Title:

From the back cover:

This is the box, Ed.

Inside is everything.

Two bottle caps,
a movie ticket from Greta in the Wild,
a note from you,
a box of matches,
your protractor,
Joan’s book,
the stolen sugar,
a toy truck,
those ugly earrings,
a comb from the motel,
and the rest of it.

This is it, Ed.

The whole store of why we broke up.

Review:

Let’s see how long I can go without mistakenly referring to Daniel Handler as Lemony Snicket. Oh damn, I just did it didn’t I? I might as well get this out of the way then. Yes, Handler and Snicket are the same person. However, in terms of writing style, they are vastly different. Why We Broke Up, Handler’s third book released under his real name, lacks the wit and sharpness found in the Series of Unfortunate Events series, yet We We Broke Up does have its own merit and is worth considering.

Why We Broke Up is a love story told in hindsight. Minerva, Min for short, and Ed had a relationship that ended (i’m not spoiling anything, just rephrasing the book’s title). This book is written as if it were a long letter from Min to Ed explaining the events of their relationship that caused Min to end it.

Min is a geeky film fanatic who falls in love with Ed, co-captain of the high school basketball team. When they first meet, it’s clear that these two characters are not meant for each other; they are complete opposites. For some reason, they hit it off and decide to give it shot. Ed and Min try to become more involved in the actives that interest the other, Min going to his games and Ed seeing weird, arty films. There were points where Ed drops his jock personality and appears to be actually interested in the things Min is into. In those moments I believed that there might be a future for their relationship.

Since Min is the narrator here, it’s impossible to tell if she is retelling the events as they actually happened, or if she’s putting her own personal, spiteful spin on them. For most of the book I didn’t think Ed was that bad of a guy. If anything, I thought Min’s stubbornness might be the real reason they broke up and not all the items she lists. Mayhaps she was adding spite to the letter just to hurt Ed’s feelings as he reads it.

By the end of the book, when the big reason why they broke up is revealed, it’s one of those moments that could only be described as ‘anti-climatic’. The final reason made perfect sense as to why they broke up, but it also makes all the other reasons that came before it less impactful. I mean, really, a toy truck is one of the reasons they broke up, oh, and that big thing too. I understand from a literary stand point that Handler had to work up to the climax of the book, but when it hits, it makes all the other reasons (and the 300+ pages spent explaining them) seem kind of moot.

We We Broke Up is a sad story about a couple that shouldn’t be together. The reader knows it, and they’re waiting for the moment for it to dawn on Min or Ed. This book does a really good job at being unique compared to all the other YA novels about two teenagers who fall in love and it worth checking out if the initial premises sounds like something you would like.

Closing Thoughts: I liked this book, but it was a bit of a downer. Also, are high school students really this annoying/stupid?

Question: Can we get some more Lemony Snicket books please? A Series of More Unfortunate Events?

Second Opinions: 
The Story Siren
Muggle-Born.net
Reading Vacation

The second reason I started this blog was because I am an aspiring writer. Granted, I haven’t been published and my novel is in a perpetual state of “work in progress”, but someday I hope to get it to a point where I am comfortable with other people reading what I’ve wrote. That “someday” will be in 2012, or else. “Or else” what I do not know. This blog directly relates to aspiring writing career. I know times are changing and self-publishing your own e-book is becoming more and more common for authors. Just ask author Jonathan Selwood (I greatly enjoyed his first novel,The Pinball Theory of Apocalypse) who self-e-published his second novel, Die Like a Girl
. I’ve been brought up on the belief that being a successful author means landing a book deal with a major publisher. Yet over these past four years as I’ve watched the book industry evolve, I have been forces to accept the fact that I may never see any of my books in print, only in digital formats. I’m fine with this. I believe you can be a successful self-e-published author.

I got a Kindle Fire for christmas. It seemed like the time to jump on the e-reader bandwagon and the Fire appealed to me. I’ll properly review the Fire later on (you know, in about a month), but after playing around with it, I’ve become more OK with books moving to digital. I don’t believe print is going anywhere anytime soon. There will still be books and authors that I must have a hard copy of. But there are also books that I am fine only having a digital copy of.

Getting back to the second reason, this blog is marketing tool for my brand. I am my own brand: Colin Matthew, the book pirate. Aside from here I also have my twitter (@thebookpirate) and that’s it. I don’t particularly enjoy trying to market myself, but it’s become a necessity for all authors with the exception of Stephen King or John Grisham.

