20th Century Fox Home Entertainment has been kind enough to supply me with 3 copies of Atlas Shrugged: Part I on DVD to give away. Atlas Shrugged: Part I, a movie I haven’t seen, is based off the book by Ayn Rand, which I haven’t read. I have no idea what this movie is about, but people generally seem to consider the book a classic. Based on the trailer, Atlas Shrugged is something about trains, a man of uncertain identity and a woman who wants to be a train conductor and is not, by any means, a sequal to the 2010 film Unstoppable (which was also made by 20th Century Fox but not based on a book). Again, I haven’t read the book or seen the film, but don’t let that stop you from entering to win a DVD copy of this film!

1) Retweet this tweet.
2) Post a comment on this post. By sure to include your e-mail or Twitter name, so I can contact you if you win.

Deadline is November 6th, 2011 at Midnight. I will contact winners on the 7th. Giveaway open to US and Canadian residents only. Winners will be notified by twitter or e-mail.

Title: Machine Man
Author: Max Barry
Publisher: Vintage
Published: August 9th, 2011
Where I got the book: Powell’s Bookstore

From the back cover:

Scientist Charles Neumann loses a leg in an industrial accident. It’s not a tragedy. It’s an opportunity. Charlie always thought his body could be better. He begins to explore a few ideas. To build parts. Better parts.

Prosthetist Lola Shanks loves a good artificial limb. In Charlie, she sees a man on his way to becoming artificial everything. But others see a madman. Or a product. Or a weapon.

A story for the age of pervasive technology, Machine Man is a gruesomely funny unraveling of one man’s quest for ultimate self-improvement.

Review:

Machine Man has the best opening in a book that I’ve ever read. Charles wakes up in his apartment and desperately searches for his cell phone. It’s funny and everybody can relate to his situation. Who hasn’t lost their cell phone at least once and gone through the process of retracing your steps. Eventually, Chales finds his cell phone. Unfortunately, he loose a leg in the process and starts his obsession with prosthetic limbs.

I’ve you’ve read any of Barry’s books before (and by all means you should), then you know what to expect. There’s a cast of flawed characters running around and a big corporation in the background looking out for its own interest regardless of the cost. Charles, being a totally reasonable engineer, is determined to make the best prosthetic leg imaginable. In Machine Man, Charles is employed by Better Future, a company devoted to making the future better. Once they realize that the prosthetics Charles is making could be very profitable, they take a keen interest in his research. Unfortunately, things quickly get out of control as more limbs are lost and replaced with better ones.

This book is fill with a bunch of very comedic scenes such as Charles being taken for a wild ride by his untested robotic legs. These bits are filled with Barry’s trademark humor.

My one complaint about the book is that the main character is not very likeable. He’s a self obsessed jerk who, for the most part, only cares about making himself better through the prosthetists he makes. When his lab assistants manage to improve eyes with Better Eyes, it’s a product he dislikes because he didn’t think of it. In contrast, Charles does fall in love with Lola and for a while she becomes his obsession. However, it’s not long lived because he is easily distracted with prosthetists. In the end, he’s not a character I could root for on a consistent basis which hindered my overall enjoyment of this book.

Closing Thoughts: While not his strongest work, Machine Man is still a very enjoyable, fun read for people looking for something not too serious.

Question: Has anybody played the video game Deux Ex: Human Revolution? I started played it after finishing this book and I am enjoying the parallels.

Title: Little Brother
Author: Cory Doctorow
Publisher: Listening Library
Published: May 11th, 2010
Where I got the book: Library

From the back cover:

Marcus, a.k.a “w1n5t0n,” is only seventeen years old, but he figures he already knows how the system works–and how to work the system. Smart, fast, and wise to the ways of the networked world, he has no trouble outwitting his high school’s intrusive but clumsy surveillance systems.

But his whole world changes when he and his friends find themselves caught in the aftermath of a major terrorist attack on San Francisco. In the wrong place at the wrong time, Marcus and his crew are apprehended by the Department of Homeland Security and whisked away to a secret prison where they’re mercilessly interrogated for days.

When the DHS finally releases them, Marcus discovers that his city has become a police state where every citizen is treated like a potential terrorist. He knows that no one will believe his story, which leaves him only one option: to take down the DHS himself.

Review:

I was surprised how much I enjoyed this book. @fyrefly98 recommended it to me, and I generally trust her taste in books. Her blog, Fyrefly’s Book Blog, is one that I never “mark all as read” because I believe she and I have very similar tastes in books.

