Best Stephen King books...

Alcoholocaust

The Stand was brilliant, liked Misery a lot too

TerrorFirmer

Skeleton Crew was my favorite - particularly Survivor Type. Very creepy.

eamon234

Needful Things is my fave, with the Shining a close second

oxygen_old

Im not sure which short story collection its in, but his short story "The Jaunt" is brilliant. Realistic faster then light travel with horrifying consequences, dont think thats a spoiler, wouldnt be a Stephen King story with out it.

Its fairly old, but has dated excellently.

*cough*
It's available via google for download
*cough*

adox

The Stand(original version) without a doubt.

Notable mentions for IT, The Dead Zone, Different Seasons and Skeleton Crew - Survivor Type is possibly my favourite short story ever.

Nea

The Stand,Needful Things, Desperation and Regulators, Cell.

I really think things went haywire after his accident until Cell,I too cannot get past the first chapter of Liseys story.

But nothing beats The Long Walk for me, its a haunting story

Ho-Hum

Nea wrote: »

The Stand,Needful Things, Desperation and Regulators, Cell.

I really think things went haywire after his accident until Cell,I too cannot get past the first chapter of Liseys story.

But nothing beats The Long Walk for me, its a haunting story

I personally thought that Cell was a poor man's version of The Stand, the best of his newer stuff for me was Dreamcatcher. The film was awful but the book is very entertaining.

For me it would have to be The Stand, Salem's Lot, Pet Semetary and The Dark Tower series. I find myself hating Duma Key .

paddybar

deffo The Stand(ov)but what about Different Seasons with rita hayworth and the shawshank redemption, the body and apt pupil.the last one was'nt that hot though.

Sconsey

Dades wrote: »

IT

As a kid it blew me away.

Same here, I think IT is still my favourite, also remember The Long Walk (Bachman) standing out as a really well written story, I used to worry they'd ruin it by making it into some crappy made-for-TV movie.

adox

paddybar wrote: »

deffo The Stand(ov)but what about Different Seasons with rita hayworth and the shawshank redemption, the body and apt pupil.the last one was'nt that hot though.

Yeah Different Seasons is a fantastic read. Three brilliant stories and a so so one.

stannis

Still getting through his works, but overall It is my favourite so far. There's something special about it, and it's a testament to King's writing that after 1000 pages I still wanted to read more.

Christine, Misery, The Shining, Pet Sematary etc are all great too though. Pet Sematary in particular is a very dark, sad and frightening story; not something I'll forget in a hurry.

djimi

Hearts in Atlantis is probably my favorite book. Not his best, but its the one I have the fondest memories of reading for the first time. First year in college, I had just discovered Pink Floyd, and Im pretty sure the entire time I read it I was listening to Dark Side of the Moon! The Stand would be my second favorite, and that definately is his best.

Its so hard to choose between them tho; its like being asked which of your children your prefer! Salems Lot, Needful Things, Different Seasons, The Green Mile, Carrie, Misery, The Shining, Cujo, Pet Cemetary, Thinner, It, Four Past Midnight, Rose Madder, Bag of Bones, The Girl who Loved Tom Gordon, Everythings Eventual; all amazing books. Definately my favorite writer.

Gillie

Where to start!

Salems Lot
Desperation
Thinner
Cujo

orchidsrpretty

Regulators and desperation are brilliant imo I use to be a huge Stephen king fan would read anything he published, but the story that stays with me the most is Needful things. I have tried to get back into reading him again cell was good to read, although he lost me with liseys story, I couldnt get into it all.

Ormus

1. The Shining - scariest book I've ever read
2. The Stand - epic
3. Different Seasons - great stories
4. Lisey's Story - gets more gripping and chilling with every page - well worth the effort of the first 200 pages.

Wise Old Elf

I know I fall in with many, but I still love the Stand and Salem's Lot.
I also always liked the long short stories like Four Past Midnight. There's one of these called "Library Policemen" that really creeped me out for some reason.
There was another more recent(!) book I read that I liked, Insomnia. (Just googled it and it was 1994 :eek:).

super_furry

The Stand by a mile, Cell is good too.

