What was your reading experience with Stephen King's earlier books?

The first King novel I ever read was 'The Stand'. I was only 12, and I wasn't supposed to, but I was visiting a family friend on her farm, forgot reading material and she was a big King fan.

I loved it, and I got hooked on reading his stuff.

That's so dfunny....it seems Breepeace and I have had the same experience. My frist King book was also The Stand, and it remains one of my favorites. I think I was also around 12, and my mom didn't want me reading it, but I got it at a paperback exchange shop and read it anyway.
The part that freaked me out the most was the in the begining when they are trying to leave the city after the superflu hits, and they have to go through a tunnel in the dark with all the dead bodies and stuff. That really freaked me out.
In fact, my city has a pretty big tunnel and even 17 years later, I still think about it when I have to drive through the tunnel and it freaks me out a little bit.

The first novel of his I ever read was "The Shining", and I think it's also my favorite. I read all his earlier novels when I was a teenager, but as I got older, I kind of outgrew the horror genre, and didn't read any of his later stuff.

I always enjoyed how much depth he went into when developing his characters and their relationships with one another. I had always intended to try some of his later books, but then I heard from a few people that they weren't as good.

Do you think his later stuff is worth trying?

I find his earlier works very scary and to the point. His latter works such as The Cell, and Lisey's are incredibly boring and worthless. I really rhink he should stop writing and retire.