Quatermass' Book Reading Blog 3: Revenge of the Sequel

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Book 73...

REVIEW: Virtual Light by William Gibson

Having enjoyed William Gibson's Neuromancer and having read the rest of his Sprawl Trilogy, I decided to start on the first book of his other trilogy of books, the Bridge Trilogy. Virtual Light was a long time getting myself to read it, but I cannot help but feel disappointed.

In the future of 2005, California, after a devastating natural disaster, is now divided into two, and a community has sprung up along the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. Chevette Washington, courier, steals a pair of sunglasses from another courier after being offended with his personality. However, the man soon turns up dead, and Chevette is forced to go on the run, while Berry Rydel, a former cop turned into a private security agent, is contracted to recover the glasses. But why are the glasses important? Why are so many people willing to kill for them?

I have to admit, although I vastly enjoyed Neuromancer, I didn't really enjoy the rest of the Sprawl Trilogy. To me, they seemed to fall prey to sequelitis and hard-to-follow stories. While quite decent works, they didn't have the impact that Neuromancer had when I first read it. And while my reading style, being rather fast, may not be suited to some books, unfortunately, Virtual Light seems to be more about world-building and stand-out characters than a coherent storyline.

The strength of Gibson's writing style lies in his characters. While only Berry Rydel seems to have a degree of actual complexity, all of the characters are interesting and entertaining enough that they feel just real enough, while fitting Gibson's dark, larger-than-life cyberpunk dystopia. His worldbuilding skills are also excellent, even if dated (it is, after all, set about five years ago), and it feels right, even if at times it doesn't quite feel real.

Unfortunately, the plot is where it falls down. It could have been a highly competent chase novel, but I never learned why the glasses were so damn vital to the story. This is probably a fault of my fast reading style, and a check on Wikipedia enlightened me. But the information must have been stated only once or twice, not elaborated upon or reiterated. And even then, it is really just an action romp, not exciting enough. And the characters, while distinctive and entertaining, rarely reach the heights of the strange and varied characters of Neuromancer.

Virtual Light is still a good book, and recommended to the cyberpunk crowd, but I guess this is the sort of book that you really need to make an effort to read. Unfortunately, it seems like one of those books where there is less enjoyment that you get out than the amount of effort you put into reading it. I'll have to keep this in mind if I read the next book in the series, Idoru.


7.5/10

First words: The courier presses his forehead against layers of glass, argon, high-impact plastic.

Last words: He stood in the smell of fresh ground coffee, awaiting his turn.

And hot on the heels of that is book 74...

REVIEW: Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher


Oh, blimey, I am reading a lot of Star Wars-related books of late. But rather than read a novel based on the series, I decided, on a whim, to read the autobiography of Carrie Fisher, aka Princess Leia. And I have to admit, I am pleasantly surprised.

Carrie Fisher, formerly Princess Leia of Star Wars fame and now best-selling author, writes about her life story. Self-confessed product of 'Hollywood in-breeding' being the daughter of Eddie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds, Fisher relates the story of a life that is mad, sad, and often funny.

I have read a few autobiographies, typically of those whose work I enjoy. And I enjoy autobiographies where there are plenty of humourous anecdotes. Spike Milligan's Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall is top of the list, even if some of his anecdotes are completely unbelievable. And just below that is Tom Baker, with his brilliant autobiography, Who On Earth Is Tom Baker?, which has remained an especial favourite of mine. Notable mention, too, must go to You're Him, Aren't You?, the autobiography of Paul 'Avon' Darrow of Blake's 7 fame. While not as humourous, it was still entertaining.

Wishful Drinking comes across as somewhere between the non-stop hilarity of Milligan, and the tragicomedy and rather too-frank style of Tom Baker. Carrie Fisher is an excellent comic writer who is more than willing to poke fun at herself. I found myself actually laughing out loud at Fisher's anecdotes, even at times when there is too much information, which she seems to, like Tom Baker, enjoy relating.

Having little familiarity with Eddie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds' lives or body of work, and having little background knowledge of Carrie Fisher's own tempestuous life beyond some reading about her problems with addiction, I was able to approach this book with a certain degree of objectivity. And while I am not sure about the veracity of some of her anecdotes, they are entertaining nonetheless. She is also able to both lampoon her own addiction, while warning the reader against following her example, all without lessening the real impact of the drug taking.

