en-US Wed, 09 Apr 2025 03:05:09 -0700 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg ReadStatus9288776565 Wed, 09 Apr 2025 03:05:09 -0700 /review/show/7474774045 Zac wants to read Love and Fury: The Life, Death and Legacy of Joe Meek by Darryl W Bullock
]]> ReadStatus9281403603 Mon, 07 Apr 2025 06:45:28 -0700 /review/show/7469663630 Zac wants to read Paul Auster's The New York Trilogy: City of Glass, Ghosts, The Locked Room by Paul Auster
]]> ReadStatus9257755671 Tue, 01 Apr 2025 04:51:39 -0700 /review/show/7453099283 Zac wants to read Sing Backwards and Weep: A Memoir by Mark Lanegan
]]> Review6331136757 Fri, 28 Mar 2025 03:10:31 -0700 /review/show/6331136757 Zac gave 4 stars to The Invention of Morel (Paperback) by Adolfo Bioy Casares
bookshelves: to-read
I don’t want to give too much away, but both the plot the perspective Casares brings to the bizarre situation was more unique than I expected it to be. I found the main character to be paranoid and obsessive to the point of being mildly exasperating but his behaviour made sense. The style of storytelling was simplistic, with a focus on plot and internal thoughts and ideas rather than detailed descriptions of people and places. I really enjoyed that and it somehow gave me a stronger visual sense of what was going on as I read it. The images throughout were simple and nice too. The whole book is also short enough that it can be re-read with additional insights once you understand what is going on.
]]> Review7429324127 Sun, 23 Mar 2025 18:45:51 -0700 /review/show/7429324127 Zac gave 4 stars to JSA: The Golden Age (Paperback) by James Robinson
A started reading this for an extremely minor Animal Man appearance and glad I went back and read this properly from the beginning. Pretty enjoyable and short 4 issue-series set in the late 1940s that owes a lot to Watchmen and the dark revisionist superhero fad, with some domestic violence, heroes being bad and insane, and several deaths. The art and script was good, and the plot gripping. A bunch of the blonde-haired male heroes looked similar, but besides that, the characterisation was great - I was familiar with only some heroes, but that didn't matter. ]]> Review7044163702 Sun, 09 Mar 2025 20:14:49 -0700 /review/show/7044163702 Zac gave 4 stars to The Chronicles of DOOM: Unraveling Rap's Masked Iconoclast (Hardcover) by S.H. Fernando
A great book. It was very informative and engaging, which is what I was looking for in a biography of DOOM, and I learned a lot. The first section is about DOOM’s childhood and introduction to all the elements of hip hop, his early experience with the industry through KMD, and the other groups and rappers that were part of his orbit. The turning point in his life comes with the tragic death of his brother. DOOM then goes into the wilderness for several years before emerging with some unique concepts, a stack of beats, and a new vocal style. The next little section of the book goes into the cultural origins of the villain/trickster character and provides further details about the Marvel character Doctor Doom and about King Ghidorah the kaiju, as well as detailing the evolution of the iconic mask. All this broader pop-cultural background information is more interesting and important context for DOOM’s approach over the next decade. The next section is about all the recordings that were made between around 1999-2018. DOOM worked with a lot of different people under a lot of different aliases and things were not always released in the same order that they were recorded. This books straightens all of that out, going into detail about the small labels that released his material, the cast of characters involved behind the scenes, his musical collaborators, and what DOOM was responsible for in each release. There is a good amount of detail about some of my favourite releases (the King Geedorah and Viktor Vaughn albums, and MM.. Food), with a deep, track-by-track dive into Madvillany, but only a short section about his very enjoyable collab with Czarface. The final little section is about his final years, death, and legacy. As I mentioned, there was a lot I didn’t know that was probably basic knowledge for DOOM fans (e.g. the DOOMbots, and his exile to the UK) but I’m sure there were revelations here even for the DOOM diehard. That said, the author and the interview subjects were still respectful of DOOM’s privacy, glossing over some of his shadier dealings and those of his colleagues, keeping some of DOOM's myth alive as a mysterious villain with a heart of gold. I can't imagine a better biography being written about this subject and it inspires the reader to go through all of DOOM's extensive back catalogue and marvel at his work as both a lyricist and producer. ]]> Review7335424841 Wed, 19 Feb 2025 03:36:20 -0800 /review/show/7335424841 Zac gave 3 stars to The Great When (The Long London Quintet, #1) by Alan Moore
