Star Wars: Shattered Empire by Greg Rucka

In my review of Aftermath, I cited the lack of familiar characters as a shortcoming, because it seemed off putting to introduce so many new names in a story directly following Return of the Jedi. It turns out that Shattered Empire is the actual continuation I was hoping for, as its first pages directly depict the last moments of the Battle of Endor and the celebration afterward.

This 4-issue story centers around Lieutenant Shara Bey, and for a few moments on her husband Kes Dameron. They are mentioned to have a young son named Poe, who you might know grows up to be Oscar Isaac's character in The Force Awakens. Shara is introduced more naturally than the new characters in Aftermath since she directly assists Han, Leia, and Luke on various missions. She flew in Green Squadron during the Battle of Endor and decides to help push back against the remnants of the Empire before settling down with her family. Kes was on the ground with the Pathfinders, the group who helped Han Solo destroy the Death Star's shield generator.

Soon after Shara and Kes reunite on Endor, Solo brings them on a mission to hit an Imperial base on the other side of the moon. A few weeks later, Shara participates in a battle on the planet Sterdic IV alongside her alien friend L'ulo, then acts as Leia's pilot to Naboo. In the city of Theed, they help the queen in a fight to overtake some Imperial satellites that create severe weather that threatens the entire planet. Then in the final issue, Luke Skywalker gets Shara's help, with her dressed as an ISB agent, to retrieve something stolen by the Empire from the Jedi Temple on Coruscant.

One of the best things the Disney-owned Lucasfilm has done with the Star Wars franchise is to add more female characters, whose gender has been sorely underrepresented in the six films to date. Norra Wexley from Aftermath and Shara Bey from Shattered Empire both happen to be mothers, though that doesn't stop them from pulling off badass maneuvers in dogfights. Then there's Ciena Ree from Lost Stars, who may be on the side of the Empire but has a strength of will unmatched by many. The trade paperback of Shattered Empire includes the first issue of the Princess Leia comic, in which the rebellious royal is assisted by Evaan Verlaine, a fellow Alderaanian who is equally as admirable. Added to the fact that Daisy Ridley's character Rey appears to be the lead of The Force Awakens, the galaxy's gender imbalance may soon be less egregious.

I liked that this miniseries touched on the larger story of the Rebel Alliance's efforts to maintain their status after the Endor victory alongside the more personal story of Shara and her husband yearning to be done with the war and have a life at home. Any fan would do well to pick up this volume. Along with the aforementioned preview of Princess Leia, it also includes the first issue of Marvel's original comic adaptation of Star Wars, published July 1, 1977. The most interesting aspect of that is that it restores parts of the screenplay that didn't make it into the movie, like a deleted conversation between Luke and Biggs Darklighter about the latter joining the Rebellion, and Vader referring to the Force with the added adjective "Cosmic".

You may be interested to read this interview with the writer of Shattered Empire, Greg Rucka.

Star Wars: Aftermath by Chuck Wendig

As you might guess from the cover, Aftermath takes place soon after Return of the Jedi. The "quite operational" second Death Star has been destroyed with the Emperor and Lord Vader on board, but the fledgling New Republic still has Imperial loyalists to deal with. Being part of the new canon, this timeline will not continue with a Truce at Bakura.

I feel like part of the problem with this book is that hardly any of the characters from the movies are important players in this story. Wedge Antilles is held prisoner for most of it, and Han and Chewie only get a short cameo in an interlude. There are scenes that include Admiral Ackbar and Mon Mothma, but they barely affect anything. One would think that those primarily responsible for the end of the Empire would get more of the spotlight in events that directly follow. Instead, Aftermath takes place entirely on the planet of Akiva, not counting the scattered short-story-like interludes, and introduces an entirely new group of characters.

Young scavenger Temmin Wexley* and his mother Norra have been estranged ever since she joined the Rebellion and Temmin's father was arrested by the Empire. Norra happened to be the Y-Wing pilot who flew into the second Death Star, and now she wants to rescue Wedge Antilles from the Star Destroyer Vigilance when she hears his distress call. The Wexleys are joined by defected Imperial loyalty officer Sinjir Velus, and bounty hunter Jas Emari. The group learns that there is to be a meeting of top Imperials in Myrra, the capital of Akiva, and they plan to gain intel from it.

As far as antagonists, we have a gangster named Surat,  plus the usual assortment of generic Imperial officers, the most memorable being Admiral Rae Sloane. Sloane was created for the earlier novel A New Dawn by John Jackson Miller, so Wendig doesn't even get credit for making her well-rounded. Only Norra, Temmin, and Sinjir get adequate character development.

It put me off that the author chose to write in present tense, a technique which just doesn't fit a novel set "a long time ago." He also uses sentence fragments. Everywhere. For all descriptions. Creating many pauses. Got on my nerves. A lot.

This book is intended to be the start of a trilogy, so I'll give it the benefit of the doubt that it might seem better in retrospect, but despite a few fun characters, it didn't add up to much of consequence. And as for it being on the "Journey to The Force Awakens", I did not detect any meaningful connections to the new movie. The time after the Empire's fall should have more impactful stories involving familiar characters, and this book didn't scratch that itch.

*It has since come to light that Temmin is the character Greg Grunberg plays in The Force Awakens. Hey, now we know he won't die in the books!

Star Wars: Lost Stars by Claudia Gray

The Star Wars movies usually have sharp divisions between the good and evil sides of the warfare, but in Lost Stars, Claudia Gray presents relatable characters who both start out fighting for the Galactic Empire.

Ciena Ree and Thane Kyrell grew up together on the planet Jelucan, which is a recent addition to the Empire. They practice flying in tandem in Thane's ship and when they're old enough they enroll in the Imperial Academy. As the years pass, Thane becomes disillusioned with the Empire and joins the Rebel Alliance, while Ciena remains loyal to those who trained her.

Lost Stars spans a pretty long time period, from a few years after Revenge of the Sith to a year after Return of the Jedi. A short summary of the book might lead one to compare Ciena and Thane to Romeo and Juliet since they're lovers on opposite sides of a conflict, but a more accurate comparison might be to Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, since the pair are involved in major events just along the periphery of more well-known characters.

Ciena is aboard Darth Vader's flagship Devastator when Leia is captured above Tatooine, then she's on the Death Star when it destroys Alderaan. She is distraught about the massive loss of life but justifies it to herself as the Emperor's way of preventing further attacks. Back on the Devastator, she is assigned to pick up Darth Vader after he escaped the destruction of the Death Star. This rebel victory is seen by Ciena and other Imperials as an act of terrorism.

By now, Thane has deserted his post and returned to Jelucan. When Ciena finds him she decides to report that Thane committed suicide. The pair has realized they're in love, but their ideological differences make it impossible to pursue a relationship. During analysis of the Rebels tactics in the Battle of Hoth, Ciena recognizes a flight maneuver that could only be performed by her best friend, so she now knows he has joined the side of her enemies.

The author has an unenviable task when it comes to showing why someone like Ciena would continue to support the actions of the Empire after all she has witnessed. It seems to mostly be due to a long standing sense of loyalt, a feeling that she has come too far to abandon the other officers, and not knowing of a different way of life. I won't say she's a completely unsympathetic character, but it does become hard to root for someone who is ignorant when it comes to fundamentally questioning authority.

It does become a little contrived that these two keep barely surviving these massive battles in which either one could have shot down the other, and they happen to reunite multiple times after each assuming they would never see each other again. The coincidences can be chalked up to the machinations of the all-powerful Force, which Thane is pretty skeptical about, but of course in the Star Wars universe, the Force just as good an explanation as any. And their interactions are all told skillfully enough that you just want the couple to be on the same side and make it work, gosh darnit.

