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.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
I'm sitting here, listening to Old Flame by The Arcade Fire (one of my favorite bands). And I adore this book, yet I can't think of a single thing to say about it. I've been trying to write this reaction for weeks.
Here's a summary, to begin with:
Perseus Jackson, known as Percy, is a 12 year old boy and strange things always happen to him... things that aren't his fault, but are so inexplicable that he gets blamed for them. As in most modern YA fiction, there's a supernatural reason he's been kept in the dark about. One day, after just such an event occurs, Percy's strange friend Grover tells him the truth:
Percy Jackson is a demigod.
His father is one of Greek gods. The incredibly stinky man his mother married? She choose him to protect her son. Demigods have a distinctive odor which attracts monsters. And the weird attacks and unexplained events and weird people who seem to mess up his life at school? Monsters that nobody can recognise because of the Mist, which disguises all monsters, from the eyes of the mere humans, the mortals. Grover isn't even a kid with a funny walk like he seems. He's a satyr, a half-human, half-goat. And his math teacher? Not a man in a wheelchair, but a centaur (half-man, half horse).
Grover's job is to go around and find demigods, like Percy, and escort them to the one place in the world they'll be safe: Camp Half Blood.
After some interesting misadventures and tons of really awesome, off-hand lessons in the way Greek mythology and history worked, they reach the camp. There are cabins for each of the gods of the Greek pantheon and nobody is aware of who Percy's father is, so he stays in the cabin for Hermes. During a particularly vicious game of Capture the Flag, he uses the power of a river to defend himself against a daughter of Ares and Poseidon's green trident appears above his head.
This causes a bit of a problem and a bit of a stir, as story goes that due to a prophecy that one of their children would make a decision at the age of sixteen that would either save or destroy Olympus, the three head gods, Zeus, Poseidon and Hades have vowed to stop having children... but looks like somebody's betrayed the oath, don't it?
After he moves into the empty cabin for Poseidon's children, his education in the ways of the demigods and Camp Half Blood continues. He finds an animosity and friendship with Annabeth, a daughter of Athena and Luke, a son of Hermes. He learns more and more about what he can expect his life to bel ike and the lives of those like him. Percy finds the camp is at least partially protected by another demigod named Thalia (a daughter of Zeus), who exists in the shape of a tree on the very border of the camp because she died protecting the two demigods who traveled to camp with her. But soon, disaster strikes. Zeus, finding out that Poseidon broke his oath, accuses Percy of stealing his Master Bold, the powerful lightning bolt that is one of the sources of his power. The rest of the book is about the adventures he has while just trying to clear his name and keep himself alive....
This is an EXTREMELY abbreviated summary and hardly any of my favorite moments were mentioned. I've had such a hard time typing this because it's so dense, so good but not at all overwhelming. I don't want to ruin the rest of the story for anyone, so I'm just gonna have to type from the hip, so I mean, let's put this out there.
I cannot say enough good things about this book to prospective readers at my job. It is a smart, fun, funny and engaging series. The movie looks incredible--I've seen the previews only but still.
I know everyone says "for fans of Harry Potter" and all that sort of stuff about this series, but honestly, this is just for fans of anything smart, anyone who appreciates a good metaphor for the awkwardness and insecurity of the early teen years. This is just for anyone who wants a good time.
So. Read it, kids.
Here's a summary, to begin with:
Perseus Jackson, known as Percy, is a 12 year old boy and strange things always happen to him... things that aren't his fault, but are so inexplicable that he gets blamed for them. As in most modern YA fiction, there's a supernatural reason he's been kept in the dark about. One day, after just such an event occurs, Percy's strange friend Grover tells him the truth:
Percy Jackson is a demigod.
His father is one of Greek gods. The incredibly stinky man his mother married? She choose him to protect her son. Demigods have a distinctive odor which attracts monsters. And the weird attacks and unexplained events and weird people who seem to mess up his life at school? Monsters that nobody can recognise because of the Mist, which disguises all monsters, from the eyes of the mere humans, the mortals. Grover isn't even a kid with a funny walk like he seems. He's a satyr, a half-human, half-goat. And his math teacher? Not a man in a wheelchair, but a centaur (half-man, half horse).
