Stephen King - Best Book??

[Connavar]

Originally Posted by Owen

Stephen King was the author that made me want to be a writer. My gran decided to borrow Salem's Lot from the library when I was about 12/13 years old. I started it at about 8 in the evening and finished it at about 5 in the morning. It blew my mind! Scared the hell out of me, and got me hooked. It's still my favourite novel. I am currently listening to it as an MP3 Audiobook, which is a new experience - I try to re-read it every few years but this is the first time I've listened to it.

Other than Salem's Lot I love...

Novels:
The Dead Zone
Dolores Claibourne
The Eyes of the Dragon
Firestarter

Collection wise:
Skeleton Crew
Four Past Midnight
Nightmares and Dreamscapes

Not so much love as *Meh* wise:
Tommyknockers
Gerald's Game
The Dark Tower

Good to see some love for DZ, it is way too under-rated by the fans of SK in this forum.

[AE35Unit]

Not read a lot of King,but for me Misery was just fabulous,epic.
Yet to read IT,its too big a book and too easy to watch the movie instead.(part of the reason I've not read a lot of King!)

As Bachman the best for me is Thinner.

[HoopyFrood]

Oh, AE, please don't just rely on the film adaptations for King! the books are so much better. The films are darned good (mostly) in their own right, but they don't match the novels at all.

Misery is a cracking book, though, one of my earliest King books and love it more each time I read it!

[ap0ckalypse]

Every time I see a discussion like this, I can't help but think that there must be something very wrong with me - because I just wasn't very frightened by 'Salem's Lot. It was a good book, but not the "OMG!" experience that most people had with it.

My top 5:
The Stand
Misery
Desperation
Dark Tower Series
The Dark Half

[David Elliott]

Hmmm ...

The Stand, It, Pet Semetary, Salem's Lot, The Shining, The Dark Half, Needful Things, Dark Tower series ... I could go on, and on, and on ...

[wook-bot5000]

Tricky one! I guess my top three are fairly predictable; IT, The Stand, Needful Things.
But I really love his short story collections as well.

[kcs_hiker]

late as usual... or did I already list my favorites somewhere back there?

oh well

top 3

Salem's Lot
The Stand
Duma Key (yes I know, I just finished it, but even as I was reading it, I was telling myself "man this is one of his BEST!")

nods go to The Shining, Misery, Hearts in Atlantis, Dead Zone

[Barney]

I think all of the full length novels have been mentioned in this thread, apart from From A Buick 8 (apologies if I overlooked a mention).
Is this the most under-read of King's novels?
I have read this one and found it to be not one of his best, although I still read it in about one day and certain passages have stayed with me.

And if you were wondering about my favourite (admit it, you were ) I would say Heart In Atlantis, especially the segment all about the 60's campus and the reaction to the Vietnam war. I found it very moving, and it was completely outside the normal horror subject matter King is usually associated with. It is...genuine literature. In fact, it is not just my favourite King book, but one of my favourite books ever...there is probably a thread about it so I might stop banging on and go find it.

[Lioness]

Misery was my rfirst Stephen King book, and I liked it, but out of the ones I have read, The Shining has definitely been my favourite non-series book. It scared me quite a bit, with the hedge animals and everything, reminded me a little of a Doctor Who episode.
I also enjoyed 'Salems Lot, but by far the best series I have read is the Dark Tower series, I'm about to finish the last book, and the whole series has been amazing for me.

The Eyes of the Dragon was alright, but as far as fantasy goes, I have read better. It just wasn't as descriptive as it could have been.

I regret that I havn't read IT, The Stand, or many of his other books. Cell though, I quite enjoyed. It also grabbed one of my friends who almost never reads, and he loved it.