Now for a little bit of spoiler territory. As part of Del Rey's "Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens" line, this book contains self-proclaimed "clues" about the upcoming movie. I don't think anything important is given away but in case you want to go in to the theater totally clear of knowledge, skip the next paragraph.

The last few chapters deal with the Battle of Jakku, which takes place a year after the Battle of Endor. Ciena has become the commander of her own Star Destroyer called the Inflictor and Thane is in charge of taking the massive ship for the Alliance. When Thane's team disables the Inflictor's self-destruct, Ciena chooses to crash it into the surface of Jakku, hoping to simultaneously end her life and her time with the Empire. After a fight, Thane manages to get both of them to an escape pod, and the Star Destroyer is the very one that we have seen on the planet's surface in the trailers for The Force Awakens.
 
This book does a good job of presenting a new point of view on events that all Star Wars fans are familiar with, with the backbone being a tragic love story. It may be labeled as a young adult book but it is actually a pretty sophisticated story and even at over 500 pages it was a quick read. Focusing on two major characters with moral choices gives it some emotional weight, though a little more humor would have been welcome.

Star Wars: Darth Vader, Volume 1: Vader, by Kieron Gillen

The redundantly titled Star Wars: Darth Vader: Vader contains issues 1-6 of the first ongoing comic book starring everyone's favorite Sith Lord. It takes place right alongside the main Star Wars comics series so some of the events overlap with Skywalker Strikes.

In this volume we get a fresh look at the iconic villain, such as how he acts when nobody's looking, but that never dilutes how menacing he comes across. Since this is right after the destruction of the Death Star and the Cymoon 1 weapons factory, Vader gets scolded by Emperor Palpatine and later finds out that his master had been ready to replace him. We get to see more of his meeting with Jabba the Hutt from Skywalker Strikes and his hiring of bounty hunters Boba Fett and Black Krrsantan. In a plot point that is barely worth mentioning, Vader is assigned an adjutant who quickly betrays him and whom Vader kills for the trouble.

In the meat of the story, Lord Vader enlists a rogue archaeologist named Doctor Aphra (there is a sly wink to an Indiana Jones quote when Aphra is introduced) who has a ship called the Ark Angel. Aphra has just recovered the personality matrix of a protocol droid called 000 or "Triple Zero" who in turn activates an assassin droid disguised as an astromech, known as BT-1. He wants their help in order to steal a droid hive (?) from Geonosis to create his own private army of battle droids. In other words, in a development that a teenage boy would delight in, Vader now has his own murder-happy droid pair and Wookiee (Krrsantan) working for him, like the dark side versions of C-3P0, R2-D2, and Chewie.

The agent Cylo-IV is brought to Vader by Black Krrsantan and then tortured to death by Triple Zero, who learns the location of Cylo's base. This turns out to be where the Emperor has been secretly training and enhancing other apprentices, including a pair of lightsaber-weilding twins, apparently for the purpose of having Vader fight them all and prove his worth. Later, Boba Fett reports that he found the destroyer of the Death Star, but all he got was the boy's name: Skywalker. This gives Darth Vader a flashback to Revenge of the Sith (oh the humanity) and the memory of Padme being pregnant when he killed her, and he realizes he has a son.

I wasn't as impressed with this series as with Jason Aaron's writing in Skywalker Strikes. The problem with centering a series on Vader is he has to be provided more dialogue than we're used to, and sometimes these lines don't seem easy to imagine in James Earl Jones' voice. And some of the plotting seems kind of "ooh wouldn't this look cool" instead of "let's tell a thoughtful story". However it remains pleasing eye candy and the attempt at humanizing Vader is not entirely without merit.

Star Wars, Volume 1: Skywalker Strikes by Jason Aaron

This is the first volume of Star Wars comics published by Marvel in decades; when the franchise was rebooted last year, several ongoing series from Dark Horse were cancelled. Skywalker Strikes contains issues 1-6 of the flagship title and takes place soon after Luke Skywalker destroyed the first Death Star. Everyone's favorite farm boy is on a mission with Han Solo, Chewbacca, Princess Leia, and droids R2-D2 and C3PO. Right away this makes things feel less isolated than the events of Heir to the Jedi. They have a plan to destroy an Imperial weapons factory. Little do they know that Darth Vader happens to be there to thwart them. Later, Han and Leia seek refuge on a planet protected by an electric storm, and Luke feels himself called back to his home planet of Tatooine.

The danger of telling a story in between established movies is that we know that any characters who appear later are never in any mortal danger. None of those named above have any chance of dying, but Jason Aaron still toys with that expectation, effectively changing the question to "how did he survive that?" The writer is able to create situations that feel essential to the larger story, and yet it seems a little contrived when certain characters who rarely or never interacted on screen together come face to face on the page. Darth Vader has a meeting with Jabba the Hutt, and enlists Boba Fett to find the rebel who destroyed his prized superweapon. When Luke arrives at Obi-Wan Kenobi's house he confronts and battles with Fett. Meanwhile, there is also the introduction of Han Solo's heretofore unknown wife, Sana, who tortures a few of Greedo's Rodian pals to find her way to her husband. It remains to be seen whether this new character will serve the story well or feel out of place.

I must say the art in these panels is pretty great. The characters all resemble the actors and costumes that we're used to, and the opening text crawl and scenes set in space are given their cinematic space. It will be interesting to see what kind of stories this creative team comes up with that fit between the movies, and whether they can maintain this level of quality on a monthly basis.

We Don't Need Roads: The Making of the Back to the Future Trilogy by Caseen Gaines

As a big fan of the Back to the Future trilogy, I can hardly let October 2015 go by entirely without comment. I've been a fan of the movies ever since I got the first one on VHS from a McDonald's promotion in 1994, so I've been looking forward to this futuristic year for two decades. But I'm not going to write another list about what Part II got right or wrong about our present; there have been plenty of those already. Instead I read a book by a fan that was released earlier this year, the most comprehensive account of the famous film series written to date.

We Don't Need Roads is a relatively straightforward, chronological delineation of the inception, production and impact of the Future trilogy. Thanks to DVD commentaries, special features, and the Internet, there are not that many bits of information that have never been heard before, but the author's research and interviews add credence to these anecdotes. He remains unbiased about the events, allowing those involved to speak for themselves with numerous direct quotes.

The concept for Back to the Future was not immediately accepted by Universal Pictures. In the early 1980s there had been a few unsuccessful time travel films, and usually when a comedy starred a teenage protagonist it was raunchy like Porky's, not family-friendly like Future. Then executive producers Steven Spielberg, Frank Marshall, and Kathleen Kennedy came on board and convinced the studio it was worth funding. One amusing piece of trivia is that studio head Sid Sheinberg wanted to change the title because he thought it didn't make sense, but he denies the common allegation that his proposed title was "Spaceman from Pluto."

Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale had not intended to make a sequel when they shot the ending of the original movie, which was intended as a jokey "here we go again" type of conclusion. They struggled to come up with a continuation of that unintended cliffhanger, but soon the ideas of different time periods piled up so much that the script, with a working title of "Paradox," had to be split into two movies. The first obstacle was that Claudia Wells would not be able to reprise her role as Marty's girlfriend Jennifer due to her mother's sickness, so Elizabeth Shue filled in. Unfortunately Jennifer turned out to be more of a prop than a character but hey, no movie series is without flaws.

