Book Review - Poe

Even though the “back of the book” summary gives a fairly detailed overview, I still found myself a little surprised at what I got upon reading Poe. As mentioned in the synopsis, the book is centered around a twenty-something aspiring author named Dimitri. He works at a small town newspaper writing obituaries while hoping to eventually finish writing his epic novel (about how Rasputin was really a zombie). The book starts on Halloween one year after his parents’ mysterious/tragic deaths. Dimitri is given an odd last minute assignment to cover a midnight seance in a run down haunted house. He meets (and falls for) punk rocker Lisa as they wait for the seance to begin. The seance turns out to have a real touch with the supernatural and the next thing we know, Dimitri is dead…or presumed dead. He wakes up much later in the city morgue just before being presumably embalmed. From there things just go from bad to worse and life gets more and more strange for Dimitri. Bodies start turning up around town as a serial killer starts to strike. Dimitri finds himself haunted by a strange spirit he nicknames “Poe” (as in Edgar Allan). Lisa’s brother is revealed to be a crazed escapee from an insane asylum and just happens to practice dark magic and demon summoning. And on, and on.

The story had enough twists, turns and surprises to continue being compelling in spite of being very convoluted and confusing at times. The author inundates the reader with a ton of details one right after another. Initially many of these details feel unrelated and irrelevant but then later turn out to be coincidentally tied into either the central plot or some new side plot. Like an intricate weaving, we are presented thread after thread in such a way that what starts out as a messy tangle of threads and colors eventually becomes a detailed tapestry. At times I did feel the constant circling and twisting of details to be tedious but I was still intrigued by the overall story and so I persevered even through the dry and obtuse moments.

I also enjoyed the multiple different stories being laid out simultaneously. Over the days/weeks/months that Dimitri works through the mystery right in front of him, he does some investigative research in the newspaper archives and elsewhere. As he does, he discovers some interesting history about the haunted house and the community. Eventually he starts having dream visions triggered by his ghost hostess Poe in which he relives a variety of the historical moments. As time goes on we also start to learn some of the historical stories of Dimitri’s own past…his interaction with his parents and even some of their history. These additional stories were interesting to explore and I enjoyed the way they were worked into the overall plot.

Movie Review - Catching Fire (The Hunger Games, part two)

I read the Hunger Games novels back in 2010 and really enjoyed the series. As always, I was a bit apprehensive about a movie adaptation so I was pleasantly surprised with the good movie treatment for the first book. This fall we return to Panem for Catching Fire.

In the same way that book two ratchetted up the anxiety and distress, the second film really draws you in and keeps you off balance and emotionally destabalized throughout the film. Wide sweeping camera shots showcase the huge disparity between the poverty and slave-like conditions of the "citizens" in the District and the aristocratic excess and ignorance of the people within the Capitol.

We get more close up interaction with President Snow. We see his slimy interactions with the new Gamemaker as they come up with "moves and countermoves" to try and stiffle any sense of rebellion or defiance within the Districts by stripping them of any sense of Hope. We also see his interaction with his young niece who seems so pure and innocent when set alongside President Snow. Strangely I felt like the movie, more than the book, tried to frame a little bit of the idea that Snow was just caught in a bad place and truly was acting to try and save the stability and sanctity of Panem rather than just trying to save his own neck and maintain his power and position. I saw glimpses of this but they were really fleeting and were always quickly replaced by a sense of utter repulsion for President Snow and all that he stands for.

Back in District 12 we find Katniss reunited with Gale and trying to figure out life. She very realistically lets him know that she is just too traumatized at the moment to think of any kind of true relationship with him or with anyone, even Peeta. We see evidence of a sort of post-traumatic-stress-disorder as she has halucinations and nightmares related to her horrific experience within the games.

Katniss's interactions with Peeta and Haymitch are required due to her new status as Victor but she is just as cold and distant with them as ever. As they begin their "Victory Tour", she warms up a little to Peeta, Haymitch, Effie and others as she sees evidence that the world is unraveling and becoming more and more dangerous for everyone.

