Katherine Nabity's Blog, page 241

Fall Into Reading 2012

Katrina at Callapidder Days is once again hosting Fall Into Reading – a totally low-stress reading challenge that takes place between September 22nd and December 21st. The only requirement is:

Create a list of books you’d like to read or finish this fall.

I’ve got a couple other reading events going on in September and October—R.I.P. VII (Sept & Oct), FrightFall Readathon (Oct. 1-7), Dewey’s 24-hour Readathon (Oct. 13th)— so some of these books will be doing double duty.

Galleys (with publication dates):

Shelf Life: Fantastic Stories Celebrating Bookstores, edited by Greg Ketter (10/3)
Two and Twenty Dark Tales,  Georgia McBride (editor), Michelle Zink (editor) (10/16) – Could count for R.I.P. too.
Shoggoths in Bloom by Elizabeth Bear (10/31)
What We Saw At Night by Jacquelyn Mitchard (1/8)

For R.I.P:

Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist
Dark Waters by Koji Suzuki
The Italian Secretary: A Further Adventure of Sherlock Holmes

by Caleb Carr

Research for next novel (all of which could count for R.I.P. too):

Behind the Scenes With the Mediums by David P. Abbott
The Right Way to Do Wrong by Harry Houdini
Hiding the Elephant : How Magicians Invented the Impossible and Learned to Disappear by Jim Steinmeyer

This list of books is greater then my reading speed, but lists are more of a general guideline than an actual reading list. And undoubtedly, I’m going to get distracted by some other shiny book that happens along. (And maybe if I finish rewrites on Luck for Hire by the end of October, I might start work on the next novel for NaNoWriMo. But that’s just crazy talk…)

But, yay! It’s fall! (Even if it is 101+F outside.) Enjoy it while it lasts!

Throwback Thursday (09/20/12)

Throwback Thursday is a weekly meme hosted by The Housework Can Wait and Never Too Fond of Books!

Noting that book blogging onften focuses on new releases, here’s how Throwback Thursday works:

Pick a book released more than 5 years ago.
Write up a short summary of the book (include the title, author, and cover art) and an explanation of why you love it.
Link up your post at The Housework Can Wait or Never Too Fond of Books.
Visit as many blogs as you can, reminisce about books you loved, and discover some “new” books for your TBR list!

Ring by by Koji Suzuki, Robert B. Rohmer (Translator), Glynne Walley (Translator)

I cannot lie, The Ring (2002, dir. Gore Verbinski) messed me up. For a while, it made me nervous around television screens, telephones, and bodies of water. (I’ve never cared for the last two very much anyway.) Which is of course why I decided to read the book when I came across it in the library.

I don’t have much from my original journal about it, other than I read it in June of 2005. Since it is a translation from Japanese, occasionally phrases come across a bit awkwardly, but Suzuki does a great job creating a claustrophobic atmosphere as Asakawa investigates the death of his niece. The word thriller could definitely be used to describe Ring because it is a race against time to unravel the mystery. The book does provide an extra layer to what occurred in the past to bring about the tale’s frightening revenant.

Good, creepy read for the season. I have Koji Suzuki’s short story anthology Dark Water waiting for me.

Book #29

The Mist by Stephen King

This is a reread and it feels like is wasn’t long ago that I read this novella and watched the movie for the first time. Looking at my old blog’s archive, I see that I finished The Mist in May of 2008, over four years ago.

When I read it the first time, I had just watched the movie. The movie (2007, directed by Frank Darabont) has one of the  most devastating endings in the history of film (though manages to be less depressing than the ending of Mystic River (2007)). The ending is different from the book, but one that Stephen King highly approves of. When I read it the first time, I was of the opinion that the movie was better, tighter. The movie ending is better in many ways, but I’ve changed my mind otherwise.

