Tweets from @Rob_Thurman (probably of a useless and irrelevant nature. Beware.)

00:33 Anti-Spongebob Brigade has risen! Cal & Spongebob in a caged death match! Although I fully support Bob and Patrick's right to undersea love. #

00:35 Yes,I have insomnia.Here is the punchline 2 favorite filthy nursing home joke: but son I only get it up once a month.I fall down every day. #

00:37 If you know the rest of the joke, I name you King/Queen/Lizard God Emperor of the night. Now, back to the insomnia. #

08:50 Okay, someone photoshop me a Cal and a Spongebob in a fight to the death.. Madhouse cover would work well esp. as it's yellow #

08:52 Snow. God's icy dandruff. Note to self: buy God some Head and Shoulders shampoo. I hate snow. #

09:24 You wouldn't be wrong. FREEZING @marjoriemliu @Rob_Thurman I have also just received word snow is falling in our little neck of the woods #

11:23 Attack of the Well-Dressed Hell Hounds! @marjoriemliu twitpic.com/sj6zm - When small dogs attack! (taken this morning in Shanghai) #

17:31 Okay. Pissed my pants on that one! @ThePinkEgoBox twitpic.com/skrtj - @Rob_Thurman Cal Leandros and Spongebob duke it out. #

17:32 You rock in all the ways there are to rock. @ThePinkEgoBox #

18:15 Can't do much with Moonshine. Already has gay soft porn written all over it. :)@ThePinkEgoBox @Rob_Thurman Thanks for...Photoshop ideas! #

19:57 Spongebob. He's armed. @LisaShearin BEWITCHED & BETRAYED. Then need to write Acknowledgments and Dedication pages. Hmmm, who to thank? #

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Fullmetal Alchemist #20 by Hiromu Arakawa
( FMA )

What Remains of Heaven by C.S. Harris

( Devlin )

Series vs. Stand-Alone

A while back, aurillia asked me if I prefer books in a series format or stand-alone. I had to think about it, and frankly, I realized I have no real preference. Some readers avoid books that are part of a series because they don't want to get hooked on something else they have to keep up with. I understand that stance, as I tend to think that way when it comes to television series, but when it comes to books? I really don't have a preference one way or the other. If the book interests me, I get it, unless it's the second or third in a series I haven't started, and then I take a long look at the first book to determine if it's gonna be right for me or not. Often, I'll hold off on getting such serial books right away, because I want to get a good feel for the reviews across the board.

But really, there's not a whole lot of commitment in starting a series. If I like the book, I'll likely get the next, but that doesn't mean a different series I'm already reading will keep me entertained, so I may drop that one while picking up the new one.

So I really don't mind starting something new, with one exception: fantasy. And by fantasy, I don't mean modern or urban or anything like that, but EPIC FANTASY. The kind where each installment is its own door-stopper. There's so much COMMITMENT involved with just a single book it's hard to justify starting the series until you know how well it's going to be received once it's finished. That doesn't mean I haven't started a few: George R.R. Martin, Jacqueline Carey, Diana Gabaldon (who's actually time-travel romance, but the size issue still stands). I've liked them, and gotten the other books. It's just hard to want to keep reading due to the commitment because each book is an EPIC DOORSTOPPER.

On the other hand, stand-alones are kind of nice. You know going in that you're getting a complete story, so you can enjoy it fully. Of course, there's always the chance that the author intends for the book to be stand-alone when it really needs a sequel, but we can't help that, can we?

That's me. What kind of reader are you? Series books only? Stand-alones only? Or a healthy mix of both?

Also, if you have a question you'd like to see addressed in "Maintenance Monday," just comment!

---

Book Club Selections

December: The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle
January: The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson

Book Sale: I'm selling bunches of books out of my collection. Interested to see what's available? Just click here for all of the details!

Upcoming Reviews: Give Up the Ghost by Megan Crewe, Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood

Currently Reading: Skin Game by Ava Gray

Book Meter: 7 books to go before we hit the big 100! I've got until the 31st. What about you, how many books have you read this year? How many do you want to read?

