PJH Studios

Category: Books

All things books, fiction, nonfiction, sci-fi, thriller, horror, comics, literary

  • Review: A Visit From the Goon Squad

    ★★★★☆ [amazon_link id=”0307477479″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan[/amazon_link] – Central to the story are time, music, Bennie Salazar and Sasha. Beyond them are pasts that they share between people they’ve known and places they’ve been.  Bennie is an aging record executive and Sasha is his assistant. The story travels back and forth in time, sometimes jumping past, present and future all within a paragraph describing out people try to escape their actions despite the passage of time. The format is unorthodox, and a long chapter, told in the guise of a PowerPoint deck, comes across as amusing at first, then sobering. Jennifer Egan figured out how to wring emotional catharsis out of a PowerPoint deck. In a sense, the past catches up with all the characters presented to tell a story of transformation.

     

  • Recent non-fiction reads

    [amazon_link id=”1422133443″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]HBR’s 10 Must Reads The Essentials[/amazon_link] – This complilation collects 10 articles that business leaders should readily consider–strategies for broad aspects of business.  Each article is summarized in a side bar with the key points. This is handy as the articles are 20-30 pages in length.  Drucker, Porter, Christensen are all present with topics covering leadership, innovation, strategy, analytics and more.  Standout articles: Michael Porter’s “What is Strategy?” and John P. Kotter’s “Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail”.  If you have access to a good library, you should be able to find these articles, and with some effort, Google Scholar can dig them up.

    [amazon_link id=”0385529058″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Click by Ori and Rom Brafman[/amazon_link] – Ever wonder what causes people to click? Ori and Rom divulge five factors: vulnerability, proximity, resonance, similarity and shared adversity. Also, there are individuals who can adjust their temperament to their circumstance, which they call high self monitors. The book is a quick read, under 200 pages, and illustrates each point with well told stories.

    [amazon_link id=”1591843529″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Personal MBA by Josh Kaufman[/amazon_link] – Ever wonder what MBAs learn? Josh Kaufman distills key, critical and essential concepts and principles across all facets of business.  From the hard numbers of accounting, fuzziness of marketing and organizational development to fluidity of strategy, each concept is summarized and provided an example.  It’s not meant to be read straight through, it’s meant to be read as a reference, or perhaps a means to translate business lingo into something concrete and meaningful.

    [amazon_link id=”0142001104″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Art of Possibility by Rosamund and Benjamin Zander[/amazon_link] – Across 12 points, uplifting and inspirational stories are used to tell the power of being inclusive, constructive, positive and seeking understanding.  Definitely worth a reread to focus on doing good things and keeping a good mindset.

  • Recent fiction reads

    And by recent I mean, in the last 6 months.

    [amazon_link id=”159514188X” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher[/amazon_link] – Clay Jensen receives a box of cassette tapes, narrating why a dead classmate killed herself. Hannah Baker tells of teenage heart break and cruelty that pushed her over the edge. The novel shows how a little empathy and compassion can mend a troubled soul.

    [amazon_link id=”1594744769″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs[/amazon_link] – Jacob’s grandfather always told stories, colorful stories of life during World War II. Dismissed as a way to deal with the horrors of war, his grandfather was never taken seriously until he is abruptly murdered. A note left for Jacob directs him to Wales, where his grandfather grew up. In trying to figure out the mystery of his grandfather, Jacob discovers his grandfather’s colorful stories were very real, and in the process discovers himself in World War II. Unique characters throughout with an interesting take on time travel and good and evil. The ending is a bit of a cliff hanger, alluding to a sequel and where the story will ultimately go.

