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Books
Anne Fortier: The Lost Sisterhood
Gudrun Helgadottir: A Giant Love Story
Well, strictly speaking I did not read this. It was read to me. At my hotel in Iceland, they had this thing, where one night of the week they got an Icelandic actor to come and read stories for any of the guests that bothered to show. It was actually kinda embarrassing, because there was me and the woman on stage, and that was it - maybe people were out enjoying the early and only somewhat overcast summer evening - but still, it was lovely. And nice to be read to. Even if I am perhaps slightly traumatized by the implication that earthquakes are caused by enthusiastic giant sex - and in a children's book. Oh dear, oh dear... ;-)
Lars Hovbakke Sørensen: En europæisk danmarkshistorie: fra oldtiden til i dag
Helle Juhl: På lige fod: en krønike om kvinder, satire og kampen for valgret
Because it seemed appropriate.
Naomi Mitchison: To the Chapel Perilous
I'm still convinced I must have started with the best of her books. That said, I liked this one well enough. It's essentially a retelling of the King Arthur stories, focusing on the Grail and the Lancelot/Arthur/Guinevere love triangle - as told through journalists, mostly from the more gossipy press, though they themselves would like to be better than that. I liked the many grails all over the place and I liked the hints of Lienors' connections to the wild and pagan things and would have liked to see more of that. But still. The romance felt a bit pasted on, but, well - you never know how much the subs got into it. (I also find it interesting as a view of journalism from the pov of a former reporter, even if the setting is obviously not realistic).
Anne Rice: Prince Lestat
You know, this was delightful. I liked this. And the plot is half-way copied from Queen of the Damned, and halfway just ridiculous, and very often it reads like fanfic. Like crackfic. Case in point: a very nice Indian vampire doctor seeks out Lestat and offers him a way, using science!, to once more experience the pleasures of the flesh. Fastforward a few years: surprise! Lestat has a biological son. And an adoptive daughter. And there's a vampire podcast and everybody (yes, everybody) is essentially in love with everybody else, but mostly Lestat, of course, and there's velvet and lace all over the place, and a pretty (oh so pretty) ex-monk vampire with a surprisingly talent for bloodspattering violence at one point (I wonder if Anne Rice watches Vikings?). Oh, and the secret origin of the Talamasca. Which involves a possessed scarecrow...
You know, I didn't actually expect to enjoy this, but now it has me wondering if Anne Rice might have grown self-aware? And it has me wondering if I should try those werewolf books she's written recently...
J.R.R. Tolkien: The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
You know, I hadn't read this one since I was a child, and then it was in Danish. It was quite nice to read this properly this time.
Minna B. Winsløw: Marian og Robin
Do you ever read a book and come away disappointed because of what it could have been? Because that's the effect this one had on me. The author has the occasional good idea and the central story, the core of the tale, is good: "Marian seeks refuge from an unwanted marriage in Sherwood Forest, where she meets and falls in love with Robin Hood, who turns out to be a woman in disguise. Together, they have an epic love story, while fighting to unite the forces of the forest, mortal and supernatural, against Marian's unwanted suitor, the wicked Guy of Gisborne, and his demon master Baphomet." See, a solid core, right? But the book itself? It reads like someone took the first draft of a novel and instead of sending it off to a good editor, who would have spent at least three pens worth of red ink on it, made the author hold a massacre on her darlings and then made her rewrite the thing not once or twice, but at least ten times - instead, they just published it. And the result is, sadly, not something I can recommend.
Comics
Ed Brubaker: Fatale: Death Chases Me
Matt Fraction: Hawkeye: Little Hits
Moebius: Arzach
Moebius: Les vacances du major
Alan Moore: Miracleman: A Dream of Flying
The problem with ground-breaking things is that 25 years later they feel pretty run of the mill and you've seen it all before...
Chris Roberson: iZombie: uVampire
Scott Snyder: American Vampire 6.
