Number 69- 69- Ryu Murakami

 

I almost didn't go with this for the numbers theme until I realised that this is the OTHER Murakami, and not the one who has left me so frustrated after two previous reads.

This follows the last year of the 60s through the eyes of a 17 year old asshole in rural Japan.

I say asshole but I mean it entirely in a nice way.  The narrator is the epitome of the lovable rogue. He's totally self absorbed and an objectively horrible person, but somehow, his narration made me take his side.

He's witty, and charming  and a complete prick. The book is also, apparently, more than semi-autobiographical.

There's barely any plot except for desperate teen trying to score with his dream girl through a series of outrageous stunts. But it's so thoroughly entertaining that I didn't care.

It's relatively short at just under 200 pages.  The translation by Ralph F McCarthy surely deserves praise for making a culture as different to ours as late 60s Japan feel so accessible. 

This is a great fun look at an entirely alien age and culture. At the same time, it's a reminder that certain character types are universal.

Number 68- Judderman- D.A.Northwood

 

Another of the Eden Book Society books, and in this case I have no real idea which of the 6 authors named in the afterword actually wrote this.

Except for Andre Michael Hurley- it can't be him, because his offering in this series was a starve Acre before he expanded it to novel size and published it under his own name- so I have a choice of 5.

This is from the 1972 series of books. and is a "Magical London" story following a man (Gary) looking for his brother (Daniel) who was apparently taken by the Judderman- a creation of the depravity and degradation inherent in London life in the early 70s.

It's nice and short, but could probably have been shorter if I'm honest.  It seemed to cover a lot of the same ground a few times, and Gary doesn't seem to do much actual questing for his brother.

It's a nice little book, and at 92 pages doesn't outstay its welcome.

It might not stay in your memory all that long either. But there are some nice ideas floating about in here, and you could feel the grime on the streets, the descriptive work is so good.  So, overall- not a classic, but worth reading.  it'll kill an afternoon quite nicely.

Number 67- The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox- Maggie O'Farrell

And this was a book for another book group.  I would have struggled to pick up a book with such an anodyne cover, regardless of how much I liked Hamnet by the same writer, without the choice being made on my behalf.

However, this book totally defies any negative expectations given by that cover.

Esme Lennox  has been locked in a mental institution since the 1940s when she was 17.  Now, 61 and a bit years later, the old institutions are closing and she is released into the care of her grand niece. Much against the wishes of that niece.

This novel explores her life, and the life of her family in intricate detail. Her niece, Iris, is busy trying to juggle running a shop and some strained romantic entanglements. Caring for an elderly woman she's never heard of before yesterday was not in her plans.

Kitty, Esme's sister and Iris's gran, is the only person living who knows the truth about Esme, why she was locked up, and why she's never been mentioned at all in the last six decades.

The details of what happened are drip fed to us exquisitely. It's almost a psychological  thriller about family dynamics. The revelations near the end of the book shocked me to my core.

It took me a few chapters wo tune into this and work out who was who and how they linked, but once all that was straight, this was unputdownable.  I raced through this in two days. 

I loved Hamnet, and now I can unreservedly say I loved this one too.  It packs a real gut punch. I must get more O'Farrell on the TBR.

Number 66- Pan- Michael Clune

 

Playing a bit of catch up here- I'm 4 books behind on the write ups.

This was a book group choice, and I thought it sounded quite interesting- a teenager starts having panic attacks and becomes convinced that he's possessed by the God Pan.

Sounds interesting, and IS interesting is all in the execution of the idea though. I thought from the blurb that this was going to be packed with supernatural overtones etc.

Sadly, after a promising start, including some great depictions of anxiety and panic attacks, it devolves into a story of a bunch teens hanging around in a barn getting stoned and occasionally shagging or getting up to illegal shit.

From that point of view, it's probably a good book, if that's what you're into.  It is well written, Clune has a good style to his writing.  Unfortunately, I personally found this a bit repetitive and I kind of lost interest after a while.

There's a scene where he pretends to be a wheelchair user to try to steal some booze, but can't figure out how to steer the wheelchair and hold the bottles.  This kid is supposed to be intelligent but he can't figure out to just put the bottles in his lap like every wheelchair user in existence does. That was probably the scene where I stopped caring and finished the book out of duty to the book group. 

So overall, nice writing, shame about the lack of an interesting story or believable characters.

