The Cephalopod Coffeehouse: April 2015: "George Harrison: Behind The Locked Door" and "All You Need Is Kill"

Reading has become a luxury I don't seem to be able to afford recently.  However, in the last few weeks I have finished TWO distinctly different books.

First, I read the book All You Need Is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka.  This was the novel that inspired last summer's Tom Cruise sci-fi action flick "Edge of Tomorrow".  I really enjoyed the movie and was please I had seen it previous to reading this book.  While the book was enjoyable, I felt some of the concepts were actually fleshed out a bit better on the big screen.

Secondly, I grabbed George Harrison: Behind the Locked Door by Graeme Thomson on a whim at the library last month.  I once joked I had four constant friends growing up and they were named John, Paul, George and Ringo.  In my teens, I read a lot of Beatle biographies plus the big ones about John and Paul.  Ringo was Ringo and I never bothered to learn much about him beyond the highlights.  There was, however, a dearth of information on George.

This book does a wonderful job of uncovering who George really was.  There is lots of first hand accounts and interviews with those closest to Harrison.  It is a fascinating read.

I place this with the best Beatle related books I have read.

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The idea is simple: on the last Friday of each month, post about the best book you've finished over the past month while visiting other bloggers doing the same.  In this way, we'll all have the opportunity to share our thoughts with other enthusiastic readers.  Please join us HERE!

The Cephalopod Coffeehouse: September 2014: Marvel Comics Collected Editions

I have been collecting comic books for a very long time.  When I first started, comics struggled for legitimacy in terms of mainstream acceptance.  They were still considered for children.

The term "graphic novel" was held for longer length, special format stories.  Collections of individual stories bound together were trade paperbacks.  It is still the term I use today.

I was alerted to the existence of these trades at WalMart via a story on the comic gossip site "Bleeding Cool".

WalMart is starting to stock a variety of Marvel trades at $5.00 each.  Each book also has a code for a free digital download (a realm I have yet to investigate.)

Here is a picture of the books at my WalMart that I posted on the Bleeding Cool site:

It is an impressive display.  I picked up the Spider-Man, Avengers and Guardians.  I had read the issues in the Cap collection and looking it over didn't think my son would enjoy it as much as the others.  Both my son and I devoured the other collections.

I give high marks to the Spider-Man and Avengers collections.  The Guardians was a bit more of a mish-mash, suffering from changing art styles, Brian Michael Bendis' habit of having each character sound exactly the same, and  having just seen the INCREDIBLE movie for a second time...

these stories were pale in comparison.

Our favorite was the Spider-Man collection.  He is a character I have never collected or read regularly.  The story line, regarding a new Hobgoblin, was intriguing enough that we are on the lookout for the next wave of these books.

The Avengers presented a nice time travel mystery that we want to see finished, too.

All in all, if you have a mild interest in comic books or these characters (who more and more read like their big screen counterparts), five bucks and a WalMart...you're in for a good time.

The Cephalopod Coffeehouse: July 2014: Devil May Care by Sebastian Faulks

I've seen all of the Bond movies and read a great deal of the "re-boot" books from the 1980s and 1990s.  I've never read a Bond book by Ian Fleming.  Sebastian Faulks claims to have written this book "as" Fleming.

Nan once told me she had read a Fleming Bond book that took place in Lake Placid, NY, where bond was in the story for all of two chapters.

I'm not sure what I expected.  I came close to abandoning this several times.  I actually completed three other books at the same time.

This book picks up from where Fleming left Bond...I'm not sure which book was Fleming's last but the setting for this one is the late 1960s.  There is some interest in reading a "period" Bond book but overall this one left me...unsatisfied.

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The idea is simple: on the last Friday of each month, post about the best book you've finished over the past month while visiting other bloggers doing the same.  In this way, we'll all have the opportunity to share our thoughts with other enthusiastic readers.  Please join us:

1.	The Armchair Squid	2.	mainewords
3.	Stephanie Faris, Author	4.	WOMEN: WE SHALL OVERCOME
5.	Cherdo on the Flipside	6.	Romance Under Fire
7.	Trisha @ WORD STUFF	8.	StrangePegs -- Secrets
9.	I Think; Therefore, I Yam	10.	Life of a Writer
11.	Katie @ Read, Write, Repeat	12.	StrangePegs -- The Shadow Lamp

The Cephalopod Coffeehouse - April

I read this book after my son met the author at a recent book talk at our town library.  Logan didn't have time to read this, as he had a book on his list for the DCF talk the next week but his friend read it and Logan wanted to support him at the author visit.

I picked it up not know this was to be a series and not knowing what the subtitle of the book was.  Both caveats are important to me.  First, while this is the first book in a series and does set up future books, the NEED to continue reading is muted...not as strong as say, The Hunger Games, which read as one large story, not as continued adventures starring the same characters.  Second, the subtitle of the book kind of ruins a few surprises.  The characters receive a few clues early in the story that I enjoyed figuring out with them.  If I knew the subtitle of the book before starting, I would have found myself impatient with the slower reveal.

The story takes place in a steam-punk alternate Earth in the near future.  In this world, the lands we thought we knew and had explored where only half of the story.  Great areas of the planet had been hidden.  This book follows the adventures of the three orphan children of one of the world's greatest explorers.

I really liked the book at the beginning but, while I did enjoy it, I found myself a little impatient towards the end.  I understand the characters were hungry but it was such a prevalent issue that I expected more to come of it. It definitely ended well and I will be checking in again.

I'm not doing this justice.  It was a fun read.  Someone referred to it as Hardy Boys meets Indiana Jones which doesn't seem far from the truth.  I would recommend it for 4th to 8th grade readers....especially reluctant readers who like adventures and mysteries.

This week I read TWO books! (Yay vacation!)  The first was Brad Meltzer's "The Fifth Assassin".  I have been a fan of Meltzer's work ever since I stumbled across his novel "The Tenth Justice" and recognized he named a lot of the Justices after characters in "The Watchmen".

After several stand alone novels, Meltzer is working towards creating a true series of books. A likable main character and an intriguing, historically-based premise (dating back to Washington), this has all of the earmarks of a series with long legs.

After "The Fifth Assassin" and a rewatching of both "National Treasure" movies, I had a hankering for some mystery and intrigue.  However, I finished this with an audible "Meh".

Overall I found it somewhat disappointing. Brown continues his habit of not naming some characters and keeping chapters pronoun free to throw you off, but once the big baddie is revealed, you realize there was no real reason to keep him shrouded in mystery.

Additionally, I don't mind when movies don't translate a character speaking in a foreign language, as I can usually tell what is going on by tone and body language. I found myself frustrated at times when some of the foreign language was translated...but not all and not consistently!

Lastly, I did grow tired of Tom Hanks...err...Robert Langdon knowing EVERYTHING thanks to his eidetic memory. I find it okay for the gaps to be filled with info dumps on occasion...but the main character doing it constantly gets to be too much

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What is The Cephalopod Coffeehouse, you ask? 

The idea is simple: on the last Friday of each month, post about the best book you've finished over the past month while visiting other bloggers doing the same.  In this way, we'll all have the opportunity to share our thoughts with other enthusiastic readers. More details HERE

Why not check out some of the other folks who are writing about what they read this month?

1.	The Armchair Squid	2.	My Creatively Random Life
3.	Wishbone Soup Cures Everything	4.	Valerie Nunez and the Flying Platypi
5.	Huntress	6.	Servitor Ludi

The Cephalopod Coffeehouse - March

During our two Snow Days earlier this month, I tore through this Vermont-based police procedural mystery.

I've been reading Archer Mayor's work since he first published "Open Season" in 1988.  I actually used to  bump into him or attended his signings so often, he would autograph copies of his books with very humorous, personalized inscriptions.

This is his 24th novel in the Joe Gunther series.  Gunther is a no nonsense, old school Vermonter who now heads the fictional Vermont Bureau of Investigation.  The novel takes place in the wake of Hurricane Irene, a storm that caused us some damage (though not as much as the May Flooding did to us that year).  The Hurricane exposes two decades old secrets in the state which wind their way throughout the novel.  I was very pleased that I was kept guessing until the very end.