Bill Willingham: Fables: Camelot
Total number of books and comics read this month: 16
Currently reading: Men sko må jeg ha' by Linda Lassen
Total number of books and comics read this year: 75
Anne Fortier: The Lost Sisterhood
Gudrun Helgadottir: A Giant Love Story
Well, strictly speaking I did not read this. It was read to me. At my hotel in Iceland, they had this thing, where one night of the week they got an Icelandic actor to come and read stories for any of the guests that bothered to show. It was actually kinda embarrassing, because there was me and the woman on stage, and that was it - maybe people were out enjoying the early and only somewhat overcast summer evening - but still, it was lovely. And nice to be read to. Even if I am perhaps slightly traumatized by the implication that earthquakes are caused by enthusiastic giant sex - and in a children's book. Oh dear, oh dear... ;-)
Lars Hovbakke Sørensen: En europæisk danmarkshistorie: fra oldtiden til i dag
Helle Juhl: På lige fod: en krønike om kvinder, satire og kampen for valgret
Because it seemed appropriate.
Naomi Mitchison: To the Chapel Perilous
I'm still convinced I must have started with the best of her books. That said, I liked this one well enough. It's essentially a retelling of the King Arthur stories, focusing on the Grail and the Lancelot/Arthur/Guinevere love triangle - as told through journalists, mostly from the more gossipy press, though they themselves would like to be better than that. I liked the many grails all over the place and I liked the hints of Lienors' connections to the wild and pagan things and would have liked to see more of that. But still. The romance felt a bit pasted on, but, well - you never know how much the subs got into it. (I also find it interesting as a view of journalism from the pov of a former reporter, even if the setting is obviously not realistic).
Anne Rice: Prince Lestat
You know, this was delightful. I liked this. And the plot is half-way copied from Queen of the Damned, and halfway just ridiculous, and very often it reads like fanfic. Like crackfic. Case in point: a very nice Indian vampire doctor seeks out Lestat and offers him a way, using science!, to once more experience the pleasures of the flesh. Fastforward a few years: surprise! Lestat has a biological son. And an adoptive daughter. And there's a vampire podcast and everybody (yes, everybody) is essentially in love with everybody else, but mostly Lestat, of course, and there's velvet and lace all over the place, and a pretty (oh so pretty) ex-monk vampire with a surprisingly talent for bloodspattering violence at one point (I wonder if Anne Rice watches Vikings?). Oh, and the secret origin of the Talamasca. Which involves a possessed scarecrow...
You know, I didn't actually expect to enjoy this, but now it has me wondering if Anne Rice might have grown self-aware? And it has me wondering if I should try those werewolf books she's written recently...
J.R.R. Tolkien: The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
You know, I hadn't read this one since I was a child, and then it was in Danish. It was quite nice to read this properly this time.
Minna B. Winsløw: Marian og Robin
Do you ever read a book and come away disappointed because of what it could have been? Because that's the effect this one had on me. The author has the occasional good idea and the central story, the core of the tale, is good: "Marian seeks refuge from an unwanted marriage in Sherwood Forest, where she meets and falls in love with Robin Hood, who turns out to be a woman in disguise. Together, they have an epic love story, while fighting to unite the forces of the forest, mortal and supernatural, against Marian's unwanted suitor, the wicked Guy of Gisborne, and his demon master Baphomet." See, a solid core, right? But the book itself? It reads like someone took the first draft of a novel and instead of sending it off to a good editor, who would have spent at least three pens worth of red ink on it, made the author hold a massacre on her darlings and then made her rewrite the thing not once or twice, but at least ten times - instead, they just published it. And the result is, sadly, not something I can recommend.
Comics
Ed Brubaker: Fatale: Death Chases Me
Matt Fraction: Hawkeye: Little Hits
Moebius: Arzach
Moebius: Les vacances du major
Alan Moore: Miracleman: A Dream of Flying
The problem with ground-breaking things is that 25 years later they feel pretty run of the mill and you've seen it all before...
Chris Roberson: iZombie: uVampire
Scott Snyder: American Vampire 6.
Bill Willingham: Fables: Camelot
Total number of books and comics read this month: 16
Currently reading: Men sko må jeg ha' by Linda Lassen
Total number of books and comics read this year: 75
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