Your favourite King book?

What is your favourite work of Stephen King? One of my favourites is Insomnia and also like his biography 'On Writing'.

hi- my favorite without question is the stand- ive read that 4 times and got something different out of each reading

The Stand is indeed an impressive work!

the stand had everything you could possible imagine- heroes, villains,a love story and the classic battle between good and evil

I have to agree that The Stand is an impressive body of work. I really loved the unabridged copy -- unfortunately, I don't own that copy yet. However, I also really liked Cell for a lot of the same reasons as I liked The Stand: Postapocalyptic, ordinary people as heroes, and a hopeful ending.

The only book I love better that isn't one of his horror novels is The Wolves of Calla. I liked the whole Dark Tower series, but I really loved that one in particular. And I really don't know why -- I guess because it's the one I associate with the characters being happiest.

I have four books from the Dark Tower-series, but they are a bit of a difficult read...

I quite liked Cell. A bit like the Stand, although I didn't catch references (or to the Dark Tower-series for that matter).

My favorite is definitely It. It introduced me to Stephen King, which probably prejudices me towards it, but it also featured in my opinion his absolute best characterization. I don't read his books for the horror stories at all, but for his style of writing and characters, and this one was by far the best for me.

I also have I think three books from the Dark Tower series, but I haven't gotten into them yet. I tried to read The Gunslinger but it didn't fit. I'll have to try again one of these days. I liked The Stand too, I own an unabridged copy, for basically the reasons mentioned above.

Favorites:

For sheer magnitude and story-telling magic: The Stand

Scariest: Pet Sematary

Fastest read: Cell

My favorite all around piece of his writing: "The Mist" from Skeleton Crew

Hey, did you know they are turning "The Mist" into a movie. The director is apparently inspired by "28 Days Later". I saw it on www.stephenking.com a few weeks ago.

Yes, I've been reading for years that Frank Darabont, screenwriter/director of The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile. With Darabont writing and directing, if he still is, I'd definitely have high hopes for this film.

The Stand and Insomnia are my favorites by King. As far as short stories go The Long Walk would have to be way up there at the top of my list.

My favourate is Misery because I could totally imagine somthing like that happening in real life. The movie also did the novel justice.

as a writer myself, i have to give kudoes to "The Dark Half," wherein steve shows the dichtotomy (sp) of the writers mind. as john dann macdonald said: "writers are of a different species." for those of you are friends of bill w., has anyone else noticed that "the shining" with the alcoholic writers actions within the hotel approximate bill w.'s journey to akron, ohio in 1935? especially the bar scene in the hotel.

Favorite in terms of pure enjoyment = Needful Things.

Favorite in terms of storytelling & scope = The Stand - original version.

Favorite in terms of plot, pacing & characterization = The Dead Zone.

Runner up is Thinner. I just love Richie.

Needful Things and Thinner were indeed very enjoyable!

I'm in a quandary trying to pick my absolute favorite. It's somewhere between The Stand: the complete uncut edition, It, and 'Salem's Lot for me.

Wow...it's hard for me to pick. I actually haven't read The Stand yet (haven't had enough time recently), but it's definitely high up on my "To Read" list.

Anyway, I'd have to say that my ABSOLUTE favorite would be It. That book, despite its 1000+ pages, is an incredibly fast read, the characters are completely believable, and the storyline is mindboggling, yet you never have a hard time believing it. Runners up are The Shining, Pet Sematary, and Night Shift. I don't think there's one story in Night Shift that I don't enjoy.

The novella The Body is is my single favorite work, closely followed by The Stand (the original "cut" version).

My faves are The Dark Tower (all of them) and The Stand. Beyond that I'll be listing a quarter of his titles just as faves, so I'd better stop, heeee heeeeee!

If I had to pick one and only one, I'd say The Green Mile ... though both The Stand and The Talisman are truly outstanding. Pity the Talisman movie imploded. Maybe someday.

