THE WASP FACTORY by Iain Banks

Finished Sa 3/29/25

This is a trade paperback that I got on Amazon after reading that it was one of Warren Zevon's favorite novels. 

A first person narration by a very, very unreliable narrator.

Frankie is a girl!!! That was the fantastic reveal and I didn't see that coming.

Catapult is an English word for slingshot

Frankie kills three people; a friend (by snake bite) his brother (in an explosion), a young girl (who he ties to a kite and she flies away).

The plot from Wikipedia:

"The story is told from the perspective of 16-year-old Frank Cauldhame. Frank lives with his father on a small island in rural Scotland, and he has not seen his mother in many years. There is no official record of his birth, meaning his existence is largely unknown.

Frank occupies his time with rituals, building dams, and maintaining an array of weapons (a small catapult, pipe bombs, and a crude flamethrower) for killing small animals around the island. He takes long walks to patrol the island and occasionally gets drunk with his only friend, a dwarf. Otherwise, Frank has almost no contact with the outside world. He's haunted by the memory of a dog attack during his youth, which resulted in the loss of his genitalia. He resents others for his impotence, particularly women. This is in part due to the mauling coinciding with the last time he saw his mother, who had come back to give birth to his younger brother, and left immediately afterward.

Frank's older brother, Eric, escapes from a psychiatric institution, having been arrested some years prior for arson and terrorising the local children by force-feeding them live maggots. Eric often calls him from a pay-phone to inform Frank of his progress back to the island. Eric is extremely erratic; their conversations end badly, with Eric exploding in fits of rage. However, it's clear Frank loves his brother.

The Wasp Factory is a mechanism invented by Frank, consisting of a huge clock face, salvaged from the local dump, encased in a glass box. Behind each of the 12 numerals is a trap that leads to a different ritual death (such as burning, crushing, or drowning in Frank's urine) for the wasp that Frank puts into it via the hole at the centre. Frank believes the death "chosen" by the wasp predicts something about the future. The Factory is in the house's loft, which Frank's father cannot access because of a leg injury. There are also “Sacrifice Poles” constructed by Frank. The corpses of animals, such as mice that he has killed, are placed onto the poles for the purpose of attracting birds which will fly away and alert Frank of anybody approaching the island.

It's revealed that when Frank was much younger, he killed three of his relatives: two cousins and his younger half-brother. He also exhumed the skull of the dog that castrated him, and uses it as part of his rituals. Eric is described as having been extremely sensitive before the incident that drove him mad: a tragic case of neglect at the hospital where Eric was a volunteer when studying to become a doctor. While attempting to feed a brain-damaged newborn with acalvaria, Eric notes how the child is unresponsive and smiling, despite usually appearing expressionless. The child's skull is held together by a metal plate over his head. Eric checks underneath the plate to find the child's exposed brain tissue infested and being consumed by day-old maggots.

Frank's father is distant and spends most of his time in his study, which he keeps locked at all times. Frank longs to know what is inside. He is used to being lied to by his father, who seemingly does it purely for his own amusement. At the end of the novel, Frank is alerted of Eric's return when he sees a dog that has been burned alive and discovers Eric's campsite. This knowledge incites Frank's father to get drunk before forgetting to conceal the keys to his study, where Frank discovers male hormone drugs, tampons, and what appears to be the remains of his own genitals in a jar. He assumes that his findings mean that his father is actually female. After disrobing his father at knifepoint, Frank discovers this is not the case. At the same time, Eric arrives. During the ensuing confrontation, Eric attempts to destroy the house by setting light to the large stock of cordite kept in the cellar. Frank stops him, and Eric runs into the distance.

Frank's father explains that it was Frank who was born a female; the hormones had been fed to him by his father since the dog attack in an experiment to see whether Frank would transition from female to male. The remains of his genitals were fake, fashioned from wax as evidence in case Frank ever questioned his father's story. It is suggested that his father's reasoning for doing this was to distance himself from the women he felt had ruined his life. In the end, Frank finds Eric, half asleep. He sits with him and considers his life up to this point and whether he should leave the island."

