|
|
By Sean Clark, on September 30th, 2009 Presenting September’s remaining reviews in zen-ish haiku.
.
time treated in spans
introduce girls by their breasts
it has its moments
.
stories = eclectic
impressive narration range
smartest book this month?
.
nor vamp sleuth tale
does the title say it all?
hard-boiled and fun
.
mystery/memoir
technically neither
just may stick with you
.
by Swedish Dan Brown
doesn’t meet the hype. at best:
comprehensible
.
By Nico Vreeland, on September 28th, 2009  Author: Stieg Larsson
Translated by: Reg Keeland
Knopf, 2009
Filed under: Mystery
| C4 Ratings.....out of |
10 |
| Language..... |
4 |
| Entertainment..... |
6 |
| Depth..... |
3 |
[Spoiler warning: The premise of this novel and this review of it rely on a few minor plot points from Larsson's previous book, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. If you're planning to read Dragon Tattoo, think twice about reading this review. If you've already read it, or you want to skip to Played with Fire, then go right ahead.]
When I read Larsson’s first novel in this series, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, I found it to be a riveting 200-page thriller… wrapped in an extra 250 pages of setup, exposition, and boredom.
The opening of Played with Fire has much more promise. Larsson doesn’t spend as much time setting up his characters in this installment, and instead he gives us a couple of hooks to pull the narrative forward while he lays the foundation for a new plot. Lisbeth Salander (Larsson’s tough-as-nails, pint-sized hacker heroine) is being pursued by the sadistic rapist whom she’s been blackmailing, and the prologue mentions a young girl held captive somewhere.
Unfortunately, Larsson never really makes good on the suspense he builds in the novel’s beginning. Instead of a satisfying story arc, he uses manipulative tricks to stretch out a relatively simple plot. He cuts away from action to build false tension, he creates mystery by withholding information from the reader, and he can bore you with bad writing at any moment. Essentially, Larsson is the Swedish Dan Brown.
To make matters worse, Larsson actually has talent. You can see it in glimpses here and there, but ultimately Larsson’s lack of discipline (and lack of a good editor) turns what could be a taut mystery into a sloppy, meandering revenge tale.
If you liked Larsson’s first book, you’ll probably like this one for the same reasons. It’s a quick read, too, for 500 pages, and I found it more consistently entertaining than Dragon Tattoo. Just don’t expect the best mystery you’ve ever read, like the hype says. In fact, it’s probably best not to expect a mystery at all.
…
Continue reading »
By Eric Markowsky, on September 25th, 2009  Author: Seamus Deane
1996, Knopf
Best ebook deal: Not available
Filed under Literary
| C4 Ratings.....out of |
10 |
| Language..... |
7 |
| Entertainment..... |
7 |
| Depth..... |
6 |
Filled with lyricism and suspense, Reading in the Dark moves like a memoir but builds like a mystery. At times, the narrator’s reminiscences veer dangerously towards the sentimental or the saccharine, always to be redeemed through the originality of the details and an impending sense of conspiracy. This book abounds with shadows and ghosts, and no character, no matter how innocent he or she might seem, passes through its pages without leaving behind a few clues. …
Continue reading »
By Nico Vreeland, on September 23rd, 2009 A couple of interesting things I noticed:
- iRex announced a brand-new ereader: the creatively named DR800SG. It features an 8.1-inch touchscreen, 3G from Verizon, and books from Barnes & Noble and the public library. It will be available at Best Buy in late October, and it looks pretty good. Best of all, iRex has finally priced something within the realm of reality: the DR800SG will cost $400, less than half the cost of iRex’s current premium model. Since the new iRex will also be able to do library ebooks, I’m guessing iRex supports ePubs, which means that B&N’s ePub books will be available by late October, too. CrunchGear has coverage of the announcement, and a comparison shopping guide.
- Additionally, Gizmodo has some pretty exciting details about the Microsoft Courier. It looks like a dual-screen tablet PC, with both finger and stylus input. No word on price or release date yet, but the leaked video looks better than the mockups of the Apple Tablet, for whatever that’s worth. Clearly, the Courier could be an outstanding device for students. Add it to the rumored devices list. [UPDATE: Curb your hopes for this one. At least one techspert says the Courier is a complete fantasy. Although, his assertion that it will "never" exist is, of course, ridiculous.]
By Sean Clark, on September 23rd, 2009
By Nico Vreeland, on September 22nd, 2009  According to this poster at MobileRead, we might soon see DRM support for the Ectaco jetBook.
The jetBook is a very interesting ereader option because it uses a non-backlit LCD screen instead of the more common E-Ink. That means the jetBook is (purportedly) sharper and (definitely) faster than E-Ink ereaders, although I’m not convinced how well the contrast stacks up to E-Ink (see the comments starting here).
Presumably, LCD screens are cheaper to make than E-Ink screens, which would make the jetBook an even more enticing option, DRM-enabled and price-chopped to, say, $150.
