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Favorite Stephen King book? Why? (If you read Stephen King)


AngelaGT
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The Stand.  It's a great story with memorable characters.  I don't get tired of reading this one, also have it on Audible.  The first King book I read was Salem's Lot (13 yo).  I slept with the light on for a long time after that.  The Stand doesn't bother me in that way, particularly with what's been going on the past two years.  

 

 

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The Stand. Stephen King is about the only fiction I read and I have read almost all of his books. I have been reading him since about 1980 and I have read several a few times but The Stand always comes out on top. It is the favorite among most of his fans and starting with this one will almost surely turn you into a fan. The only problem with this is that only a few of his books are almost as good as this one so there are not a lot of really good ones to go on to but then he has written 60 plus books and not everyone wants make that kind of commitment to one author.

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I haven't read The Stand, but it sounds like I should give that a go! My favorite is the slim, Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption. Under the Dome was the most recent I read.

I don't generally care for books where he calls on the supernatural, and it is hard to tell beforehand which books those are.

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Salem's Lot was the only one of his I couldn't get through. Too scary. I thought The Shining was brilliant as a depiction of addiction and dysfunction. Really liked 11/22/63 out of his recent stuff. I love his short stories. I don't even like baseball all that much, and his "Head Down" article about his son's little league season was amazing. Some of his books break my heart, like Bag of Bones (super disturbing) and I wish I hadn't read them. I am hard pressed to pick a favorite though.

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3 minutes ago, SusanC said:

I haven't read The Stand, but it sounds like I should give that a go! My favorite is the slim, Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption. Under the Dome was the most recent I read.

I don't generally care for books where he calls on the supernatural, and it is hard to tell beforehand which books those are.

The Stand is heavy on the supernatural in parts. One of the characters is sort of a straight up demon, so if that bothers you, be forewarned.

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2 minutes ago, livetoread said:

One of the characters is sort of a straight up demon, so if that bothers you, be forewarned.

Thanks. I'm fine with demons, per se, I just don't mesh with his stories in particular, not sure why. I'll still give the Stand a go, though, so many have it as their top choice!

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The Stand is my favorite

The Shining actually had me leaving lights on when I slept ... very creepy!

IT is a very good book. The movie version was so disappointing

Salem's Lot is another creepy one

Pet Semetary .. very good, can be tough with some heavy situations. BTW that is how the title is written, I didn't spell it wrong haha

He also wrote a book called Eyes of the Dragon. It has no supernatural stuff, other than a medieval doctor who is bad. Just a straight up story but really well done.

Edited by Home'scool
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I am a fan of his short stories or novellas.  Many are far from the traditional horror genre.  Skeleton Crew and Four Seasons are the collections I have actual copies of.  "The Reach," "The Mist," and "The Body" are my favorites.  "The Body" is the story that the movie "Stand by Me" is based on.

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14 minutes ago, Home'scool said:

Pet Semetary .. very good, can be tough with some heavy situations. BTW that is how the title is written, I didn't spell it wrong haha

That's another one I wish I hadn't read. Luckily I read it before having kids, but even so, just heart-breaking - good but heart-breaking. I remember an interview of SK where they asked him if he regretted any of his topics/books and he mentioned that one.

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Probably The Drawing of the Three but since that book can't really exist without the while Dark Tower series, I'll take it out of the running.

The runner up is The Stand. If you read it read the extended version. 

Also, his nonfiction book On Writing is a great read IMHO.

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4 hours ago, Home'scool said:

The Stand is my favorite

The Shining actually had me leaving lights on when I slept ... very creepy!

IT is a very good book. The movie version was so disappointing

Salem's Lot is another creepy one

Pet Semetary .. very good, can be tough with some heavy situations. BTW that is how the title is written, I didn't spell it wrong haha

He also wrote a book called Eyes of the Dragon. It has no supernatural stuff, other than a medieval doctor who is bad. Just a straight up story but really well done.

Pet Semetary is probably the one I find most disturbing.  I don't think I'll ever read that one again, especially not as a parent.  

The others I all like okay.

4 hours ago, skimomma said:

I am a fan of his short stories or novellas.  Many are far from the traditional horror genre.  Skeleton Crew and Four Seasons are the collections I have actual copies of.  "The Reach," "The Mist," and "The Body" are my favorites.  "The Body" is the story that the movie "Stand by Me" is based on.

The Mist is a great story.     Apt Pupil is the short story I found most disturbing, that still comes back to me sometimes.   I think it's in one of those collections but might be a different one.

I could never get into the Gunslinger books.   It felt like it was just hundreds and hundreds of pages of walking through the desert with nothing happening.  

I liked The Talisman that he wrote with Peter Straub too.  That's probably my second favorite. 

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