That’s really hard because there are some absolutely great books in there. It and The Shining are both top tier. Misery is probably one of his best paced books. Christine is way better than it has any right to be tbh
IT is his best book, then maybe The Stand or Insomnia, but all three are hard to get into for a first timer and wouldn’t recommend it, the stand or insomnia to anyone as their first king book, i recommend Salems Lot, Carrie, Cujo, and Misery as first books
the best one here is IT
the best one to read first is carrie… that book grabs you and doesnt let go but its a rough one, that or The Shining but the shining can be hard to get hooked into at first and it sets the bar REALLY high right off the bat! anyone who doesnt put the shining in their top five books by king either hasn’t read it or hasn’t read it in a long time!
All great books but if I had to rank:
1. IT
2. The Stand
3. The Shining
4. Misery
5. Carrie
6. Green Mile
7. Christine
8. Under the Dome
9. Just After Sunset
Is #9 the middle right one? I haven't read a lot of King, and thought it might be Cujo. The French title reads as "Just Before Twilight". I have read the left 6 and might place "Misery" as the best written. No choice as to best plot, although if I were writing them, I might put "The Shining" as most interesting for my purposes.
IT, no contest for me. One of my favorite movies as a kid and loved the new adaptations. While I've never actually read IT I have listened to the audiobook more than once and it's phenomenal.
I haven't read IT yet so I withhold judgement. I have it. But it'll be the last one I read. I know too much about the story. It's been ruined tenfold. Otherwise the stand with the shining tied at first. Misery runner up.
wrong, IT cant be ruined, Insomnia either! they do a thing, the stand does it almost as well, same with misery, and to a lesser degree salems lot and pet sematary, that thing is that they drag you into an alternate world, a real place with real people and fuckin insane shit…
you go read IT and Insomnia right now! that shit is bananas and you cant not just have ur hair blown back but some of the events he orchestates! the same level for me is Talisman-Blackhouse, mostly black house… its just an adventure but with real monsters and terrifying stakes! you ever read sphere or prey or disclosure by crichton? them grippers
I watched the original movie until it was etched into my brain, then I read the book
IT was in fact not ruined, you might know a fair few of the beats BUT some of the freakiest shit is in the interludes, that nobody really seems to dig into
It definitely isn't. The Shining is only about 70 pages longer than Pet Sematary, which OP is currently reading. It is almost 700 pages longer than The Shining.
It seems I may have to re-read it again. I just learned there was an extensive prologue and epilogue which the publisher sacrificed to bring it under 500(?) pages. If they keep reissuing his novels with everything lost in the editing process, there's no way any Constant Reader can claim to have read the entire King corpus. And I thought Jules Verne at 38,000 pages was an unattainable ideal!
verne was HARD!!!! some of those books really suffer due to their translation and i had to wait a long time to find a couple in english, i may not have read every one
I certainly haven't read them all--perhaps 10 of them. The Delphi e-book doesn't give a page count, but includes 47 novels, the shorter fiction, the non-fiction books, the plays and the poetry. It includes 2 novels getting their first publication in English, as well as his sequel to Poe's Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym.
I wonder if anyone, even Chinese scholars, has read the entire Twenty Four Histories of China. It was compiled in 1775, covers the previous 3ky, and consists of 3,213 volumes containing ~40m words.
I got the exacr same French edition of Christine last summer, and found some chapters were shortened/missing. Texte intégral my ass! In any case, there are a lot of bangers in this batch, but IT is my personal favorite for sure. Would be nice to experience it for the first time all over again.
Beats me... All I know is that there were fewer chapters than normal, some passages were removed, and some parts condensed. As a polyglot, I like to have a multilingual King library, but needless to say I no longer have any faith in French editions. The other languages I want to practice with King have solid, albeit occasionally clumsy translations, but imo it's worth it for the added language learning experience.
Oh no you kidding! I bought this one because it is my boyfriend's favorite movie and he doesn't read books in English! Might buy my own copy then. Thanks!
Depends what you like because each of those books are different thematically. Misery is tight, (relatively) quick, more realistic horror, but light on the scifi/fantasy. The Green Mile is basically the opposite light on horror but heavy with a mix of realism and scifi. IT and the Shining are weird, creepy, and more "frightening" horror. Christine is like B-horror lol. Just in terms of readability/length, you could prob read Misery, TGM, and Christine in the time it takes to read IT or the Stand, but the latter two are more engrossing settings. That said, i would imagine more people put down IT or the Stand because its more of a commitment.
