Up next: The Tommyknockers by Stephen King.

Another quaint Maine town, Haven, is rocked by a mysterious gaseous fog that transforms its residents into a united hive mind. It falls to a hapless loner to save the town... and himself.

Interestingly, I've accidentally found myself reading the bookends of the 1987 bestseller list. While It was the #1 bestseller at the beginning of 1987, The Tommyknockers finished the year as the #1 bestselling hardcover fiction novel.

I wish I could tell you that was intentional, but it wasn't. It was just one of those strange coincidences that happened because I thought both books felt perfect for October. Plus, I figured I might as well tackle Stephen King's biggest monsters first. Not the actual monsters, mind you. The books.

And this is another big one.

Compared to the 1,153 pages of It, this feels almost manageable at 864 pages. Compared to literally every other book on my shelf, however, it's still enormous.

So what do I know going into this one?

1. I think there are aliens.

I'm not actually certain about that yet. I haven't reached that part of the story, but I've heard enough people mention aliens when discussing this book that I'm expecting something extraterrestrial eventually. Hopefully. We'll find out together.

2. It was adapted into a TV miniseries.

I've never watched it, but I probably will at some point during this project. For now, though, I'm trying to avoid spoilers as much as possible.

3. Stephen King doesn't like it very much.

This was the last novel King wrote before entering rehab. Written during the height of his alcohol and cocaine addiction, he has spoken about the town's struggle against the fog's influence as reflecting his own battle with addiction. Shortly after completing the novel, he sought treatment.

Despite its personal significance, King has often been critical of the book.

4. Readers clearly disagreed.

The Tommyknockers spent five weeks at #1 at the end of 1987 and ultimately finished as the year's bestselling hardcover fiction novel.

King may not have loved it, but plenty of readers did.

Overall, I'm looking forward to this one. It's a little shorter than It, it's one of King's most divisive novels, and I still have absolutely no idea what I'm getting into.

Except for one thing:

Please let there be aliens.

Come along on this journey with me, and as always...

Stay curious.

Get your copy and follow along!

As strange as it may seem, reading "It" made me a little nostalgic. I'm sure it was reading about the Losers' childhood experiences. 

It made me want to do something fun before I jumped right into reading "The Tommyknockers". Something that would also make me feel a little nostalgic. 

So – we went to the local pumpkin patch! And I loved it. The kids did, too. They love going and getting the "ugly" pumpkins. 🤣

This isn't just any pumpkin patch. This is the pumpkin patch of all pumpkin patches.

Evans Orchard and Cider Mill offers so many fun activities that picking pumpkins feels like the side quest! 

It features activities for all ages! It's enough to make you feel like a kid again. 

Picking pumpkins. Food with live music. Kettle Corn. Giant corn hole and (sober) beer pong. The ultimate playground for children (seriously – it's massive and has everything). Long slides downhill. A petting zoo. Paintball. Apple cannons that you can actually shoot at targets (safely, of course). 

They had a tractor in the pumpkin field, a vintage Beetle decorated with greenery among the corn, a large swing overlooking a bed of multi-colored pumpkins, a pumpkin-filled shack, and an old truck covered in fall decor at the entrance. All of the scenes were charming!!

Finally, they also have a country store stocked with just about everything you'd hope to find at an orchard. Jams and fresh flowers, hand-picked fruits and vegetables, plushies and knick knacks. And yes, the apple cider is every bit as delicious as you'd hope.

Reading "It" made me nostalgic for those carefree childhood days when every season felt a little magical. A trip to the pumpkin patch turned out to be the perfect reminder that those moments aren't completely behind us. Sometimes all it takes is a crisp fall afternoon, an ugly pumpkin, and a little time spent outdoors with the people you love.

I hope you get the chance to enjoy a pumpkin patch this year and feel like a kid again, too.

Stay tuned, and stay curious.

This pumpkin patch includes carts you can use, but in case yours doesn't I recommend getting one like the one in the link below!

I finished it! Rather – I finished "It." 

I am honestly not sure where to start with this review...

I guess that the first thing is: I can see why this book is a classic and still popular enough to have multiple film iterations of it. King really knows how to build atmosphere and tension. He also has excellent character development. There are times when you can really FEEL like you are in Derry.

I like that. 

Yet, he is long-winded. Perhaps VERBOSE is a more proper term for a writer who writes too much. His 1,153 page book could have been written much more succinctly and gotten to the same conclusion. He spent two pages telling the reader about the contents of Eddie's medicine cabinet and chapter after chapter telling us the life stories of random side characters.

I don't like that. 

Also, the chapters are...SO...LONG! Some chapters were nearly 100 pages!!

I don't like that, either.

