If you had to pick ONE Stephen King Book...

  • This message board permanently closed on June 30th, 2020 at 4PM EDT and is no longer accepting new members.

Rrty

Well-Known Member
Jun 4, 2007
1,394
4,588
This is indeed a hard, almost impossible-to-answer question...but that's what makes it brilliant. You have to choose one when one can't really be chosen. Which one represents what a person feels is the most important issue?

It's tough for me. I am tending toward the Carrie/bullying issue. That encompasses a lot.

I also think The Stand -- which has been mentioned in the thread, but I'm not sure if I caught this specific mention -- fits. I'm thinking specifically of the ending to the original shorter version. Maybe that encompasses even more.

Another book I'll mention is From a Buick 8. Haven't read it in a while, but I remember thinking after the Ferguson event -- which I think was a recent inflection point in police/citizenry relations -- back to that book and the points King made about how law enforcement views the public. (Was the term in King's narrative something like Joe Q. Public? I can't recall.)
 

doowopgirl

very avid fan
Aug 7, 2009
6,946
25,119
65
dublin ireland
This is indeed a hard, almost impossible-to-answer question...but that's what makes it brilliant. You have to choose one when one can't really be chosen. Which one represents what a person feels is the most important issue?

It's tough for me. I am tending toward the Carrie/bullying issue. That encompasses a lot.

I also think The Stand -- which has been mentioned in the thread, but I'm not sure if I caught this specific mention -- fits. I'm thinking specifically of the ending to the original shorter version. Maybe that encompasses even more.

Another book I'll mention is From a Buick 8. Haven't read it in a while, but I remember thinking after the Ferguson event -- which I think was a recent inflection point in police/citizenry relations -- back to that book and the points King made about how law enforcement views the public. (Was the term in King's narrative something like Joe Q. Public? I can't recall.)
Excellent. It's been too long since I've read that book. It didn't even come into my head.
 

Nomik

Carry on
Jun 19, 2016
3,973
22,555
47
Derry, NH
This is indeed a hard, almost impossible-to-answer question...but that's what makes it brilliant. You have to choose one when one can't really be chosen. Which one represents what a person feels is the most important issue?

It's tough for me. I am tending toward the Carrie/bullying issue. That encompasses a lot.

I also think The Stand -- which has been mentioned in the thread, but I'm not sure if I caught this specific mention -- fits. I'm thinking specifically of the ending to the original shorter version. Maybe that encompasses even more.

Another book I'll mention is From a Buick 8. Haven't read it in a while, but I remember thinking after the Ferguson event -- which I think was a recent inflection point in police/citizenry relations -- back to that book and the points King made about how law enforcement views the public. (Was the term in King's narrative something like Joe Q. Public? I can't recall.)
Neither can I. It's been to long since I've read From a Buick 8. That said, I will mention the NPR topic today was about right to carry can laws as they specifically refer to guns on campus and in academia. Since they were repeating the phrase "right to carry", I thought this is an open carry state.
Funny how some books are more vivid. The Dead Zone, Lisey's Story, Gerald's Game.
The stand,
. . You*
weird right? Maybe you don't keep up with this trilogy but it has to relate. The Shining nod may thrill you but
the imagery surrounding Gage's death connects, you want to read it.
initially thought it would be nice if it was a little more than one personal opinion. Imagine that the question was posed as "gun to your head, pick a favorite" that's easy.
John Q. Public service announcement: I liked The Dead Zone, naturally I'm not picking that one because of the dog scene. Wasn't thrilled about the similar scene scene in Eyes of the Dragon. However, I won't choose a least favorite.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Neesy and GNTLGNT

César Hernández-Meraz

Wants to be Nick, ends up as Larry
May 19, 2015
605
4,416
44
Aguascalientes, Mexico
In my country, Under the Dome is a good comparison to the politics of my country. The Rennie tandem was actually a metaphor of our politicians there
Ready to kill to protect their corruption and their control to the society

One word: Cell. Looking at the story as a metaphor, it's downright terrifying, because it's sadly true. Technology, and my extension, social media, tends to bring out the worst in people, and in some cases, amplify the nasty tendencies that are already boiling under the thin façade of normality.

