Hello Literary cyber-world,
How are you all? Good I hope. I've been having a great summer lately. Have you ever all of a sudden become obsessed by a certain series? This weekend I did. All of a sudden I had to read every volume I could get. I usually have more self control, but every once and awhile...Well I'm sure you can see below what I'm talking about. Luckily I have a public library at my disposal. Otherwise I'd be poor.
I also feel compelled to put out a real full hearted cheer to the literary internet community. I love to read books, talk books, and push books onto others. I always worried that reading blogs would be just too voyeuristic and banal for me to deal with. It turns out to be completely opposite. There are book blogs out there that are interesting and generate stimulating talk. Want examples? Check out these posts and realize that these blogs are so much better than mine.
*Question of the Week: Which Books Would You De-Canonize?
*Olive Kitteridge
*Dickens for dyslexics
* Don Draper = America
Also to be completely random: I just re-watched my favorite original Star Trek episode "City on the Edge of Forever." I don't know why but I had forgotten that this ep was written by Harlan Ellison. It is so effing good! Also watching it in comparison to other Star Trek eps it was so well-plotted with a distinct character arc for Kirk. Makes me think that maybe I should give Ellison a try.
Well enough prattling on. Onward!
Reviews
Escapist Vol. 1
I picked this up due to it's high acclaim. I've always wanted to get into the literary work of Michael Chabon. Of course The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay sits on my shelf. So I picked up the Escapist and while I somewhat enjoyed it I think that it only works as a supplement to Kavalier and Clay. Having not read that book I was lost on the majority of the material. I did enjoy the experimentation with multiple comic styles such as Golden Age, manga, and Modern Age. My fave stories involved the character of The Escapist himself. The last story involving the Escapist and his possible female soulmate blew me away. I think I'll revisit this again after reading Kavalier & Clay. Unfortunately this book doesn't stand on it's own.
BPRD: Soul of Venice, BPRD: Hollow Men, BPRD: 1946
As stated above I became obsessed this weekend with the series BPRD. I just needed to consume every volume. BPRD stands for the Bureau of Paranormal Research Department and is a spinoff from Mignola's Hellboy. Funded by the government, this group of homegrown agents are sent to investigate when crazy shit goes down. Each volume contains a self contained 5 issue story arc so you don't have to worry about reading it in order or facing continuity issues. This is the ideal format for this series. Writer/Artist Mike Mignola has created a dark/gothic/steampunkish world that is so immersive. Reading it I can feel the same thrill that I had watching X-Files or Lost. Anything is possible. Vampire soldiers created by Nazis, Demon living underneath Venice that can take your soul, A Bad Ass named Lobster Johnson. Yes, yes, yes. I also enjoyed the character dynamics between the different characters. There's a level of comfort between these characters because they have worked together so long. Thrown into the mix is "the new guy" who of course gets teased by the veterans. It's fun see the origins of this team in the prequel book 1946 which takes us back to the beginning. It would be so easy to just make the Nazis the villian, but in the world of Mike Mignola we get cyborg gorillas & mechanical spiders with human heads. It's wonderful fun original work. I can't stop reading it.
The Reading List
Books
BPRD: Plague of Frogs
BPRD: The Dead
(see a pattern? I need serious help. I can't stop!)
Magazines
Vanity Fair
Comics
Action Comics Annual
Comic Pull List:Action Comics #879, Blackest Night #1, Captain America #601, Deadpool #12, Fables #86, Incognito #5, Rasl #5, Wednesday Comics #2
Check Out Count: Geez.
Have a great week! Book Slave.
Showing posts with label blogs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blogs. Show all posts
2009-07-14
2008-09-02
Review-a-palooza!
Hello world-out-there,
It's gotten a bit colder, summer is biting the dust. Labor Day has come and gone, no more wearing white according to Emily Post. What I do know though is that there will always be books! Onwards!
Reviews
Blowing My Cover
I've been interested in this book for a long time. This memoir takes us through the CIA training/career of C.O. Lindsay Moran. I was fascinated by all the crazy training and psychological games Moran goes through The Farm, the CIA training facility. It's pretty shocking how revealing Moran is. It doesn't seem to have been vetted or censored at all. I was less interested in the latter half of the book which deals with Moran's dissatisfaction with her first assignment turning low level gangsters in Macedonia and Bulgaria. The deglamorization of the spy profession goes on for a bit too long. In the end I found this to be just another mediocre memoir about someone's crazy life experience.
