I read this book years ago and enjoyed it, so I thought I’d read it again with my Second Life book club. I had forgotten much about the book since I last read it.

Jasper Fforde weaves a tale about a police detective, Thursday Next, who specializes in literary crime. Most of the time it is a very dull job, at least for most of the LiteraTecs. Thursday seems to attract adventure. Before becoming a police officer, she fought in the Crimean War. In this war, she lost her brother, and the love of her life. One to death, the other to the trauma of war.

The world of Thursday Next is a world of time travel, cloned extinct pets, and characters being kidnapped out of famous books. England and Russia have been fighting a war off and on for over a century. Her father is a time traveling fugitive that is trying to fix the past, so she rarely sees him.

Thursday’s nemesis in this book is Acheron Hades. He is probably my second favorite character of the whole book. Thursday is drawn into this adventure because Hades was her professor in college, so she can identify him. He has the strange ability to locate people when they speak his name, seems to be invulnerable to any physical harm, and apparently has the ability to teleport and cause others to hallucinate. He commits evil acts for the pure pleasure and feels that to robbery for the sake of financial gain is low, common, and in poor taste.

Fforde combines adventure and comedy together very well. As an American, I know there are some references to parts of London and England that I missed completely. There are many puns, some good, some come with a groan factor. I really enjoyed the book, it was a fun read. I’m actually in the mood to read the rest of the series.

This book is a dark comedy/horror by David Wong. David Wong is the pseudonym for the head editor of Cracked.com. It is another book, among a growing number, that was originally published online and is now gracing the shelves of our favorite bookstores. The set up is this, David and his best friend are reluctant paranormal investigators.

John, the aforementioned best friend and the title’s namesake, takes a drug called “soy sauce”. When David comes to rescue John from what he believes is a very bad trip, he accidentally takes some of the drug. There are no quotes around accidentally, as it is completely sincere and meant in no way to be sarcastic. The after effects of the drug cause all sorts of problems for both David and John, though not in the ways you might expect.

The style of “John Dies at the End” is very conversational, it feels like a buddy telling you of his drunken adventures. The descriptions are incredibly vivid, without being grotesque. There were sentences in this books that made me laugh and say “oohh, gross” at the exact same time. The descriptions are not intended to get a gross out reaction, but simply provide a clear mental picture. Wong supplies us with several unexpected twists in the tale.

I recommend this for people that like horror, comedy, or are just looking for something a little out of the ordinary. If you are a fan of Cracked.com then you will definitely enjoy this book, but then again if you are a fan of Cracked.com you probably already know about the book.

We finished reading John Dies at the End. Our book for November is The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde. We will meet on November 29th at 3PM SLT for costume contest, quiz and discussion. I hope to see you all there.

If you’d like more input on upcoming books message me here, or in-world, or visit our group on GoodReads.

www.goodreads.com

Un Lun Dun is China Mieville’s first young adult novel. As indicated by the title it is set in an alternate version of London. It has been compared to Louis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, though I can not speak directly to this as I have yet to read that work, I can see why the comparison has been made based on the movie adaptations.

The tale begins in London, with our main characters Zanna and Deeba. They begin to notice that strange occurrences are happening, things like a fox watching Zanna during recess. Zanna is attacked by a dark cloud, and stays several nights at Deeba’s house. The girls are awoken by the sound of something scratching at the window, it’s a broken umbrella. Zanna decides to follow it, dragging Deeba in her wake. They end up in Un Lun Dun with no way home. Needless to say, the girls are scared and confused.

Upon their arrival they are chased by a pile of rubbish and promptly rescued by a boy named Hemi. A friendly tailor notices that the girls are new in town, and chases Hemi off. He’s half-ghost, and the living don’t trust the ghosts. Zanna then learns that she is the “Chosen One” and is meant to save Un Lun Dun from the Smog. But Obaday, the tailor, won’t say anything else. He insists on taking her to see the Propheseers, who will tell her what she must do. Zanna and Deeba meet the Propheseers, but things do not go as predicted. The “Chosen One” is injured in the first battle. We learn that people, things, and ideas can travel between our world and the world of Un Lun Dun. There are several other plot twists, which would be quite surprising to the young readers that are the intended audience. They are handled very well, even if as an adult you can guess that they are coming, they do not feel forced or artificial.

The world of Un Lun Dun is full of unique creatures and objects, as are Mieville’s other worlds. I admit I was a bit concerned about Mieville’s vocabulary when it came to writing a young adult novel. He is quite fond of big words that make educated adults reach for a dictionary, so I wasn’t sure if he could pull back and make his wonderful prose accessible to children. He did so superbly. He gave us several emotionally touching scenes throughout the book. There was a lot of focus on the value of friendship in this story. There was particular good-bye scene which reminded me very much of Dorothy’s farewells in The Wizard of Oz.

Overall, I’d recommend this book to anyone that enjoys fantasy, or is looking for a book to share with a young person in their life.

Good reading everyone.

This was my first novel by Rudy Rucker.  Though I wasn’t sure what to expect, I knew that this book would take a different approach to cyberpunk than I have encountered before.

Our main character is Cobb Anderson, he is an elderly scientist, living in disgrace. The cause of his disgrace is the robot revolution that was brought about by him developing a way for robots to evolve and have real brains, not in the physical sense but in the independent thought sense. He has lost is his money and career, left his wife, and is suicidal while being terrified of death. Another consequence of the robot rebellion is that all the “boppers”, or thinking robots, have been exiled to the moon. One of the boppers sneaks down to Earth and offers Cobb immortality, money for a ticket to the moon, and a new passport as Cobb’s travel is restricted to due his part in the robot rebellion (albeit unintentional).

Cobb has a nemesis, a police officer named Mooney. Mooney is holding a grudge about Cobb’s part in the robot rebellion. Ironically, the person that the boppers plan to have help Cobb is Mooney’s son, Sta-Hi. I don’t want to go into the plot any further, to avoid spoilers.

Rucker’s writing flowed smoothly, and I even laughed in a few spots. The book was enjoyable, but not riveting. I think that part of the reason I wasn’t riveted is because I found some of the events a bit predictible, that might not be the case for you. I wouldn’t place it among my all-time favorites; however, I found the question that Rucker posed about the soul very interesting. There was a lack of intensity that I have come to expect from cyberpunk. As the novel is the first in a trilogy, much of the story was exposition. I don’t feel that I can reach a definitive conclusion on how I feel about it as a work, because it is not a complete work in and of itself. If you like science fiction and questions of an existential nature, then this would be a good choice for you.

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski is a truly unique book. When I first discovered it, it was on the shelf in the horror section at the bookstore. Then next time I saw it, it was on the literature shelf. It seems that no one quite knows how to classify this book. Once you read it, you will understand why. This book truly defies description. Danielewski weaves an incredible tale, full of heart, paranoia, fear, danger, insanity, symbolism, analogy, and allegory. He writes the tale as three different people, in three distinct writing styles. We begin by meeting Johnny Truant, an apprentice tattoo artist, a lover of women and parties, and a prolific storyteller. When we meet him, he is in the middle of an obsession which is destroying his life. The thing that is the center of his obsession is an incomplete manuscript that he found in the apartment of a dead blind man named Zampano. We become acquainted with Johnny through footnotes he writes to Zampano’s work. Sometimes they are about the research he and Zampano have done, or they might be translations. Often they are tangents in which Johnny talks of his life experiences (memories sparked by Zampano’s words) or descriptions of his mental state and how Zampano’s work is effecting him and how he believes it effected Zampano. The main portion of the book is Zampano’s work. He is writing a paper, it reads much like a college dissertation, about a film called “The Navidson Record”. There is some doubt throughout the story as to whether the film actually exists. Zampano tells the story of the Navidson family’s move into a house in the country to reconnect with each other. Will Navidson is an award-winning photo-journalist, and decides to document his family’s move into their new home. Once they move in, they discover that their new house is very strange. The first strange thing that they discover is that it is bigger on the inside than the outside by 5/16th of an inch. Their new house proceeds to get stranger from there. Once the strangeness is discovered, Will insists on continuing to film, “The Navidson Record” is the resulting film from the recorded events in the house. The other person that tells the story, or parts of it, is Johnny’s mother. She is institutionalized in a mental hospital, and has been since Johnny was a small boy. We learn about Johnny’s early life, and her, through a series of letters that she wrote to Johnny from the hospital. At times it is difficult to know if her letters help us understand Johnny, or just add to the confusion of it all. One of the things that makes this book unique is Danielewski’s use of the textual format. The layout of the text frequently reflects the action in the story and the mental or emotional state of the characters. There are references to the Greek myth of the Minotaur throughout the book, thought it is usually very subtle and in the background. The people in this book have dynamic and real relationships with each other. All I can say is that everyone should read this book. I will have to read it again, as I know there are things I missed this time as well.

This review is long over due, sorry for the delay. My masters class on school law has taken up most of my time.

Though I hate to use the term, because of the often negative connotations, The Scar is a spin-off of Perdido Street Station. Reviewed here. Reading the original story isn’t necessary to understand or enjoy this story; however, I highly recommend it.

Mieville opens not with the main character, but with a beautifully described scene depicting an underwater hunter and his trained hunting squid. This scene gives the audience a sneak peek as to what horrors of the deep await our cast of characters. His use of language, as usual, is magnificient.

Our central character is Bellis Coldwine. She is fleeing to a newly founded colony to avoid an unknown entanglement with the New Crobuzon government, with the intention of returning home once it is safe. Bellis lies about her ability to speak the language of a sea-faring people in order to get passage to the colony. Bellis is a complex character, but I admit there were times I found it hard to like her.

