The three latest, read over the festive period.
Susanna Clarke’s Piranesi. A strange fantasy, set in an other-worldly, Borges-influenced labyrinth. Recommended.
Action-packed Apartments by our (and TV’s) very own Frank Conniff. I just finished the first story, which was a lot of fun.
Flann O’Brien - The Third Policeman. An absurd and surreal Irish tale, revolving around murder, bicycles and immortality.
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If you like audio books, please consider All About Me by Mel Brooks. He reads it, and it’s just a gift and a gem. I’m listening now, and having that familiar, cheerful voice in my ears, telling me stories about his life…it’s a treat.
I just finished the political thriller by Louise Penny and Hilary Clinton, State of Terror, which I’d been dubious about, but which was very fun. I love Penny’s series about Gamache, which is why I tried it, and I’m glad I did. It’s a plot-driven page-turner that really celebrates female friendships. Yay!
I’m about to start reading Moby Dick with a work friend–I can’t believe I am THIS OLD but haven’t read it, and I’m also getting ready to start The Lincoln Highway, by Amor Towles. I loved A Gentleman in Moscow so much that I hugged it when I finished, so I’m really looking forward to this.
Thanks for asking!!
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Thanks for the Brooks tip - I stumbled on a Conan clip with Gene Wilder talking about the one and only time he argued with Mel Brooks (over the top hat and tails scene in ‘Frankenstein’, no less), and at the end of the interview Conan plugged this, which I wasn’t aware of but is now on my list (and it reminded me that it’s time to rewatch ‘Wonka’ again):
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Brooks said he was against the scene because it was too far from the “classic Universal monster movie” vibe he wanted… he caved when Wilder argued for the scene so strongly he was in tears.
Turned out to be one of the funniest scenes in movie history, IMO.
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Yup, her again, I’ve exhausted the library, so I bought 6 novels from Thriftbooks - her name will keep popping up here throughout 2022. Halfway through and loving it. This one’s about the world of book publishing, so it hits close to home for Sparks.
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Still working my way through the Gene Wilder memoir, but now that The Expanse has wrapped up, I’ve just purchased the first book and am going to start that series.
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Just finished Ready Player One.
Late to that game, I know. 
I really enjoyed the film, but as everyone told me, the book was indeed even better!
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I finished The Moon Pool by A. Merritt. A 1919 adventure novel about a lost subterranean civilization beneath the South Pacific. It was pretty good… a “two-fisted hero” story of the style that was popular then. If there was any big flaw it was the author’s tendency to over-describe the locations… I doubt that my mental picture of the setting much resembled his in many places.
Now I’m about to start The Green Mile by Stephen King.
My bedtime reading is The Strange Adventures of Rangergirl by Tim Pratt. The protagonist (a cartoonist, and creator of the titular Rangergirl) is a young woman who works in a coffee shop in which there is an old storage room, in which there is a door behind which apparently lives an evil god who is trying to get out. It’s kind of a precursor to Pratt’s Marla Mason urban fantasy series, which I read and enjoyed quite a lot.
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I liked that. The two stories that were “patched up” to make it a novel didn’t quite gel together, but it was fun.
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Cosmos by Carl Sagan…I feel like I may have read this long ago, but I have my own copy now so that’s what matters.
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+1 for Mel Brooks on audio. There are stretches where it seems like he’s describing scenes he recently re-watched them on youtube or DVD, but even those are a pleasure to listen to. Highly recommend the episode of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee with Brooks & Carl Reiner (and, of course, the one with Joel).
Moby Dick: first time I read it, I kept waiting for the plot to kick in, not realizing that the digressions on whaling were a big part of the whole point of the book. . . ahead of its time.
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My lunchtime reading at work is The Green Mile by Stephen King.
I guess it’s a testament to King’s writing that I’m 135 pages in, there doesn’t seem to be a plot, and I have no idea where any of this is going (I’ve never seen the movie), but I’m still eager to keep reading.
As for my bedtime reading at home… I just finished The Strange Adventures of Rangergirl by Tim Pratt, about a barista who finds a portal to another world in the closet of the coffee shop where she works, in which is trapped an evil god. It was good, the first novel by a writer I enjoy quite a lot. I’m even a member of his Patreon.
And I’ve just started The Merchants’ War, volume 4 of a series by Charles Stross about a woman who discovers she’s a member of a family that has the secret of teleporting between worlds, and uses it to… smuggle drugs, mostly. But our heroine has bigger ideas. Tons of intrigue here.
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It’s been a long, long time since I read it but that’s one hell of a story from him, and makes some big hits later on. The film realizes the book incredibly well. You’re in for a treat in that area where King shines- horror on the edges, and most of it very human.
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Was going to start yet another reread of “Around the World in 80 Days”, enjoyed the PBS mini-series and decided it was time to revisit an old favorite.
My book … is missing.
That means… it’s either still with the ex, or got lost in the move…
Sigh.
I have articles cut out of 25+ year old MacUser magazines (That I really should get around to scanning someday), but I don’t have my copy of “Around the World in 80 Days” that I grabbed out of my grandmother’s storage room when I was 8-ish…
Grumble.
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I like reading modules even though i don’t DM anymore. Right now I’m reading the Ravnica sourcebook which puts a very interesting Magic: The Gathering setting into D&D terms.
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Lovecraft’s and other’s Mythos tales are almost always fun. I used to run a Call of Cthulhu game and those sourcebooks had extra info that I enjoyed. My favorite bit was that if you get hit by a Dhole (giant “worm”) you get to make a Luck Roll- if you succeed, there’s enough left of you to bury!
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The 1st Wheel of Time book is good alone and if you continue, you can safely and fairly happily end after the 3rd. If you venture further, you pay a steep price and you’ll need one of those “rage rooms” to take out some frustration!
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That’s for sure!
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I just finished Shakespeare’s plays- hard not to fall into the trap of trying to read them like short stories instead of theater so didn’t enjoy much except Romeo and Juliet and one other which I forget, plus various bits of many others.
I also finished Make Love- The Bruce Campbell Way which is terrible (sorry Bruce!) but has some funny parts. I was obligated to read it since it was a signed copy gift.
As for past notables:
The Silmarilion was so good and I absolutely LOVE all the lore beyond the basic LotR and Hobbit books.
I have some of the ICE Roleplaying books including a nice map of Moria showing off engineering, traps, etc. One is named The Kinstrife and features the city Osgiliath before it was destroyed and all the politics and much history of Gondor. One has the Valar and Maiar described- and yes, none of this is “cannon” but it’s all approved by the Tolkien estate so closest thing to it🙂
I love the Narnia series and have an old ‘choose your own adventure’ with a great map of Narnia plus Archenland. I always get killed in it, though.
Alan Dean Foster’s The Spellsinger series was great as long as you ignore the last one which incorperates rap instead of the classic rock references previously. In one, the protagonist needs a ship so he sings The Beach Boys’ “Sloop John B.” He gets his ship but wakes up on it the next morning drunk without drinking anything and eventually realizes it’s because he made himself 2nd in command and the lyrics go "The first mate, he got drunk"
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“At Home”, a sort of rambling history of the development of homes and private life by Bill Bryson. Bryson’s an entertaining writer.
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