Meme: Sticky books

A tag doing the rounds:

"Don’t take too long to think about it. Fifteen books you’ve read that will always stick with you. First fifteen you can recall in no more than 15 minutes."

The Just So Stories (1902)
Peter Pan (1911)
A Handful of Dust (1934)
The Stars My Destination (1955)
Cerebus (1977)
Midnight's Children (1981)
The Neverending Story (1983)
Geek Love (1989)
The First Man in Rome (1990)
Red Mars (1992)
Of Love and Other Demons (1994)
A Game of Thrones (1996)
The Wind-up Bird Chronicle (1997)
Stardust (1998)
Ghostwritten (2001)


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Books: Metropole

Metropole (Ferenc Karinthy) is more like a thought-experiment than a novel. What would a city be like if no-one could ever leave it? If the population grew, but had nowhere to grow into? And what would it be like to visit such a place as an outsider, with no understanding of the language, no knowledge of the culture, and no way to make oneself understood?

I found Karinthy's writing particularly effective at drawing me into this nightmarish world, and found myself overcome with sensations of claustrophobia. In fact I became noticeably more paranoid during the reading of the book. Unfortunately, that isn't really what I want from a novel.

As the book began I felt sure that it wouldn't be possible to sustain the story of a man failing to escape from this impersonal metropolis for a full 250 pages. But I was wrong. Instead of gradually amassing clues, learning how to converse with the natives, and eventually discovering where he is and how to leave, the central character simply fails and fails and fails and fails. This is an atmospheric, intriguing book, but one in which absolutely nothing happens. (4/10)

Comics: Identity crisis

I've been getting back into comics in a big way recently, but don't fancy swamping this blog with reviews of each and every Flash and JSA collection that I'm reading. Having said that, I do want to single out one collection in particular for praise: Brad Meltzer's Identity crisis.

This was DC Comics' big cross-over event of 2004, which means that it stars Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman and Robin, and a host of other super-heroes you may or may not have heard of, depending on your level of geekery. Traditionally these cross-overs set up some galactic threat or other and play out like a big-screen blockbuster, with lots of explosions and moustache-twirling. Here though, Meltzer decides to go down a different route.

The threat in Identity Crisis is not to the galaxy or even the Earth, it is to the heroes themselves, and in particular, their families.  Superman's greatest weakness is not Kryptonite, it is his love for his wife and his parents; there is no defense against grief.  The book opens with the death of the wife of a very minor super-hero, and it's a huge testament to Meltzer's writing that within the space of just a few pages, the marriage of this third-tier character can seem so precious, and that the brutal murder ending it can be so devastating.

What follows is a murder mystery that gathers urgency as more and more of the heroes' loved ones are targeted for assassination.  More importantly, the investigation sheds light on a secret that some of the big name characters have been hiding for years; morally questionable acts that may shatter the tight-nit community of caped crusaders for good.  The artwork is excellent, and haunting in places, but it is the perceptiveness of the writing that sets this apart from the majority of super-hero comics on the shelves. (9/10)

Books: Scoop

I love Evelyn Waugh's work. Absolutely love it. Writing in the last days of Empire, between the two great wars, and as pedigreed old toffs living in grand country estates began to go the way of the Dodo, Waugh conjures up a time of disillusionment, but also of innocence.

Scoop follows the fortunes of one such penniless toff who, through a Lebowski-esque case of mistaken identity, gets shipped off to Africa as a war correspondent for a major metropolitan newspaper. Totally hapless and out-of-his-depth, William Boot (for that is his name) guides the reader through the cynical, mendacious world of reportage, and falls for a flaky young emigre who does nothing to hide her intention to fleece him for every penny she can squeeze out of his expense account.

As Boot stumbles upon a military coup and accidentally files the hottest story of the hour, Waugh's dead-pan satire touches on everything from British politics to the media, and imperialist intervention in the third-world. Entertaining, amusing and intelligent from first to last. (9/10)

TV: The deal

The deal (d. Stephen Frears) is the first in a trilogy of movies written by Peter Morgan that follow significant events in the life of the British Prime Minister Tony Blair.  Here, Michael Sheen plays Blair and David Morrissey plays Gordon Brown as the two arrive in Westminster and rapidly become close friends.  The film follows them through Labour's repeated disappointments in the 1980s and early '90s, until a chance finally arises for one of them to take control of the party and lead it to victory.  

