I’d like to say that there isn’t any book that I won’t read if it was recommended to me but there are books that I’ve put off reading but really need to get around to reading. My wife has been my biggest supporter; even before I became a reader she was encouraging me to read and to improve myself. I love her for that. One of the first books I read when I started out as a reader in 2009 was one of the books she gave me, which was Jeff Lindsay’s first book in the Dexter Morgan series; Darkly Dreaming Dexter. She knew that I loved the TV series and she helped use that as a good way to get me into reading. I did end up loving the series and is one of the few series that I’ve actually read all the books in it. But she has given me other books, which I’m still to read; mainly Confessions by Augustine of Hippo but the reason I’ve been putting it off because I have so many great books to read and I haven’t felt drawn to the book yet. I think if I read the book I might enjoy it, he seems to have had an interesting life and I’m interested in the internal struggle of a man between good and evil. There really isn’t a good excuse for not reading it. I should really read it sometime soon. I would love to hear from others if they want to answer this question also.
Month: July 2012
Angelmaker by Nick Harkaway
Title: Angelmaker (Goodreads)
Author: Nick Harkaway
Published: Knopf Doubleday, 2012
Pages: 482
Genres: Literary Fiction, Science Fiction, Thriller
My Copy: Paperback
Buy: Amazon, Book Depository, Kindle (or visit your local Indie bookstore)
Joe Spork is the son of an infamous gangster “Tommy Gun” Spork, trying to live a quiet life fixing antique clocks. His plans were uprooted when he finds an unusual clockwork mechanism. Turns out that device is a doomsday machine and Joe has triggered it. Now Joe Spork has to face the wrath of both the British government and the diabolical villain Shem Shem Tsien. Angelmaker is an adventure unlike anything I’ve read before, featuring a mystery involving Joe Spork and his quest to stop the evil villain and his doomsday device.
Angelmaker blends elements of Steampunk with some literary writing into the story; while reading this book I kept thinking how much this book reminds me of an old Victorian novel, with the prose and style. The back drop to this story is the criminal underbelly of London which is packed with atmospheric charm. All this is mixed with an action adventure that would remind you of a James Bond plot. Never have I read a book that blends so many genre elements so masterfully to make my pick for Best Novel of 2012 (so far).
I’ve heard this book being called a Charles Dickensian romp and while I’ve not read enough Dickens to accurately agree with this statement, I do feel that the writing does resemble the Victorian era nicely. I think this is what makes the Steampunk elements of this book feel more authentic. I know a lot of people can argue this book isn’t really true Steampunk but when I think of this genre, I think of Victorian alternative history and this book does fall under that style.
Angelmaker is either a literary Steampunk novel or a Cold War-style espionage adventure, either way this is definitely a book worth trying. I had so much fun reading this story; it pleased the genre and literary reader inside of me. I hope to find more books like this that would please both types of readers, so if you have any recommendations I would love to hear about them in the comments below.
When Gravity Fails by George Alec Effinger
Title: When Gravity Fails (Goodreads)
Author: George Alec Effinger
Series: Marîd Audran #1
Published: Orb Books, 1987
Pages: 288
Genres: Pulp, Science Fiction
My Copy: Audiobook
Buy: Amazon, Book Depository, Kindle (or visit your local Indie bookstore)
It’s been awhile since I’ve been so immersed into a science fiction world like this; I think the last time was with China Mieville’s The City and The City. The city of Budayeen something I’ve not experienced before, the blend of Middle Eastern culture and religion really bring this to life in a unique way. Marîd Audrian makes for a great protagonist; he is hard boiled and reminds me a lot of the private detectives in the pulp genres.
When Gravity Fails is a brilliant example of tech noir (so science fiction noir). It has a twisted case for Marîd to investigate, which leads him on a fantastic adventure. It kind of reminds me a little of the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher in the sense that it takes the best elements of the pulp genre and mixes it with a hard hitting protagonist in a well built speculative fiction world.
