Can't sleep, clown will eat me. Can't sleep, clown will eat me.
I discovered Stephen King at a tender age. And while I'm not going to stand here all day defending his books or debating the merits or otherwise of literary fiction vs popular fiction - I'm not ashamed to admit that I once immensely enjoyed the King.
I spent many a night quivering under the duvet, convinced that Pennywise the clown was just waiting for the perfect opportunity (when the lights were off, god, the lights!) to appear from under the bed and drag me down to the sewers by the ankles.
As a kid, I learned many valuable lessons from It. Such as:
1. Never trust a clown 
2. Like in Zombieland, cardio cardio cardio
3. Don't make a blood oath
4. If you come from a town where mysterious deaths occur every 27 years and manage to escape, for heaven's sake, don't go back!
5. Evil clowns lay eggs
In all seriousness though, King has published some terrible books - especially in the latter years. But the reason I like It is because it encapsulates the best of the horror genre for me. There's mystical, magical ritual, a villain that can frankly make a kid wee their pants in terror, bloodshed and violence, goodies and baddies, and psychological trickery.
There are some snobbish reading folk who will condemn horror because it's popular and mainstream, but I always think the main purpose of reading for most people is for pleasure. For most ordinary people coming home from a hard day at work, where they most likely will have to put in a second shift with the family, all they require from fiction is that it gives them an escape to another world. Whether that world has an evil clown cackling away in the sewers, or is located in a chocolate shop in France, that should be up to the desire of the reader.
The beauty of It, I think, lies not so much in the plot - which is rich enough on its own - but on the characters. Creating distinct characters is something that many authors struggle with, because if you are one person writing about many, it can be difficult not letting your own voice seep through the characters. King is a master of dialogue, and most of his characters speak in a convincing manner.
What do you think of Stephen King? Have you read It?
* Next week's book club title is Chocolat, by Joanne Harris.
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I started reading It when I was about 15 or 16. I never finished the book, though, because I found it tedious and ridiculous. Stephen King has some excellent books but he has a really bad habit of waffling on about practically nothing for pages and pages.
Read his early books as a teenager - staying up all night to finish the book was common (I gotta know what happens!). Then I couldn't turn the light off when I did finally decide to go to sleep...
The Stand was hands down my favourite. It's the only one I still have, and will still read every few years or so. As you say, it's the characters, all richly drawn and distinct. And the horror of the Walking Dude...
I just to read King a lot. Misery, Cujo, Christine, etc. Nowadays I'm more of a scaredy cat and can't read / watch horror anymore, but I used to enjoy it very much.
Misery remains one of my 'favourites'. The scariest about this book is THAT IT CAN ACTUALLY HAPPEN. There's nothing supernatural about it, it's just an ubercrazed fan who knows how to cut off appendages without killing you. Now THAT'S pure horror.
Oh I forgot to mention Shawshank Redemption, probably because it's not a horror. Great book and one of my all time favourite movies.
I am reading 11/22/63 at the moment. I have read books of his that did nothing for me, but then loved "Misery", "Carrie", and "Under The Dome". The one I am reading now is quite interesting though.....although I am only about 20% of the way through it.
IT was an very good read, but not my favourite. Scary as hell though. There had been many nights as a teenager when I sat up reading the last 400 pages because I need to get to the end.
I've read all his books minus like 5. I have been reading his books since I was 12. My favourites are Needful Things, Rose Madder, Pet Sematary and the Stand. However his best stories are his shorter ones and his novella compilations.
I still enjoy reading his books, having just finished 11/22/63 which was an amazingly good read and a departure from the Horror Genre.
I agree - King is a better writer than many people give him credit for.
Most folks can't see past the fantasy elements. And that's sad, because King is an expert character writer.
To see what I mean, I recommend reading Blaze. It's what King calls a "trunk novel" - a book he wrote ages ago, but put away and forgot about it.
Years later he found his manuscript, and rewrote it to remove the fantasy elements. What remains is a taut thriller which is also a study in characterisation. I'd recommend it, or any of his books, to a writing student.
I've read a few Stephen King books, my favorite is t'The long walk' which was written as Richard Bachman, freaked me out at 15 and I still read it again now and then these days. At high school my friends and sister had read IT and were in fear of clowns, so my sisters boyfriend as a birthday present filled her room up with balloons the day after she had finished the book....she gets home from school, opens door, sees balloons, screams loudly, dumps boyfriend who was rolling on the floor laughing.
I agree with Noodle #2 - Stephen King does have a tendency to waffle. Take the Dark Tower series, for example! Davo #6 - Under the Dome was great, one of his better more recent books but again, he could probably have done with a ruthless editor who wouldn't hesitate to chop it in half
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I think he is a fantastic writer. When I was younger I read plenty of his books, I don't read horror anymore though. My favourites were Carrie, The Shining, Pet Cemetary (I even thought about naming my son if I had one, Gage I think it was ! lol) Misery and yes I read IT, I never looked at clowns the same especially after watching the TV Series which was very well done along with Misery and The Shining..not many books (especially when you've read them) are made into movies as you would like them, these two definetely were !