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Thanos; Titan Consumed by Barry Lyga

31 Thursday Jan 2019

Posted by chadwickheller in Author, Book Review, books, Coffee, Currently Reading, Discussion, male friendship, recommendation, review, science fiction, time, Writer

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In a prequel to Marvels Infinity War, Barry Lyga writes a non-canon backstory of Thanos that illustrates how Thanos becomes the intergalactic warlord we know him to be in Marvel’s Avenger: Infinity War THANOS: Titan Consumed.

On Titan, Thanos is born with genetic mutations – purple skin and a series of vertical ridges on his face – that mark him as a deviant. Thanos is also born a genius. This combination causes Thanos to become an outcast. Purple is the color of death on Titan which causes citizens to fear him.

Thanos’ father A’Lars decides that what is best for Thanos is to have Thanos separated from society essentially for his own safety. A’Lars even goes and finds Thanos a friend to help him to stave off any loneliness that may occur in this imposed exile.

Through a series of events, Thanos realizes that Titan is facing an ecological disaster primarily due to over population. Thanos, using state of the art technology, presents a solution to this inevitable disaster directly to the citizens – that 50% of the population must die, if not, then the planet Titan itself will die. This presentation causes extreme fear to go through Titan – the punishment for causing this panic is to send Thanos into exile off the planet.

While in exile, Titan succumbs to the fate that Thanos had warned about. Upon learning this, Thanos goes on a mission to save planets in the universe from the same fate. He gives each planet an option; either they willingly kill off 50% of their population or Thanos would kill everyone on the planet.

This initially begins as a slow process, but Thanos soon learns of a faster way to save, essentially, the universe – or, at least every advanced civilization in the universe – and that is by collecting the infinity stones.

Overall the book is enjoyable despite several disturbing scenes that showcase how cold-hearted Thanos is. Barry Lyga’s ability to novelize comic book characters is phenomenal, (see Lyga’s recent middle grade Flash trilogy as an example). My primary critique however is in regards to the story itself. Since every advanced civilization is destined to the same catastrophic fate – doesn’t that suggest that this ‘fate’ isn’t unnatural but, rather, natural? Thanos can’t seem to discover one planet that an ecological disaster isn’t that outcome of civilization, therefore he believes the only way to save them all is to wipe out 50% of the population off of all of them.

Thanos epitomizes the type of ideology that you’d find on the Georgia Guidestones.

Thanos believes he is doing good, yet he also delights in being a destroyer of worlds. Thanos goes through a terrifying transformation through the book while on this self imposed mission. He becomes an example of the phrase, “the road to hell is paved with good intentions.” He believes the genocides that he is carrying out is the only viable option to an idealized universe. Thanos is never quite presented as pure villain or hero. His existence and self imposed duty lies in a moral gray area. His belief that destruction is the only way to save the universe seems contradictory – but Thanos doesn’t see it that way. He see’s it as the only way to bring balance back to universe and no one, not even his close friends can stand in his way of restoring this balance.

This book is certainly worth your time if you want to have an understanding of what made Thanos the type of being we know him today.

The Flash & Arrow Duology by Clay and Susan Griffith

29 Tuesday Jan 2019

Posted by chadwickheller in Author, blog, Book Review, books, Coffee, Currently Reading, Discussion, male friendship, recommendation, review, science fiction, snow

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We first meet up with Barry Allen (AKA the Flash) as he is going from vehicle to vehicle rescuing citizens from a horrific traffic accident. It is here in the midst of the chaos that we and the Flash first learn that something is not right with the Flash physiologically. This first reveals itself in the form of a tiny glitch that only the Flash is aware of. As we discover, along with the Flash, that there is something wrong inside the Flashes body we learn that Central City is under attack by a small group of metahumans.

As Pied Piper, Weather Wizard and Peekaboo carry out their attack on Central City, the Flash continues to experience glitches in his power that completely incapacitates him – often times in the midst of fights with various villains. These glitches that the Flash experiences are so troubling that the Flash and his team at S.T.A.R. Labs call on the help of Oliver Queen – the Arrow to defend Central City as they try to come up with a cure to save the Flash.