The found the first chapter a little hard to get into - briefly introducing some characters and scenarios that may or may not appear in the story later on - but once the book started properly it was enjoyable, witty, full of interesting ideas, and inclusive of endearing characters. I’ve never been to London (the closest I've come is Peter Ackroyd’s 'London: A Biography', and having a flight booked and cancelled in 2020) so I likely missed out of lot of references in the streets of the superior London, but it didn’t make my experience of the novel less enjoyable, and I imagine that the kind of references Moore would include would be quite obscure even for the locals. It was an interesting mix of fantasy and real historical events and characters, and I could never really tell where one started and one ended, though I am vaguely acquainted with Austin Osman Spare as a historical figure. The pacing of the whole book was a little off - not enough tension in parts, and the whole story seemed to be resolved about three quarters through before an action packed final quarter seemingly out of nowhere. The last little chapter seems to set up the next book with its reference to Joe Meek, who sounds like an intriguing subject for a book, and I will continue to follow the series. Apparently a TV show is also in the works, with Moore's involvement!

I’m not very good with audiobooks (I can't take in the text with just audio alone) but at several points I tried listening at the same time as reading this. It was useful for parts set in the Great When, which are all printed in italics and are a bit more florid. The speaker had a nice voice, and these otherworldly sections were complemented by some moody ambient rumbles in the background. ]]> Review7313997333 Wed, 12 Feb 2025 01:27:03 -0800 /review/show/7313997333 Zac gave 3 stars to Green River Killer: A True Detective Story (Hardcover) by Jeff Jensen
I didn't know a lot about this serial killer going into it but the book had impressive recommendations on the back cover and from my comic dealer. It primarily follows the life of Tom Jensen (father of the author) who was the lead investigator on the Green River Killer case over about 20 years. It jumps back and forward in time between Tom's life (pre-police force, through the investigation in the 1980s, then to catching the killer much later) and also a time in around 2003 when the cops were cutting a deal with Ridgway to help find additional bodies and bring closure to more families. We mostly see the aftermath of Ridgway's violence from the eyes of the police, and sense its affect on Jensen and the families. Ridgway's perspective is used sparingly and effectively - we see him hunting for victims once or twice, and only see actual violence right at the beginning of the book, and it is SCARY. The depiction of Ridgway in the 2003 scenes is intriguing. He seems - not remorseful - but insecure about it, and maybe a bit embarrassed. It's very different than the usual depiction of serial killers as egomaniacs, taunting the police. Nevertheless, Ridgway was/is very, very bad who did some shocking things, and maybe that's why he felt embarrassment and not exactly guilt.
The art was solid but the style wasn't spectacular. It was pretty understated. Maybe it was the absence of colour and the heavy blacks, but it somehow reminded me of Sean Philips and David Mazzucchelli. The layouts weren't anything inventive, but the characters were pretty expressive. This would work pretty well as a TV show or film, but it probably didn't have the action and gore to be a popular entry in the "serial killer" genre in those mediums. That's probably what makes this interesting and, by the end of it, quite sad. 3+ stars ]]> ReadStatus9058923863 Wed, 12 Feb 2025 01:26:00 -0800 /review/show/7313996717 Zac wants to read Ethel and Ernest by Raymond Briggs
]]> ReadStatus9036914672 Fri, 07 Feb 2025 01:09:15 -0800 /review/show/7298499897 Zac wants to read The Absence: Memoirs of a Banshee Drummer by Budgie
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