Jay Pearmon

Shooting War is set in the future, but mirrors the current Iraq War. The graphic novel by Anthony Lappe and Dan Goldman show the horrors of war and the many possible stories behind it. Cover-ups abound and who’s a good guy and who’s a bad guy gets confused over and over. This confusion shows the real problems with wars and fighting over who is right and who is wrong, the problem being it’s all subjective.

The story moves quickly, probably a bit too quickly, but it also fits well within the fast paced war scenario. I was first interested in this book because of the unique incorporation of photography with the graphic novel. It’s not widely used, but the twist is a welcome design aspect. The rest of the art is good too.

Overall, a good book to read, with good points being made about war and the Middle East situation.

Douglas Coupland’s newest book, Generation A, tell the story of and through five individuals who are stung by bees, bees that have been thought to have died out.

The book is a bit slow to start, as Coupland takes turn rotating through the five individuals, who each narrate their own scenario explaining how they got stung by a bee. The story picks up as we learn how they are isolated and kept apart from society as they are studied. Then they are rejoined and the mystery of why their were stung and the aftermath is slowly revealed.

Part of this revelation comes through them each telling fictional stories to each other. While the stories are interesting, it does create a disjointed experience for the reader which is hard to follow.

The conclusion then comes at warp speed, ending the book at a much faster pace than the buildup. What results is a book that is good, of course. It’s Douglas Coupland and he doesn’t really write a bad novel. It’s a great story, but compared to his other books, there could have been improvements. It possesses a lot of philosophical ideas, but they aren’t as fleshed out as they should be. The book clocks in at 320 pages, but I don’t think Coupland should have done this story in less than 420. Of course, being such a Coupland fan, perhaps a bit of that is simply remorse that another book of his is done, and now the wait for the next commences.

I’m trying to get a good jump on this goal. I’ll need to use January break to get a good start before school starts again.

My Review:
You may have to be a cat enthusiast to appreciate Terry Pratchett’s take on them in this small book, The Unadulterated Cat. He seems to want to continue on in the vein of T.S. Eliot with his own take on cats and their place in the world. Unfortunately, I’m not much of a cat lover, so his bemusement of the cat attitude is lost on me.

My favorite part of the book was when he talks about a tortoise annoying a cat, which really isn’t much of a highpoint in the realm of Pratchett. The reader does get a bit of insight into the personal life of Pratchett however, as he slips in small bits about his own experiences with cats, but these are few and far between.

If you love Terry Pratchett, as everyone should, this is worth reading. But unless you are a cat person, most of this book will be lost on you.

Rob Jovanovic’s biography of Michael Stipe is an interesting enough read if you are a fairly big fan of R.E.M.. However, most of Jovanovic’s information is culled from other interviews, so he doesn’t have access to very much inside information about Stipe. The book’s focus is primarily on Stipe and how he integrated and acted within the band, not apart from it. There are interesting tidbits here and there, but overall this is a fairly basic informational book about Michael Stipe and R.E.M..

Excellent children’s book that teaches young and old readers alike how to question authority and what they are told. This is a must-read for any liberal child being raised to think for themselves.

I thought I was going to dislike this book at first. It was written very obtusely, hard to understand and seemingly confusing for the sake of confusion. However, my perseverance paid off, as the plot slowly revealed itself to be an intriguing story about two women, their lives together, and how they drift through various circumstances.

Another Radclyffe book featuring two women who struggle to be together, but when they finally do, the bedroom sizzles. I like the plot, set in the literary world, where the editor falls for her boss. Intrigue and obstacles abound, but Radclyffe falls back on steamy bedroom scenes instead of following the main storyline.

Radclyffe continues the story of Blair and Cameron. Good plot, but her focus could use help.

Not much to say about this book – just a continuation of the storyline from the other Honor series books by Radclyffe. A bit too much stuff in the bedroom, and not enough plot elsewhere.

This book continues the story of Blair and Cameron, the presidents daughter and her secret service agent. Their romance continues, as do the threats to Blair’s life. Good story, but not quite enough plot development, and a bit too much time spent on the bedroom scenes.
(read this book in October)

The seven writers that spent a year sending haiku’s to one another, collected in this book, Haiku Year, did a wonderful job of showing the versatility of the haiku. These small poems range the gamut from funny to sad to love and hate. There is a lot of emotional depth, but then also simple matter of fact poems about modern day life. Michael Stipe and Grant Lee Phillips are arguably the most well-known of the writers in this book, but everyone made solid contributions to the collection. Overall, this is a nice little volume of haikus that ends up being inspiring by illustrating what the haiku genre is capable of.

This is a nice manga-style graphic novel featuring Death of the Endless. While a bit on the light and playful side, it’s still a nice read for any fans of Neil Gaiman’s Sandman series. The art work is excellent as well.

Interesting little graphic novel about three friends going for a quick vacation in Japan. Interesting comments and observations about the society they find are given. This almost functions as an alternative travel guide for younger people. However, it is just a very brief glance, so not much depth is given.