Plus, he tells the story from so many points of view! From a third-person narrator, a first-person narrator (Mike Hanlon), the members of the Losers Club, adult Henry Bowers, adult Stan's wife, adult Ben's bartender, It, adult Beverly's abusive husband – and on and on. 

I might like that. 🤣

He decided it was a good idea to add a very controversial scene involving the young members of the Loser Club in the last 100 pages. 

I don't like that.

I won't go into detail about the controversy, but the information is readily available if you Google it. Just know – it was uncomfortable, and I barely skimmed those pages. Thankfully, it WAS only a few pages. 

Finally, the ending was....meh. I won't include any spoilers – that's no fun. But I will say that the story DOES have an ending – not a cliffhanger. The ending was just...meh.

I don't like that, either.

After I got to the end, I remembered that it was kind of a running joke in the film "It: Chapter Two" that Bill's novels were well-liked, but people hated the endings. I imagine that is criticism that King himself has gotten on multiple occasions, so it is funny now to look back on that knowing the ending of this book.

I like that. 

Stephen King was in that film and was one of the people who told Bill he hated the ending of one of his books. Haha.

I like that, too. 

Overall, it's (no pun intended) a good read!

FINAL VERDICT:

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ✨

4.5/5 Stars

Do I think people should read it? Yes.

Will I read it again? No. 🤣

Get your copy of "it" and read for yourself.

I have ALWAYS loved reading. According to my mom, my first word was "books." I apparently loved being read to by anyone who would take the time when I was too young to read. She has also told me that she thinks I learned to read quickly just in case someone wouldn't be around to read to me. 

Because of this, I naturally loved libraries as a kid. To me, there is nothing more satisfying than walking into a place – be it a library, a bookstore, or my maternal grandmother's living room (she was reader, too)- and seeing shelf after shelf of books.  I, of course, like to see them in the neat rows of multi-colored spines, each one waiting to give me a new piece of advice or life adventure. 

But- I also don't mind seeing them in messy piles, waiting to be sorted and placed back on the shelf or in someone's bag to go home with them. 

I even like the SMELL of a library. It is always a curious mix of furniture polish, aging paper, and dust that just SCREAMS library. I love it. 

So – when I say that I understand Ben and Mike's love for and obsession with Derry Library – I mean I COMPLETELY understand. 

Because of that, I thought I should write about a library and give that section of life its own space.

But – which one? 

Do I pick my local one here in Georgetown, KY? Do I pick the cute little library from my hometown in West Virginia? Do I pick a different one? All of them?!

While I pondered those questions, I found myself wondering what it must have been like for Mike Hanlon to serve as the head librarian in the kind of mid-sized "honky tonk town" Mike himself once called Derry. 

As I thought more about it, another layer occurred to me: Mike was also an African American man holding a leadership position in a profession and a time period where that was still relatively uncommon.

Back in the 1980s, only about 5% of librarians were African American (according to Census records), and very few were HEAD librarians. Most often, African Americans were appointed to head librarian only in historical black colleges and universities (HBCUs). 

There were select exceptions to that, of course! But – those were exceptions. Not the rule. 

Thinking about all of this, though – the answer came to me!

The Western Library – right here in Kentucky. Louisville, KY. 

Now called Louisville Free Public Library, Western Branch – it was once known as the Western Colored Branch, which was later changed to the Western Library. 

It was the nation's first free public library for African Americans, and for many years, it was operated exclusively by an all-Black staff. It was actually the first free public library to have an all-Black staff. 

To say this was a hard-fought battle would be an understatement.

In the early 1900s, Louisville city leaders were advocating for a free public library system overall. Up until that point in the city's history, libraries were private collections that you had to pay for OR parts of colleges only open to students, staff, and alumni. 

As luck would have it, Andrew Carnegie – famous industrialist, billionaire, and philanthropist – was leading the charge nationwide to get free books into the hands of the masses. He reportedly felt like literacy was important. In that – we totally agree!

Reading - in a way - is freedom. 

Around that time, he planned to pledge money to build 2500 libraries nationwide – some of which were built in Louisville. 

Here's the thing, though.

Louisville was heavily segregated at that time. Keep in mind – this is the height of Jim Crow.

And when Louisville leadership was advocating for free public libraries, they were advocating for libraries for White people. 

This was especially concerning because at that time, only about 6.2% of White citizens in Louisville were illiterate in 1900, while approximately 44.5% of Black citizens were illiterate. This shows that there was a real need for free public access to literacy in the African American community. 

Heroes come in many forms, though. In this case, the hero came in the form of a local (influential) African American educator and civil rights activist named Albert E. Meyzeek. 

He fought hard for the local African American students and citizens to have access to a free public library. He and some of his supporters/ colleagues pointed out that Black taxpayers were paying for a system they couldn't even use. 

