cucullus non facit monachum

Books Read in 2011

2012-01-02T22:25:00.000-07:00

Below is my list of Books Read in 2011. I'll (generally) not include picture books or extremely "Young Reader" books that I may read with my kids...but at the same time, I may include them if the mood is right.

I have an annual goal of reading 50 books or ~1 book/week. Last year I read (and posted about) 44 books.

Over the summer my weekly reading fell down a bit. Fall and winter were also a bit spotty. So sadly I didn't hit my goal and I was down from my 2010 stats, but I still read a bunch of good books.

I'll be getting my 2012 goal and post together shortly. In the meantime, let me know what you read in 2011? Any great books I should add to my "to read" pile?

Here's the list of what I read in 2011:

I also have a "to read" list on Goodreads but it certainly isn't in any particular order.

Thanks.

What are YOU reading? Did you have a favorite book read in 2011?

Review - The Star Shard

2012-01-02T21:42:00.000-07:00

From a high level, The Star Shard could be summed up as a fairly typical adventure book set in a medieval fantasy world. I received this book from Amazon Vine and found that it differentiates itself in many unique and intriguing ways that make it a fresh and fun read.

First of all, the setting is unique. Rather than dealing with our standard rolling hills, plains, mountains and forests, most of this book is set in the moving wagon city of Thunder Rake. The Rake is essentially a HUGE wagon that literally contains an entire city upon its back. The exact dimmensions aren't given but as our characters navigate the city, you quickly realize the enormity of this place. And yet, there is a large sense of claustrophobia as everything is built close together and vertically in order to optimize every bit of available space for homes, workshops, businesses, operational areas and the other main aspects of any city. Around the edges of the wagon, huge walls run up the sides to keep inhabitants (and buildings, possessions, etc) from falling off.

Not only do the walls serve to keep things from falling off the wagon, but they act as prison walls for some of the inhabitants. Our main character in the story is twelve year old Cymbril...and she is a slave on the Rake. She doesn't know much about her past other than that she was sold to the master of the Rake and it is her lot to spend her days at the beck and call of the master. When the Rake is traveling, this means mundane chores. When the Rake arrives at its destination and opens its doors for market days, that means she is to sing and entertain the people coming to shop.

Cymbril is a fun character. She has some of the stereotypical qualities of a character in a fantasy adventure: no parents, no memory/knowledge of her past, a couple of mementos from her parents (which have intrinsic and monumental value), more comfortable with the "outsiders" or animals than with the main class of folks. She is also extremely curious and adventurous. In the times when she's not working, she spends hours exploring the Rake and investigating the forgotten areas or the smaller areas that have been obscured as newer buildings have been built. She's very impulsive and makes many mistakes by leaping before she looks.

Shortly after being introduced to Cymbril and the world of the Rake, we're introduced to the catalyst for the story...a boy named Loric...a magical Fey creature who is brought to the Rake and sold into slavery. Cymbril's heart goes out to him as she relates to the injustice of his enslavement. She also finds herself drawn to him out of pure curiousity.

You can likely guess some of the paths the plot takes as Cymbril gets to know more about Loric. They scheme and plot. He tells her about her mementos and what he knows of her past. He sheds light on some of the other inhabitants of the Rake and opens her eyes to the world of magic and things going on right under her nose.

As to my reaction to the book, mostly I really enjoyed it. I had a little nagging sensation in my head that, for some reason, didn't resonate with the tone/voice/style of the writing...which seems odd because the writing is generally very simple and fluid, so I'm honestly not sure what it is that bothers me about it...maybe a re-read will help clear the cobwebs for me. :)

I did enjoy this book. The plot was fun and fresh. I am impressed with the overlapping and intersecting elements throughout the book and the way the author reveals them over time. I also thought it was very fun that the author worked with a musician to include sheet music and Lyrics for two of the songs that Cymbril sings through the book. I'm not enough of a musician to try and actually play the pieces, but I may have to seek out someone with adequate talent to play them for me. It was also refreshing to have a strong (yet young and naive) girl character as the lead in this adventure. Add to that the intriguing and fresh setting and this provided a fun read.

3.5 out of 5 stars

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Review - The Shakespeare Thefts: In Search of the First Folios

2011-12-30T23:37:00.001-07:00

The premise to this book sounded like tons of fun. I went into it expecting a "riveting" and intense recounting of the various attempts (successful and failed) to steal the First Folio over the years. What I ended up reading was indeed interesting but not nearly as compelling or intriguing as the numerous marketing blurbs and synopses made me expect.

First, I must applaud the author and his team. They have done astounding detective work to track down, identify and extensively catalog the known First Folio's out in the world. The amount of detail put into this effort is truly mind boggling. The knowledge and expertise that the author and the team have is amazing.

The book gives an initial overview of WHAT the First Folio is and what its significance is in the literary world. This description is interesting and educational. From my own studies, I'd heard the basic overview before…the comparison of the Folio versus the Quarto, the timing of how the Folios came about, etc. The overview also goes into the rarity of the Folio as a medium and with regards to the Shakespeare Folio specifically.

After the overview of the Folio history, the rest of the book follows the history of some of the known copies of the Shakespeare Folio still in existence. It is amazing the degree of detail recorded about these books…not only about their history and lineage of ownership, but also about identifying characteristics (down to creases or stains on specific areas of specific pages).

Each chapter was usually focused on the specific history of one of the known surviving Folios, though some chapters were more thematic in describing similar events or occurrences that happened to numerous Folios.

There were dozens of fun and interesting stories of theft, vandalism, fraud, mistaken identity (both of ownership and of the Folio itself) and more. Some stories were more interesting than others and the amount of research and detail for each story was always impressive.

Where the book was lost on me was the narrative style. For some reason, I never did find myself gripped by the writing, even by the most exciting or intriguing of the histories. I think this was partly due to the number of stories and the rapidity of their telling. Even with the amount of details involved, each story usually only covered a few pages and often only a few paragraphs. Add to this that the language was often steeped in scholarship and focused on presenting everything as factual as possible, and these brief stories read more like a history textbook than an exciting retelling of intrigue and suspicion (as promised by the summary).

I still found the book to be very interesting and informative. It told me a lot more about the Folios than I ever knew before and it also gave me a ton of interesting little tales of intrigue within the book world. But the book never hit home for me as the compelling read I was expecting based on the synopsis. I suspect it will have a narrow audience that may be even more narrow due to maintaining so scholarly and deep. I feel like it could have broadened its appeal by providing more engaging narratives and I'm sure this could be done without sacrificing the academic nature of the book.

This isn't a bad book…in fact, it is an excellent book. But it's certainly not going to be for everyone. I'm worried that the publishing and marketing team of this book is going to lose its audience by presenting the book as something it's not. The title, the synopsis, the quotes/blurbs, etc all suggest that you're looking at a literary thriller. If you go into this book looking for an academic thriller from someone like Eco (or the more pulp-fiction version like Brown), you'll come away disappointed. If you go in looking for a scholarly analysis on the Folio, then this book is a masterpiece and will leave you very fulfilled.

3 out of 5 stars

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Merry Christmas 2011

2011-12-29T20:52:00.000-07:00

Merry Christmas!!!

Our Christmas festivities this year were a little different in terms of scheduling, but still a lot of fun. Lynette went in for her second hip surgery less than a week before Christmas, so we knew ahead of time we'd have to do most of our "out-and-about" activities well before Christmas itself.

As per our normal tradition, we set up our decorations and trimmed the tree on the weekend after Thanksgiving. Both Lynette and I have a bunch of ornaments from our childhood as well as dozens that we've collected in the 15 years we've been married. Then add to that those ornaments chosen by, given to, or made by our kids, and we have a hodgepodge of decorations.

We have no set theme on our tree...rather, it's a jumble of old wooden ornaments, new plastic ornaments, glass globes, paper trees and stockings, Disney rides and figurines, Hallmark pop-culture decorations, and much much more. It's all over the place...and very clearly ours. I love it.

During the first week of December, we had a fun filled windstorm in our community which delayed a few of our pre-Christmas activities, but mostly gave us a nice teaching lesson for the kids as we worked together as a community to help and serve others.

We then made our trip to Salt Lake to see the lights on Temple Square and the plaza. I still think there are fewer lights than there used to be, but that's probably just the crotchety old man in me talking. The lights were gorgeous and we had a nice time walking around and taking in the sights and sounds.

It was a cold night. We bought some hot cocoa and cookies from a little street cart but even that didn't help warm up little Andrew enough and we had to speed walk through the last few hundred yards back to the car to get him home and warm.

