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Stephen King Books (1 Viewer)

I am a HUGE S King fan. I would absolutely read The Dead Zone next. With today's political climate I think this would be a super fun read. I am sure anyone who has read this will think of our current president. Even the campaign is very similar to the book. In my opinion The Dead Zone may be one of King's best books of the 70s.

 
Evilgrin 72 said:
So true. Needful Things was a book I enjoyed the hell out of for 700 pages but hated the ending.
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I'd say the same thing about It. It was my favorite of his until the abomination of an ending. He tends to shoot his wad early with character development, then have really rushed or incomplete endings. 

I'd recommend the vast majority of his short stories though. The Mist was so good. Finished that in one night, couldn't put it down. 

 
Insomnia on cassette is the only audio book I ever listened to. It was great. Helped me get through many weeks with a badly torn calf muscle. I still hear the theme music in my head sometimes. Bee dur, dee dur, dee dur, doooo. Muahahaaha. The Stand will always be my favorite. I always found it harder to put the more fantasy type of books books down like The Talisman, Eyes of the Dragon, The Dark Tower series, etc. 

 
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Man...I don't know if I could narrow it down to just a few.  Great suggestions in this thread, especially with the idea of starting with his shorter stories.  The Long Walk is great.  The crappy TV movies for The Langoliers, IT, and The Mist don't do those books/stories justice.  I really enjoyed Storm of the Century as a book moreso than the movie.  I started reading King at 12 with The Dark Half, Different Seasons and Skeleton Crew.  After those I was hooked.  These are the books I've been recommending to my 13 yr old to read:

1. The Dark Half

2. Cujo

3. Pet Sematary

4. The Talisman / Black House (sequel to Talisman)

5. The Running Man

My top King books/series:

1. The Dark Tower

2. IT

3. Cujo

4. The Dead Zone

5. Skeleton Crew / Night Shift / Four Past Midnight / Different Seasons (I always clump the short story books together)

The Stand, The Shining, Salem's Lot, and Christine are just too good to place on a list for me.  They might as well be required reading.   :lmao:

Obscure books/stories that I haven't seen mentioned, but aren't a bad read: Revival, From A Buick 8, Desperation / The Regulators, Cycle of the Werewolf

 
Hard to get to a top 5 but if I exclude collections I'll go with the following.

1. The Stand
2. The Shining
3. 11/22/63
4. Dead Zone
5. Salem's Lot

Bonus: The Tailsman which was a collaboration with Peter Straub

 
Because I would think shorter ones would be a good starting point, I would suggest:

  1. The Long Walk
  2. Thinner
  3. Cell (extrapolating how it would be today is fun)


And I know you said you associate it with your dad's passing but The Stand is a superb read.  I re-read it again every 6-8 years or so.

 
Spike said:
Because I would think shorter ones would be a good starting point, I would suggest:

  1. The Long Walk
  2. Thinner
  3. Cell (extrapolating how it would be today is fun)


And I know you said you associate it with your dad's passing but The Stand is a superb read.  I re-read it again every 6-8 years or so.
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The Long Walk and Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption are my two favorite short stories. Apt Pupil is also pretty good and was in the same book (Different Seasons) as Shawshank.

 
facook said:
Have you read Bag of Bones or Duma Key?

I mentioned them earlier in thread, but I feel like they were the start of his swing back up in quality - particularly Bones.  It creeped me out quite a bit, which I hadn't felt since The Shining and Pet Semetary and It.  I also liked Under the Dome but I feel like me and Tim are the only ones that did.
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I am a long time King fan as well, and I thought Under the Dome was a good tale.  King goes is willing to take risks on some stories and I guess he can afford to with his body of successes.

I read Bag of Bones once years ago but the only thing that sticks in my mind was the detailed rape...pretty graphic even for King, but he's always had weird sex going on at the weirdest times, IMO

 
I'm trying to read IT before the new movie (9/4) but I'm having a tough go of it. I'm about 300 pages in and I'm not getting all the hooplah from the horror side of things. When does that kick in? I just got past the part where Eddie gets a visit from the creature from the black lagoon.

 
Rick James said:
I'm trying to read IT before the new movie (9/4) but I'm having a tough go of it. I'm about 300 pages in and I'm not getting all the hooplah from the horror side of things. When does that kick in? I just got past the part where Eddie gets a visit from the creature from the black lagoon.
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Doesn't the clown kill the kid in the first 30 pages? 

A ####ING CLOWN IN THE SEWER. 

if you don't find that scary I'm not sure what will. We all float down here. 

 
Rick James said:
I'm trying to read IT before the new movie (9/4) but I'm having a tough go of it. I'm about 300 pages in and I'm not getting all the hooplah from the horror side of things. When does that kick in? I just got past the part where Eddie gets a visit from the creature from the black lagoon.
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Yeah, like Shuke said, if you aren't into after that many pages, I am not sure you will be into it, since usually the problem people have with the book is the last 100 or so pages. 

 
shuke said:
Doesn't the clown kill the kid in the first 30 pages? 

A ####ING CLOWN IN THE SEWER. 

if you don't find that scary I'm not sure what will. We all float down here. 
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haha I know what you mean, but I've seen the movie so it's not like that was unexpected

 
I think it was Pet Semetary that even scared the crap out of Stephen King.  If this is the right one, he put the manuscript in a drawer for 20 years.

