The Booklog (and Celebrity) Files
Feb. 15th, 2009 01:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
trinityofoneThe Latest Edition of Trin's New Job Celebrity Watch Tally!
1. JOE FLANIGAN!*
2. Doug Ingle of Iron Butterfly
3. Dick Van Dyke
4. Ed Harris
5. Michael Keaton
6. Michael Mann
7. Julie Newmar**
8. Dylan McDermott
9. Joshua Malina***
10. Maria Shriver
11. Marcia Cross
12. Sean Penn
*Will anything ever top this? It is doubtful.
**Twice!
***With his adorable daughter! And we had a long conversation! We were nearing Flan-levels of awesome here!
*cough* And now, some much more dignified discussion of literature!
21. What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, Raymond Carver — Stylistically incredible if relentlessly depressing short stories. I read this because Haruki Murakami counts Carver as an influence, and I can see that: they share a certain spare clarity of prose, and an occasional touch of beautiful oddness (though Murakami takes the latter much farther than Carver does). But while Murakami is often quite funny, Carver is just bleak—read too many of these stories in a row and you’ll want to throw yourself off the roof. Read in sequence like that, they also start to feel a bit samey. I definitely appreciated Carver’s writing, however, even if I didn’t necessarily enjoy it; I think in future I will just limit my intake. An occasional nibble—great. A heavy meal, though—uh-oh, now you’re gonna need to lie down.
22. after the quake, Haruki Murakami — A sextet of stories that deal, to varying degrees, with the fallout from the 1995 Kobe earthquake. In general, these stories felt less sketchy than some of Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman and The Elephant Vanishes’ more sylph-like entries, and the last two—“Super-Frog Saves Tokyo” and “Honey Pie”—were simply fantastic. This was like a lovely little Murakami snack before I move onto the feast of his next novel.
(I will stop with the food metaphors now.)
23. & 24. Runaways: True Believers & Runaways: Escape to New York, Brian K. Vaughan — The first couple volumes of the Runaways relaunch, after the series was canned and then resurrected (how very superhero comic of it). These are silly, but fun: I enjoyed them more than the series’ opening/original arc, though that may be just because 1) I haven’t read any Vaughan in a while, and I missed his mad yarn-spinning skills, or 2) I haven’t read far enough for the mystery to be revealed, so it hasn’t gotten the chance to get dumb yet. But in the mean time there are shapeshifting aliens and wacky time travel shenanigans and funny Wolverine and Spider-Man cameos. Who am I to complain?
25. The Pluto Files, Neil deGrasse Tyson — A straightforward look at the rise and fall of the (dwarf) planet Pluto. Tyson succinctly outlines Pluto’s discovery and then discusses in detail its demotion to dwarf status, which stemmed in part from his own work setting up the exhibits at the Hayden Planetarium. This is a solid and informative book, which I nevertheless feel could have been more than it was. Reading it, I wished that Tyson had included, first, more science, and second, much much more of his wonderful sense of humor. It appears in flashes, but after being so charmed by him whenever he appears on my TV machine (did I just lift that from Rachel Maddow? I think I did), I was expecting more. I guess he felt like at least parts of this book had to be treated as serious business, but then, his own point is that a lot of the “controversy” over Pluto was ridiculous. So bring out the jokes, man!
One hilarious thing this book did include: excerpts of jocular emails exchanged by Tyson and Bill Nye (the Science Guy) and photos of them being wacky together. In light of their recent shared Stargate: Atlantis cameo and Tyson’s latest Daily Show appearance, I love anything that reinforces the idea that they hang out together and possibly solve science-related crime. Think of it! Tyson is totally the astrophysicist Batman. Nye the Science Guy is Robin (he has the sidekick role ’cause Tyson’s the one with the PhD.), and they’re both summoned to the scene when Commissioner Stewart turns the top of the Rubik’s Cube signal. Yup. This is all totally true. NO ONE CAN CONVINCE ME OTHERWISE.
26. World of M, Daniel Way, et. al. — Still not the one with Wolverine dealing with the fallout of House of M. I was fooled by the picture of Wolvie on the cover. Actually, he’s barely in this. Instead, this is a collection of stories that take place in the House of M AU. They were all pretty boring—even the Wolverine/Mystique tale, which should have been hot, yo—with the Captain America story being the best of the bunch. But wacky alternate universe shenanigans should by all rights be way more fun than this.
27. The Boy Detective Fails, Joe Meno — Ten years after entering a mental institution in the wake of his beloved sister’s suicide, the Boy Detective attempts, reluctantly, to reenter the world. While not the magical landscape of his childhood—which played out like the Nancy Drew or Hardy Boys mysteries Meno is winking at—it’s still an odd place he finds himself in, full of child geniuses and past-their-prime criminal masterminds and buildings that simply vanish.
It’s a universe that may take the reader some getting used to, too—at first I found it too precious, false. But if you wade around in its quirkiness for a while, I think you’ll find it difficult not to be seduced. Meno does a nice job blending his characters’ horrible sadness, regret, and tragedy with hope—just enough scraped from the bottom of Pandora’s jar. So ultimately, this book isn’t about failure, but about second chances.
It’s also about an odd but intelligent boy named Billy who falls in love with a troubled girl named Penny, at which point the two of them are both menaced by a villain named Dr. Hammer. Weirdest Dr. Horrible AU ever, y/y?
28. Paper Towns, John Green — Another wonderful YA novel from John Green. Like Looking for Alaska and An Abundance of Katherines, Paper Towns is about a witty, slightly geeky boy searching for a lost or otherwise unattainable girl (you can, I just realized, totally see these books as junior reader versions of many of Haruki Murakami’s novels). However, I love how Green ultimately subverts the paradigm in this one, making its protagonist, Quentin, realize how he’s really been in love with the idealized idea of Margo, with the face she presents to the outside world, and not the real girl—who’s someone just as deserving, and much more in need, of love. The whole point becomes the fact that Margo is not just an unattainable object, but a person.
Since the “quest for the lost/unattainable love” story is obviously one I like, and since there are few to none in which the lost/unattainable person is a man (why is this? Is it just too hard to marry that sort of chivalrous devotion with feminism?), I’m pleased anytime I come across one of these stories in which the female character is as vivid as the male, instead of just one of a long row of interchangeable Galateas.
29. Howling Mad, Peter David — I first read this werewolf-bites-wolf, wolf-turns-into-man comedy/fantasy more than ten years ago, was delighted by the concept, and then somewhat underwhelmed by the actual book. I promptly forgot all about it. Then, some months ago, something dredged it up from the dark recesses of my mind. When I discovered it was out of print and not available at the public library, I suddenly became desperate to reread it. Because what a fun concept, right? A wolf gets bitten by a werewolf and turns into a man whenever there’s a full moon! That’s gotta be awesome!
Meh. Sadly, for once my 12- or 13-year-old self was spot on. This book is decidedly underwhelming. There’s an awkward framing device, really awkward sporadic wolf-POV narration, and a rather perfunctory plot. Also, Mr. David: if you want your main character to embody the perfect man who’s universally attractive to women, don’t describe him as looking like Arnold Schwarzenegger. That is not sexy. That is the unsexy. Even in 1989. I hope this piece of information gives you at least a little help in figuring out the female psyche, because as it stands, your heroine’s POV is almost as awkward as the wolf’s.
Anyway, I’m glad I’m writing this all down now, because in another ten years I’ll probably think I misjudged this book and want to give it another chance. DON’T BE FOOLED, FUTURE SELF! Maybe you could try learning from your mistakes for once?
30. Dramarama, E. Lockhart — While not as good as Lockhart’s fantastic The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, Dramarama is still an above-average YA novel featuring a likeable (and likeably flawed) heroine faced with a lot of tough choices. The descriptions of drama camp were vivid, and though the development of the relationships between the characters was slightly less so—parts of the narrative seemed rushed—I nevertheless couldn’t put the book down, and couldn’t help enjoying myself. Plus the epilogue is one of the best I’ve encountered.
If you’re only going to read one E. Lockhart book, definitely go with Frankie, but I’ll bet you’ll find yourself anxious to devour everything she’s ever written. I certainly have.
Total Reviews: 30/44
1. JOE FLANIGAN!*
2. Doug Ingle of Iron Butterfly
3. Dick Van Dyke
4. Ed Harris
5. Michael Keaton
6. Michael Mann
7. Julie Newmar**
8. Dylan McDermott
9. Joshua Malina***
10. Maria Shriver
11. Marcia Cross
12. Sean Penn
*Will anything ever top this? It is doubtful.
**Twice!
***With his adorable daughter! And we had a long conversation! We were nearing Flan-levels of awesome here!
*cough* And now, some much more dignified discussion of literature!
21. What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, Raymond Carver — Stylistically incredible if relentlessly depressing short stories. I read this because Haruki Murakami counts Carver as an influence, and I can see that: they share a certain spare clarity of prose, and an occasional touch of beautiful oddness (though Murakami takes the latter much farther than Carver does). But while Murakami is often quite funny, Carver is just bleak—read too many of these stories in a row and you’ll want to throw yourself off the roof. Read in sequence like that, they also start to feel a bit samey. I definitely appreciated Carver’s writing, however, even if I didn’t necessarily enjoy it; I think in future I will just limit my intake. An occasional nibble—great. A heavy meal, though—uh-oh, now you’re gonna need to lie down.
22. after the quake, Haruki Murakami — A sextet of stories that deal, to varying degrees, with the fallout from the 1995 Kobe earthquake. In general, these stories felt less sketchy than some of Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman and The Elephant Vanishes’ more sylph-like entries, and the last two—“Super-Frog Saves Tokyo” and “Honey Pie”—were simply fantastic. This was like a lovely little Murakami snack before I move onto the feast of his next novel.
(I will stop with the food metaphors now.)
23. & 24. Runaways: True Believers & Runaways: Escape to New York, Brian K. Vaughan — The first couple volumes of the Runaways relaunch, after the series was canned and then resurrected (how very superhero comic of it). These are silly, but fun: I enjoyed them more than the series’ opening/original arc, though that may be just because 1) I haven’t read any Vaughan in a while, and I missed his mad yarn-spinning skills, or 2) I haven’t read far enough for the mystery to be revealed, so it hasn’t gotten the chance to get dumb yet. But in the mean time there are shapeshifting aliens and wacky time travel shenanigans and funny Wolverine and Spider-Man cameos. Who am I to complain?
25. The Pluto Files, Neil deGrasse Tyson — A straightforward look at the rise and fall of the (dwarf) planet Pluto. Tyson succinctly outlines Pluto’s discovery and then discusses in detail its demotion to dwarf status, which stemmed in part from his own work setting up the exhibits at the Hayden Planetarium. This is a solid and informative book, which I nevertheless feel could have been more than it was. Reading it, I wished that Tyson had included, first, more science, and second, much much more of his wonderful sense of humor. It appears in flashes, but after being so charmed by him whenever he appears on my TV machine (did I just lift that from Rachel Maddow? I think I did), I was expecting more. I guess he felt like at least parts of this book had to be treated as serious business, but then, his own point is that a lot of the “controversy” over Pluto was ridiculous. So bring out the jokes, man!
One hilarious thing this book did include: excerpts of jocular emails exchanged by Tyson and Bill Nye (the Science Guy) and photos of them being wacky together. In light of their recent shared Stargate: Atlantis cameo and Tyson’s latest Daily Show appearance, I love anything that reinforces the idea that they hang out together and possibly solve science-related crime. Think of it! Tyson is totally the astrophysicist Batman. Nye the Science Guy is Robin (he has the sidekick role ’cause Tyson’s the one with the PhD.), and they’re both summoned to the scene when Commissioner Stewart turns the top of the Rubik’s Cube signal. Yup. This is all totally true. NO ONE CAN CONVINCE ME OTHERWISE.
26. World of M, Daniel Way, et. al. — Still not the one with Wolverine dealing with the fallout of House of M. I was fooled by the picture of Wolvie on the cover. Actually, he’s barely in this. Instead, this is a collection of stories that take place in the House of M AU. They were all pretty boring—even the Wolverine/Mystique tale, which should have been hot, yo—with the Captain America story being the best of the bunch. But wacky alternate universe shenanigans should by all rights be way more fun than this.
27. The Boy Detective Fails, Joe Meno — Ten years after entering a mental institution in the wake of his beloved sister’s suicide, the Boy Detective attempts, reluctantly, to reenter the world. While not the magical landscape of his childhood—which played out like the Nancy Drew or Hardy Boys mysteries Meno is winking at—it’s still an odd place he finds himself in, full of child geniuses and past-their-prime criminal masterminds and buildings that simply vanish.
It’s a universe that may take the reader some getting used to, too—at first I found it too precious, false. But if you wade around in its quirkiness for a while, I think you’ll find it difficult not to be seduced. Meno does a nice job blending his characters’ horrible sadness, regret, and tragedy with hope—just enough scraped from the bottom of Pandora’s jar. So ultimately, this book isn’t about failure, but about second chances.
It’s also about an odd but intelligent boy named Billy who falls in love with a troubled girl named Penny, at which point the two of them are both menaced by a villain named Dr. Hammer. Weirdest Dr. Horrible AU ever, y/y?
28. Paper Towns, John Green — Another wonderful YA novel from John Green. Like Looking for Alaska and An Abundance of Katherines, Paper Towns is about a witty, slightly geeky boy searching for a lost or otherwise unattainable girl (you can, I just realized, totally see these books as junior reader versions of many of Haruki Murakami’s novels). However, I love how Green ultimately subverts the paradigm in this one, making its protagonist, Quentin, realize how he’s really been in love with the idealized idea of Margo, with the face she presents to the outside world, and not the real girl—who’s someone just as deserving, and much more in need, of love. The whole point becomes the fact that Margo is not just an unattainable object, but a person.
Since the “quest for the lost/unattainable love” story is obviously one I like, and since there are few to none in which the lost/unattainable person is a man (why is this? Is it just too hard to marry that sort of chivalrous devotion with feminism?), I’m pleased anytime I come across one of these stories in which the female character is as vivid as the male, instead of just one of a long row of interchangeable Galateas.
