Sacre Bleu by Christopher Moore

Sacre Bleu by Christopher Moore

This is the second book I've read by Christopher Moore and while this one wasn't quite as good as Lamb but it was still great. It's a story revolving around impressionist artists living in Paris in the late 19th century. The book includes a lot of full color pictures of paintings done by characters in the novel and in some cases the paintings themselves play a part in the plot. I won't give away any more of the plot and will only say that the book is hilarious from start to finish. During dinner last night I was getting quite a few looks from other patrons as I kept laughing out loud.

The Borrower by Rebecca Makkai

The Borrower by Rebecca Makkai

I've been a fan of Makkai's short stories since I first encountered her work in the 2008 Best American Short Stories anthology. I was excited to see that she had published her first novel and even more excited when I saw that she was going to be in town at Longfellow Books to do a reading & signing this Thursday. The book is about a young children's librarian who accidentally kidnaps her favorite patron, a 10 year old boy when he runs away from home and she puts off driving him back home until it's a little too late to not be considered kidnapping. Loved the story, it had a lot of themes interwoven in the book that came together nicely, had very poignant moments and hilarious moments. It was extremely entertaining even when dealing with some serious issues. The reading was amazing, I love to hear authors read their own books as it gives an insight into how they wanted it to sounds. Rebecca is upbeat, gregarious, smart, funny and charming. Absolutely loved it and she signed my Best American Short Stories 2010 that already includes signatures by Karen Russell, Jennifer Egan & Richard Russo. I was lucky enough to have a quick chat with her when she signed my book and got laughing pretty good, so happy I got to go to the event and read the book!

Movie Review: The Dark Knight Rises

**FULL WARNING, MAY INCLUDE SPOILERS DEPENDING ON YOUR DEFINITION**

Went to see the new Batman movie and I was really excited. Loved the first 2 and unlike the mass populous wasn't concerned about terrorists (tragic but statistically unlikely). I love a dark, pissed off Batman filled with ragie justice. After taking a night to think it over I'm pretty disappointed. The last half of the movie was kind of tough. Basically Batman gets his ass handed to him and his comeback is just so unrealistic it's distracting. Bane's voice is also super annoying and hard to understand. Couldn't blame the mask either, Darth Vader was always clear and awesome sounding. Speaking of voices, another thing I didn't get was why Batman still spoke in his crazy low voice when in the suit to people who knew he was Bruce Wayne. The plot left a lot of questions and didn't feel like it tied together all that well. On the positive side, the acting was all great, there were some fantastic twists, lots of cool action sequences, great batman toys & Anne Hathaway looked amazing in her cat suit especially on a Batbike. They also threw in a scene where you could think that she may be bisexual, I'm assuming that and her sexy scenes were done on purpose for all of us nerds (Thank you Mr Nolan!). In the end I think I would have liked this movie a lot more if I hadn't had all the crazy high expectations, no way it could have lived up to them. Sure parts weren't realistic but it's Batman, so what the hell am I complaining about? Definitely entertaining and worth checking out.

Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino

Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino translated by William Weaver

This book is unlike anything I've read and is far, far outside my comfort zone as a reader. I was given it by a friend who loves Calvino and it's not hard to see why as the book is written in beautiful prose. This is a short book that is essentially a conversation between Marco Polo and Kublai Khan describing cities that Polo has visited or Khan imagines. The cities are all fantastical and sometimes includes current technologies so the tales transcend time and place. Calvino is extremely philosophic and lyrical in his writing with the book packed with profound thought/observations. I really enjoyed the beauty of the writing and philosophy but part of me wished for a plot as nothing really changed from beginning to end. One of the things I struggle with as a reader is that I'm not particularly strong at breaking down books because as I'm breaking down each page I'm losing focus on the overall story. If this was broken down into short stories I'm sure I would be absolutely raving about how good they are but as a short novel I can't take the leap from individual pages being amazing to the book being amazing. Overall I liked the book because its strengths are really strong and I'm glad challenged myself with it.

Movie Review - Goon

Goon is the only movie I can think of that I've watched twice in two days since I was a kid. I'm a little biased because I'm such a huge hockey fan but I think this is the best hockey movie since Slap Shot and I bet I'm not alone. Seann William Scott was amazing playing the main character Doug Glatt who's a lovable idiot who kicks a lot of ass. Doug's best friend Ryan played by Jay Baruchel is a wisecracking hilarious ahole that's the perfect caricature of a lot of massholes I grew up with right down to the lines shaved into the side of his head. The love interest Eva is played by Alison Pill a small town girl who's adorable in a very real sense. There are basically 2 story lines in the movie, Doug's rise to becoming a great minor league enforcer & a love story with him and Eva. Doug's rise to the top involves a showdown with Liev Schrieber's charater Ross Rhea an aging enforcer at the end of his career and he's awesome. I think Liev is one of the most underrated actors in the game and that includes his portrayal of Rhea. Some of the things that make the movie great are just how dumb Doug is, the play between how nice & polite he is and how brutal he is in fights, great plays on a lot of stereotypes and small things like Liev's character smoking getting ready in the locker room while rocking an amazing mullet. The hockey scenes were pretty realistic and well done. George Laraque, one of the best enforcers in his day played a small role and was a great touch for NHL fans. The fights themselves were mostly over the top and insanely fun to watch.

There were a lot of great jokes that are way too inappropriate to repeat here but my favorite is in a scene that starts with Eva running up to Doug crying and Doug says in all sincerity "What's wrong, did you just watch Rudy?"

Martin Dressler by Steven Millhauser

Martin Dressler: The Tale of an American Dreamer by Steven Millhauser

I was excited to read this book, I a huge fan of Millhauser's short stories and novellas and while I enjoyed this book it didn't love it as much as I'd hoped. The story is about a son of a cigar shop owner who by hard work and big dreams ends up building hotels in New York at the turn of the 20th century. There were 2 main parts of the plot, Martin's assent into building bigger and more elaborate things and then a love triangle between him, his wife who is silent and distant and her homely sister who he respects and makes his business partner. The first aspect of Martin's building had a ton to do with New York at the turn of the century and America's crazy industrial growth during that time. The way it was written about was fantastic as the descriptions and content made you feel like you were there. The other part with the love triangle was interesting but not captivating. Another thing I really liked is that Martin Dressler himself was kind of a jerk, bringing an extra dimension to make him seem more real and less of a character. I guess the reason I didn't love it is the end just kid of faded out, there was a definite climax but it wasn't particularly engrossing to me. That said it was extremely well written and a must for anyone who's interested in New York City in that time period.

In Persuasion Nation by George Saunders

In Persuasion Nation by George Saunders

This is the second collection of short stories by Mr. Saunders and he's truly an original voice. Quirky, smart, silly at times, dark at others, always hilarious and I would assume the biggest writer of "wonk" in the history of the world. Previously I've listened to Joshua Ferris read "Adams" on the New Yorker Fiction podcast and it was my favorite story in this collection. I probably loved it so much because of the podcast but the extra insight I learned added a ton to my enjoyment when I read the story this time. It's a good representation of his style and humor with a ton of sophistication snuck just barely under the surface. If you've never read a Saunders story you should and this collection is a great place to start.

Movie Review - Brave

Went to see Brave this weekend with Sky and Heather. I love Pixar movies and this one was really good. Visually the movie was unbelievable, especially the landscapes and details. I'm pretty sure you can see all the individual strands of fur on all the animals in the movie. The story essentially revolves around a young Scottish princess Merida voiced by Kelly Macdonald, her mother Elinor voiced by Emma Thompson and explores the mother/daughter dynamic in a true fairy tale. A lot of the funniest lines were by the father Fergus played by Billy Connolly who was a Scottish King renowned for fighting off a giant bear. I won't give away too much of the movie as there is one big twist about a 3rd of the way through that I don't want to ruin. All in all I enjoyed the movie and while it isn't in my top 5 favorite Pixar films it's not far off. I'm not sure I'd recommend it for young or sensitive kids as there are quite a few scary scenes involving a killer bear but those were some of my favorite scenes.

