People! What was your first....

[BunnyAnn328]

Now that I have gotten you attention. I know this thread has probably been done like a "Billion" times before, but I am to lazy to go look. So! I would love to know! What was your first Stephen King book and how did you obtain it/choose to start reading it!?

My Story!!

My first ever Stephen King book was Desperation(Now I own 64...I think). One day my mother, step father and I went to Sioux Falls to run some errands. I was obsessed with reading. I loved everything about it. So we stopped at Goodwill(My favorite place to get books). My mom said we were heading to Walmart and that she would be in there for an hour, if not longer. So, I went on the hunt to find the perfect book to entertain me. So I was browsing the hundreds of book on the shelf, when I saw this bright/unique covered book. This book was super thick, but seemed interesting because of the unique cover art. So, I bought the book. I read it....in a day. I was in love. With the suspense, the writing style, and just the beauty of the horror. So I asked my mom about Stephen King. She told me she read Carrie in 1974 when it first came out. She was 14. So, I came home the next day and my mom tosses a paperback version of Carrie at me. So I went upstairs and laid in the tub. I came out four hours later yelling at my mom! "I need more Stephen King books!!! I need them all." That's how I fell in love with Stephen King. I read and collect anything by him I can get my hands on. His books have helped me and gave me peace when I felt I had nothing or no one.

That's my story! Tell me your's!!!

 

[Kati33]

Sadly, I don't really remember! I was high school age-ish. I distinctly remember picking up Wizard and Glass at the high school library and reading it- then finding Drawing of the Three. Took several years to read the first 4 in order and even longer to finish the series (which I've now read 3 times completely, and a few more with just the first 4 books). Got into the Stephen King area of the public library and read more. Found out my Grandma read quite a bit of King's work since she grew up in Maine so she got me a few other books (which my mom hated due to his horror reputation). My best friend from high school also reads his stuff and we talk about and trade books all the time.

 

[EMARX]

For me it was Salem's Lot. It was the mass market paperback with the silver cover and if I recall correctly the head of a boy with a drop of blood on his lip. I may be imagining that last part, but it feels right.

 

[Grandpa]

I was trying to think of this since the other thread. I'm pretty sure it was The Shining. I liked it quite a bit but thought the ending had been left in the oven a bit too long.

Nevertheless, it encouraged me to read more of Mr. King's work. I plowed through Night Shift, most of which I really liked, returned to Carrie, which gave me a similar reaction to The Shining, then read The Stand, which still stands (nyuk) as one of my favorites. Dead Zone and Firestarter followed soon after, both thoroughly enjoyable, and then I hit a wall with Cujo and left Mr. King alone for a while. But while friends may quarrel, they will return to their sentiments, and Christine got us back into the breach. There have been hits and misses since, but he's still a storyteller and narrator par excellence.

 

[Out of Order]

King? Never read him.........

 

[Lepplady]

I'm not sure where I got it, library paperback sale, maybe. I noticed it because of the cover, all black with a single drop of blood.

And the back blurb. "the high, sweet, evil laughter of achild...and the terrible sucking sounds."

 

[BunnyAnn328]

I'm not sure where I got it, library paperback sale, maybe. I noticed it because of the cover, all black with a single drop of blood.

And the back blurb. "the high, sweet, evil laughter of achild...and the terrible sucking sounds."

I personally loved the blurb on the back. This is one of my favorites also. I have the Illustrated edition. ::O

 

[Jojo87]

I've posted this many times before, but here's my first SK short story book.

 

[Kurben]

For me it was Salems lot. My parents(and my father especially) encouraged me to read a little of everything. I had read Call of the wild by Jack London and the Three Musketeers by Dumas and Doyles Sherlock Holmes Stories. Also Jules Verne. My father used to get books from the publishers to write about them in the newspaper. He was one of the first in Sweden that saw something more than just another cheap horrorwriter. He gave me Salems lot after he had read it and written about it. I read it and i was caught. Most have been 13-14 years old by that time. All these books were translations of course. I didn't read them in english until many years later.

 

[doowopgirl]

When I was 16 my mother handed me the black paperback of Carrie and told me I'd love it. At that time it was the only thing we didn't argue about, books. She had an excellent sense of what would suit anyones reading taste. So I read it. I haven't looked back.

