I've picked up a few books and even read about 300 pages into one of them, but I couldn't place myself where the author needed me to be in order for his tale to be successful (Straub's Koko).
So I've bummed around a bit, reading from short story collections by Graham Greene, Thomas Ligotti and going cover to cover with a few magazines that have come my way, but nothing novel length has really hit.
This past Saturday, I've picked up David Peace's 1974, which was the basis for a portion of a prestige British television production based on the 5 book cycle called Red Riding and I've gotten a large chunk of it read but I still haven't decided if this is the book I'm going to continue with.
I realize I owe write ups on The Ceremonies (totally awesome, if you put a little bit of work into the source material beforehand) and The World Without Us (a book my GF found depressing, but I found totally optimistic in that life will go on after we've gone).
Monday, April 27, 2009
Monday, April 20, 2009
Interlude: My Mistake
I've been burning through a lot of other media right now so reading has taken a bit of a back seat to what I normally do with my evenings and train commutes.
In the time which I've been away (nearly 3 weeks from my previous posting on The Ceremonies) I've finished that, another book, started a few more and have finally settle on one only to find it's a bit unwieldy to attempt to negotiate a 500+ page hardcover book with thick paper stock on the subway.
Yesterday I found myself faced with the unfortunate news that JG Ballard had finally succumbed to cancer. He was one of those literary figures who I had circled in periphery but never really took the time to examine as there was only one time I was struck with the investigative impulse which generally drives these brief reading manias.
The book I read was Crash, more because it was what the bookstore had in stock rather than any conscious decision. I'd have rather The Atrocity Exhibition or some other short story collection, but alas. Having grown up in a car culture like the suburban united states, and having traveled enough highway miles to see grisly accidents, the book's perverse love affair at the intersection of human and automobile did affect me, but not in any sort of "why do we accept these machines" way, rather in a "if this is the price for the benefit, it is worth it."
Of course now that I live in an area where many of the residents DON'T own cars, I may read the book five years from now and take away something completely different from the same text. This is the joy of re-reading.
In the time which I've been away (nearly 3 weeks from my previous posting on The Ceremonies) I've finished that, another book, started a few more and have finally settle on one only to find it's a bit unwieldy to attempt to negotiate a 500+ page hardcover book with thick paper stock on the subway.
Yesterday I found myself faced with the unfortunate news that JG Ballard had finally succumbed to cancer. He was one of those literary figures who I had circled in periphery but never really took the time to examine as there was only one time I was struck with the investigative impulse which generally drives these brief reading manias.
The book I read was Crash, more because it was what the bookstore had in stock rather than any conscious decision. I'd have rather The Atrocity Exhibition or some other short story collection, but alas. Having grown up in a car culture like the suburban united states, and having traveled enough highway miles to see grisly accidents, the book's perverse love affair at the intersection of human and automobile did affect me, but not in any sort of "why do we accept these machines" way, rather in a "if this is the price for the benefit, it is worth it."
Of course now that I live in an area where many of the residents DON'T own cars, I may read the book five years from now and take away something completely different from the same text. This is the joy of re-reading.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Interlude: When Guardian Books Mentioned "Predatory Bottoms"
I didn't get the same image that they did by that language choice.
Interesting blog post today on the sustaining power of a genre with which I have absolutely no familiarity; The Girl's Pony Novel.
Interesting blog post today on the sustaining power of a genre with which I have absolutely no familiarity; The Girl's Pony Novel.
Because it's lifestyle porn, of which most genre fiction happens to be. Here's where I once again make a statement and lay out no supporting facts and clip the entry short because I have a headache.
Among the welter of sweetshop colours, glittery titles and garish graphics that indicate you've strayed into the children's section of a mainstream British bookshop, you'll find, for boys, bad smells, farting facts, juvenile spies and predatory bottoms, and for girls, ballerinas, fairies, princesses and … ponies. Series upon series of pony books – Sandy Lane Stables, Pony Pals, Pony Club Secrets – even, God preserve us, Katie Price's Perfect Ponies. And the question I want to ask is: why?
Monday, April 6, 2009
Interlude: I love Terry Pratchett too but...
Town names streets after Terry Pratchett's Discworld books
Isn't this a bit...excessive?If you go down to Wincanton in Somerset today you can wander down Peach Pie Street and Treacle Mine Road, named after Sir Terry Pratchett's fantasy series Discworld.
Pratchett visited the town today to unveil the road names at a new housing estate, and was greeted by hundreds of fans – many dressed in costume.
Wincanton was twinned with the city of Ankh-Morpork from the novels in 2002, becoming the first UK town to link with a fictional place.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
The Ceremonies Continues
Last night the Machen influence became extremely pronounced with our researcher protagonist going so far as to do research into Machen and a old man reading from The White People to our protagonist.
"Then, on the other hand, we underrate evil. We attach such an enormous importance to the 'sin' of meddling with our pockets (and our wives) that we have quite forgotten the awfulness of real sin."
The book has just introduced another character, a young virginal woman named Carol with a rather lengthy back story, who has an interest in folk lore and such, and is also, this is important in the book, a virgin.
It has been a while since I read The White People by Machen, so I think that I should really dive back into it before I progress too much further just so that I can contextually align some of the mentioned elements and what is to come. I'm about a full fifth of the way through so perhaps tonight I shall do that.
I'm fairly certain I have at least ONE anthology which should contain that tale and if not, it's public domain so it should not be too difficult to just read online.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
New Book: The Ceremonies
To be quite frank, I can never remember T.E.D. Klein vs Ted Deker. One is famously Christian writer who is rather prolific, and the other is better known as the long running editor of The Twilight Zone magazine. My only real exposure to him before starting this book was reading "Growing Things" in Al Sorrento's excellent 999 anthology, the book which brought me back to horror literature after a long absence.
I got this book through an eBay auction for a box of several 80s paper horror paperbacks, which included some stuff by Schow, Simmons, Etchinson's California Gothic (from the 90s), Rice's Interview with the Vampire, and a few other books which I can't quite recall.
I knew of The Ceremonies through reputation, as Thomas F Montelone included an essay as his submission to Jones and Newman's 100 Best Horror (which is an excellent list to work from if anyone is looking to give themselves a bit of an education on the subject), but did no real reading on it beyond this endorsement.
I'm about a tenth of the way through it, but I'm suitably impressed with the novel so far. In a prologue we are introduced to The Bad Place trope in the form of a tree in a grove which is inhabited by an Other. The historical passage which opens the book presents a few different facets of the legend of how The Bad Place came to be so the reader can just use whichever one strikes their fancy should they so choose.
We're introduced to a religious sect which has shades of the Mennonites in the close community, but our protagonists introduction to this sect is done through a pair of college educated individuals who chose the life rather than being born into the sect and experiencing that way of life exclusively.
Internet friends Doug, Kevin and Nick lamented the state of mainstream horror in a recent podcast (an assessment I don't wholly agree with) and in the segment it's mentioned that there's an abnormal amount of horror books who have writers as their protagonists.
That trend continues with our protagonist Jeremy Freirs, who is a graduate student looking for time away from New York to get over a girl and possibly bang out the beginning of his thesis, which will be on Gothic Literature. Haven't spent enough time to really form an opinion on him.
A lot of care has been crafted to really explore the setting and try to communicate small town life to someone whose only experience has been New York City with a particular emphasis of the strangeness of Nature.
Reading up on TED Klein lead me to read that this book is an expansion (unofficially, of course) on Arthur Machen's The White People. Machen is one of my favorite horror authors. He's known most for The Bowmen, the tale in which the Angels of Mons appeared to protect the English soldiers at the start of WWI. A story which took a life on its own and became a modern fantastical legend whose popularity reached critical mass in beleagured Britain. The White People is the tale of witchcraft told from the perspective of a young girl. He also famously wrote The Great God Pan, which in its reading you can see was a huge influence on Lovecraft.
If you want a good place to start with Machen, you could certainly do worse than the three volumes edited by ST Joshi for Chasoim.
I got this book through an eBay auction for a box of several 80s paper horror paperbacks, which included some stuff by Schow, Simmons, Etchinson's California Gothic (from the 90s), Rice's Interview with the Vampire, and a few other books which I can't quite recall.
I knew of The Ceremonies through reputation, as Thomas F Montelone included an essay as his submission to Jones and Newman's 100 Best Horror (which is an excellent list to work from if anyone is looking to give themselves a bit of an education on the subject), but did no real reading on it beyond this endorsement.
I'm about a tenth of the way through it, but I'm suitably impressed with the novel so far. In a prologue we are introduced to The Bad Place trope in the form of a tree in a grove which is inhabited by an Other. The historical passage which opens the book presents a few different facets of the legend of how The Bad Place came to be so the reader can just use whichever one strikes their fancy should they so choose.
We're introduced to a religious sect which has shades of the Mennonites in the close community, but our protagonists introduction to this sect is done through a pair of college educated individuals who chose the life rather than being born into the sect and experiencing that way of life exclusively.
Internet friends Doug, Kevin and Nick lamented the state of mainstream horror in a recent podcast (an assessment I don't wholly agree with) and in the segment it's mentioned that there's an abnormal amount of horror books who have writers as their protagonists.
That trend continues with our protagonist Jeremy Freirs, who is a graduate student looking for time away from New York to get over a girl and possibly bang out the beginning of his thesis, which will be on Gothic Literature. Haven't spent enough time to really form an opinion on him.
A lot of care has been crafted to really explore the setting and try to communicate small town life to someone whose only experience has been New York City with a particular emphasis of the strangeness of Nature.
Reading up on TED Klein lead me to read that this book is an expansion (unofficially, of course) on Arthur Machen's The White People. Machen is one of my favorite horror authors. He's known most for The Bowmen, the tale in which the Angels of Mons appeared to protect the English soldiers at the start of WWI. A story which took a life on its own and became a modern fantastical legend whose popularity reached critical mass in beleagured Britain. The White People is the tale of witchcraft told from the perspective of a young girl. He also famously wrote The Great God Pan, which in its reading you can see was a huge influence on Lovecraft.
If you want a good place to start with Machen, you could certainly do worse than the three volumes edited by ST Joshi for Chasoim.
Interlude: Formatting Change
I've removed the Books Read So Far because I couldn't get it to format in a way that I like. It may come back in the future if I find the time to link all the books to their pages.
Book 17: House Dick
A brief bit of time away to start re-watching Battlestar Galactica from the beginning again now that it's finally wrapped caused a bit of a delay in finishing this incredibly short book by Watergate Conspirator E. Howard Hunt.
The book was put out by the Hard Case Crime Library, a specialist line from Dorchester Publishing, the company responsible for the excellent Leisure Horror line, which has two books in competition for Stoker Awards this year (neither of which I've read and peeking through them didn't really stir much interest, but I'll check actual reviews to get past the marketing). Hard Case Crime re-introduces old crime and detective fiction which has been out of print and also publishes new works in the old styles. They offer a subscription service where you can get the books for $4 (plus $2 shipping) versus the list price of $7, which is how I get their books.
So far, I've been rather happy with the service. I've only been a member since late last year, so I've only gotten a handful of books, but all of them have been pretty excellent. This is the first one I've read for this project so I haven't really discussed the line before. But if you like "Noir" (which I don't think works as a fiction genre name), you could do much worse than looking into this line. For the moderns check out Money Shot, which is traditional genre conventions told with a female twist. As an aside if you want a real gut shot, check out Murdaland (site contains music).
"Not everyone gets to die at the Tilden. Poor people, they die where ever they can."
