Quicker Than the Eye by Ray Bradbury

Rating: 3.5

What it's about:
The internationally acclaimed author of The Martian Chronicles, The Illustrated Man, and Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury is a magician at the height of his powers, displaying his sorcerer's skill with twenty-one remarkable stories that run the gamut from total reality to light fantastic, from high noon to long after midnight. A true master tells all, revealing the strange secret of growing young and mad; opening a Witch Door that links two intolerant centuries; joining an ancient couple in their wild assassination games; celebrating life and dreams in the unique voice that has favored him across six decades and has enchanted millions of readers the world over.

My thoughts:
Quicker than the Eye is a short story collection by Ray Bradbury. Some of these twenty one stories bored me but a few I really enjoyed. There is a story, Another Fine Mess, about a man who sees the ghosts of Laurel and Hardy. My favorite story in this book is called The Very Gentle Murders and follows an aged married couple as they spend their last years lovingly trying to assassinate each other. Another good story in this collection is called The Witch Door. It's about a secret door under the stairs in an old farm house that links two separate centuries. Overall, Quicker Than the Eye is an interesting collection with at least a few very enjoyable tales.

Guyaholic by Carolyn Mackler

Rating: 4.0

What it's about:
Sometimes it takes getting hit with a hockey puck to help you see what’s good for you! Carolyn Mackler is back — and V is off on a solo road trip — in this funny, poignant follow-up to VEGAN VIRGIN VALENTINE.

V Valentine is the queen of meaningless hookups. Ever since her mom dumped her with her grandparents, she has bounced from guy to guy. But in the spring of senior year, a fateful hockey puck lands her in the lap of Sam Almond. Right from the start, things with Sam are different. V is terrified to admit it, but this might be meaningful after all. On the afternoon of graduation, V receives some shocking news. Later, at a party, she makes an irreversible mistake and risks losing Sam forever. When her mom invites her to Texas, V embarks on a cross-country road trip with the hopes of putting two thousand miles between herself, Sam, and the wreckage of that night. With her trademark blend of humor and compassion, Carolyn Mackler takes readers on an unforgettable ride of missed exits, misadventures, and the kind of epiphanies that come only when you’re on a route you’ve never taken before.

My thoughts:
Guyaholic is the sequel to Vegan Virgin Valentine by Carolyn Mackler. This time the spotlight is on V, and she's on a mission. V has been living with her grandparents since her mom took off on her to follow some guy. Because V's mom is always letting her down she has some commitment issues and is afraid to fall in love and have somebody love her back. Sam is the closest she's come to true love and she messes everything up with him, sending him running away to California for a change of scenery. V's mom was supposed to come to V's high school graduation, skips out on it and invites V to drive down to Texas to visit her. V decides she's up for a road trip and heads out on the highway where misshapes, adventures and epiphanies ensue. On her way down to Texas she figures out what she's truly looking for. Can she forgive her mother and make amends in Texas? Or will she realize what she lost in Sam and head in the direction of California? This is a decent follow up to Vegan Virgin Valentine with a really good ending. I found myself rooting for V and hoping she would make the right decision in the end. I was not disappointed.

World War Z by Max Brooks

Rating: 4.0

What it's about:
The Zombie War came unthinkably close to eradicating humanity. Max Brooks, driven by the urgency of preserving the acid-etched first-hand experiences of the survivors from those apocalyptic years, traveled across the United States of America and throughout the world, from decimated cities that once teemed with upwards of thirty million souls to the most remote and inhospitable areas of the planet. He recorded the testimony of men, women, and sometimes children who came face-to-face with the living, or at least the undead, hell of that dreadful time. World War Z is the result. Never before have we had access to a document that so powerfully conveys the depth of fear and horror, and also the ineradicable spirit of resistance, that gripped human society through the plague years.

Ranging from the now infamous village of New Dachang in the United Federation of China, where the epidemiological trail began with the twelve-year-old Patient Zero, to the unnamed northern forests where untold numbers sought a terrible and temporary refuge in the cold, to the United States of Southern Africa, where the Redeker Plan provided hope for humanity at an unspeakable price, to the west-of-the-Rockies redoubt where the North American tide finally started to turn, this invaluable chronicle reflects the full scope and duration of the Zombie War.

Most of all, the book captures with haunting immediacy the human dimension of this epochal event. Facing the often raw and vivid nature of these personal accounts requires a degree of courage on the part of the reader, but the effort is invaluable because, as Mr. Brookssays in his introduction, “By excluding the human factor, aren’t we risking the kind of personal detachment from history that may, heaven forbid, lead us one day to repeat it? And in the end, isn’t the human factor the only true difference between us and the enemy we now refer to as ‘the living dead’?” - taken from Barnes&Noble.com

My thoughts:
I enjoyed World War Z by Max Brooks. It starts out with a human being bitten by a zombie which starts the initial outbreak. It quickly spreads around the city, the country and eventually the whole globe. War is declared against the zombies.

World War Z is unique in it's perspective....it's written as an oral history. The narrator is taking down these oral histories about ten years after the end of the war. The only fault I can find with the book is that after a while it seemed a little repetitive. I wish Brooks would have varied his characters a little more. Most of the interviewees are military personnel or political figures. It would have been nice to hear more from everyday people. This book had some really creepy parts and a lot of human emotions were displayed. Brooks did a great job with making World War Z seem so real. I really got the feel of what the world might be like if it were infested with zombies....and it's not a pretty picture!

Persuasion by Jane Austen

Rating: 4.0

What it's about:

In her final novel, as in her earlier ones, Jane Austen uses a love story to explore and gently satirize social pretensions and emotional confusion. Persuasion follows the romance of Anne Elliot and naval officer Frederick Wentworth. They were happily engaged until Anne’s friend, Lady Russell, persuaded her that Frederick was “unworthy.” Now, eight years later,Frederick returns, a wealthy captain in the navy, while Anne’s family teeters on the edge of bankruptcy. They still love each other, but their past mistakes threaten to keep them apart.

Austen may seem to paint on a small canvas, but her characters contain the full range of human passion and moral complexity, and the author’s generous spirit renders them all with understanding, compassion, and humor. - taken from Barnes&Noble.com

My thoughts:

Persuasion follows the unfolding of the relationship between Anne Elliot and Frederick Wentworth. Anne is persuaded by a close friend and mentor to reject the marriage proposal from Wentworth. Seven years later the two are reunited and discover the mutual feelings they still have for each other. Circumstances have changed on both sides though and it's left to be discovered whether Anne marries Wentworth or is persuaded to marry William Elliot, her cousin and heir to the Elliot estate. Persuasion is charming, though the plot lags a bit at times. Through the different class distinctions of her diverse set of characters, Austen illustrates the abundant snobbishness in the nineteenth century. Anne, though, is lovable in her humbleness and lack of pretension. I found this novel to be entertaining and a worthwhile read.

The Journeyer by Gary Jennings

Rating: 5.0

What it's about:
Marco Polo was nicknamed "Marco of the millions" because his Venetian countrymen took the grandiose stories of his travels to be exaggerated, if not outright lies. As he lay dying, his priest, family, and friends offered him a last chance to confess his mendacity, and Marco, it is said, replied "I have not told the half of what I saw and did."
Now Gary Jennings has imagined the half that Marco left unsaid as even more elaborate and adventurous than the tall tales thought to be lies. From the palazzi and back streets of medieval Venice to the sumptuous court of Kublai Khan, from the perfumed sexuality of the Levant to the dangers and rigors of travel along the Silk Road, Marco meets all manner of people, survives all manner of danger, and, insatiably curious, becomes an almost compulsive collector of customs, languages and women.
In more than two decades of travel, Marco was variously a merchant, a warrior, a lover, a spy, even a tax collector - but always a journeyer, unflagging in his appetite for new experiences, regretting only what he missed. Here - recreated and reimagined with all the splendor, the love of adventure, the zest for the rare and curious that are Jennings's hallmarks - is the epic account, at once magnificent and delightful, of the greatest real-life adventurer in human history.
-taken from Barnes&Noble.com

My thoughts:

When Maro Polo lay on his deathbed, his priest, his friends and relations clustered around him to plead that he at last renounce the countless lies he had related as his true adventures, so his soul would go cleansed to Heaven. The old man raised up, roundly damned them all and declared, "I have not told the half of what I saw and did!"
-according to Fra Jacopo d'Acqui, Marco Polo's contemporary and his first biographer

In The Journeyer, Gary Jennings writes as Marco Polo and captivates readers with tales richly imagined about his years traveling from his native Venice through Persia and India all the way eastward to China. The story begins with Marco as a child playing along the canals of Venice and ends with Marco as an old man in his garden in Venice reminiscing. "I think back on everything I have chronicled here and I wonder if I might not have put it all into just seven small words: 'I went away and I came back.' " Lucky for us readers, the Marco Polo Jennings imagines didn't use just seven words but over 800 pages filled with words describing all the places he traveled; the customs, people, food and drink, scenery, smells and more. The Journeyer is lushly descriptive and fascinating. In the pages of this book Marco travels with his father and uncle and is at one time or another a warrior, merchant, spy, and tax collector. He finds love, happiness, and adventure but also sorrow. He lives a life that's never dull and we get to read all about it in these pages. I love this novel but a word of warning; this book is not for sensitive people. The sex scenes are very descriptive. Some people may be offended by the variety of sex described in these pages. It's also vividly details some torture scenes and it's not a pretty picture.

I have read The Journeyer more than once and I am confidant it will continue to be one of my favorites. I have never read another book that is so accomplished in it's narration. It leaves images in my mind...I can see the landscapes Jennings paints. The Journeyer is an epic novel that is truly unforgettable.

