A Very Stephen King Christmas

[Lisa-go-Blind]

I want to get my dad something by Stephen King for Christmas. Right now he's halfway through The Stand and I know he has also read On Writing and some short stories.

I'm looking for a book, like The Stand, which is considered to be one of King's best and is read by people outside the horror genre. As I've never read anything by King apart from a few stories, I have no clue which of his books are the most-respected.

[Oreo]

Well, for what it's worth, IT is my favorite King novel.

I'd also highly recommend Four Seasons. It's a collection of four novellas, including the stories that the movies The Shawshank Redemtion and Stand By Me were based on. Excellent book, and not really horror if you're trying to stay away from that.

[delphica]

Huh, a lot of people don't respect anything Stephen King writes, but here's a few suggestions anyway.

Different Seasons is my guess for the SK book most read by people who don't usually read horror. This consists of four novellas, including "The Body" which was the basis for the film "Stand By Me" and "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption."

IT might be a good choice. If he's enjoying The Stand, I think IT is somewhat similar in tone. Personally, I find this book to be some of his best writing. I don't consider it a typical horror book, although it has plenty of scary parts, and draws a lot on 1950s camp horror movie mythology. There's a lot of nostalgia for smallish town American childhood and coming of age type stuff going on as well.

[Charlie Tan]

When I want to hook someone on SK, who sneers at him, I give them Different Seasons (not Four Seasons) as suggested or Gerald's Game which is a truly creepy book, which will never, ever be made into a Hollywood movie. Minor spoiler:

SPOILER:

GG doesn't contain anything supernatural, no monsters, no horrors from beyond. It's just scary.

[Oreo]

Gah. Yes, it is Different Seasons, not [/i]Four Seasons[/i].

I've only read that book about fifty times...think I'd learn the name by now. Sorry about that.

[Oreo]

Okay, I'm going back to bed.

[CrazyCatLady]

You might also try Eyes of the Dragon, or the Gunslinger series. They're not horror, really, but they're terribly, terribly good books.

[norinew]

I'm amazed no one has mentioned The Green Mile. Great story, great characters, not horror. Wonderful. My husband doesn't usually like King, but he like TGM, as well as The Dead Zone and The Stand.

[Avalonian]

Hearts in Atlantis is also a very cool King book... the first two stories (short novels, really) in the book are excellent, the others a bit uneven but still worth reading.

If your Dad likes short stories, Everything's Eventual has a great variety of different types of King stories in it.

The Dead Zone is simply one of King's best books.

[Cyn]

I liked The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon.
I liked most all what SK has written, including the Richard Bachman things, especiallyThinner.

[elfkin477]

The Talisman with Peter Straub usually ranks high on fan's lists (right after the Dark Tower series on many people's minds, but I like Talisman better). But do NOT buy the sequel - Black House was terrible.

I don't know how other fans feel about it, but I think that Bag Of Bones is his best most recent book. One of his best, period.

[Charlie Tan]

Bag of Bones was wonderful. Very wistful.
One thing about King; he's very good at cescribing/channeling emotions of kids at about age 11-14. Dreamcatcher was horrible for most parts, but the flashbacks to when the main characters were kids were as good as ever. I think that is why It works so well, in spite of being way too long. The Body is another example of that.

In many ways, I wish SK would stop doing horror. He's got such an incredible talent for describing ordinary people and ordinary lives and when he wanders out of the horror game, he not only comes close to producing literature, he excels. However, as with most video/pc games, the inevitable cheesy endfight with the Big Bad is almost always very unsatisfactory. He always lose the 'sense of wonder' he's created. I mean, is this any kind of mantra to beat the monster?

In vain he thrusts his fists against the posts and still insists he sees the ghosts.

[pokey]

If it were my dad and he really liked The Stand I'd get The Gunslinger and It. The Gunslinger will start him on the series and if he likes it he can get the rest later and in my mind The Stand just naturally leads to the Dark Tower series. But by getting him It too, you're covered in case the Gunslinger puts him off. I was a bit put off by the Dark Tower series when I first started it because it's more fantasy. If what he likes about The Stand is the easy-to-relate-to characters and the familiar yet all wrong setting, he will like It for sure, and if I were only going to get one, it would be It, but somehow I feel like The Stand without the Gunslinger is like a spoon without a fork so I'd get both.

