*Embassytown *did nothing at all for me, but others seem to think it’s the stuff, so YMMV.
Crippling depression and anxiety, according to his livejournal. I think he got divorced. He’s dating author Elizabeth Bear right now, and seems to be cheerful about it.
I’m polishing up American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis. Loved the movie, so I figured I’d read the book. And the last book I read was 11/22/63 by Stephen King and all the main characters were just a leeeeetle to PollyAnnish for my liking. I needed a good anti-hero thing working for me.
Here’s the thing about American Psycho though – I know how the movie ends and I’m dying to see how it’s accomplished in the book, because so far I’m not getting the irony I’m supposed to feeling when reading two pages worth of tongues hanging by blue veins and bloody-bile-ridden chest cavities and shit like that. It seems overly gratuitous. Reading the sex scenes while sitting in a cafe can make me feel quite uncomfortable, so to speak.
Next up is John Dies at the End by David Wong (Jason Pargin), which I don’t know much about, but it sounds like it might be right up my alley.
I tried to read Tuxedo Park by Jennet Conant, but I gave up on it halfway through. I’m in the middle of Storm of Swords, Book 3 of Song of Ice and Fire. I’d heard there’s a drop-off in quality from the first two books, but I haven’t noticed a decline yet.
I think most fans begin to complain with book four. The third book is my favorite of the series.
Ah yeah, depression. When I see “health issues,” I somehow don’t immediately think of mental health, which I know is shallow. Anyway, Lynch was at a CON in Detroit a few months ago and I heard he was doing pretty well there and said something about making progress on the next book.
Finished Right Hand Magic: A Novel of Golgotham a mediocre urban fantasy about a woman without magic who takes an apartment in Golgatham, New York’s magic neighborhood.
It was OK. Nancy A. Collins - the author - is rather heavy-handed in addressing racial issues. I actually have always liked the idea of authors addressing social issues. Much of my own ethics were shaped from my reading. But I prefer it to be more subtle.
I may read more of her, but only if I’m out of other mind candy.
Am about halfway thru the library’s Kindle version of The Orphan Master’s Son by Adam Johnson… and I’m still not quite sure how I feel about it. Awful things happen to the characters in the book (the North Korean orphan of the title comes to the attention of his superiors and takes on various roles for the government) and the language is both stark and beautiful. It’s compelling, and I will finish it, but I don’t know if it’s something I will re-read.
I recently re-read Who Censored Roger Rabbit? by Gary K Wolf - the inspiration for the film Who Framed Roger Rabbit? The basic film noir story set in a world of Toons & humans is the same, but the plot changed fairly significantly for the film. (The book has more sex, murder & mayhem than Disney would have allowed!) Am also almost done with the semi-sequel Who P-P-P-Plugged Roger Rabbit? A Hare-Raising Mystery also by Wolf. It’s mostly a follow-up to the film, but with elements from the original book as well. It’s not quite as good as the first book, but the film is still my favorite.
Finished The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy and Horror (2010). shrug It was an anthology. It had a lot of different stuff, most of it okay to pass the time, some of it crap. No gems.
I am compelled to keep on reading anthologies (in fact, there’s a buttload of them in my TBR pile right now), but I can’t get very excited about them.
Next up, another anthology, Demons: encounters with the devil and his minions, fallen angels, and the possessed, edited by John Skipp. I know for a fact there are some jewels in this collection, because I’ve already read them! Here’s hoping the rest of it measures up.
I just read Jane Eyre for the first time and loved it. I’m trying to catch up on some of the classics I never read in school.
I also finished Aloha From Hell by Richard Kadrey, the third in his Sandman Slim series. If you’re a fan of the Dresden File books, but have ever said to yourself, “Man, I really like these books but wish there was more swearing, gore and whiskey!” then Sandman Slim is for you. The books follow Jim Stark, a magician escaped from hell. He lives in Los Angeles and fights demons, zombies and the angel living inside his head.
I finished The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell, which I thought was terrific historical fiction, set at the Dutch trading outpost outside of Japan around 1800. I don’t know who specifically mentioned it, but I first heard about it in one of these threads a few months ago.
