Wednesday, April 28, 2004
The Complete Peanuts: 1950 to 1952
How does one review a bunch of comics? I mean, sure, an individual comic strip can strike home with a serious, profound thought, or even get one's mind speculating on deep issues. But it's rare for a comic strip to delve into any prolonged analysis of an issue. Each day's strip needs to deliver its standalone message in the limited number of panels it's given. So my review of the content of The Complete Peanuts--a complete collection of Charles Schulz's iconic strip--is simple: it's funny. However, there's more to this book than just the strips. For one thing, this series is created for the hard core fan of Peanuts. The book has an index, for crying out loud! Only a true comics geek needs one of those. Also, the Peanuts of 1950-1952 is a far cry from the icons we know today. Snoopy behaves like a dog, Charlie Brown is a wise-cracking trickster and Linus' blanket is nowhere to be seen. There are a few beloved concepts that show up in this collection, but for the most part it's completely different from what's running in the newspapers today. But hey, like I said, it's funny. I'm looking forward to reading future volumes to see the strip evolve and enjoy a slice of Americana from before my time. I probably wouldn't have bought the book for myself, but my wife is a fan, so it's going on my shelf.
Labels: CharlesSchulz, CompletePeanuts, OnMyShelf
Wednesday, April 21, 2004
The Terminal Experiment
Labels: OnMyShelf, RobertSawyer
Wednesday, April 14, 2004
The Cleopatra Crisis
In book 11 of the Time Wars series, Mr. Hawke gets his act together. The story starts on the outskirts of Rome, 49 B.C.E. The night before Julius Caesar's march on Rome, an oracle comes and warns him of his assassination--awaiting him five years in the future--and names his assassins. Caesar is impressed, but not as much as his aide Lucius, who is really a deep cover agent of the Temporal Corps. Lucius contacts TAC headquarters and the Time Commandos are sent back to investigate. They have the unpleasant task of flushing out the enemy agents and ensuring that the charismatic dictator of Rome meets his doom. While The Cleopatra Crisis is not the best in the series, but it's a definite improvement from past efforts. Like the more recent novels in the series, it's based on history rather than a literary work. Even better, a certain recurring villain is absent, giving Mr. Hawke a chance to introduce us to some new bad guys as well as the politics and culture of ancient Rome. It's a book I would definitely recommend checking out.
Labels: CheckItOut, SimonHawke, TimeWars
Wednesday, April 07, 2004
You Know You're an MK When...
This one was an impulse buy from Harvest Logos, the world's most dangerous bookstore. It's a collection of one liners that finish the phrase "You know you're an MK when..." MK, of course, is the abbreviation for Missionary Kid--a child who has been dragged along to some foreign country by their parents, who themselves are doing some sort of church related work. You may wonder why I bought the book. Well, so do I. I mean, my folks weren't missionaries, nor have I dragged my kids off to live in foreign lands. We may do so in a few years, but I don't think that two years teaching ESL in China will give our kids the cultural and emotional baggage (nor the benefits) of growing up in a non-native culture. Perhaps it's a subconscious attempt to identify with real missionaries. Perhaps it's an attempt to better understand those missionaries I help support. Or maybe it was just an amusing book and I needed to buy something from Harvest Logos. Well, whatever the reason, the book is excellent waiting room material: enjoyable and easy to pick up or put down as the need arises.
Labels: WaitingRoomMaterial
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