(I would be really excited if someone in my family besides me read even one Stephen King book but they're all snobs.)

[Moirai]

Originally posted by The Gaspode


In many ways, I wish SK would stop doing horror. He's got such an incredible talent for describing ordinary people and ordinary lives and when he wanders out of the horror game, he not only comes close to producing literature, he excels.

Oh my lord yes. One of my all-time favorite stories? "Head Down," the non-fiction account of his son's Little League team on the road to the state championship. I didn't just feel like I was there, I was there.

A wonderful piece of writing.

[Shadez]

I loved Gunslinger, but when the main character view point shifted in the later book (those who have read it will understand, hopefully, not in the mood for spoilers), I lost interest, because I wanted to go back to the old way.

Havent finished the book yet. Don't have the heart, I guess.

[Dung Beetle]

Definitely Different Seasons. My personal favorite is The Shining, but it's a bitch to ever get anyone to read it. It's always, "Oh, I saw the movie."

[Annie-Xmas]

MISERY. I love it cause it's a King book that could actually happen. Damn good movie too.

Give your father the book and the DVD.

[Dogzilla]

I'll put in a nod for Delores Claiborne. Again, no horror at all in there.

What I liked about that book is how SK approached the storytelling. It was all told from the viewpoint of Delores Claiborne, in first person. No other characters tell the story: it's all about Delores. And he does a terrific job telling a story from a woman's perspective.

Also, two of my favorite lines ever are in this book: (paraphrased below)

"Well, lookit him, just sittin' there like the High Grand Poobah of Upper Butt Crack."

That one slays me everytime. And, the classic line, which appears in the movie:

"Sometimes being a bitch is all a woman has to hold on to."

I love that line.

[Draelin]

I agree with elfkin about The Talisman. It's my absolute favorite King book, and I read everything just about up to Desperation. Eyes of the Dragon is also fabulous, but you have to remember that it's a fairy tale, not the usual horror story you look to King for. You can never go wrong with It, of course, but for my money, I can read Talisman over and over again. And have.

[ivylass]

His short story collections are very good. Everything's Eventual is his newest one, and there's everything from a creepy-tell-around-a-campfire story to one where you are scratching your head until the end of the story.

Have him start with Carrie, which was the first one. King has really grown as a writer since that one.

[Dung Beetle]

Actually, I recently borrowed the audio book of The Green Mile from our local library for my mother to listen to on a trip, and she was so taken with it that she bought it for her brother for Christmas. She really liked the voice of the reader, Frank Muller, and he also reads Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption.

[ShoNuff]

I highly suggest getting him started on the Dark Tower series, AKA the Gunslinger series. I also like The Stand, but am not a fan of most of King's horror writings. The Dark Tower, is a wondereful series, and is completely engrossing.

Also, the first book in the series is relatively short, so if he doesn't likeit oo much he hasn't lost a large amount of time.

BTW - I just finishedWolves of the Calla, which is the fifth and most recent book of Dark Tower series. While it's not the best of the series, it's very well written and a very enjoyable read. THere's two more to go in the series, and I can't wait!

[FriendRob]

Gotta recommend Dolores Claiborne, as highly as I can.

I just finished re-reading this and wondered, "Did SK ever write anything else like this? As good as this?" Wonderful characterisation, and funny. But not at all a horror story.

There's also a good movie of the same title, starring Kathy Bates, who's really, really good in it.

[PsychoTrain]

If he is enjoying the Stand then IT and Salem's Lot should be good choices. All three titles rotate in and out as my favorite King novel.

