The Book Pirate

I’m taking a month off from reading any new books. Somehow I found myself in a spot where I was not in the middle of reading any books. Normally I am in the middle of reading one or two books at a time. For November, however, i’m going to be participating in NaNoWriMo (Nation Noval Writing Month). The goal is to write 50,000 words in 30 days which works out to 1,667 words a day. How hard could that be right?

Anyway, I don’t plan on having much time for leisure reading. But I do plan on updating TBP with my various musings on the NaNoWriMo process and the progress of my novel. I also might bug random strangers about the progress of their novel just to keep things interesting. If anybody reading this is participating in NaNoWriMo, I sure would like to hear from you.

Blurb for the back cover:
“This book isn’t for everyone. I however found it really funny.”

Joey Comeau is the author of a softer world web comic. One day he says “hey I wrote a book and you can download it for free”. So I did.

In Comeau’s book Lockpick Pornography, the main protagonist (whose name I can’t seem to find) is upset at the heterosexuals for creating such a messed up world. His goal is to somehow restore balance by upsetting heterosexuals either by stealing their TV or by making phone calls to question them about gender identity. Together with three of his friends, they create a scheme to create a childrens book called “Johnny’s a Girl, Sometimes” and sneak it in to schools as a way to let little kids know that there is nothing wrong with being different. There is also a kidnapping involved.

This book is not for everyone. I could easily see Lockpick Pornography offending some people who might not appreciate its type of satire. The book constantly argues that heterosexuals and their way of life (religion, monogamy, having a family) is inferior. The book attacks the close mindedness of the stereotypical conservative right-wing individual. And it’s funny in a “let’s feed babies to the hungry” type way.

When I started reading this book I hated the main protagonist. He’s not very likable and he’s kind of a jerk. At the end of the book I still hated him, but I found him a lot more interesting and had a better understanding of the way he thinks things through.

This book isn’t for everyone. I however found it really funny and enjoyable to read. You can always check it out online for free before you try reading it or buy an actual copy.

Just curious, is there anybody participating in NaNoWriMo next month?

Blurb for the back cover:
“Caught me by surprise”

Taking place in Idaho, The Dart League King is a story about various people who are in some way or another connected to each other by their past actions. Primarily taking place at the 321 Club the night of the final Dart League match, five characters come together in the bar. Russell, the proclaimed dart league king runs in to his ex. Tristan who has a secret that he desperately wants to tell someone, anyone. Vince, a drug dealer who is out to make an example out of Russell. Kelly, Russell’s ex who wants a future outside of Idaho. And Brice, Russell’s rival and undercover DEA agent who is set to ruin Russell’s night by using him to bring down Vince.

This book caught me by surprise. When I read about the book it really didn’t sound like something that I would enjoy. But as I got in to it and started becoming familiar with the characters, I became aware that this wasn’t as mundane of book as I had expected. In fact, it was a lot more complicated. These characters have pasts, secrets and emotional problems that they work out as the night progresses. Speaking of the night, the story takes place over the course of a single night. Any character’s backstory is told in flashbacks.

Out of all the characters I found Tristan to be the most interesting. He had watched a girl die and is the only one to know of her fate. It’s a secret that he has been wanting to tell someone who would understand. He thinks that he has found that someone in Kelly but her would she react to the news?

The book ends with a slight cliffhanger. The fate of one of the characters is unclear and I would have liked to know for sure what happened to that person. On the other hand, it does leave me thinking about the novel and I am glad that Morris didn’t end his novel with all the loose ends tied up. It leaves the reader to use their imagination to answer any remaining questions.

As I side I was surprised by this book. On the outside it seemed like a pretty straightforward novel about nothing important, but as it progressed it became something deeper. I would recommend it.

Also, Keith Lee Morris is going to be signing/readed at Powells on the 10th of November.

Also again, thank you to Tin House for sending me a review copy of this book.

I can’t do it! I’ve tried, I really have. But this book is unfinishable.

I’m only 80ish pages away from finishing it, but I have no desire to do so. The Half-Mammals of Dixie is a collection of short stories that take place in or around the town of Fourty-Five, South Carolina. George Singleton was recommended to me by a teacher after I told him that I was a big fan of George Saunders. While Saunders offers up social satire, Singleton offers irrelivant short stories of people. What holds this book back is that it is a collection of short stories. The characters in it are interesting but can never be fully developed because they end after a couple pages. Maybe I would enjoy one of his novels. But after this book I don’t think I’ll be looking in to his books again any time soon.

You could also see what people who managed to finish the book have to say about it though:

A Girl and Her Books
Goodreads
Entertainment Weekly

I went to see the film based off of the book City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau this evening. I haven’t read the book series, so I can’t really compare the two. As of late it seems that movie studios are trying to adapt as many children’s books in to movies as possible in hopes of rivaling the type of money that the Harry Potter films collect. But most of these adaptations fail for various reasons. The biggest problem I have is that the studios will only adapt the first book of a series in to a movie and will let the movie end with unanswered questions. The Lemony Snicket movie comes to mind. Then there are occasions like the Spiderwick Chronicles where the studios try and condense a five(ish) book series in to a single film. Naturally there are many plot points and characters that are left on the cutting room floor.

Which brings me back to City of Ember (movie). I liked the movie. It was interesting and had a compelling plot. Compelling enough to make me want to pick up the actual book and see what they left out as well as continue reading the series to see what happens after the movie ends.

Do you ever run in to the situation where you are reading a book and it never seems to end? The book I am currently reading is only 280ish pages. Yet I’ve been reading it for like the past week in my spare time but I am still 100 pages away from being done with it. Ugh.

Blurb for the back cover:
“The best books I have read this year (so far)”

I may have to take back what I said about Canadian writers because I have managed to find one who isn’t depressing. Douglas Coupland, whose niche seems to be generation X, has written a book that may be one of the best books I have read this year (so far). In JPod, a database error at a leading video game company has trapped Ethan Jarlewski and his five co-workers in the same design group where the only thing they have in common is that their last names start with J and a disdain for their new boss Steve who is completely clueless about how to run a game design team. Steve takes the JPodder’s skateboarding game, which they have been working hard on, and runs in it to the ground in an attempt to gain the approval of his son who is in his ex-wife’s custody. But Ethan’s life doesn’t just revolve around his job. His Mom, for instance, has a habit of killing people who owe her money from the pot she deals and his Dad dates girls Ethan knew back in high school. Ethan’s brother also manages to get him mixed up with a powerful guy from China with numerous skills such as making people disappear. There is just so much that happens in this book that it’s impossible to properly summarize it.

JPod is told through Ethan’s perspective and it can sometimes read like a diary of his life. But the story is occasionally interrupted by Ethan and his co-workers as they try to entertain themselves at work. This results in the six JPodders writing Cartoon Profiles for each other or personal ads addressed to Ronald McDonald. These don’t slow down the pace of the story, but rather add to the personality of the characters. Speaking of characters, they are the reason the book is so good. Each and every one of them, from Ethan’s Mom to John Doe (that’s his legal name), are distinct and quirky in their own way. Since there are so many of them, there is never a dull moment and you never get them confused with each other.

When you first open the book you will notice something is different. It’s almost as if someone was bored at their computer and started typing gibberish and was playing with various degrees of font size. This plays well to one of the theme of the book, being bored with technology, because who hasn’t just been so bored on the computer that typing anything to amuse yourself was better than doing what you should have been.

The only real problem I had with this book Douglas Coupland took it upon himself to be the deus ex machina. He appears near the end of the book just as Ethan is flying to China to try and save his video game from being destroyed by his clueless employer. And in the end Coupland helps wrap everything up in nice package with a pretty little ribbon. I just don’t like it when authors write themselves in to their own work (I’m looking at you Stephen King). It’s jarring and it breaks the illusion of fantasy.

Having said all this, JPod is a hilarious book that is aimed at slackers, people who play video games, and those of us who have no control over anything that happens.

It has come to my attention the Christopher Moore’s new book Fool is set to come out on February 10th, 2009. Being a big fan of Moore, I’m excited about it. Sadly, I don’t know much about the book. I think it is a retelling of King Lear or something along those lines. Abby Normal from A Dirty Job and You Suck will be in Fool. Moore’s last books have all taken place in San Fransisco and share characters. I like that type of integration between books. It’s like rewarding the reader for reading all of Moore’s books. Now if only I could get my hands on an Advance Readers Copy of this book.. That would make my day.

Another book I am looking forward to is The Pirates! In an Adventure with Napoleon. This is the forth book in Gideon Defoe’s The Pirates! In Adventures With… series. Napoleon has already been released in the UK and I have considered importing it. That might be easier than waiting till May 26th, 2009 for the US release.

Ugh, I’ve fallen behind on posting my book reviews. I hope to get caught up next week.

Until then, it seems that Amazon is releasing the Kindle 2 as a followup to their semi-popular Kindle 1. No further details but there are some pictures over here. But really, who needs a Kindle when the iPhone seems to be outselling it?