NERD ALERT!

OKAY! OKAY! I'll admit it.....I am a nerd. There, now it's out in the open. Anyways, if your like me and have a soft spot for semi-cheesy, British Science Fiction, then join me fellow Whovians! That's right, our favorite, incomparable, shaggy haired, bow tie wearing, timelord is back in Hunter's Moon.

Doctor Who has been a British institution since the TV show premiered in 1963. He is a timelord who travels in a British telephone booth dubbed the "TARDIS" (you'll have to look up the acronym) and fights all matter of alien and supernatural life forms with the help of a companion and his sonic screwdriver. The tv show is currently operating with its 11th re-incarnation of this beloved character with Matt Smith having taken over from David Tennant.

This particular story takes us to another galaxy when Rory and Amy find themselves having lost the TARDIS and a lifetime of servitude to a shifty card shark. The Doctor must find a way to rescue them and the other citizens who have been placed on the moon as live human prey for rich sadistic men to hunt. All manner of creature, misfortune, and danger stand in the Doctor's way. It's a race to get to the hunted before they become trophies.

So, if you need an easy, easy read and an escape into another world, with aliens, ray guns, and subtle British humor, then take the six hours max this book requires and escape a little bit. It wouln't leave you with any lasting knowledge but it will entertain you.

 

Happy Reading!

Unique, emotional, and engrossing.



Room by Emma Donoghue is one of those rare times when I listen to popular opinion and read a much hyped book. Normally I stay away from the ones that are talked up and on Best seller lists but something about this book made me give it a shot and I am so glad I did.

Room is written from the perspective of a 5 year old boy but not to a degree that it is frustrating to read. It is more the insight of a five year old than the grammar and syntax so don't worry about the structural flow of the story itself. The book centers around a boy, his mother, and a room which completes the entire life experience of the five year old. It has a shadow of Plato's ancient story "The Allegory of the Cave" which, if you haven't read, I highly encourage you to do that. It is great philosophical and metaphorical story that will really get your mind working and make you think of a level everyday experiences don't force you too.

I don't want to describe too much of the story because it is unveiled as you go along and I don't want to take that opportunity away from the reader to discover the details for themselves. I will however say that I felt empathy when reading this book and that is a very difficult emotion to drag out of me. I feel sadness, anger, and happiness of characters in stories but rarely do I truly feel their emotions as my own and in this story I did. The most prominent of these emotions was frustration. I felt the frustration of the mother so much so that I had to take breaks from reading it in an attempt to separate myself from the character.

I don't know how anyone else will react to the story or if readers will identify with my reaction but this book hit a nerve in a large amount of people, enough to get it national acclaim and a spot on the best seller list.

If your looking for something a little different, with an emotional edge, I highly recommend Room. It is well worth the time it will take to read it and will not be a waste of the time you spend thinking about it afterwards.

"For some reason dying men always ask questions they know the answer to. Perhaps it's so they can die being right."

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak breaks the mold of the often told Holocaust story. It is actually a young adult fiction but you would never know that by how fast and how hard these pages take you in. It is a sincere, emotional look at WWII through the eyes of a German orphan named Liesel. She is a head strong child who finds herself on Himmel street near Munich at a time when nothing was certain and the world was changing.

When a years old promise made by Liesel's father comes knocking at the front door, the lives of everyone at 33 Himmel street takes a dramatic and potentially dangerous turn. Liesel became the book thief by chance but the habit may just have saved her own life and the lives of those around her.

The Holocaust is arguably the most corrosive and disgusting stain on human history to have ever occured. The story has been recorded in every way shape and form but something about this novel brings it new life. It is an honest look at not so much the atrocities themselves but the everyday changes that happened during that time. With the lead character being a German citizen you see the time period in a different light from people who were just as powerless as the other victims.

Liesel herself is a character that many can relate to and you find yourself caring about her right away. Her relationship with her father is touching and heart felt without being predictable or cliche.  and carried the true heart of the novel.

But the overall surprise of this novel is its narrator....death. Death tells this story from beginning to end. It creates an amazing demention to the entire novel.

This book is a light read but is a fresh and worthwhile look at a familiar subject. It will stay with you long after you turn the last page.



"The human heart is a line, whereas my own is a circle, and I have the endless ability to be in the right place at the right time. The consequence of this is that I'm always finding humans at their best and worst. I see their ugly and their beauty, and I wonder how the same thing can be both. Still, they have one thing I envy. Humans, if nothing else, have the good sense to die."

I'm BACK!