The Flash: The Haunting of Barry Allen and Arrow: A Generation of Vipers by Clay Griffith and Susan Griffith makes an incredible duology. The first book is depicted from the Flashes perspective while the second is from Arrows perspective. The books share an over-arching story line – finding a cure for the Flashes near fatal glitches, yet independently carry within themselves self contained stories that pertain to the Flash and Arrow respectively. The books also explore the complexities of the two heroes friendship as they come to terms with their respective histories.

The Flash and Arrow have different philosophies when it comes to how they do their jobs in protecting their cities, and these differences play a strong role on how the story plays out. Arrows story centers around getting a device that will save The Flash from the glitches he is experiencing. Arrow also helps The Flash to cope with the glitches as they occur.

Each book in this duology clocks in at over 400 pages making this over all story quite the tome. Although I enjoyed the concept of these two books, I did find it difficult to find the same type of connection with Arrow in the second book that I did with the Flash in the first book. I always felt that there was some distance between myself and Arrow as I followed him around in the second book. Perhaps, due to the nature of Arrow, this was deliberate, but I felt it seriously slowed down the pacing of the story especially in the second book. I was thoroughly engaged with Barry Allen in the first book but I always felt like I was being kept at arms length with Oliver Queen in the second book.

I strongly recommend this duology especially if, like me, you enjoy stories involving The Flash. These books are based on the Warner Bros. series created by Greg Berlanti & Andrew Kreisberg & Geoff Johns. If you enjoy the television series, I would also recommend these books.

 

RAISING RUFUS by David Fulk discussion & review

07 Saturday Oct 2017

Posted by chadwickheller in Author, Book Review, books, Discussion, Fantasy, recommendation, review, science fiction, Writer

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Martin is on a mission to capture a bug for his extensive collection, which leads him to an open pit mine that, if he were paying attention, he’d know he wasn’t supposed to go in. The bug Martin is pursuing is not being cooperative and when it finally does land it’s not in a safe location. Quickly Martin finds himself in trouble when a rock slide occurs. The rock slide leads however to a discovery – Martin discovers a very unique and rare rock that he decides to take with him back home.

The rock that Martin has discovered isn’t quite a rock however. He learns the truth about his “rock” when it hatches and a lizard emerges. With his parents “No Pets” rule, Martin must keep his strange lizard a secret.

raising rufusRaising Rufus is a very enjoyable read – I picked it up after realizing what Rufus is and thought it would be a fun, light read. I absolutely loved this story, it brought back to me all the stories I used to read and love as a kid. Perhaps the best part is that the author, David Fulk, did not go the easy way with the ending, which is the route I thought he’d take.

This is one of those books that I think would be amazing if it were made into a made-for-TV movie for kids.

If you happen to come across Raising Rufus, I highly suggest picking it up, it’s superb.

★★★★★   RAISING RUFUS by David Fulk

A LONG WAY GONE; MEMOIRS OF A BOY SOLDIER by Ishmael Beah discussion

20 Wednesday Sep 2017

Posted by chadwickheller in Author, Book Review, books, Coffee, Discussion, Non Fiction, recommendation, review, Writer

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When Ishmael was 12, he fled rebels who attacked his village and killed his parents during the civil war in Sierra Leone. When he was 13 Ishmael was conscripted into the governments army where for three years be fought against the rebels and committed some very horrific acts. By the age of 16 he was pulled out of the war by UNICEF where he was rehabilitated.

a long way gonThis is one of those memoirs that should be required reading – primarily as a lesson that war is not as glamorous as our society likes to make it out to be. Many of the things that Beah did while he was a soldier were terrible – and what even makes his actions even worse is that the murders he committed were done to people much like himself; kids caught up in a war they did not understand.

My primary issue with this book is that despite being rehabilitated, I did not get much of a sense that Beah felt much remorse for what he did. He talks about his time with UNICEF, his trip to the United Nations, his adopted family, and finally his escape from Sierra Leone as the war essentially follows him into the capital city. But through all of this, Beah doesn’t ever mention whether he felt any remorse for his killings. He buried people alive, participated in a contest to see who could kill a prisoner of war the quickest, and cut the throats of numerous other prisoners – not to mention the many other atrocities he participated in.

