Quotations Weblog

Always willing to give us a good recommendation, Unshelved reviewed Supermarket by Brian Wood and Kristian Donaldson. You can see it here:

• Unshelved – Supermarket by Brian Wood and Kristian Donaldson

It sounds like and interesting read, but the review from Amazon, doesn’t really tell us much:

In the future world of Supermarket, it’s the literal truth. Legitimate and black-market economies rule the City, overseen by the vying factions of the Yakuza and Porno Swede crime families. convenience store clerkette and 16-year old suburban wise-ass Pella Suzuki suddenly finds herself in the middle of it all, heir to an empire she couldn’t possibly inherit, but hit men on both sides aren’t taking any chances.

Unshelved’s review is more informative:

Pella and her parents lived in a high-end suburb at the edge of the sprawl. She worked at a convenience store every other weekend to keep the moral high ground over the over-consumption of her wealthy parents. She had no idea what they did – she just knew they were loaded and connected.

Then one day, she returned home to find her parents murdered. A message from her mom sent her into the city to hide. Now her cash cards are no good. She’s tired. Hungry. And the Yakuza are after her.

They also recommend Demo by Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan. The same author with a different illustrator bring you twelve stories of conflicted teens.

With DEMO Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan present an amazing set of dark stories with brilliant black/white art. Each story is short but telling, as we see several teens coping with the rougher side of having superpowers. This is much better reading and art than can be found in the similar Marvel comic NYX. I highly recommend this collection over the mainstream’s version as it has more grit and more heart.

If you have been looking for a couple of good graphic novels to read, Unshelved brings you some solid recommendations.

I just finished reading Cory Doctorow’s new book, Little Brother. I thought I was paranoid before. I thought I had a healthy paranoia, but now I know I was sorely mistaken. NOW I’m REALLY paranoid.

I always knew that anyone could spy on me at any time. I never had an illusion of privacy. That’s probably why I’m so comfortable writing about every facet of my life on the Internet. I never had any privacy to begin with, so I don’t really have a problem telling my side of the story.

My sense of security used to lie with the idea that there is safety in numbers. There are SO many people out there in the world that it would take the CIA or the Department of Homeland Security or the Ministry of Trust or whatever, too much manpower to watch everyone. There is just too much data out there for the government to spy on me, so I felt safe.

Well, all that data is EXACTLY what could be used to spy on me. Using the same technology that filters out spam from my email, the government could look for anomalies. Anything that is out of the ordinary could be flagged by a computer and then the goons could swoop in and watch me in person.

THAT is exactly what happens in Little Brother. Our hero, Marcus Yallow, was in the wrong place at the wrong time and suddenly his innocence didn’t matter anymore.

The scariest part of this book for me was how Marcus’ father reacted to the whole incident. His father had been part of the fight for equality and to end the Vietnam war in the sixties, but after seeing the terrorism, he bends over backward to allow our liberties to be taken away. I have seen the same with my own mother, who was a staunch Democrat all during my childhood. To see her agree with the Republican party line right now is a mirror to this world of fiction that makes me sad and scared.

I found a few really good quotes in this book:

As with every good book, I started reading Little Brother and found myself, hours later, exhausted and wanting to read more. Give yourself a good weekend to burn through this book with no other obligations to get in the way because you won’t want to stop reading.

For all of you who loved the vampire series, Twilight, by Stephanie Meyer, here is the trailer to the movie coming out this Christmas:

To know more about these books:

• Quotations Weblog » Archive » Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

Via: Angelwell Girls: Happy Mothers Day

Unshelved did a review of Life Sucks by Jessica Abel and Gabriel Soria.

• Unshelved: Life Sucks Jessica Abel (Author), Gabriel Soria (Author), Warren Pleece (Illustrator)

It’s the tale of life as a vampire. Here is the review from Amazon:

Life sucks for Dave Marshall.

The girl he’s in love with doesn’t know he exists, he hates his job, and ever since his boss turned him into a vampire, he can’t go out in daylight without starting to charbroil.

Undead life in its uncoolest incarnation yet is on display in this cinematic, supernatural drama told with gallons of humor and hemoglobin. In striking, colorful, B-movie style artwork and light-hearted, intelligent writing by Jessica Abel, Gabe Soria, and Warren Pleece, Dave Marshall’s story comes alive – in a vampiric kind of way.

If it has been a while since you enjoyed a good vampire novel, then Life Sucks might be perfect for you. Here are some other vampire novels you might like:

• Quotations Weblog » Archive » Unshelved Week: 13 Bullets

• Quotations Weblog » Archive » Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

• Quotations Weblog » Archive » Peeps by Scott Westerfeld

• Quotations Weblog » Archive » The Last Days by Scott Westerfeld

If you haven’t seen them yet, you should click on over to Sheldon and read their comics about Herman Melville:

• Sheldon: May 02, 2008

• Sheldon: May 03, 2008

• Sheldon: May 04, 2008 How to Read Moby Dick

In case you didn’t get all the knee-slapping jokes, Herman Melville was the author of Moby Dick. It’s the famous story of Ahab, the obsessed whaler, who chases after Moby Dick, an elusive whale and ends up sacrificing all in the quest.

I’ve never read it.

I don’t know what’s stopping me. I could read the book for free here:

• Moby Dick by Herman Melville – Read Online – The Literature Page

When I started writing this entry, I thought the most famous quote from Moby Dick was this one:

I quickly found out that I was wrong and poor Samuel Taylor Coleridge didn’t get enough attention from my public school education. Instead, I found that the most recognizable quote (at least for me) is this one:

Of course, I thought Khan said it to Captain Kirk in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Little did I know that Star Trek II was really a re-imagination of Moby Dick. Here is a good summation of Moby-Dick references in Star Trek and other sci-fi:

• Moby Dick – Memory Alpha, the Star Trek Wiki

Sheldon had a well-read laugh at Herman Melville, but the truth of the matter is, despite all the references to the book in our society, I suspect that few of us have read it. I, for one, am putting it on my list and will start it as soon as I’m finished with my current book.