Reading my first Stephen King novel - What are your favorites?

11/22/63 bar none. It hints at the well known characters of his. It's got great plot and great characters. The historical depth and research that went into it is super fun. It's also just a fun concept.

The Stand is a great epic, a post apocalyptic book that takes a turn to a religious good vs evil showdown.

IT is maybe my favorite book of his, a great horror story that is maybe his best start-to-finish storytelling.

Of course there is his magnum opus, the Dark Tower series. A truly grand story spread across 8 books that weave across different universes and sometimes collide with his other novels. Highly recommend if you are willing to put the time in, the first few books are worth it by themselves.

I have read a lot of Stephen King, and I would say he has a few main "categories" of his writing: horror (supernatural, often with a dose of naturally-occurring bad human behaviour); non-horror (often commenting on humanity, especially through the eyes of children); Dark Tower (a sept/octology with many references to other books); short stories (many have supernatural elements, many don't); and nonfiction. They all have a different flavour and feel. My favourite books of his are the non-horror, but he also does horror really well. He also writes fantastic short stories, and he's one of my favourite short story authors. He also has some recurring characters (The Walking Dude) and communities (Castle Rock), which may affect how much you like each novel, depending on how familiar you are with the King-iverse.

I'll try to give a bit of insight into what might be a good place to start, depending on your mood:

Horror:
(His early career focused a lot on these, and they are some of his most iconic works, but I don't know if the early ones always tap into the human element as well, which is one of his greatest strengths.)

• Carrie (relatively short, gives more detail than the movie
• 'Salem's Lot (relatively short)
• The Shining (relatively short, is quite different from the movie, and delves into Jack's life and headspace in a much more meaningful way, in my opinion)
• The Stand (very long, especially the unabridged version, and can be draggy (also one of my favourite books for the amazing characters))
• Firestarter (relatively short)
• Pet Semetary (relatively short, very upsetting)
• The Talisman (long, more fantasy than horror but definitely is not a fun time)
• Thinner (short, but focuses a lot on a "gypsy curse" and may read as pretty bigoted now)
• It (long, gets really out there)
• The Tommyknockers (Medium-long, unsettling, has parallel theme of addiction)
• Needful Things (one of his most depressing books, helps to know Castle Rock first)
• Gerald's Game (REALLY bothered me, to the point where I gave my copy away after reading; it's well-written but it was excruciating for me to read and I don't ever want to again)
• Insomnia (long and takes awhile to get where it's going, but one of my favourites)
• Rose Madder (relatively long, pretty terrifying depiction of abuse)
• Bag of Bones (long and rather meandering, but solid)
• The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon (pretty short and less terrifying than some of these, but deals with a kid lost in the woods, which is a different sort of scary)
• Dreamcatcher (relatively long and gets pretty messed up, but I have fond memories of it, weirdly)
• From a Buick 8 (relatively tame Castle Rock story)

Non-horror

• The Dead Zone (relatively short, may be a tough read in the current political climate)
• The Eyes of the Dragon (traditional fantasy)
• Dolores Claiborne (relatively short, fairly mundane)
• The Green Mile (one of my favourites)
• Under the Dome (very long, very upsetting for a lot of the length)

Dark Tower

• The Gunslinger (very short, and just gives an opening glimpse into the world and Roland)
• Drawing of the Three (relatively short, introduces to the wider group of protagonists)
• The Waste Lands (one of my favourite of this series)
• Wizard and Glass (flashback! one of my favourite in the series)

Took a long hiatus from here, and the books get long and have a different feel

• Wolves of the Calla (long)

• Song of Susannah (not as long, starts including a lot of other characters from the Kingiverse)

• The Dark Tower (long)

Short Stories and Novellas

• Different Seasons (Probably one of the single greatest story collections ever written - includes Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption, Apt Pupil, and the Body, which all were made into films, and are each moving in their own way)
• Four Past Midnight (Another novella collection; a step below Different Seasons, but they range from good to great)
• Nightmares and Dreamscapes (Probably my favourite short story collection of his - has a mix of serious, very silly, and deep - all hail Chattery Teeth)
• Hearts in Atlantis (I really did not like this one - the first story is decent and has ties to the Dark Tower series, but the others, for me, were meh)
• Everything's Eventual (another great short story collection, including a long novella starring Roland from the Dark Tower. A bit less fun than Nightmares and Dreamscapes)

If I had to recommend, I'd say Eyes of the Dragon is a great starting place if you're into fantasy, and you might want to check out the first two books of Dark Tower (if you don't like Eddie and the gang in book 2, it's probably not worth sticking around). You might also want to try reading book versions of films you've watched - I think the Shining is a fantastic novel and really goes much, much deeper than the film, The Green Mile is pretty amazing, and the novellas from Different Seasons are also really great. I personally love Nightmares and Dreamscapes, too, and that might give you a bit of the overall flavour of his writing to help you choose where you might want to go next. I haven't read as much of his recent work (too busy, sadly), but he has written a lot of different kinds of stories, and there's likely something he's written that you might like. I would avoid the super long and super weird stuff for now, unless you're into that, but things like It get really weird. Enjoy!

If you enjoy Fairy Tale then I have to recommend Eyes of the Dragon. That was maybe my second Stephen King book and it was - and still is - amazing.

I've read IT, The Shining and Running Man, out of those, I enjoyed The Running Man most, but The Shining is definitely a close second.

I really like his not scary work, which i never find to be scary at all. 11.22.63, Cujo, Shawshank, The Shining — all great. the Mr Mercedes trilogy was okay at first but twisted in a corny direction.

For the most part, i’d you recognize a title of his, it’ll be pretty good.