Home for the Weekend

Another week passed in Victoria and we're back home for this weekend. Two weeks left with Easter in the middle. The drive home was good, Jo was feeling the best she'd felt in a few days and we were so glad to be in familiar surroundings.

And baseball has started again and the Blue Jays have made their first two games more interesting than I wanted, but they are still 2-0. Both starting pitchers were excellent.

So, it's Saturday night and Jo has dropped off. Before I head up to bed, I thought I'd provide a quick update... hope it's quick anyway. I did drop into 3 book stores in Victoria so did buy a few books and there were some more waiting for me when I got home. I'll try to whip through this update as briefly as possible. I hope there are some books that pique your interest.

Just Completed

Since my update last weekend, I've completed 4 books.

1. Gideon Falls, The Black Barn by Jeff Lemire (#1 / 2018). A new graphic novel series.

"One of my Goodreads' friends, knowing how much I enjoy graphic novels, especially of late, thought I might like to try a new series. So I got the first volume, Gideon Falls, Vol. 1: The Black Barn by Canadian author, Jeff Lemire. And darn her socks! I liked it... As she said in her review, if I remember correctly, she has no idea what's going on yet, but she's along for the ride. That's how I feel too.

The initial chapters of Volume 1 focus mainly on a washed up priest, Wilfred, who is sent to take over a parish in Gideon Falls after the other priest, Father Tom, has died. He doesn't want to go but is pressured by the bishop anyway. From phone calls between the two during this volume, it seems as though the bishop knows something strange is happening in Gideon Falls.. I presume this will either be confirmed or not in future issues. 

The other person is Norton, a young man, who grew up homeless as a child, spent much time in an asylum and is being treated now on an out patient basis by female psychiatrist, Dr. Xu. She is worried about Norton's obsessions and is considering placing him back in the institute. Norton is searching through garbage and finding old nails, pieces of wood, etc. to prove his obsession.

Both men have seen visions of a Black Barn, Norton since childhood and Wilfred since moving to Gideon Falls. Wilfred sees Father Tom, who leads him to the body of a woman and disappears. At the same time, that's where Wilfred sees the barn... which doesn't really exist... apparently.

The story flashed between the two men and the people they come into contact with. Dr. Xu begins to see the barn as well. A local doctor, who Wilfred meets, is a member of a group, called the Ploughmen who are trying to protect Gideon Falls from whatever 'evil' the Black Barn represents...

It's a complex, fascinating story (darn!) and the artwork is excellent, muted colours, interesting panels, that turn upside down, sideways (reminds me somewhat of the various pages in House of Leaves). I enjoyed this introduction very much and now have to continue. Volume 2, Original Sins has been ordered. (3.5 stars)"

2. Lore Olympus, Volume 7 by Rachel Smythe (2024). It's been awhile since I read Volume 6. It was good to get back to this graphic novel.

"Lore Olympus: Volume Seven is of course, the seventh volume of the stories of the romance between Persephone and Hades, a modern Webtoon update by Rachel  Smythe. It's a fascinating series, at times confusing but always well drawn and interesting.

It's confusing because the stories have a tendency to jump around and the various gods appearance changes as their mood or story line changes. Be that as it may, it's always fun to work through each volume. The Volume includes episodes 153 - 179 of the series.

As always, there are various stories but the main one is the continuing growth of the relationship between Persephone and Hades. They have secrets that are coming out, especially about Hades' past relationships and how he became the Prince of Hades. Persephone still can't tell Hades about her rape by Apollo (there is a warning at the beginning of the Volume (in fact all of the volumes) 'Lore Olympus regularly deals with themes of physical and mental abuse, sexual trauma and toxic relationships'. I have to say that I think these topics are dealt with quite gently (maybe not the correct word)..

The story builds until there is ultimately a court case against Persephone and Demeter. Persephone is accused of the murder of many humans and Demeter of hiding Persephone away to avoid punishment. The case builds with witnesses like Hermes, Thanatos and others testifying. Of course, I'll have to wait until the next volume (at least) to see the result.

As well, Persephone finally goes to get mental counselling for her ordeal and reactions to it. Apollo wants Persephone as his wife and colludes to try and make it happen. Artemis wants to know what happened between Apollo and Persephone and tries to get Eros to tell her. As I said, many things going and the stories are told so well. 

It's been a fascinating, excellent collection so far and I have Vol 8 on my book shelf! (4.0 stars)"

3. Love and Rockets, New Stories #3 by Los Hermanos Hernandez (2010). I've become sort of addicted to this graphic novel series since I discovered it.

"The Love and Rockets graphic novel series by Los Hermanos Hernandez has been a breath of fresh air in my exploration of graphic novels. This isn't meant to denigrate the other graphic novels I've been reading and enjoying but this series has really grabbed me. They're about life, they are about people. Love and Rockets: New Stories #3 by Jaime Hernandez & Gilbert Hernandez is the 3rd collection I've enjoyed.

It features 5 stories; Scarlet by Starlight by Gilbert; The Love Bunglers, Part One by Jaime; Killer Sad Girl Star by Gilbert; Browntown by Jaime and The Love Bunglers, Part Two by Jaime. The two sets of stories by each brother are each quite different.

