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So I’ve never read a Stephen King book… where should I start?

So I’ve never read a Stephen King book… where should I start?

Courtney #recommend #horror

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147 Answers

Amy

Misery or Deloris Claiborne and 11/22/63

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Sami

Carrie was my first Stephen King – but desperation is my favorite

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Rhiannon

Same on both counts.

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Julie

Bag of Bones

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Katelyn

11/22/63 or the Shining.

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Muffy

I’m starting with The Shining on chapter 5 right now ^^

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Katelyn

I love that book so much!

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Muffy

I’m loving it so far! The movie really left out alot of stuff.

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Katelyn

Yeah. I agree. I wanna read Doctor Sleep too, I just haven’t yet haha

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Muffy

That’s why I’m reading The Shining! Their adapting Doctor Sleep into a film so I thought it was time to go and rewatch the film, read the book and read Doctor Sleep before its made lol. A little challenge for myself.

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Kristine

Shinning

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Jade

Needful Things

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Abbie

carrie!

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Dominic

Cell

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Al

My top five are
– Insomnia
– Misery
– Pet Sematary
– Salem’s Lot
– Thinner

Misery and Thinner are super easy reads and would give you a great introduction to early King, along with Carrie. If you enjoy his style, then move onto the likes of It, The Shining and Dr Sleep, Desperation (that’s a controversial one for King fans – they either love it or hate it ?), 11/22/63, Needful Things and The Green Mile. Best collection of short stories (in my opinion) is Different Seasons.

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Dominic

Or the dark tower series

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Kim

Delores Claiborne is more of an easier read of his.

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Michael

Start at the beginning and read Carrie then his other books in order of publication. Enjoy!

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Kerry-Louise

I’ve tried reading a few and his books are just not for me

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Jessica

He’s hit or miss with me, although I really want to read some of his earlier books

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Candace

have you read the Stand? It’s my all time favourite book

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Sammi

I’m reading 11/22/63 right now and it’s so intriguing! It’s also my first Stephen King book!!

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Brookelyn

I always suggest starting out small with King, sometimes the vernaclular and the verbosity, as well as the size of his books, can often be overwhelming to those who are new to King. Try a book of short stories, Night Shift, Different Seasons or Skeleton Crew.

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Tracey

The Stand or cell

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Melissa

Ooooh, the Stand ! Forgot about that one

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Melissa

I’m having trouble choosing. My favorite is The Shining. But It and the Stand are excellent too. I just finished Skeleton Crew which was a great book of short stories by him

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Elena

Misery

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April

Carrie is a good start. it’s shorter, was his first book, and a solid read 🙂

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Sanne

My first SK was Mr.Mercedes ?

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Lisa

Green Mile. Or if you want to go with novellas go with Different Seasons. That has the source material for Stand By Me and Shawshank.

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Jinsok

I would start at the beginning simply because some characters/towns carry over into other stories. They can act as stand alones, but for instance, if you read The Dead Zone before Cujo, you’re going to get an introduction to Sheriff Bannerman that you wouldn’t get if you read them in a different order.

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Terri

Joyland is a short book and is a little different to most of his other books which I have read, it’s not as heavy on wording as some of the others as well. Another is Misery, that’s a good read.

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Edward

Like follow the yellow brick road! Start from the beginning. Carrie

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Fran

Mr Mercedes

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Vlleeonn

Revival, hands down

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Barb

This was good ?

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Whitney

Misery or Carrie

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Morgan

IT

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Chenita

Anywhere – they are all good

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Jennifer

The green mile!!!!!

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Antigoni

Pick a book with few pages like green mile and pet semetary.

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Lisa

11/22/63!

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Deb

The Stand, The Shining

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Barbara

I agree with The Stand.

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Tazoar

Start with it :p

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Melanie

The Stand or Salem’s lot

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Kasi

11/22/63 ????

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Hailey

The Stand. That’s the very first Stephen King book I read and it’s still my favorite.

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Valeria

Salem’s lot its a good first book for Stephen King 😉

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Cindy

Salems Lot

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Kris

Carrie!

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Renee

Talisman

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Lisa

It

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Danielle

Green Mile, if you don’t like horror.

Shining, if you do.

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Kimberly

The Shining.

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Marie

Salem’s Lot

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Kate

The Stand or The Shining – it’s loads better than the film! X

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John

Carrie start at the beginning

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Melissa

Cujo, Carrie or The Shining.

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Jan

I read the shining first because I heard a lot about it and was curious

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Candace

The Stand hands down my favourite

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Tiffany

The Stand or The Gunslinger

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Candace

For our honeymoon we did the Stephen King Tour in Bangor Maine and its includes a stop outside his house (in picture)

Image may contain: house, tree, plant, sky and outdoor
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Jeannine

Misery

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Louise

definitely agree. Jyst finished Misery…my first Stephen King book.

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Hailey

Salem’s lot. In my opinion, it’s his best.

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Allison

Pet Semetary

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Joe

The Long Walk or Thinner

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Jola

Start at the beginning. That being said I loved 11/22/63, the dark half, the dead zone.

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Debbie

Misery!!!

