Wednesday, April 30, 2008

The Song of Hiawatha

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

This is weird: a modern retelling of ancient tales that is pretty old itself. It wasn't old in 1855, of course, when Mr. Longfellow published his version of Native American folk-tales. It's the epic poem of Hiawatha, the wise and powerful demigod who guides and protects his people and has many an adventure. According to the introduction, Longfellow has been accused of "cleaning up" the original tales to make them more palatable to a Victorian audience. That may be so (I can't tell you from personal experience whether that's true or not), but isn't that what folk tales are all about? You embellish the basic story to enchant your audience. Anyway, however much Mr. Longfellow may have monkeyed with the stories, he didn't spoil them. I found the book to be enjoyable, despite my tendency to start skimming through poetic writing.

Eh, check it out.
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Sunday, April 27, 2008

The Book Thief

by Markus Zusak

I've got mixed feelings about this one. It's the tale of Liesel, a girl growing up in a foster home in Nazi Germany. She arrives soon after burying her brother and being separated from her mother, a political undesirable. The family who fosters her is struggling to get by and hardly appears like the ideal environment for a hurting child. But there is love and healing in Liesel's life with them and we're treated to a number of years in her life as she grows and is buffeted by the sorrows of wartime Germany. In that respect, the story is admirable. What puts me off is the narrator, Death. The Reaper comes across as a Kurt Vonnegut wannabe, trying to present the pain and suffering with a bemused indifference. The prose is not as dispassionate as Slaughterhouse Five, but it still fails to capture my heart or mind. So I guess, while there a certainly many worse books to read out there, I really couldn't give this one a recommendation.

It's just waiting room material to me.
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All Star Comics Archives: Volume 6

by Gardner Fox, et al

Boy, what happened? As the stories in this volume were produced, World War II saw its final days and the quality of All-Star Comics plummeted. With the exception of the Hawkman sections, drawn by Joe Kubert, the art is pretty poor. The stories are a bit better--not some of Mr. Fox's better work, mind you--but solid Golden Age storytelling, chock full of morality, history and/or science lessons. The JSA take a tour through the history of Germany, for one last hurrah of wartime propaganda. They also revisit a 20-year old murder case, fight element eating robots from space, thwart a crime wave with the help of various disabled persons and combat portraits painted with paint that comes to life after sunset. If I didn't have a collector's mentality, I think I would've passed this one by. (Of course, I do kind of like the robots...)

Definitely waiting room material.
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Saturday, April 26, 2008

Graduation: A Time for Change

by Lynn Johnston

Despite having an extensive collection of For Better or For Worse books, I don't know if I can really call myself a fan. In recent years I have been disappointed in the direction the strip has taken and no longer follow it faithfully. With this in mind, I've been keeping an eye out to see if I can discover just when For Better or For Worse headed into the "worse" category. I don't know if I'll get a simple answer to that, but this volume feels like the end of the "better" portion of the series. The big changes in this collection are Mike graduating from college, getting engaged and moving out of his apartment in Mrs. Dingle's house (That's it! Moving away from Mrs. Dingle was where it jumped the shark!), Elizabeth going off to university and Grandpa Jim moving in with John and Elly. No single storyline is that compelling, but they're still an entertaining read.

Worth checking out.
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Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Drive to the East

by Harry Turtledove

This is part two of the Settling Accounts tetralogy, the story of World War II fought in a world where the South won the Civil War. The Confederate Army have invaded Ohio, hoping to cut the United States in half and force a surrender. However, neither Confederate victories or the death of the American president have caused the USA to cry uncle. So, the Confederate troops turn eastward, hoping to capture the city of Pittsburgh and cripple US manufacturing capabilities. (That brings up one oddity about this alternate world--everybody worries about losing access to the factories in the East, yet West Coast efforts are rarely mentioned. Were all the West Coast magnates of our world of Confederate stock or something?) Meanwhile, in the CSA, the noose is tightening around the necks of the black community as more and more people are shipped off to the concentration camps. It looks mighty bleak. I can only hope that in the two novels remaining in this series, we might see a happy... well, at least a somewhat just, ending to this tale.

I couldn't wait to check it out!
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Saturday, April 19, 2008

The Big 5-0

by Lynn Johnston

In yet another amusing For Better or For Worse collection, Michael and Weed make a business trip to Quebec, Elizabeth enjoys her last year before University, Elly gets some more hours at her bookstore job, Grandpa Jim gets a dog, April engages in miscellaneous shenanigans, and John celebrates his 50th birthday. (even though he said it was only a few weeks away two books ago)

It's on my shelf!
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Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Return Engagement

by Harry Turtledove

It occurred to me that this Timeline-191 series is like a big ol' soap opera. The books jump between dozens of characters, each caught up in their own little stories, which together make up a larger tale. I was impressed by the format in the first volume that I read of this series, now it seems like just another formula. There are times I get tired hearing that Scipio once served as the head butler for Anne Colleton, or that Mary Pomeroy's brother was unjustly executed by the occupying American troops during the Great War. But, I keep on reading. Like a junkie, I went out and borrowed this next volume, even though I have a number of other half-read books clamoring for my attention. What a wretched man I am! Anyway, on to the book. Return Engagement starts the Settling Accounts four-parter, the story of World War II in a world where the Confederate States of America won the Civil War and remained an independent nation. The year is 1941 and June 22nd becomes the day that will live in infamy. The president of the CSA has launched his attack on the United States, sending bombers over Philadelphia and tanks and troops into Ohio. The plan is to thrust up to Lake Erie and cut the USA in half. The question is, will the USA be up to the challenge of thwarting President Featherston's plan? Or will they pay the price of relaxing in the glory of their victory in the Great War?

