Terrance
A great example of Junji Ito's inspiration from HP Lovecraft. Remina is a story that tells a story of the end of the world through some unknown entity beyond the comprehension of mankind. We have no idea of the origin or purpose of the monstrous planet, Remina. What we can do, though, is appreciate a master of the genre at the peak of his skills.
The Fisherman by John Langan is one of the most gripping Lovecraftian novels I have read in a very long time. As a fan of the genre, I've read plenty of interesting takes on cosmic horror, but The Fisherman is by far the most effective. Right from the off, you are invested in the characters and the layers of the story, with each section of the tale being as captivating as what preceded it.
This is very much the sort of book that is perfect on a cold, and rainy night. You'll open it and find that several hours have passed by. Peak cosmic horror at its best. Can't wait to read more of John Langan's work.
There's not much more I can add to the millions of glowing reviews out there about The Little Prince. It's one of the all time great books. In less than 100 pages it manages to grab your heart and give you such a Seth of emotion on finishing it. That speaks volumes about just how amazing a story it presents. This is most assuredly a book everyone should read.
I initially started this book as course material to teach ESL students how to give speeches, but Covid caused the course to be cancelled. Nonetheless I carried on reading the book as it proved to be fascinating and very detailed about how exactly to write and give speeches.
If you are at all involved in an industry where you need to give speeches, even occasionally, then I cannot recommend this book highly enough.
Welcome to Night Vale is as unique in book form as it is in podcast form. If you're a fan of the show and it's cast of weird and quirky characters, then you'll love this.
The authors have done a great job at translating the show's humor into words and sentences and paragraphs and chapters, and thereby into a fully formed and engrossing book.
All hail the Glow Cloud!
A wonderfully whimsical look at the world of stationery that's well worth a read whether or not you're a stationery aficionado.
Each chapter focuses on one particular sphere of stationery: pens, paper, pencils and everything in between. What makes it so fun to read is the author's passion and humorous way of describing the histories and coincidences that led to the discovery of so many of the things we use in the office and around our homes 365 days a year.
It'll be a book that will hardly leave your hand until you turn the last page and it's certainly worth every penny.
On Writing is a phenomenal book about the craft. While I've read many a book in my life, I've always struggled to think about what exactly makes a great book, what gives it that ability to grab you and drag you even deeper into its world.
Stephen King lays out how you should go about crafting worlds and characters but doesn't get bogged down in the nitty gritty of it, rather he gives you the tools and broad strokes you'll need to get down to figuring out that for yourself. The beauty of his approach is that it applies to writers of any genre, not just horror or suspense that he is the master of.
While I've just finished this book, I can see that over the coming years I'll come back again and again to learn more from it., with each read-through giving me something new to use and ponder on.
This is most definitely one of the most essential tools in any writer's toolbox.
Being the first Discworld book, The Color of Magic is vastly different in many ways from the books that follow it. The characters of Rincewind and Twoflower are not as well defined as they would later become in the series and the Discworld itself is also still an idea in its infancy.
This doesn't mean that Sir Terry Pratchett's humor is any less hilarious though. The dialog is witty and filled with puns and innuendos that you might only catch on a second or third read-through, and the story is pretty well written from beginning to end.
Reading The Color of Magic after the passing of Sir Terry Pratchett really makes me both sad and happy, sad that such a wonderful writer and person passed away, and happy that he gave us one of the most enduring universes in all of literature.
The Ocean at the End of the Lane is a magnificently poignant book that once again show's Neil Gaiman's brilliance at not merely putting words onto paper but rather using them to paint wonderful colorful and evocative words of art in our imaginations.
The mark of a good book for me has always been in its ability to capture your heart and imagination and draw you deep into its world so that you lose all track of your surroundings and the passing of time. The Ocean at the End of the Lane is just such a book and from beginning to end you'll find yourself laughing, crying and just enjoying every word and sentence and paragraph before coming to the end and wishing for more.
A pretty good and interesting read. Wheaton has always been a great writer in the time I've been following him and this book just further cements his reputation in my mind. Riveting from start to finish I enjoyed every word. It provides a good look at the life of an actor from a cultural phenomenon such as Star Trek and how he comes to terms with that in his life, both personally and professionally.
As a gaming aficionado myself this is a book that I read through from cover to cover with very few pauses in-between. Gaming as a hobby / interest is still something that many people don't necessarily approve of as a good use of time and anyone who loves games even more than a little bit must by necessity be a bit strange. In some cases they are right as not every game out there deserves anything more than a second of your precious time but the same can be said for movies or books or music.
What makes gaming unique when compared to a lot of other industries out there is the amount of control we as consumers of that medium are able to exert. Of course most games are strictly plot driven games that don't allow you to dictate the plot to any large degree other than choosing to be ‘good' or ‘evil' and selecting between two or three separate branches that might be offered to you. Nonetheless what they do allow you to do is take an active part in the telling of that story by creating your own stories within their worlds. Most of my fondest gaming memories are tied to open game worlds such as SimCity, Far Cry 2 and numerous others that let you go from point A to point B by way of point Z with little to no restrictions on how to go about it.
And the best thing about the gaming industry having been around for as many years as it has is that the older it gets the more maturity there is to find in it's offerings. For every game that has no semblance of plot other than shoving a gun in your hands and asking you to mow down hundreds upon hundreds of identical looking bad guys there are two or three sublimely crafted ‘experiences' that see you trying to save your son from drowning be trying to survive a serial killer's tests of your parenting (Heavy Rain), dealing with the atrocities of violence and it's justification (Spec Ops: The Line) and contemplating your death and what you've done with your life (Dear Esther).
After blathering on so much how does this have anything to do with Extra Lives? Well these are the sorts of things Tom Bissell seeks to answer. These are the questions he works through in the book and using his own life and experiences with gaming he tries to tell us whether gaming really matters. Of course it's not a simple black or white answer. For every person out there there will be a gray answer that determines whether gaming has had any affect on their lives. What this book can definitely say is that no matter how we might want to believer otherwise, gaming is here to stay and can provide us with some great moments that can be shared between gamers and non-gamers alike. If you've ever played a game of Pong or Dragon's Lair and lost yourself in a world of the game developers creating then pick this up and rediscover some of the wonders that gaming can bring to young and old alike.
World War Z is a phenomenal piece of writing. More so because it deals with zombies, which are so widespread in modern day media that they have almost become passé. Where The Walking Dead tries to use the lure of dealing with how the human mind deals with zombies and slowly becomes corrupted itself, Brooks rather deals with how our human world and infrastructure is overthrown and copes with a zombie war. That's not to say that he ignores humans, far from it. He takes every opportunity to explore the despair, hope, sadness and happiness that springs from our dealings with zombies.
Probably his masterstroke is in dealing with the world rather than focussing on just one country or area. It really brings home the scope and devastation of the war and makes the eventual recovery after the war even more impactful. Hearing from so many different people and cultures gives us a wonderful cross section of opinions both god, bad and strange) as well as allowing us as readers to know that for all he bad the war did, it also helped humanity to grow closer together and appreciate each other more.
However good or bad the movie is, it will not change the fact that World War Z is one of the most amazing books I've read. Even if the mere mention of the word zombie makes you sigh with reluctance I'd enthusiastically advise you to read this or to at least get hold of the excellently crafted audiobook.
Bill Bryson can somehow take the most mundane sounding of themes and turn it into an adventure spanning the globe with seemingly little effort. At Home: A Short History of Private Life takes readers on a magnificent journey spanning our entire existence and every facet of our lives and introduces us to people, places and events that have shaped our everyday lives whether we know it or not. Bill Bryson's great skill is in presenting facts and history that serve as a launching pad for you to think more closely about everything you encounter and to be curious about the smallest of things. Something like that cannot be praised highly enough.
It's one of those books that once you start reading it you will struggle to put it down. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. If you're at all familiar with Bill Bryson's other books then this is a must have. If you're at all interested in interesting and strange facts then you'll fall in love instantly with this book. In fact as soon as you're done reading this review I've written go out and buy this book as soon as possible!
