Crazy is a story about a guy who is scared to death that he'll end up insane like his dad.
His dad doesn't work, but can be found pulling his own teeth, attempting to listen to the radio while fully clothed in the bathtub, or running around with an ancient roman helmet on his head and tinfoil on his ears to keep out the Furie's voices.
The Furies, by the way, are Medusa and her two sisters. All three have snakes for hair and can turn a man to stone with a glance.
Every time the boy, whose name is Jason (for Jason and the Argonauts) comes home, he gets asked "Apollo! Any news from the front?" His middle name, by the way, is Apollo.
Did I mention the dad is Greek?
When he was six, his dad buried him alive so the Furies wouldn't get him. He was saved by his mother, but he still gets nightmares, especially since his mother had a stroke and passed away. She was a wedding and nature photographer, and the one who brought most of the money into the house. His father's few books on Greece didn't make much money.
Nowadays, he and his father live in an old house that's always cold because the heating is too expensive. There is almost no furniture, because Jason had to sell it all in order to buy food, which there is very little of at this point. He is a growing teenager and the only real food he gets is from the school lunch program.
He's trying his hardest to take care of his father and keep him out of the mental hospital, while at the same time battling his own mental issues. He has no friends, and trusts no one due to an incident in the fifth grade. Instead of friends, he has an audience and laugh track in his head. Yes, you read that right, an audience and a laugh track. Oh, and you're in there too. The audience is more or less his conscience, his confidence, his insanity, and his common sense, but he named them.
Rather than blend in like he wants to, he keeps acting up in school, getting the teacher's attention. Not in any mean way, he just does stupid stuff, like mess up the dates on all his papers and call Captain Ahab "Cap'n Ahab" when he was writing about Moby Dick.
He got warning after warning and finally his grades dropped and he started flunking everything, and now he's being sent to the school psychologist because the dates he's picking are the same dates as those when his mother got the stroke and died.
Things are not looking up in Jason's point of view. All he wants is to be left alone with his audience and take care of his dad, but now he's expected to share secrets with a group of other kids with family problems.
Overall, it's a good coming of age story, but if I give away any more, you'll have no reason to read it!
Crazy doesn't belong to me, I'm not Han Nolan, nor am I crazy myself.
-Kj
Showing posts with label Books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Books. Show all posts
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Crossing the Tracks by Barbara Stuber
Crossing the Tracks is a story about a girl named Iris whose father doesn't seem to care about her anymore. He owns a shoe shop, so he cares a great deal about footwear and having the right pair of shoes for every occasion, and he's dating a woman Iris can't stand, but he doesn't seem to notice Iris other than her getting in the way.
One day, she finds out that he's sending her off to live with a doctor and his mother, neither of whom she had met before, and be a caretaker for the doctor's mother. She boards the train with the perfect shoes for the occasion, stiff as they may be, and exits the train barefoot.
Over the summer, she learns a great deal about herself and the people around her. She helps a girl she can't stand, and gains a new interest in an old friend.
It's a good story, and as it is focused around a doctor's household, there are some of the most hilarious remedies for ailments I've ever heard of.
The story is sad at times, but not a downer. There is love, but it is not strictly a romance. Happiness, but not clownish. Overall, it's a great mix, with good storytelling and fantastic characters. I'm looking forward to reading more from this author.
-Kj
One day, she finds out that he's sending her off to live with a doctor and his mother, neither of whom she had met before, and be a caretaker for the doctor's mother. She boards the train with the perfect shoes for the occasion, stiff as they may be, and exits the train barefoot.
Over the summer, she learns a great deal about herself and the people around her. She helps a girl she can't stand, and gains a new interest in an old friend.
It's a good story, and as it is focused around a doctor's household, there are some of the most hilarious remedies for ailments I've ever heard of.
The story is sad at times, but not a downer. There is love, but it is not strictly a romance. Happiness, but not clownish. Overall, it's a great mix, with good storytelling and fantastic characters. I'm looking forward to reading more from this author.
I'm not Barbara Stuber, nor did I write the book for her.
-Kj
Legacy by Thomas E. Sniegoski
Hey guys, I've been up to my neck in summer reading and I have some highlights for you.
