Pedestrian Wolves

Title: Pedestrian Wolves
Author: James L. Grant
Published: 2004 by Prime Books
Genre: ...travel guide.
Pages: 231


Okay, it's actually a week or two already since I finished this, for the second time, but let's try to remember what I wanted to write... this was the second time I've read Pedestrian Wolves, first time being in 2007 when going to, attending and coming from a music festival halfway across Finland, and a book about Halloween weekend partying in New Orleans was pretty appropriate reading material then.

It's about this guy, David Livingstone, a hedonistic Predator -living life for its pleasures, and taking them where and whenever he can- who gets let loose in New Orleans for a long weekend of partying, walking, drinking and having sex. What he wasn't expecting was that the city would suddenly start talking to him. Like, really talking to him.

David's character is well rounded up, and I enjoyed reading about his adventures again, even though there were a few things that annoyed me; the one I can remember at the top of my head being describing a sexy woman, who could 'lose a few pounds' to be even sexier. But other than that, Pedestrian Wolves is a pretty darn good book, and the way David comes to feel about New Orleans is pretty much how I feel about London, even though never in my travels there have I heard the city actually talking to me like that. Except maybe to mention that it's time for tea or Guinness. But hey, when isn't it?


Yes, I thought. I would like that. But I would also like to burn tonight. I would like to prey. Do you understand what I mean? I would have you open yourself to me, New Orleans, and show me how hot a pedestrian wolf can run through your beautiful streets. I am convinced that what I am experiencing is completely real and I now know that you are not a hallucination or a sign of mental defect in myself. However, if this is all true, I ask you to fill me with your wine, give me your women, play me your song, and let a Predator run easy through the dark places you have made. Give me excess beyond compare and the fruit of life ripe on the vine. Give me Jade and give me a night of everything that I could ever imagine.
One heartbeat passed.
Traveler, do you know what you ask? The tone of the city was mildly surprised, and also held a hint of warning.
No, I thought. I do not. But I ask it again: Give me everything you can.

Tell-All

Title: Tell-All
Author: Chuck Palahniuk
Published: 2010, this paperback edition by Vintage in 2011
Genre: It’s a Palahniuk. How do you categorise that?
Pages: 179

I’ve been wanting to buy this puppy ever since I saw the hard-cover version in the stores last year, but since I’m a poor dirty worker doing poor dirty work with many books to read, I waited for the paperback. Also because all my other Palahniuks are paperbacks, and also because I prefer paperbacks. This obviously means that I have to wait ages again to read Damned, the latest offering from dear old Chuck.

Katherine Kenton is an ageing movie legend, whose star is on the way down. For years her life has been managed by Hazie Coogan, our narrator. For decades Hazie has taken care of her Miss Kathie, her career, her men, her movies and her roles. Pretty much everything.

Then along comes Webster Carlton Westward III, who steals Miss Kathie’s heart. That might not be such a disaster on itself, for the heart in question has been claimed by numerous husbands and dogs over the years, but when the ladies discover that this young, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed lover has already written out a tell-all memoir of his love affair with Miss Kathie, ending with her very detailed death, uh-oh.

We can’t have that.

I’ve enjoyed some other Palahniuks more than this one, but still had a hard time putting Tell-All down, with its wonderfully twisted Hollywood characters. And also, knowing Palahniuk, I knew that everything would not be as it seems. I don’t mean that in a bad way. I wasn’t expecting the twist, like, Okay, yawn, let’s get it over with, twist me; I was waiting for it like, What the hell has he cooked up this time?

Katherine Kenton continues reading as a voice-over. At first we continue to hear the sounds of the park, the clip-clopping of horse-drawn carriages and the calliope music of the carousel, but these sounds gradually fade. At the same time we dissolve to show Miss Kathie and Webster Carlton Westward III lounging in her bed. In voice-over we still hear Miss Kathie’s voice reading, an audio bridge from the preceding scene: “’…On the final day of Katherine Kenton’s life, she dressed with particular care.’”

A Single Man

Title: A Single Man
Author: Christopher Isherwood
Published: 1964 originally, this Vintage edition in 2010. Oh, and I do love the cover art.
Genre: Drama
Pages: 152

If you, hypothetical reader –I don’t know if you really exist, or if I’m writing this just for my own amusement- have read other posts in this blog, perhaps more than just one, you’ve most likely gathered that I have a soft spot –a friend calls it a fetish- for gay men. You can call me a girlfag, I know I do. I’m also a big fan of Doctor Who. So when my girlfriend informed me of a movie (Christopher and his kind) where the current Who Matt Smith plays the author of this book –and many others- Christopher Isherwood, I was all over that. And while I was reading this book, I kept hearing Smith’s voice in my head. Good times!

Not that you needed –or possibly wanted- to read all that, but it’s how I stumbled upon this book.

It’s a pretty usual morning in the 1960’s California, and George Falconer, an English professor, wakes up as usual. Except that’s George’s lover Jim is dead. He’s been dead for some months now, and George is somewhat coping. Moving on. Getting on with his life, day to day to day.

A Single Man follows a single day in George’s life; how, despite his sorrow, he’s determined to keep on living, and how, despite the fact that Jim is dead, there are still good things and funny things in the world. The book is written beautifully, with sadness but also with hope and great sense of humour. Some bits had me laughing almost out loud. Only almost, since I was sitting in a bus.

There’s also a movie made of this book, and I watched it as soon as I could after finishing the book, to decide whether I’d understood the ending correctly, but the movie is very different from the book. Very. The scenery and the time of the world have been caught beautifully, but the spirit of the book has been turned into something else. It makes for a good movie, and towards the end it returns to the book’s idea, but I muchly prefer the book over the movie.

Waking up begins with saying am and now. That which has awoken then lies for a while staring up at the ceiling and down into itself until it has recognised I, and therefore deduced I am, I am now. Here comes next, and is at least negatively reassuring; because here, this morning, is where it had expected to find itself; what’s called at home.

A Sticky End

Title: A Sticky End
Author: James Lear
Published: 2010 by Cleis Press
Genre: Murder, mystery, and so, so much mansex.
Pages: 290

The last of the three Mitch Mitchell Mysteries! Oh noes! I’d been saving this (and am still saving two other unread Lears) for a rainy day, which, apparently, came this summer. Not literally, though, but after going through the last couple of books presented on this blog, I decided I needed something a little… lighter. In many ways.

The first book (the one which took this blog's virginity, even! Yay!) was called The Back Passage. The second, The Secret Tunnel. And this, A Sticky End. *giggle* The first one was awesome. The second didn’t hit me as hard, but the last one left a very good taste in my mouth. Not literally, again.

Our horny hero Mitch arrives to London to meet up and get his meat up with his old chum Harry ‘Boy’ Morgan, but finds his friend heartbroken over another lover, who just went and killed himself in Morgan’s bathroom. Last night. Blood all over the place. So Mitch tries, not very hard, to keep his cock under control at least until he can get the whole story out of Morgan. He almost succeeds.

Cocks are all over the place as Mitch does his best to keep his jealousy down and Morgan out of prison as the rozzers start thinking that he killed his lover. Lear pretty much outdoes himself with the amount of cock, especially in this one big orgy scene. But darn, Mitch and his cock do get results.

I’m giving this one a standing ovation. Brilliant ending for a terribly funny and sexy series. Don’t ever stop, Mr. Lear.

My head felt full of clouds. I couldn’t think straight. No-if Morgan is a liar, then nothing in the world makes sense anymore. I can’t let sexual jealousy turn me into a cynic. Okay, so he’s been fucking Bartlett-I’d have done the same thing. An older man, experienced, wealthy, who takes an interest in you, befriends your family, helps you out financially, and has a big dick that he wants to stick up your ass? Who am I to say Morgan shouldn’t have done it? I’d have done it. Hell, I’d have seduced Bartlett even if he hadn’t been interested. Morgan was flesh and blood, as I knew only too well.

A Clash of Kings

Title: A Clash of Kings
Author: George R. R. Martin
Published: 1998, this edition (Voyager) in 2003. Or so it says.
Genre: Still killing those fantasy peeps left, right and center.
Pages: 708 in eye-killing tiny font

(I'm copying all this text from a Word file I wrote a while back, as well as the other recent entries, so the editing is a bit whack. Sorry. Most likely I'm the only one bothered.)

And as soon as I was done with A Game of Thrones, I started on this puppy. Not to spoil much, suddenly there are kings popping up all over the place, and woah but blood is spilled in all their names. Reading this consumed so much of my free time that I had to promise my SO that I wouldn’t start the next one in a while yet. I bought it, but it’s sitting nice and quiet in the book shelf. I ‘accidentally’ spoiled myself through the internet on what’s going to happen at some point during it, so its siren song is getting louder and louder. (EDIT: I wrote this a week or two ago. Started the 3rd last night.)

