vreadsabook's reviews
672 reviews
The Silent Companions by Laura Purcell
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Germania by Tacitus
2.0
This book, which I naturally read in German, was a fascinating little look at "Germans" through the eyes of a Roman observer. Perhaps telling more about Roman than German culture, it was nonetheless fascinating. It was particularly interesting to see what stereotypes present in the times of Tacitus remain. A short, quick, fun read.
The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories by Angela Carter
5.0
I cannot rave about this book enough. A quote on the back of the book describes Carter as a "quirky, original, baroque stylist" and I couldn't agree more. This collection of re-written fairy tales is very lush. Carter makes them into works of great literature, all the while further highlighting their bawdiness, and highly-gendered nature with her word choice. Likewise, her word choice links all the tales together so, like good fairy tales, the only real way to tell where one story ends and another begins, is by how they are arranged and divided by the teller. It is very important, when reading this book, to pay attention to word choice. Carter uses her words carefully and strangely, often to great effect. It took me a long while to read the book simply because I'd read a story and sit and digest the words. Many of the stories are updated, with cars and guns, which made me feel like I was listening to someone tell me the stories today, perhaps my grandmother at her stove rather than at a spinning wheel. Puss-in-Boots and The Bloody Chamber were particular favorites. Ultimately, this book, although short (at about 125 pages) was not only a delight but now has a firm place on my favorites list.
Wormwood: Gentleman Corpse, Vol. 1: Birds, Bees, Blood & Beer by Ben Templesmith
2.0
This graphic novel had a pretty fantastic art style. The artist did a great job depicting the surreal landscapes. The novel was a little too strange for me, however, and I really enjoy strange. It just didn't seem well put-together. It is as if the artist/author dreamt up his world, but then didn't really create the story to engage the reader within it. You're dropped into a world without much rhyme or reason, but I, at least, didn't feel compelled to figure out the reasoning. There's no real mystery to the plot and the villains always seemed very cliche. I also felt its dark humor tried too hard to be funny and edgy. It reminded me of the humor in Johnny the Homicidal Maniac with less of the macabre irony that helps it to be funny. I did enjoy the character of Wormwood, though. His dandified nature in spite of being a corpse makes him fairly amusing. I'm not sure I'll be reading the others.
Batman: Gothic by Klaus Janson, Grant Morrison
2.0
The saving graces of this graphic novel are its nice, slightly pulpy and old-school art style and the creativity in its plot. Its plot was indeed very unique, some would say totally non-canon. I really enjoyed the gothic (as in architectural style, not Hot Topic) touches, but that could be only because of my own personal interests. It was really strange to see a religious edge to Batman, and I'm not sure that I liked it, at least in the sense that it seemed to say that religion really existed, which tends to be very counter most of the philosophy of Batman. Otherwise, there were many gaping plot holes and too many meaningless names being dropped. Altogether, it ended up seeming largely implausible. It's worth reading if you're very into Batman or want to see what happens when religion and Batman clash, although the results are not necessarily pretty.
Revere: Revolution in Silver by Grant Bond, Ed Lavallee
3.0
This graphic novel was a really fun "What would happen if we took history and inserted vampires/zombies/werewolves?" in the recent vein of horror/history mash-ups. Paul Revere's profession as a silversmith takes on a whole new level of meaning as a werewolf-slaying hero. The graphics are nice, although the plot, for all of its fun, is a little sub-par, trading in gore for story. Nonetheless, it was short, fun, and definitely a worthwhile quick read.
Class: A Guide Through the American Status System by Paul Fussell
3.0
A hilarious and fascinating romp through status. It is most certainly dated, but knowing that and reading it for the greater concepts still makes it a very worthwhile book.
Berlin Alexanderplatz by Alfred Döblin
3.0
This book was one of those novels that manages to be about the entire universe while claiming to only be about one man. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and mulling over its implications.