The first book in my pile is called Legacy and it's by a guy named Thomas E. Sniegoski. This is a story about a regular guy named Lucas, just living his life as a mechanic at this tiny little shop in the middle of nowhere. He's eighteen, dropped out of high school, lives with his mom, and doesn't really have much of a future outside the auto shop.
One day, he gets paid a visit by some guys from his old school. The leader is mad because Lucas made a comment about his girlfriend, so they get in a fight. Lucas is winning when he gets stabbed in the gut by the angry leader. The other guys run away while Lucas sinks to the floor. He pulls out the knife and he's pretty sure he's going to die when his boss comes in and sees the giant blood stain on his shirt. The boss gets kinda freaked out, but Lucas is feeling better. He lifted his shirt and... nothing. No gaping hole where his guts should have been, no ache, not even a scratch. But suddenly he's famished, so he heads across the street to the diner where his mom works and gets lunch.
A day or two later, an old man with a brand new Mustang pulls into the auto shop. There's nothing wrong with the car, the man just wanted to talk with Lucas. He has news. The man is really the Raptor, the superhero in charge of protecting Seraph City, and Lucas is his son.
Check it out, it's a good, fast read, but not totally mind candy. I had fun with it.
-Kj
The first book in my pile is called Legacy and it's by a guy named Thomas E. Sniegoski. This is a story about a regular guy named Lucas, just living his life as a mechanic at this tiny little shop in the middle of nowhere. He's eighteen, dropped out of high school, lives with his mom, and doesn't really have much of a future outside the auto shop.
One day, he gets paid a visit by some guys from his old school. The leader is mad because Lucas made a comment about his girlfriend, so they get in a fight. Lucas is winning when he gets stabbed in the gut by the angry leader. The other guys run away while Lucas sinks to the floor. He pulls out the knife and he's pretty sure he's going to die when his boss comes in and sees the giant blood stain on his shirt. The boss gets kinda freaked out, but Lucas is feeling better. He lifted his shirt and... nothing. No gaping hole where his guts should have been, no ache, not even a scratch. But suddenly he's famished, so he heads across the street to the diner where his mom works and gets lunch.
A day or two later, an old man with a brand new Mustang pulls into the auto shop. There's nothing wrong with the car, the man just wanted to talk with Lucas. He has news. The man is really the Raptor, the superhero in charge of protecting Seraph City, and Lucas is his son.
Check it out, it's a good, fast read, but not totally mind candy. I had fun with it.
By the way... My name isn't Sniegoski, this is not my book, I'm just the reviewer.
-Kj
Monday, April 11, 2011
Five Flavors of Dumb
Hey, I recently read a new book titled Five Flavors of Dumb by Antony John.
It's about a deaf girl who goes to school to find that a band is playing on the front step. They're playing so loudly, she can feel the vibrations of the music pulsing through her. They won a contest recently, so they get to record some of their songs, but there are a few problems... They play individually, not together so there's no cohesiveness. Their tempers get riled up very easily. They play mainly covers of other songs, so they would need to ask permission and probably pay the original songwriter royalties for that if they were to record it. And they don't have a manager.
That's where our deaf girl, Piper comes in. She agrees to manage the band, and with the help of her talented guitarist brother and the guy she plays chess with, they work on pulling the band together.
Some problems... The lead singer is an arrogant jerk, the bass player (lead singer's brother) hardly ever speaks, the lead guitarist has an extremely short temper, and there's no drummer. They also lack a second guitarist.
If I keep telling you how it goes, you'll have no reason to read it, so go read it!
It's a good read for the teens, though it might not be appropriate for kids.
Oh, and is my name Antony John? Actually, you don't know for sure, do you? But just trust me. I did not write this book. It's a good read, but not mine.
-Kj
It's about a deaf girl who goes to school to find that a band is playing on the front step. They're playing so loudly, she can feel the vibrations of the music pulsing through her. They won a contest recently, so they get to record some of their songs, but there are a few problems... They play individually, not together so there's no cohesiveness. Their tempers get riled up very easily. They play mainly covers of other songs, so they would need to ask permission and probably pay the original songwriter royalties for that if they were to record it. And they don't have a manager.
