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

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

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