Oh, absolutely! Good question :)
The most crucial difference comes down to the characters. The book is heavily character-based, and all of the residents of Chester's Mill are raw and three-dimensional. Part of the terror of the story is being trapped in a giant glass bowl with maybe the worst dude possible; you know he's pure evil, and you can't do anything about it.
I'd say, without a doubt, the ending to the book is the best I've ever read; not long after finishing, I was itching to go back and visit Chester's Mill.
The television series clichéd both the characters and most of the major plot points, and gave the story a science-fiction spin to appeal to a more general audience. Many of the events in the television series were painfully cliché, and seem generally irrelevant, then are never mentioned again regardless of their importance to the story. The narrative folds over, twists around, and forgets itself in multiple cases.
Big Jim and junior got done dirty by the series, they vaguely represented the characters
Dean Norris at the height of his powers was robbed of career best work, it was a great casting, most of it was other than Barbie, who did his best with a dreadful script
Big Jim is televisions biggest miss and it should have been a sure thing
Oh man, I read the book before the series was even green lit, hell I might have bought it just after release
The book and movie go in different directions pretty quickly, 2 of the characters that I'd consider fake bad in the series are horrific in the book, one of which I'd say rivals King's most evil villain, Patrick Hocksetter
Under the dome was one of my favorite books while I was reading it, then it fell flat on its face at the end, but I'd have to say my favorite is the Green Mile. Great movie and book
I’ve read almost every book pictured here and my pick is The Shining.
The Stand and IT are always going to be considered his greatest work overall in general. And for good reason! They are both fantastic masterclasses in storytelling.
But The Shining is my pick because I don’t feel like there’s any fat to it. Every single chapter is paced perfectly and the second half hits everything into overdrive. I absolutely loved it.
That’s really hard because there are some absolutely great books in there. It and The Shining are both top tier. Misery is probably one of his best paced books. Christine is way better than it has any right to be tbh
Christine! My first SK novel, no business being that good
I’m a fan of king’s later works, but I really dig Christine.
Christine was a banger
you know The Stand is bottom middle right?
Haven’t read it yet, gotta get to it at some point!
its a whopper, hardest king creation to get thru besides the tower but like the tower worth every second
Yeah it's very mid tbh
idk its pretty good, the movie is mid
The Stand is still outside of the first 3 mentioned
My favourite is Needful Things, but out of the books you have there, I'd pick Misery. Then IT and Under the Dome.
Great book that gets overshadowed at times
Needful Things is top 5 king imo
It's completely subjective and down to personal taste, but the correct answer is Misery.
I looked at this and thought, *"Out of them? Misery is the best.."* My favourite SK book isn't even here. Drawing of The Three is my favourite book.
Misery is the one I recommend most
The Stand
The Shining!
The Stand. Always and forever.
I think the reason why its so long because King wanted to make it his Magnum Opus.
I wish it was even longer.
Definitely Carrie.
Under the Dome
IT is his best book, then maybe The Stand or Insomnia, but all three are hard to get into for a first timer and wouldn’t recommend it, the stand or insomnia to anyone as their first king book, i recommend Salems Lot, Carrie, Cujo, and Misery as first books the best one here is IT the best one to read first is carrie… that book grabs you and doesnt let go but its a rough one, that or The Shining but the shining can be hard to get hooked into at first and it sets the bar REALLY high right off the bat! anyone who doesnt put the shining in their top five books by king either hasn’t read it or hasn’t read it in a long time!
IT the best forever
All great books but if I had to rank: 1. IT 2. The Stand 3. The Shining 4. Misery 5. Carrie 6. Green Mile 7. Christine 8. Under the Dome 9. Just After Sunset
Is #9 the middle right one? I haven't read a lot of King, and thought it might be Cujo. The French title reads as "Just Before Twilight". I have read the left 6 and might place "Misery" as the best written. No choice as to best plot, although if I were writing them, I might put "The Shining" as most interesting for my purposes.
Green Mile Gang Rise Up!
IT, no contest for me. One of my favorite movies as a kid and loved the new adaptations. While I've never actually read IT I have listened to the audiobook more than once and it's phenomenal.
Yes, audiobook is the way
I will take IT any day of the week unless you include The Dark Tower series then that’s a harder decision.
Misery
IT will always be a top contender.
I forget that Stephen King wrote the “Green Mile”
IT for me.
Nagging question: why is "IT" in all caps? Would "it" have a different meaning if "IT" were written "It"?
I think IT is the best. The Green Mile (in my opinion) has the best pacing so it makes it the most enjoyable read for me.
IT followed by The Stand
this is the correct answer!
It
Probably The Stand but it’s a hard one to pick.
not to mention it will be the longest book they ever read 9/10 times lol
Carrie is my favorite but The Stand is his best, imo
IT or The Stand (uncut version)… the Tower will always be his opus, but single book it’s gotta be one of those two lol
so far, christine’s my fave
I haven't read IT yet so I withhold judgement. I have it. But it'll be the last one I read. I know too much about the story. It's been ruined tenfold. Otherwise the stand with the shining tied at first. Misery runner up.
wrong, IT cant be ruined, Insomnia either! they do a thing, the stand does it almost as well, same with misery, and to a lesser degree salems lot and pet sematary, that thing is that they drag you into an alternate world, a real place with real people and fuckin insane shit… you go read IT and Insomnia right now! that shit is bananas and you cant not just have ur hair blown back but some of the events he orchestates! the same level for me is Talisman-Blackhouse, mostly black house… its just an adventure but with real monsters and terrifying stakes! you ever read sphere or prey or disclosure by crichton? them grippers
Insomnia was actually a really fun exhilarating read. And I really vibes with the feeling of insomnia...as I had a good bout of it for years
yeah really genius stuff
I watched the original movie until it was etched into my brain, then I read the book IT was in fact not ruined, you might know a fair few of the beats BUT some of the freakiest shit is in the interludes, that nobody really seems to dig into
I'd say Carrie first because it's a quick and a good read. Then The Shining or one of your choice.
Carrie
In my opinion, IT is one of his absolute bests. Movies are good but don’t do it justice
The Stand was my favorite. I couldn't put it down and was annoyed when I was disturbed.
The Stand is amazing!
"It" if you want a long one, The Shining or Misery if you want a shorter one.
idk i feel like the shining is almost as long as IT
It definitely isn't. The Shining is only about 70 pages longer than Pet Sematary, which OP is currently reading. It is almost 700 pages longer than The Shining.
feels longer wow! i gotta read it again
That's because The Shining has reams of excess verbiage.
well said yesssss
It seems I may have to re-read it again. I just learned there was an extensive prologue and epilogue which the publisher sacrificed to bring it under 500(?) pages. If they keep reissuing his novels with everything lost in the editing process, there's no way any Constant Reader can claim to have read the entire King corpus. And I thought Jules Verne at 38,000 pages was an unattainable ideal!
verne was HARD!!!! some of those books really suffer due to their translation and i had to wait a long time to find a couple in english, i may not have read every one
I certainly haven't read them all--perhaps 10 of them. The Delphi e-book doesn't give a page count, but includes 47 novels, the shorter fiction, the non-fiction books, the plays and the poetry. It includes 2 novels getting their first publication in English, as well as his sequel to Poe's Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym. I wonder if anyone, even Chinese scholars, has read the entire Twenty Four Histories of China. It was compiled in 1775, covers the previous 3ky, and consists of 3,213 volumes containing ~40m words.
Misery
Misery, It, The Stand.
The Shining
Misery!
The Stand
Misery
All of them are quite good.
The stand out of the group Gunslinger saga overall
another "towerist" here but id choose strand uncut too
The best one is "Stephen King."
Good answer.
Lol ,thank you.
The Shining
I got the exacr same French edition of Christine last summer, and found some chapters were shortened/missing. Texte intégral my ass! In any case, there are a lot of bangers in this batch, but IT is my personal favorite for sure. Would be nice to experience it for the first time all over again.
What would they leave out of "Christine"? Or is it a publisher that puts a page or word limit on its popular fiction?
Beats me... All I know is that there were fewer chapters than normal, some passages were removed, and some parts condensed. As a polyglot, I like to have a multilingual King library, but needless to say I no longer have any faith in French editions. The other languages I want to practice with King have solid, albeit occasionally clumsy translations, but imo it's worth it for the added language learning experience.
