> As a final note, does anyone happen to know what other Stephen King books tie in with the whole The Stand-Dark Tower-Insomnia storyline? I'd like to read those without having to check out every book he's ever written from the library.
>
> Cor"I'm going to the Halloween Dance as Randall Flagg"rino

I don't know what's so neat about the Dark Tower books. My wife finally got me to read the first book a few months back and I just couldn't see what the big deal was. It was like the literary version of Face/Off: a lot of people seem to really like the book, but for me it was several hours I'd never get back. The book just seemed to exist, to take up space on my bookshelf.

But what I really found funny were the reviews over at amazon.com:

"i just hope he finishes the series before i die."

"This is a masterpiece of literature that should not go unread."

"If anyone wants stronger proof of the demise of literature I point to the five stars that 72 people gave to a Stephen King book. I weep for the future of literature."

"The descriptions like when he draws [character name] from our world and he hits a train and gets splattered into lots of little iddy biddy pieces, is exeptional. Very nice!!!"

"This is probably the worst book I've read since 'Atlas Shrugged'. I think he wrote it during commercials while watching TV."

My favorite review stated that the first book (the one that I read) is a prologue which excuses it for being slow and disappointed. The review ends with "By the way book 2 is also a prolog!" Oh joy, just what I wanted to read, another slow and disappointing book. (The reviewer also mentioned that book three is worth muddling through the first two books.)

...actually reading any popular author's customer "reviews" on amazon (or bn.com or imdb...) is quite amusing. Several rabid King fans verbally sparring with several rabid King haters always serves up some good quotes.

(BTW, I don't hate Stephen King. I just haven't read anything by him that I liked. Although I did like the movie versions of Stand by Me and Christine as well as the television version of The Shining.)

-Faux "would rather go as Reuben Flagg for Halloween" Pas