Book 13 - Bright Shiny Morning

Is it possible to love and hate a book at the same time? Although that is a bit harsh, there were many aspects of "Bright Shiny Morning" by James Frey that I really loved, and almost as many that I didn't care for. I do recall hearing about Frey as most of us likely did, with that whole Oprah scandal. I don't really care too much about all of that, what really counts is the quality of the book itself. I would say that Frey is an excellent writer, but he would benefit from some restraint, the scope of this tale was just far too large.

"Bright Shiny Morning" is a tale of Los Angeles. It intermixes the history of the city, "fun facts" and tales of many different characters. Although there are many (too many) stories that this book follows, the main ones are homeless "Old Man Joe", celebrity couple Amberton Parker and his "beard" wife Casey, Mexican-American Esperanza a maid with ambitions for a better life and young couple Maddie and Dylan who have come to California to escape Maddie's abusive mother and to seek a better life by the sea.

Book 12 - Generation A

I think that I might have found a new favorite author, and one that resides in my area to boot! Generation A is the third book that I have read by Douglas Coupland. Previously I have read Player One and Girlfriend in a Coma, and currently I am reading Microserfs. I don’t really do much in moderation. Generation A was the first book that I read this year that I really loved. However while reading it part of me was wondering exactly why I loved it so much because it seems to have elements that I sometimes disliked in other books, the third act is largely composed of short stories within the main narrative for one. But for whatever reason, something about Generation A really worked for me.

The book follows five people that have received bee stings in a world where bees are believed to be extinct. The book was written in 2009  and it is set in the near future. Each of those stung tells their tale in alternating chapters as we read on. As soon as each is stung, they are put into isolation where they are not allowed to read, or have entertainment of any kind. They are made to eat this crazy jello like substance and they have blood taken in large amounts daily. While in isolation they are not even able to see any other people and only communicate with the scientists that have taken them via a computerized voice.

Book 11 - How to be Good

I bought this book back in October when I was in Toronto. I started to read it then I didn't feel like reading anything for a while when my cat passed away and since then I have had so many library books that I haven't read anything that I didn't have on loan. But I finally made my way back to it, and I gotta say that I love me some Nick Hornby. I have read  and reviewed several of his books on here such as High Fidelity, Juliet Naked and About a Boy.

On its surface, “How to be Good” is about a woman struggling to decide whether or not to leave her marriage. Katie is a doctor and she has been married to David, a grumpy writer who is also the primary caregiver for their two children. Katie starts off the book explaining that she has no major issues with her husband but she is generally unhappy. This makes her pose the question if malcontent is enough of a reason to end a marriage.

Book 10 - The Glass Castle

My boss recommended that I read "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls, I am not sure that I would recommend it to anyone else. That is not to say that the book is not extremely well written or that the story is not riveting, but it is quite heartbreaking to read. 

We first meet Jeannette when she is three years old and she has burned herself on the stove cooking hot dogs for herself. She ends up with quite severe burns and once shes returns home, her parents are proud of her for going back to cooking and not being afraid of the fire. To say that her parents have unconventional ideas about parenting is an understatement.

Book 9 - The Dark Half

I guess you can't win them all. The Dark Half is the first Stephen King book that I have not really enjoyed, at least as far as I can recall. I was pretty excited to read it after King referenced it during the introduction to The Long Walk, but overall I was not to impressed with this tale.

The story centers around writer Thad Beaumont, who writes under a pseudonym and then "kills" off the other author when he is forced to out himself under threat of extortion. George Stark, the fictional author becomes not so fictional and starts killing all those involved with bringing his fictional nature to light.

Book 8 - Ravens

Ravens by George Dawes Green is about a family in Georgia who wins the lottery. Two lowly tech-support workers are passing through town on a vacation and when they stop in at the mini mart where the winning ticket was sold, they happen to find out the identity of the winning family and proceed to take them hostage and extort them for half of the jackpot.

The two captors are Shaw and Romeo, they have been friends since childhood. Romeo will do anything to make Shaw happy, he has been eager to please him for years and Shaw is more than willing to take advantage. The hostages are the Boatwright family, there is the devoutly religious father Mitch, the drunk mother Patsy and the hard working college student daughter, Tara, there is a younger son Jase who plays only a minor role in the story. Shaw takes up residence with the family, while Romeo prowls the streets keeping tabs on the Boatwright family and is ready to strike them down should the need arise.

Book 7 - Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

I decided to read this book after reading a post on Pajiba about movies that would have been better with a different ending. I can't seem to find that post or remember the exact title, but in any case it lead me to this book and I enjoyed it very much and I am now looking forward to watching my Director's cut of Bladerunner as I think it has the better ending that Pajiba was referring to. I have never seen any version of Bladerunner but I had vaguely heard of it and knew it was something to do with a bounty hunter and androids .

"Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" is the story of a world ravaged by World War Terminus. The planet Earth is mostly abandoned since most have gone off to colonies on Mars where they are all promised their own personal android assistant (slave). Back on earth we meet Rick Deckard who is a bounty hunter working for the San Francisco police. Sometimes the androids tire of slaving for the humans and they kill them and flee back to Earth.