poetontheone reads 40 books in 2010.

1) Dubliners by James Joyce

****

This was my first rendezvous with the much lauded Irishman and it was a long time coming. For the past couple years, I have been hesitant to attack any book at all by Joyce, his writing being seen as near impenetrable by anyone lacking an MFA, not to mention books of criticism regarding his work could fill a large library.

Perhaps, this is why, after reading Dubliners, I am not all too perplexed nor awestruck. For any dedicated reader of great literature, it is not a mountain to climb. It is more like a good hike up a hill. The stories are unconventional, driven by mood and dialogue rather than action, and each lacks any clear resolution. Also, I did have to grab the dictionary a couple times, and I'm not one ot complain when picking up a new word.

Each story is a snapshot of Joyce's Dublin. So being, it is probably good preparation for the more thorough jaunt to be taken in reading Ulysses. This collection was not quite what I expected, though I did enjoy the beauty of their craftsmanship, and learned from it as well. Dubliners has whet my appetite to take on the rest of Joyce's oeuvre, at a patient but determined pace.

BOOKS: 01/40
PAGES: 224/8000

2) Billy Phelan's Greatest Game by William Kennedy

****

The second book in William Kennedy's Albany Cycle is my first exposure to the author. The story paints stunning pictures of the most regular types of people. People who are types coarse and confused are transformed into marvelous enigmas. The interactions of these various worknig stiffs, hustlers, political big wigs, and bums splattered across the canvas of the town that is Albany (no doubt a character in itself) keep the story interesting. The story does lag in some parts though, and you put it down jsut to run into some amazing bit when you pick it up again. It's a cycle of strides and lags, and the strides are fortunately more prevalent. Kennedy's writing has a very unique signature tone, and he pulls off many amazing lines that just fill a reader with joy. It's like finding the prize in the cereal box. Lines like "For crying at trouble... was almost as good as weeping with love" or the description of Edward Daugherty's handwriting being like "a wheat field on a windless day", or even the proclamation that "we must all give hairpins to sick whores". These instances really make give the novel its shine and softens any shortcomings that befall it. My copy of this book no doubt passed through a couple of thrift stores and landed in the hands of my uncle, who passed it on to me. I have to thank him for it. I am ready to take Ironweed from my shelf sometime soon and dig into the skull of another Phelan, with pleasure.

BOOKS: 02/40
PAGES: 506/8000

3) Erotism: Death and Sensuality by Georges Bataille

*****

With this work Bataille attempts to delve into the primeval nature of man and the constructs of taboo and transgression he has used to distance himself from it. This is the philosophy of the macabre: sex, death, and evil are explored in a comprehensive scope that spans time from the "invention" of labor (which initiated the necessity of taboo, according to Bataille) all the way to the publication of the Kinsey Reports, and he criticizes them within the framework he has now firmly established in the preceding one hundred and fifty pages. Bataille goes on to explore Christian mysticism in relation to the erotic, the taboo of incest, and the philosophy of de Sade, which he picks apart and re-examines with critical propositions that are nothing short of revolutionary.
Though this work is now over fifty years old, it is doubtful that any book since has improved upon it nor even come close to it, nor that one has even dared. Some may find portions of the work misogynist, others may even find the work dated, and nearly all readers will find that at certain points an explanation of mere pornography borders on the esoteric and indecipherable. However, Bataille is trying to express that which cannot be expressed in language. Most concepts defy language itself, they are outside of it. Bataille himself states this. We see then what a lofty undertaking this work is, and the fact that it is so fluid, enlightening, and precise in spite of that is a monumental achievement.

BOOKS: 03/40
PAGES: 785/8000

4) Child of God by Cormac McCarthy

****

This lean slab of prose is a dark and gripping ride through a man's descent into degradation. McCarthy's sparse writing style is the perfect communicator of the book's lurid subject matter. This story seems to convey the frailty of man, how infelicitous circumstances can lead him to fall into moral quicksand if his eyes do not account for his steps. Treading blindly through the mad nettles of life, how easily he can be stripped of that which makes him human at a fundamental level.

BOOKS: 04/40
PAGES: 982/8000

5) Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky

****1/2

Dostoevsky's novella is part narrative and part manifesto, all awash in anguish. The book is the indelible cornerstone of existential literature, being a violent confrontation with the human condition and the nature of life. There are a number of quotable passages here, and the writing is smooth and digestible in contrast to the narrator. He is not likable, though he is interesting in much the same way as a car crash or the aftermath of disaster, and it is probable that most readers can relate to his bitterness, though maybe not at such extreme levels.

