As of right now, horror is really the only genre of fiction I haven't really read. I've read historical novels, sci-fi, fantasy, etc. All of the genre fiction, but the only horror novel I've read so far is Dracula by Bram Stoker (great book btw).

So I was wondering what people thought of King's novels and which what they thought was the best one. I know many will probably say "No Sab, go read this book by this author. It's much better than King!". Well, I am picking King for a specific reason. My mom has just about every King book there is. So I figured if I'm going to try out some horror novels, might as well be free. :)

Edit: Added a poll of the most popular ones that I could think of.

Several of Stephen King's early novels are really blatant rip-offs of Dracula. I forget which ones. I haven't read him since I was in high school.

It
Salem's Lot
Bag of Bones
Cujo

The Dead Zone is one of my absolute favorite novels, but I don't know that you would call it horror...

Edit: Poll wasn't listed when I posted this... :)

I say "The Stand", although I'm not sure if it should considered horror or epic fantasy.

Carrie - Damn fine scary story
Christine - Not as scary as some, but a good story
Salem's Lot - Quite scary at points
The Stand - Not horror
It - Made me scared of drains for quite a while when I was a kid. One of my favorites.
Cujo - Another really good story with some very scary moments
Pet Sematary - Probably the most truly frightening of his novels. Not sure how I forgot it on my previous list.
The Shining - EXCELLENT read with many very scary moments
The Dark Half - Crap. Don't bother with it...

I'd say It, despite it's flaws (repetitions, primarily). The only book that I've read in its entirety almost every year since it was released. The best depiction of childhood friendships and imagination I've come across. The scary stuff's just a bonus.

I'd recommend It as well. I used to be a big reader of King's before I grew tired of him to a degree.

Also, I'd recommend the short story collection Night Shift. I particularly enjoyed The Boogeyman, Strawberry Spring, and The Last Rung on the Ladder (which isn't a horror story, but is really good and touching in it's own way).

I pretty much agree with Jeeber's breakdown (although I liked the Dark Half).

The Stand is one of my favorite books, but it's not horror.
1st horror choice would probably be It, and then Salem's Lot.

a couple you didn't mention are his short story compilations - Skeleton Crew and Night Shift both have some really nice stuff in there, and might be a nice place to start. Different Seasons - a collection of 4 novellas - is interesting, although definitely not horror: Shawshank Redemption and Stand By Me are based on stories from that one.

Tommyknockers is another good one, but not a good example of horror.

I voted It because The Stand isn't horror. The Stand is one of my favorite books of all time, however.

I also voted It, although for me it was close between that and Pet Sematary.

I've never read any of King's stuff besides what I'm reading now.. The Dark Tower series.

I've read almost all of his stuff. My favorites are The Stand: Complete and Uncut and The Dark Tower Series. Neither are horror.

As far as his horror books go I liked three of your choices a lot. Salems Lot, It, and the Shining were good. If you like Vampire stories go with Salems Lot.

I also really enjoyed the Bachman books. The Long Walk in particular was really good, I thought.

IT is fantastic, one of the best books I've ever read. Try the long walk, not scary just really cool. The talisman is also good stuff.

I think his best book is the Stand, it is just so epic.

If you want a good light read start with The eyes of the Dragon, great fantasy stuff.

I voted for Pet Sematary as that was the first one i read from him. Since that i became totally addicted to his novels and now i own and have read all them. Still keep buying the new novels he releases, even the ones with the fake author name "Richard Bachman". He is probably my favourite novels author along with Anne Rice.
The only one i could not finish as found it too weird was DESPERATION, didnt' liek the plot at all. I havent' ever read the Dark Tower series as i'm less into fantastic novels. Maybe i should try them.

One thing you must know is that he takes like half of the book talking about every personage that appears in the book so usually the first half of the books are slow paced (and boring for my wife for example), with descriptions and flash backs for all the people that lives in the town, but at same time it helps a lot to get you inmersed and ready for the second half... where the nightmare starts!

