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Wednesday, July 04, 2007

Reading List: June

Another month comes to an end, and another (late) list with books and comic books is presented for your consideration. It doesn't look like I've read too much, but keep in mind that A Clash of Kings was twenty-five pages short of 1,000; and Four Past Midnight closed at 730. And both books have very small print and barely any margins to speak of. So let's see...

Prince Valiant, vol. 1
The first volume of Hal Foster's masterpiece, I really enjoyed it. Thanks to my friend Jorge for getting it for me.

The Eyes of the Dragon
I'm not sure if this book by Stephen King can be considered a re-read, because when I first read it about fifteen years ago, it was in Spanish. And I think I even read once after that, but it seems it was before I started my Booklist, so I'm not sure. Still, this is the second time (or maybe the third) I've read this book, but it certainly was the first time in English. And it is great. I also remember giving it to Nash for his birthday years ago, and he didn't like it very much. Still, it's a really cool book, and quite short (especially for Mr King's standards). So Halagan, you should read it!

I, Robot
My first book by Isaac Asimov, I got it shortly after watching the movie for the umpteenth time. I thought the book was great, and I could see how they took bits and pieces to create the storyline for the movie. I think it was done in a very clever and unusual way, because it seems to me the movie is just a story that could happen in the universe portrayed in the book, rather than an adaptation of the stories in the book. Read the book and watch the movie: both are fantastic.

A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire Book II)
The second installment in The Karaoke Saga, this book is as thick as the Chattanooga phonebook, I kid you not. I had to take a break after the first three hundred pages (a break during which I read both The Eyes of the Dragon and I, Robot), and then returned to the remaining 600-plus pages with renovated energy. The book is as good as the first one, but I still think some of the information presented we really could do without. But I already know volumes three and four are even longer, so hey: I'll have to take it easy.

Four Past Midnight
This book contains four novellas by Stephen King, two of which I had already read, so this is a partial re-read. And again, the two stories I had already read I read in Spanish a decade and a half ago. (The four novellas were published as two separate books with two stories in each in Spain, as it happens.) The first one, The Langoliers, I knew because of the movie. The film was just so-so, and the same goes for the story: it's okay, but that's it. The second novella, Secret Window, Secret Garden, I knew from the movie as well. This film is fantastic, though, and I recommend it to everybody here; and the story was also very good. This gave me the chance to appreciate what a wonderful job David Koepp did in adapting (and directing) the novella for the big screen. And I was very surprised to find that the ending is not what I was expecting at all, but I won't reveal anything else. The third story, The Library Policeman, was one of the two I had read years and years ago, and I enjoyed it thoroughly, especially because I barely remembered anything from it. And the fourth one, The Sun Dog, I had also read back in the day, and even though I remembered more things from this one, those memories were faint enough so as not to spoil the fun.

Venom vs. Carnage
The story by Peter Milligan is not the greatest tale ever told. In fact, it is quite average: Venom and Carnage beating the crap out of each other, and then Spiderman and the Black Cat become involved. The story showcases the birth of Toxin, the third symbiote (cause yeah, the Spidey universe needed another drooling creep), and even though the script is far from memorable, the artwork by Clayton Crain blew me away. This guy draws and paints the whole thing, and his skills are nothing short of amazing. So in spite of the mediocre story, I recommend this comic book because of the awesome artwork. Man, Black Cat looks so hot I feel like purring!

Foundation
This book by Asimov was okay, but I was expecting something much, much better. It's repetitive and nothing much really happens. The dialogue is good, but the story is not very compelling. I doubt I'll continue reading the series.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

No sé si te admiro por tu constancia, Fel, o te envidio más por tu tiempo libre. Sufro de una admiración envidiosa. O de una envidia admirable, depende cómo se mire.

De cualquier manera, dices que parece que has leído poco, cuando así, a primera vista, yo cuento cinco libros (o casi habría que decir libracos) y dos novelas gráficas.
Y yo aquí luchando por acabarme mi sexto libro del año. :(

Mario Alba said...

