There is a definite through line between my last post and this one as my life long obsession with popular culture of the 1960s reaches new depths. Yes, of course I’m watching Star Trek as I write this. 

23. Laurel Canyon: The Inside Story of Rock-and-Roll’s Legendary Neighborhood- Michael Walker, audiobook

For an overall glance at the Laurel Canyon music scene, it’s fine. Not the most comprehensive recounting of the history and stories surrounding, but it’s a nice intro if you’re curious. Though you’re probably better off just jumping into a bigger book like Barney Hoskyns’s Hotel California or, better yet, the next book on my list. After all, I only listened to this one as a primer for that one, because it was written as a direct response to Walker’s book. 

24. Weird Scenes Inside the Canyon: Laurel Canyon, Covert Ops & The Dark Heart of the Hippie Dream - David McGowan

This is the real shit. What are the chances that pretty much ever single musician and hanger on that populated the Laurel Canyon neighborhood and music scene of the 60s that spawned a youth movement which permeated the country for years to come would have some sort of US intelligence/military/political connection? Turns out, they’re pretty damn high! Every single chapter of this book is mind blowing if it’s even ten percent true. If you’re into conspiracy theories, especially the easily probable at even a glance kind, you’ll love this goddamn crazy book. And that’s not even getting into the Manson stuff. 

I also read Edgar Allen Poe’s The Pit and the Pendulum, which I paired with the film by Roger Corman thanks to Svengoolie on MeTV. I’ll count it when I finish that entire book of short stories. 

Some stand out comics I’ve read recently include rereading Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns, The Dark Knight Strikes Again, and a portion of his Daredevil run and Sin City in preparation to see the new documentary about him including a live Q&A with Rosario Dawson. I also watched the Sin City sequel and The Spirit for the first time. If you really REALLY love Frank Miller (like I do) those movies might be worth your time. Otherwise nooot so much. 

You won’t believe how many books I read this month.

2 whole books. Well one was a Great Course. It was an ok course. Feels like school, yknow?

Double feature this time because I kept putting off an update the day I finished the books.

1. コンビニ人間 (Convenience Store Woman) - June 1st
2. 夜市 (Night Market) - June 17th

I guess one of the reasons I kept putting off an update is that it took quite a bit of time to write the reviews in Japanese, so I think I might write those down at a separate time whenever I feel like it rather than making it an obligation or something (although practicing writing is surely a good thing, the opportunity costs feel a tad high in comparison). Anyways...

コンビニ人間 / Convenience Store Woman: The story is about a lady who felt that she was always different from the rest of society, and chronicles her time working at a convenience store because it is the "great equalizer" where the rules of how to act are all laid out. I guess in addition to being a story, it's also a kind of commentary on society as a whole, especially when we see the interaction between her and another societal pariah called Shihara, who is initially introduced as a new employee to the same convenience store -- but later turns out to be a slackoff who has only joined in order to find a suitable woman to marry. The latter half of the story takes a detour into some weird social commentary about how modern life is really just the same as 14000 years ago, and a couple of events happen that lead the main character to slowly recognize it herself -- although not without resistance.

Overall, 6/10. Not much happening in this story, got a bit weird near the end, and I wouldn't really recommend anyone read it -- maybe the translation's better, I dunno. I will give it points for being rather hilarious at times, but that doesn't really make up for the boring parts. The plot is fairly slow paced, and really only speeds up a bit near the end, but there's not much of it so if you like slow-paced books then you might find this an alright read. Or not, I dunno. I never checked the summary before reading the book -- I just went in blind -- and I guess the sunk cost fallacy kept me going.

