Your favorite Stephen King story?

[isabeau]

yesterday while at the mall, after the battle of trying on and buying two bathing suits (which i so hate to do) i treated myself by going into Borders, looking for Stephen King's "The Shining". Strider had told me it is so much better than the movie that i was intriguted enough to go buy it. I"ve never read any of his novels, only saw the movies or mini-series based on his various books or short stories. I got a bargain, i found a hard back that has three complete stories..."Carrie" "Salem's Lot" and "The Shining". Strider had also told me that King's earlier books were written with the sole intention of scaring the crap out of the reader.. I do remember not being able to finish "The Amityville Horror" and only got to page two of "The Exorcist" but i read those long ago..

What are you favorite Stephen King novels or short stories? I can't wait to being what will be my first time reading his stories..

 

[Tamia78]

"It" 1st book of his that I ever read, and my favorite book in general. I was 12 and it scared the pants off me. I put it in the back of my closet after I read the part where the little boy got killed by having his arm ripped off...Clowns, spiders.....*shiver*. Didn't pick it back up until about a year later. I think that's why I like it so much. I love being scared, and it was cool that a book had that effect on me.

--T

 

[Saeria]

I really love Stephen King stories. I have to go with Tamia about It. That is one fantastically frightening story! But i also find that his short stories are in a class all by themselves and shouldn't be overlooked. Just like everything else, i don't seem to have one favorite short story but i really loved "The Mist", "Library Policemen". I just finished Everything's Eventual not long ago and i swear his stuff gets more psychologically macabre every book! "Autopsy Room 4" was creepy, The Man in the Black Suit" made it impossible for me to go into the woods alone for a week, and "L.T.'s Theory of Pets" made me cry.

Man, it's just too hard to decide when there is so much good stuff to choose from. If you like Stephen King I also reccommend Clive Barker's "Sacrement".

 

[isabeau]

i've just started reading "The Shining" fantastically written so far.. and about "It" i do know that Tim Curry did a terrific job..i'm sure the book is super gory lol..

 

[luvgirlsfeet]

Both the Book and The Movie

Christine is my all time favorite

Salems Lot

The Shining

Thinner

Cujo

 

[ticklkitten]

Actually I dislike most Stephen King.

But since I read the Dark Tower series it all comes together. It's addicting... you read one of the series and suddenly you have to read all of them. And they are the only ones written of that quality.

 

[isabeau]

Actually I dislike most Stephen King.

But since I read the Dark Tower series it all comes together. It's addicting... you read one of the series and suddenly you have to read all of them. And they are the only ones written of that quality.

I've heard of that series..however i better read his other stories first, as i heard he incorporates characters from his other tales within that series..

 

[ticklkitten]

I've heard of that series..however i better read his other stories first, as i heard he incorporates characters from his other tales within that series..

Not a bad plan... but just know what you are getting into when you start The Gunslinger...

In the end it's like all of his stories tied into one. And they are written to confuse the average person... lots of fun.

 

[Tamia78]

Oh, Dark Tower is the best! I re-read those all the time! And yes, he incorporated characters from many of his other books and short stories in this series. I like that he did that. He even write himself into the story, which I thought was pretty cool.

--T

 

[isabeau]

Oh, Dark Tower is the best! I re-read those all the time! And yes, he incorporated characters from many of his other books and short stories in this series. I like that he did that. He even write himself into the story, which I thought was pretty cool.

--T

does he incorporate himself in as the villain?? hehe...

 

[milagros317]

I haven't read much of Stephen King's work, but I did like "Needful Things" very much. 😀

 

[Goodieluver]

I prefer the books he wrote under the bachman pseudonym but for me
the long walk
the running man
Salem's lot
Rage(not carrie, this is a diff story, got alot of flak after columbine)

 

[BLUE_THUNDER]

ive read almost all of kings earlier original works and short stories, but nothing after the early 90's as he seemed to get less scary and more psychological. nothing wrong with that at all, but i like my horror straight up. having said that, my favorite of his writings is the novel "Christine" (i can sympathize with owning a posessed musclecar) and "Cycle of the werewolf" (i think thats the title), an illustrated novel that was the basis for the movie "Silver Bullet" , however in both cases the books were better than the movies id say.....

