Which Stephen King book should I read?

Hi,

I am a 19-years-old boy who recently got an interest in horror genre. I have previous read Frankenstein and I'm reading some short stories by H.P. Lovecraft right now.

I have never read anything by Stephen King, but I want to try "him" out. He has written so many books, so where should I start? Which books are good for completely new King readers?

Thanks in advance.

My favorite is The Shining. Others I think are very good are 'Salem's Lot and Dumas Key. The Stand is a good post-apocalyptic story, but a bit of investment in time.

drneutron - I totally agree on all 3 of those - I just recently re-read Salems lot as an adult & yep still scary :) - Dean Koontz is another great author that will have you on pins & needles. I have read a lot of his books but I think Watchers will really get you hooked.

I think The Stand is his masterpiece, but it's very long. I'd suggest Carrie or The Shining for your first read.

Needful Things is terrific - my favorite - and a bit on the long side. The Green Mile is also good and not so long. Duma Key is so typical of his work it might be the best distillation of what he does. Ditto for Christine.

Another vote for 'Salem's Lot.

Avoid Lisey's Story.

Might I also recommend Horns by Joe Hill? Joe Hill is Stephen King's son, and his books have similar appeal. I loved Horns as much as (or even more than!) any Stephen King book.

NOT Tommyknockers.

Salem's Lot is great. I'm also partial to The Dark Half and Dolores Claiborne.

I really enjoyed Just After Sunset, it's a collection of short stories and includes one of my favorites called "N." which is Lovecraftian, though King said it was based off of a story by Arthur Machen.

Thank you very much. I have to read a little about each book before deciding where to start, but thanks for the good advice.

What about Under The Dome?

Hated it. One of the very few King books I couldn't finish.

Have to agree there have been some clunkers in recent years - most especially Lisey's Story but I wasn't exactly crazy about Under the Dome either. If you like vampires (or if you hate the current crop of cutesy ones) I'd recommend Salem's Lot for demonstrating how it should be done. Yes, The Stand deserves its classic status and one of my personal favourites has to be The Dead Zone. The earlier ones are definitely the best.

I disagree with you on Lisey's Story. Yeah, at first I was put off, wondering what kind of pharmaceutical cocktail King was on, but I persisted and it paid off. The key is to persist.

I agree with you on The Dead Zone. Excellent book and often overlooked.

I started with Misery. Then tried The Dome but it was hard work. Start with a shorter one. Duma Key is my favourite.
oldstick.

I haven't read a ton of King, but I did like Duma Key very very much. Lisey's Story wasn't terrible, but it wasn't that good, either. I did like The Stand a ton - I'm a big post-apocalyptic gal - but be sure you do not get the expanded edition.

I'm looking forward to picking up some of these other recs!

I did like The Stand a ton - I'm a big post-apocalyptic gal - but be sure you do not get the expanded edition.

I agree. That's a case where the editor was very much right. The original book was much better.

I forgot about Misery! That's one of the rare books where I was screaming, "KILL HER! KILL HER!" because I couldn't take it anymore.

It was an awesome read.

Let's hope you weren't reading this on the subway... :)

#16 I've said it before and I'll say it again, much of King's charm for me is the way he seems to so enjoy some of the nastier things he does in his books - I can imagine him sniggering and drooling over his keyboard. Misery was one that had a wonderful one of those moments when the lone cop comes to the house. I won't give it away but I distinctly remember thinking Nah, he's not going to do that. Even SK wouldn't do that. He's just winding us up, there's no way he'll do . . . oh shit.

Luckily I was sitting in my reading chair in the darkest depths of Mississippi where subways are where you go for a sandwich.

:D

Which book you should read first depends on your preferred type of Horror.

I noticed a few people mentioned Salem's Lot. If you like Vampire novels, this is your best bet by King. If you are like me, and prefer supernatural horror over vampire horror, Salem's Lot is at or near the bottom of the list of which books you should read (i.e. it would be a horrible choice).

A lot also depends on whether you can handle dead people killing other people, or if you wanted to start off on the "light" side with an animal or an inadimate object killing people, and work your way into the more grotesque novels.

So here's my take. Look at the various categories, and decide which you should read first based on that:

Vampire - Salem's Lot
Animals or Objects killing peole - Cujo or Christine
Dead People/Grotesque - The Shining or Pet Sematary
Super Powers - Fire Starter
Satire/Instigating Trouble - Needful Things
Inner Demons - The Dark Half
Women/Society/Politics - Gerald's Game, Delores Claiborne, Insomnia, or Rose Madder
Martians - The Tommyknockers
Supernatural Horror - It
Deadly Disease - The Stand

Ones I would avoid as the first as I feel they were "weaker" performances of his:

Carrie, The Dead Zone, Misery

Hope this helps.

I can tell you in my case, I read Pet Sematary first, then Insomnia, then Gerald's Game, then Christine, and after one of his Bachman Books (which aren't very good, I read The Long Walk and Thinner), I believe Fire Starter rounded out my first 5.

