Just read (2015)

[Fenril]

Since the thread I did a couple years ago worked very well for my reading and since I have another stack of paperbacks and comic books to read, I think I'll do the same.

Basically, list a few books I intend to read this year and put up my thought on each as I finish. I might or might not change this list in a couple days, however.

PAPERBACKS:

- Gone girl. Gillian Flynn.

- The hunger games. Suzanne Collins.

- What we talk about when we talk about love. Raymond Carver.

- The grass harp. Truman Capote.

- The emerald city of Oz. L. Frank Baum.

- Kiss Kiss. Roald Dahl.

- The small assassin. Ray Bradbury.


COMIC BOOKS:

- Saga of the Swamp Thing, book 1. Alan Moore, et. al.

- The best of The Spirit. Will Eisner, et. al.

Listing only the ones in English for convenience.

DECEMBER 19: FINISHED!

(If I get some more reading done before next year, I'll review them here as well)

[Fenril]

First one done!

- Gone Girl. Gillian Flynn. Amy Elliott (now Dunne) goes missing in the day of her fifth marriage anniversary. Husband Nick is mercilessly grilled by the police and the public at large about his missing wife, once the subject of a popular series of children's books, "Amazing Amy". From glimpses of Amy's diary and Nick's narration, we come to learn that these two were, indeed, anything except the ideal couple so many people believed them to be. Still, is Nick a killer or is something far more sinister than uxoricide going on?

I saw the film adaptation of this novel a year ago, and found it to be a great mystery that cleverly plays with the rules of the domestic thriller --and ends up turning them on their head. So now I read the source novel and it's even better, with (as one can expect) more richly drawn characters, meticulous planning and an interesting critique of the way media (both social and fiction) has come to shape our view of the world around us. As somebody in his 30's and a writer, I found the leads both compelling to read about (author Flynn captures the ennui of the 90's kids now faded away into a harsher word very well, not to mention the frustration of aspiring writers --both leads -- left without a real venue to display their creations)... and ultimately disturbing: this is one of those novels where by the time all is said and done, there are no innocent characters, just dark and darker outlooks on life. This detail seems to sit badly with some readers (I have both seen a few online reviews and had at least two persons in real life tell me that they found the characters unsympathetic and / or unpleasant), but for me that didn't detract from the novel's impact. If anything, it made me think a bit both about my choices in life (both recent and not) and, yes, about the people in my life --not, as you might expect from a thriller, in the sense of "shit, what if this person is a sociopath", but in the sense of "shit, how much of what we take as cold facts are actually things we choose to believe because they sound so reasonable, so right?"
What else? The villain is a credible Narcissist / Sociopath (well, that was my take on this character) who managed to be credible despite the almost too perfect plans the novel reveals. There is one confrontation near the end that concludes a little too neatly, but that's the only real criticism I can think of.

Overall, this was a very enjoyable read, and I'm looking forward to reading Flynn's other two novels, "Sharp Objects" and "Dark places" (especially the former).

[Fenril]

- The hunger games. Suzanne Collins. Sometime in the future, a new country has risen over the remains of North America: Panem, a nation consisting of a thriving Capitol and twelve less fortunate surrounding Districts. So much less fortunate, indeed, that every year each District must offer two tributes, a boy and a girl each between twelve and eighteen, so that they can compete in the titular Hunger Games --a brutal fight to the death that is broadcast live across the country. Only one tribute may survive. This year, toughened survivalist Katniss Everdeen has volunteered to take place in the game so that her little sister might be spared. Now, Katniss will have to rely on every single skill she's ever learned or is about to, from hunting to acting, merely to keep herself alive. For in the hunger games, mercy is a luxury very few can afford...

