Christmas is a coming!

Hey folks,
Howse it hanging? Extra special fine I hope. As we head towards Christmas I can proudly say that all my holiday shopping is done. Yes folks, done. And I managed to buy all local, as well. I guess I feel like giving myself a gold star. Just another reminder to y'all. Buy Local. Help a small business. Your local economy will thank you. Well Onward!

Shout Outs and Announcements
Just thought I would throw your attention to the side bar once again. I have joined Twitter. Please feel free to join in on the fun and follow me or just read my postings here. Also I'd like to point out that this post contains review 100, which is double what my goal was initially. It's kinda crazy to think that I have written 100 reviews this year. I guess it's possible to reach for that high bar. Thanks folks for following along.

Reviews
PostSecret
A few years back Frank Warren hit upon a new idea. He began a website and urged people to send in post cards, anonymously, that contains a "secret." Warren was interested in the idea of art therapy and he posts new postcards every week. This book is a collection of those postcards. These postcards range from silly to tragic to moving. As a coffee table book I think this was better than your average pretty picture books. I think these postcards present a great microcosm of our society. It's pretty amazing how effective it is to share in other people's thoughts and needs. I highly recommend checking it out.

Other Reviews
Series of (Un)Fortunate Reviews|tdaxp|Books For Breakfast

In Our Time
I've read a few Hemingway novels and I enjoy his clear-cut prose. So I decided to pick up his first collection of short stories which I haven't ever read. In this collection I can clearly see an emergent talent in some of these vignettes. Even though some of the pieces here are only 2 pages long Hemingway is able to develop interesting realistic characters. The "Nick Adams" stories are clearly biographical. My favorites of these is the combination of "The End of Something" and "The Three-Day Blow." However, the best story of the collection is "Soldier's Home." I was incredibly moved by this story of soldier's inability to rejoin society, and his parents faith in him. In these times with two wars going on, and no end in sight, this story was strikingly relevant. Otherwise I found some of the stories a little too slight. I was less interested in the ex-patriat tales; these ideas are much better developed in The Sun Also Rises.

Author Biography
Ernest Hemingway

JLA: Salvation Run
It's a popular idea to develop series around villains. JLA: Salvation Run takes this idea and runs with it pretty well . The plot is that Suicide Squad is scooping up villians in the DC Universe and sending them all to a "hell" planet. These villians start to create teams and try to find a way to survive. I enjoyed how the series explored a conflict in leadership styles between Lex Luthor and the Joker. Luthor is the machevellian politician, while Joker is the crazy "Idi Amin" dictator. It was alot of fun to watch these guys go at it. Writer Matt Sturges nailed these characters and was not afraid to take the story to crazy extremes. Unfortunately I think that the story fall apart in the end. Where was this story supposed to go? The DC Universe can't do without it's villains. The story becomes anti-climactic and unsatisfying. Ultimately here we have a good set-up but no real ending.

Other Reviews
Occasional Superheroine|Funnybook Babylon

Loser's Guide to Life and Love
After seeing Ann Cannon at the Utah Humanities Book Festival in October I decided to pick up this book. This young adult novel contains all the expected tropes of the genre: unrequited love, mistaken identity, and an overt emphasis on the effects of the moon. I mean let's be honest these devices were old when Shakespeare pulled them out for Midsummer Night's Dream. However Cannon does manage to construct a fun story using a multiple narrator structure as a frame. In this way each character is given it's own unique voice. It's similar to the structure of Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, which I enjoyed immensely. Unfortunately while fun, I felt that the story once it got going lacked any sense of realism and spark. I never got a sense that I would know any of these characters in real life. I was really captured by the mystery of Ellie's past and secrets. Ultimately I was disappointed when it turned out to be very conventional. I was expecting something more scandalous I guess. Also I'm extremely annoyed by the inclusion of "script" format in order to express dialogue. I saw it last year in Shannon Hale's Austenland and I hated it then. If you want to write a script, then write a script, otherwise let's put this device to rest. I began to enjoy this book more towards the end as the main characters actually started telling each other the truth. Cannon is very good at pulling together a happy ending, I just wish it reflected reality a bit more.

Other Reviews
Laura's Book and Movie Reviews|Books Are King

The Reading List
Magazine
Newsweek

Comic
Umbrella Academy 2 #1

Books
More Information Than You Require
Mrs. Dalloway

Check Out Count: Being Brought Under Control.

Comic Pull List:Action Comics #872, Captain Britain And Mi 13 #8, Detective Comics #851, Final Crisis #5, Green Arrow Black Canary #15, Secret Six #4, Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane Season 2 #5, Terry Moores Echo #8, Trinity #28.

Have a great week! Book Slave.