"This isn't Metropolis, Captain, and not just because our guy works at night.": Gotham Central

It's been awhile! Sorry! And this post is a little different. I've been reading a lot of Batman lately, so I decided to post about one of the lesser known series. At least, lesser known by me. The authors are fairly well known, and there are a few, so I'm not going to write to them.

Basically Gotham Central (Amazon) is about the police force of Gotham City. The Batman series has always been pretty big on the strange relationship the police force has with Batman-do they prosecute his vigilantism or enlist his aid? And is it his fault that suddenly Gotham has a bunch of more insane than usual criminals running around?

Batman does appear (how could he not?) but really, the focus is on the police officers. I really like the viewpoint it provides. They are all human, fleshed out characters, instead of the filler they often are in the Batman series.

I've only read the first two of the trade paperbacks so far, but you should definitely check these out if you love the world Batman is set in.

I have another book to write about, so maybe I'll get to that tomorrow! See you then!

"I want to fall on the sidewalk right there and drag myself into the ivy.": Jay Asher

Thirteen Reasons Why (Amazon) by Jay Asher took me forever to get through. I don't even want to write a blog entry about it at this point. However, I will soldier on through.

Thirteen Reasons Why is about a girl (Hannah Baker) who commits suicide. Before she dies she records tapes, which are directed at certain people, explaining how they played a part in their suicide. They are only intended to be listened to by the people on the tapes, but if they don't pass the tapes on to whoever they're supposed to, the tapes will be released publicly. Honestly, I think that in itself is rather horrible. But then some of her reasons are so petty... it left me rather frustrated with her.

The book is narrated by one of the people who receives the tapes. I won't give away why he's on the tapes... but when I finally found out, I was pretty annoyed. I don't like the narration style either-it jumps between the tapes and the narrator, and sometimes it gets a little confusing. Maybe that's because I was reading quickly, trying to get through the book.

Honestly, I'm glad I can't find contact information for Jay Asher. However, there is one thing I want to say in this book's favor: it appears to have had a positive impact on many people's lives. If you go to http://13rwproject.com, you'll find a ton of people who loved this book. What can I say? Maybe I just didn't get it.

See you next time!

Let's Talk About Independent Bookstores

Hello everyone! I apologize for my absence. I've been fairly busy. Right now I'm in the middle of two books. One is Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher and the other is Bikini Planet by David S. Garnett. They are two very different books.

However, today I wanted to talk for a little bit about used & independent bookstores. Over the weekend, I went to an awesome book store in Cleveland. It's called Mac's Backs and their website is here. If you're in the area you should totally check it out. I got all 6 books you see to the left for about 15 dollars. It was pretty awesome.

Anyway, I don't particularly like to preach, but I just wanted to encourage everyone to support their local independent bookstores. Clearly, the bigger bookstores are having trouble-imagine how it is for smaller bookstores. They're definitely not easy to find, at least where I am. I'm going to be honest: I order almost everything off of Amazon. I only shop at Barnes & Noble and Borders when I have a gift card. However, I do like to pop into used bookstores whenever I spot them. You never know what you might find! I just discovered that Bikini Planet was only released in the UK.

Okay, that wraps up my preaching. Hopefully I finish something to write about soon. I'm not exactly loving Thirteen Reasons Why, so it's a bit of a struggle. We'll see though! Have a great day!

Author Reply: Jane Linskold

I got a quick reply from Jane Linskold, author of Brother to Dragons, Companion to Owls. She said she still loves her novel and the original Betwixt and Between (the main character's dragon stuffed animal) has a "place of honor" in her office.

In other news, I've read a few graphic novels lately, though all by more known authors. However, I think they're worth making a post about, next time I don't have anything to post about. Some books on my To Be Read list include:
Snow Flower and The Secret Fan by Lisa See
Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
City of Dreaming Books by Walter Moers
and a ton more. So we'll see what I get to next! See you tomorrow!

"I am a brother to dragons, a companion to owls.": Jane Linskold

Brother To Dragons, Companion To Owls (Amazon) by Jane Linskold is a book I actually read years ago. Well, I've read it multiple times-probably around five or six. Basically, I really like this book. I decided to write about it because I haven't made an entry in awhile, and I didn't have any new books to write about. Plus, I think it deserves teh recognition.

So, it appears that since Brother To Dragons, Companion To Owls, Lane Linskold has been up to quite a bit-I'll have to check out some of her other books. Actually, a little fun fact: apparently the book was reissued in 2006 (I had the 1994 version) and the cover you see on the left is not the original cover. I couldn't find a picture of the original cover, unfortunately. Anyway, good for Jane Linskold! But onto talking about the book at hand.

Brother To Dragons, Companion to Owls is the story of a woman named Sarah, who has recently been ejected from the Home, which is basically like a mental hospital. She carries a stuffed animal dragon around with her, and can only speak in quotes. She also has a hidden ability-she can talk to inanimate objects, and find out things like who has been in a room lately. Eventually she finds a home with the Pack, a group of runaway teens who steal and prostitute themselves for money (though some do things more legitimately), and makes friends. However, soon someone comes looking for her, and her unique talents. Someone dangerous.

So I really like this book. The concept was rather unique, and the story was told well. I recommend it to anyone who likes science fiction or fantasy. Anyway, here is my letter:
"I read Brother To Dragons, Companion to Owls years and years ago-and many, many times. I just recently found it again, and decided to write to you. I saw, in looking for your email address, that it has recently been reissued (well, five years ago...), so congratulations for that. I also saw that you have written quite a bit since then-I'm going to have to check out your other books. But, I just wanted to say, I really loved Brother To Dragons, Companion to Owls when I first read it, and every rereading since. Thanks for writing such an awesome novel! Good luck with all of your future projects!"

Hopefully I'll post again tomorrow! See you then!

Follow Friday

Sorry for the lack of posts lately... I haven't been reading as much as I'd like. However, it's time for a Follow Friday post!



How/Where do you get your books? Do you buy them or go to the library? Is there a certain website you use like paperbackswap?

I mostly buy my books from Amazon-I had a trial of Amazon Prime that just ran out (free two day shipping is the best) and now I need to decide if I'm going to actually get a real subscription or not. Sometimes I buy from bookstores but not usually unless I have gift cards. I also use netgalley.com.



What do I do when I am not reading?

Work, write, hang out with people.

"Life is always full of next chapters, some of them never written.": Ed McBain

Ed McBain, writer of Nocturne (Amazon) is a very prolific author (apparently he also goes by Evan Hunter). I simply had never heard of him before. I must say, I'm a little saddened by that.

Nocturne was a wonderfully traditional murder mystery, following a few sets of detectives as they tried to solve different cases. It was the sort of novel that comes to my mind when I hear the word "gritty detective novel." I really enjoyed it. I must caution any potential readers though: there is a rather gruesome murder involving a bread knife, that made me feel slightly ill. However, McBain did a rather good job of keeping things to a reasonable amount of gore.

Here is what I wrote to Ed McBain:
"I just finished reading Nocturne. It was the first novel of yours I've read, though I can see you have quite a number of them available. I just wanted to tell you I really enjoyed it. I'll most certainly be picking up more of your books in the future."

Time for my next book! Not sure what it will be yet, but I'll post when I'm done with it!