# What are Stephen King's five best books/stories?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stephen-kings-five-best-books-stories/553286
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [September 10, 2010, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stephen-kings-five-best-books-stories/553286 "2010-09-10T13:52:42Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2010, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stephen-kings-five-best-books-stories/553286/21 "2010-09-10T16:40:20Z")
It is perhaps unfortunate that King became so popular so quickly that he could override the judgment of his editors. His early books, which were subject to editing, are better reads than his later, bloated ones.
However, at the short story length, he packs an amazing wallop. Here are my favorites:
Horror/supernatural stories: **Survivor Type** - just plain gruesome!
**The Mangler** - a commercial laundry is an awful place, even without any monsters!
**Grey Matter** - eewww!
\*\*The Raft \*\*- hypnotic. The story, also.
**Jerusalem’s Lot** - a classic vampire story
**Graveyard Shift** - King, writing as old H.P.
A surprising number of non-supernatural stories. **Strawberry Spring** - perhaps my all-time King favorite
**The Wedding Gig** - no one beats King at lower-class dialog
**The Ledge** - great story, not a monster in sight
**Quitters, Inc** - sounds as though it could really happen
**Last Rung on the Ladder** - John D. MacDonald loved this one
And a couple of great romances: **Mrs. Todd’s Shortcut** - sweet and somewhat disturbing
**Word Processor of the Gods** - a King story with a happy ending?
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### Author:  [@5\_time\_champ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/5_time_champ)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2010, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stephen-kings-five-best-books-stories/553286/22 "2010-09-10T17:12:55Z")
> [@StusBlues](#):
>
> > [@5\_time\_champ](#):
> >
> > You should, it is King’s best work.
>
> I really don’t mean to threadshit, but if that’s his best work, I’m not really sorry I haven’t read more of his stories. It’s a good enough book and all, but it’s not a masterpiece.
>
> I’ve only read a few other King books and stories, so I’m not qualified to do a top 5 here. I would say that his “memoir of the craft,” _On Writing_, is as fine a guidebook for prospective authors as I’ve found. He drive home the point that writing is a learned trade, not a blossoming talent that arises spontaneously when the inner artist emerges. Stephen King wrote and submitted dozens of short stories all through his youth in addition to writing for his local newspaper. What fans see in all the books mentioned is a product of practice and training. That’s a lesson to take to heart.
We all have our own opinions, and as I said in my follow up I wondered whether the order and time and [perhaps the reader’s age] has a lot to do with our rankings.
I read **Salem’s Lot** when it was first released in 1975, I was twenty years old. The story may be simple and of course vampires were staple horror figures even back then. But King didn’t have compete with his earlier works. I absolutely devoured the book.
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### Author:  [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2010, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stephen-kings-five-best-books-stories/553286/23 "2010-09-10T17:14:12Z")
Adding to **Brother Cadfael** ’s short story list:
[ul]
[li]The End of The Whole Mess[/li][li]Graduation Afternoon[/li][li]All That You Love Will Be Carried Away[/li][li]Autopsy Room Four[/li][li]In the Deathroom[/li][li]Battleground[/li][/ul]
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### Author:  [@smaje1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smaje1)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2010, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stephen-kings-five-best-books-stories/553286/24 "2010-09-10T17:45:32Z")
1. The Stand (Complete and Uncut Edition)
2. Bag of Bones (has no one mentioned this yet? I was amazed by this book)
3. 4 Past Midnight (no individual story - the compilation)
4. The Dark Tower IV: Wizards and Glass
5. Misery
For real, if you haven’t read Bag of Bones, check it out!
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### Author:  [@otternell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/otternell)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2010, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stephen-kings-five-best-books-stories/553286/25 "2010-09-10T17:58:35Z")
> [@pbbth](#):
>
> Am I the only one who really liked Rose Madder? It wouldn’t make my top 5 list or anything but I thought it was quite good.
I’m with you - I liked it. Top 5 - maybe not, but good nonetheless.
Top 5 (this is really tough):
1. Desperation
2. Duma Key
3. Wolves of the Calla (best of the series IMHO)
4. Eye of the Dragon
5. Insomnia
ETA: I also really really liked the short story Long Walk - its easily top 5 of the short stories.
