I love any book about the Civil War. PLUS this is the book that inspired Joss Whedon to create the show Firefly (and the movie made from the series after its cancellation, Serenity). Needless to say, I dove into it with such enthusiastic intent.
This book was difficult for me to get into, honestly. The battle of this book is Gettysburg. Bloody, desperate, horrific. I wanted something fluffier, something less... real, I guess. It bothered me that these were based on real people, who lived and breathed and loved and died. I can't stand anyone suffering of any kind in anyone around me, so to think of the passion and belief these people had to carry through the battle to just make it through the day.
My extremely limited experience with military life has shown me the depth of the connection between the soldiers and officers who go through battles together... it's intense. I am seriously in awe of the level of emotional commitment these people have for each other. I am so apolitical, mostly because I can't make myself sit down and form concrete, objective opinions about things that affect people so deeply. That's what I took away. The pointlessness and sadness and my desire to want to make people not have to go through this. I value so much of the broken and cracked and painful in life but I've never been able to reconcile war into any of my philosophy. Some people love it... they really do. They come away tormented and scarred... and part of them wants to go back, wants the adrenaline. It's insane to read this, know people who've served and try to think about it all together.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Eating the Dinosaur by Chuck Klosterman.
Having been a fan of Chuck Klosterman for so many years, I've gotta say.... I really enjoyed this.
However, Klosterman, who is nothing if not self aware, seems to be a little... reflective of his status as a literary/pop culture phenomenon. He's trying to be a little less gimmicky, a little less crazy connection to a crazy conclusion... which is in ways both good and bad.
I honestly don't think that this book is as good as some of his other works. But I find that the more I love an author, the more I'm disappointed by a work the first time I read it. And as I'm a huge Klosterman fan, my expectations are naturally gonna be way too high. I mean. It recalls the first time I read the last Harry Potter.... that should probably be The Last Harry Potter. I loathed it. I was angry and disappointed. But when I got over myself and went back and read it again... I've read it probably twenty times now.
I adored Klosterman's new distancing from his previously formulaic wacky connection works. But even though I appreciate him delving a bit more into the philosophical part of the subjects he's been writing about, I think I just wanted to read a new chapter or two out of Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs and that isn't really fair to Mr. Klosterman, the book or myself. So I'm gonna stick to loving his dissection of the Chris Gaines/Garth Brooks experiment and of course... I almost peed myself with his essay about Rivers Cuomo. I'll pick it up and read it again later and develop a more fair and balanced sort of perspective on it... which is exactly the sort of thing any of his writings demand. These are bar essays, toilet essays--the sort of thing you can pick up at any time and start a conversation about, with anyone, and it's guaranteed to take you places you never thought you'd get by just talking to someone.
I'd definitely recommend this to anyone, possibly even as a first foray in the world of Klostermania. Because let's face it... it's what it's become.
However, Klosterman, who is nothing if not self aware, seems to be a little... reflective of his status as a literary/pop culture phenomenon. He's trying to be a little less gimmicky, a little less crazy connection to a crazy conclusion... which is in ways both good and bad.
I honestly don't think that this book is as good as some of his other works. But I find that the more I love an author, the more I'm disappointed by a work the first time I read it. And as I'm a huge Klosterman fan, my expectations are naturally gonna be way too high. I mean. It recalls the first time I read the last Harry Potter.... that should probably be The Last Harry Potter. I loathed it. I was angry and disappointed. But when I got over myself and went back and read it again... I've read it probably twenty times now.
I adored Klosterman's new distancing from his previously formulaic wacky connection works. But even though I appreciate him delving a bit more into the philosophical part of the subjects he's been writing about, I think I just wanted to read a new chapter or two out of Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs and that isn't really fair to Mr. Klosterman, the book or myself. So I'm gonna stick to loving his dissection of the Chris Gaines/Garth Brooks experiment and of course... I almost peed myself with his essay about Rivers Cuomo. I'll pick it up and read it again later and develop a more fair and balanced sort of perspective on it... which is exactly the sort of thing any of his writings demand. These are bar essays, toilet essays--the sort of thing you can pick up at any time and start a conversation about, with anyone, and it's guaranteed to take you places you never thought you'd get by just talking to someone.
I'd definitely recommend this to anyone, possibly even as a first foray in the world of Klostermania. Because let's face it... it's what it's become.
