Yay! Let's end the project by writing about a tragically misunderstood genius and the woman he loves.....oh wait, that's not what this book is about at all. My thoughts could best be described in a short scene performed by Harry and Lloyd from Dumb and Dumber:
Harry: Wow. I thought Phantom of the Opera would be a little more romantic than this.
Lloyd: I was thinking the same thing. That Andrew Lloyd Webber's full a shit man.
AND, Scene.
So yeah, for those of you only familiar with the musical version of the tale, basically they cut out the whole part where the Phantom is a raving psychopath who loves to torture people to death for fun....lots of people. He's basically a singing version of Jigsaw from the Saw movies. I must admit I was a little thrown at first by the writing style. Like The Time Machine and Jekyl and Hyde, the book is written as a reporting of events after the fact by a person not caught in the middle of the events. Once I adjusted to the style, it became much easier to read and I found the book to be quite entertaining. The torture room was quite inventive and I enjoyed the way it was slowly revealed that way the events transpired, it became easy to believe that the phantom had never existed and that the strange events surrounding Christine Daae could be explained by placing blame on her lover Raul rather than a deformed madman in the bowels of the Paris Opera house. It's a nice switcheroo, and I would definitely recommend this for anyone looking for a less sappy version of the story. It takes a little bit to get going, but stick with it. It gets much better.
9/10
Thursday, September 18, 2014
100 by 30 Book 95 - Epileptic by David B
So I have one more blog to write after this. I saved another one so I didn't have to end on a downer (it also helps that I'm watching Dumb and Dumber as I write)
Epileptic is an autobiographical graphic novel told from the perspective of a middle child who has an older brother and a younger sister and then the older brother develops epilepsy. The story chronicles the trials of the family has they see a parade of doctors and healers in a search for a cure. For those of you familiar with my family, you will probably be aware that this story hits a little too close to home for me. While there are some wild differences, (the story takes place in France from the 1960s through the 1990s and the parents are obsessed with finding cures with crazy hippy healers to name a few things) There are some personal moments that will really hit home for anyone who has had a family member deal with this disease. In the book, the disease is often pictured as a monster that is slowly consuming the whole family, and the various family members struggle to deal with something that is just so unpredictable. The author, writing from his perspective as a child, uses the graphic novel medium to try to figure out where his brother goes when he has a seizure. He also imagines encasing himself in armor to protect himself from the outside world. He pulls aways from the world and buries himself in his art as a way to escape reality and process his feelings. This book feels very much like an attempt by the author to find a way to come clean to his family and to try to process the way his family's life was forever changed. It is intensely personal and I got the feeling that I was being shown things that most people would have a hard time speaking to a therapist about, let alone putting in a book for millions of people to read.
Fortunately for my family, we've had many more bright spots, and my brother got to be my best man at my wedding and continues to be one of the coolest people I know. He has become a source of inspiration for me and I cherish every moment we get to spend together. For any family members reading my blog, you should know, this book was very, very hard for me to get through, so I'm hesitant to recommend it. I did get some comfort in knowing that I wasn't the only person who had to deal with the complex emotions that come when you try to love and care for a family member dealing with a terrifying condition, but be warned that this book does not have a neat and tidy ending. The book ends in the mid-1990s when epilepsy research was just beginning to improve and effective treatments for severe cases were hard to find.
So that's that book. I'm glad I read it, but it wasn't what I would call a pleasant experience.
9.5/10
Epileptic is an autobiographical graphic novel told from the perspective of a middle child who has an older brother and a younger sister and then the older brother develops epilepsy. The story chronicles the trials of the family has they see a parade of doctors and healers in a search for a cure. For those of you familiar with my family, you will probably be aware that this story hits a little too close to home for me. While there are some wild differences, (the story takes place in France from the 1960s through the 1990s and the parents are obsessed with finding cures with crazy hippy healers to name a few things) There are some personal moments that will really hit home for anyone who has had a family member deal with this disease. In the book, the disease is often pictured as a monster that is slowly consuming the whole family, and the various family members struggle to deal with something that is just so unpredictable. The author, writing from his perspective as a child, uses the graphic novel medium to try to figure out where his brother goes when he has a seizure. He also imagines encasing himself in armor to protect himself from the outside world. He pulls aways from the world and buries himself in his art as a way to escape reality and process his feelings. This book feels very much like an attempt by the author to find a way to come clean to his family and to try to process the way his family's life was forever changed. It is intensely personal and I got the feeling that I was being shown things that most people would have a hard time speaking to a therapist about, let alone putting in a book for millions of people to read.
Fortunately for my family, we've had many more bright spots, and my brother got to be my best man at my wedding and continues to be one of the coolest people I know. He has become a source of inspiration for me and I cherish every moment we get to spend together. For any family members reading my blog, you should know, this book was very, very hard for me to get through, so I'm hesitant to recommend it. I did get some comfort in knowing that I wasn't the only person who had to deal with the complex emotions that come when you try to love and care for a family member dealing with a terrifying condition, but be warned that this book does not have a neat and tidy ending. The book ends in the mid-1990s when epilepsy research was just beginning to improve and effective treatments for severe cases were hard to find.