夜市 (Night Market): This is actually a collection of two short stories, one is the titular 夜市 itself, and the second is called 風の古道 (the call of the old road? not really sure how to translate this title) -- although for the purposes of this post, I'm counting it as 1 book only since that's how it was produced. 夜市 involves a market where you can buy anything you desire, but there's one catch -- you can only exit if you actually buy something. The story concerns a guy who goes to the Night Market with his friend, seemingly in search of something precious to him...but as the story unfolds, you soon begin to find out that sometimes the shopkeepers aren't exactly the best of people. Not sure I can give away too many details without spoiling it but it is a very short read, at about half the length of コンビニ人間. Despite its length, it manages to pack in a lot of events, and is full of intrigue. I would definitely recommend this story, especially coming hot off the back of コンビニ人間. 8/10.

風の古道 was likewise rather interesting, but it was very slow-paced in the beginning. The story concerns a guy who got stuck on the Old Road, a road which existed on the boundary of the afterlife, housing roaming spirits and the like. He manages to find his way home, but as the years pass, he and his friend decide to check out the Old Road, to see if it really existed or if it was just a figment of his imagination. They soon find out it exists, but the way out was not as easy as the way in -- they have to travel to the town over in order to be able to exit, and being the road with a lot of roaming spirits and demons, it's not safe for them to go by themselves. Thankfully, they meet a wanderer at a nearby inn, who offers to take them home -- but even with his guidance, the journey is not going to be as simple as it sounds...

I would recommend this short story as well. It's about the same length as 夜市 and has a similar pacing: slow in the beginning and speeds up near the middle. After that it's a real page turner. But at risk of spoilers, I would say that if you don't like how 夜市 was ended, then you may not find this ending very satisfying either. Overall 8/10 as well.

---

With this I believe I would have hit my quota for the year with plenty of time to spare. It's good that I did because I will probably be very busy the next coming months, as I will have to move house and work may also become more busy. That being said, I will aim to read 10 stories if possible, and if not, I at least achieved my initial goal.

Now reading: 博士の愛した数式 (The Housekeeper and the Professor). Not sure what is in store for me, and this is a bit of a longer read compared to 夜市 - I'd guess it's about the same length as セーラー服と機関銃. Interesting to note that the English title is not the same as the Japanese title; the Japanese title is more like "The expert's beloved equations". Wonder what the difference in the titles implies in the story. I guess we'll see.

19: Ambassador for Mars by Glynn Stewart

Yet again I don't get around to finishing an ARC until after the book is actually released. It's good! The Starship Mage series is what got me to follow Glynn Stewart and eventually join his Patreon. The first book, Starship Mage is a fun sci fi and magic romp. He's a great author. Don't feel intimidated by how many books are in the series. I am glad he is finally exploring some things only hinted at earlier in the series.

Alright! I read another book!

Book #4

Spoilers: Dead Ahead!

"The Toll" is the final book in the Arc of a Scythe series by Neal Shusterman. I thought "Thunderhead" was full of twists, but "The Toll" takes it to another level. Shusterman adds calamity after calamity in almost every chapter. To make things worse, Goddard has become the High Overblade and rules the world with an iron fist, reminiscent of Hitler in World War II.

But not everything is doom and gloom. The Thunderhead has plans to make things better. With the help of Rowan, Citra, Jeri, Morrison, Greyson, and a few others, the plan is to create a new world away from the politics, conspiracies, and corruption of scythedom. It turns out that Goddard sabotaged early space exploration plans because he and a few other scythes feared that if people lived on other planets, there would be no need for gleaning, rendering the scythedom obsolete. Goddard couldn't handle that and crushed the Thunderhead's plans, killing many people in the process.

In the end, Goddard gets his comeuppance, and I was glad to see that.

I'm also happy that Rowan and Citra have a good ending and end up together. Rowan has had nothing but bad luck since book one, and since the end of book two, he's been tortured, killed many times, and held hostage by various groups, including Goddard. In the end, Rowan and Citra get to be together, albeit in a roundabout way. Citra is hurt by debris from Goddard's missile attack, and the Thunderhead can only revive her in 100 years. So, Rowan has to wait 100 years and then revert to his young age from before entering the spaceship. Doomed lovers from the start, their bittersweet ending culminates with Faraday and Munira activating the failsafe, causing scythe rings to explode and making scythes obsolete. Their only job now is to help people die peacefully from the ten plagues that this event caused.

