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June 03
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Adam
gave
 
to:
Mother, Come Home (Paperback)
by Paul Hornschemeier
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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Adam said:
"Paul Hornschemeier writes a heart-breaking book. There's no getting around that. Nor, after reading "Mother, Come Home" is there really any desire to.
Death is one of life's inescapable parts, and this books deals with it on many differe...more
Paul Hornschemeier writes a heart-breaking book. There's no getting around that. Nor, after reading "Mother, Come Home" is there really any desire to.
Death is one of life's inescapable parts, and this books deals with it on many different levels. I'm pretty sure this is autobiographical, seeing as that Paul's uncle (referenced and drawn at several points throughout the book) draws the introduction. It grants its reader a squirmingly intimate look at grief and loss through the eyes of a small boy.
Paul's mother has recently died, and in the wake of this tragedy, he embraces fantasy and escapism as a means of coping. His father, whom he lives with, is profoundly wounded by the loss himself, meaning that during his gradual mental breakdown and withdrawal from the world, he is little to no help to young Paul.
Instead, routine shows itself as what it truly is: both something that can save and something that can deny. In trying to keep the daily routines alive in his home as his father collapses in upon himself (eventually being hospitalized), the boy is broken himself, finally realizing he is unable to maintain a falsehood: his mother is not alive, and he and his father are not "okay".
Further sadness and tragedy occur, but the moments of sweetness, although they are few, are breathtaking.
My wife asked me why I would choose to read something so sad, particularly as I deal with it throughout my days as a therapist. My answer doesn't entirely make sense even to me, but I hold to it:
"There are things that need to be experienced, statements that need to be heard, and books that need to be read. They may be dark, or sad, or heartbreaking, but they deserve to be felt."...less
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March 24
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Adam
gave
to:
Beowulf (Paperback)
by Gareth Hinds
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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read in March, 2008
Adam said:
"When I was a young fellow, I had a version of the famed epic poem that this graphic novel is based upon. I don't know if it was a translation, a gentling of the original for kids, or even a version on tape. I vividly remember, however, feeling that...more
When I was a young fellow, I had a version of the famed epic poem that this graphic novel is based upon. I don't know if it was a translation, a gentling of the original for kids, or even a version on tape. I vividly remember, however, feeling that evil was incarnated in many ways within the beast, Grendel, and that in the writing & reading of what I read, I felt almost touched by the writhing darkness that the character was. Not "touched" as in "moved" or "emotionally connected with" - no, more "touched" as in the lingering feel that a slug's slime has upon the hand of one who brushed it off, violently casting it to the wind in a shudder of revulsion.
The artistry in this graphic novel adaption is pretty well done - at times, I struggled to follow the physical movements of the main character, broken up in varying windows as they were (particularly during times of battle).
Overall, a decent addition to the long line of variations of Beowulf that have presented themselves, weaponless before the beast, throughout the years....less
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Adam
is currently reading:
Prayers for a Privileged People (Paperback)
by Walter Brueggemann
bookshelves:
currently-reading
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my rating:
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Adam
is currently reading:
Torture and Eucharist: Theology, Politics, and the Body of Christ (Challenges in Contemporary Theology)
by William T. Cavanaugh
bookshelves:
currently-reading
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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Adam
gave
to:
The Arrival (Hardcover)
by Shaun Tan
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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read in February, 2008
Adam said:
"Shaun Tan's deft touch with pencils, graphite, and the like leaves me pretty much breathless. This book is gorgeous, and I could spend hours at a times coaxing details out of each of his pages.
The actual content of the story, while empowered by T...more
Shaun Tan's deft touch with pencils, graphite, and the like leaves me pretty much breathless. This book is gorgeous, and I could spend hours at a times coaxing details out of each of his pages.
The actual content of the story, while empowered by Tan's artwork, would probably carry itself, were it made of words rather than drawings. A man, his family, and an experience reminiscent of the millions that streamed through Ellis Island, eager and terrified of their new world. Tan's world, however, is entirely new. Reality is made new in these pages, and one must not attempt to shape what is found here to fit their own understandings.
Instead, let yourself be carried.
Gorgeous....less
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February 18
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Adam
gave
to:
Speaker for the Dead (Ender's Saga, Book 2)
by Orson Scott Card
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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read in February, 2008
Adam said:
"Mark was right. This is probably even better than Ender's Game, and offers its reader a much more studied, moving portrayal of ethics, morality, and the game-play within the question that haunts its pages: "What does it mean to be human?"
