Charles > Recent Status Updates

Often my giddy first impression of a book leads to a calmer, more moderate appraisal later on. This may happen with this book, but here at the first disc I'm pretty giddy about this book. The language is appropriately florid and purple, pitch-perfect for the writing style of the time the book was purportedly written. Wilkie Collins is the narrator. The subject is Charles Dickens and the entity Drood.

The writing alternates between being meh and quite good. Story remains pretty interesting. Growing paranoia, desperate acts, and possible egomania of the first-person narrator are all juxtaposed with a search for a meaningful romantic relationship, which seems pretty unique to me.

Excellent detective novel. I'll probably read more Leonid McGill books and more Mosley in general.

Story is okay, but the telling of it is poor in some places; some weak craftsmanship.

Quite a few good stories, but also a few that should have been left out of this "Best of" anthology. "Thieves of Silence", "The Tinyman and Caroline", and "The Sword of Loving Kindness" are excellent. "Blighted Heart", "Dragon's Eyes", "Driftwood", "The Mansion of Bones," "Silk and Shadow" and "The Alchemist's Feather" were quite good. "Kreisler's Automata" and "The Mathematics of Faith" were pretentious.

Still working my way through the part of Titus Groan that I read about five years ago. I remain awe-struck. This is less a traditional novel than an omniscient narrative of elaborate description, a camera that floats from character to character recording the happenings within Castle Gormenghast at the time of the birth of a new Lord Groan. Pure genius.

This is a good book.

Still ambivalent about this book, which would have benefited from better organization and less excerpts from the author's own work. A couple of sections are just long excerpts with a few preceding and closing notes. Useless bits like that contrast with insightful and analytic expositions of craft.

Not sure about this one...

Finished the first six stories. Stand-outs are "The Sword of Loving Kindness", "Driftwood", and "Dragon's Eyes". The other three were good, but these three were great.

"Letters from Tainaron" an excerpt from a novel. Letters home about insect people. Ho-hum. "The Ride of the Gabbleratchet" another excerpt. Although Gabbleratchet is a great name, the creature is a weak plot device that chases a couple of characters (guided by a shapeshifting pile of worms) through the scenic vistas of half-a-dozen worlds. Ho-hum. "The Gutter..." Holy hell, this was a foul story. But so good.

Second time reading Chris Wilrich's story "The Sword of Loving Kindness". Man, it's good. Read it here for free: http://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.co...

"The Braining of Mother Lamprey" Ings: good story, good setting; I'll be reading more from Ings. "The Neglected Garden" Koja: ok horror story, magical realism; "A Soft Voice Whispers Nothing" Ligotti: felt flat, a bit pretentious. "Jack" Mieville: well-done, hidden identity narrator; "Immolation" Thomas: good, but disappointing ending; "The Lizard of Ooze" Lake: fun; "Watson's Boy" Evenson: pointless. HATED.