It's really, really hard just to pick, so I'm gonna cheat a little:

Favourite Collection: Nift Shift

Favourite Short Story: The Mist (IMO, no productor, no director, no movie can ever do this story justice, I am sadden that they think they can)

Favourite Bachman Book: The Long Walk

Favourite Dark Tower series: The Drawing of the Three

Favourite Novel: Salem's Lot. Even though Anne Rice writes better, believable "vampires are amongst us" stories, whenever I want a good scare, Salem's Lot is the book I read over and over again.

About The Stand, the first time I read or try to read that story, I had to stop at all devastating loss of life...I was on the verge of tears...seriously, I had to put that book down a couple of times (do you remember an excerpt with a toddler who had survived the plague, all alone, wandering, he came upon a a field with blueberries or such and fell in a mine or well.. his legs broken, crying his life out...SO SAD--even now). Then the book went on in true S.K manner with Flagg/devil and God, and then it was O.K to get over all the loss.
The book for me was a thought provoker (before all the Flagg nonsense) but its not a favourite read. I think I read it 2 times.

I have only read a few of his books so far, and out of the ones I've read, my favourite is The Green Mile.

The Green Mile was a book that I really enjoyed reading, the story captured me from the first page. The Regulators was also a page turner for me.

I have to reread The Stand to see again what I liked about this novel. I also like the most short stories of Stephen King.

For me, it really is a toss-up between Needful Things and It. And, just because no one ever mentions it, I have to give honorable mention to Bag of Bones, which I loved and no one ever talks about--good or bad.

I recently found SK and have read On Writing for a class and am on the second DT book, I'm almost done with it. So far I love his writing style and how odd his stories are.

Wow, this is tough, but nostalgia wins out for me and so one of my first King reads, The Talisman, is it. I'm going to try and get through my 6th reading later this year!

For sheer reading pleasure, whatever that means, I really enjoyed Thinner, Needful Things, Misery and, I'm an oddball, From a Buick 8.

My favorite character is Ralph from Insomnia.

His more literary greats, IMO, are Bag of Bones and Green Mile.

My favorite shorter piece is The Long Walk.

Hmm..this is tough, i think IT and pet semetary is my choice..

Four Past Midnight is my favorite. I liked The Stand the least of all of them.

"The Shining" is my all time favorite Stephen King novel. The isolation of the family in that snowbound hotel and ghosts that haunt it will stay with me forever.
My second favorite is "Salem's Lot," the first SK I ever read. I don't think I opened my windows at night for years afterwards.

My favorite is one that doesn't seem to be very popular with most King fans: Desperation (and the companion book The Regulators). It was so nice to see something happening outside of Maine, and how much more out of Maine could you get than Nevada? The setting was great and I had no clue where things were going to go. And then you read The Regualtors and see what he did with the same (but different) cast of characters and you get an experience like nothing else I've ever read.

It would probably be my runner up.

For some reason, I was dissappointed with Insomnia, but so many others seem to love it. Maybe I need to try it again.

I have a really hard time picking favorites; I have fond memories of each book, and I've been following SK since Carrie. But for all-time favorite I have to say The Stand. I can never forget the first time I read the Journey through the Lincoln Tunnel. Still gives me shivers. And Gerald's Game gave me shivers right through the book. Another favorite is Dolores Claiborne. He did such a fantastic job with the writing that after a while I forgot that the whole book was written as a monologue. I've read the entire Dark Tower series twice. Some of SK's later works were not as good as the earlier stuff, but Lisey's Story was great. All the good old King stuff was in there.

Dolores Claiborne holds a special place in my heart, for it was my introduction not only to King himself, but to the entire world of reading. Before that, I was just a kid who read rock magazines and text books. But I think the Dead Zone takes the cake for me. It was so rich in story and character development. Stephen's talents have never been as evident as they were in that masterpiece of a novel.

