Asghar Abbas's Blog, page 24
August 19, 2015
Books Vs Movies; the battle eternal.
Sometimes really bad movies can help you discover truly great books. Inept and inadequate adaptations needn't be pointless.
July 13, 2015
Locke Lamora
Finally, the The Republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch is mine. Love Locke Lamora and we get to meet his lady love in this one at long last.
Really excited.
Prosper Gentleman Bastards!
Really excited.
Prosper Gentleman Bastards!
July 12, 2015
Mad Max
Georgie boy was right. This was one of the best movies of the year so far. I think our wizened wizard from Santa Fe, New Mexico loves sweet rides of all kinds. Yeah me too.
Finally, a real movie after a longish while.
Quentin Tarantino agrees; it's the best movie of 2015. No doubt.
*chappiesuckednoitdidn'tsashabanks*
Finally, a real movie after a longish while.
Quentin Tarantino agrees; it's the best movie of 2015. No doubt.
*chappiesuckednoitdidn'tsashabanks*
June 26, 2015
Until Her Darkness Goes, A novel by Rana Kelly
Funny thing and not many people know this, but Janet Fitch kinda introduced Rana and I. As in, we both loved her book White Oleander; we met on Fitch's Facebook page and became fast friends.
Heading into Until Her Darkness Goes, I really wasn't expecting to like it as much as I ended up liking it. Rana surprised me even when I was fully expecting her to surprise me. I knew I was going into a well-written, well-researched novel, but I really wasn't expecting the level of excellence she showed in Darkness nor was I expecting to enjoy it as much as I did, well the enjoyable parts anyways.
From very early on, it was quite obvious she had brought her A game (in fact Kelly had brought the entire alphabets for that matter) and this is her first novel, I can say with surety that it wasn’t riddled with the flaws that inevitability are there in nascent penning.
Already Rana writes with a sure hand and a sharper mind, with a knack for knowing what works and what doesn’t work in an overall structure of a book- all that comes at a cost but that’s another story.
Music is very important in writing, but what can you say about a book that makes music an important part of reading. The music featured in this book is very much a part of the settings and a separate character in itself. I adored the cute little chapter headings. Whether it’s her matured experience, or her talents Until Her Darkness Goes is really succinct and concise to the point where the words and sentences flow like water…often in a freefall of emotions.
Short and sweet; basically to the point, you won’t be skipping pages or get bored. Simply put it has no filler and you won’t find any of the bullshit that pervades even in good books by experienced authors who know better.
Down to earth characters with motives that are realistic. I found myself rooting for most of them. I even liked Nicky, which is rare for me since I don’t find male characters that interesting, unless they are actually interesting and Nick was certainly that. Even the monsters in this book were flawlessly human. Rana doesn’t have any filters, which is not a bad thing. I think Rachael is the most perfect avatar for her. She is everything that makes Rana an amazingly spirited person; gritty, dark, loyal, fierce, independent, shy, a devoted mother, blunt, an animal lover, and eventually vulnerable. I loved the character of Rachael so much that I named one of my cats after her and she swears slightly less than her book’s counterpart does. Haha. In Darkness, Kelly employs one of my favorite literary devices of all time, quite effectively I might add. That of the split narrative. I love that. It was the added touch that made this book even more special for me and fun to read.
This novel bespeaks of her passion for music, her commitment to her craft, and her ability to turn her words into ditties of her own, this work is almost lyrical in its absolute simplicity.
Why you might ask and it’s a valid question. It is really because Rana pours her heart and soul, from all the lifetimes previous or otherwise into her words, to give them the shape they end up with until there isn’t anything, not even a dollop of herself left in her. She empties herself out and I am not even being biased here, just a tiny little observation from knowing her a little bit.
Kelly writes like she loves in any form in any way, without reservation, and without fear, like she does everything else, without an ounce of superstition or cowardice.
OK no more digressing. So lemme return to this book like Kells returned to it in the finality of her own. In Darkness, she doesn’t really use the infamous Iceberg Theory, but when at last she put down her palette the end result is minimalistically beautiful, adding more haunting aspects to some of the scenes she had sketched.
Like the church scene with the bones, I hope that will escape the publishers’ scalpel. It’s one of my absolute favorite bits from her novel, of her darkness. Other being the birth scene that was just poetic in its starkness. Kelly’s editor really said it best when she aptly puts it that this is a horror novel. I think and feel it is about casual cruelty, the horrors of humanity, and ultimately the tragedy of being human.
