SubscribeShades of Grey
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Shades of Grey
by Jasper Fforde - Publisher: Viking
- Year: 2009
- Pages: 400
- See the rest of this year's listings
- What is 52 Books in 52 Weeks?
- №12
Jasper Fforde has accomplish a lot in a relatively short period of time. His first novel, The Eyre Affair, was published in 2001, and in the 9 years since, he has published an additional seven novels, with announced plans for 4 more. I liked The Eyre Affair when I read it three years ago, and at the time I criticized it for being a bit short on plot and long on context. With the benefit of hindsight, I realize that Fforde writes series more than he writes books, and that the world-building in Book #1 always pays dividends later on.
I should have been smarter, then, in my initial disappointment with Shades of Grey—not with the plot, which was fascinating, but with the ending, which was frustrating in the extreme; it was only after I finished and fumed a bit did I do some research and find out that Shades of Grey: The Road to High Saffron is only the first in a planned trilogy. This makes me feel better, though I am now emotionally-invested enough in the characters to be required to (wait for and) read the forthcoming sequels.
50 Most Loathsome People In America, 2009
My favorite new-year pastime, the Buffalo Beast’s annual “Most Loathsome” list, is now up. It’s a little more brief (and tame) this year, but still a funny read.
Some highlights:
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
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Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith - Publisher: Quirk Books
- Year: 2009
- Pages: 320
- See the rest of this year's listings
- What is 52 Books in 52 Weeks?
- №21
First, a preamble. If you’ve been hiding in a cave with your eyes closed and cotton in your ears, you might not be aware that zombies are in. Though at one point nothing more than one entry in a pantheon of ghouls (which also included mummies and vampires), they have quickly worked their way into popular culture. Nowhere is this more apparent than the internet, where they have become a meme along with such colorful characters as pirates, ninjas, pirates vs. ninjas, lolcats, raptors, &c..
Zombies in particular have proved fodder for both cursory reference and more substantial fare: be it books such as World War Z or Breathers, films such as 28 Days Later, or video games such as Resident Evil or Left4Dead, zombies have begun to infiltrate our niche media.
The McSweeney’s Joke Book of Book Jokes
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The McSweeney's Joke Book of Book Jokes
ed. McSweeney's - Publisher: Vintage
- Year: 2008
- Pages: 224
- See the rest of this year's listings
- What is 52 Books in 52 Weeks?
- №16
I am no stranger to McSweeney’s publications. I’ve previously reviewed Mountain Man Dance Moves and Created In Darkness By Troubled Americans; I’ve also got a subscription to McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern, visit the website regularly, and have read numerous authors from the McSweeney’s label. Needless to say, I have at least a passing familiarity with the content and style of McSweeney’s publications.
Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them
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Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them
by Al Franken - Publisher: Plume
- Year: 2004
- Pages: 448
- See the rest of this year's listings
- What is 52 Books in 52 Weeks?
- №6
It occurred to me recent that I’ve read and reviewed Al Franken’s 2005 The Truth (With Jokes) three times since the start of this meme (1, 2, 3), but never its predecessor, Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them, which is arguably an even better book.
Conservative pundit Bill O’Reilly hates Media Matters, a website/organization which mostly just documents lies and distortions of conservatives. It’s important to note that there are really no polemics or extended rants of the Ann Coulter variety—the site is, by and large, either transcripts or video clips of the TV appearance/radio show/etc. in question, usually followed by evidence to the contrary. Given O’Reilly’s penchant for dissembling on-air, it is little wonder that he hates them so much.
Brain Droppings
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Brain Droppings
by George Carlin - Publisher: Hyperion
- Year: 1998/2006
- Pages: 272
- See the rest of this year's listings
- What is 52 Books in 52 Weeks?
- №5
When last we saw a George Carlin book here in A Modest Construct, I was pretty harsh, but I take nothing back: When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops wasn’t a very good book. It was unfortunately indicative of the George Carlin we saw in the few years before his death; gone were the elaborate jokes about language, the puns, the extended structures, the tone that manages to be both irascible and playful at the same time (try it: it’s not easy).
Recent Comments
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Nice review, Ben. I actually hadn’t heard of this book, but I might have to look for it. True SF...
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