And somehow he just ‘moved on’ from all of this. This aspect is what I find the most difficult to comprehend and the primary issue I have with this book. The part that ‘stuck’ with me the most.

If you’ve read A Long Way Gone please leave a comment – did I gloss over Beah talking about his remorse towards the people he killed?

THE DRONE EATS WITH ME; A GAZA DIARY by Atef Abu Saif discussion

17 Sunday Sep 2017

Posted by chadwickheller in Author, Book Review, books, cat, Coffee, Discussion, Life, Non Fiction, recommendation, redemption, review, Writer

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In 2014 Israel conducted an invasion of Gaza that lasted 51 days and killed 2,145 Palestinians and injured over 11,000 people. The Drone Eats With Me by Atef Abu Saif is a day to day journal of this war that will give you a first hand look as to what it is like to live in these conditions.

This is a book that I only learned of it’s existence after scrolling through Instagram. Since I actively seek out books like this, I couldn’t understand how this one had flown under my radar. Regardless, this is a book that is absolutely necessary to read. In the age of pilotless drones and continual asymmetrical warfare where wealthier nations use their superior fire power on populations of poor, impoverished people – this book provides a perspective that *we* don’t often get.

As much as I’d like to talk about how important this book is, how tough it is to read – how it provides a window into what life is like when any moment could be your last. What I’d like to take a moment to talk about is this books reception. For the most part, the reviews of this book are quite excellent – but then you’ll come across a few that vehemently denounce this book as being “too subjective”, “not presenting both sides” and some of these “reviewers” will even toss out the ‘anti-semitic’ grenade in order to divert attention away from this book and cast it in a false light.

the droneWhy I’m pointing this out is that this book, as it talks about life in a war zone simultaneously, due to the war being discussed, exists in another type of war all together; an information war.  This information war is just as lop-sided as the war being talked about in the book. The same side that flies the drones are working diligently to make sure that they control the narrative of what is going on. The brutal honesty of The Drone Eats With Me – which includes foot notes that direct you to news stories about events that are described in the book – is tough to combat, so in many reviews about the book, blanket allegations are launched at it by people on a payroll to do so.

I’ve noticed this phenomenon in almost every platform that discusses this book. I would not be surprised if a comment is written below this post tries to do much the same.  There are several legitimate critiques of this memoir; ones that refer to perhaps the grammar and issues that arose due to translating the book. Those reviews are not what I’m referring to. The ones that state that the book is “too subjective” and doesn’t talk about ‘both sides’ of the war then go on with an attempt to justify the terror that Saif experienced – those are the reviews written by people on a government payroll. The absurdity of their reviews is that would they make these demands of Anne Frank or any other person writing about their experience during a war? No.

This is one of the few books that I’ve read that is a manifestation of the idiom that books are weapons in the war of ideas. The strength of this book is it’s honesty, its humanity and its ability to convey the terror of living under conditions of total warfare. It allows you to “see” a side of this story that rarely is conveyed in the media; a side that is taboo to talk about.

Add this to your personal library – and I strongly recommend giving it a read.

LIKE EATING A STONE; SURVIVING THE PAST IN BOSNIA by Wojciech Tochman discussion

16 Saturday Sep 2017

Posted by chadwickheller in Author, Book Review, books, cat, Coffee, Discussion, review, Writer

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Like Eating A Stone by Wojciech Tochman is beautiful yet horrifying overview of the aftermath of the four years of war that tore apart Bosnia. Over 100,000 people – primarily men – were rounded up and massacred, their bodies dumped in mass graves during the war. This book follows the survivors of the war – primarily women – as they try to piece their lives back together. Much of this book revolves around the process of identifying the remains of the people buried in mass graves.

like eating a stoneThe war began in 1992, a war that when I was a child, I recall hearing about on television every evening after school. The break up of Yugoslavia was extremely violent, with most of the people killed being civilians. Campaigns of genocide were being waged, it seems, from both sides. This book brings back the horror of that war while it explores the aftermath.