Books Read in 2013

For the past few years (2012, 2011, 2010, 2009) I've had a goal to read and review a bunch of books over the course of each year.

My goal has been to average a book per week and end up with 50 books read and reviewed at the end of the year. If I included the short grade school or picture books that I sometimes read with my kids (or even just on my own for fun), I'd easily hit the 50 mark...but I usually just count the books that I actually review here on my blog. I've come a bit short of 50 each year. And yet, I don't consider it a failure in the least. The fact that I feel like I continue to get more and more wonderful books read each year tells me that the goal is a success.

So I'm modifying the goal for 2013. I'm still going to have a number to shoot for but the main goal is that I get through some of the many many books waiting on my bookshelves to be read (my "to be read" pile is huge). My goal will be to read and review at least as many books as I did in 2012...which means at least 45 books. But my goal also expands to include a few more aspects: 1) Read at least 8 "classic" novels, 2) Read more books in genres I don't normally read (such as mystery, romance, poetry).

If you have any suggestions for books to read or ways I can make my reading goal more exciting, please let me know.

And now, without further ado, here's the list of books I've read so far in 2013:
(I will be updating this post each time a new book is read/reviewed)

1. The Madman's Daughter
2. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
3. Ender's Game
4. Beastly
5. The Measure of the Magic
6. Head Games (Locke & Key: Volume 2)
7. Seventh Son: Tales of Alvin Maker (Book 1)
8. Dead Men Kill
9. Mom Rules
10. NOS4A2 (Did Not Finish)
11. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang: The Magical Car
12. The Colossus Rises - Seven Wonders Book 1
13. The Magic Circle: A Novel
14. Cleopatra's Moon
15. How to Teach Your Children Shakespeare
16. Passion Blue
17. The House of the Seven Gables
18. Utopia
19. The Man Who Knew Too Much
20. Power Play (Kingdom Keepers Book IV)
21. The Bone Season
22. A Study in Silks
23. The Call of the Wild
24. Asylum
25. The Prince and the Pauper
26. The Eye of Minds
27. Don Quixote
28. The Girl with a Clock for a Heart
29. 
    

And for additional reference, here's a link to my "to be read" list over at Goodreads. This list includes purchased books on my bookshelves (but not read) as well as tons of books that have been recommended to me over the years. As you can see, the list is huge...and never really shrinks since there are always new recommendations coming in. So tell me...what good books have you read lately that I should add to my list? Any that I "MUST" get to ~immediately? :-)

Book Review - The Girl with a Clock for a Heart

The Girl with a Clock for a Heart is described as an “electrifying tale of romantic noir.” The book is the story of a man named George Foss and his interactions with a mysterious woman who seems to always be in the middle of some intense trouble. George first met Liana in college and had an intense relationship with her for one semester after which she completely disappeared from his life. Even now, two decades later, he still can’t get her out of his mind and is constantly watching for her and comparing other women to her. When she finally shows back up in his life and asks for his help, the logical part of him knows she is dangerous and warns him to run away. But George has built up a nostalgic fantasy in his mind and finds he cannot say no to Liana even with all of the alarms ringing in his face.

The book has three main narrative timelines. We have the story of when George and Liana meet in college and how their relationship progressed and eventually ended with her vanishing without a trace but with indication of her involvement in some crime. We have the present-day story of Liana walking back into George’s life with a random meeting at his local bar followed by a string of dangerous intrigue and adventure. And we have the intermediate story told in flashbacks and flat dialog telling the story of what each of them has been doing over the past twenty years.

I really enjoyed the narrative style of this book. The way the story is laid out sets for a pair of mysterious thrillers to be solved. First there’s the case of Liana’s disappearance twenty years ago and whatever strange crime she may or may not have been involved with back then. Second we have the thrilling adventures that Liana and George are working through in the present day. Because we have these two stories, the author is able to bounce us back and forth between them and keep them both pacing along nicely while keeping the answers just out of reach. The college mystery is less a suspenseful thriller than a methodical mystery to be solved. The “modern day” mystery is definitely a suspenseful thriller with strange and interesting characters and motives driving George deeper and deeper into danger.