I’m not often scared while I’m reading. I read a good amount of horror, but it doesn’t really make me nervous me. A couple times while reading The Mist, I got a little jumpy. And this is a reread. I know what’s going to happen…except for one of the parts that I forgot about. I forgot about the trip to the pharmacy. I forgot that in the movie, which I also rewatched for the first time in four years, it’s an overdone scene. In the book, King plays it just right. We see what the characters see and realize *what* they’re seeing just a moment before they do. It’s a hard thing to pull off when writing. I don’t know whether I didn’t appreciated the difficulty before, or if the difference was that in 2008 I watched the movie first then read the book. This time, I read first.

I’m not a big Stephen King fan, but this ranks as one of my favorites of his works.

Format: Adobe Digital Edition

Procurement: Greater Phoenix Digital Library

R.I.P. VII

R.I.P. VII – Progress Post #3

The purpose of R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril VII is to enjoy books and movies/television that could be classified (by you) as: Mystery. Suspense. Thriller. Dark Fantasy. Gothic. Horror. Supernatural. Or anything sufficiently moody that shares a kinship with the above.

I’m going to post my R.I.P. progress on Tuesdays during September and October and link them to the review site if they contain reviews of short stories, TV shows, or movies. Books will get their own posts.

The Maltese Falcon (1941) – Everyone has lapses in their knowledge of things, whether it’s a classic novel they haven’t read or a screen gem they’ve never watched. There are too many good things in the world to have experienced them all. Until last week, I had never watched The Maltese Falcon. I knew from my husband, a man with little patience for bad movies, that this film is beyond most 1940s’ fare, but I didn’t expect to stop the DVD and IMDB it to be sure of its release year. John Huston’s direction and Arthur Edeson’s cinematography are as fresh and beautiful today as they were 70 years ago.

“Key Lime Pie” (2007) – I was in a noir kind of mood after watching The Maltese Falcon. Due to the nature of copyright, many movies from the 40s and 50s are available free and legal online. This is not one of them. This is an animated short in noir style. The internet is a place of vast creativity, isn’t it?  (Watch at Open Culture, or click above)

Shock (1946) – Mrs. Janet Stewart (Anabel Shaw) should be having a good week. Her husband (Frank Latimore), a former POW, is finally coming home and they’re going to meet in the city for a weekend together. Unfortunately, things are going wrong for Janet. The hotel doesn’t have her reservation, her husband is late, and after a night filled with nightmares, Janet witnesses a murder in a hotel room across the courtyard. When the shock puts her over the edge, Vincent Price is brought in to be her psychiatrist.  No, things are not going well for poor Janet Stewart. (Watch at Internet Archive)

It’s Monday, What Are You Reading? (09/17/12)

I have two books from the library and a galley to read. I need a read-a-thon, STAT!

This Week I’m Reading:
Shelf Life: Fantastic Stories Celebrating Bookstores edited by Greg Ketter

Bookstores are the greatest places on earth, yet there’s never been an anthology devoted just to them. Here are sixteen stories, fourteen original to this anthology, each of which includes a bookstore at its core. Science fiction, fantasy and horror. Authors included are David Bischoff, P.D. Cacek, Ramsey Campbell, Charles de Lint, Marianne de Pierres, Harlan Ellison, Rick Hautala, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, Gerard Houarner, John J. Miller, A.R. Morlan, Lisa Morton, Melanie Tem, Patrick Weekes, Jack Williamson, Gene Wolfe. Introduction by Neil Gaiman. Cover art by John Picacio. (Goodreads)

I’m pretty agnostic when it comes to the whole physical book/ebook argument. On one hand, books, book stores, and libraries have always been a comfort to me. On the other, it’s the stories that are the important thing, not the form they’re in. As long as we have stories, I think we’ll make it. But obviously, this anthology appeals to me and I was happy to snatch it up as a READ NOW on NetGalley.

Short Story of the Week:

I was going to count Shelf Life in my short story category since I have a couple of books to push through by the end of the month, but Multo pointed out a story at Weird Fiction Review that looks pretty interesting.

