# Ranking All 64 Of Stephen King's Books **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 12, 2014, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ranking-all-64-of-stephen-kings-books/685923 "2014-04-12T06:09:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2014, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ranking-all-64-of-stephen-kings-books/685923/41 "2014-04-14T16:37:47Z")
**Derleth** , I had the same thought. I didn’t read the Dark Tower series until many years after I read _Insomnia_, and the book worked just fine for me without it. I suppose it’s got a lot more layers to it when you’re familiar with DT (I don’t have any plans to go back and reread it), but it works just fine as a standalone book IMO. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2014, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ranking-all-64-of-stephen-kings-books/685923/42 "2014-04-14T16:40:22Z")
I liked “Insomnia” just fine - I appreciated that it had elderly protagonists, which very few novels do. It actually changed the way I see old people - for one thing, I realized that I don’t actually _see_ them - my eye just glossed right over them. Good job for that, Stephen. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2014, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ranking-all-64-of-stephen-kings-books/685923/43 "2014-04-14T16:44:38Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > It’s far from gargantuan. I read it over the course of a few weeks at most, and more probably a few days. _It_ is gargantuan, and this is no _It_. Okay, you made me have to look: [_Insomnia_](http://www.amazon.com/Insomnia-Stephen-King-ebook/dp/B002SR2Q0A/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1397493660&sr=1-1) (the linked edition at least) has 916 pages. Not quite _It_-sized, but that’s pretty darn big, even for King. By contrast, [this edition of _Gargantua and Pantagruel_](http://www.amazon.com/Gargantua-Pantagruel-Histories-Classics/dp/014044047X/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1397493640&sr=1-4) has only 720 pages. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2014, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ranking-all-64-of-stephen-kings-books/685923/44 "2014-04-14T17:32:16Z")
> [@Hello\_Again](#): > > Without arguing that its among his worst, there’s no way “Rose Madder” is a worse book than “Dreamcatcher.” The latter is disgusting, verbose, rambling, and falls back on that ol’ SK chestnut, _the retaaaahded kid saves the day_. I thought the part where Rose enters the labyrinth to outwit the Minotaur was actually kind of gripping (even if I couldn’t figure out why it was happening), and I can’t say that about any part of Dreamcatchers. Yes, agree completely. There is no way a book with an opening scene like _Rose Madder_ had, one of the most horrifying things he’s ever written, should rank behind the comparatively execrable _Lisey’s Story_. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2014, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ranking-all-64-of-stephen-kings-books/685923/45 "2014-04-14T18:03:37Z")
Wow, I consider myself a fan, but going through that list I was surprised to realize that with most of his later stuff, I’ve read it just one single time. I would then say to myself, “Thank god it wasn’t nearly as bad as _Dreamcatcher_”, and stick it on the shelf. I really need to go back and try some of these again. I’ve always been of the opinion that _The Shining_ was the best of his work, and I guess I’ll stick with that for now. However, _Misery_ constantly moves up in my estimation. If I pick it up and read any random paragraph, chances are that I’ll keep going until it has to be physically taken from me. The writing really holds up to my warm happy memories of it. And I do have warm fuzzies for that book…it was my much anticipated seventeenth birthday present and possibly the first King I owned in hardcover. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2014, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ranking-all-64-of-stephen-kings-books/685923/46 "2014-04-14T18:12:22Z")
I haven’t re-read “Misery” in a long time - it might be time. 🙂 I might be in the minority - I like his older stuff, but I _love_ his newer stuff - it seems like his talent has really matured, and he’s left some of his “gross people out just for the sake of grossing them out” behind. ---
**Author:** ![XanderCrews](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/ee59a6/32.png) [@XanderCrews](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XanderCrews)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2014, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ranking-all-64-of-stephen-kings-books/685923/47 "2014-04-14T22:21:28Z")
I want to read The Stand; I’ve never read it before. Should I get the uncut edition or the original? ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2014, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ranking-all-64-of-stephen-kings-books/685923/48 "2014-04-14T22:28:46Z")
