Excessive Reader

Musing on Book : Counting Down Stephen King’s Books

I haven’t done this musing post since February 2011 where I talked about the disaster created  by Indonesian  government toward us movie lovers.

Now, I want to muse on books by my number one author,the author who hasn’t disappoint me yet.

As you can see on my side widget, I am currently reading Hearts in Atlantis by the great Mr. Stephen King. I have been a big fan of his works since college…but I finally had chance to continue reading his works after college…that’s why I am still far behind in reading all his works.

Yes….my favorite author is the king of horror, Stephen King. A lot of people tend to look him with one eye and even avoid his works…I don’t care of whatever those people think, for me he remains as one author who hasn’t failed me yet. I know that his works are not always at his best but the best of  him made me forgot all his not so good books. I still haven’t found his bad books yet.

Stephen King is not only writing horror stuffs, some are books with a lot of heart in  it like Green Mile and Different Seasons. Even the horror ones are not always about scaring  people, such as The Stand and Under The Dome…there are a lot of human emotion in it.

My goal is to read ALL HIS WORKS…and here I am counting down the number  of books I can read  in the future. I also want to reread some of them.

 There are times when I haven’t  read the book but already watched the movie. I am going to categorized his works based on colors.

  • Blue means I have read it
  • Red means I haven’t read  it yet
  • Purple means I have only watched it
  • Green means I have both read and watched it
  • Strike-through means it’s impossible to find so I don’t put much hope in it.

Here goes the list,this list is taken from liljas-library

1960

  • People, Places, And Things – Volume 1 (limited edition with Chris Chelsey) *Impossible to find*

1964

  • The Star Invaders (limited edition) *Impossible to find*

1974

1975

1977

  • Rage (as Richard Bachman) (Book #1)
  • The Shining (Review: Book and Movie) I hate the movie but Love the book so much

1978

  • Night Shift (Review)
  • The Stand *I don’t need to read this one as I already read the uncut version*

1979

  • The Dead Zone (Book #2)
  • The Long Walk (as Richard Bachman) (Book #3)

1980

1981

  • Cujo (review)
  • Danse Macabre (Book #4)
  • Roadwork (as Richard Bachman) (Book #5)

1982

  • Creepshow (Book #6)
  • The Dark Tower I – The Gunslinger (Review)
  • Different Seasons (Review)
  • The Running Man (as Richard Bachman) (Book #7)

1983

  • Christine (review)
  • Cycle Of The Werewolf (Book #8)
  • Pet Sematary (Book #9)

1984

  • The Eyes Of The Dragon (Book #10)
  • The Talisman (with Peter Straub) (Book #11)
  •  Thinner (as Richard Bachman) (Book #12)

1985

  • The Bachman Books (Book #13)
  • Skeleton Crew (Review 1, 2, 3)
  • Silver Bullet (Book #14)

1986

1987

  • The Dark Tower II – The Drawing Of The Three (Book #15)
  • Misery (Book #16) (review)
  • The Tommyknockers (Book #17)

1988

  • My Pretty Pony (limited edition)
  • Nightmares In The Sky (with F-Stop Fitzgerald) (Book #18)

1989

  • The Dark Half (Book #19)
  • Dolan’s Cadillac (limited edition)

1990

  • The Stand – The Complete And Uncut Edition (Review)
  • Four Past Midnight (Book #20)

1991

  • Needful Things (review)
  • The Dark Tower III – The Waste Lands (Book #21)

1992

  • Gerald’s Game (Book #22)
  • Dolores Claiborne (Book #23)

1993

  • Nightmares And Dreamscapes (Book #24) (Review)

1994

  • Insomnia

1995

  • Rose Madder
  • Umney’s Last Case (Penguin 60 years) (Book #25)

1996

  • The Green Mile 1-The Two Dead Girls
  • The Green Mile 2-The Mouse On The Mile
  • The Green Mile 3-Coffey’s Hands
  • The Green Mile 4-The Bad Death Of Eduardo Delacroix
  • The Green Mile 5-Night Journey
  • The Green Mile 6-Coffey On The Mile
  • Desperation (Book #26) (review)
  • The Regulators (as Richard Bachman) (review)

