I remember just before Amy Winehouse died thinking “she’ll be ok, when you’re that rich, that famous, and that obviously spinning out, people are bound to keep a closer watch on you. If paparazzi can follow you 24-7, surely any bottoming out will happen in view of someone who can help.” I don’t know how to review this book but I am really worried for the author. Cat Marnell’s don’t-give-a-fucketry was what drew me to the book, I hadn’t ever read her writing before (that […]
Nature isn’t just something you get away to
I’ve been on a “friends of the library” sale kick lately. I’m cheap and I’m always gonna find cheap books to read, but the EGR library has been on point lately. This impulse buy explores how nature intersects with the city, and how the plants and animals in the average American metropolis thrive in urban landscape, all seen through the fresh eyes of the author’s young daughter. It’s a great idea for a book, but it’s too slight a volume for as many ideas as […]
Fade to blackout
What better way to go out on CBR bingo than on the “this is the end” square for the last of the Old Man’s War series entitled The End of All Things? Poetic. This wraps up the war between the CDF and Conclave (with special guest Equilibrium) in Star Wars fashion – with politics! Ok, im being unduly harsh, Scalzi does what he’s done this whole series to great effect – taking an interesting idea from his last book and expanding on it – particularly […]
Oh the humanity! Too much humanity!
In one of my Old Man’s War reviews I mentioned that Scalzi’s strong suit wasn’t in crafting disparate personality types; his best characters are all (presumably, but I’m confident on the logic) stand ins for John Scalzi, which is fine because I like them all. This book has more than a dozen characters we share a POV with. It’s a lot, and it doesn’t play to the author’s strengths. I had a tough time separating characters for just this reason, and it somewhat undermines Scalzi’s […]
I mean, it WAS
So yes, my bingo square for “The Book Was Better” was indeed filled by a better book than a movie, but I tried to make it the fairest fight in the Harry Potter series; I wonder how much better the movies would have been with Alfonso Cuaron behind the camera for all of them. The filmed sequences that stood out for me were Buckbeak’s execution, the first appearance of the Dementors, and the staging of the adventures with the Time Turner, but honestly, this is […]
I’m not sure I’d do better, and I used to be a teen girl
The more John Scalzi I read, the less convinced I am that he can write characters who aren’t John Scalzi. Mind, that’s not entirely a criticism as I thoroughly enjoy John Scalzi, and so I like all his characters who are very clearly him as well. Same reason I like Bill Murray; you don’t buy a ticket to a Bill Murray movie for the same reason you see a Meryl Streep movie. Disappearing into a role is not the same as embodying a character so […]
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