The Great Books Of The Western World

Black Sheep

James Salter THE HUNTERS... Korean war flying aces drama.

Black Sheep

THE HUNTERS is going well.

A beginning part of the novel is set in a stopover airbase in Japan, somewhere within commuting distance of Tokyo. The protagonist hangs around in this purgatory, waiting to be sent to his unit in Korea.

The thing that struck me about this passing setting is how, decades on, it still has something very insightful to offer about the way a particular kind of western man engages with Japan, and Japanese women in particular.

In the novel, several soldiers harass Japanese waitresses in the mess hall. There are allusions to others spending days and nights in Tokyo, some of them AWOL.

Although Salter is brief, he captures that particular kind of creepiness that seems to come out in some (Just some) western men when they encounter Japanese women.

It's more than just the 'otherness', it seems to be a recognition that they can take advantage of Japanese cultural norms to insert themselves or push their advance.

I've been to Japan maybe 10+ times at this stage, and while it has changed significantly since I started visiting (Late 90s), the one thing that has not changed is that you always, always encounter a particular kind of neckbeard Western bloke who you'd class 'a pest', and they seem to hover around Japan, often teaching English, trying their luck. They'll often manage to find a Japanese girlfriend, because there are myths about Western men being kinder, and offering more freedom in a relationship compared to Japanese men who expect Japanese cultural norms, that some Japanese girls are quick to lean into. But it rarely ends well, for either party.

Black Sheep

Still working away on THE HUNTERS.

Absolutely brilliant novel, fantastic writing and human observation. It's not really about flying, although clearly it's a driver and the setting.

The protagonist, Cleve, has flown 30 flights but has yet to shoot down a Mig. All around him, 'lesser pilots' are becoming "aces" by shooting down 5+.

As Cleve's bad luck - a total lack of contact with Migs on his flights, that is outside of his control continues - the excruciating blame and shame that begin to attach are really evocatively drawn out. Cleve talks about an 'unreality' that begins to grip him as he - formerly a very well regarded fighter pilot - begins to slide ever downwards in everyone's estimation, through no fault of his own.

There's a brilliant scene where another pilot, who everyone knows is a coward and has lost his nerve, tearfully vents his upset to Cleve. And he says, "You're the only one I can talk to, the only one who understands". And Cleve is cut to the bone, he remembers back to College, where the athletes hung out together, and the scholars hung out together, and now he realises ... He is the confidante of the air detachment's only coward, who thinks Cleve is one as well.

Black Sheep

Finished THE HUNTERS - Somewhat anticlimactic as a finish, but probably appropriately tragic. Cleve was never going to come out of the war in one piece, I guess, mentally or physically.

Not sure what is on the cards next. Perhaps a 'cleaning out' of my reading list is due, I have about three shelves to get through. I may need to start targeting some of the slimmer volumes to chip away.

Black Sheep

For a total change of pace...

ROGUE WARRIOR by Dick Marcinko.

LOL.. I have a hardback copy that I think someone gave me 20 years ago.

An absurd, semi-fictional autobiography written by a very real, and very controversial, former Navy SEAL / UDT Diver.

Marcinko was the founder of Seal Team Six, and was later drummed out by senior officers, on charges of corruption (I think).

He wrote a series of autobiographical novels that sort of fuse fact and fiction. Marcinko always seemed self-aware and up-front about this... The exaggerations, the outright brags (He claims at one point his whole unit were benching 150kg for high reps), and it stands in contrast to the military autobiographies you read today, which are always really sanctimonious and dry as dust.

Black Sheep

Finished ROGUE WARRIOR and on to some more light reading - RAVENHEART by David Gemmell, an old crowd-pleasing swashbuckler.

There is a very limited fantasy element, really, this could have been written as a straight Highlands adventure story.

Black Sheep

Finished RAVENHEART and on to a classic British adventure novel, THE THIRTY NINE STEPS by John Buchan.

A slim, fast-moving story of stiff-upper-lip "man on the run" action.

It's dated, and some of the 1915 era slang and pop culture references are completely lost on me, but frankly it's so restful, to read something where the protagonist is completely devoid of modern neuroticism and self-doubt.

Black Sheep

Really enjoying THE THIRTY NINE STEPS. What an elegant, cracking little adventure story.

Must admit the anti-Semitism threw me for six, maybe I should have expected it from a book of the era, about shadowy powers colluding, but I didn't. The cabal of evil, which the protagonist opposes, is a collusion of left-wing anarchists and evil bankers. It's not clear if both factions in this plot are Jews, or just the bankers are Jews, but there's definitely sinister Jews involved. I think there were Jewish anarchist and Bolshevik organisations, without doubt, but that doesn't really make me feel much more comfortable.

The sad thing is, you could probably put the same plot forward today, but provided you were at pains to say you're writing about Zionists, there wouldn't be much kerfuffle.

Black Sheep

Benjamin Percy's THE DEAD LANDS.

I think post-apocalypse books set in the quasi-distant future are nearly a genre to themselves. There's a tradition of them, in American SF in particular, and they combine the survival horror elements of most post-apocalyptic fiction with some truly speculative elements... What does a far future society look like in this context?

