A brief digression regarding The Lord of the Rings.

As I mentioned in my Book Report posting, I'm currently procrastinating on my New Year's resolution to read more paper books, thanks to a digital copy of The Lord of The Rings. But, in my defense, it's just so good.

I'm a bit in awe of how well written this story actually is.  I've been a frequent visitor to the lands and kingdoms of Middle Earth over time - I've worn out a couple of sets of the books since my first purchase in the 70s - but for a variety of reasons, I haven't read Tolkien's masterpiece for several years. There's a bit of favourite fatigue for even the best books, I'm so familiar with the content by now, and so on and so on.  All that being said, returning to the books after a rest has let me see the story with fresh eyes, and as I said, I'm a bit in awe.

Yes, it's very old school - but let's say classic instead.  There isn't a wasted word, the tone and style are perfect, the descriptions are evocative and realistic, the dialogue is simple and elegant, the story flows smoothly and seamlessly from paragraph to paragraph and chapter to chapter, the tale itself is epic and gripping - it's just beautifully put together.

I admit that it's not for everyone, but if you think of yourself as a reader for the sake of the quality of the words on the page, for the pure craft of writing, you owe it to yourself to take a look at The Lord of The Rings.

- Sid

Merch 1: “I did it thirty-five minutes ago.”

“Dan, I'm not a Republic serial villain. Do you seriously think I'd explain my master-stroke if there remained the slightest chance of you affecting its outcome? I did it thirty-five minutes ago.”

Ozymandias, Watchmen

Because I often refer to previous material when I'm creating new content for the blog, I spend a certain amount of time going back through old postings so that I can link to the content.  I also sometimes just re-read postings to see if there's anything I want to change, or just to check for typos.  I was paging back through the content at the end of last month when I stopped for a thoughtful moment at a slightly melancholy posting entitled, Or Vanilla Coke and Barbecue Lays which featured a photo of a rainy day mental health getaway for the jaded geek.

I'll put the photo here as a more convenient reference:

The observant reader will have noted the diverse nature of my rainy day reading material.  I'm on page six of the first issue of Watchmen from September of 1986, with the balance of the 12 issue run to the left underneath a copy of Marvel's What If from the 80s, and the first issue of Ghost Rider 2099, part of Marvel's abortive 2099 series from 1994.  Just above them is DC's beautiful four issue Kingdom Come miniseries, hand painted by Alex Ross, and beside that a mixed bag of comics capped with a Marshal Law one-off from Epic and and an issue of Vector's Annoying Post Brothers by Matt Howarth (Vector is better known for their publication of Chester Brown's legendary alternative comic Yummy Fur).

However, there's a lie in that description. Issue 7 of Watchmen isn't in that stack of comics - about 12 years ago it fell prey to a large hairball that my cat Nigel coughed up when I wasn't looking, and by the time I realized what was happening, the cover was ruined.

At one point, when my friend Chris had asked to borrow the series, I was forced to confess the gap in my collection.  He later told me that he had considered buying me the missing comic as a birthday gift, but wasn't sure if it would be cheaper to just buy me the collected story in graphic novel format.

Hmmm, I thought, looking at the picture. I wonder how much would it actually would cost me to replace that comic?

Purely out of curiousity, I hopped over to eBay.ca and did a search for Watchmen comics.  Ta dah - Issue 7, Very Good condition, a very reasonable seven bucks US, no bids, closing in 35 minutes. I shrugged and placed a bid for seven dollars - my philosophy with eBay is that either you're going to get it or you're not, getting into a bidding war just drives the price up for everyone. (I confess that there have been one or two times when I've violated this simple approach.)*

Thirty-five minutes later, boom, done, I had won the auction with my single bid, and pending the arrival of my purchase, my Watchmen set was once again complete.

"Pending the arrival"...aha, there's the rub, as Shakespeare puts it.  I had a bit of concern about the safety of my purchase as it traversed the postal system of two countries.  Our local postie has the bad habit of jamming things into our mailbox whether they fit or not, and it would be an unfortunate ending to this story to receive a damaged replacement for a damaged original. Shipping was ten bucks US (or about $12.50 CAD), and I really didn't know what that would buy me in terms of protecting my investment.

When the package arrived this week, it turned out that my concerns were completely unnecessary.  Revolutionaries**, let me tell you:  if you are looking for the well-packaged shipment of a comic book, Comic Warehouse on eBay is your seller of choice.

It came in a two inch deep box (the FRAGILE sticker is a nice touch):

 

With bubble wrap:

 

In a cardboard sandwich:

 

In a plastic bag with a cardboard backer:

 

Now, admittedly, that last one is standard collectable comic packaging, but still.