Obviously we all know what happened, but the fascination is in watching the two men's rise to power, and the gradual souring of their friendship, which eventually turns to rivalry and rancor.   The following film, The Queen, is equally good, and The special relationship, which will wrap up the series, is currently being filmed. (8/10)

Comics: All Star Superman

All Star Superman (Grant Morrison) seems to be widely regarded as the best Superman story of the decade. Set outside current continuity this Volume One collects the first half of a twelve issue miniseries that takes inspiration from the silly Silver Age of comics and combines it with cutting edge science-fiction storytelling.

As always, Morrison's writing fizzes with mind-bending concepts, which can sometimes collapse under the weight of their own self-indulgence, but here work to create a sense of wonder, and paint a picture of a man whose perception of the world is beyond anything we can imagine. The art is gorgeous to look at, clean and crisp with a palette of primary colours that approaches psychedelia. Superhero comics at their best are about capturing a sense of excitement and fun and imaginative exuberance, and All Star Superman is the perfect exemplar. (8/10)

FIlms: Truly, madly, deeply

Truly, madly, deeply (d. Anthony Minghella) stars Juliet Stevenson as Nina, a recently widowed woman whose dead husband returns from beyond the grave to be with her.  Despite the element of fantasy, this is a genuine study of grief and longing, with Stevenson delivering a truly heart-breaking performance.  It's also refreshingly unglamorous - the man attempting to win Nina's affections has a receding hair-line and an awkward gait - in a way that only British films seem to manage.  The only fly in the ointment is Alan Rickman as the ghostly presence.  I'm usually a fan, but here his mannered performance is badly misjudged, somewhat undercutting the emotional impact of the film.  (7/10)

Films: Jay and Silent Bob strike back

Jay and Silent Bob strike back is completely and utterly without merit of any kind. I wasn't expecting a masterpiece, but once upon a time Kevin Smith's movies seemed to have something - something perceptive, something genuine, something original - something beneath the layers of fart jokes and bad language, that made them must-see movies for my generation.

After the low-budget cult classic that was Clerks each film seemed to get ever so slightly less relevant, less interesting, but here, in his last film of the Jersey series, Smith hits rock bottom. A comedy without laughs, and with nothing whatsoever beneath the surface, avoid this one at all costs. (1/10)

Books: Kleinzeit

To describe the novel Kleinzeit (Russell Hoban) is a challenging task. It describes a world much like our own, yet metaphysically different in that platonic ideals such as Death, Hospital, Word, God, and Underground, all have their own personalities and agendas and continuously conspire to aid or confound our protagonist, Kleinzeit.

Kleinzeit has been fired from his advertising job for unfortunate flashes of surrealism, and is admitted to hospital with a pain in his hypotenuse. (Although the people seem like normal people, and the hospital seems like a normal hospital, the illnesses are inventions based on a strange axis of mathematics and music. Kleinzeit's hypotenutic problem soon develops into a malady of the asymptotes and stretto, and must be diagnosed via a Bach-Euclid procedure).

What follows becomes progressively weirder, making reference to both the myth of Orpheus and the history of the Athenians, as Kleinzeit falls for the night nurse, and barrels towards impending mortality and a crisis of creativity. The playful use of language is incredibly fun and appealing, and I did come to care about the fate of Kleinzeit, despite not being completely clear on what exactly was at stake. (8/10)

Films: Star Trek

I grew up as a Next Generation boy and probably haven't seen a single episode of the original Star Trek from start to finish. Nevertheless, the idea of going back to that trio of Kirk, Spock and McCoy makes perfect sense to me, because these are more than just characters, they are icons representing the balance of order and chaos, of ego, superego and id, and they push Star Trek into the realms of modern myth-making.  

In the new film J. J. Abrams takes these iconic characters, recasts them perfectly, and throws them into an outer-space adventure adorned with all the shiny, awe-inspiring visuals that modern CGI can muster. Fast-paced, funny and tense, and produced with sincerity and care, this is one blockbuster that deserves the mammoth box-office it's bound to take. (8/10)

Films: Tales from Earthsea

Tales from Earthsea is the first film from Goro Miyazaki, the son of the wonderful Hayao Miyazaki who directed Spirited away and Princess Mononoke It's a good effort, an attractive and charming film, but sadly lacks the unsettling, surreal imagery and mad inventiveness of the elder Miyazaki's work. (6/10)

Comics: 100 Bullets, Issues 80-100

My re-read of 100 Bullets (Brian Azzarello) comes to a close with issues 80-100, which barrel forwards at a break-neck pace, and bring to mind the ending of Hamlet. As the final story arc plays out, one after another after another of the many characters in this ensemble piece meet their violent ends, and at the final page barely a man or woman remains standing.

