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Which Stephen King’s book read first?

I’ve been meaning to start reading a Stephen King book for a loooong time now… Any suggestions as to which book to read first??

Shell #recommend

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97 Answers

Whitney

Sleeping Beauties, It, Dark Tower series

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Sarah

11/22/63
Misery
Needful Things
Rose Madder
Salem’s Lot
The Long Walk

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Gail

Needful Things

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Sandy

Salem’s LOT, Green Mile, 11/22/63

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Whitney

Yes! Green Mile is a good one!

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Terri

The Stand it The Dark Tower

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Debbie

I love “The Stand”

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Cheryl

11/22/63

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Jaime

My first Stephen King book was The Revival. I hear it’s written like his older style, and I LOVED it! The ending messed me up though. It’s GOOD!

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Debbie

“Salem’s Lot” – note its really scary!

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Elise

Mr. Mercedes series!

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Melissa

Just started this!

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Jennifer

I read the first one and really liked it!

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Nancy

Ive only read one..Under The Dome. Long book
Much much better than the tv show

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Aliya

You might want to start with a collection of his novellas like Different Seasons to get a taste for his writing style. If short stories aren’t your thing, I love The Stand.

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Cara

Rose Madder is brilliant

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Maria

Loved it!

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Caroline

Carrie
Salem’s Lot
Christine
It

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Jessica

Salem’s Lot

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Naomi

Salem’s Lot or The Stand

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Mary

Under the dome
Cujo
Gerald’s game

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Jaime

Gerald’s Game was so triggery for me. Definitely really good, and I wanted to watch the Netflix movie but I can’t watch a visual representation of the book. I think that’s actually a good thing.

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Mary

I have only just seen the movie!
Sat on the edge of my seat the whole time with a pillow to scream into when needed!

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Ruth

The Stand

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Steve

Carrie

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Linda

I just started this!

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Steve

Enjoy, @Linda.

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Anuradha

Start with either Shining or Pet Sematary. The books will leave you horrified and trouble, which reflect the true genius of King. If you want something lighter, go in for Dark Half or Joyland (reads more like a murder mystery)

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Autumn

11/22/63. It’s long but worth the read!

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Nathalie

Desperation

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Melissa

The dark tower series, the stand, different seasons,under the dome……i could go on and on….lol i havent stopped reading his stuff

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Donna

11/22/63

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Arantzazu

The shining ❤

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Jennifer

The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon

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Bonnie

11/23/63

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Elaine

Christine or It

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Sona

11/22/63

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Priantha

Carrie.
Cujo.
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon.

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Charlene

Depends on what genre you want to read.

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Whitney

That will influence the suggestion I give as well!

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Charlene

@Whitney I think most people assume that Stephen King is only scary.

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Lori

The Stand, Green Mile or The Shining

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Tyler

im reading the Stand right now. pretty good so far. ??

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Sharyn

You could try a volume of short stories. Different Seasons or The Night-sift. 🙂

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Jan

Pet Cemetery it was my all time favorite

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Kris

I need to read that. I think about it everytime I drive by a pet cemetery in Huntington Beach.

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Syntha

The Shining and Firestarter are my personal favorites

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Danielle

Carrie is the best to just ease into King

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Ellie

This one was my easing one, loved it!

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Ally

Depends on what you want. For a traditional King scaring, I’d go with The Shining, Pet Semetary, or It. If you’d prefer something a little more character driven I’d read 11/22/63 or Bag of Bones.
I like pretty much everything he writes but 11/22/63 is my FAV

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Jeannette

Christine was my first book by Stephen King.

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Amanda

All of them. ? But 11/22/63 is my favorite!

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Vickie

1963

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Laurel

Bag of Bones

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Lauren

Salams Lot

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Linda

The Shinning was my first and I was hooked!

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Nettie

My favorite is “Delores Claiborne” great charactors, great story line, not one of his traditionally scary but haunting just the same stories. Mis is another great story. Both could be real life stoies.

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Chloé

Misery is great!

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Peg

For a good old-fashioned horror story, read Salem’s Lot.

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Kim

The Eyes of the Dragon

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ShellQuestion author

Thanks everyone. My mum has a couple so I’ll see which ones she has 🙂 x

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Onix

I’ve been eating to read Stephen King as well. I definitely will never read it or watch the movies.

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Melissa

11.22.63!!!!! ????

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Teri

Delores Claiborne.

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Bethany

Pet Semetary was my favorite.

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Bonnie

Is Pet cemetery a horror or just scary?

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Rosemarie

Different Seasons

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Lori

The Mr. Mercedes trilogy

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Lori

11/22/63

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Anne

The Stand.

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Deborah

My fave is Christine.

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Jennifer

Salem’s Lot! My favorite King novel.

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Lena

The long walk

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Susan

The Stand
The Dark Tower Series (last one was awful though)
11•22•63
Sleeping Beauties (he and his son wrote that one)
It (of course)

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Cathy

Misery my fave or The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon

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Susan

Dolores Claiborne.

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Ellie

The Stand, The Stand, Thhhheeee Stttaaaannnndddd.

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Faith

My all time favorite is the The Stand, followed by Needful Things

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Laura

1st Stephen King book I ever read. Only one I really loved. A great story. You can’t go wrong with The Stand. Unless you can’t tolerate long books.

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Sarah

The stand is so great! I have read it multiple times! My only complaint is that if you fall asleep reading the hard cover it really hurts when it smashes you in the face ?

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Sarah

I also enjoyed Gerald’s game. It’s more of a psychological thriller than a horror

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Faith

Needful Things is also good

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Laura

Rose Madder is one of his lesser known books. But it is spectacular, and is my absolute favorite of his. ?

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Bonnie

Is it horror?

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Laura

Not as much as some of his books. It does still have that element! But it also incorporates a lot of mythology type imagery and so forth…..

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Faith

The Stand is that classic battle between good and evil – one of my favorite reads of all time

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Trasi

If not The Stand, then Duma Key.

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Sheena

Cell or It

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Jennifer

That Stand

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Jane

The Stand. Yes, The Stand.

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Emily

My first Stephen King book was Pet Semetary. It’s a great one to cut your teeth on. And it’s not too long. His early stuff is much different than his later & current stuff. He has hundreds of short stories too, so you could always start with those.

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Winifred

The Stand. I also loved Misery.

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Debbie

I know I already said “The Stand” and after seeing all of the comments I just wanted to weigh in again. I have read all of his books, I first read “Carrie” and “Salem’s Lot” in 1976. I read “The Stand” in 1981 and loved it so much I immediately devoured every other Stephen King that was published at that time. No matter which you choose you really can’t go wrong, reading over the comments I have been reminded of all the wonderful SK books you have to choose from. If you don’t choose “The Stand” this time around I hope you put it on your list and read it sometime. Also, his wife, Tabitha King, and his son, Joe Hill, have both also written some quite decent books themselves.

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ShellQuestion author

I did not know this!! I’ll add them to list of authors to check out 🙂 I’ve only recently got into reading so just discovering good authors etc 🙂

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Jennifer

I’m not a Stephen King reader, but I liked The Body and The Langoliers.

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Jill

The Stand on Audible is fantastic!

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Judy

The Stand!

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