 

[Walter Oobleck]

Desperation is a favorite, pure story, and I like how strangers come together to make a stand. Plus, I've known a few Johnnies in my time.

First King story was It, on the recommendation from my brother the high school math and science teacher no longer with us, alas. Thirty-five when he died. That last day in June was a hot one, one of the hottest on record. Anyway, Kevin brings this paperback over to the house, says, here, read It, it (It?) is good! He went on to detail some of the events...something about a clown...something about how each character in the story sees the clown in their own way. This was sometime in the mid to late 90s. So, I read It and it was good. First King experience other than that was The Shining with Jack that so many seem to despise although everyone in the theatre when I attended with a friend loved the movie, were deeply satisfied...you could hear all this satisfaction when the credits rolled. But it wasn't until I picked up a copy of The Gunslinger...Rapid City this was...back in the summer of aught-six that I wanted to read everything else. Isn't it great, living in a time when we can say things like that? Aught-six it was.

 

[GNTLGNT]

For me it was Salem's Lot. It was the mass market paperback with the silver cover and if I recall correctly the head of a boy with a drop of blood on his lip. I may be imagining that last part, but it feels right.

...boy with long hair and sensuous lips...not that there's anything wrong with that...

 

[GNTLGNT]

...condensed version...college(the first go round), enjoying an ummmm, "herbal" smoking experience with a frat brother, when he pulled a book out and said "you might like this", it was a beat to hell copy of The Stand...once I had satisfied a mysterious case of the raging munchies-I started in, and decades later am still on cruise control of his work...

 

[Riot87]

My first one was The Stand as well

I was 13 & had just started to really get into reading

my dad gave it to me and it was the complete and uncut version

I still have the same book these days but its pretty beat up lol.

 

[swiftdog2.0]

My first was a Bachman book. Thinner in 1987. I read it as an English assignment my freshmen year in High School. I had to do a paper on it. My teacher specifically told us no Stephen King works would be allowed. She didn't know that Bachman was his alias Got an A on the paper!

It was full speed ahead into the catalog from there!

 

[The Nameless]

I don't mind telling again, I'm sure some people are bored of my story by now, but here it is. I was late to the party when it comes to reading (28 years old). Ever since I can remember I loved (and still do) the IT mini series. Being aware that books have more to them than films, I always thought "I wouldn't mind reading IT one day", but I was never into reading and the last book I read was in school (of mice and men) and none of it stuck in. One boxing day, I was staying in my Brothers for the night and he had Carrie, I figured I'd give that a little go to see if I can stick with a full blown novel. About a third of the way through I had decided to buy IT and stopped reading Carrie. I spent £2.69 on a very used paperback from play.com (Rakuten in the US) and very slowly made my way through it. Talk about starting in the deep end - 1116 pages of very small print. It was totally worth it though, I could have gone another thousand. It is my favourite King story, and my favourite book - it's even more beat up now, is slightly water damaged, has cellotape on it, and Stephen's name on the spine is barely visible due to creasing - all of these things make it that little bit more special to me.

Here it is. (Again, I know I've posted this picture before, sorry if it seems I'm flooding)

 

[arista]

Through the eyes of the Dragon. I think I picked that one up in sixth grade or so.

 

[AchtungBaby]

I had tried reading various King books for years, but unlike you guys, I didn't really care for them.... Running Man, Misery, IT, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gotdon....I tried 'em but nothing stuck.... One day my family and I were having a yard sale, and my sister was going to sell a beat-up copy of Christine (it didn't even have a cover!). I scooped it up out of the box and read the synopsis on the back, and it grabbed me in a way the other books hadn't. I was hooked from the first sentene of the prologue, and have been hooked on SK ever since. I'm not actually sure what my very first SK book was, but I consider it to be Christine since that was the one that made me a fan.

 

[fljoe0]

The Shining. I was in high school and there were a few people at school talking about the book (I think Carrie was out in the Theaters too but I'm not sure) and it sounded good to me so I bought it. I've been hooked ever since.

 

[misery chastain loves co.]

I started with a comic book, specifically Creepshow. I think I was 9 or 10. It scared the bejesus out of me. We lived in a creepy, creaky farmhouse at the time and late at night for several weeks after I could SWEAR I saw Nathan Grantham standing in the corner of my bedroom. I also deep down enjoyed that feeling of being scared and today it's a passion of mine. Along with Mr. King's many works.