House Dick is the story of Novak, a hotel detective whose job it is to keep things under control, a function which now would most likely be contracted to an outside agency. But in 1961, he was all that stood between the poodle in room 403 and chaos.
The book is short, but excellently put together. It has a rich matron, her dead husband, missing jewels, mob heavies, the husband's mistress, the mistress's ex-con husband, a mescaline dealing quack, a few fights, a shoot out, a world weary detective who behaves in a smart, realistic way. While it manages to cram all of these elements into the short book (204 pages), the book never loses its way nor does it leave anything unresolved. There's some excellent dialogue and it's clearly written by someone familiar with DC and the loneliness inherent in a position like a hotel detective.
If you have a few hours to kill and just want a good, intellegent jaunt, you could certainly do worse than this.
The book was put out by the Hard Case Crime Library, a specialist line from Dorchester Publishing, the company responsible for the excellent Leisure Horror line, which has two books in competition for Stoker Awards this year (neither of which I've read and peeking through them didn't really stir much interest, but I'll check actual reviews to get past the marketing). Hard Case Crime re-introduces old crime and detective fiction which has been out of print and also publishes new works in the old styles. They offer a subscription service where you can get the books for $4 (plus $2 shipping) versus the list price of $7, which is how I get their books.
So far, I've been rather happy with the service. I've only been a member since late last year, so I've only gotten a handful of books, but all of them have been pretty excellent. This is the first one I've read for this project so I haven't really discussed the line before. But if you like "Noir" (which I don't think works as a fiction genre name), you could do much worse than looking into this line. For the moderns check out Money Shot, which is traditional genre conventions told with a female twist. As an aside if you want a real gut shot, check out Murdaland (site contains music).
"Not everyone gets to die at the Tilden. Poor people, they die where ever they can."
House Dick is the story of Novak, a hotel detective whose job it is to keep things under control, a function which now would most likely be contracted to an outside agency. But in 1961, he was all that stood between the poodle in room 403 and chaos.
The book is short, but excellently put together. It has a rich matron, her dead husband, missing jewels, mob heavies, the husband's mistress, the mistress's ex-con husband, a mescaline dealing quack, a few fights, a shoot out, a world weary detective who behaves in a smart, realistic way. While it manages to cram all of these elements into the short book (204 pages), the book never loses its way nor does it leave anything unresolved. There's some excellent dialogue and it's clearly written by someone familiar with DC and the loneliness inherent in a position like a hotel detective.
If you have a few hours to kill and just want a good, intellegent jaunt, you could certainly do worse than this.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Interlude: Meh.
I've started and stopped reading three books since the end of the Oppenheimer one and nothing is really striking my fancy.
Thankfully I'm well ahead even without having been as dedicated to reading as I like
Thankfully I'm well ahead even without having been as dedicated to reading as I like
Books 16: The Ruin of J. Robert Oppenheimer
I wrapped this several days ago and frankly there isn't much worth discussing here.
The book is fascinating and Oppenheimer got screwed, but this book spends much of its time setting up villains and praising Oppenheimer that you'd get the impression that he was a perfect little lamb while Teller was a fame thieving jerk.
You'd be better off watching the PBS Nova special The Trials of Oppenheimer than you would reading this book.
I saw it described as a Hagiography and that is the perfect terminology for this tome.
The book is fascinating and Oppenheimer got screwed, but this book spends much of its time setting up villains and praising Oppenheimer that you'd get the impression that he was a perfect little lamb while Teller was a fame thieving jerk.
You'd be better off watching the PBS Nova special The Trials of Oppenheimer than you would reading this book.
I saw it described as a Hagiography and that is the perfect terminology for this tome.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Book 15: A Pretty Face
Rafeal Reig has just put himself on my radar, and it's thanks to a suggestion by Jessa Crispin over at the NPR Book section. This is a very, very quick read (which somehow still took me nearly a week) that deals with a ghost who looks back on her life while also looking to see who murered her. But this isn't really a genre book by any means. This isn't about a crackling plot or last minute twists to keep you into the night.
It's really more about the life we live and the memories we leave behind. And as a ghost, would we have the ability to look back without romantcizing the elements which we've been familiar with.
The last two "chapters" (there are breaks, but not numbered chapters per se) are some incredible writing, which even in (the occasonally sloppy) translation struck true.
Any attempt to say much more would be a disservice to the book and to any potential readers.
The link above includes a good excerpt which should give you a good idea if you'd like to read the rest of it.
It's really more about the life we live and the memories we leave behind. And as a ghost, would we have the ability to look back without romantcizing the elements which we've been familiar with.
The last two "chapters" (there are breaks, but not numbered chapters per se) are some incredible writing, which even in (the occasonally sloppy) translation struck true.
Any attempt to say much more would be a disservice to the book and to any potential readers.
The link above includes a good excerpt which should give you a good idea if you'd like to read the rest of it.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Interlude: Good Reads
I keep forgetting I have a profile on this site, so I update it fairly rarely. I was hoping that intertwining this project with that website would lead to adequate enough reminders but that doesn't seem to be the case unfortunately.
Regardless, I just thought I'd share my profile should anyone want to "friend" me.
Regardless, I just thought I'd share my profile should anyone want to "friend" me.
Book 14: Apocalypse Movies
Just as I suspected. Well done, but shallow overview of the genre. It succeeded in making me add Kevin Costner's The Postman to my Netflix queue after making a somewhat passionate argument for it.
Monday, March 16, 2009
Interlude: stumbling toward prolifancy
Three back to back yet shallow posts. Amazing.
I am trying an experiment to purchase less books. I have a bit of an issue with buying something because it looks really interesting, then when I am available to devote my full interest to the book, my capricious nature has tended to move on.
I'm trying to avoid this rather expensive habit so I am not purchasing any books for the next two weeks, which means that I will have to make do with the many, many unread books I have until then.
I'm probably going to wrap Apocalypse Movies tonight, and was thinking of moving on to A Pretty Face, a surreal book from Spain about a woman trying to solve her own murder with the help of a mad scientist.
I am trying an experiment to purchase less books. I have a bit of an issue with buying something because it looks really interesting, then when I am available to devote my full interest to the book, my capricious nature has tended to move on.
I'm trying to avoid this rather expensive habit so I am not purchasing any books for the next two weeks, which means that I will have to make do with the many, many unread books I have until then.
I'm probably going to wrap Apocalypse Movies tonight, and was thinking of moving on to A Pretty Face, a surreal book from Spain about a woman trying to solve her own murder with the help of a mad scientist.
New Book: Apocalypse Movies
I've been a fan of Kim Newman for a while, having chanced across his Anno Dracula series in the 90's and have become aware of his excellent film writing in the past decade or so since I started to pick up Video Watchdog fairly regularly.
Apocalypse Movies is so far a largely shallow examination of films which deal with radical alterations to society. The chapters are broken down by thematic elements and some films will make repeated appearances due to their nature.
So far, there's nothing really mind blowing to me, no great original insights, but the writing is fast and breezy and it's an enjoyable way to spend a train ride.
If you're interested, yet unfamiliar, then this book may be an enjoyable read, however, my criteria with regards to film books being "good" or not is "Does the book make me add movies to my Netflix Queue?" This may not be fair criteria for this book as this is territory I have managed to cover on my own.
Apocalypse Movies is so far a largely shallow examination of films which deal with radical alterations to society. The chapters are broken down by thematic elements and some films will make repeated appearances due to their nature.
So far, there's nothing really mind blowing to me, no great original insights, but the writing is fast and breezy and it's an enjoyable way to spend a train ride.
If you're interested, yet unfamiliar, then this book may be an enjoyable read, however, my criteria with regards to film books being "good" or not is "Does the book make me add movies to my Netflix Queue?" This may not be fair criteria for this book as this is territory I have managed to cover on my own.
Book 13: All Heads Turn When the Hunt Goes By
This is a disarming and affecting novel, for completely different reasons than the last book I wrote about here.
I feel that any attempts to discussing All Heads Turn in any capacity would be to do a disservice to the novel as I am unable to really put my thoughts together in any coherent way.
So in an entirely lazy cop out, I will post a link to David J Schow discussing the book.
I feel that any attempts to discussing All Heads Turn in any capacity would be to do a disservice to the novel as I am unable to really put my thoughts together in any coherent way.
So in an entirely lazy cop out, I will post a link to David J Schow discussing the book.
Monday, March 9, 2009
interlude: Trying to impress people
is the number one reason given as to why people lie about books they've read according to a report released recently in the UK.
My own number one reason is typically to get the other person to shut up about it. Of course I do this to say I haven't read books which I plainly have. This is really helpful if you find yourself in a discussion with someone who has a strong opinion which greatly differs from your own.
Anyway, from the article linked:
My own number one reason is typically to get the other person to shut up about it. Of course I do this to say I haven't read books which I plainly have. This is really helpful if you find yourself in a discussion with someone who has a strong opinion which greatly differs from your own.
Anyway, from the article linked:
The study, carried out on the World Book Day website in January and February, surveyed 1,342 members of the public.
Those who lied have claimed to have read:
1. 1984 - George Orwell (42 percent) - This certainly explains all of the rather embarrassing attempts to link George W. Bush to this book I had seen on internet forums for the past 8 years.
2. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy (31) - I tried to read this, but it didn't grab me. I think I made it a few dozen pages in before giving up. This was an attempt to read more Russian literature in an attempt to familiarize myself with cannon. If the internet had existed, I'm certain I'd have found wikipedia's entries to be more enlightening.
3. Ulysses - James Joyce (25) - Never read it. Tried to but found it far more self indulgent than my patience allowed.
4. The Bible (24) - Have read it. Was Catholic struggling with a bit of a faith crisis. Instead I realized that I like rite and mysticism, but find the hierarchy to be a bit bland and not really in line with my own morals. I'd have been a GREAT Episcopalian, but my attempts to join that church were not really met with any degree of success.
5. Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert (16) - Read a great summary of it once.
6. A Brief History of Time - Stephen Hawking (15) - Read it. Didn't understand enough of it to have made it worth my while. Probably didn't help that I was in middle school.
7. Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie (14) - Magical Realism? Pass.
8. In Remembrance of Things Past - Marcel Proust (9) - Zero interest in slogging through a great brilliant epic that few others have gone through just to get some kind of literary achievement badge. I can read many smaller classics in that time frame.
9. Dreams from My Father - Barack Obama (6) - Never read. Not really driven to do so either.
10. The Selfish Gene - Richard Dawkins (6)- Never read. Find Dawkins to be a bit of a prat. Certainly better than Hitchens, but still, no interest.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
New Book: All Heads Turn When the Hunt Goes By
I'm about 200 pages into this and I think I'm finally starting to grasp what the book is about.
In 1942, during a cadet wedding at a military school in the American South, a silent chapel bell rings and the groom seemingly goes spontaneously mad. Using his ceremonial sword to kill his bride-to-be, his father and if not for the intervention of his brother, he'd his whole family before he kills himself.
Miles away, a young black child is hit with a force that shreds his clothes and causes him unbearable pain which quickly kills him, but no physical wounds.
The book cuts away to a few years later in Africa, where a British soldier visiting a missionary hospital hears a remarkable tale about vengeance against the white man by an ancient white jungle goddess, the basis for Haggard's She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed from the classic adventure book She.
At this point I was tempted to stop the book because while I have a familiarity with She, I hadn't read it and I was quite concerned that this book was attempting to build itself as an unofficial sequel and while the book has taken more of a Southern Gothic bent than rip roaring adventure book, I'm still a bit concerned that my own ignorance may be preventing me from following what the author is doing.
