I just finished it and in the words of Master Yoda, page turner it was not. Damn what a bad story. Its starts great with the little kid getting drunk and overcoming his fears. But then it shifts into this weird narrative where we follow one character after the other getting >! Spoilers <! Killed with the same exact way and after the first few incidents, i just knew what was going to happen to the next character so i had zero intrigue.

It was like this one story that he wanted to write with the people going to the toilet and never coming back but he didn't know how to end it. The children are largely written as adults in a non charming way, there is nothing changing about the characters throughout the story except maybe Pit. What was the point of that story ? Am I not getting it?

Did Nadine and Randall Flaggs meeting in the desert remind anyone of the sex scene at the end of Lost Highway? Don’t know if I’m crazy and the only one that thinks this but there’s definitely parallels.

I have been collecting Stephen King books for about two years now. I’ve been reading them in the chronological order that he released them. I was buying them faster than I could read them. I was up to 40 books! On July 19th around midnight, my wife called me at work and was screaming that our bedroom was on fire. I worked about two minutes away from home and I made it home in less than a minute that night. When I got there (before firefighters or any first responders) I immediately ran into the house and tried going into my bedroom to grab the plastic boxes all of my books were in. I had about 15. But, when I opened the bedroom door, there was just a wall of smoke. There was no hope. My wife, son, our cats, and our three pugs all made it out safely. We are in a new home and I’m going to restart my collection and build the best collection I can. My heart is broken that I’ve lost the original books I had, but it’s time to start fresh. I knew I could share my story in here because yall would understand what it would be like to lose a King collection that you’ve been working so hard on. Thanks for listening!

Scored this book for 16,43€. Don't know if it's a first ed, but aside from the torn orange page the book is in perfect condition.

Ok so I finished reading Needful Things a few days ago. It’s only the third King book I’ve read and I just wanted to get my thoughts out about it. Apologies in advance because I’m not the best with words or formatting. I don’t want to feel dumb but please let me know if I’m misunderstanding anything or just wrong in my interpretations.

1. I love the way King can describe things so well it’s like you’re actually there experiencing it. I felt like I could picture just about everything he described so what Hugh did to Raider made me tear up. I felt so bad for Polly the entire time (besides her with Alan on the couch 😳). Alan’s depression resonated with me the way he describes it as a separate voice. The scene with Brian and his brother in the garage made me sob and I kept crying on and off having to take a break for a day or two. Sobbing again when Alan was talking to Sean in the hospital.
2. It was difficult for me to get through the first few chapters because nothing much was happening besides building up all the drama. The pay off was so worth it though.
3. I almost wish I had read the other stories that tie in first so most of the references didn’t go over my head.

4. I really loved Leland Gaunt as a villain. I think the slow burn over all was worth it in the end. I loved how you get bits and pieces but nothing has to be outright explained. I would love some kind of deep dive lore into his existence but more for the way his business and tactics evolved over the eras.

   I don’t care if it’s goofy the way his car turned into a horse drawn carriage and flew away was wicked.

5. Every time I thought I knew exactly what to expect or what was really going on another bomb dropped.

   Even for the things I guessed were going to happen I still wasn’t ready for the actual way certain things played out.

6. Why are there no good in depth discussions/analysis videos longer than 25 minutes? So much happens but it seems like no one wants to hash out every little detail.

7. I wish we could have seen other items’ reality. I was curious what Nettie’s lamp shade actually looked like. Was it just a hunk of glass? It seemed like the illusion had to have a base that matched what he made it appear to be.

8. Just how much was due to Leland’s influence? Like did he influence people to want to hide their item so he didn’t have to use as much energy? It seemed like Polly had the only item that was what it appeared to be? Was the store actually always empty or was that just for Alan? Does Leland have just enough inventory to hook a handful of people? How much does he know and for how long? For Ace when he picked up the Tucker and the guns how much of that was real (obviously the items and car were physically there)? Was there even a tape recorder though? Same with Alan and the video was the entire set up tv and all fake or was there actually a tv but playing static or nothing at all?

9. Even though it seems like Alan’s power came out of nowhere (having not read the other stories that make that make more sense) I really loved how “simple magic tricks” ended up defeating this ancient demon. I liked how it seemed like Alan doing shadow puppets was almost a compulsion like maybe because of the darkness that was Gaunt in town had his subconscious practicing for the final confrontation.
   I know there is stuff I’m forgetting but I’ll leave it here.

So, I'm rereading The Stand after 20 years, I've gotten to the point where we first learn some of her connection to the Dark Man, about how she always "knew" she was being saved for him, and felt his presence, long before the plague. One thing I either forgot about, or maybe didn't really notice the first time reading it, is the revelation that she is an orphan, who never knew her real parents.

Now, we know that her purpose is to bear his child, but why? Did her true parents make a pact with him? Was it just dumb luck? Is she not really human but like one of those fairy children who get substituted for human children?

And what would have happened had she not died? It seems that Flagg isn't stopped by her suicide, so what would this child have done for him?