I really loved this book.  Some of it might be my familiarity with the locales.  I also know many people with the same last names as many of the characters...even some atypical Vermont names....the Governor is named Zigman....I know a Zigman!  One of the detectives is named Spinney....I work with a woman whose maiden name is Spinney...I even knew a Kunkle at one point!

It's interesting to me to note how the longevity of the series has necessitated some changes.  Gunther's age and military history is more muted than it was when the series started 25 years ago.  There is less of a tying him down to specifics.  When I started reading the series, I always pictured Joe as my grandfather...then later I imagined him as Mayor himself....now, I sometimes picture myself as the hero....

I'm also really excited for the next chapter in the saga...

I also abandoned one book this month.

I really wanted to like this one but I just couldn't get into it.  It was too close to "The Series of Unfortunate Events", which I started out really liking but was ready for it to end by the 13th book, in terms of clever word play, characters, plot and narration.

I've read two good quotes about this book.  The first is from The Guardian: "A Series of Unfortunate Events started brilliantly, but dipped in quality over its 13 books; this time, sensibly, Handler has limited himself to only four."  However, I'm not interested in getting into any series right now!

The second comes from a GoodReads member: "Do any actual kids like Lemony Snicket books, or are they only read by hip parents who think that they are the kind of books they want their kids to like?"

Sneak Peak: Tomorrow's Post

Here is a video trailer that was created last year to promote Vermont author Archer Mayor's most recent work.

 

The Cephalopod Coffeehouse - February

While cleaning my side of the bedroom recently, I stumbled over a whole slew of books that I had been loaned at one time or another.  Our host, The Armchair Squid, let me borrow this ages ago...

This is the "true" story of the birth of the comic book and the comic book industry in America.  I've read the fictionalized account, "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay" by Michael Chabon, at one point and struggled to finish it.  My comic book data base tells me I have 53 comics written by the author, Gerard Jones...mostly early 1990s Justice League books.

I did enjoy this more than Kavalier and Clay and really liked some of the insight, but found myself, at times, wanting more.  I understand that so much of this story may be lost to history, but the book is filled with so many off-hand phrases like "We will never really know..." and "We can only speculate on...", I often found myself pulled out of the story.

I don't read much non-fiction but this did whet my appetite for the other comic book related books that have been published in the last few years.

School is out this week so I am on vacation.  One of my vacation goals was to start reading another book.  I exceeded my goal because I actually started AND finished a novel in the last few days.

I enjoy the escapism of the Mitch Rapp series.  I haven't read one of the books in a while.  They end up on my GoodReads shelf entitled "Credulity Straining Action."

The series took an interesting turn, in that Rapp was given a head injury in this novel.  It allowed Flynn to do a few different things with Rapp.

What I didn't know until I went to GoodReads to add that I had read this was that Vince Flynn died last June.  Apparently he left behind another Mitch Rapp novel.  I've read most but will make an effort to fill in the gaps...

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What is The Cephalopod Coffeehouse, you ask?

The idea is simple: on the last Friday of each month, post about the best book you've finished over the past month while visiting other bloggers doing the same.  In this way, we'll all have the opportunity to share our thoughts with other enthusiastic readers. 

Why not check out some of the other folks who are writing about what they read this month?

1.	The Armchair Squid	2.	Scouring Monk
3.	Trisha @ WORD STUFF	4.	Wishbone Soup Cures Everything
5.	The Random Book Review	6.	Words Incorporated
7.	StrangePegs -- The Casual Vacancy	8.	Read, Write, Repeat
9.	Mockity Mock Mock	10.	I Think: Therefore, I Yam

The Cephalopod Coffeehouse - January

The first title I read this month was our very own Tony Laplume's "Monorama". This was a very trippy, heady collection of short stories in a very sci-fi vein. The first section of stories are a collection of shorter pieces, each of which could easily (hopefully?) be expanded upon and made into full length stories.

This was also my very first Kindle read.  I was given a Kindle for Christmas 3 years ago.  I instantly purchased "The Princess Bride" (as my local library's copy had gone missing), but I have never been able to finish it!

I have read the first 15 chapters of "The Red Pyramid".  This was sort of a "have to" assignment.  In order to help my teaching partner, I agreed to shave 15 minutes off of each of my math classes in order to carve out some dedicated time for Novel Study groups.  I offered to read this and create the Teacher's Guide for the group.

I liked the first Percy Jackson novel well enough but never felt particularly compelled to go back.  I think I am feeling the same about this one.  I'm sure I'll finish it, to help the kids, but it won't be a labor of love.

I understand that authors are able to hit a groove or style and run with it (Cussler and Patterson leap to mind) but sometimes the groove becomes a rut that I'm not interested in.  Then again, I'm not the target audience.  I will give Riordan full credit for attempting some newer ideas (the two main characters are not the typical protagonists of Young Adult works) and the wink towards his Percy Jackson series drew a smile, but that's about it.

Earlier this month, my teaching partner bought a book for my classroom library.  Neil Gaiman and Skottie Young's "Fortunately, The Milk" was an absolute delight.  An easy, breezy adventure that I think would make a lovely stage production.  I could envision it performed in several different ways...a multi-media one person stage show...a full blown humorous play...it was so much fun.  I've never been a big fan of Young's illustrations in the comic books I've seen, just not my cup of tea, but they work so well here.  And Gaiman is firing on all cylinders.


I received "For Boston", the Boston Globe's World Series Commemorative book for Christmas and read it while sick one weekend earlier this month.  I'm not a fan of Dan Shaughnessy, but most of the stories in here are great for a Boston fan.  The layout of the book is curious, in that it starts with the Globe's stories about the World Series victory and then tells the tale of the rest of the season in reverse chronological order.  Curious choice.

This allows me to publish my favorite picture of the post season:

I'm on the left.  My teaching partner, a Phillies fan is next, followed by our Coffeehouse host, The Armchair Squid himself (an Orioles fan), and our host for the evening is seated (also a Sox fan).  This was during the game 3 loss...I can't remember the play, but I left as soon as the game was over.



The idea is simple: on the last Friday of each month, post about the best book you've finished over the past month while visiting other bloggers doing the same.  In this way, we'll all have the opportunity to share our thoughts with other enthusiastic readers.  Please join us:

1.	The Armchair Squid	2.	What's up, MOCK?!
3.	Words Incorporated	4.	Scouring Monk
5.	Huntress	6.	A Creative Exercise
7.	Libby Heily	8.	Trisha @ WORD STUFF
9.	Wishbone Soup Cures Everything	10.	mainewords
11.	Subliminal Coffee

The Cephalopod Coffeehouse: December

After missing the Coffeehouse for so many months in a row (mostly because I wasn't really reading anything) I feel I am back with a vengeance!

The first book I finished was Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card.  Our host, The Armchair Squid, has a wonderful teaching partner that I have come to consider a friend over the past year.  He gave my son a copy of the book for his birthday back in July.  My son tried but couldn't get into it right away.  I made some head way over the summer.  Once the new school year started, I was really pushed to finish it when I discovered several of my new student's were really into it.  I'm glad I went back.  I'm getting a LOT of pressure to try the sequels/continuation of the series, but I think I will wait a little bit.

The next book I finished was Heck by Zander Cannon.  It was a gift for ME from our host for my birthday back in October.  (Click HERE to discover our host's connection to the author!). I will admit I was initially skeptical about diving in.  Heck is not my "normal" sort of comic work.  I am so glad I dove in.

The book introduces us to Hector Hammerskjöld as he returns to his hometown after his father died. He bumps into an old flame at the funeral. Being "home" stirs up lots of conflicted emotions in our "hero". He inherits his father's house where he discovers a gateway to Hell in the basement!

When I was younger, I attempted to read Dante's Inferno after I was exposed to it via X-Men King Size Annual 4.  Cannon entitles a chapter where Heck visits Dante's famous city "Dis Must Be The Place." I love puns!

My teaching partner handles 85% of the ELA work load and asks our students to create book projects when they finish a book.  I did my first project this year on Heck!  I sketched one of the scenes from a slightly different angle.  The kids loved it!

My cousin recently posted a quote that I love.  ("Nobody is going to get any points in heaven by slogging their way through a book they aren’t enjoying but think they ought to read.” -Nancy Pearl.)  I didn't think I "ought to read" Dad is Fat by Jim Gaffigan but I really wanted to like it.  I like him and my mom was keen to share it with me.

