League of Extraordinary Books

New Item:
The Story of O by Anne Desclos (1954)
The quintessential S&M story, although perhaps a little more theatrical than reality. There is an entire group or society involved in this, a bit like in Ninth Gate or Eyes Wide Shut.
I have to say that it was a lot less uncomfortable a read than i expected. I mean even Fanny Hill was a difficult read for me but this was much less so.
I think the main difference is the consensualness of the proceedings. O isn't tricked, intimidated or emotionally manipulated into agreeing with what is done to her. She seems intelligent, stable, financially independent, and is even shown to be something of a predator herself on occasion.
The sex in this book is blunt but not graphic, or perhaps graphic but not detailed.
Its not about sex its about control and need. Sometimes O's suppression of self for something outside herself takes on an almost religious nature. Its a really interesting character piece.
Also now that i think about it, it's also not about pain. Much of S&M revolves around getting pleasure from experiencing pain but that never happens to O.
She likes the pain inflicted on her only in so much as it makes her feel like she is under another persons control. Its a subtle but important difference between this and other S&M stories.
O's journey of self discovery, for want of a better term, is complete by about the 3/4 stage of the book. After that it felt like there wasn't really anywhere else for O to go.
The story ends abruptly and unfinished with only a note to reveal O's possible fate.
However i think it was a good idea to end it then as the plot looked like veering into some questionable areas which would have undermined the clearly consensual nature of the rest of the story. [4/5]

Old Item:
Scoop by Evelyn Waugh (1938)
A fake reporter reports on a fake war. Journalistic satire. Its lot shorter than you might expect, or at least feels so because not a lot happens and it felt a bit pointless. It certainly wasn't as funny as i expected and the main character doesn't really get involved in events to any significant degree. Its ok but nothing to write home about . [3/5]

New Item:
Green Mansions by (1904)
Well that was disappointing. This is a sort of supernatural romance, kinda, maybe preternatural would be more apt. Anyway its about a man who finds a forest in Guyana said by locals to be haunted. I can't say much more about it without spoiling the story, especially since there is so little plot.
I was really into it at first burning quickly through the first 9 or so chapters. It seemed really compelling, but after a while i realized the reason i was reading so quickly, was because of the thin plot. I felt compelled to read a lot because that was the only way to get any sense of accomplishment story-wise as so little was actually happening.
Overall its well written but far too verbose and i was disappointed with it after a good start.
Also the romance in it became a little uncomfortable for me at times. Modern sci-fi often points out the dubious morality of Kirk's romances in the 70's Star-Trek show and those opinions came into my mind several times during this read. [3/5]

Old Items:
Encounter at Dawn by Arthur C.Clarke (1953)
Said to have been the inspiration for the opening of 2001 A Space Odyssey this is a short story about a primitive species meeting advanced aliens. Its really got nothing much of interest. [2/5]

Child of the Phalanstery by Grant Allen (1884)
Short story about a utopian society and how they maintain their perfect system. A nice little dark tale. [3/5]

New Item:
The Front Page by Ben Hecht & Charles MacArthur (1928)
Comedy play, unfortunately i couldn't get a hold of the plays script, so had to settle for the film adaptation.

The Front Page (1931)
I believe this is close if not identical to the original play. An ace reporter wants to get married and leave the business. However his manipulative boss and his old reporter instincts conspire to prevent his retirement.
Its pretty decent, although a comedy i'd say it borders on dark comedy. It does a good job of satirizing the politicians aswell as the newspaper business. Although i thought the main characters conflict between his love and hate of being a reporter could have been a little smoother. He lurches from one to the other a little too quickly at times.
Also the crosstalk which is used to show the chaos of the news business can be a little annoying at times. [3/5]

His Girl Friday (1940)
The famous adaptation in which the main reporter is now female. You would think having the ace reporter be a woman would be quite progressive and in a way it is, BUT in others ways its kind of sexist. The roll of the manipulative boss is extended somewhat and he is now not only the boss but the reporters ex-husband, trying to prevent her not only from leaving the paper but also from getting remarried.
While the fact she can outdo the men at her job seems feminist, the fact she can be so manipulated by her husband/boss makes it feel chauvinist. The previous version had much more of an internal conflict than this one.
Apart from those changes and issues its the same script as the original version. Oh and there is even more crosstalk in this which can get even more annoying.
Overall i still prefer this to the original but only slightly. [3/5]


Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (1818)
Well what can i say its Frankenstein of course its good,actually one thing i can say is it's a LOT darker than other classics like Dracula. It also has so much more to say than almost any other classic i can think of. It's operating on a completely different level to other books of the time.
This is such an oddly modern book in many ways and the so-called monster is so far removed from the film versions its quite amazes me how we got from one to the other.
The structure of the story and Victor's reaction to his creation might both be a tad strange to a modern audience but its an amazing story especially when compared to others of its time period. [4/5]

New Items:
The Freeshooter by Carl Maria von Weber (1821)
Faustian opera. A land has the strange tradition that a man must make a good shot in hunting in order to prove his worth. This leads to a man being tempted into a faustian deal in order to insure being able to marry his love. Obviously i just read the text as its a german opera but it wasn't bad plot wise. [3/5]

