Bookish Thoughts

In preparation for my vacation in the Adirondacks, Boyfriend had me read Isaac Asimov's (abridged) autobiography, It's Been a Good Life . Apparently the owner of the house we stayed at actually knew Asimov, though I didn't end up getting a chance to talk with him about how awesome that must have been. So I read this book, which was edited down by Asimov's second wife, Janet Jeppson. Boyfriend had told me that it was a bit like Surely You Must Be Joking, Mr. Feynman , but with less science. And I did find that to be the case. It was a bunch of vignette's placed in loosely chronological order. Asimov discusses his atheism and humanism, which are points of view I agree with. He talks about how much he writes, which just blew me away. There's a line towards the end where says, "In those six years [since his heart attack], I had published about ninety books." The man wrote constantly, and he wrote everything. Wikipedia  mentions that his work ...

The Truth Shall Make Ye Fret Terry Pratchett writes excellent vacation books. The Discworld novels are fun, funny, and light. They're quick and easy to read, but don't require too much thought. And, since Pratchett puts breaks in the text every few pages instead of dividing the stories into chapters, they're easy to consume in any size chunk you want. So whether I have an hour to hang out on the hammock, or five minutes while we're waiting for everyone to gather in the kitchen, I can dive right into a Discworld novel and not worry too much about getting interrupted in the middle of the action. The Truth  deals with the invention of the newspaper in Ankh-Morpork. William De Worde has been sending out a weekly, handwritten newsletter to a few nobles around the city who are willing to pay $5 an issue to keep up to date on the goings on of Ankh-Morpork. But when the dwarfs invent a printing press, William quickly finds out that he can print his newsletter ...

Comic book super heroes are everywhere. I never read comic books growing up, but I definitely knew who Batman and Superman were. I knew the origin stories, the costumes, the main villains. And I learned most of it by osmosis. There was always some sort of Batman cartoon on TV, along with those wonderfully cheesy movies from the 90s. And I loved Smallville in high school, though I didn't make it through all ten seasons. The heroes were larger than life. The details ultimately didn't matter that much. All that really mattered was that Bruce Wayne dressed up as a bat with high tech gadgets and saved Gotham City from the likes of The Riddler and Two-Face. Or Clark Kent took off his glasses and put his underwear on the outside and saved Metropolis from Lex Luthor while seducing Lois Lane. Or Peter Parker got bit by a radioactive spider and, um, liked redheads? I know less about Spiderman. Of the classic superheroes, Batman is my favorite. It may be because I was exp...

I view American Gods  as a summer book. Most of it takes place in the winter, but I always seem to read it in the middle of summer, when the days are hot and endless. The first time I read it was shortly after my 18th birthday, in those long, lazy days between high school and college, swinging in the hammock my dad no longer owns. The last time was shortly after I moved to Virginia, in the aimless days between accepting a position at a new company and actually starting work. I'm sure I read it, or at least parts of it, other times in the middle there. This time, the days are long and hot, but they are filled with work and other life stuff. The book still transports me to those endless summer days that are mostly a thing of the past now. I wonder, when they adapt the story for HBO, how the new gods will change. Will Netflix have usurped Television, or will she just be another aspect of the same god? Will Apple, Google, and Microsoft be brothers, constantly bicke...

This is probably my favorite movie of all time. It took me far too long to actually get around to reading the book. I kind of didn't want to ruin the experience of the movie by finding out that book was even better. It turns out that the book is better, but the movie is a pretty damn good adaptation. I bought the 30th anniversary edition of The Princess Bride , which included a couple of extra introductions. These were fun to read, partially because it felt a bit like I was stripping back layers of time, and partially because William Goldman maintains that he simply abridged S. Morgenstern's classic work, which it turns out is a historical account of certain events in Florin. Goldman talks about going to the Florin history museum with his grandson, seeing Buttercup's wedding dress and Inigo Montoya's sword. He notes all the little kids, gathered around the sword, repeating that infamous line to themselves over and over. He also talks about the sequel to T...

This must be Thursday. I never could get the hang of Thursdays. So says Arthur Dent, moments before the Earth is destroyed to make way for a pan-galactic bypass. Normally that would happen at the end of a tragic drama, not the beginning of a comedy. Though I do remember one of my high school English teachers explaining that a tragedy starts with everyone happy and ends with everyone unhappy or dead. A comedy is the opposite story progression. So from that view, it makes sense to start a comedy with the destruction of the world. Things can only get better form here. At least they can't get any worse. Probably. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy  is hilarious, but everyone says that. This is my second time reading it, though I've seen the movie a few times. This time through, I was surprised by just how quick of a read it is. I think it took roughly the same time to read this book as it would have to watch the movie. Which means that I'll probably be re...

A Clash of Kings is the second book in George R R Martin's epic A Song of Ice and Fire series.  It opens with the appearance of a bright red comet in the sky that is visible even by day. The first several chapters deal with the reactions of various characters to the comet. Everyone has a different interpretation, but they all believe it to be directly related to them. We humans are pretty self-centered. I thought this was a nice way to check in with each character and remember who all the major players are. The book mostly deals with all the various wars going on. Robb kills a lesser Lannister by surprising him, but has yet to meet the main army in battle. Renly's battle with Stannis is aborted by Renly's untimely death. Stannis then takes Storm's End just as quickly and marches on Kings Landing. This battle is the climax of the book and pits Tyrion's wits against Stannis', with Tywin and Littlefinger ultimately saving the day. Sansa gets out of...