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What was your first Stephen King book?
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Angie, Constant Reader
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Aug 27, 2008 07:24PM
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My first one reading all by myself was the Eye of the Dragon. I think I got it hardback the year it came out--anyone know when that was.Before that, though, my cousin used to read to me out loud, whatever she was reading. I think I heard about 1/3 of the Skeleton Crew before I was out of elementary school. I remember her skimming them first to make sure they were okay, and skipping over parts to assure I wasn't scarred for life.
So, I guess I owe my cousin Amy for my love of King. Thanks!
Mine was The Dead Zone.I remember being in jr high and it was my first adult book.I was so silly i underlined all the swear words.But i was hooked on him ever since.
My first one was Pet Cemetary, It frightened me soooo much. I think I was only about 14. To this day, that was the scarriest book I have ever read. It was much more scary than the movie.Heidi
Eyes of the Dragon, then Pet Semetary a short timte later. Eyes of the Dragon was a Christmas gift, Pet Semetary was a find on my mom's bookshelf I stumbled upon while searching for a book in the house I hadn't read yet.
My first Stephen King book was Pet Semetary when I was 15. I loved it and couldn't wait to get my hands on more by him! I've been hooked ever since.
My first Stephen King book was Salem's Lot...then The Stand, then The Dead Zone....boy was I hooked after those!
I read Carrie when I was 13. And then Eye of the Dragon maybe. I don't remember exactly. I started Gerald's Game, but was freaked out by the sex and didn't finish it until rather recently. But I also read all the Dark Tower that was available (up to Wizard and Glass) pretty early on too.
Mine was also 'Salems Lot. The abridged version in Cosmo. Loved it. Went out and bought the book....rest is history!
Pet Sematary was my first book. I think that I was about ten years old at the time. I loaned my original copy to a friend though and when it was returned to me, one of their relatives had slashed some of the pages. So I ended up buying a new copy. Although I don't like the cover. I much prefer the one with a snarling cat.
Mine was Running Man, not knowing it was King. After that, I started with Carrie and went on from there!Tim
Cycle of the Werewolf was mine...but I think it was the movie Cat's Eye that got me reading his books.
Kelly, I really enjoyed the movie Cat's Eye!
Pet Semetary was mine after that I was hooked
I was hooked on Stephen King sometimes in the early 80s when I read Christine.
I believe it was Salem's Lot and its been a love affair ever since!lol
My 1st Stephen King book was Misery. I loved it and started reading another, then another, and I couldn't keep my hand's off them :)
my first was(apart from seeing film adaptations of his) was the girl that loved tom gordon, I bought the audiobook from the works for 50p in a sale if i remember correctly, and average book for stephen king next was the dark tower....
My first Stephen King book was CellI really liked it so, i started grabbing stephen king books off my moms shelf and kept reading his stuff. Im still reading his stuff. I hope to read all of his books one day.
OMG I loved cell. I was hooked really early on during that book.Heidi
I think my first King book was Gerald's Game and I read it under cover so my mum wouldn't know I was reading it - I was about 13 at the time.
Gerald's Game creeped me out!! I know it wasn't like a scary book or a thriller or anything but that book actually gave me nightmares. It was so descriptive, I almost felt like I was there helpless and thirsty!!
I read Gerald's Game just over a year ago and I thought it was pretty funny...Except for the bit about her father. Does anyone else think the main character is the little girl Dolores Claiborne sees in her mind? That really struck me when I read DC last month.
my first was the shining, and i couldnt put it down, and i have been reading his work ever since and loved everything. not equally, but there is always just a little love.
The Green Mile. I read it when it was in the six book set. Then I thought "What took me so long to read him!"
"The Shining", and then "The Stand" immediately after. I think that I read these at either 8 or 9, maybe 10... My parents weren't really into the whole "book censorship" thing, so they never told me not to read anything that they thought might traumatize me. And I'm glad, because these books cemented my love of reading in place for all time.
Those two books are my all-time favorites, and are read and reread so often that I have had to replace them both a couple times. But, I keep torturing poor paperbacks because I think hardcovers are a pain in the you-know-what to lug around with me everywhere. And let's face it, the unabridged version of "The Stand" in hardcover weighs a ton, so I'll stick with paperbacks-- at least until I can figure out how to get it on my phone. ;)
The Shining.I read it over the summer when I was 13 or 14 years old (30 years ago). It was my first full-sized adult book. I remember the night I finished it; home alone, lightning storm outside, scared the crap out of me. Stephen King hooked me on reading that summer, and I am eternally grateful to him for that. I remember being excited to go see the movie version and then being disappointed by the way Kubrick ''tinkered'' with the story. How can you kill the hero of a book? I often wonder how Stephen King himself reacted to that ending that Kubrick made up. Somehow I don't think he was too pleased.
My next King book was Carrie, almost immediately after I finished The Shining. I would then go on to read any and all King I could get my hands on. I have read it all, and I continue to go back and reread some of my favorites. Can't wait for his latest to come out in paperback.
One of my college writing teachers spoke of King as being pop fluff and not a serious author by his standards. I couldn't help thinking that he (the teacher, a wanna-be author himself) must have actually been insanely jealous of King's success. Sour grapes, no doubt. Who says books have to be nearly incomprehensible and full of obscure references and symbolism that may or may not have been intended by the author to be considered genuine, serious literature? I had to read a lot of books as a writing major; some of the supposed 'classics' bored me to tears, and I sometimes completely failed to see the interpretations the teachers and professors thrust upon us as chiseled in literary stone. Don't get me wrong; I'm glad I read them. But Madam Bovary isn't exactly a page-turner.