That's where our deaf girl, Piper comes in. She agrees to manage the band, and with the help of her talented guitarist brother and the guy she plays chess with, they work on pulling the band together.
Some problems... The lead singer is an arrogant jerk, the bass player (lead singer's brother) hardly ever speaks, the lead guitarist has an extremely short temper, and there's no drummer. They also lack a second guitarist.
If I keep telling you how it goes, you'll have no reason to read it, so go read it!
It's a good read for the teens, though it might not be appropriate for kids.
Oh, and is my name Antony John? Actually, you don't know for sure, do you? But just trust me. I did not write this book. It's a good read, but not mine.
-Kj
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Bloody Jack
Hey bloggers, blog-readers, and web-surfers,
This afternoon I finished a very interesting tale by the name of...
Bloody Jack: Being an Account of the Curious Adventures of Mary "Jacky" Faber, Ship's Boy
Anyways, it's all about this girl named Mary whose family died of the pox or the plague or some such awful disease, so she's living on the streets with her gang. We're in London in the late 1700's, and the life of a girl on the street isn't the best.
Among her friends is the leader of the gang, Charlie. He has dreams of going out to sea and seeing what there is to see. One day, after begging for pennies, Mary goes out looking for Charlie and finds him dead. She then resolves to carry out his dream of going out to sea. There's only one problem; she's a girl.
She took Charlie's clothes though, and she has yet to hit puberty, and she cut her hair, so she doesn't much look like a girl, but that doesn't change facts. She made her way down to the docks and got herself a spot as a Ship's Boy on the HMS Dolphin. The first few problems made their way quickly, among them being she soon gained a fancy for another of the Ship's Boys, a man named Sloat seems to know what she is, ...Or does he? And the men all share a bathroom and she can't be seen sitting down every time she has to use it.
Some other problems wait awhile to surface... Things like finally hitting puberty and growing in all the wrong places to look like a boy, her mates starting to distrust her, and finally telling Jaimy- excuse me, showing Jaimy she's a girl, only to have to hide his sudden interest in her from everyone else. ...It's kinda hard to kiss your new boyfriend unnoticed when you're on a ship with a huge crew and several good friends and no one can know you're a girl.
Overall, it was an excellent story. Jacky was very, very believable. So were the rest of the characters, actually, but since it's told from Jacky's point of view, you can see just how real she is. She's a real person, for a moment. She has real fears, real moments of bravery, real sneakiness, real soft-heartedness, and a real ability to cuss out her buds when they tease her. (Though she only describes how she swears at them, you hardly ever see it happen.) And throughout the book you can see not only how she grows by her own description, but how she matures by her language. Towards the beginning, she had a thick accent, not at all ladylike, while as you get closer to the end, little by little, her speech becomes more sophisticated. That's probably one of my favorite parts, actually being able to physically see the main character grow by her language changing.
I read a lot of books, and usually I can see right through them. The main character has no faults, or there are continuity gaps, or the use of language is way off, or something, but not this one. This one was superb, I'll not be forgetting it anytime soon.
I gotta rate it at least PG-13 though, not for younger readers. Older teens will probably enjoy it.
Til next time!
-Kj
This afternoon I finished a very interesting tale by the name of...
Bloody Jack: Being an Account of the Curious Adventures of Mary "Jacky" Faber, Ship's Boy
Anyways, it's all about this girl named Mary whose family died of the pox or the plague or some such awful disease, so she's living on the streets with her gang. We're in London in the late 1700's, and the life of a girl on the street isn't the best.
Among her friends is the leader of the gang, Charlie. He has dreams of going out to sea and seeing what there is to see. One day, after begging for pennies, Mary goes out looking for Charlie and finds him dead. She then resolves to carry out his dream of going out to sea. There's only one problem; she's a girl.
She took Charlie's clothes though, and she has yet to hit puberty, and she cut her hair, so she doesn't much look like a girl, but that doesn't change facts. She made her way down to the docks and got herself a spot as a Ship's Boy on the HMS Dolphin. The first few problems made their way quickly, among them being she soon gained a fancy for another of the Ship's Boys, a man named Sloat seems to know what she is, ...Or does he? And the men all share a bathroom and she can't be seen sitting down every time she has to use it.
Some other problems wait awhile to surface... Things like finally hitting puberty and growing in all the wrong places to look like a boy, her mates starting to distrust her, and finally telling Jaimy- excuse me, showing Jaimy she's a girl, only to have to hide his sudden interest in her from everyone else. ...It's kinda hard to kiss your new boyfriend unnoticed when you're on a ship with a huge crew and several good friends and no one can know you're a girl.
Overall, it was an excellent story. Jacky was very, very believable. So were the rest of the characters, actually, but since it's told from Jacky's point of view, you can see just how real she is. She's a real person, for a moment. She has real fears, real moments of bravery, real sneakiness, real soft-heartedness, and a real ability to cuss out her buds when they tease her. (Though she only describes how she swears at them, you hardly ever see it happen.) And throughout the book you can see not only how she grows by her own description, but how she matures by her language. Towards the beginning, she had a thick accent, not at all ladylike, while as you get closer to the end, little by little, her speech becomes more sophisticated. That's probably one of my favorite parts, actually being able to physically see the main character grow by her language changing.
I read a lot of books, and usually I can see right through them. The main character has no faults, or there are continuity gaps, or the use of language is way off, or something, but not this one. This one was superb, I'll not be forgetting it anytime soon.
I gotta rate it at least PG-13 though, not for younger readers. Older teens will probably enjoy it.
Til next time!
-Kj
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
A True and Faithful Narrative
Well I haven't been my usual cheery self today, and it was noticed... I was asked more than once if I'm depressed and what I'm bummed about, when honestly, I have no idea. Anywho, I spent my morning finishing up A True and Faithful Narrative.
It's about a 16 year old girl living in England in the year 1861 (I think). Her passion is writing and she spends a lot of her time putting together short stories and verses when she isn't reading or minding her father's bookshop (her father doesn't like the fact that she's writing). She's also of the right age for marriage. Which, to be honest, is a bit scary! Getting married at 16?? I know it was the custom then, and marriage even earlier wasn't uncommon, but I find that in that respect, there's no way I could live back then. I'd want to be 10 years older, at least. But that's just me.
Anyways, one day, she's sitting at the counter reading a book and a friend of hers pops by to see if she's got a specific story for him. She refers him to a different shop, and before he leaves he lets her know that he's going on a ship to Italy (I think, I could be wrong), and does she want something from there? And maybe... Is there something special he could look forward to coming back to? She, not being what you'd call a romantic, said he could bring back a tale of him being captured by pirates and enslaved. ...Then she said she was kidding. Dang! Way to let a guy know you're not interested!!
He leaves, and a few months later his father dies. They send word to him, and he hops on the first ship heading for London. ...Unfortunately, that one is taken by pirates and he is enslaved. A ransom is requested and he must wait there until it is met.
Of course, the girl, Meg, is absolutely scared to death that what she said in jest was part of what caused his capture, so she pretty much appoints herself to be the head fundraiser for the ransom. Her father's apprentice, who is usually rude to her, starts to have a change of heart and helps her out. It isn't long before he makes his feelings known to her too.
A story of a love triangle that gives a very interesting look into the past, this story was well told and actually written as though by Meg herself.
I recommend it to girls who have a taste for historical fiction and romance stories.
Til Tomorrow!
-Kj
It's about a 16 year old girl living in England in the year 1861 (I think). Her passion is writing and she spends a lot of her time putting together short stories and verses when she isn't reading or minding her father's bookshop (her father doesn't like the fact that she's writing). She's also of the right age for marriage. Which, to be honest, is a bit scary! Getting married at 16?? I know it was the custom then, and marriage even earlier wasn't uncommon, but I find that in that respect, there's no way I could live back then. I'd want to be 10 years older, at least. But that's just me.
Anyways, one day, she's sitting at the counter reading a book and a friend of hers pops by to see if she's got a specific story for him. She refers him to a different shop, and before he leaves he lets her know that he's going on a ship to Italy (I think, I could be wrong), and does she want something from there? And maybe... Is there something special he could look forward to coming back to? She, not being what you'd call a romantic, said he could bring back a tale of him being captured by pirates and enslaved. ...Then she said she was kidding. Dang! Way to let a guy know you're not interested!!
