Why Does Batman Carry Shark Repellent? And Other Amazing Comic Book Trivia, by Brian Cronin

Ever wonder what some of the craziest items in Batman's utility belt were, or what the heck Aquaman is good for anyway?  Want a look back at some of the ridiculous ads found in the backs of comic books? What comic book artists were lazy and stole work from other artists?  This book is a treasure trove of comic book trivia that is sure to please any comic aficionado.

I will say right off the top, I am not a comic book person.  I have nothing against them, loved the Archies comics as a kid, but never really got that into comics.  However, I had several boyfriends and friends over the years who were crazy for comic books, so I did get some exposure over the years.  As an adult, I have learned that I do really like graphic novels, and the mythology behind comic book heros, so when presented with the opportunity to review this book, I jumped at the chance.  It did not disappoint.

The thing I most like about this book is that the trivia is divided into short, topically specific lists, with different contributing authors.  I found that this really made the book flow nicely, and kept the information organized in a way that even a comic newbie would be able to follow.  While I was not completely familiar with most of the story arcs, characters, and information covered in the book, I still found it intensely interesting.  My proclamation, up completion of the book was, "I want to go read all the comics".  

I do think this book will really appeal to people interested in comics on many levels.  Novices like me will learn a ton of information, and increased interested is sure to be sparked.  Those more versed in comic book ephemera may know most of what the book covers already, but may like hearing the views of many of the artists and writers contributing to the comic industry today.  And who knows, perhaps there is a nugget or two in here that even the seasoned comic veteran never know.  All in all, a great book.

I received a review copy courtesy of the publisher.

Jeff, One Lonely Guy, by Jeff Ragsdale, David Shields, and Michael Logan

Jeff was reeling from a bad break up, living Manhattan, and feeling completely isolated.  In a desperate effort to reach out to mankind, he posted fliers with his phone number, asking people to call and talk to him.  Calls started pouring in, as photos of the flier went viral all over the internet.  He recounts some of the striking phone and text conversations he had as a result of this experiment.

When I heard of this little social experiment, I was fascinated.  I thought that this was an incredible social experiment, as one man attempted to connect with real people while living in a society obsessed with virtual communication.  I was incredibly disappointed for so many reasons.

First off, I found the set up of the book to be clunky.  The conversations Jeff has do not seemed to be organized in any sensible fashion, other than a random word from one conversation would be also found in the next conversation, and by random I mean something as meaningless as the word "cornflakes".  This means there is no flow to the content of the book. It makes it really hard to read, and although it is separated into chapters, there still is no sense to the order of the conversations.

For someone who claimed to be reaching out to connect with society, it seems as though most of the conversations are with lonely women, and are about sex.  Which makes me think this was just a way for Jeff to get his jollies, have free phone sex, and sext with strangers.  A few of the women mention Jeff having sent them explicit pictures, and elude to the fact that he is engaging in explicit conversations.  I find this really troubling.  I feel like he is preying on lonely women with low self esteem, and calling it art.  I just was really turned off.  Maybe he had deep meaningful conversations, conversations that were life changing for both him and the person on the other end.  But mostly, the conversations in the book are about sex.  It was kind of gross actually.

Finally, a quick internet search reveals that Jeff Ragsdale has done some questionable things in the past, media stunts fooling The New York Times, landing himself on various tv shows, "protesting" in New York just to get in the spotlight.  I highly suspect that this is just another stunt, an attempt to lengthen his 15 minutes of fame, and doubt that some of these conversations actually happened.  If he posted his real number, I am sure he got lots of calls, but I am not sure he was lusted after by strange women as the book portrays.

All in all, I really cannot recommend this book for any reason other than boredom and idle curiosity.  But I warn you, it is kind of gross, and for me it was a huge let down.

I received this book as part of the Amazon Vine review program
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The One, by RJ Smith

Born in the segregated South, into poverty, nothing came easy to James Brown.  Everything he got, he got through hard work and industry.  The son of a turpentine man, Brown started out as a shoe shine boy, ended up in a juvenile correction facility, was a skilled athlete, and full of soul.  Brown drew musical influence from the performers on the chitlin circuit, only to go on to dominate the music industry for years.  He influenced numerous musical genres and continues to serve as inspiration to performers today.

Let me start by saying that I personally have never been a fan of funk or soul music.  I think that had I grown up in the era of their inception, I actually would love the music.  So, in all honesty, I knew very little about James Brown going into this book.  Many of the songs mentioned were unfamiliar to me.  So, this book was really an introduction to the Godfather of Soul.  And what a comprehensive introduction it was.

I felt like the book did a great job of establishing Brown's humble upbringings.  I was pulled in at the very start, learning about his childhood.  Being unfamiliar with the musical history of the South, I was fascinated to read about the wealth of talent to come from Georgia.  I loved hearing how James Brown met Little Richard.

Similarly, I was really enthralled to read about the impact of the Civil Rights Movement on Brown.  It was fascinating to learn the impact of the ever chancing sociopolitical situation, and how Brown both affected it and was affected by it.  However, the middle section of the book was very heavy handed with details about the music, changes in band line up, and the ever elusive "One".  To a music aficionado, or a huge Brown fan, I am sure this section of the book is interesting, but to me, I was a little lost.  It really slowed down my reading during the middle portion of the book.

The last portion of the book covered the only part of Brown's life with which I was familiar, from the 1980's on.  I remembered a lot of the stories discussed, so again this part was really fascinating to me.  The book overall paints a truly fascinating portrait of James Brown, not all of which is positive.  It made me deeply respect James Brown and all his musical contributions.

I received a review copy of this book courtesy of the publisher and TLC Book Tours.

