kurtwombat's reviews
887 reviews

El Diablo by Brian Azzarello

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Rock solid old west horror tale that gripped from the beginning. Seems to be one thing but has a satisfying twist. Starts dark and just keeps getting darker until it’s pitch black. Only downside is there is not a lot to this one off story but I loved the art work and dialogue. Words were clean and true and the art was kind of a dark brushed chalk version of rotoscoping from the Ralph Bakshi animation days. Grizzly fun. 

In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

 

This book has two tropes I find regrettable. Often each by itself is enough to make me want to pull out my bookmark and look for something else. 

 

The first is the obviously bad decision—the I REALLY DON’T WANT TO DO THIS THING AGAINST MY NATURE, MY BETTER JUDGEMENT AND THE COMMON SENSE OF THE READER BUT I WILL DO IT ANYWAY. In this case we could have avoided this whole escapade if the main character hadn’t waffled up a plot with a decision no one would make.  And that decision is a thorn that burrows annoyingly into the side of the book the whole way.  The main character even asks over and over, why did I do this? I kept hoping to get an answer but I never really did (the vague “I must have sensed something” concept is a cop out). 

 

The second is amnesia.  So frequent in fiction, so rare in life—annoying in both. It’s more a gimmick now than a legitimate plot device largely because you know the memories will flood back in a nick of time.  Despite this, I’m not mad about it’s use here. The amnesia element works quite well. It arises in a reasonable manner and the gradual return of memory is rather deliciously teased throughout much of the book. 

 

So with these opposing forces—how was the book? 

 

Surprisingly good. It moves quickly with a nice array of characters—each of which left an impression and continue to resonate long after reading the book. The use of location, landscape and house, heighten a tense atmosphere that kept feeling like it might veer off into horror—it's good when you are not sure if a “thriller” will become something worse. Kept wanting to get back to this one—wouldn’t have minded if it was longer. 

The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism by Tim Alberta

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring sad tense medium-paced

5.0

 I had some concerns beginning this book. It’s been an overwhelming election year—practically an election decade—and I was afraid this book would just add to that stress. Somewhat amazingly it managed to do the opposite. Evangelicals were no longer a monolithic mass all voting mindlessly one way but instead a complicated mosaic of people at odds with each other over the direction of their church (which is likely in the process of becoming two separate churches). The history of this schism does not go that far back—pretty much born out of the Reagan era—so stemming from politics & power and not religion & faith. Deep research and dozens of interviews synthesized through the author’s personal life in and out of the church create a fantastic overview and detailed analysis of the Evangelical Church and how it became what it is. 

 

I have never been a fan of organized religion—preferring instead nature based belief systems. 

While I consider traditional Christian myths to have value, I have always felt let down by those delivering the message. So imagine my surprise when finding myself moved by the passion of the author and some interviewed for this book. I was not moved by those who consider America their Kingdom on earth.  I find them short sighted and empty hearted. I was moved by those who consider the Kingdom they seek not of this earth or this life. They had the courage of a faith not designed for an immediate payout. Realizing the difference between these two groups helped the whole book fall into place. It also spurred a compassion for those fighting to hold onto a genuine faith in the face of golden calf idolatry. Or at least a spray tanned idolatry. 

Aubrey Beardsley by Brian Reade

challenging informative reflective slow-paced

4.5

 

Odd to think now that this icon of cool art was virtually forgotten until the 1960’s. This book catalogues a giant exhibition of Aubrey Beardsley’s work that brought about his rebirth as an influential artist. As a child of the 70’s, I saw his work (or it’s imitators) everywhere—I knew I liked his work before I knew his name. This highly annotated edition also works as the impromptu biography of an artist who died tragically young at 25. This of course adds to the cool factor of his work—otherwise art from the 1890’s might be hard pressed to find an audience. Reading this book I was wowed from page to page. Of course, being so inclusive this collection includes his lessor works but they work to highlight his growth or offer a glance into his psyche. A fascinating rummage through a brief glorious creative life begging the question of what might have been. 

Do Something: Coming of Age Amid the Glitter and Doom of '70s New York by Guy Trebay

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

2.75

 

“Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself, (I am large, I contain multitudes.)” ― Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass 

 The problem for any memoirist—who am I. Whitman famously pointed out we are all many things. Different moments may call upon us to be one self or another. But at any given moment, we are mostly one thing. Otherwise we are madness—self contradicting. Reading DO SOMETHING I felt caught up in contradictions and frankly was somewhat mad about it. Mad because there is a lot of interest here that could have been quite compelling. Opportunity lost. 

 There are two books here. There is the family memoir of tragedy and pain and there is the search for selfhood in 1970’s New York amidst the “Glitter & Doom” alternative families centered around drag, fashion and art. The cover and promotional push of the book is focusing on the “Glitter & Doom” portion of the book—and admittedly why I entered and won my copy from a Goodreads Giveaway. The author’s heart however is clearly with the family memoir. The “Glitter & Doom” portion almost feels like bait to get the publisher interested—and it feels like there was pressure to push that part of the book closer to the beginning than it should have been. In the early part of the book the author foreshadows the trauma of his mother’s death and when she ultimately does die—we suddenly cut to another world without a moment to feel the loss. The whole book feels oddly cut and pasted like all the paragraphs fell on the floor and then were hurriedly put back on an available page. There are no chapters. Few natural transitions. The narrative felt like someone else writing your biography based on the random conversations you’ve had over time. 

