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What’s it all about?
Well, what does the blurb say?
When the alien Mimics invade, Keiji Kiriya is just one of many recruits shoved into a suit of battle armor called a Jacket and sent out to kill. Keiji dies on the battlefield, only to be reborn each morning to fight and die again and again.
Live. Die. Repeat. As the movie poster has it.
Why did I want to read it?
Well. This is a bit embarrassing. I saw and loved the film Edge of Tomorrow which was an Americanised version of the story told in All You Need is Kill and which I reviewed here. I knew that it was based on a novel but I was more interested in the graphic version, which is what I thought I had downloaded (I think that’s an easy mistake given the cover), so imagine my surprise when I opened it up and there were no pictures. What an idiot.
What did I think of it?
I really didn’t think I was in the market for Japanese military sci-fi but how wrong was I? I was drawn very quickly into Keiji’s story which is told mostly in the first person and describes his bewilderment at his situation in the first, instance, then his growing skill as a warrior determined to defeat the alien invaders. I’m not sure if it was a help or a hindrance knowing the story in advance; although the core is the same, the film and book are very different in many respects, though the character of Rita, the Full Metal Bitch, is consistent and of course totally fabulous. I liked the structure of the novel and thought it was really gripping. So a happy accident. Though I still think I’m going to get my hands on the graphic novel at some point, just to compare.
As well as the reasons given above, I read this for the 2015 Sci-fi Experience.
What’s it all about?
North American Lake Monsters is a collection of horror stories set in the modern USA. I described it in my reading notes as
horror at the periphery of everyday lives of working people, mostly men
The description I’ve seen elsewhere (and not until after I’d finished the book) is
In this striking, bleak yet luminous debut collection, Nathan Ballingrud, winner of the inaugural Shirley Jackson Award, uses the trappings of the Gothic and the uncanny to investigate a distinctly American landscape: the loneliest and darkest corners of contemporary life.
So better put but fairly similar *phew*
Why did I want to read it?
I had come across a couple of Ballingrud’s stories in other collections and want to give his wider work a try. I hadn’t realised how many awards he had been nominated for until I got my hands on the volume (though nominations or award wins don’t always affect whether I want to read something).
What did I think of it?
Hmm. This was really a bit of a mixed bag. It contained the two stories I had read elsewhere, one of which didn’t stand up to a second read; the other, The Crevasse, was wonderfully Lovecraftian in its Antarctic setting and I enjoyed it just as much this time around. As for the others, I could appreciate the skill but they just didn’t connect with me; perhaps they were just too bleak (not that I mind bleak usually, but there was no relief at all here that I could see), and *whispers* too masculine for me. That’s not something I think I would have noticed if I’d come across any of these stories mixed in with the work of others, but it just leapt out at me reading them in a single volume.
Glad I gave it a shot but I don’t think I’ll be actively seeking out any more of his work.
I read this as part of the 2015 Horror Reading Challenge.
What’s it all about?
The latest novel from David Mitchell, The Bone Clocks is another tour de force of interwoven stories with multiple characters told over several timelines. Ostensibly (mostly) about the life of one woman, Holly Sykes, and the people she meets and forms relationships with throughout her life, it’s also a story of a time war that plays out through the lives of (perhaps not entirely) ordinary people.
Or as I flippantly described it in an earlier post “the one that’s a timey-wimey-metaphysical-thriller”
Why did I want to read it?
I enjoyed Cloud Atlas once I got into it (you can read my review of that here and the film version here) and I always full intended to read more of Mitchell’s work but haven’t got round to it until now. As well as being well-received by reviewers this was long-listed for the Man Booker so a good place to start in catching up with his work.
What did I think of it?
I really loved this, was so happy that my first full novel of the year was such a pleasure. I found it much more readily accessible than Cloud Atlas but I don’t know if that’s just because that I’m more used to the way Mitchell structures his novels, or whether the timeline was just more chronologically straightforward. But the main thing is that I really liked Holly as a character, the strange things that happened to her, and enjoyed waiting to see how (or even whether) she would appear in those sections of the story narrated by other characters.
