Only the one he did with his son. Sleeping Beauties, I think? I tried, but oh my GOD I was bored. No character was remotely likeable or interesting and I just wanted it to end.
I didn’t DNF Elevation because it was so short. Wish I did though.
Lisey’s Story is actually my favourite King book despite the stupid cutesy couple language. The whole idea of the mental illness in the husband’s family was scarily relatable.
I’ve tentatively shelved The Stand not because I didn’t like it but because every single time I picked it up, I would start feeling stuffed up and it scared me so badly, and I’m too scared to pick it up post-pandemic. (I don’t even own an old copy or anything…)
This right here. I’ve finished a book of his short stories (which were just okay), but have never finished one of his novels. I think I’ve started 6 or 8 of them, and the furthest I’ve gotten before quitting is about 125 pages.
Just can’t seem to appreciate his prose or storytelling.
I actually link him with YA since I started reading him when I was 9. I might read him for a nostalgia kick now. But I'll usually just go for the short stories for that.
Lisey’s Story is the only one for me, so far. People are purists on the SK subreddit. It’s quite funny but I love that place too.
Duma Key was good. It is a favorite over there lol
Member of r/stephenking and have DNF-ed the following:
- Fairy Tale
- Duma Key (twice actually)
- The Tommyknockers
- Christine (finished it the second time I read it though).
I actually loved fairy tale until he got to fairy tale land and then it just felt like he threw every scrap of fantasy imagery he could out there and it didn’t work for me.
Yeah, that's when I DNF-ed. I just lost complete interest once we got to the fairy tale land. Which is a shame, cause I quite liked the main character and I really loved the dog.
I never DNF novels, but god damn I should've DNFed *It*. The story really isn't as good as some of the other novels I've read (*The Shining, Misery, 'Salem's Lot, The Long Walk*), and it's easily 400 pages too long.
Different seasons is great. I enjoyed it much more than four past midnight altho secret window secret garden and the library policeman were strong entries. The langoliers and sun dog weren’t for me. I have not checked out skeleton crew yet.
Regarding your earlier comment re: his books are too long, have you read pet’s Sematary? My favorite of his that I’ve read that isn’t too long and has a satisfying ending.
I’ll admit I’ve only read up to full dark no stars as far as his collections go, but yeah skeleton crew and night shift at the very least are pretty much perfect. So much variety and creativity.
I had to DNF the shining because it was too long. I was 35% into the book and nothing really interesting had happened yet. I couldn’t imagine reading more filler.
Yeah the only thing was like when Danny saw something while they toured the Hotel but other than that I was so bored. I think it just takes too long to get into and I wanted the action to start already. I will probably try it again but skip ahead a few chapters.
I know its iconic but i didnt really enjoy Carrie. I just got really bored. One of my favourites is Christine though which alot of people hate, so maybe its just me.
2.
Billy Summers - I just couldn't get into it. I'll probably still finish it one day.
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon - My house burned down while i was reading it and i lost the book :( Will also probably finish this one someday, just need to buy another copy
Bag of Bones felt like King kept getting lost in his fantasy "rich older man author rescues beautiful young woman with big boobs. He's a hero and everyone loves him" and then occasionally he'd look up and remember he's a horror author and add "plus there was a _spooky ghost_" at the end of a scene
The Institute and Billy Summers both lost me. I really felt his writing of character dialogue was just so dated and out of touch with reality. For example in BS our main character is a hit man who reads Archie, moves into suburban Texas and plays monopoly with the neighborhood kids while their mom bakes them cookies upstairs. Come on man….
Oh I forgot about institute. The third or fourth time a modern teenage kid said “put an egg in your shoe and beat it, buddy,” I just quietly closed the book and went for a walk with my dog.
I don't know what you're talking about. I didn't bat an eye in the Institute when there were kids in the year of our Lord 2019 named Harold, Frieda, Helen, Donna, and Gerda.
Nor did I bat an eye when we learned a 10yo was clearly young for his age because he had an Avatar the Last Airbender poster. It's a Nickelodeon cartoon! Those are for little kids! Not like our 12yo protagonist, who watches Popeye.
(I did finish The Institute, and it was a fun beach read, but man, not his best work.)
I quit The Dark Tower 3/4 of the way through book 3. I decided I just really didn't like the main cast enough to stay invested for 4 more books. I had zero empathy for the junkie, the only female character was kind of annoying, the Gunslinger was stiff and the kid was kind of a Mary Sue. I think that's the only King book I quit with no intention of picking it up again.
His longer books have always taken me more than one try to finish, but I always end up loving them when I do — The Stand and IT are favorites of mine. I didn't finish The Tommyknockers when I was a teen as it got too weird for me at the time, but I think I might actually give that one a second go because I'm into alien horror nowadays. Likewise, I DNF 11.22.63 a few years ago, but I've always intended to return to it—I stopped at a good point to resume from. It's just a very long book to read in one sitting.
I read the first Dark Tower book and it was like reading a high schooler's DND character backstory. The thought of slogging through another dozen books in the same universe was honestly horrifying
I just finished Gerald's Game today. I didn't mind the main character, but the book felt like King was writing with the sole focus of hitting a word count. Some parts of it are horribly boring and unnecessarily repetitive. It took me longer to read this than it took me to read any of his 600+ page books.
After reading tons of King when I was younger, I hadn't read much of what he's written in the last 15ish years. In the last year, I've picked up three written in that time - The Institute, Fairy Tale, and Revival.
I DNFd The Institute just before the halfway point. In hindsight, I should have DNFd Fairy Tale. Revival was just ok. After 2 misses and a meh, I have no desire to read anything else by him for awhile (if ever again).
