Stephen King is one of the most prolific and widely read authors in modern literature. With more than 60 novels, over 350 million books sold, and a catalogue that includes Carrie, The Shining, It, Misery, Pet Sematary and The Stand, there are still certain books he openly wishes he had written himself.
In the past, King has named several titles that have stayed with him not just as a reader, but as a writer. “Sometimes you feel such a feeling of jealousy when you read a book and you say, ‘God damn, why him? What about me?’” he said, according to Far Out Magazine.
“Or sometimes you read a book where the guy did something that was so much above you in terms of either the idea or the execution of the characters. And you say, ‘Aw, no. I want to hide my head.’”
The first on King’s list, Lord of the Flies by William Golding, was originally published in 1954. It tells the story of a group of British schoolboys stranded on a deserted island, and the gradual breakdown of their attempts at civilisation.
In an interview with The Guardian, King explained that he first read it at the age of 12 and credited it as the book that made him want to become a writer. “It was about kids, and I was a kid. The plot was simple and the descent into savagery was believable,” he recalled.
While he later came to understand the novel’s symbolism and subtext, it was the structure and concept that left a lasting impression.
King also mentioned A Separate Peace, the 1959 novel by John Knowles. Set in a New England boarding school during the Second World War, it follows two students whose friendship is marked by rivalry, identity struggles and the impact of external conflict.
The novel explores the complexities of youth and the loss of innocence, themes that appear frequently in King’s own work, particularly in stories involving adolescence and memory.
Third on the list was Catch‑22 by Joseph Heller, the anti-war satire published in 1961. Known for its non-linear narrative and paradoxical logic, the novel centres on a U.S. Army Air Force bombardier stationed during World War II.
Its sharp commentary on bureaucracy and its surreal tone have made it one of the most studied novels of the 20th century. King pointed to its structure and execution as elements that made him take notice.
While those three titles prompted strong reactions, one book had an even greater effect. John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath is the 1939 novel chronicling the journey of the Joad family during the Great Depression as they migrate from the Dust Bowl in Oklahoma to California. The novel won the Pulitzer Prize and is widely considered a turning point of American literature.
“You just read it and push away,” King said. “It’s like a guy that’s having a perfect day at the plate. You just say you can’t beat him. It’s almost like perfection.” He added that it was the book he most wishes he’d written, more than any of the others.
King has also discussed other books that shaped his early reading and writing habits. In The Guardian’s “The Book That Made Me” series in 2024, he named Studs Lonigan by James T. Farrell as another important discovery during his teenage years.
The trilogy follows a young man in Chicago as he navigates hardship, disillusionment and the pressures of Depression-era America. King said it “fuelled my teenage cynicism” before Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath later became, in his view, a more complete picture of that historical period.