    [amazon_link id=”0385534639″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern[/amazon_link] – A magical, beautifully crafted novel where every word adds to the story. A mysterious circus that arrives without warning tells the story of a competition between two illusionists, their love and their passions. Strong and developed characters, Celia and Marco create feats of magic for the circus not knowing when the competition will end. *Highly recommended*

    [amazon_link id=”1439132852″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Monster Hunter International by Larry Correia[/amazon_link] – Monsters are real, and in this pulp, sci-fi, horror mashup, a team of monster hunters collect bounties for killing monsters.  Owen Pitt finds this out the hard way after being attacked by a werewolf , surviving and being recruited by Monster Hunters International. Owen learns everything in the horror movies is real, and learns of a much broader plot of the Cursed One, to take over the world in the name of the Old Ones.  It’s a mindless story full of action and gore with some developed characters.  If you like guns, knowledge of various arms is fairly extensive.

    [amazon_link id=”1439133913″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Monster Hunter Vendetta by Larry Correia[/amazon_link] – Owen Pitt lived to see another book.  A death cult led by the Shadow Man intends to take over the world.  Same stuff different book.

    [amazon_link id=”B003LL2Z1W” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Brains by Robin Becker[/amazon_link] – What if a zombie retained its greatest personal ability. For Jack Barnes, it’s the ability to think.  In this zombiefied riff on Frankenstein, Barnes retains an acid wit and lucid tells of his life as a zombie.  A short, quick read, and at times overwritten.  Amusing if you’re into zombies.

  • Review: Creative Black & White Photography by Harold Davis

    [easyazon-image-link asin=”0470597755″ alt=”Creative Black and White: Digital Photography Tips and Techniques” src=”http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41%2BUp%2BR-BSL._SL160_.jpg” align=”left” width=”128″ height=”160″] [easyazon-link asin=”0470597755″]Creative Black and White: Digital Photography Tips and Techniques[/easyazon-link] by Harold Davis is an excellent starting point for beginning photographers or a good reference for advanced photographers looking to learn new techniques.

    Most valuable to beginners is the first section, The Monochromatic Vision. Davis clearly and concisely discusses basic photographic concepts to make a good picture. These concepts extend well beyond black and white pictures. He gives examples and considerations to take into account for each concept. Also, photographs are provided to illustrate the concept with a detailed caption of how the photo applies and technical information about it, as well.

    The second section, Black and White in the Digital Era, introduces the tools and basic processing techniques for black and white photos. The tools are Adobe-centric, detailing Adobe Camera Raw conversion, Lightroom and Photoshop. These processing techniques can be found in other tools, only implemented differently. Davis emphasizes the power of RAW files and how best to work with them to get black and white images that have contrast, tones and impact.

    The third section, Creative Black and White Opportunities, builds on the previous section to provide steps for effects and tricks like sepia coloring, duotones, soft focus and more. This is where Davis really shows the art in the process of processing an image. There are numerous ways to go, and it depends on the photo to create the desired effect.

  • Recent comics reads

    [easyazon-link asin=”1401229697″]Daytripper[/easyazon-link] – Gabriel Ba and Fabio Moon: A lush, moving and beautifully illustrated graphic novel tells the story of obituary writer Brás de Oliva Domingos and his life. Themes of love, redemption, friendship, fatherhood, work and the purpose of life intertwine with each chapter. At first, Daytripper’s gimmick seems abrupt, but as it progresses, the narrative builds as time jumps back and forth within Domingo’s life. The supporting cast of characters serve their purpose with purpose as part of the story. Ba has written a meaningful story and Moon colorfully illustrates each page with artwork that feels alive.

    [easyazon-link asin=”1607061597″]Chew Volume 1: Taster’s Choice[/easyazon-link] – John Layman and Rob Guillory: Tony Chu is a cibopath, able to discern an entire history of an object by eating it. He’s also a cop, who after a botched arrest, is hired by the Food and Drug Administration, where in the world of Chew, is the most powerful government agency in the U.S., due to an ongoing bird flu pandemic. He is teamed with a fellow cibopath, Savoy to solve a case of a missing FDA inspector. Chew is a bizarre concept, surreal at best, playful but serious in the story its telling. This is not for the squeamish. Guillory’s artwork is colorful and lively and brings an animated feel to Layman’s story. Definitely work checking into other trade paperbacks.

