i read some books (2024)

[dng]

i've actually read some books this year, mainly due to two bouts of severe internetlessness. so i thought i would list the books i have read (possibly not in completely correct chronological order but close enough).

#1: Passionate Journey by Frans Masereel

amazing proto graphic novel from the 1919, featuring 150 woodcuts of a man living his life in all its glory

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passionate_Journey

(I've read another one of h is books too - the city - which was shorter but also good)

#2: Shuna's Journey by Hayao Miyazaki

Two books, two graphic novels, two journeys. This was great. From the early 80s, when he was making nausicaa too (which it's quite similar too in places, as well as similar to stuff that later appears in castle in the sky and princess mononoke). Weird and unsettling and wonderful

#3: The Factory by Hiroko Oyamada

Some people work for a big company in various positions and are all slowly subsumed by the miseries of work. Good (but very short)

#4: White Cat, Black Dog by Kelly Link

Modern times set retellings of various fairytales. Pretty great (as are the other books I've read by Kelly Link, which all seem to be short story collections).

#5: The Tale Of Princess Fatima, Warrior Woman

A thousand year old arabic epic about fatima, the absolute best warrior in the entire world. I enjoyed this a lot

#6: Aesop's Fables

It is Aesop's Fables. (I bought this in a charity shop for 10p and read it while waiting in the car in the rain)

#7: Nothing Left To Fear From Hell by Alan Warner

A novel about shit old Bonnie Prince Charlie as he retreats across scotland after losing his war. This was okay, I suppose, but definitely the least good book i've read by Alan Warner (who wrote Morvern Callar and a bunch of other stuff)

#8: The Sign Of Four by Arthur Conan Doyle

Fuck off, Holmes.

#9: Terminal Boredom, by Izumi Suzuki
#10: Hit Parad Of Tears, by Izumi Suzuki

These were both utterly amazing. Philip K. Dick/JG Ballard esque 70s/80s science fiction stories of increasing oddness/sadness. Then I made the mistake of reading the author biography bit, and found out she committed suicide when she was 30, which made me feel strangely upset.

(Never ever read the author biographies in Japanese books.)

#11: The Mysteries by Bill Watterson and John Kascht

This was pretty great, a sort of children's picture book about the death of all things. Apparently the first thing Bill Watterson's published since Calvina nd Hobbes finished in the 90s or whenever.

#12: The Coiled Serpent by Camilla Grudova

Surreal grotesque short stories. Good, but occasionaly too grotesque, maybe. I preferred her other books (the doll's alphabet, which was also short stories like this, and Children Of Paradise, a novel set in an old edinburgh cinema, which i read last year and liked a lot)

#13: All The Lovers In The Night by Mieko Kawakami

A lonely woman in japan is lonely, in japan. This might be the saddest book I've read.

(I've read a couple of other books by her, and they were good too. Also last week I saw a film - Ice Cream Fever - which was based on some of her stories and that was quite good too, which was nice. In that for some reason all the most beautiful women in japan live in the same apartment block, and are all quite sad, and lonely, but they eat lots of ice cream, and eventually they cheer up a bit, although not too much, probably)

#14: The Satsuma Complex by Bob Mortimer

A sort of crime story that's mostly just an excuse for Bob to talk about pies. And having a bath. This is very funny and I liked it a lot. Lovely Bob Mortimer

(Also it reminded me of the dirk gently novels, although without the supernatural bits.)

[dng]

and that's all the books i've read so far this year unless i forgot some which i might have done

[endar]

hooray for lovely bob mortimer

also how dare you. Bonnie Prince Charlie was the rightful heir and should have been allowed to live the hedonistic life his dad enjoyed so

[blombluss]

#1: Passionate Journey by Frans Masereel

amazing proto graphic novel from the 1919, featuring 150 woodcuts of a man living his life in all its glory

Most interesting, Davuss!