29. Howling Mad, Peter David — I first read this werewolf-bites-wolf, wolf-turns-into-man comedy/fantasy more than ten years ago, was delighted by the concept, and then somewhat underwhelmed by the actual book. I promptly forgot all about it. Then, some months ago, something dredged it up from the dark recesses of my mind. When I discovered it was out of print and not available at the public library, I suddenly became desperate to reread it. Because what a fun concept, right? A wolf gets bitten by a werewolf and turns into a man whenever there’s a full moon! That’s gotta be awesome!
Meh. Sadly, for once my 12- or 13-year-old self was spot on. This book is decidedly underwhelming. There’s an awkward framing device, really awkward sporadic wolf-POV narration, and a rather perfunctory plot. Also, Mr. David: if you want your main character to embody the perfect man who’s universally attractive to women, don’t describe him as looking like Arnold Schwarzenegger. That is not sexy. That is the unsexy. Even in 1989. I hope this piece of information gives you at least a little help in figuring out the female psyche, because as it stands, your heroine’s POV is almost as awkward as the wolf’s.
Anyway, I’m glad I’m writing this all down now, because in another ten years I’ll probably think I misjudged this book and want to give it another chance. DON’T BE FOOLED, FUTURE SELF! Maybe you could try learning from your mistakes for once?
30. Dramarama, E. Lockhart — While not as good as Lockhart’s fantastic The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, Dramarama is still an above-average YA novel featuring a likeable (and likeably flawed) heroine faced with a lot of tough choices. The descriptions of drama camp were vivid, and though the development of the relationships between the characters was slightly less so—parts of the narrative seemed rushed—I nevertheless couldn’t put the book down, and couldn’t help enjoying myself. Plus the epilogue is one of the best I’ve encountered.
If you’re only going to read one E. Lockhart book, definitely go with Frankie, but I’ll bet you’ll find yourself anxious to devour everything she’s ever written. I certainly have.
Total Reviews: 30/44
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-15 09:28 pm (UTC)Flan should come in and buy something at the bookstore not only to cement his #1 position of awesome but so that we can all read what he's reading. Because we're . . . uh . . . crazy :D
(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-15 09:35 pm (UTC)Maria Shriver: Moving very very fast, breezed right through, calling, "You guys doing okay here? Yes? Good!"
Marcia Cross: Looks a little like an alien.
I would totally join the Flan's bookclub. There are so many weird/interesting thoughts I sense in his brain. BUT WHAT ARE THEY?
Yeah, we're crazy. ;-)
(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-16 02:06 am (UTC)And don't be scared! The celebrities (in general) don't bite!
(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-15 09:54 pm (UTC)Also, I believe Dick Van Dyke totally tops the Flan.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-16 02:08 am (UTC)I believe Dick Van Dyke totally tops the Flan.
Oh, you and your weird RPS commentfic. ;-)
(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-15 11:09 pm (UTC)Also: you have the coolest job in the history of jobs.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-16 02:09 am (UTC)It may not be the coolest job ever (the pay is way too low) but it sure does come with nice scenery!
(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-16 12:21 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-16 02:10 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-16 12:26 am (UTC)I think I would get incredibly tongue-tied if any celebs ever came into where I worked. I'm very bad about that sort of thing.
I'm currently reading Neil deGrasse Tyson's Death by Black Hole, and I'm enjoying it a lot-- I've even laughed out loud a few times. I do have The Pluto Files on hold right now, so I'm a little disappointed by your review, but still interested in reading it. I saw him on The Daily Show and was incredibly charmed-- he's totally cuddly! And solved the Rubix Cube!
And should totally solve crime with Bill Nye. It would be awesome.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-16 02:13 am (UTC)So far, I have been cucumber cool. *proud of self* But I'm sure somebody totally unexpected will make me slip up.
Don't let my review disappoint! It was still a very good book, just not the UNHOLY AWESOME that is Tyson himself. But then, that is a lot of awesome to live up to.
I am going to continue to send psychic signals to the network gods, re: my Tyson and Nye Fight Crime! idea. I SMELL A HIT!
(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-16 02:46 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-16 06:31 pm (UTC)after the quake is one of my fave Murakami books too - the delicate, subtle links between the stories, the connectivity of it, really appealed to me.
Bill Nye and Neil deGrasse Tyson ABSOLUTELY fight science-related crime. It's not even, like, speculation, it's TRUE OMFG. :)
(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-16 07:39 pm (UTC)I only have 'obscure sci-fi actors and mediumly well-known british actors' due to my convention and stage door stalking habits. Sadly, unlike your job, they don't earn me money.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-03-17 08:56 pm (UTC)