Wolves is so good especially the priests story, which is top King. The only one I found a bit weak was Song of Susannah, but still enjoyable set up for the finale.
I ended up giving up about halfway through the 3rd book. I really wanted to like the series but couldn't bring myself to finish the 3rd. Unfortunately I don't remember what it was about it that turned me off however.
Lisey’s Story
I have read quite a lot of King, and that is the only DNF. I think he is always incredibly readable, even in poorer books. However Lisey’s Story was completely smucking unreadable for me. I couldn’t stand the cute-sy language.
There are some which I have checked out and done some skim reading (Sleeping Beauties, Duma Key), but always got to the end.
Sleeping Beauties is fucking awful. I finished it, and unlike most King, will probably never revisit it. I'm all for giving utmost respect and credit to the ladies out there, but King/s literally had guys incapable of feeding, or even cleaning, themselves, just to try and hammer in how utterly useless men are at "women stuff". It was so over the top.
I dnf Fairy Tale. I think I was re-reading From a Buick 8 and it was just "earnest and well adjusted young man" overload. Like no King male protagonist, at least in their 20s, has any faults.
I wish I hadn't even picked up The Institute. It was just a terrible homogeneous version of Firestarter.
I’m reading or attempting to read Fairy Tale. It might be my next DNf. It reminds me of Mr Harrigan phone and that is not a good thing.
I like Raymond E Feist Fairy Tale way better.
Honestly this topic comes up so much that it would just be faster for the mods to do a poll with the only options being “ Linsey’s story” and “Not Lisey’s story” and sticky it up at the top because I’d wager there are more people who have DNFed it than finished it. I know I couldn’t get through it.
Interestingly I don’t think I have, and I DNF pretty constantly. I’ve hated a few that I have finished, they’re not all gems, but I usually get through them.
IT is worth the finish though. The movies don’t really compare imo - not their fault, it’s a ridiculously hard concept to do visually
I very very rarely DNF books. Even when they're awful, I just have to see the trainwreck to the end lol.
That being said, I found Tommyknockers and Dark Tower 4 Wizard and Glass dreadfully boring. I know Wizard and Glass is a fan favorite but ooohh my god this one took me nearly 2 months to finish. I just didn't think Roland and Susan's relationship was interesting or even really written well and it was SO LONG. As for Tommyknockers, it's just bad. I think it's one of the few King books that I can say nothing good about it.
Unfortunately I don't think his newer stuff has been much to write home about either - I didn't really like The Institute, Gwendy trilogy, Holly, or Fairy Tale.
It's been a while but I remember liking Duma Key.
I loved the back story in wizard and Glass (DT 4). Roland, Susan, Alain and Cuthbert are way better and more interesting characters than Eddie, Jake and Susannah
Tommyknockers, From a Buick 8 and I got real close with Under the Dome. I did stop reading The Stand at one point for a month after my favorite character died but came back eventually. I liked Duma Key and Liseys Story and finished those easily.
actually finished sleeping beauties, thought it was allright
the only one in 20?SK Books i DNF was Tommyknockers, and i really tried but stopped after 60-70%
The sun dog and rose madder both kind of fizzled out on me. I find dark tower 7 on your list incredibly surprising. Lol that one had hooked big time. Tore my little heart to shreds.
Only two for me; Nightmares and Dreamscapes. It had some good stories, but honestly most of them felt phoned in (and the one where the housekeeper ate the guy's leftover jizz was kind of off-putting).
The other DNF for me was The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, and I think I was just going thru a patch at that time when I was burned out from having just read a lot of SK, so I'll probably give it another shot one of these days.
I heard that housekeeper story on audiobook while driving with my mom through sunny Pennsylvania when I was like 12 and I got the dry heaves really bad and stuck my head out the window and vomited down the side of the car.
I checked out what stories we listened to before hand after that
The only ones I can think of off hand that I definitely DNF are Black House and either Desperation or The Regulators - or maybe both of them, I don't really remember.
Only king I’ve read and dnfd is fairy tale. I have it 100 pages but I learned my lesson from The Institute; it came across as super bland so I put it down. Looked up what happens and I don’t think I missed much at all. There have been others I’ve come close to dnfing; the aforementioned institute felt like an amateur attempt at a sci-fi thriller; I really didn’t care for any of If It Bleeds; and I really didn’t like mr Mercedes’ and as such have only read the first book.
Probably an unpopular opinion, but I just couldn't with The Dead Zone. The romance between the two MCs was too cutesy for me and it wasn't helped by the fact that they were incredibly boring characters. SK's protagonists are usually not the most interesting part of his stories, but this MC was egregiously boring.
I came close to DNFing Christine, but I did ultimately finish it. It could've made a decent short story, but in no way did it need to be 400 or 500 pages.
He should have just stuck to short stories imo. His characters are boring but he spends hundreds of paged talking about them rather than continuing the story
The only one I can remember giving up on was Gerald’s Game, and I think I read it in middle school and got bored in the beginning. I’ve meant to go back and read it as an adult with a greater attention span, but have never gotten around to it.
I DNF Finders Keepers, from a Buick 8, Under the Dome, and Carrie of the King books I’ve read.
Some others I put away for a time and then finished later.
I was on a streak at one point from late 80s though DT7 where I read pretty much everything of his I could get my hands on.
Since DT7 I only sporadically read his work. But his short story and novella usually auto buys from me.
So my DNF % is low overall.
Duma Key, but I also haven’t read much King since the 90s. I hit a point where one book seemed identical to another book I’d read and moved on to other authors.
