Steven King has written about 65 books at the moment, and by the time you finish reading this article, it will probably be 66 years old. Not all of them are winners, but he bathes in such a high average that it is difficult to complain. The only problem is that it is a little frightening for readers to decide for the first time where to start it. Do you go in chronological order, or do you have to go by any of the premise of the book most attracts your eye? And what if your goal is to get what is a good idea for King's entire stuck in as little time as possible? If you can only read five books to try to get the widest understanding of Steven King, what should you choose?

This is a difficult question, since King's stories have a wide range of lengths, tones and genres, but I will answer it anyway. Here's my curious list of five introductory books by Steven King, designed to give you an idea of ​​how much King's wide talents are moving. (Tragically, There will be no novels "Dark Tower" mentioned hereAlthough Gunslinger will surely make a strong sixth entry.)

There are many different "types" of Steven King's stories. There is the type where the main character is captured in a particular place all the time ("misery", "play of Ericerald", "Kujo"), and there is the type where the main character is a writer, often considered a self-indication of the king of varieties . Shining mixes these types, while serving as a good idea for King's style in the 1970s when his career began.

Why wouldn't you go with "Kerry or a lot of Salem", King's first two books? I almost did, but what sets the "glitter" is the pure depth of his main character, Jackeck Torrence, who is simply at another level compared to Kerry White or (especially) boring Ben Mers. Kubrick will later show the movie. The book is so different that there will still be many surprises.)

Steven King himself describes this book as a novel "Crossroads" for him in the introduction of the 2001 edition. It is the novel where he had the opportunity to keep things simple and make the book for persecuted a hotel, but he chose to make the line between the psychological and supernatural very blurred and much more interesting.

"If I was less well fixed financially, I might have decided to choose the number one," King wrote, "but my first two books," Kerry "and" Salem of many "were successful, and we kings made okay in that regard.

All the true King's fans know that King's Secret Forte is his collection of short stories. Often accused of playing his stories spiral out of control, stories force King to find directly to the point and wrap things on a high note. The result is that no list of King's recommendations is complete without at least one of his collections, but I fought to choose who. My first instinct was "different seasons", which offers four novels, two of which ("Rita Hayworth and Showushank Revemption" and "The Body") were made in two of the Best valued films of their time. But the "different seasons" has no variety of length; It's all novels, without stories. The ideal collection will give you a taste to each of them.

That's why I landed on his 1985 collection "Skeleton Team", which began with one of King's best novels, "Fog", before offering 20 stories, some of which were written by King in the 1960s. This collection is great not only because of the pure variety of tones and genres that shows King's capable, but because looking back in King's collections years after I read them, I think the "skeletal crew" has the largest percentage of grass. It's been at least ten years since I read the "Skeleton Crew", but "Theant", "Raft", "Grams", "Beachworld" and "The Shortcut of Ms Todd" are all the stories I remember vibrant.

You can't be a real King fan unless you've read a book by Richard Bachmann. That sentence sounds crazy until you know that Steven King has ever written several books under the name of the pen, mostly because he wrote faster than the standard "one book annual" rule that most authors adhere to. King also wanted to prove that he was not interrupting his reputation and what better way to prove hatreds wrong than to write a bestseller by recognizing a zero name?

Bachmann's books tend to be shorter and halfway than King's books. Bachman's first novel "Rage" was so disturbing that he probably inspired several school shootingsAnd the second novel, the "long walk", seemed to have a healthy dose of contempt for most societies. His fourth book Bachmann, "The Running Man" is my personal favorite; It is crazy pages like everyone else, but has the most effective end of the group, and it's a fun bonus that this dystopian novel is set in 2025. Did King perfectly predict what this year would look like? No, really, but I think he has caught the general sense of despair.

Both "Long Walk" and "The Running Man" are considered Bachmann's top books, and they would have complained. ://www.slashfilm.com/"hunger games "fans there. However, the latter won for his unforgettable characters and pure impudence. Also, similar to "glitter", don't be discouraged if you have already seen the movie version of "The Running Man"; The book is so different that you can basically go unpolluted. (And if avoiding spoilers is important to you, make sure you do not read King's introduction for this book. Dive in the story and read the introduction later; you will see what I mean.)

The first three books on this list were published in the 1970s and 80s, which are considered the best era of King. This book, published in 2011, is a nice entry into the long -standing debate among King's fans of "Is Uncle Steve still still?" Some think he has lost a little touch After he went sober to the late 80's, Or after that almost death experience from his 2000. But like someone who actually loved those last three books "Dark Tower", and who almost chose "Only after Sunset" on "Just after Sunset" for the choice of short stories on this list, I think modern King is still going Strongly, and it proves "11/22/63".

Among all the 21st century novels of King, this adventure/romance during the trip definitely seemed to have the greatest cultural impact. For years I have seen people carrying this book to the public, something I can't say the same for the "Institute" or "Holly". I still have some qualifications for The way this book handles its big central hook on "What if you stop the FC?" But I seem to be a minority there, and there are still many that I enjoy and respect the story or in any way.

"11/22/63" proves not only that King is great outside the horror genre, but that his talent and creativity have not yet dried up, though it probably should have been. Once again, don't worry too much if you've seen the "11/22/63" series. That adaptation was trusted by "glitter" or "running man", but the book still has many surprises.

No introductions to Steven King would be complete without having at least one of his really long novels. As far as the king is stories, his heart often seems to belong to 900+ pages of doors. I could have chosen the "stand" (1,200+ pages) or "under the dome" (1,000+ pages), but in the end, I went with 1,100+ page "IT" because it felt the highest Stephen King. Has the small town of Maine, the author's main character and split at the end that will really test your relationship with him. If you pass that Scene (you will know when you read it) and you are still interested in reading more than King, so you will know that you are both of the same wavelength.

What I especially like about "it" is how ambitious and energetic, even if at first glance the "stand" or "under the dome" feel like they have a bolder premise. Each character feels fully formed here, even small characters; It often feels like King flexing his characterization skills at this point, almost boasting about how he can take the smallest character, tell you their life story and invest you, and then move on with the main story like nothing not to happen. Fifteen years after I read it, why still care about Stan's wife, a character who first appeared on ten pages and was barely mentioned? Because King is so good.

"That" fights with tone plates; Jumps back and forth between the seven main characters from the point of view and countless, as well as jumping between 1958 and 1986. Plus there are more extended intervals that bring us back to Derry's long and disturbing history, Maine. It does not even mention the title IT, aka Penichand, who is easily one of the most interesting and iconic bugal king ever invented. "That" may not be perfect, but it is a major example of Steven King in his most reliable and provocative. There is a reason Hollywood continues to return to that.