BOOKS. stargate sg-1: city of the gods (book 4)

the fourth book in a long series of stargate sg-1 novels, city of gods takes the stargate team to a new planet, this one seems to have a culture fashioned after the ancient mayans and azteks of central america.  the story joins our crew as they try and get the exploration team off the planet before an impending ecological disaster strikes.  they get themselves mixed up with a bunch of young kids, who seem to be without families, but  know their way around pretty well.  after traveling with them for a while, they are brought to the native people of that planet, and they seem to be trying to appease their gods by offering human sacrifices to stave off their destruction.  the story plays out, as one might expect, with the white man being seen as the messengers of the gods and o'neill is more than happy to play up that angle if it means getting off the planet quicker!
the highlight of this particular story is the wealth of knowledge shared about the working of the planet's geology and ecosystems.  it is very obvious that the writer, sonny whitelaw, has an intimate understanding of nature and its interconnectedness.  whitelaw does a good job with nailing the characters and their traits, but the book really comes alive when he talks about the environment itself.  with vivid descriptions of caves, archaeology  and volcano stuff, its very clear that this guy knows his stuff and feels passionately about it- his interest in it is infectious through his writing.  also, he has a very interesting perspective on the mayan and aztek culture and its connection with life's value, both human life and the life in nature.  definitely worth checking out!

BOOKS. eureka: brain box blues

a few years ago, when the tv show eureka first premiered, i thought id give it a try. i really loved it! the show is about a sheriff who works in the town of eureka, a scientific sort of utopia where the government has holed away thousands of scientists in this small town, and they have come up with amazing technological advances. the characters are a ton of fun, especially sheriff carter, the main character. he's really the only sane one in this town full of crazy scientists! having watched the show for the past four seasons, i decided to give the books a try.
'brain box blues' is about a strange invention that can supposedly see the last memories of someone who died. the story starts with a top secret case and they need to see what the last memories were of an important government official who was recently killed. its up to the scientists at global dynamics to get the information out of the box and make some sort of sense of it. of course, the purpose for getting these memories is kept under wraps until it becomes more and more obvious that there are some hidden motives behind the information being harvested.
the story itself is pretty good, it plays like a big episode of the show. it was fun to read all the different characters, who the author does a great job of recreating. the different actions and events are true to the show and its attitudes. a quick and fun read!

BOOKS. stargate sg-1: the cost of honor (book 5)

this stargate novel is a continuation of 'a matter of honor'. the story left off with our gang getting the technology they needed to try and save an sg team that they had left behind years ago. the team had been left behind in a world that was collapsing into a black hole. the black hole had effected the planet so much that time itself had slowed. it had been four years since sg-1 left that planet, but to the team that was there it had only felt like an hour. now that sg-1 has the technology (though some uncharacteristically shady means) to go back and rescue them, they try to get the go-ahead from hammond. he is facing a tough time from some officials due to their plan with the planet sg-1 had gotten the technology from, so he is not officially allowed to let them go on the mission to save the lost sg team. but they go anyway and save most of the lost team. but the machine they had gotten broke and they too were effected by the time stream of the black hole and when they get back many months have passed at they must face the repercussions of their disobeying commands. hammond is gone because he let them go save the lost team, and how the sg-1 team is in big trouble because of how they got the technology that broke. it was a great story with tons of action and good characterizations. we really get to see how much it effected jack and hammond that they broke protocol and did things they werent supposed to do. a very good finale to the first book. well done.

BOOKS. stargate sg-1: a matter of honor (book 3)

the third book in the long series of novels based on the stargate sg-1 tv show, 'a matter of honor' is the first book in a two part story. the story is actually based on the events of one of the episodes of the tv show. in that show, the sg-10 team gets stuck on a world that is being sucked into a black hole. the interesting thing about that is the black hole has slowed down the time on that planet so even though this story takes place five years after the team was lost, only an hour or so has passed for the sg-10 team. jack's dedication to the military philosophy of 'no man left behind' is what drives this story. the sg-1 team finds itself on a planet where our government is trying to barter a trade with the local inhabitants in order to get some of their more advanced technology for ourselves. the sg-1 team and general hammond dont feel that we need this technology and are trying to end the trade. while on the planet, they realize that it houses one of baal's fortresses that has another technology that they might be able to use to save the lost sg-10 team. our four intrepid heroes do everything they can to get this baal technology, including going against direct orders from general hammond.
this story is really well written by sally malcolm. the characters are perfectly captured and think and act in a way that fits what we have known about them for so many years on the show. one of the big plot points is how jack o'neill deals with being in baal's fortress again. last time he was there he was tortured and killed, resurrected, and killed again, ad nausium. the author has a fantastic grasp on what is going on in o'neills head during their trip to retrieve the technology from this place with so many bad memories for him. it was a great read, and i am eager to read the next one to finish the story! these stargate sg-1 novels just keep getting better and better!