The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan
Since I apparently can't get over my block after seeing this damn movie, I'm going to simply write a reaction to each book as I get in the mood... sorry. I'm doin' the best I can. (Tonight's music soundtrack is my dear friend Casey, playing House of the Rising Sun... thanks, Case.)
The Sea of Monsters is the next book in the series. I absolutely loved this, though I will not say it's my favorite of the series....though I think it has some of my favorite moments. Introduced in this book are Thalia, the girl whose spirit is living inside the tree that helps guard the borders of the camp. Tyson, who ends up being Percy's younger brother. We also discover that Percy can speak to Hippocampi... and I love that. Tantalus, one of the punished kings from the fields of punishment becomes camp director after poor Chiron is suspected of poisoning Thalia... the tree is dying and to revive it, there's a quest to retrieve the golden fleece. I could summarise the plot more, but really the important parts: Thalia is released from the tree and Luke is revealed to have been the one to poison her in the first place. I adore this book. It had some of the best slapstick moments of the series... and c'mon now, The Party Ponies? Amazing. I'll say it again. AMAZING.
The Sea of Monsters is the next book in the series. I absolutely loved this, though I will not say it's my favorite of the series....though I think it has some of my favorite moments. Introduced in this book are Thalia, the girl whose spirit is living inside the tree that helps guard the borders of the camp. Tyson, who ends up being Percy's younger brother. We also discover that Percy can speak to Hippocampi... and I love that. Tantalus, one of the punished kings from the fields of punishment becomes camp director after poor Chiron is suspected of poisoning Thalia... the tree is dying and to revive it, there's a quest to retrieve the golden fleece. I could summarise the plot more, but really the important parts: Thalia is released from the tree and Luke is revealed to have been the one to poison her in the first place. I adore this book. It had some of the best slapstick moments of the series... and c'mon now, The Party Ponies? Amazing. I'll say it again. AMAZING.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
The Lightning Thief, MOVIE STYLE.
I could not have been more disappointed in this adaptation.
That's right, dear readers, I put off updating my blog until I saw this stupid movie so that the entries could be together.
Before you get all uppity with me and tell me, oh blah blah, it's a MOVIE, they can't make it exactly like the book, please remember you are reading a book blog. And I have absolutely no problem with whatever they leave it, it's what they CHANGE that irritates me.
I found the movie to not only completely destroy the plot of the book (which was RAD), but to also be surprisingly tacky. Rosario Dawson, what the HELL were you doing? I mean, apart from the fact that they went up during the summer (so Persephone would be NOT IN THE UNDERWORLD; a point they were careful to mention specificially in the book), but her role was stupid. And again, I'll say it, tacky.
They left out Clarisse, the daughter of Ares with whom Percy has so much trouble. They left out the way Annabelle feels about Luke before they find out that he's the one who's betrayed them. They added in all this ridiculous CRAP, left out some of the coolest and most movie-worthy scenes. I could write for pages and pages about what was wrong. I am seriously pissed that my buddy paid for me to see this movie. It wasn't worth even seeing it for free, in my opinion.
Chris Columbus, who is notorious for dumbing down kids movies (which incidentally worked for the first Harry Potter), just failed at what could have been a worthwhile and incredible series.
That's right, dear readers, I put off updating my blog until I saw this stupid movie so that the entries could be together.
Before you get all uppity with me and tell me, oh blah blah, it's a MOVIE, they can't make it exactly like the book, please remember you are reading a book blog. And I have absolutely no problem with whatever they leave it, it's what they CHANGE that irritates me.
I found the movie to not only completely destroy the plot of the book (which was RAD), but to also be surprisingly tacky. Rosario Dawson, what the HELL were you doing? I mean, apart from the fact that they went up during the summer (so Persephone would be NOT IN THE UNDERWORLD; a point they were careful to mention specificially in the book), but her role was stupid. And again, I'll say it, tacky.
They left out Clarisse, the daughter of Ares with whom Percy has so much trouble. They left out the way Annabelle feels about Luke before they find out that he's the one who's betrayed them. They added in all this ridiculous CRAP, left out some of the coolest and most movie-worthy scenes. I could write for pages and pages about what was wrong. I am seriously pissed that my buddy paid for me to see this movie. It wasn't worth even seeing it for free, in my opinion.
Chris Columbus, who is notorious for dumbing down kids movies (which incidentally worked for the first Harry Potter), just failed at what could have been a worthwhile and incredible series.
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