Book Club: The Fog (James Herbert)

Tonight, back at last with The Horror Book Club. It's been a while since they were doing anything I was interested in - but I could hardly miss this, a meeting about The Fog by James Herbert. He remains my favourite horror writer overall, and the best descriptive writer I've ever read - to the extent that he literally changed the way I look at the world. And would you believe it, the club had, apparently, never done anything by him! This is, actually, the book that got me back into horror after an absence of years, during which I was traumatised by my reading of another of his, The Rats.. So, well, I couldn't miss this, could I? And I came across a reading of The Fog by Christopher Lee.. managed to finish it today, it having been such a busy week. As someone in the group pointed out, mind you, this version is censored.. Yes, quite severely. Might I point out, at this point, that I'm not in favour of censorship AT ALL - a lot of it, in this case, is simply a factor of changed sensibilities - never a good reason to do anything.

Well, off I set - I had intended to get there a little earlier, but you know what they say about good intentions. At least I knew I could eat there - didn't fancy a main meal, per se, so had a look at their small plates. Wouldn't you know it, they were out of the chicken, which I'd have had - instead, I had the squid, which was in the most gorgeous sauce - not the advertised sweet chilli though, tasted more like balsamic. Went down well - I wasn't as impressed with the onion rings and garlic bread I had to accompany it, but I was fed.

The book's reception was kind of lukewarm, in general - you could tell it wasn't going to be highly rated by the group on average. Doesn't matter, it's subjective. Granted, as I mentioned, it's not my favourite book of his, some parts actually make me wince. It's unfortunate that, when asked, I couldn't think of a better James Herbert book to recommend to people - honestly, there simply isn't one that stands out to me. Apart from anything about rats, I just love 'em all - and at some point, I realised I was really appreciating the writing.

It was interesting how the conversation veered to matters conservational, talk of nuclear waste and such.. And someone half challenged me to go and re-read The Rats. I dunno though - I've never been a massive fan of visceral horror, and this, as I recall, is a riot of it. Something without rats in it would suit me much better.. as for The Fog itself, the general consensus was that it's dated, in its attitudes, in the way it refers to people. Still, for me, it's full of comedic vignettes, and I do like how (spoiler) at the end, they spray some kind of sleeping gas over everyone: sort of like putting them to bed, after a story. And as I say, it was a revelation after The Rats - and kept me reading ever after. And that'll do me.

Tomorrow, I've booked with CT to see Skin, a play showing at Brockley Jack Studio Theatre - specifically chosen because it was the closest cheap show to my new place.

I'm then back to Ireland again - yes, two weekends in a row - because I need to reschedule my weekends for what's coming up.. watch this space. For the weekend, I think we can assume I'll just be shopping for my mother - nothing on in the cinema over there that I want to see, and haven't already seen, and is on at a time I can manage..