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The Platypus Reads Part XVI

Summer is here, and with it my return to pulp! Hellboy Volume 8: "Darkness Calls" has just shipped, and while I'm waiting I've decided to delve into one of those ubiquitous ur-sources: Edgar Rice-Burroughs' "A Princess of Mars." The book is an odd (but appreciated) mixture of fantasy and sci-fi that reminds me very much of Lewis' "Out of the Silent Planet." It's also much lower (so far) on the whole quotient of "metal-clad-space-bikini-babes" than much of the later jacket covers seem to suggest (Though I think it's implied that our heroes spend most of the first chapters in a sort of heroic grecco-roman nudity). Maybe I just don't understand what good space-pulp is all about... It does have giant green men though! Anyhow, I'm only a third of the way through the book, so a full review will have to wait. It's well done so far, and holds my interest much better than more recent novels in the genre seem to.

Also on the list for the summer:

"Planet Narnia" by Michael Ward
"The Marble Faun" by Nathanael Hawthorne
"1776" by David McCullough
"The Book of Lost Tales Volume II" by J.R.R. Tolkien, ed. Christopher Tolkien
"Dorothy L. Sayers" by Ralph E. Hone (the late husband of a very generous woman at our church)

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Linds said…
The Marble Faun is easily the best book I've read in many years. It rivals the Brothers K as my favoite book of all time. Raptures of beauty! I can't wait to hear what you think of it.
1:46 PM
James said…
I'll make sure and post! Has Nate gotten a hold of Hellboy 8: "Darkness Calls" yet? I'd love to know what he thinks of it.
4:20 PM
Linds said…
No, he's in the middle of a bunch of film books, but it's definitely on the summer list. :)
9:45 PM
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