He leaves, and a few months later his father dies. They send word to him, and he hops on the first ship heading for London. ...Unfortunately, that one is taken by pirates and he is enslaved. A ransom is requested and he must wait there until it is met.
Of course, the girl, Meg, is absolutely scared to death that what she said in jest was part of what caused his capture, so she pretty much appoints herself to be the head fundraiser for the ransom. Her father's apprentice, who is usually rude to her, starts to have a change of heart and helps her out. It isn't long before he makes his feelings known to her too.
A story of a love triangle that gives a very interesting look into the past, this story was well told and actually written as though by Meg herself.
I recommend it to girls who have a taste for historical fiction and romance stories.
Til Tomorrow!
-Kj
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Jerk, California by Jonathan Friesen
I'm up to book... 15? 16? of my pile of 33. I got started on Deadline this morning and finished Jerk, California yesterday evening.
Jerk, California is about this guy Sam, who when he turned 6, found that he inherited Tourette's syndrome from his father who died when he was a baby. His stepfather can't stand that his stepson is twitchy and as a result, can barely stand him.
As a result of the Tourette's, Sam gets twitches and tics, he'll jerk, his shoulders jump and his hands will clench and unclench. Sometimes he'll even blurt out stuff that he didn't intend to say, all involuntarily. Sure, if he thinks about it and really focuses, he can stay still for a few minutes, but it hardly ever lasts long.
A side-effect is that he gets teased a lot in school. He's considered a freak, an outcast, and a jerk because he can't control himself. He goes through his life with the realization that no one will ever accept him no matter what he does.
Fast forward to graduation day. His tics and outbursts end up making him a fool out of himself. Someone sitting behind him was whispering things into his ear and he couldn't help but blurt out "additions" to the speech that was being said. It came time for him to walk up to the podium and recieve his diploma, but he was so humiliated that he ran away. He runs all the way to a garden, where he meets George who doesn't appear to really care about or notice his twitches. He just sees Sam for who he is; a man named Jack who's got to start following his father's footsteps.
Unfortunately Sam trusts his stepfather who fed him a lot of garbage about his real dad, saying he left his mom in a snowstorm and his car was found wrapped around a telephone pole with another woman and a lot of beer.
Can George (who was friends with Sam's dad) show him the truth? Will Sam let him? Will he accept that his name wasn't Sam in the first place? And why exactly was his real dad out in a major snowstorm 18 years ago? Will Sam (or Jack) ever find someone out there who doesn't mind the twitches and tics? Why was his named changed from Jack to Sam?
I'll leave you to figure that out. Don't worry, I didn't reveal much of it. Maybe a couple chapters of 50 or so.
Overall, it's a really good story about finding who you are, the importance of a name, and realizing that even if there is something that makes you not quite perfect (like Tourette's syndrome), someone out there will accept you for your personality and not reject you for twitching.
Thanks for listening. If you read it, let me know what you think. And some feedback is most appreciated, I need to know stuff like... Am I telling too much? Am I leaving too much out? Suggestions? Comments?
Til tomorrow!
-Kj
Jerk, California is about this guy Sam, who when he turned 6, found that he inherited Tourette's syndrome from his father who died when he was a baby. His stepfather can't stand that his stepson is twitchy and as a result, can barely stand him.
As a result of the Tourette's, Sam gets twitches and tics, he'll jerk, his shoulders jump and his hands will clench and unclench. Sometimes he'll even blurt out stuff that he didn't intend to say, all involuntarily. Sure, if he thinks about it and really focuses, he can stay still for a few minutes, but it hardly ever lasts long.
A side-effect is that he gets teased a lot in school. He's considered a freak, an outcast, and a jerk because he can't control himself. He goes through his life with the realization that no one will ever accept him no matter what he does.
Fast forward to graduation day. His tics and outbursts end up making him a fool out of himself. Someone sitting behind him was whispering things into his ear and he couldn't help but blurt out "additions" to the speech that was being said. It came time for him to walk up to the podium and recieve his diploma, but he was so humiliated that he ran away. He runs all the way to a garden, where he meets George who doesn't appear to really care about or notice his twitches. He just sees Sam for who he is; a man named Jack who's got to start following his father's footsteps.
