What is Stephen King's best book?
I am a writer and my most significant inspiration is Mr. Stephen King. I was a late reader. My aunt got me into reading in my early 20's. She started me with some Piers Anthony and then went right into the hard stuff - The Amber Chronicles by Zelazny. Heavy stuff but it was INCREDIBLE - I was hooked. On her shelf was a scary looking book - because it was the biggest one there. I looked at it and my aunt said, "You're not quite ready for that yet; but soon. One more first."And she handing me Eyes of the Dragon; my first King novel. It was decent. I liked it in ways I could not quite understand. It was fantasy, but did not feel like the fantasy novels I had read prior to it. And it was short. When I was done, I went to my Aunt again, and she handed me the big book. It was called, "The Talisman". It was by Stephen King and Peter Straub. I asked what it was about, and for the first time ever, my Aunt said, "Just read it. Don't even read the jacket - just start on page one, and don't stop."Have you ever seen a blockbuster movie having never first seen a single trailer? I haven't - but this was what that was like. I didn't just follow the adventures of Traveling Jack Sawyer - I lived them. I had a soundtrack to the book read - Rush all the way through - nothing but. That Canadian rock group became my favorite of all time that summer. And it all fit. It clicked. I was there. I was in. This book read to me in a way no book had before. Maybe it is his best, maybe not, it's hard to tell. If you asked me to be a bit more objective in my opinion (I know a bit of a contradiction) I would say his best was the Shining (the book - not the movie - the movie was shyte). But I had never before been sent on a journey the way I was during the Talisman. At this point I've read 95% of of King's published books. I wish I could say I loved them all - Salems Lot to me was a trainwreck and I could not stand the ending to Under the Dome ("Let's kill EVERYBODY!!"), but for the most part I have always been excited to visit Mr. King's world. But never more than I was while reading Talisman - even on audio for the 4th time last year. It is not just my favorite Steven King book. It is my favorite book, period.
Stephen KIng?
haha typeooo. Um, I read "The Dead Zone" which was one of my favorites. "The Dark Half" was VERY good and tied a lot of things together that I thought would remain loose and unmentioned in the ending; I personally think the character's dark half was his own. "Fire Starter" was pretty good and got into the idea of the government experiments doing strange things to people. "The Green Mile" was more probable than his rest (in the idea of "damn that could happen") and had me crying by the end; I admit that I got attached to the characters. I consider it one of his best novels and the movie was almost as good. "Pet Sematary" (actual book title, not typeos) is a little different from his usual because it deals more with the concept of death being normal and an acceptable part of life or not, and if it is all right to bring people back from the dead. I'm enjoying it so far but the movie isn't as good as the book (which i'm still reading and hope has a better ending.) Frankly, I like all his books except for the Richard Bachman ones; those endings are terrible. "Thinner" was great and then the ending was just...blah. By the way, how was "Christine"? I'm told it was good.
What are the best books of Stephen King? What about another author of horror books?
Stephen King is obviously the authority on this, but I like to think that maybe he would agree with me that the best of his books is Wizard and Glass, Book 4 of the Dark Tower Series. Now, I love Stephen King, and have read almost all that he's written, and a lot of it is extremely good. Not all of it, but if we even apply the same standard we do to baseball hitters (I would say he's batting substantially better than even Ted Williams in this case), he more than deserves to be in the writing Hall of Fame (In fact, I'd argue he's certainly the most popular and one of the most under-appreciated of the great post-modernists). Based on on his works and statements, the Dark Tower is at the literal and metaphorical center of his works, so the best of the Dark Tower Series would seem to have a special place in his canon. I would challenge anyone (even Stephen King) to debate that Wizard and Glass wasn't the best of the Dark Tower, so it seems logical to advance that as an answer.Is Wizard and Glass, by itself, the best of all the (numerous) books King has aver ever written? A subject worth of debate, but I would say yes, and often have. What are the other candidates? The Stand? The Shining? Both very good, but I don't think they can quite compare, especially to anyone who's read Dark Towner I-III. Roland is arguably the great epic hero (compared to, say, Frodo) of this particular turn of the century, and Wizard and Glass is the heart of his tale. As far as other horror authors, I have two recommendations, depending on your taste for blood. Tame: Anne Rice, Interview With a Vampire. I can't stand Lestat, but Louis is the best, and this one is unparalleled, and basically invented the modern idea of vampire as Mick Jagger.Bloody: Clive Barker's Books of Blood. Tell me "Midnight Meat Train" didn't scare the shit out of you, and I'll let the proper authorities know that they have a serious problem on their hands.
Why do people like to read Stephen King novels?
So many people have answered this question exceptionally well, but I love SK's work so much that I'm going to throw in my two cents anyway.I have been a reader since before I can even remember. I have been a reader of Stephen King since I was about 13 when I first picked up Salem's Lot and my 8th grade teacher asked if my mom knew what I was reading in my free time. "Of course she does, who do you think drove me to the bookstore?"There are so many things I could say about several of his books that are very near and dear to me, but I'll try to speak generally:As others have said, SK is a phenomenal storyteller. His ability to suck you in and make you squirm is not necessarily a product of the writing but of the story. There are plenty of excellent writers who couldn't tell a good or interesting story if you held a gun to their head. But Stephen King is actually a decent writer with an astounding talent for making a living, breathing world that you will find yourself invested in. SK actually is a good writer. Not consistently, and not all at once in a single book either. But he certainly has his shining moments. The Dark Tower series is my favorite series of all time. In my books, it's better than Harry Potter, and I grew up on that series. I should be spewing Harry Potter for the rest of my life, but reading The Dark Tower books at the ripe age of 14 and rereading it every other year or so has only made me more solidified in this love. His stories have variety and range. Again, like others have said, he writes about small towns and big cities and fantasy worlds. By itself that's all well and good, but he also makes every world feel real. Dialogue, characters, the places themselves are all relatable and lively, written in a way that not many other authors/writers/essayists have been able to accomplish. He can scare the shit out of you, and ten pages later make you cry. He makes the cosmos move around you and then makes you feel like the cosmos is apathetic to your existence. He writes on big, meaningful relationships and he writes on average acquaintanceships. Not everything he writes is good, but everything he writes moves in an inescapably interesting way. "And that is the truth, if you can but dig it."
