A message for those who CANNOT HANDLE THE HORROR:
THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION (movie) is based on King's story "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption," one of four long stories published together as DIFFERENT SEASONS. ("Apt Pupil" is also there.) These are not horror stories. In my opinion, the SHAWSHANK movie is much better than the story; reading the story adds nothing. But if you want to avoid horror, there you go.

If you DON'T KNOW IF YOU CAN HANDLE THE HORROR:
BLOOD AND SMOKE is a collection of three horror stories, written exclusively for audio. Listening to "1408" convinced me that I, for one, cannot handle King's horror writing. It gave me great respect for his ability to write horror, but I'm going to respect it from a distance, thank you!

"It is hard to see what there is to recommend Xenophon" (writes the anonymous author of an entry in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy); even the MEMORABILIA is (are?) considered unreliable.

I feel a lot like the other people who've posted comments. I started with SURFACING, and it turned me off. But later I read and really liked HANDMAID and ROBBER BRIDE. Thing is, her books are so different from each other, liking or hating one of them does NOT predict how you'll feel about the others.

"San Manuel Bueno, mártir" (Saint Manuel the Good, Martyr) (1930) — a brief novella that synthesizes virtually all of Unamuno's thought. The novella centres on a heroic priest who has lost his faith in immortality, yet says nothing of his doubts to his parishioners, not wanting to disturb their faith, which he recognizes is a necessary support for their lives.

This is a good place to start -- it's short and then you'll know if you want to read more.

If YES, try ABEL SANCHEZ.

You might like to know:

In 2001 there was an auction to raise money for the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture. Authors -- including Kin Follett, Margaret Atwood, Zadie Smith, David Lodge, and Ian McEwan -- pledged to write fans into their next novels for the auction. KEN FOLLETT was the high bidder for a role in a Pratchett book.

"I want to appear as a giant but Terry is making no promises," Follett said in a statement. "All he asked me is how I want to die, which is a little disconcerting." (source: BBC on line news)

In an interview for “3 a.m. Magazine” Ellis says that his own favorite is RULES OF ATTRACTION: “The book is my favorite novel. People say to me, 'You write such cold, hard, ironic novels,' but I think Rules is my least read. It's often considered my most mawkish, because I'm dealing with romantic longing.” He then talks about how DIFFERENT the movie is from the book.

I started with LESS THAN ZERO, and it made me want to read his other books -- but not right away. It's very unsettling.

Two warnings:

DON’T begin with Lunar Park. According to the Powell’s review, it weaves elements of Ellis’s life and those of the characters in his other books, and is aimed at people familiar with all of the above. Even reviewers who like most of Ellis’s books are largely negative about this one.

And DON'T judge the books by the movies. The film version of LESS THAN ZERO is so totally UN-true to the book ... though I find I have to recommend it anyway, for Robert Downey Jr's performance as Julian (true to the book).

"Of his many fine books, I think his second, Waiting for the End of the World is my favorite." -- Jack Haldeman, on-line list of "writers and poets I like"

"Clancy told me that his favorite of his own novels is Patriot Games, the one he said was most 'savaged' by reviewers." -- from an article on "techno-thrillers" in the Virginia Quarterly Review

A "writer's cut" of ALL SOULS RISING, "the version of All Souls Rising which did not make it into print, edited by Madison Smartt Bell and appearing for the first time," is readable at:
http://www.webdelsol.com/msbell/

Publishers Weekly says that ODD THOMAS is Koontz's "best novel ever."

(That's saying a lot for a guy who's written about 60 "Dean Koontz" novels and about 30 more books under other names.)