The Usual:

I’m caught up on Edda. I still have a week or two before more A Clash of Kings. That leaves a poem to read this week.

What I Read Last Week:

Re-read Stephen King’s The Mist. Review will be up on Wednesday. Also read a kid’s book of spooky poetry. More on that tomorrow in my R.I.P. round-up.

Book #28

The Enchanted Truth by Kym Petrie

When it hits physical publication later this month, The Enchanted Truth will presumably be one of those small hardback “gift” books that are positioned near the checkouts in bookstores among the stationary, gift wrap, and bookmarks. It’s target audience is women who will impulse buy it for a friend and maybe read it on the sly before wrapping it up.

It’s relationship advice thinly couched as a quirky fairy tale. When the Princess is once again spurned by a heartless player prince, she’s visited by her fairy godmother who gives her a frog. Not just any frog, of course, but…a stuffed frog. With a pouch in its tummy. The Princess is instructed to take time from her relentless and fruitless search for a prince and think about what she wants in husband. What she really wants.  She should write down the qualities she values and add them to her frog. (I think the frog would be a great tie-in product. The uber-deluxe edition could come with a journal too.) In the meantime, she is to live her life as a single girl, without being on a guy’s arm. By the end of the books, and it’s a short book, it doesn’t matter whether the Princess finds her perfect prince, because she’s now happy with herself.

This is cute book with a nice, if idealized, message.  Petrie goes a little nuts with the thesaurus sometimes, but she keeps the writing light  and quick.

My copy of this ARC was provided to me by NetGalley.

Format: Adobe Digital Edition

Procurement: NetGalley

Throwback Thursday (09/13/12)

Throwback Thursday is a weekly meme hosted by The Housework Can Wait and Never Too Fond of Books!

Noting that book blogging onften focuses on new releases, here’s how Throwback Thursday works:

Pick a book released more than 5 years ago.
Write up a short summary of the book (include the title, author, and cover art) and an explanation of why you love it.
Link up your post at The Housework Can Wait or Never Too Fond of Books.
Visit as many blogs as you can, reminisce about books you loved, and discover some “new” books for your TBR list!

The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larson

From my original post, 06/27/10:

As much as I liked Thunderstruck, I think I like The Devil in the White City more. History is much more interesting when it’s a cloth rather than a thread. On its own the World’s Columbian Exposition is an interesting thread. When seen in context with other events, it’s absolutely remarkable. At least when presented by Larson. If I were a history teacher I’d be very tempted to base my curriculum on his books. I also think David Milch and HBO should make this their next project.

Again, Larson juxtaposes two stories: the building and run of the World’s Columbian Exposition and the history of serial killer H.H. Holmes. As with Thunderstruck, the two stories don’t entirely mesh.  They are each interesting, but Holmes’s story is a bit more of a tangent than a parallel. Holmes’s evil is meant to be a counterweight to the better humanity shown in the building of the world’s fair, but it’s not that simple. Within the realm of the Exposition alone, there are plenty of shades of gray. Holmes is another thread that modestly run through other events. Still, Larson ranks as one of the better writers I’m reading.

Why read it today? History is always more interesting when presented as a narrative rather than a list of dates and facts. In this case, The Devil in the White City is very much a narrative of Chicago’s history. Delving into the background of the World’s Fair and H.H. Holmes brings out the stories of the city itself and the culture of the people that inhabit it.

Book #27

Doctor Who: Dave Gibbons Collection Tpb by by Pat Mills, Steve Moore, & Steve Parkhouse. Dave Gibbons (Illustrator)

In the late 70s/early 80s, years before teaming up with Alan Moore to create Watchmen, Dave Gibbons was the lead artist for Doctor Who Weekly/Monthly. He drew 65 strips for the magazine, some of which were reprinted by DC in the United States. This collection is being published by IDW on Oct. 2nd. My review copy was provided by NetGalley. It was, unfortunately, in Adobe Digital Edition format and only included the first 200 pages.

