Toast.x2

Review: Through the Ice by Robert Kornwise/Piers Anthony Note: About the authors and this book - it blows me away when i read about the things that some authors will do for/with their fans. Robert Kornwise was a first time author with unfinished and unpublished book. Unfortunately, he never got the chance to finish his book. Robert died in a road accident in december 1987. His friends and family, knowing about his book, reached out to his favorite author, Piers Anthony. They asked him to read his book and see if there is anything he could do to help get it published. With a fair amount of uncertainty in what he should do, Anthony accepted the idea and read Kornwise’s book. Apparently, Robert had finished the first 8 chapters and lost the fifth. Anthony, after reading the book, was able to determine a way to help finish the book with out straying from the original authors vision or writing style. Anthony was able to accomplish this, filling in the gaps and minorly polishing the text. th...

Davidson’s book, The Gargoyle, is very easily one of the best books (fiction) that i have ever read. Jenn bought a copy and read it front to back in a couple of days. she had tears in her eyes at points and fierce anger at others. i patiently waited my turn to read. it has been about a month now since i finished the last page. i started off with the first 50 pages and found that i was not getting into the book. i could only think “what torture this is. the story is interesting, but too pessimistic for my liking.” i nearly put the book down. then right around the ordained cut off point (around page 50), Marianne Engel enters the story. i am glad i soldiered through the beginning. Marianne Engel is a sculptor of stone gargoyles. the main character is a burn victim who used to own his own porn production company. this story is about them. it is about their interactions. it is about their worlds and how they coalesce and merge. now, my previous statements were not stating that the book sta...

uthor: Laurie Notaro – http://www.myspace.com/idiotgirls Full Title: The Idiot Girl and the Flaming Tantrum of Death: Reflections on Revenge, Germophobia, and Laser Hair Removal I really love me some Notaro. I had never heard of her a year ago, then suddenly she dropped onto my lap with a fantastic and utterly hilarious tale about her obsession with the Sims. Months later, Laurie saved my life in a dangerous situation. [more info here: not for the meek] Jennifer was excited for the release of flaming tantrum. She had it marked on her calendar, sported a small sad little smile when they pushed back the release a couple weeks, updated her calendar, and moved into anticipation mode all over again. I actually feel like I read this book twice. After it was released, Jenn and I were at the PacNW competition to Denny’s, a restaurant called Shari’s. Huddled together around cups of coffee and a full cigarette ashtray, I was reading my book and Jenn hers. Each time she came across a funny pa...

Heartsick introduced us all to Archie, the Vicoden popping torture victim/Portland detective. We met Susan, bizarre hair colored closet cigarette smoking Oregon journalist with a penchant for married men. Last but not least, Gretchen Lowell, Pacific Northwest serial killer with 200 murders under her belt. Sweetheart (Chelsea Cain) Series: Archie Sheridan & Gretchen Lowell (Book 2) 336 pages Minotaur Books ISBN-10: 0312662394 ISBN-13: 978-0312662394 With Gretchen in jail and Archie (her final victim) clutching loosely at his own pill induced death, everything seems like it is going to cool down in Portland. Archie is drawn into another series of murders, unfortunately, the clues are slim. Susan is tracking down information about a local senator and his sexual escapades with a 14-year-old babysitter, a story that is over a decade old. There was a lot of humor, dark black humor in this book. humor might be a bit incorrect, as it leans more toward humour (as in the fluids), ...

Nice! Nice! Nice! HeartSick is the first book in a series written by local transplant author Chelsea Cain. Cain moved from the midwest to Washington and currently lives down here in PDX with the rest of us crazies. Reading books in cities you know is always enjoyable. Reading books that give shout out to places, businesses, and other things you frequent is even better. With original writing that is descriptive and tangible, this book is easy to get sucked into. It has a plot line that both Jennifer (my wife) and I were able to pinpoint the bad guy during, but only a couple chapters before everything disentangles in the end. Kudos on that Chelsea. Even though we were able to deduce the culprit, the characters are so well written that you are engrossed and have to find out how everything culminates. HeartSick (Chelsea Cain) Series: Archie Sheridan & Gretchen Lowell (Book 1) 336 pages Minotaur Books ISBN-10: 0312368461 ISBN-13: 978-0312368463 The story details the ...

Reviews: Severance Package –  Duane Swierczynski The Lone Ranger and Tonto fistfight in Heaven – Sherman Alexie Duane Swierczynski… people in the book world will remember him for books like “The Blond”. Comic book readers will remember him as the new force behind the Marvel series Cable and Iron fist.. he also has a couple one offs i have never heard of. Severance Package was published last year. I had seen it on a number of bookstore shelves but never bothered to pick it up. It looked like manga and i just dont dig on the manga. US comics yes, Japanese comics, rarely. Yes, I remember.? no judging of books based on how they look… bad jason BAAAD jason.. So I am at work one day and a friend of mine, Shannon, caught me downstairs and pressed its glorious rough paperyness into my hands. Its rough cut pages and soft wafflely cover immediately caugth my attention. The front cover carried some cheesy text, “ever want to kill your boss? well guess what, the feeling is mutual”.. i could ha...

