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One might consider oneself aStephen Kingfan , but even the most consecrate Constant Reader may not have read all of his many , many Holy Writ and short stories . It ’s understandable : Stephen King has written almost 70 booksof fiction , a handful of non - fiction books , and literally hundreds of short fib . He ’s a machine , and one can be forgiven for not having take every single Scripture he ’s write .
Even perfunctory Stephen King fans have in all probability read the big one , though : The Stand . It . Misery . Carrie . The Shining . The iconic titles – we all know the ones . But his lesser - have sex or improper works be given to get less beloved , even though they merit just as much extolment as the classics . If you require to call yourself a genuine Stephen King lover , even a Constant Reader , the Holy Writ on this list are ones to learn .
5On Writing
1999
Stephen King is primarily a fiction writer , but he ’s also done a few nonfictional prose books and even one how - to Quran . Those who come to King for his fabricated prose and repulsion ca n’t be pick for not picking up that how - to book , On written material , particularly if they themselves do n’t actually desire to be writers .
ButOn Writingis one ofStephen King ’s unspoilt non - fiction books , as much a memoir of King ’s career as it is him offering his readers tips on how to write well . It overlay everything from the substance abuse of his other days to why he does n’t love some of the leger he publish in the ' 90s . Anyone who wants to truly know how Stephen King ’s mind process and get an sixth sense into his piece of writing mental process only ca n’t understand it until they pluck upOn Writing .
4Thinner
1984
Even thoughStephen King was outed as Richard Bachman decades ago , some people still have n’t translate all his early books compose under his penitentiary name , particularly younger readers . That may have vary for a few titles , with some reader beak up copies ofThe Long WalkandThe Running Manin anticipation of the upcoming adaptations by Francis Lawrence and Edgar Wright , respectively .
In an especially fun eddy , Thinnerwas the book that eventually officially outed him as Bachman .
But one of his Bachman Book that may have flown under the radar isThinner , a story about an entitled lawyer who circumstantially hits and kills an honest-to-god Romani charwoman while driving and trip a oath that have him to waste aside . It ’s is a trim , foul little story , and it should be on the tilt of any Stephen King completionist . In an especially fun twist , Thinnerwas the book that lastly formally out him as Bachman .
3Lisey’s Story
2006
There are many mixed feeling on Stephen King ’s Word from the ' 90s through the ' 00s , and that ’s comely . Before his stroke on June 19 , 1999 , he ’d been experimenting with more structured , planned - out novels , to sundry outcome . After his stroke , it was , well , not always easy writing or reading . SoLisey ’s Storymay have settle through the cracks for some reader who drift away from the author or missed a few books in that geological era .
Stephen King mostly write fictional repulsion story , but in many case , he has been inspired by events and people from his lifetime .
Still , Lisey ’s Storyis arguably the most autobiographic of Stephen King ’s books , and well worth reading for that reason . The story was part inspired by his near - death experience ; while he was in the infirmary , his married woman , Tabitha , redecorate his work blank to surprise him , and he say it gave him a glimpse of what the world might be like had he not hold out . The titular Lisey and her sibling are also based on Tabitha and her sisters . In many slipway , it ’s King ’s passion alphabetic character to his married woman and matrimony of over half a century , as well as a way to grapple with his own mortality .
2Cycle of the Werewolf
1983
While Stephen King has generally lean to invent brand name - fresh freak for his stories , he ’s occasionally dip into the well of folklore and borrowed wight from quondam myth , most notably vampires . He ’s written about ghost , too – rafts of ghosts . He ’s also put on the page a werewolf write up , too , yet it did n’t get as much tending as his other traditional monster books . Cycle of the Werewolfwas that book of account , a great story about a lycanthrope from betimes in his career .
Cycle of the Werewolfwas later generally accommodate as the 1985 movieSilver bullet train ; Stephen King penned the script adaptation himself .
It arguably flew under the radio detection and ranging compared to some of the big strike of that yr , Christineand his collectionDifferent Seasons . It ’s short ; at a trim 127 pages , Cycle of the Werewolfis more of a novelette than a novel , but it designate flashes of the rum , experimental panache King would demo throughout his vocation . While the book follows a werewolf stalking and killing people in a little town , each chapter is a inadequate story and stands on its own . It ’s a spry read and worth it simply to see King testing out a new data format as a vernal writer .
1Revival
2014
Revivalmay seem like an queer selection for this list , study that , in the long duad of King ’s vocation , it ’s a relatively recent novel , having come up out only 11 long time ago . But Revival was a true return to form for King . In so many ways , it was a perfect distillate of all the trademarks he ’d stamped his oeuvre with through the long time and the experience of 50 years of composition melding together in one masterly chronicle .
Despite the surfeit of recent Stephen King adaptations , one of his best rule book of the preceding decade still has n’t gotten a movie or boob tube adaptation .
King has always been a student of daddy cultivation and literary history , and that shines through inRevival , which take over from classical repulsion novels likeFrankensteinand H.P. Lovecraft ’s work . But the low-down - brow clobber and the pop culture is there , too – it would n’t really be aStephen Kingstory otherwise . Like his larger-than-life tales from earlier in his career , Revival is a slow - suntan that establish up to revulsion that loiter , get it an instant classic in King ’s bibliography .
