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BeerWench13
Active Member
This Book is Full of Spiders...Seriously, Dude, Don't Touch It by David Wong 
This book is a sequel to his first book John Dies at the End, which I loved. TBiFOS, as his avid readers call it, in my opinion, is even better. It is horrifyingly grotesque, extremely imaginative and darkly humorous. One minute you are on the edge of your seat in suspense and the next your are laughing out loud. You don't have to have read the first book to enjoy it, but I highly recommend it as the author references portions of the previous adventure. If you read this one first, you will find yourself buying and reading the first just for curiosity's sake.
A brief synopsis: Best friends David and John pick up in [Undisclosed] (the author refuses to name the town in which they live to "keep the tourism from getting even further out of hand") doing their normal things. John is getting drunk and high and David is trying to make a go of keeping his job at the video store and enjoying his long-distance relationship with his girlfriend, Amy, who is away at college. Dave also has a dog named Molly that he must take care of - or is it the other way around? - as well. Previously, both experienced and inter-dimensional adventure from trying a drug called Soy Sauce, which made them the only ones in this dimension who can see the monsters that bleed into our world from other dimensions. David is attacked by these monsters they call "spiders" for lack of a better term. Soon an outbreak has occurred and it is up to these two societal rejects to save the world from the outbreak. This tale takes you all over [Undisclosed], into a quarantine camp, an asylum, a cornfield, a junkyard, a burrito stand, and even to peeing off of a water tower. An excellent adventure that will have you hoping that the next book doesn't require another five-year wait.
This book is a sequel to his first book John Dies at the End, which I loved. TBiFOS, as his avid readers call it, in my opinion, is even better. It is horrifyingly grotesque, extremely imaginative and darkly humorous. One minute you are on the edge of your seat in suspense and the next your are laughing out loud. You don't have to have read the first book to enjoy it, but I highly recommend it as the author references portions of the previous adventure. If you read this one first, you will find yourself buying and reading the first just for curiosity's sake.
A brief synopsis: Best friends David and John pick up in [Undisclosed] (the author refuses to name the town in which they live to "keep the tourism from getting even further out of hand") doing their normal things. John is getting drunk and high and David is trying to make a go of keeping his job at the video store and enjoying his long-distance relationship with his girlfriend, Amy, who is away at college. Dave also has a dog named Molly that he must take care of - or is it the other way around? - as well. Previously, both experienced and inter-dimensional adventure from trying a drug called Soy Sauce, which made them the only ones in this dimension who can see the monsters that bleed into our world from other dimensions. David is attacked by these monsters they call "spiders" for lack of a better term. Soon an outbreak has occurred and it is up to these two societal rejects to save the world from the outbreak. This tale takes you all over [Undisclosed], into a quarantine camp, an asylum, a cornfield, a junkyard, a burrito stand, and even to peeing off of a water tower. An excellent adventure that will have you hoping that the next book doesn't require another five-year wait.
PrincessFiona60
Member
2 more books to put on the stack! Thanks, Beer Wench!
ricko
Member
2030
Albert Brooks writes a novel of future politics and life in America that I thought was way too predictable. This book didn't work for me. If you look at our current spending, it's obvious that America will be spending all of it's future monies on interest alone. We will lose our status as the number one country in the world. Still Mr. Brooks offers no surprise. As illnesses are cured, America's senior citizens will live longer, thus drawing benefits much longer then they would have in the past. This fact will make the country's debt even worse, and the future for young Americans more dismal. Will politicians back the growing senior population, or will they risk losing their elective jobs? Will AARP become the most powerful lobby in the country? Again nothing new here. So now we get down to the gist of the novel, which is what will happen when a clash of young and old occurs. And why we are at it, lets have a monster earthquake in Los Angeles that destroys 98% of it. The big one finally arrives!
:sad:
Book Reviews And Comments By Rick O
Albert Brooks writes a novel of future politics and life in America that I thought was way too predictable. This book didn't work for me. If you look at our current spending, it's obvious that America will be spending all of it's future monies on interest alone. We will lose our status as the number one country in the world. Still Mr. Brooks offers no surprise. As illnesses are cured, America's senior citizens will live longer, thus drawing benefits much longer then they would have in the past. This fact will make the country's debt even worse, and the future for young Americans more dismal. Will politicians back the growing senior population, or will they risk losing their elective jobs? Will AARP become the most powerful lobby in the country? Again nothing new here. So now we get down to the gist of the novel, which is what will happen when a clash of young and old occurs. And why we are at it, lets have a monster earthquake in Los Angeles that destroys 98% of it. The big one finally arrives!