In 1942, during a cadet wedding at a military school in the American South, a silent chapel bell rings and the groom seemingly goes spontaneously mad. Using his ceremonial sword to kill his bride-to-be, his father and if not for the intervention of his brother, he'd his whole family before he kills himself.
Miles away, a young black child is hit with a force that shreds his clothes and causes him unbearable pain which quickly kills him, but no physical wounds.
The book cuts away to a few years later in Africa, where a British soldier visiting a missionary hospital hears a remarkable tale about vengeance against the white man by an ancient white jungle goddess, the basis for Haggard's She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed from the classic adventure book She.
At this point I was tempted to stop the book because while I have a familiarity with She, I hadn't read it and I was quite concerned that this book was attempting to build itself as an unofficial sequel and while the book has taken more of a Southern Gothic bent than rip roaring adventure book, I'm still a bit concerned that my own ignorance may be preventing me from following what the author is doing.
Interlude: Nothing Better than Free Books
I'd like to give a thank you to Alison for snagging me a copy of the next Stieg Larsson book, The Girl Who Played with Fire, months before it comes out in the US.
Bloomberg recently ran an interesting article on the recent popularity of Swedish Crime fiction.
Bloomberg recently ran an interesting article on the recent popularity of Swedish Crime fiction.
Monday, March 2, 2009
New Book: Up for Grabs
I had started on Tim Scott's light hearted science fiction book Outrageous Fortune this morning but I don't know if I'm in the mood for it. I had started it because I needed to completely cleanse my mind from Throat Sprockets dark and oppressive hold on me (I was up until 3 AM re-reading sequences to make certain I really grasped what was going on and I was then up a further half hour just thinking about the whole).
The book so far is ephemeral, having the weight and consistency of chocolate mousse. It may be a mind cleanser, but I don't know if it's something I am really in the mood to read.
Perhaps something from Wodehouse would be more my speed currently.
The book so far is ephemeral, having the weight and consistency of chocolate mousse. It may be a mind cleanser, but I don't know if it's something I am really in the mood to read.
Perhaps something from Wodehouse would be more my speed currently.
Book 12: Throat Sprockets
I was not planning on having this book affect me as much as it did. I picked it up because I really just wanted something breezy that I could knock out and forget. This was not that book.
The book is about obsession and how media can change your life. It's also about our culture's need for violence and despair to power our lives.
A married advertising man eats his lunch in a run down porn theater, which used to be a movie palace. There he catches a film, Throat Sprockets, which grainy, edited, cut together with the narrative spliced apart focuses on women's necks. Seeing this film, the narrator is changed. First in his sexual desires, then in subtler ways which change him to the point where his wife leaves him. He develops new philosophies on life and he begins to think about the movie more until the hunt for the film becomes his only desire in life.
He captures another showing here, incomplete. Another chance showing elsewhere under a different name reveals different cuts, different scenes.
The hunt for the whole leads him to black market dupe culture (which is an almost unbelievable thing to think about now in the age of torrents) and importing video, where the author's knowledge of home video and film marketing really come to the forefront.
It seems that the film hasn't touched just him alone, and an entire near vampiric subculture has sprung to the mainstream where it leaves the world irrevocably changed in a really surprising coda.
I don't really want to say too much, but FIND THIS BOOK, READ THIS BOOK. You can find it for less than $10 at Amazon and Alibris.
The book is about obsession and how media can change your life. It's also about our culture's need for violence and despair to power our lives.
A married advertising man eats his lunch in a run down porn theater, which used to be a movie palace. There he catches a film, Throat Sprockets, which grainy, edited, cut together with the narrative spliced apart focuses on women's necks. Seeing this film, the narrator is changed. First in his sexual desires, then in subtler ways which change him to the point where his wife leaves him. He develops new philosophies on life and he begins to think about the movie more until the hunt for the film becomes his only desire in life.
He captures another showing here, incomplete. Another chance showing elsewhere under a different name reveals different cuts, different scenes.
The hunt for the whole leads him to black market dupe culture (which is an almost unbelievable thing to think about now in the age of torrents) and importing video, where the author's knowledge of home video and film marketing really come to the forefront.
It seems that the film hasn't touched just him alone, and an entire near vampiric subculture has sprung to the mainstream where it leaves the world irrevocably changed in a really surprising coda.
I don't really want to say too much, but FIND THIS BOOK, READ THIS BOOK. You can find it for less than $10 at Amazon and Alibris.
interlude: by complete coincidence,
I was thinking about Flannery O'Connor and it turns out that there is a new biography on her.
I really must read Wise Blood. All of my familiarity with her is through her short fiction, which feels as though it may be a disservice as she only has two.
I really must read Wise Blood. All of my familiarity with her is through her short fiction, which feels as though it may be a disservice as she only has two.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
New Book: Throat Sprockets
I've been reading Tim Lucas's magazine Video Watchdog for over a decade now. Looking at their back issues online, I think it was issue 51, the May/June 1999 issue with 2001's Keir Dulla on the cover.
It was around that time that I was really getting into DVD and I was looking for reviews of films I should watch. Video Watchdog with it's coverage of "fantastic films" seemed to be exactly what I needed as it covered every genre imaginable. Each issue was an eduction in the obscure and the obscurities of the obscure with intelligence, clarity and most importantly passion.
When I was not able to reliably find issues on the stands anymore, I started a subscription, which aside from a brief bout with unemployment, I've kept fairly regularly.
One of the effects of having followed one man and one woman's passion for so long, you begin to be granted glimpses into their life. One of the things I learned was of a novel Tim Lucas wrote called Throat Sprockets, which started out in comic anthology Taboo (a book I would have loved to have read when it was coming out, but was always too expensive or too hard to find in those pre-internet days).
The book deals with an advertiser who sees an obscure erotic film and becomes obsessed with it.
It was around that time that I was really getting into DVD and I was looking for reviews of films I should watch. Video Watchdog with it's coverage of "fantastic films" seemed to be exactly what I needed as it covered every genre imaginable. Each issue was an eduction in the obscure and the obscurities of the obscure with intelligence, clarity and most importantly passion.
When I was not able to reliably find issues on the stands anymore, I started a subscription, which aside from a brief bout with unemployment, I've kept fairly regularly.
One of the effects of having followed one man and one woman's passion for so long, you begin to be granted glimpses into their life. One of the things I learned was of a novel Tim Lucas wrote called Throat Sprockets, which started out in comic anthology Taboo (a book I would have loved to have read when it was coming out, but was always too expensive or too hard to find in those pre-internet days).
The book deals with an advertiser who sees an obscure erotic film and becomes obsessed with it.
Book 11: The Terror
Finally finished this last night. It took far longer than I anticipated. It was a quick read and when I was able to find time to actually devote to it, I would be able to knock out fifty pages or so in a sitting.
The dilemma was that I was rarely able to find that time beyond my commute and right before falling asleep.
There's really not a lot I can say about this book. There's so much there, but it seems to be written as though much of it is inconsequential. The various deaths of good men, of bad men and the like.
What I really, REALLY enjoyed was the final 60 pages where the book veers wildly in tone to present the cosmology and world creation myth of the Eskimo. It was these folklore and epic bits which really tied everything together to present an excellent ending which while unexpected fit in perfectly with what had come before. The final mystery of The Lady Silence, the Eskimo woman they had picked up on the ice was handled perfectly well.
I feel quite remiss in not having read more of his works and want to add Dan Simmons's newest, Drood, to the pile.
But not yet.
Not yet.
The dilemma was that I was rarely able to find that time beyond my commute and right before falling asleep.
There's really not a lot I can say about this book. There's so much there, but it seems to be written as though much of it is inconsequential. The various deaths of good men, of bad men and the like.
What I really, REALLY enjoyed was the final 60 pages where the book veers wildly in tone to present the cosmology and world creation myth of the Eskimo. It was these folklore and epic bits which really tied everything together to present an excellent ending which while unexpected fit in perfectly with what had come before. The final mystery of The Lady Silence, the Eskimo woman they had picked up on the ice was handled perfectly well.
I feel quite remiss in not having read more of his works and want to add Dan Simmons's newest, Drood, to the pile.
But not yet.
Not yet.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Interlude: I'm lazy
In re-reading some of my past posts I see just how lazy a "reviewer" I actually am.
Sorry!
I mean to write more and include relevant passages from the books I am currently reading but I am often writing while at work and essentially pulling double duty. The issue with this is that something grand and winding like The Terror boils down to: "it good" as though that were enough to properly convey my feelings on the topics of these books.
I don't really feel to guilty when covering books like The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, because it has a rather expansive wikipedia entry, but then you go on to look at The Terror for example it just boasts a few paragraphs which read like solicitation from a catalog rather than anything meaningful.
Anyway, I have been reading my current book for what feels like forever and I am really looking forward to wrapping it up and moving on.
I have a few options at hand. All Heads Turn as the Hunt Goes By, The Earth Abides and Throat Sprockets have all been looking rather good to me, but then I also have a few Graham Greene short story collections that I would like to cram in. Perhaps the rather short stories will act as a good counter balance to the ballast of my current selection.
Sorry!
I mean to write more and include relevant passages from the books I am currently reading but I am often writing while at work and essentially pulling double duty. The issue with this is that something grand and winding like The Terror boils down to: "it good" as though that were enough to properly convey my feelings on the topics of these books.
I don't really feel to guilty when covering books like The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, because it has a rather expansive wikipedia entry, but then you go on to look at The Terror for example it just boasts a few paragraphs which read like solicitation from a catalog rather than anything meaningful.
Anyway, I have been reading my current book for what feels like forever and I am really looking forward to wrapping it up and moving on.
I have a few options at hand. All Heads Turn as the Hunt Goes By, The Earth Abides and Throat Sprockets have all been looking rather good to me, but then I also have a few Graham Greene short story collections that I would like to cram in. Perhaps the rather short stories will act as a good counter balance to the ballast of my current selection.
interlude: Thanks, NPR
From NPR today.
Then she goes on to praise the Twilight series.
Come on. Really? REALLY?
As opposed to all of those cutting edge Booker Prize award winners.
All writers are grave robbers, but genre fiction writers are the most brazen of all. Of necessity, to write a romance or mystery or horror story means sticking to the narrow confines of a formulaic plot; exhuming stock character types; and, generally, digging up literary turf that's been worked and reworked to the point of exhaustion
Then she goes on to praise the Twilight series.
Both Meyers and Simmons are inventive inheritors of the tale of terror, but Myers is the writer who really proves that "The Undead" is a term that refers not just to vampires, but to the supernatural genre itself.
Come on. Really? REALLY?
New Book: The Terror
I've been fan of Dan Simmons since I read Children of the Night back in the early 90s. I enjoyed the blend of fact and fiction to try to present a new take on the Vlad Tepes history, a discussion of Romania after the collapse of Communism and got to learn all kinds of new and exciting blood terminology.
I've gone on to read some of his other famous works like Carrion Comfort, Song of Kali, and Lovedeath. He is also famously known for Hyperion and and Ilium, which I haven't read, because I tend to avoid pastiches without having read the original source material.
The Terror is the story of the failed Franklin expedition to find the North West Passage in the 1840s. The story is told through the eyes of many different characters, from mutinous malcontents, to ships officers, to marines. Each of our "Main" characters have expansive backstory. The character we spend the most amount of time with (so far) is Captain Crozier of the sister ship The Terror with a wonderful blending of factual detail, fictional detail and plot to propell the story forward.
