April Reading Summary

 I managed to get through nine books, including one that was over 800 pages long.  Five books were by the Avon/Equinox SF authors, 2 were from the Delphi Classics on Kindle, one was from the shelf, and one was from a recommendation by another author.

First up was a really terrific book by Robert Silverberg.  From 1991 comes The Face Of The Waters.  At 486 pages, it is an epic read, but worth every page.  Like Jack Williamson, Silverberg is getting better and better as he ages.  This story concerns 77 colonists on a planet that is 99.9 % ocean, with all manner of nasty things living in it.  Islands are created by native inhabitants, a queer breed of being that wants nothing to do with humans, but does allow them to live on their islands in certain numbers, apart from them.  But when one of the colonists (there are many colonies, all small) does something to get on the bad side of the natives, the humans are told to leave for good.  They have 30 days to prepare, and then depart.  The front of the book has a short quote from Genesis, and one from Conrad, both fitting.  The sea voyage takes up a greater part of the story, and it is a harrowing one.  The novel works as pure adventure, as SF, and as many other things, as Silverberg does a decent job of fleshing out characters.  Like in Lem's novel Solaris, the ocean here is sentient.  But not only sentient.... Quite an astounding novel, one of the best SF reads I've had in ages.  It has flaws, but what book doesn't?

Cover of the month for April goes to A. I. R. Studio.  No artist given.

 I continued reading about the adventures of Commander Fox.  #11 in this very enjoyable series is called Fireship, and is from the mid 1970s.  Fox, having lost his last ship during battle, has to undergo a court martial hearing.  When he is acquitted, he is given command of a fireship, a ship that is intentionally set afire in order to break a blockade.  The novel ends a few seconds after the ship explodes, and just as Fox has leapt overboard.  Fun times for all, except for poor Mr. Fox.

Technos is the 7th book of E C Tubb's highly readable Dumarest series.  Talk about limitless imagination working within the confines of a pulp SF series!  This author reminds me a lot of Haydn, cranking out symphonies by the dozens, all of them good (and many great).  Dumarest, the adventurer/hero, does find a clue about Earth's location in this story, in the form of a kind of rhyme that includes the signs of the zodiac in their proper order.  Now he merely needs to compute which planet lies in the centre of that view.  Only 26 books to go!  The frustrating part is that Tubb never wrote the final book before he died, so the series will never have a conclusion.

Next came Michael Moorcock's fifth volume in his End of Time series, called The Transformation of Miss Mavis Ming. This was the British title, which more or less gives the ending away.  The American title is A Messiah At The End Of Time, which seems much better.  Either way, this a truly terrible book.  Moorcock revives a character from a much earlier book (The Fireclown), and the whole thing just turns into one big mess.  This series has had its ups and downs, but this is a big down. Like much of this novel, many things don't make much sense.  The ending is ridiculous, and I don't think I've ever come across a book more sexist than this one.  The Fireclown's insistence on conquering Mavis, and her so-called benefactor trading her away for another fake Grail cup, is really a bit much.  It is meant, I think, to be funny and ironic.  All in all, a huge disappointment.

A decent collection of collaborative short mystery stories was next.  Barry Malzberg and Bill Prozini have teamed up for several crime novels and short stories, and this collection was a good discovery.  Published in 2003, Problems Solved contains older stories of mystery and crime, as well as an introductory essay by Bill Pronzini, detailing his relationship with Barry Malzberg.  There is an afterword by Malzberg, where he gives his side of working as a collaborator.  There are 22 stories, most of them quite short.  They were written in the 70s and 80s, except for a few that were written for this collection.  The stories are of consistently high quality, and well worth seeking out for mystery fans.

We turn now to non-Avon/Equinox writers, of which four made the list last month.  I finally summoned up the courage to finish the Fionavar Tapestry trilogy by Guy Gavriel Kay.  And The Darkest Road has sealed the fate of most post Tolkien fantasy writing for me.  I am giving it up.  I mostly had, anyway.  Really, it's all become just a bit too much.  Listen to some of the most used words in this third book, which, like Tolkien's works, influenced so many later writers.  Here we go; ready?  "Pain, suffering, bitterness, sorrow, tears, grief (pangs of), guilt, fear and terror, bleak, shadowed places, moonlight, wolves, wintry, dark wood, unending black army."  Who the hell would want to read any book with an overuse of those words in it?  I have stayed away from Game of Thrones and all of its off shoots, and most of the post-Tolkien fantasy I've read has been similar to Gavriel's set.  Having read the Ballantine adult fantasy series, I long for writers like Dunsany, William Morris, Cabell, E.R. Eddison, Kuttner, Hope Mirrlees, and dozens of others.  The thing is, the Fionavar Tapestry trilogy is probably one of the best post-Tolkien fantasy series ever written.  But I simply cannot stand up under the unrelenting pessimism and desperation and desolation that the books strive for.  Also, there is simply way too much "magic" in these books, going way over the top.  Why put readers through this stuff, which is all fake anyway?  Though readers do clamour for it.  Get a life!  Not for this reader.  I'll take a great SF novel any day, or sword and sorcery, even a good mystery.  But my fantasy reading will now be strictly Tolkien and earlier, when writers knew how to invent a good story, with good vs evil balanced a bit better than today's writers seem willing to achieve.  If you are in to self flagellation (figuratively speaking), you might enjoy this series.  Ironically, I have not given up on Kay's writing.  This was the only full fledged fantasy series he wrote.  His other stuff is all loosely based on historical periods mixing with fantasy.  A different kettle of fish entirely.

After suffering through many painful pages with much bitterness and sorrow, I left this bleak book behind me, running for my Kindle and something by Frank Baum.  Now here is a writer who knows how to mix darkness, light, humour, character, setting, and everything else that great fantasy writing requires.  The 6th Oz book is called Emerald City of Oz, and is from 1910.  Baum intended it to be the final book in the series, and he brings Uncle Henry and Auntie Em from Kansas to Oz to retire them peacefully and happily.  Within a few pages I could feel my soul healing from its cruel bruising that Kay gave it.  I was laughing again, and actually enjoying reading.  Dorothy and a small gang of friends go on a carriage tour of Oz, pulled by the saw horse.  Regarding the sawhorse and his usual silence, someone says (the Wizard, I think) "He told me once that he can't talk and think at the same time, so he prefers to think."  A priceless line, though there are many such in this book.  They visit several new countries, including the very hilarious "Rigamarole City," where nothing is done the easy way, and the city of "Flutterbudgets," filled with what we would now refer to as "worry-worts."  Both places are unforgettable and terribly funny, and more than a little bit scary.  The travellers flee both places at the first opportunity.  Baum claims in a foreword that many of the ideas used in the book came from children who wrote to him.  Children would be likely sources for at least two of the places visited; the paper doll cutout city, and the jigsaw puzzle people city.  This might be the best Oz book so far; it is a wonderful read.  My kindle edition has all the original illustrations, too.  To add darkness to the story we have the truly evil Nome King, the Whimsies, the Growlywogs, and the Phanfasms of Phantastico.  They all team up to attack Oz from tunnels dug beneath the city.  Fortunately, the Scarecrow thinks up a way to upset their plans.  Great stuff!

Original cover from 1910 by John R. Neill.

I felt the need for one more children's novel before embarking on my next epic of darkness.  Thanks to Delphi Classics, I have the complete works of Enid Blyton on my Kindle (for only $3).  Not that I want all the works of Blyton, but I did enjoy some of her books when I was younger.  Her plots are simple, with few ingredients, and her characters are often predictable, especially adults.  This one has the usual kids on summer holiday going to the seashore, where they have an uncle, aunt, and oddball female tomboy cousin (she is actually a pretty good character).  Add in an island with a ruined castle on it, an old shipwreck believed to have been carrying gold ingots, a treasure map, a slurpy big lovable dog, and we are set for Five On A Treasure Island, from 1942.  Whether they still do or not, children loved these books, and Blyton is the third most translated author of all time.  Being the first of a long running series, this one likely has more originality in it than many that followed.  After the nightmare that was Kay's book, this one seemed to refresh me further.