In everything. Like I said, Darkness isn’t plagued by the mistakes the first novels invariably have. Until Her Darkness Goes survives the pitfalls of début novels; the downside of the magic of writing. This book, this bleak hopeful gorgeous book that featured delicious skull themes (it’s a rock n roll novel after all) and gave us the title Murder of Crows, how frigging cool is that, let’s take a minute to just admire that, is deeply grounded in reality, focusing on brittleness of everything that touches us, everything that is around us.
In short, this book is real. About real people. For real people.
It’s no secret that the majority of readers around the world are females and yet the publishing world from every angle is brutally male-dominated. Women writers are given a role, a nice little niche to work in. Anything outside of that comfy little alcove is simply unacceptable and not to be tolerated. Few women rebel and make their own mark, carving out their own identity that falls outside the norm (Tawni O’Dell , Janet Fitch among the fewest of few) and certainly, female writers are not given proper due respect or any benefit of a doubt. I firmly believe Rana will not be playing that role or play by any of their rules. I really believe she would break every stereotype. So pay close attention and watch this Celtic warrior-poet break every glass ceiling there is.
Long after you are done reading Until Her Darkness Goes, the fragrance of Kelly’s words will stay, leaving behind renewed hunger for music. For good music. And the music that is her words.
Thank you my friend for letting me read this book. It was a pleasure through and through.
p.s. really excited about her next project. I won't spoil anything but let's just say it's in the genre that is often overlooked and is fallow and quite ripe for the taking. Fresh stuff in the literary world.
Heading into Until Her Darkness Goes, I really wasn't expecting to like it as much as I ended up liking it. Rana surprised me even when I was fully expecting her to surprise me. I knew I was going into a well-written, well-researched novel, but I really wasn't expecting the level of excellence she showed in Darkness nor was I expecting to enjoy it as much as I did, well the enjoyable parts anyways.
From very early on, it was quite obvious she had brought her A game (in fact Kelly had brought the entire alphabets for that matter) and this is her first novel, I can say with surety that it wasn’t riddled with the flaws that inevitability are there in nascent penning.
Already Rana writes with a sure hand and a sharper mind, with a knack for knowing what works and what doesn’t work in an overall structure of a book- all that comes at a cost but that’s another story.
Music is very important in writing, but what can you say about a book that makes music an important part of reading. The music featured in this book is very much a part of the settings and a separate character in itself. I adored the cute little chapter headings. Whether it’s her matured experience, or her talents Until Her Darkness Goes is really succinct and concise to the point where the words and sentences flow like water…often in a freefall of emotions.
Short and sweet; basically to the point, you won’t be skipping pages or get bored. Simply put it has no filler and you won’t find any of the bullshit that pervades even in good books by experienced authors who know better.
Down to earth characters with motives that are realistic. I found myself rooting for most of them. I even liked Nicky, which is rare for me since I don’t find male characters that interesting, unless they are actually interesting and Nick was certainly that. Even the monsters in this book were flawlessly human. Rana doesn’t have any filters, which is not a bad thing. I think Rachael is the most perfect avatar for her. She is everything that makes Rana an amazingly spirited person; gritty, dark, loyal, fierce, independent, shy, a devoted mother, blunt, an animal lover, and eventually vulnerable. I loved the character of Rachael so much that I named one of my cats after her and she swears slightly less than her book’s counterpart does. Haha. In Darkness, Kelly employs one of my favorite literary devices of all time, quite effectively I might add. That of the split narrative. I love that. It was the added touch that made this book even more special for me and fun to read.
This novel bespeaks of her passion for music, her commitment to her craft, and her ability to turn her words into ditties of her own, this work is almost lyrical in its absolute simplicity.
Why you might ask and it’s a valid question. It is really because Rana pours her heart and soul, from all the lifetimes previous or otherwise into her words, to give them the shape they end up with until there isn’t anything, not even a dollop of herself left in her. She empties herself out and I am not even being biased here, just a tiny little observation from knowing her a little bit.
Kelly writes like she loves in any form in any way, without reservation, and without fear, like she does everything else, without an ounce of superstition or cowardice.
OK no more digressing. So lemme return to this book like Kells returned to it in the finality of her own. In Darkness, she doesn’t really use the infamous Iceberg Theory, but when at last she put down her palette the end result is minimalistically beautiful, adding more haunting aspects to some of the scenes she had sketched.
