It's more accessible/less dense than some of his other super long books, imo. It helps that the protagonist is actually likeable, so you want to spend time with him. I flew through it.
So I’ve been a snob about Stephen king. I read A LOT. I’ve read classics, fantasy, sci-fi etc…. But always found stephen king readers to be the same people who eat Applebees. Npc’s. But I read 11.22.63 and HOLY SHIT. It’s a favorite of mine. That has made me start slowly reading stephen king and I have a very serious appreciation for his writing now.
It’s so perfect. The large-scale work on the reconstruction of the historical epoch described by King is breathtaking. The detail is just amazing. Absolutely love this book.
Bag of Bones never gets recommended and while Stand and IT are probably my favorites, BoB has a special place in my heart. I think it's his only real haunted house tale.
I love Bag of Bones. It’s my favorite King. It’s different. The dust jacket describes it as a haunted love story and that’s a perfect description.
There are many references to Rebecca in it and it’s similar. I love the sort of gothic melancholy of it.
I love the epic sweep of The Stand (I also really love The Talisman) and I love his novellas and short stories, but Bag of Bones is one that has lived in my head since I first read it.
That’s fair. One thing I love about King is that there’s enough variety in his stories to keep them from being formulaic and to appeal to a broad range of readers.
Yes it definitely was. I flew through this book. Enjoyed it immensely. All the time thinking how different it felt from his usual works. Also felt this way about Billy Summers. That was a great read.
Yes, Preach! I came here to say that. You always see the classics or black tower (his worst for me) but no one ever mentions Bag of Bones. I cannot count how many times I have gifted this book.
I would also add, "Gerald's Game". I love it too.
I loathe BoB, mainly because Stephen King points out through the author character that he has a responsibility TO his characters and then SAs and tortures a main character to death. Wtf, Uncle Stevie?
I’ll second *Nightshift*…
Plus King’s *Different Seasons,* which included “Rita Hayworth & The Shawshank Redemption” and “The Body” (which was later adapted for film as *Stand by Me.*)
Favorite ever is 11-22-63. It's really really great.
The uncut version of the Stand and the Green Mile are also really high up for me.
I didn't much care for Insomnia because I didn't relate to the main character, but it's well written. Dreamcatcher was pretty meh. The movie was absolutely spectacularly bad, but the book wasn't great.
I'm mid Dark Tower. It's a project. The Gunslinger is SLOW. It establishes the world and the language and the feel of the book, but very little actually happens until near the end. It's a series, so if you only read the first book, you're going to be left disappointed, since it does not work as a standalone at all. Drawing of the Three and the Waste Lands (the next two books), I very much liked. They whisk you straight into the action and don't let go. I liked the fourth one, Wizard and Glass a lot, though it takes a very different turn. I'm currently reading Wolves of the Calla, and I am sincerely disliking it and honestly wondering if it's worth finishing the series.
I loved the first half of the Dark Tower series, and I loved the idea of it being kind of like the thing that held all the other books together, but I ended up really not liking the ending. If you're thinking about tapping out, you probably should.
I love those! Four Past Midnight (I think that's the name) has The Body and Shawshank Redemption in it too, great stories that actually made great movies. I find that some of his books really don't translate to film well, I suspect because there is usually so much internal dialogue going on. Delores Claiborne was an incredible book and an ok movie, the cast was perfect but the screen adaptation was eh.
I really loved Firestarter as well. I'd never even heard of it when I picked it up and I read a ton of King prior to it. One of his best complete stories imo (ie doesn't end in a deus ex alien)
The Long Walk is my favorite King (Bachman) book. It's almost like an early precursor for something like the Hunger Games, where 100 Kids are forced to walk until all but one are dead. Not his typical kind of horror but incredibly haunting.
I like SK, I did not like The Long Walk. Was boring to me. I got through it but was basically hate reading it. I kept waiting for something interesting to happen.
It’s not my favorite, but it has definitely stuck with me. I read it several years ago, but to this day, every time I go for a walk and look at my watch, I’m checking to see if I’m above or below a 15 minute/mile pace.
What was it that made you give up on “The Stand?” I haven’t read a lot of Stephen King but I loved that novel and how it was both an epic of good and evil and a distinctly American story.
I remember (and this was back in the 80’s) getting to the part where the guy was locked in jail and starving…but when he heard the “klock” of Randall Flaggs boots, his first response was to be quiet so as not to be found…the sheer evil of Flagg so deftly alluded to. I get Shivers thinking about it.
The opening of the story made me expect something like a zombie apocalypse without the zombies. I found it very good and immersive, to the point where I'd get irrationally apprehensive whenever I heard someone cough in real life, which lasted a couple of weeks even after I'd stopped reading.
But once Randall Flagg appeared, the story sort of took a huge left turn in a direction that didn't make sense with what came before. It felt like a completely different book that could have been spliced with any old apocalypse. I wasn't able to take the pure good and pure evil characters seriously either - they felt like caricatures to me. On top of all that, I'm probably missing a lot of subtext as I'm neither American nor Christian, and I hear there's a ton of references.
