May Reading

I got through 10 books last month related to the Avon/Equinox project, plus one other book.  The other book was volume one of Burton's Arabian Nights.  I believe I made it the 34th night.  I was reading 30 minutes of it each time I finished a regular novel.  The footnotes are extensive, but for the most part I ignore them.  When I finish my next cycle of Avon/Equinox authors (James Blish is always last), then |I will conclude Verne's Mysterious Island.  I had never made it this far before in the Arabian Nights, and I was surprised at how many of the stories are included in Pasolini's film version.

Overlay by Barry Malzberg got things started on the right hoof in May.  It is the only SF novel I have ever read that is based on horse racing.  In fact, it's the only novel I've ever read in any genre on horse racing.  Aliens send an agent to Earth to corrupt four people whose lives centre around the races, in the hopes of conquering the world.  The plot is nearly meaningless, but Malzberg's imagination and keen ability to get inside the heads of disturbed people provides an endlessly fascinating narrative.  This is one of his strangest books, and that is saying something, believe me.

James Blish was next, rounding out yet another cycle of the Avon/Equinox authors.  The Star Dwellers is a story about the 'Angels', a mysterious alien force discovered by humans in the Coal Sack, a vast dark nebula in the Milky Way.  This is top notch SF, though I wish I could have learned even more about these mysterious creatures.  After reading the Blish novel, I read part 2 of Mysterious Island.

I began a new cycle of reading with Silverberg's Planet of Death, mentioned here only because it is probably the worst book I have ever read.  Truly ghastly, it is as if the author dug this one out of an old high school notebook and had it published to help pay the mortgage.  Imagine if someone read this as their first book by the author.

Next came Spinrad's final novel.  I only have one book of short stories of his left to read!  The People's Police is from 2017 (he might actually get to publish another one, but it had better be soon).  This one is an odd tale about being a policeman in New Orleans.  It gets heavily mixed up in voodoo, politics, and Mardi Gras.  It was quite good, and much shorter than his usual overblown epics.

Piers Anthony's Viscous Circle completes his unique and highly recommended Cluster series of five novels, supplemented by the three Tarot Books, marking one of the great SF series to ever come out (same with his Man and Manta series).  The final book delves into deep alien territory, and if you ever wondered what a utopia might really be like, the author has nailed it perfectly in this novel, one of the best of the series.  There are strong similarities between his alien beings and those created by Hal Clement.  They both offer incredibly fascinating accounts of truly strange beings.

I finished the final novel of John Christopher, completing my reading of his entire oeuvre, except for two very early books that are all but impossible to find.  Bad Dream is the author's rant against the European Union, cleverly disguised as an excellent and very intense adult novel.  You can argue the man's politics, but his writing is nearly flawless in this story.

Skyfall, by Harry Harrison, is his epic, though dated, account of a vast space project going awry, and the devastation and death that it causes.  Russia and the USA have collaborated  on a space energy project, and the launch of the first of 50 rockets to harness solar power and send it back to Earth is described.  While the politics and advanced position of women (two of the six crew are female, and one of those is black) might have been timely in 1976, remember that the first test flight of a space shuttle was in 1977.  Anyway, the story is very exciting and hard to put down once begun.  It seems to have been written with the idea of it becoming a (very expensive) disaster movie in mind.

Bulmer's Hunters of Jundagai adequately keeps the Dimension series going full steam ahead, and Tubb's somewhat silly but still fun Stellar Assignment, which sees a hack writer sent to find the spoiled daughter of a rich Earth man, is also an easy read.  It's amusing to see how Tubb handles the plot, one that is very familiar to readers of pulp fiction of any genre.  This is no damsel in distress, but a very smart woman who gets what she wants.  I finished the month with the third novel in the Undersea Series by Jack Williamson and Frederik Pohl.  Undersea City was blessedly short.

I am currently reading Half Life by Hal Clement, so far an excellent journey to Titan, the largest moon of Saturn.  More next month.

I first began the Avon/Equinox reading project in June of 2016.  This completes my fourth year!  To date I have read 466 books by those 24 authors.  This past year I managed to read 121 of them, plus an additional 21 books unrelated to the series.  A few more authors were completed, so each cycle comes along faster than the old ones.  Which means I get to read unrelated books a little more often, too.

Turning to art, it's been awhile since I have included a landscape from the DIA.  Today's is one of the stranger crucifixion paintings I have ever come across.  The landscape is weird enough, and even the arrangement of the figures is more than a bit odd.  For one thing, John and Mary are given prominence, and for another, Christ is portrayed at an usual angle.  But the landscape, with a ruined city in the background, as if covered by volcanic ash, is strangely other-worldly.  And there are several visual planes through which the eye is led, all contributing to a landscape emotionally involved with the subject matter.

The Crucifixion, ca 1530.  Maerten van Heemskerck, (Netherlandish, 1498-1574).  Oil on oak panel, 15" x 14".  Collection Detroit Institute of Arts.

 Detail of John and the unusual background.  

In piano news, it is now four months since I began my newest program.  Since we have been staying home most of the time, progress has been quite rapid.  I only have three Brahms Waltzes to memorize, which should be done this month.  And of course I will need time to work up the tempos of several of the faster pieces.  But by July 1st, the program should be completely playable!

In listening news, we recently completed the 104 Haydn symphonies, and have now switched over to his 60+ string quartets.  We also completed listening to all 37 CDs of music by Benjamin Britten.  We are still working our way through Brahms, and our vast collection of LP records.  The Bach set of 223 CDs is in the Amazon wish list, possibly for next month.  Fun times!

Turning lastly to movies, we have now watched two of the three films by Michel Powell that Deb chose for her mini film festival.  The first film is from 1941, and was filmed in Canada.  Mostly anti-Nazi propaganda, it details the adventures of 6 ruthless U-boat Nazis left stranded in northern Canada when their submarine was bombed to smithereens in Hudson Bay.  The Germans are painted with a pretty broad brush, though one of them, at least, proves to be human.  A remarkable film on many counts, and one I had never even heard of, it no doubt kept many Canadians on guard for enemies on our own territory.  Lots of ruthless violence.  Lawrence Olivier as a French Canadian trapper is a weird little piece of acting.

Today it is called The 49th Parallel, and is now showing on the Criterion Channel. 

From 1947 comes Black Narcissus, a colour masterpiece from the Powell/Pressburger team.  From 1947, it concerns a small group of nuns trying to run a school and a hospital high in the mountains of India.  The seclusion and overwhelming presence of nature becomes their undoing.  Great acting, amazing sets (all filmed at Pinewood studios!), and some of the most stunning lighting and photography ever put on film, this film is worth catching if it's been awhile.  A young Jean Simmons playing an Indian teenage girl is also a totally amazing thing to see.

Now showing on the Criterion Channel.

In other news, we continue to watch America crash and burn, in more ways than one.  Not unexpected, but still sad to see.  And one of our favourite Detroit cafes has closed up shop for good, because of the virus.  We will lose plenty more wonderful small businesses, no doubt.  It is just beginning.

And Gustav the cat has been ill for two days now, a repeat of last week's ailment.  Things are not looking good, and it is proving difficult to make contact with our veterinarian.  He is comfortable, but not eating.  When a cat doesn't eat, something serious is wrong.  We have the option of taking him to Windsor to the emerg clinic, but it usually becomes a four hour wait.

Happy June.

Mapman Mike