ABC Review of Suck It Wonder Woman

	The book was an interesting investigation of a beauty amidst Geeks. What follows is an alphabet word search through the book. One looks for nouns with the beginning letter, each letter of the alphabet is sought. This activity is one way to interact with a book, especially one that is focused around popular culture.  My friend found this book in the bargain bin at Walmart for less than $7.00 so be on the look out.
Letter	Word
Aa	Artistic Voids
Bb	bratty
Cc	Comicon
Dd	Douche Olympics
Ee	EmergenC
Ff	Flying Solo (Han Solo's Twitter Name)
Gg	Game Boy
Hh	Hollywood
Ii	Iron Man
Jj	Jaba the Hut
Kk	Kittens
Ll	Lil' Jon
Mm	Mathletes
Nn	National Pie Week
Oo	Oklahoma
Pp	Polo Shirts
Qq	Questions
Rr	Robot Nurses
Ss	Salad Eaters
Tt	Twelve Sided Dice
Uu	Unbuttoned Pants due to too much Pie.
Vv	Vietnam
Ww	Water Bras
Xx	X Box 360
Yy	Young Girl
Zz	Zombies

Caged in Darkness by J.D. Stroube

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I was invited to read and review Caged in Darkness by J.D. Stroube, from the author’s invitation, and I am very glad that I read this one.   The book captures the best of my guilty pleasure reading, that of Young Adult coming of age stories. 

Savannah, the main character is a sixteen year old on the threshold between the nursery and the adult world.   Savanah has found a sanctuary from her parents, who appear at first the embodiment of evil.  But then her world is tipped over when she accidently bumps a box over and releases a devil from his crystal palace.   The devil is now bent on killing and possessing the innocent in order to regain his strength.

The book reminded me of Dawson’s creek and the love triangle between Joey, Dawson, and Pacey.   The kids are so hormonally charged and have no real way to deal with this energy that the sparks lay right at the surface, and are about to light into a dramatic volcano.   J.D. Stroube then adds a bit of the supernatural to the mix and the volcano spouts in a captivating young-love story. 

Stroube’s understanding of the teen years is apparent; she perfectly describes the psychology behind teenager’s complicated and intense feelings.   She mixes this psychology with a sense of humor in order to lift the reader up from the intensity.

One problem I had, which was probably my own fault, was the switch of narrators.  I would be reading and then ask, “Wait who’s talking here? Okay its Ash, so this is a guy’s perspective, which makes sense.”  This at times distracted from the overall story.  But the different narrators did add something to the overall effect of the story. 

Stroube’s research into the supernatural was great.  It left me wanting to find out more about witches in history, the role of the niphilim, and fallen angels.  I wish she would have spent a little more time developing the setting.   I wanted to know more about the town in which the story takes place.  

I was hooked throughout the book and definitely was entertained by J.D. Stroube.  I can’t wait to read another one by her, there are so many possibilities.  

Book Reviews:

The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

mad dogs and loony cats should not mix; but they make for a perfect tragic story

The Postman Always Rings Twice, by James Cain, is told just like they played it. The description of the old Gas Station in the middle of nowhere, on a lone highway, is a model for setting (I hope to someday achieve). The story traces a sordid love triangle, and the administration of justice to the perfect crime.

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Three questions raised in Lost World Narratives are:

 

1.       Is the primitive more evolved than modern man? 

2.       Is there a place where the modern world is reshape-able, free from the cost of sin? 

3.       Can the main character reshape self free of past?

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Book Reviews The People That Time Forgot part Two of the Caspak Series: The Land That Time Forgot, The People That Time Forgot, and Out of Time's Abyss

The present rubbed legs with the past, it set a strange milieu.  Edgar Rice Burroughs leads a tour of Caprona.  He leads us through strange lands amidst noble savages and sub-humans.   The book is a Caprona tour, but lacks action to be exciting.  It makes me wonder if he was forced to write this one.  

(I listened to this on libri vox read by  Ralph Snelson)

Caveat lector, the ideas of the early 20th century are not of our own, and may offend those with politically correct notions.  

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The Land That Time Forgot Part One of the Capak Series

The Land That Time Forgot by Edgar Rice Burroughs
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A fun read, but not as good as the LOST WORLD by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.   The characters seemed flat and cartoonish.  It is difficult to feel heartedly for cartoons.   However, the overall story arch is classic adventure tale and can be a delightful journey.   Two movies are available on Netflix for your viewing.

Caveat Lector: the ideas of the early 20th century  are not of our own, and may offend those with politically correct notions.  Feminists may be offended by the seeming lack of respect paid towards women of this period. 


