Stephen King Fans discussion

This is what I have read 'recently.'

I have been reading King from the age of 12, when my Nana let me borrow a book that she thought 'wasn't too bad.' I had been bitten and quickly transformed into a constant reader.

Some books were read so long ago that they are due for a re-read as my eyes, heart, and mind see things differently than I did as a young child or even a young adult. Other books I somehow never got around to reading, and this list will assist me in sussing out my wandering path of leisure reading.

Such an enjoyable journey King has written for us all!

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Carrie (1974)
Salem’s Lot (1975)
The Shining (1977)
Rage (1977)
Night Shift (1978)
The Stand (1978)
The Long Walk (1979) [by Richard Bachman]
The Dead Zone (1979)
Firestarter (1980)
Roadwork (1981) [by Richard Bachman]
Danse Macabre (1981)
Cujo (1981)
The Running Man (1982) [by Richard Bachman]
The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger (1982)
Different Seasons (1982)
Christine (1983)
Cycle of the Werewolf (1983)
Pet Sematary (1983)
The Eyes of the Dragon (1984)
The Talisman (1984) with Peter Straub
Thinner (1984) [by Richard Bachman]
Skeleton Crew (1985)
IT (1986)
The Dark Tower: The Drawing of the Three (1987)
Misery (1987)
The Tommyknockers (1987)
The Dark Half (1989)
The Stand: The Complete & Uncut Edition (1990)
Four Past Midnight (1990)
The Dark Tower: The Waste Lands (1991)
Needful Things (1991)
Gerald’s Game (1992)
Dolores Claiborne (1992)
Nightmares & Dreamscapes (1993)
Insomnia (1994)
Rose Madder (1995)
The Green Mile (1996)
Desperation (1996)
The Regulators (1996) [by Richard Bachman]
The Dark Tower: Wizard and Glass (1997)
Bag of Bones (1998)
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon (1999)
Hearts in Atlantis (1999)
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft (2000)
LT's Theory of Pets (2001)
Dreamcatcher (2001)
Black House (2001) with Peter Straub
Everything’s Eventual (2001)
From a Buick 8 (2002)
The Dark Tower: Wolves of the Calla (2003)
The Dark Tower: Song of Susannah (2004)
The Dark Tower: The Dark Tower (2004)
Faithful (2004) with Stewart O’Nan
The girl Who Loved Tom Gordon pop up book (2004)
The Colorado Kid (2005)
Cell (2006)
Lisey’s Story (2006)
The Secretary of Dreams: Volume One (2006)
Blaze (2007) [by Richard Bachman]
Duma Key (2008)
Just After Sunset (2008)
Under the Dome (2009)
Blockade Billy (2010)
The Secretary of Dreams: Volume 2 (2010)
Full Dark, No Stars (2010)
11/22/63 (2011)
The Dark Tower: The Wind Through the Keyhole (2012)
Joyland (2013)
The Dark Man (2013)
Doctor Sleep (2013)
Mr. Mercedes (2014)
Revival (2014)
Finders Keepers (2015)
The Bazaar of Bad Dreams (2015)
End of Watch (2016)
Charlie the Choo-Choo (2016) [by Beryl Evans]
Gwendy’s Button Box (2017) with Richard Chizmar
Sleeping Beauties (2017) with Owen King
The Outsider (2018)
Flight or Fright (2018) coedited with Bev Vincent
Elevation (2018)
The Institute (2019)
If It Bleeds (2020)
Later (2021)
Billy Summers (2021)
Gwendy's Final Task (2022)
Fairy Tale (2022)
Holly (2023)
You Like it Darker (2024)
Never Flinch (2025)
Hansel and Gretel (2025)
Other Worlds Than These (2026)

My challenge for year 2024 is to reread all of my Stephen King hardbacks that I have. And I have most of them...not all yet. Going to start with Salems Lot as that is first book of King I ever read way back in junior high. I have read whole Dark Tower series and the long and short version of The Stand. Still trying to get through Fairy Tale though. About 200 pages left. I am to the part where Charlie is in the dungeon. Wish me luck on finishing it. Happy Thursday

How did you do with Fairy Tale?

I have been lax on checking into this to update and completely missed your post!

Finished Fairy Tale finally. Working on some other stuff for an online class I am taking. The Iliad is the subject now. Eventually I want to read "Holly" which I bought recently. Happy Tuesday

How did you make out with your class, Sandy?

My apologies for taking so long to get back to you. It has been nearly a year! My guess is that you have read Holly and perhaps another in between your studies.

I do hope that this message finds you exceptionally well and enjoying reading and life in general.

With each re-read I realize how fortunate we are to have such an incredibly talented author who has not only written a diverse catalogue, but continues to write with interest and intensity.

There are a lot of great stories out there to be read, but the pool of authors who not only understand human personalities, interests, though processes and patterns, and all of those things that people don't necessarily want to disclose, but can also turn that intimate knowledge into living breathing characters is tiny in comparison to the number of published authors.

Stephen King was my first adult book, and he spoiled me with his character and world building. My expectations were that fictional characters were like real people and fictional worlds could be walked around in. Turns out that 'shitty author' who didn't 'really know how to write correctly' and didn't write literary works, so wasn't all that special, if pretty freaking special after all.

I appreciated his novels as a 12 year old, sneak reading his books by flashlight under the covers, and I appreciate them even more now as an adult.

I just finished The Green Mile. An iconic story that even those in my life who don't read King have either read the book, watched the movie or both. It's beautiful. It's heartbreaking. It feels like a story brought to life through the voices in the past, rather than a creation from the mind of a master story teller. Like it's too good not to be true.

Happy reading!

I've just finished Rose Madder, have Everything's Eventual: 14 Dark Tales in my library queue and On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft on my virtual book shelf.

A little over 2 years in and I may actually finish, or come close to finishing around the 3 year mark. I'm not rushing. I am very much enjoying the journey.

Once I have finished, I will likely go on and re-read some of my favorites, or maybe just start over.

Happy reading!