So that's that book. I'm glad I read it, but it wasn't what I would call a pleasant experience.
9.5/10
100 by 30 Book 99 - The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde
Well this wasn't like the musical at all. It's actually a nice mystery tale, which kinda gets ruined when you already know the ending. In any case, Robert Lewis Stevenson is a pretty good writer so this is still worth your time. Since the book is quite short, this post will be too.
7/10
7/10
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
100 by 30 book 97 - How to Train Your Dragon
First of all, I LOVE the How to Train Your Dragon movies. I cried like a baby multiple times during the second movie. With such a rich world, and great characters, my expectations were sky high for the book series. This book....was not what I expected. Apart from character and location names, the books and movies have almost nothing in common. Most upsetting, Toothless, the main dragon in the movie, is a whiny little runt in the book. I guess this book is ok, but if you are looking for some depth and emotion, you need to look elsewhere.
4/10
4/10
100 by 30 Book 98 - Alice in Wonderland
I've never really liked this story in any of the versions I've seen it, but I thought I'd give the original source material a shot.....nope, I still hate this story. I like a good amount of nonsense and word play as much as the next guy, but this story is about as much fun as listening to an annoying coworker tell you about a really weird dream they had. If you must read a book about Wonderland, I think you'd be much better off reading the smutty parody version instead.
1/10
1/10
100 by 30 Book 94 - Shadow on the Mountain by Margi Preus
Shadow of the Mountain is a Young Adult novel that tracks a young teen in Norway during the Nazi Occupation. He and his friends get involved in the resistance movement and young Espen gains crucial intelligence about a Nazi command facility that causes him to take flight over the mountains in an attempt to reach the safety of Sweden. It's a thrilling tale of an often overlooked part of World War II. The story is based on real people and sticks very close to actual events. Much like NUMBER THE STARS, there is an epilogue at the end of the book that goes more in depth with the people who inspired the story and even includes a number of photographs from the period. For anyone looking for an entry into the underground spy networks of WWII, this is a great introduction.
9.5/10
9.5/10
100 by 30 Book 93 Dragon * Princess by S. Andrew Swann
Dragon * Princess is a fantasy adventure about a lovable rogue, Frank Blackthorne, who takes a job rescuing a princess in order to help clear up a little misunderstanding with a demon worshipping cult. Unfortunately, the rescue attempt is a set up and our manly hero suddenly finds himself in the body of the princess and the princess in now in the body of a dragon. What follows is an adventure across kingdoms as Frank tries to get everyone back in the body they're supposed to be in. There's also the problem of the dragon having a serious gambling debt with the elves, a relentless white knight, a gentle giant, and that nasty demon worshipping cult. While I did enjoy the book and found it to be mostly successful, I was very disappointed in the lack of quality female characters. It's just such a wasted opportunity to do something interesting with gender identity and relationships and it never really got deeper than, "boy, it's sure weird to have boobs. Oh and everyone wants to rape me, LOL." (it's not quite that bad, but close). I wasn't really looking for a women's studies thesis, but there's just SO much you can do creatively with a male character who suddenly has to live as a woman in a fantasy world. What the book ends up suggesting is that having a woman's body is kind of lame. If you go in with measured expectations, it's a nice, light read, but it could have been so much more.
7/10
7/10
100 by 30 Book 92 - The Very Nearly Honorable League of Pirates #1: Magic Marks the spot by Caroline Carlson
Whoa! I feel like I just came back from the future where I finished this project with 3 days to spare and know I have to tell everyone what happened....Oh wait, never mind. Turns out I just like the review part of this project get way backed up. Time to do some house cleaning.
The Very Nearly Honorable League of Pirates (VNHLP for short) Have a strict no girls allowed policy, which is a problem if you are 10 year old Hilary Westfield and you have been training to be The Terror of the Southlands your entire life. It also doesn't help if your father is Admiral of the Queen's navy and wants to get rid of all pirates. But Hilary is not to be deterred. With the help of her trusty Gargoyle, she runs away from finishing school to join a crew and search for buried treasure. This is a delightfully silly book that keeps everything fairly carefree and fun. It's basically about all the things a 10 year old would think pirates do. I loved the female characters in this book, especially Hilary's governess. This is one of the only times I can think of where we get to see that the authority figure for a child character has other ambitions in life than scolding and prohibiting fun. Hilary's governess actually wants to own a bookshop by the sea, and is only strict with Hilary because, well, that is what she gets paid for. It's nice to see children's authority figures with a little more depth than mean guardian or wacky teacher. The book also has a delightful sense of humor. If you're in the market for a nice, fun read, this is a great option.
