Review: Feed

Posted on January 25, 2012 by Tom

Feed impressed me. Normally, I stay away from blatantly apocalyptic novels, especially ones involving popular tropes (zombies, vampires, so on and so forth). The big notable exception has been World War Z (I don’t count The Zombie Survival Guide, given that it wasn’t a story). Without resorting to comparing the two books, I have to admit that Feed impressed me.

It took a little while for this to happen, though. At first, the world that the characters inhabit felt forced, as if Mira Grant kept standing up and waving her hands and shouting “Look at me! I’m referencing pop culture, how clever is that?” It starts with the characters Continue reading →

Review: Now Wait for Last Year

Posted on January 18, 2012 by Tom

Now Wait for Last Year by Philip K. Dick

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book is a mind bender, but one with more hope than seems to be generally customary for a Philip K. Dick novel. The war between the reegs (large insect aliens) and the ‘Starmen (from the planet Lillistar, the original home planet of the species that would eventually become to be known as “humans”) has enveloped Earth (now called Terra), and Eric Sweetscent is about to be dragged right into the center of the whole thing. He has a new job keeping the Secretary General of the UN alive while at the same time dealing with a wife who is addicted to a new drug that dislodges a person in time. And that’s just the bare bones of the story.

Sweetscent spends the entire book trapped between a rock and a hard place, and you begin to really feel the tension as Dick slowly builds problem upon problem, adding in more and more details to complicate things even further for his characters. The entire book was a wonderful read from beginning to end, and the further I got the further I wanted to go, to find out how it would all end. I was actually surprised by the ending, and not a little bit impressed.

If you’re a Philip K. Dick fan, or just a fan of sci-fi that goes after your sense of well being, you will definitely like this book.

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Review: My Uncle Oswald

Posted on January 12, 2012 by Tom

My Uncle Oswald by Roald Dahl

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

My Uncle Oswald was a pretty amusing read. It didn’t feel like anything particularly special, but it was fun to read a ridiculous story featuring ridiculous characters in ridiculous situations. And it was a quick read, making it an excellent palate cleanser.

This is also the book where Dahl used the term “Snozberries” for the first time, a word that would re-appear in Charlie & the Chocolate Factory. Just learning the origin of the term was enough to justify reading the story.

If you like quick humor, this is a great book to pick up for a bit.

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Review: The Three Musketeers

Posted on January 11, 2012 by Tom

The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Absolutely fantastic. The story of young D’Artagnan as he became absorbed in court intrigues and daring acts of bravado was fun to read, and never once slowed down in its entirety. Within the first 60 pages, in fact, there are three duels and one all out street brawl that eventually nearly ends in a house being set on fire. And that’s just how it starts.

It’s not often a book is hard to put down, but Dumas found a way to take the story of an aspiring Musketeer under Louis XIII and successfully made it into precisely that type of book. Much like The Count of Monte Cristo, the characters in Three Musketeers are understandable and believable, with a few even being relate-able (no small feat with this particular subject matter).

If you’re a fan of swashbuckling adventure mixed with dangerous liaisons and exciting characters, The Three Musketeers is the way to go.

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Review: Hocus Pocus

Posted on December 23, 2011 by Tom

Hocus Pocus by Kurt Vonnegut

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Vonnegut is fantastic at what he does, and that is use humor and a knife’s edge balance of cynicism and innocence to hold a mirror up to our world for us, and show us how ridiculous everything has gotten. Hocus Pocus was no exception – in fact, it was almost more pertinent than anything of his I’ve read since Slaughterhouse Five, as the world that the narrator is writing in is a world that ours has become dangerously close to (foreign investors own just about everything in the US, aircraft carriers have been converted into prisons, the Freedom of Information Act has been repealed, so on and so on).

The narrator was equal parts funny and tragic, likeable and unlikeable. He was a man that tried to do what he could with what he had, and the story he shares is about how that all went both awry and right on track. Any fan of Vonnegut will like Hocus Pocus, and may even love it. It was another great book by a great author.

