Many Books and a Few Movies
So, I've read the latest (in paperback) Stephanie Plum. It was more of the same (which is why I gave up buying these books in hardcover years ago), but it was fun. Stephanie gets in trouble, has sex with Joe, kisses Ranger once or twice and comes close to dying a couple of times. And Grandma says some outrageously funny things. I wouldn't buy it but a friend lent it to me and it was entertaining.
Better was F Paul Wilson's first attempt at a young adult novel. I couldn't figure out for awhile what made this book different from the adult Repairman Jack series (this features Jack as a teen) until about halfway through the book I realized that no one jack cared about in this book was going to die a horrible death, unlike in the regular series where they die not only in a long and drawn-out manner, but the corpse is usually desecrated in some way. This story didn't have that, but it did have some creepy parts, some nice nods to what comes later to a grown-up Jack and the first inkling of how he became the man he is now. What I can't figure out is the audience. Does he want young adults to read the books later in this series? Because I read them in my very early twenties and they scared the hell out of me-I can't imagine letting a teenager read them, except for me. The thing is, The Keep was probably the first real supernatural horror book that I read and loved. I had read Stephen king and it was entertaining, except for The Shining, which also scared the hell out of me but I think that was due to the scary/crazy father thing going on as well as the scary monster thing in the hotel/or was the hotel itself. But The keep was different. It was well-written. It had a plot. It didn't mention pop-culture stuff just to do it. And it had a couple of antagonists so strong that they have to numerous other books and series that have all become intertwined. The Keep made me realize that I like this kind of scary book-and it's taken me a long time to admit it, so any book that Wilson writes that ties back to The Keep (and right now it looks like almost all of them do, although I don't think they did when he wrote them) are all right with me.
I finished Absolution Gap, the last in Alastair Reynolds trilogy and I was baffled. So everyone gets away from the wolves (mindless machines that destroy almost everything in their way) and go to the remote planet of Ararat. In the meantime, and there is ALWAYS a meantime in Reynolds' books) an explorer working for the Ultras (and I think these may be the Conjoiners from earlier books but it was hard to tell) has found a planet with giant churches on it that move so as to always be beneath the gas giant that provides light for the planet AND sometime later a young girl escapes her family on that planet to go off and find out what happened to her brother when he went to look for work at one of the churches. How are they all tied together? Well, the gas giant isn't what it seems, neither is the girl and neither are the wolves. And what seems to be a weapon against the wolves (and this is the part that confused me) turns out not to be. I was confused this part of the book takes up about a page or two in a 500 page book. All this trouble to find a weapon to use against the bad machines, everyone goes through trials and tribulations, it's all difficult and many people die. All that and he winds it up in a couple of pages saying that the thing they unleashed is worse than the wolves but is but slower? That's it, after a total of 1500 pages for all three books? And I couldn't figure out if it was a diatribe against organized religion or technology or just a "be careful what you wish for when it comes to weapons" thing. I may need to give this more thought.
And then there's Mencken. I'm reading Newspaper Days and it is a joy. Cranky Mencken calling it like he sees it and not really caring what other people think. It's awesome and hilarious and so well-written you won't believe it. Every reporter and journalism student should be required to read this book.
The movie this week was Tell No One, a French movie made from a American book. It's a thriller about a couple who go for a midnight swim at a lake-and some awful happens. She ends up dead and he's in a coma for three days. But eight years later, two bodies are unearthed at the lake and whole series of ugly events unfold. I don't want to give away the plot because it's really a great story-but I really liked this movie. It was scary and sad and confusing and it made you think about what exactly was happening and why.
My netflix movies were Dr Strange and Hellboy and if you like this stuff enough to put it in your queue, you 'll like them-I did.
Better was F Paul Wilson's first attempt at a young adult novel. I couldn't figure out for awhile what made this book different from the adult Repairman Jack series (this features Jack as a teen) until about halfway through the book I realized that no one jack cared about in this book was going to die a horrible death, unlike in the regular series where they die not only in a long and drawn-out manner, but the corpse is usually desecrated in some way. This story didn't have that, but it did have some creepy parts, some nice nods to what comes later to a grown-up Jack and the first inkling of how he became the man he is now. What I can't figure out is the audience. Does he want young adults to read the books later in this series? Because I read them in my very early twenties and they scared the hell out of me-I can't imagine letting a teenager read them, except for me. The thing is, The Keep was probably the first real supernatural horror book that I read and loved. I had read Stephen king and it was entertaining, except for The Shining, which also scared the hell out of me but I think that was due to the scary/crazy father thing going on as well as the scary monster thing in the hotel/or was the hotel itself. But The keep was different. It was well-written. It had a plot. It didn't mention pop-culture stuff just to do it. And it had a couple of antagonists so strong that they have to numerous other books and series that have all become intertwined. The Keep made me realize that I like this kind of scary book-and it's taken me a long time to admit it, so any book that Wilson writes that ties back to The Keep (and right now it looks like almost all of them do, although I don't think they did when he wrote them) are all right with me.
I finished Absolution Gap, the last in Alastair Reynolds trilogy and I was baffled. So everyone gets away from the wolves (mindless machines that destroy almost everything in their way) and go to the remote planet of Ararat. In the meantime, and there is ALWAYS a meantime in Reynolds' books) an explorer working for the Ultras (and I think these may be the Conjoiners from earlier books but it was hard to tell) has found a planet with giant churches on it that move so as to always be beneath the gas giant that provides light for the planet AND sometime later a young girl escapes her family on that planet to go off and find out what happened to her brother when he went to look for work at one of the churches. How are they all tied together? Well, the gas giant isn't what it seems, neither is the girl and neither are the wolves. And what seems to be a weapon against the wolves (and this is the part that confused me) turns out not to be. I was confused this part of the book takes up about a page or two in a 500 page book. All this trouble to find a weapon to use against the bad machines, everyone goes through trials and tribulations, it's all difficult and many people die. All that and he winds it up in a couple of pages saying that the thing they unleashed is worse than the wolves but is but slower? That's it, after a total of 1500 pages for all three books? And I couldn't figure out if it was a diatribe against organized religion or technology or just a "be careful what you wish for when it comes to weapons" thing. I may need to give this more thought.
And then there's Mencken. I'm reading Newspaper Days and it is a joy. Cranky Mencken calling it like he sees it and not really caring what other people think. It's awesome and hilarious and so well-written you won't believe it. Every reporter and journalism student should be required to read this book.
The movie this week was Tell No One, a French movie made from a American book. It's a thriller about a couple who go for a midnight swim at a lake-and some awful happens. She ends up dead and he's in a coma for three days. But eight years later, two bodies are unearthed at the lake and whole series of ugly events unfold. I don't want to give away the plot because it's really a great story-but I really liked this movie. It was scary and sad and confusing and it made you think about what exactly was happening and why.
My netflix movies were Dr Strange and Hellboy and if you like this stuff enough to put it in your queue, you 'll like them-I did.
posted by SHbookworm at 6:38 AM
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