If you can get your hands on a version that does not proclaim itself to be "uncut", go for it. It is a very long book and is not super scary. It is thought provoking and is essentially a battle between good and evil. It is a great book. Mind you, there are slow parts and you may struggle to get through them but it is worth it.

I love his early horror (Night Shift is one collection that will scare you) and It has every fear you can think of in it. I read It in 8 hours.....8 heart pounding hours. Could not put it down.

I love The Stand and re-read it every few years. I find that I have always missed something. To me it's a classic Good vs Bad with the Stephen King humor that I love. Not nearly as as scary as 'It' or 'The Dome'. I found 'Needful Things' frightening. Dreamcatcher and Tommyknockers and The Dark Tower series were fairly scary to me. Rose Madder and Insomnia were good.

I had to wonder if you are just recovering from the flu, are you one who has 'beaten' Captain Trips? Hehehe.

It's a long one for sure!

Oh man, I need to dust the jacket off off and read a book :-)

You can't go wrong with his early work. I loved Firestarter, Carrie and The Dead Zone. Of course I also loved Needful Things. :) But his earlier work is much better than his latest stuff, or maybe my tastes are just changing.

I did read The Stand but it was so long ago that I don't remember much about it.

Thank you to everyone for your comments, and I look forward to reading more suggestions. With the good feedback on Needful Things here, maybe I should give it another try. It's been a few years now, but from what I remember of the book, it had some interesting ideas. I will also look for used copies of some of his earlier titles to have on hand.

Dees - why would a non-uncut edition of The Stand be preferable? Because it would be shorter, perhaps, and the added material not contributing much to the story?

One thing I really admired about Mr. Mercedes was the several references to literature. If this is also true of The Stand, that would be a real bonus. King of course was an English teacher for many years before he became known for his writing.

The Stand is hands down one of the best King books. I have read most of his stuff and it's still my favorite King.
Definitely worth the time.

I really like Stephen King, although some of his work is much better than others. I thought Scenes From a Buick 8 was a real stinker, for one. The Shining was the first I read, and by far, it's my favorite. It's much better and scarier than the movie. I read The Stand long ago....maybe it's time to revisit it.

The Stand is one of my favorite books of all time! I think you should give it a try. I loved it!
Joann

Why not just get it from the library then if you don't like it, it's no great loss. I've seen the mini-series and it's one of his better stories. It's a religious story. My husband read The Stand, I just asked him, he said it was a pretty good book although he LOVES the mini-series and we've watched it a bunch of times.

So I asked him "if someone asked you if they should read The Stand, what would you say?" He said YES!

The Stand and Insomnia were my favourites (I am a huge King fan). His collections of short stories were my first foray, and I was so spooked I had to sit in the hallway outside my parents bedroom to read it LOLOLOL. It was my own imagination that scared me, but those stories helped! Misery was good, better than the movie I thought.

In general, his books are better than the movie adaptations. I liked both the book and the movie for Needful things, but for different reasons.

Dances.

Loved, loved, loved The Stand! Read it many years ago, I think its time to read it again, thanks to all for their commments. I think of it every time I drive through the Lincoln Tunnel.

I first read The Stand shortly after it was released; read it several times after that (it's a great book). In the late 80s/early 90s, he released an "uncut" version. That version, IMHO, added information that was not accurate to the original time when he wrote the book, added some story line that was unnecessary and basically lengthened the book without reason. It is already a long book and the text he added didn't clarify any stories or redefine plot lines. It may be next to impossible to find the original version but the differences are only noticeable if you read the first issue.

The mini-series adaptation was pretty good (waaaaay better than the mini-series adaptation for It, which aside from Tim Curry, was stink-o!) but books always provide subtle details that don't translate to the screen.

We own almost every book he wrote but I pretty much stopped reading after Dolores Claiborne. I prefer his books that drive you back to scary land and reminds you of what made you afraid when you were a kid.

Adult scary is different....

Thank you so much for all these ideas and for your thoughts on King's books. I was considering purchasing The Stand rather than borrowing from the library, because for some very odd reason, there are almost no copies available at the library. They all seem to be "on order." I thought that surely they would have the older editions, but apparently not so.

If anyone has more thoughts, I would love to hear them.

One of my favorite books of all time. Have read it several times. Thanks for the reminder...I'll pull it off the shelf and start reading again. Happy New Year!

I read it when it first came out, and loved it. I tried to re-read recently and thought it was dumb. My all time favorite SK book is Pet Semetery. I read it when I had small children, and also have always loved my pets but that book really hit home with me. Scary and sad all at once.

sleeperblues, I cannot read Pet Semetary again, it was too scary and too sad for me.

I took the advice of several posters here and located an original, non-expanded version of The Stand. I called around to some used book stores and finally found a copy ($4). The store fortunately is very near our house and it has quite a number of Stephen King books. I will be going back. This edition of The Stand has 817 pages versus more than 1400 in the enlarged version. So, creepy times ahead for me! LOL!

Stacey, I loved The Stand. Originally as published. I think professional editors are professional for reason.

That being said, I think my most favorite Stephen King book was a little known one he co-authored with Peter Straub (who wrote Ghost Story). This has been one of my all time favorite books - both for it's fantasy and it's horror. Several studios have tried to make it into a movie/mini series. I think Ron Howard is the latest to attempt it.

I would recommend it as equal, but different, to The Stand. Both in my Stephen King Hall of Fame. 4 1/2 stars on Amazon from 623 reviewers:

Here is a link that might be useful: The Talisman

I really enjoyed "11/22/63." I think King is a fantastic writer and enjoy most of his stuff. What a mind he must have to come up with the plots of his books.

PK-I would never read it again, either. Glad I'm not the only one!

Stacey, let me know what you think of the Stand. I know you are a discriminating reader, and I'm interested in your opinion. I did read Under the Dome last year, which is also very long (700-800 pages) and it was mostly good. The ending and the reason for the Dome were ridiculous, to me. I can't read Dean Koontz books because I think they are so far out there, and I hate it when King strays into that area.

The Stand is one of my top ten books. No lie.

Truly makes one think, and now every time someone coughs on a plane that I'm on, I'm all "Captain Trips here we come!" Lololol

Many thanks again to everyone for your opinions. I'm happy that I was able to purchase a copy of The Stand in the event that I take longer to read it than a library loan period. I might juggle it among my other reading, as I so often do with books. Sleeperblues - I will let you know what I think of it!

For those who have a Kindle or a Kindle app for their tablet or laptop /computer The Stand is on for only $4.99!

Here is a link that might be useful: Kindle version The Stand