Also:

The 149th image, which was cut from some editions:



We've all been there after a night out!

[vom]

hooray, what a good lot of books.

I seem to have forgotten how to read again, in the stress of trying to move house. But I'm "reading" Werner Herzog's memoir and it's amazing, I need to get back to it and stop looking at rightmove dot co dot uk instead

[dng]

I read some more books (but not that many more books). In no particular order:

The British Museum Book Of Haiku - various japanese haiku paired with random japanese woodblock prints (such as that excellent sad frog I posted here: https://accumulationofthings.com/things ... /the-frog/ ). Good (my Mum bought me this for a pound)

The Glutton, by AK Blakemore - a man in napoleanic times wanders around france eating absolutely everything - chickens, bones, cutlery, jewellery, 72 boiled eggs, kittens, boots, a horse, babies, everything. Based on a true story (possibly)

Human Acts by Han Kang - utterly harrowing novel about a famous korean massacre by the army that I'd never heard of before - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gwangju_Uprising . This was good

Nails and Eyes by Kaori Fujino - three quite long short horror stories. the title story's probably the best one, but they were all quite good, slightly unsettling

Women and Power by Mary Beard - two essays about women and power. pretty interesting, but also pretty short

The Story Of A Shipwrecked Sailor by Gabriel Garcia Marquez - a man gets washed overboard and spends two weeks floating around on a life raft. this was okay I suppose, although I had forgotten entirely that I'd read it until just now when I was writing this list and found it in the pile of books I was tidying up on my desk

[Pual]

I’ve read some books, mostly fantasy drivel.

Also, slow horses which was good and had a better ending than the tv series

[Pual]

I’m currently reading Kim Newman’s Warhammer stories. (Well I had read one before)

They’re actually pretty good. No really.

[dng]

is dracula in it?

[vom]

All I've read so far this year is Werner Herzog's memoir, which took me four months to get through for some reason even though I liked it, and an Elmore Leonard novel (Freaky Deaky) which I read in four days immediately afterwards to restore balance to the universe. It wasn't one of his best but it was still fun

[Pual]

is dracula in it?

There’s a woman Dracula in them

[dng]

hooray

[vom]

I read Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

A collection of speculative fiction with a focus on racial issues

A friend recommended it to me because there's a time loop story in there, and I love a time loop. It's a good one! Quite different to other time loops I have known and loved. The other stories were all good as well although maybe one too many with the premise "what if working in retail, but too much?"

[Pual]

Time loops you say…

[dng]

time loops are definity the best type of loops

[endar]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cl7y05lr475o

[comment]

[dng]

hooray for keanu

[dng]

at least he's being honest about it and not pretending he wrote it all himself, also

[blombluss]

Yup, fair play to the guy. He comes across really well, there.

[endar]

a lovely young man

[dng]

£22 though

[dng]

bloody hell hardbacks cost a lot now

[endar]

Hence £27787887888 student debt

[dng]

ves

[Pual]

I’ve read some books since finishing the Kim Newman draculon one.

The most interesting ones were the empire of dust ones by Anna smith spark which are sort of what happens if you take generic fantasy to sort of Blood Meridian violence level extremes. Makes game of thrones seems like narnia sort of thing but also grimly hilarious.

[endar]

How about The Stars My Destination in graphic novel form, complete set?

https://archive.org/details/the-stars-m ... n/mode/2up

[blombluss]

I'm just gawping at the artwork ^^^^, and there's some great stuff in there! *thumbs up*

[dng]

yep, amazing, interesting

[dng]

6 million pounds second hand on amazon, inevitably

[dng]

Today I read The Book Of Love by Kelly Link, which is both good and also strangely reminiscent of Supergirl The Movie

[blombluss]

I only found out to-day that Kemi Badenoch is a big fan of... Terry Pratchett, so the only sensible course of action left to me is to throw my near complete set of Discworld books into the sea.

