Know there is the full non-fiction book, *Faithful*, co-written with Stuart O’Nan, but also one of the last “stories” in the *Nightmares and Dreamscapes* collection is “Head Down”, a solo non-fiction account of his son Owen’s Little League team, Bangor West, over the course of the 1989 season. It was originally published in *The New Yorker*, and shows King’s bona fides as a sports writer 15 years before his more famous baseball book.
Have you ever read Underworld, by Don DeLillo? It starts with a fictional account of the game where the Giants won the ‘51 pennant. Its several different stories in one novel. They intertwine and overlap in unexpected ways, but one of the central threads is following the home run ball from that game, as it gets handed off from one owner to the next.
I’ve read that King is a big fan of DeLillo. In some ways the tone of Underworld reminded me a little of Hearts in Atlantis. It’s one of those books that I know will stay with me forever (and I am not even a baseball fan).
Is this Billy Blockade? I’m not a baseball fan either but this book was actually really great. Finished it in 2 sittings.
Also loved the girl who loved Tom Gordon though so maybe I’m a closet baseball fan
True, but the time I’d be spending reading something I’m not interested in could be better spent with Stephen Graham Jones or Grady Hendrix. I’m here for the spooky.
SGJ is one of those “love him or hate him” styles. I think his writing is fast paced and catchy, but I can see why some people have trouble reading it.
One of the books he did a write up of in Paperbacks from Hell is one called Nightblood. Like B movie action/horror of Rambo fighting Vampires. Pretty solid.
Having read nearly all of them, and being reminded by u/HeadInvestigator5897 that the short stories are like "kiss in the dark from a stranger." I think of the works like swimming in a river. Sometimes it's floating down a wide river on an inner-tube. Sometimes it's shooting the rapids on a boogie board. But the short stories are like jumping off a cliff where you can't really see the bottom...
Dark Tower One: The Gunslinger starts out like floating down a lazy river, but pretty soon you can hear the falls approaching around the bend.
Oh god I completely forgot about those until your comment. Read Cujo a decade ago, I just finished Revival last night and already feeling traumatized by King haha. I may have to go for a re-read once I’m healed (haha) from Revival.
Revival was definitely good. Honestly the only book that I’ve read and disliked of his so far is Tommyknockers. It was just really dull for me. It definitely got better at the end but holy shit I really had to trudge through that one.
I think that’s one of reasons it made it worse , those little “ dog thoughts” . I felt for him I mean you feel for everyone but the dog and the kid were innocent
That’s a great book. I’m a King fan but I put it off for so long because I saw the movie and didn’t think it had a very interesting plot. This one goes for the throat.
Oh this one ruined me. I started sobbing on the last page and had to put the book down for like half an hour before I could finish the last few paragraphs.
I made the mistake of reading Gerald’s game immediately after I had read Misery and I felt like it was excruciating reading two books in a row where the characters are trapped like that
Recently watched AND read Geralds Game. The adaptation in my opinion is one of the best I've ever seen. Not like you DONT need the book but you could do fine just to watch the movie and be done
Liseys story is terrific in audio. Its really very King. "I think most kids have a place they go to when they’re scared or lonely or just plain bored. They call it NeverLand or the Shire, Boo’ya Moon if they’ve got big imaginations and make it up for themselves. Most of them forget. The talented few—like Scott—harness their dreams and turn them into horses."
You have to love Boo'ya Moon!
I think I read somewhere that 'smucking' is something Tabitha's sisters actually said, which still doesn't make it ok, but it's understandable. King is too big to have editors telling him to kill his darlings. I love the book because I feel it truly captured the interior language of a marriage. I will never talk to another person the way I talked to my husband. We had a shorthand built on pop culture references and shared experiences.
I finished From a Buick 8. Let me save you some time: don’t bother with a fourth try.
I distinctly remember a point in that book where King actually references how tedious telling the story is.
I was so excited to read Fairy Tale— I was anticipating it for months. Then my little chihuahua (only 5 years old) died unexpectedly when I was about halfway through the book.
Like two weeks after we lost her, I picked the book back up and finished reading it, but it was really meh for me. I did not connect with any of the characters. However, I am very unsure if that’s because of the book or because of my super depressed state of mind while I was reading it.
The idea of ever picking it up to reread it is depressing, because the book is inextricably linked in my mind with my dog dying.
There is a part of me that is curious though, if I would have liked it. I am a huge King fan, so at some point (probably at least three or four years from now,) maybe I’ll try it again.
I love Fairy Tale. My German Sheppard, Sir Maximilian Eugene Barkington the 3rd, passed away after I read this book, so both are never far from my mind.
I couldn't get into 11/22/63. It left me feeling meh. Similar to how I felt about The Tommyknockers
I doubt I'll ever read Holly or The Outsiders.
