Rowling's new book is titled A Casual Vacancy.

So I've read the second Montmaray book, FitzOsbornes in Exile, and I've decided that it's also going to appeal to anyone who likes the recent revivial of Upstairs Downstairs or The King's Speech, since it's about the intersection of international politics and the London Society in the run-up to WWII. I enjoyed it a great deal and I can't wait for the 3rd one to come out...

My copy of the first book came yesterday, but I'm reading three other things first. It looks great, though.

Just found a fascinating WWI nurse's memoir on Gutenberg Canada, WAAC: The Woman's Story of the War.

[link]

It's wonderful the stuff you find on the various country's Gutenberg variations. And the fact that their public domain laws are often different from America's is completely irrelevant. Really.

Morbid curiosity time for me! Who watched the mini-series of Stephen King's IT? (I didn't, because Tim Curry as Pennywise was way, WAY too effective as nightmare fuel.) How did the mini-series handle the skeevy and kinda problematic scene with the kids after they defeat the monster? The one where Bev has sex with all of the boys to help ... center them? Mystical pre-teen sex magic?)

That scene almost caused me to stop reading the book; I'm really curious if that scene was included in the mini-series, or what they did instead.

I could be wrong, but I don't think the white-fonted part was in the mini-series. It has been years since I saw it.

I don't remember what they did in the miniseries, Jilli, although I did watch it (but just the once, when it originally aired). That scene was a jaw-dropper when I read it, too -- weren't they all, like, twelve, or something?

That's one of my least favorite books, even though I tore through the first 900 or whatever pages -- the ending was so disappointing and stupid.

I don't think it's in the miniseries. Here's the plot synopsis of the first half (kid section) in Wikipedia (white fonted):

1. Bill, Beverly, Richie, Eddie, Ben, Stan and Mike, a group of outcasts, form the "Losers Club" (a group of social misfits who meet and form a tight-knit friendship.) Each of the children individually encounter the mysterious, homicidal (mainly children), yet wisecracking and manipulative clown haunting their home town of Derry, Maine. The monster, which the group later collectively names It, usually appears as the thing the child victim most fears before taking the form of Pennywise the Dancing Clown. Their separate encounters are later fortified when they all witness Pennywise reach out from a photograph (threatening to kill them) in an album owned by Mike.

2. Spurred by Bill's desire for revenge on It for killing his younger brother Georgie, the Losers resolve to locate It's home in the sewers and destroy the threat to Derry once and for all. Henry Bowers, a psychopathic bully, and two of his friends, Patrick Hockstetter and Belch Huggins, follow the group into the Barrens and into the sewers, in a bid to ambush and kill them as revenge for an earlier rock fight. During their trek through the sewers, Stan is pulled away from the group by Henry and Belch. Henry pulls out a switchblade and Patrick has been ordered to ambush the Seven from another side, but is killed by It through the "deadlights."

3. As the remaining Seven come to the middle of the sewers, they discover Stan is missing. Belch restrains Stan as Henry prepares to kill him with the pocketknife, but It (as the deadlights) bursts through a sewage pipe and sucks Belch in the pipe where he is probably killed while Henry and Stan watch in horror. As It makes its way out of the pipe, Stan flees and Henry's hair instantly turns white from the sight of It's true form. It spares Henry's life and continues searching for Stan.

4. Stan meets up with the Seven and warns them that It's true form has something to do with living white lights that instantly kill anyone who looks directly at them and which is far more reprehensible than Pennywise. They are to avoid looking into It's "deadlights." It vanishes, and smoke fills the chamber. The seven form a circle, although It attempts to distract and break them apart by simultaneously appearing as Georgie, Beverly's father and the werewolf of I Was A Teenage Werewolf . It, in the form of Pennywise, attempts to eat Stan alive, but Eddie stuns It with his asthma inhaler. Beverly cracks the monster's head open with a silver slug fired from a slingshot, revealing the bright "deadlights" underneath. However, before the children can kill, It somersaults through the air and escapes through a drain in the floor. The group grabs "It's" arms, only for the glove to rip off and reveal a larger 3-fingered claw that later disappears through the drain. After arguing and concluding "It" is dead, the group exits the sewers and make a promise to return and fight "It," should it ever return.

That's one of my least favorite books, even though I tore through the first 900 or whatever pages -- the ending was so disappointing and stupid.

Yeah, the first 900 pages or so are all sorts of fun. I kind of want to re-read that part, and skip the ending. Of course, I should have thought of this BEFORE I'm about to start a new job, because I know re-reading IT equals no sleep for me.

That scene was a jaw-dropper when I read it, too --

I know! Because yes, they are all about twelve. Because after you and your guy friends have defeated a terrible monster, are lost under the city, and are starting to argue/freak out, the obvious answer that occurs to a TWELVE YEAR OLD GIRL is to have sex with all your friends. What? Reading some posts online that try and explain it as Bev choosing empowerment, and reclaiming her sexuality just make me want to punch people. While laughing at them.

Agreed. I read the book when I was about 14, and I was all like "REALLY? What the hell?"