[  Mood: Cool ]
[  Currently: Watching Project Runway First Season ]
Shampoo Planet is the second of Coupland’s books. It tells the story of Tyler, a conspicuous consumer who has come of age in the Regan era. Surrounded by quirky characters that are a Coupland specialty, Tyler tries to navigate a crazy life of being the son of an ex-hippie who has abandoned her ideals. He idolizes a Trumplike figure and wants desperately to work for him, despite the fact that his mother claims to have firebombed the head office.

Like all Coupland books, this is not a quick or easy read. He makes you think about things and pushes you to look at life.

I am looking forward to the next one of his books.

[  Mood: Happy ]
[  Currently: Listening to CBC Radio One ]
The second book of the Temeraire series finds our title dragon off to China with his captain, Laurence. The Chinese want the black celestial dragon back, and the British are putting preassure on Laurence to give up his dragon. He is refusing. So’s Temeraire.

A fun ride, not to the same calibre of the first, but still original and engrossing.

[  Mood: Happy ]
This humourous little book was given to me by the Husband Unit. A very funny board book that gives you the dos and don’ts of child rearing. From the people at WryBaby.com who have the funniest outfits for your little one.

Apparently there is a prequel – Safe Pregnancy Tips which I must have.

Enjoyable.

[  Mood: Happy ]
[ Currently: Getting ready for work ]
Whooooohooooooo!

New posts soon!

[  Mood: Sick ]
[  Currently: Listening to CBC Radio ]
Joanne Baldwin is newly alive and up to her neck in trouble. She and her Djinn, David, are trying to stop a psychopathic teenager who’s stolen the most powerful Djinn in the world as well as the powers from the most powerful Weather Warden.

Rachel Caine has continued the fast ride of her fashion addicted heroine. Joanne has to deal with the renegade teen as well as a shadow organization that opposes the Wardens. As an author, Caine, she also is not shy to make major changes to her world to keep the story fresh and interesting.

Fun ride. I have ordered the fourth book.

[  Mood: Happy ]
[  Currently: Watching Coronation Street ]
Todd Maffin is a CBC technology reporter and an all round geek. He has an interesting blog entry on Microsoft’s plans to patent biometric technology.

Read all about it here.

[  Mood: Sick ]
[  Currently: Watching The Amazing Race Season Finale ]
Everyone in Tally’s world wants to be beautiful. Luckily at sixteen everyone in Tally’s world is made beautiful through surgery. Tally, at fifteen and nine months, can’t wait to move from being an Ugly to a Pretty. Being a Pretty means moving to a life of partying every day. A dilettante life that many a young Hollywood starlet would envy.

So what’s the problem, you ask? What happens if you didn’t want to be made beautiful? Tally’s new friend Shay is one of those and she wants to run away. When she does, the authorities give Tally a choice, find Shay and betray the rebels who live outside the city or never get a chance to be a Pretty.

Scott Westerfield has created an interesting dystopia where our society’s obsession with beauty and pleasure reaching their ultimate pinnacle. Tally’s choice in face of betraying a friend to live as a Pretty is an interesting one. The twist at the end is also powerful.

Again, another entry for the next After Harry.

[  Mood: Silly ]
[  Currently: Eating Breakfast ]
Jade comes down with a fever one day on summer vacation and nearly dies. We are talking out of body experience, traveling down the tunnel to the white light and meeting her granddad. She gets better, but discovers that she can see the future and just knows things about people.

Her parents think she’s crazy and get her medicated. Her grandmother thinks she has the family gift which kips a generation. Her friends and classmates think she’s wierd and avoid her like the plague. Meanwhile, Jade is trying to prevent a series of carbombings that may be a result of the attempt to extradite a Nazi War Criminal.

Carol Matas has created an excellent Sci-Fi story for young adults that weaves elements of anti-semitism, religion and school into the story of how a girl deals with psychic abilities.

Will probably be added to the next After Harry column.

[  Mood: In Love ]
[  Currently: Watching Canadian Figure Skating Championships ]
In fantasy the dragon is almost iconic. It shows up everywhere and has been used in so many ways, hero, pet, villain, plot device, you name it. And I have read many of them.

Let me tell you, this is the most original use of dragons I have seen in a long time.

Mixing Napoleonic Naval warfare with dragonback aerial battle is genius. Laurence is a British captain who is lucky enough to capture a dragon egg from a French vessel. When it hatches, the dragon bonds with Laurence and he has to leave behind his life on the sea to become a member of the Dragon Corps.

It is hard to believe that this is Naomi Novak’s first novel. It is original and good. It most likely owes a bit to McCaffrey, but Novak has done something so new with dragons that you can’t tell. The story is gripping, well written, full of battle scenes that leave you breathless. I tore through this in a couple days. The next one has been requested from the library.

Go get this. You won’t be disappointed.

[  Mood: Sick ]
[  Currently: Working on the blog ]
Okay – that title is a misleading one. Sort of.

This entry should probably be called "I Am America and So Can You! – A Quick Review"

But as I read the book, I thought that Dharma, the RevSF bad boy, would love it!

Stephen Colbert, for those of you that don’t know, is the host of the Colbert Report (pronounced Colber Repor). On this Daily Show spin-off, he parodies the right wing media hosts like Bill O’Reilly and Rush Limbagh.

This book is a collection of his thoughts on things as varied as education to homosexuality. And just like on the show, it is bombastic, egotistical, over-the-top and contradictory. There were many times I found myself laughing out loud and then reading sections to the Husband Unit who would then also laugh out loud.

So where the tie in with Dharma, you ask? Well I couldn’t help but compare some of the statements about Canada and Mexicans to things on this site that have come out of Dharma’s keyboard. So similar. So funny. So patently outrageous and said just to get a rise out of some of us.

Read the book and tell me I’m wrong.