    [easyazon-link asin=”1401229654″]iZombie Vol. 1: Dead to the World[/easyazon-link] – Chris Roberson and Mike Allred: Gwen is a zombie, but not a conventional zombie. She needs to eat a brain once a month to stay functional or else she starts to go crazy. Her two friends are Stacy a ghost who died in the 60s and a wereterrier (like a werewolf but not quite as vicious) named Spot. Add a mysterious man with connections to the past, a covert monster hunting group, and various factions of undead, you’ve got the concept. The characters are simple, the conflict pretty generic and the artwork, while well drawn, doesn’t add life to the story. In this first trade, the story doesn’t get interesting until the last chapter.

    [easyazon-link asin=”1607060906″]Dead@17: Ultimate Edition[/easyazon-link] – Josh Howard: This collects the first four trade paperbacks of the Dead at 17 series, which features Nara Kilday fighting the undead and evil spirits. The art is light, animated and clean, and gets better as the series progresses. The story rarely veers from the pattern of conspiracy of the undead controlling some power that needs to be stopped. There are some unique twists, and depending on your patience, decent subplots. At times, the narrative feels rushed and overly wordy at times. Surprisingly, there are strong Christian undertones of life and redemption.

    [easyazon-link asin=”1401213170″]Scalped Vol. 1: Indian Country[/easyazon-link] – Jason Aaron and R.M. Guerra: A gritty, modern noir set on an indian reservation in the Dakotas. Dash Bad Horse ran away from the reservation at 15 to make a life for himself, and now enforces law for Lincoln Red Crow on the Prairie Rose Indian Reservation. The characters and interactions are complex and violent. Definitely worth following and reading additional trade paperbacks.

  • Recent reads

    Some thoughts on the books I’ve read over the past two weeks:

    1. [easyazon-link asin=”0385533853″]Robopocalypse: A Novel, Daniel H. Wilson[/easyazon-link] – a fast paced science fiction thriller, where, in the future, mankind’s robots rebel. Told from the perspective of a handful of characters, Robopocalypse begins Archos gaining sentience and killing his master. From there, a violent, dystopian uprising occurs. Themes of survival, humanity, redemption and evolution occur throughout. If you read a lot of sci-fi, you’ll notice similar elements–cold, logical robots, hacking, cybernetics, etc. It’s already been optioned by Spielberg for a movie.

    2. [easyazon-link asin=”0571160565″]Lord of the Flies, William Golding[/easyazon-link] – Somehow, I got out of high school not reading this, the tale of how a group of boys descend into savages on a remote island. Symbolism abounds as the story progresses–Christ figures, society, morals, rational logic, rules. I found myself annoyed by what Golding captures well–the constant squabbaling of young boys, particularly over the same few things and specifically the damn conch.

    3. [easyazon-link asin=”B003VYBEK2″]Escape From Cubicle Nation, Pamela Slim[/easyazon-link] – What gives Slim’s book more weight is the fact that she’s done it, and provide concrete steps to overcome fears. Getting ideas, fleshing them out, how to test them, how to figure out the finances, how to live. She quotes other experts a great deal and provides relevant anecdotes–good and bad. More can be found at Escape from Cubicle Nation.

    4. [easyazon-link asin=”0399157506″]The Book of Even More Awesome, Neil Pasricha[/easyazon-link] – Appreciate life, and be grateful at all the things that there are to enjoy. This is the second book that collects Pasricha’s blog, 1000 Awesome Things. [easyazon-link asin=”0425238903″]The Book of Awesome[/easyazon-link] and The Book of Even More Awesome serve well as coffee table books, or books you pass around and read aloud with friends–they’re meant to be shared.

    5. & 6. [easyazon-link asin=”140122430X”]DMZ Vol. 7: War Powers[/easyazon-link] & [easyazon-link asin=”1401227260″]DMZ Vol. 8: Hearts and Minds[/easyazon-link], Brian Wood – Continuing the story of Matty Roth, reporter in the war zone that is Manhattan, War Powers has Roth acting as recently elected Delgado’s right hand man to seek out gold in Chinatown. Roth realizes he’s a pawn, and isn’t as independent as he wishes to be. This leads to Roth bargaining his position of power with Delgado, leading to Hearts and Minds, where Roth begins to use his new found political power with great consequence. The consequence–Roth doesn’t know how to wield power responsibly and ends with one wondering, are there any good guys?

