I'll have to disagree with the dominant opinion of The Stand as one of King's best. It had some neat ideas and good characters, but in my opinion it just went on too long. I think that he got too wrapped up in the storytelling of the characters' lives, and didn't see the forest for the trees; the resolution didn't seem worth the enormous setup.

I've enjoyed most of the King novels I've read. I would have to say that his best, in my opinion, are: (in no particular order)

-- Dolores Claiborne
-- Four Past Midnight
-- Misery

I think that those have the "best" of King: great ideas, great characters, gripping writing that keeps you turning the pages, and a tight fast pace. Notice that all of these are short: either a short novel, or novellas. I think that when King starts to "sprawl", the novel gets weaker. I would say that The Tommyknockers and Insomnia are both novels that *could* have been really good, but were weakened by being too long.

Haven't read The Stand - I know it's a must read for King fans - I'll read that some day.

My picks (not in any order)

4 Past Midnight
It (loved the story, but hated the ending)
The Talisman (sort of King and Straub's 'Huckleberry Finn') This has to be one of King's best. Why isn't this a mini-series already?
Pet Semetary

Ditto to that one...

His best work IMHO.

Quick question... while reading the synopsis for "Eyes of the Dragon", a King book, I read a snippet regarding a character named Flagg... this isn't the same Flagg in any sense from The Stand, is it? By the way... The Stand is quite possibly my favorite novel of all time, right up with Ender's Game and American Psycho, so if you haven't read it, do yourself a favor and bust through the 1000+ pages. It's fun.

The Stand was excellent! I also like Needful Things quite a bit. I have been a King fan for years and have read most of his books except for some of the more recent ones.

Flagg is one of his recurring characters. If you read enough King you'll see that a lot of characters appear through different timelines. For awhile Flagg aka "The Walkin' Man" was an archetypical villain type for King. So, yeah, in a way they are the same person, but don't worry about trying to 'make him' the same guy from the Stand or anything like that. If you try to make it into a "In ep 4 of Star Trek you had a blue phaser, but in episode 9 it was green. Why was that?" it probably won't hold up. Just enjoy!

In a word YES...but it is not so much the same RF from Stand as much as Flagg in the dark tower is both the Flagg in the Stand and in the EOTD. In DT IV he openly states that he was the Flagg of the Stand and in DT II (I think) Roland Talks about two guys chasing Flagg when he was still in Gilead. He names those chasing him as the characters from EOTD.

Man, I forgot about Eyes of the Dragon. That's a great book. Whenever I think about King, I think about his short story called "Survivor Type," in Skeleton Crew. A doctor is stranded on a desert island, and the story is the diary he keeps as the days pass. Creeeeeeeeeeepy. Tom Hanks' character in Cast Away had it EASY.