The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff

The Tao of Poohby: Benjamin Hoff

Review:

Hoff tries to introduce key concepts of the Taoist philosophy/religion in this short book by using selected stories from the Winnie The Pooh book series. I say tries because some of it is comes off rather hard to understand and grasp because they are not explained in terms that most people would clearly understand because the elements of incorporation with Winnie the Pooh almost makes the concepts more of a challenge to fully grasp as a reader or non-follower of the religion. While I am saying it is a rather hard book to follow for us not in the know it is also an easy book to read in short spurts and get through regardless of how you are feeling about it. This makes it a book I would recommend for others to read that are interested in another way of looking at live, but I would recommend that you also check out other books on the subject matter to fully understand what Hoff is trying to explain. I decided that this may be the only book that I end up re-reviewing at a later date after I have read some other books on the subject matter because I believe that I may rate this higher upon a second reading where I understand the concepts more fully.

I would recommend this to people that enjoy authors that take creative chances in their writing, since Hoff does take a huge one in utilizing a childrens book series to explain rather complex ideologies. It would also be recommend to those that are interested in studying religious principles that steer away from the typical way of thinking in American society.

Until next time... stay OPTIMISTIC!!!!

DC Entertainment Essential Graphic Novels and Chronology 2014 (Comic Book Read)

DC Entertainment Essential Graphic Novels 

and Chronology 2014

Review:

I have always preferred the DC Comics library over the Marvel library because I am more engaged with the characters that DC owns. Now being a fan boy and all that business is why I have to rate this particular collection of the chronology of the DC Essential reads pretty low. This collected work of their trades showcases an ongoing issue that I have with DC as a publisher. I agreed with their stance on the 25 essential graphic novels that should be read from their choices. That didn't bother me in the slightest, but it does bother me when you get into the section with each individual character. The "Batman" (21 titles) and "Superman" (20 titles) sections that are published and recommended are enormous in nature when compared to other characters. Their sections are much shorter. The most startling, but maybe it shouldn't have been based on the fact they won't even give her a movie, is that Wonder Woman included exactly 6 titles. This low number was similar for most of the other sections, except for Green Lantern which clocked in at around 16 titles.

Now I understand that was only a particular section of the most important books to read for the characters right now, but it was not alleviated in the slightest by the DC Comics Reading Order section either! In the DC Comics Read Order section for Batman there was an inclusion of 107 titles and for Superman 76 titles. Wonder Woman included exactly 10 titles. The Flash included 18 titles just to give some perspective on that I am not just harping on a character that I am a fan of. Another important example in my mind is that "Teen Titans" included only 8 suggested titles from their library to read.

Now I can grasp that "Superman" and "Batman" put more bread and butter on the DC Comics table, but when it is a challenge to read collected works of characters outside of these two characters it can start to explain the issue that DC has with creating key characters others are invested in. You have to have actual works with them in it in order to gain new followers. Also you have to make your characters that are not the big two stand out more as important. Maybe not putting Batman and Superman right after each other so that readers can stop reading after they get through their sections would be beneficial. Sandwich characters you want to be seen in between because at least then you know that the person had to turn the pages to get to their section meaning they may have seen something from another less popular character in the meantime. Something may catch out of the corner of the readers eye and suddenly they may become invested in a character they were not originally intending to read from. DC you need to get creative on how to showcase these other characters if you want to build a stronger house because right now this collection showcased how easily it could all tumble without putting out more trades for lesser known characters and keeping some of them in PRINT!

Until next time... stay OPTIMISTIC!!!!

The Thief of Always by Clive Barker

The Thief of Alwaysby: Clive Barker

Amazon|HPB|B&N

“Evil, however powerful it seemed,could be undone by its own appetite”

Review:

A friend of mine has been trying to get me to branch out from my normal reading habits, since they are primarily sappy or murder mysteries. I tend to only currently read one of the two, so he recommended this book and upon my sighing of approval he loaned me a copy of the book. While I went into the book rather reluctantly I have to say that I found it to be a truly entertaining and subtly creepy read.

I respect and admire an author that does not resort to blatant gore and blood in a horror story, which this book definitely is. Barker appears to recognize that there is horror in some of the most mundane things as well as some of the truly horrific and he mixes both elements together in a way that leaves neither feeling that they overpower the other. This mixture of true horror with more subtle horror provides a backbone for a story that is about a young boy named Harvey that is taken to a place called Holiday House. While at Holiday House Harvey gets to live out every child's fantasy of receiving toys and playing with friends that were already at the house. While this sounds great and wonderful Harvey eventually recognizes that he is a prisoner! From there Harvey must learn how to escape from what he has quickly realized is not a dream come true.

I was rather enthralled with this story because so much of it was seamlessly woven together. We were introduced early on to some of the subplots of the story-line and where they go one would not have instantly recognized or came to the conclusions that are drawn. The little surprises that Barker is able to give his readers upon approaching the climax is what makes this book one of my favorites. If you can be surprised in a book that is epic since many have become fairly predictable in nature.

I would recommend this book to anyone that wants a book that is horrific but in a way that is more skin-crawling than truly gory and gross. It would also make an excellent approachable horror story for a young adult that would like to break into this genre of storytelling. It showcases excellently what one can do in this particular genre without having to go to the places that many popular horror movies have decided to go. Lastly, this would be a great read for those fans of Barker's Hellraiser series or other movies that he has participated in making. This is on that same caliber of greatness and will leave you thinking about the evils of the world days after finishing it.

Until next time... stay OPTIMISTIC!!!!

Countdown by Greg Cox

Countdownby:Greg Cox

Amazon|HPB|B&N

Review:

For anyone that knows me they know that my favorite comic book character ever in the history of all comic book characters is DONNA TROY! The original and only Wonder Girl for me. The comic book series "Countdown" heavily featured her as a starring character, so you can just naturally assume that I read the crap out of that series. I discovered many moons later that they had also released a novelization based on the comic book series, so again you can just naturally assume that I wanted to read the crap out of it. I finally got around to it!

One of the largest issues with the weekly series that this is based on is that it felt like a bit of a discombobulated mess that the writers threw together. It feels like they were told "these are the characters you have to work with. Have fun doing whatever the heck it is you do with them for this series." The reason that I state this is because it does not feel like there was any real "point" to the overall story arcs contained within, especially when given in a context of what directly spun out from this series is Final Crisis. Final Crisis had no connection to anything that happened here. As a result of the mess I did not have a lot of hope for enjoying this book. I felt that it was an obvious one faerie point review, but it gained two stars which is a feat unto itself with such a hateful heart that I had for this series. Yes, I Mr. Optimistic had a hateful heart! Oh how I loathe this series and everything to do with it.

The book, and I think largely thanks to the writing of Mr. Cox, made the mess somewhat more manageable. All of the elements of the mess were still there but they made a lot more sense in his world because he described out the original intentions in a manner that was not available in a single panel of the ongoing series. One was unable to assume certain things, such as Donna, Jason, and Solomon being "The Challengers of the Unknown". Here though he just puts it right out there and calls them this throughout the entire book. It helped to make it feel like they had a larger point in the overall context of the series instead of just being thrown together for the sake of sells. Also Cox helped to make the pieces of the Amazons and Mary Marvel storyline fit better into the overall arch of "Countdown" as well. I believe that the Mary Marvel scenes were easier to swallow because we had access to her thoughts in a way that was not as easily accessible in the original. These little tidbits to how she was feeling helped me to understand that while she had become a spoiled brat that there was a hurt little girl inside of the shell as well. It made it an easier pill to swallow to see one of the nicest characters in DC history to become a bad-ass villain! I wish they had done this in the comic because I would have enjoyed it!

I would recommend this series to those that want to have a better understanding of what DC was trying to do with the original comic book series. I would also recommend it to those that enjoy reading comic book relate novelizations. The story does have a beginning, middle, and end so even though it leads into the "Final Crisis" series one that just simply want to read a comic book novelization would also be able to enjoy this as a singular book instead of having to go out and purchase the next novelization as well. I also recommend this to anyone that has had the pleasure of reading Greg Cox's other books in the series, such as "Infinite Crisis" or "52". The nice thing is you do not have to read these other two books to enjoy this book. I will always love my Donna Troy, but the original source material for this had to be hard for Cox to pull from and I am sure he counted down all the hairs he lost in the process. (Yeah, so a comedian I am not)

Until next time... stay OPTIMISTIC!!!!

Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolfe

Mrs. Dallowayby: Virginia Woolfe

Amazon|HPB|B&N

Review:

My philosophy has always been to try to find the good in a book, even when you feel that there is none or that the book is an utter piece of garbage. Usually when I think of an utter piece of garbage I think of the trash that I enjoy reading that most other people would not have any inkling of loving in any respect, such as many of my murder mysteries. I recognize my love for a trash novel or not a well-written novel, so I try to be less harsh when I finally get around to reading a classic work because I am aware that I am probably not the intended audience. That was hard to do with Mrs. Dalloway for me though as it was a book that I was looking forward to finally reading after all these years (The Hours by Michael Cunningham had lead me to believe I would devour this book in one sitting and feel the heavens open to me). Unfortunately the heavens did not open to me while I nearly pulled out my hair as I read this novel.

