Books.

Hugh Laurie - an author? I didn't believe it until I read the book. "The Gun Seller" was leant (loaned?) to me, and I picked it up slightly incredulously. That said, I laughed out loud on a number of occasions quite early into the book, however, once I'd become used to the comic style (think Christopher Brookmyre) it wasn't quite so funny. If you want to know what its about, I suggest you read a proper review somewhere - in brief, there's an ex-army soldier, some arms dealing and that kind of stuff. I seem to remember a love interest too, but presume that's by the by. I can't remember much of it, except it was at least entertaining. 13/16.

V for Vendetta - Alan Moore and David Lloyd put this one together. Another of the great graphic novels (grown up books for children) I've read recently (see my Watchmen review - that's brill by the way - the book that is....). As I said before, it's obviously a more visual medium than most wordsonly books, but that makes it different, not sillier. An interesting, if slightly complicated story - it only really became clear to me on seeing the film - revolving around a less than liberal (read semi-dictatorial) police state in the not too distant future (10 years or so in the future). Well-drawn, and only let down by a slightly complex (in my reading of it) story. Not as good as Watchmen, but not by much!

In fact, the film is very very good too. Watch it.

Ah. Here I am.

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.