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### Author:  [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2010, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stephen-kings-five-best-books-stories/553286/26 "2010-09-10T17:58:37Z")
> [@MTCicero](#):
>
> If anyone ever starts a “Five worst SK books” thread _snip_
Sure, why not? [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=12899614#post12899614](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=12899614#post12899614)
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### Author:  [@otternell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/otternell)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2010, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stephen-kings-five-best-books-stories/553286/27 "2010-09-10T18:08:12Z")
I’ve timed out on editing - but I completely forgot From a Buick 8 - which I absolutely loved!
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### Author:  [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2010, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stephen-kings-five-best-books-stories/553286/28 "2010-09-10T18:10:30Z")
> [@otternell](#):
>
> ETA: I also really really liked the short story Long Walk - its easily top 5 of the short stories.
Agreed. It’s uniquely chilling in so many ways, not least of which is in how it shows how stupid we can be when we’re young - and how bitterly we can grow to regret it. (All of the characters recognize, in short order, that entering The Walk was a serious mistake.)
I also quite liked Salem’s Lot and The Stand - both do really neat jobs of showing the “in-between” time, when societies are _starting_ to fail but still just … barely … tottering along. There are plenty of “outbreak” novels in which disaster is averted in the nick of time, and plenty of post-apocalypse novels - but King does a better job of showing a _developing_ apocalypse than anyone.
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### Author:  [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2010, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stephen-kings-five-best-books-stories/553286/29 "2010-09-10T18:15:54Z")
The Long Walk is an allegory for life. I cannot read the ending without thinking of the ending to the Green Mile–“We each owe a death, there are no exceptions, I know that, but sometimes, oh God, the Green Mile is so long.”
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### Author:  [@palindromemordnilap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/palindromemordnilap)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2010, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stephen-kings-five-best-books-stories/553286/30 "2010-09-10T18:35:43Z")
I stopped reading King around the time of Misery. That book really crystallized my problem with many of King’s books – the better written they are, the more disturbed/paranoid I am for several days afterward. I also found that many of his books, like the Dark Tower series, just didn’t do it for me. But I read enough of his early books to pick a top 5:
1. The Stand (the original version of this is among my top 5 books, period.)
2. 'Salem’s Lot
3. Thinner
4. The Shining
5. Needful Things (I actually didn’t read this but listened to the unabridged version on cassette, but the effect was the same.)
My favorite movies made from King’s works would include at least a couple of his non-horror works
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### Author:  [@rolandgunslinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rolandgunslinger)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2010, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stephen-kings-five-best-books-stories/553286/31 "2010-09-10T23:35:34Z")
**The Drawing Of Three**
**The Stand**
**From a Buick 8**
**IT**
**Cell**
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### Author:  [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2010, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stephen-kings-five-best-books-stories/553286/32 "2010-09-11T00:41:31Z")
This is really tough. Let’s do what I can about it, however.
_ **Salem’s Lot** _. I’ll repeat what someone said above: what makes this good is that it never feels surreal or fake…it’s what would happen if vampires showed up one day. I just reread my (autographed!) copy last year, and it still stands up.
_ **The Stand** _, original version. I love it all the way down to the walking-across-the-desert-to-purify-themselves ending. Stu Redman, Harold Lauder, Franny, Nick…and Randall Flagg. Great characters all of 'em.
_ **Pet Semetary** _. I know. Believe me, I know. But watching Lou Creed (that “rock and roll animal”) slouch his way ineluctably toward a Really Bad Decision is gripping reading, and I liked the ending.
_ **Cujo** _. Someone said it above: the dog is the insane side story to a great domestic drama. And I also love its Castle Rock companion piece,
_ **The Dead Zone.** _ A creepy, mesmerizing book.
_ **It** _. Every good thing King does is poured into this book; it’s only (nearly) ruined by a stupid gimmick near the end, but still it’s a lot of fun. Creepy clowns!
Yeah, so mine goes to 6. Oh well.
A comment on\*\*\* On Writing\*\*\*: in that, King wrote: “Read four hours a day and write four hours a day. If you cannot find the time for that, you can’t expect to become a good writer.” What kind of out-of-fucking-touch comment is that? Large parts of the book were great, but that really pissed me off.
