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• Michel Houellebecq

There’s another fun last name for you to play with and an author I had been eyeing for a while, particularly his other popular novel “Platform”, but for whatever reason I started with this one instead. It is a short read, a little more than 200 hundred pages, and a fast read, relating the life of two half brothers, born out of a mother that, pretty much never wanted to be one and should not have been allowed to become one. But things happened, and they boys were born and separated, living with their respective families, namely grandparents that chose to take care of them.

It is a hard life for the boys, a life of torment for Bruno and of solitude for Michel, who early on realize they have only themselves to see them out of this cruel world they have been birthed into. One of them becomes a mediocre writer, part time teacher and complete sex-a-holic, the other becomes a rather successful biochemist/physicist who…really has very little sex at all. This book relates, in a rather documentary-style, the life of the two boys, through their childhood, their adolescence and their adulthood, with every jarring detail attached, from the painful to read to the too arousing to read.

Oh…and then there is the little bit dealing with metaphysical mutations, which is explained to you right off the bat, in the first few pages. A metaphysical mutation being the sort of event that changes the world as a whole. For example, you take Christianity. One day we are happy as random people, then comes Jesus, people start Christianity and bam, you got yourself a changed world. Then comes science, which proves evolution and challenges the fundamentals of Christianity and BAM you got yourself another changed world………and them comes Michel Djerszinski, who does not even know what he is about to change the world. In fact, even I as the reader could not see how this man would do what the first few pages promised…until you get to the end and you are just like….damn……

For that ending alone, this book is worth the read. Just be aware, if you thought Choke had too much sexual content…this one will ensure you get another ‘think’ on the way.

Rating: 4 out of 5
Category: Fiction - What the eff just happened-fiction

• David Mitchell

There are books that just…grab you by the throat and pick you up and slam you over the desk time and time again and leave you all disheveled, with a weird tingly feeling in the nether regions and the idea that you have just had your mind blown.

This is such a book. Or at least it was for me. Imagine taking Italo Calvino’s “If on a winter’s night a traveller” concept and actually wrapping it up. Those of you familiar with the Calvino novel (if not search my threads below, I have a review for it somewhere) know that he took essentially like…ten stories and started telling them to you before it is somehow hopelessly interrupted and another story is started. Here, Mitchell writes what some people have referred to as a Russian Doll of a novel. You know those dolls you can open up at the middle and then there is another doll inside of it, and then you open that one up and HEY! another doll and then you open up that one and WTF!!! yet another doll and so forth? Yeah, this is sort of like that.

There are six stories, all of them spanning about a century and a half in history, maybe a little bit more. Six stories that may seem entirely unrelated, though, as you read into them, you begin to see just how tightly interwoven they all are. There are subtle references and some very overt ones, but part of the joy in this book is reading foreshadowing and not even knowing it because it applies to another story you have not even started.

The stories, even separated from the over all work are all very intriguing, each with its own challenges. Some thrilling, some amusing, some gripping, some outright wild, Mitchell switches gears on you better than an F-1 racer and he leaves you wanting more. Fortunately, unlike Calvino, he takes you to the end, and then bothers to come right back and give everything else a respectable wrap. The only thing is, the very first story, which takes place just before the turn of the 20th century, as are all of the other stories, is written in a era-specific fashion. Be prepared to learn a whole new vocabulary. I literally had to sit by the computer in this one and look stuff up. But after that, the language becomes a lot more familiar…that is until you get to the stories that are told in the future and then even a dictionary won’t help A buy, hands down.

Rating: 5 out of 5
Category: Fiction - Pure Awesomeness.

• Yann Martel

Kudos to Yann for taking The out of the title and just starting with the word Life. It sounds a lot more engaging that way. And kudos to my wife for convincing me to read this. She bought it a good half a year before I even heard of it and she read it on her flight to Hawaii and came back raving about it and I gave her the ‘whatever, I am already reading really good stuff so nyah!’ roll of the eye. And then, my pile of good stuff ran empty and I found myself scrounging my house for a read like a junkie needing a fix and all there was in the house was this book. So I picked it up and oh boy am I glad I did!

Imagine a young boy, a young West Indian boy who is so religious that not any single religion seems to be enough. Hinduism is not enough. So he adopts Christianity and Islam as well and he keeps up with all the rituals and all the prayers and everything that his pastor/mentor/priest/whatever expects of him while living with his family in a zoo, because zoo-keeping is the family business. Well then, one day due to hardships they decide to move to Canada and they pack all the animals and get on a big ship.

The ship sinks, everybody dies.

Everybody except for young Pi, who finds himself in a lifeboat with a few other crew mates, namely an aggressive hyena, a sea-sick orangutan, a zebra with a broken leg and an honest to goodness Bengal friggin’ tiger. Needless to say, one by one lives are being lost in the raft and help is not on its way. Soon enough it is down to the boy and the tiger.

“This raft…is not big enough for the two of us.”

That’s not a quote from the book, I am just saying, it gets really interesting with some of the most cleverly written and amusing insight and heartfelt moments I have read on paper. This one, ladies and gents, is a buy, not just a run to your library so you can drop it back off later. Don’t be stingy.

Rating: 5 out of 5
Category: Fiction - Awe-freaking-mazing insanity on a life boat.

• Paul Auster

A bit of an old school read here, and by old school I mean, more mid 20th Century, not freaking Shakespeare, but you can definitely tell in the way tell in the way this book unfolds. That is not necessarily a bad thing, but it does have a bit of the slower pace that the older folks may feel more comfortable with and that the younger folks might get frustrated at. That is not a bad thing, you just need to learn to hone your patience and focus…grasshoppah!

The story here is about a dude that is pretty much in the dumps. His wife and kids are dead, literally all of them left his life in the same tragic accident and he has figured that alcohol poisoning over the months will be the solution to his problems. That is until he decides to throw himself head first into a research assignment regarding an actor/director of the silent era, who is pretty much unknown. Working on it not because he is intersted, but because he is postponing putting the bullet to his head by doing this, the dude pretty much puts together the kick-ass-most book regarding the subject. And wouldn’t you know it, this man, whom they all thought was dead, given his mysterious disappearance, happens to be alive…except…well not he is really dying. And then things really get good!

A very fun read, this one, but as I said, a bit old school in feel, sort of like reading Camus. Not that they have anything in common (or maybe they do and my ignoramus self does not realize it), but that is how it sort of felt, like reading The Plague all over again. The story unfolds soft of in two, the story of the dude writing the book and dealing with…dammit I should just use their actual names. The dude is henceforth known as David and he is writing a book about Hector Mann, who was believed dead. And so you are getting two stories here for the price of one, the one in the present dealing with David and old Hector and the one in the past that examines the enigma that is young Hector and the interesting and unique life he has led. All in all a very worthwhile read, which may not have all the thrills you may want from a book, but gives an interesting insight on us humans and grief…my only complaint, was the predictability on the love thing that happens between David and what’sherface…I saw it coming a mile away.

Rating: 4 out of 5
Category: Fiction - Kind of thriller? Maybe? With drama and lots of drinking.

• Chuck Palahniuk

If you can not pronounce the author’s last name, do not dispair, neither can 95% of the rest of the population. What matters here is that what you are getting in this book is some of the nitty gritty you saw in Survivor and not the watered down stuff you saw in Haunted. This book, has gone on to become my favorite Palahniuk book, though I still think Fight Club may be able to dethrone it, once I frigging read it, for now this one wears the crown.

It is the messed up story of a lonely guy who works as a Colonialist…he basically dresses up old school (literally) and plays the part of a Colonial Era in a Museum-type town. I visited a place like that up in Georgetown. Kind of creepy, those places, like the renaissance festival without the turkey legs. Anyway, this guy is really messed up and lonely, taking care of his mom at an old people’s home and getting his sexual kicks as well as his economic woes by choking.

If that does not send you rushing out to the bookstore, I do not know what will. But I do warn, beware of the sex and the language and the plain messed up ideas this man will put into your head which are entirely un-washable. Still, I gobbled this up in a weekend, because it is one of the most original and actually touching stories I have read in a while…and its actually sort of a love story. Seriously.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Category: Fiction - Messed up

• J.K. Rowling

This is it, the last of the series and I finally got around to it. By the time this is up on the net it will be entirely obsolete because everybody that cares will have already read it. So why am I still typing this?

Not exactly sure.