BOOKS: 05/40
PAGES: 1112/8000

6) A Cat, a Man, and Two Women by Junichiro Tanizaki

****

Unlike many others, I found the title story to be the least enjoyable. It is by no means bad as it explores some unique territory, but it doesn't hold me as well as most other works I've read by Tanizaki. I found the familiar flavor of the author's charm in "The Little Kingdom" and his usual weird meditations on obsession in "Professor Rado", but in the title story these two trademarks of his style were muddled if not absent altogether.

BOOKS: 06/40
PAGES: 1276/8000

7) I am Ozzy by Ozzy Osbourne

****

This a quick and interesting read, penned with a very conversational tone throughout. The whole book is one anecdote after the other, and all the old stories we've heard a hundred times are here, but the man's own insight and character lend them a new life, especially when woven into the context of his life as a whole, including his youthful forays into burglary all the way to his stressful stint as a reality television star. We don't hear too much about songwriting or the music itself, but that's maybe not as gripping as all the mischief, laughs, and horrors, so that's understandable. The last third lags a bit, though life has to slow down sometime, and for Ozzy slow is just above normal. A candid, honest, and amusing portrait of the father of heavy metal.

BOOKS: 07/40
PAGES: 1664/8000

8) Bang Ditto by Amber Tamblyn

****

I first knew Amber as the high school heroine of the television show Joan of Arcadia, and she's come a long way since then. She has a real knack for executing the written word. These poems are punchy and in your face, filled with sharp wit and wild metaphors. Tamblyn takes no prisoners, lashing out at the entertainment industry, ex-lovers, and putting a comic bulldozer to cultural crazes like social networking and Scientology. She also has a real appetite for Maker's Mark bourbon. The heat dies down in spots toward the end, but I'm not complaining. A solid sophomore collection, and hopefully the next won't be too long in wait.

BOOKS: 08/40
PAGES: 1792/8000

Thanks for the review on I Am Ozzy. I saw the book cover on the bulletin board at the library and wondered if I should add it to my list. I think I will give it a try.

9) Against the Grain by J.K. Huysmans

****

I had expected Huymans' A Rebours to be something similar to Lautremont's Maldoror, but this book is a different beast altogether. As did Maldoror, A Rebours eschews the notion of the traditional novel, though not in like manner. It is more a study of aesthetics, a critical text using the novel framework, defined by its tone rather than any sort of plot. The premise is visible right on the surface, being that the inventions of artifice from the minds of men are superior to the creations of the natural world. The themes of indulgence and excess here are of the same mold found in writings by other Symbolists such as Baudelaire, whose poems are praised by Huysmans' protagonist. The way in which they are presented here, however, will not be easy to digest for most.

BOOKS: 09/40
PAGES: 1998/8000

10) A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole

*****

This book is, without a doubt, funny. Passages grab like the sharp beak of a bird, forcing out riotous laughter. Be that as it may, the humor is not lowbrow, nor is it stuffy or grandiloquent. it is absurd. The humor is a jagged puzzle comprised of a spiderweb plot stuck full of calamitous happenings, dialogue of the most cosmically silly proportions, and a cast of real "characters", the protagonist Ignatius J. Reilly being the center of this circus.
He is indeed a real clown, as educated as he is juvenile, assured as he is fragile, prone to flatulence and ornate logorrhea, and always talking about his damned valve. He is not a likable fellow. Though his exploits are not so readable and entertaining because he is likable, they are so because of the zany reverberations brought about by the impact of this mammoth jester slipping on banana peels.
This comic masterpiece is a rare creature of the American cannon, and is a well deserved legacy for its author, who rested in his grave before his opus ever saw the light of day. Had he known the impact that his novel was to have maybe he would have stuck around awhile longer and gifted readers' with another gem. Though one could scarce imagine how he could have ever topped this.

BOOKS: 10/40
PAGES: 2401/8000

11) Pornocracy by Catherine Breillat

***

This is the first of Breillat's novels to be published in English, and like her films Pornocracy is in examination (or maybe an excavation) of human sexuality and interactions between men and women. At its best the narrative is lucid and challenging, but it never nears the level of confrontation or experimentation found in Acker, nor does it rip into the horrors of the human psyche with a surreal scalpel as does Bataille.
The work itself is only ninety pages and seems in need of a little more meat, though it is padded on both ends with an introduction and interview, as well as an afterword that is more a feverish cut-up compliment to the themes of the work rather than a concrete slab of commentary.
ALtogether a book that will be enjoyed most by devotees of Breillat's films, though others may find a jewel or two among these words as well.

BOOKS: 11/40
PAGES: 2529/8000

12) From Socrates to Sartre: The Philosophic Quest by T.Z. Lavine

****1/2

This work is an overview of Western philosophy and its development through analyses of six major figures: Plato, Descartes, Hume, Hegel, Marx, and Sartre, while using other well known philosophers as links between each. For example, the contributions of Nietzsche and Kierkegard to existentialist thought are explored in brief before turning to Sartre. Considering that this work covers the overarching current of its subject, which has developed over a period of twenty five hundred years, this work is pretty straight forward and easy to digest. Most anybody with an interest and a critical eye can move through this book with pleasure. In reading Lavine's survey, one will gain a comprehensive understanding of philosophy, its key figures, its concepts, and a proficient knowledge of its development from the Greeks all the way to the modern conflict between phenomenology and linguistic philosophy. For those who ponder where to start in reading philosophy, this is as fine an introduction as one could ever hope to get. A text that is thorough, objective, and accessible.

BOOKS: 12/40
PAGES: 2950/8000

13) Labyrinths by Jorge Luis Borges

*****

The short stories of Borges are exemplars of the form, being wondrous meditations on the nature of time, mortality, art, and existence. We find in Borges' elements of mystery, science fiction, and surrealism, but on top of that we find a magician, even more so than a magical realist. His stories transgress and often distort reality, defying time and space, much less genre. He often employs metafiction, among many other devices that define postmodern literature, with his use of them predating and aiding in formation of the concept. The essays here are not the warm dreams of his fiction, and as such are not quite as absorbing. This is perhaps excepting "A New Refutation of Time", which is on par with the greatest philosophical essays of its period and subject. Any reader looking for the roots of postmodernism, magical realism, science fiction, or postmodernism will no doubt find them in Borges' labyrinth, where they will no doubt wish to return throughout their days.

BOOKS: 13/40
PAGES: 3220/8000

14) The Rose That Grew From Concrete by Tupac Shakur

***

The poems assembled for this collection, written by Tupac in his teenage years, are not exceptional in their own right. However, they lend us crucial insight into his life and artistic development. These are the poetic seeds of a then budding lyricist and performer, containing shadows of the brilliance soon to bloom, that leave us now to be thankful for the art that was given and to yearn for all that could have been.

BOOKS: 14/40
PAGES: 3300/8000

Stopping by to say hi. I just finished I Am Ozzy a few minutes ago. I liked it. It's funny and interesting and strange to think about the fact that I remember some of the incidents that happened in the 80's and that I watched the Osbournes on MTV for awhile. Memoirs are 1 of my favorite kind of book!
Happy Reading to you!

15) The Paper Door by Shiga Naoya

***1/2

Shiga Naoya is one of the most celebrated writers of Modern era Japan, being particularly praised for his mastery of short form fiction. This collection, compiled and translated by Lane Dunlop, attempts to illustrate that fact and, for the most part, succeeds. Shiga's stories are reflective ventures into the workings of the Japanese mind, with thematic emphasis on youth, mortality, love, loneliness, and the nature of art. Shiga's narrative style contains all at once the sharp precision of a sword and the calm beauty of a flower.

These merits of his work are demonstrated in this collection, but perhaps not to the full extent as could have been possible. The opening story is a piece of rather underwhelming juvenalia that is heavy with adverbs and themes that are underdeveloped, leaving us with a fragmentary story that seems all too abrupt. The collection would be better to start with "As Far As Abashiri". A similar detraction from the overall consistency of the collection are the two stories preceding "Kuniko". Both meditates, as does that story, on themes of infidelity, but they seem like skeletal exercises leading into the penultimate story, which handles the same topic with a far higher level of fluidity and artistry.

We can hope to be presented with another collection of short fiction in translation from Shiga, with a more diverse and extensive array of stories, but until then this collection serves as an adequate representation of Shiga's valuable output. Reading these stories will show that his veneration among his peers and his people is well deserved.

BOOKS: 15/40
PAGES: 3486/8000

16) Revenge of the Mooncake Vixen by Marilyn Chin

****

Marilyn Chin has composed a surreal exploration of family and Asian American identity. It is an amusing blend of hi-jinks, copped parables, zany violence, and political commentary dressed in erotic costumes. The book is a melee of many dishes joined together with seamless ease, and that is its victory. This fiery collage is a roller coaster ride that is altogether humorous, biting, violent, sexy, and so much fun.

BOOKS: 16/40
PAGES: 3698/8000

17) In Memoriam to Identity by Kathy Acker

***1/2

I was enraptured with Acker's opus, Blood in Guts and High School, and almost equally intrigued by her take on the cyberpunk genre in Empire of the Senseless. When I discovered that In Memoriam to Identity had her tackling the life Rimbaud, one of my favorite poets, I was elated and anxious to tear into its pages. The book is not wholly focused on Rimbaud as a character, as it also gives us a view into the lives of a sex worker named Airplane and an incestuous nymphomaniac named Capitol. The use of multiple narratives is borrowed from Faulkner's 'The Sound and the Fury', as are a few character names.

