Recently in Books Category

All right folks, the IT forum is active.  You can find it over at forums.anutterwasteoftime.com.  The one you are looking for is The Loser's Club.  Read the book and you will understand the origin of the name.  You can read the threads without registering but you will need to setup an account to really be part of the discussion.  I will try to activate new accounts as quickly as possible but be patient.  If you register late in the evening I may not get it until the next day.  Also, there are other things to talk about in the forums so keep an eye out for postings outside of the IT group. 

Posting should start this week so don't get behind!  Thanks to all that are participating and I hope you enjoy the book.

As I watched LOST a few weeks ago I noticed a name flash by during the credits.  Brian K Vaughn first showed up as a writer on the show in season 3 and has done work on several episodes during season 4.  Although most people will not recognize the name, he is well known in the comic book industry.  Vaughn recently finished a critically acclaimed series called Y: The Last Man.  At the time I spotted his name during LOST I had not read any of the series but I decided to pick up the first trade (trades collect issues of a comic book for easy reading so you don't have to go out and find back issues) on my next run to my LCS (that's "local comic shop" for you hipsters out there). 

Y: The Last Man is about Yorik and his monkey Ampersand, the last males of any species on Earth.

Yorick is faced with a world slowly coming unraveled and is thrust in to a quest to save humanity and find his girlfriend while being beset on all side by females with their own agenda.  There are vigilante woman trying to capture and sell Yorick to the highest bidder, organized "amazon" women who believe men have been cleansed for good reason, and politicians who have their own motivations for assisting Yorick and his band of travelers.  Yorick is a man stuck in one hell of a hen party.   

From what I have read so far this is a really excellent book.  The book is completely serious but also humorous without making fun of itself or the genre.  I am early, very early, in the series but I am already hook and can't wait to plow through all the trades.  This is also a series that I hope I can get my wife interested in.  It certainly has that air of mystery that surrounds LOST and I can see why they brought Vaughn on as a writer.  The really great thing here is that the story is finished.  The last issue came out a few months back so the final collected trade should be out soon if it hasn't already hit this stands.  I don't have to worry about waiting for the next part of the story like I do with so many other series that I read in both novel and comic book form.  I can remember how excruciating the wait for Dark Tower 3 was so having a series complete when I start reading is really quite refreshing.

The comic book industry is in a state of flux today.  The trade market is growing with mainstream books stores now stocking a wealth of books, including Y.  You should be able to pick up the first book at any local Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, Borders, or any other large chain store.  I recommend, however, that you seek out your local comic shop and buy the book from the specialty retailer.  Supporting the comic shops helps keep the industry running.  There is a lot of amazingly wonderful work being put out today but the industry is in danger of disappearing in the near future.  I have a longer essay on this subject but it is enough now to say that if you like good writing and good stories you need to go out and buy the product.  If not, where are movies like 300 and Iron Man going to come from once no one is writing the stories anymore? 

Check out Y: The Last Man and let me know what you think.       

I just love that every day court cases are decided by out of touch, old, white, Christian males in the United States.  It practically guarantees fairness and justice because these men certainly are the wisest and most learned among us.  I have every confidence that our court system is based on the single principle that a complete understanding of the facts of a case will lead to a logical conclusion and a well thought out judicial opinion.

Wait, who the fuck am I kidding here?   Some of the statements made by judges in this country prove our judicial system is full of pompous, blowhards that have no idea what they are talking about and are incapable of looking at a case based on facts and not opinion.  Take, for example, the current litigation surrounding some the Harry Potter books.  I read the following statement today which is quoted from The Times Online.

"District Judge Robert Patterson Jr said that he had read the first half of the first Harry Potter novel to his grandchildren, but found the "magical world hard to follow, filled with strange names and words that would be gibberish in any other context."

This District Judge found Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone hard to follow?  How in the hell can he understand legal opinions, legal precedent, and written law if he can't follow a story that my 4 year old has no problem understanding?  I won't argue with the "strange names", and "gibberish" as that is all true but any work of fantasy fiction is going to have such things.  Try reading Lord of the Rings.  That book is considered one of the greatest books of the English language and it is full of words that didn't exist before Tolkien put them to paper.  Would this judge consider that classic work nonsense?   Even given that there is a lot of "gibberish" in Harry Potter how is the book hard to follow?  It's not.  The judge's REAL problem with the work is that he has no imagination and thus doesn't enjoy or relate to the material.  Since he doesn't like it, it is very easy for him to dismiss the book.  I wonder if Rowling's banker find the book/books so easy to dismiss.

I don't care what happens with the litigation.  Rowling is not a struggling writer and Scholastic is not a struggling publisher.  If they want to produce a guide book then they just need to do it.  Do it in a way that makes the book the choice of fans.  The creator and publisher should be able to product a book that exceeds anything a third party could produce which would beat the other lexicon in the market.  However, I also understand intellectual property and copyrights have to be defended or they can be lost.  In this sense the case has merit.  It can set a precedent for fair use and thus I am interested in the ultimate outcome no matter which way it turns out. 

What concerns me most is that the judge is making critical statements on the artistic merit of the work instead of looking at the legal issues in the case.  The content of the work is only relevant when it comes to deciding what a third party can use in derivative works.  The quality and relevance of the content itself should not be under discussion.  If the books contained nothing but logs of Rowling's bowel movements it should not matter.  If someone then wanted to make a derivative work from such logs then the judge should give opinions on the legal fair use of the original source material and not make any statements on the literary value contained therein.  Judges are supposed to "stick to the facts" and how they relate to the written law, legal precedent, and legal traditions of their jurisdiction.   The fact that this particular judge can't follow the plot of the book is a whole other concern but I don't think a judge needs to understand the plot of a novel to decide on fair use issues. 

This illustrates a growing problem with the US judicial system.  Our judges don't understand much of what they are tasked with giving judgments on.  I see judges woeful lack of understanding in cases regarding the RIAA, DRM, software licensing, and just about anything related to the internet or digital media.  They constantly make uninformed statements which make it clear that they do not have the understanding needed to make fair and equitable judgments.  I am concerned that the evolution of technology that I use and take for granted every day is and will continue to be hampered by judges and attorneys that are unable or unwilling to learn about the subject that will be monumentally affected by their actions. 

Maybe we need age limits for judges?

"Never read a book through merely because you have begun it." - John Witherspoon

I have just about given up on four books that I have been trying to read. Well, "trying" isn't exactly the right word. It is more like reading a few pages and them putting them aside due to lack of interest. If I HAD to read any of them I could do it. I just don't care to. These books range from fiction to non-fiction and from accepted "literature" to popular fiction. They are each by well known authors with deep fan bases and established histories. The sad fact, however, is that each title bores me. Some I have been trying to read for months, some years, and some, at least in one case, almost 2 decades.  For whatever reason, however, I can't seem to progress much farther than the introductory chapters in any of them.I do not think about getting back to reading any of the books when I am at work. For me that, is a sign of a good book. If I am thinking about the story even when I am not reading, that is a good book. These titles do not inspire such thoughts and so, I have put them aside.

I made my weekly (sometimes twice a week) trip to the bookstore Sunday to seek something else that might catch my attention. I looked closely at the last two Harry Potter books that I have not read but passed them by. I am not too interested in entering that world again quite yet. I drifted through the Sci-Fi section but it disappointed me again. Nothing jumped out at me there. I was ready to leave, my daughter and her new book in tow when I remembered something I had been meaning to look up. So it was that I soon found myself holding the following:

I make no excuses for me interest in zombies and have mentioned it here on more than one occassion.  Some people like football, some people like MMORPGs, and others like knitting.  I like zombies.  I don't know why the concept of the walking dead fascinates me, but it always has.  I think maybe it is because I watched a few zombie movies as a young kid.  Stuff like that tends to leave a mark (scar?) on a young child.  Whatever the reason, the end result is that I enjoy zombie fiction.  So, a book about humans and the zombie war seems perfect for me so I bought it (along with Duma Key by Stephen King but it was on sale at 40% off and my King addiction made it impossible for me to pass that purchase up).

World War Z is written by Max Brooks (son of Mel Brooks and Anne Bancroft) who also wrote the Zombie Survival Guide.  I have not read that one yet.  It seems a little too tongue-in-cheek to me, but I will get around to it someday.   I know there is some background material for World War Z in the guide, but I do not see it as required reading.  The story is more of a history book recounting the progression of the Zombie Apocalypse through oral testimony of people that survived it.  I don't yet know if it is any good or not, but at least I am interested  in reading the story.  I have it with me today and am already excited about reading during my lunch break which is a feeling I haven't experienced these last few weeks while trying to read those other books.

I hope this is good as it has been optioned for a film by Brad Pitt's production company.  As much fun as reading about the undead can be, they belong on the big screen shuffling and chewing their was through the living.

