tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496460488742488789.post8903408212593035662..comments2024-03-18T10:29:46.055+00:00Comments on Ken Armstrong Writing Stuff: My Favourite Stephen King BookKen Armstronghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07775956557261111127noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496460488742488789.post-53643197484376118082014-07-29T23:08:53.674+01:002014-07-29T23:08:53.674+01:00I use to read Stephen King on the midnight shift w...I use to read Stephen King on the midnight shift when I was a Radio Dispatcher for the State Police. I remember complaining about evil dogs and poor kids in "Cujo", so one of the officers made me a deal: he bought all the books anyway, so he'd hold up the latest copy and either say, "Here you go" or "Nope, mangled kids and animals in this one." :)<br /><br />The only time I wanted to strangle King was the Dark Tower series...because he would take over a year to write the next volume, while writing other books inbetween. Yep, I'm one of those "rest of the story" kind of people who wants to find out what happens next. hopehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03306622656461205674noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496460488742488789.post-70622888251251298662014-07-27T19:37:00.197+01:002014-07-27T19:37:00.197+01:00Pet Semetary was his first book that I didn't ...Pet Semetary was his first book that I didn't read, having read everything he published up to that point. I don't think I chose that book specifically at which to stop reading him - or was even aware at that time that I wouldn't read a book of his again - more likely that it coincided with something in life that diverted me and I never found my way back. <br />Even though that means I haven't read anything for 30 years it still gives me a dozen books to choose a favourite from and I notice I liked the smaller ones too, or at least the shorter ones. So I liked Night Shift for its ideas and moments, as varied as you'd expect from different stories, and similarly I liked Different Seasons because it gave us four relatively small worlds of wonderful intensity. <br />One of the last books of his I read was Danse Macabre, and it probably doesn't really fall into the idea of a favourite book of his that you mean in that it's not fiction but I loved the conversational feel of that book. Here was one of my favourite authors and he was pulling up a chair and having a chat with me about all the things we liked and why we liked them. eolaíhttp://bicyclistic.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496460488742488789.post-82129319332857992292014-07-27T19:13:03.399+01:002014-07-27T19:13:03.399+01:00I stopped reading him in my late teens cos I went ...I stopped reading him in my late teens cos I went through a few years of having nightmares - so stopped watching and reading horror. But I have to tell you Pet Sematary blew my mind when I read it. It's just amazing. I can't believe he did that either. <br />To say I have a favourite SK book would be wrong. But the one that made the biggest impression and stayed with me the longest, was Cujo. I'm still not the better of it! :)auntyamohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14017913349994341460noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496460488742488789.post-58125664639110670512014-07-27T13:53:46.885+01:002014-07-27T13:53:46.885+01:00The only Stephen King book I’ve read is his On Wri...The only Stephen King book I’ve read is his <i>On Writing</i> and I enjoyed its down-to-earth-ness very much. It <i>did</i> make me curious about his writing because reading in between the lines I could see there’s much more to him that simply a horror novelist. I’m not a fan of the horror genre and I could list on one hand the number of horror novels I’ve read and four of them are by James Herbert: the <i>Rats</i> trilogy and <i>Moon</i>. I’ve watched many adaptations of King's books including all three versions of Carrie (there was a TV adaptation that people tend to forget about in which she survives) but I’ve still never read a single novel, not even a short story. The problem is there are so many other writers I feel I <i>need</i> to read before I get to King. At the moment I’ve got a list the length of my art of women writers I have to read before I die (or at least that’s what people, i.e. the Internet) keeps telling me—and the list of men I’ve still to get round to is not short either. At least I have read <i>a</i> Stephen King. Top of my list would probably be <i>The Colorado Kid</i> since the TV series <i>Haven</i> is based on it and we’ve been enjoying it. <i>Gerald's Game</i> sounds intriguing too. Not sure I’d ever read <i>Carrie</i>. I can’t imagine me being anything other than disappointed. It’s why I’ve avoided <i>Monkey Planet</i> all these years and I regretted reading <i>Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?</i>Jim Murdochhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12786388638146471193noreply@blogger.com