Kevin's Watch

Let me start by saying I am a King fan. I own over thirty of his novels, and collections, all in Hard cover. He is responsible for some of the best reads Ive ever had. Until lately. Im not liking his newer stuff. Whats changed?

I dunno, but I thought Duma Key was amazingly well-written and a great story.

Havent gotten to that one but Cell, and Lisey's Story, definitley seemed to lack that certain something .

I enjoyed Cell. I think I might have lasted through 3 pages of Lisey's Story.

(spoiler)I guess I was just put off by yet another this is the way the world ends scenario from him. Which in itself surprises me because the Stand is his masterpiece as far as Im concerned.

Any book or movie that kills off humanity gets a read or watch from me.

I thought Cell was pretty intriguing.

Check out Wetwork by Philip Nutman. I hope I got the authors name right. Aside from the eradication of the species it has Zombies and I love Zombies.

Interesting idea, Mr B.

Assuming you're correct, and more recent King works are "lesser" than older ones, it could be a direct result of his popularity. In the 70s, he had to craft stories that were good enough to sell - and (presumably) the better the story, the better the sales. Now, though, it's his name that sells the book. Sure, a good King book will still probably sells more than a crappy one, but even a crappy one sells pretty well. So maybe he's not trying as hard.


Although, I don't think I agree with your assertion that the newer stuff isn't as good. I haven't read Duma Key yet either - though from what Cail says (and iQuestor, I believe, in another thread) it's pretty good. I really like Lisey's Story, but I thought Cell was a little weaker. What have some of the other newer (post 2000) ones been? Hmmmm... the murder mystery one (?Denver Kid? Colorado Kid?) was a little off, but, I think it was supposed to be. I did like From A Buick 8, and I think Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon was one of my favorites in a long while. Bag of Bones I read, but don't remember much which probably meant I thought it was ok, but nothing special. Dreamcatcher I remember with some great sections early on, though it seemed to run out of steam.

Which ones had you been disappointed with recently?

(Oh, and totally agree with you about The Stand. That was something extraordinary.)

Didn't like Bag of Bones. Didn't read Colorado Kid or Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon. Even though Dreamcatcher was very similar to It, I thought it was great.

Always been a big fan, but started to seriously suspect him of going downhill. Didn't really like much after from Bag of Bones to Lisey's story. But I gotta say that Cell really helped restore my faith. Big improvement. Looking forward to reading Duma Key after such a recommendation from Cail.

--A

The thing I really dug about Duma Key was how well I "saw" the story. No kidding, I had the whole book cast, I could see the events of the story, and I really got into it. It's been a long, looooong time since a book has grabbed me like that.

I'm definitely watching out for it.

--A

I enjoyed the Cell and Tom Gordon. Buick was also very good. and the last short story collection was very entertaining. I would love to see more short stories...

Just my opinion, but i've always found King to be a bit hit and miss. There are books of his, or sections of books of his, that i've almost been embarrassed to be reading they're that bad. On the other hand a good deal of his stuff i would count as the best i've ever read.

Case in point; Desperation and The Green Mile were released in the same year!! You'd struggle to believe that the same author was the creator of both there's such a massive discrepancy in quality.

i like that king doesn't filter himself all that much. because i usually find a standard king better than most others i find out there.

I think Marv may be on to something here, I remember reading The Tommyknockers, and thinking well that was 3 days of my life Ill never get back, and then reading Insomnia and being hooked again.

Maybe I need to reread The Tommyknockers, because I remember really enjoying it (and really hating the miniseries).

The miniseries barely had anything to do with the book. Not one of my faves, but it certainly had its strengths. I told my late lady in comparing the two, that the number of deaths in the miniseries was the same as the number of survivors in the book.

I never saw the mini , I just hated that woman for what she did to her dog.

Didn't like the book...one of my least favourite of the early(ish) King.

Quite liked (most of) Desperation and The Green Mile though. Both had weak points. Both engaging ones.

--A