Which Stephen king book should I read first

[Broondug]

Going on holiday next week and decided to read something different. Never read any Stephen king. Where should I start?

The eye of the dragon
The green mile
Salem’s lot
The stand
The girl who loved Tom Gordon
The shining

Delores Claiborne is one of my favourites, I second Duma Key too - they're more on the psychological side.

The shining, Carrie, Tommyknockers - the classics

The Dark Tower series (although I'd leave this until you've read more personally - it's his 'magnum opus' and so many references throughout the entire SK universe relate back to it), also @Willow2017 I think there's 7 dark towers!

Carrie
Christine
Cujo
The Dead Zone
Misery

There's 8 dark tower books

Needful Things!

Thanks @FrancesFryer - I was trying to count from memory and missed Wizard and Glass!

Carrie and The Dead Zone

Needful things is very clever. It's not often you come across it on a thread like this

Carrie and Misery are very good and quite easy reads compared to some of his others.
I liked the film of IT but found the book very long winded and hard work, probably not a holiday read imo.

That's ok Userplusnumbers
There are some King books I cannot get into and the dark tower series is "one"of them.
I've started listening to the audiobooks and now I'm past the first book in quite enjoying them

The Stand
11/22/63
Carrie
Misery
Duma Key
The Long Walk
Night Shift
Salem's Lot

I really like the Mr Mercedes series as well but they aren't everyone's idea of a good read. And the Dark Tower books are wonderful but I think best approached with a few others under your belt even though they are quite different.

For a first read I would maybe go for one of the shorter books like The long walk or Joyland. Maybe even Cell which I know wasn't loved by many King fans but I still enjoyed.

I started with The Stand and would recommend it. The set up is looong but it's worth sticking with it.

So op, after all these excellent recommendations, have you decided which one to take?

Ooh! Just thought of another - Hearts in Atlantis, a collection of short stories. A nice route in.

@francesfryer
Does the green mile still make you cry as a film?

Yes every single time. It breaks my heart.

Maybe I'll try to watch it.

@francesfryer Yes it's an emotional film, although the book is my favourite it's a good adaptation. Tom Hanks and Michael Clark Duncan are really good in it and how I imagined the characters when reading it.

Typo i meant 8 am.half asleep.

The Gunslinger.
The Drawing of the Three
The Waste Lands
Wizard and Glass
Wolves of the Calla
Song of Susannah
The Dark Tower.
The Wind Through The Keyhole.

Cried buckets at the' end' (and throughout)

Gerald's game. I spent entire weekend with that book as a teenager. I could not put it down.
Same with Rose Madder.

I couldn't do Gerald's game, I frisbeed that bugger across the room

Loved rose madder though. I may dig that out for a re read I'm sure they tried to make a film to that one once, not sure what happened.