*** Arturo Perez-Reverte – The Flanders Panel
** Arturo Perez-Reverte – The Sun over Breda
*** Philip K. Dick – 11 Science Fiction Stories by Philip K. Dick
*** David Foster Wallace – Oblivion

I actually saw the horrible movie version of The Flanders Panel. It was horrible, though you do get to see Kate Beckinsale’s boobs. The book was significantly better, in that it was entertaining though immediately forgettable. Breda is another of Perez-Reverte’s “Captain Alatriste” books. I liked the first one a lot; this one less so. There’s a lot of “war is miserable” stuff in it, which I usually don’t particularly mind, but this book just didn’t connect for me. I’ll probably keep reading Perez-Reverte and Alatriste if I’m in the mood for entertaining adventure books; he’s generally pretty good.

Hey, old short stories by Philip K. Dick. They were entertaining at the time, though mostly not particularly memorable. I often find “golden age” science fiction a little strange to read because it’s so distinctly of its time in some ways; for example, no one writes about Martians or Moon men any more.

Oblivion alternated between fantastically annoying and thought-provoking. This was my second read; the first time I found it fantastically annoying, evidence I thought that DFW was out of ideas and had crawled up his own meta asshole. I started a review that I never finished. Same thing this time, except a couple of the later stories were good enough to deflate my need to rant about how annoying it was, and I didn’t finish the review. Some day, I will manage to properly review this book. Oh DFW, you wily bastard.

*** Herman Melville – Bartleby the Scrivener, a Story of Wall-Street
** David Sedaris – When You are Engulfed in Flames

Bartleby was my first Melville; I somehow managed to get through high school without reading Moby Dick. It was pretty good; I’m planning on reading more Melville.

I used to think David Sedaris was hilarious and occasionally moving, and I didn’t get a whole lot of either from this book. I don’t know if he’s changed or I have, though I did think he came across more like an entitled schmuck whining about first-world problems than I ever did before. Maybe it’s that now instead of just being a regular entitled American schmuck like the rest of us, he’s now a famous and wealthy schmuck living what sounds like a marvellous life.

*** Patrick O’Brian – The Yellow Admiral
**** Patrick O’Brian – The Hundred Days
**** Patrick O’Brian – Blue at the Mizzen
** Patrick O’Brian – 21: The Final Unfinished Voyage of Jack Aubrey

I finally made a push to finish the last three books of the Aubrey/Maturin series (21 doesn’t really count, being an unfinished fragment). A number of reviewers have described O’Brian as one of the finest writers in English (up there with Jane Austen), and this series as one of the best and longest-running novels ever written. With that in mind, I was a little worried about having the story feel unfinished, since I knew that O’Brian had died before completing 21 (and, for all I know, had contemplated writing many more). However, whether deliberately or not, Blue at the Mizzen, the last complete book, makes an almost perfect ending to the whole series. The last three books are excellent, and they form a story arc that wraps up in Blue, and that nicely caps the whole series. The overall driver to the story has always been the war with Napoleon; in these books he is exiled to Elba, escapes, and then is finally defeated at Waterloo. Jack’s part of the story has largely centered around his first passion: the British navy and his advancement through the ranks toward admiral, along with his many victories and setbacks. In these books, he first fears that he will be “yellowed” (passed over for promotion) and then, finally, achieves his dream, becoming an admiral and flying his blue pennant from the mizzen. Blue ends with him on his way to lead a squadron as admiral. A central thread in Stephen’s story was always his relationship with Diana. In these books, she dies, he almost loses the will to live from grief, and then he ends up courting Christine Wood. Christine is beautiful and intelligent, and unlike Diana a compassionate and considerate person. A marriage to her would be opposite the tempestuous one he shared with Diana. Blue ends with Stephen still unsure of her answer, but gaining confidence that she will accept as he goes to meet her. I already started rereading the series last year, and imagine I will read these books many times more. O’Brian really is an amazing writer, he’s created a wonderful set of characters, and the series is one of the best and most engrossing I’ve ever read.

*** Leonard Bernstein – The Joy of Music
*** Robert E. Howard – Bran Mak Morn

The Bernstein was very interesting and enjoyable, but I think I benefit more from Bernstein when I can hear him working through the music he’s talking about, as in his lectures on video.

Bran Mak Morn was very good, being full of Picts and Celts and Vikings all battling their way through the British isles. The basic grounding is historical, but from that basis, Howard goes in all kinds of fantastic directions. The storytelling and writing are definitely more grounded and less purple than his Conan books, and I enjoyed most of the stories.

*** Drew Magary – Men with Balls
** Michael Tunison – The Football Fan’s Manifesto

I started reading the football blog Kissing Suzy Kolber a few years ago. It’s really more of a humor blog that takes football as its material than an actual football blog, though you might occasionally learn something about football by accident. Anyway, it’s pretty funny and a couple of the founders have written books, both of which I read this month. Magary’s book is a guidebook for the professional athlete, full of advice about how to manage your fame and fortune. It’s pretty funny, an entertaining way to pass some time, though not really as funny as his best stuff on KSK and Deadspin. Tunison’s book is a guide to being a fan, also funny but with, I think, a serious core — I’m pretty sure he believes in some of his rules and disdains those who don’t. Anyway, I didn’t find his book nearly as funny (again, not as good as his work on the blog) — somewhat predictable humor and some setups with disappointing punchlines.