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Book Reviews

Instructions: Everything You Need to Know on Your Journey by Neil Gaiman

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Neil Gaiman, teams up with illustrator Charles Vess, to bring an engaging invitation to journey.   Instructions, is everything you need to know on your journey. Where does that well lead to? How do you treat the old lady that sits under the tree? What, on earth, do you do with an eagle feather?   The illustrations by Charles Vess are just right for young imaginations: not too boring, nor too scary.    This book may be overlooked due to a cover that is understated, but don’t overlook it, the book is fantastic.



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Review of Death with Interruptions by Jose Saramago

Death with Interruptions by José Saramago
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Death with Interruptions is an imagined love letter, of sorts, from death to mankind.  Jose Saramago magically blends traditional realism with characteristics of myth and fable, to make an elixir to post 9-11 blues.   He proclaims that life will be wasted by those who live in order to not play too many wrong notes.   Recommended to Fans of M. Night Shyamalan.

Caveat-Lector: the book is post-modern as the writers at Macro History and World Report explained when looking at Slaughterhouse Five:

 relax and absorb the writing without trying to superimpose order on it.


Caveat Lector:If you like a straight forward narrative than this book may not be the one you are looking for.

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Review: Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow

Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Caveat Lector: There is no way to summarize such an enormous novel with any type of justice. Here lies a book that is a creative germ. It is really one where you allow it to wash over you and as it washes over you, the sand and particles stick to you, it is a book so creative it pushes one to comprehend it.  The ascent is one worth taking.

Finally finished and loved it know time for digestion of the white goddess maybe a light-bulb moment will arrive in just the right time.  This book deserves a re-read, but not anytime too soon.

 Love to hear from you about Gravity's Rainbow.

Macro History and World Report tell how to read a book like Gravity's Rainbow or Slaughter House Five.





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Reviews: Books

The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Great book recommend by my mother.  I wish I would have read it earlier, but then again it was recommended by my mother and I thought it would be too sappy.  Not true at all.  I love my mom but the sure way for a man not to read something is for his mom to recommend a book.  Even if my mom was Daryl Hannah.


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Reviews: Books

Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Emil Frankl
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book is a book of realistic optimism.  Victor E. Frankl explores the existential nihilism found in much of the world today, especially in our Post Modern thought.   Sophists would claim that there is no meaning in the world.    It is easy to buy yourself an existential vaccum, but it sucks up all meaning.

But what then?  What would Daryl Hannah do?  Atlas holds the world but who holds Atlas?  And if Atlas stands on-top of turtles than who is the squashed turtle on the bottom of the pile?

There is pain in this world.   There is suffering, and much of this suffering is not decipherable, but we must go on finding our meaning in this world.   One becomes happy when one finds the answer beyond the number 42 for what is the reason for God, the universe, and self.    Frankl claimed the core principal to godly living is “to live as if you were living for the second time and acts as wrongly the first time as you are about to act now.”pg. 175,
I would recommend to anyone who might have suffered, or is suffering, or will suffer in the future. 
Man’s Search for Meaning would benefit everyone. 

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Reviews

Signed, Mata Hari by Yannick Murphy

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


What were the events that lead up to Mati Hari's appointment with death, by firing squad?  Was she a spy? Maybe. A victim of certain acclimate circumstances? Most definitely.   
This book shows what happens to a woman with few resources in a maddening cloud of war.  Mati Hari did her best to reclaim her identity and her children.  She may have been a high priced call girl, but the book illustrates that she did this out of dire need.  She was left behind by an abusive husband; the husband took her child and deserted her.   Mati Hari had to find a way to scratch at the surface of a dried out Europe in hopes to find some nourishment.  But, the events in this book take place before and during World War I; the war that would forever change the Geo-Politics of Europe.  It was a time that asked a woman where is your place between the bullets and contracts?   Yannick Murphy does a great job of illustrating the events that would place Mati Hari in a position to be declared a double-spy; she found herself a midst a "no man's land" with no direction home.

The book is haunting and worth reading.  Signed Mata Hari is poetic and moves you in between the sheets of a body politic.  This book is also timely considering the politics of the body prevalent in media coverage today.

Caveat Lector (Let the Reader Beware)  the book has a number of sexually explicit scenes that may not be for everyone.   I believe these scenes are needed to show what Mata Hari had currency she had and what she was willing to do to carve our a niche in a dangerous world.



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Review

 Jennifer Egan's A Visit from the Goon Squad: Part One Imagined Malice 

"I can't imagine; then I imagined. Howling like a lunatic howls at the moon."  Then snap - back to reality.  A kind of poltergeist... giving me whiplash from those horrors that go bump into the night.


