Thursday 11th March
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The Incredible Shrinking Man
Written on 12 Nov, 2009 at 12:46 in Books | viewed times | 0 Comments
“A hero is a man who does what he can” – Romain Rolland I’ll take the opportunity to use this week’s theme as a means to write about a great classic that I recently read for the first time. “The Incredible Shrinking... (Continue reading)
Lev Grossman’s “The Magicians,” or More Inventiveness than I Have
Written on 3 Nov, 2009 at 11:58 in Books | viewed times | 0 Comments
I have long been aware of who Lev Grossman was, author of the bestselling novel The Codex, and general “nerd” blogger for Time, he seems to have, essentially, the life I desire. That said, I had not read any of his... (Continue reading)
I’m Told There is a Storm, and That It May or May Not Be Gathering
Written on 3 Nov, 2009 at 11:00 in Books | viewed times | 0 Comments
I bought Knife of Dreams the day it came out in 2005. Even though I was in graduate school, and should have been reading my homework, I finished the book in just a few days. I had been waiting for... (Continue reading)
The Staying Power of a Never-Ending Story
A person’s memories are powerful things. The naturality of aging and maturing forces us into a constant state of change. I read something once about how close to an illusion all of life (as we know it) is. It stated... (Continue reading)
The Magic & Mystery of Miss A.K.
Written on 1 Oct, 2009 at 3:00 in Books | viewed times | 0 Comments
Frank Portman has a thing for names. In his first released book, the delightful “King Dork”, the protagonist is a teen named Tom Henderson, although I don’t think he is called this even once in the whole book. Tom’s one-of-a-kind... (Continue reading)
To War Against The Decline Of His Meridian
Blood Meridian could have been nothing more than a catalog of violence, rather than a terrifying meditation on the atrocities committed by the Glanton Gang. Save for one, its characters revel in the murders they commit, and while writer Cormac... (Continue reading)
I am NOT KILIAN, or A Rambling, Non-Sensical Review of I Am Not Sidney Poitier by Percival Everett
Written on 7 Aug, 2009 at 8:00 in Books | viewed times | 3 Comments
I have mentioned Percival Everett on the ol’ NR before. Once in passing and, more recently, to demonstrate the difference between good fiction writing and not so good fiction writing. I write this current post as an attempt... (Continue reading)
Instantly Celestial…Richard Garfinkle’s Fiction of Imagination
I first discovered Richard Garfinkle whilst browsing the Sci-fi/Fantasy/Horror section of Aardvark Books (back in the days of yore, when I still lived in San Francisco, circa 2004). The cover you see to the left piqued my interest. I routinely... (Continue reading)
A Plea for Restraint…Hollywood, Leave This One Alone
When I was kid…other than the aformentioned love of GI Joe, my other main source of entertainment came from sports; baseball and soccer, specifically. Whenever I had a book report due, I would make my dad take me to the... (Continue reading)
The “Wheel of Time” Keeps on Turning
Written on 31 Jul, 2009 at 15:00 in Books | viewed times | 2 Comments
So here we go. This week on Normality Restored we are talking about our raped childhoods. In my case it is not so much my raped childhood, as my raped mid-teens to early twenties. I began to read Robert Jordan’s... (Continue reading)
Read This Late at Night, or a Review of “The Strain”
Written on 21 Jul, 2009 at 22:17 in Books | viewed times | 3 Comments
I’ll just start by saying that what follows includes a boatload of spoilers. In considering this book, however, I can’t think of a way in which to review it that doesn’t include spoilers, so there you are. Well,... (Continue reading)
Bifrost Toll Up Ahead: $.75
Written on 3 Jul, 2009 at 7:00 in Books | viewed times | 2 Comments
I wonder what would have happened if I hadn’t spent seventy five cents to find out how Loki was responsible for the creation of Thor’s hammer? I was ten years old, looking through books at the Kenwood Elementary Library Book... (Continue reading)
Legacy of the Force Reviewed…Finally
Written on 26 Jun, 2009 at 23:01 in Books | viewed times | 0 Comments
I started out thinking I would just do a review for every book in this series. The problem was that as I went along, that prospect seemed to make less and less sense. This series really is just... (Continue reading)
Review: “Gunpowder” by Joe Hill
Written on 16 Jun, 2009 at 13:29 in Books | viewed times | 0 Comments
Ok, so here we go. As mentioned by Kilian in one of his June 15th posts, we all have our little penchants for various authors and types of work. I too am a fan of the works of Powers and... (Continue reading)
On Detective Stories, or A Review of The Manual of Detection
There are several writers that I mention more than is probably healthy. James P Blaylock and Tim Powers, as mentors of mine, get a lot of publicity (if you can call it that…you can’t) around the ol’ NR. ... (Continue reading)