Those were the two that first came to mind for me.

Going through the list of books I have read, and looking for one that has not been mentioned (unless I missed it in these three pages), I will say "It". Thankfully not all, but at least some people in the real world are like the people in Derry. We see bad things happening in front of us, but we don't do nor say anything about it.
 

seeker619

Member
Jul 17, 2015
10
24
55
California
Those were the two that first came to mind for me.

Going through the list of books I have read, and looking for one that has not been mentioned (unless I missed it in these three pages), I will say "It". Thankfully not all, but at least some people in the real world are like the people in Derry. We see bad things happening in front of us, but we don't do nor say anything about it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Neesy and GNTLGNT

seeker619

Member
Jul 17, 2015
10
24
55
California
The hardest part of the reply is that I would like to look as the Dark Tower as one book and if I could do that I would say that. Actually the second book of the Dark Tower is my favorite and as much as I hate to pick just one from the Dark Tower it would probably be my favorite of all time by SK. If not I would go with Salem's Lot.
 

Nomik

Carry on
Jun 19, 2016
3,973
22,555
47
Derry, NH
Myriad of choices, am I right? Still I've yet to complete Salem's Lot. Every time I get a chance to read I'm here or reading other, unrelated writing samples. The thing about that is, no spoiler because it keeps me entertained.
One more thing, Stand by Me was not a novel, duh, so It was my favorite movie, I liked the book for obvious reasons and that said, enough rambling. SAVED.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Neesy and GNTLGNT

Jonesy85

Well-Known Member
Feb 28, 2014
162
941
38
Illinois
I
If you had to pick 1 book by Stephen King to closely related to the way society functions and interacts today, what would it be and why?

I would choose The Green Mile. Here's why: It's a story that could (to some extent) happen in real life. A man charged and executed for a crime he did not commit? Power hungry officer of the law? The ability of karma to come full circle (Billy the Kid) to uphold the balance of the Universe?

Use you opinions, for this is what they are...opinions.
Green Mile is also my pick.
 

Jonesy85

Well-Known Member
Feb 28, 2014
162
941
38
Illinois
The hardest part of the reply is that I would like to look as the Dark Tower as one book and if I could do that I would say that. Actually the second book of the Dark Tower is my favorite and as much as I hate to pick just one from the Dark Tower it would probably be my favorite of all time by SK. If not I would go with Salem's Lot.
The Drawing of the Three is my "deserted island" S.K. book. (but it has to be a copy with the illustrations).
 

Walter Oobleck

keeps coming back...or going, and going, and going
Mar 6, 2013
11,749
34,805
First impulse is The Stand. Run with that one. Good answers all the above. Second idea kinda goes along with The Stand...how we seem to have, always, two choices, one or the other, but they are rarely as clear as the choices they had in The Stand...good versus evil. Today, there's the ole fifty shades of gray thingy going on. But there are other king stories with that same motif...what king has called the hive mentality...tommknockers, that is much like cell in that regard, one group of one mind with one goal, usually domination of the other...or with variations on that theme, needful things, one goal damn the circumstances. how about lisey's story?

the way so many worship an individual, reminds me of a quote from dostoyevsky, "so long as man remains free he strives for nothing so incessantly and so painfully as to find someone to worship." crews paraphrased it, "men to whom god is dead worship one another." take that theme and apply it to today, the election cycle, throw in a little leland gaunt, and the long fingers can be ignored, since the goal is all that matters, damn the circumstances. or consider booya moon, or for that matter annie's laughing place, audrey wyler's mohonk mountain meadow...and how everyone and that includes me...wants to have a place to go to be safe...but there's always the long boy, right? can't get away from that, the long piebald side, call it the comments section anywhere in social media, long, boy, is it ever, damn the circumstances. or a variation on that safe place, duma key, and the manner in which we as individuals paint our world. or how about the short, chattery teeth. i'd dearly love to have a set of teeth like that. heh! "now i can get them teeth." mr bundren. oops...novel...not shorts.
 