Ultimate Fantastic Four Vol. 1
Seeking something fun I decided to venture into the FF universe. Marvel likes to use the Ultimate Universe to reboot their main characters without the drag of continuity. I enjoyed this almost as much as Ultimate Spider-Man because I could jump right in fresh. It was fun to see a young Reed Richards show his genius. The art was also great, Kubert's Mole monster was great. Highly Enjoyable.
Five Fists of Science
This book was a huge disappointment. I picked it up because I had heard good things about it and it's creator Matt Fraction. Unfortunately this turned out to be a rip off of the League of Extraordinary Gentleman. Now Fraction is a fine writer and their are some funny lines but he's no Alan Moore. And the art is terrible. While I know this is from Image and independent, that's still no excuse. Some panels were so badly sketched that I couldn't tell what was going on. A mighty disappointment.
Scalped Vol. 2
This book continues to be incredible. Jason Aaron finds the good and bad in every character involved in this dark tragic world. In this volume Aaron works more fleshing out the world of "the Rez" and its side characters. I was particularly taken with the issue that focused on Catcher, a man who sees more than anyone knows. Why aren't you reading this series?
Astonishing X-Men Vol. 2
Another enjoyable time although a tad bit too metaphysical for my liking. Whedon is able to catch the angsty voice of these mutants. He is able to make this a book about characters rather than action. I really love how he stays true to each character and stays consistent in their interactions. Cyclops is the heroic leader, Emma Frost the femme fatale. In this volume we do get to see the relationship between Peter and Kitty which comes to a head in an issue of talking head panels. Their dialogue makes clear how these two desperately want to communicate but can't. The art is also consistently amazing which isn't surprising. Cassaday is my favorite X-Men artist. Unfortunately Whedon gets a bit strange here in the end, but he does set up an interesting twist.
Announcements & Shout Outs
I've mentioned that I spend time peddling/pushing books to the masses, well now they've set up a blog page and asked me to contribute. Finally they've posted some of my entries and you can find those here. There I'll be posting some longer reviews and some other free-association musings. So check it out and enjoy some of the other writers there too.
What's In My Bag
Books
In the Woods
Birdwatching
Comic
Kill All Parents
Magazine
Four Four Two
Comic Pull List: TBA
Check Out Count: Improving.
Enjoy your week folks! See you on the interwebs. Bookslave.
It's gotten a bit colder, summer is biting the dust. Labor Day has come and gone, no more wearing white according to Emily Post. What I do know though is that there will always be books! Onwards!
Reviews
Blowing My Cover
I've been interested in this book for a long time. This memoir takes us through the CIA training/career of C.O. Lindsay Moran. I was fascinated by all the crazy training and psychological games Moran goes through The Farm, the CIA training facility. It's pretty shocking how revealing Moran is. It doesn't seem to have been vetted or censored at all. I was less interested in the latter half of the book which deals with Moran's dissatisfaction with her first assignment turning low level gangsters in Macedonia and Bulgaria. The deglamorization of the spy profession goes on for a bit too long. In the end I found this to be just another mediocre memoir about someone's crazy life experience.
Ultimate Fantastic Four Vol. 1
Seeking something fun I decided to venture into the FF universe. Marvel likes to use the Ultimate Universe to reboot their main characters without the drag of continuity. I enjoyed this almost as much as Ultimate Spider-Man because I could jump right in fresh. It was fun to see a young Reed Richards show his genius. The art was also great, Kubert's Mole monster was great. Highly Enjoyable.
Five Fists of Science
This book was a huge disappointment. I picked it up because I had heard good things about it and it's creator Matt Fraction. Unfortunately this turned out to be a rip off of the League of Extraordinary Gentleman. Now Fraction is a fine writer and their are some funny lines but he's no Alan Moore. And the art is terrible. While I know this is from Image and independent, that's still no excuse. Some panels were so badly sketched that I couldn't tell what was going on. A mighty disappointment.
