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Carrie / 'Salem's Lot / The Shining
Stephen King is a unique and powerful writer without equal for millions of horror fans. His incredible narrative drive ensnares the reader in a web of everyday surroundings, believable situations and recognizable characters that are eventually caught up in a terrifying noose of monumental evil. Three of King's earlier classics are here together in one volume, complete and unabridged and chilling: the explosive adolescent powers of Carried; the slow, insidious corruption of a small American town by a terrorizing vampire; and the malicious machinations of the Overlook Hotel and the gift of the "shine."
1096 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1983
About the author
Stephen King
2,530 books857k followersStephen Edwin King was born the second son of Donald and Nellie Ruth Pillsbury King. After his father left them when Stephen was two, he and his older brother, David, were raised by his mother. Parts of his childhood were spent in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where his father's family was at the time, and in Stratford, Connecticut. When Stephen was eleven, his mother brought her children back to Durham, Maine, for good. Her parents, Guy and Nellie Pillsbury, had become incapacitated with old age, and Ruth King was persuaded by her sisters to take over the physical care of them. Other family members provided a small house in Durham and financial support. After Stephen's grandparents passed away, Mrs. King found work in the kitchens of Pineland, a nearby residential facility for the mentally challenged.
Stephen attended the grammar school in Durham and Lisbon Falls High School, graduating in 1966. From his sophomore year at the University of Maine at Orono, he wrote a weekly column for the school newspaper, THE MAINE CAMPUS. He was also active in student politics, serving as a member of the Student Senate. He came to support the anti-war movement on the Orono campus, arriving at his stance from a conservative view that the war in Vietnam was unconstitutional. He graduated in 1970, with a B.A. in English and qualified to teach on the high school level. A draft board examination immediately post-graduation found him 4-F on grounds of high blood pressure, limited vision, flat feet, and punctured eardrums.
He met Tabitha Spruce in the stacks of the Fogler Library at the University, where they both worked as students; they married in January of 1971. As Stephen was unable to find placement as a teacher immediately, the Kings lived on his earnings as a laborer at an industrial laundry, and her student loan and savings, with an occasional boost from a short story sale to men's magazines.
Stephen made his first professional short story sale ("The Glass Floor") to Startling Mystery Stories in 1967. Throughout the early years of his marriage, he continued to sell stories to men's magazines. Many were gathered into the Night Shift collection or appeared in other anthologies.
In the fall of 1971, Stephen began teaching English at Hampden Academy, the public high school in Hampden, Maine. Writing in the evenings and on the weekends, he continued to produce short stories and to work on novels.
Stephen attended the grammar school in Durham and Lisbon Falls High School, graduating in 1966. From his sophomore year at the University of Maine at Orono, he wrote a weekly column for the school newspaper, THE MAINE CAMPUS. He was also active in student politics, serving as a member of the Student Senate. He came to support the anti-war movement on the Orono campus, arriving at his stance from a conservative view that the war in Vietnam was unconstitutional. He graduated in 1970, with a B.A. in English and qualified to teach on the high school level. A draft board examination immediately post-graduation found him 4-F on grounds of high blood pressure, limited vision, flat feet, and punctured eardrums.
He met Tabitha Spruce in the stacks of the Fogler Library at the University, where they both worked as students; they married in January of 1971. As Stephen was unable to find placement as a teacher immediately, the Kings lived on his earnings as a laborer at an industrial laundry, and her student loan and savings, with an occasional boost from a short story sale to men's magazines.
Stephen made his first professional short story sale ("The Glass Floor") to Startling Mystery Stories in 1967. Throughout the early years of his marriage, he continued to sell stories to men's magazines. Many were gathered into the Night Shift collection or appeared in other anthologies.
In the fall of 1971, Stephen began teaching English at Hampden Academy, the public high school in Hampden, Maine. Writing in the evenings and on the weekends, he continued to produce short stories and to work on novels.
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April 3, 2017
'SALEM'S LOT
"They only come out at night."
After waiting so long to read this work of horror, I was a little worried that SALEM'S LOT would not live up to my expectations, but was I ever wrong! Once again, as is the norm with Stephen King, there's more here than just creatures of night; there's also a creepy good storyline, some very colorful characters, and a small backwoods town with a dark and evil history.
After you meet the tall man and the quick-witted boy with dark eyes.....and the rest of the vampire hunting gang, the spooky Marsten House enters the picture and the disappearances begin. Oh, does the master of evil have some ingenious and nasty tricks up his undead sleeve! And.....just to add to the fun, KING throws in a vision of a "white faced clown with huge eyes and sharp teeth" for a little jolt.
I can't say I was "paralyzed with fear" but I sure enjoyed the ride! (Dracula is still my favorite vampire read.....sorry Mr. K)
(Have previously read and reviewed CARRIE and THE SHINING from this wonderful collection)
September 13, 2022
3 absolute gems!
The Shining - 5/5
Jack Torrance has been given the chance to turn his life around after being hired to work as a winter caretaker at the Overlook Hotel. Isolated from the rest of the world for months, Jack plans to rekindle his relationship with his wife Wendy and his son Danny all the while fighting his brutal alcohol addiction and working out his anger issues. Unfortunately for Jack, the Overlook Hotel has other plans for him and his family. The hotel is haunted by evil spirits with violent and tragic histories, taking advantage of Jack's own troubled past and his son Danny's psychic abilities. A peaceful winter getaway soon transforms into a true nightmare.
The Shining is a fantastic exploration of the struggles of alcoholism, financial ruin and past tragedies constantly coming back to bite you where it hurts most. Surprisingly, the fashion in which the basic elements of normal, human struggles is depicted in this book is far scarier than any ghost or even the Overlook Hotel itself.
Jack was a beat-down, broken and flat out pitiful man. He said and did some pretty horrible and disgusting things, but I developed a soft spot for him the more I learned about his troubles and what made him the way he is.
I loved the depth and feelings of sympathy and understanding the characters invoked. I wasn’t scared by this book on the same level as Pet Sematary, but I was moved by the very human struggles of the characters. It's a slow burner with a lot of heart.
***
Carrie - 5/5
The story of misfit high school girl, Carrie White, who gradually discovers that she has telekinetic powers. Repressed by a domineering, ultra-religious mother and tormented by her peers at school, her efforts to fit in lead to a dramatic confrontation during the senior prom.
A very sad book. I always thought this should be required reading in school as it captures many modern issues in gruesomely intimate detail. The importance of kindness, reaching out to struggling outcasts with toxic home lives, how to not be so shallow and judgmental for all the wrong reasons. You never know what someone is going through in their personal lives and you never know how close they are to breaking. Everyone develops and understands things differently.
Reading the book as a young adult who graduated high school not that long ago, I can say that it's an even more intense experience in the eyes of an adult who knows the horrors of growing up as a bullied outcast and being an awkward teenager that grew up in a loveless and hostile environment a bit too well. With bullying and prejudice at an all time high thanks to social media, the horror feels much more real and understandable now than it did when it was originally published. It's a chilling tragedy that captures the horrors of youth to a frightening degree. Tragedies like the case of Carrie can be avoided, but most people don't step in until it's too late.
There are some sections of the book that are edited somewhat awkwardly, the structure of the plot is a bit messy and you can definitely tell it was Stephen's first book as he improved significantly in just the next few entries, but it still holds up extremely well despite some flaws.
***
Salem's Lot - 5/5
Author Ben Mears returns to ‘Salem's Lot to write a book about a house that has haunted him since childhood only to find his isolated hometown infested with vampires. While the vampires claim more victims, Mears convinces a small group of believers to combat the undead.
The modern Dracula. An ancient vampire moves into an innocent little place, unleashes creatures of the night and turns people into blood-sucking monsters. I love this take on the old myth, showing that humans in a state of absolute panic and fear are often more terrifying and dangerous than ancient, powerful monsters. Your best friend can become your worst enemy at the drop of a hat.
I loved the long list of references of classic stories and authors that King mentions in this particular book. As someone that grew up reading a lot of weird fiction and gothic fiction, I enjoyed seeing Lovecraft, Poe, Hawthorne, Stoker and quite a few other of my old favorites continuously pop up.
The Shining - 5/5
Jack Torrance has been given the chance to turn his life around after being hired to work as a winter caretaker at the Overlook Hotel. Isolated from the rest of the world for months, Jack plans to rekindle his relationship with his wife Wendy and his son Danny all the while fighting his brutal alcohol addiction and working out his anger issues. Unfortunately for Jack, the Overlook Hotel has other plans for him and his family. The hotel is haunted by evil spirits with violent and tragic histories, taking advantage of Jack's own troubled past and his son Danny's psychic abilities. A peaceful winter getaway soon transforms into a true nightmare.
The Shining is a fantastic exploration of the struggles of alcoholism, financial ruin and past tragedies constantly coming back to bite you where it hurts most. Surprisingly, the fashion in which the basic elements of normal, human struggles is depicted in this book is far scarier than any ghost or even the Overlook Hotel itself.
Jack was a beat-down, broken and flat out pitiful man. He said and did some pretty horrible and disgusting things, but I developed a soft spot for him the more I learned about his troubles and what made him the way he is.
I loved the depth and feelings of sympathy and understanding the characters invoked. I wasn’t scared by this book on the same level as Pet Sematary, but I was moved by the very human struggles of the characters. It's a slow burner with a lot of heart.
***
Carrie - 5/5
The story of misfit high school girl, Carrie White, who gradually discovers that she has telekinetic powers. Repressed by a domineering, ultra-religious mother and tormented by her peers at school, her efforts to fit in lead to a dramatic confrontation during the senior prom.
A very sad book. I always thought this should be required reading in school as it captures many modern issues in gruesomely intimate detail. The importance of kindness, reaching out to struggling outcasts with toxic home lives, how to not be so shallow and judgmental for all the wrong reasons. You never know what someone is going through in their personal lives and you never know how close they are to breaking. Everyone develops and understands things differently.
Reading the book as a young adult who graduated high school not that long ago, I can say that it's an even more intense experience in the eyes of an adult who knows the horrors of growing up as a bullied outcast and being an awkward teenager that grew up in a loveless and hostile environment a bit too well. With bullying and prejudice at an all time high thanks to social media, the horror feels much more real and understandable now than it did when it was originally published. It's a chilling tragedy that captures the horrors of youth to a frightening degree. Tragedies like the case of Carrie can be avoided, but most people don't step in until it's too late.
There are some sections of the book that are edited somewhat awkwardly, the structure of the plot is a bit messy and you can definitely tell it was Stephen's first book as he improved significantly in just the next few entries, but it still holds up extremely well despite some flaws.
***
Salem's Lot - 5/5
Author Ben Mears returns to ‘Salem's Lot to write a book about a house that has haunted him since childhood only to find his isolated hometown infested with vampires. While the vampires claim more victims, Mears convinces a small group of believers to combat the undead.
The modern Dracula. An ancient vampire moves into an innocent little place, unleashes creatures of the night and turns people into blood-sucking monsters. I love this take on the old myth, showing that humans in a state of absolute panic and fear are often more terrifying and dangerous than ancient, powerful monsters. Your best friend can become your worst enemy at the drop of a hat.
I loved the long list of references of classic stories and authors that King mentions in this particular book. As someone that grew up reading a lot of weird fiction and gothic fiction, I enjoyed seeing Lovecraft, Poe, Hawthorne, Stoker and quite a few other of my old favorites continuously pop up.
April 23, 2020
Carrie -
I WANT A GIRLFREIND JUST LIKE CARRIE! YES IT IS…
Call it lame but I don’t give a sh*t. It’s all that I could think right now about this character. I just loved her, loved her so much & I bet when you read it you just can’t deny the fact…
CARRIE –
A mysterious girl! Who has lot of things in her guts. From the first moment I fall for her and obviously loved her character. I don’t exactly why but as if I was feeling some short connection with this character while reading the book. It was by far of course one of the best creation by the master story teller Stephen King & I’m glad to read it. It’s the way and the story that unfolded itself caught me deep in my mind. I just couldn’t put it down. Though it has fewer pages to mark it as a short novel but even though it has all in it with horror which will blow your mind. I say it was a gem and you while you read it I repeat you just kept reading. There’s no going back, never…
She has the dignity that I admire most and couldn’t shake it off from my mind how she revenged against those people who’s misbehaved with her. Of course it was gift for her. The Power. It’s the Power that anyone would love to have to him/herself. It’s the kind of power that you just don’t to messing with! She (Carrie) didn’t know at the time that she has that invincible power to her. Raised in a fanatic religious family her mother knows and cares nothing but religion in Jesus. It was too much but she survived it from her childhood. Her momma never let her to be socializing but only allow her to go to school. It was after that humiliation incident that happened to her in that school the thing began to change. You can’t humiliate a girl in front of every girl no matter how weird character she has in herself. You can’t do that to a person, never. But it exactly what happened in that school shower room where the incident took place. I hate that sick minded girl Chris and her sick headed boyfriend Billy too. What happened to them in the end was enough to satisfy my anger. Actually it all began when like a dream after that humiliating incident that Carrie White got the proposal from Tobby Ross in the Prom night of that school. There’s no way just then that Carrie would known what going to be happen aftermath she visit there. & what happened after then? Well it was chaos, total chaos I say. I just couldn’t remember the moment I put the book down but kept reading myself to know what exactly going to happen after that what they did it to Carrie. I was blown away but obviously so much satisfied by visualizing the horror myself in my brain. Believe me it really felt very good to revenge against your sick minded enemy, it was at some point too much to handle if you know what I mean. I loved Carrie & I wish if Stephen King bring back ‘Carrie’ novel with naming with ‘Carrie 2’ title, you know to read more about this character even though I know what happened to her in the end. Till then I am ok with it of course…
Salem's Lot -
Huh! Well. I really expecting more from that novel. When I picked it up I thought it gonna be a good time to read it out. But anyway it's fine and have to say good to read. On average I would like to give it a fair marks.
Better when (next time) I intend myself to choose another Stephen King's book I should have glance and check out the Book Reviews. But I am happy with what I've read...
The Shining -
Finally I have read this book and there's no reason to doubt but to admit this one is certainly one of the best horror fiction by King. It was too good in taste when reading in horror genre, too much not to ignore the terrifying events that happened in the book. Something to remember for a long while yes this one would definitely worth your time...
Jack alongside with his wife Wendy came to Overlook hotel to stay for a while as he's been handed as a caretaker of that hotel but he is a writer too and was hoping to begin a fresh start of his writing. Danny the only little boy of them didn't know what could happen when he with his mom and dad arrived at that hotel. The problem is not anything but the Overlook, it's haunted with something dark that can naver be explained. It was terrific, fearful and unreasonable in the inside of it's atmosphere. Going there Danny found a grown-up adult friend Dick Hallorann though he couldn't stay with them but he did promise the boy whenever Danny call for him he will be there for him. It was something that shared only between them and no one known so at the beginning...
As the chapter go deep I found it impossible to stop but keep going and dig out what in the earth there's in next. In some point I did find myself in terrified position and couldn't help but being feared at once. It was too much and you only can realize what might happen when you finally read it. No wonder why most of the reader find it very much favorite to them while come to choose of all King's work of horror fiction. I can't tell that if I place it as my number 1 King book in my personal book list but of course it did creep the hell out of me and again of course 'The Shining' entertained me enough to scare me down. I just loved it...