BOOKS. stargate sg1: sacrifice moon (book 2)

ah, now this is what i was hoping these stargate books would be like! after starting the book series at number one, i was a bit disappointed with the first entry, 'trial by fire'. this one is much much better! the fun thing about these different books is that they can be set in whatever season the author wants. this particular book takes place near the beginning of the first season, when the sg-1 team was still trying to get to know each other and try to get the hang of the whole 'visiting other worlds' thing. the team finds themselves on a planet that seems to be similar to ancient rome. the arrive and find themselves it a bit of trouble. they are sent off through the gate to another world where the goddess of the moon rules. while there they discover that all those who are sent to this world are brought to play a deadly game where some are the hunters and others are the prey. the story line itself was pretty good, i kept thinking i knew where it was going to go, but then surprised by some of the twists and turns it took. the best part of the book though wasnt the storytelling, rather it was the interesting and insightful characterizations of the four members of sg-1. julie fortune, the author of the book, did a wonderful job of digging in to the characters and really showing what was going on in their heads, something that the show itself is never able to do. we get a great look at how and why these four work so well together, and get a sense of what keeps them together for all the years they travel through the stargate together. a great read. it makes me really excited to read more in the series!

BOOKS. stargate sg1: trial by fire (book 1)

i've recently begun reading stargate sg-1 novels, so i thought i'd start at the beginning with the first of the series. its been a very long time since i read a book based on a tv show (back in high school i read a couple x-files books that were pretty bad) so i wasnt too sure if they would be any good. they have published more than 15 stargate sg-1 novels so far and they dont seem to be slowing down at all, so they must be pretty good, right? well, it turns out that the first one in the series is pretty bad.
the book follows the sg-1 team as they investigate a new planet with two warring factions. the story is rather poorly written in that there were quite a few long passages where i didnt exactly know what was going on. the action and events are muddled and poorly written, with the stargate team itself doing things that are not in character for how they would really react. the show has 10 years worth of episodes, so there is a really really strong foundation of character traits and personalities that are set out. also, there are some pretty basic rules that the team has followed on all 200 plus episodes that this book quickly throws out the window in the first pages. one major problem with the book is that the team takes a normal person from our world, a professor, and brings her through the gate with them. this would have never happened no matter how knowledgeable they think someone might be about a particular culture. never! yet here they are bringing a civilian with them. and to top it off, the character is really really annoying! every scene of the book that the professor was in was hard to get through. there are times where she is in danger and i was actively rooting for o'neil to just let her die! the final resolution for the book was pretty vapid and didnt play much part in the set-up that had been created over the former 200 pages.
over all, a terrible start to the novel series, but i'm willing to try again on the next novel. fortunately there are different writers that take over the series, so as long as sabine c. bauer stays away from novelized stargate, then i'm sure i will enjoy them!

BOOKS. abraham lincoln, vampire hunter

i havent read this one or anything, just merely saw that it exists, and i must say that i am really interested in it! first, i love me some abe lincoln! second, the premise is that the southern army was filled with vampires and lincoln is on a quest to kill them all, thats the cause of the civil war. wow, that sounds amazing! i just hope its as good as the version in my head!

BOOKS. a wrinkle in time

i remember this book always catching my eye when i was in school, but i never actually read it. well, recently i came across a free copy of it (which even had the cover i remembered from junior high!), so i dug in to see if it was any good. the story follows a young girl as she begins to notice strange things going on around her. her father went missing years ago and her little brother is a bit of a strange little genius. the two kids, and one other who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, get swooped away to another dimension. they are given advice and told that they need to go and try to save their dad who has been locked away by the evil bad guys for years. as they take their journey they stumble upon many different worlds and dimensions that boggle the mind. eventually they arrive at the planet that their dad is at. everything is a bit askew here. everyone must follow certain rules of behavior that are exceedingly strict. the little brother gets taken and brainwashed by the bad guys. now the two kids have to save dad and the little brother! its an interesting story, and i can see why kids would love it, but i was pretty disappointed by the ending. it was a good set-up, with interesting twists and turns and good characterizations, but the final resolution was pretty lame. its one of those where 'love is the answer' and can solve all problems. boring! that resolution often feels like a cop out, and with this book it certainly was. the situation they were in was dire and destined to be a great showdown, but then it all falls apart when they begin to go in to platitudes about how 'love makes humans special and unique'. maybe i'm a bit too old and too jaded to be reading this book, but i found it to be pretty bad at the end.

