Revolver- book review

Revolver by Marcus Sedgwick
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Alaskan gold rush killed many a man. Unlike California, where people tended to settle down and enjoy the very nice climate, the Alaskan climate turned deadly for the uninitiated for about 6 months every year. This is a story about a man that brings his whole family to Nome for gold rush, what he does to protect them, and how it comes back to haunt them ten years later.

This is a love story. Not between a boy and girl, but between man and gun. Specifically the colt revolver. We are told that it is not a weapon, but an answer. The book makes this true, just not in the way you might initially think. Apparently the author did a lot of research on guns when he decided to put one in his book and surprised himself with how fascinated he became with them. It is not surprising then, to find that guns are a major theme of this book.

The story is divided in between two time periods. The first being the Nome gold rush and the second being ten years later in a town called Giron in Russia (may be a fictional town). We don't quite find out everything that is going on in Nome until the story in Giron requires it to unfold. The author does a good job of showing how dangerous the cold is and what it takes to live in it.

This book is very short already at about 200 pages, but then some chapters are only a couple pages long and look to be split up for the specific purpose of making the book longer. It is a very quick read. It is a YA book, but adults will find it enjoyable as well. The book does include violence and the threat and allusion of sexual violence, so I would suggest upper YA (12 and up).

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In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson

In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson by Bette Bao Lord
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Listened to the audio version of it. Maybe I am shaded by the reading of it. Read this for a 3rd and 4th grade book club. I think it might be a little simplistic for this age group. I believe it was unrealistic in its portrayal of race relations in Brooklyn at this point. All the jokes seem to be at the main character's expense and due to limited English speaking ability or the fact that she is actually two years younger than everyone else due to Asian people counting birthdays differently.

My 4th grader is not all that interested in it either. She is a hesitant reader in the first place, and this book just isn't keeping her attention.

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Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie

Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie by David Lubar
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

pretty good, the high school was described as pretty cliche, but the story that works through it is pretty good. I really liked the part about the spanish teachers that where not from spanish speaking countries and did not speak English.

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To Kill a Mockingbird

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I didn't read this in high school. I was in honors English my entire time in High School and I didn't read this. I guess I slipped through the cracks. I mean I had heard a lot of love for this book and for the movie, but it was always that book that people had to read in school. To me this put it in a category with the Scarlet Letter. If it was great, it was great compared to other forced reading.

I have read this book of my own accord after people, whose opinions I respect, have said that I should. It is an amazing book. Scout, Jem, and Dill are real kids. They think like real kids and play games that real kids play. These characters are very real and fit perfectly into the very fleshed out setting of Macomb, Alabama. The plot is simultaneously heartbreaking and uplifting and is probably the best description of the time period and the conflicted feelings that came with it.

It is an excellent book. I have recommended this book to my 12 year old as I am quite sure that she will like it.

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Creep review and casting

Creep is Jennifer Hillier's debut novel.  In full disclosure, I have been following her blog for a while, so I might not be an impartial observer.  On the other hand, I don't generally read thrillers, uless they are Micheal Crichton scifi thrillers (hey Jennifer, you should totally consider this considering we lost Crichton).  So, this book was a little out of my comfort range.

It was good, I mean that is what you want to know, and, it being a thriller, you don't really want anything else spoiled.  I usually read on the train going to and from work.  I get in about 25 pages each way.  Creep is 368 pages, so it should have meant a good 7 days worth of reading.  I ripped through it.  Thursday evening I was at about page 275 and if you are at page 275 of this book you are not likely to put it down for long, so I continued to read through when I got home.  So, yeah, I was into it. 

To change things up a little bit- I thought I would cast some of the characters as they were portrayed in my mind movie.  Hollywood, if you are listening, this would be a money maker, and if you want to use my casting ideas, email me for the address to send the check to. 

Dr. Sheila Tao- Our Chinese American Psyche professor would be played by the delectable and still sexy at almost 50 Ming-Na could play the 39 year old Tao I think.  Just imagine her with that red

Morris- Dr. Tao's ex-football O-lineman is just screeming to be played by Puddy, I mean Patrick Warburton.  He might have to add some pounds for the role but he could do it.  His real life son could even play Morris' estranged son. 

