Book Discussion Saturday!
First: Yes, I had an absolutely wonderful time with my trip to Philly; in fact, it went a little something like, *nervouswithoutmedication, oh God, just had food poisoning, oh look, Phila-herrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr mmmmmmmmmmm derp derp*
Second: I am recovering nicely from the slight mishap of earlier.
Third: Thinkin' about going to the gun range tomorrow morning because I am frustrated like whoa about everything, and...bullet therapy or something.
Fourth: YES, I finally, finally have everything out the door for Smut for Relief. Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone that participated. All told, we raked in over $600. I will begin posting bits and pieces online as I receive permission. A few folks have asked that their wordy-bits be kept private, which I respect.
Attended an Alice event today in anticipation of the upcoming film (Burton! Depp! Burton! Whimsy!), but realized a short time ago that I am, in fact, a loser, and dragged my sad, sleepy ass home. Don't get me wrong, it was fun and all, but there wasn't really a lot of planning that went into this thing, and also there are not a lot of spooky people in this particular region that find a tea-party and silent movies fun. I was tickled black and pink, but alas, I are a workin' momma now, and I are short on my sleep. However, I do recommend the 1903 version of Alice in Wonderland to anyone that loves Alice or classic cinema.
Moving on!
In an attempt to bring back Book Discussion Saturdays, I offer up the following: World War Z. Now, I can hear you out there roooolling your eyes, and I am roooooolling mine right back at you. Yes, another zombie book. No, I know it's totally cliched and expected of me at this point, but if you just grit your teeth and get through this one, I swear I will make it something else next week.
There seems to be an influx of zombies in recent pop-culture, and as such, the bookstore shelves are filling up rather quickly with anything resembling the undead. I'm not entirely sure what this is about, other than it seems that fashion is dipping it's toe into the Pool of Psychobilly, or maybe it's just that we're working our way down the list of monsters, and vampires and werewolves have been exhausted lately. Whatever the reason, I am loving it.
WWZ tries to rise above its peers in the zombie genre, and it succeeds. It's not just brainless smashing of the, well, brainless--this book takes on several key aspects of the world that would be impacted by a large-scale zombie virus running rampant. Politics, culture, economy, all of it is taken into consideration, even religion.
Since it is told like an oral history, it gives all of this a very strangely intimate feel, and I sincerely like that as well. Of course, all of this personal, first-hand experience being recounted left me with a really, really uncomfortable feeling. Granted, it could be because I started reading it on a small jet on the way back home from Philly, but it lasted even after I got home and finished it. Now, in my world, any work of art that provokes a reaction, any reaction at all, is a success. We create art to express something we feel, and if we can cause someone else to feel as well, then jolly good on said artist; therefore, I count my slight case of Squick in the positive column.
It doesn't dither here or there, and is very direct and doesn't linger more than necessary except for one freaking segment that--well, I don't want to spoil it, so let's just say that there is one part that after a while, I started skimming. However! If I start to skim only one time through an entire book, then hot damn, it must be pretty good. It ends on a strange note--positive, maybe, barely, but strange nonetheless, which is good for realism's sake. If there was some MAGIC CURE and *poof!* everyone got bettered, I'd be a little miffed.
Something that I really take away from this though, is that we, as humans, are damn adaptable. You point us at a mountain, say, "Go live there forever, and if you take one fucking step off it, you die," just watch and see if people don't start building little houses on stilts and raising sheep. Also, and this might be a terrible thing to say, but it's like the world needs a damn zombie plague to get its head out of its ass, and for humans to start treating each other right. I'm looking at you, Wall Street Douchebag. I'm looking at you, Asshole Fundamentalist. I'm looking at you, Dumbfuck Terrorist. It's almost like we need some terrible, awful, global hurt to bring everyone together, like a really traumatic shared experience that will make us all haul together like we should.
...Yeah, I totally got shot up with pain medicine today, can you tell? I am going to read that tomorrow and go, "Oh, wtf is that," complete with facepalming.
All in all, I HIGHLY recommend this book to anyone with a love for undead critters, post-apocalyptic scenarios, or theoretical political/cultural evolution. As an added bonus, there are a couple different companions out there, like The Zombie Survival Guide and a graphic novel depicting the major battles described in WWZ Also-also, a movie is said to be forthcoming, so HURRY, JUMP ON THE BANDWAGON NOW BEFORE IT LEAVES WITHOUT YOU!