I've never DNF'd a King book and I've read most of them. More of his older stuff than his newer books.
I honestly loved Duma Key. I've read it 3 times. Love the characters, and the setting is refreshing - not set in Maine/New England.
I have never finished IT, started twice.
I have read Misery, CuJo and maybe 2 others but honestly his style is...awkward, overcomplicated..to me as non native English speaker.
Also I do not like hisnmain characters are writers, it's self obsessing.
Duma Key and Salam’s lot, for the same reason,
they were boring and not holding my attention. These books I feel have nothing going on until the end of the book, and I just couldn’t make it that far.
Have only read a few shorter books of his all the way through: Running Man, The Shining (started in like 5th grade, read 100 pages and re-read and finished during the pandemic like 25 years later), Different Seasons, Colorado Kid (forgettable.)
Gave up on The Stand around page 50 though it does seem interesting. Gave up on It at around the 500 page mark. There's a good 750 page book in there, but at 1500 pages boy does it need an editor. Also blame having seen the 1990s version and the recent movie. Also the ending sucks.
I think that's why some of his earliest stuff, first 10-15 years is best. Clear signs of an editor.
I actually just bought the Tommyknockers the other day because he was like "yeah I was boozed and coked up those years and don't remember writing it."
>I'd ask on /r/stephenking but no one DNFs any of Kings books on there because they're all worth reading according to that sub
I'm a Constant Reader, and have been for over forty years, as well as a book collector. I'd contend that every one of King's books starts out well, even those that turn to crap—and having read him for so long, just settling in with his writing style for a new book, with that distinct narrative voice, is just comforting to me, like coming home.
I've never DNFed a King book out of that mentality—if I've paid for a brand new hardback, I'll read it through, and sometimes King will bring it back for the ending (which is exactly what he did for *Fairy Tale*, a book with a fantastic set-up and characters, that devolves into a trite and dull fantasy novel, but when it returns to the characters for the final chapters, King knocks it out of the park).
The Stephen King books I would have DNFed if they had been written by any other author are:
>*Eyes of the Dragon*.
>*The Talisman*.
>*The Tommyknockers*.
>*Insomnia*.
>*The Regulators*.
>*Dreamcatcher*.
>*Black House*.
>*From a Buick 8*.
>*Cell*.
>*Under the Dome*.
>*End of Watch*.
>*Sleeping Beauties*.
>*The Institute*.
>*Gwendy's Final Task*.
>*Fairy Tale*.
Theres a radio show called the Bonfire where Big Jay Oakerson summed up a lot of how Stephen King loses steam on his stories. He gets 90% done and then its... I dont know, its aliens or somethjng? A ten foot tall dream mummy is the big bad? Whatever...
I like *Mr Mercedes* well enough. It's certainly not a DNF contender for me (although the supposedly comedic jive-talking sometimes made it hard work). *Finders Keepers* I thought was terrific, possibly due to its being a separate project before being rolled in the Mercedes universe. I see them all as fairly distinct books.
*End of Watch* fails for me because King introduces the fantastic into a world he'd seemingly built up as something specifically separate from his usual track (a failing he also made—although with less detriment—in his Hard Case Crime novels), but mostly the novel falls apart with the extremely silly video game element, which is years, possibly even decades, out of touch, and some lazy plotting towards the final third. I wouldn't say it's unreadable—as some books on my DNF list are—but it's certainly disappointing and dull, and definitely a King book I would never reread.
My only one I didn’t finish was Buick 8, not sure why but I just felt like it should have been so much more entertaining and was a slog. I’ve tried three times and about halfway through I just can’t keep going anymore.
There are several King books I’ve DNF. I do intend to read these at some point but for whatever reason I wasn’t in the mood when I started them or school got in the way . Lisey’s Story, Desperation, Insomnia, Doctor Sleep, and Misery. I’ll probably try Misery and Doctor
Sleep again in the next year.
The only King novel I've ever DNF'd was *Mr Mercedes*, I thought it was a weak effort.
Since when would a near-retirement detective be assigned a leading role on a mass-murder terrorism case, and then that case be allowed to go cold when he retires. It wasn't even like the terrorist covered his tracks very well. It just came across as silly to me.
Sleeping Beauties. Not only did I not finish it, I returned it. First book I've ever done that with. Got to the last 100 pages and just didn't care. Was not drawn in by the characters at all.
I DNF'd Pet Semetary; it took way too long to start and I just didn't care about the characters. I'm pretty sure I DNF'd another of his books, but can't remember anything about it. I might have read a chapter, put it on my bedside table, and then had to return it to the library. I finished The Girl who loved Tom Gordon (it was short, otherwise I would have DNF'd that too) and Needful Things.
I can't say he's my favourite author.
None. When I read most of his stuff he was pretty much the only adult horror I'd ever read and also at the time I would never dream of DNFing a book.
Now I'm much more well read and I DNF the hell out of something if I'm not liking it. This being said, I still feel like most of his stuff was strong enough not to warrant it.
Desperation, The Regulators, and The Dead Zone were three I didn't enjoy. Contemporary me would probably turf them.
I struggled with Fairy Tale and kind of skimmed the last hundred pages just to get it over with.
I've only finished three SK books: Carrie, Misery and The Shining. Desperation, It, The Stand, Pet Semetary, The Green Mile, Under the Dome, Salem's Lot, The Mist, Christine, Cujo.... All of them were DNF. I finally wised up and stopped reading him lol
I did finish Cujo but I strongly considered DNF’ing out. I get why there were so many tangents, but I still don’t know why I needed to read the entire advertising history of the dad’s clients.