Now we come to the epic of epics, Norman Mailer's The Naked and The Dead.  At over 850 pages, this took me a week to get through.  Malzberg pegs it as the best book from the 1940s.  I have my doubts.  It concerns itself with a platoon of American soldiers during WW II, fighting the Japanese for an island in the Pacific, somewhere near the Philippines.  The island (Anopopei) is fictional, as is the story.  Did I mention that it is long?  I could have read four short SF novels in that week.  However, it is a terrific novel in many ways, though I really can't see too many women getting through it.  There are no female characters, but some do appear in flashbacks as we learn about the background of the lead characters, all soldiers.  There is a general, a major, a "lootenant", several sergeants, a corporal and many privates.  The enlisted men are mostly brutish, very crude in their speech, and hold a disdain and hatred of the army, officers, and women.  Mailer was not allowed to use the "f" word, so he had to go back through the manuscript and change all of the usages (hundreds and hundreds of them) to "fug."  It inspired a modern day band to choose that for a name!

The story essentially follows the lives of 13 men in a short handed platoon (there should be 20 men).  We follow their terrible suffering through steamy days of jungle labour, a bit of fighting against the Japanese (there is actually very little of that), and then on their thankless and ultimately useless and terrible mission to scout a mountain pass to see if an American battalion could make it over and surprise the Japanese from the rear.

There are some heavy problems with the storytelling, which overall is quite good.  The biggest problem is how slow things are to develop.  We follow the landing on the island, the setting up of camp, the building of a road to the front line where the Japanese await, etc.  While this is slow enough in itself, a huge amount of the book takes us via flashback into the lives of each of the fifteen or so men important to the story.  At these frequent points, the story comes to a complete halt, which is unfortunate in many ways.  Another problem is the amount of minute detail included.  Nothing is left out.  While it's a good thing to write what you know about, telling readers everything you know is not so good.

Mailer was a cook in the Pacific army in WW II, and likely heard many stories.  The suffering the men undergo during the story is mostly inhuman, degrading, spiritually empty, but quite believable.  After a time it just becomes the way things are.  The only other book that can really tell it like it is is Harry Harrison's Bill, The Galactic Hero.  Harrison nails down exactly what it must be like to be in the army, and his story is even more entertaining (and very, very funny) than Mailer's.  While Mailer's book is every bit as miserable and depressing as Guy Gavriel Kay's, above, at least there is no magic here, and the story is rooted in some form of reality.  The combat scenes are very realistic and believable, especially the fear of the men during a battle.  No one here is brave; they are all afraid of catching a bullet.  The characters suffer just as much here as in Fionavar, and also die; but without dignity or nobleness, or even purpose, to their deaths.  This is a real war, not a pretend one.  And there is a big battle, but it is anti-climactic, as the Japanese are starving and almost out of ammunition when the Americans finally breach their defence and attack.  And all that struggle with three lives lost to complete their reconnaissance mission? It was for naught.  Reality bites, most of the time.  Was reading the book a waste of time?  Hardly.  But had I known what I was getting into, I might have just given it a pass.

Mapman Mike 

 

April Showers

Today is our first sunny day since April 15th.  It's been a rather dark setting around here, though with very little rain.  I am not caught up with all the blogging and writing.  The road trip blog is complete in 5 parts, and I finished up the written volume, adding ten photos I had printed.  Next up is the month-end book reviews for April.  I am currently in the latter half of one of the longest single books I have ever read.  It should be done on time to restart my Avon/Equinox reading quotient.  I am down to only five authors now, so more and more of my time is being spent reading books off the shelf.  Look for that update around the 30th.  And this weekend also marks the start of the monthly film festival.  My turn this month.