Ethan- the antagonist, psyche student that has an affair with his teacher could be played by Justin Hartley of Smallville fame.  Wow, I didn't realize he was that old, he is my age.  

Abbey- Ethan's girlfriend- Mila Kunis would be pitch perfect

Jerry-the ex beat cop turned private investigator could be played by an aged Orlando Jones.  His wife could be a nice role for Michelle Yeoh. 

Agree or disagree with my casting?  Let me know who you would cast. 

Kafka on the Shore-book review

I will preface this by saying that I am a huge Murakami fan.  I picked up a copy of Norwegian Wood several years ago (I think I got an uncorrected proof for free).  I was blown away.  His writing style was poignent and amazing.  Norwegian Wood is one of my favorite books and Murakami is one of my favorite authors.  I went on to read some of his short story collections, South of the Border, West of the Sun, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Underground, Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, and I listened to Dance, Dance, Dance.  To this point South of the Border was my least favorite and that was because it was just kind of forgettable.  I enjoyed reading it.  Undergound and The Wind Up Bird Chronicles are two more favorites.  Underground is even non fiction. 

This review is for the Audio book version:

The plot follows 15 year old Tamura (Kafka) as he runs away from home.  He has the Oedipal curse placed upon him and that seems to be what he is running from, but he doesn't know who his mother is; she left when he was four.  The curse also stated that he would sleep with his sister.  As the book progresses, it looks as though Kafka is running towards the curse instead of away from it. 

A second part of the plot follows a man named Nakata.  Something weird that is never explained in the book happens that causes him to be mentally deficient when he is young.  He is now old and the governor gives him a subsidy.  He is by far the more interesting character in the story.  He can talk to cats, which makes him an excellent cat finder. 

Throw in some incest, pediphilia, rape/incest, murder, animal mutilation, Colonel Sanders as a pimp, fish and leaches raining from the sky, a transvestite librarian, a philosophy touting prostitute, some classical music product placement, Johny Walker as a pied piper, and some really good dumps and the rest of the story is filled in. 

Like I said earlier.  The Nakata character is the most interesting as is his story arch.  The Kafka character comes across as very Emo and very unnatural for a 15 year old.  He runs across a women and speculates she is his mother, then sleeps with her.  Both characters are aware that he thinks that she is his mother, and the mother is positive that she is.  The Kafka parts of the story come across as Lectures and incestual erotica. 

At one point in the novel, during a lecture, the Chekov line that if there is a gun on the table in act one, it should be

Kafka on the Shore

Haruki Murakami

fired by the end of the play comes up.  This is very ironic because there are all kinds of metephorical guns laying all over the place in the novel and not a single shot is heard at the end.  The resolution wasn't so much a resolution as it was more just throwing the pieces to the wind.  Murakami has a tendency to wander in the last third of his longer works.  It almost seems as he is looking for a way to get to the climax, in his other longer works this has been okay because said wandering has lead us on some kooky adventures.  This book seems to wander the whole way and sure it is a kooky adventure, there is no sense on the kafka side of the narrative that anything has really changed or that he has learned anything. 

Overall this story looked like an incoherent list of tropes from his other works.  It is all there.  Cats, dream worlds, prostitutes, travel, someone too young being given attention by someone much older (although he took a new take on it in this one), world war II playing into the story in some way, the student riots of the 60's in japan, love of music, love of literature, strange sexual sequences, his love of obscure cinema and Woody Allen movies, unrequited love.  Yes, every page of the book feels like you have been there bofore but had a better time the previous trip. 

I can't really suggest this book.  If you are unfamiliar with Murakami, I would suggest a book of his short stories.  He seems to be a polarizing auther as people love him or hate him.  The short stories will give you a feel for his varied writing styles.  I have already mentioned my favorite novels above.  I understand that he can't write something I will like everytime and I hope that this novel is the odd ball out.  It got great reviews from the intellectual elite, but his books are smart and weird so that is to be expected, but this was just derivitive of everything else he has done.  It came across as lazy. 