*** Josh Lieb – I am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I Want to be Your Class President
*** Stefan Fatsis – A Few Seconds of Panic
*** Carlos Ruiz Zafón – The Shadow of the Wind

Class President was pretty fun, The main character’s evilness is well played out, and I like the gradual reveal of the depths of his villainy. I was, however, a little disappointed with the ending (no spoilers!). The Fatsis book was also pretty good, at least if you’re interested in Football. I found a lot of the details and the personal relationships interesting, though I thought the book was just a little too long. The Zafon book was one of those, what do you call it, literary mystery-thriller type things. You know, mysterious goings-on surrounding books and writing. It was pretty good, nothing earth-shattering, but an entertaining time, basically a sort of well-written literary gothic-romance. And of course Barcelona makes a great setting.

** William Gibson – Spook Country
** Jonathon Swift – Gulliver’s Travels

Thinking about Spook Country and Pattern Recognition, I kind of got them mixed up into one story that somehow involved Cayce Pollard and the footage and a mysterious shipping container but, oh yeah, I read Spook Country in October and that’s where the shipping container came from. The shipping container mystery sure was pretty interesting until we actually found out that it was zzzzzzzzzz. Whatsername, Hollis, was an okay character, but like Cayce she seemed sort of cool and shiny and not very connected with the reader at all. I don’t feel like I know them or anyone else in these books. And in terms of interesting moments and general reading pleasure, this one fell short of Pattern Recognition. I’ll still keep reading Gibson, but it’s been a while since the arrival of a new Gibson book was an “omg must have” moment.

I will probably get attacked for this (or would if anyone read my blog), but I found Gulliver’s Travels, on my first rereading since high school, to be pretty boring and flat. I know that Swift is supposed to be a master of satire (and yes, the eating babies thing is still funny), but the satire and social insight stuff supposedly found in this book is lame in the extreme. Oh, people are self important however big or small they are! People disagree over silly things and will kill over them! Were these observations shocking even when Swift made them? Some of Swift’s imagining of how Gulliver would interact with people so large or so small (sorry, I got bored by the end of the Brobdingnag section and skipped the rest) was fun to read.

** F. Scott Fitzgerald – The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
*** Robert E. Howard – Three Conan stories (The Scarlet Citadel, The Pool Of The Black One, The Tower Of The Elephant)
** Jules Verne – 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea
*** Fritz Leiber – The Best Of Fritz Leiber
*** Fritz Leiber – Swords and Deviltry
*** William Gibson – Pattern Recognition
** Oscar Wilde – The Picture Of Dorian Gray

September was the month I finally started to explore ebooks. I tried the Kindle and Aldiko apps on my phone, reading a variety of free stuff (Fitzgerald, Verne, Howard), and then I ended up getting a Kindle for my birthday (thanks, Mom and Dad!). The phone app is usable for short amounts of time. I like the Kindle pretty well, though it’s a little awkward if you get bored with a book and want to skim. Also, I think my tolerance for boring stuff is lower in ebook format (and even lower in the phone app) — I’m not sure if I would have enjoyed 20,000 Leagues more on paper (or even on the Kindle, which I hadn’t gotten yet).

I was curious to read Benjamin Button; I didn’t actually see the movie, but I wanted to read the story behind it. There’s not much to this short story aside from its strange premise and some good jokes. The movie must have had to make up basically an entirely new story to give the audience something to get interested in. The story was fine, but more of a one-off joke or thought experiment than anything emotionally involving.

I’ve been wanting to reread some good, old fantasy stuff lately, and both Howard’s Conan and Leiber’s Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser were on the list. I found several Conan stories free on Aldiko and enjoyed reading them. They’re entertaining reads and written in a lively way, but a little too dependent on the ol’ telling rather than showing. Howard does a lot of what I think of as the Lovecraft move: he tells you something is unspeakable, indescribable, evil, perverse, etc., rather than explaining it in such a way that it makes your skin truly crawl. Still, for all that, there’s a lot of good description and action going on; I’d like to read more Conan and more of Howard’s other writing.

20,000 Leagues was pretty good but required heavy skimming. I believe I read this and some other Verne when I was young, but didn’t remember much in detail. There was a lot of zoology and other nature detail that I wasn’t that interested in, and a lot of attempted scientific explanations that were not unreasonable at the time but seem kind of silly now. Nothing against Verne per se, but I would have preferred a little more adventure storytelling and a little less scientific (or pseudo-scientific) detail. I suspect I’d have a similar reaction to a lot of his other books, though I will probably try some more, since they’re free on the Kindle.

Fritz Leiber is really good. I enjoyed his “Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser” books as a kid (handed down from my father, who loves them too) but hadn’t read anything else of his. All of the short stories I read in these two volumes were pretty good; my only complaint is I’d like more novels, since I often find the short story form a little lacking. I want something involved that I can sink my teeth into.

Pattern Recognition was pretty good. It was a little silly and one of those author-wish-fulfillment (“omg how cool is my main character, right?”) type things. For all that, I kind of enjoyed Cayce’s weird phobias and talents, and the way a community people grew up around the mysterious footage. The resolution wasn’t particularly satisfying or interesting though. An enjoyable read, but I’ve already forgotten most of it (as I did after the first time I read it) except for a few nice details.

You know, the modern image of Oscar Wilde is a guy going around spouting off witticisms (e.g. this) which is pretty much what I pictured. What I didn’t realize is pretty much all of those Wildean witticisms (okay, a lot of them anyway) are from the first couple chapters of Dorian Gray. I mean, I read it in high school, but who remembers that stuff? Dorian Gray was pretty good, if a bit melodramatic. You will get tired very quickly of some of the more emotional characters and their interminably yip-yap. But hey witticisms, corruption, sex, drugs, and scandal, am I right?