I have golden memories of Doctor Who. I started watching in the late 1980s when our local PBS channel began running the series every week night at 6:30pm. Since the station played five episodes a week, with the occasional Saturday marathon, the Doctors passed by pretty quickly except for Tom Baker’s marathon seven seasons in the role. In many ways those seven season epitomize what Doctor Who was all about before the “modern era.” The Doctor was goofy, but brilliant. The acting was sometimes over-wrought, but utterly sincere. The plots were labyrinthine and highly serialized. And the effects…well, rubber masks, Styrofoam, and plungers were the order of the day.

What these comics present, for a modern viewer of Doctor Who, is a great hybrid of the old and new. There’s Tom Baker’s Doctor, well-written by Pat Mills, Steve Moore, Steve Parkhouse, and John Wagner, and faithfully illustrated by Dave Gibbons. Due to the weekly/monthly nature of the original periodical, the stories are serialized with plenty twists and everyone’s favorite villainous monsters. But instead of effects that look better if you squint, Gibbons gives us a great sci-fi world for the Doctor to inhabit. Something that wouldn’t happen on the screen until the series’ relaunch in 2005.

“The Dogs of Doom” is a particularly good representative. Even in the 80s there would have been no way to economically show space battles and a prison full of aliens and make them look good.

The only thing that I found distracting was Gibbons’ drawing of young Sharon, a kid that ends up traveling with the Doctor. Not being familiar with the UK’s school system, I assume Sharon is a high schooler, sixteen years old at most. Gibbons draws her as a short grown up. When a time anomaly ages her, she’s still very mannish in the face.

My ARC included:

The Iron Legion
City of the Damned
The Star Beast
The Dogs of Doom
The Time Witch
Dragon’s Claw
The Collector (partial, since the file ended at pg. 200)

Format: Adobe Digital Editions

Procurement: NetGalley

R.I.P. VII – Progress Post #2

The purpose of R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril VII is to enjoy books and movies/television that could be classified (by you) as: Mystery. Suspense. Thriller. Dark Fantasy. Gothic. Horror. Supernatural. Or anything sufficiently moody that shares a kinship with the above.

I’m going to post my R.I.P. progress on Tuesdays during September and October and link them to the review site if they contain reviews of short stories, TV shows, or movies. Books will get their own posts.

“The Case of Death and Honey” by Neil Gaiman, from the anthology A Study in Sherlock, edited by Laurie R. King & Leslie S. Klinger. It’s a gem of story covering Holmes’ time in the Far East and his sudden interest, in retirement, in bee keeping. With, of course, an oblique twist.

“The Companions” by David Morrell, from the anthology Shadow Show: All New Stories in Celebration of Ray Bradbury, edited by Sam Weller and Mort Castle. This story seemed flat to me, the first to disappoint in this anthology. It is a take on guardian spirits, but the set up was too long and detailed. In comparison, the payoff was barely a page or two. I was expecting a turn that would take the story into the realm of unsettling, which seemed warranted, but it never happened.

I also read Bradbury’s “Laural and Hardy Love Affair,” which is not perilous in the least. Yet, it served as the basis for one of the things that scared me most as a kid: The “Gotcha!” episode from Ray Bradbury Theater. According to IMDB, it was episode 4 in season 2 and aired in 1988. Meaning I was 13 at the time, but man, the ending of that episode did a number on me. Haven’t watched it since…

“The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Rachel @ Resistance is Futile reminded me of this story. Probably a decade ago, someone mentioned this story to me, but I forgot about it before I tracked down a copy. (The internet was a very different place in ’01/’02!) Wow, what a story. It can be read from a traditional gothic approach (bars on the window of the top floor nursary and a gate at the top of the stares) or a feminist approach (a husband *always* knows what’s best for his wife) or, you know, both. Really good literature should hit on numerous fronts. You don’t need to know the conventions of a gothic or be a feminist to enjoy the truly unsettling aspects of this story. (Read at The University of Adelaide Library)

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011) – If I could take the best bits of the US version and the Swedish version of this movie, it might rank in my top 20 movies. As is, I think I prefer the US version. Especially if I turn it off 20 minutes before the end.