The fairpark hosted a Dickens Festival again. I'm so glad they've decided to bring this back. I have fond memories of the festival from my childhood and I love being able to share it with my kids. While it is, to a large extent, a bunch of booths and vendors trying to fleece the public with overpriced gifts, there are still those diamond-in-the-rough treasures you may find. Besides...the entire thing is themed Victorian London.

So even though many of the booths are something you may find in a mall, they at least have that Dickens flair to them. And there are a few booths that embrace the authenticity both in their mannerism and their wares. This seemed especially true of the food booths and some of the clothing booths. Plus...they have Father Christmas...and he is amazing.

We also made it up to Ogden to see their annual Christmas Village down by City Hall. Once again, it was a cold night so we cut it a little short, but it was very fun. We love looking at all the cute little houses each decorated with a different theme or motiff by a company or community group.

About mid-month, we went to our local "care center" for the elderly. The primary was in charge of putting on a home evening lesson for them. A couple of their teachers gave talks and the kids sang a bunch of Christmas songs. I was caught a little off guard when Jason got up to sing a solo...so I didn't get a full video of him singing, but he did great. They all did. It was a very cute night and everybody had a good time.

We did manage to get out and visit grandparents and cousins, though sadly Lynette didn't get to make all the visits because of her surgery. The kids had a ball playing with their cousins and getting to open a few gifts prior to Christmas day.

Once Lynette had her surgery, we stuck with more indoor activities...making gingerbread houses, watching Christmas shows, relaxing and playing games and the annual reading of the Christmas story from the Bible complete with some impromtu costumes and acting from the kids. :-)

Christmas morning was a little more subdued than normal as we let Lynette hobble in first on her crutches and then the rest of us gathered around and opened gifts, laughed and played together. It was actually nice that it was more relaxed as that made it easier to convince the kids to get dressed up for Church. There were a few seconds of reluctance but I assured them their toys would still be there after we came back. So we went over to Church for a lovely Christmas morning program and then came home and just relaxed and enjoyed each other's company.

In the days after Christmas, we've played a few new board games, watched a few new movies and played with new toys.

Jason has recently taken a passion for Airsoft guns (hence his starring role in the "Christmas Story" Jibjab video I posted recently) and so he and I stepped outside for a little Airsoft war. I nicked him a few times in the cheek and gave him a couple of welts. He smacked me in the forehead really well once and left a little red spot. The kids and I also got out to see a movie (their vote was for the new Chipmunks film...definitely not my first choice, but it was a fun outing).

I have had a ton of fun these past few weeks spending time with family and celebrating our lives and our love. I love the Christmas season for its power to bring us together even more than usual.

I also love what Christmas truly stands for. I am so grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ and what He means to me and my family. I chatted a little with the kids the day after Christmas and asked for some of their favorite moments...I loved the answer Andrew gave about how excited he was to watch Jason open the present Andrew had picked out. He truly had the joy of giving. And I think they're starting to understand more about Christ and His role in our life and the world...His selflessness and love.

I hope all of you have had a fabulous Christmas season and that your lives are truly blessed.

Review - Peter and the Starcatchers

2011-12-28T17:18:00.001-07:00

It's no secret that Peter Pan is one of my favorite children's stories, Disney movies, etc. I've sometimes been told I suffer from Peter Pan syndrome and while I don't know all the ins and outs of what that means, but I definitely have plenty of immature tendencies and am willing to revel in the joys of childhood more than your average stuffy adult. Anyway, when I heard about Peter and the Starcatchers, I was stoked.

This book (the start of a series) is a re-imagining of the Peter Pan story. This book is the story of how Peter became the Peter Pan that we know….how he (and others) got to Neverland. Where the magic came from. How he and Captain Hook became rivals. Basically a new beginning of a new and fresh telling of the Peter Pan adventures.

I had encouraged my two boys to read the book at the same time as me so we could talk about it. Unfortunately, the book starts out a bit slower than they were in the mood for and they both gave up about 40 pages in. Now that I've finished the book, I have encouraged them to push through…letting them know that they are nearly to the point of exciting adventure that goes on nearly non-stop through the end of the book.

The opening few chapters have a lot of character and plot development that is very interesting and creative and even a bit suspenseful, but not very action packed or exciting right away. Granted, as compared to the original Peter Pan story, the opening here is probably more enticing to young readers. :-)

I really had a lot of fun seeing Peter grow into the Peter Pan I know and love. I also loved the way the pirates were portrayed (particularly the Captain)…they were much more violent and repulsive than sometimes portrayed. This made them feel more realistic (and more frightening and threatening).

I thought that the way Peter was transitioned into being Peter Pan was handled very smoothly and made for a natural and fun presentation. It also answered a few of the somewhat ambiguous questions from the general Peter Pan mythos.

The writing style was a lot of fun…dark and creepy at times, witty and humorous at others. For the sake of younger readers (and their 21st century short attention span), it might have been better to have one exciting action scene closer to the beginning. But as an adult reader and one who grew up with slower paced children's stories, I found it perfectly acceptable and I hope I can get my boys to give it a second chance.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and look forward to diving deeper into the series to find out what happens next.

4 out of 5 stars

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Review - The Maltese Falcon (book)

2011-12-23T23:35:00.005-07:00

The Maltese Falcon is a classic. A definitive entry in the "Noir" or "Hard Boiled" detective genre. Probably Hammet's most well known work. I have very vague memories of watching Humphrey Bogart work his way through this mystery but I haven't seen the film in ages and had forgotten enough that the book was still very fresh to me. Granted, I still plan to pull out the video and watch it again…soon. :)

Like Hammet's other works, this is a gritty crime novel with a less than perfect protagonist. Sam Spade is, to me at least, one of the most famous and most copied/satirized of the detective characters. Even before seeing the movie or reading this book, I had a good feel for who Sam Spade was (though I didn't know him by name) through various cartoons, TV shows and other movies with similar characters. I was surprised to find that this is Spade's only complete novel though he was apparently in a couple other short stories.

The mystery of the book starts out fairly straightforward…Spade is hired to tail a man. That simple presence quickly takes turn after turn and pulls in numerous other shady characters and plots finally resulting in a global conspiracy of sorts.

I loved the simple, gritty and straightforward language of the book. It helped set and maintain the tone throughout the novel. I loved Spade's hard and cynical view on life as well as his approach to investigating and solving this mystery. I also found it interesting that the book never let us get into Spade's head (or anyone else's head for that matter). As far as i could tell, we never had a "Spade thought this" moment. Thus we were left having to try and deduce everyone's inner motivations and thoughts based on their actions and interactions. This made for a lot of fun and helped keep the resolution to the mystery at arm's length while at the same time seemingly presenting us with all of the information we might need to solve the mystery.

The only problem I had with the book was that I didn't want it to end. Don't take that wrong…I was fully satisfied with the ending (which gave even more of an edge to Sam Spade). I just wanted more of the same. I'll definitely have to seek out the other Sam Spade stories and keep reading Hammett. Maltese Falcon is one of those classics that I'm glad I finally read. I'll have to go watch the movie now to see how true it is to the book and the tone/feel of the story. Even if you're not a fan of mysteries or detective stories…give this one a try. I'd be interested to hear what you think.

5 out of 5 stars

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Review - Flygirl

2011-12-23T04:15:00.000-07:00

I received an ARC of Flygirl ages ago and let it sit idly on my bookshelf. I procrastinated reading it thinking it was going to be a trite, stereotypically emotional book pounding its message into my head at the expense of good writing and good storytelling. Once I finally picked up the book and started reading, I was dismayed that I'd waited so long to read this book.

In some ways, the story and plot were what I expected to find. A black girl living in the south in mid-1900s…trying to find her own identity while having it constantly defined by those around her (by both whites and blacks). As the title and synopsis indicate, she finds her strongest sense of identity defined by her absolute passion for flying…and especially for the freedom and exhilaration it brings to her.

The synopsis explains that this story is about Ida Mae Jones and what happens when she decides to join the WASP (Women's Airforce Service Pilots). However, the first third of the book is about her life in Slidell, Louisiana. We meet her friends, her family and see a bit of her interactions around town. We also learn about Ida Mae's passion to be a pilot. The writing is smooth and believable and really draws you into what it might have been like to be a young black girl in Louisiana in 1941.

Before long, we are given historical notes about America entering the war and about the sacrifices that people had to make. Finally, we learn about the WASP program and see Ida Mae grapple with the difficult decision of what she should do. As you know from the synopsis, she decides to try out for WASP and she ends up being accepted into the program. But in order to do so, she finds herself needing to "pass" as a white woman. She never explicitly says to anyone that she is white…but she doesn't have to. By dressing herself more "white" and by moving into white circles, she is essentially silently telling people she is no longer "black."

