Tag Archives: book review

11/22/63 by Stephen King

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Started: 1/23/2012 Finished: 2/4/2012 Stephen King, how dare you! Every time I read one of your books, I’m inexorably sucked in. But the movie adaptations are always horrible! Or at least I’m still bitter about Dreamcatcher. Anyways, it was really exciting to learn so much more about the Kennedy assassination than ever before….I mean Lee Harvey Oswald is always portrayed so wimpishly in Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins that sometimes you forget what he was really like. *shudder* But the whole thing was incredible as our hero stalks Oswald and prepares to change history. But more than that, our main character was a really likable guy! For whatever reason I deeply connected with him and wished him nothing but personal happiness by the end (and was mostly mollified). New favorite word: obdurate. Definition: Adjective: Stubbornly refusing to change one’s opinion or course of action

The Princess Bride by William Goldman

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The Princess Bride S. Morgenstern’s Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure The ‘good parts’ version Abridged by William Goldman Author of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid Started: some time after Jenny’s birthday party (Aug 2011) Finished: shortly afterwards I’m fairly certain that I liked the book a great deal more than the movie (at least my many fractured viewings of the movie), but I do have to give them credit for doing some incredibly interesting things and creating a great cult film.

The Pixar Touch: The Making Of A Company by David A. Price

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Available on Amazon. Many thanks to my good friend Jeff Allen for recommending this book. It is an absolutely riveting read. For me it kind of capped off/continued the Disney company history that I so enjoyed discovering in Walt Disney: Triumph of the American Imagination by Neal Gabler (covering Walt’s lifetime) and Disney Wars by James Stewart (covering the period from Walt’s death to the successful ousting of Eisner) by telling a completely different story: the story of Pixar. How Ed Catmull, a Mormon computer scientist who knew he couldn’t draw good enough to be an animator decided that he would make a movie with a computer instead (in the 60s). How he gathered a brain trust of computer scientists, electrical engineers, artists and writers around him and shepherded them through 40 years of business transactions and negotiations from the New York Institute of Technology to Lucasfilm to Emeryville, all … Continue reading →

The Price Of Freedom by A. C. Crispin

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Amazing!!!! It answers almost every single question that has arisen about Jack Sparrow since discovering his delightful character in the first film. It’s practically a complete back story, but does so with a gripping narrative and a story that is as lush and vibrant as any locale we’ve seen Jack visit in his four films. Also makes me want to pick up the junior novels that delve into Jack’s childhood to see what other gems are out there to glean about Jack Sparrow. I also want to pick up A. C. Crispin’s other novels (she does Han Solo’s backstory!!!).

Artemis Fowl: The Atlantis Complex (Book 7) by Eoin Colfer

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I adore Eoin Colfer’s writing. There really isn’t much more to say about it. In this, his 7th venture into the universe of teenaged, criminal mastermind Artemis Fowl, Colfer outdoes himself while paying tribute to the depth of work he has already completed. While I felt a little lost in the beginning, reading Wikipedia helped me remember the characters being referenced, and it was purely a tertiary feeling as the characters and dialogue that were most important were immediately embraced and enjoyed – like old friends out for another night on the town.

Carter Beats The Devil – Glen David Gold

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This book was an amazingly and engrossingly phenomenal read. Picked up at random from the Westminster Public Library in a pile of books claiming to be related to U.S. Presidents, the decadently detailed book jacket and description demanded that I take the book home and enjoy it thoroughly, which I promptly did. Charles Carter is a prominent magician at the height of Warren Harding’s presidency in the late 1920s. When President Harding is found dead in his hotel room mere hours after participating in Carter’s breathtaking final act, the Secret Service immediately try to track the magician down for questioning – which is much easier said than done. After thoroughly gripping us with this overture, author Glen David Gold* launches us down the serpentine path that led a young Charles Carter to where he is today while weaving a mysterious plot of intrigue and assassination rich with characters both fictional … Continue reading →

The Lost Symbol – Dan Brown

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Started 9/20/2010 Finished a few days later. Damn you Dan Brown…you’re such an engrossing writer! Very rarely do books suck me in until 3am like this….but Dan Brown pulls it off with panache. I very much enjoyed this book and can’t wait to not-sleep through his earlier works (I’ve only read this and Da Vinci Code). Pg. 86: In the words of futurist Arthur C. Clarke, ‘Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.’ I wonder if this was ever quoted concerning the Flash Rogue, Abra Kadabra, from the 64th century? Pg. 104: Peter Solomon would be horrified to know how badly Langdon had failed him. I should have mailed it to the Marx Brothers. Will you take it easy? Take it easy? Why do you think I sent it home in the first place?! So that it wouldn’t fall into their hands! I came here to save you! Oh … Continue reading →

American Lion – Jon Meacham

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Started 1/3/2010 Finished 8/31/2010 A fascinating analysis of one of the most contentious presidents to ever be in power during the still-formative years of our nation. I love Andrew Jackson mostly from his appearances on Disney’s Davy Crockett TV show, but this book made me appreciate the $20 bill that much more for all the pain and suffering he went through. First President to have an assassination attempt (I think)…and the Secret Service STILL wasn’t created…yeesh….

And Another Thing . . . by Eoin Colfer

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A delightful sequel from one of my favorite authors (I have all of the Artemis Fowl books except for the newest ones and absolutely love reading them). Started 9/1/2010 Finished 9/19/2010 Pg. 191: There is a theory … which states that the universe is built on uncertainty and that a definitive statement/action creates a momentary energy vacuum into which flows a diametrically opposing statement/action. Pg. 225: Most [space]craft give a nod, however brief and unfriendly, toward beauty. Vogon ships did not nod toward beauty. They pulled on ski masks and mugged beauty in a dark alley. They spat in the eye of beauty and bludgeoned their way through the notions of aesthetics and aerodynamics. Pg. 241: Thor was actually the fifth-fastest being in the Universe. Eight without Mjöllnir to steady him. Number one was Hermes, who mainly used his divine speed to pinch Ares’ nipples and then run away.

Lincoln’s Sword: The Presidency And The Power Of Words by Douglas L. Wilson

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An absolutely fascinating analysis of Abraham Lincoln as a writer, which was undoubtedly his greatest strength. Thusly the title recalls the epic phrase – “the pen is mightier than the sword”, which was coined by English author Edward Bulwer-Lytton in 1839 (thanks Wikipedia!). Some of my favorite quotes and ideas from the book follow – enjoy! “‘He was a very deliberate writer, anything but rapid. … I never saw him dictate to anyone, and it certainly was not his practice to do so. He seemed to think nothing of the labor of writing personally and was accustomed to make many scraps of notes and memoranda. In writing a careful letter, he first wrote it himself, then corrected it, and then rewrote the corrected version himself.’ … Even though a slow and ‘very deliberate’ writer, Lincoln was not in the least put off by what most people consider the onerous labor … Continue reading →