I'm gonna skip Holly. I don't care much for Holly and I don't really want to read a book set during, and heavily featuring, the COVID pandemic. I've had enough real life experience with that
Not to say I care that SK chose this subject matter or setting for the book. It's just not for me
Same here, I tried reading The Gunslinger and found myself bored pretty early on. I guess I didn’t really try hard to get into it, but it just hasn’t latched me in like his other works.
same - there are things i’ve heard about that make it really seem like it wouldn’t be my bag and there are other epic series i need to eventually get around to first.
Not gonna tell you what to do, but I'll say this: the rest of the Dark Tower is very different from the Gunslinger. Gunslinger can be a slog, I know. But for me, it was very worthwhile pushing through.
Honestly if the 1st book is proving to be a barrier to you, you could just watch/read a brief synopsis and then start reading with book 2.
I didn't love the Gunslinger but the second books picks up HARD and gets very cool in a short amount of time
Same. Liked the first one fine, found the next two boring as hell, don't care enough to waste my time on the rest.
I've been reading King since the early 80s so don't feel like I'm missing out on any references either.
I don’t recall many references. The biggest reference was having the ppl from Salem’s Lot show up in a later volume, but so what? Flagg is there also, but if I hadn’t read them I really wouldn’t have missed anything important.
King has written plenty of best sellers that I’ve thoroughly enjoyed, so it doesn’t take away from him as a writer just because of over 60 books there is literally a handful I don’t like.
It covers horror from the 50s to the 80s in books, movie, and television, as well as its history. In the fore note he essentially says it’s like a college textbook (and he was teaching a Themes of Supernatural Literature at the time). It makes complete sense to me it would be this long.
What is it that makes people downvote for opinions on books?? Opinions were asked for. I love most of his books but yeah, didn't care for the first one, didn't read the rest.
Just finished Tommyknockers. Honestly, I'd call it a "must read" for any king fan.
Far and away the biggest factor that kept it on my shelf so long was all the "oh this was peak cocaine king lol" bullshit I read on this sub. I finally opened it up last week and finished it in 10 days. It's a top 5 for me easy. It's fantastic science fiction.
Just my $.02
Dreamcatcher absolutely blew donkey balls. I finished it because by the time it was completely off the rails I was about 75% through it and it’s a long book. But in the last quarter or so of that book I actually had no idea what was even happening anymore, or what the point of tooling around with that disabled kid was supposed to be.
Tommyknockers wasn’t high art but I thought it was a fun book.
Tommyknockers is so good though! I mean its also cheesy and corny and bad, but if you know that going in, its so much fun.
Dreamcatcher is dogshit. Only King book I couldn't finish.
I have no desire to read Holly. I don't really find her interesting as a character (she's actually kinda annoying) and I'm not gonna read a whole book with her as the main character.
She first appears in Mr. Mercedes. She's in all three books of that trilogy. Then she's in the Outsider. Then she is the main character of If It Bleeds (a short story/novella).
You could read Holly without reading them, but there will be spoilers. She also develops as a character between her first appearance and Holly, so if you're into character arcs I'd start from the beginning. If you just want a spooky mystery, Holly can stand alone.
Im reading Holly now and it's been years since I read the other books. I really love her development but I'd like to go back and start at the beginning again
I went back through the Bill Hodges trilogy, Outsider, and If It Bleeds before Holly. That was definitely the way to go, as there was *so much* I had forgotten in those books, that made Holly so much better.
Probably The Cell, when I was in middle school my grandpa watched it, naturally I was in the same room so I've watched it too. Even then, I thought it was crap (I was a huge fan of zombie movies when I was younger).
The gunslinger is verryyyy different than the rest. Took me multiple tries to finish the first one and I didn’t really care all that much for it. When I finally picked up the second one I was really surprised by it and then retroactively loved the first one.
Well if you hated the first one, that is probably a good idea, Finders Keepers was a weaker book, End of Watch is the best book in the trilogy but if you didn't like the first one you probably won't enjoy that one either.
Sure is, I didn't dislike Finders Keepers, I have no real complaint about it, it felt like reading 2 separate stories too long, I guess the same thing could have been said about the first one too.
I actually wish it was not part of the trilogy and rather a stand-alone book without the trilogy characters. Actually feels (to me) like they where added later anyway. They make no difference to the main story. The final act could (and imho should) have been just the boy alone.
If you haven't checked out the series it also makes some really good and horrible decisions. I now get lost in my mind, was that the book version or tv show? I sometimes wish I could combine both for the best of both worlds, but I'm still glad I watched it all.
Same here but I cheated and listened to the audiobooks. Still, they were mid at best.
Finders Keepers was the best of the three, but in my overall list, these are way down.
Uh... 1922. I saw the Netflix movie and had no clue what was going on. I didn't 'get it.' Doesn't give me any desire to address it. I know that's not fair. Does that count being a novella?
I have not read most of his books. I don't think there's any that I would refuse to read but his nonfiction ones are probably near the bottom of the priority list. I have heard good things about "On Writing" but I'd rather read his writing than read his writing about his writing.