For the ending part - I was really anxious and terrified about what might happen to that little boy Danny and his mom and dad too. The problem was that I was thinking if all of them will be dead though it certainly didn't happened but what happened was really matter; and I couldn't cope up with it, I wish I could tell the matter directly in here but it would spoil the whole story of this book. Anyway speaking in two different side or perspectives I think it was obvious that what coming to that character it was just waiting for it and it deserves what had happened to it (character) and in 2nd side I just can't accept the fate of that character, it seemed totally unfair to me. But the story ends the way the author wants it to end. No more questioning about it of course. So yeah anyway all comes to end and while it's end you can count too that it really didn't end but maybe the beginning of an end. To read the sequel of this book? Yeah, absolutely; why not! Who doesn't want to know what might happen when Danny the little grown up being an adult and how his life goes on by then? Have to keep patient till reading that book. Till then love to King...
I WANT A GIRLFREIND JUST LIKE CARRIE! YES IT IS…
Call it lame but I don’t give a sh*t. It’s all that I could think right now about this character. I just loved her, loved her so much & I bet when you read it you just can’t deny the fact…
CARRIE –
A mysterious girl! Who has lot of things in her guts. From the first moment I fall for her and obviously loved her character. I don’t exactly why but as if I was feeling some short connection with this character while reading the book. It was by far of course one of the best creation by the master story teller Stephen King & I’m glad to read it. It’s the way and the story that unfolded itself caught me deep in my mind. I just couldn’t put it down. Though it has fewer pages to mark it as a short novel but even though it has all in it with horror which will blow your mind. I say it was a gem and you while you read it I repeat you just kept reading. There’s no going back, never…
She has the dignity that I admire most and couldn’t shake it off from my mind how she revenged against those people who’s misbehaved with her. Of course it was gift for her. The Power. It’s the Power that anyone would love to have to him/herself. It’s the kind of power that you just don’t to messing with! She (Carrie) didn’t know at the time that she has that invincible power to her. Raised in a fanatic religious family her mother knows and cares nothing but religion in Jesus. It was too much but she survived it from her childhood. Her momma never let her to be socializing but only allow her to go to school. It was after that humiliation incident that happened to her in that school the thing began to change. You can’t humiliate a girl in front of every girl no matter how weird character she has in herself. You can’t do that to a person, never. But it exactly what happened in that school shower room where the incident took place. I hate that sick minded girl Chris and her sick headed boyfriend Billy too. What happened to them in the end was enough to satisfy my anger. Actually it all began when like a dream after that humiliating incident that Carrie White got the proposal from Tobby Ross in the Prom night of that school. There’s no way just then that Carrie would known what going to be happen aftermath she visit there. & what happened after then? Well it was chaos, total chaos I say. I just couldn’t remember the moment I put the book down but kept reading myself to know what exactly going to happen after that what they did it to Carrie. I was blown away but obviously so much satisfied by visualizing the horror myself in my brain. Believe me it really felt very good to revenge against your sick minded enemy, it was at some point too much to handle if you know what I mean. I loved Carrie & I wish if Stephen King bring back ‘Carrie’ novel with naming with ‘Carrie 2’ title, you know to read more about this character even though I know what happened to her in the end. Till then I am ok with it of course…
Salem's Lot -
Huh! Well. I really expecting more from that novel. When I picked it up I thought it gonna be a good time to read it out. But anyway it's fine and have to say good to read. On average I would like to give it a fair marks.
Better when (next time) I intend myself to choose another Stephen King's book I should have glance and check out the Book Reviews. But I am happy with what I've read...
The Shining -
Finally I have read this book and there's no reason to doubt but to admit this one is certainly one of the best horror fiction by King. It was too good in taste when reading in horror genre, too much not to ignore the terrifying events that happened in the book. Something to remember for a long while yes this one would definitely worth your time...
Jack alongside with his wife Wendy came to Overlook hotel to stay for a while as he's been handed as a caretaker of that hotel but he is a writer too and was hoping to begin a fresh start of his writing. Danny the only little boy of them didn't know what could happen when he with his mom and dad arrived at that hotel. The problem is not anything but the Overlook, it's haunted with something dark that can naver be explained. It was terrific, fearful and unreasonable in the inside of it's atmosphere. Going there Danny found a grown-up adult friend Dick Hallorann though he couldn't stay with them but he did promise the boy whenever Danny call for him he will be there for him. It was something that shared only between them and no one known so at the beginning...
As the chapter go deep I found it impossible to stop but keep going and dig out what in the earth there's in next. In some point I did find myself in terrified position and couldn't help but being feared at once. It was too much and you only can realize what might happen when you finally read it. No wonder why most of the reader find it very much favorite to them while come to choose of all King's work of horror fiction. I can't tell that if I place it as my number 1 King book in my personal book list but of course it did creep the hell out of me and again of course 'The Shining' entertained me enough to scare me down. I just loved it...
For the ending part - I was really anxious and terrified about what might happen to that little boy Danny and his mom and dad too. The problem was that I was thinking if all of them will be dead though it certainly didn't happened but what happened was really matter; and I couldn't cope up with it, I wish I could tell the matter directly in here but it would spoil the whole story of this book. Anyway speaking in two different side or perspectives I think it was obvious that what coming to that character it was just waiting for it and it deserves what had happened to it (character) and in 2nd side I just can't accept the fate of that character, it seemed totally unfair to me. But the story ends the way the author wants it to end. No more questioning about it of course. So yeah anyway all comes to end and while it's end you can count too that it really didn't end but maybe the beginning of an end. To read the sequel of this book? Yeah, absolutely; why not! Who doesn't want to know what might happen when Danny the little grown up being an adult and how his life goes on by then? Have to keep patient till reading that book. Till then love to King...
November 5, 2020
The Shining: 5 stars + favorite
'Salem's Lot: 4 stars
Carrie: 3.5 stars
'Salem's Lot: 4 stars
Carrie: 3.5 stars
April 20, 2011
This voluminous hardcover includes Stephen King’s first three novels:
-Carrie (1974)
-’Salem’s Lot (1975)
-The Shining (1977)
Each one just really a masterpiece and treat to read for itself!
In Carrie you are thrown into the world of a teenage girl that has, on top of having a very powerful ability to learn to handle, a more than a bit crazy mother and really tough days in school. What happens when shit hit the fans is simple chaos and destruction. An intense and mind-boggling journey the reader is accompanying Carrie throughout the pages.
Stephen King’s first novel (apart from his two-part self-published “The Star Invaders” ten years before Carrie) is surprisingly written from a young troubled girl’s point of view, yet perfectly believable and realistic – despite the supernatural element to it. As in his later works as well, King is portraying the life in a small town area and the dynamics within nicely – along with the on-goings of the local high school. All together I find it to be a very honest and direct book and in its core and story-telling wonderfully chilling and interesting.
With ’Salem’s Lot Stephen King surprised me with a vampire story. Haven’t read too much about it before starting reading, I wasn��t expecting the “vampires” to be actual “vampires”, but rather something other, slightly different, supernatural. Positively surprised, I may add. Vampires like they should be: classic style, menacing and yet oh so sophisticated!
The character development of the main characters is not only interesting but very convincing, no action seems out of nowhere and really understandable and comprehensible. From the writer, the magnificent boy, the priest, the teacher and the woman who wants to become a famous artist (and falls in love with the writer, by the way) up to the evil enemies the reader knows where they are coming from and why they are going where they are going. Though, as it should be, you’re honestly surprised and shocked about certain turns of events. Of course most importantly: the entire book is absolutely catching!
