Stephen King said that 'Carrion Comfort' was 1 of the 3 greatest novels of the 20th..

[fan1408]

"Carrion Comfort" is one of the three greatest horror novels of the 20th century. Simple as that." -- Stephen King. - My question is, What are the other two? I have put this question out there before. I have read some of the other posts about book recommendations made by Stephen King. But, I don't know if any of them might be the other two. I don't read 'Entertainment Weekly'. Except maybe in a waiting room area. But, maybe he has wrote something about his recommendations of the "greatest" books. I don't know. I would love to know. I bought the book, 'Carrion Comfort', by Dan Simmons. Stephen King is right. This book is Great. I love the descriptive details. I did read the 'Introduction' in the book, and it made me laugh. I too recommend this book.

[sam peebles]

Not sure exactly if this is correct, but I think King would consider Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hillhouse as one of the other top three greatest horror books of the twentieth century. You may want to pick up Danse Macabre. It doesn't definitively list his top three favorites, instead, it lists about fifty (though not all of them are from the twentieth century).

[fan1408]

Thank you Very much. I do remember some comments SK made in the past about Shirley Jackson's 'The Haunting of Hillhouse'. I will also check out 'Danse Macabre'. Thanks again!

[HELLTEXter]

Actually every single book by Dan Simmons is worth a recommendation, in my humble opinion.
Btw, he dedicated his novel "Darwin's Blade" "to Wayne Simmons and Stephen King. For my brother Wayne, who is involved with accident investigation every day, admiration that your sense of humor has survived; for Steve, who felt the cutting edge of Darwin’s blade via someone else’s lethal stupidity, gratitude that you’re still with us and willing to tell us more tales by the campfire."

Dirk.

[Snaggletooth]

If memory serves, SK's other 2 "best books" were The Exorcist and Ghost Story, but this was stated several years ago during an interview. I would not have chosen Exorcist, Ghost Story I agree with. Simmons' Song of Kali (his first novel) was a better book, IMO; Carrion Comfort could have been just as good at about 400 pages instead of 600. It took me forever to read it; longer doesn't necessarily mean better.

[Mr Nobody]

The thing to remember when reading Danse Macabre is that it's now about 30 years old or something like that, and there are bound to be newer books he'd rate by now.

[ChipOfftheBloch]

Hey all,

I'm about 200 pages into Carrion Comfort and am enjoying the hell out of it. I bought it for two reasons, one: Kings Recommendation and two: Simmon's introduction to the new edition, which I frankly found to be an amazing inspiration. especially as someone who is trying to write.

Can't to see where its going to take me.

[TriggerHappy]

Stephen King could not have possibly praised The Exorcist! Quote from Danse Macabre:
"two novels of the Humorless, Thudding Tract School of horror writing are Damon, by C. Terry Cline, and The Exorcist, by William Peter Blatty—Cline has since improved as a writer, and Blatty has fallen silent…forever, if we are lucky."
He did praise William Friedkin's movie version (who wouldn't?), but never the book.

[staropeace]

I think "Summer of Night" by Dan Simmons was fantastic too.

"Boys Life" by Robert McCammon would make the mark for me.

I think Stephen mentioned Lord of the Flies,too.

[Er0tic NeUr0t1c]

I believed he enjoyed Ray Bradbury when he was younger as well and was influenced a little by him, don't remember where I picked that up from but it was written somewhere or maybe just because of several references he's to Bradbury in his books.