strange and random happenstance

Unbreakable by Kami Garcia
Published by: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: October 1st, 2013
Format: Hardcover, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"I never believed in ghosts. Until one tried to kill me.

When Kennedy Waters finds her mother dead, her world begins to unravel. She doesn't know that paranormal forces in a much darker world are the ones pulling the strings. Not until identical twins Jared and Lukas Lockhart break into Kennedy's room and destroy a dangerous spirit sent to kill her. The brothers reveal that her mother was part of an ancient secret society responsible for protecting the world from a vengeful demon -- a society whose five members were all murdered on the same night.

Now Kennedy has to take her mother's place in the Legion if she wants to uncover the truth and stay alive. Along with new Legion members Priest and Alara, the teens race to find the only weapon that might be able to destroy the demon -- battling the deadly spirits he controls every step of the way.

Suspense, romance, and the paranormal meet in this chilling urban fantasy, the first book in a new series from Kami Garcia, bestselling coauthor of the Beautiful Creatures novels."

So Kami Garcia is striking out on her own... should be interesting! Also, cover lust.

Treecat Wars by David Weber and Jane Lindskold
Published by: Baen
Publication Date: October 1st, 2013
Format: Hardcover, 288 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"New York Times and Publishers Weekly Best Selling Young Adult Series. Book Three by international writing phenomenon David Weber. Two young settlers on a pioneer planet seeks to stop a war and to save the intelligent alien treecats from exploitation by unscrupulous humans.

The fires are out, but the trouble’s just beginning for the treecats.

On pioneer planet Sphinx, ruined lands and the approach of winter force the now Landless Clan to seek new territory. They have one big problem—there’s nowhere to go. Worse, their efforts to find a new home awaken the enmity of the closest treecat clan—a stronger group who’s not giving up a single branch without a fight.

Stephanie Harrington, the treecats’ greatest advocate, is off to Manticore for extensive training—and up to her ears in challenges there. That leaves only Stephanie’s best friends, Jessica and Anders, to save the treecats from themselves. And now a group of xenoanthropologists is once again after the great secret of the treecats—that they are intelligent, empathic telepaths—and their agenda will lead to nothing less that treecat exploitation.

Finally, Jessica and Anders face problems of their own, including their growing attraction to one another. It is an attraction that seems a betrayal of Stephanie Harrington, the best friend either of them have ever had. "

It's cats, it's war, it's a book meant for me.

Johannes Cabel: The Fear Institute by Jonathan L. Howard
Published by: Thomas Dunne Books
Publication Date: October 1st, 2013
Format: Hardcover, 352 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A Darkly Gripping Comic Fantasy.

Beyond the wall of sleep lies the Dreamlands, a world formed by dreams, but not a dream itself. For countless millenia, it has been explored only by those with a certain detachment from mundane reality, its strange seas navigated and its vast mountains climbed by philosophers, mystics, and poets. Well, those halcyon days are over, beatniks.

Johannes Cabal is coming.

Cabal, a necromancer of some little infamy, is employed by the mysterious Fear Institute to lead an expedition into the Dreamlands, an expedition to hunt and destroy the dread Phobic Animus, the font of terrors, the very source of all the world’s fear. They will enter exotic lands where magic is common and monsters abound. Cabal will encounter witches, vile abominations, and far too many zebras.

And, when they finally come close to their goal, Cabal will have to face his own nightmares. But for a man who communes easily with devils and the dead, surely there is nothing left to fear. . ."

Everytime a new book comes out in this series, I think, damn, I really have to start this series.

Simon's Cat vs. The World by Simon Tofield
Published by: Akashic Books
Publication Date: October 1st, 2013
Format: Hardcover, 96 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Simon's Cat proved his authority in the house. He returned victorious from his adventures beyond the garden fence. He prevailed after the chaotic arrival of a new kitten. Now he takes on the world! Illustrated in glorious full color, this volume explodes from the page with mesmerizing levels of detail. Simon's Cat films have over 360 million YouTube views!"

OMG, this book is so so awesome and I am so humbled that the publishers set me an ARC. If you don't yet know who Simon's Cat is, I pity you for having a sad little life not full of this kitty joy! Also, this is just SO TRUE to cats. The vet one in particular. I mean, a book with no words, yet the stories that it unfolds for those of us humbled enough to be the keepers of these majestic felines.

Wes Anderson Collection by Matt Zoller Seitz
Published by: Abrams
Publication Date: October 1st, 2013
Format: Hardcover, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Wes Anderson is one of the most influential voices from the past two decades of American cinema. A true auteur, Anderson is known for the visual artistry, inimitable tone, and idiosyncratic characterizations that make each of his films—Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, The Darjeeling Limited, Fantastic Mr. Fox, and Moonrise Kingdom—instantly recognizable as “Andersonian.” The Wes Anderson Collection is the first in-depth overview of Anderson’s filmography, guiding readers through his life and career. Previously unpublished photos, artwork, and ephemera complement a book-length conversation between Anderson and award-winning critic Matt Zoller Seitz. The interview and images are woven together in a meticulously designed book that captures the spirit of his films: melancholy and playful, wise and childish—and thoroughly original."

