Stephen King Book: Best/Favorite...

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

Poll question: Stephen King Book: Best/Favorite...

These choices are from my personal favorites...

[redqueen]

1. The Stand.

Yeah, that's probably it... hard to choose, though.

I've loved that guy since forever...

[ElsewheresDaughter]

9. The Stand

[tenshi816]

12. That's the one, isn't it?

I still re-read it every few years. Still scares me.

[benny05]

74. Did the pic on the right appear in one of King's books

Looks like one...

[benny05]

75. Sorry, I meant the pic of the character

Kennebunkport isn't far from where King lives..

[Blue_In_AK]

24. Absolutely, The Stand

One of my all-time favorite books, PERIOD.

[qnr]

26. My opinion also n/t

[Left Is Write]

2. My favorite is "It." Second favorite is "Insomnia."

[CanuckAmok]

42. "It" was a great book about small-town life.

And, boy, nothing's scarier than clowns!

[ET Awful]

3. Hmmm, I wouldn't pick a favorite. If forced to choose I'd say The Stand

otherwise, I couldn't really say. I'm currently re-reading The Dark Half (found it in a box of books I hadn't unpacked since I moved). :)

[MuseRider]

8. I liked that one.

I must go read that again.

[johnnie]

4. I haven't read any of King's books in a while

I do have to say that "Misery" was the first time I ever got chills while reading a book.
I liked the Bachman books too.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

5. Yeah I actually really liked "Thinner".

[MuseRider]

6. How to choose?

I guess I would have to say "The Stand" followed by "It" followed by all the others. I really love his short stories..."like a quick kiss in the dark from a stranger." From Skeleton Crew.

[Va Lefty]

7. Definitely The Stand

Christine a distant second

[MN ChimpH8R]

10. The Stand

but if you ever want to scare the hell out of yourself read "The Langoliers" from Four Past Midnight. If you've ever flown a long distance at night it will creep you out of your skin.

[skygazer]

11. Bag of Bones

I love The Stand - it's a great epic. But Bag of Bones hit me in some very deep places. The evil is very human, and real. It's not a monster, it's something unleashed by the cruelty of human beings and it really affected me. I thought it was a really wonderful book.

[greeneyedpookie]

28. Oh I agree with you

on this one. See below.

GEP

:bounce:

[xultar]

13. THE STAND!!!!!!!!!

[AlCzervik]

14. The Stand and The talisman cowritten with Peter Straub.

[salin]

15. The Stand, Salem's Lot, It

then Pet Cemetary. In that order.

[Misunderestimator]

29. And Misery ...

[salin]

51. For some reason

I didn't find that as compelling. Of course there was a great age difference when I read these books - I was preteen with Salems Lot... adolescent + with the stand and the others.. and older yet (twenties) when I read Misery. I stopped reading King so much at that time. Just lost interest in the genre - so not so much a comment per the quality of the book, as much as a change in my taste. I only read "IT" ( a much later book) because a colleague kept pushing me to do so - I found it very provocative. Having not read much of his work in the past ten to fifteen years, I probably have no business stating my preferences as I have missed a lot - and my tastes have changed.

[Misunderestimator]

63. Sounds exactly like my experience.

The ones you listed were enjoyable, but after those most seemed to come from King's own personal novel mill. Always the same characters and locations. Stopped reading his stuff years ago as well. :hi:

[maveric]

16. "The Stand" may be my alltime favorite book.

The ultimate battle between good and evil.

[MrSlayer]

17. IT!

The best and funniest of his works.

Stan Uris is finally Ahead.

[AlCzervik]

18. also-not his best but scared the bejesus out of me was Pet Cemetery

[maveric]

20. When I read that my oldest son was the same age as the boy who

was killed by the truck, in the story.
It was very hard for me to finish that book.

[AlCzervik]

22. "the Gage thing" hit by an Orinco fuel truck

[maveric]

31. That really gave me an uncomfortable feeling.

Having a little boy that same age hit me hard.