But this isn’t a review of @fyrefly98, so let’s get down to business. Cory Doctorow is a writer I’ve heard many good things about but never got around to reading. That may have been a huge mistake on my part. Little Brother is a story set in the not too distant future where the department of homeland security starts spying on people, installing cameras, checking their e-mail and tracking their movements all in the name of freedom. Little Brother is the story of Marcus, a high school student well versed in technology, who gets caught up in the chaos after a terrorist attack on San Francisco. He and his three friends get taken in to custody and harshly questioned by the DHS. After a couple of days, Marcus and two of his friends get out, but the fourth member of their group is still missing and the DHS wont answer any questions. What’s more, the DHS tells his that if he ever tells anybody what happened to him while he was being detained, they will throw him back in a prison and throw away the key. As with most teenagers who get told what to do, Marcus gets angry, and he starts to rebel against the DHS. Using an online alias, Marcus plants the seeds of rebellion against the DHS, and they in turn try to track down the mysterious online persona who is freely using the internet as a way to circumvent the restrictions placed upon people by the DHS in the name of freedom.

One of the things I really liked about this book was the use of technology and youth culture. In the beginning of the book Marcus and his friends play an ARG (alternate reality game) which is something I don’t think many adults would be familiar with. Luckily, Doctorow does a fairly good job at explaining all the technical bits for the readers who may not be familiar with computers, programing, etc. However, these parts do slow down the progression of the story. Who wants to read a page of programing code (or listen to it being read as in the case for the audiobook)?

Speaking of the pacing, I found it hard to stop listening to this book. I normally reserve audiobooks for long drives, but I was caught up in what was happening that I needed to find out what happens next. I was listening to this during the short drive to the grocery store and wherever. I was just too eager to see what happens next. There was also a love story aspect that felt tacked on, and I generally didn’t care for. It slowed down the pacing half-way through the book. Thrilling things still happen, it’s just now Marcus has this girl who tags along and doesn’t add anything, I felt, to the overall plot.

At times this book does come off as preachy, warning about how easy it is for a government to take over and invade a person’s privacy and freedom. There were times were I was rolling my eyes at the ideas this book presented. However, it was never laid on thick enough to detract from my enjoyment of the book.

Closing Thoughts: Aside from the occasionally preachiness about freedoms being taken away by the government and the tacked on love story, Little Brother is a captivating story that left me eager to find out what happens next.

Question: You can download most (all?) of Cory Doctorow’s books for free from his website because most (all?) of them are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-ShareAlike license which lets you share, remix and share you remix as long as you don’t sell your remix. This is an interesting idea to me. My question is, what if all books were released under this license? Obviously publishers are still OK to some extent with Doctorow giving his books away for free because there are still people paying for hardcopies.

Title: I Am the Messenger
Author: Markus Zusak
Publisher: Listening Library
Published: September 26th, 2006
Where I got the book: Library

From the back cover:

Meet Ed Kennedy—underage cabdriver, pathetic cardplayer, and useless at romance. He lives in a shack with his coffee-addicted dog, the Doorman, and he’s hopelessly in love with his best friend, Audrey. His life is one of peaceful routine and incompetence, until he inadvertently stops a bank robbery. That’s when the first Ace arrives. That’s when Ed becomes the messenger. . . .

Chosen to care, he makes his way through town helping and hurting (when necessary), until only one question remains: Who’s behind Ed’s mission?

I am the Messenger is a cryptic journey filled with laughter, fists, and love.

Review:

I’ve had The Book Thief by Markus Zusak sitting on my bookshelf for a couple years now. Every now and again, while looking for my next book to read, I’ll pick it up and read the cover before putting it back on the shelf. I’ve heard nothing but good things about The Book Thief, but it just doesn’t sound appealing. When I asked for audio book recommendations, @booksandmovies told me to give I Am the Messenger a try. At this point I had not heard of the book but, after reading briefly about it, it sounded like something I would be interested in.

I Am the Messenger is the story about a slacker who gets a sudden wake-up call when playing cards start arriving in the mail and instruct him to do things. The tasks set forth involve helping random people in his city. How he helps them turns out to be a little more complicated and people end up getting hurt, both physically and emotionally.

I really liked the pacing of this book. It’s quick, one thing after another; the story is fast and made it hard for me to put down (or in my case hit pause). Since the premise of the book is Ed being forced to help people, it never feels like it spends too much time in one spot. It’s fun being the reader and trying to figure out along with Ed what is the problem that the card led him to and how is he going to fix it. At times, the solution will seem obvious while there are occasions where things aren’t as they seem. For me Another thing I really liked about the book was the people Ed helped in the past are not simply forgotten. Since he has helped them, they continue to be a part of his life.

I feel the ending is a subject people will either love or hate. You see, Ed wants to know who is the one sending him the cards in the mail. When the time comes for all to be explained, there are going to be readers who do not like the explanation. I, however, enjoyed the ending. It was nothing like I expected and now that I’ve had time to think back upon it, any other ending would had cheapened the book.

Closing Thoughts: I really liked this book. It was a fast read because the story and mystery were constantly progressing. It never feels repetitive or dull.

Question: If you’ve read this book, I would be interested to hear your take on the ending…