This certainly makes for a fun-filled, action-packed finale, but it leaves a distinct feeling of disappointment as well. Every story needs a climax, but it also needs a denouement, for the new status quo to be explored and the ramifications of the story to begin to be felt. The end of 100 Bullets is all climax, and by the end, the world (or at least America) has been turned on it's head. The Trust, the secret power behind the foundation of America, which has been pulling the strings, making and breaking presidents, and infiltrating every aspect of American life, in the final panels, is eradicated completely. The Trust is gone, but the reader hasn't a chance for this to sink in or to discover what comes next, because the story's over.

Some of the character's ends are satisfying, some less so. Every chicken comes home to roost, and the machinations and hidden agendas become clear, ish. The art remains spectacular throughout, and the dialogue sizzles... it's a great series, but I really, desperately want to know, what happens on the morning after? (8/10)

Books: Trumpet

If you're going to read Trumpet by Jackie Kay, don't read the back of the book, or any reviews, as they will spoil the big surprise. It occurs on page 21, and is probably the best bit.

This is a touchy-feely story about reactions to the death of a loved one, and for pretty much the whole book that's all you get: reactions, and no actions. There's no plot to speak of, and the writing, while getting the job done, has nothing memorable about it - no arresting imagery, no sparkling turns of phrase. Having said that, it does the job of getting under the skins of its various characters, and capturing their pain and anger, very well.

The main characters, a grieving wife, a mixed-up son, are far from original, but they are believable. And the struggles they face in coming to terms with the death, and surprising life, of their husband/father force one to consider the admirable determination some people have to live the life they want to live, no matter the consequences. (5/10)

Comics: 100 Bullets, Issues 60-79

100 Bullets is a dense tale with a large cast of characters who mostly keep their cards very close to their chests. As the series neared it's conclusion I felt the need for this re-read, to try to get a handle on the plot in order for the ending to make sense. Up until now I've been doing fairly well, keeping track of who's who and what's what and even picking up on things that I'm sure I didn't understand on the first read through. Unfortunately, in this penultimate section I feel as though I'm starting to lose my grip once again.

Prior to the story's beginning, the thirteen families of the shadowy and omnipotent Trust had decided to eliminate their team of highly trained enforcers, the Minutemen, for reasons that are still not entirely clear. As of Issue 59 it was apparent that the Minutemen were not dead, simply deactivated, and were being reactivated by their boss, Agent Graves. Three factions had formed amongst the old and newly recruited Minutemen, one adhering to Graves, another working for the Trust again, led by the Minuteman-turned-Warlord Lono, and finally, old-hand Wylie Times and new blood Dizzy out on a limb. Issues 60-79 culminate with a show-down between these three groups, and the death of another Minuteman.

Along the way, we have the reporter Branch being recruited by Grave's right-hand-man Cole to track down the art thief Echo (with the significance of the painting she stole still murky). Branch refuses however, and joins up with Wylie instead. The self-destructive Jack is reactivated as a Minutemen, as is the final member of the team, the somewhat flaky Remi Rome. The final showdown in Mexico has characters revealing their true allegiance (or do they?), Grave's plan going South (or does it?), and more of the Trust being eliminated for the benefit of either Graves or his arch-enemy Augustus (or who knows who else?).

It doesn't help that Azzarello's dialogue becomes ever more incoherent as the series wears on, the cleverness that was so appealing at the outset eventually undermining the clarity of the story. I'm still hooked though, still loving the art, and hoping that everything will become clear as the series draws to a close in the last 20 issues. (7/10)

Films: Gaslight

Gaslight (d.George Cukor) tells the story of a young woman, Paula, who moved to Italy from London to escape the memories of her beloved aunt, murdered years before. Falling in love with a charming, passionate foreigner, she brings him back to live in the house she inherited, the very house in which her aunt died. The billowing London fog and flickering gas lights set the scene for a creepy psychological thriller, as Paula begins to hear noises in the house, her mind becomes clouded and confused, and madness sets in... or does it? (7/10)

Films: Shadow of a doubt

Films of the 1940s and 50s tend to have a sort of artificiality about them, a theatrical, melodramatic feel, which means that even where the plot is solid and the dialogue entertaining, the films lack believability. In Shadow of a doubt Alfred Hitchcock does an unusually good job of creating a family situation that feels totally real, and contemporary in most of the ways that matter. Children who never let their parents get a word in, a dad who's off in his own world while the mum keeps the household running.