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Anathem

Anathem

Neal Stephenson

This book can not be explained in a short review. Stephenson creates a
world that is very complicated, has its own history, and creates a
language to go along with it. While some elements of the novel will be
very similar to what the reader is used to, some of the book can be very
confusing.

The story follows Erasamas, a young avout, as he is pulled out of his
math (a scientific monastery of sorts) with several of his companions to
solve a problem of the secular world. The beginning of the book is set
up to explain to you what a math is like before you get to the actual
plot. The pacing can be slow at times but lightening quick at others.
This is a very aggressive work by Stephenson and may be called his
masterpiece. Not that it is perfect, but Stephenson set out to write a
literary science fiction novel and he succeeded.

Readers of Stephenson know that he has a tendency to not end a book so
much as he stops writing it. In this book Stephenson did a good job of
wrapping things up on some degree and leaving a lot up to the
imaginations of his readers. A goal that he has been tweaking from day
one.

This book is hard to suggest to just anyone. People with very
scientific minds that love talking about and exploring theories and
science should really get into this book. The literary elite have
seemed to enjoy this book as well. This book is very deep and thought
provoking though. This isn't popular sci-fi. Personally, I loved it.

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Real World

Real World (Vintage International)

Natsuo Kirino

Natsuo Kirino, a well known author in Japan, releases her second English
translation with Real World. Real world follows four Japanese high
school girls as they assist a boy that has just committed matricide in
his escape.
The book is a really quick read and you actually care about the
characters and start to sympathize with the "Worm" character. You
almost understand why the girls are helping him. The characters are the
lifeblood of this novel and Kirino fleshes out what seem to be
stereotypical Japanese students into something a little more.
This is ultimately a book about consequences. Actions and inactions
have consequences. The characters, still young, learn this throughout
the novel the hard way. Well, at least the female characters do.
This isn't a great book, but it is a good book. I haven't read any of
Kirino's other works so I don't have anything to base it on. The book
does have an edge to it and can get very dark in places. I would
suggest this book for high school age and up do to darkness and sexual
content.

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Into Thin Air

Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster

Jon Krakauer

This book that recounts the disaster of the May, 10 1996 Everest disaster is excellent.  Jon Krakauer was a member of a commercial expedition going to the top of the mountain.  The group consisted of three guides and several recreational mountain climbers.  Another group, very similar in makeup, was ascending at the same time.  The two large groups made a series of small errors and lapses in judgement that ended in the death of five people, including three of the guides. 

This was an amazing book that was written very well. Krakauer paints a picture of people that become single minded on their goal.  I relate to this as when I was training for my Marathon I hurt my knee on the final twenty miler before the race.  I ran the race anyway and even though my knee felt like someone was ramming an Ice pick into the side of it from about 10 miles on to the finish, I kept going.  I didn't know what I was doing to my knee, I just knew that I had prepared long and hard for that day.  I had also spent quite a bit of money to pay for the training, the race, and getting there.  Nothing was going to stop me from getting to the finish line.  So, I vaguely understand what these people were feeling as they kept climbing long after they should have stopped. 

This book has some language and presents some very disturbing death scenes, so it may not be for everyone.  It is a very good book and most will not be able to put it down.  The very last line of the book is very haunting and really closes the book well.  An amazing read.   

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The Prestige

The Prestige

Christopher Priest

A guy at work let me borrow this book because he knew that I would like it.  I read it on breaks and lunches when I stayed at my desk.  This book is very good.  I had seen the movie and thought that it would ruin the book for me but it doesn't.  The plots are quite different, go figure.  I would recommend this book to just about anyone. 

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Ashli's Indian in the Cupboard Review

Indian review

Ashli and Budd

Lynne Reid Banks: Return of the Indian, Secret of the Indian, Mystery of the Cupboard, Indian in the

Lynne Reid Banks

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The Revolution: A Manifesto

The Revolution: A Manifesto

Ron Paul

It isn't hard to see why people flocked to the message of Ron Paul after reading this book.  It was an informative and a very educational book that I feel strengthened that little voice in my head that says, "America isn't taking the right path."  Paul is unapologetic in his love for the constitution.  While I am sure for every example that Paul has put forward about why the document should still be relevant there are probably those that have an example of how it won't work, I think that Paul's examples speak to people and he is at least a change from business as usual in Washington. 

This books message is simple.  The Government needs to scale itself back and leave people alone.  Leave people alone conduction business in this country, leave the markets alone so that they can actually be free (something they are far from), and leave people in other countries alone to practice their own form of government.  These are beleifs that I have had for a very long time and beliefs that neocons have criticized me for or pretended to have for themselves.  This book destroys the myth that the Republican Party is conservative and, I think, correctly states that most conservatives/repulicans yearn for true constitutional government. 

It was an amazing book, but at the same time scary.  Paul shows the reader examples of how the constitution is blatently ignored.  While all three branches have gotten out of control, the executive branch has been on a century long power grab.  The economy was discussed and Paul presents his reasoning about what is wrong with it.  While you may not agree with the gold standard theory, you will be hard pressed to disagree with his opinion of the federal reserve. 

This book is highly recommended to anyone looking for change.  Ron Paul isn't delusional and doesn't think his ideas can be implemented overnight or even in one term, but he does think we need to correct our path and start heading in those directions.   

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Book Reviews

Battlefield Earth: A Saga of the Year 3000

L.Ron Hubbard

Battlefield Earth- Wow, was this book long.  It was interesting in parts and boring in others.  It was way better than the movie and so different that the cover makes absolutely no sense.  It follows post apocolyptic hunter/gatherer Johnny "Good-boy" Tyler as he opposes psychlon oppression.  The second half of the book about the intergalactic bank no longer being solvent was especially relavent.  Who would have known.  This book could have easily been two and probably should have.  It is much too long to really enjoy.  Toward the end (last 500 pages or so),  I was reading it for the sole purpous of finishing it and moving on to something else. 

 

 

How to Survive a Robot Uprising: Library Edition

Daniel H. Wilson

How to Survive a Robot Uprising- This book was more non-fiction than I would have thought.  Sure it has some pretty funny lines, but it is very educational on the state of current robotics and technology that will inhabit future robots.  Given recent new about man-hunting robots, this book is kinda scary.  It isn't a hands down survival guide the way that the Zombie survival guide was, but it was fairly good.  It is on the short side, but it was feeling kinda stretched by that point anyways.  I would recommend it go on your shelf by The Zombie Survial Guide. 

 

The Sandman Vol. 5: A Game of You

Neil Gaiman

This volume of Sandman didn't disappoint.  It was a great story with interesting characters and an interesting concept.  It isn't my favorite volume, but it is still very good. 

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Last Week at the Library

The Road (Oprah's Book Club)

Cormac McCarthy

I am not sure how I feel about this book.  It doesn't really go anywhere or really say anything.  Some people do bad things and others do good things.  There are no names, there are no locations, and there is no indication of what happened to put the characters in the situation that they are in.  The book has the tendency to put images in your mind that you don't want there.  It is a quick read.  I am not sure how I would even classify this book.  It almost seems like a synopsis of a book rather than a book itself. 

 

The Sandman Vol. 3: Dream Country

Neil Gaiman

I really liked this volume of Sandman.  The threads from the earlier stories that get pulled in are great fun.  The stories in this collection are exceptional.  My favorites would include the capturing of the muse and Mid Summer Nights Dream. 

 

Hellboy, Vol. 3: The Chained Coffin and Others

Mike Mignola

This is a great group of individual stories.  They build on the Hellboy mystery established in the first two volumes while providing great fun.

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Sandman: The Dolls House and others

The Sandman Vol. 2: The Doll's House

Neil Gaiman

This was a very good read and is a fine example of why people love Sandman and Neil Gaiman.  Gaiman has a love for mythologies and it shows very well in this book.  I kept getting flash forwards of American Gods while reading this. 

 

Batman: The Long Halloween

Jeph Loeb

Two crime families struggle for control of Gotham.  Harvey Dent is going after the Roman with Jim Gordon and the Batman.   People keep turning up dead on holidays with the custom murder weapon and decorations for the appropriate holiday.  This book has a lot of the elements of The Dark Knight movie.  It is cleared that the inspiration for the movie was this graphic novel, even if this story centers on Holiday and only features the Joker and the movie is a Joker movie.  I believe in Harvey Dent.

