Genre Storytime :)

[Heidi M Simone]

Thinking about our chosen genres, Crime/Mystery/Thriller/Horror, are there stories you don't mind sharing about this genre of choice and its relation to you?

For example:
Years ago (high school/college time), I tried to read It by Stephen King and became so freaked out that a scary murderous clown would show up near my neighborhood because I was reading the book, I stopped reading. Then to my persistence I tried watching the movie and couldn't even make it ten minutes, lol. I can't remember if it was the music that creeped me out or what because I'm pretty sure that I didn't even see the clown yet and it was too much for me.

Now...as I'm older and the fact that It is back in action with the new movie, I'm itching to read this book. I'm partially worried about nightmares, but I'm so interested that I almost don't care, lol. I also think that because I'm older, I won't be as scared. I got the book, so we'll see!

Do have any stories in relation to these genres that you would like to share?

[joanofarc2015]

Hello, im back from a long, long hiatus and i thought one of the best places to restart with this site is the genre discussion. it really is a favorite forum of mine.

anyways, i had a phase in high school of reading crime mysteries/ thrillers. i think i wanted a book genre flavor change or i was getting more interested in the work of my dad (a police journalist).

i started out with "Mitigating Circumstances" by Nancy Taylor Rosenberg then got my hands on "better" reads like "The Silence of the Lambs" by Thomas Harris.

i want to review "Mitigating Circumstances" because it was the first time I was actually reading about rape and its implications to women. my dad brings cases home but the pictures are gory so reading this book without pictures was a new and shocking experience. it made me more aware of such crimes occurring.

i do hope more books will help guide and expose these kinds of issues. and im excited to read more crime thrillers when i have the time

for my friend @hsimone, i didn't know "It" was a book until now. cool.

[Gravy]

I first started reading 'adult' books in my early teens. I never stayed with one genre (though I have had my favorites), and The Shining always intrigued me. I picked it up from the library, and went off by myself to read it. I greatly enjoyed it. It's a wonderful book, and an excellent one to read if you want to understand King's imagination. But it really didn't scare me.
I often wish books could scare me (I keep looking for one!). It did have a few parts that niggled my hind-brain, something very few things can do. I can see why others find it so frightening.

I'm hoping It can do what even The Shining couldn't.

Years ago (high school/college time), I tried to read It by Stephen King and became so freaked out that a scary murderous clown would show up near my neighborhood because I was reading the book, I stopped reading. Then to my persistence I tried watching the movie and couldn't even make it ten minutes, lol. I can't remember if it was the music that creeped me out or what because I'm pretty sure that I didn't even see the clown yet and it was too much for me.

Now...as I'm older and the fact that It is back in action with the new movie, I'm itching to read this book. I'm partially worried about nightmares, but I'm so interested that I almost don't care, lol. I also think that because I'm older, I won't be as scared. I got the book, so we'll see!

I just got a copy of It as well! I've been in the mood for it, and am impatiently waiting to clear some of my current books so I can start it!

[Kourtney Bradley]

Thriller and horror stories are my absolute favorites!

Thriller/Suspense it what I always seem to go for, and I've always had this attraction to the dark and twisty horror stories.

Probably like most, I got my horror start with reading Stephen King, and will still highly recommend that as a great place to start. The strange thing though is that horror movies will always give me nightmares and make me not want to go outside alone at night, but books don't do the same.

[Heidi M Simone]

Hello, im back from a long, long hiatus and i thought one of the best places to restart with this site is the genre discussion. it really is a favorite forum of mine.

anyways, i had a phase in high school of reading crime mysteries/ thrillers. i think i wanted a book genre flavor change or i was getting more interested in the work of my dad (a police journalist).

i started out with "Mitigating Circumstances" by Nancy Taylor Rosenberg then got my hands on "better" reads like "The Silence of the Lambs" by Thomas Harris.

i want to review "Mitigating Circumstances" because it was the first time I was actually reading about rape and its implications to women. my dad brings cases home but the pictures are gory so reading this book without pictures was a new and shocking experience. it made me more aware of such crimes occurring.

i do hope more books will help guide and expose these kinds of issues. and im excited to read more crime thrillers when i have the time

for my friend @hsimone, i didn't know "It" was a book until now. cool.

