With the upcoming newest adaptation of one of Stephen King's classics, Firestarter, staring Zac Efron and Sydney Lemmon, what better time to look at the legendary author's best books according to the avid readers over at Goodreads. Stephen King is one of the most legendary authors of all time with a career spanning over 50 novels and 30 years of writing.
The author is responsible for some of the biggest hits in the horror genre of all time, and his books have been adapted to successful films since the beginning of his career. With classic adaptations like Christine, The Shining, and It, King is an endless inspiration for all kinds of creatives.
The Dark Tower #1 - The Gunslinger (1982) - 3.94
The Gunslinger is a fantasy action western, and one of the few books of King's that isn't mainly horror. The story is about an enigmatic hero, named Roland, who is the last known gunslinger hunting down the dangerous Man In Black across a fantastic western front.
The book is the first part of an eight-book series entirely written by King. The series is probably not recommended for a first-time King read as the author delves into content mentioned in other works. The Dark Tower was unsuccessfully adapted into a film in 2017 as well.
Carrie (1974) - 3.97
There's no doubt that Carrie is one of Stephen King's many certified classics. The story is about a misunderstood and isolated high school girl who discovers she has telekinetic powers and ends up going on a violent rampage of revenge.
The terrifying portrayal of alienation and revenge is iconic within the horror genre and has been made into a few films. The original film, directed by Brian De Palma and starring Sissy Spacek, Piper Laurie, and John Travolta has become a classic and is considered one of the best movie adaptations of Carrie.
Pet Sematary (1983) - 4.03
Pet Sematary is a classic horror novel about a family relocating to a small town in main and discovering a mysterious burial ground located in the woods behind their new house. The book is widely considered one of Stephen King's scariest and it deals with themes of family, loss, and grief.
The book has been made into multiple film adaptations, the most recent being 2019's Pet Sematary with John Lithgow, Jason Clarke, and Amy Seimetz. 2019's Pet Sematary received mixed reviews due to the changes that were made to King's beloved original story.
Salem's Lot (1975) - 4.04
Salem's Lot is a classic Stephen King horror novel about a writer returning home to discover that the residents of the small town are becoming vampires. This was only King's second published novel, and it's aged incredibly well as many fans of the iconic writer cite it as being one of their favorites that he's ever written.
Back in 1979, Salem's Lot was adapted into a popular television mini-series but has yet to be turned into a feature film adaptation. However, there are plans to change that with Gary Dauberman's upcoming adaptation.
Misery (1987) - 4.19
Misery is a thriller novel by Stephen King and is one of his few books that consistently gets outshined by its film adaptation counterpart. Misery is about an author being rescued from a car crash by his biggest fan of all time, but he quickly realizes the nightmarish captivity he's now in.
King wrote a truly legendary underdog protagonist to go up against one of the greatest female villains of all time, and Rob Reiner was able to capture this beautifully in his film adaptation of the story.
The Shining (1977) - 4.25
The Shining is another iconic Stephen King horror novel about a man and his family going to an isolated hotel for the winter as part of a new job, but quickly realizing that the hotel is haunted and covered with evil spirits.
Stanley Kubrick's legendary film adaptation featuring Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall only helped push the novel's fame and notoriety, despite notorious creative conflicts and disputes between King and Kubrick over the adaption. King recently wrote a high anticipated sequel to The Shining called, Doctor Sleep that was adapted into a film as well.
It (1986) - 4.25
Stephen King's It is one of his most beloved books, and also one of his longest coming in at over 1100 pages. The iconic horror novel is about a group of friends that are bullied as kids going up against a shape-shifting monster that often takes the form of a demonic clown, and then returning to fight the monster once again as adults.
It has an incredibly touching coming-of-age story at its core but also features one of the scariest monsters of all time in Pennywise the Clown. It was recently turned into a two-part film adaptation by Andy Muschieti, featuring an incredible performance by Bill Skarsgård as Pennywise.
The Stand (1978) - 4.34
The Stand is a post-apocalyptic horror novel about a man escaping a biological testing facility and setting into motion the spread of a deadly mutated version of the flu. The book is absolutely massive in size and scope and is definitely not an easy topic to read about considering the current pandemic.
However, if any storyteller has the ability to tell a story like this and keep you engaged and truly interested throughout the entire thing, it's King. The Stand has been adapted into two television shows but has yet to be adapted for the big screen. Whoopi Goldberg, Odessa Young, and James Marsden starred in the most recent Paramount+ adaptation.
11/22/63 (2011) - 4.31
11/22/63 is one of Stephen King's best books he's written in a long time, and it's one of his most unusual as he forgoes the horror genre entirely and instead provides readers with heart-pounding, action packed, historical fiction. The book is about a man discovering he can go back in time and decides to stop the J.F.K. assassination from ever happening.
The plot is relatively simple, but King makes all 1000 plus pages of this book impossible to put down. 11/22/63 was also adapted into a Hulu original television show starring James Franco.
The Green Mile (1996) - 4.46
The Green Mile is a horror drama that leans more on the drama and less on the horror. The story is about the guards of death row inmates having their lives changed when they discover one of the falsely accused inmates they're responsible for has a special gift. The Green Mile was originally published as six separate serialized volumes before eventually being published as one complete book.
The Green Mile went on to become an extremely successful film adaptation with legendary performances from Tom Hanks and Michael Clarke Duncan.