Posted By Grand High Poobah on July 3, 2009

Having read and enjoyed works like Beowulf, you would think that The Epic of Gilgamesh would have made my reading list some time in the past as well.
Alas, it was not so. Until recently when I got a very long book list for a class I’m taking in the fall. Among other reading required was The Epic of Gilgamesh which, I discovered, was very short.
I read through it rather quickly and I have to say that I enjoyed it despite the fact that it was very short. But then at that point it’s not like writers could sit down with their word processor of choice and go to town.

I found Giglamesh very enjoyable, but I’m not giving out details because I want you to go out and read if for yourself.
Also known as: if I summarize I’ll tell you the entire story.
I get a little excited, okay?
Now, my next read is probably going to be something completely different, but I promise I’ll give you more details then.
For now, go get yourself a cheap copy of Gilgamesh. Besides the major intelligence points for reading literary works dating back to antiquity, it’s an enjoyable read, the characters are interesting, and you learn a lot more about Sumerian gods than you ever thought existed.

Category: Classics | 1 Comment »
Tags: antiquity, Classics, Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh, literature, Sumeria, Sumerian gods

Posted By Gambit on July 2, 2009

Howdy folks, welcome back to Gambit’s little corner of news and notes you didn’t know you needed to know but now you’ll now. Gather ’round. The ones in front, sit down so the folks in back can see. Great. Johnny, take that out of your nose. Thank you.

Now, where were we? Oh, right.  Summer is upon us and with it, the big movies. No, I’m not talking about all the ones with giant robots. I’m talking about the REAL movies. You know, the ones based on books.  Books. You know, those rectangular things made out of cardboard and paper that have words in them.  No, those are get-well cards. Oh, nevermind!

• Anyway, One of the biggest anticipated movies for me is “The Lightning Thief“, based on the book by Rick Riordan.  It is not scheduled for release until February 2010, but its trailer can be seen HERE!

  [INSERT MOVIE TRAILER HERE]

  What? Really? You don’t say? Uh-huh. Thanks. Umm… I just got word that the trailer is not out yet. Sorry. Well, the trailer will be available here as soon as it’s released by the studios on July 15th.  You can look for it all over the web, or you can just come back here on the 15th.

• And speaking of July 15th, that’s also the date that a totally unheard-of movie gets released attached to “The Lightning Thief” trailer. Something about some Mestizo Royalty or something.
  I Keed, I Keed!
  July 15th is the US Release date for the highly anticipated (and already once-delayed) film adaptation of the 6th book in the Harry Potter saga, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince“.   With the release date getting closer, so many “exclusive” clips have been popping up that I feel I’ve already seen half the movie.  MTV Exclusive Clip. MySpace Exclusive Clip. HBO Exclusive Clip. Itunes Exclusive Clip.  Neolibrarium Exclusive Clip. Even a dubious-legality German clip of the first five minutes of the film (Lo siento, no hablo Teuton).

  By the way, I made one of those up. See if you can guess which one (Hint: it’s not MySpace).
  So where are these clips, you ask? Well, I’d post them right here, but those dastardly wabbits wouldn’t let me embed most here, so you’ll just have to be content to leave this site to view them, but only if you promise to come back afterwards. Really.  Promise? Seriously.  Your word?
  Thank you. You won’t regret it. We have cookies!

[LOTS MORE AFTER THE JUMP]
(more…)

Category: Discussion, Humor, Media, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Series, Teen/Young Adult | 2 Comments »
Tags: Eclipse, Harry Potter, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, Mongol, new moon, Rabban Sawma, Rick Riordan, stephenie meyer, The Half Blood Prince, The Lightning Thief, Twilight

Posted By Grand High Poobah on July 1, 2009

Okay, kids, I’ll keep this short.

Here’s the thing. I have read almost everything published by Amanda Quick. It’s actually a little ridiculous, and I’ve bought almost every book I’ve read by that author/pseudonym. So, when I came across Deception in the library I thought, “Yay! It’s one I haven’t read!”

And. I. Was. Wrong.

Nevertheless it was an entertaining story and a fitting recommendation because it involves pirates! And buried treasure. And a mysterious treasure map passed down generationally between two opposing families of bucaneers.

Plus, there’s romance.  What’s not to like? Pirates. Treasure. Romance. Plus, some very rambunctious children, a dog, and a rather polite, but inconvenient ex-fiancee and her undisciplined brother.

The story does seem to follow the “Quick formula”, but it does so in a way different from all other novels thus far. How? Pirates.

Did I mention it has pirates? Pirates are awesome. And…if I said that to Jared Chillhurst. the main male character, he would be very, very annoyed with me.  Especially since he is not only a member of the nobility and technically not a pirate, but he’s trying very hard to pose as a tutor so he can be close to - and protect - the eccentric, but delightful Olympia Wingfield. Not to mention that she excels at cracking codes and she may be the only one able to decipher the mysterious Lightbourne Diary, which details the location of the buried treasure that Mr. Chillhurst’s family has been looking for through several generations.

Olympia, however, is perplexed by the diary. It warns her to beware the Guardian. She is convinced that this mysterious figure is after the diary and may not be above harming her or her nephews in order to achieve his goals. There is one other issue: though she and Jared are becoming closer, he never seems to be willing to listen to her about the diary. He’ll talk about travel, her nephews, and almost any other subject. It’s an annoying tendency since she wants to discuss her discoveries with someone who will appreciate them.

Even if he does look like a pirate.

Category: Romance | 2 Comments »
Tags: Amanda Quick, Deception, Diary, historical romance, pirates, secret diary, treasure

Posted By Grand High Poobah on June 30, 2009

First off, I started reading the Sookie Stackhouse series back when it was new to the market and I loved it. I later discovered other books by Charlaine Harris - mysteries for the most part, and those were equally entertaining.

As is usual with me, when I first heard they were turning the books into a tv series I had two thoughts:

1. OMG YAY! It so deserves to be on film.

2. Oh no! What if they completely butcher it???

Fortunately, it seems like it has not been butchered. There has been a little fiddling with characters - notably Jason Stackhouse - and a few additions to the storyline, but overall it has been pretty darn good.

One note: for my taste there’s a bit too much gore and far too much sex and/or nudity. I will admit that sex was present in the books because it was partly romance, but HBO got a little too slap-happy with that. Gosh, that was a terrible turn of phrase. I’ll let it stand, though.

The storyline of the first book does manage to stay almost entirely intact, though. Casting was good, though Bill was not at all how I pictured him. The filming itself is unremarkable, but not bad. The opening credits annoy me, partly because of their length, partly because of the disturbing images, but mostly because of the uber-stereotypical portrayal of the South.

Yes, the South does fit some stereotypes. Lousiana, yeah, maybe more than most. I’m not sure because I’ve never been - though Shreveport is supposed to be a reasonable drive away. Still, it takes it a little far for my taste because though some places in the South are indeed the perfect  stereotype, more places are not. If the media keeps it up I’ll have people asking me if I ride a horse to school all over again, though admittedly Texas and Louisiana are not the most related of states and thankfully nobody is having a cattle drive in the background or performing weird voodoo ceremonies. Sorry, almost forgot about the faux voodoo excorcism episodes.

HBO doesn’t get a 10 - partly because they made Jason Stackhouse too dumb to, well, clean excrement out of an item of footwear when in the book he’s just wild and a little simple, though not simple-minded. In the series they seem to take the worst aspects of his character and amplify them to such a degree that Jason becomes an idiotic and rather despise-able character. In the book he was sometimes careless and reckless, but he had a kind of charm and I was okay with him. In the series, I’m just waiting for him to die. Please?

Last but not least, the series ended with a cliffhanger AAHHH NOOO! Ha! Kidding! I read the books so I totally know what happens next. Thank you HBO for not making the story so mangled that I could not possibly know what comes next. I like it.

Overall, kudos to HBO, but seriously…those new herbs you’ve been taking. Stop.

Category: Media, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Series | 1 Comment »
Tags: Bill Compton, Charlaine Harris, HBO, HBO series True Blood, How does True Blood compare to the books, Jason Stackhouse, Louisiana, Season One, Sookie Stackhouse series, Southern Vampire series, True Blood, Vampire Bill

Posted By Grand High Poobah on June 29, 2009

First off, if there is more than one BBC version of Jane Eyre out there, I do not know what it is. Secondly, I would advise both reading the book and watching the BBC series. Each is wonderful.

The BBC seems to have a flair not just for drama, but for accuracy in adaptation. Jane Eyre is one of my favorite books of all time, and Jane Eyre by the BBC matches up with the book most harmoniously.

First, the cast. The casting is excellent. I have seen versions, which I deigned to ignore, where they tried to make Jane more attractive because it would be more appealing or they tried to make Mr. Rochester dashing and handsome, or less mercurial and sardonic. The secondary characters typically got the shaft.

In this case, everyone seemed to be precisely who they ought to be, from Jane and Rochester, to St. John, and the (vile, evil) Aunt Reed. It did seem to me that both the time at Lowood and the time with St. John and his sisters was rather abridged, and a change was made as to how Jane came to be with them, but other than those rather small points everything was accurate to a delightful extreme.

As someone who appreciates accuracy, I was delighted. Rochester was perfect. He was, as described in the book, not the most attractive of men and Jane was also rather plain. I liked this because it has always been something that made me see the characters as being more “real” than they otherwise might have been.

Blanche Ingraham and Bertha were also well done, which is saying something because they are not the most detailed characters in the novel so I imagine the screenwriter and the person(s) in charge of casting had to put a great deal of thought into who would fill those roles and how they would convey the “essence” of the characters without adding unecessary dialogue or backstory to the film.

Of any book-to-film adaptation I have ever seen, this is the best. I give it a 10. I think Bronte would approve.

Category: Classics, Fiction Review, Media | 1 Comment »
Tags: BBC, BBC movie of Jane Eyre, BBC series Jane Eyre, Bronte Sisters, Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre, Mr. Rochester

Posted By Grand High Poobah on June 28, 2009

Daphne du Maurier’s best known novel is Rebecca, which is often assigned reading for high school students and loved more by the girls than the boys. However, du Maurier also wrote several other works - one of which is My Cousin Rachel. I will admit that I had the exact same problem with My Cousin Rachel that I had with Rebecca. The hook is not a hook, it’s a cryptic and seemingly nonsensical introduction with no relevance to the reader until you finish the book.

Once I finished My Cousin Rachel, the introduction was relevant and gripping. But throughout the book I kept thinking back to the introduction and saying to myself, “That was rather pointless and irrelevant.”

Because of the non-hooking hook, I found it hard to get into the novel. Once I got to chapter three or four, though, it took off and I read it about as quickly as I ever read anything. For those of us who liked Rebecca it may be disappointing to find that this book does not offer the bittersweet happy ending that Rebecca offers. Furthermore, we know all the character’s names and the main character is male, not female so the perspective is a little different. I have to admit I expected the story to come from a woman’s point of view because my only impression of Du Maurier was from Rebecca.

My Cousin Rachel is, however, similar to the well-known novel that I shall cease to name…and equally haunting. The characters have a few things in common as well. Both main characters are young, passionate, and somewhat bewildered by the world around them. Both of them are surrounded by a mystery that is palpable, but seems to have already been solved until they begin to question their own assumptions.

Philip Ashley is in his early twenties and finds himself suddenly alone in the world. His beloved elder cousin has left for warmer climes in order to maintain his health, but eighteen months in Italy see him suddenly and unexpectedly wed, then just as unexpectedly dead. (Yes, the rhyme was intentional.) Who does he marry? Their cousin, Rachel - a gentle woman who is a widow, a distant member of the family from a distant branch of the family tree. She may also be a murderess.

Philip recieves letters from his elder cousin from Italy, but as his supposed illness grips him and progresses each letter sounds more desperate, incoherent and paranoid. After a period of no communication, Philip recieved a letter that ends, “She has finally done for me, Rachel my torment.” Philip accordingly rushes to Italy only to find that his cousin has died three weeks before he arrived.

Philip returns to his home near Cornwall mourning only to find, three weeks later, that the mysterious Rachel has come to England. Philip is then left to determine her guilt or innocence and measure her actual manner and appearance against the spectre of Rachel he created in his mind after reading the letters of his uncle.

As a secondary plot point, Philip also needs to learn how to be a man so the story is part coming-of-age story. But the result of playing host to his Cousin Rachel could leave him shattered.

All in all, just as good as Rebecca and different enough to have me turning pages like a madwoman. Next time I get the chance, I’ll try another Du Maurier novel.

Category: Fiction Review | No Comments »
Tags: Cornwall, Daphne du Maurier, England, Italy, My Cousin Rachel, ocean, Philip Ashley, poison, Rachel, Rebecca, tumor

Posted By Gambit on June 27, 2009

If I had to find a simple phrase to describe The Ruins of Gorlan, it would probably be the same phrase that was used to describe Earth in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy:

Mostly Harmless.

The Ruins of Gorlan, the first book in the Ranger’s Apprentice series, introduces us to Will on his “Choosing Day”.  This is the day in which wards of the Baron like him select their profession, provided the Craftmasters who taught those professions would take them.

Will, who unlike his other wards friends does not fit into any of the stereotypes of the professions (and believe me, all his friends fit their chosed professions perfectly), is disappointed when he asks to go to Battleschool to become a knight, but the taskmaster rejects him.  Will has to wait until that evening to discover that Halt, the fiefdom’s mysterious ranger has asked the Baron to have Will as his apprentice.

Hesitant at first, Will eventually finds himself eager to train as a Ranger, and learn all their mysterious ways.  However, he didn’t expect Halt’s answer when he asked what Rangers do:  “What Rangers do, or more correctly, what Rangers’ apprentices do, is the housework”, Halt responds.

And so Will begins training with a sequence that would fit right in with a 1980’s action movie, complete with musical training montage.  There is Will carrying water from the river. There is Will splitting firewood. There is Will cleaning the pots. There is Will sweeping the floor.  There is Will learning to cook.  There is Will beating the rugs.

Mr. Miyagi would be so proud.

Will’s training is broken up occasionally –a feast day back at the castle, and an encounter with a wild boar — but for the most part that’s what takes bulk of the book’s 249 pages (in the U.S. paperback edition).  There is no sense of conflict until near the end, when Halt and Will attend a Ranger gathering and find that scouts have reported that evil creatures known as the Kalkara have crossed from other side of the mountains, and are thought to be targeting certain leaders from the kingdom for assassination for their evil lord Morgarath, an exiled former Baron in the Kingdom.

And so the short rising action begins, and leads to a climax that begins and ends in less than five pages.  To say I was disappointed in the quick resolution would be to say that the Pope is Catholic.

Looking back after I read the book, I realized it had been a swift read, which is never exactly a bad thing nor a given for me.  The vocabulary and grammar seemed a tad unusual to me, and I later found out that the books are from an Australian author, and that would probably explain why I found the grammar a bit more polished than I thought a Young Adult book would be.

However, I also found the book to be quite unremarkable.  I couldn’t find any glaring dislikes, just a very basic, vanilla plot.  At the close, I got the feeling that I had just read a long preamble or introduction.  And while that may not necessarily be a bad thing, I don’t think I’ll be rushing out to buy the sequels.

Category: Romance, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Series, Teen/Young Adult, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Tags: Flanagan, John Flanagan, Ranger's Apprentice, The Ranger's Apprentice, The Ruins of Gorlan

Posted By Grand High Poobah on June 26, 2009

At long last, I have finally read The Jane Austen Book Club.

I have to admit, I’m still not completely certain whether I like the book or not, but I can safely say that I do like some of the characters from the book very much. The book tells the story of the six members of the Jane Austen Book Club, which is started by a woman named Jocelyn in order to let friends get together, read Austen, and discuss her works with each other. This is an idea that probably appeals to any Austen fan since only another Austen fan can truly appreciate what it is we are talking about when we mention our favorite books, or this and that character.

Of the six characters, my favorite was Bernadette, who seemed to repeat herself often and not really give a damn. She was perhaps of all the characters the most comfortable in her own skin.

Now, for you Austenites out there, this book may not be as much about Austen as you would like. It is written in such a way that Austen’s works play a role, but that the real story is almost a series of mini-biographies of each character. It explains why or how Austen is relevant to them, perhaps how they came to reading Austen, and in the end how reading Austen or being in the book club made a difference to them. That, I think, may be the point: the power of Austen to bring such difference and diverse people together with something in common. It’s something I noticed in my Jane Austen class this semester.

We all had different ideas about Austen, different backgrounds, different levels of expertise on Austen’s life and works, but we had the common factor of being interested in Austen and willing to say what we thought of her works,  or her life. It resulted in more comraderie than most classes I’ve ever been in.

Even the three sole guys in the class got carried away with it, though some still seemed to want to scratch their head and ask why anyone would read or write so many books about marriage.

Each character in this book has their own personality, their own troubles, their own past and conflicts. Yet they have Austen in common and their social connections through the book club in common. They interact with each other and get to know each other - and grow to accept the sole guy in the Club, Grigg.

Is it worth reading? I would say yes. Worth having in your library? Certainly. Worth poring over? Perhaps, but I can’t be sure how much meaning there is supposed to be behind any of it.

My one complaint is that the narration is inconsistent - not in that it changes point of view - and you never know who is telling the story, or whether it’s even someone in particular. It drove me sort of crazy in places. That’s an element that I think needs work because it wasn’t “consistent inconsistency”, it just seemed ill organized to me. I could be wrong, but that’s how it was for me.

I was also surprised by how the story just sort of ends, but then I considered it and I realized that Austen’s books seem to do that, too. You get to the end and you know there’s more to the story. There’s something even after the ‘happily ever after’ that we’ll never read about. So, I was satisfied.

I would recommend the book, but with the caution that it may not be what you expect and it may be a little hard to get into. I did enjoy the read, though. I’d be willing to re-read it after a little time has passed. It could do with more perusal.

Category: Fiction Review | 2 Comments »
Tags: Allegra, Austenite, Bernadette, book club, Corrine, Daniel, Emma, fiction, Grigg, Jane Austen, Jane Austen Fan Fiction, Jocelyn, Mansfield Park, Mysteries of Udolpho, Northanger Abbey, Persuasion, Pride and Prejudice, Prudie, reading, Sylvia

Posted By Grand High Poobah on June 25, 2009

As you may have noticed, Iris Johansen is one of the authors that I seem to read more regularly. Once reason for this is the sheer amount of material that she has published, but it’s alsot that she is one of the few mystery/thriller authors that I can read without getting bored - though there are some elements that still make me a little critical.

Dark Summer offered a rather unique plot in my opinion, though it did seem to stray more into the realm of Fantasy than many writers in the same genre would like to go. Johansen, however, has been writing well enough long enough that she has no reason to shy away from the quirkier ideas that she may come up with and the execution is well done.

Devon Brady and Jude Marrock have few things in common. One point in common is that they both do rescue work with dogs - mostly to recover people after natural disasters. The second is that they are highly dedicated to their dogs not just as pets, but as friends, allies, and more important than most people. The third is that they each sense something in the other that sets them off balance.

Jude is thrown into Devon’s path when his rescue dog, Ned, is shot while they are exploring the wreckage of a previously explored site of destruction. Devon is one of the only veterinarians on site and she is charged with caring for Ned’s wound when Jude rushes in, concerned and angry over the incident.

What Devon is shocked by was that, once assured of Ned’s care, Jude would rush off in pursuit of the shooter leaving her stuck with Ned and the business of getting him out of the country without all the legal documents. What Jude didn’t count on was that Devon may just not be willing to put Ned back into the custody of such a feckless owner.

What Devon didn’t know was that Jude’s departure was to assure himself that an old enemy - Danner - wouldn’t have the change to track him down again. But it takes Jude more time than he planned to take down the man who shot Ned and by the time he gets back to the States he finds that Danner is planning to make a move on Devon, which will likely end not only in Ned’s death, but the death of Devon, her co-workers, her friends, and all of her animals. (more…)

Category: Mystery/Thrillers, Rants | No Comments »
Tags: Arizona, Carribean, Devanez, Devon Brady, dogs, german shepards, healing, John Logan, Jude Marrock, labradors, London, M16, Mystery, rescue dogs, rescue mission, retrievers, Sarah Logan, shi'i'go, thriller, veterinarians

Posted By Grand High Poobah on June 24, 2009

As you steady readers know, I’ve been reading the Redwall series by Brian Jacques lately. The first two books Redwall and Mossflower weren’t completely new to me, but since then I’ve added Mattimeo, Mariel of Redwall, Salamandastron, Martin the Warrior, The Bellmaker, The Outcast of Redwall, The Pearls of Lutra, The Long Patrol, and Marlfox to my collection! So as you can imagine I have quite a bit of reading material on my hands and a good chunk of it is by Brian Jacques.

I have already reviewed the first three on that list and now I’ve made it through book four. One thing to note: I will be including some possible SPOILERS in this review because there’s only so much you can say without discussing the plot. So, if you don’t want to read the spoilers stop here. That being said, here’s what I think:

Mariel of Redwall was both the same and different from previous stories. To keep that statement from being redundant, I shall explain. This story was the same as the previous ones because the plot involved two elements that seem to be inherent to the series: invaders trying to take over Redwall Abbey, and Redwallers going out on an adventure. A third element which also seems consistent is that somehow, Martin the Warrior - one of the founders of the Abbey and it’s protector - somehow managed to aid each of these characters in some way. (more…)

Category: Children's, Classics, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Series | No Comments »
Tags: An Adventure of Redwall, Colonel Clary, Gabool the Wild, Gonff, Graypatch, Gullwhacker, Hon Rosie, Joseph the Bellmaker, Mariel of Redwall, Martin the Warrior, Martin's sword, mice, Oak Tom, pirates, rats, Redwall Abbey, Salamandastron, Storm Gullwhacker, Tarquin, Treerose