Where/ When Were You When You Discovered?

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HollyGolightly

Well-Known Member
Sep 6, 2013
9,660
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Heart of the South
When I was around 11 or 12, my mother had a copy of The Running Man. I absolutely loved the book, but had never heard of this guy "Richard Bachman". I probably read it 15 times as a kid. Then, an ex girlfriend had a copy of The Bachman Books where I found out Bachman was King and it just blew up from there. I loved the Long Walk and then a lady at work saw me with my battered copy of the Bachman Books that I read every day at lunch for a year. She said "My husband passed away a few years ago and I have a ton of his books...here" and it was a bag full of his books. I think it had Needful Things, Insomnia, The Drawing of the Three and a few others. From then, I was hooked.
What a gift from the lady you worked with!
 

HollyGolightly

Well-Known Member
Sep 6, 2013
9,660
74,320
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Heart of the South
oz-wizard-behind-the-curtain-769602.jpg
....I WAS paying attention to the man behind the curtain, and he whacked me with a copy of The Stand...and so it began...true story...
LOL - someone threw a copy of The Stand (literally) at me - in a car on a horrid family trip with too many kids in the car.
 

The Nameless

M-O-O-N - That spells Nameless
Jul 10, 2011
2,080
8,261
42
The Darkside of the Moon (England really)
I'm definitely going to read Joyland. Don't know about Doctor Sleep. I saw the Shining but I didnt read it. I dont know how similar the book and movie are. I might read Under the Dome next year.
The Shining book and Kubrick film a quite different indeed, which is the reason alot of SK fans don't like the film, and Stephen didn't like the film. If you plan on reading the shining any time soon, I would do so before reading Dr Sleep. There are differences between the film and book that will be spoiled from reading Dr. Sleep, 2 of them quite big.

Enjoy Joyland though - I did imensely, and it's only a quickie too.
 

BeverleyMarsh

Well-Known Member
Jul 23, 2010
862
5,374
The Twilight Zone
The first impact Stephen King had on me was told to me by mother as I was too young to remember it. I was about 4 I think and I would cry every time i saw the cover of her Cujo Paperback which she had on display in her bedroom. She ended up having to hide it. Then age 8, I took Carrie with me (sneakily borrowed from my mum's collection) on a holiday to my grandparents in the South of France, I didn't understand all of it being so young but I got the fright of my life, that's for sure.
Then during my teenage years I picked up "Different seasons" and happened to see "Stand by me" at about the same time and my love for Stephen King's writing was sealed. I devoured all of his books after that, tried really hard at my English classes so I could learn English quick ( I'm French) as I was in a hurry to get to read his book with his actual words rather than translations. Then age 18 I worked a whole summer at my parents bakery to buy a plane ticket to go and visit Maine to feel the Stephen King atmosphere that I felt I knew so well from his books. Have been a constant reader ever since, never disappointed. Carrying a Stephen King book with me, I can feel at home anywhere.
 
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Bailey J

New Member
Oct 22, 2012
2
12
I was about 12-13 years old. I was reading Cujo, and from there I have read over 25 of Stephen King's books. I was captured with Cujo and my love for Stephen King and his writings grew with each book. I like what you said Loobylou, "...or re-read a favorite and the excitement and mystery from my youth are still there." That totally rings true for me.
 

niro

Well-Known Member
Apr 5, 2013
2,434
14,206
I really started reading books when I was an apprentice. Back then I was 17. During my first year I had two times a week school and three days to work in the office. I had much time and back then I was really shy.
First I read several books from Patricia Cornwell. And some other books "CSI-books" for example. I liked to go into bookstores the athmosphere in them...
I guess it has been after Christmas 2005 and I had some money in my pocket so I went into a bookstore and bought Lisey's Story (Love) in Hardcover back them I read all my books in German.
In 2006 after I finished my apprentice.
I was (20), without a job so maybe in August or September I picked it up and started reading it. I still remember that I really liked how the characters were discriped.
And since then I did not stop reading books from SK. (Mysery, Talisman, Bag of Bones)
I went back to school in 2007 and improved my English since then. My first book I read in English has been "Brave new World" second book "To kill a Mockingbird" third book "A Star called Henry". After I read these three I thought I could give "Full dark no stars" a try. Since I read SK books in English I even like his books more. I am a slow reader and it will take a lot of time till I have read all of them.
 