Gilbert's follow Scarlet and her attempts to get into acting, alien movies, failed television shows and also just living her life with mom and dad. Jaime's stories delve into the past life of Margaret (Perla) as a young girl and moving with her mother and the rest of the kids to Browntown to be closer to her father... who is a cheat, unfortunately. Each set of stories has their own sexual element with Jaime's particularly powerful, dealing with sexual assault... (I guess I should give a warning to anyone who is interested in the work but has issues or experiences with this)

The stories are beautifully drawn, peopled with fascinating characters. They deal with life, not always the good side of it, but covering issues of family break-up, growing up, dealing with life. I don't know how better to say it, but suffice it to say, these graphic novels, the Love and Rockets books are just excellent. (4.5 stars)"

4. Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman (Dungeon Crawler Carl #1 / 2020). I bowed to pressure and tried this book... sigh.. now I've got #2 on my shelf.

"I finally see what the fuss is all about with Dungeon Crawler Carl, the first book in the Dungeon Crawler Carl fantasy series by Matt Dinniman. It's an entertaining, escapist, well written adventure fantasy / Sci Fi novel. 

It starts off with a bang, or more accurately a collapse, and the story takes off from there. Carl is cat-sitting his 'girl friend's' cat Princess Donut, one cold winter night and discovering that his girl friend, Bea, is probably dumping him and also Donut. Donut decides to jump out the window onto an adjoining tree branch and then refuses to come back inside. Carl, wearing just a leather jacket and boxers, runs outside to get Princess Donut, when calamity happens. Every building collapses into itself, killing everybody still inside. To be clear, this is worldwide. Everybody still alive is warned they have a certain amount of time to get underground if they want to survive.

It seems that an alien syndicate has chosen Earth for its next 'games'. The surviving humans and critters will be taking part in games (read Dungeons and Dragons, sort of) and must move from level to level lower into this huge alien constructed Dungeon, if they want to survive. As they kill creatures in the dungeons and even each other, they gain points and prizes that will help them at each level. Across the whole Earth, there seem to be about 5,000,000 that have survived initially. Each level has different creatures at all levels of destructive power and the more you kill, the stronger you get.

So that's the gist. Carl and Princess Donut are a team for now and have an adviser, Mortdecai, a Crawler who survived from another world. Donut will be able to speak as she gains power and the communication between her and Carl are always interesting and fun. Oh, they also discover that there are Trillions of people across the universes watching the games and that they need to get more Likes and followers to improve their odds of surviving. Something that Princess Donut craves and Carl hates. The two also have a manager, Zev, a water creature who arranges interviews for them.

So it's a fast paced, action filled story. You have to bear with periods where Carl and Donut go through all of the items and powers they win every time they have a battler, but it becomes easy to gloss over those portions and they don't really take away from the story.

It's interesting watching Carl and Donut's friendship develop and who their characters grow as the story progresses. Their contact with other humans have mixed results... And who is Agatha, the elderly woman who wanders in and out of their lives. Carl and Donut don't know.. yet? And there are creatures who are saved by Carl and Donut. Will they show up again? At the end of this portion, there is a teaser about two goblins who were spared by the two. What role will they play in the follow-on books? And we see others from a distance, battling the creatures successfully. How will they show up in future books??

The more I got into the story, the more I got involved in the characters, their lives, their growth and I look forward to exploring the series more. I don't know if I'll be as quick as some getting through the books, but I will continue definitely. Oh... did Carl's ex, Bea die in the collapse? Questions, questions.. (4.0 stars)"

Currently Reading

1. All the Tea in China by Kyril Bonfiglioli (1978).

"Kyril Bonfiglioli, the groundbreaking satirist whose writing The New Yorker described as “an unholy collaboration between P. G. Wodehouse and Ian Fleming,” was truly a writer ahead of his time. In this hilarious novel, Bonfiglioli takes us back in time to an ironical maritime romp—Master and Commander by way of Monty Python.

Inspired by a shotgun blast in the seat of his breeches, young Karli Van Cleef quits his native Holland to seek his fortune. He arrives in early Victorian London and soon he is turning a pretty profit. But Karli sees that true opportunity flowers in India’s fields of opium poppies and the treaty ports of the China coast. So he takes a berth in an opium clipper hell-bent for the Indies.

It is a journey beset with perils. Karli is confronted by the mountainous seas, high-piled plates of curry, and the ferocious penalties of the Articles of War. He survives the malice of the Boers, the hospitality of anthropophagi, and the horrors of Lancashire cooking. En route he acquires some interesting diseases, dangerous friends and enemies, a fortune, and a wife almost as good as new."

2. Assassin's Code by Jonathan Maberry (Joe Ledger #4 / 2012). Great series.

"When Joe Ledger and Echo Team rescue a group of American college kids held hostage in Iran,the Iranian government then asks them to help find six nuclear bombs planted in the Mideast oil fields. These stolen WMDs will lead Joe and Echo Team into hidden vaults of forbidden knowledge, mass-murder, betrayal, and a brotherhood of genetically-engineered killers with a thirst for blood.

Accompanied by the beautiful assassin called Violin, Joe follows a series of clues to find the Book of Shadows, which contains a horrifying truth that threatens to shatter his entire worldview.

They say the truth will set you free…
Not this time.

The secrets of the Assassin’s Code will set the world ablaze."

