Darkshelf Books & Collectibles

03/16/2024

Our last meeting we decided to up the ante and do a longer book every quarter along with our monthly book. Though not particularly long, this quarters book is From The Corner Of His Eye by . March's Book is White Silence by Jodi Taylor.

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08/26/2023

Hex by
Is our book club pick this month.

The ghost Witch, with her eyes and mouth sewn shut, who haunts your little town, just appeared in your dining room during breakfast. Better to just throw a dish towel on her face and carry on with your day. Maybe check the app and see where she is later.

This dark horror novel had a pretty well thought out cast of characters, especially the witch. You grow to really care about and relate with some and really hate others.
I found the premise really interesting, and it was a pretty easy pick for this month. I was very happy with the pacing and pull of this book and was able to finish rather quickly as I didn't want to put it down. I found myself reading in bed with a little book light. I almost never do that.
I found the writing itself really good, too. It reminds me of Stephen King's writing in how effective it is in setting tone and environment. I really enjoyed the story for what it was. I was expecting a spooky ghost story (and it is indeed pretty creepy) but wasn't prepared for the epic level of sadness throughout. It really is one of those "humans are the real monsters" kind of stories.

Hex was originally written in Dutch and translated later into English, with a few changes to setting, character names and... a different ending. I looked it up and I'm glad the change was made. I think it suits the overall story better.

08/22/2023

Neuromancer by William Gibson

I've been wanting to read this book for years based upon the praise its always received. It's the only novel to ever win a Hugo Award, a Nebula Award and The Phillip K Dick award. Credited for defining the cyberpunk genre, Gibson coined the term "cyberspace" and this book served as a massive inspiration for "The Matrix".

I received a gift card for Barnes and Noble for my birthday in July and after browsing the massive store for 40 minutes I settled on this Peguin Galaxy edition to replace my paperback.

I'll now have to move this up in my TBR and see what all the fuss is about.

08/21/2023

Today is Poets Day.
While I don't read a lot of poetry, I've always loved Edgar Allen Poe. The Raven is a masterwork, and The Cask of Amontillado is my favorite short story of his, followed closely by The Pit and the Pendulum.
I'll dedicate this day to him.
I'll read the Raven again, watch that awesome Simpsons segment and maybe read a poem of his I have not read yet.

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08/20/2023

It's H.P. Lovecraft's Birthday.

Howard Phillips Lovecraft was a truly strange dude. His childhood was a bit tragic, which could possibly explain it. His father developed a metal disorder from untreated syphilis when Howard was 3 and was put in a hospital until he died 5 years later. Howard himself was then homeschooled most of his childhood due to being a sickly child. He spent that time reading and studying like mad, his favorite subjects being astronomy and the works of Edgar Allen Poe. He's believed to have been agoraphobic as he had breakdown when he tried to go to high school and spent the next several years as reclusive as possible.
His writing career started with articles about astronomy for newspapers and then as a journalist for his own publication, The Conservative. He would finally dive into writing the type of fiction we all know him for in the early 1920s for the horror magazine Weird Tales.
With that success, he got married and moved to New York with his wife. New York probably freaked him out because it only lasted two years before he got divorced and fled back to Rhode Island. Here, he would write his most famous works, collectively known as the Cthulu Mythos.
Personally, I've only read a few of his stories. I find him somewhat difficult to read but worth it if you power through. I've read Mountains of Madness, Call of Cthulu, and Colour Out Of Space when the awesome Nicolas Cage movie came out. All three were great.
His influence on fiction is irrefutable. He inspired an entire sub-genre of fiction. Not only is "Lovecraftian" a genre but now a term associated with a "dark academia" type esthetic. I mean, the Darkshelf logo would be considered lovecraftian.
When you say "Lovecraftian," everyone knows what you mean.
That's legendary.
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08/02/2023

I've seen "I found a circus in the woods behind my house" around the online book scene for quite a while but haven't looked into it. Then I see "I found puppets living in my apartment walls" and was super intrigued. Having grown up watching Eurekas Castle, Fraggle Rock, Labyrinth, The Muppet Show and all their movies, I love puppets. I had to check this out. I found out theyre shorter novellas, so I just went ahead and got both. I'll dive into these sometime this month in between Hex, Golden Son and The Troop.