I loved that this book was written in first person. By having it in first person it allowed us to get very close to Ida Mae and to feel her anxieties, her regrets, her successes and her fears. I was very worried for her safety many times through her training and missions…not just because of the military aspect, but because her "passing" would have gotten her into a lot of trouble.

I found this book not only very entertaining but very interesting and educational. It was clear that the author did a lot of research on the era, on the war, on the WASP program and on most everything she shared with us in this novel. I really felt like I was reading about true moments from 1940s America.

My only real problem with the book was how it ended…not that it ended bad, but the position in which it ended. The end of the book leaves Ida Mae with a difficult decision about what to do with her future. And while I felt the author handled the ending very well and had Ida Mae make the decision that best fit her character and her life, I really wanted to know what happened next…in the following months, years, etc. Granted, that sort of speculation would be a hard ending to make and would result in a lot of problems for a writer and a reader. So it's probably best that we're left not knowing what happened next and we're thus left having to assume what happened based on what's presented in our novel and our own knowledge of the history of the times.

Overall I really enjoyed this book. It was a quick but very engaging read. The history, descriptions, characters, and actions were all vivid, entertaining and thought provoking. While not an action packed war novel, you did feel the anxiety of being in America during World War II as well as the stress and worry of Ida Mae as she struggled to find part of her identity while hiding another part. Even though this is a "young adult" novel due to its young characters and simpler writing/plot style, I found this to be a great read and could recommend it to teens or adults without problem. If you have any interest at all in WWII, black-white relations in the mid-1900s or aviation/air-force and women's place in it, then you'll enjoy this book. And if you don't have much/any interest in those things, I dare say this book may spark some interest for you. It's well written and very accessible even if you know nothing about those topics…and it's interesting enough that you may just find yourself wanting to know more.

3.5 out of 5 stars

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Review - Batman: The Killing Joke

2011-12-22T23:07:00.005-07:00

I've been a fan of Batman for as long as I can remember but only really via TV Shows, cartoons and movies. I never really got into the monthly comic book scene and haven't picked up many superhero graphic novels. But I've seen The Killing Joke sitting on the store and library shelves for a long while and it kept calling to me...until I finally read it.

Of the Batman villains, my favorite is the Riddler. Mostly this is due to my own penchant for riddles, puzzles, codes and random mind games. However, close behind Riddler's methods of toying with Batman, my next favorite antagonist is the Joker. Thus having the entire cover devoted to him, really made me eager to read this. Add to that the writing of Alan Moore and I was stoked to get into this.

Apparently the original novel had much less color (mostly black and white, from what I understand) but the one I read was the "remastered" (that's the term for movies...does it apply to books?) version with cleaned up art and color.

I really enjoyed the art style. It was a little greusome at times and there were a couple of scenes that I would have prefered a little less "graphic" in the graphic novel.

The story was very fast paced and the writing very tight. Rather than the long back stories and explanations from something like Watchmen or V for Vendetta, this book just jumped right through all the hoops and presented the story with clean, concise movements that kept the plot jolting forward.

Probably my favorite part in the whole book was during the actual joke at the end. The joke itself was alright, but having Batman give a half smirk really just cracked me up. The stoic, withdrawn Batman who never reveals his humanity let himself emit a small sense of appreciation at the Joker's joke. Not a laugh or a giggle...more just a slight exhale with even slighter motion at the corners of his lips, but enough to see Batman's humanity.

For Batman lovers, this is a fun book. It's definitely not for kids (violence, language and covered/implied nudity) but for the more mature Batman crowd, this is an enjoying read.

3.5 out of 5 stars

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Review - Jacob T. Marley

2011-12-21T12:19:00.000-07:00

We all know the story of Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol, right? Well, this new book tells the story of Jacob T. Marley both before and after he met Scrooge as well as what happened after he died and his side of the story familiar to us in A Christmas Carol.

When I first this book, I was a little nervous and unsure how good it would be. In recent years, there has been a wealth of books acting as sequels, prequels or retelling of classic tales (how many new versions of Pride and Prejudice do we really need?). Obviously with so much content coming out, there are both gems and stinkers. I went into this novel cautiously optimistic.

Within the first couple of pages I quickly became relieved that this book looked to be a winner. The style, tone and very language felt VERY reminiscent of Dickens' writing in his original work. There were naturally some snippets of modern vernacular but for the most part, I felt as though I was fully engaged in a piece of classic Victorian literature. The way the narrative was presented was very similar to the layout and presentation of Dickens' work and thus it felt like a very natural companion piece.

I will say that some of the segments were a bit more intense than those from A Christmas Carol. These weren't horrific or modernly grotesque by any means and would have naturally appeared other novels of the time (in fact they would have fit in naturally in some of Dickens other works) but they felt more intense than scenes from the original work. I won't call out specific details because I don't want to spoil the story…I'll just say that the 'fire rescue' scene struck me as slightly more intense than I would expect in the Christmas Carol story.

The first half of the book focused on Jacob's life up until his death. We get to see how his own greed developed, paralleled Scrooge and even mentored and shaped Scrooge into what he became. I really enjoyed the vivid backstory and well-rounded presentation of Marley's life. In the same way that Scrooge is an initially unlovable character, Marley is also very repulsive through the first half of this book.

As Marley dies, we are taken into an interesting new twist in the layout of the story. Instead of merely jumping ahead to Scrooge's experience on that fateful Christmas Eve, we first get to see into Marley's afterlife and the years between his death and his reappearance to Scrooge in the Dickens novel.

The presentation of Marley's afterlife is not overtly religious (there's a brief reference to "Him") but presents a lot of religious ideals. In A Christmas Carol, Dickens outlines Scrooge's numerous vices and presents counterpoints to him through the visions he sees. In this book, Jacob Marley engages in a conversation with a Spirit not present in the first book. Marley and this Spirit talk about the nature of humanity, morality, love, choice and other virtues. Their discussion felt natural and logical to the story while still definitely teaching a more profound message.

By the end of their conversation, Marley's remorse has extended into a hope for reconciliation not for himself (who he believes too far gone) but for Ebenezer Scrooge. Marley blames himself for leading Scrooge farther down the path that will lead to his eternal damnation. Marley pleads for the opportunity to help redeem Scrooge but first he must serve some of his own penance through wandering the earth with the chains of his own working.

After many years of wandering, Jacob Marley finally arrives at the crossroads we are all familiar with…his visit to Scrooge and the subsequent visits of the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future. At this point, I expected the book to skip ahead or onto some parallel path rather than to let Marley share the journey with Scrooge. I was surprised to find that Marley was invited, even compelled, to travel with the ghosts and Scrooge (invisible to Scrooge, of course) to learn more about the nature of love, compassion, joy and goodness.

I really enjoyed seeing this aspect of the story through a different perspective. The side discussions between Marley and the various ghosts were also very fun and interesting and provided more insight. When Scrooge talked with the Ghosts, he was still caught up in his own greed, pride and humanity. When Marley spoke with the Ghosts, he did so with the insight of a soul long dead and already striving for his own redemption. As such, the commentary was more overt and direct.

Given the choice between the two books, I would probably read A Christmas Carol instead of Jacob T. Marley…but truly they are both very quick reads and great companion pieces to each other, so I think my preference would actually be to read both of them.

I am thoroughly impressed by this addition to the Christmas tradition. Bennett did a great job capturing the tone and feel of Dickens' classic work. Furthermore, he took the opportunity to expound on the wonderful lessons and emotions that we should share and teach at Christmastime. I found myself absolutely enjoying this book and eagerly recommending it to others. A fun and edifying read.

4.5 out of 5 stars

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Merry Christmas - Inspirational Videos

2011-12-20T07:30:00.004-07:00

And as a balance to the humorous videos, here are a couple of inspirational videos.

Merry Christmas to you and yours!

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Merry Christmas - Humorous videos

2011-12-20T07:28:00.014-07:00

Just in time for Christmas, here's some video fun from JibJab and other sources.

From my family to you and yours...Merry Christmas. :)

A Christmas Carol

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A Christmas Story

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Elves

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It's a Wonderful Life

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More Elves

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Let's take a Sleigh Ride

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A Calvin & Hobbes tribute

Phineas & Ferb

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (warning - expletives)

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Review - Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

2011-12-19T18:20:00.002-07:00

I was super excited when I first heard the news that they were making a sequel to the recent Sherlock Holmes film. I absolutely loved the first movie. Holmes and Waston were wonderfully portrayed. The setting and cinematography were great. And the plot was absolutely enjoyable. I was also stoked when, in the first film, they introduced Moriarty as a character hiding behind the scenes but at the very end of the film becoming the prey to Sherlock's intellect. I suspected we'd see a sequel, and I suspected we'd see Moriarty play a greater role.