And there is a such a lot to enjoy; the five narrators who bring their different perspectives to the table, the nature of love and friendships and how they develop and change over time as the same people drift in and out of our lives at key points. And how the connections we make can come back and have an unexpected impact.
The speculative elements of the story – the struggle between two views on how those who are effectively immortal should behave towards others, and the vision of our own world in the near future – worked well and the whole thing is just so beautifully written and constructed that I read it in several enormous chunks as I got sucked in, desperate to know how it would all work out. Very satisfying indeed.
A monthly event hosted by The Book Vixen
By the end of this weekend I aim to have written and published or scheduled the following book reviews:
- The Bone Clocks
- North American Lake Monsters
- Naming the Bones
- The Fuller Memorandum
- All You Need is Kill
as well as a film review, The Monuments Men.
May also finish The Apocalypse Codex (I’m 39% in so definitely a possibility given train journeys tomorrow) and will have watched (possibly) Sin City 2 and (definitely) Ex Machina but it may be asking too much to have written those up 🙂
Whats it all about?
The Wide Carnivorous Sky (subtitle and Other Monstrous Geographies) is a collection of nine modern horror stories.
Why did I want to read it?
I came across the work of John Langan through the annual best of horror anthologies edited by Ellen Datlow where his stories stuck out as something exceptional. I wanted to read more and got a hold of this collection as a good starting point. He is clearly highly regarded by his peers.
What did I think about it?
I really enjoyed this collection which nicely covers the full range of horror themes. Cannibalistic children? Check. Zombie apocalypse in the style of Thornton Wilder’s Our Town? Check. Werewolf-type things? Check. Unspeakable Lovecraftian entities breaking into our world and creating havoc? Why yes. Reasons why you shouldn’t hitch-hike? Indeed.
Particular favourites were
- Technicolor – what was Poe up to in his lost week, what’s the Masque of the Red Death about, why you should really pay attention in your English Lit class
- The Wide Carnivorous Sky – space vampires meet USA’s finest but not in a good way; assuming there is in fact a good way….
and my absolute favourite in the collection
- Mother of Stone – the story of an academic investigating what appears to be an urban legend of about the events that follow the digging up and installation in a local hotel of a statue of headless pregnant woman, taking in myths, ancient religions, all manner of Fortean stuff and turning it into a disturbing tale of what happens when you don’t leave something well enough alone.
The collection also includes an introduction by Jeffery Ford and an afterword by Laird Barron, as well as notes on the stories by the author himself (I love author’s notes and aways read them where they are included) which give some insight into the genesis of the stories and what he was trying to achieve.
I’m pleased that my initial feelings about Langan’s work have been reinforced by the stories in this book, and I’ll definitely be looking out for more.
I read this as part of the 2015 Horror Reading Challenge. I also learned that I have real problems typing the word “carnivorous”.
It’s been a long time since I’ve posted to the Sunday Salon but I’m going to use it to keep track of my reading on a weekly basis. This won’t be a replacement for formal reviews, but sort of a reading diary for the unfinished, the abandoned, the reading in progress, how I’m getting on with challenges and other bookish stuff.
As this is the first post of the New Year and I did a round up of my reading year (which you can find here) I won’t repeat myself – this is all stuff that’s been happening int he last few days.
Challenges:
I”m currently involved in three challenges:
- the Sci-Fi experience which started in December and runs until the end of January
- the Clear Your Reader challenge which runs throughout January
- the TBR Double Dog dare which runs until 31 March
I’m doing pretty well, reading things for each of them but not finished anything just yet
In progress
My main read at the moment is The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell. I’m about a fifth of the way through and enjoying it very much (though at the moment I’m not sure I understand what it’s all about, but that’s always the pleasure with Mitchell I find).
Abandoned
I went through my pile of books and took decisions on the ones I knew I wasn’t going to finish. Some have been totally abandoned including Vernor Vinge’s A Fire Upon the Deep which I was reading for the Sci-fi Experience at the behest of the Book God but stalled at roughly the same spot I failed at the last time I tried to read it, which I took to be an omen. Also gave up on The Forgotten Beasts of Eld (just too fey for me), The Dark Lord of Derkholm (though I’m not convinced I won’t try it again in the future), The Talented Mr Ripley (which I just didn’t take to at all though I got over halfway because I thought I should, given it’s a classic of its type) and Catching Fire (because I’d rather watch the movie).
