2016-notes
A Head Full of Ghosts
Notes:
“An amazing and terrifying achievement. A book about demonic possession, family dynamics, economic instability, and fame/reality TV culture that dives into and embraces(rather than avoiding) the obvious works of horror to which it could be compared (the Exorcist, Paranormal Activity, Gilman’s ““The Yellow Wallpaper””, and so many more).
The book tells the story of a family whose older daughter shows signs of psychological instability that are eerily similar to demonic possession. It’s told from a number of timepoints, but all are from the perspective of her younger sister, who watches the events unfold, and then comments later on them, both in her own voice, and as a pseudonymous blogger commenting upon the blockbuster reality TV show that was made of her family’s life. I don’t want want to say more and spoil the richness and spookiness of the story, but the book is creepy, tragic, and riveting in equal parts.
Plus, I like that it treats the explanation of its terror ambiguously, leaving room for any number of interpretations. There’s no villain in a mask, nor the mcguffin of a generic ““Devil””. Rather, the real terror of the book blurs the lines between demonic horror, psychological ailment, family dysfunction, and the inexorable pull of celebrity/reality culture that asks for greater outrageousness onscreen than in real life.
Really stunning, and worth your time if you like smart, humanistic, sophisticated horror. "
Marvel Comics The Untold Story
Notes:
A readable and even-handed account of Marvel comics' rise (60-70s, fall (90s), and rise-again (2000s). This book does a good job of identifying the major players involved in Marvel’s writing, editorial, and business staff, and how they created a company that has dwarfed all of them, even Stan Lee, despite him being synonymous with Marvel as a brand. The great thread of the book was the tensions between creative control and character/brand continuity–how and why do smart, creative people to invest in writing, drawing, and editing something they don’t ultimately own, and how do they deal with discovering the edges of this problem in their art and livelihood?
The Drawing of the Dark
Notes:
A very clever concept hampered by pretty atrocious writing.
Brian Duffy is an Irish Knight living in Venice in the 16th century, after having served as a sword-for-hire for much of his younger life. He is tasked by an old man he meets to serve as a bouncer at a famous tavern in Vienna. The journey from one city to another is perilous, and filled with strange occurrences, but Duffy keeps on, largely because the money is good, and because a woman he once loved resides there. When he arrives, he discovers that the beer served at this particular tavern possesses certain magical properties, and he learns that both his journey, and his future, are part of a much larger battle which has been waged for millennia, involving legendary characters like the Fisher King, Arthur and Merlin, and Finn MacCool. The Drawing of the Dark refers not to metaphorical darkness, but the dark beer of the brewery, which can only be tapped every 700 years, and which can rejuvenate the whole of Europe in the struggle with the invading forces of the Persian Empire.
So…it’s a goofy and ridiculous story which is quite a bit of fun, and shouldn’t be taken too seriously. This is a mix of sword-and-sorcery fiction, historical fiction, and conspiracy mystery. But…the writing was so terrible that I almost didn’t finish it. Character development is functionally nil, and the prose is occasionally flat. Plus, despite its historical setting, there were some obvious anachronisms, particularly in character dialog. Still, it was a pretty clever idea, so two stars instead of one.
Collected Essays 4 Travel
Notes:
A surprisingly interesting window into Lovecraft’s interests and lifeways. This collections brings together all of Lovecraft’s descriptions of towns and cities he visited in eastern North America. Much of this work was unpublished, or included in letters to friends, and is not well known outside of scholars. These pieces will provide an unusual alternative to Lovecraft’s tales of terror and wonder, but the connection is his investment in landscape, and his enthusiasm for history.
Lovecraft’s primary travel interest was antiquarianism–touring areas of historical and cultural interest. In this collection he writes extensively about the historical landscape of New England, New York, Washington D.C., the Chesapeake, and South Carolina, as well as Montreal and Quebec City. Lovecraft had a keen eye for architecture, and for historical details, and these essays are rich in both. One of the essays is even written in the archaic English of 18th century travelogues, which makes for a rather humorous bit of reading.
What these essays make clear is Lovecraft’s passion for historic places, his love of travel, and his gift for landscape description.
A note: Lovecraft’s racism does come through in his discussions of the pollution of the ““purity”” of these colonial and historical sites by modernity, in the person of immigrants and African-Americans, so be prepared for the occasional jarring tangent into racist invective.
Kindred
Notes:
A powerful and devastating meditation on slavery, race, gender, and memory, disguised as a time travel novel.
The plot is simple: A Black woman, living in California in 1976 is forceably called back in time to the 1810s, to save the life of her distant ancestor, the White heir of a Maryland plantation.
Plantation life is unflinchingly and realistically described, though Butler has indicated that she actually toned down some of the depictions of slavery in order to make Kindred not oppressively bleak. The main characters, especially the women, are richly realized, and their motivations complicated. Part of Butler’s goal, I think, was to address the question of how people could live in a position of abject servitude and violence. All three of the most prominent female characters find ways to resist their enslavement in whatever way they could, despite the costs that such resistance or acquiescence entailed. She also writes thoughtfully about the White plantation owners, and how slavery and race structured and organized their consciousness and emotions. There are no easy heroes or villains in this book; everyone is human and flawed, and all are caught up in a broader structure of power, violence, and domination that they live with in whatever way they are permitted or can grab onto.
Lest you think that this is some kind of weighty, ponderous tome, Butler maintains her usual mastery of pacing and plot. It flows along nicely, and is occasionally punctuated with passages that stopped me cold. In short: it’s a masterpiece.
How to Lie with Maps
Notes:
A very clear critical introduction to the problems and possibilities of mapmaking. The book starts with a central conceit–all maps lie, and must, because no map can completely provide a one-to-one depiction of the earth. Therefore, the author (geographer Mark Monmonier) argues, we need to understand both some standard lies (i.e. choices) that mapmakers use to highlight different kinds of information, and to be honest about how such choices must necessarily go into making all maps.
The book is a bit dated in its discussions of computer mapping (most contemporary computer monitors don’t use RGB tubes anymore) but the rest of the book is a great introduction to critical map evaluation for academics, and a well-written, interesting guidebook to mapmaking for everyone else.
