Reviews! Including: The best book in the entire world. Read it or live your life wondering...
It's a long entry, so brace yourself! Virtual cookies for those who read the whole thing!
Books
Well, a book. The book. The book you need to be reading right now: The Lies of Locke Lamorra" by Scott Lynch Give me a moment to collect myself. Just the thought of this book makes me swoon with utter happiness.
The pitch: Locke Lamorra is a thief, but not just any thief. He, along with his gang The Gentlemen Bastards, pulls long cons on the rich and privileged of his harbor city, bilking them out of boatloads of cash while getting high off the excitement. The established criminal underbelly in the city gets disrupted when a new baddie arrives on the scene, fighting for control with the mob boss already in place. What follows is chock-full of humor, revenge, witty banter, deception, double-crosses, and the strong bond of friendship, all set against an amazingly detailed cityscape. Don't be surprised if you're laughing out loud one minute and then gasping in shock on the next page. I've never read a book that surprised me as much as this one. I like to think of it as Firefly meets fantasy novel, and since the author himself quoted the Fruity Oaty Bar song in an interview I'm guessing the 'verse is close to his heart.
Honestly, I can't recommend this book enough. I've fallen out of the scifi/fantasy arena in the last few yrs, because the only books I kept reading were bad. This book reinvigorated the entire genre for me, even though I've heard it pitched as "a fantasy book for people who don't like fantasy books." It's my favorite kind of fantasy book - real people in real situations, without elves or magic or dragons to help them get out of it. And it's super easy to read - I blazed through the book in no time, and spent many nights reading until 2am because I couldn't bear to put it down.
(The best part? He's planning a whole sequence of these books! So if you like the first one, you have a lot to look forward to, but if you don't like the first one it's completely self-contained so harm no foul. I'm in the middle of his second book - Red Seas Under Red Skies - right now, and I can barely wait for the next one.)
TV
On a TV note, I've been taking advantage of the lack of new programming to try and watch some new shows. I've already watched, and reported on, Freaks and Geeks, The Tudors, Ugly Betty, and Dexter. I've also watched Eureka (which I wasn't too impressed with - sorry to all the fans on my flist) and I've just started Friday Night Lights. I have concluded, however, that the powers that be do not want me to watch FNL. Disc one, season one: Five minutes into the second episode - huge problems. Turns out there was a deep gouge in the back of the disc. *sigh* So I return it, get it back, watch it. Then, disc two, season one: I open the envelope, intent on watching the show and.... Ferris Bueller's Day Off! Crap. I hate people that stick the wrong dvd in the return envelope! How hard is it to check? My preliminary report: I'm having problems with the huge leap of faith this show requires of me. As you know, I'll gladly watch shows about aliens and vampires and spaceships, all of which I can accept wholeheartedly. But an entire town that loves (to a sickening degree) high school football? *shudder* Worse than zombies. When I think high school football, I think of my school, undergoing budget cuts that left no money to replace the theatre dept's ripped curtain on their barely passable stage, and the decision to combine the band and chorus teacher in order to save on a salary, while our craptastic football team got another freaking changing room. Whoop de doo. So anyway, FNL has a lot of hurdles to overcome in terms of my football hatred - we'll see if they can do it.
Movies
Due to the FNL fiasco I've watched a bit more movies then normal. The first (forgive me, film school) was August Rush. *sigh* A movie that didn't know what it wanted to be when it grew up. It could have been a classic kids movie with less adult elements, and it could have been a lighthearted drama without the sappy voiceover. I won't go into details, because it pains me. Last night I finally watched The Island. I remember that it got poor reviews when it came out (and I was poor at the time) so I didn't see it in theatres. And then I just forgot about it, until recently when it was recommended to me. Honestly - I liked it a lot. I don't get why it got poor reviews - the story itself was engrossing (though fairly standard to anyone who's read a modicum of sci fi), the action was intense (if you're into that sort of thing), and the plot holes were the type you typically find in an action movie, and therefore minor. It was a beautifully shot movie, and the best big budget sci fi film I've seen in a very long time. It's (sadly) rare to have a sci fi film not based on a pre-existing property, and I think this film did a marvelous job in raising the bar.
(Side note - Lock Lamorra has been optioned to become a film. Obviously that doesn't mean it will happen, because I think the writer(s) are doing it on spec, but it's something to consider. I'm actually not sure how I feel about that book becoming a movie... could all the things I hold dear about the 752 pg novel translate to the screen?)