Scalped Vol. 2
This book continues to be incredible. Jason Aaron finds the good and bad in every character involved in this dark tragic world. In this volume Aaron works more fleshing out the world of "the Rez" and its side characters. I was particularly taken with the issue that focused on Catcher, a man who sees more than anyone knows. Why aren't you reading this series?
Astonishing X-Men Vol. 2
Another enjoyable time although a tad bit too metaphysical for my liking. Whedon is able to catch the angsty voice of these mutants. He is able to make this a book about characters rather than action. I really love how he stays true to each character and stays consistent in their interactions. Cyclops is the heroic leader, Emma Frost the femme fatale. In this volume we do get to see the relationship between Peter and Kitty which comes to a head in an issue of talking head panels. Their dialogue makes clear how these two desperately want to communicate but can't. The art is also consistently amazing which isn't surprising. Cassaday is my favorite X-Men artist. Unfortunately Whedon gets a bit strange here in the end, but he does set up an interesting twist.
Announcements & Shout Outs
I've mentioned that I spend time peddling/pushing books to the masses, well now they've set up a blog page and asked me to contribute. Finally they've posted some of my entries and you can find those here. There I'll be posting some longer reviews and some other free-association musings. So check it out and enjoy some of the other writers there too.
What's In My Bag
Books
In the Woods
Birdwatching
Comic
Kill All Parents
Magazine
Four Four Two
Comic Pull List: TBA
Check Out Count: Improving.
Enjoy your week folks! See you on the interwebs. Bookslave.
2008-08-10
Some Daily Orwell
Hello,
How are you all? I'm taking a break from the Olympics 2008 to drop you a line. Seriously I think this guy Michael Phelps is a mutant or the long lost son of Aquaman. Have you seen this guy? Anyway back to books. Here's a fascinating new project that I wanted to highlight for y'all.
Special Focus: The Orwell Diaries
I was listening to NPR today and they had a fascinating story about a new project online. A group of folks over at the The Orwell Prize, Britain’s pre-eminent prize for political writing, is publishing George Orwell’s diaries as a blog. From 9th August 2008, Orwell’s domestic and political diaries (from 9th August 1938 until October 1942) will be posted in real-time, exactly 70 years after the entries were written.
Orwell’s ‘domestic’ diaries begin on 9th August 1938/2008; his ‘political’ diaries (which are further categorized as ‘Morocco’, ‘Pre-war’ and ‘Wartime’) begin on 7th September 1938/2008. The diaries are exactly as Orwell wrote them.
As a major fan of George Orwell I found this idea very interesting. While I understand that some entries will be banal and mundane, I also look forward to this look into the man's daily thoughts. It's like being able to reach back 70 years. And if you think about it this is before he wrote his classic 1984. I hope we get to see some early writings that show his intense socio-political mindset.
If this project proves to be successful I wonder if there are some other authors they might do. Here's a list of famous diarists that I'd like to see:
1. Sylvia Plath-Her journals are already available but I would like to see if I can gain any insight into her psychological mindset.
2. Queen Victoria-She kept a diary religiously for over 70 years. A lot of material there.
3. Anais Nin-Hot stuff I'm sure.
4. Dorothy Wordsworth
5. Bloomsbury Group-A collection of different writers could be fun.
Have a great week! Book Slave.
How are you all? I'm taking a break from the Olympics 2008 to drop you a line. Seriously I think this guy Michael Phelps is a mutant or the long lost son of Aquaman. Have you seen this guy? Anyway back to books. Here's a fascinating new project that I wanted to highlight for y'all.
Special Focus: The Orwell Diaries
I was listening to NPR today and they had a fascinating story about a new project online. A group of folks over at the The Orwell Prize, Britain’s pre-eminent prize for political writing, is publishing George Orwell’s diaries as a blog. From 9th August 2008, Orwell’s domestic and political diaries (from 9th August 1938 until October 1942) will be posted in real-time, exactly 70 years after the entries were written.
Orwell’s ‘domestic’ diaries begin on 9th August 1938/2008; his ‘political’ diaries (which are further categorized as ‘Morocco’, ‘Pre-war’ and ‘Wartime’) begin on 7th September 1938/2008. The diaries are exactly as Orwell wrote them.
