Lari's Book reviews |
I started this little "literary
blog" in January 2010, to later remember what books I've read
as I do read quite a few and sometimes tend to forget titles and
in some cases subject matters for the less memorable ones, to practice
writing in english, and also eventually to inform the occasional
visiting book reader, may he be a friend or an anonymous websurfer
whose linkdrifting has led unto this page.
As for the whimsical **** ratings, they are usually favorable, for
if I do stumble on a book I dislike, I'll probably not bother reading
it through and thus couldn't "ethically" review a book
I hadn't fully read. |
Ratings: ******Outstanding
/ ***** Excellent / **** Very Good / *** Good / ** Not bad / * Not
too bad / ! Not Good/ !! Boring / !!! Terrible |
To be continued :
I didn't stop reading books in 2013, but have been too busy elsewhere
to have time to keep writing these littles reviews. I will resume
the practice at a later date, possibly. Cheers & thanks to those
that read them. |
|
|
|
Flatland by Edwin Abbott
Abbott |
********* |
What happens when a 2D square discovers
the third dimension, a geometric fable from the late 19th century,
translated to french by me myself and I. Available here. |
|
|
|
Potsderania, The People's Kingdom
by Iago Serpenski & Laurent Lucien |
********* |
The only existing traveller's guide to the
little known marxist kingdom of Potsderania, written by yours truly
and the notorious potsderanian press mogul, Iago Serpenski. In
english. En
français. |
|
|
|
|
2012: 53 |
DECEMBER 2012 |
We are not scanning all those books to be read
by people,
we are scanning them to be read by an A.I.
Unidentified Google engineer
|
|
Feet of Clay by Terry Pratchett
|
*** |
Terry Pratchett has invented a fantasy world,
the "Discworld ("a large disc resting on the backs of four
giant elephants, all supported by the giant turtle"), which is
the setting of numerous books (40 !) he has been writing since 1983.
This is the first one I've read and it's a rather fun and entertaining
murder mystery featuring likeable golems and other nonsensical characters. |
|
|
|
Post-Scriptum : Dessins, manuscrits,
inédits by Boris Vian |
***** |
A very pleasant book collecting drawings,
sketches, doodles and manuscripts of the poet and writer Boris Vian.
Better known for his writings and songs, Vian also shows his inventivity
and sense of humor in his artwork. If like myself you're a Boris Vian
fan, you'll enjoy this well documented book. Boris Vian died in 1959
and some of his pictures were ahead of their times, like the paintings
depicting robot gunfights on top of skyscrapers or the proto-smileys
that Vian called "miams". |
|
|
|
|
Michel Vaillant: Km 357, Le Secret
de Steve Warson, Concerto pour pilotes by Jean Graton |
art***
text *** |
Three comic book adventures
of racing pilot Michel Vaillant, well drawn and told by Jean Graton,
a french "bande dessinée" author very popular in
the 60s and 70s. I had enjoyed reading his stories back then as
a child, and reading them again today in a spell of nostalgia, I
found they stood the test of time and were still entertaining with
the Km357 episode even attempting some social commentary about the
conflicts between the march of progress and the old fashioned rural
lifestyle of french farmers as they face expropriation because of
the construction of a highway on their land. Jean Graton, now retired,
is a real auto enthusiast and really enjoyed drawing automobiles,
planes and other gas guzzling machines, back in the days when fuel
was cheap and cars were cool. Vroooom ! |
|
|
|
Un Métier de Seigneurs (A
Noble Profession) by Pierre Boulle |
*** |
A spy thriller set in World War II, featuring
allied spies and nasty nazis, dealing with courage and cowardness,
and man's resistance (or not) to torture. |
|
|
|
Boris Vian, le sourire créateur
by Valère-Marie Marchand |
*** |
A biography of the poet Boris Vian , a favorite
inspiration of mine told in a little bit too sensationalist way but
nevertheless an enterntaining read, especially if like me "vous
aimez le Bison", (en français dans le texte). |
|
|
NOVEMBER 2012 |
"Partout m'est
desespoir,
et ma peine, infinie.
Face à mes noirs miroirs,
je ne vois plus qu'un cri"
L.Lucien |
|
Les Jeux de l'Esprit (Desperate
Games) by Pierre Boulle |
*** |
Scientists decide to take over world politics
from the hands of incomptetent politicians . Thanks to their superior
minds they succeed and create a new society. Of course everything
does not work according to plan and their dream society soon veers
into the realm of soft fascism and opinion control through violent
massmedia entertainment. A pleasant little scifi novel from the fifties
by the author of Planet of the Apes and Bridge on the River Kwai,
with a prophetic view on above mentionned mass media's more grotesque
manifestations. |
|
|
|
Lautrec, Mon Ami by François
Gauzi |
**** |
François Gauzi was a close friend
of Toulouse Lautrec's and spent a lot of time with him sharing the
rambuctious lifestyle of the late 19th century parisian painter.
In this not too well written book (Gauzi sometimes repeats the same
anecdotes, and his prose is somewhat clumsy, but one must remember
he was painter and not a writer) he shares many anecdotes and rare
moments from Lautrec's entire artistic life, as their friendship
was a longstanding one. Gauzi's affection for Lautrec is evident
throughout the book which is also an interesting and entertaining
testimony on the life of the parisian artists of that era. |
|
|
|
A Maze of death by Philp K.
Dick |
*** |
Some space pionneers are sent to the strange
planet Delmak-O. They do not know each other and why they have been
sent there. Soon communications with the ouside universe break down,
and things quickly go wrong . But all is not what it seems with Philip
K Dick who once again shows his prophetic insight, as we discover
at the end of the book. A very paranoid "Dickian" atmosphere
in this one ( as I've heard this neo-adjective used, an honor bestowed
upon few writers , ie: shakespearian , proustian, balzacian, homeric....
In french there's also dantesque & rimbaldien ; can't think of
any others). |
|
|
OCTOBER 2012
|
The History Of
The Universe In Three Words (sic)
CHAPTER ONE
Bang!
CHAPTER TWO
sssss….
CHAPTER THREE
crunch.
The End
I.M. Banks |
|
The Drop by Michael Connelly |
*** |
My favorite L.A. Detective Hieronymus
Bosch on a double investigation ( one at the Chateau Marmont even
). Michael Connelly adds another episode to his sympathetic detective's
career and once again lives up to his reputation as one of today's
foremost crime writers. |
|
|
|
The State of the Art by Iain
M. Banks |
***** |
Much reading fun and fantasy in this collection
of short stories and literary ramblings by Mr Banks, some rather experimental
in form, albeit never lacking the author's apparently limitless imagination
and his jubilant sense of humor. All the stories revolve around his
science fiction series about the Culture, a future galactic society
led by hyper intelligent space ships that human beings, far surpassed
by these self repairing, self improving artificial inelligences, have
gladly accepted as the organisers and rulers of a vast galactic democracy
of sorts. |
|
|
SEPTEMBER 2012 |
Old longings nomadic
leap
Chafing at custom's chain;
Again from its brumal sleep
Wakens the ferine strain
J.Myers O'Hara |
|
Virginia by Jens Christian
Grondhal |
**** |
A story not quite told about a love affair
that didn't quite happen between two teenagers during World War II.
J.C. Grondhal tells this story with a great delicacy of feelings,
well describing the subtle emotions and regrets of his characters
as they deal with the consequences of their lost opportunities. |
|
|
|
Midnight all day by Hanif Kureishi
|
***** |
Ever since I read "The Buddha of Suburbia"
a now substantial number of years ago, I've felt that Hanif Kureishi
was the author who best described my generation. This feeling has
been kept alive by his following books and film scripts which I've
always enjoyed. This collection of short stories is no exception.
All the stories are very good and one of them, Four Blue Chairs, is
in my sense exceptional. |
|
|
|
The Affair by Lee Child |
**** |
Heavy handed headbuster Jack Reacher hits
Hickville and hurts the hicks in yet one more of Lee Child's irresistible
page turners. Child has an uncanny way of writing action thrillers
that are predictable (Jack Reacher lands in some small town, this
time in Misssissippi, and gives the local evil doers what they deserve),
and yet extremely hard to put down . His stories are like donuts,
you know you should be eating something healthier but mmmm donuts…
In this one, a seminal donut of sorts, we find out why our favorite
ex-MP left the army and turned into a lone drifter… |
|
|
|
The Call of the Wild by Jack
London |
***** |
The Call of the Wild, written before
White Fang (see review below, march 2011) , is like its inverted
mirror image. In White Fang a wild wolf dog finds peace and
solace in domesticity, and in the Call, a tame family dog surrenders
to its "ferine strains" and runs off to lead a pack of wolves in the
Yukon wilderness. The two stories bear many similarities, the great
North, the hardships of a sled pulling dog's life and London's gift
for storytelling, though the more developed White Fang shows even
more of his tremendous talent as if The Call of the Wild was
the blue print or the draft for the richer and longer White Fang
(published only 3 years later). It still remains a classic with London
already displaying immense writing abilities. |
|
|
|
The Robots of Dawn by Isaac
Asimov |
**** |
A robot murder mystery by the master of
robotic stories and author of 470 books (470 !!!) Isaac Asimov. Can
robots be murdered ? An excellent science-fiction novel, the fourth
installement of Asimov's famous Robot novels, set in a futrie society
wher robots have become all present and indispensable to human beings.and
along the way we even we learn how "psycho-history" ( a
science familiar to the readers of Asimov's Foundation series) was
invented ans by whom. |
|
|
|
The Productions of Time by
John Brunner |
*** |
A very british story set in a country
manor with strange butlers, tweed jackets and all the frills, where
a theater production brings together a group of actors on the decline
under the pretext of rehearsing a new play. But unbeknownst to them,
another fiendish agenda awaits the thespians. Not an essential Brunner
book but fun to read. The mood reminded me of some of the early
episodes of the english TV series "The Avengers" (the
one with John Steed, not the Marvel gang of leotard wearing super
hero freaks). |
|
|
|
9 dragons by Mike Connelly |
**** |
Where we learn a bit about Hieronymus Bosch's
tragic family life as he has to deal with evil chinese triads and
goes to Hong Kong. I also learnt the origins of the chinese triads
from this solid thriller by the consistent Mike Connelly, Deon Meyer's
american cousin. |
|
|
AUGUST 2012
|
|
|
Heart of the Hunter by Deon
Meyer |
**** |
Another great thriller by one of today's
best authors of the genre. This one features the assegai (a traditional
xhosa spear) wielding ex-KGB hitman "Tiny" Thobela Mpayipheli,
a formidable character already featured by Meyer in one of his previous
novels, "Devil's Peak" (see review below, september 2011).
On top of being top notch thrillers, Deon Meyer's books also teach
a lot about modern day South Africa, it's peoples, social issues and
geography. |
|
|
|
Simulacra by Philip K Dick
|
*** |
After the first five pages of this book,
you understand why Philip K. Dick is one of the great science fiction
writers. They contain more "scifi" ideas in than in many
other science fiction author's entire books. This one deals with media
manipulation, virtual heads of state, and other visionary technical
developpments that make Dick one of the most prophetic scifi authors
to date. |
|
|
|
Rosalie Blum by Camille Jourdy
|
****for
artwork /****for
text |
An original and well constructed graphic
novel relating in a delicate and pleasant style the complicated relationships
of some colourful characters in a french town. The story, at first
disconcerting, slowly but surely encroached me and Camille Jourdy's
fine artwork made this a very enjoyable read. |
|
|
JULY 2012 |
|
|
The Impossible Dead by Ian
Rankin |
***** |
This is the second Ian Rankin book I've
read not featuring the great John Rebus but the "complaints"
inspector Malcolm Fox. In Rankin's first Fox story "The Complaints",
I did miss Rebus, his sidekick Siobhan and his nemesis Big Ger Cafferty.
This time around I accepted the fact that Rebus is no longer around
and got used to the younger Fox who is not so different from his predecessor.
Rankin's storytelling and characters are as always solid and well
depicted. Fox and his crew make up a bunch of good coppers and Rankin's
new series seems well on it's way. |
|
|
|
The Grandmothers by Doris Lessing |
* |
I didn't get this book, the situations and
characters seemed improbable and unrealistic. I expected much more
from a Nobel Prize winner. Boring and slightly annoying even... |
|
|
|
La Petite Roque by Guy de Maupassant |
****** |
A short murder mystery by Maupassant published
in 1885 when such stories were not yet much in vogue. Before that
only Poe, Wilkie Collins and few others had tested the genre. Maupassant
does a great job of it, introducing a novel final twist for the times.
Great reading as usual with Master Maupassant. |
|
|
|
The Squares of the City by
John Brunner |
**** |
A rather strange and very "sixties-ish"
book set in Vados, a fictional South american dictature where chess
is the national sport. The book 's structure, though you can't tell
when you read it, is based on a famous chess game.from 1892 between
Wilhelm Steinitz & Mikhail Chigorin, with each character representing
a piece on the board and each plot development echoing a move in the
game. (I'll admit I had no clue of this as I read the book). It's
also a reflection on "soft fascism" and media manipulation,
like for instance the use of subliminal messages in advertisments,
and other "big-brotheresque" crowd control techniques, themes
which make the book somewhat prophetic. |
|
|
JUNE 2012 |
|
|
The Star Rover by Jack London |
***** |
A gloomy novel about emprisonment, resilience
and reincarnation. A very strange book indeed, sometimes reminiscent
of Edgar Allan Poe's work and featuring as always London's great storytelling
capacities, powerful characters and his ruthless outlook on life and
humanity. |
|
|
|
Echo Burning by Lee Child |
*** |
Maybe I've read too much of Lee Child's
books, but this one seemed too reminiscent of his other Jack Reacher
thrillers, even though Child retains his amazing page turning abilities.
|
|
|
|
Trundling Grunts by Glen Baxter |
***** |
Ah, the nonsensical and hilarious world
of Glen Baxter ! What a treat ! |
|
|
|
Robert Crumb, de l'underground à
la génèse |
****** |
The catalog to Crumb's big 2012 exhibition
at the Musée d'Art Moderne of Paris. A well documented and
well printed survey of Crumb's entire career, with illustrations and
drawings from his beginnings to nowadays. Amazing ! |
|
|
|
The complete Record Cover Collection
by Robert Crumb |
***** |
If the most famous record cover by Crumb
is probably Janis Joplin's Cheap Thrills album, he has drawn quite
a number of them and they have been astutely collected in this fine
book. |
|
|
|
The Sweeter side of Robert Crumb by
Robert Crumb |
***** |
Another fine collection of drawings by Robert
Crumb that for once can be put in hands of all ages. No crumbian porn
here, maybe an attempt to reach a wider audience. Undoubtedly one
of the great drawing talents of of times. |
|
|
|
Poems for a New Millenium by
Laurent Lucien |
********** |
A new collection of poems in french and
english written between 2000 and 2010. Guess who wrote them ?
It contains some of my best work to date, methinks.You can order it
here. |
|
|
MAY 2012 |
|
|
Brazzaville Beach by William
Boyd |
** |
A good idea to set this story in a campment
of scientists studying chimpanzees in the Congo, but the plot and
characters (apart from the main heroin) lack a little depth and the
book's to-ing and fro-ing between two periods of the narrator's life
prevent it from picking up steam .Some chapters seem repetitive and
don't add much to the story. Not a bad book, it's quite readable but
in my sense not Boyd's best, maybe because I've come to expect more
from this author. |
|
|
|
Prophecies by Leonardo da Vinci |
**** |
Genius Leonardo's thoughts and maximes taken
from his Codex Atlanticus. Gives you an idea of the great mind at
work and the vast scope of his interests. Was this man really a human
being ? |
|
|
|
Skipid by Stefán Máni |
*** |
Another dark story from Iceland set on a
cargo ship aboard which a motley crew (^^) heads for disaster on the
tempestuous Atlantic Ocean.. A dense gloomy atmosphere and numerous
plot twists make this a rather good maritime action thriller. |
|
Tune of the month:
Weep
themselves to sleep by Jack White |
APRIL 2012 |
"Striving to
stay droll and jolly
Amidst all the poison and stink"
L.Lucien |
|
Skyscrapers of the Midwest
by Joshua W. Cotter |
***for
artwork /**for text |
An original graphic novel, set in a familiar
but unique and very personal world of crumbian cat children with no
eyeballs living in a strange midwestern town where scary robots and
other odd happenings abound.and where life is not simple. |
|
|
Shibumi by Trevanian |
** |
Having read the "prequel sequel"
to this book by another author using the same characters and background,
I was curious to read the original story. Don Winslow, commissioned
by his editors to write a follow-up to late author Trevanian's Shibumi,
had done a rather good job of it and spun out a good action thriller,
Satori. (See review January 2012) Reading Trevanians book which is
set after its prequel-sequel, I enjoyed encountering the same characters
and mood but nonobstant the fine descriptions of the Pyrénées
mountains, and the passion for spelunking (a weird and good word !)
the author conveys in a bit too many pages, I was left feeling the
original from 1979 lacked the modernity found in more contemporary
thriller books. A feeling similar to reading Robert Ludlum or Alistair
Maclean today. These books meant to be cutting edge modern thrillers
at the time of their writing, can't beat the fact that the digital
revolution has happened and that today the lack of its presence in
an action drama involving spies, survellance and covert communications
inevitably makes that drama seem slightly dated and somewhat quaint.
Still, kudos to Mr Trevanian for, already in 1979, describing a "Mother
Company" a secret US security organisation run by ruthless oil
barons and other powerful nefarious figures of the defense and industrial
lobbies who use a "very powerful computer" ( in 1979 this
might have been an 8 million dollar Cray supercomputer, a machine
30 times less powerful than today's average PC ) to spy and collect
information on people. Though Trevanian's talent is not in cause,
and duly his books were bestsellers in their day, this dated 20th
century feeling made this is a rare case where for once I enjoyed
the the sequel (or prequel sequel) better than the original. |
MARCH 2012 |
"The function
of man is to live, not to exist.
I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them.
I shall use my time." J.London |
|
Tales of the Fish Patrol by
Jack London |
***** |
Inspired by London's teenage years, these
short stories, all set in the San Francisco Bay, relate the adventures
of a young man enrolled in the "Fish Patrol", a brigade
of maritime coppers of sorts, or rather of naval game wardens, intended
to stop fishing misdemeanors in the bay. Based on London's real life
experiences, the stories portray the life of fishermen in the San
Franscisco Bay at the turn of the 20th century, feature some very
picturesque characters (there's even a sailor named Nick the Greek!
) and show that London was already a fearless adventurer as a teenager. |
|
|
The Mutiny of the Elsinore
by Jack London |
***** |
A tale of the high seas, aboard the Elsinore,
a cargo sail ship running the merchant routes in 1913 around the terrible
Cape Horn, before the digging of the Panama canal. On board, a motley
crew rebels against the fearless Captain West (nice to write motley
crew).. Hardships, adventure and tragedy await them as they suffer
terrible storms and fight for survival, and the narrator, at first
a gentleman of leisure, is forced by the tragic turn of events to
take part in the ruthless battle between the crooked mutinees and
their self-righteous opponents. London writes an epitomic tale of
mutiny, comparable to the Mutiny of the Bounty, and confirms his great
knowledge of the seaman's plight and as always, his immense storytelling
talent. |
|
|
In a dry season by Peter Robinson |
***** |
Another good one by crime story marksman
Peter Robinson set as always in the Yorkshire Dales with Detective
Inspector Alan Banks once again at hands with some old forgotten bones.
Banks, over serious challengers such as Iain Rankin's John Rebus,
Deon Meyer's Benny Griessel or Mike Connelly's Hieronymus Bosch, gets
my vote for top cop: he listens to Tupelo Honey by Van Morrison while
working on his cases. |
|
FEBRUARY 2012 |
|
1Q84 by Haruki Murakami |
**** |
Once again the strange fantastic world of
Murakami entraps the reader, in this first installment of a trilogy
that shows some ressemblance to Stig Larsen's Millennium. As in "Kafka
on the Shore" (see review below, january 2012), we follow two
main characters in alternating chapters, this time a writer and a
hit-woman, as their destinies slowly lead them together. A good start
that makes me want to read the rest of this trilogy. |
|
|
Le Cahier Tropical by Simon
Pradinas |
***** |
Another little book by very talented Simon
Pradinas, this one in color, showing a series of paintings he made
during a trip to southern China in the summer of 2007. |
|
|
80 Dessins et Gravures by Simon
Pradinas |
***** |
Simon Pradinas is a painter, drawer, engraver,
poet and film maker whose work I really like. This little book in
black and white shows 80 of his recent drawings and engravings and
even contains an excellent poem "La ville qui courait".
Self-published, it's hard to find but you can try contacting him through
his website: http://simon.pradinas.com/
|
|
|
Bettý by Arnaldur Indridason |
***** |
Hé hé hé, ho ho ho
ho. As not to spoil its plot and clever construction, I won't say
too much about this book but ha ha ha, hi hi hi. Wily Arnaldur Indridason,
my favorite islandish author (and also the only one i've read), must
have had a lot of fun writing this dark roman noir full of twists
and surprises set in wintry Iceland where passions burn as hot as
elswhere, no matter how thick the snow. |
|
|
Kafka on the Shore by Haruki
Murakami |
***** |
A good discovery this book by Haruki Murakami
who leads us into the fantastic world of his imaginary Japan where
things are not what they seem, cats can be talked to, old stones glow
in the forest awaiting the chosen's touch, and mystery and danger
lurk behind every palisade. An interesting new author added to my
favorites in the fantastsic genre. |
|
JANUARY 2012 |
|
The Acme Novelty Library Annual Report
to Shareholders by Chris Ware |
******for
artwork /*****for text
|
A very impressive volume of Chris Ware's
amazing ACME Novelty series. Since 1993, Ware has been publishing
this series of very fine quality books that all come in different
sizes and formats. This one is a large one and contains many bittersweet
and often cruel comic strips featuring Ware's recurrent heroes such
as Quimby the Mouse, Rocket Sam, cowboy Big Tex, Rusty Brown and others.
Also featured in this sturdy and elegant hardboard volume are Ware's
usual wacky prose inserts,silly fake advertisements, his incredible
typography, cutout paper models that you don't cut out so not to ruin
the book, a luminescent map of the stars and many more droll and interesting
goodies altogether making this a major opus by one of comics finer
artists. |
|
|
Coffee with Marylin by Yona
Zeldis McDonough |
* |
A useless little book pretending to be an
unformal interview with Marilyn Monroe in which fans will learn nothing
new about the famous actress. A scarce collection of things she might
have actually thought and said, it completely passes on a fundemental
aspect of the Hollywood legend and iconic photographer's model : not
a single picture! |
|
|
Need More Love by Aline Kominsky-Crumb |
***for
artwork /***for text
|
A fun account of the life of comic artist
Aline Kominsky-Crumb, one of the inventotrs of underground comics
in the 60s. Aline was one of the creators of the first comics made
entirely by women. Her recollections of her childhood and teenage
years in the 60s, her life in the San Francsisco hippy scene as a
young artist-activist, and her later settling in the south of France
with her family are fun to read and illustrated by many of her drawings
and excerpts from her comics, plus to top it all there are a few of
her husband Robert Crumb's drawings in there too. |
|
|
|
|
Pluto, volumes 1 & 2 by
Naoki Urasawa |
*****for
artwork /****for text
|
Naoki Urosawa is the author of "Monster"
a manga I read a while back and really enjoyed. In this venture he
revives Osama Tezaku's Astroboy, a classic of the genre created in
1952, as a tribute to Tezaku's work which he admires. Using a more
realistic approach, Uzawa reinvents the futuristic world of robots
where Astroboy, the very powerful boy robot and robot policeman Gesicht
are faced with the mysterious murders of fellow combots (combat robots)
and humans. The first two volumes, like the Monster series, show a
great sense of plot, interesting characters, and excellent artwork,
confirming Urasawa as one of the more sophisticated manga authors
I've read. |
|
|
|
|
Void Moon by Mike Connelly |
**** |
A good Connelly book, set in Las Vegas and
Los Angeles about audacious heisters stealing from mobby casino owners.
As always with Mike Connelly, an efficient and well constructed thriller,
featuring a female heroin, nasty mafia henchmen, shovels in Cadillac
trunks, burials in the Nevada desert, and other Vegas traditions. |
|
|
|
|
Satori by Don
Winslow |
*** |
Commissioned by his publishers, Don Winslow
undertakes the difficult task of writing a sequel or rather a prequel
to another author's work, the late Trevanian's Shibumi, a spy novel
featuring international hitman Nicholai Hel. Though I've not read
Trevanian's original novel, I found Winslow pulled it off rather well
in this action thriller set in China and Vietnam in the 1970s. |
|
|
Hero and Leander by Chris Marlowe |
*** |
This is a long poem, written in the
17th century by the notorious Chris (aka "Kit") Marlowe,
about greek mythology figures Hero and Leander and their tragic
love affair. A fair setting for sure for a poet to roam, and though
Kit tries his best and shows off his greeks, his rhymes oft tumble
clumsy, and his rythm is naught. Hero and Leander is never the less
quite amusing to read, very indicative of its time, and written
by one of the few contemporary poets of Shakespeare to step out
of his shadow. Marlowe would, but does not equal Shakespeare, nor
has he the baggage to lay such a claim. Then again nobody can really
compete with the great Will, even to this day. In the glare of the
sun even bright stars look bleak. I would not really blame Marlowe
though, whose gallant verse probably much appealed to the ladies
of his time, (and seems apparently more aimed at their swooning
than written as an earnest poetic pursuit), as the young man was
busy elsewhere as a secret agent of sorts, a murky activity which
led to his early death by stabbing at 29 years of age. Yet the comparison
with Shakespeare is inevitable, the two contemporaries being both
playwrites and poets, and it turns to Marlowe's disadvantage as
here I found none of the Bard's profundity, a lesser understanding
of human passions, and none of the ominous and rolling rhythm of
the Sonnets, and though I've not read any of Marlowe's plays, I
fear they would not stand up well to Macbeth, Lear or the danish
slasher. Nevertheless an instructive read, epitomic of 17th century
english poetry even if Marlowe's adventurous and shady life seems
more interesting than his writing. |
|
|
L'Armée Furieuse by
Fred Vargas |
**** |
The subtle commissaire Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg
and his very likeable sidekicks, Danglard and Betancourt are back
in this latest installment of Fred Vargas's roman noir series, set
in Paris and Normandy. This time they are faced with ancient morbid
superstitions and mysterious murders in the heart of the norman countryside.
A very good "polar" by France's best author in the genre. |
2011: 66 |
DECEMBER 2011 |
|
Batman: Dark Knight 1.2.3 by
Frank Miller and Lynn Varley |
***for
artwork /*for text |
Same things to say about this one as the
review two boxes down except the artwork shows more originality than
is usually seen in traditional Super hero comics. Miller's graphic
style and Lynne Varley's coloring are often surprising and refresh
the Batman myth. Alas once again I found the story never seemed to
matter, was hard to get into and somewhat inane when I finally did. |
|
|
Olympos by Dan Simmons |
***** |
The second part of Dan Simmons sci-fi saga
about: quantumly displaced trojan and greek heroes re-enacting Homer's
Illiad on Mars, Shakespeare loving robots from the moons of Jupiter,
bewildered humans fighting for survival on an endangered Earth, and
many more extravagant concepts and ideas, does not disappoint and
once again I marvelled at Simmons's exuberant imagination and complex
plot building abilities. Illium (see review september 2011) and Olympos
are surely one of the major science-fiction works of this nascent
21st century. |
|
|
Batman: Hush by Jeph Loeb,
Jim Lee & Scott Williams |
***for
artwork /*for text |
I've always had an interest for Bruce Wayne
and his caped and leotarded adventures, maybe because my parents would
not let me watch the Batman and Robin TV series when I was a kid.
"You don't need to watch that kind of stupidity" would sternly
say my dad, and my mum agreed because she'd read about an 8 year old
boy who'd donned a Superman costume and, thinking he could fly, had
jumped off the roof a building, subsequently killing himself in the
process. I argued that I was not stupid enough to do such a thing,
that the show was fun and that unlike Superman, Batman couldn't fly,
but to no avail. Only Zorro was accepted as far as caped and masked
vigilantes went. I caught up with the pleasant wacky camp series much
later and even nowadays when I stumble on a Batman film or comic book,
I take a look. Though contrarily to most caped crusader's fans, I
miss the TV series's comedy aspect that is never present in comic
book form, I've sometimes read pretty good installments of Bob Kane
and Bill Finger's creation. This one is not bad and some panels make
for pretty impressive comic book art, but the story, although it features
many famous bat-ingredients like Catwoman, Robin, the Joker, Gotham
City, the batcave (and bat-vehicles) and even Superman, does not do
it for me as often is the case with superhero comics. Bang! Pow! Wham!
Boom! is not enough of a plot to keep me interested anymore, part
of the price for getting old I guess. |
|
|
L'Invasion des Triplex by
Laurent Lucien |
******** |
Another book of 3D fractal images rendered
by me (examples here).
Like the Codex Mandelbulbus (see below september 2010), this is
mostly a picture book, this time with a little fictional text accompanying
the illustrations. Only in french as of yet (but I promise to translate
it soon), and you can order it here. |
|
|
13 Uur (13 Hours) by Deon Meyer |
**** |
A very fast paced action thriller set in
Cape Town, South Africa by the excellent Deon Meyer, featuring his
anxious cop detective Benny Griessel. This is the second Deon Meyer
book I've read this year and he is certainly one of the better crime
writers I've discovered recently. |
|
|
One Shot by Lee Child |
**** |
Lee Child's -hard to put down though
I should stop reading this and get some sleep but I can't even though
I know Jack Reacher will obliterate the bad guys in the end- effect
still works. I was somewhat sleepy the next day. |
|
NOVEMBER 2011 |
"Clay lies
still, but blood's a rover;
Breath's a ware that will not keep.
Up, lad; when the journey's over
There'll be time enough for sleep.”
A.E. Houseman |
|
Le Docteur Heraclius Gloss
by Guy de Maupassant |
***** |
An excentric french XIXth century doctor
discovers metempsychosis and is soon ensconsed by the doctrine's lores
through a strange book found in an old bookstore. It leads to his
ostracisation and the adoption of a monkey, the loss of all his friends
and social respectability. A tall tale told as usual with great maestria
and humor by Guy de Maupassant, undoubtedly one of the true great
masters of french literature. |
|
|
Kaltex en Chine by Kaltex |
****** |
In 1986, a group of artists, sculptors,
painters, and filmmakers known as Kaltex (Soizic Arsal, Willy Pierre
& Simon Pradinas) accompanied by photographer Yann Layma took
off for several months on an exploration of China. During their voyage,
they painted, drew, sculpted and clicked away and came back with a
rich trove of varied artwork . This book shows some of their work
and testifies of the creative ebulliency and emulation that their
travelling together induced. It's also an original and colourful depiction
of China in 1986. |
|
|
Blood's a Rover
by James Ellroy |
****** |
The third part of James
Ellroy's trilogy following American Tabloid and The Cold Six Thousand,
describing the dark underbelly of the US of A in the early 70's
during Richard Nixon's election campaign against Hubert Humphrey,
this final installement delivers the same kind of goods (or bads?)
as the first two, with a few novel twists like important (and left
wing ! ) women characters. But still everpresent are the same hysterical
anti communist weirdoes, the same corrupt politicians and mob bosses,
the same crooked cops and ultra right wing racist thugs indulging
in the same kind of psychopathic behavior you've come to expect
to find in an Ellroy book. And also the same redemptive love affairs,
the same uptempo pace and ambitious unique writing style that Ellroy
seems to have pushed even further this time, making this book an
oustanding piece of modern literature. |
|
OCTOBER 2011 |
"In writing
a novel, when in doubt,
have two guys come through the door with guns."
R. Chandler |
|
61 hours
by Lee Child |
**** |
Big Jack Reacher goes after the bad guys
and you can't stop turning the pages as always with Lee Child, one
of the best action thriller writers around. |
|
|
The story of Calife Hakem
by Gerard de Nerval |
***** |
An amusing "long short story"
by the eclectic de Nerval, who brought this tale back from his travels
to Egypt, about a crazy haschich smoking ruler of Cairo from the 10th
century who thought he was a divinity and expected his subjects to
rever him accordingly. Calife Hakim did actually exist and is the
originator of the Druze religion.Very loosely based on the historical
facts, the story is told by a young narrator who is befriended by
the delusional calife. Entertaining, original and very well written
like all de Nerval's work I've read so far. |
|
|
L'Enfant et la Rivière
by Henri Bosco |
*** |
This is a rather good story about a young
boy who runs away from home and lives in the wild on the banks and
islands of a river where he meets another young runaway more aloof
than himself who helps him survive. It was pleasant enough to discover
Bosco's writing but the problem I had is that Mark Twain had already
written the Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn adventures long before ( Bosco
wrote this book in 1945, Twain wrote his in the 1870s) so I couldn't
help feeling that this was a sort of rip-off from those excellent
books by Mr Samuel Longhorne Clemens (a.k.a. Mark Twain) also about
young lads fending for themselves on a river. Here villain Injun
Joe is replaced by a bunch of child stealing gypsies, the boys have
a rowboat instead of a raft and these and other similarities somewhat
miffed me. Had I not read Tom Sawyer I'd probably have enjoyed this
one more as it's pretty well written albeit maybe a bit quaint and
dated by today's hard-boiled standards. |
|
|
Poil de Carotte
by Jules Renard |
*** |
A very strange book, about the life of a
young redheaded country boy, Poil de Carotte (Carrot Hair), mistreated
by his family and entourage, who nevertheless manages to keep a positive
outlook on life. Set on a farm in some backwards part of France in
the early 20th century, the book, written in a rather odd style by
Jules Renard, shows the hardships of life for kids in the old days
before child psychologists. |
|
|
Blood War, Unholy Allies
& The Unbeholden by Robert Weinberg |
*** |
A set of three books set in a world ruled
by clans of ferocious vampires that I was surprised to enjoy reading
not particularily being a fan of vampire stories. Commissioned to
write this trilogy by the makers of a video game set in the same vampire
world, Robert Weinberg does a very good job of it, and the parts of
the story set in Paris are well documented contrarily to for instance
to Dan Brown's unresearched and preposterous Paris in the Da Vinci
code.(Look at a map man!) Robert Weinberg did and got his Paris geography
right. If there's such a thing as B-books like there are B-movies,
then these are rather good ones. |
|
|
The Marriage of Heaven
and Hell by William Blake |
**** |
Written and illustrated by Blake himself,
this is a major work of poetry from late 18th century England. Though
I can't agree with some of his Proverbs from Hell like for instance
"Sooner murder an infant in its cradle than nurse unacted desires."
( I beg to differ ), the volume is impressive and contains many powerful
poetic visions and iconic illustrations, some of which are reminiscent
of the Bible's style of writing. One memorable phrase is "If
the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to
man as it is, infinite." which inspired the title of a book by
Aldous Huxley and the name of the famous sixties rock band formed
by James William Morrison and his acolytes, the Doors. |
|
|
Un Fils by Guy
de Maupassant |
**** |
A short story by Maupassant, always a pleasure
to read. This one deals with the consequences of 19th century men
of the french bourgeoisie's lewd habit of jumping the maids in countryside
inns when contraception was inexistent and thus begetting illegitimate
children and leaving the mothers in desperate situations. Maupassant
describes the qualms and regrets of one such humper and shows some
compassion for the poor waif and her bastard son but ends his story
with the cynical and somewhat realistic point of view of the narrator's
accomplice, revealing the hypocritical mores of the 19th century bourgeoisie. |
|
SEPTEMBER 2011 |
|
|
"La gata de mi madre"
& "La buena compañía" by Carlos Fuentes |
*** |
These two short stories about ghosts set
in Mexico reminded me of Edith Wharton's Ghost stories I read earlier
this year, and I felt that like some of Wharton's they too ended a
bit abruptly with no real explanations on the nature of the specters
and I was left a bit frustrated, as if the stories stopped when the
action really begins. Nevertheless they are rather well written and
Fuentes succeeds in creating a good Mexican gothic atmosphere. |
|
|
On Writing by Stephen
King |
***** |
This is a very generous book. The great
Stephen King has chosen to share some insights and thoughts on writing
and he gives a lot of tips to aspiring writers. In the first part
of the book he tells us how he came to be a writer, from his first
stories wriiten in childhood to his first major success with Carrie.
Since he's not trying to scare us this time, he reveals a great sense
of humor and the book is fun to read on top of being instructive.
In the second part he gives some great advice for anyone tickled with
the need to scribble stuff on paper. It's a very inspiring read and
worth any writing class in my opinion. Thanks Steve! |
|
|
Restless by William
Boyd |
*** |
An english teacher discovers her mother
was a british secret agent during WWII and helps her come to terms
with her troubled past. A pleasant spy novel mixing the mother's story
in Europe and the US during the war and her daughter's contemporary
point of view. |
|
|
Devil's Peak by
Deon Meyer |
**** |
The copper is an alcoholic, his wife is
leaving him, two déjà-vus which trigger my "Uh-oh
not again!" reflex, but the story is set in South Africa which
made it original for me and Deon Meyer tells it well, and is very
apt at bringing his characters to life in this dark tale of a murderous
vengeance set in the shade of Devil's Peak, a mountain overlooking
Cape Town. |
|
|
Ilium by Dan Simmons |
***** |
Another literary feat coming from Dan
Simmons's outstanding imagination, where he mixes galactic warfare,
the heroes of Homer's "Iliad", the gods of ancient Greece,
Shakespeare, Proust and little green martians into one story, and
pulls it off too, in a thrilling and quite unique novel (not really
that unique, as Simmons has written a sequel titled Olympos). If
you're familiar with Simmons's work, you'll know he enjoys summoning
great figures of literature in his novels, viz. John Keats and Ezra
Pound in "Hyperion" or Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins
in "Drood", and in this he indulges here unrestrained,
much to my enjoyment. Not often does one get to enter the bedroom
of Helen of Troy (who was actually from Sparta of course). Contrarily
to "Drood", which I found a bit longish near the end,
this one starts slowly and suddenly finds it's pace when the Shakespeare
and Proust loving Moravecs from Jupiter's moonbelt are viciously
attacked near Mars (no, I won't explain, read the book). From then
on I was totally hooked and couldn't wait to know what would happen
to the odd cast of characters the very erudite Simmons has assembled
here. A major science-fiction novel for sure, by Zeus. |
|
AUGUST 2011
"Those who restrain desire
do so because theirs is weak enough to be restrained."
W. Blake |
|
Worth dying for
by Lee Child |
**** |
Big John Reacher gets the bad guys again
in this irresistible page turner by Lee Child. What is so compelling
about these stories starring an improbable invincible and merciless
former US army MP ? Lee Child's books are very hard to put down so
don't read them in bed if you have to get up early in the morning. |
|
|
Poésies Complètes
by François Villon |
****** |
François Villon is one the first
famous french poets (from the 15th century) whose work still resonates
today though you have to be able to decipher olde french spellings
to understand it. When you do and especially in a few of his more
pertinent poems, he attains a level of poetry that few later poets
have reached in form and substance. A clerk and a thief, he was often
at odds with justice and barely escaped hanging at the end of his
life. His adventurous life and poetic talent make him one of the all
time major figures of french literature. |
|
|
El misterio de la cripta
embrujada (The Mystery of the Enchanted Crypt)
by Eduardo Mendoza |
**** |
In this wacky detective story set in Barcelona, the hero and narrator
is a lunatic who lives in an asylum, has poor hygiene and no manners,
but is nevertheless pulled from his nuthouse by a police inspector
who uses his unusual deductive capabilities to solve mysterious dissappearances
in a private school for girls run by whimsical nuns. Much nonsense
and fantasy make this humorous book quite fun to read. |
|
|
Le Fou de Bergerac
(The Madman of Bergerac) by Georges Simenon |
** |
This is a Commissaire
Maigret story, the famous pipe smoking french policeman invented
by Simenon. Maigret was very popular in France in the 20th century,
but, as for Hemingway (see below), the test of time shows no mercy
to Simenon's writing and even though some good ideas are thrown
in, the storyline and characters seem quaint and simplistic compared
to the work of some of today's better crime writers. |
|
|
Some words with a mummy
by Edgar Allan Poe |
**** |
I usually don't like to read translations
of english works but I stumbled on this short story translated by
Baudelaire who did an excellent job on Poe's work, so I read it in
french... It's an amusing tale (and not so scary, coming from Poe)
and maybe one of the first fictional stories about a resurrected mummy
which shows how the man was way ahead of his times as an inventor
of fantastic literature. |
|
|
50 000$ by Ernest
Hemingway |
** |
A bit of a dissappointment, this collection
of short stories didn't altogether work for me and seemed a bit dated
and not too subtle. I've read better by Hemingway. By comparison,
the F. S. Fitzgerald's stories I reviewed in July (8 boxes down) stand
the test of time much better, to mention one of Hemingway's contemporaries,
but so do Jack London's stories that are anterior or even in my sense
the 19th century ones by Maupassant . |
|
|
La Maison Tellier, Une
partie de campagne et autres nouvelles by Guy
de Maupassant |
****** |
A truly great writer, Maupassant dazzles
with his immense talent in these classic short stories depicting 19th
century life in France. The words genius and brilliant come to mind
when you read them, his astute knowledge of human behavior, his sense
of humor and awesome writing skills (the perfect phrasing and choice
of words, the easy fluidity, the sense of flawless penmanship) making
these stories a must read for literature aficionados. |
|
|
Lilith by Primo
Levi |
**** |
A series of short stories, divided into
three parts the first of which portrays people the author met during
his captivity in the terrible Auschwitz nazi camp and the second and
third dealing with different subjects ranging from science fiction
to Levi's contemporary preoccupations, always showing a great talent
for storytelling and a vivid imagination. |
|
|
Le Gout des Jeunes Filles
by Dany Laferrière |
**** |
An interesting book about a young teenager
in Haiti in the 1970's under the tragic rule of Papa Doc Duvalier
and his discovery of life and sexuality with a group of liberated
strong spirited young women in Port au Prince struggling to survive
in the brutal world of the corrupt dictatorship.More sensual and
poetic than political, this book nevertheless gives some insight
into life in Haiti in those times. |
|
|
The Babes in the Wood
by Ruth Rendell |
*** |
A solid and well crafted crime story by
the famous Ruth Rendell. Pursuing my exploration of British crime
writers I enjoyed this one more than the PD James book I read earlier,
as it's a bit more modern in it's form and storyline. Chief Inspector
Reginald Wexford is Ms Rendell's man on the job and he's a sturdy
addition the UK's fictional police force, along with the likes of
Detective Inspectors Banks, Rebus or Dalgliesh. |
|
JULY 2011 |
"Rien
ne m'est sur que la chose incertaine." F. Villon |
|
Ceux qui vont mourir te
saluent by Fred Vargas |
*** |
One of the first stories by Fred Vargas,
who is one of the best french "roman noir" authors I've
read. Set in Rome and the Vatican, this early effort is entertaining
and fun to read though the plot is less surprising and the characters
not as endearing as in her later works featuring the sensitive Commissaire
Adamsberg and his sidekicks Danglard and Retancourt whom I missed
in this one. |
|
|
The Third Man & The
Fallen Idol by Graham Greene |
**** |
The Third Man is a "novelisation"
of Greene's script for the famous homonymous movie by Carol Reed and
The Fallen Idol is a short story that was also adapted to film by
Reed. Both stories are entertaining and well written, from a chap
who knew what he was doing. |
|
|
Les Filles de Feu &
Les Chimères by Gerard de Nerval |
****** |
This book contains one of my all time
favorite poems, "El Desdichado" from the collection "Les
Chimères". "Les Filles de Feu" is a set of
short stories relating Gerard de Nerval's relationships with some
of the women in his life. A hopeless romantic, Nerval can't help
falling in love and has a hard time making his relationships work.
He is a very likeable fellow and a very talented user of the french
language. |
|
|
The Diamond as big as
the Ritz and other stories by F. Scott
Fitzgerald |
***** |
Very good short stories from the excellent
Fitzgerald, ranging from subtle social studies to science fiction
as in the title story. This is a "how it's done" volume
as far as short story writing goes from a master in his craft. |
|
|
Imperial Bedrooms
by Brett Easton Ellis |
** |
A bit of a disappointment here from an author
I usually really like... The idea of bringing the characters from
Less than zero (Brett Easton Ellis's first novel) back to life thirty
years later seemed like a good one. But I would of hoped these characters,
or at least the narrator, would have learnt something with age, and
were not the vain, egotistic, useless idiots that they were in their
youth. Alas no... They are even more stupid and pathetic this time
which finally makes the book a bit boring, because what may have been
excusable in young twenty year olds, becomes totally deplorable in
middle aged people. Ellis, though he spares some of the female characters,
shows them no mercy and seems a bit bored by them himself and his
usually incisive writing seemed to me a bit dulled, I missed the sharp
scalpel like penmanship that makes his previous books more enjoyable
and meaningful than this one. |
|
|
Drood by Dan Simmons |
**** |
An original idea from Dan Simmons who makes
Wilkie Collins and Charles Dickens, the famous 19th century british
writers, the heroes of a mystery tale set in London. Wilkie Collins
is the opium addict narrator of this very entertaining (though maybe
a wee bit longish) story that entwines fantasy with real facts from
the aforementioned authors' lives. Simmons once again surprises with
his very versatile talent, his burgeoning imagination, his erudition
and love of writing. |
|
JUNE
2011 |
"Mon
front est rouge encor du baiser de la Reine". G de Nerval |
|
Flatland by Edwin
Abott Abott |
****** |
A very imaginative fantasy written by
a school teacher in the late 19th century, describing the arrival
of a Sphere in a flat bi-dimensional world inhabited by circles,
squares, lines and other polygons, and of the metaphysical turmoil
this event causes. The tale, narrated by a square, is reminiscent
of other british works of fantasy such as Swift's Gulliver or Lewis
Caroll's Alice. A classic of sorts. I have been commissioned to
translate it to french by the fine publishers from Carnets-Livres. |
|
|
Modern Short Stories
by Dylan Thomas, Geoffrey Dutton, Katherine Mansfield, Alan Paton,
Ted Hughes, James Thurber, James Hanley, Joyce Carey, T.F. Powys,
Patrick O'Brian, D.H. Lawrence, Ernest Hemingway, F.S. Fitzgerald,
William Faulkner, Walter de la Mare |
***** |
An excellent selection of short stories
chosen by Jim Hunter, (Headmaster, Leighton Park School) intended
for "young readers, about fourteen years old and upwards"
and aiming to "please and hold the interest". His choice
is a very good one and covers a wide range of different stories by
famous authors giving a good overview of short story writing at it's
best. Well done Head Hunter! |
|
|
The Ghost Portrait
by Gregory Norminton |
*** |
An odd book by a talented writer, set
in the 17th century just after Oliver Cromwell's rise and fall,
but the author's choice of describing intimate moments and feelings
of two painters and minor protagonists of the era, left me a bit
frustrated from wanting to read more about the epic events of those
turbulent times in British history. Though mention is made of the
"Diggers", one of the first political movements advocating
ecology and an early form of rural communism, I wanted to learn
more about them and felt I'd arrived after the show and somewhat
missed the party. Still it's a pretty bold literary idea and Norminton
an author worth watching out for. |
|
MAY 2011 |
"Je
suis le Ténébreux, - le Veuf, - l'Inconsolé,
Le Prince d'Aquitaine à la Tour abolie :
Ma seule Etoile est morte, - et mon luth constellé
Porte le Soleil noir de la Mélancolie." G de Nerval |
|
Friend of the Devil
by Peter Robinson |
****** |
Hooked on Peter Robinson's work lately, I
thoroughly enjoyed this double mystery (once again, two stories for
the price of one, not an easy thing to manage for a writer). Settling
down to read an Inspector Banks story, even though they are realistic
and rather gruesome crime stories, gives me a "comfy" feeling,
a bit like a cup of tea by the fireside on a cold rainy UK afternoon
(with scones, if possible) or enjoying a pint or two in a friendly
pub. |
|
|
|
The Summer that never was
by Peter Robinson |
***** |
Here Peter Robinson cleverly and prodigally
entwines two stories into one book which is consequently twice as
thick as the last one I read and possibly twice as enjoyable.You
get to wish all coppers were like the endearing Alan Banks. |
|
|
|
The Private Patient
by PD James |
** |
If you enjoy the board game Cluedo, you might
like this novel... There's a manor, a doctor, a butler, a maid, members
of the british aristocracy and of course a murder and a clever inspector
called Adam Dalgliesh. This is a classical english "whodunnit"
mystery very much in line with Agatha Christie's work but it's a bit
too classical for me. Good descriptions of crockery on chimney mantelpieces
though. |
|
|
|
The Brass Verdict by
Michael Connelly |
**** |
In this one Connelly brings Hieronymus Bosch
back into play to assist the Lincoln lawyer who is once again in a
dangerous mess and Bosch's presence is maybe why I somewhat prefered
this book to the previous one. Though Bosch has only a small part,
it was pleasant to find him here. A good and entertaining Connelly
book. |
|
APRIL 2011 |
"Nulla
dies sine linea" Appelles |
|
The Lincoln Lawyer
by Michael Connelly |
*** |
No Hieronymus Bosch in this Connelly story.
Instead his new main character is a lawyer in LA whose office is his
Lincoln limousine. At first a bit disappointed, as I like detective
Bosch and am not overly fascinated by judicial proceedings, I was
neverthheless taken in by Connelly's skills at writing good thriller
stories, and finally found myself interested by his well documented
description of the american justice system. |
|
|
|
Wednesday's Child
by Peter Robinson |
***** |
Another fine Detective Inspector Banks story
by the excellent Peter Robinson. Not much more to say than in the
review below without revealing the plot so I'll leave it at that. |
|
|
|
A Necessary End
by Peter Robinson |
*****
|
Along with Ian Rankin's John Rebus, Peter
Robinson's DI Banks is one of my favorite UK coppers. Very humane
and sympathetic, this Detective Inspector, based in the imaginary
town of Eastvale in the Yorkshire dales, solves his cases without
using spectacular violent means like some other of his fictional colleagues
do, loves old blues music, good food, and an occasional stop at the
pub. Robinson's plots are, like Rankin's, rather realistic and give
a broad insight into British society and the life of a Yorkshire police
inspector. Plus DI Banks isn't even a divorced alcoholic and gets
along well with his superiors. A good man, that Alan Banks. |
|
Tune of
the month: Cement
Mixer by The Jim Jones Revue |
MARCH 2011 |
"Meanwhile
my life was under a cloud." E.A.Abott |
|
White Fang by Jack
London |
****** |
Life in the Klondike, Yukon and California
in the beginning of the 20th century as told by the now famous part
wolf part dog canine named White Fang. This amazing awesome action-packed
adventure novel is the pendant to "The Call of the Wild",
London's other canine masterpiece. It's very cleverly crafted and
London's talent makes the fact that the story is practically all told
from the point of view of the wolf-dog totally acceptable, as he makes
you enter the animal's psyche as few other writers I can think of
have done. Undoubtedly a classic for all ages, but not for the squeamish,
this is no Disney movie, it's a Jack London story and it rips, claws
and bites. |
|
|
|
Une Livre de Chair (A
Pound of Flesh) by Pia Petersen |
! |
I didn't understand this book It tells the
story of a sick whining uninteresting pitiful man who has nothing
worthwhile to say and who lies on a couch feeling sick, while some
other sorry blokes play cards in the room next door. Nothing much
more happens and the writer has chosen a monotone style to write about
this nothingness which makes the book all the more dreary. I read
it through to see if maybe something would eventually happen, a twist,
a surprise, something that would make the book worth reading, but
no, nothing. Some vaguely described improbable hoods suddenly appear
in the last chapters and shoot everyone and that's it. None of the
characters have any appeal, they are all a bunch of loser schmucks
and the main character does nothing but reminisce about his petty
failed life while feeling nauseous on his couch and eventually all
this made me feel the same way. I'll admit that towards the end I
skimmed through and even skipped some of the pages. If this was a
literary attempt to write a boring book about boring people then the
author was successful. |
|
|
|
South Sea Tales
by Jack London |
****** |
Still today, Jack London is the archetype
of the writer-adventurer and in this series of short stories he takes
us to Melanesia and the Solomon Islands, land of headhunters and cannibals
where he traveled and came back with these dark tales of conflicts
and hard relationships between brutal white colonisers and the savage
island natives who were always keen to use their head-crushing clubs
on unwary white men to cut off their heads and keep them as valuable
trophies.Very entertaining, fast paced and rather violent, these exotic
tales make up a literary classic and testify of the harshness of life
and of colonial wrongdoings in that part of the world in the early
20th century. |
|
|
|
La invención de Morel
(The Invention of Morel) by Alfredo Bioy Casares |
**** |
An original short novel about a convict
shipwrecked on a strange island where mysterious machines built
by a weird scientist make bizarre events and odd things happen.
It reminded me of the TV series LOST (though much shorter and more
coherent in plot development) and of H.G. Wells "The Island
of Dr Moreau". It probably was influenced by the latter and
influenced the former.It's an interesting piece of writing from
the 1940s with a nice eerie atmosphere and some interesting and
precursory ideas about virtual reality. |
|
|
|
Indignez vous (Time
for Outrage) by Stéphane Hessel |
***** |
This well written little book, a surprise
bestseller in France this year, is a fiery political pamphlet by Stéphane
Hessel, a 93 year old french ex "resistance" freedom fighter
fromWorld War II ( and also one of the 18 editors of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights in 1948), who is alarmed by the current
state of world affairs and more particularily by the sorry gouvernance
of the country he fought and risked his life for. Striking out at
blind liberalism, his clear headed point of view, well expressed ideas
and shrewd analysis are very refreshing and reassuring, as he makes
you feel that if there are still a few intelligent people like him
with their heads and hearts in the right place left in this world,
and that we listen to them and heed their warnings, then maybe all
hope is not lost for humanity, and this in my sense is a pretty good
achievement in only 32 pages. |
|
|
|
FEBUARY 2011 |
"I'll tip my hat
to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around me
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
And I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again" P. Townsend |
|
The Ghost Stories of Edith
Wharton by Herself |
***** |
A collection of short stories about ghosts
and spectral apparitions, a theme the author seems to be quite fond
of. Her impressive talent for quickly setting a mood and building
solid characters works wonders again in each of these stories though
some of them felt as if they had no real ending and as if Edith Wharton,
who never bothers to give any explanations for the "scaerie phenomenae"
she describes, had had her fun and moved on to the next story, leaving
the reader a little frustrated. Still she remains one of the most
gifted and interesting writers I've discovered recently. |
|
|
|
The Dead Heart by
Douglas Kennedy |
**** |
An american journalist searching for a meaning
to his life gets caught up with a bunch of super rednecks in the outback
of the Australian outback. A fun to read little thriller, very different
from and maybe less profound than "Leaving the world" by
the same author which I read earlier this month (see below) but nevertheless
very entertaining and a "page-turner" for sure. |
|
|
|
Our Kind of Traitor
by John Le Carré |
**** |
Very british solid spy stories (or very solid
british spy stories) are what you expect from John Le Carré
and here he certainly delivers again with a story that takes us from
the Caribbean through Paris to Switzerland on the tracks of a group
of english spies toiling to reel in a high level russian mob defector,
with the help of an innocent couple of british citizens. Le Carré's
characters are strongly depicted, the plot veers off the spy genre's
beaten tracks and the author's sense of humour is always present.
The "old chap" retains his title of master of the spy novel
as far as I'm concerned. |
|
|
|
Apocalypse Bébé
by Virginie Despentes |
*** |
Look out, here come the tough girls! Virginie
Despentes takes us on the tracks of two female detectives as they
search for a missing teenager. Her characters are hard boiled macho
girls who know how to hold their own in a world still dominated by
men ( but not for long if this kind of women proliferate). The plot
is well develloped with good twists and mood but the ending was a
bit deceiving as I felt the author had to "wrap it up" a
bit artificially because maybe her publisher was on the phone urging
her to finish. |
|
|
Leaving
the World by Douglas Kennedy |
**** |
Where the author creates a rather sympathetic
heroin and then puts her through the most awful ordeals he can think
of until she is almost utterly psychologically and physically destroyed.
This dreary concept, the systematic bashing of the main character,
could have been somewhat depressing but Douglas Kennedy's writing
skills, the thorough psychological portrayal of his heroin and his
insightful reflections on resilience and survival after great losses
make the book, though quite a pessimistic one, an interesting read
not totally devoid of hope. |
|
JANUARY 2011 |
"The perps were known
to the vics" R.J. Ellory |
|
X'ed Out by Charles
Burns |
****** |
I have been following the work of Charles
Burns for a long time and am always impressed (favorably) by each
of his efforts. This one, the first of a new promising series is no
exception and once again summons the dark dreamlike atmospheres that
Burns has accustomed me to. I very much like his graphic style, his
very modern approach to classic comic book art, the hommage to Tintin,
and the attention to detail and the precision of his drawings which
borders on the uncanny. To quote the quote on the book's back cover
by another brilliant artist, Robert Crumb : "...It's almost as
if the artist... as if he weren't quite... human..." |
|
|
|
|
Indecent Exposure
by Tom Sharpe |
**** |
A quite outrageous, rather naughty, very
silly, most amusing, fairly nasty, surprisingly imaginative and highly
refreshing charge against the immense stupidity of the Afrikaner police
force during the apartheid years in South Africa. Tom Sharpe, an englishman
who spent some time there as a teacher, social worker and photographer
before the foul regime was abolished, and who was finally deported
back to Britain for seditious behaviour, takes vengeful pleasure in
mistreating his imbecile characters and exposing the absurdity and
idiotic logic behind the enforcement of such paranoid politics. And
so does the reader, at least so did yours truly. |
|
|
|
|
The Looking Glass
& Miss Mary Pask by Edith Wharton |
***** |
This small book contains two short stories
by the excellent Edith Wharton. The first one deals with the coming
of age and the passing of beauty in women generously endowed with
it, and the second reads a bit like an Edgar Allan Poe story, with
mystery, ghosts and eerie paranormal happenings on a stormy windy
night in Brittany. Both are superbly written and reinforced my admiration
for this talented woman's exceptional writing skills. |
|
|
|
Dance of Death
by John Case |
**** |
A surprising thriller that manages to mix
topics like the "blood diamond" trade in Africa, Lebanese
drug trafficking, discrimination towards American indians, offshore
fiscal havens and the inventions of Nicola Tesla all in the same story,
and successfully so. Though the book took its time before really getting
me hooked, it finally grabbed me and made for a very entertaining
read. |
|
|
L'Ame du Mal
(The Soul of Evil) by Maxime Chattam |
** |
One more copper-chases-serial-killer story,
and after having read R. J. Ellory's Saints of New York earlier this
month, this one seemed a little under par, in terms of originality
of plot and characters as it relies on too many déja vu clichés
of this genre which has been treated so many times in books, movies
and TV series that it is becoming very hard to surprise the reader,
though it's not altogether a bad effort. |
|
|
|
Aya de Youpogon #1
by Marguerite Abouet et Clémént Oubrerie |
****for
artwork /****for text
|
A nice comic book relating the lives of Aya,
a young girl from the Ivory Coast and her family and friends, showing
a humorous and positive side to life in Africa that is seldom depicted
in european media. It's refreshing, well written and drawn and gives
a good impression of teenage life in Abidjan in the 80s. |
|
|
The Letters by
Edith Wharton |
**** |
A touching "long" short story set
in Paris at the onset of the 20th century in which Edith Wharton subtely
describes the feelings and sentimental life of Lizzie West, a sensitive
and appealing young american woman and how she copes with love's disillusions.
Well written and showing great finesse, this is a good example of
the author's talent and elegance of spirit. |
|
|
Tartarin de Tarascon
by Alphonse Daudet illustrated by Albert Dubout |
***for
artwork /***for text
|
This is a minor french classic of french
19th century literature, and an amusing depiction of the epic quest
of Tartarin, a matamore from Tarascon in Provence who is obliged,
after boasting about great imaginary hunting prowesses, to travel
to Africa to go lion hunting. He does not get very far and is conned
by crooks and hustlers who see him for what he is and take advantage
of his naive personality. Rather fun to read, the edition I read
is illustrated by Albert Dubout a very popular french illustrator
from the 40s & 50s. |
|
|
Saints of New York
by R.J. Ellory |
**** |
Here we go again, the jaded cop with a drinking
problem, the nasty serial killer, a totally unoriginal setup, but
R.J.Ellory succeeds in making the story work and adds some instructive
information about the large scale corruption and thefts perpetrated
by the underworld in New York and particularily around JFK airport
in the 60s and 70s. An above average detective novel with a sharp
writing style. |
|
2010 : 57 |
|
DECEMBER 2010 |
"Ah ! Les fraises
et les framboises,
Les bons vins que nous avons bus
Et les belles villageoises,
Nous ne les reverrons plus..." Chanson citée par B.
Cendrars |
|
Just Kids by Patti
Smith |
**** |
An interesting and sincere account of Patti
Smith's and Robert Mapplethorpe's encounter and relationship, and
also a testimony about the plight of young artists struggling to survive
in the lively New York City artistic scene of the 1970s. If the word
OMFUG means anything to you, this is a book you should like. |
|
|
The Persuader by
Lee Child |
**** |
Not much more to say that I haven't said
about Lee Child's Jack Reacher series, except I've been reading maybe
too much of these lately, but I keep on stumbling on new ones, and
Child's great narrative technique is very hard to resist. You know
a pleasant reading moment is assured when you start one of these.
This one is no exception and delivers the goods once again. |
|
|
Les Dix Femmes de l'industriel
Rauno Rämekorpi by Arto Paasilinna |
***** |
Arto Paasilinna is my favorite finnish writer
(he's also the only one I've read) and I was not dissapointed with
this picaresque tale of a modern day Don Quixote and Sancho Pancha
story set in Finland. Here Don Quixote is the fat one in the person
of Rauno Rämekorpi, a wealthy and successful captain
of industry who upon turning sixty decides to pay a visit to all the
women of his life, helped along by a slim and devoted taxi driver
who acts as his Sancho Pancha. Clever and fun to read, this book takes
us on a road trip through Helsinki and Finland where we meet many
colorful characters, all women, and follow the sympathetic Rauno and
his sidekick in this humorous casanovesque quest. |
|
|
A Contract with God by Will
Eisner |
*****for
artwork /****for text |
This is an important book in the history
of comic books, as it is one of the first to be described as a "graphic
novel", a term coined I believe by Will Eisner himself, in an
attempt to elevate the status of comic book art and help it achieve
the respectability that is shown to other arts. A master of this medium,
Eisner, in these stories, depicts life in the early 20th century in
the tenements of Brooklyn where he grew up among the yiddish community.
The artwork is powerful and page compositions are bold and original,
especially seen the time of their creation (1978), and though the
characters described by Eisner are all a bit pathetic, this is and
should be a classic in the world of comic book art. |
|
|
|
The Hard Way by
Lee Child |
*** |
Another good action thriller by Lee Child. I was a bit
dissapointed at first, this time Jack Reacher, Child's recurring macho
man hero, doesn't kill a whole bunch of bad guys straight off , but
waits till the end of the book to do so. And though it's somewhat
embarassing to find Reacher, who is a brutal muderous thug, nevertheless
rather sympathetic, the book is still a page turner in the Child tradition. |
|
|
|
La Main Coupée
by Blaise Cendrars |
***** |
In this autobiographical account of his experience during
World War I in the Somme, Blaise Cendrars, then a member of the fierce
french Foreign Legion, takes us into the trenches with his men and
himself as they struggle to survive the carnage and desolation of
this absurd and murderous war. Cendrars is a tough guy character and
some of his anecdotes are chilling and picture him as a ruthless and
hard boiled poet warrior, who has no qualms or regrets when killing
the "boche" is called for, all the while retaining his poetic
vision on life. Though he voluntarily joined the legion to go fight
in this war, Cendrars has the clearvoyance and lucidity to clearly
see and point out the stupidity and life wasting messiness of this
conflict. His writing is fiery and powerful and "La Main Coupée"
is one of the best books about the horrors of WWI. |
|
|
Historia Universal De La Infamia
by Jorge Luis Borges |
***** |
First published in the press, these hilarious
short stories relating the lives and crimes of a series of infamous
individuals, give an idea of Borges' exuberant sense of humor and
his virtuoso writing talent. Taking great liberties with reality,
(most of the criminals and evildoers described having actually existed),
he adds imaginary episodes and facts to their lives, changes names
and dates, (Billy the Kid for instance, aka William Bonney or Henry
McCarty depending on biographers, is rebaptized Billy Harrigan) but
Borges ultimately shows what a master storyteller he is, and as always
when reading one of his works, comes through as a literary genius. |
|
|
Carnets / Notebooks by James
King |
***** |
Last year for the first
time I saw a painting by James King in a collective exhibition organised
by Carnets-Livres, the publishers of this book. I was at once struck
by the quality and originality of the work, which combined a classical
painting technique with a very modern approach. This book contains
many sketches and drawings made by King in his sketchbooks between
1990 and 2006, plus some photographies of his paintings and his
studio. He definitely is a rare artist of great talent and I really
like his very personal approach to portraying the human figure.
A word about the publishers, Carnets-Livres, who for the five past
years have been doing an incredible job making beautiful handmade
artbooks (50 to date), and who well deserve a tip of the hat, or
as the french would say a "coup de chapeau". Links:
James
King Carnets-Livres
|
|
|
The Enemy
by Lee Child |
**** |
Once again Lee Child delivers
an efficient, fun to read and extremely hard to put down action thriller
starring the sympathetic murderous brute Jack Reacher. This is the
third book I've read in the Reacher series and though the title is
maybe a bit lame, the word consistency comes to mind concerning Lee
Child's writing, which makes him in my eyes one of the most apt craftsmen
in this genre today. |
|
NOVEMBER
2010 |
"Quando
io crederò imparare a vivere, e io imparerò a morire." L.de
Vinci |
|
A Giverny,
chez Claude Monet by Marc Elder |
***** |
Marc Elder, a writer and friend
of Monet, was the recipient of these rare confidences from the great
impressionist master who usually refused interviews, arguing that
words could never describe painting better than the work itself. Here
nevertheless, helped by Marc Elder's friendly and able pen, he gives
an engaging account of his thoughts on art and his relationships with
fellow painters, art merchants and other figures of the late 19th
century impressionist era. |
|
**** |
|
Ordinary
Thunderstorms by William Boyd |
|
An innocent man accused of
murder goes underground in London to escape police and the hitman
on his trail. On this familiar canvas, William Boyd succeeds in concocting
a good thriller novel that has nothing much to do with thunderstorms.
Incidentally, the last part of the novel takes place on Canvey Island,
home of a good doctor. |
|
|
|
Oscar Wilde
and the Ring of Death by Gyles Brandreth |
*** |
At first the idea to cast Oscar
Wilde as a detective seemed strange, then Gyles Brandreth's
depiction of late 19th century London and his portrayal of Wilde and
his friends, (among which Arthur Conan Doyle) make the idea work as
Gyles has managed to make the famous writer and dandy's persona come
alive in this agatha-christiesque whodunnit mystery. Using many of
Wilde's aphorisms and witty repartees, the author succeeds in creating
an entertaining detective novel that slightly loses pace towards the
end. |
|
|
|
The Pianoplayers
by Anthony Burgess |
**** |
A pleasant and fun to read novel
by the very talented and witty Anthony Burgess, narrated by Ellen
Henshaw, the teenage daughter of a piano player who plays along to
silent movies in cinemas. It relates her life with this eccentric
single parent and their difficult plight as sound arrives in movies
and puts the colorful dad out of a job. Burgess shows he's a real
music lover and connaisseur in this one and pays hommage to his own
father who actually was a piano player in cinemas and pubs. |
|
OCTOBER
2010 |
" The
doctor was a woman and the nurse was a man." L.Child |
|
|
|
|
The Life
and Most Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, of York, Mariner
by Daniel Defoe |
****** |
Another great classic that
well deserves the denomination. The story of of a man, confronted
with the hardships of surviving in absolute wilderness, who has to
paradoxally rediscover and reinvent civilisation. An english plantation
owner shipwrecked during a slavetrading voyage from "the Brazils"
to Africa, Robinson Crusoe has to struggle and survive on a desert
island off the coast of South America, first alone, then accompanied
first by his "Man Friday", and later on by a host of other
refugees. First published in 1710, and written with the nowadays peculiar
spelling and phrasing of the times, the book is considered by many
to be the first modern novel and indeed structure, pace and plot twists
are still very effective by todays standards. It is also an educational
book as the reader learns through Defoe's detailed descriptions how
to sow corn, make earthen pots, build fortifications, and many other
technical endeavours. One feels after reading the book that maybe
it would be possible to survive if placed in the same cicumstances
as Crusoe and it's certainly the book I'd choose to take to a desert
island. |
|
|
|
|
Me, Hood
by Mickey Spillane |
**** |
The term hard-boiled comes
to mind when reading the short stories in this book. Spillane's desperate
tough guy characters and his description of a seedy underworld from
the first two stories remind of James Ellroy's books set in the 50s
and 60s, except Spillane actually wrote them in that time. The main
characters, be they hoods or cops, are ruthless types, killers and
brutes, who nevertheless are smitten by love. Though the third one,
about ex airforce bomber pilots is in a more nostalgic and sentimental
vein, the three stories are very visual and all seem taylor-made for
the film industry. |
|
|
|
|
Blaise by
Dimitri Planchon |
****for
artwork / ****for
text |
Short and funny one page stories
about Blaise, a little boy, and his parents, and their coping with
the modern world. Using an original and appealing graphical style,
Dimitri Planchon shows a shrewd and critical sense of humour and is
spot on at tagging the absurdities and malfunctions of present french
society. |
|
|
|
|
Jack B. Quick
by Alan Moore and Kevin Nolan |
***for
artwork / ***for
text |
Another character from the
prolific Alan Moore, this time a superintelligent young boy inventor,
a pretext for Moore to toy around with notions of Quantum physics,
the fabric of time and space, and other modern scientific concepts
to produce a series of absurd short humorous stories that unfortunately
tend to all be a bit similar in mood and pace, making this collection
a bit repetitive. |
|
|
|
|
The League
of Extraordinary Gentlemen: 1910 by Alan Moore and Kevin
O'Neill |
****for
artwork / ***for
text |
Alan Moore is one of the comic
book's world more interesting writers. In "The League of Extraordinary
Gentlemen" series he writes about a bunch of early 20th century
adventurers and luminaries who unite to combat evil. Though well served
by Kevin O'Neill 's original artwork, I found this issue a bit confused
and not as interesting as some other stories I've read in the same
series. |
|
|
|
|
Vanished
by Joseph Finder |
*** |
Nick Heller is an ex "Special
Forces" dude on a personal mission to find his missing brother,
lost in the murky and sorry world of US military "private contractors".
Similar in style to Lee Child's Jack Reacher novels (see below) ,
Joseph Finder delivers an efficient thriller, that maybe lacks a bit
of the punch and energy of the Reacher series and is somewhat predictable
at times. Still it's an honest thriller, too bad I'd read a Lee Child
book shortly before reading this one. |
|
|
|
Gone Tomorrow
by Lee Child |
**** |
Testosterone charged, macho
man, Ramboesque, all these words come to mind when reading a Jack
Reacher (Lee Child's action hero) adventure. Once again Reacher is
set against a bunch of evil nasties whom he proceeds to mercilessly
annihilate. Child is an expert in the action thriller genre and though
Reacher's body count and invulnerability are quite unrealistic, the
book is hard to put down and cleverly crafted so you don't. |
Tune
of the month: She
by Gram Parsons |
SEPTEMBER
2010 |
" These
people were the devourers, the enemy. They made a ruthless demand
on life. For them the world was being squandered, its resources used
up, its wildlife decimated, its seas polluted, the sea life destroyed,
and the seabirds in their thousands killed by their accursed oil-tankers."
O.Manning |
|
When God
Laughs & other stories by Jack London |
***** |
An excellent (*****) collection
of short stories by the greatly talented Jack London. These deliberately
pessimistic stories deal with the baser aspects of human nature, such
as cowardice, greed, cruelty, stupidity, injustice, selfishness etc,
and depict mankind as a pretty sorry lot. All are set in different
times and places and London even forays into science-fiction in one
of them. A powerful writer, he is very adept at rapidly setting scenes
and moods and portraying very solid characters in the short story
format. He also has no illusions concerning human beings so this book
is not for naive optimists or goody-goodies. |
|
|
Absconsités
by Laurent Lucien |
******* |
Another remarkable book by
Yours Truly, it's in french and contains 22 absurd and whimsical short
stories. You can order it by clicking here
or on the little picture on the left. |
|
|
Codex Mandelbulbus
by Laurent Lucien |
******* |
This is a picture book presenting
a 100 fractal images I've made this year. These are pictures of the
"mandelbulb" a fascinating new fractal shape discovered
at the end of 2009 by luminaries at fractalforums.
To see what mandebulbs look like go here.
You can order the book by clicking here
or on the little picture on the left. |
|
|
The Rain
Forest by Olivia Manning |
***** |
Meet the Fosters, Hugh and
Kristy, a british couple sent to the island of Al Bustan in the
Indian Ocean. Once again Olivia Manning takes us on a journey with
a rather sympathetic couple, as they struggle to adapt and survive
in a foreign and not so welcoming environment. Set in an imaginary
island and thus less autobiographical than Manning's Balkan Trilogy
(see below, august 2010) the Rain Forest is still a very lucid and
subtle account of the life and difficulties of british expatriate
civil servants. Set in the fifties and written in the early 70s
as the last relics of the colonial british empire crumble under
the assaults of independence movements, hippy contestation, and
the general evolution of society, the book retains Olivia Manning's
great portrayal of characters and her "quiet and civilised
humour" and also shows great understanding and foresight into
the unfolding of world events. (See september 2010 quote above).
|
|
|
Bad Luck
and Trouble by Lee Child |
*** |
Jack Reacher, Lee Child's main
character is no Hercule Poirot. He is a dangerous and violent ex military
police, and never hesitates to kill his enemies who are also murderous
psychopaths. Nonobstant this not too subtle approach to the thriller
genre, Lee Child knows very well how to get you to turn those pages
and though I tend to prefer more subtle and realistic heroes like
per instance Ian Rankin's John Rebus (see below), I'll admit I was
hooked and read this one fast and pretty much enjoyed doing so. |
|
|
Eadweard
Muybridge by Paul Hill |
|
This little book is about Eadweard
Muybridge, the famous photographer, better known for his plates of
figures in motion. It features a biography and samples of his photos.
Before his "figures in motion" series, Muybridge did a lot of landscape
and panoramic work which are sampled in the book. (My own panoramic
photos sampled here.)
He also developed new techniques and processes thus strongly contributing
to photography's progress during the second half of the 19th century.
Though print quality is good, the book's small format does not really
do justice to the photos but nevertheless it is a fair introduction
to the life and work of this inventive and eccentric man. |
|
|
The Complaints
by Ian Rankin |
**** |
Scotland, Edinburgh (pronounce
Edimbro), Fettes Street, the Lothian & Borders police station.
But no John Rebus, he's retired and Ian Rankin has replaced him
with a Malcolm Fox, a bit younger, a similar sort of bloke, divorced,
ex boozer on the dole, working for the Complaints and Conducts departement,
the one that investigates the misdoings of other coppers. Rankin's
novels are always enjoyable and well written and even though the
likeable Rebus, the main character of Rankin's previous work is
no longer present, DI Fox (detective inspector ) fills in for him
well and I was once again (I'm a Rankin fan) made to feel like I
was a member of the Edinburgh police force and that the city was
a familiar place though I've never been there. I did expect to maybe
meet John Rebus or his nemesis Big Ger Cafferty walking round the
corner or sitting in a pub, but no, Rankin, while remaining faithful
to his city of Edinburgh, has moved on and created a promising new
character. Still I do miss Rebus's sexy sidekick Siobhan a wee bit...(pronounce
Shevawn) |
Tune
of the month: Cabron
by the Red Hot Chili Peppers |
|
AUGUST
2010 |
"The
birds around me hopped and played,
Their thoughts I cannot measure:-
But the least motion which they made,
It seemed a thrill of pleasure." W.Wordsworth |
|
Fortunes
of War: The Balkan Trilogy by Olivia Manning |
****** |
Meet the Pringles, Guy
and Harriet, an english lecturer and his wife sent to Rumania at
the onset of World War 2. Their ordeal, told mostly, from Harriet's
point of view, is somewhat autobiographical as the author, Olivia
Manning, was herself married to an english teacher and sent to Rumania
in those days. You can tell she knows her subject well and she writes
about it in a subtle and very engaging manner. She is a superiorly
talented novelist, as Anthony Burgess has said in a review: "Her
gallery of personages is huge, her scene painting superb, her pathos
controlled, her humour quiet and civilised." She does indeed
bring places and characters to life remarkably well and reading
this trilogy I felt happy to discover this great english author.
The rise of fascism in Rumania and the attack of Greece by the Italians
and the Germans, very well related by an insider, are historically
intstructive. All of the expatriate personnel of the British Legation
in Rumania and later Greece are vividly portrayed and often gently
mocked for their condescension and false sense off superiority towards
the autochtones and my special sympathies go out to the most picturesque
Prince Yakimov, "your poor old Yaki" as he calls himself,
a destitute anlgo-russian prince lost in the turmoil of the war.
The particular phrases and expressions of prewar english I always
enjoy, and on that level the dear old girl does a spiffy job and
shows a good deal of pluck. At the end of the book, fleeing the
german invasion of Athens, the Pringles board a ship on their way
to Cairo, and that part of their adventure is the subject of a second
trilogy, The Levant Trilogy, which I definitely must read soon. |
|
|
La Maison
où rèvent les arbres by Comes |
****for
artwork / ** for
text |
Nonobstant Comes' very pleasant
and original artwork, the story told in this book about a forest
taking revenge on mankind for mistreating nature too much, is a
bit simplistic and was a bit dissapointing compared to other works
I've read by this author. It is nevertheless saved by Comes' drawings
and some of the more surrealistic panels are quite impressive and
powerful.
|
|
|
|
JULY 2010 |
"The
Rhine was red with human blood,
The Danube roll'd a purple tide,
On the Euphrates Satan stood
And over Asia stretch'd his pride" W. Blake |
|
Tarass Bulba
by Nikolaï Gogol |
***** |
Beware the Zaporogues ! This
is a tale set in the 16th century when the Zaporozhians, a terrifying
bunch of murderous warmonging Kossacks spread terror and destruction
in Ukraine and neighbouring countries along the Dniepr River. The
kind of guys who think that war is the meaning of life and who are
happy only on horse back, sword in hand, as they fight, loot, plunder
rape and destroy other human communities in their path. It tells the
story of one of their more psychotic leaders or hetmans, Tarass
Bulba, and of how this way of life brings only catastrophy and death
to himself and his kin. Flamboyantly narrated by the great Gogol,
one of the prime masters of russian litterature, this book is action
packed, full of violence, romance, historical information and tragedy,
and eminently fun to read. It also shows the profound antisemitism
of that era in Ukraine and how jewish people had a very hard time
surviving as all parties would always turn against them, blame them
for every woe and slaughter them, but nevertheless count on them to
provide supplies and organise commerce and even seek their help to
succeed in difficult deals and negociations. |
|
|
Gulliver's
Travels (into several remote regions of the
world)
by Jonathan Swift, Dean of St Patrick's, Dublin |
****** |
No wonder this is a classic.
Swift, a brilliant mind of his time, uses the fantastic epopee of
his restless character to write a subtle and humorous satire of European
society in the early 17th century, which was not something one could
do out front without getting into trouble in those days. I was pleased
to discover that though Gulliver is a book you think you know without
having read it, because of the many adaptations it has stemmed, there
were several of Gulliver's voyages I did not know. Not only does Gulliver
visit the famous kingdom of Lilliput, land of the tiny, and Brobdingnag,
the land of the gentle giants, he also goes to Laputa, the flying
island city where science and technology have reached novel heights,
to the neighboring Glubdubdrib, (the island of sorcerers and magicians)
to Luggnagg (where the pityful immortal Struldbrugs can be found)
and finally to the land of the Houyhnhnms, a society of noble and
clever horses, where humans, called Yahoos, are but nasty apelike
creatures in the service of their equine masters. Each new journey
is pretext to malign and criticize diverse aspects of society, from
politicians, royalty, magistrates, merchants, religion, doctors etc.
No one is left unscathed by Swift's sharp and lucid eye and many of
his commentaries are still valid today. I read Gulliver in an old
english edition by George Routledge and Sons, London, Manchester and
New York, a quality editor supposedly from the early 20th century
as no publishing date is to be found anywhere and I have to quote
the introduction of their catalog at the end of the book: "MESSRS
GEORGE ROUTLEGE & SONS beg to announce that under the above title
they are issuing an entirely New Series of Copyright and Non-copyright
Novels, well printed on good paper, and strongly bound in cloth, bevelled
boards, with gilt tops." Thanks George. |
Tune
of the month: Laydown
by the Purple Yoda |
|
JUNE 2010 |
"By
our own spirits we are deified:
We poets in our youth begin in gladness;
But thereof come in the end
despondency and madness."
W. Wordsworth |
|
Impossible
(Issues # 6,8 & 9-10)
by Joseph Ghosn, Philippe Dupuy & Charles Berberian |
***** |
As I wrote in my review of
previous issues (see below April 2010), this is still a very fine
graphic publication, and this review is mainly to remind that there's
an Impossible exposition
in Paris till the 19th of June, presenting many original drawings.
(Ofr. galerie - 20 rue Dupetit-thouars 75003 paris) |
|
|
A People's
History of the American Empire by Howard Zinn, Mike Konopacki
& Paul Buhle |
***for
artwork / ***** for
text |
An adaptation into comic book
form of Howard Zinn's very instructive account of american history,
exposing the not so well known dark side of US interior and foreign
politics. This is a voice not often heard from an american. Howard
Zinn is a well informed insider and a harsh critic of the ugly and
sometimes bloodcurdling behavior of some of his more stupid compatriots
and the struggles and hardships of the brave people who stood up against
them throughout the country's history. The artwork, without being
extraordinary, is effective and to the point. |
|
|
The Concrete
Blonde by Michael Connelly |
*** |
L.A... A jaded middle aged
cop... A serial killer who murders prostitutes... When I started this
book, I thought "Oh no! Not again..." The setting seemed
all too familiar with the cop being in trouble after shooting a suspect
during an arrest, having problems in his private life, etc... But
the book is written by Michael Connelly who is one of the better writers
in this genre, and his likeable detective hero is cleverly named Hieronymus
Bosch (it may be that simple trick that makes me read Connelly's books),
so I was slowly drawn into this well crafted and finally enjoyable
"whodunnit" mystery. |
|
|
MAY 2010 |
"We got
the starboard tacks aboard, we cast off our weather braces and lifts:
we set in the lee-braces, and hauled forward by the weather-bowlings,
and hauled them tight and belayed them, and hauled over the mizzen-tack
to windward, and kept her full and by as near as she would lie."
J. Swift |
|
Le temps
des cerises by Dan Franck & Jean Vautrin |
**** |
This is the second installment
of the series "Les aventures de Boro reporter photographe",
a collaborative effort by two well known french writers. The main
hero, Blemia Borowicz, is is a fearless photo reporter much inspired
by the famous Bob Capa. In this volume set in Paris in 1936, he is
thrown into the agitated politics of that era, meeting with socialist
governement leader Leon Blum, fighting against the hateful french
fascist organisation known as La Cagoule (The Hood) and finally covering
the start of the spanish civil war. This is a good adventure series,
and though the descriptions of Boro's romantic pursuits and conquests
seem a bit lame as the authors try too hard to describe him as a lady
killer, the story takes you in, and the well documented accounts of
prewar political turmoil in France and of the onset of the Spanish
Civil War make it also instructive. Also amusing is the authors frequent
use of 1930s very picturesque french slang and so I'll end this review
by saying that "le Boro c'est pas un cave et que question jactance
des faubourgs du Front Popu, le Jeannot et le Dany y z'en connaissent
un rayon." |
|
|
Chroniques
Birmanes by Guy Delisle |
****
for text / **** for artwork |
Sent to Myanmar (formerly Burma)
following his wife, a doctor with MSF (Doctors Without Borders) on
her mission to this south east asian country run by a military "junte",
Guy Delisle, a canadian artist, has made a good account of his stay
in the form of a comic book. He describes the everyday life of an
expatriate and his relationships with burmese people and other expatriates
in Rangoon. The graphic style is simple but engaging and expressive
and his little anecdotes and often humorous notations are fun to read
and give a little insight on what it's like to live in Burma under
a dictatorship. |
|
|
Miss Pas
Touche by Hubert & Kerascoët |
****
for text / *** for artwork |
Set in a parisian whorehouse
in the 1930s, Miss Pas Touche is an entertaining murder mystery, rife
with suspense and plot twists. The colorful somewhat naive style of
the drawings contrasts strongly with the rather gruesome storyline,
so don't be fooled, this is not a comic book for children, as the
heroin, faced with the brutal murder of her sister, sets out to avenge
her and goes undercover into the seedy world of the brothels of prewar
Paris. |
|
|
RG
by Pierre Dragon & Frederik Peeters |
****
for text / **** for artwork |
RG stands for Renseignements
Généraux which is the old name of the french equivalent
of the MI5 or the FBI. This comic book is written by Pierre Dragon
an ex agent of this bureau, inspired by his true life experiences,
which gives the story a very realistic flavor. The characters and
their relationships are well described, helped by Frederik Peeters'
very cinematographical artwork |
Tune
of the month: Old
King by Neil Young |
APRIL
2010 |
"I was given taps
from a tolly by him when I was a callow atramontarius. He was the
best of the younger crows, however, always ready to pin a shouting
cake with us in the haggory. Never creeping up on us in the silent
oilers worn by the crabbier jebbies." A. Burgess |
|
The Devil's
Mode by Anthony Burgess |
***** |
Shakespeare, Cervantes, Debussy,
Mallarmé, Browning, Attila, Sherlock Holmes and other historical or
fictional luminaries are all conveyed by Anthony Burgess in this excellent
collection of short-stories. Burgess shows great prowess at writing
in different styles, sometimes "pastiching" (or rather paying hommage
to) some of his favorite authors, like for instance Poe in the story
"The most beautified" which could of been written by old Edgar himself,
or Conan Doyle in the last story " Murder to music". "The cavalier
of the rose", a literary adaptation of the opera by Hugo von Hoffmanstahl
and Richard Strauss, reminded me of DAF Sade's "Ernestine" which I
read last January. The longest of the stories "Hun" is an excellent
account of Attila's bloody invasion of Europe and his dealings with
his nemesis Aetius, a general of the then declining two headed Roman
Empire.
Burgess seems to have had a lot of fun writing these stories and his
erudition and literary capabilities are impressive and well demonstrated
in each one, showing even in the order of their presentation, as the
first story "A meeting in Valladolid" (in which Shakespeare meets
Cervantes!) sends a group of Englishmen to Spain, and the last one
"Murder to Music" (featuring Sherlock Holmes and narrated as proper
by Dr Watson) sees a bunch of spanish royals visiting London. All
in all, a "top of the crop" collection of short stories, each one
set in a different and well documented geographical place and historical
epoch, thus also being often rather instructive. |
|
|
|
Vagabond
Vol. 28 by Takehiko Inoue |
***
for text / *****
for artwork |
This is a "manga"
based on the novel "Musashi" by Eiji Yoshikawa, which
is the story of a great figure of Japanese history, Musashi Miyamoto,
a very famous sword fighter and samuraï from the 16th century.
This volume finds Miyamoto very seriously wounded after a great
battle where he singlehandedly defeated 70 other swordsmen (60 according
to history books). Compared to other more violent swashbuckling
or rather katana-slashing episodes, this is a quiet and reflective
opus where his companions take care of the the afflicted hero, whose
injuries are so bad that they may forbid him to ever be a swordsman
again, a skill to which he has devoted his whole life. Takehiko
Inoue's artwork is quite amazing, his dynamic rendering of Miyamoto's
swordfights and his attention to the era's clothing and architecture
make this one of the more interesting "manga" comics I've
read to date. |
|
|
|
Poison River
by Gilberto Hernandez |
*****
for text
/ ***** for
artwork |
This is part of a great comic book series
or rather saga drawn and written by Gilbert Hernandez. It tells the
story of Luba, a mexican woman who, along with some members of her
large family, is the heroin of many of "Beto" Hernandez's comics.
This episode tells of Luba's hardboiled childhood and teenage years
in Mexico amidst gangsters, drug dealers and other lowlife characters.
I really like this series for it's originality and the breadth of
themes it adresses. I also enjoy the artwork, as Hernandez has a very
pleasant personal style and his characters are never stereotyped.
This is a "Love & Rockets" comic book, a collection that Gilberto
has been producing since 1980 with his brother Jaime who is also an
excellent comic book artist with his Hopey & Maggie, or Locas series.
The Hernandez brothers have created some of the most interesting and
complex female characters in comic books and it's always a pleasure
to discover another one of their numerous productions. Plus, for an
ink and paper person, Luba es muy guapa y sexy y linda! |
|
|
|
A Story of
the days to come & A dream of Armageddon
by H.G Wells |
***** |
Published together in the edition I
read, these two short stories by one of the inventors of science
fiction with Jules Verne, both deal with romantic love affairs set
in the twenty second century.
"A Story of Days to Come", which is really a short novel
(or a long short story) of about 100 pages is set in London which
has become an immense city of 30 million people where the wealthy
live on the higher levels of incredibly high buildings and do no
work while the poor scrounge and struggle in the dark lower levels.
The story tells of two young lovers Denton and Elisabeth who choose
to elope and marry against the will of their families and entourage.
Disinherited and thrust out of their wealthy milieu, hardships of
the ruthless 22nd century will put their love to the test. While
the romantic aspect of the story could have taken place in Wells'
victorian era, it is fun to see how this visionnaire portrays his
lovers' future, sometimes describing things that we have already
surpassed technologically and sometimes being spot on about many
social aspects of our society. Mass air transportation for example
or the rule of stockholders and speculation are well described (albeit
Wells' flying machines have sails instead of wings). If one remembers
that this story was written in 1899, one has to admire the author's
imagination and prospective talents.
"A Dream of Armageddon" written in 1903 tells of a man
of that time who while riding on a train from Rugby to Euston shares
with a fellow traveller a recurrent dream about a second life he
lives in his sleep and that is set on the island of Capri in a distant
future. This one is really a short story and deals with the escalade
towards war and the man's refusal to take part in it's folly to
instead spend his time with his beloved nurturing their love affair
although he is a prominent and influential political figure who
could maybe change the tragic course of events. Switching between
reality and the dream, Capri and the commuter train, the story is
cleverly built and written and adresses interesting issues like
the choice between one's social responsibilities and those owed
to one's loved ones.
The two stories are pleasant to read and reveal Wells' highly romantic
inclinations and confirm his ability to depict and imagine possible
futures. Afficionados of the steampunk genre should greatly appreciate
them both. |
|
|
Impossible
(Issues # 3,4,5 & 7) by Joseph
Ghosn, Philippe Dupuy & Charles Berberian |
***** |
"Impossible" is an art "fanzine"
made by three very talented and prolific artists who although they
are published professional comic book artists, nevertheless still
feel the need to publish these very nice portfolios of some of their
art. Each issue is eight 24,5x35cm pages (16 full page drawings)
and follows a theme. The drawings are all very inspired so this
is the type of graphic object I really appreciate and enjoy looking
at. Prints are in black and white on diversely colored paper and
of fine quality. The issues are not stapled, just folded so you
can take out a page and hang it on your wall if you want to. Publication
is irregular and "Impossible" might be hard to find outside
of France but for parisian amateurs it can be found at better bookstores
like for example Philippe Le Libraire, 32 rue des Vinaigriers, Paris
10e.
Expo
Impossible du 9 au 19 Juin 2010 à la galerie Arts Factory |
|
|
|
MARCH 2010 |
"La
pression de l'ombre existe." V. Hugo |
|
The Goon
by Eric Powell |
***
for artwork /
* for text |
Another comic book set in Zombieland this
time in a less "realistic" style than "Walking Dead" (see review feb
2010). The author, Eric Powell, who writes draws and does most of
the coloring has chosen a more comical approach and his work often
reminds of Wallace Wood's Sally Forth or Will Eisner's Spirit graphically.
Storywise the episodes in this volume are all a bit similar. The main
character, the Goon, is provoked by his evil nemesis and his zombie
cronies, goes out and bashes some heads, clobbers some more, and finally
wins over the bad guys. And that about sums up all the episodes I
read. But so does it also most superhero comic stories on the market
today, so the author isn't alone to blame... Still, after a while
this sort of plot line does get a tad wee bit slightly somewhat boring
despite Powell's well-crafted and often amusing artwork. |
|
|
|
|
In the Winter Dark
by Tim Winton |
** |
I admit having been disappointed by this
book. Which is too bad because of a good "stephen-kingish" beginning,
a scary story set in some lost place in the australian outback, but
once the setting and characters are rather well defined and the menace
of some ominous unseen terrible danger lurking about gets you hooked,
the author finishes the book with a pirouette but in my sense does
not finish his story in a satisfying way... As the french say "il
m'a laissé sur ma faim" (he left me hungry) and slightly annoyed.
Too bad because Tim Winton seems capable of creating, like the master
at this game Stephen King, a creepy atmosphere that makes one uneasy
but still turning those pages, and also because he's from Perth, WA,
where I grew up, and about my age so I sort of sympathised. |
|
|
|
Confessions
of an English Opium-Eater and Other Writings by Thomas
De Quincey |
****
Overall / ******
for Suspiria |
This edition presents four texts by Thomas
De Quincey, a sympathetic english intellectual from the beginning
of the 19th century. It was an interesting follow up to Aldous Huxley's
"Eyeless in Gaza" as De Quincey was also a highly literate Oxfordian
fluent in latin and greek and a lover of poetry, living in Wales,
London and Edinburgh a hundred years before Huxley, and both men hardily
tested their perceptions with the use of psychotropes. But how they
seem odd today, these young men whose means to shine before their
peers was not by scoring a goal at football, driving a fancy car or
making millions on the stock exchange, but by being the best at latin
or greek versification...
The first part of the book, the Confessions, is fairly interesting
because of de Quincey's unique and baroque style and the originality
of his phrasing often brings a smile, but the description of his woes
as an opium junkie does get slightly tedious at times as often a junkie's
laments will. Having already read Baudelaire's "Les Paradis Artificiels",
the second part of which is a translation and adaptation of the Confessions,
I was not entirely taken in, though very admirative of De Quincey's
style. The poet drug fiend nevertheless comes through as a rather
sympathetic and compassionate fellow and his depiction of being "down
and out in London and looking for a fix in the 1800s" as he hangs
out with prostitutes and sleeps where he can, is an entertaining and
instructive description of a poet's life in early 18th century England...
Follows a short essay entitled "On knocking at the gates in Macbeth"
where De Quincey tries to convey some thoughts concerning his sensations
about a scene in Shakespeare' play, but I'll admit I didn't fully
grasp what he was on about. Luckily this is only a few pages long.
The third part, "Suspiria de Profundis", (Sighs from the
Deep) impressed me much more as a powerful and gothic piece of "poetic
prose" rife with baroque visions from a desperately romantic man and
masterly poet expressed with an admirable use of the english language.
It is a rather unique work and only Lautréamont's fantastic "Chants
de Maldoror" come to mind in a similar style.
The final part, "The English Mail Coach", is a sensitive and romantic
slightly more humorous account of De Quincey's adventures as a passenger
and co-pilot on the english horsedrawn Royal Mail stage-coaches, that
were at the time, just before the arrival of the railway, the fastest
and best organised means of transport and news delivery in Britain.
All in all this book easily qualifies as a classic in English litterature
and "Suspiria de Profundis" is definitely a masterpiece
in terms of poetry. |
|
|
|
|
Freud by
Sebastian Smee |
******
for artwork /
**** for text |
Not about Sigmund, but about his grandson,
the painter. Lucian Freud is probably one of the greatest painters
alive today and certainly one of my favorites. Knowing little about
him I was curious to read a bit about the man and this book provides
a good biography and study of his work by Sebastian Smee. Freud comes
through as somewhat an artist warrior, a "samouraï" painter, in the
sense that he truly lives for painting and follows a code and principles
of his own, never succombing to facility, wielding his brush as a
weapon, with bold strokes and daring choices, in some ways reminding
me of the samouraï with his sword and bushido code. The reproductions
of Freud's paintings are, as is customary with Taschen Books, of fine
quality and it's fascinating to see how powerful and striking they
are and how alive the characters in his portraits look. From the more
illustrative and polished aspect of his early work to the broad audacious
strokes of his more recent portraits, Freud seems to always capture
some essential truth in his models, each time making a strong pictorial
statement. This man is clearly in my opinion one of the rare painters
alive today to have pierced the "mystère de la peinture", and that,
my friend, is no small or easy feat. |
|
|
|
FEBRUARY
2010 |
"...Ask for this great
Deliverer now, and find him
Eyeless in Gaza at the Mill with slaves..." Milton. |
|
Walking Dead
Vol 1 : Days Gone By, story by Robert Kirkman, art by Charlie Adlard
& Cliff Rathburn |
***
for artwork /
**** for text |
This is a comic book set in
the now familiar setting of a "living dead" world where a bunch of
survivors have to struggle against overwhelming numbers of decaying
zombies that try to eat them in the vicinity of Atlanta. The characters
and dialog are pretty well written for this kind of fiction and though
the genre has been visited many times over in movie form, this is
the first comic book I've read on this topic. The graphic work is
solid and pleasant to look at, and the writer has actually given some
depth and subtlety to his characters which is quite rare in the world
of comics. This is an ongoing series and 10 volumes have been published
in the french edition which I read. The original edition, published
by Image Comics as a traditionnal monthly comic book, has already
reached number 69. Having read only the first volume, which is a compendium
of the first six issues, I wonder if the series remains interesting,
as often TV or comic book serie authors tend to overstretch a good
initial concept to finally lose pertinence and enter the dreaded realms
of boredom. But this first volume, made by writers and artists who
know their craft, holds up well and, if you like comics and zombies,
is very entertaining. |
|
|
|
|
Poèmes épiques
et Colégrammes, by Laurent Lucien |
******** |
No words
exist to praise this book enough. Not only did I read it, I also
wrote it... :) It's a book of poems, written way back in
the 20th century. Most are in french but there are a few english
ones too. You can buy it by clicking on the wee image on the left
or here,
or even here. |
|
|
|
|
Eyeless in
Gaza, by Aldous Huxley |
****** |
This is a surprising book about
a group of british men and women, all of Eton-then-Ofxord schooling
living in the first half of the 20th century. They are all highly
literate, speak latin and greek, and are always quoting english, french
and italian poets in the text. The storyline follows an unchronological
plot pattern, some chapters are set in 1914, others in 1925 and some
more in 1934. At first I wondered if there was a story at all or if
this was just a collection of scenes depicting the atmosphere and
behavior of this unfamiliar milieu in a sort of british proustian
manner... Do this kind of englishmen still exist? Do I really care
what they feel or think? After a while though, I got hooked by Huxley's
refined use of the english language and by his sharp intelligence
and wit. As apt as Proust at describing the emotions, the subtle moods,
the social embarassments, fears and angst of his characters, and as
keen an observer of the human condition, Huxley, unlike the famed
Marcel, is not a whiner spending his days in bed, but a sharp political
analyst and a fervent militant for peace, with a strong sense of humor.
Chapters about his male and female protagonists are interspersed with
his political and philosophical points of view, and one is finally
drawn in and seduced by the man's brilliant mind and stylish prose.
His defence of pacifism (this book was first published in 1936 when
war was clearly looming ahead) is one of the best I've read and is
the real subject of the book, though one understands this only during
the final chapters, when Anthony, one of the main characters, whom
we've followed through his Oxford years, his complicated sentimental
liaisons and his Mexican adventures, finally realizes that advocacy
for peace is the only cause worth fighting for. That's a bit of a
spoiler I guess but not a very big one, and to finish I'll say, to
speak like Huxley's characters, that Eyeless in Gaza (the title comes
from a poem by Milton, "Samson Agonistes") is a smashing book brilliantly
written by a very decent chap. |
|
|
|
JANUARY 2010 |
27/1/10: Bad day for banana
fish, the laughing man is crying, who will catch us now? |
|
Eugénie de
Franval by D.A.F. de Sade |
**** |
"Eugenie de Franval" tells the tale of wicked Mr de
Franval and of the odious treatment he reserves to his wife and daughter
and of how he is punished in the end. In 1800 when this was published
it was certainly very shocking and subversive and throughout the narrative
Sade tells us several times how sorry he is to have to depict "such
monstrous details" but that it is only to better make the reader hate
such horrible misconducts. Though the story does adress incestuous
relations between Mr de Franval and his daughter, it seems hardly
shocking today and even sometimes reminded me of an adult version
of some of the Comtesse de Segur's nasty tales for children. Sade's
style is still pretty unique and impressive but I did prefer "Ernestine".
Both these stories come from the short story collection "Les Crimes
de l'Amour". Shortly after it's publication Sade was placed in the
Charenton asylum for the insane, for sexual obsession, where he died
in 1814. |
|
Ernestine
by D.A.F. de Sade |
***** |
This is a tale by the notorious Marquis
Donatien Alphonse de Sade himself set in Sweden in 1775 and relating
the story of Ernestine and Herman a pair of young lovers whose wedding
plans and lives are destroyed by the very evil Count Oxtiern and Madame
Scholtz, two machiavelic members of the Swedish upper class. Highly
entertaining and very well written as Sade is one of the great masters
of french prose, and despite his nasty reputation, a philosopher and
moralist way ahead of his time. |
|
La Princesse Ligovskoi
by Mikhail Lermontov |
**** |
"La Princesse Ligovskoi" ("Princess Ligovskoia"
in english) is an unfinished novel about a malfunctioning love affair
between two young members of the Russian upper class set in 19th
Century St Petersburg. Mikhail Lermontov's writing is sharp, ironic
and humorous and well depicts the vacuity and vanity of the 1830's
russian aristocracy. Lermontov, a recidivist duellist was killed
in his last unlucky duel and never finished this novel.
|
|
Kafka by David
Zane Mairowitz, Robert Crumb |
*****
for illustrations / ***
for text |
A short biography of Franz Kafka with summaries
of his major works illustrated by the amazing Robert Crumb, one of
the great masters of drawing alive today. I read it because of Crumb's
drawings which I love, but was happy to learn more about Kafka's depressing
misfit life, rife wirth self loathing and a feeling of inadequacy
to society, which is probably one of the reasons Crumb worked on this
book, himself once publishing a series of comic books called Self-Loathing
comics, which I also recommend. |
|
Fellini On Fellini
by Federico Fellini |
***** |
If you like Federico Fellini, film-making,
and Italy, this is a great read collecting articles, essays and souvenirs
by the great maestro cinematographer and poet himself. |
|
The Player of Games
by Iain M. Banks |
***** |
Another excellent book in the Culture
series by Iain M. Banks. His uncanny imagination enthralls once
more in this tale of J.M. Gurgeh, a hardcore gamer of the future,
and his supersmart drone sidekick, as they are sent to undo the
cruel regime of the outergalactic Azad empire.
|
|
Use of Weapons
by Iain M. Banks |
***** |
I enjoy the work of Iain M.
Banks. His science fiction series about the Culture, a future galactic
civilisation run by superiorly intelligent machines working with humans,
is one of today's most interesting and imaginative science fiction
works. |
|
|