Lucas Blogs About Books

That's right, there's a holiday this week so I'm just phoning in the blog with a holiday message. Hope you've had a good year.

To clarify, these are books I gave to other people, which I guess is obvious from the fact that I only used two kinds of wrapping paper. Is there any gift better than a book? A book you'll actually read? Fair point, Hypothetical Reader. Anyway, Christmas is coming up and I thought I might talk about some of the books I'm giving people as gifts and why. Seems a tad indulgent . Agreed. For your sixteen-old-brother who never really seems that enthusiastic about reading: I went with Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick . I think this book has a lot to offer, even to people who don't necessarily think of themselves as readers. First of all, it's a sci-fi/detective noir that deals with questions of environmentalism and what it means to be human. Dick isn't the world's greatest prose writer, but his work is often more about the ideas involved anyway. There's plenty of action and intrigue, plus there's a famous movie adaptation...

Oh yeah, one of the pages came loose while reading. Might want to get on that Saga Press. Hey! Once again I'm setting aside the framework of the Hypothetical Reader to discuss a book that I enjoyed, and yet feel hasn't quite lived up to its potential. This time it's Temi Oh's debut science fiction novel, Do You Dream of Terra-Two? On an unrelated note, I'm a sucker for books whose titles are questions. I mean, I don't always buy them, but I think it's an effective marketing gimmick because it automatically engages the potential reader. Although it is sort of a double-edged sword because the response could just be, "Well, that's a stupid question." Anyway, in the case of this book, I initially misread the title as Oh Do You Dream of Terra-Two? because only the author's surname was given on the spine. Back on topic. Do You Dream of Terra-Two? is about the United Kingdom Space Agency's attempt to launch the first manned mission to th...

Happy 13th of the month, readers (both hypothetical and otherwise)! You know what that means: it's time for me to revisit another entry in Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events! Sticking with that intro? Yes. All right. SPOILERS  ahoy! The last couple entries have been a bit of a roller coaster. How do you think this one will turn out? Not sure. Anyway, enough chitchat, let's get down to the business of discussing. . . Book the Tenth: The Slippery Slope Well, what do you remember about this book? At first I thought I didn't remember anything, but then I said, "Wait a minute! Isn't this the book where the Baudelaires come across Quigley Quagmire?" You mean the brother of Duncan and Isadora Quagmire, believed to have died in a fire? The very same. Well, is this that book? Maybe. You're the worst, Lucas. We'll just see if I'm right. If I am that means we'll also see the destroyed wreckage of Hector...

Hey! Have you ever thought you could tell a story than its creators? I know I have. I am Lucas's Unbridled Hubris! I know I've spent a lot of time writing about Earthsea this year . That's partly because I first read the series this year and possess the zeal of a new convert. BT-Dubs, have you heard the good news about Ged, also known as Sparrowhawk, formerly the Archmage of Roke? In any case, how can I put this diplomatically? Both of the major Earthsea adaptations kinda suck. It was recently announced that A24 is developing a new miniseries with Jennifer Fox (whose work I am not familiar with) as a showrunner. And it turns out that Fox received Ursula K. Le Guin's blessing before her death in 2018. Now, you might say, "But, Lucas, Hallmark and Studio Ghibli also had Le Guin's blessing going into production, and both of their adaptations were disappointing at best." And you would be correct. However, I'll reserve judgment on this new adapt...

I usually make some silly joke here, but I am legit diggin' this cover design. Good on you, Jeffrey Alan Love. So, what's this book's deal? You ever wonder what it would be like if bigfoot were real? Wait, do you not believe in bigfoot? Well, I believe it's possible that there's some sort of unkown hominid species, but I am unconvinced by the specific evidence that has been offered of such a hominid existing in the Pacific Northwest. Anyway, Wild Life by Molly Gloss is an epistolary novel made up of diary entries and other writings, mostly by the novel's protagonist: Charlotte Bridger Drummond. Drummond writes speculative adventure novels while raising five boys in turn of the century Oregon. Wait, the turn of which century? The Nineteenth to the Twentieth, of course. Ok, boomer. Wow, that meme must be played out if it's appearing on this  blog. Anyway, Charlotte's husband disappeared a few years ago, when their youngest son, Jules (a...