Reading is a very personal thing and above all you should enjoy the activity.  There are plenty of people out there that like to tell you what to read, what is "classic" and what is hack work.  That's fine.  We need those people and we need those works.  However, when it comes for reading for entertainment you have to pick stuff you like.  Slugging through Moby Dick on your lunch break because some says it is important won't make you enjoy reading.  In fact, it may make you hate it.  I wonder if that is why so many people don't read today.  Maybe it is because they were forced to read stuff that didn't excite them during their formative years and as adults they see no value in the activity.   I know reading Jane Austen and Thomas Hardy didn't exactly stoke the fire in me and ultimately made me hate English as an academic pursuit.   Luckily I already had a love for books that could not be quenched by boring, British novels.  I, however, am one of the lucky ones.  Too many people are turned off to reading and our society is worse off for it. 

I was in the bookstore recently and came away with nothing.  That is fairly rare for me.  I like buying books.  There is something about an increasing library that I find attractive.  There is no logical reason to have a house full of books since libraries are so numerous in this country but there is just something about full bookshelves that I enjoy.  I read almost everything I buy but there is a certain amount of unread material on my shelf.  Mostly these books are later chapters of a longer series in which I have lost interest.  Single titles I usually read as soon as I purchase them but there are the occasional few that sit around and never get read.  I can think of maybe three off the top of my head.  Anyway, it was this very fact that kept me from buying something in the store last weekend. 

My wife is not as voracious a reader as myself and I think gets a little annoyed when I buy books when I have plenty of things at home to read.  Knowing this I did the husbandly thing and refrained from bringing more paper into the house.  Now, if something had really stuck out at me I would have bought it, but after perusing the shelves at my local Books-A-Million for about 15 minutes I came to the realization that nothing really interested me anyway.  Any bibliophile knows that feeling when they see a book, either a new discovery or something that has been on their mind for a while, that they just have to have.  It damn near jumps off the shelf and into their hands.  It is not a question of whether to buy or not but of how fast to take it home and immerse themselves in the new world.  Well, I never got that feeling so I did the husbandly thing, saved the cash and passed on the titles in which I had only a passing interest.

(Stick with me here, I will actually get to the story alluded to in this posts title shortly)

I had just finished reading Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut, which I really enjoyed, and was craving a really solid, classic story even though I didn't buy anything at the store.  I looked at my library and found nothing of great interest and even though I pulled Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs off the shelf I was less than enthused.  It was then that I remembered I had a few things in my Audible account that I hadn't listened to even years after I purchased the titles.  One of the titles is Xenocide by Orson Scott Card.  This is the third book of the Ender series and it seemed to fit my needs perfectly.  I wanted something Sci-Fi and I hadn't listened to a book in quite some time.  It allowed me the leisure of trying to read Naked Lunch, my long and troubled history with this book is the subject of another post at another time, while fulfilling my wish for a really good Sci-Fi story.  However, it had been some time since I listened to Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead, the previous two books in the series. So, in order to refresh my mind of the story, I went back and started to listen to Ender's Game again.



(And now, on to the real topic of this post.  I really should learn how to edit.)

I had forgotten just how good Ender's Game is.  Apparently I also forgot that you aren't supposed to end a sentence with "is" but I like how it flows.  Anyway...

Ender's Game is listed in the top five Sci-Fi books of all time on many lists for a reason.  It is a great story and accessible to everyone.  Upon the second read (listen) the story is even better because I know what happens to Ender and experiencing what he is put through is even more gut-wrenching when you know how the story ends.   I think I am also seeing it through different eyes than those that listened to the book a few years ago.  Raising my daughter is very much on my mind constantly these days and this book deals a lot with how children, even very intelligent children, can be manipulated.  I guess it really speaks to how anyone can be used as a tool but since the main characters are children one really gets the sense of how children can be molded into something they would not become on their own.  The book also deals with the hardships of leadership and the cost of making decisions without full understanding of the facts as well as many other secondary themes.  I think what is so great about this book is that it can be enjoyed on many levels.  To some it is just a simple Sci-Fi adventure.  To others it can be seen as a statement about the ugliness of humanity.  Conversely I think it is a testament to our nobility and our ultimate desire to do the right thing.  In the end it does what Sci-Fi always does when it works, it forces us to examine ourselves and the things we do to survive. 

Ender's Game is one of those books that makes me enjoy reading (yes, I am listening to this one but you get my point).  The follow-up, Speaker for the Dead, is also excellent and much larger in scope, but I don't think it has the same impact as Ender's Game.  If Xenocide is even half as good as those two books then it will be worth my time.  I suspect, however, that Ender's Game will remain the one that sticks with me over time. 

The book is actually taught in schools today.  I am happy to hear that at least some schools step out of the traditional literature and teach something contemporary.  I was force fed Thomas Hardy and Charlotte Bronte and to this day don't find that those books speak to me in any way.  I think schools would have better luck interesting kids in reading if they taught something that kids could relate to that also had themes deep enough to analyze academically.  Ender's Game is just such a book.  If you haven't figured it out by now, I highly recommend it to anyone even those who would frown on Sci-Fi. 

One of the most enjoyable things I have found since coming back to comics full force is the quality of writing that can be found in both mainstream books and independent work.  The stories being written today are so much better than what I was reading back in the early 90's.  They are more complex and certainly more adult.  Some think this is bad for an industry that needs an influx of younger fans and I can see their point, but I don't thinking kiddiefying the stories is the right way to go.

One of the best examples of some of the really great stuff you can find in comics today can be found in Darwyn Cooke's DC: The New Frontier



The New Frontier begins during the ends days of the Korean War.  America has turned on its masked heroes because of the red scare and most of them have retired or have gone into hiding.  Man has conquered the atom and appears to no longer need super humans and has pushed them away.  Superman has signed an oath of loyalty to the US and is acting for the government in foreign lands.  It is really a time without heroes.  The creation of the atom bomb, however, has awakened an ancient force that believes it is time to eliminate the human threat and its new, destructive power from the Earth.  It is in this environment that the men, women, supermen and superwomen of Earth must not only stand up and fight but come together to tackle a common foe.

The New Frontier recreates the DC universe from the ground up.  Classic characters and their origins are intertwined in a single story.  Each with different motivations and back stories that play into their characterizations throughout the work.  The reader sees both their amazing strengths and crushing weaknesses as each character tries to understand where the fit in to post war society.  This book deals with racism, sexism, and a whole host of issues that arose during the late 50's.  It is an amazing work for both comic fans and casual readers.

I think it is also important to note that it is not exactly for the elementary school set.  Death, suicide, and murder are all part of the story which younger children will probably not understand.  These themes, however, are crucial to the narrative and not just "thrown in" to make the book appeal to adults.  These events bring a realness to the story and are critical to the growth of the heroes, especially my all time favorite, Hal Jordan - The Green Lantern.

Yesterday saw the release of the animated film version of The New Frontier. 


I have been looking forward to this movie for some time now and went ahead and downloaded it last night in HD on my XBOX 360.  I did not get to watch all of it because I was just too tired, but what I saw was phenomenal.  The animation was gorgeous and this makes me want to go out and buy a Blu-Ray player so I can watch the film in all of its high definition glory again and again.  Some of the story from the book has been left out but the reviews on the movie have been overwhelmingly positive.  Again, I don't recommend this for younger kids, but otherwise this is a film everyone should see.  I promise you it is better than most live action superhero movies.  Yes, I am looking at you Fantastic Four!   A review of the film will be coming within the next day or so but I have no problem giving this my highest recommendation even without having viewed the entire film. 

Get the book (be sure to get both volumes), watch the movie, and thank me later.

Or maybe if government research goes wrong, or Earth passes through a comet's tail, or there is a virus breakout...Ok, I guess the dead can walk the Earth for any number of reasons but I think we can all agree zombies are extremely creepy and awesome!

Today's post concerns some recommendations for those of you that find the Zombie genre enjoyable.  While working on a paper Saturday, Shaun of the Dead, was on in the background. 



This is not only the best zombie comedy ever made, but it is possibly one of the best comedies ever made. There are great call outs to classic zombie movies. I especially loved the almost throw away line Ed uses when he and Shaun decide to save Shaun's mom, Barbara. The name Barbara may have some meaning to you old school Night of the Living Dead fans out there. There is also a nice bit of social commentary underscoring the comedy which again is also very prevalent in good zombie films. There is plenty of British humor, or humour, so it may be spelled back on the island as well as pop culture references, and some minor drug and video game gags. I highly recommend this movie and since I think both Comedy Central and Sci-Fi have run the film recently there is no reason for you to miss it. It's better uncut, but the cable version isn't half bad either.  Better yet, make it a double feature and rent Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz together.  You'll be in for one excellent night of comedy.

My second zombie pick of the week comes from the that often maligned and misunderstood genre...the comic book. 


