2018 50 Book Challenge

[LonerMatt]

1. A Wrong Turn at the Office on Unmade Lists
2. Acceptance
3. Shipbreaker
4. Winter's Bone
5. Dhmara Bums
6. Istanbul
7. On the Trail of Genghis Khan
8. Holy Bible
9. The Boat
10. Collected Stories
11. Lost and Found
12. Blind Willow, Sleeping woman
13. White Noise
14. Clariel
15. Off the Rails
16. Sabriel
17 Hitler's Daughter
18. Quack this Way
19. Grapes of Wrath
20. Every Man in this Village is a Liar
21. The Twelve Fingered Boy
22. Riders of the Purple Sage
23. The Sheltering Sky
24. How to Travel the World for Free

24. How to Travel the World for Free

Journalist Michael Wigge sets out from Berlin and travels to Antartica with $0 in pocket and no credit card. He makes his way through several continents by creatively asking for help, making money in odd ways (pillow fights, butlering) and straight out hitch-hiking and begging. A lot of this was interesting, but the novel lacks detail or reflection. It reads like a series of events, rather than an evolving and complex journey (which it must have been).

Compared to some of the other travel writing (Tim Cope's) that I've loved this year, this felt like a long article, which was OK, but ultimately undeveloped. The 'lessons' learned are cliched and predictable and I was left a tad bored.

 

[LonerMatt]

1. A Wrong Turn at the Office on Unmade Lists
2. Acceptance
3. Shipbreaker
4. Winter's Bone
5. Dhmara Bums
6. Istanbul
7. On the Trail of Genghis Khan
8. Holy Bible
9. The Boat
10. Collected Stories
11. Lost and Found
12. Blind Willow, Sleeping woman
13. White Noise
14. Clariel
15. Off the Rails
16. Sabriel
17 Hitler's Daughter
18. Quack this Way
19. Grapes of Wrath
20. Every Man in this Village is a Liar
21. The Twelve Fingered Boy
22. Riders of the Purple Sage
23. The Sheltering Sky
24. How to Travel the World for Free
25. Deliverance

25. Deliverance

Four friends travel into the wilderness on a weekend trip and everything goes wrong. While this story is somewhat predictable, the quality and pace of writing really sets it apart from other stories of bad weekends, and disaster. The main character is both insightful and reflective, and does a brilliant job exploring the personalities of his companions and friends. As the actions forces changes in dynamics between the characters the strength of Jame Dickey's writing becomes clear: he writes with subtlety and precision, often allowing for actions to speak clearly instead of narration. The pacing is masterfully slow and directed - for events spanning 2-3 days the novel feels drawn out in all the right places and succinct in all the dull parts.

The plot was nothing special, but I really did enjoy this novel.

 

[noob in 89]

Whoah, synchronicity: I started James Dickey's Collected today (an impulse buy; I had never even heard of him), and his poetry is really fantastic. Then Amazon blew my mind just now with the revelation that its that James Dickey, the Deliverance guy. I still can't quite see it...but it sounds like I should check out the novel as well.

@xander-horst: Sorry for the late reply, but as others have said, I definitely feel you'd get something out of the Jaynes book. He's a tremendous prose writer, with a novelist's sensibility, and his theory travels down so many exciting different paths, there is surely something there to intrigue you, even you don't buy wholesale his ideas of how consciousness began much later than we thought.

 

[Steve B.]

27. If This Is a Man Primo Levi 1960

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An Italian Jew in a German labor camp near Auschwitz. Excellent prose- (obviously) depressing topic. For this reason I wouldn't recommend it.

 

[California Dreamer]



27. If This Is a Man Primo Levi 1960

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An Italian Jew in a German labor camp near Auschwitz. Excellent prose- (obviously) depressing topic. For this reason I wouldn't recommend it.

Still on my reading list. Some books should be read, even if not a barrel of laughs.