I'm about 700 pages in out of 1000 and the story is wrapping up nicely. I've heard that the book dissolves at the end, but so far, this is quite enjoyable.
I've gone on to read some of his other famous works like Carrion Comfort, Song of Kali, and Lovedeath. He is also famously known for Hyperion and and Ilium, which I haven't read, because I tend to avoid pastiches without having read the original source material.
The Terror is the story of the failed Franklin expedition to find the North West Passage in the 1840s. The story is told through the eyes of many different characters, from mutinous malcontents, to ships officers, to marines. Each of our "Main" characters have expansive backstory. The character we spend the most amount of time with (so far) is Captain Crozier of the sister ship The Terror with a wonderful blending of factual detail, fictional detail and plot to propell the story forward.
I'm about 700 pages in out of 1000 and the story is wrapping up nicely. I've heard that the book dissolves at the end, but so far, this is quite enjoyable.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Book 10: The Man on the Balcony
The book opens with a man on a balcony watching children at play. He glances over to notice another man.
This other man is a professional mugger. He has been comitting a rash of muggings in the area. He is careful taking great pains to observe his targets. To make certain the timing is "safe" to make certain the target is wealthy to make certain he can get away.
The mugger is a major concern for the police of Stockholm and as such he's a concern for Inspector Martin Beck and the men of his department.
Until the dead girl appears. Raped, strangled and no pants.
Then the hunt is on for the new menace.
This is the third book in Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo's Martin Beck mysteries series entitled A Story of Crime. Once more the book is a look at specific social issues with occasional policework, but this time the story is incredilby well done. Whereas the previous two books were told only from Beck's POV, this book has a shifting series of characters who see different things, think differently about the same things, and all make up important aspects of the story.
I was constantly wowed by this book, especially when contextualized against the previous works. I have the fourth book, The Laughing Policeman, ready to go, and it's routinely called the best of the series but I'm holding off on reading it for now.
I also found out while doing a bit of research on this book that the authors were life long leftists. This was something I didn't really pick up on during the reading of these books, but now that I know that, it does make sense.
This other man is a professional mugger. He has been comitting a rash of muggings in the area. He is careful taking great pains to observe his targets. To make certain the timing is "safe" to make certain the target is wealthy to make certain he can get away.
The mugger is a major concern for the police of Stockholm and as such he's a concern for Inspector Martin Beck and the men of his department.
Until the dead girl appears. Raped, strangled and no pants.
Then the hunt is on for the new menace.
This is the third book in Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo's Martin Beck mysteries series entitled A Story of Crime. Once more the book is a look at specific social issues with occasional policework, but this time the story is incredilby well done. Whereas the previous two books were told only from Beck's POV, this book has a shifting series of characters who see different things, think differently about the same things, and all make up important aspects of the story.
I was constantly wowed by this book, especially when contextualized against the previous works. I have the fourth book, The Laughing Policeman, ready to go, and it's routinely called the best of the series but I'm holding off on reading it for now.
I also found out while doing a bit of research on this book that the authors were life long leftists. This was something I didn't really pick up on during the reading of these books, but now that I know that, it does make sense.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Interlude
In the few days I've been away I have finished one book and gotten nearly two hundred pages into the next one but I've just not found time to write up my views on the EXCELLENT book, The Man on the Balcony.
I've also started the longest book for this project so far, Dan Simmon's 2007 historical horror book, The Terror, about an aborted attempt to locate the northwest passage in 1845. It's about 910 pages and I'm about 200 pages in or so.
I've also started the longest book for this project so far, Dan Simmon's 2007 historical horror book, The Terror, about an aborted attempt to locate the northwest passage in 1845. It's about 910 pages and I'm about 200 pages in or so.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Book 9: The Savage Season
I wrapped this last night. Very enjoyable. As always the enjoyable things from these books is Hap's internal monologue and the interplay between himself and Leonard.
Here's an abbreviated plot synopsis from wikipedia
Here's an abbreviated plot synopsis from wikipedia
Hap and Leonard are two Texan men who are down on their luck, both working low paying jobs well into their 40's. A former girlfriend of Hap's returns, involving the pair in a scheme to retrieve hundreds of thousands of dollars stolen from a bank and then lost in a creek in the woods in an area which Hap knows quite well. She is involved with a small group of radical leftists who wish to use the money to fund their movement; Hap and Leonard just wish to have enough to retire somewhere pleasant. Her return, as well as her continued involvement with various movement, awakens dormant emotions in Hap, leading him to wonder whether he should have devoted more time to the ideals he felt in the '60's, and whether he had wasted his time in the interim on low-paying, go nowhere jobs.
Monday, February 9, 2009
New Book: The Savage Season
I love Joe R Lansdale's writing and I will read damn near anything he writes just because he wrote it. I've read quite a few of his short story collections by different publishers, I try to check in on the free story he puts online, I'll read the comics he wrote and I'll even manage to slog through works of his I don't really like just so I can get to the interesting bits (like Drive-In 2).
Quite a few years ago I found myself without a job for a short bit so I did what any self-respecting man of newly found leisure would do. I went to my local library and read a lot while waiting for job leads to come in or interviews or the like.
I used a lot of this time to go through and finally read some of the authors I'd heard of but never read, like Philip K Dick, Shirley Jackson, F. Paul Wilson, and then I went through and read some older classical stuff like Oliver Onions, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu and the like.
One of the authors I also took the time to read more of was Joe R Lansdale and I got to really get into the breadth of his writing. One of the things I discovered was his Hap and Leonard stories. A series of novels about a pair of East Texas... vigilantes, shit kickers, I don't know if there's really a word for it. Men of sometimes reluctant but furious violence.
My library had most of the books, but not, frustratingly enough, the first one. So when browsing the local mystery section, I found that Black Lizard/Vintage crime is bringing the books back into print, I was elated because I knew there were books I hadn't yet read from this series and now I'd get the chance.
So far, with this book, our first person narrator, Hap has had The Old Flame With A Plea For Help appear in the form of Trudy a flame from the late 60s. There's a million dollars at the bottom of a river and Hap knows the location, while Leonard knows how to dive. There's a crew that already exists to get the money but I've just met them on page 50 so I don't have much in the way to tell you about them, but they're certainly eccentrics in the typical Joe R Lansdale stye.
Quite a few years ago I found myself without a job for a short bit so I did what any self-respecting man of newly found leisure would do. I went to my local library and read a lot while waiting for job leads to come in or interviews or the like.
I used a lot of this time to go through and finally read some of the authors I'd heard of but never read, like Philip K Dick, Shirley Jackson, F. Paul Wilson, and then I went through and read some older classical stuff like Oliver Onions, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu and the like.
One of the authors I also took the time to read more of was Joe R Lansdale and I got to really get into the breadth of his writing. One of the things I discovered was his Hap and Leonard stories. A series of novels about a pair of East Texas... vigilantes, shit kickers, I don't know if there's really a word for it. Men of sometimes reluctant but furious violence.
My library had most of the books, but not, frustratingly enough, the first one. So when browsing the local mystery section, I found that Black Lizard/Vintage crime is bringing the books back into print, I was elated because I knew there were books I hadn't yet read from this series and now I'd get the chance.
So far, with this book, our first person narrator, Hap has had The Old Flame With A Plea For Help appear in the form of Trudy a flame from the late 60s. There's a million dollars at the bottom of a river and Hap knows the location, while Leonard knows how to dive. There's a crew that already exists to get the money but I've just met them on page 50 so I don't have much in the way to tell you about them, but they're certainly eccentrics in the typical Joe R Lansdale stye.
Book 8: Faceless Killers
Wrapped this last night and found it to be quite enjoyable. Mankell's prose (or at least the translation thereof) was simple, perhaps even deceptively so.
Overall it was a very good police procedural and reading many of these in a row really makes one realize just how much of policing appears to be leaps of logic and luck rather than following paths through to the end.
This is very good, so I will probably read a few more in the series. I'm a little concerned with the silliness presented in the BBC series because it doesn't seem like it carries over to the books, but who knows. They may go a bit insane later on.
Overall it was a very good police procedural and reading many of these in a row really makes one realize just how much of policing appears to be leaps of logic and luck rather than following paths through to the end.
This is very good, so I will probably read a few more in the series. I'm a little concerned with the silliness presented in the BBC series because it doesn't seem like it carries over to the books, but who knows. They may go a bit insane later on.
Friday, February 6, 2009
New Book: Faceless Killers
I'm currently reading Faceless Killers the first book in Henning Mankell's Inspector Wallander series of books spurred largely because of the recent BBC series (three hour and a half long episodes based on three of the books in the series). I found the TV shows to be pretty good but a bit goofy in places, and found each episode's plot to get progressively and somewhat exponentially better. As the semi-promised second series is on hold while actor Kenneth Brannagh directs Thor for Marvel Entertainment (a somewhat safe and wholly American choice considering the amount of goofy faux Ye Olde English coming from Norsemen in the comics and Brannagh's Shakespearean background), I figured now would be a good time to keep interest up and dive in.
Kurt Wallander is an archetype to the point of stereotype in the detective/police genre. The man who is married to his job and as such loses his family. The good man caught up in a frustrating system, and on and on. He drinks too much, eats to little and when he does eat makes what nutritionists would deem Bad Choices, and works much harder than he should.
In the early morning of January in 1990, an elderly couple is murdered in their bed with the only clue being the last words of the wife's "foreign."
This leads to basically a narrative examination of racism, immigration policy, refugee camps, and political maneuvering between the various branches of government and police.
There is some really good interplay between Wallander and the other characters but not with witty bon mots.
I'm trying to find and articulate the commonalities between Wallander, Martin Beck and Aurelio Zen but am having a bit of a time trying to do so. They are nearly interchangeable and I can't quite tell if this is because of the authors, the genre or the characters.
Perhaps it will come to me.
Kurt Wallander is an archetype to the point of stereotype in the detective/police genre. The man who is married to his job and as such loses his family. The good man caught up in a frustrating system, and on and on. He drinks too much, eats to little and when he does eat makes what nutritionists would deem Bad Choices, and works much harder than he should.
In the early morning of January in 1990, an elderly couple is murdered in their bed with the only clue being the last words of the wife's "foreign."
This leads to basically a narrative examination of racism, immigration policy, refugee camps, and political maneuvering between the various branches of government and police.
There is some really good interplay between Wallander and the other characters but not with witty bon mots.
I'm trying to find and articulate the commonalities between Wallander, Martin Beck and Aurelio Zen but am having a bit of a time trying to do so. They are nearly interchangeable and I can't quite tell if this is because of the authors, the genre or the characters.
Perhaps it will come to me.
Book 7: Portnoy's Complaint
Wrapped this a few days ago and went back and reread the last 100 pages last night so that I could refresh my memory for this write up.
Ultimately the book was about relationships and identity. Alexander Portnoy through a series of monologues tells tales of growing up in a Jewish community in 40s, his sexual awakening (rarely would I use the term with men. men don't seem to "awaken" slowly like women's sexuality in fiction, but it seems to spring fully formed and seemingly out of control. With men it's more of a sexual suppression so that you can function as a member of society) and his interactions with a series of women.
Starting with his mother. Very stereotypical but I understand that it's true to life for a number of of people. Overbearing with good intention and insane with potential worries (there is an extended segment about a conversation wherein Portnoy's parents beg him to not ride in a convertable car and list all the ways in which he could be crippled or murdered). There is a degree of sexual fear which comes from his mother's overbearing attitude and abnormal normality with regards to body issues and boundries.