Unfortunately Sam trusts his stepfather who fed him a lot of garbage about his real dad, saying he left his mom in a snowstorm and his car was found wrapped around a telephone pole with another woman and a lot of beer.
Can George (who was friends with Sam's dad) show him the truth? Will Sam let him? Will he accept that his name wasn't Sam in the first place? And why exactly was his real dad out in a major snowstorm 18 years ago? Will Sam (or Jack) ever find someone out there who doesn't mind the twitches and tics? Why was his named changed from Jack to Sam?
I'll leave you to figure that out. Don't worry, I didn't reveal much of it. Maybe a couple chapters of 50 or so.
Overall, it's a really good story about finding who you are, the importance of a name, and realizing that even if there is something that makes you not quite perfect (like Tourette's syndrome), someone out there will accept you for your personality and not reject you for twitching.
Thanks for listening. If you read it, let me know what you think. And some feedback is most appreciated, I need to know stuff like... Am I telling too much? Am I leaving too much out? Suggestions? Comments?
Til tomorrow!
-Kj
Sunday, June 21, 2009
The Princess Bride
A special hello to all you dads (and dads to be)!
Yesterday I was watching The Princess Bride with my dad, and well, I figured I'd write about it. Most of you out there have probably seen it at least once (I've only met one person who hadn't, and we remedied that issue later that evening), but it's a classic, so here's my summary!
It starts out pretty basic, girl (Buttercup) meets boy (Westley), Buttercup torments Westley to no end, but he loves her anyways. She finds out he loves her and loves him back... Then 'cause they're dirt poor, he goes off to the country across the sea to seek his fortune (to later come home and get married) and never comes back due to a pirate attack (the Dread Pirate Roberts never leaves survivors). Buttercup is devastated, to put it gently. She later describes it as "I DIED THAT DAY!"
Fast forward five years.
Westley is still dead (duh), and Buttercup is engaged to Prince Humperdink. Still not happy, she was picked for her looks though Humperdink does an ok job of pretending to love her. She goes out horseback riding, gets kidnapped by a Turkish giant (Fezzik), a Sicilian genius (Vizzini), and a Spaniard swordsmen (Inigo Montoya). They bring her to a boat to cross the channel and kill her on the frontier of the opposite country, Guilder (sworn enemy of Florin, Humperdink's country) to start a war. Halfway across the channel or so, Inigo realizes they are being followed by a boat all in black and Buttercup jumps off their boat to be eaten by shrieking eels.
I'll leave off there with the same reassurance a grandfather spoke to his grandson "She doesn't get eaten at this time."
Tis an excellent movie. Sure the monsters aren't freakishly realistic, but they're not supposed to be. It's a mixed up fairy tale, not a horror story. It's got a cast with a lot of people you'll probably recognize, and the story is superb. It never gets old no matter how many times you see it, and it's a LOT of fun to quote lol they've got some awesome lines in there.
Another thing, and I'll quote the grandpa and grandson here to illustrate my point;
"A book?"
"That's right. When I was your age, television was called books. And this is a special book. It was the book my father used to read to me when I was sick, and I used to read it to your father. And today I'm gonna read it to you."
"Has it got any sports in it?"
"Are you kidding? Fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles..."
"Doesn't sound too bad. I'll try to stay awake."
"Oh, well, thank you very much, very nice of you. Your vote of confidence is overwhelming."
Basically it's got something for everyone. I read the book too, and it's even better than the movie. There are a few differences, as is normal when switching between a book and movie of the same title, but nothing too bad. I highly recommend them both. If you're the analytical type however, watch the movie first so you don't get upset that they changed a couple things in the book. Nothing too big was changed, but you gotta remember that they have to fit a few hundred page book into a movie that is no more than a couple hours long.
Questions? Comments? Write it in the comment box!
Oh, and before I forget, the movie isn't mine, nor are any of the other movies that I've written about thus far.
'Til tomorrow!
-Kj
Yesterday I was watching The Princess Bride with my dad, and well, I figured I'd write about it. Most of you out there have probably seen it at least once (I've only met one person who hadn't, and we remedied that issue later that evening), but it's a classic, so here's my summary!
It starts out pretty basic, girl (Buttercup) meets boy (Westley), Buttercup torments Westley to no end, but he loves her anyways. She finds out he loves her and loves him back... Then 'cause they're dirt poor, he goes off to the country across the sea to seek his fortune (to later come home and get married) and never comes back due to a pirate attack (the Dread Pirate Roberts never leaves survivors). Buttercup is devastated, to put it gently. She later describes it as "I DIED THAT DAY!"
Fast forward five years.
Westley is still dead (duh), and Buttercup is engaged to Prince Humperdink. Still not happy, she was picked for her looks though Humperdink does an ok job of pretending to love her. She goes out horseback riding, gets kidnapped by a Turkish giant (Fezzik), a Sicilian genius (Vizzini), and a Spaniard swordsmen (Inigo Montoya). They bring her to a boat to cross the channel and kill her on the frontier of the opposite country, Guilder (sworn enemy of Florin, Humperdink's country) to start a war. Halfway across the channel or so, Inigo realizes they are being followed by a boat all in black and Buttercup jumps off their boat to be eaten by shrieking eels.
I'll leave off there with the same reassurance a grandfather spoke to his grandson "She doesn't get eaten at this time."
Tis an excellent movie. Sure the monsters aren't freakishly realistic, but they're not supposed to be. It's a mixed up fairy tale, not a horror story. It's got a cast with a lot of people you'll probably recognize, and the story is superb. It never gets old no matter how many times you see it, and it's a LOT of fun to quote lol they've got some awesome lines in there.
Another thing, and I'll quote the grandpa and grandson here to illustrate my point;
"A book?"
"That's right. When I was your age, television was called books. And this is a special book. It was the book my father used to read to me when I was sick, and I used to read it to your father. And today I'm gonna read it to you."
"Has it got any sports in it?"
"Are you kidding? Fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles..."
"Doesn't sound too bad. I'll try to stay awake."
"Oh, well, thank you very much, very nice of you. Your vote of confidence is overwhelming."
Basically it's got something for everyone. I read the book too, and it's even better than the movie. There are a few differences, as is normal when switching between a book and movie of the same title, but nothing too bad. I highly recommend them both. If you're the analytical type however, watch the movie first so you don't get upset that they changed a couple things in the book. Nothing too big was changed, but you gotta remember that they have to fit a few hundred page book into a movie that is no more than a couple hours long.
Questions? Comments? Write it in the comment box!
Oh, and before I forget, the movie isn't mine, nor are any of the other movies that I've written about thus far.
'Til tomorrow!
-Kj
Friday, June 12, 2009
The First Book!! (Finally!)
Yesterday I finished reading The Host by Stephanie Meyer for the second time. I kinda had to re-read it, not because I liked it, but more because I was really prejudiced against it the first time I read it. I had to try it again with an open mind.
Basically I didn't particularly care for what I had heard about Ms. Meyer's stories and I had a lot of bad reviews and Mary Sue accusations floating around my head the first go around and that's just not very fair to her. She did what I can't, she's got the guts to get her stories out there, no matter how insane they may or may not be, so I gotta at least give her a chance, so I did.
...And it's still insane. It's an ok story, if you're a sci-fi kind of girl who also happens to enjoy love triangles and other romantic-ey things, if you're willing to look past the sheer craziness of it all, it's ok.
I'll give a summary.
These parasite things living on a different planet have to latch onto a host body to live. Eventually they expand in their travels and land on earth. The parasites are really timid and do everything for the good of their community. They wouldn't hurt a fly. So what happens when they take earth for a spin? Does their gentle nature override the fighting, violence loving humans who seem to have no other redeeming quality? Sorta. Not all the way though. The parasites (they like to be called "Souls") take on some of the habits of their hosts, including everything from a love of junk food to a love of certain specific other people, even though the body's original mind is long gone.
What happens is this, a Soul is stuck in a human woman who knew what was going on before she got taken, so when the Soul wakes up, the original owner of the body wakes up too. Kinda odd having two voices in one brain, but that's what happened. The body (whose name is Melanie) loves this guy named Jared with everything she has, and loves her little brother with even more (definitely not in the same way), so as a result, it influences the soul inside her to fall for Jared and have the same maternal instincts toward Melanie's brother, Jamie.
