Thought Train to Pusan

I will admit that when it comes to comicbooks (and especially well-established characters), I have read far less than I would have liked. They all have so much history and so many appearances that it's hard to keep up or even know where to start! Therefore, a lot of my knowledge of these characters has come from just looking things up, talking to friends who are also into these worlds, and ultimately watching the films of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Along those lines, I must say that I absolutely ADORE the movie  Captain America: The Winter Soldier , and therefore thought the Winter Soldier storyline might interest me in the comics. That being said, having seen the movie (and no I did not cry the last time I watched it, what are you talking about??), I can't help but now face the book without wanting to compare the two to one another. There weren't too many new twists to be found in this collection, having seen the general plot play out in the film, but how plot ultima...

I feel like I’ve been saying this about a lot of books lately, but I just seem to want more. I’ve had The Sisters Brothers stashed on my e-reader for a few years now but haven’t gotten around to reading it until now. The writing is simple and easy to follow, and the story is interesting in that I wanted to see see what wacky antics would happen as the story progressed, but I ultimately wasn’t all that engaged by it. It’s as though certain scenes and interactions between people would be laid out with lots of detail as though they should be focused deeply on, only to not end up coming back up again or really meaning all that much in the end. Maybe that’s one of the themes, though: things happen and sometimes they don’t amount to much or lead us anywhere close to where we thought we would be. The Sisters Brothers is set during the California gold rush, and follows two brothers, Eli and Charlie Sisters, as they perform a job for a man named the Commodore. These brothers are essentia...

I don’t know why I keep trying to read books by Chuck Palahniuk. That is not to say that he’s not a good writer, it’s just that his very distinct style and way of telling a story is not for me. I’ve given him a go with a couple of other novels, but I think I’ve just come to realize that while I can see why others might like his work, I just can’t seem to enjoy it. And that’s okay. Though I will say that out of the three books I’ve read by Chuck Palahniuk to date, this one was not my least favourite, so that’s a good thing! Damned is about a thirteen year-old girl who has just died and is now in Hell. The story of how she died and what her life was like is told through almost a series of journal-entry type chapters addressed to Satan. Her accounts of Hell are vivid and include a lot of grotesque filth and imagery, as well as descriptions on how the whole operation is set up to run as she comes to learn more and more. Madison is intelligent and snarky, but defin...