 

[Geoffrey Firmin]

37 A Short History of Richard Kline by Amanda Lohrey went to an authors talk two weeks ago at Electric Shadows a soon to be defunct independent bookstore, now there are only two in Canberra. I finally picked it up on Easter Saturday and so far so good. The subject matter is somewhat contentious, the person interviewing her made the comment that 'spirituality is the only subject left in the closet' and if you have read The Razors Edge by Somerset Maugham you may find some comparison with the notion of the quest. She gives a contemporary interpretation of the quest for Truth ( what ever the **** that is). The talk was very informative as I had read a couple of reviews of the book prior to it. I was intrigued as to how she would deal with the subject matter. She cited William James Varieties of Religious Experience a fair bit in her talk. I originally read it back in 1980 at Uni and still have a copy and have consulted it a fair over the years.

Now excuse me I must resume reading and continue on my path to Satori.

 

[California Dreamer]

Spoiler

1. A Tale for the Time Being 2. The Sun is God 3. The Keeper of Lost Causes 4. Lost and Found 5. Murder on the Eiffel Tower 6. How to be Both 7. Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore 8. Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth 9. Levels of Life 10. The Seventh Day 11. Fortunately the Milk 11b. The Sleeper and the Spindle 12. The Agile Project Management Handbook 13. Reykjavik Nights 14. The Siege 15. The Torch 16. Being Mortal

17. Hicksville

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Hicksville by Dylan Horrocks
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

In Hicksville New Zealand cartoonist Dylan Horrocks has created a loving tribute to the art of the graphic novel, injected a mystery and wrapped it in an enigma.

The story has many threads, the main one being the arrival of American comics reviewer Leonard Batts in the NZ hamlet of Hicksville, where everybody is massively into comics, yet nobody wants to talk about the town’s most famous expatriate, comics giant Jack Burger. Leonard gets frustrated when he can’t make any progress on the article he wants to write about Burger, and his bafflement increases when he keeps finding scraps of a cartoon about Captain Cook and a Maori chief speculating on the nature of maps and the changing layout of the land.

Horrocks has worked in lots of tributes to classics of the genre, especially in a sequence set at a costume party, and he clearly is a big fan of Herge and Winsor McCay. (I have to admit that I probably missed a lot of his references).

This is a moving story and Horrocks leaves room for the reader’s imagination to fill in much of the detail, which adds to its charm. it’s also an intelligent tribute to an art form that Horrocks loves, and the place of creativity within it. View all my reviews

 

[California Dreamer]

Spoiler

1. A Tale for the Time Being 2. The Sun is God 3. The Keeper of Lost Causes 4. Lost and Found 5. Murder on the Eiffel Tower 6. How to be Both 7. Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore 8. Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth 9. Levels of Life 10. The Seventh Day 11. Fortunately the Milk 11b. The Sleeper and the Spindle 12. The Agile Project Management Handbook 13. Reykjavik Nights 14. The Siege 15. The Torch 16. Being Mortal 17. Hicksville

18. Sam Zabel and the Magic Pen

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Sam Zabel and the Magic Pen by Dylan Horrocks
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Sam Zable, one of the characters from Horrocks’ earlier work Hicksville, is a cartoonist facing intractable writer’s block and probable depression. As a major deadline looms, he finds himself unable to pen a single line of dialogue.

While flipping through a vintage comic about a New Zealander’s trip to Mars, Sam sneezes and suddenly finds himself inside the book. When the Martians realise that Sam is a cartoonist, they crown him king and ensconce him with a harem of green-skinned Venusian lovelies. He also encounters a Japanese girl who imparts the secret of this strange comic world - a magic pen.

This is a story about fantasy, both in its healthy and unhealthy aspects. The worlds of the magic pen reflect the secret desires of its owners, some of which are far from healthy. Other worlds seem just boring; this is because there are as many visions of a perfect world as there are people to envisage them.

The ultra-fastidious should be aware that this is a very adult graphic novel, as Horrocks portrays the unbridled fantasies of some of his characters. View all my reviews

 

[LonerMatt]

1. A Wrong Turn at the Office on Unmade Lists
2. Acceptance
3. Shipbreaker
4. Winter's Bone
5. Dhmara Bums
6. Istanbul
7. On the Trail of Genghis Khan
8. Holy Bible
9. The Boat
10. Collected Stories
11. Lost and Found
12. Blind Willow, Sleeping woman
13. White Noise
14. Clariel
15. Off the Rails
16. Sabriel
17 Hitler's Daughter
18. Quack this Way
19. Grapes of Wrath
20. Every Man in this Village is a Liar
21. The Twelve Fingered Boy
22. Riders of the Purple Sage
23. The Sheltering Sky
24. How to Travel the World for Free
25. Deliverance
26. Trigger Warning

26. Trigger Warning

Neil Gaiman's short story collection. Loved a few, most were OK, a few bored me to tears. The introduction (as always with his work) was really interesting. Especially loved him riffing on Holmes and Dr. Who (neither of which have ever done much more me, though I always thought they were good at what they were). I'd kind of like to read a collection of stories by authors doing a version of someone else's work they loved.