Nomik

Carry on
Jun 19, 2016
3,973
22,555
47
Derry, NH
First impulse is The Stand. Run with that one. Good answers all the above. Second idea kinda goes along with The Stand...how we seem to have, always, two choices, one or the other, but they are rarely as clear as the choices they had in The Stand...good versus evil. Today, there's the ole fifty shades of gray thingy going on. But there are other king stories with that same motif...what king has called the hive mentality...tommknockers, that is much like cell in that regard, one group of one mind with one goal, usually domination of the other...or with variations on that theme, needful things, one goal damn the circumstances. how about lisey's story?

the way so many worship an individual, reminds me of a quote from dostoyevsky, "so long as man remains free he strives for nothing so incessantly and so painfully as to find someone to worship." crews paraphrased it, "men to whom god is dead worship one another." take that theme and apply it to today, the election cycle, throw in a little leland gaunt, and the long fingers can be ignored, since the goal is all that matters, damn the circumstances. or consider booya moon, or for that matter annie's laughing place, audrey wyler's mohonk mountain meadow...and how everyone and that includes me...wants to have a place to go to be safe...but there's always the long boy, right? can't get away from that, the long piebald side, call it the comments section anywhere in social media, long, boy, is it ever, damn the circumstances. or a variation on that safe place, duma key, and the manner in which we as individuals paint our world. or how about the short, chattery teeth. i'd dearly love to have a set of teeth like that. heh! "now i can get them teeth." mr bundren. oops...novel...not shorts.
Yes, I think it's a technicality, not an out and out oops! Quoting Doystoyecsky to continue this discussion clears you of any penalty, were it up to me.
I've mentioned the second thought in pervious threads that may have seemed off putting to some.
This may be naïveté or simply a misnomer, but I think of the "grey area" as a catch all. Sound advice, those for whom God is dead mystify man, reigning in all preconceptions. Honestly, it's about individuality versus the trap of the cult. Friend or Foe? Depends on to to whom self edification sells.
I think you may be referring to the undercurrent of those other worlds. Doctor Strange, a voice from a long ago generation, has the option of hopping between parallel dimensions.
One day I will return to the DT; I love the concept of bringing the worlds together, the self actualizating sensation of enjoying the ride with a healthy skepticism and a hunger for more hope. Rambled, sorry. Still Stand for me, it's not a black and white story, it goes past the grey and into moments from Lisey's Story. Actually, Lisey's story vividly connected with me. The way that Kingdom Hospital connected; more than explaining color, portraying comatose realms or the moment in the garden, he fell into a truth. There is no literary term I can think of to explain, it is a weird reality.
 

Kingunlucky

Well-Known Member
Aug 20, 2016
368
1,681
All of them to some degree.

I think that can be said for a lot of authors actually whom we enjoy (and we all have own favorites). I think even they are written as mindless entertainment or with a purpose they all have something to say about either the times we live in, our own personal struggles or are a reflection of the past or some combo of them all and this extends to all genres.
 

Nomik

Carry on
Jun 19, 2016
3,973
22,555
47
Derry, NH
All of them to some degree.

I think that can be said for a lot of authors actually whom we enjoy (and we all have own favorites). I think even they are written as mindless entertainment or with a purpose they all have something to say about either the times we live in, our own personal struggles or are a reflection of the past or some combo of them all and this extends to all genres.
Then just go with The Stand
 

recitador

Speed Reader
Sep 3, 2016
1,750
8,264
41
i thought this was about favorite book for a minute and i was all set, cause that ones easy lol. i think it's a bit of a toss up for me. the stand, for many of the reasons listed above, but i lean closer to under the dome. i think it's a small scale but rather good reflection of exactly how gullible people can be, and how easily they fall sway under the leadership of demagogues, how easily fear is used as a weapon by those who lust for power. see america's current election, and wonder just what would happen if a dome was dropped on us