books, movies
Books
Outliers, Malcom Gladwell.
My brother in law requested this for xmas, and reminded me to snag a
copy from the library. In this book, Gladwell is analysing how people
who reach great success get there. Some of it is luck, being in
the right place at the right time, or systemic bias, but the
largest part is being willing to work, practice, put your hours in.
An excerpt was published online about the 10,000 hour rule, and
that's what inspired me to pick up the book. He jumps around a bit,
from hockey players to computer geniuses to CEOs, and at the end it
peters out a bit, but it's a quick interesting read. Jan
5/09
Silent Bob speaks : the collected writings of Kevin Smith,
Kevin Smith. I hadn't realised that Kevin Smith was
writing articles, when I learned I was curious enough to get this
collection from the library. He's very ... earthy. :) The way he
speaks about his wife, without the cues that come from seeing and
hearing him, comes off as jerk-like. He shares some tidbits about
filming his movies, but over all I wouldn't say it's a must read. Jan
5/09
Impossible Things, Connie Willis.
I got this book as part of my 2007 SantaThing and really enjoyed it.
I'd read "Jack" before, but it's strong enough that I enjoyed
re-reading it (a reimagining of Dracula set in the London Blitz).
Willis jumps between time periods, alternate Earths and space
colonies, and tones from serious to funny. Jan 8/09
Dragonhaven, Robin Mckinley.
I'm a huge fan of McKinley's work, and that hasn't changed with this
novel. It's the story of Jake Mendoza who finds a baby dragon next to
her dying mother and the poacher that Mom killed. It's set in an
alternate Earth where dragons exist and are protected in conservation
areas and parks, but they're still struggling as a species, as humans
are leery of 50-80 feet long fire breathing flying "monsters". The
tone of the book is spot on, it's told in the first person and it
sounded like how my brother talks. :) I liked the sly dig at
fantastical telepathic dragon stories, as this one showed the years
and pain that it took to try and get communication working between the
species. McKinley's been jumping genres a bit in her last few books,
and I'm intrigued to see what she does next (there are hints at
another one set in this world, though it wraps up neatly at the end).
My only minor quibble is when the story passes from his memories into
the present day, it's a bit awkward, but it fits the tone of the
story-telling. Jan 12/09
Moving Targets and other tales of Valdemar, edited by Mercedes
Lackey.
I picked this up when andpuff mentioned that she and her
partner had stories in the anthology. Valdemar will always be a guilty
pleasure for me. :) I think there were more Herald-centric stories in
this one than in the last collection I read, but that's fine. There
were a few that seemed shorter than normal, that was disappointing,
but I'm a novel-lover first and foremost, and still getting used to
stories told so quickly. I loved Huff's piece, it had some meta
commentary about story telling. Jan 14/09
Red Shift: Extreme Visions of Speculative Fiction, edited by Al
Sarrantonio. timly lent me this collection of short
stories and I really enjoyed it. There are some big names in here,
contributing original stories, and the plots range from funny to
disturbing, and a few of them are going to haunt me. Highly
recommended. Jan 14/09
Mind the Gap, Christopher Golden and Tim Lebbon. Got
this via SantaThing, and enjoyed it quite a bit. Jazz comes home to
find her mother murdered and the Uncles who'd taken care of them all
her life waiting to kill her as well. She bolts, and ends up
underground, accepted into a gang of thieves. The ghosts of London's
past also live underground and she can hear and see them a bit too
clearly for comfort. I could tell that two people wrote the novel, a
lot of chapters did a short recap so there were small discontinuities
throughout, but the tone stayed constant. I kept being pulled along by
the story, but it was easy enough to stop at each chapter break. I
kept noticing non-British term use, like first/second floor instead of
ground/first, but I'm a bit of a geek like that. :) Jan 28/09
Early Review:
High Vistas: An Anthology of Nature Writing from Western North
Carolina to the Great Smoky Mountains, Volume 1, -1900?, George
Ellison, illus. by Elizabeth Ellison. I like travel writing,
historical fiction, and hiking, so I was pleased to get this book
through LibraryThing's Early Review program. It's a non fiction book,
but each excerpt is like a little story about the author's experiences
in this region. It's an area that I've traversed on the interstate,
but now I'd really like to go camping and hiking on the mountains
described. The stand out essays for me were the one talking about
climbing Grandfather peak and the one lyrically describing a huge
storm attacking the peak on which the group was camped. Botanists and
bird watchers, surveyors and naturalists are all represented in this
collection, and it's a fascinating glimpse into the history of the
region. The bibliographic sketches of the authors that precede each
selection are illuminating as well. Feb 1/09
Hugo:
Hyperion, Dan Simmons. I keep thinking that I must
have read this before, but the story seems all new to me. I'm really
enjoying it, getting sucked in every time I pick it up. It's making me
wish that I'd read the Canterbury Tales, though, as it seems to be
inhabiting a very similar framework (each pilgrim telling their story
as they journey to and across Hyperion). The ending wasn't as
conclusive as I'd have liked, it's set up for the next book, I'm
guessing. Jan 24/09
The Vor Game, Lois McMaster Bujold.
Miles gets sent to an arctic posting, he's almost killed during a
hazing prank, then has more problems with insubordination. :) To try
and keep him out of trouble, they send him on a fact finding mission,
and things quickly go pear shaped due to an emperor on the run, a new
enemy, and someone almost as twisty as Miles. Very enjoyable, but it
didn't feel as substantial as Hyperion. Jan 30/09
Movies:
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: I wish they'd cast someone
other than Brad Pitt in the lead, as I kept looking for him under
the aging effects and that ruined my suspension of disbelief. The
whole theatre giggled when he was doing the James Dean thing, it
just came across as cliched. I didn't quite buy why he had to
leave, either. But other than that, the performances were really
good and the story gave me food for thought on aging and love. Jan
1.
Slumdog Millionaire: There were some disturbing scenes in this (the
interrogation especially) but overall it was an uplifting film. It
felt very immediate and localised, like we were following along and
living life with the characters, and learning how it felt to survive
in the slums. Jan 3
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: timly lent me his
copy since I'd been avoiding seeing it, not wanting to be
disappointed. It was okay, but the gems were the Douglas Adams
lines and where the story stayed true to the book. Otherwise it
just felt flat. Part of it might have been familiarity with the
plot, so I knew what to expect, but there was no tension, it felt
like the actors were just walking through their parts. Jan 16
3:10 to Yuma (b&w): a nice mix of western, heist movie, and psychological drama. I'm
looking forward to seeing the '07 remake. Jan 17
The Princes Bride: I watched it with Rob Reiner's commentary on
for the first time. He gave away some of the magic tricks, but also
shared some neat background about shooting. Jan 19
Igor: I utterly missed the theatrical release and when I saw the note
that it was coming out on DVD I grabbed it as soon as it was
available. An Igor who really wants to be an evil scientist gets his
monster ready for the Evil Science Fair, while Dr. Schadenfreud
(Eddie Izzard!) tries to steal his invention. The movie had some gems
of moments, and some very quotable quotes, but it was a bit uneven, an
also ran against the Burton/Elfman juggernaught, but still
entertaining. Recommended for parents with budding evil genius
children. :) Jan 20
Twilight: I had to see it. :) I was giggling at the predominantly
female audience giggling as they settled into their seats, and then
I couldn't help laughing at various scenes. I have to admit that I
liked how they did the sparkle effect, it wasn't as overblown as I
was expecting. I wish there had been more Alice in it, and that
Edward showed a bit more emotion, but overall it was entertaining
and surprisingly faithful to the book. Jan 23
3:10 to Yuma (colour): I liked the b&w version better. The addition of
the son to the party changed the dynamic, though once I saw the
changed ending I understood why he had to be there. Still,
disappointing. Much more violent, as well, and less psychological. Jan
24
Waltz with Bashir: Animated memoir about the 1982 Lebanon War. Musing
on memory and horror and living through war and what you can't bear to
remember. Not an easy movie to watch, but worthwhile. Jan 24