The Best of Roald Dahl

The Best of Roald Dahl

I had no idea that Roald Dahl wrote stores for adults and was only familiar with his children's books. I would never have imagined that his adult fiction would be so fantastically twisted and diabolical. After I read the first few stories I was curious and found that quite a few stories from this collections were turned into Alfred Hitchcock Presents episodes and that's exactly how each story reads. Great feeling of nostalgia, good pace and fantastic twists. I was just trying to figure out how to write about my favorite stories but I don't want to give anything away, they're simply too good to chance it.

World War Z by Max Brooks

World War Z by Max Brooks

This book was recommended by a friend as a potential beginning book for a mans book club. I love the idea of a man book club, whiskey, cigars & manly books. No Jane Austin talk or symbolism. Just and excuse for friends to get together, say if they liked the book and get their drink on. This book however was not my favorite despite it's man book club appeal of a zombie apocalypse with a film on the way. The story was told in the form of interviews from survivors all over the world and I thought it was disjointed, slow and lacking tension. When I read about zombies I want the story to be tense and scary but this book just didn't deliver consistently despite having some good standout stories mixed in. Maybe part of it was because all of the interviews were with survivors so that fact alone dampened some of the tension. I hate to do it but ultimately I wouldn't recommend the book.

Lord of Chaos by Robert Jordan

Lord of Chaos by Robert Jordan
Book 7 in the Wheel of Time series

While this is the seventh book in the series, this is the second book I've read recently after originally starting the series years ago, probably around 2001. While I've definitely matured as a reader since then I still love well written fantasy stories and epic fantasy so it's been refreshing to I've enjoyed getting back into the books but I'm hoping they didn't peak early. I still love the characters, the series plot and the world Robert Jordan has created. My complaints with this book are two fold. One, I didn't really feel like much happened until the end which is ridiculous for a book of over 1,000 pages. Two, he really needed to hammer home the war between the sexes a little ridiculous. I can definitely get past the feud between the sexes however annoying, but the story not progressing is becoming a bigger issue. I think part of the issues is that the story is just taking on such a huge scope that it's hard to include all the plot lines & characters while having them all advance in a significant way. I'm starting to get a better appreciation on why George R.R. Martin kills off so many characters in The Song of Ice and Fire series. Hopefully the upcoming books all have their individual story lines building up to a big series finale, we'll just have to wait and see. Despite those issues I still enjoyed the book and will probably see the series through to the end regardless as I'm only 1 book shy of the halfway point and I hate leaving things unfinished.

Zoetrope; All-Story Vol. 16 No. 4

Zoetrope; All-Story Vol. 16 No. 4

I really enjoyed the 4 stories in this issue but outside of a couple pieces I'm not a huge fan of the art. I've always liked the format of this literary magazine, 3-4 new stories and the last one usually having been adapted to a movie and a different guest designer for each issue.


The Hot War by Tom Paine
Loved this story. It's a sad story about a man dealing with his daughters death after falling through the ice while playing pond hockey. Great surrealism.

An Impending Change of Heart by Emily Ruskovich
This story is about a college age woman who temporarily loses her way. She breaks up with her boyfriend because she starts to feel like things have gone bad but she hasn't realized it yet, then moves back home with her parents and befriends a local 10 year old boy. Loved the main character and was amazingly well written.


Who Now Lies Sleeping by Steven Heighton
Ultimately this story centers around the challenges of a rural older man dealing with his feelings about his gay son. Impactful and heartfelt.

The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner by Alan Stillitoe
I've never heard of this movie but the brief introduction says that it's one of the most important films in British history. It tells the story of a young criminal who reflects on what brought him to be incarcerated as well as being asked to try to win a long distance race for the pride of a reform correctional facility. Honestly it was my least favorite story in the issue but still entertaining.


ART BY JOHN BALDESSARI

This is a good example of the art in the issue and it's my favorite piece. I could see myself hanging this in my home but as I said earlier overall I wasn't a huge fan of the style.

Hockey Talk #3 - Cheap Shots

Lot's of attention across the league this week due to perennial dbad of the year Patrick Kaleta's cheap shot on Brad Richards, Harry Zolnierczyk launching his shoulder right to the dome of Mike Lundin & Taylor Hall's knee to the balls of Cal Clutterbuck. Kaleta aside the other 2 guys don't have a bad rep yet but there's definitely a short list of dirty players. It's pretty bad when there's almost league wide unanimous opinion that the dirtiest players are Patrick Kaleta, Dan Carcillo, Matt Cooke & Raffi Torres. I personally agree and hate all these guys. I also hate guys like Steve Ott and PK Subban who always take minor dirty plays whenever possible but refuse to stand up and answer for it but I digress. The honest truth is that someone's going to end up crippled or dead if the dirty players aren't taken care of. Perfect example is that piece of shit Cook. Now it's debatable about weather or not he meant to cut Karlson's leg during a routine hit on the board but overall since he was warned to clean it up or get kicked out of the league he's made huge strides. Obviously I don't believe he is reformed but he plays much more within the lines now. As a Bruins fan I think Brad Marchand is another guy who has a history of playing too close to the edge and this year has done a great job of taking the dangerous plays out of his game. In contrast, I have no idea how Kaleta hasn't gotten the same warning or at least a lengthy suspension, 5 games is a joke for someone with his history after almost snapping Broadway Joe's neck in half. The pure honest truth is that hockey is a dangerous game, it's fast, guys are HUGE now, everyone has a stick and a wall to smash players into face/neck first. There's just no way that habitual dbags should be allowed to stay in the league. I remember a safety in the NFL safety who I think played for the Cardinals in the early 90's who was kicked out of the league because he used to like to spear guys just below the face mask so their helmets would pop off and go dramatically flying up into the air. Seems like a no brainer, someone does something dangerous to hurt players they get a slap on the wrist, second time same thing happens they should get a major suspension and the third time they can go down to the unemployment office.

Luckily in my opinion this is a really small minority among players and most players aren't trying to end people's careers out on the ice. This game is too good and dangerous when played the right way to allow the bad apples to stay.

Interventions by Richard Russo & Kate Russo

Interventions by Richard Russo & painting by Kate Russo.

I went to the release party for this book at Longfellow Books in Portland where Richard & Kate spoke about the book and then were nice enough to sign it. I was told that the design of this book provided difficult to produce as it's 4 collected books collected together in what I think of as a sleeve. I meant to read the book right away but I've been afraid to damage it as it's so nice. I really like the art that are inspired by each story, it's a nice idea and they talked a lot about how despite being father & daughter they've never worked together on a project before.


The Whore's Child


An elderly nun crashes a college advanced fiction class and tells her own story through the semester long story she tells. She didn't have a particularly happy life as the art with her bloody childhood shoes show.


High and Dry


This is a memoir piece from Richards childhood dealing with his issues of the slow decline of his childhood mill town. It's also deals with his relationship with his mother. I found it really interesting and liked it a lot. The art is purely about the town as in his childhood it thrived because of a glove making factory.


Horseman


This story I read a long time about but didn't remember it all that well that I honestly don't know how to sum up. The main character is an English professor how's having a bit of a midlife crisis and having a hard time feeling connected to her husband and disabled child. Really well written, I felt I could empathize with the main character and her sense of feeling a bit lost. The art is from a child's poem that's interwoven throughout the story and it's the art piece I like best. By far.


Intervention



This was the last story I read in the book, I think because the blurb interested me the most. It's about a middle aged realtor coming to terms with being newly diagnosed with cancer. Sad but hopeful, nice little story. The art is from a listing that he's trying to sell where the owner won't move her boxes of possessions out of her house so it'll be easier to sell.