#RIPXI : 9, City of Death

Based on Jean's recent review, my enjoyment of Shada, and a need for something funny and light during this more and more depressing time in America, I picked up City of Death by James Goss, based on Douglas Adams' screenplay and David Fisher's original ideas. It's another Doctor Who episode from the Tom Baker era with the addition of some of Adams' original ideas that didn't make it into the episode. It has a super evil alien villain, a dude who is trying to build a device for time travel and, consequently, Earth annihilation. He's also an art collector and a husband and, well, he isn't quite as one-dimensional as you would expect. The story wasn't quite as funny or as light as I thought it would be but it was still a really fun read. The majority of the story takes place in Paris and it was a wonderful escape as well. I wouldn't actually mind hopping a plane there right now. If you would like some peril this season (RIP *or* election) that isn't too horrific or dark, this is a great choice!

Also, in related news, I really miss Douglas Adams. I really miss Terry Pratchett as well. I got an email from Amazon the other day announcing a new release of short stories of his (The Witch's Vacuum Cleaner and Other Stories - out on January 3rd) and I almost started crying because there's a good chance this is the last "new" book. Why are there so many crap people in this world who live nice, long lives when there are outstanding ones who don't? And yes, I'm feeling a bit awful about our world right now. How did you know? Maybe I should just go into hiding for the next couple of weeks. But then I would miss Readathon on Saturday and that would be a real tragedy.

Escaping to the City of Light,

K

Reading for Fun: Bravest Warriors and More

I have a lovely stack of books here to review and lots sitting around that I "need" to read but I have been feeling lately (especially since the end of the RIP season) like reading hasn't been completely fun and that's no good. So, yesterday I set aside everything and grabbed some graphic novels off of Z's shelf.

In the last 24 hours I read the first two volumes of Bravest Warriors, based on the cartoon series created by Pendleton Ward of Adventure Time fame. I also watched the first two episodes of the web series because, well, this is just a fun story! There are four "brave warriors" -- Beth, Chris, Wallow, and Danny ... well, five if you count their friend Plum who is with them a lot -- and they have space adventures, focusing on friendship, feelings, bazookas, and a little bit of kissing. They're all surprisingly complex characters and the stories are anything but straight-forward. There are also these little asides at the bottom of most of the pages that are random literature and pop-culture references and it's really fun to recognize some of them. I'm definitely going to buy more volumes for Z (I think the 6th volume is coming out in February) and keep watching the series on Cartoon Hangover on YouTube. It's definitely brain candy!

I can't believe I gave these to Z without reading them myself -- not for content but because I missed out on a fun story by just handing them over to him. So, this leads to ...

The fabulous Andi is hosting a Read My Own Damn Books event next year and I'm going to join her. Since we get to make up our own rules, here are mine --

1. Read and/or reread 80+ books from Z and my shelves and my TBR (which is at 163 before any books I receive over the holidays). This probably won't even cut my TBR in half because I'll add some of Z's books and do some long-overdue rereads of favorites but this will at least get me below 100 again and that will feel nice.
2. Choose FUN books! I want 2016 to be a year of fun reading. I want to feel excited about every book I pick up.

That's it. I will still have 22 "required" books for the 100 Chapter Books project and I likely won't love all of them but I do love the project so that will be enough. Otherwise, I'm going to severely limit review copies and read-alongs to stick to these rules. Obviously DWJ March, OUAT, and RIP are still happening because that's when I get to do some of my happiest reading. Honestly, this is feeling like a really great thing for me right now and hopefully, as I feel better about what I'm reading, my blogging mojo will return as well!

Putting the fun back in reading,
K

Nonfiction November: Yes Please

I was given a pretty (and heavy! nice paper!) newly-released paperback copy of Yes Please by Amy Poehler to review. Though I had this lovely paperback, I was told repeatedly that I *had* to listen to it on audiobook. So I got on the library hold list and, when it was available, I started a co-read of sorts. And now that I've done it, I want to recommend it to everyone else who hasn't read this book yet. Poehler's humor comes through in both mediums but there are benefits to each one. If you listen to the audiobook, you get Seth Meyers, Patrick Stewart, Carol Burnett, Kathleen Turner, and even Amy's parents chiming in. If you get the book, you get to see childhood and teen pictures of the young comedienne. I definitely feel like I got to have the best of both worlds on this read.