There are a few events that get special attention in Gaines' book. One is the replacement of Crispin Glover when he wanted a higher salary to appear in the sequels. Jeffrey Weissman was chosen to become the new George McFly because he was able to impersonate Glover's voice and mannerisms, but he never felt like he was a respected member of the cast. Lea Thompson in particular felt a loyalty to Glover so she seemed to resent that another actor was playing her on-screen husband. Then there was the matter of Glover suing the filmmakers for using his likeness without permission, and Weissman inadvertently provided fuel for that lawsuit when he spoke to Glover about his experiences on set.

Another noteworthy incident was the accident that caused a stuntwoman to be injured. It was during the scene of Part II in which Griff Tannen and his gang are tricked into flying head over heels into the plate glass of the 2015 clocktower. The stunt performers were supposed to be released from cables and fall on to an airbag behind the window, but Cherly Wheeler-Dixon's cable sent her into a pillar and on to concrete, breaking bones in her face and wrist. Without the resources to reshoot the sequence, the moment of impact appears in the finished film.

I could go on and on about the behind-the-scenes factoids this book discusses; let it suffice to say that if you are a fan of the Back to the Future trilogy or the process of filmmaking in general, it is well worth reading.

To find out more about the author or purchase his books, including ones about Pee-Wee's Playhouse and A Christmas Story, go to www.caseengaines.com/.

Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King

I have been a long time fan of Stephen King, who has earned a reputation as horror writer, but I think he's just as compelling when stepping outside of that genre. Mr. Mercedes is what King calls "his first hard-boiled detective book," being the story of a retired police detective who is taunted by a killer who got away with his crime.

Bill Hodges is deep in self loathing and considering using his father's revolver to end his life when he gets a creepy letter. The writer alleges to be behind a vehicular massacre that occurred a year earlier, mowing down a crowd waiting to get in to a job fair. The Mercedes-Benz used in the crime was stolen from a woman named Olivia Trelawney, driven to suicide from guilt when she became convinced that she left her keys in the car. Hodges falls in love with Olivia's daughter Janey while she helps him unravel the case, and a teenager named Jerome who lives in the neighborhood also provides some ahead-of-his-age wisdom.

The reader gets almost as much time in the mind of the retired detective as we do with Brady Hartsfield, who in the letter to Hodges refers to himself as the "perk" who ran down those unfortunate people. Brady, like Psycho's Norman Bates, is obsessed with his mother to an unhealthy degree, and gets headaches that signify his murderous urges. Brady works both in an ice cream truck and at an electronics store in the local mall, so he's the type of bad guy who hides in plain sight. Most of the suspense of this novel arises because we know from Brady's chapters exactly what he plans to do, and subsequently we see how Hodges is just a step behind.

This cat and mouse aspect keeps the story engaging, and the characters all have believable personalities. Brady has unwittingly given Hodges a reason to live instead of making the "fat ex-cop" end it all. Hodges and his companions make some human errors during their investigations, and Brady causes some deaths that he didn't intend but still delights in. King gives us plenty of reasons to hate Brady Hartfield, but a flashback gives him a little humanity as well. At the risk of giving too much away, I thought it was interesting that the two main characters never come face to face like you might expect.

The author says this book is the start of a trilogy, which surprised me because it's rare that Stephen King will write sequels, with the exceptions of The Dark Tower series and the recent (and disappointing) sequel to The Shining, Doctor Sleep. I enjoyed Mr. Mercedes, and I definitely look forward to reading the continuing adventures of Detective Hodges in Finder Keepers and the upcoming End of Watch.

For more about Stephen King, try stephenking.com.

The Martian (film), directed by Ridley Scott

As I said in my review of the book, I was very much looking forward to this adaptation. If you want a spoiler-free recommendation, I will say the film did not disappoint and will keep you on the edge of your seat the whole time.

For the rest of this space I'm going to discuss the differences between the book and the movie, so let that serve as your warning if you prefer surprises left intact.

First I'd like to address the elephant in the room: Yes, Matt Damon also played a stranded astronaut in Christopher Nolan's Interstellar, which also starred Jessica Chastain. So let's pretend The Martian is like Murph Cooper went back to rescue the unethical Dr. Mann! Oh, did I just digress into spoiling a whole other movie? Rest assured, Damon's character here is completely different from Mann and you won't be comparing this film to Interstellar while sitting in the theater.

The first difference from the book, I noticed in the very first scene. Andy Weir's book begins on Sol (solar day) 6, but Drew Goddard's screenplay has the fateful sandstorm occur on Sol 18. I couldn't think of a reason that this minor change was made

The next difference was made in the interest of keeping a PG-13. Due to the MPAA's arbitrary guidelines for strong language (that's a whole different blog post), it can vary how many uses of the F-word are allowed in a PG-13 movie. It would seem The Martian was allowed exactly two instances and used them up in the first five minutes. The rest of Mark Watney's moments of colorful language, given free reign in the book of course, were either censored in text with dashes, translated via other characters' euphemisms, and in one case silenced by the vacuum of Mars. I'm not going to say it was necessary to hear all the F-bombs, but the edits of them seemed all the more obvious and occasionally jarring, considering much of the dialogue was taken verbatim from the novel.

Some aspects of the adaptation process were absolutely necessary and welcome, such as making Watney's daily written logs into video logs, which is preferable in the visual medium of film. There were a few too many scenes of characters reading aloud while they typed or received messages, but this was justified by the other characters in the room needing to hear what the correspondence said. It was also a little awkward when NASA authorities were shown making important decisions very quickly without much deliberation, while in the book a few days were allowed to pass. There are also fewer obstacles encountered during Watney's journey from Acidalia Planitia to the Schiaparelli crater. In the book he encounters another sandstorm, a loss of communication with NASA, and a devastating tumble of his rover into the crater, which are not depicted on-screen. However it is understandable to do this for more economical storytelling so these were understandable sacrifices.

The largest changes come during the rescue sequence at the end of the story. In the book, Watney makes a joke about flying around like Iron Man by poking a hole in his spacesuit glove, while in the movie he actually carries out this plan. At the same time, the movie's Commander Lewis (Chastain) goes outside the Hermes to grab Watney herself, but in the book this is done by Dr. Beck. One aspect that gave me a laugh was that the whole crew comes to join Watney after he's pulled in; this must be a nod to the quote in the book in which Watney says: "If this were a movie, everyone would have been in the airlock, and there would have been high fives all around. But it didn't pan out that way."

The screen version also adds an epilogue after Watney is rescued, similar to something Weir says he had in the first draft of his book, and deleted when he decided it felt too artificial to introduce a time jump. However, in a movie it doesn't feel unnatural to see what each of the crew members did after they returned to Earth.

Overall, the movie stuck pretty close to the book, and those making it clearly put as much research into the scientific accuracy as Andy Weir did. The few tweaks made by the filmmakers can serve as an example of the right way to adapt a text to the screen. Both the book and the film are proof that science fiction can be intelligent and realistic, while remaining highly entertaining.

Insane City by Dave Barry

Usually when I choose a book to read, I have heard a little about it beforehand and I have a notion that I'm going to enjoy it. However, in the case of this one I chose it because I knew Dave Barry as a humorist and was curious about his fiction writing.

Insane City takes place during the weekend of Seth and Tina's destination wedding in Key Biscayne, Florida, near Miami. Seth is accompanied by his immature Groom Posse who inevitably convince him to drink irresponsibly during his bachelor party. This was all too reminiscent of the movie The Hangover, with the exception that the groom is the protagonist of Barry's hijinks rather than being relegated to a side character.

