Category: Book Reviews

Shirley Jackson – if my experience so far is a good indication – has a knack for making anything creepy, be it actually creepy or not. That is to say, a lead-up to what you feel will be something dark and disturbing even from a relatively harmless introduction, e.g. ‘The Lottery’.

That is the case here to begin with, and it makes it much more pleasurable to know that she has this ability, at least, to deliver on such build-up.

It’s a competently written, slowly developing witchcraft/shared isolation story from the witches point of view instead of the ignorant revolting pheasants.

Unfortunately, this turns out to be a lot more build-up than pay-off. ‘The Lottery’ delivers much more in much less time.

I wouldn’t bother with the film version. I’m certainly not going to.

Upped a notch for competence.

Upped a notch for respecting agoraphobia.

Grade: D+

Part of what convinced me, in college, that English Lit was MUCH more interesting than anything to do with accounting.

Creepy as Hell, I think, on the level of ‘The Metamorphosis’ and ‘Born Of Man And Woman’.

It holds up for me in my middle age.

I wouldn’t say it’s “great”…but it’s good.

And since it’s fairly short, a must-listen IMPO.

Inspirational Quote: “…they still remembered to use stones.”

Grade: B

I really like this narrator. Plenty of lip and tongue action. (JOKE)

Quite formal and pleasing, actually.

Gets creepy after the necessary intro.

Periods of great description here.

A must for Cthulhu fans, and a good intro for others.

You have to be in the mood to really appreciate it.

Just wish H.P. had left out the racism.

Inspirational Quote: “Someday he would call, when the stars were ready…”

Grade: A-

“Very good speaking voice.” – Michael Palin

That’s very important, because at just over 6 listening hours, disliking the voice might be a deal-breaker.

1:15 – Good so far, without the real tension even starting.

1:33:04 – Necessary exposition.

Drags a bit at times. But, stay tuned.

3:52:50 – Ummmm yeah, there’s been a lot of dragging.

Found myself wanting to scream: “Check the rhyme, you stupid b@stards!”

4:05:56 – FINALLY…appropriate paranoia and suitable somewhat-intelligent behavior.

It’s a decent way to pass six hours without feeling either annoyed, overly challenged, or *totally* bored at predictability.

Grade: C+

From the 1953 novel by Jerome Bixby.

Nice, pleasant reading makes it even more consistently creepy.

You get a lot more info/background about what/why/how Anthony thinks and does than the ‘Twilight Zone’ episode.

I actually don’t like that, though…he’s more scary when you know less about him. Adds more worry and uncertainty.

I think the TZ episode is better than this, actually. But it’s still good.

Inspirational Quote: “…its eyes gleaming in small black terror.”

Grade: B

Reading of 1951 novel.

I find the narrator’s voice dull and kind of annoying at the same time, and there are definite lulls in the material.

But I find MOST of the material at least somewhat interesting.

Docked a notch for blatant sexism and another for blatant repetitive-political-statement-over-sci-fi-entertainment.

Grade: D+

A newbie! Of course, every Cthulhu mythos fan wants to write Cthulhu mythos; some can, some can’t.

And so I listen…(gotta admit part of why is that I Luv the narrator’s voice and intonation).

Rule One: NEVER apply to Miskatonic University.
Rule Two: Leave Innsmouth well enough alone.
Rule Three: Follow advice to ignore anything smelling of Cthulhu at least as much as Denzel Washington’s character should (have) regarding Azazel in ‘Fallen’.
Rule Four: No Pickmans!
Rule Five: There is NO RULE FIVE!
Rule Six: No Pickmans.
Rule Seven: Allow the creepiness to wash over you.
Rule Eight: If you don’t follow Rule Seven, DON’T LISTEN TO IT, not worth it.
Rule Nine: Like most things Cthulhu-esque, not for the weak of heart.
Rule Ten: Nothing to see/hear.
Rule Eleven: No Pickmans.

Hmmmmm…gets better when it gets to the point. Surprisingly so, actually.

Nicely (and appropriately) wordy.

