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I don't know that it really matters. I started off with The Shining, moved onto Carrie and then pretty much read everything he wrote until Rose Madder (except for Dolores Claiborne). I liked Salem's Lot, It, Thinner, Christine, The Stand, Needful Things and The Tommyknockers a lot.
I feel that a good way to do it is to read them in the chronological order in which they were written, and save the Dark Tower series for the end.
I was thinking the opposite. The Dark Tower series is Stephen King without all the really nasty evil supernatural beings. The evil is all tangible. And it's a wonderful way to learn SK's style.
However, if one finds they don't like the style, a 7 book series would not be a good place to start.
So, to the OP... just pick any book and read it. Some are good but most are fantastic reading (if you enjoy gory and scared). And, happy reading!
I'm no veteran of Stephen King but I read Carrie, Firestarter and Cycle of the Werewolf not that long ago. I think I may have read Cujo like 20 years ago but I'm not certain. You may like Firestarter so I'd recommend that one.
I'm not a devotee and horror isn't my usual genre so, that said, my favorites of his are The Dark Tower Series (you can just read the first one and be happy with it) and Skeleton Crew - a collection of short stories.
My husband said The Shining is the first and only book that ever scared him. So if you're into that, go for it
I was thinking the opposite. The Dark Tower series is Stephen King without all the really nasty evil supernatural beings. The evil is all tangible. And it's a wonderful way to learn SK's style.
However, if one finds they don't like the style, a 7 book series would not be a good place to start.
So, to the OP... just pick any book and read it. Some are good but most are fantastic reading (if you enjoy gory and scared). And, happy reading!
IDK, it's pretty hard to start off w/ The Dark Tower series when so much of it references his other works. I agree that series should be put off until the end, or at least until the books referenced are read.
I would suggest starting out w/ the short story collections, in particular Different Seasons. this is the collection that contains some of his most well know, non-horror genre based stories: "The Body" (the movie Stand by Me), "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption", "Apt Pupil", and "The Breathing Method". some other short story collections to look into include Skeleton Crew (which includes the story "The Mist" that the movie was based off of, along w/ some other awesome stories like "The Raft" and "Flexible Bullet"), Everything's Eventual ("1408" is in this one) and 4 Past Midnight ("The Langoliers" and "Secret Window").
after that, anything is up for grabs, though I much prefer his pre-accident works as compared to his post-accident work. one thing I can say is that I would personally not bother w/ Insomnia or Bag of Bones, but hey, that's just me. I would suggest reading Eyes of the Dragon, which is never bought up as much but is a fun book to read. mainly medieval fantasy, but it features a character that pops up in the DT series
Ya, actually Different Seasons is my favorite short story collection of his - forgot the title earlier.
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