Dana Jean

Dirty Pirate Hooker, The Return
Moderator
Apr 11, 2006
53,634
236,697
The High Seas
I was about 12-13 years old. I was reading Cujo, and from there I have read over 25 of Stephen King's books. I was captured with Cujo and my love for Stephen King and his writings grew with each book. I like what you said Loobylou, "...or re-read a favorite and the excitement and mystery from my youth are still there." That totally rings true for me.
Welcome to the board.
 

loobylou

Well-Known Member
Feb 6, 2008
127
65
41
manchester, uk
This is so old - it's actually kinda creepy :eek-new: sorry :wink-new: Andy said years ago they had to put coins in some sort of meter box to make the TV work. When my Dad went over there to visit in the 70s he thought this was the greatest idea. At that time in Canada he thought we were watching too much TV!

la la la Here we go loobylouuuuuuu, here we go looby layyy? la la la, I love King, but that there's the stuff of my childhood nightmares ha ha ha

I am a Louise Goode, so anyway you look at it I was a loo good (if you are US, a loo is a toilet) in school or a "have you been good today?" hilariarious stuff or loobylou, I picked the lesser of 3 evils ;) xx
 

Lisey Landon

Well-Known Member
May 20, 2009
754
3,966
Germany
I was 16, alone in my sisters tiny apartment for the unforseeable future, she lived with her new boyfriend in a different town. It was a new place, no friends, etc. I found a copy of The Shining and Firestarter, and The World According To Garp by John Irving. Started with The Shining, and moved directly over to Firestarter. Next King book was Cujo, and I have just kept on reading his books after that.
My love for John Irving started this same summer, and I was delighted to hear Mr. King talk about his good friend John Irving earlier this month.:)
 

Lina

Committed member
Jun 24, 2009
3,356
6,024
Russia
I was always into horror stuff, and when I was 12 someone told me: "Hey, do you know Stephen King? He is the master of the horror!" I went to the library and found their only one SK book, it was The Shining... Since then, this book is my favorite and I can't stop buying and reading books:love:
 

rudiroo

Well-Known Member
May 20, 2008
474
1,898
London, England
I was an old bird (34) when I discovered SK and (most significantly), it was BW (Before Wheelchair).

SK has dragged me through almost 20 years' worth of thick & thin (Good & bad? Bad & worse).

He's a wonderful distraction, painkiller & all-round goodbuddy.
And whether someone reads SK or not, is a dead giveaway about other aspects of their personality.
How much do I have in common with this dude? Does this dude have an interesting hinterland? Is this dude on speaking terms with their dark side?

Sometimes (not always) I can make other assumptions too - if this dude likes SK, dollars to doughnuts, I can add sci-fi & zombiedom to the list.
Happy day!

Always with the downside though: in the UK, whether you read SK (or not) indicates whether you're a literary snob (or not).
Does the same apply in the US?
Or elsewhere in Europe?
 

KRamirez9294

Active Member
Jan 7, 2014
44
180
31
When I was 9 I was with my mom for the weekend, at her apartment she had only one t.v. and basically she decided early on that unless she was asleep we could keep the t.v. on G rated channels. But she was awake and I was waiting for my dad to get me. Low and behold she was watching Stanley Kubrick's The Shining. Also this was a one bedroom apartment and my new born brother was sleeping in the bedroom and I had such a curious mind so I watched it with her. Of course I was scared and still am even though Stephen King still wonders why we are scared of it (read the authors note at the end of Doctor Sleep and if you have Netflix look up Room 237). Anyways since then I was obsessed with the movie and was told it was based on a book by Stephen King and then I got older and mature enough to finally read one of his books after I got out of my Judy Blume, Beverly Cleary, and Babysitters Club series faze, and you could already guess what book I first got! Ever since then before when I was lazy with ready I usually saw the movies first. One other was Heart's In Atlantis which my mom loved a lot and Pet Semetary I just happened to be in the room when that was on, oh yeah and IT. Since I was 5 I was a horror maniac. First scary movies, for me, were Child's Play and The Leprechaun (THE FIRST ONES!!!!). Honestly I have more time to read ever since I got out of High School because I was involved and took honors classes so I've been reading like crazy and a Stephen King book is the way to my heart. One Easter my Easter basket had IT and Pet Semetary in it! Finished Pet Semetary in 2 months and IT in a year. Yeah that's my long story! Hopefully I didn't bore you guys!
 

KRamirez9294

Active Member
Jan 7, 2014
44
180
31
The first impact Stephen King had on me was told to me by mother as I was too young to remember it. I was about 4 I think and I would cry every time i saw the cover of her Cujo Paperback which she had on display in her bedroom. She ended up having to hide it. Then age 8, I took Carrie with me (sneakily borrowed from my mum's collection) on a holiday to my grandparents in the South of France, I didn't understand all of it being so young but I got the fright of my life, that's for sure.
Then during my teenage years I picked up "Different seasons" and happened to see "Stand by me" at about the same time and my love for Stephen King's writing was sealed. I devoured all of his books after that, tried really hard at my English classes so I could learn English quick ( I'm French) as I was in a hurry to get to read his book with his actual words rather than translations. Then age 18 I worked a whole summer at my parents bakery to buy a plane ticket to go and visit Maine to feel the Stephen King atmosphere that I felt I knew so well from his books. Have been a constant reader ever since, never disappointed. Carrying a Stephen King book with me, I can feel at home anywhere.
I started reading SK books at 13 and even then I still didn't understand what was happening. Well just what everything meant. I would have to re-read it again to get the full understanding.