King, Stephen. It. New York: Signet, 1987. 1090pp.

Reading this novel is like running a marathon. You start and it just goes on and on. One thousand and ninety pages. I've hardly ever in my life read such a long novel; the only other one I can think of over 1000 pages is also King's -- The Stand, Expanded edition, natch. Well worth it, but also a marathon.

I started It during a vacation that I knew had a couple of longish train rides, to get a good head start. But still, it took me a good 3 weeks to get to the end. Was it worth it? On the whole, I have to say yes. If anyone can keep the interest level high over such a long book, it has to be a natural storyteller like King. I really enjoyed the detail, the opportunity to really get to know a few interesting characters. The story of the battle of good and evil in Derry Maine, twice fought, in 1958 and 1985, of a group of kids at 11 and 38, is a good one combining a coming of age and an acceptance of adulthood.

But, such a long book must settle for a short review. Read it, but you better start soon.

what I read: 1992

What do you care what I read in 1992? Nothing, of course, but I do. As I get older (I was 20 in 1983 when I started keeping track of the books I read) I find myself more and more in the position of looking at a stack of books on my shelves by, say, Cornell Woolrich and they all have the word "Black" in the title. I know I've read a couple but I can't remember which ones. Fortunately, I've been maintaining a little list in a little brown book since April 1983 of all the books I've read (or at least attempted). By putting this list here it will be searchable. I may ultimately put at least some of it in something like LibraryThing, but for now I'll be putting it here. The advantage is that the blog is quick and dirty, without a lot of effort per entry. The books are in the order I read them.

By way of adding some value to the list, I'll italicize any work that I remember as being particularly wonderful.

1. the comic book killer by Richard Lupoff
   
2. In the blood edited by Alan Ryan
   
3. War of the worlds / Time machine by H.G. Wells
   
4. In the land of the living by Robert Silverberg
   
5. Star wreck II by Leah Rewolinski
   
6. Good omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
   
7. Brave new world by Aldous Huxley
   
8. Widows by Ed McBain
   
9. The Hemingway hoax by Joe Haldeman
   
10. The city and the stars by Arthur C. Clarke
    
11. Time of the fox by Matthew J. Costello
    
12. The soft whisper of the dead by Charles L. Grant
    
13. Harlan Ellison's watching by Harlan Ellison
    
14. The seeds of treason by Ted Allebury
    
15. Outnumbering the dead by Frederik Pohl
    
16. Song of Kali by Dan Simmons
    
17. Neuromancer by William Gibson
    
18. Ace Double: Eye for eye by Orson Scott Card / The tunesmith by Lloyd Biggle, Jr.
    
19. Polar star by Martin Cruz Smith
    
20. Pastime by Robert B. Parker
    
21. The difference engine by William Gibson & Bruce Sterling
    
22. Our angry earth by Isaac Asimov & Frederik Pohl
    
23. The man in the high castle by Philip K. Dick
    
24. The bridge by John Skipp & Craig Spector
    
25. Oh Canada, Oh Quebec by Mordecai Richler
    
26. The seeress of Kell by David Eddings
    
27. The killing of Reinhard Heinrich: The SS "Butcher of Prague" by Callum McDonald
    
28. The golden fleece by Robert J. Sawyer
    
29. Fetish by Edward Bryant
    
30. Boy's life by Robert R. McCammon
    
31. In the blood by Nancy A. Collins
    
32. Kiss of death by Daniel Rhodes
    
33. The firm by John Grisham
    
34. The dark beyond the stars by Frank M. Robinson
    
35. First blood by David Morrell
    
36. Tales from Gavagan's bar by L. Sprague de Camp & Fletcher Pratt
    
37. The divine invasion by Lawrence Sutin
    
38. Stopping at slowyear by Frederik Pohl
    
39. Covenant of the flame by David Morrell
    
40. Against infinity by Gregory Benford
    
41. The demolished man by Alfred Bester
    
42. Rock and a hard place by Peter David
    
43. The world at the end of time by Frederik Pohl
    
44. Author's choice monthly by Joe R. Lansdale
    
45. Bimbos of the death sun by Sharon McCrumb
    
46. In the land of the dead by K.W. Jeter
    
47. Hardwired by Walter Jon Williams
    
48. The engine of the night by Barry Malzberg
    
49. Wonderful life by Stephen Jay Gould
    
50. Bad brains by Kathe Koja
    
51. The exile kiss by George Alec Effinger
    
52. By reason of insanity by Shane Stevens
    
53. Needful things by Stephen King
    
54. Nine princes in amber by Roger Zelazny
    
55. Military misfortunes by Eliot A. Cohen & John Gooch
    
56. Summer of night by Dan Simmons
    
57. Moving Pictures by Terry Pratchett
    
58. The sachertorte algorithm by John Shore
    
59. Genus homo by L. Sprague de Camp and P. Schuyler Miller
    
60. Hitler slept late by James P. Duffy
    
61. Across the sea of suns by Gregory Benford
    
62. Reunion by Michael Jan Friedman
    
63. Jhereg by Steven Brust
    
64. Dream makers by Charles Platt
    
65. Age of wonder by David G. Hartwell
    
66. What might have been, V3 edited by Gregory Benford and Martin H. Greenberg
    
67. Fatherland by Robert Harris
    
68. Hype and glory by William Goldman
    
69. Wilderness by Dennis Danvers
    
70. Heir to the empire by Timothy Zahn
    
71. Forever war by Joe Haldeman
    
72. One monday we killed them all by John D. Macdonald
    
73. The guns of avalon by Roger Zelazny
    
74. Slaughterhouse five by Kurt Vonnegut
    
75. The stand by Stephen King
    
76. Count Geiger's blues by Michael Bishop
    
77. Indiana Jones and the dance of giants by Roy Macgregor
    
78. The M.D. by Thomas M. Disch
    
79. Brothers in arms by Lois McMaster Bujold
    
80. Miami blues by Charles Willeford
    
81. Deus X by Norman Spinrad
    
82. Carve the sky by Alexander Jablokov
    
83. The rainbow abyss by Barbara Hambly
    
84. Empire of fear by Brian Stableford
    
85. Demon by John Varley
    
86. Kiss by Ed McBain