The Shining is my favorite of the three novels. Written in the seventies it is set around the same time. No cell phones on every person yet, no internet and up in the mountains there is an awful lot of snow in the winter. Enough snow, if the mountain is up high enough, to get snowed in and completely cut off from the rest of civilization – for months. That’s what happens to the Torrance family when father Jack Torrance takes on the job as winter caretaker in the Overlook hotel. From the start Wendy, the wife, and their 5-year old son Danny find something fishy about it. Especially Danny, who has “the shine” starts soon to get all kinds of weird signs about and from the hotel. Are they gonna survive the winter up there?
The story is thrilling and just exciting to follow. The characters are perfectly written and you are compelled by each chapter and eager to find out what happens next, hoping all the best for Danny and his family. It does give you the creeps frequently, which I enjoyed a lot while reading. Sometimes headlines of chapters alone (e.g. “Inside 217”, which is a very significant room right from the start) give you the creeps and a bad gut feeling. Brilliant book!
-Carrie (1974)
-’Salem’s Lot (1975)
-The Shining (1977)
Each one just really a masterpiece and treat to read for itself!
In Carrie you are thrown into the world of a teenage girl that has, on top of having a very powerful ability to learn to handle, a more than a bit crazy mother and really tough days in school. What happens when shit hit the fans is simple chaos and destruction. An intense and mind-boggling journey the reader is accompanying Carrie throughout the pages.
Stephen King’s first novel (apart from his two-part self-published “The Star Invaders” ten years before Carrie) is surprisingly written from a young troubled girl’s point of view, yet perfectly believable and realistic – despite the supernatural element to it. As in his later works as well, King is portraying the life in a small town area and the dynamics within nicely – along with the on-goings of the local high school. All together I find it to be a very honest and direct book and in its core and story-telling wonderfully chilling and interesting.
With ’Salem’s Lot Stephen King surprised me with a vampire story. Haven’t read too much about it before starting reading, I wasn��t expecting the “vampires” to be actual “vampires”, but rather something other, slightly different, supernatural. Positively surprised, I may add. Vampires like they should be: classic style, menacing and yet oh so sophisticated!
The character development of the main characters is not only interesting but very convincing, no action seems out of nowhere and really understandable and comprehensible. From the writer, the magnificent boy, the priest, the teacher and the woman who wants to become a famous artist (and falls in love with the writer, by the way) up to the evil enemies the reader knows where they are coming from and why they are going where they are going. Though, as it should be, you’re honestly surprised and shocked about certain turns of events. Of course most importantly: the entire book is absolutely catching!
The Shining is my favorite of the three novels. Written in the seventies it is set around the same time. No cell phones on every person yet, no internet and up in the mountains there is an awful lot of snow in the winter. Enough snow, if the mountain is up high enough, to get snowed in and completely cut off from the rest of civilization – for months. That’s what happens to the Torrance family when father Jack Torrance takes on the job as winter caretaker in the Overlook hotel. From the start Wendy, the wife, and their 5-year old son Danny find something fishy about it. Especially Danny, who has “the shine” starts soon to get all kinds of weird signs about and from the hotel. Are they gonna survive the winter up there?
The story is thrilling and just exciting to follow. The characters are perfectly written and you are compelled by each chapter and eager to find out what happens next, hoping all the best for Danny and his family. It does give you the creeps frequently, which I enjoyed a lot while reading. Sometimes headlines of chapters alone (e.g. “Inside 217”, which is a very significant room right from the start) give you the creeps and a bad gut feeling. Brilliant book!
March 27, 2014
A solid investment for someone wanting to sample some of King's earlier novels.
Carrie: 4 stars
'Salems Lot: 3 stars
The Shining: 4 stars
The Shining was definitely my favorite of the three, though all represent what I have come to think of as Classic King.
Carrie: 4 stars
'Salems Lot: 3 stars
The Shining: 4 stars
The Shining was definitely my favorite of the three, though all represent what I have come to think of as Classic King.
March 26, 2020
I've wanted to read S. King books for a while now and never knew where to start. So I stumbled on this one. I think I have a S. King over dose now😵😄
I apsolutely loooooooved "Salem's Lot" and "The shinning", can't wait for my "Dr. Sleep" to arrive🤭
But "Carrie". I don't know. It was really confusing to me, everything was out of order and to much happening at the same time. The story and idea behind it are really good but the execution of it was little random for me. Might give it another try in future, maybe it is little easier to understand it then😊
I apsolutely loooooooved "Salem's Lot" and "The shinning", can't wait for my "Dr. Sleep" to arrive🤭
But "Carrie". I don't know. It was really confusing to me, everything was out of order and to much happening at the same time. The story and idea behind it are really good but the execution of it was little random for me. Might give it another try in future, maybe it is little easier to understand it then😊
November 14, 2021
Neither of King's first three novels are his greatest, in my opinion. Not even The Shining, which is widely heralded as one of his best works. Carrie is a decent first novel, but far from remarkable. Salem's Lot is easily the strongest, with some genuinely thrilling and terrifying moments to compensate for its other lacklustre aspects. The Shining is a masterful work until about the second half, when the supernatural elements become way too silly and impossible to take seriously.
February 15, 2011
I didn't get a chance to finish reading this book before I had to take it back to the library, and considering the fact that it's been languishing on my Currently Reading list since--what, 2008? 2009? Something like that. At any rate, I doubt I'll bother to check it out again so I can finish it. So my rating here is based on the parts of the book that I did finish, which were Carrie and Salems' Lot.
Carrie gets two stars from me. It's an interesting enough little story that I feel is largely allegorical; the chaos and destruction wrought outwardly by Carrie to me represents the anger and the negativity that gets internalized as self-destructive behavior by so many adolescents in similar situations. (Not the telekinetics with mommy issues who flip their shit and kill everybody situation, but the outcasts who just can't seem to catch a break no matter how hard they try situation. Just to be clear.) The problem is that, stylistically, it's obvious this is one of King's freshman efforts. His prose simply doesn't have the same fine-tuning and finesse as his later work, and I didn't particularly care for the narrative device he employed here. I heard somewhere that King added the faux newspaper articles and book excerpts after his editor, or someone, told him the story wasn't long enough to be published as a novel. If that's true, then I wish he had found a better way of lengthening the story, because this method just doesn't work for me. It gives away too much too soon and ruins any suspense or sense of build-up, since you go through the entire book already knowing what's going to happen.
Salems' Lot, on the other hand, only gets one and a half stars. The writing was better, in my opinion, and the story was both sufficiently creepy and intriguing, but unfortunately it seemed like only half a story to me. I was completely dismayed when I got to the end of it, and I actually spent some time investigating whether this was an abridged version of the book for the compilation, because it felt like I had just finished part one of what should have been a two-part novel. I was left wanting and unsatisfied, which displeases me greatly, and I cannot in good conscience give it a higher rating. Salems' Lot is not a novel; Salems' Lot is the set-up of a novel, which requires a lot more elements to make it complete.
So, since Goodreads doesn't allow half-scores, I give this book an adjusted score of three stars for the two-thirds I did finish.