So yes, I was super excited going into this film. Because of the nature of the plot, I tried hard to avoid any information about the story. And I will try to provide the same courtesy here by avoiding any spoilers in this review. Instead, I'll give sort of general reactions.

The first general reaction I had was that this movie was so much LARGER in scope than the first film. In terms of setting, we find ourselves whisking around Europe investigating things in numerous countries unlike the first film that stayed not only in England, but just in London. The changing environments allowed for more over the top sets and scenes. In some of these I felt like the sets were a little too over the top and lost some of the charm of the smaller settings of the first film.

I also felt like the action and adventure had been cranked up to the extreme as compared to the first film. The fights were longer, the explosions were bigger and the chases were longer. Again, the larger than life adventure was fun but I missed some of the charm from the smaller investigations and interactions. I really did like some of the cinematic effects during the larger scenes (such as the transition between fast-and-slow during the chase scene through the forest). I also really enjoyed the effects reused from the first movie such as the panning, transition of focus and other camera effects that helped us to see the scenes through the perspective of Sherlock's observation techniques.

I absolutely loved having Moriarty as the villain in this story. I'm always a fan of seeing the hero go up against his arch-nemesis. In the books, I wish there was more involvement with Moriarty, so I was stoked to have him be in this second film. I loved the dialogues between Holmes and Moriarty…each one fully aware of the scrutiny from the other…each one respecting the skills of the other while viciously trying to undermine their efforts. I felt that Moriarty was well cast and well executed, though perhaps a bit stereotyped and lacking at times…generally he was good.

I was a little bummed that Irene Adler played a smaller role in this film...I guess they figured they needed some new female blood to pit against Holmes's wit and they figured that it would have been too much to have two female leads on screen at the same time. The gypsy character Sim was interesting, but not nearly as engaging as Adler.

The overall plot and mystery was, like other aspects of the movie, taken to the extreme when compared with the first film (which is especially worth noting since the plot of the first film was adequately complex already). At times, this plot felt overly convoluted for the sake of added complexity. At other times, the revelations felt too simple or mundane. Still…sometimes the best plots are those that draw you in with complexity and intrigue only to stun you with something so simple that its success seems inevitable.

I felt like the various moments of investigation and revelation weren't handled quite as well in this film. Partly due to the complexity, partly to the way the various parts were solved…I just felt like the smooth, calculated Holmesian deduction from the first film was perfect…and in this film it felt a bit more rushed or unbalanced.

Finally…the ending of the film. As I mentioned, I will work to avoid spoilers. I will say that for those who have read Holmes and Moriarty, you will be somewhat familiar with what to expect…at least to some regard. While the plot of this movie is certainly a new story that doesn't map to an original from the Conan Doyle books, I was pleasantly surprised to see them pull in elements from the original Holmes-Moriarty relationship.

During the final scene between Holmes and Moriarty, we had another interesting directorial/cinematic choice…instead of just being given a glimpse into Holmes' analytical reasoning, we see Moriarty's analysis as well. I thought this was very fun to see each of them plotting out what would happen in the next few moments, even to the extent that their analysis overlapped one another. It was a lot of fun.

Scanning back over what I've written so far, I worry that you may get the wrong impression and feel like I disliked this movie. On the contrary, I absolutely loved this film. Like the first one, I was very impressed with the sets, the costumes, the music and the cinematics. They all did a great job of drawing me in to the reality of the time and setting.

I had a lot of fun with the new characters for this movie (particulary Stephen Fry as Mycroft Holmes…though I could have done well to have him leave his clothes on the whole movie…that particular departure left me unsettled). I again felt like Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law did a great job as Holmes and Watson and had a wonderful chemistry. This movie presented a more frantic and frenzied Holmes that somewhat unbalanced the smooth deduction skills from the first film, but felt logical given the circumstances of this adventure.

My biggest complaint of this film is also one of the things that makes it so much fun…the fact that it Went Big. The adventure was taken over the top. This gave the movie a somewhat different feeling than the first film. The story was still very enjoyable and a lot of fun but some aspects felt more like a big-budget adventure film than a methodical mystery to be solved. Fortunately I like both genres and had a lot of fun seeing this new Holmes find his way through the adventure.

So in some ways this movie was better than the first and in other was it wasn't as good…but generally speaking, it was just as good as the first and was primarily just different in tone and style. Some people may be turned off by some of the differences, but I really enjoyed it and hope they continue on with the series.

5 out of 5 stars

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Review - Doc: A Novel

2011-12-16T05:18:00.008-07:00

I enjoy the stories of the "wild west" and early American expansionism but I am far from being historically knowledgable. I have a lot of fun with a good western movie and as a kid I ran around playing Cowboys and Indians (I know it's not the "politically correct" term, but that's what we called it). I knew a little about Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday and the rest, but what I knew came from myths, legends and a couple of movies (I absolutely loved Val Kilmer's portrayal). I've hiked up to Doc Holliday's grave in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. I don't know a lot of details about the Wild West beyond what I've seen in movies, but I am very intrigued by the stories and adventures.

I was intrigued by this biopic novel "Doc: A Novel" and excited get a copy from Amazon Vine. I was stoked to get to know a bit more about this enigmatic character. The author, Mary Doria Russell, apparently did a considerable amount of research, not only into the myths and legends surrounding Doc Holliday but also into family histories, letters, journals and other resources to get a more personal view into Doc. While the novel contains a number of fictionalized events and interactions, it is grounded in fact and works to provide an intriguing picture of how Doc may have acted and interacted in the Wild West.

The style of the novel was interesting. It was divided into sections which were labeled according to the different segments of a hand of cards (the shuffle, the ante, the deal, etc) and each section of the book built on the previous sections accordingly. The writing also played with the assumption that the readers knew at least something of Doc Holliday. As such, the book not only foreshadowed certain events but explicitly called to attention some events in Doc's life (such as the fact that he would die of tuberculosis or that he'd be involved in a shootout at the O.K. Corral).

The book follows Doc's life from birth to death. The accounts of his childhood starts with the interesting historical insight into his birth with a cleft palette and the experimental remedy to help him. We learn about early dentistry. We learn about Doc's passion for learning and music. He was still very young when he exhibited the symptoms of tuberculosis and he moved West with the hope that the drier climate would do him good.

He moves around briefly before we find the setting of the majority of the book: Dodge City, Kansas. By then he's met his companion Kate and found himself very adept at cards. He meets the Earp brothers, Bat Masterson and others. He works hard to get a dental practice up and running while still making most of his money through gambling.

Rather than being a simple biography outlining events in Doc's life, the novel sets up a fun little fictional mystery involving Wyatt Earp, a large amount of borrowed money, a crooked card player, and a murder. This particular plot arc is subtly woven throughout the center of the book. While it's definitely not the heart of the novel, it is the one main story arc that stays alive the longest and it is interesting enough to do so in a natural fashion.

As a side note, from a content standpoint, this book would receive an "R" rating for language, violence and suggestive situations….with most of that being due to language. Cursing is pervasive in the book and at many points it was a bit abrasive for my tastes. The violence was actually fairly minimal, especially considering the setting. And I was actually relieved to find the "suggestive situations" to be fairly minimal as well and definitely not explicit or overt…which again was surprising considering the presence of brothels and of the sexually free nature of Doc's girlfriend Kate.

Personally, I really enjoyed each of the shorter vignettes that make up the overall book. The characters and stories are very vivid and fun. Their personalities are distinctive and interesting and made for a very fun read. I especially loved the demeanor of Doc. He's presented as being so smooth and unflappable. He's very knowledgable and superior to those around him and yet he is filled with respect and humility which he freely gives to anyone until they prove themselves unworthy of it.

I still don't know the distinction between fact and fiction, but I have a better picture for Doc Holliday and, even though I know it's fictionalized, it feels very 3-dimensional and realistic. The course language and content make it hard for me to recommend this to everybody. If the language were toned down a bit, I might rate it higher. If you've got a passion or even just a strong interest for the Wild West or Doc Holliday, you will likely enjoy this novel.

3.5 out of 5 stars

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Review - The Man in the Iron Mask (book)

2011-12-14T18:47:00.002-07:00

First I must admit that even though I've seen a few movie renditions, this is the first time I've read The Man in the Iron Mask. Furthermore, this is the first book I've read by Dumas…and it is kind of a strange place to start considering this is the ending of one of his famous series.

