Monday, March 31, 2008

Growing Like A Weed

by Lynn Johnston

In this collection, Elly and John go on a Mexican holiday, Michael starts another romance, Elizabeth spends a month on her uncle's farm, April starts Kindergarten and Gordon faces the woes of owning a business. (Yeah, I know Gordon's not an official Patterson, but can I help it that he has one of the more interesting storylines during this era of FBoFW?) Again, Ms. Johnston serves up a nice mix of humor and drama to brighten your day.

It's on my shelf!
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Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Logan's Run

by William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson

I first read this book when I was thirteen--back when my life clock, if I had one, would have been blue. Now I'm old enough to have a few years on Ballard, the senior character of the book. Logan's Run, if you're not familiar with the book, comics, television show or movie, is a tale set in a world under population control. Human beings are alloted 21 years of life, then must submit to euthanasia. (Pleasantly called "sleep" in the book.) Now and then you get someone who doesn't want to go quietly into that dark night and tries to escape. When someone becomes a "runner" like than, then the law is enforced by a Deep Sleep agent, a "Sandman". Logan is a Sandman, and when his Lastday comes up, he wants to spend it hunting down and eliminating Sanctuary, the rumored place where runners can live free of the law and of Sandmen. Posing as a runner, he hooks up with a lady named Jessica and together they make their way to the promised haven. But as their quest continues, one starts to wonder--is Logan that good an actor? Or is he starting to question the status quo? I've loved this book for years, though it's been a while since I last pulled it off my shelf. This time around it wasn't as enjoyable. I found myself questioning all sorts of things--from the timeframe required for all of Logan's adventures to the overuse of one word sentences. Truly! Maybe I'm just too old, but I have to wonder what a society essentially created by teenagers would look like. The teenagers in Logan's reality sound way too old. However, if you don't think too deeply, it's a fun read.

Check it out.
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Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Love Just Screws Everything Up

by Lynn Johnston

In this, the um, (let me count...) fifteenth collection of For Better or For Worse strips: Gordon goes into business and gets married; the Pattersons, sans Michael, take a vacation to visit the grandparents; April starts Pre-Kindergarten; Elizabeth starts high school; Michael stays in college, but switches housing and Elly gets a hair cut. Oh, and there's also romantic issues that come up, hence the title. ... Well, it's funnier when you actually read the strips.

I think I'll keep it on my shelf.
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Saturday, March 22, 2008

All Star Comics Archives: Volume 5

by Gardner Fox and friends

The was a war on in late '43 and throughout 1944, but you might not guess it reading the Justice Society adventures from that period. While war raged in Europe and the Pacific, the JSA was tackling criminals like the Monster and the original Psycho-Pirate and travelling through time to help a man reform his life. The stories in this volume aren't as good as those in times past, but there are still some pleasant moments.

Alas, this one's only waiting room material.
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The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

by Mark Twain

Y'know, when reviewing a classic like this one, I feel a bit like I should be writing a more substantial essay. You know, something like how Tom fulfills the mythological role of the "Trickster" archetype, or analyzing the interpersonal dynamics between Aunt Polly and her adopted children, or something like that. Of course, I don't have that kind of time, not when I seem to be finishing another For Better or For Worse collection every few days or so and have next month's book club reads ahead of me. So I'll simply say that Tom Sawyer is a boy growing up in antebellum Missouri and his adventures are the type one might expect a young boy of that time to have, save that Tom really is a trickster and will outsmart other folks, more often than not. But that's not a bad thing. I tended to root for Tom, rather than start building up a jealous resentment of him. Mr. Twain painted such a human character that I was able to relate to Tom even though I would never have been able to figure out how to get out of whitewashing the fence or get Becky Thatcher to notice me. It's great stuff.

I have to keep it my shelf--it's a classic!
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Friday, March 21, 2008

Starting from Scratch

by Lynn Johnston

Another collection from the golden age of For Better or For Worse. In this volume, Elly changes jobs, Michael changes schools, Elizabeth changes hairstyles, and April goes swimming where she's not supposed to. And John, well, John just does a very good job of being a supporting character in this one. I hope he still got paid the same. Anyway, this one's a keeper for me.

It's on my shelf.
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Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Who Censored Roger Rabbit?

by Gary Wolf

This one's a fun piece of brain candy. The story, like the movie which it inspired, is set in a world where cartoon characters are living, breathing beings--co-existing as second class citizens in a world with human beings. In the book version, private detective Eddie Valiant is hired by 'toon Roger Rabbit to get information regarding a labor dispute. Roger's under contract with the DeGreasy cartoon syndicate and is stuck in a second-banana role in the Baby Herman strip. He wants to be released from his contract to seek a better gig. He's heard rumors that another publisher wants to buy out his contract, but the DeGreasy brothers have refused to sell. Eddie makes a half hearted attempt to investigate the case, enough to justify charging his client. But before he can bring his case to a close, both Roger and one of the DeGreasy brothers are murdered. Suddenly Eddie finds himself in the midst of a mystery he can't resist--a mystery that takes through the dark underside of the cartoon industry. The story's written like a detective pulp novel, full of cheesy metaphors. It's a darker tale than the movie version, but one that still captures a bit of the wonder of having 'toons living and working among us.