The main two disappointments are still quite major ones. The first is the length of the book, being only 150 pages or thereabouts. I do not know whether this is due to Fisher's memory problems (which she wholeheartedly admits to, given her past treatment with ECT), or holding some anecdotes back for a later volume, or merely a form of tact, the latter of which, given the frank nature of the book, seems a little unlikely. The second, which will doubtless disappoint Star Wars fans, is a lack of anecdotes about the making of the Star Wars trilogy itself. While Star Wars has an influence throughout the memoirs, I though that there may have been more than just the single, short chapter. I was similarly disappointed, albeit to a lesser degree, when Tom Baker only devoted two chapters of his autobiography to Doctor Who.

Still, Wishful Drinking, if all too brief, is an entertaining, if often dark humoured, look at the life of Carrie Fisher. I'm fairly sure that if you look at it with an open mind and don't mind brutal frankness, you'll laugh a helluva lot.


9/10

First words: So I am fifty-two years old. (Apparently.)

Last words: That's why I did dope!

To anyone still reading this, my next book will probably be Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens.

Book 75...

REVIEW: Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens


Back in my first book reading blog, way back in 2009, I read two Charles Dickens books. The first, A Christmas Carol, was entertaining enough, but too short. Bleak House, while hard to read and written overelaborately, was excellent. And in my childhood, I managed to read all of Oliver Twist (and always get pissed off when they cut out the subplot about Monks) Having seen parts of the BBC adaptation of Our Mutual Friend, the last novel Dickens actually completed before his death (The Mystery of Edwin Drood being uncompleted), I decided to make that my fourth Dickens book read.

A body is fished out of the Thames in Victorian London, identified as that of John Harmon, the apparent heir to a miser whose fortune was based on rubbish tips. The estate, therefore, devolves onto the Boffins, who also take Harmon's bride-to-be, Bella Wilfer, into their family. Meanwhile, the boatman who found the body, Gaffer Hexam, is falsely accused of Harmon's murder by an envious colleague, and his daughter, Lizzie, encounters and is coveted by two men, the indolent Eugene Wrayburn, and the sullen schoolteacher Bradley Headstone. The newly rich Mr Boffin hires the cunning Silas Wegg to read him books, and the mysterious John Rokesmith to be his secretary, but riches may yet corrupt the once affable Boffin. Society both high and low, money, envy, greed, death and rebirth, all are present in this slice of life.

Generally, I tend to avoid reading books by anyone who wrote before 1950, and especially before 1900. Nowadays, however, I am trying to branch out into the classics, and I have found Dickens a reading experience which, although it takes some effort to both decipher the older style of writing and to keep in mind the menagerie of characters that he always places into his books, is often ultimately rewarding.

Dickens writes in caricatures and cartoons for many of his characters, characters that do not have depth but have strong character traits. However, he also writes realistically for many others. In Our Mutual Friend, we have a variety of characters, ranging from the initially good-natured if a little naive Mr Boffin, to the sullen and exploitative boatman Rogue Riderhood. We have the good-natured Jewish character Mr Riah, said to be Dickens' apology to the Jewish community for Fagin, and the obsessive Bradley Headstone. We have the Hexam family, with the ill-fated Gaffer, and his children, the moral Lizzie, and her sullen, ungrateful and upwardly mobile brother Charley. And we have high society, with the Podsnaps, the Veneerings, the Lammles, and so on. The vast majority of them are interesting, with the exception of most of the high society people, and Mr Venus, whose sole interesting facet is that he is a taxidermist and 'articulator of bones'.

I feel that, like Bleak House, Our Mutual Friend could have said a lot more with a lot less. Whether this was because Dickens was being paid by the word (this was, after all, originally a serial novel) or because it was the style at the time, I don't know. While the high society plotlines were designed to contrast against the sordidness of the world of the boatmen and other settings, I still felt that many of the incidents therein were superfluous. And I have to agree with the critics that how Dickens resolves Boffin's later miserliness does have a slight hint of a possible rewrite. Not that there was definitely one, I'd be open to the possibility that it was planned all along, and the writing is done well enough that one only mildly suspects an ass-pull, not see one blatantly.

The plot, too, does not have the same kind of verve and momentum as Bleak House does. By comparison, it lounges around like the high society members the novel lampoons. Even though Bleak House's plot ran on a veritable web of coincidences, that is nothing compared to what happens in Our Mutual Friend. It is to Dickens' credit, however, that he keeps things running right along smoothly, and rarely gives the reader enough time to question. And there are many well-done plot elements, such as John Rokesmith's true identity, the characterisation of Headstone as an obsessive stalker, and Lizzie Hexam, through no fault of her own, coming to bitterly regret putting her brother through an education.

Our Mutual Friend is certainly not Dickens at his best, but it is far from his worst. Bleak House this ain't, but it is a competent novel raised to a great level of enjoyment by the skill of a master writer who knows what he's doing, most of the time.



8.5/10

First words: In these times of ours, though concerning the exact year there is no need to be precise, a boat of dirty and disreputable appearance, with two figures in it, floated on the Thames, between Southwark bridge which is of iron, and London Bridge which is of stone, as an autumn evening was closing in.

Last words: When the company disperse--by which time Mr and Mrs Veneering have had quite as much as they want of the honour, and the guests have had quite as much as THEY want of the other honour--Mortimer sees Twemlow home, shakes hands with him cordially at parting, and fares to the Temple, gaily.

Book 76...

REVIEW: One Flew Into The Cuckoo's Egg by Bill Oddie


I came to The Goodies fairly late in life, but I have to admit that I enjoyed it anyway, or some of it, as it offered a contrast to the contemporary Monty Python. And thus, as part of my way of expanding my horizons, I have decided to read the autobiography of Bill Oddie, now a noted birdwatcher.

His autobiography is, rather unconventionally, split into two parts. The first part seems more like a conventional autobiography, where Bill Oddie writes about pivotal points in his life, but it is in fact more about the points where Oddie's mentally ill mother intersected his life, as well as when depression entered his own. The second part is a strange self-interview where Oddie reminisces about his life, and, a little reluctantly, about the Goodies.

I feel that Oddie is at his best when talking about his family and about his depression, as here is when he shows the most true introspection. The first half of the autobiography is very good. But while the gimmick of the second half is, in theory, an excellent conceit, Oddie doesn't quite manage to make it work to a high standard.

The book could have been very entertaining, even without any anecdotes about The Goodies (Oddie's reasons for not wanting to revisit the memories in that regard are actually quite sound, and I sympathise with him), but while above average, One Flew Into The Cuckoo's Egg doesn't quite have the entertainment value of other memoirs that I have read. Even the brief Wishful Drinking that I recently reviewed was more entertaining, if only because of the sheer lunacy of Carrie Fisher's writing and anecdotes.

The impression, right from the start, is that this is a book Bill Oddie would rather not write, and while it is by no means a bad or mediocre book, you get the feeling that Oddie, except when he admits to depression impeding his writing, is not trying hard enough, especially during the 'self-interview' section.

This book is still a good book, and may tickle the fancy of many a Goodies fan, but I was expecting something more. I get the feeling that Oddie did not feel up to the task of writing an entertaining book, and my sympathies are with him. Still, if you want an insight into the mind of one of Britain's best comedians, then I suggest that you try reading this book. There are worse books out there.



8/10

First words: For quite a while now people- especially publishers and my agent- have been saying, 'You ought to write your autobiography.'

Last words: They haven't read this book!

Book 77...

REVIEW: They Know Us Better Than We Know Ourselves: The History and Politics of Alien Abduction by Bridget Brown


As part of research for a new novel, I decided to read a book about alien abduction. Having found this book, amongst many more sensationalistic tomes, at my local library, I decided to read, and see what I could learn.

This book takes a sceptical, but not scornful, look at alien abduction and related conspiracies throughout America's history, and how it ties into cultural and historical concerns. Bridget Brown takes the common experiences of abductees, and looks at how these may be related to altogether more mundane things.

I have to admit to being moderately interested by the accounts, and how they are treated fairly objectively instead of as automatic gospel truth or else something to reject completely out of hand. While Brown takes a sceptical view, I get the feeling of fair appraisal of the cases looked at. She does not mock, instead, showing concern for those involved, even if she is sceptical about the cause of their trauma.

