Fun and Cinematic, but with Some Flaws! "Diamonds Are Forever," by Ian Fleming!

One of the things I saw during my last library trip was a few Ian Fleming/James Bond novels! I didn't really have a preference, so of the three they had on the shelf, I picked Diamonds Are Forever. This is the fourth Bond book, published originally in 1956.

I'm not a big Bond fan, but I can't help but recognize the long history of popularity that the James Bond movies have had. I've seen a couple of them a long time ago, Goldeneye and Skyfall, I think, and bits and pieces of a few of the older ones (my dad likes them but also isn't a huge fan).

So I was curious what the books were like! Are they as action-packed as the movies? Are they solid novels or does the cinema help push them into the limelight?

Horrifying, Fascinating, Excellent: Monster by Naoki Urasawa

This manga series was adapted into an excellent anime in 2004--that's where I first learned of it.

The anime was never licensed here in America, but the manga was. The manga is hauntingly good.

It's a complex story spanning something like 4000 manga pages, with lots of different themes and motifs. At its base, it's the quest of a doctor to right the wrong his own righteousness created. It's full of mystery, the shadows of tyrannical dead governments, life on the run, and questions of morality and philosophy. There are segments of high tension and dread, and equally well-handled scenes of explosive action.

The Mediocre Spy Thriller Agatha Christie Wrote: Destination Unknown!

I stumbled onto this weird little book when I was in a bit of an Agatha Christie kick. Destination Unknown, which was also published as So Many Steps to Death, is a grandmaster mystery novelist's attempt at a spy thriller. And sadly, though not wholly unexpectedly, it isn't very good.

Imagine Tolkien writing a courtroom drama.

A Sci-Fi Thriller with Some Cool Ideas! The World of Null-A Review!

This book was recommended by someone who commented on one of my YouTube videos! It's a science fiction novel by A.E. van Vogt, and the version I read was a revised 1970 paperback edition that added a little more background and clarity about the phenomenon he calls "null-A."