37 posts tagged “books”
I'm a big Neil Gaiman fan, and this book didn't disappoint. Gaiman has a great way of creating an entire universe from whole cloth and making it seem totally natural, and The Graveyard Book is a great example of that.
And it's a good thing the child (named "Nobody" by the inhabitants of the graveyard) has been so well educated, because the assassin isn't giving up.
Shadowfall is a really well-written fantasy novel set in a complex and well-constructed universe. Although it is Book One of the Godslayer Chronicles series, author James Clemens has populated his world with thoroughly developed characters with rich back histories.
There aren't too many textbooks that get onto the New York Times bestseller list, but if any of them deserve it, it's this one. This is a complete book to help you avoid, escape, and - if need be - combat the walking dead. If there is one book you should read, it's this one. Your life could depend on it.
Do zombies have more accute senses than humans? Will climbing onto the roof save you? Can they swim? What type of firearm is most successful against the undead? You have to read the book to find out.
I know what you're saying. But, zombies aren't real, are they?
Of course, that has been the "official" response for centuries. The very idea that the body can go on after death is anathema to most religions, and modern governments worry about the panic that could be caused if people knew the truth.
Oh, yes, they're real. They'll bloody well be real when they're gnawing on your foot because you didn't read this book.
And I'll be there to say I told you so.
What if the Greek gods were real? And, what if, as fewer people believed in them their powers were diminished? And, what if they were all living in a run-down house in London? What if they were all a bunch of spoiled, disaffected, unhappy, slobs? And, what if all hell broke loose because of something one of them did?
That's pretty much the wacky premise of this book, Gods Behaving Badly, by Marie Phillips, and Ms. Phillips pulls it off wonderfully. Apollo, god of the sun and a few other things (because most of the Greek dieties were responsible for a list of usually unrelated items), angers Aphrodite, and she decides to play a little trick on him. She has her son, Eros (more commonly known as cupid, these days), make Apollo fall in love with a mortal woman. Things really all go downhill from there.
This book is creative, entertaining, smartly written, and just a blast. I highly recommend it for, well, anyone.
We listened to the audiobook of this on the way to Missouri. I haven't seen the movie, yet, but since the book focuses on Soviet-era espionage, I'm assuming that a movie version set in modern times will have to be drastically different. Another thing that would have to be different is that I hope that the movie, unlike the book, doesn't spend an entire quarter of its content describing one game of bacarat.
I understand now why the movies are more popular than the books. This book is terrible. James Bond is a misogynistic idiot who, at one point, is fantasizing about a female associate agent, thinking that she's such a proud person that having a sexual relationship with her would "have the sweet tang of rape" every time they sleep together.
She's the only female character in the story, and of course she turns out to be a double agent. Yes, I know it's a spoiler, but the story's already spoiled, so deal with it.
After listening to this book, I've come to the decision that Ian Fleming is not a very good writer, and was possibly not a very good person, either. That, and his mother probably beat him daily with a roulette wheel.
This book would be enjoyed by anyone who wants to learn how to play bacarat or likes men who fantasize about rape.
This morning while waiting for the plumber, I finished The Amber Spyglass, the third book in the "His Dark Materials" trilogy, by Philip Pullman, the series which started with The Golden Compass.
I was, unfortunately, mildly disappointed with this ending to the imaginitive series about multiple worlds and an eternal struggle between control and freedom. This book was imaginitive and did tie up the loose ends, but somehow dissatisfying. It is perhaps because after much anticipation, some of the solutions seemed a little too easy, a little too pat, and a little too much like Pullman was tired of his own material.
That also seems evident in how scattered this book was, running in different directions and not really sticking to the central story.
Still, overall I enjoyed the series and would recommend it to anyone who likes fantasy or science fiction.
And now back to our regularly scheduled programming...
Yes, I've been out for a few days, and I blew my Blog365 in the first month. It was a combination of winter depression, a new computer game to play, and a complete lack of anything interesting to say. You can only do so many VoxHunt's and QotD's in a row before they all start to sound the same... or just as lame as they really are. Anyway, back into it.
This is the second book in the "His Dark Materials" trilogy by Philip Pullman, the first of which is The Golden Compass. It's in this book that we start to undertand the theme of the series, which is why if I had to guess the first book is the only one that will be made into a movie anytime soon. But, I don't have to guess... according to IMDB, The Subtle Knife is being made into a movie. It will be interesting to see how much they dumb down the anti-religious themes to actually get it into the theaters.
The Subtle Knife takes place in three separate realities, now intertwined by the hole opened between the worlds by Lyra's father, Lord Asriel. A new character named Will, a little boy from our own reality, plays a major role, becoming the wielder of a knife so sharp that it actually has the ability to cut through the fabric of space and create openings between the parallel universes.
While ostensibly a book for the YA market, this book has some dark, brutal scenes in it. It's much more of the fantasy genre than the children's genre, though it happens to star children as the main characters.
This book would be enjoyed by anyone who likes reading fantasy and isn't offended by anti-religious themes.
I was tagged by 8gurl.
Here are the rules:
1. Grab your nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next 3 sentences on your blog along with these instructions.
5. Tag 5 different people.
Okay, this is a freakin' bizarre meme, and my answer is going to be even more bizarre. The nearest book I had was the New King James Version of the Bible. Why? I had it out for reference to a post I was writing a couple of days ago (which as of today will be Neighborhood Only). But, rules are rules.
Page 123 puts me in Leviticus 21. The sixth thorugh ninth sentences would be verses 21-23.
"No man of the descendents of Aaron the priest, who has a defect, shall come near to offer the offerings made by fire to the Lord. He has a defect; he shall not come near to offer the bread of his God. He may eat the bread of his God, both the most holy and the holy; only he shall not go near the veil or approach the altar, because he has a defect, lest he profane My sanctuaries; for I the Lord sanctify them."
So there you have it. Deformed people give God the willies.
I tag: Strixaluco, Aput, EvilWombatQueen, Jade, and Queen of Fractal Beauty.
The Golden Compass is the first of the Philip Pullman series, and I've just finished. Having already seen the movie, I found that the book was different in many details from the movie, but similar in feel and themes and the overall arc of the story.
Most notably, the last three chapters of the book didn't make it into the movie. I can't say more without providing spoilers, but it will be interesting to see if the next movie starts with those three chapters, or if the story on screen will continue to diverge from the book even further.
Anyone who likes fantasy, talking bears, and villains in ecclesiastical robes will like this book.
Strix bought this for me for Christmas, and left it in a translucent plastic shopping bag on the kitchen counter, and somehow it was my fault that I ruined the surprise.
Anyway, this is a neat book, full of things you wish you had known when you are a boy (if you were a boy, that is). It has a distinctly retro feel to it, using mostly hand-drawn illustrations and making sure that today's boys have access to knowledge others might consider obsolete, such as making a go-cart (why not just buy one?), growing crystals from common kitchen supplies (why not buy one of those kits?), and how to play several common pen-and-paper games (and put down my cell phone, iPod, and portable high-res gaming system?).
Others who would like this book: pretty much anyone. It's a fun read.
