8.29.2007

 

Fool Moon


by Jim Butcher, 342 pgs, paperback
Overall Grade: B+
Series: The Dresden Files

Sequel to 'Storm Front'.
Not quite as good as the other two I've read in the series. Still Book Two of the Dresden Files was no disappointer. Plot: Murders are occuring around the full moon -and it looks like wolves, except not the natural kind. Werewolves? Probably, and there are several different kinds of "werewolves" which implies all sorts of difficulties for Harry as he tries to track down the beast before it kills again.

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# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 1:42 AM

8.25.2007

 

The Illusionist


PG-13, 110 min
IMDB page
Official Website
Overall Grade: A+

Oh, this film was so good! Really really really good! Not as dark as 'The Prestige' and the reveal at the end is amazing! Basic plot: boy loves girl, but girl is nobility and is drug off and forbidden to ever see him again. Fast forward: boy becomes stage magician, girl becomes duchess engaged to a prince. Except the prince is a jerk and the duchess realizes that she's loved the magician all along. Oops, but that can't work out, can it?

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# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 11:12 PM
 

Under a Green Sky


by Peter Ward, 204pgs, hardcover
Overall Grade: A-

Guaranteed to scare the crap out of you in regards to the future of our planet with global warming. Ward does an impressive job of walking the reader through the past and present scientific understanding of mass extinctions (hint: most of them aren't caused by space debris) and then goes on to relate what we see occurring climate-wise on our planet today and extrapolating into the future. I only dock him slightly for ripping into some of his colleagues rather harshly. Albeit, they were obnoxious and hamstringing scientific progress.

Recommended to: those who want to get an idea of what causes mass extinctions and what (bio/climatic/oceanic) changes are going to happen to our planet as it keeps warming.

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# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 10:45 PM
 

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows


by J.K. Rowling, 759pgs, hardcover
Overall Grade: B+

No spoilers. The epilogue is superfluous and I would have been happy after chapter 33. A very good wrap-up to the series.

Recommended to: those who've read the first 6 Harry Potter books, duh

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# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 6:17 PM
 

Meditations


by Marcus Aurelius & some other people & translator(s), 306pgs, Classics Club hardcover edition
Overall Grade: D

Actually 'Meditations' wasn't that bad, but way they put this book together. What are the other essays and inclusions afterwards stuck in there for? Are they supposed to be connected somehow? Very confusing. Anyway, you might find this better with a more recent translation and printing.

Recommended to: peoples reading the *classic* classics or who want to read stuff written by Roman emperors

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# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 6:09 PM
 

Arthur & George


by Julian Barnes, 385pgs, paperback
Overall Grade: C-

This book takes crazy-long to get to the meeting of Arthur (as in Arthur Conan Doyle) and George. And all the stuff about horse-ripping is pretty gory. Still I guess Barnes does a pretty good job weaving two lives together in a fictional story about Arthur helping prove George's innocence (even after he's served his sentence).

Recommended to: fans of Brit lit

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# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 6:03 PM
 

Stardust


by Neil Gaiman, 248pgs, paperback
Overall Grade: B+

Really pretty good. I suppose if I had read this first, I would have been disappointed by the movie -which is funnier. This is still a good book.

Recommended to: fans of fantasy in the style of Susanna Clarke

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# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 5:59 PM

8.23.2007

 

The Illusionist soundtrack


composed by Philip Glass, ~47mins
Overall Grade: B+

Almost perfect. This was definitely a movie I sat there, enraptured by both cinematography and music. If only the music wasn't quite so dependent on the film.

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# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 12:42 AM
 

Special Topics in Calamity Physics


by Marisha Pessl, 514 pgs, hardcover
Overall Grade: C

You're not really sure where this is going until the last few chapters, where it gets really interesting. Half the time it comes across as highfalutin (yes, that is how you spell that) and usually pretentious.

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# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 12:29 AM
 

A History of the English-Speaking Peoples Since 1900

by Andrew Roberts, 648pgs, hardcover
Overall Grade: B

You'll certainly learn a lot from this book, some of it quite questionable about how it shows the English-speaking peoples are so great. Roberts has taken it upon himself to write a follow up to Churchill's famous work which ended at 1900. But he is unabashedly neo-conservative. You will not find opposing historical viewpoints treated kindly or even offered in some cases.

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# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 12:19 AM
 

Mirror Mirror


by Gregory Maguire, 276pgs, hardcover
Overall Grade: C+

Recommended to: fans of Maguire's other fairytale-inspired works

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# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 12:17 AM
 

Storm Front: The Dresden Files Book 1


by Jim Butcher, 336pgs, paperback
Overall Grade: A-
Series: The Dresden Files

Recommended to: those fancying some lustful crimes, some pop culture references, and some mature man-against-the-world wizarding set in Chicago

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# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 12:06 AM
 

Variable Star


by Robert Heinlein & Spider Robinson, 308 pgs, hardcover
Overall Grade: B

Recommended to: fans of old-school, main-character-perspective scifi

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# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 12:03 AM

8.22.2007

 

White Night: The Dresden Files Book 9


by Jim Butcher, 404pgs, hardcover
Overall Grade: A
Series: The Dresden Files

Sequel to 'Proven Guilty'.
Recommended to: those looking for a more adult take on magic with lots of humor, gritty crime and pop culture references thrown in

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# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 11:56 PM

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