The List 2009
This page will list what I’ve read, what I’ve watched and what I’ve listened to over the course of 2009. If it introduces people to something new, then that’s all to the good. If it helps you understand where my ideas are coming from, that’s good too. And of course, any recommendations will be considered, too!
The Anvil of the World by Kage Baker - Fantasy novel with a good sense of humour and memorable characters, if an episodic structure. Strays away from the usual heroic fantasy cliches on the whole. Baker also wrote the Company novels, which started out strongly but became less satisfying as it headed to its conclusion. 8/10
Grown Up Digital by Don Tapscott - A self-professed baby boomer explains what he sees as the characteristics of the Net Generation (anyone born between 1977 and 1996) and how they interact with education, work, marketplaces and the world. An optimistic view that can be kind of inspiring if you can forget that not everyone is upper middle class and that if no one will give you an opportunity to show what you can do, then you might as well not bother going to work. (Hmm, some drift of thought there…) 7/10
The Eyeless by Lance Parkin - 10th Doctor novel by one of the best-selling Doctor Who authors. Mr Parkin is an ageing fan boy who used to go to the same comic shop as me, though I never worked up the courage to say hello. (Ah the golden age of Andy and Al at Travelling Man, York…) As such his stories always have plenty of continuity references for those of us who like that sort of thing, but he is also very very good at writing adventure stories. The Eyeless never soars quite as highly as say, Cold Fusion or the Infinity Doctors, partially because Parkin isn’t able to weave the story into a bigger continuity. That said, I read it in a day. The characters are very affecting and the overall set-up and the suggestion that the Doctor might be responsible for the whole story is subtle and clever. Tops. 8/10
Aetheric Mechanics by Warren Ellis - It’s the early years of the 20th Century, Britain flies in space and Sax Raker investigates the case of the man who wasn’t there. Deliberately trading on Raker basically being Sherlock Holmes in an alternate vision of Edwardian England, this graphic novella is more a short story. It’s strongly written with Ellis evoking all the right elements without becoming a pastiche or losing his own style. The black and white art does a good job of presenting London as never was, though could have done with a little more shadow or toning. 7/10
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman - Basically a fanfic rewrite of the Jungle Book, but in which the Mowgli character grows up in a graveyard, amongst the dead. As such many of the beats of the story are familiar, with a Bagheera character and a Shere Kahn, but there are some nice extra elements (evocative of Gaiman’s previous works like Neverwhere) that make the story its own beast as well. As usual with Gaiman the prose skips along, the dialogue is quite zingy and the whole thing is as light as air. It’s a kid’s book, and I bought the version aimed at kids for Chris Riddell’s illustrations, but adults should find something in there too. 7/10
Stardust (film) - Based on a Neil Gaiman novella, this is a pretty straightforward comic fantasy romance about a young man who wants to prove his love to a girl by bringing her a star that has fallen from the sky. Along the way he meets an effeminate pirate and a witch obsessed with looking young. It’s amiable, knockabout stuff, played with the right level of lightness by the cast that includes a bevy of British actors, as well as big names Michelle Pfeiffer and Robert DeNiro. 7/10
Primer (film) - Two techies put together a machine in their garage. They come to work out that it’s a time machine and then begin to exploit the opportunities having foreknowledge gives them, first for material gain… It’s quite a clever film that exploits the moral conundrums of time travel. It also operates on what scientists think is the only viable method of time travel, that of a closed loop, meaning that you can only travel between the points where the time machine is switched on. It’s very grounded, the action takes place in one city with one set of characters and the direction is nicely non-Hollywood. It’s not as enigmatic as Donnie Darko, but is still a nice little story. 8/10
The Fountain (film) - Tom, an astronaut is floating across the universe in a bubble with a tree. Tomas is a conquistador, hoping to save the Queen of Spain. Tommy is a doctor searching for a cure to the cancer killing his wife Izzy. All are the same man, though none know it. The Fountain is the kind of film that if I had seen it at 14, would have blown my mind. Unfortunately, while it’s still a good film, it unfortunately covers some of the ground covered by Promethea by Alan Moore and J. H. Williams III and The Warrior Who Carried Life by Geoff Ryman (which is itself based on the Gilgamesh myth). It needed to be slightly more fantastic in its imagery and camerawork to really sell the story. That said, it’s not standard sci-fi and does try hard to do something better. 6/10
2666 by Roberto Bolaño - Huge labyrinth of a novel. Five parts, each a separate narrative with connections to the others and all connected by the fictional city of Santa Teresa which is corrupt and corrupting. Also about writing, and reading. It’s hard to sum up. There’s love, sex, death, murder, rebirth. All the big themes are represented. It’s a bit like reading Umberto Eco in that it’s a hell of a thing to start, but once you get over the hump you’re there to the end. 7/10 (I gave it more on Amazon, but changed my mind.)
Scott Pilgrim Versus the Universe by Bryan O’Malley - So there’s Scott Pilgrim, a slightly dim but likeable slacker. Scott has mad kung-fu skills, which comes in handy because in order to win the heart of his new girlfriend Ramona Flowers, he has to defeat her evil ex-boyfriends. This is the fifth in the intensely fun series and sees Scott and Ramona’s relationship on the rocks. O’Malley’s art style is deceptively simple, aping almost the video games that he continuously references as a way of describing Scott’s journey into adulthood, but each character is recognisable and the mastery of emotions is fantastic. It’s a bit like a more chaste, more fun version of Spaced, Simon Pegg’s nineties sitcom, in the way it references popular culture but more fantastical, as Scott battles evil twins who build robots while things go downhill for the band he plays in, Sex Bob-omb (itself a reference to Super Mario). It’s funny, it’s sweet and it reminds me of young adulthood. All of the series is highly recommended and this one comes with a shiny cover! 10/10
In the time of our war by Steph Swainston - Funny thing this one. Some call it New Weird. There’s this immortal see, and he can fly (there are other winged men that can’t) and he’s part of this circle empowered by the emperor, and there’s this war against these implacable insects. And the immortal takes drugs and if he takes too much it sends him into the Shift. And he’s got a shady past. There are trappings of high fantasy (i.e. Tolkien quest stories) that are heavily subverted. There’s a bit of Narnia in this, and a bit of the Alice novels but kind of mixed with Iain Banks. Despite being set in a fantasy land of castles, people wear t-shirts and read novels and newspapers. And it’s all written with a good sense of humour and a lovely first person voice. Hard to describe but all the better for it. 9/10
The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander - Reread of a book I read when I was what seven? Fantasy based on Celtic mythology. Taran is an assistant pig keeper. Hen Wen the oracular pig runs away and leads Taran into an adventure with dysfunctional companions. It’s a funnier take on Middle Earth/Narnia stuff. 8/10