The world is gritty and the story is full of sex, drugs and murder; it offers a lot the think about in regards to the modifications and technology on offer in Budayeen. If you can chance every aspect of your body, mind and personality, would you do it and what are the side effects? I can’t wait to dive further into this world and see what Marîd gets up to in the next book. Recommended for fans of science fiction and pulp novels or even just fans of The Dresden Files; actually I would probably recommend it to anyone that wants to read a captivating book.
Adaptation Smackdown: The Rum Diary
I haven’t talked about an adaptation for a while, so I thought it was time to bring out another adaptation smackdown. The idea is to look at the book and then compare the movie and see which one was better or worth your time. I thought this time I will take a look at Hunter S. Thompson’s The Rum Diary which was made into a movie late last year. Set in the 1950’s this story involves a tangled love triangle of jealousy, treachery and alcoholism of the staff of a Puerto Rico newspaper.
The mediocre semi-biographical novel focuses on a very ill tempered, drunkard of a journalist. I was expecting something with a bit of excitement but the plot seemed to drag on and while hinting at a plot this book never really took off. So when it came to seeing the movie it was nice to see them really cut down the story to give a resemblance of a plot but like the book it still seemed to drag on way too much.
Advantages of the book
There are no advantages, this book drags on and there really isn’t any point in wasting too much time reading this book.
Advantages of the movie
Well for one, Johnny Depp plays the lead role and let’s face it, he is an expert in playing a drunk. Amber Heard is a beautiful and great actor but still she isn’t enough to pull this movie through. Other than that this movie feels a lot longer than 120 minutes.
Winner: No one’s a winner, unless you skipped them both.
Hunter S. Thompson adaptations seem to follow closely with the novels, which is good for books like Fear and Loathing in Los Vegas where you have a bizarre plot to read and watch but when you have a below average one, it really doesn’t translate well to any format. Now I’ve had a little vent about this book and movie, I might have to work on a new adaptation smackdown, so if anyone has some good suggestions, I’d love to hear them.
Question Tuesday: Describe Your Ideal, Money-no-Object, Home Library
I’ve always wanted a little reading room with floor-to-ceiling wall-to-wall bookshelves, full of great books. I would especially love a whole lot of old leather bound books to grace my bookshelves. The shelves would be made out of a nice timber and the shelves themselves will be jammed pack with books that it might even be impossible to add any more books to the shelves; this is why there are piles of books on the floor as well. In the middle of the room, I would want some comfortable reading chairs with a nice coffee table to keep my notepad and coffee while I read as well as some reading lamps and I would want this room to be cool and comfortable to read in. This is also my idea of a man cave, maybe add a computer in the corner where I can write blog posts and book reviews and even catch up on twitter and goodreads. It doesn’t have to be a big room as long as the shelves are full of great books to read and enjoy. Even if I’m become more and more of a kindle reader, I would still want to be surrounded by books.
Here’s an example (with a chair not a bed)
The Last Kind Words by Tom Piccirilli
Title: The Last Kind Words (Goodreads)
Author: Tom Piccirilli
Series: Terrier Rand #1
Published: Random House, 2012
Pages: 336
Genres: Thriller
My Copy: Audiobook
Buy: Amazon, Book Depository, Kindle (or visit your local Indie bookstore)
I picked up this novel because I got an email from Amazon recommending this book because I liked Drive by James Sallis. While I didn’t believe it would be anything like Drive the synopsis did intrigue me. Terrier Rand grew up in a household of thieves and grifters; from a very young age Terry had been engaging in theft. He left his family and life of crime to go straight but five years later he has been dragged back in when his brother is claiming to be innocent of one of the victims of his killing spree. His brother is only days away from execution and has asked his brother to look into one of the murders. He has pleaded guilty for all the other murders but the police won’t listen. Collie doesn’t want to the real killer to remain on the loose and even though Terry hates his brother and what he did, he finds himself investigating.