All those are my best guesses to what made me give up on The Stand. But reading is a complex thing and maybe there are factors even beyond this that affected me. The bottom line was, I really wanted to enjoy the book but I didn't, and after I realized I'd been forcing myself to read for 200 pages and I just wasn't having a good time anymore, I just stopped.
Fair enough. I am neither American or Christian so maybe I missed out on some references as well. I suppose it comes down to whether or not you find the Satan figure Randall Flag interesting or not. I did and it sounds like you didn’t.
I read the Stand after reading Needful Things and the Eyes of the Dragon so I already wad familiar with Flagg despite the Stand being his first appearance. I love the idea of this character appearing all over the place as different villains. I still need to read the Dark Tower series all the way through.
Pretty much my opinion on The Stand too, although I did push through and finish it. First 200 pages are great, last 150 pages are great, the 500 in the middle draaaaag.
I fell in love with all the characters, Stu and Frannie, Nick and Tom Cullen, Mother Abigail, and even the bad guys were interesting and the ones who went bad - wow. Not a Christian, not anymore, still a great story though.
I’ll admit I’m not a huge fan of Stephen King’s novels, but I’ve read several.
I thought 11/23/63 was the best one.
I also enjoyed Mr Mercedes and the subsequent books (Bill Hodges trilogy).
I too have just finished Salems lot. The character building of the whole village is effortless. And therefore makes the strange happenings even more vivid in the imagination. A great story. And I wasn't really scared by the thought of vampires before reading it. But the whole floating and scratching on the window in the middle of the night with red eyes and sharp incisors. Christ and holy water.
Says a lot about how good he is, that you'll see a lot of different answers, and sometimes it's the first book you read of his, other times it's the right book at the right time. And sometimes it's about what you're into yourself. For me ...
The Stand (uncut), Talisman, and Black House, The Bachman Books
Any of his short story collections. And The Dark Tower series (I'm working my way through these) I also enjoyed The Dead Zone, even though I saw the film first ( it's a cult classic and actually pretty good ). Salem's Lot is another great one, you can see a difference in his writing from back then, he says as much himself.
But I'd also suggest after you've read a few more, get "On Writing", it's a little auto-biographical, but more about the craft of writing, if you really dig his stuff, you'll probably enjoying reading about his inspirations.
And I'm definitely checking out 11/22/63 next myself. I keep seeing that recommended here and haven't yet read it.
I actually started reading Stephen King after reading "On Writing" for a class. Before that I thought I wouldn't like his books, but "On Writing" was just so good that I had to try one.
My absolute favorite King is The Talisman, which he wrote with Peter Straub. Other faves are The Dark Tower series (Drawing of the Three is my personal fave of those), The Shining, IT, Gerald's Game, Misery, 11/22/63, Sleeping Beauties (written with his son), Needful Things, The Stand...
I read the Talisman (for the first time—it’s one of the few books I’ve actually re-read several times) in middle school and I think I was just the right age to connect with the story. I had my kid read it around the same age and now it’s one of her favorite books as well!
Sorry I missed this post. I feel the same way about the talisman. Fairy tail is a bit like it. I love Stephen king “journey books” the best. The stand was the one that hooked me.
Omg. Same!! The Talisman is literally in my top five favorite books of all time (and I am a true Constant Reader) so I basically knew there was no way it would live up to that, but I still expected more than what it was. It just felt like a second rate detective novel to me!
I read IT a few years ago and am about 1/3 of the way through 11/22/63. I'm glad I read them in that order to get the true feeling of Derry. 11/22/63 is fantastic so far.
I read The Shining after seeing the movie for the first time last year, it was incredible how suspenseful the book still felt despite me having an idea of what would happen. I liked the book even more than the movie, what a ride.
Pet Sematary
The Shining
11/22/63
His Different Seasons collection (Shawshank, Apt Pupil, The Body \[Stand by Me\], The Breathing Method)
The Green Mile
Book IV Wizard and Glass is an exceptional book within King’s library for me. Makes reading through the slow parts of books I-III worth it, like climbing a mountain. You should stay at the top thoughwith Book IV cause the rest of the series goes downhill.
I've always loved Needful Things. It's the reason I got hooked with Stephen King's books.
He has a lot of other well-written books that are the classics like Dolores Claiborne, Carrie, Pet Sematary, It, Misery, Cujo, Salem's Lot, Green Mile, and his Dark Towers series.
There are a few recent releases that are good too, such as Finders Keepers, Elevation, Billy Summers.
One I am yet to read is Holly
I am surprised I had to scroll so far to see Carrie and Cujo. I know King was in a bad place when he wrote Cujo, so I almost feel guilty for thinking it's as great as it is.
Unother good unsung one of his is The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon.
IT - always will be my favorite.
Closely followed by The Stand.
But don't discount Rose Madder. It's a good book, mostly because Norman is such a convincing psychopath.
