Tristan Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 (edited) The Log of Logorrhea - 2011 Edition Hey folks. After a brief period of absence, I feel it's time to get this thing rolling again. At the moment, I'm alternating between a few collections I've purchased in these last months: One of Lovecraft stories ( titled Necronomicon ), one of Poe's, another of H.G. Wells', a Philip K. Dick short story collection, and 'Great Tales of Terror and the Supernatural', an anthology of (mostly) 19th century horror. Occasionally, there will be the odd graphic novel or non-fiction work featured in this log. So,what you'll get is mostly Sci-Fi and Horror. Should be fun, if you like that sort of thing. I know I do. So let's begin, shall we? Upon the Dull Earth - Philip K. Dick A quintessential Dickian tale. Nightmarish, with noir undertones, complete with the tragic, pessimistic ending. Riveting, devastating read. Could very well be my favorite tale of the entire collection( so far, I've read nine of them ). Right now, I'm seriously considering buying the Library of America Collection of his major novels. Boxed Set Not a whole lot of time right now, so I'll continue the log later. Next Up: Silent Snow, Secret Snow - Conrad Aiken Edited February 2, 2011 by Tristan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylie Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 Wow, these books all sound awesome Tristan! I'll be watching this thread closely to see your thoughts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tristan Posted February 2, 2011 Author Share Posted February 2, 2011 Wow, these books all sound awesome Tristan! I'll be watching this thread closely to see your thoughts. Not only that, Kylie. They look, smell, and read awesome as well. Thanks for supporting it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tristan Posted February 2, 2011 Author Share Posted February 2, 2011 Silent Snow, Secret Snow - Conrad Aiken Masterfully told story of a 12 year old boy, who's starting to develop a schizophrenic personality. Creepy, somewhat tragic and wonderfully mysterious. Adored it. Next Up: Olalla - Robert Louis Stevenson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tristan Posted February 5, 2011 Author Share Posted February 5, 2011 (edited) Olalla - Robert Louis Stevenson While it's certainly not as groundbreaking or intricate as his The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Stevenson's Gothic novella hits all the right marks. It's a rather conventional tale on the surface, of a wounded soldier who receives the care of a (unknown to him) vampiric family up in the mountains in some far-off place. You'd expect a rather horrifying account of menacing vampires, trying to suck the poor fellows blood at every conceivable opportunity, but instead this offers something quite different: it's a love story. The soldier ( the idiot, right?) falls in love with a young woman (who reciprocates), but their love cannot be. They know it's doomed from the start.. quite excellent, with a nice, sad, poignant ending. Just the way I like them. I know many don't particularly like Stevenson't writing style on account of his heaviness with the words, but somehow I just don't. Maybe I'm just old-fashioned, but I'm really starting to adore (not just love, adore!) older works of literature. It's a thing with me, I guess. Next Up: The Lurking Fear - H.P. Lovecraft Edited February 5, 2011 by Tristan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 How is it that I've never even heard of the novella Olalla, eventhough it's been written by such a famous writer as Robert Louis Stevenson, whose other novels are such classics?? I would be ashamed if it was my fault, but I'll blame others. Thank you so much for the excellent review Tristan, I'm intrigued and I definitely want to read it BTW, 'olalla' is 'on the shoulder' in Finnish. I bet it's not a coincidence, I bet the vampires were on the shoulders of people all the time for a very particular reason Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tristan Posted February 14, 2011 Author Share Posted February 14, 2011 How is it that I've never even heard of the novella Olalla, eventhough it's been written by such a famous writer as Robert Louis Stevenson, whose other novels are such classics?? I would be ashamed if it was my fault, but I'll blame others. Thank you so much for the excellent review Tristan, I'm intrigued and I definitely want to read it BTW, 'olalla' is 'on the shoulder' in Finnish. I bet it's not a coincidence, I bet the vampires were on the shoulders of people all the time for a very particular reason Well, it was exceedingly popular back in the day (somewhere in the 1880's) but, due to the enormous impact Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde clearly has had since then, his 'lesser' works receive far less attention. It's a shame, but there you have it. An interesting point you raise regarding the translation. Apparently, both finnish and spanish share the same word in their vocabulary. But,in spanish, it means 'the well-spoken one'. Which makes perfect sense when one reads the story. rather fitting, me thinks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 Well, it was exceedingly popular back in the day (somewhere in the 1880's) but, due to the enormous impact Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde clearly has had since then, his 'lesser' works receive far less attention. It's a shame, but there you have it. I suppose that's how it goes sometimes. Therefore I'm all the more thankful for your review. An interesting point you raise regarding the translation. Apparently, both finnish and spanish share the same word in their vocabulary. But,in spanish, it means 'the well-spoken one'. Which makes perfect sense when one reads the story. rather fitting, me thinks. Interesting indeed! I'll try and remember that when I'll get to reading the novella Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tristan Posted February 14, 2011 Author Share Posted February 14, 2011 The Lurking Fear - H.P. Lovecraft Your basic dose of Lovecraft, filled to the brim with monstrous murdering, mind boggling madness, and mystery. Here it goes: A rural county is being haunted, and as those things develop themselves, an adventurer decides to go investigate. Weird things happen, some people die, and the search for the identity of the mysterious assailant gets completed, but with a terrible cost. More than adequate tale, with staggering writing and particularly wicked descriptions of pure terror. I'm really loving this excursion into Lovecraft territory, and I haven't even gotten to his best work yet. This looks very promising. Interesting indeed! I'll try and remember that when I'll get to reading the novella I fully condone you undertaking such an action. It's very good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tristan Posted February 18, 2011 Author Share Posted February 18, 2011 Suspicion -Dorothy L. Sayers A man suspects his housekeeper of slowly poisoning him and his wife, and subsequently tries to prove this. A well-structured plot, and a surprise twist ending make this one a definite winner. Autofac - Philip K. Dick During an all-consuming, destructive war, machines have been ordered to take the production and distribution of consumer products upon themselves. Now the war is over (and it appears that the machines won't stop doing this), humans are desperately trying to regain power and battle the machines over economic control. Plot feels pretty basic now (the man vs. machine theme is all-prevalent now), but it's still well thought out. The Hound - H.P. Lovecraft A couple of gravediggers discover that their last exploit was a bit of a mistake. They are being hunted by some sort of beast that seems to bear a grudge toward them and relishes screwing them up in various ways. Ah,what a jolly good fun it is to read good ol' H.P. You know almost exactly what you're going to get: unbridled anguish. Some like this, while others don't.. such is the way of the world. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kidsmum Posted February 19, 2011 Share Posted February 19, 2011 I like the sound of Suspicion, don't think I've read any of her books before. Thanks for the review Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tristan Posted February 19, 2011 Author Share Posted February 19, 2011 I like the sound of Suspicion, don't think I've read any of her books before. Thanks for the review I've come to discover that (as a beginning reader) I really like the short story format. It's compact, has a tight dramatic arc (when done well), and it lets you discover writers fairly quickly (without having to invest your precious time in a novel ). Not that I don't read them, but reading short stories (or novella's) is the quickest way for developing a broad sense of literature and for determining what your taste is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kidsmum Posted February 20, 2011 Share Posted February 20, 2011 I hadn't thought of it like that but yes I guess its a good way of dipping your toe in the water & finding out if you like their style of writing:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tristan Posted March 3, 2011 Author Share Posted March 3, 2011 The Most Dangerous Game - Richard Connel A man, survivor of a shipwreck, finds himself to be in good luck indeed when he manages to reach a nearby island. This momentary happpiness quickly dissolves when he is being hunted by a master-hunter and his terrifying henchman. A thrilling chase ensues, and makes for a more than worthy contribution to the still staggering anthology 'Great Tales of Terror and the Supernatural'. I recently picked up a worn - don't really care though - copy of the rather awesome 'The Elephant Man and other Freaks', so I've read a couple of stories contained therein as well. The Elephant Man, a true account of John Merrick's trials and tribulations in his life, is a wonderful start to the anthology. Not so much horrifying as touching, the tale clearly distinguishes itself in tone from the others. The Bird Woman, a negligable tale lenghtwise, doesn't need any real explanation. Woman looks like a bird, scares some other woman, end of story. The Reptile Man is an oddity. strangely enough, the title does not refer to any exterior attributes, but to a ploy a man uses to wreak revenge on the man that tried to murder him. The latter has a devastating fear for reptiles, it soon turns out. It's a simple revenge story, but oh what a gem it is! Simply wonderful. Still good, but not as masterful as his predecessor, is Bal Macabre, detailing a night of some good old fashioned mass-poisoning. So far, this collection hasn't disappointed me yet, so I'm hopeful for what's to come. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tristan Posted March 5, 2011 Author Share Posted March 5, 2011 (edited) Local - Brian Wood You know, admiting (as a grown up) you read comics is a hard thing to do. It still happens that someone looks at me funny when I mouth that oh-so-horrifying C-word. No matter how many accolades respected critics chose to bestow the 'graphic novel' medium, no matter how aptly the medium shows it's every bit as good as the other media, there are still some misguided people that reject it for mostly irrational reasons. Oh, how I pity them. For they will never know the joy of reading Local, one of the most personally affecting comics I've ever had the pleasure to delve into. In 12 issues (which can all be read as stand-alone stories), we follow Megan, a troubled girl that lacks direction in her life. In every story we see her trying to build up a life, subsequently taking it apart, and starting again somewhere else. A lot of people around my age feel like this. The feeling of isolation, not belonging anywhere, and I'm no different. It's mostly a fleeting feeling as one gets older, but it's definitely there. If someone recognizes him/herself in this short description, read this book. It's simply beautiful and evocative, in content and in artwork. An excellent example of what the medium is truly capable of. Edited March 5, 2011 by Tristan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tristan Posted March 7, 2011 Author Share Posted March 7, 2011 Leiningen verus the Ants - Carl Stephenson A relatively straightforward man versus nature tale but, by golly, what a riveting one it was. By using his intellect, a plantation owner tries to save his life (and those of his 4OO labourers) from a killer ant species, heading his way. Self-assured, he makes ready for battle, only to find out that his opponent is just as clever as he is. A definite winner, this one. The Minority Report - Philip K. Dick Having seen the adaptation, I didn't think this one would surprise me as much as it did. Conceptually ( the idea remains absolutely brilliant ) and in actual execution one of Dick's better works. Maybe the best I've read of his ( Upon the Dull Earth is a close second ). I'll start on his novels very soon. Oh yeah, I bought some books online also. The Stories of Ray Bradbury (all his pre-1980 short stories), Animal Farm and 1984 (double package), Lord of the Flies and Frankenstein. So excited. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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