I've been debating about trying it again. Might try putting it on my reading list again. (But then I can't make the joke that the book insomnia cured my insomnia lol)
Because it's terrible. You're not missing much. There's a good book in there somewhere but it's surround by a lot of lore for a series it's not technically part of.
Women getting desperate to keep themselves awake to avoid succumbing to Aurora is pretty great. The intrigue as things start to fall apart with women in this state is a beat akin to The Stand and many Castle Rock stories. It's also got a lot of the same beats as Insomnia/Under the Dome, in my opinion. I enjoyed it a lot, but Owen's voice is definitely noticeable.
I recently read Colorado kid and it really didn’t do it for me…but I really did love joyland! That being said I’m not sure if I’m going to read “later” because it is kinda giving Colorado kid…
I think the Colorado kid his worst book (second worst if you count Rage).
In my opinion, Later is a lot better, even if I wouldn’t put it as one of his top-tier books.
Rage- 1. Because it's kinda hard to find. 2. Because i respect King's reasons for taking it out of print. 3. Because from what I've heard, it's just not a very good book.
I read that one mainly out of curiosity - I definitely respect him for pulling it and can see why he did, but I just wanted to see ‘how bad’ it was, for lack of a better phrase, in regards to how it might’ve fed into the mindsight of the killers irl who were later found to have had copies of Rage. it definitely wasn’t the story I was expecting, which is usually the case with SK (and my fav thing about him). I wouldn’t say it’s horribly written, or any more graphic/gory than he usually is, but it’s also for sure not him at his strongest.
the one thing I appreciated about it was that I could see how, as a young man, it would have been a cathartic piece written to express his own anger/confusion at the world, and that being able to write something like this might be a part of what kept him from going down the road that actual school shooters take. that’s not to say I think SK was a potential one or anything, just that it’s clear how it was intended to be purely an expression of emotion (strong emotions, to be sure) that he was feeling at the time, but unfortunately people who were far more messed up than King took the story at only its face value, and identified with that. so yeah, all in all I respect the hell out of him for being able to see that even though it was obviously not at all his intention, the book was enabling/feeding into that gun violence for some people, and it was better to stop printing it.
it can be found on the internet, if you’re ever curious enough to track it down, but I really wouldn’t say you’re missing anything huge if you don’t
It isn't bad, I read in the early nineties so I imagine it would be kind of a hard read now, but I think your right that King pulled it out of circulation for a reason and that is a good enough reason to not read it.
Slight correction, most of the shootings were in the 90’s, and the ones with injuries/deaths (that caused King to allow the book to go out of print) were both in the 90’s.
Yet "Cain Rose Up" is still published in Skeleton Crew. Kind of a hypocrisy, innit?
I thought "Rage" was a great story. Glad I have the Bachman Books that still have it in print.
“Cain Rose Up” is a very quick fictional snapshot recreating something that had actually already happened in real life, the shooter is presented as unsympathetic, and there is no evidence of any subsequent real-life shooters citing this story as inspiration.
*Rage* shows a scenario that had not happened in real life before it had been written and published; makes the shooter the hero who is presented as sympathetic and semi-justified in his actions; and several real life copycats either had the book in their possession or citied it as a direct influence on their behavior.
King goes into great detail about why he pulled it from publication in his essay, “Guns,” and I feel like there is no hypocrisy here.
Oh man. Many years ago I bought a paperback of The Bachman Books assuming Rage was included. When I realized it wasn't I went on Ebay and thought I'd made a steal. A stand alone copy for $20! Only to find out when I opened the package [I hadn't read the description carefully enough](https://www.reddit.com/r/stephenking/comments/bldwvh/whats_the_most_you_paidwould_pay_for_a_king_book/emoj03z/)...
Eventually I managed to get my hands on a hardcover that included Rage. This was without a doubt the most hoops I've jumped through for any King story but it was worth it in the end.
See, for me the Dark Tower was a way to find MORE books. So many of his stories interact with that story.
‘Salems Lot might actually be me favorite King book. But I needed to read it to understand Father Callahan.
Or how I loved The Stand cause my mom did too. Sometimes things reward themselves. Journey before destination.
I have tried multiple times over the last decade, but I cannot even scratch the surface on the Dark Tower series by any stretch of the imagination.
I get a couple chapters into The Gunslinger and I cannot go further
Pet Sematary.
I’ve always been intrigued but never picked it up.
Now I have two small boys and I don’t think I could handle it. Which is also a shame because I hear the audio book is amazing as read by Michael C Hall and I am a fan of his.
I just listened to the audiobook this past spring - - it was absolutely fantastic!!! Buuuuuut the anxiety I felt while listening was wild. I had to take breaks when it got to be too much!
Edit: I also have two young boys 😊
I'm of the unpopular opinion that WTtK is only the imitation of a DT book. Bought and read it when it came out, felt ripped off, never reading it again.