The first thing I noticed about the writing was that it was VERY detailed. Not only in terms of descriptions but also in terms of the character and political development. I quickly found myself overwhelmed with dozens of names, roles and relationships (personal and political) throughout France and neighboring countries. It was dizzying to try to keep them all straight, especially considering a number of similar names as well as the habit of referring to some people by different names at different times (sometimes by their common name, sometimes by their political/professional title). After a while, I sank in and was able to keep at least the principal characters straight. and I got caught up in the intriguing machinations that were unfolding.

Having seen two movie versions, I felt like I had a good feel for what to expect from the plot. However, it quickly became apparent that the movie versions I've seen (and from what I can tell, this is true of most of the movie versions out there) are rather different from the novel.

Interestingly, the story of the "man in the iron mask" is only a small portion of the overall plot of this particular book. And that plot segment unravels itself through the first third of the book and then disappears completely. In the movie versions, the way the "iron mask" plot ends is strikingly different from what happens in the book. The remaining half+ of the book has nothing to do with the "man in the iron mask" (except for the consequences of the plot) and instead follows the famous musketeers to the ends of their careers/lives.

It was still adventurous and a lot of fun…but was different from what I expected. So, now that I know that I shouldn't compare the book to the movie at all, and feeling more comfortable with the characters and plot…I am able to look back over the book as a whole in an entirely different light.

As I said, the writing was very detailed. In some cases it felt like the details were a littler superfluous and over the top, but mostly I found it very immersive to be provided with that level of detail. Some of the characters felt a bit stereotypical but the main characters were unique and intriguing. They had significant depth which provided them with believable motivations to their various actions and dialog. The one exception I saw was the prince in the scene where he was anticipating D'Artangan's every action. We had previously been given to expect the prince to be incapable of strategic planning or foresight and suddenly we find him anticipating the motivations and reactions of a thoughtful and strategic man. To me, that was a bit of a stretch. I can discount it a bit based on the other character who was feeding the prince with various ideas and can thus attribute the insight to this other character (being vague to try and avoid spoilers).

I really found myself enjoying the overall story. The "man in the iron mask" portion was very interesting and fun. I was shocked to see it end so different from the movies, but it felt more natural and believable. Then to have so much adventure after that plot arc, I had a ton of fun. While the intrigue and machinations of carrying out the "iron mask" plot were fun and intriguing, I'd heard/scene them so often that they became commonplace. Thus, the adventure that happened after the "iron mask" was fresh to me and that made it so much more fun.

Overall I will admit that, if this book is any indication, Dumas is a heavy read. This book was filled with very detailed accounts of places, people, politics and other comings and goings of France. This was both a joy and a hindrance at times. There were moments when I felt bogged down by the text, but mostly I really enjoyed the vivid experience and the immense detail I was given. I probably should have started with the first book in the series ("The Three Musketeers") but I was familiar enough with the characters that it worked out all right. Even though he's a heavy read that took me a while to get through, I will definitely seek out and read more Dumas in the future.

4 out of 5 stars

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Review - The Throne of Fire

2011-12-13T12:41:00.003-07:00

The Throne of Fire is the second book in Riordan's 'Kane Chronicles' series. Similar to his Percy Jackson series, this book follows the life of kids with a connection to a magical mythical past…in this case, the world of Egyptian gods and goddesses.

As in the first novel in the series, this book alternates narrators between brother and sister Sadie and Carter Kane. The first book was more a book of discovery and introduction to the world. They learned about their ties to Egyptian past and their abilities to wield magic through their ties to the House of Life.

This second book takes us on a new journey of adventure in which the Kanes are hunted both by human magicians from the House of Life (who are against magicians aligning themselves with the gods) and from the Egyptian gods and goddesses who are trying to free Apophis, the ancient lord of Chaos who will destroy the world.

In the previous book, Carter and Sadie were serving as vessels for the gods Horus and Isis. In this book, they still have links to those gods but no longer posses their essence/skill. Thus, the young novices are in even more dire straits than before. Fortunately they have allies willing to help them, but only to an extent. Even with the help of some minor gods, the Kanes still have to do a lot of the heavy work themselves.

There are also strange moments of romantic tension in the book. Carter is pining after the co-starring heroine from the first book (Zia) and Sadie is caught in a love triangle between the god Anubis and a mortal magician she's training. Carter is a little older than Sadie (I think he's 14 and she's 13 in this book), but they still seem a little young to be having so many romantic thoughts…especially in the middle of a world-ending crisis. I guess moments of intensity can lead to intense emotions, but the romantic longings still felt misplaced. Fortunately they weren't terribly overt.

I still find this series a bit slower read than the Percy Jackson series but at the same time it's a bit more interesting and educational since I know less about the Egyptian mythos. I really enjoy the alternate voices of Carter and Sadie. They are both sarcastic and witty but they also have distinct tones and reactions, which makes the narrative deeper and more engaging. I also had a lot of fun with some of the new characters introduced to the mix (the god Bes was very funny).

I found the adventure/plot of this book more intriguing than that of The Red Pyramid. Looking back at the Red Pyramid, that plot from a high level is very much boilerplate adventure. While this second book still has a lot of standard tropes or cliches from adventure novels, the method of execution felt more fresh and engaging and left me enjoying this book more than the first.

4 out of 5 stars

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Davis County and the Blustery Day(s)

2011-12-05T18:46:00.000-07:00

Well, the past few days have been rather adventurous. Last Monday or so, the meteorologists warned us of severe wind to come later in the week. Now, we've had windy days before…though it's been a long time since I even remember them treating it with the kind of warning they did this time and many years since I remember there being any prolonged wind of any significance. So, while we prepared a little bit, I certainly wasn't expecting the kind of storm we received.

Starting Wednesday evening and though about 10 or 11 AM on Thursday, we had HUGE sustained blasts of wind. I heard varying reports, but it seems the consensus is that the average wind force was up in the 80-90 mph range with numerous gusts up in the 100+ mph range. Somebody already put up a wikipedia entry with some of the details. :)

Before I had looked outside, I rolled over and called the school district hotline to see if school was canceled…according to the message, all schools were in session, so I started pushing the kids to get ready for school. Lynette, who had been awake a lot of the night due to the wind, was adamant that they were NOT going to school. Looking out the windows, it looked very blustery but I still wasn't convinced of the extreme nature of the storm.

Our shed doors had been blown open along with the new gate of our fence. The kids let me know that our tramp frame had been blown around and that our basketball backboard was blown off. I rushed outside to shut and secure the shed doors and the fence gate. The wind was definitely strong and made it hard to get everything shut up nice and tight. Our trampoline frame had scooted over a dozen feet and crumpled up a bit as it got caught up in our apple tree (which had shed apples all over the ground). As I was on my way back inside, I noticed that my car (or rather the tree next to my car) was being assaulted by someone's aluminum shed/awning/carport structure that had blown down the road.

Back inside, the power flickered a few times and then died completely. I conceded that the kids should stay home and that I'd stay home from work. A few minutes later, the school secretary called directly to let us know that school was in fact canceled, but due to the power outage, they hadn't been able to update the emergency message or send out a message on the emergency dialer program.

We snuggled down and rested for a few hours while we waited for the wind to die down. Once the wind died down, we surveyed the scene. We lost a bunch of shingles off of our roof as well as our basketball backboard (which had just ripped itself from the pole it was mounted on) but otherwise, our damage was negligible. The aluminum shed that had blown into our yard ended up whipping around in the tree until it tore itself into three chunks in our yard and our neighbor's yard (sadly, one of the chunks broke the window of my neighbor's car).

Wandering around it was quickly apparent that we got off lucky. I walked across the neighborhood, following the sound of chainsaws. As I did, I saw dozens of HUGE trees that either snapped or completely uprooted themselves. Most landed in yards or on fences, but there were a few that pulled down power lines and/or landed on roofs. Across the neighborhood sheds were destroyed, trees downed, fences pulverized, trampolines dislocated (one of them managed to fly across multiple yards, up over a roof and lodge itself in a tree at the end of the block). It looked like a warzone or (as one of the guys put it) a zombie apocalypse, especially once you added in a bunch of folks walking around with chainsaws and other heavy hand tools.

Following the chainsaw sounds, I found a group of guys with the right tools and we started chopping and clearing trees around the neighborhood…the initial goal just being to get them off houses, out of the streets and sidewalks and away from power lines. For the next ~3 days we cut and cleared over and over. And yet, in many cases, it didn't feel like we were even making much of a dent against these huge trees.

Thursday night, I gathered with a group of people and we started canvassing the neighborhood to check and make sure people had food, warmth and shelter. About midway through our canvassing, the power came back on…to much applause.

Unfortunately, there were still a couple dozen neighbors without power…and theirs stayed off until Sunday evening. Generators, camp stoves, and other supplies were offered to those without power…along with inviting them over to power filled homes for hot meals, warm places to rest, hot showers, etc.