 

Babymouse #2: Our Hero (Babymouse)

Jennifer Holm

Ashli has been getting these Babymouse books from the library.  They are really cute and fun.  I should sue the Holms because it is clear to me that Babymouse is just an anomorphic representation of Ashli. 

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Book Reviews

Caves of Steel (Robot City)

Isaac Asimov

Really good book that mixes the genres of mystery and science fiction.  This book takes place in the far future and the Earth is at its limits.  Man now lives in a completely enclosed eco system, in caves of steel you might say. Due to population, jobs are scarce and robots are feared for taking what little jobs there are.  Centuries ago people migrated to space, but due to eradication of disease and hence no immunities, migration was stopped.  Some "spacers" came back and live in a city right outside of New York, and one them was murdered.  Elijah, a New York plain clothes police detective, is partnered with R. Daneel, a robot from space town, to solve this murder. 

This book explores racism and classism as well as popultion management and robotics.  It is a quick and easy read.  I have never sought out who-dun-its, so I can't really say how it measures up there.  Asimov doesn't disappoint.

 

Hellboy, Vol. 1: Seed of Destruction

Mike Mignola

This was pretty good.  Hellboy is mainly an action adventure comic full of wit and sarcasm with a touch of x-files thrown in for suspense.  I really like the artistic stylings of this book.  The story isn't ground breaking but is very entertaining.  You just can't help but cheer for Hellboy.

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Independent Authors

As the president of a long standing book club.  I have received some freebies over the years from independent authors trying to get the word out on their books.  I have always tried to help these authors any way I could.  In that tradition, here are two science fiction books that were sent my way.  I won't bother to re-review them here because I am linking to the Amazon page where my reviews are very easy to find (they each have 5 reviews).  Check out the books, request them at your library, and spread the word. 

 

Tractrix (Seeds of Civilization)

R. J. Archer

 

From the Shadows

K. B. Shaw

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Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan: A Novel

Lisa See

This was a wonderful book that I would encourage anyone to pick up.  It is very sad as it follows the life of a Chinese girl from her milk years all the way to her years of rice and salt.  The author describes the process of footbinding in depth, but the pain of footbinding seems to be just a precursor to the pain and loss that are to come in her life.  This book is recommended to anyon who loves a good read as well as those that are curious of 19th century China and Chinese traditions.  Some of the subject matter in the book might not be appropriate for those week of heart or young in years.  I think I need to pick up some of See's other works.

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Banned Book Review

The Chocolate War (Readers Circle)

Robert Cormier

Wow,  This book was rough.  It was good but it was kind of a downer.  It follows the events of a school chocolate sale.  The high school is a private boys Catholic school and it has a secret society (the vigils) that runs the student body.  One of the students is made to refuse to sell chocolates for two weeks by the vigils as a prank.  The student decides it is a good idea and continues not to sell.  This angers the administation and the vigils. 

Why was it banned?  references to masturbation and violence most likely.  I think the more disturbing aspect of the novel is the message that the nail that stands up gets violently hammered down.  This book tells people to conform or risk being punished.  No one is going to stand up for you if you are sticking out.  Maybe Cormier really wanted to show how people are sheep that will follow a shepard and that you should stand up for those that choose a different path. 

The end of the book is disturbing yet completely gripping.  It says a lot about human nature and especially the nature of testosterone filled boys.  I wouldn't really recommend this book to anyone under the age of 14.  I will hold this book off from my daughters until I feel that they will understand the concepts and actually get this book.  For everyone else, read it.  It is quick and pungent.

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Snake Eyes Declassified

G.I. Joe - Snake Eyes: Declassified (G.I. Joe)

Brandon Jerwa

Picked this up at the biblioteche this weekend and have already finished it.  It was a one sitting deal.  Excellent story.  I never read the comic growing up and fondly yet vaguely remember the cartoon.  I loved me some Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow though.  I liked Jinx too.  This book tells all about Snake Eye's history up until his first mission as a Joe. 

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