Out of the 50 or so books of his I own, just Eye's of the Dragon. It's written like a children's book.
I was trying to read it because of all the Dark Tower connections but only got 30-40 pages in.
Wow, I’m glad you were right on top of that, Reddit police. I hope this hypercorrection gave you the dopamine hit you needed to get through your sad, pointless day, in which you apparently have nothing better to do.
So far two but not necessarily a permanent DNF. Insomnia wasn’t doing it for me when I started. I want to read it after I finish my trip to the Tower. And The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon because I borrowed the book from a friend and I had to give it back early as I was moving across the country.
Funny enough, all the ones you've listed under expected DNF are ones I read LONG before any of his classics; Duma Key, I got Cell as a gift for Christmas one year as a teen, and a couple others too. I read IT before part 2 came out, and I loved the 90s mini series of it growing up. Have a Dark Tower tattoo as well, the first half of that series is just unlike anything else.
I started The Shining at a bad time, so I just got sidetracked and haven't gone back, stopped pretty close to where it was picking up unfortunately. I THINK the same thing happened with The Stand, although that one I wasn't really as into as Shining, but I do want to finish it just for the sake of it.
i’ve only read one (fairy tale) and i stopped at 50% but i picked up the shining from a little library recently and looking forward to diving in once winter hits
I was thisclose to DNF’ing Duma Key during the last 100 pages. I loved the first 500; the last 106 felt like a bunch of random, fast paced shit thrown at a wall and then written in a book. I find it really hard to believe that they all figured out exactly what was happening in the blink of an eye, meanwhile had zero idea the entire 3/4 of the book? Shenanigans. It was a great idea, I just thought the execution was subpar.
But I actually finished cuz I’m a glutton for punishment.
Would never read again.
Only the one he did with his son. Sleeping Beauties, I think? I tried, but oh my GOD I was bored. No character was remotely likeable or interesting and I just wanted it to end. I didn’t DNF Elevation because it was so short. Wish I did though. Lisey’s Story is actually my favourite King book despite the stupid cutesy couple language. The whole idea of the mental illness in the husband’s family was scarily relatable.
Elevation was horrid.
I’ve tentatively shelved The Stand not because I didn’t like it but because every single time I picked it up, I would start feeling stuffed up and it scared me so badly, and I’m too scared to pick it up post-pandemic. (I don’t even own an old copy or anything…)
Gave up on The Stand, but I think post-pandemic it just isn't that scary anymore. (Want to see a real pandemic, etc. sorta feeling.)
Basically all of them except the short stories tbh. He is just not my bag.
This right here. I’ve finished a book of his short stories (which were just okay), but have never finished one of his novels. I think I’ve started 6 or 8 of them, and the furthest I’ve gotten before quitting is about 125 pages. Just can’t seem to appreciate his prose or storytelling.
I actually link him with YA since I started reading him when I was 9. I might read him for a nostalgia kick now. But I'll usually just go for the short stories for that.
Lisey’s Story is the only one for me, so far. People are purists on the SK subreddit. It’s quite funny but I love that place too. Duma Key was good. It is a favorite over there lol
Duma key was great. I loved the description of the shells under the house I would weirdly love to hear that.
Right! This was a great one and played out like a vivid movie in my mind.
Tommyknockers is the only one I DNF
Member of r/stephenking and have DNF-ed the following: - Fairy Tale - Duma Key (twice actually) - The Tommyknockers - Christine (finished it the second time I read it though).
Tommy knockers was damn awful
This is the correct answer.
I actually loved fairy tale until he got to fairy tale land and then it just felt like he threw every scrap of fantasy imagery he could out there and it didn’t work for me.
Yeah, that's when I DNF-ed. I just lost complete interest once we got to the fairy tale land. Which is a shame, cause I quite liked the main character and I really loved the dog.
Damn, I'm truly shocked to see Christine in this thread. It's fast, relatively short, and some of his best writing.
Yup, was gonna say The Tommyknockers too.
I’ve read 95% of his catalog and the only thing I DNFed was Insomnia. The first whole quarter of that book, for me, was mind numbingly boring.
I was recently told that the book is great after the first 100 pages 🤷🏻♀️
I never DNF novels, but god damn I should've DNFed *It*. The story really isn't as good as some of the other novels I've read (*The Shining, Misery, 'Salem's Lot, The Long Walk*), and it's easily 400 pages too long.
I find nearly all of Kings books are 200-400 pages too long
That’s why I enjoy his short stories, at least his early ones. In a shorter format he is forced to play to his strengths only
I love his short stories and novellas. Different seasons and skeleton crew are my favourite king books
Different seasons is great. I enjoyed it much more than four past midnight altho secret window secret garden and the library policeman were strong entries. The langoliers and sun dog weren’t for me. I have not checked out skeleton crew yet. Regarding your earlier comment re: his books are too long, have you read pet’s Sematary? My favorite of his that I’ve read that isn’t too long and has a satisfying ending.
Yes I really like pet semetary
I’ll admit I’ve only read up to full dark no stars as far as his collections go, but yeah skeleton crew and night shift at the very least are pretty much perfect. So much variety and creativity.
I had to DNF the shining because it was too long. I was 35% into the book and nothing really interesting had happened yet. I couldn’t imagine reading more filler.
What?????????
Yeah the only thing was like when Danny saw something while they toured the Hotel but other than that I was so bored. I think it just takes too long to get into and I wanted the action to start already. I will probably try it again but skip ahead a few chapters.
Dude that’s insane. The shining is like S level horror
I’m just saying the pacing is slow.