Number 65- On Fridays We Eat Meat- A S Hopewell

 

Now this is an interesting one. I don't actually know who wrote this.  There is a choice of 7 authors, one more likely than the others. The Eden Book Society is a literary hoax by Dead Ink Press featuring novellas allegedly written for a secret society over the last 100 years and only recently rediscovered. In reality, they're written by a selection of modern authors in the style of...

This is part of the 1993 collection.  there are 8 books and we know who they are, but not which book they wrote. (Grady Hendrix definitely wrote one specific volume but not this one.  Since we know which one he wrote, that's why we have a choice of 7 here)

This being set in Nigeria leads me to think the actual write is Chikodili Emelumadu, since none of the other writers have African sounding names.

Gozie is a tweenage tomboy who likes to hang around with her best friends Mbembe and Chuma, doing the things pre-teens do in Nigerian townships. When the trio find that one of their favourite places to hang out (an empty house on a well off estate) now has a new owner, events start to spiral. 

The new owner welcomes them in, but he's not what he seems to be and supernatural forces soon threaten Gozie and her friends. 

It's difficult to say more without spoilers. This is a quick read and fairly effectively written. I loved the insight into the poorer edges of Nigerian society and the class struggles which seem extreme by western standards. The supernatural elements are blended nicely into the narrative and it picks up pace for a bloody finale.

If the rest of the Eden Book Society works are to this standard, I will be a very happy man indeed,

Number 64- Doctor Andromeda and the Kingdom of Lost Tomorrows- Lemire et al

 

And another entry into the world of Black Hammer.

This is almost a standalone with no obvious tie in barring a couple of one panel cameos by characters from the larger series.

This may well be the saddest (in a good way) superhero graphic novel I've ever read. Doctor Andromeda Is a golden age hero protecting Spiral City. When he answers a distress call from deep space, he sets off a chain of events that will destroy his home life in ways that he cannot repair, regardless of how powerful he might be.

Lemire is on top form here and I definitely had something in my eye in the closing pages.  I wasn't welling up a bit honest.

Max Fiumara's art is top notch. It perfectly matches the storytelling, and features some of the best double page spreads I've seen in a long while.

The next few Black Hammer volumes are a priority when I am financially solvent again.

Number 63- Bloodshot Reborn The Analog Man- Lemire et al

 

Continuing the Bloodshot reborn series, in this, volume 3, we have apparently jumped 30 years into the future, into yet another of Lemire's post apocalyptic settings.

Bloodshot is now a protector of a small settlement in a Mad Max style future. He's technologically almost obsolete in this future, hence the title.

This is probably my least favouite so far since it does seem at times like a rinse and repeat of themes from his other series. However it does redeem itself (almost) by the ending. 

The artwork by Lewis Larosa is stunning throughout.  That cannot be faulted.  This book is a thing of beauty.

I will be ordering volume 4 on payday.

Number 62- Little- Edward Carey

 

Regular readers of this blog will know how much I like Edward Carey's books. I think this may be the longest of his that I've read so far, and that is a great thing!  More of his writing, more of his wonderful and weird artwork!

This one is a fictionalised biography of Anna Marie Grosholtz- better known to the world by her eventual married name of Madame Tussaud, and to her friends, in this version of her life, as Little. It follows her life from early childhood through to her marriage and relocation to London.

The key points of her life are all here. The deaths of her parents and her tutelage under Doctor Curtius in the art of shaping wax, her alleged time as tutor to Elisabeth, the sister of the King, the terror of the French revolution, and the founding of the famous London Gallery.

There are some fictional characters of course,  who serve to move the plot, and what great characters they are.  The Widow Picot is one of the most vile and loathesome characters I've read in many years.  I hated her with a vengeance, but Carey is skillful enough that even I sympathised with her by the end of her story arc.

As I reached the last 20% of this book I was genuinely sad that I was going to finish it soon. I wanted to stay in revolutionary France with Marie's (Little's)  narration for longer. I was genuinely moved by the fates of many of the characters as they passed from Little's life, one way or another. In modern yoof speak, this book hit me right in the feels. 

It's an easy contender for the best book of the year. It may well be my favourite Edward Carey book so far- and that's really saying something.

Number 61- Holly- Stephen King

 

The fifth book to feature Holly Gibney, who first appeared on the sidelines in Mr Mercedes. this one pissed off a lot of people when it came out. For some reason, they didn't think a book with a hypochondriac main character, set in the middle of the pandemic should mention COVID. Idiots.

Regular readers of this blog will know I'm a big fan of Mr King and this was a novel I was highly anticipating. 

