The Works of Stephen King

[india7]

Well, what do you think of them so far? Awesome? I love N&D, it's one of my favorite King books!

[ladymadonna]

My dad went out and bought me N&D in hardcover when I went in for knee surgery ages ago. He even brought it to the hospital by himself and we had a good father/daughter talk before I had surgery. My dad NEVER ever buys anything for anyone on his own, he'd much rather let my mom shop and sign his name to it, even though he really does love me and he's a wonderful dad. It always touched me that he went out and bought me a thoughtful gift all by himself.... .... so N&D is my favorite by association.

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india7 said:

Well, what do you think of them so far? Awesome? I love N&D, it's one of my favorite King books!

I'm through the first three. So far, I like it, but they haven't GRABBED me. I'll finish it though, because it's King, and I can't leave one of his books unfinished.

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iceblink said:

Oh wow. The TNT series sounds fab!
I have to give a shoutout to "From A Buick 8" if you're talking recentish King. Creepy, icky, and with just enough sci-fi to please me. It's a great book to read in the heat of summer with an electrical storm raging outside.

iceblink -- I may well be wrong, but is that the short story where a guy buys a tacky picture of a car driving down a road, and then the picture keeps changing? For instance, say he stops at a store on the way home, he looks at the picture later and the car in the picture is now parked in front of the same store. It's like the car is always right behind him. Believe me, I'm not making it sound anywhere near as scary as it was. Anyhow, if it's the same story, did you understand the ending? I was a little confused. Beige-out coming:

If I recall, when the guy finally gets home he looks one more time at the picture, and now the car is shown parked in his drive-way and there's blood on the front seat. I assumed this didn't bode well for the guy but I didn't quite get why the blood was in the car but the guy was inside his house.

Do you remember what that was about? Again, it could be a completely different story than the one you mentioned.

[iceblink]

Nope, Buick 8 is a novel--I know the story you're talking about (it's in the collection Everything's Eventual) but can't remember the title! "The Road Virus Heads North", maybe? I remember it creeping me OUT but I don't remember the ending too well though.

[india7]

Yes, the one where the guy buys the painting of the road that keeps changing is "The Road Virus Heads North" - that's going to be one of the stories highlighted in the TV movie. Tom Berenger is in that one.

[iceblink]

Eeeee! I may have to skip watching that one; it's just tooooo creepy.
The other story in "Everything's Eventual" that weirded me out big time was the one about the hotel room. I almost skipped that one when I reread the book not long ago because it gave me the wig so bad.

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Okay, yes -- The Road Virus Heads North, that was it. I don't remember too many details of it, just that it really, really creeped me out.

On the Dean Koontz thread several people (myself included) mentioned getting fed up with how Koontz's main characters, often married couples, are always the same: Adorable, staunchly loyal, spunky, etc. and that it wears thin. I don't like King as much as I used to, but one thing I've always noticed with him: He doesn't strive to make his characters perfect. In fact, in one (Cujo, maybe?) the couple was on the brink of divorce because she'd had a meaningless fling. And, of course, in The Shining Jack and Wendy had serious problems even before the Hotel got to him. I've always kind of liked that his main characters aren't ridiculously perfect.

[india7]

Yeah, I like that too - makes them more realistic if they're having some problems. I think Clarke and Mary Willingham (sp?) are on their roadtrip to try and spend some quality time together since they're having issues in You Know They've Got a Hell of a Band. If I recall, I think that the couple in Children of the Corn were also on a road trip to try and smooth things over in their marriage. It seems to be a bit of a common thing with him.

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iceblink said:

The other story in Everything's Eventual that weirded me out big time was the one about the hotel room. I almost skipped that one when I reread the book not long ago because it gave me the wig so bad.

That story was one of the most frightening things I have ever read. Usually, I read something scary and don't really get frightened until nighttime, but with that one I was terrified in broad daylight.

But the scariest King book EVER is The Long Walk. I had nightmares about being on the Walk after that.