While I don’t think the Johnny Maxwell books are as great as Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels, I am disappointed that there are only three. With this last one, Johnny and the Bomb, the character of Johnny seems to really take shape and accept his “powers”. It would be great to follow him on more adventures where is large imagination is so large, it escapes his head and turns real.

As it is, however, the last book in this trilogy treats readers to a thoughtful look about time travel and World War II. Pratchett presents a diverse look about the issues that come up between the time travel and war. He delivers many thoughtful ideas that can ruminate in one’s mind for quite a while. Overall, this is a wonderful series of books series of books that are more lesson oriented than the Discworld books, but still very enjoyable and contemplative.

Terry Pratchett’s second book in the Johnny Maxwell Trilogy starts out wonderfully. We find Johnny can talk to the dead, and as he does so, comes to learn more about the history of his town and good lessons about respecting the importance of those who came before you. This isn’t to say it’s a preachy book. It’s a Pratchett book, meaning there is humor and cunning insight.

The problem, however, is that Pratchett seems to rush the last half of the novel. I wonder if perhaps the smaller length found in the young adult novel proved to be a bit too cumbersome for his storytelling. There’s enough plot here for at least a hundred more pages, but I’m guessing editors made him cut it down. In the process, the conclusion of the story rushes by and all the build up ends up being a bit of a let down. It’s still a wonderful book though, and worth a read by children and adults alike.

There’s no familiar Discworld in this Terry Pratchett book, but the thought-provoking way of looking at the world still remains. Surprisingly enough, this book, geared towards young adults, proves to be one of Pratchett’s most political and moralistic work yet. There is discussion about divorce, socio-economic conditions, race, class, and finally war. War seems the main focus, with the message of the book being quite anti-war, even in video games. Based around the Gulf War (the first one), there’ s a strong message aimed at kids to remember that war isn’t a game, despite all the new technology and media that makes it seem like one.
Regardless of the books morals and messages, it still retains Terry Pratchett’s humor. While not one of his funniest, it still manages to keep his messages wrapped in pleasant packaging. Overall, this is a surprisingly different book, but a very nice display of Pratchett’s writing range.

It’s hard to be overly critical of any Terry Pratchett novel. His Discworld books are fabulous, mixing humor and satire beautifully. Unfortunately, the long wait for Unseen Academicals didn’t produce the fabulous story I had been hoping for.

It’s not that the story is bad, but the humor is on the light side. Several new characters are introduced in the story, which seems to put the focus on developing the characters rather than using familiar favorites to engage in witty banter and biting satire. The new characters are treated kindly and the story becomes more a lesson in accepting others despite differences than anything ironic. Which is fine and good, but when I read Pratchett, I want text that makes me laugh out loud. There was none of that here.

As mentioned though, any Terry Pratchett makes for a great book, so it’s hard to be too critical. It’s still an excellent story, just not up to par. According to his web site, it sounds like another Tiffany Aching novel is up next, so I’m hoping all the humor will be packed into that.

I had to resort to an audiobook to make it through the New Testament, but it worked. While the reader was a bit dramatic, he helped keep people separate and gave appropriate emphasis in the correct places. I chose this translation because I had heard it was the most “scholarly” and it seemed to be pretty legitimate.

As for the New Testament itself, it was interesting to compare the actual writing to what preachers and conservative Christians think the Bible actually says. The strongest impression is found in the four gospels, where Jesus consistently preaches about love for all and getting along with one another. There’s no hate, but lots of emphasis on not judging other people. It’s sad how distorted this message becomes when in the mouths of the wrong people. Once you get into the letters of Paul and so forth, more of the judgmental ideas start to surface. But if you focus on what Jesus says, it’s really all about loving each other.

I think this needs several listens to really understand, so I look forward to going through it again at some point in the future.

Romantic fiction is not generally my genre of choice, but given that Radclyffe is a popular lesbian fiction writer, I thought it was necessary to give this a try.

Radclyffe has some great plot ideas, and this one is no different. Her ideas for situations are unique and capture the reader’s interest. Her characters aren’t quite as developed as they could be, but they are still different and interesting nonetheless, except for physical features, which seem to standardize with fit and slightly muscular.

That being said, Radclyffe gets stuck in the romance aspect of romance fiction a bit too much. Above All, Honor is actually on the light side of the romance, and because of that, is probably the best one in her Honor series. I much prefer contemplating the plot than hearing about what goes on under the sheets.

Of course, quite a few people think otherwise, so that is what makes Radclyffe popular. She delivers for her audience. However, I can’t help but be slightly disappointed that she doesn’t take a slightly more serious approach to fiction and fully explore her strong creativity for plots and stories that engage the reader, rather than write for the largest common denominator.

This book is essential for any R.E.M. fan. It is a bit light on text to accompany the photographs, but it provides insight into the band nevertheless.

The amount and quality of the photographs seem superficial. Too many of the photos are taken while the band is on stage. Fans already get to see this side of R.E.M., so the pages would have been better spent with showing the band that typical fans don’t see. As they are, too few photos go beyond snapshot quality.

As a photographer myself, I have no doubt I could have produced better images that capture the spirit of R.E.M.. The poetry of their music deserves higher quality art. So while this book provides a taste of the band, it fails to really capture their soul and artistry.