Finally read this popular YA bestseller, having seen the movie adaptation first. I must admit, this was much better than I had anticipated, with a straightforward yet effective prose, memorable characters and a pervasive atmosphere of both dread and decadence. The influence of "Battle Royale" on this book is undeniable, right down to the betting system behind the game itself and certain rather familiar characters (Cato is practically Kiriyama, Glimmer is MItsuko, Haymitch is Kawada and so on). But this is not to this novel's detriment, as rather than a simple rip-off it's a successful variation on a theme. What in BR is a criticism against Imperialism here it becomes a critique of Capitalism taken to the extreme*. Beyond the influence, lead Katniss is also an impressive heroine in her own right, resourceful (without going overboard. She's fourteen after all), clever and ultimately tragic because of the impossible choices she must make merely to stay alive and to protect the people most important to her. And a strong dark-skinned heroine, on top of that!

*For the record, this "survival horror game" is nothing new in fiction. Seek "The most dangerous game" (both the Richard Connell story and several movie and tv adaptations), "Seventh victim" by Robert Sheckley and "La pequeña guerra" by Mauricio-José Schwarz, for examples.

[Fenril]

- The emerald city of Oz. L. Frank Baum. After far too many hardships in Kansas, Dorothy finally decides to move permanently to Oz, and to take her beloved uncle and aunt with her. Meanwhile, an allegiance is formed between four of Oz's greatest enemies to invade and destroy the entire Emerald City and its surroundings. Now, Ozma and her allies must either resign themselves to a tragic fate... or bring about one last miracle to save everyone.

The sixth book in the Oz series, and originally intended to be the final one. It's as charming (and... weird. So very weird) as the rest, yet filled to the brim with memorable passages. A sequence that plays a sort of tribute to the "Alice" books (set in a town named... Bunnybury) is of particular notice. So, too, the allusion to the Lethe river that becomes pivotal in the final chapters.

I haven't actually read most of the Oz books, as what I have is the Penguin edition that includes this one, "The wizard of Oz" and "Glinda of Oz" (in other words, the original and both (at the time intended) final books). The plot itself is easy to follow however and, from what I am told, the continuity between these books, even the ones from original author Baum is loose at best.

[Fenril]

EXTRA.

- Massive: Gay erotic manga and the men who make it. An anthology of, as the title says, gay erotic manga, reuniting nine luminaries of the genre: Gengoroh Tagame, Inu Yoshi, Kumada Poohsuke, Takeshi Matsu, Jiraiya, Gai Mizuki, Fumi Miyabi, Seizoh Ebisubashi and Kazuhide Ichikawa. Also includes revealing interviews with each of the authors, a timeline of significant points in the history of male-male erotism in Japanese culture (from 1687 to 2014), and essays from compilers Graham Kolbeins, Anne Ishii, and Chip Kidd. This is one of those rare anthologies where the essays and introductions are as important as the material compiled therein. The comics themselves are amazing, covering a wide array of styles and narrative frames (although... all of them either are about or revolve around hardcore sex scenes, as is to be expected), and some of these are the author's first official English translation. The interviews and essays are equally must-read (well... maybe not so much Chip Kidd's overly chummy piece, but definitely all the others), with in-depth looks at the general gay culture in contemporary Japan, that of gay manga (of especial notice, a very clear note on the misuse of the term "Bara manga" and indeed of "Bara" itself by Westerners to refer to the muscular style associated with this kind of comics. Put in context this is, at best, an outdated term, see...), that of contemporary publishing and piracy business models (each of these authors give a frank opinion on scanlation sites and unauthorized translations of their work), and ultimately of their own life both in the context of manga and in that of their private lives. The stories themselves would be hard to review (particularly as some of them are excerpts from longer works), but each definitely shows the author's strengths. All in all a very recommended book, particularly for the intended target audience.