I read every book he wrote under his name (excluding the one he co-wrote with Straub, and The Stand) from Carrie to Rose Madder over the course of 2005 to 2007, then moved on to another author. Tried to read The Regulators and it was just boring, and many say "Desperation" (the one he wrote after Rose Madder) was basically the same plot.

My personal favorites: Christine, Fire Starter, The Shining, Needful Things, Gerald's Game, Insomnia, and Rose Madder

My Least Favorites: Carrie, Salem's Lot, The Dead Zone, Misery, and Delores Caliborne (I don't like books written in first person unless it's a genuine autobiography, not fiction)

Ones I would avoid as the first as I feel they were "weaker" performances of his:

Carrie, The Dead Zone, Misery

Interesting. And I think those are some of his stronger books.

I agree with you, Nickelini.

I would say that Salem's Lot was the scariest. That book kept me awake at night.

Carrie wasn't bad at all, and is interesting if for no other reason than that it was his first.

If you could go back in time would you kill Hitler? if that question and the morality of such a decision interests you, The Dead Zone will interest you. I liked it a lot. It is not really horror though.

I didn't like Rose Madder, Gerald's Game or Delores Claiborne although the last one was told in an interesting voice. I couldn't get into Liseys Story.

#21/#23,

As #23 says, The Dead Zone wasn't really horror. When I read a book from a known horror writer, and don't get true horror, it's a letdown.

If all you can say about Carrie is that it's his first, that doesn't counter my argument that it was one of his weaker books.

As for Misery, I had the same problem with it that I had with The Long Walk. It's the same thing over and over and over and over and over again. Too predictable. Too monotonous. Write me a novel. Torture. Write me a novel. More torture. Write me that novel damn you. More torture. WRITE THE NOVEL ALREADY! More torture.

There, you have the entire plot of Misery. Some people think that's good literature, and that's fine, but I give it one word. "Plotless".

There, you have the entire plot of Misery. Some people think that's good literature, and that's fine, but I give it one word. "Plotless".

I liked Misery, oh those many years ago I read it. However, I would never include Stephen King in a conversation about good literature.

#24 You know, it has been so long since I read Carrie I don't really feel comfortable arguing it's merits. I do remember enjoying it when I read it, but I was probably in my early teens. I mention the fact that it was his first published novel mainly I guess because I like to read an author's works in the order in which they were written. My own strange hang up.

#25 "I would never include Stephen King in a conversation about good literature."

Why not?

#26 - it's been too long for me to argue Carrie's merits as well, but from what I remember it was much better than a lot of later King that I read. As years went on he started writing books where the climax is the discovery of some horrific beast lurking just outside of town. Couldn't a magical evil clown be just that? Why did it have to be the manifestation of a mega-spider? I quit reading him after too many of those books. I always preferred his stuff that was more like something you'd see on the Twilight Zone than his real horror. Some of the best texts are in his short story collections (eg: Nightshift).

King can be an entertaining and fun read, but nothing I've read by him approaches the nuance or complexity of anything I read getting my English lit degree, so, no, I would not include him in a conversation about good literature. And that's all I have to say about that.

I think some of my favorite King works are his short stories Skeleton Crew, Nightmares and Dreamscapes, etc.

The Mist was one of my favorites, as well as The Raft.. I still get the creeps about them to this day. Oh and that one about the freaky monkey that bangs cymbals together... *shudder*

Yes, ... every time I visit a lake in summer, I think of "The Raft". (shudder)

Yeah, I was forgetting some of the shorter ones which are among his best - The Mist, Shawshank Redemption, The Long Walk (it doesn't always have to be action followed by more action).

While I would agree with Nickelini that King's work will never be ranked alongside Middlemarch I would have felt perfectly happy reading it with my adult GCSE students in my teaching days. One short story we did tackle was The Last Rung on the Ladder from Night Shift, which is an almost perfect little story. He definitely has a magical style when he's on top of his game (which, I cringe to say, he hasn't been for a while now) that I feel a lot of 'better' writers could learn something from. There is very little of his work that I would class as straight 'horror' though - it's usually better than that.

#27-I was a much more ardent King fan in years past. A lot of his later stuff I haven't enjoyed as much. But when I was younger I would get irritated by the number of people who would scoff when they saw me with a King book.(Now, I couldn't care less about people's opinion of my reading choices. Ahh, age and wisdom). I would leap to his defense only to find that most of the time the scoffer had not only never read him, but didn't really read for pleasure at all. I would agree that King's work will never be considered great literature (although who knows; Poe was considered a hack in his time). What I would argue though is that King will and should be taught in schools. If nothing else, his ability to build characters and develop mood are worthy of study. Also, as far as solid writing, I think he is head and shoulders above most popular novelists working.....and yes, I realize that isn't saying much.

