Book Review: The Walking Dead Vol 3: Safety Behind Bars (95 Books #1)

So here I am in the middle of February and I’m only just now posting about the first book I’ve finished in 2011. Clearly I’m not going to reach 95 books, but I’m still confident that I’ll finish more than I did last year, especially now that I have my Kindle.

The first book that I’ve both started and finished this year is the third in Robert Kirkman’s series The Walking Dead. I’m sure a lot of you have heard about it since some of it was turned into a show on AMC that is, by all accounts, great if gory.

It’s kind of weird to talk about a book that’s partway through a series I haven’t reviewed before, but here’s the deal: The Walking Dead is about a group of people who are trying to survive a zombie apocalypse. But unlike most zombie fiction, there’s no end in sight to the zombies; this is life for them. The cast numbers are constantly fluctuating as survivors join the group or are killed by zombies or the various pitfalls of life in a post-apocalyptic setting.

In this particular book, the group has come across a prison. There are benefits to living there once the zombies are cleared out, namely that it has a good sturdy perimeter and space to grow food. However, there’s a catch: how will they live with the four prisoners who were already there, holed up in the cafeteria?

I really liked this one. It’s brutal and dark and excellent. If you liked the first two, you’ll like this one. But do I feel bad that my first book of the year is a graphic novel? No, because I have plans to read some tomes this year (Atlas Shrugged and Ulysses, I’m looking at you).

The Walking Dead Vol 3: Safety Behind Bars
Book dimensions: 10.3 x 6.5 x 0.4 inches
Page count: 136
Total pages read in 2011: 136

Book Review: The Cosmic Puppets (Philip K. Dick)

After reading Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, I knew I’d found an author I wanted to read more from. And luckily for me, Philip K. Dick wrote a LOT of books. Unfortunately, one of them was The Cosmic Puppets.

Like the famous inspiration for Blade Runner, The Cosmic Puppets drops readers directly into the universe without explanations, leaving us to figure out the world for ourselves. Unfortunately, it’s too short to be a novel and the story that’s there isn’t satisfying.

While driving through Virginia with his wife, Ted Barton feels an uncontrollable urge to stop in his childhood hometown. Except… it isn’t really his hometown. Everywhere that he looks, things are completely different, and he finds out that Ted Barton didn’t leave town when he was nine years old, he died of scarlet fever. No one remembers him, and when he tries to leave town, he can’t. And it all comes down to the classic struggle of good vs evil, where children control everything.

Unfortunately, unless you have a goal to read every book by Dick, I can’t recommend this one. It’s not worth the time it takes to read it, even if it doesn’t take a lot of time. There are other books, films or TV shows (like Lost) that cover similar themes and do it so much better. Take a pass on this one and reread Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? instead.

95 Books: The 95 Bookening (aka Let’s Try This Again)

In an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal in 2008, Karl Rove wrote about how he and George W. Bush used to compete to see who could read the most books, claiming that in 2006, Bush read 95 books despite being President of the United States. Fast forward a little to the beginning of 2010 when I agreed to join a group of intrepid readers on the quest to read 95 books by the end of the year. Surely if George Bush could do it, so could we, right?

Well, I couldn’t. Like I said in this post back from May of this year, it didn’t work out for me. I felt the pressure of reading two books a week like a huge rock on my chest, especially since I felt the only way to keep up was to read small books, mostly poetry or painful weird short ones like Bear. It wasn’t fun, so I stopped doing it and went back to reading occasionally.

I want to try again in 2011, and this time I have a couple of plans around it:

1. I want to mainly read sci-fi and fantasy. I haven’t read much of it, and I’m finding that I’m really enjoying them when I do. That doesn’t mean I won’t read anything else, but really, I’m choosing books I want to read, not just books that will help me get to a magic number.
2. I’m considering 95 to be my stretch goal. My more realistic goal is to read anywhere from 25-50 books this year. That would put me firmly ahead of what I’ve read in 2010, and it’s really just about reading more than I do now anyway.

That’s basically it. I still have a few books left to review from this year, and I’m not counting those toward the 95. I’ll be sure to note things properly for anyone keeping count at home.

So who’s with me?

On Kindles and Ebooks

I’ve been using my brand spankin’ new Kindle for a little over a week now, so I figure it’s time to share my thoughts on it.

Why I didn’t (and then did) want an ebook reader

The whole concept of ebooks made me nervous. Since before I can remember, I’ve always loved books and I was an avid reader in my youth, so the idea that physical books could go away was scary, not to mention that it was also scary to see that Amazon can remove books from users’ Kindles (although I appreciated the irony that they were erasing copies of 1984 and Animal Farm). The technology also felt too new to be proven out and I didn’t want to get stuck with the latest incarnation of the Betamax or laser disc player.

