Favorite Stephen King Novel

[tTheVeganWoofMate]

With Holly coming out us Constant Readers are very excited. So what’s everyone’s all time favorite?
The Dead Zone for me.

Click to read more...

 

[Jumptheshark]

Eyes of the Dragon. And the all the short novels in the 4 season (the two biggies being Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption and The Body which turned into stand by mw)

 

[KallioWeHardlyKnewYe]

My 100% honest, but uninteresting answer is The Stand.

My more interesting response is Needful Things, which I think is a total blast.

 

[Neutrinos]

Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption
The Tommyknockers
The Long Walk
The Gunslinger

 

[beowulf]

The Dark Tower series (Including the Little Sisters of Eluria and all the Marvel comics that expanded the story)

The Stand (complete and uncut version)

11/22/63

The Green Mile

It

Joyland

Duma Key

 

[Primary Assist]

Personal favorite novel by King is Cujo - I love the grounded, human element-based stories. It also serves as a time capsule for 1980s suburban life and all the paranoia and fears along with it.

Runner up is The Stand. I read that during peak pandemic and got totally engrossed in the world. Trashcan Man to this day is my favorite King character. It's a shame that neither miniseries is any good - the new one is just an abomination and the older one started off strong but fell off quickly.

All that said, I think King works best when given a short runway so his high concept ideas either take off right away or crash. As such, his short story collections such as Night Shift and his collection of novellas Different Seasons stand as my favorite works of King.

If I was cornered by a rabid dog in a rural Maine barn and only had to choose one King book - it would be Different Seasons

 

[WetcoastOrca]

So many of his earlier ones:
The Stand
Salem’s Lot
Night Shift: Short Stories
The Shining

Picking just one, I’d go with The Stand.

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

His short story collections are his best work IMO, notably Night Shift, Everythings Eventual and Skeleton Crew

For singular pieces, its The Shining by a lot. The relentless tone of isolation and desperation and the anxiety that builds from beginning up to the climax set it apart.

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

My 100% honest, but uninteresting answer is The Stand.

My more interesting response is Needful Things, which I think is a total blast.

I thought that Needful Things was mostly the (over) stretching of one great idea from Barker's Weaveworld, so really never got into it.

The best ones for me must be The Shining and Pet Sematary, but I'll admit I absolutely loved reading The Talisman when I was a kid. The project in development by Netflix seems too good to be true, it will probably be a huge disappointment.

 

[Hierso]

I thought that Needful Things was mostly the (over) stretching of one great idea from Barker's Weaveworld, so really never got into it.

The best ones for me must be The Shining and Pet Sematary, but I'll admit I absolutely loved reading The Talisman when I was a kid. The project in development by Netflix seems too good to be true, it will probably be a huge disappointment.

I liked Needfull Things even if i feel that it's kinda slow to get going. It really picks up when Ace rolls into town imo.

 

[GabeTravels]

11/22/63 for me every time.

A older one would be Firestarter.

 

[BostonBob]

I'll admit I absolutely loved reading The Talisman when I was a kid. The project in development by Netflix seems too good to be true, it will probably be a huge disappointment.

That gets my vote too....even as an adult. And regardless of how good this upcoming Netflix project turns out to be it will still be nowhere as good as the book.

 

[MetalheadPenguinsFan]

Pet Sematary
The Shining
It

 

[NyQuil]

The Stand.

 

[cneely]

The Long Walk
The Stand

Apparently there had been a movie version of the Long Walk in the works for a bit. Not sure where its at now.

 

[Howe Elbows 9]

The Stand, The Dark Tower series, 11/22/63, 'Salem's Lot and his short stories are the ones that come to mind for me.

 

[KallioWeHardlyKnewYe]

My Stephen King hot take is that 11/22/63 is boring. I know I'm in the minority and it's widely considered the best of his latter day work. But man there was too much lindy hopping. I struggled to get through it. He really does let you feel the time burden on Jake. So good on him, but I've never been crazy about that one.

Did love Under the Dome. Thought that one was propulsive.

 

[GabeTravels]

My Stephen King hot take is that 11/22/63 is boring. I know I'm in the minority and it's widely considered the best of his latter day work. But man there was too much lindy hopping. I struggled to get through it. He really does let you feel the time burden on Jake. So good on him, but I've never been crazy about that one.

Did love Under the Dome. Thought that one was propulsive.

I can respect that 11/22/63 opinion even if it didn't drag for me.

Under the Dome is great but the end is a letdown for me. (Not super out of the ordinary for King).

Maybe that's why I liked 11/22/63 so much, the end is exquisite.

 

[KallioWeHardlyKnewYe]

I can respect that 11/22/63 opinion even if it didn't drag for me.

Under the Dome is great but the end is a letdown for me. (Not super out of the ordinary for King).

Maybe that's why I liked 11/22/63 so much, the end is exquisite.

Under the Dome is definitely a classic King ending in that it's like "wait ... what? huh. Well, I guess."

Agree that 11/22/63 does end well.

 

[Fire Sweeney]

It
The Regulators
Desperation

It's a shame that all movies based on the novels suck ass and that King is a complete nutjob

 

[KallioWeHardlyKnewYe]

It
The Regulators
Desperation

It's a shame that all movies based on the novels suck ass and that King is a complete nutjob

I have a huge soft spot for The Regulators too. I've always thought it could've made a fantastic John Carpenter movie.

 

[Neutrinos]

It
The Regulators
Desperation

It's a shame that all movies based on the novels suck ass and that King is a complete nutjob

 

[beowulf]

I am curious if those people who list The Stand are talking about the original version that was released second as the uncut version and is much longer than the 1st version that was released that the he was forced to cut so much story from by the publisher. At the time he was still a pretty new author and did not have the same say as he does now. The Stand shortened version came out in 1978, his 4th in his own name and 5th overall with his 4th novel being Rage as Richard Bachman.

 

[KallioWeHardlyKnewYe]

I am curious if those people who list The Stand are talking about the original version that was released second as the uncut version and is much longer than the 1st version that was released that the he was forced to cut so much story from by the publisher. At the time he was still a pretty new author and did not have the same say as he does now. The Stand shortened version came out in 1978, his 4th in his own name and 5th overall with his 4th novel being Rage as Richard Bachman.

Definitely the later, uncut one. Never read the shorter version but have been curious. I know the big one well enough that it could be an interesting read.

 

[beowulf]

Definitely the later, uncut one. Never read the shorter version but have been curious. I know the big one well enough that it could be an interesting read.

The whole history of it is interesting.

It actually started as a 1969 short story called Night Surf which contained the main idea that a virus that came to be know as Captain Trips wipes out most of humanity. The story follows some college survivors of the virus A6 due to having previous immunity due to being subjected to the A2 virus.

He reimagined the story and it became much longer but the publisher wanted stuff cut and it ended up at a still long 832 pages in 1978. This one big way the events of the book updated to the 1980s etc. It was in large part cut because the publisher felt that 1000+ page novel would not be as financially viable....always the dollar and cents.

The timeframe of the events, now the 1990s, were changed again for the uncut version released in 1990 . This uncut version has a whole new 1st chapter that is not in the original release along with all the extra story that was cut for 1978 that totaled about 400 pages and brough the novel to 1152 pages.