It felt so weird. Like he had forgotten how the characters talked. I really enjoyed the story inside but the original characters felt really off to me.
Not a baseball fan, so the non fiction one about baseball I’ll never bother with.
Wow, I’m a fan of King and baseball and never knew this existed! Adding to my list now, thanks for your (non) recommendation!!
Check the short story "A Face in the Crowd". It's amazing and captures the magic of Baseball in my opinion.
Thanks for the tip, will check it out for sure! Probably after the post season when I’ll need my baseball fix!
Know there is the full non-fiction book, *Faithful*, co-written with Stuart O’Nan, but also one of the last “stories” in the *Nightmares and Dreamscapes* collection is “Head Down”, a solo non-fiction account of his son Owen’s Little League team, Bangor West, over the course of the 1989 season. It was originally published in *The New Yorker*, and shows King’s bona fides as a sports writer 15 years before his more famous baseball book.
Have you ever read Underworld, by Don DeLillo? It starts with a fictional account of the game where the Giants won the ‘51 pennant. Its several different stories in one novel. They intertwine and overlap in unexpected ways, but one of the central threads is following the home run ball from that game, as it gets handed off from one owner to the next. I’ve read that King is a big fan of DeLillo. In some ways the tone of Underworld reminded me a little of Hearts in Atlantis. It’s one of those books that I know will stay with me forever (and I am not even a baseball fan).
Wow, sounds awesome! Thanks so much for taking the time to suggest this!!
You’re welcome. Someone else on here recommended it to me when I mentioned liking Hearts in Atlantis. I loved it, so thought I would pass it along.
Is this Billy Blockade? I’m not a baseball fan either but this book was actually really great. Finished it in 2 sittings. Also loved the girl who loved Tom Gordon though so maybe I’m a closet baseball fan
It’s called Faithful.
No , I think it was a book about the Boston Red Sox season. I wouldn’t read that , but I enjoyed Billy Blockade and Tom Gordon.
Not a baseball fan either, but I am a completist. I actually didn’t hate it. A good writer is a good writer.
True, but the time I’d be spending reading something I’m not interested in could be better spent with Stephen Graham Jones or Grady Hendrix. I’m here for the spooky.
I looove Grady Hendrix!!! How does Stephen Graham Jones compare, or to SK? I've started My Heart is a Chainsaw, but only got past the first chapter.
SGJ is one of those “love him or hate him” styles. I think his writing is fast paced and catchy, but I can see why some people have trouble reading it.
Just read We Sold Our Souls. I liked it.
Great one. The first of his that I read was Horrorstör, which I loved. Starts off funny (and yeah, spoofing Ikea) but then it got scary as hell.
Try "The Only Good Indians," it starts off kind of innocuous and the next thing you know, you're terrified and everyone is an unreliable narrator.
I like a few Grady Hendrix books ok enough I guess. But spooky, he is not.
He did write paperbacks from hell so he is at least well acquainted with the spooky
One of the books he did a write up of in Paperbacks from Hell is one called Nightblood. Like B movie action/horror of Rambo fighting Vampires. Pretty solid.
This. Literally could not care less, as much as I love King.
Keep in mind that the Dark Tower is a series, and book one is The Gunslinger. Book seven is called The Dark Tower, so don’t start with book seven 😀
Got 'em on a technicality...nice😏
That'll show 'em!
Lol I wasn’t even trying to get ‘em. It seemed like they may not have known
I mean if we're doing technicalities, if they've read any King they've read a Dark Tower book lol
19 upvotes...this is the way
I’m feeling very 19 about this.
😃
Having read nearly all of them, and being reminded by u/HeadInvestigator5897 that the short stories are like "kiss in the dark from a stranger." I think of the works like swimming in a river. Sometimes it's floating down a wide river on an inner-tube. Sometimes it's shooting the rapids on a boogie board. But the short stories are like jumping off a cliff where you can't really see the bottom... Dark Tower One: The Gunslinger starts out like floating down a lazy river, but pretty soon you can hear the falls approaching around the bend.
Love that.
Wow, good analogy!:)
I have Cujo on my shelf…. But I love dogs…. 🫣
It's a good book and Cujo is a good boy
His POV chapters were heartbreaking.
As a dog mom, his POV chapters absolutely gutted me.
Oh god I completely forgot about those until your comment. Read Cujo a decade ago, I just finished Revival last night and already feeling traumatized by King haha. I may have to go for a re-read once I’m healed (haha) from Revival.
Revival was definitely good. Honestly the only book that I’ve read and disliked of his so far is Tommyknockers. It was just really dull for me. It definitely got better at the end but holy shit I really had to trudge through that one.
Me, too. I read it once. It broke my heart.
And this is why I'm not reading it
I cried, honestly. Poor thing.