Some of the Dark Tower series is great, some is really poor.

--Kaiser--

At a push I would say The Gunslinger

stannis

Having recently read quite a few more King novels (and currently re-reading IT), I think I would have to take the predictable option and place The Stand at the top of my list. It's not perfect - it drags in the middle and the end is too rushed - but few books have pulled me in the way it did from the very start.

Mansized Wreath

He's got so many amazing books,read em all. The D.T series is amazing and can't wait til it's made into a film series. I'd struggle to pick a King book I don't like! He's amazing, my fave writer by a mile.

jdee99

The Stand
The Green Mile
Tommyknockers

Predictably, The Stand is the best of the one's I've read. 'Salems Lot gave me teenaged nightmares, and Misery is genuinely chilling.

He's produced a lot of dross, but when he's on form he's a terrific storyteller.

ncmc

Since this thread has been running over 4 years, what do people think of his more recent books?

Of the ones I've read, I thought Duma Key was ok, a bit nonsense-y. I really liked Under The Dome, I know people complained about the end, but IMO that's always an area King has had difficulty. Even outstanding books like The Stand have suffered by the ending being too rushed. I have to say I loved 22/11/63, for me that was a real return to form for King. I also enjoyed the recent Dark Tower short story (the name just escapes me at the moment) but I felt he shoe horned the cast of the Dark Tower into it a little bit, I felt it would have worked better as a 'fairy tale from Gilead' type story rather than bringing Roland and crew into it.

py2006

I'd have to go with Pet Semetary and IT.

I think he excels when it comes to his short stories. I recently bought Under the Dome and 11/22/63. Just started that one, pretty good so far.

Tom Joad

ncmc wrote: »

Since this thread has been running over 4 years, what do people think of his more recent books?

Of the ones I've read, I thought Duma Key was ok, a bit nonsense-y. I really liked Under The Dome, I know people complained about the end, but IMO that's always an area King has had difficulty. Even outstanding books like The Stand have suffered by the ending being too rushed. I have to say I loved 22/11/63, for me that was a real return to form for King. I also enjoyed the recent Dark Tower short story (the name just escapes me at the moment) but I felt he shoe horned the cast of the Dark Tower into it a little bit, I felt it would have worked better as a 'fairy tale from Gilead' type story rather than bringing Roland and crew into it.

Didn't like Duma Key or Cell to be honest but Under the Dome (inspite of the ending) is a cracking read and 22/11/63 is some of Kings best work. My favourite King book will always be the Stand but 22/11/63 would run it close. Not one of his most acclaimed stories but Gerald's Game is one that stayed long in my memory - its so vivid and well written.

Eoin

I enjoyed under the dome (taking into account the typical weak ending), but wasn't too keen on 22/11/63. It was a bit closer to some of his better work, but a few things about it just annoyed me. Cell just felt like "The Stand Lite".

Tindie

I going with Green Mile
Such a great book, I loved it

Cujo was really good as it was first King Book I got and also really liked The Shining was great , I hated the movie

Which Book as the short story of The Children of the Corn ?

py2006

Tindie wrote: »

I going with Green Mile
Such a great book, I loved it

Cujo was really good as it was first King Book I got and also really liked The Shining was great , I hated the movie

Which Book as the short story of The Children of the Corn ?

Not sure how you could hate the Shinning movie. It wasn't a strict adaption of the book but as a stand alone movie its pretty damn good.

Eoin

py2006 wrote: »

Not sure how you could hate the Shinning movie. It wasn't a good adaption of the book but as a stand alone movie its pretty damn good.

One of the better adaptions of his books. Not much competition there though.

I don't think anyone's mentioned the Talisman yet, which he co-authored with Peter Straub. I think it got pretty mixed reviews, but I quite liked it. Must give it another read actually.