The debauchery at local bars leads Seth to be separated from his groomsmen and for the Groom Posse to be separated from their luggage and some of the clothes they were wearing. After smoking pot with his fiancee's sister, Seth saves a Haitian family in the ocean who we'd been introduced to in some earlier, humor-free chapters just so they wouldn't joining the narrative out of "nowhere." Seth sets up the refugee family in his hotel room along with a "stripper" his friends hired and her intimidating but lazy "boyfriend." (Really a prostitute and her pimp.)

Through a series of contrived circumstances, Tina's wedding ring ends up in the hands of an orangutan named Trevor, with Seth trying desperately to retrieve it. Meanwhile, Tina's rich father buys a couple of restaurants after getting high on pot brownies brought to the rehearsal dinner by Seth's mother. And Seth has a series of misadventures with a wannabe model who both think the orangutan is a gorilla.

I'm sorry to say that most of Barry's attempts at comedic situations felt predictable and his characters were all cliches. From the drug humor to the wedding shenanigans to the very presence of a primate, it all seems like things I've seen before and have no desire to ever read again.

The Martian by Andy Weir

Sometimes, a lot of scientific and mathematical details in a work of fiction would turn readers off. In Andy Weir's first novel The Martian, the more specifically the calculations are given, the more we feel the tension around his hero's survival.

Mark Watney has been left for dead on the surface of Mars. As he makes sure to explain, it was not the fault of his crewmates, it was just the bad luck of a severe dust storm that forced them to leave and an  impaling that was not as lethal as it looked. Fortunately, he is well equipped intellectually for survival as the crew's mechanical engineer and botanist. He is able to fix broken equipment and figure out a way to grow more potatoes from the limited supply he starts with. Unfortunately, Murphy's Law is in full effect; in other words he has a lot of problem solving to do in the harsh environment.

The novel starts out as the daily logs written by Watney, who has a dark sense of humor about his situation which makes it an even more fun read. After Watney eventually re-establishes contact using the Pathfinder rover, the perspective occasionally shifts to the NASA headquarters on Earth. Alternating between the first-person and third-person narratives gives us more than one side of the story, and Weir is careful not to repeat any exposition, keeping the plot moving forward.

The most admirable aspect of this book is the scientific research that went into it. It presents a plausible method of manned missions to Mars, in having the habitat, supplies, and Ascent Vehicle deposited on the surface by unmanned crafts before the astronauts arrive. Andy Weir has admitted to two major departures from real science in his story; one being that no actual Martian sandstorm would be as powerful as the one that serves as the caveat for Watney's stranding, and that radiation shielding would have to be be much more substantial than is implied. But these are forgivable oversights and the details about how much food, water, and oxygen Watney would need to survive all ring true.

Since this book rekindled my interest in space travel, I recently watched (or re-watched) a few movies in the genre. Apollo 13 was an especially notable influence on this book, which is summarized in this xkcd strip:

 There is even a reference to a bit of dialogue from Ron Howard's film when someone in The Martian is referred to as "a steely-eyed missile man". To say any more would spoil an exciting plot development.

Like the comic character, I'm excited to see the movie adaptation, as The Martian was one of my favorite books I've read this year. The situation is unique, the protagonist is relatable, and the climax is a breathless page-turner.

For more about the author and his book, check out his website.

Landline by Rainbow Rowell

Marriages aren't easy. Sometimes when the going gets rough, one may wonder whether they are meant to be with this person. After becoming well known for her novels for young adults, with Landline Rainbow Rowell examines a marriage at such a turning point.

Georgie McCool lives in Los Angeles with her husband Neal and their two daughters. For Christmas, they planned to go to Neal's childhood home in Omaha, Nebraska. But Georgie, a TV writer, has to stay in California to write for a new show, so Neal takes the girls himself. Georgie doesn't want to stay in their house alone so she decides to stay with her mother and 18-year-old sister. Georgie's mom keeps asking why Neal "left" her, and Georgie begins to believe her marriage is in trouble despite repeated verbal denial.

To make matters worse, Neal won't answer his cell phone, so Georgie uses her mother's landline to call Neal's mother's house. Neal answers, but something seems off; he doesn't mention their daughters and he speaks as if his father is alive despite the man dying three years prior. Eventually Georgie realizes that she is talking to her husband 15 years in the past, during a similar Christmas week before they got married. She makes excuses to herself at first, believing this to be a persistent hallucination, but comes to realize she may be able to affect her present by changing her past.

The mystery of the phone is a compelling through-line, but what will keep you reading Landline is the relationship between Georgie and Neal. We get flashbacks to how they met and the tension caused by Georgie's close friendship with her co-worker. She also worries that Neal resents living in Los Angeles since that was for her career and there's nothing there for him. This may seem like some heavy drama, but considering Georgie is a comedy writer and Neal used to draw a comic strip, there is plenty of levity to be found between them as well.

Landline is a good depiction of a realistically flawed marriage with an imaginative, thought-provoking fantasy element. Most people have imagined the possibility of going back to correct past mistakes, but usually it's better to learn from them since that's the better way to use our time.

For more information about this book or the author, visit Rowell's website.

Born with Teeth by Kate Mulgrew

Kate Mulgrew is perhaps best known as Star Trek's first female captain and I really enjoy watching Star Trek Voyager so I made a point to put this on in my reading queue. A lot of things impressed me about it; perhaps most is that she wrote it herself and that it is well written; it reminded me of Arthur Golden's style in Memoirs of a Geisha. And I identified with her because she emphasizes “the work” (for her, acting) to make it through the most difficult times in life. That really resonated with me and my life.

I learned things about Ms. Mulgrew's like that she gave a child up for adoption when she was 22. That series of passages, the pregnancy written into the soap opera she was on and the part when she glimpsed her child in the bassinet, were powerful. I felt a lot of empathy for Ms. Mulgrew and I credit that to her writing. The same holds for her chapters detailing her adventures with her two sons. I like that although work is important to Ms. Mulgrew, family is also very important to her. And I like how well that was communicated in her memoir.

If you are looking for a tell-all about Star Trek Voyager, you'll be disappointed. Likewise if you are looking for insight into Orange is the New Black, her memoir stops before getting there. She actually stops before Voyager concluded. That being said, it is still a really engaging and interesting book and I think you ought to read it.

Visit Kate Mulgrew's site for more information about the author and how to purchase her book(s).

Gumption: Relighting the Torch of Freedom with America's Gutsiest Troublemakers by Nick Offerman

For his second book, Nick Offerman wanted to bring attention to some of his favorite Americans, some of whom have been long dead and others he has had the enormous pleasure of meeting in person. In Gumption, each chapter is dedicated to one of these individuals, giving a brief biography of where they came from and what they're known for, followed by Offerman's personal reflections on the person's significance and how their ideas can make our country better.

The first section, "Freemasons," brings up founding fathers George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and James Madison, as well as slave-turned-orator Frederick Douglass. The second part is titled "Idealists" and runs the gamut from two separate Roosevelts, to a few great authors. Then the third section, "Makers," has the widest scope, from woodworkers to entertainers. The book is sprinkled with several mentions of Offerman's show Parks and Recreation and his wife Megan Mullally but this doesn't overshadow his point. He also uses humor to make the pill of biographical insight go down easier, though the repeated joke in the Jeff Tweedy chapter that the singer is his husband, is one bit that falls flat.

