A Modest Construct

¶ Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Boxset

Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Boxset by Bryan Lee O'Malley: Publisher: Oni Press; Year: 2010; Pages: 1208

I should disclose right away that prior to the 2010 film Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, I had never heard of Bryan Lee O’Malley’s superlative graphic novel(s). The only reason I watched it, in fact, was a combination of my friends’ rave reviews (despite lackluster box office performance) and the fact that I absolute adore directory Edgar Wright’s previous films. My reaction to the film was positive and visceral, as it seems to hit all the right stylistic notes, and of course its contents were a geekfest of epic proportions.

§7290 · September 29, 2011 · (No comments) · Tags: Book Reviews, books, fantasy, fiction, reviews, science fiction

¶ The Magician King

The Magician King by Lev Grossman: Publisher: Viking; Year: 2011; Pages: 416

When I reviewed The Magicians last year, I noted that, despite my mixed feelings for Lev Grossman, which includes an outright antipathy for his notions of good storytelling, I was nonetheless impressed by the novelty of what he’d accomplished with his new novel. Almost an anti-bildungsroman, it took every good aspect of magical tales and flushed them down the toilet—ostensibly as a creative way of writing the general malaise that affects the unambitious or ambivalent.

§7238 · September 24, 2011 · (No comments) · Tags: Book Reviews, books, fantasy, fiction, reviews

¶ How To Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe

How To Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu: Publisher: Pantheon; Year: 2010; Pages: 256

The father-son dynamic in books is old as books themselves, and done with varying levels of success. From the rolls of my own little book meme, I can cite Egolf’s Lord of the Barnyard, Cave’s The Death of Bunny Munro, and McCarthy’s The Road. What makes this dynamic so powerful is that while it appears to be an ancient and simple sort of narrative thread, it turns out to be much more complicated and nuanced than we ultimately expect.

How To Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe is a quirky late-bloomer bildungsroman masquerading as a science fiction novel in the vein of Douglas Adams. With respect to this latter point, the influence is obvious.

§7228 · September 15, 2011 · 1 comment · Tags: Book Reviews, books, reviews, science fiction

¶ Bad Astronomy

Bad Astronomy: Misconceptions and Misuses Revealed, from Astrology to the Moon Landing 'Hoax' by Philip C. Plait: Publisher: Wiley; Year: 2002; Pages: 288

Phil Plait’s Death From the Skies! was one of my favorite books the year I read it; it was not only solid science writing, but also just lurid enough to appeal to my nascent morbidity.

When I first saw Bad Astronomy, I thought it was a new book, but in fact it’s almost ten years old; published in 2002, it is Plait’s foray into the world of popular science, and something of a companion piece to the blog of the same name he started in 1999.

§7205 · September 8, 2011 · (No comments) · Tags: Book Reviews, books, nonfiction, reviews, science