 

And, after all that, the comic was exactly as described:  Very Good condition - in fact, in better condition than one or two of the other comics in the set - and my twelve-issue run is once more complete.

Fortunately, Jaq the Cat isn't much of a jumper or climber, so I'm unlikely to have to replace my purchase due to cat hygiene issues, he just won't be able to get at it.

Unless, of course, I leave it on the floor - while I drink tea and read comic books.

  - Sid

* This parenthetical comment required me to go back to the blog and search for previous postings, as above.

** Thereby deliberately choosing a cute name for my blog readership, such as it is.

Book report.

Now that we're a couple of months into 2018, I thought that I should provide an update on my New Year's resolution to do more reading of physical books, with the goal of one book a week.  As with most resolutions, I'm not quite keeping up with my target, but unlike most resolutions, I've certainly been enjoying the process so far.

I started by clearing the decks:  a couple of months back my friend Chris had lent me his copy of Metro 2033, a mystical tale of post-apocalyptic life in the Moscow subways by Russian author Dmitry Glukhovsky, and I had gotten about half way through the book and then just sort of set it aside as other reading captured my attention. My original introduction to the story had come in the form of the 2010 THQ game adaptation, and, to be honest, I found that in some ways I preferred it as a computer game, although it just may be that the book suffers in translation. But, with my resolution in effect, it seemed like the perfect place to start, so I moved it back onto the play list.

After finishing off Metro 2033, I picked up one of my Christmas gifts from Karli: Sean Howe's Marvel Comics: The Untold Story, which tells the tale of Marvel Comics from its origins as Timely Comics in 1939, its rebranding as Marvel and the creation of its breakout characters the Fantastic Four in 1961, through to its sale to Disney Inc. and its current incarnation as a motion picture powerhouse.

It's spiced with fascinating (and somewhat gossipy, to be honest) details about conflicts between owners, publishers, editors, writers and artists at Marvel, and the company's rise and fall over time.   

The sad part is that, as much as I enjoyed it, I really don't know anyone to whom I could recommend this excellent and well researched book.  For me, it illuminated a portion of my personal history, the period of time when I was an avid comic book reader, providing the back story for events that I could only watch from a distance when they were taking place.  If you weren't reading Marvel comics for at least some part of the last fifty years and have no knowledge of North America comic books, I'm not sure that The Untold Story would be of interest to you as an abstract historical document.  But if you do fall into that group, this books is a rewarding and fascinating read.

From there, I went with The Golem and the Jinni, followed by Spaceman of Bohemia, both of which I had purchased at The Strand Bookstore during our New York trip. The Golem and The Jinni is a wonderful book, whose titular characters meet in the cultural melting pot of early 20th century New York.  Author Helene Wecker obviously did meticulous research to create her setting, which is packed with details and grace notes regarding life in New York's immigrant communities at the turn of the century.

Her characters cleverly represent odd reversals on their usual roles:  both are traditionally associated with servitude to human masters, yet in this novel they are both set free* and forced to find their own ways in an unwelcoming and unfamiliar world. Wecker does a superbly insightful job of showing us the challenges faced by the opposing personalities of her two protagonists: one a construction of earth and water, the other a creature of air and fire.

I can't be quite as fulsome in my praise for Spaceman of Bohemia, by first time author Jaroslav Kalfar.  It's clever and well written, and I was certainly intrigued by the manner in which Czech scientist and astronaut Jakub Procha's life is molded by his father's involvement with the Soviet secret police. Unfortunately the subplot of the alien observer on Procha's doomed space mission doesn't add to the story, which, when you think about it, is a strong criticism for a science fiction novel.  A good read, but not a great read.

I'm currently making slow going with The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood, but not because of any fault in the book itself.  It's a masterfully written tale which tells its story of a dystopian future without ever relying on conventional scene-setting narrative blocks.**  However, I made the mistake of loading The Lord of the Rings onto my iPhone as fallback reading material, and it's offered strong competition to The Handmaid's Tale in terms of skillful and absorbing (although obviously very different) storytelling. 

So, at the end of the first seven weeks of 2018, I'm in the middle of my fourth (and a half) book, rather than my target of seven. In my defense, both Marvel Comics and The Golem and the Jinni are big solid 450+ page books, and I've been reading steadily, so my current shortfall is based on book length rather than dereliction of duty.

Regardless, I'm quite pleased with the results so far.  It's been very enjoyable to get into that stack of abandoned purchases, and I'm looking forward to continuing the process over the course of the year.

Let's see...what do I want to read next?

- Sid

* Ish.

** Which can spoil a story if done badly.