As expected, this book wraps up the last year of schooling for the young Wizards who had no idea the mess they were in for when they started their first year in Hogwarts. Hunted by pretty much every organization in authority which has fallen to the Death Eaters (either willingly or otherwise), Harry, Hermione and Ron are on the run, hunting down Horcruxes, in an effort to get to Voldemort before he becomes too powerful.

No Quidditch matches this time around…hell, there is not even school for the main characters who find it too dangerous to even attend. What results is a wrap up of the first six years in a pretty satisfactory manner that ties up all the lose ends and explains all of those characters that felt like they were hanging up in the air.

If you enjoyed the first six books, there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that you will enjoy this one. If you have not enjoyed the first six books…I think this one is probably the strongest and you would enjoy it, but, there is no point in reading the conclusion to a series without knowing the body of it, particularly since this time around Rowling does not do such a good job at refreshing us on what happened in book six. So, at some points, you do have to do some recollection to remember who a particular character is. Though in the end, it all does add up nicely and even if you forgot the details of book six, by the time you finish this one it all makes sense. In other words: no, it is not necessary to go back and re-read The Half Blood Prince.

However, just as was the case with the other books, this is still an adolescent sort of literature. There is no challenge here and no mind blowing plot complexities. It is simple, entertaining reading that goes by in a blink, but by no means an astounding work of literature.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Catergory: Fiction
Notes: On my rating, I am giving it 4.5 out of 5 on that level of reading, which, as I have explained above, is more on an adolescent level.

• Max Brooks

This is a frightening book and not so much because of the zombies. It is a reporter’s account of the personal tales told to him while working for a report given to the international community after the war to retake the earth from the zombies, an event warmly dubbed, The Zombie War or as the book title holds, World War Z.

Told in vignettes, accounts from people all over the world, the book breaks down a very comprehensive account of how things started, what our major mistakes were, how we were almost eradicated as a race and how the world managed to pull their collective heads out of their respective arses and pulled themselves together.

But as with any good horror book, it is not so much the monster that is the subject of this movie that is frightening, but the realism of the world and its reactions to it. Here, Brooks presents the reader with a series of stories that range from heartwarming to disturbing; from cowardly to heroic; from sad to uplifting. Maneuvering from one narrator to the next, what one gets mostly out of this book, is how Brooks has given though to every small detail of a catastrophe like this were it to ever actually happen.

A fun, fast paced read that is broken up in small segments that are ideal for the reader that only finds themselves reading in small amounts of time. If you enjoyed The Zombie Survival Guide by the same author, this book follows right up the same alley with much more finesse and impressive craftsmanship.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Category: Fiction - Horror, Sci-fi

• Lawrence Wright

Somebody, in the praise for this book found on the back cover, and I can not remember who it was, said this book ought to be required reading for every American. I completely agree with that statement. This is by far one of the best and most interesting Non-Fiction reads I have gotten my hands on in a very long time. And given the last few years, this is knowledge that would serve every one of us when thinking over the issues of the Middle East.

Unfolding almost like a novel, Wright takes us back to the 1940’s and gets us acquainted with Qutb, the man often said to be the father of contemporary Islamic fundamentalism. And with extensive research and precise detail, he does on to unfold a very comprehensive, incredibly detailed and surprisingly understandable history of Al-Quaeda, Bin Laden and Al-Zawahiri.

Suddenly, a lot of the names that were brought up on the news all this time, gain some sort of root. Events that are often reference now make sense, everything is put into perspective in a what that finally gives the reader a sense of understanding for a topic that is not only complex and intricate but it is based on an entirely different culture that needs to be understood in order to begin to see where men like those that make up Al-Qaeda come from.

Without ruining the book by pointing the finger and placing blame, Wright simply tells the facts and does his best to give the reader an picture that will make it easier to understand a number of foreign concepts that come into play.

And added into the mix, the author also adds in a few chapters dealing with men in the FBI and CIA that played crucial roles, particularly John O’Neill who could have perhaps been the one person to prevent the calamities of 9/11.

Narrated in chronological order, this read is eye opening, suspensful, detailed and at times both frightening and sickening. It takes you from the infancy of Al-Zawahiri and Bin Laden, it tells of the creations of the Muslim Brotherhood, Al-Jihad and Al-Qaeda and the eventual unification that became the deadly terrorist organization we know today.

Full of revelatory moments, I can not push this book enough. If you are at all interested in learning more about the subject, look no further, this book is the best start you could get!

