And here's what we got:
I am not the first person to talk about this book, and I know damned well that I won’t be the last. That aside, I have little choice but to talk about The Last Lecture. I meant to talk about the original online version when I first saw it the day Randy Pausch died. I know it’s somewhat of a morbid coincidence, but it’s true and I can’t tell you how heart-broken I was when I found out this tidbit of information.
When I saw the actual lecture, I was at work. Though I told myself I would let it play in the background as I worked, that idea was quickly thrown out and I watched the 76 minute video without pause. Actually there was one pause when I went to the washroom. You get the idea.
When I found out he had a book, the only reason I didn’t buy it was because my girlfriend wanted it. So I got it for her and borrowed it when she was finished.
I finally read it. It took me far too long, but I finally found time to sit down and read 1984. What is there to say about this book? It set the bar for every totalitarian-themed novel, T.V. show, movie and video game that was to come. You know what else? After reading the book itself, I can actually say that 1984 does it better than any movie ever could.
1984 paints a future (well alright, past technically) where there is no law, and yet everyone fears to break it. A land so poor, yet constantly boasting it’s over-manufacturing. A world so controlled, that the past literally changes to suit the need of the ruling class. It depicts such a cultural and societal wasteland that nothing else really quite compares.
1984 is terrifying.
I don’t know what it is with me and reading books about mentally-challenged, slow, or otherwise afflicted people. It’s not like I’ve got a fetish or anything; I think maybe I’ve got Underdog Syndrome. In any case Lottery, by Patricia Wood, isn’t about a mentally-challenged person; Lottery is about Perry L. Crandall. He’s not retarded; he’s got an IQ of 76, and 76 is higher than 75 – The IQ bar for ‘reatrded’.
As an aside, I have noticed something about myself: If a book writes about someone dying that is in any way dear to the protagonist, I will tear up. I can’t help it. The effect is almost immediate, and the Man in me shakes his head in disgust. This happens more often than it really should, and Lottery did it to me as well. I won’t divulge any more about it, because I’m not really in the habit of spoiling books.
I picked up Flowers for Algernon almost on a whim. My friend told me about it when I picked it up in a book store. Curiosity got the better of me, and 10 dollars later I had what I consider a great piece of literature added to my collection. I consumed the book with a hunger I haven’t had from many books. It almost hurt me to put it down for any amount of time, and I found that when I did sit down to read it, I’d end up getting through about a 3rd of it in one sitting. These are the signs of a great story.
Never in my life have I read a book with such blatant use of the word “fuck” and all of its derivatives. Honestly, The Electric Church has more swearing in it than Theresa’s sister in a bad mood, and let me assure you that that is a sizable amount. Jeff Somers either has a severe case of sailors mouth, or he has an almost unhealthy penchant with the word.
I recently got around to reading The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. I remember picking up the book a long time ago and only putting it back because I didn’t have the money to purchase it right then and there.
The next time I find the book, it’s a best seller across the world, and Mark Haddon has already written another novel. I could have been there in the beginning! Ah well, I picked it up, and once I started reading, I found it hard to put down.
I read Gods Behaving Badly in three days.
The only reason it wasn’t read in one is because I have to work during the day. Truly a fun book to read, Marie Phillips does a fantastic job of detailing the lives of the Greek Pantheon. Granted it’s a humorous view and takes light of the fact that the Gods are losing their powers are slowly slipping away, but it’s a hell of a humorous view.
Another Doctor Who adventure comes and goes, and I’m once again left wondering how this got to print. Sting of the Zygons wasn’t a bad story by any means, but the new novels just aren’t doing it for me. With the original Doctor Who book series, the authors were writing stories that were so epic that they simply couldn’t be done on screen at the time. Stories so fantastic that imagination is a requirement in order to read them. This is a quality that I find lacking within all of the new novels that I have read thus far, with exceptions being made for The Last Dodo, Stone Rose, and The Clockwise Man.
I’m impressed with The Memory Keeper’s Daughter.
I thought it was going to be a dry, boring read, much like Everything Must Go. I was mistaken (mostly) and by the end I found myself devouring the last pages. Despite its small dimensions, the novel sports 401 pages, 300 of which were a fantastic, engrossing read. Kim Edwards does a wonderful job of getting the emotion across as well as managing to make very real characters.
Why can’t the new series make books that match the caliber of the old series. This is probably the newest one that I have read of the original(ish) series, and its grandeur dwarfs any of the new series with out even batting an eyelash. Taking place during the Sixth Doctors’ time, The Quantum Archangel is a sequel of The Time Monster from the Third Doctors’ time in the limelight.