There is also The Monkey, based loosely on the author's first wife. This is a non-Jewish woman from a West Virginia coal mining town who fled there to go to Vegas (where she may or may not have been a whore, Portnoy is an unreliable narrator), who went to NYC who Portnoy managed to pick up off the street. She's sexually adventurous and willing to please but also undereducated which makes Portnoy have a air of superiority (sections talking about how she was going to be his project that he would teach her to hate her ancestors for what WASPs have done to other races and religions). She is unhappy, Portnoy is unhappy and because Portnoy refuses to treat her as anything other than how he sees her, he takes out his aggravation on her, which causes her to retreat (multiple suicide attempts and the like) until they split.
To inform the reaction to The Monkey, there is a segment wherein Portnoy discusses his first college girlfriend, The Pumpkin (so named for her ass). She's from the Midwest, intelligent, articulate, educated, and pretty much perfect except she won't go down on Portnoy, so he savagely sabotages the relationship which causes it to end. She is probably the most balanced woman he could have had and his own pomposity doesn't let him see it.
There is a final segment which is a trip to Israel in the 60s, where in he meets and falls in love with the final woman, an American by birth whose family moved to Israel during the postwar Exodus so she is slightly foreign and very socialist. Portnoy surrounded by Jews for the first time since his childhood goes a little bit mad and falls in love with and attempts to rape this woman when she refuses to marry him.
I stand by my original assessment that the book is a bit overlong perhaps by about 25-50 pages. I would have liked to have focused a bit more on his life outside of the sexual longing and even stronger the reconciliation of self perceived sense of "self" versus who he actually is.
Of course, in our autobiographies, we are all the hero.
If you have few days, give it a read. It's alternatively horrific and hilarious and to me it struck bit close to home.
Ultimately the book was about relationships and identity. Alexander Portnoy through a series of monologues tells tales of growing up in a Jewish community in 40s, his sexual awakening (rarely would I use the term with men. men don't seem to "awaken" slowly like women's sexuality in fiction, but it seems to spring fully formed and seemingly out of control. With men it's more of a sexual suppression so that you can function as a member of society) and his interactions with a series of women.
Starting with his mother. Very stereotypical but I understand that it's true to life for a number of of people. Overbearing with good intention and insane with potential worries (there is an extended segment about a conversation wherein Portnoy's parents beg him to not ride in a convertable car and list all the ways in which he could be crippled or murdered). There is a degree of sexual fear which comes from his mother's overbearing attitude and abnormal normality with regards to body issues and boundries.
There is also The Monkey, based loosely on the author's first wife. This is a non-Jewish woman from a West Virginia coal mining town who fled there to go to Vegas (where she may or may not have been a whore, Portnoy is an unreliable narrator), who went to NYC who Portnoy managed to pick up off the street. She's sexually adventurous and willing to please but also undereducated which makes Portnoy have a air of superiority (sections talking about how she was going to be his project that he would teach her to hate her ancestors for what WASPs have done to other races and religions). She is unhappy, Portnoy is unhappy and because Portnoy refuses to treat her as anything other than how he sees her, he takes out his aggravation on her, which causes her to retreat (multiple suicide attempts and the like) until they split.
To inform the reaction to The Monkey, there is a segment wherein Portnoy discusses his first college girlfriend, The Pumpkin (so named for her ass). She's from the Midwest, intelligent, articulate, educated, and pretty much perfect except she won't go down on Portnoy, so he savagely sabotages the relationship which causes it to end. She is probably the most balanced woman he could have had and his own pomposity doesn't let him see it.
There is a final segment which is a trip to Israel in the 60s, where in he meets and falls in love with the final woman, an American by birth whose family moved to Israel during the postwar Exodus so she is slightly foreign and very socialist. Portnoy surrounded by Jews for the first time since his childhood goes a little bit mad and falls in love with and attempts to rape this woman when she refuses to marry him.
I stand by my original assessment that the book is a bit overlong perhaps by about 25-50 pages. I would have liked to have focused a bit more on his life outside of the sexual longing and even stronger the reconciliation of self perceived sense of "self" versus who he actually is.
Of course, in our autobiographies, we are all the hero.
If you have few days, give it a read. It's alternatively horrific and hilarious and to me it struck bit close to home.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Interlude: argh
Life has gotten in the way so I haven't had a chance to write up my thoughts on Portnoy's Complaint, which I wrapped and ultimately found a too long for too little for what's actually in the book and I've started on Henning Mankell's Faceless Killers, the first in his Kurt Wallander series.
Monday, February 2, 2009
New Book: Portnoy's Complaint
Portnoy's Complaint or Sex: The Sexing started off as a series of dinner party monologues by Philip Roth which dipped into autobiographical territory and it shows.
It's the story of one Alexander Portnoy and his life history as relayed in a series of couch sessions to a psychiatrist. It is at turns, vulgar, hilarious, depressing, disgusting, uplifting and educational. Basically, it's life as a man. Though I must confess I don't quite possess the same libidinous strength that the book's main character seemingly does.
It's entertainingly told and so far reads very quickly, but my main issue is with the structure of the book. It's done as a series of Psychiatric monologues but the length of these "sessions" varies wildly. I wish that it had kept to a specific rhythm with call backs to previous session rather than expanded stories.
Beyond the sex, the book also goes into life as a Jew in prewar New Jersey, or at least as it relates to this small section of Newark. His mother is essentially the mother from hell. Excessively doting and well intentioned but quite overbearing (with specific reference to Freud on Leonardo) and the painting of this as an issue for all Jewish mothers of a certain social strata in that time period within this community (driving one's child to suicide).
My own exposure with Jewish mothers is limited. I think I know exactly one and her children are too young to psychoanalyze for sexual misconduct, though hilariously one of her children, still of nursing age, did spend an inordinate amount of time staring at my girlfriend's breasts while we were at dinner with them.
That's ok, because I tend to do the same thing.
It's the story of one Alexander Portnoy and his life history as relayed in a series of couch sessions to a psychiatrist. It is at turns, vulgar, hilarious, depressing, disgusting, uplifting and educational. Basically, it's life as a man. Though I must confess I don't quite possess the same libidinous strength that the book's main character seemingly does.
It's entertainingly told and so far reads very quickly, but my main issue is with the structure of the book. It's done as a series of Psychiatric monologues but the length of these "sessions" varies wildly. I wish that it had kept to a specific rhythm with call backs to previous session rather than expanded stories.
Beyond the sex, the book also goes into life as a Jew in prewar New Jersey, or at least as it relates to this small section of Newark. His mother is essentially the mother from hell. Excessively doting and well intentioned but quite overbearing (with specific reference to Freud on Leonardo) and the painting of this as an issue for all Jewish mothers of a certain social strata in that time period within this community (driving one's child to suicide).
My own exposure with Jewish mothers is limited. I think I know exactly one and her children are too young to psychoanalyze for sexual misconduct, though hilariously one of her children, still of nursing age, did spend an inordinate amount of time staring at my girlfriend's breasts while we were at dinner with them.
That's ok, because I tend to do the same thing.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Interlude: apparently 1960s Batman is still the height of comperative literature for the mainstream press
From NPR today:
God, even now? Bang! Pow!?
BANG FUCKING POW?
Must the mainstream press continue to reduce everything about comics to the level of goddamn 1960's Batman? Are we reduced to seeing the same headlining rhetoric that was rolled out for Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns over twenty years ago? And then each time comics became "noteworthy"?
It's not even superhero comics you're doing this for, but a primer. Would you do this for Maus? BANG POW! Nazi Cat vs Jew Mouse!
Fun Home? BANG POW! Lesbian Daughter vs Closeted Father and Ennui!
Acme Novelty Library? BANG POW! Chris Ware vs Your Ability to Read Small Print Without Your Special Reading Glasses.
Hasn't the past DECADE of successful mainstreaming of "art"comics and action packed superhero blockbusters given you a new language with which to address this woefully misunderstood genre?
DIE, MEDIA, DIE! You don't belong in this world!
Talk of the Nation, January 30, 2009 · BANG! POW! PHOSPHORYLATION! The Stuff of Life is a new genetic biology primer with a twist — it takes the form of a graphic novel. Author Mark Schultz explains how he turned everything from cytokinesis to parthenogenesis into comic strips.
God, even now? Bang! Pow!?
BANG FUCKING POW?
Must the mainstream press continue to reduce everything about comics to the level of goddamn 1960's Batman? Are we reduced to seeing the same headlining rhetoric that was rolled out for Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns over twenty years ago? And then each time comics became "noteworthy"?
It's not even superhero comics you're doing this for, but a primer. Would you do this for Maus? BANG POW! Nazi Cat vs Jew Mouse!
Fun Home? BANG POW! Lesbian Daughter vs Closeted Father and Ennui!
Acme Novelty Library? BANG POW! Chris Ware vs Your Ability to Read Small Print Without Your Special Reading Glasses.
Hasn't the past DECADE of successful mainstreaming of "art"comics and action packed superhero blockbusters given you a new language with which to address this woefully misunderstood genre?
DIE, MEDIA, DIE! You don't belong in this world!
Book 6: The Player of Games
I wrapped the second Culture book up this morning. This book is really incredibly well done. It is funny, inventive, insightful, and full of all the things which science fiction is best at (recontextualizing societal situations through a theoretical lens).
The book deals with issues of racism, sexism, colonialism, war, competition, obsession, and gaming culture.
I wish I weren't at work. I would love to sit with the book and detail the tonal shifts, the passages which delighted me, the few instances which I did not enjoy the book, and on and on.
Wikipedia has a good write up of plot but goes on to spoil the whole ending, so I won't get into that, but the Wikipedia entry doesn't really get into a lot of what is subtextually there.
The book deals with issues of racism, sexism, colonialism, war, competition, obsession, and gaming culture.
I wish I weren't at work. I would love to sit with the book and detail the tonal shifts, the passages which delighted me, the few instances which I did not enjoy the book, and on and on.
Wikipedia has a good write up of plot but goes on to spoil the whole ending, so I won't get into that, but the Wikipedia entry doesn't really get into a lot of what is subtextually there.
The Player of Games is the second of the Culture novels. Gurgeh, a brilliant, though decadent, game player from the Culture, is entrapped and blackmailed into unwittingly acting as a Special Circumstances agent in the brutal Empire of Azad. Their system of society and government is entirely based on an elaborate strategy game, Azad.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Interlude: The Pain of Nerdery Continues
Guardian Books is again talking about Genre. This time about Science Fiction that is marketed as Literary Fiction. It's a pretty standard article on the whole frustration with the public's perception of Sci-Fi but it does put forth a theory on why this is.
I'd love to be able to say something like back then we had serious movies with silly effects but now we have silly movies with serious effects and the fact that we've only managed to shift the silly rather than get rid of it all together as what is keeping the genre from attaining a higher cultural standing, but I don't think I have the knowledge to really back that instinctual feeling up.
I honestly don't know.
Personally, I blame Star Wars but even that is blatantly ignorant and discounts the effects of 50s Science Fiction film on the cultural perception of the silliness of the whole genre.
Perhaps the problem is that our present has caught up with the future presented to us by the pioneers of science fiction. Back in the 40s and 50s, when bright-and-shiny/dark-and-dangerous futures were given to us by the pulps, they were truly beyond anyone's ken. Now we are actually living in a science fiction future, is it fair to label a novel that extrapolates from what is possible today to what will probably be possible tomorrow...
