A free lunch or at least a free book

I joined Bookmooch last week. It a really great concept, and like most great ideas, really simple. You list books you no longer want and you browse for books you may like. My wife is happy because we finally will have some space in our bookcases. I'm happy because I'll be able to fill those space.

It's a great way to find older and out of print book, especially genre fiction. I'm currently in the mood to read lots of pulp fantasy. Maye I'm feeling nostalgic which would explain my joy when rereading the Lyonesse boooks.

All my favouriet fantasy writers - Wolfe, Moorcock, Lieber - are well represented. It promises to be a sumer of heap and cheerful reading.

Lyonesse: Suldrun's Garden Bk.1 and The Green Pearl Bk 2 by Jack Vance Jack Vance

Thirteen by Richard K. Morgan

A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami

This is the first Murakami novel I'd read and also one of his earliest. It's nearly fifteen years since I initially encountered the book. While I vaguely remembered the outline of the plot I'd forgotten all the details. It is in the details that the author excels.

It's Chandler meets Kafka or maybe Borges. Hard boiled insanity or pulp magic realism. t can be both hilariously funny and deeply moving, often in the same paragraph. The cast of charterers are weird to the extreme and almost all nameless.

While probably not his best it is certainly his tightest and funniest and I'm really glad I still have it on my shelf.

Innocents Abroad by Gene Wolfe

This was my first exposure to Gene Wolfe as a short story writer. It left me wanting more. The authors continues to use many of the themes and literary devices from his novels: memory loss; the unreliable narrator; the familiar presented in unfamiliar way; the interaction between the mundane and the fantastic.

The stories weave together science fiction, horror, fantasy and magic realism. A number of the shorter pieces are fun to read but really seem more like exercise in writing. It's in the longer stories that the author hits his stride and these are pure gold.

I especially loved The Lost Pilgrim. It's setting in ancinet Greece and
There is is a ravenous shark god in The Tree is My Hat and mad bad voodoo in Houston, 1943.

Castleview by Gene Wolfe

This isn't Wolfe at his best. The story is at times maddeningly confusing. It appears to be a mishmash of Arthurian legends, fairy folklore and vampire stories all set in small town America. The characters often seem to act in a contrived manner and for a short novel is has an extensive cast. But it's still Wolfe. The book has some interesting ideas and wonderful images and his prose is always a pleasure to read.

It moves along at a fair old clip and the second half is practically frenetic. This both serves to draw the reader in and then to leave them even more bemused when they have a moment to cogitate on what just occurred.

Definitely worth a read but would not recommend this to a first time reader of Gene Wolfe. The Book of The New Sun series or Soldier in the Mist would be better starting point.

Night Train to Innsbruck: A Commando's Escape to Freedom by Rex Woods