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I've got a whole shelf of these to get through. All the ones I've read so far are brilliant. I love Christine, The Shining, Rose Madder, Blaze and Cujo. I'm currently reading The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon though and I'm not enjoying it as much as the others. Any other Stephen King fans here? Which are your favourites?

I love reading Stephen King books. There are still a lot that I haven't read but I really liked The Stand, Needful Things, Carrie and Misery. His Dark Tower series is quite good but different to his normal stuff and it does go on a bit. I still have the last one to read yet.

Carrie and Misery are brilliant. I knew there were some I'd forgotten! I've got The Stand and the Dark Tower series to read.

I've only read Carrie, but I really want to read The Green Mile, I've got my eyes peeled for it in the local charity shops.

I really like Steven King as well. I love the Tower series which are quite different from his horror books I think. I've just finished Rose Madder. I had read it before but not for a few years and I really enjoyed it this time. I'm wanting to read the Stand but haven't got round to getting a copy yet.

I did really like him at one point but I haven't read anything from him for about 10 years. It was The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon that put me off and then I read Hearts in Atlantis and I either skimmed through most of it or really didn't find it memorable.
Edit: I think I only read the first story in hearts in Atlantis

love love LOVE the green mile, amazing book. Hearts in Atlantis was good too - I have IT and need to read that but it's massive and I spend most of my time alone so some books I wait until other people are in the house!

I quite liked the girl who loved Tom Gordon. It was unusual for him but I enjoyed it. I was disappointed by the Dome, I really hated the ending.

I always loved Stephen King and have read almost all his books over the years. But since reading the Dark Tower books I haven't picked up anything he's written since then. So many of his books had Dark Tower elements, it kind of feels like he's told his story now. Stupid really - I must make an effort to read some of his newer stuff. My favourites are It and The Stand, but I also really enjoyed Needful Things, Insomnia and Gerald's Game. If you like fantasy then the books he wrote with Peter Straub are great - The Talisman and its sequel, Black House.

Well I've just finished it and I wasn't too impressed. I won't let it put me off though because the rest of his books I've read are amazing!

I really love Stephen King. I picked up my first in a supermarket as a bit of an afterthought, and I've been hooked ever since. I'm reading Nightmares and Dreamscapes at the moment -- it's taken me a while, because there are a few stories in there that aren't really my thing, but most of them have had me absolutely gripped. I've still got a shelf-full to work through, but my favourite at the moment is probably Christine. I'm really looking forward to the new Dark Tower book, though. It'll be nice to have some Roland in my life again! :)

Is there a new Dark Tower book?

Not until April 2012 -- it's called The Wind Through the Keyhole. It's supposed to be about what happened between the end of Wizard and Glass, and the beginning of Wolves of the Calla -- kind of Dark Tower 4.5.

There's an announcement on SK's website here:

...and it's on Amazon here:

Exciting! I'll be keeping an eye out.

I've been wanting tostart reading some Stephen King books - can anyone tell me which ones are good to read first?

I've been reading his books for years now and sometimes I find myself wondering why I enjoy them so much. The ones I've read have been very similar in many aspects and I feel as though I'm reading the same story over and over, yet I (almost) ALWAYS enjoy them!
Something about this man that I really like!
Just started reading Lisey's Story but I'm not sure about it yet...

Anna wrote: "I've been wanting tostart reading some Stephen King books - can anyone tell me which ones are good to read first?"

I'd start with something small and easy to read to see how you get on first. One that I loved is a novella in Four Past Midnight called The Langoliers. The Dark Half or The Shining could be good to start with too; they are some of his earlier novels and you can follow them up with later stuff to see how he progresses. When you're ready to tackle something chunkier, try The Stand or It. These are considered by most to be his best work and are both huge epics, but really sweep you away into his world. Others worth checking out are Needful Things, Thinner, Dreamcatcher, Cujo...there are just so many great ones.

If you really get into King, sooner or later you're going to have to read the Dark Tower books, as they form so much of the basis of all his work. They're quite an undertaking, but really good.

Thanks for the recommendations Sophia! I'll check them out. :-)

you've mentioned a few that I haven't heard of. Thanks for such a great starters guide to Stephen King Sophia.

You're welcome, I could happily prattle on about Stephen King for hours!

Needful things - love this!

Thinner - strange story but such an original idea

I tried to read Lisey's story I really wanted but I just couldn't get into it :(

Sam wrote: "Needful things - love this!

