While a lot of people don't read King because he's a "horror" writer (even though not strictly), the writing itself is excellent, engaging, and never cheap or insulting.

I didn't realize Dean Koontz had surpassed him in total books sold. I'm currently reading Watchers which is one of his more acclaimed. I like it so far. James Patterson is ahead of them both. I've read just one of his, and that was enough.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_fiction_authors

Backyard Gator said:

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Wolfpac 08 said:

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The Marksman said:

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Just want to recommend Billy Summers, Fairy Tale, and 11/22/63 as some King books I've really enjoyed

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I've read them! Really enjoyed them all! I was actually surprised by how much I enjoyed Fairy Tale and Billy Summers.

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Have you read The Bachman Books? The Long Walk is coming up as a movie.

I think Rage is being censored in some areas because of school shootings.

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Yes, I've heard that too. I think that's sad. King wrote that before social media and a bunch of other school shootings had taken place. I think his response is actually the opposite of what should happen. The story in no way glorifies it. Instead, it's a cautionary tale about kids left unsupervised or weakly parented, or left disregarded on the fringe for long enough for that to happen. There are millions of homes without strong parental figures out there right now that are the breeding ground for this stuff.

But King thinks keeping people from reading it is the answer, or part of it.

Art sometimes shows the darkness possible in man's heart. Go read Zombie by Joyce Carol Oates, if you have the stomach for it. I won't say what it's about, but it's completely sick. I found it out of the blue on a high school library book shelf. Read it because I have studied JCO in several college classes, and knew her reputation. You are going to be angry and sick if you read it, be warned. And what's worse is, that evil she talks about is not uncommon at all in many places in the world, even the most civilized and "enlightened" places you might expect.

But I don't think hiding such evil is the way you create a moral and good people. Art's got to be free to cover all.

I read all of the Bachman books long ago. As for Rage, King should have just never addressed it and let the work stand on its own for what it says. That's my 2 cents.

I still like King's stories. Even when he's "off", he's still pretty good. I have Billy Summers sitting in my "To Read" stack right now. Recently read 11/22/63 and Fairy Tale, and like both very well.

OKCAG02 said:

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Currently reading The Eyes of the Dragon by King. Certainly an underrated one.

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It's the one book he wrote where it sounded like he was telling a bedtime story to his kids, and just expanded on it.

Basically what Rick Riordan did, but he made it into several wildly successful series.

Oddly enough, most of my favorite King novels are not horror at all. 11/22/63, Billy Summers, Fairy Tale, the Mr Mercedes trilogy, The Dark Tower series…

None of these would fall under "horror" imo and they're all really good. Even The Stand isn't really horror to me

Wolfpac 08 said:

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Oddly enough, most of my favorite King novels are not horror at all. 11/22/63, Billy Summers, Fairy Tale, the Mr Mercedes trilogy, The Dark Tower series…

None of these would fall under "horror" imo and they're all really good. Even The Stand isn't really horror to me

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100% agree

Finished The Martian by Andy Wier. Hot sports opinion: I liked this book better than Project Hail Mary. Got a bit technical at times, but I thought it flowed well and I thought he nailed the ending. I had been putting this one off for some reason, but glad I finally came around and read it.

Books read in 2025:

January
Slaughterhouse Five - Kurt Vonnegut (re-read)
A Wrinkle in Time - Madeleine L'Engle (re-read)
The Silent Patient - Alex Michaelides
Project Hail Mary - Andy Wier
Pines - Blake Crouch
Wayward - Blake Crouch

February
The Last Town - Blake Crouch

March
Dark Places - Gillian Flynn
Sharp Objects - Gillian Flynn

April
Red Rising - Pierce Brown
Golden Son - Pierce Brown

May
Morning Star - Pierce Brown
Echos of Reckoning - Ron Shaw

June
Dune - Frank Herbert
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time - Mark Haddon
Still Alice - Lisa Genova
Dark Matter - Blake Crouch
Jurassic Park - Michael Crichton

July
The Lost World - Michael Crichton
Sphere - Michael Crichton
The Andromeda Strain - Michael Crichton
Pet Sematary - Stephen King
The Martian - Andy Wier

Finished House of Assassins by Correia and Pines, vol. 1 of Wayward Pines Trilogy.

House of Assassins was a good follow up to Sone of the Black Sword. The action is good and the fantasy elements are all there. Correia has a good sense of humor, which creates a nice break in the narrative. I think the story was not quite as good as SOTBS, but still entertaining. I did bog down in the middle for a while, but when I picked it up, I smoked through the rest. I'd give it a B.

Pines was original and interesting and compelling from the start. I picked it up because of recommendations in this thread, too. It's an easy read (~300 pgs), and the mystery upon which the book is set is a good one. I liked the flawed protagonist as it made him more real and relatable. The book took some interesting turns often, which I liked. Overall, it made me want to keep going. I'd give it an A.

Picked up Billy Summers. 30 pgs in. Will keep you posted.

Valor(The Faithful and the Fallen book 2) by John Gwynne. Excellent second book in the series. Gwynne does a great job of writing really interesting characters and spinning a plotline that keeps you on your toes so you never know what will happen next.

The Pines trilogy only got better for me. There's one specific oh sh*+ moment (either at the end of book 2 or the start of book 3) that added an interesting wrinkle. Keep going with it.

