BTT for 3/11

I'm going to take care of a few things today. first, BTT!

How do you feel about illustrations in your books? Graphs? Photos? Sketches?

I don't particularly care. I like the illustrations from old novels from the 19th century. It is strange when the book doesn't put the illustrations facing the page it depicts though. also, occasionally the picture will spoil me if i am flipping through the book before i read it. but mostly i like them. also, i love reading graphic novels!

My dad was in the newspaper! He does some motorcycle racing and the Daytona paper did a profile piece.

Still goofy about B. He's so sweet. He is just great.

Currently: watching Fullmetal Alchemist.

The Martian Way

The Martian Way & Other Stories by Isaac Asimov is a book of four short stories. Overall the stories are good, classic sci-fi, with people colonizing other planets and exploring the galaxy. My favorite was the second story, "Youth", which i can't talk about much without ruining it. "The Martian Way" was about the attitudes of colonists and the people left behind. It actually felt really relevant to today's economic troubles and i enjoyed it.

A quote from the last story "Sucker Bait", from Cimon, an astrophysicist:

"It's my opinion that information outside a professional man's specialty is useless and a waste of psycho-potential"

I know people like who think like that. I'd rather be well rounded myself. The story also argues for knowing a bit about everything rather than being so narrowly focused.

These stories are from the 50's so my biggest complaint is a product of the time. There are hardly any women in these. "The Martian Way" has one character with a shrew for a wife and that's the only female. "Sucker Bait" has no women at all, "Youth"'s only female is the housekeeper. I wish older sci-fi was a bit more balanced. Overall though i liked the book and give it a 5.

Victorian Mystery

I finished The Ruby in the Smoke by Phillip Pullman this morning. Counts for the YA Challenge, Yipee! It's a fun Victorian mystery. Sally Lockhart is sixteen and her father has died. His ship sank on a trip back from India but Sally has just received a letter that must have come from him just before he sailed. When she goes to her father's company and asks about the letter's contents, the man she asks has a heart attack from shock! Sally gets pulled into a mystery that at first she doesn't understand.

Sally is a plucky, independent heroine. I liked reading about her and the friends she makes. I'll be picking up the next book in the series soon. a 6 from me.

A bit disappointed

I finished Sherlock Holmes in America, edited by Martin H Greenberg, Jon L Lellenberg, and Daniel Stashower. I wasn't impressed. I've read plenty of "reimaginings", "recreations" and "continuations" of Sherlock Holmes. I've really enjoyed some of them; Caleb Carr's novel The Italian Secretary was very good. The stories in this one just seemed too patchwork. Most didn't have the right "voice" and several seemed to just be setups so that Holmes could meet famous Americans like Wyatt Earp, Buffalo Bill Cody, and Theodore Roosevelt. overall, it is a 3 from me. Maybe i'll go back to the source material soon; i've been craving Holmes since i saw the movie.

Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

I'm kinda sick so this one will be quick. Yesterday i finished The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. I actually only knew it was a mystery, in Sweden. It's a murder mystery, a locked room mystery, as well as a financial mystery. I really liked it. a 6.

What is amazing is that this book has been out since September 2008 and there are still 92 holds on the library's 31 copies. WOW! Just a comparison, Under the Dome came out November 2009 and there are just 55 holds on the 31 copies. so Larsson is twice as popular as King? Maybe books like this will get more americans reading books in translation. I just put the second book, The Girl Who Played With Fire, on request and there are 59 people in front of me. ah well.

Weird Sci-Fi Graphic Novel

Transmetropolitan, Vol. 1: Back on the Street by Warren Ellis and Darick Robertson is a sci-f dystopia story. It is really strange. Day glo colors, a crazy, anti-hero journalist, body modification take to it's extreme of species modification. The City is a dystopia and Spider Jerusalem, journalist/author, hates everything about it. He's spent 5 years, and his publisher's advance for his next book, living in the mountains outside the City. He only comes back because the publisher is threatening to sue. Once he returns, he gets a job writing a column and the rest of the book is the story he follows to write said column.

I did like the art; it is almost an adult "where's waldo" in every panel. all the Cityscape is overstuffed. This future is one of extreme sensory overload, which i feel might be a way we are headed. The writing is good and the story comes along in the last couple issues of the volume. In the final issue covered i even liked Spider, just not enough to make up for the fact that i didn't like him the rest of the time. I guess that is why i didn't particularly like this book.

My library has several volumes of this series but not the second one. I don't know when I'll be able to get back to it, or if i even want to. a 4 from me.

More Movies!

second round of movies!



The Man Who Knew Too Much- 5, more Hitchcock and Jimmy Stewart.

Wolverine- 4, ok, ugh. i mean i get that this was not going to be too faithful to the series but i was pretty disappointed. although...Hugh Jackman is lovely so that is what gives this a 4. nice to see Dom Monaghan in a big movie, even if he was the same wisecracking guy as on LOST. far too many interesting side characters that deserved way more screen time.

Dial M for Murder- 7, awesome! i was rooting for literally every character at one point or another. the Mastermind, the Cheating Wife, the Inept Killer, the Police Inspector. my favorite Hitchcock so far this year.

Mirrormask- very pretty, 5. fantasy movie about a teen, Helena, who has a fight with her mother and says that dreaded line in these movies "i wish you were dead!", and shortly thereafter the mother passes out and is rushed to the hospital. Helena draws and retreats into a fantasy world created from the drawings to save a queen and perhaps her mother as well. Very much a fairy tale, reminded me a lot of Labyrinth.

Vertigo- 4, how many movies did Hitch and Stewart make together? This one was weird. had it been 30 mins shorter it would have been less creepy but i might have enjoyed it more.

Bridge over the River Kwai- 6, I don't know if I've seen Alec Guiness as any character but Obi-Wan Kenobi. I was very very impressed by his character, Colonel Nicholson. another very good WW2 movie.

Star Trek: Nemesis- 5, felt like a long Next Generation episode. Not bad though.