| Author | Message | ||
     Chris_morris (Chris_morris) Username: Chris_morris Registered: 04-2008 Posted From: 12.165.240.116 |
It's that time of year again. Anyone feel like naming the best book he or she read this year? The best movie? The best music, play, etc? | ||
| Chris_morris (Chris_morris) Username: Chris_morris Registered: 04-2008 Posted From: 12.165.240.116 |
I have a few to contribute: Best novel I read this year: 2666 by Roberto Bolano Best movie I saw: The Edge of Heaven (Fatih Akin) | ||
| Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 83.98.9.4 |
Best book - that's difficult, I've had a good year this year for the old reading muscles. So i'll cheat and name five. I think I'd go for - in no particular order We have always lived in the Castle - Shirley Jackson I'm the King of the Castle - Susan Hill I play the drums in a band called okay - Toby Litt Now and Forever - Ray Bradbury (not counting Something Wicked here because that's a re-read not a read) The Locktenders House - Steven Sherrill The best play i've seen this year is without a doubt Something the Cat Dragged In - by some geezer called Marc Lyth Film The Mist The Dark Knight | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 82.3.65.135 |
Book - Thieving Fear Film - Dark Knight Play - Life and Beth (Ayckbourn) | ||
| Allybird (Allybird) Username: Allybird Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 79.78.31.124 |
Book - We Have Always Lived in the Castle. Films - Dark Knight/A History of Violence/Eastern Promises. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.219.8.243 |
Book: The Totem by David Morrel; Thieving Fear by ramsey Campbell Film: The Mist (Darabont); Hour of the Wolf (Haneke) | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.219.8.243 |
Bollocks...I meant Testament by David Morrell. | ||
| Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 83.98.9.4 |
Can I add Funny Games (German version) to my list of films. Has anyone seen the remake? | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.219.8.243 |
The remake was surprisingly good, mate. Best collection: Moon on the Water by Mort Castle. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.219.8.243 |
Best story: The Monsters of Heaven by Nathan Ballingrud | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.219.8.243 |
Best novella: Blues Before Sunrise by Joel Lane | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.157.53.174 |
Zed - have you really not seen one of the masterpieces of this year, and any other - Dark Knight? | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.219.8.243 |
I've seen very few recent releases, Tony. I never go to the flicks. I hope to get the DVD for Christmas, though. Also, to be honest I'm slightly bored with superhero flms... :-/ | ||
| Allybird (Allybird) Username: Allybird Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 79.78.31.124 |
Hey - I have got that Mort Castle collection Zed. I'll have to place it near the top of my TBR pile. At the moment it lies between Clifford D Simak's The Way Station and Lieber's Heroes and Horrors. | ||
| Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 83.98.9.4 |
Actually I need to add "Handbook of American Prayer" to my book list. Currently reading Life During wartime - also by Lucius Shepard - also an excellent read. | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.157.53.174 |
Fucking hell, Zed - Dark knight is not only a superhero film but a great film full stop, a work of art! I can't believe you've not seen and loved it. I feel like kidnapping you and making you watch it. For me, I forgot it was a superhero film and just thought it was this huge tragedy. I still feel sore from it, like I got some sort of spiritual carpet burn. Come on everyone - bully him into it. | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.145.36.225 |
When you get to my age, everything is best - a bit like Dennis Potter's ' the blossomest blossom'... | ||
| Chris_morris (Chris_morris) Username: Chris_morris Registered: 04-2008 Posted From: 12.165.240.116 |
I saw The Dark Knight. I liked it, too. I'm sure it would make the shortlist of the best films I saw this year -- along with Synecdoche, New York and In Bruges, among others. I just happened to like The Edge of Heaven the best. Maybe I was just feeling receptive that day. | ||
| Chris_morris (Chris_morris) Username: Chris_morris Registered: 04-2008 Posted From: 12.165.240.116 |
I still need to see Burn After Reading. Surely that stands a chance of making my top ten. Oh, and I just saw The Prisoner of Zenda a couple of nights ago -- my first viewing. Can I pick a movie from 1937 as one of the best of the year? | ||
| Niki Flynn (Niki) Username: Niki Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.32.69.29 |
I haven't seen Dark Knight either - for the same reason (not into superheroes). I never go to the cinema, so everything I see is a rental (or a buy). But given the raves here I'll be putting it on my list. And if Chris can pick a film from 1937 as his best of the year, I'll go with one from 9 years earlier: "The Passion of Joan of Arc" (Criterion edition). In a word: stunning. | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 75.16.77.229 |
Since we're listing anything from any time: The most memorable film I saw this year was TOGETHER (2000), which was just about nearly a perfect film as I remember it. Although, I did just see TOKYO STORY (1953) finally. Tony, if you want to feel 3rd degree spiritual carpet burns from a film...? This is the one. It's staggering in its still, almost static, sublimity. A NEST OF NIGHTMARES (1986) was the most enjoyable read of the year for me, as were the scattered other Lisa Tuttles I went and sought out. I saw a lot of films from this year... few moved me. I'm probably going to go rent THE DARK KNIGHT today. We'll see.... So IN BRUGES is good, Chris?... I was wary about it, but now I'll go ahead and see it. | ||
| Allybird (Allybird) Username: Allybird Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 79.78.58.14 |
That is it - my Christmas present Craig! A NEST OF NIGHTMARES. I want it. | ||
| Alansjf (Alansjf) Username: Alansjf Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 93.97.93.216 |
Here are my picks for ‘08 (to date, anyway; there’s still a stack of stuff I haven’t gotten around to…): Novels: The Love We Share Without Knowing - Christopher Barzak Thieving Fear - Ramsey Campbell The Graveyard Book - Neil Gaiman Pandemonium - Daryl Gregory Tender Morsels - Margo Lanagan The Resurrectionist - Jack O’Connell The Man on the Ceiling - Steve Rasnic Tem & Melanie Tem Collections: Ghost Realm - Paul Finch The Drowned Life - Jeffrey Ford Worse Than Myself - Adam Golaski Other Voices - Andrew Humphrey Tales of Pain & Wonder - Caitlin R. Kiernan Just After Sunset - Stephen King Pretty Monsters - Kelly Link How to Make Monsters - Gary McMahon Islington Crocodiles - Paul Meloy Dangerous Laughter - Steven Millhauser Wild Nights! - Joyce Carol Oates Glyphotech & Other Macabre Processes - Mark Samuels The Best of Lucius Shepard - Lucius Shepard Beneath the Surface - Simon Strantzas Other Worlds, Better Lives - Howard Waldrop Original Anthologies: Subtle Edens - Allen Ashley, ed. Dreaming Again - Jack Dann, ed. Del Rey Book of Science Fiction & Fantasy - Ellen Datlow, ed. The New Uncanny - Sarah Eyre & Ra Page, eds. We Fade to Grey - Gary McMahon, ed. Exotic Gothic 2 - Danel Olson, ed. Paper Cities - Ekaterina Sedia, ed. Houses on the Borderland - David A. Sutton, ed. Fast Ships, Black Sails, Ann & Jeff Vandermeer, eds. Novellas/Novelettes: ‘101 Ways to Leave Paris’ - Simon Avery (Crimewave 10) ‘The Lagerstatte’ - Laird Barron (Del Rey Book of Science Fiction & Fantasy) ‘The School House’ - Simon Bestwick (Houses on the Borderland) ‘All the Little Gods We Are’ - John Grant (Clockwork Phoenix) The Luminous Depths - David Herter(PS) ‘N’ - Stephen King (Just After Sunset) ‘America, Such as She Is’ - Jay Lake (Alembical) ‘How the Day Runs Down’ - John Langan (The Living Dead) ‘Pretty Monsters’ - Kelly Link (Pretty Monsters) The Enigma of Departure - Nicholas Royle (PS) Short Stories: ‘The Better Part of You’ - Simon Avery (Black Static #6) ‘Elegy to Gabrielle, Patron Saint of Healers, Whores, and Righteous Thieves’ - Kelly Barhill (Fast Ships, Black Sails) ‘Sonny Liston Takes a Fall’ - Elizabeth Bear (Del Rey Book of Science Fiction & Fantasy) ‘My Copy of Robinson’ - Daniel Bennett (Subtle Edens) ‘Blood Reader’ - George Makana Clark (Exotic Gothc 2) ‘The Fooly’ - Terry Dowling (Dreaming Again) ‘The Animator’s House’ - Adam Golaski (Worse Than Myself) ‘They Look Like Little Girls’ - Adam Golaski (Worse Than Myself) ‘Possum’ - Matthew Holness (The New Uncanny) ‘The Rising River’ - Daniel Kaysen (Black Static #5) ‘The Goosle’ - Margo Lanagan (Del Rey Book of Science Fiction & Fantasy) ‘Seeing Double’ - Sara Maitland (The New Uncanny) ‘Alex and the Toyceivers’ - Paul Meloy (Paper Cities) ‘Do You See?’ - Sarah Pinborough (Myth-Understandings) ‘Flowertongue’ - Jessica Riesman (Farrago's Wainscot #6) ‘Evidence of Love in a Case of Abandonment: One Daughter’s Account - M. Rickert (F&SF, Oct/Nov) ‘The Dummy’ - Nicholas Royle (The New Uncanny) ‘Very Low Flying Aircraft’ - Nicholas Royle (Exotic Gothic 2) ‘Beechlands’ R.B. Russell (Postscripts #16) ‘The Lunatic Miss Teak’ - Darren Speegle (Subterranean: Tales of Dark Fantasy) ‘Thoughtless’ - Simon Strantzas (Beneath the Surface) ‘Burning Snow’ - Steve Rasnic Tem (Exotic Gothic 2) ‘Palimpsest’ - Catherynne M. Valente (Paper Cities) ‘68° 07’ 15”N, 31° 36’ 44”W’ - Conrad Williams (Fast Ships, Black Sails) ‘The Blue-Faced Man’ - T.M. Wright (Postscripts #16) | ||
| Hubert (Hubert) Username: Hubert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.21.235.168 |
Film: The Orphanage Book: M.R. James's Collected Stories. Not much time for recent fiction, I'm afraid. What little money I have goes to treatises, law books etc. - much to my chagrin, believe me! | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 75.4.226.193 |
Ally: if you give me your address, and offer to reimburse me for the (probably costly) postage, I will mail this to you just in time for Xmas, for your wine-soaked yuletide Boxing Day's-a-comin'! snow-packed joy-filled dreamy December nights.... | ||
| Chris_morris (Chris_morris) Username: Chris_morris Registered: 04-2008 Posted From: 12.165.240.116 |
I quite enjoyed In Bruges, Craig. It's a good entertainment, not a classic for the ages. That is, don't compare it to Tokyo Story (oy va voy). I've been meaning to watch Together -- I should bump it up on my Netflix queue. Thanks, Craig. | ||
| Allybird (Allybird) Username: Allybird Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 79.78.58.14 |
That would be great Craig! I've got your email address.........thank you  | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.242.126 |
‘The School House’ - Simon Bestwick (Houses on the Borderland) This was my second favourite story of the year. It scared the living shit out of me. | ||
| Alansjf (Alansjf) Username: Alansjf Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 93.97.93.216 |
'The Horse Lord', 'Dollburger', 'The Nest', 'The Other Mother', 'Flying to Byzantium' ... you're in for a treat there, Ally. A Nest of Nightmares is a fantastic collection. | ||
| Alansjf (Alansjf) Username: Alansjf Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 93.97.93.216 |
Zed, as good as Bestwick's 'The Narrows' was, I thought 'The School House' simply blew it away - an absolutely devastating piece of work. | ||
| Allybird (Allybird) Username: Allybird Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 79.78.58.14 |
Bummer - can't find your email address Craig from when we last chatted. Can you email me and I'll write back.... | ||
| Allybird (Allybird) Username: Allybird Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 79.78.58.14 |
Indeed Alan. I'm really excited about getting the book. I've had a horrible week - fell on the ice and brained myself. Mind you - it might be an improvement. | ||
| Alansjf (Alansjf) Username: Alansjf Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 93.97.93.216 |
Two books that I left off my list and shouldn't have: Bull Running For Girls - Allyson Bird (collection) The Ghost in Love - Jonathan Carroll (novel). | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 91.110.129.14 |
I agree with Alan: Bestwick's 'The Narrows' is a well-crafted and impressive supernatural horror story, but 'The School House' is a step beyond in terms of originality and power to disturb. | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 75.5.1.81 |
My email is freevolve@gmail.com, Ally. Or whomever wants to spam me with pro-THE MIST/pro-DONNIE DARKO propoganda.... | ||
| Allybird (Allybird) Username: Allybird Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 79.78.58.14 |
Thank ye - email to you m'lad. | ||
| Karim Ghahwagi (Karim) Username: Karim Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 80.167.124.223 |
The most memorable of 08- though not necessarily released in 08- top 3 Novels Last Days By Brian Evenson- though technically this is a February 09 release. Floored. Completely. The Terror By Dan Simmons. How this book is a page turner, despite the difficult format and subject matter- was truly stunning. Thieving Fear By Ramsey Campbell. That last unforgettable chapter hardly lessens the fact that the rest of the novel is an achievement. Collections The Complete Short Stories of JG Ballard...ehh what a tome. Probably one of the world's greatest living writers and this hardly tarnishes his reputation. The Collected Cedar Hill Stories By Gary Braunbeck-another amazing set of volumes. Things That Never Happen by M. John Harrison- another powerful retrospective. Film A surprisingly bad year for film. The year I went least to the cinema- ever. Wall-E- one of the best apcalyptic visions ever put on film- and one step from greatness but for some mandatory sappy scenes. The Dark Knight. An anti super hero film that leaves everything in the genre in the dust. A central oscar worthy performance and the remarkable tone makes this almost the film of the year-(though The Curious Case of Benjamin Button might also get a top 3 spot I suspect- if it makes it to the screen in december.) And I honestly can't think of another film just now. What a weird film year. I'm forgetting stuff for sure. A really bad Hollywood year. REC gets an honourable mention outside of Hollywood as does The Strangers. (ok it was Hollywood as well) Best comic /graphic novel- The Gunslinger Born- but read little comics this year- also a record low. | ||
| Chris_morris (Chris_morris) Username: Chris_morris Registered: 04-2008 Posted From: 98.220.71.248 |
Karim, how did you get an advance copy of the Evenson book? Great news that it's as good as I hoped. Now I'm even more stoked for it than before (if that's possible). Evenson's next collection of stories should arrive next year as well, so here's to 2009. | ||
| Frank (Frank) Username: Frank Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 79.187.206.46 |
Zed - mate, our film tastes sometimes run along similiar lines. Trust Tony on the Dark Knight. Forget superhero films, and watch one of the most fantastically realised contributions to the crime/noir genre. It is simply breathtaking. If only other comic adapted sources played this brilliantly. | ||
| Karim Ghahwagi (Karim) Username: Karim Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 204.104.55.243 |
Chris- 'Karim, how did you get an advance copy of the Evenson book?' I did the cover for the novel. I'll post some stuff with a board exclusive perhaps, quite soon. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.219.8.243 |
Evenson's THE OPEN CURTAIN was one of the best thigs I read this year. Brilliant. | ||
| Karim Ghahwagi (Karim) Username: Karim Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 204.104.55.242 |
Zed- I agree completely- I'm still trying to look back at the film year- I can't believe that any stuff isn't coming to mind. I mean honestly -I'm starting to consider that Rambo picture...HA! For the eighties memories. Wait that was last year as well? | ||
| Ramsey Campbell (Ramsey) Username: Ramsey Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.93.21.74 |
After a good deal of a struggle to get them down to five (at Tim Lucas's behest), I've written up my five top DVD treasures of the year, and they'll be on the Video Watchblog soon (where Tim has a good balanced piece about Forry, by the way). http://www.videowatchdog.blogspot.com/ | ||
| Steve Bacon (Stevebacon) Username: Stevebacon Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 90.209.220.40 |
Mine are are slightly predictable; 'The Orphanage', and Cormac McCarthy's 'The Road' Best debut novel has to go to 'Rain Dogs'. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.219.8.243 |
Thanks, Steve - you just made my day  | ||
| Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 83.98.9.4 |
Just posted me cheque now. If it's not as good as steve says it is, I know where you live.... | ||
| Frank (Frank) Username: Frank Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 79.187.206.46 |
Best Novel - well, not a novel, but novel in length, in the style of a novel: Ryzard Kapucskinki's 'The Shadow Of The Sun'. Probably the most devasting yet poetically brilliant book about Africa written by a non-African. His use of language retained a beauty comparable to Truman Capote in Cold Blood. Film of the year for me has to be The Dark Knight, though to be fair I haven't seen many new releases this year. Worst film of the year: The Midnight Meat Train. Truly an atrocious piece of shit. Why, oh, why have Vinny Jones scowling at the camera throughout the movie, when the man's clearly scary in real life, remains a mystery. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.157.125.65 |
Short stories: Coffin Nails. Sheer exuberant frights! | ||
| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.163.241.252 |
...and frightfully exuberant! | ||
| Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 83.98.9.4 |
I emailed Craig with a message that said "Donnie Darko and the Mist are quite simply the greatest movies ever made. Nuff said" His reply was "They are indeed..., yes, I will give you that." | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 75.4.250.158 |
That's a highly controversial charge to make against me, Weber. I don't want to say I don't believe you, but even I am skeptical of its veracity.... | ||
| Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 83.98.9.4 |
Check your reply, you used all those words and in that order. | ||
| Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 83.98.9.4 |
 | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.37.199.45 |
The whole message was: "They are indeed films, but that's the only part of your claim for them that I consider reasonable. If you misrepresent my comments I will give you a punch in the mouth. Yes, indeed, I will give you that." (I'm an experienced sub-editor. I can spot these things.) | ||
| Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 83.98.9.4 |
That's actually remarkably close.  | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 75.16.78.111 |
Amazing, Joel: "They are indeed films," and then the rest of Weber's quote, was in fact how it went - and the sentiments you've included ran through my mind too. We have our pithy, weary, sarcastically-dismissive responses down, meseems. Great minds think alike....  | ||
| Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 83.98.9.4 |
 | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.37.199.45 |
When you see a film poster with a review quote like "SCREAM VII is... truly rabid... a classic", you know that the actual quote was something like "SCREAM VII is a tedious rip-off that only a truly rabid fanboy could consider a classic." In most cases, the ellipse simply replaces the word 'not'. I hasten to add that I loved DONNIE DARKO and would probably groove behind THE MIST if I got to see it. | ||
| Allybird (Allybird) Username: Allybird Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 79.78.125.69 |
"I loved DONNIE DARKO." A man after my own heart. You have email in a minute :>) | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.219.8.243 |
Quick Joel, hide: she's after a blurb! | ||
| Allybird (Allybird) Username: Allybird Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 79.78.125.69 |
I'm dying to post that other one but I don't have full permission yet. Mind you he put it as if to use it straight away... | ||
| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.163.241.252 |
Certainly one to be proud of, Ally! | ||
| Allybird (Allybird) Username: Allybird Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 79.78.125.69 |
I've printed it out and put it above my desk as I write, as you suggested Mick. That sort of quote from that particular person comes only once in a lifetime.Pure gold. | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 75.4.251.62 |
... I loved DONNIE DARKO and would probably groove behind THE MIST if I got to see it. NO YOU WOULD NOT!!!! | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.37.199.45 |
That's my weekend sorted then. | ||
| Allybird (Allybird) Username: Allybird Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 79.70.113.108 |
Thanks Craig! Lisa Tuttle arrived today. I'll read and send back to you early in the New Year. Incidentally - do we have a few Craigs who use the board and what cities do they live in? | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 75.5.1.140 |
No prob. Why not send it off to another here who's been wanting to read it?... I am Craig, the Lord Craig, and I am a jealous Craig. I will not have any other Craigs before me. Else I smite thee. | ||
| Ramsey Campbell (Ramsey) Username: Ramsey Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.93.21.74 |
The Video Watchdog best DVDs lists are now up at http://videowatchdog.blogspot.com/2008/12/video-watchdogs-favorite-dvds-of-2008. html - quite a diverse selection. | ||
| John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.253.174.81 |
Short stories: Coffin Nails. Sheer exuberant frights! Hey - thank you Dr Fry! | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 129.11.77.197 |
Deserved! |