Review of Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

When Richard Mayhew stops one day to help a girl he finds bleeding on a London pavement, his life is forever altered, for he finds himself propelled into an alternative reality that exists in a subterranean labyrinth of sewer canals and abandoned subway stations. He has fallen through the cracks of reality and has landed somewhere different, somewhere that is Neverwhere.


My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Wow! Really weird and twisted. Definitely not for younger minds, but it does have Gaiman's Coraline'ish feel to it. I love the whole underworld of London and the characters were very well-developed. Makes me wonder if there will be a sequel. Loved the ending! There were times when I did become a little too confused in the middle of the novel and had to step back from the book for a break. The 2 villains, Mr. Vandermar and Mr. Croup, were foul and evil and often had me worried of what terrible things they would do to Richard and Door. Lots of surprises.



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Review of Lisa McCann's Unwanteds

So I'm going to try and review more books on my blog. I'll give snippets on occasion, but here's my first (in a while.)


The Unwanteds by Lisa McMann

Every year in Quill, thirteen-year-olds are sorted into categories: the strong, intelligent Wanteds go to university, and the artistic Unwanteds are sent to their deaths.

Thirteen-year-old Alex tries his hardest to be stoic when his fate is announced as Unwanted, even while leaving behind his twin, Aaron, a Wanted. Upon arrival at the destination where he expected to be eliminated, however, Alex discovers a stunning secret—behind the mirage of the "death farm" there is instead a place called Artime.

In Artime, each child is taught to cultivate their creative abilities and learn how to use them magically, weaving spells through paintbrushes and musical instruments. Everything Alex has ever known changes before his eyes, and it's a wondrous transformation.

But it's a rare, unique occurence for twins to be separated between Wanted and Unwanted, and as Alex and Aaron's bond stretches across their separation, a threat arises for the survival of Artime that will pit brother against brother in an ultimate, magical battle.

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Actually I give it 3.5 stars, but Goodreads won't allow half-star ratings. It was good. I enjoyed reading this. It had a great beginning and an exciting ending but the middle kinda lost me at times. Still, great concept all in all. Great writing. There were a few whoa moments which I appreciated. And I'll check out the sequel as well. On a side note, really weird animal morphed characters hurt my mind a little. I had a hard time envisioning the crocodile/octopus hybrid teacher. Other than that...

Shutter Island Review

It's good to be back at home. I had a fun time on my trip despite the wind and the cold and the discovery of a bald spot on my head. I think I'm going to call it Emerson. Why? Hmmm, I really don't know. I like the name. I was going to call my first son Emerson, but Heidi Vetoed it. Luckily for Jackson, I vetoed the name Lipton. Of course, he could have been the poster child for some lovely teas and we would've reaped the spoils of commercial wealth. Heidi was on to something, but my stubbornness prevailed.

My how the mind wanders.

Aside from eating garden grubs, at least 10 pounds of prime rib, and enough Mountain Dew to make me an honorary member of the fire department, I relaxed, laughed so hard I cried, and read Andy Hueller's book recommendation, Shutter Island.

First, let me preface this review. For all of my readers that are below the age of 18, beware. This book is not for the faint of heart. Honestly, I never knew some of those words could be used in that context. Having said that (and I strongly caution), I LOVED this book. Man, was it a page -turner. There have only been six other books in my memory that have kept me that enthralled throughout. Tommyknockers by Stephen King, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by somebody (the name escapes me) I know I blaspheme! Ghost Soldiers by Hampton Sides, The Shack by William Young, The Croata by Owl Goingback, and The Eaters of the Dead by Michael Crichton. In all fairness to the hundreds of other books I have read throughout my life, these books (with the exception of The Shack) were read while on vacation or an airplane. Two of them are in my top 10 (Order of the Phoenix and Ghost Soldiers), but the others were note-worthy. Shutter Island falls into that category of note-worthy page turner.

The setting is an island where the criminally insane are imprisoned and, in an attempt to "find a cure", are the subjects of very radical and gruesome testing. One of the mental patients, a woman with a sad and twisted past, has done the impossible by escaping out of her heavily guarded cell and out of the prison. All evidence suggests an inside job and two U.S. Marshalls, Teddy and Chuck, have come to investigate the mysterious prison on the eve of a disastrous hurricane. As each chapter passed, I was drawn waist-deep into a plot that seriously boggled my mind. I'll probably have to read it again, now that I know the outcome, because I want to see how Dennis Lehane (the author) wove in the subtle hints and details in the early chapters. The characters were so strong. I wish I could write characters like that. Simply brilliant.

I'm not very good at assigning a rating to books. 4 stars, two thumbs up and a pinkie, 7 angry aardvarks. I don't know, it's just not that easy. So, I will say this; I really enjoyed it. Do I recommend it?

No.

WHAT??? How can you possibly give a review like that and not recommend it?

There, there, Emerson (yes talking to my bald spot), let me explain.

If you've read my review, have taken heed to my warnings, and from that deemed this a book worthy of your perusal, then so be it. If not, oh well. I just don't want to take the chance of someone reading Shutter Island and exploding on me for content issues. It's definitely not for kids and to be frank (which I am) it's not for many adults. I enjoyed it and hopefully learned a thing or two about characterization for my future books.

I do feel rejuvenated. Perhaps my slump of reading is over. I sure hope so. Reading books is the greatest form of entertainment. I'll be so bold to say it's better than high octane sporting events, 3-dimensional blockbusters with blue alien jaguar people, awards ceremonies with Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin cozying up to each other while donning Snuggies, and of course an entire day's worth of Alton Brown Food Network programming.

You should be happy to know since finishing Shutter Island, I dove right in to my next reading adventure. I've always been fascinated with Cormac McCarthy, author of the Pulitzer Prize winning novel The Road and No Country for Old Men. So, I've decided to read his personal masterpiece, Blood Meridian. So far, zzzzzz, but I anticipate it getting good shortly. Too bad I don't have another cruise to go on anytime soon. I'm going through Mountain Dew withdrawals.

And the winner is...

I've read over every one's recommendations and after much thought and contemplation I've selected the winner.

Congratulations Andy Hueller! I'm kind of in the mood for a suspense/horror since I'll be on vacation and won't have to worry about losing sleep over something that's too scary. I'm going out to the book store tomorrow and picking myself up a copy of Shutter Island. I don't know if I'll get a chance to watch the movie and just from the trailer I'm very intrigued. Will it scare me? Will it keep me guessing all the way too the end? I sure hope so.

Wow! You guys are awesome! I'm so excited to dive into a new book and break out of this slump. I actually think I'll try out several of the book recommendations from this list. Shocker, but I haven't read Hunger Games yet. Uglies also sounds interesting and I'm going to definitely give Leviathan another go. Plus, I've yet to read a Brandon Sanderson novel and there were several recommendations for his writing. He's an awesome guy and I should take a stab at one of his books.

Andy, shoot me an e-mail with your address and I'll get your books signed and ready to go. Hopefully, I'll have a book report real soon on Shutter Island.

Book Recommendation Contest (in the land of the shortened posts)

I never want to admit this, because I consider myself an avid reader, but I'm in a bit of a slump. My motivation to turn pages every night is gone. Why? I'm not even sure. I've picked up several highly-touted books and, regrettably, have found myself leaving the dust jackets intact. I don't even have a current bookmark. In times past I've been known to use old receipts, gum wrappers, business cards, and occasionally a watermelon Airhead. It pains me to say I have yet to use a bookmark in 2010. I haven't ventured far enough within a book to a point where I'll forget where I am (usually chapter 3 or 4.) Certainly I'm only stating the obvious, but in order to even consider myself as an author, I have to read books. What's a chef without a whisk? A mathematician without an abacus? An ogre without a donkey? Nothing. So goes the title of author without a book to read. As you can see, this is shaping up to be a devastation.

I need help. I'm willing to pay (sort of) for assistance. In exactly one week, I'm heading on a vacation and I fully intend on packing a book or two for the trip. As it stands, I have no idea of what to bring. This is where you (or y'all for my southern readers) come into play. Recommend a book for me. I can't do this without you. I need to break out of my slump and I believe you have the answer. Recommend the book I choose and I'll send you a signed copy of The Adventures of Hashbrown Winters and Hashbrown Winters and the Mashimoto Madness.

It doesn't matter what genre your favorite book falls under. It might be important to add though, I have a slightly partial leaning toward suspense and/or middle grade fiction. But I'm open to anything if your recommendation is spot on. Tell me why you love this book. Then tell me why I'll love this book. Will I get lost within the pages? Will I feel the need to linger in my room whilst the world around me plays, to experience just one more chapter? Will this book make my list of top 5 all time? That's what I want and like I said, I'm willing to pay out a reward. I know authors will visit this blog from time to time and my suggestion to you, whoever you are, would be to sell me on your book, but don't be offended if I opt for an alternate route. The contest runs until Friday at 8:00 p.m. I will then hurry out to the book store on Saturday to make my purchase.

I'm excited! I love books and I love reading books! I just need to be reminded with an outstanding recommendation. Please help. Ready... set... go!

And the winner is...

So, we came up short on the contest requirements, but since everyone made a great effort and stooped to new lows by following my blog, I'm going to award a winner anyways. For those wondering where we came up short we missed the comments by 3 since Andrea (though her comments were wonderful and added so much to the post) commented twice. :)

The winner of the copy of Fablehaven 4 (signed by B. Mull himself) is.... Joanna! Congratulations! E-mail me at frank.cole14 at yahoo dot com so I can get your contact information to send you your prize.

Wow, I feel really good about this. Whenever I do a contest, I get anxiety thinking that no one will respond, but I'm feeling more confident now and with that confidence comes more generosity, so stay tuned in the upcoming days as I will definitely give you more opportunities to win some stuff.

Now on to the really fun stuff. Man, there were a lot of new (to me) children's books talked about in the comments. I'm definitely going to check these out. Here's the complete list of books:

The Top of the Pizzas by Bill Blass

Harold's Purple Crown

Amber Brown

Island of the Blue Dolphins (very good sales pitch on this one, Andrea... I think you've sold me.)

Widow's Broom by Chris Van Allsburg

The Sweetest Fig

Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown (definitely a classic because two different people commented on this one and I've read it myself)

The Chick and the Duckling by Mirra Ginsburg

Llama, Llama Red Pajama by Anna Dewdney

Skippyjon Jones by Judy Schachner (I love that little cat!)

Olivia by Ian Falconer

Fancy Nancy by Jane O'Connor

Charlie and Lola by Lauren Child (How did I know Amy would break the rules of this contest? Because I've known Amy for many a year and that's what she does. :) Oh and this was a 2 vote getter as well.

Giggle, Giggle, Quack by Doreen Cronin

Nancy Drew? (Come on Melissa, picture books!)

On Top of Spaghetti

The Little Mouse

The Red Ripe Strawberry

The Big Hungry Bear by Don and Audrey Wood

The Monster at the End of the Book (I like the sound of this one)

Frog and Toad are Friends

Tikki Tikki Tembo

Sylvester and the Magic Pebble (Another rule breaker.)

Alexander and the terrible, horrible, no good very bad day

Junie B. Jones (Junie definitely rocks)

Rolie Polie Olie (wasn't this a television show on Disney?)

The Giving Tree by Sheil Silverstein (I think I own all of his books too)

Miss Nelson Books (these scared the *poo* out of my kids so naturally I love them!)

The Fledgling

Choose Your Own Adventure Books (seriously, these rocked! I think I might take a stab at writing one in the future.)

Phew, what a list!

Okay, my favorites... you may already know. I was horrified as a child by the book the Tailypo by Joanna and Paul Galdone. It seriously scared me to death. So bad that I slept on my parents floor for weeks after hearing it. Awful... just awful. Do I own a copy now? Of course! Have my kids been terrorized by the tailypo? You betcha! What a great book! I also love Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs by Judy and Ron Barrett. I so wish that book was true!

Kids books rock don't they? Thanks again to everyone who participated.

Book Reviews

All right, to pass the time, I'll do a couple of book reviews.

The 13th Reality The Hunt for Dark Infinity by James Dashner - This one was a lot faster paced then the first and definitely had some creepy scenes. There's this whole scene where a character named Sato goes into a scary insane asylum and it gives you the feeling of standing in line for one of those haunted forests. Very cool!