On Friday, I had to go to an appointment across town and was amazed at the scope of the damage throughout the city. Hundreds of trees uprooted. Sheds, garages, carports, etc dislocated or destroyed. Power poles, flag poles and other tall objects bent over or knocked down. Lots of business signs just blown out. Part of an apartment parking structure collapsed. Just devastation all over.

Saturday night, the news came in that another wind warning was prescribed for Sunday night thru Monday morning. Up to that point, we had been stacking all of the debris along the park strips at the edge of the road.

But with another storm coming, those stacks of debris now became huge piles of disaster waiting to happen. We went to church Sunday morning and very shortly the word came to go back home, get into our "grubbies" and go move all the debris. Trucks and trailers came from all over the neighborhood and we started loading up.

Once again, due to the size of these trees, it felt like we would never get all of the piles moved in time. And yet through a miraculous effort we managed to clear out all of the major piles of debris from around our neighborhood. The line to get to the city dump was huge...I heard tales of waiting ~90 minutes to get a load into the gate (a video below shows a crew counting the ~400 vehicles they passed on the way out). The city/county had set up numerous emergency dumping areas around the city and we found ourselves part of a county-wide caravan to clean up the mess. The national guard was called out to help with the cleanup and everybody pulled together.

This morning, I was very relieved to see that last night's windstorm had been minimal comparatively. I didn't see any additional damage and the power was still on. I know there's still plenty of cleanup work to be done.

There are still quite a few huge trees that need to be chopped up…there are fences to be rebuilt…and shingles/roofs to be repaired. Hopefully we can get the major work done before the snow really starts flying.

The past 4 days have been an amazing example of what we can do when we all pull together and just get the work done. There were so many people out there helping and nobody was complaining or shirking the work. Everybody just did whatever they could to help their neighbor.

And we got it all done.

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Review - The Three Musketeers (2011 Movie)

2011-11-30T18:10:00.000-07:00

I had moderate-to-high expectations for this film. Unfortunately (for me), my expectations were based on a misconception of the tone and nature the director/producer/etc decided to take.

When I first heard the announcement that they were making a new Three Musketeers movie, I was excited. I love the story and have enjoyed a number of fun film and stage renditions. As I heard about the casting decisions and saw early pictures of the sets and costumes, I grew more excited.

Upon seeing additional images and finally seeing the trailer, I grew a little nervous about the direction of the movie, but my excitement level stayed high. I saw the crazy weapons, the flying air ship and the matrix-like slide of Milady through a hallway of projectiles and was a bit worried that they might change this into "Steampunk Musketeers"…but then I decided that if they had intended to make that change, the teaser information out there probably would have focused more on that scale of difference. The second trailer showed quite a bit more of the changes and should have been the giveaway for me...but sadly I never saw the second trailer until I sought it out "after" seeing the movie. Don't get me wrong, "Steampunk Musketeers" could be very fun...but that's not what I went into this film expecting (and no, that's not what this movie is, so don't even let your hopes rise that far).

I didn't get out to see this when it was initially released and somehow I missed any/all press or buzz about the movie. So when I sat down in the theater, I was still largely blind as to what to expect.

Right from the beginning, things took a turn for the "different" and it became apparent that this movie was taking some literary license. I accepted that, after all, I did enjoy the Disney version from the 90s and that has some significant differences.

As the movie progressed, however, I grew more and more disappointed.

Let me first state the positives:

The casting was great - as I mentioned, upon early news of the film and casting, I was very excited for the actors & actresses chosen. And when given the opportunity, they really made their various roles shine
The music was engaging - I really liked the score and may even seek out the soundtrack
The sets were stunning - I thought they did a great job creating Paris.
- On a semi-related note, during the opening credits and various other parts of the film, they used a sort of "miniature" map with little army/navy pieces marching across the map to each other…I thought this was stylistically very cool
The costumes were generally pretty good - I take issue with some of the costuming (particularly the crazy back and forth between Buckingham and the Prince…as well as the outrageous dresses of Milady) but generally I thought they were pretty good

Now, I will try to rant without getting to verbose or out of control.

I went into this movie expected (first) an updated version of the classic story of The Three Musketeers. Upon seeing the airship in the trailer, I was a little nervous that this would change, but since I never saw much in the trailer suggesting widespread changes, I wasn't too nervous.

The airships, while a significant change, could have been pulled off as an intriguing inclusion to the story…had they made the story remain compelling.

Where everything fell apart for me was that all of the depth and intrigue just wasn't there. The characters were more like caricatures or archetypes with nothing beneath their thin facades. Even the most intriguing plot elements were glossed over into nothing but a quick/brief bit of dialog or something alluded to by a cursory action.

Instead of the deep, rousing story of political intrigue pitted against honor and courage, I found myself watching a stereotypical hollywood action movie complete with cheesy tongue-in-cheek dialog and over-the-top explosions and fight scenes. The drama and passion of the Dumas tale flew out the window.

Furthermore, the movie kept pulling out one ridiculous scene after another until I wasn't sure if it was trying to be serious or farcical. I kept catching glimmers of the great story but the glimmers quickly faded to be replaced by flash and sizzle.

Instead of a great, classic adventure movie with intriguing characters, great swordplay, and suspenseful twists and turns I found myself watching an over-the-top action film filled with explosions and other loud booms that was trying really hard to be silly while at the same time taking itself way too seriously. The whole experience was very schizophrenic.

Now I will acknowledge, once again, that I went into this expecting the classic story just presented with some new camera effects/costumes/sets/etc. So I guess some of the fault falls on my own expectations.

But when a director calls a movie "The Three Musketeers" and goes to the trouble of advertising it as such, that seems to set my expectations. If the intention was to make an outrageous over the top action film set in ~1700s France…that's great, but don't call it "The Three Musketeers." That just carries too much baggage.

I'm not usually a "purist" and I'm fine with some variation…but this version went a little too far while setting my expectations for only a subtle change. My brother and dad who went with me to see the film certainly had different expectations and came out really enjoying the movie. Which makes me think I'm a little to harsh in my judgment.

What about the rest of you? If you've seen this film, what do you think? Because I came out of the movie very annoyed and generally disappointed. It just felt like a huge waste of potential.

1.5 out of 5 stars

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Review - The Death Cure

2011-11-28T04:15:00.000-07:00

I've been looking forward to The Death Cure since I finished The Scorch Trials last year. I have a love/hate relationship with series books like this. I love the added depth and intrigue they bring…I hate it when I'm reading a series that's still being written because then I have to wait for the author to release the next book. :)

This is the third and final book in The Maze Runner series (although a prequel has just been announced). I suppose you could jump in mid-stream but I certainly wouldn't recommend it. There's just too much backstory from the first too books, plus you don't want to deprive yourself of those great adventures.

I'm really a sucker for the new trend in dystopian novels. I have a lot of fun with a hero trying to do all he/she can to not only make the best of a bad situation but to somehow overcome the hopeless and pitiful state of the world.

In this book we are taken to a dramatic conclusion as Thomas and his friends from the Glade try to make sense of the world around them and somehow continue the fight not only for survival but for a future worth living. I loved the line written on the cover: "The time for lies is over." Both of the first two books were filled with so much deceit and confusion that throughout this entire book I still found myself questioning what to believe. Even as events unfolded, I wasn't entirely sure what was real and what might still be a subterfuge.

This book and series pose a lot of questions through the plot and the characters. What is truth? What is good? Can the ends justify the means in any situation? Even in WICKED situations? Who can you trust? Can you trust yourself? I loved the way these questions were explored in depth but never answered definitively…rather, the reader is left to ponder on them and to come to an individual judgment call.

I found the ending of a book a little bit contrived and just slightly disappointing. While I can agree that the ending works, I think I was hoping for just a bit more. Especially after all of the buildup. I think part of the reason this ending may have fallen flat is that I have recently finished up another series that had an ending that was strikingly similar in the way things played out. Don't get me wrong…I'm not crying "foul" (and certainly not implying plagiarism). I honestly think the ending is fine…but I personally wanted more. Though as I think on it, with all of the many problems to unravel in this book, I would be hard pressed to come up with an ending that works as well as this one does…let alone to propose something that might work better.

In the end, I really enjoyed this series and was sad to see it end. I was super excited to hear that a prequel is in the works…not only because it allows me to re-enter Dashner's world but also because by being a prequel it will allow for more focus on those hard questions and provide more insight into how and why decisions were made.

As far as recommendations, I really enjoyed this book and can recommend the series. I will warn readers that the series grows more dark and violent with each book. So if you read the first one and find that some of the concepts are too intense for you, I would suggest you brace yourself before diving into books 2 and 3. But if you enjoy dystopia and/or a good thrilling adventure with a lot of twists and turns, then give this a try.