Films and games have always had a tumultuous relationship from the very beginning. Ask any gamer what they think of their favorite franchises and gaming experiences being translated to the silver screen and they'll surely answer you with a rueful sigh and a string of titles that will surely include the Mario Brothers movie and everything directed by Uwe Boll.
Generation Xbox takes readers through a wonderful journey from the beginnings of this relationship and leads us through to how games and cinema are more respectful and tolerant of each other and have even learned how to work together to create new and engaging experiences.
The book itself is well written and covers many of the major points and players from both sides. The author isn't afraid to address the problems that have come from both sides and doesn't look at the issue through rose-tinted glasses.
If you're a gamer or a film aficionado then be sure to read this to see how these two industries are moving towards a new and exciting future of interactive media.
If you're looking for a book to introduce you to the indie gaming scene then you can go far wrong with this one. It presents a nice selection of some of the best indie games out there from the absurd to the wonderful.
With independent developers and games becoming the next big thing in the gaming industry it's great to have a foot in the door with 250 great games that show you the wonders that indie developers are capable of.
Killing is Harmless is a rather poignant look at a game that attempts something that very few games out there have done before, commenting on the motivations and factors that drive us as games to slaughter countless virtual people and never question ourselves. It's an interesting look at how Spec Ops: The Line attempts to address these issues throughout the course of its plot.
Whether or not you agree with the author it makes for an engrossing read. It's well written and presents some interesting observations and is definitely worth a read whether or not you've played the game and especially if you're interested in the gaming medium being taking seriously and addressing issues that it far too often overlooks.
Reality is Broken is a breath of fresh air. These days gaming as a culture is so often vilified and derided as something which is of no value to society at large. Jane McGonigal manages to show us the other side of the argument, that games are of great benefit and in some cases even necessary for us to improve ourselves and even the world around us.
Her book is easily accessible for anyone to read no matter what your background is in terms of gaming. so even if you've never played anything in your life other than a game of monopoly bcd in your childhood you'll still be able to read Reality is Broken and see how her theories will pan out.
Better yet is that she gives plenty of real world examples of how games have indeed been used to improve peoples' lives and the quality of life for many others. Rather than writing a book that merely focuses on thew potential of games without showing any real world examples she uses her long career of developing socially rewarding games to teach us how games have improved our world.
If you're a parent who is worried about the negative impact games might have on your child then read this to see that when approached in the correct light games can be something that will give your child a huge boost in their later life. If you're a gamer then read this and discover how you can tap into a wealth of experience and potential that you may have not even known you had before!
Kelly Link's collection of short stories was my first exposure to any of her writings. I'd never heard of her before and had no idea what to expect. Having finished Stranger Things Happen I'm pleasantly surprised but also a tiny bit disappointed.
She has a wonderful knack for creating some unique characters and situations, but many of the stories themselves feel only half-formed. I came away from many of the stories thinking they lacked any sort of focus or denouement. Maybe it's the sort of book that will benefit from multiple readings but at the moment I'm not inclined to pick this back up any time soon.
Anansi Boys is one of the most humorous and wonderfully crafted books I have read in ages. Neil Gaiman is in phenomenal form here and the book is like a dream combination of Robert Rankin's off-the-wall humor, Terry Pratchett's wit and Neil Gaiman's take on life, the universe and everything.
There is not a single moment that I was bored or zoned out while reading Anansi Boys. Every single page is dripping with character and every sentence drags you onwards without pausing for breath.
I can highly recommend this to anyone who is in any way in the slightest a Gaiman fan as well as anyone who is in search of a gripping, funny, serious, wonderful story of family, gods and fantastical stories.
A wonderfully written book that looks at the intricate lives of those of us who call ourselves introverts. Reading this has certainly helped open my eyes to some of my own behaviors and also made me realize that being an introvert is nothing to be ashamed of. To acknowledge one's personality traits and give yourself the space you need to recharge is essential. At the same time you don't have to become an extrovert just because modern life seems to demand it.
A great read and one that I highly recommend to both the introverts and extroverts out there.