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Has Stephen King run out of ideas

However, sometime around 2000 he started churning out stuff that was different. Some of it was a miss but some of it was exceptional. Duma Key remains a masterpiece on reread.

Yes. Mid-1999 was when he was nearly killed by a car while he was out walking. He put a lot of his own experience from the accident and recovery into Duma Key, and I think it's one of the best things he's ever written.
 
I'm about a third of the way into 11/22/63 and it's without a doubt the best book I've read this year. The books that King put out in the wake of his accident - Dreamcatcher, From a Buick 8, Lisey's Story - were rather weak. But in the last few years he's come back strong and has produced some of his best work - Duma Key, Under the Dome, and now 11/22/63.
 
I finished 11/22/63 yesterday and loved it. Really emotional, and King surprised me by writing an ending that I liked for once.
 
Full Dark, No Stars was great. Hearts in Atlantis and The Green Mile are masterpieces. Under the Dome was a massively addictive page-turner. Duma Key and Lisey's Story both have a lot to recommend them. And, by all accounts, this JFK book is amazing, though I haven't read it yet.

No, Stephen King's career, though it has had ups and downs, is still going very strong. Anyone would envy having a career as long-lasting as his.
 
Gotta disagree. The novel Duma Key and the stories in Full Dark, No Stars are some of the best work he's done.

Haven't read Full Dark, No Stars yet, but Duma Key is one of my favorite King books of all time (and I've been reading him since the early 80s).

The characters in Lisey's Story are pretty different, too.

I really enjoyed that book. I wouldn't place it in my Top Ten, but I liked the characters in it a lot.

11/22/63 is amazing. He wrote a large portion of the novel in the 70's, but said it was too emotional for him to finish. There's actually a really good chance it will go down in history as his best novel. I read Lisey's Story and Full Dark, No Stars last year and it's some of his most emotionally engaging work ever. I really felt like I lived fro 1958-1963 when I read the book. It's the best thing I've read all year.

I agree totally. I feel like his work has taken on a real emotional depth in his later writing (and even more so after his accident). His earlier stuff may have been scarier, but his character writing has improved dramatically, and he's gotten a lot better at writing endings, too.

Haunted house stories are done to death. Exorcism stories are done to death. Vampire stories are done to death. Fantasy quests are done to death. It's what you do with the premise. Read the book before you judge.

So very, very true.

I dare anyone to read Hearts in Atlantis, particularly "Low Men in Yellow Coats," and tell me King hasn't had a good idea in 20 years.

Yeah, that still gives me the creeps. King's got such a way with picking word combinations (or sound combinations) that just creep you out before you even get a context for them, and the Low Men in Yellow Coats are a perfect illustration of that. (The word "Jimla" in 11/23/63 is another one of those.)

I finished 11/22/63 yesterday and loved it. Really emotional, and King surprised me by writing an ending that I liked for once.

Loved the ending, although it made me sad.
I'm a 'shipper from way back, so I really wanted "George" and Sadie to have their happy ending.
 
I dare anyone to read Hearts in Atlantis, particularly "Low Men in Yellow Coats," and tell me King hasn't had a good idea in 20 years.

Yeah, that still gives me the creeps. King's got such a way with picking word combinations (or sound combinations) that just creep you out before you even get a context for them, and the Low Men in Yellow Coats are a perfect illustration of that. (The word "Jimla" in 11/23/63 is another one of those.)

It's also just a wonderful exploration of early 60s America, and the rest of the stories in that one of the Vietnam War era. Why We're In Vietnam also stands out for me.
 
so is this going to be the new stephen king thread ? since I can't find the other one.

all so this week picked up book 1 of the dark tower books.
 
A lot of his ideas seem to spring from idle daydreaming from causal observations.

You can picture him eating at a noisy truck stop and thinking what if those trucks were really alive? Seeing a big dog barking at a car and thinking what if they couldn't get away from that dog. Or passing a big truck on the freeway which blasts the horn at him and what if that guy actually kept following me. Watching the neighbors lawn getting mowed and ....

I think at its best this works because it's stuff we've either dreamt up ourselves or is just on the edge of our normal lives and so is relatable at a fundamental level but when it doesn't work it can across more insipid than inspired (What if that laundry machine was possessed?).
 
Loved the ending, although it made me sad.
I'm a 'shipper from way back, so I really wanted "George" and Sadie to have their happy ending.

That was why I liked it. It hit the emotional notes for sure. King may not be the best at overall plot (and his problems with satisfying endings is a testament to this) but I love his character work.
 
Yeah, I think he's the best reader of King stuff since Frank Muller (R.I.P :( ) Haven't had the time to listen to "Full Dark, No Stars" yet (it's on my wishlist on Audible). Haven't heard "Under the Dome" yet either, but that one is unfortunately region locked on Audible, so I have to find it some other way.

I really like that Wasson really acts out the monologue in "11/22/63"
 
I used to have an hour commute back and forth to work for a while so I listened to a few King books. I'm back to the good ol' reading now, though.
 
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