Welcome back, joanofarc2015! I've never heard of Mitigating Circumstances, but it does sound very interesting; explicit rape scenes do become a bit much to me though. I can't even imagine the pictures you must have seen from your dad's cases, but it is crazy to think how powerful words can really be.

Definitely, books can teach us so much, even if they're fiction. Thank you so much for your thoughts, and I'm glad we both learned something - you about It and me about Mitigating Circumstances.

-- 04 Oct 2017, 21:40 --

I first started reading 'adult' books in my early teens. I never stayed with one genre (though I have had my favorites), and The Shining always intrigued me. I picked it up from the library, and went off by myself to read it. I greatly enjoyed it. It's a wonderful book, and an excellent one to read if you want to understand King's imagination. But it really didn't scare me.
I often wish books could scare me (I keep looking for one!). It did have a few parts that niggled my hind-brain, something very few things can do. I can see why others find it so frightening.

I'm hoping It can do what even The Shining couldn't.

I just got a copy of It as well! I've been in the mood for it, and am impatiently waiting to clear some of my current books so I can start it!

Ah, The Shining was another that piqued my interest, but again, I didn't do well with horror growing up. I blame The Exorcist for that, the movie. Couldn't get a stable sleeping schedule for weeks. Pretty sure that was middle school. But, I'm definitely adding The Shining to my TBR now. Thank you for the suggestion!

That's so funny that we both just got a copy of It! I'll definitely be curious to hear your thoughts when we both get to reading it!

-- 04 Oct 2017, 21:41 --

Thriller and horror stories are my absolute favorites!

Thriller/Suspense it what I always seem to go for, and I've always had this attraction to the dark and twisty horror stories.

Probably like most, I got my horror start with reading Stephen King, and will still highly recommend that as a great place to start. The strange thing though is that horror movies will always give me nightmares and make me not want to go outside alone at night, but books don't do the same.

That's good to hear! I'm definitely going to give Stephen King a real try this time.

Hm...I wonder if that will be the same for - horror movies vs. books. I hope so!

[jenjayfromSA]

A long time ago I read Stephen King's Firestarter and Tommyknockers and enjoyed them, so I started something else. I can't for the life of me remember which one, except that it was very dark and had something to do with the devil, or demons etc. I read avidly into the night, unable to put it down and finally turned the light out. There were dark shadows everywhere, a creeping fear. I dived under the duvet and shivered. I couldn't shake off the dread. In the morning I threw the book (fortunately a tattered paperback) into the rubbish bin. I couldn't even bring myself to finish it. I have avoided horror books, films and plays ever since. I feel I am giving the dark side access to my mind. Strangely enough, Sci-fi demons and vampires are fine. They're a good giggle!

-- 06 Oct 2017, 09:49 --

I did see the stage version of The Woman in Black by Susan Hill and it has also given me the shivers. An eerie house in a British marsh is haunted by a ghostly woman in funeral black. A young attorney goes there to try and wrap up the estate and gradually discovers the mystery by going through old papers and the stories of local characters. He tries to process his experience by telling it to a psychologist, who at first laughs at him, then becomes intrigued, so the story is acted out. When the woman's son dies, she takes revenge. If you see her, your child will die. At the end, psychologist compliments the attorney on a vividly told story, even to hiring an actress to play the woman in black. He didn't. The psychologist releases to his horror that he has seen the woman and his 3-year-old daughter is the light of his life. The curtain falls. My daughter was that age at the time and I couldn't get home fast enough!

[Heidi M Simone]

I had watched Firestarter and Cujo, but never heard of Tommyknockers. I don't blame you for trashing the book; that was The Exorcist for me, lol. Could be talking about Rose Red? Psychics go into a house together to figure what is wrong and there some evil activity? That was not a pleasant experience either!

Oh geez...The Woman in Black does sound pretty horrifying!

[Ashley Simon]

Oh my gosh, I had a similar experience with It. I was in high school and I picked it up having no idea what the book was about, I just knew that Stephen King was a famous author and I wanted to read something new. Fast forward a few chapters and I was totally freaked out! I've avoided the genre ever since, though I kinda want to get back into it now that my tastes have expanded - and now that I'll know what I'm getting into, lol.

[Gnome]

I usually say that I'm not really a c/m/t/h fan but the more I think on it I do enjoy a good mystery or psychological thrillers. I blame Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys/Boxcar Children for the first and anime for the second.

I first read Cujo on an international flight when I was 11. The book was supposed to last my entire vacation, I was 3/4 done by the end of the flight. I first saw IT when I was 14, at a Halloween party then went home where everyone else was still out for the evening. The Stephen King movie (too scared to read more of the books, but I did enjoy Misery) that really got me was Rose Red. It's still one of my favorite movies but always scares the [redacted] out of me. I think The Shinning is back on Netflix - I'd like to watch that one again but I'll need to plan to watch it with my husband, just in case.

[Heidi M Simone]

Oh my gosh, I had a similar experience with It. I was in high school and I picked it up having no idea what the book was about, I just knew that Stephen King was a famous author and I wanted to read something new. Fast forward a few chapters and I was totally freaked out! I've avoided the genre ever since, though I kinda want to get back into it now that my tastes have expanded - and now that I'll know what I'm getting into, lol.

It's really nice to hear that someone else experienced what I experienced with It I do have an e-copy and started it, so we'll see how far I get!

-- 08 Oct 2017, 16:11 --

I usually say that I'm not really a c/m/t/h fan but the more I think on it I do enjoy a good mystery or psychological thrillers. I blame Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys/Boxcar Children for the first and anime for the second.

I first read Cujo on an international flight when I was 11. The book was supposed to last my entire vacation, I was 3/4 done by the end of the flight. I first saw IT when I was 14, at a Halloween party then went home where everyone else was still out for the evening. The Stephen King movie (too scared to read more of the books, but I did enjoy Misery) that really got me was Rose Red. It's still one of my favorite movies but always scares the [redacted] out of me. I think The Shinning is back on Netflix - I'd like to watch that one again but I'll need to plan to watch it with my husband, just in case.

You read Cujo when you were 11? Wow, that's impressive! I remember Rose Red, and I didn't have a very positive experience with that either, lol. I haven't actually seen The Shining, so maybe I'll check it out too. But, agreed, hubby needs to be right there next to me .

[Gnome]

You read Cujo when you were 11?

I had a friend who was in the beginning of a really big Stephen King phase. If she hadn't gotten me the book for my birthday I probably wouldnt have read it. Most of my Stephen King experience was because of her

[Sally_Heart]

I remember when I first read 'And there were none' by Agatha Christie which is a horror novel. It was quite a scare though I tried not to get nightmares from it

[Heidi M Simone]

You read Cujo when you were 11?

I had a friend who was in the beginning of a really big Stephen King phase. If she hadn't gotten me the book for my birthday I probably wouldnt have read it. Most of my Stephen King experience was because of her

Honestly, I am just in awe about this. I'm a pretty big baby when it comes to horror I'm trying to get out of that phase, so we'll see what happens. It's great, though, that you were able to separate a horror book with real life at that age - at least enough to read this book to its entirety and enjoy it. I think that's my problem, especially growing up, I always thought the things that happened in horror books could happen to me.

It's great to have such a good friend with such good tastes in books!

-- 09 Oct 2017, 13:48 --

I remember when I first read 'And there were none' by Agatha Christie which is a horror novel. It was quite a scare though I tried not to get nightmares from it

I actually haven't read any of Agatha Christie's books, but have been meaning to. I can definitely relate to trying to not have nightmares!

[Gnome]

I think that's my problem, especially growing up, I always thought the things that happened in horror books could happen to me.

I have the same issue. I can separate the horror stuff a bit better than the fantasy stuff though. I'm still waiting for my Hogwarts letter

[Gravy]

@"jenjayfromSA", could it have been The Stand?
I read that not too long ago, and it's vampires, though I believe they were referred to as demons as well.

I recently read The Woman in Black. Definitely not a tame story!

Also, I absolutely love Rose Red!
And The Langoliers.

Anybody watch Kingdom Hospital?

This has somehow become mostly about Stephen King. (Go figure.)


On another note, I am waiting to start It, mainly because that thing is enormous, 1153 pages! My arms just can't take it right now.

Instead, I started Steve Alten's Meg.
It's about a scientist who discovers that the megalodon never really went extinct.

Maybe when I finish it (I already have a decent start on it), I'll feel like lifting weights ... uh, I mean, reading It.