I was worried it would be a moody/wordy imitation of the best Cthulhu-esque-ness. Imagine my surprise when it got better as it went along, and I stopped thinking of how to say “meh” and how TO say “This is good stuff”.

The Puppy is a harsh critic. But this is good stuff.

Inspirational Quote: “We ‘Dreamswimmers’…took to the lands of dream like otters to a roaring brook…”

Grade: B+

Ok, so…really bad narration in the convenient version I listened to. Mechanical and with pause s in-the-wrong … places, at times.

And T does NOT equal I.

On the other hand, it’s got the text nicely printed out for you as well, if you’d like to inflate your view. It even simulates turning pages.

King goes with LOTS of exposition here. But the rather mundane and relatively boringly-normal lead-up doing the dueling banjo thing with the building horror aspects make them even *more* horrible (in a scary sense, I mean).

It’s also scarier as things get more and more unsettled in non-Cujo portions, knowing that the build is happening (and even more foreboding, that THE build is only paused…that for everything and anything that may happen, good or bad, to whatever degree…poor Cujo is suffering most of all).

Suffering from a painful and terrifying (to self and others) descent into intolerable pain – and then – insanity.

The disintegration that takes place is quite sad. He *IS* a good dog. But it happens nevertheless.

Interesting and well done, I think, in working the nominal plot with the under-plots.

Seems well-written in general, like King gives a sh1t (this time, at least).

Shock trauma, eh? Portent of ‘Survivor Type’?

Characters are fairly interesting, pretty well-defined, multi-dimensional.

Quite a bit of character behavior shows that some humans don’t require rabies to act with vicious/insane mental deterioration.

Yeah, I can still cry. Rarely, but still.

Inspirational Quote: “It was THE BOY, THE BOY, and THE BOY had never done him any harm. Once he had loved THE BOY and would have died for him had that been called for…The last of the dog that had been before the bat scratched its nose turned away, and the sick and dangerous dog, subverted for the last time, was forced to turn with it.”

Grade: A-

Love the narrator’s voice for the material (and also the basic subject), so very hopeful/eager for it to be good.

I find it interesting, when I’m in the right mood. Rather boring, when I’m not.

You want description? Talk about description. I mean, I find Tolkien’s (for example) verbosity mostly boring, but I enjoy a mild uneasiness through most of this (How long is it? That’s rather a personal question…about 4:49).

The best parts are in the beginning – a long lead-up that you know will lead to something odd and probably disastrous – and, after a long middle portion, a return to creepy insinuation and at last some payoff.

Good source of background info on the beginnings of various Cthulhu mythos ideas. So, if you plan on reading everything Lovecraftian, decide how much background info you want vs. how much total mystery you want.

This is more an extensive introduction to the Elder Ones, Shoggoths, Cthulhu spawn, etc… than it is a scary story. The lead-up to the scary story part is fairly interesting because you know something odd and nasty is going to happen. But after the odd and nasty happening, the speculation and evaluation go on for QUITE a while, serving the purpose of a biography for any further Lovecraft readings you may wish to do. So if you don’t want a whole sh1tload of that, you may find this rather tedious.

I think it’s worth listening to, once.

Grade: C+

Fairly boring in the beginning, but…you can’t get much more creepy and grotesque while still being listenable as it proceeds.
Unfortunately you can’t get much more petulant and annoying than the narrator.
But still, like…wow. I mean…it seems realistic.
Makes you feel better about your own life, even when you feel like sh1t. Boring parts, yes…parts that go on too long.
But the feeling of dread you’ll probably get is served by these at least.

Let’s eat!

Grade: B-

Creepy(pasta) story that I listened to several times before this review.

I had initially been a bit more negative to it, as I thought it over-rated, but I think I was over-reacting in the other direction because it’s not a work of sheer brilliance.

In the final analysis, it piques my interest with a natural morbid curiosity and somewhat-originality; disturbing descriptions, disturbing behaviors, and a rather disturbing descent into insanity. And the picture is worth several thousand words.

