Rec | IT BY STEPHEN KING

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“Oh, that book.” Yes. I feel like It is thought of more often as a concept of a book/story or dismissed with a “Yeah, yeah” rather than considered an actual thing you can sit down and read. Not that it is generally despised (other than *that* scene, and yes, I completely agree), but I feel as if so few people care enough to try reading it. And with its massively popular adaptation into the 2017/2019 films, the way It as a story is viewed by the public has completely changed, and today’s tweens probably don’t even know who the director of the films is, let alone Stephen King. Last summer, I read this book. I started it at the beach at home, but on that fateful day, the waves crashed onto my family’s belongings, taking with them a lunchbox of fruits and one flip-flop of mine (RIP). The next day, we left for a five-day trip, so I was stuck with a very old, very waterlogged, engorged, warped copy of the book. On the very long car rides over the next days, I knocked out over half of It, and spent scorching days by the pool doing the same. On the way home, I began to wrap it up. When I got back, a hardcover was waiting in the mail for me. And with the last moments of my carefree summer days, I sat in the sunset with my brand new copy of an old story, living vicariously through 7 kids experiencing their last summer together. The red light of the fading yet radiant sunset shone onto my face, and the darkness settled in as I turned the last page. I have never felt so many things at once. With me, I carried a palpable yet arguably unfounded sense of nostalgia endlessly afterward, and I felt as if I had lived through multiple childhoods and adulthoods in just one summer. I felt devastated and content, hopeless and happy. There is no one emotion I could tie to experiencing 1153 pages of It. It’s just It. It amazes me that on my shelf is an entire world, embossed with the proud “FROM THE LIBRARY OF,” expectant, waiting to be reopened, re-experienced, relived. This summer will forever be engrained in my memory, and although I say this as a young person, the summer I spent in Sequoia Tree Park amidst gargantuan trees and rolling mountainscapes is the summer I grew up with seven Losers, just trying to get by and go forth with their lives.

@shemp_malone

Jan 28, 2025

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This book is solely responsible for reigniting my passion for reading fiction. I'm a voracious non-fiction reader, but fiction books that keep me engaged from beginning to end have been few and far between...until Mickey7. Back in 2022, I picked this book up out of curiosity and in a very out of character moment for the 2022 version of myself, I bought it. Mark my words: I devoured that book. Soon after finishing Mickey7, I learnt that Bong Joon-ho would be directing a film adaptation of the novel, with Robert Pattinson slated to play the lead. I just finished watching the trailer and there is no doubt in my mind that this movie is going to be just as fantastic as the book. ======= So what's Mickey7 about? Part sci-fi action-adventure, part dramedy thriller set in the distant future, Edward Ashton's Mickey7 follows Mickey Barnes, well to be more precise, the 7th iteration of him. As part of a human expedition sent out to colonize Niflheim, a practically uninhabitable ice planet, Mickey has only one job to do: Die. Why? Mickey is an Expendable: a disposable employee who is tasked with doing all the dirty and downright suicidal jobs that could cost the lives of the other more coveted crew members aboard the mission. Whenever the current iteration of Mickey dies, a new clone of him gets regenerated with most of his memories intact. He's the closest thing to an immortal, or at least that's how the idea of becoming an Expendable got pitched to him. However, after having already died 6 times, Mickey7 starts to question his humanity and understand a bit too late why this was the only position with an open vacancy when he first applied. During a regular reconnaissance mission, Mickey7 gets hurt and is left for dead. Except he isn't. When he makes it back to the colony, Mickey8 has already taken his place. The big problem: only one Expendable can exist at a time. Having multiple clones alive at once is punishable by death, and neither Mickey is willing to die unnecessarily just to let the other one live. (There's more to this book than just the clone dilemma, but in an effort to keep this summary short and not spoil anything, this is a good cliffhanger to end on 🤭) ===== With that being said, if you want a delicious amuse-bouche of the story before the film comes out in 2025, give Mickey7 a read.