Best Stephen King book

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I’m a fan of Stephen King and I think he’s usually an excellent writer. My favorite books by him are It and The Green Mile
 
The Stand and the Gunslinger series.

(Full disclosure: I am miles from having read all of his writings.)
 
DaveBj said:
The Stand and the Gunslinger series.

(Full disclosure: I am miles from having read all of his writings.)
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I could never get into the gunslinger series. I read the first book and well kinda stopped reading them.

I liked Needful Things.
 
Little_One0307 said:
I could never get into the gunslinger series. I read the first book and well kinda stopped reading them.

I liked Needful Things.
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The first book was sort of like a “proof of concept” novel. They did get better from there. Especially when he started writing himself into the story.
 
DaveBj said:
The first book was sort of like a “proof of concept” novel. They did get better from there. Especially when he started writing himself into the story.
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I will try to read the rest of the series if I get the time to give it a fair chance.

God bless.
 
rocklobster said:
I’m a fan of Stephen King and I think he’s usually an excellent writer. My favorite books by him are It and The Green Mile
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“It”?
It`s so full of blasphemies, i got sick of saying The Divine Praises! 😦 Are all of his books like that?
“It”, itself (as in It, the monster, itself; rather than “It”, the novel, itself) was a disappointment. 🤷 Puns intended.
 
Fink said:
“It”?
It`s so full of blasphemies, i got sick of saying The Divine Praises! 😦 Are all of his books like that?
“It”, itself (as in It, the monster, itself; rather than “It”, the novel, itself) was a disappointment. 🤷 Puns intended.
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Stephen himself is, as far as I know, non-religious. His portrayals of religion, like Tom Clancy’s portrayals of Protestants/Baptists, are, shall we say, skewed. And his language is…er-r-r…salty, to say the least. You sort of have to take this into account when setting out to read his works.
 
Perhaps “skewed” wasn’t the best choice of words. What I meant to say was that he (like Clancy) gets some things wrong, perhaps from lack of knowledge.

As to his personal lack of “religiosity,” I was going on impressions that I gleaned from his memoir On Writing. He certainly has no qualms about using offensive language, both in expressing himself, and in the mouths/minds of his characters. That bothers me less than it might someone else.
 
I like Stephen King’s films, haven’t really read his fiction. Thought I did read most of 'Salem’s Lot and loved it. I own MIsery, The Shining, and* The Stan*d, but haven’t read them. I’m considering reading them. Which would one of you fans suggest I start?

I’ve read his On Writing: A Novel on the Craft and found it wonderful. In fact, my AP English Language teacher even mentioned it and would say, “Hey, even Stephen King says…” and would give us a tip on writing King says in his book that we could use in our writing. My favorite that I still remember is “The road to hell is paved with adverbs.”

In On Writing, King mentions the cursing found in his books. He said it’s all about the character. He said he wouldn’t have an old church-going woman curse, but if it’s an uneducated male character, that character will curse. To King it’s all about being true to the character.

I started reading Danse Macabre however, most of the references are older films I haven’t seen, so I’m taking a short break before starting it again, but I really like it.

I like his non-fiction more than his fiction.
 
DaveBj said:
As to his personal lack of “religiosity,” I was going on impressions that I gleaned from his memoir On Writing. He certainly has no qualms about using offensive language, both in expressing himself, and in the mouths/minds of his characters. That bothers me less than it might someone else.
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He is a horror writer, I think that when you consider the things he writes, the cursing is no big deal.

Now that I think about it, whenever something crazy or bad happens to us, at least to me, I curse. Just a reflex. Now imagine that but in the situations placed in King’s novels. I could understand it.
 
Well, I’ve been a fan of Stephen King for a long time, and I have to say I find his short stories better than his longer fare (The Stand, Cell, and 'Salem’s Lot excepted). I think my favorite short story would have to be The Mist or The Sun Dog. I do wish he’d use the crazy fundamentalism character less though…
 
SalesianSDB said:
I like Stephen King’s films, haven’t really read his fiction. Thought I did read most of 'Salem’s Lot and loved it. I own MIsery, The Shining, and* The Stan*d, but haven’t read them. I’m considering reading them. Which would one of you fans suggest I start?

I’ve read his On Writing: A Novel on the Craft and found it wonderful. In fact, my AP English Language teacher even mentioned it and would say, “Hey, even Stephen King says…” and would give us a tip on writing King says in his book that we could use in our writing. My favorite that I still remember is “The road to hell is paved with adverbs.”

In On Writing, King mentions the cursing found in his books. He said it’s all about the character. He said he wouldn’t have an old church-going woman curse, but if it’s an uneducated male character, that character will curse. To King it’s all about being true to the character.

I started reading Danse Macabre however, most of the references are older films I haven’t seen, so I’m taking a short break before starting it again, but I really like it.

I like his non-fiction more than his fiction.
Click to expand...
I like the Stand and “It” the best. If you ever read “It”, I promise you will never look at a clown the same way again! The earliest books I think are his best. Salem’s Lot is also a good read.
 
I don’t have the patience for a 1,000 page novel. I want to read his shorter works and work my way up to It and The Stand

I just learned this now, Stephen King wears a Miraculous Medal.
youtube.com/watch?v=XCI3oFn50z8
(he shows it at the 10:50 mark, he starts talking about religion in 10:44)
 
I have a kind of scary Stephen King story.

Many years ago there was a TV mini-series made on the book “It”.
Without giving too much information, the book was based on a friendship of a group of kids who played together in a gravel pit, forest area.

Well, that’s exactly what I did as a kid. There were always four or five of us, riding bikes, building forts, etc. Boys and girls together, just having good fun. We’re all still friends, forty years later…

Anyway, they filmed that miniseries in the exact places were we used to hang out as 10-11 and 12 year olds. When the movie came out on tv, I got a phone call from one of them, and I watched it and got the severe willies… Because when I read the book, those were the exact places I had in my mind… Could hardly watch the movie without being seriously squeamish.

brrrrrr.
 
SalesianSDB said:
I don’t have the patience for a 1,000 page novel. I want to read his shorter works and work my way up to It and The Stand

I just learned this now, Stephen King wears a Miraculous Medal.
youtube.com/watch?v=XCI3oFn50z8
(he shows it at the 10:50 mark, he starts talking about religion in 10:44)
Click to expand...
It is a long novel, but a “page turner”—couldn’t stop reading it. I wonder why he’s wearing a miraculous medal. I know that his wife Tabitha was once a Catholic, maybe she returned to the Church!
 
Luvz2travel said:
I haven’t read all them but from what I have read this would be the best.
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I liked that book. Ahh yess the REDRUM that appeared in the mirror. I remember being spooked from this as a kid when I first read the book.
 
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