My only complaint is that the beginning is a bit slow.

Inspirational Quote: “Keep cutting.”

Grade: B+

From “Must Be Nice Studios”, it’s a good companion piece to John Carpenter’s 1982 movie ‘The Thing’.

Nice explanations/references here, of things you may or may not have cared about from the movie…unsure what’s what in terms of relevance or irrelevance to who or what or where or when or how or sometimes why? (Or who cares?).

But that’s part of the fun, isn’t it?

If you don’t like Carpenter’s film, this is probably not worth it. If you *DO*, it is, if only to compare little variables and check what’s really what and who’s really who.

One of the “things” actually argues INTELLECTUALLY for its own existence when it’s still – for most intents and purposes – “human”.

Inspirational Quote: “So it’s walkin’ around without skin. Maybe it’ll look better.”
IQ Cousin: “Maybe we at war with Norway.”

Grade: B-

The original novel was the planted triffid seed for John Carpenter’s ‘The Thing’.

The narrator sounds far too much like Aldo Farnese to take the intro seriously. At least he doesn’t tell us about trade school.

At around 1:02 he sounds like the creepy-a$$ animated guy from one of the ‘From Beyond’ short subjects.

An UP! and down persistent volume warning is definitely in play here.

There is one thing about this version that I rather like: just think about the vague and also contrastingly *sharp* changes possible in perception. Wow man…what a trip.

Nice argument (possibility?) at 1:06:50 from MacReady…

Around 1:49: Hmmmm…the thing is a pacifist?

Ha ha.

Inspirational Quote: “…a flash of electric blue seared upward from beyond the granite wall.” (and inspired J.C.’s opening?)

Grade: C-

This is the audiobook of the original 1955 novel.

Alright…we’ll call it a draw.

The rampant sexism can be creepy and annoying at times.

Very interesting material, and it holds your attention for the most part.

Read pretty well overall, mostly convincing emotion as appropriate but a few too many cracks.

Scientific probabilities: Don’t care. It’d take all the mystery out of life.

The debate and explanation near the ending is pretty cool, very clinical and undeniable.

The ending itself seems really half-a$$ed, inspired by the times and drawn out of a hat. The 1978 movie has a similar but more likely (near) ending.

Inspirational Quote: “…tell you later.”

Grade: C+

The first chapter is decent but slow.

The rest is…slow.

I *have* to listen to the entire thing when I review one of these, but do yourself a favor and trust me: it ain’t worth it.

Kinda creepy, kinda silly, quite boring.

The main character/love interest relationship is emotionless and clinical…just like all the relationships. And, let’s be honest here, characters. There’s just very little to induce you to care about any of the characters and/amid the boring, incredibly-potentially interesting story about molluscs errr triffids.

There’s a great sexist rant at the end of Chapter Ten.

BTW: The idea that your life ends if you go blind is both offensive and absurd.

Inspirational Idea For A Good Sign To Wear: “I am sighted and submissive”.

Grade: D-

Audiobook.

With all due respect, this is as boring as the world that Bartleby seeks to escape from.

Much of the interest in this story is seeing the physical reactions, which is done much better with pictures.

It’s just…dull. Not “bad”…just *dull*.

DISCLAIMER: If you have no idea what to expect beforehand, it will be more interesting. If you know the quote, and the inevitability, there’s just no point in listening.

Grade: D (Upped a notch for newbies)

Short story by Richard Matheson. It’s interesting and quite sad.

A first-person “entry by entry” account of something/someone chained in their (supposedly?) parents’ basement.

By “its” own vague description and from what it says “mother and father” tell it, it is hideous in appearance, but that’s not made explicit.

Probably more interesting that way; leaves a bit to your imagination.

It’s a little TOO short, would be my only real complaint.

Grade: B

2014 Audiobook version.

Interesting little tale. That’s it.

Grade: C+

8/12/23: That’s enough. Grade: B-

I don’t like the change in format, which strikes me as lazy.

I also don’t like the further long-windedness, which strikes me as showboating.