Puzzlebook: 20 Easter Puzzle Quizzes, by the Grabarchuk Family

This Kindle book is filled with interactive color puzzles specifically designed for the Easter season.  Fully interactive, selecting the correct answer will take you to the solution page, while the wrong answer will send you to a page prompting you to try again.  Puzzles start off easy and increase in difficulty as the book progresses.

This was a much different kind of book for me to review.  While my husband is the real puzzle lover in the family, I enjoy a good puzzle or trial of logic now and then, so I thought this would be a good book to try.  This was my first encounter with an interactive Kindle book.  Since I do not have a Kindle Fire, and my Kindle is in black and white, I first tried the book on my Kindle for PC.  It was really fun, until I encountered a technical issue.  Due to the text per line and text size setting on my application, I encountered a few puzzles where the answer selection choices were spread across two pages, and the ones on the second page did not respond to clicking.  This is easily rectified by switching to a smaller font size, so that all answers appear on the same page.  The parameters for best viewing are listing at the end of the table of contents, so be sure you pay attention and set the text accordingly!  I also tried the book in my iPhone Kindle application, and it worked perfectly.

Technical parameters aside, I really enjoyed this book.  The puzzles were unique, quite different from the same old same old you find in many puzzle books.  Some were easy, some I found a little challenging.  Which is exactly what the book promises.  This would be a perfect ebook to give as a gift to a game lover, or an older child who has outgrown an Easter basket.

This was my first encounter with an interactive Kindle book, and I must say I found it really intriguing.  In a world where everything is becoming more tech savvy and interactive, I found this to be a cool alternative to standard paper and pencil puzzles.

I received a review copy courtesy of the author.

Found, and Found II, by Davy Rothbart

  Ever find a random grocery list and wonder about the person who wrote it?  Read a neglected apology letter and wonder what sins for which it was begging forgiveness?  See a long lost photo and make up a story about the people in it?  If you answered yes to any of those, or wished you could have, then these are the books for you.  These books take lost scraps of paper containing lists, pictures, poems, letters, term papers, notes, and more, and try to determine where they came from, and why.

It all started with someone putting a note on the wrong car.  The author found a note on his car one night, obviously intended for someone else with a similar car, and immediately wondered about the person who left it.  This sparked an interest that led to looking at other "found" items, which led to a magazine of "found" items, which in turn led to books.  Of course, the whole thing is terribly voyeuristic.  And really really fascinating.

These are the kind of books you can look at on a Monday, and ponder one way, then look at again on Thursday, and ponder in a whole new light.  It is not quite art, but brilliant none the less.  I love these books, because they remind us all of ourselves, things we have written or drawn, or seen.  Silly things we have done in life.  Sad stories we have heard.  This is humanity in raw form.  It is sort of hipster anthropology.

This is a great couple of books for your coffee table, useful as conversation pieces, or the 'just for fun' shelf of your bookcase.  Perfect for when you have had too much Austen, not enough wine, and a non-existent romantic life.  The books will make you laugh, make you frown, make you feel shocked and disturbed, and make you come back for more.  Trust me, these books are best bought as a set.  Because once you have one, you will want the other.

Cut!, by Denise Imwold, Andrew Brettell, Heather von Rorh, and Warren Hsu Leonard

What is it about movie stars that fascinates us?  We want to know everything about their lives.  We even want to know about their deaths.  Sometimes the deaths are tragic accidents, sometimes the results of illness, and sometimes murder and scandalous deaths.  This book explores the lives and deaths of some of Hollywood's elite.

I am a sucker for old movies, so when I saw this book was bargain priced, I had to pick it up, thinking I had little to lose.  Personally, I think I scored a bit of a treasure with this one.  I love movie trivia, and I like to read stories about movies and movie stars, so this was right up my alley.

I thought the book was well organized into different sections, with the appropriate amount of information on each star.  I also liked the variety of stars covered in the book.  Most were ones with which I was familiar, as least a little, but there were a few instances where I learned about stars that were new to me.  And in some instances, I learned some interesting new facts about the stars with which I was familiar.

While this is not a highly academic or scholarly read, nor is it very literary, I found this book highly interesting and entertaining.  This is a great book for film buff, particularly those interested in older movie stars.  While the subject matter could be considered a bit morbid, it is also quite fascinating.

Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho, by Stephen Rebello

I, like many movie fans, think of the movie Psycho as a smashing success, quintessential Hitchcock.  And of all Hitchcock's movies, it is one of the ones with the most longevity, and major impact on a specific movie genre.  But it never started out that way.  In fact, while the movie was being made, many thought it was folly, and very uncharacteristic of Hitch's brilliance.  It was decidedly low budget, and took a lot of risks content wise.  No one thought it would be a success.  Boy, was the joke on them.

Psycho has long been one of my favorite movies.  I studied it in a college film class, and learned a lot of the well know nuggets of trivia, chocolate syrup for blood, first flushing toilet on film, stabbing melons to get the stabbing sound.  But this book digs so much deeper, beginning with the horror that inspired the tale, Ed Gein.  A solid foundation about Gein's activities is laid in the early part of the book, enough to inform you but not so much as to be sensational.  We then learn about Bloch's book, and how Hitch aquired the rights.  And then, the book details every single aspect of the movie, casting, wardrobe, publicity, everything.

This book is as close to someone like me, who was not around when the movie was released, can get to reliving the initial impact Psycho had on American culture.  And this book translates well over time.  With only a couple of exceptions, the text does not appear at all dated, despite the fact the book was originally written over ten years ago.

All in all, I found this a good, solid read, well researched, and really interesting.  It will be a great book for any movie enthusiast you know, particularly fans of Hitch or the horror genre.

A review copy of this book was provided courtesy of NetGalley.