Dark Tower Reading Order List

The Dark Tower Series

Good morning people in blogosphere. Destination Me. YouTube. And anyone else who might be reading this blog post… Today is the official start of my creative projects.

Working on Creative Projects

I have read over multiple lists of how to read The Dark Tower series and connected novels. I’ve read all but one book that is on the lists. Everyone has a different opinion about the order in which to read these books.

Stephen King Bookshelf

The connected books list is long, but some books are vaguely connected, others are directly connected. I’ve chosen the books that I feel are directly connected. I’ve put all but 6 in the order in which to read, the last six or connected and I’m going to read, but I am just not sure of the order… So I’m going to go by publication date for those.

1. The Gunslinger (DT #1)
2. The Drawing of the Three (DT #2)
3. The Eyes of the Dragon
4. The Stand (uncut version)
5. The Talisman
6. The Wastelands (DT #3)
7. Wizard and Glass (DT #4)
8. Salem’s Lot
9. The Mist (Short Story (SS) found in the Skeleton Crew)
10. IT
11. Insomnia
12. Rose Madder
13. The Regulators
14. Desperation
15. Everything’s Eventual: LIttle Sister’s of Eluria, Autopsy Room 4, Dinky Earnshaw, Mr. Sharpton, Skipper Brannigan, and The Road Virus) SS: these are Short Stories
16. Bag of Bones
17. Hearts in Atlantis
18. Black House
19. From a Buick 8
20. The Wind Through the Keyhole (DT #4.5)
21. Wolves of the Calla (DT #5)
22. Rita Hayworth & Shawshank (SS from Different Seasons)
23. Lisey’s Story
24. Song of Susannah (DT #6)
25. The Dark Tower (DT #7)

Here’s where it gets tricky: To me these are connected directly, but I am not sure of where they fall… so I’ve put them down by publication date…

The Shining 1977

Cell 2006

N (SS in Just After Sunset) 2008

Under the Dome 2009

UR (on Kindle) 2009

Sleep Doctor 2013

And… If you have the un-revised version or the revised version of the Gunslinger then once we’ve finished these I’d suggest you read the other version. I can’t find my non-revised version… Hopefully, I’ll find that version before the end of the project. 😀

***NOTE: If you find that after the first chapter you’re not so sure about the Gunslinger, hang in there… It’s a series worth reading… I’ve been hooked on Roland, the last Gunslinger, since the late 80s… I’ve read it multiple times. 😀 The Gunslinger and The Drawing of the Three are, by some, considered to be more of a Prologue to the rest of the books. Though you can see the progression of King’s writing style, he started The Gunslinger when he was nineteen and over thirty years passed between when the first sentence and the last sentence of the series was written.