Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Roderick Rules

Diary of a Wimpy Kid:
Roderick Rules
Author: Jeff Kinney
Publisher: Amulet Books
ISBN: 978-0-8109-9473-7

First off, I'd like to mention that this book was probably funnier than the first one, and like its predecessor, I probably would have finished it in one day, had I not simultaneously been reading 'An Uncommon History of Common Things.'

This is also the first novel that I have reviewed in eBook form, using the Amazon Kindle Fire and therefore, that theoretically should be the format that the ISBN in the right corner reflects accordingly.

The book once again follows Greg Heffley during his Junior High adventures, and this particular book describes in great detail the hilarious antics that ensue during a district-wide talent show. 

Much like its predecessor, nothing goes according to everyone's plans when entering the talent show. In an attempt to get "discovered" by a record label, Roderick's band, 'Loded Diper' (yes, that's how they spell it--I can't make this crap up!) enter the talent show so that they can have their performance filmed, which would allow them to send the tape out in the mail.

This, of course, backfires horribly, much to their dismay, thanks to Greg and Rodrick's embarrassing (but well meaning!) mother when she decides to "censor" their music as well as try to sing and dance to it, which of course, is the primary part that is caught on film by the broadcasting network that is run by their local school district. 

If you have--or haven't read the first book, then this one gives a nice, brief recap of the first one, by describing Greg's summer vacation, including visits to his grandfather, whom lives in a retirement home, as well as goings on of the retirement home itself). This is also the second book in the series, and the second book to have a movie adaptation. One of these days, I will probably see if I can rent the movie on either Amazon Prime, or from the nearest library in Colorado.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: A Novel in Cartoons

Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Author: Jeff Kinney
Publisher: Amulet Books
ISBN: 978-0-8109-9313-6

This novel was an good one. It was funny, interesting, and empathetic. I started and finished it today, all in one afternoon. The format was also nice and easy to pick up. It was mostly a novel, but not in the traditional sense of the word. The book was written in the style of somebody's notebook, so in that respect, it was another book that read like somebody's English paper. 

The illustrations in the book were also a nice touch, and also reminded me of some of the scenes in the Harry Potter movie series where there are notes being passed and animations can be seen on some of those said notes. 

The interesting thing about this book is that it did not have a Table of Contents, which, now that I think about it, makes sense, since it is supposed to be modeled to look like somebody's journal. While a Table of Contents would help with the reviewing of this book, considering the style that the book is written in, I'm actually glad that it does not have this feature, because it would  most likely detract from the overall look and feel of the book itself. 

Theoretically, the book is supposed to take place in Middle School, however, the book makes references to things like "recess," albeit sometimes in past tense. This makes the setting a little confusing, but not to the point where it detracts from being entertaining. It even goes through the entire school year, including student body elections, yearbook nominations, and other events, which is a very nice touch.

Probably my favorite parts of the book were the references to the student newspaper. While I never had this type of position during my years as a K-12 student, the narrative was still entertaining. The comics that were created in this chapter also were funny, and were also really nicely designed, even though they're supposed to look immature, which added to the overall theme of the book quite nicely.

Would I read this book again? Heck yes. In fact, the next time I get a chance to go the Parker Library, I will probably look and see if they have some of the other novels in the series available. Not only was it entertaining, but it was also simple enough to understand that I was able to finish the entire book in one day. It is definitely worth picking up if you haven't already done so.

I'll Mature When I'm Dead: Amazing Tales of Adulthood

I'll Mature When I'm Dead:
Amazing Tales of Adulthood
Author: Dave Barry
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons
ISBN: 978-0-399-15650-2

This is the second of Dave Barry's books that I have read thus far, and for the most part, it was pretty funny. The book covered multiple different stages of life that everyone goes though, albeit, with a humorous twist, as is the style of the author. 

To be perfectly honest, I am not completely sure how much of it I could empathize with, because I have not had similar life experiences yet (although I could probably relate to his younger group of friends he refers to when he is a new parent).

The book then goes on to describe other different stages of life, such as elementary school-level sports, gives a solution to pop-culture insanity, and even starts to get in to the later stages of life, such as weddings of his (the author's) children, and even some of the geriatric procedures, including the colonoscopy.

