Mount TBR 2021 discussion

Once again into the breach, and up the unread piles.

Few plans this year, honestly. I do intend to finish up the 87th Precinct series, though. Beyond that, the Pendergast books, and the Nameless Detective.

We’ll see how it goes.

Sounds like a plan!

Hilary (A Wytch's Book Review) wrote: "Sounds like a plan!"

At least 15% of a plan!

I’d also like to crack on through the audiobooks this year...I have quite the backlog.

Good luck!

Quirkyreader wrote: "Hurrah at it again 🐸"

Surging out of the gate a tad more slowly...let’s hope I maintain the pace this year.

Jadetyger wrote: "Good luck!"

Thanks!

#1 - The Alchemist by H. P. Lovecraft, read by Ian Gordon

HPL’s first publication sticks with old fashioned pseudo-Mediaevel tropes and a family curse. Ian Gordon gives the tale a suitably melodramatic reading.

#2 - Cloak & Dagger: Crime and Punishment by Bill Mantlo & divers hands

Despite the title is mainly a Spider-Man collection in which Cloak and Dagger are supporting characters — initially falling into the Punisher corner of being agents of vengeance (and, indeed, the Punisher himself shows up, in a rather goofy way, in a three issue arc.) Cloak and Dagger do finally get a solo outing, in a story that makes 1980s New York City look like a horrific hellhole (in the real world NYC was starting to clean up by 1985.)

As characters the pair are pretty horrifying, and they start out as killers (in revenge for what was done to them.) Cloak’s powers are functionally parasitic, mostly drawing on Dagger’s powerful life force. Dagger’s powers initially kill by freezing the target, but quickly get modified until she can just paralyze, and clean drugs out of an addict’s system. All the same, they remain terrifying.

The writing throughout the book is awkward and clunky, unfortunately. The artwork is mostly solid.

#3 - Cloak and Dagger: Shadows and Light by Bill Mantlo, Al Milgrom, Chris Claremont, Ed Hannigan, Rick Leonardi, Bill Szienkevich and others

Cloak and Dagger continue to develop as characters, and their initial limited series takes steps to moderate the characters and expands on the briefly sketched in origins (though this doesn’t actually add anything.) Eventually their first encounter with the New Mutants is followed up, and the makeover at this point starts in earnest, resulting in a kinder, gentler pair of characters (who are also quietly aged up a bit.)

Welcome back, Steven! You're off and running!

Bev wrote: "Welcome back, Steven! You're off and running!"

Off like a cheetah after a gazelle!

#4 - Adam Adamant Lives! Volume 02 by Guy Adams

The first volume was a pretty good update to the series premise, making Adam all the more mysterious — is he truly an adventurer transported from 1902 to 1966, or something more sinister? Even Adam is uncertain, struggling with what appears to be the ghostly presence of the Face, his mortal enemy. This volume, however, falls right over. Georgie is mostly sidelined, Adam is kidnapped, tortured, and brainwashed, Simms is fighting on alone, and evil (and annoying) Margo Kane looms over everything. This also feels like a finale when all is said and done. It’s a pity as Blake Ritson was an excellent Adam Adamant, and Adams’ updated Simms was fun.

#5 - In the Walls of Eryx by H.P. Lovecraft

Straight SF by Lovecraft. A human prospector on Venus discovers a crystalline energy source inside a transparent building...but soon discovers that it’s actually a maze, and he’s stuck, and the owners of the maze are coming closer.... Doubly bleak, given the ending.

#6 - The New Mutants Classic, Vol. 7 by Chris Claremont & sundry

The continuing adventures of the Xavier School For Gifted Youngsters junior class as they get bounced into the future and have to face off against their darker counterparts, the Hellions. It’s mostly okay, but Claremont goes back to the Days Of Future Past well again.

#7 - Fantastic Four: Island of Death by Tom Beland and Juan Doe

Just what I needed — a lightweight, funny read. It’s pretty much Fantastic Four in Puerto Rico, and the menaces tend to be fairly basic. The joy is in see the FF operate as a family (and Spider-Man as the quirky family friend who sometimes joins the business to help out) and their kindness and caring for each other.

#8 - The Multiversity by Grant Morrison & others

Grant Morrison's capable of turning out some mind-twisting work, but he often manages to generate muddy rubbish as well -- and this is rather on the muddy side, thanks to the flood of ideas and Elseworlds-style twists and turns on DC comics (and occasionally featuring expies of other companies.) Unfortunately things get very disjointed in key places, and the villains of the piece are more goofy than anything. I suspect that Morrison's work here was badly affected by the plethora of rewrites that the series went through (contributing to years of delays.) If he ever does tackle Multiversity Too, it will be interesting to see what else he can draw out of the material — there’s hints in The Green Lantern, Vol. 1: Intergalactic Lawman and the follow-up, though this might mean the main sequel is dead.

#9 - The Amazing Spider-Man: The Complete Alien Costume Saga, Book Oneby Tom DeFalco, Al Milgrom, various

Drawing on the three Spider-Man books of the time (mid-1980s) this volume collects the first half of the initial appearances of Spider-Man’s symbiotic costume. Picked up on an alien world, the costume can morph into anything Peter wants, produce organic webs, and respond to mental commands. At first it’s great, but then things get sinister....

A lot of the book is a slog, alas, but there are bursts of fun. There’s also the continuing soap opera of Peter Parker’s life — at this point he’s with the erratic Black Cat, but Mary-Jane shows up again to disrupt things a bit.

#10 - Doctor Who: The Best-Laid Plans by Ben Tedds

Doctor Who prose story about an ideas man on a far distant planet. His ideas are profitable, if strange, and usually tailored to his often criminal customers. Then one of those ideas leads to the involvement of Twelve.... Entertaining enough, though not great.

#11 - Doctor Who: Blue Boxes by Erin Hiorakova

Doctor Who prose story centered on phone phreakers and the electronic boxes they used to make long distance phone calls for free. Initially it;s about prank calls to UNIT headquarters, which Three ends up taking an interest in when bodies show up. Decently done, if rather downbeat.

#12 - UNIT: The Coup by Simon Guerrier

Set after the retirement of now Brigadier-General Alastair Lethbridge-Stewart, U.N.I.T. is undergoing changes and upsets even as the Silurians offer diplomatic relations — only to be attacked by a competing British intelligence organization. It’s up to Lethbridge-Stewart to save the day...again.

The story is fine, but the presentation is a bit chaotic, with way too much in the way of sound being thrown from all directions.

#13 - Doctor Who: The Seventh Doctor Vol. 1: Operation Volcano by Andrew Cartmel, Ben Aaronovitch, etc

Generally enjoyable, and nice to have the OG Torchwood, Intrusion Countermeasures Group, back for a spell, bringing Seven and a grown-up Ace in to help with a mysterious spaceship in Australia. Then there’s the question of just what Group Captain Ian “Chunky” Gilmore is doing waking up on a spaceship in 2029....

The volume’ s filled out with a rather stupid post-“Greatest Show In The Galaxy” tale that tries to lampoon Donald Trump, and a couple of short tales.

#14 - Don't Turn on the Lights by Cassandra Khaw

Cutely gruesome multipath horror...this is how it really happened, as is this, and *this*, gradually subsuming the reader.

#15 - Stephen Fry's Victorian Secrets by John Woolf, Nick Baker

Lightweight historical material, written by Woolf & Baker, narrated by Fry, and periodically interrupted by expert voices and re-enactors. Some of it has a certain familiarity, but some is new to me, and quite interesting.

#16 - The Half-Life of Marie Curie by Lauren Gunderson

A two-hander about the friendship of Hertha Ayrton, electrical genius and suffragette, and the constantly ill, troubled Marie Curie, caught here at a time after her husband;s death, and while she’s in the midst of an affair with a married man. Intense, sweet, sad work, quite outstanding.