4 out of 5 stars

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Review - The Good Earth

2011-11-24T23:53:00.000-07:00

My sister-in-law recommended The Good Earth after she read it (having found it on one of those "100 best books you must read" lists). I must admit to not knowing much of anything about Chinese history or culture, nor about the author. So I went into this book with a clean slate in terms of expectations.

The writing style is clean and simple while being complex at the same time. The sentence structures were particularly complex with very long meandering sentences. I found myself wondering if the sentence and paragraph style/structure was something of a commentary on Chinese existence as much as the plot and characters.

The characters are intriguing if a little flat at some times. The main character, Wang Lung, is a vivid character with a lot of inner reflection on how life works and how things should be. His wife, O-Lan, is more distanced from us but still has vital importance and as such is very interesting.

The overall story follows Wang Lung's life over many years…from late youth (his wedding) all the way through his death. There is a lot of exploration of Chinese traditions, family structures, social structures and life in general. I've read some commentary on the book that praises the accuracy of the level of detail for early 1900s China. To me it was both refreshing and enlightening to see many similarities between agrarian China and agrarian America. While there are certainly many differentiators, I found myself reflecting on books set around farm/land workers in America or Britain and finding many similarities of tone and feeling.

The uniquely Chinese elements were naturally foreign to me but the author did a great job of providing adequate detail and description to help me understand them easily. I appreciated that these descriptions were not merely expository but came in through natural commentary, internal monologue or action. It enabled me to feel like I was learning something about China without sitting through a social studies lecture.

The story arc certainly had its depressive and frustrating moments. It was heartbreaking to see Wang Lung's livelihood fall apart due to changes in the weather. It was harsh to see him scrape for survival. It was just as (or even more) heart wrenching to see his behavior once times changed and he was able to return to his farming and become very successful. The numerous plot twists that tore at his family made for very interesting reading. I found myself alternately feeling bad for Wang Lung and despising the things he was doing. As the pages turned, I moved between pitying him and praising him.

While this isn't a book I had heard of before and isn't necessarily the type of thing I would seek out, I was glad to have it recommended and I'm glad to have read it. It is a well written book that provides an educational overview of Chinese life while being emotionally stirring and intriguing. It provides many great illustrations of the pain and suffering felt while scraping by at the edge of poverty and striving to overcome hardships…coupled with the difficulties of balancing familial respect with personal self-worth and pride.

I can say that this book certainly wouldn't be for everyone. It's not offensive (at least as far as I can tell with my westernized ideals) but the content and tone could be a barrier to some readers. Comparing it to Western literature, I could see it in a similar vein with John Steinbeck or Thomas Hardy. To me, it felt similar in tone and content. If you're interested in Chinese culture and life, or find yourself intrigued by the realistic hardship of life in the late 1800s/early 1900s, give The Good Earth a try. I think you'll enjoy it.

4 out of 5 stars

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Happy Thanksgiving 2011 - from Okie & JibJab

2011-11-24T00:01:00.001-07:00

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Happy Thanksgiving 2011

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Review - Rise of the Darklings (The Invisible Order Book 1)

2011-11-08T21:38:00.008-07:00

Rise of the Darklings is the first book in a series (of at least 2 books). I received a review copy from Amazon Vine and rom a high level, the premise reminded me a bit of the Spiderwick or Fablehaven and other recent books…you have a young girl, Emily, who is able to see the magical world of faerie/fey creatures living among us. And she has a fun adventure because of this gift of sight. There were a few things that differentiated this book from those series…the first being that this book is set in Victorian England rather than the present day. Added to that is the fact that Emily is a poverty stricken orphan working by selling watercress on the streets.

For some reason, the writing style and/or language rubbed me wrong for the first couple of chapters. I'm not exactly sure what bothered me…whether it was the sentence structure, the semi-internal monologues of the characters or something else. It was a minor quibble but enough of one that through the first ~30 pages, I found myself not really getting into the story because I was distracted by the "feel" of the writing. However, after a few chapters, it felt natural and I was able to be absorbed by the story.

As I mentioned, the concept of faerie/magic creatures co-existing secretly is something that's been very popular lately. The plot and general story arc are creative and engaging and I quickly set aside my fears that this would be a "cookie cutter" book. Young Emily inadvertently finds herself sucked into a war between factions of fey creatures as well as being shown a mysterious society of humans who are seeking out the creatures for some reason (destruction, knowledge, power, something else)?

I personally really enjoyed the intrigue and mystery of trying to figure out which group (humans, fey group 1, fey group 2, etc) could be trusted. Or, if none of them can be wholly trusted (as seems to be the case), which one is telling enough of the truth to unravel the problem of the story.

As the book went on, I loved the layer upon layer of various subplots and foreshadowing. As I neared the end of the book, it became obvious that not everything was going to be wrapped up in this book. Just from the title, it was obvious that there was going to be a sequel, but the way the book ended somewhat surprised me. The book tied up enough of the loose ends to give a generally satisfying conclusion, but it also ended with a pretty dramatic cliffhanger that makes me want to go check out the second book.

The book felt pretty appropriate for a target audience of ~10-12 year olds. Making the protagonist a girl will potentially help appeal to girl readers…while the adventure and the secondary male characters will help boys relate as well. The writing was simple enough to be accessible to younger readers while still having plenty of heavier vocabulary and historical/geographical/etc information to help readers stretch. The violence was fairly minimal and the language was pretty age appropriate though I think there were one or two instances of mild curse words. Overall, I would feel comfortable letting my kids read this.

I went into this book a bit wary that it was going to be the "same old thing" and I finished with the feeling that this is a refreshing fun take on a popular genre. The young characters sometimes felt old beyond their years, but as a middle-grader book, that's somewhat to be expected. The descriptive storytelling and the intriguing plot drew me in and left me wanting more. I definitely look forward to seeing what happens next.

3.5 out of 5 stars

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Happy Halloween - Annual family JibJab video

2011-10-27T02:40:00.000-06:00

I guess doing it two years in a row kind of makes it a tradition.

Enjoy this cheesy Halloween video from JibJab with my family having some Halloween fun.

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Weekend Getaway - A Trip to Eden

2011-10-25T20:23:00.001-06:00

Last weekend was "UEA" which basically means the kids get a 4 day weekend from school. A month or two ago, we bought a groupon-style weekend getaway to Snowberry Inn Bed & Breakfast up in Eden. We figured it would make a fun little last-hoorah mini-vacation before winter hit.

It ended up being wonderfully timed as well because Lynette has just been scheduled for hip surgery this coming week, so it was awesome to be able to get away and have some relaxing, traveling, out of doors fun before she's bed-ridden for lengthy recovery.

On the way up, we went along Trappers Loop and around the East side of Pineview Reservoir. It's been a long time since I'd driven Trappers and it was fun to see the rolling hills as we skirted through the mountains.

The kids made it nearly all the way to Eden before asking "are we there yet?". As we followed the directions to Snowberry, I thought maybe the magical Interwebs had come up with a bad address.

Coming from the southeast, we were directed along the southern edge of Eden from the East side of town across to what I figured was the road out of town and started driving southwest along the Highway towards Ogden.

A mile or so down the road, we spotted the sign and a few hundred yards off the highway, we spotted our Inn.

Snowberry is a nice, well kept 3-level cabin with probably 8 or 9 guest rooms. Since it was my wife and the kids, we had booked the Sundance suite.

As we carried our luggage to the room, the kids were excited to find an entertainment room with videos, a pool table and a foosball table on our basement level.

The room was quite nice…it was set up studio style with a kitchen joining onto a living room furnished with a futon and two fold out chairs. Off the living room area was a separate bedroom.

The entire cabin was furnished with a sort of ski theme. We had some fun rustic styled decorations that made the place feel homey and cozy.

We explored the rest of the cabin for a few minutes. The main level had the dining area with 3 or 4 tables for us all to catch breakfast in the morning. The top level had a piano and chess table set up on the landing. Winding around there was a common room with TVs, an exercise machine, checkers and other general entertainment. There were shelves and shelves of books, videos and a few board games. Outside the huge windows was a great view of the valley.

We drove into Eden for dinner. Using Yelp, I'd found Harley & Buck's which sounded like fun. It was a little (ok, a lot) pricier than we had planned, but it made for a fun night. Jason had been wanting to try sushi, so I ordered a roll for us to share…sadly I think the thing barely touched his tongue before it was spewed back onto his plate. He's not a fan. Otherwise, everybody enjoyed the food…very tasty. Once again we had a great view overlooking the valley with a golf course stretching out beneath us.

