Awake. It feels like I slept in my left eye. It hurts a little to blink, like not hurt hurt, but hurt. Yanno?
And sometime today, I’ll be posting pictures of my bookcase, in hopes that You, the readers will help me choose the next book to review, and talk about in the Book Club.
But right now, it’s coffee time. Please, excuse me for a moment. Mm, kaffee.
It’s early, and I can’t think of anything else to write this morning. Later, I’ll post something else. Happy Thursyay!
Yes, I finally finished my first (I started over again around chapter 2 – I just got discouraged) read through of Ship of Theseus*! Whew! What a really good book.
The main story is amazing. It’s a story about S. S wakes up on the banks of a strange city, with no memory of who he is, or where he came from. He walks into a bar, orders a drink and sees a beautiful woman reading a book. He walks over and sits down with her. From there, he’s shanghaied and thrown on to a boat.
The boat itself is a mystery too. It’s very old, and has been repaired many times, and is crewed by 19 sailors – who’s mouths are sewn shut. I really can’t say more than that, as it all unfolds slowly at times, and sometimes so quickly, you have to go back and reread a few pages to see if you missed something.
That’s the beginning of Ship of Theseus by VM Straka**, and it only gets better. This is his 19th book published in 1949.
Then, there’s the second story in the book. The story in the margins between Jen and Eric. This is where reading can get very confusing and difficult. This is where I started to get discouraged. There’s just so much information to absorb on each page
See that picture above? That’s a pretty average page. There’s a few with even more writing, and then some with only sentence or two.
Jen found the book in the stacks in her university library where she works. Eric has written in it since high school. She gets sucked in to Straka’s world and his 18 other books he published. Ship of Theseus is his last book, published after his mysterious death. Jen and Eric get to know each other through the book, and through researching who Straka was and who his translator was.
* I have a feeling to get through all the stories and mysteries, and all the added items in the book. I know I’ve only scratched the surface of this amazing book.
** I know Straka doesn’t exist. S. Was the brain child of JJ Abrams, and written by Doug Dorst. I prefer to think Straka was real, and I’d love to read his other books.
This book comes in a black slipcover, and that’s really the only part that says that it was written by Dorst, and Abrams. When you slide it out of the slipcover, it’s fashioned to look like an old library book complete with check out stamps.
This is a book lovers book for sure. I sure love it.
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“About three things I was absolutely positive. First, Edward was a vampire. Second, there was part of him — and I didn’t know how dominate that part might be — that thirsted for my blood. And third, I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him.”
Aww yis! You know it. Let’s do a book review on THE SAGA. The Twilight Saga, just in case you were confused.
Let me tell you, I’ve read this more than any mere mortal should. I basically used the series as a “reset” from harder reads like House of Leaves, Foucault’s Pendulum, etc. But then you can’t just read one of the books to reset – you have to read them all.
What can I say about Bella and Edward? Wayward lovers? Predator and prey? Stalker and stalkee? A Romeo and Juliet for the new generation? Dreck? Waste of paper? Yes, all of the above, I’m sure.
Twilight is where we’re introduced to Bella and the rest of the cast of characters. Bella has moved from Phoenix to Forks, Washington because her mom married a younger guy that thinks he can play baseball. So Bella being the adult in that family dynamic (“I’m an old soul” bullshit) moves in with her dad and promptly takes over everything minus paying the bills.
She meets Edward. He likes her, he hates her, he likes her. He saves her from being crushed by a van in the school parking lot.
“Say it” he whispered in my ear.
I shuddered, just thinking about it.
“Vampire”, I Said through my teeth.
The above lines never happened in the book. Come one people, this just proves that anyone can write this stuff.
New Moon. New Moon sucked ass. Jacob is a bitch. ‘Nuff said.
Eclipse. I don’t remember this book too much. Blah blah Jacob is a whiny little bitch still. He loves Bella, she’s all like but you always smell like wet dog, and that’s gross, but my man smells like Drakkar Noir, and that’s the tits. So get out of here, and I’ll buy you some Beggin Strips later.
Breaking Dawn. This is where the action happens – in the last 75 pages. It’s like a 1000 page book so get comfortable because it’s a long slow burn. Jacob has taken what Bella said to heart and bought Drakkar, Bella and Edward got married, and broke a couple beds as the did the dirty deed in a non-extraditing South American country.
And when you put male part “a” into female part “b”, and shake it around, that’s how vampire babies are made. Apparently Bella and Edward didn’t pay attention in biology class.
Baby comes out, as babies do. Killing Bella, but Edward’s like in blood lust and is like “Smorgusbord!”, and saves Bella with venomous teeth and finally after like 5000 pages of award winning writing, turns Bella into a vampire.
The end.
I kid, I kid, they have to build up to a massive fight with the Italian in-laws that want to slaughter them all because they have a different way of life, but this is America, and they’ll do as they please. They talk back and forth for another 300 pages, and all the buildup and all the talking, they just leave.
Oh, well happy ending!
And I’ll read it again. And again. And again.
I do want to read the new novel – Midnight Sun. It’s from our hero, Edward’s point of view. So if someone wants to buy it and send it to me, I wouldn’t say no, and I’d totes mention your name in the review of it.
Welcome back, friends. I’m going to try and do two reviews in one, and to try and remember the books because it’s been a while since I’ve read these books. And they are great books. Good use of dead trees. So it goes.
Slaughterhouse-Five or the Children’s Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death
Think of Slaughterhouse-Five as a science fiction anti-war book. In it we’re introduced to Billy Pilgrim. It’s about his experiences during the firebombing of Dresden, and after the war. It really grabs me right from the start, because I like the fact that Billy is an unreliable narrator. You are thrown right into the thick of things, because of time travel.
“So it goes”. Every time someone dies, or death is mentioned, the refrain – “So it goes” is said. For me, I believe it just accepting death and what’s happened. You find that you barely even notice that you’re reading “So it goes” after a while. “So it goes” is written 106 times in the book.
I had never read Vonnegut before, I really enjoyed the Sci-fi aspect of the novel. I never had to deal/worry about being drafted into the military, but this book really helped me to begin to understand war, violence, and death associated war. So it goes.
Cat’s Cradle
According to Wikipedia, Cat’s Cradle is satirical postmodern novel, with science fiction elements.
What? Again like the Slaughterhouse-Five, it’s completely foreign to me. It’s a completely different time. Over a generation apart from my time. For me, it was making fun of religion. Sure, there’s other things going on, but on just one reading, religion is what i took away from it.
Bokononism the religion secretly practiced by the people of San Lorenzo. It’s a very complete and well thought out religion. Example:
Pool-pah: a shit-storm, wrath of god.
Both of these books grabbed me right from the beginning, and kept my attention all the way through. It’s cliche, but I seriously laughed, and cried. So go out to the library, bookstore, wherever, and pick both of these up.