 

We recently watched two films.  The first one was Shakespeare Wallah, a b&w early Merchant/Ivory production.  It follows a small British company that travels around India performing plays by the bard.  Mixed in with the trials and tribulations of the company is a love story between the daughter of the company's leader and a young Indian man.  He is already involved with a woman who is a Bollywood actress.  The film is quiet but at times penetrating, and is one we have wanted to see for some time.  Recommended.

 

We watched this 1965 film on Mubi. 

 

 The Suspect is a film from 1944 direct by Richard Siodmak and starring Charles Laughton.  Poor Charles.  He is stuck in a loveless marriage to a shrew of a woman.  When he meets a young woman and helps her out of difficulty, they become very good friends.  The wife finds out and threatens to end it by informing the woman's boss, and also telling her husband's boss (I'm not sure what she had in mind for income once he was fired).  That night she falls down the stairs, with a little help from Charles.  Along comes a police inspector with nothing at all to do except put the pressure on Laughton for killing his wife, though he has no proof.  When his alcoholic neighbour threatens to blackmail him, he, too, ends up dead.  Poor Charles.  It seems that he was left with little choice in either murder.  Of course Hollywood morality does not let him get away with anything in the end, but this viewer certainly wishes that he would have.  An odd film, greatly acted by Laughton (as usual).

Showing on Criterion. 

 

Next came the first of Deb's two choices.  Transit is a German film from 2018.  It takes a book about escaping France during WW II and updates it to the present day, with another unknown fascist element taking control of the country.  In retrospect, the modernizing of the novel doesn't quite work, though overall the film is quite good.  Likely done as a budget consideration, it would have been much more expensive to try and recreate the early war years in Paris and Marseille.  Definitely worth a look.

Showing on Mubi till midnight tonight. 

 

We are just out to start watching Deb's second film choice, which will be followed by my 3 festival picks.  Speaking of festival picks, Deb's most recent short animated film has only had one rejection out of about ten submissions.  No big awards yet, though I hope it picks up a few of them. 

Deb's hip has been increasing bothering her over time.  We went to her GP and he has sent her for x-rays, a bone density test, and a cortisone shot.  All forthcoming.  Hopefully something can be done besides taking pain meds.

And finally, it is time to get the lawn mower ready for cutting grass.  It's time to contact my techie for an oil change and general tune up.  And this Saturday Nathan should arrive with his team to clear my yard of storm debris from our late February ice storm.

Mapman Mike

 

Swamped

It's been busy around the old Homestead lately, but things are getting back on track.  On top of everything else, we lost internet for two days due to a faulty modem.  A new one was sent out and we are back to normal.  Astronomy has died for this lunar cycle, as a week of clouds and rain settled in last Sunday.  New moons around here always seem to be cloudy and hopeless.  I've come to expect things to go that way.  However, I managed to get out 5 times in April, and each one was a fun and exciting outing.  One of those outings was quite breezy, and I got to use my vast repertoire of profanity that night.  But the others were perfect, and even warm!

And the road trip blog is now complete.  Just click on the Road Trip link in the left margin to read a 5-part blog about our recent travel adventures.  Two new pictures were added to part 4 last night.  Many parts of the trip still resonate nicely, as any good trip should. 

In Homestead news, routine medical appointments are on going.  Deb's new glasses are ready for pick up tomorrow.  Our furnace got repaired to the tune of nearly $500.  Deb purchased a new computer for her film work, and donated the old one for our desk top use.  Everything has been transferred over thanks to her.  And I have a new cell phone, again thanks to Deb's patience with technological affairs.  The old land line in the house is now gone, with that number transferred to my phone.  We are actually saving money by doing this.  And speaking of phones, the new American phone worked perfectly on our trip.  American monthly plans allow users to save data not used each month, so we had plenty of data to use on our trip.  This meant keeping an eye on traffic buildup and construction, as well as weather.  So for now, our technological existence is going well.