Parasite Positive by Scott Westerfeld Publisher:  Little, Brown Book Group (Import – June 30, 2007) and Crooked Little Vein by Warren Ellis Publisher:  William Morrow/HarperCollins (Hardback – July24, 2007) ~~ Enjoyed two books in the last couple days. one definitively more than the other. I picked up a brand new discount bin copy of Scott Westerfeld’s  Parasite Positive . It is an imported book. The US Title is  Peeps . The name of the book from the UK is far better. Peeps is fine for slang but is a lame name for the book itself in my opinion. But that is a Strike against the publisher not the Westerfeld. The last thing i want to do when I pick up a book is look at the binding and wonder why there is not a yellow marshmallow Easter chick on it instead of humans Peeps look like yellow fluffy sugar coated dog turds, and thus make me feel funny.. inside.. my stomach..  This book is pretty enjoyable, a little bit frustrating. Set in the current times, imagine a wor...

COLD TOM  BY SALLY PRUE Suggested Reading level:  Ages 9-12 Hardcover:  192 pages Publisher:  Scholastic Press (June 1, 2003) I picked this book up about a month ago in a bargain bin at Barnes and Nobles. They were charging a dollar for it. I read the inside cover and decided, what the hell, its only a buck.. The cover art for the hardbound book was worth a dollar by itself. it was glossy and reflective. if i were a raven, i would rip it apart and love on it for its shininess. I read it cover to cover in a couple hours, reading it slowly because it was a combination of harsh and soft writing. the character Tom was very conflicted and he needed a little more care in reading. I have been meaning to write a review for it for a while, but have been so busy that it has sat in my “incomplete drafts” untouched except for the placeholder blog title. This changed earlier today. I was reading some other book sites that i lurk on (only recently started even commenting), It appe...

END OF THE WORLD BLUES BY JON COURTENAY GRIMWOOD Paperback:  368 pages Publisher:  Spectra (2007) interstellar gods managing the leftover refugees of humanity. our world iss nothing but a constructed barrier of safety created by them to allow us life. think this book is sci-fi? it is not.? this book is a thinly veiled series of structured thoughts showing the smallness of our universe. everything we know is insignificant.? interestingly enough, everything outside our understanding is also also insignificant. From the the Hagakure, The Way of the Samurai - “Among the maxims on Lord Naoshige’s wall there was this one: ”Matters of’ great concern should be treated lightly. Matters of small concern should be treated seriously. Among one’s affairs there should not be more than two or three matters of what one could call great concern. If these are deliberated upon during ordinary times, they can be understood.” These are ordinary times and the deliberation of concerns will not be fu...

books. i have been slacking on the book front. not on the reading, just on the reporting. i have 4 new books that i need to list up here. a couple of which are weeks old now.. so i will continue to slack, and talk about the one that was the most fun to read. Pretty Little Mistakes by Heather McElhatton Paperback: 512 pages   Publisher: Harper Paperbacks (May 1, 2007) how many people remember reading Choose Your Own Adventure books when you were younger? it is a generation thing, so older visitors may be familiar with them whilst never having read one themselves.? Those who have read them inevitably have a similar response when they are brought up. They all enjoyed them and they all wish that there were adult versions of them to read.. well get used to it, there are not. get over it.. nah, just fucking with you.. there were not.. now there is one.. Pretty Little Mistakes was written by Heather McElhatton is the adult answer to “why are there no adult choose your own adventure book...

Lamb by Christopher Moore Imitation Leather:  432 pages Publisher:  William Morrow; Spl Gft edition (October 23, 2007) and The Magician and the Fool by Barth Anderson Advanced Reader Copy (not supplied by publisher) Paperback:  290 pages Publisher:  Bantam (March 25, 2008) What with moving out of my apt, i have not had a whole ton of time for reading. in fact, it took me over a week to read Lamb, which was a real shame.. it should have been one i could never put down. it deserved that kind of attention. Christopher Moore is a phenomenal writer. he put out a couple fairly hilarious books i have head in the past (thanks Jenn) and so when this was handed to me, i was anxious to crack it open and start the absorption process. Lamb: The Gospel according to Biff, Christ’s childhood pal : this book is a work of fiction, compiled from a number of sources and the authors brain. it has sex murder resurrections spontaneous healing. Lamb basically covers from year 10 of Jesus’s ...