Such a premise sounds at least as promising as a feminist take on William Gibson, or a teenage girl tramping around North Africa with Jean Genet. Unlike her previous experiments, the final product is not as interesting as the initial idea. The section that focuses on Rimbaud plays out as a shallow biographical rehashing injected with the author's familiar positions regarding love, art, gender, and human interaction. The story of Capitol starts out as an interesting meditation on childhood abandonment, promiscuity, and sibling incest, though it soon turns into a jumbled mess that fails to engage the reader. It is only when focused on Airplane that the novel, at least in part, shines with the radiance of Acker's other works. It gives us a strong female protagonist on a quest for rebirth, providing us with a coherent narrative while serving up fair portions of philosophy and purposeful smut.

Altogether, Acker's Faulknerian fever dream lulls rather than lacerates, and doesn't entice the reader to return to it. Those not acquainted with Acker should start with an earlier book where she is at her most original, inventive, and defiant.

BOOKS: 17/40
PAGES: 3962/8000

I'm glad you reviewed this one so thoroughly; I've been trying to get into this book for weeks, but I'm still only on around page 50 since I keep on picking up other more enticing things in the meantime; her writing style is just putting me off :( I'll keep working on it, but I'll keep in mind to try something else from Acker at some point too. Nice review, and perfect timing for me at least :) Good reading!

18) The Time of the Assassins by Henry Miller

***1/2

In this work of criticism addressing the ill-fated visionary poet Arthur Rimbaud, Miller does not so much analyze the work and character of Rimbaud as he does declare Rimbaud a mirror unto himself, and to that of all poets in the loose sense of the word, as well as show that the enfant terrible was the embodiment and antithesis of the times and their turmoil. If one is looking for biography this is not the place to encounter it, nor is this a work of pure academic criticism, but the voice of one mad scribe musing about another who has preceded him. In a sense, trying to uncover those components within this man that elude him, and in doing so to discover himself and the nature of his calling. This study will be rewarding, at least in part, if one expects only this. A definite treat if one is an admirer of both the author and his subject.

BOOKS: 18/40
PAGES: 4132/8000

19) Diary of a Madman, The Government Inspector, and Other Stories by Nikolai Gogol

****1/2

With Gogol, to say nothing of his friend Pushkin, is the birth of Russia's modern literature containing Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, et. al.

His mouth curling satirical fictions give the reader full view to the goings on of civil servants and common folk in nineteenth century Russian society. His realistic narratives are airtight templates for the medium of short fiction, and one can do well to study their composition. From the the outlandish interactions of the titular characters in "How Ivan Ivanovich Quarreled with Ivan Nikiforovich" and the stunning and beautiful realism of romance gone awry in "Nevsky Prospekt", to the grand political jab that is the writer's most famous play "The Government Inspector".

It is curious to note that "Diary of a Madman", maybe Gogol's most revered short story, seemed lackluster when compared to the other works found here. What does that matter though, when all the rest is so brilliant? Anyone interested in Russian Literature, or fiction in general, will appreciate the skill of this influential and skilled scribe.

I also must note that I prefer these translations of Gogol to those by Pevear and Volokhonsky, who seemed to give his words a dry treatment rather than allow them a certain liveliness that is present here.

BOOKS: 19/40
PAGES: 4462/8000

20) Unmaking of Americans: 7 Lives by Mel Freilicher

***1/2

Freilicher's biographical narratives present a smooth blend of fact with fiction, and doses of autobiography throughout, turning the narrative voice into a sort of worrying appendage fascinated by its subjects. We see a strong focus on the under appreciated, misunderstood, and outcast. All are distinct personalities, but Freilicher lines them up in such a way as to see a thread through their personal histories that comment on the larger nature of fatality in the human experience, if not a particular breed of such tragedy unique to the American experience. Here is an informative and original composition that holds the interest.

BOOKS: 20/40
PAGES: 4600/8000

21) Alraune by Hanns Heinz Ewers

****

This 19th century horror novel written by the German Hanns Heinz Ewers; an eccentric, bisexual, Nazi sympathizer, and acquaintance of Aleister Crowley. Here, we find a version of Crowley's concept of the magickal child if not Shelley's Frankenstein. A prostitute is inseminated with the seed of a hanged murderer as part of an alchemical experiment, and from this union springs the child Alraune, who grows from a haughty and mischievous child into an alluring nymph, bringing madness and death to all who fall under her sway.

Ewers is perhaps a lesser figure in the cannon of decadence and horror literature, these two often overlapping, though his work here is at the very least competent when compared to the likes of Poe, Huysmans, or even Baudelaire, considering the poetic resonance of Ewer's prose. This novel might be among the best examples of its kind if it weren't for the fact that the story stretches itself thin at times. Beyond that, whenever the focus of the narrative diverts from it's central character, the excitement drops from a roar to a whimper. However, both of these faults present themselves sparingly enough to not steal away too much of the charm.

