Oct.5, 2009

I finished several books and graphic novels from the library since my last post:
BOOKS:
Loch Ness Monsters and Raining Frogs : the world's most puzzling mysteries solved , by Albert Jack, 2009. Non-Fiction. A skeptics "let me explain everything" book about cryptic creatures, the paranormal, and historical mysteries. There were aspects of this book I really liked, and aspects I didn't. I think maybe that had to do with MY level of knowledge about the particular area he was writing about, rather than his writing. BUT I don't give a shit- these are my reviews, so I'll be as unfair as I want. The book is organized by chapters, with each devoted to explaining (or not) a particular phenomena. An example of one I liked was the chapter about the mysterious moving coffins of the Chase vault, which is truly unexplained (as he also acknowledges). It's a fascinating story, if you haven't ever heard of it, check out this website http://www.qsl.net/w5www/coffins.html rather than reading this so-so book. On the other hand, the chapter on Bigfoot, a "mystery" I've read an enormous amount about, is very dismissive and "explains" away the entire mystery with poorly-researched and incompletely considered arguments, and will piss you off if you are well-read on the subject. Don't get me wrong- his conclusion is that Bigfoot doesn't exist, which I would agree with based on the current evidence, but he doesn't even give the REAL evidence for the existence for Bigfoot mention. Basically, he says it's silly, so it's wrong. This guy had previously written a book about urban legends which I thought sounded interesting. I think instead of reading it I'll just read through the phone book instead, after reading this. It wasn't all bad, but then again neither is major surgery. My rating is a 2.
By Heresies Distressed, by David Weber, 2009. Sci-Fi/Fantasy, about an a future world where a church controls the world, while hiding the evidence of past interference by aliens when the world was settled. It is the second book of a series, and I hadn't read the previous book, so I had to catch up somewhat. It was okay, but I read about 1/3rd of the way into it, and then gave it up. A fairly predictable and ordinary novel. I'd rate it a 2.

GRAPHIC NOVELS:
I read several X-Men GNs, which I won't review separately at this time, as I'd read them in the past. I'll go back and do a long explanation/review on a lot of books and graphic novels I'd read in the past at a later date.

The Walking Dead, vol. 2,  Still holding up as a very good story, with some really horrific stuff mixed with some excellent characterization and a good "it might happen like that" plot. I rate this volume a 4.