Daniel > Recent Status Updates

Chapter 3 is a big improvement. We even have a character with the same name as the book, now. But surely he can't be our protagonist? He' old, and obnoxious. No, there's also a grandson with the same name: surely he will be our protagonist, if he ever shows up.
The social awkwardness caused by the mysterious relationship between Martin snr and his mysterious girl companion is interesting.

Chapter 2 starts with three pages of weather and scenery.

Not loving it, so far. Also, this old Oxford classics edition from the early 1990s saves paper by using a thin, small font, which doesn't help.

Enjoying this a lot. I've been reading a lot about the period lately, and this is the densest and most readable information about it that I've seen.
Nothing's perfect, of course. I'm constantly switching between the text, the endnotes and the illustration acknowledgements, to fully understand what I'm reading. And the pictures aren't very clear in the paperback edition I'm reading.

This was a nostalgia trip. I read the Tintin books when I was a kid, and from time to time I re-read one or two. I read the first one in this omnibus in 2008, so it's been a long gap this time. I liked The Secret of the Unicorn - the third story in the book, and the basis of the recent Tintin movie - enough that I might read the series to the end now.

An unpropitious beginning. All about our presumed hero's (according to the title) ancestors, full of obscure ironies based on forgotten history and unheard proverbs.

Hello 2014. I don't believe in setting a number of books I'll read this year, as I might end up reading only little books and graphic novels to try to keep my promise.
My New Year's reading resolutions are: I will read more Dickens (a chapter a day). I will read more books about London in the 1840s (research for my own book). I will reread some old favourites.

Just finished 'The King in Yellow'. This is more like the Chandler I remember from The Big Sleep, which I read years ago.
It looks like Smart-Aleck Kill contained the less good stories from this book, because the two I've read so far, among the stories that weren't extracted for that collection, have been much better.

The cigar was burning unevenly and it smelled as if somebody had set fire to the doormat. He pushed it into his mouth with a hard, thrusting motion, as if he expected his mouth wouldn't want it to go in.

It's a shame this comic hasn't taken off in the English-speaking world. Apparently there are three hundred issues in Italy.

I warmed to 'Smart-Aleck Kill', the first story in this collection, after a while. Everyone talked like they were in a 1930s B-movie. Cliche? Or did people really talk like that then?

I warmed to 'Smart-Aleck Kill', the first story in this collection, after a while. Everyone talked like they were in a 1930s B-movie. Cliche? Or did people really talk like that then?

Read John Kessel's 'The Pure Product' tonight. A good story, but a bit of a downer.

Read John Kessel's 'The Pure Product' tonight. A good story, but a bit of a downer.

Read John Kessel's 'The Pure Product' tonight. A good story, but a bit of a downer.

I'm a dick - private - Mrs Burwand. Trying to dig up a little dope you might know about.

He was a heel in a lot of ways. When he was sober he had the dark blue sulks. When he was lit up he was vile. When he was nicely edged he was a pretty good sort of guy besides being the best smut director in Hollywood. He could get more smooth sexy tripe past the Hays office than any other three men.

I wanted to read 'The Simple Art of Murder', which contains the early Philip Marlowe stories, among others. It's in the post. While I wait, it turns out this book I already own is a subset of 'Simple Art', with 4 non-Marlowe stories.