The writing, however, is a little too academic in nature. I am not hungry for sensationalism or anything, but this seems more like an academic treatise. Maybe it is. But if it is one, it is far from comprehensive, and leaves me a little dissatisfied, not because of the sceptical viewpoint, but rather that it does not seem to encapsulate more than linking abductees' stories with American culture and anxieties.

It was a good enough read, and whetted my interest, but I came away disappointed. Conspiracy nuts are certainly not going to get much out of it, other than thinking that Brown is part of a conspiracy at worst. Still, I get the feeling that reading a more sensationalist book would leave me far more disappointed.


8/10

First words: In the summer of 1999 Henry, one of the alleged alien abductees I interviewed for this project, invited me to attend a meeting of the SPACE (Search Project for Aspects of Close Encounters) support group for abductees and other experiencers of paranormal phenomena.

Last words: Close attention to these still relatively marginal accounts of reality demonstrate that not just terrorists, or Islamic fundamentalists, but a good number of American citizens feel not enabled, but rather oppressed, or, at best, left behind, by America's political, technological, and military advantage in the world.

Book 78...

REVIEW: Doctor Who: The Quantum Archangel by Craig Hinton


I mentioned, when I reviewed Doctor Who: The Ancestor Cell, that I had bought it during a rather miserable daytrip to Brighton when I was on holiday in the UK. I actually had bought three books that day. Besides The Ancestor Cell, I had also bought the Faction Paradox encyclopedia The Book of the War, and another Doctor Who original novel, The Quantum Archangel. Now, finally, I have gotten around to reading it, and I have to say, I enjoyed it...

After an attempt to stop a civil war causes the destruction of an entire civilisation, Mel decides that she can no longer travel with the Doctor. Departing the TARDIS on Earth, she looks up an old friend of hers, Angeliqua Whitefriar, only to find her friend a rapacious executive who has stolen scientific prodigy Paul Kairos' work. The Doctor, meanwhile, detects Kairos' latest work. Under the guidance of Professor Stuart Hyde, an old acquaintance of the Doctor's who co-created the device known as TOMTIT, Kairos has created TOMTIT's successor, TITAN. But an old acquaintance of the Doctor's, Mel's, and Stuart's has come to Earth. The Master, now struggling to sustain his life and on the run from the vengeful Chronovores, one of whose number, Kronos, he had tried to trap at the expense of Stuart Hyde, has come for the TITAN array and Angelique. The Doctor, Mel, Stuart, and Kairos must try to stop the Master, but they will need to overcome their differences, if they are to stop the Master from unleashing a great threat to the universe...

This story is a sequel to one of the more noted, if not actually acclaimed, stories in the TV series, The Time Monster. While not considered to be the best of stories, it did introduce elements that would come to play in the spin-off novels, particularly the Chronovores, creatures that devour time itself.

The story itself is a dark but good one. There is just enough complexity without it being too hard to follow (although if you aren't a Doctor Who fan, you might fall behind, especially when it comes to references), and, unlike The Ancestor Cell, has something of a happy ending. Not just that, but there are not one but two spectacular fight scenes, both working well within the confines of the story, and while there is a somewhat literal deus ex machina, it is so well woven into the story, you barely notice it.

While not always as complex as they can be, the characters are all engaging and entertaining, sustaining interest over the course of the novel. The rift between the Doctor and Mel, while somewhat out of character, still has very good reasons behind it, and the contribution that this story makes to the overall mythology of the Whoniverse.

I'll be perfectly honest. I'm not even sure there is anything to really fault this story. The Ancestor Cell is the first Doctor Who book to get a perfect score, and only one of four books in my book-reading blogs so far. I have decided to make The Quantum Archangel the fifth. If you are a Doctor Who fan and can get it, read it. And while a non-fan may get lost, it is still a rollicking good science fiction yarn.


10/10

First words: She had been there for an eternity.

Last words: (Not recorded due to spoilers)

For those of you still interested, my next book will probably be Idoru by William Gibson, followed by Solaris by Stanislaw Lem.

Book 79...