The reasons that I did not enjoy this book probably are some of the very reasons that others have fallen in love with this book over the years. There, in my opinion, is little to no ongoing plot besides that there is going to be a party and that lives of several people have intersected together over the years. It showcases wonderfully that people often are not true to their own inner selves instead fabricating parts of themselves for general societal consumption. In other stories I have enjoyed this basic telling of the human condition, but this was when it was underscored with an overall plot that felt was driving at some larger point. "Mrs. Dalloway" does not have a plot that drives it forward instead it feels like several vignettes of characters lives forced together to try to create a full-length work. It was not enjoyable for me to read as a result.

The other issue that I had was that there were no characters that one could root for in the entire series of presented personalities because each of them were so flawed. As I previously stated each seemed to be unable to stay true to their own real feelings of who they were. This made it hard to latch onto a character that one could feel for. The nearest that one could feel attached to is the war veteran and even that character you feel like he is forcing himself to be at a loss for enjoyment in life. It feels like each character "dug their own grave" to be a bit cliched. The characters though have a strong sense of the time that the novel was written, which was apparent in the main character being highly concerned with her societal party that was being thrown at her manor and also in the context of the christian female character being overly pious. Knowing that the characters served a point in the original context helps to make the book move along, but it is a small favor in a book where a bigger favor was needed from the writer to enjoy her work.

I would recommend this book to those individuals that are English majors at a university because they would be examining it from a standpoint of the time period. Also individuals that enjoy slow stories involving tidbits of people's lives would find this one to be right up their alley. They can see how each character's world has come to pass because Woolfe describes it eloquently. Woolfe is a great writer, but this particular work was lacking for me in the grand scheme of what I wanted in a novel. I will have to give her other works a chance to see how I interact with them. I will give her another chance because there is no way that I am afraid of Virginia Woolfe. ;-)

Until next time... stay OPTIMISTIC!!!!

Legends of Red Sonja (Comic Book Read)

Legends of Red Sonja(Collected Edition)Collects issues 1-5 of Legends of Red Sonja mini-seriesWritten by Various (Gail Simone, Marjorie M. Liu, Mercedes Lackey, and more)Art by Various (Jack Jadson, Cassandra James, Doug Holgate, and more)Netgalley Review

Available for Purchase on September 9, 2014Pre-Order: Amazon|B&N
Review:
This collected edition of the "Legends of Red Sonja" mini-series is a great place for a newbie, like myself, to jump into when they are unaware of who the character of Red Sonja is. It provides that needed jumping on point without needing to figure out what all the previous stories have been related to her, which can be a common flaw with many comic book characters even after some of the big houses have rebooted their characters. Red Sonja is presented here as a female bad-ass with ties to being a warrior and a thief, which helps us to respect that she is a strong female character with a lot of potential.

In this mini-series the focus is on one linchpin story that is interwoven with other side characters telling stories of their interactions with the main title character. They are telling these tales to a group that are hunting down Red Sonja because she has killed their prince for believing that she was his property. To understand the rest of this series you do not need to know much outside of that basic premise to enjoy it. The stories are seamlessly woven in and are not jarring, which because the linchpin story is written by one writer (Gail Simone) and the others are written by various other female writers (for example Mercedes Lackey) could have easily taken place.

The art for the most part is seamless. It isn't until much later into the collection that any issues with art came to the forefront. This was in the singular story of when Red Sonja received her armour. The style shift at this point was drastic, but considering that this is one story in a 150+ page collection it is a minor error on the original editors part. It is easily forgiven as the overall art is done in a stylistic fashion that befits each singular story and does not take away from the overall works as a singular unit. It is apparent that attention to how this would be collected was carefully considered, which as a fan of reading books in their collected form I greatly appreciate.

Another fine point of this collected edition is that there are two bonuses contained within it. The first bonus is a script of the number one issue of the series. It contains several notes to the artists and other several key aspects to the writing of a famous comic book writer (Gail Simone), which will be fascinating to see for those that are fans of this particular writer. The other bonus added within is some of the concept art for various characters that will be seen throughout the series. For those that are not familiar with this it is often in a comic book series that a writer and an artist will work together to make sure that their ideas for what a character will look like during the run that they work together. This often is done in the form of drawings, which is what is contained here in the concept art bonus section.

I would recommend this collected edition to those people looking for strongly written female comic book characters outside of the two big comic book companies. It also is a great collection for those that enjoy stories of how history is passed down in a world, since the entire series is about people sharing their experiences with her. Some of the stories are true and some are not. Some are mixed in with their own subtle flavors to make them better while others are direct and to the point. It makes it easily enjoyable for those that enjoy stories of myth-making and as the title states "legends".

Until next time... stay OPTIMISTIC!!!!

Returning Soon!!!

You may have noticed that there have been some minor changes to the blog along the side, which is your first indication that I am finally working on regularly reviewing again. I am pleased to announce that:Returns onAugust 4, 2014with new posts WEEKLY!!!