'I believe that our Heavenly Father invented man because he was disappointed in the monkey. I believe that whenever a human being, of even the highest intelligence and culture, delivers, an opinion upon a matter apart from his particular and especial line of interest, training and experience, it will always be an opinion so foolish and so valueless a sort that it can be depended upon to suggest to our Heavenly Father that the human being is another disappointment and that he is no considerable improvement upon the monkey.'

'I believe the cost of life is death and we will all pay that in full. Everything else should be a gift. We paid the cover charge of life, we were born.'

Bill Hicks

Author: Sulaiman Addonia
Pages: 342
Published in: June 2008
Grade: 4/5 stars

This was quite an unusual and wonderfully moving love story - desperately sad at times but very compelling. It centres around Naser, an Eritrean who was sent by his mother from a refugee camp in Sudan to live in the insanely inhumane world of Saudi Arabia - where men and women both live in the city of Jeddah yet at the same time coexist in two completely different worlds. Women are practically segregated from society, forced to wear veils when walking outside in the streets; they have separate compartments in public transport and even inside their own homes. It is a place where "religious police" meticulously patrol the streets, making sure that men are inside mosques during prayer times and that women are completely covered up at all times. It is a place where women who are sexually abused or raped are cast out as whores or apostates. It is a place where the price for adultery is execution by beheading - in public. Because men and women are kept so far apart men are often forced to turn to each other for sexual and emotional gratification - even if they are heterosexual (women, of course, are simply expected not to have sex at all unless they are married). However, after five years of this existence, a veiled woman suddenly scurries by and drops a love letter at Naser's feet, and his life is changed forever.

It's an extremely suspenseful and oddly erotic book; the romance is sensuous and emotional without crossing over into overly smutty or Harlequin territory, which quite suits the characters and their setting. It's also clearly based on the author's own experiences - Addonia himself was a Sudanese refugee who lived and studied in Jeddah during his teens.

The prose is quite poetic in some parts, yet at the same time very simple and a little childlike which in a way reflects Naser's - and his lover's - naivety concerning affairs of the heart and their complete inexperience with sexual relationships. Arabic words and phrases are constantly used throughout the book, but a Glossary is included at the back making for a very helpful reference. As a Maltese person I found the Arabic comfortably familiar as my language is very similar :)

One point that the book makes is that the religion of Islam is not to blame for the violence and insanity that goes on in Saudi Arabia - it's the constant use and abuse of Sharia Law and privileged men who get off on their power over the citizens and who use their fundamentalist views as an excuse to get away with their behaviour. Naser believes in an Allah of love and mercy despite imams preaching of hell and Satan and hatred.

It is far from your usual fluffy and happy love story, but that is why I loved it. It made me all the more thankful that where I live, I live freely and can love whoever I want to love. Unfortunately for Naser and his woman behind the veil, they are trapped in an almost dystopian society where any move you make could very well be the wrong one.

Many may be unaware that there has been a long-standing feud between Cal and Spongebob. There was a bathtub, some soap, and perhaps a starfish flushed down the toilet. Cal was five...cut him some slack. But NO. Spongebob will not let it go. Seventeen years later he still haunts the sewers (and equally damp places) in search of his vengeance. ThePinkEgoBox was fortunate enough to have caught a picture of this grim and bitter vendetta in action.


http://twitpic.com/skrtj

69. Red Seas Under Red Skies - Scott Lynch - 640 pages (8.5/10)

This is the second installment of the Gentleman Bastard series. I absolutely adored the first installment and followed suit with the second one as soon as I could. This one is still enjoyable, but not as amazing as the first.

