any Stephen king fans--whats your favorite book by him? (publish, novel, best)

[treasurekidd]

Hands down, my favorite is The Stand. I also enjoyed The Dark Tower series, but was terribly disappointed in the ending. Wizard And Glass was the best of the series.

[chicagomichauds]

Another vote for The Stand!

[Ohiogirl81]

Stephen King: A mediocre but prolific writer, but a master storyteller.

There is a difference. Mr. King would have done well to take a journalism class now and again, if only to learn that one word is often more effective than two. Or in his case, two dozen.

The first Stephen King book I read was Carrie; it had just come out, no one had heard of him, my friends were all reading Vonnegut and looking at me sideways when I sang the praises of this book. One of the characters, I remember, drove a '77 Plymouth, and I'd try to imagine what one of those would look like. (they were pretty ugly)

'Salem's Lot was good and scary; The Shining did absolutely nothing for me. Loved Christine and The Dead Zone; hated It and Gerald's Game. Pet Sematary was OK. The Dead Zone was the most well-written of all his books I've read.

The Stand ... I loved it when I read the first version. The rewrite ... not so much. Was that really necessary? All those pop culture details and throwaway characters really didn't add anything to the story; in fact, they added only clutter.

I do like his short stories, though; maybe because they're short.

[anadyr21]

Edited:

Originally Posted by TBideon

Jaunt has one of the greatest endings of ANY story.

Interestingly, I always thought the ending was one of his most wasted opportunities. This was one hell of a story, especially after having just read The Mist. I was completely enthralled, hoping to hear more insight into how the project got shut down, what exactly happened to the scientist, and how we got from a little experiment with mice to (interstellar?) travel. Then that WTF ending!?! What the heck kinda travel agency wouldn't have precautions for that kind of thing? The ending completely ruined the whole story for me.

Edited:

Originally Posted by Ohiogirl81

Stephen King: A mediocre but prolific writer, but a master storyteller.

There is a difference. Mr. King would have done well to take a journalism class now and again, if only to learn that one word is often more effective than two. Or in his case, two dozen.

The Stand ... I loved it when I read the first version. The rewrite ... not so much. Was that really necessary? All those pop culture details and throwaway characters really didn't add anything to the story; in fact, they added only clutter.

Very much agreed about his storytelling ability and lengthy descriptions.

As an unabridged version of The Stand, I enjoyed hearing a little more of the story, even if it didn't add to the overall arc or the grand scheme of things (Trashcan Man and The Kid, I think). But on it's own, yes, at times it slowed down the pace. I think I would have preferred a separate book of stories, about what characters did before, during, and after (if they survived) The Stand.

[Chilkoot]

The Talisman and The Stand.

[John Dark]

I like King's shorter stuff better. Nightmares & Dreamscapes, Night Shift, Skeleton Crew, Four Past Midnight, etc. Recently picked up Just After Sunset, and it's in the queue.

[Dport7674]

Read all his stuff up until Geralds Game or Needful things, which ever came later. Then lost total interest.

Misery was probably my favorite.

I agree his short story books are good.

[Newdaawn]

Gerald's Game is my least favorite. Just finished 11/22/63 and liked it alot. I haven't read everything he has written but do remember the first one I ever read and liked it alot "Dead Zone". I enjoyed "It" one summer as I could picture all of the places in it that are here where we live. Now I want to read something by his son - Joe Hill

[TBideon]

Talisman was amazing; Black House dog$hit. What the hell was he thinking with all that crow's POW crap???

[124c41]

After " It" I never want to see another clown.