Thinner - strange story but such an original idea

I tried to read Lisey's story I really wanted but I just couldn't get into it :("

I'm struggling with it I must admit but I do like what I've read so far :)

I enjoyed it in a weird way, there were times I laughed out loud I just didn't understand the plot :s I'm very simple minded if a book doesn't pull me by page 100 I'll just put it down lol.

Lisey's Story was the first King novel I read. I'd wanted to try some of his books for a while, came across it in the supermarket and decided to give it a try. The rest, as they say, is history. I think I own pretty much everything he's ever published now :)

Lisey's Story is a strange one, though...it's horror is a lot more subtle than that in a lot of King's novels, I think. It took me a while to get into it, but it's still one of my favourites to this date. Some parts of it are a bit daft, but I really loved the idea of Boo'Ya Moon. It's not the most obvious place to start if you're looking for typical King -- but it's a pretty good one if you give it a chance!

I just got my copy of 11.22.63 this morning. I'm really looking forward to starting it, it seems like it might be a bit different from his usual stuff.

Sarah wrote: "I just got my copy of 11.22.63 this morning. I'm really looking forward to starting it, it seems like it might be a bit different from his usual stuff."

Let me know how it goes - I nearly started Under the dome after Becky read it but it's sooo long and I like to read both our books (+finish kafka on the shore and the language of flowers) so it didn't seem like a good idea.

I finished Rose Madder last week. Mehhhhhhhh. It could have been a much better story if there wasn't that picture business, it didn't need it.

I'm over halfway through Lisey's Story and I've just found myself crying! I really wasn't expecting that from a horror, especially not a Stephen King!
Struggled a lot with the beginning of the book but now I'm further in, it makes one hell of a lot more sense and I hate having to put it down.
I think I may end up recommending it!

I do really like King and have two and a bit shelves of his stuff, love the green mile, Rita hayworth and the shawshank redemption, The Body, as well as all the 'classics',Duma Key was good and I will probably re-read this soon. I did mangae to read Lisey's story but it took two attempts and I can't say I enjoyed it.

Neil Gaiman has just posted an interview he did with Stephen King for the Times on his website (and on his goodreadspage):

I found it very interesting. I love Neil, but I've also always found Stephen King quite fascinating.
since I don't "do" actual horror as a genre, I just can't handle books being too scary, I've only read a handful of his books. I read Salem's Lot as a teenager, as part of my first foray into vampire stories, then I found The Talisman, which a completely SK-obsessed girl I knew raved about and which I really liked, but then I love fantasy. Later on I came across The Stand, which I enjoyed so much that I got the extended version after that and at some point I read Needful Things, too. but I think that's it, some books (like It) I would never attempt to touch, as I know it would be too scary for me, but maybe I'll give something else a try.
(I did read quite a bit by Dean Koontz, who find sort of similar, but less hardcore than most SK books)

morgaine_cat wrote: "Neil Gaiman has just posted an interview he did with Stephen King for the Times on his website (and on his goodreadspage): ..."

11.22.63 isn't his usual - it's got a tiny bit of feeling things are sinister but that's it. It's a long book though and to me it lost the general feel of his books. It was more like he'd found something he was interested in, researched it and wrote a book around it.
So do you like supernatural but more of the good old eerie than full on tension and gore?
Have you seen the 'recommendations' feature on here? The more books and shelves you add the more specific it is:)
Edited to say thanks for posting the link - I love it when other people share - I really appreciate it.

That interview is really interesting, wouldn't it be great to be a fly on the wall when your favourite authors get together and chat about writing? Morgaine, I think you've read some of the best Stephen King books there, but if you like his fantasy you should definitely read the Dark Tower series, which ties into Talisman and its sequel, Black House.

I have read a lot of his books! I think he's great, although to be honest a fair few of his works suck too. My favourites are Christine, The Shining, IT and Different Seasons - this one is so overlooked but it's brilliant. The ones I don't like include Cell, Bag of Bones and 'Salem's Lot. I also don't care much for his epic The Stand (although I rarely admit this as it usually results in people sharpening their pitchforks!).

I have my eye on The Running Man, The Long Walk, Rage and 11/22/63 at the moment, although I want to wait for the paperback version of the latter to be released.

Kirsty wrote: "11.22.63 isn't his usual - it's got a tiny bit of feeling things are sinister but that's it. It's a long book though and to me it lost the general feel of his books."

