The Complete Peanuts: 1979 to 1980
by Charles M. Schulz (Fantagraphics Books, 2011)
An excellent vintage. As well as his usual pithy one-offs, Schulz presents several week-long serials and even one month-long epic. Peppermint Patty comes particularly to the fore, validating the claim that she could have sustained a comic strip in her own right.
The Metamorphosis
by Franz Kafka (Kurt Wolff Verlag, 1915); audiobook read by Benedict Cumberbatch (Bolinda, 2018)
Kafka seemingly cuts straight to the point in this simply written, somewhat overrated novella, but in truth Gregor Samsa’s metamorphosis remains open to numerous interpretations (beyond the story at face value, which also serves). Benedict Cumberbatch’s reading makes the audiobook more palatable.
The Dark Lord of Derkholm
by Diana Wynne Jones (Gollancz, 1998); audiobook read by Jonathan Broadbent (Clipper, 2013)
The concept is clever—explaining at last the genre-wide recrudescence of fantasy dark lords!—and Derk and Mara’s human-griffin family makes a pleasing point of (embracing) difference. The story itself, however, merely demonstrates cliché, dragging, meandering and bloviating to no great purpose.
The Picture of Dorian Gray
by Oscar Wilde (Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine, 1890); audiobook read by Steven Crossley (W F Howes, 2012)
The story is justly famous and the epigrams easy to quote, yet the overall reading experience is rendered wearisome by Wilde’s tacked-on (and continuously hammered home) cod philosophy. The character of Sir Henry presumably inspired that of The Sphinx in Mystery Men.
Picnic at Hanging Rock
by Joan Lindsay (F. W. Cheshire, 1967); audiobook read by Yael Stone (Bolinda, 2018)
Pointless Australiana. While some of the lengthier complex sentences lose their coherence in the audiobook reading, it is Hanging Rock’s mystery element—the dangled carrot that might tie together its inconsistencies and senseless character actions—that most disappoints, being left entirely unaddressed.
The Stranger: Summoned by Shadows
by Christian Darkin (BBV, 1991)
An oddity within the Doctor Who universe, The Stranger unofficially continues the Sixth Doctor’s adventures (sans copyrighted features like the TARDIS) subsequent to the show’s cancellation in 1989. This short but perfectly competent story has production values reminiscent of the Cartmel years.
Tintin: The Calculus Affair
by Hergé (Methuen, 1960)
The first quarter is mystery but the remainder of The Calculus Affair sees a return to the improbable, death-defying adventuring of the earlier Tintin serials, thankfully with an intensity and mastery of physical humour sufficient to make this album an easy page-turner.
Crash Landing and Other Stories
by Gillian Cross; ill. Maureen Bradley (Puffin, 1998)
Three very short stories, two of which feature the Demon Headmaster and plucky schoolkids who think up ways to counter his hypnotic influence. Slightly rare but unremarkable, this collection is a 10-minute read, perhaps best used as a palate cleanser between novels.
Star Wars: Thrawn – Alliances
by Timothy Zahn (Century, 2018)
Zahn’s big picture storytelling doesn’t amount to much but Thrawn remains good value in the moment – a military virtuoso with Sherlockian powers of observation and deduction. Here the chronologically removed but intertwined narratives pair him with both Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader.
Charmed Life
by Diana Wynne Jones (Macmillan, 1977); audiobook read by Tony Robinson (AudioGO, 2011)
Jones deftly establishes a parallel world in which magic is commonplace, and a cast of characters where the identity of the villain—and even that of the protagonist!—remains convincingly ambiguous. Tony Robinson’s audiobook reading elevates the story to a new level.