#17 - Forensic History: Crimes, Frauds, and Scandals by Elizabeth A. Murray

A relatively basic, introductory look at forensics from the historical to the near-contemporary issues of financial and computer crime. I was hoping for more of a scientific focus, I admit, but this is still interesting.

#18 - The Viscount and the Witch by Michael J. Sullivan

A prequel to the Riryia Chronicles, meeting the characters at a much earlier point in their lives, and detailing how they meet raggedy Viscount Albert Winslow. As with the rest of this series, it’s amusing.

#19 - A Legacy of Spies by John le Carré

The final entry in the Smiley books...where Smiley himself (mostly absent) should be at least 102, depending on which birthdate is the rock solid one.

The novel itself is a first-person account of retired Circus operative Peter Guillam, called in to discuss the operation that constituted the bulk of The Spy Who Came In from the Cold, as various parties have launched wrongful death lawsuits against the intelligence services. Guillam knows there’s more to this, as well as a huge generational issue, and so must navigate choppy seas in his responses, all the while resisting his tendency as a spy to disappear from sight and head for a bolt hole.

Along the way, le Carré strives to make a case for a United Europe, seeing Brexit as the backward leap that it’s been.

An excellent, at times lyrical, book.

#20 - The Best American Mystery Stories 1999 edited by Ed McBain and Otto Penzler

I have the audio edition, which drops a few stories. What’s left is pretty good, though nothing really grabbed me.

#21 - Legends of the Dark Knight: Jim Aparo Vol. 1 by Jim Aparo and Bob Haney

450+ pages of sometimes downright goofy Batman team-up stories with Aparo’s superb artwork. This covers a large chunk of Aparo’s work on THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD, and it’s sometimes laugh out loud funny — the comedy highlight has Batman, Wildcat, and the Joker chasing a tiny dog full of antibodies (Haney was not strong on science) around Gotham, trying to catch it before 600 convicts die of a rare disease.

Fun stuff.

#22 - Marvel Masterworks: Marvel Team-Up, Vol. 1 by Gerry Conway, Len Wein, Gil Kane, others

Spider-Man and various friends (and otherwise) meet up, sometimes clash, deal with various villains. This was originally meant to be a Spuder-Man/Human Torch duo book, but quickly developed into a straight team-up book. Mostly just okay, though this unfortunately includes the biggest sticker of Gerry Conway’s career, the Man-Killer story.

#23 - Strange Skies Over East Berlin by Jeff Loveness and Lisandro Estherren

An American spy, embedded in the East German Stasi, is trying to help wall-crossers in Berlin when something lights up the night sky and crashes in the far distance. He’s then tasked to find out what came down, and to get intelligence back...and that’s when the wheels come off...but not just for him. He’s barely even started before it’s a base under siege story...but under siege from *what*? Is it a predator, feeding on memory and fear? Or is it even more terrifying — a seeker and bringer of truth, that will shred the lies that power the world?

It’s an intriguing concept, but the execution is iffy. Given limited space, Loveness resorts to narrative shortcuts and compression, finally barely providing a conclusion.

#24 - The Atrocity Archives by Charles Stross

The first of the Laundry Files books, which initially follow computer geek Bob Howard, drafted into the Laundry when his chasing unusual fractal calculations nearly got Wolverhampton eaten by a cross-dimensional alien entity. Now promoted to field operations, he’s faced with an Interdimensional Nazi redoubt and concrete cows thst were originally flesh and blood, revealing a traitor in the ranks.

Worse yet, he’s caught the interest of Angleton, the upper-level bureaucrat who’s much more than he seems....

