I am a huge Stephen King fan and have read just about every singe one of his books. The ONLY book to absolutely terrify me was his book "Pet Semetary," which I finished reading under the covers with a flashlight. (I was in a relationship at the time and my girlfriend did not want me to have the light on all night. By the way, the WORST way to read a Stephen King novel is under the covers with a flashlight. Just so you know.)
As for Colbert, well you know, he's the man!
Pet Semetary may well be his scariest book, but The Shining gets my vote for scariest movie adaptation of a Stephen King story. Ever.
ReplyDeleteJust saying.
*shudder*
thatcrowwoman
Yes, The Shining - here too. Coming from a fairly isolated small town with winters that the faint-hearted couldn't handle, those scenes with that huge resort in a blizzard and the amount of accumulative snow up to the winders was pretty convincing for northern people, watching that. It's bad enough running away from a crazed man with a hatchet on a sunny hot day, but in a blizzard, that's something else.
Deleteyep, extremely creepy movie... and a very good one!
DeleteWhen I read Pet Sematary I was nineteen, just married, just moved from East Coast to Texas... my military husband away on exercises and I was all alone. Scary!
ReplyDeleteI adore them both as well. I know you like Colbert for The Daily Show, but I knew him first as Chuck Noblet from the brilliant short lived series, Strangers with Candy. http://www.comedycentral.com/video-clips/ri4b6m/strangers-with-candy-dinner-party
ReplyDeleteBrilliant, irreverent, mean and talented show.
DeleteChristine.
ReplyDeleteI was in the hospital and reading Christine. I could not turn the light out. The nurses would come in regularly and try to turn the light out, but when I explained I was reading Christine, most of them understood. I went out of the room the next morning and there was a sign on the door.
"leave light on, she is reading Christine!".
yeah that was a good one.
DeleteGryph, I love that gif! How adorable is that?
ReplyDeletePet Semetary is an amazing book -- terrifying and terribly sad at the same time.
Favorite Stephen King book -- The Stand.
Scariest book I have ever read -- The Shining. (*shiver*)
I was working on a remote site in the Blue Ridge Mountains camping with another for a few months out in the back country in the late 80's. Of course the book my partner brought was a collection of King's short stories. Then I had to read "The Fog" on the day that I was at camp all by myself - and then the fog came in..... I still giggle at how scared I got myself, hiding in the tent!
ReplyDeleteSalems Lot.
ReplyDeleteI've been reading Stephen King since I was a child (gifted kid over here, was reading at college level in 5th grade and taking AP English classes at the local community college, just could never figure out those damn numbers!) and Salems Lot was hands down the ONLY thing that haunted me in my dreams.
that was the first king book I read. could not look at the window at night for A LONG time.... scared the hell outta me, great book tho.
DeleteI still cannot read Salem's Lot at night, especially near an window with the curtains open. I don't want to see those red eyes looking right at me, especially if I am on the second floor. Because then I might open the window to let him in.
ReplyDeleteAnd that would be very bad.
If you haven't already, consider reading Stephen King's memoir, "On Writing." I'm a writer and it is the most enjoyable book on the craft I've ever read. But you don't have to be a writer to enjoy it. He talks about his writing history, his inspiration, his experiences with writing and publishing, etc.
ReplyDeleteI highly recommend it to any fan of Stephen King's.
On Writing is an excellent book about writing. It helped me immensely when I was starting to write.
DeleteIt's also quite entertaining. It's a wonderful peek inside the mind and habits of one of our most prolific and bestselling authors.
I was lucky enough to get "On Writing" free for my Kindle. Wonderful book.
DeleteOf course, all of Stephen King's many books put together aren't as terrifying as just two little words:
ReplyDelete"President Palin"
{shudder}
I am really enjoying this thread.
ReplyDeleteTo elaborate a little bit, I would say that "The Stand" was my favorite King book, and that "Carrie" has always been my favorite movie adaption, with the original TV version of "Salem's Lot" running a close second.
For some reason, as a young man, I did not appreciate Kubrick's version of "The Shining" nearly as much as I do today. (I was upset by how maniacal Jack Nicholson portrayed the Jack Torrance character.) However today I recognize it as a true cinematic work of art.
Too bad it can't be said of the TV movie version. As much as they nailed Gary Senise as Stu Redman, everything else was horrible.
