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Which Steven King to read?
KeyScourge
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I've been meaning for literally about 6 years now to start reading some of Stephen King's books, but there are so many and they are all awesome apparently, so I need help deciding which is the best one. The ones I have in the bookshelf at home (my dad is a bit of a King fan) are:
The Shining
The Mist
It
Carrie
Salem's Lot
Misery
The Shining
The Mist
It
Carrie
Salem's Lot
Misery
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edit: also, From a Buick 8 and The Stand
It
The Shining
Carrie
'Salem's Lot
The Mist
I don't know the quality of Misery because I've never read it.
The best books of his that you don't have listed there are The Dark Tower, Duma Key, Different Seasons, The Talisman/Black House, and Everything's Eventual.
I stopped reading his books after a while because I got tired of the whole "psychic children" phenomenon and also got tired of/grossed out by... well if you read enough of him you'll probably figure the trend out.
Been meaning to read more of The Dark Tower, I read the first couple a while back and enjoyed the difference from most of his works.
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I'd go as far as to recommend reading the DT series last if you want the full impact.
One thing you could try is to read an early King novel that he wrote pre-accident (something like The Stand is what I'd recommend) and then read something post-accident for King. His writing style and general subject has changed a lot since his accident and not everybody likes the turn he took. I think a prime example of King's work post-accident would be Duma Key.
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My favorites in no particular order are:
The Mist
Long Walk
Rage
Quitters Inc.
The Langoliers
Dreamscapes and Nightmares collection
This book is what got me into Stephen King. I read it a long time ago in elementary school, not sure how I got a hold of it. I don't really remember much about it now. I really should go find a copy and read it again.
IT should be the second one on your list. It has some flaws, but parts of it are very good, and generally the good outweighs the bad.
Also, I recommend that you check out The Talisman.
Out of all the Stephen King books I read, the ones that sticks out to me the most is It, The Stand, The Dark Tower series, and The Green Mile.
IT
The Shining
Salem's Lot
The Mist
Carrie
Misery
Also, tell your dad to go buy the Stand all ready... I mean jeeze...
Yup, that would be the list. I liked his short stories better than his novels, but whatev. Needful things was also pretty good, I pretty much hated the hell out of Tommyknockers. I don't know if its post accident or rehab, but his modern stuff just doesn't do it for me anymore. He old-school stuff is pretty fascinating though. Whenever I want to work on character sketches I read his short stories - he's just got a way of pinning someone down in a few sentences. Brilliant.
If you are looking for some good old fashioned Lovecraftian scarefests... "Hobbs End Horror" in Nightmares and Dreamscapes, and "Jerusalem's Lot" (not to be confused with Salem's Lot, both very different) in Night Shift are awesome.
King's career is an interesting one... it's hard to deny his best books were written under a cloud of alcohol and cocaine, and his less interesting ones are a bit existential and were written after his car accident.
This may just be me, but even when his novels are pretty explicitly horror novels I've never really seen most of them in that way; to me they're more just good, often character-driven stories with horror elements thrown in. Cujo is a pretty good example of what I'm talking about, for those who've read it.
That being said when he puts the horror stuff out front it makes for some amazing and disturbing stories. It and Pet Sematary are the only two books of his I've ever actually gotten freaked out reading.
People complain about his new stuff a fair bit (myself incldued) but I really enjoyed Duma Key, especially compared to some other recent ones like Cell.
Beyond all these I'd recommend The Stand and Bag of Bones, but both of those (Stand especially) are very, very long, so they may not be ones to start with.
His Bachman stuff also tends to be a lot more brutal and darker, and usually end on a bleak or depressing note.
I don't read King anymore. I kind of overloaded myself on him about five or six years ago and can't stand his style anymore (that style being never fucking ending), but I still hold his Bachman stuff in higher regard than the rest of his work.
Most of King's work ends on a depressing note. You might be hard pressed to find me a "happy ending" in a King book.
And he wrote the Long Walk under Bachman... which might be one of his best.
Mmm, yes. I really enjoyed Duma Key; it was slow but still well-paced.
Edit: Oh, and yes, Bag of Bones is probably my favorite King novel out of the ones I've read.
It wasn't very deep... the characters aren't very developed... but it was a quick and entertaining read.
I believe so... frankly, sad as it is, in Maine back in the early 80's. his portrayal of gays was almost progressive.
One of the main characters of Cell is gay. But honestly, he doesn't seem to have really delved into the subject.
I read plenty of books that have no gay characters at all, and that's just fine. I hate coming across lame stereotypes that masquerade as inclusiveness though. The Dark Tower books didn't have any mention of LGBT characters, and I enjoyed them quite a bit.
which I think is what makes it slightly more progressive, or at the very least topical. Trust me, I've gone over and over this in my head about that opening scene in IT... er... the second scene anyway... after Georgie. I've read IT over 30 times... and at this point I honestly couldn't say whether I am rationalizing King's writing of... I think the characters name was Adrien? Something like that... I can't say whether I'm rationalizing, or whether it was King actually trying to be a little progressive there.
Regardless, the character is little more then a stereotype... but there are pieces within the writing that show King being accepting of gays... his description of the bar, for one... other pieces like that.
Either way... I've learned something from reading King over the years... the way his characters view the world is NOT the same as how he views them. Sometimes it's hard to differentiate... but with King I do believe this to be true.
"It' is what I would recommend from his main set of books. It's insanely long but covers just about every major King theme. Kinda got bored of him after reading it tbh, everything started to get repetitive.
I just finished The Stand, which is actually very similar to the DT series. Also very good.
That can be said for any character or plot device in the whole story.
I have nothing against letting a story be a little mysterious or unexplanatory, but it has to be compelling when the less-is-more tactic is used. Everything was simply unfinished.
As I already stated, Cell was almost completely devoid of character development... it was not deep by any means. I still found it somewhat entertaining.
The Shining (and stay the FUCK away from Kubrick's film)
Pet Sematary
Salem's Lot (the original TV miniseries fucked me up for life, though the newer one is more faithful)
The Green Mile
It
The Stand
The Dark Tower Series
The Dark Tower is my favorite work of his, though like someone mentioned, as you get farther into the series, it starts tying in with many of his other books, so unless you've read, say, Salem's Lot, you won't get the full impact of a certain character or certain events in one of the books.
Overall though, I will forever say The Dark Tower is his crowning achievement. Shit damn I got bored during The Wastelands, though.
I've read everything King has every written bar his latest short story collection with the melting clock, and I'd agree with "The Long Walk" being his absolute best work. IT follows close, and then his early short story collections like Skeleton Crew.
I've found his later short story collections were pretty awful and uninspired.
I would argue that Nightmares and Dreamscapes is his best, most consistent collection, while he's newest, After Sunset, is likely his worst. However, even Everything's Eventual has some awesome stories in it.
I think Duma Key has some of his best characters out of any of his stories. I really, REALLY enjoyed that book.