100 books like Different Seasons

I read this book before King became a household name. It was his first big hit and set off a career unmatched in the horror genre. Read as a referral from a friend, I was immediately struck by his uncanny ability to detail a scene.

While not particularly a fan of horror stories, I certainly have read at least eight more King books. I believe him to the master of his ilk.

One of the first novels using a picaresque story-telling technique, this novel set the standard for the style—one I soon adopted. Good stories, some spicy for the day, are told in a logical progression, which gave rise, methinks, to Twain and certainly me. Great vignettes told un-attached but somehow part of a progression. 

I think this is one of the most beautifully written pieces of writing from across the ages. Its story of a young man and his younger brother fits exactly into my own tastes for a priceless rendering of how youths respond not only to their environment but also to their dreams/goals.

Its odd story twists—kids wanting west but getting east—are a multi-layered set of tales. I loved it for both story and writing.

A basketful of tales told by various storytellers on their religious pilgrimage. As Twain used the river and I as locations, this classic used the travelers to offer a varied yet united sequence focusing on saints and sinners.

I recommend this book because I am a storyteller and folks who like stories should enjoy these humorous, serious, and spicy tales from way back yon.

This is perhaps a cheat, as it’s the script of a film. However, it’s published just like a book, you can read it just like a book, and it was written by my Last of the Lions co-author.

The less said about this thriller the better for the reader, but suffice it to say if Ferguson, or George Floyd, or Breonna Taylor… or Philando Castile…Freddie Gray… Eric Garner… Amadou Diallo… and so many more… mean anything to you, this twisty parable about racial profiling and policing will take your breath away, keep you on edge until the end, and leave you thinking.

This is a short story collection I return to every few years. There are four novellas in this collection, but each of them was delivered directly to my cerebral cortex. I can recall passages from each story. And I can see the locations.

I feel King is at his best when he's twisting his way through novellas and short stories. After reading "1922", it was weeks before I stopped seeing the well. And weeks before, I stopped shaking my head at what Wilfred James did or the grit of Tess in "Big Driver" or the pettiness of Dave Streeter. This is worth reading every year.

Much as I enjoyed the film based on this novella by Stephen King (which I now understand is a standalone book—I read it as part of a story collection long ago), I enjoyed the novella more.

Why? Because of its extraordinarily likeable narrative voice, which has caused people worldwide to find themselves rooting for its narrator. How can you not want to know what’ll happen next to someone so candid and down-to-earth—who has experienced homicide and love so intensely? Especially when he wants intimacy yet also feels threatened by it.

In fact, just after I finished reading the Shawshank novella, I vowed to write a novel about someone in NYC who exuded those same attributes: candor, humility, and understated yet solid wisdom about murder and affairs of the heart. And after several years of writing with this goal, I finally tapped into the voice of Matt Connell, the narrator of… show more.

A bookseller friend, whose opinions I highly respect, had highly recommended Rene Denfeld’s debut, so The Enchanted very quickly catapulted to the top of my To-Read List. And I was instantly enchanted by the luscious language, the urgent content, the writer’s ability to fuse metaphorical darkness and light. Told from the perspective of a death row inmate, the writing seamlessly flows from gritty reality to breathtaking fantasy. I wasn’t surprised to learn of Rene’s extensive time in prisons (often on death row) as a public defender’s chief investigator, or that her keen understanding of trauma in childhood came from her own firsthand experience, as the text is drenched in arresting truths, in transgression and redemption, and in the complicated and wondrous humanity of us all.

Elmore Leonard wrote a ton of books, and almost all of them were darn good. He’s most famous for his more modern books, Get Shorty, etc. His stories are raw, edgy, and exciting. Toward the very end of his career, he did crank out some novels that were, I thought, junk. But for the most part, his writing is terrific, easy to read, page-turning books. What many don’t know is that when he was young, he was writing Westerns. And wow, what fabulous Westerns, too! If you’re lucky enough to get a copy of this collection, you’ll both love it, and feel kind of bad when you get to the end. One of the very best Western writers of them all.

Published more than a hundred years after the first Black regiments were formed during the Civil War, historian William Leckie’s marvel of a book was a landmark achievement. For the first time, the extraordinary contributions of the Buffalo Soldiers were documented and celebrated in exhaustive detail.

The Buffalo Soldiers was the Rosetta Stone I used for translating the few bald facts we have about Cathy’s life into a language vivid and vibrant enough to match her courageous decision to risk everything in pursuit of a life of freedom and dignity.

First published in 1967, the book is still in print. Attesting to the volume’s enduring popularity, nearly a dozen revisions and updates have been released since then.