Like a lot of Pixar movies there was a short before the feature, this one is called La Luna and is a really sweet story. It's about a young boy with his father and grandfather who learns the family business involving the moon. Again I don't want to give away too much but it is a quick little feel good story before the main event.

The Proxy Marriage by Maile Meloy

Obviously The New Yorker has been putting out some ridiculously awesome fiction for years and I've been absolutely loving my subscription. I wanted to single out the short story The Proxy Marriage by Maile Meloy that was in the May 14th issue. If this story doesn't get shortlisted to every 2012 anthology I'm going to be shocked, it was so good! This story is about a boy who falls in love with a girl in high school but she has no idea. He continues to be in love with her as both of their lives take them on different paths but they keep coming together when they come home from various things to take place in proxy weddings where they stand in for marriages between soldiers stationed oversees and their women back home. I think we can all relate to loving someone who doesn't feel the same way and for me this brought up some seriously strong emotions. The writing was fluid and Maile's ability to jump forward in time between sentences was extremely well done. Sad at times, uplifting at others this is a story I'm going to remember for along time. I have a collection of her short stories and reading this one just bumped it up on my reading list.

Stories: All New Tales edited by Neil Gaiman & Al Sarrantonio

Stories: All New Tales edited by Neil Gaiman & Al Sarrantonio

This collection from 2010 was chocked full of stories from all kinds of amazing writers. The majority of them had some component of either horror, science fiction or something similar. The book started out extremely strong and ended extremely strong with only a few stories in the middle that didn't quite have the imagination or wow factor. The thing I love about the book most is that it was all extremely well written without being pretentious at all. Some of the stories that stood out to me from an outstanding collection are;

Blood by Roddy Doyle. This is a story about a man's unexpected urge to eat raw meat then blood. Great start to the book and a fun story.

Wildfire in Manhattan by Joanne Harris. This one is along the same lines as Neil's book American Gods. It's basically about gods fighting in Manhattan.

The Truth Is a Cave in the Black Mountains by Neil Gaiman. This one's got at lot going on but surrounds a sojourn to a magical cave filled with gold. Lots of twists and interesting character/plot reveals throughout.

The Stars Are Falling by Joe R. Lansdale. A man returns to his family after war to his wife who thought he was dead. Not to give to much away but there's some attempted murder and some actual murder going on.

Juvenal Nyx by Walter Mosley. Man meets woman, woman is a vampire, man becomes vampire.

Weights and Measures by Jodi Picoult. Very sad story about a couple who looses their young daughter. Only really bummer in the book but it was great.

Mallon the Guru by Peter Straub. Really short story that's 100% intrigue and leaves everything to the imagination. Both infuriating and amazing.

Catch and Release by Lawrence Block. Creepy story written in the 1st person by a serial killer. Bad bad man.

Loser by Chuck Palahniuk. Truly original writer.

Therapist by Jeffery Deaver. This is about a therapist who sees who he perceives as a young woman in dire need of his help. The story starts there and has too many twists to ruin

The Cult of the Nose by Al Sarrantonio. A man tracks down a cult who he sees in famous pictures of disasters identified by wearing a fake nose.

The Maiden Flight of McCauley's Bellerphon by Elizabeth Hand. I believe this is the first of many pieces I'll be ready of hers. Fantastic story with lots going on but has one theme of dealing with loss. Finding new artists like this is one of the reasons I love anthologies.

The Devil on the Staircase by Joe Hill. Written in an exploitative manner where the text is in the shape of stairs. The devil is literally on 1 of them.


I'm leaving out a bunch of great stories but these were my favorite.