Volume 2 of the Sandman series. ( it includes issues #9-16 ).

I enjoy Preludes & Nocturnes and i find The Doll's House as notching it up higher in terms of great storytelling and visual feast.

The Doll's House follows a girl named Rose Walker who later learned the real identity of her grandmother, Unity Kincaid ( the hapless girl who spent a great majority of her life in a deep slumber in Preludes & Nocturnes ).

And later on trying to find her long lost brother Jed, at the same time Rose is being monitored by Morpheus aka Dream with her possibly being the "Vortex" that threatens the world and the dreamworld as well.

Hatched through the story are fantastic single-chapter sub plots and short stories that take us away from the action but also help refine the Sandman as character from long way back. The story telling is executed perfectly; never dragging and always perfectly paced.

I particularly like the totally unrelated story ( but it could be in the upcoming volumes ) "Men of Good Fortune", about Hob Gadling, a 14th century man who tried and succeeded in defying death, saying that "It's a mug's game. I wont have any part on it" ( referring to death ).

He then attained immortality. And from his initial conversation with Dream they agreed to meet at the same place once in every hundred years, eventually they both became friends.

But nothing will beat the great storytelling, horror and humor of "Collectors".

In this chapter, Rose Walker and Gilbert find themselves among a Cereal Convention but in reality was a "Serial Killer Convention, where lifelong criminals ( grass widow, psycho killer, candyman, nimrod, dark angel etc ) are gathered and engages in panel discussions in topics like "We are what we are", "Women in Serial Killing" "There is no sanity clause".

It's a humor laden chapter and a harrowing one as well.

The Corinthian: "the good doctor likes to skin people, Nimrod is a bone hunter. He can bone joint and gut any animal in minutes. For myself i have a penchant for eyes. And you know what we're going to do now, Philip?...We're going to take turns"

Not to mention Gilbert's retelling of a supposed to be original version of "Little Red Riding Hood".

*****
Over-all as i said, it keeps getting better. My sandman experience is turning out to be a great one, calls for more urgent needs to get my hand on the following volumes.

The artwork is outstanding, a "Visual Feast" as Bunnylette would say and i agree.

As one online review would say

"This is arguably one of the highlights of the Sandman series and sets the standard for what follows. The Doll's House seems to expand and improve with every reading and should take pride of place on the bookshelf of anyone who likes a good yarn, comic reader or not"

Good Omens is a fantasy tale written in collaboration between Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman about the coming Armageddon or the end of the world. This is my first Terry Pratchett book and one of the many of Neil Gaiman's work. As Terry Pratchett told in an interview about 60% of the idea and the book itself was written by him, with Gaiman contributing through hours of phone conversation.

*****

 

The book centers around an angel Aziraphale and a demon Crowley ( probably the most lovable Demon ), as they try to avert the incoming End of the World as we know it.

Playing a large role in the incoming end of the world is the so called "Anti-Christ" or the Son of Satan.

Despite being on the opposite side of the spectrum, one representing Good, the other one Evil, Aziraphale and Crowley decided to join forces and work together to track down the Son of Satan.

But after a mistake in the switch-up at birth, the perceived Anti-Christ was in fact a normal 11 year old boy, while the real Anti-Christ grows up unsupervised by the followers of hell, in the person of Adam.

Adam is the 11 year old decided leader of a group of kids who called themselves as "Them". Unconscious of his powers he unknowingly sets of a chain of events that eventually started the incoming Apocalypse ( rise of the Atlantis, typhoons, and the 4 horsemen of the Apocalypse ).

When Aziraphale discovered the real identity of the Anti-Christ with the help of the book "the Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter" He and Crowley then gather themselves together in a race against time to try and avert the End of Days. That is amidst all witch hunters, other Duke of Hells who want to make sure that the Final war between Heaven and Hell takes place on Earth pronto!.

*****

If this is the end of the world, then what a way to go, laughing our asses off. Pratchett and Gaiman succeeded in creating a funny, not so serious yet with serious implications kind of story.

The novel is complete with equally hilarious footnotes ( i suggest you read all of it ), sympathetic characters who in their own way endear themselves to readers alike.

Reading it, i had nothing but love to all characters even Ligur and Hastur makes a fun duo as the Duke of Hell who are after Crowley.

****
Good Omens is a book about good and evil, and the order of things. But most of all, it is a book written by authors who clearly know all the weird and wacky things in the world and most importantly knows how to write them and put it all together in one great novel.

Jack Kerouac's "The Dharma Bums" is a semi-fictional novel that has since become the trademark of Kerouac's work. In here the narrator Ray Smith ( based on Kerouac ), a poet and self described "Dharma Bum"  a person who searches for the Meaning of Life by following the Buddhist Way) details a period in his life as he hitchhike across the vast frontier of the West unto San Francisco, where he meets a handful of colorful characters where one stands out in the form of Japhy Ryder (said to be poet, essayist and Buddhist Gary Snyder in real life).