I highly recommend the Arc of the Scythe series. It's so awesome, and I heard that Neal Shusterman is in talks with agents to make this series into a movie series. So, here's hoping that becomes a reality because I would really love it to see it on the big screen.

Oh snaps I managed to finish Alice Isn’t Dead by Joseph Fink! Just under the wire.

I finished Creating Character Arcs: The Masterful Author's Guide to Uniting Story Structure, Plot, and Character Development by K.M. Weiland.

Good book, she goes over the three different character arcs, positive change, flat, and negative change; states the structure of each then goes over examples from film and book of them being executed.

Definitely worth reading if you have a creative itch.

Up next I have Basic Economics by Thomas Sowell, but I might only go halfway into it then read book 3 of the Wheel of Time before continuing it.

Finished crime and punishment

was part of this thread previously as frontlined-backend

25. Harley Quinn: Ravenous - A follow-up to the Harley Quinn: Reckoning novel I read last year. The book has a lot of plot threads going for Harley: first year of college, internship at Arkham Asylum, love triangle involving a non-villainous Poison Ivy, fallout from the previous novel and other tangents from those threads. The start of the book’s second half alleviates all the plot threads, to the point I wish I started reading at this point. There is a nice subversion in Harley’s usual mad love origin story where Harley avoids further contact with the Joker and analyzes another villain instead. I may read the final book this year.

26. The Female Man – An early feminist sci-fi novel about multiple timelines. This took some time to figure out as it is never clearly stated which POV is in each chapter, and the characters tend to speak in both first and third person with little or no warning. Definitely the one of the most confusing books I have read. Plus, there is an author insert, where Russ the author herself is a major character. Basically, four women travel across space and time, and encounter the changes in gender dynamics in each time. For a 200-page book with some expected long speeches about patriarchy, it is a chore to read.

27. My Government Means to Kill Me – A fictional memoir of a gay black man who lived in late 1980s New York City, during the AIDS crisis. He gets involved with the gay rights movement and meets with real life figures ala Forrest Gump. I should have expected all the gay sex that happens here, given the era. Anyway, I wished the book was longer to cover more activist events, as it ended almost anti-climactically.

Done reading these books:

58. Tintenwelt 2 - Tintenblut (Inkspell), Cornelia Funke, 732 pages

59. Tintenwelt 3 - Tintentod (Inkdeath), Cornelia Funke, 764 pages

60. Tintenwelt 4 - Die Farbe der Rache (The Color of Revenge), Cornelia Funke, 352 pages

61. Der schwarze Schmetterling (Shelter), Harlan Coben, 368 pages

62. Das dunkle Haus (Seconds Away), Harlan Coben, 400 pages

63. Das geheimnisvolle Grab (Found), Harlan Coben, 368 pages

64. Das Gleismeer (Railsea), China Mieville, 400 pages

65. Das Rad der Zeit 1 - Die Suche nach dem Auge der Welt (The Wheel of Time 1 - The Eye Of The World), Robert Jordan, 896 pages

66. The Moving Blade, Michael Pronko, 320 pages

Inkspell + Inkdeath + The Color of Revenge:

The other two books of the series plus the new book that came out recently. The new one does feature a small summary of what happenend before but just for getting reacquinted with the characters it was worth to reread them. I do think that the fourth book is overall not as good as the rest but it was pretty good and resolved one story bit that was left unfinished from Inkdeath.

Shelter + Seconds Away + Found:

Those three are all parts of the Mickey Bolitar series. Mikeys father died in a car accident and his mother became a drug addict, forcing him to move in with his uncle. To make things worse, his best friend Ashley just suddenly disappears and as he does research, he comes along claims that his father is still alive ...

Overall good crime series that is aimed at a younger audience. I found the bigger story arch that connects the books interesting but it gets resolved in a manner that feels a bit rushed but the well written side characters make up for that.

