Reading Log

As a task for Uni (I study Imaginative Writing) I was required to create a "reading log" of what literature I'd been digesting- I decided to use my Space as a place to record this information, so in turn i will pass on the information in an abbreviated form to this blog.

A Scanner Darkly- Apparently it's coming to the screen soon, starring Keanu Reeves and Winona Ryder so I won't reveal the plot. Essentially it concerns a future where drug use is widespread and police are fighting a losing battle against it. We follow one officer as he is giving an assignment that will push his already tortured mind to the limit. This story was a lot darker than a lot of Philip K Dick's other writing or perhaps more acurately it was sadder as it came from the heart. The story was based on Dick's own experiences of drug abuse- and the novel ends with his memory of all his friends.

"This has been a novel about some people who were punished entirely too much for what they did. They wanted to have fun, but they were like children playing in the street; they could see one after another of them being killed- run over, maimed, destroyed- but they continued to play anyhow."


V for Vendetta- recently released in the cinema and if you still fancy seeing it I'll keep my mouth shut about the plot. The story features quite possibly the coolest hero in comics, constantly wearing a smiling mask and quoting shakespeare whilst killing thugs he fights to bring down a system of corruption and cruelty. I like the fact that the main hero is an insane terrorist and yet we can happily support him on his rampage across London. I'm fairly ignorant of the comics world but i think this is some of the best comic book writing there will ever be.

Minority Report- a short story collection featuring it's namesake and the basis for the fim Totall Recall a good collection of stories on the whole. Written by Philip K Dick, a true master of Science Fiction these stories were helpful to me as I attempt to write my own Sci-Fi shorts. However these were clearly early works and I could see that some were prototypes for other novels that would come later- one even featured the same character as the novel Ubik! I could begin to pick up on his style too- the ending is always a big shock, though I'm still not good enough to guess what the shock will be yet!

Right, that'll do for now- more to follow.