Even as a fan of Offerman and his writing style, I struggled to get into this book at first, as historical figures aren't usually something I find fun to read about. When he profiles Thomas Lie-Nielsen (owner of a tool company), Nat Benjamin (maker of wooden boats), and woodworker George Nakashima, I couldn't help feeling that Nick was being self-indulgent (he actually admits that one of the reasons for writing this book was to meet some of his heroes), and to be honest I largely skimmed those chapters.

In contrast, his words about Wendell Berry, Michael Pollan and George Saunders made me decide to seek out the books written by those fine gentlemen. One may find themselves with a newly evolved opinion of Yoko Ono, and a realization that Willie Nelson has more to him than his love of marijuana. I also learned about a few notable Americans I'd never heard of, like the Central Park designer Frederick Law Olmstead, and Laurie Anderson, a performance artist with an incredible array of talents.

I think this book turned out exactly as Offerman intended it, even if it does fall a bit outside mainstream interests, and for that I admire his gumption. He clearly feels strongly about the issues he raises and that these people deserve recognition, and with that I agree. However, I think implying via the title that all of them are "gutsy troublemakers" is a bit misleading. They are simply Americans who each did something worthwhile, and were modest about their accomplishments.

Except Conan O'Brien, that blowhard.


For more information about Nick Offerman, his books, or his woodshop, visit offermanwoodshop.com.

The Master Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg

Two years after the events of The Glass Magician, Ceony Twill is ready to take her magician's exam. Things are going well for her: she can switch materials at will, Folding's a cinch, and you get the impression early on that Emery Thane is going to marry her. Enter conflict: the Excisioner, Saraj Prendi, escapes from prison! Then, because of her relationship with Thane, she is reassigned to another Folder for her exam (Pritwin Bailey, who appeared briefly in The Paper Magician as a memory in Thane's heart).

This book was a good conclusion to the trilogy but as a standalone novel, it lacked depth. I find most of the characters one dimensional. In this novel, we meet Pritwin Bailey and his apprentice, Bennet Cooper. Pritwin is a grumpy perfectionist who is not satisfied with Ceony because she does not give him her undivided attention (which, as an actual Folder, shouldn't she?) but we never get into why or anything else about him. And where Prit is unfriendly, Bennet is so friendly that Ceony assumes he's in love with her (and I'm not sure he is) and he does not develop further.

I still really like the world and the mechanics that Ms. Holmberg has created but I think her characters are a bit underdeveloped. Sometimes they seem more like props than actual people. In the previous novels, where you can be distracted by the mechanics of Paper or Glass magic, this one focuses on Ceony's ability to change mediums which, I'm sorry to say, isn't that interesting. And then after everything's all nice and tidy, she ends on a (albeit weak) cliffhanger! It was disappointing. I hope she writes more novels in this world.

Visit Charlie N. Holmberg's site for more information about the author and how to purchase her book(s).

Funny Girl by Nick Hornby

Several of Nick Hornby's books have been adapted into movies (High Fidelity, About a Boy, A Long Way Down, and Fever Pitch), and he's written a few screenplays himself. Funny Girl (no relation to the Streisand musical) is his first novel to not take place in the modern age, deals with the act of writing itself, and in my opinion would make a good film.

In the mid-1960s, Barbara Parker wins the beauty pageant in her hometown of Blackpool, England, but would rather be known for her sense of humor over her looks. She takes off for London with the goal of being a comedic actress like her idol, Lucille Ball. Her agent encourages her to change her name, and they settle on Sophie Straw. She soon gets an audition for an episode of BBC's Comedy Playhouse, which has long been a springboard for full-series orders of sitcoms.

When the writers of the episode, Tony and Bill, ask Sophie what she really thinks about their script Wedded Bliss?, she prompts them to throw the whole thing out, and on the spot they decide to write a new version based around her. Ironically, they decide the female character should now be named Barbara and hail from Blackpool. Then they change the name of the show to Barbara (and Jim), the parentheses (or "brackets" in Brit-speak) indicating the dominance of Sophie's character over her husband, which does not please her vain co-star, Clive.

Barbara (and Jim) becomes successful enough to run for four 16-episode series (seasons). The lives of the writers and stars are used for inspiration for the show's plots. Sophie and Clive begin a relationship and eventually become engaged. Tony is in an uncomfortable marriage until he has a baby with his wife around the same time that Barbara and Jim have one in the show. Co-writer Bill is a closeted homosexual who writes a novel based on his outsider status, and producer Dennis gets a divorce and realizes he's in love with Sophie. There is some intersection with real events, like when Lucille Ball is shooting Lucy in London, Sophie gets an underwhelming conversation with her idol.

The last couple chapters jump forward to present day, but I won't say any more since you should discover the circumstances for yourself. Funny Girl is a purely entertaining book that explores whether entertainment itself should have a deeper purpose, or if it's "enough" to be writing something that people enjoy.

Penn & Teller on Broadway

I've admired magicians Penn and Teller for a number of years, from their appearances on talk shows, their own TV shows, and movies they produced, so I had always wanted to see them in their natural environment, at the theater named after them in Las Vegas. A few months ago I noticed they'd be doing a limited run on Broadway, and figured, "That's a much shorter distance to travel and will be unique from the Vegas show." As of August 16, P&T have left the Marquis Theater, so this review is written for posterity rather than a recommendation for something you can seek out.

Penn Jillette (the one who does all the speaking) explained that this show became a de facto celebration of the duo having performed together for 40 years, starting in August of 1975. Penn saw Teller performing a needle-and-thread-swallowing trick (which he performed for the Broadway audience of course) and immediately decided he had to work with this silent sleight-of-hand master. Penn and Teller share a disdain for those who profit from lying and fooling the vulnerable, and when performing magic the pair will always remind the audience that almost nothing they see is as it seems. I had seen a few of the tricks during their many television appearances, but seeing the illusions live in a theater is comparable to the difference between listening to an MP3 and going to a concert. Even when I know what they're about to do, hell if I know how they do it.

At the risk of giving away the game, I'd like to give a specific example. Liz and I arrived late to the show (due to poor planning on my part). As we were seated, Penn and Teller were in the middle of a trick where they make an audience member's phone appear inside a dead fish, within a box, in the back of the auditorium. I had just seen this trick on their CW show Penn & Teller: Fool Us, so I told Liz we could watch that part on Hulu to see the part of the routine we missed. Now, I had been certain that Teller was palming the phone and then pulling it out when he cut open the fish, but when we watched closely on the TV show, the plastic in which the phone was contained can be seen peeking out from the fish guts, so... there must be some other method used. These guys keep one guessing.

My favorite routine involved a man being chosen from his seat to use a camcorder on stage, the feed from which was shown on a large overhead screen. This was allegedly to demonstrate why Penn and Teller choose not to use displays throughout their act, saying they distract from what is actually happening on stage. Indeed, they made the trick occur very differently on the screen from what was seen on stage, and I'm pretty sure this could not have been replicated on a TV show. And even though Teller warned us (via written signs) that the trick we thought they were doing was not what they were really doing, the outcome was incredibly surprising.

Penn & Teller do the classic magic tricks like pulling a rabbit out a hat and sawing a woman in half, but with their patented style. They also have tricks involving items as diverse as a metal detector, joke books, and a length of polyester fabric, that I've never seen any other illusionist do. Their sense of humor and skepticism is unmatched in their field, and here's hoping they keep it up for decades to come.

Fresh off the Boat by Eddie Huang

ABC's Fresh off the Boat is the first show about an Asian American family since Margaret Cho's All-American Girl from the mid-90s. The earlier show gets a nod when the Huang family is watching it in their season finale. Overall, Fresh is a cleverly funny show that deals with the struggles of the Huang family to fit in with American culture. However, being on a broadcast network like ABC prevents it from being as direct and biting as Eddie Huang's memoir of the same name.

