Category: books

Book 84 in 2013: Proxy by Alexander London @ca_london

9781101625859.600x600-75 This is the post about Proxy.  Proxy is a recent release from Alexander London set in a dystopian cyberpunk future.  Great luxe living is available for a price.  For those who can’t afford it, there are plans and schemes to work off your debts.  The disparity between the bright and shiny people and the poor and downtrodden is striking and frighteningly a possible outcome of our current direction as a society…

Parts of this future world feels familiar.  From Feed, (or google) we have targeted advertising where everywhere we go you find ads that are tailored to you and your personal habits.  From the Whipping Boy, we get the naive hope that young people can be shamed into behaving by watching other people get punished for their misdeeds.  I’m sure numerous other stories have done this, but for some reason I was reminded of Logan’s Run when they *spoiler* flee the city.  I also suggested that I was reminded of Virtual Light but that’s mainly because of the glasses which act as a computer interface.  And all of the talk of blood sacrifice and forgiveness reminded me of the bible. Continue reading “Book 84 in 2013: Proxy by Alexander London @ca_london”

Mysteries of Pittsburgh (3/5) with spoiler

I just finished another book that I assumed wasn’t a Young Adult book but turned out to be yet another coming of age themed book, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh. The only real mystery is why our protagonist is okay leaving some very real issues unresolved and how he will just push people away instead of finding out what happened.

I just watched the trailer for the film and got very upset. One of the major characters has been removed from the plot completely. The dapper homosexual doesn’t exist and instead the attractive protagonist apparently has a dalliance with the scruffy bear biker! What an unlikely pairing.

Continue reading “Mysteries of Pittsburgh (3/5) with spoiler”

MOST ANTICIPATED NEW BOOK OF 2014: Noggin by John Corey Whaley (@corey_whaley)

Noggin comp rev2 Guys, I’m excited.  I’m sure there are other books that are coming out in 2014.  Probably not a new Harry Potter book.  Maybe some new entry in a series about paranormal vampires from space.  Who cares, right?  But let me tell you I’m super excited about a book that was just announced today:  Noggin by John Corey Whaley. Continue reading “MOST ANTICIPATED NEW BOOK OF 2014: Noggin by John Corey Whaley (@corey_whaley)”

I WON A PRIZE! Wally Lamb signed copy of She’s Come Undone

The FedEx man just dropped off a small box containing a signed copy of She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb, signed by the author!  I don’t really remember entering it but I do recall this is one of those books that’s supposed to be good.  Not just because Oprah thought it was worthy of her O, but I remember seeing (at least one) English teacher reading it so many years ago.  Anyways, fantastic!

In which I try to drum up traffic to my blog by posting an excerpt from the new Dashner book, The Eye of Minds

Michael spoke against…

I was thinking that perhaps I could post the first sentence out of some of the ARCs I picked up at BEA and really a whole sentence isn’t like totally plagiarizing especially if I then review the book because I believe copyright does allow for that sort of use.  I’m sure the publishers wouldn’t appreciate it since most ARCs have warnings that the contents may change before final publication.  (strokes chin)  Regardless of whether or not the publishers would object to this, I feel like it would be mean to me to try and tease you like that. Continue reading “In which I try to drum up traffic to my blog by posting an excerpt from the new Dashner book, The Eye of Minds”

Media Mail Delivery! The Post Office comes through…

Hey … did you know that there is a cheap way of shipping via the Post Office?  Well specifically shipping books (and I think CDs and DVDs as well).  It’s called Media Mail and it’s a bit of a secret because I don’t think I’ve ever seen it posted on the wall in the post office.  Just be warned that your packages may be inspected and it may take a while for delivery.  I sent my five envelopes out of my favorite Post Office (New York City by Penn Station) on Thursday and they arrived today which I am told is Wednesday.  Coast to Coast in under a week!  I wish I had priced what FedEx would have charged so I can compare but if you want to ship out a book…try media mail.  Also, anticipate it getting beat up in the process so try to protect it unless you don’t care how it arrives.

BEA 2013 Haul post

I find other people posting about all the things they got annoying and obnoxious so of course I’ve done one myself … because when you confess your own hypocrisy it stinks just a little bit less.

I could wait until all of my books come home to me … I mailed some to myself because I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to transport them all.  These fears may have been unnecessary and since I didn’t pay for the tracking information there’s no way of knowing if those five media mail envelopes will ever arrive.  But they were the less important books to me and I felt that losing them wouldn’t be a great loss.  Shall we begin?  I may also talk about books I purchased on my trip…do people do haul posts on purchases?  Of course they do.  Exhibitionist shoppers.  My goodness I’m becoming some capitalist stooge. Continue reading “BEA 2013 Haul post”

BEA

I want to say things about BEA but I think my body is in a state of shock and wants to rest. I did a lot of walking yesterday generally unassisted by stimulants. Or food.

I did end up mailing some padded envelopes back home via media mail. I thought I was being good and not binging on ARCs but I went through at the end and just started grabbing things. And then the bag was getting heavy so I tried to find a second bag to distribute the weight … proper haul blog to come. Maybe. Or more likely a further discussion on shipping books when away at a convention.

David Sedaris at Aunties Bookstore in Spokane

I was going to write a post about how I saw David Sedaris at a bookstore in Spokane, Washington. I was going to do it soon after seeing him so my memory would be fresh.  Well sadly I did not remember to draft a post.

David Sedaris is a humorist and this author appearance was basically a reading with some q&a.  He didn’t just read from his new book; he also read from pages in his diary.  Which of course suggests that there was some additional value to come see him.  He was perhaps a little more randy than I expected… but I’m glad we live in a day and age where it’s not forbidden to make jokes about leaving teeth marks in a persons genitals.  It’s fairly safe to say that I enjoyed it.

A downside to David Sedaris was how much time he spent with each person in the signing line so the line moved very slowly.  He took the time to draw pictures and find semi-appropriate stickers and he signed all of my books and had a conversation and I think I want to go back and re-read everything.

He did suggest that sometimes he is contractually forbidden from making appearances within a certain radius.  So if he was at UCLA, he wouldn’t be able to go to Vromans because it’s within a hundred miles.  And that upsets me.  UCLA … I didn’t like it when the Festival of Books was on your campus and I don’t like it when you keep David Sedaris all for yourself.

I’m going to strut across the country to BEA

The next few weeks I’m going to hit the skies, roads and rails as I make my way to the Bookexpo America in New York by way of Washington.  It’s not like that time I went from Los Angeles to Denver via New York (thanks JetBlue).  But really.  This is the plan:

Fly from Burbank to Seattle.  Fly from Seattle to Spokane.  Drive from Spokane to Seattle.  Drive from Seattle back to Spokane.  Fly to Seattle and then fly to Newark.  Somehow get out of New Jersey and spend time in glorious New York.  Probably via train?  Attend BEA for a few days.  Take a train down to DC.  Fly back to Los Angeles.

No idea if I’ll post my trip or if I’ll put it back on tumblr or what.  But … I’m not going to be able to go to my book club meeting.  I am reading the book though.  Promise!