Wow, that's a tough question. I have read everything that he and his alter-ego Bachman have published. I would have to say that the complete and unabridged "The Stand" followed very, very closely by the entire Dark Tower series are my favorites. So many of his works touch upon each other; the whole body of work should be read to fully appreciate this aspect though. I just enjoy Stephen King's style of writing.

as an author and writer myselfl, the greatest accolade someone can say to me is, "I just enjoy your writing."

4 favorites out of the 18 or so that I have read:
The Stand as it seems a majority have listed is an impressive tale.
My grandmother passed Christine down to me and was the first King book I read. A incredible story but the memory of her lives in that book for me.
Pet Semetary is such a chilling book.
The Eyes of the Dragon was so completely different from the stuff that I had read of his that really left an impression on me.

I would also like to give honorable mention to The Mist.

The Stand is definitely #1 for me....probably It would be #2. I liked Cell alsso - I hadn't read any King books in a long time, and it was nice to be back.

It was my first King book and so I've always liked it. Outside of that I love The Gunslinger book, it's just solid. I love the whole series, especially where he weaves in his own life into the book. Also, The Stand is of course a classic.

Overall though, I like The Gunslinger best, that opened that whole epic series. I literally prayed after he got hit by the van, that he would live, so he could finish the Dark Tower.

I know it's kind of evil, I really wanted him to live because he's a decent human being, but I'll be truthful and say the number one thought was "Oh crap, he has to finish Dark tower!"

You never forget your first, and I'll never forget The Shining. I was in Junior High, and I remember being home alone after school, reading the part where Jack goes into the room and finds the lady in the tub. I had to put the book down, and leave the house because I couldn't stand being in it by myself. Creepy. I re-read it last year and loved it all over again.

I am one of the few to ever say this but my favorite by SK was Insomnia. All the colors and auras and ballon strings he described were fascinating, not to mention little bald doctors running around with scissors and stealing others life forces. All in all it's like a mega acid trip.

So many.....The Green Mile, Needful Things, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, and The Shining. I could read his books over and over.

Insomnia... I loved all the colors and auras and balloon strings he described, not to mention little bald doctors running around with scissors and stealing others life forces. I was really looking forward to reading that one.

For me though, even with all those ingredients he didn't come up with a good recipe. I got to feel like it was a spin off of The Dark Tower rather than a stand alone book.

I haven't read The Dark Tower Series yet, it's pretty much all i have left. But if you say that it's like Insomnia, yet better, i think I may have to start reading them.

I've read 'the stand' every other summer for a five time read. It's a well-done possibility portrait of end times in a people governed world.

#43 - illbethesky,

I've only read the first two Dark Tower books myself. They really didn't interest me much. I'm not a big fan of 'dark fantasy'. So I don't know if Dark Tower is like Insomnia.

However, just from reading a lot of SK, you can see when he's referencing the Dark Tower and he did that so much in Insomnia that I felt like it really took away from that book.

On the other hand, Low Men in Yellow Coats was also heavy duty Dark Tower work and I liked it quite a bit. I don't mind him using the Dark Tower stuff for flavor, but in Insomnia it felt like at the end, Dark Tower had completely taken over the book.

Does that make sense, or am I rambling?

MY FAVS:

The Stand /uncut/ apocolyptic Captain Trips

Bag of Bones is it a ghost story with a romantic twist, or a romance with a ghostly twist??

Misery Annie Wilkes is the most demented character ever I think

No This does make sense, and I really didn't like the ending with all it's Crimson King and what not, it kind of seemed to be thrown in and i think he could have tackled the book quite differently. Alas, this is not what made it my favorite, it was all the imagery. Such as the Dark death webs surrounding the abortion rally with all these huge bugs and stuff.

That's the same reason i've put off the Dark Tower series as well. The fantasy genre isn't really my thing.

The Dark Tower Series. It was so amazing to live in with those incredible people for months! I figure another year, and I'll be ready to go again.

I'll throw out a new one Bag of Bones , it's just so different from what he usually writes also Rose Madder, he does an excellent job writing from a womans perspective. However my ultimate favorite is Dark Tower 4 Wizard and Glass with Susan Delgado. It was nice seeing Roland have a heart!