There are even some other ideas regarding his profession and writings for different pop culture references that were of the period when the article(s) in question were written. For the most part, the book as a whole is pretty solid. However, and I will admit this, there was a part that I started to read, but instead I got permission to completely skip over, which is known as 'Fangs of Endearment.' I do not know when the "multiple chapter article" was written, but I can only assume that it was written around the same time as at least the first Twilight movie, because the writing style is very similar to what I saw in the previews for said movie(s).

On the upside, however, the pop culture reference that I enjoyed immensely (and almost didn't catch it!) was the chapter entitled '24: The Ultimate Script.' Initially, I assumed that it meant Chapter 24 of the entire book. However, after reaching back into memory, it occurred to me that the author was referring to '24' (as in, the television show). Once I realized this, I was able to appreciate the humor in it and eventually finish the novel as well. 

All in all, I would definitely recommend this book to anyone. For the "Twi-hard" fan, there's 'Fangs of Endearment,' and for everyone else, I would read the rest of the book and skip that chapter. The colonoscopy chapter was especially hilarious, and I will probably recommend that one to my mother, assuming she hasn't already had one done yet.

History of the Millennium (So Far)

History of the Millennium (So Far)
Author: Dave Barry
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons
ISBN: 978-0-399-15437-9

During my childhood, Dave Barry was a humor columnist from Miami, Florida, who was syndicated to my hometown newspaper. Growing up, I never read any of his articles, because quite frankly, I was more than likely too young to understand the jokes.Well, during my most recent trip to the Parker Library, I was browsing through the adult books (nothing dirty intended!) and this was one of his two books that we (I was with my brother's family) managed to stumble across.

To say that the humor in this book is strange is a borderline understatement. Having previously finished Douglas Adams' 'Hitchhiker's Guide' series, I feel as though I can pick strange humor out of a line-up if suddenly prompted to. 

While the level of strangeness pertaining to the book is almost on par with 'Hitchhiker's,' the main difference in this book, which is a collection of 'end of the year' articles (along with some made up stories that fill the gap up to when his actual columns take place) is that the writing style is a lot easier to understand. It may also help that as I kept reading the book, I realized that the author's sense of humor is just as warped as mine is. 

Would I read this book again? Probably so. In fact, if memory serves, we also have another one of his books currently checked out from the Douglas County Library in Parker, which I will probably start on next. As I progressed in the book, I started to notice events that I remember quite vividly, starting in the early to mid 2000's, which would have put me in my early years of high school by the time the book ends (chronologically speaking--this book doesn't end in the present year). 

At any rate, I can confidently say that I would definitely and without hesitation, recommend this book to anyone, regardless of their sense of humor. The writing style is very easy to comprehend (much like Marley and Me) and if you're too young to remember some of the events that took place, it makes for a good history lesson as well. 

Console Wars

Console Wars
Author(s): Blake J. Harris
Seth Rogen (Foreword)
Evan Goldberg (Foreword)
Publisher:  Harper-Collins
ISBN: 978-0-227669-8

I read this book during the Fall 2014 semester for my Humanities class at Sinclair. Initially, this was not my first choice when I started it (I initially picked 'Final Jeopardy'--which turned out to be "more than I could chew"). However, as I got deeper into the novel, it became really interesting. 

Like most of the books I have been reading lately, this novel was pretty well balanced, and the writing style was easy to comprehend, to the point of when I wrote the book report for it, I compared it to somebody's assignment for the English Composition I class.

On another convenient note, when I read it that semester, it ended up not only being the book I picked for the Humanities grade, but I was also able to reference it in one of my assignments for the English Composition I class I was taking simultaneously. 

The book is a little biased towards the Sega side of the argument, but only because it goes into detail about the life of one of it's employees at the time, a man named Tom Kalinske. However, it also does give some details about Nintendo's side of the battle, not just in the role of video games, but also in other corporate and charitable affairs. Sega's non-video game business ended up being in Health and Education, especially in the battle against the AIDS virus, which was apparently quite serious for about thirty years before the dawn of the twenty-first century, whereas, Nintendo bought a stake in the Seattle Mariners' baseball team, in order to prevent them from being traded or sold to another owner or city. 

All in all, I would highly recommend this book to anyone without hesitation (especially because it helped me get an "A" in an entry-level college course!). On another note, I have heard there is a movie being made of the book as well, and I look forward to seeing what becomes of that news, especially whether or not it is as amazing as this book was. 

Different...Not Less

Different....Not Less

Author(s): Temple Grandin, Ph.D.

