2226 replies to this topic

[DaveBond21]

I am a huge fan of Stephen King and I recommend him to readers of all genres as he is not merely a horror writer. His characters have incredible depth and he can transport the reader to any time period he wants with amazing detail (especially the 1950's). Ge also has the ability to write the most exciting chase or action scenes. To think that his work has been turned into movies as diverse as Shawshank Redemption and The Running Man, from Stand by Me to the Green Mile.

The Stand is often voted in the Top 100 greatest novels of all time, and that proves that this is not an ordinary horror story. It's an epic tale.

I love all his work and therefore have avoided all the movies that have been made based on his novels. I just cannot see how anyone could ever encapsulate one of his stories into 2 hours, or even 3 hours, when the book can take 10 or 20 hours to read.

[Safari Suit]

You can't but that doesn't mean you can't make a good film.

Many of the films which are generally considered to be among the strongest King adaptations faced the opposite task of having to expand upon short stories (The Shawshank Redemption, The Mist, to an extent Stand By Me which was based on a novella).

It's amazing to think his short story Children of the Corn has spawned eight films including a sci-fi channel "reboot" a couple of months ago.

[Trident]

Am a big fan of King myself, several fantastic books to be had from him, really a genius that penned some tremendously gripping scenes even outside his turf of choice. In practically every story there is more to be found than meets the eye; motifs and themes beyond 'mere' fantasy/horror/supernatural settings.

For example IT contains beyond the fantasy plot a host of other themes; a novel about growing up in a small town; about the naivé end-50's setting vs. the tinsel of the mid-80's; about coming home to a place that isn't home any longer, about friendship, love and valour; about the simple delights of these children, the glow-in-the-dark Frankenstein, comics, afternoon cinema and paper ships in a gutter full of rain; about the world shattering horrors in their youth, start of puberty, haunted houses and murdered children, overweight and the first sorrowful crush; about coming to terms with life and, finally, about burying the horrors of childhood together with its unfulfilled dreams.

I would have liked a full-blown spy-thriller from King some day, but it seems this won't happen anytime soon.

[Roebuck]

Been reading ‘At Risk’ and ‘The Front’, Patricia Cornwell’s books about Massachusetts state investigator Winston (Win) Garano. Win rides a Ducati he rescued from the police impound, wears Armani suits that belonged to a dead quarterback and maintains a lifestyle above his pay scale by doing a little off the record consultancy work. His grandmother is the neighbourhood witch/fortune teller. She’s the most interesting of the limited supporting cast, with a lot of ambiguity left as to the true potency of her magic.
Scarpetta fans are going to find it all a bit lightweight. If Cornwall continues the series she needs to beef up the police procedural/mystery aspects and give us less of the inter-agency rivalries and the political manoeuvring of Garano’s ambitious boss (District Attorney, Monique Lamont). Lamont is the stereotypical Ice Queen – even lives in a mansion crammed full of fragile glass ornaments, just to hammer the image home - and isn’t nearly interesting enough to warrant the page count she gets.

[elizabeth]

in british literature, we're reading shakespeare's Othello, which i enjoy. i've been participating in our acting practices and i'm going to be playing iago when we do the trials of iago and othello! it really is great to see how the plot thickens and how iago can't keep his big lying mouth shut. lmao. go iago!

Edited by elizabeth, 13 November 2009 - 10:57 PM.

[The Ghost Who Walks]

You can't but that doesn't mean you can't make a good film.

Many of the films which are generally considered to be among the strongest King adaptations faced the opposite task of having to expand upon short stories (The Shawshank Redemption, The Mist, to an extent Stand By Me which was based on a novella).

Every King movie should be made by Frank Darabont (Shawshank, Green Mile, Mist) or Rob Reiner (Stand by Me, Misery). Nobody's done it better, except that Kubrick guy.

For example IT contains beyond the fantasy plot a host of other themes; a novel about growing up in a small town; about the naivé end-50's setting vs. the tinsel of the mid-80's; about coming home to a place that isn't home any longer, about friendship, love and valour; about the simple delights of these children, the glow-in-the-dark Frankenstein, comics, afternoon cinema and paper ships in a gutter full of rain; about the world shattering horrors in their youth, start of puberty, haunted houses and murdered children, overweight and the first sorrowful crush; about coming to terms with life and, finally, about burying the horrors of childhood together with its unfulfilled dreams.

Man, and here I only thought this was a book about a psychopathic clown-killer. I need to pick this up. I've seen glimpses of the series starring Tim Curry as Pennywise, and it looked pretty good, although a bit cheesy in places.

