Guide to Stephen King

Hello readers! Today’s post is one that I have been thinking of doing for a long time, but always end up cancelling. This guide to Stephen King will show you where you should start with him based on what you like to read in books. I hope this post is helpful to someone!

I think Stephen King can be an intimidating author if you haven’t read him before. He writes within so many different genres and most of his books are giant. I have read almost 30 books by him and he was the author that made me a reader.

Without any further babble, let’s get into it!

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If you are the type of reader who likes surrealism/magical realism, this is the perfect book.

Elevation is a novella about a man who is losing weight, yet remains the same size. We follow Scott Carey on his journey of losing weigh, figuring out why it is happening, and what will happen once he reaches zero.

Pet Semetary is a great place to start if you like books that explore the topic of death.

This one centers a family who move into a new house, and eventually learn of a cemetary near their house that can bring the dead back to life, but there is a catch. Once they come back, they seem to be missing their soul.

I will warn anyone in advance that there is a child death within this book, so keep that in mind before going into it.

11/22/63 is one of King’s bigger novels, but I still think it’s a good choice for those who like alternate historical fiction.

This one is about a guy named Jake Epping, who finds a portal that takes him back to 1958. He eventually decides he will stay in the past and save John F Kennedy from being assassinated.

If you are intimidated by the sheer size of this one, there is an adaptation on Hulu to watch instead!

Misery is my recommendation for those who love psychological thrillers.

Misery is about an author named Paul, who gets in a car crash in the dead of winter, and is rescued by a super fan. Paul has just finished the final novel in his series and killed off the main character, Misery Chastain. When Annie finds out, she decides to keep him captive while she forces him to rewrite the story.

I actually saw the movie before reading this one, but was pleasantly surprised that I loved it much more than the movie.

The Eyes of the Dragon is great for those who love classic fantasy novels.

This is one I know most people don’t even know exist. It’s about a Prince who is framed for his father, the King’s murder. He is imprisoned while his younger brother takes over the thrown and he has to find a way to clear his own name.

This one is very different from anything else King has written and is one of the first ones I ever read by him.

I’m recommending The Green Mile to anyone who likes literary fiction.

The Green Mile was originally published as 6 different novellas and was eventually combined into one book. This one follows a correctional officer named Paul Edgecomb, who works on death row. A black man named John Coffey is falsely accused of killing two young girls and is on his awaiting his time for the electric chair.

This is yet another King book with an adaptation, so you can always watch that if the length of the novel is too much!

Gwendy’s Button Box is co-authored by King and Richard Chizmar and I recommend it to anyone who likes horror/magical realism OR books with magical objects.

This one is about a girl named Gwendy who is given a button box by a mysterious man. He tells her what some of the buttons do, but not all of them. It is very fast paced and easy to read. It is a series, but I’ve only read book 1 and it stands on it’s own.

Carrie was King’s first published novel and I think readers who love YA would enjoy this one.

Carrie is about a teen girl who has telekinetic powers and some things happen within the book that leave her seeking deadly revenge against everyone who has wronged her.

I recommend Needful Things to anyone who likes the small town full of people with a lot of secrets trope.

Needful Things is about this shop that opens in this small town. When people go in, they find the one thing they want more than anything and they have to do a devious favor for the shop owner to obtain the thing they want and it slowly created chaos among the town.

In my opinion, this is one of King’s best works. Even though it is really big book, I think it’s worth it in the end.

I have to recommend Secret Windows for lovers of writing. I have also heard his book On Writing is even better for writers, but I haven’t personally read it yet.

I will warn anyone jumping into Secret Windows that is spoils the ending of Cujo, which I found out the hard way. Just know, King LOVES to spoil his own books.

This book contains a few short stories, stories of King himself, and all kinds of other writing related things.

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