Andrew Carnegie heard about this advocacy and pledged money for a library that could only be used for a library for African Americans. From a modern perspective, the idea of a separate library can feel uncomfortable. However, within the realities of Jim Crow Louisville, Carnegie's condition ensured that African American residents would receive library access rather than be excluded entirely. 

As such, the idea of the Western Library was born in 1905. The Carnegie-funded building for it was not completed until 1908, but the funding for the library space started in 1905. The city paid rent on three rooms that housed the books for those three years. 

Reverend Thomas Fountain Blue was appointed the head librarian of the Western Library from the beginning, starting in 1905. He would later (in 1914) lead the charge to create a second library for African Americans in Louisville, known at the time as the Eastern Colored Branch. This name was also later changed to – you guessed it – the Eastern Library. Interestingly, this branch was also funded by Andrew Carnegie. 

Reverend Blue didn't just stop at developing and managing these libraries, though. 

He also created an elaborate apprentice training program for Black librarians. 

You see, he was passionate not only about helping his local community. He felt that it was equally important to educate African Americans in the science of librarianship. His apprentice program lasted into the 1930s and attracted students from across the south.

Another one of Blue’s primary initiatives was to increase literacy rates amongst African American youth and expand the pool of young Black readers. He recruited the help of another Western branch supervisor, Rachel Harris. Together, they organized a Children’s Department that hosted reading clubs, storytime, debate, and other entertaining events for Louisville’s African American children. In addition, a local African American poet and educator, Joseph Cotter, sponsored a children’s storytelling contest every year. The winners could receive cash awards and statewide and national recognition. This was known as The Cotter Cup.

Today, the Western Library is still standing – and thriving. The legacy of the Children's Department is still very much apparent. The Cotter Cup is still in place today. The day I went, they also had multiple activities for children planned that day. 

Preschool Storytime at 10am. Teen Crafting Club at 3:30pm. Teen Manga and Anime Club at 5pm. 

A review of their social media pages also shows that they have multiple planned street events that cater to children and look so fun! 

There is also a collection of historical documents and resources focusing on African American experiences housed in the Western Library – in the African-American Archives Reading Room. The room also happens to house the works of that poet I mentioned - Joseph Cotter – the one who is responsible for the children's storytelling contest. 

Overall, the Western Library is a lovely piece of history that everyone should know about – and visit! I highly enjoyed learning about it – and all of the people who fought to make it happen. I hope this has sparked your curiosity and inspired you to take a trip of your own. 

As always – stay curious!

I woke up this morning to an eerie fog hanging over everything outside. When I stepped onto the porch and looked down our street, the fog stretched in both directions, swallowing the neighborhood whole. My first thought?

Goodness... this feels like Derry today.

I took these photos from the middle of the street, soaking in the scene. Then I turned back toward the house and spotted something that made me laugh: a sewer drainage ditch.

For just a second, I half expected to see a red balloon drifting above it... or Pennywise peering up from below.

All that thinking about Derry got me wondering about some of the places that loom so large in IT. What do the Barrens really look like? What about the Kenduskeag Stream that winds through the novel?

In my imagination, they look a little bit like this creek near my home, one of our favorite spots to fish.

Or maybe they resemble the river where I spent so much time as a kid in West Virginia, swimming, fishing, and exploring along the banks of the New River.

One of the things I love most about IT is how familiar Derry feels. Even though it's fictional, King's descriptions make it easy to connect the town to places we've all known: the creek down the road, the river from childhood, or a foggy neighborhood street that suddenly feels just a little unsettling.

And on mornings like this, it doesn't take much imagination to believe that Derry might be waiting just around the corner.

I'm plugging along in my reading of It by Stephen King. I've made it to page 686, which means I have only 466 pages left to go. In most books, that would be an entire novel. In It, it feels like I'm finally approaching the home stretch.

At times, I admit I've struggled with just how many side roads King takes along the way. Derry is a town full of stories, and he seems determined to tell every single one of them. Yet despite those detours, I'm completely immersed in this dark, fascinating world. Derry feels less like a setting and more like a living thing: a small town with a long memory and a terrible secret lurking beneath the surface.

As I get closer to the end, I find myself eager to see how all of these storylines, memories, and nightmares finally come together.

But reading the novel wasn't enough.

Like any curious traveler, I decided to venture even deeper into Derry by revisiting the film adaptations and starting the new Welcome to Derry series. I've enjoyed this little side journey so much that I thought I'd share a guide for anyone else who might be considering a trip to one of Stephen King's most infamous destinations.

What are the movies?