I'd love to be able to say something like back then we had serious movies with silly effects but now we have silly movies with serious effects and the fact that we've only managed to shift the silly rather than get rid of it all together as what is keeping the genre from attaining a higher cultural standing, but I don't think I have the knowledge to really back that instinctual feeling up.
I honestly don't know.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
The Player of Games Continues
It is absolutely ridiculous how good The Player of Games is.
So far about half way through it's an entertaining and wry sci-fi book about diplomatic relations between two cultures which really seems to be about British colonial relations yet is also exceptionally well written with two fascinatingly envisioned societies.
Why couldn't i have read this 20 years ago when it came out?
So far about half way through it's an entertaining and wry sci-fi book about diplomatic relations between two cultures which really seems to be about British colonial relations yet is also exceptionally well written with two fascinatingly envisioned societies.
Why couldn't i have read this 20 years ago when it came out?
Monday, January 26, 2009
New Book: The Player of Games
I enjoy Ian Banks. I rather liked the Wasp Factory, finding it to be a rather fascinating portrait of a boy and his autonomous world.
I have never read any of the science fiction by the author (which is published under the name Ian M Banks) even though I have several of his books in my possession. Probably because everyone who is a raving fan says to start with The Player of Games. I managed to snag that book from Strand Books a few weeks ago and have begun to tuck into it.
So far I fear that this will be like Ender's Game but for middle age intellectuals but I'm only on page 30, so I have plenty of time to be pleasantly proven wrong.
I have never read any of the science fiction by the author (which is published under the name Ian M Banks) even though I have several of his books in my possession. Probably because everyone who is a raving fan says to start with The Player of Games. I managed to snag that book from Strand Books a few weeks ago and have begun to tuck into it.
So far I fear that this will be like Ender's Game but for middle age intellectuals but I'm only on page 30, so I have plenty of time to be pleasantly proven wrong.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Book 5: Black Hole
I wrapped this today at my gf's insistence that I actually read and return her books at some point. (a common issue, I'll borrow a book intending to read it but then it will get put onto the "to read" pile).
I'm having a difficult time trying to wrap this one up because it's rather dense so my review may come a bit later than I like.
I'm having a difficult time trying to wrap this one up because it's rather dense so my review may come a bit later than I like.
Book 4: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
What an incredible book.
As you'll come to find I'm a big fan of fiction which teaches me something. Alan Moore's From Hell contains a 60 page tour of Victorian London's Masonic points of interest, and while many of the people I knew skipped it, that was the part that I read and re-read somewhat obsessively to capture all of the details in the art and to try to map the geography in relation to our main characters.
I read a lot of science based fiction because science is very entertaining. The more out there the science (cosmology is big fun) the more exciting it is for me to read. So I read a lot of science fiction. I read a lot more Michael Crichton than I like to admit because I enjoyed learning about whatever he was talking about.
I don't have an issue with non-fiction, per se, it's just not my preferred way to gain knowledge.
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is great because it deals with the financial world, specific libel laws, Swedish modern history and it does so in an really entertaining matter.
Basically a middle-aged disgraced financial reporter is hired by a reclusive former titan of Swedish industry to track down what happened to a favorite family member whose disappearance 40 years previously was never solved. She disappeared from an island which had its one way on or off blocked that day by a horrific accident.
We're introduced to a wonderful character by the name of Salander, a product of broken homes, uncaring bureaucracy, violence against women (both physical and mental), and also seemingly possessing little to no standard social skills. I had originally typed that she was a "victim" rather than a "product" switching out one cliche' with another, but the truth of the matter is that she is not a "victim" because she never cows nor lets her circumstances dictate her self identity. There is also the matter of revenge where in she rather systematically regains control of various situations.
The issue with really discussing this book is trying to explain why you should read it but not telling you a thing about it so that you can approach it fresh and niave of what you're going to experience in the reading.
I will say there was one mind numbing cliche' which nearly made me give up reading the book because it is so ridiculous yet the strength of everything else (predominately the characters) made me overlook this portion of the book and read on to the end.
This is a very quick and satisfying read. It is also part of a trilogy, the second book was released in the UK but the US won't get it until July.
As you'll come to find I'm a big fan of fiction which teaches me something. Alan Moore's From Hell contains a 60 page tour of Victorian London's Masonic points of interest, and while many of the people I knew skipped it, that was the part that I read and re-read somewhat obsessively to capture all of the details in the art and to try to map the geography in relation to our main characters.
I read a lot of science based fiction because science is very entertaining. The more out there the science (cosmology is big fun) the more exciting it is for me to read. So I read a lot of science fiction. I read a lot more Michael Crichton than I like to admit because I enjoyed learning about whatever he was talking about.
I don't have an issue with non-fiction, per se, it's just not my preferred way to gain knowledge.
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is great because it deals with the financial world, specific libel laws, Swedish modern history and it does so in an really entertaining matter.
Basically a middle-aged disgraced financial reporter is hired by a reclusive former titan of Swedish industry to track down what happened to a favorite family member whose disappearance 40 years previously was never solved. She disappeared from an island which had its one way on or off blocked that day by a horrific accident.
We're introduced to a wonderful character by the name of Salander, a product of broken homes, uncaring bureaucracy, violence against women (both physical and mental), and also seemingly possessing little to no standard social skills. I had originally typed that she was a "victim" rather than a "product" switching out one cliche' with another, but the truth of the matter is that she is not a "victim" because she never cows nor lets her circumstances dictate her self identity. There is also the matter of revenge where in she rather systematically regains control of various situations.
The issue with really discussing this book is trying to explain why you should read it but not telling you a thing about it so that you can approach it fresh and niave of what you're going to experience in the reading.
I will say there was one mind numbing cliche' which nearly made me give up reading the book because it is so ridiculous yet the strength of everything else (predominately the characters) made me overlook this portion of the book and read on to the end.
This is a very quick and satisfying read. It is also part of a trilogy, the second book was released in the UK but the US won't get it until July.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
New book: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
2008 was apparently the year that dead foreign writers crossed over in America. We saw the release of Roberto Bolano's 2666 (which may be making it to my book list) and Stieg Larsson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
I'm about 125 pages in since last night and this is the first book in a while that I've felt has really consumed me. I was up way too late reading it and find the characters, situation and pacing to be excellent.
I'm kind of loathe to really speak to much about it at this point because much can shift but so far the translation reads quite brisk taking time to annotate unfamiliar nouns to give context.
I'm about 125 pages in since last night and this is the first book in a while that I've felt has really consumed me. I was up way too late reading it and find the characters, situation and pacing to be excellent.
I'm kind of loathe to really speak to much about it at this point because much can shift but so far the translation reads quite brisk taking time to annotate unfamiliar nouns to give context.
Book 3: Bug Jack Barron
This book turned out to be quite well done. With elements of horror, science fiction, media criticism, race relations (the book was written in 1969), with foul language, brutal violence, political cynicism, science apathy, and a really dim view of human nature where people do good not out of the desire to do good but either because it is the final option they haven't yet tried or out of guilt.
It came across to me as the well written novel of an angry young man (the author was 29 when he wrote it) who had beaten society to the grit and grime of the 70s.
In light of Obama, the book is a really fascinating read into the view that things would never change. This combined with reading things like Post-Soul Nation, it just seems amazing that we were able to get to where we are now. Of course there's still a long way yet to go.
I wish I could write more on this book as there are some rather keen stylistic bits that I'd like to show off and I'd love to be able to give specific examples of Why I Hate Her (the horribly written female lead who had the emotional development of protoplasmic goop). This is certainly worth reading, and would make a great art film, but if Hollywood ever got it, it would probably be horrible.
I would film it as though it were filmed in the 70s using color processes by DeLuxe that are specific to the time period, casting unknowns. It's a really talky picture with little action or need for expensive set pieces so I don't think it would even cost that much. I'm willing to bet the rather liberal usage of the word "nigger" would certainly put the kibosh on the whole thing.
It came across to me as the well written novel of an angry young man (the author was 29 when he wrote it) who had beaten society to the grit and grime of the 70s.
In light of Obama, the book is a really fascinating read into the view that things would never change. This combined with reading things like Post-Soul Nation, it just seems amazing that we were able to get to where we are now. Of course there's still a long way yet to go.
I wish I could write more on this book as there are some rather keen stylistic bits that I'd like to show off and I'd love to be able to give specific examples of Why I Hate Her (the horribly written female lead who had the emotional development of protoplasmic goop). This is certainly worth reading, and would make a great art film, but if Hollywood ever got it, it would probably be horrible.
I would film it as though it were filmed in the 70s using color processes by DeLuxe that are specific to the time period, casting unknowns. It's a really talky picture with little action or need for expensive set pieces so I don't think it would even cost that much. I'm willing to bet the rather liberal usage of the word "nigger" would certainly put the kibosh on the whole thing.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Interlude: 1000 Novels You Must Read
The Guardian paper has begun publishing a series of articles entitled 1000 Novels You Must Read with a few grand genres (so far Comedy, Crime, Love) and then a series of smaller articles for more niche sub genres and some devoted to individual authors Michael Dibdin (whom I love), Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (I'm not really a fan of Sherlock Holmes, and much prefer his shorter fiction like The Brazilian Cat), and Great Arabic Love Stories.
So far I haven't had much time to really go through all of the novels, but I thought it may be of interest.
Spent far less time reading this weekend than I had previously planned, so I have still not finished Bug Jack Barron.
Next book will definitely be The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.
So far I haven't had much time to really go through all of the novels, but I thought it may be of interest.
Spent far less time reading this weekend than I had previously planned, so I have still not finished Bug Jack Barron.
Next book will definitely be The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.
Friday, January 16, 2009
Interlude: Book Buying.
I am almost finished with Bug Jack Barron. I'll probably finish up the remaining 70 pages tonight.
Don't know what's next.
Thanks to Strand Books, I picked up two Ian M Banks books, Consider Phelbas and The Player of Games. Both in the Culture series of Science Fiction books. To my understanding it's not really a series but rather a Universe wherein the Author dips in and out of various worlds and the like. I honestly can't say as I've not read any of them, though I now have 5 of the books.
I also grabbed The Dark Descent, which is my absolute favorite horror anthology of all time and I will try to do a short write up of it. As it's over a thousand pages and I've read it to the point of disintegrating a copy, I don't think I'll be up to reading it for the 52/52 project. The anthologist, David G. Hartwell tries to break down horror into three aspects and then attempts to trace historical roots of these aspects by interposing modern and historical stories. I don't have the book in front of me to quote or define what those aspects are, so I will just link to the Google Books entry wherein you can read the excellent introduction yourself.
I've also picked up The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. This book had quite a bit of hype when it was released in September and it seems to be another author we Americans are only getting after he's died. Haven't read to much on it, but I do know that there's a film version coming from its home country of Sweden.
Don't know what's next.
Thanks to Strand Books, I picked up two Ian M Banks books, Consider Phelbas and The Player of Games. Both in the Culture series of Science Fiction books. To my understanding it's not really a series but rather a Universe wherein the Author dips in and out of various worlds and the like. I honestly can't say as I've not read any of them, though I now have 5 of the books.
I also grabbed The Dark Descent, which is my absolute favorite horror anthology of all time and I will try to do a short write up of it. As it's over a thousand pages and I've read it to the point of disintegrating a copy, I don't think I'll be up to reading it for the 52/52 project. The anthologist, David G. Hartwell tries to break down horror into three aspects and then attempts to trace historical roots of these aspects by interposing modern and historical stories. I don't have the book in front of me to quote or define what those aspects are, so I will just link to the Google Books entry wherein you can read the excellent introduction yourself.
