Stephen King - Best Book??

[SNG]

Length certainly doesn't put me off -- I've ploughed through all the bigs ones and the small ones. And they can be as long as he wants as long as he just keeps writing!

As long as it's good writing the length doesn't bother me.

 

[steven]

The Shining was his best book!

 

[Grimward]

While I like Eyes of the Dragon, I HAVE to go with The Stand. Have to. No choice!

 

[LittleSparrow]

I love the dark half

 

[HoopyFrood]

I did that very silly thing of lending that book to someone and have never had it returned.

Rookie error.

It was a second hand copy itself, though, which had been given to me for free. So it could have been worse (if you can get any worse than losing a book...)

 

[Karn Maeshalanadae]

Never did sit through The Stand as a novel, but as enjoyable as the movie was to me, I'd guess the book would be far better.



Didn't much care for Desperation-didn't even get through it all.


I would probably have to say, at least as the novels themselves go.....it's hard to say. I liked Eyes of the Dragon and Pet Semetary.




Short story collection, I would have to say Skeleton Crew. I found it far better than Four Past Midnight or Everything's Eventual.

 

[Rodders]

For me, The Stand and It will always be my favourite books of Kings. The characterisation in these two books is second to none. i really felt that i knew these people.

I really enjoyed Christine, the Shining and Salems lot too, so an honourable mention there.

 

[Tansy]

The Talisman or insomnia

It (the book) was good just don't read the end

 

[HoopyFrood]

There are certain endings that continually get me (despite having read them and knowing what's coming) -- and most of them are King endings, actually, or 'endings' for certain characters -- and the final part of Insomnia does that. Don't make it any better that he knows about it and accepts it.

 

[Tansy]

I think overall I loved insomnia more than any other King book, the characters were fab and looking back its the one that stands out to me and I have read and loved lots. Needful things is also good

and hey hoops

 

[HoopyFrood]

Hello, Tansy.

And yes, I have a rather soft-spot for Insomnia. I like some of the "well-known" ones, like The Shining, but I also have a strange liking for some of the lesser-known ones, ones that even King fans aren't so keen on...like Insomnia, Rose Madder, and, dare I say, From a Buick 8.

 

[The Imp]

My all time favorite is Wizard and Glass. Next would be Black house, Then Hearts in Atlantis.

 

[IrishWriter]

Potential spoilers for Cell, FAB8 and Lisey's Story.

His short stories are the best, I've come to believe. Although I suppose it depends on what you are looking for in his books. I find the novels are like sitting through week-long massages that involve the occasional painful touch, or like drinking a glass of Ribena that's 95% water. The short stories are more sudden, and are dreams for people who just can't endure the suffering of anxiety and anticipation. Pretty much like you're drinking that Ribena straight from the bottle. Very concentrated stuff. And I find that the short stories almost always are demonstrations in one type of emotion or feeling, or just one idea, whereas novels deal with a whole spectrum of feelings and ideas. Although I'm not discrediting the novels. I do love them so. I find I always love the ones that leave almost as many unanswered questions as there are answered. Cell is probably the ultimate winner when it comes to that idea. And From A Buick 8 comes next, although I think what is in that car is probably an important game player in Lisey's Story, perhaps just a slightly different version. The Buick seems to always spill forth a nocturnal side of Boo'ya Moon.

But I don't want to ruin anymore stories, so I'll just give an example of how I think that stories deal with an emotion or idea and inject a concentrated amount that is hard to deny:

Word Processor of The Gods, Skeleton Crew - deals with brutal honesty. I don't know anyone who could turn around after reading that story and say they thought it didn't play out as it should have. It's almost cruel in a way.

 

[Vassago]

The Stand. By far the best of his early work, and maybe best of all.

Read the unabridged 1990 version.


V

 

[KESpires]

Cell, by a mile.

Wolves of the Calla next. The Drawing of the Three after that.

I'll probably take Salem's Lot and It after those.

I disliked The Stand... I'm not sure why.

 

[nikhta]

1. Salems Lot
2. Cell
3. Shinning
4. Bag Of Bones
and 5. Cujo, witch i cry a lot!!

 

[paranoid marvin]

1.Tears Of The Dragon
2.The Stand
3.Rose Madder
4.Cell
5. The Sun Dog

 

[HoopyFrood]

*Cough* The Eyes of the Dragon *cough*

 

[digs]

I thought this would be easy before I ran through a list of his books and realised how difficult it was to choose. Nonetheless:

1. Needful Things - My first Stephen King novel. I never knew that violence and destruction could be so exhilirating. Probably why my parents installed a padded room in our house for the sole purpose of reading Stephen King novels.

2. The Talisman - I found the world of The Talisman amazing: both dark and beautiful. Great twist on a classic fantasy quest.

3. Pet Sematary - Terrifying story of despair, desparation, destruction and other words beginning with 'des' (such as dessication!). I wonder what that suffix means.

4. Lisey's Story - I thought the exploration of the darker aspects of a human relationship was touching and beautifully done.

5. It - Thanks to this book it was years before I'd stand in front of a gutter. I will still NEVER reach into one.

 

[nikhta]

I thought this would be easy before I ran through a list of his books and realised how difficult it was to choose. Nonetheless:

1. Needful Things - My first Stephen King novel. I never knew that violence and destruction could be so exhilirating. Probably why my parents installed a padded room in our house for the sole purpose of reading Stephen King novels.




OMG Needful Things.....Amazing book.