Day 3: Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

            It’s a story about a boy meets girl. She’s known him since she was six and he was three decades older. He met her in his twenties, and she’s already an adult then. Henry DeTamble is a time traveler. A genetic anomaly causes him to travel through time, leaving everything not organically part of his body behind. Although Henry usually views this as a curse, traveling to Clare is the one day in a thousand that it might not be so bad. It’s a great story that uses the time traveling as a backdrop and a metaphor for both long distance relationships and communication between couples. Niffenegger explores the nature of love and the trials of making relationships work.

He doesn't look happy, but he looks too lazy to give a sh*t

Fat Cat going for a walk with a leash

Day 2: Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

They turned this book into a movie with Carey Mulligan, Keira Knightley, and Andrew Garfield. I read the book first, then watched the movie, but I have to say, the novel solidly outdoes the film in presenting Ishiguro’s enormous questions and the underlying themes dread and nostalgia that permeate the novel. It is a somber book about life and mortality and love. Get this book and read it. Now.

OCD and reading lists

When I was younger my OCD was worst than it is now. I'm not really sure if it would even be clinically classified as an obsessive-compulsive disorder. But I had ticks, such as having to flip through every single channel on the television before settling on the one channel I wanted to watch "The Simpsons" on, or touching every corner of the sofa so as not to favor a single spot. Weird, right?

Nowadays, however, the vestiges of my obsessions has been confined to creating lists. I make them for everything. List of my favorite books, list of book recommendations (which I'm going to compose and post on the blog every day), list of books I own in my library (color-coded to differentiate between having read them), and even lists of books I've read in the course of a year.

I thought I'd post one of those lists here. This is the list of books I've read in 2010, the first list I ever created, and its divided into graphic novels and novels, which is a distinction I've kept in tact. I think 2010 is the first year where I really started reading as much as I could. I think before then, I'd be lucky to finish five or six books in a year. I like opening these old documents and remembering the times and places I spent reading each one. There's some fond memories there. Because of some formatting errors, the numbering went foul, but final count for 2010 is 75 books.

Identity Crisis by Brad Meltzer

Spider-Man Blue by Jeph Loeb

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Long Way Home by Joss Whedon

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Twilight by Brad Meltzer

Fray by Joss Whedon

Spike: Asylum

Angel: After the Fall 1

Angel: After the Fall 2

Angel: After the Fall 3

Angel: After the Fall 4

Blackest Night by Geoff Johns

Blackest Night: Rise of the Black Lanterns by Geoff Johns

Blackest Night: Black Lantern Corps vol.1 by Geoff Johns

Blackest Night: Black Lantern Corps vol. 2 by Geoff Johns

Blackest Night: Green Lantern by Geoff Johns

Blackest Night: Green Lantern Corps by Geoff Johns

Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps by Geoff Johns

Runaways: Dead Wrong

Runaways: Rock Zombies

Runaways; Homeschooling

NYX: No Way Home by Marjorie Lui

Catwoman: When in Rome by Jeph Loeb

Daredevil Yellow by Jeph Loeb

Mighty Avengers: Ultron Initiative by Michael Bendis

Pride of Baghdad by Brian K. Vaughan

Freakangels vol. 1 by Warren Ellis

Freakangels vol. 2 by Warren Ellis

Freakangels vol. 3 by Warren Ellis

Freakangels vol. 4 by Warren Ellis

Freakangels vol. 5 by Warren Ellis

Spiderman: Red-Headed Stranger

Spiderman: Return of Black Cat

Serenity: The Shepherd’s Tale by Zach Whedon

Siege by Bendis

Runaways: Live Fast

Runaways: Dead End Kids

Grimm Fairy Tales: Escape from Wonderland

Hulk: Grey by Jeph Loeb

Runaways: Pride and Joy

Runaways: Teenage Wasteland

Runaways: Escape to New York

Runaways: Only the Good Die Young

Civil War: Avengers

Grimm Fairy Tales: Return to Wonderland

Grimm Fairy Tales: Beyond Wonderland

Tales from Wonderland: Vol. 1

King Lear by William Shakespeare

Jarka Ruus by Terry Brooks

Tanequil by Terry Brooks

Straken by Terry Brooks

Illse Witch by Terry Brooks

Antrax by Terry Brooks

Morgawr by Terry Brooks

Pandora’s Box by Iris Johansen

Immoral by Brian Freeman

Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith by Matthew Stover

Star Wars: Attack of the Clones by R.A. Salvatore

Stripped by Brian Freeman

The Watcher by Brian Freeman

Star Wars: Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor by Matthew Stover

Star Wars: The Phantom Menace by Terry Brooks

Die Trying by Lee Child

Children of Hurin by JRR Tolkien

The Rules of Attraction – Bret Easton Ellis

Looking for Alaska – John Green

Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Outcast

Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Omen

Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Abyss

Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Backlash

Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Allies

Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Vortex

Star Wars: Legacy of the Force: Betrayal by Aaron Allston

The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks

Killing Floor by Lee Child

Gone Tomorrow by Lee Child

Day 1: The Gunslinger by Stephen King

Welcome to the first day of 365, where each day I recommend a book, one I’ve read or one still on my To Read List. To start off, we have “The Gunslinger.” It’s short, having been assembled from King’s novellas about Roland Deschain. The novel is the first in his epic magnum opus The Dark Tower series. It was published in 1982 and remains one of the best books I’ve ever read. The character of Roland is an intriguing blend of amoral badassery and unrepentant addict. I absolutely love him, even if, yes, he let his symbolic son fall to his death. King created an unrepentant character worth rooting for.

