Please name the top ten books of Stephen King. Want to start reading.

[Aaditya]

Shannon wrote: "Not having read all of his novels, I will offer my opinions on his works.

At the top, at the top of my all time favorite stories, King or otherwise, is The Stand. It's indescribable. It has to b..."

There are many valuable comments in this section Shannon, but this is the comment I enjoyed reading the most. It's really nice to once again hear from my friends on Goodreads. :)

[David]

1. Rage
2. The stand
3. Misery
4. The Running man
5. Needful Things
6. The Shining
7. Gerald's Game
8. Carrie
9. The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon
10. It

I enjoy this books

[Ashley]

Salem's Lot
The Eyes of the Dragon
The Stand
Dead Zone
Misery
The Shining
Needful Things
The Gunslinger (Whole Dark Tower Series)
IT
Pet Sematary

[Shannon]

Aditya wrote: "Shannon wrote: "Not having read all of his novels, I will offer my opinions on his works.

At the top, at the top of my all time favorite stories, King or otherwise, is The Stand. It's indescribab..."

I find it proper to put opinions into context. Without context we are left with pretext. My opinion is only that, my opinion. I am pleased to know my verbosity is appreciated!

[Lesley]

I am another who has not read the Dark Tower series, so I think I will just have to go & rectify this straight away LOL

[Sean]

1. IT
2. Pet Semetary
3. The Stand
4. Drawing of the Three
5. Desperation
6.The Shining
7. Wolves of the Calla
8. Misery
9.Needful Things
10. The Regulators

[Lyn]

1 Desperation
02 Rose Madder
03 The Stand
04 Insomnia
05 Misery
06 From a Buick 8
07 The Shining
08 Needful Things
09 IT
10 The Tommyknockers

Hard for me to choose 10 as i love all his works

[Patricia]

In no specific order:

1: The Stand
2: The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon
3: Misery
4: It
5: Desperation
6: The Regulators (assuming you read 5 & 6 back to back)
7: The Gunsliger series
8: The Under the Dome
9: Pet Cemetary
10: Cell

[Gemma]

1. The Stand
2. Carrie
3. Dreamcatcher
4. The Shining
5. Hearts In Atlantis
6. After The Sunset
7. Skeleton Crew

They are all I've read by SK, but that's the order of those in my opinion. :)

[Mauricio]

I am not a Stephen King fan... I have only read a few. The only one I still remember fondly is Needful Things. But Man! I remember enjoying this immensely

[Anna]

My favorite books from Stephen King are:
1. Dreamcatcher
2. Duma Key
3. Insomnia
4. It
5. Green Mile
6. Lisey's Story
7. Rose Madder
8. Pet Semetary
9. The Stand
10. Desperation

[Helena]

King's short stories are among his best works. The Black Tower series is different from most of Kings work which isn't fantasy.

All you King lovers don't miss his adaptation of the danish TV-series Riget: Kingdom Hospital from 2004 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0324864/

[Beth]

My all time favorite of his is Duma Key. I also like Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, The Secret Window, Misery, it goes on & on! I am a big Stephen King fan!!!

[Robbert]

Helena wrote: "All you King lovers don't miss his adaptation of the danish TV-series Riget: Kingdom Hospital from 2004 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0324864/
"

Actually I lost a lot of respect for King after watching Kingdom Hospital (which is a horrible bastardization of Lars von Trier's far superior Riget/The Kingdom). He made one of the best TV shows ever into Ally McBeal!!

[Kelli]

1. The Stand
2. The Shining
3. Pet Sematary
4. Misery
5. Dead Zone
6. The Running Man
7. IT
8. Carrie
9. Gunslinger
10. Christine

[[deleted user]]

Different than most....

1. The Stand
2. Duma Key
3. 11-22-63
4. Under The Dome
5. The Shining
6. Dreamcatcher
7. Dolores Claiborne
8. Bag Of Bones
9. Desperation
10. IT

[Jaime]

My Top 13 Stephen King books are:

The Stand
The Shining
Carrie
It
Salem's Lot
Dead Zone
Night Shift
The Green Mile
Cujo
Needful Things
Talisman (with Peter Straub)
The Mist
The Bachman Books

[Reymart]

Books that I really enjoyed from Steve:



1.The Stand: Complete and Uncut Version [soft]
2.'Salem's Lot: [hard 2nd Edition]
3.Night Shift: [Kindle]
4.Under the Dome: [soft 2nd Edition]
5.Nightmares and Dreamscapes: [soft 4th Edition]
6.Misery: [soft 1st Edition]
7.Cell: [soft 1st Edition]
8.From Buick 9: [hard 1st Edition]

Books in my Kindle Library I still want to read (my top eight this month).

