Posted on
05.16.08 by Widge @ 6:30 am  After enjoying the post-apocalyptic and informative Life After People, I was eager to crack open The World Without Us, which I understood to be the same idea just more in depth, being, as it was, a book and not a homogenized TV special. And I hit the audiobook because I don't have time to read actual books these days, sadly. Even more sad, I couldn't make it past Disc 6. That's why this isn't a review--because I couldn't finish it. It was too goddamn depressing. The book was billed as a look at what would happen to the planet if we were to suddenly all vanish in some unspecified cataclysm, leaving all of our stuff behind. Instead, the book should be called The World Would Be Better Off Without Us. It's the literary equivalent of somebody trying to talk someone else into jumping off a cliff. Because yes, there's some information about what would happen after us, but it's surrounded and hemmed in by long, drawn out accounts of all the crap we're doing to the planet. How pretty much everything is killing something somewhere and will be doing so for thousands of years after we're gone. And more importantly, how we're fucked and there's nothing we can do to save life on the planet. Except vanish, apparently. Categorized as: Audiobooks
|
Posted on
09.18.07 by Dindrane @ 7:33 pm  Starlight is the fourth book in the Warriors: The New Prophecy series by Erin Hunter. One of the things that has made Hunter's series so interesting is that, while she obviously loves and understands animals, she does not idealize or romanticize them. Nature is red in tooth and claw in her books, which might cause readers (or listeners) who want happy, cutesy animal stories to shy away. However, if you want your animal protagonists to be truly anthropomorphic-–not wearing pants, mind you, but having selfishness, a desire for power, cruelty, etc.--then Hunter is right up your ally. If you haven't read or listened to any of the stories before this one, you must go back and do so, or this one will leave you frustrated and confused. In this volume, the Clans have arrived finally in their new home, but all is not well. Not only must they very quickly identify a new sacred Moonstone for recording medicinal ideas and communing with the StarClan, but certain cats among them have plans for conquest and power that do not take the health or wellbeing of the others into consideration. There are also many one dangers to understand how to survive. It's political and interpersonal intrigue at its best, but usually not pretty. Categorized as: Audiobooks and Reviews
|
Posted on
07.08.07 by Widge @ 11:27 pm  Sloshing through the swamp of pop culture so you don't have to. We bring you ideas for how to waste your weekend. Tried to get this up yesterday, I know, I said so in the recording, but that's what I get for thinking. Of course, special thanks go out to Clutch for letting me use their absolutely badass song, "Promoter (of earthbound causes)" as my theme music for this. Buy Blast Tyrant, which is where you can find "Promoter". Buy their latest album, Pitchforks and Lost Needles. Send them love and coin. BTW, you iTunes subscriber types can nab this feed here. Or if you want to do something else with it, the feed feed is here. Like the podcast? Tell us about it. Fill out a PodTrac Survey today. The Baby Jesus would want you to. Categorized as: Audiobooks and Books and Comics and DVD and Podcasts and Recommendations
|
Posted on
10.30.05 by Cosette @ 9:50 pm  
Written by Neil Gaiman Fat Charlie Nancy has a relatively normal, even somewhat boring life. He works as an accountant for a talent agency, has a lovely fiancé named Rosie, and goes about his daily life rather matter-of-factly. Pressed by Rosie to invite his estranged father to their wedding, he learns that his father has just died. When he travels from his home in London to his childhood home in Florida for the funeral, an old friend of the family, Mrs. Higgler, informs him that his father was actually the trickster god Anansi, as well as the fact that Fat Charlie has a brother he never knew. She tells him rather mysteriously that if he wishes to find his brother, he should just tell a spider. Categorized as: Audiobooks and Reviews
|
|
Page 1 of 11
|