Now long ago I was contact by a representative from ooshirts.com pitching the idea of expanding my brand to include t-shirt. While I have nothing I personally wanted to put on a shirt, it is something I could see other authors doing to strengthen their brand. Artists in particular could benefit from featuring their art on shirts and selling them. With writers it’s harder since we focus on words, but we’re nothing if not creative and it would be possible to make some cool book-related shirts. In fact, in my closet I have a bunch of t-shirts that could be described as “literary” and I frequently get compliments on them when I wear them to Powells. I took ooshirts.com up on their offer to give them a try and had them print up a t-shirt featuring the artwork of Terry Blas (with his permission of course). The final result can be seen below. Overall, I like the quality of the shirt and the way it turned out.

The only other thing I can think of that I might make as a self-marketing tool is bookmarks. Everybody needs bookmarks! Well, unless you’re reading on a Kindle Fire.

Anyway, to sum up, 2012 will be interesting.

Title:

From the back cover:

Postmaster general Moist von Lipwig, former arch-swindler and confidence man, has exceeded all expectations in running the Ankh-Morpork Post Office. So it’s somewhat disconcerting when Lord Vetinari summons Moist to the palace and asks, “Tell me, Mr. Lipwig, would you like to make some real money?”

Vetinari isn’t talking about wages. He’s referring to the Royal Mint of Ankh-Morpork that has run on the hereditary employment of the Men of the Sheds, who do make money in their spare time. Unfortunately, it costs more than a penny to make a penny, so the whole process seems somewhat counter-intuitive.

But before Moist has time to fully consider Vetinari’s question, fate answers it for him. Now he’s not only making money, but enemies, too; he’s got to spring a prisoner from jail, break into his own bank vault, stop the new manager from licking his face and, above all, find out where all the gold has gone—otherwise, his life in banking, while very exciting, is going to be really, really short . . .

Review:

I feel that i’ve dabbled enough in the Discworld series to safely state that Moist von Lipwig is my favorite central character. Death would come in a close second. The downside of Moist is that he’s only been featured in two books so far, Going Postal and Making Money. Both books focus on an industry that is just completely messed up and it’s up to Moist to turn them around and make them both functional and profitable.

In Making Money, Moist “accepts” as position as head of the Royal Bank of Ankh-Morpork and the Royal Mint. Naturally, things are a bit chaotic there. The biggest challenge he faces, aside from bank shareholder’s not trusting him, is the face that people’s believe in order for a bank to function, it must have gold. With his past success at the Royal Post Office (in Going Postal), Moist implements a few tricks he learned and introduces paper money to the citizens of Ankh-Morpork much to their confusion.

One of the things that I really liked about this book is how timely it is. It tackles modern day issues while still taking place in the fantasy setting of Discworld. It’s a delicate balance that Pratchett manages to pull off well in this book.

The audiobook version was ready rather well by Stephen Briggs who has narrated all the Discworld audiobooks that I’ve listened too. He does a fantastic job with all the characters and now can not imagine listening to one with somebody else reading it.

Closing Thoughts: Overall, I would have to say Making Money would be my favorite Discworld book so far. It’s funny, the characters are interesting and the overall story shared parallels with today’s society.

Question: Who is your favorite Discworld character(s)?

Why, yes. I tend to always give at least one person a book. Typically it’s my mother. This year she is getting one of my favorite books. She might like it. She might not. It’s Company by Max Barry. Perfect who people who are frustrated with their job. As for books I am hoping to get there are none. Instead I want a Kindle Fire. I’m ready to enter the e-book age.

Title:

From the back cover:

INSIDE THE WORLD OF MIXED MARTIAL ARTS – AND MURDER…

Angel Dare went into Witness Protection to escape her past — not as a porn star, but as a killer who took down the sex slavery ring that destroyed her life. But sometimes the past just won’t stay buried.

When a former co-star is gunned down, it’s up to Angel to get his son, a hotheaded MMA fighter, safely through the unforgiving Arizona desert, shady Mexican border towns, and the seductive neon mirage of Las Vegas…

Review:

I’m a little shocked that it’s taken me so long to post my review of this book. Before I get started, let’s take a moment and remember how much I loved Money Shot. I recall calling it “the perfect epitome of what modern pulp fiction can be.” Choke Hold is the much anticipated (at least by me) sequel to Money Shot. Angel Dare is back and she’s laying low after the events in the first book. But after running into a former flame, things turn south and she gets wrapped up in the world of illegal fights and drug smuggling.

