My Love/Hate relationship with Stephen King

Somewhere along the road of my life, I got it in my head that to like Stephen King was blasphemy. I think it had something to do with wanting to use The Stand in an English paper in high school and being laughed at by my teacher. Or maybe it was the fact that an English Professor in college told me that to like Stephen King was blasphemy. I don’t know, but it’s really messed me up. I guess I consider him my one mainstream indulgence (just to let you know, there will be very little—read no—Patterson, Steel, Clancy, or any other big name I can’t think of right now written about by me on this blog). So I bring him up guiltily every once in a while because his books are really fun and worth the blasphemous read. I just read in the New York Times Book Review that his new short story collection, Just After Sunset is pretty good. The review also discusses King’s reputation, saying, “He has been both Horror Hack and Underrated Litterateur.” Yep. Exactly. So let’s indulge, shall we? Here is a list of my favorites:

The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon. Not a typical King, but it has the same style elements.
It. Freaked me out. But the relationships between the characters were so wonderfully described.
Lisey’s Story. Very much written by Stephen King. Weird yet compelling.
The Stand. My Favorite King. Read it.