Grover's job is to go around and find demigods, like Percy, and escort them to the one place in the world they'll be safe: Camp Half Blood.
After some interesting misadventures and tons of really awesome, off-hand lessons in the way Greek mythology and history worked, they reach the camp. There are cabins for each of the gods of the Greek pantheon and nobody is aware of who Percy's father is, so he stays in the cabin for Hermes. During a particularly vicious game of Capture the Flag, he uses the power of a river to defend himself against a daughter of Ares and Poseidon's green trident appears above his head.
This causes a bit of a problem and a bit of a stir, as story goes that due to a prophecy that one of their children would make a decision at the age of sixteen that would either save or destroy Olympus, the three head gods, Zeus, Poseidon and Hades have vowed to stop having children... but looks like somebody's betrayed the oath, don't it?
After he moves into the empty cabin for Poseidon's children, his education in the ways of the demigods and Camp Half Blood continues. He finds an animosity and friendship with Annabeth, a daughter of Athena and Luke, a son of Hermes. He learns more and more about what he can expect his life to bel ike and the lives of those like him. Percy finds the camp is at least partially protected by another demigod named Thalia (a daughter of Zeus), who exists in the shape of a tree on the very border of the camp because she died protecting the two demigods who traveled to camp with her. But soon, disaster strikes. Zeus, finding out that Poseidon broke his oath, accuses Percy of stealing his Master Bold, the powerful lightning bolt that is one of the sources of his power. The rest of the book is about the adventures he has while just trying to clear his name and keep himself alive....
This is an EXTREMELY abbreviated summary and hardly any of my favorite moments were mentioned. I've had such a hard time typing this because it's so dense, so good but not at all overwhelming. I don't want to ruin the rest of the story for anyone, so I'm just gonna have to type from the hip, so I mean, let's put this out there.
I cannot say enough good things about this book to prospective readers at my job. It is a smart, fun, funny and engaging series. The movie looks incredible--I've seen the previews only but still.
I know everyone says "for fans of Harry Potter" and all that sort of stuff about this series, but honestly, this is just for fans of anything smart, anyone who appreciates a good metaphor for the awkwardness and insecurity of the early teen years. This is just for anyone who wants a good time.
So. Read it, kids.
Friday, January 8, 2010
Button, Button by Richard Matheson.
Spoiler heavy; sorry, kids.
This is a collection of short stories that's been rereleased under the title The Box. That's what they named the movie (which is currently out and I hear Cameron Diaz dies in it... reason enough for me to RedBox it) so that's how they renamed the collection.
I love Matheson's short stories. Something in me really responds to these bitter, crusty men fighting against a world that does them wrong at every turn, and even the weak, simpering women who get what they deserve.
Button, Button (the title story) is about a couple who receive a box in the mail and inside is a button. If they press the button, they'll get... a million dollars? some ridiculous amount of money. But as a result of them pressing it, someone they do not know will die. You can imagine where it goes from there. Yep, you guessed it: the wife presses it and the husband dies. As she's crying and blaming, the man in the shadows who explained how the box works of course pops in and says sardonically, "Madam, do you really think you knew your husband?"
Yuk, yuk, yuk. Kinda trite, but still a goodie.
My favorite from this collection was probably "The Girl of My Dreams," about a couple who exploits the woman's psychic ability to know when and how people are going to die. They will go to a family and tell them the circumstances of a loved one's death before it happens, leaving out the exact dates or locations and will only tell them the full story after they are paid for the information. The man despises the woman and wants only to make enough money to leave her. He, however, gets his just desserts when he accidently kills her after she blows what could've been their biggest score ever. Her dying words describe how he'll be killed--but she can't find the strength to get out the when or where. It ends with the man thinking about the person who will someday kill him, wondering who he is and what he's doing right then.
I guess to wrap it up, I didn't enjoy this collection as much as the I Am Legend collection (which was the inspiration for the Will Smith movie of the same name & also the Charleton Heston Omega Man movie of yore).
I don't know if it's just that I'm more familiar with Matheson's style or I wasn't as in the mood for his usual brand of racist misogyny. But if you're looking for an easy bunch of short stories with a sick twist, look no further. You've found your book.
