Kavalier and Klay: tosh. I try to give every book I read a fair shot, and if I don't like it, I try to read it to the end. Same with films too. Only one book has ever made me throw it aside, never to return. And it won the Booker. Kavalier and Klay won the Pulitzer, and yet I still didn't like it at all. I almost gave up on it, but I persevered and merely read it as quickly as possible, just so it wouldn't be lurking, unread, in the flat any longer. It's another one of those books that tries to make up for the complete lack of any interesting elements by being "set against the backdrop" of some major event. Then, you see, it doesn't need to be interesting in itself, because the events going on in the background are interesting. Tosh. This one is "set against the backdrop" of the Second World War. It seems that it is no longer fashionable to write a story. No, you've got to write about the emotional trauma of Jew/Indians/gays, at the expense of the story, to be a good writer. Sod that. If that's what fiction is all about nowadays, I'll go back to the trashy scifi/fantasy books. And the comics, of course. Chuck in the Jews and the Indians and the gays and whatever else, but stop trying to show how clever you are and just give me a story!

(And now I sound like a bigotted homophobic racist anti-Semite...)

It makes me want to write a book "set against the backdrop" of the blackout that happened over here last week, just to take the piss. Of course, this book will also have "A Novel" on the front cover somewhere, even though it'll be a short story collection or something. Bah!

So, next up is either a battered, second-hand copy of Gaiman's American Gods, or King's Gunslinger. I should probably read the latter, since it's been patiently waiting its turn for some time. After those, I have The Difference Engine and Oliver Twist (my first Dickens!) jostling for my attention. Suggestions would be welcome.

Finally, Henry McCoy needs to drop those deadbeat X-Men, and return to the Avengers. Same goes for the Ultimate version.

Sorry this has been so negative. I hope everyone is happy and well. G'night.