The Wolf Border

Sarah Hall, 2015

(February 2017)

A wonderfully written book, this, but one that took me far too long to read.

Norse Mythology

Neil Gaiman, 2017

(February 2017)

Asgard reimagined as the prototypical frat house. Which is not such a departure from the source material, to be honest.

The Devourers

Indra Das, 2015

(July 2016)

Early (well, more like halfway through) contender for book of the year. There is so much going on here, so once I’ve given due prominence to the utterly raw and visceral nature of book as a whole, I’m going to retreat into a bit of philosophising while I try to get the rest of my thoughts in order.

City of the Beasts

Isabel Allende, 2002 [Margaret Sayers Peden, 2002]

(May 2016)

Back when I was a teenager and still took rugby, or indeed anything other than childcare and the concomitant challenge of trying to fashion some sort of ‘me time’, seriously, the two best clubs in England were Bath and Leicester. Growing up near the latter, they were, and still are, my team of choice (indeed, I was briefly a member of their protozoan academy, in the brave new world of those immediately post-amateurism days). While the Underwood brothers were clearly the star attractions, the members of the ABC club (the world being neither brave nor as yet new enough to convince the Tigers to adopt numbers instead of letters on their shirts) were the kind of club stalwarts who inevitably rose to fan favourite status, and of whom none were more stalwarty than Darren ‘The Baron’ Garforth.

The Race

Nina Allan, 2014

(March 2015)

I came into this book almost completely blind, buying it simply on the back of its appearance on this year’s shortlists for both The Kitschies and the BSFA Awards and the reasonable cost of the ebook edition (price-point matters, kids!). I think I lucked out massively in this regard, because the less you know about this going in the better. However, it’s almost impossible to talk about without spoilers, so why don’t you track yourself down a copy and come back once you’ve had a chance to read? There are dogs in it, if that helps.

Fables

Volumes 1-15

Bill Willingham, Mark Buckingham, et al, 2002-2011

(January 2015)

I recently came into a couple of hundredweight of comics.

Oh Christ. Not like that.

Bookmark Three

Year Three in the blogosphere and, while no one yet suspects I am a dog, this was the year the realities of juggling work, study, and family really started to bite. Woof.

How The Dead Dream

Lydia Millet, 2008

(November 2013)

  

Obviously metaphorical, and satirical bordering on the polemical. Also quite strange.

  

The Exiled Blade

Jon Courtenay Grimwood, 2013

(April 2013)

So for all that I was patting myself on the back about getting the references (well, a reference) last time out, it took me a worryingly long time to realize that this was pretty much Hamlet with werewolves.

Further Adventures in Children’s Television

This is Kipper. He is not a kipper. He is a dog.

The Island of Doctor Moreau

H.G. Wells, 1896

(January 2013)

I could probably compose this post almost entirely from fragments of stuff I’ve already written about other books. Let’s see, what exactly do we have here?

Loups-Garous

Natsuhiko Kyogoku, 2001 [Anne Ishii, 2010]

(January 2013)

“Computers were viewed strangely for too long,” Shizue said. “Clearly the excessive illusions about computer technology wrought confusion at one point, and society thereafter attempted to adapt a midcourse, and these thoughts overflow in this generation of people who can’t let go of their outmoded ideas.”

IT’S ALL LIKE THAT.

A Town Called Pandemonium

Anne C. Perry and Jared Shurin (eds), 2012

(December 2012)

Well, it was inevitable really. The 21^st Century has finally clawed its way into Kamo Manors and I ended up with a kindle for christmas. I promptly downloaded half a dozen books in various promotions and giveaways. So not a problem cashwise, but I’m not exactly short of stuff waiting to be read as it is. This can only end badly.

The Outcast Blade

Jon Courtenay Grimwood, 2012

(August 2012)

Prior Concerns –

1. The first of the Assassini trilogy was Othello With Vampires (and Werewolves). The whole ‘classic story X with supernatural entity Y’ trend was always slightly suspect to begin with, and now looks to be dying a not wholly unwelcome death.

The Bloody Chamber

Angela Carter, 1979

(June 2012)

I should have read this years ago. Literally. I did English electives at uni and this was required reading for one of them. Didn’t read it back then though. Was too busy indulging other pursuits and just winged it in the tutorial. In retrospect if I had actually read the damn thing, it might have saved me a fair bit of grief.

The Last Werewolf

Glen Duncan, 2011

(November 2011)

I’ve talked about horror before. Though that post was basically just a massively long and self-indulgent set-up for a punchline having a pop at a bunch of teenage girls. Still, the sentiments were true enough, in that as a genre I can take horror or leave it. But I’d not really describe this as horror, more like a contemporary James Bond with fangs.