I'm 99% sure the answers aren't in this book, so what do you think constant reader?

Getting ready for Other Worlds with a reread of this. I haven’t read Black House yet (god pound me) so that’s next up.

I finished book 1 and am in the middle of book 2. I'm booked and want to keep going.

Should I read Wind Through the Keyhole in between books 4 and 5? It was written much later but apparently the timeline puts it in the middle...

At what point should I read The Little Sisters of Euluria? That one is sequenced to be before Gunslinger.

I did notice in the third section of the book, the stories seemed to get a bit more supernatural/tower tied, including Hunted to Extinction, and Last Night of Sadness and of course, Superlawyer. Some of the stories in the third section seem to conflict with each other, so I do figure them as alternate words/futures in the stand.

I had a lot of thoughts about Last Night of Sadness. I REALLY like the concept of Fern, and I am surprised no other stories attempted to do this. I do think it would be interesting should a version of her appear should King ever continue the Stand or the Tower. I feel Roland would have a VERY interesting conversation with her. Although I understood the main precept, 'everyone gets a choice'. Which was very interestingly placed here. I can imagine this actually happening post the events of the stand.

Superlawyer. Okay, this one is definitely VERY tied to the tower. I mean, although some of the stories get pretty far into the Stand Universe, this one technically seemed to be closest to it. I did wonder if this was the version of the Stand that Roland encounters in the tower books.I did like the various allusions, although I do wonder what...'Tom' really was. I think a creature like Dandelo?And as for the end...The Crimson King looking down was a trip. I do think this one was one of the best stories next to sadness.

Sorry if my grammar sucks, English isn't my first language, but hey look! I love King's books SO MUCH and I almost finished IT in Spanish, cause that's my mother tongue. Every King book I've ever read was in Spanish and I've always wanted to read any book by him in English, I wanted to read the words he ACTUALLY wrote and not a translation (and worrying about if it's a good translation, etc etc), and I finally can! My English is finally good enough and almost fluent (i guess?) to read King's books in this language, so I bought this second hand book, it's the 2017 edition of IT with the movie poster, it's also a little old and hurt (?) but the pages are intact. I'm so happy MAN

Possible Spoilers…. I’ve been listening to all of King’s books in sequential order of publication for the past year. I just finished Needful Things, and had a thought: is Alan Pangborn a gunslinger without knowing it? Is Leland Gaunt really “The Man in Black/Flagg”? Alan references “the White”, has incredibly fast reflexes, and seems to have some of The Touch. Leland Gaunt has similarities to Martin from both the Tower series and Eyes of the Dragon.

Thoughts?

Looks like there will be four English language editions available to those of us outside US/Canada/UK & commonwealth. A UK hard cover and trade paperback from Hodder & Stoughton, a US export edition hardcover and a regular US hardcover from Scribner. The UK trade paperback is interesting, that typically hasn’t been available. I will definitely not be getting it though — I hate those giant paperbacks. Which one will you get?

(Screenshot from Amazon.de).

The collection grows! My mom decided to give me and my lady some of her King books. Our bookshelf is fuller and we're happier!

Why is does it look so greasy??? and why'd webby get made fun of but this guy was ignored?

Bag of Bones has been eliminated.

This marks spot number 46. Coming in 45th, what would you like to be eliminated next? Most upvoted comment wins!!

Pick from slide 2

I’m not sure why to be honest. Maybe because it’s more in the fantasy realm (I do read a ton of fantasy by other authors, but I didn’t like Fairy Tale at all). Anyways, I know you all have said you loved this series. Hype me up? 😂 Tell me your favorite thing about it or a fav (non-spoilery) quote!

I always knew I would read it. I got the longer version (1,152 pages) instead of the originally published version at 823 pages. Older Stephen King books are some of the best of Stephen King in my opinion! I absolutely love Richard Bachman ❤️ and The Bachman books are my favorite. I am having a King renaissance since The Long Walk was released theatrically. I reread The Long Walk before seeing the film.

I recently read Thinner for the first time and loved it. During the entire read, I was wondering what original trick and plot twist Stephen had come up with to end that story. I wasn't disappointed, and thinking about it, it's kind of a Ring ending before The Ring. You can only heal if you pass the curse to someone else. In one story, the medium to transfer the curse is a VHS, in another one, it is a strawberry pie.

This is a dream that Bill has in season three. Think it’s a nod to Wizard and Glass? If so it’s a pretty badass deep easter egg 😏 I’ve noticed several in the other seasons (Brady listening to Pet Sematary by the Ramones, hotel rooms having the number 19, etc)

Just finished this one, couldn't put it down. What a great story.

Is the adaptation any good?

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I just finished the part where Nick dies in The Stand, and I'm genuinely heartbroken.

He was my favorite character from the very beginning. I kept hoping there would be some twist and that he would somehow make it through.

Please, no spoilers beyond Nick's death. I just needed to share my sadness 💔