keeping note

This the first and, most likely, the last time you will ever see me write this sentence. I’d never met a book I didn’t love more than it’s audio-visual recreation until now.

Darly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay is by no means a horrible book, yet it didn’t have the humor, irony, and intrigue that Showtime gave it. After reading the book which inspired the television series and watching the complete first season, I can say with absolute certainty that the book is not better.

The writer’s for the Showtime series really took their rights to the book’s content seriously. The show and book are mirror images of each other for the most part. None of the characters are altered and some dialogue is cut and pasted. It’s not bad, though. The producers saw a great idea, yet mediocre excecution, and decided to give it all the depth, drama, and devotion Dexter deserved.

The book isn’t bad, just mediocre. It’s nothing I’d write a high review of, yet something I’d recommend for a quick and mindless, yet entertaining read. This is why I’m giving the book two bolts. I’d give it one if it were just a book, but the story is really something amazing, hidden behind boring, uninteresting prose and a weak progression of events.

I have a somewhat unhealthy addiction to television. That’s why it makes me extremely happy to find a show like Heroes, which indulges my obession.

Heroes is not only a tv show, by an online “graphic novel” or comic book. The show’s website has continually posted weekly comic book issues since the first season. The comic books follow along with the show and even precede what happens on television. This isn’t fan fiction, this in association with the show and connected to, even spoiling, the storyline which take place on television. It’s amazing.

Well, now the wonderful people of Heroes have compiled a book of their comic book issues. While the artwork of these comics is great to admire online, I’m really excited to see that this is in print. If there’s one form of print that will never die, it’s artwork and these novels definitely fit that category.

Look for the book in stores and definitely keep up with the nearly 100 issues on nbc.com/heroes.

Image Source: Fantastic Fiction

I’ve noticed this question appear many times in my blog stats, since I have a previous blog about the novel.

Now, I’m going to shed some light on that question.

The answer is that no one is sure and that’s why Sherman titled his book, “Indian Killer”. He wants the reader to see the title, and consider whether the murderer kills Indians or if the killer is an Indian.

Often, people tend to think the Killer is John, but to be honest that is all assumption because the book doesn’t clearly name a character as obviously guilty.

The Gum Thief
Douglas Coupland

Douglas Coupland is best known for his book jPod and while I haven’t read the popular book, I doubt I will. I’m not being harsh; I’m being honest.

The Gum Thief started out with such promise. A forty-something man with a quite downhill life is working at Staples where he meets a young twenty-something girl. The two of them write back and forth to each other about life philosophies and woes. The first forty pages had me laughing out loud and agreeing with the main character’s cynical and depressing view of society. As the book crept on, I was still enjoying it because I thought I was waiting for something to happen. Here’s where my idea of a good modern novel and Coupland’s depart.

If nothing major would have happened in the book, I still would have given it more than one little lightning bolt. Modern stories, whether they be books, movies or poetry, have a spirit (if you could call it that) of apathy. People with less than satisfactory lives are introduced to us under the pretense that there is much change in store, yet because of the character’s flaws no change occurs or the change is not the saving grace
the character anticipated. The Gum Thief was a cop out.

I don’t mind spoiling the ending (because it was lame), but if you plan on reading, I would skip down to the next paragraph. Coupland ends his book with the most cliche of all modern novels. The depressed and distraught twenty-something attempts to take her life. Though it didn’t kill the character, it killed the book.

If you’d like to read it, go ahead. It will give you a few laughs and make you want to remember some of the lines, but it’s not the ‘great book’ you were hoping for.

Image Source: Cliffnotes.com

Like most college student, sometimes I need a little help playing catch up with my reading. While making an Internet trip to cliffnotes.com for some interesting tidbits that would make me look better than everyone else during class discussion, I stumbled across a new way to read Shakespeare classics: manga style.

Anyone who has met me knows how much I love this pop culture phenomenon from the land of the rising sun. It looks like my manga collection has consumed my bookshelf! (I think my sister is secretly plotting to sell it all!) However, I’m not too excited to see Shakespeare in this form.

These versions were illustrated and abridged by Adam Sexton, a professor of writing and literature at NYU. Each book comes with a 4-page introduction to set the stage and still retains Shakespearian language in order to recognize famous passages.

I completely understand this new way of teaching Shakespeare. It’s more likely to get kids interested because they’re cashing in on a popular trend. However, I think it defeats the purpose of learning literature. It’s supposed to be challenging so a person has the chance to develop their analytical skills. Call me a purist, but I think I’ll pass on the manga Shakespeare for now. My shelf is about to collapse anyway.

(sorry about the fuzzy photos, I must start remembering to bring a camera around, the Sidekick really is an overrated phone)

Maybe it’s because I’m a bit nosey, but finds like this make me smile, or smirk hha.

I was walking through the Aztec bookstore, looking for a book to buy for class (I try to hold off buying anything till I find out I can’t get it from the library, Amazon.com, ebay or from a friend) when I ran into Sherman Alexie’s novel, Indian Killer. I read it for my English 250b class, back in the day. I picked up a used copy to flip to some quotes I remembered when I noticed a message written inside and it said:

To Xxxxxx.

Good luck on your many
endeavours through life.
We know you’ll turn out
just fine. I hope you find
this novel inspiring &
that you may one day
overcome your schizophrenia.

With love,

Grandma & Grandpa

Wow, what a message to run into. A lot of people are probably wondering why he/she sold it…well I have my theories:

1. The bookstore is damn expensive and he/she probably need the money for the next round of over priced books.
2. Maybe he/she is not schizophrenic so the message is a reminder of how his/her family has overacted over him/her being “emotional and different” , but he/she is not going to just toss it into the trash (because of theory 1)
3. His/Her roommate is an @$$hole and stole then sold it…again, probably reason 1.

Sorry, I’ve got my mind on my money and money on my mind. (oh Snoop)

The apartment I live in has a quote a day posted in its elevator.

I thought it was neat that they put up a Rita Mae Brown quote. I read her book, Rubyfruit Jungle, when I was taking Gay and Lesbian literature last semester.

The elevator quotes are really inspiring, not just because they’re inspiring words to think about, but because they prompt you to do great things, such as, research further about the person who said the quote in the first place.

For example, right now, this post was going to be about what I learned about Rita Mae Brown in the Gay and Lesbian literature class, however, I couldn’t find my old notes (it’s a damn shame too).

But it wasn’t a lost cause. As I was researching Rita Mae Brown on the internet to refresh my memory, I ran into the word “bildungsroman;” which according to Wikipedia is German for “novel of self-cultivation” or more commonly put as a “coming of age story”.

Bildungsroman stories usually involve its character having to go through a journey (physically or metaphorically) that is often arduous as a process of their maturity.

This relates to Rita Mae Brown’s novel, Rubyfruit Jungle, because many consider to be a lesbian coming of age story.

Interesting right?

I love learning new terms and concepts. Every time I learn something new, such as, bildungsroman, I feel like my mind is a little less murky. I think it’s because the ideas in my head can further develop because they’re slowly finding terms to attach themselves to.

It’s true what they say, when you give it a name it’s real or if you give it a name it’s really yours.

Concepts and puppies- it’s all the same.