[Fenril]

EXTRA

- Dark Places. Gillian Flynn. Twenty-five years ago, Libby Day was the only survivor of a terrifying massacre that took away her mother and her sisters. She testified in court against her own brother, Ben, who has been incarcerated ever since. But now, as the anniversary of the massacre draws near and Libby is falling into depression, she suddenly gets a call from The kill club --a group of amateur detectives who swear they have found evidence that Ben may not have been the killer after all. For a fee, Libby agrees to help with their investigation. But doing so draws up several painful memories of a childhood spent in poverty and neglect. And worse, Libby soon finds herself right where she started: On the run from a demented killer...

I was so impressed with Flynn's "Gone Girl" that I decided to dive right in with her two previous novels. And this one was most definitely not a disappointment. It was, however, surprising (in the best way) as this one is... different. Where "Gone Girl" starts as a mystery and becomes a study of a sociopathic mind, this one starts as a procedural and bit by bit becomes an exploration of true Horror, of the most human kind. Once again, the book's complex yet sometimes morose or disturbed characters might put off some readers (although, personally I found the cast fascinating, be they complex or genuinely repulsive), as well as the deliberate pace: from a slow-moving beginning to a frantic final act. All in all, very recommended.

[Fenril]

- The best of The Spirit. Will Eisner. Selections from the seminal comic "The Spirit", covering from 1941 to 1951; ostensibly the adventures of a masked superhero, over time it evolved into a fascinating series of medium experiments. Witness a story told from inside a murderer's head (literally inside: the panels are his eye sockets); the tragic tale of a man who could fly and whom nobody noticed in time; a tour through the underground maze of the sewers and the lawless community that lives in it; a heist told form a machine gun's point of view. And many, many more...

Remarkable comic book that was in many was ahead of it's time (not so much in others, more on that later), quite definitely a key influence for later superhero yarns such as Mark Gruenwald's "Squadron Supreme", Alan Moore's "Watchmen", Gail Simone's "Welcome to Tranquility" and so on. What sets it apart from similar pulp yarns of the time? As mentioned above, the degree of experimentation Eisner displays both in terms of story and how to present it, with a unique awareness of the human soul. The stories are mostly self-conclusive, with an ocasional loose continuity at work. It's also worth pointing out that the female characters are stronger and far more developed than one would expect both from the era and, frankly, from the genre --there are the usual femme fatales and the villainesses with a heart of gold (or at least as regards the titular Spirit), but there are also hard-boiled criminals as powerful as their male counterparts, ordinary women willing to do anything to achieve a freedom that society refuses to grant them and even an alien invasor who manages to overpower her own supervisors to remain in a place she has decided she prefers to her home world. The negative side that needs to be pointed out is the stereotypical depiction of black characters under the "Sambo" caricature. As for Eisner himself, I also recommend his later "A contract with God". Overall a comic worth studying, keeping in mind when it was made and by whom. This edition comes with an introduction by Neil Gaiman which... confirms that Gaiman himself has been on the define since around 2009, sadly.

[Fenril]

- Kiss Kiss. Roald Dahl. Dahl's third story collection after "Over to you" and "Someone like you" is this marvelous compendium of suspense and horror shorts, first published as a collection in 1959. Here is one of the somewhat forgotten founders of modern horror and fantasy in English, most certainly on pair with the likes of Charles Beaumont, Fredric Brown or Patricia Highsmith (this last one is mostly known nowadays for her mystery and detective novels, but her work in the horror short story deserves plenty of recognition, too!). There is dark humor, too, and ironic twist endings; there is an examination not just of English and American mannerisms, but also of destructive human relationships, loveless marriages in particular. Dahl, additionally a master of Children's lit (Matilda; Charlie and the chocolate factory; The fantastic Mr. Fox, The witches; and several more) was primarily a keen observer of human nature. In those books, the capacity for good and wonder. In books like this one, our capacity for cruelty and selfishness. It is this theme that drives some of the most memorable entries, such as "Royal Jelly", "The way up to heaven", "William and Mary", "Pig" and "Georgy Porgy". All in all, quite recommended.

[Fenril]

- Saga of the swamp thing, vol. 1. Alan Moore, et. al. The first volume compiling Alan Moore's run on "Saga of the Swamp Thing", one of his first and most successful reinventions of a classic superhero character. The plot is impossible to sum up without making it a spoiler (or retreading old material, these being 80's comics), so I'll instead focus on the virtues: a successful blending of Horror and social commentary (environment conservation, child abuse and care of the mentally ill, for starters). Besides Swamp Thing himself, this first volume also presents Moore's handling (sometimes reinventions, sometimes not) of characters such as plant-based villain the Floronic Man (herein a dark plant messiah), Etrigan the demon (this time, it's the human counterpart, Jason Blood, that is the more sinister of the two...) and even the Justice League itself.

Can this comic be read on it's own, without the rest of the DC universe and / or the previous run? Mostly, though some details will need clarifying. Does it hold up today? I'd say so. Certainly certain details, such as this speech from a man pursuing the Swamp Thing:

"You just tell them 'National Security' and they don't care what we're doing, where we are going or who we kill!"

...are just as relevant today, if not more so. Overall, recommended.

[Fenril]

EXTRA!

- The Tommyknockers. Stephen King. Western novelist Bobby Anderson stumbles over something metallic in her farm and, curiosity picked, decides to dig it up to see just what it could be. What kind of metal stays firm and shiny after being buried in the woods for a long, long time? And why would her dog be wary of it? Perhaps because it's merely the tip of something gigantic. Something ancient, something from beyond the stars. Something that will have portentous consequences for them, for her best friend, for the entire town around. Like the know-how to build contraptions beyond everyone's wildest dreams, like an infallible water heater, a teletransporter, a truck that can hover, a gun that lets you vaporize people... Or communication of a level that only certain insects usually know about, like bees or ants... And then, of course, there is the matter of just what kind of ancient mind could be behind it.

Rather underwhelming novel from King, ironically part of what I usually think of as his best period, which is the 80's. This is essentially a novel about artifacts, our use (and especially misuse) of them, wrapped in an updated and somewhat tongue-in-cheek 50's sci-fi plot. To be sure, this novel seems determined to take virtually every trope (or cliché?) associated with old-school alien invasion movies and update it for modern sensibilities:

- Tinfoil hats to prevent you from Alien mind control? Well, people with metal plates on their head are immune to the Tommyknocker's control.

- Guns that shoot funky bright green light? Well, the green light here is Radioactive! Kinda-sorta.

- Aliens conveniently speaking English? Oh, it's just applied telepathy. Besides, terms that end up associated with them, like "Tommyknockers" and "Altair-4" are just borrowed lingo. As useful a label as any.

- People and animals used as batteries? Okay, that one is fine as is. It's way more gruesome here because it involves vivisection, is all.

- Flying saucers? Well... yeah, the ship they came in IS a flying sphere. But it's, like HUGE! COLOSSAL!

So what makes it underwhelming? First, the problem is that the titular creatures are just not very scary. As one character actually points out near the ending, they are more like children playing with nuclear weapons (and while that image can itself be scary or at least disturbing... one can't help but feel as disappointed as this character that in the end the menace from beyond the stars is essentially just a crew of short-fused engineers). Second, cameos by Pennywise from "It" and the shop from Firestarter only serve to remind us, in the first, how much better a villain beyond the stars she is, and the second, that King CAN do "authority that is scary in how incompetent it is", just not here. Then, while Bobby and her friend Gard are interesting characters in their own right, most of the rest of the cast feels flat. They don't quite have the quirky yet realistic feel of the denizens that people many of his other books. Haven is no Castle Rock or Jerusalem's Lot, for sure!

The novel is not entirely without interest but all in all, I'd rate it as a minor work from an iconic writer.

[Fenril]

EXTRA!

