The Onion Presents A Book of Jean's Own!: All New Wit, Wisdom, and Wackiness from The Onion's Beloved Humor Columnist (Jean Teasdale)
This is a book pretend-written by the Onion's intentionally bad humor columnist Jean Teasdale, and it's pretty easy to figure out if it's for you: Just take a gander at her columns (and her website!) and see if you're amused. The book is basically Jean in concentrated form, and I liked it enough to polish it off in one sitting. My only suggestions would be to flip past the recipes (the joke appears to be the insane amount of butter that goes in), and don't listen to Jean's advice that you can skip around the book; there is a narrative thread running through the fake cat journals and Rick's lists of things that annoy the shit out of him that does come to a head at the end.
All in all I liked this book pretty well, and was surprised to see that the Amazon reviews are fairly mixed. I'm tempted to put this down to price; if I'd plunked down the MSRP of $18.99 I don't know that I'd be too pleased, but at $2.31 (with free shipping!) I'm pretty happy.
Grade: B
Showing posts with label loved the end. Show all posts
Showing posts with label loved the end. Show all posts
Monday, May 5, 2014
Saturday, April 5, 2014
"American Savage"
American Savage: Insights, Slights, and Fights on Faith, Sex, Love, and Politics (Dan Savage)
I had an eerie feeling reading this book; Savage's voice comes through so strongly that I couldn't help but hear him reading the text. This is not necessarily a bad thing, although I guess it removes the need for an audiobook.
Aside from that, I liked it; Savage's positions seems pretty sensible to a liberal dupe like myself (although I was left wanting to hear more about his collection of Catholic kitsch).
My only two caveats are that I'd recommend skipping the gun control chapter, which is a real downer and doesn't look to be getting better any time soon; and this is probably a book to get out of the library (I polished it off in two sittings).
Grade: B+
I had an eerie feeling reading this book; Savage's voice comes through so strongly that I couldn't help but hear him reading the text. This is not necessarily a bad thing, although I guess it removes the need for an audiobook.
Aside from that, I liked it; Savage's positions seems pretty sensible to a liberal dupe like myself (although I was left wanting to hear more about his collection of Catholic kitsch).
My only two caveats are that I'd recommend skipping the gun control chapter, which is a real downer and doesn't look to be getting better any time soon; and this is probably a book to get out of the library (I polished it off in two sittings).
Grade: B+
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
"In The Shadow of the Moons"
In The Shadow of the Moons: My Life in the Reverend Sun Myung Moon's Family (Nansook Hong)
This book fits into the little subgenre of cult-escape books - most of the ones I've read have been about Scientology, but this one is about (checks title) the Moonie church, more specifically the man himself and his totally dysfunctional family. The author is married (at 15) to the eldest son of Sun Myung Moon, and escapes with her children after over a decade of abuse, verbal, mental, and physical. What really stuck with me is the author's strength; the abuse she undergoes is horrific, and I couldn't help but smile at the end of the book when she successful escapes and sets about building a real life for herself. She also seems more sad than angry about what she went through - and make no mistake, this is a downer. Even so, I recommend it. It's harrowing, but this is a story that deserves to be told.
Grade: :0
This book fits into the little subgenre of cult-escape books - most of the ones I've read have been about Scientology, but this one is about (checks title) the Moonie church, more specifically the man himself and his totally dysfunctional family. The author is married (at 15) to the eldest son of Sun Myung Moon, and escapes with her children after over a decade of abuse, verbal, mental, and physical. What really stuck with me is the author's strength; the abuse she undergoes is horrific, and I couldn't help but smile at the end of the book when she successful escapes and sets about building a real life for herself. She also seems more sad than angry about what she went through - and make no mistake, this is a downer. Even so, I recommend it. It's harrowing, but this is a story that deserves to be told.
Grade: :0
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
"Atlas Infernal"
Atlas Infernal (Rob Sanders)
I believe this may be the most bonkers W40k book I've ever read, which is no small feat. It's tough to describe the plot since it zags all over the place, but the basic jist is that there's a grumpy old Inquisitor who's stolen a living map of the Eldar Webway, pursued by mean old Ahriman of the Thousand Sons. This is just the launching point to a truly bizarre adventure that takes our heroes through the Eye of Terror. I found this quite enjoyable, and in fact my only gripe is that Sanders does the readers no favors by breaking the story up into non-linear pieces. (The book opens with the hero going to visit the Black Library, but we don't see him escape until it's almost over.) Frankly, it's already a little tricky to follow because of the endless and strange new ideas thrown at the reader, not to mention that the main antagonist can cast illusion spells that let him appear as other characters, and having things happen out of order is a little jarring.
This quibble aside - and a note that this is a really bad place to start if you don't know much about the setting - you really shouldn't pass this one up.