Carrie gets two stars from me. It's an interesting enough little story that I feel is largely allegorical; the chaos and destruction wrought outwardly by Carrie to me represents the anger and the negativity that gets internalized as self-destructive behavior by so many adolescents in similar situations. (Not the telekinetics with mommy issues who flip their shit and kill everybody situation, but the outcasts who just can't seem to catch a break no matter how hard they try situation. Just to be clear.) The problem is that, stylistically, it's obvious this is one of King's freshman efforts. His prose simply doesn't have the same fine-tuning and finesse as his later work, and I didn't particularly care for the narrative device he employed here. I heard somewhere that King added the faux newspaper articles and book excerpts after his editor, or someone, told him the story wasn't long enough to be published as a novel. If that's true, then I wish he had found a better way of lengthening the story, because this method just doesn't work for me. It gives away too much too soon and ruins any suspense or sense of build-up, since you go through the entire book already knowing what's going to happen.
Salems' Lot, on the other hand, only gets one and a half stars. The writing was better, in my opinion, and the story was both sufficiently creepy and intriguing, but unfortunately it seemed like only half a story to me. I was completely dismayed when I got to the end of it, and I actually spent some time investigating whether this was an abridged version of the book for the compilation, because it felt like I had just finished part one of what should have been a two-part novel. I was left wanting and unsatisfied, which displeases me greatly, and I cannot in good conscience give it a higher rating. Salems' Lot is not a novel; Salems' Lot is the set-up of a novel, which requires a lot more elements to make it complete.
So, since Goodreads doesn't allow half-scores, I give this book an adjusted score of three stars for the two-thirds I did finish.
July 11, 2009
I have already finished Carrie, which I found to be an astounding novel! Simple, but packs a punch. You turn all sorts of corners, and venture into places you never thought you'd ever have the nerve to go to. It also exposes the very real creulty that High Schoolers face every day, and how even the person who wishes to reach out a hand of kindness can be persecuted for things assumed of them. Incredible read. If you're just dipping your toe into the world of Horror, this is definitly a perfect novel for you to read, to hook you into it. Or, if you're already hooked, this a a novel that will chill you, and send shivers down your spine.
I have yet to finish 'Salem's Lot, but expect a review when I do!
I have yet to finish 'Salem's Lot, but expect a review when I do!
December 28, 2008
Salem's Lot was the first of many King books I read and still the best of them all. I just wish they would actually do the book as a movie rather than what they've already done (which by the way were good).
August 28, 2023
The Shining, Carrie, and Salem's Lot - all 3 are wonderful stories by Stephen King.
August 4, 2013
Second time reading this. It's been 15 years since the first time I declared this as my favorite book ever and now I remember why.
September 18, 2024
What can i say that everyone else hasn't said yet? Nothing his work speaks for itself. One of the greatest writers.
November 11, 2022
I was around 9 when I decided I was old for Goosebumps books. They simply weren’t scary, so Pop (maternal grandfather) gifted me my first Stephen King along with a pocket dictionary. I was sworn to secrecy and asked to eventually return the latter. I read Pet Sematary in a matter of days but couldn’t sleep for weeks. Mission accomplished. The last thing Pop gave me before he died, then, was this collection of King’s first three novels. Like it was something to carry on the tradition. As such, I’ve been terrified to read this tome… less because of the content and everything to do with the fact that I’ve carted this last Christmas gift to every home I’ve occupied over the last 20+ years, so I’d been afraid that finishing the book would figuratively shelve Pop forever. That’s crazy, though, right? So I “forced” myself to finally enjoy these stories, as he once had, and loved it. Next year I marry my love, my partner, and eventually we’ll have a home of our own where this gift will occupy a prominent shelf. On display. #readingrainbow
Carrie 3.5 - wished it was longer.
Salem’s Lot 3.5 - the balloon of dread inflated with intensity between Bram Stoker’s rules on vampires and the mounting cast of developing characters, but it never pops. Rather disappointingly, it deflates as we’re expected to take the loss of Matt as some sort of climactic blow but he’s contributed nothing, then we’re force-fed a slew of magic, never pre-established, that booted me from the narrative altogether.
The Shining 4.5 - I applaud Kubrick’s changes, some of these things just wouldn’t have translated from page to screen. It was like reading a different story in which I was able to place familiar faces. Loved it!
Carrie 3.5 - wished it was longer.
Salem’s Lot 3.5 - the balloon of dread inflated with intensity between Bram Stoker’s rules on vampires and the mounting cast of developing characters, but it never pops. Rather disappointingly, it deflates as we’re expected to take the loss of Matt as some sort of climactic blow but he’s contributed nothing, then we’re force-fed a slew of magic, never pre-established, that booted me from the narrative altogether.
The Shining 4.5 - I applaud Kubrick’s changes, some of these things just wouldn’t have translated from page to screen. It was like reading a different story in which I was able to place familiar faces. Loved it!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 1, 2023
Carrie:
- I watched the movie back in high school so I was very much anticipating what would happen next in the book. The story was overall good, well written, and matched up with what I remember watching. The only thing I did not enjoy was the format. Some of the different sections were written as if pulled from a newspaper or a different book as there were page numbers with some. While different, this was very confusing to me. I wish there had been explanation around this.
Salem’s lot:
- Overall a very well written story. I didn’t know the book synopsis beforehand, so I was rather disappointed to find out it was about vampires. However, SK did a great job on the characters and reminding the reader who the non-main characters were without going overboard. For someone who has a hard time keeping characters straight, I greatly appreciated this!
The Shining:
- I was a bit unmotivated to finish this book. I think mostly because I was anticipating it to be scary, and also felt it was slow at times with unnecessary parts that weren’t needed. About halfway through, it seemed every other chapter had my heart racing. The last 75-100 pages or so was when the real action happened, but by that point I just wanted to finish the book.
Overall:
After reading these three books, I’m not sure I particularly like SK’s writing style. The way sentences and paragraphs were formatted was a bit confusing at times. However, I can appreciate the amount of detail he goes into, and he definitely has some interesting topics for stories.
- I watched the movie back in high school so I was very much anticipating what would happen next in the book. The story was overall good, well written, and matched up with what I remember watching. The only thing I did not enjoy was the format. Some of the different sections were written as if pulled from a newspaper or a different book as there were page numbers with some. While different, this was very confusing to me. I wish there had been explanation around this.
Salem’s lot:
- Overall a very well written story. I didn’t know the book synopsis beforehand, so I was rather disappointed to find out it was about vampires. However, SK did a great job on the characters and reminding the reader who the non-main characters were without going overboard. For someone who has a hard time keeping characters straight, I greatly appreciated this!
The Shining:
- I was a bit unmotivated to finish this book. I think mostly because I was anticipating it to be scary, and also felt it was slow at times with unnecessary parts that weren’t needed. About halfway through, it seemed every other chapter had my heart racing. The last 75-100 pages or so was when the real action happened, but by that point I just wanted to finish the book.
Overall:
After reading these three books, I’m not sure I particularly like SK’s writing style. The way sentences and paragraphs were formatted was a bit confusing at times. However, I can appreciate the amount of detail he goes into, and he definitely has some interesting topics for stories.
September 24, 2024
I do NOT like scary stuff, let's be clear...but I needed to read something scary for book club, and who better than "the king" (see what I did there?) to select a book from this genre?
So I only read 'Salem's Lot from this trilogy, but since I did in fact read it out of a book that contained all three, I figured I'd use this cover...okay, fine, while that IS actually true, the real reason I used this cover is because the cover from the actual stand-alone 'Salem's Lot was too scary for me!
Fun fact: I discovered while reading this book that, while I CAN NOT WATCH scary things, I can READ them! What a master writer Mr. King is...man, that guy can weave a tale! While I have zero desire to watch the TV adaptation coming out next month on this book (despite my friend trying to force me to), but this one was worth the READ!
So I only read 'Salem's Lot from this trilogy, but since I did in fact read it out of a book that contained all three, I figured I'd use this cover...okay, fine, while that IS actually true, the real reason I used this cover is because the cover from the actual stand-alone 'Salem's Lot was too scary for me!
