That yellow rain slicker, the gray rapids of a flooded street…the little newspaper boat that floats toward the stormdrain…and then the carnival smell of popcorn and the shining silver eyes of Pennywise the Clown as he offers up a balloon to young Georgie Denbrough.
The first scene in Stephen King’s IT is one of my favorite openers of any novel. It’s been probably two years since I last read any King. A new IT movie comes out September 8th though, and the novel is out in a great new edition from Scribner, so…I’m getting back into it! Truth be told, I left this one 70 pages to the end last time I read it (really, 94% through the book and I left off!) I remember the story slowing considerably toward the end, but from what I’ve heard I was at the edge of something good.
Kurt Vonnegut who, when reading him is to do mental gymnastics, is hit-or-miss for me. Slaughter-house Five is a great book and Sirens of Titan amused me last summer, but this one – Deadeye Dick – is so far just a jumble of stuff that is kind of a chore to read. I’m only about a fifth of the way into it, and I hope he’ll come around to please me with the usual zaniness.
I’m nearly finished with E.M. Forster’s A Room with a View and want to publish the review by end of week. Forster was a bit like an English Edith Wharton: wry, compassionate and, at times, acerbic.
The Masthead 
Is Deadeye Dick the one where the kid is playing with a loaded gun and accidentally kills a pregnant woman? I go on Vonnegut binges, and they all bleed together after a while. I think my favorites of his are Cat’s Cradle and the Welcome to the Monkey House collection.
I just finished Echopraxia by Peter Watts (not his best), and I’m about halfway through The Physician by Noah Gordon.
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I’m not sure yet. The main character is Rudy Waltz, and I’ve only reached prom night with the prettiest/lowliest girl at his school and read the oddities of his childhood. Vonnegut added recipes to this one, too…..
I looked up the two you’re reading just now. The concept for Echopraxia sounds interesting, but if you think Watts has something better….what do you recommend? I read little sci-fi and need some direction!
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