It’s more love/hate than the previous two volumes, with entries that I could read over and over for eternity nestled amongst those that never cease to bore me.

But there’s too much good stuff for this not to be a good read.

Grade: B

Slightly inferior to the ’70s guide, IMPO, because he has more of a tendency to get long-winded here and some of his material just isn’t quite up to snuff.

But moments of brilliance are scattered throughout, and this is also pretty much a must-read for anyone interested in criticism; music especially.

Grade: A-

Material originally published in 1981, but my version for review purposes was 1990.  I’d recognize that cover anywhere.

Here, as always, Robert Christgau states his opinions as facts and moves easily between fiercely positive and fiercely negative – with a vast rainbow of variations between the two.

He also writes better than most novelists.  He can laud beauty as well as he can rip trash, and he can make at least one person’s answer to “What do you wanna be when you grow up?” become “I wanna be a rock critic!”.

In general, it IS far easier to destroy than to create.  But Christgau’s reviews are often creations in themselves – tiny little blurbs of inspired yet seemingly offhand wonderfulness, even when they lay waste to more time-consuming “creative” efforts.

Some of the time I think he doesn’t have the slightest fcken idea what he’s talking about, but it’s telling that my reaction then is irritation instead of boredom.

He’ll teach you some useful words and phrases, he’ll piss you off, and (most importantly) he’ll make you grin devilishly at the perfect choice of words and phrasing that tears down X; which you knew was total sh1t all along but never could fully explain why.

Til now.

Grade: A

Having read this version, the 1979 edition, and the 1992 ‘Album Guide’ from cover to cover (literally) more than once I can say with educated, informed certainty (well, as far as subjectivity
goes) that this is the superior version.

As for the 2004 edition, it either was too boring to remember or I gave up hope after reading 92’s reviews.

Of course, in terms of music reviews, this book – and indeed all printed review guides – is irrelevant; made so by the internet and the “age of information”.

But to me, it holds more than a nostalgic charm.  I don’t even care about MANY of the musicians/groups reviewed, but the reviews themselves are often, to me, works of art in themselves.  They are written, much like R. Christgau’s printed guides, with REAL feeling; very subjective and very opinionated. 

Why is that better than a completely objective approach?  Because an “objective” approach to music is sterile.  It is clean, logical, unemotional…everything that most music is NOT.

Music is about feeling, and so is this.  Something that many people need to be reminded of.

Superior to the ’79 version because it’s more expansive and references changes in reviews from 79-83.

Superior to the ’92 version because it has spirit, spark.  You know…soul.

As I’ve said to/about more than one entity, if you want a camp follower’s A+++ for every recording, best to get a camp follower to write it…not a critic.  And if you want a sterile, objective “analysis”…you have my pity. 

And, to paraphrase R. Christgau: Why are you reading this blog?

Grade: A

Interesting Choose-Your-Own-Adventure type book written by Terry Phillips.  You don’t have to know anything about Dragonlance (the original six, not the piles of cheap cr@p that followed) to enjoy it, but it helps.

It’s a little different than the Fighting Fantasy Gamebook series, but if you liked that setup you’ll probably like this.

Very well written for a book of this kind, by the man behind the character of Raistlin.  Preferable to any other source for this “info”, because it was written by the character’s creator when the character was still fresh in his mind; not someone else years later.

Ranks alongside the FF ‘Essential’ group.

When a hack rips off extremely intelligent (admittedly, whether you agree with them or not) people, the results are usually pedestrian but not completely without merit, because the sources are so difficult to completely dumb down.

