Why Stephen King is now my favorite author.

Nine years ago, I explained how reading a few Stephen King books helped me through a difficult period of recuperation following heart surgery. I've gone through periods where I have loved reading, but I always seemed to fall out of the habit. I remember justifying it to myself by claiming that it ate up too much of my precious free time. At the time of writing, King was climbing my list of favorite authors, but was not at the very top.

In October 2025, I looked at my Stephen King collection. I owned perhaps half of the books and the majority  were mass market paperbacks. Because some were more than 40 years old, I wasn't sure if I had even read them all. I wondered if I just knew some of the stories because I had seen the TV or movie adaptation. It was then that I came up with the idea of reading all of King's novels, novellas, and story collections in chronological order. I estimated that it might take me five years.

I was wrong.

After ten months, I have just finished the latest King novel. I'm actually anticipating the next release for the first time in about 40 years. The journey through King's work has changed me. I am certainly not the person that I was in 1980, but it has changed me in ways that have nothing to do with my age.

At the outset, I decided to devote a few hours a week to the project. That changed fast after reading Carrie on the first day. It's a short novel, but it gave me the incentive to devote more than a few hours per week to reading. It quickly became exciting and my preferred choice. I always told myself that I could never be bored because books were there if all else failed, but I found myself choosing to read ahead of any other activity when I had free time. 

Reading King became like listening to my favorite band's albums repeatedly. Both activities were like learning a language, and I soon started to feel like I was a part of King's multiverse. The narrative voice started to feel familiar, like being in the presence of a friend who understands me. 

One of the things I realized was that so many of King's stories, places, and characters were linked. It was enjoyable uncovering those connections, and a few of them ended up being essential. For example, who would have thought that characters from books written in the 1970s would show up in The Dark Tower series? 

Perhaps the biggest benefit of all is becoming completely fascinated by reading once again. I now feel that I will be an avid reader for whatever time I have left in this existence. I'm genuinely excited to think about all the stories I plan to read. I've already bought about 200 new books this year in preparation for that next step. I'll revisit some of my favorites, rediscover the details that I loved, and see what other authors have to offer.

My King collection is now complete. I own a physical copy of every book in at least one format and have several in hardcover, paperback, and mass market paperback formats.

I took a stab at creating a Stephen King tier list. It won't be the same as anyone else's because with more than 80 selections to choose from, we'll all have our own reasons for liking what we like. However, I tried to be as honest as possible. I hope that you give Stephen King a try if you somehow never have. Good starting points would be The Dead Zone or Different Seasons.

I can now say that Stephen King is my favorite author. I gave the 80-plus books an average rating of 4.2/5. I love so many of King's characters and will revisit some of those worlds for the rest of my life.

Here's my tier list:

August 17, 2026.