Stephen King recommendations?
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My two favorites by far are It and the Stand. But they're both very dense, if you want to start lighter go with Salem's Lot, Eyes of the Dragon or Firestarter.
The Stand is the best he has written. 11/22/63 was well done. A good place to start.
I just read two of his newest, Mr. Mercedes and Revival, I enjoyed them both.
Not a fan of the Dark Tower Series, but if you do read them, read them in order.
Salem's Lot, Cujo, Carrie and the Shining are some of his earlier works that made him famous, they are okay to read.
'It' was a slow starter for me.
Too many books to recommend. His books are not for everyone.
I just read two of his newest, Mr. Mercedes and Revival, I enjoyed them both.
Not a fan of the Dark Tower Series, but if you do read them, read them in order.
Salem's Lot, Cujo, Carrie and the Shining are some of his earlier works that made him famous, they are okay to read.
'It' was a slow starter for me.
Too many books to recommend. His books are not for everyone.
Try some of his earlier works first: The Stand is awesome, but be sure to get the unabridged version. It, The Tommyknockers,
short story collections are all terrific.
Then, if you find you like him, tackle his magnum opus, the seven books of The Gunslinger. You'll lose a little of the fun of the books as he brings in characters and eras from all his writing, but it's still a fantastic ride.
Only book of his I never truly enjoyed was Rose Madder. For some reason, it just didn't grab me and was hard to get through.
Duma Key, on the other hand, was a very pleasant surprise.
short story collections are all terrific.
Then, if you find you like him, tackle his magnum opus, the seven books of The Gunslinger. You'll lose a little of the fun of the books as he brings in characters and eras from all his writing, but it's still a fantastic ride.
Only book of his I never truly enjoyed was Rose Madder. For some reason, it just didn't grab me and was hard to get through.
Duma Key, on the other hand, was a very pleasant surprise.
I agree with The Talisman or The Stand.
Do not start with The Dark Tower series. It's a bit of a mess. He wrote the first 3 early in his career then just stopped. He finished decades later with the rest of the serious. That leads to some weird story lines and such. It's like a different author wrote them.
There's also a lot of references to other King books in DT so it's better to have read them.
DT also has a terrible ending, at least in my opinion.
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Do not start with The Dark Tower series. It's a bit of a mess. He wrote the first 3 early in his career then just stopped. He finished decades later with the rest of the serious. That leads to some weird story lines and such. It's like a different author wrote them.
There's also a lot of references to other King books in DT so it's better to have read them.
DT also has a terrible ending, at least in my opinion.
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Funny how opinions are so different. I thought revival was lousy. Dark Tower is fantastic. Start with the Shining. It's a classic, but not as thick as It or The Stand. I also prefer the original to the unabridged version of the Stand. The extra stuff didn't add anything to me. Bag of Bones is a quick intro from his newer work. Avoid Tommyknockers and Dreamcatcher
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Yes, opinions differ. I agree with your assessment of Tommyknockers. Dreamcatcher was just a time filler. Tommyknockers is it's own level of bad.
Read the compilations up front they are great, all of his work is great but I really love his short prose.
Best novel is in my opinion is Carrie, IT, and the Stand......but you better bet it is time to get involved.
Best novel is in my opinion is Carrie, IT, and the Stand......but you better bet it is time to get involved.
The easiest way to get into King is the short stories. Start with Night Shift like I did. About 15 stories IIRC and just about all have been made into movies. Tells you the stories are pretty good.
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I like just about everything he writes, but I agree the short story collections are some of the best. Different Seasons, Four Past Midnight, Hearts in Atlantis. Each is filled with 90-150 page stories that are outstanding on their own and not too heavy reading. Pet Semetary, Misery, Salem's Lot, are good shorter novels. The Stand And It are absolute masterpieces but you'll need to set aside some time for those. I like Insomnia, Bag of Bones, and the list goes on and on. Of his more recent books, Under the Dome is solid, 1963 excellent. Cell was pretty bad by his standards. Duma Key is pretty good. The Dark Tower series is great, but probably something to get into down the road. I love the first four books, but the last three I can understand why many felt a bit of a let down. He kind of cranked them out quickly. But I love the characters he created so much it was just great to read about their continuing quest.
Different from most everything else he's done, but my favorite, is The Eyes of the Dragon.
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Since everyone recommended The Stand, and one person recommended Hearts in Atlantis, I will second that one. I actually want to read it again. There is something about the most significant moments in life, and mixing those with horror, that King did so very well.
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I just re-read Eyes of the Dragon. It's really a young adult fiction that he wrote for his kids that sort of the same setting as the dark tower. My son is 11 and reads voraciously so I got him that and Cycle of the Werewolf. They were the first SK books I read 30 odd years ago. Still hold up.
Hearts in Atlantis is my wife's favorite. Might be her favorite book overall. The movie was so bad she left the theater in tears.