Terrier finds himself being sucked into a life he has tried really hard to escape. As the story slowly unfolds Terry begins to find out that maybe his grandfather was right when he told him; “We’re born thieves, it’s our nature, handed down to me, handed down from me. This is our way.” Can Terry really escape a life of crime? Is Collie really guilty of this crime? Can Terry save his teenage sister from falling into a life of crime?
The Last Kind Words has some interesting family elements throughout this novel; each member of the family is unique and interesting; even if they are all named after dogs. His father, Pinsch is a retired cat burglar, his uncles Mal and Grey are in trouble with the local mob and his Grandfather Old Shep may be suffering from Alzheimer’s but still proving time and time again that he is a master pickpocket. Throughout the book, the reader is left wondering if Terry should help his family or try and save himself; always questioning the importance of family, when your family can be so self destructive.
From the start I was hooked, this novel had a nice pace to it, mixing elements of crime and mystery with an interesting character driven story about love and family. While Tom Piccirilli did a wonderful job in writing a novel of suspense, guilt, justice and redemption, I never really understood Terry’s motivations. I get that he wanted to help his family and I get that the book is meant to question the reader but I just felt that the characters motivation never felt clear to begin with, he didn’t want to be there, he didn’t want to help his brother, in fact he hated his brother and never believed him, so it felt like obligation was the only reason to return, even though I thought that reason didn’t fit this character too well.
The Last Kind Words is an interesting book and well worth reading. Crime lovers will love the suspense and mystery throughout this book and literary lovers will love the character building and family turmoil in this novel. The narrative is atmospheric with a slight noir feel to it; personally I would have loved more of a noir narrative but Tom Piccirilli did a brilliant job writing this book anyway. One of the better books I’ve read this year; I just had so much fun reading The Last Kind Words.
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
Title: Heart of Darkness (Goodreads)
Author: Joseph Conrad
Published: Penguin, 1899
Pages: 200
Genres: Classic
My Copy: Paperback
Buy: Amazon, Book Depository (or visit your local Indie bookstore)
When you think of books required to consider yourself ‘well read’, one book that is often in that list is Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. I’ve been told that watching Apocalypse Now doesn’t count; however if you have read the book and seen the movie, fun can be found spotting the similarities. Heart of Darkness is a difficult book to read but if you stick with it, there is a certain elegance in the novel, as well as the fact that it’s heavily symbolic.
One of the more interesting aspects of this novel is the narrative style. It’s not narrated by the protagonist Marlow but an unnamed listener of his stories. Almost like the narrator is the reader, standing there listening to Marlow tell his tales. This is happening while the boat is anchored on the River Thames near London, though his tales are of him captaining a steamship in Africa.
The blend of feeling like a shipmate listening to the tales, and the fact that Marlow struggles to talk about the torments, makes this an excellent representation of the duality of human nature. While it was a fantastic book, the writing style did make it difficult to enjoy this book as much as I wanted.
Read it 1st – Coming Adaptations
Since become a bibliophile I’ve tried to read the books before seeing the movie adaptation, but this is often difficult; there are so many books being made into movies and often I don’t find out about them until closer to the release date. There is a site called Read it 1st which sends out newsletters of books being turned into movies but sadly this site has been inactive for a while and Hank Green is just too busy doing all the jobs. So with a little help from an article from iO9 and some Google searching I’ve decided to give people an idea of the 30 new film adaptations currently in the works. Just a warning some of these movies are still in development and some may never make it to a release date.