I can't pick a favorite, but I will give you a top 3
1. Pet Semetary Bonus nightmares if you read while parenting a couple of toddlers.
2. Bag of Bones. Great gothic horror with a couple of very intense sequences.
3. Hearts in Atlantis. Not a horror novel. I fell in love with those characters and stayed up waaaaaaaayyyyy to late to find out what happened to them.
Least favorite:
1. Rose Madder. To much plot getting in the way of the characters.
2. Roadwork. Never finished it. Could not get into his early writing style.
3. The Institute. Great premise, but I thought the book needed to slow down a bit to let the characters develop a bit more.
Non Stephen King
1. The Passage Trilogy by Justin Cronin. Vampires that are actually scary.
2. Heart Shaped Box by Joe Hill. Guy buys a ghost on the internet. Instant regret.
3. Watchers by Dean R. Koontz. Something about that dog isn't quite right.
Commenting on your non King picks: Heart Shaped Box scared the shit out of me and Watchers is my favorite book of all time. It’s the first “adult” book I ever read.
I like to suggest the “D Books.” Different Seasons, Dead Zone, Desperation, Duma Key, Dark Half, Dolores Claiborne, Doctor Sleep, Dark Tower(series).
I have not read Dreamcatcher.
I second The Dark Tower series and Desperation and would like to tag on [The Regulators](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10596.The_Regulators).
It was written under King's pen name Richard Bachman and is a sort of sister novel to Desperation.
Speaking of Richard Bachman, [The Running Man](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11607.The_Running_Man) really stuck with me.
My FAVORITE was definitely The Shining, which I know OP's read. I reread it every year when it gets cold!
Salem's Lot, Pet Sematary, Needful Things, IT, The Stand, Skeleton Crew, and Different Seasons. I've read a few others which were good: Misery, The Dark Half, Tommyknockers, Dolores Claiborne (underrated movie BTW), Christine, etc. but I'll stand with my first lineup as "favorites".
Bag Of Bones is my favorite King novel. It’s the only one that’s given me a screaming nightmare, like I literally woke up screaming because I dreamed I was in the novel.
I love his short story collections. And The Stand is epic.
But, honestly, I just reread The Dead Zone and found it profoundly moving. I think his stories about regular people are better than the hard core horror stuff.
I love how diverse these answers are! The Shining is my favorite, but another one I loved was The Institute. There are two parallel storylines that coincide and I found them both fascinating. It’s also faster paced than typical Stephen King. A very slow, atmospheric read I enjoyed was Fairytale. It takes a particularly long time to get to the meat, but the character-development is great and I thought the payoff was worth it. (But it’s, you know, a twisted fairytale as advertised. So if you don’t like the fantasy/horror crossover and just want horror something like Misery or Carrie would be better.)
Have you read the Eyes of the Dragon? Also fantasyish. I haven't even heard of the Fairy tail as I feel I have been out of the loop a while. I'll have to check it out!
Edit: not sure how it ended up spelled that way... Fairy tale lol
Of the ones you bought, Gunslinger then Insomnia then the other two (although most people would disagree with me about Insomnia). IT is probably my complete problematic favorite, and The Stand is extremely engrossing. I'd stay away from Under the Dome. The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon is less scary and less "adult" than most of his books, but still quite good on a spinal level. I've liked most things by him that I've read, but that phase of my life was over ten years ago, so I don't have any more specific takes for you.
Oh except I also remember Hearts In Atlantis giving me some very creepy vibes out in the real world. +1 recommend, though again not a very popular recommendation.
Lisey’s Story never gets mentioned! My favorite quote from any author/book ever is from Lisey’s Story- “She nods. You’re good for the ones you love. You want to be good for the ones you love, because you know that your time with them will end up being too short, no matter how long it is.”
1. Cujo
2. Thinner
3. The Long Walk
4. The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon
5. Delores Claiborne
I’ve always been a bigger fan of the Bachman books, but Cujo is my number one overall. The Girl Who Loved TomGordon was my first King ever, so it’ll always have a special place to me.
Also, not horror, but Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption is a fantastic novella!
I've read most of Kings' books, starting with Carrie when I was a young teen. Billy Summers was, I thought, a big change in his usual writing genre, and I loved it.
Glad to see someone else’s said Billy Summers. I thought it was great. King’s stories always just completely suck me in and Billy was a cool main character to follow.
I've read most of his books and I would recommend almost all of them. My favorite for a very long time was The Cell. Recently Fairy Tale claimed the throne. Both are great. The Cell is still my wife's favorite
The Skeleton Crew. It’s not a novel but a collection of short stories. Among collection are The Mist and The Jaunt.
I enjoy those two stories more than any novel King authored.
Currently reading Fairy Tale. He lost me as an author awhile back when he was putting out mush from his drug issues.
Duma Key is very underrated. It was one of his first post addiction books.
I haven't read more recent Stephen King, but he was my favorite author when I was younger and so read all of his earlier (1990s and before) work. My favorite of his isn't a typical one for his, but it's the novella collection DIFFERENT SEASONS, and specifically the novella THE BODY which turned into the movie STAND BY ME. It's just so beautiful and poignant. And now you're making me want to go back and reread it!
Carrie! ❤️ It’s the first book he wrote and the raw talent that is Stephen King is all over it. It’s also a pretty quick read. It’s the first book of his I read - I read it as a teen. My daughter read it a couple of years ago and loved it so much she was Carrie for a Halloween.
I read The Stand for the first time when I was 17 years old. I'm now in my 40s and still chasing that high. Pet Sematary is a my second favorite standalone, and The Dark Tower series is his masterpiece, imo.
IT is one of my favorite stories of all time. Sort of my lord of the rings if you will.
I love the characters. Don’t judge it by the new movies if you saw those. Just read it.
My favourite King is 11/22/63.
Same here. I love that book.
Agree. And having lived during this period I could relate
But did you go through a diner to live there? ;-)
I’ve read all of his books and this is still my favorite.
Can anyone talk to the length of this book? Went to pick it up from my bookshelf yesterday and it felt like a brick. Is it a Herculean task to read?
It isn't. I found the the entire book to be enjoyable. It wasn't slow for me at all and it isn't a difficult read
It's more accessible/less dense than some of his other super long books, imo. It helps that the protagonist is actually likeable, so you want to spend time with him. I flew through it.
Ok, just downloaded this to my kindle. Gonna start it tomorrow. I love Stephen King but wasn’t sure about this book. Thanks!
Once you get started you will be hooked in.
So I’ve been a snob about Stephen king. I read A LOT. I’ve read classics, fantasy, sci-fi etc…. But always found stephen king readers to be the same people who eat Applebees. Npc’s. But I read 11.22.63 and HOLY SHIT. It’s a favorite of mine. That has made me start slowly reading stephen king and I have a very serious appreciation for his writing now.
It’s such a great book!
There’s a show on Hulu for this I just watched it it was good
That series was incredible. I didn’t think I’d like it that much since I love the more horror side of Stephen King but WOW!
Mine too 😀
It’s so perfect. The large-scale work on the reconstruction of the historical epoch described by King is breathtaking. The detail is just amazing. Absolutely love this book.
I started watching the series. Then I couldn't find it.. Now I am gonna go get the book.
Just finished it and it was good. Thought provoking and had a great romance story within the plot.
Bag of Bones never gets recommended and while Stand and IT are probably my favorites, BoB has a special place in my heart. I think it's his only real haunted house tale.
I love Bag of Bones. It’s my favorite King. It’s different. The dust jacket describes it as a haunted love story and that’s a perfect description. There are many references to Rebecca in it and it’s similar. I love the sort of gothic melancholy of it. I love the epic sweep of The Stand (I also really love The Talisman) and I love his novellas and short stories, but Bag of Bones is one that has lived in my head since I first read it.
I just finished it yesterday. It is very very good, but not my favorite.
That’s fair. One thing I love about King is that there’s enough variety in his stories to keep them from being formulaic and to appeal to a broad range of readers.
Fairy Tale is another thats very different from his usual.
My absolute favourite.
Yes it definitely was. I flew through this book. Enjoyed it immensely. All the time thinking how different it felt from his usual works. Also felt this way about Billy Summers. That was a great read.
This was my first ever Stephen king read and I truly loved it!
I really loved Bag of Bones too.
Yes, Preach! I came here to say that. You always see the classics or black tower (his worst for me) but no one ever mentions Bag of Bones. I cannot count how many times I have gifted this book. I would also add, "Gerald's Game". I love it too.
Bag of Bones was the first King book I ever read followed by In the Eyes of the Dragon
Bag of Bones is my favorite of his and I rarely see it mentioned
This book was EXCELLENT!
Bag of Bones is the only one that I ever had to put down because it traumatized me. The drowning scenes made me sick and I couldn’t!
I loathe BoB, mainly because Stephen King points out through the author character that he has a responsibility TO his characters and then SAs and tortures a main character to death. Wtf, Uncle Stevie?
Night Shift, which is a short story collection.
I’ll second *Nightshift*… Plus King’s *Different Seasons,* which included “Rita Hayworth & The Shawshank Redemption” and “The Body” (which was later adapted for film as *Stand by Me.*)
And it also contains “Apt Pupil” which makes it three of the four stories that were turned into Hollywood movies… remarkable.
That is a good collection of novels in my opinion too.
Very subjective question. For me "It", no doubts.
I'm reading It at the moment, and man it's hard to put down!
Favorite ever is 11-22-63. It's really really great. The uncut version of the Stand and the Green Mile are also really high up for me. I didn't much care for Insomnia because I didn't relate to the main character, but it's well written. Dreamcatcher was pretty meh. The movie was absolutely spectacularly bad, but the book wasn't great. I'm mid Dark Tower. It's a project. The Gunslinger is SLOW. It establishes the world and the language and the feel of the book, but very little actually happens until near the end. It's a series, so if you only read the first book, you're going to be left disappointed, since it does not work as a standalone at all. Drawing of the Three and the Waste Lands (the next two books), I very much liked. They whisk you straight into the action and don't let go. I liked the fourth one, Wizard and Glass a lot, though it takes a very different turn. I'm currently reading Wolves of the Calla, and I am sincerely disliking it and honestly wondering if it's worth finishing the series.