[Tybre]

Been reading Psychopathia Sexualis. Very interesting read. If you can get past some of his more, to put it lightly, old-fashioned thinking (but then it was written in the late 1800s) Krafft-Ebing actually raises some very good points. For example, he raises the argument that the "love is blind" infatuation is a sort of fetishism, which he regards as "fetishism of love" or fetishism for that one specific person. At least in the first section. Am presently only on page 41 of 646, which is page 19 of the main body of the text (the first 22 pages are notes, prefaces, etc). Anyone with an interest in either psychology or sexuality really ought to give this thing a read. If nothing else it's certainly scintillating. Yay for unintentional tongue-twisters.

[Trident]

For example IT contains beyond the fantasy plot a host of other themes; a novel about growing up in a small town; about the naivé end-50's setting vs. the tinsel of the mid-80's; about coming home to a place that isn't home any longer, about friendship, love and valour; about the simple delights of these children, the glow-in-the-dark Frankenstein, comics, afternoon cinema and paper ships in a gutter full of rain; about the world shattering horrors in their youth, start of puberty, haunted houses and murdered children, overweight and the first sorrowful crush; about coming to terms with life and, finally, about burying the horrors of childhood together with its unfulfilled dreams.

Man, and here I only thought this was a book about a psychopathic clown-killer. I need to pick this up. I've seen glimpses of the series starring Tim Curry as Pennywise, and it looked pretty good, although a bit cheesy in places.

You really haven't read IT up to now? Go, no, run to your local bookstore, newsagent, amazon-whatever and get it! It's one of my favourites (you might have guesssed it) and really has a lot to offer, several more layers than I mentioned above already. And it zips along nicely, keeping a decent pace despite its length, never loosing the reins of suspense and tension. You won't be disappointed.

I've seen the tv series, but that one didn't catch the particular atmosphere in my view. The book's '58 sections ought to resemble some horror flick of that time, perhaps 'The Blob' from '58 with Steve McQueen (a grat part of IT's horror sequences are actually King declaring his love for the sf and horror flicks of that era, saturday afternoon double features and all). The 'modern' parts of '84-'85 miss out most of that tinsel juvenile charm of the early 80's in the US, something the book depicts astonishingly well, Reagonomics, celebrity cult, the yuppie race for the 'right' brands, clothes, houses and suburbia-paradise.

But what do I write here? Go and read it and make up your own mind.

[The Ghost Who Walks]

I just placed an order for this book from a web-bookstore, hopefully I'll enjoy it as much as you! You make it sound like a terrific read, can't wait to get started on it.

The main reason I haven't read it yet is that it was never translated into my native language, Norwegian (neither was The Stand), and I was doubting if I could manage to read such a long book in English. However, my copy of The Shining was in English too, and that went just fine, so I see no reason to not try to read It now.

I hear they're making a new movie version of it too, I suppose a lot of stuff will have to be cut out if they're not going the Harry Potter route of splitting the film into different parts.

[Trident]

I just placed an order for this book from a web-bookstore, hopefully I'll enjoy it as much as you! You make it sound like a terrific read, can't wait to get started on it.

The main reason I haven't read it yet is that it was never translated into my native language, Norwegian (neither was The Stand), and I was doubting if I could manage to read such a long book in English. However, my copy of The Shining was in English too, and that went just fine, so I see no reason to not try to read It now.

I hear they're making a new movie version of it too, I suppose a lot of stuff will have to be cut out if they're not going the Harry Potter route of splitting the film into different parts.

Don't be afraid, reading in a foreign language is getting easier with every new book. With each chapter you will find yourself depending on the dictionary less and less and soon be able to drop it for the most part. King is a good entry into longer works while retaining a certain level of language, gives you a decent 'working' grasp of American English and adds to your overall experience. With King I see absolutely no reason why you shouldn't be able to enjoy also longer reading experiences. You managed 'Shining', so you'll also manage 'It' and 'The Stand' too.

With the adaptions of King I'm still mostly sceptic. He was THE BIG THING in the mid-80's and during the 90's, but many adaptions were
extremely cheap trash sadly missing the charm trash films claim so often. I suppose this is partially due to King's themes, which he often takes from the more fluffy, shallow works of the horror genre. But then King stops giggling about these themes and takes them for real, ponders their relevance and implication and finally confronts (for the most part) believable, three-dimensional characters with them. And he comes up with a number of disturbing results which almost always represent more than one would have initially expected from a work of popular genre fiction.

Doing an adaption of such works basically tries to subtract this 'deeper' meaning, the numerous truths behind the myth that most stories represent. I think the only way to succeed is to concentrate on producing a film that can stand on its own and works in a cinematic way. This nearly always means to drop a large part of what the books originally contained, either in plot and/or in sub-elements that the plot transported. The way here must be to make a decent film and forget about aspirations to include everything. Otherwise nearly all adaptions of King would have been LOTR-like mega-productions and, despite all efforts, still not have had the success the books deserved.

