21
Jun
2010
The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
The basic differences between our world and the alternative history are as follows: The Crimean War has been going on for over 150 years, Wales is an independent republic, Shakespeare is hotly debated by everyone (and appreciated in various capacities), riots break out over art, and some people have a natural gift for time travel.
8
Oct
2009
So Long and Thanks for All the Fish by Douglas Adams
The fourth installment of Douglas Adam’s Increasingly Inaccurately Named Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Trilogy, So Long and Thanks for all the fish, gets its name from the long debate of who is smarter, humans or dolphins. Humans believe they are smarter because they came out of the sea and onto land and don’t spend all of their time swimming and mucking about. Dolphins believe they are superior for just the opposite.
11
Sep
2009
Life, the Universe, and Everything by Douglas Adams
Readers of books one and two of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series know the answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything. What they don’t know, is the question.
31
Aug
2009
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams
Literally. The eponymous restaurant is at the end of the Universe. But not in the way you might think. It doesn’t back up against some sort of brick wall or worm hole out in space. It is at the end, as in when the Universe ceases to be. Kablooey. Nada. No more. The End.
18
Aug
2009
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
This book, the whole series, in fact, but particularly this book, is very near and dear to me. I spent months lying on library floors, contemplating how its genre, vision, and style hold up a mirror to the time in which it was written. When most people chose classics for our A.P. English term-paper, I chose H2G2.
14
May
2009
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
The title, “brave new world” comes from a quote in Shakespeare, from Miranda in The Tempest, “Oh…What brave new world that has such people in’t”. But keep in mind that “brave” in Shakespeare’s usage, and indeed, in the title, meant something more like “handsome” rather than courageous. And indeed, the citizens of Huxley’s futuristic dystopia are anything but courageous. They aren’t conditioned to be.
6
May
2009
The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
For the last 48 hours or so, I’ve put most of my life on hold, functioning only perfunctorily, in order to read this book. There’s several things that I liked about right off the bat: It takes place in West Michigan and Chicago, the characters are punk rock intelligentsia, and the narrative in prickled with musical and literary references. But most of all, it’s a love story that I was compellingly drawn to, and able to relate.
17
Apr
2009
Bad Monkeys by Matt Ruff
The thing that endeared me most to Matt Ruff, was that in his “Acknowledgements” section at the end of the book, he cites Evil Willow. Let that be a foreshadowing of things to come in this book.