Tony Attwood, Ph.D. (Foreword)

Publisher: Future Horizons, Inc.

ISBN: 978-1-935274-60-5

I initially read this book about a year or two ago, so the review is a little dated, and possibly fuzzy. At any rate, the book itself instead of being a biography of the author, herself, is a collection of short biographies of people on the Autism/ADHD spectrum. 

The people mentioned in the book come from all walks of life. Such examples include, but are not limited to tour guides and retail sales, physicians, psychologists, and teachers. When I initially read it, I felt that there was a lot to live up to when compared with other people in the book.

In a sense the information in the book, was (as ironic as this sounds) both a confidence booster and deterrent, because even though the people in the book were on the spectrum and successful, it gave me a feeling of "Wow. There's suddenly quite a lot of expectation to live up to."

None the less, I would still recommend it to anyone, whether they're on the spectrum or not. It is very well written, and quite enlightening. Sure, it doesn't have any of what I would call the "celebrity" types, such as Dan Ackroyd (even though I have heard he has also been supposedly diagnosed). 

On the other hand, that actually makes the book easier to relate to because most if not all of the people that the book profiles have average jobs. Probably the most high profile job mentioned is with an advertising agency, but even that seems less intimidating than a well-known actor. And before it is asked, I already mentioned a recommendation at the beginning of this paragraph. 

Hoax: Hitler's Diaries, Lincoln's Assassins, and Other Famous Frauds

Hoax: Hitler's Diaries, 

Lincoln's Assassins, 

and Other Famous Frauds

Author(s): Edward Steers Jr.

Joe Nickell (Foreword)

Publisher: University Press of KY

ISBN: 978-0-8131-4159-6

This book was one of those that was in a class all by itself. That's not to say that it was particularly good or bad, however. In fact, there were probably only two chapters in the entirety of the novel that I had trouble or felt uncomfortable reading. Also right off the bat, this review is loaded with spoilers, so if you plan on reading the book, pick a different web page now.

Probably my most favorite part of the book was at the very beginning (sad, but true!). The first hoax they discussed was about Joseph Smith's first vision in a document referred to as the "Salamander Letter." Now anyone who has taken  or given Latter-day Saint missionary discussions definitely knows right off the bat that this letter is false without even reading. Some of the quotes at the beginning of the book are pretty profound as well, such as one from Napoleon Bonaparte, which reads: "History is a set of lies agreed upon." 

Some of the other frauds, however, I almost fell for, or just made interesting stories. The book covered a lot of different historical objects and events, such as the Shroud of Turin, The events surrounding Pearl Harbor and World War II, as well as Lincoln's assassination. They even threw in a documents that I had never even heard of, called the Oath of a Freeman.

All in all, I feel that this book in a sense has an appeal to both history enthusiasts and conspiracy theorists. It is definitely worth a read if you haven't picked it up yet.

Jim Henson: The Biography

Jim Henson: The Biography
Author: Brian Jay Jones
Publisher: RandomHouse/Ballantine

ISBN: 034556112

This particular book was an interesting read. Being a full biography, it started with the beginning of Jim's life in the southern United States (I believe Mississippi, to be exact). It also told the entirety of his career, which, apparently started about twenty years before Saturday Night Live went on the air, which surprised me.

 The biggest thing I got out of the book was the list of different characters that he created, as well as their origin stories (spoilers all around!). Kermit did not originally start as a frog, per say, and a lot of the other Muppet characters started as props for different advertising products (Rowlf's original intent was for Purina commercials, etc).

What I found especially funny were the different reactions that people had to Jim's characters when they met for the first time. The Saturday Night Live chapter was especially hilarious because of how negative the reactions of actors such as John Belushi and Dan Ackroyd were. At any rate, I would highly recommend this to anyone without hesitation. There are a lot of good stories in it, and if you grew up with the Muppets like I did, then there is a lot of appreciation for the backstory of each character, as well as Jim, himself.

Marley and Me

Marley and Me
Author: John Groban
Publisher: Harper-Collins
ISBN: 978-0-06-168720-4

As with the 'Hitchhiker's Guide' series (or at least the first volume), this is another example where I saw the movie before I read the book. Going along with that, it was also another example where the movie adaptation was very accurate to the book.

