Thursday, May 1, 2014

Author Love: Stephen King


Have you ever met an author that inspired you, awed you, made you go out and read everything s/he has ever written?  I sure have, and today I am going to share with you the author that first impacted me in this way.

STEPHEN KING

If you have never heard of Stephen King, you must be living under a rock because this man is quite the prolific writer and has been around for decades.  He is most well-known as a writer of horror -- crazy, scary stories.  However, there is so much more to him than meets the eye.  He has a number of stories out there that go way behind the scary.  He has a way of capturing the truth of humanity, both the good and the bad.  He explores many circumstances that many of us go out of our way to avoid.  And, one of my personal favorite things about the man is his ability to develop characters that create amazingly strong reactions, both the love and the hate.

My first book by King that I was introduced to was Carrie way back in my high school days.  Not long after that, I grabbed The Stand and that is when my love was cemented.  With some authors, I go through stages and read their work and then move on.  King is one that has been constant for me.  I fell for the work of King a couple of decades ago.  Last year, I re-read The Shining and The Eyes of the Dragon and loved them even more the second time around.  I don't think my love for this author will be waning any time soon.

The good thing about this author is that I still have a lot of his work to read.  I leave my love for this author with a complete list of his work as of today, courtesy of StephenKing.com.  I have bolded all those books that I have read to date.  Those books marked with asterisks (**) are my favorite reads.  (If you are a fellow fan and see something missing from my list, please let me know!)


NOVELS
11/22/63
'Salem's Lot
Bag of Bones
Blackhouse 
Carrie
Cell
Christine
The Colorado Kid
Cujo
Cycle of the Werewolf
The Dark Half
The Dark Tower #1:  The Gunslinger
The Dark Tower #2:  The Drawing of the Three
The Dark Tower #3:  The Wastelands
The Dark Tower #4:  Wizard and Glass
The Dark Tower #4.5:  The Wind Through the Keyhole
The Dark Tower #5:  Wolves of the Calla
The Dark Tower #6:  Song of Susannah
The Dark Tower #7:  The Dark Tower
The Dead Zone
Desperation
Doctor Sleep** 
Dolores Claiborne
Dreamcatcher
Duma Key
The Eyes of the Dragon**
The Firestarter
From a Buick 8
Gerald's Game
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon
The Green Mile #1:  Two Dead Girls
The Green Mile #2:  The Mouse on the Mile
The Green Mile #3:  Coffey's Hands
The Green Mile #4:  The Bad Death of Eduard Delacroix
The Green Mile #5:  Night Journey
The Green Mile $6:  Coffey on the Mile
Insomnia
IT
Joyland
Lisey's Story
Misery
Mr. Mercedes (Coming June 2014)
Needful Things
Pet Semetary
The Plant:  Zenith Rising
Revival (Coming November 2014)
Rose Madder
The Shining**
The Stand (Complete & Uncut)**
The Talisman
The Tommyknockers
Under the Dome

NON-FICTION
Danse Macabre
Faithful 
GUNS
Mid-Life Confidential:  The Rock Bottom Remainders Tour America With Three Chords and an Attitude
Nightmares in the Sky
On Writing:  A Memoir of the Craft
Secret Windows:  Essays and Fiction on the Craft of Fiction

SHORT STORY COLLECTIONS
Different Seasons
Everything's Eventual
Four Past Midnight**
Full Dark, No Stars
Hearts in Atlantis
Just After Sunset
Night Shift
Nightmares & Dreamscapes
Skeleton Crew
Stephen King Goes to the Movies

BACHMAN NOVELS
Blaze
The Long Walk
Rage
The Regulators
Roadwork
The Running Man
Thinner**

SCREENPLAYS
Sorry, Right Number
Storm of the Century

OTHER
Blood & Smoke (Audiobook)
LT's Theory of Pets (Audiobook)


I will admit that the ONE book that I was not really a fan of was Dreamcatcher.  This is one of the few cases that I enjoyed the movie more than the book.  All other books were good and 100% worth my time to read, even if they did not make my favorites list.  King's work is simply solid and I believe he will go down in history with the likes of Poe -- talented, diverse, and just plain good!

Are you a fan of Stephen King?  Why?  What have been your favorite reads?

12 comments:

  1. There have been a few King books that I did not care for at all. Most were written during his recovery from the accident that nearly killed him. I think the addiction to pain meds played a role. Those books had a different tone altogether. I like his older stuff better but lately, his new new stuff like Joyland, has been good but low key. I sort of like it. With his two new ones coming out soon, I wonder which path they will take. One sounds more like him than the other.

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    1. Ti ... I'm curious which titles you are referring to that you didn't care for! I tend to like his older stuff better as well, but I have read more of the older stuff so that might play into my opinion a little bit! I need to catch up on the newer stuff. I already have a number of the unread books on my shelf. Now, I just need to find the time to read them all!!

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  2. I have also loved everything by King that I have read bit have so many I haven't read. Will have to remedy that.

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    1. Mari Reads ... He just has sooooo much stuff out there!! Someday, I will be caught up!

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  3. The Dark Half is one of my favorites. Also, I'd highly recommend Misery. The characterization that he's so good at really shines here since the majority of the book is just two characters.

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    1. Charleen Lynette ... I haven't read either of those, and I really need to! Maybe I need to have a month where I just read King, kind of like what people did in March!

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  4. I am a huge fan of Stephen King and even run the Stephen King group on goodreads. After I finish this series on my blog (Project Disney) I think I am going to do Project King after that and try to read all the books of his that I haven't read. I even got to see King speak in Boulder last year. So fun!

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    1. Angela's Anxious Life ... I don't know about this Stephen King group on Goodreads! Can you share a link please?!? I think I need to take a month and just read a bunch of King myself, but I'm not sure when I would do it. And, I'm sooooo jealous that you got to hear him speak!! I bet that was amazing!!

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  5. Impressive Tif! I have read THREE King books! :) The Stand, On Writing and Under the Dome. For years I was scared to death to read his stuff, and that still lingers a bit, but I think I could handle a bit more now. I have 11/22/63 on my Kindle so hopefully that will be the next one.

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    1. Suey ... I am hesitant in recommending some of his books, but I have heard amazing things about 11/22/63. There are a number of other books that are amazing and I would recommend as well. I know that I have recommended The Eyes of the Dragon to you before, but there is also The Green Mile that is really good.

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  6. Hey! Love his work too. Favorites include-The Stand, It (even though the ending gave me pause), Four Seasons, Night Shift (I love his short story collections in general, but this one my favorite), Needful Things. I think one of the reasons I am a find is he is great at epic horror/storytelling, he is fearless when it comes to writing right on the bone (scary bone!) or should I say to the bone. Going to the bookstore today...you have me thinking I need a King novel that I have not read yet!

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    1. Deb ... Ohhhh, keep me posted on what book you end up getting, especially if it is a King book!

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