I've also picked up The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. This book had quite a bit of hype when it was released in September and it seems to be another author we Americans are only getting after he's died. Haven't read to much on it, but I do know that there's a film version coming from its home country of Sweden.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
interlude: Is it not enough to just read genre fiction?
The Guardian book blog features a post entitled "The Lure of the Spy Story" wherein a woman whose natural inclination to read literary fiction is superset by her desire to read and enjoy spy fiction (to the amusement of her brother, apparently).
Is it possible to enjoy genre fiction without digging up classical antecedents to justify the genre and to contextualize your enjoyment within a canonical education?
Is it possible to enjoy genre fiction without digging up classical antecedents to justify the genre and to contextualize your enjoyment within a canonical education?
Bug Jack Barron Continues
I'm about half way through this book and the other shoe, with regards to the plot, has dropped.
This book is excellent with the interplay between Jack and his various nemeses but it's really falling apart whenever Sara (the love of Jack's life) is involved in any way. The relationship she has with other characters and her internal monologue rings just absolutely false. The setting up her as the great motivator for Jack's various actions is similarly hollow as well.
It is driving me up the wall because she's becoming more important to the story.
The internal monologues are still holding up even when we shift from character to character without much warning. It's a technique of which I feared I'd get tired, but it's only laborious when it's Sara (oh how i love jack. how i would hate for anything bad to happen to him. oh what's that man doing? what has he gotten himself into? and on and on and on. Less a realized character.)
It's also kind of funny to see how much of the book's worldview falls apart with regards to race relations in light of the election of Obama (there's a speech by Luke, Jack's former co-activist partner, where in he says that there will never be a president who isn't white and is angered by Jack's casual statement that Luke run for president).
This book is excellent with the interplay between Jack and his various nemeses but it's really falling apart whenever Sara (the love of Jack's life) is involved in any way. The relationship she has with other characters and her internal monologue rings just absolutely false. The setting up her as the great motivator for Jack's various actions is similarly hollow as well.
It is driving me up the wall because she's becoming more important to the story.
The internal monologues are still holding up even when we shift from character to character without much warning. It's a technique of which I feared I'd get tired, but it's only laborious when it's Sara (oh how i love jack. how i would hate for anything bad to happen to him. oh what's that man doing? what has he gotten himself into? and on and on and on. Less a realized character.)
It's also kind of funny to see how much of the book's worldview falls apart with regards to race relations in light of the election of Obama (there's a speech by Luke, Jack's former co-activist partner, where in he says that there will never be a president who isn't white and is angered by Jack's casual statement that Luke run for president).
Monday, January 12, 2009
Interlude
Last night before bed, I began to flip through MURDER INK (as referenced below) and read a few bits of it. I'm an occasional mystery reader, but more of a tourist than a devotee. I come across neat stuff as it comes to me rather than my seeking it out, so reading a book by a fanatic for fanatics is really a bit of an eye opener.
The thing I want to discuss today is the Haycraft Queen Cornerstones. This is a list of works which stretches back over two hundred years dealing with "mysteries." It is not a complete list, but rather touches upon the main works within the genre (thus the name Cornerstones). Unfortunately I could find no formatting of the Cornerstones which matches the annotation found within Murder Ink, nor could I find something so simple as a collection of links from the authors and works to existing Wikipedia articles so that people unfamiliar with the list (people like myself) could find helpful notation on WHY the work is considered important.
However, I wanted to post the link to the list here. As the list ends in 1952, expect a particular bias with regards to the titles mentioned.
The thing I want to discuss today is the Haycraft Queen Cornerstones. This is a list of works which stretches back over two hundred years dealing with "mysteries." It is not a complete list, but rather touches upon the main works within the genre (thus the name Cornerstones). Unfortunately I could find no formatting of the Cornerstones which matches the annotation found within Murder Ink, nor could I find something so simple as a collection of links from the authors and works to existing Wikipedia articles so that people unfamiliar with the list (people like myself) could find helpful notation on WHY the work is considered important.
However, I wanted to post the link to the list here. As the list ends in 1952, expect a particular bias with regards to the titles mentioned.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Book 2: Hong Kong Babylon
In between yesterday and today I managed to read an entire book without really meaning to, but I found some downtime.I read through Hong Kong Babylon, which is a book about HK cinema's "New Wave" (basically late 70s to early 90s or so) and the rise of Tsui Hark, John Woo and the like. Covers many interesting areas of HK Cinema with a number of anecdotes I was already familiar with.
There are a number of sections to the book.
The first 75 pages or so is essentially New Wave HK Cinema 101 covering many aspects of short history, the economics, the main players, some stories compiled from many interview the author held and a quick examination of potential changes for the Hand Over (the book was largely compiled in 1995 - 96 it seems and published in 97). In the second section are selected filmographies and interview excerpts which didn't fit in to the first section. The third section is plot summaries to some 300 films ranging from 1976 to 1996. The fourth section is labeled recommended viewing, wherein 12 critics ranging in expertise from national figures to the more obscure (but more knowledgeable) like Ric Meyers.
The scope of the book unfortunately doesn't allow it to flesh out and go into detail on some aspects I wished to know more about, but for introducing people unfamiliar with HK cinema (or passingly familiar thanks to the expansion of Jet Li, Jackie Chan and John Woo's filmographies here in the US) it would be a good starting place as it tries to give equal weight to genre films and art films.
But really, this isn't something that I'd suggest anyone who is already familiar with HK film read.
You can read the excerpt which ran in The New Yorker here. (registration required)
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Interlude: Strand Books Close Out Bonanza
One of the glorious things about living in NYC is the easy access to Strand Books and their $1 and $.50 close out specials. I've usually been able to find a number of things that I'm interested in reading or had heard about, and the ability to just pick up stuff on a whim is great.
Unfortunately the weather conspired against me by deciding that it did want to snow after all so I didn't get to spend a great deal of time browsing, but I still managed to snag some good deals.
There's no guarantee that these will make it into the 52 books this year because I know for a fact that there are at least two that I'm giving right away.
The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand($.50) I snagged this because my girlfriend's roommate is a bit of a leftist/collectivist and I've been trying to teach her dog capitalism and how the invisible hand of the market can rub her belly and scratch behind her ears as easily as the roommate's real hand dispenses of her poop and that free markets lead to free puppies. Now I can leave the book in the dog's suitcase and we can hopefully lead the dog to being self sufficient. If I ever have kids I'm going to teach them to be Randroids to get them out of the house and into the job market at age four.
Murder Ink by Dilys Winn ($1) This is an oversize and rather thick book from 1977 which is a collection of essays on the mystery genre written by several various prominent authors of the time period. From the introduction it looks like this aims to be about the "fun" of mysteries, so it looks like a reverent and gentle poke at some of the tropes of the mystery genre while also providing factual essays such as the history of the English police force, Scotland Yard, America's own Pinkertons a history of cyphers and on and on. Oh, and the font is Baskerville.
Hong Kong Babylon ($1) The famous 1997 book which was an examination of the HK film markets as kind of a primer for the third wave of HK film making to expand knowledge on what little product had begun to seep through to American consciousness. I have never read this book because I frankly never saw a need for it. By the time it had come out I was already well versed in HK cinema and had seen a great deal of the "classic" films back when we had to pay exorbitant amounts to Tai Seng for often times horrible quality video tape transfers. When this book came out the DVD market had really started to take off so some distributors like Mei Ah and Media Asia were able to get their discs to American shores. Tragically companies like Sony and Miramax would pluck up the rights to the bankable stars and just butcher those films to try to appeal to American audiences (for great horror, watch the Dimension films releases of Jet Li's movies) so if you were a purist you had to invest in a region free player and pay a lot for shipping to get these products directly from HK. Thankfully the Weinsteins have founded Dragon Dynasty which puts out far better product than Miramax ever did. Still no uncut and subtitled Drunken Master 2 though.
The Manhattan Hunt Club by John Saul ($.50) I really like John Saul so it's always a treat to find another one of his books on the cheap.
From the Borderlands edited by Elizabeth E and Thomas F Monteleone ($.50) This is a horror anthology series which I've always enjoyed. Thomas Monteleone can be a bit of an arrogant insufferable bastard when writing non-fiction (see his Mother and Father's Italian Association writing in individual issues of Cemetery Dance for example) but he has a great nose for stories and the Borderlands anthology is one I've always enjoyed. I first discovered the first volume in our barracks library in Military school where I was introduced to Thomas Ligotti, Joe R Lansdale (with the amazing story By Bizarre Hands closing out the volume), Bently Little (with a GREAT workplace horror story called The Pounding Room), Poppy Z Brite, Chet Williamson and John Shirley. This one seems a little bit more mainstream at first, featuring works from Whitley Strieber (best known for Communion a non-fiction book wherein aliens steal Whitley away from his home), and Steven King (though King's short story work is usually pretty amazing), there are a number of authors whom I'm not immediately familiar with in the table of contents. A quick search through Amazon turns up a number of the first volume available on the cheap. I'll probably pick up a copy as it's been 18 years since I read it last.
The Mephisto Waltz by Fred Mustard Stewart ($.50) Known largely for the film which was basically a Rosemary's Baby copy, I had remembered reading that the book was fairly good. I can't find anything online to support this and indeed the books existence seems to have been completely overshadowed by the film. This, of course, only intrigues me further.
The Fellowship of the Ring - JRR Tolkien ($.50) First edition paperback from October of 1965 published by Houghton Mifflin Company. I purchased for a guild member. Personally, I loathe Tolkien's disingenuous pastoral nostalgia.
Unfortunately the weather conspired against me by deciding that it did want to snow after all so I didn't get to spend a great deal of time browsing, but I still managed to snag some good deals.
There's no guarantee that these will make it into the 52 books this year because I know for a fact that there are at least two that I'm giving right away.
The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand($.50) I snagged this because my girlfriend's roommate is a bit of a leftist/collectivist and I've been trying to teach her dog capitalism and how the invisible hand of the market can rub her belly and scratch behind her ears as easily as the roommate's real hand dispenses of her poop and that free markets lead to free puppies. Now I can leave the book in the dog's suitcase and we can hopefully lead the dog to being self sufficient. If I ever have kids I'm going to teach them to be Randroids to get them out of the house and into the job market at age four.
Murder Ink by Dilys Winn ($1) This is an oversize and rather thick book from 1977 which is a collection of essays on the mystery genre written by several various prominent authors of the time period. From the introduction it looks like this aims to be about the "fun" of mysteries, so it looks like a reverent and gentle poke at some of the tropes of the mystery genre while also providing factual essays such as the history of the English police force, Scotland Yard, America's own Pinkertons a history of cyphers and on and on. Oh, and the font is Baskerville.
Hong Kong Babylon ($1) The famous 1997 book which was an examination of the HK film markets as kind of a primer for the third wave of HK film making to expand knowledge on what little product had begun to seep through to American consciousness. I have never read this book because I frankly never saw a need for it. By the time it had come out I was already well versed in HK cinema and had seen a great deal of the "classic" films back when we had to pay exorbitant amounts to Tai Seng for often times horrible quality video tape transfers. When this book came out the DVD market had really started to take off so some distributors like Mei Ah and Media Asia were able to get their discs to American shores. Tragically companies like Sony and Miramax would pluck up the rights to the bankable stars and just butcher those films to try to appeal to American audiences (for great horror, watch the Dimension films releases of Jet Li's movies) so if you were a purist you had to invest in a region free player and pay a lot for shipping to get these products directly from HK. Thankfully the Weinsteins have founded Dragon Dynasty which puts out far better product than Miramax ever did. Still no uncut and subtitled Drunken Master 2 though.
