“My interest in writing has been with me for as long as I can remember. My first work dates from when I was nine years old. A poem about my dog, if memory serves me. I grew up loving words and what they could do. I liked film too, and it has obviously influenced my work, but it was always the words that counted, and as I grow older, they count even more.”
— Joe R. Lansdale from his introduction to Bestsellers Guaranteed.
I read six books this month.
A Study in Scarlet (1887) by Arthur Conan Doyle
Great introduction to Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, 221B Baker Street, and an interesting mystery. I’d give this four stars but the long flashback to Utah towards the end really dragged and felt like a different book.
I read this and some of the other volumes years ago so I know it gets better after this.
The Sign of the Four (1890) by Arthur Conan Doyle
As in A Study in Scarlet, I enjoyed the interaction between Holmes and Dr. Watson as well as their investigation of the mystery. I also liked the introduction of Mary Morstan, the love interest for Dr. Watson.
But just as in A Study in Scarlet, I enjoyed the first part much more than the last. The last chapter in which everything is explained dragged on.
Storywise it’s an improvement over A Study in Scarlet, but I don’t think it reaches the greatness of the short stories that Arthur Conan Doyle would write after writing the first two novels.
Piranesi (2000) by Susana Clarke
Piranesi lives in a labyrinth-like world composed of infinite halls and statues. The upper levels are filled with mists and birds. In the lower levels is an ocean which rises depending on the tide.
We follow Piranesi as he keeps busy by investigating the halls and statues. He calls himself a scientist and takes meticulous notes in his journals. Then Piranesi starts discovering that not everything is as it seems.
The story has a slow meditative pace but we learn something new in each chapter.
In the beginning the world building drew me, afterwards the unfolding of the mystery kept me reading. I also liked how Piranesi keeps a journal and how it turns out to be important to the story.
Piranesi is a story of loneliness and solitude, but it’s also a hauntingly beautiful story of kindness and gratitude.
The Snows of Kilimanjaro and Other Stories (1961) by Ernest Hemingway
This is my second time reading this collection. Hemingway is one of my favorite writers. I like his prose. It’s smooth and clear. I also like the themes he covers like travel, wilderness, war, love, and loss.
I liked every story in this collection but especially “The Snows of Kilimanjaro” and “The Short Happy Life of Francis MaComber.”
The Starmen of Lyrdis (1952) by Leigh Brackett
Michael Treehearne discovers that he is actually a member of the Vardda, the only race that can withstand the rigors of intergalactic flight.
Leigh Brackett is one of my favorite authors but this was slow going. Even though the chapters are short and Brackett’s prose shines in some places, the story is dry, lackluster, and has some jarring plot contrivances. It has a few interesting ideas but it’s missing the wonder and excitement of much of her other work.
Bestsellers Guaranteed (1993) by Joe R. Lansdale
I’ve been wanting to read something by Joe R. Lansdale for a while. I figured I’d start with this collection of early short stories and a novella. While most of the stories are horror stories the last two are more crime noir. One story was too surreal for me (“Bob the Dinosaur Goes to Disneyland”) and one story was just too dark for me (“The Job”) but I enjoyed the heck out of all the others. The stories range from quiet horror to humorous to just plain dark.
Favorite stories:
“The Dump”
“God of the Razor”
“Not From Detroit”
“The Events Concerning a Nude Fold-Out Found in a Harlequin Romance.”
My favorite story in the collection is the novella, “The Events Concerning a Nude Fold-Out Found in a Harlequin Romance.” A man down on his luck, his daughter, and the owner of a used bookstore investigate a possible murder. This East Texas gothic was a real page turner with great characters.
I liked the variety of stories, the author’s introduction, and the story introductions. In them he gives lots of interesting details about his influences and how the stories came about, without giving away any plot details.
I’ll finish with a passage from his introduction that really spoke to me. It’s about his reading interests and how they influenced his writing.
“I read everything from fairy tales to books on lost civilizations to adventure to the classics to comics, especially “Batman” and “Detective Comics.” I had no idea that one type of fiction or non-fiction was supposedly better for me than another. I think this is one of the most fortuitous things about my career. Ignorance.
I read what appealed to me, not what was supposed to be good for me. That being the case, it was only natural that I would gradually mix genres, and eventually run them through the mental strainer of my East Texas experience to arrive at the sort of stories that appeared in By Bizarre Hands, and the sort of stories I write now. These are among the best of the stories I wrote on the way to that destination. I like to think it was a pretty good trip, and that I’ll be starting a new trip soon, branching out from what I do now, going yet another mile and finding new passions, new stories.”
I’m looking forward to reading more by Joe Lansdale.
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