What are you reading?

[Raiden]

The 8th volume of Ginga Densetsu Weed: Orion. I've already read every previous volume until now (that's 18 for Gin, 60 for Weed and 7 for Orion) and I'm loving this new series a lot... there's so many interesting characters and we actually get to see Izo as a main character for once. Not to mention John's Finnish nephew is going to show up~ <3

I'm just astonished that Yoshihiro Takahashi ACTUALLY made two Finnish characters to honor his Finnish fanbase. Not to mention they're both main characters - it includes John from the original series (who was important enough to be part of the main quartet alongside Gin, Akame and Ben) and John's nephew Andy (who's part of the new main quartet of himself, Orion, Bon and Yamabiko).

Seriously, some Finnish fans simply asked Takahashi at a convention "Can you make a character from our country?" and then he just promptly went and did it. How many foreign fandoms have managed to do that? Not many, I'd say.

 

[TMS]

Let's see... Since my last post I've read a number of things, though nothing particularly major or unusual except Wilkie Collins' novel/story collection After Dark. It wasn't quite what I was expecting (or rather hoping for), but it was enjoyable anyway, even if only one of the stories touched the horror genre. I finished reading the Father Brown stories, and have been working my way through two collections of Sherlock Holmes pastiches, August Derleth's The Memoirs of Solar Pons (which I've finished) and The Exploits of Sherlock Holmes, a collection of non-canon Holmes stories, written by Arthur Conan Doyle's son Adrian, a few of them in collaboration with famous Golden Age mystery writer John Dickson Carr, whose Dr. Fell novels I may want to read in future. All of the stories in the latter collection, except for one, are inspired by the offhand references in the original stories to other cases of Holmes, though in many cases the details provided contradict what little we know of those cases. Sometimes a reason for this is explained in the text, while other times no comment is given. I've also been slowly working my way through an anthology called 100 Hair-Raising Little Horror Stories, which has been fine but rather uneven.

Nothing too shocking on the non-fiction front. Just more Lovecraft letters.

 

[Daniel2]

One hundred years of solitude

 

[TMS]

What I am reading right now is James de Mille's semi-satirical fantasy novel Strange Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder. Since my last post I've also finished reading the books that I was working on, and have read the first two John Dickson Carr mystery novels about Dr. Fell, as I had planned to do. I like them very well. The Fell novels aren't supernatural, but they tend to be creepy or appear to be supernatural before the mystery is solved (think along the lines of "The Speckled Band" or The Hound of the Baskervilles). I also read some of Agatha Christie's Poirot novels, which are decent. In terms of short fiction, I've read a bunch of new (to me, I mean) stories by Joseph Conrad and Walter de la Mare, both of whom have a style that appeals to me even in their realistic stories (and in fact I've only read one Conrad story that can really be called fantastical). And just for a little more mystery, I bought and read Lord Dunsany's collection of quirky stories in that genre (The Little Tales of Smethers and Other Stories).

Non-fiction-wise, I read Isaac's Storm by Erik Larson, about the hurricane that destroyed Galveston in 1900. I've been interested in the storm since reading Robert E. Howard's second-hand description of it in his correspondence, and I enjoyed Larson's Devil in the White City, so I figured I'd like Isaac's Storm as well. I also reread The Boxer Rebellion by Diana Preston. I first read it years ago when I was getting interested in the Fu Manchu novels (which reference the Boxer Rising), and thought it might be interesting to read it again now with an adult perspective.

 

[Raiden]

I've been reading e-books on two library apps, Libby (international) and Ellibs (local), and have found a few absolute gems on both of them. I got interested in thrillers after reading Sarah Lotz's Day Four and ever since then have tried to find thriller and horror stories set on abandoned ships, isolated buildings and polar research stations.

What I've found so far

Sarah Lotz: Day Four, thought it was incredibly good and engaging. Still haven't read The Three (not too interested in an airplane setting), but I hope she'll eventually write Day Five since I want to see where it'll take place this time.

Ruth Ware: everything by her, started with The Woman in Cabin 10 (due to my love for ship-based thrillers). I liked that story a lot, but her other books haven't really struck a chord with me. I thought I'd enjoy One by One since it took place in an Alpine hotel isolated by an avalanche, but it was a little tedious instead (and I guessed the ending around halfway through). I've also read In a Dark, Dark Wood (not all that different from One by One), The Lying Game (a little more interesting, but still not as good as Cabin 10), The Death of Mrs Westaway (the least interesting of the books) and The Turn of the Key (my favorite alongside Cabin 10). I'm probably not going to be too interested in her upcoming book since the story sounds almost the same as The Lying Game (protagonist is a mother, someone she knew died in the past, years later stuff comes to light and she sets out to look for truth).

Mary Higgins Clark: All by Myself, Alone. Out of the ship-based stories, this was my least favorite. I basically slogged through it since I couldn't relate to the main character at all... she was some kind of jewelry expert and I've never cared about fashion. I've even found a few reviews that echo my thoughts about the book. It's just not that good... makes me reconsider reading anything else by her.

Tom Harper: Zodiac Station, one of the best thrillers I've read. I can usually guess a book's ending pretty well (I'm a librarian and have read hundreds of books), but this time I was genuinely surprised by the twist. It came completely out of left field and tossed in another genre at the last minute (surprisingly well, might I add). Not to mention it was set on a polar research station which is one of my favorite settings. I've never read anything quite like it and actually hope to see more from this guy in the future.

Mats Strandberg: Risteily / The Cruise, a horror story about a boat cruise on the Baltic Sea. I live in Finland so I'm excited whenever there's any horror stories set in the Nordic countries or the Baltic. I just... this book was not good. I liked the idea at first, but then the ship was taken over by weird vampires? I mean, they weren't even proper Stoker vampires, but these strange mindless creatures that just ripped into anything living that got in their way. Basically, zombie vampires. It quickly turned more into a slasher story than suspenseful horror and, in iconic Nordic style, the ending was a downer with the implication of a grimdark future. :l

Mia Vänskä: Saattaja / The Escort, a Finnish horror story with a very unique premise. I honestly loved the book and want to read more from this author - in the story, the protagonist discovers she can see ghosts. It might seem stereotypical at first glance, but then the same lady finds out that her mother was an "escort", a person with the duty of guiding lost spirits to the underworld (this is done on a ferry across the river of death). And now the duties of the escort have passed on to the protagonist. Another interesting twist in the book was that spirits who can't cross over become ghosts and lose their mind; they basically become violent and start attacking living people because they're trying to regain the "warmth of life" they once had. Problem is, when they can't possess someone, they start howling like monsters and cause the living human they touched to lose their mind. This is given as the explanation for mental illness - that people have been touched by ghosts and lose some of their sanity from the encounter (what was it, "a living person's mind isn't equipped to deal with the collision between life and death"?). A few people in the story commit suicide after an encounter with a ghost (the ghosts are malicious and basically direct the living person toward danger), while some characters are influenced to become violent toward other people. I loved this twist for some reason?

Kate Milford: Greenglass House, this time fantasy rather than thriller. Fantasy is my favorite genre (has been since 2000) so this caught my eye immediately. Started reading last year and absolutely love it... I'm still not quite done since I have a thesis to write, but I will eventually finish it. I love the whole premise of two kids being stuck in an inn during winter and then LARPing their way through the building while following an old map. I've fallen in love with DnD recently so the fictional RPG in the story just gets to me (I'm honestly hoping Milford writes an actual guide for Odd Trails, I love the uniquely-named character classes so much).