Wicked Cool.

Check out these rad book sculptures that a good friend of mine turned me onto today:

Pretty intense, huh?
I would love to have one of these in my home.

The artist: Guy Laramee

Amazing.

Have a great Friday!
On to reading!

Anthem

Is it strange that I was expecting more from this? Everyone has always been like “Oh! Ayn Rand, she is a genius!”

But, well, I just didn’t get that from this book. Granted, this may not be her most famous, it’s Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead that you hear all the rave reviews about… but when I found this book for super cheap, I was all about it. I wanted to see the hype of Ms. Rand.

My first reaction when I picked the book up was that it was so tiny. You look at some of her other works and it makes you contemplate weight lifting before you pick them up. This one was more like a pamphlet in comparison.

So, let me just say that I’m a pretty big fan of Dystopian Novels. Books like The Giver, 1984, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, etc. They make me a happy camper. This one… it was just a little too one dimensional for me to even get into it. It took all of about two hours for me to get through it, and when I was done I just sort of set it down and was like, “Alright. On to the next one.”

Basically Anthem is about a society that has no individuals. They don’t know the word “I”, they don’t understand any concept but “We”. There are no names, there is no individuality. The story line is similar to a lot of dystopian novels… basically Equality 7-2521 begins to write down his thoughts (which is illegal) in a hidden tunnel he found one day (something from The Unmentionable Times), he falls in love with a girl named Liberty 5-3000 (which is illegal), he begins to discover things and think for himself (which is illegal), he tries to enlighten the rest of the people with his discoveries and is sentenced to be punished. He runs away. Liberty 5-3000 follows. Then they find a house and it has books (which are illegal) and they read, and their minds are expanded, and then they know the word “I”.

I don’t know. I probably will not read this one again. But, that doesn’t mean I won’t read Atlas Shrugged or The Fountainhead at some point.

On to reading!

Palm Leaves

Palm Leaves 

at exactly 12:00 midnight 
1973-74 
Los Angeles 
it began to rain on the 
palm leaves outside my window 
the horns and firecrackers 
went off 
and it thundered. 

I'd gone to bed at 9 p.m. 
turned out the lights 
pulled up the covers - 
their gaiety, their happiness, 
their screams, their paper hats, 
their automobiles, their women, 
their amateur drunks... 

New Year's Eve always terrifies 
me 

life knows nothing of years. 

now the horns have stopped and 
the firecrackers and the thunder... 
it's all over in five minutes... 
all I hear is the rain 
on the palm leaves, 
and I think, 
I will never understand men, 
but I have lived 
it through.

-Bukowski  

I just finished "Burning in Water Drowning in Flame" by Charles 

Bukowski last night... Fittingly enough it ended with this poem 

about New Years. 

On to reading! 

Oh, By the Way...

I just realized that I think I forgot to mention why I have been so busy lately.

Turns out I got engaged.
Woohoo!

It's his late Grandmother's engagement ring.
AND it's in a Cake Ball, which are like my favorite things in the ENTIRE world. So not only did I get an amazingly meaningful ring, I also got to eat a morsel of heaven.

P.S. It was at a Halloween Party, hence the skulls. Oh, and our outfits:

It was really romantic starring into those demon eyes as he proposed, by the way.


So, ever since that happened, my life has gone into a whirlwind of craziness. And then the holidays hit. So, as you can tell, it's been hard to get to the computer and review books.
But, I'm back at it my little readers!
And 2012 will of course be much more productive (with less internet absences).


On to reading!

Don't Panic!

This book has been mentioned to me countless times throughout The History of Me that I finally had to buy it. It was actually my boss who really turned me onto it, and through his incessant recommendation, I finally picked it up.

I am so, so, so glad I did.

Hilarity abounds in this relatively short novel. The story follows Arthur Dent and his good friend, Ford Prefect, as Earth is destroyed by the Vogons (an alien race that writes horrid poetry). Together they hitchhike their way onto various space ships in the galaxy (aided with a fantastically useful book called The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy). They find themselves shoved into space after being captured aboard a Vogon spacecraft and are picked up by a stolen spaceship that is manned by a comical crew. Zaphod Beeblebrox (which, by the way, is probably the coolest name in the entire world, in my opinion), a two headed, three armed ex-hippie who just so happens to be the President of the Galaxy, and not to mention completely wacky, Trillian (once Tricia McMillan of Earth) who is Zaphod’s girlfriend, and Marvin, the absolutely brilliant but exceedingly depressed robot, are all aboard The Heart of Gold (which has a computer that is pleased as punch to help his pals and doorways that sigh with happiness as you walk through them).

