems like a shame.
Just started a re-read after not having read it for like 20 years (yeah...I'm old). It will be slow-going, since the wife and I are sharing the book, but I'm definitely looking forward to getting into it again. Saw the movie yesterday (which I thought was excellent), so it will be cool to compare the two, since I've forgotten quite a bit about the book in 2 decades.
Nightwing123
Member
I read the book a while ago so I'll probably just get the audiobook and listen to it.
More_Badass
Member
That's something that you can do that in books that you can't do in film
Remember there are a lot of missing kids as well.
For everyone It maims or takes bites out of, even more are largely devoured. You'll see more of this as you go.
It feeds of their spiritual energy and fear more than their tissue from memory.
bloodydrake
Cool Smoke Luke
Your Missing Duma Key, and 11 22 63, as stand out recent King stories
Robdraggoo
Member
I decided to join everyone as i havnt read it in about 8 years. Went to pull my og hardback from the shelf and the dust jacket is in pieces!!
A few kids got some splainin to do.
A few kids got some splainin to do.
It wants you to be angry at them.
I feel like just a close up of the victims face in the transition "this is pretty spooky" to "oh my god" would do a serviceable job in film.
snausagesUK
Member
I'm halfway into this now around the point where they all have gross fortune cookies. I'm not loving it. I don't read a lot of Stephen King but his writing style annoys me, I don't know. Like sometimes there's a section which seems super phoned in and other sections are obviously much better.
lunchtoast
Member
Switched over the mostly audio this week because it'll take too long to read. Steven Weber does a great job with all the voices. Must have been a challenge with all that stuttering dialogue. Never read it before, but whenever a scary scene happens I just think back to the miniseries and the mood is ruined.
I'm not sure what his situation was while he was writing this book, but he has talked about this himself. Part of it is just that he's a writing machine - this comes from the fact that he started out very poor and with a family to feed, and really had to pump out short stories for a couple of hundred bucks a pop to survive. He's well off now of course, but that drive is still there. His output is pretty insane - with some years even having 3 or 4 books, along with other stuff.
Also, he has had periods where he was heavily addicted to alcohol/cocaine etc, which he admitted affected his writing in places.
Overall, the end result is that the quality of his work can vary pretty wildly depending on where his life was at, but that it's all very easy/quick to read at the same time. It's not a surprise that a lot of people get into his writing in their teens as he can be a master at carrying you to the next page while sticking to fairly approachable language.
It's been 15 years or so since I read It myself so I can't remember exactly what I thought of the book, although it does stick out as one of my personal favorites in my memory. I also hope this doesn't read as a condemnation of King - I'm really a fan and very impressed by his career. But he did have some inevitable moments where he slipped a bit.
Psychotic_Mantis
Member
I noticed you're banned now but felt I would add in The Shining and Salems Lot. I am not big on vampires but still loved Salems Lot.
Just finished up the third interlude, with Al Bradley, and am going to be happy to be back with the kids. Some of the adult portions got really slow, and I'm really unsure how it is going to work in the movie. It literally seemed like aimless walking at some points, and obviously (to those that have read it)
I'm probably just not imaginative enough, but I have a hard time seeing how to make effective horror scenes out of those, without the narrative and flow of the film feeling exceedingly broken up.
they are all on their own for this whole section after the scene with the fortune cookies, with some of their interactions with It out in public. I can see Bev's scene being effective, and Ben's in the library, but Eddie's at the baseball field and Richie's with Paul Bunyon I don't see translating to the screen very well.
I'm probably just not imaginative enough, but I have a hard time seeing how to make effective horror scenes out of those, without the narrative and flow of the film feeling exceedingly broken up.
Question from somebody who much prefers audiobooks. Where can I find this? On amazon it says the audible version is no longer available. Do I have to buy the CDs? I don't want to subscribe to any service if possible and I'd prefer a version on my phone so I can listen on the bus.
I'm about to re read the book (haven't done so in probably 15+ years), but something said in the film thread as comparison vs the miniseries makes me hesitate...
Someone basically said that in the book
. I don't remember that happening at all in fact.
If that actually does happen in the book, I might pass I think.
Someone basically said that in the book
Adult Bev fucks Bill because of the crush they had in their childhood, which in my memory -allegedly tinted by the miniseries- doesn't make sense, because of the whole Bill/ Audra plot, and the Bev/ Ben setup
If that actually does happen in the book, I might pass I think.
Yep... it's a fairly passing thing though and is pretty much never mentioned again.
Should be fine on audible?
https://mobile.audible.com/pd/Fiction/It-Audiobook/B019WPM4ZM/?ref=msw_search_c1_0_1_AL
Maybe you just clicked on a weird version