In the middle of the Covid years, Holly, trying to get over the recent death (by Covid) of her mother, takes on a case looking for a missing girl. While looking for the girl, she finds out about a number of other disappearances in the area over the past few years. She's unwittingly stumbled into the middle of a serial killer case.

The killers are an elderly pair of professors from the local university who rank amongst the vilest characters (in a good way) that King has so far created. I won't say why they're taking people off the streets, that's something you need to discover for yourself.

As usual with King, this starts fairly slowly but builds tension brilliantly. I had to read the last 150 pages in one sitting.  I was NOT going to put that book down.

This is also notable for King using a selection of Shreddies to great effect. He doesn't often do that.

I had a great time with this. I suspect King knew how much it would annoy certain tracts of people and had fun with that too. Highly recommended. If you disagree with his politics, you'll hate it though.

Number 60- The Sideways Life of Denny Voss- Holly Kennedy

 

This was a book group choice and a brand new author for me so I had no clue past the cover blurb what to expect.  The cover burb had potential but sounded like the book could go either way.

Denny Voss is a developmentally challenged man who keeps getting into weird scrapes. He's been in trouble with the police twice before- for kidnapping Tom Hanks (a goose), and for accidentally helping in a bank robbery.  However this time he's suspected of murder, and it's not going to go away quickly like the last two did. His life has slipped too far sideways and only the whole truth about his life can help him.

I fell in love with Denny and his idiosyncratic voice in the first few pages.  He's such a brilliantly written character and a perfect narrator. 

This book is hysterically funny, and most of the humour comes from us seeing Denny through the other person's point of view, despite it being Denny telling the story. That takes talent to pull off and Holly Kennedy manages it with apparent ease.

The supporting cast are all beautifully drawn through the filter of Denny's unique viewpoint. I'm not sure that eidetic memories like Denny's normally come attached to an IQ of 72, but I rolled with it rather than question it.  The book is too much fun to quibble over points like that.

The solution of the mystery was quite obvious, for the who, but the why was gradually revealed across the book and was perfectly satisfying.  If you start overthinking, there are a couple of very minor plot holes if you consider the forensics of the situation. So don't overthink it, and you should love this novel. 

A light easy read, damned funny, and pretty heartbreaking in places.  I unreservedly recommend it.  A solid 9/10

Number 59- Getting it Together- Grace, Spahi, Fine, Struble

 

I paid a whole one English pound for this and I feel ripped off.

I hated the story.

I hated the characters.

I hated the writing.

The art was perfunctory at best.

At least it was short.

It probably does have its fans.  You might like it, but I will judge you for it.

I've wasted too many keystrokes on this already.

Numbers 56-58- a mini-Lemire Marathon

 

Three of his graphic novels at least, continuing two of his series that I'm catching up on.

Bloodshot Reborn continues where volume 1 left off.  There's a twist though. Someone else is collecting the nanites and it's a race against time and the new killer to prevent more bloodshed.

British people of a certain age may recall a character called MACH 1- Man Activated by Compupuncture Hyperpower (IIRC) in Eagle comics.  That was a definite precursor to this concept. 

There is nothing particularly original in this story but lemire's writing and the amazing artwork by Butch Guice elevate the material so it feels like something fresh and new.  I will be ordering volume 3 ASAP.

 

Next up was volumes 2 and 3 of Lemire's own personal spin on the traditional superhero franchise. 

I love how he's simultaneously satirising the genre whilst giving us a deeper insight into the lives of these characters after they start to age out of their roles.

I genuinely give a damn about these people. We still have no idea what the village is where our heroes are trapped or why they're there, or how they can possibly escape. we finally discover the fate of the title character in the most gruesome frames of the series so far.

There are some other shocking turns of events and a totally unpredictable betrayal.

I'm loving every word and picture.  

Despite the title, this is indeed Black Hammer Volume 3. This gives us a flashback over 5 issues which help to extend and flesh out the worlds of Spiral City and the heroes who are currently AWOL by focusing on their villainous counterparts.

David Rubin's artwork is excellent throughout. Again, I will be ordering the next volumes ASAP.

Highly recommended for people who like their fiction with a slightly more than surreal side of craziness.

Number 55-55- James Delargy

Probably my purest iteration on the number theme so far.

The peaceful routine in Willbrook, a small town deep in the Australian outback, is shattered when Gabriel staggers into the police station. He tells Sergeant Jenkins that he was hitch-hiking and a man called Heath drugged him, tied him up, told him he was number 55 and was going to die. Gabriel escaped and made his way to the town for help.