In film news, here is the latest.... Deb still had a couple of choices left from her festival.  First up was a very delightful tale called Hunt For The Wilderpeople, from 2016.  A man and a large boy head for the bush when the boy is threatened with being taken back into social care.  They are chased by authorities, but find lots of sympathetic helpers along the way. The movie is funny, well acted, and well written.  Being a film from new Zealand, some of the dialogue is a little tricky to understand, but the movie is highly recommended, even though it goes a bit over the top at times.

Leaving Criterion April 30th. 

Next came another film by Douglas Sirk. All I Desire is from 1953, and is held together by more fine acting by Barbara Stanwyck.  It's a soapy tale of a woman who left her marriage and small town to try and make it big on the stage.  Invited back by her daughter to see her high school play, she has to come to grips with the different feelings her visit entails.  It's pretty good overall, but without Stanwyck it likely would not be.  She seems to melt into the role like some people fit perfectly into jeans.

 

Leaving Criterion April 30th. 

 

I stepped up to the plate with In a Lonely Place starring Humphrey Bogart and Gloria Grahame in a 1950 film directed by Nicholas Ray.  It was as good as it sounds, too.  Bogart is a writer for Hollywood films.  He seems to be bi-polar, and has fits of extreme violence that he cannot control.  Grahame falls in love with him, even after he has been accused of murder.  It sounds like it might be the old story of woman clings to man no matter what.  But not here.  The ending is very dark and downbeat, perfect for the movie but so very rare in Hollywood.  Definitely off the beaten track, and worth tracking down.  Bogart can be one scary guy.

 

Now showing on Criterion. 

 

Finally, another of Deb's picks, this time from Prime.  Three Thousand Years of Longing is an adult fantasy film starring Idris Elba as a Djinn, and Tilda Swinton as the woman who releases him from his bottle.  From 2022, this surprisingly good film was directed by George Miller.  This is about as far from Mad Max as a film can get, which is probably why it garners a lot of lukewarm reviews.  The special effects are truly wonderful, and the whole thing has the feel of the Arabian Nights tales.  Very highly recommended for adult fantasy fans.  Elba is just too perfect as a Djinn with a sorrowful past.

Now showing on Prime. 

 

Until next time.

 

Mapman Mike

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back In the Saddle

With 4 of the last 5 nights being clear and excellent for observing, things have grown slack around the Homestead.  No piano practice, very little reading.  The exercise program is keeping up, however, and my astronomy notes are done.  But I am only half done my Ozark trip blog, which will take precedence (along with piano practice) until clear skies return.  Very few movies have been watched, too.  We've also had a bunch of errands to take care of, such as doing our 2023 taxes (on Easter Sunday), getting Lois' taxes into the tax person, medical appointments for Deb, a new computer for Deb, etc.  On top of everything, the weather suddenly turned into June this week, with highs above 80 on some days.  It's still very warm, and will be until Sunday.

In film news, there are a few to report.  We watched the original Ghost In The Shell, the influential anime from 1995.  We might have seen it before, but neither of us remembered having seeing it.  The visual backgrounds are great, heavily inspired by the film version of Blade Runner.  A newer Ghost is in the queue for next week!  It was enjoyable, well paced, and with decent music, too.

Now showing on Mubi. 

My leaving choice was El Dorado XXI from 2016, an unusual documentary about a large community of miners, male and female, searching for gold while living in the Andes at 18,000'.  It is the world's highest permanent community.  One shot near the beginning lasts nearly an hour, as we watch miners come and go on a hilly street, dusk turning slowly into night.  Needless to say, this is a very slow moving film, even after the hour is up.  Not for everyone, but I feel as if I have been there (and don't wish to return).  It looks like the ultimate in dreary living, especially as the gold ran out long ago.  But still they come.