Billy Summers was good. Won't be your favorite King book, but well done and entertaining throughout.

I agree with you on The Martian and PHM. While I greatly enjoyed PHM, I think The Martian is a better book. I'm curious how the PHM movie will turn out, and if it will be as good as The Martian. Your McGyver comparison is also pretty spot on.

Finished Lord of Chaos and started Crown on Swords on my WoT reread. Gonna need to speed things up bc I want to start my Dresden Files reread before going to Chicago in September.

RIP Ryno

cr0wbar said:

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I'm making a concerted effort to try and read more. I have to get this off my chest - I understand this will be an unpopular opinion, but...

I'm 50 pages into Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian- and I despise this man's writing. He writes 100+ word run on sentences that couldn't be more boring and tiresome. I found myself wholly bored with The Road. I think the guy ****ing sucks. Dude probably uses "and" as much as a 15 yr old girl uses "like" in this day and age. Going to bed pissed off at a dead author. thanks for listening texags

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I DNF'ed as well. Granted, I went in not expecting much. I read The Road before it and finished it and put it down and was like, "That was it? Really?" All the hype I had heard and I was mostly bored with it tbh. Mixed with a sub par writing style and yeah, BM was my last ditch effort to try something from him and I noped out pretty quick.

Not a fan either. But hey, at least I tried. Twice.

Haven't read The Road.

Got through Blood Meridian and it was absolutely brutal. Didn't surprise me that while the movie rights have been bought and sold a few times no one has figured out how to make it. It is just SO violent. Writing style didn't bother me as much but I understand how it could grind on people.

I absolutely loved No Country For Old Men. If you enjoyed the movie I highly recommend the book after you take some time off from McCarthy. I don't recall the writing in NCFOM to be as odd as it was in Blood Meridian.

I just finished No Country and loved it. I did the audiobook and it was really well done. Was not a fan of The Road though.

Finished The Watchers based on recs from here. Sucker for dogs, so I liked it. Little dated, but I remember those days.

Any other non pure horror Koontz worth checking out?

Gonna start Fade in by Kyle Mills next.

Intensity

Just finished Man in the High Castle.

I found it a bit hard to follow. There was a lot going on in less than 300 pages. A lot of storylines that didn't really directly intersect. I think maybe I don't totally get it.

Is this representative of all of Philip K Dick's writing?

Eisenhorn - Xenos (Warhammer 40k); my first warhammer book - was recommended by a friend to start here with the Warhammer world… after I finish the Eisenhorn series I'll be looking for additional titles in the WH40K universe, if anyone has recommendations.

I'd start with Horus Heresy. They are fun books, only like 530 written so far

I have started The Absent One, the second book in the Department Q series. It's...intense.

SpreadsheetAg said:

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Eisenhorn - Xenos (Warhammer 40k); my first warhammer book - was recommended by a friend to start here with the Warhammer world… after I finish the Eisenhorn series I'll be looking for additional titles in the WH40K universe, if anyone has recommendations.

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Either HH as mentioned or Gaunt's Ghosts. A few less in that series. Horus heresy is great and is probably the foundation of Warhammer if there ever was one, but it jumps around a lot. Warhammer is a setting. A canvas used by writers to create cool ***** So it goes all over the place. It's a spider web of storytelling. And the entire HH series is like a giant compendium of anthologies collecting the stories of how the most important events came to be that shaped the current landscape of the setting.

Gaunts Ghosts is a single focused storyline revolving around a military unit and will be a very easy step over from Eisenhorn if you are completely new to this setting. Then go HH afterwards would be rec.

Or just be like me, pick random stuff that sounds intriguing and just go! That was almost two decades ago…

Just downloaded the first book of the GG series, thanks for the rec!

Only 16 books in this series lolol

Question for fans of the Dune series as I'm just starting Chapterhouse: Dune. I understand that books 5 and 6 were intended to be books 1 and 2 of a trilogy that Frank Herbert did not complete before he passed away. Brian Herbert used his father's notes to complete the trilogy with two books: Hunters of Dune and Sandworms of Dune. Once I finish Chapterhouse, are those two worth reading to wrap up the storylines, or is the writing so much worse that I should just find some spoilers to tell me how the story ends?

I haven't read either of those books, but I did read several other of Brian's books. I wouldn't buy them, but if you can get them from a library, it may be worth the time to read them. These books are new to me, so I'll look into them.

I stopped after Chapterhouse and never felt compelled to keep going... it's actually pretty tidy at the end there.

Slow reader here. Just finished an old sci-fi novel by Alan Dean Foster, Cachalot. It is a water world where earth's whales have been sent to, and over the course of time, the whales have learned how to communicate with the few humans inhabiting Cachalot. Book was interesting enough to keep me going and to prod me to continue this series.

But next up is Project Hail Mary.

Finished 4th Wing Book 2: Iron Flame

Better than the first in my opinion; and way less "smut"

SpreadsheetAg said:

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Finished 4th Wing Book 2: Iron Flame

Better than the first in my opinion; and way less "smut"

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I was wavering on even reading the second book. I have it back on my list, but after:

The Girl w/ the Dragon Tattoo
I Am Rome (Julius Caesar historical fiction)
Fairy Tale
E