Just as the manhunt is about to get underway, Heath is caught stealing a car, trying to escape the town.  He tells Sergeant Jenkins that he was hitch-hiking and a man called Gabriel drugged him, tied him up, told him he was number 55 and was going to die...

Which one is the killer? Can Sergeant Jenkins uncover the truth?  He's helped and hindered in not equal measures by his ex partner, now his superior officer who has returned from the big city to lead the case.

This is a fun set up for a mystery and I did find myself changing my mind as to which one was guilty several times.

Delargy manages to build up a good amount of tension, both in the case itself and Jenkins' personal issues with Mitch, his commanding officer. The barren landscape and the small town are almost characters in their own right.  There's a very good sense of place and atmosphere.

Jenkins is a great protagonist and we (I) feel every bit of his frustration and confusion.

It's a cracking psychological thriller. The explanations are satisfactory and the ending packs an emotional punch. What more can you ask for?

Number 54- the Retreat- Gemma Fairclough

 

The last of the books in the consistently good Northern Weird series from Wild Hunt Books. This one involves strange cults, miraculous cures, and mysterious disappearances.  

Richard's sister Julie was caught up in a cult like wellness centre in deepest Cumbria. Not long after she left, she was found dead.  Years later, Richard discovers the full story behind her death and starts investigating the Hartman centre.  He meets a recent escapee called Lucy whose story is scarily similar.

This is told in a mix of narrative styles, interview transcripts, letters, partial biographies etc.  The whole thing is the literary equivalent of a found footage as it claims to be a manuscript found in Richard's belongings.

I really enjoyed this.  The Northern weird series doesn't have a miss in the whole collection. The shifting viewpoints and styles are well handled and build tension nicely.

A quick and easy read with some unexpected twists and turns in the story.

Numbers 52&53- Royal City 2 & 3- Jeff Lemire

 

Two very quick cheat reads next in the form of the middle section and conclusion of this short series by Lemire.

Volume 1 introduced a family where each member was haunted by a variation of the ghost of their brother/child who died aged 14.

Volume 2 - Sonic Youth is the flashback story telling the last 5 days of the poor lad's life. 

Volume 3- We All Float On- picks up again where volume 1 left off and concludes the story.

Volume 2 does a great job of explaining why his ghost appears in the forms he does for the different family members. Without seeming contrived or convoluted, we see the start of every plot strand that made Volume 1 as good as it was.

Volume 3 had a lot to live up to.  Could Lemire possibly give this story the ending it deserves?  In my humble opinion it definitely does.  This is emotionally layered and complex storytelling and the ending left me wiping away a tear or two.

I'm still not a great fan of Lemire's artwork, it always seems quite ugly and abrasive to me.  However the storytelling is so good, I can forgive it all.  The artwork isn't pretty, but neither are the stories he's telling.

This is probably the most grounded and relatable series I've read so far by Lemire, and it's vying for that top spot.  I loved it. If you can find it, you really should give it a chance.

Number 51- The Block- Gerald Suster

 

After two incredibly overwritten and pretty tedious books in a row, I needed a bit of trash so I dug this off the shelves and dusted it down.

When I check google I find the only copy for sale on the interwebzes that I can find is going for £200 on eBay, so this is one of the less useful reviews since it appears to have the same general levels of availability as rocking horse poop.

That cover would look a lot nicer if the previous owner hadn't used it as a coaster and left coffee rings on it.

Anyhoo, the book...

It's a shame that it's so rare because I had an absolute riot with this one. 

A couple move into an apartment block with all the necessities including its own bar and supermarket. It also has an evil history and is built on the site of medieval ritual sacrifices. As these places tend to be. 

When a pair of psychics perform a ritual in one of the ground floor flats, they unleash an evil that they fail to banish, and steadily the violence starts. 

Unlike Rattlers with its great build up and anticlimactic ending, once this gets going, it never stops until the last sentence of the book. We have a whole cast of potential victims and some of the best Shreddies I've seen for a long while. There's a whole dramatis personae at the start of the book which isn't really necessary as the cast list reduces significantly as the story roars on.

It builds to a 70 something page battle for survival for the last few people who still class as human. It's all brilliantly contrived chaos. The writing is sometimes a touch overblown but it suited the OTT nature of the violence and bloodshed.

This restored my faith in the naff 80s horror novels. Would I pay £200 for it?  Not a chance. But if you have a copy lying around, definitely read it.  You won't regret it.