In this book Angel has less control of the situation. While in Money Shot she was the one planning the course of action and executing it, Choke Hold takes her on a journey where she just happens to get wrapped up in it and goes with the flow. The result was a character that seemed less like a fierce independent woman, which is one of the things I loved about the first book, and more like someone who is a tad bit helpless. It kind of makes since Angel is a fish out of water in the world of MMA fighting while she knew the ins-and-outs of the adult film industry in Money Shot. Near the end of Choke Hold, Angel does take control but instead of fighting, she chooses to run away to safety. Choke Hold felt like a step down in terms of Angel’s character development.

However, those are just my personal issues with the book. If you can look past that (which I was able to), Choke Hold is the return of one of my favorite characters. This book is quickly paced and full of action. It never slows down or stays in one place for too long. What I’m trying to say is that it was a book that I found hard to put down once I picked it up.

Closing Thoughts: I could easily see this developing into a series of books that follow Angel Dare. This I would be okay with.

Question: What seedy underworld will Angel get mixed up with if there is a third book?

Mystery, hands down. With love stories the only real mystery is whether or not Character A will end up with Character B. Sure, there are some bits in between that often lead the reader to believe the outcome will be one way or another, but I feel that love stories have a limited scope in things that could happen. Mysteries, on the other hand, are full of questions. Who? What? Why? Who was killed? Why were they killed? How is the protagonist going to figure things out? Often a single answer will lead to more questions being asked and makes the book more compelling to read.

Special review from Terry Blas

Title: The Girl Who Owned a City
Author: T.O. Nelson, Dan Jolley
Artist: Joelle Jones
Pages: 128 pages
Publisher: Graphic Universe
Published: April 2012
Where I got the book: eARC

From the back cover:

A deadly virus killed every adult on Earth, leaving only us kids behind. My parents are gone, so I’m responsible for my little brother, Todd. I have to make sure we stay alive. Many kids are sick or starving, and fierce gangs are stealing and destroying everything they find. Lots of people have given up, but here on Grand Avenue, some of us are surviving. Because of me.

I figured out how to give the kids on Grand Avenue food, homes, and protection against the gangs. But Tom Logan and his army are determined to take away what we’ve built and rule the streets themselves. How long can we keep fighting them off? We need to find another place for us to live safely. A strong place. A secret place.

In a world like this, someone has to take charge. But do I have the strength to take charge of a whole city?

Review:

The Girl Who Owned a City was one of my favorite books as a child.

I loved the idea that this was a world full of kids, all trying to survive after a virus wiped out everyone over the age of twelve. What was different about this book, and what set it apart from other stories like Lord of the Flies was that, as the title suggest, the main character is a girl.

O.T. Nelson spoke about how he wanted to write a book to show kids that they were more than what people had told them they were. He wanted to inspire them to use their brains, to think about how to do things, and not to rely so much on others. This is very apparent in the book as Lisa, struggles to help her little brother survive. She’s not struggling as much as the other kids though. She’s being smart about it, and using her head.

I won’t get too much into the plot of the book. If you want that, you can read the review I wrote here, but the purpose of this review is to talk a bit about the new graphic novel adaptation by Dan Jolley and Joelle Jones.

From what I remember, this adaptation follows the book extremely well. There’s one, maybe two things I can think of that might be different, and I say might because if they are, it didn’t take anything away from the story. Some things are inherently more novelistic and some things work better in a comic, and this is evident by certain things that were cut out, or shortened by the nature of a comic. The written adaptation is done extremely well.

The art is incredible. I’ve got every single one of Joelle Jones’s books and it’s my personal opinion that this is some of her best work. Every panel forces your attention and demands you be pulled into the story. I’d be hard pressed to find a single favorite page because the whole book is a masterpiece.

But it’s not just drawn well, the characters seem real, their acting and poses are natural and make you forget you’re reading anything at all. It’s definitely an experience and one you will be sorry you missed if you don’t check out the book.

I realize my opinion regarding the art may be biased, but it’s also right. The Girl Who Owned a City was one of my favorite books as a child and it’s one of my favorite graphic novels as a grown up.

Terry Blas is a Portland, Ore. based illustrator. His web comic, Briar Hollow, and artwork can be found at terryblas.com.

For that matter, does your mood color what you’re reading, so that a funny book isn’t so funny or a serious one not so deep?

No. Not that I’ve noticed at least. If i’m in a bad mood and want to read something, I’ll pick up a book that I’ll enjoy but it doesn’t have to be one that matches my mood.

Wow. That was a really short answer. I don’t have anything else to say about that.

I have yet to come across a book podcast that catches my interest. I mainly stick to listening to podcasts about television or video games. However, if I did find a book podcast, this is what I would want it to be like. They talk about books that i’ve actually read instead of some random book that’s from some obscure author. If you know of any other book related podcast that you would recommend, let me know.