Books: March - July
Books: March - July
Oh man, I have fallen so far behind.
#15 Pig Tales by Marie Darrieussecq (translated by Linda Coverdale)
A modern version of Candide and that is high praise indeed.
#16 The Magus by John Fowles
I think perhaps I was too old for this but I still loved it. More Fowles for me in the near future.
#17 The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by JK Jemisin
This was terrible and I'm amazed by the positive reception it received. I put this down to an unholy trinity of things the internet loves: epic fantasy, YA and fanfic.
#18 The Hidden by Tobias Hill
I love Hill but I think this is as close he has come to writing a by-the-numbers book. My reading experience was perhaps adversely effected by the fact it has been compared to The Magus and it is nothing like it (I understand where the comparison comes from but no). It also one of those unfortunate novels which has the author's hidden intent clearly signalled by the cover. In this case it is a huge cover quote from the Observer which describes it as "one of the finest novels written so far about our age of terror". Which rather gives the game away.
Anyway, this is Hill doing everything he does so well - a detached, gnomic protagonist; restrained, exacting imagery; an obsession with peeling away the surface - but it feels like he is repeating himself.
#19 A Guide To Fantasy Literature by Philip Martin
Read for review for SF Site.
#20 Scott Pilgrim 4
#21 Scott Pilgrim 5
More of the same. Which is a good thing.
#22 The Part About The Critics by Roberto Bolano
Yes, I hacked 2666 into its constituent novellas but I didn't make it passed the first one.
#23 Katja From The Punk Band
Read for review for SF Site.
#24 Monsters Of Men by Patrick Ness
Read for review for Strange Horizons.
#25 A Country You Have Never Seen by Joanna Russ
A collection of reviews, essays and letters. Great contents, duff book. Further thoughts forthcoming in a Vector editorial.
#26 Wetlands by Charlotte Roche
I absolutely loved this. Two fingers up to body horror and social conditioning. there is a nice profile of Roche here.
#27 Transition by Iain Banks
What I was looking for was a Big Idea novel. Transition seemed to offer that in the idea of transitioning itself but in the end it was just too familiar. Torture? Check. Incest? Check. Morally ambiguous instruments of a highly interventionist state that believes it knows best? Check. In fact, the Concern is nothing but the multiverse version of Contact. You could get a fair approximation of Transition by simply mashing Complicity with Use Of Weapons (despite all the chaff that Banks throws up at the beginning to disorient the reader).
There is also a note of late Ken MacLeod creeping in with the Christian Terrorist stuff. It is so obvious and cheap.
#28 Scott Pilgrim 6
More of the same but mostly a big old showdown, albeit with some backstory which I really liked. What about Kim Pine though?
I am mostly going to be doing Clarke reading from now on so updates will continue to be sporadic.
Oh man, I have fallen so far behind.
#15 Pig Tales by Marie Darrieussecq (translated by Linda Coverdale)
A modern version of Candide and that is high praise indeed.
#16 The Magus by John Fowles
I think perhaps I was too old for this but I still loved it. More Fowles for me in the near future.
#17 The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by JK Jemisin
This was terrible and I'm amazed by the positive reception it received. I put this down to an unholy trinity of things the internet loves: epic fantasy, YA and fanfic.
#18 The Hidden by Tobias Hill
I love Hill but I think this is as close he has come to writing a by-the-numbers book. My reading experience was perhaps adversely effected by the fact it has been compared to The Magus and it is nothing like it (I understand where the comparison comes from but no). It also one of those unfortunate novels which has the author's hidden intent clearly signalled by the cover. In this case it is a huge cover quote from the Observer which describes it as "one of the finest novels written so far about our age of terror". Which rather gives the game away.
Anyway, this is Hill doing everything he does so well - a detached, gnomic protagonist; restrained, exacting imagery; an obsession with peeling away the surface - but it feels like he is repeating himself.
#19 A Guide To Fantasy Literature by Philip Martin
Read for review for SF Site.
#20 Scott Pilgrim 4
#21 Scott Pilgrim 5
More of the same. Which is a good thing.
#22 The Part About The Critics by Roberto Bolano
Yes, I hacked 2666 into its constituent novellas but I didn't make it passed the first one.
#23 Katja From The Punk Band
Read for review for SF Site.
#24 Monsters Of Men by Patrick Ness
Read for review for Strange Horizons.
#25 A Country You Have Never Seen by Joanna Russ
A collection of reviews, essays and letters. Great contents, duff book. Further thoughts forthcoming in a Vector editorial.
#26 Wetlands by Charlotte Roche
I absolutely loved this. Two fingers up to body horror and social conditioning. there is a nice profile of Roche here.
#27 Transition by Iain Banks
What I was looking for was a Big Idea novel. Transition seemed to offer that in the idea of transitioning itself but in the end it was just too familiar. Torture? Check. Incest? Check. Morally ambiguous instruments of a highly interventionist state that believes it knows best? Check. In fact, the Concern is nothing but the multiverse version of Contact. You could get a fair approximation of Transition by simply mashing Complicity with Use Of Weapons (despite all the chaff that Banks throws up at the beginning to disorient the reader).
There is also a note of late Ken MacLeod creeping in with the Christian Terrorist stuff. It is so obvious and cheap.
#28 Scott Pilgrim 6
More of the same but mostly a big old showdown, albeit with some backstory which I really liked. What about Kim Pine though?
I am mostly going to be doing Clarke reading from now on so updates will continue to be sporadic.