Fun fact: I discovered while reading this book that, while I CAN NOT WATCH scary things, I can READ them! What a master writer Mr. King is...man, that guy can weave a tale! While I have zero desire to watch the TV adaptation coming out next month on this book (despite my friend trying to force me to), but this one was worth the READ!
July 6, 2023
I have been a Stephen King fan since 1982. Never read this only watched the movie. Although they both end differently I enjoyed both! ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
March 1, 2024
Better than the movies. I'm glad i gave Stephen King another chance. Thanks Amanda.
May 23, 2024
Pretty good collection of the first 3 books of Stephen King. They still hold up and are good books to this very day. Definitely worth a read for any horror fans.
September 2, 2017
This omnibus collects Stephen King's first three novels. This time around, I (re)read THE SHINING, one of the greatest haunted-house tales ever written, maybe even better than Shirley Jackson's THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE. King was influenced by HILL HOUSE, and it shows in THE SHINING, but what really stands out in this work is its semi-autobiographical nature.
For those unaware, King battled addiction to drugs and alcohol early in his career. In SHINING, Jack Torrance battles alcoholism and loses. One gets the sense while reading the book that Torrance could have been King. Like Ting, Torrance was a struggling English teacher who dreamed big dreams of making it big as a writer. Like King, Torrance had a family to support, and had to take jobs he deemed beneath him to keep them fed and clothed.
The book hinges on Jack's struggling with alcoholism, and with thoughts and impulses that grow darker as the Overlook Hotel's hold on him tightens. Jack blames his wife and son for his situation, and wonders more than once how his life might be different if he didn't have them to think about.
I can't help but wonder if King had similar thoughts during his lean times, when there was writing to be done at the same time there were bills to be paid and mouths to feed. I think it's likely. It's also human, and that humanity, more than the nightmarish images King paints in chapters that explore the haunted rooms and shadowy corners of the Overlook Hotel, is what makes SHINING such a raw and candid read.
I don't think I'm alone in sympathizing with Jack Torrance. He's not a bad guy. He struggles through most of SHINING, and you root for him to stay strong and mourn for his soul when he finally gives in. Readers love to talk about the forays into room 217, and the hotel's grisly history, and the pulse-pounding climax when Jack stalks through the hotel's corridors hunting his family. Those scenes are chilling and haunting, and deserving of the "How about the part when" talk they've generated for decades. But for my money, the book's best scene takes place in a maintenance shed, where Jack quietly scrapes and claws against the hotel, and loses.
My only qualm with SHINING is the characters' tendencies to blame Jack's disease instead of Jack himself for the havoc and horror he wreaks later on. More than once, you'll read "That isn't Jack" or "That's not your father" or "This isn't his fault." I don't want to get into a moral debate on the intricacies of drug addiction. It is a disease, and people in my life have lost loved ones to it.
However, I believe personal responsibility is of paramount importance. Addicts cannot and should not be allowed to blame the damage they cause on their diseases. They must accept their part in the harm they inflict on themselves and on others. As much as I love the Jack Torrance character, as hard as I root for him to persevere every time I read THE SHINING (this marks round three, I believe), I maintain that he is at least partly to blame for his actions, as he must be. The hotel may have conjured alcohol to fuel his demons, but there's a scene where he has a choice: pick up the glass, or go down fighting. Jack picked up the glass.
SHINING is one of King's most well-written books because it doesn't suffer from the bloat that weighs down many of his later works, even the best of the bunch such as THE STAND and IT. Most of the time his prose is elegant and understating, which makes the book's most horrific scenes all the more impactful.
Likewise, King didn't dip his pen in blood to write this story. He became known as the master of the grotesque, and sometimes seems to embrace the label by writing shocking and schlocky descriptions of gore and death. In SHINING, death is omnipresent, but never overwritten. It's beautiful in its way, and stands the test of time.
For those unaware, King battled addiction to drugs and alcohol early in his career. In SHINING, Jack Torrance battles alcoholism and loses. One gets the sense while reading the book that Torrance could have been King. Like Ting, Torrance was a struggling English teacher who dreamed big dreams of making it big as a writer. Like King, Torrance had a family to support, and had to take jobs he deemed beneath him to keep them fed and clothed.
The book hinges on Jack's struggling with alcoholism, and with thoughts and impulses that grow darker as the Overlook Hotel's hold on him tightens. Jack blames his wife and son for his situation, and wonders more than once how his life might be different if he didn't have them to think about.
I can't help but wonder if King had similar thoughts during his lean times, when there was writing to be done at the same time there were bills to be paid and mouths to feed. I think it's likely. It's also human, and that humanity, more than the nightmarish images King paints in chapters that explore the haunted rooms and shadowy corners of the Overlook Hotel, is what makes SHINING such a raw and candid read.
I don't think I'm alone in sympathizing with Jack Torrance. He's not a bad guy. He struggles through most of SHINING, and you root for him to stay strong and mourn for his soul when he finally gives in. Readers love to talk about the forays into room 217, and the hotel's grisly history, and the pulse-pounding climax when Jack stalks through the hotel's corridors hunting his family. Those scenes are chilling and haunting, and deserving of the "How about the part when" talk they've generated for decades. But for my money, the book's best scene takes place in a maintenance shed, where Jack quietly scrapes and claws against the hotel, and loses.
My only qualm with SHINING is the characters' tendencies to blame Jack's disease instead of Jack himself for the havoc and horror he wreaks later on. More than once, you'll read "That isn't Jack" or "That's not your father" or "This isn't his fault." I don't want to get into a moral debate on the intricacies of drug addiction. It is a disease, and people in my life have lost loved ones to it.
However, I believe personal responsibility is of paramount importance. Addicts cannot and should not be allowed to blame the damage they cause on their diseases. They must accept their part in the harm they inflict on themselves and on others. As much as I love the Jack Torrance character, as hard as I root for him to persevere every time I read THE SHINING (this marks round three, I believe), I maintain that he is at least partly to blame for his actions, as he must be. The hotel may have conjured alcohol to fuel his demons, but there's a scene where he has a choice: pick up the glass, or go down fighting. Jack picked up the glass.
SHINING is one of King's most well-written books because it doesn't suffer from the bloat that weighs down many of his later works, even the best of the bunch such as THE STAND and IT. Most of the time his prose is elegant and understating, which makes the book's most horrific scenes all the more impactful.
Likewise, King didn't dip his pen in blood to write this story. He became known as the master of the grotesque, and sometimes seems to embrace the label by writing shocking and schlocky descriptions of gore and death. In SHINING, death is omnipresent, but never overwritten. It's beautiful in its way, and stands the test of time.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 5, 2021
The movie was better
July 11, 2013
Carrie
: I knew the basics about Carrie from what I've heard of the movie. I have not watched the film yet; I wanted to read the novel first. When I began reading Carrie, it had sentences in brackets to explain what was going through Carrie's (and other characters') minds. These "thought" sentences were the only parts of the book that took me a while to get used to. To say that Carrie frightened me was an understatement. In the most straightforward sense, Carrie is quite relatable. The novel demonstrates the cruelty of people and their lack of remorse. Not every person has these qualities, but enough do. Bullying is a big problem and Carrie shows the extreme of its outcome. Stephen King definitely creeped me out with Carrie, so much so that I took a break before continuing to read Salem's Lot. My rating for Carrie is a 4/5.
Salem's Lot : Salem's Lot took a while to get good. The story is broken up into three parts (with an epilogue at the end). The first part was rather tedious because it introduces the reader to characters who are forgotten almost instantly. The second part begins to flesh out the true motives of the novel while the third part reveals the climax. The story does well to keep a sense of foreboding and evil. Although not overtly frightening, King's words easily paint a picture in the mind's eye. If the first part of Salem's Lot had been a tad shorter, or less peppered with rather irrelevant characters, than the rating would have been a 4/5. However, my rating for Salem's Lot is 3/5.
The Shining : The best phrase for this story would be chillingly eerie. Perhaps eerie bordering on downright terrifying. I'm not ashamed to say that The Shining gave me nightmares within reading a few chapters. Not many books have the ability to do that to me. I know a movie adaptation was made but I don't think I'll ever work up the courage to watch it after having read the book. I had to put the book down multiple times out of sheer fright. When I read Danny and Jack's experience in Room 217 I became increasingly uncomfortable walking into any bathroom with a bathtub. Good job scaring the crap out of me, King. I commend your ability to craft a chilling tale all while keeping the reader eager for the next turn of events. The Shining has become my favourite King novel, even if it scared the bejeezus out of me. While I'm wary about the forthcoming sequel, I'm excited to see how it plays out. My rating for The Shining is a 5/5.
Salem's Lot : Salem's Lot took a while to get good. The story is broken up into three parts (with an epilogue at the end). The first part was rather tedious because it introduces the reader to characters who are forgotten almost instantly. The second part begins to flesh out the true motives of the novel while the third part reveals the climax. The story does well to keep a sense of foreboding and evil. Although not overtly frightening, King's words easily paint a picture in the mind's eye. If the first part of Salem's Lot had been a tad shorter, or less peppered with rather irrelevant characters, than the rating would have been a 4/5. However, my rating for Salem's Lot is 3/5.
The Shining : The best phrase for this story would be chillingly eerie. Perhaps eerie bordering on downright terrifying. I'm not ashamed to say that The Shining gave me nightmares within reading a few chapters. Not many books have the ability to do that to me. I know a movie adaptation was made but I don't think I'll ever work up the courage to watch it after having read the book. I had to put the book down multiple times out of sheer fright. When I read Danny and Jack's experience in Room 217 I became increasingly uncomfortable walking into any bathroom with a bathtub. Good job scaring the crap out of me, King. I commend your ability to craft a chilling tale all while keeping the reader eager for the next turn of events. The Shining has become my favourite King novel, even if it scared the bejeezus out of me. While I'm wary about the forthcoming sequel, I'm excited to see how it plays out. My rating for The Shining is a 5/5.
June 5, 2022
Carrie:
For anyone who was bullied in school this book is disturbing. I just finished reading The Dead Zone and moved on to this one right away. It’s an excellent book, but I told my friend that I want something completely escapist after this! Something that doesn’t hit so close to my own life. No I don’t have any telekinetic powers, but there are people I’d love to see brought to a reasonable justice. So I can empathize with Carrie White’s feelings and how she abuses her powers once she realizes she can. This book is a tragedy. Much like the Dead Zone, it shows how superpowers might corrupt and destroy a person, turning them into a monster.
Salem’s Lot:
This is an excellent updating of the classic vampire legends. No shining in the sunlight or battles between vampires and werewolves. This story is like an hommage to Lugosi and Lee and Schreck. This is the vampire that destroys and currupts, strikes fear at the same time he seduces. This is the spawn of hell that we grew up with as kids in Carmilla and Dracula and the movies. Except this vampire doesn’t just go after a couple of women. He turns and destroys an entire small town. A handful of men and a boy plot to destroy the vampire. This story is done with the usual King mastery of suspense and of interesting character. But King goes further with this to reveal his love of old-time horror and brings in all of the old legends—the birch stakes, the garlic, no reflections, transforming into smoke, etc. This book is a love letter to all the great horror of the past. Yet King makes it fresh and new. Definitely recommended, Top Tale!
The Shining:
A remarkable story and my personal favorite among King’s books so far, though I have a lot more reading to do. I’ve always loved the first movie, but must admit I love Kubrick in general. I wish more moviemakers would have the freedom to pour the art into their craft the way Kubrick did. But the Kubrick movie does not really follow the book that much. The book stands seperate as a great achievement in the horror genre. The writing, the characters, the atmosphere and the imagination all come together to make this incredible. Even more powerful is the fact that for all you read through you are left with questions. There definitely is something larger going on here, but you only get glimpses of it. That may frustrate anybody needed everything to be clearly explained, but the mystery you are left with at the end only makes this story that much more powerful.
-Gregory Kerkman
For anyone who was bullied in school this book is disturbing. I just finished reading The Dead Zone and moved on to this one right away. It’s an excellent book, but I told my friend that I want something completely escapist after this! Something that doesn’t hit so close to my own life. No I don’t have any telekinetic powers, but there are people I’d love to see brought to a reasonable justice. So I can empathize with Carrie White’s feelings and how she abuses her powers once she realizes she can. This book is a tragedy. Much like the Dead Zone, it shows how superpowers might corrupt and destroy a person, turning them into a monster.
Salem’s Lot:
This is an excellent updating of the classic vampire legends. No shining in the sunlight or battles between vampires and werewolves. This story is like an hommage to Lugosi and Lee and Schreck. This is the vampire that destroys and currupts, strikes fear at the same time he seduces. This is the spawn of hell that we grew up with as kids in Carmilla and Dracula and the movies. Except this vampire doesn’t just go after a couple of women. He turns and destroys an entire small town. A handful of men and a boy plot to destroy the vampire. This story is done with the usual King mastery of suspense and of interesting character. But King goes further with this to reveal his love of old-time horror and brings in all of the old legends—the birch stakes, the garlic, no reflections, transforming into smoke, etc. This book is a love letter to all the great horror of the past. Yet King makes it fresh and new. Definitely recommended, Top Tale!
The Shining:
A remarkable story and my personal favorite among King’s books so far, though I have a lot more reading to do. I’ve always loved the first movie, but must admit I love Kubrick in general. I wish more moviemakers would have the freedom to pour the art into their craft the way Kubrick did. But the Kubrick movie does not really follow the book that much. The book stands seperate as a great achievement in the horror genre. The writing, the characters, the atmosphere and the imagination all come together to make this incredible. Even more powerful is the fact that for all you read through you are left with questions. There definitely is something larger going on here, but you only get glimpses of it. That may frustrate anybody needed everything to be clearly explained, but the mystery you are left with at the end only makes this story that much more powerful.
-Gregory Kerkman
October 25, 2021
"You really do feel like you're in the hands of a master storyteller." - Episode 73 - Shining Crew https://thetoreadlistpodcast.libsyn.c...
October 2, 2013
Ok. I do not own this book and am not really reading this book too.
The thing is goodreads still does not allow us to have 2 different copies of the same book on our GR shelves. Or for that matter when you re read a book and participating in the reading challenge and you re read a book the book will not count as read. You have to delete the first time info that you'd read it and then it counts.This is very annoying.
I have a few books where I have more than 1 copy. For instance Stephen King. I have nearly all his books in Dutch but also many now in English. Can't add them all.
Well I am re-reading The Shining now. I do know SK did not like the adaption of his book to the Stanley Kubrick movie and said this was the only adaptation of his novels that he could "remember hating". Notably, before this King often said he did not care about the film adaptations of his novels.
He also did not like that Jack was played by Jack Nicholson. The latter had become famous with his great role in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. King wanted a more every day actor. Nicholson he thought was already connected as being crazy due to that movie.
SK later made a mini series.
Anyway. This has apparently been one of my least favourite King books. I guess that has to do with me watching the movie before reading. I always try to read a book before watching the movie cause I love to make up my own characters and bow they look like.
Now I am re reading because I have Doctor Sleep on my kindle and can't wait to read.
