May Book Haul

Not too many books came in through my door this month but the few that did were of exceptional quality.

Let's start with the biggest one first:

I've posted some pictures of this one here and there by now, but I'm so taken with the Beehive Books edition of the Island of Dr Moreau that I'm going to give it it its own post. It is that beautiful.

Same here: the Limited Edition of Konrad Curze's primarch novel will also receive its own post.

I've already read it too, so expect some of my thoughts when I get to it. I was pretty negative until about halfway through when I just started to give in and enjoy myself. The writing and choice of storytelling are... not great, but damn me if the presentation isn't gorgeous.

Two science fiction Masterworks that I've been aware of for the longest time.

I have no clue what The Stars My Destination is about, but I do know that its main character is on a quest of vengeance, and ever since I read the Count of Monte Cristo I've always been very much into vengeful characters and apparently this is also one of those genius-level works of literature.

Roadside Picnic is famous for inspiring pretty much every work of Chernobyl-disaster-style fiction. It all began when 1979 saw the release of "Stalker", a very loose adaptation of this little novel, which is a very moody, very weird movie about a man, a 'Stalker', who takes two visitors into the forbidden 'Zone' in order to search for a room that can grant the desires of anyone who enters it.

I saw it a while ago after I learned that this is where the Stalker videogames came from. I've only played the Shadow of Chernobyl one, but I remember it had some incredibly eerie atmosphere. I don't think I ever finished it, mainly because my computer was so bad that I ended up getting too frustrated too continue.

Picnic is also partially responsible for the Metro universe, which is just phenomenal.

The Crying of Lot 49 I picked up because Abalieno from Loopingworld has a reference to it on his book/idea blog, in the blog's layout itself where he quotes: "We Await Silent Tristero's Empire."

The book's title itself too just summons up crazy imagery, in my mind at least.

John Gardner's Grendel, which I'm already reading as I post this, as my 4th out of 5 reading goal of this year.  Though its page count is small, Grendel is a Gollancz Fantasy Masterwork and as such I will be taking my time with it.

I finished reading Beowulf, which was genuinely eye-opening; it's such a hugely influential work and still very readable, depending on your translation, though I did find that the barrage of names and references to earlier bits of Geat history did get rather tiring after a while, though the active-Beowulf stuff was very engaging.

Yes, I know, I know: I'm a barbarian. I'm even appalled at myself.

Anyway, Grendel is obviously based on the Beowulf poem, and it revisits the beginnings of the poem as Beowulf faces off against Grendel, but this time in the first-person view of the monster himself, whose past and psyche are put on display and who is portrayed as the anti-hero to Beowulf's villain.

It's eh... very down to earth.

Weirdly compelling though.

And then, lastly; the Manga Horror Fantasy Epic: Berserk.

Deluxe Edition Volume 1.

And it is Horror firstly, fantasy second.

I've read pretty much all of this crazy, nasty, gruesome, fucked-up, shocking, excessive volume already, and I was genuinely shocked at some of it. The book collects only the first 3 of the 40 volumes out now, so there's a lot deluxe editions still to come.

It's very good in a guilty pleasure sort of way.

From the first page it's obvious that this we're in the realm of Grimdark with this one.

Sex, violence, nightmare darkness, demons, sometimes all of it at the same time.

If you're not easily shocked and if you like your thrills, this one might be for you. 

I wasn't really that much into it until the Guardians of Desire arc was done, but by then I was very much sold on the whole thing.

Strangely, a lot of the mood and elements remind me of the earlier Slaine comics.

I find Manga hard to swallow, and I'm pretty new to it really, having only read some Junji Ito for my Horror fix, But I always knew I wanted to check out Berserk.

Dark Horse's Deluxe editions seemed like a good way to get into it, being cheaper than buying the volumes separately and of course, the prospect of having a whole collection of sexy hardbacks on my shelves is just too damn appealing to resist. 

Pick the best of every type of fiction and genre to read, watch and listen to, go to the top to find enjoyment, and if they come in eye-catching editions, all the better.

...This is again going to be expensive, though.

As if I didn't have enough stuff left to collect.