Read: Screwjack by Hunter S. Thompson, At The Mountains of Madness by HP Lovecraft, Zoo City by Lauren Beukes

Reading: Magic For Beginners, by Kelly Link

Got distracted, and never posted these. So:

Screwjack was short - almost criminally short for a book that’s sold as a standalone work, given that I finished it in about twenty minutes. It feels more surreal than Thompson’s usual work. There are a lot of elliptical lines, and less savage than Thompson’s usual work - the violent moments are more like a drug-fuelled fever dream than Thompson’s dark heart. Still interesting as an afterthought to his work, though.

At The Mountains of Madness is my first Lovecraft, and I don’t think I’m yet in love with the man’s style. The visual leitmotifs are really arresting, and some images will stick with me for a long time, but I couldn’t help but notice that the novella was essentially devoid of character and that there is a lot of repetition (not always employed effectively). It’s probably important to note that as far as writing weird fiction, Lovecraft was one of the first; sadly, beyond its seminal nature, other writers have since aped his style with a great deal more skill. I’ll continue to read him from time to time (I have his complete works), and I might shift - I can’t help but wonder if his short stories are better.

Zoo City was brilliant - bleakly comic, tantalisingly savage and utterly fascinating until the very last page. It’s also refreshing to see a female protagonist in this sort of story - parts reminded me of the video game Beyond Good and Evil, though this has a much darker tone. Not what I was expecting, but fantastic - so read it.

Magic For Beginners was just quoted on my dashboard, and apparently the book has a fairly ardent fanbase - I’m excited to read it. Also, short stories! Who doesn’t like short stories? (Please buy my short stories.)

Read/reading: The Curse of Lono by Hunter S. Thompson and Ralph Steadman, Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad.

That was quick.

This was an odd one. It feels a little like a collage, with Thompson jumping around a lot, and the resulting effect is that you don’t quite get the smack of a conclusion that appears in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. On the other hand, Steadman’s art is gorgeous (there’s a reason he’s co-credited - a lot of the images in the book are two-page illustrations, full of colour and odd detail) and there are some really choice lines. It demonstrates that Thompson’s gonzo spirit wasn’t limited to the seventies, and that his anarchic sensibilities continued until his death, and it’s worth reading if you can find a copy that isn’t incredibly expensive.

As for Heart of Darkness, I’m not sure what to expect apart from brevity. I loved the themes that Apocalypse Now explored, so I’m cautiously optimistic. We’ll see.

Read/reading: The Rules of Attraction by Bret Easton Ellis, The Curse of Lono by Hunter S. Thompson and Ralph Steadman.

Not Ellis’s finest work, but there are points where it hit me right in the gut. There’s this mood that Ellis gets across sometimes that (and forgive me for being pretentious here) feels like a sense of melancholy at seeing the world a little clearer than most others, and it’s something he does startlingly well. What pushes this below his other books is a noticeable absence of plot - nothing really happens, here, and his stream-of-consciousness style isn’t very forgiving. Still an interesting read, though.

I have no idea where I’m going to keep Lono while I’m reading it. I have the huge hardback version.