Stephen King, jedan je od najpopularnijih živih pisaca horor – fikcije, čija su literarna istraživanja oblikovala moderni horor na više načina. Kingova prisutnost unutar okvira popularne kulture dodatno je porasla zbog brojnih adaptacija njegovih priča – dok su priznati filmski reditelji poput Stanleyja Kubricka i Briana De Palme radili na Kingovom materijalu u prošlosti, danas streaming platforme poput Netflix-a trenutno rade na novim adaptacijama.
Dok mnogi mladi pisci redovno traže inspiraciju u piščevim romanima, on sam, neretko, u online intervjuima deli neprocenjive savete za pisanje. Stephen King često podseća nove pisce da se fokusiraju na svoje umetničke osećaje, pre nego da brinu o očekivanjima publike.
Jedna od glavnih aktivnosfit koje pisac zagovara kad je pisanje u pitanju jeste – čitanje. Jednom je rekao: „Najbolje učiš čitajući mnogo i pišući mnogo, a najvrednije lekcije su one kojima sam sebe podučiš“. Da bi pomogao mladim piscima, King često sastavlja liste knjiga koje su uticale na njegov lični put.
Dok je pisao pogovor za svoju knjigu On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft (O pisanju: Memoari zanata), Stephen King je kreirao listu od 96 knjiga koje su odigrale važnu ulogu u razvoju njegovog stila. Govoreći o izboru, dodao je: „Sumnjam da je svaka knjiga na ovoj listi imala uticaja na one knjige koje sam napisao.“
Eklektična lista knjiga koje je sastavio Stephen King sadrži širok spektar pisaca, uključujući autore poput Williama Faulknera, Charlesa Dickensa, J.K. Rowling i Raymonda Carvera među mnogim drugima. To svakako predstavlja jaku kolekciju romana i trebalo bi da bude dobar početak za svakog ko traži interesantnu listu knjiga za čitanje, ali posebno za one koji još uvek tragaju za svojim književnim stilom.
Stephen King je dao napomenu uz ovu svoju listu: „Dok je čekirate, molim vas da se setite da ja nisam Oprak i da ovo nije moj književni klub. Ovo su one knjige koje su radile za mene, to je sve. Mnoge od ovih knjiga mogu vam pokazati nove načine rada. Čak i ako ne, sigurno će vas zabaviti. Mene su svakako zabavljale.“
Peter Abrahams, A Perfect Crime
Peter Abrahams, Lights Out
Peter Abrahams, Pressure Drop
Peter Abrahams, Revolution #9
James Agee, A Death in the Family
Kirsten Bakis, Lives of the Monster Dogs
Pat Barker, Regeneration
Pat Barker, The Eye in the Door
Pat Barker, The Ghost Road
Richard Bausch, In the Night Season
Peter Blauner, The Intruder
Paul Bowles, The Sheltering Sky
T. Coraghessan Boyle, The Tortilla Curtain
Bill Bryson, A Walk in the Woods
Christopher Buckley, Thank You for Smoking
Raymond Carver, Where I’m Calling From
Michael Chabon, Werewolves in Their Youth
Windsor Chorlton, Latitude Zero
Michael Connelly, The Poet
Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness
K.C. Constantine, Family Values
Don DeLillo, Underworld
Nelson DeMille, Cathedral
Nelson DeMille, The Gold Coast
Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist
Stephen Dobyns, Common Carnage
Stephen Dobyns, The Church of Dead Girls
Roddy Doyle, The Woman Who Walked into Doors
Stanely Elkin, The Dick Gibson Show
William Faulkner, As I Lay Dying
Alex Garland, The Beach
Elizabeth George, Deception on His Mind
Tess Gerritsen, Gravity
William Golding, Lord of the Flies
Muriel Gray, Furnace
Graham Greene, A Gun for Sale (aka This Gun for Hire)
Graham Greene, Our Man in Havana
David Halberstam, The Fifties
Pete Hamill, Why Sinatra Matters
Thomas Harris, Hannibal
Kent Haruf, Plainsong
Peter Hoeg, Smilla’s Sense of Snow
Stephen Hunter, Dirty White Boys
David Ignatius, A Firing Offense
John Irving, A Widow for One Year
Graham Joyce, The Tooth Fairy
Alan Judd, The Devil’s Own Work
Roger Kahn, Good Enough to Dream
Mary Karr, The Liars’ Club
Jack Ketchum, Right to Life
Tabitha King, Survivor
Tabitha King, The Sky in the Water
Barbara Kingsolver, The Poisonwood Bible
Jon Krakauer, Into Thin Air
Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird
Bernard Lefkowitz, Our Guys
Bentley Little, The Ignored
Norman Maclean, A River Runs Through It and Other Stories
W. Somerset Maugham, The Moon and Sixpence
Cormac McCarthy, Cities of the Plain
Cormac McCarthy, The Crossing
Frank McCourt, Angela’s Ashes
Alice McDermott, Charming Billy
Jack McDevitt, Ancient Shores
Ian McEwan, Enduring Love
Ian McEwan, The Cement Garden
Larry McMurtry, Dead Man’s Walk
Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana, Zeke and Ned
Walter M. Miller, A Canticle for Leibowitz
Joyce Carol Oates, Zombie
Tim O’Brien, In the Lake of the Woods
Stewart O’Nan, The Speed Queen
Michael Ondaatje, The English Patient
Richard North Patterson, No Safe Place
Richard Price, Freedomland
Annie Proulx, Close Range: Wyoming Stories
Annie Proulx, The Shipping News
Anna Quindlen, One True Thing
Ruth Rendell, A Sight for Sore Eyes
Frank M. Robinson, Waiting
J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
Richard Russo, Mohawk
John Burnham Schwartz, Reservation Road
Vikram Seth, A Suitable Boy
Richard Slotkin, The Crater
Irwin Shaw, The Young Lions
Dinitia Smith, The Illusionist
Scott Spencer, Men in Black
Wallace Stegner, Joe Hill
Donna Tartt, The Secret History
Anne Tyler, A Patchwork Planet
Kurt Vonnegut, Hocus Pocus
Evelyn Waugh, Brideshead Revisited
Donald Westlake, The Ax