Adventures in the Mouse House

I've been trying to stop writing these up in batches; clearly failing miserably.

48.The Year of Our War by Steph Swainston

Another one foisted upon me by techbint. I never would have picked it up without a personal recommendation - it starts off as a standard fantasy novel and there were bits that did indeed drag and a few battle scenes I could have lived without. However, somewhere in the middle I was completely sucked in and the only thing that stopped me ordering the sequel immediately upon finishing it was the hope that I could borrow it from Lisa as well (the answer is yes). Swainston gives you enough information about the world it's set in so that things make sense, but leaves a powerful "but how does that work - I need to find out more" effect.

It's set in a world where human and human-like species have been at war with the Insects for about 2000 years. The Emperor is immortal and has a council of 50 immortals (this is a changing, fluid institution) to help him fight the Insects. The protagonist is Jant, the first man in centuries who can fly. He also has a serious drug problem.

What appealed to me is that unlike most fantasy novels where characters can fly, here it's a huge, exhausting physical effort.

Highly recommended.

49. The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler
This is far, far better than The Little Sister. All the sloppiness is completely gone, and Chandler is back on top form. At 450 pages, this is nearly twice as long as the rest of his books, and it's all genius. The last couple paragraphs are truly heartbreaking.

I'm not going to do this justice so I'm not even going to try; just go read it already.

50.European Gothic: A Spirited Exchange 1760-1960 edited by Avril Horner

Bought this at the Gothic Nightmares exhibition. It's a series of articles abut how gothic literature in different European countries (and the US) have influenced each other. As is usual with these things, some chapters were a lot better than others, but none were a waste of time. One started out all psychoanalytical crap but swiftly turns into an examination of social history, which is far more to my liking.

I was impressed by the explanation of why Spain had no contemporary tradition of gothic literature (particularly interesting in terms of what Carlos Luis Zafon & related writers are doing now); yet Russia, arguably a more alien society, did pick up elements of it.

Overall, really interesting & impressive, but has expanded the to-read list exponentially.

I've read a lot of the French books examined here but nearly none of the German. There was a lot about Melmoth the Wanderer which I haven't read since the early 90s and might be due for a re-visit. I was also reminded that I never got round to reading The Manuscript Found at Saragossa despite starting my PhD on Orientalist-inspired frame tales (my one problem with the programme at Manchester was they didn't encourage comparative reading in books written in languages other than English; in fact my supervisor nearly fainted when I presented an article that I'd read in French). Also really need to read Pushkin.


July reading:
Books read - 7
Non-fiction - 2
Borrowed from friends/library - 2
books purchased - er. many

Thus - to-read pile eradication FAIL again. Except that both non-fiction books have been sitting around for years so at least I'm getting some movement into the system.

I've been too headachey to read much so far this month, but have finished:

15. Watchmen and Philosophy, edited by Mark D White

As I mentioned earlier, this really is Philosophy for Dummies, and I still struggled with parts of it. It's a series of short essays on different aspects of philosophy and how they apply to Watchmen; as is usual with these things, some of them appealed to me a lot more than others.

This is part of the Philosophy and Popular Culture series. I'm not pants on fire to read the rest, but am willing to accept that the failing is mie.


16. The Lady in the Lake by Raymond Chandler

Mmm....Chandler....

This one is different from the earlier books in that very little of it takes place in LA. The solution is bloody obvious from the beginning, but how the story arrives there is worth the ride.

Not surprisingly, I highly recommend this.


17. Maskerade by Terry Pratchett

Not one of his better efforts. It's about the witches, and I *loathe* the witches. The opera jokes are way too obvious and not particularly funny. As to the end - apparently biology is destiny. *spit* I nearly threw it out a window at that point.

17. The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler
This month's Bibliogoths selection. It turned out to be difficult to have discussion about it, because we all loved it. In my case, despite having devoted a considerable chunk of my life to the detective novel, I've never really gone anywhere near the hard-boiled end of the genre. Why did nobody send me the memo that Chandler could actually write? It turned out to not be just me, we all read the book with black and white pictures in our heads.

If you've never read it, hunt it down and read it soon. It only takes a couple of hours, but just because the sentences are short and easy to follow doesn't mean there isn't genius in there. Chandler's descriptive power is to die for. Seen the film? It's great, but this is better, and you don't know the ending.

Getting my hands on the rest of his work has pushed its way up the to-do list. I also need to see the film again. I watched The Maltese Falcon again last week, but it's not as good.

18. Cross Bones by Kathy Reichs
It had to happen sooner or later - Temperance Brennan takes on first century Israeli archaeology and the can of worms that entails. It's kind of disappointing she sunk to that level, but it's far better off in her hands than in that of many lesser writers. Probably my least favourite of the series so far, but still genuinely enjoyable.

Those of you who are sick of me rabbiting on about Kathy Reichs will be relieved to hear that there is only one more in the series (so far) that I haven't read.

Incidentally, next month's Bibliogoths selection is Perdido Street Station, with which I know at least a few of you are familiar, and you're welcome to join us.