Book and Movie Update
Back on a regular schedule of sorts next week, with (hopefully) some major changes. I’m sure you’re all waiting with bated breath.
Books:
The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey - Trenton Lee Stewart: I do hate when sequels aren’t even close to being as awesome as the original was, and this book is a prime example of that. The first book was fun and felt different, even if it used the orphaned genius conceit a bit too much. The new book is just one big adventure with lots of little puzzles - perfectly fine, but also samey, and not nearly as exciting. Still a good read, but damning it with faint praise, I suppose.
New Moon - Stephenie Meyer: So I still don’t quite get it, but there you have it. I still want to see it to its conclusion, but I’m not rushing to get there, either.
Queen of Babble in the Big City - Meg Cabot: Of course, the fact that I was infinitely more excited for the conclusion to this than Twilight demonstrates how weird my life truly is. Also, this was quite worthy, even if predictable.
Batman: The Killing Joke - Alan Moore: I admit it - this was cool. Awesome? Meh. Cool? Yeah, I’ll take it. But, again, I don’t get Batman, and the Joker stuff was much more fascinating to me. Glad I picked this up, anyway, so thanks for the multiple recommendations.
Ultimate Spider-Man: Dead Pool/Clone Wars/Ultimate Knights/Death of a Goblin - Brian Michael Bendis: I do like me some Spider-Man, though. The Dead Pool arc was ridiculous, and the whole Clone thing could have been put aside, but I’m still along and nearly caught up, and it’s worth my time and I like it. So there.
Game Boys - Michael Kane: A compelling read about competitive video gaming. Really crazy stuff, and a great look at how the competitive leagues came to be.
The Edge of Reason - Melinda Snodgrass: An…odd book. First of a series (I think?) about apocolyptic forces where Jesus is actually working on the side of Lucifer to eradicate the supernatural, and magic is bad as is religion and yeah. Odd, odd read, but strangely compelling at the same time. I don’t know who I could recommend this to, but hey.
The Rule of Won - Stefan Petrucha: Petrucha visited the library and gave me an advance copy of this (I gotta remember to e-mail him), and it was great. A high school gets overcome by a version of The Secret, and one kid ends up somewhat leading the way to fight it. His last book, Teen Inc, was good but a bit heavy on the message - this one balances itself out much nicer.
Predictably Irrational - Dan Ariely: Another compelling non-fiction about how you’d predict people to act against how they do in the heat of the moment. I thought I’d give up on this one a few times but I kept getting roped in. I love when statistics don’t back up preconceived notions, and this book was chock full of it. Definitely look this one up.
Allie Finkle’s Rules for Girls: The New Girl - Meg Cabot: Meg Cabot is my secret girlfriend, and I only hope my future daughter is even a quarter as awesome as Allie Finkle is. That is all.
Heck: Where the Bad Kids Go - Dale E. Basye: What a delightfully bizarre kids book - two kids die and go to “Heck,” a version of limbo where bad kids end up until adulthood, when they can then be sorted into their proper circle in Hell. A fun little book, a lot of zingers for both young and old, and a fun conclusion. I really, really loved reading this one.
Movies:
Wall-E: So there’s all the bizarre wrigning of hands about the message for this movie. I don’t know why - it was quite good, and the message wasn’t anything overbearing or even all that noticable unless you were looking for it. It’s no Ratatoille or The Incredibles, but it’s still really, really great.
The Dark Knight: I complained about this one here. Not much has changed.
Step Brothers: Proving that I’m not sick of Will Ferrell. This movie was so completely delightfully absurd, I cried laughing at parts. Boats and ho’s, baby.