Word Count Books Blog

Review: Stephen King's "Under the Dome"

Tod Caviness — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 20:08:10 -0500

Aside from its heft (nearly 1100 pages), there are plenty of surface reasons to hold Stephen King's latest novel up against The Stand. Both are bursting with religious commentary, draw clear lines in the battle of good vs. evil, and...

Dave "Strat" Campbell poetry compilation

Tod Caviness — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 19:35:46 -0500

It's always tough for me to recommend self-published works. Because of quantity, yes (for every book from a major publisher I get, there are a hundred press releases from pay-to-print houses) but more often because of quality. I've got no...

Bad advice for NaNoWriMo

Tod Caviness — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 18:18:13 -0500

Hey, National Novel Writing Monthers: Still meandering around trying to develop a plot with one week down? Here you go; free outline ... Your challenge is to write crossover fanfiction combining Family Guy and Muppet Babies. The story should use...

Crumb, King, and other obsessions present and future

Tod Caviness — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:32:16 -0500

Still here, folks. Your humble head Count has been preparing for and then enjoying a vacation, and can only be blamed so much. Plenty of news simmering in the pot, though. Here's what's keeping me interested in the meantime: -...

Review: Chuck Klosterman's "Eating the Dinosaur"

Tod Caviness — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 19:02:54 -0400

Chuck Klosterman books need a big red "spoiler alert" sticker on the cover. If you've read any of his previous essay collections, you know this already. Not that he gives away movie plots (well, he might). What Klosterman does, and...

Literary windfall for Lake County nonprofits

Tod Caviness — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 12:45:01 -0400

Saturday's Lake section of the Sentinel will have the full story by Rosalind Jennings, but this one bears a little advance notice, so I'll sum up here. The bad news: Grace's Books & Records in Leesburg will be closing its...

Laura Van Den Berg readings around town

Tod Caviness — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 13:19:55 -0400

I'm never quite sure when an author makes that transition from "up and coming" to "established," but you'd better take the opportunity to schmooze Laura Van Den Berg while you can. If she's not there, she's as close as it...

Potter fans take on anti-gay marriage muggles

Tod Caviness — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 14:18:29 -0400

The battleground: Maine. A recent law made it the fifth state to legalize gay marriage, but opponents have drummed up a ton of signatures to put Proposition One on the November ballot and effectively repeal the measure by popular vote....

Spoken word "Revival" in town

Tod Caviness — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 13:33:02 -0400

The other 99% of my job here at the Sentinel is compiling arts and entertainment listings, and I've rarely been so happy to see a late booking come across my desk: This next Monday, the Cameo Theater will play host...

Douglas Adams fans: Don't panic

Tod Caviness — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 17:18:32 -0400

Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy fans are no doubt stocking up on the Haterade for this Monday's release of And Another Thing, Eoin Colfer's improbable, too-soon and nigh-sacreligious addition to the Hitchhikers series. Fair enough. Colfer himself has reservations (see...