You mugs oughtta check it out.
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Tuesday, March 18, 2008

It's the Thought That Counts...

by Lynn Johnston

The 15th Anniversary collection of For Better or For Worse is not quite the extravaganza they had for the tenth. You still get some color Sunday strips--of relatively contemporary vintage--but the prose is limited to an occasional paragraph explaining some of the inspiration for a particular Sunday strip and a three page essay regarding the storyline where Lawrence comes out as being gay. Add all that to the year's worth of reprints and you get a nice book to put on your shelf.

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Sunday, March 16, 2008

Snow Crash

by Neal Stephenson

Snow Crash starts out with a pizza delivery and goes downhill from there. I mean, it's a good book--a complete world where America has been fragmented by corporations and the real world coexists with a cybernetic world known as the Metaverse. The story--wherein pizza driver and computer hacker Hiro Protagonist and a fifteen year old skateboard courier named Y.T. face the Mafia, an Aleutian assassin, the mystery of organized religion, and a plot to release an ancient virus upon humanity--is fascinating. But at the end, I was wishing that Hiro could have delivered another pizza. It was way cool. Brainless, but way cool. Still, this book is definitely worth your while to peruse and enjoy. It's the next best thing to a real Metaverse.

Check it out!
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Tuesday, March 11, 2008

A Gathering of Days

by Joan W. Blos

This one's just another historical novel about a farm girl. This time the era is the 1830s and the setting is New Hampshire. Catherine is a 13 year old girl, living with her widowed father and younger sister. There's nothing that stands out about the book, save that Catherine's not overly spunky. But that doesn't make it bad. It's a nice, easy read that gives a taste of life as it was in rural New England.

I checked it out, why don't you?
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Saturday, March 08, 2008

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle

by Washington Irving

These are tales I've known for years, but have never really read for myself. I've either read retellings written for children or viewed film adaptions. The originals, of course, are so much better. You have the classic plots, of course, which have captured people's imaginations for generations, and you also have Mr. Irving's rich description of the characters and the settings. These engage the adult heart and mind, as much as the simplified tales reach the inner child's sense of wonder. Once again I find myself wondering why I don't read more classic literature.

It's on my shelf!
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Thursday, March 06, 2008

There Goes My Baby

by Lynn Johnston

I think this might be the best volume of the For Better or For Worse series. You've got some great gags, along with storylines about childhood, adulthood and, er, teenhood. It contains the story of Gordon and Tracy falling in love and the tale of Lawrence coming out to Michael, and then his family. That last sequence, I think, is Ms. Johnston's best effort as a writer. On the other hand, the drama in this book also has an artificial feel to it. It's like the supporting cast are the ones to have something bad happen to them. Michael's not the teen to get flack for being gay, Elizabeth is not the one to succumb to peer pressure and shave the sides of her head. Sure, Elizabeth does try smoking with her friends, but she's not the one to pick up the habit. I suppose that's a problem that's inherent in a continuing saga. You can't get overly dramatic with the characters' lives without either destroying said characters or turning them into some sort of unrealistic, comic book character.... um, maybe that's the problem. These comic book characters are becoming so good that they're threatening to transcend the medium. Or maybe I'm just taking this strip way too seriously.

It's on my shelf!
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Wednesday, March 05, 2008

All Star Comics Archives: Volume 4

By Gardner Fox, and a cast of... well, lots

In 1943, Justice Society fans were treated to three outings against super-villains and one wartime sermon. This volume collects them all. In "The Man Who Created Images", we're introduced to the Brain Wave, the man whose mind is so advanced that he can create realistic mental images. The individual members of the JSA are so caught up in trying to thwart this villain's plans that they all skip the regular meeting, prompting secretary Wonder Woman to embark on an unusual plan of her own. In the second tale collected, the JSA seeks to stop Nazi-sown discord between workers and employers, natives and immigrants, and people of different ethnic groups. In the third tale the Brain Wave is back and he tries to eliminate the JSA by shrinking them to doll size. They go on to show that there are a force to be reckoned with, even when only a few inches tall. The final tale pits the JSA against men who have been transformed into insect powered slaves by the King Bee. Overall, the stories aren't quite as good as those in some of the previous volumes. But you still have a rollicking sense of fun and adventure that seems to be the hallmark of the era.

Check it out.
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Sunday, March 02, 2008

Things Are Looking Up...

by Lynn Johnston

In this collection we get a whole bunch of baby jokes, dating jokes, farm jokes, middle age jokes, peer pressure jokes, sibling rivalry jokes, drivers ed jokes, and noisy neighbor jokes. Well, there's also some character development and drama, which makes For Better or For Worse so enjoyable to read.

It's on my shelf.
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Saturday, March 01, 2008

Iterations

by Robert J. Sawyer

This one was an impulse read. I was at the library for some reason or other and was loath to leave empty handed. This collection of short stories was there for the taking in the science fiction section, so I snatched it up. What can I say? I loved it! Not that it's such a big surprise. If you read a collection of short stories, the odds are fairly good that you'll find something enjoyable in it. Add the fact that these particular short stories are written by Robert J. Sawyer--who, despite his obsession with dinosaurs, is my current favorite living science fiction author--and the fact that I would enjoy it is almost inevitable. So what's to love? Well, a lot of things. There's dinosaurs, if you like that sort of thing. There's a tale of vampires. There's a murder mystery, and a botched execution. There are a couple of first contacts, a space war, two extended space journeys, time travel, a marketing executive with a hidden agenda and high school gym class. All of which is presented with Mr. Sawyer's gentle humor, likable characters and wonder-filled imagination. I may have to get a second job so I can indiscriminately buy books again.

I want a copy on my shelf!
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