Railsea:

Sham lives in a world where everything is connected by rails, spanning high and low. Clueless what he wants to do, he becomes part of the crew of the Medes, whose captain is following her own philosophy - chasing down a huge, alabaster coloured mole that is roaming through the Railsea.

Cool book. Not my favorite book by the author but every sentence was a pleasure to read, breathing more life into a fascinating world.

The Wheel of Time 1 - The Eye Of The World:

The Wheel of Time is weaving, and even reaching the simple living young men Rand, Mat and Perrin in their small village. From one day to another, destiny is throwing them into a world of the sorceresses called Aes Sedai, Trollocs and other things beyond their comprehension.

This has been on my reading list for a bit. The start is pretty slow but I liked it - the start of the second one is even slower, as that's the book I am reading right now but it's also good. I intend to read about one of these every 1 - 2 months, as reading all of them in a row seems like a daunting task.

The Moving Blade:

An american diplomat called Bernard Mattson is killed in a gruesome fashion, cut open with a blade. As Hiroshi Shimuzi gets dragged into the case, it becomes clear that Mattson intended to publish a book and also hold a speech that critices the American naval bases - and some parties have interests that go beyond just military presence to stomp any criticism of them into dust.

Good book. Fair bit weaker than the first book due to a much worse written antagonist but still enjoyable.

The seventh month approaches, get them reads POSTED.

@argile @Asandir @Atlas @AxolotlGav @CarterSterling @CappyCatII @Darklion0 @Dean @detergent1 @door88 @DrSevenSiezeMD @Frontlined-Backend @Ganon-Dorf @Gimmick @GonzaloAtWork @Haggard @JerseyWildcard @Joltopus @Malachy @OlTrout @OneThousandMeeps @Pingu @Prinzy2 @PudgieDaFrog @Sheik13LoZ @SlutasaurusRex @SourCherryJack @StrangInk @TecNoir @TehPoptartKid @TopazAzul @UnderWhirl @Urichov @YendorNG @Yomuchan @ZJ @Dr-Freebase

AHHHHHHHH IM STILL READING

25. Primetime 1966-1967: The Full Spectrum of Television’s First All-Color Season - Thom “Beefstew” Shubilla

A very dry read about a very moist era in television. More of a reference piece than a book “about” the time. The writer pretty much presents the facts of what was on, how many people watched it, and a few interesting facts about its production or reputation, and it’s mostly up to you to form your own assessment about the subject matter. Nonetheless it’s an amazing look at a staggering time for TV.

Just to name a few shows on at the time: Batman, Star Trek, The Beverly Hillbillies, Bonanza, Bewitched, The Monkees, The Green Hornet, Lassie, The Man From U.N.C.L.E, The Avengers, Dragnet, Hogan’s Heroes, Gilligan’s Island, Get Smart, Green Acres, The Andy Griffith Show, and the list goes on and on. Hollywood 1966, you shoulda been there!

I would’ve liked a lot more insight from the writer and he could’ve really used a copy editor or at least one with more time on his hands. There are plenty of typos, repeated names in lists, a very distracting method of citing sources, and I’ve never seen a sentence in a book use the word ‘despite’ twice before. There isn’t even a wrap up portion, once the book is done talking about F Troop it just ends. A little more personality and perspective would put this up there with books like Easy Riders, Raging Bulls, and Pictures At A Revolution, but as it stands it’s a great look at what could arguably be called the best time in American television. In fact, I’ll accept no arguments. There can’t possibly be a better time in TV.

I've read two books:

1. John Sinclair - Friedhof der Vampire (graveyard of the vampires)

So-called "ghost hunter" John Sinclair, Inspector of Scotland Yard - is called to a remote town in Scotland, because of strange happenings. At the same time two bank robbers seek shelter in the same remote town. Vampires are part of this as well. Hilarity ensues.

