Last Book That You Read- Fiction

NO BUGLES, NO DRUMS by Chares Durden. My fave VietNam novel by far, have been rereading it for nearly 45 years now, and always wondered why Kubrick adapted SHORT-TIMERS instead of this. Author wrote a mildly interesting followup many years later, but he could always turn a phrase (talking about a war cry uttered by a good ol' Southern boy, the narrator explains its effect on him, "It curdled my sperm."

Also read the unmade screenplay of Harlan Ellison's adaptation of Norman Spinrad's BUG JACK BARRON, called NONE OF THE ABOVE. Very ambitious, largely successful. I find it interesting that this and another unmade Ellison, the Derek Flint script FLINTLOCK, both feature A.I.s as antagonists. Guess he was ahead of his time in all sorts of ways.

LES FLEURS DU MAL/THE FLOWERS OF EVIL by Charles Baudelaire

I read a good Norwegian translation of this about 30 years ago. This was groundbreaking stuff when it came out, and caused a scandal.

IIRC, Fleming was something of a Baudelaire devotee.

Been collecting Will Eisners The Spirit Archives. They are a bit hard to come by here, but just got hold of a few more in German, collecting stories from the late 40s. This is pure art, and comic book history. Eisner was one of the masters.

Perilagu Khan wrote:

IIRC, Fleming was something of a Baudelaire devotee.

That's interesting. I didn't know that. I have a nicely illustrated edition from about 1957 of Les Fleurs du Mal.

Phantom Commander wrote:

Been collecting Will Eisners The Spirit Archives. They are a bit hard to come by here, but just got hold of a few more in German, collecting stories from the late 40s. This is pure art, and comic book history. Eisner was one of the masters.

I wonder if anybody ever asked Harlan Ellison his opinion on the Frank Miller SPIRIT movie. I remember he worked on a SPIRIT script for Friedkin in the 70s and was pretty disappointed that it never came to fruition.

trevanian wrote:

Phantom Commander wrote:

Been collecting Will Eisners The Spirit Archives. They are a bit hard to come by here, but just got hold of a few more in German, collecting stories from the late 40s. This is pure art, and comic book history. Eisner was one of the masters.

I wonder if anybody ever asked Harlan Ellison his opinion on the Frank Miller SPIRIT movie. I remember he worked on a  SPIRIT script for Friedkin in the 70s and was pretty disappointed that it never came to fruition.

I loved that Miller movie, one of my favourites. No idea why it gets so overlooked or downright slammed.

ALBINA AND THE DOG-MEN (Albina y los hombres-perro) by Alejandro Jodorowsky

First novel for me by this visionary genius. I only know him beforehand through films and comic books, but he brings the usual craziness here.

This is as great as "Mickeys craziest adventures " by the same pair.

ICE STATION ZEBRA and THE GUNS OF NAVARONE.

While Maclean's THE SECRET WAYS and WHEN EIGHT BELLS TOLL are probably my favorite novels of his, I find ZEBRA (like its film version) to be comfort food. My MacLean omnibus volume also contains HMS ULYSSES (which took me over 40 years to read from when I first started and abandoned it, but it was worth it), and I reread NAVARONE because I'm planning to rewatch the movie this year (took me decades to watch that too, it must have been trying to watch it pan&scan on broadcast TV that turned me off to it for so long.)

Also started rereading actor Andrew Robinson (Scorpio from DIRTY HARRY) novel about his deep space 9 character Garark, called A STITCH IN TIME. For a first-time author, he does a crackerjack job, blending elements from the tv series with things only hinted at while taking the enigmatic Cardassian character through insightful reveals. You probably have to be a DS9 fan to appreciate it, but if you are one, you almost definitely will appreciate it.

You'll also probably have to get it on kindle, because paperback copies of the book go for between 200 and 400 dollars -- it like the sci-fi equivalent of Crowe's FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH in terms of its near-utter unavailability, but Robinson just released an audio book, which might actually be more fun than the book itself if he really brings it as I imagine he will.

I read a lot of MacLean in my younger days. Few could write suspense novels like him. I found his oldest books to be the best.

Phantom Commander wrote:

I read a lot of MacLean in my younger days. Few could write suspense novels like him. I found his oldest books to be the best.

I read one of his last ones for the first time months back, and it was literally almost just dialog, with the characters talking everything out (that approach CAN work -- look at the first FLETCH novel, which is crazy good -- but not here.) There've been more than a few MacL's that didn't work for me (mostly from the mid70s on), but this one was just incredibly bad. I can't even tell you the name of it because I tossed it right afterward, but it was published in the mid 80s and was some kind of takeover of a military ship. Actually, that's one of the reasons I got the omnibus volume, because I knew I was going to need to wash the taste of that one from my mouth and mind.

THE EGYPTIAN PRINCESSES by Igor Baranko.

Graphic novel, the 200 pages fly by since it is so brilliant.

Was in the mood for something light/entertaining and so I have - very belatedly - sunk my teeth into Robert Harris' Pompeii.

DEAD SOULS by Nikolai Gogol

I have read an abridged Norwegian translation of this some years ago, but wanted to read the full version and found an English translation of the whole thing. There are some very good scenes here, or rather, it is how they are described.

You should read Gogol's short story, "Nevsky Prospekt." It's a laff riot.

Perilagu Khan wrote:

You should read Gogol's short story, "Nevsky Prospekt." It's a laff riot.

I bet it is. There is one scene in Dead Souls that made me laugh out loud.

MICHEL STROGOFF by Jules Verne

Verne was not a great artistic writer in the sense of his use of language or debt of themes. What he excelled at was capturing the imagination of the broad population, and taking us to unfamiliar places in an educational manner. For me, this is mostly a nice revisit to a childhood memory.

THE SON OF BLACK THURSDAY by Alejandro Jodorowsky.
Half-biographical captivating epic, mostly about his parents, who fled from Ukraine to Chile and went through some crazy stuff nine decades ago. Very well written, spiritual and mesmerizing.

MADONNAS SMIL  (Madonna´s smile) by Øvre Richter Frich.
Entertaing and well written criminalist novel from a century ago.

UTE AV VERDEN (out of the world) by Karl Ove Knausgård.

I have read much praise for this author´s work. This is the first I read of him (his debut) and I totally get it. Very well written and engaging.

Alterity and Transcendance by Emmanuel Levinas

Lovely bedtime reading...

I POLARNATTENS FAVN by Øvre Richter Frich.

Mystery thriller from Spitsbergen.

JAKOB HARVIS SPILLEREN (Jakob Harvis the gambler) by Øvre Richter Frich.

Another entertaining read from Frich, this time about a young man who somewhat by chance assumes a new identity.

LA VALLEE INFERNALE by Henri Vernes.

Only read the comics before. This is not exactly great literature. Fun fact: In Norway in the 50s, Bob Morane went by the name Bob Moran.