Ernest Khoo
Interesting autobiographical graphic novel of the writer of American Splendor. A honest and heartfelt tale which reveals the author's insecurities and desire for recognition. A pleasant surprise read for me.
“Dirty secrets thrive in clean cities.” Eye-opening and is a piece of cultural anthropology of a trade that's not often discussed in the mainstream.
An epic retelling of the Arthurian story from female perspectives. Due to its length, it took me a while to finish the book. What struck me about this book is how Bradley manages to tie in all the snippets of the Arthurian legends and makes it her own. Unlike the knightly romance versions, this is a more down-to-earth retelling. In truth, none of the characters are truly good or evil, but they are just doing what they feel is right, which makes this retelling refreshing. This version is also about the struggle between paganism and Christianity and coming to terms of both sides. A truly satisfying read.
Epileptic is David B's chronicle of his life and dealing with his brother's epilepsy. Intense and deeply personal, the book plunges deep into the author's psyche and the art reflects the wild and sometimes primitive rumblings in his mind. It is not really an easy book to read through due to the melancholic nature of the story which permeates through the black and white panels filled with surrealistic and raw pictures. Still, one cannot deny that this memoir is a remarkable and highly imaginative graphic tour de force.
Extremely violent but absolutely awesome! It's the dream of a comic fan translated into the comic pages. I couldn't help but smile when Hit-girl said ‘For my Daddy and your balls' when she started her revenge spree. Now got to see if the movie lives up to the brilliance of the comic.
Really liked this book. It's the winner of 1994's World Fantasy Award for Best Novel but the subject is not your typical fantasy. The ‘fantasy' element comes in with the main character's ability to reconstruct music and he does it to the major rock icons. That's about it. But they are perhaps some of the best parts in the book, recreating scenes with The Beatles, Beach Boys, Jim Morrison and Hendrix. There's also the other part of the story where he deals with the breakdown of his marriage and somehow finding himself again, which is just as good and intensely emotional.
Happened to be watching Girls at the same time when reading this. Felt like the narrative thread could have intertwined with that in the series. Surreal...
Tale of a battle between angelic factions with World War II as the backdrop. Epic story.
Grabbed this off the ebook library at my local library. One of the very few self-help book that I've picked up to read. Interesting as it affirms my introvert character. Otherwise, it's nothing much unusual for an introvert. Might be useful for an extrovert to read this to understand us introverts though.
My first Bernard Cornwell book and it's entertaining! The story of English archers' superiority at Agincourt is told though the eyes of an archer, with the grime and savagery of battle. A great read.
For non-programmers attempting to understand the arcane world of creating software, this book gives a great insight to how mammoth the task is. The tale of the attempt to create Chandler is dealt with in enough details that makes me really respect coders, even though this software eventually did not get anywhere.
Not quite what I expected. Story seems to be disjointed but somehow made sense eventually. Still prefer the earlier issues of The Authority.
Liked the earlier volumes of the series more than the later ones. Things got more convoluted as the series dragged on. But loved the way the story moved back and forth in time to tell the tale.
This is not a book that you can easily get into, simply because Doctorow invents so many different concepts that it takes a while to wrap your mind around them. But once you understand the setting and the terms like Whuffie, deadheading, etc, you start to enjoy the story. In that sense, it is quite a progressive and enjoyable novel. Overall, to me, the key to the story is the concepts and the settings rather than the characters.
At first, one would think that this is like Battle Royale. In many ways, it is, but there's also something endearing about it as it contains much more about why the Games occur, and also the psychological mind games to outwit the Gamemakers. Best of all, it' first part of a trilogy, and we get to follow the story about the winners after the actual game ends.
This is a Superman book where Superman is actually human, not some baby who crashed into Earth. The story is contemplative and reflective, and there are no super villains to battle. Instead of a action superhero comic, you have here a literary work. My favorite part is the end when Clark Kent looks back at his life, and the art style changes from the Golden age superman to a more modern look as he reflects over the years of his existence.
Starts off as a fantasy but develops into one that explores the opulence and decay of the Roman Empire, and the fate of Julius Caesar.
Started a little slow, but as the story progresses, it became interersting. In addition to a story of a shapeshifter, there's also politics, intrigue, all set in a late Roman time period.
Re-read this and other than the ironically dated phone technology found in a society where time travel is possible, still a good read.
Surprisingly poetic for a horror novel. Moral of the story here is that laughter defeats evil.