After all that, there’s the question of what kind of DRM the jetBook will get. The MobileRead poster’s “source” says it will be Barnes & Noble DRM; but does that mean their current eReader offering, or their upcoming Plastic Logic ePub format? I’m guessing this means eReader, so the jetBook won’t compete with the Plastic Logic.
If I had to choose, I’d choose ePub. But the bottom line is that an LCD ereader with DRMed ebooks is good for readers. At the very least it should provide, sooner or later, some motivation to further cut prices.
Again, this is all rumor, so take it with a grain of salt until we get confirmation.
[via]
By Sean Clark, on September 22nd, 2009  Author: Jim Shepard
2007, Knopf
Best ebook deal: Barnes & Noble
Filed Under: Literary, Short Stories
| C4 Ratings.....out of |
10 |
| Language..... |
8 |
| Entertainment..... |
7 |
| Depth..... |
6 |
Throughout this collection, Jim Shepard demonstrates his expertise in writing varied stories, playing with voice and mood, and delivering an array of diverse tales. Whether you approach the stories in the presented order or pick at them like a buffet, the first thing you’ll notice when beginning the second story you read is how different the voice is from the previous story.
Sometimes when writers work in this mode the authorial voice becomes washy or, worse, lost amid the competing characters. Other times when collections rely on a diversity of voices, the strength of a collection can be diminished by a few weaker entries in an otherwise competent assortment of character studies.
Thankfully, though he employs a wide range of characters, eras, and voices, neither of these are the case in Like You’d Understand, Anyway. …
Continue reading »
By Nico Vreeland, on September 21st, 2009  The Astak EZ Reader Pocket Pro Price: $199 (the EZ Reader website)
Vital specs: 5-inch E-Ink display; supports Adobe ePub and PDF DRM; SD card slot (supports up to 32GB SDHC); mp3 player; text-to-speech; search within books
Accessories: USB cord; wall charger adapter; earphones; case; wrist strap; screwdriver and extra screws (for replacing the battery).
Astak’s new 5-inch EZ Reader Pocket Pro is a surprisingly strong competitor for best casual ereader (i.e., an ereader with no keyboard or wireless). The obvious comparison is to Sony’s new PRS-300 “Pocket Edition”—which has the same price point and size—and the Pocket Pro stacks up pretty well.
The Pocket Pro offers all the extras a standard 6-inch ereader does (a cover, an SD card slot, an mp3 player), whereas the PRS-300 has none of these features (and for some that’s been a deal-breaker). The Pocket Pro also has a few ground-breaking features that no other casual ereader has, namely text-to-speech and the ability to search within ebooks. Astak is also working on eReader format support, which would make it the first E-Ink device to support eReader books.
However, there are some annoyances that come along with the Pocket Pro. Primarily, its user interface is clunkier than a Sony’s. The Pocket Pro is a Hanlin build, like the BeBook, which I never liked as well as my Sony PRS-505, even though I wanted to. Pocket Pro shares some of the BeBook’s flaws, like the interface, but it’s also fixed many of the BeBook’s issues, and it boasts significantly better firmware (and Adobe DRM as opposed to the dying Mobipocket).
The Pocket Pro works best (and very well) for ePub books, other formats have some small issues attached. More on that below, under “Reading books.”
Ultimately, I see the Pocket Pro as a work in progress, with some rough edges that could still use polishing. Astak’s hard at work, though: they’ve already released two firmware updates (available here) since the Pocket Pro debuted a few weeks ago, and they seem to have more improvements in the works. These updates have both added major features like search, and worked to refine the display of PDFs. And, of course, their customer service is much better than Sony’s.
Let’s get into the details.
…
Continue reading »
By Aaron Block, on September 18th, 2009 Introducing our new webcomic Books I Would Read… If I Could Read by Aaron Block. If you have a hard time reading the web post version, you can download the .pdf below.
This week: A Moveable Feast, by Ernest Hemingway.
Downloadable PDF (click to view PDF in your browser, right-click and “Save as…” or the equivalent to save it)
By Sean Clark, on September 17th, 2009  Author: Mario Acevedo
2009, Eos
Best ebook deal: Diesel eBooks
Filed under Horror, Mystery
| C4 Ratings.....out of |
10 |
| Language..... |
5 |
| Entertainment..... |
8 |
| Depth..... |
5 |
I honestly can’t remember why, or when, I bought this book. I think it must have been on a whim while killing time in a bookstore one day, although I’m not sure what it says about me that I go for something called Jailbait Zombie on a whim.
The premise is silly to say the least: a vampire private eye teams up with an underage psychic harlot to put an end to a rash of zombie attacks in a remote Colorado town. There are mobsters and even machinated zombie chimera cyborgs too. It’s written with a satisfyingly noir-ish, hardboiled flavor, and the book, it turns out, is surprisingly entertaining. …
Continue reading »
|
|