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Review: Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void

Posted on December 15, 2011 by Tom

Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void by Mary Roach

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really liked Mary Roach’s quirky, wide-eyed approach to discussing space and the problems involved in living in it. NASA, JAXA, and the other agencies tend to show their astronauts as more than human, as these superhuman beings that brave existence to further science (and all with an adventurous spirit). Without taking away from the awe, Roach found a way to bring it all back down to Earth, so to speak, and discuss the very real, human side of the entire enterprise. After reading her book, I find it rather astounding we have ever made it into outer space at all, let alone repeatedly.

One thing that really stood out in this book was the way that she was clearly having fun the entire time. She really liked the people she talked to, she really liked the material she was learning about, and she loved the stories of people being people, whether it was down in NASA’s think tanks or up on the moon.

“Packing for Mars” speaks to the adventurous kid in all of us, and I definitely recommend this for any fans of science, humorous or otherwise.

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Review: The Phantom Tollbooth

Posted on December 10, 2011 by Tom

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I never got to read The Phantom Tollbooth as a child. I’m not entirely sure why, given how many books I read (and given that my mother’s a librarian), but somehow it was just nothing I crossed paths with when I was younger. However, I was recently given it as a gift, and I have to say I am incredibly happy I was. The Phantom Tollbooth is absolutely fantastic. It’s smart and its funny, and at the same time there’s an underlying lesson involved that would be perfect for the impressionable mind of a child.

In a way, I actually felt very childlike when reading this story. Even with Alice in Wonderland (which this is constantly compared to, fairly or not) I never felt like a kid again. I was too interested in its twists and turns, and realized that Alice would have been tricky for a kid to get through on their own. But The Phantom Tollbooth is much, much better for that, and I can absolutely see reading it with kids in grade school to prepare them a bit better for life.

I wonder how much better the world could be if more children read things like this?

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Review: The October Country

Posted on December 7, 2011 by Tom

The October Country by Ray Bradbury

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The October Country is a fantastic collection of short stories by a master of fiction. Bradbury is always an excellent read, and this book goes beyond what even I’m used to in his stories. They are equal parts tragic and hopeful, down on two feet and haunting. The things the characters go through, the situations they face, are all so fantastical that you can’t help but be sucked in and right there with them. Bradbury can bring the universe down to bear on a single person, and affect the reader on a deep and unsettling level.

A wonderful read. I highly recommend this one.

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Review: Snuff

Posted on November 29, 2011 by Tom

Snuff by Terry Pratchett

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I’ve generally found that the City Watch books are my favorite ones in the Discworld, and the reason is His Grace, Commander (and Blackboard Monitor) Sir Samuel Vimes. He’s a man that has to regularly go to the edge of the law to bring back the criminals that challenge society, and when the stakes are high he makes bigger and bigger moves. Everything from arresting a dragon to attempting to arrest two armies to taking werewolves and dwarves. Snuff focuses entirely on Vimes, and it’s an excellent book for that.

It should be noted that this one feels a bit darker than other Watch books, and after two readings I can honestly say it is none the worse for wear. He’s on vacation with Sybil and Young Sam, who is now 6 (and obsessed with poop). They’re in the country, and Sam is confronted with the murder of a goblin girl, a species considered vermin around the Disc until Sam Vimes decides even they deserve justice.

Whether or not to read this book is a remarkably easy decision, and it really comes down to one question: Do you like the City Watch books? If you do, you will love Snuff. Easy as that. So go pick it up, read it, and feel free to thank me later.

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Review: The Iron Heel

Posted on October 31, 2011 by Tom

The Iron Heel by Jack London

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I like Jack London as a writer. He has a no-nonsense style of writing that is very refreshing, and can even be very attractive when you’re reading a story of his. But it couldn’t bring me around to liking The Iron Heel enough.

Don’t get me wrong, it was a good book. It just wasn’t a great book. Or even a really good one. It was just simply good, and almost entirely because of London’s style of writing. The Iron Heel suffered from a problem where it would occasionally shift from “story about a Socialist revolution in the United States” to “Socialist manifesto,” and that tended to become rather grating after the first couple pages of it. I was impressed with much of London’s prediction abilities (based on my knowledge of the Twentieth Century), but that was not enough to carry the book, sadly.

It’s worth a read if you’re a London fan, but I suspect it’s going to be fairly forgettable as far as books are concerned.

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