The Golden Cockerel by Alexander Pushkin (1834)
Adaptation of an Irving fairytale, its ok mostly because its odd and leaves you with a lot of questions. I wonder how close it is to the original. [3/5]


Old Item:
Riallaro, the archipelago of exiles by John Macmillan Brown (1901)
In the vein of Gulliver's Travels the protagonist journeys to a fog bound archipelago and discovers various islands each run on different philosophies.
There are four or so major islands, run by what i would describe as liars, communists, warmongers and sensualists. Then each of these islands takes anyone they deem mad and sends them to another island filled with people who share their madness or extremist views.
So you have islands populated by nothing but anarchists, another by journalists, others by religious extremists of one kind or another, one filled with book critics another by people who value pedigree above all else, another by people who will always argue the opposite of what you say, others who will always agree with whoever seems the most popular, another with those who think they can talk to the dead etc.
That last one is one of my favorites, the community has divided into two groups the traditionalists who build creepy castles to attract ghosts and the modernists who say you don't need all that stuff and ghosts are perfectly happy turning up in a modern kitchen and communicating by knocking on the underside of tables, provided you only ask questions everyone knows the answers too. Its funny stuff.
Not as well characterized as Gulliver's Travels but lots of ideas and it also has a certain internal logic, theres a fairly reasonable explanation why this place exists and how such weird communities manage to survive. So nothing as sci-fi-ish as laputa or liliput. Overall i just really enjoyed it.
Also theres a second-part or sequel which i'm definitely going to read at some point its called Limanora, the island of progress. [4/5]

New Item:
Orlando Furioso by Ludovico Ariosto (1532)
Epic italian poem, featuring knights, damsels, magic and the occasional monster. Its not so much a single story as an entire library of them all mixed together. Set against the backdrop of the Moors invading France. This gives the work a lot more cohesion than other epics like the Faerie Queene.
The author does a pretty good job of reminding you who's who and whats been happening, whenever he switches characters. This helps a lot and i wasn't often confused about which character was which.
The best thing about this is the moral greyness of it all. It really is almost 'Game of Thrones' in places. Heroes lie, make bad deals to save their own skin, kill hundreds of soldiers or farmers, and in one intance tried to rape some woman who they just rescued.
I do have to say it has a LOT less attempted sexual assaults than the Faerie Queene, but a lot more consensual sex. It also has less monsters and magical creatures than Spenser's work but i like that, it means that when things do get strange it has more of an impact.
A few minor issues, one is the lists of famous people rammed in to the work here and there, these are only of interest to people of the day or historical scholars, but are easily skippable.
The other thing that can annoy is the structure, most of the switches between character are fine but occasionally it happens at an exciting moment and instead of hearing what happens next your forced to get through a completely unrelated plot before getting back to the action.
Also this is a direct sequel to the unfinished 'Orlando Innamorata' and while the version i read contained a quick summary of events from that work i still felt confused at the start and on occasions when it refers back to previous events from Innamorata.
Overall despite not being able to read it in its native language, its REALLY good. There's just so much in here and some of it is just the right amount of morally gray for a modern audience to appreciate. Oh and there's some kick ass females in here aswell. [5/5]

Notes: I read the 1831 verse translation by William Stewart Rose. However there are a small number of pieces missing in that translation. I mean there was this guy spying on the queen who was having sex with a midget and then for some inexplicable reason , Rose starts skipping lines.
Anyway the missing pieces (which arn't all naughty) i was able to find in the earlier 1591 translation by John Harrington. That translation is harder to find on the net, the audio is surprisingly available on LibraVox, but i also was able to get the text from Lulu.com. You have to sign up but they don't ask for a credit card to download.
If i'd have had access to the Harrington translation earlier i probably would have just read all of that one it seems pretty good and it was written only 60 years after the original.


Old Items:
Greek myths.
I can't rate these like normal literature but i thought i'd mentioned them anyway. My personal favorite method to experience greek myth is letting 'Dael Kingsmill' tell them to me .
She has a mythology vlog, formerly on GeekandSundry, now on her own channel MonarchsFactory. She's covered several myths referenced in the League comics including:
Tiresias the Blind seer
Seven Against Thebes
Heracles
Aeneas and the Founding of Britain

also she's covered a couple of fairytales referenced in LOeG:
Bluebeard
The Snow Queen

New Item:
The Tartar Steppe by Dino Buzzati (1940)
This reminds me a little of Catch-22.. a little. Its shows the absurd side of military life somewhat. However this shows not the horror of war but rather the horror of peace.
The story is about a solider posted to a barracks which guards an area no one ever expects to be attacked. The place is so isolated and runs on such strict rules and regulations its practically a prison. Some people suffer from what in prisons is termed 'institutionalization', unable to find a place or function outside of the routine of the barracks.
Mostly though this is a story about trying to find a purpose in life and how time can slip by so quickly while your waiting for that purpose to find you.
Its kind of haunting and a bit depressing but it'll stay with you for a while. Also its quite a quick read and is just the right length i'd say. [4/5]

