As in, I haven't been on blogger in a while, have I? Excuses here: Excuse 1 - We had Internet problems - in fairness to Eircom the first fault was cleared within 3 days, and the 2nd fault within 24 hours. Excuse 2: There is no excuse 2.
As the weather has been particularly bad of late, I have been doing a good bit of reading, so here's the low down on the literature.
This is Charlie Bird, by Charlie Bird and Kevin Rafter. The Household Name of RTÉ, you would assume that a man with a life as exciting and varied as they come would be able to write a humdinger of a memoir, wouldn't you? On the contrary, I found this book to be a little too dry and almost robotic in its presentation, and would find it hard to recommend it to be honest. There's no doubt that the content is interesting, everything from natural disaster to freedom fight has been covered by the man after all, but I think the writing lacks something.
The Cloudspotters Guide, Gavin Pretor-Pinney. This is a real gem of a book. Lovely asides, and a real easiness about it. I hope this guy writes about something else... Genuinely this book captivates and engages, and brings new insight and appreciation of the everyday picture show that takes place above our heads. Naturally, you mightn't take it all in after the first sitting, but it's the kind of book you might keep handy to identify clouds. Makes you want to sit outside of a summers evening, if we ever were to get one, with a couple of beers and watch the sky for entertainment. Highly recommended.
300 Frank Miller's graphic novel on which the recent, excellent, film was based. I saw this with a reduced price sticker on it in a bookshop. Sucker, it screamed at me. Yes, I replied. And I read it, or watched it - I'm not sure how you describe the act of appreciating a graphic novel (yes, it's a long comic for those of you who're thinking it...). (I've just come back up from the bottom of the post to say that the book is about the Spartans' defence of the Hot Gates in the battle of Thermopylae, against Xerxes and the nasty Persians. Wikipedia will sort you out for more background)
See, graphic novels are great, in a different way to "word-books". On one hand, the imagination is not so challenged, as you're shown graphically how characters and scenes look. But you can get a better sense of emotion from a well drawn facial expression, or a better sense of place from a well-drawn landscape - stories have a little more immediacy. Of course, the key is "well-drawn" - the genre wouldn't and doesn't work when the art isn't up to it.
I digress, however, but 300 is a well-drawn novel, and the film bears a great resemblance to the book. That said, it's easily read in an hour or so, and doesn't have the complexity of other books - so you don't feel so fulfilled after finishing it. Naturally, it's recommended as an easy read for an afternoon or something - though the book itself is a little unwieldy physically...
Around the World by Mouse, Harry Pearson. Harry tries to travel the world by using the internet. Hmm, this is certainly entertaining, if a little.....pointless? Maybe that's a little strong a word, but the book was more a "stream of consciousness" without any real aim. He mentions travelling on boats, or meeting people - but never actually says whether he was emailing these people, or viewing boats on websites - and the text seemed to be cut and pasted from the internet itself. Mildly amusing - mildly recommended.
The Watchmen - Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. The second graphic novel (long comic) this post, and an excellent read it is too. The artwork is superb, the story is as engaging as any you'd find in an ordinary book, and it entertained me for a good long time. Characters are as deep and as "human" as in any other book, and the story is well stitched together. Genre-defining, according to the back of the cover - and agreed with by this reviewer. Most Highly Recommended. Out of 59, I'd give it 59, it's really good.
So, I'm going back to pray for rain, as the weather's been so bad this last month that praying for rain could only bring about an improvement. Goodnight, and sweat dreems.
As the weather has been particularly bad of late, I have been doing a good bit of reading, so here's the low down on the literature.
This is Charlie Bird, by Charlie Bird and Kevin Rafter. The Household Name of RTÉ, you would assume that a man with a life as exciting and varied as they come would be able to write a humdinger of a memoir, wouldn't you? On the contrary, I found this book to be a little too dry and almost robotic in its presentation, and would find it hard to recommend it to be honest. There's no doubt that the content is interesting, everything from natural disaster to freedom fight has been covered by the man after all, but I think the writing lacks something.
The Cloudspotters Guide, Gavin Pretor-Pinney. This is a real gem of a book. Lovely asides, and a real easiness about it. I hope this guy writes about something else... Genuinely this book captivates and engages, and brings new insight and appreciation of the everyday picture show that takes place above our heads. Naturally, you mightn't take it all in after the first sitting, but it's the kind of book you might keep handy to identify clouds. Makes you want to sit outside of a summers evening, if we ever were to get one, with a couple of beers and watch the sky for entertainment. Highly recommended.
300 Frank Miller's graphic novel on which the recent, excellent, film was based. I saw this with a reduced price sticker on it in a bookshop. Sucker, it screamed at me. Yes, I replied. And I read it, or watched it - I'm not sure how you describe the act of appreciating a graphic novel (yes, it's a long comic for those of you who're thinking it...). (I've just come back up from the bottom of the post to say that the book is about the Spartans' defence of the Hot Gates in the battle of Thermopylae, against Xerxes and the nasty Persians. Wikipedia will sort you out for more background)
See, graphic novels are great, in a different way to "word-books". On one hand, the imagination is not so challenged, as you're shown graphically how characters and scenes look. But you can get a better sense of emotion from a well drawn facial expression, or a better sense of place from a well-drawn landscape - stories have a little more immediacy. Of course, the key is "well-drawn" - the genre wouldn't and doesn't work when the art isn't up to it.
I digress, however, but 300 is a well-drawn novel, and the film bears a great resemblance to the book. That said, it's easily read in an hour or so, and doesn't have the complexity of other books - so you don't feel so fulfilled after finishing it. Naturally, it's recommended as an easy read for an afternoon or something - though the book itself is a little unwieldy physically...
Around the World by Mouse, Harry Pearson. Harry tries to travel the world by using the internet. Hmm, this is certainly entertaining, if a little.....pointless? Maybe that's a little strong a word, but the book was more a "stream of consciousness" without any real aim. He mentions travelling on boats, or meeting people - but never actually says whether he was emailing these people, or viewing boats on websites - and the text seemed to be cut and pasted from the internet itself. Mildly amusing - mildly recommended.
The Watchmen - Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. The second graphic novel (long comic) this post, and an excellent read it is too. The artwork is superb, the story is as engaging as any you'd find in an ordinary book, and it entertained me for a good long time. Characters are as deep and as "human" as in any other book, and the story is well stitched together. Genre-defining, according to the back of the cover - and agreed with by this reviewer. Most Highly Recommended. Out of 59, I'd give it 59, it's really good.
So, I'm going back to pray for rain, as the weather's been so bad this last month that praying for rain could only bring about an improvement. Goodnight, and sweat dreems.
An impressive amount of reading done, I wonder if you are one of those folk who has a few on the go at any one time. I'm afraid I cannot manage more than one at a time and am currectly reading Northern Lights by Philip Pullman. But I digress, back to the comments. 300 has seen wide and varied reviews from people I know, usually a sign that it is something quite different to the norm. C didn't really enjoy it, I found it good but not great. Two other friends (one male, one female) thought it was brilliant. I would suggest that the graphic novel format for the book would suit it best, the film told its story through images rather than dialogue. Interesting though that the original record of the story was presumably purely a work of literature?
ReplyDeleteNot sure about the cloud book, I will take your word for it and assume that the asides are extensive and entertaining.
Glad to see you are back blogging Brian. Gosh, you really get through the books. I am struggling with books this weather, one every two weeks, which is really bad for me. I am reading City of the Beasts at the moment, one you would probably enjoy if you have not already read it.
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