REVIEW: Idoru by William Gibson


Having been disappointed by Virtual Light and the way it was obscurely written, I didn't really have high hopes for Idoru, the next book in the Bridge Trilogy by William Gibson. But while it is not the best of his books in my opinion, Idoru improves upon its predecessor.

Rez, one of the popular Lo/Rez music band, has made a startling announcement: he intends to marry Rei Toei, an idoru or artificial idol singer. His loyal staff members, headed by former toecutter and now Lo/Rez security man Keith Alan Blackwell, are worried, and obtain the services of Colin Laney, who can find patterns in data that nobody else can, and whose last employer embroiled him in a deadly scandal. Meanwhile, teenage Lo/Rez fan Chia McKenzie is sent from Seattle to Tokyo by her local chapter of the Lo/Rez fan club to find out more about this startling announcement. Problem is, an encounter with a smuggler leads to her being chased around Tokyo by people willing to kill for something she now has...

Does the above, in certain broad lines, sound familiar? Male protagonist investigates weird happenings, female protagonist ends up with Macguffin that she needs to run away from people in order to avoid getting killed? Well, I just described the plot of both Virtual Light and Idoru. While Idoru is part of the same continuity as Virtual Light and is set after that book, the only actual characters that seem to cross over are Berry Rydel, who plays a small but key role in the story, and Yamazaki, who played a more peripheral but noticeable role in Virtual Light.

That it has a broadly similar story is by no means a bad thing. In fact, Idoru is a better version of the same story in several ways. The writing is clearer, and we have a better understanding of what is going on. The atmosphere isn't quite as oppressive as Virtual Light, and while oppressive atmosphere isn't necessarily a bad thing, this is a novel with a more optimistic, or at least less cynical nature.

While the characters are a little more interesting than those in Virtual Light, it is the two main characters, as well as Blackwell, that stand out. Laney is broadly similar to Rydell from Virtual Light, but he is also a more nuanced character, being continually screwed over. Chia is also a refreshing change from the usual female hard-edged characters that Gibson writes about, being a fourteen year-old way in over her head. And Blackwell is, by Gibson's own admission, a fictional version of the infamous Australian criminal Mark 'Chopper' Read, and an entertaining one too.

The story, despite the improvement on Virtual Light, is once more a caper. A little better, a little more complex and involving, but it still raises a yawn at times. And for being a title character, the idoru Rei Toei doesn't seem to fit properly. And there is still a certain obscurity to the way Gibson writes.

While not the best example of Gibson's work (which I still believe to be Neuromancer), Idoru is certainly an improvement on Virtual Light. Gibson fans should read it, and it certainly has a lack of links to its predecessor that it can be read as a stand-alone book. It could have been better, but then again, so could a lot of things.


8/10

First words: After Slitscan, Laney heard about another job from Rydell, the night security man at the Chateau.

Last words: (Not recorded due to spoilers)

Book 80...

REVIEW: Solaris by Stanislaw Lem, translated from Polish to French by Jean-Michel Jasiensko, translated into English from French by Joanna Kilmartin and Steve Cox


Given the recent movie with George Clooney, it would be hard to not have heard of Solaris. But I haven't read it, until now. Indeed, most of my acquaintance with the works of Stanislaw Lem, the acclaimed Polish science fiction author, has been with watching the MST3K version of First Spaceship to Venus (an adaptation of one of Lem's works which he disowned). But now, I have redressed that, by taking a look at what is perhaps his most famous work internationally, Solaris.

Psychologist Kris Kelvin has been requested to come to a special research station hovering above the strange ocean world of Solaris. The ocean of the planet appears to be one vast organism, and all attempts to communicate with it have failed. By the time Kelvin arrives, only two of the crew are left, with the man who summoned Kelvin having committed suicide, and the remaining crew paranoid and unsure of Kelvin. Soon, he realises why. A new way of experimenting with the ocean has led to an unexpected response: strange beings have manifested themselves, living beings born from the minds of the scientists on board. And soon, Kelvin is visited by his own apparition, his wife, long dead from suicide, is now alive and well. What are these apparitions? Where did they come from? And what is their purpose? The most terrible thing is, they may never find out...

