Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Top Ten Tuesday: Childhood Favorite Stephen King Books


Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week’s topic is a Halloween-themed freebie. I’m going to list my top ten childhood favorite Stephen King books. Stephen King was pretty much the only author I read when I was a preteen/teen. These are the books that I remember loving the most when I was younger. I wonder how much my opinions would change if I reread them as an adult?




10. The Shining

Danny was only five years old, but in the words of old Mr Halloran, he was a 'shiner,' aglow with psychic voltage. When his father became caretaker of the Overlook Hotel, his visions grew frighteningly out of control. 
As winter closed in and blizzards cut them off, the hotel seemed to develop a life of its own. It was meant to be empty, but who was the lady in Room 217, and who were the masked guests going up and down in the elevator? And why did the hedges shaped like animals seem so alive? 
Somewhere, somehow, there was an evil force in the hotel—and that too had begun to shine . . .



9. The Talisman

On a brisk autumn day, a thirteen-year-old boy stands on the shores of the gray Atlantic, near a silent amusement park and a fading ocean resort called the Alhambra. The past has driven Jack Sawyer here: His father is gone, his mother is dying, and the world no longer makes sense. But for Jack, everything is about to change. For he has been chosen to make a journey across America—and into another realm.




8. Lisey’s Story

Lisey Debusher Landon lost her husband, Scott, two years ago, after a twenty-five-year marriage of the most profound and sometimes frightening intimacy. Scott was an award-winning, bestselling novelist and a very complicated man. Early in their relationship, before they married, Lisey had to learn from him about books and blood and bools. Later, she understood that there was a place Scott went—a place that both terrified and healed him, that could eat him alive or give him the ideas he needed in order to live. Now it's Lisey's turn to face Scott's demons, Lisey's turn to go to Boo'ya Moon. What begins as a widow's effort to sort through the papers of her celebrated husband becomes a nearly fatal journey into the darkness he inhabited. Perhaps King's most personal and powerful novel, Lisey's Story is about the wellsprings of creativity, the temptations of madness, and the secret language of love.



7. Pet Sematary

Sometimes dead is better . . . When the Creeds move into a beautiful old house in rural Maine, it all seems too good to be true: physician father, beautiful wife, charming little daughter, adorable infant son—and now an idyllic home. As a family, they've got it all . . . right down to the friendly cat. But the nearby woods hide a blood-chilling truth—more terrifying than death itself . . . and hideously more powerful.



6. Needful Things

A wonderful new store has opened in the little town of Castle Rock, Maine. Whatever your heart’s secret desire—sexual pleasure, wealth, power, or even more precious things—it’s for sale. And even though every item has a nerve-shattering price, the owner is always ready to make a bargain.




5. On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

Part memoir, part master class by one of the bestselling authors of all time, this superb volume is a revealing and practical view of the writer's craft, comprising the basic tools of the trade every writer must have. King's advice is grounded in his vivid memories from childhood through his emergence as a writer, from his struggling early career to his widely reported near-fatal accident in 1999—and how the inextricable link between writing and living spurred his recovery. Brilliantly structured, friendly, and inspiring, On Writing will empower and entertain everyone who reads it—fans, writers, and anyone who loves a great story well told.



4. Different Seasons

From the magical pen of Stephen King, four mesmerizing novellas . . . 
Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption: An unjustly imprisoned convict seeks a strange and startling revenge . . . the basis for the Best Picture Academy Award nominee The Shawshank Redemption. 
Apt Pupil: Todd Bowden is one of the top students in his high school class and a typical American sixteen-year-old—until he becomes obsessed with the dark and deadly past of an older man in town. The inspiration for the film Apt Pupil from Phoenix Pictures. 
The Body: Four rambunctious young boys plunge through the façade of a small town and come face-to-face with life, death, and intimations of their own mortality. The film Stand By Me is based on this novella. 
The Breathing Method: A disgraced woman is determined to triumph over death.



3. The Long Walk

On the first day of May, 100 teenage boys meet for a race known as "The Long Walk." If you break the rules, you get three warnings. If you exceed your limit, what happens is absolutely terrifying . . .



2. The Stand

Imagine America devastated by a vast killer plague that moves from coast to coast. Imagine the countryside destroyed and great cities decimated as the entire population desperately and futilely seeks safety. Imagine then an even greater evil rising to threaten the survivors—and a last embattled group of men and women coming together to make a last stand against it.



1. The Green Mile

At Cold Mountain Penitentiary, along the lonely stretch of cells known as the Green Mile, killers as depraved as the psychopathic "Billy the Kid" Wharton and the possessed Eduard Delacroix await death strapped in "Old Sparky." Here guards as decent as Paul Edgecombe and as sadistic as Percy Wetmore watch over them. But good or evil, innocent or guilty, none have ever seen the brutal likes of the new prisoner, John Coffey, sentenced to death for raping and murdering two young girls. Is Coffey a devil in human form? Or is he a far, far different kind of being?


What is your favorite Stephen King book? 






12 comments:

  1. I read Stephen King back in the day. The sad thing is I have no idea which ones. It was only two I think but they weren't the ones everyone knows. It was before goodreads and I can't for the life of me remember. I know I did enjoy them! I am going to be starting Mr. Mercedes soon though!

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  2. The Long Walk is one of my favourite books. I read it a few years ago and I still find myself thinking about it.

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  3. Oh, I think King only gets better with age! I've been reading him since I was 14 and have a ton of favorites! LISEY'S STORY is a particularly good one I don't see people talk about much (so glad to see it here!) and I'm a HUGE fan of the Dark Tower series.

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  4. I seriously NEED to read SOMETHING by Stephen King. It's embarrassing. I've seen some of the films based on his books - like The Green Mile - and I've enjoyed them a lot so I have no idea what the holdup is on my end. Hopefully soon, I'll fix this gaping hole in my bookish knowledge LOL! Awesome list^^

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  5. For some reason, The Stand scared me more than any of his other books....

    Kate @ Ex Libris

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  6. I am so glad I am not the only teen who read Stephen King! Have you read The Black House? It's a companion/sequel to The Talisman and I was really surprised how much I liked it.

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  7. I didn't know 'The Green Mile' was Stephen King! I really liked 'Different Seasons' but haven't read anything else by him - I really need to!

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  8. Oh.. now I'm shamefully reminded that I've never read anything by Stephen King!! I'm currently reading Joe Hill... does that count? :P

    My TTT

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  9. My parents didn't let me read anything by Stephen King so I was new to him as an adult. The Long Walk is definitely my favorite though!!

    Here are my Top Ten!

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  10. Completely embarrassed to admit I have not read any Stephen King books...yet! I want too and this is definitely a very helpful list to help me get started :)

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  11. I must admit that I haven't read ANY Stephen King books. I know, I know. My parents owned just about every single one, and I always just assumed I was too scared for them haha. Even my dad was incredibly freaked out by Pet Semetary. I DO want to read something now though, because I am less scared of stuff, so maybe it would work. I will have to start with one of these! Great list :)
    Shannon @ It Starts At Midnight

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  12. Not sure how I missed this post.

    My favorites from King are The Long Walk, Misery, and Running Man. Though it seems you've read more of his than I have.

    Needful Things seems interesting.

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