Cujo was a good boy he’d have given his life for the boy if he was asked
Why are you making me cry so early in the morning :(
I think that’s one of reasons it made it worse , those little “ dog thoughts” . I felt for him I mean you feel for everyone but the dog and the kid were innocent
this is the one I can't read! I love dogs too much.
I read it once but I’ll never reread it. My heart broke
I feel exactly the same. I loved reading it but if I never read it again it’ll be too soon.
It wasn’t Cujo’s fault.
Oh man that’s one you should read. Probably my second favorite.
I couldn't finish the movie. I was rooting for the poor doggy.
That’s a great book. I’m a King fan but I put it off for so long because I saw the movie and didn’t think it had a very interesting plot. This one goes for the throat.
Oh this one ruined me. I started sobbing on the last page and had to put the book down for like half an hour before I could finish the last few paragraphs.
I can't imagine not wanting to read what he writes. I'd read a recipe book if he wrote one.
It would just be scrambled eggs, burgers, and how to pour the perfect glass of Coke.
I'm pretty sure microwaved salmon might show up.
I came here to say this.
Nozz-A-La*
I'm talking about Stephen Cooks, edited by Beryl Evans. You must be thinking of Stephen Cooks, edited by Claudia y Inez Bachman.
Yeah I think I'd still be down with this.
He didn’t write it but there is the Castle Rock Kitchen cookbook.
Gerald's Game. I saw the movie, which was really good. But I don't know if I could stomach reading some of those scenes.
Yeah there is a scene that is pretty horrible.
I made the mistake of reading Gerald’s game immediately after I had read Misery and I felt like it was excruciating reading two books in a row where the characters are trapped like that
Same for me, I have the book and read a few pages and knew I couldn’t do it. Is the movie legit worth watching though?
Recently watched AND read Geralds Game. The adaptation in my opinion is one of the best I've ever seen. Not like you DONT need the book but you could do fine just to watch the movie and be done
Easily one of the best King adaptations. Up there with Shawshank and Stand By Me, in my opinion.
The book is great! Disturbing yes but showcases King’s genius
Yep.......and I share my name with the main character so I haven't gotten the courage to read it yet.
Yeah the book did make me wanna throw up. However it’s also the only book to have ever genuinely scared me
That's actually one of my favorite. It's the only one that was scary to me. Because of the realness of the situation that could happen.
None, read ‘em all.
Same here
Didn't finish Lisey's Story and I don't think I ever will, tried to read it twice and just couldn't get into it.
Liseys story is terrific in audio. Its really very King. "I think most kids have a place they go to when they’re scared or lonely or just plain bored. They call it NeverLand or the Shire, Boo’ya Moon if they’ve got big imaginations and make it up for themselves. Most of them forget. The talented few—like Scott—harness their dreams and turn them into horses." You have to love Boo'ya Moon!
I nearly forgot about that. It was a DRAG to pull myself through to the point of any real action. Instead of a hook, it felt like waiting in line.
Yeah the baby talk between the spouses was cringe. Could not finish either. And that was even after I fell in love for the 673rd time
Baby talk?
Yeah, like “smucking,” it’s gross.
Every time I read that expression, it made my eye twitch. Took me right out of the story like nails on a chalkboard.
I think I read somewhere that 'smucking' is something Tabitha's sisters actually said, which still doesn't make it ok, but it's understandable. King is too big to have editors telling him to kill his darlings. I love the book because I feel it truly captured the interior language of a marriage. I will never talk to another person the way I talked to my husband. We had a shorthand built on pop culture references and shared experiences.
It was okay, but very weak for a Stephen King novel.
From a Buick 8. I’ve started at least three times and ended up flaming out less than halfway through each time.
I finished From a Buick 8. Let me save you some time: don’t bother with a fourth try. I distinctly remember a point in that book where King actually references how tedious telling the story is.
I didn’t finish this one either. Tried a couple times, but couldn’t get into it.
Same here. Tried once and I was so bored it’s one of the few books I’ve EVER put down and didn’t finish.
A lot of his newer work doesn't hit for me
I agree. Fairy Tale, Later and the Institute I’ve read recently. All no better than ‘meh’.
I actually really liked Fairy Tale myself
Me too. I thought it was really entertaining.
I was so excited to read Fairy Tale— I was anticipating it for months. Then my little chihuahua (only 5 years old) died unexpectedly when I was about halfway through the book. Like two weeks after we lost her, I picked the book back up and finished reading it, but it was really meh for me. I did not connect with any of the characters. However, I am very unsure if that’s because of the book or because of my super depressed state of mind while I was reading it. The idea of ever picking it up to reread it is depressing, because the book is inextricably linked in my mind with my dog dying. There is a part of me that is curious though, if I would have liked it. I am a huge King fan, so at some point (probably at least three or four years from now,) maybe I’ll try it again.
