Jess and I just got back from a week in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. I like tropical beach vacations because I get to relax and catch up on my reading. Here are some half ass reviews of the books that I read this time (yes, I spent much of the vacation sitting in a beach chair). I know that a few of you people have been looking for something new for your bedside table.
Low Life is a dense, fiercely researched history of 1840-1920 Manhattan. Sante should be proud of the facts and mythology that he has collected in this volume.
I've became interested in city life during the 1800s after I read The Alienist (a long time ago) and I finally got around to picking this up. I didn't enjoy all sections equally, but I'm glad that I read it.
Recommended to anyone with an interest in history or New York City. Don't miss the author's afterword.
I'm always excited when some new Neil Gaiman shit comes out. This collection of short stories didn't disappoint.
Favorite bits: the American Gods novella, Other People, Bitter Grounds, a Study in Emerald...
Recommended to all!
PS - read the author's notes about each story as you complete them. You'll be glad you did.
(you know, the Daily Show commentator and "PC guy" in the Apple commercials)
Very silly. Fun at times, but I don't think that I'd recommend it. Although the hobo names did mix well with all the colorfully named characters in Low Life :)
I hadn't read any Ellis before and I probably should have read "American Psycho" first. (It's not a sequel, it's a novel starring the author. Yeah.) For some reason, I feel guilty admitting that I liked this :)
Shitty cover.
Recommended. Try it if you like vodka.
Where would we be without tenacious bastards like the late Dr. Thompson? Somebody needs to keep a weird and semi-deranged eye on the cops and the president.
Watch "Where the Buffalo Roam" or "Fear and Loathing" first so that your mind's voice will have the proper stumble/mumble gait.
Try it if you like Hunter!
Fun, action-packed cyber sci-fi. Terrible fucking cover. Terrible title too. Like an action movie - fast paced, story over writing, mild cliches. I'd read the next in the series.
I loved some of the stories and barely made it through others. It probably doesn't help that I'm ignorant of all things Russian. Much like Buddha's Little Finger, I think that thoughts and parts of stories will stick with me (a good thing).
Try Buddha's Little Finger first. It's good.
Really - I hadn't read it yet. No joke.
I liked it, of course, but I have a feeling that the best issues are still out there in one of the other million volumes.