BOOKS. diary

this book haunts me. ever since i've read it, it haunts me. the book follows the life of a woman who lives on a little touristy island where she works at the local hotel. her husband is living on life support in the hospital and she and she must try to make sense of all the strange things that have been happening and why everyone has been acting so weird. sounds pretty basic, huh? i expected a lot when i read this, it is, after all, written by the same guy who write 'fight club'! as i was reading it, the whole thing just seemed disjointed and not very interesting. i got to the end and was confused by it all. i set it down and a week past. thats when it happened: i kept thinking about the book, the little details and the parts of the story that didn't seem to fit right away. i couldnt stop thinking about it. then it hit me! the whole picture suddenly came into focus, all the odd parts and all the confusing parts, they suddenly melded together and i saw what palahniuk had done! when it hit me i actually had to sit down! the sheer power and brilliance of the tale he wove took me a while to process, but now that i had, i realized the sheer genius of it! i would love to give examples of it, but i would never want to give away anything to someone who might read it- i wouldnt want to steal that moment of revelation from anybody.
still, all these months later, it haunts me...

BOOKS. the terminal man

i had read this one before, back when i first discovered michael crichton back in junior high, but i didnt remember it very well so i thought i would revisit the story. its a fairly short novel about a man who suffers violent blackouts that lead to him doing terrible things. he is a prime candidate for a new medical procedure that would try to cure him of his violent behavior. the blackouts happen when he starts to get mad, he then goes on violent rampages that he doesnt remember and cant control. the procedure involves putting something in his brain that would trigger his pleasure sensor when ever he started getting too angry, which would cause a happy and peaceful feeling to sooth him down and stop the attack before it got started. the problem is that he soon becomes addicted to this pleasure and tries to get it whenever he can. well, something happens to the sensor and he breaks out of the lab. a pretty interesting story that follows the addictive quest to find pleasure. the story isnt very deep, but the implications of addiction, rage, and identity are thoughtfully discussed. another great book by crichton!

BOOKS. the shack

this story follows a spiritual man who recently lost his daughter in a while camping. the family was playing in the water when a man came by and kidnapped her. since the event he has struggled with forgiving himself for not being there to save her, and also questions God about why it happened. while trying to deal with a spiritual crisis of faith, he decides to find some time alone and goes to a cabin his friend offers as a way to get away for a while. while there he has the most amazing experience: God shows up. now he can ask God directly why did this happen. the book deals with these conversations in an interesting manner, but it quickly becomes apparent that the 'God' he talks with is not the traditional God of Christianity, but rather some sort of 'spiritual' god that bares little resemblance to the God of the Bible. the story is well told and we really feel for what this man is going through, dealing with the loss and guilt of a dead child, but the doctrine is far from Christian.

BOOKS. congo

i had read this one once when i was in junior high and really loved it. i was going through a stage where i wanted to read everything michael crichton wrote, which isnt a bad goal at all considering most of his stuff is pretty good!
the story follows a scientist who has been taking care of an ape that had been taught to speak using sign language. recently this ape, named amy, has been getting restless and its thought that it might be time to return her to the wild. as he tries to find a way to the congo to release her, he comes across a woman who is trying to go to the same place. she works for a company that recently lost a team in the jungle and must get there and find out what went wrong. eventually, with the help of an african guide, they find the place where the team went missing. they also happen upon the lost ruins of the city of zinj, a once great civilization that disappeared mysteriously. as they uncover the truth they realize that they are in more danger than they realized!
having read the book before and seen the movie (which is about as good as campy fun gets!- check out my review of the movie here), i knew what i was in for as far as the story goes. what i had forgotten since last reading it, was just how good the writing is! the story unravels at a lighting quick speed. crichton does an amazing job of keeping things interesting and the adrenaline racing, he also sprinkles in different tidbits about research and stories of apes and the jungle that enrich the reading so much. how real are these other tidbits and research? well, thats the thing about crichton, he is very good at making up the supposedly 'real' info thats featured alongside the stories he writes. whether any of it is based on fact or just the imagination of crichton does not alter the fact that this book is a page turner that was a blast to read!