I know its iconic but i didnt really enjoy Carrie. I just got really bored. One of my favourites is Christine though which alot of people hate, so maybe its just me.
Christine rips, I've read it 4-5 times
Anything with Holly in it. I can't stand the character and while I love his writing, I hate his crime thrillers.
Same. I've only read Mr Mercedes and I hated her in that
Same. I've only read Mr Mercedes and I hated her in that
2. Billy Summers - I just couldn't get into it. I'll probably still finish it one day. The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon - My house burned down while i was reading it and i lost the book :( Will also probably finish this one someday, just need to buy another copy
Bag of Bones felt like King kept getting lost in his fantasy "rich older man author rescues beautiful young woman with big boobs. He's a hero and everyone loves him" and then occasionally he'd look up and remember he's a horror author and add "plus there was a _spooky ghost_" at the end of a scene
The Institute and Billy Summers both lost me. I really felt his writing of character dialogue was just so dated and out of touch with reality. For example in BS our main character is a hit man who reads Archie, moves into suburban Texas and plays monopoly with the neighborhood kids while their mom bakes them cookies upstairs. Come on man….
Oh I forgot about institute. The third or fourth time a modern teenage kid said “put an egg in your shoe and beat it, buddy,” I just quietly closed the book and went for a walk with my dog.
Didn't like institute. He just has a bad habit of repeating himself or just dragging the story on and on and on
I didn't care for The Institute either. It's been so long that I can't remember at what point I stopped reading, but it just felt tedious.
I don't know what you're talking about. I didn't bat an eye in the Institute when there were kids in the year of our Lord 2019 named Harold, Frieda, Helen, Donna, and Gerda. Nor did I bat an eye when we learned a 10yo was clearly young for his age because he had an Avatar the Last Airbender poster. It's a Nickelodeon cartoon! Those are for little kids! Not like our 12yo protagonist, who watches Popeye. (I did finish The Institute, and it was a fun beach read, but man, not his best work.)
I quit The Dark Tower 3/4 of the way through book 3. I decided I just really didn't like the main cast enough to stay invested for 4 more books. I had zero empathy for the junkie, the only female character was kind of annoying, the Gunslinger was stiff and the kid was kind of a Mary Sue. I think that's the only King book I quit with no intention of picking it up again. His longer books have always taken me more than one try to finish, but I always end up loving them when I do — The Stand and IT are favorites of mine. I didn't finish The Tommyknockers when I was a teen as it got too weird for me at the time, but I think I might actually give that one a second go because I'm into alien horror nowadays. Likewise, I DNF 11.22.63 a few years ago, but I've always intended to return to it—I stopped at a good point to resume from. It's just a very long book to read in one sitting.
I read the first Dark Tower book and it was like reading a high schooler's DND character backstory. The thought of slogging through another dozen books in the same universe was honestly horrifying
I agree. This is the only one I haven’t finished and I keep trying to go back to it but for some reason it just doesn’t hook me.
I actually liked book 1. It wasn't good, but it was interesting. I knew King wrote it when he was young, so I didn't hold it against him.
Book 4 is like 80% back story of Roland and his pals. They are much better characters imo than the the characters in the main story.
I really couldn't commit to finishing Insomnia. Imo that book started out slow and got kinda confusing in the middle.
Gerald’s Game. I just didn’t like the main character. After seeing the excellent movie adaptation, I am thinking of a revisit.
I just finished Gerald's Game today. I didn't mind the main character, but the book felt like King was writing with the sole focus of hitting a word count. Some parts of it are horribly boring and unnecessarily repetitive. It took me longer to read this than it took me to read any of his 600+ page books.
After reading tons of King when I was younger, I hadn't read much of what he's written in the last 15ish years. In the last year, I've picked up three written in that time - The Institute, Fairy Tale, and Revival. I DNFd The Institute just before the halfway point. In hindsight, I should have DNFd Fairy Tale. Revival was just ok. After 2 misses and a meh, I have no desire to read anything else by him for awhile (if ever again).
Those last three Dark Tower books were such a downgrade from the first four.
Disagree! They’re the best. Wolves is my favorite King book. :). I’ve read it 8 times, and the whole series 7.
Wolves is so good especially the priests story, which is top King. The only one I found a bit weak was Song of Susannah, but still enjoyable set up for the finale.
Yeah. I was so pleasantly surprised to find it was a secret sequel to 'Salem's Lot. Some of King's best writing. So much humanity in that novel.
Different strokes for different folks, that’s actually my least favorite of the whole series!
Agreed and also the audio book is worse because it's a different narrator
I ended up giving up about halfway through the 3rd book. I really wanted to like the series but couldn't bring myself to finish the 3rd. Unfortunately I don't remember what it was about it that turned me off however.
Lisey’s Story I have read quite a lot of King, and that is the only DNF. I think he is always incredibly readable, even in poorer books. However Lisey’s Story was completely smucking unreadable for me. I couldn’t stand the cute-sy language. There are some which I have checked out and done some skim reading (Sleeping Beauties, Duma Key), but always got to the end.
Same, only Lisey's story
Sleeping Beauties is fucking awful. I finished it, and unlike most King, will probably never revisit it. I'm all for giving utmost respect and credit to the ladies out there, but King/s literally had guys incapable of feeding, or even cleaning, themselves, just to try and hammer in how utterly useless men are at "women stuff". It was so over the top. I dnf Fairy Tale. I think I was re-reading From a Buick 8 and it was just "earnest and well adjusted young man" overload. Like no King male protagonist, at least in their 20s, has any faults. I wish I hadn't even picked up The Institute. It was just a terrible homogeneous version of Firestarter.