Due to how recent this war was, as I grew up I began to encounter many people who fled the Balkans to the US as refugee’s. Those who lived through this war and escaped, in my experience, do not like speaking about this time. Like Eating A Stone helps to depict the environment that those survivors left. It is a moment in history that certainly should not be forgotten.

This is a tough book that should be read with caution – but read none-the-less.

THE TERRORIST’S SON; A STORY OF CHOICE by Zak Ebrahim discussion

13 Wednesday Sep 2017

Posted by chadwickheller in Author, Book Review, books, cat, Coffee, Discussion, Non Fiction, recommendation, redemption, review, Writer

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The Terrorist’s Son by Zak Ebrahim is a short memoir about how Ebrahim learned to turn away from the violent legacy left to him by his father. Ebrahim is the son of a man who was initially jailed for targeting and shooting a Rabbi. While in prison, Ebrahims father also helped to orchestrate the bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993.

terrorists-son-9781476784809_hrThrough out this short book, Ebrahim describes how he grew up in a violent environment – one that encouraged the types of violence that his father was arrested for. He describes that after the arrest, his mother attempted to try and keep the family together but after awhile she finally got a divorce and married a man that was physically abusive to her and her children.

One way that Ebrahim attempts to break free from this environment is by getting a job. He is able to get a job at an amusement park which allowed him safety from his abusive step father and the ability to be around diverse people. Ultimately this becomes a source of enlightenment for Ebrahim where he is able to formulate for himself a choice – and the choice he makes is to turn away from violence and pursue peace.

The Terrorist’s Son is a short, quick read that is designed to offer a moral lesson. The lesson provided in this book is that violence is a choice – and uses the narrative of growing up with terrorists. The lesson in this book however needs to be expanded. Violence doesn’t only exist with religious zealots, it is a prevalent part of American culture. The book would have done well if it were expanded to discuss this. Most readers of this book probably don’t have notorious terrorists as fathers and wouldn’t consider what Ebrahim is saying applies to them. There is a certainty though that a majority of the readers of this book do live in a society that celebrates violence, a lesson on turning away from the glorification of war would have been nice.

As I’ve suggested, the downside of this short book is it’s brevity – it’s inability to expand a bit on the topic that is being discussed which is to make a choice to turn away from violence and pursue peace. I’d be interested to know how the author views the numerous wars and conflicts the USA is engaged in around the world. These are situations where the nation has made a choice to turn to violence to “solve” various problems – at the cost of countless of innocent lives.

BINGE by Tyler Oakley discussion

04 Monday Sep 2017

Posted by chadwickheller in Author, Book Review, books, Coffee, Non Fiction, review, Writer

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My evaluation of Binge may be elevated due to reading it immediately after Connor Franta’s A Work In Progress, but I found it to be hilarious and excellent. For me, Binge was more akin to one of Bill Bryson’s memoir-esque books which featured humorous anecdotes from the authors life.

With Binge I was laughing quite frequently.

binge.jpgSome people will find the humor to be very mature – but Oakley is not out to make himself look like some angelic, perfect person. The crudeness of some of the humor made the book relateable.  Perhaps the best part of this book is that the stories in Binge did not hinge on knowing much about Oakley’s YouTube career. This, I feel, was one of those books written by a famous person that was done correctly.

There were a few sections in the book that I found annoying (for instance that list of 20 things Tyler would do if he were Beyonce for a day) but these annoying parts were short and when I re-read this book in the future, I’ll know to skip them.

Overall, Binge was a joy to read, and if Oakley decides to write another book in the future – I’ll pick that one up too.  I recommend Binge IF you can tolerate adult humor – otherwise, skip it.

 

A WORK IN PROGRESS by Connor Franta discussion & review

04 Monday Sep 2017

Posted by chadwickheller in Book Review, books, Coffee, Discussion, Life, review

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I’m not going to sugar-coat this; this “memoir” is absolute shit.