SS- GB by Len Deighton

This is one of my ancient paperbacks that I finished on We 6/1/and sometime in the 90's.

I refinished Fr 3/28/25 and I really enjoyed the book. It's a Police Procedural set in 1941 where Hitler won and Britain has been invaded. 

Douglas Archer- a hot young detective ('Archer of The Yard') who must deal with his English superiors and also his German bosses. The German army generals and the detectives within the SS vie for control of the British social order. 

A murder investigation reveals the race to develop a nuclear bomb. 

From Goodreads:

"The King is a hostage in the tower, the Queen and Princesses have fled to Australia, Churchill has been executed by a firing squad, Englishmen are being deported to work in German factories and the dreaded SS is in charge of Scotland Yard. London is in shock. The very look of daily life is a walking nightmare of German uniforms, artifacts, regulations. There are collaborators. There are profiteers. But there are others working in hope, in secret, and desperate danger, against the invader. And still others are living strangely ambiguous lives – none more so than Detective Superintendent Douglas Archer ("Archer of the yard" as the press like to call him), trying to maintain a peculiarly, almost sacredly, British institution under a Nazi chief. Archer has started work on what seems, at first, a routine murder case. But suddenly an SS Standartenführer from Himmler's personal staff flies in from Berlin to supervise the investigation, and Archer is plunged deep into an espionage battle for which he is completely unprepared, and where the stakes are incredibly high. "We’re dealing with something that could prove so deadly that not even the Black Death would compare with the consequences", the SS man tells him.

Setting forth on a tight rope trail of violence, betrayal and danger, Archer moves into worlds within worlds of intrigue. The British resistance, wealthy collaborators, high-level scientists, German army and SS factions and vicious rivalry, a beautiful American reporter on assignment for the still-neutral papers back home – these are the players that Deighton's treacherously shifting drama, as it races toward its chattering climax that involves the fate of the King, and of England itself.

SS–GB is fascinating in its premise, utterly authentic and convincing in its detail. It is the most gripping novel we have had from the author of The Ipcress File, Funeral in Berlin, and Bomber. Already, in England, it has become Len Deighton's greatest best seller."

GONE GIRL by Gillian Flynn

 Refinished Mo 3/17/25

This is one of my ancient trade paperbacks that I had read (and loved) a couple of times. The movie is even excellent.

A classic tale of 'unreliable narrators'. Is 'Amazing Amy' the true villian or is it her hapless husband, Nick?

In the end they are both trapped in a loveless marriage, but they get to 'act the part'. Maybe that will be good enough. 

From The Guardian:

"Gone Girl packs a winning formula, by frightening, enchanting, disturbing and intriguing its readers all at once. Gillian Flynn, with this novel, has proven that she deserves to be crowned the Queen of plot twists. Although this is a book that takes its own sweet time to pick up the pace and become the juicy thriller you go in anticipating, it’s definitely worth the wait and the bored page turning.

Flynn creates the most bizarre, complex characters (a large majority of which seem to have escaped from asylums for the mentally insane) that bounce off the page and seem so scarily real. What is arguably Gillian Flynn’s greatest strength as an author lies in her ability to change the way her readers perceive her protagonists. Taking one of the main characters, Nick, as an example – I started off by feeling sorry for his unemployment and empathised with his panic and fear as his wife goes missing, went on to loathe him from the bottom of my heart and towards the end of the novel, feel absolutely terrible for him, because he lives in a prison he cannot escape from. The technique used by the author, in telling the story from multiple narratives, is both a clever and wickedly effective one; the novel wouldn’t have been worth half of what it is had it been told from the perspective of only one of the two protagonists."