Back at Snowberry, the kids plopped down with some Disney Channel fun while Lynette and I relaxed in the hot tub while twilight rolled in. As it started getting dark, they lit up strings of lights along the eaves of the cabin for a very pretty sight. Back in the room, we pulled out the board games we had packed. First we played a little UNO and then broke into groups. The boys and I played some Settlers of Catan while the girls played Cartagena for a while before we all hit the sack.

In the morning, we headed upstairs to join the other guests for breakfast. Based on what I saw, I'd say the Inn was at probably ~75% capacity. Luckily, the groups were staggered enough that there was always seating at the tables, but there was a point where all of the chairs were occupied such that if any other guests had come in, they would've had to wait.

The food was decent, but nothing spectacular. The kids weren't big fans of the Egg casserole dish (almost a crustless quiche, but not quite). Unfortunately, they were running low on french toast sticks, which would likely have been the most popular item for the kids. Fortunately, they had cereal, fruit, hash browns, sausage, bacon and other staples that the kids gobbled down.

After breakfast, we went for a little mini-hike. We had fences around us but we were able to keep walking up the road the Inn was on for a nice little hike up into the mountain. The uneven road quickly became a dirt road, then mud and grass covered and finally turned into a pair of lines worn by tires but mostly overgrown with grass and weeds.

We hiked past a run down house and garage that looked tied to the Inn property. A bit further we came across some other homes that looked maintained, though we didn't see any occupants. As we got higher, we could see the valley stretch out below us.

Sunlight was reflecting off the water in the reservoir making it shimmer. We could see a few horses in the fields and the kids had fun looking for deer and other animal tracks in the soft dirt along the road.

After our hike, we went back to our room and relaxed for a little bit before packing up. Before heading out of town, we decided to grab some lunch at Eats of Eden.

It was still a little early for lunch, so first we went down to the Eden City Park and let the kids play for a bit. Lynette and Andrew walked across the park to take a look at a gravestone in the corner that turned out to be a WWII memorial.

Andrew was very excited about the old bell they had next to the gravestone…which he rang and hurried back to ask the rest of us if we'd heard it all the way across the park.

Lunch at Eats of Eden was nothing terribly spectacular, but it was decently priced standard fair and got our bellies full for the trip home.

For the drive home, we went through Ogden canyon to surround ourselves by the high mountain walls and the gorgeous changing colors of the trees.

After the multiple walks, Lynette's legs weren't feeling great (she's looking forward to this surgery) but otherwise, we'd all had a great time and it was a fabulous end to our vacationing season.

After all, how can you go wrong when you take a trip to a place called Eden, right? :)

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Review - The Ruins of Gorlan (The Ranger's Apprentice: Book One)

2011-10-21T20:42:00.003-06:00

The Ruins of Gorlanis the first book in the Ranger's Apprentice series and it has left me wanting more. The book is geared towards younger, presumably middle-grade readers. There are now 10 books in the series and from what I hear, the adventures just continue to be a lot of fun.

The concept of the books is a somewhat standard trope for the ~medieval-fantasy-adventure genre. Our main character is Will, a young boy orphaned after a great battle and taken in by the local Lord. Over the years, he makes plenty of friends and enemies. Not knowing for sure who his parents were, he's created his own fantasy idea of what his father did in the great war of the past and the type of soldier and martyr he was. Will's big dream is to become a great soldier in the manner of his father.

As the book begins, the time has come for Will, and his friends, to be apprenticed to a trade. Even though Will hopes to become a knight but he's not a "physical presence" and so is passed over. He's unsure what, if any trade, he might be suited for and is ready to accept inevitable disappointment when he suddenly finds himself apprenticed into the shady trade of Ranger. His new master Halt seems aloof and harsh. Throughout the kingdom, there is a lot of respect for rangers, but also a huge feeling of suspicion, distrust and fear.

The book serves as a good jumping off point for the series. While there are a lot of stereotypical plot points and characterizations, the book surprisingly works to present us with vivid characters who grow and evolve. The book is centered primarily on Will and his training and development, but we also see interactions with other apprentices and rangers in the kingdom that help flesh out the world.

This is the first book in the series and so it serves largely as a vehicle for character development and plot setup, there is an ominous adventure brewing in the background. Towards the end of the book, these background events come to the forefront and present our characters with a tense adventure. The setup throughout the novel has given us the information that makes this adventure more suspenseful and climactic. As might be expected, the adventure leads to confrontations in which Will must stretch himself to be more than an apprentice and prove to himself and others that he has the potential to become a great apprentice.

This is definitely a book geared towards a younger audience but I still found it to be a lot of fun. It's well written and well constructed. The content is adventurous enough to keep readers engaged while not being so intense as to turn off or frighten younger readers. I acknowledge that the overall adventure of this particular book is somewhat thin, but I can set that aside as I acknowledge that this book has a lot of setup for what looks to be a rather engaging series. Even with all of the setup work going on in this book, it still has a significant enough "stand alone" adventure to make this book a fun and fulfilling read. I look forward to continuing on through the series to see what else Will and his friends encounter.

3.5 out of 5 stars

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Review - Stranger in a Strange Land

2011-10-19T04:10:00.000-06:00

I've often heard Stranger in a Strange Land referred to as THE quintessential science fiction novel. I purchased a copy two decades ago and only barely got around to reading it. The edition I have is apparently the "original uncut" version and I'm not sure what exactly was originally cut out or what has now been returned. I can see some places where editors may have decided to trim or streamline various scenes as well as some areas that may have been "edited" in an attempt to stem censorship.

When thinking of the sci-fi genre, I think a lot of us may envision star wars / star trek or other expeditions in space, interacting with alien creatures, dealing with amazing futuristic technology. In that vein of thinking, this particular book actually feels a little "light" in terms of stereotypical sci-fi. At the same time, it really is a landmark in science fiction for the subtle weaving of futuristic technology and thinking into a thoughtful and often philosophical narrative showing the interaction of humans one with another. There are plenty of futuristic sci-fi elements. But they are there as backdrop elements to create an intricate stage for the characters.

In many ways I preferred this more "subtle" approach to sci-fi. Rather than being blatantly "in your face" about the science fiction elements, Heinlein integrates them calmly and gently into the story in a way that makes them feel all the more realistic. Some of the futuristic technology is very compelling…others (as would be expected) feel somewhat dated now that we are 50 years past the original publication date and have seen countless technological advances.

I find myself reacting to this book on a number of different levels. Mostly, I found this book as a thought provoking work filled with philosophical wanderings. More than its science fiction elements, this book is heavily filled with discussions and commentary on human nature, political/corporate nature, the ideas of freedom and responsibility and other overarching concepts. It serves as an exploration of humanity from an "external" perspective…attempting to shed human bias and look at the nature of "being" in a new light.

The general "plot" of the story is actually pretty interesting and rather compelling…a human born on Mars and raised by Martians. He not only learns their culture but is able to learn to use their extraordinary abilities (forms of telekinesis, telepathy, and other "mind over matter"/psychic abilities). He returns to Earth very naive as to our ways and free from our prejudices and earthy concepts. He tries to learn how to be a good human but eventually decides he should also try to teach humanity the great things that Martians comprehend.

While the plot is intriguing, the heart of the book is in the learning of the Human-Martian Valentine Michael Smith. He is obviously full of questions and soaks up knowledge like a sponge. He engages in many, many question and answer sessions with various characters and draws numerous conclusions about humanity.

While I definitely don't agree with all of the conclusions posed by Heinlein in this book, I will grant that he poses many interesting questions and creates some very intriguing discussions between his characters. The book is filled with vibrant characters that each serve as a different Foil for Smith in his search for truth and knowledge.

Generally speaking, I enjoyed this book. I found the characters and the plot vivid and intriguing. I liked the depth and breadth of the futuristic world that Heinlein created. I sometimes felt a little bit bogged down in the philosophy and lengthy discourses, but also found them interesting and thought provoking. In addition to the general philosophical discussions, I found myself thinking about the 'nature vs nurture' debates and seeing these philosophical arguments through the question of "what is natural". I was a little put off by the seemingly 1960s-esque jump to free-love that Smith and his follower took. It seemed a little bit of a stretch but by the same token was believable given Smith's nature and perception.

I don't think I would fall in with those who praise this as the "greatest science fiction novel ever" but I can appreciate it and recognize it as a well written and very thoughtful novel that I'm glad to have finally read. As a science-fiction novel, I feel like it falls a little short. As a literary and philosophical work, I think it excels and puts forth some well constructed ideas. An intriguing book worth reading at least once.

3.5 out of 5 stars

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