Huang himself narrates each episode, a tactic comparable to The Wonder Years but maybe closer in tone to Everybody Hates Chris, for which Chris Rock narrated stories based on his own childhood. Eddie Huang is a unique personality, proclaiming himself a "rotten banana" because of the way he relates to hip-hop music and black culture. He always felt ostracized in school for being Asian and for eating "stinky" Chinese food for lunch, and ever since hearing Dr. Dre's album The Chronic, he has felt affinity for the struggles expressed in rap. Huang never shies from discussing racism and stereotypes; after all, his title is a phrase commonly used derogatorily toward immigrants.

The TV series focuses on Eddie at the age of 12, when he and his family have just moved from DC's Chinatown to Orlando, Florida, when his father Louis wanted to open a restaurant. Of course the book has a much longer view of his life, reaching to the present day when Eddie opened his own eatery. What the show captures well from the book is Eddie's preoccupation with being cool, from getting the latest music and shoes (Jordans) to wanting his mother to pack more American food for his lunches. But of course the series, being an ongoing sitcom, has to flesh out the rest of the family and include more humor, which is where it strays from Eddie's real life/memoir.

In Fresh off the Boat the book, there are details like the physical abuse Eddie sustained from his father, which will certainly never be depicted on ABC. I cannot see the network allowing a "very special episode" involving Randall Park's Louis beating his son, on a show that is mainly focused on comedy, as much as Eddie Huang may want to see that topic addressed.* It is readily apparent that the show was created by the same woman who helmed the off-the-wall Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23.

This is another book that I feel benefits from hearing the audiobook, read by the author, if you can get your hands on it. Since the slang-and-metaphor-heavy prose is very much written in Eddie's "voice", hearing his actual voice helps to understand his intended meaning, as well as getting the proper pronunciations for the sprinklings of Chinese. Although he dabbled in standup comedy, it's clear that he was always meant to become a chef, since his strongest memories are tied to food, and his descriptions of meals are as evocative as any Michael Pollan book. His is a unique and compelling point of view, and even if the show waters down the events of his life, it's worth watching for a perspective that is underrepresented by the media as a whole.

To buy the book, related merchandise, or to learn more about Eddie Huang himself, check out the website for his Manhattan restaurant BaoHaus.

*Eddie Huang Gives 'Fresh Off the Boat' a "B"; Pushes for Domestic Violence Arc

Go Set A Watchman by Harper Lee

Harper Lee published To Kill a Mockingbird in 1960 and I do not think she expected (or even hoped for) the amount of attention the book has received. It won the Pulitzer Prize and has become a classic of modern American literature. The author herself is an enigma: she does not make public appearances nor communicate with fans and has stated she will not publish another book. So it seemed weird when her lawyer, Tonja B. Carter, discovered a manuscript in the safety deposit box and Lee consented to publish it.

Go Set a Watchman reads like it was not given a professional edit which, given the circumstances, makes sense. I don't mean to suggest it is full of typos and such, but it does lack the polished tone found in Mockingbird. The novel follows Scout, now an adult living in New York and going by her given name Jean Louise, visiting Maycomb and being shocked by all that has changed. I think it reads like a logical sequel; Scout now sees through adult eyes what she thought she understood as a child and the reality disturbs her. That being said, if Watchman had come first I don't think we would be discussing it in English classes across the country. I don't think people would re-read it as often as they do Mockingbird. I don't think Monroeville would have Watchman-themed everything and be thriving on tourism like it is with Mockingbird.

My verdict is: do not go out of your way to read it. And my main reason? Because I still do not believe that Harper Lee ever intended that book to be published, in her lifetime or posthumously. I think, like a lot of people out there, that Tonja B. Carter is taking advantage of her elderly, famous client. When she dies, it will be interesting to see what happens to her estate.

Daredevil Volume 3 by Mark Waid

For my post about Volume 1, click here, and for Volume 2, click here.

Daredevil Volume 3 contains material originally published in comic book form as Daredevil #22-36 and Indestructible Hulk #9-10.

We pick up with Spider-Man confronting Daredevil about his erratic behavior, but regular comics readers at the time knew that this wasn't the Peter Parker that Murdock had dealt with before. At that time, Doctor Octopus was inhabiting the mind of Parker and trying to be a "Superior Spider-Man".

The most dramatic part of this volume is that Foggy Nelson is diagnosed with cancer, and Matt continually visits his friend in the hospital while continuing to fight crime as Daredevil and just barely keeping the law office afloat. Foggy asks former DA Kirstin McDuffie to pick up the slack, much to Matt's chagrin.

Nate Hackett, a former bully from Daredevil's childhood (in fact, the boy that sarcastically gave him his nickname) shows up at the law office, and explains he's been accused of a crime associated with the Sons of the Serpent, a group of white supremacists. Nate did not know about the organization's racist agenda and says he was framed; Matt reluctantly takes the case when he can tell Nate is telling the truth due to his steady heartbeat.

In trial, it turns out the judge is a member of the Sons of the Serpent, who have managed to infiltrate many positions of power in New York City. When encountering this plot twist, I couldn't help but be reminded of how the members of Hydra had hidden among S.H.I.E.L.D. in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The Sons had been making a villain called The Jester manipulate the media, with the goal causing race wars among citizens. Ultimately, Kirstin and Matt manage to send out a broadcast to reveal the evil scheme, but in the process Matt has to confirm to the city that he is Daredevil, and the authorities have no choice but to disbar him.

The last two issues of this volume are from the Indestructible Hulk series. At this point, Bruce Banner had made a deal with S.H.I.E.L.D. that they could use the Hulk on dangerous missions for as long as they provide Banner with all the scientific equipment he needs. Matt Murdock enters the story because he is one person that Banner trusts enough that Murdock can talk down the Hulk if need be. They find a sound wave weapon that is especially damaging to Daredevil's enhanced sense of hearing. This tangential plot must take place before Matt left New York City.

This volume was the last arc before Daredevil moved to San Francisco, which rumor has it he will eventually do in the Netflix series. Mark Waid has had the longest continual run as a writer for Daredevil comics, and his reign is set to end soon.  I enjoyed Waid's take on the character, which moved away from the dark and gritty aspects and had more fantastic elements to the stories, but stayed true to Matt Murdock's personality, and of course the conceit that Daredevil never gets an even break.

Down the Rabbit Hole by Holly Madison

Down the Rabbit Hole: Curious Adventures and Cautionary Tales of a Former Playboy Bunny (a mouthful, am I right?) is the memoir of former #1 Hugh Hefner girlfriend and one of the three stars of The Girls Next Door, Holly Madison. You may have heard of it because Kendra Wilkinson-Baskett, Cooper Hefner, and Hugh Hefner have all publicly refuted the claims in it. I was interested in this memoir because I watched The Girls Next Door in 2006-8 and I remember liking Holly.

About 40% of the way into the book, you start to see why Kendra spoke out against the memoir. Holly says Kendra's "memory is just super rusty" where in Sliding into Home she says Hefner offered her a room key before sleeping with him; Holly claims that never happens. The tone of Kendra's memoir is more playful and appreciative of what she was able to get out of being a girlfriend; Holly describes her experience like she was serving a prison sentence. Toward the end of Down the Rabbit Hole, after anecdotes that are pretty one-sided, Holly claims she does not understand why Kendra ended their friendship. Toward the end of Sliding into Home, Kendra is proud of the friendship that she maintained with both Holly and Bridget. I predict Kendra will release a third memoir that will address, in her opinion, Holly's "super rusty" memory.

