My Top 10 Stephen King Books

Stephen King is one of my favorite authors. The first book of his that I read was "Carrie." Not the newer version, but his first published novel in 1974. Money was tight for Stephen King and he had almost given up on writing. Since then he has written more than 50 books. Many of those have became best sellers and turned into some great movies. Although there is one movie that I didn't like and found it quite boring. The movie is "Cujo". Many of you might disagree with me, but this is my opinion only. Because I had seen the movie first and did not like it, I had chosen to not read the book. Many years later I had see the paperback "Cujo" book in a rummage sale. I decided to give it a shot to see if it were better than the movie. Unlike the movie, a good part of the book is written through the eyes of the dog. He doesn't understand why he is so sick and what is happening to him. After reading this book, I found it interesting.

Some of his books have needs some cleaning up with the language. And some parts in his book, I have found are degrading to women. But since I do like his writing style, I have looked past this.

Now if I have mentioned anything negative, die hard Stephen King fans if you start throwing eggs at me, it will only mess up your monitor.

Overall, King has an imagination most aspiring writers would die for. I haven't read all of his novels. This is my top ten list of King's books that I have read.

Stephen King Novels and much more can be found here

This is when I became a Stephen King fan!

Carrie is a novel (published 1974) of a high school girl who is an outsider. Because she is misunderstood and quite, student torment her. Carrie has not friends. When some students pretend to like her, they are planning on something so horrendous that it lets out the pent up emotions and rage in her. Carrie's telekinetic powers goes on a rampage of destruction.

Three movies thus far were made from this book. Not a big fan of remakes or reboots (as they are called now), the original movie made in 1976 with Sissy Spacek is my favorite.

The third version in the movie reboot of 2013 would come a close second.

Oh, looks like we are due for another reboot!

(Find Carrie in many formats for reading. See the link above)

Salem's Lot published in 1975 in a vampire novel that I find intriguing. This is King's second novel. It is about a vampire that is patterned after Bram Stoker's Dracula. The story evolves from a small town in Maine. The people in this town are disconnected. They seem a bit lost and something evil is happening.

Vampires have taken over. But the scariest of them all is not the vampires but the town itself. It is haunting during the daytime with its secrets and emptiness. There were frightening things that hide during the day and the horror of the night.

This book was later made into a TV series named Salem's Lot.

#3 Pet Sematary (1983) is another book of Stephen King's which is set in Maine. The Creed family move from Chicago to the rural country side of Maine. Dr. Louis Creed is appointed director of the University of Maine's campus health service. The house that they live in happens to be by a busy highway where large trucks travel fast past their home. Warned by their neighbor to be careful of the road, the family pet gets hit. Their neighbor tells Louis about the pet sematary and a place where the pet will come back to life. But beware that they can come back tainted.

More gruesome things happen when his son and wife get killed.

#4 Thinner (1984) is about a lawyer named Billy Halleck. He is obese and arrogant. When he is distracted while driving on the road, Halleck runs over an elderly gypsy woman. It is brought to court. But due to the judge being a close friend, the charges were dropped.

The woman's father puts a cruse on Billy when he strokes his check. He whispers the word, "Thinner." From that point on, Halleck loses weight. At first it looks good on him, but the weight lost continues.

#5 Insomnia (1994) set in the fictional town of Derry, Maine. This book is about a widower who suffers from insomnia. As his condition worsens he starts to see things that others cannot. Later he finds that his insomnia had been induced by doctors to defeat agents of the Crimson King. The Crimson King is an evil ruler of the dark.

If you are a speed reader, then you might enjoy reading all 800 pages. It is a long book, but I found it interesting.

#6 The Green Mile (1996) interestingly the Green Mile was written as a series of six novellas. King didn't even know how the story would turn out. Later the six books were added in one volume work. The story is about Paul Edgecombe, the death row supervisor and his encounter with inmate John Coffey. Coffey has some unusual healing abilities. But every time he uses his power, he dies a little more.

#7 The Shining (1977) is King's third published novel and first hardback bestseller. Author Stephen King built the story based on his personal recovery from alcoholism and experience to the Stanley Hotel in 1974. But in the case with King, he did not go insane unlike Jack Torrance, the character in the book.

Stephen King did not have the control that he does now over the first movies made from his books. He was disappointed in the way the movie version of The Shining turned out. Years later, he wrote the script for the mini-series of The Shining; the way he had intended it to be.

In my opinion, sometimes less is better. I felt the mini-series dragged.

OK, start throwing those eggs again!

#8 Shawshank Redemption was part of a novella by Stephen King. This collection of 1982 is titled Different Seasons, subtitled Hope Springs Eternal. In 1994 the movie was made and nominated for seven Academy Awards in 1994. As a banker from Maine, Andy Dufesne is arrested for a double murder. This includes his wife and her lover. There is something special in his prison cell behind the poster of Rita Hayworth.

#9 It (the novel) is one of the shortest titles that you will on a book. Published in 1986, this horror novel by Stephen King is about a monster disguised as a clown. This thing or "It" mainly preys on young children. I never really like clowns. Anyone who doesn't show their face is hiding something.

#10 Needful Things - Don't Go Into This Shop

Needful Things (1991) is about a stranger who opens the Needful Things curiosity shop and the haunting ways it affects the customers. My advice is to not go into this shop!

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