3. East of West; There is No Us by Jonathan Hickman (#3 / 2014).

"It's the third volume of the Eisner-nominated East Of West. There Is No Us sees the breaking apart of the future-scape of America as the world races forward towards the apocalypse.

Collecting: East Of West 11-15"

4. Report from Planet Midnight by Nalo Hopkinson (2012).

"Infused with feminist, Afro-Caribbean views of the science fiction and fantasy genres, this collection of offbeat and highly original works takes aim at race and racism in literature. In “Report from Planet Midnight,” at the International Association of the Fantastic in the Arts, an alien addresses the crowd, evaluating Earth's "strange" customs, including the marginalization of works by nonwhite and female writers. “Message in a Bottle” shows Greg, an American Indian artist, befriending a strange four-year-old who seems wise beyond her years. While preparing an exhibition, he discovers that the young girl is a traveler from the future sent to recover art from the distant past—which apparently includes his own work. Concluding the book with series editor Terry Bisson’s Outspoken Interview, Nalo Hopkinson shares laughs, loves, and top-secret Caribbean spells."

Newest Purchases

Bear with me here...

1. The Blanket of the Dark by John Buchan (1931). I'm enjoying exploring Buchan's stories.

"Buchan skillfully weaves the story of young clerk Peter Pentecost, who has a claim to the throne, and a tale of intrigue against King Henry VIII, where 'under the blanket of the dark all men are alike and all are nameless'. Buchan's description of the ruthless king is compelling. His knowledge of the time of Henry's reign and his love of the Oxfordshire countryside are apparent."

2. The Cave Girl by Edgar Rice Burroughs (1913). I've enjoyed so many of Burroughs' adventures and fantasies. This is one of his standalones.

"Waldo Smith-Jones shipwrecked from Boston, desperately tries to survive on a lost island of primitive men and beasts. Given the name of Thandar, he strives for the hand of Princess Nadara amid misunderstandings. If a rescue ship arrives, what will they do?"

3. The Possessors by John Christopher (1964). I keep finding more books by Christopher. Great horror and Sci Fi.

"It all started when a group of British vacationers was cut off by an avalanche. The skiing chalet up in the mountains seemed a good place to hold out for a while, but then the little boy mysteriously died...or appeared to. And in the impenetrable Swiss Alps something alien stirred..."

4. Play it as it Lays by Joan Didion (1970).

"A ruthless dissection of American life in the late 1960s, Play It as It Lays captures the mood of an entire generation, the ennui of contemporary society reflected in spare prose that blisters and haunts the reader. Set in a place beyond good and evil - literally in Hollywood, Las Vegas, and the barren wastes of the Mojave Desert, but figuratively in the landscape of an arid soul - it remains more than three decades after its original publication a profoundly disturbing novel, riveting in its exploration of a woman and a society in crisis and stunning in the still-startling intensity of its prose."

5. The Bone Mother by David Demchuk (2017). I enjoyed Red X by Demchuk last year.

"For two hundred years, the Grazyn porcelain factory built its reputation on its magnificent thimbles. It is said that even the Czarina Anastasia Romanova had received one in her trousseau. The workers come from the three neighboring villages on the border of Romania and Ukraine. Nourished, dressed and educated, they are the envy of all at a time when a famine programmed by Stalin sweeps the countryside and cannibalism rages from city to town to farm. But what is the secret of this factory and why does the Grazyn family protect its employees so scrupulously?

The Bone Mother revives the great figures of Slavic mythology on the eve of the Second World War, from rusalka and Baba Yaga--The Bone Mother herself--to the golem. The existence of mortals is intimately linked to that of witches and vampires, in a universe where strigois rub shoulders with mermaids, ghosts and seers...and all are in peril from the Nichni Politsiyi, the Night Police, which wish to eradicate them."

6. When Secrets Die by Lynn Hamilton (Lena Padget #3 / 2005). Always enjoy her mystery / thrillers.

"They have kept the heart of her child... They have accused her of murder... Angels of mercy...or the devil in disguise? Who owns your body, anyway?

Lynn Hightower's novels have tackled such diverse subjects as female serial killers and lethal debt collectors. Now, in her most explosive and controversial thriller to date, she exposes the hidden secrets of hospital pathology labs, the darkest mysteries of motherhood, and the most unthinkable crime of all.

Private investigator Lena Padgett has been approached by a single mother with a stunning tale to tell. Emma Marsden, still grieving over the death of her infant son from an inexplicable illness, has been dealt another devastating blow. Her pediatrician, Theodore Tundridge, has accused Emma of poisoning her son in a psychotic bid for attention. Emma wants to counter his charges by accusing Tundridge of keeping a shocking chamber of horrors in his pathology lab -- all the more frightening because it is entirely legal. Lena agrees to take on Emma's case and uncovers other suspicious deaths under the doctor's care. But when a secretly taped video incriminates Emma in the most intimate of ways -- and Emma's teenage daughter disappears -- even Lena isn't prepared for where the truth will take her."

7. The Seafarers by Nevil Shute (2002). Shute is one of the many authors on my bucket list... whose books I want to read completely.

"The story of a dashing British naval Lieutenant and a Wren who meet right at the end of the Second World War. Their romance is blighted by differences in social background and economic constraints; in unhappiness each turns to odd jobs in boating circles."

8. Brown Girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkinson (1998). I'm currently reading another collection of Hopkinson's work and essays.