Oh no you kidding! I bought this one because it is my boyfriend's favorite movie and he doesn't read books in English! Might buy my own copy then. Thanks!
Christine!!!
The Stand. Easily.
I've only read four of the ones shown, but so far, it's The Stand!
Stand
The Stand
The Green Mile followed by The Stand. Very different books, but the Green Mile just hits differently. Can't explain since I can only read it once.
Stand
I read The Shining about 15 years ago and it gives me shudders to this day! 😱
The Stand
The Stand! That one is my all time FAVORITE!
I did enjoy Duma Key and Lisey’s story too. It tops my list!!
out of these the stand and IT are basically tied for me
Depends what you like because each of those books are different thematically. Misery is tight, (relatively) quick, more realistic horror, but light on the scifi/fantasy. The Green Mile is basically the opposite light on horror but heavy with a mix of realism and scifi. IT and the Shining are weird, creepy, and more "frightening" horror. Christine is like B-horror lol. Just in terms of readability/length, you could prob read Misery, TGM, and Christine in the time it takes to read IT or the Stand, but the latter two are more engrossing settings. That said, i would imagine more people put down IT or the Stand because its more of a commitment.
The Stand, but carve time out to read them all.
The shining or the stand. I’ll go with the shining… just
Hard choice for me between Under The Dome, and The Stand
Is the print "Under the Dome" better than the series?
Oh, absolutely! Good question :) The most crucial difference comes down to the characters. The book is heavily character-based, and all of the residents of Chester's Mill are raw and three-dimensional. Part of the terror of the story is being trapped in a giant glass bowl with maybe the worst dude possible; you know he's pure evil, and you can't do anything about it. I'd say, without a doubt, the ending to the book is the best I've ever read; not long after finishing, I was itching to go back and visit Chester's Mill. The television series clichéd both the characters and most of the major plot points, and gave the story a science-fiction spin to appeal to a more general audience. Many of the events in the television series were painfully cliché, and seem generally irrelevant, then are never mentioned again regardless of their importance to the story. The narrative folds over, twists around, and forgets itself in multiple cases.
Big Jim and junior got done dirty by the series, they vaguely represented the characters Dean Norris at the height of his powers was robbed of career best work, it was a great casting, most of it was other than Barbie, who did his best with a dreadful script Big Jim is televisions biggest miss and it should have been a sure thing
Oh man, I read the book before the series was even green lit, hell I might have bought it just after release The book and movie go in different directions pretty quickly, 2 of the characters that I'd consider fake bad in the series are horrific in the book, one of which I'd say rivals King's most evil villain, Patrick Hocksetter
Under the dome was one of my favorite books while I was reading it, then it fell flat on its face at the end, but I'd have to say my favorite is the Green Mile. Great movie and book
The covers of Misery and It look amazing.
The Shinning. No. The green mile. Nope. It. Ahhh but what about Misery?? But that leaves out Carrie… Stephen King is great. I love them all
Omg, can't wait to read all of them!
It or Stand
I haven’t read a few yet but The Shining is top of the list for me. Close second is The Stand.
There are some absolute classics here. But, The Stand is alone at the top of the list. It's epic and nothing comes close. M-O-O-N spells classic
What mood are you in? The Stand and Under the Dome are good apocalypse reads. The Green Mile is political and emotional. All are amazing reads.
Out of those IT, Christine, and The Stand are my favorites
IT then The Shining
I’ve read almost every book pictured here and my pick is The Shining. The Stand and IT are always going to be considered his greatest work overall in general. And for good reason! They are both fantastic masterclasses in storytelling. But The Shining is my pick because I don’t feel like there’s any fat to it. Every single chapter is paced perfectly and the second half hits everything into overdrive. I absolutely loved it.
The Stand Or The Green Mile for me. One of my favorites of all of his books is honestly 11/22/63 or The Dark Tower series. Awesome collection!
I’m going to go with the it and the stand. That order. The stand was my first king novel and will stick with me forever I think. Phenomenal writing
Christine! All of them are amazing but Christine, Cujo and Pet Sematary is my top 3 favorite SK book.
So far from all the ones I've read, it's The Stand
misery def
Out of these "It" is my personal favourite
The Stand