I read The Game not long after it came out. It’s a fun, crazy, bizarre story about the world of pick-up artists. It’s not really about how to pick up women, but about the loose collection of losers who charge other losers a high price to share their secrets. Neil doesn’t really fit in with these guys, but he does end up getting pretty good at getting women’s phone numbers. He doesn’t seem too interested in calling most of them though. In The Truth, we find Neil a few years later. He’s a sadder and wiser fellow now. He realizes that it’s wrong to want to have sex with…
Category: book review
Dead Ice
Laurell K. Hamilton wrote the first Anita Blake book in 1993, so it is a bit odd when Anita mentions how old she feels, now that she’s 31, instead of the 46 she should be. Of course, being the Human Servant of a Master Vampire, she’s not aging much anyway. Dead Ice starts off like an old fashioned Anita Blake Vampire Hunter book. There’s a bit of zombie raising that doesn’t go exactly as planned followed by a call from the Authorities that they need her help on a case. Be still my heart, monster and slayer action! Then we…
The King’s Justice
I’m so used to waiting ten or fifteen years for a new work from Stephen R. Donaldson, that I was totally shocked to see The King’s Justice. There are two novellas here, The King’s Justice and Augur’s Gambit. Both are set in magical worlds where the use of magic takes its toll on its users. These are stories with big words and often bothersome names. The cast of Augur’s Gambit includes Inimica Phlegathon decry the Fourth, the Queen’s Hieronomer, and her daughter Excrucia. Geez Louise. On the flip side, the hero of the King’s Justice is named Black. The stories…
Ready Player One
That 80’s Nerd Book. Ready Player One tells the story of the future, told through the eyes of a man forced to relive the 1980s. In the future, VR has taken over. Everyone spends most of their time jacked into the Matrix, here called The Oasis. They use Virtual Reality Headsets and gloves, and the richer folks use full body systems. Our hero, however, is not a rich guy. He’s a poor schmuck who lives in a stack of trailers outside of OKC. The creator of The Oasis dies, after becoming very rich, and he proclaims he will leave it…
The Soul of an Octopus
A lion named Cecile was killed by a lowlife dentist not too long ago. This was big news. Pro-Lion and Pro-Hunter formed groups. He was Evil! He was just thinning the Herd! It was a hot topic on the Morning Shows. The gang at CBS Morning News were all outraged that this great cat was killed. A bit later, they talked about a new restaurant. A fun place where you picked out the fish you wanted to eat from a live tank. The fish was then killed, cooked, and served right in front of the customers. The very same self…
Brain on Fire:My Month of Madness
I grew up with a bit of madness around me. My older brother was bipolar, my older sister was also a bit nuts, but she was never officially diagnosed with anything. Over the years I’ve had plenty of moments when I felt a bit crazy myself. I’ve read a lot of books on the brain and it’s usually a scary bit of business. As one doctor put it, we are all one head injury away from being someone else. Susannah Cahalan is a reporter who discovers that she is slowly loosing her mind. At first she is able to notice…
Secondhand Souls
The further adventures of Asher and Co. Asher the dead Beta Male returns as a crocodile headed Squerril Person-who has a ten inch penis that he keeps wrapped around his waist as an erection causes him to faint. We also see Minty Fresh, The Emperor of San Fransico, and the rest of the gang from the other books in this series. If there are cameos from other books I didn’t notice them this time. Fisher Stevens returns to read the audio book and does the same brilliant job he’s done on the other Christopher Moore books he’s read. There are a…
10% Happier
When the student is ready, the teacher will appear. Dan Harris is a TV News Anchor who appears to have spent a good deal of time feeling sorry for himself. He’s kind of a smug fellow with a nice soothing voice. He does a good job of reading his book and delivering the gags and one liners that fill all the space between the Zen talk. But Dan isn’t happy about his super successful life…because he’s not Walter Cronkite or his personal idol, Peter Jennings. The fact that there are no Cronkites or Jennings in the modern world doesn’t seem…
The Shepherd’s Crown by Terry Pratchett
The last Discworld book by Terry Pratchett. Book Number 41 is about Tiffany Aching and the Discworld Witches. While we get a few flashes of the larger Discworld, Death, Hex, Vetinari, etc – this is mainly a tale of Witches and Elves and the Nac Mac Feegles. These have never been my favorite characters. I hate the Nac Mac Feegles. I would have preferred the last novel to be about Moist or Rincewind, but then, this was a pretty good book. The standard Sir Terry formula has been to find a downtrodden group, such as Golems or Trolls or Dwarves or Goblins and show that…
It Doesn’t Suck. Showgirls
A book that explores the deeper meaning of Showgirls. [easyazon_link identifier=”1770411747″ locale=”US” tag=”londonthoug-20″]It Doesn’t Suck[/easyazon_link] is what the hero of [easyazon_link identifier=”B004TJ1GVK” locale=”US” tag=”londonthoug-20″]Showgirls[/easyazon_link] says whenever she likes something, such as a sports car or a bottle of champagne. The title should not be taken to mean that Showgirls doesn’t suck. In fact, the book is a balancing act between calling the Showgirls a work of art and a piece of shit. He makes a case for both arguments. Adam Nayman gives us a bit of background about director Paul Verhoeven, writer Joe Eszterhas, and actress Elizabeth Berkley. There is a…