"The rich and privileged have fled the city, barricaded it behind roadblocks, and left it to crumble. The inner city has had to rediscover old ways – farming, barter, herb lore. But now the monied need a harvest of bodies, and so they prey upon the helpless of the streets. With nowhere to turn, a young woman must open herself to ancient truths, eternal powers, and the tragic mystery surrounding her mother and grandmother.

She must bargain with gods, and give birth to new legends."

and finally....

9. Carl's Doomsday Scenario by Matt Dinniman (Dungeon Crawler Carl #2 / 2021).

""The training levels have concluded. Now the games may truly begin."

The ratings and views are off the chart. The fans just can't get enough. The dungeon gets more dangerous each day. But in a grinder designed to chew up and spit out crawlers by the millions, Carl and Princess Donut need to work harder than ever just to survive.

They call it the Over City. A sprawling, once-thriving metropolis devastated by a mysterious calamity. But these streets are far from abandoned. An undead circus trawls the ruins. Murdered prostitutes rain from the sky. An ancient spell is finally ready to reveal its dark purpose.

Carl still has no pants.

They call it Dungeon Crawler World. For Carl and Donut, it's anything but a game."

Enjoy the rest of March and maybe you'll see some April reading ideas here. Good night and happy dreams.

A Thursday Quickie (It's almost the end of another month)

I saw this on another site and had to borrow it. For us West coasters, Hallowe'en ends at 5 p.m. 😈😎✌

Jo is having an afternoon nap. After her chemo session, she rarely sleeps the night after so she's trying to catch up this afternoon. I'm going to do a quick update while she's snoozing, then I might have one myself... 

Newly Completed

1. Cracking the Nazi Code: The Untold Story of Canada's Greatest Spy by Jason Bell (2023)

"Cracking the Nazi Code: The Untold Story of Canada's Greatest Spy by Jason Bell is the true story of Canadian Winthrop Bell, a philosophy professor who also worked as a spy for the British between WWI & WWII and was one of the first people to crack the 'Nazi Code', who determined what Hitler actually wanted to do to create an Aryan state. 

Bell went to Gottingen in 1911 to do his dissertation on phenomenology, a branch of philosophy. At that time, Germany was gearing up for WWI and when it started, Bell spent time in a prison camp with other foreign nationals. After the war, he became involved with British intelligence, helping both the Canadian and British representatives at the Peace conferences, try to decide what kind of reparations Germany should pay for starting the war and for its actions during the war.

During his travels throughout Germany and his contacts with leading German Liberal democratic leaders he could see the frustration growing amongst the common German people. They were starving, without jobs, being goaded by factions on both the Communist left and the fascist right, to blame the Allies for their troubles. Soldiers were being cashiered, and joining either side just to get a salary and be able to find food. Bell pressed this information on the Canadian delegation and the British delegation, advising that if they wanted to avoid a 2nd World War and a rise in the fascists, they needed to help the German economy; provide the German people with food to live, jobs to earn a living. It seems the French were very intransigent about this.. To be fair they had born the brunt of the war.

Bell researched the Fascist undercurrents, led by a German general Ludendorff, who was an antisemite and severe right wing leader. He and his allies wanted to create an Aryan state / empire and Bell could see this and wrote constantly both to the British press and to the British government spy service about it. He became a most reliable source of information and began to work for the British as a spy within Germany... (He was named A12)

It's a fascinating story, bridging the period between two wars. Bell was one of the first to see the Nazi Code; that the Nazis and Hitler, when he took over, had a plan to create this Aryan empire and anyone they deemed not to be Aryan (they didn't define it specifically) were to be brushed off the face of the Earth. The Jews were always a target but the plan included any nation that the Nazis took over as well, the Poles, the Ukrainians, the Czechs and eventually, when they took over the world, any non-Aryans in the Americas and Africa. It was a plan on such a scale that it was hard to accept by news organizations and politicians. 

Bell risked his life and his health. He was an honorable, fascinating, unassuming man who was in the very thick of what was happening in those days. His work helped prevent a German & Russian joint take over of the Baltic States between the Wars. The author believes his information was probably influential in the creation of the Marshal Plan after World War II.

What I found scary about this story is how the rise of this fascist state in Germany seems to parallel much of what we see going on south of the border this past few years; the deportations of non-whites, the arming of ICE to make it larger than many armies, the growing antisemitism, the harassment of the press, the threats to other countries. As a Canadian in the small country (population - wise) to the North, I sometimes feel like Poland must have felt like on the border of Nazi Germany. I just hope that there are smart people out there nowadays who recognize the threat and don't just appease, but fight back. But that's for another discussion, I guess. Excellent book, well-written and fascinating look at an important part of our history. (4.0 stars)"

2. Hell House by Richard Matheson (1971).

"In the past few years, I've read a couple of the works of Richard Matheson, The Incredible Shrinking Man and I Am Legend (a collection of his short stories) and enjoyed them both very much. I bought them because I liked the movies based on his books, or were the books based on movies? Not a matter. Anyway, I've seen various iterations of the Haunting of Hell House and when I discovered he'd also wrote Hell House and it being Hallowe'en month, I decided to give it a try.