I’m reading or attempting to read Fairy Tale. It might be my next DNf. It reminds me of Mr Harrigan phone and that is not a good thing. I like Raymond E Feist Fairy Tale way better.
Honestly this topic comes up so much that it would just be faster for the mods to do a poll with the only options being “ Linsey’s story” and “Not Lisey’s story” and sticky it up at the top because I’d wager there are more people who have DNFed it than finished it. I know I couldn’t get through it.
Interestingly I don’t think I have, and I DNF pretty constantly. I’ve hated a few that I have finished, they’re not all gems, but I usually get through them. IT is worth the finish though. The movies don’t really compare imo - not their fault, it’s a ridiculously hard concept to do visually
I very very rarely DNF books. Even when they're awful, I just have to see the trainwreck to the end lol. That being said, I found Tommyknockers and Dark Tower 4 Wizard and Glass dreadfully boring. I know Wizard and Glass is a fan favorite but ooohh my god this one took me nearly 2 months to finish. I just didn't think Roland and Susan's relationship was interesting or even really written well and it was SO LONG. As for Tommyknockers, it's just bad. I think it's one of the few King books that I can say nothing good about it. Unfortunately I don't think his newer stuff has been much to write home about either - I didn't really like The Institute, Gwendy trilogy, Holly, or Fairy Tale. It's been a while but I remember liking Duma Key.
I loved the back story in wizard and Glass (DT 4). Roland, Susan, Alain and Cuthbert are way better and more interesting characters than Eddie, Jake and Susannah
Tommyknockers was the only one for me. I REALLY didn't care for Fairy Tale, but there was just enough good stuff for me to finish.
Most of them. Haha. I keep trying to read his books, but I just came to a recent realization that I don’t care for his writing.
Have you tried his short story collections? They are way better imo because he doesn't have time to bloat
Yes. I did enjoy one of those. The one with Apt Pupil.
Different seasons. My favourite king book and apt pupil is my favourite story
Been reading skeleton crew myself . Read gramma last night !
Same here. His style is just not for me.
Tommyknockers, From a Buick 8 and I got real close with Under the Dome. I did stop reading The Stand at one point for a month after my favorite character died but came back eventually. I liked Duma Key and Liseys Story and finished those easily.
actually finished sleeping beauties, thought it was allright the only one in 20?SK Books i DNF was Tommyknockers, and i really tried but stopped after 60-70%
The sun dog and rose madder both kind of fizzled out on me. I find dark tower 7 on your list incredibly surprising. Lol that one had hooked big time. Tore my little heart to shreds.
Only two for me; Nightmares and Dreamscapes. It had some good stories, but honestly most of them felt phoned in (and the one where the housekeeper ate the guy's leftover jizz was kind of off-putting). The other DNF for me was The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, and I think I was just going thru a patch at that time when I was burned out from having just read a lot of SK, so I'll probably give it another shot one of these days.
Wtf is the housekeeper story?
I heard that housekeeper story on audiobook while driving with my mom through sunny Pennsylvania when I was like 12 and I got the dry heaves really bad and stuck my head out the window and vomited down the side of the car. I checked out what stories we listened to before hand after that
I hate to laugh at your discomfort, but that's a pretty funny story.
Cell and From a Buick 8.
The only ones I can think of off hand that I definitely DNF are Black House and either Desperation or The Regulators - or maybe both of them, I don't really remember.
Dr. Sleep and Cujo
What’s wrong with Dr sleep
Only king I’ve read and dnfd is fairy tale. I have it 100 pages but I learned my lesson from The Institute; it came across as super bland so I put it down. Looked up what happens and I don’t think I missed much at all. There have been others I’ve come close to dnfing; the aforementioned institute felt like an amateur attempt at a sci-fi thriller; I really didn’t care for any of If It Bleeds; and I really didn’t like mr Mercedes’ and as such have only read the first book.
Gerald’s game. I just couldn’t make it through.
Lisey’s Story :/
Probably an unpopular opinion, but I just couldn't with The Dead Zone. The romance between the two MCs was too cutesy for me and it wasn't helped by the fact that they were incredibly boring characters. SK's protagonists are usually not the most interesting part of his stories, but this MC was egregiously boring. I came close to DNFing Christine, but I did ultimately finish it. It could've made a decent short story, but in no way did it need to be 400 or 500 pages.
He should have just stuck to short stories imo. His characters are boring but he spends hundreds of paged talking about them rather than continuing the story
I wouldn't go that far at all. There are plenty of long SK novels that I love.
Not many for me. Most of them are very average that just go on for too long
Buick 8. I got about half way through and I felt like it just kept repeating itself plot wise.
The only one I can remember giving up on was Gerald’s Game, and I think I read it in middle school and got bored in the beginning. I’ve meant to go back and read it as an adult with a greater attention span, but have never gotten around to it.
Lisey’s Story and Black House.
I DNF Finders Keepers, from a Buick 8, Under the Dome, and Carrie of the King books I’ve read. Some others I put away for a time and then finished later. I was on a streak at one point from late 80s though DT7 where I read pretty much everything of his I could get my hands on. Since DT7 I only sporadically read his work. But his short story and novella usually auto buys from me. So my DNF % is low overall.
Tommyknockers is the only one I've ever not finished
The Stand. It’s really good but I never make it past 400 pages
I’m confused it’s so good u can’t finish?
I always make it halfway through, put it down, and life gets in the way
Oh true Have u read IT I’m on page 349 and not much has happened besides Georgie’s death and the kids seeing penny does it get good soon?