:sad:Book Reviews And Comments By Rick O
I had to set aside The House by Bently Little. I just couldn't go on with it. Too much emphasis on erotic thoughts about the child character/probably demon. It just got gross. I think I was looking for a good haunted house story and this wasn't it. I just wasn't in the mood. Blech!
ricko
Member
A connecticut yankee in king arthur's court
Book Reviews And Comments By Rick O If you think Bing Crosby's 1949 movie was anything like Mark Twain's fantasy classic published in 1889...Forget It! Like the precursor novels,'Gulliver's Travels' written in 1726 by Jonathan Swift and 'Alice in Wonderland' written in 1865 by Lewis Carroll were made into movies that are barely representative of the original novels. The film starring Bing Crosby was a musical / comedy only touching on the very basic part of Twain's novel.Mark Twain's view of England's Lifestyle in 528 was very harsh pertaining to church and throne to say the least.On page 246, he says..." if one could but force it ( manhood ) out of its timid and suspicious privacy, to overthrow and trample in the mud any throne that ever was set up and any nobility that ever supported it". The book has none of the film's niceties, instead it graphically tells of unjust hangings,stake burnings, murder, slavery, and an unfair caste system. This is a brilliant novel written 113 years after the Revolutionary War and 24 years after the Civil War. The contents truly reveal Mark Twain's political and social views, which I think are worthy of the study they have received. For further information on his thoughts see: 'Autobiography of Mark Twain: Volume 1, Reader's Edition (Mark Twain Papers)'.
Book Reviews And Comments By Rick O If you think Bing Crosby's 1949 movie was anything like Mark Twain's fantasy classic published in 1889...Forget It! Like the precursor novels,'Gulliver's Travels' written in 1726 by Jonathan Swift and 'Alice in Wonderland' written in 1865 by Lewis Carroll were made into movies that are barely representative of the original novels. The film starring Bing Crosby was a musical / comedy only touching on the very basic part of Twain's novel.Mark Twain's view of England's Lifestyle in 528 was very harsh pertaining to church and throne to say the least.On page 246, he says..." if one could but force it ( manhood ) out of its timid and suspicious privacy, to overthrow and trample in the mud any throne that ever was set up and any nobility that ever supported it". The book has none of the film's niceties, instead it graphically tells of unjust hangings,stake burnings, murder, slavery, and an unfair caste system. This is a brilliant novel written 113 years after the Revolutionary War and 24 years after the Civil War. The contents truly reveal Mark Twain's political and social views, which I think are worthy of the study they have received. For further information on his thoughts see: 'Autobiography of Mark Twain: Volume 1, Reader's Edition (Mark Twain Papers)'.
ricko
Member
To mmyap
I loved blech! But my favorites are: Faugh! and Bejabbers!
Book Reviews And Comments By Rick O
I loved blech! But my favorites are: Faugh! and Bejabbers!
Book Reviews And Comments By Rick O
beer good
Well-Known Member
Amatka, the debut novel by Swedish writer Karin Tidbeck. Her short story collection Jagannath has been praised by people like China Mieville and Ursula LeGuin, and I can see why; short and bare-bones, trying for (and mostly achieving) a balance somewhere between subversive Soviet science fiction (think Zamyatin) and a post-Orwell/Dick literary landscape where language isn't merely controlled but outright weaponised. Set in an outpost, an aftercity, where reality has worn so thin that the few remaining people must constantly mark what things are - mentally, verbally, and with marker pens - lest they fall apart and return to ooze, where the slightest doubt in the order of things (or the slightest attempt at rebellion) can cause society itself to literally collapse. Monty Python's "hypnotist architecture" skit done as dystopia. 
Andy.McKinney
New Member
Portnoy's Complaint and Nemesis by Philip Roth
Babylon Revisted by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Machine Stops by E.M. Forster
The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
The Method by Juli Zeh
Babylon Revisted by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Machine Stops by E.M. Forster
The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
The Method by Juli Zeh
beer good
Well-Known Member
What did you make of this one? I've read a few of Zeh's - Gaming Instinct and Dark Matter - and really liked them, so I've been eyeing The Method for a while, even though some people say it's a bit too preachy for its own good.
Andy.McKinney
New Member
beer good
The Method is good but I agree with the general consensus that the dialogue is too heavy and philosophical. It does not seem very true to life in that respect. I studied Friedrich Durrenmatt in school and it definitely was reminiscent of his style. Maybe this is characteristic of German literature. The book was originally a play so it would be interesting to see it live or made into a movie. It's not that it's a bad book, I just think that there are amazing dystopian classic out there like 1984 and Brave New World so writing another one is always going to be a risk.
Andy.
The Method is good but I agree with the general consensus that the dialogue is too heavy and philosophical. It does not seem very true to life in that respect. I studied Friedrich Durrenmatt in school and it definitely was reminiscent of his style. Maybe this is characteristic of German literature. The book was originally a play so it would be interesting to see it live or made into a movie. It's not that it's a bad book, I just think that there are amazing dystopian classic out there like 1984 and Brave New World so writing another one is always going to be a risk.
Andy.
pontalba
Well-Known Member
I've finished several (many, a gaggle?) since last I posted.
Salvation of a Saint by Keigo Higashino
Japanese detective story, with an interesting twist. By the same author as The Devotion of Suspect X. Higashino's books are just being translated to English, and evidently are really big in Japan. Rightly so, they are interesting, with great characters, good interplay, and nice twisty plots.
