Tag: Criticism

  • “Between Two Fires”/What I am Reading/What I have Finished

    Regular readers of this blog will know of my fondness for the band Cannibal Corpse. And, to be honest, one of the things I like about them is a consistent product. When you buy the new Cannibal Corpse record, you’re going to hear Cannibal Corpse songs. The newer albums will have better production, and they…

  • On not Finishing a Book/”The Luminous Dead”/What I am Reading

    I want to talk a little bit about not finishing books. My last didn’t finish was “Angkor and the Khmer Empire: A History of Cambodia’s Legendary Temple Building Civilization” which wasn’t a history of anything, but rather a poorly written guidebook which looked like it had been translated via google translate. It was awful, and…

  • “The Thing in the Snow”

    It’s kind of hard to write about a book like “The Thing in the Snow,” as a lot of what happens in it is very unimportant. By design, this book recounts the absurd and dull. It concerns itself with three caretakers at a remote facility in a perpetually snow bound landscape who perform absurd tasks,…

  • Dread Process/Kindle Scribe vs Kindle and Remarkable/What I am Reading.

    A little more about dread process; a quick look/review of various gadgets.  We’re going to get extra nerdy and picky here. As I have mentioned, I’m a bit of a gadget hound. It’s something I have inherited from my father, I suppose. But I have come to see the value in ‘single use’ devices; I…

  • Bangkok/What I Read on the plane/What I am reading

    This isn’t a travel blog, but I am in Bangkok right now; it’s just after breakfast time. I had a big bowl of Jok with pork and eggs, and the aunties who run the stall apparently find my lumbering frame and desire to eat Thai food adorable. Bangkok is a unique place; things grow and…

  • A Break, Finished/”Titan”/What I am Reading

    An observant audience will notice I took a little time off; ironically as I had time off from work, I found myself a bit lazier. I also had some home projects to work on, etc. I did do some reading, however. There appears to have been a point in 70’s-80’s sci-fi that was just… horny.…

  • Finished “Bubblegum”/What I am Reading/Notes on Process

    I finally finished “Bubblegum” and while I am glad I read it, my feelings about it are a little complex. It’s the subject of this Thursday’s entry. I ended up focusing on it exclusively to get it ‘out of the way’ which now means I am back on my normal ‘two or three books at…

  • More about Long Works/”Bubblegum”/”ducks, newburyport”

    According to Storygraph, the service I use to track my reading and occasionally provide recommendations, just over half of the books I have read this year are over 300 pages long. A quick google shows me that 300-350 pages are in the ‘safe zone’– the length that’s considered more or less ideal for a novel…

  • David Emory/The band Liturgy/”Cyclonopedia: Complicity with Anonymous Materials”

    A number of years ago, when I lived in Mountain View, California, I would listen to a local radio station which carried a show by David Emory. He’s a talkshow host with a calm, soothing voice and his show “For the Record”  is a show which, at least at the time I listened to it,…

  • “The Loop”/Horror Endings/What I am Reading

    I read “The Loop” this week; which was… ok? It showed up in a twitter thread from a horror writer I like, and was on sale, so I gave it a whirl. I note a number of horror novels I’ve read this year have trouble sticking the landing. It seems to be an issue with…