Dude, Where's My Country by Michael Moore

Rating: 5.0

What it's about:
If Moore's earlier work Stupid White Men didn't shake up the Bush administration, this latest exposé is another shout for attention. Moore, whose credits include the bestseller Downsize This! and the award-winning documentary "Bowling for Columbine," challenges Dubya to either step down or explain his 25-year involvement with the bin Laden family, his relationship to the Saudi royal family, the Taliban's visit to Texas, and the Saudi connection to 9/11. He also attempts to sort out Bush's web of tall Texas tales regarding Saddam Hussein and the war in Iraq. In addition to pages of notes and credits, Moore includes a helpful chapter called "How to talk to your conservative brother-in-law."

My thoughts:
Michael Moore does a fantastic job of grabbing peoples attention and letting them know what's really going on. In Dude, Where's My Country he writes about George W. Bush and the myriad of lies he's told to the American people. He talks about liberals and conservatives and what those terms really mean. This book contains a letter from God denying being the messenger of Bush, how to get Oprah Winfrey to run for President and an illustration of a form for a Direct Deposit of Tax Refund of $1 Million or More. What I like about Michael Moore is his sense of humor. He never loses sight of the lighter side of things. He points out what's wrong with this country but not in a cynical way. He shows us what to do to change what we don't like. Michael Moore knows how to relate to the average American and it comes through in his writing.

The Charioteer by Mary Renault

Rating: 5.0

What it's about:
Few events in his early years had prepared Laurie Odell for that day in the veterans' hospital when he first met Andrew Raynes. Laurie, who was recovering from wounds sustained at Dunkirk, had seen a bit of life, but the moment he met Andrew was unique for him-it was a moment that provided clarity and logic for the many things that he vaguely knew about himself but had never fully understood. With Andrew everything became right-love entered Laurie's life and with it, finally, a sense of self. But with this discovery began Laurie's difficult journey between two communities-that of the soldier and that of the gay man-and the delicate task of navigating the precarious waters that flow between them. -taken from the back of the book


My thoughts:

The Charioteer is the story of Laurence "Laurie" Odell and his plight as a soldier and gay man in WWII Britain. Beautifully written in 1959 this book is heartfelt and truly a classic.

Laurie Odell is a wounded soldier sent to a veterans' hospital when his leg is nearly blown off at Dunkirk. The hospital is short on nursing staff so a group of conscientious objectors are sent to fill in.....one of them being Andrew Raynes. Laurie falls for Andrew almost immediately and they become fast friends and spend as much time together as possible...even though some of the other soldiers begin to talk. At about the same time, Laurie is reunited with an old schoolmate named Ralph. At the beginning of the book, Ralph was expelled from school for "immoral" behavior. Ralph is now a naval admiral who is also recovering from wounds....and happily getting reacquainted with Laurie. Laurie is young and still in the process of accepting himself for who he is. He is in love with both Andrew and Ralph and is struggling to come to terms.

Mary Renault writes this book with honesty and passion. Her characters are laid bare by their very human emotions; jealousy, love, fear and loneliness. At it's core is a love story but it's descriptions of blackouts, bombings and air raids reminds us that it takes place during a brutal war. At the hospital, bringing pacifists and soldiers together, Renault sets the stage for a secondary thematic. The Charioteer is a book to be savored, and to get the most out of the characters, to be read again and again.

Red Branch by Morgan Llywelyn

Rating: 5.0

What it's about:
In a land ruled by war and love and strange enchantments, Cuchulain — torn between gentleness and violence, haunted by the croakings of a sinister raven — fights for his honor and his homeland and discovers too late the trap that the gods have set for him in the fatal beauty of Deirdre and the brutal jealousy of King Conor.

My thoughts:
Red Branch is a well written novel about "Ireland's mythical warrior-hero Cuchulain." It brings Cuchulain to life and sets him up in the company of enemies, friends, lovers and even an ancient goddess in the form of a raven. The story starts out when the child Cuchulain is know as Setanta. The man who Setanta believes to be his father is a warrior of the Red Branch, the army of the King of Ulster. Because Setanta feels entitled to be with the Boys' Troop in training to become Red Branch, he runs away from home to find Emain Macha...the stronghold of the King. He finds the stronghold and the course of his life is set in motion. Along the way Setanta becomes a man, earns the name Cuchulain (hound of Cullen), trains with a warrior woman on the island of Skya, becomes the champion of Ulster and all the time is followed by a mysterious raven.

Cuchulain is an absolutely enthralling character. He is kind and sensitive but when the Rage overtakes him....woe to his enemies. He turns into a kind of berserker and is virtually unstoppable. Red Branch is filled with intriguing characters. There is Emer, Cuchulain's wife, who reveals in her own way what true love really means. The deep friendship between Cuchulain and Ferdiad is stunning in it's passion. Laeg is exceptionally loyal and faithful in his role as Cuchulain's charioteer. These characters and many, many more fill the pages of this book with life and make Red Branch a wonderful read.