I've been thinking about reading The Dark Tower. Good to hear it's worth it.

I have the first book of The Dark Tower that I picked up at a used book sale, and I was thinking of reading it soon, too.

Oh! Also Pet Sematary! Brutal and fantastic and chilling.

am i alone in loving The Tommyknockers? i'm thinking after i re-read The Stand(after reading all the new books on my Nook) that i'll re-read it. that, The Stand and The Green Mile are the only SK books i can remember reading when i was younger.

Oh, lord, Pet Sematary . . .

I skipped The Tommyknockers somehow. But The Green Mile is excellent.

TGM movie made me cry. TGM book made me bawl. i remember sitting in my car on lunch hour sobbing my eyes out. gah.

(Liese, I'm so glad you liked it! yay!)

I haven't read King in a long, long time, but his books have stayed with me more than a lot of the stuff I read in junior high. My dad had a whole shelf of King, and my parents didn't monitor my reading, so I burned through them the same way I did every other book in the house. I was probably too young for them-- I think I was 11 when I read Firestarter-- but I don't know what I'd think of the books now.

I've read Misery. I don't want to go there again.

I haven't read The Green Mile, but the movie had such a magical negro in it, I was never tempted.

Night Shift and Skeleton Crew are short stories, right?

I second Amy's list: my faves are The Shining, Salem's Lot, It, Dolores Claiborne and Night Shift.

The Tommyknockers, though...I remember thinking how awful it was when I read it first, and then I read it again a couple of years ago. It's one of the books King wrote when he was a huge cokehead, and you can really tell. It's pretty awful. Like Dreamcatcher.

ETA: Yes, Night Shift and Skeleton Crew are short stories, and quite good. I really like both collections.

I wouldn't recommend King's longer works to someone who's just starting. Probably The Shining or Firestarter (while I enjoyed Salem's Lot, I don't rank it quite as highly as some do -- but it isn't a bad choice). Though women may relate more personally to some of the themes and imagery in Carrie.

If you're going to start with The Stand, go with the edited version first.

Cujo and Pet Sematary are both nicely scary, but the machinery is just a little too obvious in both. As in, King moves the characters around a little too obviously for either novel to be wholly satisfying.

Second the recommendation for Delores Claiborne, which really should be paired with Gerald's Game.

Different Seasons is a good choice for your second King work. Though three of the novellas have been made into movies, two of them well regarded (Shawshank Redemption and Stand By Me). But Apt Pupil alone is worth it.

The Dead Zone is a character study masquerading as a novel. John Smith is a great character, but King takes too long to figure out what to do with him.

Misery is an amazing accomplishment -- an entire novel with two characters. And second Amy's description.

The Colorado Kid is an interesting minor work. Skip it for now, read it down the road when you have a free hour or two.

Of the longer works, It and the unedited Stand. I don't feel I can comment on The Dark Tower as a whole until I've read it over a period of less than 10-15 years.