Since I brought American Psycho up, and yes, I am a Doper woman here’s my $.02 so far:
I’ve now read thru a couple of the killings - including one that progressed from a very explicit FFM sex scene. I’m not a slasher movie fan in general, and I refuse to watch anything considered “torture porn”, but this seems different, somehow. I’d agree with “long, detailed, and presented with an absolute lack of empathy” - but, you know, there’s not a shred of empathy in this novel, not as portrayed BY any characters, nor FOR any of the characters.
It’s a **brutal **book - but it’s got my attention. It’s out of my comfort zone to read a novel where there’s no one I can identify with, no one to root for. While I certainly can’t fault anyone who refuses to read or finish it; I do plan on making it thru to the end. I think I’m going to view this novel like I have a couple of Chuck Palahniuk novels and the movie Natural Born Killers- worth having experienced, but never going to re-visit.
Just finished Dan Chaon’s short story collection Stay Awake. Not as scary as billed - mostly character studies, with a few interesting ideas and some spooky and/or inexplicable moments. Worth a read, I’d say, although not his best.
Just started J. Robert Lennon’s On the Night Plain, a novel about some brothers on a hardscrabble sheep farm out west just after WWII. Lennon has Cormac McCarthy’s annoying habit of eschewing quotation marks.
Finished the last book of the Eli Monpress series and I was vaguely disappointed. It started like gangbusters, but somehow in the end it just didn’t satisfy. None-the-less, I recommend the series.
I really liked that one. Ordinary people living hard lives is my favorite subject.
About halfway through Death In Breslau by Marek Krajewski. It’s set in the 1930’s and is the first of three (four?) novels featuring Eberhard Mock (a high-up in what passes for a police force). He’s the least likable protagonist I’ve ever run across. I’m waiting to see a touch of humanity in the guy, but so far it’s all whores, booze, self-preservation, and doing to others before they can do it to him. It’s refreshing.
Just finished Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore. It was OK, I spose. Felt a little bit forced, somehow, that the denouement was kind of lacking. All of the (fictional?) super powers of Google felt a bit deus ex machina-y too.
Looking for a few more books to load into the Kindle for the long weekend.
Since there was some discussion above about Cloud Atlas, I should mention I’m now about 80% through it and I’ll reiterate that I am enjoying the book. It’s very unique and very well written. It is a bit slow going for quite some time, but when you start to see how the pieces fit, it’s pretty fascinating. But it does take a patient reader, so I would not recommend it to just anyone.
Also reading Another Faust, which I rather hate. I am not someone dedicated to finishing what I read, but I’m just barely intrigued enough to keep going even though I hate everyone in it.
I dumped Death in Breslau – it got weird. Might go back to it though.
Read/skimmed Bay’s End by Edward Lorn. It’s been sitting on the Kindle for awhile. It’s about two kids, 12-year-olds, who take on a rogue cop. Masturbatory fantasy, with all the coming-of-age cliches. I mean come on. What mom sees her son with a boner and tells him to “take care of it”?
Now reading Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence. Reviews are divergent but I’m liking it.
Finished The Disappearing Spoon. Overall, I enjoyed it, but it didn’t blow me away by any means. I thought it was uneven and at parts of it seemed shoehorned into the periodic table concept, but I liked it enough to get the follow-up, The Violinist’s Thumb, which apparently does for genetics what The Disappearing Spoon did for chemistry.
Before I crack that one, though, I’ve started The Rook by Daniel O’Malley, which I picked up on a whim at the bookstore. It’s a novel about a paranormal branch of the British government called the Checquy, whose hierarchy is based on chess (they have a king, queen, bishops, knights, and rooks). It starts with one of the rooks waking up with no memory and a bunch of letters to her new self from her previous self. So she’s investigating what happened to her while also trying to handle an external crisis that comes up for her organization.
Pretty inventive and witty, with enough tension to keep it moving at a good pace. Reminds me a lot of Nick Harkaway’s stuff, though there are also shades of Gaiman and Pratchett in there, too. I’m about halfway through and am already looking forward to a second book (I understand it’s the first in a planned series, but no other books have been published yet).
I’m currently a good 1/2 way through hefty crime/spy novel Dominion by C j Sansom.
It’s an engrossing alternate history, with Britain and Germany signing a peace treaty after Dunkirk. Fast forward 12 years and things are considerably different around the world. The war on the Russian Front grinds on hopelessly, the UK is slowly coming more and more under Nazi control, the Empire is failing and the UK generally is a drab grey overly-bureaucratic place to live. America avoided war with Japan but has recently elected Adlai Stevenson as President and there is talk of a greater US involvement in world affairs…
All the main figures (ten or so) are fully developed, with flashbacks to significant events for most of them, mainly in the UK but also in Germany, central Europe and the colonies.
A good read, and a disquieting look at how things might have gone.
I finished The Inventor and the Tycoon: A Gilded Age Murder and the Birth of Moving Pictures by Edwin Ball. I liked it, but the title is misleading, it’s really more of a biography of Eadweard Muybridge & Leland Standford than a history of film or film making. Also the way he hopped around in time annoyed me, but overall I recommend it when it comes out in January. (Mine was an advanced copy from the publisher)
I also read Dodger by Terry Pratchett and loved it. It sent me to Wiki to read up on several of the people in there and to fall in love with Joseph Bazelgette’s fabulous mustache!
I am now reading The Devil’s Highway by Hannah March who is apparently, according to Goodreads, a man… I can tell by the style.
Finished Michael Connelly’s City of Bones. An excellent read. A child’s skeleton surfaces after being buried for decades in Los Angeles, and Detective Harry Bosch is on the case.
Next up is the next one in Connelly’s Harry Bosch series: Lost Light.
Just a head’s up for those who have kept meaning to read some Lucius Shepard. His 600 page Best of Lucius Shepard is available on Kindle for only $2.99. He’s a treat, quite a treasure.
My favorite Shepard is Green Eyes, out of print but available cheap. It’s kind of a zombie love story. I don’t know why it hasn’t been reprinted. Years ago he did an on-line live chat – I think it was on the Event Horizon website – and he avoided talking about that book, like he was ashamed of it. I think he’s one of those writers who is very content not to be “popular”.
I am enjoying **The Anvil of the World **by the late Kage Baker. It’s fantasy with rather Python-like humor: two wizards duel to the death using Fatal Verbal Abuse. After exchanging dire curses and insults one uses the ultimate put-down; the one for which there is no reply or counter insult:
Finished All Seeing Eye by Rob Thurman. It was rather dark throughout, but I found it engaging and enjoyed the ending - some of which surprised me. I was iffy on it when I bought it, because I have liked some of her books, but not all. In fact, I likely would not have made the purchase had I been paying attention to who wrote it.
I sort of had the flavor of an early Dean Koontz novel (back when I still liked his writing.)
I just got done with The Prophet, by Michael Koryta. This was the first book of his I’ve read that had no hint of the supernatural. It did have a healthy helping of football, but I was able to skim all those parts without detriment. Engrossing murder mystery, this author has never yet disappointed me.
Still slogging through my James Dashner audiobook, although it’s devolved to the point where I’m “talking back” and ridiculing the characters.
And I just started on The Opposite of Hallelujah, by Ann Jarzab. It’s YA about a girl whose older sister returns to the family after years in a convent. So far, it reads like teen love drama and I think the protagonist is a spoiled brat. It’s a quick read, though, so still hoping it’ll get good.
here’s my $.02 so far: