Nick Danger

War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells. I don't think I've read it since I was twelve. There was a whole lot of sophisticated material that I didn't pick up on back then. For example, after the newly-landed Martians murder the crowd of people looking at the capsule, the narrator barely escapes. He warns his neighbors who live in a commuter bedroom community. They ignore the warning and go about their lives. Don't Look Up!

This is an early description of armored fighting vehicles, lightning advances, gas warfare, and the destruction of civilian infrastructure. That was all imaginary when Wells wrote it, but it's the world we live in today.

thematahara

I highly recommend December Park if you want more Malfi. Really good serial killer/coming of age story. Come with Me was my 2nd Malfi book and I really enjoyed it as well. More Malfi is on my list in the near future, most likely going to read Bone White

GoldenJCJ

Just started:



It’s been a while since I’ve read Cormac McCarthy. It’s taken about 50 pages to get used to his writing style again.

Nick Danger

The Three Impostors by Arthur Machen. A short novel of Victorian horror. It isn't so much as a novel as a group of stories told by characters, within a framing horror story. It has been deeply influential. HP Lovecraft admired and imitated some of the stories in it, and thousands of writers have imitated Lovecraft.

The Ballantine Adult Fantasy edition below includes an additional short story about the same characters.

brainee

I've read collections of Machen, but I don't think I ever read this (though a couple of the stories from it were in the collections I read). You're absolutely right how hugely influential Machen was, even if he's nowhere near aa recognized now as Lovecraft. Stories like The Great God Pan and The White People impacted so many later cosmic and folk horror stories.

Finished:

Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson. A very different kind of fantasy story than anything I've read by Sanderson (even though it's set in his shared "Cosmere" universe). Much lighter and whimsical. While the main characters are too old for this to be technically YA, it's by far his most younger-ages appropriate book. Admittedly he's going for a The Princess Bride vibe and I think for the most part he hits it. I like that it can perfectly enjoyed as a standalone book (though there are plenty of references and Easter eggs for long-time fans).

Even though it's not out yet, I'm hearing iffy things (at least on GoodReads) of the 2nd of his 4 "Secret Project" books (The Frugal Wizard's Handbook for Surviving Medieval England). Though I'm sure I'll read it at some point and judge for myself.

thematahara

Finished:


First time reading Don Winslow. I did enjoy it, but not sure if I was in the right mindset for spending so much time with some pretty terrible people. It was a pretty epic story, and I did enjoy it, but Im not sure how quickly I will jump back into this world to finish the other books in the series. Eventually I think I will, but I need some lighter faire for a bit.

brainee

Finished:

The Wide, Carnivorous Sky & Other Monstrous Geographies by John Langan. I had previously read and enjoyed his The Fisherman and this seems to be his most read and highly rated short story collection (at least on Goodreads). I ended up having a mixed response. While I can acknowledge his creativity and writing craftsmanship, it felt like a bit of a chore to finish at times. Many stories have a non-traditional narrative style ... one a stage play, a couple written in second person, frequent breaking the 4th wall, a 30 page transcript of an academic lecture, rambling stream-of-consciousness, missing punctuation, one written as if it was the synopsis of a feature-length movie. Maybe I would've had a much different response if I encountered them in their original form (as part of anthologies with other authors). But reading them all together felt tiring. As it turned out, the two stories I enjoyed the most (The Wide, Carnivorous Sky and City of the Dog) were the least experimental in structure ... and I could just enjoy them for being well-written scary stories.

This does feature one of the creative uses of an afterward by an another author (in this case Laird Barron, who's written some great stories of cosmic horror himself).

If anyone else has read more of Langan's collections, I'd be curious to know ... are they all as experimental and 4th-wall breaking as this one was? Or are they more like The Fisherman was?

L. Ron zyzzle

Finished Maus by Art Spiegelman. Started Winter's Bone by Daniel Woodrell

thematahara

Finished

Nick Danger

The Dark Crusade by Karl Edward Wagner. I haven't read this book in years. I was surprised at how well-written it is. It's a 1970s barbarian adventure book about Kane, who's a lot more intelligent, sophisticated, and well-rounded than the typical barbarian protagonist.

L. Ron zyzzle

And it's cosponsored by Molly Hatchet!

stvn1974

Psst, books are for nerds. Pass it on.







I'm reading a little known book called The Hobbit.

Nick Danger

The Iron Heel by Jack London. A 1906 science fiction story about the first socialist revolution in the United States, and how it was crushed by the oligarchy. The book is basically three parts: speeches in praise of socialism; a description of going underground while the government gets more corrupt and dictatorial; and the final bloodbath in Chicago. The book is written from the vantage of hundreds of years in the future after socialism won.

It's not that good.

L. Ron zyzzle

Finished Winter's Bone - about 40% of it felt too stylized for me, the other 60% was good. Interested to watch the Jennifer Lawrence-starring movie adapatation.

Not sure where to go from here. I've been wanting to focus on women authors of color, but I also have 'It' by Stephen King staring me down from the shelf. It would be a second reading, the first was probably a little after it first came to paperback.

lwhy?

I really like the Winter's Bone movie adaptation. Lawrence and John Hawkes are really good in it. I never read the book though. Debra Granik directed Winter's Bone. She also directed another really good movie called Leave No Trace.

L. Ron zyzzle

Yup. I LOVE Leave No Trace. Kinda surprised how her directing trajectory has gone ...