As I’m sure is the case with many of you, I read more books that I usually review. The reason I don’t get around to doing a full review of them generally isn’t because of disappointment in the book, but more due to a lack of time or the desire to post about something else. Time then passes and the book remains unreviewed. And yet the desire to share my thoughts about said book lurk under the surface. So, in order to let some of these thoughts out, I decided to do a group of mini book reviews, hoping some of these may spark your interest if you are looking for something else to read. (He says jokingly).

As I mentioned recently, The Game is my first exploration into the plethora of work by Diana Wynne Jones. This is a book I picked up, as with many, solely because of the amazing cover art…this one being the work of Rick Berry. Unfortunately, at least for me, the cover was much better than the story. I think the main problem with The Game is that it is a novella when it should have been a novel. There are moments in the story that are wonderful and make me realize just why Jones is such a beloved author. However, those moments alternate with moments in which it feels like she is writing down to her audience, children, rather than writing up to them. Those moments really detract from the story for me. If you are a fan of stories with a mythological bent then there are things about The Game that you would really enjoy. I thought the main character was wonderful, I just wish she had fleshed this out into a full novel. The reality of this book, though, is that it really feels like a book written specifically for children and not one of those books that are so well written that they appeal to adults. If you haven’t read her, I wouldn’t suggest picking this as my first Diana Wynne Jones book.

2.5 out of 5 stars

The Plain Janes is the first in a new graphic novel line for Minx, a division of DC Comics. This is young adult novelist Cecil Castellucci’s first foray into graphic novels and she hits one out of the park with her debut. The Plain Janes tells the story of a family that moves to a smaller town after a bomb explodes in Metro City, temporarily injuring their teenage daughter and putting another man into a coma. With some obvious parallels to the Trade Center bombings, this story showcases how different members of a family come to grips with the darker side of humanity. After the move, Jane meets several other girls of the same name and forms a club in which they conduct clandestine art attacks to raise awareness for creativity and expression. It really is a great story. Jim Rugg’s art is very clean and deceptively simplistic and I just love his character designs. An example of a page can be seen here. For those of you who like art and creativity and enjoy a good story, I highly recommend this. My only complaint is that it felt like the ending should have 3 or 4 more pages to resolve the storyline a little less quickly.

5 out of 5 stars

Clubbing is the second book I purchased from the Minx line and while I enjoyed it, it is not as good as The Plain Janes. In fact, considering that Josh Howard is an artist whose work (Dead @ 17) I really enjoy and Andi Watson is a comic writer (and artist) whose work I have loved in the past, my expectations for Clubbing were very high. Unfortunately it just didn’t deliver the goods that a writer and artist of this caliber should be able to deliver. The story was very enjoyable at times. A rebellious goth city girl gets sent to a sleepy English village to stay with her grandparents for the summer as punishment for her wild behavior. While there she has to work at her grandparents golf resort. Things start to pick up in this seemingly quaint town as a horrific mystery unfolds. The story wasn’t terrible, it just was disappointing when I compare it to what I know it could have been. It is marred by art that is not quite up to par at times with Howard’s other work (though honestly this could be because of the digest size of these books as opposed to any flaws in Howard’s work) and a story that has moments of brilliance followed by moments of sloppy storytelling. I’d only pick this up if you can find it on the cheap.
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3 out of 5 stars

Old Twentieth was my first taste of the work of reknowned science fiction author Joe Haldeman, and a great introduction it was. This is a very small novel that is written in a way that keeps you turning the pages until the end. In a world in which mortality is a thing of the past, those wealthy enough to do so get their thrills by utilizing a virtual reality machine to visit various times and places, the most popular being the last century in which people were mortal, the twentieth century. In a novel that reads like a Star Trek holo-suite gone wrong, people begin inexplicably dying during their virtual trips, causing the creators of said machines to do some traveling of their own to figure out just why their machine seems to be on a murder spree. There is a bit of Star Trek and a bit of the film The Thirteenth Floor in this one and if you like either of those I venture you’d enjoy Old Twentieth. It is a quick but highly entertaining read.

4.5 out of 5

Mouse Guard is the wonderful creation of David Petersen. It is released bi-monthly in a non-traditional comic format and the first story arc of six issues has been released in this harback collection. The art is beautiful. The story started out a bit slow but then really picked up and by the end I was clamoring for more. Although I would love to be reading it as it comes out, this format is so nice that I will be waiting for the hardback version of book two. From the site:

“The mice struggle to live safely and prosper among all of the world’s harsh conditions and predators. Thus the Mouse Guard was formed. After persevering against a weasel warlord in the winter war of 1149, the territories are no longer as troubled. True, the day to day dangers exist, but no longer are the Guard soldiers, instead they are escorts, pathfinders, weather watchers, scouts and body guards for the mice who live among the territories. Many skills are necessary for the guard to keep the borders safe. They must find new safeways and paths from village to village, lead shipments of goods from one town to another and, in case of attack, guard against all evil and harm to their territories.

‘Hail all those who are able, any mouse can, any mouse will, but the Guard prevail’”

If you are a fan of animal stories and are a fan of historical tales, I believe Mouse Guard would appeal to you.

There is a great set of PVC figures of the Mouse Guard coming out soon, details here. I saw prototypes of these at a comic convention and they look great!

4.5 out of 5 stars

The Stars, My Destination is one of the most unsung classics of science fiction ever written. Hailed by many authors that we all know and love, this is still a book that gets little play today and that is a shame. I read this book early this year and was blown away by it. Written in 1956, there is absolutely nothing about this book to indicate that it isn’t contemporary science fiction. It has so many elements that are in today’s science fiction books and films that it is amazing to think that this book is over 50 years old. Alfred Bester, in the character of Gully Foyle, created the first true anti-hero. It is ultra-simplistic for me to describe this book as The Count of Monte Cristo in the future, but in saying that I am attempting to compare just one aspect of this story that I really liked with that classic novel. Stars is amazing and should be required reading for all science fiction fans. If I go ahead with my plans to do a Sci-Fi reading challenge in January, I think I may have to re-read this one and do a much more detailed review. In the meantime, pick a copy of this up and put it on your to-read pile! It is that good.