2. Vampira - Der Nexius (the Nexius. Yeah, I don't know either)

Part 1 of a 2 parter. The main character doesn't even make an appearance. A group of grave robbers discover a "top down" pyramid in the desert. Thinking they will find great treasures, they try to enter it. Hilarity ensues. ;)

Book 7

The Five People You Meet in Heaven - Mitch Albom

I've read it before, maybe last year.

It's a good book if you like feeling empathy. It's starts off with Eddie dying in a work accident at an amusement park, and he meets people who had a profound influence in his life, and lessons to teach about his life, from the lady whom the amusement park was build for and named after before his birth, to his wife, and how everything is connected and happened for a reason.

Would recommend.

Dungeon Meshi Volume 4 by Ryōko Kui

23) Random article about book ban attempts and threats of cutting funding to libraries if they don't vet books for young readers.

Pretty much articles with a lot of back and forth between policy makers and local decision makers that feel their efforts are being undermined by outside groups that are trying disregard feedback from both them and families that help them make their decisions.

24) Catch-up reading for games along with some instruction manuals

Finally went back to play thru one of my game's campaign and read through all of the story snippets that can only be unlocked after completing an area successfully. Also read through some posts from the game's community pages to see what everyone was up to and how they dealing with the confusing events that were launched over these past several weeks.

When I wasn't doing this, I was reading thru instruction manuals to try and figure out how some of my actually worked. Other than this, I've been busy re-arranging furniture and cleaning carpets. Needless to say it was an interesting June.

Finished The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

June (3)

18: Ritualist by Dakota Krout

19: Ambassador for Mars by Glynn Stewart

20: Regicide by Dakota Krout

Pretty off pace for my goal. I may need to adjust it down for the year :(

Did finish Regicide yesterday. The video game series is still entertaining so we'll continue it for our commutes.

+3

Ayyyy I was afraid I'd miss updating this month because I was on vacation. Anyway on to the books.

Seeking the Dream Brother by Marcia J. Bennett

It uh. Certainly ended the series. Story was fine, ending was bleurgh. Sets up for another book which never was written or at least never published. I tried to find the author just to send her an email or something and ask about it (some people like hearing from fans, I'm not going to send her anything weird I promise). Best I have found she's still alive. That's as far as I got.

A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet + A Close and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers

Character driven narrative instead of the more common plot driven. People either like this series or they hate it. I fucking love it. Give me 10 more books of alien world building please. I'll have to settle for the book and a half I have left though. Let me live in Becky Chambers space world forever please. If you liked Deep Space 9's B plots this is the series for you.

Update

I finished The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

It was really good, a little bit pretentious in places, but the story is very compelling. The last couple chapters might dip into a bit overly cruel, but overall I think it's earned and doesn't dip into overkill.

LITFAM UPDATE: LUCKY 7 EDITION

Another month closer to greatness as we blitzbook it into the second half of the year where, if you can stop sweating for one second, even greater epic litness may await.

The 100% gang is starting to fill out as @Gimmick and @SlutasaurusRex only went and f*cking did it while the rest of us only thought about it, meanwhile @Sheik13LoZ is so close I'm gonna SCREAM. Also metamorphed @Frontlined-Backend into @Dr-Freebase in a highly experimental medical procedure.

And everyone's a winner, again. Something's rigged. Specifically our collective boat of literary ambition is rigged to a mast of radical magnanimitude.

Top Fam

1. @Asandir (9)
2. @JerseyWildcard, @Joltopus, @Malachy, @SlutasaurusRex, @StrangInk (3)
3. @detergent1, @Ganon-Dorf, @Gimmick, @Haggard, @TopazAzul (2)

@argile @Asandir @Atlas @AxolotlGav @CarterSterling @CappyCatII @Darklion0 @Dean @detergent1 @door88 @DrSevenSiezeMD @Dr-Freebase @Ganon-Dorf @Gimmick @GonzaloAtWork @Haggard @JerseyWildcard @Joltopus @Malachy @OlTrout @OneThousandMeeps @Pingu @Prinzy2 @PudgieDaFrog @Sheik13LoZ @SlutasaurusRex @SourCherryJack @StrangInk @TecNoir @TehPoptartKid @TopazAzul @UnderWhirl @Urichov @YendorNG @Yomuchan @ZJ

Damn I only added three this month? I gotta start counting comics.

12. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

I was given this when I visited a bar in my hometown a few weeks ago. I gave it a go and enjoyed it much more than I expected. It felt a bit darker than I would have imagined, especially since a lot of people recommend this to teens. It was a fine enough read that I may buy the sequel. I haven't heard much about the other books in the series.

I feel like it’s always very different than people expect. Fantastic book. I’ve had the sequel for years and haven’t read it, but always hear it’s great. Maybe I’ll dip into it soon.

Finished the audiobook for Surely You Can't Be Serious: The True Story of Airplane! by David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker.

Really solid production that was filled with funny stories and memorable celebrity cameos. I was impressed by how damn funny this book was while also feeling like I got a lot of bang for my buck with the sort of fun behind-the-scenes stories that you go to these things for. They really went in-depth with how these funny bums started in Wisconsin and made their way to California through their "Kentucky Fried Theatre" which led to a film based on those sketches and then finally Airplane! It was kind of inspiring to hear how much grit and determination it took these fellas to get to where they wanted to go in the insane world of Hollywood.

My only real gripe is that I wish they had covered more of what happened AFTER the movie came out. That part felt like it was rushed through at the end, but I suppose they might be saving up some stories for if they do a tell-all book about The Naked Gun franchise of films...

💺

Have you read/listened to Wild and Crazy Guys? It’s a great book about the 80s comedy film boom and the audiobook is read delightfully by Curtis Armstrong. A couple others you might enjoy: Fat, Drunk, and Stupid about the making of Animal House, Caddyshack, and the one about the formation of National Lampoon the title of which I can’t remember right now but is really good. There’s also a big coffee table book about the Lampoon and a very flawed but fun movie directed by David Wain where a bunch of modern comedians play the comedy stars of the 70s/80s.

And I consider Steve Martin’s autobio Born Standing Up required reading for anyone interested in the history of comedy film. And of course, Live From New York, but get the full one, not the abridged version!

13. Alex Meyers - The Story of Silence. Apparently inspired by a 13th century story "Le Roman de Silence". The book is the chivalrous story of Silence, the daughter of a nobleman who is secretly raised as a boy to ensure retention of titles and holdings. Merlin is there too, as a goofball.

21: Raze by Dakota Krout

22: Ruthless by Dakota Krout

2 more in the Completionist series. It's got these terrible dad-joke level puns throughout and my wife absolutely loves them. Every book ends on as cringey of a dad joke as possible. I also like that the audiobooks have a blooper reel before the credits.

Miriam Toews - Fight Night

The 9 year old(? It's never made quite clear) Swiv lives with her mother and grandmother in Toronto. She has been expelled from school for fighting, and is home schooled by her grandmother. She gives her the assignment to write a letter to her absent father. Those letters are more or less what we get to read in this book: a stream of consciousness from a 9(?) year old

I don't quite know what to think about this book. On the one hand, there are quite some funny scenes in it, on the other hand the family seems to be quite disfunctional. Swiv has to care about her grandmother, make sure she takes her medication at the right time and helps her around the house in various ways. Her mom is pregnant and tries to keep the family afloat as a theater actress. She's on the edge most of the time (and understandably so), Swiv's grandma on the other hand doesn't seem to take anything in life very seriously.

I mean... It's not hard to see why Swiv got expelled from school, she has the very huge burden to care about her grandma. She even accompanies her on a trip to Fresno, where her extended family lives....

Toews seems to be a very capable author though, so I might check out some of her other novels. I'm not quite sure if I want to recommend "Fight Night", though.