 

[Mimi]

Yep..."The Long Walk" is my favorite by Stephen King. It still vividly stands out in my mind even though it's been probably 10 years since I last read it.

For full complete novels, I'd have to go with "The Shining". As great as the movie was, the book just totally blows it away. It's just awesome.

 

[jk666uk]

"It" 1st book of his that I ever read, and my favorite book in general. I was 12 and it scared the pants off me. I put it in the back of my closet after I read the part where the little boy got killed by having his arm ripped off...Clowns, spiders.....*shiver*. Didn't pick it back up until about a year later. I think that's why I like it so much. I love being scared, and it was cool that a book had that effect on me.

--T

iam with you on this one tamia78
IT scared the shit out of me I HATE clowns and spiders

 

[Goodieluver]

Yep..."The Long Walk" is my favorite by Stephen King. It still vividly stands out in my mind even though it's been probably 10 years since I last read it.

For full complete novels, I'd have to go with "The Shining". As great as the movie was, the book just totally blows it away. It's just awesome.

It is tho highly unbelieveable but greatly written. I mean, constantly walking for weeks or yer shot, etc etc

Im also in the process of reading "eyes of the dragon" by king, been a tough read but its decent for the time being

 

[Goodieluver]

iam with you on this one tamia78
IT scared the shit out of me I HATE clowns and spiders

"Im still going to kill you all!"

 

[steph]

Gerald's Game. And The Shining (the book, not the movie.) Both scared the hell out of me.

XOXO

 

[TicklishGrl4Lfe]

I loved the book IT.

 

[theshire]

For me Dark Tower is my favourite series of books ever. Just fantastic story and characters and deeply moving towards the end. Although it isn't horror, one should remember: it's a kind of dark fantasy with elements of sci-fi, western, romance and virtually ever other genre under the sun thrown in. Readers who don't like those genres may not like it. Also, The Gunslinger puts a lot of people off and they should be aware that it gets WAY better after that. King actually apologises for it these days, although I thought it was OK despite not knowing what the hell was going on.

"It" was a strange one for me. I found all the world-building and 17-page-long character biographies to be deathly boring and I almost threw it down in frustration a couple of times. But I stuck with it till the end and was rewarded with a beautifully masterful piece of storytelling. Of course, those not quite so intent on reading about clown-related deaths and more appreciative of complex character development than I will love it.

 

[CitY of MicA]

I liked "The Shining," although I thought the movie was better. I won't give my reasoning for this because I don't want to take away from your reading experience, Isabeau. I did see the movie before reading the book, for whatever it's worth. I thought Room 237 was absolutely terrifying in both the book and the movie. Ironically, I'm just about to post an alternate trailer for The Shining 😱 .

 

[isabeau]

I liked "The Shining," although I thought the movie was better. I won't give my reasoning for this because I don't want to take away from your reading experience, Isabeau. I did see the movie before reading the book, for whatever it's worth. I thought Room 237 was absolutely terrifying in both the book and the movie. Ironically, I'm just about to post an alternate trailer for The Shining 😱 .

hmm very interesting Mica..o i agree about that room being terrifying in the movie..that awful grotesque woman..i always shut my eyes..(coward i know). i'm reading it now..and it is very different from the movie already..

 

[Strider]

The Shining
The Stand
It
Dark Tower

 

[CitY of MicA]

hmm very interesting Mica..o i agree about that room being terrifying in the movie..that awful grotesque woman..i always shut my eyes..(coward i know). i'm reading it now..and it is very different from the movie already..

Yes, while I've noticed a fair amount of disagreement on the forum (I'm partially to blame- I know), I would imagine that most people would agree that that woman was not all that attractive 🙂 . There are a number of differences between the book and the movie, not the least of which is the character development (and background story) that you must be reading now. This would be indicative of all movies that are drawn from books, unless they chose to deal with a small portion of a book. The Shining TV movie that was made subsequently was a multiple part mini-series, afterall.

 

[kurchatovium]

Without a doubt it would be "The Stand".