4 To read or not to read - Wed 23 Mar 2011

If you couldn't already tell, I love to read. And while I might not be a particularly fast reader, I would definitely say I'm enthusiastic. 


However.


I have recently found myself, I hate to say, putting off and avoiding reading! Argh! 


The main cause for this literary lapse, is this - I am currently reading a Book Club book which I simply cannot seem to get excited about. Now, I understand that not all books can be exciting, or amazing or mind-blowingly stupendous. In reality, very few of the books I actually do enjoy reading are any of these things anyway. 


But a book must be compelling. It must make the reader want to keep going back to it, to make the reader think about the story and what might happen next even when they're off doing something completely different. 


For me, our Book Club book just doesn't have that compelling quality and I'm now worried that I may not even get it read before our next meeting (still two weeks away!). 


I'm really not sure what to do because the very reason I joined the Book Club was to make me read books I might not otherwise check out - to go that little bit beyond my sometimes narrow reading-comfort-zone and discover something new. But it's really such a struggle that it makes me feel exhausted!


To make matters worse, because I am feeling guilty about not reading the assigned book, I'm not reading anything at all! And I miss it desperately :( 


All my whining leads me to the main point of this post - Is it wrong to just give up and move on to reading something I think I'll enjoy? And if I do, what am I supposed to say at my Book Club meeting? Should I force myself to read the book in these precious few moments I have on this Earth, when really I'd rather be reading something else? Or should I just suck it up? I mean who knows - the last 400 pages might be better ...


Please post your suggestions and help me with this quandary!

1 Book Review - The Graveyard Book - Sun 13 Mar 2011

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


After hearing many a soul wax lyrical on the fabulous imagination of Neil Gaiman, I found myself drawn towards The Graveyard Book, figuring it would be an easy way to acquaint myself with his particular form of “brilliance”.

I was sadly mistaken.

The Graveyard Book is kind of like trying to stop a dog from eating crap - basically a good idea, but ultimately useless.

It follows Bod, a young boy who, after witnessing the murder of his parents in the first chapter (the highlight of the book), ends up living in a graveyard and being raised by it’s inhabitants.

The book, although clumsily tied together as a single narrative, is really a collection of short stories, the likes of which wouldn’t have been half bad if left that way - but the flimsy plot linking them together, which I’m sure was an afterthought, really detracts from what could have been some good writing.

The characters are kind of like faded water paintings, lacking any kind of substance or real colour, which is a shame given the potential for character growth and complexity that setting the story in a graveyard brings.

Although the book is aimed at a youthful audience, any 10 year old could have seen where the story was going, and no one would have been surprised by the turn of events leading to the book’s climax. Then finally, as if to punctuate the story’s generally lackluster meandering, the ending goes on for too long.

If I had to describe The Graveyard Book in one word, it would be “Meh”.

View all my reviews

1 Movie Review - Grandma's Boy - Sat 5 Mar 2011

Grandma's Boy (2006)


My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Grandma's Boy, a comedy from Adam Sandler's Happy Madison Productions, follows Alex (Allen Covert) a 35 year old game tester, who is evicted from his rental home after his room-mate spends all the rent money on "exotic massage therapists".


After staying at a friend's house and disgracing himself, Alex realises he'll have to stay with his Grandma Lily (played by Everybody Loves Raymond's Doris Roberts), a lovely old woman with two kooky room-mates.


Things start to get difficult when the deadline for testing "Eternal Death Slayer 3" looms and Alex's new room-mates keep him from working by giving him innumerable chores and hogging the only television set in the house.


Joel David Moore gives a fantastic performance as J.P., a prodigy game designer with a penchant for pleather and aspirations of becoming a robot. Coincidentally, you can find Moore in another game-referencing movie, playing Norm Spellman in James Cameron's 2009 blockbuster Avatar.


There are also cool cameo performances by Jonah Hill (best known for his roles in Superbad and Knocked Up)  and Nick Swardson (Jon Heder's stalker in Blades of Glory), who plays Alex's boyish friend Jeff. There's even a couple of blink-and-you'll-miss-it scenes with Rob Schneider playing a Russian landlord and David Spade as a short-tempered vegan waiter named Shiloh.


Covert is likeable as the hard-done-by protagonist Alex, and his group of co-workers are all good fun, even if they are a little stereotyped. My favourite scenes include Alex beating the other testers at "Frog Bog" and Jeff meeting his "Silver Fox".


I really enjoyed this film with its fictional gaming references and gamer in-jokes, and if I weren't a Librarian, I'd LOVE to work at Brainasium! 


If you love gaming, love a good laugh and you're not easily offended by drug-fuelled toilet humour, then Grandma's Boy is the film for you.


Still not convinced? Here's the YouTube trailer: