"The Switch" by Elmore Leonard (★★★★ 1/2) "All You Need Is Kill" by Hiroshi Sakurazaka, Alexander O. Smith (Translator) (★★★ 1/2) ----------------- "The Switch" by Elmore Leonard (★★★★ 1/2) Two criminals try to extort a ransom from a corrupt business man by kidnapping his wife. This is the introduction to the characters Ordell and Louis who will later show up in "Rum Punch," aka the Tarantino movie "Jackie Brown." I suppose I knew they would survive because I read book 2 first. That's okay. This was still worth reading. Perfect dialog, again. There are scenes where two characters will chat back and forth for pages on end and no momentum is lost. It's instructive, I think. There's almost a storyline in the conversations. They have subtexts moving within them and arcs too. What I mean is that the conversations are self-contained, they are short stories. I think this is how Elmore Leonard is pulling this off . . . I've seen other authors fail at this technique, and I think it's that sort of "insulating" of the dialog scene (not sure what else to call it) that makes it possible. Anyway, these two characters are streetwise, but they're not perfect. They make all kind of mistakes. Their kidnapping doesn't turn out at all like they thought it would. The female characters are really well done again too. I like the character Mickey the most. She's the kidnap victim. She feels out of place in her posh life where wives blather on about nothing. I loved how she was written. She felt feminine with real strength and vulnerabilities. Too many modern female heroes are snarky fratboy commandos roid-raging through scenes. It's stupid when the guys do it and beyond absurd when the gals do the same. It's so nice seeing female characters feel authentic and have genuine presence. ----------------- "All You Need Is Kill" by Hiroshi Sakurazaka, Alexander O. Smith (Translator) (★★★ 1/2) A young Japanese soldier dies in battle only to live again, wiser and more deadly. This is basically the movie "Edge of Tomorrow." The MC encounters an unusual battlefield alien that causes him to shift through time. He relives the same day. It's different than the movie though. There are some things that are explained in ways that make more sense. The time-travel alien is there to die. It is informing the aliens where failed battles are at. (The movie didn't explain that aspect very well, I thought. Why would this important alien be in the battle? Because it must die to communicate with its earlier self.) The MC technically does die each time. His memories are being sent back to his earlier self, just like the aliens. He's not actually time travelling, though it seems like it, I guess. He's also not just relying on knowing where the enemy will appear. Because he fights in a battlesuit called a "jacket," it's only his knowledge that is needed to make him stronger. Physical training would do little good because his body is not what's transported, it's just the data of his mind. He becomes a veteran of 100+ battles, which is statistically impossible, and so he becomes an inhuman Rambo killing machine. When this book started out, I was thinking it was more of a 4 or 4 1/2 star book. There was even a point where I was so delighted I thought it might be 5 star (within its genre, understand). Its problem is that the dialog is so silly. It reminded me of Starship Troopers, the movie. Then a love interest appears, and that got sillier still. I thought the ending was a bit contrived. Eh, it was okay. Tom Cruise's arc was better. He starts as a selfish jerk. He ends sacrificing himself for love and humanity. I liked that better. Kudos to the translator. Japanese translations are not easy. I've read many awful ones. The best was "Woman in the Dunes." It was nicely translated. I've read many others and I think they were all somewhat lacking, even the other Abe Kobo books I've read. The translator must be a solid writer themselves. They have to add so much to the lines to make it feel "English" and they must also understand voice and flow. Not many can do it. This guy, Alexander Smith, pulled it off. So credit where credit is due.
That was in the movie. It's written differently in the book. Didja know that? Or still don't give a damn?
Does the book say how she needs to be 'kissed' hard and often? Nice subtext in the movie, considering it was made in the era of the Hayes code.
I finally came around to finish reading Milkman by Anna Burns. I had stopped after the first 50 or so pages a few months back because it was hard for me to make sense of it and I found reading its prose difficult. But I am so, so, so glad I waited, found the right mood to keep reading it, explore the author's background (and find clues into understanding the writing), and finally approached it and pull through to the end. I can see why it is worth the praise, even though I found it hard to read. I loved that on the surface it appears to be almost a dystopian story (with no names) to then realize it represents the real world. The way the author constructs the story through her writing is fascinating, I highly recommend the book to anyone interested in using writing in a different way than traditional story construction. In fact, the same author had written a similar story in the regular format of a novel (I read only the first two pages) but boy what a difference! Milkman is so much more powerful as narrative. I don't want to spoil it so I leave it to those interested to read it.
The great thing about Edge of Tomorrow is, even if you're not a Tom Cruise fan, you'll still like it because Tom Cruise dies horribly again and again.