The Manhattan Hunt Club by John Saul ($.50) I really like John Saul so it's always a treat to find another one of his books on the cheap.
From the Borderlands edited by Elizabeth E and Thomas F Monteleone ($.50) This is a horror anthology series which I've always enjoyed. Thomas Monteleone can be a bit of an arrogant insufferable bastard when writing non-fiction (see his Mother and Father's Italian Association writing in individual issues of Cemetery Dance for example) but he has a great nose for stories and the Borderlands anthology is one I've always enjoyed. I first discovered the first volume in our barracks library in Military school where I was introduced to Thomas Ligotti, Joe R Lansdale (with the amazing story By Bizarre Hands closing out the volume), Bently Little (with a GREAT workplace horror story called The Pounding Room), Poppy Z Brite, Chet Williamson and John Shirley. This one seems a little bit more mainstream at first, featuring works from Whitley Strieber (best known for Communion a non-fiction book wherein aliens steal Whitley away from his home), and Steven King (though King's short story work is usually pretty amazing), there are a number of authors whom I'm not immediately familiar with in the table of contents. A quick search through Amazon turns up a number of the first volume available on the cheap. I'll probably pick up a copy as it's been 18 years since I read it last.
The Mephisto Waltz by Fred Mustard Stewart ($.50) Known largely for the film which was basically a Rosemary's Baby copy, I had remembered reading that the book was fairly good. I can't find anything online to support this and indeed the books existence seems to have been completely overshadowed by the film. This, of course, only intrigues me further.
The Fellowship of the Ring - JRR Tolkien ($.50) First edition paperback from October of 1965 published by Houghton Mifflin Company. I purchased for a guild member. Personally, I loathe Tolkien's disingenuous pastoral nostalgia.
Friday, January 9, 2009
Bug Jack Barron
I'm on page 80 of Bug Jack Barron.
This is some great stuff. Totally 60s, but also predicative of some 70s attitudes while also being timeless in mass media.
So far my only complaint isn't against the liberal use of the various racial slurs, nor against the repeated stream of consciousness, but rather the internal monologue of the lead female character seems less a real person than an idealized form of a 1940's female character. "oh you fool, you fool" and such like that.
The novel is about a fight over the right of chryostasis and is immortality a public right or a private enterprise. There's also some mass media stuff in here as well along with some racial attitude examination which seems a bit dated as well. For example the word "Shade" being thrown around as the white equivalence of "The N Word."
So far there's a bit to chew on, while there promises to be a lot more.
My only other book by Spinrad is The Iron Dream, Hugo award winner Adolph Hitler's Magnum Opus which is done as a leftist examination of the conservative and reactionary tropes found in much heroic fantasy/science fiction.
It looks like this went back into print about 5 years ago and is easily accessible through Amazon.
This is some great stuff. Totally 60s, but also predicative of some 70s attitudes while also being timeless in mass media.
So far my only complaint isn't against the liberal use of the various racial slurs, nor against the repeated stream of consciousness, but rather the internal monologue of the lead female character seems less a real person than an idealized form of a 1940's female character. "oh you fool, you fool" and such like that.
The novel is about a fight over the right of chryostasis and is immortality a public right or a private enterprise. There's also some mass media stuff in here as well along with some racial attitude examination which seems a bit dated as well. For example the word "Shade" being thrown around as the white equivalence of "The N Word."
So far there's a bit to chew on, while there promises to be a lot more.
My only other book by Spinrad is The Iron Dream, Hugo award winner Adolph Hitler's Magnum Opus which is done as a leftist examination of the conservative and reactionary tropes found in much heroic fantasy/science fiction.
It looks like this went back into print about 5 years ago and is easily accessible through Amazon.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Book 1 Down
As predicted, I wrapped The Rising last night.
I was thoroughly enjoying myself until I read a sentence pairing which drove me up the wall and seemed to bring all of the faults of the book to the forefront making my continued enjoyment a bit more difficult. I don't have the book with me so I can't relate exactly what it was but it was something along the lines of "A great eagle slammed into the glass, once a symbol of freedom and liberty, it was now a symbol of corruption and decay."
I rolled my eyes at that and through out the rest of the book, I noticed more poor word choices along those lines things which could have been cut back a bit by an editor.
A few other things that I didn't like were the pacing. At about page 150, the story picks up to such a degree that it doesn't stop and most of the nice touches of characterization which make the first parts of the story so enjoyable are kind of tossed out for numerous interchangeable nasty national guardsmen whose sole pleasures in life are raping and pillaging lead by a colonel who could have been made to be more menacing by fleshing him out a bit more. It would have been the perfect opportunity to paint him in a bit more sympathetic light to make his actions far more reprehensible.
The latter half of the book has some absolutely wonderful flourishes though, like the return to science facility which spawned the whole situation, the redemption of Frankie and the establishment of her humanity, the preacher Martin (who I feel becomes the strongest character in the book).
There is one thing which may annoy many readers in that the book doesn't end, but rather it just stops. I was absolutely fine with the ambiguity of the original end, but I also picked up City of the Dead (the book's sequel) and read the opening paragraphs to see what happened.
Overall, I enjoyed it. I liked the mythology, I liked two of the three main characters, there are some excellent set pieces and some neat ideas that are handled well. I'd have loved to had stronger characters from the National Guards and particularly their commander. I also would have liked about 50 more pages to break up the pacing problems.
I was thoroughly enjoying myself until I read a sentence pairing which drove me up the wall and seemed to bring all of the faults of the book to the forefront making my continued enjoyment a bit more difficult. I don't have the book with me so I can't relate exactly what it was but it was something along the lines of "A great eagle slammed into the glass, once a symbol of freedom and liberty, it was now a symbol of corruption and decay."
I rolled my eyes at that and through out the rest of the book, I noticed more poor word choices along those lines things which could have been cut back a bit by an editor.
A few other things that I didn't like were the pacing. At about page 150, the story picks up to such a degree that it doesn't stop and most of the nice touches of characterization which make the first parts of the story so enjoyable are kind of tossed out for numerous interchangeable nasty national guardsmen whose sole pleasures in life are raping and pillaging lead by a colonel who could have been made to be more menacing by fleshing him out a bit more. It would have been the perfect opportunity to paint him in a bit more sympathetic light to make his actions far more reprehensible.
The latter half of the book has some absolutely wonderful flourishes though, like the return to science facility which spawned the whole situation, the redemption of Frankie and the establishment of her humanity, the preacher Martin (who I feel becomes the strongest character in the book).
There is one thing which may annoy many readers in that the book doesn't end, but rather it just stops. I was absolutely fine with the ambiguity of the original end, but I also picked up City of the Dead (the book's sequel) and read the opening paragraphs to see what happened.
Overall, I enjoyed it. I liked the mythology, I liked two of the three main characters, there are some excellent set pieces and some neat ideas that are handled well. I'd have loved to had stronger characters from the National Guards and particularly their commander. I also would have liked about 50 more pages to break up the pacing problems.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
New Book: Eric Side Steps
To avoid this turning into one book in 52 weeks I have set aside Tristam Shandy and have gone for the powerful cleansing of Brian Keene's The Rising.I have always liked the Leisure Publishing Horror line. I feel it's very diverse with many different kinds of horror, from the super natural to the non-supernatural yet still horrific (see nearly everything by Jack Ketchum). They also have a tendency to reprint things which you can normally only find in specialist press in inexpensive mass market editions, something which I greatly appreciate because the thought of paying $40 for 100 pages of story is just a bit insane to me. This gives me and others the ability to read these great stories. I have a few issues with the series as well but I'll leave that for another time.
I was drawn to Brian Keene's The Rising not because I'm a fan of zombies or zombie fiction. Frankly, I think I'm a bit over zombies. Yes, they're neat and in the right hands can represent all kinds of modern and post-modern fears while also showing the strength of humanity is in the drive to survive. It is also great for a genre because we get to see people far worse off than us.
Schadenfreude as emotional comfort.
I picked it up because there was a great interview with the author in Cemetery Dance, a "quarterly" horror fiction publication. The author talked abit about his philosophy of horror and writing in general and it marked him as "one to keep an eye on" for future purchases. So when Dorchester publishing (who owns the Leisure line) ran a $1 sale, I picked up a few of his books, including the sequel to this book. Not having the original, I left it to the side.
The Rising is about the zombiepocalypse but thankfully not the shuffling dead brainless flesh eaters. Instead these reanimated corpses are brought to re-life by the consciousness of so far unnamed entities. We're given to believe that they're demons, but I think that they're actually bitter Angels.
The rules laid out are you die, you get possessed. When you're possessed the inhabitor gains access to your memories and therefore the possesor gets your skill sets. So if you knew how to fire a gun, the new undead you can fire a gun. However there is a scene where an undead baby is found in a baby seat but it can't get out of the straps because it didn't know how when it was alive. The hosts have a base set of skills as well, including knowledge of dead languages and the like but that's not well developed yet.
When turned, the zombies kill others, eat them, but the flesh is sublimated, not digested. They always make certain to leave the host bodies mobile so that the corpse can be reanimated and move around.
Even animals can become possessed. There's a great sequence early on in a Zoo where in a gang of stereotypes are dispatched by things like undead lions, anacondas, and such. Sadly, no zombie gorillas. There is also another sequence with a goldfish, which sadly made me think of Klaus from American Dad!
The writing is very breezy. I picked it up at lunch and started reading it on the train home and a bit before bed and i'm on page 129 of 321 (compared to page 25 of Tristam Shandy). There are moments of gore, but nothing really uncomfortable like in the works of Edward Lee who has made me queasy a few times.
I'm also pleasently surprised to find this isn't just a generic zombipocalypse novel (most of which reads like Fulci fan fic at best) but that there's an attempt to introduce a new mythology to the genre.
So far, I'm QUITE pleased and will probably wrap this book today or tomorrow.
Monday, January 5, 2009
Tristam Shandy Continues
Life has gotten in the way of this book. I'm only on page 15 out of 400 and I honestly expected to be finished or well on my way to being finished with this book by this time.
The book is circular and digressive by design coupled with 18th century language making this slow going. As it is I'm only on page 20.
It's not that the book's prose particularly dense, yet the language and the constant asides make me re-read passages to make certain that i'm grasping what i'm reading. It isn't aided by the fact that he will digress while digressing about how he's about to digress from his current digression and inform the reader to skip ahead.
if i were to express this book in a current internet meme, it would be Xzibit.
"Yo, dawg, I heard you like asides. So I put an aside in your aside so you can digress while you're digressing"
The book is circular and digressive by design coupled with 18th century language making this slow going. As it is I'm only on page 20.
It's not that the book's prose particularly dense, yet the language and the constant asides make me re-read passages to make certain that i'm grasping what i'm reading. It isn't aided by the fact that he will digress while digressing about how he's about to digress from his current digression and inform the reader to skip ahead.
if i were to express this book in a current internet meme, it would be Xzibit.
"Yo, dawg, I heard you like asides. So I put an aside in your aside so you can digress while you're digressing"
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Tristam Shandy
on schedule I have begun to read this novel. My only previous exposure to this is passing references in the non-fiction of other authors whose works I enjoy and the wildly accurate/inaccurate film.
so far the book is living up to its reputation. A book with this many asides does not need an appetizer.
so far the book is living up to its reputation. A book with this many asides does not need an appetizer.
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