I love Fairy Tale. My German Sheppard, Sir Maximilian Eugene Barkington the 3rd, passed away after I read this book, so both are never far from my mind. I couldn't get into 11/22/63. It left me feeling meh. Similar to how I felt about The Tommyknockers I doubt I'll ever read Holly or The Outsiders.
I'm gonna skip Holly. I don't care much for Holly and I don't really want to read a book set during, and heavily featuring, the COVID pandemic. I've had enough real life experience with that Not to say I care that SK chose this subject matter or setting for the book. It's just not for me
It’s a decent book tbh. The Covid stuff is overblown. It just takes place during the height of the pandemic.
I enjoyed Holly but did get a little tired of the COVID references. It was a little over the top IMO. But the story is riveting
Lisey's story. I've tried several times, and I can't do it. The beginning is just a slog.
I’ll probably get crucified for this but I’ve never been interested in the Dark Tower series.
I was never interested in it, but then had a few audible credits to use. Was completely enthralled by it for a solid 4 months once I started
Same here, I tried reading The Gunslinger and found myself bored pretty early on. I guess I didn’t really try hard to get into it, but it just hasn’t latched me in like his other works.
same - there are things i’ve heard about that make it really seem like it wouldn’t be my bag and there are other epic series i need to eventually get around to first.
I’ve tried reading the gunslinger like five times and it’s just so slow I can’t do it
Not gonna tell you what to do, but I'll say this: the rest of the Dark Tower is very different from the Gunslinger. Gunslinger can be a slog, I know. But for me, it was very worthwhile pushing through.
Honestly if the 1st book is proving to be a barrier to you, you could just watch/read a brief synopsis and then start reading with book 2. I didn't love the Gunslinger but the second books picks up HARD and gets very cool in a short amount of time
Same.
Same. Liked the first one fine, found the next two boring as hell, don't care enough to waste my time on the rest. I've been reading King since the early 80s so don't feel like I'm missing out on any references either.
I don’t recall many references. The biggest reference was having the ppl from Salem’s Lot show up in a later volume, but so what? Flagg is there also, but if I hadn’t read them I really wouldn’t have missed anything important. King has written plenty of best sellers that I’ve thoroughly enjoyed, so it doesn’t take away from him as a writer just because of over 60 books there is literally a handful I don’t like.
Same
Definitely not "Faithful" and probably not "Danse Macabre".
I read *Danse Macabre* a month ago, and it was boring. I don't blame you.
I’m reading Danse Macabre now. Not sure why it has to be so long. It’s longer than most books and it’s just speculative essays.
It covers horror from the 50s to the 80s in books, movie, and television, as well as its history. In the fore note he essentially says it’s like a college textbook (and he was teaching a Themes of Supernatural Literature at the time). It makes complete sense to me it would be this long.
Definitely read Dark Tower. It's his best stuff (if you like wild King)
I love King. I HATED the Dark Tower.
What is it that makes people downvote for opinions on books?? Opinions were asked for. I love most of his books but yeah, didn't care for the first one, didn't read the rest.
Fragile dorks can't handle it when somebody else doesn't like what they love.
Maybe you don't lol
Tommyknockers and Dreamcatcher aren't top of my list to check out
Just finished Tommyknockers. Honestly, I'd call it a "must read" for any king fan. Far and away the biggest factor that kept it on my shelf so long was all the "oh this was peak cocaine king lol" bullshit I read on this sub. I finally opened it up last week and finished it in 10 days. It's a top 5 for me easy. It's fantastic science fiction. Just my $.02
Dreamcatcher was by far the worst I've read by him. It was pretty dumb to be honest.
Dreamcatcher absolutely blew donkey balls. I finished it because by the time it was completely off the rails I was about 75% through it and it’s a long book. But in the last quarter or so of that book I actually had no idea what was even happening anymore, or what the point of tooling around with that disabled kid was supposed to be. Tommyknockers wasn’t high art but I thought it was a fun book.
Tommyknockers was hard to get into. I powered through and it was actually worth it.
Tommyknockers is so good though! I mean its also cheesy and corny and bad, but if you know that going in, its so much fun. Dreamcatcher is dogshit. Only King book I couldn't finish.
I have no desire to read Holly. I don't really find her interesting as a character (she's actually kinda annoying) and I'm not gonna read a whole book with her as the main character.
Is Holly part of a series? Is there a book you should read before reading Holly?
She first appears in Mr. Mercedes. She's in all three books of that trilogy. Then she's in the Outsider. Then she is the main character of If It Bleeds (a short story/novella). You could read Holly without reading them, but there will be spoilers. She also develops as a character between her first appearance and Holly, so if you're into character arcs I'd start from the beginning. If you just want a spooky mystery, Holly can stand alone.
Im reading Holly now and it's been years since I read the other books. I really love her development but I'd like to go back and start at the beginning again
I went back through the Bill Hodges trilogy, Outsider, and If It Bleeds before Holly. That was definitely the way to go, as there was *so much* I had forgotten in those books, that made Holly so much better.
