Category Archives: Book Report

The first book I read in the new year was The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky.

Jason and I went over to Steph and Sasha’s for brunch, and we both ended up pulling books off a shelf and devouring them. We all spent the afternoon in various states of repose, and I finished the book in time for dinner.

My only criticism is that although the book is written in a wholly believable voice, and has wonderful insight, I can’t ignore the fact that the teens in the book are not realistic. They’re what we all wish we were like in high school, with poignant scenes we all would love to have experienced. Oooh, also there was the usual dosing of regular teen novel angst: a pregnancy, homosexuality, and molestation. I think it’s a young adult book, based on the age of the main characters, and said angst topics.

My reaction was emotional, built up from about page 20 on (of 244 pages), and there is a whole lot of good story in the book. I guess it crescendo’d before it was able to finish in a satisfying manner, but that’s asking a whole lot out of a book. Two hung-over, sleepy-New-Years-Day thumbs up.

I just read a 71434-0.html”>Wired article interviewing Scott McCloud, author of Understanding Comics. I had to read this book for a YA lit class, and boy howdy, it was effective. It explains the depth and breadth of comic styles and functions. If you ever need to know more (even if you know a lot) about comics, this is the book you need. And it’s in graphic novel form.

Anyway, the article I just read has McCloud explaining about the boom of webcomics, and how this affects the comic world, and then a nice overview of where comics are going, and one upcoming trend I find interesting – the family-friendly tween genre. Except I kind of hate the word tween, but that’s neither here nor there.

You know when someone tells you you’re REALLY going to like something, you rarely do. There’s something about the perceived amazingness that doesn’t live up to what’s in your head.

So when Jake asked if I had seen Me and You and Everyone We Know, and “good christ is that film right up your alley”, I immediately thought of this phenomenon. Will I actually like it? Will I analyze why Jake said that?

So I watched it last night. I did homework diligently until 9:30, then made a nest (Dr. Kim style*) so I could watch in solitary comfort.

So as to actually review the movie, I can say that this is not a blockbuster, formulaic, tired story. This was not a broad-sweeping, everybody-loves-it movie. This movie seemed very, very real to me. Not that it was realist, but that the kinds of things people though, and the kinds of actions they took are the same as what I think of doing.

We’re all a little bit weird. We all have our quirky tendencies and penchants. This particular movie seemed to focus on those tendencies and penchants that I like to think about. So in a way, this movie was made especially for those who have a similar style of though. Of course, others will like it. But for those of us who’s socks are knocked off by the movie, it’s something special. I described it to a friend as the same feeling as when you were younger and reading a book that filled you with such emotion, with such feeling that you certainly weren’t able to feel on your own. I lament the fact that my brain has become a grown-up and I can’t just have that feeling any time I read a decent story.

I think that one up side to this gradual loss is that when a movie or book does fill me to the brimming full with a feeling, it’s extra miraculous, because it’s a rare, rare treat.

Right. Back to the movie. There are adult characters, there are teen characters, there are child characters. There are complex interactions and complicated relationships. In it all, there is nothing mystical, nothing overly serendipitous (except for the ))<>(( thing), and nothing moral. It’s like real life, as told by someone like me.

At the end of it, I realized how I wished I had watched the movie with someone, someone who felt the same way as I did about the movie. That would mean that they were like me.

*Dr. Kim nest: many pillows and blankets piled around and on top of oneself – can be done on a couch or on the floor

This is the beautiful result of people who love books and moving stuff around. If you’ve built a rock wall, and like playing bar, this is the natural result.

It looks a lot like the house I used to hang out in during college. I believe that spot is now a parking lot on the corner of Brady and Lombard. Realistically, it probably looks like everyone’s college hangout. I mean, the pride of bottles and beer cartons on the wall is really a specific time in every decorator’s life. It’s one grade above the bottles filled with water and the core of a highlighter in front of a blacklight in your dorm window.

I’m not finished with Edenborn, by Nick Sagan, but I feel compelled to write about it. It’s a little bit post-apocalyptic Earth, a little bit Hot Zone, and a little bit Poisonwood Bible.

Because we use antibacterial soap, a giant killer bug …. kidding.

A viral plague, kind of like Ebola and Marburg but with a better mutation power, starts to wipe out everyone. Everyone, AND MONKEYS. You know you’re screwed when the monkeys start dying too.

What are people supposed to do? There’s a year, maybe two before all humans will be gone.

Put faith in a corporation, natch. A company comes up with a way to genetically fix the susceptibility for the disease, but by the time the embryos are fertilized, all the scientists will have died. Taking a page out of Matrix, they form a virtual reality for these babies to grow up in. Cyber-parents, cyber-friends, etc. Once grown enough, the program explains what happens, and let’s them wake up.

That’s just the backstory. This handful of people have to then try to repopulate the world. The book picks up when this first generation has created a second generation of 16-9 year olds.

The story is told in chapters of alternating voice, like Poisonwood Bible. The story is laid out slowly, gaining insight about past events from different characters. The storyline is fascinating enough, and I haven’t poked any holes in it, but the real treat is the combination of the first person accounts with the incredible setting.

Maybe I have a fascination with post-apocalyptic life, but I love the idea of living in a castle and scavenging for stuff that millions of people left behind. I could have, like, eight Mini Coopers.

Being a sci-fi thriller, I’m jumping out of my seat reading it (OK, listening to it on my iPod) because of the plot. Actually, audiobook is a great way to experience this book, because the voice changes with each of the character changes.

I have to say, the book is a bit of a winner. If you’re looking for a solid read for this fall, something to read on the train, this is it. Plus, it’s like $8 on Amazon.

Oh, and apparently it’s the sequel to Idlewild, which chronicles the VR to actual reality shift for the original humans. Woot!

You know, as I’ve gotten older, it’s become more rare that I am thrilled by a book – not just my thinking has changed, but also my general emotion. Granted, most of the time, even with the most amazing book, these effects are temporary.

Still, it’s a really lovely feeling to feel buoyed by what I’m reading. That’s the first reason why Cheese Monkeys is my new favorite book. (I feel like I’m a kid on Reading Rainbow.)

The second reason is because the story, told by a kid who’s going off to the state university to study art, absolutely kept me guessing about the plot. The book is original in it’s dialogue (one of the side effects being that for a while I’m going to think that everything I say is cliched) but both the dialogue and the plot are wholly believable. I doubt many people choose to think and act like our main character, but I’ve seen it before.

Which brings me to reason number 3 why this book knocked my panties off: the professor – the main faculty character in the book – is Les Bell. I don’t know when he had time to jump into this book, but maybe over his last sabbatical or possibly this summer. I don’t know. I do know that I’m afraid to ask him, just to have him have disappeared. Les, if you’re reading this, you’re creeping me out, man. I mean, besides the physique described and the tantrums, you’re Winter Sorbeck. And I’m some bastard combination of Girleen and Happy.

I might as well also mention that, while maintaining originality, there are some aspects (other than Hells Bells) of this book that are so tightly aligned to my college experience, it squeezes my breath away. Firstly, the main focus of the second half of the book is on a particular art class: Graphic Design. After scrutinizing enough typography, you just start thinking about the world differently. I was overjoyed to get to revel in this type of thought (no pun intended or achieved). Also, I love speaking in the pun-riddled (ha!) style of the main characters. It can be exhausting, if you’re hung over, but it’s a very specific type of brain activity. It’s like doing weight training on your little finger.

I finished the book at midnight last night, and absolutely couldn’t fall asleep. Granted, there were a bunch of things (kind of like a fireworks finale) that left me kind of dazed and blinky. I didn’t want the book to be done. Whatever I read next is going to disappoint me.

Thanks to Jason for the midnight phone call. Talking about Infinite Jest really did put me into a soporific state.