The story follows the author, his wife, and their adventures with their dog, Marley. It starts in southern Florida where Marley is a puppy, and it shows a lot of gradual change in their lives. John works in journalism, and it describes his eventual move to a columnist position. At first he is reluctant by this, but as he gets used to the job, he realizes that he can use the position to his advantage by writing about Marley, who is a Labrador retriever that likes to get himself into a lot of trouble.

I found myself to be really emotionally invested with this particular novel. A lot of the emotion was mostly humor, because that was really how the story felt. By the end, however, the happiness turned sad and depressing and for the first time, I really felt that particular raw emotion with this story. Yes, I can say that now, since I have read the book, but initially, when I saw the movie, I didn't really get that emotion, but that could be because I was at a different place in my life than I am now. 

Would I read the book again? Probably so, but seeing as how I am right in the middle of a Colorado winter, I would hold off for a couple of months because apparently winter depression runs in my family (presumably from both sets of parents). At any rate, I would highly recommend picking this book up and giving it a try. Like 'Hitchhiker's Guide,' its movie counterpart is very accurate to the book, and if there are any deleted scenes on the DVD, they are probably very minor and don't cut out any majorly important plot points.

  

The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide

The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide
Author: Douglas Adams
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 0-517-14925-7

This particular series is an interesting one. Except for one short story, it follows the life of Earth human being Arthur Dent, and his adventures through space and time. I started reading the series kind of on a whim, and took a break after two or three books to read Marley and Me, just so I could keep myself placed in reality. 

The series has sort of a Star Wars feel to it, but with quirky British humor. I found that the first book was the easiest to read because it was the only book in the series that was made into a movie. After reading through probably either the fourth novel, or the included short story, I watched the movie again, and in comparison with the book, there were only two deleted scenes on the DVD copy that I had. Now normally this would probably seem like a big deal, but after watching the scenes in question, I thought back to the book itself and reached the conclusion the the omitted footage in question was eliminated for time constraints, and wasn't immediately relevant to the plot overall. 

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (book one) introduces most of the major characters in the series, and shows how they all meet. It also tells the story of the destruction and reconstruction of Earth, as well as where humans "fit in" in the grand scheme of the universe. 

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (book two) picks up right where the first one ends. All of the main characters go to the Restaurant at the end of the Universe, for a bite to eat. However, the thing that the first book fails to mention is that "end" doesn't refer to a particular destination, but instead a point in time, as in "The universe will end when dinner is over." There is also some grand theft auto described, where one of the main characters, whom literally has a split personality, decides to steal a different spacecraft other than the one he flew in on, which was also presumably stolen. This book also talks about the corporate offices of 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy,' which is supposed to be the "book within the book," although due to its size, all of the volumes are stored on a folding tablet-like device.

Life, the Universe and  Everything (book three) brings us to a planet known as 'Krikkit,' which, in essence, is an Earth-like planet that is stuck in the caveman era. It also tells of a creature that has nine lives and is reincarnated each time Arthur visits a different era, where he unintentionally destroys one of the creature's lives.

So Long and Thanks for All the Fish (book four) is about a girl that goes by 'Fenchurch,' whom Arthur Dent pursues a relationship with. Along these lines as the story progresses, we find that Arthur Dent finally makes his way back to Earth and supposedly the girl is crazy, because we meet her brother, Russell, who is a cab driver, and also happens to be the one who tries to take her back to the insane asylum.

Young Zaphod Plays it Safe is a single-chapter short story that follows Zaphod Beeblebrox (the guy with two faces) during his days of working for a salvage company (think 'Sanford and Son,' but set in space). The weird angle of this particular part of the volume is that "safe" is completely out of character for him, especially if you read the other stories in the volume. As I was reading it, my initial thought was "Wow. Pixar should have picked up the rights to this one and made a cartoon out of it." 

Mostly Harmless (book five) brings us back to the life of Arthur Dent, only this time he is stranded on an alternate Earth in a different galaxy where he is a legendary "sandwich maker" for the planet. The book also has a chapter of back story to go with this arc and it is quite hilarious. Like the other books, it doesn't make a lot of sense, but it is still hilarious none the less. It also wraps up on the same planet, however, and even though I was glad to be done with it by the time I reached the final page, I was also slightly let down because I felt that it sort of just dropped off on the foreign Earth without resolving too much. 

All in all, if your sense of humor is as warped as mine is, this book is definitely worth a read. However, based on personal experience, I highly recommend taking a break between books three and four in order to save sanity and live in reality a little. (I actually read Marley and Me during that break--review later).