I am going to read him and see what all the fuss is all about, both positive and negative

I am going to read him and see what all the fuss is all about, both positive and negative.

What are his best works?

IT...Read IT

I can't recommend anything in good conscience.

wonder if he reads

I read a lot of him in highschool.

Start with this

IT
The Shining
Night Shift
The Stand
The Green Mile

What, read what?

IT

then stop

All his most famous works like It, The Stand, and The Shinning encompass all the best and worst things about him.

Dead Zone is one of his first, but I believe reading it in current times would provide a certain flair that wasn't there for me personally back in the day.

Adding onto this:

Rage
Long Walk
11/22/63

Start off with Rage, The Long Walk, and Running Man to see if you'll like him OP, then get on the choo choo in this order (just my opinion):

IT
11/22/63
The Shining
Four After Midnight
Salem's Lot
Needful Things
The Stand
Desperation
The Dark Tower series
Then all the rest if you want

My favorites from him are The Green Mile, The Shining, and IT. Night Shift has a few fun shorts as well.

The Long Walk is shit. The characters are so 2D, it's like YA dystopian lit.

Read Carrie, IT and The Green Mile from his novels, and N., I am the Doorway (title might be different) and Graveyard Shift from his short stories.

Needful Things

The Stand first, then one of his pre-1990 horror books (probably IT). Then pick and choose if you like what you've read.

IT, Green Mile, and 11/23/63

These are the only novels of his that get close to having any sort of literary merit.

But...don't read King for literature,

The Shining is good.

Overall King isn't a bad writer but his novels are just so fucking long and a lot of them practically go nowhere because he makes the plot up while writing

It, Shining, Kennedy are probably some of his best. Dark Tower isn't bad either

lots of his short stories, like shawshank

If who reads?

I read The Stand a while ago, really liked it. I think it's a cool story and good characters. I agree with general sentiment that the story can drag since he made up the plot as he went but I think the slow pace gives it a comfy feel.

The Shining is basically all you need

I've read about 11 of King's books and I would recommend most of them (excluding Insomnia, which I enjoyed but I know most people didn't and wouldn't), but these are probably the best to go with:
It
Different Seasons
The Green Mile
The Shining
The Running Man

Graveyard shift for his short stories, The Shining for his sole, full length, success. Both of these are his early works. Only read his early works.

I'd just comment on IT for a second. The childhood portion is still totally relatable and great. Its the adult portion that makes me cringe, simply because the dialogue is awful through most of the adult portion. Also, this is when king trades the mystery of the villain for some stupid shit, and as always, it all falls apart.

If you read the shinning make sure to read the sequel

>To my mind, there have been two great American novels in the past fifty years. Catch-22 is one; this is the other
>Stephen King's quote on the inside flap of the front cover of the 20th anniversary edition of Infinite Jest

>King liked Infinite Jest
>Wallace put The Stand as his 2nd favorite book
Based.

king