Welcome! - introduction thread for new members

The group is taking off, so I thought it would be nice to finally install a welcome and introduction thread!

So, welcome to King's Dear Constant Readers! It's dedicated to Stephen King and his work. Since he adresses always his fans in his books as "Dear Constant Reader" or "Constant Reader", I thought the group name couldn't do more justice.

Since age 14 I am an avid King reader myself and buy his books and collect the movies based on/made from his work.

I started reading King about 3 years ago, starting with The Gunslinger. Before that, I always thought of King as a horror writer. Now I can't wait to pick up more of his work. Not as big a fan of his movies as of his books, though I do want to see the TV miniseries that was based on The Stand. And I've actually picked up a few of the books he's cited as influences or taken passages from in his novels simply for that reason.

I had never read any of King's work until about ten years ago. A co-worker told me that I had to at least try a book. I didn't think I'd be interested in "horror", but I was soon hooked! Within a couple of months, I had gone through every King book I could get my hands on. My son (who just graduated from college) is an avid King reader. Nothing like mother/son bonding over a new Stephen King book. :)

I started reading Stephen King when I was a freshman in high school (The Shining was the first book I read) and I've been hooked ever since! My parents actually tried to keep me from reading his books because as my mom put it, "He's just WEIRD." I'm so glad I didn't listen to them! Granted, I think they're secretly considering sending me in for therapy, but that's okay.

My first King was Different Seasons which I started reading during a regular babysitting gig. I can't remember which of the parents were reading it, but we both had bookmarks in it at the same time. Pet Sematary was next and I was hooked. This was about 1982/3 or so - HS freshman.

I have a fairly complete collection, mostly in original hb editions and have read all except Insomnia (which peversely put me to sleep and I never finished it) and the DT series in which I've only gotten part way through the 4th book. Just not my thing I guess. I stalled in book 3 the first time, so getting through that and into the 4th was at least some progress.

I read King because his language is so natural, he cares about his characters and they are vividly human. Plus he makes me laugh and spins a hell of a yarn.

Hello all,

I'm a'tuinsails, and I have been a bibliophile since about eleven. I found King in high school. They actually had the Bachman books in one of those several novels in one book in my high school library. The fourth time I renewed it, one of the high school librarians explained that the guy who wrote those was really Stephen King. I've been reading anything by him I can get my hands on ever since.

Hello. My first King was Carrie, when I was about 12 years old in 1985. From 1985 until 1996 or so, I read everything he published, from Carrie through The Green Mile, except for Rose Madder. I then fell out of my reading habit until about 2000 or so. Since then I've re-read a few Kings per year as I attempt to read them all chronologically, with a few out-of-sequence.

Among my re-reads since 2000 are:

Carrie
'Salem's Lot
The Shining
Night Shift
Everything's Eventual
The Stand
The Colorado Kid
The Dead Zone
The Long Walk
Firestarter
Cell

My first King book was The Eyes of the Dragon at age 11. It wasn't terribly frightening, and I was hooked from then on.

The next year, I read The Stand: Complete and Uncut Edition for an English class book report. For my project, I took a giant map of the US and mapped out all the events of the book. My teacher put a cap on book report lengths after that one ;)

Now, I'm just generally obsessed by the Dark Tower series. I think I have recently convinced my friend who refuses to read any King to at least listen to the DT books on tape.

I've been reading King since some time in junior high. My dad was a huge fan and basically got me started on reading him by giving me his copy of 'Salem's Lot, which is still one of my favorite Stephen King books.

As I've mentioned previously to the group, I am currently re-reading all of King's novels in chronological order. So far, I've re-read Carrie, 'Salem's Lot, The Shining, Rage, Night Shift, The Stand: the complete and uncut edition, and am currently starting on The Long Walk.

I am also planning on reading Heart-shaped Box by his son Joe Hill in the very near future.

I haven't met a King book that I didn't at least like. Most of them are among the books that I would deem indispensable to my collection.

TheTwoDs: Rose Madder is quite an haunting novel! I couldn't put the book away, you should give it try :-) !

Was anyone already into horror before discovering Stephen King? Although I started reading King on age 14,15, I already read the Goosebumps-books by RL Stine and books from the youth thriller collection from Kluitman (a wellknown Dutch publishing house for childrens books,) at age 12,13. Must have been 1995/1996 and those books were just on the market and started a hype!

I was a HUGE Goosebumps fan when I was younger, so I guess I could fall into that category! Other than that, I didn't really read many horror novels before getting into Stephen King...I watched horror movies, but that isn't exactly the same thing!