...more
Mark was right. This is probably even better than Ender's Game, and offers its reader a much more studied, moving portrayal of ethics, morality, and the game-play within the question that haunts its pages: "What does it mean to be human?"
Perhaps one day I'll become a tree....less
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Adam
gave
to:
The Farther Shore (Hardcover)
by Matthew Eck
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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read in February, 2008
Adam said:
"War stories can be saccharine, in that they gag you with blatant, militant jingoism that crows about the glories of "brotherhood" in the face of death. War stories can also be deeply disturbing, calling into question the very essence of hu...more
War stories can be saccharine, in that they gag you with blatant, militant jingoism that crows about the glories of "brotherhood" in the face of death. War stories can also be deeply disturbing, calling into question the very essence of humanity (and whether or not we who kill each other can be called "human" after all). I wouldn't say that this book falls into either camp neatly. There's certainly no jingoism here. Instead, I'd say that by keeping the conflict nameless, it becomes a modern Everywar, representative and reminiscent of many recent conflicts (i.e. Somalia, Iraq).
The Farther Shore follows a small group of soldiers in an unnamed city in an unnamed country. The soldiers are bare in their details as well, but their humanity (for better and for worse) is readily apparent. There is needless violence and squalor here, questions raised that have no answer (and only serve to enrage us when people do try to offer one for them). These soldiers are abandoned by the military that sent them to this city, and over weeks, they attempt to make their way somewhere, anywhere other than where they are. Death is present, and it is hideous to see, but it is not a blunt instrument. Bullets are ugly but precise here, and I am left feeling grateful that I have never had to fire one myself.
I'm uncertain what to say about this short novel, other than I'm glad to have read it....less
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December 31
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Adam
gave
to:
Lord of Chaos (Wheel of Time, Book 6)
by Robert Jordan
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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read in February, 2008
Adam said:
"Here's the deal: I love this dorky series, and it's been keeping me entertained for the past couple of months. Hardcore. I'm eating it for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and all of the snacks in between. My wife's still on book #1, having introduced me...more
Here's the deal: I love this dorky series, and it's been keeping me entertained for the past couple of months. Hardcore. I'm eating it for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and all of the snacks in between. My wife's still on book #1, having introduced me to the series in the first place, and is now getting annoyed and frustrated with my frantic, devouring pace of reading. I'm trying to slow down, truly, but it's a difficult thing when I just can't quite get enough.
What I can get enough of is this freaking cover artist. The last book cover was bad enough, but this? Is Rand al'Thor now the artistic representation of Fabio, shirt billowing over his rippling muscles while he stands, gruff, considering, his feathered hair barely moving in the breeze? What the crap is going on in this cover painting?!? The woman bridging the spine is apparently two women in one, her girth astounding the masses. Then again, maybe she's a secretly Siamese character I have yet to meet, born with two bodies fused together under one head. Maybe that explains her width, and I'm just being a nasty judger. Dang.
Great series, good book so far, crappy cover art. The end....less
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Adam
gave
to:
The Fires of Heaven (Wheel of Time 5)
by Robert Jordan
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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read in November, 2007
Adam said:
"It's funny, because if you read other's reviews of this book, you'll notice that folks start to split into two camps. They're either ridiculously addicted and love it, or they're getting frustrated. They don't want a 400 plus page book in a series ...more
It's funny, because if you read other's reviews of this book, you'll notice that folks start to split into two camps. They're either ridiculously addicted and love it, or they're getting frustrated. They don't want a 400 plus page book in a series that should have been a trilogy. They don't like the fact that Jordan is "getting all epic on your ass" in this continuing study of the adventures of our characters. They don't like the fact that there are 1239724897923489084 more books after this one in the series.
I'm first-camping it. Yep.
I personally love the fact that I'm not finished with this book and done with the series. It ain't over, folks... not by a long shot. I'd say "Keep 'em coming", but Robert Jordan died and the 12th book is probably being written by someone else, so that phrase isn't likely to be crazy-fulfilled. Still, dang.
Keep 'em coming....less
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oh! and i have a reason why you should come to duke. they are looking to hire jeremy begbie !
alas, I have arrived.