In Egan's a visit from the Goon Squad her imagined horrors allows Jocelyn to throw Lou into the pool, and then allow her to drown him with disgust.  pg. 68  Egan uses the same technique with Scotty, and Bennie in Chapter 6 page 77.  Scotty imagines ripping Bennie's head off with his bear strength.  "I pictured carrying it into his swank waiting room by his bushy hair and dropping it on Sasha's desk."  Our natural, troglodyte self raises its hairy head and  howls at our current horrible condition.


Ghost stories are not just the supernatural but also include eerie moments. Horror stories create a setting  where we are forced to deal with our preoccupied private malice.  These moments are eerie, they seem more than an  every day occurrences. We embrace imagined horrors; because we want to be able to handle a crisis by our own hands.

Review-Fiction Readers Review Guide

Criteria	Descriptions	Points Awarded	Points Possible
Truth Clearly Stated.	Are real solutions proposed along with the problems identified?		5
Flow	The author keeps you going and motivates you to  put the pieces of the puzzle back together again.		5
	Clear introduction, mix up, and resolution to a piece.
Layout	Book is laid out well. Does the author lay out information in a fun new way.		5
Word Choice	Uses words that add to the beauty of the piece. Words are holy and should be used as such.  Are enough words used, too many words used, what gives?		5
Form	Artist uses the lieterate form to a beautiful means		5
Continuity	Artists creates clarity of form… either through literate means or through extras: Maps, Graphs, or Quoted Tables.		5
Identifies accurately the signs of the times	Shows the ills and health of the culture one is  investigating		5
Affirms Human Experience	It provides a look at an aboslute of human-ness. Sublime (that which is worked hard at) and the beautiful (the form)		5
Start Trek Quotiant	Dares to go where no one has gone before Comfortable art is dead art		5
Dialogue	See Notes on Dialogue Overall Rating from Criteria is….		5
		0	50
			0
Who would get the most out of this book:

These are the criteria in which I will review all fictional works.   If you having any insight into my criteria please let me know.   I have been attempting to create a fair analysis of books, so even if I am disgusted by the book, I can still appreciate the work done by the author.

Harvest Reviewed: Brideshead Revisited

Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book is a beauty to me... so I will write a poem to its impression:

Et en Arcadia Ego

Brideshead Revisited is like
quickened clouds on a stormy day!

The day before was so like Arcadia
Before the fall!

The war's shadow
 comes and goes and comes again.
And other places so cruel and cold,
Taking your heart,
Bitter like horseradish next to filet mignon and crab.


And the veil is riped.
The great big square
In the country,
Is your original home.

Where is Sebastian?
College friends lost in the vortex of time.
Young and bright.

Almost nobody comes to visit anymore.
Or even tries to write...
to loved ones lost long ago.


Cold and cruel,
It looks like
You should return-but then
Time pasts through your
fingers-
(and twenty years has passed)
your painted murals have begun to fade,
leaving only scattered paint,
and a scent of decay.

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The Gladiator by Harry Turtledove

The Gladiator by Harry Turtledove
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Age Level: Young Adult
A great book for young adult readers.   For me it lost some of its flow when it went into exposition, and explanation of cold war politics.   However, for the younger reader it would be a great book.  The book   was interesting enough to finish, and gave me a new appreciation for Harry Turtledove.  I also have a renewed appreciation of the liberty enjoyed here in the United States of America.  I plan to read more Turtledove in the future, especially the Guns of the South.


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Man or Astro Man Unofficial Reading List Book

How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Think of a refrigerator box, a normal kitchen clock, and a dad and a son, mix in time travel, and you have a bit of what the book "How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe is all about.

A boy learns that if you bend life too much than "you might end up over there."pg 45. The book is an answer to what it means to group in a Science Fictional Universe.

Charles Yu, the author, seems to confirm my suspicion that good Science Fiction is a conversation with the great science fiction writers of the past. Good science fiction is a continuation of the dialog begun by Herbert, Asimov, Bradbury, and Vance; as well as a dialog with scientists who hope to bring new ideas to light (e.g. David Deutsche and his book: Fabric of Reality). He seems to be telling the reader, read this book, then write it again in your own point of view.

The message that I gained was find those moments where you are the actual man you are and live in this light with much rejoicing. live in the science fiction possibility world.

If my description of the book seems a tad abstract, then your right this book is a tad abstract. But well worth the Read. There is just way too much here to tell you all of it, but you should check this book out. Then write me back and let me know what you think of it.







BTW:
Read with Man or Astro Man for Full Pleasure Experience.  Also read before or after, "The Fabric of Reality" David Deutsch. How to Life Safely in A Scientific Universe is a continuation in a fictional form of the ideas expressed in the Fabric of Reality.