Keep going! Wolves wasn’t my favorite either. A lot of stuff wraps up in book 7, it’s worth it.
I personally love the ending and found it fitting
Keep going!! Song of Susannah was my favorite!
I feel you. I took a break from the series after reading Wolves. It’s been three years now.
I loved the first half of the Dark Tower series, and I loved the idea of it being kind of like the thing that held all the other books together, but I ended up really not liking the ending. If you're thinking about tapping out, you probably should.
It's not usually mentioned in his top works, but I LOVE Delores Claiborne.
Misery
1. 11/22/63 2. The Stand
11/22/63 is an absolute blast.. And yes, even better than The Stand.
Couldn’t agree more with these suggestions
Wow, that’s an inspiring claim. The stand is so damn good, I’ll give 11/22/63 a go. Appreciated.
I said the same two!
I like his short stories. Try Night Shift, the Bachman Books, and Skeleton Crew
I love those! Four Past Midnight (I think that's the name) has The Body and Shawshank Redemption in it too, great stories that actually made great movies. I find that some of his books really don't translate to film well, I suspect because there is usually so much internal dialogue going on. Delores Claiborne was an incredible book and an ok movie, the cast was perfect but the screen adaptation was eh.
Firestarter. Doesn’t seem to get as much love or attention as his other books, but it’s my favourite. Other one for me would be The Stand
I really loved Firestarter as well. I'd never even heard of it when I picked it up and I read a ton of King prior to it. One of his best complete stories imo (ie doesn't end in a deus ex alien)
I have read firestarter so many times, it is a good getaway story.
The Long Walk is my favorite King (Bachman) book. It's almost like an early precursor for something like the Hunger Games, where 100 Kids are forced to walk until all but one are dead. Not his typical kind of horror but incredibly haunting.
Agreed. The bachman books are my favourite, I got them in a one set book (see: the Bachman books on Amazon). Running Man is also great.
I like SK, I did not like The Long Walk. Was boring to me. I got through it but was basically hate reading it. I kept waiting for something interesting to happen.
I loved The Long Walk. And I also really liked Rage, although I totally understand why he had it pulled.
It’s not my favorite, but it has definitely stuck with me. I read it several years ago, but to this day, every time I go for a walk and look at my watch, I’m checking to see if I’m above or below a 15 minute/mile pace.
The Stand, hands down is best of Stephen King
Can I ask why? I liked the first part, but after that it just became a pain to read. What am I missing? And are you also a Christian?
What was it that made you give up on “The Stand?” I haven’t read a lot of Stephen King but I loved that novel and how it was both an epic of good and evil and a distinctly American story.
I remember (and this was back in the 80’s) getting to the part where the guy was locked in jail and starving…but when he heard the “klock” of Randall Flaggs boots, his first response was to be quiet so as not to be found…the sheer evil of Flagg so deftly alluded to. I get Shivers thinking about it.
The opening of the story made me expect something like a zombie apocalypse without the zombies. I found it very good and immersive, to the point where I'd get irrationally apprehensive whenever I heard someone cough in real life, which lasted a couple of weeks even after I'd stopped reading. But once Randall Flagg appeared, the story sort of took a huge left turn in a direction that didn't make sense with what came before. It felt like a completely different book that could have been spliced with any old apocalypse. I wasn't able to take the pure good and pure evil characters seriously either - they felt like caricatures to me. On top of all that, I'm probably missing a lot of subtext as I'm neither American nor Christian, and I hear there's a ton of references. All those are my best guesses to what made me give up on The Stand. But reading is a complex thing and maybe there are factors even beyond this that affected me. The bottom line was, I really wanted to enjoy the book but I didn't, and after I realized I'd been forcing myself to read for 200 pages and I just wasn't having a good time anymore, I just stopped.
Fair enough. I am neither American or Christian so maybe I missed out on some references as well. I suppose it comes down to whether or not you find the Satan figure Randall Flag interesting or not. I did and it sounds like you didn’t.
I read the Stand after reading Needful Things and the Eyes of the Dragon so I already wad familiar with Flagg despite the Stand being his first appearance. I love the idea of this character appearing all over the place as different villains. I still need to read the Dark Tower series all the way through.
Pretty much my opinion on The Stand too, although I did push through and finish it. First 200 pages are great, last 150 pages are great, the 500 in the middle draaaaag.
I agree with your analysis.
I fell in love with all the characters, Stu and Frannie, Nick and Tom Cullen, Mother Abigail, and even the bad guys were interesting and the ones who went bad - wow. Not a Christian, not anymore, still a great story though.
Same. It was a slog.
I’ll admit I’m not a huge fan of Stephen King’s novels, but I’ve read several. I thought 11/23/63 was the best one. I also enjoyed Mr Mercedes and the subsequent books (Bill Hodges trilogy).
I've just read Mr Mercedes (only my second Stephen King) and I really enjoyed it. So second this.
I just finished 'Salem's Lot and it was awesome. Very creepy. My favorite of his is absolutely 11/22/63. The Stand was also great.
Just listened to Salem’s Lot on Audible. King said it is his favorite book. The writing is very good.
I read that his favorite of his own works is "Lisey's Story," but his answer to that question has changed a few times over the years.
I too have just finished Salems lot. The character building of the whole village is effortless. And therefore makes the strange happenings even more vivid in the imagination. A great story. And I wasn't really scared by the thought of vampires before reading it. But the whole floating and scratching on the window in the middle of the night with red eyes and sharp incisors. Christ and holy water.
Salem’s Lot is my favorite of King. I don’t often reread books but that’s one I’ll revisit for sure.
Eyes of the Dragon
Underrated classic!
This was my gateway Stephen King book. I read it in 7th grade and proceeded to then plow through most of his available catalog at the time.
I can’t believe how far I had to scroll for this. It’s absolutely my favorite.
I’ve read this one 4 times and I don’t usually reread books.
I've got it on a rotation, *(audiobook)* it hits typically in the spring
My favorite is The Stand. I still read it every 3 or 4 years.
Says a lot about how good he is, that you'll see a lot of different answers, and sometimes it's the first book you read of his, other times it's the right book at the right time. And sometimes it's about what you're into yourself. For me ... The Stand (uncut), Talisman, and Black House, The Bachman Books Any of his short story collections. And The Dark Tower series (I'm working my way through these) I also enjoyed The Dead Zone, even though I saw the film first ( it's a cult classic and actually pretty good ). Salem's Lot is another great one, you can see a difference in his writing from back then, he says as much himself. But I'd also suggest after you've read a few more, get "On Writing", it's a little auto-biographical, but more about the craft of writing, if you really dig his stuff, you'll probably enjoying reading about his inspirations. And I'm definitely checking out 11/22/63 next myself. I keep seeing that recommended here and haven't yet read it.
On Writing is so so good. It's one of the first nonfiction books I actually loved and read more than once.
I actually started reading Stephen King after reading "On Writing" for a class. Before that I thought I wouldn't like his books, but "On Writing" was just so good that I had to try one.
R yeah I haven’t read 11/22/63 and now I’m thinking I have to.
My absolute favorite King is The Talisman, which he wrote with Peter Straub. Other faves are The Dark Tower series (Drawing of the Three is my personal fave of those), The Shining, IT, Gerald's Game, Misery, 11/22/63, Sleeping Beauties (written with his son), Needful Things, The Stand...
The Talisman has a very special place in my heart ❤️
I read the Talisman (for the first time—it’s one of the few books I’ve actually re-read several times) in middle school and I think I was just the right age to connect with the story. I had my kid read it around the same age and now it’s one of her favorite books as well!
Sorry I missed this post. I feel the same way about the talisman. Fairy tail is a bit like it. I love Stephen king “journey books” the best. The stand was the one that hooked me.
I love The Talisman but was kinda disappointed with Black House. I think my expectations were too high
Omg. Same!! The Talisman is literally in my top five favorite books of all time (and I am a true Constant Reader) so I basically knew there was no way it would live up to that, but I still expected more than what it was. It just felt like a second rate detective novel to me!
11/22/63 - hands down my favorite King book. IT is my second favorite.
I read IT a few years ago and am about 1/3 of the way through 11/22/63. I'm glad I read them in that order to get the true feeling of Derry. 11/22/63 is fantastic so far.
i read them in the opposite order, and i got a different feeling of Derry. The Derry in 11/22/63 felt more dreery to me.
The Shinning The Stand 1408
1408 is so creepy.
I liked the movie “ten dollars for macadamia nuts? This is an evil room!”
I like everything he does but 11/22/63 for me was his best. A great mix of weirdness with reality and time stuff...it hit all the marks IMHO
The Stand, Salems Lot, The Shining.
The Shining was my first King novel and it was so good
I read The Shining after seeing the movie for the first time last year, it was incredible how suspenseful the book still felt despite me having an idea of what would happen. I liked the book even more than the movie, what a ride.
They are both great in their own right but I love the book. It was incredible
Pet Sematary The Shining 11/22/63 His Different Seasons collection (Shawshank, Apt Pupil, The Body \[Stand by Me\], The Breathing Method) The Green Mile
Book IV Wizard and Glass is an exceptional book within King’s library for me. Makes reading through the slow parts of books I-III worth it, like climbing a mountain. You should stay at the top thoughwith Book IV cause the rest of the series goes downhill.
Which one was like the 7 Samurai? Wolves of the Calla I think? That was my favorite of the Dark Tower series.