1997

  • Six Stories (limited edition)
  • The Green Mile – The Complete Serial Novel *My books (the thin version) had disappeared because of an irresponsible borrower, I am planning to buy it again and reread it* (Book #27)
  • The Dark Tower IV – Wizard And Glass (Book #28)

1998

  • Bag Of Bones

1999

  • Storm Of The Century (Book #29)
  • The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon (review)
  • The New Lieutenant’s Rap (limited edition. Gifts for attendees at King’s 25th publishing anniversaty party April 6th, 1999, Philtrum Press)
  • Hearts In Atlantis (review 1, )
  • Blood And Smoke (an audiobook original) (Book #30) *I heard one of the shorts, In The Death Room*

2000

  • Riding The Bullet (an eBook original) (Book #31)
  • The Plant I (an eBook original) (Book #31) *I have it in my computer*
  • The Plant II (an eBook original) (Book #31) *I have it in my computer*
  • The Plant III (an eBook original) (Book #31) *I have it in my computer*
  • Secret Windows (Book #32)
  • On Writing: A Memoir Of The Craft (review)
  • The Plant IV (an eBook original) (Book #31 *I have it in my computer*
  • The Plant V (an eBook original) (Book #31) *I have it in my computer*
  • The Plant VI (an eBook original) (Book #31)

2001

  • Dreamcatcher (review)
  • Black House (with Peter Straub) (Book #32)

2002

  • Everything’s Eventual (review)
  • From a Buick 8 (Book #34)

2003

  • The Dark Tower V – Wolves of the Calla (Book #35)

2004

  • The Dark Tower VI – Song of Susannah (Book #36)
  • The Dark Tower VII – The Dark Tower (Book #37)
  • Faithful: Two Diehard Boston Red Sox Fans Chronicle the 2004 Season (with Stewart O’Nan) (Book #38)

2005

  • The Colorado Kid (Original paperback edition) (Book #39)

2006

  • Cell (review)
  • Lisey’s Story (Book #40)
  • The Secretary of Dreams (Book #41)

2007

  • Blaze (as Richard Bachman) READING IT

2008

  • Duma Key (Book #42)
  • Just After Sunset (Book #43)

2009

2010

  • Blockade Billy (Book #44)
  • Full Dark, No Stars (review)

2011

According to another big fan of the great Mr.King (see the comments By TF), I am missing some books here, they are:

  • UR (Audiobook)
  • The Dark Tower: The Wind Through the Keyhole (2012
  • Mile 81 (Ebook)

…..well well…it seems that i still have plenty reading material  from him 😉

45books are  waiting to be read. I don’t know  how long I will finish them all, one thing for sure I am going to enjoy them  one by one without feeling any rush.

Updated on May 2012: See this amazing post called Stephen King #1 Fans by Jamie Helton @ Film Verse. He did an amazing list of all things related to SK’s movies.

So…have you read SK’s books? Which one do you recommend me to read after Blaze and The Plant? Please Share it with me.

27 thoughts on “Musing on Book : Counting Down Stephen King’s Books”

    1. Thank you for sharing that,Caroline. The story looks intriguing. I think King did more psychological thriller as he got older.

      It usually comes out in Hard cover, I will wait patiently for the paper back. I am still waiting for the paperback edition of Full Dark, No Star

      Reply

        1. The hardcover is terribly expensive here 😦
          There are still so many SK books I can explore, that makes me have more patience 😉

          Reply

  2. Too bad my pocket version of Running Man is in Swedish otherwise I could have sent it to you.
    Nice round-up of his works.

    The only book beside Running Man I have read is one called Stark I think (can’t find it in your list though) its about a horror writer and one of the villains from his books start murdering people in real life. It was ok but I recall that end was really strange in it.

    Reply

    1. Maybe I should start learning Swedish 😉 . That’s very nice of you, Joel 🙂

      Stark? never heard of it. This list might not be complete because I didn’t take it from Stephenking.com, to copy the list from that site is a bit troublesome. The summary sounds intriguing…will see if one day I can find which book you are talking about.

      Reply

    2. I think you talking about The Dark Half. The write Thad Beaumont has a pseudonym George Stark, who after they “bury” the pseudonym, goes on a killing spree of those associated with his “death”.

