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Original poster

whats the best Stephen King book?

92 replies

juicychops · 27/04/2012 21:29

I fancy giving one a go as not read any of his since i was a teenager. I read Carrie, The Shining, and some other one which i seem to remember was about a girl walking through the woods imagining herself at a baseball game? can't really remember that one!

anyway, recommendations please...

OP posts:
ClaireDeTamble · 27/04/2012 22:02

The Long Walk - possibly the greatest, scariest short story ever written. Rage is also very good.

And not forgetting Rita Heyworth and the Shawshank Redemption and Apt Pupil.

I prefer his short stories to his novels.

Fairenuff · 27/04/2012 22:02

Thinner
The Long Walk
The Stand
The Talisman
Insomnia

petitfiloser · 27/04/2012 22:04

miss prickle, he's the best isn't he?

MadamTwoSwords · 27/04/2012 22:04

I have all of his books. My faves are
The Stand
It
The Dark Tower Series (5-7 are best so persevere)

Struggled a bit with his later stuff, still haven't finished Under The Dome or 22.11.63, when normally I read his books in one go.

PervyMuskrat · 27/04/2012 23:13

Insomnia, Needful Things, any of the short stories and the Dark Tower series.

Slight hijack, but has anyone else read "The Wind Through The Keyhole" ? Beautiful and fits into the series perfectly...

MissPricklePants · 27/04/2012 23:27

petitfiloser he is the best!! PervyMuskrat I haven't read it yet, been busy working and stuff but I am starting it tomorrow!!So excited about it!

PervyMuskrat · 27/04/2012 23:32

Miss PricklePants - worth locking yourself in a room for a few hours and absorbing yourself in it. I have the new Robin Hobb too, so that's the plan for tomorrow evening, before I start my new job on Monday!

bruffin · 27/04/2012 23:33

The Dead Zone
I read a lot of Sk when he first started writing. Then stopped for a while, then read Misery and Rose Ladder the nothing until The Dome and Duma Key both of which I really enjoyed.
I have his new one to read, but Ds pinched it first.

MissPricklePants · 27/04/2012 23:35

eeeeek well thats the plan for tomorrow eve sorted. Perk of being an l.p is I can read whilst starfishing in bed Good luck for your first day on Monday!

Oh and OP I totally recommend Salem's Lot!

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 27/04/2012 23:39

I have an entire bookcase dedicated to Stephen King, although I'm a few books short of his entire back catalogue!

Imo 'The Stand' and the Dark Tower series are far and away his best, followed by Bag Of Bones and The Dead Zone, probably.

The short story about the man who eats himself is called, 'Survivor Type' and is in 'Skeleton Crew' - it is one of the best short stories ever!

The only ones I've hated of his are: Needful Things (tosh), The Tommy Knockers (completely forgetable), Dreamcatcher (ridiculous alien inspired toilet humour - dreadful) and Dolores Claiborne (boring and predictable).

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 27/04/2012 23:40

Apt Pupil is great but really, really horrible - it's the only one of his that has made me feel quite ill.

MissPricklePants · 27/04/2012 23:41

Remus I have a SK bookcase too...I thought I was the only one!!

mrscumberbatch · 27/04/2012 23:41

The Talisman - I read it every year but I hardly ever find anyone whose read it.

It's very clever, funny and enthralling and you will most certainly have weird dreams afterwards!!

Stand is a close second for me

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 27/04/2012 23:42

:) I keep saying I'm going to have a special Jane Austen bookcase too - unfortunately it would be very, very small. :(

Angelico · 27/04/2012 23:44

The Stand, Lisey's Story, Cujo, It (terrifying!!!) and agree about The Bachman Books - I loved Rage and The Long Walk is amazing until just before the end where it goes a bit Confused. Seem to remember enjoying Christine and Bag of Bones. If you're into writing I love On Writing - it's fascinating about his life and how he slogged towards success, also great bit about the accident that nearly killed him ("I realised I'd almost been killed by one of my own characters!").

I truly love The Stand and read it again at intervals.

MissPricklePants · 27/04/2012 23:45

mrscumberbatch, The talisman is amazing!! I do love it!!

Remus it would be very, very small but very, very awesome!!

Angelico · 27/04/2012 23:46

What is the one where the guy sees everything going all multi-coloured?

Oh and Dreamcatcher was AWFUL - am amazed how many people like it tbh! Put me right off King for a while! :o

WandaDoff · 27/04/2012 23:46

So many to choose from, but I think the Stand has to be my favourite.

I much prefer his earlier stuff though.

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 27/04/2012 23:46

'On Writing' is great - I wish he'd do an update.

My favourite Bachman is The Regulators (which is a superior companion to King's Desperation).

PervyMuskrat · 27/04/2012 23:47

Ooh, yes, The Talisman. How could I forget ? Black House is a fairly decent sequel too.

Remus, I agree with your dislikes (although The Tommyknockers is the one book I couldn't be arsed to finish of his), except for Needful Things, which I do love. Maybe it was a teenage hormonal thing as to when I first read it Smile

MissPP - thanks. New job after ML, so really looking forward to the challenge!

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 27/04/2012 23:47

Multicoloured auras = Ralph Roberts in Insomnia.

SardineQueen · 27/04/2012 23:47

I haven't read him for a long while - I used to buy SK to read on the train to uni and to see my gran so he has a certain "time" for me - but the one I always remember is Firestarter, I still think about that story. He tells a great story.

mrscumberbatch · 27/04/2012 23:53

I quite liked Needful things too Pervy. It's quite a satisfying story ifyswim. Well rounded.

Tommyknockers was godawful as was dreamcatcher. I tried to persevere with both but boredom won.

PervyMuskrat · 28/04/2012 00:18

I have a "SK saved my neck" story!

DH and I were in the pub on a bank holiday Sun (pre DC!), after doing tedious DIY all day, and were sat down, happily drinking and ignoring each other whilst reading (the Richard Herring cock book here and some tedious sci fi book on DH's part). A random scary looking bloke started shouting "Oi, Wordsworth" at us from another table, which we ignored, until he actually came over to shout at us a bit more.

He then told us that he hated reading and that he'd only read 5 books in his life, one of which was the bible, which was his least favourite (?!). He then said if we were "so fucking clever" as to be reading in the pub, bet we couldn't tell him who wrote the book for the Shawshank Redemption. We passed the test and he changed completely. Told us that we were the only people he'd ever met that had answered correctly (!) and that meant we were really clever and asked what books should he read to start liking books! He then asked what my book was about and I managed to hide it it time.

I love living in a slightly scary city, but that was a fucking weird evening!

mrscumberbatch · 28/04/2012 00:31

Where on earth were you living??!?!?!?

(I'm making assumptions at somewhere with low literacy scores......) Wink

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