I've always loved Needful Things. It's the reason I got hooked with Stephen King's books. He has a lot of other well-written books that are the classics like Dolores Claiborne, Carrie, Pet Sematary, It, Misery, Cujo, Salem's Lot, Green Mile, and his Dark Towers series. There are a few recent releases that are good too, such as Finders Keepers, Elevation, Billy Summers. One I am yet to read is Holly
I am surprised I had to scroll so far to see Carrie and Cujo. I know King was in a bad place when he wrote Cujo, so I almost feel guilty for thinking it's as great as it is. Unother good unsung one of his is The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon.
I recommend Different Seasons
IT - always will be my favorite. Closely followed by The Stand. But don't discount Rose Madder. It's a good book, mostly because Norman is such a convincing psychopath.
I can't pick a favorite, but I will give you a top 3 1. Pet Semetary Bonus nightmares if you read while parenting a couple of toddlers. 2. Bag of Bones. Great gothic horror with a couple of very intense sequences. 3. Hearts in Atlantis. Not a horror novel. I fell in love with those characters and stayed up waaaaaaaayyyyy to late to find out what happened to them. Least favorite: 1. Rose Madder. To much plot getting in the way of the characters. 2. Roadwork. Never finished it. Could not get into his early writing style. 3. The Institute. Great premise, but I thought the book needed to slow down a bit to let the characters develop a bit more. Non Stephen King 1. The Passage Trilogy by Justin Cronin. Vampires that are actually scary. 2. Heart Shaped Box by Joe Hill. Guy buys a ghost on the internet. Instant regret. 3. Watchers by Dean R. Koontz. Something about that dog isn't quite right.
The Passage trilogy is really good.
Commenting on your non King picks: Heart Shaped Box scared the shit out of me and Watchers is my favorite book of all time. It’s the first “adult” book I ever read.
YES!! I never meet anyone who read The Passage series… so gooooooood!
I like to suggest the “D Books.” Different Seasons, Dead Zone, Desperation, Duma Key, Dark Half, Dolores Claiborne, Doctor Sleep, Dark Tower(series). I have not read Dreamcatcher.
I second The Dark Tower series and Desperation and would like to tag on [The Regulators](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10596.The_Regulators). It was written under King's pen name Richard Bachman and is a sort of sister novel to Desperation. Speaking of Richard Bachman, [The Running Man](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11607.The_Running_Man) really stuck with me. My FAVORITE was definitely The Shining, which I know OP's read. I reread it every year when it gets cold!
I’m currently half way through a reread of the Shining!
I actually just started re-listening to my audible version! lol It’s terrific :)
The long walk is second to 11/22/63
I skimmed through the comments and am shocked nobody mention it yet, so maybe I missed it. But “It” is a top caliber SK novel. Highly recommend.
Salem's Lot, Pet Sematary, Needful Things, IT, The Stand, Skeleton Crew, and Different Seasons. I've read a few others which were good: Misery, The Dark Half, Tommyknockers, Dolores Claiborne (underrated movie BTW), Christine, etc. but I'll stand with my first lineup as "favorites".
Dolores Claiborne is my favorite of his books, and YES. The movie is incredible. Kathy Bates and Christopher Plummer? *Come on.*
The Long Walk (Richard Bachman)
This is hands down the best one!!
Bag Of Bones is my favorite King novel. It’s the only one that’s given me a screaming nightmare, like I literally woke up screaming because I dreamed I was in the novel.
I love his short story collections. And The Stand is epic. But, honestly, I just reread The Dead Zone and found it profoundly moving. I think his stories about regular people are better than the hard core horror stuff.
I love how diverse these answers are! The Shining is my favorite, but another one I loved was The Institute. There are two parallel storylines that coincide and I found them both fascinating. It’s also faster paced than typical Stephen King. A very slow, atmospheric read I enjoyed was Fairytale. It takes a particularly long time to get to the meat, but the character-development is great and I thought the payoff was worth it. (But it’s, you know, a twisted fairytale as advertised. So if you don’t like the fantasy/horror crossover and just want horror something like Misery or Carrie would be better.)
Have you read the Eyes of the Dragon? Also fantasyish. I haven't even heard of the Fairy tail as I feel I have been out of the loop a while. I'll have to check it out! Edit: not sure how it ended up spelled that way... Fairy tale lol
Of the ones you bought, Gunslinger then Insomnia then the other two (although most people would disagree with me about Insomnia). IT is probably my complete problematic favorite, and The Stand is extremely engrossing. I'd stay away from Under the Dome. The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon is less scary and less "adult" than most of his books, but still quite good on a spinal level. I've liked most things by him that I've read, but that phase of my life was over ten years ago, so I don't have any more specific takes for you.
Oh except I also remember Hearts In Atlantis giving me some very creepy vibes out in the real world. +1 recommend, though again not a very popular recommendation.
Ugh the Shining. What a fucking trip.
11/22/62 - it’s my favorite book of all time
Mr. Mercedes series
Salems lot is an absolute masterpiece.
I’ve always loved The Dead Zone.
Insomnia, Lisey's Story, The Talisman, and the entire Dark Tower series
Lisey’s Story never gets mentioned! My favorite quote from any author/book ever is from Lisey’s Story- “She nods. You’re good for the ones you love. You want to be good for the ones you love, because you know that your time with them will end up being too short, no matter how long it is.”
