Stephen king

Ooh speaking of his accident, On Writing is superb.

I love SK. He has written some duds, but he has also written some really great books.

My absolute favourite of his is Duma Key - both because it reflects his own lived experience of recovering from serious injury, but also because he portrays dementia and recovery from acquired brain injury so very well. I also love The Shining and Doctor Sleep - I remember watching my late husband read the latter and hoping that he would recognise himself in Danny Torrance the alcoholic. He didn't, but it's still a great book.

The Dark Tower series is a different thing altogether - you either dive into that universe, or you don't. I would suggest you do.

You have a lot of great reading to look forward to.

Yes to The Jaunt - great fun!

King is the best (and I am very smart!!!) .

I think his absolute worst are Needful Things, The Tommyknockers, Dreamcatcher, Gerald's Game, Delores Claiborne and Revival.

For somebody new to him, I always recommend:
The Green Mile
Misery
The Girl who Loved Tom Gordon
Bag of Bones

It and The Stand are his two best imvho. 'It' is really clever in the way it flits between the child and adult central characters. For me, it's even better than The Stand.

And some of his short stories are brilliant. You can find 'Survivor Type' free online, and it's well worth a read.

Stephen King is fabulous. No one writes like him, it’s like being given a big hug and being scared to death at the same time.

Most of his best have been recommended here, i would add Needful Things and Gerald’s Game. It’s also worth checking out his short stories, specially the Shawshank redemption (called Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption) and The Body which is the story Stand By Me is based on.

Enjoy, am jealous, i would love to go back and discover all those books again!

I think the Book that for me had the most disturbing atmosphere was The Tommyknockers.

Cell has to have one of the best opening chapters of a horror novel.

But in terms of read firsts, I don't think you can go wrong with The Shining.

Also every horror fan should read the short stories The Jaunt (in Skeleton Crew) and 1408 (in Everything's Eventual).

SK is a literary genius

The Stand
IT
The Shining
Misery
Cujo
Salems Lot

My faves. Also a big James Herbert fan

I loved horror and SK as a teen. 'Desperation' was one of my favourite books back then so when I saw it in a charity shop recently I bought it to re-read. I was so disappointed! Thought it was very poorly written. Will I feel the same if I re-read others? There are some I haven't read at all - like Pet Cemetery and Misery.

I’ve enjoyed nearly all mentioned especially Bag of Bones. I’ve never got into the Dark Tower books though, must give them another try.

I found Under the Dome to be disappointing at the end. It felt like he didn’t know how to end it. Mainly though he’s brilliant.

Although there are a fair few adaptations of his books to films that have been badly done.

And some trivia: both The Shawshank Redemption and Stand by Me are SK stories. I think his characterisation is really good. And I know some very smart people who rate him.

The Dead Zone is probably my favourite novel ever. He said (in On Writing) that it's one of the few books he's written where he knew the ending in advance. I think that matters. I LOVE the beginning and middle of all of his books, but sometimes find the endings slightly shite. Like the big spider thing...

His short stories are incredibly good.

‘It’ is one of my favourite books. ‘The Stand’ is also amazing.

I am a serious King fan, the only book I didn’t get one with was Hearts in Atlantis. All the others have been read and re-read dozens of times. It, The Stand, The Talisman, Black House (stop when he tells you to stop, don’t read on - broke my bloody heart) and Dr Sleep are my favourites.

I read Rose Madder in my mid teens and it really stuck with me. One of his lessor known books

I loved Carrie, again as a teen and the shining.

Also really loved the eyes of the dragon which isn't typical king style

I love SK - and Joe Hill - would reccommend Joe Hills early collection of short stories Heart Shaped Box - very good.
My favourite Stephen Kings have mostly been mentioned already but include
Christine
Dead Zone
The Shining
The Stand
The Talisman / The Black Housr
Duma Key
Needful Things
Danse Macabre / On writing - non fiction
All short story collections
As a a PP said I think he's massively underated as a writer due to the genre perceptions. His writing about relationships and human nature is hugely perceptive. For e.g. the best friend relationship in Christine is beautifully written - he describes so well the experience of knowing a good friend is going down the wrong path but being unable to help them.

Rose Madder - yes forgot that one.

I love Stephen king and have a big collection of his books. Insomnia is my favourite but very very long. Thinner is a good one and bag of bones. His just done one with his son which I'm 1/2 way through.

I think SK is really under-rated, because he falls under the 'horror' genre. I have read all the early stuff and a lot of the later stuff but not all.

I think his best book is The Stand, but also particularly enjoyed Dark Tower Series, Needful Things, Dolores Claibourne, The Dark Half and all the short stores. Currently reading The Institute. DS, 12, has just read The Girl WHo Loved Tom Gordon (which is a bit different) and really enjoyed it.

I've loved every King I've ever read. Currently reading Under The Dome.

Cell is a very good one. It gets going right from the first page.

I also loved Misery
And 11.22.63

Carrie and IT, read those a long time ago when I was in school but they were very good too.

The shining
Christine
The stand
Misery
Carrie
I loved Stephen king when I was a teenager - my dad was a huge fan so I worked his way through his collection.

I think Christine is so under-rated - even now in my 40s I am not keen on walking in front of car bonnets 😂

And The Stand is a must!

The PP has a good list. It's not exhaustive but Stephen King's early stuff is best

Only read 11.22.63, The Stand and the Dark Tower series and really enjoyed them all.

The shining is my favourite book ever!

11.22.63 is one I made my friend read recently and she LOVED. It is brilliant. I loved his most recent, The Institute.

I'm a massive King fan but on a different note, I just read his son, Jo Hill's, book Nos4r2 and loved it! The little hints to his dads books were very exciting! Anyone read any of his others? I'm keen now.

11.22.63 is fantastic but I don’t think it’s very like his usual work. It’s the first of his I read and nothing else of his that I’ve read has been as good.