wonders never cease

Reading Rec: “The Sea Wolf”

by Jack London 

It’s about a gentleman who gets in a ship wreck, being rescued by a ship captained by Wolf Larson, the real reason to read the book. 

Larson is one of those characters that lives with you. He goes about the book breaking down this gentleman, Humphrey, to show him how hard the world is, how horrible human nature is, and how wrong he’s been about everything in his life. He makes Hump, as he gets nicknamed, work. He makes him face the fierceness of life. 

Larson himself, rather than what he does to Hump, is what is interesting. Every second he is “on screen” there is nothing else to distract your attention. You are there, watching him in wonder and shock; he’s so brutal and spotlighted, you can’t help but notice how much London must have adored this character. He’s worth reading the book. 

All the time on the ship is superb. It’s really entertaining. For me, the story begins to derail toward the end, but I would read The Sea Wolf again in a heartbeat. 

Plus, it’s only about 103k. 

Read. It. 

Reading Rec: “The Sandman”

The Sandman is a 90s comic written by Neil Gaiman and illustrated by an ever-changing string of capable artists. It is one of the most celebrated comics to date, up there with Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns.

The story is so expansive that it gets difficult to properly describe. By this, I mean that even small characters seem fully fleshed out and intriguing. But the main plot follows Dream, one of the Endless, as he escapes from a very long imprisonment and sets about regaining his strength and power. That only really covers the first few volumes, of which there are ten (not counting the many spin-offs). 

It’s not that humorous - the first half of the series is actually legit horror genre. But it’s deep and it’s impacting and you’re doing yourself a great disservice having not read it.