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Marjie

It

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Alyssa

The Shining then Doctor Sleep

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Emily

The girl who loved tom gordon

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Amber

The shining

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Ollie

Misery or Carrie! I haven’t read Misery yet but it seems intriguing. Carrie was good and seemed to go by quite fast, while I personally found that Pet Semetary was kinda boring and long.

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Cara

I am reading me first, pet semetary and I am enjoying it

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Lena

Long walk

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Barb

Love this one?

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Sajen

The only Stephen King I’ve ever liked enough to finish is Firestarter.

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Sara

The Shining

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Alejandrina

The green mile

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Lori

The Green Mile was originally published as a 6 book serial, in the late 70s or early 80s. Way before ebooks. I read each one so fast I was chomping at the bit for the next one to come out and bugging my local book store! The movie did the books justice.

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Mac

The Green Mile volumes were all published from March to August in 1996.

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Lori

Really? I was sure I remembered getting them earlier. Thank you.

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Shannon

Sleeping Beauties by him and his son is really good

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Keava

I just finished Carrie, it’s short and a great one to start with & it’s a great book

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Liz

I loved The Stand.

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Andrea

I agree with the suggestions to start with some of King’s shorter works first. Misery, Carrie, The Shining are excellent places to begin! King can get super descriptive and that can get frustrating if you’re not familiar with his work. I would definitely recommend The Stand and IT, as well The Dark Tower books, but I think you might enjoy them more once you’ve read some of his others and gotten to know his work better. Also, his different collections of short stories are wonderful!

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Michael

I have read everything he has written and I still think Salem’s Lot is his scariest book.

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Andrea

Carrie

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Shaye

IT!

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Stina

Start where he did… Carrie. He got the idea for it while working as a cleaner at a high school during the summer.

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Ashley

I would start w The Shining then Doctor Sleep ( the sequel). DS is prob my fav King book actually.

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Gabrielle

Dark Tower!

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Denis

At the beginning. Carrie.

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Sonya

Start with Carrie……
The Stand is his best, but it’s a long one.

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Nichole

Salem’s Lot.

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Lynn

The multilayered ending of The Green Mile can’t be beat.

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Jan

I have read one – The Green Mile

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Danielle

Carrie

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Dusty

Different Seasons. 3 of the 4 Novellas in this collection have been made into movies. And Shawshank is one of my favorites.

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Nichole

The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon.

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Sasha

The shining and then doctor sleep

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Susan

Carrie

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Robin

It or Salem’s Lot

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Barb

Cujo. First book that got me hooked ?

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Heather

Gerald’s game was my favorite

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Heather

Idk if it’s a good starter, I hated dream catcher

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Sarah

The Gunslinger!! Then continue on with the Dark Tower series.

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Lisa

Children of the corn

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Crystal

If you’re looking for an introductory that isn’t insanely long and would like to get a feel for his writing techniques, Stephen King’s Thinner, is excellent!! I loved it! Everyone wants to mention all of his big hits books but I would recommend this as a first!

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Joe

Yes and I loved The Long Walk

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Julie

My first was Christine

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Andrea

Start with a shorter book

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Del

The Green Mile

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Valeka

Carrie, Misery, The Shining

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Tammy

The shining and Carrie were some if the first I read. I love Delores Claiborne too

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Darlene

Misery

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Yeahia

Misery
I loved it

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Michelle

Pet cemetery

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Rachel

If you want to read a book that is more fantasy than horror, try The Eyes of the Dragon. Stephen King wrote it for his daughter who really didn’t like horror.

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Andie

I was just going to say the same thing. great book. I’ve read it twice.

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Samantha

Misery the Shinning IT Carrie and The Green Mile all good books

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Laura

My first was the Tommyknockers. After that I read the Dark Tower series. I wanted to stay away from the movies and do not regret that choice. I’ve read everything since then. I loved my path but I’m happy you asked this question. I love seeing what people recommend.

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Maryellen

The Stand is about my favorite. The Green Mile a very close second!

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Sharon

Thinner… The first one I ever read !!!

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Michelle

Honestly, I’d start at the beginning of his books – the oldest/first – then work my way up to his most recent. Not only would you get to read all his books, you could also see how his writing has evolved, and his story telling has changed, over time.

Even though I enjoy a lot of his newer books, there are many of his older books I still think are great … classics, even – and could stand well on their own against his newer works.

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Okew

from page one.

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Morgan

Misery

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Rifat

the shining

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John

The Shining.

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Esmeralda

The shining was great, though staying at his first book would be an interesting option too, since he often refers to earlier books, so you won’t miss out on those little jokes

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Amy

Different Seasons, you get several different short stories, but many of them were used for the basis of several films, so they will be familiar.

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Assia

The green mile

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Tina

Oh wow! He is one of my favorite authors. I didn’t care for his Salem’s Lot though 🙁

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Leigh

Carrie or the Dark Tower series

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Ashley

The Dark Tower was my first King book and it was 4 out of 5 stars for me but then I read IT and enjoyed it way more.

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Sydney

Start with his short story collections

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Cheryl

the stand or shinning

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Kim

Bag of Bones, it, sleeping beauties, doctor sleep

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Sofia

IT,Misery

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Samia

It??

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Catherine

Get one of his anthologies

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Kibone

The shining

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Geoffrey

The shining ??

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Amanda

The shining or cujo!

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Kondwani

the shining,it or misery

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