Sunday, February 19, 2012

Getting Behind Again - Hunger Games, more Walking Dead and Cowboys and Aliens

As much as I tray to stay caught up, it is just about impossible because the books I've been reading have been so good!  First of all, I picked up The Hunger Games via the Kindle lending library.  Technically, it is a young adult novel, but it definitely transcends the genre.  I liken it to the Harry Potter series, which can be enjoyed by all ages.  It is a three book series, and the first two are excellent.  The third is good, but definitely the worst of the three.  Suzanne Collins creates a rich post-apocalyptic world in great detail that is captivating.  JK Rowling's Harry Potter world is actually smaller geographically and more rich, but overall, this is the most exciting new series I've read in a while.  There is a movie coming too!

I also found out the local library carries The Walking Dead graphic novels, so I caught up on the next 3 in the series.  Still another four to go, but the patrons at the library aren't returning them!  They were excellent.

I've had Cowboys and Aliens for a while, since I picked it up cheap at the borders closeout.  I finally got around to reading it.  It's an interesting read, but I can't believe they made a movie out of it.  There has to be some serious rewriting going on just based on the preview I saw.  I'm going to be waiting for the movie to come out somewhere for free.  Hopefully Amazon gets it on Prime streaming soon.

I think I'm going to start re-reading The Confusion by Neal Stephenson.  I read it a few years ago, and I think it will benefit greatly from a re-read since there are so many different plots in the book.

Sunday, February 12, 2012

The Walking Dead Compendium 1 - Robert Kirkman, Charlie Adlard, Cliff Rathburn

To expand my literary breadth, I try to read one graphic novel a month.  Let's not even mention the multiple comic book that I subscribe to, but keep holding to read because I don't like cliffhangers.  I've been hearing a lot about The Walking Dead because of the AMC series, so I headed over to my local comic book store to check out the trade paperbacks of the comic book series.

I was planning on buying a trade paperback for $15, but the next thing you know, I'm walking out with the compendium containing the first 48 issues!  1055 pages later, I'm hooked.  I'm not going to give away the story, but the general story is similar to 28 days later.  A cop wakes up in the hospital, only to find out the entire population of the US has turned into a zombie nation.  He works his way towards Atlanta and hooks up with a group of non-zombified humans and tries to survive.  They eventually take over a prison to keep themselves safe... and everything turns crazy.

It is a great story with cool art that doesn't slow down!  It is all in black and white, which really adds to the creepy vibe.  The coolest part is, this is only the first half of the story that's been published so far.  Looks like I'm only 7 trades behind!

Monday, February 6, 2012

All The Young Warriors - Anthony Neil Smith and The Grove - John Rector

I've been trying to keep the updates to one book at a time, but I picked up The Grove by John Rector right after I finished All the Young Warriors, and read it in one day.  That makes it pretty hard to stay caught up.

All the Young Warriors is by Anthony Neil Smith, the author of Yellow Medicine and Hogdoggin' which are two novels starring an over the top character named Billy Lafitte.  This is a standalone novel starring a self destructive cop whose pregnant girlfriend is killed in Minnesota by teenage Somalis on their way back to Somalia to fight a holy war.  The cop goes off the deep end, recruiting one of the teenagers' father to get back to Somalia to take revenge.  It's an interesting story that grinds through a lot of great plot points.

I am pretty sure The Grove ended up on my kindle when Amazon was giving it away for free.  This is a story of an alcoholic schizophrenic who goes off his meds and finds the dead body of a young waitress in a grove on his farm.  She starts talking with him, and he tries to find out who killed her, hoping all the while that it wasn't him during a blackout.  This is more of a novella, and a really quick read.  It would be a great read for a 2 hour plane ride.

I'm currently reading The Walking Dead Compendium #1, which is the first 48 comics in the series.  It's dark... and really good.