Thursday, April 12, 2007

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.

Labels: ,

Sunday, April 08, 2007

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

Labels: