Stephen KIng Books

[Bleaney]

I've come across a number of book channels on YouTube recently, and have enjoyed watching a number of them which discussed ranking Stephen KIng books in order of how much readers enjoyed or rated them.

Considering that Stephen King has some 63 titles released under his own name, one thing I was surprised to realise is how few of them I have actually read (so far). I've seen a large number of his movie adaptations, but have actually only completed about 4 of his books to date, either in book form or on audiobook. Of these 4, I absolutely loved 2 of them (The Dead Zone, and Gerald's Game, and thought the other 2 I read / listened to were pretty damn good; Doloroes Claiborne and The Long Walk). I had started another 1 some time ago but gave up on that, because i absolutely hated it, (interestingly i see that this title comes at the bottom of other peoples lists too) - Cell. That's a pretty good ratio of enjoying 4 out of 5 of his books, so it makes sense for me to check out some more of them.

I downloaded about 60 GB of his audiobook yesterday, and this is probably enough to keep me going with Stephen King audio books for the rest of my life!!

It seems that a lot of his earlier stuff is still regarded as his best by many of his fans, So I'm going to try to read them in some sort of chronological order, but picking out what seem to have been his best / most popular / most well reviewed, and skipping some of the not so popular ones, the not very well reviewed ones.

I really don't know how on earth it is that I have not read or listened to The Shining, considering how much I love the movie, and how very well reviewed the book is by Stephen King fans. AS much as I would love to get cracking on The Shining straight away I'm going to see if I can discipline myself to read them in chronological order. This Might make more sense in the long run that way, but I think I may well have to give in to temptation here and start with The Shining, otherwise I may well end up kind of rushing through the first 2 and not doing them justice.

Carrie
Salem's Lot
The Shining
Rage
The Stand.

Should keep me going for some time!

I like Stephen King books because they are so accessible and unpretentious. At best they are incredibly gripping and exciting. At the same time there is so much human psychology going on, along with his great storytelling skills and his ways of describing everyday life along with all the paranormal, supernatural, chilling and creepy stuff too.

 

[mal3volent]

I think the appeal of his books for me is that he has created his own universe. I always love looking for connections between stories...names, places, characters, etc. Some books relate more to each other than others , obviously. But even still there will be some sprinkled in unexpected places.

Rage is definitely interesting. I loved the Bachman books.

I gravitate towards his short stories, actually, tbh. A few of my favorites are:

The Jaunt
The Man in the Black Suit
Crouch End
N
The Boogeyman
Suffer the Little Children
The Lawnmower Man
The Last Rung on the Ladder
Survivor Type
Cycle of the Werewolf
The End of the Whole Mess
Popsy
The House on Maple Street
The Road Virus Heads North
Graduation Afternoon
Mister Yummy

 

[LoginNotSecure]

King hated the movie adaption of The Shining. That’s the only tid bit of information I can offer you.

 

[plumbus-nine]

I loved the The Dark Tower series of his books, it's been years since I've read them but are among my top books ever read. Too sad they messed the movie up (8 books in just one 2h movie, sigh).

 

[Bleaney]

I've got through Carrie and The Shining on my list since my O.P. Carrie was a good read, and The Shining was great, the depth of the psychology and backstory he went into about Jack Torence's charcater was astounding.

There was a lot of depth about everything in general in the book tbh, it was very good in that regard as it all rang so true and believable (at least on the human psychology side of things, the paranormal /black magic/ and hauntings are obviously a different matter for most people, but these parts were engaging and addictive too as they were so intriuiging and creepy)

It was a bit of a shame that I already knew the story so very well, after having watched the film many many times, even if there are some noticeable differences the overall plot is still the same.

I have recently started Salem's Lot, but I haven't really got into it yet. I'll keep persisiting a while longer as it is mostly very well reviewed. Otherwise I may well DNF that MF and come back to it some other time when I may be more in the right mood for it.

 

[Bleaney]

King hated the movie adaption of The Shining. That’s the only tid bit of information I can offer you.

King didn't like the choice of Jack Nicholson for the role. I'm glad King was over ruled though because even if some of the subtelties of Jack Torence's character were lost, Nicholson still made the role very much his own (perhaps too much for King, and KIng didn't like that. I'd have to re-watch a KIng interview where he talks about this, to remember more details as to exactly what he didn't like about Nicholson and the movie)

IIRC it was because Nicholson was already being type-cast as an actor that played "bad people" and so the audience would know what was coming, and this is what King didn't like.

 

[izo]

i read some from him. didnt like all despite of IT, this one is a real masterpiece. too scared to read any further but you have to.

 

[AbbeyLee]

I've read a fair bit of Stephen King. Most recently a book of four short stories that was good -- Full Dark, No Stars. Doctor Sleep was ok and The Institute started to annoy me so much I didn't finish it.

Other memorable ones..

The Bachman Books
The Dark Tower
Needful Things
Misery