5 big, huge stars out of 5!!!

If you’ve been with me for the past year, then you’ve no doubt seen John Scalzi’s name numerous times. His trilogy of books staring with Old Man’s War and his single novel The Android’s Dream have become science fiction favorites. His work smacks of the best of authors like Robert Heinlein, Joe Haldeman, and Harry Harrison. I love his stories. This is a limited edition book on writing, put together by Subterranean Press out of the treasure trove of articles that Scalzi has written on his blog over the years. If you are not visiting John Scalzi’s site, Whatever, on a regular basis, you are really missing out.

This is the most no-nonsense, ‘get off your butt and write’ guide to writing that I have ever read. It is irreverant, funny, in-your-face, and filled with the kind of information that I always wanted to hear from an author. Scalzi works to take apart the romantic notion that a person has to have some grand inspiration to write a novel and instead encourages would-be writers to look at the market and write for the market. I loved this book. As you can see from the shot below, this is an extremely limited edition and is unfortunately unavailable…although I have seen copies going for big bucks on the internet. I review this to tell you that you can get much of this information from his site and it is a great resource for writers.

This one is definitely a 5 out of 5 stars.

I finally did it! This summer I finally read the book that inspired two of my favorite movies: the BBC mini-series and the Keira Knightley versions of Pride and Prejudice. What can I say? This book is every bit as amazing as all those who have fallen in love with it over the decades since it was published have said it is. Jane Austen had an incredible gift for writing amusing, romantic, ironic, satirical, witty fiction. Pride and Prejudice is a wonderful book and reading it made me fall for the characters all over again.

5 out of 5 stars

Back when Grindhouse came out I saw it, loved it, and reviewed it. Soon after, I saw this book on sale at Borders and just had to have it.

So much of the appeal of Grindhouse is the nostalgic, pulp visuals. It is so great to look at. This book builds upon that by being a beautiful making-of/behind-the-scenes/photo album of Grindhouse. In it Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino talk like giddy schoolgirls about their love of classic grind house cinema and share their inspiration and goals for the film. Included are short bios by the various cast members about their characters, complete scripts for each movie, and a ton of gorgeous pictures in all their gory detail. This is a fun book for anyone who is a fan of these directors or their films.

5 out of 5 stars

I know, this isn’t a book, but it fit in so nicely here. This past Tuesday, the first of the two films that comprised the Grindhouse experience was released on DVD. Death Proof, the second film of the double feature, is Tarantino’s film and is the first to be released. Rodriguez’s film, Planet Terror, will be released next month. Included in this cut is the extended edition of the film with the ‘missing reels’ put back in. I watched this and all the extras and it was great to see it again. It is such a fun bad-chick flick/car chase movie. The extras contain some really great interviews with the various cast members as well as comments from Quentin Tarantino. Unfortunately there is no Tarantino commentary to go with the film, further increasing my suspicions that an ultimate Grindhouse film will eventually be released that includes the theatrical version with both films together. Thankfully this was an inexpensive release that includes a $5.00 off coupon for Planet Terror.

5 out of 5 stars

Harvey award winning author/artist Matt Kindt’s graphic novel Super Spy is one that I came across going through the Previews comic ordering catalog a few months back and it grabbed my attention, big time. I love the art. It reminds me of the work of artists like Richard Sala who I really enjoy. Super Spy showcases 52 little spy-related vignettes, each a self-contained story, that ties into a larger story about spies during WWII. The stories in the book are not in chronological order so it makes for interesting reading. At times a few of the characters who look a bit similar added some confusion to what I was reading, but that was minimal and I loved how everything came together as the book ended. Included at the beginning of each story is its dossier number so that the story can be read in chronological order if a person wanted to do so. This is one I read cover to cover and am really excited about going back to. This one gets a high recommendation, and not just because Kindt is a fellow Missourian!

5 out of 5 stars

Blue Monday is one of my favorite graphic novel series of all times. Years ago I discovered Chynna Clugston-Major’s wonderful cast of characters and I have re-read these again and again. Having given away my last copies of these stories, I was excited to see a new edition going to press. All total there are four of these digest-sized graphic novels collecting the comics that make up the ongoing story of Bleu Finnegan and her friends.

The best way to describe Blue Monday is to say that it is very much Archie and Friends in the 21st century, with all the dialogue and preoccupations of teenagers in this day and age. This first series is probably the most graphic in its funny, though slightly cliched, portrayal of sex-crazed adolescent males and the girls who don’t want to have anything to do with them. These stories are funny and engaging and just edgy enough to be different from anything else you might have read. Chynna’s art is terrific and her writing is even better. She puts together the best characters and they each have so much dimension as the series progresses. I just love them all. In addition to this, Chynna Clugston infuses each story with her love of music and culture and I find all kinds of little things in each issue that make me smile, including references to P.G. Wodehouse and Oscar Wilde in the first book, for example.

You can check out a 5 page preview of this book, as well as the other three in the series, at the above linked Oni Press site. Here is a direct link to the first one. As I stated, this is a series that I read again and again. I think I get the double pleasure of a bit of nostalgia for my own teenage years mixed with references to so many wonderful things I’ve discovered as an adult.

5 highly enthusiastic stars out of 5.

Well, that’s all folks. Hope you got some good reading ideas out of this pile. I’m thrilled to get caught up on some of my reviews. Happy Thursday everyone!!!