      Reply

    1. Some of movies based on his books are quite good. Two of the best are Shawshank and Green Mile. Thank you for always reading my post, Kel 🙂

      Reply

  4. Another SK fan here too, and I own all the books. If you liked The Stand, you’d probably like Cell as well. Another one of his “end of the world” books. I think those tend to be my favorites.

    Reply

      1. Thanks for the info, TF. I will add it later when I am using my PC (currently using my mobile)d it later when I am using my PC (currently using my mobile)

        Reply

      2. Also Silver Bullet is a movie, not a book. It came from the book Cycle of the Werewolf.

        And there’s 2 more books coming:
        11/22/63 coming November 8th this year
        The Dark Tower: The Wind Through the Keyhole coming in 2012, April 3rd is what Amazon has.

        Reply

          1. Yaiii…thank you so much for the new updates 🙂
            I feel less informative compare to you…and I like meeting someone who knows more than me 🙂
            Will definitely make sure to edit my post later.

            I haven’t read Dark Tower 2, so the new one will have to wait. 11/22/63 is about the man that went back to Kennedy time, right? It sounds very intriguing.

            As for ebook, I can only get it by illegal way…which means downloading. I have no paypal or credit card to buy it from amazon.

    2. You own all the books? whuaaa I totally envy you!! But it’s fun meeting another SK fans 🙂
      I never meet other SK fans here in my country 😦 Not all his books can be found here.

      Yes…I love Cell!! I have read that many people dislike that book, but I love it. It is more gruesome than Stand but I admit Stand has better story. I remember when I was reading Cell, I often looked at people around me who were talking with their mobilephone and thinking can I get out of this public transportation if that mobile turned him/her into zombie. Yeah, SK has such effect on me 😉

      Reply

      1. I should rephrase, ALMOST all the books. The limited stuff I don’t own, and I see from this list there were a few non-fiction I didn’t have either. But they’re on my list on Amazon now. 🙂

        LOL I had the same reaction after reading Cell! Sitting there in public wondering what would happen if it hit right then.

        What country are you located in?

        Reply

        1. But you are still ahead of me 😉
          I try not to read his books one after another because that kind of reading tends to make me bored and I don’t want to be bored by his great imagination. I read several books by other authours in between…unfortunately, I am not a fast reader and that kinda slow me down in reading all his works.

          The stand also had same effect whenever I heard someone was caughing 😉

          I am in Jakarta, Indonesia. Where do you come from, TF?

          Reply

  5. I’m rather proud (and note myself as an obsessive) to say that I’ve read all, but the ones you’ve striked through (I’ve had the same problem as you in not being able to find them), except Blood and Smoke and Faithful (never been a baseball story fan, even The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon annoyed me). I wish I could say I owned them all, but I do own most 🙂

    Reply

    1. Hi Sezm…so nice to meet you 🙂
      you know, I have never thought that writing this article will make me meeting other SK-Addict, if I knew I’d have done this much earlier.

      You own almost all of them, have you read them all? Which one do you suggest me to buy next? I suddenly have this idea to ask you and TF what to buy next. I have Blaze and The Plant ready to be read in near future.

      Reply

    1. Thank you for the recommendations 🙂
      I am quite curious with The Talisman because I have read one book by Straub and I totally hate it.wonder how it be when he and King joined forces

      Reply

  7. I suggest that you look at the line -up of books ,which you have not read. Then put them in order starting from oldest to newest. It is how I read them and the connections, the inside constant reader connections;as well as seeing his work DEVELOP as you read is a priceless experience. In order of publication readings are important -for instance read Desperation before The Regulators even though they were dually published one does not make sense with out reading Desperation First. you will get some of his personal connections in his tales from his writing; if you read in order of publication your reading will move to higher ,grander larger ,immense places with him as he intended, and as he honed his wordsmith skills over the many years. P.S. That includes publication dates of the Bachman Books,

    Reply

    1. Hi Ron…thank you for the suggestion.

      If I could I want to read them by the year of publishing but I don’t think I can. As for The Regulators, I took my risk of reading before reading Desperation because I have seen the movies.

      Reply
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