Old Item:
The Castle by Franz Kafka (1926)
I rated this when i read it but am doing this review much later and in hindsight it seems better than the rating i gave. It is unfinished but that doesn't matter much due to the nature of the story.
A man arrives in a village which stands in the shadow of a castle. He seems to be some sort of revolutionary who wants to get into the castle to fight the System and stand up the The Man etc. He assumes the people in the castle are afraid of him or at least deem him a threat but your never sure if this is the case or whether they even know he exists.
Its the original dystopian bureaucratic nightmare story. It has an amazing atmosphere to it. Its greatest strength however is the constant change of perspective. The nature of each character changes a lot during the story as the protagonist learns more about them. Nothing and no one is ever what it seems. [3/5]

New Item:
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad (1899)
I had great reservations about reading this. From what i absorbed about it from popular culture i was expecting something really dark, gritty and unpleasant to read.
I could not have been more wrong. There's a level of absurdity and unreality in this which keeps things from getting too depressing.
The story is that some people are stuck on a boat in london waiting for the tide to change and so one of them tells a story to pass the time. The story is about a time when the protagonist worked in africa for the terrible ivory trade and how he met a great and terrible man.
There are few books i've read which have left me with so many questions and i mean that in a good way. Even if you accept the bare facts at face value so much of the story takes place in the storytellers head. Its all opinion and conjecture.
It reminds me a lot of Lovecraft's writing in both its fantastic descriptions and the fact that so much is left to the imagination of the reader. Its really amazing that this was written in 1899 as it feels far more modern than other books i've read from those times.
Its not too long either but might be a bit highbrow for some, it took all my concentration to read and fully understand and even then i'm sure a reread or two would be rewarded.
Oh and did i mention its descriptive writing, well i'm going to again anyway as its darkly beautiful. [4/5]

Old Item:
Nights at the Circus by Angela Carter (1984)
I have a feeling this will work even better on a reread. Its still good first time but its level of weird changes a bit too rapidly. Anything goes in a story but generally you adjust to how weird a story is and can deal easily with whatever it throws at you. However in this I was caught offguard a few times and had a hard time getting to grips with how strange things got.
The other minor quibble is related to the first, it doesn't go were you expect. What i mean is i was expecting a longer story, involving more locations and then the carpet got pulled from under me. Both of these problems I guess are more my issues than the books.
Anyway this is a tale set at the turn of the 20th century. A reporter is interviewing a trapeze artist who claims her stage wings are real, (its a tiny bit like that John Travolta film 'Michael'). He decides to travel in disguise with the circus as it tours Russia.
Some knowledge of the late 1800's in terms of politics and social upheaval would help but isn't essential.
Its a very unique story and not something you'll ever forget. [4/5]

New Item:
The Land That Time Forgot by Edgar Rice Burroughs (1918)
aka Caspak #1.
A mixed bag. The first half of this is like the 'Hunt for Red October', i liked those bits overall. I also like the introduction to the island and the female character is good most of the time. There is an interestingly weird thing happening with the various tribes encountered which i also liked although i'm sure it will be more fully explained in future parts.
On the other hand it is pulp, the characters are only shown in broad strokes, there are major coincidences and Deus Ex Macina's. Also several incidents seem to happen multiple times.
Some elements are also clearly taken from a previous Burroughs story, 'Cave Girl' which i enjoyed more than this. [3/5]


Old Items:
Roadtown by Edgar Chambless (1910)
This is another utopian novella thing but its an amazing idea. Imagine a city built in a single long line, connected with underground rail. The author lays out this plan which seems really do-able. This isn't a very long read and its one of the most startlingly simple and original ideas i've ever heard. [3/5]

Utopia Limited by Gilbert & Sullivan (1893)
The first G&S opera i ever watched or rather listened to as i couldn't find one to watch. I also read along as i have a bad ear for music especially if there are a lot of people singing and there are a LOT of singers in this production.
The story is about an island nation, Utopia. The princess and several other women have just come back from school in england and its decided to make the country a limited liability company so they can borrow as much as they like without ever having to pay it back if things go wrong.
Its very funny satire and i liked it a lot more than i expected. [3/5]

New Item:
The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin (1972)
I don't know about the supposed satire people associate with this book, i read it as a straight up horror story. I knew the premise going in but wasn't sure how it would play out.
This is very good, Levins style lends itself well to drawing the mundane. Everything is very clear and easy to picture. Although his scene switching can take a little getting used to. The scene changes being rather abrupt.
Overall its shorter than I expected and it leaves you with plenty of room to speculate and think about the story. I like it and i'm glad i have another couple of Levins books on my to-do list. [4/5]

Out of Time's Abyss by Edgar Rice Burroughs (1918)
aka Caspak #3.
The last part of the Caspak trilogy and by far the best. It gives the final details of the strange evolution of life on Caspak. Which is both weirder, grosser and cooler than i expected. Its also far more horror based than the first two parts. [4/5]


Old Item:
Mount Analogue by Rene Daumal (1952)
A strange one this. A man has determined there must be a huge mountain on the earth so large it bends light around ti which is why it hasn't been discovered yet. He assembles a varied group of people to scale the mountain. I liked, if not understood, what there was of it but it is unfinished so it doesn't really feel like it accomplished much. [3/5]

