The next book I read (or recorded having read) in 2011 is #9 on my list: Stranger in a Stranger Land (Robert Heinlein, published 1961). This was part of my reading resolution to spend more time reading science-fiction: Stranger is a stone-cold sci-fi classic. Heinlein needs no introduction to sci-fi fans, but other readers will probably recognise him as the author responsible for the original Starship Troopers, the novel which influenced the 1997 film.
Stranger is about a man who was raised on Mars and his subsequent culture shock on return. In the grand tradition of science fiction, the novel is for the most part a satire of the world the author saw around him at the time, and includes swipes at organised religion, the legal system, contemporary sexual politics and the absurdities of bureaucracy and administration. It's also gone down in history for introducing several new pieces of slang into the English language: most notably Grok, meaning "to know, to comprehend/understand". It's hard to hear the word grok today without connotating it with the 60s counter-culture and the hippy stereotype.
I digress but I'm glad I read this book, although at times it was hard going and the copy of the novel I had seemed overly long. (Not surprising, seeing as I read the recent expanded edition published after Heinlein's death; he'd cut swathes of material from his original manuscript when he published the story in the 60s).
Book #10 is Love and Rockets: Ghost of Hoppers, a graphic novel reviewed here, along with #11, JSA: Black Adam & Isis (a DC graphic novel by fan-favourite writer Geoff Johns, now of Green Lantern fame).
Book #12 was a special one for me, a book that's been in my mental "to-read" pile for at least 6 years: The Call of Cthulhu (and other weird stories) by the inimitable H.P. Lovecraft. This collection was special for me because I had chosen it as a prize for an award I won in 6th form.v I distinctly remember the head teacher speaking to me after the ceremony. When I showed him the book, his only comment was "Never heard of him" (despite being an English graduate himself). (As an aside, he also looked at my friend's choice, Nietzche's Thus Spake Zarathustara, and responded with a long whistle: "Looks like heavy stuff." I wouldn't have made anything of it, but earlier in the term he'd emphasized how important it was for us Oxbridge candidates to be well-read).
All this is preamble. Cthulhu has been on my bookshelf for ages and last year I finally got my first taste of Lovecraft's writing. It's impossible to be a horror fan without hearing second-hand about this strange introverted man who's contributed so much mythology to the genre. Similarly it would take a couple of hours of solid writing to adequately express my feelings about Lovecraft's writing, but let me just say that every second-hand rumour and observation about his stories is completely true: his stories really are that mind-boggling, archaic, verbose, terrifying, mystifying, paranoid and down-right racist.
Stephen King described Lovecraft as "the dark Baroque prince of horror fiction", and he's spot-on. Despite finding modern-day acclaim and ubiquity (I can probably rattle off 4 or 5 films/novels/comics coming out in 2012 based on his stories), he was also the repressed bastard child of the genre. His works are repetitive and easily open to parody: there is always a terrible, unspeakable evil - and you can score bonus points if it "writhes horribly" ...in the shadows, naturally. It always seemed strange to me that King champions him so highly, when in his "Memoir of the Craft", On Writing, he often attacks writers who can't find the right words: if you can't find the right words to paint a picture for the reader, then maybe you should, sort of, almost like, be in another job. I'm paraphrasing, and I'm sure Stephen King would be horrified to see his own criticism used against the Baroque Prince. (Howard Phillips, to his friends.) Having said that, Lovecraft's stories are still a must-read for any horror fans.
[Interestingly enough, the PS Publishing event I went to last night at the Lancaster Waterstone's featured a discussion on Lovecraft: Ramsey Campbell pointed out that the detractors always focus on Lovecraft's obvious shortcomings, but too often to neglect how meticulously he builds up little details in the story that add up to a terrifying denouement, or the range of forms and story structures that he employs. You can say what you like about Lovecraft's prose style, he's still essential for anyone who loves to be creeped out.]
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