On August 3 I finished Kasane, Vol. 2 by Daruuma Matsuura, tranlated by Jennifer Ward. *** It’s a manga book about a young woman whose face inspires horror in others, but who has, with the help of some special lipstick, the ability to steal faces with a kiss. After twelve hours the faces return to their rightful owners. In this volume she has developed a peculiar relationship with a beautiful but ordinary actress who suffers from an extreme form of narcolopsy. So she is keen for Kasane, who is a superb actress, to take her place for shows. In theory, Kasane gets to act, and Neena Tanzawa gets to be famous. But everyone has complicated feelings so it’s not that simple.
On August 4 I listened to all of the Doctor Who: The First Doctor Box Set, ***** which features original cast members Carole Ann Ford (Susan) and William Russell (Ian Chesterton) performing adapted versions of two scripts Moris Farhi wrote in the 1960s. Nigel Robinson does a terrific job of turning full-cast television scripts into audio three-handers. “Farewell, Great Macedon” is a lost epic in the vein of “Marco Polo”, with the Doctor and his companions travelling with Alexander the Great. “The Fragile Yellow Arc of Fragrance” was written as a calling card rather than for production, but is still excellent, set on a world where everyone must fall in love -- or perish! Big Finish really have done some stunning work.
Skipping forward, on August 17 I read Jeremy, Vol. 1: Paradise Island, **** which is an English translation of volume 15 of a Flemish series, Jommeke, by Jef Nys. It was originally published in 1962, and that perhaps shows in some story elements, but it looks fabulous. A blonde-haired genius and his three friends go on a round-the-world cruise, but are put ashore by a vengeful criminal who presumably they had encountered in previous Flemish books. They spend six months colonising the island and exploiting the free labour of the local primates and parrots, but everyone has a lovely time. [four stars]
On August 17 and 18 I read Jeremy, Vol. 2: Children in Charge **** and Jeremy, Vol. 3: Frankie’s Bride to Be, **** then on August 28 Jeremy, Vol. 4: The Soap King, **** another bonkers and brilliant adventure. This one is less fantastical than the others, but no less bizarre. Jeremy’s friend Frankie wants to win a competition which requires him to go three months without washing, but his mum doesn’t want that, so he runs away from home and she pursues him. [four stars] There are over 300 books in this series in Flemish – the most recent of them featuring a dinosaur! I hope many more are translated into English.
On August 20 I finished The School Inspector Calls by Gervase Phinn, **** the shorter of the two books he has published under that title. This one is a Penguin 70: I paid one of my daughters to go through my Penguin 70 box set of them, cross-refer with Goodreads, and turn around all those I’ve read. Turns out there’s a lot of them! This was a funny and charming series of episodes in the life of a school inspector. Something about his style reminded me of my co-editor’s dad, which endeared the book to me. [four stars]
On August 26 and 27 I listened to Cyberman, Part 1: Scorpius **** and Cyberman, Part 2: Fear, **** a pair of excellent short dramas produced by Big Finish and written by Nicholas Briggs, who also plays the cybermen and directs. A future Earth is at war with the androids it created, and in desperation turns to the Scorpius project, which turns humans into super-soldiers in silver suits… Not hard to guess where the story is going, but it creates a superb sense of dread.
I was a bit disappointed on Sunday, August 30, because I spent the day listening to an audiobook while typesetting a bunch of stuff (including the next collection of Roderick Langham adventures!), but as midnight approached I realised I wouldn’t finish the audiobook in time. Instead, I quickly finished off a Penguin 70, Summer in Algiers by Albert Camus. *** It’s basically a bit of travel writing, and feels a bit patronising, but it was interesting to get a glimpse of Algeria as it was back then. It’s one of those books where you suspect the sentences would sound much cooler in the original French.
On Monday, August 31, I finished off I Am Slaughter, **** a Warhammer 40k novel by Dan Abnett. It’s the first in a series of twelve short novels, The Beast Arises, that on Audible have been collected in four omnibuses, three of which are included in their current two-for-one sale. How could I resist? Although I did look up a few things (40K is not, as I had previously thought, the future of the Warhammer Fantasy world), the book goes out of its way to be a great starting point. There’s not much going on in the universe, except a few border skirmishes, and people start to wonder if a standing army is really needed. Then a routine bug hunt goes badly wrong... Read by Gareth Armstrong, whose work I have admired so much on the Maigret audiobooks.
I’ve now finished a book or an audiobook every day for 307 days running. If I don’t make it to a full year now I’ll be really annoyed with myself. That will be October 30, and then it’ll be time to stop reading and start writing a new novel…
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