Main Menu

Whats everyone reading?

Started by Paul faplad Finch, 30 March, 2009, 10:04:36 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

Theblazeuk

North American Lake Monsters - good collection of horror short stories. Also read Visibile Filth by the same author. BLEAK. But good and eerie.

Apestrife

#6526
This Storm by James Ellroy. Second book in his new new LA quartet set during WW2. Big loud and ugly as ever, and especially Dudley Liam Smith. He's not as unhinged as in Perfidia but still he's still amazingly mad. He may be valiantly introduced with the words "Perv shit on women mandates DEATH." but in no time things kick back into gear and he's a diabolical pill popping schemer and master war profiteer (with designs on the japanese interns) again. In Ellroy's own words, a "--piece of shit who should be stopped at any and all costs."

May sound like a regular James Ellroy book, but I feel he's taking his writing into very interesting directions. His usual focus on right wing bad men finding ruin when trying to do good is slowly moving towards good and vulnerable people doing bad things because they're so stuck being victims, and many times it's almost like a watching an animal gnawing of it's own leg in order to get out of a trap. What many of the characters believe is a curve in their moral road turns out to be a slippery chicane they wouldn't believe. It's interesting as it is painful as it is thrilling. Adding to this is another one of the book's quality, being able to describe and pervert politics without becoming political.

I cannot wait to read his next two LA books.

Frank

Quote from: Apestrife on 10 June, 2019, 05:59:11 PM
This Storm by James Ellroy. Second book in his new new LA quartet set during WW2. Big loud and ugly as ever, and especially Dudley Liam Smith. He's not as unhinged as in Perfidia but still he's still amazingly mad. He may be valiantly introduced with the words "Perv shit on women mandates DEATH." but in no time things kick back into gear and he's a diabolical pill popping schemer and master war profiteer (with designs on the japanese interns) again. In Ellroy's own words, a "--piece of shit who should be stopped at any and all costs."

May sound like a regular James Ellroy book, but I feel he's taking his writing into very interesting directions. His usual focus on right wing bad men finding ruin when trying to do good is slowly moving towards good and vulnerable people doing bad things because they're so stuck being victims, and many times it's almost like a watching an animal gnawing of it's own leg in order to get out of a trap. What many of the characters believe is a curve in their moral road turns out to be a slippery chicane they wouldn't believe. It's interesting as it is painful as it is thrilling. Adding to this is another one of the book's quality, being able to describe and pervert politics without becoming political.

I cannot wait to read his next two LA books.

Great review. Used to love Ellroy but fell away when I baulked at the heft of American Tabloid. You've made me give him another shot, Daddy-O.



The Adventurer

My reading list for May 2019




So, the big stuff I did in May was; Finish Planetary (pretty good). Keep trucking through Jojo's Bizarre Adventure Part 3 - Stardust Crusaders (Rated J for Jojo), and discovered that Robert Venditti & Bryan Hitch's new Hawkman series is f-ing FANTASTIC. I don't even care about Hawkman. Highly recommend.

THIS SPACE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK

Apestrife

#6529
Quote from: Frank on 10 June, 2019, 08:41:20 PM
Great review. Used to love Ellroy but fell away when I baulked at the heft of American Tabloid. You've made me give him another shot, Daddy-O.

Thanks :) --Yeah, throw the demon dog another bone!

Both Perfidia and This storm are big on story, but is much more comprehensive than either of American tabloid, Cold six thousand and Blood's a roover. Much thanks to the prose not being as super zippy like theĆ­rs. At times Cold six thousand read like William Burroughs doing performing his cut up technique on Kenneth Anger's Hollywood Babylon.

Also helps that the stories taking place during a couple of days each in the shadow of Pearl harbour instead of meticulously perverting 15 years of history like the underground USA trilogy does (which I love btw).

Mardroid

Currently reading: Meltdown Man, by Alan Hebden and Massimo Bellardinelli

This story was in the Prog way before my time, so this is my first time reading it. I confess that while I've been aware of this volume for some time, I never felt that inclined to it. On seeing Alan Hebden and John Wagner* advertise their wares at Lawless, I thought, "Why not?" and bought the volumes at the creators' desks later.

I'm really glad I did.

Very minor negatives first: I do find the dialogue very much, of its time, kinda on the nose and a bit cheesy. And I groan a little inside when considering the fact the female cat Yujee just looks like an attractive woman with vaguely feline characteristics, while all the other yujees have full animal heads. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love their design. I'm referring to the fact that if they're all going to be animal head humanoids, that should apply to Liana too. To be fair, she is a bit more catlike in Bellardinelli's art than her long haired design on the front cover (which is also nice) but she is still rather more humanlike than the other yujees. There is another cat character, who has a full cat head, the tiger henchman, who fits the normal yujee profile.

Positives:It's a very good fun fantasy adventure story so far, and the sublime  Bellardinelli art is worth it alone. It's so richly detailed, and  I love his creature designs.

I've only just started the book, but I'm enjoying it a lot.

* Rok of the Reds in Wagner's case, which I'll review a bit later.

Funt Solo

Quote from: Mardroid on 16 June, 2019, 02:47:54 AM
Currently reading: Meltdown Man, by Alan Hebden and Massimo Bellardinelli

Even though my first 2000 AD was prog 146, my regular reading started with 178 (almost a jump-on prog, aside from it being at part 23 of The Judge Child) - which is where Meltdown Man started (along with The Mean Arena, Strontium Dog in Death's Head and the Nemesis prequel Killer Watt).

And Dash Decent, but shhh!  This is supposed to be the golden age.

Any road: as you know, Meltdown Man stayed in the prog every week for 50 progs!  And for me as a new reader, this just seemed normal.  I'm very fond of the strip, and I'm sure partly it's just rose-tinted nostalgia, but man - I'll take it.  And, yeah, Liana was a furry compared to all the other yujees.  Mind you, wasn't one of them just entirely in animal form?  (I don't want to go into too much detail in case I spoiler.)




146178
   
++ A-Z ++  coma ++

Mardroid

Quote from: Funt Solo on 23 June, 2019, 03:32:30 PM
Quote from: Mardroid on 16 June, 2019, 02:47:54 AM
Currently reading: Meltdown Man, by Alan Hebden and Massimo Bellardinelli

Even though my first 2000 AD was prog 146, my regular reading started with 178 (almost a jump-on prog, aside from it being at part 23 of The Judge Child) - which is where Meltdown Man started (along with The Mean Arena, Strontium Dog in Death's Head and the Nemesis prequel Killer Watt).

And Dash Decent, but shhh!  This is supposed to be the golden age.

Any road: as you know, Meltdown Man stayed in the prog every week for 50 progs!  And for me as a new reader, this just seemed normal.  I'm very fond of the strip, and I'm sure partly it's just rose-tinted nostalgia, but man - I'll take it.  And, yeah, Liana was a furry compared to all the other yujees.  Mind you, wasn't one of them just entirely in animal form?  (I don't want to go into too much detail in case I spoiler.)




146178
   

You're right. [spoiler]The super psychic King Cobra[/spoiler]. I forget his actual name. [Spoiler] Maybe it's difficult to bioengineer a creature with human characteristic of is got no legs! Heh.[/spoiler]

Funt Solo

Quote from: Apestrife on 10 June, 2019, 05:59:11 PM
This Storm by James Ellroy. Second book in his new new LA quartet set during WW2...

I used to be big into Ellroy, but way back - so far that I'm not even sure those brain cells are still operational.  Your review here makes me want to get back on board.

First, though, I've just started into Baptism of Fire by Andrej Sapkowski (sometimes thought of as Book 3 of The Witcher saga) and it's crazy, dark, twisted and compelling.  (And also a bit like being in the middle of someone's D&D campaign.)
++ A-Z ++  coma ++

Apestrife

4321 by Paul Auster I love Auster's New York trilogy, but I've to read something else by him to love. Had high hopes for 4321 with it's premise of 4 different lives of one person, but I don't think it delivered. Especially not the ending. Some magic and here and there among the pages, but overall it just felt overly long.

TordelBack

#6535
To my eternal shame I'm back on the Star Wars novels. Currently 2/3 of the way through Chuck Wendig's Aftermath trilogy, set in the months (or is it years? No-one seems sure about that) immediately after Endor, but in line with the Disney continuity. I don't quite know what to make of the YA-level sex'n'violence in a SW setting, but I think it works overall. In some ways this is a much more detailed look at the fall of the Empire than anything we had in the old EU canon, and one that (obviously) sets-up the setup of the Sequel Trilogy. Wendig writes this stuff well, and there are some well-sketched new characters that do most of the heavy lifting, but there is a distinct absence of a strong editorial hand: he has a few favourite stock phrases that are massively overused ("his one arm", for example), and a tendency to overuse certain aliens (I find it hard to believe that the New Republic is heavily Pantoran, a minor world introduced in The Clone Wars, and IIRC only represented on film by Lucas and his family) employed in a way that suggests a SW thesaurus rather than any particular racial characteristics, and at the same time populates worlds with distinctly Earth-based flora and fauna.  Easily fixed, I would have thought.

Anyway, I didn't come here for the literary fireworks, rather for a dose of plot and adventure, and this has both in abundance. The use of the main screen characters and events alongside, but not dominating, the new ones is the best implementation of this approach I've seen (shades of I, Jedi).  I had a few 'oh no!' moments, which means I got my money's worth.

Oh the shame.


Colin YNWA

Quote from: Apestrife on 07 July, 2019, 12:24:24 PM
4321 by Paul Auster I love Auster's New York trilogy, but I've to read something else by him to love. Had high hopes for 4321 with it's premise of 4 different lives of one person, but I don't think it delivered. Especially not the ending. Some magic and here and there among the pages, but overall it just felt overly long.

Oh that's really interesting as I've enjoyed all the Paul Auster I've read. Out of interest which other books have you tried?

Apestrife

Quote from: Colin YNWA on 08 July, 2019, 06:37:38 PM
Quote from: Apestrife on 07 July, 2019, 12:24:24 PM
4321 by Paul Auster I love Auster's New York trilogy, but I've to read something else by him to love. Had high hopes for 4321 with it's premise of 4 different lives of one person, but I don't think it delivered. Especially not the ending. Some magic and here and there among the pages, but overall it just felt overly long.

Oh that's really interesting as I've enjoyed all the Paul Auster I've read. Out of interest which other books have you tried?

Said New York Trilogy (City of glass : Ghosts : The locked room) which is one of my favorite books.

Other than it and 4321 if I remember things correctly: The Book of Illusions, Travels in the Scriptorium. I think one more as well. Been 10 years. Got any recommendations? :)

Colin YNWA

I'd go with his 90s stuff. Music of Chance, Leviathon, Mr Vertigo and if you want something pretty different Timbuktu. All really good.

Dandontdare

Must dig in to Auster some day - I think I read a story once about a gambler who was forced to dig ditches on some guy's land to repay a poker debt, which I really enjoyed - was that him?