I've been reading Stephen King since my junior year of high school, when I chose to write a term paper on two of his works (as many in this community have heard, lol). I was really surprised by how much I loved his work and have now read quite a few of his other novels. I don't honestly like horror otherwise, so it was quite a shock, but a very happy one.

To Coloradogirl: ah, yes horror movies. I had watched Jaws and The Exorcist at that time. Probably Sleepy Hollow too, I can't recall it exactly. I didn't watched it at home at that time, my parents are not so fond of horror. But since age 16, they didn't made a lot of problems of it and have accepted it.

At the time I started reading Stephen King, I think I was watching stuff like Jaws, Poltergeist, and Halloween...my parents weren't crazy about it either, but I think they realized that I wasn't going to turn into a psychopath by watching horror movies and reading Stephen King!

yup, my parents saw that I could handle and moderate it so after a while they were good with it. Although they still don't understand what I like about horror.

#10 royalsophietje:

It's not that I skipped Rose Madder for any reason of not wanting to read it. I had just never gotten around to it before I stopped reading as voraciously as I did previously and do (even more so) now. I absolutely intend to read it.

I read his first dozen works YEARS AGO while working midnights as a security guard (The Night Shift), all alone in the dark, heeee heeeeeeee!

#17: mrgrooism, you're brave!

I've been a fan since I first started high school; my parents also were a bit disturbed at my early tastes....let's just say I was a morbid teen.

I haven't read as much King in recent years, though I'm trying to tackle The Dark Tower series at the moment (up to Drawing of the Three). I have several favourite King books, amongst them The Eyes of the Dragon, The Stand, Needful Things, The Shining, The Dark Half, and Rose Madder.

So ironic to me whenever I hear of people being made afraid by reading SK or any other horror. I have never been afraid of anything - movies, books, whatever. When I was a child I had to have my room pitch black in order to sleep - no moonlight, no night light - darkness was the only thing that would soothe me and let me sleep. Naturally I took to horror fiction and loved it exclusivley for years. Now I occasionally dip into it and still love to watch Hellraiser on DVD. But none of it has ever made me afraid, nervous etc. Funny.

Wow...that's quite unusual! My parents have threatened to keep me away from horror novels and movies because I used to get REALLY scared after watching certain movies or reading certain books...I remember I was terrified after I read Psycho at age 12. I'm a lot better now, but I think my parents still worry about me!

Unusual indeed! I'm 25 and still afraid of the dark sometimes after a freaky movie or book!

Yeah, I'm a freak. Metalhead too, which kinda goes with the rest of it.

to BookMarque:

you r not alone! I too love the dark and go where no one else dares to read at night. it may have something to do with new york state's diagnosis of me as sociopathic (incapable of deep feeling). i don't know. all i know is they give me special treatment here at chatahotchee state hospital and make my cell totally dark at night. the state of florida doesn't bother labelling me. they just don't like me killing law enforcement officers. BUT THEY KEPT GETTING IN MY FACE i tell the doctors! Oh, well. 3 hots and a cot and all the horror stories i can read!!!

I've recently started some of his books. I had to read On Writing for a class at school and talked to one of my teachers who reccommended DT because I don't like horror (or I say I don't, I don't actually know because I've never read one). I love how he writes, so blunt and non-censored, he just says what ever he wants to. Right now I'm on the second DT book and am a bit confused, but thats ok.

That would be AMAZING if one of my classes required me to read On Writing. I absolutely love that book!

I'm doing an independent study about writing, and my teacher is awsome and assigned it.

I think It may be my favorite King novel. Out of his works that deal with childhood I think it's the best, then the novella The Body. I've read The Dark Tower series over the years, but I plan to read it straight through soon. His short story collections are good as well.

I've read most of his stuff, but I go through long phases where I can't look at anything he's written.

At his best, he's very good indeed, but he's written some stinkers too, IMO.

Rose Madder is one of the worst works of fiction ever set into print. I submit that if it had been written by an unknown it never would've seen the light of day. I'm also a minority of one on It, which I didn't care for.

I actually remember getting a first edition of 'Salem's Lot from the library when I was a kid. I had no idea who King was at the time, my reading him goes back that far.

I started reading Stephen King in junior high school with The Dead Zone. I am in the process of replacing all my paperbacks with hardcovers. Almost Done! I just got an extended version of Salems Lot from SK Library and will (re)read that next.

I started reading King in high school - Carrie was the first. My children are avid King readers as well. I own all of his books and I think my children own at least half of his books. I have reread many of his books and always find something I missed the first time. Also, with my children reading them - we are always telling each other about references to his other works that we have overlooked or forgotten about.

