Weekly wrap up 11/23-11/29

Hey readers, hope you had a great thanksgiving. I went home to Pennsylvania for a few days to spend time with my family. It was really relaxing and I had a good time.

This weekend was my first experience working retail on black Friday and small business Saturday, which was a really crazy two days.

I had a pretty fruitful week as far as reading, and finished a few really good titles. On the radar are about three advanced reader copies that I was chosen for, so as soon as those come in the mail I’ll be tearing into them.

Here’s a rundown of the weeks selections:

Definitely Dead – Charline Harris (Southern Vampire Mysteries #6) Rating: 6.5/10

Sookie is back on my list, I moved last weekend and I needed something familiar to read.  In the 6th instalment, Sookie and her shifter boyfriend deal with a murder and the politics of vampire leadership, the series takes a turn to look at the bigger picture of the supernatural world, and seems to be ramping up for some important events.

Love Me – Garrison Keillor – Rating 9/10

I had the pleasure of meeting Garrison Keillor back in June, he was speaking at the national archives before recording a live episode of Prarie Home Companion at Wolf Trap. After telling us the story of how he got into writing (an amazing story, something I’m sure I’ll write about in the near future) he had a signing for his new collection of essays and excerpts. He was lively and friendly, and was a great sport. We took this selfie together.

Love Me is a much different pace from Keillor’s usual fair. No familiar tones of Lake Woebegone or Guy Noir, this novel strikes like a poignant, modern piece. Focusing on a failed author currently separated from his wife, Love Me tells a tale of loneliness, frustration, and advice columns.  Our hero, Larry, moves from Minnesota to New York to extend his literary career, but after some failed attempts to follow a successful novel, ends up writing an advice column called “Ask Mr. Blue.”  Love Me stands out as one of my favorite Garrison Keillor Novels.

White Noise – Don Delillo – Rating 8/10

White Noise serves as the inspiration for one of my favorite bands, The Airborne Toxic Event. This novel took me a few tries to get into, but it was certainly worth it. I read it over my  thanksgiving visit, which provided an interesting setting for a novel that explores the idea of cultural noise. The protagonist and antagonist of White Noise exist in the character Jack Gladney.  Gladney is a professor of Hitler studies, and is currently married to his 4th wife Babette.  The first half of the novel focuses on his daily life and the mundane things that take up such key portions. The mid point of the novel is a chemical incident, known as the airborne toxic event, that changes the lifestyle of everyone in the town. People begin to worry over radiation levels, future events of similar nature, and the meaning of their lives. The book takes a deep look at the meaning of the stranger elements of culture and does so with a great voice.

The Hellbound Heart – Clive Barker – 7/10

I’m not going to lie, I love cheap horror movies, especially slasher series, so when I saw a copy of the Hellbound Heart on my friend’s coffee table I knew I had to read it.  For those of you unfamiliar with the novela, it is the original story on which the Hellraiser series is based.  Barker had very little to do with the series after the first film, but had creative control over the first. While the characters become more important as the series goes on, Pinhead and the Cynobites play a very minor role in the book.  The main focus is on the family of the deceased Frank, an extreme hedonist who summons the Cynobites in his search for the ultimate pleasure. He is dragged to Hell by the monstrosities, discovering that to them, ultimate pleasure has blurred with ultimate pain. The rest of the book focuses on his family, and their strange experiences in his house after his disappearance. Frank eventually returns, flayed of flesh and looking for revenge. The Hellbound Heart is a great piece of horror and good for those times when you just want something fast.

All in all it was a good week of reading. Looking forward to sharing more good finds with you all.

Cheers

-Josh

Weekly Wrap up 10/5-10/11

Today I’ll be at the Maryland renaissance faire all day with a few friends, this is the first time I’ll ever be attending a ren faire so I’m really excited!

I decided to do a weekly wrap up of what I’ve been reading this week, I’ve mostly been working on some light stuff during the job hunt, Installments in series I’m working on/just starting. (If you don’t know me, I have a horrible habit of starting countless series and rarely finishing them.)

So here are the books!

Storm Front – Jim Butcher (The Dresden Files #1) Rating: 8/10

This was my first encounter with Butcher, downloaded it one day on my phone during a long metro ride and read nearly half the first day and finished it the next.  Very fast paced, and generally enjoyable.

For anyone else who is new to the world of Dresden, it’s a pretty crazy world.  Butcher sets up a very diverse urban fantasy setting sprawling with wizards, witches, vampires, and the like,  The main character, Harry Dresden, is a wizard for hire, and his first documented case is a missing person with a twist.

Dead as a Doornail – Charlaine Harris (Sookie Sackhouse/True Blood #5) Rating: 6.5/10

I’ve been working on this series since the middle of summer whenever I needed a lighter escape, and it definitely provides that.  Note to readers, the series is far tamer than the television series.  Foul language is very minimal, and the graphic sexual encounters of the show are nowhere to be found. The series is still a light PG-13, but not the erotic piece depicted on HBO.

The 5th installment of the Southern Vampire Mysteries focuses on the aftermath of the “Witch War” from book 4, and is a bit slower.  There is some development for the overall series, but it definitely lacks the excitement of the previous volume.

Lullaby – Chuck Palanhiuk  (2002) Rating: 9/10

Certainly the highlight of my reading this week, Chuck’s 5th book wraps up what I consider to be the golden age of his work.  Fight club, Survivor, Invisible Monsters, and Choke were all written before Lullaby, and are all some of my favorite pieces of his work.  Ever since Beautiful You, Chuck’s 18th publication, received a release date, I have been trying to finish off the rest of his books.

Lullaby is a dark, unexpected urban fantasy to rival the best in the game.  It includes all the charm, or anti-charm that can be expected from a Palahniuk book.  Lullaby follows a slightly more conventional path than other Palanhiuk books, but the subject matter, a mix of journalism, serial murder, and witchcraft, is just as outlandish as any other title.  Certainly one of his best works, I would sincerely recommend it to anyone interested in his work.

(Note: I bought this one on Amazon and Got a really cool Advance Reading copy, I really like the cover art, shown above.)

Those are the novels I’ve finished this week, but I’ve also read a handful of Charles Bukowski poems (see my post on that here) as well as this month’s issue of National Geographic, which had some really interesting material on genetically engineered crops and Monsanto.  I’m also currently listening to Ready Player One on audiobook, read by Will Wheaton (stay tuned for a full review, I’m loving it.)

Thats all for now readers, Hope you enjoyed the reviews, Agree? Disagree? Let me know! Also feel free to comment with any suggestions of what I should read next.  Until next time,

Cheers.

-Josh