I just had to check it out.
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Thursday, April 10, 2008

Sunshine and Shadow

by Lynn Johnston

The centerpiece of this For Better or For Worse collection is the death of Elly's mother. The tale runs the gamut from her illness and final trip to the hospital, through her death, her husband's adjustment and finally the gathering of the family for a large memorial service. Naturally, there are no strips in the storyline that are laugh-out-loud funny, but a few of them put the spotlight on the human foibles that surface even in our darkest moments, evoking a pleasant smile. Ms. Johnston does a great job of capturing another of those times of life that happen to every family. And, just as life goes on after the passing of a loved one, so does the collection contain strips that cover the other events in the lives of the Patterson clan, their friends and neighbors.

It's worth checking out.
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Wednesday, April 09, 2008

Black Dossier

by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill

For the third installment of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, they just skipped the comic book series and went straight to the graphic novel. This tale takes place in 1958 and the "League"--only two people this time around--isn't operating under the auspices of Her Majesty's government. Quite the opposite, really. Allan and Mina are on the run from British agents, the former having nicked "the Black Dossier", a history of their famed league. As the chase ensues, our intrepid couple get a chance here and there to peek into the dossier, which appear as text pages for the reader. Like the previous LoEG tales, this story's chock full of literary references. (I have to confess that I didn't know half of them, but they definitely came across as in-jokes that somebody should get.) Unlike the previous efforts, however, The Black Dossier isn't as enjoyable. I suspect that it's due to Mr. Moore trying to pack centuries of history into one volume, rather than just telling a single, rollicking adventure tale. Or maybe it's just that I'm getting too old to appreciate all the sex and nudity that's much more prevalent in this one. I don't know. But, given that I've been rereading bits and pieces as I attempt to write this review, I suppose I have to confess that it's not too bad. So, if you've enjoyed the previous accounts of the League, I'd say that you should check this one out. If you haven't, then you'd want to go check out the original and leave this one for another time.

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Sunday, April 06, 2008

Middle Age Spread

by Lynn Johnston

The focus of this For Better or For Worse collection seems to be the forces that pull upon the middle-aged. More and more we're called upon to aid our aging parents while our kids continue to come up with new challenges to hone our parenting skills. In the case of Elly Patterson, her mother is in failing health back in British Columbia, while her daughter April is threatening to amass a menagerie, daughter Elizabeth is being a teen-ager and son Michael tries to figure out what to do with his life. It's still good comics, though there seems to be a slight change in the art. I don't know if this was when Ms. Johnston started using assistant artists or maybe started using some new techniques? Or maybe it's just my imagination.

Check it out for yourself!
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Saturday, April 05, 2008

Bound for Oregon

by Jean Van Leeuwen

This is a mostly true tale. While researching the Oregon Trail--the route many settlers used to travel overland to the west coast in the mid 19th Century--Ms. Van Leeuwen came across the memoirs of Mary Ellen Todd, a woman who had traveled the trail as a nine-year-old back in 1852, as recorded by Mary Ellen's daughter. It was a fascinating account and, in order to make it more readable to a modern audience, Ms. Van Leeuwen rewrote the tale, fleshing out details with her own imagination and the accounts of other pioneers. She did a good job. The story drew me in and I started wondering how the characters would fare as they made the arduous journey. It's a tale well worth checking out.

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Tuesday, April 01, 2008

Neverwhere

by Neil Gaiman

I started writing this tale many years ago. The everyman protagonist--I forget his name--slips from a rush hour backup into the mist enshrouded field outside the abode of the master muse. Along with a sarcastic, insulting mouse dressed in a stormtrooper's uniform and a few other characters, they travel through the wondrous inner realms of creation (our reality, in contrast, being out on the very edge of it all) on a quest of great importance. Their trail eventually brings them into the stronghold of the ultimate evil one--the demon held in such fear that the mere utterance of its name can cause reality to tremble. The denizens of the inner realms collapse in terror in the demon's presence... that is until our everyman finds new depths of courage (actually it's more like indignant hysteria) when he discovers that the unspeakable name is transliterated "Bob." Anyway, I never got around to fleshing out and finishing this story. Neil Gaiman, on the other hand, has not only finished it, but has greatly improved it. In his version, the everyman--Richard Mayhew--finds himself drawn down into the dark, mystic realm of London Below. He accompanies the Lady Door, her bodyguard, and the sarcastic marquis de Carabas as they attempt to flee from the killers who decimated the Lady's family. For most of the trip, Richard seems like useless baggage, but eventually he proves to have some use after all. (Though he doesn't inadvertently destroy the evil one's stonghold in a temper tantrum.) It's a dark, but amusing tale, set in a creative re-imagining of London's subway system.

Check it out! I'm glad I did.
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