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defrogI’ve been on Goodreads for awhile now, and I’m getting a lot out of it as a way to keep track of books I’ve been reading, rating them and managing my “to read” queue.
If yr on Goodreads and want to add me, you can find me right here.
Another benefit of using Goodreads is that I can embed reviews from there on this blog.
Which means a different look for this series, starting right now.
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The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil GaimanMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Gaiman’s latest novel, in which a man returns to his childhood home and suddenly remembers impossible things about the two women and a young girl who lived down the lane, and what happened to him when he was seven years old. It’s pretty much classic Gaimain – that mystical, storytelling-style mix of childhood nostalgia, magic and ancient horrors hiding behind the thin veneer of what we think of as “the real world” – not so much urban fantasy as English-countryside fantasy. What’s really striking is how Gaiman makes it all work without trying to explain why it works. It just is, and you can take it or leave it. For my money, this is his best book since American Gods.
Mexico Set by Len DeightonMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
The second installment in the Game Set Match trilogy of spy books, in which Bernard Sampson is tasked with convincing KGB major Erich Stinnes to defect to London. That would be hard enough, but there are two extra complications: (1) due to events in the first book, Sampson is under pressure to succeed in order to prove he’s still trustworthy as an agent and (2) someone in his own agency appears to be working to ensure he fails. Mexico Set is slightly better than its predecessor, Berlin Game, which spent more time on exposition of the characters (and was still really good), allowing Mexico Set to really deliver the goods as a Cold War spy story. This is probably the best Deighton book I’ve read so far (which is saying something, as I’ve enjoyed them all).
Trash and Vaudeville by J. Scott GrandMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
I got this as a free ebook, and it was largely the title that convinced me to give it a try. As it happens, there’s far more trash than Vaudeville in this – a collection of short stories and vignettes about low-lifes, losers, drunks and dope addicts. There are no happy endings and it’s depressing as hell. It’s also familiar stuff for anyone who’s into Hubert Selby Jr, Jim Carroll, Richard Hell and even Tom Waits, but without really being as good as any of them. On the other hand, Grand is good enough of a writer that if you like those writers, you may get something out of this – and certainly some of the stories are going to stick in my head for a long time whether I want them to or not.
The Seventh by Richard StarkMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
As the title indicates, it’s the seventh Parker novel (though title refers to a seven-way split in takings), in which Parker robs a football stadium with a crew of six other guys. It goes without a hitch – until someone else makes off with the money and frames Parker for murder. It’s a nice if familiar twist – robbers get robbed – and as usual, Stark keeps it tightly paced. However, the story relies just a little too much on coincidence to put things together, and it gets a little clunky as the third act kicks in. Still an enjoyable read, but somewhat weaker compared to the other Parker books I’ve read so far.
Sixth Column by Robert A. HeinleinMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Heinlein’s reworking of an unpublished John Campbell Jr story in which “PanAsians” (essentially a united Communist China and Japan) win a future world war and occupy the US, while six men holed up in a secret mountain base devise a secret weapon and a plan to take the country back. Once you get past the overt racism and stereotypes inherent in the story, it’s pretty decent pulp SF, albeit somewhat loopy in places (though this was only Heinlein’s second novel). As for the racism angle, that’s probably going to be a automatic roadblock for some people, and I get that. If it helps, Heinlein was no racist, and mostly uses it to reflect the opinions that Americans who have just had their country defeated and occupied would have had. Given all the banter about Krauts and Japs in WW2 stories of the era, Heinlein's approach is pretty mild in comparison.
Damn Commies,
This is dF