NOTE: For Anne Rice stuff you can check her website, most of the novel series are about vampires or witches, and as you know, the first novel was made into the vampires movie with Tom Cruise, another one had a movie too, "The queen of the damned". I like them a lot as are not the typical vampires novels where they are bad guys that hate garlic, etc but that they are shown on a "modern" way and even seing them as cruel beasts, you also like them a lot and how they enjoy the life pleasures (sex, food, luxury, etc).

The Vampire Chronicles (http://www.annerice.com/bs_VampireChronicles.htm)
New Tales of the Vampires (http://www.annerice.com/bs_NewTalesOfTheVampire.htm)
Lives of the Mayfair Witches (http://www.annerice.com/bs_MayfairWitches.htm)

I voted for Salem's Lot because it was the scariest for me. The part where the kids are floating outside the window trying to get in is creepy (almost Mike Shanahan creepy). It was a close second.

The Stand, while not as scary, was a good read. I also liked the uncut version with the pictures from Berni Wrightson.

The Shining was some scary stuff in its day. Pet Sematary was quite creepy, too. Some of my favorite stories from King were in his short story compilations. The Long Walk and The Mist were two of my favorites.

The Shining is his best horror book in my opinion. I hated Bag of Bones the first time I read it, but loved it when I picked it up again this year.

I also voted It, although for me it was close between that and Pet Sematary.
Bingo

I also really enjoyed the Bachman books. The Long Walk in particular was really good, I thought.


That is far and away my favorite Stephen King book...though it isn't horror. Desperation is my favorite horror story from him...it ties in with the Regulators - same family, but the characters are switched around (the ones who were the kids in Desperation are the parents in The Regulators).

The Stand is awesome, but same thought.

It is very good, I liked (and I think most people didn't) Needful Things a good bit, too.

NOTE: For Anne Rice stuff you can check her website, most of the novel series are about vampires or witches, and as you know, the first novel was made into the vampires movie with Tom Cruise, another one had a movie too, "The queen of the damned". I like them a lot as are not the typical vampires novels where they are bad guys that hate garlic, etc but that they are shown on a "modern" way and even seing them as cruel beasts, you also like them a lot and how they enjoy the life pleasures (sex, food, luxury, etc).

The Vampire Chronicles (http://www.annerice.com/bs_VampireChronicles.htm)
New Tales of the Vampires (http://www.annerice.com/bs_NewTalesOfTheVampire.htm)
Lives of the Mayfair Witches (http://www.annerice.com/bs_MayfairWitches.htm)

I really enjoyed her Vampire Chronicles too.

Funny. I just checked out Everything's Eventual from the library in order to re-read it. It's another of his short story collections, with a couple that are just EXCELLENT.

I voted for the stand, although as it's been pointed out, it's not really horror.

I have to agree with the some of the others, his short story and/or novella compilations are almost always outstanding...

You can't go wrong with It or the Stand, but if you want horror, go with It.

Thanks for the reponses. Looks like I'll be breaking out It and definately adding The Stand to my reading list.

Cujo always seemed kind of dumb to me.

I'll go with the screenplay of Maximum Overdrive.

The Stand was the best book he ever wrote...he has plenty of other good ones...but that book was great!

I have always thought Salem's Lot was his best Horror work, although I found Pet Sematary to be more frightening.

The stand is probably my favorite overall work of King's, but I don't really think it was horror. 'It' was actually the begining of the end for me and King. I really didn't like it. Well more specifically I hated the ending.

I did read the first of the Dark Tower series...I loved the first chapter or two, liked the next few, made it through the next bit, trudged through a chapter or two, and then couldn't actually finish. When I read the afterward, I think it was the afterward, King describes that he wrote the first chapters while writing Salem's Lot and some other greats, and then put the story away to return to it several times over the intervening years. In my mind, it illustrated how, in my mind, his work had deteriorated over the years. I'm really not a fan of the recent stuff, but then again I've read very little of his stuff since It.