I expected Holly to be tough on Hefner and she does not pull any punches; the standard sex scene described in both Holly and Kendra's books is the least of the negativity. I was surprised when I got to her ex-boyfriend, Criss Angel, whom she says used her for her Playboy fame to distract from the abysmal ratings his show was receiving and that he was abusive toward her. I don't remember that making headlines, but I admit I stopped following after The Girls Next Door wrapped. She does not mention dating Jack Barakat and barely mentions Pasquale Rotella, instead focusing on their daughter, Rainbow.

Holly is also critical of Crystal Harris (Hefner's third wife). Holly says Crystal acted jealous (translation: like a bitch) towards her because she was afraid that Holly was trying to get her place back as #1 girlfriend. Holly says these feelings were unfounded. Her description of Crystal's behavior reminded me of The Girls Next Door episode where Barbi Benton comes to visit and Holly seems to experience feelings of being threatened.

Holly and her collaborator, Leslie Bruce, did a good job crafting a compelling narrative. The "Hefner is trying to destroy me" and "Playboy is screwing me out of what I deserve" and "I let this happen because of what Hefner did to me" gets a little old but it is still an interesting read. If you are a fan of The Girls Next Door or Holly's World or just Playboy in general, you will likely enjoy what amounts to a gossip rag about life at the Playboy mansion and after.

Visit Holly Madison's Amazon page for more information about the author and how to purchase her books. And a bonus: check out what Izabella St. James, author of Bunny Tales: Behind Closed Doors at the Playboy Mansion (2006), had to say in response to Holly's claims: Daily Mail exclusive.

Daredevil Volume 2 by Mark Waid

For my rundown of Volume 1, click here.

Daredevil Volume 2 is a collection of Daredevil #11-21 and Avenging Spider-Man #6, and Punisher #10.

We start with Daredevil teaming up with Spider-Man and the Punisher in a scheme to get back the Omegadrive, and then take down all the megacrime organizations who were after the information. The Punisher has a new female sidekick with a similar loss-of-family origin, and she betrays the group by shooting Daredevil and stealing the drive herself. But they turn out to be rubber bullets and she is convinced to rejoin the cause for the greater good. It was interesting to see Daredevil's reluctant interactions with the Punisher, since it was announced that Jon Bernthal will play Frank Castle in the second season of Marvel's Daredevil.

Later, Daredevil finds himself kidnapped and put in a cramped glass cell in Doctor Doom's headquarters in Latveria as revenge for depriving the villain of the Omegadrive. Doom doses him with a nano-bot-infused gas that takes away all of Daredevil's senses one by one, and it takes Hank Pym shrinking down for some up close brain surgery to rid Murdock of the machinery.

Matt's friends and colleagues Foggy Nelson and Kirsten McDuffie begin to distrust his sanity and soon enough Daredevil is doubting himself as well. Foggy finds the remains of Jack Murdock in Matt's desk drawer, and Matt denies any involvement, leading to a split between the law partners. This turns out to be part of a supervillian plot, but even after Foggy starts to believe in his friend, Kirsten decides to have Spider-Man keep an eye on him, which is where readers are left hanging.

Stay tuned to this blog for my description of Volume 3, true believers!

Clariel by Garth Nix

I have read all the Old Kingdom books: Sabriel, Lirael (which I still like best of the four), Abhorsen, and now Clariel, the latest installment in the series. The eponymous 16-year-old is related both to the Abhorsen and to the King and has just been moved to the city of Belisaere despite preferring the quiet life in the forests of Estwael. Upon arriving she is immediately thrust into the politics between the existing kingdom and new ruling guilds. And she does not seem interested in any relationships, friendly or otherwise.

It has already been said, and I am going to agree, that Clariel is the weakest of the Old Kingdom books. I think that has to do with just how great Sabriel, Lirael, and Abhorsen are as novels. What held my interest was the promise of the origin story of Chlorr of the Mask, a minor antagonist from Lirael and Abhorsen, but it did not deliver a complete origin story so I am more disappointed with it than I think I would have been going into the series cold.

Clariel is not particularly likable as a textbook adolescent. We meet her as she is moved from the forest of Estwael that she loves to the capital city of Belisaere where she is expected to attend classes to increase her marriageability. When taught Charter magic, she has no interest and so we miss something that was fun about Sabriel and Lirael in the other books. Nix replaces it with Clariel's education in berserk, an affliction that causes her to go into a fury (like Touchstone from the first trilogy), which was interesting but did not have as much lore attached to it.

I admit I didn't like it because it did not meet my high expectations and that doesn't mean it's not a good read anyway. But as a fan of the series, I didn't like it. That being said, I still plan to read more Old Kingdom books as they come. I think I'll wish for a book about Belatiel or Maderael/Ader after he finishes the Adventures of Nicholas Sayre and Lirael (what I'm calling it until the title is released). I think it is unlikely we'll get a book about Mogget/Yrael given that part of the fun is his mystery.

Visit Garth Nix's website for more information about the author and how to purchase his books.

Daredevil Vol. 1 by Mark Waid

Like a lot of people, I was pleased with the quality of Marvel's Daredevil series on Netflix. It was a gritty and violent entry into the usually bright and sunny Marvel Cinematic Universe. If you still haven't gotten around to it, don't worry, I won't be spoiling the show here. Instead I'm taking a look at some recent comics featuring everyone's favorite blind lawyer/vigilante.

This Volume 1 of Daredevil, written by Mark Waid, contains Daredevil issues  #1-10 and #10.1, and in the middle there's Amazing Spider-Man #677 because Matt Murdock teamed up with Spidey for a bit, which I'll come back to. Jumping right in, this run has almost nothing in common with the Netflix series. It was Waid's intention to move away from the dark and gritty tone started by Frank Miller, and this Murdock is so cheerful that it gets on the nerves of his longtime friend Foggy Nelson.

Here Daredevil battles less realistic foes than he had in decades, like one who can create portals for himself, one made out of sound waves, and Mole Man (the first enemy the Fantastic Four ever faced). Though despite the supernatural turn that the world has taken, there remains a dark underbelly to the adventure; The Spot breaks someone's neck after appearing from his chest, and the Mole Man's self-imposed mission is to steal caskets until he finds his deceased lover.

The main story arc involves an "Omegadrive" that is coveted by five different crime organizations, including AIM, Hydra, and Black Spectre. Murdock gets his hands on it and has all the leverage as the criminals fight amongst themselves. Black Spectre hires Black Cat to steal the Omegadrive from Murdock which is how Spider-Man gets involved. I appreciated that there was a continuing story element throughout this volume, except a harrowing sidestory in which Daredevil has to save schoolchildren after a bus crash.

This was not what I expected from Daredevil comics after experiencing some of Frank Miller's 80s run, but I enjoyed it and I look forward to checking out Volume 2.

Lamb by Christopher Moore

I decided to read this book for two reasons: (1) I tend to like a story told from a different perspective (like John Gardner's Grendel and Philippa Gregory's The Other Boleyn Girl) and this one is humorously told by Jesus' childhood friend who saw him as a man, not as a savior (author's notes). In other words, I like the narrator. And (2) it answers a question from one of my favorite movies, Dogma: "Jesus suddenly goes from age twelve to thirty ... Where are the volumes of text dealing with the missing eighteen years?"