There was some talk of turning this into a movie with the creators and executive producers of “Lost” attached to it, but now it doesn’t seem likely to happen.

Review: Wobegon Boy by Garrison Keillor

Many readers, I suspect, read "Wobegon Boy" after cultivating a heartfelt endearment to Keillor's radio show, "A Prairie Home Companion." I found this novel in a thrift shop after the cover art caught my eye. It stood on my shelf for years before I finally came around to reading it last summer. "Wobegon Boy" chronicles the life and times of John Tollefson, who leaves Lake Wobegon to make a life for himself in Red Cliff, NY. He meets and falls in love with Alida Freeman, visits home, struggles to fulfill his dreams, and along the way we are treated to a cornucopia of tales about his ancestors and family.

Perhaps any other writer attempting this style would fail to capture the sepia-toned nostalgia and compelling absorption of Keillor's structuring and frequent usage of tangential narratives, but Keillor never misses a beat. John's fictional life is as familiar as any real person I've ever met and Keillor's vision brings an abundance of color and dimension to the story John tells and, in turn, learns about his family. At over 300 pages, Keillor has crafted an entertaining, thoughtful, and wonderful story about life, love, romance, family, and history.

Keillor weaves parallels and contrasts seamlessly. For example, there are parallels between Alida's historical research into a famous Norwegian and John's anecdotes about Norwegian heritage; and his romanticism, a tad bit forward for a Lutheran, is familiar to how his father courted his mother, 'I want to be next to you for the rest of my life'. John, despite escaping Lake Wobegon, never truly leaves it. He still entertains the notion, if only subconsciously and peripherally, that the folk back home will recognize his achievements. In fact, John still carries his Lutheran upbringing with him, and the Lake Wobegon ideals of his childhood never disappear from the palate of his adulthood.

Through our narrator, Keillor expresses insight into love, marriage, and the inadvertent silliness of being politically correct. In his benevolent way, Keillor addresses how the frictions of living together can diminish a romance. But neither the author, nor John, shy away from marriage. John wants nothing more than to marry Alida, who is skeptical of that old tradition, and fears it will sour their relationship. But the book offers a light of hope when Alida, despite her reservations, agrees to marry John, after realizing how much she love him; her advice is both practical and heartfelt: "Never get so angry at me that you can't remember how it was today."

This is a terrific novel from a master writer. I recommend this novel, not just to fans of "The Prairie Home Companion", but to anyone who enjoys an absorbing, cozy read on how to deal with people and life itself.

Tumblr

I've gotten around to creating a secondary, supplementary blog to investigate the other blogsites out there. I just opened the Tumblr account. It'll pretty much function the same as this one except my Tumblr account will have a broader spectrum of posts and won't be as limited as this one.

365 Book Recommendations over 365 Days

For months now, I've been creating a Reading List of all the books I wanted to get through. My last count was somewhere in the two hundreds. Since it takes me somewhere around 1-2 weeks to finish a book, it'll probably take me years to get through them all. At least I won't have a lack of things to do. So I wanted to share my list publicly, since you know, I'm such a generous guy.

Starting next Monday, I'll be posting up individual pictures of books on that list (both books I've read and books I've yet to get to), one book a day, every day, for a whole year. I'll also add a little blurb about my thoughts/expectations and the like.

I'm actually more excited about this than I thought I'd be. It gives whatever audience I have a glimpse into the kind of shit I read and motivates me to complete my list. So I have for next Monday. Also, in addition, I'll be putting up a review tomorrow of a Garrison Keillor novel I read over the summer. I post my reviews early on Amazon. You can find my profile here.

Cheers!

My First Blog. if you're reading this. Stay a while... Please?

The title of my blogpost? I said that to my current girlfriend when I met her. Its how we've come along so far. :) Okay, not really, but awkward first words aside, I'm excited to be even writing this. I've never entertained the notion of even starting a blog until about 45 minutes ago. So here I am. I principally want to use this to get my thoughts out, which mostly revolve around reviewing and critiquely books I've read. It helps me get a firm grip on my writing. But it won't be limited to that, I think.

I'm Matthew, again.

I'm from Victoria, born in Vancouver. Everything you need to know about me is in the information bar thingy. I'd be happy to answer any questions.

Here's "Mistaken For Strangers" by The National. Its the song I listened to on repeat as I wrote this blog. Cheers!

Lee Child Interview: Discussing Jack Reacher

Lee Child talks about his famous, iconic character Jack Reacher. Reacher is one of my favorite characters in modern fiction right now and Lee Child is a terrific writer. I wish he’d come to Victoria

Lee Child Interview: Discussing Jack Reacher

Lee Child talks about his famous, iconic character Jack Reacher. Reacher is one of my favorite characters in modern fiction right now and Lee Child is a terrific writer. I wish he’d come to Victoria.