What'cha reading?

[Octopus Prime]

Started reading Wicked, because I knew that either the book was a whole lot better than the musical, or the musical was a whole lot better than the book, but I couldn’t remember which and opted to gamble on the one that’s easier to access.

In the first few chapters, I’ve learned that Oz is just astonishingly racist, and the book seems to imply that the Wicked Witch is evil because of her nebulous genitals. Though they brush over the fact that her very first action after being born was to bite someone’s finger off with her razor-sharp shark-teeth. Which seems like a way better indication of evil than an absent peener.

Also, boy oh boy does everyone hate that baby.

[Rascally Badger]

I just finished Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency. It felt like it started as a Dr. Who script, which according to that most trustworthy of sources wikipedia, it kinda sorta did. It is unusual for the red herring in what appears to be a murder mystery be the murder.

[masterthes]

Michael Jackson: The Magic, The Madness, The Whole Story, 1958-2009 by J. Randy Taraborrelli

[Beefy Hits]

Reading a book about Ministry and Al Jorgensen. It goes into all the drugs and drinking he did as well as tours and making all of his albums. It's a broken record, but interesting, especially the parts where Sascha Konitzeko of KMFDM and Gibby Haynes of Butthole Surfers talk about how they knew him. The parts about his childhood and early Ministry were new and interesting.

[Rascally Badger]

I finished Jasper Fforde's Early Riser. As with any Fforde book, describing it is a challenge. It is a thriller set in a world where people hibernate, set among the people who stay awake to keep everything running while everyone else is asleep. The central plot revolves around a giant corporation that sells a drug to help people hibernate, but also turns a negligible number of them into essentially zombies. They are preparing to roll out a new version designed to be cheap enough for everyone to afford. Also, a half dozen other things are going on. It isn't my favorite of his books, but I liked it a whole lot. I am a little unsure of how the one trans character was portrayed. I think it was good, but it is kind of hard to decipher among all the weirdness that is the setting and plot.