I just finished a book called Middlegame** by Seanan McGuire. I got the book for free through Tor's monthly e-book club* and knew nothing about the author. It's good. It's Clive Barker good. And then I got to the author info after I finished it and found out that Ms. McGuire has won the Hugo, Locus, John W. Campbell, and numerous other awards, so it's not just me who thinks she writes pretty well. Now I'm into Scattered, Smothered, and Chunked: Bubba the Monster Hunter Season 1 by John G. Hartness. Couldn't be different from Middlegame while still sharing the Urban Fantasy genre and still being very good. SSaC is a collection of comic urban fantasy stories starring, well, Bubba the Monster Hunter. 6'4", 340 pounds, imagine the original Buffy the Vampire Slayer (with Kristy Swanson, accept no substitutes) but starring a redneck Duke Nukem. Just literal laugh out loud comedy in short, complete stories. Read two before going to bed last night, had to quit because my giggling was keeping Mrs. A awake. *legit, publisher-run free book of the month in the SF/Fantasy genre. It tends towards new authors and Books 1 of series, but everything is properly edited, trad-published. Highly recommended if you like free books. All they do is collect your email address and send you book recommendations plus the once a month link to an ebook download. **Yep, it's a Book 1, but it stands by itself. I have no affiliation with any of the above, just like them.
I’m currently reading Permutation City. My brother has been telling me I’d love it and that I need to read it for years.I find it really fascinating so far. It’s forcing me to really slow down to digest what I’m reading.
Just started reading 'Legacy of War' which was written by my favourite author, Wilbur Smith. Incidentally this book was co-authored by David Churchill. As Wilbur Smith was advanced in years at the time this book was published (he passed away last year November) I have noticed that with the last few books he had co-authors. Out of curiosity, I was wondering how many other well known authors do this.
Finished Transparent Things. Very good. Just getting into Pale Fire. I’m past the poem and into the commentary. Always enjoy Nabokov.
I love Egan. I haven’t read that one yet. My favorite of his is Diaspora, and if you haven’t read that one you should. Truly epic.
Thanks for the recommendation, I definitely will. Diaspora also comes highly recommended by my brother, he said I’ll love it. This is my first read of something by Egan but it sounds like he’s written many science fiction gems.
Recently finished three books. Red Seas Under Red Skies, Scott Lynch. Enjoyable, but not as impressive as The Lies of Locke Lamora. The sequel doesn’t have quite as compelling a cast, and its plot was not as personal and a bit convoluted. Rating: 3.5 stars Blood of Elves, Andrzej Sapkowski. Similar to Lynch’s sequel, the third book in the Witcher series is a definite drop in quality when compared against The Last Wish or Sword of Destiny. That said, it was still worth the read. Rating: 3.5 stars. The Killer Angels, Michael Shaara. Far and away the best of the bunch. So many heartbreaking scenes. So many deeply affecting passages. Incredible characterization. Rating: 4.5 stars. Currently reading: Drood, Dan Simmons
Schott’s Almanac 2011. Surprisingly interesting bog-reading fare. Did you know, for instance - according to a survey carried out by Durex - 3.4% of those asked said they would have sex with a stranger for a drink. While only 14.7% said they would bump ugly for £1, 000, 000. I suspect if that offer was genuine rather than theoretical, that figure would rise considerably!
That was, hands down, the scariest novel I ever read. I loaned it to a friend who read it and brought it back to me in the middle of the night, saying she couldn't sleep with it in the apartment.
I dunno, I guess the difference between how much I'd spend on a stranger would depend my income and on how cute she was... Spoiler and if there was any chance Mrs. A would find out
It was responsible for the scariest moment of my childhood. I was about 9, and we were staying in a hotel. I switched on the TV, and it happened to be on a channel that was showing the 1970s TV version of the novel. The specific scene was... Man sitting down. Seems to be outdoors. Camera pans out to show that he's actually sitting on top of an open coffin with a child, with half-open eyes in it. Camera moves back to show man's head side on. Then child vampire sits up face-to-face with man. Mommy, I need new pants!
Right before he starts digging, @ about 32:00, it looks like he touches his face briefly. I think he licked his thumb or something? Had to re-watch it a few times to figure it out. At first I thought he touched the bridge of his nose, or started to cross himself. If he had done that, the scene may have gone very differently. Or not. In modern stories religious conviction doesn't seem to do anythying against vampires anymore, or any other spiritual evil. It's interesting how, as things move forward toward our current postmodern (post-postmodern, whatever) age the negative aspects of religion seem to remain with us and even grow stronger, but any power of religion to fix those problems seems to have disappeared. In fact I noticed in the Evil Dead movies they use physical force to fight the spiritual beings (chainsaw, shotgus, punching etc). In several such movies the idea is that the priests or whatever no longer have strong enough faith to make crucifixes etc (religious symbols) work against the monsters. And yet the monsters, which derive all their power from religion, seem to keep getting stronger. Very strange.
Spoilers for The Exorcist ahead— To find a movie where faith is able to cast out the demons you need to go back to The Exorcist (there may be a few since then, but I can't think of any). In fact that's a major theme in The Exorcist, that Father Karras (the younger priest) had lost his faith, all he could do was invite the demon into himself to get it out of Regan (a Christlike level of self-sacrifice). Only Father Merrin had strong enough faith. And from The Exorcist on that trend seems to have continued, only for the most part no priests have strong enough faith anymore to work those protective charms. I suppose the idea is that religion still holds powerful sway over us (obviously—the monsters mostly derive from religious sources), but as a society we've lost faith in any transcendence, protection or good guidance it once provided. Pretty accurate I'd say.
Hands down the scariest scene in SL is the vampire floating at the bedroom window. I accidentally saw this just before bedtime. Needless to say I slept with the lights on that night.
