Stephen King

[Fran]

Although I've always wanted to, I've never quite managed to read a Stephen King book. I do like the movies though. My favorites were The Green Mile and Carrie.

I've decided I'm going to finally read some of his books. Problem is I can't decide where to begin.

Anybody have any suggestions which I should read first?

I'd suggest Lisey's Story ... because I thought it was brilliant & it's the only King I've read (so far)

[Jacob]

Although I've always wanted to, I've never quite managed to read a Stephen King book. I do like the movies though. My favorites were The Green Mile and Carrie.

I've decided I'm going to finally read some of his books. Problem is I can't decide where to begin.

Anybody have any suggestions which I should read first?

I'd suggest Lisey's Story ... because I thought it was brilliant & it's the only King I've read (so far)

I recommend my list, all the Kings stories in order.

[StephenKingman]

Although I've always wanted to, I've never quite managed to read a Stephen King book. I do like the movies though. My favorites were The Green Mile and Carrie.

I've decided I'm going to finally read some of his books. Problem is I can't decide where to begin.

Anybody have any suggestions which I should read first?

I'd suggest Lisey's Story ... because I thought it was brilliant & it's the only King I've read (so far)

Fran you dark horse you, i always though you never read a single King book and snubbed such literary examples! Glad to hear you read at least one but sorry that it didnt drag you in ha. Did you like Liseys Story? I think its one of his stronger post-1999 books and a very dark tale.

@ Teesie, i would highly recommend Carrie as a first King book, its a nice length, and has many of the classic King stalwarts in terms of writing style and suspense building. Or even Christine or maybe The Shining (but leave the light on).

@ Jacob, that is one mighty impressive amount of King books to read before the age of 12, i salute you sir

[Teesie]

A lthough I've always wanted to, I've never quite managed to read a Stephen King book. I do like the movies though. My favorites were The Green Mile and Carrie.

I've decided I'm going to finally read some of his books. Problem is I can't decide where to begin.

Anybody have any suggestions which I should read first?

I'd suggest Lisey's Story ... because I thought it was brilliant & it's the only King I've read (so far)

Fran you dark horse you, i always though you never read a single King book and snubbed such literary examples! Glad to hear you read at least one but sorry that it didnt drag you in ha. Did you like Liseys Story? I think its one of his stronger post-1999 books and a very dark tale.

@ Teesie, i would highly recommend Carrie as a first King book, its a nice length, and has many of the classic King stalwarts in terms of writing style and suspense building. Or even Christine or maybe The Shining (but leave the light on).

@ Jacob, that is one mighty impressive amount of King books to read before the age of 12, i salute you sir

I was thinking Carrie too because it was the first Stephen King based movie that I ever saw and I loved it. I think I'll go for Carrie first and then The Shinning. I saw the Stanley Hotel on Ghost Adventures not long ago. They got some pretty spooky evidence in there. I'd like to read Stephen King's take on all that haunting energy.... Thanks guys.

[Fran]

@ StephenKingman
You know me .... I'll read just about anything but I did actually enjoy Liseys Story thought it was a great read.
I just wouldn't be a specifically Horror fan but if a bit of horror creeps into a dam good story I can cope with that.

[Jacob]

A lthough I've always wanted to, I've never quite managed to read a Stephen King book. I do like the movies though. My favorites were The Green Mile and Carrie.

I've decided I'm going to finally read some of his books. Problem is I can't decide where to begin.

Anybody have any suggestions which I should read first?

I'd suggest Lisey's Story ... because I thought it was brilliant & it's the only King I've read (so far)

Fran you dark horse you, i always though you never read a single King book and snubbed such literary examples! Glad to hear you read at least one but sorry that it didnt drag you in ha. Did you like Liseys Story? I think its one of his stronger post-1999 books and a very dark tale.

@ Teesie, i would highly recommend Carrie as a first King book, its a nice length, and has many of the classic King stalwarts in terms of writing style and suspense building. Or even Christine or maybe The Shining (but leave the light on).

@ Jacob, that is one mighty impressive amount of King books to read before the age of 12, i salute you sir

I read my first Stephen King book at the age of 9, it was Christine... I loved it.

[StephenKingman]

^ Well you are advanced then, i read my first one (Carrie) at 15 after years of the Point Horror series.