    7. [easyazon-link asin=”0877881383″]The Creative Call, Janice Elsheimer[/easyazon-link] – Similar to [easyazon-link asin=”1585421472″]Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way[/easyazon-link] with weekly chapters of personal creative growth, albeit with a Christian perspective. There are still the daily journaling exercises, weekly tasks to focus on, but Elsheimer includes Christian scripture. This would be a good book for churches who’d like to take a different look at spirituality.

    8. [easyazon-link asin=”1935597035″]Crossing, Andrew Fukada[/easyazon-link] – Xing Xu is a Chinese born immigrant living in small town New York, feeling the awkwardness of being a teenager and the critical eye of an immigrant. Mysterious disappearances begin occurring around town and Xing investigates. It’s a brief, haunting and chilling novel as we witness Xing struggle to fit in and find acceptance. Sparse descriptive prose lead to a heartbreaking ending.

  • Review: The Terror by Dan Simmons

    Terror by Dan Simmons

    Dan Simmons attempts to write a supernatural, horror, historical novel version of Moby Dick. Where Melville’s monster was an albino whale stalking Ahab’s Pequod, Simmons conjures up a mythical beast that roams the Arctic Circle slowly picking off the crew of the HMS Terror and Erebus frozen in ice. And like Moby Dick, Terror plods along much too long with unnecessary plot lines and characters that only serve to let the author discuss themes.

    Evolution? Check! Nihilism? Check! Absurd 19th century social mores? Check! Evil white man? Check! Noble savage? Check! Alcoholism? Check! Environmental concerns? Eskimo mythology? Betrayal? Love? Cannibalism? Check! And so much more.

    What works well within the novel is the depth in which Simmons describes life aboard a Royal Navy ship and what it takes to run it. Using the ill-fated John Franklin expedition, in search for the Northwest Passage as a backdrop, each chapter is told from a crewman’s perspective, with the main character being Captain Francis Crozier. The novel begins mid story and chapters go back and forth into the past (of the expedition, characters lives) to tell how the crew got to its absolutely depressing point.

    Pointedly, men die as the novel progresses, in numerous ways. And like the unbearable cold of the Arctic, this tone doesn’t let up. Give us something to hope for, as there’s not much. Like most horror stories, what can go wrong whether it be from sheer character stupidity or the horrific force bearing down upon the characters, will go wrong in Terror. You have to wonder, is anyone intelligent or gives a damn enough to live?

    The blend of historical fiction and horror works, however, the unnecessary diversions to draw out themes bloats the story. Melville used an entire chapter on cetalogy, the study of whales. Simmons uses a sermon about Jonah being swallowed by a great fish. There’s a crewman who plays the human villain, who is a homosexual, while there’s a chief crewman who’s also a homosexual who feels like a token character to balance out the other. At one point, Crozier suddenly gains supernatural abilities himself, when there was no inkling that he had them at all. This feels forced.

    And then there’s the end, which feels forced, pulled out of nowhere to create a happy ending. Sure, we don’t know what happened to the crew of the Terror and Erebus, more than likely they all froze to death, but their descent into unintelligent-able madness seems a disservice.

  • Review: Tina Fey – Bossypants

    Tina Fey brings clever wit and charm to her memoir, Bossypants that tells of her growth as a creative individual. This creative individual is also a confident woman, business woman, mother, daughter, wife, keen and self aware of the life she lives. All these roles culminate as she recounts the perfect storm of getting Oprah to shoot a scene for 30 Rock, play Sarah Palin for the first time on SNL and pull of her daughter’s third birthday, complete with pirate cake. The lessons she learned from her father, Lorne Michaels, traveling with Second City and running a neighborhood theater kept her together for those crucial few days.

    Bossypants brings a female perspective to the creative industry that reads well, and insightful. One interesting passage is her photoshoot for Bust magazine, and she expounds on her feelings towards Photoshop. Fey understands its purpose when used appropriately–enhance images for publication, and recognizes when it crosses the line to distort reality.

    It’s knowing those lines, where Fey excels at sharing in a self-deprecating style that makes they key part of an issue relevant.

  • Review: Looking for Calvin and Hobbes – Nevin Martell

    Nevin Martell writes reverently of Bill Watterson in

    Looking for Calvin and Hobbes. The far reaches that Martell goes to find out who Bill Watterson really was, took him into the world of cartooning and going into the depths of Bill Watterson’s past. Numerous cartoonists were interviewed: Jim Davis, Bill Amend, Lynn Johnston, Stephen Pastis and many others. Martell even tracks down childhood friends, teachers, professors and business associates.

    He tells of Watterson’s growth as an illustrator doing political cartoons to transitioning full time to a start up strip to Calvin and Hobbes becoming the social behemoth it was on the comic pages. Over the course of this history, Watterson was serious about his craft, cartooning and his characters. So serious that he disputed with his syndicated, threatening to walk about when his contract was renewed. Watterson despised the commercialism and licensing that pervaded comics, and how syndicates controlled the market, with papers keeping old, stale comics alive with artists filling in after a creator had passed on.

    But there’s a richness to this story, seeing where characters originated, whether from family or friends to ideals Watterson held dear, which came out in his comics. Martell traces Calvin and Hobbes’ influence to later artists, and while near universal praise is given to Watterson, many still don’t get why he walked away.

    Looking for Calvin and Hobbes is an in depth portrait of a man many grew up with, that shunned the spotlight. Well sourced, nuanced and detailed it reads easily, and sometimes it comes across too attached.

    While reading, Martell captured what I missed about the strip and what made it unique, and what Watterson brought to the funny pages.

  • Swamplandia – Karen Russell

    Karen Russell’s
    Swamplandia! feels like a collection of short writing exercises that were combined to form some sense of a novel. The prose is colorful, descriptive and imaginative, so much it reaches eccentric, teetering on contrived to tell a story of innocence lost.

    The Bigtree clan lives on an island within the Ten Thousand Islands, running a theme park, Swamplandia!, showcasing live alligator performances. Twelve year old Ava Bigtree narrates portions of the book with a voice reminiscent of Scout, from To Kill A Mockingbird. Ava tells of the death of her mother, Hilola, to cancer that causes the eventual breakdown of the family. Ava’s sixteen year old sister, Osceola, deals with the death inward, finding a book of spells and begins to date a ghost and takes off to marry the ghost in the Underworld. Her father, whom she calls Chief, operates in grand fashion and hyperbole as if everything is fine, disappearing to the mainland to seek investors. Ava’s older brother, Kiwi, aware of the family’s financial circumstances, leaves to get a job on the mainland at a rival theme park.

    About a third of the way through the book, Russell switches perspective from Ava’s innocent first person voice, to a third person observer of Kiwi’s work at the World of Darkness. The novel then jumps back and forth between Ava and Kiwi, where Ava’s story descends into uncomfortable horror with a figure named Bird Man and Kiwi’s ascends unbelievably to becoming a pilot for a theme park attraction. Both lose their innocence of the world both emotionally, intellectually and physically.

    Russell employs symbolism to some effect. Ava hatches a lone alligator, born scarlet red, that plays a crucial role with Bird Man and her own innocence. Osceola’s descent into depression is the Underworld, and The World of Darkness is Kiwi’s lack of knowledge.

    All this builds to an unbelievable convergence of plot lines that ties up too well. Throughout, as a reader, you can’t help but know things that the characters don’t. At times this is clever, at times it feels cruel. Swamplandia! is an enjoyable read if you’re comfortable with a high wire act of colorful prose and gothic eccentricity.