In addition to taking colonists to the new colony, the ship is transporting Remade prisoners. Remades are people that have been punished for crimes they committed by being altered physically, usually by having horrible mechanical parts added to their body  or replacing a body part. In the course of the ship’s travels to the colony they are abducted by a floating pirate city, Armada. It is run by the Lovers. Once you are a part of Armada, you are not allowed to leave. This results in much inner turmoil for Bellis.

There are many more interesting characters in the book, and you do find out how it links back to Perdido Street Station. The story is complex and well-written. There are dramatic sea battles and tender moments. I recommend this if you love language, pirate tales, fantasy stories, or steampunk. Enjoy.

I read this book for several reasons. First, I had read a historical romance novel for kids when I was young about the hurricane of 1900, and the tragedy of the event stuck with me. Second, this is one of the reading assignments for our 6th grade students next year. Students love it when teachers that teacher another subject have read a book that they have to read and can share it with them. Third, I wanted to look at how they handled such a hurricane after experiencing Hurricane Ike.

This book is a bit difficult for me to review, as it’s non-fiction. I am not an expert in the field, but I can tell you that the factual and historical data is weaved very well with the first person accounts. The author breaks the time up into increments of a few hours, this really makes a timeline clearer as well as increases the suspense and emotional intensity. Parts of this made me laugh, parts of it made me cry. The author has a clear and direct style. The original publication date was 1957, so he was able to interview many of the survivors.

I was amazed at how quickly the 1900 Galvestonians began to recover from the hurricane. They began cleaning up and rebuilding even before outside help could reach them. The 1900 hurricane is the land-based equivalent to the sinking of the Titanic. It is the event which caused the seawall to be built, though it had been discussed before the hurricane, it was considered too expensive to build. It shifted the ideas of what could be done to protect coastal cities, just as the Titanic altered the safety regulations on cruise ships. I recommend this book highly if you are interested in history, hurricanes, or humans ability to adapt and recover from disaster.

Our next book is House of Leaves by Mark. Z. Danielewski.

Overview from Google books – Years ago, when House of Leaves was first being passed around, it was nothing more than a badly bundled heap of paper, parts of which would occasionally surface on the Internet. No one could have anticipated the small but devoted following this terrifying story would soon command. Starting with an odd assortment of marginalized youth — musicians, tattoo artists, programmers, strippers, environmentalists, and adrenaline junkies — the book eventually made its way into the hands of older generations, who not only found themselves in those strangely arranged pages but also discovered a way back into the lives of their estranged children.

Now, for the first time, this astonishing novel is made available in book form, complete with the original colored words, vertical footnotes, and newly added second and third appendices.

The story remains unchanged, focusing on a young family that moves into a small home on Ash Tree Lane where they discover something is terribly wrong: their house is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside.

Of course, neither Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Will Navidson nor his companion Karen Green was prepared to face the consequences of that impossibility, until the day their two little children wandered off and their voices eerily began to return another story — of creature darkness, of an ever-growing abyss behind a closet door, and of that unholy growl which soon enough would tear through their walls and consume all their dreams.

If you’d like a preview of his writing style and language, please follow this link to an online preview. Please skip around as he uses three distinct types of writing in the book.

http://books.google.com/books?id=qGA_3RGqTkQC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_navlinks_s

She Murdered Me with Science is David Boop’s first novel. It combines historical fiction, sci-fi, and detective noir. Boop often plays for humor, and I think he does it well. I love the liberal sprinkling of period slang, though I admit my knowledge and taste of it come from “Casablanca”, bits of “The Maltese Falcon”, and Shirley Temple movies like “The Bachelor and the Bobbysocker”.

As is a staple in the detective noir genre, when we meet our hero, he is “down on his luck”. Noel Glass was a teenage science protege. He was recruited in his childhood by NMIT and graduated at the tender age of 16. He left NMIT in disgrace when an experiment went horribly wrong and killed six people, including his lover, Tangie. To make ends meet he becomes a private eye and forensic detective. He has been struggling to invent something to reestablish himself as a scientist.

Just as he completes his new invention he is approached by a mysterious man that not only wants to buy his invention, but tells him that the accident was really a frame job. The people that framed Glass for the deaths are trying to kill his benefactor. Glass then uses his detective skills to figure out why this mystery man is helping him and who framed him.

He is helped in his quest by Mr Lee, who had previously rescued him from depression and self-pity, and Vincent, the mystery man’s body guard. At times the interaction between the three makes me think of a buddy flick. Boop also pulls in the sultry songbird, though this one is far from helpless.

I was a bit disappointed in the twist ending, as I predicted it much earlier. Now whether this was accidental, or done on purpose to play up the archetypes of the genre, I can not be sure. Over all, this was a fun read. Perfect for a vacation or to read on a beach.

PS. All Milkwood events are on hiatus due to Harriet’s computer pulling a Hal. Please continue reading  by China Mieville.