The Walking Dead is author Robert Kirkman's attempt to follow the living AFTER the zombie apocalypse.  Too often films don't have time to see what the long term effects of living in constant fear and danger have on the survivors.  I picked up Volume 1 on Sunday after watching Shaun of the Dead on Saturday and I had the book finished in about an hour's worth of reading time.  Volume 1 sets up the world and the initial characters and although the story is derivate (some would say it is a homage) there are some really great moments.  I am looking forward to getting into the rest of the story.  I will also say that this is the only black and white comic I have ever bought on purpose and that is saying something.  I don't like black and white books.  The are in this volume, however, is amazing and you quickly forget about the lack of blood splatters because of the detail of the art.  I understand the artist, Tony Moore, didn't do too many issues so it will be interesting to see how the book looks with a different artist.  Again, this is another great piece of storytelling that I highly recommend.  I hope to get caught up soon so I can start buying the monthly series.  On a side note, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the story starts in Cynthiana, Kentucky.  My parents once lived and worked in that city so I feel a special connection to the story.  Kirkman and Moore went to grade school there I believe as well.

What is great about both of these stories is that they use the zombies to tell human stories and they use zombies correctly if such a thing can be said.  Zombies are slow, but relentless.  They never stop, they never get tired, they never give up.  This puts constant pressure on the survivors and it is how each individual handles that pressure that creates the drama and the humor.  Zombies stories, when they work, tell stories of humans and groups of humans that are being put to the test.  The questions these stories always ask include "Are we better alive than dead?", "Are we already zombies, but haven't admitted it yet.", and "Do we deserve the life we have?".  Even if you don't appreciate the horror genre and all the nastiness that goes with it, I think everyone can identify with those themes. 

Send more paramedics.  Some of you know what that means... 

I finished slogging through Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix last night.  I took me most of the semester to get through it because I had precious little time for personal reading and the story just didn't engage me as I had hoped.  As those books get longer it seems like there is a lot of filler.  Not a bad tactic business wise though.  Get kids hooked on short, easy to read books then ramp up the page count and the price and reap greater margins.  The story could have been much tighter if it had been shortened by about 200 pages.  I also felt the battle at the end of the book was handled much better in the movie.  There was a real sense of danger in the film that I didn't get from the book.  Maybe my opinion of the novel is clouded by seeing the film first.  Overall, however, I felt the book was mediocre at best.  I had to get it done though because I really want to get into Confessor by Terry Goodkind.  I picked up the recently released, finally book of the series last weekend and I am itching to get to the end of that story.  More on that as I finish the book.

I attended a discussion last night on business ethics.  A former CFO of Healthsouth was in attendance and he said something that I think is very telling regarding the entire accounting scandal at the company.  He stated that while he knew he was doing wrong he continued to misreport earnings right up until the federal government passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in 2002.  This act put severe criminal penalties on perpetrators of corporate fraud.  What I thought was interesting was that it took the threat of prison time to get this person to approach the feds about his wrongdoing.  He tried to portray himself as someone whose strong ethical background forced him to confess to the feds.  Funny thing though...it took the threat of FEDERAL prison time to get him to act on his ethics?   I wonder if SOX had not based if this person would have still gone public with his knowledge?

Sorry buddy, but you don't get a pass for your actions.  It wasn't your moral and ethical concerns that made you go public, it was the fear of pound-me-in-the-ass prison that caused you to go running.  I know you are disappointed that the feds turned around and prosecuted you even after you blew the whistle, but you got what you deserved.  How many thousands of people lost their jobs, their retirements, their savings, and their lives because you didn't tell someone about the fraud the moment you first saw it?  Personally, I was offended that you acted as though you were somehow wronged by the feds.

I want to go to the movies for like a whole week.  Right now I am missing out on Beowulf, The Mist, 30 Days of Night, and No Country for Old Men.  I will probably also miss the first weekend of The Golden Compass.  If there is one single thing I miss since becoming a father and student it is the weekly trips to the movie theater. 

I am still considering that tattoo thing.  Maybe it will be a graduation present to myself. 

My fucking XBOX 360 is still gone.  I am loosing patience with Microsoft.  I am certainly no longer an XBOX apologist.  There is no reason why my unit should be gone for two months.  I can understand a failure, but ship me a new one already!  Microsoft, you have already lost money on me and will continue to do so because now I am seriously trying to get a WII for Christmas instead of spending cash on 360 games like Halo 3, Bioshock, Call of Duty 4, and The Orange Box.  The quality of service from Microsoft has been atrocious and I expect it will continue to be awful. 

That will be all.

One of my favorite authors died yesterday from cardiac amyloidosis.

I have been reading his books since the early 90s and although I have not kept up with the Wheel of Time series, I almost always have one of the books on my reading shelf. You will see one of said books over on the sidebar as a matter of fact. He was in the process of completing the last book of the series and had put up one hell of a fight but sadly the disease got the best of him. I will always regret never getting the chance to meet him in person.

As always, the Wheel turns. Good journey James. We'll miss you.