What is the book "The Stand" by Stephen King about?
The book is about a number of things, and there is a wide cast of characters - an ensemble cast, you might say - but the story mainly revolves around one thing: the death of the vast majority of the world’s population.Without giving anything away, the story essentially revolves around a military project called Project Blue, which has developed a strain of influenza virus with a shifting antigen - meaning that the flu becomes deadly for the same reason AIDS is deadly. The book indicates at one point that the virus has 99.3% communicability, which, it says, means 99.3% excess mortality because the human body can’t manufacture antibodies fast enough to keep up.Of course, the plague is only the first part of the story. Other parts of the story include the final confrontation with the supernatural entity which has determined to extinguish the remaining human population (it is a Stephen King book, after all), and the fate of survivors in the aftermath of the plague.It’s a very long book, but it’s one of my favorites of King’s work, and I highly recommend it. There was a TV-miniseries made of it in 1994, and it wasn’t terrible, but it did feel very rushed - like a Cole’s Notes version of the book - and it didn’t really give the viewer adequate opportunity to become attached to the characters the way the book does. Also, the series aired on NBC during primetime in the 90s, and I think it had to be somewhat sanitized in order to meet US FCC regulations for broadcast, so it kind of feels a bit too squeaky-clean to be as enjoyable as some other adaptations of King’s work.
Does Stephen King personally write all of his books?
As far as I know, he does. Some authors do hire a professional researcher to help with historical touches they might need for a book; but that’s not the same as having someone else do the writing. Mr. King is a well-known and well-respected author, and based on what he has said in interviews, he takes great pride in his creative process. He also seems to have quite an imagination, which helps him to develop new characters and plots. Thus, all evidence indicates that his books were written by him, and only him.
Why does Stephen King hate what Stanley Kubrick did with The Shining?
I love this question, because both the book and the movie are SO GOOD.Stephen King really "gets it" when it comes to adaptations of his work--the fact that, once you sign over the rights, it's their movie, not your book. But this one got to him anyway.King has two big complaints about the movie.1. Wendy is passive and weak. I totally agree with this. Shelley Duvall was great in the movie, but for me the more robust, assertive Wendy in the book was a better character.2. Jack Torrance is evil. It's obvious from the start that Jack is a bad guy in the movie. Stephen King sees Jack as a good guy, and identifies with him strongly (a writer who is an addict, fighting against violent impulses--these are all true to King's life). King's struggle with addiction was far from over when this movie came out. I'm not surprised that he took it personally when Kubrick simplified Jack, removing his warmth, and erasing his capacity for redemption. I'm sure it was painful for him to watch because the movie was so effective. If you or I went up to Stephen King and told him that Jack Torrance was evil, I guarantee he would not give a s---. Maybe Kubrick really scared him.
What are the scariest stories in Stephen King's " Everything's Eventual"?
The Road Virus Heads North (definitely the scariest after 1408), Lunch At the Gotham Cafe, Little Sisters of Eluria (if you have read the dark tower series), The Man in the Black Suit, Autopsy Room Four, Riding The Bullet. I liked all of them though but didn't find any truly scary other than 1408 and The Road Virus Heads North.
Will someone who enjoys Stephen King's purely horror novels like Pet Sematary and The Shining enjoy The Stand?
The really short answer to the question is “Yes, you will enjoy The Stand.”Leaving aside that might also depend on just which edition you read.As a long time Stephen King reader and fan, for me The Stand was for a very long time my favorite in Steve's canon.The unedited version, which is over 1,000 pages long, is definitely worth the read. Lots of characters, sure, but lots of great storylines as well.The basic plot of course is the standard good versus evil storyline.That said, I'm wondering what makes you think The Stand is NOT pure horror, ala Pet Semetery and The Shining?A superflu virus accidentally released by a government lab decimates the human population.Some people survive and some don't.And there are quite a few dead bodies along the way.The Stand has a pretty significant amout of pure horror in it. I think reading it you'll see my point.In a sense The Stand ultimately transcends the horror label. Does not mean it has NO horror.There's a lot of pure horror. Enough to keep you turning pages to see what horrific thing will happen next.Steve had not really attempted to move beyond the limiting strictures of the horror genre when he wrote and published The Stand.That frustration brought on by that genre's confines came later in Steve's writing career.So, as a pure horror fan, you should love The Stand.It's long. You won't finish it in a day.But I believe you will love it because there's more than enough horror between those covers to satisfy the biggest pure horror fan.The biggest pure horror Stephen King fan.Read it. You won't be sorry. Trust me.(I read it well before I gave up 3rd person narrative POV novels in favor of 1st person narratives exclusively.I would likely not read it today but only for that reason.I still consider it one of Steve's best novels ever, in spite of the 3rd person narrative.)