[CrazyCatLady]

Not necessarily. I adored The Stand, original and restored versions as well as the mini-series, and I thought Salem's Lot sucked the proverbial donkey penis. The big thing with a lot of SK books is his characters. They're real and compelling, and just like people you know, so it's easy to get wrapped up their story regardless of the plot. The first time I read the Stand, I got so pissed when I thought Stu was going to die that I threw the book across the room. With the Lot, though, I looked up about 3/4 through and realized that people were dying left, right, and sideways and I didn't care. I finished it, but it's the only Stephen King book I own that I've never read again.

(I've also never re-read Cujo, The Tommyknockers, or Dreamcatcher, but those were from the library.)

[Cartooniverse]

Originally posted by Dung Beetle
She really liked the voice of the reader, Frank Muller, and he also reads Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption.

Stephen King is/was friends with Frank Muller. While I've not read the new Dark Tower novel yet, I DID read his notes in the back of that book while standing in Waldenbooks.

Frank Muller was critically injured in a motorcycle accident, and will never narrate a book again. His neurological injuries are that profound. Mr. King is giving all proceeds from the recorded book on tape of the latest Dark Tower novel, to a fund set up to assist Mr. Muller. I'd direct readers to the back of the new novel for the name and info, if one is so inclined.

As for the O.P., I would suggest The Shining, Dolores Claiborne, The Stand, and Different Seasons as well. All fine choices.

The Dark Tower series is so vast a story, and so completely engaging, that one can't say one's read King unless one reads the saga, IMHO.

Man, I like his work.

Cartooniverse

[Earl of the CC]

If he likes The Stand, get him Desperation. Trust me. It has similar themes but is tighter and has, for my money, better characters and character development. Also, Tak is, IMO, the most fiercesome villiam he ever wrote.

Desperation clocks in at just over 500 pages. A terrible mini-series is in the works.

[Sanscour]

Also good books by King in his Bachman days are The Running Man and The Long Walk. The Green Mile is also a good read.

[JohnT]

Personally, I recommend Pet Semetary which deals with one of the most disturbing events that can happen in a persons life: the death of a child. If your pop likes reading books with downer endings, this is the one for him.

[Miltonyz]

The Running Man and The Long Walk.

My sister used to have a book that contained these two stories, plus some shorts. One was where a kid is holding his class hostage, and I think the other involves a husband and wife wandering into a town composed of dead music stars. Any idea what that collection would be called?

[Guinastasia]

Oh god, do NOT read Pet Semetary if you scare easily. That was the scariest book King ever wrote, and THE scariest movie I ever saw. I still can't start thinking about it, or I'll have nightmares.

My favorites are It, Bag of Bones, and Rose Madder.

[Guinastasia]

Originally posted by Miltonyz
My sister used to have a book that contained these two stories, plus some shorts. One was where a kid is holding his class hostage, and I think the other involves a husband and wife wandering into a town composed of dead music stars. Any idea what that collection would be called?

Nightmares and Dreamscapes.

The second story you mentioned is called "You Know They've Got a Hell of a Band".

[rolandgunslinger]

The Shining was the first SK book I read and I was hooked ever since.

I would suggest "The Stand" also.

My favorites.....

"The Dark Tower" series (Duh!)
"From A Buick 8"
"Pet Semetary"
"IT"
"Eyes Of The Dragon"

Ah Hell to tell the truth....I love all his stuff.

[CrazyCatLady]

Originally posted by Miltonyz
My sister used to have a book that contained these two stories, plus some shorts. One was where a kid is holding his class hostage, and I think the other involves a husband and wife wandering into a town composed of dead music stars. Any idea what that collection would be called?

The Bachman Books was the collection of four novellas King wrote under the name of Bachman. "Rage" (the one about the kid shooting his teacher and holding his algebra class hostage) is no longer printed, in the wake of various school shootings through the 80's and early 90's. AFAIK, though, later editions contain "The Long Walk", "The Running Man," and "Roadwork, " and Thinner is still printed as a seperate short novel.

"You Know They've Got a Hell of a Band" is in Nightmares and Dreamscapes.

[Lisa-go-Blind]

Thanks, everyone. I looked for Different Seasons and Misery but I couldn't find them at Barnes and Noble do I got him It. I'll remember the other suggestions for future gifts, though, if he really likes It.