Percy's take reminds me a lot of Justin Cronin's THE PASSAGE.

We have a survivor city, struggling to survive, crouched behind a large makeshift wall, and depending on recycled technology to make do. The leadership of the city has slid into authoritarianism. Now, a small group of citizens consider looking for a better life outside. But there are monsters in the wasteland, etc.

Basically a similar plot in both novels, although THE PASSAGE has a grander scope, more chronological variation and is a multi book sequence that ends being epic in its aspirations.

I do like Benjamin Percy, though, his RED MOON is one of the best werewolf novels I've read in recent years, along with THOSE ACROSS THE RIVER and MONGRELS.

Black Sheep

Got really disillusioned with Percy's THE DEAD LANDS, it just wasn't enjoyable for me, and I chucked it. Life is too short.

I can't quite put my finger on what I didn't like about it, but it felt like a pastiche of THE PASSAGE, DAMNATION ALLEY, THE STAND and SWAN SONG. Maybe with a hefty dash of YA TV like THE 100 thrown in.

Cracked open Brandon Sanderson's THE FINAL EMPIRE last night.

Sanderson is someone whose books I have enjoyed before, but I wouldn't say I'm a super fan. I like ELANTRIS and I did start reading one of his other series, but never finished.

Anyway, first chapter / prologue of THE FINAL EMPIRE goes hard... Strong plantation slave revolt plotline. Crikey. This will serve its purpose well as escapism, if it keeps up.

Black Sheep

I've turned the clock back, to 2018, and I'm reading THE ILIAD again.

This time, a different translation - a more modern prose, I think. So far, I'm only ten pages in, and it's interesting to compare the two texts.

This, more modern translation, is not as egregiously modern as some of what's out there, it's still 20-30 years old, but it's notably more concise. I don't know if it's a good thing, but it certainly appears less wordy.

I'll chip away at it, and see whether in the coming year I want to revisit some of the Great Books which were the genesis of this reading log. If I do a re-read of them, it'll be much more curated than my first time around.

I'm still reading THE FINAL EMPIRE as well, albeit slowly.

I saw a very good assessment of Sanderson online. He's a bad writer in terms of his prose. But he's good for world-building, twists and plot development and pace (Sometimes). He can still come out ahead, if he pulls it all together for a big finish.

I have to say I also appreciate the relative gentleness of his writing. It's not grimdark / self-aware / ironic in the slightest.

Black Sheep

Chipping away at THE ILIAD still, although I'm really not enjoying the modern translation much! It's like one of those soulless bibles that feel like they were written for people with the reading age of an eight year old. Something beautiful is squeezed out.

About halfway through THE FINAL EMPIRE. Just as I was considering chucking it, as nothing was happening, Sanderson has kicked the story into a decent higher gear by having a good action scene, and introducing a compelling romance subplot.

Black Sheep

A digression to read some SF short stories.

TIME LAG by Poul Anderson is one. Wow, what a classic of military SF and interplanetary warfare. He remembers to keep strong human plot lines.

To be honest, when you read something like this, it's hard to return to Sanderson. He is quite wooden, and this makes it all the more apparent.

Black Sheep

Finished THE FINAL EMPIRE. A satisfying conclusion, but I'm not sure I'm highly motivated to read the next 6 odd books in the series.

I admire what Sanderson has achieved, but if you're not going to be a great writer of prose, just a good world-builder, you need to still somehow manage to have the ability to make your books "page turners". Even a bad writer can somehow manage this, at times, if they grasp storytelling.

Sanderson has improved a lot, if I compare THE WAY OF KINGS to THE FINAL EMPIRE. But I would struggle to justify reading much more, when there's better stuff in my 'to read' pile.

Black Sheep

Reading THE SAINT by Dan Abbnet, a Warhammer 40K 'Gaunt's ghosts' omnibus.

Truly some of the best military SF of recent years, I think. Black Library have become a bit of a bastion for this kind of thing, almost a UK equivalent to a published like Baen.

Black Sheep

ROGUE MALE by Geoffrey Household.

Incredibly similarities, in many ways, to THE THIRTY NINE STEPS.

Very enjoyable. Somewhat unsympathetic, unreliable narrator feel to it?

Hermy

ROGUE MALE by Geoffrey Household

Not a name I'd heard before - I'll keep an eye out for it.

Black Sheep

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121808919#Comment_121808919

It's quite good, a page-turner. A lot of hiding in ditches and sort of escape and evasion.

The novel was published just before the outbreak of WW2. Germany and Hitler are never named, but are the off-screen villain.

Black Sheep

REPLAY by Ken Grimwood. A re-read of this very enjoyable 'timeloop' novel, about a man who keeps dying in 1988, and waking up 18 again, to repeat his life again, until his death at the appointed time and date.

Black Sheep

Neal Asher's GRIDLINKED.

This is a re-read of what I remember as a very enjoyable pageturner. Neal Asher's Polity series, and its spin-offs, always felt to me like a trashier, more body-horror and action-focused, version of Iain M Banks' Culture novels.

Asher's Polity is a slightly stupider, less well-run and more violent version of the Culture.