I’M READING AS FAST AS I CAN (JULY 2012 EDITION)

I read books. And I won’t stop blogging about it. But you knew that.

JUST FINISHED

Supreme Courtship by Christopher Buckley

This is my second time reading Buckley, and I have to say by the evidence so far he’s probably the best and funniest political satirist in America. Apropos of current events (though it was written a few years ago), Supreme Courtship is the story of Pepper Cartwright, a feisty and popular reality-show TV judge from Texas who is nominated to the Supreme Court by President Vanderdamp, an unpopular president sick of his Supreme Court nominees getting rejected for frivolous reasons. Adding to the fun is Vanderdamp being forced to run for re-election against a former senator playing POTUS on TV (the same senator who rejected his previous SC nominees) even as states are ratifying a constitutional amendment to limit Presidents to one term. It’s even weirder than I’m making it sound, and the genius is Buckley makes it sound plausible in today’s Washington. Supposedly a few of the main characters are based on real political figures, but I never would have guessed from reading it. Highly recommended.

JUST STARTED

The Cold Six Thousand by James Ellroy

This is Ellroy’s sequel to his convoluted JFK-conspiracy novel American Tabloid, which I enjoyed. I like Ellroy, but given his unrelentingly hard-boiled view of mid-20th Century law enforcement and American foreign policy as pathologically violent, racist and sexist, a little Ellroy goes a long way for me. But it’s been at least a few years since the last time I read him, so it’s about time to revisit him.

RECENT TITLES

The Fuller Memorandum by Charles Stross

The third novel in the Laundry series (basically Len Deighton meets HP Lovecraft, only funnier), in which Bob Howard accidentally gets a civilian killed and is put on leave, after which his boss Angleton disappears with a classified document at a time when the end of the world at the hands of Cthulhu-type horrors is accelerating faster than scheduled thanks to a band of insane cultists. Stross is one of my favorite writers, and the Laundry series is my favorite work by him, so I enjoyed the hell out of it.

Horse Under Water by Len Deighton

This is my second attempt at reading Deighton, who I wanted to try after finding out his “unnamed hero” spy novels were a direct influence on Charles Stross’ Laundry series. The first time didn’t work out so well – I tried Berlin Game (which isn’t one of the unnamed-hero books) awhile back and couldn't get into it. Horse Under Water is the second unnamed-hero book, and I liked it a lot. The plot is what you’d expect from a spy novel – the mission starts off as a plan to recover counterfeit money from a sunken U-boat to finance a revolutionary group in Portugal keen on overthrowing Salazar, then becomes far more complicated as hidden agendas surface. What makes it stand out is its dry sense of humor and Deighton’s portrayal of intelligence work as bureaucratic and bothersome, making it a fun antithesis of Ian Fleming. Anyway, I’ll definitely be reading Deighton again.

Black Glass by John Shirley

Billed as the “lost cyberpunk novel”, Black Glass was an idea developed by Shirley and William Gibson back in the 80s, then shelved and forgotten about for decades until, a few years ago, Shirley dug it out and Gibson said, “It's all yrs.” Consequently, it has a definite retro feel, hearkening back to the early cyberpunk genre that Shirley helped influence – the story involves virtual reality addiction, evil multinational corporations and a former cop who gets out of prison after taking the fall for a crime his brother committed. That said, it’s packed with futuristic jargon that slows things down, and the characters are a little too stereotypical to appreciate, especially corporate baddie Terence Grist. Not bad, but not really essential.

Doom Patrol, Vol. 6: Planet Love by Grant Morrison, Richard Case, Sean Phillips and Stan Woch

The final installment of Morrison’s run with Doom Patrol, in which the superhero misfits deal with The Candlemaker and a swarm of deadly nanobots created by the Chief (who, as it turns out, is more than a little insane). The ending is as mindbending and ambiguous as you’d expect from Morrison, which is a little frustrating. Still, it’s been a fun run, for the most part.

Stop making sense,

This is dF

WHEN ESPIONAGE BECOMES SEX-PIONAGE

Re: Horse Under Water, that Len Deighton book I just reviewed …

One interesting point: I got my copy from a used bookstore, and the back-cover blurb made it sound like a sex novel. Seriously. Look.



Believe me when I tell you the book is pretty much nothing like what the copy implies. Not even close, really.

Well played, Dell Putnam.

BONUS MATERIAL: Here’s the cover art while we’re at it.



Judging a book by its cover,

This is dF