ABSOLUTE SHIT. *insert shit emoji here*

I read this in one sitting and my first reaction was to announce to my roommate that this particular book was “trash”.

work in progressI honestly didn’t know what I was expecting when I decided to read this “memoir” of a 22 year old (at the time when the book is written) YouTube celebrity. This book is nothing more than page after page of cliche’s stacked on top of each other – then Mr. Franta has the naive audacity to try to insinuate that he has some sort of “wisdom” to impart at his young age.

What he believes to be ‘wisdom’ the rest of the world would call “arrogance”.

I TRIED to find something redeeming about this book… something, anything that I could say about it that was positive, but I drew a blank.

Unless you are a fan, I’m not sure who would enjoy this book. My dislike for this “memoir” has nothing to do with Connor being a YouTube celebrity, in fact I actually enjoyed Tyler Oakley’s memoir BINGE so much I was spending my nights at work recounting parts of Oakley’s memoir to my co-workers because they were so damn funny.

What A Work In Progress lacks is any real introspection. Franta frequently glazed over events in his life and had a tendency to try and use his book as a platform to preach the “stay positive” gospel to his readers. Although he labels this book a “memoir” it can more accurately be described as a terrible rendition of a self-help book.

Maybe this is what his audience wanted, but for the general public over the age of, lets say, 30 nothing in this book is even worthwhile.

Skip this monstrosity.

I’m breaking my rule of not rating non-fiction books with this one and saying that this is a blatant one out of five stars.

THE BRIGHT HOUR; A MEMOIR OF LIVING AND DYING by Nina Riggs discussion

03 Sunday Sep 2017

Posted by chadwickheller in Book Review, books, Coffee, Discussion, Life, Non Fiction, rain, recommendation, review, time, Writer

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Nina Riggs is diagnosed with breast cancer – initially considered to be rather benign in nature, the spot of cancer resist’s treatment and progresses into stage four, The Bright Hour is her story.

the-bright-hour-9781501169359_hrThe book begins when Nina is initially diagnosed with breast cancer and her initial method to cope with it – learn more about it. She remarks that when she tells people that she has breast cancer, many people respond by telling her that they know someone who also had the disease and had survived. The book is broke up in four parts representing each stage of cancer. The first part is rather melancholy in a way. There is optimism that the chemo therapy will take care of the cancer. You get a sense of Nina’s apprehension and hope throughout this section as she tries to deal with her diagnosis and initial treatment with humor and educating herself.

The book continues on with this mixture of hope, humor and heartache as the cancer takes over Nina’s body. Through the book Nina makes numerous literary references to a distant relative, Ralph Waldo Emerson (a quote of his from which the title of the book is derived) and also references to Michel de Montaigne, a french philosopher that Nina admires. Running parallel to Nina’s affliction with cancer is the story of her mother who is also has a fatal disease.

When I began The Bright Hour it wasn’t easy for me to get in to. The first half of the book felt very sporadic and directionless. I went into this memoir not knowing exactly what it was about, aside from a woman who had been diagnosed with breast cancer. The further I got into the book, as the cancer progressively got worse the narrative becomes narrower and more focused as Nina begins to use her writing as a way to come to terms with the inevitable.

Almost 8 years ago, my own mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. I remember the apprehension and constant worry surrounding the disease as my mom went through treatment. The uncertainty as to whether the chemo was working. The constant sickness my mom had and, eventually, the slow recovery. I could recall all of this as I read Nina’s story. This memoir really made an impact when it made me consider what would have happened if my mom’s cancer had also resisted treatment and went terminal like Nina’s.

When I got to the section of the book titled Stage Four, it got tough for me to turn each page. I could not help but imagine my own mom in that very place, trying to come to terms with a terminal illness. There was that terrible ‘what if’ thought floating through my mind that I kept super-imposing over Nina’s story.  I believe this is why The Bright Hour resonates so well – many people know of someone who have had (or currently has) cancer.

There is no happy ending here. Nina was unable to see her own book published earlier this year. Nina Riggs died at the age of 39 on February 23, 2017. Consider picking this book up.

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