WOW! I hadn't realized how long it had been since I posted. I have been reading as much as I can but my work load and personal load seemed to collide to make the perfect storm of exhaustion. But I am re-focused, re-energized and ready to share my literary insights, opinions, and plain ole musings of a passionate reader. I have some posts back logged that I will get out soon and am currently finishing a great book that I am excited to talk about. Thanks for hanging with me and check back often to see all the new updates and stories I have to tell. Hope everyone had a great holiday season!


HAPPY READING.

"It's better to ask for forgiveness, than for permission."

If one quote can sum up the complex, brilliant, shockingly real person that is Paul Farmer it would be "We want to be on the winning team, but at the risk of turning our backs on the losers, no it's not worth it." Tracy Kidder becomes Paul Farmer's companion and witnesses an incredible human being with a super human ability to multi task, completely disregard bureaucracy, and be a champion for social justice.

In Mountains Beyond Mountains Kidder tells the story of hot shot doctor Paul Farmer. If there ever is a person that who will leave you with a sense of awe for just what one human being is capable of, it is Farmer. Farmer is a Harvard educated diagnostician who chooses to spend at least 6 physical months of his year in Haiti building a sustainable, self sufficient health faculty. At the same time he finds himself as a professor, diagnostician, clinical researcher, writer, key not speaker, husband, and father, etc etc. Paul Farmer created the international organization Partners in Health which provides health care services in Haiti and several other parts of the world. What I find most impressive about this achievement on Farmer's long list of them is that there is only 5% administrative costs and he has hired many local people in the successful attempt to make them feel invested and better there own lives.

From the very beginning of Kidder's dialogue about Paul Farmer's story you realize that Farmer himself is a man who does what he does from a point of social justice. He doesn't see a reason why the Haitian people should suffer or have worse health care then the members of his family. People are people in his world and they all deserve the same treatment. With that being said, Farmer is no Mother Theresa. He can be cocky, obnoxious and full of himself but these attributes are far overshadowed by the genius and passion he carries through out this world.

This book tells Farmer's life story through the lens of his current person. You see why him creating a science club in the third grade is important to the person he has become, or how his interactions with this parents created the intense personal drive that has led him on his path.

If you want to know about real people doing real good for this world I strongly encourage you to read this book. You will be amazed at how much difference one truly passionate person can make.

New Project; Attempt #1

I've already written one post about how much I love Oh, the Places You'll Go by Dr. Suess so it occur ed to me to start there for the new phase of my creative outlet project. I painted this one in the spirit of Suess and think it went pretty well. His style is just so whimsical and enchanting and in that spirit this is how the painting came out. I'm obviously not any kind of amazing talent but art in general is not an exclusive club so I'm going to keep doing it and trying new thigns until I don't enjoy it any more.

Witht that said, I really enjoyed the process of reading a book and "feeling" it enough to then create something from the inspiration of the story. Books really do bring joy and I hope everyone can find a book, or three that can have a great impact on their life.

Keep looking for more paintings and more reviews. I have several in the works. HAPPY SUNDAY AND HAPPY READING!

New project!

Hey everyone. I've been reading a lot so look for some new reviews soon. I've got a new project in mind. I obviously have a passion for literature but really my passion is the arts in general; theater, music, films, all of those things really make me happy and give me something to think about. So I've decided I'm going to merge two of my favorite things; literature and painting.

When I was 5 if you asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up I would have told you with supreme confidence and total certitude that I was going to be either a Power Ranger or an artist. I later realized Power Rangers are not real and then I found out that I outgrew any true artistic talent at around age 10. But painting makes me happy and is a great outlet for me so I'm starting again. It doesn't matter to me anymore that the work itself is not great, it's original and it's mine and that's enough for me. My happiness will no longer be defined by others approval, it will be self- made, self preserved, and throughly enjoyed.

So, as part of a self improvement/ creative outlet, I am going to start painting literature related pieces. Not sure what will come out of this little experiment but it's bound to be fun. I've done one already based on Dr. Suess "Oh, the places you'll go" and really enjoyed the whole process. I will post a picture soon. With the painting I write a little blurb about the book that inspired it and what about the book specifically the painting represents.

So keep checking back for new reviews and paintings! They will be coming in mass in the next couple of weeks. When I get on a roll I really fly. Who knows, if they have any merit and anyone likes them I could take requests; Christmas is only 82 days away. Ha! But, let's not get ahead of ourselves or my talent :)

Happy reading everyone!

"Read in order to live." - Gustave Flaubert