Oh. The Boogeyman from Night Shift had me terrified of closets for years.

#26

I hear you about reading books in order. I am insistant on reading authors in order if what they are writing is a series. For those that write individual novels instead, I'm not typically picky about order. I try to read most of the older stuff first, but of a book on a subject I can't wait to read about is written, I kinda have to go with that one.

I was intrigued by the concept of Pet Sematary, so I had to read that first. Then, Insomnia, with the characters giving off auras, and Gerald's Game, with the thought of a half-dressed woman being stuck via handcuffs in the middle of nowhere, I found really intriguing. The fact that I was still single, and only 30, in 2005 (and male) probably had something to do with my interest in that book!

However, a series, like the Mitch Rapp series by Vince Flynn, absolutely postively must be read in order. Otherwise, it would seem a little weird reading about a woman's death in the 6th book of a series, and then 3 books later read about that same woman's wedding at the beginning of the 4th book.

The only author that I hear people say you shouldn't read in the order written is Tom Clancy. I have only read one of his books, and it was a stand-alone, Red Storm Rising, but I hear they are better read in chronological order by plot, which is nowhere near the sequence he wrote them in, like I think I saw somewhere that the first one would be Without Remorse, which was like the 7th or 8th Jack Ryan book he wrote.

Thanks for all your input.

I chose Duma Key and is reading it right now on the Amazon Kindle app on my iPad (first time I read an e-book). I really like the book, although it hasn't become scary yet.

I just read about Edward Freemantle getting a visit by his daughter Ilse on Duma Key. The whole thing about his weird behavior because of his missing arm is getting interesting...

I'm so glad you chose Duma Key. That is my all-time favorite Stephen King book. I really liked the character of Edgar Freemantle. He seems so believable. I think King put a lot of himself in that character. King had been badly hurt in an accident (struck by an SUV). I think the recovery process was hard for him, and that comes out in this book. I love when Freemantle says, "I can do this." That has become my mantra. Anyway, enough from me. Enjoy the book!

The book won't become scary, really. It's not that kind of book. It's only a mild kind of horror. Anyway, it's good.

I have almost every Stephen King book, but maybe 5. I even have his out of print and hard to find books.
I am currently reading Gerald's Game. It's a great story to read, when it's dark and cold and you're all alone. ;-)

It's really based on your preference. Do you want a haunted love story? An enduring other worldly story of triumph and tribulation? Do you want aliens, beasties, sci-fi, fantasy, murder, death, ghastly, you get the drift.

My favorite, writing in what I call fantasy is The Talisman. I didn't so much care for it's sequel The Black House, but it seemed that it had the most parallels in what makes up a good Stephen King story.
Also, what point-of-view do you want to read in. How much do you want to relate to the characters or the main character?
I prefer his writing in "first person point of view". I feel I can get deeper into the story when I can envision myself as the agonist.

Also, Stephen King has a lot of tie-in's with his characters. If you read one book, you almost have to read another when you find out the characters relate in some way.
A fun twist is to read The Regulators and Desperation. If you have read these, you know what I mean, about the characters. He puts a twist on the names.

The Stand, there's a twist in that one.

FYI: I didn't read every post in this thread, as to stay unbiased and unprejudiced. This is my humble opinion on what "I" think you might like to read, based on my preferences.
ETA a side comment:
I hope you are enjoying Duma Key as much as you were before...Stephen King can go several of dozens of ways for people who are just getting into his genre of writing. It's best to take him slow and work your way up. Some people do not prefer his writing, because he doesn't hold back. If there is murder, it's nasty. If someone has an ability, it is a fine honed ability down to the last detail. If there is incest or molestation in some way, he will make it detailed. He is a writer that truly loves his craft. He can come off as sadistic and cruel, or just misunderstood. BUT, 'this' is what makes him a fan of millions of people. When you read something, you want it all, no holding back. In the end, when a writer grabs you and doesn't let go, until the last word is read, you know you will keep going back for more, even if you pick a book that sucked. To me King is so well at his craft, that I don't hate him for killing off one of my fave characters or think he's sick for writing about incest/or molestation. I hate the characters! I hate the murderer, I hate the sick father, I hate the twisted minds of the family! I never hate the author, yes he wrote that stuff, but it was I who believed it. Happy Reading!

*Sorry* I get a little long winded.

I have to agree with just about all the above posts. I would however suggest to anyone starting to read King to start with his short stories as mentioned in #27. They give you a good idea as to how he writes. I personally like his stories because of how in depth he can go with his characters. Of his short stories my pick would have to be those written as Richard Bachman My personal favorite as King is IT. I have read it about five or six times, and will STILL not read it late at night. :) I also have to admit that the one story I am still trying to read is the Tommyknockers. For some reason that is one I'll start to read and just can't seem to get past the first 50 pages or so. As far as some of his books not being horror, I personally think everyones definition of horror is different.
Hope you enjoy his books!