The best of Stephen King’s books

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A new “Carrie” adaptation is introducing another generation to the storytelling prowess of horror icon Stephen King. Here are the best of the hundreds of novels King fans have devoured for decades.

‘The Shining’ (1977)

Literary critics and fans often say “The Shining” is “one of King’s most important novels” and “with good reason,” said Forbes. The book follows writer Jack Torrance and his family to the haunted Overlook Hotel in the isolated Colorado mountains. “The Shining” is a good read for fans who enjoy “psychological thrillers that merge with horror.” ($20, Penguin Random House, Amazon)

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‘The Stand’ (1978)

King’s eerie postapocalyptic novel “The Stand”, set in a “world ravaged by a ruthless pandemic,” follows an ensemble of characters across the “new, dangerous country.” The story builds to a “climactic battle between heaven and hell,” said Reader’s Digest. It’s a tale of “spiritual and sinister wonders, all told” with King’s “distinct wit and writing style.” ($22, Penguin Random House, Amazon)

‘The Dark Tower 1: The Gunslinger’ (1982)

The seven-book “Dark Tower” series is “King’s truest Tolkien analogue,” said The New York Times. It is an epic in “multiple modes (horror, sci-fi, fantasy, Western)” about a “gunslinger-knight” trying to save the world from “complete destruction by his foe, the Man in Black.” The first volume, “The Gunslinger,” is the shortest and gives you a “tiny taste of how weird and inventive the series gets.” ($29, Simon & Schuster, Amazon)

‘It’ (1986)

King’s “treatise on everything he’s learned about his dark craft" by that point in his career is “poured into the story of Pennywise,” a fear-eating shapeshifting entity, and the “gaggle of outcast children who choose to fight,” the creature said Esquire. The book’s eccentricity balances perfectly with the “romanticized myth of childhood summers” and the “grain and grit reality” of 1960s Maine. ($25, Simon & Schuster, Amazon)