Locke and Jean have left their home country of Camorr and traveled to Tal Verrar and the Sinspire, which is basically the swanky parts of Las Vegas in a tower. It's an amazing initial setting, and I wish more of the novel had taken place in it, to be honest. For two years, they have been slowly cheating and amassing wealth. But, of course, as usual, something has to go wrong and they are caught up in a larger game and forced to be pawns . However, Locke and Jean don't make very good pawns.

Under the threat of a latent poison, they are forced to go on the high seas and pretend to be pirates to upset the stability of Tal Verrar. But this does not go entirely according to plan, either. It is this part of the book I didn't find as exciting. I liked the characters on the boat, but seas and ships and run-of-the-mill port towns are just the same as in so many other fantasy books. Lynch has the talent to make such amazing settings, that it seemed a bit of a cop-out to stick them on the high seas.

That's not to say this is a disappointing book. Overall, I still enjoyed it and I will read the next installment. The dialogue and humour is witty and sharp, the characters strong, and the plotting intricate. I'm still gutted that the next installment won't be out until sometime next year. Lynch is worth reading; just don't expect Red Seas Under Red Skies to be quite as incredible at The Lies of Locke Lamora.

69. Red Seas Under Red Skies - Scott Lynch - 640 pages (8.5/10)

This is the second installment of the Gentleman Bastard series. I absolutely adored the first installment and followed suit with the second one as soon as I could. This one is still enjoyable, but not as amazing as the first.

Locke and Jean have left their home country of Camorr and traveled to Tal Verrar and the Sinspire, which is basically the swanky parts of Las Vegas in a tower. It's an amazing initial setting, and I wish more of the novel had taken place in it, to be honest. For two years, they have been slowly cheating and amassing wealth. But, of course, as usual, something has to go wrong and they are caught up in a larger game and forced to be pawns . However, Locke and Jean don't make very good pawns.

Under the threat of a latent poison, they are forced to go on the high seas and pretend to be pirates to upset the stability of Tal Verrar. But this does not go entirely according to plan, either. It is this part of the book I didn't find as exciting. I liked the characters on the boat, but seas and ships and run-of-the-mill port towns are just the same as in so many other fantasy books. Lynch has the talent to make such amazing settings, that it seemed a bit of a cop-out to stick them on the high seas.

That's not to say this is a disappointing book. Overall, I still enjoyed it and I will read the next installment. The dialogue and humour is witty and sharp, the characters strong, and the plotting intricate. I'm still gutted that the next installment won't be out until sometime next year. Lynch is worth reading; just don't expect Red Seas Under Red Skies to be quite as incredible at The Lies of Locke Lamora.

The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Again, this is another book I'm listening to while inputting all my data. I've read the book before, so I'm not missing anything really.

I'm not a huge fan of the voice actress. She's okay, but maybe I've seen the movie too many times and I wish I could hear Anne Hathaway's voice instead. My biggest gripe is with her "voice" for Andrea's boyfriend and her southern brother-in-law and sister. I hate people who do really bad southern accents, over acting it to make it seem as if all southerners were stupid idiots. Also her male voices were awful, I mean really, really bad. The only voices she did well were the voices for Andy and Miranda Priestly.

The book is pretty cliche. It's Nanny Diaries but not as well written. Girl goes through insanely tough boss and survives only to find herself finding a her dream at the end. Yay. It'd be nice if the real world was like that.

It did bother me that her friends and family weren't just a little more supportive. Okay, yeah, working for Miranda sucked, but everybody starts at the bottom. At least everybody I know who's made any kind of success in her life. Sometimes you work for real buttheads who ask you to do some really insane stuff. And you need your friends to back you up instead of giving you hell because you're not spending every waking moment with them. I think this was more of the author's decision than what "realy" happened. The book is based on the author and the author's friends lives of starting out in the world. Miranda Priestly slightly based on Anna Wintour of Cosmopolitan (supposedly she's just like this!)

And it bothers me tremendously that she sold all the stuff. *sigh* Oh well, I guess sometimes you need money more than you need awesome free Prada. But again, it drives me nuts that the author tried to make her so saintly. In the movie it made sense to have Andy give the clothes to Emily.

