I finally bought my first Stephen King book, The Shining. Having achieved the ultimate reading goal and read 100 books, I’ll go for some comfort and casual reading for December. Stephen King is the perfect choice since I have never read him, nor do I know where to start. I want scary, horrifying, creepy; but I have a hard time wading into sci-fi or some paranormal dimension. So upon a little research I came up with a short list that is more than enough to while away the holidays.
1. It. A monster stalks little kids. This book sounds like the true face of horror.
2. The Shining. A haunted hotel. I’m always a sucker of haunted hotel story, despite the fact that I stay in one every month.
3. Pet Semetary. A dead child buried in ancient Indian grounds comes back alive—and ready to kill mommy and daddy. Anyone not scared? It’s like a haunting version of Christianity. Resurrection gone bad!
4. The Stand. This one has scenes that are scary. The tunnel, other Abigail and the wolves, etc
5. Desperation. A book that opens with a crucified cat should be on anyone’s list of most scary King novels.
6. The Dark Half. What if your alter-ego was alive and well — killing people? I thought it was scary.
7. Carrie. Short and to the point, I think this book is really more a novella. However, it is definitely spooky. It rightly set the stage to typecast the author as the King of Horror.
Most of these are only available (new) in pocket paperbacks, which I usually avoid because they can be a hand full with prints so close to the spines. The bright side is that they will make perfect airport novels. The Shining is 659 pages long, in a 12-point Times Roman so it should be a quick read.
Filed under: Books | Tagged: Personal, Reading, Stephen King |
A Guy's Moleskine Notebook 
its wonderful isnt it? It was my first King book and it set the bar impossibly high for every other book I ever read
I had to put The Shining in my freezer because I got too freaked out. I hope you have a better experience. : )
I love Stephen King, so I hope you come out of this loving him too! The Stand, Carrie, Pet Semetary and The Shining are his most well known books for a reason, I’m sure you’ll enjoy your December!
I think the 1st King novel I ever read was The Tommyknockers, and I loved it! My favorite though is The Stand, which is one of the few novels that I pull off the shelf and re-read every few years. Hope you enjoy The Shining!!
I just think King is amazing. For a creepy and scary but not in the dark, horror type of way, The Long Walk is a good King read, too! It’s probably my favorite. And another super creepy (but also has some weird sexual things) and has an “is it real or am I imagining” piece is Gerald’s Game.
Those two are probably my favorite King books because they could actually happen in real life, which are my favorite types of scary stories!
My TBR for next year includes IT, and I am super excited to finally try it out. Being a fan of horror, you’d think I would be all over King, but I haven’t indulged myself in “fun” reading in a while. I’ve heard great things about The Shining, so I hope you’ll enjoy it.
Wow I used to read too much King back in the day. My favourites are the fantasy ones, The Eyes of the Dragon (YA) and The Gunslinger (The Dark Tower 1). I also favour the collection Different Seasons because it contains two of his best novellas: Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption (film: The Shawshank Redemption) and The Body (film: Stand by Me). I rather also liked The Stand, The Talisman, and The Dark Half. The creepiest for me were Misery and Pet Sematary.
Another good short novel of his is The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon. If you’d prefer short stories, try Graveyard Shift or Skeleton Crew.