I enjoyed this book. It reads, not surprisingly, like a memoir: the narrator (Levi bar Alphaeus who is called Biff) alternates between talking generally about what is happening (either in the present writing or in the past reflecting on or introducing a scene) or the actual happening. I found that the material handled really well; and it helps that Moore does not attack or question Christianity as a religion or Christ, he's just telling a story. I think that (making it seem like this could've really happened in this way) makes the story the most compelling.

I think with books that I don't like, or don't like as much, I have way more to say but with this book I'm pretty much done talking. I liked it and I think if the subject matter interests you and you have the time, you should read it.

Visit Christopher Moore's website for more information about the author and how to purchase his books.

Have Space Suit—Will Travel by Robert A. Heinlein

I picked up the audiobook of Have Space Suit—Will Travel because it was a familiar title and I've always intended to read something by Heinlein. I didn't realize until I started it that it was a Young Adult novel, but it was still an enjoyable listen, performed by a full cast and including music and a few sound effects.

The story is narrated by a high school senior/recent graduate named Kip Russell. Kip enters a contest with the intention of winning a trip to the moon, but ends up with the runner-up prize of a genuine space suit. It's not in very good condition but he manages to get it fixed. While taking the suit for a walk outside his house, he messes around with the radio,  pretending to communicate with the callsign "Peewee." Much to Kip's surprise, a girl genius named Peewee had been listening and lands her flying saucer nearly on top of him. Along with a diminutive but maternal alien that Peewee named "the Mother thing," the young protagonists end up on the Moon, then on Pluto, and later on the Mother thing's home planet, repeatedly encountering and escaping from aliens they dub Wormfaces along the way.

One remarkable thing about Have Space Suit—Will Travel is the amount of research Heinlein put in to his descriptions of how the titular space suit helps Kip survive, considering he wrote this novel more than a decade before man actually set foot on the Moon. There are also fairly accurate calculations of distances between planets and how long it would take to reach them. The first couple chapters before Kip gets the space suit made me expect the whole work to be an amusing jaunt, but despite the implausibility of some of the scenarios, the moments when Kip and Peewee have to survive the harshness of space with limited air and water felt suspenseful and realistic.

This book is a little dated by today's sci-fi standards and wasn't intended to be as thought-provoking as some of Heinlein's other work, but it makes for a fun ride.

You can learn more about the author at the website for The Heinlein Society.

The Not So Secret Emails Of Coco Pinchard by Robert Bryndza

This book was brought to my attention by BookBub (deal expired).

There are two reasons why I downloaded this book without giving it much thought: first, it was free, and second, it is made up entirely of emails and I wanted to see what that looked like. The style is jarring at first but after a while, I got used to it. Each chapter is a month of emails from her Sent items, many of which to one or both of her longtime friends Chris and Marika. The familiarity between Coco and her recipients made it difficult at first but after a while, I found the characters familiar and followed easier.

We meet up with Coco at Christmas in London after she has published her first book, Chasing Diana Spencer. She is celebrating with her husband, Daniel, her college-age son, Rosencrantz, her mother-in-law, Ethel, her sister-in-law, Meryl, and Meryl's husband Tony. Coco does not keep up the pretense that her life is perfect and we witness as it unravels. First, Coco catches Daniel cheating on her in the bed that they share and they divorce. Then Coco's literary agent drops her as her publisher decides to recall and pulp her novel. So in a couple of strokes, Mr. Bryndza has stripped Ms. Pinchard of her career and her relationship. She goes through a depression, but as with all "feel good romantic comedies" when a door closes, a window opens, and Coco finds a new normal.

Honestly, I'm not sure what I expected in how the emails would look like but I found myself surprised at their format. You get a date/time, an email address, and the body of the message. Also, as I mentioned before, you have to get through several emails before you get into the groove of the characters because you are effectively peeking into someone's Sent items and they aren't assuming you don't know these people in their life. The other thing I found strange (in that I don't expect anyone writes emails like this) is that Coco tends to start describing a scene and then writes out the dialogue like a normal novel which makes it not feel like an email anymore.

That being said, I liked this book. Coco is endearing and as I read, I was rooting for her. She made the classic mistakes when someone has been betrayed, rejected, and humiliated and while I found myself wanting to shake her out of it, she worked it out and came out on the other side better for the experience. It is the first in a set of three, with a promise of more on the author's website. I don't have plans to read anymore in the series in the near future (I have too many other things I want to read) so that leaves them in my list in the distant future.

Visit Robert Bryndza's website for more information about the author and how to purchase his books.

Yes Please by Amy Poehler

Amy Poehler is always in good company when associated with Tina Fey from their work on SNL, or with Nick Offerman from co-starring on Parks and Recreation. Now she has written a book that rivals Fey's Bossypants and  Offerman's Paddle Your Own Canoe for being one of the most entertaining memoirs I can recall reading.

Poehler begins Yes Please by complaining how hard it was to write a book, so she must be annoyed that Offerman wrote two (the second of which I'll read soon) in the time it took her to write this one. There's a chapter written by Seth Meyers, ostensibly to give Amy a break from writing, and passages by her parents recounting the day she was born. Then the chapter about working on Parks and Recreation has notes written by the show's co-creator, Michael Schur. All of these guest writers and more appear in the audiobook version, which I recommend just as highly as the hardcover. There's a running gag that it was recorded in a sound booth that Amy built herself inside Mount Rushmore.

Yes Please is mostly about Poehler's life, with some jokey essays and haikus sprinkled in. An interesting aspect of the print version (which makes it impossible for me to say "only listen to the audiobook") is the reproductions of real documents: things she wrote as a child, a presumably real report card, photographs, even a letter that Hillary Clinton wrote to Poehler's son Archie right after he was born. Most chapters include humor, but occasionally Poehler gets very personal, such as with the repercussions of an SNL sketch that offended Chris Cooper and his wife, to whom Poehler personally apologized. Near the end of the book, she describes the surrealism of balancing a humanitarian trip to Haiti with the planning of jokes for the Golden Globes via email.

This book may have been a struggle to write, but it was worth every bead of sweat. It turned out as truthful and funny as Poehler hoped.

Visit #AmySaysYesPlease for how to purchase and to participate in her social media campaign.

Tent City by Kelly Van Hull

This book was brought to my attention by BookBub (deal expired).

Dani Campbell lives in the South Dakota of a United States that is barely hanging on after locusts caused famine. The book opens with Dani's family learning that the Military-now-Council plans to remove children from their homes. To avoid being taken to an undisclosed location and fate, Dani's father decides that the 17-year-old and her 5-year-old brother, Brody, will escape to their family's cabin in the woods. But when they arrive, it is occupied by run away kids and Dani has to figure out how to manage with the squatters.

So let's rip the bandaid off: I did not like this book. It is written in first person, which I usually like, but I did not like the protagonist and narrator, Dani: she comes off as unreliable as she jumps between past and present tense. I think Kelly Van Hull opted for first person to protect the reader from learning things before she was ready to reveal them. I think this could have done more effectively using a third-person limited narrator. To me, Dani does not come off as the heroine but rather someone who is just along for the ride. She was supposed to be caring for her brother but seemed to more often abandon him in the care of her friend, Kit, who is not a developed character. I hope in the sequels Dani takes an active role in driving the plot.

I think part of my disappointment with the novel is that I really wanted to like it: the plot is right up my alley. I think the series has potential but I don't currently have plans to read any of the sequels. However, that could change because the twist at the end made me think of the gang in Willow protecting Elora Danan and I love that movie.

Visit Kelly Van Hull's website for more information about the author and how to purchase her books.