Hahahaha. Lo que pasa es que tengo demasiado tiempo libre. Si tuviera novia y otras cosas que me tuvieran entretenido, no tendría que entreterme a mí mismo. Lo bueno de eso es que acabo siendo razonablemente productivo, hahahaha.

Y a ver si nos cuéntas qué te estás leyendo (y cuáles son esos seis libros), que tengo curiosidad.

Yo empecé ayer Blaze, el libro número 33 del año, y ya llevo la mitad leído (no es muy largo). Pero mi amiga Katie viene a visitarme el viernes, así que estaré varios días leyendo poco o nada, para compensar ;)

Recaredo said...

Yo estoy haciéndome la colecciónde Príncipe Valiente que ha sacado recientemente Planeta (en color). Ya llevaré un 80% del total. La verdad es que en comic soy profano total, y sólo me gusta con fervor cristiano Conan y el Príncipe. Este último es acojonante en el tema de las pinturas, que parecen cuadros. El tio Hal.

Nash said...

Recaderi es una pena que estes haciento esa coleccion del principe valiente, te recomiento la edicioin en blanco y negro que ha sacado otra editorial, te aseguro que el comic gana muchisimo, las paginas son mucho más grandes, lo único malo es que son 25€ por tomo y hay un monton.

Anonymous said...

En lo que va de año, y casi me da vergüenza reconocerlo, solo me he leído hasta el momento: los tres libros de The Gatekeeper Trilogy, la saga de Buffy que me trajiste de los states, Fel; una más que interesante biografía de Freddie Mercury que me compré en Waterstones cuando estuve en Londres; y por supuesto The Plot to Save Socrates. Y ahora mismo estoy con The Complete War of the Worlds, libro que no podría recomendar más porque aún no me lo he terminado. Prometo post en cuanto acabe con él.

Y luego me toca ponerme con el resto de libros en mi estantería de "pendientes". Creo que empezaré con Bill Bryson, o quizá con Pratchett. Que ya me va apeteciendo echarme al gaznate algo de literatura humorística.

Mario Alba said...

Gracias por revelarnos tus lecturas. Creo que te gustará Pratchett, pero recuerda las dos cosas que siempre te digo:

1. Que los primeros libros de DW son más flojos que el resto.

2. Que no leas varios libros de DW seguidos, o dejan de ser graciosos: espácialos :)

Recaredo said...

Joer Nash, que putada. Pues de esa serie del Principe Valiente en BN no me he enterado. Es lo que tiene ser un profano en comics. Ahora que casi estoy terminando la serie seria una jodienda cambiar...

Nash said...

La verdad Recadero es que si q es una putada, yo de siempre he tenido una edicion en BN en casa pero inconclusa y siempre he estado tentado ha comprarme la de color...pero es que la comparaba con la que tenia en casa y no le llegaba ni a la suela de los zapatos y por eso nunca me decidi a empezarla, y cuando vi esta edicion...es que es una pasada cada viñeta es un cuadro, es una obra de arte. Pero como has dicho no vas a cambiar ahora.
Halagan no leas MD es malo, lo siento Finn pero es lo q sient, y si tiene tan poco tiempo para leer deberia seleccionar mejor lo q lee, tu o yo podemos leer cosas buenas o malas pero Halagan deberia ser más selectivo.
Y siguen sin traducir lo de "El plan para salvar a Socrates" por que no le preguntais al autor si alguno de los dos lo puede traducir y asi lo puedo leer yo en este siglo.

Mario Alba said...

Hahaha. Discworld es fantástico; una pena que no te guste, Nash.

Lo de Socrates sigue en el aire. Lo último que sé es que la editorial española está considerando la publicación. Ya veremos qué pasa...

Jorge said...

Vaya, Mario, siento que no te impactase tanto como me hubiera gustado "Foundation". Sería una verdadera pena que dejases la serie porque sin duda los dos siguientes son bastante mejores, alucinantes.

Pero bueno, me alegro que te gustara "El príncipe", es la leche lo que hizo el señor Foster.