Unfortunately, my body didn’t really care about any of the issues I had with ebook readers. Reading very long books like Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell became both difficult and painful because it hurt my hands and wrists to hold the book open. Not only that, but sometimes even reading books with small type would become a chore because it would hurt my eyes to read for longer than half an hour or so. There had to be a better way or I was going to have to switch to audiobooks or give up reading for good.

Which ebook reader to get?

In November I finally came around to the idea of buying an ebook reader since I’d rather be able to read easily than wait for the technology to prove out. But with a host of options available, how’s a person to choose?

I approached one of my awesome cousins who has a Kobo to see what she thinks of it and she pointed me in the direction of this article. That narrowed it down to four choices:

1. iPad

The iPad is great for many reasons, and when it comes to ebook reading there are some great options. You can download the Kindle app to read ebooks that you can buy through Amazon.com or you can read EPUB files that you can borrow for free from the public library or buy from any number of sites that sells them. I immediately crossed the iPad off my list, however, for three reasons: it’s much more expensive than any other ebook reader, it’s backlit so it won’t help with preventing eyestrain on marathon reading sessions, and I wouldn’t want to get an iPad until at least the second generation (we all know there will be some pretty amazing bells and whistles on the next one since it’s only out in its first generation right now).

2. Sony Reader PRS-650

Redditors seemed to like this one better than the Kobo, but with its $250 pricetag, I didn’t look too much into this one (although it does look pretty and if someone were to give me one, I’d probably use it).

3. Kobo

This is the ebook reader that Chapters sells here in Canada. It also supports EPUB files and it comes in at a much more reasonably priced $149. Some people on reddit advised that it’s not the best ereader if usability matters to you, so between that and the fact that I haven’t been a library patron since I was in gradeschool, this didn’t make the cut for me. I will say, however, that it was a close second.

4. Amazon Kindle

I ultimately opted for the 6″ wifi Amazon Kindle. After doing lots of reading on reddit and elsewhere, I saw that it’s the most usable, the fastest, and the most fun to use out of the dedicted ebook readers. The big strike against it was the lack of EPUB support (motivated by Amazon’s clear interest in users buying from them, not borrowing from libraries or buying from other sellers), but because I don’t go to the library and buy around 85% of my books from Amazon anyway, it was a no-brainer for me. Despite the occasional cock-up like the Orwell issue or the recent Macmillan fiasco, I’m loyal to the Amazon brand because I’ve always had excellent customer service from them.

That said, I’ve been recommending Kobos to other people if I think it fits their needs better than the Kindle.

The verdict

I love my Kindle. It’s very easy to use and reading on it feels surprisingly natural. I’m finding myself reading for a few hours at a time, which is something I haven’t done for ages. It’s also great for reading a few minutes at a time, and because it’s small and light, it’s very easy to take anywhere with me.

The other thing I’ve seen in the time since I’ve had it is that ebook reading doesn’t need to be an all or nothing thing. Having a reader doesn’t mean I’m done with physical books. There are some books I’ll be buying twice because I’ll want a copy to loan out, and if I find a beautiful rare book that I both want and can afford, I’ll be buying that too. The Kindle just happens to be my reading device of choice at the moment, and I’m excited to see what the next step in technology will bring.

Do you have any thoughts on ebook readers? Let me know in the comments because I’m dying to discuss.

Book Review: The Name of the Wind (Patrick Rothfuss)

This book is fantastic. It was a great vacation read this summer, but would be a great read no matter where you’re at.

Patrick Rothfuss’ first published book and the first of a trilogy, The Name of the Wind is the story of Kvothe, an innkeeper with a long, infamous history. Most of the book is Kvothe telling his story to the Chronicler, starting with his upbringing with his troubadour family, his time living on the streets, and then his time in the wizarding university. Yes, there’s a wizarding university, but it sure ain’t Hogwarts. This is a book where actions have serious consequences, and when things go bad for Kvothe, they go very, very bad.

This book is so good from cover to cover that I don’t want to risk spoiling anything by going in depth about the plot (or those serious consequences). If you like excellent fantasy, or even just a great story very well told, get it. Run, don’t walk, and buy it, don’t borrow it. This is a book that deserves to be owned and by a lot of people.

Buy it from Amazon.com
Buy it from Amazon.ca

Books & Film: Zombie Beatles movie could be on its way

According to Deadline, the yet-to-be released novel Paul is Undead by Alan Goldsher has already been optioned by Michael Shamberg and Stacey Sher at Double Feature.

Written as oral history, the book details how Lennon, a zombie guitarist in Liverpool, kills and reanimates McCartney, then does the same with Harrison and Starr. They create hits and bloody mayhem across the world, pursued by England’s greatest zombie hunter, Mick Jagger. They also engage in a battle with Eighth Level Ninja Lord Yoko Ono, and snack on the brains of swooning fans.

I’ll go see it. And in the meantime, there’s a book I’ll be pre-ordering.