This book is funny and profane, sometimes dark and sometimes thoughtful. It was a little disorganized but I'm guessing that there wouldn't be a simple way to organize such diverse content. My favorite parts were the discussion of Parks and Recreation (which I didn't start watching until last year and now I still haven't quite finished because I don't want it to end) and the insider look at SNL. I loved Amy's potty mouth/keyboard and her parents' Boston accent. I wasn't so into the semi-frequent drug mentions or her talk about smoking (though she seems to have quit now). Overall, this was a very honest sharing of her life both in and out of "the business" that was as comfortable as a late-night talk over drinks with a friend.

Peeking behind the curtain,
K

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell

I've wanted to reread Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, well, pretty much since I first read it (probably in 2004 or 2005 when it was still new).  I have to admit I was a bit nervous though because many readers through the years have decided they couldn't get through it, with its copious footnotes and details. I thought maybe my memories of it were more glowing than the book itself. But, the new BBC miniseries prompted me to get to it now and, though it admittedly took me a couple of weeks to get through it, I enjoyed it again just as much as I remembered having done the first time. It is a glorious novel that builds an entirely believable hidden world of magic, just out of focus from our own world.

(trailer)

The seven-episode miniseries has begun airing this week in the UK and will show on BBC America in the US starting on June 13.

Susanna Clarke wrote in The Guardian about the experience of seeing her novel come to life --

... But nothing, I find, has prepared me for the sight of my own characters walking about. A playwright or screenwriter must expect it; a novelist doesn’t and naturally concludes that she has gone mad. (What do they need so many umbrellas for? Don’t they realise that they are imaginary?) 

... In the part of Wentworth Woodhouse that has been made to look like the House of Commons, Sir Walter Pole smiles and saunters over to speak to me. In a ballroom of immense magnificence Lady Pole and Mrs Strange perform a dance of their own invention; it is both graceful and funny. (Later someone will give me a photograph of it.) Stephen Black looks grave and self-possessed and keeps to the shadows. Childermass – in straightforward Yorkshire fashion – shows me his tarot cards and lets me hold them for a moment: they feel warm and pleasantly rough in the hand. Out of the assembled ranks of fairy dancers the gentleman with the thistle-down hair gives me a friendly wave. (This last, I am willing to admit, is not the least in character.)

 Neil Gaiman wrote in the same simply about why he loves this story --

In February 2004, to my perplexity and my delight, the mail brought an advance, but finished, copy of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. I took my daughters on holiday to the Cayman Islands, and while they romped and swam in the surf, I was hundreds of years and thousands of miles away, in Regency York and in London and on the continent, experiencing nothing but the purest pleasure, wandering through the words and the things they brought with them, and eventually noticing that the paths and lanes of the story, with its footnotes and its fine phrases, had become a huge road, and it was taking me with it: 782 pages, and I enjoyed every page, and when the book was done I could happily have read 782 more. I loved the things she said and the things she did not say.

Perhaps some of you that didn't get through the novel will feel inspired to pick it up again after the miniseries. It's getting favorable reviews claiming that it is true to the book, something that we all hope for every time we see an adaptation being made. And perhaps others of you will do as I did and pick up your already beloved copy again and disappear into the world of magician Jonathan Strange and his mentor, Mr. Norrell.

With a nod to The Raven King,
K

Sci-Fi Experience: 12 Doctors, 12 Stories

Remember how I said I was only going to work through my big time-travel anthology for The 2015 Sci-Fi Experience? Well, that was before I got this for Christmas --

Doctor Who: 12 Doctors, 12 Stories is a gorgeous set of stories from lovely authors who have created a new story for each of the twelve doctors (obviously ignoring the War Doctor). There's a nice one-volume set (shown below) but I really wanted the box set that has each story in its own book with the doctor represented on the cover (and a matching postcard for each one). This actually began as e-books of 11 Doctors, 11 Stories and then a compilation paperback, but Puffin decided to reissue it all after Peter Capaldi joined the gang and they added a story for him too.

As you can see, the author list for this project is amazing. There honestly wasn't a dud story in the bunch. I'm one of the fans who joined at the reboot but, even though I don't know some of the older Doctors very well, I still really enjoyed the stories featuring them. I'm not even sure I could pick a favorite story because they were all so wonderful. I highly recommend this collection for any Doctor Who fan or even for any reader wanting to get a taste of what the Doctor is like.

Waiting to become the next companion,

K

Autobiography by Morrissey

I know that it came out a year ago and I bought a copy from the UK the week it came out but somehow time flew and I only ended up reading Morrissey's Autobiography this November. This book will have a specific audience so, instead of trying to convince you to read it, let me give you a few tips if you're already planning on reading about Stephen Patrick Morrissey, from childhood through his most recent album.