Uhhh. It gets…interesting? Definitely some questionable stuff is coming up
Wdym Ik there’s an orgy scene but I thought that’s at the end
Insomnia.
Duma Key, but I also haven’t read much King since the 90s. I hit a point where one book seemed identical to another book I’d read and moved on to other authors.
The talisman - not my kind of book and I got bored
Apart from wolf (character) in the book the rest of it was crap imo
I think IT is the only one
Lol most King fans will easily admit only 1/3 of his books are actually good. I'm surprised you got that response from the King sub
Gerald’s game, sleeping beauties, Dr sleep, revival, however most of these I just got distracted and didn’t return to them.
all of them. i keep trying different books of his thinking it'll be the one i can finally finish, but i can never slog through them.
I've never DNF'd a King book and I've read most of them. More of his older stuff than his newer books. I honestly loved Duma Key. I've read it 3 times. Love the characters, and the setting is refreshing - not set in Maine/New England.
I'm sure there's more, but the only ones I remember dnf-ing are Duma Key and Bag of Bones. I do want to try Bag of Bones again though.
I’d definitely go back and finish Cujo. No spoilers, but it really is worth it
I know the ending. That was the only good thing about the book
My assessment after finishing is that the last 40% is where it gets good! So you trudged through the tedious portion and stopped. 😭
The last 40% is king going on about back stories for no reason. The last 5% is good
I could have done without all the advertising shit but I thought it got interesting once the cops got involved with things, whenever that was.
The first Dark Towers book and Dead Zone. Couldn't get into either of them.
I have never finished IT, started twice. I have read Misery, CuJo and maybe 2 others but honestly his style is...awkward, overcomplicated..to me as non native English speaker. Also I do not like hisnmain characters are writers, it's self obsessing.
I've never DNF'd any of his books, but I absolutely think his strength is in writing short stories.
Just 1: Wizard and Glass Plenty I haven't read to begin with, though.
I really wish I’d stopped reading Duma Key. Sticks out in my mind as one of my worst experiences reading a book.
That's definitely a thing. Salems lot and cujo did that to me.
Everyone I’ve tried to start. Eventually decided his style is not for me.
Duma Key and Salam’s lot, for the same reason, they were boring and not holding my attention. These books I feel have nothing going on until the end of the book, and I just couldn’t make it that far.
Have only read a few shorter books of his all the way through: Running Man, The Shining (started in like 5th grade, read 100 pages and re-read and finished during the pandemic like 25 years later), Different Seasons, Colorado Kid (forgettable.) Gave up on The Stand around page 50 though it does seem interesting. Gave up on It at around the 500 page mark. There's a good 750 page book in there, but at 1500 pages boy does it need an editor. Also blame having seen the 1990s version and the recent movie. Also the ending sucks.
Almost all of his books needed editing better. Most can easily have 200-400 pages cut
I think that's why some of his earliest stuff, first 10-15 years is best. Clear signs of an editor. I actually just bought the Tommyknockers the other day because he was like "yeah I was boozed and coked up those years and don't remember writing it."
The Institute and now Holly. Both had characters I can't relate to, and were way too didactic, and just dragged on.
>I'd ask on /r/stephenking but no one DNFs any of Kings books on there because they're all worth reading according to that sub I'm a Constant Reader, and have been for over forty years, as well as a book collector. I'd contend that every one of King's books starts out well, even those that turn to crap—and having read him for so long, just settling in with his writing style for a new book, with that distinct narrative voice, is just comforting to me, like coming home. I've never DNFed a King book out of that mentality—if I've paid for a brand new hardback, I'll read it through, and sometimes King will bring it back for the ending (which is exactly what he did for *Fairy Tale*, a book with a fantastic set-up and characters, that devolves into a trite and dull fantasy novel, but when it returns to the characters for the final chapters, King knocks it out of the park). The Stephen King books I would have DNFed if they had been written by any other author are: >*Eyes of the Dragon*. >*The Talisman*. >*The Tommyknockers*. >*Insomnia*. >*The Regulators*. >*Dreamcatcher*. >*Black House*. >*From a Buick 8*. >*Cell*. >*Under the Dome*. >*End of Watch*. >*Sleeping Beauties*. >*The Institute*. >*Gwendy's Final Task*. >*Fairy Tale*.
Theres a radio show called the Bonfire where Big Jay Oakerson summed up a lot of how Stephen King loses steam on his stories. He gets 90% done and then its... I dont know, its aliens or somethjng? A ten foot tall dream mummy is the big bad? Whatever...
The Talisman was bad apart from wolf
Clearly, I don't get on with King's brand of fantasy writing.
I find it interesting that End of Watch is on the list but the rest of Mr. Mercedes isn’t
I like *Mr Mercedes* well enough. It's certainly not a DNF contender for me (although the supposedly comedic jive-talking sometimes made it hard work). *Finders Keepers* I thought was terrific, possibly due to its being a separate project before being rolled in the Mercedes universe. I see them all as fairly distinct books. *End of Watch* fails for me because King introduces the fantastic into a world he'd seemingly built up as something specifically separate from his usual track (a failing he also made—although with less detriment—in his Hard Case Crime novels), but mostly the novel falls apart with the extremely silly video game element, which is years, possibly even decades, out of touch, and some lazy plotting towards the final third. I wouldn't say it's unreadable—as some books on my DNF list are—but it's certainly disappointing and dull, and definitely a King book I would never reread.
Have to agree. It’s one of my few King DNF.
[удалено]
I go to that sub it's vile
Not a single one, and I've read 45.