I am now starting (literally, I think I’m on page 2) of Colson Whitehead’s zombie novel, Zone One.
I just read Finding Nouf, by Zoë Ferraris, which is a murder mystery set in modern-day Saudi Arabia. It’s a pretty good read, and the setting was very interesting. One of the protagonists is a devout, traditional Muslim man who’s trying to solve the murder of a teenage girl while unable to ask direct questions about her or actually speak to any of her female relatives. Of course, I don’t know how accurately the novel portrays the culture: the author is a white American who married a Saudia Arabian man and lived in Jeddah for nine months with his family.
I finally got around to Ender’s Game, after approximately a billion people told me I would love it. As it turns out, I loved it.
I’m working on One Hundred Days: My Unexpected Journey from Doctor to Patient, by David Biro, and it’s quite good. It’s hard for me to get through his description of the pain and consequences of radiation and chemotherapy, because I have a good friend going through aggressive therapy for a brain tumor, so I have to take breaks here and there to think about something else.
Not sure what to read next. I have Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, due back at the library in a week, but I’m not really feeling up to starting that one because I get the feeling it’s too “deep”.
Maphead: Charting the Wide, Weird World of Geography Wonks by Ken Jennings (turns out he’s a pretty good writer) and Tough Sht: Life Advice from a Fat, Lazy Slob Who Did Good* by Kevin Smith (which, on the other hand, isn’t as good as most of his past books - Smith comes across as somebody who’s trying too hard to justify himself in this one). I also just started Eisenhower 1956: The President’s Year of Crisis - Suez and the Brink of War by David A. Nichols, so I haven’t formed an opinion yet.
I forgot to mention in my last post - I dropped Riding Rockets about halfway through, because I just couldn’t take the arrogant, sexist, frat-boy attitude. I’m sure he’s got great stories to tell, but I didn’t enjoy the telling.
I also forgot to mention the audiobook I just got done with - The Viral Storm: The Dawn of a New Pandemic Age, by Nathan Wolfe. Incredibly informative, but paranoia-inducing when one reads it while one is fighting flu-like symptoms. I’m planning on picking up the real-paper version of this book for keeps, I enjoyed it so much.
Just finished Fall to pieces by Mary Foresberg Weiland. A memoir of the struggle with addiction & bipolar disorder from the ex wife of stone temple pilots front man scott weiland…very insightful
I’m about 1/3 of the way through Ghost Story by Peter Straub. It’s ok. I have the feeling it’s going to start picking up very quickly. I’ve never really read horror before, so this is somewhat new. The only Stephen King book I’ve read was non-fiction.
Finished Mercy Blade. The third in the Jane Yellow Rock urban fantasy series. Light, easy to read, mind candy, the usual review. I liked it well enough that I’ll keep reading the series.
Well, I just finished this book. I actually, almost didn’t read the lat chapter. That’s all I had left last night and I honestly thought it was just going to wind down and that there was going to be one unimportant thing happening.
That would have been a mistake.
I’m trying to decide what to start tonight. I’ve to And Then There Were None, some Sherlock Holmes or Frankenstein all ready to go (and then some).
Just finished the audiobook of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon.
I remembered the basic plot of this novel (2 young Jewish men create a comic book hero in New York) but had forgotten how much of their lives we follow, including the tumultuous events touched off by January 6, 1941. I’d also forgotten the awful pun Chabon makes based on one of the character’s surnames…
(Tracy) Bacon being forbidden to Jews like Sammy Clay, of course… 
I really enjoyed the Escapist interludes; but was hoping something more would come of the Golem of Prague. Overall, I’d rate it a compelling novel with engaging characters (and a few real-life cameos thrown in) and a plot that meanders a bit, but in a good way. The audiobook, performed by David Colacci, is nicely done - Chabon’s prose seems meant to be read aloud, I think - I especially liked Kavalier’s accent! I own a copy & will be revisiting it again in a few years - perhaps in the company of The Prestige and Carter Beats the Devil as they have a common thread of magic and escapism.