> [@Hello\_Again](#): > > Without arguing that its among his worst, there’s no way “Rose Madder” is a worse book than “Dreamcatcher.” The latter is disgusting, verbose, rambling, and falls back on that ol’ SK chestnut, _the retaaaahded kid saves the day_. I thought the part where Rose enters the labyrinth to outwit the Minotaur was actually kind of gripping (even if I couldn’t figure out why it was happening), and I can’t say that about any part of Dreamcatchers. For that matter, while it really isn’t very good, “Rose Madder” is a lot better than “Lisey’s Story,” which I couldn’t even finish. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2014, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ranking-all-64-of-stephen-kings-books/685923/49 "2014-04-14T22:42:53Z")
> [@XanderCrews](#): > > I want to read The Stand; I’ve never read it before. Should I get the uncut edition or the original? I prefer the uncut version, myself. And _The Stand_ is, in my view, his best solo work (I mean solo as in stand-alone. _The Dark Tower_ series is equally as good, but involves multiple books). It’s a difference of about 200 pages between the uncut version and the edited one. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2014, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ranking-all-64-of-stephen-kings-books/685923/50 "2014-04-14T22:57:02Z")
> [@XanderCrews](#): > > I want to read The Stand; I’ve never read it before. Should I get the uncut edition or the original? Tough call - I agree with others who say that the parts were edited out of the book for a reason, but on the other hand, some of the parts in the uncut book are quite good - I liked the vignettes of people dying regular deaths while the apocalypse was going on, and while The Kid was disturbing as hell, I don’t know if the book is better without him in it. See for yourself - read the uncut version. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2014, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ranking-all-64-of-stephen-kings-books/685923/51 "2014-04-14T23:31:42Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > OK, I have one question: Did the person read the same novel I did, or is there some other Stephen King who wrote some other _Insomnia_? Insomnia is probably my least favourite Stephen King novel and I agreed with just about everything he said. To be fair, I mostly gave up reading late-period Stephen King after Insomnia, so it’s entirely possible he got worse after that. The beginning was kind of intriguing, but I lost interest after the story devolved into cosmic alien mumbo-jumbo. Unfortunately, there were probably 600 pages still left at that point… ---
**Author:** ![80sMusicfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/8/2acd7d/32.png) [@80sMusicfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/80sMusicfan)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2014, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ranking-all-64-of-stephen-kings-books/685923/52 "2014-04-15T03:34:21Z")
my only Stephen King book I own is Carrie, don’t get me wrong he’s a great writer but I never had the time to read except books for school. I was surprised too see it listed in 10th place. I thought it would be in the top 5. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2014, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ranking-all-64-of-stephen-kings-books/685923/53 "2014-04-15T03:41:17Z")
> [@80sMusicfan](#): > > my only Stephen King book I own is Carrie, don’t get me wrong he’s a great writer but I never had the time to read except books for school. > I was surprised too see it listed in 10th place. > I thought it would be in the top 5. He’s written 64 books - the odds weren’t good. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2014, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ranking-all-64-of-stephen-kings-books/685923/54 "2014-04-15T03:47:15Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > He’s written 64 books - the odds weren’t good. 🙂 The odds were good, he wrote a _lot_ of crap. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2014, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ranking-all-64-of-stephen-kings-books/685923/55 "2014-04-15T04:50:47Z")
Personally, I would put the short story collections, Carrie, Firestarter, and maybe Cujo higher, and drop The Green Mile, Misery, and especially the awful It lower. The Dark Tower series never entered my radar screen for whatever reason. For me, the appeal of King has always been that he roots his stories in ordinary life; I just don’t look to him for a sci-fi/fantasy world. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2014, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ranking-all-64-of-stephen-kings-books/685923/56 "2014-04-15T04:58:48Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Okay, you made me have to look: > > [_Insomnia_](http://www.amazon.com/Insomnia-Stephen-King-ebook/dp/B002SR2Q0A/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1397493660&sr=1-1) (the linked edition at least) has 916 pages. Not quite _It_-sized, but that’s pretty darn big, even for King. By contrast, [this edition of _Gargantua and Pantagruel_](http://www.amazon.com/Gargantua-Pantagruel-Histories-Classics/dp/014044047X/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1397493640&sr=1-4) has only 720 pages. Uh, high school was kind of a boring time for me, I suppose. I honestly don’t remember it being anywhere near that long, but I remember the plot well enough I must have read it. Odd. I read a bit of King back then. I liked _Thinner_, _Different Seasons_ (mother of thousands of hours of TV, given how often TBS replayed _Shawshank Redemption_ back then (now, if only someone would option “The Breathing Method”)), and my favorite was _Misery_, and I don’t remember any of them being _long_ long. Just nicely long, as opposed to the novella-sized YA books I was being assigned back then. (Except for the Faulkner. And the James. I belonged in that AP English class, but some of the books didn’t.) ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2014, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ranking-all-64-of-stephen-kings-books/685923/57 "2014-04-15T05:15:14Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > \ (now, if only someone would option “The Breathing Method”)\ I loved that story, but I don’t know how that would work as a movie - the whole thing kind of hinges on the shock value of the body continuing to breathe and give birth after it’s been killed, and that’s just one scene. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2014, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ranking-all-64-of-stephen-kings-books/685923/58 "2014-04-15T05:51:06Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > I loved that story, but I don’t know how that would work as a movie - the whole thing kind of hinges on the shock value of the body continuing to breathe and give birth after it’s been killed, and that’s just one scene. I know, I know. I wasn’t being very serious. It might work as a story within a completely different movie, told partly in flashback to preserve the integrity of the one essential scene. ---
**Author:** ![blue\_infinity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blue_infinity/32/2817_2.png) [@blue\_infinity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blue_infinity)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2014, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ranking-all-64-of-stephen-kings-books/685923/59 "2014-04-15T07:12:36Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > I know, I know. I wasn’t being very serious. It might work as a story within a completely different movie, told partly in flashback to preserve the integrity of the one essential scene. Just give it to Peter Jackson, he’ll make a trilogy out of it. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2014, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ranking-all-64-of-stephen-kings-books/685923/60 "2014-04-15T14:07:43Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > OK, I have one question: Did the person read the same novel I did, or is there some other Stephen King who wrote some other _Insomnia_? I read this book in high school, so it’s far from fresh in my mind, but here’s what I do remember: > > It’s far from gargantuan. I read it over the course of a few weeks at most, and more probably a few days. _It_ is gargantuan, and this is no _It_. > > It isn’t that closely tied to the Dark Tower mythos. I enjoyed it and followed the plot and everything, and I’ve never read a single Dark Tower book. > > The abortion stuff isn’t that heavy-handed. OK, maybe my memory for this is fading a bit, but I was fairly political in high school and I went at one of the times when abortion issues were at a peak. I’m pretty sure I would have noticed it if it were laid on as thick as this review makes it seem. > > So, am I off the rails or is the reviewer? For reference: _Insomnia_ is about old people fighting little supernatural people with scissors who cut off a thread on your head to make you die, and of course on the special protagonists can see them. It actually appears to be heavily tied into the Dark Tower stuff, but you have to be a Dark Tower reader to see the tie-ins. Which is good craftsmanship on King’s part. However, in the end, he (Dark Tower spoiler) fucks up all the connections between Insomnia and the Dark Tower in the last or second-to-last DT book by saying that it was a false shadow or false prophecy or something. So…it never really does tie in. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ranking-all-64-of-stephen-kings-books/685923.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ranking-all-64-of-stephen-kings-books/685923.md?page=4)