Most of you know the story probably. Four people are invited to spend a week in an old mansion (Belasco House) that's become known as Hell House. There have been previous visits that have all resulted in tragedy for the visitors. This group includes a scientist in parapsychology Lionel Barrett, accompanied by his wife, Edith. There are two mediums, Florence Tanner, a mental medium, and Benjamin Franklin Fischer, a physical psychic, who had been the only survivor of the last visit, 40 years previously.

The group has been offered $100,000 by the owner, Mr. Deutsch, if they find the facts about Hell House.. .basically, if it's actually haunted or not. Deutsch's son doesn't want this to happen. He just wants to sell the house.

So off the 4 go to Hell House. Barrett is a bit at odds with the two psychics. He believes that if there is anything in the house it has to do with electro-magnetic conditions rather than haunting spirits and if he can prove it, he will put out a manuscript with his proof.

Things begin to happen pretty quickly. The story moves from individual to individual and explores what they are feeling. Something seems to be digging into their deepest fears, feelings, desires, doubts and enhancing them. The previous owner, Belasco, had turned the home into a den of inequity where his guests could indulge in any excess, physical, sexual. And the Florence immediately begins to feel the spirits surrounding her. Edith starts having strange desires. 

When Florence is about to have a sitting to try and contact the spirits, Barrett insists she put on a special suit and Edith has to watch her, very embarassed, and at the same time feeling that someone is also with them, watching her reactions. Things like that happen constantly. Tables begin to be thrown about. The visitors are attacked. Fischer isn't as bothered as the others, but that is probably because he refuses to open up his senses. (I don't blame him).

Edith is particularly attacked, especially in a sexual way. She has a drink one night, finds a hollowed book with photographs of men and women engaged in sex acts. Her repressed nature begins to open up. She attacks Fischer, her husband (because of a childhood polio, he can't respond), even Florence. There are so many things going on that I hesitate to elaborate too much. Suffice it to say, it's a story with constant tension, that builds steadily.

The characters are fully developed; their personalities, their thoughts and beliefs, making the story rich in so many ways. Just an all out fascinating story that is also scary to boot. Excellent (4.5 stars)"

3. Coup de Grace by Sofia Ajram (2024).

"The author of Coup de Grâce, Sofia Ajram provided the following Author's note at the beginning of the novel.

"Coup de Grace is a story primarily about depression and suicide. In dealing with these subjects, the book includes scenes with reference to suicidal ideation and depictions of self-harm.

If you or someone you know is contemplating suicide, please reach out for support. Please do not struggle in silence."

With that caveat, the story is a suicide attempt by Vicken which degenerates into a terrifying journey through an ever-expanding subway station. Vicken's plan is to take the Montreal Metro to the end of the line and then to walk into the St. Lawrence River. But the plan changes totally. There is no end to the Metro. He spends days, maybe, wandering around an underground system that grows and grows. (Think of Mark Danielewski's House of Leaves. On his journey he meets one person, a young woman known only as Pashmina (for her scarf) and they wander together for a time period. 

The story is about this journey, about Vicken's internalizations of his life, his desire to end it, his possible love for Felix. There is an interesting episode on an elevator where Vicken plays a game, that I gather is from a book called Dangerous Games to Play in the Dark, the game being 'The Elevator Game'... it's strange. 

It is a fascinating story, not terrifying maybe but both creepy, a kind of psychological horror. The ending is especially interesting, as Vicken considers his options, involving the reader in his choices. It's not long, thoughtfully written and worth checking out. An excellent 1st novel. (4.0 stars)"

Just Started

1. The Content Assignment by Holly Roth (1955). I've supposedly read this before but for the life of me, it all seems new.

"On a rainy night in postwar Berlin, British journalist John Terrant encounters Ellen Content, a young civilian typist in the American Army's office of information. Their romance quickly blossoms, but as soon as Terrant realizes that Content is a spy, she abruptly vanishes into the divided city's treacherous maze of ruined streets. Terrant's anguished inquiries receive only bland assurances from the authorities that Content will contact him when her job is finished.

Two years later, Terrant's compulsively close reading of newspapers uncovers his first clue since Content's her name appears in a list of passengers recently embarked on an ocean liner headed from London to New York. Within a few hours, the reporter is headed for the United States, despite dire warnings from the CIA and Scotland Yard to desist in his pursuit. After long months of inactivity, suddenly every minute counts as Terrant races to solve the mystery, find his lover, and avoid becoming the latest victim in a string of killings."

2. Travel Light by Naomi Mitchison (1952).

"From the dark ages to modern times, from the dragons of medieval forests to Constantinople, this is a fantastic and philosophical fairy-tale journey that will appeal to fans of Harry Potter, Diana Wynne Jones, and T. H. White’s The Sword in the Stone."

3. The West Passage by Jared Pechacek (2024).

"A palace the size of a city, ruled by giant Ladies of unknowable, eldritch origin. A land left to slow decay, drowning in the debris of generations. All this and more awaits you within The West Passage, a delightfully mysterious and intriguingly weird medieval fantasy unlike anything you've read before.

When the Guardian of the West Passage died in her bed, the women of Grey Tower fed her to the crows and went back to their chores. No successor was named as Guardian, no one took up the fallen blade; the West Passage went unguarded.

Now, snow blankets Grey in the height of summer. Rats erupt from beneath the earth, fleeing that which comes. Crops fail. Hunger looms. And none stand ready to face the Beast, stirring beneath the poisoned soil.