DeleteFrank Darabont did justice to Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile.
I wonder how bad Under The Dome is going to be? Though I liked how epic the novel was, his characters this time around seemed forced instead of fluid. Sarah Palin and her ilk really personify his ugly characters in real life.
DeleteThe Stand. It is by far the best because it is the most plausible. Cujo was the scariest only because I read it while my son was 4 and the people down the road had a St. Bernard. Lol. I can still remember making sure his closet doors couldn't open at night. And I remember leaving the theater before the end not knowing they would screw it up and have the child live.
DeleteMy favorite two King books are The Stand (uncut version) and Salem's Lot (for sheer terror).
DeleteIf anyone likes Salem's Lot, be sure to find King's short stories that feature the town, one set in the 1800's and one a few years after the main Salem's Lot novel.
I also liked Christine and many of his short stories and novellas.
Hearts in Atlantis.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, Dean Koontz is the poor man's Stephen King, which is not Odd (HA!) considering he is a Christian Conservative whose wife donated 5K to GrifterPac.
Glad I'm not a fan of his works.
DeleteI could not get through KoontZ.
DeleteKind of awful.
Gryphen, did you watch Under the Dome, the new show that is Stephen King?
ReplyDelete"11/22/63" is a great book, even if it isn't classic "King horror". King's recent kindle single "Guns" is a good read. He addresses the claim that one of his books written as Richard Bachman inspired 4 real life high school shootings. It's a very thoughtful piece of writing.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, was anyone else totally creeped out by his novella "The Langoliers"? The movie was pretty creepy as well. Gives me chills right now just thinking about it!
I agree with Gryphen, this has been a fun thread! We should have a weekly or monthly book review here on IM.
I like The Langoliers and the mini series adaptation is very good.
DeleteThe movie stunk to high heaven, but it was a terrific read.
DeleteI can't say I've read a King book I didn't enjoy. One book that didn't get much press, but I thought was very well done was "From a Buick 8". I think a lot of people avoided it because it was another car story, but it's so different from Christine there's no comparison.
DeleteHis audio books are always very well done, so if you're going on a long drive, I highly recommend them.
I really liked the Langoliers, but I think it was one of those books that you can see very vividly in your head, and it is difficult to make a movie that will fir everyone's vision. I vaguely remember little metal mean toothy bouncy ball things and thinking no, that's not what a langolier looks like.
DeleteScariest for me was Misery! I had nightmares...I'm your number one fan. While I love Kathy Bates that movie was nothing compared to the book!
ReplyDeleteBag of Bones was sent to me via a book club. I was haughty and thought I would never read SK- I was going to return it.
ReplyDeleteBut thank goodness I never did. I read it and understood why people enjoy his writing so much.
Geralds Game was awesome-one room!
Cujo was a good read.
Misery is hard to separate from the movie, which I love.
Desperation was really weird but interesting, tick tick.
;)
F U McCain
Someone in a position to know recently said Colbert should take over one of the nighttime talk show spots that is going to open up when Leno heads for the exits. I think he should stay right where he is. A half hour of concentrated satire is better than one hour of the same, old same old with guest stars hawking one thing or another. What do you think?
ReplyDeleteI agree, leave Colbert where he is and good luck to who ever replaces Leno. I never got over what they did to Team Coco.
DeleteI love Stephen King, too! Way back in 1980, when I was in the fifth grade and starting to read "adult novels" (mostly horror books by King) I wrote him a heartfelt letter and sent it to Bangor, Maine and much to my delight, he typed me a several sentence long reply on a recipe card, answering each and every one of my questions and telling me to read John Irving, which I did a few years later. I would love to meet him one day. In spite of the subject matter of some of his books, he seems like he is a "gentle soul". He's awesome in my book and always will be!
ReplyDeleteOmg- stephen king wrote you back!!!!
DeleteJealous! !!!
gryphen! I LOVED pet sematary - and when I saw the movie, I was really stunned because it was the first movie I ever saw that painted the pictures in the book exactly as I saw them when I read it... eerie!
ReplyDeleteand yes, colbert is the man!
gryphen did you ever read talisman? he wrote that with another author - peter straub - and it was one of the best books ever! check it out of you haven't yet.
ReplyDelete