Think Silverchair trying to do their best Pearl Jam…you can’t really blame them, and they try AWFUL hard…but…

Grade: D

Hagakure: A+
Nineteen Eighty-Four: A+
The Running Man: A
The Legend Of Huma: A
Rock Albums Of The ’70s: A Critical Guide: A
The Rolling Stone Record Guide (1983): A
Christgau’s Record Guide: The ’80s: A-
White Gold Wielder: A-
Cujo: A-
The Call Of Cthulhu: A-

Last Updated: 5/7/24

Prior to and after reading this book, I read several other books by Stephen R. Donaldson.  The ones that I read AFTER this, I read because I hoped he could recapture what he finally achieved here.  The ones I read PRIOR TO this, I read because while they were a bit pedestrian, unnecessarily (and uninterestingly) convoluted and just plain mediocre, there was SOMETHING there, or so I thought…every once in a while, Donaldson would evoke an image or stir an emotion that made me STOP wanting to put it down.  Then it’d go away, and I’d wait patiently for the next time…which meant long periods of drudgery rewarded only sporadically.  Still, it was enough to keep me reading the entirety of ‘The Wounded Land’ and ‘The One Tree’, neither of which are worth re-reading…the brief summary at the beginning of this book is quite enough to get you “caught up”.

Grade: A-

Book 15 – The Rings of Kether
Book 31 – Battleblade Warrior
Book 39 – Fangs of Fury
Book 48 – Moonrunner

Book 8 – Scorpion Swamp
Book 23 – Masks of Mayhem
Book 26 – Crypt of the Sorceror
Book 29 – Midnight Rogue
Book 43 – The Keep of the Lich Lord

Book 1 – The Warlock of Firetop Mountain
Book 3 – The Forest of Doom
Book 5 – City of Thieves
Book 7 – Island of the Lizard King
Book 11 – Talisman of Death
Book 13 – Freeway Fighter
Book 16 – Seas of Blood
Book 17 – Appointment With F.E.A.R.
Book 25 – Beneath Nightmare Castle
Book 36 – Armies of Death
Book 38 – Vault of the Vampire
Book 50 – Return to Firetop Mountain
Book 58 – Revenge of the Vampire

Book 2 – The Citadel of Chaos
Book 6 – Deathtrap Dungeon
Book 10 – House of Hades (House of Hell)
Book 20 – Sword of the Samurai
Book 21 – Trial of Champions
Book 24 – Creature of Havoc

Above all else, Steve Jackson’s entire “Sorcery!” series (except the spell book), which contains superior writing, superior artwork, and a thoroughly linked story.

Book 1 – The Shamutanti Hills
Book 2 – Khare – Cityport of Traps
Book 3 – The Seven Serpents
Book 4 – The Crown of Kings

You see kids, in the old days people played RPGs on tables with dice, or on a large cleared-off section of floor with dice and lots of snacks that seem good at the time but are regrettable on the drive home.

-Puppy >.< Yip!

“An edge-of-your-seat thrill ride”, or some variation thereof, has been used so often that it’s now more useful as a laughable cliche than a true description, much like the 1987 movie ‘The Running Man’.

In this case, it’s completely true.  You don’t read this book chapter by chapter, a few nights a week.  You start reading and you turn the pages at much the same feverish pace as it was written.  That’s how it’s meant to be read, and that’s how it works.  And it works brilliantly.  It’s a bit rough around the edges, sure…but it will leave you either blown away or empty.  If you’re willing to take the chance, go for it…it’s only a book, after all, right?

Inspirational Quote: “The explosion was tremendous, lighting up the night like the wrath of God, and it rained fire twenty blocks away.”

Grade: A

A prequel to the then-deserved-hit and now-overbloated-franchise called ‘Dragonlance’, this is the story of (you guessed it, subtlety was never D-Lance’s strength) Huma, a young man who is a Knight of Solamnia (Solamnic Knights are warriors that live by a Code encompassing the “Oath” and the “Measure”, the latter much more complex than the former) and his “adventures”.

Grade: A

George Orwell’s great Novel (as opposed to the “Fairy Story” entitled ‘Animal Farm’) is an intricate, incisive, and terrifying warning against the dangers of blind obedience and the quiet tolerance of unacceptable changes.  It makes absolutely no attempt to moralize, and that’s exactly why it’s so scary…the story is told in a matter-of-fact way that suggests a recital of facts, and nothing more.