Books
Well, a book. The book. The book you need to be reading right now: The Lies of Locke Lamorra" by Scott Lynch Give me a moment to collect myself. Just the thought of this book makes me swoon with utter happiness.
The pitch: Locke Lamorra is a thief, but not just any thief. He, along with his gang The Gentlemen Bastards, pulls long cons on the rich and privileged of his harbor city, bilking them out of boatloads of cash while getting high off the excitement. The established criminal underbelly in the city gets disrupted when a new baddie arrives on the scene, fighting for control with the mob boss already in place. What follows is chock-full of humor, revenge, witty banter, deception, double-crosses, and the strong bond of friendship, all set against an amazingly detailed cityscape. Don't be surprised if you're laughing out loud one minute and then gasping in shock on the next page. I've never read a book that surprised me as much as this one. I like to think of it as Firefly meets fantasy novel, and since the author himself quoted the Fruity Oaty Bar song in an interview I'm guessing the 'verse is close to his heart.
Honestly, I can't recommend this book enough. I've fallen out of the scifi/fantasy arena in the last few yrs, because the only books I kept reading were bad. This book reinvigorated the entire genre for me, even though I've heard it pitched as "a fantasy book for people who don't like fantasy books." It's my favorite kind of fantasy book - real people in real situations, without elves or magic or dragons to help them get out of it. And it's super easy to read - I blazed through the book in no time, and spent many nights reading until 2am because I couldn't bear to put it down.
(The best part? He's planning a whole sequence of these books! So if you like the first one, you have a lot to look forward to, but if you don't like the first one it's completely self-contained so harm no foul. I'm in the middle of his second book - Red Seas Under Red Skies - right now, and I can barely wait for the next one.)
TV
On a TV note, I've been taking advantage of the lack of new programming to try and watch some new shows. I've already watched, and reported on, Freaks and Geeks, The Tudors, Ugly Betty, and Dexter. I've also watched Eureka (which I wasn't too impressed with - sorry to all the fans on my flist) and I've just started Friday Night Lights. I have concluded, however, that the powers that be do not want me to watch FNL. Disc one, season one: Five minutes into the second episode - huge problems. Turns out there was a deep gouge in the back of the disc. *sigh* So I return it, get it back, watch it. Then, disc two, season one: I open the envelope, intent on watching the show and.... Ferris Bueller's Day Off! Crap. I hate people that stick the wrong dvd in the return envelope! How hard is it to check? My preliminary report: I'm having problems with the huge leap of faith this show requires of me. As you know, I'll gladly watch shows about aliens and vampires and spaceships, all of which I can accept wholeheartedly. But an entire town that loves (to a sickening degree) high school football? *shudder* Worse than zombies. When I think high school football, I think of my school, undergoing budget cuts that left no money to replace the theatre dept's ripped curtain on their barely passable stage, and the decision to combine the band and chorus teacher in order to save on a salary, while our craptastic football team got another freaking changing room. Whoop de doo. So anyway, FNL has a lot of hurdles to overcome in terms of my football hatred - we'll see if they can do it.
Movies
Due to the FNL fiasco I've watched a bit more movies then normal. The first (forgive me, film school) was August Rush. *sigh* A movie that didn't know what it wanted to be when it grew up. It could have been a classic kids movie with less adult elements, and it could have been a lighthearted drama without the sappy voiceover. I won't go into details, because it pains me. Last night I finally watched The Island. I remember that it got poor reviews when it came out (and I was poor at the time) so I didn't see it in theatres. And then I just forgot about it, until recently when it was recommended to me. Honestly - I liked it a lot. I don't get why it got poor reviews - the story itself was engrossing (though fairly standard to anyone who's read a modicum of sci fi), the action was intense (if you're into that sort of thing), and the plot holes were the type you typically find in an action movie, and therefore minor. It was a beautifully shot movie, and the best big budget sci fi film I've seen in a very long time. It's (sadly) rare to have a sci fi film not based on a pre-existing property, and I think this film did a marvelous job in raising the bar.
(Side note - Lock Lamorra has been optioned to become a film. Obviously that doesn't mean it will happen, because I think the writer(s) are doing it on spec, but it's something to consider. I'm actually not sure how I feel about that book becoming a movie... could all the things I hold dear about the 752 pg novel translate to the screen?)