Instead, it joins by Goodreads shelf of "Abandoned Books".  It just didn't click for me.  I was expecting funnier and it just didn't merit my time.  In fact, it stopped my reading resurgence cold!

The idea is simple: on the last Friday of each month, post about the best book you've finished over the past month while visiting other bloggers doing the same.  In this way, we'll all have the opportunity to share our thoughts with other enthusiastic readers.  Please join us:

1.	The Armchair Squid	2.	Scouring Monk
3.	Huntress	4.	mainewords
5.	Wishbone Soup Cures Everything	6.	What's Up, MOCK?!
7.	The Writing Sisterhood	8.	A Creative Exercise

The Cephalopod Coffeehouse

I had intended to be back in the saddle for this month's meeting but I just don't have my act together.  My Masters' class is meeting this week...lots of birthdays in the house and the Sox are in post season play.  Also a bummer because I'm still reading a book by a Coffeehouse member AND received a book from our host!


All that being said....why not check out the folks who actually have their act together!!

The Cephalopod Coffeehouse

Please join us for a bloggers' book club. Next "meeting" is Friday, October 25th. Check out the details here.

1.	The Armchair Squid	2.	Subliminal Coffee
3.	The Beveled Edge	4.	Blue Sky Gazing
5.	Hungry Enough To Eat Six!	6.	Servitor Ludi
7.	V's Reads	8.	Julie Flanders
9.	Trisha @ WORD STUFF	10.	Rebecca @ The Dusty Cellar
11.	Scouring Monk	12.	The Writing Sisterhood
13.	The Random Book Review	14.	Wikes! Hikes on the Long Trail
15.	Ed & Reub	16.	M.J. Fifield
17.	StrangePegs -- Fortunately, the Milk	18.	StrangePegs -- "My Killbot Buddy"
19.	Katie O'Sullivan	20.	Gladiator's Pen
21.	Em Dashes and Ice Cream	22.	StrangePegs -- Fahrenheit 451

Sunday Night Wrap Up

I missed the Cephalopod Coffeehouse gathering...again.  Here are all the links if you are so inclined to go check them out!  Wonderful bloggers all!

1.	The Armchair Squid	2.	Remembering Grace
3.	Vanessa Morgan	4.	Trisha @ WORD STUFF
5.	M.J. Fifield	6.	Denise Covey @ L'Aussie Writing
7.	My Creatively Random Life	8.	Subliminal Coffee
9.	The Random Book Review	10.	Divine Secrets of the Writing Sisterhood
11.	Scouring Monk	12.	Clarissa Draper
13.	Huntress	14.	mainewords
15.	Excuse Me While I Note That Down	16.	Mark Noce Stories
17.	StrangePegs -- Temporary Anne	18.	Blue Sky Gazing
19.	What's Up! MOCK?	20.	Nicki Elson
21.	V's Reads	22.	Stephen Tremp
23.	Ed & Reub	24.	StrangePegs -- The Spirit Well
25.	Hungry Enough To Eat Six!	26.	Words Incorporated

I've been meaning to sit and babble at you all for awhile now.  A new school year is underway!  The family has become Doctor Who fans!  I was invited to my alma mater to join a small panel and speak to a class of first year students about the teaching profession.  Broomball has started!  There is so much in my head all of the time!

But instead, for you, a look at the members of Star Trek: The Next Generation (also in heavy rotation these days!) in Original Series uniforms! via io9

The Cephalopod Coffeehouse: 11/22/63 by Stephen King

This is not my best entry...I am trying to pre-write this days ago (watching one of the best Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes "Cause and Effect") and publishing it when I will be away.  Actually, as it publishes, I am teeing off at the Tommy Keane Invitational in Hanover, NH.  Past posts about the TKI can be found HERE.

I recently mentioned to Nan that I think reading Stephen King is a rite of passage for readers, especially for males who became readers during King's heyday in the mid to late 1980s.  I loved "The Talisman" and "Eyes of the Dragon" as well as the "horror" novels "Pet Sematary", "It", and "'Salems Lot".  Heck, I read "The Stand" in one "sitting" after getting out of the hospital (I was unable to sleep for more than 20 minutes at a time and would be awake for what seemed like days).