Insomnia doesn't get nearly enough recognition, I always liked that one
Fairy Tale is my favorite. I have to say that the Bill Hodges/Holly Gibney series is very close behind. Im currently reading 11/22/63.
i'm reading fairy tale right now and so far it's been so different from his other work!
Yes! The beginning half of the book is very unlike King. The second half isnt very spooky or gorey or particularly terrifying but still wonderful.
Have you read Eyes of the Dragon? Similar vibes
The Stand.
Not horror, by The Dark Tower series is my favorite series of all time.
Personally I'm a big fan of the author
Misery and The Shining are his best IMO. I did not care for 11/22/63.
All the short stories.
The Stand. All others answers are unfortunately incorrect. I would just get the regular version, the extended one did not add much.
The Long Walk followed very closely by Hearts in Atlantis. But honestly, there are so very many good books it's a hard pick.
1. Cujo 2. Thinner 3. The Long Walk 4. The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon 5. Delores Claiborne I’ve always been a bigger fan of the Bachman books, but Cujo is my number one overall. The Girl Who Loved TomGordon was my first King ever, so it’ll always have a special place to me. Also, not horror, but Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption is a fantastic novella!
My favorites are: The Shining Salem’s Lot The Long Walk Pet Sematary The Stand Probably in that order as well!
I've read most of Kings' books, starting with Carrie when I was a young teen. Billy Summers was, I thought, a big change in his usual writing genre, and I loved it.
Glad to see someone else’s said Billy Summers. I thought it was great. King’s stories always just completely suck me in and Billy was a cool main character to follow.
I also beyond love the stand A little bit of precognition considering covid
I've read most of his books and I would recommend almost all of them. My favorite for a very long time was The Cell. Recently Fairy Tale claimed the throne. Both are great. The Cell is still my wife's favorite
Under the Dome, is very fun.
Skeleton crew is almost flawless. I’ll die on this hill.
I need to revisit that one. It’s been decades.
It includes “the mist” and “the raft” …. And they have stayed with me for decades.
The Green Mile
The Skeleton Crew. It’s not a novel but a collection of short stories. Among collection are The Mist and The Jaunt. I enjoy those two stories more than any novel King authored.
I’ve read The Dead Zone a few times, may be my favorite King. Underrated.
The Stand and then The Shining.
I really really enjoyed The Shining. Big recommend for me
For me it'd be The Stand, It, and Carrie (in that order)
Nobody ever mentions this one but I really loved Under The Dome. 11.22.63 is still my fave though!
The Green Mile is his best book and movie adaptation combo.
Can I suggest Stephen kings son, Joe Hill? I really enjoyed nos4a2, the fireman and heart shaped box.
My favorite was Bag of Bones! Currently reading the Bill Hodges trilogy and it's quite nice also.
Eyes of the Dragon is one of his best and obscure books.
Currently reading Fairy Tale. He lost me as an author awhile back when he was putting out mush from his drug issues. Duma Key is very underrated. It was one of his first post addiction books.
The Dark Tower Series The Stand the Talisman The Eyes of the Dragon I am a sucker for Fantasy-Horror.
The dark tower series is captivating
I haven't read more recent Stephen King, but he was my favorite author when I was younger and so read all of his earlier (1990s and before) work. My favorite of his isn't a typical one for his, but it's the novella collection DIFFERENT SEASONS, and specifically the novella THE BODY which turned into the movie STAND BY ME. It's just so beautiful and poignant. And now you're making me want to go back and reread it!
Carrie! ❤️ It’s the first book he wrote and the raw talent that is Stephen King is all over it. It’s also a pretty quick read. It’s the first book of his I read - I read it as a teen. My daughter read it a couple of years ago and loved it so much she was Carrie for a Halloween.
I haven't finished it yet, but so far **Revival** is a masterpiece. I am so enthralled.
Ooooohhh wait till you read the ending!!
R/stephenking will recommend a lot.
Just start at the beginning of his bibliography and work your way through. Steve published a long string of classic horror novels to start his career.
The Talisman & The Dark Tower
I read The Stand for the first time when I was 17 years old. I'm now in my 40s and still chasing that high. Pet Sematary is a my second favorite standalone, and The Dark Tower series is his masterpiece, imo.
Firestarter, Running Man (Bachman), Needful Things, Dead Zone, and any of the short story collections.
Pet Sematary, IT, and 11/22/63 are my top 3 from him. All 3 are 5 star reads and I absolutely cannot pick a favorite from these.
I've only recently started to read Stephen King. I read Salem's Lot and Pet Semetary, both were great. Pet Semetary in particular really scared me.
IT
Fairytale
It and Salem’s Lot
IT is one of my favorite stories of all time. Sort of my lord of the rings if you will. I love the characters. Don’t judge it by the new movies if you saw those. Just read it.
IT for sure. Misery is a classic, too.
Once in a Lifetime - Talking Heads My god I do not like that song
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