I like supernatural and love fantasy, I don't mind eerie, a good bit of tension, even some thrill is okay. gore depends on the context, I just don't like full-on horror and I absolutely can't do torture, rape or any kind of psycho-terror type stuff.
(part of the reason is that I just can't switch it off, once I've read it, or seen it, if it's a film, it's in my head, and my imagination just runs riot and will take it further and make it even more horrible. urgh.)
it's kind of hard to put into words exactly what I can and can't cope with as the lines are often so blurry.
I thought 11.22.63 sounded quite interesting and was hoping it would be okay for me.

I have found the recommendations but I haven't really looked at them that much yet, I still have a huge pile of books to read anyway and with a few of the authors and reviewers I follow on here and some of the books the group is reading/recommending and me finding new stuff in the library, via amazon recommendations, being told about titles by friends and family, etc. I am not exactly short of suggestions for new reads right now.

I wanted to share this with the group as I knew there are quite a few SK fans so I thought they would be interested. I follow Neil Gaiman's updates anyway, because he is pure awesome, I'm glad you liked it.

Sophia wrote: "That interview is really interesting, wouldn't it be great to be a fly on the wall when your favourite authors get together and chat about writing?"

oh god yes, I'd love to be a fly on someone like Neil's wall every now and then, and during that interview it would have been really great to be able to have a little listen.
I actually have SK's book On Writing, too, but I haven't gotten round to reading it yet.
Do you think the Dark Tower series is harmless enough for me? I must investigate this. also I didn't even know there was a Talisman-sequel until today!

morgaine_cat wrote: "Kirsty wrote: "11.22.63 isn't his usual - it's got a tiny bit of feeling things are sinister but that's it. It's a long book though and to me it lost the general feel of his books."

I like superna..."

The Dark Tower is definitely fantasy rather than horror, but there are some scary bits in there. I'm trying to remember if there's anything excessively gory or scary in it and nothing springs to mind, but it's been a few years since I read it so maybe someone else will remember something nasty I've forgotten about. I know exactly what you mean about scary stuff churning around in your head. I'm fine with books, but awful with films, and remember having flashbacks for weeks after watching that scene in The Hitcher with the lorries!

The Dark Tower is definitely fantasy rather than horror, but there are some scary bits in there. I'm trying to remember if there's anything excessively gory or scary in it and nothing springs to mind, but it's been a few years since I read it so maybe someone else will remember something nasty...


The birth of Mordred? It's been a while since I read it, so I can't remember whether it was really horror or just strange, but it's only one book in seven, and the series as a whole is really good. I'd maybe avoid The Wind Through the Keyhole, though -- there's quite a lot of gore in the "Skin Man" sections. Saying that, though, I haven't got the strongest stomach or the greatest tolerance for horror, and I didn't find it overpowering.

I've started re-reading The Stand, it's been some years since I last read it, but it's such a great book, I can hardly put it down.
I forgot quite how big the uncut edition is, but it has so completely grabbed me that I'm quite glad it's a long story and not one that's finished after a measly 400-or-so pages. and anyway, I'm about a third through it already.

Has anyone read about the sequel to The Shining? . I haven't read The Shining and have heard it is very different to the film (Kubrick was amazing). The film has become a bit of a classic and I know that has probably helped make the book more popular - am I being cynical in wondering if it's just an easy way to sell books? I hope it has the old Stephen King unsettled, creepy feeling that his older books have and I found lacking in 11.22.63..

Note to self: get around to reading before the sequel comes out;)

I'm really looking forward to it. I've had it pre-ordered for ages :) I've enjoyed his recent books, because they're by no means bad, but in a different way to his early ones. If it's anything like The Shining, I'll be bouncing off the ceiling :)

Stephen King apparently hated the film of The Shining because it was quite different from the book. I'm looking forward to the sequel too, but I need to reread The Shining first, it's been years and years since I read it.

Sophia wrote: "Stephen King apparently hated the film of The Shining because it was quite different from the book. I'm looking forward to the sequel too, but I need to reread The Shining first, it's been years an..."

To be honest though the Stephen King books that have been adapted for screen are usually pretty bad (with the exception of Carrie, The Shining, Misery, The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile which sounds like quite a few films but considering the amount that is on his Imdb page it isn't really that many). A new Carrie is due for release soon and my cousin-in-law/bridesmaid was the visual effects production manager and it sounds good. It also looks like he has quite a long list of book adaptations in production and I'm excited to see It at the top of the list even if it has no date or details.

I've always seen Stephen King's books turned into Movie's as 'TV Movie's' I don't think they are going to gross millions, but that's ok. I still enjoy them. I loved Langoliers it was crazy but awesome at the same time. I think most of SK's work is hard to put into film as it's just so unreal. :)