I find most modern King books to have no lasting value in my mind after reading. Basically I finish the book and immediately forget the entire book within a few days. That’s the opposite of what his earlier books did to me.

I about had a stroke when you pulled out Nightmares and Dreamscapes in honorable mentions.   That thing is chock full of classic certified bangers.   Dolan's Cadillac, Chattery Teeth, The moving Finger??  I can't... 😮

omg, Lisey's Story was such a struggle for me! All that f*cking baby talk made it unreadable 🙄 ... "baby love" and "booya moon" or some stupid shit like that 😂 UGH 😩

All I remember about The Tommyknockers is a character who started talking very inappropriately and also became incontinent.

My big gripe with the Talisman is how little Jack spends in the Territories. The Territory chapters were the parts I looked forward to. The real world chapters really slowed down the story to crawl. Did Jack really need to spend so much time at a bar and an orphanage?!

Jake I agree, this list can be very subjective. It depends what each reader is looking for, e.g. diversion, escapism, horror, sci-fi. I know a lot of people who literally adore "Tommyknockers" and "Talisman". In my opinion King's strengths are not in Fantasy: "Talisman", "Eyes of the Dragon" and the recent "Fairy Tale" were among his lesser/mediocre books. Same for sci-fi: "Dreamcatcher" was a disappointment for me as well.

The only one of these I have read so far is Danse Macabre (I have read Nightmares and Dreamscapes but it was thirty years ago and I liked it then) and I totally agree with you. I couldn't quite think of the words to describe what it was i didn't like but you nailed it with scholarly and textbook. The analysis could get really boring and is just a slog. I will say there are parts and sections I really enjoyed. When he is telling stories from his past I found those really enjoyable and a interesting view of pop culture and daily life from that era. Anyways thanks for the fun video and have a great Friday!

I have trouble getting into his newer works. I prefer to read his older works. It took me years to finish The Tommyknockers I had trouble with the part where he gets onto the spaceship and comes across the dog, the grandfather, and Bobbi’s sister.

Liked Mr Mercedes, loved Finders Keepers, didn’t like End of Watch at all.

I read Cell in 2007 from the library. I found it just okay, probably won’t reread it. All I remember is ”telepaths who don’t take baths” and that they spoke Latin.

You should do a top 10 Vampire Novels list. There are a lot of great vampire books. Even better than salems Lot which is also great.

Nailed it with Black House, abysmal prose that took weeks to slog through. Couldn't even finish Rose Madder...I got madder every page and finally bailed out.  Most on your list I haven't read though, but a big thank you for the warning about Holly.

Sleeping Beauties, Lisey's Story, The Tommyknockers, From a buick 8, Elevation rule my dislike list

Definitely give Tommyknockers another chance. It's certainly not perfect, but there are some hilarious moments in it (the umbrella scene), and maybe I'm just a sucker but even if a book is executed poorly, if it has a cool premise it instantly gets bonus points. I've always loved the "town goes mad" concept, and in this one it's mixed with "crashed alien ship is found and bad things start to happen," which I also love. Also the magic show scene... edge of my seat. Also, I believe the alien influence surrounding the town that keeps people trapped is the infant idea of what would become The Dome.

Not to mention the shoehorned Pennywise scene, which I'm enough of a square-peg-in-round-hole brain enough to cheer any time I see that in any of his books.

I'm a Tommyknockers apologist through-and-through, and, to a lesser extent, a Dreamcatcher one as well.

Holly dodged a bullet while trapped in a cage! Come on, Steve!

I loved Danse Macabre when I read it in my pre-college days, mainly because it approached the horror genre in this approachable, holistic way, incorporating everything from "The Outer Limits" TV show to novels by Thomas Tryon. I wouldn't call it "scholarly" as it isn't bogged down by theory or whatnot, but it's more concerned with the technical aspects of what scares us (this may be what dates the book, as I faintly recall a Freudian aspect.) Horror wasn't as mainline as it is now, and that may be the best reason for revisiting DM, to see what holds up. But I found it very readable with its ideas and humorous asides.

Just wondering, you talked about rereading King books several times so I'm wondering if you also read a lot of books by other authors? Or do you focus mostly on King books? I still have SK books I haven't read the first time along with an impossibly huge TBR pile that I'll never get finished with (I'm a slow reader), so I don't see myself ever having the time to reread a book. That is great that you are able to though. Glad you didn't take down any of my favorites in this video.

Loved King since high school in the early 80's but now it seems to me his overall newer writing work once he was an adored and worshipped author for a decade has not aged very well for me. His early fiction is swinging more for the fences in my opinion because most were written in a time in King's life when he was trying to prove himself to the world before he hit big into the mainstream. Even his Richard Bachman stuff is stronger in many ways than his newer stuff.

Nice vid. Where u get the hoodie?

I have to say, I was genuinely surprised by your choice of #1 (I'm not a regular follower; this is either the second or third video I've seen of yours). I used to say - and for the most part it's still true - that I think the most accomplished book King wrote was The Stand, the scaries book he ever wrote was The Shining, but my favorite is The Talisman.

Of course, I also have most of Straub's books, and I've enjoyed them, although they tend to be very different from King's. But I loved the main characters and the story. I own Black House, but I've never actually read it yet, mainly because I was afraid not only would it not live up to The Talisman but it might negatively affect my opinion of it.