It would be reasonable to think that for a writer like Stephen King, where all his books are horror, the literature that he likes to read and is not exactly his, is also horror, right? Well, we were very wrong! We have known what the top 10 favorite books by Stephen King, and we have to say that as soon as you know them you will be as surprised or more than ourselves.
Among them are not the great classics of fear of Edgar Allan Poe, for example, although they might as well be on this list because they are magnificent, it is not JRR Tolkien, supreme creator of dark and majestic worlds. But there is, to add a small advance, Charles Dickens, with his work "Desolate house", specifically occupying the position nº 6 of its top 10. Do you want to know more? Are you curious to find out which one is the top 1 on their huge favorites list? Well, keep reading.
Cormac McCarthy's "Blood Meridian"
This novel published in 1985, is one of Stephen King's favorites. The novel tells the story of a young fugitive (with no known name) who joins the Glanton gang, a historical group of mercenaries who was hired by the governor of Chihuahua to massacre indigenous people who lived on the border between the United States and Mexico between 1849 and 1850.
Stephen King is seen to be in full agreement with literary critics, who think that this Cormac McCarthy novel is one of the most influential American literary works of the second half of the XNUMXth century. In fact, the magazine Time included it among the 100 best novels in English between the years 1923 to 2005.
"Light of August" by William Faulkner
Another American novel! As main themes in this work we find the violence, the search for the truth and and the obscurantism. According to those who have read it, it is one of the most complete and best made works of William Faulkner, along with his other well-known works such as “The noise and the fury"And"While I agonize".
"The Raj Quartet" by Paul Scott
Paul Scott, British playwright and poet, wrote this tetralogy between 1966 and 1975. It is made up of the following titles:
- The Jewel in the Crown (1966)
- The day of the scorpion (1968)
- The towers of silence (1971)
- A share of the loot (1975)
George Orwell's "1984"
This work is not only one of Stephen King's favorites but also of many of you (I include myself) who enjoyed the article we wrote about him right here and that you can read again in this link.
What to say that is not already known about this magnificent work? How well it can be applied today to the world in which we live, that George Orwell did not seem to go very wrong imagining the world that would come to be formed and that we are still in search of 'Big Brother' who manages everything in the shadows.
If you haven't read this book yet, you don't know what you're missing! It is a reference novel, one of those that must be saved in a possible fire ...
"Bleak House" by Charles Dickens
Is the Charles Dickens' 9th novel, published in twenty installments between March 1852 and September 1853. As is normal in Dickens, it is based on completely real characters and settings but completely transforming them at will to create its story.
The protagonists of this story are the following:
- Esther summerson: Heroine and narrator of part of the story. Orphan as the identity of her parents is unknown.
- Richard Carstone: A ward of the lawsuit Jarndyce and Jarndyce. He is a simple and fickle character who falls under the curse of the Jarndyce and Jarndyce case.
- Ada Clare: A ward of the Jarndyce and Jarndyce case. Good girl, she's Esther's best friend. In the story she falls in love with Richard Carstone.
- John Jarndyce: He is the legal guardian of Richard, Ada and Esther, and the owner of Desolate House. A good man but somewhat sad, lonely and depressed.
"Lord of the Flies" by William Golding
It is the first and most important novel by British author William Golding. It is one of these works that despite being wonderful in all its essence it did not dazzle anyone or very few just published. It was not until years later that it reached some popularity, especially in the United Kingdom, where today it is one of the most studied works in schools and institutes.
Arguably, this is one of the few works seen so far that most closely resembles the King's literature. Why? Because what begins as a close marriage ends with jealousy, disputes, violence and even murder.
This book has been made from movies to opera.
"The Satanic Verses" by Salman Rushdie
As a different point of interest, we will tell you that the publication of this work in the United Kingdom brought such a controversy and controversy that in some countries its sale was prohibited and it was even burned, in certain other Muslims ...
"The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain
Of this book we will simply leave you with the opinion that another great of literature deserved, Ernest Hemingway:
All modern American literature comes from a book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn. […] All American texts come from this book. There was nothing before. Nothing so good has come after.
"The Golden Argosy, The Most Famous Tales of the English Language" edited by Van Cartmell and Charles Grayson
Without a doubt, a great book to "chew on carefully", discuss it with other people and leave it for future generations. A great work of world literature!
I agree with many of Stephen King's favorite books, but in my humble opinion, there is a lot of literature missing in that top 10. Okay, there are only ten holes to put possible titles of good literature but I miss many great Latin American literary works and Spanish. It will be that each one shoots for their land!