The 411 From 406 » Book Reviews

The Walking Dead Compendium One – Comics On TV

Chewie — Wed, 04 May 2011 15:11:39 +0000

There’s been quite a few shows and movies about zombies over the years but I have to say there have been none better than The Walking Dead which recently wrapped its first season on AMC. If you haven’t seen it I’d highly recommend you check it out. Even though it’s on TV, it’s not for the squeamish or faint of heart. You’ve been warned. And while it’s a tremendous show it pales in comparison to its source material.

The Walking Dead first brought us zombie-filled terror in the form of a black and white comic book. The comic run started in 2003 and is written by Robert Kirkman. I’d hate to meet this man in person cause based on his story telling he’s one messed up individual. If you’d think that a black and white comic couldn’t be “gory” you’d be (pardon the pun) dead wrong. Artist Charlie Adlard (and formerly Tony Moore) creates an environment that is nothing short of terrifying.

Without going into too many spoilers, zombies have taken over the world and this book follows the survivor’s plight as they search for a cure and continue to live their lives. The Walking Dead Compendium One collects the first 48 issues into one mammoth book. It’s a great way to get into the story especially if you don’t care about cover art. If you’re a zombie story fan I’d HIGHLY recommend The Walking Dead.

For those that are interested, at the time of this writing there have been 84 issues of The Walking Dead released in single issue format. The first season (6 episodes) of the AMC television series covers roughly the first 6 issues of the comic. Season 2 is set to begin airing on October 31, 2011.

Sammy Hagar Gets Uncensored In RED

Chewie — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 13:40:03 +0000

I’ll start this off by saying Van Halen is probably my favorite band of all time. I’ll follow that up by saying that I’m one of the rare few that thinks Van Halen was a FAR superior band with Sammy Hagar in it than when David Lee Roth was the front man. With that housekeeping out of the way…

No pun intended, but this book rocks. RED: My Uncensored Life In Rock is just that… uncensored. If you’re a Sammy fan as I am you’ve probably already picked this one up but I’m here to tell you that if you haven’t you absolutely should. Sam talks about everything here from his childhood (which was actually pretty brutal), drug use (which was extensive), banging roadies (which was more extensive), his family, his business ventures and his musical career.

Naturally, Sammy spends quite a bit of time here on his time in (and out of) Van Halen. Sam pulls no punches here talking about drug use, personal lives and alcohol abuse. If Eddie and Alex didn’t like Sammy before you can be pretty sure that they’re going to hate him now. At times it was almost like Sam was going out of his way to disparage the Van Halen brothers. I tend to think that Sam’s right but there were a couple of times when I went, “Wow… that was uncalled for.”

One thing you’ll learn very quickly is that Sammy is genuine. He is who he is and that’s probably why I enjoy his work so much. He’s an incredible lyricist and I don’t care what anyone says, I think he’s a better front man than Dave ever was. If you’re looking for some insight into the man that is known simply as “The Red Rocker” than this is the book for you.

David Baldacci Gets “True Blue”

Chewie — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 21:12:04 +0000

I was rummaging through my bookcase the other night looking for something to read and came across a hardback copy of True Blue. Not sure when exactly I picked it up, but if I had to guess I’d say it was for Christmas last year. In any case, I’d just gotten done reading the latest trade of Fables so I cracked it open.

WARNING: THIS REVIEW WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS

Mason “Mace”Perry is a former police officer in D.C. who was framed for a crime she didn’t necessarily commit (sounds eerily similar to the A-Team doesn’t it?) Her sister Beth happens to be the police chief of the District. Mace desperately wants to be back on the force and feels that her only way to get back is to solve a high profile crime. She tags along with her sister (the chief) to a crime scene and gets involved not only with the case, but also with a local lawyer (Roy Kingman).

From here the story quickly devolves into one of murder, national security, gangland violence with a touch of social conscience (there’s a side story about a local DC billionaire who’s trying to bring “hope” to inner city folks thrown in for good measure). By the time the book ends most of the plot threads have been wrapped up with varying degrees of believability.

The major storyline (Mace trying to get back onto the force) plays out with quite a few twists and turns. In the end, there are so many different players in there that I had a hard time keeping track of who was doing what. On top of that, we’re REALLY asked to suspend disbelief here at the end. I’m not looking for absolutely everything to be explained to me, especially when I’m dealing with a “national security” type story, but I have to say that the way this one ended was just so-so. Additionally, the whole book was geared toward Mace getting back on the force. While the ending is one that I’d call “happy” she does not get her position back which was quite a bit of a let down.

Throughout the story, Mace and Roy are developing a relationship that never pays off. I certainly don’t need to have a romance novel but it seems that Baldacci is actually steering away from telling that part of the story when it’s begging to be told. We’re left with a “and off they rode into the sunset” type of ending.

Finally, there’s this social story where the billionaire is trying to give back. Honestly this has no place here and the fact that it never pays off is really a bummer. As I was reading this I was thinking that this guy HAD to be the “big bad guy” in the end otherwise the character is completely wasted. Nope… it’s just a bit player. I spose I was just hoping for a bit more.

All in all I’d mildly recommend this but there are far better D.C. based booked out there and this is definitely not my favorite Baldacci offering.

Spenser Goes “Looking For Rachel Wallace”

Chewie — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 16:07:35 +0000

BOOK DETAIL/INFORMATION:

This is the sixth Spenser novel written by Robert B. Parker. It was originally published in 1980. The book’s title character Rachel Wallace would go on to be a recurring character in the Spenser universe.

Preceded By: The Judas Goat
Followed By: Early Autumn

PLOT SUMMARY:
Rachel Wallace is a lesbian feminist author who hires Spenser for a security detail. She’s completely biased against him and his macho ways and eventually fires him. Afterward, she is kidnapped and “The Code” kicks in and Spenser takes it upon himself to rescue her.

COMMENTARY:
This is a pretty straight forward Spenser novel which is to say that I enjoyed it quite a bit. Parker deals with some pretty heavy issues for the time. Sure these days lesbians in the media are a dime a dozen, but back when this was published in 1980 they were few and far between. The first time I read this I don’t recall enjoying this one all that much, but years later when re-reading for this blog I find that this stretch (from Mortal Stakes through A Savage Place) are some of my favorites. As always, Parker makes me laugh at least a couple of times during each novel. One instance between Spenser and Rachel in particular had me rolling:

“I am told you are quite tough.”
“You betcha,” I said. “I was debating here today whether to have lobster Savannah or just eat one of the chairs.”

I’m a big fan of the Spenser “universe” as a whole and it’s always nice to see the origin of the characters which pop up from time to time. Now that Dr. Parker is gone there won’t be any more entries into the Spenser series but we can always go back and read his older works. If you haven’t yet, this is a good one to check out.

Kevin Smith Talks About “My Boring-Ass Life”

Chewie — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 19:40:48 +0000

Regular readers of this blog know that I’m a big fan of Kevin Smith. That said, it only made sense that one of these days I’d read one of Smith’s books and I started with My Boring-Ass Life. I typically just get my reads from the library these days, but this particular title wasn’t available in my library system so I picked it up on Amazon. In retrospect I’m glad that I did cause it took me forever and a day to read this one. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not because I didn’t enjoy the book but rather the way it’s written (diary style) lends itself to be put down and picked back up at another time. As there are no “chapters” and no real “story” being told this is a good book to read a little bit at a time.

At time the book can be a little “boring” but let’s face it… that’s what it’s SUPPOSED to be based on the title and the fact that it’s nothing more than a transcript of Smith’s blog. However, Smith’s control of the English language in both his script writing as well as his stand up comes through in his blogging style as well. I laugh out loud watching his movies and I laughed out loud MANY times while reading this book.

The secondary tag line for this book is, “The Uncomfortably Candid Diary Of Kevin Smith” and that’s very accurate. If you don’t like bad language or discussion about anything and everything when it comes to married life, then you simply will not be able to get through this read. Smith delves into everything from sex with his wife to his diet (and everything associated with dieting). While there is no “plot” per se, this follows the time in Smith’s life when he’s filming Catch and Release and directing Clerks 2. I was also particular fond of the (rather large) section of the book that dealt with Smith’s friend Jason Mewes’ addiction and subsequent cleaning up.

If you’re a fan of Smith and his work then I’d give this a definite thumbs up. If not you can probably pass. Unless of course you’re into bad language, potty humor and a bluntness that hasn’t been seen since the likes of George Carlin.

“Split Image” – The Last Stone?

Chewie — Fri, 14 May 2010 16:33:39 +0000

BOOK DETAILS/INFORMATION:

This is the ninth Jesse Stone novel written by Robert B. Parker. It was originally published in 2010 and was the first book published after the death of Dr. Parker.

NOTE: This review will contain spoilers.

Preceded By: Night And Day

PLOT SUMMARY:

This is essentially two stories in one novel, one of them being a Jesse Stone story and one of them being a Sunny Randall story. The Stone side of the story goes something like this. A mob shooter ends up dead in the trunk of his car in Paradise. After some investigation, Jesse and crew find out that not only do they have one former mob boss living in Paradise, but they’ve got two that happen to live right next door to one another. Oh yeah… and they’re married to twin sisters. If that wasn’t good enough, the sisters have a past that has given them the moniker of “The Bang Bang Twins”. You do the math. Jesse goes on a bender based on Jenn issues that are still not dealt with. Another body shows up and Jesse quickly begins to deduce that the twins are somehow involved. There are a few twists and turns by the time everything is solved which I won’t reveal here.

As I said, there is also a Sunny Randall story going on here as well. Sunny has been hired by a girl’s parents to find out who has “kidnapped” their daughter. Turns out she’s run away and joined a “cult” which she is very happy with. A little while later, Sunny learns that the girl has gone missing from the cult as well and learns that the parents have kidnapped their own daughter away from the cult. Sunny’s friend Spike helps Sunny rescue the girl from her parents and return her to where she’s happiest (with the commune). That is until she’s forced into some sexual situations she’s not comfortable with (imagine that). When Jesse and Sunny let the leaders of the cult know that they’ve got the situation figured out they conveniently agree to leave town and wrap up this part of the story.

Obviously during these two plots, Jesse and Sunny have been spending quite a bit of time together. Jenn and Richie are no longer a part of Jesse and Sunny’s lives so it’s full speed ahead for their relationship. By the time the book ends they’re professing their love for one another.

COMMENTARY:

This book was published after Dr. Parker’s death, so as I was reading it I couldn’t help but have a heavy heart. I have to say that I was thrilled to see the Jesse and Sunny storyline continue in earnest without Jenn and Richie getting in the way. I’m not sure what I think of having two story lines going on in one book. I think Parker could have very easily gotten Sunny to Paradise without giving her a case there. It seemed like both plots were a bit rushed and tied up a bit too neatly for my tastes (especially the Stone plot). I’ve never been a big fan of the way Parker allows some of his plots to end with either the bad guy essentially “getting away with it” due to “the code” (particularly with Spenser) or the way his character allow vigilante justice to take care of things. With those plot devices aside, I still always enjoy Parker’s novels primarily due to the witty dialogue and character interaction. While this definitely isn’t my favorite of Parker’s novels it’s not my least favorite either. I’m not sure how many (if any) additional Jesse Stone novels we’ll get so I’m certainly glad I got to read this one.

Agassi Is Finally “Open”

Chewie — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 03:31:38 +0000

If you’re a tennis fan you’ll enjoy this book. If you’re an Andre Agassi fan you’ll absolutely love it! Open is one of the most transparent autobiographies that I’ve ever read. I’m sure you’ve heard by this point but Agassi used drugs for a short period of time during his career. This is just one topic that he absolutely does NOT shy away from in this book. In fact, it’s that point of his career where the book really takes off.

He covers everything here from his early life where he learned how to hate tennis to his victories in Grand Slams, marriage, divorce and fatherhood. And yes, you are reading that right… he HATES tennis. He says it over and over again to the point where there is absolutely no question of whether he’s being serious or not.

Agassi pulls no punches here. There are players on tour that he didn’t like (Becker) and some that he thought were cheap (Sampras) and he tells you each and every detail. He talks about his marriage and eventual divorce to Brooke Shields as well as how he met his soul mate Stefanie Graf (don’t call her Steffi… she hates it). Make no mistake about it, for this book image definitely isn’t everything.

As I said before, if you’re a tennis fan this is one you should pick up. If you’ve ever been an Andre fan it’s an absolute must read.

PS: If you’re interested in seeing Andre and Pete get into it at a recent charity even check out the video below. Classic!

“The Book Of General Ignorance” – Everything You Think You Know Is Wrong

Chewie — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 20:11:17 +0000

I picked this one up at the library after hearing about it on Kevin Smith’s Smodcast a while back. I’m kind of a trivia junkie so I figured I’d really enjoy this. Essentially (as the tile suggests) these are little nuggets of information that are pretty much universally thought of as “truth” when in reality they’re complete bullshit. It’s an interesting read if you enjoy tidbits of info such as:

How many moons does the earth have? At least 7.
The hottest part of a chili? It’s the central membrane.
A jalapeno = 4,500 SHUs (Scoville Heat Units) which means it needs to be watered down 4,500 times until you can’t taste it any more.
The hottest chili is a “dorset” which chimes in at 923,000 SHU – holy shit!
What effect does alcohol have on brain cells? It doesn’t actually kill them (YEA!!!) In fact, it just makes new ones grow less quickly.
A hangover actually comes from the brain shrinking due to dehydration. The brain itself feels no pain… it’s actually the membrane around the brain.

A couple of hundred pages of stuff like that. Some are more interesting than others for sure but it definitely held my interest. My one big bitch was that there was many times way too much info about a particular nugget of info. For example telling me that Columbus did not in fact discover America but some other dude did is kind of cool. Going on for a page and a half about said dude’s back story and where Columbus actually landed was not.