#25 - Agents of Atlas by Jeff Parker and Leonard Kirk, plus others

An expanded collection of the first Agents Of Atlas story, which revives a batch of Marvel characters from the 1940s and 1950s, including the fairly awful Yellow Claw, and turns them into a fun story that rehabilitates Yellow Claw (really Golden Claw) and brings Jimmy Woo fully into the modern Marvel Universe.

As a backup, the new story gets a collection of first appearances that most will find a bit rough sledding, plus the atrocious What If... #9 that finds 1978’s Avengers looking at a possible 1950s Avengers consisting of most of the Agents Of Atlas team.

#26 - Superman/Batman, Volume 5 by Mike Johnson, Michael Green, Len Wein, Rags Morales, etc

Collects several different stories from this anthology series, with Batman gaining Superman’s powers, the two finding themselves in a mash-up world, and the composite Superman/Batman. Mostly good, if not great, fun.

#27 - The Family Trade by Charles Stross

I got interrupted reading this initially (I was reading it to MP3 for a blind friend, and someone opened fire outside my house…and I never got back to the book.) Restarted it this year, and…hm. It’s pretty lightweight, with more stereotypical material than I’d normally expect from Stross. The narrative tends to sprawl and be floppy, which is typical of some of his work. Very appealing: the strong feminist slant, with interesting and differentiated women in the main cast. Unfortunately, the first six books in this series are really three longish novels bodily split apart, and it shows in where the cliffhangers land.

#28 - Babylon's Ashes by James S. A. Corey

After the mayhem and chaos of the previous book, this one is practically sedate. This seems to be because megalomaniacal Belter Marco Inaros has won such a victory that there’s not much room for maneuver in the story — and there’s a distinct lack of energy to it, too: everyone’s exhausted, not vengeful, not determined. The wrong can’t be righted, only punished, and to do that, dealing with Inaros’ destruction of Earth and murder of more than 50% of the population, requires Inaros to be in a position to be punished…which means the vicious tactician of the previous book suddenly becomes a tactical idiot, finally getting himself killed by, conveniently, whatever killed the Gatebuilders.

It’s a sputtering end to the second Expanse trilogy, which ends with both foreboding and positivity and a convenient exit point for readers.

#29 - The Tea Shoppe by Josie Adams

A gentle uncomplicated story of a tea shop owner in England, coupled with a (tea-)potted history of tea. Designed to be listened to at bedtime, though I found myself focused on the historical bits and a bit annoyed at the reading.

#30 - Escoffier: The Complete Guide to the Art of Modern Cookery by Auguste Escoffier, read by Curtis Stone

An odd choice for a sleep meditation piece — basically it’s a complex chunk of a longer book, centered on making consommé in a number of ways — and an odder choice of reader. It did succeed in lulling me to sleep the first time, but not the second.

#31 - Latin History for Morons by John Leguizamo

Don’t expect to learn a lot from this — there’s interesting educational material scattered throughout, but it’s mainly Leguizamo being his rapid-change self. Avoid if cussing offends you.

I haven't read the book, but I saw the comedy concert. I thought it was funny, and I did learn a couple of things. Not a lot, as you say, but some.

#32 - Tricks by Ed McBain

The 87th Precinct at Halloween (again) as trick-or-treating kids knock over a liquor store and kill the owner, a magician disappears, and a serial killer is a target for a takedown. The night gets *very* busy for the unusually well-staffed 87th, and practically goes to hell in a handbasket.

#33 - Horse Under Water by Len Deighton

I’m not sure why this wasn’t filmed along with the three Harry Palmer films that came from “The Secret Files” aka The Nameless Spy series. It’s certainly got a solid thriller somewhere in here, though, like The Ipcress File, it would have required serious streamlining.

In short, Deighton’s unnamed spy gets sent off to a Navy dive school to train for diving a wrecked U-boat off the coast of Portugal. His small team, including an Italian frogman who was very successful during WWII, is rapidly expanded with a Navy diver, and the diver’s girlfriend. Nobody knows what they’re looking for, but the spy thinks he has it do[ed out — literally — until he realizes he doesn’t, or has half the picture, or maybe 25% …the dominos keep falling, and it becomes apparent that he’s been thrown at this to see what shakes loose…we hope you live through it, old boy.

It’s quite the entertaining narrative, full of biting and bitter wit, with characters who present themselves as one nuanced thing…and then will not shut up long enough for that impression to last. What surprises me is that there are long passages here about Tories and fascists and supremacists that would be apt here in 2021.

For what it’s worth, I enjoyed this. Deighton was at his best when thoroughly sardonic.

#34 - Best Defense by David Mack

Part two of three, and as Kirk deals with the Klingon incursion into Isildur space and the loss of the Jotohr Transfer Key to a Romulan Tal Shiar spy who plans to use it to trigger a short but final war, the Enterprise is called to Centaurus to help with the ongoing Organian Treaty negotiations — Klingon councilor Gorkon has mysteriously vanished, and the possibility of the Klingons starting hostilities and dooming themselves and the Federation is growing worse.

Meanwhile Captain Una is on the Jatohr homeworld and finding it very strange indeed. Now she has to get her crew back…except, unknown to her, there are new arrivals and the Transfer Key may be lost for good.

The book cracks along, but the depictions of both the Klingons and the Romulans can get very heavy handed and one-note. Plus there’s a subplot with McCoy and his daughter that gets whiny in a hurry.

Now for book three.

#35 - Adam: Legend of the Blue Marvel by Kevin Grievioux & etc

I really wanted to like this, but the writing is often rough, the story often sloppy, the internal chronology inconsistent, and the choice to fridge a female character for no good purpose infuriating. There’s a good tale at the heart of this: the legacy of race hatred and its persistence over time, and how that endangers a nation, with a side story of how allies, empowered, can become radical enough to be an even bigger menace than what they’re fighting.

Hilarious to see Tony Stark, during the Civil War mess, being accused of being a bleeding heart liberal.

#36 - Green Arrow: A Celebration of 75 Years by various and sundry

Starts with GA’s guest appearance and hits the highlights, more or less, up to the start of the New 52 reboot, where the GA book was for a while one of the worst entries. Unfortunately some of the inclusions are abridged, but overall that should not really detract.

#37 - Bust by Ken Bruen and Jason Starr

We’ve all been there…schlubby but well heeled older guy falls for attractive woman who works for him, and it all ends up with murder most foul.

That’s only the beginning here as we encounter one unlovable loser after another, people whose minds encompass little and whose ambition is thereby limited. It’s a story of chaos brought on by the petty and of not particularly grand plans that derail with sad-sack ease.

I think Bruen and Starr were aiming for the sort of hungover comic nature of the Donald Westlake Dortmunder books, but they don’t quite get there. It’s a very quick read, though.

#38 - Hellingly Hospital Railway by Peter A. Harding

A history of the one mile long hospital line that served a mental hospital in a bucolic corner of England between 1901 and 1959. Quirkily charming, I’d say. Includes photographs and diagrams.

#39 - Touring Caravans by Jon Pressnell

A concise overview of the British touring caravan, and where its roots actually lie (as it turns out, not with the Roma.) Could have done with being longer, but it’s an interesting read, with an interesting selection of pictorial examples.

#40 - In Extremis by Ken Goddard

Tie-in novel that hoes to great lengths on the bad guy (who never interacts with the team) and piles on the weapons-grade science, but never really catches the characters or inculcates a sense of urgency despite the compressed time frame. It’s also *extremely* confusing — a contract killer murders a man in the hills of a wildlife refuge, setting a wild chain of events going, but the dead man wasn’t his target. Another man killed is assumed to be a notorious drug dealer and murderer, except he was just some poor guy in a stolen truck hunting mule deer for food…maybe. The book even ends on a cliffhanger…but there’s no follow-up.

Well, on the bright side Lady Heather doesn’t show up.