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Mulengro: Charles De Lint (Review)

Mulengro Charles De Lint (Review)

Mulengro by Charles de Lint

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Mulengro is seeking vengeance and purification of the Gypsies (Romany) who have gone astray in modern culture;  will the Gypsies be able to stand up to this dark force?

I enjoyed the thought that everything is possible, and our eyes can't perceive everything rationally. .

This book examines clearly what is real and what is more real... Jeff can't believe his eyes. Modern  science excuses this as him having a concussion. But the gypsies see another world... and their eyes have not been so conditioned as the non gypsies.

"A Question of seeing Gaji only saw what they wanted to see." p.191

De Lint’s master stroke in Mulengro is, 360 degree POV, and shifting perspectives.  He shows character motivation for all of his characters, none of the characters are flat-cut out props.

The tension builds with the shifting of viewpoints, growing deeper and deeper into the climax of the story.  But then  when the tension rises to its highest point, De Lint inserts an amusing comment from the talking cat Boboko.

De Lint is a master at revealing the motivations of his cahracters.  One even has sympathy for the devil, here  Mulengro the evil one, can be met with an “hmmm maybe he is right to do what he is doing. Haven’t the gypsies gone astray in modern life, shouldn’t he want to purify the gypsies from gypsies who have gone astray."  What does it mean to purify a race to make a stronger group?How does a community get pulled away from its clear roots?  What rips the goodness out a community?

Mulengro is addictive fiction, The book's flow is one that is not easily put down.

Fahrenheit 451 (A Review)

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Fahrenheit 451 is a story set in the future, told as a parable* about the role of the critic/teacher and the independent reader.  The book takes place in a future where literature is burned and thinking is a Capital Crime.   The only books allowed in this future dystopia are those that don't make you think, like Richie Rich or Archie comic books.  The big thing you can ask questions, but don't ask why, never ask why.  The main characters Montag and Faber battle against each other in war between the preservation of books and the need to burn them all.
The characters in the story represent the battle between readers and those that stand in the way of the reader.   Montag represents the blank piece of paper.  Faber represents a pencil with an eraser.   Faber desires to graft the critics wholesome viewpoint on the blank unwritten mind.  Faber types feel the best way to keep the people mailable is through the work of firemen, the maintainers of ignorance. The defenders of the thinkers are the librarians who maintain the critical mind by safeguarding valuable books.
Teachers sterilize the independent yearning of students when they dictate what one should think about this or that book.   Society stands conditioned as trained morons, to use Prussian systematization to condition our future to be like drones thinking with homogenized answer.  The homogenized answer is a problem in a divergent complex world.
The group discussion at the Larry Jackson Library was indepth, and full of insight. Don't miss next month's book discussion at the Main Library or the Jackson Library on the book: Emily's Ghost.

Fahrenheit 451 is a Classic Tale-and I liked it a lot!!!

(Listened to this on Audio C.D. Read for B.S.I. Lakeland.)



*(a short story that uses familiar events to illustrate a religious or ethical point)



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Gods and Mortals (A Review)

Gods and Mortals: Modern Poems on Classical Myths by Nina Kossman

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Great book that takes a modern look at classical greek mythology.  A great reference to making the mythic relevant in this troubling time. Why Myths? -from the Introduction the editor Nina Kossman explains why myths resonate with our 21st century lives.
"The venerable tradition of doing a Greek mask is often used by poets in order to speak of things they would have found difficult to approach otherwise."xix  Kossman believes that truth is found in the pure expression of the arts, "If we think we know the answers, it is because the questions were first posed in antiquity... And perhaps it is because the myths echo the structure of our unconscious that every new generation of poets finds them inexhaustible source of inspiration and self-recognition."xx

One example of a poem I really dig is Zbigniew Hebert's Old Prometheus:
He writes his memoirs. He is trying to explain the place of the hero in a system of necessities, to reconcile the notion of existence and fate that contradict each other.

Fire is crackling gaily in the fireplace, in the kitchen his wife bustles about- an exalted girl who did not bear him a son, but is convinced she will pass into history anyway. Preparations for supper: the local parson is coming, and the pharmacist, now the closest friends of Prometheus.

The fire blazes up. On the wall, a stuffed eagle and a letter of gratitude from the tyrant of the Caucasus, who successfully burned down a town in revolt because of Prometheus's discovery.

Prometheus laughs quietly. Now it is the only way of expressing his disagreement with the the world.
Translated from the Polish by John and Bogdana Carpenter. Gods and Mortals Modern Poems on Classical Myths ed. Nina Kossman (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991).



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Gods and Mortals Modern Poems on Classical Myths ed. Nina Kossman (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991),