As I read, I was often distracted/annoyed at the use of vulgarity…primarily the F-bomb. I know that I’m somewhat in the minority as a person who doesn’t swear and doesn’t approve of swearing. I fully acknowledge that some people swear profusely and I’ve been briefly around people who can’t seem to communicate without vulgarity. I also acknowledge that in some of the intense situations that George finds himself in, it is likely that a person like that would curse. I tried to overlook it and just skip by it, but even in fairly normal, low intensity conversations the F-bomb was dropped again and again and just felt extraneous and unnecessary as it didn’t (to me at least) make the characters or situations any more believable or intense in any way.

The story had its share of violence and murders and I was pleased that they were not overly graphic in the depiction. I also liked that even though this was presented as a thriller and our protagonist was in the center of the action much of the time, the author kept us distanced enough to pose a good mystery as to what was going on.

Movie Review - Thor: The Dark World

Thor has had a pretty good run in theaters over the past couple of years. In 2011 he had his own film which I generally enjoyed. In 2012 he came back to light up the screen with his lightning again as a central member of the Avengers team. And now in 2013 we have Thor: The Dark World. I went into this Thor sequel with many of the same fears I had going in to Iron Man 3. Specifically, would it be possible to return to a franchise with just a single super hero after having had a blockbuster film in which that super hero was part of an over the top team? In other words, could Thor 2 be an adequate follow up not only to the first Thor film, but also to The Avengers. From the trailers, I wasn’t entirely sure.

The film starts out with a few minutes of backstory as we learn about a race of Dark Elves who literally live in a world of darkness and centuries ago created a weapon (the Aether) which, if used at the moment when all of the realms of the universe are aligned (the Convergence, could plunge the universe into the complete darkness that existed before any “let there be light” moment way back when. Odin’s father apparently fought in the war to defeat these Dark Elves and take control of their weapon. Unfortunately the weapon was too powerful to be destroyed so it was hidden deep away in some undisclosed location. The Asgardians thought they had utterly destroyed the Dark Elves so they weren’t too worried. Naturally they were over confident for the leader of the Dark Elves cloaked his ship in some sort of invisibility shield and then he and his crew placed themselves under a deep sleep to be awakened when the next universal alignment is imminent.

Fast forward to 21st century Earth. We’re quickly reacquainted with Jane (played by Natalie Portman) and her intern Darcy (played by Kat Dennings). I like both of these actresses and was especially pleased to see Darcy getting a lot more play in these first few scenes (she’s even hired herself an intern). There was a lot of very cheesy and quirky banter between them as they investigate strange phenomena in London in search of a way to find Thor. Naturally the Convergence of the realms is about to happen. This is creating wormholes of sorts and all sorts of physics-defying anomalies. Jane and Darcy stumble across one of these anomalies and Jane manages to get herself into trouble.

Thor, meanwhile, has been battling for peace all across the universe but instead of celebrating and enjoying life he frequently checks in with Heimdall to vicariously spy on Jane. When he learns that there’s a possibility that Jane is in danger, he whisks away to Earth to find her. Upon seeing the nature of the problem he then brings her back to Asgard, much to the chagrin of Odin. At the same time due to the arrival of the Convergence, the Dark Elves have awakened and are on their way to Asgard. They arrive shortly after Jane and there’s a big battle with all sorts of explosions and popcorn-blockbuster-movie special effects. Thor comes up with a plan to save the universe but more importantly (to him) to save Jane. Of course the plan relies on Thor being willing to release Loki from his cell and trust him to help save the day.

Up to that point the movie had been fun and rather entertaining. Once Loki starts getting his screen time alongside Thor, the humor and fun stepped up to a new level. Loki and Thor just have a great chemistry and work very well together. They both seem to be having a ton of fun with their roles. Loki is as mischievous as ever. In spite of his rotten side he is played out as a sort of tragic hero and the audience is given plenty of opportunities to try and sympathize with him and to root for his success.