Does the plotline above sound familiar? I noted similarities between two books I recently reviewed from the same series, Virtual Light and Idoru by William Gibson from his Bridge Trilogy, but here, the plotline I am referring to was written decades after Solaris. If you are a fan of survival horror games, then you will know that I am referring to the critically acclaimed Silent Hill 2. Indeed, one of the theories about the tituler town, that it is a living entity that creates monsters out of people's subconscious, could easily be applied to the titular planet of Solaris. But unlike Silent Hill, there is little indication that the planet Solaris is malevolent. Indeed, the ambiguity of its motives, if indeed it has any at all in sending the apparitions, is one of the major themes of the story.

The storyline is basically a mystery story. Why are the apparitions appearing, and what link do they have to Solaris? Lem is masterful at displaying a certain amount of ambiguity and suspense, as well as taking some swipes at academia that still seem fresh, half a century after he wrote it. However, the ending is rather anticlimactic, and while the writing leads up to this point, I do take issue with how the ending fizzled out.

The characters, there being only really four of them, are written fairly well, although the standout is Rheya, the solid manifestation of Kris Kelvin's late wife. She is the most interesting character in the novel, with her pathos at finding out that she is little more than a solid and immortal ghost being very well written.

While it could be considered similar in nature to survival horror in a science fiction setting, Solaris is rarely directly horrific. Indeed, it's a more thoughtful, philosophical work, and apparently, Lem intended it as such, as a treatise on humanity's possible limitations of communicating with a completely alien lifeform. Now, once, I lambasted Atlas Shrugged for, amongst other reasons, shoving Ayn Rand's repulsive philosophy in the reader's face repeatedly. Compared to Rand, Lem, although his message is fairly overt, makes the message slide down with ease.

The book is not without flaws. The text is old-fashioned in style, and as noted above, the story's climax leaves something to be desired. How much of the former, and perhaps even the latter, is due to the double translation (from Polish to French, and from French to English), I don't know. And there are a lot of old-fashioned concepts in the old-fashioned writing.

That being said, Solaris is still quite an excellent treatise on what it means to be human, and what things may be like if we ever encounter an alien lifeform. Science-fiction fans should give it a whirl, and even non-readers in the genre might be surprised at what is, at heart, a very human story.



8.5/10

First words: At 1900 hours, ship's time, I made my way to the launching bay.

Last words: I knew nothing, and I persisted in the faith that the time of cruel miracles was not past.

The next book will probably be The Hound of the Baskervilles. Whether I go further with the blog for the time being will depend on what my writing, which is consuming a lot of my time at the moment.

Book 81...

REVIEW: The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle


Having read A Study in Scarlet and The Sign of Four, I decided that, sometime, I would have to move onto the third Sherlock Holmes novel, The Hound of the Baskervilles. I have read that it is considered one of the best Sherlock Holmes stories of all time, and now, after reading it, I know why.

Sherlock Holmes and Dr John Watson have an unusual case brought to their attention by Dr John Mortimer, a country doctor who was the friend of baronet Sir Charles Baskerville, who recently died of a heart attack. Mortimer is sure that Baskerville died of fright upon witnessing a hellish hound, infamous in the history of the Baskerville family, and wants Holmes to help protect Charles' only known heir, Sir Henry Baskerville. Holmes makes a show of sending only Watson to Baskerville Hall, despite an anonymous threat to Sir Henry. Watson must, apparently alone, piece together the mystery of who may be threatening Sir Henry, but there are a plethora of suspects, like the servants of Baskerville Hall, who seem to be sending strange signals to the nearby moor, or the jovial entomologist Stapleton and his sister, or the litigious Frankland. But it may very well be that the hound of the Baskervilles is a real thing, but if so, is it a demon from hell, or a more mundane method of murder?

Sherlock Holmes is a character who takes rationality to the extreme, and if you know enough about him and his canon, then you'll probably guess at some of the reality behind what happened to Sir Charles Baskerville, even if the actual whodunnit takes longer to play out. Curiously enough, however, it is John Watson who takes centre stage, becoming Holmes' eyes and ears at Baskerville Hall, and showing that, although he does not have Holmes' genius, he is still a very competent and tenacious investigator, intelligent and discerning.

