What are you surprised to see on the list?

[Joy, Your Obedient Servant]

Linda Abhors the New GR Design wrote: "NancyJ wrote: "Bruyere wrote: " YA... Sex... Green mile...."

YA is just hit or miss with me. Sometimes it seems sanitized, not just of sex, but of anything honest. I did enjoy the two John Green b..."

The only Stephen King I can remember reading the entire way through is Hearts in Atlantis which is short stories. I remember them being weird in an off-putting sort of way and being very confused at the end. I have never bothered with anything else of his.

[Linda]

J. wrote: "Linda Abhors the New GR Design wrote: "NancyJ wrote: "Bruyere wrote: " YA... Sex... Green mile...."

YA is just hit or miss with me. Sometimes it seems sanitized, not just of sex, but of anything h..."

I see what you mean. I wouldn't call that the best representation of his work.

[Joy, Your Obedient Servant]

Linda Abhors the New GR Design wrote: "J. wrote: "Linda Abhors the New GR Design wrote: "NancyJ wrote: "Bruyere wrote: " YA... Sex... Green mile...."

YA is just hit or miss with me. Sometimes it seems sanitized, not just of sex, but of..."

I'm going to read The Stand at some point, so maybe my opinion will change!

[Heather]

The Stand isn't all that action-packed. It's mostly about how people endure a pandemic. I did really like it. Swan Song is very much like The Stand - just with nuclear apocalypse vs pandemic and with a different "evil" slant.

I think of Dark Tower as being somewhat like Lost - it's kinda a mix of relationships, fantasy, and sci-fi. The first book I found really underwhelming, but after that I have liked it.

[Joy, Your Obedient Servant]

I don't need a lot of action! Just something I can follow that isn't too choppy or jump around a lot.

[Heather]

It sounds like you'll like it, then. :)

[Tammy]

I started reading Stephen King when I was 12. I snuck Christine (one of his worst) out of my Mom's library stack and I never looked back. I read The Stand in '86 and it was the original version which was about 800 pages. I loved that version. In 1990 they released the uncut author's manuscript (over 1100 pages) and I really didn't think it was as good as the earlier edited release. The Shining is my second favorite (no doubt). Somebody mentioned Stand By Me which was a pretty faithful interpretation of his novella The Body. I think his time travel novel, 11/22/63, is a pretty good yarn, too.

[Heather]

When I bought The Gunslinger, it was a King edited version. He had written it a long time ago and, after completing the series, he felt like for continuity, there should be some updates.

[Linda]

Tammy wrote: "I started reading Stephen King when I was 12. I snuck Christine (one of his worst) out of my Mom's library stack and I never looked back. I read The Stand in '86 and it was the original version whi..."

I started young, thanks to older siblings, and before I got crazy busy with work, used to await the next one on tenterhooks. I really did like "The Green Mile" coming out in installments, even though it seemed like a pain to wait a few weeks for a 120 page book! But I did! Have toyed with getting rid of some older books, but for some reason, I'm hanging onto those.

[Ella]

Tammy wrote: "I think his time travel novel, 11/22/63, is a pretty good yarn, too."

I keep waffling over whether to try this one, since I'd not bothered to really look into it. Thanks for the note. I shall grab this one between the many other books I thing I'm going to read this summer.

[Heather]

I tried watching the show based on it. I'm not of fan of Franco, so not sure if that was why I didn't care for it or just the content in general.

[Kirsten]

Bruyere wrote: "I tried watching the show based on it. I'm not of fan of Franco, so not sure if that was why I didn't care for it or just the content in general."

Could be the time travel theme. It can pall on me. I think Connie Willis does some of the best time travel.

The Shining and The Stand are King's best work. I also really, really liked Revival.

A little separate from his regular ouevre are Joyland and The Dark Tower series, both very good.

[Linda]

Kirsten wrote: "Bruyere wrote: "I tried watching the show based on it. I'm not of fan of Franco, so not sure if that was why I didn't care for it or just the content in general."

Could be the time travel theme. I..."

Oh, yeah, Revival would be another good choice for people who don't like horror, as it's not really scary.

[Kirsten]

Linda Abhors the New GR Design wrote: "Kirsten wrote: "Bruyere wrote: "I tried watching the show based on it. I'm not of fan of Franco, so not sure if that was why I didn't care for it or just the content in general."

Could be the time..."

I loved it because it's basically a tribute to HP Lovecraft.