I haven’t read too much Stephen King. I’ve read Christine several times and really enjoyed it. I read From a Buick 8 and I thought it was OK. I have tried to read The Stand, but have never been able to finish it. I read *Different Seasons *and really only liked The Shawshank Redemption portion.
Should I continue with other King books? Or, is *Christine *as good as it gets?
Haven’t read him in a while, but I do recall liking Misery and Carrie the most. But really, if you want to read King at his best, pick up a book of his short stories. That’s really where he excels, IMO.
King hit his peak with Carrie; it’s all downhill from there.
I’d suggest Rose Madder (which I’m re-reading right now), Bag of Bones and It. King’s strength is his characters.
I don’t know if I could pick a best. I’ve read probably 90 percent of his books, excluding essays and non-fiction. To echo Cat Fight, he really does excel in short stories. Check out Skeleton Crew and Night Shift for the best of these (though you will find some cheese here and there). Though I really like many of his monster stories, I also think that some of his best work is done in the non-monster arena. The body(stand by me), Shawshank, Dolores Claiborne, Misery, etc. Eyes of the dragon is also a great read. If you plan on reading a few more, and are interested in doing this, try to catch connections. King intertwines characters and plots from what I used to think were totally unrelated stories. One bad character that turns up often is Flagg. He’s a key character in The Stand, Dark Tower series and Eyes of the Dragon. For what it’s worth, I’d say his books are like sunflower seeds. Even though you come across one that leaves a bad taste in your mouth now and then, if you like the genre, they are still pretty damn addicting.
I used to read every Stephen King book that came out, and considered Christine to be his first major clunker. Personally, I liked The Shining the best.
Stephen king has written a lot of books, but I my favourites are Pet Semetary, It, and Salem’s Lot.
He has also written some of the most enjoyable short stories I have ever read. For these try Four Past Midnight, and Night Shift.
It is one of his best - that book can still give me cold chills. I’ve read almost all of his books, and the only one I really didn’t like was Cujo.
On Writing is Stephen King’s best book. Really. It’s funny, fascinating and loads of fun.
The Shining is his best novel. YM will most likely V.
koeeoaddi nailed it. The Shining is King’s masterpiece, IMHO.
I think The Stand is a fantastic book, and it’s the one that sprang to mind when I read the title.
It and The Shining are both very, very good.
My favorite is The Talisman
My favorite is The Stand, followed by It, and Insomnia.
I can’t get into his short stories, for some reason. The only collection that held me was The Bachman Books. It contained The Long Walk, The Running Man, Roadwork, and the best of them all- Rage. You may have to go to a used store to get the version with Rage, since it allegedly inspired the Columbine kids (I can see the connection, but the story ended much differently than the events in Littleton, Colorado) and has been pulled. I believe it has been replaced with Apt Pupil.
Ditto. Misery is also very good.
In looking over this thread, I don’t see a lot of consensus as to what the best stuff is…but can we all agree that Desperation, The Regulators, and Dreamcatcher are the worst? Better you should use them for toilet paper than reading material, and I say that as a King fan.
I enjoyed Christine as a native of Pittsburgh-I liked all the little details. (Didn’t he describe Dennis’s grandfather as having a Pittsburgh accent, IIRC).
I would also encourage reading his short stories-they’ve got a wonderful Lovecraftian feel to them.
I concur. I read it in college and was totally blown away by it.
My favorite Stephen King is Gerald’s Game… for some reason that book creeped the hell out of me.
His newer stuff leaves me cold. Insomnia sucked donkey. So did Desperation and Dreamcatcher. I couldn’t make myself finish Tommyknockers. Needful Things was horrid drivvel.
What happened, Stephen???
I would definitely go with IT, The Shining, The Bachman Books, The Stand, the nonfiction ones, and his short story collections. His essays on pop culture in EW are pretty damn good too.
I used to be one of the fans of the fans that rushed out and bought his new one as soon as I could. Lately though I wait and see. I liked his work better when it was filled with suburban angst.
I would go back to the beginning, starting with 'Salem’s Lot, then read til you hate him, which will happen right around Tommyknockers. Carrie, Firestarter, The Stand, The Shining are all good reads, as are Misery and a few others. My favorite by far was the short story The Body, which absolutely brilliantly captures 11-year old kids and teen hoods.
Another vote for The Shining as the best of King.
I liked Christine better than many of the critics, who really panned it pretty bad, IIRC.