Like the church scene with the bones, I hope that will escape the publishers’ scalpel. It’s one of my absolute favorite bits from her novel, of her darkness. Other being the birth scene that was just poetic in its starkness. Kelly’s editor really said it best when she aptly puts it that this is a horror novel. I think and feel it is about casual cruelty, the horrors of humanity, and ultimately the tragedy of being human.
In everything. Like I said, Darkness isn’t plagued by the mistakes the first novels invariably have. Until Her Darkness Goes survives the pitfalls of début novels; the downside of the magic of writing. This book, this bleak hopeful gorgeous book that featured delicious skull themes (it’s a rock n roll novel after all) and gave us the title Murder of Crows, how frigging cool is that, let’s take a minute to just admire that, is deeply grounded in reality, focusing on brittleness of everything that touches us, everything that is around us.
In short, this book is real. About real people. For real people.
It’s no secret that the majority of readers around the world are females and yet the publishing world from every angle is brutally male-dominated. Women writers are given a role, a nice little niche to work in. Anything outside of that comfy little alcove is simply unacceptable and not to be tolerated. Few women rebel and make their own mark, carving out their own identity that falls outside the norm (Tawni O’Dell , Janet Fitch among the fewest of few) and certainly, female writers are not given proper due respect or any benefit of a doubt. I firmly believe Rana will not be playing that role or play by any of their rules. I really believe she would break every stereotype. So pay close attention and watch this Celtic warrior-poet break every glass ceiling there is.
Long after you are done reading Until Her Darkness Goes, the fragrance of Kelly’s words will stay, leaving behind renewed hunger for music. For good music. And the music that is her words.
Thank you my friend for letting me read this book. It was a pleasure through and through.
p.s. really excited about her next project. I won't spoil anything but let's just say it's in the genre that is often overlooked and is fallow and quite ripe for the taking. Fresh stuff in the literary world.
June 22, 2015
Southern Literature.
Feeling Larry Brown-ish. So um well, .....Larry Brown it!
It's a beautiful night out even if it's not.
Words.
Writes.
It's a beautiful night out even if it's not.
Words.
Writes.
June 19, 2015
Good execution vs Bad Execution. Poor Ned was a good execution; obviously.
Spartacus. 2010-2013
Other than Spartacus I really can't think of any other show that hasn't gone stale or lost its edge. Not Dexter, Not Entourage, Not Californication, Not True Blood. Not even the perennial A Team, which was cancelled; hottest show of its era and it got fuckin' cancelled, with no ending. And certainly not the increasing migraine that is Game of Thrones, inane and insane it is getting now. Come on Winds of Winter. Georgie boy stay in Santa Fe, don't go to Germany and work on your last two books. JK.
Nonetheless, Spartacus remained anachronistically sound and secure and consistent in its quality and storytelling, where every episode excelled and was truly epic. Way to go Spartacus.
Man and fiction.
Other than Spartacus I really can't think of any other show that hasn't gone stale or lost its edge. Not Dexter, Not Entourage, Not Californication, Not True Blood. Not even the perennial A Team, which was cancelled; hottest show of its era and it got fuckin' cancelled, with no ending. And certainly not the increasing migraine that is Game of Thrones, inane and insane it is getting now. Come on Winds of Winter. Georgie boy stay in Santa Fe, don't go to Germany and work on your last two books. JK.
Nonetheless, Spartacus remained anachronistically sound and secure and consistent in its quality and storytelling, where every episode excelled and was truly epic. Way to go Spartacus.
Man and fiction.
June 15, 2015
June 8, 2015
Just No.
As a reader one of my biggest pet peeves is British authors writing as Americans. Something about that is just wrong. What brought on this thought? Well, the Man who Rained did. Great book otherwise.
June 5, 2015
It Follows . 2014.
Horror movie well worth a watch. Movies are scary only if they are intelligent and It Follows was very intelligent. I must say our heroine had some great friends to fall back on. Bravo for friendship. What a creepy, disturbing joyride this was.
Do more of what you love.
Eager and excited
Really looking forward to watch the new seasons of Black Sails and The Vikings.
Now bring me that horizon .
Valhalla.
Oh and need to wrap up Tudors with my main man.
Really looking forward to watch the new seasons of Black Sails and The Vikings.
Now bring me that horizon .
Valhalla.
Oh and need to wrap up Tudors with my main man.