As for King, anyone who entertains so many for so long in so many ways is indeed a serious author. Screw the snobby literary 'professionals'. I love Stephen King for introducing me to big, long books that live with you for a while.
As a movie lover I'm still looking forward to a better film version of The Shining. Kubrick's is okay for what it is, but he pared it down so much (and killed someone he shouldn't have) that it doesn't do the book justice. The made-for-TV mini-series was nearly word for word by the book, almost to a fault. In one scene they include the janitor blowing his nose and taking a peek, just as King described. But the casting was horrible. The boy that played Danny drove me crazy with his acting (in)ability. All I could think was that someone got paid a ton of cash to cast that kid. And what was the deal with that haircut? Even an English teacher from Maine can afford better than a bowl and hedge-trimmers.
I would love to see a full-length (180~210-minute) big-screen version directed by John Carpenter, starring Nicolas Cage as Jack, Rene Zelwegger as Wendy and a ten-year old with some acting ability as Danny. (Even the Danny in Kubrick's version was suspect.)
Be well, Constant Readers!
"I remember being excited to go see the movie version and then being disappointed by the way Kubrick ''tinkered'' with the story. How can you kill the hero of a book? I often wonder how Stephen King himself reacted to that ending that Kubrick made up. Somehow I don't think he was too pleased."Oh, he wasn't! He sued to have his name removed from that one, and denounced Kubrick's version for years afterwards... Finally when he wanted to do his own version, he had to agree to never mention Kubrick's version in a negative light again to get rights from Kubrick to redo the movie. Kinda funny, isn't it, that King had to ask for permission to make his book into the movie it should have been from the start?
I happen to like both versions, though for different reasons. I think that oddly enough, Kubrick's version was scarier, while Mick Garris's is undoubtedly faithful to the book.
In regards to casting... I would prefer Ralph Fiennes as Jack and maybe Jennifer Connelly as Wendy. (I don't think I could take Renee Zellweger seriously!) I don't know enough about current child actors to choose for Danny, but I would love to see either of the two I mentioned in the movie!
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One of the many tidbits I picked up from "The Stephen King Universe" by Christopher Golden... I definitely recommend it to all King lovers!
Gotta get my hands on that book, Becky. Sounds informative.
The Dark HalfThen I was at school telling everyone all the gruesome details about "that one part" ya know cutting out the tounge and putting something else in its place. Gosh that grossed out most of my friends, lol.
Stephen King isn't too proud to gross us out! =)
my first stephen king book... Pet Sematary.
My first Stephen King book was Four Past Midnight. I've been hooked ever since! Secret Window, Secret Garden has got to be one of my favorite storys!
My first taste of King was the short story Autopsy in Everything's Eventual. That's all the farther I've gotten so far.If you see my post in the introduction thread, you'll learn I recently acquired a VERY plentiful collection.
Now to figure out where to start...
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My first was Cujo. I was about 11 years old. Scared the hell out of me; I was exhilerated. I then followed it up with IT. At that age, I was proud to be attempting something so lengthy. The fact that I loved it and felt that it was worth it helped make me an avid reader. (pardon the puns on that last sentence)
Angie, you are correct. Autopsy Room 4 is the complete title. I couldn't remember anything beyond Autopsy when I posted my original message. Thanks for the title continuation!
I can't say for sure. It's a toss up between Salem's Lot, Carrie and The Shining. Whatever book it was grabbed me and made me a fan for life. At first I struggled with King's lengthy descriptions in the beginning of his books. After a time I came to love this because I really 'knew' the characters then and worried because I was certain they were sure to die!
My first Stephen King book was Night Shift, which is a collection of short stories. I was 11, and it both freaked me out and made me a King fan for life!
Night Shift was my first as well, also as a preteen, back in the dark ages :) I still think the hand with the eyeballs in it is the creepiest book cover ever!! I always suggest to people unfamiliar with Stephen King that they start with a short-story collection.
The Dead Zone. I was a teenager, I loved it and I began to read and collect every book I could by SK....
I remember sneaking peeks at a copy of The Dead Zone that my parents had on the bookshelf when I was really young, but I wasn't allowed to actually read it. I think the first King I actually read was Nightmares & Dreamscapes, which seems like kind of a weird introduction now. I know that IT was my second King book and remains my very favorite.
The Dead Zone is a good one... Did you ever read get to read the whole thing?
When I was 9 I read The Shining. My parents had just seen it at the drive-in - and my sister & I were supposed to be asleep in the back seat ... but not me - not for all of it anyway.I was fascinated and had so many questions that my parents wouldn't answer, so I snuck the book of the shelf to read it.
I remember not understanding exactly what was going on - not entirely sure why Jack was acting the way he did. Remember being scared, but not sure what of. Completely addicted by the end, but couldn't pluck up the courage to sneak and read another until a few years later.
I got another SK scare later that same year when I caught some of Salem's Lot on the telly. I only saw like 15 minutes of the second part - but it freaked me out! I couldn't even look at the book on the shelf - let alone take it down.
I have had a thing about vampire stories since I read Salems Lot as a teenager. Wow knocked my socks off! I've been an avid King reader and horror fiction in general since! The man can write the best short stories though. Different Seasons is the best. The Shawshank redemption and Apt Pupil are such good stories
Diffrent Seasons has got to be in the top 5 of King books in that list I got rolling around in my head.John,is that a picture of Al Bundy?
four past midnight was the first stephen king book that i read. I got hook since then :)
Stephen King Fans
Books mentioned in this topic
War and Peace (other topics)Crime and Punishment (other topics)
Cell (other topics)
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft (other topics)
Pet Sematary (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Ray Bradbury (other topics)Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (other topics)
