Stephen King- where should I start

[3kidsareenough]

Hi just that really I've decided I'm going to read some Stephen king books which would be a good one to start with, don't want to start with anything too scary, will work my way up to those!!! Any suggestions please

Delores Claiborne

Not scary and very good

Different Seasons is his collection of 4 novellas , that include the stories that the films Stand By Me ("The Body") and The Shawshank Redemption ("Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption") were based upon . Nothing scary but really good

I had the whole Stephen King collection before I met ex h. I had to bin them all when we moved house. Nice man obvs.

I have just restarted my collection and have bought Christine and Misery, however I am reading Christine and my 13 yr old dd is reading misery.

Carrie is also a good starting point.

My favourite Stephen king book is pet semetaey but it terrified me!

I'd recommend geralds game. Rose madder or misery if you want the dark eds but don't want to be scared.

I think he is either a genius or not quite well

The Stand, couldn't put it down
For non scary 11.22.63 is intriguing
The Dome is good
Misery

The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon isn't too scary (at least in a horror-ish way) and it's also not too long.

Insomnia is another one that's not very scary, more weird than anything else.

The Dark Tower books are incredible and are fantasy rather than horror. They might be a bit heavy going if you're not used to King though. If you do read them definitely stick with them beyond the first. I find The Gunslinger a bit of a slog but from book two onwards they're amazing.

The girl who loved Tom Gordon is a short and gripping introduction. The bachman books too, the long walk is one of my favourites.

The Stand is wonderful, but perhaps too long for an introduction. I would try Carrie or The Dome was also interesting.

I started Stephen king just last year. 11.22.63 was first and I loved that then misery. Needful things wasn't as great. Have It on my kindle waiting

Just read The Stand which was my first. Loved it although I kept getting in a panic when anyone sneezed near me!

I go on and off SK, but I really liked The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon. Insomnia was good as well.

Full dark no stars. Scary but nothing supernatural. Lots of rape and misogyny , unnecessary sex scenes. though which kinda turned me off, seems a common theme in his books.
Pet semetary is my fav. Misery is great too

Rose Madder
Thinner (quite short)
Delores Claiborne
Apt Pupil

There's quite a lot of rape/misogyny and unecessarry sex scenes irl too tbf . Cujo I liked, several of his books have made me cry, bag of bones is one.

The Green Mile is absolute literature genius.

Pet Semetary was my fave scary of King.

Oh, and IT.

Well yes of course mrs,but the book I was recommending had some possibly very triggering scenes and centered around violence against women , just giving her a warning. It was hard to read but still good

I wouldn't recommend 'IT' for a beginner.

It is huge. It will take you a long while to read.

Thinner as pp said is good.

I had the original IT book...still bitter about that.

Oh wow these are great can't wait to get started on these and start ordering- Dh has an old copy of Salems lot? But I'm presuming that's a scary one? Think I'll start with Misery and the green mile, I loved the film couldn't believe I only found out recently it was Stephen king I think I'm going to go for the more emotional ones first- where does the shining come in?? A friend told me she thought it was more about mental health than anything? I loved stranger things the tv show so scary in that way I enjoy don't know if I could hack IT the trailer for the film scared the life out of me

Yes someone at work mentioned The Stand to me too, going to go and have a look for that thanks folks

Joyland 👌🏼

Been reading this thread with great interest as I love Stephen king but it's been years since I read some of his older stuff. My daughter is 12 and has ploughed through loads of novels and I think would love the less complex King novels. I was wondering whether something like Cujo might work for her. What have people's teens liked ? (Apologies for slight detail.)

The Talisman! I can't believe no one has said The Talisman!!!!

I read everything he wrote up until the mid 90s, except the Dark Tower books, and then had an SK break of circa 20 years
(came back via the Dark Tower, currently re-reading It, and have literally just realised I was near the kids age when I first read it and now am near the adults age...)

If you're a beginner to King and you don't want scary or too long, then I think The Dead Zone is a good place to start. Scary title but it's a really clever psychological thriller, I really enjoyed it.
If you're happy to jump in with a long one, then The Stand is brilliantly written and although long it's really hard to put down!Absolute classic King.
If you can cope with long AND a little scary then IT is absolutely the best place to start - it's one of my favourite books of all time and the scary is worth it for the amazing tale!

Ones to avoid IMHO:
Pet Sematary - scared the crap out of me, I actually threw it across the room when I'd finished it.
Rose Madder - confused and odd, with some very bizarre and out of place supernatural elements.
From a Buick 8 - could not get in to it at all!
Cujo - hated it, a truly horrible book

Almost everything else he's written is golden!