1.11/22/63: [soft 1st Edition]
2.Joyland (yet) - I know that this book will become a hit yet again...
3.The Dark Tower Series: [Kindle]
4.Skeleton Crew: [Kindle] - currently reading
6.Needful Things: [Kindle]
7.Rose Madder: [Kindle]
8.The Desperation: [soft 3rd Edition]

[John]

It
Misery
Salem's Lot
The Shining
Dead Zone
Thinner
Dead Zone
Gerald's Game
Tommyknockers
Christine

[[deleted user]]

Okay, in no particular order, my top 10 are Misery, The Shining, It, Pet Sematary, The Green Mile, The Stand, Different Seasons, Cell, Christine and The Dark Half.

[Rasika]

1. The Stand (One of my absolute favorites)
2. IT
3. Cujo (mind you, if you love dogs, you'll be crying at the end of this book)
4. Salem's lot
5. The cell

Gave you the best 5.. the rest are in no particular order The Mist, DeadZone, The dreamcatcher, Carrie, Christine, shawshank redemption and green mile

[Matthew]

1. The Stand
2. The entire Dark Tower series
3. The Long Walk
4. Nightmares and Dreamscapes
5. Firestarter
6. The Mist
7. The Running Man
8. Four Past Midnight
9. Everything's Eventual
10.Different Seasons

[Gayle]

In no particular order:
The Stand
Under the Dome
'Salem's Lot
IT
Dark Tower I
Dark Tower II
The Long Walk (as Richard Bachmann)
Carrie
Different Seasons
Night Shift

[Barbara]

1. The Stand
2. It
3. The Shining
4. The Green Mile
5. Bag of Bones
6. Insomnia
7. Needful Things
8. The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass (I adored the 4th book of this series)
9. Misery
10. Christine

[R.L.]

Out of all the fabulous writing King has done it's hard to pick only 10...but here's mine (not necessarily in any order):


1. The Green Mile
2. Shawshank Redemption
3. The Long Walk (written as Richard Bachman)
4. Firestarter
5. Needful Things
6. Thinner
7. The Shining
8. Rage (another Bachman book)
9. Duma Key
10. The Stand

I also thoroughly enjoyed his collection of short stories "Different Seasons"

[Jim]

1. Salem's Lot
2. Carrie
3. The Stand
4. Christine
5. The Shining
6. 11/22/63
7. Misery
8. Pet Sematary
9. Misery
10. If you start reading a few of the above, you will become a fan and I think any Stephen King book is a great read.

[CoffeeBook]

I am a new fan of Stephen King's and I would say that IT, The Stand, 'Salem's Lot, and 11/22/63 are my favorites. His short story collections and novellas are also a good grab. The Mist was a nice weekend read. You're in for a fantastic ride with SK, I haven't regretted reading any of his books (even his sillier ones like The Tommyknockers). I'm currently reading Under the Dome for the readalong and it's awesome so far, but definitely read The Stand first!

I've also heard his Dark Tower series is incredible, so keep going with that. I plan to start that soon!

Side note: I listened to the audiobook for IT and thought it was incredible and worked better in that format than reading it. Steven Weber did an amazing job with it, so if you like audiobooks, then definitely try IT in that format. For that matter, the short audio-only story for The Breathing Method is also a good horror shock story to try.

Have fun!

[Stepheny]

CoffeeBook wrote: "I am a new fan of Stephen King's and I would say that IT, The Stand, 'Salem's Lot, and 11/22/63 are my favorites. His short story collections and novellas are also a good grab. The Mist was a nice ..."

OMG, IT on audio is AMAZING. lol and yes, the dark tower is incredible.

[Larry]

I'm not really sure what this has to do with The Stand but I'll name my top ten. A little explaination: These are the books that I enjoyed the most. Not necessarily the ones I think are his top literary works. Also I count the so-called "Novelettes" as a novel.

1. The Stand
2. The Shining
3. The Long Walk
4. Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption
5. Dead Zone
6. DT 3
7. Delores Claiborne
8. DT 2
9. The Library Policeman
10.The Green Mile

[Ruth]

Loved the Library Policeman. It's one of my favorite of his short stories.

[MissConfusion17]

These are on my list:
1. The Dark Half
2. IT
3. Salem's Lot
4. Gerald's Game
5. Shining
6. Desperation
7. The Talisman
8. Pet Sematary
9. Christine
10. Dreamcatcher

[Ken]

Hi all. For me, it's
1. The Talisman
2. Gunslinger - Drawing of the Three
3. The Stand
4. The Tommyknockers
5. The Girl who loved Tom Gordon
6. The Shining
7. 11.22.63
8. Insomnia
9. Salem's Lot
10. It

These lists are always subjective of course...and the order may change from time to time

[Brandon]

I loved the Dark Tower series. I find myself comparing every Fantasy/SciFi/Fiction series against it.

1. DT4 Wizard and Glass
2. DT3 Wastelands
3. Salem's Lot
4. The Stand
5. Needful Things
6. Talisman
7. IT
8. The Shining
9. DT1 Gunslinger
10. DT7 The Dark Tower

[Ernie]

For me they are as follows:

1. The Stand
2. The Talisman
3. The Shining
4. DT2 Drawing of the Three
5. DT4 Wizard and Glass
6. Tommyknockers
7. Insomnia
8. The Dead Zone

[K.R.]

Don't know about my top ten but The Stand, The Talisman and Cell would be up there. Pet Semetary, Misery, The Shining too. And I always had a soft spot for The Dark Half.

Somehow I've never actually read any of the Dark Tower series.

[Michele]

read 11/22/63

[Matthew]

The Long Walk to me is just a classic survival-of-the-fittest read. My favorite of his.

[Ann]

The "short" story collections are awesome and stick with you in the best creepy heeby-jeeby ways!
It
The Stand
Gerald's Game
Misery
The Shining
Needful Things
Both Bachman books
Dolores Claiborne
11.22.63

[Kristen]

1)The Stand,2)Needful Things,3)Lisey's Story,4)Misery5)Bag of Bones,6)The Shinning,7)Carrie,8)Fire Starter,9)Thinner & 10) It.
im more of an old school King fan.Liseys Story is fairly newer,2009 I think.The most romantic/creepy/book ive read by him.

[Kristen]

Vicky wrote: "Robbert wrote: "Am I the only one that really likes Rose Madder?"

Loved Rose Madder, but a few of my friends couldnt get on with it. Obviously not one of the most popular King books but one that I..."

I enjoyed reading that one. ive read it a few times myself. It was a bit unpleasant at times but that's apart of Kings work.

[Mikecarp]

I'm afraid I haven't read any new Stephen King for a long time. So you're not going to see much past the late 80's. I would go with: 10. Thinner 9. 'Salem's Lot 8. Pet Sematary 7. Cujo 6. Misery 5. The Dead Zone 4. Carrie 3. The Shining 2. The Stand 1. It. Also loved the collections of Different Season and Everything's Eventual.

[Vicki]

I have a way of naming his best 10 books but I'm almost positive that practically nobody will choose on that basis.

I'm a paramedic, and I like his books that have the most factual medical information in them. And by that standard I would have to like Misery first, b/c it included almost flawless medical scenes.

But I also like some of his books that contained major errors. Gerald's Game was one of them. But since the medical scene in question had little to do with the book's theme I overlooked it.

The other 8 favorites are Bag of Bones, The Green Mile, Needful Things, Insomnia, The Dead Zone, The Dark Half, Pet Sematary and Dolores Clairborne.

I liked those 8 b/c I either read them before I became an EMT (and was blissfully unaware of the errors) or they had little to no medical information in them.

With me, a horror story has to contain as much realism as possible in order to get me into that state of suspended disbelief that Samuel Taylor Coleridge mentioned of his own work.
That's why Robin Cook's stories are so terrifying.

[Lisa]

The Stand is my most favorite then night shift, salem's lot, the shining, it, misery, thinner, the mist, lisey's story and duma key.

[Alexis]

It and Night Shift are hands-down my favorites.

[Patrick]

1. The Dead Zone
2. Cell
3. The Shining
4. 11/22/63
5. The Stand
6. The Green Mile
7. Carrie
8. Misery
9. Under the Dome
10. Duma Key
I've only read one or two more than that, though, so I'm not the best authority on the topic.

[Ken]

Mikecarp wrote: "I'm afraid I haven't read any new Stephen King for a long time. So you're not going to see much past the late 80's. I would go with: 10. Thinner 9. 'Salem's Lot 8. Pet Sematary 7. Cujo 6. Misery 5...."
Hey Mike try 11/22/63 or the new one I'm reading at the moment, 'Joyland'. I think you'd like them.

[Mikecarp]

Vicki wrote: "I have a way of naming his best 10 books but I'm almost positive that practically nobody will choose on that basis.

I'm a paramedic, and I like his books that have the most factual medical informa..."

I've read Coma and Contagion, but none of the others; maybe I'll pick up a few others. My sister started reading them for the same reason and became a PT. On the Stephen King thread, what about the short story "Autopsy Room Four" from Nightmares and Dreamscapes? I always wondered about that (and of course the humorous discovery that he was alive).

[Linda]

The Stand, The Shining, Duma Key, 11/22/63, Cell, Needful Things, Bag of Bones, Misery, Desperation, Insomnia.

[James]

Couldn't possibly make a top 10 list loved them all. Something i have noticed is missing from all these posts is Full Dark No Stars. for someone getting into King My uncle taught me to read his works in order that he wrote them to catch the references to previous books.

[Jim]

Nobody mentioned Different Seasons book had two great movies made from it Stand By Me and Shawshank Redemption.