9.5/10
The Very Nearly Honorable League of Pirates (VNHLP for short) Have a strict no girls allowed policy, which is a problem if you are 10 year old Hilary Westfield and you have been training to be The Terror of the Southlands your entire life. It also doesn't help if your father is Admiral of the Queen's navy and wants to get rid of all pirates. But Hilary is not to be deterred. With the help of her trusty Gargoyle, she runs away from finishing school to join a crew and search for buried treasure. This is a delightfully silly book that keeps everything fairly carefree and fun. It's basically about all the things a 10 year old would think pirates do. I loved the female characters in this book, especially Hilary's governess. This is one of the only times I can think of where we get to see that the authority figure for a child character has other ambitions in life than scolding and prohibiting fun. Hilary's governess actually wants to own a bookshop by the sea, and is only strict with Hilary because, well, that is what she gets paid for. It's nice to see children's authority figures with a little more depth than mean guardian or wacky teacher. The book also has a delightful sense of humor. If you're in the market for a nice, fun read, this is a great option.
9.5/10
100 by 30 - Book 100 - The Time Machine by HG Wells
I. DID. IT! I finished with three days to spare! I will post the missing books in the next few days, but I wanted to be sure to mark my accomplishment as soon as I finished it.
So anyway, let's get to the review of The Time Machine. As you will notice, I ended this project on a series of classics that I really had no direct knowledge of. Time machine was published in 1895 and follows what seems to have been a trend in the storytelling of the day in that the author is merely giving us an account of the incidents of the story as they were told to him. It's an interesting style that gives the book a sense of realism, but you lose the more immersive feeling of a traditional third person novel where we are often privy to the innermost thoughts of the characters. The Time Machine is a slight book, but it is big on speculation about the ultimate fate of man. Turns out, we are all doomed. While I actually found the majority of the novel to be a little dull for my taste, it was the descriptions of the end of the solar system, and the one, solitary life form struggling to move as the sun began to die that really struck me. It's a hauntingly lonely image, and it made the whole book worth it for that one little paragraph. I'll leave it there for now, it's a short read, and I really enjoyed reading a very early science fiction novel. The shear faith in man's greatness and ability to conquer the world with science is a little inspiring, and I'm starting to understand why that era is so popular for steam punk stories. I hope you've enjoyed this little journey with me. I will be posting the missing books soon and I am planning at least one wrap up article in the near future. Cheers!
6.5/10
So anyway, let's get to the review of The Time Machine. As you will notice, I ended this project on a series of classics that I really had no direct knowledge of. Time machine was published in 1895 and follows what seems to have been a trend in the storytelling of the day in that the author is merely giving us an account of the incidents of the story as they were told to him. It's an interesting style that gives the book a sense of realism, but you lose the more immersive feeling of a traditional third person novel where we are often privy to the innermost thoughts of the characters. The Time Machine is a slight book, but it is big on speculation about the ultimate fate of man. Turns out, we are all doomed. While I actually found the majority of the novel to be a little dull for my taste, it was the descriptions of the end of the solar system, and the one, solitary life form struggling to move as the sun began to die that really struck me. It's a hauntingly lonely image, and it made the whole book worth it for that one little paragraph. I'll leave it there for now, it's a short read, and I really enjoyed reading a very early science fiction novel. The shear faith in man's greatness and ability to conquer the world with science is a little inspiring, and I'm starting to understand why that era is so popular for steam punk stories. I hope you've enjoyed this little journey with me. I will be posting the missing books soon and I am planning at least one wrap up article in the near future. Cheers!
6.5/10
Sunday, September 7, 2014
100 by 30 Book 91 - Crap Kingdom by DC Pierson
Tom would love to be sucked away from his dull life and become The Chosen One in a fantastical other world. The problem is, his life doesn't suck enough. He gets ok grades, his family cares about him and he doesn't have to worry about bullies. It's not that he's popular, he just isn't interesting in any way to warrant being the kind of person that those kinds of things happen to...until it does. Tom gets whisked away into a fantastical world made mostly of old clothes and used junk from earth. And the king sits on a throne made of towels and an Igloo cooler, and his Chosen One duties consist of cleaning the snot out of the rats noses....so Tom quits being the chosen one because the kingdom is, well, crap. Then a new Chosen One is called, and it turns out to be Tom's best friend Kyle. Kyle learns to do all kinds of awesome magic and the citizens of Crap Kingdom love Kyle, and Tom gets a little jealous. There's accidental betrayals and power struggles and dimension hopping.
It's a very funny book, and an enjoyable read, but the book does suffer from the author's poor descriptive skills. I'd never really appreciated good world building in novels until now. When we venture into a strange world in the final third of the book, I found myself very confused as to the generally geography. I couldn't really picture anything that was being described and it bummed me out because it seemed like the author had something neat in mind. Between that, and the rather abrupt ending, a rather well done book ended on kind of a low note.
7/10
It's a very funny book, and an enjoyable read, but the book does suffer from the author's poor descriptive skills. I'd never really appreciated good world building in novels until now. When we venture into a strange world in the final third of the book, I found myself very confused as to the generally geography. I couldn't really picture anything that was being described and it bummed me out because it seemed like the author had something neat in mind. Between that, and the rather abrupt ending, a rather well done book ended on kind of a low note.
7/10
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