Book Review – Homefront Horrors

Homefront Horrors: Frights Away From the Front Lines, 1914-1918 by Jess Nevins
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This should have been an interesting organization scheme for an anthology: short horror stories written between 1914 and 1918 but not about World War One. Unfortunately that means that most of the entries are sorely afflicted by the enduring 19th century trends in Brit lit. Using the stiffest possible language, the majority of these tales take the most roundabout routes when advancing their plots. Everything seems to center around trivia. I found myself imagining a parody in which a parson accidentally paints the pulpit in the village church ecru when it was supposed to be eggshell. Occasionally patience is rewarded when the ecru paint opens a portal to hell. But more often than not the ecru paint itself is the only horror to be found. And while at the outset I was ready to applaud the editor for publishing lesser known stories by authors famous for writing something else, a lot of these have remained obscure for a reason. That’s a genuine shame, because all of these authors had talent, and all of these stories had potential. Also this really ought to have come with a sterner warning about racist content. While none of the slurs are out of keeping with the times and the social class of the authors, they’re still jarring by 21st century standards.

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Book Review – Mad Kings and Queens

Mad Kings & Queens by Alison Rattle
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Though mildly diverting, this isn’t anyone’s idea of an in-depth study of the mental illnesses of European monarchs. The quality of thought and prose is on par with AI-generated text; I’m not saying this was written by a machine, but it reads like something that could have been (typos notwithstanding). And while the authors avoid outright slurs, the ableist language is disturbingly frequent. Overall a reader could learn more and have a more enjoyable experience by doing Wikipedia searches for the names in the table of contents.

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Book Review – Ring Shout

Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Someone needs to make a movie out of this. It’s a perfect combination of anti-white-supremacist themes and cinematic storytelling, and in the right hands it would be as much fun to watch as it was to read. It’s also a good combination of authentic Black cultural traditions and standard cosmic horror tropes. I understand why the author felt the need to draw distinctions between extra-dimensional monsters masquerading as Klansmen and just plain old Klansmen, though to my mind their evil is at best equivalent (and really the so-called humans are arguably much worse). The plot is solid, the protagonists are likable and believable, and the book length worked well (though honestly it could have included more detail for some elements without damaging the pace). I would definitely read the sequel hinted at in the epilogue.

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Book Review – The Book of Horror

The Book of Horror: The Anatomy of Fear in Film by Matt Glasby
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Though the introduction suggests that this is an attempt to draw universal conclusions about horror movies, the rest of the book reflects the author’s personal tastes more than the genre as a whole. It must have taken a lot of work to carefully map out scary moments on a minute-by-minute timeline for each entry, though I admire Matt Glasby’s passion more than his proofreading. Here and there his tastes intersect with mine; for the most part I enjoy a good Asian ghost story. But oh so many of the films on the list dwell exclusively or primarily on serial killers and other forms of crass, misogynist violence. Those entries consistently left me unpersuaded. The result is a catalog of the author’s loves, a reasonably accurate snapshot of the genre in the 2010s, and a showcase for some fun illustrations by Barney Bodoano.

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Book Review – Godzilla: The First 70 Years

Godzilla: The First 70 Years: The Official Illustrated History of the Japanese Productions by Steve Ryfle
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Before I started reading, I was worried this might prove to be an empty-headed coffee table book full of pictures and little else. So I was pleasantly surprised to find that it’s actually a reasonably well written history of Godzilla’s film career, at least in Japan. Going movie by movie, the text supplies fascinating behind-the-scenes details ranging from storytelling decisions down to minute details about production techniques. I particularly liked the longitudinal sidebars, such as the in-depth descriptions of how the Godzilla suits differed from movie to movie. Coverage is strongest for the millennium series, though the rest of the book is also thorough. I had a couple of issues with the e-book version on Hoopla, including formatting problems and occasional spots where captions and pictures didn't match. But overall this book is well worth the attention of anyone with an interest in the subject.

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Book Review – The World War I Reader

The World War I Reader by Michael S. Neiberg
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Overall this is a good set of primary and secondary accounts of the title subject. But be aware of the text’s limitations. As most perspectives are subjective and limited in scope, this isn’t the best choice for one’s first ever reading about the war. And several entries work better as artifacts than as education, particularly those where the writing is so terrible that it verges on unreadable. However, if you already have a firm grasp of the bigger picture, these snapshots from many particular angles prove fascinating more often than not.

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Book Review – Everything Is Tuberculosis

Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection by John Green
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The author of The Fault in Our Stars turns a nonfiction spotlight on the triumphs and tragedies in the battle against tuberculosis. I admit that before I read this I probably would have guessed that malaria or cancer was the world’s single deadliest health problem, but that’s mostly because I live in a country where this curable illness is easily treated in most cases and deaths are exceptionally rare. After establishing the history and biology of the bacteria, John Green spends the rest of his book explaining the roadblocks (mostly economic) that prevent people in many places in the world from getting the assistance they need. He puts a human face on the problem by focusing on one young victim from Sierra Leone, a case study that shows the perils of poor quality treatment and the promise of improved systems. The book is short but makes its points effectively enough.

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