You can tell that Joe Bandel paid very careful attention to the translation, no doubt close to the original even though I claim this is complete ignorance. The text is rife with song, and each passage holds the palpable taste of mystery and dread. Also, let us not forget the many beautiful illustrations that accompany the text, enhancing the experience of this story all the more. And so the child is born again, and we receive her bloody kisses!

BOOKS: 21/40
PAGES: 4963/8000

22) The Complete Plays by Brendan Behan

****

The first two plays in this collection, The Hostage and The Quare Fellow, are essential components in the Irish literary canon, just as much as Yeats or Joyce. They have a very strong mood about them, a tangible feeling of dreadful tension lurking under Behan's wry and distinct humor.

Richard's Cork Leg, his unfinished final play, seems not so much a successor to the style of its predecessors as it does an imitation. Behan's efforts here seem forced, as if he were just recycling trademarks, unable to give them substance. The short plays here do not have much room to breathe, with Moving Out being the best of the attempts and The Big House being a jumbled and forgettable mess of jagged plot and uninspired dialogue.

This volume is necessary simply because it's all of Behan's dramatic work, of which there is not much, and one might as well examine the whole of it. Take the first two plays, and consider the rest of the material here a bonus.

BOOKS: 22/40
PAGES: 5316/8000

23) Calvaire by Octave Mirbeau

***

Mirbeau is a name often associated with decadence, particularity for his 1899 work, The Torture Garden. This is his first novel published thirteen years prior, and decadent overtones are evident here, no doubt. Aristocrats driven mad by spiritual turmoil, the sufferings of love, and the torments of the artist. In their execution though, these motifs come across as rather juvenile. The protagonist pines over an overbearing and annoying woman who exploits him and prostitutes herself to anyone with a dime, yet his love for her is undying, as we are told by his endless wails and whines. He also possesses a stuffy, moralistic attitude, condemning anything he finds unchaste. Even de Gourmont's interpretations of Catholic guilt have a sort of delightful wickedness to them.

As a volume in the decadent cannon, this one seems the most artificial of any that I have read so far. The writing is decent enough, with a few remarkable passages sprinkled throughout, but the story and its bothersome characters seem forced. Maybe his later work finds its mark, and this can be excused as a youthful attempt that is well-intentioned, though flawed.

BOOKS: 23/40
PAGES: 5539/8000

24) In the Miso Soup by Ryu Murakami

****

My introduction to Ryu Murakami was his first novel, Almost Transparent Blue; a lurid slice of contemporary surrealism swimming in grime, sex, and drugs. This novel was published twenty years later, and Murakami's growth as a writer and storyteller is easy to discern. He has crafted an arresting thriller, comparable to the better efforts of Thomas Harris, but retaining the author's knack for nightmarish imagery and unflinching social criticism. In the Miso Soup is a searing glance into the dark side of Japanese society and human nature alike.

BOOKS: 24/40
PAGES: 5764/8000

25) The Beats: A Graphic History by Harvey Pekar, et al.

***1/2

This collaborative graphic novel is an elementary though wide ranging introduction to the Beat movement, covering everything from Kerouac and City Lights Books to d.a. levy and The Fugs. Though many writers and artists are at work here the sections disjointed, creating a unique symbiosis of voices, styles, and viewpoints that is informative without taking itself too seriously.

BOOKS: 25/40
PAGES: 5961/8000

26) The Temple of the Golden Pavilion by Yukio Mishima

****1/2

Mishima gives us a fascinating protagonist with the troubled stuttering monk Mizoguchi who is transfixed by the beauty of the Golden Temple, which tempts into destructive obsession. The reader is driven into the mind of this pitiful character, and even compelled to sympathize with him. The questions he asks are at one point, in some form or the other, asked by us all. The impulses that he allows to flare up and consume him twinge in the nerves of even the most level and benevolent among us. Mizoguchi and his madness are a vehicle to explore the nature and power of aesthetics, also the divide between knowledge and action, and of course the often devastating power of obsession. Mishima, with this book, rivals Tanizaki in that last regard. Still, though others may well disagree, this work isn't as penetrating as the Sailor or Spring Snow. It could be that something vital is lost with Mishima trying to blend together a historical event with his personal views and imaginings, rather than when his visions bloom altogether from imagination and individual experience.

BOOKS: 26/40
PAGES: 6223/8000

27) Freedom is a Two-Edged Sword by Jack W. Parsons

***

This compilation of essays by the late rocket scientist and adherent of Aleister Crowley, Jack Parsons, is stirring in its best moments, though it is too often hackneyed and derivative. There are convincing arguments made in the titular essay, where Parsons seems to distill the spirit of Crowley into a fiery and effective political manifesto. After this, we are presented with Parsons thoughts on magick in a series of essays that are for the most part comprised only of surviving fragments. With these, Parson's begins to lean on abstractions with little exposition, throwing around terms like love and freedom as though they were concrete in and of themselves. His voice turns artificial, attempting to mimic Crowley's poetic phrasing as a vehicle for ideas far less interesting than those of his predecessor. The foremost essay offers valuable insights, but the same cannot be said for the remaining sections here.