This is a collection of short stories that's been rereleased under the title The Box. That's what they named the movie (which is currently out and I hear Cameron Diaz dies in it... reason enough for me to RedBox it) so that's how they renamed the collection.
I love Matheson's short stories. Something in me really responds to these bitter, crusty men fighting against a world that does them wrong at every turn, and even the weak, simpering women who get what they deserve.
Button, Button (the title story) is about a couple who receive a box in the mail and inside is a button. If they press the button, they'll get... a million dollars? some ridiculous amount of money. But as a result of them pressing it, someone they do not know will die. You can imagine where it goes from there. Yep, you guessed it: the wife presses it and the husband dies. As she's crying and blaming, the man in the shadows who explained how the box works of course pops in and says sardonically, "Madam, do you really think you knew your husband?"
Yuk, yuk, yuk. Kinda trite, but still a goodie.
My favorite from this collection was probably "The Girl of My Dreams," about a couple who exploits the woman's psychic ability to know when and how people are going to die. They will go to a family and tell them the circumstances of a loved one's death before it happens, leaving out the exact dates or locations and will only tell them the full story after they are paid for the information. The man despises the woman and wants only to make enough money to leave her. He, however, gets his just desserts when he accidently kills her after she blows what could've been their biggest score ever. Her dying words describe how he'll be killed--but she can't find the strength to get out the when or where. It ends with the man thinking about the person who will someday kill him, wondering who he is and what he's doing right then.
I guess to wrap it up, I didn't enjoy this collection as much as the I Am Legend collection (which was the inspiration for the Will Smith movie of the same name & also the Charleton Heston Omega Man movie of yore).
I don't know if it's just that I'm more familiar with Matheson's style or I wasn't as in the mood for his usual brand of racist misogyny. But if you're looking for an easy bunch of short stories with a sick twist, look no further. You've found your book.
Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick
Now, I'll say loud and proud that I read a TON of teen books. I've read the Twilight books, the Gemma Doyle trilogy, everything Garth Nix has written... the list goes on and on.
But this book was just... bad. I chose to read it because the cover art is freaking beautiful. I gotta say, whoever the designer was for that cover, it's just awesome. I was honestly hoping it'd follow the other trend for YA fiction these days, and that's mythology. It could've made a wonderful story about Icarus with that cover.
It was about a young, brunette self-described average-looking girl in high school... and a mysterious black-eyed loner type she's paired up with in science class.... yes, that DOES describe the beginning of Bella and Edward's illustrious romance... but Patch (the loner) is a fallen angel, not a vampire.
Huh.
I mean, it was done... well? I don't particularly mean well-written or well-constructed. I just remember being sad that the storyline was so simliar to Twilight because it had some real potential. If it had explored more of the history of the angels, both fallen and otherwise, or gone into details in other ways or any of a number of other things, it could've been really really awesome. As it was, I valiantly finished and felt disappointed.
Becca Fitzpatrick, if you see this, I'm sorry I didn't like your book. But I believe in you as a writer... I think you can do more. Make it into a series! Just don't go focusing in on the doomed love story and I think you'll find you've got a winner.
But this book was just... bad. I chose to read it because the cover art is freaking beautiful. I gotta say, whoever the designer was for that cover, it's just awesome. I was honestly hoping it'd follow the other trend for YA fiction these days, and that's mythology. It could've made a wonderful story about Icarus with that cover.
It was about a young, brunette self-described average-looking girl in high school... and a mysterious black-eyed loner type she's paired up with in science class.... yes, that DOES describe the beginning of Bella and Edward's illustrious romance... but Patch (the loner) is a fallen angel, not a vampire.
Huh.
I mean, it was done... well? I don't particularly mean well-written or well-constructed. I just remember being sad that the storyline was so simliar to Twilight because it had some real potential. If it had explored more of the history of the angels, both fallen and otherwise, or gone into details in other ways or any of a number of other things, it could've been really really awesome. As it was, I valiantly finished and felt disappointed.
Becca Fitzpatrick, if you see this, I'm sorry I didn't like your book. But I believe in you as a writer... I think you can do more. Make it into a series! Just don't go focusing in on the doomed love story and I think you'll find you've got a winner.
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