[Kilroy6644]

Still on The Covenant. I'm not quite halfway through, but I'm loving it.

[elizabeth]

same feeling here, only with Othello. if i wasn't supposed to read only one scene for assigned reading each night, i'd never put it down. it is interesting to see how iago's plan develops and also desdemona's standing as a woman during this time period.

Edited by elizabeth, 18 November 2009 - 10:57 PM.

[Kilroy6644]

I don't think I could stand being limited like that. But I've only got 434 pages left to go.

[elizabeth]

I don't think I could stand being limited like that.

i sure can't! i think when i'm done with it i'm going to dedicate a chunk of time to pretending to assign characters and going through the play. should be fun! i might find my copy of The Taming of the Shrew that i read sophomore year and do the same thing with that play...

[Jose]

A Separate Peace by John Knowles

Edited by Jose, 23 November 2009 - 04:48 AM.

[Roebuck]

It’s been on my mind for a while to give Carson McCullers a try so I bought myself a copy of 'The Heart is a Lonely Hunter’ (‘Reflections in a Golden Eye’ may have been more apt, but ‘Heart’ has more reading in it). Aside from the books themes of social injustice in the Deep South, which still hold up well, there’s a damn good coming of age story at the centre of it all. Has some of the best characterization I think I’ve ever found in a novel.

[Kilroy6644]

I finally finished The Covenant, and now I'm reading My Inventions, by Nikola Tesla.

[Kilroy6644]

I finally finished The Covenant, and now I'm reading My Inventions, by Nikola Tesla.

Well, that was pretty disappointing. I guess I should know better than to expect more from an autobiography that's only 110 pages.

Now I'm on The Tesla Bequest by Lewis Perdue.

[Kilroy6644]

Now I'm on The Tesla Bequest by Lewis Perdue.

That was okay. Nothing special, but it was a good way to pass the time.

Now reading Birds Without Wings by Louis de Bernières

[Tybre]

Well after the brilliant TV drama version I watched last month, I picked up A Place of Execution by Val McDermid on Thursday night. Got through four chapters yesterday and will probably read a bit more later tonight. The writing is quite brilliant, and I'm hopeful it remains this way, because I already know the major twists. I'm sure the drama changed some things, so I'm looking forward to seeing what's different and hopefully there will be some fun surprises there, but thus far the TV adaptation was very faithful indeed.

[danielcraigisjamesbond007]

After a long wait, I've finally picked The Lost Symbol back up again. I've been so busy with school that I haven't really had the time to sit down and read.

[elizabeth]

i finished othello and...well, what can i say? i loved it. i simply loved it. the end was shocking and iago is annoying, but i love him and the play as a whole. the BEST. i totally recommend it. imo, the most well-written of shakespeare's plays.

[dodge]

Am double-dipping: reading "The Last Dickens", a highly enjoyable mystery about Dickens' last, unished book, The Mystery of Edwin Drood plus a delightful book about Richard Boone. Was most interested in info on Have Gun Will Travel, of which there is info aplenty. I find myself now interested in well the rest of Boone's career, starting off with Medic.

[Qwerty]

Up in the Air by Walter Kirn. Came across it by chance at Borders the other day and decided to give it a chance after flicking through a few pages.

[Kilroy6644]

A Christmas Carol.

[dodge]

Dickens' Mystery of Edwin Drood. Fascinating in its way and actually enhanced by foreknowledge that it was only half finished before the author's death. But, I've gotta say this, any author getting paid by the word, as CD was, is bound to be wordy, almost past endurance. Moments of sheer genius lost in reams of hot air from a windbag.

[00Twelve]

same feeling here, only with Othello. if i wasn't supposed to read only one scene for assigned reading each night, i'd never put it down. it is interesting to see how iago's plan develops and also desdemona's standing as a woman during this time period.

Act III, scene iii is the most compelling to me. Iago subtly and devilishly convinces Othello that he desperately wishes he didn't see what he claims to have seen, which is the lie that Cassio expressed his love to Desdemona while talking in his sleep. Genius, and a very difficult scene to pull off for an actor playing Iago.

[Salomé]

Jane Austen's Emma.

And I have been enjoying it a great deal. It must be well over a decade ago since I first read it, but I do not remember it being this good. Chalk it up to my being a blasé and aloof teenager at the time...

[Goodnight]

Stephen kings 'the shining' forget the silly film the book will make you wet yourself.

[Scottlee]

I haven't seen anything on this page I've read myself. I saw the movie version of The Shining but never read the book.

Currently reading 501 Must-see cities, a huge nonfiction book with great pictures and descriptions.