BOOKS: 27/40
PAGES: 6315/8000

28) Pagan Operetta by Carl Hancock Rux

****

Carl Rux's Pagan Operetta is a fresh volume of free verse. A seamless stitch of stanzas and paragraphs that navigates a tapestry of personal history and cultural identity. The collection might be jagged, though sharp points are plentiful, and they dig deep into the chest. The rapid fire musicality of "Blue Candy", the surreal odyssey that is "Asphalt Story", the strange blend of travelogue and eulogy found in "Postcard ...", and "Black Male Show", a social skewer that is both humorous and caustic.

Having seen Rux read selections from this volume a few years back, I can say that his voice rings out clear from the page. It is an unrelenting voice ripe with sorrow and yearning, bound up with hope, and wrapped in the mystical and unutterable, with all of these adjectives standing on a sidewalk, leaning against a wall.

BOOKS: 28/40
PAGES: 6473/8000

29) Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer

**

Be forewarned, this review is best avoided if you have no knowledge of the plot.

Though the writing lacked a certain level of craft and the characters lacked dimension, the first two books of this series were passable enough for supernatural teen fiction. The fourth installment suffers from many of the flaws that plague the third. Relationships have transformed for weightless, if not inexplicable, reasons with Edward and Jacob now exchanging hugs and shoulder punches.

Even more far fetched is the nature of Bella's transformation at the halfway point. She turns from a blundering, timid, and often indecisive heroine to a composed, authoritative, and exceptionally gifted vampire, rather than the raging and near soulless newborn that allegedly all vampires before her had once been. Finally, the most glaring problem is the same in this book as in the one it precedes. Meyer explicates in seven hundred fifty pages what she could have in four hundred, mistaking prolixity for grand detail. Though the particular happenings in this book are interesting in theory, Meyer's presentation is careless, meandering, and adolescent. Such may well apply to the series as a whole, which dwindles down to a fairytale ending that is even more underwhelming and anticlimactic then forgivably predictable.

BOOKS: 29/40
PAGES: 7231/8000

30) On Becoming a Novelist by John Gardner

****

The most appealing thing about this book is that, unlike many others of its ilk, this is not a book about how to write, rather it is a book about what it means to be a writer. It is a balanced analysis of the writing life and all that is required of an aspirant to embrace it fully. Gardner doesn't bother with niceties, and tells the reader up front that to be a writer is to take on a most challenging commitment that may guarantee no reward besides personal fulfillment, with even that being sometimes elusive.

Gardner covers all of the basics, such as how a writer must be sensitive to college, the advantages and disadvantages of a college education, and the trials of the publishing world. However, The most interesting moments in the book are those that focus on those aspects of the writing life that almost defy description. One of the most striking passages deals with how a writer views the world with a sort of detachment, searching for raw material in every experience, even those that are gruesome and horrifying.

This book is essential reading for aspiring novelists, if not aspiring writers in general, so they may see the life that awaits them and decide if they really are cut out for it

BOOKS: 30/40
PAGES: 7390/8000

31) Dancing in Odessa by Ilya Kaminsky

****

Ilya Kaminsky constructs a history for the land of his youth. It is an ancestral tapestry that is literary as well as personal, reaching back past aunts and uncles to Mandelstam and Brodsky. He exacts these goals with humility all the while exerting a musicality of language imbued with the fervor of prophecy and powerful imagery bordering on dream. A striking debut collection from a dynamic and wanted voice.

BOOKS: 31/40
PAGES: 7448/8000

Wow! Fascinating reading list. I'm with you in admiration of Confederacy of Dunces and of Gogol. (Probably not a coincidence that those two jumped out at me, now that I look at it!)

32) The Long Way Home (Buffy Season 8) by Joss Whedon

***1/2

Here begins the continuation, albeit in graphic novel format, of the cult television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The art inside isn't quite as stunning as the cover art, but for these first issues it is adequate, and one expects improvements in subsequent issues. Aside from that, the first thing you notice is that Whedon is able to easily duplicate the voices of the show's beloved characters, with all the witty phrasing and cultural nods intact and sharp as ever. The one thing that dampens the enjoyment of this volume is that there is a lot of story crammed into a small space, but we can only hope that Whedon and company will iron out that problem with time and adjustment to the medium. When all is weighed, this is adequate enough to substitute the original product, and it holds an amazing potential to dazzle readers in future issues, or misstep and become a mere echo of what once was. Here's hoping for the former.