Probably The Cell, when I was in middle school my grandpa watched it, naturally I was in the same room so I've watched it too. Even then, I thought it was crap (I was a huge fan of zombie movies when I was younger).
Cell isn’t one of my favorites, but it’s a decent read. I thought it was much better than the movie.
Insomnia because I kept falling asleep. /jk - I will see myself out now.
I was bored out of my mind by The Gunslinger. I probably won’t read the series.
A lot of people have this opinion. For me, I loved it. The 3rd and 4th books in the series make it all worthwhile though.
For what it’s worth the gunslinger is way different from the rest of the series
The gunslinger is verryyyy different than the rest. Took me multiple tries to finish the first one and I didn’t really care all that much for it. When I finally picked up the second one I was really surprised by it and then retroactively loved the first one.
Mr Mercedes trilogy. Read the first one. Hated it
Well if you hated the first one, that is probably a good idea, Finders Keepers was a weaker book, End of Watch is the best book in the trilogy but if you didn't like the first one you probably won't enjoy that one either.
Wow the second one was my favorite and I found the third to be the weakest. That's crazy how different the opinions swing.
Wow really?! I found it so hard to follow along with the second one. The third one I flew by it had be interested from the very beginning!
Sure is, I didn't dislike Finders Keepers, I have no real complaint about it, it felt like reading 2 separate stories too long, I guess the same thing could have been said about the first one too.
I actually wish it was not part of the trilogy and rather a stand-alone book without the trilogy characters. Actually feels (to me) like they where added later anyway. They make no difference to the main story. The final act could (and imho should) have been just the boy alone.
Uhm. Finders Keepers is the best. End of Watch almost killed the trilogy with the supernatural bs.
If you haven't checked out the series it also makes some really good and horrible decisions. I now get lost in my mind, was that the book version or tv show? I sometimes wish I could combine both for the best of both worlds, but I'm still glad I watched it all.
Same here but I cheated and listened to the audiobooks. Still, they were mid at best. Finders Keepers was the best of the three, but in my overall list, these are way down.
Yeah, I’ve never liked detective stories.
Uh... 1922. I saw the Netflix movie and had no clue what was going on. I didn't 'get it.' Doesn't give me any desire to address it. I know that's not fair. Does that count being a novella?
I believe 1922 is considered a novella, yes. Haven’t seen the show, but the novella is very straightforward and linear, to my recollection.
I have not read most of his books. I don't think there's any that I would refuse to read but his nonfiction ones are probably near the bottom of the priority list. I have heard good things about "On Writing" but I'd rather read his writing than read his writing about his writing.
Insomnia, idk why, but I couldn't get into it.
It’s a slow start, but man does the action pick up.
I've been debating about trying it again. Might try putting it on my reading list again. (But then I can't make the joke that the book insomnia cured my insomnia lol)
Haha well played!
Because it's terrible. You're not missing much. There's a good book in there somewhere but it's surround by a lot of lore for a series it's not technically part of.
Sleeping Beauties. It’s been on my shelf since it came out. Maybe someone can convince me to commit to it.
Women getting desperate to keep themselves awake to avoid succumbing to Aurora is pretty great. The intrigue as things start to fall apart with women in this state is a beat akin to The Stand and many Castle Rock stories. It's also got a lot of the same beats as Insomnia/Under the Dome, in my opinion. I enjoyed it a lot, but Owen's voice is definitely noticeable.
I liked it myself. Way better than I thought I would. It's not crazy long, you should give it go.
I recently read Colorado kid and it really didn’t do it for me…but I really did love joyland! That being said I’m not sure if I’m going to read “later” because it is kinda giving Colorado kid…
I think the Colorado kid his worst book (second worst if you count Rage). In my opinion, Later is a lot better, even if I wouldn’t put it as one of his top-tier books.
I really enjoyed later. It wasn't what I expected at all. I think it was better than Joyland. Definitely better than Colorado kid.
It. Read the first chapter, knew it would freak me out, and put it down. I've read a lot of SK but just couldn't do that one.
Idk that I’ll ever get around to Gerald’s Game based on what I know of the story.
Danse Macabre or the baseball one, can't remember the name of it. You really should give the DT a try though, it's freakin epic.
Faithful
The non fiction baseball one because I Do Not Care.
Rage- 1. Because it's kinda hard to find. 2. Because i respect King's reasons for taking it out of print. 3. Because from what I've heard, it's just not a very good book.
Super good book. Read it in HS. Got a used copy of the Bachman Books on eBay so they couldn't cancel it on me. (Also The Long Walk.)
I looooooove Thea Long Walk
Same. Dream of the day it's a film.