Grade: A
I believe this may be the most bonkers W40k book I've ever read, which is no small feat. It's tough to describe the plot since it zags all over the place, but the basic jist is that there's a grumpy old Inquisitor who's stolen a living map of the Eldar Webway, pursued by mean old Ahriman of the Thousand Sons. This is just the launching point to a truly bizarre adventure that takes our heroes through the Eye of Terror. I found this quite enjoyable, and in fact my only gripe is that Sanders does the readers no favors by breaking the story up into non-linear pieces. (The book opens with the hero going to visit the Black Library, but we don't see him escape until it's almost over.) Frankly, it's already a little tricky to follow because of the endless and strange new ideas thrown at the reader, not to mention that the main antagonist can cast illusion spells that let him appear as other characters, and having things happen out of order is a little jarring.
This quibble aside - and a note that this is a really bad place to start if you don't know much about the setting - you really shouldn't pass this one up.
Grade: A
Monday, September 30, 2013
"Blankets"
Blankets (Craig Thompson)
I was a little tough on the first Thompson book I read, a graphic novel called Habibi that reached for greatness and couldn't quite grasp it. Weirdly enough, his previous work - this book - is everything I could have asked for and more. I don't want to gush too much, but this book is beautifully written and drawn, at turns hilarious and heartbreaking (mostly heartbreaking) as it follows our hero Craig and his struggles growing up.
I guess if I'm looking for some criticism, the art in Blankets isn't as breathtaking as it is in Habibi, both because this is earlier in Thompson's career and because the setting is more stark and less fantastical - and come to think of it, that's more of an observation; the stark art in Blankets perfectly fits the tone of frozen Midwestern lost despair. Huh. Well, I guess for once I can't think of a single thing to complain about. Um, highly recommended.
Grade: A+
I was a little tough on the first Thompson book I read, a graphic novel called Habibi that reached for greatness and couldn't quite grasp it. Weirdly enough, his previous work - this book - is everything I could have asked for and more. I don't want to gush too much, but this book is beautifully written and drawn, at turns hilarious and heartbreaking (mostly heartbreaking) as it follows our hero Craig and his struggles growing up.
I guess if I'm looking for some criticism, the art in Blankets isn't as breathtaking as it is in Habibi, both because this is earlier in Thompson's career and because the setting is more stark and less fantastical - and come to think of it, that's more of an observation; the stark art in Blankets perfectly fits the tone of frozen Midwestern lost despair. Huh. Well, I guess for once I can't think of a single thing to complain about. Um, highly recommended.
Grade: A+
Sunday, September 15, 2013
"Lord of the Night"
Lord of the Night (Simon Spurrier)
This is the non-ADB Night Lords novel. For some reason, I didn't think I was going to enjoy this book; maybe it was the hyperbolic caption that "The master of terror now has something to fear" (after finishing the book I still have no idea what this means), or maybe it's the fact that the cover has a evil Space Marine hefting a chainsword seemingly peering at the viewer from a big glowing vagina (although I'm not sure how that could be anything but awesome now that I'm thinking about it).
In any case, I of course shouldn't have judged the book by the cover, as it's quite good. It's about a Chaos Space Marine who's just woken up after being trapped in the Warp for 10,000 years and his search for the Corona Nox - all you really need to know is that it's the mcguffin - with his actives falling under the investigation of an Inquisitor who is the other POV character. And it's very good; for once I can't even really think of any little details to complain about. The author makes POV switches easy to follow by just printing the character's name at the start of a chapter - why more authors don't do this I have no idea - and both of our main characters are wonderfully fleshed out, to the point where I felt conflicted not knowing which one of them to root for when they came into conflict. On top of that, Spurrier has an excellent grasp of the Night Lords and the W40k setting in general, and I really enjoyed how he showed a single Chaos Space Marine being able to stir up an incredible amount of conflict and strife in the hive city that he comes to call home as he pursues his goal. It's too bad Spurrier only wrote one more 40k novel that I can find; he knocked this one out of the park.
Grade: A
This is the non-ADB Night Lords novel. For some reason, I didn't think I was going to enjoy this book; maybe it was the hyperbolic caption that "The master of terror now has something to fear" (after finishing the book I still have no idea what this means), or maybe it's the fact that the cover has a evil Space Marine hefting a chainsword seemingly peering at the viewer from a big glowing vagina (although I'm not sure how that could be anything but awesome now that I'm thinking about it).
In any case, I of course shouldn't have judged the book by the cover, as it's quite good. It's about a Chaos Space Marine who's just woken up after being trapped in the Warp for 10,000 years and his search for the Corona Nox - all you really need to know is that it's the mcguffin - with his actives falling under the investigation of an Inquisitor who is the other POV character. And it's very good; for once I can't even really think of any little details to complain about. The author makes POV switches easy to follow by just printing the character's name at the start of a chapter - why more authors don't do this I have no idea - and both of our main characters are wonderfully fleshed out, to the point where I felt conflicted not knowing which one of them to root for when they came into conflict. On top of that, Spurrier has an excellent grasp of the Night Lords and the W40k setting in general, and I really enjoyed how he showed a single Chaos Space Marine being able to stir up an incredible amount of conflict and strife in the hive city that he comes to call home as he pursues his goal. It's too bad Spurrier only wrote one more 40k novel that I can find; he knocked this one out of the park.
Grade: A
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)