Early on, the eldest daughter of the family wishes that her uncle would arrive to shake up their humdrum lives a little, and lo and behold, he does. Her relationship to him is so doting in fact, that it feels a little like an uncomfortable romance, but but before long she comes to realise that he's not all that he seems... and learns that the government agents who turn up in his wake believe him to be a very bad man indeed. (7/10)

Films: Coraline

I have a long history with Coraline. I bought the book soon after it came out and it remains one my favourite things Neil Gaiman has ever done. The books he's written for adults always seemed to lack some of the brilliance of his work on Sandman, but the "children's story" Coraline hits all the right notes. It's scary, unsettling and funny, and pits smart, modern characters against ancient, archetypal evils.

Adapting this great novel is a very good start, but what makes this into the best children's film of the last ten years not made by Pixar is the fact that Gaiman's story has been filtered through the imagination of director Henry Sellick. The nightmare before Christmas is a much-loved classic of stop-motion animation, and here, the world of puppets and dolls' houses that Sellick creates to tell the story of Coraline is simply beautiful, gleeful, and full of wonder.

In the story, the young girl Coraline, bored by her work-a-holic parents, finds a doorway into another world, a brigher world full of fun, run by her Other Mother. This Other World comes to life on screen so magically that one longs to visit, but turns horribly macabre as the Other Mother's true nature is revealed. (9/10)

Books: Tropic of Cancer

Tropic of Cancer is Henry Miller's autobiographical recollection of his time in 1930s' Paris. Told with the coherency and charm of a drunk ranting on a street corner, there's very little to like here. Unintelligible philosophical musings on the nature of man alternate with narrative tales of brothels, defecation, sickness and poverty, all vomited onto the page with poisonous misanthropy.

And in case you're a fan of darkness and depravity, and finding the above description enticing, it should be noted just how boring the whole thing is. Miller was clearly aiming to shock and outrage his audience with pornographic language and sordid tales, but he seems to be trying too hard, and to a modern reader the whole thing comes across as disappointingly drab and seedy. A mostly dull book, but it does provide an interesting window into the times, and an exploration of the differing American and European views of the world, which still seem to hold true today. (3/10).

Films: The perfect storm

The perfect storm (d. Wolfgang Petersen) in its own words (you'll have to supply your own sweeping, melodramatic soundtrack):
"I was never very good at doing things the way they're supposed to be done."
"I've got a bad feeling about this."
"Daddy, why can't I come with you?"
"Just one more time I promise."
"One of these days your mom's going to find you a new dad."
"I'm doing what I was made to do."
"He's my perfect boy... and you're the woman for him."
"You promised me a shitload of fish!"
"So this is the moment of truth. This is where we separate the men from the boys."
"What the hell are you trying to prove?"
"Aargh, there's a rubber shark!" *
"You're not going to like this, but I'm going to say it anyway: you be careful!"
"You could be a meteorologist all your life and never see anything like this."
"The clock is ticking."
"Oh my God... it's happening!"
"Jesus, they're heading straight into hell."
"Skipper, don't!"
"I'm not going to make it Jeff"
"This is going to be hard on my little boy."
"Skip, we had to try. It was a hell of a fight."

*okay, they don't say this, but there is. (2/10)

Films: Let the right one in

Let the right one in (d. Tomas Alfredson) is a charming story about a lonely young Swedish boy called Oskar, who has a disinterested mother, an absent father, and is getting bullied at school. Eli, an aloof, enigmatic young girl moves in to the flat next door, and an innocent romance begins, as the self-sufficient Eli encourages Oskar to stand up to his tormentors. The only problem is that Eli herself is a vampire.