1. Be prepared to read a book that has no chapters. This is one long, verbose, sometimes poetic, sometimes obtuse, narrative. It is, as you would expect, lyrical. It is also somehow self-effacing and conceited at the same time. "There is no reason for anyone to notice me" can be quickly followed by "Did you see how they all love me".
2. The longest and most detailed part of the book (50 pages) is a very bitter diatribe about the Michael Joyce vs. Morrissey/Marr Smiths-related money lawsuit. To be sure, it was a terrible court case and was the true nail in the coffin of the Smiths, but I would have liked more about Morrissey in the book and less about the horrid Judge John Weeks. Still, this is obviously still a very tender and gaping wound.
3. You cannot read this book with the book alone. You are going to want a computer right next to you. You will need to regularly press play on this Spotify playlist by Greg Thorpe that includes almost all of the non-Smiths/Morrissey music mentioned in the book (59 tracks). You will also need to get out all of your Smiths and Morrissey albums (which you will have because why else would you be reading about Morrissey if you didn't care about the music). You will want the link to the Suedehead video because so many cool things come together when you read about how/when it was made while watching it. It will also be to your benefit to have a search engine nearby because Morrissey likes to mention people without giving any background biographical information about them. A good Google search fills in many a blank.
4. Get the UK Penguin version. The American Putnam edition is apparently slightly sanitized and it does not have the brilliant Penguin Classics cover that Morrissey demanded.
5. Don't eat meat while reading the book. I have a feeling that he has a way to find out.

Reading this book was definitely an experience. There were times when my heart broke for Morrissey and other times when I wanted to slap him. Overall, this book proves that he's human and he needs to be loved just like everybody else does. (Sorry.) I think that the first person that needs to learn to love him though is the one residing in his own skin. Still, I will be queuing up for tickets the next time he is in town to see him (for the fourth time) and let him bask in my adoration.

Trudging slowly over wet sand,

K

RIPIX: Veronica Mars and Doctor Who

I hate to admit it but, a few short months ago, I had never watched any Veronica Mars. When the movie came out, all of the marshmallows were going crazy and I felt like I was really missing out. Luckily, Amazon Prime had the series and the hubby and I binge watched it over the spring and early summer, finishing up with the movie. Then we went through withdrawals. So, when I was looking for books to take on a trip a couple of weeks ago (Western PA for a wedding), I had to pick up the first VM novel, The Thousand-Dollar Tan Line.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that the book picked up very shortly after the movie story ended. This is a typical Veronica Mars mystery where she gets into trouble, gets some help from Mac and Wallace, gets into even deeper trouble and then solves a seemingly impossible mystery, all while battling a Sheriff Lamb (does it matter which one? they're both asses.) and missing the still-Naval Logan.

This book got me through almost eight hours on two planes and a couple of hours of layover in the middle. It read just like another movie and I was totally absorbed. I could easily picture everything that was going on and hear the voices of Keith, Veronica, Mac and Wallace. It had the darkness and adult situations of the film, with lots of sex, drugs and imminent danger. If you're a fan, you should definitely grab this book.

Then, I needed a second airplane book. I was at the library and happened to see Shada, a novelization of a Doctor Who episode that Douglas Adams had mostly written but then abandoned revisions on when it was not filmed (due to a strike). I grabbed it to follow the theme of television tie-in reading on this trip. This story got me back home and reminded me just how much I love Douglas Adams' writing. Gareth Roberts did an amazing job of putting this together and keeping Douglas' voice intact. Though I didn't watch pre-Eccleston Doctor Who, I know enough about it to have had no problem picturing the Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker), Romana and K-9 in this late-70s adventure in Oxford and beyond. The story in this one is pretty complex, with two Time Lords, two TARDISes and an unexplainably evil villain. I honestly couldn't tell who was going to live and who was going to die. Also, for anyone who is a Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency fan, this book was definitely formed in the same part of Adams' mind and you can see shades of that future story in this one. (Shada was written in 1980 and Dirk Gently in 1987.)

These weren't my typical type of RIP season reads but it was nice to take a break from mentally-ill and homicidal Victorians! These also might have been the first two television-related novels that I've ever read. I can't think of any others off-hand. It was fun to explore these familiar worlds in a different medium and I'm looking forward to the next VM book that is coming out soon.

Which TV show novels are your favorites?

Back from Mars in the TARDIS,

K