I couldn't agree more. The best set of characters ever, next to Roland, Eddie, Susannah, Jake, & Oy. I'm always happy when someone tells me their reading IT. If i had time i'd reread it as well.

I read this a few months ago, and i was going to give it a 3 star rating when i added it on to this site a few hours ago. Instead, I decided I should probably re read it first. Reading the above comment reminds me that I'm not giving it enough credit. I think there were several things I didn't like about IT, but the characters are fantastic, in my opinion.

************ May Contain Spoilers ************

This is one of King's best ka- tets ever!

William - Big Bill - He has a bad stutter that gets worse when his brother dies. He feels guilty because he's the one that sent him out to play. He becomes the leader of the group, and when he grows up becomes a writer.

Eddie - Eds - A frail kid with asthma. When Henry breaks his arm he finally stands up to his mother, and tells her it wasn't his friends fault. The only presonal hands on adult victim of Pennywise.

Benjamin - Big Ben - Haystack - Who has a knack for building things,helps build the damn better & makes the silver slugs.

Richard - Richie - Trashmouth - He has the bottle like glasses. The most light hearted of the tet, always with a joke or an impersonation.

Stanley - Stan The Man - The only Jewish one among them, he loved birdwatching, and being clean. He committed suicide rather than come back to Derry, even though he's the one that cut all their hands and made the blood oath to return if need be.

Beverly - Bev - The only girl, very pretty, and everyones first crush. The poorest of them all, she has an abusive dad, and growes up to have an abusive husband.

Michael - Mike - The only black member, and the last to be in the ka-tet. The only one who stayed in Derry, to become the librarian, and the watcher. The only one to remember that summer, and all that happened. When everythings said and done, he's still the only one to stay, yet his memory of all that happened fades as well.

Here are a few things i thought were interesting.

Bill's bike being named SILVER.

That IT came from a place called Macroverse, which is like Todash in the DT books.

That IT's mortal enemy is the Turtle, and IT told Bill that the Turtle had died choking on a galaxy or two.

That IT thinks the kids got their power from the Other.

And Dick Hallorn was one of the few survivors of a fire in 1930 at a club called The Black Spot.

IT was the best selling book in 1986.

You didn't miss much. :)

Yes, as usual the movie version wasn't nearly as good. I didn't watch the whole thing though, the ending could've been spectacular! ha ha.

I read THe Dark Half in one setting. I was working 2nd at the time started it when i got off & just kept reading. Before i knew what had happened it was like 6pm the next night, needless to say i missed work. I guess the movie did the best it could to explain TDH, but i wasn't thrilled with it. But i loved the book.:)

I was actually thinking about giving The Dark Half a re-read. The movie was on the idiot box the other night and I realized that TDH is one of SK's books that I've only read twice. But, since I've just committed to reading 144 books in 2010 (!!!) I may as well add It to my list.

I'm a few hundred pages into reading IT now. :) Thus far, it is my second favorite SK book after Misery. Amazing characterizations of all of them!

This is the ULTIMATE Stephen King book. I hate clowns and this just helps me to remember why. :)

Just finished IT today - amazing, amazing book. I think this my new favorite King novel, it is just... *sigh* there is so much good stuff about it, I don't know where to begin!

Hey,
I just started reading It. The miniseries came out when I was about 11 or 12 and traumatized me. Now I am 25 and decided to read it and face my fear (especially since they will have a new IT movie out in 2011).

So far, I must say that this is good, BUT the writing is a bit disorganized. I think he is now ruching (I only have about 100 pages to go). The Stand is my favorite and I feel his masterpiece. This reminds me a lot of the Stand but it has a lot more flaws and the narrative jumps around too much. Nonetheless, it is still engrossing, exciting and thrilling with great characters (Richie is my favorite, he is like a poor man's Bill).

I love all the Derry books. It, Insomnia, and Dreamcatcher are all among my favorite SK books. Something a tad noteworthy: anyone notice that once the antagonist is overcome in the Derry books the main characters all but forget everything? It, Insomnia, and I believe Dreamcatcher follow this form. What's up with that?

I have read IT once a year since I was eleven. I'm thirty now. I am up for any and all discussion on this, my favorite SK book of all time.

Finished it yesterday! It was every bit as good as I remembered it.

I felt sad when it was over and they all started forgetting again.

And it feels like I haven't really left Derry, so I'll probably start reading Insomnia real soon!

Grace, I agree with you, I have a real soft spot for Mike.

I'll read it again. I haven't read it in a very long time and I just finished Season of the Witch so I'm between books. A lonely place to be. I love the historical stories. Mike is definitely my favorite character. Please don't make me watch the movie again, my poor heart can't take being broken over how they've massacred the book.

I have started to read IT for the first time. It was on my must-read-list for a long time but only now I found it a book-market on sale at a very good price, so I got it and I am now meeting the characters of the book.

I really would like to reread IT. But it wont happen any time soon. THe first time I read IT in three days. LOL No time for that now. But I love the book and will re=read it someday

Man, I haven't read this since it came out. I'll be picking it up tonight.

By the way, this thread made me pick up It again. Now I'm on page 654. I realised I hadn't read it since I read it the first time, (which was probably in 1987) and so far it is every bit as brilliant as I remembered it.

I'm reading it now, on about page 100! Only 1,000 more to go! And YES, It is truly creepy book, and I've only encountered the clown about 3 times. I think.

Yeah, I think that's what I like best about this book. What I always found scary was the concept of losing your imagination as you grow older so that you're less capable of defeating the things that scare you.

Ashok wrote: "What I love about IT is its evocation of childhood, similar to the vibe of the movie Stand By Me, but with monsters. And I love the 'friendship' warm fuzzy feeling too."

