The Essential Stephen King [Paperback]

Stephen J. Spignesi (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 2003

Spignesi selects and ranks the top 101 works out of the more than 550 created by Stephen King during his prolific career. Each chosen work is synopsized and reviewed by the writer who Entertainment Weekly has called "the world's leading expert on Stephen King."

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Spignesi, credited with over 20 books (The Stephen King Quiz Book; The Celebrity Baby Name Book; The Beatles Book of Lists; etc.) in the past decade, views Stephen King as "our greatest living author." With his staggering 18,000-item Complete Stephen King Encyclopedia, he was labeled "the world's leading expert on Stephen King" by Entertainment Weekly, and he again beelines for his favorite destination. This time he itemizes 553 works by King and selects his 101 favorites from among King's novels, short stories and nonfiction (with one poem). His top 10 picks are all novels, including It, The Stand and Bag of Bones. Each selection is shoehorned into a template that includes, for example, rank (and justification for such), publication date, King's comment about the work, Spignesi's brief personal reaction ("what I really liked about the book"), film adaptations and a short excerpt from each work. The author's colloquial style is peppered with such sentences as "Yikes!" and "Great fun." Personal anecdotes, parenthetical digressions and Spignesi's worshipful approach signify mammoth first-draft fanzine more than serious critical study. Short pieces by Spignesi's friends and colleagues, including an interview with a King collector, add to this effect. Agent, John White.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal

Wiater and his coauthors, all writers deeply involved in sf and horror writing or criticism, here aim to show that King's stories are interconnected by theme or character and that the "Dark Tower series is the core of the Stephen King universe." In their investigation of linked themes, the authors limit themselves to King's published titles, including his early work only if a specific title has been published in a collection. Appendixes include a chronology of Stephen King's life and works, a bibliography of King's writings, a list of recommended web sites, recommended reading, and an index. Taking a different tack on King's corpus, admitted King fan Spignesi (The Complete Stephen King Encyclopedia, The Lost Work of Stephen King, and two Stephen King quiz books) specifies King's 101 best works and also lists all 553 works with publication status at the end of the volume. (His index was unavailable for review.) Like Wiater, Spignesi discusses story lines and main characters, also including little-known tidbits and a comment from King regarding each title. Both books include information about film adaptations with Spignesi listing the movie's cast and Wiater presenting movie reviews. Wiater also indicates when a story has been released in other formats. Both titles will appeal to serious King fans, but Wiater's will be an especially useful addition to academic resources on contemporary authors. Recommended for those libraries with a need for in-depth information on King and his work. Laurie Selwyn, San Antonio P.L., TX
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 364 pages
• Publisher: Career Press (August 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 156414710X
• ISBN-13: 978-1564147103
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 7.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,912,197 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Utterly uncritical, and duller than dishwater..., May 23, 2005

By 

Darren MacLennan (Cleveland, OH) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Essential Stephen King : A Ranking of the Greatest Novels, Short Stories, Movies, and Other Creations of the World's Most Popular Writer (Hardcover)

The problem with the book is that it's utterly uncritical of the entirety of Stephen King's work - it's simply a basic recounting of the novel's plot, followed up with a few bits of trivia and the author's "What I Liked" section.

The problem is that the author of this book likes everything about Stephen King, even when he's talking about King's weaker material. You could write the words "I love Stephen King and everything he's ever done!" on an index card, then post it next to the Amazon search results for Stephen King and you'd have this book in a nutshell.

Plus, he refers to the Gor novels as "wildly popular". Uh, no.

-Darren MacLennan

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Good Ranking, Even Better Writing, September 3, 2001

By 

Sebastien Pharand (Orléans, Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Essential Stephen King : A Ranking of the Greatest Novels, Short Stories, Movies, and Other Creations of the World's Most Popular Writer (Hardcover)

Spignesi is probably the biggest King fan out there. He knows every book, novella, short story and essay the man has written in and out. There isn't one work he isn't totally familiar with. I actually wonder if he knows more about King's writing than King does himself.

In The Essential Stephen King, Spignesi tries to rank the 101 best things king has ever written. And although every major King work is featured (all of the novels are there, so are the novellas), many of King's best short stories didn't make the cut (where are The Night Flyer and Lawnmower Man?). And I was disappointed when I saw some of my favorite King novels ranked so high up the list (Dolores Claiborne, The Dark Half, Needful Things and Storm Of the Century aren't even near the top 10!). Of course, this is a fan ranking his favourite works. No two fans will think alike.

The reason the book is so powerful is because of the author's writing skills. Spignesi writes with passion and dedication. Every sentence is like a love confession for the King of horror. And I also enjoyed the articles written by King fans/experts at the end of the book. This books makes you want to revisit King's best writings. It's a book every King fan will enjoy and will use time and time again as a reference manual.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful resource for all levels of King Fans, June 25, 2001

By 

Jay Holben "adakin_productions" (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Essential Stephen King : A Ranking of the Greatest Novels, Short Stories, Movies, and Other Creations of the World's Most Popular Writer (Hardcover)

Stephen J. Spignesi has been a passionate follower of Stephen King's work for a good number of years. His extraordinary (and expansive) resource - The Stephen King Encyclopedia - placed him at the forefront of King experts. With this new volume, Spignesi examines what he determines to be the prolific author's top 101 works (actually 102 including a special note for a non-fiction eulogy that King wrote following the death of John Lennon, which Spignesi places in "a class of its own"). Although the rankings are primarily Spignesi's opinions and not all of King's wide fan base will necessarily agree with the author's opinions, in the end, Spignesi makes a strong case arguing that King is an essential author of modern American literature who should not be so easily pigeonholed into the "just a horror writer" category, but whose works can (and should) be subjected to the same tedious academic scrutiny that Authors such as Steinbeck and Faulkner have undergone.

Efficiently written with energetic synopses for each of the selections as well as a qualifying explanation as to why the particular work received its ranking, The Essential Stephen King is a wonderful resource for all levels of King Fans to either learn of his exceptional works, or merely revisit them along with Spignesi.