Graphic Designer/Film Buff swoon!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Beautiful Creatures, David Weber, Graphic Designer, Johannes Cabel, Jonathan L. Howard, Kami Garcia, Simon Tofield, Simon's Cat, Treecat Wars, Unbreakable, Wes Anderson

The Family Fang by Kevin Wilson
Published by: St. Martin's Press
Publication Date: August 9th, 2011
Format: Hardcover, 309 Pages
Rating: ★
To Buy

"Buster had suggested fedoras and rumpled suits, unfiltered cigarettes, tie clips. Annie thought perhaps matching black suits and Lone Ranger masks, crushed-up amphetamines, manicured fingernails. Buster, it seemed, wanted to be a detective and Annie wanted to be a superhero. They finally agreed that they needed something that would not draw attention to them, understated but still uniform in some way. Buster donned a white dress shirt, the sleeves rolled up past his elbows, a pair of dark blue jeans, and black leather sneakers. Annie wore a white V-neck T-shirt, dark blue jeans, and black leather flats. On their wrists, they wore the kind of watches that scuba divers swear by, heavy and solid and waterproof, synchronized and precise. In their pockets, a heavy wad of cash, pens that were half the size of regular pens - for surreptitious note-taking - a handful of Red Hots to keep them sharp, and the address for Hobart Waxman, their best, their only, chance at finding their missing parents."

Caleb and Camille Fang have spent their life making art performed in a public sphere that takes people out of themselves. The art is in the act, in taking common people and shaking up their lives in some bizarre and strange new way. Whether it's a father on fire calmly walking through a mall cradling his infant son or their two children playing the leads in a school production of Romeo and Juliet to add additional meaning and a new dialogue to what Shakespeare wrote. Their children, Child A and Child B, Annie and Buster, have been integral to their success. But their children aren't grateful. Annie's movie career is unraveling and Buster's writing failed before it really had a chance to succeed. They both need to find a place to recover and lick their wounds. For some reason they decide to both go home. Their parents are glad of their return until they realize they aren't getting the band back together. This isn't some new performance, this is their children reaching out to them for the first time ever. So Caleb and Camille do what they think is natural. They disappear. But is it a new piece or did something really happen to them?
 
Wes Anderson captivated me in 1998 when I went to our local "art house" cinema at Westgate Mall and saw Rushmore. I remember after the movie my friend and I drove to several different stores in an attempt to find the soundtrack to the film which left an indelible impression on us. Two years later I fell even harder for The Royal Tenenbaums as I spent a late Sunday night watching the movie in a cold theater on little Christmas. Wes Anderson's storytelling and artistic sensibilities and aesthetic became a way of life for me. In fact my library is painted the same pink hue as the Tenenbaum residence. To find a book thought of as the spiritual successor to The Royal Tenenbaums and touted as the next big thing made me rush to the bookstore to pick up The Family Fang. As with many books I purchase it has spent some time languishing on my shelves waiting to be picked up.

This book had so much potential, and much like Child A and B just prior to their parent's disappearance, it was squandered and wasted. The book does one thing right, and that's parody the art world, everything else veers between schlocky predictability and trying too had to actually be Wes Anderson. It's like Wilson never even tries to find his own voice but is trying too hard to be everything other then what it is. And when he just apes Anderson, see the excerpt above that proves my point, it's a sad echo of true artistry. Also, I am not even going in depth on all the continuity errors that add to the half-baked nature of the book. But the fatal flaw in this book is that it is not a book for an empathetic person to read. I couldn't distance myself from the pain that Caleb and Camille inflicted on their children. I was unable to move past this to embrace the wry dark humor. In those last few pages I developed such anger towards the adult Fangs that I could not contain it. I literally had to set the book down and walk away for awhile. How could anyone be so cruel and callous?

The fault with the Fangs, Caleb and Camille, is that they are shallow and cold-hearted people. They have long believed that children ruin art and while you'd think this attitude changed with how they incorporated their children into their art, you'd be wrong. Their children are nothing more or less to them then living props. They are their possessions. Extra ironic because so many of their pieces were staged in malls, the home of those who worship consumerism and possessiveness. When Annie is born Caleb only sees her as the destruction of his career until he is able to turn her to his advantage with "A Christmas Carol: 1977." When one of their performances with an infant Buster is described wherein Caleb is on fire walking with Buster in his arms I couldn't help think of Brian Eno's song "Baby's On Fire." The lyrics I think are more then apt for this book:

"Photographers snip snap
Take your time, she's only burning
This kind of experience
Is necessary for her learning"

The baby in that song is reduced to ash and Caleb and Camille are the idiots in the song who don't even see the damage they are doing to the baby, or in this case, their own offspring. And if they did I doubt they'd care. They never think of their children's emotions or well being, even willing to force incestuous situations in order to help their art. Then their children return to them broken and in need of help and what do they do? They leave them. Their children left their lives the day they decided that they didn't want to participate anymore so why help them? They just up and disappear. And to disappear in such a manner? It makes it even harder for Annie and Buster because they know it's a trick but their parents are too clever by half. The reveal at the end. That is where my anger stems from. To see what their parents never let them have, never gave them, to see everything is just art and their is no love there. Heartbreaking.

