Book Update

Once again I must apologize to my reader that I have not been updating my blog. So, I will now do a series of posts about what I have been enjoying since I last posted anything. This post will be about the books/comic books I've been reading:


First I read the novel Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shtyngart. This is a difficult book to write about/review. I have a feeling that the author is a huge Vonnegut fan, simply by how this book is a satirical sci-fi book much like many of Vonnegut's were. Super Sad True Love Story tells a story of a man and a woman living in near-future (about 30 years from now) New York City and their relationship life-cycle through their online journals that they are keeping and their emails to friends. This future is a strange, but scarily possibly dystopian society where everyone carries around something called an Aparrat (which is kind of like an iphone) which keeps everyone online at all times and virtually connected, but because of that virtual connection, people have a hard time having any verbal communication. The "love story" of Lenny and Eunice is told against a back-drop of the fall of the American government and financial markets as the dollar keeps falling versus all other currencies. I am not doing this book justice since it is a satire, it is quite funny but dark.




After that I read the two Kane Chronicles by Rick Riordan. These are the best selling young adult novels The Red Pyramid followed by The Throne of Fire. The premise behind these books is there are a brother and sister, Carter and Sadie, whose parents were magicians from the House of Life which is passed down since the time of Ancient Egypt. These two kids have been born as the reincarnated human hosts of Horus and Isis. These kids are basically being attacked by the god Set in the first book who is trying to take over the earth and in the second book they attempt to revive the ancient sun god Ra. These are very fun stories which are especially great that young adults/children are reading this book for them to learn about the ancient Egyptian gods, heiroglyphics and Egyptian history in a fun and interesting way. Anyone that has a young kid (ten years old or so) that is interested in this should read up.

Then I read the novel by Steve Martin (yes, THAT Steve Martin) called An Object of Beauty. This is a very serious and kind of sad story so not something you would expect from one of the most famous comedic actors of the last 30+ years. This story follows a woman named Lacey Yaegar as she grows up and succeeds in the art-world of New York from 1990-present day. Over 20 years, we follow this woman's career as well as we see how the art business is run with deals made in the bedroom where she would often sell herself as much as the famous paintings to the rich and powerful. It shows the dark side of a business that is not as famous or as large as the media or banking world, but does have as many shady dealings as any other industry.



I also finished the newest trade paperback of Walking Dead titled No Way Out collecting issues 79-84 of the critical and commercially successful comic book series. In this issue Rick and company have basically taken control of the community that took them in, and when a horde of roamers come upon their walls and how they deal with the threat. This also featured an insanely surprising ending to issue #83 which may become a turning point in the series, but I am unsure where Robert Kirkman and company are going with this. This book continues to be one of the most shocking and fulfilling books around and can't wait to continue reading it.