- Sharp Objects. Gillian Flynn. Reporter Camille Preaker is sent on an assignment that could either turn out to be her big break or her undoing. In her hometown of Wind Gap, two little girls had been abducted and found murdered, with all their teeth taken out. As if the case wasn't grim enough, she must also wrestle with the bad memories the town itself brings: Those of her dead sister Marian and of her controlling mother Adora. And then there is her mysterious, unbalanced sister Amma. Even as she wrestles with her personal demons, Camille will have to unravel the complex puzzle of both her past and the town's present lest she, too, fall prey to an unrelenting monster...

Flynn's debut novel is a solid, often hard-hitting thriller, with a lurid storyline that is kept afloat by the author's firm grip on psychological realism and complex characters. As in her later novels ("Dark Places" and "Gone Girl"), the mystery / thriller plot is often used as a frame for Flynn's dissections on issues such as media culture, the battle of the sexes, or the human capacity for violence and morbid curiosity. Skillfully avoiding the pitfalls that usually characterize a first novel, Flynn crafts a fascinating yet seedy yarn that ultimately presents a heat-breaking story of family abuse throughout generations and the consequences it sprouts, both for the family itself and for the outside world. While not for everyone, recommended for fans of the genre.

[Fenril]

EXTRA!

- Incubus. Ray Russell. In Galen, a quiet californian small town, a hideous series of assaults have the local police and physicians baffled. Because the assaults in question have been a series of rapes --so intense, only two victims survived the assault itself, and one committed suicide almost immediately thereafter. Perhaps anthropologist Julian, together with newspaper editor Laura, Doctor Jenkins and #1 suspect Tim (intent on proving his innocence) can unravel this mystery, even if they have to resort to clues dating as far back as the era of witchcraft trials and Inquisitors. And even before that, reaching all the way to the dawn of mankind. Unfortunately, all have likely underestimated just how relentless the creature they are chasing is, how purpose-driven it is and how much real damage it can inflict on them, both physical and spiritual...

1976 horror thriller with a lurid (to say nothing of sleazy) premise, but executed with an extremely refined prose --and, which, perhaps most surprisingly, has more than enough heart and soul to raise the story well above the repulsive exploitation this could have easily become. To be sure, this IS a nasty story, both for the "right" reasons (it's the kind of horror book that really is horrific. Not just for the brutality on display but for the intimation of a much darker world beneath the immediate surface. As one eloquent character puts it: "There IS no devil, just a mean, drunk God") and for the "wrong" ones (this is the kind of book whose sexual and gender policies were rather progressive for the time... but which seen nowadays come across as bluntly sexist. To say nothing of homophobic and transphobic, in spades). Author Russell was an editor for Playboy magazine in his time, and besides his own contribution to the genre, discovered several authors of importance (case in point, the unjustly forgotten Charles Beaumont). With this in mind, his keen eye for narrative economy as well as for appropriately raunchy dialogue make a lot of sense.

While evidently not for everyone, and while it needs to be read keeping in mind the context, this is a lean and mean thriller that definitely outdoes the more exploitative writers that would come in it's wake (ex. Richard Laymon, Dean Koontz), and is a notable example of modern, sexually charged horror fiction.

[Fenril]

- The small assassin. Ray Bradbury. Thirteen horror stories from a master storyteller. Strictly speaking, this is a selection of horror (sometimes, more accurately of "dark") short stories from "The October country" (1955) and "Dark carnival" (1947). There are memorable,haunting yarns here (“The lake”, “The small assassin”, “The crowd”, “The next in line”), wicked black-humored shorts (“The tombstone”, “The smiling people”, “The dead man”, “The handler”) and stories that, while undeniably moody and dark, don't really fit this collection because their intention is not horror, it is melancholy (“The cistern”, “Jack-in-the-box”, “The night”). I think "The emissary" from "The October country" would have been a better choice.

