Corey Redekop's Blog, page 43

Monkey droppings - The Republic of Nothing, by Lesley Choyce

Monkey likes this book.

'nuff said.




The Republic of Nothing
Lesley Choyce (1994)

My father declared the independence of Whalebone Island on March 21, 1951, the day I was born. It was a heady political time even on the Eastern Shore of Nova Scotia. New, pint-sized nations were emerging all over forgotten corners of the globe and my old man decided that the flowering of independence should not pass us by.

Ever loved a book? I mean, really loved a book? Loved it so much that your passion overwhelms ...

Monkey droppings - Two for a Chilly September Morn

The shelf monkey has been very, very lax on blog updates and reviews of late.

The monkey apologizes.

The monkey has good reasons, however; some selfish, some not.

The monkey will remain mum on that for the time being.

But in the meantime, the monkey throws you a couple of quickies, to mask his abject shame.

Bad monkey. BAD MONKEY! BAD MONKEY!

Seven Good Reasons Not to be Good
John Gould (2010)

What if Zane isn't actually good at all? What if he's just clever - clever enough to give his compulsion a...

Monkey droppings - The Warhol Gang by Peter Darbyshire - "My mind is full of other people's mottos."

The Monkey ponders the irony of writing about anti-consumer literature on a Mac.

Life is too short for such imponderables.


The Warhol Gang
by Peter Darbyshire (2010)

I wander the mall to distract myself from whatever's wrong with me. The mall's tunnels go everywhere in the city - under the streets, up through walkways connecting office towers, into bus-station lobbies and hospital cafeterias. I don't think the mall has a beginning or an end. The mall is a part of everything or maybe everything...

Prepare yourself - the official book trailer for YOU comma Idiot, by Doug Harris

In my travels, I've come across many novels I've adored, and authors I've come to love with almost fearsome passion. My latest man-crush is on Doug Harris and his upcoming novel YOU comma Idiot - and before you say it, yes, I am his publicist, what of it? Does that negate my opinion entirely? It's a great book!

Either way, I had no control over the following book trailer, which is all Doug, and all spectacular. So many trailers seem to forget that they are centered around a book, which makes f...

Monkey droppings - Solar by Ian McEwan

The monkey confronts the concept of aging.

The monkey gets depressed.

The monkey confronts the concept of a grilled cheese sandwich instead.


Solar
by Ian McEwan (2010)

He belonged to that class of men - vaguely unprepossessing, often bald, short, fat, clever - who were unaccountably attractive to certain beautiful women. Or so he believed he was, and thinking seemed to make it so.And it helped that some women believed he was a genius in need of rescue.

Michael Beard is in need of rescue, but not in...

Monkey droppings - The Dead Republic by Roddy Doyle

The Monkey leisurely finishes an epic trilogy.

And speeds through a review.

The monkey enjoys contrast.

The Dead Republic
by Roddy Doyle (2010)

I'd cycled every inch of every lane of this country. I'd lobbed bombs from most of the ditches. Bullets had slowed me down, but nothing had ever stopped me. Thirty years ago. Only thirty years. It wasn't a lifetime. I looked at my hand, at yellow, knuckled bone. The hand had once held guns and women. I closed my fingers and felt nothing.
I used to be...

A chance to be published!

Are you talented with a pen? Smart with a narrative? Bulging with imagination? Is your filing cabinet bursting with unsold tales of adventure, lust, and/or ennui?

The lovely people at Joyland would like to help. The website, devoted to the art of the short story (an art that, sadly, I have nowhere near mastered - diarreha of the mouth, I believe it's know as), is launching its own eBook imprint to showcase the best that North America has to offer. And for its 2011 title, they want to solicit o...

Monkey droppings - Precious by Douglas Glover - "I was left hanging, a dumb guy in the snow...mouth open and a one-way ticket to Nowhere."

The Monkey seeks crime in northern climes.

Has there been a murder? Has some stolen a moose? Has someone badmouthed Canadian beer?

So many choices.


Precious
by Douglas Glover (2004)

I count it a major personality defect, pernicious naiveté, if you want to give it a name, that after two decades of adulthood, a career in the papers, three marriages, and countless skirmishes with the perfidy of human nature, all I could do was look into her eyes and believe every word she said.

I would not hesitate...

Critical Monkey! The Final Conflict!

Alright, everybody! Huddle up and unclench your bowels, the year-long nightmare is officially kaput!

Final tally:

Acceptance (seven reviews)

Lori L
Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen
Roses of Glory by Mary Pershall
Spock's World by Diane Duane
A Texan's Honor by Leigh Greenwood
Star Wars: Rebel Dawn by A.C. Crispin
Twilight by Stephanie Meyer *ineligible for contention*
Love Comes Softly by Janette Oke
The Outlaws of Mesquite by Louis L'Amour

Corey Redekop
Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
The Justice Riders by...

Monkey droppings - So Dark the Night by Cliff Burns: "Zombies vomitting maggots, blood-thirsty ravenors, that sort of thing?"

The monkey cannot come up with an adequate pun to introduce this review.

All out of monkeyshines today.

Wait...did that count?


So Dark the Night
by Cliff Burns (2010)

One of the drawbacks of being virtually immortal, the way the sins accumulate, across centuries of villainy, avarice and deceit. The victims who refuse to rest easy, their roaming spirits bent of revenge.

As I've said in previous posts (oh, go look them up yourself), there are a few themes and/or predicaments in the arts that always e...