Book Review: "Quicksand House" by Carlton Mellick III

★ Gordon Wyant

I am extremely excited for this review!  Why, do you ask?  Well, I LOVE the Bizarro fiction movement and this is the first bizarro book I feel will sit comfortably in a Young Adult area.  About now, some of you may be wondering what is Bizarro fiction.  The best way I can think of to describe Bizarro fiction is to ask you to imagine Adventure Time with a decidedly mature bent.

The hallmarks of Bizarro fiction include decidedly absurd plot elements and characters, a gore factor that is right out of low budget B horror films, and a sexuality that pushes boundaries far beyond what most would consider normal.  It is crazy stuff and I LOVE it!  Frankly, I can't get enough of the stuff.  The fact is, our culture is rife with more and more of the same old same old.  Be it artistically, fashion, the things we eat, the things we watch, and what we're advertised to enjoy in our free time, there just aren't many people pushing the boundaries in this culture.

posted on 11/05/2013 10:39:00 AM

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Book Review: "Super Graphic" by Tim Leong

 ★ Gordon Wyant

In the past few years displaying information in a visually appealing manner has become an art form.  Every internet denizen or news network viewer is familiar with the term infographic and I'm positive the majority of us have some of our favorites bookmarked or sitting in boards on Pinterest.  Whether the information is about important or topical subjects, scary and downright saddening, just plain off the wall, or simply fun infographics have become and integral part of our visual lives.  "Super Graphic: a visual guide to the comic book universe" seeks to apply this new infovisual art form to the world of comics and does so with great aplomb!  "Holy introduction, Batman!  Let's get to the review!"

posted on 11/04/2013 04:24:00 AM

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Book Review: "Last Stand of Dead Men" by Derek Landy

★ Gordon Wyant

Things have been busy, which means I find precious little time to sit down and type blog entries.  So, I fail pretty hard at blogging, but I struggle gamely onward!  The nice thing about running all over the place for workshops, conferences, classes, and the like is that I have ample time to read between appointments and commitments.  That means that, while I haven't been posting, I have been reading.  That last bit means I have a few reviews to post.  As I have a few moments while I work at the circulation desk tonight, I'm going to try to hammer those posts out!





Here we go . . .

posted on 10/21/2013 04:04:00 PM

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Book Review: "The Maleficent Seven" by Derek Landy

  ★ Gordon Wyant

There are few book series that I have patience for if they go beyond 3 books and that patience is further diminished for series that result in various spin-offs.  This is not so for the Skulduggery Pleasant series.  The series is now up to 8 books with various novellas and the new spin-off novel featuring Tanith Low.  Even given this legion of books, I am continually in awe of how the story and its characters grow.  So much so that even though only the first three books have been released in the US (one of the biggest oversights among a pile of oversights and mistakes made by the American Publishing Industry) I import them from the UK as soon as they are released at great cost and it is totally worth it!  Also, it is kinda cool to get packages from the Royal Mail . . . anyway, time for the review!

posted on 9/12/2013 09:34:00 AM

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Book Review: "Momentum" by Saci Lloyd

 ★ Gordon Wyant

Once again, I find myself putting off this whole writing-of-reviews thing.  At least this time I have an excuse . . . getting the event schedule together.  But, now I've done that, so I have no excuse.  I finished "Momentum" about a week ago and now I want more.  Though, I have to say that I certainly didn't think that would be the case when I was at the beginning of the novel.  I'm glad I had faith in Saci's ability to spin a grim and dirty not-so-distant future; it sure paid out in the end.

So . . . review!

posted on 8/29/2013 09:39:00 AM

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Book review: "The Fault in Our Stars" by John Green

 ★ Gordon Wyant

I'm so far behind in reading this book.  So far, in fact, that there is really no point in writing this review.  Everyone and their grandmother has read this book, by now . . . It has been on the New York Times bestseller list for at least 35 weeks, it is still #16 in books sold on Amazon (over a year and a half after its release), and filming of the movie is about to begin on the 26th of this month!  This book has been read by nearly everyone and I have nothing that I can really add that nearly everyone hasn't already screamed, while in sorrow-filled tears of joy, that it is an amazing book.  In fact, let me present some information about the world in relation to this book in a way that I think both Augustus Waters and Hazel Grace would appreciate:

posted on 8/08/2013 09:54:00 PM

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This! A million times, this!

 ★ Gordon Wyant

Seriously, if you don't laugh at least once while watching this video, you must be a Dalek.  This is truly how book reviews/summaries should be done.  Additionally, NerdyandQuirky does some fantastic videos and you should check her out.







If you haven't figured it out, there really is no point to this post beyond supplying you with this video for your enjoyment.  So . . . ENJOY!

posted on 8/05/2013 02:12:00 PM

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Book Review: "Wandering Son" by Shimura Takako

★ Gordon Wyant

Okay . . . so it has been a while since I have posted and the more astute of you will have noticed that my GoodReads "currently reading" book has been Volume 4 of Wandering Son for weeks.  No, I haven't been reading a 220 page manga for over two weeks.  But it should be said that one could easily get lost in this series over and over again . . . which is just what happens to me every time another volume in this series is released.  So, just imagine me putting off this review over and over in order to simply read the volumes once again.  It really isn't far from the truth!  And with that, on with the incredibly tardy review!

posted on 8/01/2013 06:29:00 PM

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Book Review: "The Ocean at the End of the Lane" by Neil Gaiman

★ Gordon Wyant

 5/5 stars . . . but this rating system can't encompass something so amazing.

Wow.  How to write a review for this book?  It is so many things and nothing at all.  A multitude of stories and just a piece of a whole.   The fleeting strand of  a memory from long ago; images and words and emotions sitting tantalizingly on the surface of your mind, yet somehow eluding your every attempt to put shape to the smoke.  Something there and gone, there and gone . . . a melancholic happiness that sublimates the moment we focus on it.   As a result, I fear this review may end up more of a rambling incoherence.  But, hopefully, I can distill some form from the chaos.

posted on 7/05/2013 05:10:00 PM

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Book Review: "A Beautiful Friendship" by David Weber

★ Gordon Wyant

 Well, I just finished “A Beautiful Friendship” by David Weber and I have to say, it wasn’t what I had expected.  Then again, it is hard to say what, precisely, I DID expect.  I have never read a David Weber book prior to plucking this book off of one of my towering stacks of to-read books.  I knew him to be an author of some renown (understatement of the week) in the sci-fi department; as such, I knew I would be in for some high-tech fun.  I also could hazard a decent guess that the main character was a spunky teenage girl who befriends a cute cat like creature, due to the cover art.  What I didn’t expect was to find myself so wrapped up in the story.  At the end of the book, I found myself desperately wanting in the feline companion department and started looking at kitten adoption . . . okay, I admit it, also a good deal of goofy cat videos on youtube.  I know, I know, how can I be a librarian without sharing my life with a cat, anyway?  Well, that profound error may not go unrectified for long thanks to Stephanie Harrington and Climbs Quickly.  But enough about me and a cat I may adopt that I will try to teach to poop in the toilet (I hate litterboxes), and likely fail; this is a book review.  So, on to the point of this thing!

posted on 7/02/2013 07:25:00 AM

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