Hi, I new to this group.

message 28: gmork, it's so good to see that someone else thinks It was on the stinkers list (I thought as a SK fan, I was commiting basphemy). I loved Rose Madder tho, (the story probably could have stand on its own with Norman being the only "monster" but, you know our S.K)

I am a huge, huge fan of horror movies before I discovered it in books. I love a good scare on a dark and lonely night (from the safety of my t.v screen of course).

My first King novel was The Wastelands, The Dark Tower 3 and I was hooked--at Book 3 no less. After that I went on to The Long Walk-- one of my top 5 fav King re-reads--after that it was so easy to be a fan 4 life. I love the way he writes, as if he's right by your ear speaking to you, its so easy to get into his stories.

I still make sure that all the windows are closed each time I re-read Salem's Lot and the closet doors are shut whenever I reach The Bogeyman (Night Shift)--LOL--and I'm always reading these stories at night.
I consider myself a constant reader because I can always go back to his early works (those before The Dark Tower), no matter how many times I have read them, and still be swept away in total enjoyment.

Hi I am new to this group!
I have been a SK fan since high school and continue to enjoy his books today. The Wasteslands wasn't my thing , but I do love the way he can grab you into a story. I really enjoyed Blaze /Richard Bachman once again showing the ability to introduce you to characters that will have you cheering for the bad guy.

Welcome everybody! Grab a seat and a book and enjoy the fun!

Ravent, you might be interested to know that some members want to do a group read/discussion on the new novel "Blaze".

Hello all -- just joined LT a few days ago and am busy cataloging my books. By far, the most books I own by a single author is Stephen King; his name is towering in my author cloud.

But, I have a confession to make: I haven't read a King book since Insomnia. I fell out of the habit of collecting the hardcovers and stopped paying attention to what King was writing for many years.

I'm going to rectify that soon. For one, I've gotta find out what happens in the last three Dark Tower books. I'm also quite curious to see what effect the accident had on his writing. So, I recently -- using a variety of local used bookstores -- caught myself up hardcover-wise. I'm gonna do a chronological marathon of all of King's books, just like I did when I was a kid reading them for the first time. It should be fun.

But, first, marathons for Edgar Allan Poe and H. P. Lovecraft (doing these three horror writers in a row just makes sense to me).

#34 - Welcome, kernunrex! I just finished a reread of The Gunslinger and I'll begin Blaze in the next day or so. I plan on reading the The Dark Tower Series over the summer.

**touchstones for Blaze not working**

#34 - Welcome, kernunrex! I just finished a reread of The Gunslinger and I'll begin Blaze in the next day or so. I plan on reading the The Dark Tower Series over the summer.

**touchstones for Blaze not working**

Hello, first post here! :)

It's plainly obvious that I adore Stephen King; like #34, kernunrex, King reigns (hehe) supreme over my author cloud.

I first *met* him about 15 years ago, and the first one of his books that I read was Needful Things, I think... or was it Cujo? Since then, I've been on a mad rush to devour everything he writes. But, unlike many of you, I haven't really followed a chronological order or anything. I haven't actually read any of the Bachman books yet (:O for shame!! *gulp*), but they're there on my shelf waiting like little, well-behaved children for their turn ;)

I'm looking forward to having fun in this group with all of you!

Welcome! I hope you will find this a nice place!

The first King book I read was Thinner at around age 13. I was so in awe of the ending--could a book really END that way?? LOL--that I was hooked. I think that may have been the only one I read before a neighbor guy that I babysat for showed me his wonderful stash of hardback Stephen King books and told me to have at it whenever I wanted.

Goi-oi-OING!!!

I think I read The Talisman next, Bachman Books and then tackled The Stand. By the time I was in my late teens or so, I was waiting for the next King as I still do today. It is the one "vice" I refused to even try to give up after becoming a Christian. LOL

In high school, I can remember covering my Stephen King books with a brown paper grocery bag so that they looked like all my other school books and I could sneak in a few pages during class or study hall. ;o)

I'm editing to add that I don't read any other horror authors. I really hate horror movies. LOL I'm much more drawn to King's character development, how he really led the way, IMO, in "thought talk" in fiction, which makes his characters so darn real. So I forgive him the gore. LOL!

My grandmother passed Christine down to me when I was maybe 13 or 14. I read that book from cover to cover in a matter of hours! I was really hooked. I've read 18 of his works to this date, with the majority of them being read in my high school days. I have just picked up Dolores Claiborne on the 24th, my first King read in years and it so good to read him again.

My aunt at one point tried to get me to quit reading King when she read a few pages of The Tommyknockers that I was reading while I was visiting.

I guess his books just have that effect on people.

Hi everyone! New to the group...I've been a Stephen King fan since middle school. The first book I read was Night Shift. My favorite is The Stend. I actually was just going to start rereading it for the 10th or 11th time, but I got some new books for Christmas and want to read them first.

I don't think there are any King books that I didn't like, although I never finished Dreamcatcher. I couldn't get past the bathroom scene...just completely grossed me out. I also haven't taken on the Dark Tower series yet.

As far as films of King books go, there really are only a few that I think are even close to as good as the book...Shawshank Redemption and Green Mile in particular. The rest are fun to watch to see how close they come to the book, which is usually not very close.

I've tried to get my 17 year old son to read his books, starting with Carrie, because he liked the film. He isn't interested, though. Maybe I'll have better luck with my 14 year old.

Hi, new to the group - been on LibraryThing for about a year, been a Stephen King fan for a lot longer than that (survived the 'wait' between The Wastelands and Wizard and Glass).

The Dark Tower series is my absolute favourite of King's work, but there are a few others I like to note:

Fav. short story: Dolan's Cadillac / Everything's Eventual
Fav. novella: Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption
Fav. older work: The Stand
Fav. Dark Tower book: Wizard and Glass
Fav. Bachman: The Long Walk
Fav. newer work: From a Buick Eight

There are works of his that have gripped me less than those above, or worked less for me (The Tommyknockers and Dreamcatcher spring to mind) but at least I know that when I pick up a Stephen King book, I am going to be engrossed from beginning to end by great storytelling. I even enjoyed The Girl Who loved Tom Gordon - character problems aside, it was a well told tale about being lost, and who we'd have left with us if the world disappeared.

OK, here's the story: almost everybody in my family is totally addicted to horror (except my parents). My friends are just the same, so I've known about Mr. King my whole life, and some of his works had a huge impact on my life (example: when I think about corn, I always remember the children).
And I live in Croatia which obviously proves his major influence on worldwide literature...
Oh, and btw, dottiejo29, I'm someone's 17 year old son and I love King's work.....

Hi all, I've been a King fan since about 1991, when I read the first novel translated into Romanian, The Stand. Been hooked since, although like others have said, there are a few titles I had a hard time with... But when he's on, he's tough to beat!
In '97 I moved to the States and left my Romanian books to my sister, who is also a fan; I picked up most of his work in English.
My favorites are The Stand, On Writing and Pet Sematary. I was also suprised at how much I enjoyed Cujo, the premise seemed so simple, yet it is executed beautifully...
Least favorite: the Peter Straub books (just couldn't get into those...)

Hi, I became hooked on Stephen King after reading Carrie back when I was twelve or thirteen. Although I'm a fan of pretty much everything he's written my favorites are mostly his older novels; It, The Shining, Pet Sematary, Christine and The Stand.

A few that I've found less than captivating were Insomnia, Gerald's Game, and Dolores Claiborne. I've been meaning to give Insomnia another try though because I was pretty young when I read it and didn't identify at all with the main character. Perhaps now that I'm older it will hold more interest for me.

I think Insomnia is worth another try if you liked It and/or The Dead Zone. It's a big, very philosophical book, and it moves much slower than his early work, but I liked it. Personally, I think Gerald's Game is his worst book, and I'd put Delores Claiborne in the bottom half as well.

I'm pretty much in agreement, I might try Insomnia again myself, just to see if it's aged better with time. The Tommyknockers isn't on the favorite list either.

I think The Tommyknockers was the first book of his I read that I didn't like...

Re Insomnia: I just finished Insomnia, and I personally hated it, but to each his own. I thought it was far too long and the events never seemed to form a cohesive whole. But I will never discourage anyone from reading a SK novel, because apparently some people enjoyed Insomnia. Like I said, to each his own.

I started reading King in Fifth Grade - maybe i was just a little young, but hey learning all those bad words made me feel cool. Now a Highschool senior, i have read everything of his except the Dark Tower Series which i intend to start soon. My favorite book? Probably Insomnia.

Hello All,

I began reading King about 20 years ago, so many of the stories aren't fresh in my memory...but my favorite and most unforgettable is It. That was so spooky to me as a young teen. Other's that I can still remember giving me goose bumps over the years are Desperation,The Regulators, and a few of the stories in Everything's Eventual. I still haven't made it through The Cell...so I think I'm going to move onto something else. Any suggestions?

Hello im Ashleigh, i got my King addiction from my mom, she had every book, so i naturally picked them up and read them. I've loved them ever since.