The story continues where the first one left off with Atticus "Tick", Paul and Sofia diving into an exciting adventure across several realities to try and stop Reginald Chu, a scientific mastermind. Meanwhile, Tick discovers that things aren't just happening to him coincidentally, and there's more to his powers than he'd expected. A few new characters are introduced that really enhance the story. One in particular is a hick-talking, burly lumberjack-like man named Sally who spurs an image of the bearded fella in the old Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer cartoon (The one with the red beard and the pick axe who kind of subdues the abominable snowman.) I thought the dialogue snapped and I was pleasantly surprised with the twists. I admit that at first I was wondering if the book was heading in a sure direction, but Dashner delivers and I actually experienced a few moments where I said "I really like this book" out loud. If you've read the first than it's a must sequel.

The Shack by William P. Young - This book amazed me. I have different beliefs in religion than the author, but despite that, this book was very insightful. I don't know how many paragraphs I read to my wife to get her opinion. The story was well-written and not overwritten. It's about a man named Mack who's daughter is abducted and murdered in a run down shack in the middle of the forest. His family breaks down and he has a serious separation from religion and God. 3 1/2 years later, Mack receives a strange letter. Supposedly, it's from God who wants to chat with Mack in the shack. Very interesting, but a bit of a warning: The author sets this book up as a being a true story and it actually is not. That kind of frustrated me a little because I wanted to believe everything that happened and I was lead to believe that by the Foreword and Epilogue and what not. It's not true, but if you like a good fiction book that will entertain and bring up some interesting theories on God, this is a great book to read.

Seriously Read This Series!

So I just finished book #2 in the Percy Jackson saga - Percy Jackson and the Olympians - The Sea of Monsters. Ah man it is a great read! I love the characters, the Greek Mythology, the twists. If you like Harry Potter which about 250 million people do, you'll like the series as well. That's all I have to say right now. I just finished the book while in the restroom and I yelled "Oh man!" and I laughed. Heidi didn't know I was reading and she started getting worried.

Recommendations

PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS BOOK 1 - THE LIGHTNING THIEF - BY RICK RIORDAN -I just have to say that this was a fantastic read. Man! I absolutely loved it. This book had everything. I haven't felt this strongly about a book since the days of Harry Potter. Yep, I'm that serious. I laughed, I cried, I was moved to fits of anger, I received inspiration on how to better control my financial woes... OK none of those things actually happened, but I really did like this book. There are Greek Gods in a modern setting (living in the Empire State Building of all places.) And Percy, the son of one of them, has an outrageous quest he has to do to prevent an all out war between the Gods. Evil beings from Greek Mythology like Medusa, The Minotaur and Hades show up and battle Percy in a really unique way. Read it! You'll love it!

FARWORLD - BOOK 1 WATER KEEP - BY J. SCOTT SAVAGE - This was another great read from a new (local) author. I admit going into reading this I was a little skeptical. I thought that there wasn't going to be anything new, just the same ole' Lord of the Ringish type material and although there were times where I felt the book was indeed reminiscent of Tolkien's work, the overall story was very entertaining. The story takes place on two different worlds (ours and Farworld where everyone knows and can practice magic.) The two main characters, Marcus who suffers from physical disabilities on Earth and Kyja who is the only person on Farworld that can't practice magic have a strange connection. The two of them must meet up and save their planets from being destroyed by an evil group called the Dark Circle. This book was well worth the time investment of reading it.

Book Reviews

I've always enjoyed a good book, thus the reason I love to write so much. Plus, the fact that I work at a book store leaves me with endless opportunities to read some great stuff. Here are my reviews of the past four books I read in August:

Peter and the Secret of Rundoon by Ridley Pearson and Dave Barry - Truth be told I only finished this book in August, it took me a much longer time to read and get into. I don't blame it on the book though, I was just preoccupied with many other things during that time. I loved this book. I loved the series. It's something I never thought that I could enjoy because it dealt with Peter Pan. This series takes you to the beginning of Peter Pan. It tells the origins of every character from the J.M. Barrie's masterpiece, and the story really works. Again, I was never really a huge Peter Pan fan, partly because I had a qualm with the fact that the character was generally played by a woman in the plays, something very hard for me to find cool as a young boy. But this story explains so much. Why are there so many strange things occurring in Neverland? How is it that Peter can fly and really no one else? Why is there a pirate ship in the middle of a lagoon? You receive all of the answers in this trilogy and often you'll find yourself pausing to reading something over again as you realize it. One thing that it had that I wish other books had was shorter chapters (some of them were less than a page.) For some reason, I could find myself speeding along page by page, because I was completing whole chapters in a matter of minutes. I give the series 4 swats out of 5 (see the Fly-swatter Journal for explanation of swats.) Read the others first.

