Feeling rather ill still (sinus infections just never seem to go away with me, but I dare not take any more antibiotics after the last round almost left me with colitis), so this will be shorter than usual. Twelve books, many of them re-reads of old favorites.
151 Enki Bilal and Pierre Christin, The Hunting Party (re-read) - Graphic novel that tells the story of a clandestine meeting of Communist Party officials from all across Eastern Europe in 1983. Good, but more of interest to those who are history fans.
152 J.G. Ballard, Vermilion Sands - Brilliant collection of interconnected stories. Will have to re-read before I can think about writing a coherent review.
153 Suzane Adam, Laundry - Bought this off of a review I read. After reading it, I wholeheartedly agree with the comments, as this is a raw, onion-layered read that progressively sucks the reader into a psychological morass, with an ending that is short, sharp, and fitting with the narrative. Highly recommended.
154 Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit (re-read) - Childhood favorite. Still a favorite of mine as I approach middle age.
155 Arthur Rimbaud, A Season in Hell and The Drunken Boat (re-read) - Rimbaud's imagery and the way it was expressed are stunning. Still get more out of it every time I read this bilingual collection.
156 Lord Dunsany, Time and the Gods - Slender short fiction collection that focuses on mimicking aspects of various world myths. Dunsany's storytelling and prose are shown nicely here. Good read, will re-read sooner rather than later.
157 Thomas Ligotti, The Nightmare Factory: Volume 1 (re-read) - This graphic novel adaptation of four of Ligotti's stories accentuates Ligotti's building of atmosphere.
158 Thomas Ligotti, The Nightmare Factory: Volume 2 (re-read) - See what I said above.
159 Ray Bradbury, The Homecoming (re-read) - Illustrated edition (Dave McKeen did the illustrations, which were excellent) of a favorite tale of mine.
160 Boban Knežević, Black Blossom (re-read) - Epic fantasy tale influenced by Serbian folklore. Chapters appear out of order in an attempt to create an effect similar to that of Julio Cortázar's Rayuela/Hopscotch. Not as good as Cortázar's work, but not bad at all.
161 Francisco Casavella, Lo que sé de los vampiros - Good historical novel of the 18th century that spans most of the time from the 1760s to the eve of Napoleon's rise to power. Title is in reference to a comment of Voltaire's.
162 Michael Moorcock, The Best of Michael Moorcock - 400 page collection of his work (well, minus most of the iconic Elric, Corum, and Jerry Cornelius stories). A few stories that didn't work as well as others, but on the whole a collection well worth owning and reading.
The Empirical Approach to Learning
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The hunting party was an enjoyable read, even if I'm not a history fan.
Indeed. I owe you for making me aware of it :D We'll have to work on making you a history fan, sometime, as there are some excellent stories out there that are more beautiful and more strange than any fiction. Martin Guerre, for example. Or perhaps the Masai and their views on photography...
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