BOOKS. the giver

someone at school was giving away old copies that were falling apart, so i grabbed one. having never read it, i remember english teachers in the past saying how good this book is, so i saw this as my opportunity to give it a try.
the premise is very orwellian, its about a colony that must follow all these rules and regulations to make their civilization a great utopia. this means denying themselves of many freedoms, and following the guidelines for living that the society has deemed acceptable. the children only get one toy, they must wear uniforms and wear their hair a certain way, once they are of age they are put into certain training jobs that are dictated to them, etc. our main character, jonas, is given a very unusual job, he is called to be the 'receiver of memory' for their community. this means that he is training to be the only one who will learn the truth behind all the rules. he is trained by the current receiver of memory, called the giver. as jonas learns these truths about life he is forever changed and must make the choice to accept the truth or try to make things right.
its a pretty good story well told. the author does a good job of conveying the joys of the community in the laws they carry out. as we see jonas begin to question things, the author allows us to ask the same questions and find out some pretty unexpected things about what is so different in this society. because of these differences, there really is no way that this book could be made into a movie- it would give everything away to quickly! the ending of the story is a bit confusing though, i understand what the author was trying to do, but the descriptions and telling of it all gets muddled a bit. over all, its a great introduction for young readers into the sub genre of big government style books like '1984' and 'brave new world'.

BOOKS. don't panic

a couple years ago, when the movie was going to come out, i decided to read 'hitchhikers guide to the galaxy'. i didn't know anything about it, but i had heard it was pretty funny. i read it quickly and totally enjoyed it. i've since gone back and read most of the other books from the series. the first one was definitely the best, but all of them have their humorous charms.
recently i came across this book, a biography about douglas adams, the author of the 'hitchhikers' books. its written by neil gaiman, which is a name you can always trust. it was quite interesting. i didn't know anything about mr. adams, but was quite enthralled by this account of his life. gaiman writes it in the same sort of dry british wit that characterizes adams writings. it was interesting to learn about how the story started, as a radio show for the BBC. it morphed over time to include a television series, a set of books, and a computer game, each of which tells the story differently. adams was by all accounts a major procrastinator, often waiting until two weeks before a book was due to even begin writing (which explains why the books are so uneven). it seems he was also a man who loved technology. he was involved in creating a 'hitchhikers guide' on the internet which anyone could contribute to, basically creating wikipedia before wikipedia! this book shares his works, which were unfortunately cut short when he passed away eight years ago. a very funny and interesting look at a funny and interesting man.

BOOKS. colbert bag

you know how barnes and noble has those black and white line illustrations of different famous authors up on their walls? well i was in there recently and saw this book bag. i guess technically stephen colbert has written a book and is famous, but it still seems a bit strange...

BOOKS. quack shack

why didn't anyone tell me how great childrens books are now? this past weekend i went home and saw my nieces and nephew. they had gone to the library recently and came back with this gem. the book is ridiculously simple, but completely hilarious! it starts by introducing a family of words, like 'the ick family', and then takes a few pages to introduce some of the words in that family, 'chick', 'lick', 'sick', etc. and then it combines the words to make a funny image: 'chick sick' the images are great too, everything has a face on it, and their expressions are really funny! the best was 'chick kick!' which had a little duck dressed rambo-style, kicking at a couple of worms that are flying backward through the air! genius! the ack family: quack sack! the ock family: locks rock! the kids and i laughed at this book for about a half hour! i looked in the back and there is a whole collection of them- i am really eager to check out 'snow bow' next!
(more pics)

BOOKS. between the bridge and the river

recently i finished a rather unique book called 'between the bridge and the river'. now, in the interest of full discloser, i must tell you who the author is. its written by craig fergison, the host of the late late show on cbs, and one of the funniest people on tv in my opinion (which happens to be correct...). so, my analysis may be a bit bias, but i will try to give an honest assessment.
the basic story is about two scottish boys who are great friends through out school, but in high school one of them, fraser, gets fed up with it and drops out of school. this starts the drifting apart of the two former friends. the book picks back up about 30 years later. each of the men have made a life for themselves, fraser is a tv host with a show about God, and charlie has a family. each of them has a life shattering event happen to them, charlie has just been diagnosed with terminal cancer, and fraser has been found out for the playboy letch he is. they both react by fleeing, one to america, the other to france. they each have some very interesting adventures; one thing leads to another, and at one point they both die.
heres where things get interesting.
fergison brings up some very strange and unique ideas about the afterlife. he imagines that when we die we go on a journey which just so happens to be guided by virgil. yes, the same virgil who guided dante on his trip through the infamous inferno. only its not an inferno, its something else for each person. at one point the two of them meet in the world war 1 trenches and try to figure out whats going on. they make it out alive, and the story twists and turns from there. their story is riviting and increadibly fasinating.
the only problem is, there are two other main characters as well. there are two brothers who are on a soul searching road trip of sorts, and eventually find the perfect con. their story is interesting, but its quite obvious that their story, most of which is set in los angeles, is fergisons attempt at mocking the culture he has been surrounded with since entering show biz. there are somewhat lame attempts at poking fun at scientology and movie executives meddling in productions, but for the most part they seem dated and too easy of targets.
all things considered, it is a very good read. the best parts of the book are fergisons unique style of writing. he often shares short asides explaining the life of characters who are quite inconsiquental to the story. but the fun part is, if you are paying attention to those asides, they often show unusual connections between many of the minor characters. another great writing mechinism he uses very well is the idea of virgil as a storyteller. as the character is being led by him, he shares a few stories. these stories are self contained, but are some of the most memorable short stories ive read in years.
the book delves into alot of questions about religion, but with a very even-handed aproach. there are good and bad on both sides and the topic is never glossed over or simplified to an easy answer.
thought provoking and an amusing page turner. cant beat that!