 

 

It was the best of times as Ray Smith hangs out with his friend Japhy and other poets in San Francisco getting drunk, going to poetry readings on evenings and generally having a wild Bohemian time the Dharma way.

The best part of the novel comes when Ray Smith narrates their trip to the High Sierras to climb the Matterhorn. A seemingly simple experience but was given life by Kerouac's "Spontaneous Prose" which has influenced writers from the following generations like Hunter S. Thompson, Tom Robbins and even Bob Dylan.

Finding and knowing his spiritual side seems to hold Ray Smith with utmost importance as it parallels these events to the real life Kerouac whose life took a turn to celebrity status after the publishing of his "Legend Turning" work "On The Road".

Driven by the eccentricity of Japhy Ryder whose allure to the simple life and Zen Buddhism greatly affects those around him, thus savoring a simple meal around a small campfire is an experience much greater than dining in an expensive restaurant, they went on buying clothes in run down used clothing store, carrying rucksacks and spending the night in the woods on sleeping bags. Living life the mountaineer way. Being introduced to the Buddhist sexual rite called "Yab-Yum" .

I know today's generation would credit modern writers like Alex Garland with his work on "The Beach" as something of rekindling the "Backpacking" culture. But truth was, Jack Kerouac has been advocating that lifestyle years and years ahead of his time.

Kerouac though his Ray Smith character as he sets out yet another trip across America to visit his mother, spending 3 months meditating and living almost entirely in a garden and going back to San Francisco as he reunites with the rest of the Dharma Bums including Japhy Ryder who in turn is preparing to make his life defining voyage to a monastery in Japan.

The book ends as Ray Smith spends the summer as a fire look-out in the mountains and enjoys the solitary life. ( Jack Kerouac did served as a fire lookout for the United States Forest Service on Desolation Peak in Washington state. )

Semi-Autobiography?, part fiction? nevertheless it's a wonder how a Kerouac book can make me appreciate life as if it was served in a gold platter. You wonder how much else is out there at the tip of your mind just waiting to be discovered.

Wherein "On The Road" painted us a picture of life literally on the road and the somehow captivating experiences we meet upon a reckless yet determined journey, "The Dharma Bums" offers us in insight on the "beat generation's" romance with the Buddhist influence in searching and building an enlightenment for that inner you, in your inner life. Solitary or accompanied by others, simple or grandeur, poor or rich, 5 star accommodation or a rucksack and a sleeping bag in the cold smoldering piece of lot in the wilds. It doesn't matter as long as you embrace life as it was, as it come to you and appreciate it like "spontaneous prose" telling you a great story.

The Light Fantastic is the 2nd book of the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett. It's a fantasy tale set in a world consisting of a slightly convex disc atop on the backs of four huge elephants which are in turn standing on the back of an enormous turtle, named Great A'Tuin.

The novel starts where the very first Discworld book "Colour Of Magic" ended, with bumbling wizard Rincewind and the Discworld's first ever tourist Twoflower setting adrift, falling over the edge of the world.

But as the wizards in the Unseen University found out about an impending doom that will cause by the Great A'Tuin walking towards a collosal star, which will set the whole Discworld on fire, the only remaining solution to the end of Discworld lies on one of the so called "eight most powerful spells from the octavo" which turns out to be locked inside the head of Rincewind.

With the help of the magic book, Octavo, Rincewind and Twoflower were saved and found themselves back in Discworld, amid talking trees and giant rocks and being tracked by other wizards led by Rincewind's former classmate Trymon.

They encountered countless close brushes with death (whom Rincewind met face to face in Death's domain) Rincewind, Twoflower with the help of aging superhero Cohen The Barbarian, and the girl they saved from a sacrificial ritual named Bethan and Twoflower's luggage who has a mind of its own described as "half suitcase, half homicidal maniac" and was able to save the duo  in a few occasions.

They all set out for a wonderful and entertaining adventure that only Terry Pratchett and a few writers can provide and as the Great A Tuin gets closer to the burning star, triggering panics by the inhabitants of the Discworld who thinks that the only solution would be for all wizards to die and have their spells and magic completely dissappear.

Rincewind will need to remember the spell and say aloud the great eight spell in order to save the Discworld from a head on collision with the burning star..

It's a short and entertaining read, with lots of Terry Pratchett's trademark humor and lovable characters. It's a must read for everybody.

Haruki Murakami's "Dance Dance Dance" (my very first Murakami book, per recommendation by my officemate Fae ). Follows the story of a 34 year old unnamed narrator, who spends his time working as a freelance writer, abandoned by his wife who runs off with his friend (ouch that fucking hurts), after battling depression in the past, but by now able to function normally in society in his own words by "shoveling snow" (a term that he describes those who goes on with their own roles in society).