[Iris]

19. The Dark Half

[distantearlywarning]

21. The Stand. n/t

[Chichiri]

23. The Dark Tower books

[sparky_in_ma]

38. I liked that series.

"It" was also good.

[Sugar Smack]

25. I seriously can't decide. He's so amazing.

I loved "Carrie", "The Stand", "Different Seasons", "Skeleton Crew", and "Four Past Midnight". I also loved "Misery" and "Night Shift".

Have you read his non-fiction book called "On Writing"? In it, he confesses he was such a terrible alcoholic and coke fiend, he doesn't remember writing "Cujo"!

He wrote the book which later became a movie, completely blacked out.

[greeneyedpookie]

27. Even tie with Bag of Bones and It

Both books I love. Loved "The Stand," "Needful Things," "Insomnia," and "Misery." I also love his short stories "The Body," (movie "Stand By Me.) and "The Long Walk." As a teen, I read "It" once a summer. "Bag of Bones" I only read once, however it is still vivid in my mind. I was a single mother when I read it and my daughter was the same age as the little girl. I cried when a certain character was killed in the book and did not read it for 2 days, because I was so pissed off at Stephen for killing off this strong character. All in all, I love his books,however still have my favorites!

GEP

:bounce:

[stanwyck]

30. Anyone read this one?

actually, a novella -- a long short story: Mrs. Todd's Shortcut. I read it a very long time ago in a women's magazine. Must have been one of the first published Stephen King stories. Anyway, it's a wonderful story -- King is such an amazing storyteller.
The gist is, Mrs. Todd drives incessantly through Maine -- obsessed with finding the shortest routes on the crazy network of county and state roads. She begins to defy time and enters areas no one has been before. Mrs. Todd's credo is: save distance and you'll save time.
I think about it all the time.
And, for some reason, The Sun Dog really freaked me out.
I still use my Poloroid...but it creeps me out.

[nuxvomica]

37. That's a great story

I often recommend it to people when the conversation turns to the fastest way to get from one place to another. King's story evokes that sense of challenge over distance and time that is not just impatience but something else that is hard to put into words.

[Jamastiene]

39. I enjoyed that one too.

I love his books. It's been so long since I have re-read any of them. I wish I could get the rest of my stuff out of storage, but I can't seem to catch up on my chores and getting this surgery thing out of the way. Maybe I'll re-read that one too while I am healing.

[CanuckAmok]

44. Mrs. Tod and her Mercedes convertible!

I fogot all about that one... I read it in high school. Doesn't she return with some unidentifiable species of horned roadkill on her bumper one time?

Fun story.

I prefer his short stories to his novels. I think my favourite SS of his is the one with the toy soldiers.

[stanwyck]

64. Oh, yeah, the "woodchuck" stuck to her

grille. Can't get that story out of my mind. I'll have to look up the toy soldiers one. King really knows how to take images, like toys, from childhood and infuse them with terrifying powers.
(like the infamous monkey).

[EFerrari]

32. "Danse" was the only book on writing that I've ever been able

to read without :puke: and all the way through. (And I spent 10 yrs studying Eng for a living.) Every sentence was right and right on.

I can't read his novels. Too much of a weenie. :)

[jonnyblitz]

33. wow you didn't list the best one, "the stand" nt

[maveric]

34. "The Long Walk" was good. Very disturbing.

[Jamastiene]

35. For me, his best work is

either "The Talisman" or "The Stand". Both books are extremely well written and so descriptive. As for "The Talisman", I love the story of any ordinary kid who becomes something great. And as for "The Stand", I still can't get over the fact that any writer can hold my attention for 13 chapters while only setting the stage and introducing the characters. The real action doesn't even start really until the 14th chapter. Amazing.

[C_eh_N_eh_D_eh]

36. It

I'm still working on that one, and I've got The Shining on standby.

The Stand drove me away early on out of sheer boredom, and the Dark Tower books were just plain annoying. King's definitely got skills, but he's a lot better at character creation and descriptive writing than he is at coming up with a story.

[shockra]

40. Desperation.

Partly because that was the first one I read.

Then I had to read them all. :)

[BooScout]

41. I can't believe you left "The Stand" off the list. n/t

[El Fuego]

43. The Stand!!!!

Maybe one of the best books, period.

[nuxvomica]

45. The Shining

I've never been so spooked by a book and had to read it through the night lest that thing in room 217 get me. :scared: I haven't read all of the one's listed but I enjoyed 'Salem's Lot second best followed by Different Seasons and Pet Sematary. The Stand was a huge disappointment for me. It started out well but just ran on so long and had an unsatisfying, hackneyed ending. It seems people either love that book or feel the way I do about it.

[Mutley]

46. The Dark Tower Series

[spacelady]

47. The Stand & the TV treatment was pretty good too. n/t

[Guy Fawkes]

48. The Stand

[GhostThatWalks]

49. Different Seasons.

It had Rita Hayworth and The Shawshank Redemption.

[Swede]

50. The Stand

He quoted from BOC's song


Came the last night of sadness
And it was clear she couldn't go on
Then the door was open and the wind appeared
The candles blew and then disappeared
The curtains flew and then He appeared
Saying don't be afraid

[usedtobesick]

52. "It"

I still hate clowns!!! can't sleep after even thinking about circus clowns!!!!! and you can't hear Jimmy.

[MercutioATC]

56. "It" was his only book that absolutely scared the S*** out of me.

I enjoyed most of the others, but "It" is still my favorite (despite the stupid John-Boy Walton TV version).

[last_texas_dem]

53. Pet Sematary

is probably my favorite of the King books that I have read so far. It was the scariest one IMHO and was very difficult to put down. The Stand is a great story as well; its ending disappointed me, though I don't know I could come up with a better way for it to end.

I also liked Rage a lot; I've read it probably three times, though it's a much quicker read than his other stuff. It's out of print now, with the school shootings and whatnot. This may have been partly why I found it such a fascinating read in high school.

[redacted]

54. Insomnia

[smartvoter]

55. The Stand. nt

[In_The_Wind]

57. The Stand

another memorable but much shorter one of his is Thinner

[RebelOne]

58. How could you possibly forget "The Stand"?

That's his best book ever. Both versions.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

61. I didn't forget it, just not one of my favorites.

[madeline_con]

59. Pet Semetary

made me cry and I couldn't eat meat for a while.

Toomyknockers was o.k.

The one where the guy went nuts and trashed the place, "The Dark Half". Excellent.

O.k. I love them all, except using all the same names in "Desperation" and that other one was too weird. I already had the characters all fleshed out, and the lady who got kiled on the lawn with no panties on is suddenly a little girl! ???

[madeline_con]

60. BTW, Danse Macabre

lets you in to see how he does it,the way his mind works. And it's non-fiction. That rocks.

[Orsino]

62. The first half of IT.

I could've done without the utterly gratuitous sex which junked up the denouement, but otherwise the book is one of the scariest things I've ever read.

[Beware the Beast Man]

65. Cujo, Pet Sematary, and Four Past Midnight.

"The Sun Dog" is probably the best story in 4PM.

[Worst Username Ever]

66. stand n/t

[Debbi801]

67. Christine and Carrie

I guess because I read them in High School when they were really relevant to me. Scared me to death.

[Shell Beau]

68. I liked a lot of them and I can't decide. My friend's fave was

was The Tommyknockers, but I haven't read that one.

[LibraLiz1973]

69. Geralds Game.

Seriously, I couldn't comfortably get to sleep for 2 weeks. And any kind of "kinkiness" somewhere where I wouldn't be heard? Fughetaboutit

[bigwillq]

73. IS that the book where

the guy dies and the woman is cuffed/tied to the bed and no one knows the guy died?

[TK421]

70. The Dark Tower series- and I do love The Stand

[yorkiemommie1]

71. The Talisman

is my favorite.

and Pet Sematary scared the living daylights out of me.... several times!

[alphafemale]

72. I enjoyed The Green Mile. Being allowe only a few chapters...

...at a time for periods of weeks had me into the story for a very long time.

I usually go through new King volumes in a few days.