[blombluss]

How can she read Pratchett and not see the themes of decency, kindness, equality, and opportunity that permeate his work?

Or perhaps she roots for the baddies, and sees the likes of Rincewind, Vimes, and Moist, as the villains?

[Bruce Sato]

I suspect the answer is the same as the answer to most 'why does Kemi Badenoch...' questions: she's really, really stupid.

[endar]

Like Dave Jimidson supposedly liking Stab Truck

[endar]

Dim Javidson

[blombluss]

His favourite character is Chalky, who is an unseen engineer who helps maintain the impulse engines.

[Pual]

I read Alan Moore’s latest, The Great When, which was quite good and also had several scenes in the ye olde Cheshire cheese, most famous as the place where I had a nosebleed in the toilets at a n3ta meet.

[An Unicorn]

How can she read Pratchett and not see the themes of decency, kindness, equality, and opportunity that permeate his work?

Or perhaps she roots for the baddies, and sees the likes of Rincewind, Vimes, and Moist, as the villains?

There's no shortage of baby-boomer white men who talk about the times they would get absolutely ripped and listen to Pink Floyd until they wore out the vinyl, but they are shocked, SHOCKED that Roger Waters would be so OPENLY POLITICAL to insult Donald Flatulence and Israel.

Reading a book while not grasping the meaning of the words is even more impressive though.

[dng]

I read Alan Moore’s latest, The Great When, which was quite good and also had several scenes in the ye olde Cheshire cheese, most famous as the place where I had a nosebleed in the toilets at a n3ta meet.

Hooray

[dng]

How can she read Pratchett and not see the themes of decency, kindness, equality, and opportunity that permeate his work?

Or perhaps she roots for the baddies, and sees the likes of Rincewind, Vimes, and Moist, as the villains?

There's no shortage of baby-boomer white men who talk about the times they would get absolutely ripped and listen to Pink Floyd until they wore out the vinyl, but they are shocked, SHOCKED that Roger Waters would be so OPENLY POLITICAL to insult Donald Flatulence and Israel.

Reading a book while not grasping the meaning of the words is even more impressive though.

I'm pretty sure that's how most people read books, depressingly

[dng]

And watch films, and so on, forever

[dng]

I read Alan Moore’s latest, The Great When, which was quite good and also had several scenes in the ye olde Cheshire cheese, most famous as the place where I had a nosebleed in the toilets at a n3ta meet.

I almost bought this, but then saw it was the first of a series, so didn’t.

I did like the author biography at the start (presumably written by Alan), that described Alan as the greatest and most influential comics writer of all time, ever, by far

[dng]

Needless to say I am penning a rebuttal on behalf of Conrad and/or Gaul at this very moment

[Bruce Sato]

Also Fletcher Hanks.

[Pual]

Also that nemi woman

[Pual]

I almost bought this, but then saw it was the first of a series, so didn’t.

It’s not a series that you have to read 5 books to get one story. The second book is apparently about Joe Meek.

[dng]

Oh right. Well I might buy it then

[dng]

I read a couple of Philip I dick books recently

The Zap Gun - this was good. 200 pages of utter nonsense, and then suddenly an ending out of nowhere that's genuinely unsettling and weird in the classic Philip k dick style

Lies Inc - this was utterly incomprehensible and I had no idea what was going on. Turns out this is because it used to be a short novel, and then he started writing a sequel too it, but then everyone refused to publish the second half of it because it was too mad and also didn't have an ending, and then 20 years later Philip k dick decided to revise it and add the old stuff to the new stuff, and so wrote a new first chapter, and then he died, so 20 years later they decided to republish it but with the new first chapter, then two thirds of the old book, then the unfinished sequel just jammed in there incomprehensibly, then the last third of the original book.

(And then an afterword explaining that this is what they'd done, but not why this was what they'd done)

[dng]

So now I feel like I'm sort of suffering from the same psychosis Philip k dick was at the time

[vom]

hooray