BOOKS. the last days of socrates

this weekend i found myself just hanging out alot in my bedroom (mostly because its the only room in my house with air conditioning to fight off the 95 degree swelter). as i was chillin on the bed i was scanning the bookshelves to see if there was something that would hold my attention for a while while i cooled down. i came across this ragged old book. why do i have this book? well, let me tell you: i stole it from my brother. (this is going to be awkward if he were to ever read this. oops, i guess i should have thought that one through...) he was always really into philosophy and stuff, but growing up i never understood why, so i decided to find out. i took the book when i was in junior high or high school. i paged through it, but was quickly confused and tossed it aside. for some reason i held on to it, and all these years later i decided to pick it up and give it a look through.
i have studied socrates before, in college and on my own, but i didnt take that step of actually reading his stuff. im aware of his approach to logic and understanding, so that made the read even more interesting. i read the first section, a discussion with euthrypho, and began reading his apology before the court. it was really interesting to read through an example of his method in use. he would take every assumption that the speaker would have and then ask little questions that the other guy would agree to. each question a little baby step. he would add up those baby steps and by the end he would prove that what you are agreeing to now is in direct oppositon to your original claim. dang, that must have pissed of the people he would talk to, huh?
my brother was always really good at this. and yes, i did piss me off all the time.

BOOKS. paul, a novel

Paul: A Novel, by walter wangerin jr. this is an amzing book. it took me a while to get into it (roughly 8 years...) but once i got the premise it totally clicked! i recieved this book from my aunt for my high school graduation. i gave it a try, but the first chapter is kind of oddly written, so i gave up and put it away. all these years ive kept it, but never gave it another look. well, last year i decided to try again- and boy what a reward! ive never had a book move me to laughter and then tears before.
heres the set up: the book is a novelization of the book of Acts. it is the story of pauls conversion and three missionary journeys. but here is what makes it so unique: we dont really ever get inside pauls head, instead the book is writen from the perspective of all those around paul. some chapters are written from the point of view of barnabas, or james, or timothy, or titus, etc. all of these people give their side of what they think of paul and his actions. i teach the book of acts to middle schoolers, so this book has really come in handy for making the stories come alive. there are a few days where i read sections straight out of the book. the kids love it because its alot more personal than the straight narrative of acts.
the author of the book has done this with other books as well, he did a novelization of the old testament called 'the book of God'. i picked that one up, but it fails at exactly what made the paul book so great- it is very cold and just a basic narrative. he recently released a novelization of the gospels and recounts the life of Jesus. i havent read it, but i probably will.

BOOKS. state of fear

ive written about this book before, but that was when i first picked it up, im a few hundred pages in now, so i figured id update my thoughts.
once again i am reminded how much i love michael crichtons writting style- its just so fluid and engaging. i just start reading, and before i know it an hour has passed!
anyway, im getting a better feel for the plot of the book. it has a lot to do with environmental stuff. one of the subplots has to do with a low land island wanting to sue amarica for causing so much pollution that the sea level is raising and the island will soon be under water. kind of an interesting plot point, but the majority of the book is all about pollution and environmental issues. but it actually tries to prove that all the environmenalists are wrong- the world is not warming at all, and in fact, the polar ice caps are actually getting bigger! the information is presented with such authority and with so much real world research behind it that i am actually wondering if the ideas in the book are true. the info is explained as accurate, and the writing is quite persuasive.
i think im going to have to look up some of the sources listed in the prefix of the book... that michael crichton, he sure can grab my interest!