Out of Bounds by Jeff Benedict - This was a nonfiction book about the violence and sex crimes that occur in the NBA and how easily the players get away with practically murder. This book was well written and it definitely managed to get my blood boiling over the topic. We really do take immature and mostly ignorant athletes, shower them with unlimited amounts of money and then treat them like gods. Our society creates these monsters and then they have sufficient funding to pay for the best legal teams that cause their cases to continue on for so long that the prosecution has no choice but to settle out of court. Luckily, most of the players mentioned in the book were ones I really didn't care about so it failed to ruin the sport for me, but it came pretty darn close! 3.0 swats out of 5. Plus, I met Jeff at a convention just recently and he's a total stud (did I just use that word?)

Artemis Fowl: The Lost Colony by Eoin Colfer - I don't have anything but praise for the Artemis Fowl series. I got into these books around the same time my interest in Harry Potter was at its all time high and I thought that I would never enjoy another book again. Fortunately, Eoin Colfer is a genius and he wrote some really awesome books. This is more for teen readers , but the characters are so unique and often hilarious that I just couldn't put these books down. This was #5 in the series (#6 is already available in bookstores,) and although it wasn't my favorite (I think #3 holds that spot) I still loved every bit of it. Artemis Fowl starts as an 11-year-old criminal mastermind who discovers the existence of fairies (elves, goblins, gnomes, trolls, etc., etc.) and devises a brilliant plan to exploit their powers. Of course the fairies are for more technologically advanced then humans, and have amazing weapons, thus the plan doesn't work as smoothly as Artemis hoped it would. The result is a hilarious romp through both our world and the fairy world (underground.) Along the way you're introduced to the main characters of Artemis, his assassin-like bodyguard Butler, Holly (pretty much the most skilled military fairy in their world) a genius Centaur, and a dwarf that uses his bodily functions in an almost lethal way. I give this book 3.5 swats because it wasn't my overall favorite, but the series as a whole earns 4.5 swats.

The Road by Cormac McCarthy - This book won the Pulitzer Prize in 2006. McCarthy is always writing about death, violence and a much darker world than I see from day to day, (he also wrote No Country For Old Men which won the Academy Award for Best Picture last year.) Although the book was well-written, it wasn't my favorite. You have to have patience to enjoy McCarthy's books and it takes a good chunk of your time to truly get into them. For starters, he doesn't write like any other author I have ever read. And he has the most amazing vocabulary which can be a tad intimidating for someone from Kentucky (me!) Not for the light of heart. The story itself is about a father and his young son (probably about 7 or 8, though it never says,) trying to survive and make it to the coast during a post-apocalyptic world. These two are never safe and are always hungry. Everything is dead, you never see any animals and hardly ever any living plants, plus most of the people they end up bumping into are a part of a murderous horde of cannibals. Ah, nothing like a pleasant story to uplift you. Its a travelogue with no chapters, just straight writing page after page and very little dialogue. Despite all of those reasons that would normally turn me off to a book, I found The Road to be very fascinating. The true point behind the story is the love the father and son have for each other and there are times throughout its pages that are very moving. Still, I think I liked No Country for Old Men better and so I give this story 3.0 swats.

Book Review - The Incredible Shrinking Man

I was excited to dive into another Richard Matheson novel after reading I Am Legend (quality horror.) However, I really struggled keeping the excitement while reading this book. It was only a little over 200 pages, but it dragged for most of that. I was hoping to see more action, but it had very little.

There was a rather enjoyable scene, where the main character hunts a deadly black widow the size of a man, but there are no other real antagonists, other than of course, the unknown condition causing him to shrink.


Don't get me wrong, it was well written in terms of mechanics and the idea was rather unique. Richard Matheson has an excellent grasp on horror writing, but I felt no real terror nor did I slip into a situation where I could relate with the character's rising fear.


Save this one for a long airplane flight that's only playing Live Action Inspector Gadget flicks. --