Second: I am recovering nicely from the slight mishap of earlier.
Third: Thinkin' about going to the gun range tomorrow morning because I am frustrated like whoa about everything, and...bullet therapy or something.
Fourth: YES, I finally, finally have everything out the door for Smut for Relief. Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone that participated. All told, we raked in over $600. I will begin posting bits and pieces online as I receive permission. A few folks have asked that their wordy-bits be kept private, which I respect.
Attended an Alice event today in anticipation of the upcoming film (Burton! Depp! Burton! Whimsy!), but realized a short time ago that I am, in fact, a loser, and dragged my sad, sleepy ass home. Don't get me wrong, it was fun and all, but there wasn't really a lot of planning that went into this thing, and also there are not a lot of spooky people in this particular region that find a tea-party and silent movies fun. I was tickled black and pink, but alas, I are a workin' momma now, and I are short on my sleep. However, I do recommend the 1903 version of Alice in Wonderland to anyone that loves Alice or classic cinema.
Moving on!
In an attempt to bring back Book Discussion Saturdays, I offer up the following: World War Z. Now, I can hear you out there roooolling your eyes, and I am roooooolling mine right back at you. Yes, another zombie book. No, I know it's totally cliched and expected of me at this point, but if you just grit your teeth and get through this one, I swear I will make it something else next week.
There seems to be an influx of zombies in recent pop-culture, and as such, the bookstore shelves are filling up rather quickly with anything resembling the undead. I'm not entirely sure what this is about, other than it seems that fashion is dipping it's toe into the Pool of Psychobilly, or maybe it's just that we're working our way down the list of monsters, and vampires and werewolves have been exhausted lately. Whatever the reason, I am loving it.
WWZ tries to rise above its peers in the zombie genre, and it succeeds. It's not just brainless smashing of the, well, brainless--this book takes on several key aspects of the world that would be impacted by a large-scale zombie virus running rampant. Politics, culture, economy, all of it is taken into consideration, even religion.
Since it is told like an oral history, it gives all of this a very strangely intimate feel, and I sincerely like that as well. Of course, all of this personal, first-hand experience being recounted left me with a really, really uncomfortable feeling. Granted, it could be because I started reading it on a small jet on the way back home from Philly, but it lasted even after I got home and finished it. Now, in my world, any work of art that provokes a reaction, any reaction at all, is a success. We create art to express something we feel, and if we can cause someone else to feel as well, then jolly good on said artist; therefore, I count my slight case of Squick in the positive column.
It doesn't dither here or there, and is very direct and doesn't linger more than necessary except for one freaking segment that--well, I don't want to spoil it, so let's just say that there is one part that after a while, I started skimming. However! If I start to skim only one time through an entire book, then hot damn, it must be pretty good. It ends on a strange note--positive, maybe, barely, but strange nonetheless, which is good for realism's sake. If there was some MAGIC CURE and *poof!* everyone got bettered, I'd be a little miffed.
Something that I really take away from this though, is that we, as humans, are damn adaptable. You point us at a mountain, say, "Go live there forever, and if you take one fucking step off it, you die," just watch and see if people don't start building little houses on stilts and raising sheep. Also, and this might be a terrible thing to say, but it's like the world needs a damn zombie plague to get its head out of its ass, and for humans to start treating each other right. I'm looking at you, Wall Street Douchebag. I'm looking at you, Asshole Fundamentalist. I'm looking at you, Dumbfuck Terrorist. It's almost like we need some terrible, awful, global hurt to bring everyone together, like a really traumatic shared experience that will make us all haul together like we should.
...Yeah, I totally got shot up with pain medicine today, can you tell? I am going to read that tomorrow and go, "Oh, wtf is that," complete with facepalming.
All in all, I HIGHLY recommend this book to anyone with a love for undead critters, post-apocalyptic scenarios, or theoretical political/cultural evolution. As an added bonus, there are a couple different companions out there, like The Zombie Survival Guide and a graphic novel depicting the major battles described in WWZ Also-also, a movie is said to be forthcoming, so HURRY, JUMP ON THE BANDWAGON NOW BEFORE IT LEAVES WITHOUT YOU!