BOOKS: 32/40
PAGES: 7584/8000

33) Journey to the End of the Night by Louis-Ferdinand Céline

****1/2

Céline's work is a modern day Odyssey fat with pessimism and desperation, the veiled autobiographical travelogue of a down and out narrator. It's influence on Miller and Bukowski, their prose echoing back to it with long screams, is obvious. Much like Miller, the narrative is thick and harsh like smoke, and is easiest to ingest in small bursts, twenty pages at a time. After awhile though it's easy to surrender, to look Bardamu in the eyes and see in them at least a fraction of one's self. Though within the dark and clinching atmosphere, Céline is able to inspire a mature and subtle beauty, conjuring strong and enduring images when he is not throwing out cynical aphorisms that demand to be marked. This is a book that is far ahead of its time, and eighty years later, it is as much a conviction of this time as any other. A rewarding and fulfilling read if one is willing to dirty their hands and trudge through a bit of venom.

BOOKS: 33/40
PAGES: 8019/8000

34) Queer by William S. Burroughs

****

This sequel (of sorts) to Junky introduces a vulnerable figure in Lee, a thinly veiled Burrroughs who pines for the affections of Allerton, a bar phantom hovering on the outskirts of Lee's acquaintance circle. In parts, an unrequited love (or lust) story, a mythical drug quest, and bursts of weird monologue. In the second half of the book, when the latter two elements come to the fore, the story really gains momentum.

BOOKS: 34/40
PAGES: 8177/8000

35) Ironweed by William Kennedy

****1/2

This book had been crying out to me from the shelf ever since I put down Billy Phelan's Greatest Game, the precursor to this book in Kennedy's Albany Cycle, so I took it down and read it at last. Gone is the political scandal of the second book, replaced by raw emotional debt that is a perfect compliment to Kennedy's unmistakable narrative voice, which contorts in turns of the everyman and the seer.

Francis Phelan is a down and out boozer and bum plagued by guilt and ghosts, and his character owns the focus of the narrative, and this works well because this character is fascinating and easy to sympathize with, if not a pretty picture. An overall stronger narrative than its predecessor, and probably Kennedy's masterwork. A touching story ripe with realism, sadness, humor, and poetry. Just as with the previous book, I am aching for more.

BOOKS: 35/40
PAGES: 8404/8000

36) A Pocket History of Irish Rebels by Morgan Llywelyn

***

This is not a thoruogh of examination of Irish republicanism, but rather a collection of brief summaries profiling rebellious figures in Irsh history from the sixteenth century up to the present day. In this function it performs well enough, though you do encounter a bit of overall in the middle when the focal point of the Easter Rising makes many of these figures converge. A well written, though cursory, collection of biographies that satisfies curiosity and whets the appetite for something more detailed.

BOOKS: 36/40
PAGES: 8516/8000

37) No Future for You (Buffy Season 8) by Brian K. Vaughan

****

It obvious at the outset that this second arc of Buffy Season Eight is a head above the preceding volume. Jeanty's pencil is sharper here, the art being a little smoother, and closer to the characters as they are remembered in the flesh. Unlike the first arc, the narrative is fluid and engaging, with Giles sending Faith on a mission to England take out a rogue Slayer. Vaughan's writing is great, maybe even showing up Whedon himself. The story is driven almsot entirely by interaction between characters: Faith and Giles, and to a lesser extent, Xander and Dawn.

Whedon isn't to be outdone though. He redeems himself from the shortcomings of the first volume, and creates a well controlled tension between Buffy and Willow with the last issue here, leaving us to speculate how this tension will evolve. An exemplary series of issues that nears the quality of the original product, though it remains to be seen if the full splendor of the show's best moments can be replicated in this new medium.

BOOKS: 37/40
PAGES: 8636/8000

38) Death in Midsummer: And Other Stories by Yukio Mishima

****

Though Mishima's best work, I believe, is to be found in the novel form, this collection of short stories has much to offer, though the quality tends to vary. I can't even remember the plot or characters of "Three Million Yen". "Swaddling Clothes" is wrought with redundant thoughts on the part of the main character, with the last few lines being the only real interesting bit of a rather static narrative. On the other hand, "Death in Midsummer" is a brooding portrait of maternal loss, with a tone that is as brooding and oppressive as the crashing waves that feature in the story as a sort of natural antagonist. "The Priest at Shiga Temple and His Love" is a striking portrait of idolatry, and inversely, enlightenment.

Finally, Patriotism is a visceral depiction of ritual suicide where Mishima's creates images so powerful that they struggle to transgress the bounds of text and transport themselves onto canvas. Despite the subject of the story and the severity with which it is handled, is it at heart a story of the great love and devotion that a wife has for her husband. This is Mishima's best short story, and it may even surpass a good number of his novels in terms of craft, imagery, and sheer emotional depth. This collection is essential for that one piece alone.