- All You Need Is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka
- Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
- Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia
- Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
- Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
- Cosmopolis by Don DeLillo
- Delirium by Lauren Oliver
- Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
- If I Stay by Gayle Forman
- Life of Pi by Yann Martel
- Maximum Ride by James Patterson
- Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare
- Neuromancer by William Gibson
- Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz
- On the Road by Jack Kerouac
- Ready Player One by Ernie Cline
- Robopocalypse by Daniel H. Wilson
- Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
- Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
- The Forest of Hands & Teeth by Carrie Ryan
- The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald
- The Hobbit by JRR Tolken
- The Host by Stephenie Meyer
- The Maze Runner by James Dashner
- The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
- The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan
- Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
- Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion
- Wettest County by Matt Bondurant
- World War Z by Max Brooks
Empire State by Adam Christopher
Title: Empire State (Goodreads)
Author: Adam Christopher
Series: Empire State #1
Published: Angry Robot, 2012
Pages: 445
Genres: Pulp, Science Fiction
My Copy: Audiobook
Buy: Amazon, Book Depository, Kindle (or visit your local Indie bookstore)
During the last great superhero fight, a blast of energy rips a hole in reality, the result is Empire State; a twisted parallel prohibition-era New York City. But now the rift is starting to close and both parallel worlds have to fight for the right to exist. Adam Christopher’s Empire State tells the story of Rad Bradley a private detective investigating the disappearance for Sam Saturn which leads him to uncover something a whole lot bigger. This book is everything you expect in a pulp style superhero novel; you have the super villains, airships, robots, organised crime and prohibition (to make it feel more like a pulp novel). This is all a brilliant back drop for the main plot; the case the gets Rad Bradley tangled in a complex web of robotic killers, inter-dimensional doppelgangers and science.
The whole tone of this book feels very much like a superhero novel but never loses sight of the noir style narrative. The whole story cast is wonderfully unique and mystery that will keep the readers on the edge of their seats while reading this book. There are some things that didn’t quite work within the story and the constant world shifting can get the reader lost. I think in the end there turns out to be at least three different worlds; Prohibition New York, Empire State and New York 1950’s. The world, the crime and the characters show potential for a lot of great stories to follow.
Adam Christopher and publisher Angry Robot Books have invited others to create works based in the world of Empire State. Writer, artist, musician, sculptor, puppeteer, interpretive dance major, or poet, are invited to create their own stories with what they are calling WorldBuilder as long as you stick to their Guidelines and Instructions. They are authorising fan-created content to be created under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License which means content can be posted on the internet or beyond as long as it’s in a non-commercial way; publication rights of the stories are still in the hands of the publisher. There are plans for an eBook or Print-on-Demand anthology of the best stories which is pretty exciting; I’ve never seen a novel do anything like this, making for some interesting stories to follow. I think this world is capable of millions of other great stories whether superhero, science fiction, alternate history, organised crime or even pulp stories.
I’m curious to see what the results of this creative common might lead to but as for this book, if you want a fun, exciting novel with twists and mystery, then you really should give Empire State ago. There’s a certain uniqueness within this book while remaining familiar with the writing style. I feel nostalgic towards a good pulp novel and this blends that with science fiction elements with such ease. This genre is often called neo-noir (a genre that blends pulp with updated themes, content, or style, often blended with Science Fiction) and there have been some great books that have come out in this style, but Empire State is definitely one of the better ones.
Question Tuesday: Have You Ever Felt That The Story Ended Just When The Real Story Was About To Begin?
There are times when I feel like the book is just getting started when the book ends but then again there are times I feel a sense of closure from a book even if there is more books in the series. I haven’t read the rest of The Hunger Games series because I felt like the book ended at a good place and all I could see is an annoying love triangle if I went any further. But that might be another post; so I will head back to the original question. There are so many books I would love to have seen continued where I felt the story was just getting started or even that there was more of the story to be told. In Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters, Nancy is finally happy and I would like to know what happens next. Or Looking for Alaska by John Green where I feel we can continue Miles story and explore more of his life and the effects Alaska had on him thoughout the rest of his life; even though I think John Green did end the book in a good place. Also speaking of John Green, in Will Grayson Will Grayson, Tiny is finally appreciated at the end, I’m sure there is more of a story to tell there as well.
I know authors finish a story and that’s it, the characters cease to exist beyond that, but it is really hard not to wonder what might happen to these characters that we have formed a bond with. I’m not sure but I think this is why people write fanfic. The fall in love with these great characters and they want them to keep on living in one form or another.