The characters in this story, while dryly written, are at least still moderately interesting, with one of the more entertaining bit characters being Frankland, a person whom we would call, nowadays, a vexatious litigant. And there are just the right amount of characters, each with their own secrets, to make this whodunnit involving.

The atmosphere of Doyle's writing shines through here, making the moors near Baskerville Hall feel oppressive, and his writing of the Baskerville family legend is chilling in its approach. And while the true villain is revealed fairly early, the tension still rises well for the remainder of the story.

I have to say, though, the style of writing, endemic to stories written before the 1950s, is a little too dry for my tastes, and some of the characterisation does feel flat and maybe stereotypical, especialy by modern standards.

But at the end of the day, The Hound of the Baskervilles is a damned fine whodunnit with layers of superstition, atmosphere, suspicion, and the triumph of rationality over superstition. Even if you are not a fan of Sherlock Holmes, I still suggest that, if you must read any of the canon, you read this book.



8.5/10

First words: Mr Sherlock Holmes, who was usually very late in the mornings, save upon those not infrequent occasions when he was up all night, was seated at the breakfast table.

Last words: "Might I trouble you then to be ready in half an hour, and we can stop at Marcini's for a little dinner on the way?"

Book 82...

REVIEW: There and Back Again: An Actor's Tale: A Behind-The-Scenes Look at The Lord of the Rings by Sean Astin with Joe Layden


Having enjoyed both the original book trilogy and the Peter Jackson films, I do enjoy reading about how The Lord of the Rings films were made. One of my favourite books, indeed, is by Andy Serkis, on the creation and conception of Gollum, both in his acting and via computer animation. Finally, I got around to reading the memoirs of one of his costars, Sean Astin, aka Samwise Gamgee.

There and Back Again is more of an autobiography, compared to the memoirs/making-of that Gollum: How We Made Movie Magic was. In it, Sean Astin recounts some of his life and acting career before Lord of the Rings, as well as various anecdotes from the filming of the trilogy.

One has to realise that, before Lord of the Rings, if you had asked me who Sean Astin was, my reaction would have been 'who he?' I had watched Encino Man when I was young, but I had never seen The Goonies, and Kingdom Hearts and The Colour of Magic were years away. But I have to admit, Astin's performance as Sam was very well done, with The Two Towers and Return of the King being standout performances.

Reading this was not unlike reading Gollum, despite the different emphases. There was certainly a correlation between at least one incident mentioned in both books, where Andy Serkis, in the middle of a performance as Gollum, accidentally ripped Astin's Hobbit wig off his head, hurting him. But there is more to Astin's recollections than this. While both Gollum and There and Back Again are very personal in nature, there is a certain difference in writing style and the style of anecdotes presented. Both are professional actors who show that they care deeply about how they do a role. But Serkis' writing style is a little easier on the eyes, and certainly funnier than Astin's, though Astin is no slouch when it comes to humour.

The anecdotes, as well as the stories about Astin's family, are quite heart-warming, and enjoyable to read. We also learn how deeply Astin immersed himself into the role, and how previous work affected this.

I was sure that there would have been more anecdotes from the movie that could have been related. I saw once on a documentary about the films that Astin, at one point because of his concerns about safety, actually helped direct helicopters coming into a location, an anecdote that should have made it here. And Astin does have a tendency, at times, to focus a little too much on the negative, although he keeps things in perspective.

All in all, There and Back Again is an entertaining read sure to appeal to a Lord of the Rings fan, casual or hardcore. It certainly is interesting to get an actor's perspective on how one plays a role that is so iconic.


8.5/10

First words: It was just as I was leaving my office late one afternoon when my wife Christine and Jeff Owens, my assistant, told me my agents were on the phone.

Last words: The road goes ever on...

The next book, in all likelihood, will be American Gods by Neil Gaiman.

Book 83...

REVIEW: American Gods by Neil Gaiman


Although I was acquainted with Neil Gaiman's Sandman comics, it is only now that I am reading his prose. Recently, I read the book he co-wrote with Terry Pratchett, Good Omens, and the prose picture book for adults Stardust. And while I did like these works to a certain degree, it's only now that I have come to a work of his that I actually enjoy, American Gods.