07/31/2023

Today is J.K. Rowling’s birthday!

Here's our HP collection thus far. Almost all of the novels are first editions, which is cool. We've also been getting the illustrated editions as they come out (has 6 came out yet?) As well as these super cool "pop-up" editions.
The amazing Harry Potter series almost single-handedly reignited a love for reading for a whole generation. That is absolutely remarkable. Even more impressive to me is how the content and themes of her books (and the movies) grew and matured with the target audience. The 10 year old that read Philosopher's Stone in 1997 had no problem reading Deathly Hallows at 20.
As far as the controversies go, let's just say I think people need to think for themselves and stop letting other people tell them who, or what to hate. Focus on the good. There's a lot to be had on that front.

07/09/2023

It's Dean Koontz 78th Birthday today!

Koontz, while known for his more thriller/suspense books, actually started with science fiction. In 1968 he wrote his first novel, printed as an Ace double, StarQuest (which I just bought today on ebay, along with 18 other books of his). He'd continue to write science fiction (over a dozen novels) until the 70s when he started writing his horror and suspense. He'd switch genres and use 10 or more pen names over the course of his career.
Once Whispers, Demon Seed and Strangers went best seller, he was finally getting his deserved acknowledgment.
Now he's one of the most successful authors in the world.

I had to pull out my (currently) modest collection for the day.

07/03/2023

Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace

This book came with the wife and has sat on our bookshelves, mocking me for far too long.
It's one of those those books that most people buy to either tell themselves "one day", to pretend to have read, or to simply make their bookshelves look more cultured. When I first looked into this book online, I found a large number of people DNF it. Those who have insist that it's one of the best (albeit depressing at times) novels ever written, but indeed a daunting task to power through.
On my lifelong quest to be well-read, if nothing else, I've decided to embark on this journey, for better or worse.

I've found it a lot easier to consume certain literature, especially classics, by reading along with the Audible. It allows me to keep a steady pace while absorbing the text and not getting too lost. You would need the physical copy anyway to refer the almost 100 pages of endnotes. The Audible also breaks the book down into 55 one hour segments. Since the book doesn't really have conventional chapters, I found this great reference on reddit that I laminated and will use as a bookmark.
I'll do one segment at a time, reflecting on the past hour of reading and get back to it when appropriate. This is quite an undertaking, and it might take a couple of months this way, but I don't want this to become a "background book" and miss anything worthwhile as I don't forsee this being a reread.

Wish me luck.

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07/02/2023

Darkshelf Book Club's June book was Devolution by Max Brooks.
It's a cool book with a pretty interesting story, and I like his approach to storytelling. The Audible version has a star cast, including Nathan Fillion, Judy Greer, and Kate Mulgrew.
It's about a group of people getting stranded in a remote area outside Mt. Rainier after it's eruption. They are then hunted by a family of sasquatch whose habitat has been disturbed by the catastrophe.
I quite enjoyed his other books, World War Z and Zombie Survival Guide, as well.
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01/04/2023

This is my 2022 in books.
I read a total of about 25 books last year.
The left stack are the books we picked for Darkshelf Book Club and the right stack I read for myself. Not pictured are Gone, but not forgotten by Philip Margolin, City by Clifford Simak and the epic of Gilgamesh I read on my kindle. We Are Legion (We Are Bob) and For We Are Many by Dennis E. Taylor I listened to on Audible along with about half of 6 other books that I'll finish...eventually.
I won't rank them all here but I'll say Krampus and Slaughterhouse-Five were my favorites with Brave New World at the bottom.

10/26/2022