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...