Shadow is fresh out of prison after a sentence for assault. He's been let out early because his wife, and his best friend, have died in a car crash. Having no wife, and his job prospects gone down the crapper, he accepts an offer from conman Mr Wednesday to become a bodyguard. However, Wednesday is far more than he seems. For the old gods and new gods of America are massing, ready for battle. And Shadow is about to be caught up in the middle of it.

I have to admit, Good Omens, while pretty good, was not quite enjoyable enough, unfortunately, and Stardust was very good, but a little shallow. Thus, reading American Gods was something of a revelation for me. This is the sort of work that I would have expected Gaiman to write after reading the Sandman comics. A dark modern fairytale about gods old and new.

The characters are all interesting, being, as they are, gods for the vast majority. The revelation of Mr Wednesday as a latter-day Odin is done very well, as is the various identities of the other gods, old and new. We also feel their predicament, battling over the resource that they most need: belief, which is in short supply.

The storyline, while not truly complex, is involving, captivating, and has that kind of slow-burn excitement that helps engross people in the reading. It is a work of, if not genius, then extraordinarily intelligent conception. That being said, Gaiman seems to have, in this book at least, a tendency to focus on a more visceral side of life. Let's just say that perhaps the tamest sex scene in the novel involves the Egyptian goddess Bast. He likes to focus, at times, on the macabre and the weird.

Unfortunately, the story is a little too ponderous, with at least one storyline, while relevant to the themes of the novel, a little superfluous to the story for my liking. And not enough time, I feel, is given to the new gods, and exploring them. There could have been substantial mileage out of seeing what new gods Americans believe in.

But on the whole, American Gods is an excellent book, perhaps not to everyone's tastes, but certainly a well-written and engrossing epic. This is one of the best fantasy novels that I have ever read not written by Terry Pratchett, and if you want to dip your toes into a modern-day fairytale that will challenge you, I suggest this book.



9/10

First words: Shadow had done three years in prison.

Last words: He walked away and he kept on walking.

Book 84...

REVIEW: The Man in the High Castle by Philip K Dick


Having read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (the novel adapted into the movie Blade Runner) and A Scanner Darkly in previous book-reading blogs, it may have been inevitable that I return to Philip K Dick. One of his most famous works was the alternative history novel, The Man in the High Castle, and it was to this that I turned to.

The year is 1962. The place is an America very different from the one we know, for the Axis won World War II, with Japan and Nazi Germany dividing the US between them. While the Japanese have the western United States, the Germans have the rest. Problem is, they want more, and with Hitler falling to bits from syphilis and his replacement Bormann dead, the Nazi leadership is seriously considering an audacious plan that will shake the balance of power. Meanwhile, an industry has sprung up creating fake American pre-war memorabilia, but Frank Frink, a Jew living under a false identity, is considering moving out of it and into a jewelry business, his wife is travelling to find the reclusive writer of alternate history novel The Grasshopper Lies Heavy, and Japanese trade missioner Nobusuke Tagomi has a meeting with Mr Baines, who is not who he seems...

I feel somewhat ambivalent about PKD's work. On the one hand, he writes about very interesting themes, but on the other, he tends to meander. While the plots of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and A Scanner Darkly were set out pretty much from the start, it takes longer for The Man in the High Castle to get to the point of the novel.

Admittedly, part of the problem is building up the world in which the story is set in. And the world of The Man in the High Castle is, admittedly, a well-written one. But there appears to be no plot. How much of this is due to the I Ching, which is ever-present in the work and was apparently used by PKD to help formulate the plot of the story, I have no idea, but this was very disappointing. Not because the Nazis or the Imperial Japanese don't get what's coming to them, but really because there is only one really big issue in the story. This seems more about setting and character than any kind of plot, unfortunately. And I feel that the importance of the alternate history novel, The Grasshopper Lies Heavy, was not quite central enough.

The characters are, to a degree, interesting, and this is a character-driven story. While not done very well, it is still engaging enough, though not to a degree that I would like, to grab my interest in seeing what happens to them next.

While disappointing, The Man in the High Castle is still a good example of alternate history fiction, with a good setting and characters. Who knows, you might like it.



8/10

First words: For a week Mr R Childain had been enxiously watching the mail.

Last words: (Not recorded due to spoilers)