Number 50- The Transit of Venus- Shirley Hazzard

 

This was a book group choice.

My second DNF in as many books, for some of the same reasons. I managed 110 out of 340 pages before I got too wound up with the overcomplicated writing style that had started intriguing, but became more and more wearing as the pages wore on.

It was a better writing style than Pynchon, but not much. The plot was just a very basic pair of love triangles with two sisters, one at the apex of each of the triangles. The level of extra detail was ridiculous.  One character was introduced and we were presented with 10 pages detailing his father's war record in WWI, despite that having nothing to do with the story in hand.

Tedious, uninspiring characters and a dull and opaque writing style combined to make this a truly putdownable book for me. One of those books that when you put it down, you don't want to pick it up again.

Your mileage may vary, I'm sure some people out there love it.  The strange person who wrote the introduction apparently reads it at least once a year and this copy is in the Virago Classics range. It's not one for me though.

Number 49- The Crying of Lot 49- Thomas Pynchon

 

Again- no prizes for guessing the reason for this choice.

Apparently this is one of the great American novels, according to the blurb on the back.

I don't get it though.  I think there's some serious Emperor's New Clothes happening there.

This is only short, but I found myself DNFing after 70 pages. I thought the writing was terrible, overblown and hyperstylised to the point of obfuscation of even the simplest plot points. I've no idea what was happening. Something about an inheritance, but it was all over the place and not going near that plot line in before I gave up.

I hated it and refuse to waste any more keystrokes on it.

Number 48- 48 Clues into the Disappearance of My Sister- Joyce Carol Oates

 

No prizes for guessing why I chose this one.

I was a little bit worried because I wasn't entirely enamoured of the last (only  other) JCO book I read. But this sounded interesting, and fit the theme.

In small town uppstate New York, the beautiful Marguerite (aka M), Sculptor and older sister to our narrator Gorgene (aka G or Gigi), has vanished. Last seen as a reflection across a pair of mirrors, she seems to have waked out of the house and disappeared.

Each of the 48 chapters is a further piece of the puzzle of what happened to her.

There are unreliable narrators and there's Gigi. Her fractious relationship with her sister is revealed in glimpses and we are left to pick up the pieces of the truth from gaps and other people's reactions.

The first several chapters are very strange in their formatting and style. They're also very short. About half way through, the chapters start getting longer and we gain more clarity into the other characters on the sidelines of the story.

I zoomed through this book in two days.  Despite the oddness, this is a compelling read. G is an entertaining narrator who doesn't give up her secrets too easily. It's a very literary but still an incredibly easy read. 

I would highly recommend this to anyone who likes their psychological thrillers with more than a touch of weirdness and literary prowess.

Number 47- Remarkably Bright Creatures- Shelby Van Pelt

 

THAT octopus book indeed. This was a book group choice and not one I've regretted having to read.

Tova has been widow for decades, and also is still mourning for the loss of her only son in an unfortunate and mysterious accident 30 years earlier. She works in the local aquarium as a late night cleaner for something to do.

Marcellus is a Giant Pacific Octopus. He lives in the aquarium and likes to escape his tanks and go for a a wander at night.

Cameron is a bit of a loser in life, abandoned by his mother at an early age, he's crossed the USA to come to this small town after finding a photo of a local rich property developer he believes to be his father.

Their lives will soon mix and intertwine in a feelgood story of hope and revelations.

This was nicely written and never boring. The friendship that develops between her and Marcellus is amusing and surprisingly feels plausible as written.

BUT- there are so many coincidences going on in this book it fast becomes truly ridiculous. If you thought that Oliver Twist getting caught trying rob his own grandad randomly chosen out of the entire population of London was a bit of a stretch, that's got nothing on some of the coincidences that happen in this book. 

Also, there are too many instances where the book could have finished 200 pages earlier if character A had just said what they knew to character B- where they knew that character B was looking for this information.

There's a key part of the plot where I still don't understand how Marcellus knew the body it had once found under the sea was who it was.

The most egregious sin this book commits though, is when one of the characters drinks Scotch WhiskEy with an E.  That's a disgrace.  the copy editor should be sacked.  Scotch whisky NEVER has the E. That's for the imitators out there in the world to distinguish them from the real thing.

I had fun with this book despite the flaws. The premise is so silly, I suppose the flaws are forgivable. Except for the whisky obviously.  It was an easy read and I rated it 3.25 out of 5 at the group.