brayzie

If it's okay to name collections, my favorite is NIGHTMARES & DREAMSCAPES, particularly "Crouch End." My second favorite would be The NIGHTSHIFT.

Buttmunker

How did that work out? Did you ever start it - finish it - love it?

Since the Short Stories were mentioned, I want to shout-out to the in "Survivor Type" from Skeleton Crew.

The Bus

"Crouch End" is one of my favorite short stories.

brayzie

Yeah, it was pretty good. King has a very good handle on Lovecraft's tone.

He did another story similar to Lovecraft's work in NIGHTSHIFT. I forgot the name, but this one is actually set in HPL's era. Pretty good as well.

Trout

Jerusalem's Lot.

mhg83

My favorite will always be "The Green Mile"

However, After having just finished "Cujo" is now the scariest King book I've read so far.

yoshimi

"It"

First King book that I ever read and it is what got me hooked. It might actually be the first book I ever read. I was 10 and my grandmother gave it to me after she finished it one day while visiting her.

danfindlay

I've enjoyed his non supernatural stuff the most. Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption most of all but The Long Walk and especially Apt Pupil have stuck with me for decades. Apt Pupil was just haunting. Among his supernatural stuff 'Salem's Lot and The Stand are the cream of the crop.

kd5

Pet Sematary is my favorite Stephen King book (the movie tries but doesn't quite capture the gruesome from the book, although it's not bad by any stretch). It was pretty good too, Tommyknockers was tedious and ultimately unsatisfying, still want to read The Stand. -kd5-

Spottedfeather

I really like Needful Things, From A Buick 8, Carrie, IT, and Four Past Midnight.

Trout

I just got done reading IT again and I am over half way through Tommyknockers. I first read 'knockers way back in 1990 and I don't remember any of it.

kd5

It almost felt as though he tried to delve way too deeply into everyone's pasts when that much detail was more than adequate for Bobbi and Gard. I felt like I just didn't need to know that much about minor characters who were basically disposable, like SK was just trying to pad his page count, I ended up skimming over some of the tedious backgrounds of disposable characters. I normally don't like to do that.


Just my .02 cents worth, -kd5-

costanza

Arglebargle (sp?) is one of my favorite expressions ever. I use it a lot.

kd5

Made me chuckle every time that word entered through my optical nerves and bounced around in my brain... -kd5-

slymer

I read The Regulators and really liked it. I've also read the Dark Tower parts I & II, & Delores Claiborne, which I also enjoyed. I just started Under the Dome.

For some reason haven't gotten around to reading any of his more popular books like Carrie, the Stand, Salem's Lot, etc........

Abob Teff

Regulators must be read with Desperation to get the full experience ... bizarre even for King.

Abob Teff

Huh? I would say this is why you should save Dark Tower for last ... knowing the characters in their own novel first provides for the payoff in the Dark Tower series. Knowing them in Dark Tower first provides no context in their own stories.

Michael Corvin

I'll add Skeleton Crew to the list as my favorite collection.

brayzie

I've come across a lot of online posters who claim that when Stephen King got sobered up he lost his edge a bit and I might have agreed with them after comparing his early short story collections to his recent ones. But from what I've read about The Tommyknockers it seems like his addictions were seriously effecting his work in the worst way for that project. I only saw the tv movie which I thought was exceptionally good but everyone else says the book is awful.

stp115

What book is that from? I've found myself using it for the last 5 years or so and didn't know where it came from.

rbrown498

The first Stephen King book that I read was Carrie, back in its second paperback printing which included photos from the film. It seemed like everybody at my high school was reading it.

When 'Salem's Lot came out, I saw the paperback in the grocery store's paperback rack, but I had no idea what it was about, so I passed on it...until a friend of mine told me that he was reading it and that it was about vampires. I bought it the next time I went to the grocery store, and it's still probably my favorite overall King novel.

Pet Sematary is the book of his that scared me the most (although 'Salem's Lot was terribly frightening, too). As several people have mentioned, On Writing was a great read, as was The Eyes of the Dragon. Even though my favorite novel is 'Salem's Lot, my favorite piece of writing of King's is the middle, "Hearts in Atlantis" section of Hearts in Atlantis. The rest of the book is very, very average, but that middle section soars, in my opinion, like nothing else he's ever written.

superduper

The Shinning

ArnieCunningham

Christine.

ruemorgue10

Misery remains my favorite.

mrm1138

For my money, you can't go wrong with his first three books, Carrie, Salem's Lot, and The Shining. I'm also very partial to The Dead Zone.