1. “It” - 1990 – This almost 3-hour movie is a bit of a classic. Tim Curry plays Pennywise the Dancing Clown, and he is creeeeppyyyy. He really only had about 20 minutes of screentime throughout the movie, but supposedly, his performance scared the cast so much that everyone avoided him on set. I know he scared me as a child, and clowns and I have not been friends since!
2. “It”/”It: Chapter Two” - 2017 and 2019 – This two-part movie set took the storyline to the next level with Bill Skarsgard’s Pennywise performance. Yikes! He is even creepier, if such a thing is possible. Apparently, he spent three hours a day in the makeup chair for the role. He was also reportedly kept away from the child actors at first, until their first scene together. So, their fear reactions were more genuine than you might think. The timeline is a bit different in this one as well. The characters are children in the 1980s and adults in the 2010s – rather than the 1950s and 1980s.  
3. “It: Welcome to Derry” - 2025 – This is a series that is essentially a prequel to the 2017/2019 movies and features some of the main character’s parents (as children) as core characters.

Are they worth watching?

Yes – especially if you like the book. Obviously, film adaptations are always slightly different from books, and these are no exceptions. Some things, especially the more controversial parts, are left out. Some storylines are altered with some serious poetic licenses. But the core of the movies/show is in line with the book, making them worth watching.

How can they be watched?

You can use the link below to buy them (and related merchandise and other fun It-themed goodies) or you can watch them all on HBO Max (as of October 2026 anyway).

How should they be watched?

That depends on you! If you would prefer a more “chronological” order, I would say:

1. It – 1990 (since it was made first and is a standalone)
2. Welcome to Derry series – It takes place in the 1960s and is the prequel to the other two movies.
3. It – 2017
4. It: Chapter Two – 2019

If you prefer to watch them according to how much I liked them:

1. It – 1990
2. It – 2017
3. It: Chapter Two – 2019
4. It: Welcome to Derry

If you're enjoying the book, I absolutely recommend taking a side trip into Derry's on-screen adaptations. No version is a perfect recreation of King's novel, but each captures something essential about the story, its characters, and the unsettling atmosphere that makes Derry such a memorable place.

Whether you choose Tim Curry's unforgettable Pennywise, Bill Skarsgård's nightmare-inducing interpretation, or the newer stories explored in Welcome to Derry, there's plenty to discover beyond the pages.

So if you decide to visit Derry for yourself, I wish you a safe journey.

Just don't follow any paper boats into the storm drain.

And as always, travel with a curious mind. 🎈

Click the link below to buy It films and It-themed goodies.

(paid link)

It: An Introduction (...or Reminder?)

Up first: “It” by Stephen King. The town of Derry, Maine, is wholesome, quaint, and hiding a monstrous secret. That secret, IT, feeds on the town's fears and threatens to tear Derry apart. That is until a ragtag bunch of children – and later adults – confront IT.

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I bet I know what you are thinking!

• Hasn’t It been done enough already?

Probably. There is this book, of course. The made-for-TV movie, “It” in 1990. CLASSIC. Tim Curry (RIP) as Pennywise?! He made me terrified of clowns as a kid – and now haha. Then, the double feature films - “It” (2017) and “It: Chapter Two” (2019). Now, there is “It: Welcome to Derry” (2025), which is set to have at least two more seasons. If Tim Curry's Pennywise was creepy, Bill Skarsgård's version is pure nightmare fuel, honey! 

Can I possibly add anything new to the conversation? Probably not.

Am I going to talk about it anyway? Absolutely.

• Wasn’t “It” actually published in 1986?

Yes, actually. It was published in September 1986, so It has technically already turned 40. I see you, Vintage!. It (no pun intended) is on my list, though, because it was still the #1 bestseller in the first week of January. That was the only week in 1987 that it was #1, but it dominated the #1 in 1986 and remained on the bestseller list for a total of 20 weeks in 1987.

• Isn’t that a really long book?

Yes. A whopping 1,152 pages.

Pray for me.

The struggle is real, but the journey is fun.

• Don’t you worry about the “controversial” part of the book?

Honestly, I didn't even know the controversy existed until recently. Since I've never read It before, I haven't reached the section in question yet and can't really offer an informed opinion. When I do, I'll share my honest thoughts. One thing I try to do with this project is approach each book with curiosity, not assumptions. So, I'll reserve judgment until I experience it for myself.

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So far, I'm enjoying the journey through Derry, even if it's taking me a while to get there. At 1,152 pages, this book is less of a weekend read and more of a long-term commitment.

I'll be back soon with a full review and plenty of thoughts about Pennywise, small-town secrets, and whether this monster-sized bestseller was worth the hype.

Until then, stay curious.

Want to read along? Let me know you think!

Click the "Buy 'It'" button and get yours ASAP! 

(paid link)