The Star Online: Lifestyle: Bookshelf
The Star Online: Lifestyle: Bookshelf |
| Posted: 30 Sep 2011 12:46 AM PDT The Echo Chamber Author: Luke Williams Publisher: Viking, 372 pages NARRATED by 54-year-old Evie Steppman, this is the story of family, childhood memories and a great empire. Steppman was born two months after the due date given by the doctor. Her birth killed her mother. She was blessed with acute powers of hearing as a child – a result of her father always talking to her while she was in her mother's womb. She grew up in Nigeria in the 1950s during the last decade of British rule and now, as an elderly woman, her hearing is starting to fade. She must write her story down before she forgets, but even alone in an attic in Scotland, all is not as quiet as she hopes. Think Your Way To Wealth Author: Napolean Hill Publisher: Jeremy P. Tarcher, 367 pages Originally published in 1948, this book records the author's encounter with industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie who is well-known for his rags-to-riches life story. Back then, writer Hill was blown away by Carnegie's response to this question: What is the secret of your success? This book is his record of that meeting with Carnegie and includes advice, how-tos and practical steps to achieve success in the business world. The Small Change Diet Author: Keri Gans Publisher: Gallery Books, 211 pages The author, a spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association, shares her plan for weight loss that she claims will last a lifetime. The principle behind this strategy is about turning smart habits into second nature. Say goodbye to counting calories and eliminating entire food groups – it is the small adjustments that often make the biggest impact. Retirement Heist Author: Ellen E. Schultz Publisher: Portfolio, 233 pages This journalist from the Wall Street Journal has been covering the retirement crisis for over a decade. In this book, she reveals how hundreds of companies are plundering and profiting from employees. Pensions and health coverages have been slashed for millions of retirees, but is it really due to an ageing workforce and spiralling costs as employers would like their staff to believe? Companies are purchasing life insurance policies on employees without telling them, so they can collect the death benefits when the employees die. Is there more behind this retirement crisis story than meets the eye? Me And My Sisters Author: Sinead Moriarty Publisher: Penguin, 446 pages The three sisters think they have nothing in common, but that couldn't be further from the truth. Julie used to be the carefree one, but now she's a mother of four boys under five years old and her marriage is falling apart. She needs help from her sisters but they don't understand because they have perfect lives themselves – or so it seems. Sophie has a loving husband, a well-behaved daughter and lots of money. People call her shallow and spoiled, but she doesn't care. Louisa is a successful lawyer with no time for anyone or anything but work. But one mistake made during a drunken night out means that she might lose everything she has spent her life working for. What are the Devlin sisters to do? Toxic Free Author: Debra Lynn Dadd Publisher: Jeremy P. Tarcher, 241 pages What toxic chemicals are lurking in the products that you use every day? What toxic chemicals are in your shampoo, fabric softener, clothes, ironing board, coffee, water, vegetables? Do you suffer from unexplained headaches and fatigue? How do you eliminate them from your life? This book discusses how toxic materials in consumer products affect health and what tools you need in order to minimise your exposure to such harmful substances. Pretty Author: Jillian Lauren Publisher: Plume, 275 pages Everything's perfect now that Bebe's musician boyfriend, Aaron, has asked her to move with him to San Francisco to start a new life there. And then, all it took for that dream to shatter was a fatal car crash. He died, she survived – and now she is stuck in Los Angeles with nowhere to go. It's not easy being a recovering addict and former stripper in such a situation, but support sometimes comes from places you least expect. Miracle Beach Author: Erin Celello Publisher: Nal Accent, 328 pages Macy Allen had always relied on her horses and her husband, Nash, to pull her through the hard days of her life. She considers her marriage a happy one – one built on trust with no secrets between them. But after Nash dies in an accident, she uncovers devastating secrets about his life and she is not sure anymore that he is the man she thought she knew. Nash's mother blames her for the accident and when Nash's dad moves to Vancouver in an attempt to feel closer to the son he never really knew, all hell breaks loose. Then along comes a child who tugs at their heartstrings. But how much of a difference can a child make? |