It's kind of an annoying book. If you enjoyed the movie, skip the book. There's nothing new in the book.

Personally, the movie is deliciously better than the book. I think it might be because of Anne Hathaway and Meryl Streep. I just loved Meryl Streep as Miranda Priestly, "That is all."

From the book: A delightfully dishy novel about the all-time most impossible boss in the history of impossible bosses.

Andrea Sachs, a small-town girl fresh out of college, lands the job “a million girls would die for.” Hired as the assistant to Miranda Priestly, the high-profile, fabulously successful editor of Runway magazine, Andrea finds herself in an office that shouts Prada! Armani! Versace! at every turn, a world populated by impossibly thin, heart-wrenchingly stylish women and beautiful men clad in fine-ribbed turtlenecks and tight leather pants that show off their lifelong dedication to the gym. With breathtaking ease, Miranda can turn each and every one of these hip sophisticates into a scared, whimpering child.

THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA gives a rich and hilarious new meaning to complaints about “The Boss from Hell.” Narrated in Andrea’s smart, refreshingly disarming voice, it traces a deep, dark, devilish view of life at the top only hinted at in gossip columns and over Cosmopolitans at the trendiest cocktail parties. From sending the latest, not-yet-in-stores Harry Potter to Miranda’s children in Paris by private jet, to locating an unnamed antique store where Miranda had at some point admired a vintage dresser, to serving lattes to Miranda at precisely the piping hot temperature she prefers, Andrea is sorely tested each and every day—and often late into the night with orders barked over the phone. She puts up with it all by keeping her eyes on the prize: a recommendation from Miranda that will get Andrea a top job at any magazine of her choosing. As things escalate from the merely unacceptable to the downright outrageous, however, Andrea begins to realize that the job a million girls would die for may just kill her. And even if she survives, she has to decide whether or not the job is worth the price of her soul.

View all my reviews >>

ZOO is a collection of short stories by acclaimed Japanese horror author, Otsuichi. It’s translated, which always begs for an original reading to see what, if anything, has been lost or gained in the switch to another language. The writing isn’t too descriptive. It borders on the extremely bare-bones, minimalism to the point where I began to imagine the narrative in comic book form with illustrations to fill in the emotion I felt was missing from the text (my rating reflects this--it would be a 4 star otherwise). To be fair, my only other experience with Japanese horror was The Ring and that as manga. I can never bring myself to watch the film (or any Japanese horror film), but I was so scared by the end of reading the comic I gave it away when I was finished. That being said, I steeled myself for jumping into ZOO. With time and distance, I was sure I’d appreciate the tingly terror Otsuishi’s writing would elicit.

While some of the stories read quickly, there’s always some lingering emotion left over that makes you want to stop and think about what was just read. Because this is an ARC, I won’t quote the book, but I desperately want to. There are some gruesome scenes that, when combined with some of the more incredulous and ridiculous dialogue and behavior clash against my sensibilities of propriety. I think there’s a certain appreciation that comes with Japanese horror that has to be taken into consideration before anyone attempts to read something like ZOO. It’s not Stephen King by any stretch of the imagination. There’s always something a little ridiculous and weird in the premise of a Japanese horror story--something that require a strong suspense of belief in what you’d expect to happen or what’s accepted behavior, or turn of events. There’s a lot of fantasy that has to be believed in order to appreciate the fiction created. Also, there’s a lot of corny dialogue that begs for re-writes, but don’t be put off. A lot of the stories have an underlying creepiness about them that stay with you long after the story’s been put to rest. And that, I think, is the benefit of reading Japanese horror.

( Read the rest! )

Young as she is, the stuff
Of her life is a great cargo, and some of it heavy:
I wish her a lucky passage.

******


It is always a matter, my darling,
Of life or death, as I had forgotten. I wish
What I wished you before, but harder.


The Writer by Richard Wilbur

My kickstart_tu critique auction ends tomorrow, 12/8. If you're wanting to support a great cause and get a crit from me into the bargain, head on over and bid! Top bid right now is $35!

What she had begun to learn was the weight of liberty. Freedom is a heavy load, a great and strange burden for the spirit to undertake. It is not easy. It is not a gift given, but a choice made, and the choice may be a hard one. The road goes upward toward the light; but the laden traveler may never reach the end of it.

I first read of this book back when we subscribed to Experience Life Magazine, and I was glad to find it in a thrift store earlier this year.

Hyman's basic theory is this: Americans are obese because of widespread misinformation about diets (especially low fat and low calorie diets) and how our DNA is programmed to gain weight. Many pre-packaged foods contain additives and fats that are not natural and our bodies don't know how to process them. Therefore, Hyman's Ultrametabolism Prescription advises that people eat as their ancestors did a hundred years ago with lots of raw fruits and veggies, ancient grains, nuts, and lean meats, and avoiding white flours, sugars, and many pre-packaged products.

I've tried various diet plans before to dismal results. Even though I exercise six days a week for 30 minutes to an hour, my weight stays at the same plateau. Hyman's theory does have merit, I think, in citing that a lot of cheap and easy foods are actually rather toxic. I don't agree with everything he espoused; one thing he said is that we need to eat as we did a hundred years ago, but at the same time he says we need to avoid flour. Um, flour has been pretty important for a long time. I can't afford to dump out all of my gluten-y foods (or buy all organic), but I do plan to try out his recipe suggestions and read labels more carefully. Moderation seems to be the key, as with anything. I've been eating a lot of produce this year, and I hope to increase that intake, stop buying frozen Lean Cuisines, and see if I really can boost my energy and metabolism.

"To get a better idea try this: focus on these words, and whatever you do don't let your eyes wander past the perimeter of this page. Now imagine just beyond your peripheral vision, maybe behind you, maybe to the side of you, maybe even in front of you, but right where you can't see it, something is quietly closing in on you, so quiet in fact you can only hear it as silence. Find those pockets without sound. That's where it is. Right at this moment. But don't look. Keep your eyes here. Now take a deep breath. Go ahead, take an even deeper one. Only this time as you exhale try to imagine how fast it will happen, how hard it's gonna hit you, how many times it will stab your jugular with its teeth or are they nails?, don't worry, that particular detail doesn't matter, because before you have time to process that you should be moving, you should be running, you should at the very least be flinging up your arms-you sure as hell should be getting rid of this book-you won't have time to even scream.
Don't look.
I didn't.
Of course I looked.
I looked so fucking fast I should of ended up wearing one of those neck braces for whiplash."

(all my posted entries can be found here and are organized by author)

It had seemed like the beginning of happiness, and Clarissa is still sometimes shocked, more than thirty years later, to realize that it was happiness; that the entire experience lay in a kiss and a walk, the anticipation of dinner and a book... What lives undimmed in Clarissa's mind more than three decades later is a kiss at dusk on a patch of dead grass, and a walk around a pond as mosquitoes droned in the darkening air. There is still that singular perfection, and it's perfect in part because it seemed, at the time, so clearly to promise more. Now she knows: That was the moment, right then. There has been no other.

(all my posted entries can be found here and are organized by author)

"I never could have done what I have done, without the habits of punctuality, order, and diligence, without the determination to concentrate myself on one object at a time."

"A man must take the fat with the lean."

(all my posted entries can be found here and are organized by author)

"Nothing of me is original. I am the combined effort of everybody I've ever known."

"The one you love and the one who loves you are never, ever the same person."

"Just remember, the same spectacular Vogue magazine, remember that no matter how close you follow the page jumps: Continued on page whatever. No matter how careful you are, there's going to be the sense you missed something, the collapsed feeling under your skin that you didn't experience it all. There's that fallen heart feeling that you rushed right through the moments where you should've been paying attention."

(all my posted entries can be found here and are organized by author)