A Maze of Death by Philip K Dick
My first PKD book.
Strange cover completely unrelated to the story.
Oddly brilliant.
Finished reading: Dance Dance Dance by Haruki Murakami
Took me a little while to get into but by the end I didn’t want it to finish.
I sometimes find it difficult to express how much I enjoyed a book without going into endless details. But seriously, this book is still with me even though I’m halfway through another.
Finished reading: Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger
I adored the Time Travellers Wife (don’t get me started on the film) and I adored this just as much. Beautifully written and completely absorbing characters/story. Very elegant.
Finished reading:
The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler
I adored this book. The way Chandler writes is incredible. He packs so much information about a place, a person and their face into so few words, yet somehow manages to paint a detailed emotional picture every time.
He seems to have a thing about eyebrows. And rain. Oh, the endless rain!
A must read for anyone writing screenplays where you have to convey a lot with very little.
I’m probably going to end up reading lots of Chandlers books.
Finished reading:
Habibi by Craig Thompson
I actually finished this months ago. A beautiful, complex and engrossing book.
Finished reading - The Castle by Franz Kafka
This book was frustrating. Then intriguing. Then even more frustrating.
I know it’s a classic and all but not even Kafka wanted it publishing. The latter chapters especially tend to veer into one character rambling on endlessly in pure dialogue. I got a little something out of it though, the dynamics between the castle class and the village class, the weird unspoken rules and trust, the impossible bureaucracy of the castle system. But not great over all.
Finished reading: Do Anything by Warren Ellis
I don’t know anything about Jack Kirby. Nor have I read anything by Jack Kirby. This book was still a fascinating read.
Finished reading: The Call of Cthulhu and other weird stories by H.P Lovecraft
Thoroughly enjoyed these short stories, which still feel fresh and without cliche. All of the stories are essentially written in the same way, first person, usually in media res, often telling us that the story may be the work of over active imaginations and may not be accurate, building the tension and teasing horrible things. Great stuff.
Finished reading - Ham on Rye by Charles Bukowski
There’s a quote on the back of this book that sums it up perfectly: “In an age of conformity, Bukowski wrote about the people nobody want to be: the ugly, the selfish, the lonely, the mad.”
I went to see The Tree of Life shortly after I started reading Ham on Rye and the two stories collided in my head as they both tell a full tale of life. Ham on Rye tells the story of Henry Chinaski (Bukowski) from a very early age right through to his mid 20s. During The Tree of Life I couldn’t help but wish I was watching an adaptation of Ham on Rye instead.
Finished reading: Chuck Palahniuk - Snuff
I actually finished this a while ago - Dirty. Funny. Disturbing. Super tight. All the things I’ve come to expect from Palahniuk without the book descending into a cover version of his own style of writing. He really is the master of jump cut writing. The way he writes certain scenes forces your brain into editing the images together. Sometimes fast and frantic.
He’d probably make a great film editor.
