The Next Best Book Club discussion

Hey everyone!

I have a couple of books by Stephen King on my TBR bookcase. They are Carrie, The Stand, The Shining, Misery, The Dead Zone, and Dolores Claiborne.

I am not one for the horror genre because I tend to get scared easily just by horror movies, but I usually can tolerate a lot of gory details. (I am in the OR a lot because of my job, so I can deal with blood, needles, breaking bones, etc).

I have never read a horror book before and picked up all of these at a booksale recently. Just wanted to know anyone's take on my first dip into the horror pool, and thought no better to start with the best, aka Stephen King. I've been debating on whether to ease my way into the pool or just do a cannonball off the diving board and plunge in deep.

I've been hesitant to start any of them because I don't want to read one and then think "omgosh I can't handle this genre if they're all this bad...scary...I'm afraid to sleep without the lights on, let alone look at my own cat!"

Let me know what you think and where I should start! All the help would be much appreciated!

Thanks!
~M

P.S. I also was able to score The Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill, Stephen King's son. I heard that was suppose to be really good.

Those are all very good. If you are OK with blood and broken bones, I'd say start with Misery, although The Shining and The Stand are my personal favorites.
Dolores Claiborne is neither scary or gory, though it's not his ABSOLUTE best. Sill, they are all great books.

I was just going to say that Becky... Misery, out of the ones she has listed, but it made me cringe something wicked at times... the hobbling scenes were awful!

My personal favorites of his: Green Mile, Eyes of the Dragon, Insomnia

None of those are gory or scary-scary.... just really great stories with some twisted things...

The hobbling scene in the movie scarred me for life! The book wasn't bad at all for me, though.

The Shining was one of the first SK books I've read.

If you new to the horror genre though, I highly recommend starting off with a little bit of Edgar Allan Poe. Read one or two of his short stories and get a little bit of a feel for the horror genre. They're pretty short and available online for free from placed like Project Gutenburg. Poe is kinda like the 19th century's version of Stephen King.

I've only read The Stand and Misery by Stephen King, but I loved them both so much. The Stand was absolutely amazing, although it is a bit long, so if you just want to get a taste of King, then I'd go with Misery. Stil, they were both great. I've still got quite a few books by him to get through that I own, and I just ordered The Shining off paperbackswap, so can't wait to read them.

Misery and Carrie...the scare classics of King for sure. :D (I'm personally reading the former at the moment) The Green Mile is a really good quick read.

Carrie was King's first book so why not start there? It was also my first King novel and yes I read it back in the day! I think 1975? I was at summer camp. No, it must have been 1976 because I also read Interview With the Vampire that summer. Good times, good times....

Anway, OP---Mr King tells a heck of a good story so don't let that "horror book" designation throw you off.

My favorite Stephen King will always be The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, rather short but powerful. I, also, enjoyed The Green Mile, Misery, and Dolores Claiborne.

Without question... 'The Stand' a literary triumph

The Stand is poss.his best works by far!

Lori and Becky, oh, the hobbling scene in Misery was just so horrible. It's the first thing that comes to my mind whenever anybody mentions the book or the movie.

It sounds like I need to read The Stand, from everyone's recommending it. Yet another to add to my to-read list.

You know, it's funny that I think the "toned down" movie version is so much worse than the book version. It's just... *shudder* I can't do bones... or fingernails, for that matter. Or teeth.

I would probably go for something short and simple. Carrie is good, it is the first one I read.

BTW, I just tackled The Stand (unabridged version) and I loved it.

I remember trying to read the Stand when I was 15 unfortunately I came down with the flu. While trying to read in bed hacking away, I became convinced I have the plague and put it down. I should really try and read that again.

I love Misery. Though Kings short stories are fantastic!!! Also I really loved Green Mile.

Aaah....aaah....aahchoo!

*blows pollen at bird*

*wilts*

I don't get what's so good about The Stand. I guess it's just way too long for me. But, then, I don't like The Shining really either. XD

Well, they arent all for everyone...

The Stand. It is really good and not that scarry, just thought provoking. My favorite of Stephen King.

Fiona wrote: "Kathy wrote: "Lori and Becky, oh, the hobbling scene in Misery was just so horrible. It's the first thing that comes to my mind whenever anybody mentions the book or the movie.

It sounds like I..."

From your beak to my to-read list.

You just mention SK and I am heading under the bed. I did get Duma Key to read. I will start it soon. I thought for halloween I would scare the bejeezes out of me.hahahahahaa heeehehehehe

Oh wow! Thanks everyone for all the responses! I haven't been able to access a computer for past couple of days and came back to see how many responses there were! Oh my! Ha-ha.

I really enjoyed everyone's input and I'm thinking that I will start with The Stand and then read The Shining.

Michelle♥ wrote: "Hey everyone!

I have a couple of books by Stephen King on my TBR bookcase. They are Carrie, The Stand, The Shining, Misery, The Dead Zone, and Dolores Claiborne.

I am not one for the horror genre..."


I'm curious. What did you decide on and how was it?

I love Stephen King! The Stand is a classic "good vs evil" epic ... love how the "bad guys" set up in Las Vegas!

Of the titles you listed, Dolores Claiborne is the best with NO horror or paranormal elements. I started reading King with his first novel - Carrie - and stuck with him until I got tired of the "horror / paranormal" genre. But several years ago a friend insisted I read Dolores Claiborne and I came back to reading his works after that.

Recently read 11/22/63 and loved it.

I just finished 11/22/63 last night and I too loved it.
I really liked Dolores Claiborne but if you haven't read The StandI would read that ASAP :-).

I got a few Stephen King to read :) think I'm going to read Christine first x

Either The Shining or The Stand would be great King novels to start with.

The Stand, it my favorite King book.

The Stand to me is one of those books you really have to have the time, patience and be in the mood for. Definitely one of King's best for sure.

Misery was very good, but definitely a bit gory in parts. Of those you mentioned, I'd say The Shining should be your first. There were parts of that story that I got so nervous about that I would have to close the book, look around the room, and take a couple deep breaths. I'd even peek two or three pages ahead just to make sure I still saw a character's name on the page so I knew they would be ok. :)

If you have seen the movie, the book won't be that exciting, of course. But if it's your first time with the story, read it before you see it! There are so many webpages devoted to the Shining movie, you might be interested to delve into the trivia and conspiracy theories later, too.

I would start with The Shining, actually I did! The movie is one of my favorites but, to me, the book was better.

Karen M wrote: "I would start with The Shining, actually I did! The movie is one of my favorites but, to me, the book was better."

"Like."

I'm sure she's already made this choice by now, but if I was to choose now, I'd start with Carrie because a) it's still pretty good and with "bullying" making national headlines on a regular basis, still relevant; and b) because it's rough, raw and I think it'd be fun to see where King started and how his writing evolved over time, growing more elegant, fluid and assured with time.

Creep Show I believe are some short stories of his he wrote in college. They would make good teasers to read.

My first Stephen King novel was "Bag of Bones", which I enjoyed..However,this is more of a ghost story. So if you scare easily, I would probably read it during the day time :)

I think in terms of scare/horror factor, I would think Carrie is the least scariest. Maybe I would start there