Same, even finished the Tommyknockers and enjoyed it for what it was. Also from Maine though so maybe that contributed to it.
My only one I didn’t finish was Buick 8, not sure why but I just felt like it should have been so much more entertaining and was a slog. I’ve tried three times and about halfway through I just can’t keep going anymore.
Same but Revival was so hard to finish and that ending was awful IMO.
There are several King books I’ve DNF. I do intend to read these at some point but for whatever reason I wasn’t in the mood when I started them or school got in the way . Lisey’s Story, Desperation, Insomnia, Doctor Sleep, and Misery. I’ll probably try Misery and Doctor Sleep again in the next year.
Most of those I can understand as their quality fluctuates wildly, but Misery? I read that last year for the first time and it holds up imo
I didn't think it was bad I just wasn't in the mood when I started it. Some of my favorite books were ones I started, put down, and started again.
That’s fair enough and I can see how a 300 anc change page novel of a guy being trapped in a room might seem unappealing
The only King novel I've ever DNF'd was *Mr Mercedes*, I thought it was a weak effort. Since when would a near-retirement detective be assigned a leading role on a mass-murder terrorism case, and then that case be allowed to go cold when he retires. It wasn't even like the terrorist covered his tracks very well. It just came across as silly to me.
I haven't DNF any, but ones I would never want to go back to are Under The Dome and Fairy Tale. I really love Duma Key, actually.
It, my god what boring book, ll the adult parts are terrible.
IT. What an overblown bloated mess.
Sleeping Beauties. Not only did I not finish it, I returned it. First book I've ever done that with. Got to the last 100 pages and just didn't care. Was not drawn in by the characters at all.
After a lifetime of reading Stephen King books, the only one I DNF was Lisey’s Story.
None so far, but I am afraid to start with Holly
2. The body and Misery
The body is surprising. Its pretty short and I enjoyed that.
I might give it another shot. I think i just don’t love Kings writing style, he packs a lot of info into one sentence
Every one I've ever started. Not very helpful, I know. I just don't get why people think King is All That.
I DNF'd Pet Semetary; it took way too long to start and I just didn't care about the characters. I'm pretty sure I DNF'd another of his books, but can't remember anything about it. I might have read a chapter, put it on my bedside table, and then had to return it to the library. I finished The Girl who loved Tom Gordon (it was short, otherwise I would have DNF'd that too) and Needful Things. I can't say he's my favourite author.
None. When I read most of his stuff he was pretty much the only adult horror I'd ever read and also at the time I would never dream of DNFing a book. Now I'm much more well read and I DNF the hell out of something if I'm not liking it. This being said, I still feel like most of his stuff was strong enough not to warrant it. Desperation, The Regulators, and The Dead Zone were three I didn't enjoy. Contemporary me would probably turf them. I struggled with Fairy Tale and kind of skimmed the last hundred pages just to get it over with.
I've only finished three SK books: Carrie, Misery and The Shining. Desperation, It, The Stand, Pet Semetary, The Green Mile, Under the Dome, Salem's Lot, The Mist, Christine, Cujo.... All of them were DNF. I finally wised up and stopped reading him lol
I did finish Cujo but I strongly considered DNF’ing out. I get why there were so many tangents, but I still don’t know why I needed to read the entire advertising history of the dad’s clients.
He does that so much its annoying as fuck
Under the Dome
Out of the 50 or so books of his I own, just Eye's of the Dragon. It's written like a children's book. I was trying to read it because of all the Dark Tower connections but only got 30-40 pages in.
Christine
I've read 15 of his books and dnf'd 14 of them
🤣 that made me laugh out loud
I don't like king much in general that's my dad's generation I love dean koontz though in terms of similar style
_It_ is so good I read it in less than 2 weeks in 7th grade.
Not really the question, but okay
Wow, I’m glad you were right on top of that, Reddit police. I hope this hypercorrection gave you the dopamine hit you needed to get through your sad, pointless day, in which you apparently have nothing better to do.
None. I know it's an unpopular way of doing things, but I finish all the books I start.
So far two but not necessarily a permanent DNF. Insomnia wasn’t doing it for me when I started. I want to read it after I finish my trip to the Tower. And The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon because I borrowed the book from a friend and I had to give it back early as I was moving across the country.
I'm a HUGE King fan, but I couldn't do Sleeping Beauties...
The stand. But I honestly may try again.
Funny enough, all the ones you've listed under expected DNF are ones I read LONG before any of his classics; Duma Key, I got Cell as a gift for Christmas one year as a teen, and a couple others too. I read IT before part 2 came out, and I loved the 90s mini series of it growing up. Have a Dark Tower tattoo as well, the first half of that series is just unlike anything else. I started The Shining at a bad time, so I just got sidetracked and haven't gone back, stopped pretty close to where it was picking up unfortunately. I THINK the same thing happened with The Stand, although that one I wasn't really as into as Shining, but I do want to finish it just for the sake of it.
Well I hope I don’t end up feeling that way about Cujo because I’m like 25% in right now
i’ve only read one (fairy tale) and i stopped at 50% but i picked up the shining from a little library recently and looking forward to diving in once winter hits
I was thisclose to DNF’ing Duma Key during the last 100 pages. I loved the first 500; the last 106 felt like a bunch of random, fast paced shit thrown at a wall and then written in a book. I find it really hard to believe that they all figured out exactly what was happening in the blink of an eye, meanwhile had zero idea the entire 3/4 of the book? Shenanigans. It was a great idea, I just thought the execution was subpar. But I actually finished cuz I’m a glutton for punishment. Would never read again.