The Twelve by Justin Cronin
Sequel to The Passage, it covers much of the same time lines as the first, but fills in the gaps left, and cleans up much of the debris left over. I found the first to be more exciting, but this one certainly has it's heart pounding stretches, and a great deal of closure.
Half Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan
I wanted to love this book, it was short listed for the Booker last year, and had extremely good potential, but fell short for me. Too inbred and not enough story. Basically, it covers the story of some black jazz musicians in Germany at the wrong time. 1939. Worse yet, for him, one of them is a German citizen. Not to Hitler's liking At All. The story is told in flash back, so we know at least two of them survive, will they all, and in what condition?
A Walk Among the Tombstones and The Devil Knows You're Dead by Lawrence Block. What can I say? It's vintage Block. Master of noir with a humane/moralizing streak. Good stuff. Must read the rest of the Matthew Scudder series.
Salvation of a Saint by Keigo Higashino
Japanese detective story, with an interesting twist. By the same author as The Devotion of Suspect X. Higashino's books are just being translated to English, and evidently are really big in Japan. Rightly so, they are interesting, with great characters, good interplay, and nice twisty plots.
The Twelve by Justin Cronin
Sequel to The Passage, it covers much of the same time lines as the first, but fills in the gaps left, and cleans up much of the debris left over. I found the first to be more exciting, but this one certainly has it's heart pounding stretches, and a great deal of closure.
Half Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan
I wanted to love this book, it was short listed for the Booker last year, and had extremely good potential, but fell short for me. Too inbred and not enough story. Basically, it covers the story of some black jazz musicians in Germany at the wrong time. 1939. Worse yet, for him, one of them is a German citizen. Not to Hitler's liking At All. The story is told in flash back, so we know at least two of them survive, will they all, and in what condition?
A Walk Among the Tombstones and The Devil Knows You're Dead by Lawrence Block.
What can I say? It's vintage Block. Master of noir with a humane/moralizing streak. Good stuff. Must read the rest of the Matthew Scudder series.
Peder
Well-Known Member
Scotty by John F. Stacks. "James B. Reston and the Rise and Fall of American Journalism." And what a rise it was, even though this book is somewhat pale beside other major books written about the NYT. "Scotty" Reston was the journalist's journalist and much better read in the original, when he was a mover and shaker, rather than here in anecdotal excerpts. But, still, one learns much about the man himself.
ricko
Member
The house with the seven gables
Nathaniel Hawthorne gives the reader a lesson in descriptive writing in this 1851 American Gothic novel. The purpose of descriptive writing is to completely describe every person, place, or thing so that the reader clearly sees it in his mind. This is why the writers of the 1850's were accused of being paid for each word. How about his initial description of Judge Pyncheon: " It was the portly, and, had it possessed the advantage of a little more height, would have been the stately figure of a man considerably in the decline of life, dressed in a black suit of some thin stuff, resembling broadcloth as closely as possible. A gold-headed cane, of rare oriental wood added materially..." Okay, no use continuing with the description, you get what I'm saying. This kind of writing along with the use of archaic words is the reason it is so tough to get through these classic novels. Do you hear me Herman Melville? Try to read his 1851' Moby Dick' . I'm not saying that I didn't like Hawthorne's book, I loved it, as I loved' The Scarlet Letter' (1850) and I'm sure I will love' The Marble Faun' (1860) when I get around to reading it. In a preface by the author, he calls this book a Romance! But it really is what scholars now call a Dark Romance. Yes, I would agree that this book is very dark and gloomy!:whistling:
Book Reviews And Comments By Rick O
Nathaniel Hawthorne gives the reader a lesson in descriptive writing in this 1851 American Gothic novel. The purpose of descriptive writing is to completely describe every person, place, or thing so that the reader clearly sees it in his mind. This is why the writers of the 1850's were accused of being paid for each word. How about his initial description of Judge Pyncheon: " It was the portly, and, had it possessed the advantage of a little more height, would have been the stately figure of a man considerably in the decline of life, dressed in a black suit of some thin stuff, resembling broadcloth as closely as possible. A gold-headed cane, of rare oriental wood added materially..." Okay, no use continuing with the description, you get what I'm saying. This kind of writing along with the use of archaic words is the reason it is so tough to get through these classic novels. Do you hear me Herman Melville? Try to read his 1851' Moby Dick' . I'm not saying that I didn't like Hawthorne's book, I loved it, as I loved' The Scarlet Letter' (1850) and I'm sure I will love' The Marble Faun' (1860) when I get around to reading it. In a preface by the author, he calls this book a Romance! But it really is what scholars now call a Dark Romance. Yes, I would agree that this book is very dark and gloomy!
:whistling:Book Reviews And Comments By Rick O
MaryJo Dawson
Member
mmyap, might I recommend another book with almost the same title? It is called House, written by Frank Peretti and Ted Dekker. I didn't get past the 3rd chapter because it IS the type of book it sounds like you are looking for! I really enjoyed other Peretti books, but this one was too creepy for me.