 
MindCrime said:
So in the past couple of months since i started this thread, I’ve read:

It, Christine, Carrie, and Pet Semetary. 

Just checked out Different Seasons. 

Thanks for all the recommendations, loving them so far.
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What did you think of the three you've read since It?

 
The only King book I've ever completed is Joyland. I started The Stand years ago but never finished it. Have a bunch of his ebooks in my library I'll get to some day.

 
Josie Maran said:
The Shining really needs to be on your short list.
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It is, but it’s the only King book that I can’t get through my local library via ebook. It’s kind of odd. May have to just buy it. (Or, actually go get the hard copy, lol)

Josie Maran said:
What did you think of the three you've read since It?
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So far, would rank them in this order: Christine, Carrie, Pet Semetary. Really enjoyed all 3. 

 
MindCrime said:
So in the past couple of months since i started this thread, I’ve read:

It, Christine, Carrie, and Pet Semetary. 

Just checked out Different Seasons. 

Thanks for all the recommendations, loving them so far.
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Really interested to hear your thoughts on Different Seasons. Just curious - have you seen the films made out of the stories in this book?

 
Uruk-Hai said:
Really interested to hear your thoughts on Different Seasons. Just curious - have you seen the films made out of the stories in this book?
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Busy the last few weeks, so not much free time. I finished the first two stories in Different Seasons (Rita Hayworth and the Shawahank Redemption and Apt Pupil). Loved Shawshank.

Apt Pupil was tough, as it seemed to drone on for a while. The end started getting really good, as more characters were introduced and everything started to unravel, but the ending was so abrupt. Still a good read, but didnt have me hooked like the other books.

I only have 2 days left on the loan of Different Seasons, and there are holds on the book, so at this point I’m just going to return it and come back some other time for the other 2 stories.

So time to pick my next book- Dead Zone, The Shining, or something else?

 
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MindCrime said:
Busy the last few weeks, so not much free time. I finished the first two stories in Different Seasons (Rita Hayworth and the Shawahank Redemption and Apt Pupil). Loved Shawshank.

Apt Pupil was tough, as it seemed to drone on for a while. The end started getting really good, as more characters were introduced and everything started to unravel, but the ending was so abrupt. Still a good read, but didnt have me hooked like the other books.

I only have 2 days left on the loan of Different Seasons, and there are holds on the book, so at this point I’m just going to return it and come back some other time for the other 2 stories.

So time to pick my next book- Dead Zone, The Shining, or something else?
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The Shining

 
Apparently this is the first time I've come into this thread, my apologies for throwing out Likes to posts from months ago.

 
GilbertGrape said:
Everybody likes likes, Mike Ike. 
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:lol: I guess it just seemed strange to me to be liking so many old posts. 

Also, I've been drinking Crown Royal all night, so I'm a little confused. Didn't realize at first how old the thread was. 

ETA : Nice rhyming scheme in your response. 

 
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The Stand or The Dark Tower Series.  I’ve got a free credit from audible.

Assume no prior knowledge of either (although I do have some). 

 
bigmarc27 said:
The Stand or The Dark Tower Series.  I’ve got a free credit from audible.

Assume no prior knowledge of either (although I do have some). 
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Wow...you can get the entire DT?  I'd say that. 7 (or 8) books.  But The Stand is better than any 1 of the DT series.

 
facook said:
Wow...you can get the entire DT?  I'd say that. 7 (or 8) books.  But The Stand is better than any 1 of the DT series.
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Sorry, no. I can get the first book. The Stand is 44 hours, the first DT book is 15. They all count the same. I guess I’m just more interested in what the better story would be - want to do both. 

 
Definitely The Stand over the first (only) DT book.

How big a King fan are you?  I would not recommend the DT to someone who's not a seasoned King reader, and if you haven't read The Stand yet I'm guessing that's not you at this point.

 
Psychopav said:
Definitely The Stand over the first (only) DT book.

How big a King fan are you?  I would not recommend the DT to someone who's not a seasoned King reader, and if you haven't read The Stand yet I'm guessing that's not you at this point.
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I am not - just the Shining and IT. I know the outline of the Stand and vaguely remember the miniseries from way back when. 

 
bigmarc27 said:
I am not - just the Shining and IT. I know the outline of the Stand and vaguely remember the miniseries from way back when. 
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Just my opinion, but I'd go with the Stand and don't look back.  Then have fun reading through a bunch of his books - he's written a few - before trying to tackle the Dark Tower series.

 
I didn't find the Shining book better than the movie.

I watched the movie first, actually several times first.  I didn't read the Shining until recently, like two years ago, where most of the King I read was in high school.

Not sure if I just outgrew King books but this is a rare case where I liked the movie better.

 
Jefferson the Caregiver said:
I didn't find the Shining book better than the movie.

I watched the movie first, actually several times first.  I didn't read the Shining until recently, like two years ago, where most of the King I read was in high school.

Not sure if I just outgrew King books but this is a rare case where I liked the movie better.
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Well considering it's one of the greatest movies ever, this is not an unpopular opinion.  Still a great book, though.

 
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