The fate of all who live in the palace hangs on narrow shoulders. The too-young Mother of Grey House sets out to fix the seasons. The unnamed apprentice of the deceased Grey Guardian goes to warn Black Tower. Both their paths cross the West Passage, the ancient byway of the Beast. On their journeys they will meet schoolteachers and beekeepers, miracles and monsters, and very, very big Ladies. None can say if they'll reach their destinations, but one thing is for sure: the world is about to change."

New Purchases

1. The Land of Sweet Forever: Stories and Essays by Harper Lee (2025).

"From one of America’s most beloved authors, a posthumous collection of newly discovered short stories and previously published essays and magazine pieces, offering a fresh perspective on the remarkable literary mind of Harper Lee.

Harper Lee remains a landmark figure in the American canon – thanks to Scout, Jem, Atticus, and the other indelible characters in her Pulitzer-winning debut, To Kill a Mockingbird; as well as for the darker, late-’50s version of small-town Alabama that emerged in Go Set a Watchman, her only other novel, published in 2015 after its rediscovery. Less remembered, until now, however, is Harper Lee the dogged young writer, who crafted stories in hopes of magazine publication; Lee the lively New Yorker, Alabamian, and friend to Truman Capote; and the Lee who peppered the pages of McCall’s and Vogue with thoughtful essays in the latter part of the twentieth century.

The Land of Sweet Forever combines Lee’s early short fiction and later nonfiction in a volume offering an unprecedented look at the development of her inimitable voice. Covering territory from the Alabama schoolyards of Lee’s youth to the luncheonettes and movie houses of midcentury Manhattan, The Land of Sweet Forever invites still-vital conversations about politics, equality, travel, love, fiction, art, the American South, and what it means to lead an engaged and creative life.

This collection comes with an introduction by Casey Cep, Harper Lee’s appointed biographer, which provides illuminating background for our reading of these stories and connects them both to Lee’s life and to her two novels."

2. The Reformatory by Tananarive Due (2023).

"A gripping, page-turning novel set in Jim Crow Florida that follows Robert Stephens Jr. as he’s sent to a segregated reform school that is a chamber of terrors where he sees the horrors of racism and injustice, for the living, and the dead.

Gracetown, Florida
June 1950

Twelve-year-old Robbie Stephens, Jr., is sentenced to six months at the Gracetown School for Boys, a reformatory, for kicking the son of the largest landowner in town in defense of his older sister, Gloria. So begins Robbie’s journey further into the terrors of the Jim Crow South and the very real horror of the school they call The Reformatory.

Robbie has a talent for seeing ghosts, or haints. But what was once a comfort to him after the loss of his mother has become a window to the truth of what happens at the reformatory. Boys forced to work to remediate their so-called crimes have gone missing, but the haints Robbie sees hint at worse things. Through his friends Redbone and Blue, Robbie is learning not just the rules but how to survive. Meanwhile, Gloria is rallying every family member and connection in Florida to find a way to get Robbie out before it’s too late.

The Reformatory is a haunting work of historical fiction written as only American Book Award–winning author Tananarive Due could, by piecing together the life of the relative her family never spoke of and bringing his tragedy and those of so many others at the infamous Dozier School for Boys to the light in this riveting novel."

3. The City in Glass by Nghi Vo (2024).

"In this new standalone, Hugo Award-winning author Nghi Vo introduces a beguiling fantasy city in the tradition of Calvino, Mieville, and Le Guin.

A demon. An angel. A city that burns at the heart of the world.

The demon Vitrine—immortal, powerful, and capricious—loves the dazzling city of Azril. She has mothered, married, and maddened the city and its people for generations, and built it into a place of joy and desire, revelry and riot.

And then the angels come, and the city falls.

Vitrine is left with nothing but memories and a book containing the names of those she has lost—and an angel, now bound by her mad, grief-stricken curse to haunt the city he burned.

She mourns her dead and rages against the angel she longs to destroy. Made to be each other’s devastation, angel and demon are destined for eternal battle. Instead, they find themselves locked in a devouring fascination that will change them both forever.

Together, they unearth the past of the lost city and begin to shape its future. But when war threatens Azril and everything they have built, Vitrine and her angel must decide whether they will let the city fall again.

The City in Glass is both a brilliantly constructed history and an epic love story, of death and resurrection, memory and transformation, redemption and desire strong enough to burn a world to ashes and build it anew."

4. Camp Concentration by Thomas M. Disch (1969).

"In this chillingly plausible work of speculative fiction, Thomas M. Disch imagines an alternate 1970s in which America has declared war on the rest of the world and much of its own citizenry and is willing to use any weapon to assure victory.  Louis Sacchetti, a poet imprisoned for draft resistance, is delivered to a secret facility called Camp Archimedes, where he is the unwilling witness to the army's conscienceless experiments in “intelligence maximization.” In the experiment, Prisoners are given Pallidine, a drug derived from the syphilis spirochete, and their mental abilities quickly rise to the level of genius.  Unfortunately, a side effect of Pallidine is death."

So there you go, folks. I hope some of the books above interest you. Take care and GO JAYS!

A Thursday Reading Update

As I watch (I won't say enjoy) today's Jan 6th Committee hearings and wait for an afternoon Blue Jays game, it's time for a reading update and a look at some new books. I may even continue with my ongoing look at Women Authors whose works I've been enjoying. So let's get on with it you say? Sounds good.