Basically, if you can handle the absurdity that flourishes within this novel, then you will love it. If you can understand that mice are more important than we ever knew, that towels can get you out of pretty much any bind, that the Earth is Mostly Harmless, and that dolphins tried to warn us of our planet’s demise by doing back flips, then you will appreciate Adams’ humor.

I tried to watch the film versions of the book – a British TV show and then the  movie that has Zooey Deschanel in it – and they were good… but not my favorite (as it always seems to be for book to movie conversions). I am still confused as to why they cast Mos Def as Ford Prefect… but I guess I can try to get over that. Sam Rockwell played Zaphod magnificently. Zooey was pretty good. I enjoyed the Marvin in the TV series more than the updated movie version, but that’s maybe just me.

Anyway, read the book. You’ll like it more than the film versions.

If you don't get the above picture (which, kudos to the guy that got this tattooed on him) - then you obviously haven't read the book, and it's a shame. This is probably the best part in the ENTIRE novel.

So long, and thanks for all the fish!

On to reading!

Lazy Days

Yes, it's true. I've been incredibly lazy when it comes to A Broken Binding. But guess what? I haven't been lazy in reading. I've read, and I have books that I could totally be reviewing right now... but, well, it's 85% Lazy, 15% Busy.

I will get on this People, I promise.

Until then, have a great Wednesday.

I love these book covers... reminds me of middle school when I used to wrap my textbooks in paper bags so I could decorate them... If you were going for a uniform look on your home's bookshelves, and had great handwriting like the bindings of these, it would be a fun DIY project.
On to reading!

Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill

I really like horror books. Specifically, I really like Stephen King. Most kids in my literature classes were always like, Gufaw! Stephen King? You don’t know good writing.

But really, the guy is good. He grips you into his books, they scare the shiz out of you, and then you move on … but you are always haunted by some character, some action, some miniscule little line from one of his books. He taunts you throughout the rest of your life.

For instance:

Whenever I hear the name Gage, BOOM! I am transported right back to Pet Semetary and I am all like “Bah! Killer kid who got hit by a truck!”

Or, Las Vegas will always remind me of a post-apocalyptic flu riddled world, where all the bad guys go and live in Las Vegas.

So anyway, I decided to participate in 1book140’s October horror read… Joe Hill’s novel Heart-Shaped Box was chosen. I was excited. Hurray, a new horror author. The reviews looked good, they boasted of “psychological terror”, “a cardiac hazard”, “Wild, mesmerizing”.

Then, I opened it up and started reading. I cruised through it. Not because it was so good I couldn’t put it down, but because it was so easy I could get through it in no time.

It’s basically a screen play. I mean, it’s not. But I could have easily just read a screenplay for a Hollywood horror movie.

Here is the scoop: There is this old rocker dude named Judas Coyne, who used to be a huge rockstar at one point, now he just lives out in the country and has a personal assistant answer the phone and send out fan mail replies. He really likes creepy stuff, he owns a cookbook for cannibals, an old snuff film, sketches from John Wayne Gacy, etc. Just creepy stuff that most people probably wouldn’t want to own. Although, owning something by John Wayne Gacy would be pretty interesting to me… but that’s not the point. So his little assistant guy gets this ebay update thing for a suit with a dead man’s soul attached to it. Of course, our creepy collector MUST own it. So, a few days later and viola! It appears. Then creepy things start happening, like the suit starts to smell bad, and it starts appearing laid out on the bed. Oh by the way, Judas has a trampy little girlfriend who is like 22, and she keeps waking up next to the suit. Then Judas starts seeing this old guy in the house and he has these spooky black scribbles for eyes.

That’s about as creepy as the story gets… and that is 57 pages into a 384 page novel.

What else happens? Oh you know, supposedly creepy stuff.

The ghost can send emails, which is pretty awesome… not. Everyone in 1book140 seemed to like it, but I was like… eh, hokey.

I don’t know. There were twists in it, which were actually pretty interesting, but it is by no means a great horror novel. Not once did I find it to be a cardiac hazard. Nor wild and mesmerizing.

Then, get this, I was done. And I was like, OK…

I don’t think there is anything in this novel that will follow me around like Mr. King’s books and continue to spook me.

And, when I was done I looked it up to see what other people thought, and it was around the same lines. But I did find this little bit of info: Joe Hill is Stephen King’s son!

Bum Bum Bum!

I’m sticking with your dad, sorry Joey.

On to reading!