Evening Primrose (1966) – This was a surprising fit for Peril on the Screen. I was perusing Hulu when I came across the addition of this ’66 TV musical starring Anthony Perkins . I expected light comedy. Instead, I got Twilight Zone: The Musical Episode. When disillusioned poet Charles Snell decides to live in the picture-perfect world of a department store, hiding by day and writing at night, he finds that he isn’t the first person to have the idea. An entire society exists with its own rules and its own police, the dark men that live at a mortuary. Unfortunately, Charles falls in love with social pariah and muse, Ella. Will they be able to escape back to the outside world, or will the dark men turn them into store mannequins? (Watch on Hulu)

Dexter, Season 5 – Yeah, I’m behind. I don’t have cable and we haven’t had Netflix DVD service in a while. Season 5 seemed short to me. And it’s not that it lacked plot, but it felt sort of anticlimactic. Or rather, not very perilous. (Yes, I am going to over-use the word peril in the next two months.) It never felt like wacky ol’ Dexter was in a really tight spot that he could get out of. I was pleased with the guest cast, but **spoiler** [sorry to see them go].

It’s Monday, What Are You Reading? (09/10/12)

It’s always a 50/50 chance that I will immediately bail on these books in favor of others… Two digital library hold became available yesterday:

This Week I’m Reading:
The Mist by Stephen King

It’s a hot, lazy day, perfect for a cookout, until you see those strange dark clouds. Suddenly a violent storm sweeps across the lake and ends as abruptly and unexpectedly as it had begun. Then comes the mist…creeping slowly, inexorably into town, where it settles and waits, trapping you in the supermarket with dozens of others, cut off from your families and the world. The mist is alive, seething with unearthly sounds and movements. What unleashed this terror? (Goodreads)

Suddenly had the yen last week to reread this.

In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin by Erik Larson

The time is 1933, the place, Berlin, when William E. Dodd becomes America’s first ambassador to Hitler’s Germany in a year that proved to be a turning point in history.

A mild-mannered professor from Chicago, Dodd brings along his wife, son, and flamboyant daughter, Martha. At first Martha is entranced by the parties and pomp, and the handsome young men of the Third Reich with their infectious enthusiasm for restoring Germany to a position of world prominence. Enamored of the “New Germany,” she has one affair after another, including with the suprisingly honorable first chief of the Gestapo, Rudolf Diels. But as evidence of Jewish persecution mounts, confirmed by chilling first-person testimony, her father telegraphs his concerns to a largely indifferent State Department back home. Dodd watches with alarm as Jews are attacked, the press is censored, and drafts of frightening new laws begin to circulate. As that first year unfolds and the shadows deepen, the Dodds experience days full of excitement, intrigue, romance—and ultimately, horror, when a climactic spasm of violence and murder reveals Hitler’s true character and ruthless ambition. (Goodreads)

It’s been on my TBR list for a long while. I finally noticed it was available through the Greater Phoenix Digital Library and queued it up.

Short Story of the Week:

Read Ray Bradbury’s “The Laurel and Hardy Love Affair.” More on that in my R.I.P. post tomorrow.

The Usual:

A poem & a section of Poetic Edda. I’ve been reading poems from The Chiaroscuro archives.

What I Read Last Week:

Will be covering a short story or two in tomorrow’s Readers Imbibing Peril update. On Wednesday, I’ll have a review of Doctor Who Dave Gibbons Collection, and on Friday, a review of The Enchanted Truth, a little gift book from author Kym Petrie.