Which terrible book have you read to appreciate how good King is?

To stay on topic, I'd have to say that "Bell Canto" was a mistake. I just don't remember if it was in my pre-SK days or between his books.
Now, given that I'm 150 pages away from finishing "Finders Keepers" and thus completing my 2.5 year SK marathon, I was looking for the next author in the horror genre to binge on. Koontz and Clive Barker were on my list, but looking at some posts in this thread, I'm a bit discouraged. How's John D. Macdonald? SK is crazy about the guy.

DiO'Bolic said:

Perhaps... then why force kids to suffer through it in high school? And I agree with you about seeing Shakespeare performed live. I used to really enjoy going every year to the American Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford, Connecticut. Best performance ever was seeing Fred Gwynne starring in the Twelfth Night.

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The only kids who "suffer through it" are those taught by teachers who do not know how to present the material (which is sadly many of them).
To seriously answer your question though... It is taught because history is important, no matter what subject one is studying. To understand what is happening now, we need to look back and see the progression. Music, art, letters, politics, etc. I am a firm believer in a full, well rounded education.

shaitan said:

To stay on topic, I'd have to say that "Bell Canto" was a mistake. I just don't remember if it was in my pre-SK days or between his books.
Now, given that I'm 150 pages away from finishing "Finders Keepers" and thus completing my 2.5 year SK marathon, I was looking for the next author in the horror genre to binge on. Koontz and Clive Barker were on my list, but looking at some posts in this thread, I'm a bit discouraged. How's John D. Macdonald? SK is crazy about the guy.

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I wouldn't just give Koontz the cold shoulder, shaitan, without giving him a whirl first. Some folks, like our own Giant here, find him top notch. I'm more cold than hot, but I did find some of DK's early stuff pretty good. Mr. Murder for example.

I never purposely read ****e books--life is too short and there are too many good books to read. If it's crap, I close the book (if I was fool enough to open it) and move on. I have had to read some for review that I would not have even looked at for pleasure, but I prefer to block them out (lol).

I like a lot of Koontz, but some stuff he has written is absolute garbage.

We have a Koontz thread if you guys want to pick it up again — I'm always down for discussing DK

Out of Order said:

I was so hard up for something to read over the weekend (waiting for End of Watch) I pulled his Velocity out of the bookcase to give another go. Ended up doing laundry.

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...awwwww shaddap the both of youze!!!!!.....

....Ramsey Campbell.....just couldn't mentally swallow his material.....backed up the neuronal plumbing.....

shaitan said:

To stay on topic, I'd have to say that "Bell Canto" was a mistake. I just don't remember if it was in my pre-SK days or between his books.
Now, given that I'm 150 pages away from finishing "Finders Keepers" and thus completing my 2.5 year SK marathon, I was looking for the next author in the horror genre to binge on. Koontz and Clive Barker were on my list, but looking at some posts in this thread, I'm a bit discouraged. How's John D. Macdonald? SK is crazy about the guy.

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John D MacDonald rocks. Have read 70+ from him...78 maybe...not much left. Elmore Leonard, too...he rocks. MacDonald has the "Travis McGee" series, 21 stories of which A Flash of Green is not one of them...they all contain a color in the title. A Flash of Green anticipates the "green" movement although "green" can defined a number of ways in MacDonald's story. Gold, Orange, Lavender, Amber, Yellow, Cinnamon, Pink...I liked those color stories Travis McGee more so than the others. Blue is the first one, Deep Blue Goodbye, if you want to read the 1st, get a flavor for what comes. You don't have to read them in order. Of the 21 stories there are only 2-4 that might follow some sort of chronological sequence. His non-Travis McGee stories are good reads, all, and highly underrated and well worth the read.

Koontz has a pile of great stories. King praised Koontz's Strangers. Anything published between say '92 and 2002 is a safe bet. Watchers, Fear Nothing, Seize the Night, Dragon Tears, The Bad Place. Koontz has a pile of great stories.

I've read some "terrible" stories but I've forgotten them, alas. They're not worthy of mention. The thing about books is there are great many you don't have to read. Onward, ever onward.

carrie's younger brother said:

I have attempted to read Koontz over the last (insert # of years he has been a bestselling author here) and every time I do (about every 5 or so years) I have to force myself to finish the book then hit myself over the head with it and move on.

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Do you own a helmet?

Y'all - we are book snobs. Do you find yourself ALWAYS gravitating toward bookshelves in other people's homes? Sometimes I feel superior, sometimes I feel way under-educated. And if I find myself seeing SK on someone else's shelf I think I might have a new friend.

But to the question: I can't recall a specific book or writer, but books that read like a Lifetime movie are just lifeless. Twilight is one for sure. And I read something by John Saul that I felt that way about. Predictable, needed commercial breaks.

I happen to like a little Shakespeare - he had a naughty and wicked sense of humor and such a sense of morality. Well balanced he was.

I don't think I'm qualified to answer the question as for the last six years I've only read SK. I'm afraid of what'll happen when I finish this marathon.

kingricefan said:

Do you own a helmet?

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No. Alas, my noggin is so abused at this point nothing can harm it any further.

signals2112 said:

I don't think I'm qualified to answer the question as for the last six years I've only read SK. I'm afraid of what'll happen when I finish this marathon.

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Weeeelllll.......? I remember making a mistakes in judgments and trying to read Twilight. Also Beautiful Creatures. It made me realise how much crap is out there if books like these can be praise but it also made me realise that other YA like Hunger Games or the Divergent trilogy are masterpieces in comparison. When I read that english horror author, the one with the Rats and several others, i saw the immense differences in qaulity and still it was not a bad book. Then i realised that King is God sent to Earth for a little while to give us humans a gift we wouldnt have accomplished ourselves. (And his name, King, ought to be big enough of a hint for the obvious truth to be seen!) So far he has been able to hide as an baseball loving writer in a little town in northern USA but by now everybody ought to see that we have one King, some promising desciples (Robert McCammon, Joe Hill, Dan Simmons etc) and a lot of ordinary humans who can just look in adoration.

Matt4444 said:

What about when people don't have any bookshelves? Or even any books, do you try and persuade them towards your favourite. Just don't do that when you are in your 20's at a friends house cos you will always be known as that lad who reads!

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The lad who reads is the best of the bunch! I'd never mention the lack of books, but I would always think of them as The People Who Don't Read.

Mynxie said:

hahaha I chuckled a bit when that came up. Set up in good ol' l/pool ......... I gave it a try but wasn't quite for me. Think my perspective was tainted because I'm so close to the city and couldn't distract myself from what I know lol.

Sorry - to be fair though, it was the least offensive to my senses out of all of CB's stuff that I have read (not claiming to have read loads). Unless you have any recommendations ??

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Couldn't you get into Weaveworld because it was hard to imagine that the story would take place in your own town, or did it not portray Liverpool in an accurate way?
Barker is from Liverpool, so he should know it well.

I'd recommend The Books of Blood, if that won't win you over probably nothing else will.

Newer King makes me appreciate older King.

muskrat said:

Newer King makes me appreciate older King.

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Older King makes me appreciate newer King.

Seriously, I know I'm weird but aside from The Dead Zone and The Shining, all my favorites come from King's post-IT years.