Other bookish stuff
I have put in place a book buying embargo to run in parallel with the Double Dog Dare. No books to be purchased between 1 January and 31 March 2015, the only exceptions being books pre-ordered last year for delivery in 2015 (not a vast number of those I think) and gifts (my birthday is at the end of January). Apart from that things of interest go on a wish list for later.
So I was working my way through my feed reader this morning and I came across this challenge via Elizabeth Michelle (who is also taking part) and I couldn’t resist as it both fits in with the TBR dare (stuff I already own) and highlights something I’m very conscious of – just because you can’t see the books on your e-reader doesn’t mean they aren’t there, lurking and (sometimes) forgotten and (often) unread.
Clean Your Reader – sign-up
- What’s your e-reader of choice? – the Kindle app on my iPad Air
- What e-books or e-book deals are you incapable of saying no to? – I’m usually OK with deals, I just can’t resist recommendations from other bloggers, especially for short stories which I really enjoy as e-books (for reasons i can’t adequately explain).
- How many e-books are you going to try to tackle in January? – a minimum of four, hopefully six.
So I’ve already signed up for the TBR Double Dog Dare (and posted about it here) which means that not only will I be reading solely from books I already own I will not be buying any new books. At all. For three months. Only exceptions are birthday presents and books I pre-ordered before 31 December. I don’t know how much of a difference that’s going to make given I rarely read a book as soon as I buy it, but it should help my credit cards at the very least 🙂
I’ve also decided to sign up for another challenge, the 2015 Horror Reading Challenge hosted by Cornerfolds. I actually signed up for its predecessor last year (see here) but failed miserably; I think (actually I know) I read quite a bit of horror in 2014 and didn’t properly link it back to the challenge, but as it’s a genre I really enjoy I’m going to try better this year. My aim to is to be a Brave Reader, which means reading 6-10 books during the course of the year. I’m not going to make a booklist because history demonstrates that way madness lies, but I have several good collections of short stories, Maplecroft by Cherie Priest, and Horns by Joe Hill (which I’m keen to read as I’d like to see the film at some point) on my TBR pile as well as that long-promised Carrie re-read.
I think I can manage that!
Ooh, I thought I was being SO clever, posting my reading plans for the month earlier today and totally forgetting that Carl’s Sci-fi Experience now starts in December and runs until my birthday (31st January in case you’re interested and that has got to be the earliest hint I’ve ever given!)
So hasty thinking has taken place and I’m going to (try to) read the following as a minimum for the experience that isn’t a challenge (and they also comply with the TBR DDD as they are already all on the stacks chez Bride):
- The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K le Guin – because she was interviewed in the first episode of the excellent BBC series Tomorrow’s Worlds and I am ashamed, ashamed I say, to admit that if I have ever read any of her work I have long, long forgotten it…..
- Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes – because it is a classic and my great friend Silvery Dude was reduced to a blubbering wreck reading it (I may possibly be using poetic licence there)….
- The Starry Rift edited by Jonathan Strahan – because I love short stories and I sought this out after the amazing experience of hearing Neil Gaiman read his entry in the collection Orange at an event earlier in the year which I seem not to have written about at all….
- A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge – because it’s one of the Book God’s favourites and he has been trying to get me to read it since we started living together 20 years ago and I think it’s about time…
Exciting! I also have the urge to watch 2010 again (I love that movie and will punch anyone who disagrees, OK?)
J
ames at James Reads Books is once again hosting the TBR Double Dog Dare and I’m signing up for it, which means that between 1 January and 1 April 2015 I can only read books that I already own and want to read. As he says:
Forget about keeping up with ARC’s, reading the latest nominees for whatever award they’re giving away this month. Never mind the best seller lists or the tiresome memoir your book club has forced on you.
So in practical terms that means Christmas presents are in, but birthday presents are out. Until April anyway. May still take part in some challenges but only if I want to and only using books I already have.
And if I do nothing else I will finally read Blonde by Joyce Carol Oates. I’ve only had it since the last century after all….
Bride of the Book God 