Duma Key is a solid choice.
Talisman is fantastic, but it's coauthored with Peter Straub, so maybe not the best first choice.
The Stand might be his best work, but it's a biiig novel. Start smaller.
Hearts in Atlantis is my wife's favorite. Might be her favorite book overall. The movie was so bad she left the theater in tears.
Duma Key is a solid choice.
Talisman is fantastic, but it's coauthored with Peter Straub, so maybe not the best first choice.
The Stand might be his best work, but it's a biiig novel. Start smaller.
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Didn't they actually keep the name of the book, which is a later story within, but only use the first story in the Hearts movie?
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The Bachman Books. 4 short stories including the inspiration for "The Running Man" (this version would be way better than the Arnold version as a movie.)
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Yes, indeed. And "Rage", the first of them, foreshadows Columbine in a very eerie way...like King knew what was coming 40 years later. Also liked "The Long Walk", a novel idea for a story.
The Stand is an all time great book.
Christine was really good as what "it".
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Christine was really good as what "it".
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Another vote for Hearts in Atlantis. That was a great book, and maybe his most moving book to me.
I think The Shining or Dead Zone are good jumping off points. The Stand is great, but it's a lot to take in.
Pretty much everything he writes is very readable...but the thing is, in all honestly, some of it is dumb. That's not an insult, it's a testament to how great he is, but he could take a premise no matter how lame and crank out 500 compulsively readable pages...but they're still dumb. Off the top of my head, things like Buick 8, Cell, Christine, Needful things fall in this category.
But some of his work is really transcendent, and the Dark Tower series is true greatness in my mind.
I think I would jump in with The Shining and/or Dead Zone, then Hearts in Atlantis, and then right into Dark Tower. Then start working through some of his other great stuff that's been mentioned...The Stand, IT, etc, so many great ones.
I think The Shining or Dead Zone are good jumping off points. The Stand is great, but it's a lot to take in.
Pretty much everything he writes is very readable...but the thing is, in all honestly, some of it is dumb. That's not an insult, it's a testament to how great he is, but he could take a premise no matter how lame and crank out 500 compulsively readable pages...but they're still dumb. Off the top of my head, things like Buick 8, Cell, Christine, Needful things fall in this category.
But some of his work is really transcendent, and the Dark Tower series is true greatness in my mind.
I think I would jump in with The Shining and/or Dead Zone, then Hearts in Atlantis, and then right into Dark Tower. Then start working through some of his other great stuff that's been mentioned...The Stand, IT, etc, so many great ones.
I'll give you Cell, that one was terrible.
The thing about King is that the "horror" is really not the star of the show. What makes his books great is that his characters are very believable and real - then he throws some crazy shit at them and you get to see what happens. And lots of times what happens is they die. Keeps you on your toes. It's unlike most other fiction like this where when crazy stuff happens someone goes into hero mode and kids suddenly start writing code to save the world. No, those kids get eaten by the thing under the bed in a King novel. They they float....they all float down there.
The thing about King is that the "horror" is really not the star of the show. What makes his books great is that his characters are very believable and real - then he throws some crazy shit at them and you get to see what happens. And lots of times what happens is they die. Keeps you on your toes. It's unlike most other fiction like this where when crazy stuff happens someone goes into hero mode and kids suddenly start writing code to save the world. No, those kids get eaten by the thing under the bed in a King novel. They they float....they all float down there.
"The Talisman is my personal favorite."
Mine too, but there are many good ones -
The Gunslinger series was fun, but got a bit tired toward the end.
The Stand - Very, Very Good.
I'd go with The Talisman and then Black House -
Mine too, but there are many good ones -
The Gunslinger series was fun, but got a bit tired toward the end.
The Stand - Very, Very Good.
I'd go with The Talisman and then Black House -
I really didn't enjoy Black House. The writing style was just so different from the typical Stephen King I love. I liked the Talisman better, but it still felt more like another author's (i.e., Straub's) work.
I recommend you get ready to be frustrated by the endings to almost every one of his books. He is awesome at coming up with ideas, then developing them, getting you involved in the suspense, and then he pulls the rug out from under you with the endings. I won't ruin any endings for you, but I have said "WTF?", more than a few times, at the end of his books.
Worst comparison ever. The variety in King's work is so vast I don't how he can be accused of being "formulaic". Now, in certain genres-- mainly the horror/sci-fi -- he has repeated a theme. But he has an incredible gift of story-telling and character development.
Same thing with 11/22/63, copious amounts of research, interviews, site visits and walk throughs were done to make it as tonally accurate as possible.
I've been reading King since I was 10ish. My favorites are IT, The Shining, Salem's Lot, Talisman, Pet Semetary and the first 4 Dark Tower books. Like someone said above, I've read most of his stuff and enjoy pretty much everything he's written (with a few exceptions).
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