BOOKS: 38/40
PAGES: 8817/8000

39) The Law is for All by Aleister Crowley

****

This book, published in the nineteen nineties by New Falcon, is the 'authorized' edition of the commentary on Liber AL vel Legis, edited, as Crowley wished, by his friend Louis Wilkinson. Two previous editions of the commentary were published before this, by Symonds and Grant and another by Israel Regardie, and though they were far more extensive, Hymenaeus Beta claims they were edited down from rough typescripts and battled with editorial inconsistencies.

Though it is possible that something is lost for the serious student of Magick in this edition, I appreciate that, having been edited by a poet rather than a Magician, it is geared toward the layman, for the most part avoiding long passages of indecipherable Magickal exposition, as Crowley does have a tendency to fully expound upon ideas that only high grade practitioners, or maybe only Crowley himself, could be able to fully grasp. However, he does not omit too much as to cheapen the value of the commentary, retaining a good amount of explication on Qabalisitc values and the many layers of symbolism present in the work.

Liber AL is, in my eyes at least, more philosophical than mystical, espousing the practically Nietzschean framework of the system of Thelema. Crowley elucidates verses with impassioned arguments for self liberation and sex positive feminism, though he is sometimes betrayed in these monologues by flashes of his inherent misogyny and arrogance. The commentary might hold even more to reveal about Crowley himself than the text, as we are given great insights into his views of humanity, as well as his struggles in accepting this work that, in part, evades even him. Whether the Book of the Law was transmitted to Crowley by mystical forces or was birthed by his pen as a sort of subconcious Jungian automation, I couldn't say. Regardless, this commentary offers a wide window into Crowley's thought, and illuminates the complexities of language and symbolism found within the text that is the cornerstone of his output.

BOOKS: 39/40
PAGES: 9006/8000

40) Wolves at the Gate (Buffy Season 8) by Drew Goddard

****1/2

This volume has achieved quite a feat, something which I doubted this comic reboot of the series could manage to accomplish. With Goddard at the helm, it has recaptured near completely the brilliance of its origins. The pacing is spectacular, with the threat of a powerful Japanese vampire coven attempting to eradicate the Slayers providing great action. The characters converge in convincing and often unexpected ways. The relationship between Xander and Renee comes to a head, and awkward tension develops between Buffy and Satsu after a one night stand.

Such a development could easily be introduced as simple geek fantasy, having the beloved heroine engage in a fling with a hot Asian girl to heat the blood of geeks and push issues off the racks, but it comes across as genuine progression for the heroine. She is unsure of this incident and unsure of herself, perhaps trying to find an emotional, as well as physical, connection with one who is most like herself. Weighed down by heartbreak from love lost on men both living and dead, she timidly consorts with a mirror image, and hesitates stepping through the glass into something unknown. Goddard also seems to more fully realize the interaction between Buffy and Willow, moving away from a sort of awkward dance back to the familiar onscreen chemistry that seemed absent until now.

He gives us this and much more. The action, the tone, the balance of expertly placed humor and near cinematic moments of drama and emotional fragility. Not forgetting that Jeanty is also on top of his game here, the dimensions of his art possessing just as many layers as Goddard's storytelling. Wolves at the Gate is everything Buffy should be in this medium, and that is both good and bad. Who knows if any of the rotating cadre of writers involved in this project, Whedon himself even, can replicate what Goddard has done here? Even if this is the apex of Season Eight, it is nice to rest on the mountain peak for a while, knowing that my doubts are assuaged and that Buffy the comic, in the right hands, has the capability to amaze.

BOOKS: 40/40
PAGES: 9142/8000

41) The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice

****

I was fourteen when I read Interview with the Vampire, so only dim recollections of that novel remain in my mind. Now having read this book, five years later. I do remember the lush quality of the prose, the questions of what is good and what is evil, and the sexuality that permeates character interaction throughout the work. All of these things have been mentioned before, and these traits are present in this work just as much as the other.

The novel lags in some parts, though considering its length that is not surprising. It is a personal history of Lestat and a history of vampires a la Rice through the perspective of his character. Being that, it never becomes too tedious or dry, which could easily be the case if it were the work of another author. Rice has enough narrative skill to keep her readers engaged, and to transport them into this world she has created. Here, she crafts a version of the vampire mythos that is informed, original, and captivating, setting the stage for a grand morality play wrapped up in questions of humanity, sexuality, and the plight of being able to live forever in a world of perpetual change.

BOOKS: 41/40
PAGES: 9692/8000

I do believe the above will be the last book I complete this year. I am debating whether to go for forty, forty five or fifty next year.