Tyrion is pretty much my favourite character. Very muchly for the Joffrey-slapping, but not just because. But very much.

Also, no quote since… I’ve taken the habit of finding an essential bit to quote while I read, so that I don’t just choose one at random while writing these things. But apparently I didn’t do so with this, and there is 708 pages to choose from. So, no. Onwards!

A Game of Thrones

Title: A Game of Thrones
Author: George R. R. Martin
Published: 1996, this edition (Voyager) in 2003. Or so it says.
Genre: High backstabbing fantasy, motherduckers.
Pages: 807

…it was a pound off the price at Forbidden Planet in London, and I’d just seen the TV show. Of bloody course I bought it.

One more party I’m kinda late arriving at, but since the fifth book (of seven?) just came out, I’ve plenty of time to catch up. I’ve been more or less avoiding fantasy-fantasy for about a decade, but this book/series is giving me faith in the genre again. This is the kinda shit I wish I’d be able to write. Backstabbings, utter bastard characters, those who seem like utter bastards but aren’t, and anyone can die. And stay dead.

So, as many must know by now, this is the first part of the Song of Ice and Fire –series. It follows a bunch of people in a medieval-type fantasy world, where dragons are dead, courts are corrupt, dwarves are schemy, young boys dream of glory, scary things move in the night, and so forth. A not-so special setting, compared to many fantasy books, but I really like how Martin is handling this epic, and the direction where it’s going. Even when it suddenly makes a complete 180 in direction.

“In the game of thrones, you win or you die.”

Unohdetut Jumalat

Nimi: Unohdetut Jumalat
Alkuperäinen nimi: American Gods
Kirjoittaja: Neil Gaiman
Julkaistu: 2001, tämä versio Otavalta 2001
Genre: Gaiman.
Sivuluku: 589

Luettu noin juhannuksena, jolloin olin vanhemmilla kylässä, ei ollut mitään tekemistä, enkä löytänyt yhtään mitään muuta lukemista.

Juttelin Gaimanista paremman puoliskon kanssa joskus tämän luettuani, ja todettiin, että molemmilla on isompi tai pienempi kynnys alkaa lukemaan Gaimanin kirjoja. (Tämä tuli itse asiassa viikko sitten todettua useammankin ihmisen voimin.) Case in point: tämä kyseinen opus on seissyt kirjahyllyssäni jouluaatosta 2002. Kuitenkin olemme molemmat faneja: hänellä on noin kaikki Gaimanin kirjat, minulla useita, ja molemmilla melkein koko Sandman-sarja kerättynä.

Kun pääsee vauhtiin, Gaimania on hauska ja koukuttava lukea, mutta se aloittaminen... tyypillä on tietynlainen kirjoitustapa, josta kyllä pidän, ja miehestä itsestäänkin, mutta liekö se kielellinen kikkailu vai tietynlaiset juonikuviot joita Gaimanilta odottaa/tietää löytävänsä. En tiedä.

Mutta itse kirjasta! Unohdettujen Jumalien keskiössä on juuri vankilasta päässyt Shadow, joka on pikkasenkin tuuliajolla johtuen siitä, että hänen vaimonsa on juuri kuollut. Mukaan tulee herra Wednesday, joka tekee Shadowlle sen tyypillisen tarjouksen, josta ei voi kieltäytyä.

Matkataan ympäri Amerikan mannerta sekä uusien nykyajan jumalten että ajan kuluessa uuteen maailmaan matkustavien mukanaan tuomien jumalien seurassa. Ja kuten yllä yritin jotenkin saada selvitettyä, niin kunhan kirja pääsi vauhtiin, nautin siitä kovastikin. Varsinkin vanhojen jumalien tarinanpätkistä, kuinka he päätyivät Amerikkaan.

”Kuule”, Shadow sanoi. ”En halua vaikuttaa siltä, kuin – Jessus, kuule...” Hän piti tauon ja kokosi voimiaan. Häntä paleli, hän seisoi metsässä ja jutteli ison, mustan linnun kanssa, joka popsi parhaillaan poskeensa Bambia. ”Okei, haluan vain sanoa, että en halua kuulla arvoituksia.”

”Arvoituksia”, lintu myönsi avuliaasti.