Yes! I totally agree with you on this! When I first read It and "The Body" I was about 12 years old and my biggest wish at the time was that I could be a part of those small intimate group of friends.

Well then I know that I'll enjoy it!!! I'll have to pick up a copy somewhere.

Alexis, the book is scarier...but also more human and warm when it needs to be, which often can't be expressed in a TV or movie (Shawshank, Stand By Me and Green Mile excepted :))

I haven't read it (IT) yet! It's one of the big books I didn't read which now I can't understand why I never did. I think I was creeped out by what people were saying about how scary the movie was and I know the books are 10x more descriptive so I just never read it. But now that I'm older and probably able to appreciate it more I'll have to pick up a copy :)

I re-read It about a year ago for the first time since I was a teen. What struck me was that it really gave me different experiences each time. As a teen it was all about the action and horror. As an adult I really appreciated how deftly King wove the various stories together and how he created such compelling senses of time and place. If you haven't re-read it in a while I highly suggest, er, It.

Just finished IT on Monday. I first read it in my early 20s, and now having finished it again at age 37, the themes of childhood, growing older and losing touch with friends and the past resonates with me more than ever.

I'm so glad you agree Cliff, I find that reading any horror book during the day has the same effect - it just doesn't scare me. Reading IT for the second time was even better than the secind time.

Hayley, I love reading IT in sultry afternoons or late nights when up alone. I never dreamt about any of it, but then I have a problem really getting scared by books or movies. What I love about IT is its evocation of childhood, similar to the vibe of the movie Stand By Me, but with monsters. And I love the 'friendship' warm fuzzy feeling too. Just bought a new-used hardcover to give my rereading a 'different' feel. I try reading a different copy of each King book each time and it's sort of like rediscovering it all over again.

I discovered that reading the book by a pool in a sunny and hot climate takes away the fear factor - the first time I read it, I would read it in bed before going to sleep and would dream of Pennywise and the various forms he took in the book. Reading it like I did the last time just didn't have the same effect - does anyone else agree with this?
I'll have to read it again once its start getting darker early, to get the full effect.

IT is also the otherwise formless "man's inhumanity to man", as evidenced especially in the Interludes.

I still find it interesting that King uses a 'giant spider' in describing IT. I think by using the 'giant spider' he is playing on a lot of peoples fear of spiders - I hate spiders so if I had to be confronted by IT at the end of the book I would have died of fright. I do like the fact that throught the book IT takes on the guises of those things that scare us the most - werewolfs, giant bird(Mike), your dead friend in the case of the bully (I can't remember his name) and a clown.

A fascinating moment of the novel, p.687, where the boys are all reveling in a jolly moment of childhood reverie, but in the meantime, the body of one Jimmy Cullum is floating 40 yards away from them, "one of the missing", and he is never mentioned again. This makes me think of David Lynch's opening of Blue Velvet, of the gorgeous white picket fences of innocence tracking down to the severed ear overrun by ants. Also an echo of King's The Body.

I think that for the film to work it would need to include everything that happens, in which case you would end with one hell of an epic horror film and I'm not sure people would be able to sit through that. Letting your imagination run riot is what brings the book alive, though the image of Tim Curry as Pennywise still stays strong in my head.

Hayley is right...the ending of the movie just couldn't be done correctly for American TV. A cable-only remake would be nice, to cover the other stuff that got left out, too.

I read IT while I was holiday and remember what a great book it is. I love the fact that he has the characters slowly remember what happened to them back in 1958 rather than the characters suddenly remembering. My favourite part of the whole book was the final confrontation between the main characters and IT - for me it was probably the most vivid piece of writing - I would rather imagin what was happening than see the film and it ruin the book for me.

I have put IT to the side temporarily so i can blaze through Raymond Chandler's The Long Goodbye (library copy). Keep at it, folks, and I will see you at the other side of The Barrens soon enough.

I totally skipped Mike Hanlon's 1st early encounter with IT (in the Ironworks) this time around. I don't know why I did exactly, just a bit boring maybe?--that scene was also entirely dropped in the miniseries.

I would love to re-read It! I read it freshman year of college after the tv mini-series aired for the first time (which was like 17 years ago-God, I'm old!) I have to see if I can find my old copy.

I know what you mean I haven't read It since it came out when i was in high school.Every so often i see the movie on the sci/fi channel but it not the same of course.I have forgotten alot of details so i think i may have to re-read it soon.still have a few books sitting here i have to get through first.Hopefully by the end of May i can at least start it.

I've just bought the book and forgot how thick it was - I'll start reading it when I'm on the plain next sunday.

I started rereading it yesterday. I haven't read this book in 10 years so it's almost like reading it for the first time for me.

It is too bad the moderator of the group hasn't been active in forever because we could start up a new section for book group type reads. I do like organized reads better for discussions.

Nice to hear feedback on this. Would anyone care to "chair" a portion of the book and lead in an organized fashion, or should we just be willy-nilly on comments?

Well, I'm going to read IT while on my holidays so I'll have to post my comments when I get back. What am I going to do without Goodreads for the 2 weeks I'm away.

Got to admit I haven't started IT yet. Picked up a 2nd hand copy of the Bachman Books on the weekend(I lost mine years ago) and have started that.

I have read Rage and The Long Walk, should get through Roadwork and The Running Man by the weekend, after which I will definately start IT.

I just read IT for the first time about three weeks ago. Realy good and great character development.

Maybe we could do the book It for the month of May?

If I can finish The Ruins and Twilight I may be up to re-reading It.Havent had much reading time because last week it was s o nice i did alot of gardening.This week has been cold and crappy.so i have almost finished The Ruins.I did see The Mist and 1408 the other day.