Where to Begin?: My Thoughts on the Best "First" Read

I came across a couple of YouTube videos where fans were making recommendations as to what would be a great first read for the King uninitiated.  That got me thinking: what would I recommend?

Without confirming the precise number, Stephen King has written approximately 60 novels and something like 200 short stories.  That’s an incredible body of work, and a huge task in determining where to begin. 

There are at least a few novels that I think would be a less than ideal place to start.  For me, those would be Dreamcatcher, Gerald’s Game, and Mr. Mercedes.  The first two titles are, for my money, not particularly well written books.  The third is perfectly adequate, and features some good characters, but is, on the whole, fairly “by-the-numbers” plot-wise, and therefore not a good representation of King’s writing and creativity overall.  

I also think the Dark Tower books are probably not the right entry point either.  That series has just about everything you’d want from a King story, in terms of dynamic characters, an epic scope, earnest emotion, and great thrills.  But it is such a mishmash of genres, and so sci-fi heavy, that it’s just not likely to appeal to everyone.

My feeling is that while King’s writing has grown more refined and artful over the years, some of his best reads are still his early ones.  Some of those contain his most vividly realized, deeply drawn characters.  And certainly a good number of his earlier works are the ones that leave the strongest, most lasting impression.  Given that, I am inclined to say that it’s hard to go wrong with novels like The Shining or ‘Salem’s Lot.

Part of me would love to suggest starting with The Stand, which remains my personal favorite.  But I am going to veer away from recommending one of King’s weightiest tomes on the first go-around, given that there is too much risk that it will put a new reader off to him.  As incredibly good as his biggest novels are—stuff like IT or Under the Dome--they require a certain level of commitment to make it all the way through them.  They are better reads once you’ve familiarized yourself with his style a bit.

Pet Sematary and Misery are outstanding novels, and either of those may be a good first read.  Certainly, both are very well written and contain many remarkable sequences, are suspenseful, and are legitimate page-turners.  They might be especially good to start with if you haven’t seen the movies, but I’m guessing that’s a rare situation for many people, given how popular those adaptations are.

The “Bachman” books are all worthy options, since they are modest in length and rich in various pleasures.  The Long Walk in particular seems to be a novel that works for a lot of people, and is therefore one which may inspire a continuing interest in King.  But I am reticent to suggest any of those books as a first read because King wasn’t writing as himself, so you could argue that they aren’t an ideal representation of his “typical” style.   

In a lot of ways, Carrie is an ideal intro to King, since it is on the shorter side among his novels, contains very memorable characters, and is scary as well as emotionally affecting.  It is his first published novel, and I suppose that shows in terms of overall quality.  But it is also a good measuring stick in terms of figuring out if King is an author you’ll like.  It is certainly possible to start with one of King’s non-supernatural stories, and that may be a big selling point for certain readers.  But most of King’s work contains at least some supernatural elements, so I think it’s better to just dive in as far as that’s concerned.  As a rule, I am not necessarily the biggest fan of “supernatural” stories, but it wasn’t a deal-breaker when I read Carrie the first time, because King writes, first and foremost, from a human angle.  And his writing proves that if the characters are real enough, and the stakes are sufficiently high, the essential power of the story will win out in the end, regardless of how strange or “unrealistic” certain plot elements are.  You could do a lot worse than starting with this one.

But ultimately, the novel I think is best to begin with is The Dead Zone.  It is an earlier work by King, but it contains some excellent prose.  King’s voice, which is admittedly often loud and in-your-face, here is quieter, more restrained.  The tone and style of The Dead Zone is deliberate and thoughtful.  It does not feel like it was rushed.  There is a supernatural leaning in the book, yes, but the story is overwhelmingly realistic in how it explores the implications of Johnny’s abilities, and in depicting how it changes the way Johnny relates to the world around him.  The emotional through-line of the novel is very strong and affecting.  Just about everything that happens it in—even the thriller-ish elements--feels convincing, because it is all motivated primarily by characters’ choices.  I had very few qualms with this book when I put it down.  And I’ve thought about it a lot in the couple of months since I finished it.

 
Now is actually a particularly interesting time to read this book, since there are some strangely relevant parallels to the political scenario depicted in the book and the situation we find ourselves in currently.  I won’t say more about it than that, but I’m confident you’ll find it as weirdly similar as I did.
 
If you can appreciate The Dead Zone, I think you’ll like a lot of King’s other books.  The only real risk is that The Dead Zone is so good that you might be let down by some of his later, less substantial stuff.  If that’s the case, and you decide against reading anything else by King, at least you’ll have read one of his best!