This emotional reveal would have had even more impact if the characters of Annie and Buster had been more then cookie cutter characters in the "present" scenes. They, quite literally, are just Child A and Child B, nothing more then simple simulacra of real children. You develop an affinity for Buster as the sad sack who really took the brunt of the performances as a child, but only within the context of the performance art. In the present he's very flat and one dimensional as a failed author. But nothing can compare to Annie. She's like a stereotypical failed actress. Lindsay Lohan at the beginning of her fall. Annie leaves her boyfriend, who is Eli Cash from The Royal Tenenbaums, she poses nude, sleeps with a few of the wrong sort of people and experiments with lesbianism before taking to drinking and going home. OK, there's nothing there that gives me depth or makes me care. Horrid parents with cardboard children, yeah, this is so a book I want to read again.

Yet for all the many wrongs this book inflicted on me I have to say Kevin Wilson knows how to parody the art world. I had to take two classes in undergrad that were entirely focused on modern and post modern artists. Performers from William Wegman to Chris Burden. I've never really been a fan of this type of art. There are those artists who fit within these categories who have actual talent, but by and large they are poseurs, much like my teacher for the class, who went in for shallow sensation and reveling in their own genius. Caleb and Camille Fang fit PERFECTLY into this group. Their work is exactly the type of sensation that would have been taught in this class and made my teacher drone on and on about their genius. If The Family Fang had stuck to these vignettes and was made more out of the performances then the dissolution of a family I think it could have been brilliant. This though isn't brilliant.

But the book did make me think more about post modern performance art. In it's way I think this book could be qualified as post modern, deconstructing the novel and rebuilding it in a way that doesn't work but comments on society. Back to performance art though. The type of "happenings" that the Fangs staged, especially the one where they shot their professor, couldn't survive in today's culture. These acts in a post 9-11 world would be viewed as too incendiary by the world at large. Yes, Caleb and Camille would love being labelled as terrorists, but the art itself, it just wouldn't work. They would be viewed as a threat and in this vigilant society I don't think they could ever get to the point of the art happening without being stopped. Perhaps that's the real reason they disappear. It's not that they can't do their art without their children, it's that the place in the world where they and their art fit no longer exists and they have become superfluous, much like this entire book.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Baby's On Fire, Brian Eno, Chris Burden, Eli Cash, Kevin Wilson, Owen Wilson, Performance Art, Romeo and Juliet, Rushmore, Shakespeare, The Family Fang, The Royal Tenenbaums, Wes Anderson, William Wegman

Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl
Published by: Puffin USA
Publication Date: 1970
Format: Paperback, 90 Pages
Rating: ★★
To Buy(different edition than one reviewed)

Mr. Fox and his family have quite a set up, they live next to three repulsive farmers, Farmer Boggis, Farmer Bunce and Farmer Bean. They respectively raise chickens, ducks and geese and turkeys and apples. The fox family eats well every night and Mr. Fox is a great provider, hence the "fantastic" handle. Finally the farmers collectively snap and instead of waiting for the nightly attack, they take the battle to Mr. Fox. Waiting outside his warren they get a partial victory by shooting off Mr. Fox's tail. Knowing that Mr. Fox wouldn't dare show his face again they decide to dig him out. What ensues is man and machine against little ground dwelling animals as the fox family tries to out dig the farmers, first with their shovels and spades, and then with their modern machines. The foxes realize this could be it, but then Mr. Fox decides it's time to take what they want direct from the source. They tunnel to the stores of all three farmers and they eat well. But not only does Mr. Fox save his family, but all ground dwelling animals whose lives became endangered when Mr. Fox riled up the farmers. They can live safe and happy while the ignorant farmers suffer waiting for the animals to starve.

So, I was shocked to realize, I've never read this book. I've had it in my Roald Dahl section for as long as I can remember, but I've never read it. Well... it's now been read and I have to say this, Roald Dahl is, to me, a very hit or miss writer. You either loved it or couldn't care about it. There's my adoration of Matilda and my dislike of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. This falls into the later category of couldn't really care. I read it in anticipation of watching the new Wes Anderson stop motion animation movie so that I wouldn't go in ignorant... yes, I'm the girl who can't just see a movie but has to read the book as well. But the thing I couldn't get over was that no one was likable in this story. I hated the farmers, but I also couldn't care about the foxes. Plus, the humanization of the animals I found odd. It's not like foxes actually cook the chickens they steal... plus all the animals underground seemed to eat other animals, only the rabbits being vegetarian, and I found this odd. Plus, is it just me, or wouldn't it have been easier to drown them by pumping water into the holes? Thankfully Wes Anderson righted this wrong. Not that I approve of it, it just would have made a short story even shorter. It's amazing how Wes was able to create such a fun and delightful story. There is so little source material they could go anywhere with it... plus George Clooney as a fox, of course it's awesome!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Book Review, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Farmer Bean, Farmer Boggis, Farmer Bunce, George Clooney, Matilda, Roald Dahl, Wes Anderson