That's right, there's no real post this week, but I hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving (or just a Happy Regular Thursday should you not celebrate Thanksgiving). In any case, I'm thankful for my parents who always encouraged me to read (well, them and Levar Burton ). Oh, and for any non-hypothetical readers of this blog (I know that there are at least a few of you).

Too bad I don't have a van to airbrush this on. So, what's this book's dea — again? C'mon, Hypothetical Reader, this is the penultimate volume of my favorite comic book. Can we drop the "Hypothetical Reader hates Squirrel Girl" routine. I am only as you write me. Oh, right. Anyway, it's The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Vol. 11 – Call Your Squirrelfriend  written by Ryan North, drawn by Derek Charm, and colored by Rico Renzi. Wanna talk about it? Fine. So, this volume starts off with a single issue story where Kang the Conqueror (a time-traveller who uses time travel and his 41st century technology to defeat his enemies) confronting Old Lady Squirrel Girl in a dystopian future. See, he's lured her into a building that he rigged to collapse on her forty years ago; only it doesn't collapse because the present day Squirrel Girl noticed the problem and fixed it in an earlier timeline. However, when Kang confronts her he's pertu...

Lions and orphans and freaks, oh my! Happy 13th of the month, readers (both hypothetical and otherwise)! You know what that means: it's time for me to revisit another entry in Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events! Sticking with that intro? Yes. All right. SPOILERS  ahoy! So, after an outing that you declared the series' best , I guess this has a pretty high bar to clear. I guess so. This is only the second book in which the protagonists find themselves on the run . Was that really necessary? Not really, but I like that song. Anyway, the halfway point seems to have been a pretty good place to change up the formula, so let's see if Lemony Snicket can keep up that momentum in . . . Book the Ninth: The Carnivorous Carnival So, what do you remember about this one going in? Can I plead the fifth? Given that this isn't a courtroom or congressional hearing and you're not under oath . . . no? All right. So, the Baudelaires have st...

Huh, I didn't realize that a book could be a libra. So, what's this book's deal? It's the conclusion to the Amberlough Dossier by Lara Elena Donnelly. We've discussed the two previous entries on this very blog. Oh, right. I'll get around to reading those one day. All, right, but we'll definitely be discussing SPOILERS  for the previous books, so don't say I didn't warn you. I will not. All right, so this book begins about five years after the end of Armistice . The One State Party (or Ospies) have been removed from power and the provisional government is preparing for the first election since the transition of power and the front runners are Opal Saeger, a populist organizer who worked within the Catwalk resistance group whose terrorist attacks helped oust the OSP, and Emmeline Frye, an industrialist with a firm understanding of policy and optics but also a clear bent towards cronyism and underhanded deal-making. Wait! What abou...

I had some travel delays today, the post that was supposed to go up today (Monday) will instead go up tomorrow (Tuesday). However, if you're reading this on Tuesday, then please disregard the previous sentence and enjoy the new post.

At least they got the human-to-dragon scale right. Hey! Remember a couple weeks ago when I talked about how much the old Hallmark/Sci-Fi Channel miniseries based on Earthsea ? Well, now I'm gonna talk about how Studio Ghibli donked up their Earthsea adaptation! SPOILERS , of course. The Farthest Shore (1972) & Tehanu  (1990) by Ursula K. Le Guin (with a little bit of Tales of Earthsea  (2001) & The Other Wind  (2001) thrown in for good measure) into Tales of Earthsea ( ゲド戦記 or  Gedo Senki ) dir. Gorō Miyazaki, written by Gorō Miyazaki and Keiko Niwa What gives? Studio Ghibli and Ursula K. Le Guin seem like two great tastes that should taste great together. Heck, if Teto (Nausicaa's pet fox-squirrel) isn't inspired by Ged's pet otak , I'll eat my hat (Please note: I will not eat my hat). The Original: All right, let's get this show on the road. The film borrows a good deal more from The Farthest Shore than Tehanu , so I'll focus a little ...