Books and well, a cat.

1. Currently reading? Still reading... The September House by Carissa Orlando - which for some reason or other makes me want to re-watch The Haunting of Hill House, and watch Insidious. I'm resisting. I have enough trouble sleeping as it is. Reading horror doesn't keep me awake, watching horror does.

I'm halfway through it, and so far - agree with the 3 star reviews that I've seen on Good Reads - none of which have include spoilers. There are reviews that do, but I've avoided them. It's not the sort of book I want to be spoiled on. Romance novels are among the few that I don't care whether or not I'm spoiled.

It's moved from haunted house book to a book about domestic violence, abusive relationships, and alcoholism. I looked up the author and apparently she's a psychologist who counsels folks with these issues, and decided to write a horror novel about it.

I'll stick with it - because I'm curious and I think I've figured it out and want to know if I'm right. Also I've been told there's a huge twist - which I think I figured out. It's told in first person, which usually means unreliable narrator, and all the signs are there.

But...it's not as funny as I was lead to believe. To date the only horror writer who has made me laugh was T Kingfisher. I admittedly have an off-beat sense of humor. Grady Hedrix annoyed me. And while this humor is dry, it's not quite dry in the right way?

Humor is an odd thing.

2. I'm re-reading X-Factor comics via an on sale item - X-Factor 1985-1995. It's pure nostalgia for me, because I read those books back in the 1980s and 1990s. In fact, I got hooked on X-men comics in college in 1985. A woman in my dorm had a box of them in her closet, and there was a group of people who collected and read them. We all hung out together, went to the comic book store together, and would discuss them in analytical detail. We tended to analyze the characters and relationships, mainly the relationships among the characters, their emotional and psychological arcs, why they do what they do, and defend or condemn (basically fight over) their actions.

At any rate, that was then, now I just read them on my own and don't discuss with anyone. Don't know anyone who reads them. This set or volume is interesting because it does a good job of showing the differing art and writing styles over a period of time. Recently, Tom Brevoort mentioned in his blog - how the editorial board at Marvel, himself included, wrote a treatise of sorts on what not to - or how to write/break down story, and fix what's wrong in comics.

This was what he said:
( Brevoort's memo to Editorial Staff )

And so, here I am reading X-Factor - from around 1985-1986, and the writers/artists are doing exactly what they say not to do. Sitting around tables, standing in rooms, and often it's five-six characters. There's paragraphs of dialogue. I do mean entire paragraphs. If you think I can be long-winded and verbose? These writers have exposition that can give my blogging skills a run for my money.

For example? One piece of dialogue goes into nitty gritty detail about scientific experiments that a fictional Soviet Union is conducting.
( Read more... )

3. I had a three, but I've managed to space it? I'm tired and my mind is spacey, what can I say? How about a picture of an elderly but pretty cat instead?