New Items:
Algernon Blackwood, short stories

The Empty House (1906)
Overly typical visit to a haunted house but still well told. [3/5]

A Haunted Island (1899)
Supernatural tale about a man staying alone on a small lake isle and his growing paranoia. Again well told but kind of lame storywise. [3/5]

The Wolves of God (1921)
A man returns to his island home after years in the Canadian wilderness haunted by something that happened there. I've begun to really like Blackwood's characters but his plots a still a bit meh. [3/5]

The Valley of the Beasts (1921)
A brutal man goes hunting in a forbidden valley said to be protected by an indian god. Ending a little disappointing but overall a nice strange tale good characterization and visual descriptions. [4/5]


Old Item:
House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski (2000)
I'm not going to give in to the hype, this book isn't perfect. I felt that Truant's story could have ended with a little more closure. However while not perfect this is an excellent read and definitely something i will read again.
Don't get intimidated by the text layout, it's a far easier read than it might look and if you do feel a little lost at times you'll probably find your feelings matching perfectly with those of the characters.
This is a Weird tale in the classic sense of the word, its got some very lovecraftian elements to it. I also have to say its quite lurid. One of the main characters has a very sleazy sex life, adults only!
One of the many interesting things about this horror tale are the footnotes, which analysis and add many additional levels to the story, something like the digressions in Moby Dick but not as mind numbingly boring.
This story or rather stories (since there are really three interweaving plots) didn't terrify me to the depths of my soul but it did get inside my head which isn't something many stories can boast of.
I read this in a library and liked it so much i bought a copy, plenty of reread value on this one. [4/5]

New Item:
The Adventures and Surprizing Deliverances of James Dubourdieu and his wife (1719)
One of the interesting things about the title story is that despite the name most of it is told from the wifes point of view. It's also done as an oral tale with the protagonists telling their story to a reporter type person. Due to this style there's very little descriptive writing, it simply tells the facts, its kind of like a synopsis of a longer book like Moll Flanders or Robinson Crusoe.
After getting through the woman's early life and the numerous times she was robbed, swindled or seduced she finally gets stranded on a desert island although not alone like in most tales of this kind.
Eventually we switch to Dubourdieu's narrative as he tells what occurred when he was separated from his wife for a period and the plot actually switches genre's to utopian or lost civilization fiction.
Overall this isn't too bad it's fairly short but as i've said it kind of feels like a synopsis of a larger work. [3/5]

Old Item:
The Yellow Danger by M.P. Shiel (1898)
One of the first of the 'Yellow Peril' books the main villain 'Dr. Yen How' was an inspiration for 'Fu Manchu'. When it gets right down to it this is essentially a Zombie Apocalypse story with all the zombies replaced by chinese people. If you think that sounds a bit racist... well yes its racist BUT its not as racist as you might be expecting.
The villain is described in surprisingly Hitler-esque language, he creates a cult of personality about himself and manipulates the people of china and japan on an economic, social and religious level.
Oh and before you ask, yes you can a have a zombie story with no zombies in it! John Carpenter spent a lifetime making zombie movies without actual zombies. As long as you get the atmosphere right you can replace the zombies with just about anything, ghost-pirates (The Fog), aliens (Ghosts on Mars), criminals (Assault on Precinct 13th), homeless people (Prince of Darkness) or in this case chinese people.
Then we have the hero, a military savant, he appears to be based on Admiral Nelson a little bit but comes across like Rainman or Forest Gump.
Note, apart from the racism inherent in a story like this there are also some really effecting torture scenes which come across as surprisingly modern in there brutality and effect.
Overall this is a really bizarre spy thriller / war-story / zombie apocalypse, highly recommended . (Available online at archive.org) [4/5]

New Items:
Gargantua and Pantagruel by François Rabelais (1564)
Tough one to review it doesn't really have a proper story it wanders around touching on pretty much every social subject you can imagine. I seriously wonder how much of it i'm actually GETTING. The version i read had no annotations, that coupled with the age, the fact its a translation and the humor which rarely dates well, i doubt i'm really absorbing more than 65% of the original text.
Its crass toilet humor is probably the highlight of the work as it's so strange to see it in something this old and it's so basic that it transcends time.
The last two books are the most 'Gulliver' like. Book 3 is the weak link being one longggggg joke which can be a bit of a slog to get through.
You'll need patience to read this as Rabelais's style is quite long-winded. Overall its interesting enough, i still prefer it to Don Quixote but not quite sure why people go nuts over it. [3/5]

The Runenberg by Ludwig Tieck (1802)
Odd haunting short story about a man who sees a beautiful woman and then gets all religious and nuts about it. I'm not entirely sure what the point is. It seems to be about taking what you have and being content, maybe. It has a nice fairytale quality to it. [3/5]


Old Item:
Lair of the White Worm by Bram Stoker (1911)
So there are two versions of this, the original 40 chapter edition and the far more common 28 chapter edition which is missing over a 100 pages.
I read the full version and yes it has many, many problems, in fact i don't consider it a proper book, its so clearly a first draft, effectively unfinished.
There are the most insane conversations between characters and odd glitches in the text like skipped frames in a movie.
I don't think its as racist as many others do, most of the racism is done by the villains and well they're villains so what do you expect. Also the character everyone hates was also hated and found repellent by his fellow africans.
The strange story and many bizarre elements could be quite good, there is more craziness in this than just the worm. However the numerous writing problems make things too confusing to follow properly.
Some interesting ideas, might not be terrible if you think of it as an unfinished draft. [2/5]

New Short Items:
The Adventure of the Empty House by Arthur Conan Doyle (1903)
Sherlock Holmes returns from the dead. These stories are only ever good when they're personal. [4/5]

Dick Donovan, Chamber of Shadows by J.E.Preston Muddock (1892)
I thought Donovan only investigated murders but this time he looks into a fraud which has brought down a major company. Not a great tale but still superior in style to the Holmes stuff. [3/5]

Voyage to Locuta by Elizabeth Susanna Graham (1818)
The son of Lemuel Gulliver finds a new island. A short attempted description of the rules of grammer by showing them as people. Pretty interesting although i did get some awful school flashbacks. [3/5]

Message Found in a Copy of Flatland by Rudy Rucker (1982)
Decent enough short tale with a twist about a mans research into the writing of the story Flatland. However it doesn't really expand on the original story in the way i had hoped. [3/5]

Beauty and the Beast by Marie Leprince de Beaumont (1756)
Early renditions of classic tales often contain surprises but not in this case. I heard after reading this that there is an earlier and more expansive version of this fairytale. [2/5]


Old Item:
Peer Gynt by Henrik Ibsen (1867)
A play about a habitual liar who runs away from home has an amazing selfish life and does a last minute deathbed confession to make up for it. Is the moral of this story that there's no justice in this world or the next?
This is a fun one as everyone knows someone like Gynt who tells outrageous lies and for some reason these people are always popular. [3/5]

New Item:
The Happy Return by C.S. Forester (1937)
That was surprisingly good and a bit different than i expected. Hornblower is i think 37 in this a little older than i imagined. The story is also more brutal and realistic than i was expecting. Both realistic in its violence and in its politics.
There's also a very strong female character which always makes a nice addition to this sort of thing. I was trying to figure out who Hornblower reminds me of and then i realized its Captain Picard from star-trek , it really is a very similar character which is a very good thing in my opinion.
Overall only nitpicks is its tendency to assume you know all of the nautical terms (and also how to play whist ).
High seas adventure really isn't my favorite genre but this is good, enough said. [4/5]

Old Item:
Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers (1934)
Wonderful stuff, i'll definitely be reading some of the sequels. Its not so much a single story as a series of extraordinary events. There is a nice bit of darkness to it which always leaves an impression on younger readers.
Clearly this had some influence on the work of Roald Dahl. In fact there's one scene were people float up to the ceiling which Dahl completely stole for 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'. Poppins is also quite probably the basis for Granny Weatherwax from the discworld novels.
This version of Poppins is a very interesting character, she's both far more human and inhuman than the film version. She's vain and proud and goes on dates, oh and she might also be 1/4 King Cobra if i did my math right .
Highly recommended for young and old. [4/5]

New Items:
Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh (1930)
Sort of an adult version of Jeeves and Wooster. Or half-way between Wodehouse and Dickens funnier stuff like Bleak House. As well as fun there's sex, death, politics and the sort of minor celebrity culture which is probably more relevant now than when this was written.
There is a central story just about but it's occasionally lost amidst the various secondary characters. The whole thing feels a bit fragmented but overall still quite enjoyable although with a distinctly dark undercurrent. [4/5]

The Wish House by Rudyard Kipling (1924)
Short tale of two old friends catching up with the reveal of a secret love and the strange lengths gone to for the lover. Odd tale mixing the weird and mundane. I could have done without the accents of the main characters but still liked the story a lot. [4/5]

Brushwood Boy by Rudyard Kipling (1895)
Tale of a man who has strangely vivid and consistent dreams throughout his life. Spends way too much time showing the man's life and how perfect he is but still not bad. A bit predictable too. [3/5]


Old Items:
Yonghy-Bonghy-Bo by Edward Lear (1894)
Fairly good nonsense poetry not much to say about it. [3/5]

A Honeymoon in Space by George Griffith (1901)
A rich british man and spunky american woman fly around the solar system.
Each planet or moon they visit represents a potential view of the past or future of the human race. Its really quite good pulpy sci-fi with a fairly strong female character for the time. [3/5]

New Item:
Wallet of Kai Lung by Ernest Bramah (1900)
A sequence of short stories which are meant to seem as if translated from Japanese. Most of the tales focus on the poor but noble triumphing over the rich but corrupt. The later tales seem to hold a bit more humour than the earlier stuff and i really felt it improved as it went. I only read part of this and listened to the rest from Libravox.
Heres a little sample of the kind of writing your in for: 'A sedan-chair! A sedan-chair! This person will unhesitatingly exchange his entire and well-regulated Empire for such an article'
I assume everyone will recognise this disguised shakespeare quote which is attributed to a famous japanese writer in one of the stories :lol . I actually wonder whether the entire book was written in normal english then parsed into this faux japanese afterward.
Because its supposed to be japanese everyone is very polite which means a great deal of passive agressive dialogue which i found quite entertaining. Overall probably a lot easier to listen to than read, i quite liked it especially the latter third. [3/5]

