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It

We might have 100-degree days for the rest of this week, but I'm quite excited about fall weather conditions and what I'll be reading during the fall season.

I have a personal goal of reading forty books this year, and I'm twelve books away from that goal. The Passage took a while for me to completely dig into and 11/22/63 took a couple of weeks to finish, but I read the majority of an entire book in one day. That book, To Live is To Die, a biography of Cliff Burton, was easy and frustrating to read due to its repetitive nature. (Nothing like constant reminders every few pages about how awesome Cliff was, how great his bass playing was, what kind of impact he had on Metallica, how sad it was for him to die young, and how Metallica has done without him.)

Something I want to tackle, even though it will take up a lot of time, is Stephen King's opus, It. Given its 1,000-page length, it's daunting to look at on the book shelf. But there was a segment in 11/22/63 that takes place in the town of Derry, where It is set, along with the appearance of a couple of characters. Factor in my relative enjoyment of the early 1990s miniseries (it's great until the last twenty minutes, where it looked like the filmmakers ran out of money), and it's something I knew I would eventually read.

Also on tap includes two books that come out on the same day: The Twelve and The Walking Dead Complete Compendium 2. I wasn't completely blown away by Justin Cronin's first book of the trilogy, but I am curious what the second book allows. And I've waited two whole years to find out what happens after issue 48 of The Walking Dead. If the TV series takes the same path as the comic, things are going to get nuts.

But out of all the books I want to read, It seems like a perfect fall book. From what I remember, the novel starts out on a cool, overcast day, something I long for after all these hot months. I remember when I read 'Salem's Lot in the fall and how apt that book seemed. Hopefully the same will happen this time around.

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