Leaving Mubi tonight. 

Deb's choice (still finishing up her end of March festival pics) included a Douglas Sirk melodrama from 1957 called The Tarnished Angels.  Starring Rock Hudson and Dorothy Malone, you get what you pay for;  B & W Cinemascope based on William Faulkner's novel "Pylon," and we see some great stunt flying races mixed in with the human drama.  Robert Stack is the pilot, Dorothy is his wife (whom he all but ignores), and Hudson is the man who falls in love with Dorothy.  Stack finally falls in love with his wife (and young boy), but alas, that last air race proves too much for the old jalopy he was using.  Too late, too late.  A decent enough film, with some good acting.  Faulkner reportedly liked it a lot.

Now showing on Criterion. 

Claire Denis is a director whom we both have come to like, but Deb walked out on The Intruder, a film from 2005.  Then she came back and stayed till the end.  This is not really a bad film; it is a terrible film.  It's about a lonely man (for good reason--he is a total creep) who needs a new heart (in more ways than one), and is in search of his long lost son.  Only it takes most of the movie to figure out that much.  Awful story telling, it feels as if this film was made day by day, under the influence of having no good ideas to present, and nothing important to say.  I kept watching, hoping for some kind of revelation or importance or thoughtful idea.  But there is nothing but emptiness in all directions, along with really bad story telling.  And a central character who is quite revolting.  Who could ask for more from a film?

The Intruder is showing on Criterion. Give it a miss.

That's all for now, until I get my trip blog done.  I am hoping to get Part 3 up sometime this weekend.

Mapman Mike

 

 

 

March Books Read

 We have just returned from an 8-day road trip in the US, so things will remain backlogged for some time.  With no piano practice for 10 days (I managed some today), I have a piano performance group get together here on Friday evening.  So besides unpacking, editing photos, doing laundry, getting groceries, paying bills, and trying to continue my travel volume write-up of the journey, things will be busy around here for some time.  Tonight's full moon party is a hopeless case; perhaps tomorrow night we can have a small celebration.  Much more on the journey later, including it's own blog entry.

 

We spent some time in Arkansas. 

 

March reading began with 6 books by Avon/Equinox SF Rediscovery authors, with Silverberg up first.  The New Springtime is from 1990, the 2nd and final book in a truly wonderful series, certainly the best series he ever wrote.  The story continues from the first volume, but 25 years later.  Life is reemerging on Earth 700,000 years after a meteor storm strike sent everyone into caves and underground.  The same characters, and several new ones, are encountered in this story of survival and a search for a permanent home. There are so many good things to say about this story, and so few negative things.  Though the covers of both volumes might make readers think of the Planet of the Apes series (and indeed Silverberg might have been influenced by the first novel by Pierre Boule), this series is totally different.  There are no "humans" in this series, though they have left their mark.  And these are not apes, but a different offshoot of evolution, possibly even created through genetic engineering by the long lost humans.  Within a few pages readers will quickly forget that these characters are not human; there is humanity in nearly everything they do, think, and say.  I cannot recommend this series highly enough.  I only wish there were more stories forthcoming.

 

The Shame of Man is the 2nd book in Piers Anthony's Geodyssey series.  While not a terrible book by any stretch of the imagination, this marks for me the final book of his that I will read, possibly ever.  If I do read any more of his stuff, it won't be for several years.  I need a break.  His attempt to "make history interesting" is, for this reader, a failure.  However, it might inspire kids to take an interest.

I continue to read pulp fiction by Kenneth Bulmer and E C Tubb.  Fliers of Antares by Bulmer is from 1975, continuing the adventures of Dray Prescott.  This is a good entry in that series, and I enjoyed (mostly) reading it.  Tubb's multi-volume pulp hero is Dumarest, a planet-hopping adventurer searching for Earth, which no one has heard of, despite all people originating from there.  From 1971 comes Lallia, the name of another ill-fated female character that gets involved with Dumarest.  It's a great little story on its own, but Lallia also ties in to earlier parts of this epic tale, too (that mysterious ring, for one thing).  So far this is a recommended series for SF/adventure readers, harkening back to the great pulp writing of the 40s, 50s, and 60s.

