Stephen King books to read?

Don't read Doctor Sleep, it's shit.

Good King books? Tough one. The Shining, The Long Walk, Carrie and Misery are okay. That's it.

The Gunslinger but only the first one.

Long walk, Running man, some of his short stories, Heart in Atlantis. That's about it. And I don't think these are great, they are okay.

The Stand has somewhat good first half, then it goes to shit. All the christianity; good (writers, painters, etc) vs evil (engineers, technicians etc) is really bad. And the ending itself, that's catastrophe.
I have recently read IT. It would be good book if it was more or less just about the children and their summer adventure (kind of Heart in Atlantis), adult heroes are meh, the chronicles of Derry is meh, the ending is weird. And of course the need for name what the evil is is unnecessary etc. I also didn't get why it had to be clown throughout the whole history, and why his name was Pennywise again?

The dark tower, if read further than The gunslinger, is going to shit. Although the first half of the series is okay-ish. I hated the 'romeo and juliett' book; and the whole second half (LOL at meta-fiction parts) is really bad, and the ending itself is really really really bad.

>>8435573
The ending of "The Dark Tower" is just a big fuck you.

>>8435573
It is actually ok, if you take out the last 500 pages or so.

Is 11.26.63 any good?

Also how is Mr Mercedes? Reviews are very mixed for it. It seems to be a book that you either love or hate.

rage (which he wrote under Richard Bachman) is pretty good tier

>>8435419
Carrie is shit and the long walk is a tedious disaster.

>>8435411
For spooky stuff, look into his short stories. Nightmares and Dreamscapes is my favorite collection. The best of the bunch are Dolan's Cadillac, The Night Flier, The Ten O'Clock People, and Popsy. Other great short stories are The Boogeyman, Cycle of the Werewolf, Graveyard Shift, The Jaunt, and The Raft.

For novels, you should definitely read Misery first. You probably have seen its movie adaptation, but the book is amazing even if you think you know what will happen.
11/22/63 and Under the Dome are my favorites beside Misery and the Shining.
It and The Stand kind of lose their momentum, but are still good. The Gunslinger and 'Salem's Lot are better than both imo.
Beside those, you could probably go with the Mercedes Trilogy, Bag of Bones, Desperation (gorefest), Revival, Insomnia, Firestarter, or Rose Madder and not be too disappointed.

>>8435650
11/22/63 is easily one of his best works. It follows the life of a man who goes back in time to stop the Kennedy assassination. The characters are all really likeable and you'll enjoy reading it even when the the sideplots are being developed.
Mr. Mercedes was really interesting because there was so much insight on how fucked in the head the bad guy is. You'll be rooting for Bill and his team the whole time. It's very suspenseful and comes down to a real nail-biter final scene. The book has a lot of clever ideas that will also keep you interested. It doesn't drone on like some of his bigger novels either. Finders Keepers is not as good, but a strong sequel. I still have to read End of Watch so I'm not sure about the end of the trilogy.

>>8435785
Ok thanks, I think i'll give 11/26/63 a go. 11/26 also happens to be my birthday.

Stephen King's "On Writing". His best work.

I get shit whenever I mention this on /lit/ but Joyland and Geralds Game are honestly top tier for me.

>>8436071
/space cowboy/

>>8436071
Gerald's Game is great tho.

>>8435411
I really liked Salem's Lot, OP

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>tfw forcing yourself to read a Stephen King book so people don't think you're a book snob

I really don't like his writing, but I have to finish this book. I chose It because it's getting a new film adaption. I wish I picked a shorter one.

>>8435411
no

>>8436451
One for the Road

>>8436467
U dun goofed. What part are you at?

>>8436481

I'm still at the beginning. It's going through the Losers' adult lives. I just read the part where one of them goes to a writing class where the professor calls his writing genre pulp shit and praises the other students' tryhard pretentious crap.

I have to wonder if, after all his praise and success, King really is still butthurt at his college writing teacher. Or if it's just something to pander to the readers, so they can go "Yeah! Take that, you meany snob!" when the protagonist becomes a successful horror writer.

>>8436501
He was when he wrote it, I don't think he gives a shit anymore

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>>8436467
>reading for other people
holy fuck you're pathetic.

>>8436501
The adult parts were imo the worst part of the whole book; while as children they are sort of amiable, even though they are basically just generic and archetypal band of losers, their adult characters made me furious. And the writer character, Bill, the most (but on other hand, I didn't like him much even as a child) - probably forced too much as a leader or what. I honestly in some way enjoyed the story of how they met and how they build the dam and such things. It even seemed to me that King would be able to write decent book about children summer story (hell, IT could have been just that, with mysterious plot etc). But no, he fucked it up, because he's egoistical megalomaniac.

And I feel sympathy for anyone willing to read King because doesn't want to look as snob. I read a lot of King just because I wanted know how he is and then wanted to read more because I wanted to know why he's bad and what are flaws in his books. Ended up reading a lot by him.

>>8436501
His books do have a lot of Ray Bradbury pandering to the readers.

>>8436510
also this

>>8436501
You've got a LONG way to go.
Put that shit down and choose from >>8435751. Best short book is probably The Running Man though.

>>8436548
Did you read Full Dark, No Stars? That shit is brutal. That's his most uncomfortable work imo. Although there was some pretty rough shit in the Library Policeman with the child rape and all.

They all suck.

Different Seasons is comfy

>>8436887
How would you rank the 4 stories from best to worst?

>>8436895
I'd go with The Body, Shawshank, Apt Pupil, then The Breathing Method.

>>8435411
The uncut Stand, the first four Bachman Books, It, Carrie, Salem's Lot, the first four Dark Tower books, Eyes of the Dragon, Lisey's Story, the early collections (up to Four Past Midnight), Danse Macabre.