Books Completed

I've finished one book since my last update, or more correctly, gave up on one book and one series.

1. Flashman on the March by George MacDonald Fraser (Flashman Papers #12).

"I'm not providing a rating for Flashman on the March, the last book in the Flashman series by George MacDonald Fraser. Unfortunately I didn't finish it. It wasn't as offensive as the last one I tried and also didn't finish. This one just started to bore me. 

The plot had potential. Flash is tasked to go to Abyssinia (Ethiopia) to deliver funds to a British general who is building an army there to attack an Abyssinian general (ruler), Theodore. Theodore is crazy, an insane murderer. Flash is assigned a mission by the general. To go into Abyssinia and meet up with another ruler, a queen. He goes with her sister and gets involved in adventures along the way. But after reading half of the book, I just felt blah about continuing it. I have so many books to read and unfortunately for this series, I just don't see the need to continue with it. Sorry to Mr. Fraser. 

I won't read any more books in this series. No rating."

Currently Reading

1. Let Me Tell You What I Mean by Joan Didion (2021). I've never read anything by Didion before but her name has come up many times in the last months, the first being that she had passed away in Dec 2021. Since then I've noted that she wrote fiction, non-fiction and screenplays. I found this collection of essays when Jo and I visited Qualicum Beach in January of 2022. I have to say I'm enjoying them very much. I like her clear writing style and her ability to get to her point in such a short format. I may have to check out more of her writing.

"Ten pieces never before collected that offer an illuminating glimpse into the mind and process of a legendary writer

Here are six pieces written in 1968 from the "Points West" Saturday Evening Post column Joan Didion shared from 1964 to 1969 with her husband, John Gregory Dunne about: American newspapers; a session with Gamblers Anonymous; a visit to San Simeon; being rejected by Stanford; dropping in on Nancy Reagan, wife of the then-governor of California, while a TV crew filmed her at home; and an evening at the annual reunion of WWII veterans from the 101st Airborne Association at the Stardust Hotel in Las Vegas. Here too is a 1976 piece from the New York Times magazine on "Why I Write"; a piece about short stories from New West in 1978; and from The New Yorker, a piece on Hemingway from 1998, and on Martha Stewart from 2000. Each one is classic Didion: incisive, bemused, and stunningly prescient."

2. The Nightmare by Lars Kepler (Joona Linna #2 / 2010 ). I read the first book in this series back in 2014 and I've had this next  book on my shelf since 2017. Too many books sometimes that some get forgotten. I've just started this and it's grabbed me right from the get-go.

"On a summer night, police recover the body of a young woman from an abandoned pleasure boat drifting around the Stockholm archipelago. Her lungs are filled with brackish water, and the forensics team is sure that she drowned. Why, then, is the pleasure boat still afloat, and why are there no traces of water on her clothes or body? The next day, a man turns up dead in his state apartment in Stockholm, hanging from a lamp hook in the ceiling. All signs point to suicide, but the room has a high ceiling, and there's not a single piece of furniture around -- nothing to climb on. Joona Linna begins to piece together the two mysteries, but the logistics are a mere prelude to a dizzying and dangerous course of events. At its core, the most frightening aspect of The Nightmare isn't its gruesome crimes -- it's the dark psychology of its characters, who show us how blind we are to our own motives."

New Books

Since my last update, I've received a few books in the mail and also visited Nearly New Books to trade in some books and picked up a few others. So let's take a look at them and I'll provide the synopses for all of them.

1. Ozma of Oz by L. Frank Baum (Oz #3 / 1907). I'm enjoying exploring Baum's Oz world.

"Readers of all ages will welcome the chance to be reunited with Dorothy Gale and such beloved characters as the Scarecrow, Tin Woodman, and Cowardly Lion, as well as to meet new favorites such as the Hungry Tiger, whose appetite is never satisfied; Princess Langwidere, who has thirty heads; Billina, a talking chicken; and Tiktok, a mechanical man.

Blown overboard while sailing with her uncle, Dorothy finds herself in the fairy realm of Ev. She sets out with her friends to rescue the Queen of Ev and her ten children, who have been imprisoned by the cruel Nome King. But even Ozma, the wise Ruler of Oz, is no match for the clever king, and it's up to Dorothy to save everyone from terrible danger. But will the Nome King's enchantments be too much even for the plucky little girl from Kansas?"

2. The Absolute Death by Neil Gaiman (2012). I recently enjoyed a collection of Sandman by Gaiman and Death, his sister, was one of my favorite characters. I'm looking forward to reading this collection,

"From the pages of Newbery Medal winner Neil Gaiman's The Sandman comes the young, pale, perky, fan-favorite character Death in a new Absolute Edition collecting her solo adventures! Featuring the miniseries Death: The High Cost of Living 1-3, in which Death befriends a teenager and helps a 250-year old homeless woman find her missing heart.

The Absolute Death collects the miniseries Death: The High Cost of Living and Death: The Time of Your Life together with "The Sound of Her Wings" and "Façade" from The Sandman 8 and 20, the P. Craig Russell-illustrated "Death and Venice" from The Sandman: Endless Nights , and the never-before reprinted stories "A Winter's Tale" and "The Wheel." This deluxe volume also features an introduction by The Dresden Dolls' Amanda Palmer as well as extensive galleries of Death portraits and retail products, sketches by artist Chris Bachalo, and the complete original script by Gaiman for The Sandman 8."