Melanie never goes away like she is supposed to, so she shows the Soul (whose name is Wanderer) what she knows about finding her family, so they set off. Eventually they find each other, and everything would be happy except Jared and Jamie found a whole community of other non-parasite infested humans and don't want a Soul in their place. They scare the crap out of Wanderer (who shall henceforth be known as Wanda) due to threatening with guns and clubs and knives and trying to kill her and stuff.
Eventually she earns most of their trust, but Melanie is still inside her and gets really jealous when Jared kisses her, and really freaking mad when this other guy, Ian, who just likes Wanda, kisses her (she doesn't particularly care for Ian and she feels like Jared is cheating on her with a Soul). So... Wanda has a dilemma. She doesn't want to lose Melanie, but she's tired of getting yelled at for kissing Ian (who wants Wanda) and Jared (who wants Melanie). She can be transplanted, but it's kinda messy, and who would want a parasite in their brain anyways?
But yep, to those of you who are interested in that kind of thing, go right on ahead and check it out. Not a bad story at all, just kinda farfetched for my taste. ...Ok, really farfetched for my taste. I don't really plan on reading Stephanie Meyer's other books (vampires aren't really my thing). After all that kissy-face overload and stuff I think I need something less romantic. Hmm... I was given Dunk about a month ago, maybe I'll try that one out.
Later!
-Kj
Basically I didn't particularly care for what I had heard about Ms. Meyer's stories and I had a lot of bad reviews and Mary Sue accusations floating around my head the first go around and that's just not very fair to her. She did what I can't, she's got the guts to get her stories out there, no matter how insane they may or may not be, so I gotta at least give her a chance, so I did.
...And it's still insane. It's an ok story, if you're a sci-fi kind of girl who also happens to enjoy love triangles and other romantic-ey things, if you're willing to look past the sheer craziness of it all, it's ok.
I'll give a summary.
These parasite things living on a different planet have to latch onto a host body to live. Eventually they expand in their travels and land on earth. The parasites are really timid and do everything for the good of their community. They wouldn't hurt a fly. So what happens when they take earth for a spin? Does their gentle nature override the fighting, violence loving humans who seem to have no other redeeming quality? Sorta. Not all the way though. The parasites (they like to be called "Souls") take on some of the habits of their hosts, including everything from a love of junk food to a love of certain specific other people, even though the body's original mind is long gone.
What happens is this, a Soul is stuck in a human woman who knew what was going on before she got taken, so when the Soul wakes up, the original owner of the body wakes up too. Kinda odd having two voices in one brain, but that's what happened. The body (whose name is Melanie) loves this guy named Jared with everything she has, and loves her little brother with even more (definitely not in the same way), so as a result, it influences the soul inside her to fall for Jared and have the same maternal instincts toward Melanie's brother, Jamie.
Melanie never goes away like she is supposed to, so she shows the Soul (whose name is Wanderer) what she knows about finding her family, so they set off. Eventually they find each other, and everything would be happy except Jared and Jamie found a whole community of other non-parasite infested humans and don't want a Soul in their place. They scare the crap out of Wanderer (who shall henceforth be known as Wanda) due to threatening with guns and clubs and knives and trying to kill her and stuff.
Eventually she earns most of their trust, but Melanie is still inside her and gets really jealous when Jared kisses her, and really freaking mad when this other guy, Ian, who just likes Wanda, kisses her (she doesn't particularly care for Ian and she feels like Jared is cheating on her with a Soul). So... Wanda has a dilemma. She doesn't want to lose Melanie, but she's tired of getting yelled at for kissing Ian (who wants Wanda) and Jared (who wants Melanie). She can be transplanted, but it's kinda messy, and who would want a parasite in their brain anyways?
But yep, to those of you who are interested in that kind of thing, go right on ahead and check it out. Not a bad story at all, just kinda farfetched for my taste. ...Ok, really farfetched for my taste. I don't really plan on reading Stephanie Meyer's other books (vampires aren't really my thing). After all that kissy-face overload and stuff I think I need something less romantic. Hmm... I was given Dunk about a month ago, maybe I'll try that one out.
Later!
-Kj
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