Link to the book's page at Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gone_Girl_(novel)

THE LATHE OF HEAVEN by Ursula Le Guin

 Finished Sa 3/9/25

This was part of a trilogy (3 novels in one book) that I probably bought at 'Oversized Paperback' (?) when I was a member years ago. I never read any of the books, but I'm glad that I finally got a chance to read this one. However, I thought that this was the novel about 'gender fluidity', but that was Le Guin's novel, 'THE LEFT HAND OF DARKNESS'. I want to buy that novel for my Kindle. 

In a nutshell the novel is about George Orr. He is a man who can change reality with his dreams. He is sent to a therapist because he was over using his drug allowance. He was doing this to keep from dreaming. However, his psychiatrist realizes that he can change reality 'for the better' while he hypnotises George. You realize that when you change one strand of reality that it affects all of the others. 

A delightful novel and I want to read a whole lot more by Le Guin. She is probably the closest author to write in the quirky style of Philip K. Dick.

This is the link to an excellent recap of the novel at Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lathe_of_Heaven

A WALLK ON THE WILD SIDE by Nelson Algren

 Finished Tu 3/4/25

This was one of my ancient paperbacks that I had never read. However, I'm very glad that I made time to read this very compelling novel.

It's the story of Dove Linkhorn who is a sixteen year old 'nonconformist' from Texas who relocates to the sleaze of New Orleans. And, the reader is treated to a view of a whole cast of colorful & gritty characters. The novel is set in 1931 and at the height of the Great American Depression. 

'Potaguaya'- is the Spanish word for cannabis and means 'the drink of grief'. Who's kidding who?

A link to the book's page at Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Walk_on_the_Wild_Side

From chasingbawa.com:

"A Walk on the Wild Side follows in the footsteps of 16 year old, illiterate Dove Linkhorn as he leaves Texas and his preacher father and drunk brother behind to better himself. In the first part, we meet Dove as he struggles to earn a few dollars working for and in turn being taught how to read by the much older and devout Terasina, the owner of the local chili parlour. Theirs is a short and bittersweet romance quickly ruined by pride, misunderstanding and violence, and Dove leaves Texas to find a better life for himself. On his journey to New Orleans, Dove encounters a whole slew of characters, the forgotten, the impoverished and the starving all trying to survive, including Kitty, a young, street smart orphan trying to pass herself off as a boy. Dove later falls in with a couple of bums as he learns to make some money as a salesman. But somehow, no matter how much he makes, he always seems to drift back to the lower echelons of society where the drugs and booze are plenty but there’s never enough money.

In New Orleans he meets the pimps and prostitutes who seem to define our image of 1930s New Orleans. Dove is once again sucked into this world forming tentative alliances and is recruited as a stud to deflower ‘virgins’, a job in which he excels. He runs off with Hallie, the only prostitute who hasn’t surrendered completely but returns when she leaves him. And when he returns, he is confronted by Hallie’s lover, lonely and angry Legless Schmidt whose dreams of being the strongest man in America was shattered by a drunken fall near a moving train, and is beaten almost to death. And we come back full circle as Dove returns once more to his hometown, a broken man, but looking for the one person he hurt but cannot forget.

Algren’s novel really surprised me. Considering the subject matter, I was expecting a gritty, dark and depressing book all about the lower dregs of society, especially during the Depression when the numbers swelled exponentially. But Algren’s prose is magical because he tells his tale in a poetic and very beautiful language. So although you are aware of the seedy nature of New Orleans, the bitter, empty lives of the poor and the sordid exploitation of women, you can’t but believe in the hopes that these characters have and applaud how they keep on going even though their lives are so hard. That’s a pretty mean feat to accomplish. If this book was written now, it would probably be too graphic and would leave you with a sour taste in your mouth."

DARK SEEKER by K.W. Jeter

Finished Tu 2/25/25

This was one of my ancient paperbacks that I noticed on the shelf when I was reading 'BLADE RUNNER 2'  which was written by Jeter.

First finished Fr 5/30/08 and this was one of the last books that I read at work as the dispatcher. 

The novel concerns a group similar to The Manson Family. They were a gang of killers that 'linked' by taking a drug that allows users to 'blend with the night'. Mike Tyler was a member and he's trying to get back into the gang to find his son who might still be alive. It's kind of a let down because in the end, it was only a doll. I'm not sure what it all means, but it was a spooky read. 

From the internet:

"The story involves a group of researchers who dabble with an experimental drug, allowing them to mesh consciousnesses, with a view to applications in battlefield situations, where the formation of a gestalt-mind between combatants would be of practical value. However, the drug also releases the darkest, innermost tendencies of those taking it, pushing them towards acts of depravity and wanton destruction. The action takes place some years after the experiments, when the researchers are on heavily-regulated prophylactic chemical inhibitors and have been re-located, found ‘Not Guilty by reason of Insanity’, after a series of horrific murders which the drug – a discrete entity they refer to as ‘the Host’ - forced them to commit.

We follow Mike Tyler, living in Los Angeles with his nurse girlfriend Stephanie and her son Eddy, idly testing the boundaries of the limits which his medication places upon him, bridling against the regimen but seeing how far he can go without it. Things are dull but otherwise fine, until he receives a call from his former wife Linda who calls him to say that ‘Slide’ - an old criminal associate of theirs and part of the experiment from the research days – has taken their child Bryan away from her, the child that Mike thought was dead.

From here on, the pace is unrelenting as Mike tries to find his son, keeping at bay the semi-retired detective Kinross, who has a crusade against the researchers, and the cash-poor journalist Bedell, who squandered a mint made from his book about the experiment and its crimes, and who has a sample of the drug stashed in his house. On top of this, Mike has to balance his re-surfaced hysterical ex-wife and his new love and her child, whilst trawling through the wreckage of his past and his old – very damaged – associates to try and find the Host-addicted Slide, before something horrible happens to the son he thought he’d never see again."

OPEN HOUSE by Elizabeth Berg

 Finished Th 2/20/25

This is a hardback that Janny loaned to me. 

It's a 'Decorous Domestic Dramedy'. 

A woman in an unfufilling marriage is abandoned by her husband. She desperately wants him back and she takes in roomates to help keep her house and to fill the void in her life. In the end, her husband wants her back, but she decides she wants her 'new' life. 

The theme of 'roomates' seemed familiar and I think I've read this before, but it was well worth a second look.

From Kirkus Reviews:

"he eighth effortless novel from soft-pedaling specialist Berg (Until the Real Thing Comes Along, 1999, etc.) is an emotional slurpee/comedy featuring the newly separated mother of a near-teenaged son who finds the man of her dreams in spite of herself.

What's a woman to do after her husband of 20 years packs a bag and walks out? Take a page from Martha Stewart's book, apparently, by getting dressed to the nines, making an elegant breakfast, and then trying to make the kid go along with the charade. Unfortunately for Samantha Morrow, she isn't Martha Stewart, and her son Travis is unflinchingly frank. So Sam goes to Tiffany's and writes a $12,000 check for silver flatware instead, whereupon her husband, David, takes all the money out of their joint account, and she has to start renting out rooms. The first boarder to move in is the mother of her grocery store's cashier, a sweet, capable lady who comes complete with a devoted boyfriend—and the hulk named King who moved her in is a sweetie, too. So what if the woman snores and keeps Travis awake? He and Sam adjust, and everything would be fine if she didn't keep hoping David would come back. But he has the good life and a girlfriend, while she's started temping (on King's recommendation) and dating (at her mother's insistence), the latter with disastrous results. The little old lady marries her boyfriend, another renter proves clinically depressed, and Sam has trouble adjusting to the working life. Even a distress call to Martha Stewart's 800 number doesn't help. Then, when she least expects it, love is in the air.

Skillfully crafted, with a fluidity and snap that will delight Berg's fans but, when all is said and done, a distressingly familiar story."  

The heroine of the story is Samantha (Sam) and she has a miscarriage on the toilet. She wanted to bury the fetus but was unable to keep it on the spoon so she had to flush. That was an indelible image!!!