Do these stories hold up on a re-read? Very much so; some are pleasantly dated, certainly, but since many of them already had a nostalgic ambience this ends up adding to the charm… And sometimes they do serve as a time capsule, for both good and bad. Read now, one could almost marvel at how free, how “wild” children would be allowed to run in early twentieth century American small towns (and again, for both good and bad: There is a powerful evocation of imagination here, but also of children’s awareness of death and their natural cruelty). There is that vibe of prudish, often xenophobic old-time American culture on display, quite particularly in “The next in line”, set in Guanajuato, Mexico. That this small town’s infamous mummies and our Day of the dead is portrayed as an increasingly oppressive, nightmarish and finally mortal surrounding would easily become off-putting if not for the convincing portrayal of a woman completely out of her familial surroundings and her even more insensitive husband. Bradbury would later paint somewhat more sympathetic portrayals of PoC characters in books like “The golden apples of the sun”; and frankly, I’ll take “The next in line” over, for example, the story collection “Multiplex Fandango”, by Weston Ochse (2011), in that it is a book with plenty of PoC leads and plenty of stories that take place outside of the US or in the borders… all painted with an almost subconsciously racist view. But that is a story for another time.

What makes these stories last is Bradbury’s carefully polished prose, his knowing use of imagination and his sympathy for his characters (that, of course, does not mean those characters won’t meet horrible ends from time to time). There is wonder and darkness in virtually all of Bradbury’s creations.

[Fenril]

- What we talk about when we talk about love. Raymond Carver. Collection of short stories (some of which are short-shorts) by master storyteller Carver, often detailing instances of sudden, life-changing instances of violence intruding in the life of otherwise unremarkable blue-collar characters. Recently remembered for being the basis of the play-within-a-film seen in the movie "Birdman" (although that one, like most real-life adaptations, is only loosely based on the titular story of this book). Here is a sincere portrayal of a violent, sometimes unfair, sometimes darkly humorous world that transcends late 70's US to become glimpses into the universal problem of miscommunication.

It is difficult to choose a particular favorite story in this collection. There are successfully disturbing stories ("Tell the women we're going", "So much water so close to home", "I could see the smallest things"), poignant tragicomedies ("The bath", "After the denim", "Popular mechanics", "Everything stuck to him") and subtle character pieces ("Why don't you dance?", "Gazebo", "Sacks", "The calm" and, of course, "What we talk about when we talk about love"), and then some. Carver's minimalist narrative style helps craft tales that linger on the mind long after the first read, as we slowly notice the many powerful details hidden in each seemingly simple phrase. For example, this description from "One more thing":

As for Rae, she hadn't been to school for weeks. She said no one could make her go. Maxine said it was another tragedy in a long line of low-rent tragedies.

Dark, poignant, and deeply perceptive: The kind of short story collection I personally love to read. Definitely recommended.

[Fenril]

- The grass harp. Truman Capote. Early novel by master storyteller Capote chronicles three charming misfits who one day decide to run away from home and from strict sister Verena, taking refute in a treehouse. Which would be a simple childhood escapade if these weren't a sixteen-year-old boy and two elderly women. Soon they are joined by two fellow misfits, a retired judge and a teenager who is trying to shake off his troubled childhood. The five find a near state of grace in each other's company, but it won't be long until the townspeople rallied by Verena come looking for them --with rifles and everything...

Sentimental, genuinely moving character study that, while somewhat obscured by the author's more famous works, nevertheless retains it's remarkable narrative power.

Overall, this year's reading challenge felt a bit underwhelming to me. There were quite a few highlights. Discovering Gillian Flynn was a huge pleasure, and "The hunger games" did hold up to its' reputation (I'll see about the sequels, however). Roal Dahl's horror / suspense / weird stories were a forgotten treasure, as was Ray Russel (dare I say that he is what Richard Laymon seemed to be when I first found his books and in retrospective was never really?). "Massive" was not just a great anthology in it's own right, it was also the beginning of an increasing effort to finally bring geicomic (gay manga --intended *for* gay men, not just about them!) across the seas.

I hope I can keep up this challenge next year, this time with a less ragtag selection.