[Sophius]

I first wanted to read Stephen King as early as eight, but my mom put up a huge protest, saying I was "too young"(even though she never read a Stephen King book. She only reads stuff like Beatrice Potter ) I kept on begging her for years to let me read one of his books, but she kept saying no. Finally, when I was thirteen, I said screw it and picked up The Tommyknockers, and found that he was the best author I had ever read. The funny thing is that she kept on saying, "oh stop reading it, you're too young" even after I finshed The Tommyknockers and moved on to Firestarter, along with the pricipal of my school. She(the principal), after telling me she didn't think I should read Stephen King, forcibly took the book from me and gave me "Chicken Soup for the Teenager's Soul". Ironically, she also never read a Stephen King book. Yet, three other adults who have read and enjoyed Stephen King(including my father) though it was perfectly fine for me to read him, and when I pointed this out to my mom, she began screaming at me. I honestly believe I would have gotten more out of Stephen King if I read him when I was younger, and this will be one of the reasons I always will resent my mother.

Anyway, I randomly thought the other day that it would be funny if Stephen King made Stephanie Meyer an agent of the Crimson King in A Wind Through the Keyhole. It likely will not happen, but it would be funny if it did.

[StephenKingman]

I first wanted to read Stephen King as early as eight, but my mom put up a huge protest, saying I was "too young"(even though she never read a Stephen King book. She only reads stuff like Beatrice Potter ) I kept on begging her for years to let me read one of his books, but she kept saying no. Finally, when I was thirteen, I said screw it and picked up The Tommyknockers, and found that he was the best author I had ever read. The funny thing is that she kept on saying, "oh stop reading it, you're too young" even after I finshed The Tommyknockers and moved on to Firestarter, along with the pricipal of my school. She(the principal), after telling me she didn't think I should read Stephen King, forcibly took the book from me and gave me "Chicken Soup for the Teenager's Soul". Ironically, she also never read a Stephen King book. Yet, three other adults who have read and enjoyed Stephen King(including my father) though it was perfectly fine for me to read him, and when I pointed this out to my mom, she began screaming at me. I honestly believe I would have gotten more out of Stephen King if I read him when I was younger, and this will be one of the reasons I always will resent my mother.

Anyway, I randomly thought the other day that it would be funny if Stephen King made Stephanie Meyer an agent of the Crimson King in A Wind Through the Keyhole. It likely will not happen, but it would be funny if it did.

I would never have been allowed read King either from the ages of 10 to 14, even though i was quite a good reader at that stage and getting bored with the teenage horror books which were getting very predictable at that stage. My older brother was and indeed still is a huge King fan so i sneaked a read at Carrie when i was 15 and have fallen in love ever since. I think that as long as a kid is rounded enough to know that there arent any such things as evil sewer clowns or Tommyknockers lurking under their beds at night then there is no harm reading King at an early age.

[Carla Hurst]

The Shining is a wonderful place to start. Or The Stand.

[Jacob]

The Shining is a wonderful place to start. Or The Stand.

The Stand is a beast of a book, took me about a month to finish.

[StephenKingman]

The Shining is a wonderful place to start. Or The Stand.

The Stand is a beast of a book, took me about a month to finish.

How old were you- six?

[Sunshine_daisy]

I really liked Duma Key but it reminded me of A Bag of Bones (it's one of my favorites, it looks like i'm joining the unpopular vote there) what did ya'll think of The Dark Half, I just picked it up and added it to my tbr stack

I agree completely! I also thought Duma Key was a lot like Bag of Bones, and I loved Bag of Bones! But - I do understand why some people don't like it. It is so different in style to a lot of his other work, much more a gothic ghoststory rather than a straight out 'horror' novel.

A lot of people commented on how good Insomnia is. I remember reading this when I was younger, I think around when it first came out, and I really didn't enjoy it at all. Same with Rose Madder. But after reading so many positive things about Insomnia I think I might give it another go.

[Scotta.clark]

Well he is one of the best writer ever and my personal favorite though. Personally I refer you Nightmare and Dreamescapes, Bag of Bornes and 1922.

[TheMadHatter]

I would start with a shorter one, like Pet Sematary. It's about a family who moves to a new town where they learn of a mysterious path that leads beyond a cemetery, where the townsfolk have many "secrets" buried. The book puts a lot of focus on the protagonist's family and father-son like friendship with this new neighbor, Jud, before the horror element really comes into play.

His best are IT and The Stand in my opinion, but they are too long to start with.