Tranny: Confessions of Punk Rock's Most Infamous Anarchist Sellout by Laura Jane Grace

Usually the rock autobiographies that I read are by really old guys that have been around forever. Tranny: Confessions of Punk Rock's Most Infamous Anarchist Sellout is the first by someone that's younger than me. That sorta makes me feel a bit old. Anyway, I really enjoyed it and the title is pretty accurate - it does feel like the whole book is one long confession by Laura Jane Grace in an attempt to free herself from the burdens of her past. The first half of the book is the standard rock'n'roll story of a small band hitting the big time and falling apart because of drugs, sex and band member conflicts. It isn't until her gender dysphoria takes a central role in her life that the story swerves into new and interesting territory. She doesn't hold anything back and knowing the pain behind some of her music makes me appreciate it more. B+

The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands by Stephen King

Before I say anything about The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands itself let me just comment on the cover... or actually several of the covers this book has had. There are at least four different book covers for this (including the latest printing) that feature an evil looking dark old fashioned train. Now the book does involve a possessed train as a major plot point but it is described as being a sleek pink monorail. So completely opposite of what is on the cover.... Anyway let me also mention now that somehow this book fits in mentions of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Catch-22, The Lord of the Flies, The Hobbit, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Watership Down.

Okay... so what did I think of the third installment of this series? I LOVED it. Best in the series so far. Actually it is probably one of my favorite Stephen King novels. The story picks up shortly after the previous book with Roland's ka-tet (group drawn together by destiny) finally starting out towards the Dark Tower. Plus there's finally some explanation of what the Tower is and what is going on here. The members have various adventures that include a giant bear with a satellite dish on its head, a house that tries to eat Jake and a monorail train that is controlled by a crazy artificial intelligence. And it ends on a total cliff hanger! I'll have to give it an A.

Dark Matter by Blake Crouch

It seems like whenever I read a new book with lots of great reviews that I always end up disappointed. Did I read the same book as all those people on goodreads that gave this five starts? Dark Matter does have a pretty good plot. It isn't the most intricate story but I'm sure some day it will make a passable movie. It passed the time and I didn't not enjoy reading it. But there isn't much that sticks out as being especially memorable. The writing is flat and style-less and most of the characters are one dimensional.

The plot follows this guy with a happy family life that gets kidnapped and wakes up in a reality that isn't what he knows. He quickly figures out that an alternate universe version of himself has created a box that allows one to travel to alternate realities. This alternate reality version of the guy isn't happy that he followed his career and didn't start a family so he basically switches places with another happier version of himself. It is a nice plot but there's too many plot holes and dead ends to make it a classic. It was enjoyable but forgettable. B

Horror Book # 13 - Misery by Stephen King

So only twenty six years after purchasing a paperback copy of Misery I finally got around to reading it. Progress has been made on my stack of King novels that I purchased as a teenager for the first time in decades! Since I've seen the movie the book didn't have too many surprises except that I think the whole foot hobbling thing is more gruesome in the novel. By reading it well after its release I was able to read about some of the influences on King while writing it (his increasing drug dependence and feelings that his fans only wanted horror novels) and that made the story a bit deeper. As in most books about a writer this one mentioned a lot of list book : The Count of Monte Cristo, The Lord of the Flies, The Lord of the Rings, Alice in Wonderland, Tess of the D'Urbervilles and The Sound and the Fury. This is one of his better works... A-.

The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three by Stephen King

The first book in The Dark Tower series is kind of weird and has a bit of a dreamlike quality to it. The world the gunslinger finds himself is similar to our own in a few ways but is also completely different. The second book, The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three picks up right after the end of the first book and has Roland the gunslinger finding different portals in his world that open up into our reality (and to the usual Stephen King type characters). I enjoyed it because there's really no way to predict what is coming and I had no clue what would happen. I just hope that the future volumes explain the how/why those magic doors just appear... Also I find it kinda funny that this book does nothing to answer the huge questions of why Roland is going to the Dark Tower in the first place and what exactly the Dark Tower is. By the end he pretty much makes no progress at all. Anyway, I guess I'll say it is an A-. Also, somewhat unexpectedly, the book mentions Gone with the Wind.

Horror Book # 10 - I Am Legend Richard Matheson

Stephen King is quoted somewhere as being highly influenced by Richard Matheson. After reading the short stories that are included in this collection with I Am Legend I can see that there is some similarity in their styles. The main story in the collection, I Am Legend, tells the story of the seemingly last man on Earth after everyone else has been turned into vampires. It has been turned into at least three movies I've seen and none of them are even close to being as good as the book. There's a nice twist at the end and I enjoyed rereading it.  As for the short stories, most of them are pretty good too... I think at least one of them was filmed as a Twilight Zone episode. A.-

Horror Book # 17 - Psycho by Robert Bloch

You can't really read Psycho without constantly comparing it to the film version. For the most part the movie didn't really change too much. Except for the physical description of some characters (Hitchcock changed the female characters to blondes of course and Norman is described as a chubby forty year old), some expansion of Mary/Marion's theft and flight and the delayed introduction of Norman Bates, the film sticks pretty closely to what Bloch created. The film is of course a masterpiece and full of suspenseful sequences... while the book isn't quite as thrilling. It just lacks the tension Hitchcock gave the film... but still I enjoyed it. Let's say a B+.