My Long Walk Through Stephen King's Lot

Of all of Stephen King's "classic" books, 'Salem's Lot is the one I've historically been least enamored with.   I know it's a favorite of many fans.   But me?   I was always underwhelmed by it.   But leading into Halloween, I decided to give it another read, given that it's been years since I first read it (probably fifteen or so), and since I always like to observe the spooky season by reading something of King's in the "horror" realm. Folks, let me tell you: I was dead wrong about this book.   This is a great novel.   I'm a much bigger, and more knowledgeable, King fan than I was when I first encountered the book.   So I now realize that 'Salem's Lot was only King's second published novel.   Of course I also know King had been writing for a while before publishing Carrie (and that some of the books released later were actually written prior to 'Salem's Lot ), but regardless, Lot is still an ear...

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. ...

So, no, I'm not really referring to making my way through Stephen King's  Dark Tower series.  I've already completed that.  The title of this post is just a lame Stephen King reference, much like the name of my blog. I simply want to write something at the outset that gives a little of my history as a Stephen King fan.  I haven't read all of his work, but I am on a determined course to do so.  In the last ten or so years, I've come across more and more of King's writing that continues to persuade me that he is more gifted, and capable of deeper, more eloquent writing, than he is frequently given credit for. This post will highlight what I've read up until now, and hopefully express a little about why I value his writing so much.  I consider myself an avid fan of Stephen King’s books, but my journey began with his movies.  I was a young adolescent when I first encountered the frightful, gory, and depressing “Pet Se...