Rating: 5 out of 5
Category: Non-Fiction - Historical
Notes: There is one issue with this book, a LOT of foreign names, names that often are shared and can make things confusing. Thankfully the book comes with an index, a list of characters, a bibliography and a number of other tools to help with the daunting task of remembering who is who. The only thing I wish it also had was a glossary, given that a lot of times Arabic words are used to describe something and used throughout. For those of us that only get reading time in short bursts and have a less than perfect memory, it can be difficult remembering some of the terminology.

• Robert Baer

Embarrassingly, perhaps, I knew very little about terrorism when the attacks of 9/11 happened. Maybe I was in line with most Americans in that, terrorism was not exactly the top thing on their minds. But suddenly the news were filled with names and titles that had my head spinning. And along with that came all sorts of allegations and commentary regarding the failures of the CIA in the events that led up to this catastrophe.

After watching the movie Syriana, which is essentially a film about the oil industry and the politics involved, I grew interested in this book, simply because it clearly dealt with problems regarding the agency.

Not by any means meant to be an unbiased account, See No Evil is a former agent’s account about the events that made, in his opinion a mockery of the agency he once loved to work for. Doing his best to present the facts, the author does so without every trying to hide the fact that all of this is coming from his own point of view and his own experiences in the field. What he relates is an interesting account of numerous events that clearly show the disintegration of the CIA into the troubled organization it now is.

Broken up roughly into four parts, Mr. Baer tells his story in specific categories. The first is mostly autobiographical, an explanation of his background, his childhood and his training. The second part of the book relates his stories as a field agent, brand new to the job. The third focuses on the terrorism side while the fourth focuses on the oil companies, two concepts that seemingly often go hand in hand. All of this is tied together with bookend narrations of his own problems within the Agency.

This book reads well, with plenty of details and decent narrative, but it assumes that you have some background knowledge of the themes it deals with. In general, I would say that anybody that listens to the news will not be entirely lost here, but there are a number of times where a little wikipedia did not hurt. Unfortunately, the book was not entirely as in-depth as I would have wanted it to be and while it works as a good entry into the genre, it certainly does not stand alone and needs to be balanced with either some counter arguments or a more thorough tome that will shed greater light on the subject.

Rating: 4 out of 5
Category: Non-fiction - Current Events

• Robert Matheson

I am worried. I am worried because I am one of those people that would rather read a good book and have a movie ruined than the other way around. That is the reason I had a marathon session of Tolkien’s work before the Lord of the Rings trilogy came out, reading The Silmarillion, The Hobbit, The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King all in six months so I could have them finished before the movies came out. Because the way I see it, it takes me a whole lot longer to read a book than to watch a movie and if I am going to enjoy one and not the other, then I would rather enjoy my greater investment of time. Of course, if I do not enjoy the book, I usually chuck it out the window, which is why you rarely see me review a book I didn’t like, mostly because I do not see them worthy of being finished and without finishing them I can not review them.

That being said, knowing that I Am Legend, starring Will Smith is just around the corner, I went out and got this book to get it fresh in my head before the movie came out. This is a good book. This is a damn good book, almost as enjoyable as The Road was to me and with a very similar feeling, in that they both have a very heavy, melancholy, alienated post apocalyptic feel.

The story revolves around what seemingly is the last survivor of man kind after a terrible plague has eradicated the large part of the human race and turned the rest into blood thirsty vampires. Robert Neville, alone, holes himself up in his home, hunting the monsters by day, seeking other survivors and simply trying to keep himself safe at night.

It had been a long time since I had read an enjoyable horror book like this one. I had gotten used to the Stephen King majority which often sets you up wonderfully and then drops you at the end. The Road satisfied that need and this book does very much the same thing with a very satisfactory and surprisingly short read (the story was only about 170 pages long, the rest of the book were unrelated short stories).

So…why am I worried? Because now I am almost sure this movie is going to fail to satisfy me. Already what I have seen of the trailer has changed a great number of things, small details that may seem insignificant to most but which, to those that have read the book, are pivotal to the story arc. It could still be a good movie, sure, and I will likely watch it in theaters, but already I know that the story will have changed. If, you are the sort that finds books ruined by movies when you read them afterwards, I highly encourage you to pick up this short tome up and read it up before the movie opens, because it is VERY much worth the read.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Category: Fiction - Horror
Notes: The title is perfect!