Finally done, halleluhjah.

The Incal Vol. 6: The Fifth Essence – Planet DiFool by Alejandro Jodorowsky
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I am pretty ambivalent about the whole experience and glad to be done with it. I think I do not like John DiFool much. I pretty much agree with those 78 million…. What a wanker.

The twist at the end was neat and there were some nice panels towards the end.

But mostly I felt very meh and couldn‘t wait to get to the end. The resolution of the storyline was underwhelming. This felt a bit like smoking too much weed and listening to Ravi Shankar‘s Best Of.

Definitely not picking up more of this. Yes, it‘s a classic. And if you are a completionist, have a look at it for the sake of rounding off your experience of European graphic novels. Other than that maybe read the first volume and don‘t bother with the rest.

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Blast from the past…

How time flies. I reviewed this over 10 years ago…

If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller by Italo Calvino
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Every now and then I read something that is not my “normal” choice, to keep things interesting. Sometimes it works and I find something that I really enjoy, other times it does not work at all. This is my worst choice for a long time. I was skimming pages at the end of the first chapter already. The first page sounded really good, but somehow this book never got off the ground for me. Intriguing idea, but there just seemed to be no point to the narrative. Unless it was to show us how smart and witty the author is.

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Dream novella

I just found an apparently unposted draft, so here it is!

Traumnovelle by Arthur Schnitzler

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Fridolin and Albertine are married with a child. One evening Albertine confesses to Fridolin that she had sexual phantasies involving a man she had seen during their vacation. That sets off Fridolin on an exploration into his life, his wishes and desires.

In 1926, when this was originally published, it was probably a pretty scandalous book. My thoughts were more along the lines of “oh, another guy exploring his midlife crisis!” Which is probably really shallow of me. Eroticism is only one aspect of this novella. It looks at our dreams, our wants and how we deal with them.

Go read some of the other reviews, they looked at this properly and made an effort to give you a well rounded and educated idea about this famous piece.

The movie Eyes Wide Shut is based on this novella, but I have never watched it, so I can’t say how it compares.

The delivery of the German audiobook I listened to was pretty wooden.

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Valley of Fear

The Valley of Fear by Arthur Conan Doyle
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Written 25 years after my favourite Holmes story, The Sign of the Four. I don‘t think I ever read this!

25 years later! Excuse me while I wander off to read about Doyle‘s life again.

„..the long, low Jacobean house of dingy, liver-coloured brick lay before us, with an old-fashioned garden of cut yews on each side of it.“

…and about English architecture in the 17th century… and yews…. what a cool tree!

Ok, where was I…I liked the main story a lot, it was very entertaining. Holmes was Holmes—“Really, Holmes,” said I severely, “you are a little trying at times.”—, the various police detectives were very likeable and not as stupid as we have come to believe. Perhaps some of the characters were a bit one-dimensional.

The back-story did not keep me interested enough, but had a nice twist.

Maybe not the best Holmes story, but solid.

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Not very spooky

Mrs. Zant and the Ghost by Wilkie Collins
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A classic Victorian ghost story, first published in 1885, which I got as an Audible freebie. Narrated by Gillian Anderson (X-Files).

I found it to be a pretty dull ghost story, with the stereotypical gender roles of the time.

Gillian Anderson’s narration was a bit breathy for my taste and the different characters were not terribly distinct and pretty much in the same register, regardless of situation.

It was short, it was free, it was ok.

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Not quite a dream novella

Traumnovelle by Arthur Schnitzler
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Fridolin and Albertine are married with a child. One evening Albertine confesses to Fridolin that she had sexual phantasies involving a man she had seen during their vacation. That sets off Fridolin on an exploration into his life, his wishes and desires.

In 1926, when this was originally published, it was probably a pretty scandalous book. My thoughts were more along the lines of “oh, another guy exploring his midlife crisis!” Which is probably really shallow of me. Eroticism is only one aspect of this novella. It looks at our dreams, our wants and how we deal with them.

Go read some of the other reviews, they looked at this properly and made an effort to give you a well rounded and educated idea about this famous piece.

The movie Eyes Wide Shut is based on this novella, but I have never watched it, so I can’t say how it compares.

The delivery of the German audiobook I listened to was pretty wooden.

View all my reviews