As a major fan of George Orwell I found this idea very interesting. While I understand that some entries will be banal and mundane, I also look forward to this look into the man's daily thoughts. It's like being able to reach back 70 years. And if you think about it this is before he wrote his classic 1984. I hope we get to see some early writings that show his intense socio-political mindset.
If this project proves to be successful I wonder if there are some other authors they might do. Here's a list of famous diarists that I'd like to see:
1. Sylvia Plath-Her journals are already available but I would like to see if I can gain any insight into her psychological mindset.
2. Queen Victoria-She kept a diary religiously for over 70 years. A lot of material there.
3. Anais Nin-Hot stuff I'm sure.
4. Dorothy Wordsworth
5. Bloomsbury Group-A collection of different writers could be fun.
Have a great week! Book Slave.
2008-04-22
Book Binge-ing
Hello cyber-world,
I have been on a wonderful book binge lately. Hopefully you all will benefit from the results. It's hard to turn down the books when they are being sold at discount, y'know what I'm saying? Anyway on with the show!
Reviews
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Vol. 1
After reading the Alan Moore interview book last week I decided to reread this great work. Moore takes characters from classic literature, puts them into a team, and throws them into an adventure in 1898. This is great adventure, sci-fi, mystery and humor. Murray and Quatermaine are the Nick and Nora of this book and I love it! I also love the hilarious opportunist jerk that is the character of the Invisible Man. I heartily reccommend this book. (BTW Avoid the film like the plague, it is horrible and not even close to the book. Don't cause yourself this pain.)
Wolverine #64
The "Get Mystique" storyline continues as we follow Wolverine and Mystique through their shared past and the present. In this installment Wolverine is conflicted when Mystique hides amongst American soldiers. Will Wolverine risk their lives to get to Mystique? This internal dillemma and the way it plays out is why Jason Aron is great. While Mystique cares about no one but herself. Wolverine has always been about the conflict between his humanity and his animal nature. I especially like his writing of the confrontation scenes between Logan and Mystique. Awesome art and splash pages from Ron Garney.
Detective Comics #843
This issue written by Paul Dini featured a team up between Batman and Zatanna to take down the Ventriloquist. Zatanna has been hired to do a magic show at the opening of a new night club. Bruce Wayne attends and is kidnapped by the Ventriloquist who is taking advantage of a gang war. While the action and villians stuff is great, I think that actually my fave scene was between Bruce Wayne and Zatanna. It touched upon their relationship, the will they or won't they that Dini introduced last year. Dini definitely writes the best Detective issues and this one was worth checking out.
What's In My Bag
Magazine
Entertainment Weekly
Comic
Secret Invasion #1
Books
Dealing With Difficult People
Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
(crazy4novels thru down the gauntlet on getting this done, It will be done, oh yes it will be done)
Checkout Count: Crazy, but not insane.
If you are interested in more of my pithy pop culture opinions I point you to Never Enough Time. Check it out, enjoy have a good weekend, Book Slave.
I have been on a wonderful book binge lately. Hopefully you all will benefit from the results. It's hard to turn down the books when they are being sold at discount, y'know what I'm saying? Anyway on with the show!
Reviews
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Vol. 1
After reading the Alan Moore interview book last week I decided to reread this great work. Moore takes characters from classic literature, puts them into a team, and throws them into an adventure in 1898. This is great adventure, sci-fi, mystery and humor. Murray and Quatermaine are the Nick and Nora of this book and I love it! I also love the hilarious opportunist jerk that is the character of the Invisible Man. I heartily reccommend this book. (BTW Avoid the film like the plague, it is horrible and not even close to the book. Don't cause yourself this pain.)
Wolverine #64
The "Get Mystique" storyline continues as we follow Wolverine and Mystique through their shared past and the present. In this installment Wolverine is conflicted when Mystique hides amongst American soldiers. Will Wolverine risk their lives to get to Mystique? This internal dillemma and the way it plays out is why Jason Aron is great. While Mystique cares about no one but herself. Wolverine has always been about the conflict between his humanity and his animal nature. I especially like his writing of the confrontation scenes between Logan and Mystique. Awesome art and splash pages from Ron Garney.
