Unsought Input

  Over on Neil Gaiman’s web journal there is all sorts of news about his newest novel, The Graveyard  Book, due out by the end of the year. If you weren’t sure, I am pretty excited about this whole affair with Mr. Gaiman being one of my favorite authors of all time. A quick little quote from his site quoting Kurt Busiek talking about the novel:

THE GRAVEYARD BOOK’s title is an homage to THE JUNGLE BOOK, since TGB is about a boy whose family dies, and who winds up being raised in a graveyard, by ghosts, and the other things that lurk there.

The boy, named Nobody (“Bod” for short), learns many things, discovers odd places and curious people, deals hesitantly with the world outside the graveyard and eventually has to deal with the forces that killed the rest of his family, and who are still looking for him. I won’t say much more about the plot, because hey, it’s not going to be out for months.

But I think it’s likely Neil’s best novel yet. It has a great deal of warmth, whimsy, dark fantasy (verging on horror), adventure, charm, suspense, monsters, ghouls, a witch, school bullies, policemen, ancient burial mounds, knife-wielding killers, dancing, mystery, trouble, a dash of romance, life lessons, and a creature named Silas, who is both what he seems to be and not. And the most endearingly dangerous and threatening ancient terror you’ve ever met. The story’s engaging, there’s a real sense of menace, and it builds to a strong and satisfying climax.

Either way, it’s in my things to check out list. If you are unfamiliar with Neil Gaiman’s work you can read American Gods for free on line. Personally, I like American Gods and it’s sequel Anansi Boys the best of his work. You can read the whole novel. In fact, I insist you read the whole novel. It’s free. The whole book. And it’s a pretty big book. You can read a few pages a day while at work or before bed. Whenever. But it’s free and it’s available and it would be a shame not to take advantage of it.

Which brings me to my next little subject, has anyone heard of Endless Reflections, the Sandman graphic novels? That link right before this sentence was something I stumbled upon which makes me think that there might be a TV series for the Sandman comics. How cool would that be!? If anyone has any news, please post in comments. I looked all over wikipedia and his site with no avail. I really hope this isn’t just a joke, I think this would be the coolest TV show.

Before we answer that question, take a look at the video below. This is Jon Stewart interviewing Chris Matthews about his new book, Life’s a Campaign: What Politics Has Taught Me About Friendship, Rivalry, Reputation, and Success:

This is very different from most interviews with authors touring news and talk shows in support of their new book. The most obvious difference is that Stewart has a strong opinion and actually takes Matthews to task for what in the book. Most interviews consist of fluffy questions like, “so what inspired you to write this book” followed by 60 seconds of uninterrupted marketing while the interviewer casts loving gazes the author’s way.The most shocking thing for me, though, is that Stewart has actually read Matthews’ book and come up with his own, very informed, opinion about it. It sounds disgusting, but I don’t think I’ve gotten this impressions from any “real news” shows in the past.Take a look at The Daily Show interview with Alan Greenspan:

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I recently finished reading the book Perdidio Street Station by China Mieville and thought I would write up a review. It’s difficult to find a place to start about the book as it is complicated to explain. The novel takes place in the fictional city of New Corbuzon which is like a nightmarish amalgamation of London. The setting could be considered “steam punk” because magic and technology exist side by side. The technology consists of steam powered engines and clockwork run machines. The most impressive thing about the novel is convincing fictional world mieville creates with his words. It is very easy for the reader to visualize the ancient city with its many diverse cultures living together in a seething metropolis. Mieville is so detailed in his descriptions that it can be a nuisance at some point and the reader my skim over some of his more gregarious descriptions but overall they help to set the mood of the book.

The story of the novel is no less bizarre then the setting. Scientist Issac Dan van Grembulin is contracted by a Gerduda, who are a bird people, to help him to fly again. The Geruda’s wings have been amputated and Issac is one of the preeminent scientists on crisis energy which can be used to do just about anything its control wants it to. While researching the flying problem Issac studies many flying creatures, amongst one of which is an unusual caterpillar. He raises the caterpillar and when it finally emerges from its cocoon, it transforms into a creature that terrorizes New Corbuzon and Issac and the other characters spend the rest of the novel trying to stop it.

There are many bizarre characters in the novel. Issac’s girlfriend Lin is a Kephri who are a race of women with beetles for heads. There is also the Vodoynoi race who are a frog like people who can telepathically manipulate water. The re-made are the most strange beings humans or other races physically altered with manchinery or other weird appendages being added to their body for work or punishment purposes.

Over all Perdido Street Station is an excellent read with a very original and interesting storyline. Pick it up and you won’t be disappointed

In keeping with the theme that D Wallz started with his article on Tin Tin, I thought I would mention a few banned books that I have read and appreciated and why they were banned. I do encourage people to comment about their favorite banned books as well in the comment section below if they feel so obliged.

Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger. This might be one of my favorite books of all time. I don’t know what it is about this book but I cry at the end every time. The part where our main character takes his kid sister Phoebe to the marry-go-round and he is narrating, he says that he wishes he could catch all of the kids before they went over the edge; that he would be the catcher in the rye. I don’t even know why but I almost cry every time I get to that part of the book.
This book was banned mostly in school libraries because of it’s themes of impropriety and scenes of sexual situations. I must have bought about seven copies of this book because each time I meet someone who hasn’t read this novel, I force a copy on them. Honestly, this novel is about growing up. Growing up is about themes of impropriety and sexual situations. I really feel that when books like this get banned, the adults who are banning them have just forgotten what it was like to grow up and be a confused and upset teenager.

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I have stewed over this topic for several months as I am finishing up my second to last semester of my Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) program. I do not consider myself an expert on this issue; however, there were several things that got me through nursing school that I could not survive without. The following stuff is mainly for an undergrad nursing student. Part II (coming soon) will be more for a nursing student in grad school.

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