Two Envelopes And A Phone > Recent Status Updates

Final GarbAugust Notes:
Applied to Bingo Card Prompt: Killer Animals
Assessment: This was a re-read. Though it is formula Doctor Who plotting, Baxendale's novels were usually a cut above in the Horror dept.. As far as killer animals go, I relied on dim memories that the wasps actually killed someone...and things (morbidly) took care of themselves on that front. Only a few Bingo Card squares left to fill.

The Killer Animals Prompt for GarbAugust has, for the record, been satisfied. (Well, I have to finish the book, I guess, to make it legal.)

Hah! The Doctor quoted one of James Bond's lines from the movie On Her Majesty's Secret Service - a line about a butterfly. It makes me think of 2001; did I recognize that line from the movie back then? I must have been an OHMSS fan by 2001...but I don't think I owned a copy of the film for watching over and over again, with my near-eidetic memory at work. I don't remember, uh, remembering the line. But THIS time...!

I've often thought of reading all my Doctor Who novels, or Perry Rhodan novels, again - but my focus is mainly on new experiences in reading, and the amount of time I would be spending on books already read is a major off-putter. Add to that, the Virgin Books Doctor Who line feature a number of books that threaten to come apart if I go back to them (cheap glue?). So the occasional re-visitation is how it is.

Little Caesar, The Asphalt Jungle, High Sierra, Vanity Row - I read all those novels by Burnett years ago, when I found one big book with all of them collected inside. I had been looking for The Asphalt Jungle, but couldn’t pass on three ‘bonus’ books hangin’ out with it under one cover. This book seems like it has a lesser rep, but after four great reads, I would never pass on another Burnett.

Final GarbAugust Notes:
Romance or Men’s Adventure Week
Assessment: A Free-floating choice for the Week, not applied to any Bingo Card Prompts (most of which I have taken care of early). This was rather a complex plot with surprises, besides the action. And I liked the hero, Mahegan.

Should probably finish this tonight. Still going strong.

Exciting book. It really is the modern version of a Men’s Adventure novel of decades past - more and more, I don’t think I’m cheating if I skip the Remo Williams (Destroyer) movie; but I like Fred Ward. This is one of the longer books I’ll be reading for GarbAugust, but it goes by fast, and is not demanding, Great Summer read.

I will be light on Romance, for Romance or Men's Adventure Week of GarbAugust. I'm not reading The French Lieutenant's Woman, I have no other actual Romance novels...but I did re-watch Never Been Kissed last night. As for Men's Adventure - I would say, based on 10%, this counts; but I will still likely watch the Remo Williams movie, since it is based on a series from the heyday of the Men's Adventure books.

For GarbAugust’s Killer Animals Prompt, if no one dies in Food of the Gods (comics version), or I go to this first. This was not a particularly significant Doctor Who novel, but I remember it being quite fun, with those alien bounty hunters n’ all. Or were they assassins? Anyway, the Doctor has some fun with one of their devices. And Baxendale offerings tend to have Horror elements.

I may get to this ahead of the Doctor Who novel. This is a bit of a thing, because if one enlarged animal - most likely a big bug - kills someone in this comic book, then I’ve got the Killer Animals Prompt covered, for GarbAug.. If the little kiddies this was marketed to caused this to be rather tame, then my re-read of Eater of Wasps will take care of things. Either way, bugs be where it’s at (or a chicken!?).

Final GarbAugust Notes:
A ‘free-floater’, for Romance or Men’s Adventure Week. But it’s a good choice for the week, considering it’s not either of those genres.
Assessment: Unfortunately, it wasn’t as good as the other in the series I’ve read - #2 - and I have to give a lesser rating. I did enjoy it - and of course, McQuay wrote Memories, so I am always up for another book by him.

With no official Men's Adventure or Romance novels handy for the relevant week of GarbAugust. I'm making do. This McQuay novel quacks a lot like Men's Adventure - even down to an advertisement inserted into the book...not for cancer sticks, but rather for an Agatha Christie book club! Meanwhile, Swain has been reunited with his long-lost love, as plague destroys the world. Now, that's romantic.

I think this is the modern equivalent of what used to be more precisely marketed as Men’s Adventure novels. No more shelves of Mac Bolan, Able Team, Omega Sub, etc. - but I would say the genre is alive and well, and scattered throughout any big bookstore’s General Fiction section. That said, I will still watch the Remo Williams movie, since I have no ‘true’ Men’s Adventure books from 70s/80s, for GarbAugust.

Enjoyed ‘The Ostler’ by Wilkie Collins.

Final GarbAugust Notes:
Romance or Men’s Adventure Week
Bingo Card Prompt: Host Recommendation
Assessment: This is a re-read, and I still think it’s one of the weakest in a normally fabulous series. I am reading no actual Romance novels for Romance etc. Week…but this is a decent Almost Works pick, because of two lovers getting married as what fuels the book’s premise. A movie will be my, uh, true Romance pick.

I’m ahead in my reading plans for GarbAugust - the stuff that knocks off Bingo Card Prompts - and can fit in some ‘free-floating’ trashy books at my whim. That said, this pick is sort of a nod to Romance or Men’s Adventure Week. This is as close as I will get to something that at least resembles actual Men’s Adventure novels, and throw in a nod to Romance, as Swain tries to save his true love.

Although, to my mind, the Anthony Trollope story ‘The Spotted Dog’ does not have the weird elements to really justify being in this book, I loved my belated introduction to this author. The writing style became an instant favourite, and if it lacked weirdness or supernatural facets, it certainly hit the mark in depicting what alcohol does to good people falling.

Final GarbAugust Notes:
Applied to Bingo Card Prompt Giallo/Slasher
Read during Romance or Men’s Adventure Week, but not applicable
Assessment: Much to appreciate - much to behold as prescient or visionary - but the ending is hard to process without more info…and doesn’t really work, IMO.

Final GarbAugust Notes:
Last thing I’ll finish for Anything Goes Week!
Applied to Bingo Card Prompt: Ninja/Martial Arts
Assessment: This is a great issue of the Vigilante series. It leads into what I feel is an even greater run of a unique series, all the way to #50, the bitter end. Gone is the “superhero feel” people didn’t take to, and yet this still refused to copy The Punisher.

The basic premise meant that this was going to be somewhat suitable for the GarbAugust Giallo/Slasher Prompt…but, uh, considering how tame and bloodless I thought this might be, it is overachieving when it comes to gruesomeness, and creepiness. I mean, it’s not The Snowman - 1931, after all - but this is a pretty good slasher book, so far. So Gethryn got mentioned, but will not be appearing.