That’s not to say that Orwell wasn’t trying to make a point…he most certainly was.  But unlike Aldous Huxley before him and many others after him, he realizes that to inject his own personal feelings into the story explicitly serves only to push the novel towards exactly that which it is objecting to – Propaganda.  The characters are laid out, the rather complicated world is created, and the story unfolds.  It is neither good nor bad…it simply is.  In NOT trying to generate sympathy for his characters or his cause, Orwell succeeds in doing both.

In a similar fashion to ‘Hagakure’, it seems that Orwell is writing in a way that is the limit of what can be understood by most people.  An overly intellectual treatment would serve no more useful purpose, and since the message of non-conformity and freedom of thought/expression/ideas is meant for everyone, it is written for everyone to understand.  You can heed it or you can ignore it…Orwell doesn’t seem to be particularly hopeful it will do any good, and I would tend to agree with him.

Grade: A+

Two book reviews, two Doors appropriations.  Unfortunately, this time the source in question (Aldous Huxley, ‘The Doors of Perception’) isn’t nearly as interesting as the previous one (Yamamoto Tsunetomo, ‘Hagakure’).

‘Brave New World’ starts out ambitiously enough, suggests an extremely interesting idea, and then takes it absolutely nowhere you don’t expect it to go. 

As with ‘Equilibrium’ (although this isn’t anywhere NEAR as bad) the aspirations far exceed the accomplishment, although ‘Brave New World’ does at least maintain a constant level of moderate interest, a fervent hope that perhaps, eventually, it will regain/fulfill the promise of the opening/hype.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t, and the ending is as much symbolic of my relief of escaping Huxley’s ‘World’ as it is the very real relief of the “Savage”.

The name references are obvious, the progression is obvious, the explanations and counter-arguments are obvious…basically, this has the ambition of ‘1984’ with the verbal and conceptual simplicity of ‘Animal Farm’, only with much less subtlety and charm.

Sadly, any two-paragraph review of the plot is about as interesting as the entire book itself, and wastes far less of your time.  If he did in fact plagiarize this, he didn’t do it very well. 

The kind of “work of art” people sneer at when others have the audacity to label it a “classic”.

Grade: C

Propelled into the relative mainstream by the 1999 Jim Jarmusch film ‘Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai’, this collection of observations (translated roughly as “Hidden Leaves”) is extremely diverse, focusing on everything from the very mundane basic aspects of everyday life to deep philosophical/spiritual concepts, some of which I still don’t fully understand.  But that’s the point, as (to quote the book) “Those things that are easily understood are rather shallow”.

The book consists of comments recorded between 1709-1716 by Tsuramoto Tashiro as told by the samurai Yamamoto Tsunetomo.  There is very little linear order to it, as there is no clear progression from “start” to “finish”, but perhaps that’s intentional…it’s clearly not something to be read casually or simply memorized.

There seem to me to be three distinct types of entries: Physical/Mental Instruction, Philosophical Observation, and Historical Recollection…although sometimes two (or all three) intertwine.  I frankly found very little use for some of the memories recorded, not because they weren’t interesting but because, in comparison with the other entries, they had very little to actually think about and/or “use”.

The wisdom displayed in the book is truly profound, which is made that much more impressive because I get the distinct impression that most of it wasn’t MEANT to be profound, simply told in as complex a fashion as Tsunetomo believed most people would be able to actually comprehend.  It can be a bit tedious wading through the recollections…not to say that they’re boring, but they simply have nowhere near the power of the most far-reaching of the observations. 

Knowledge gained too quickly often is lacking in wisdom, and whether intentionally or not, this is certainly a book that (contrary to Tsunetomo’s own advice) must be re-read many times to even begin to fully understand.  Which is a good thing, I think.

When a book can inspire a lyric that is considered profound 251 years later, you know it’s something special.  Watch the movie (‘Ghost Dog’) for a (then)-modern day “interpretation” of ‘Hagakure’, but read the book itself if you want anything near the real, intended experience.

Grade: A

10/4/12: It cannot be explained simply, because it’s not simple.  Read it.  Grade: A+