Has a King book helped you through a tough time? Share stories here.

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Blake

Deleted User
Feb 18, 2013
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I just started re-reading The Shining last week and it struck me what a fantastic start to the book it is. The guy is a genius. I want to get that Shining series on DVD as well. I've seen it on television but I want to get it now. The one with Steven Weber. I saw him in one of those 'Masters of Horror' episodes last week, the one where he picks up that girl with the terrible face and becomes infatuated with her. How come they never did any Stephen King stuff in that series?
 
Apr 12, 2016
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I was diagnosed with a chronic illness at the age of 13. I spent most of my teenage years in and out of hospital. The meds would (and still do!) keep me awake while the illness took all energy away meaning I was in bed a lot but unable to sleep. Because of the possible issues of my illness and my meds I was always placed on an adult ward and that's where one of the nurses kindly gave me his book to read as I had finshed all mine and at 4am bored and fidgetty. It was Pet Semetary.
Up until recently there's not one SK book I haven't read at least twice. Some, like Pet Semetary, have been read so often I've had to purchase new copies as they've fallen apart!
That nurse will never know how much he changed my life that morning. Stephen King has kept me occupied and sane through many hours of infusions, insomnia and isolation.
 

Dana Jean

Dirty Pirate Hooker, The Return
Moderator
Apr 11, 2006
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The High Seas
I was diagnosed with a chronic illness at the age of 13. I spent most of my teenage years in and out of hospital. The meds would (and still do!) keep me awake while the illness took all energy away meaning I was in bed a lot but unable to sleep. Because of the possible issues of my illness and my meds I was always placed on an adult ward and that's where one of the nurses kindly gave me his book to read as I had finshed all mine and at 4am bored and fidgetty. It was Pet Semetary.
Up until recently there's not one SK book I haven't read at least twice. Some, like Pet Semetary, have been read so often I've had to purchase new copies as they've fallen apart!
That nurse will never know how much he changed my life that morning. Stephen King has kept me occupied and sane through many hours of infusions, insomnia and isolation.
I hope you are feeling better now, yes?
 
Apr 12, 2016
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I hope you are feeling better now, yes?
Unfortunately No! My health is getting worse by the year but I'm a stubborn cow and put up a good fight. I knew it would never get cured and it'll never be better but I've out smarted both my body (my immune system hates me!!) and my medical team more than twice, in fact 5 times over 25 years I've been told things didn't look positive for me! I hate Negativity and I hate being told I can't/won't be able to do something. I've places to see and new friends to meet................and so so many more books to read and new authors to find! Lol xxx
 

Blake

Deleted User
Feb 18, 2013
4,191
17,479
It is funny, but when my father died I started reading many of King's books again. I also joined this website even though I never knew it existed. It has saved me about $10,000 in psychiatric fees and I like the people on the website because they are good people. I still can't define how I found out about this website, it is either the dream I had or the psychiatrist telling me who my favorite writers were as he asked me what I liked doing, and I told him I liked reading books. Good bloke that psychiatrist. He used to be a chemical engineer and then retrained because the company he worked for closed down and he said he was always interested in psychology. He also said the best drink for an alcoholic was water.
 

Kurben

The Fool on the Hill
Apr 12, 2014
9,682
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sweden
Its funny but i dont remember how i found this site.?.... I did not know that King had his own site on the Net and i am positive noone told me. I must, somehow, have stumbled upon it one sleepless night. Lucky enough i was smart enough to join, and that is also strange as i never usually join sites memberships line , and i dont regret it for a second since Ive found so much here. But why did i join .? Hmmmm What did i think k? It is strange that when you act a little out of character you do something that afterwards feels so right.
 

Dana Jean

Dirty Pirate Hooker, The Return
Moderator
Apr 11, 2006
53,634
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The High Seas
Unfortunately No! My health is getting worse by the year but I'm a stubborn cow and put up a good fight. I knew it would never get cured and it'll never be better but I've out smarted both my body (my immune system hates me!!) and my medical team more than twice, in fact 5 times over 25 years I've been told things didn't look positive for me! I hate Negativity and I hate being told I can't/won't be able to do something. I've places to see and new friends to meet................and so so many more books to read and new authors to find! Lol xxx
Good for you!
 

Roho T Rooster

Well-Known Member
Apr 12, 2016
91
437
62
I find that King has the uncanny ability to write characters and stories that feel very human and relatable. This makes the stories a part of you, you feel sentimental to them, you feel like they had an impact on you. This is very true in my case, most strongly with King’s book IT.

:)

"It" was also my first King book. It came about, not really during a bad time; but, it WAS while I was in grad school. At the time, I read no fiction. It was all philosophy and history books. Even for FUN! I know! I was on the way to becoming a complete bore.

I started reading "It", and realized that I learned a lot more about real life in the first 100 pages of that book than in all the text books I owned. I quit reading my texts, spent all hours of the night devouring all the King books I could find at my handy dandy second hand book store, and graduated by the skin of my teeth. In short...I became a more balanced; and, therefore, a happier person.
 

The Nameless

M-O-O-N - That spells Nameless
Jul 10, 2011
2,080
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The Darkside of the Moon (England really)
Unfortunately No! My health is getting worse by the year but I'm a stubborn cow and put up a good fight. I knew it would never get cured and it'll never be better but I've out smarted both my body (my immune system hates me!!) and my medical team more than twice, in fact 5 times over 25 years I've been told things didn't look positive for me! I hate Negativity and I hate being told I can't/won't be able to do something. I've places to see and new friends to meet................and so so many more books to read and new authors to find! Lol xxx
Your outlook and positivity are very humbling. Welcome to the boards.
 

shaitan

Meat popsicle
Dec 26, 2014
962
4,203
47
NY
Re-reading this thread almost a year later, once again, I realize how SK's works opened up my eyes on relationships and family dynamics. Yes, they are works of fiction, but "art imitates life" or something like that. In the past year I found out a lot of rather not nice things about my family and I feel, that I'm better equipped to deal with these issues after having read all of SK's books.
 

Doc Creed

Well-Known Member
Nov 18, 2015
17,221
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United States
Most of my difficult years happened in high school and I think King's books attributed to my mental health. Reading the longer novels like IT, The Stand, Needful Things and The Tommyknockers took me away from the anxiety and problems around me. I was insulated. One could say that reading any book could do that but, like Kurben said of IT, King has that special magic.
Other than these formative young adult years I don't think I can pinpoint a time when his books necessarily saw me through hardships. I simply love the nostalgia of revisiting his books...like taking your old beat-up Chevy for a country drive, riding a wooden roller coaster for the 100th time, or hearing the bottletop pop on your favorite beer. Like the narrator says to us in Needful Things..."You've been here before..."
 

No.2fan

New Member
Oct 30, 2016
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This thread is awesome! I suffered addiction and depression for many years. Depression still visits unfortunately. When I had no interests, no hobbies, no life and I hated myself, Stephen King books managed to make me feel like I still had a bit of life in me. Almost like a drug, opening his books and reading the first page was a relief!
 

Dana Jean

Dirty Pirate Hooker, The Return
Moderator
Apr 11, 2006
53,634
236,697
The High Seas
This thread is awesome! I suffered addiction and depression for many years. Depression still visits unfortunately. When I had no interests, no hobbies, no life and I hated myself, Stephen King books managed to make me feel like I still had a bit of life in me. Almost like a drug, opening his books and reading the first page was a relief!
Welcome! Glad you are better!
 

GNTLGNT

The idiot is IN
Jun 15, 2007
87,651
358,754
62
Cambridge, Ohio
This thread is awesome! I suffered addiction and depression for many years. Depression still visits unfortunately. When I had no interests, no hobbies, no life and I hated myself, Stephen King books managed to make me feel like I still had a bit of life in me. Almost like a drug, opening his books and reading the first page was a relief!
....he is Methadone for the addictive mind....he has healed many, in a myriad of ways....Gawd a'mighty, what a gift!.....
 

Christiane17

Well-Known Member
Jan 19, 2010
838
915
75
Quebec, Canada
In good and bad times, I read anyway. But one particular book helped me get through a period of concerns for family members. When my sister almost died a few years ago, I was reading a few SK novels ( don't recall exactly what they were ), but I can say that just reading King brings you completly into another world. So it helps you get away from your constant sadness at some point. When my husband went through his numerous surgeries, I also read King. Same thing when my mom got sick. There is also a certain dose of humor in his writing, so just for that, yes SK helped me a lot without even knowing it. Thank you Si King. :)