Old Item:
The Face in the Abyss by A.E.Merrit (1930)
Completely over the top pulp adventure with dinosaurs and ray guns, force fields and genetic engineering, a Dark Lord and a Snake Goddess. This is great stuff, i'm not a big fan of pulps but this has a more descriptive style than most. Its sort of like half-way between Burroughs and H.P.Lovecraft.
In structure its a bit like the Chronicles of Riddick in that it started out as a short story and years later the author expanded it into other crazyness. Unlike 'Pitch Black' however its the crazy over the top part of this which is really enjoyable. There is the usual princess and blank slate protagonist but some of the side characters have real personality which makes up for the card board cutout hero.
Also you might get a strong 'Lord of the Rings' vibe in places, i'm assuming thats coincidence and that Tolkien never read this but you never know .
The author throws absolutely every idea he can into this story, if you ever wanted to try a pulp this is the one to start with. [4/5]

New Items:
Move Under Ground by Nick Mamatas (2004)
Kerouac vs Cthulhu. A beatnik pastiche with lots of lovecraft thrown in. Its really well done, of course the gap between the beatniks and lovecraft isn't as wide as you might think. Anyone who's read Kerouacs 'Dr.Sax' or Ginsbergs poem 'Howl' will see distinct touches of eldritch horror.
Surprisingly for a pastiche this isn't played for laughs, its a proper beat novel with all the humour, sleaze and darkness that one would expect. Because it stars Kerouac as opposed to Sal Paradyse there is a biographical element to it and i wonder how true to Kerouacs personality and opinions this portrayal is.
Some might find it a little vague in places especially towards the end but overall this is a great impression of the beats but with a little better focus and story than Kerouac usually managed. [4/5]

Hounds of Tindalos by Frank Belknap Long (1929)
Short horror tale, also an informative lesson on the dangers of combining quantum physics and really hardcore drugs. Not bad, the method of storytelling could have been better though. [3/5]

The Red House by E.Nesbit (1902)
A magazine writer and his illustrator wife inherit a house thats far too big for them to comfortably manage. Its a little bit like 'The Money Pit'.
An ALMOST offensively nice story, just managing to avoid being twee due to some excellent characterization.
Its very unusual to find a marriage relationship this well written and with such equality. Especially from something of this period. I had no idea Nesbit wrote non-childrens books so this was a very pleasant surprise. [4/5]


Old Item:
When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit by Judith Kerr (1971)
Tale of Kerr's own childhood and how her family was forced to flee germany when the Nazi part came to power. It's a kids book but has a couple of quite disturbing parts which is to be expected with Nazi's around. More interesting than entertaining. [3/5]

New Items:
Sigurd the Volsung and the Fall of the Niblungs by William Morris (1876)
This is really quite good epic norse poetry, it does go on a bit too long towards the end but overall better than Beowulf and a real treat for any Lord of the Rings fans. You can see the origin of Aragorn and Arwen aswell as Eowyn, Gandalf, the ring and Isildur's sword.
Of course the vast differences in where the stories go is also part of the fun. Speaking of fun, you might find it lacking in the latter parts as it turns into a real tragedy, still compelling though. Torn between a 3 or 4 score for this one but as i said a little long winded. [3/5]

Chitty-Chitty-Bang-#1 by Ian Fleming (1964)
Maybe my dislike of Bond is bleeding in here but there's just something a bit too twee and artificial about this. Its like an impersonation of an E.Nesbit story but doesn't quite capture the magic of her writing.
On the upside at least its short, in fact much shorter than i expected. Can't quite point of anything particularly awful about the story it just failed to engage me. [2/5]


Old Item:
Briefing for a Descent Into Hell by Doris Lessing (1971)
Noble prizes in literature to my mind seem like the book Oscars and Oscar winning films are rarely enjoyable. The same in my experience applies to Noble prize books. Occasionally however there are exceptions in both cases and this is one of them.
Some gods travel to earth to warn of an impending disaster but to exist in our reality they have to play by our rules and effectively be human. Its a bit like '12 Monkeys' were the protagonist is often unsure whether they have really been sent on a mission or whether they're simply insane.
Nothing i can say can properly describe this book. All i can say is, that its got good descriptive writing perhaps a little too descriptive for some but i thought it was good and i plan on reading it again sometime. [4/5]

New Items:
Letters from my Windmill by Alphonse Daudet (1869)
A writer gets away from the bustle of Paris and stays in an old mill to do some work. This is a sequence of short stories, actually calling them stories doesn't feel accurate, tableau's might be a better description.
Each piece paints a little picture of life. Many are quite cheery although it does get dark in places. Its really quite good and the writing can be quite beautiful. Towards the end however things become a bit political and historical and its not quite as much fun. [3/5]

