Well, why not?
I’ve long been a fan of Mr. King, and his bibliography is nothing if not voluminous. Over the years he’s written some truly captivating fiction, just as he’s written more than his share of clunkers. Assuming you’re even somewhat a fan (to wit, Tom Shales and his ilk should just go ahead and skip to the next thread), what do you feel is his best work in novel form (not to worry, the short story/novella collection poll is coming soon)?
(And yes, I’m including all his books written under the pen name Richard Bachman here, too.)
I think It has perhaps his best passages and bits of writing. Unfortunately it also has some real dross that badly weakens it as a cohesive piece, including a pretty weak ending ( the enemy of many, many talented novelists ).
As a whole novel, I think The Shining is probably his most consistently strong work.
The Stand is his masterwork. It will be read long after his other very ephemeral works become curiosities.
I’ve been revisiting Stephen King novels recently and have (re)completed Carrie, The Shining and The Green Mile. Carrie was actually not a very good book, IMO. Green Mile was outstanding, with wonderful character development and riveting story arc: one of his absolute best. I remember liking Misery when I read it years ago, and more recently thought 11/22/63 was very well done, with an excellent story arc.
I guess I’d have to reread several that I enjoyed in order to see if they still hold up, but for now Green Mile takes the prize.
I adore his epics like The Stand and his Dark Tower novels (especially The Drawing of the Three). But I’ve always had an inexplicable soft spot for The Long Walk. Masterful storytelling in a compact novella.
I used to think the same, but the last time I tried to read it ( years ago ) it seemed bloated and on contemplation I had some trouble with certain elements like the magical black granny.
I dunno - I used to love it and read it multiple times, maybe it is just overexposure. I used to love “Freebird” as well but now I’d almost rather jam a screwdriver in my ear than hear that again :D.
Pity ‘Different Seasons’ can’t be included.
Bit surprised to see a vote for Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower in there. I’m a huge fan of the Dark Tower specifically, and a bit of a Dark Tower geek (as long as you don’t need to read all the rest of the tie-ins for it, as that’s pretty much the entire King canon). While I’ve come to terms with The Dark Tower as a conclusion to the series, it’s not even the strongest in the series, much less King’s work as a whole. Would love to hear whoever voted that one defend it.
(I voted The Waste Lands–its my favorite of the series, edging out The Drawing of the Three by Blaine the Mono’s nose. 11/22/63 was another honorable mention. To be fair, I’m not a huge King fan in general–I’m mostly just a complete Dark Tower nerd.)
I’ve yet to read an SK book but I’ve mentioned wanting to a few times over the last year or so. Apparently someone heard me since, amongst a bunch of other books, I got Doctor Sleep (which I’d never heard of) for Christmas. It’ll probably be a while before I get around to it, but hopefully it’s not a clunker.
I’ve read every one of these at least once, and I’m torn between The Shining and Misery. I finally voted for The Shining. It’s a modern classic.
Totally disagree. Over-bloated and lousy *deus ex machina *ending.
The Shining and Different Seasons are the works that will…stand 
No Hearts in Atlantis?
It’s not a clunker, but not nearly as good as The Shining.
I went with The Stand but there were several close contenders. I’m not seeing any love for Duma Key so far, but I enjoyed that book a lot.
I wasn’t too much of a reader growing up. I knew of Stephen King and I knew he was sometimes looked down upon by “serious” critics and authors. I remember reading the childhood chapters of It and thinking *no-one *could write better than this.
I’m not qualified to vote in the poll as I’m in the middle of my very first SK book, Under The Dome. I bought it because of the TV show that redefines the word “suck”. To be quite honest, I’m not terribly impressed with the book. To me, it has too many characters and way way way too many current cultural references. I’m thinking that a person reading this 50 years from now is going to be a little confused by the references, wondering who the hell Anderson Cooper is for example. So is this book one of the best? One of the worst? I have no idea.
You bought the book because the show sucked?
It’s not his worst (cough Dreamcatcher cough), but I wouldn’t recommend it either.
UtD is a pretty weak novel with a (IMHO) fantastic ending (well, except for the resolution of the dome part… that was kind of weak as well.) It’s about the opposite of 11/22/63, which is a great novel with a lousy ending.
I am surprised there are two novels on here I haven’t read: Colorado Kid and Cycle of the Werewolf (wasn’t that last a script?) I also didn’t bother with the Dark Tower novels, stopping at Drawing of the Three (or maybe it was the Wastelands - which of the books had the characters at some frozen tower?) because, really, I didn’t care to finish an, at that time, story of indeterminate length.
(Shit, hit ‘send’ too soon…)
Since it was asked about, Doctor Sleep is like The Tommyknockers - a great 100 pages about the effects of alcoholism* followed by a story of so-so execution. DS is a more adult book, but TT is more fun. I’m one of the few who enjoy TT and will re-read it every few years.
I liked The Talisman but found Bleak House a bit weak. It also didn’t help that there was this passage about how the main character fell in love with this girl, wanted to possess her, love her, do her, etc… and then it closed with (paraphrasing) “… and he knew her name: Sophie.” Kind of threw me for a loop as Sophie is the name of my then-1yo daughter, so it kind of took me out of the novel.
I’m going to vote for Misery as his best novel. Realistic, not suffering from Bloatitis like many of his other works, genuinely worrisome, and possibly the best denouement of all his books, Misery works in every way a novel should.
Except… no supernatural elements. So if I had to pick a SK book with supernatural elements, I would choose Pet Semetary, a genuinely horrifying book that has some truly wrenching scenes (Gage’s death and funeral topping the list.)
Most depressing of his works is the opening chapter of Rose Madder… and then the start of the 2nd chapter, where you find Rose, many years later, still with her husband. 
The rest of the book kind of goes off the rails, but the opening was well worth the price of the hardcover.
*I don’t drink and there’s nothing SK has written about alcohol that has made me regret this.
Yeah, pretty much. I just wondered if it was a terrible show based on a good book or how the plot differed between the two. Didn’t take long to find out as poor Angie didn’t last too long in the book.