 

Next came a real treat:  a Doctor Who novel by Michael Moorcock !  Despite the poor cover, The Coming of the Terraphiles is a cracking good read.  From 2010, this adventure features the Matt Smith Doctor and fellow traveler Amy Pond, one of the best combos in the entire series.  Imagine if Michael Moorcock had sat down with P D Wodehouse to write a Doctor Who novel, and called in assistance from Neil Gaiman and Iain M Banks.  Well folks, here it is!  This is the only Doctor Who novel I have ever read (though I have seen all but the most recent episodes), and will likely be the only one I ever read, unless Moorcock writes another one.  It is totally brilliant, loads of fun, and has enough science to keep the geek in me satisfied.

 

In The Stone House is a collection of 25 short stories from the 80s and 90s by Barry Malzberg, published in 2000 with a modern afterword by the author.  There are several really good stories here, the finest one being the title story.  What if Joe Kennedy, Jr. had not died in a WW II plane explosion, and had become President from 1952-56?  Would it have caused him to end up assassinating JFK in Dallas in November 1963?  Malzberg is endlessly fascinated by the Kennedy family and their doings, real and imaginary.  If you think that the subject of politics can't make a good horror story, you have never read Malzberg.  A classic.

 

And now, the cover of the month.....

 

Cover of the month goes to Michael Whelan! 

 

Now we turn to books off the shelf, of which four were read.  Astronomy nights and our road trip cut into my reading last month.  First up was Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises, from 1926.  It is tied with The Great Gatsby for best novel of the 20s, according to Barry Malzberg.  It's an alcoholic trip through Paris and Spain, specifically Pamplona during the festival of the running of the bulls.  Though I preferred Gatsby, I found myself really liking this novel as well.  The bullfight, a "sport" for which I have no love, is treated properly here at least, and explains how important it is to a certain type of Spaniard.  The characters are well drawn, and the missed opportunity love interest is brilliantly handled.  The back story is given in only brief glimpses by the main character, as if the memory of it (wounded in the war; falls in love with his nurse) is simply too painful to speak of, even internally.  Probably no other book drew tourists to Pamplona (and still does).  I have no memory of ever having read this book before, though I have read A Farewell To Arms, and The Old Man and The Sea.  I will try to get around to a few more.

The Grand Babylon Hotel is from 1902, and was written by Arnold Bennett.  This is the 2nd book of his I have read, and again I was quite pleased with what came across.  The story is a mystery one, with a rich American father purchasing, on a whim, London's best hotel, and staying on with his daughter to run it.  Parts of it are very funny, and the murder/mystery angle, though standard fare for readers of the genre today, is still interesting enough to keep readers turning pages.  A fun book to read.

The Listener and Other Stories, by Algernon Blackwood, is from 1907.  There are 10 horror stories, some of them supernatural.  The last two have women as the main protagonists, an unusual feature for the time.  My favourite stories were "May Day Eve", "The Willows", and "Miss Slumbubble--And Claustrophobia."  While Blackwood tends to dwell too much about how frightened his victims are, his ideas and stories can be rather chilling.  This is the 2nd group of his stories read so far, and I look forward to the next round.

 

Lastly came a 2022 novel by Emily St John Mandel, Sea of Tranquility. Though not nearly as good as Moorcock's Doctor Who novel (see above), this is an effective and thoughtful time travel SF story, with very good characterizations and excellent story telling technique.  Like her much more well known work Station 11, this one deals at times with a pandemic, but in a vastly different way.

All of the above four novels are recommended reading.

Mapman Mike