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Book Report
Reviewed briefly within are Marvel 1602, Theodore Rex, and The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon
Marvel 1602 - It's 1602, and strange but familair things are going on. Can Sir Nicholas Fury and Dr. Stephen Strange, Queen Elizabeth's spymaster and physician respectively, save the day?
This is Neil Gaiman's high-profile first work for Marvel Comics, and odds are that if you can't stand super-heroes, you'll scratch your head and wonder why Gaiman did this. OTOH, if you respect Gaiman but find his usual style of writing or his subject matter to be uninteresting - like me - this might surprise you as much as it did me. Gaiman weaves together a large cast of retrofitted Marvel characters, launching the Marvel Age of Heroes 400 years early in a witty, sometimes thoughtful epic adventure. Be warned, however, that a working knowledge of the classic Marvel characters is required. Non-superhero fans, non-Marvel fans and those who find history dull should stay away. Everyone else is happily invited in. It's hard not to wonder what might have been if Gaiman's youthful love of comics had led him to follow a path similar to that of Alan Moore. Who knows what kind of heores we'd have. (And the hardcover collection of this series is only $25, slightly less than the eight issues were in their original format.)
Theodore Rex by Edmund Morris - This is the second part of Morris' biography of Theodore Roosevelt, covering TR's years as president. I know that Roosevelt is regarded as a great leader, but unfortunately, Morris' depiction of the man - meant to be loving, judging by how little criticism of TR's behavior we see - makes him seem a buffoon. Roosevelt's accomplishments come across as dumb luck, or achieved thorugh bullying Congress, and his personal eccentricities make him seem a figure of ridicule. It doesn't help that Morris is a clumsy writer. If you want to know more about Teddy Roosevelt, better to read David McCullough's "Mornings on Horseback" - which only covers the first thirty years of his life - and then wait for PBS to repeat its "American Experience" biography on the man.
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King - A girl is lost in the woods, as only Stephen King would do it. Well, to be honest, there is little here that is uniquely King, but this is an entertaining (and surprisingly short) book. It's also King's "baseball book," as the Tom Gordon referred to in the title is indeed the baseball player of the same name. Some of King's ruminations-in-disguise about God, baseball, and life are interesting, but the story of carried mainly by the girl as she struggles to survive. New King readers might wish to try this, due to its length and its very low gore content.
Marvel 1602 - It's 1602, and strange but familair things are going on. Can Sir Nicholas Fury and Dr. Stephen Strange, Queen Elizabeth's spymaster and physician respectively, save the day?
This is Neil Gaiman's high-profile first work for Marvel Comics, and odds are that if you can't stand super-heroes, you'll scratch your head and wonder why Gaiman did this. OTOH, if you respect Gaiman but find his usual style of writing or his subject matter to be uninteresting - like me - this might surprise you as much as it did me. Gaiman weaves together a large cast of retrofitted Marvel characters, launching the Marvel Age of Heroes 400 years early in a witty, sometimes thoughtful epic adventure. Be warned, however, that a working knowledge of the classic Marvel characters is required. Non-superhero fans, non-Marvel fans and those who find history dull should stay away. Everyone else is happily invited in. It's hard not to wonder what might have been if Gaiman's youthful love of comics had led him to follow a path similar to that of Alan Moore. Who knows what kind of heores we'd have. (And the hardcover collection of this series is only $25, slightly less than the eight issues were in their original format.)
Theodore Rex by Edmund Morris - This is the second part of Morris' biography of Theodore Roosevelt, covering TR's years as president. I know that Roosevelt is regarded as a great leader, but unfortunately, Morris' depiction of the man - meant to be loving, judging by how little criticism of TR's behavior we see - makes him seem a buffoon. Roosevelt's accomplishments come across as dumb luck, or achieved thorugh bullying Congress, and his personal eccentricities make him seem a figure of ridicule. It doesn't help that Morris is a clumsy writer. If you want to know more about Teddy Roosevelt, better to read David McCullough's "Mornings on Horseback" - which only covers the first thirty years of his life - and then wait for PBS to repeat its "American Experience" biography on the man.
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King - A girl is lost in the woods, as only Stephen King would do it. Well, to be honest, there is little here that is uniquely King, but this is an entertaining (and surprisingly short) book. It's also King's "baseball book," as the Tom Gordon referred to in the title is indeed the baseball player of the same name. Some of King's ruminations-in-disguise about God, baseball, and life are interesting, but the story of carried mainly by the girl as she struggles to survive. New King readers might wish to try this, due to its length and its very low gore content.