Current Events > Favorite Stephen King novel?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I can't really vote cause I've only read Salem's Lot, which was really good! It doesn't use sexy, modern day, Blade/Underworld vampires who seem to just be another human like organism w/super strength and a blood disorder, but like cursed, religious vampires that are scared of crosses.

I'm in the process of reading IT which is also great. I think I like this more. I'm about 80% of the way through according to my Kindle and I haven't been reading as much as I should.

Was wondering what I should read next. I decided in 2020 to give King a shot because I thought anyone who can write so many genres must be talented.

One of the gunslinger novels I dont know maybe wizard and glass

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Dr Sleep

11/22/63

The Stand.

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Four Seasons (as Richard Bachman) or The Eyes of the Dragon

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Misery.

It builds tension so effectively that it made me feel sick and subconsciously dig my nails into my leg.

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The Langoliers

The Dark Tower series as a whole.

Outside of that...probably The Stand. I read all up to The Dark Tower and maybe one or two beyond that, so I have no clue about the last 15-20 years worth of stuff.

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The Running Man

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Different Seasons, The Langoliers and The Long Walk.

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11/22/63

The ending to it was just absolutely beautiful, and it was a fun ride the entire way through.

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creativerealms posted...

The Stand.

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IT, 11/22/63 or Wizard and Glass.

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As much as I love the gunslinger series, The Stand is probably my favorite novel.

Pet Sematary is my favorite by a pretty wide margin. I've read 20 or 30 of King's novels and nothing compares to Louis's journey through that story. King has such a lazer focus on the character that makes Louis come to life in a way few fictional characters ever do. Similarly, grief is rarely explored in such depth in fiction, and with such honesty. Neither movie does the novel justice.

11/22/63
Misery
The Dead Zone (I love the pacing in this novel).

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The Stand
The Shining
11/22/63

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B18Champ posted...

11/22/63

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Funnily enough TC, you started with my 2 favorites of his. Insomnia is another that I love. And Black House, which is a collaboration.

I'd recommend waiting to read the Dark Tower series until after you've read a bunch of his other stories first as there are numerous references & call backs.

Also, it's not my favorite, but the only one that really, truly, properly scares me is Revival. I think it's really underrated. It nails the Lovecraftian existential dread thing better than any book I've ever read.

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creativerealms posted...

The Stand.

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pegusus123456 posted...

Also, it's not my favorite, but the only one that really, truly, properly scares me is Revival. I think it's really underrated. It nails the Lovecraftian existential dread thing better than any book I've ever read.

Yeah, Revival is genuinely disturbing and upsetting.

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if I had to choose one book, I'd probably go with The Talisman.

I know it's an unpopular opinion, but I like the fairytale aspect of it, of a kid traveling across vast distances, and to different worlds, to try to save someone he loves.

but overall, The Dark Tower series is one of my favorite stories.

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I much prefer his short stories but of his novels probably The Dead Zone
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You said novel, so I'm picking the Stand, but I actually like a number of his novellas and short stories more.

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It
11/22/63


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ssjevot posted...

You said novel, so I'm picking the Stand, but I actually like a number of his novellas and short stories more.

Apt Pupil is another one I never see talked about. It's pretty chilling that you don't realize you're reading the perspective of a burgeoning serial killer for a little while.

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I haven't read an awful lot of his work, but I always had a soft spot for Needful Things.

desperation or it

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Probably It or The Stand. It's predictable but true.

For Novella I really like The Mist and The Langoliers.

Edit: Actually maybe the Green Mile. Hard to decide


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TheOtherMike posted...

Pet Sematary is my favorite by a pretty wide margin. I've read 20 or 30 of King's novels and nothing compares to Louis's journey through that story. King has such a lazer focus on the character that makes Louis come to life in a way few fictional characters ever do. Similarly, grief is rarely explored in such depth in fiction, and with such honesty. Neither movie does the novel justice.

Mmhm, very true. One of his more actually horrifying ones too in my opinion, just due to how goddamn hard it hits with the characters (poorly) dealing with death and how creepy and fucked up it gets on the man-playing-god angle.

Other two faves are probably IT and The Shining.

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Pet Sematary is a book I think was actually improved by knowing the plot ahead of time (I saw the movie first). It's just incredibly tense knowing how it's going to end up.

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Under the Dome.

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Mormaurd posted...

Under the Dome.

That might have been mine once.

But then I finished and read that ending.

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The Stand
The Shining
Needful Things
Pet Cemetery

Those plus what you have read are probably about his best works.

Besides the dark tower books, but those are best read after a bunch of his other stuff and are an entire series.

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pfh1001 posted...

And Black House, which is a collaboration.

Ugh, I hated this one, which is weird considering I loved the Talisman. From what I recall, there seemed to be too much effort trying to shove the mythology of the dark tower series into it.

My favorites would have to be The Stand, Insomnia, and The Long Walk (short story from the Bachman books)

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I remember nothing about them, but I also remember loving The Talisman and finding The Black House kind of bad.

I vaguely remember Black House having some of that King cheesiness about bees.

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The novel I enjoyed the most was Desperation.
Revival was the scariest, to the point where I almost regretted reading it.
Best book is a toss up between Pet Semetary and Salem's Lot.
Best short story easily goes to Apt Pupil, though I enjoyed Little Sisters of Eluria more.

A lot of King's works are bad or just OK, but when he is on point, his books are absolutely incredible.

The Jaunt is a terrific short story in Skeleton Crew

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I havent read everything he has written but of the ones I have, IT was my favorite. I consider it a masterpiece of horror

If y'all have never read The Long Walk, I definitely recommend it. It's only about 100 pages if I'm remembering right, but it's just a fantastic, straightforward story with no fat on it.

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Cthulhu_Fhtagn posted...

The Jaunt is a terrific short story in Skeleton Crew

Yeah I still think of that ending from time to time, and I read it almost two decades ago.

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I read recently that they're going to ruin it with a tv series

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Hey, it could be great. They make successful TV series out of 30 page short stories all the time.

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Zikten posted...

I havent read everything he has written but of the ones I have, IT was my favorite. I consider it a masterpiece of horror

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11/22/63
The stand
Misery

I also really enjoyed Under the Dome (the ending was kind of lame, but you need accept shit like that when reading King) and Duma key.

ShotgunSilencer posted...

Duma key.

This is the only King book I've ever trailed off reading. I think I got to the part where the vampire ghost or whatever finally shows up.

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Y'all should check out King's son, too. Name is Joe Hill, and he's got some pretty good stuff. Apparently he's the one that gave his dad the idea for the ending of 11/22/63 (my favorite king novel). I recommend N0S4A2, it was a very cool vampire story.

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