Stephen King and summertime go hand in hand for me. So many summers of my young adulthood were spent reading his books, scaring myself silly. I will always associate summer reading with Stephen King. I haven’t read as many of his books in recent years, I just can’t keep up anymore, but I do have a few on my list for this summer, that I hope to read. This list however, is of Stephen King books that I have read and loved and will always make me think of summer.
First up one of my two all time favorite Stephen King books – Bag of Bones.
I think this one flies under the radar a lot, and does not get the appreciation it deserves. It is fantastic, the story of a grieving man who retreats to his summerhouse to try to heal and write again, as he is a writer unable to write. While there, he meets a woman and her daughter, and..a ghost. I am all about a ghost book. I read this entire book out loud to Billy one summer, years after I had read it for the first time. There is a made for tv movie, but don’t watch it and don’t compare it to the book. The book is by far superior!
My second book on the list is my other favorite – another underappreciated King book, in my high opinion!
Joyland! I really can’t say it better than I said it in 2016 –
I loved this book so much; I didn’t want it to end! The feel of it was classic top of his game King. It put me in mind of Bag of Bones. Thinner, and The Body. The story was a sentimental and nostalgic coming of age story; there were triumphs and revelations and a bit of sadness too. The story is told from the point of view of Devin as a wistful older man, looking back at this summer, a monumental one that changed him forever.
It was weird reading this a bit, as two of the characters are named Erin and Devin, and my name is Erin and my brother’s name is Devin. Lol. I don’t usually encounter them too frequently in books, especially Devin, much less in the same book! (If you want to see my review that is on my old blog, click here!)
Ok the next ones are pretty classic!
Is there any horror fan out there who can think of summer without thinking of It? My cousin Brian and I read this the same summer and completely terrified ourselves!
These two go hand in hand! The Regulators, written under King’s pseudonym, and Desperation. Both are the same story, parallel universe type stuff, about the same monster. My brother and I for years and years would respond to each other in the language of Tak like complete nerds. We still do at times lol, most often thankee sai which is more Dark Tower. Anyways, I digress.
The next three were all part of compilations as either short stories or novellas.
I swear, this story is one reason I absolutely am terrified of swimming in open water. And I can’t see one of these rafts afloat in a lake without thinking of this story!! Originally part of Skeleton Crew, chockful of terrifying short stories…
Also known to my generation as the movie Stand by Me with River Phoenix (sigh..my young girl heart had such a crush). The story is just as compelling as the movie, and is another coming of age story like Joyland. Such a summertime Stephen King memory for me, especially renting this on VHS and watching it at slumber parties as a kid. Originally part of the Different Seasons book, which is one of my all time favorites of King’s as well.
Oy this book was so good but so terrible and made me cry. Why am I including it?? It is just sad. I could never revisit it now as an older person with a child. It would break my heart even more than it did before! However, I couldn’t leave it off of this list. It was originally published as part of the Bachman Books.
As for the books that are on my summer TBR, I have added the following two:
I am not a baseball fan, but I am a fan of baseball movies and stories. Blockade Billy just sounds so good and I am intrigued, what could be the secret in this one!! And 1922, eeek! I will probably not sleep for a few nights.
And since June is audiobook month, I’ve added Billy Summers to listen to – starting now!
I would love to reread Bag of Bones and Joyland this summer as well! I own all of his books except for those that came out in the past seven years, I think I may have to revisit my Stephen King collection after this meander down memory lane..
Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs.. 
I went through a few years where I read a fair amount of Stephen King, despite the fact that King was kind of considered “evil” by people at my elementary school. The “restored” version of “The Stand” came out in paperback when I was in 7th grade; at the time, I was a voracious reader and starting having a hard time knowing where to go next after exhausting the kids’ section and pretty much all of “young adult” that interested me. I think I was a sophomore in high school when I worked up the nerve to ask my mom if I could get it, and I was shocked when she said yes. I loved the book, and then I kept going with a lot of Stephen King stuff, though even he will admit, some of it was of varying quality. (Alcoholism will do that to a person.) I read “On Writing” in 2002, and loved it, but that might be the last SK book I have read. I might have to check out a couple of these, though! 🙂
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Yes!! I think many of us voracious readers found King that way, wandering over to the adult side of the library since we had more than like read all of the books in the young adult section that interested us or because our reading level was way above our ages. My parents were very free about letting me read whatever I wanted but there we were also big communicators so if I had a question, we had a discussion.
And yes, some of his books are not up to par with some of his others – and alcoholism for sure played a part in it, I am sure. I read “On Writing” as well, and it is part of my home collection. There was a time I wanted to be a writer. Now I am just content to ramble along and not pay attention to any sort of writing rules, and read other people’s books.
Let me know if you pick any of these up! I would love to know what you think!
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Most importantly, yes to the River Phoenix love. You had to be a teen in the 80s to truly appreciate how much all he had…all of it; looks, talent, soulfulness, je ne sais quoi. Of your listed books, I have read none of the above but I’ve now added Bag of Bones to my TBR joining The Long Walk which was already there. I did a King list back in 2017 if you want to check it out – it’s largely the same as I haven’t rotated him back to my reading list recently https://jhohadli.wordpress.com/2017/10/31/favourite-stephen-king-books-or-films
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Right!? Ah River Phoenix, you left this world too soon, you poor troubled soul. I was just starting my freshman year of college when he died and when my roommates and I heard the news we were crying in our room. It was so tragic.
I will for sure check it out!
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Would you believe I’ve neither read It nor seen any of the movies? I am not a fan of horror movies that came after Halloween! I love the old black and white ones, but not the new stuff…nope, no way!
However, I really like Stephen King’s books even though I don’t think I’ve read any of those you’ve listed. I remember reading the Dark Tower series and waiting impatiently for the next book. And, of course, I read the Dark Zone.
Did you ever watch Haven? It’s sort of based on the book, The Colorado Kid. We have watched the entire series a couple of times and love it. I think it’s gone from Netflix but is surely somewhere else!
Funny, but I associate light beach reads with summer!!!
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I have not seen the new It – it looks way too scary!! Halloween is such a fantastic horror movie – a definite classic. I have not watched many horror movies in the past 8 years…it seems after I became a mother they have become too scary for me. Lol.
I loved the Dark Tower series! Bag of Bones is not super scary, I don’t think. Or Joyland. They are both more ghost stories and if you like Grady Hendrix you can handle those two for sure.
We loved Haven!! I loved Duke’s character and was so upset at the end. I would like to rewatch it now that we have talked about it.
I think most people do. Lol. And I do read those too! Just when I think back to summers when I was younger, I was devouring Stephen King books alongside my cousin. I didn’t read the light beach reads until I was older. I am probably going to do a post about less scary summer books in a few weeks. 🙂 Lol.
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