Stephen King's Doctor Sleep

[Frey]

Anyone heard of this yet? It is the sequel to The Shining anf it is being released this year on September 24th, my birthday. I am a little excited about it and hoping this gets King out of his funk hes been in over the past years.

[Caustic Coffee]

After years of not liking King's newer work, he seems to have caught his stride again and I'm digging his stuff. I've always love the Shining, so I'll check this out for sure.

[The Revelator]

I've really liked some of his recent work, like Duma Key and Lisey's Story. I'm always in for new Stephen King!

[Godzilla]

The fact that King wrote a bona-fide sequel is a milestone in itself, and I can say I am very interested in this book. I've also recently read a interview King did for the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly, and he stresses that it's a sequel to the book, and not the Kubrick film. I'm sure some may go into reading the book thinking it's a sequel to the Kubrick film, but that number should be fairly small.

[Caustic Coffee]

Originally Posted by Godzilla

The fact that King wrote a bona-fide sequel is a milestone in itself, and I can say I am very interested in this book. I've also recently read a interview King did for the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly, and he stresses that it's a sequel to the book, and not the Kubrick film. I'm sure some may go into reading the book thinking it's a sequel to the Kubrick film, but that number should be fairly small.

It's been such a long time since I read the original that I'll have to pull my copy of Shining out the basement and give it another look to remember how it actually ended. I've watched the movie so many times that I only remember how that went.

[Godzilla]

Originally Posted by Caustic Coffee

It's been such a long time since I read the original that I'll have to pull my copy of Shining out the basement and give it another look to remember how it actually ended. I've watched the movie so many times that I only remember how that went.

I'm pretty much in the same camp.

WAY more familiar with Kubrick's adaptation than I am with the book. I remember watching the tv miniseries that was more in line with the book, but I've only seen that once. And that was when they original aired (1997).

[Frey]

Originally Posted by Godzilla

I'm pretty much in the same camp.

WAY more familiar with Kubrick's adaptation than I am with the book. I remember watching the tv miniseries that was more in line with the book, but I've only seen that once. And that was when they original aired (1997).

I had it on dvd once but have no clue what I did with it. The acting wasnt very good from what I remember but it did go along with the book more. In most cases I prefer the book over the movie but I like Kubrick's version more than the book.

[Jack the Pin]

The Shining is one of those books that I read as a teenager which completely engulfed my thoughts and my life for the handful of days in which I read it. It is really a fabulously nuanced, totally scary book. I haven't read it since my initial read because I'm concerned that some of the magic might be gone from it now that I am a sophisticated and jaded adult--heh. I believe I will read it again in anticipation of Doctor Sleep. My experience with re-reading King has been pretty good overall. I re-read The Stand (in unedited form) last year, it it was as satisfying then as it was when I read it as a freshman in college.

I think King is an absolute literary genius on par with Dickens and Balzac in terms of the sheer magnitude of his body of work as well as the overall quality of that body of work. One of the advantages of being a Constant Reader for the last thirty years of my life has been to watch the building of that Dark Tower of his oeuvre--to watch him develop themes, introduce and re-introduce characters and places, to come to know his mind both as a writer and as a person, to watch an already gifted writer hone and polish his craft. I truly believe that he has yet to pen his masterpiece, but I think his psyche is gearing up for that task as he approaches his twilight years. When that book is written and when that book is read some amazing things will happen.

For those of us who read King, it is an exciting time indeed because this writer is alive and creating among us as we live our own lives. I wonder often what it must have been like to read Dickens as his works came out in serialized form or what it must have been like to buy that new Beatles album on the day it was released. With King, we have that opportunity with King, and we should appreciate it and revel in it while it is around because nothing lasts forever. Whether King is for the ages or not is irrelevant; he is for our age, and the impact that he has had on everyone is vast and inescapable--and who would want to escape it. I can't imagine a world or this life without Stephen King. Eventually either he or we as individuals will shuffle off this mortal coil, and when he goes, the magic will go with him.

[Midnight-Kroovy]

Very Nice post Jack the Pin!

I'm rather a fan of Kubrick's shining and I know the whole story of King being unhappy with it etc. so I haven't really read the book and undecided if I ever will so Dr. Sleep is kinda out of bounds for me.

Personally I like his newer works, I thought Under the Dome was fantastic! My favorite King books have to be The Stand and Pet Semetary though. I felt both books were like age old fairy tales that question your fundamental beliefs.

Someone needs to sell the Dark Tower series to me as I love being engrossed by his bigger works such as Stand, IT and Under the Dome. I get a fantasy, Goblins and Wizards feel though to dark tower which is a big turn off for me, so I haven't bothered. I do like my westerns though... Kinda talking myself into reading it now lol.

[Jack the Pin]

Don't be put off by any pre-conceived notions you might have about what the Dark Tower series is or isn't, Kroovy. Just read it. Start at the first book and read right through to the last. It's as satisfying as reading a large novel such as The Stand only multiplied by eight. The only thing I would recommend before reading the series is a familiarity with King's other works past and present--both novels and short stories--because The Dark Tower both encompasses and penetrates King's other works as well as King's own life as a writer and a man. It sends little shivers up my spine whenever a character or a town or something else is referenced in different books in different ways. Sometimes these references are glaring and obvious and other times they are deliciously subtle.

EDIT: Seems like you have enough SK under your belt already to climb the Tower. Have a go at it.