#40/42 - didn't he need to do a lot of referencing though? Because he had to introduce Patrick Whatsisname who became very important in Dark Tower 7. And saving him was what the Little Bald Doctors were wanting to do all along (I think, it's been awhile.)

I read Insomnia before I read any of the Dark Tower books though and so it worked well for me but it made a lot more sense after I had started to read the series and I enjoyed it a lot more after that when I did my reread of it.

I also read most of the tie-in books before starting the series though, didn't pick them up until long after Wizard and Glass was out in paperback in the UK, so lots of things made more sense after I had started reading them.

sorry, posted twice.

Ooh how exciting, I just discovered this group. My favorites include The Stand, of course, Eyes Of The Dragon and Different Seasons. I haven't read everything of his though, so this list is subject to change!

#50 - Jody,

didn't he need to do a lot of referencing though? Because he had to introduce Patrick Whatsisname who became very important in Dark Tower 7. And saving him was what the Little Bald Doctors were wanting to do all along (I think, it's been awhile.)

Exactly. I suppose that's important if you care for the Dark Tower books. I don't. So for me, Insomnia read as Dark Tower book 3.5 whereas a book like It or 'Salem's Lot or The Stand may also connect to the Dark Tower but they are enjoyable as stand-alone novels.

Well i still love Insomnia and perhaps ill love it more after i read The Dark Tower.

>50 QueenOfDenmark: WELCOME LIBRARYLOVER =

I too agree that insomnia was great. I also love the Stand, of course. But, I have to say my favorite is Bag of Bones and The Green Mile (In serial form).

I read The Green Mile in serial form. What a psychotic form of punishment! I bought the first 2 books before leaving on vacation. Being such small books I had whipped through them in no time. I was able to find the next book while on vacation then AAAHHH I had to wait until the next three were released every other month or so. Oh the agony but it was worth it!

"Het" or "It" in English is a great book of Stephen King, only the last hundred pages are a little bit weard

My favorite King book is "IT". It is a long, deliciously scary book with a crazy "clown", or is IT??? I read it when I was a teenager and have been a fan ever since. He has such an imagination. Except for King biographies and comic books, I have read every Stephen King book there is!

My favorite book of his overall, of the ones that I've read is definitely Pet Sematary. Just an awesomely written book, an amazing horror novel.

So hard to choose...

I started with Eye of the Dragon, so that will always be special to me. The Stand was my fave topic. For easy reading I like Dolores Claiborne, Misery, and Cujo. I found Misery and Cujo, along with Girl who loved... the scariest, because they could actually happen. I also am in love with his short stories, of which The Mist is my favorite. (Thats prob my overall fave too actually.) The Langoliers is a close second.

In response to the person who said they wouldn't do The Mist justice: I was afraid of that too, but in my opinion it is just as good if not better than the original work. They followed the dialogue almost word for word, took out the rather (in my opinion) unnecessary sex scene, and improved the ending. It ended up absolutly chilling.

I have to pick The Long Walk as my favorite Stephen King creation.

I have only read a few of his books but I think The Long Walk will always get points from me for the fact that he kept interested from beginning to end and the story is just as the title says, A Long Walk.

I'd say The Talisman but since it was co-written with Peter Straub I don't think it'd be appropriate. I suppose I'd have to say IT since it was my first King novel and still sticks with me even when I'm not reading it. It's hard to make a choice though. I love The Stand and his collections of short stories/novellas.

Salem's Lot, It and Eye of the Dragon. But I haven't read all of his and I might have to revise my list once I've worked my through the marathon King read-a-thon we're doing.

The Dark Tower series is my favorite! However, if I had to choose a single book, it would be The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon. Everytime I read it, it scares me as much as it did the first time. I also loved The Talisman and Black House.

Wizards and Glass is my favorite.

The Stand is my favorite non-Dark Tower novel of his.

Rita Hayworth and rhw Shawshank Redemption is my favorite of his novellas/short stories