A few good books for Spring Break

21. (8) Just After Sunset by Stephen King 3/20

Pick:
No real reason; Stephen King books are piling up, and I liked the idea of short stories.

Thoughts:
I didn't think this was his best collection of short stories; probably Nightmares and Dreamscapes or the classic Skeleton Crew were better. I like when his short stories lean to horror, since he does that so very well-- one of the best things about Stephen King is his ability to create images that stick with you forever -- the black slick in "The Raft" pulling that guy down through the boards and the finger coming from the sink are two of the worst for me. This book didn't really have one of those images, though there were some good horror moments in here; I thought "The Gingerbread Girl" and "A Very Tight Place" had outstanding thriller moments. I also thought "Willa" and "The Things They Left Behind" were lovely stories, along the lines of King's more serious fiction. "Stationary Bike" and "Ayana" were interesting concepts; I loved the fantasy of "Stationary Bike" being taken over by -- what? constructs? His subconscious? Other beings that inhabit him, like the farandolae in A Wind in the Door, but a whole hell of a lot more menacing? I like the idea of his body turning on him, and I like the resolution -- but for a horror story? Boo. I really didn't think much of "Harvey's Dream" or "Rest Stop," "Graduation Afternoon" or "Mute;" I thought "The Cat From Hell" had a wonderfully horrible ending, but not enough story otherwise. My favorite story was probably "N.," both because I love the Lovecraftian feel, particularly with the contagious madness, and because the descriptions are amazing.

Overall, not bad.


22. (Bookiversary Present!) Black Bartlemy's Treasure by Jeffery Farnol 3/23

Pick:
Are you kidding? I've got a book about pirates, one of the seminal works of pirate fiction, AND it was a present from my sweetie? You think I'm going to read anything else?

Thoughts:
It was a surprising book for me, because it turned out to be a romance. And though the hero got annoying, what with his constant disavowals that he's unworthy, I actually really liked the romantic aspects. I know it's weird, but I like reading about beautiful women when I can picture them and they match my opinions of beauty -- for a counterexample, Elena in The Vampire Diaries, slender and blonde and fair and icy? Not hot. But Lady Joan Brandon, with her waist-length dark hair, her smooth skin, trim waist and "deep bosom," her fondness for singing aloud and her passionate ways? Hubba hubba. I also loved the scenario, that the two of them were marooned on a deserted tropical island, and spent a few months building a fine homestead. That sounds like a wonderful time, to me.

Anyway, the piratey parts were still outstanding; reading about Abnegation Mings and Roger Tressady with his steel hook and Black Bartlemy with his silver lady, and of course, Adam Penfeather, the buccaneeringest buccaneer of them all, was just incredibly fun. Not to mention, of course, the reason I found out about this author in the first place, to wit that he was the source of three-quarters of the pirate speech in my Pirate Primer, which meant I got to read things like this:

"Open the gate!" says I.
"Be hanged for a murderous-looking rogue, a lousy thief, a wastrel, and a hangdog knave!" says he all in one breath.
"All true enough!" says I. "And now, open the gate!"
"Be danged for a prigging Gypsy -- 'A Gad! I'll have ye clapped i' the pillory for a black-visaged clapper-claw!"
"Unbar!" says I. "Or it shall go plaguey wi' you when I come in."

At which point he bashes open the gate, and it does indeed go plaguey for the guard. Now that's good stuff. I loved this book, and I absolutely have to get the second one, Martin Conisby's Vengeance, since this one is a thrice-bedamned cliffhanger, arrrr! But for all that, I'd not be tradin' the readin' o' this fer all the pearls in the Caribee! Yoho!


23. (Re-read) Proven Guilty by Jim Butcher 3/25

Pick:
I just got these back from Xian, and I not only love them and want to get all the way to the new books (I still haven't read last year's new installment, and this year's comes out in a month or so), I also have to get ready for the possible RPG sessions based on these books this summer! Woot!

Thoughts:
This one's a hell of a yarn. It's interesting in that it doesn't have the supervillain that has been present in most of the first half-dozen books -- maybe even all of them, now that I think about it. This one has wheels within wheels and plots within plots, and problems popping up for the new Warden Dresden all over the place. Great drama, great surprises concerning Michael's family, and a hell of a fight scene or ten. I love these books. I'm obscenely jealous of Jim Butcher's ability and success and, well, almost everything about him, but I am still very glad I get to read and re-read these. It was cool, too, because other than the part with Molly, I didn't really remember the details in this one, and it's only been, what, two years since I read it? Maybe three. Anyway, it's good to know that they hold up to a reread or three. I look forward to reading Dresden for a long, long time.