Jack Wright And His Electric Stage by Luis Senarens (1894)
aka Leagued Against the James Boys
Edisonian adventure story. My feelings about this went up and down throughout. It's pretty awful in places and it seems very stretched. Also the cool new invention is basically a bus, so doesn't really seem all that cool.
The one thing that saves this story is the fact that they're actually after Jesse James and his gang, which is pretty crazy and awesome.
Good in places but as i said too long and very uneven in quality. [2/5]


Old Item:
Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons (1932)
Parody of eh..? i'm not sure quite what specifically, just those manor house sort of novels. A lazy woman decides to mooch off her distant relatives but finding that they live in a pretty bleak and miserable condition she decides to do them a favor (against their will) and sort them out. Its a little too pat, things work out just a little too easily but still quite funny. [4/5]

New Items:
Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne (1873)
That wasn't terrible, in fact i'd rate it at #4 in the list of all the Verne stuff i've read. Because it is a race story it manages to be fairly exciting for a large section of the book although it started to lose me towards the end.
Fogg is an odd character which at least make this less predictable than other stories but he's also kind of hard to like and the bit of romance thrown in doesn't really work.
Conclusion, better than i expected. [3/5]


The Extraordinary Adventures of Arsene Lupin by Maurice Leblanc (1907)
This supposed gentlemen thief is very much like the evil version of Sherlock Holmes. These stories like the Holmes ones are about the puzzle not about the character. A suspiciously high number of these stories try to make Lupin look like a hero but he's still not as likable as his british equivalent Raffles. That's because he is so overpowered, it seems as if he robs simply because he likes too without even any financial motive. Raffles is drawn as a much meaner character but still comes across as more likable because his motives are easier to understand.
The two things which make this book good are the structure and method. We get some of Lupin's earlier exploits later in the book and this non-chronological story structure works very well. The best element though is the method used by Lupin in his robberies, which often rely heavily on psychology, and its this exploitation of human behavior which is the most interesting thing in the book. In fact calling Lupin a burglar seems inappropriate he's far more of a con-man. [4/5]


Carnacki the Ghost-Finder was originally published with 6 short stories which i read but later editions had 9. I finally got around to reading the 3 i missed.

The Find by William Hope Hodgeson (1909)
A strangely mundane story, as Carnacki is hired to authenticate a book, not sure exactly why you'd hire a supernatural expert for that its not even a book of black magic or anything. Was hoping it would turn into a version of The Ninth Gate or something but nope. [2/5]

The Haunted Jarvee by William Hope Hodgeson (1910)
Odd things happening at sea. Has Hodgeson's usual great details of the strange. Felt a bit like that Star-Trek Next Generation episode with Nagilum, unfortunately there isn't much of a pay off in the end. This might be the most Lovecraftian of his Carnacki stories. [3/5]

The Hog by William Hope Hodgeson (1911)
Some really cool horror obviously related to House on the Borderland. However it's anti-ghost technology plays a bit too big a role and the story is a bit too stretched. [3/5]

New Items:

Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1915)
Arrrghh what a time to end the story! I was really looking forward to a bit more but wanting more is not a terrible critisism.
This is a utopian fiction about a country inhabitabed only by females. It does hold up a mirror to the unfair conditions of women in the real world but its hard to properly apply its critique. Its more sci-fi than social commentary.
What i mean is that the creation of this land is so unique geographically, historically and biologically thats its hard to read it and go, 'oh wouldn't our world be better if we did things like that!' because you can't, there is no possibility of recreating this environment because of its unique formation.
However there are still some interesting feminist (for the time) views of the treatment of woman as well as the more sci-fi elements of a completely alien social structure.
The one thing missing from this work is sex, just because they have no men the sex instinct has been completely lost which is ridiculous and shows the age or at least the sci-fi origin of the story. No (good) modern writer would remove the pleasures of sex from society just because its not needed for reproduction. All told i really liked this one.
PS: Just found out there's a sequel, yes please. [4/5]



Idylls of the King by Alfred Lord Tennyson (1885)
Poetic version of the arthurian legends, although none of it seems to rhyme. I have to say i have zero interest in arthurian mythology but thats ok because this isn't about myths and legends this is about people.
These poems have a remarkable amount of humanity in them. There are so many surprises and characters act in very human but unexpected ways. Also the magical elements of the myths are mostly minimized or made ambiguous.
Other poetry epics like Orlando Furiouso or the Faerie Queene tend to be very good on the action this less so with most action taking place between the lines. However thats ok because it's again about people not events.
The only real flaw is that each section is a bit long for a comfortable read in one go at least for me.
One other small complaint is that it mixes in the Tristan and Isolde legend, so if your not familiar with that you may get confused as it assumes you already know it, i had to wiki it.
This is really like a modern film adaptation taking modern issues and viewpoints and clothing them in the arthurian lengendry, i like. [4/5]


An Authentic Narrative of the Ghost of a Hand by Joseph Sheridan LeFanu (1863)
Short haunted house story. Nicely creepy but without any real closure. [3/5]

New Item:

The Third Policeman by Brian O'Nolan (1940)
aka Flann O'Brien.
This is a great book. Its weird and has a great use of language. People keep saying its really funny but it has such a dark, odd edge to it.
Apart from the protagonist you have occasional interruptions by the main characters newly found soul, as well as digressions involving a mad philosopher that the protagonist is obsessed with.
I generally dislike the surreal, some things like Alice in Wonderland or Doctor Faustroll seem to be just weird for the sake of weird. This however is nicely grounded so that the bizarre stands out even more without things becoming too disjointed.
Overall highly interesting, great turn of phrase, nicely weird, in fact after reading it from the library i'm definitely going to buy a copy for future perusal. [4/5]

New Items:

The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi (1883)
Well that was... random. A very pointed fairytale about obeying your parents, working hard and not being an ass. Its pretty odd and doesn't bother trying to give reasons for many of its events. Fairies work in mysterious ways...
It might be nice to give to kids if you really want to mess them up . [3/5]



The Shape of Things to Come by H.G. Wells (1933)
A dystopian/utopian novel, written as a history book from the year 2106 and detailing the rise of a single world government. This is really good, despite what i will say about it's shortcomings, be assured that those are minor. As mentioned it is a history book and as such it can be quite dry with all of socio-economic talk etc. but its also really fascinating.
Once i saw where it was going i thought it was going to turn out very silly and unrealistic. However when it got to the details it was remarkably detailed and authentic. Wells must have studied a lot of history books to be able to mimic them in this manner. The name dropping, references, argument and counter-arguments, every facet of this makes it seem real.
BUT i do have a few gripes, one, its really long, a bit longer than it needed to be in my opinion although i do think the slowness of things added to the feeling of authenticity.
Secondly i never understood how the organization's mentioned actually worked, in the details. How were people elected or promoted etc. it seemed a little hazy in that regard.

Lastly but very much the major problem of this work is its sexism. I'm used to reading old books and good old-fashioned blatant (women should stay in the kitchen) sexism i can easily deal with, this was a little different.
Women are almost entirely absent from this book, something which even the author acknowledges briefly but then excuses in the worst way.
Wells is past the old fashioned sexism, he recognizes women as scientists, business people, artists and aviators so why are they so infrequent in this text you might ask?
Well you see this is a history book, dealing with historically important people and according to Wells, women will NEVER stand out enough to be historically important. He also gives the secondary opinion that women don't WANT to be important.
That they are naturally meek, submissive and unegotistical, instead of the power-hungry, backstabbing, narcissists we all know them to be, just like men.
Its somewhat infuriating just because this book is so close to being perfect, if only Well's could have dragged himself a little further up the evolutionary ladder. [4/5]

New Items:

The Travels of Mr. John Gulliver Vol2 by Pierre Desfontaines (1730)
Meh... it's ok, its fine really, sort of. I've only read the second volume as its the only part available online but i get the gist.
It's impossible to judge this without comparison to Gulliver's Travels. I'm not a huge fan of Gulliver, its characterization being the most interesting part for me rather than its satire. No other satires i've read have the excellent characterization of Swift's writing, so its failure to appear in John Gulliver didn't cause me to deduct any points.
However this book is also both less fantastical and less biting in its satire. I don't even know why this was originally in two volumes as the author seems to have a hard time filling the pages. There arn't very many ideas covered and the entire last section seems to be a desperate attempt to defend the few ideas that are raised.
There are better satires out there, such as 'Voyage to Cacklogallina, 'Niels Klim's underground travels' or 'Riallaro, archipelago of exiles' to name a few. [2/5]



all 17 issues of Hugo Hercules by Wilhelm Körner (1903)
Brief comic-strip run. Clearly an influence on Desperate Dan and possibly Superman. The ever helpful Hugo often does some damage when lending a hand but unlike in Desperate Dan, nobody seems to mind. Just as easy! [3/5]

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{another random female crusoe image}
Hannah Hewit: Or, the Female Crusoe Vol III by Charles Dibdin (1794)
It finally occurred to me what this writing style reminds me of, its an american soap opera! It has it all, the constant twists and turns, the wild coincidences, the returns from the dead and new found relations.
In defoes Moll Flanders these things are incredibly annoying but Dibdins stuff feels less serious and so its ridiculous aspects are more acceptable.
The genius Hannah continues to delight and the first half of this volume is probably the highlight of the work. The second half is spent clearing up loose threads and so can be a bit of a let down. Finally the author reveals the main point of his story which i liked a little better in this than when the same point was made in Candide.
Overall Dibdins writing still isn't good but i enjoyed my time with Hannah. [3/5]


I found a great new resource for public domain comics, all free and legal, highly recommend. http://comicbookplus.com

all 6 issues of Brain Boy comic (1963)
These are really quite good despite the awful name. A young man with telepathic/telekinetic abilities is recruited by the U.S. government. Quite a bit darker than you might imagine and some very interesting badguys. Unfortunately there always seems to be some small thing in each issue which doesn't entirely make sense otherwise i'd rate it higher. [3/5]


The Nutcracker and the Mouse King by E.T.A. Hoffman (1816)
A somewhat twisted short story, i suppose it could be called a fairytale. Unfortunately it goes on a bit too long and there's a sort of explanation done in the middle which really drags things to a halt. Also the final section is a little too descriptive. Still not terrible though. [3/5]