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Still trying to figure out how Fuka Eri and Aomame are connected, if at all. Hmm.

"The Serpent, Unfallen" would make an excellent Call of Cthulhu scenario. I am not joking. And I am seriously thinking about writing such a thing. Anyway, the Oil of Mercy figures prominently in this occult tale of satanic ritual and its despoilers. One of the more straightforward tales of the Connoisseur, and yet a very satisfying one. Five stars on the crown of a black serpent . . . with or without wings.

Time to wrestle this beast to the ground. The preface makes it sound like a "Choose Your Own Adventure" book. Maybe it is.

Empires folded within empires in a timeless, but time-stricken state. "The Rite of Trebizond" is a mystery and a history of the trickle of power between the interstices of civilization. The Holy of Holies is hid right in our midst, and we do not see it. World-builders walk in our midst and we are unaware of the intrigue. This is a beautiful story in which nothing happens, but everything happens. Five stars.

I'm still not convinced that Leader is not evil.

Things are getting really weird now. And I like it!!!

"The Little People are stirring"

Uh-oh. Watch out, Tengo!

If that last section was supposed to make "Leader" more sympathetic, it didn't work. On the contrary, I want him to die more than ever. I fear Aomame might be duped, though.

I've only had two opportunities to open this book and read it (because: Life). Each time, I have not wanted to close it. Circumstances compel me, but man I just want to read this thing. Ewers draws this reader right in! I love his snarkiness.

Ouch. The conversation between Tengo and his (step?) father is painful. Well-realized, but heartbreaking, even in its sparseness.

This book is LUSH! Beautiful endpapers and illustrations. The prose is of the mythopoetic decadent style. The characters are presented in a very human way, breaking the predominant "stuffy" or stilted character paradigm so often associated with turn-of-the-20th-century writing (even if this perception is false). So far, I'm impressed and taken in by this story.

"The Last Archipelago" is what Algernon Blackwood would have written had he he wished to reprise "The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym" or "At the Mountains of Madness". It's more subtle than either of those, more spiritual, if you will, but clearly a story of nature's winsome personality. This is my least favorite story of this collection, thus far, and still it clocks in at a very solid Four stars.

Guegamp-Sans-Gavotten is definitely taking its cues from the expressionists. It's a charged drawing, full of energy. So far, it's my favorite of the Black Drawings.

"The Lover Practicing Hate" is one of the more intriguing Black Drawings: more dynamic than the others, graphically intriguing, even emotive, though the specific emotion being evoked is really up to the viewer.

When Goodreads thinks the book you are reading is 98 pages shorter than it actually is . . .

"The White Solander" is exactly the sort of story I imagined for The Connoisseur before I had ever read any of these stories. I'm glad it came later in my reading, however, so that I could explore his many other facets first. Here, though, is a true occult detective story, replete with incantations, swordplay (of a sort), symbolist poets, and a beautiful conspiracy from early modern times. Five stars to this gem.P216

"The White Solander" is exactly the sort of story I imagined for The Connoisseur before I had ever read any of these stories. I'm glad it came later in my reading, however, so that I could explore his many other facets first. Here, though, is a true occult detective story, replete with incantations, swordplay (of a sort), symbolist poets, and a beautiful conspiracy from early modern times. Five stars to this gem.P216

I would love to observe The Brothers Quay while they were working. I am most curious about how much joking they do while working together. Sure, their movies are dark and melancholy, but I wonder how much of this is a manifestation of a dark sense of humor.

I don't know what the story of the city of cats has to do with anything, but it's sinister and intriguing and I love it, even though Murakami "tells" the story without actually telling the story. Normally, I really don't like that sort of thing, but M has somehow made it downright compelling. I could read a book of such stories from his hand (though his book of short stories wasn't terribly impressive).

"The Mist on the Mere" feels like the Classic English Ghost Story, with deep roots in James and Dunsany. It is the first of these that is structured like a standard Occult Detective story. This is, simultaneously a strength and a weakness. Four stars glowing like Celtic goddesses in the mist.

Murakami surely knows how to raise tension in a reader's mind. Still, this seems like a pivotal point, just over halfway through the novel. Curious to see what twist it takes.

The analysis of the psychopathia sexualis vis-a-vis the drawing "Chateau de Labonnecuyere" is stretched too far by a mile or too and overly pretentious in tone. The rest of the analysis is sound, though. But this is why people mock academia, precisely because of this sort of thing.

"The Mad Lutanist" starts off slowly and hits a crescendo of supernatural strangeness, but it is in the denouement that Valentine pulls his most deft auctorial maneuver: just when one thinks that it is an unnecessary info dump via deus-ex-machina, the other shoe drops and one is smitten by the perfect brilliance of it all. Five stars.

"The Black Eros" holds a compelling idea. It is far more sinister than mere satanism or the occult. Yet the "reveal" seemed a bit contrived. Still, a beautiful idea, mostly well-executed. Four stars, but it could have easily been five had the underlying tensions and reveal been left to boil a little longer.

Tengo is in way over his head. Poor guy.

Okay, minor characters are dropping like flies now. Maybe we're heading toward the inevitable meeting between the two main characters?

Okay, now we get into the actual drawings. Not that the preamble was bad. I actually liked it quite a bit!

Ah, so she knows his name! I wondered about that.

"The Prince of Barlocco" is a gentle, yet powerful tale of dignity in the midst of degeneration. It's almost a sort of parable (though not exactly such) about the power of family in one's later years. Or maybe I'm just reading it this way because my daughter just told us our 2nd grandchild is on the way. 4 stars.