Some folks may really like this. For me there were some interesting stuff and other stuff that I just skipped over. Definitely a good bathroom book!

Robert Langdon Is Back In “The Lost Symbol”

Chewie — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 21:05:01 +0000

As the cover says, The Lost Symbol is written by Dan Brown (author of The DaVinci Code). Many people believe this is Brown’s third book overall, but in fact it’s merely the 3rd book in the “Robert Langdon Trilogy” (it’s actually Brown’s 5th novel).

NOTE: This review will contain spoilers.

Like The DaVinci Code and it’s predecessor Angels & Demons, this book follows Dr. Robert Langdon as he goes on a treasure hunt. Set in Washington, D.C. and dealing with Freemasonry, The Lost Symbol is an outstanding follow up to Code. Langdon gets an early morning phone call summoning him to Washington for a last minute speaking engagement on behalf of an old friend. When he gets there, Langdon quickly realizes that he’s been set up and there is no speech to be made. In reality, Langdon must use all of his training and cunning to save his friend’s life while solving the riddles that have been put before him.

The villain in all of this is the tattooed Mal’akh who has an obvious obsession with Langdon’s friend Peter Solomon who happens to be a 33rd degree Mason with access to all of the Mason’s most guarded secrets – including The Lost Word. Mal’akh has kidnapped Solomon and will kill him unless Langdon follows the clues that the Masons have left throughout history. In addition to the Mason’s clues, Mal’akh proves to be a brutal advisory that Langdon must outwit while trying to elude the CIA who’s also on the case.

COMMENTARY:

This is not an “easy” read by any stretch of the imagination. Brown’s got some sentences that seem to run on forever and the stuff that he’s talking about while fascinating can be confusing at times. Brown does an amazing job of describing not only the character of Mal’akh but also the brutality that he emits. I couldn’t help but thinking of the “Dragon” character from The Red Dragon when thinking about Mal’akh. The tattoos are an obvious correlation, but the mentality of the character is what really got me. He really thinks that what he’s doing is completely justified.

You can tell when a book is well written when you continue thinking about it long after you put it down. There was one chapter in particular that really got me – the drowning. The way it is described is stunning and really had me on edge after I closed the book. Pure brilliance.

I don’t think this is Brown’s best Langdon novel (that title lies with Angels & Demons) but it’s definitely worth the read. Brown has an uncanny knack of keeping you guessing till quite literally the final page. With the success of the previous books and movies you can pretty much guarantee that Tom Hanks will play Robert Langdon once again.

The Final Spenser – “The Professional”

Chewie — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 22:44:34 +0000

BOOK DETAILS/INFORMATION:

This is the thirty-eighth (38) Spenser novel written by Robert B. Parker. It was originally published in 2009. Recurring characters include Susan Silverman, Vinnie Morris, Hawk, Tony Marcus, & Ty Bop.

NOTE: This review will contain spoilers.

Preceded By: Rough Weather

PLOT SUMMARY:

Spenser is hired by a lawyer named Elizabeth Shaw to get to the bottom of her client’s problem – blackmail. Shaw’s clients, wives of rich older men, have a mutual connection: they’ve all had an affair with a man named Gary Eisenhower— and now that he’s done doing the dirty with them, he’s getting dirtier… he’s going after the cash. Spenser is hired to make Eisenhower “cease and desist,” but as many of Parker’s novels nothing is as it seems. As bodies start turning up, Spenser’s call to action turns from blackmail to murder. Susan Silverman offers her take on the situation and Spenser calls on old friends Hawk and Vinnie Morris to help him get to the bottom of things.

COMMENTARY:

I’ve had this post in my drafts for a while now and I felt compelled to finish it based on the untimely passing of Robert B. Parker. As with all of Parker’s novels it’s all about dialogue. The back and forth between Spenser and his clients makes for a very quick read though it does seem like we’ve been down these paths before. I’ve never been a Susan hater but I don’t necessarily need to hear (from her) how good she and Spenser are in bed or that she went to Harvard yet again.

As he did in Rough Weather, Spenser ends up letting a murderer walk in the end of the book. I’m sure this is all about “The Code” but I just don’t get it. I could almost forgive it in the last novel based on the fact that it was with Rugar but this was a brand new character that Spenser had no history with. This one left me scratching my head.

I’ve read every Spenser novel that Parker has ever written so I won’t bother with an objective recommendation. I’m so so sad that this is the last Spenser novel (unless there’s something sitting on the shelf that we don’t know about). On a purely selfish level I’m glad that we’ve got one more Jesse Stone novel to look forward to. It’s been a great ride Spenser…thanks for everything.