Detective Comics #843
This issue written by Paul Dini featured a team up between Batman and Zatanna to take down the Ventriloquist. Zatanna has been hired to do a magic show at the opening of a new night club. Bruce Wayne attends and is kidnapped by the Ventriloquist who is taking advantage of a gang war. While the action and villians stuff is great, I think that actually my fave scene was between Bruce Wayne and Zatanna. It touched upon their relationship, the will they or won't they that Dini introduced last year. Dini definitely writes the best Detective issues and this one was worth checking out.
What's In My Bag
Magazine
Entertainment Weekly
Comic
Secret Invasion #1
Books
Dealing With Difficult People
Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
(crazy4novels thru down the gauntlet on getting this done, It will be done, oh yes it will be done)
Checkout Count: Crazy, but not insane.
If you are interested in more of my pithy pop culture opinions I point you to Never Enough Time. Check it out, enjoy have a good weekend, Book Slave.
2008-02-28
Some Web food...
Hello,
Tonight we are going to kill a few birds with one stone. Tonight it's all about some wonderful new sites that I've explored on this great World Wide Web. Enjoy!
Technorati
I actually found this to be very interesting to me personally. I have been on the hunt for a good Blog search site. I'd found Google Reader to be difficult to use. So here's a site that is easy to use, thanks to tags, and can lead me to what I'm interested in. However, I see the library application is slim to none. Again a lot is dependent on key word search, which can lead you through a maze of blogs that are far far away from where you started. Two hours later you are reading someones opinion about Marion Cotillard's dress at the Oscars (which I thought was fabulous BTW!) and not an explanation of the country's current sub-prime mortgage crisis.
LibraryThing, Goodreads, Shelfari
Well this site basically eliminates the idea of keeping a book journal or filling out 3 X 10 cards. Each site has a very easy interface and the visuals of the covers is marvelously appealing. However lets not forget that this is another version of social connectivity where we don't even need to ask you face to face about what books you are reading/have read. I'll just look you up on LibraryThing and there it is. All fears of our society's move towards an inability toward human contact aside, I will say that these sites are a lot of fun. I joined with LibraryThing because I like the library credibility of it. (It's there in the title!) And I did link it to this blog here. Although I will only be listing the titles I talk about here in Reviews. I also found it very savvy that by clicking on the covers you will instantly be sent to Amazon.com. Those crafty buggers at Amazon! Of course for library usage this can be incorporated into Reader's Advisory. It is so much better than What to Read Next.
Well there you are folks some web food for thought. Have a good week! Book Slave.
Tonight we are going to kill a few birds with one stone. Tonight it's all about some wonderful new sites that I've explored on this great World Wide Web. Enjoy!
Technorati
I actually found this to be very interesting to me personally. I have been on the hunt for a good Blog search site. I'd found Google Reader to be difficult to use. So here's a site that is easy to use, thanks to tags, and can lead me to what I'm interested in. However, I see the library application is slim to none. Again a lot is dependent on key word search, which can lead you through a maze of blogs that are far far away from where you started. Two hours later you are reading someones opinion about Marion Cotillard's dress at the Oscars (which I thought was fabulous BTW!) and not an explanation of the country's current sub-prime mortgage crisis.
LibraryThing, Goodreads, Shelfari
Well this site basically eliminates the idea of keeping a book journal or filling out 3 X 10 cards. Each site has a very easy interface and the visuals of the covers is marvelously appealing. However lets not forget that this is another version of social connectivity where we don't even need to ask you face to face about what books you are reading/have read. I'll just look you up on LibraryThing and there it is. All fears of our society's move towards an inability toward human contact aside, I will say that these sites are a lot of fun. I joined with LibraryThing because I like the library credibility of it. (It's there in the title!) And I did link it to this blog here. Although I will only be listing the titles I talk about here in Reviews. I also found it very savvy that by clicking on the covers you will instantly be sent to Amazon.com. Those crafty buggers at Amazon! Of course for library usage this can be incorporated into Reader's Advisory. It is so much better than What to Read Next.
Well there you are folks some web food for thought. Have a good week! Book Slave.
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