Finished last night. (Well this morning cause it was 05.00 am Could not get back to sleep and no not thanks to the book ;) )
I did enjoy it. It was interesting to see how King managed to make Jack slowly becoming crazy and I also enjoyed how Danny saw the world.
The thing is goodreads still does not allow us to have 2 different copies of the same book on our GR shelves. Or for that matter when you re read a book and participating in the reading challenge and you re read a book the book will not count as read. You have to delete the first time info that you'd read it and then it counts.This is very annoying.
I have a few books where I have more than 1 copy. For instance Stephen King. I have nearly all his books in Dutch but also many now in English. Can't add them all.
Well I am re-reading The Shining now. I do know SK did not like the adaption of his book to the Stanley Kubrick movie and said this was the only adaptation of his novels that he could "remember hating". Notably, before this King often said he did not care about the film adaptations of his novels.
He also did not like that Jack was played by Jack Nicholson. The latter had become famous with his great role in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. King wanted a more every day actor. Nicholson he thought was already connected as being crazy due to that movie.
SK later made a mini series.
Anyway. This has apparently been one of my least favourite King books. I guess that has to do with me watching the movie before reading. I always try to read a book before watching the movie cause I love to make up my own characters and bow they look like.
Now I am re reading because I have Doctor Sleep on my kindle and can't wait to read.
Finished last night. (Well this morning cause it was 05.00 am Could not get back to sleep and no not thanks to the book ;) )
I did enjoy it. It was interesting to see how King managed to make Jack slowly becoming crazy and I also enjoyed how Danny saw the world.
June 10, 2018
Stephen King: Three Novels brings together King's first three published novels for a trilogy of terror unparalleled in modern fiction. Carrie is the story of Carrie White, an outcast and alienated high-school student who discovers that she possesses formidable paranormal powers. While Carrie struggles privately to understand the full scope of her wild talents, her classmates escalate their cruel taunts, provoking her in dangerous ways that no one could dream of in their worst nightmares. In Salem's Lot, writer Ben Mears returns to his hometown in Maine to write a book on the local Marsten House, the site of an unsettling childhood experience that has haunted him ever since. The Marsten House has recently been purchased by an unseen new owner, and when the townspeople begin disappearing--and then reappearing as blood thirsty revenants--Ben realizes that house is a locus of evil that has attracted a master member of the Undead. The Shining takes place at the sinister Overlook Hotel, a retreat in Colorado that has catered for decades to the wealthy and absorbed the malignant spirit of horrors that have happened on its premises. When recovering alcoholic Jack Torrance arrives there one snowbound winter to serve as the hotel's new caretaker, little does he know that the evil place will exert its insidious influence to liberate his personal demons and add to its legacy of terror. Stephen King: Three Novels is a distinguished new addition to Barnes & Noble's line of leatherbound classics. Each volume features an elegant bonded-leather binding, distinctive gilt edging, decorative endpapers, and a colorful satin-ribbon bookmark.
March 15, 2023
I am not exactly certain why these books are tripled together, but I will avoid writing reviews of "Carrie" and "The Shining" in favor of the novel by an at-the-time unknown author named Stephen King. " 'Salem's Lot", which I read on publication in 1975, not only scared the wits out of me, but inspired me to become a fiction author! There are books I've read since which are better, but none have so inspired me. No one can guess while reading the opening chapters what form of horror novel this is, but after a few more I began to suspect that the mysterious Kurt Barlow of "Barlow and Straker Antiques" is an ancient vampire looking to start a new colony. That is all the spoiler I would give, and I do so because this came before "Interview with the Vampire" a few years later, and thus launched the "empire of the vampire" novels that have arisen in its wake. It also inspired my entire family to become Stephen King fanatics surpassing even my interest! I have been writing stories since reading this book, and I have published three of them on Kindle and am still working on a novel I began shortly after reading " 'Salem's Lot." Caution: unlike many such promotions that are/are not accurate, this one WILL scare the bejesus out of you.
February 1, 2021
Three Stephen King novels that I thought I’d already read, as I have almost everything he’s written, but which as I began this book I realised I’d only previously read ‘Salem’s Lot, not The Shining or Carrie - I’d only watched the films... so glad I’ve rectified this now!
Carrie - least favourite of the three. I’m not sure why. I preferred the film with Sissy Spacek, not the travesty that came out a few years ago.
‘Salem’s Lot - Just brilliant in every way. Ominous, scary, melancholy, sad, but never feels overdone. I think this is the longest in the book but it didn’t feel that way, it flew by.
The Shining- I absolutely love the film and I enjoyed this even more. The creeping sense of dread as a man, and to a lesser extent everyone around him, descends into a slow and torturous decline of madness, despair, jealousy, paranoia, failure and extreme violence is so well handled. It’s an outright masterpiece. I can understand why King doesn’t like the film version after reading this, as it changes too much of the content and doesn’t really examine what drove Jack to madness and the overall influence of the hotel itself to affect people’s minds and bend and warp them to its sinister will. It’s the most important character in the novel.
Carrie - least favourite of the three. I’m not sure why. I preferred the film with Sissy Spacek, not the travesty that came out a few years ago.
‘Salem’s Lot - Just brilliant in every way. Ominous, scary, melancholy, sad, but never feels overdone. I think this is the longest in the book but it didn’t feel that way, it flew by.
The Shining- I absolutely love the film and I enjoyed this even more. The creeping sense of dread as a man, and to a lesser extent everyone around him, descends into a slow and torturous decline of madness, despair, jealousy, paranoia, failure and extreme violence is so well handled. It’s an outright masterpiece. I can understand why King doesn’t like the film version after reading this, as it changes too much of the content and doesn’t really examine what drove Jack to madness and the overall influence of the hotel itself to affect people’s minds and bend and warp them to its sinister will. It’s the most important character in the novel.
May 10, 2021
Salem's Lot: ★★★★ (want to read again)
The Shining: ★★★★ (29/06/18) It started out a bit slow but picked up about halfway through. Some things were a little hard to get past, like just how intelligent Danny seemed to be for a 5-year old, and the hedge animals that felt like something out of Harry Potter more than Stephen King, but I really liked it. I keep thinking that I’ve read enough horror/thriller novels to be immune to them, but I was thoroughly scared towards the end. King is brilliant!
Carrie: ★★★1/2 (10/05/21) This one definitely accomplished what it was meant to do, and that's disturb the hell out of me. The most terrifying thing was probably Carrie's mother... yeesh, religious fundamentalists scare me. I liked the length, I think it suited the nature of the story perfectly, but I didn't vibe with the format of using exerpts from newspapers, legal reports etc to tell part of the story. Also there were too many details about teenage girls' boobs, and that made me very uncomfortable. I'll give Steve a pass on those things though, it's his first book after all. Now I can finally say I've read it!
The Shining: ★★★★ (29/06/18) It started out a bit slow but picked up about halfway through. Some things were a little hard to get past, like just how intelligent Danny seemed to be for a 5-year old, and the hedge animals that felt like something out of Harry Potter more than Stephen King, but I really liked it. I keep thinking that I’ve read enough horror/thriller novels to be immune to them, but I was thoroughly scared towards the end. King is brilliant!
Carrie: ★★★1/2 (10/05/21) This one definitely accomplished what it was meant to do, and that's disturb the hell out of me. The most terrifying thing was probably Carrie's mother... yeesh, religious fundamentalists scare me. I liked the length, I think it suited the nature of the story perfectly, but I didn't vibe with the format of using exerpts from newspapers, legal reports etc to tell part of the story. Also there were too many details about teenage girls' boobs, and that made me very uncomfortable. I'll give Steve a pass on those things though, it's his first book after all. Now I can finally say I've read it!
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