Eerie, creepy, interesting. The kind of author who has fallen into a niche, and is stuck there, but one can't really dislike him for that.

Reading's been taking a back seat thanks to a new woman.

 

[Geoffrey Firmin]

36 The Soul of the Marionette A Short Enquiry into Human Freedom by John Gray Read a couple of his previous works and have a Guardian Podcast where he discuss the book and its ideas with Will Self will listen to that then dive in.

 

[California Dreamer]



26. Trigger Warning

Neil Gaiman's short story collection. Loved a few, most were OK, a few bored me to tears. The introduction (as always with his work) was really interesting. Especially loved him riffing on Holmes and Dr. Who (neither of which have ever done much more me, though I always thought they were good at what they were). I'd kind of like to read a collection of stories by authors doing a version of someone else's work they loved.

Eerie, creepy, interesting. The kind of author who has fallen into a niche, and is stuck there, but one can't really dislike him for that.

This one has been on my to-read list for a while now. Might drop it down in priority a bit.

 

[LonerMatt]

Honestly, I find Gaiman a bit formulaic, so if you've read a lot of his books yeah it's nice, but nothing new.

If you've only read one or two it should be pretty fun.

IIRC, you've only read 3-4?

My Mum has this belief that I'm a huge Gaiman fan and buys me everything to do with Gaiman, but really I don't have the heart to tell her I only half like him.

 

[California Dreamer]



Honestly, I find Gaiman a bit formulaic, so if you've read a lot of his books yeah it's nice, but nothing new.

If you've only read one or two it should be pretty fun.

IIRC, you've only read 3-4?

My Mum has this belief that I'm a huge Gaiman fan and buys me everything to do with Gaiman, but really I don't have the heart to tell her I only half like him.

I’ve read a lot of his: Ocean at the End of the Lane, Neverwhere, Good Omens, Fortunately the Milk, The Sleeper and the Spindle, Coraline.

 

[Steve B.]

28. Top Secret W.E.B. Griffin 2014

First book in a new series called Clandestine Operations. Not all that thrilling or believable and 500 pages. Meh.

 

[California Dreamer]

Spoiler

1. A Tale for the Time Being 2. The Sun is God 3. The Keeper of Lost Causes 4. Lost and Found 5. Murder on the Eiffel Tower 6. How to be Both 7. Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore 8. Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth 9. Levels of Life 10. The Seventh Day 11. Fortunately the Milk 11b. The Sleeper and the Spindle 12. The Agile Project Management Handbook 13. Reykjavik Nights 14. The Siege 15. The Torch 16. Being Mortal 17. Hicksville 18. Sam Zabel and the Magic Pen

19. The Buried Giant

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The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

For some reason there is a furore over whether The Buried Giant is fantasy. Well, that’s a broad category, and I guess it fits into the swords and sorcery sub-genre, but only barely. It’s a pretty pallid and wan effort, but it has swords and monsters, so what the hell.

The story is essentially a quest by two Britons, Axl and Beatrice, to seek out their long-departed son. They are vaguely aware that they are losing their memories and think it is caused by an ever-present mist. As they travel, they encounter Sir Gawain and a Saxon knight sworn to kill Britons.

The big problem with this novel is that Axl and Beatrice are boring characters uttering dreary and repetitive dialogue, and they cannot rescue Ishiguro’s plodding and uninspired story. The book does have some incidents, such as those occurring in and below the monastery, that could have been turned to more dark and dramatic purposes, but Ishiguro treats them in a perfunctory manner that fails to exploit their potential.

Some good ideas wasted in too bland and pedestrian a story; very disappointing.
View all my reviews