The film is beautifully shot, with falling snow illuminated against black night-scapes, and sparse, icy scenery populated by dour, appealingly unattractive characters. No Hollywood faces here, but genuine people trying to make the best of an unforgiving climate, trying to make a connection with one another, and trying to avoid being eaten by the coolest blood-sucker on film. (9/10)

Books: The house on the strand

The house on the strand (Daphne Du Maurier) is a novel that's rather hard to classify. Written and set in the late 1960s, it's about a man named Dick who's staying in his old friend's old Cornish house in the country, and waiting for his wife and step-sons to join him. While there, his inventor friend asks him to sample a strange potion that he's been working on, which transports the imbiber back in time to the same part of Cornwall as it was in the Middle Ages. While a story of court intrigue unfolds in the past, Dick becomes ever more obsessed with these long-dead people, and less and less interested in his present day life and relationships.

Unfortunately, the book is hamstrung by the fact that the sections set in the Middle Ages feel as though a rather dull professor is reading out of a history textbook, and as Dick is only able to observe, rather than interract with, the past, I found it difficult to invest in what was happening. Dick's obsession therefore becomes very hard to relate to, and so although the present day stuff is more interesting, the whole novel falls a little flat. Perhaps intended to be a metaphor for experimentation with illegal substances, or a story of a man torn between heterosexual and homosexual impulses, or a simple supernatural thriller, this is a book that simply fails to elicit a strong reaction one way or the other. (5/10)

Films: Inside man

A hostage thriller, a cat-and-mouse cops-and-robbers heist movie, Inside man (d. Spike Lee) does exactly what it needs to do, and no more. Clive Owen is the loveable bad guy, Denzel Washington the raffish policeman, and Jodie Foster the no-nonsense fixer. Watchable, gripping and almost, but not quite, entirely inconsequential. (7/10)

Films: Happy endings

Happy endings (d. Don Roos) begins with Phoebe from Friends getting hit by a car, followed by a caption ensuring us that she's not dead: "This is a comedy. Sort of". Lisa Kudrow's character and her gay brother are vulnerable, brittle people trying to find some happiness, but while their parallel story-lines spin off into infidelity, adoption, blackmail and paternity battles, the film maintains a welcome tongue-in-cheek detachment throughout.

Blackly comic, and touching without sentimentality, the performances are all solid from an ensemble cast that includes Steve Coogan, Laura Dern, Tom Arnold, and notable, Maggie Gyllenhaal at her mischievous, manipulative best. This is an engaging, knowing little indie film that deserves wider recognition. (7/10)

Comics: 100 Bullets, Issues 41-59

It's in this middle section of 100 Bullets that the various plot-lines really start to mesh, and the main characters begin to bump up against one another. We return to Loop Hughes, son of a retired Minuteman, who ended up in prison after rejecting Agent Graves' offer to follow in his father's footsteps. Loop is joined by Lono, not dead, just incarcerated, who accepts the task of training up young Loop to add to Graves and Shepherd's revived squad.

A brief interlude with Jack the junkie (clearly another of the amnesiac Minutemen) is followed by the introduction of Victor Ray (aka The Rain), the sixth member of the team to be revealed, who gives a potted history of how the Trust came to be, back in the 16th Century. The bulk of this section, however, is given over to an extended storyline, probably the best of the series so far, that shows Wylie Times finally activated and going after a member of the Trust on a personal vendetta. Wylie and Dizzy's flirtation continues, and he joins her and Shepherd, before things go horribly wrong, and one of these central characters is eliminated from the game for good. What makes this story so effective is the introduction of a supporting character, a misshapen cripple who has nothing in life except his ability to make a saxophone sing, who's tragic tale proves particularly affecting and bitter.

As the series approaches Issue 60, the final confrontation begins to come into focus. Lono tricks Victor into working with him and Loop for the Trust, Graves and Cole are taking out the heads of the families one by one, and Wylie finds himself out on a limb with Dizzy and Shepherd. What makes this series work so well, aside from the challenging, engrossing plot and characterisation, is the rich and textured backdrop. These 20 issues take in El Paso, Atlantic City and New Orleans, each completely distinct and atmospheric, and always we get to witness the lives of the little people, the average Joes going through hard times, playing out their minor dramas behind the intrigue and violence that propel the story forward. (9/10)

Films: The 39 steps (1935)

The 39 steps is one of Alfred Hitchcock's best. It tells the story of an ordinary chap who stumbles into a spy thriller, finding himself on the run from both police and foreign baddies in order to preserve state secrets. The pacing is perfect, moving from action to humour to romance, with never a dull moment, and Hitchcock's cinematic flare is on full display. Given how very old the film is, it's refreshing to see a lead actress that doesn't swoon at the feet of her man, but remains strong-willed while still falling for his charms. (8/10)