Until a recurring dream compelled him to return to Dolphin Hotel, a seedy and strange establishment in a city called Sapporo. The very same place he shared with a woman named "Kiki" who mysteriously disappeared without a trace 4 years ago.

Upon arriving in Sapporo, the narrator finds out that The Dolphin Hotel has been transformed into a modern and five star hotel, gone are the old seedy image of the said hotel.

He learns that it has been has been purchased by a large corporation and converted into a hip, trendy and a style that resembles the great hotels of the west.

But still no answer to the whereabouts of Kiki.

Here our narrator or protagonists meets a wide array of interesting characters, from the serious, uptight female hotel receptionist who shares a mysterious experience with him, an eccentric famous photographer and her 13 year old daughter with psychic abilities who spends her time listening to 80's era bands like the Talking Heads, a one armed poet, a former classmate now an actor typecast as teacher and dentist in the movies.

And then the strange metaphysical experiences starts to unravel as the narrator finds himself in dark corridors, talking to a man called as the "sheep man", and as people he got in contact with either gets murdered or met an accident, he tries hard to come in terms with the mystery of the sheep man and his dreams and what message Kiki is trying to tell him.

In the process Murakami tells a story of a bond forming with a narrator busy with studying the complexities around him and a seemingly uninterested and aloof but smart 13 year old girl, put in a friendship with the former classmate turned matinee idol, and a budding romantic relationship with the sympathetic hotel receptionist.

Whether he finds what he's looking for, in the person of KiKi or some other life realizations, like whether all of them are connected in one way or the other, this book will keep readers interested to the very end.

*****

One will not find it hard to relate to the narrator, i know i did. Because here, the narrator deals with past alienation, his role in society ( whenever he was ask about his profession he always adds the term "shoveling snow" ) doing your own role without abandonment and also a serious tone to it, there were descriptions of what capitalism can do to a country, the effect of having a Masseratti instead of a simple Subaru in telling a person's level of success to society as a whole.

The absurdity that somehow frolics around human relationship with each other, what do we really need in life? a topic that usually comes up with his conversations with his actor friend. The importance of family as he sees the 13 year old girl Yuki's predicament.

All in all this novel is part murder mystery, "metaphysical" tale ( reminds me of Martin Amis' "Other People" ) and throw in a sci-fi edge courtesy of the sheep man.

Wow is all i can say, Haruki Murami, i bet i will be buying more of your books soon.

J.G. Ballard's highly controversial novel: famously one publisher's reader returned the verdict "This author is beyond psychiatric help. Do Not Publish."

****
Well if i have read this book, let's say 5 years ago before i would be accustomed to reading the likes of Chuck Palahniuk, Alex Garland, Irvine Welsh and indulging in the brutal humor of Hunter S. Thompson i would probably come into the same conclusion that J.G. Ballard needs professional help.

But knowing what i know now ( haha ), i see J.G. Ballard's "Crash" as a unique work of fiction, powerful and brutal in a way it challenges our imagination by writing about what he calls "an extreme metaphor for an extreme situation, a kit of desperate measures only for use in extreme crisis"

And that metaphor is technology by way of automobiles, wrecked cars and car crashes serving as the "hellish tableau" in which the book's protagonist Vaughan a mad "TV scientist" experiments the relationship between a seemingly traumatic car accident experience and the forming of erotic atrocities with survivors amidst the lifelong remainder of body scar and injuries inflicted by the violent ordeal.

The Narrator which is named after the author, James Ballard relates his initial experience surviving a near fatal car accident which took the life of another person and left him in hospital for weeks, with countless scars on his body.

After being followed by Vaughan, Ballard develops a fetish for erotic experience in the confines of automobiles, developing a sexual relationship with other car crash survivors including the wife of the person he killed in his own automobile accident, Dr. Helen Remington.

As he gets to know the renegade scientist Vaughan, Ballard founds out more strange intricacies in the weird mind of Vaughan, which includes the grand design of his own death involving a terrifying "union of blood...engine coolant in a head on collision with actress Elizabeth Taylor" ( during which time this book is written circa 1973, is still a very popular Hollywood actress )

As Vaughan prepares for his own judgment day, he and Ballard participates with other willing subjects in more erotic experiments involving car accidents more sinister than the last, the end result is a mixture of blood, gore and acid trip and a surprise ending for Ballard.

****

" Vaughan unfolded for me all his obsessions with the mysterious eroticism of wounds: the perverse logic of blood soaked instrument panels, seat-belts smeared with excrement, sun visors lined with brain tissue...He dreamed of ambassadorial limousines crashing into jack knifing butane tankers, of taxis filled celebrating children colliding head-on below the bright display of windows of deserted supermarkets"....

If these passages doesn't make you cringe, then maybe you can read and enjoy this book.