Hitchhiking without Douglas

A friend had mentioned this to me a little while ago, but when I was in Borders today to buy something else, I saw a poster for the new Hitchhiker's Guide book that's coming out October 12. Wait, how can there be a new Hitchhiker's book? Douglas Adams isn't around, and he didn't leave any unfinished Hitchhiker's book. The unfinished book he left, The Salmon of Doubt, was originally supposed to be a Dirk Gently book, but there wasn't even enough there for someone else to finish it.

Well, it seems that another author, Eoin Colfer, has written a book in the series.

I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this. The Hitchhiker's Guide wasn't a collection written by a number of different authors. It was Douglas' world. I think he had someone else write the novelization of the Starship Titanic game, but that was his choice - that book was quite good, btw.

The only other time I've had this problem was with Isaac Asimov's Robot books. I loved the stories, absolutely loved them. His Three Laws were amazing, and what he did with those rules was a joy to read. When other people starting writing books using those laws, it was difficult to get used to the idea at first, but I read a number of stories and novels that also did a great job playing with the nuances of those laws. And ultimately, they weren't really writing in the same world as Asimov had been in, just with the same rules.


This is an entirely different proposition. These are characters I know, and know well. Is Arthur still going to be like Arthur? Will the characters still have the same voice? Will the story still be riddled with tangents that have nothing to do with the main story but are hysterical to read anyway?


I can't buy the book without knowing more about it. But on the other hand, I can't completely ignore the book. I expect that what I'll end up doing is setting aside a half-hour or so sometime after the book has come out, and I'll spend that time at the bookstore, reading the first couple chapters of the book. That should give me a good enough idea of whether or not I'll like the book. If so, then I'll buy it. If not, then I won't.


Douglas, I hope Eoin does you proud.

"Terminator Salvation" - movie and prequel book

We were in Borders on Saturday to buy something else (I *love* 40% off coupons!), and I happened to notice that Timothy Zahn has a book out tied to "Terminator Salvation" called "From the Ashes" (I'm including the Amazon link because the Borders link to the book sucks big time). It's billed as an "official prequel" and presumably gives you the story leading up to the events in the movie. The tag line to the book reads: "This is the story you must read before the brand-new movie hits theatres!"

I decided to buy the book on Saturday, but I've decided that I'm not going to read it until after I've seen the movie. I expect the book will set things up so that it makes the movie that much easier to understand, but I also think that lets the movie off the hook for any problems inherent to the movie itself. I love books that are related to or expand on movies, but I also think the movie should stand on its own, and you should not have to rely on a book to have the movie make sense.

So I'll be eager to read the book after I've seen the movie. I'm also planning on getting the official novelization of the movie, partly because I like Alan Dean Foster, who wrote it.

Part of why the prequel book caught my attention is that I love Timothy Zahn. I was introduced to him through the "Heir to the Empire" series of "Star Wars" books, which I absolutely love - Grand Admiral Thrawn and Mara Jade are definitely new characters worthy of being included in the "Star Wars" universe. After I read the first book, I liked his writing style so much that I sought out his catalog of previous books, mostly thanks to used book stores, and I liked him even more after reading those books. In particular, I love the Cobra series and the book of related short stories called "Distant Friends".


So, I'll have two more books to read after I see the movie. We have our midnight screening tickets for opening night. I can't wait!

"Star Wars: The Force Unleashed" - non-spoiler book review

I've been hearing about "The Force Unleashed", the new Star Wars video game, for quite some time. I'm not really that kind of gamer, so the game itself didn't interest me, but as I heard more and more about the story, I was intrigued. I was excited to find out that they were going to release a novelization of the story of the game, and I picked up the hardcover by Sean Williams when it was released. I just finished it over the weekend, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It had all the elements of quintessential Star Wars, and there was also a lot of good action and story and character development, and I found myself wanting to find out more and more. The story is set in the time shortly before the events of Episode IV and centers around Darth Vader's secret apprentice. We follow him through many missions and discoveries and along the way, we meet people he encounters and works with. He also has a droid that assists him, PROXY, and he's nothing like R2D2 or C-3PO, but I love his character as well.

There are lots of cool new planets, like where the rancor live, and we also visit some familiar planets as well as encounter some familiar characters. My only complaint is that there is one sequence which is a bit too reminiscent of a sequence in the original trilogy, but it didn't have quite the right tribute feel to it, more just a copy.

The video game is being released today, and the husband already has plans to pick up a copy today. Heck, the release of this game was the reason he even bought the PS3 in the first place. I'm looking forward to seeing him play the game so that I can watch the graphics of what I've already read. I'm curious as to how the game will be played out, and there's already one spectacular scene that they've shown in the previews that I now understand the context for.

Even if you're not interested in the game, I definitely recommend the book to any Star Wars fan.

"Quentins" - book review

My first introduction to Maeve Binchy was through "Circle of Friends". I had seen and liked the film enough that I was interested in reading the book that the film was based on. The book was actually different, and I liked the change in the characters better as depicted in the movie, but I also discovered that I liked Maeve Binchy's writing style. Many of her novels are also set in Ireland, which I find appealing for some reason, and I don't think my Anglophile nature accounts for that. She actually does have at least one book that's at least partially set in England ("London Transports"), but I really just like the way she paints her characters, and she also creates interesting plots. I've read several of her books, and when I was looking for something else to read, I picked up "Quentins" and read the back cover summary, which is usually how I figure out if I'm interested in a book I don't know anything about. Here's what it says:

Is it possible to tell the story of a generation and a city through the history of a restaurant? Ella Brady thinks so. She wants to film a documentary about Quentins that will capture the spirit of Dublin from the 1970s to the present day. After all, the restaurant saw the people of a city become more confident in everything from their lifestyles to the food that they chose to eat. And Quentins has a thousand stories to tell. But as Ella uncovers more of what has gone on at Quentins, she begins to wonder whether some secrets should be kept that way.

OK, it's a book set in Dublin ... written by Maeve Binchy ... centered on a restaurant. Ummm, anyone else hear the book calling my name?

Ella is the main character in the book through whom we meet just about everyone else (or at least friend-of-a-friend style), and she's got her own fairly complicated story which is interesting in and of itself, but what I really loved was the stories surrounding the restaurant - how it came about, the backstory of that, how it was developed, the side bits about the people who work there and the friends of people who work there, and then the best of all, the stories about the people who have visited the restaurant, whether regulars or single-time visitors. Most of them aren't there "just" to have a meal - there's a story behind it. That's what I found most fascinating. I think I enjoyed the stories about the diners and the workers because I've gotten the opportunity to get to know various people who work in restaurants, so in many cases, they're more than just a random server who I see one night in my life. Sometimes, we'll chit-chat about stuff or actually talk about things in each of our lives. There have even been cases where it has been a server, or chef or someone, that we've had only for the one night, but we somehow clicked enough that there was more interaction than just bringing my food or refilling my water. We've also heard lots of stories about other patrons at various restaurants, and I'll admit that sometimes, I do wonder about people at other tables, especially if there's something about their situation, dress, manner or something that stands out. Everyone has a story.

And that's part of the appeal I found in this book. I found myself racing through the book, not wanting to put it down, not wanting to stop, not wanting to leave that world. In some way, it actually reminded me of Mario Puzo's "The Godfather" as far as there being one major throughline to the book (even though the throughline itself had many twists and turns and facets), but there were a million branches along the way. Every person they encountered had their own story, which was generally told in the book, but which had to be cut because otherwise the movie would be a television series. The same branching occurs in this book. And it's the branches that are the proverbial icing on the cake.

(I know, I think I'm mixing metaphors or something.)

Going Underground on the Fourth

Since today marks the anniversary of the day the Colonies formally split from the British Empire, I figured it would be appropriate to give a little attention to jolly ol' England.

Going off on a tangent for a second, I want to know when the States started allowing dual/triple/multiple citizenships. According to what I remember, you had to renounce your allegiance and affiliation to all other countries when you became a citizen and dual citizenship was not allowed - you had to give up your citizenship to the prior country. I've always wished that I could have maintained my British citizenship - yes, I used to be a loyal subject of Her Royal Highness - but I was told that wasn't possible. Nowadays, I hear that multiple citizenships abound, so something must have changed since I was naturalized. There's no particular reason or benefit for my having wanted to also keep my British citizenship - I suppose it's just that Anglophile in me. Anyway, back on topic.

I found the London Underground Tube Diary blog through a news story a while ago. Someone who rode the Tube (the subway system in London is formally called the Underground, but it's often casually and affectionately referred to as the Tube) quite often was just posting observations from her travels, and the website apparently blossomed. It's a look into some of the daily happenings in, around and about the Underground. The only time I was in London years ago, I absolutely loved the Underground. It was very comfortable and easy to figure out, and it only took me one ride to get it all figured out. I've not been on that many subway systems, but the Underground is definitely my favorite, especially since I used it to travel around London, which I loved. However, you can get a decidedly different take on travel on the Underground by reading "Neverwhere" by Neil Gaiman - excellent, excellent book, by the way. And I'll admit that when I would look at the Underground map and see the spot of the Fenchurch Street Station, I would giggle to myself.

I hope to make it back to London someday, but in the meantime, I can at least keep up with the Underground.


And just because I like this sort of thing, here's Google's appropriately-themed logo for today.




May you have a happy, safe and fun Fourth.

"Postcards from the Edge" and "Cracked" - book reviews

"Postcards from the Edge" by Carrie Fisher

I had of course known that Carrie Fisher had fiction books that she'd written, very popular and successful ones at that. But I didn't go see the movie that was made out of one of them, and I never really had the inclination to read any of her books.

That is, until I saw Carrie during the Saturday night of Celebration IV, when she held a special event called "A Conversation with Carrie Fisher", in which she basically talked about various things and told various stories. After that, I thought I'd try out one of her books sometime, and I picked "Postcards from the Edge", her almost-biographical first novel. The book started slowly for me, when the lead character, Suzanne Vale, is having her stomach pumped after an accidental overdose and then goes into rehab. You learned a little about what brought her there and what she's had to deal with and what her quirks are. Then, inexplicably, you're thrown into the life of some guy who's obviously a hard-core and seriously-in-denial drug addict, and the action shifts between the two of them, culminating not surprisingly in their meeting when he enters the same rehab she's already in. I didn't care too much for his scenes and story, and frankly, I lost interest in the book and actually put it down for a little while. I *rarely* ever just stop reading a book. Eventually, I went back to it, and after Suzanne got out of rehab, she tried to get back into acting and there was various other drama that entered her life, and I found all of that to be much more interesting, and I ended up getting through the rest of the book much easier than during the beginning.

Generally, I liked the book, and Carrie has a bit of a quirky style, though of course, this was her first novel, and I'm not sure how much of her style was affected by it being mostly autobiographical. People may or may not know that she's been regarded as one of the best script doctors in the movie business for some time now. Somewhere down the line, I may decide to try one of her other novels, but her first one didn't speak to me enough to jump out and buy more of her novels right now.


"Cracked" by Dr. Drew Pinsky

I've been listening to Loveline on occasion over the past couple years, and I've really enjoyed listening to Dr. Drew Pinsky giving frank advice to people who call about every subject under the sun, but many relating to sex and addiction and abuse. He had talked about a book he'd written a while ago about his experiences working in a rehab hospital and how the book wasn't just about the patients, but it was about him as well. That intrigued me, so I picked up a copy of "Cracked: Putting Broken Lives Together Again - A Doctor's Story".

And it was merely coincidence that I read these two books one right after the other. It was kind of interesting to read the patient view of a particular type of rehab compared to the doctor's view of a slightly different kind of rehab.

You get a very clear idea of the different types of people who come into the Department of Chemical Dependency Services at Las Encinas Hospital in Pasadena, California. They're all medically addicted to a varying array of drugs, but what's most troubling about them isn't the medical addiction itself - it's often the trauma or circumstances which led them to the addiction in the first place. He introduces the patients and their background as well as the process of their detox and treatment, and he also tells you what he, the other doctors and the staff think of different patients. You see that sometimes, as much as the patient's family says they want the patient to get better, they're not willing to do the hard work to help make the patient better, which includes looking at themselves and how they've aided, abetted and sometimes, even encouraged the patient's continued addiction. There are a number of instances where so-called "well-meaning" family members actually hinder or sabotage the recovery process.

And because of everything Dr. Drew tells you about how he's feeling in various situations, you get exactly how difficult it is to be in a job like that. It's said that medical doctors and staff in a hospital/emergency environment have to maintain some kind of distance from their patients and remain stoic to some degree because there's no other way for them to survive the day-to-day traumas that they see and the patients that they're not able to save and the anguish and pain suffered by the surviving families. A similar sentiment can be made about doctors and staff who work in rehab facilities because of the failure rates that naturally occur, but they can't pull back to the same degree because part of the process involves dealing with the patients on a personal level. Dr. Drew talks about a few different cases where a patient was taught early on that he/she could never trust anyone, and with that reinforced during their years growing up, they were completely unable to connect with anyone, and many times, Dr. Drew had to try to be the first person that the patient could trust, could believe in, could connect with. If he could make that happen, the patient could possibly be on his/her way to forming more connections and moving along in recovery.

But Dr. Drew also experiences first-hand the pitfalls between trying to make that connection and becoming too personally involved, which could prove detrimental to both the patient and himself. He almost cares too much, and the stories that he hears from every patient who enters the hospital tear him to pieces when he hears about what the people have been subjected to, sometimes at very early ages, sometimes by the very people who were supposed to have been caring for and nurturing the patients. As much as we learn about the various patients, Dr. Drew lays his own feelings bare as well. One of the things I most liked about this book was that he was free to say what he wanted and how he wanted, without the constraints of what he can do on Loveline and because of the FCC.

This book was definitely a compelling read, and I breezed through it fairly quickly.


Dr. Drew has another book called "When Painkillers Become Dangerous" that I'm interested in reading for various reasons. First, I like his writing style (though I do know that "Cracked" was co-written by Todd Gold), so that's an incentive to read more by him. Second, I'm interested in learning about exactly how the addictions work on a medical and physiological level as well as the effects of various drugs on people. Lastly, since I'm currently wresting with whether or not I'm going to go back to a doctor to try to get a stronger pain medication that will actually work (since the ibuprofen appears to have lost its effectiveness with me again), I'm interested in knowing what other medications might be out there and the effects that all of them have. I'm getting the impression that my particular body chemistry wouldn't allow me to develop an addiction, so I'm not concerned about that, but I also have a feeling that my body won't let me take anything stronger than vicodin, which I've had before. I haven't yet been able to find the book on the shelf, mostly because it's been very confusing trying to figure out where Borders would shelf it even if they had it, so I may end up just ordering it.


If I wasn't cably-challenged, I would have definitely watched "Celebrity Rehab". I'm hoping that they'll release the series on DVD so that I can watch them, but I may have to settle for just the episodic downloads if they don't do a DVD. Dr. Drew has just started filming the second season of "Celebrity Rehab", which is scheduled to start airing in October.