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### Author:  [@jordanr2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jordanr2)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2010, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stephen-kings-five-best-books-stories/553286/33 "2010-09-11T01:36:09Z")
_Lisey’s Story
Gerald’s Game_ (not trying to be contrary with those two picks, I swear! I find them more poignant and ingeniously-written than anything else he’s done)
_Dolores Claiborne_
_Danse Macabre_ (this book guided my reading for years)
“The Langoliers”
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### Author:  [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2010, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stephen-kings-five-best-books-stories/553286/34 "2010-09-11T01:46:53Z")
On Writing
The Shining
Dolores Claiborne
The Dead Zone
[del]Firestarter[/del] [del]Carrie[/del] [del]Duma Key[/del] On Writing
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### Author:  [@PeskiPiksi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PeskiPiksi)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2010, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stephen-kings-five-best-books-stories/553286/35 "2010-09-11T02:07:16Z")
The Shining
IT
Eye of the Dragon
The Raft
The Stand
I know\* IT \*and \*The Stand \*have notoriously weak endings, but I don’t care. I just like the characters, and I love how long they are because I just get to hang out with my “friends” that much longer.
\*The Shining \*earns its place just for those hedge animals.
\*Eye of the Dragon \*has that excellent piece of suspensful writing when Flagg is chasing up the stairs of the tower, while Peter is making his escape.
And “The Raft” is just plain gruesome and awesome.
I suppose I might have included \*Pet Sematary \*and _Apt Pupil_, because I know they’re well-written, but that’s the problem–they’re \*too \*well-written. I love being scared, but those two stories just made me feel sad and…oogy is the best word I can come up with. I have no desire to read them again–I don’t like feeling bad.
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### Author:  [@Invisible\_Chimp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Invisible_Chimp)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2010, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stephen-kings-five-best-books-stories/553286/36 "2010-09-11T02:11:50Z")
> [@Balthisar](#):
>
> [ul]
> [li]The Stand[/li][li]The Dark Tower[/li][li]The Dark Tower II[/li][li]The Dark Tower III[/li][li]The Dark Tower IV[/li][/ul]
Very tempting to go with this list, but I’ll try to come up with my own.
The Stand
On Writing
Needful Things
Different Seasons
The Gunslinger
I haven’t read anything by King since I read _Wolves of the Calla_. It was so connected to _'Salems Lot_, which I am ashamed to say I haven’t read. I should probably read _'Salems Lot_
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### Author:  [@jordanr2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jordanr2)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2010, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stephen-kings-five-best-books-stories/553286/37 "2010-09-11T02:22:51Z")
> [@PeskiPiksi](#):
>
> The Shining
> IT
> Eye of the Dragon
> The Raft
> The Stand
>
> I know\* IT \*and \*The Stand \*have notoriously weak endings, but I don’t care. I just like the characters, and I love how long they are because I just get to hang out with my “friends” that much longer.
People say a lot that the ending of _It_ is weak, but I don’t see how that is - I can’t think of any more impressive way he could have finished that story.
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### Author:  [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2010, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stephen-kings-five-best-books-stories/553286/38 "2010-09-11T02:52:21Z")
1. The Talisman
2. The Shining
3. It
4. Bag of Bones
5. The Stand
While it’s not a favorite, I want to give an honorable mention to Blaze. It is very clearly influenced by Of Mice and Men but takes it to darker and more twisted ends, sort of like the Alice Hoffman novel Here On Earth did with another piece of literature.
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### Author:  [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2010, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stephen-kings-five-best-books-stories/553286/39 "2010-09-11T03:07:02Z")
I confess I haven’t read anything of King’s in more than 20 years.
Still, I will heap more love on _'Salem’s Lot_. It really is a terrific book. I grew up in a small town (Ohio, not Maine), and it rang very true to me. The characters, their secrets, their strengths, their vulnerabilities… yeah, I could see things unfolding pretty much that way. Brrrrr.
_The Stand_, of course, for its epic sweep, careful plotting, dark humor and fascinating characters.
_Misery_, for its almost unbearable tension, its musings on the joy and pain of being a writer, and for one of the most hissable but oddly sympathetic villains ever.
_The Dead Zone_, because it works just as well as a political thriller, a murder mystery and a pathetic (in the classical Greek sense) exploration of what it means to be cursed with a superhuman “gift.”
And finally _Night Shift_, which has one great short story after another.
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### Author:  [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2010, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stephen-kings-five-best-books-stories/553286/40 "2010-09-11T03:15:57Z")
[QUOTE=jordanr2]
People say a lot that the ending of _It_ is weak, but I don’t see how that is - I can’t think of any more impressive way he could have finished that story.
[/QUOTE]
Perhaps
not requiring our young heroes to pull a sex train with an adolescent girl to save themselves; alternately, not requiring her to do that
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