This structure is confusing enough—then throw multitudes of dizzying run-on sentences and constant throw backs and forwards (WHAT I DIDN’T KNOW THEN, LATER WE WOULD KNOW, BUT THAT’S A STORY FOR LATER) and it all starts to blur. People come and go with some getting mini biographies but many barely remarked upon. I still don’t know who Paula was and he apparently lived with her for many years (was it one or two or ten who knows). I had a similar experience where I left a family that had kind of just dissolved and transitioned to a new diverse found family. I knew at the time and certainly know now in retrospect what was happening. This may have been referenced once late in the book as a throwaway but certainly is not the spine of the book as it could/should have been. I loved meeting all his glam friends and feeling the world they lived in but it all felt episodic and disconnected. 

Maybe this book was whittled down to its slim 240 pages. That would explain passages like his discussion of working at Andy Warhol’s InterView magazine and saying he never became close to Warhol but of course he wanted to. This made me scream, “what do you mean of course?” He had barely spoken of Warhol specifically before that or after so there is no context for such a statement. I know there is a certain flightiness of youth—flitting from one thing to the next but that shouldn’t be reflected in the narrative discussing that youth. 

At the beginning of the book a lot of time is put into setting up the recovery of some family photos as if these would be referred to throughout the book. There are photos throughout the book, would have loved more, but only a couple are from this cache. One more disjointed aspect of the book. It’s as if the stories are stones that the author is skimming on the water from the shore. Some stories go straight into the water never gaining air. Others skip along the surface, some for quite a while, taking the reader along but all ultimately sink at the hands of a sudden transition or confusing dead end. 

To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers

adventurous challenging informative mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

A beautiful small scale contemplation of our place in the universe—and whether we deserve one. A devoted group of scientists exploring the galaxy represent the best of what humanity has to offer—while those left behind on earth exhibit more what we have learned to expect from ourselves. Do our best intentions have value when we ourselves may not live up to them? Deceptive novella that seems lacking in action but the cumulative effect brings you to an ending that is at once believable and profound. 

Joyful Recollections of Trauma by Paul Scheer

emotional funny inspiring reflective fast-paced

4.0

 

As a fan of the humor podcast HOW DID THIS GET MADE, I’ve been waiting years for this book to manifest. Some of the podcast’s best moments are when it swerves off track because Paul Scheer suddenly remembers and shares one of these absurd but true childhood stories. Audiences and cohosts alike freeze in a kind of shock as these stories are casually rolled out—as if they were just  like anyone else’s childhood memories. From his grandmother telling him that he might be cooked and eaten if he forgets to lock the door again to Christopher Walken agreeing to meet him as a child only if his father was not present—there are some eye openers here. Woven around the humorous stories are the abusive tales involving his step father including he and his mom finally making their escape. Blending the two narratives makes a kind of surreal landscape where anything seems possible. 

 

Such childhoods are a breeding ground for a life in comedy. From my own experience I know how personal trauma can be turned into material—humor helps build in a protective distance. Also, there is a certain clinical approach involved when you are translating it from one form to another. Intentionally or not one often presents the story with a kind of smooth polish that isn’t there in real life—another benefit to sharing and/or reimagining trauma. 

 

I can see this not being for everyone. It helps to have a connection to Paul Scheer or similar stories of your own to see these stories as funny and not simply tragic. It probably also helps to listen to the audiobook version as I did—hearing the author’s voice kind of gives you permission to take this as the author intended 

The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove by Christopher Moore

adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

 Christopher Moore was strongly recommended to me over a decade ago by I can’t remember who and I can’t remember when but I’m glad I finally dipped in my toe. Over time I have managed to add four or five of his books to my personal to-read pile at home. Early on while reading this one, I had visions of possibly donating the rest of my Moore pile to the local library for resale. It was odd and kind of engaging and mildly humorous but it hadn’t grabbed me. Something changed about midway through. All the characters locked into place and the mildly humorous became genuinely funny—and kind of  engaging became a romp.  Maybe it took me that long to adjust to the fantasy elements—or should I say one really big fantasy element named STEVE. There was a nice payoff with STEVE  and a certain pharmacist but I might have been just as happy hanging out with the regular townsfolks and their irregular problems. Oh, but I did love that set up and payoff with the pharmacist. Moore’s books are apparently quite popular and there is an element that I appreciated that may factor into it—several of the characters despite what they might be going through maintained a certain gentleness at their core. That being my shorthand for a certain candlelight of decency that hasn’t been snuffed out. (kinda reminds me of the scene from THE INCREDIBLES when the family is escaping and Mr. Incredible joyfully says, YOU KEEP TRYING TO PICK A FIGHT WITH ME BUT I’M JUST HAPPY YOUR ALIVE) While I might generally prefer a harder edge, this is done so well I warmed to it. I will be reading more Moore. 

Welcome to the Monkey House by Kurt Vonnegut

dark funny mysterious medium-paced

5.0

Death at the Voyager Hotel by Kwei Quartey

mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

A very thin mystery, even by novella standards, that never gained any momentum. The Ghana setting helped but I wanted more Ghana. Some decent characters but I wanted more from them. An interesting crime who's author was obvious half way through and some oh so brief action at the end are teases that don't satisfy. Feels like the author was clearing out a closet in his brain before getting back to his popular series of Detective Darko mysteries--this hasn't put me off trying one of those (or his Emma Djan series) but I may not get to it as fast.