Perhaps I should read it again when I have kids.

It'll make you cringe.

I really liked the book.
Not as good as others, but hey what is? ;)

For a quasi-sci-fi futuristic twist, find a copy of King's THE LONG WALK (originally published under the psuedonymn Richard Bachman). It's not too long but it is one of those books that you will NEVER forget. A very disturbing kind of book. I have recommended it to several people and have never had anyone that thought it was less than great.

Of course, THE STAND is often recommended as the best King book. It is a fabulous book and certainly worth the read. Some people get turned off by such a large book though.

i picked up an omnibus containing the 4 shorts King wrote as Bachman. Of the 4, Rage and The Long Walk were quite distrubing. Suppose mainly it involved the mindset of twisted kids. Running man & roadwork i've read before .. not that good on a second read.

A better option would be to get Desperation / Regulators and read it back to back. One was released under the Bachman name and the other as King. It's like 2 sides of a coin. 2 perspectives to a story involving the same cast. Quite cool

The only book that I read from King was Carry. It is a good book, but it's not a scary book.

I want to read The Stand, The Shinning and Salem's Lot, though.

Only the first book
 

Carrie was King's 1st book in '74. For a debut, it was good. Shining was better. Did not think much of Salems lot tho.
If u wanna read The Stand try getting the "The Stand, the Complete And Uncut Edition". At 1000+ pages, its a bloody long read .. but remains one of his best.

Its true that not all King's book are great tho. His newer ones are mellower and tend to drag with lengthy dialogs. Books that put me to sleep were Dolores Clairborn, Gerald's Game, From a Buick 8 and the new one - Colorado Kid.

Re-reading the Talisman now, before i move on to the sequel Black House which i just bought.

I may be the only one that actually liked From a Buick 8. Unlike all of King's other books, this one was much less concerned with plot and "good vs. evil". It touched on humanity's basic terror of the unknown and unknowable, which I think is the most effective form of literary horror. No one I've talked to about this book has seemed to have the same sort of reaction to it as I did. Pity.

Not putting down Buick 8 completely. It does have excellent characterization & some of the dialogue being amongst the best i've read. A lot of that also recurs in Colorado Kid. The people in them actually feel alive. But having written so many stories, think King's moving away from plots and moving on to more "human" stories. The plot itself and its endings seem to be secondary.

There was also no "pace" in them. Something lacking in King books since his accident i.e. Dreamcatcher & Girl who loved Tom Gordon. Like flipping thru an album looking at pictures arranged in random order, from past and present. He may be a more mature writer with a greater flair of the language. But of his recent titles, i've only truly enjoyed Bag of Bones.

On blue days, when dark clouds cover the sun, i still find myself reaching out for the old King books on my shelf.

Dreamcatcher