Never read Stephen King..what’s the first book I should try?
Never read Stephen King…what’s the first book I should try?
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Never read Stephen King…what’s the first book I should try?
It depends. Classic horror? Salem’s Lot.
Psychological? Insomnia.
Feminist fantasy? Rose Madder.
Dark tragedy? The Green Mile (get tissues).
Want to sleep with the lights on? Pet Sematary
Carrie 🙂 classic
Misery, The Dead Zone, or Firestarter
Carrie or Misery are good starters
Yeh, Carrie is a good starter. ?
Consider yourself lucky & don’t read anything written by him.
The Stand. An absolute classic. Or Skeleton Crew, collection of short stories.
Skeleton Crew is a great option. I can’t say I’d ever recommend that anyone start with The Stand.
Thinner.
I forgot all about Thinner!! I read that years ago… good call. ?
Needful Things
Carrie or firestarter
I say Salem’s Lot, then The Stand. To me, The Stand is essential King, and Salem’s Lot was my first read at like 12 or so
Needful things
The Stand, It, The Eyes of the Dragon
Yes! Eyes of the Dragon
Carrie… or The Shining
Carrie, Misery, or The Shining
It or the stand
Pet cemetery!! I read it in one night when I was 13 my first book of his, then “the stand”, “It”, and then I went onto the author James Herbert, and I spent the ages 13 to 15 between both authors….ah yes I loved it so enjoy ?
Shining or Salem’s lot
The shinning
Well I love so many of his books
I read the Shining in one day back in the early 80’s. But, my absolute favorite is The Stand. Salem’s Lot is also a good one.
I’ve read just about all of his, and 11-22-63 is my favorite.
I never have either so this is interesting! Are most or all of his books stand alone or series?
Almost all of his are stand alone books. As far as I know, the only trilogy he has is the Mr. Mercedes one and he came out with a second book to The Shining.
Dark Tower is a series.
But a lot of the books take place in the same universes.
My first was Salem’s Lot, I became a fan right there and then
Anything. But my first book of him is the Night Shift. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Carrie
I’m a HUGE Stephen King fan and have been since 13! My two absolute favorites are Misery and 11/22/63! Misery is smaller and soooo good! 11/22/63 is a massive book but keeps you on the edge of your seat!
Needful Things or Misery. My two all time favorites of his. ?? Happy reading!
The Dead Zone, Carrie, Firestarter, Christine, Pet Sematary
I would go with his short story collections, either Night Shift or Skeleton Crew
I’ ve read a few of his books and the one I really like was The Dead Zone …its also a movie.
My entry point was The Shining. It’s still an awesome choice today
These are, in my opinion the best ones… In no particular order. After you read several of his books you’ll notice some characters reappear in other books which is fun. Carrie, The Shining, Cujo, Firestarter, The Dark Half, The Dead Zone, The Shining, it, Dolores Claiborne, The Green Mile, any of his Anthology books or collections of short stories especially Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption, the stand, and the talisman, 11 22 63 was really good but I felt like the ending was rushed
Oh yes and Christine, and Pet Sematary
Pet Sematary was incredibly awesome. All of those early books were really good in my opinion. I think my favorites though were The Shining, the stand, and the talisman
His books very so much. But I literally did all of his books on audio last year in 2017 so they’re all fresh in my mind. Tell me what kind of books interest you the most and I can give you a good idea.
Misery
Oh yes I forgot misery LOL
Needful Things
My first book I read from King was Under the Dome. I loved it!!
Salems Lot.
The stand
The Stand, vintage King.
Best pick if you like long books
I happen to love them. Hope that is a good thing. ?
I love big books just wasn’t sure about OP
Just skip him all together. Not a fan.
I forgot the stand I loveddd it get unedited tho
Actually, I think you should try out some of his short story collections, they will give you an idea as to his style/content. Skeleton Crew and Nightmares & Dreamscapes are both favorite short story collections. Different Seasons is a book of 4 novellas, all 4 are really good. (Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption (And the movie is really good too.) Apt Pupil, (I believe this one is a movie as well, have not seen it.) The Body, (Stand by Me is based on this, and good.) The Breathing Method (I don’t think this one was made into a movie, but it’s a good and interesting read.) The Read Zone, Christine, 11-23-63, The Stand, The Talisman, were really good novels, I didn’t like Cujo, Bag of Bones or Hearts of Atlantis. I recommend that you check your local library 1st or if you don’t have one, http://openlibrary.org/ is free to join and no fees to borrow books, you borrow them in online ebook style, no downloading.)
Start with his short stories first
I completely agree.
Carrie…start at the beginning?
But my favorites are The Stand and Lisey’s Story.
The Stand or 11.22.63. Both fantastic!
The Stand is fantastic. Don’t start with The Stand.
For short stories, start with Night Shift. Novel wise, start with Salem’s Lot.
I would start at the beginning, with Carrie and go in order—it’s fascinating to see how he developed over the years.
Geralds game
? to start with!!!
What are you trying to do????
Pet Semetary was mine back in ’86. Still one of my favorites . . .but, I would begin with “The Stand” full version if I were you. I’ve read it twice and will do so again for a third . . . it’s that good!
The Green Mile
The Stand
Let the adventure begin
Needful things
carrie or it
I read Carrie first and that really made me fall in love with King’s works
11/22/63 or The Shining
I’m reading my first Stephen King book right now! I started reading Misery and it’s amazing so far.
On Writing
Four Past Midnight
Green Mile
Carrie
The Mist??
The Shining
Green Mile or The Stand
Cujo
It is my favourite
Carrie. Why not start at the beginning?
misery
11/22/63
I was sorry i read that thing, i had stayed away from his crap for years & i shudda skipped that as well.
it’s one of the few books that i was able to get through of his. i liked it but hated the ending. it seemed rushed and shoved together.
This is my favorite King book!
I feel the same
It
Desperation. It’s fast paced and not as verbose in the middle as King normally can be. Needful Things and Pet Semetery are pretty good beginner King novels also.
The Shining or Carrie
It really depends on what you normally read. Carrie is a popular one about a teen with superpowers, Pet Semetary is about zombie pets, Dead Zone is about a haunted place where bad things happened. They are all fairly short. Hearts in Atlantis is my favorite short story collection so far. Out of the longer books The Stand is great and It is good(though you might develop a bit of a clown phobia while reading It). Bag of Bones is sort of a zombie story, with an author as the central character, and Misery is about an overzealous fan, again with an author as the main character. King’s first novel, The Gunslinger, is a bit weak, but the rest of the Dark Tower series is great if you like modern, dark fantasy.
Try something on the short side first. His short stories are excellent. 11/222/63 is absolutely wonderful, though. Don’t watch the HULU treatment…it’s totally WRONG.
Thinner
I would start with Carrie or Misery.
All of them ?
Start at the beginning, they were more simple and easy to read. The later ones became a bit more difficult to read.
Carrie (1974)
‘Salem’s Lot (1975) …
The Shining (1977) …
Rage (1977) …
Night Shift (1978) …
The Stand (1978) …
The Long Walk (1979) [by Richard Bachman] …
The Dead Zone (1979)
There are many, he’s style isn’t for everyone! I love most of his stuff but some of his books have left me struggling to finish them! I particularly enjoyed Rose Madder, Mysery, Insomnia, Duma Key, Pet Cemetery and Salems Lot along with a load of others! I’m currently re reading “It” at the moment! Some of his books really get under your skin and stay with you for years! I hope you enjoy her you chose
Any is good