3. The Fire Witness by Lars Kepler (Joona Linna #3). Since I'm enjoying the 2nd book in the series, I thought it was a good idea to get #3.

"Psychologically tense and as fast-paced as The Hypnotist, the third book in the Joona Linna series by Lars Kepler is already a worldwide sensation, appealing to fans of Stieg Larsson and Jo Nesbo. 

Detective Inspector Joona Linna, under internal review by the National Police for an alleged infraction, is on leave to solve some troubling personal business when he is called in to "observe" the investigation of a gruesome and strange murder at Birgittagarden, a youth home for wayward teenage girls. But it's not long before Linna is drawn deeply into the intricate, disturbing case. Intriguing, astonishing, and with all of the suspense that first captured audiences in The Hypnotist, The Fire Witness is Lars Kepler at his most psychologically complex and thrilling."

4. A Murder in Time by Julia McElwain (Kendra Donovan #1 / 2016). This is a new author and series for me. It sounds interesting. I enjoy travel through time books. I just hope it's not too much like the Outlander books (and yes, I did enjoy the first 3 or 4 books in that series).

"Beautiful and brilliant, Kendra Donovan is a rising star at the FBI. Yet her path to professional success hits a speed bump during a disastrous raid where half her team is murdered, a mole in the FBI is uncovered and she herself is severely wounded. As soon as she recovers, she goes rogue and travels to England to assassinate the man responsible for the deaths of her teammates.

While fleeing from an unexpected assassin herself, Kendra escapes into a stairwell that promises sanctuary but when she stumbles out again, she is in the same place - Aldrich Castle - but in a different time: 1815, to be exact.

Mistaken for a lady's maid hired to help with weekend guests, Kendra is forced to quickly adapt to the time period until she can figure out how she got there; and, more importantly, how to get back home. However, after the body of a girl is found on the extensive grounds of the county estate, she starts to feel there's some purpose to her bizarre circumstances. Stripped of her twenty-first century tools, Kendra must use her wits alone in order to unmask a cunning madman."

5. Castleview by Gene Wolfe (1990). I've tried two books by Wolfe, one collection of short stories which I enjoyed and one fantasy collection which I just could not get through. This book sounds interesting and I hope it is.

"Castleview, an Illinois town, has a phantom castle that Will Shields sees on his first night there, an experience that involves him in murder and mysterious, life-threatening events, because the castle belongs to Morgan Le Fay."

6. Philip K. Dick: The Last Interview and Other Conversations (2015). I've started to collect this series. I've read the last interviews with Hannah Arendt and Ursula K. Le Guin. There have been a number of such interviews and I'm trying to pick and choose; Dick, Kurt Vonnegut, Lou Reed.... 

"An electric collection of interviews—including the first and the last—with one of the 20th century's most prolific, influential, and dazzlingly original writers of science fiction

Long before Ridley Scott transformed Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? into Blade Runner, Philip K. Dick was banging away at his typewriter in relative obscurity, ostracized by the literary establishment. Today he is widely considered one of the most influential writers of the 20th century. These interviews reveal a man plagued by bouts of manic paranoia and failed suicide attempts; a career fuelled by alcohol, amphetamines, and mystical inspiration; and, above all, a magnificent and generous imagination at work."

Women Authors Whose Works I Have Enjoyed - Sophie Hannah

I'm digressing somewhat with this choice. Sophie Hannah is an English poetess and author who has written a number of works. I haven't yet tried her books (hence my slight digression on the topics of authors I've already enjoyed) but I have two on my bookshelf that I'm looking forward to trying

1. Closed Casket (New Hercule Poirot Mysteries #2) / 2016).

""What I intend to say to you will come as a shock..."

With these words, Lady Athelinda Playford -- one of the world's most beloved children's authors -- springs a surprise on the lawyer entrusted with her will. As guests arrive for a party at her Irish mansion, Lady Playford has decided to cut off her two children without a penny . . . and leave her vast fortune to someone else: an invalid who has only weeks to live.

Among Lady Playford's visitors are two strangers: the famous Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, and Inspector Edward Catchpool of Scotland Yard. Neither knows why he has been invited -- until Poirot begins to wonder if Lady Playford expects a murder. But why does she seem so determined to provoke a killer? And why -- when the crime is committed despite Poirot's best efforts to stop it -- does the identity of the victim make no sense at all?"

 

2. The Monogram Murders (New Hercule Poirot Mysteries #1 / 2014).

"‘I’m a dead woman, or I shall be soon…’

Hercule Poirot's quiet supper in a London coffeehouse is interrupted when a young woman confides to him that she is about to be murdered.  She is terrified – but begs Poirot not to find and punish her killer. Once she is dead, she insists, justice will have been done.

Later that night, Poirot learns that three guests at a fashionable London Hotel have been murdered, and a cufflink has been placed in each one’s mouth. Could there be a connection with the frightened woman? While Poirot struggles to put together the bizarre pieces of the puzzle, the murderer prepares another hotel bedroom for a fourth victim..."

The complete listing of Hannah's works can be found at this link. 

Enjoy the rest of your week. Read a great book.