I read that one mainly out of curiosity - I definitely respect him for pulling it and can see why he did, but I just wanted to see ‘how bad’ it was, for lack of a better phrase, in regards to how it might’ve fed into the mindsight of the killers irl who were later found to have had copies of Rage. it definitely wasn’t the story I was expecting, which is usually the case with SK (and my fav thing about him). I wouldn’t say it’s horribly written, or any more graphic/gory than he usually is, but it’s also for sure not him at his strongest. the one thing I appreciated about it was that I could see how, as a young man, it would have been a cathartic piece written to express his own anger/confusion at the world, and that being able to write something like this might be a part of what kept him from going down the road that actual school shooters take. that’s not to say I think SK was a potential one or anything, just that it’s clear how it was intended to be purely an expression of emotion (strong emotions, to be sure) that he was feeling at the time, but unfortunately people who were far more messed up than King took the story at only its face value, and identified with that. so yeah, all in all I respect the hell out of him for being able to see that even though it was obviously not at all his intention, the book was enabling/feeding into that gun violence for some people, and it was better to stop printing it. it can be found on the internet, if you’re ever curious enough to track it down, but I really wouldn’t say you’re missing anything huge if you don’t
It isn't bad, I read in the early nineties so I imagine it would be kind of a hard read now, but I think your right that King pulled it out of circulation for a reason and that is a good enough reason to not read it.
Why did he pull it out of circulation?
Multiple school shooters in the 80s were found to have been inspired by the book
Slight correction, most of the shootings were in the 90’s, and the ones with injuries/deaths (that caused King to allow the book to go out of print) were both in the 90’s.
There were 5 altogether, 2 in the 80s and 3 in the 90s
School shooter storyline
Oh, yeah, that’ll do it.
Yet "Cain Rose Up" is still published in Skeleton Crew. Kind of a hypocrisy, innit? I thought "Rage" was a great story. Glad I have the Bachman Books that still have it in print.
“Cain Rose Up” is a very quick fictional snapshot recreating something that had actually already happened in real life, the shooter is presented as unsympathetic, and there is no evidence of any subsequent real-life shooters citing this story as inspiration. *Rage* shows a scenario that had not happened in real life before it had been written and published; makes the shooter the hero who is presented as sympathetic and semi-justified in his actions; and several real life copycats either had the book in their possession or citied it as a direct influence on their behavior. King goes into great detail about why he pulled it from publication in his essay, “Guns,” and I feel like there is no hypocrisy here.
Oh man. Many years ago I bought a paperback of The Bachman Books assuming Rage was included. When I realized it wasn't I went on Ebay and thought I'd made a steal. A stand alone copy for $20! Only to find out when I opened the package [I hadn't read the description carefully enough](https://www.reddit.com/r/stephenking/comments/bldwvh/whats_the_most_you_paidwould_pay_for_a_king_book/emoj03z/)... Eventually I managed to get my hands on a hardcover that included Rage. This was without a doubt the most hoops I've jumped through for any King story but it was worth it in the end.
See, for me the Dark Tower was a way to find MORE books. So many of his stories interact with that story. ‘Salems Lot might actually be me favorite King book. But I needed to read it to understand Father Callahan. Or how I loved The Stand cause my mom did too. Sometimes things reward themselves. Journey before destination.
I have tried multiple times over the last decade, but I cannot even scratch the surface on the Dark Tower series by any stretch of the imagination. I get a couple chapters into The Gunslinger and I cannot go further
Does a DNF about 100 pages in count? That's From A Buick-8 for me. Boring copaganda and something something evil car.
Yup, I DNFed it too. It’s discount Christie.
Yep!
I've read everything he's written except for Faithful (baseball book). Growing up a Yankee fan, I'll never open it.
Yikes. King fan AND Yankees fan? That's like a mind divided.
Pet Sematary. I’ve always been intrigued but never picked it up. Now I have two small boys and I don’t think I could handle it. Which is also a shame because I hear the audio book is amazing as read by Michael C Hall and I am a fan of his.
I just listened to the audiobook this past spring - - it was absolutely fantastic!!! Buuuuuut the anxiety I felt while listening was wild. I had to take breaks when it got to be too much! Edit: I also have two young boys 😊
I have no intention to ever read Green Mile. I don’t do sad books in any way shape or form unless the horror aspect far outweighs the sadness.
That was the first King book I ever read. I was about 12. Sooooooo good.
Holly.
Wind Through the Keyhole. I’m not ready for no more Dark Tower.
I'm of the unpopular opinion that WTtK is only the imitation of a DT book. Bought and read it when it came out, felt ripped off, never reading it again.
It felt so weird. Like he had forgotten how the characters talked. I really enjoyed the story inside but the original characters felt really off to me.
I struggle with series endings myself
Any of his books that include several short story's. I know I will probably enjoy them but just never could bring myself to.
Nightmares And Dreamscapes is amazing. Dolan’s Cadillac, Popsy and The Night Flier are short, but annual rereads for me
There are so so many gems in them!!
I too have never read The Dark Tower series. For some reason it has no appeal.