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Big huge book roundup.
May. 19th, 2007 10:35 amDirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, Douglas Adams
The Dirk Gently books are actually much funnier than the Hitchhiker sequels (and as funny as the first Hitchhiker). This is Adams take on the kind of supernatural stuff that Gaimon does- and of course, Adams does it better. (I heard someone once say that, while Gaimon may be the greatest comic-book writer and artist ever, in the company of people like Pratchett or Adams on the humor side or Gene Wolfe or Russel Hoban on the SF side, he is like a one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest. Anyway). It's funnier than Hitchhiker stuff because it has more of a plot to hang on. Dirk is a delightful character.
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Dumas
Fun. Predictable after first three or four. Have to be very straightforward and simple, because Holmes can't be seen wandering down the wrong path for dramatic tension. Fascinating character- this is one of those characters that's been re-worked at re-appropriated ad infinitum, and seeing the original actual Holmes was pretty interesting.
( Terry Pratchett is still amusing, but on a downward slide )
The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Graham
Well how cute. More uneven and less of a unified plot than I expected/remembered, with episodes both so very bucolic and British, rather annoying (the Lewis-like encounter with Christ) to just jolly fun (toad). The chapter where Rat meets the Sea Rat and is stricken with wanderlust might be the best description of t hat feeling I've ever read. Toad is a great character, and the image of toad as Ulysses is hilarious. Quite cute.
( I am having a tough time grappling with Gene Wolfe )
So in short? I think Wolfe is probably a genius. But the first reading has left me at a loss for words, pretty literally, and I will need to read these again.
The Dirk Gently books are actually much funnier than the Hitchhiker sequels (and as funny as the first Hitchhiker). This is Adams take on the kind of supernatural stuff that Gaimon does- and of course, Adams does it better. (I heard someone once say that, while Gaimon may be the greatest comic-book writer and artist ever, in the company of people like Pratchett or Adams on the humor side or Gene Wolfe or Russel Hoban on the SF side, he is like a one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest. Anyway). It's funnier than Hitchhiker stuff because it has more of a plot to hang on. Dirk is a delightful character.
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Dumas
Fun. Predictable after first three or four. Have to be very straightforward and simple, because Holmes can't be seen wandering down the wrong path for dramatic tension. Fascinating character- this is one of those characters that's been re-worked at re-appropriated ad infinitum, and seeing the original actual Holmes was pretty interesting.
( Terry Pratchett is still amusing, but on a downward slide )
The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Graham
Well how cute. More uneven and less of a unified plot than I expected/remembered, with episodes both so very bucolic and British, rather annoying (the Lewis-like encounter with Christ) to just jolly fun (toad). The chapter where Rat meets the Sea Rat and is stricken with wanderlust might be the best description of t hat feeling I've ever read. Toad is a great character, and the image of toad as Ulysses is hilarious. Quite cute.
( I am having a tough time grappling with Gene Wolfe )
So in short? I think Wolfe is probably a genius. But the first reading has left me at a loss for words, pretty literally, and I will need to read these again.