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Books 112-116
Dec. 18th, 2009 08:09 pm 112) Rasl, volume 1 - the Drift: This is the first volume of Jeff Smith's SF Dimension Hopping Film Noir, which makes it about as un-Bone-like as possible. I enjoyed it - his line work is just as detailed and elegant as ever, the story makes wonderful use of visuals and silences, and looks like it has a lot of unfolding to do, but I have my doubts that it will ever see completion. I just don't think it with catch enough attention or eyeballs to survive to profitability.
113) Fell, volume 1 - Feral City: This is the first volume of Warren Ellis and Ben Templesmith's crime comic, and it is flippin' brilliant. I highly recommend this to anyone who likes the crime/detective genre, as well as anyone who just likes really good comics. The individual issues are all readily accessible without being bogged down with repeated information but the secondary plot threads about Richard Fell's relationships, personality and the events in his history that got him assigned to be one of only 3 1/2 detectives (one is missing both his legs) to cover a city that's falling apart move forward neatly in each issue. I don't normally comment on the coloring of a comic (and can't remember the colorist's name offhand) but I will say that whoever they are they perfectly capture the brooding mood, sense of desolation and occasional moments of light or shocking violence with true skill. This book is a keeper.
114) Lords of Finance - the Bankers Who Broke The World: Recommended by the local librarians as a good audiobook, it really was. Author Liaquat Ahamed does a great job laying out the conditions leading up to the economic collapse of the late 1920s and 30's, focusing on the men who were at the center of it, the central bankers of France, Germany, England and the closest thing the USA had to such a person at that time. What could have been very dry was instead very engaging, and included such memorable lines as "that was when Lord Revelstoke saved the day by dropping dead."
115) The Art of War: I hesitate to even put this on here as I know I barely absorbed any of it. Just a note - do not try to 'read' this in audiobook. If you do, do not listen to editions that try to make it sound suitably Asian by having the chapter breaks be gongs and flutes. 116) Three Men in a Boat (to say nothing of the dog!): Jerome k. Jerome's classic, I found this slower going than I expected. Still, it was very good, very funny at parts, and, conveniently enough, ends with a selection of Christmas eve ghost stories, making it a perfect place to end my reading count for the year. 116. Not bad.
113) Fell, volume 1 - Feral City: This is the first volume of Warren Ellis and Ben Templesmith's crime comic, and it is flippin' brilliant. I highly recommend this to anyone who likes the crime/detective genre, as well as anyone who just likes really good comics. The individual issues are all readily accessible without being bogged down with repeated information but the secondary plot threads about Richard Fell's relationships, personality and the events in his history that got him assigned to be one of only 3 1/2 detectives (one is missing both his legs) to cover a city that's falling apart move forward neatly in each issue. I don't normally comment on the coloring of a comic (and can't remember the colorist's name offhand) but I will say that whoever they are they perfectly capture the brooding mood, sense of desolation and occasional moments of light or shocking violence with true skill. This book is a keeper.
114) Lords of Finance - the Bankers Who Broke The World: Recommended by the local librarians as a good audiobook, it really was. Author Liaquat Ahamed does a great job laying out the conditions leading up to the economic collapse of the late 1920s and 30's, focusing on the men who were at the center of it, the central bankers of France, Germany, England and the closest thing the USA had to such a person at that time. What could have been very dry was instead very engaging, and included such memorable lines as "that was when Lord Revelstoke saved the day by dropping dead."
115) The Art of War: I hesitate to even put this on here as I know I barely absorbed any of it. Just a note - do not try to 'read' this in audiobook. If you do, do not listen to editions that try to make it sound suitably Asian by having the chapter breaks be gongs and flutes. 116) Three Men in a Boat (to say nothing of the dog!): Jerome k. Jerome's classic, I found this slower going than I expected. Still, it was very good, very funny at parts, and, conveniently enough, ends with a selection of Christmas eve ghost stories, making it a perfect place to end my reading count for the year. 116. Not bad.