I wandered away in college.  I really wanted to like "The Dark Tower" series but it didn't catch me and I stopped following it after the third book.  I think the last King novel I read was "Dolores Claiborne".

This month's entry for the Cephalopod Coffee House has actually received a sort of shout out from another member.  Last month, Tony mentioned he had read this book recently.

I really liked this book.  Time travel has dominated lots of my conversations recently.  As my son and I watch Star Trek episodes, his favorites are the time travel episodes.  The Armchair Squid and I have a common friend who recommended Ray Bradbury's exquisite time travel story "A Sound of Thunder" which gets name checked in this book.

This might not be a good choice as someone's first Stephen King novel.  It does have some neat callbacks to other King works but nothing that hinders the enjoyment of the novel.

King has done his research here.  One gets lost in the time period quite easily.  My only caveat is that it seemed that King actually got too in depth at times.  As the fateful day referenced in the title approaches, King actually has the narrator SPOILER ALERT HIGHLIGHT TO READ get beaten up to the point of near death and sort of fast forwards the story seven weeks. END SPOILER

Beyond that, if you like King, time travel, or mind bending works, this is for you.  While our Cephlapod Host is not a time travel fan, this one MIGHT be up his alley...the cosmic ramifications are spelled out explicitly and the ending is bittersweet and personal.

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What's The Cephalopod Coffeehouse all about?  Let's ask The Squid himself!

"The idea is simple: on the last Friday of each month, post about the best book you've finished over the past month while visiting other bloggers doing the same.  In this way, we'll all have the opportunity to share our thoughts with other enthusiastic readers."

Click a link below to check things out!

1.	The Armchair Squid	2.	Counterintuitivity
3.	Subliminal Coffee	4.	Scouring Monk
5.	A ARTE DE NEWTON AVELINO	6.	The Random Book Review
7.	StrangePegs -- The Ocean at The End of the Lane	8.	Ed & Reub
9.	What's Up, MOCK?	10.	My Creatively Random Life
11.	Jim Devitt	12.	Hungry Enough to Eat Six!
13.	Bird's Nest	14.	Divine Secrets of the Writing Sisterhood
15.	Words Incorporated	16.	Spill Beans

The Cephalopod Coffeehouse: Liar & Spy by Rebecca Stead

At our kickball game on Monday night, I shared with The Squid that I was able to read 4 books over the course of my vacation the previous week.  This was not one of the books!

I picked this up from my school library before school ended.  My teaching partner had been declaring lots of "Independent Reading" time and I invariably NEVER had a book.  Sure, I had a handful of "Encyclopedia Brown" books in my room, but I teach math and my classroom library is lacking "real" novels.

This book is also a DCF Nominee for next year and I always try to read as many as possible...or at least more than my teaching partner can!

I had happened upon Mrs. Stead's incredible 2009 novel "When You Reach Me" and LOVED it.  I decided to give this a chance.

While not as engaging or compelling for me as "When You Reach Me", the story is strong, none-the-less.  Some of the major themes from "Reach" are here, but it is a switch of genres...yet only subtly so.  Mrs. Stead has a great handle on the trials and tribulations of adolescents, as well as the lengths we all go to in order to protect ourselves and those we love.  There is lots of humor and exploration of friendship and family that ring true.  There is a little bit of a mystery/twist that fits nicely and feels organic.

It is a quick read.  I really don't think it took me more than a total of 90 minutes to finish.


=================================================
What's The Cephalopod Coffeehouse all about?  Let's ask The Squid himself!

"The idea is simple: on the last Friday of each month, post about the best book you've finished over the past month while visiting other bloggers doing the same.  In this way, we'll all have the opportunity to share our thoughts with other enthusiastic readers."

Click a link below to check things out!

1.	The Armchair Squid	2.
3.	Counterintuitivity	4.	My Creatively Random Life
5.	Scouring Monk	6.	The Life and Loves of Clare Dugmore
7.	Words Incorporated	8.	The Random Book Review
9.	Writer's Block	10.	Trisha @ WORD STUFF
11.	Bird's Nest	12.	Choice City Native
13.	Hungry Enough To Eat Six	14.	C.M. Brown
15.	Subliminal Coffee