What Does Stephen King Read?

Share This Article Get Updates by Email Tell a friend

The books that touched the lives of headliners in the music industry, television, movies, law, publishing, and sports are the subject of a survey released February 22, 2001 by the National Education Association.

We asked our respondents about their favorite children's book and their favorite adult book.

What Does Stephen King Read?

1. Fieldwork: A Novel by Mischa Berlinski
   
   
   (literature and fiction, mystery and thrillers)
   
   "Stories within stories, and a surprisingly compassionate look at Christianity in conflict with anthropology. I kept expecting tirades, and instead got sweetness and thoughtful good humor. A remarkable novel."
   
   


2. Caught Stealing: A Novel by Charlie Huston
   
   
   (literature and fiction, mystery and thrillers)
   
   "Great suspense and New York ambience, headlong pace, brilliant dialogue."
   
   


3. Then We Came to the End
   
   
   (literature and fiction)
   
   "It’s hilarious in a “Catch-22” way, but with an undercurrent of sadness that works counterpoint to all the absurdity."
   
   


4. The Grapes of Wrath
   
   
   (literature and fiction, classics)
   
   "As a high school kid struggling to write fiction, some books meant more than others, and some burst upon me with the power of a thunderbolt. John Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath was one of those."
   
   


5. Lord of the Flies
   
   
   (literature and fiction, classics)
   
   

Source:
http://www.nytimes.com
http://www.pbs.org
http://www.nea.org

Stephen king 10 favorite books of 2008

1. The Novels Of Robert Goddard
   
   
   (literature and fiction, mystery and thrillers)
   
   "I discovered Goddard, a British mystery/suspense novelist, last year, almost by accident. In Pale Battalions, his second novel, was the first book I read on my new Kindle. Since then I've read eight more and have about seven to go. I'll parcel them out, because they're too good to gulp. There are missing heirs, stolen fortunes, mistaken identities, raffish con men, hot sex, and cold-blooded murder. These books have more twists than a box of macaroni, all rendered in Goddard's clear-eyed prose. You discover a guy who's doing work on such a high level, and the disturbing question occurs: Who else have I missed that's this good?
   
   Scary question. Maybe that's why the T-shirt my wife gave me for my birthday reads, Quot libros, quam breve tempus: So many books, so little time."
   
   


2. The Garden Of Last Days By Andre Dubus Iii
   
   
   (literature and fiction, mom fiction, girl fiction, mystery and thrillers)
   
   "I've written about this before, so I won't belabor you with the details. Just know this: It's terrifying, unputdownable, and the best novel so far about 9/11. "
   
   


3. When Will There Be Good News? By Kate Atkinson
   
   
   (literature and fiction, mystery and thrillers)
   
   "The third, the best, and hopefully not the last Atkinson novel featuring private eye Jackson Brodie. There's a train crash, a smart and plucky teenage girl named Reggie, a missing lady doc...but the plot defies description, and I'd be a hound to even try. As a reader, I was charmed. As a novelist, I was staggered by Atkinson's narrative wizardry. You can't believe all the tangled threads are going to come together, but they do — and Atkinson makes it look easy. Dear reader, easy it is not."
   
   


4. The Tenderness Of Wolves By Stef Penney
   
   
   (literature and fiction, mystery and thrillers)
   
   "A search for a boy missing in the chilly Canadian wilderness of 150 years ago, a love story, a historical mystery. All told in lyrical, marvelously readable prose. If you liked Life of Pi and The Secret Life of Bees, this is for you."
   
   


5. Nixonland By Rick Perlstein
   
   
   (history, nonfiction)
   
   "Nonfiction that has the sweep of an epic novel, with The Great American Political Vampire at the center of the action. It's the best history of the turbulent '60s I've ever read. "
   
   


6. Sweetheart By Chelsea Cain
   
   
   (literature and fiction, mystery and thrillers)
   
   


7. Heartsick By Chelsea Cain
   
   
   (literature and fiction, mystery and thrillers)
   
   "We've been down Hannibal Lecter Avenue many times, and these two books shouldn't work...but they do. Chalk it up to excellent writing and Cain's ferocious sense of humor. The Portland (Ore.) setting is refreshing too."
   
   


8. Hollywood Crows By Joseph Wambaugh
   
   
   (literature and fiction, mystery and thrillers)
   
   "This sequel to Hollywood Station doesn't live up to its predecessor...but it's close, and still a fine, funky read with an all too believable murder plot. Wambaugh's Hollywood is an open-air psycho ward where even the cops need Valium. "
   
   


9. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo By Stieg Larsson
   
   
   (mystery and thrillers)
   
   "Instead of a locked-room mystery, this is a ''locked-island'' mystery in which a disgraced journalist is hired to investigate a decades-old crime. He discovers something a lot more awful than a missing girl. The good news is that Larsson delivered two more novels with this one. The bad news is that he died of a heart attack shortly after doing so. "
   
   


10. Old Flames By Jack Ketchum
    
    
    (literature and fiction, horror, mystery and thrillers)
    
    "Remember Glenn Close as the bunny-boiler scorned in Fatal Attraction? Raise that to the 10th power and you get Dora Welles, the crazy ex-girlfriend in this short chiller."
    
    


11. The Good Guy By Dean Koontz
    
    
    (mystery and thrillers)
    
    "While not up with his best (Intensity, the incomparable Phantoms), this is Koontz at his Hitchcockiest: Nice guy is mistaken for contract killer, mayhem ensues. Koontz can be preachy. Not here, though."
    
    

Source:
http://www.ew.com

Why should you listen to him?

Fiction powerhouse Stephen Edwin King was born in Portland, Maine, in 1947. As a student at the University of Maine at Orono, he wrote a weekly column for the school newspaper, became active in political causes, and met his wife, the former Tabitha Spruce. In the early years of his marriage, King augmented his meager teacher's salary by selling short stories to men's magazines. Then, in 1973 he hit pay dirt: his novel Carrie was accepted for publication, and a major paperback deal provided the means for him to leave teaching and concentrate full-time on writing. Since then, the prolific author has never looked back.

Dubbed the Master of the Macabre for his domination of the horror genre, King has also written bestselling thrillers, mysteries, fantasies, novellas, and short stories, many of which have been turned into blockbuster films and miniseries (A partial list includes Carrie, The Shining, The Stand,, Misery, It, The Shawshank Redemption, The Langoliers, Stand by Me, and The Green Mile). He also has two works of nonfiction to his credit: a gorgeously crafted memoir/scribbler's how-to (On Writing) and Faithful, a chronicle of the Boston Red Sox' stellar 2004 season, cowritten with Stewart O'Nan. In 2003, he received the National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters.

In between books, the indefatigable King performs in the Rock Bottom Remainders, a rock band that includes among its rotating personnel fellow authors Dave Barry and Amy Tan; attends as many Boston Red Sox games as is humanly possible; and contributes with his wife, Tabitha, to many local and national charities.

King is probably one of the most easily recognizable authors alive, and it's not just because of his string of bestsellers. King has appeared in a number of films based on his work, including Pet Semetary, Thinner, and The Stand.


.