I did not get as much out of this book as I should have. I know scads of people who loved it yet I found it too depressing. Still it had atmosphere and a truly villainous character. Now I am reading THE CHIMNEY SWEEP'S BOY by Barbara Vine and SHARP by Michelle Dean, essays on very smart and difficult women.
Phil just finished SHARP and is reading SLUMBERLAND.
How about you?
11 comments:
It sounded depressing. I never heard of SHARP, but it sounds interesting. Not a fan of a couple of them, but the rest are good.
I'm reading (deep breath):
Kipling's first collection, written in his early 20s, PLAIN TALES FROM THE RAJ.
Lawrence Block, ed. ALIVE IN SHAPE AND COLOR, second collection of stories inspired by famous paintings.
John Scalzi, HEAD ON, a sequel to his LOCK IN.
Scalzi, DON'T LIVE FOR YOUR OBITUARY : Advice, Commentary and Personal Observations on Writing, 2008-2017.
I read Steven Brust's GOOD GUYS last.
I also have 6-8 other library books and several others that I bought for the Kindle.
I am trying to write a story for his third collection. It is not so easy. Let me know which stories you thought worked best, Jeff.
I have SHARP on order.
Just finished Volume 6 of COLLECTED MILLAR. Great!
I also have a stack of YEAR'S BEST SCIENCE FICTION anthologies calling my name.
Millar is always great. I keep hoping my library will order but I guess I will have to do it myself
I just read a celebrity autobio by Joel McHale.
I have a stack of books at home, mostly mystery and thriller novels. I've really enjoyed the YOU TOOK THE LAST BUS HOME by Brian Bilston. I discovered him off a parody Twitter account of the singer Morrissey. Bilston writes a lot of short verse. A lot of light verse.
I checked out CRASH by JG Ballard a couple weeks ago and need to start reading it. I'm apprehensive about the book because I'm thinking the ideas and philosophy won't be relevant in 2018.
I'm slowly reading "Special Forces Berlin : clandestine Cold War 0perations of the US Army's Elite, 1956-1990". I was taking it out of the library's New Books section and figured to give it a try. I thought there would be stories of spies, sneaking over and under the Berlin Wall, and general derring do. It's more of a straight history book - interesting but not compelling.
In my effort to return to regular blogging, I'll be posting the first of my "What I Read During Those Months" this Friday (I'll send you the link for FFB), which covers half of last August. I'll be doing one or two a week until I'm caught up and then return to my Current Reading posts once again.
Meanwhile, I read Meeting Infinity edited by Jonathan Strahan, a short story anthology, which I found dissappointing, The Mammoth Book of the Adventures of Moriarity edited by Maxim Jakubowski, a 37 story anthology of stories featuring or including the character. It had some good stories, but over all was uneven. Now I'm reading Any Other Name by Craig Johnson, the eleventh Walt Longmire novel.
I have four library holds, so I'm waiting for those books, 2 ebooks and 2 hard copy, to show up.
I just finished Audrey Neffenegger and Eddie Campbell's quirky collection BIZARRE ROMANCE; Neffnegger (THE TIME TRAVELLER'S WIFE) wrote the stories and her husband cartoonist Campbell (FROM HELL) heavily illustrated them. Recommended.
I'm currently reading August Derleth's railroad history THE MILWAUKEE ROAD and Nnedi Okorafor's BINTI: THE NIGHT MASQUERADE, the third in the series. In the chute are ANTIQUES WANTED by "Barbara Allan" and something (I haven't decided yet) for my FFB this week
Just finished SS-GB by Len Deighton. Tried I Wish I Was Like You by S.P. Miskowski which won the Bram Stoker award this year for best horror novel, but couldn't get into it. Finishing up The Fallen by Jassy Mackenzie which I am enjoying. Next up Unbury Carol by Josh Malerman a local writer/musician from Ferndale and Time Was a novel by Ian McDonald.
Rick-if you are ready to take this back, I will turn it over to you.
The Vine book you're reading (or have read by now) is another intriguing treatment of gay themes by Ruth Rendell under her alter ego. As Vine she wrote about LGBQ characters a lot (HOUSE OF STAIRS, NO NIGHT IS TOO LONG and KING SOLOMON'S CARPET) and I've always thought she must have a close relative who was gay or lesbian. Despite how often she wrote about gay life in her books I remember THE CHIMNEY SWEEPER'S BOY was reviled by many readers when it came out. I went out of my way to champion that book on amazon.com (back in the 1990s it was the only form of social media when it came to book discussions) pointing out its strengths and insight and compassion while also criticizing people for their obvious prejudicial reactions to the book's content. Just because a reader can't tolerate certain topics or types of people (even fictional people!) doesn't automatically make the book bad.
I am mesmerized by it although the gay theme has not fully emerged. I loved books about hidden lives. And the story of his wife is poignant too. People really go after her for topics they don't want to confront but I admire that most. (Road Rage, Simisola, etc.)
Post a Comment