The Beatles Join The Zombie Hit Parade

Books: Jeff Smith responds to news about Minnesota mother requesting ban on Bone

During his panel at C2E2, Jeff Smith talked about Ramona DeLay’s request for Bone Vol. 4 to removed from local elementary schools in her Minnesota district:

“It just broke yesterday; I don’t know anymore about it than you do,” Smith said on Saturday, responding to a question from the audience. “She objected to the gambling, smoking and drinking and the sexiness. I feel sorry for her son. He’s going to be really embarrassed, but you know, not everybody has to like my stuff. That’s fine. But I really can’t go along with this un-American concept of banning books. Let the Nazis do that.”

And really, he’s right. This has to be awful for her kid. And like I said before, why not just ban it from the house?

According to Michelle Figueroa (a friend of DeLay’s who left a lengthy, angry comment on my previous post claiming, among other things, that people like me are the reason why there’s so much conflict in this world), we don’t have the whole story. She also encouraged me to speak to DeLay myself so I could get the full story. So I’ll say again what I said in my response to Figueroa: if Ramona DeLay really feels like her side isn’t being heard, she can email her side of the story to tara@versusboredom.com and I’ll post it for her in full. Regardless of whether I agree with her request to have the book pulled from schools (I don’t), I’m curious to know what that story is, if it’s actually being distorted the way Figueroa says it is.

In the meantime, I’m going to start reading Bone and passing it on to any kids I know.

Jeff Smith responds to effort to remove Bone from school district’s libraries

Books: Parent wants Bone withdrawn from school library shelves

Ramona DeLay, a resident of Apple Valley, Minnesota, wants the 4th volume of Jeff Smith’s Bone withdrawn from her local school district after her son brought it home from his school’s library. In her formal complaint she talked about gambling, alcohol and tobacco use in the book, as well as “sexual situations between characters.”

Seriously? She’s taking objection with Bone? It’s being read far and wide by kids, carried by Scholastic. Banning the book is overkill. If DeLay objects to the content, why doesn’t she just ban it from her house? Or take the more reasonable step of teaching her son to think for himself and talk to him about how it relates to his values? In the local news article she said:

“That week was his DARE graduation week, and I was a little shocked that my son was reading a graphic novel that had illustrations and content relating to drinking and smoking and gambling,” DeLay said. “We’d just celebrated his graduating DARE and he was reading about everything they taught him not to do.”

Seems like that would have been a perfect opportunity talk to her son about the content and reinforce everything he had just learned. Too bad she took the way of fear and cowardice.

Parent’s complaint prompts Dist. 196 to consider withdrawing graphic novel (via The Comics Reporter)

Shakespeare should have written more sassy gay men (video)

Have you ever stopped to consider that if Ophelia had a sassy gay friend, she may have opted not to kill herself? Or Juliet might have opted not to use that dagger to the midsection? Or Desdemona could have been saved from being killed by Othello? I didn’t, but thankfully the people at The Second City Network did.

Book review: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith)

I loved Pride and Prejudice (and who doesn’t love zombies?), so I fully expected to love Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Turns out, I was wrong.

The crux of the issue is that, as pointed out in this interview, the book is approximately 85% Jane Austen’s words. I had hoped Seth Grahame-Smith would take the book in new directions, make it action-packed, but it’s really just Pride and Prejudice with the occasional zombie attack and the Bennett sisters as Shaolin masters who frequently save the day. He even said in another interview last year that “[...] Jane Austen did all of the heavy lifting for me. She has this brilliantly plotted, brilliantly written novel that just works well on every level, and so I didn’t want to really mess with the structure of the novel too much.”

And that’s the problem. Yes, Pride and Prejudice is both brilliantly plotted and brilliantly written, but if I wanted to read Pride and Prejudice, I would have picked my worn copy off the bookcase. I was hoping for mayhem, wall-to-wall blood and women in regency clothing sending rotting zombie heads flying across rooms and I didn’t get nearly enough of that.

Given that it’s 85% Pride and Prejudice, 15% new content, I don’t need to go into the plot. Grahame-Smith’s new scenes are brilliant and hilarious while still mostly true to the tone of the original. A couple had me laughing out loud and were so hilarious I had to tell people like some circumstances around the Netherfield ball and Elizabeth’s visit with the Collinses.

Ultimately, the book doesn’t work for me because Grahame-Smith is too reverential with the original text. Because Pride and Prejudice and Zombies isn’t as exciting as I had hoped it would be, the conceit becomes boring quickly. If you want to read it anyway, I recommend going as far as the end of Elizabeth’s trip with Charlotte and Mr. Collins and then flipping ahead to her confrontation with Lady Catherine. Or, if you were planning on reading Pride and Prejudice anyway but want to see a few zombies, go ahead and pick this one up.

Buy it from Amazon.com
Buy it from Amazon.ca

It’s… Darcy of the Dead
Interview: Seth Grahame-Smith, Author of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies