Cornelius Kane’s crime story is animal noir at its best. No humans live in the metropolis of San Bernardo; the two main populations are cats and dogs, forever at odds. Cats exist in the upper echelons of society, residing in tony Kathattan. The working-class dogs, stuck in their pack mentality, toil down in the squalid [...]
Archive for the ‘Quirky characters’ Category
The Unscratchables, by Cornelius Kane
Posted in Books, Characters, Clever dialogue, Crime fiction, Fast-paced, Humor, Jinker's Picks, Quirky characters, Readers' advisory, Satire on December 29, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
The Good Humor Man, by Andrew Fox
Posted in Books, Characters, Dark humor, Jinker's Picks, Quirky characters, Readers' advisory, Satire, Science fiction on December 28, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Cross Fahrenheit 451 with Soylent Green and you’ve got The Good Humor Man. Although a futuristic tale, the reality of the premise may not be that far off.
In the year 2041, America is trying to recover from GD2 (The Second Great Depression). For the protection of the public, food is strictly regulated by the [...]
The Falcon’s Malteser, by Anthony Horowitz
Posted in Books, Crime fiction, Jennifer D.'s Picks, Junior Fiction, Quirky characters on November 19, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Anthony Horowitz may be best known in the book world for his Alex Rider adventures. I, however, first became aware of him through his Diamond Brothers Mystery series. Set in London, the books are narrated by Nick Diamond, kid brother to “detective” Tim Diamond. I put detective in quotes because he is [...]
Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog
Posted in Clever dialogue, Jennifer D.'s Picks, Quirky characters, Superhero, Television shows on November 18, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
There is something a bit meta about blogging about a DVD about blogging, but I’m doing it anyway. Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog was originally released as a series of three 15 minute webisodes created by Joss Whedon (of Buffy-fame) during the writers’ strike. It has now been released as a DVD and is [...]
Olive Kitteridge, by Elizabeth Strout
Posted in Andrew's Picks, Books, Characters, Gab Bags, Language Focus, Literary fiction, Quirky characters, Sense of place, Setting on October 30, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
I’ve read a number of books that present themselves as short story collections, but which, when taken as a whole, comprise powerful novels. I think one reason that this succeeds is that the author can approach the same topic from a number of different angles without losing the narrative thread that ties the whole package [...]
Diary of a Wimpy Kid, by Jeff Kinney
Posted in Books, Children's, Humor, Jessica's Picks, Junior Fiction, Quirky characters, Readers' advisory, Young Adult on October 12, 2009 | 21 Comments »
Greg Heffley is being forced by his mother to keep a journal (“but if she thinks I’m going to write down my ‘feelings’ in here or whatever, she’s crazy”). Except we really probably ought to call it a diary, since that’s what it says on the cover, despite Greg’s instructions to his mother (“when Mom [...]
Best Served Cold, by Joe Abercrombie
Posted in Books, Dark humor, Fantasy, Neil's Picks, Quirky characters, Readers' advisory on September 21, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Can violence be justified? Can we commit acts of righteous vengeance without being poisoned, perverted by our own violence?
These are the questions considered at depth by Joe Abercrombie’s new fantasy standalone novel Best Served Cold. As the novel opens, Monza Murcatto, a mercenary general, and her brother Benna go to a meeting with their employer [...]
Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987)
Posted in Dwight's Picks, Humor, Movies, Quirky characters on September 19, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
I was sad to hear that the legendary movie producer/director John Hughes passed away last month. He was most famous for his teen movies of the 1980s, including The Breakfast Club and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, but his best comic movie by far is Planes, Trains and Automobiles. It is the travel misadventure movie of [...]
Body Movers by Stephanie Bond
Posted in Books, Crime fiction, Fast-paced, Mysteries, Quick read, Quirky characters, Readers' advisory, Rebekah's Picks, Romantic Suspense, Southern fiction on September 18, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
For some reason, which I cannot now recall, I was speaking with one of my colleagues about people who clean up crime scenes. Sadly, this has become a business–cleaning up people’s murders and suicides. In the course of the conversation, she mentioned a fiction series called Body Movers, which I decided to try. The first [...]