| Rebirth of cool on the comic scene Posted: 29 Sep 2011 07:55 PM PDT Reborn. The perfect word and theme to sum up this month's comic events, courtesy of the ongoing DC 52 blitz and Marvel's Ultimate Universe revamps. On the surface, DC's star studded reboot appears an obvious choice compared to Marvel's "unknown" white poly-bagged offerings but as the saying goes – never judge a book (comic) by its cover. Ultimate Comics – All New Spider-Man #1 WOW!" was the exact word I said a decade ago after reading the Brian Michael Bendis/Mark Bagley inspired Ultimate Spider-Man. Back then, the sight of a back to basics Spidey soaked with movie-glitter offered up a refreshing makeover for the wallcrawler. It was old-is-new again as we got to see a contemporary perspective of Peter Parker's ascend to greatness and the joy of witnessing the recreation of Spidey's rogues gallery. That exciting ride lasted 160 issues (a remarkable feat by today's standards) but came to a tragic end last month – when Peter died battling the Goblin (Norman Osborn). While there are some characters that are simply irreplaceable, the "deaths" of Superman and Captain America have shown us that no one is untouchable, more so an Ultimate Universe-version of Peter Parker. Sadly, it's the Ultimate Peter that seems more appealing and possesses more room for expansion – unlike the mainstream Peter, who is constantly saddled by emotional baggage. Now that I got that out of my system, it's time to start getting used to the new "Spidey" – Miles Morales. Miles who? Having a total unknown stepping into the shoes of a comic book legend is an unthinkable act that borders between lunacy ... and sheer brilliance. Fortunately, we have the latter here as the creative team delivers a new spanking wall-clinging concept. In case you feel that there's too much "push-element" here – my enthusiastic nature stems from the comparisons made to two decades of failed Spidey-mutation attempts (think Spider Woman, Spider Girl, Spider Clone and Spidey 2099) and DC's Dakotaverse. Miles is the new Spider-Man. Not the new Peter Parker but rather a rookie equipped with his share of life's trials and tribulations, which is similar to how Peter began. The similarities continue as the African-American teenager shares Peter's penchant for science and has a good heart, which will eventually be occupied with great responsibilities. While Peter's transformation occurred via a chance encounter with a genetically altered spider during a science field trip, Miles gets bitten by a similar spider at his uncle's house. Not exactly an ideal environment to become a super hero but Miles' tough surroundings is bound to square him up with dodgy characters, including cat burglars who have just raided an Osborn-related safe. The connection with the old Spidey extends beyond genetically altered spiders, as Osborn, Aunt May and Gwen Stacy will be assuming significant roles in Miles' life. Characters aside, the presence of Bendis on the writing board ensures continuity with the past Spidey timeline. While I was initially disappointed with the absence of regular Spidey artist Mark Bagley, newcomer Sara Pichelli is as big a revelation as Miles is. Her clean illustration style is perfect for the changes as evident by Spidey's new threads. I seriously feel that there's a lot of potential here and the "enhanced powers" angle is just the tip of the iceberg. Peter would have certainly given the thumbs up. Superboy #1 (DC/US$2.99) IF we can accept an unknown teenager as the new Spidey, then what more a clone with Kryptonian DNA. In the same mould as Kon El who was the recipient of the best and worse DNA combination possible (Kal-el and Lex Luthor were his donors), this new incarnation revisits the cloning option but with some minor twists. Apart from the Kryptonian element, the new Superboy also has telekinesis and his future team up with Titans is inevitable. However, the value proposition here is character depth as Superboy's "origin" is spliced and spiced with a lot more behind-the-scenes detail. While the link between Superboy and Superman is still sketchy at this juncture, their inevitable meeting should be a cracker! Resurrection Man #1 (DC/US$2.99) TRUE to his namesake, Mitch Shelley gets another shot at life through this relaunch. In case you have not read his exploits a decade ago, this is one anti-hero whose powers are a function of his death (every time he dies, he comes back with a power that relates to the cause of death). To colour up his persona, DC did inject some occult and time travel proportions into his adventures with the Phantom Stranger and Vandal Savage. But it never did take off. The revamp here revisits the occult angle by putting Mitch's soul up for grabs. Apparently the countless resurrection exercises have enhanced his soul, making it a prized possession for angelic and demonic beings. Apart from Mitch's return, the Body Doubles are back too – and you can expect the trigger happy femme fatales to fast track Mitch's resurrections. Fear Itself #6 (of 7) (Marvel/US$3.99) THE penultimate issue of Marvel's 2011 main event has the House of Ideas unleashing every trick in the book from Midgard to Asgard. With Thor's "prophesised death" the main attraction, the focus is on getting him back on his feet in time to stop the Serpent's trail of destruction. Elsewhere, Captain America is once again faced with a grim situation as Earth is days away from annihilation while Odin is too stuck up to lift his divine finger. This is one of those build-ups you see in most action packed movies, with Cap's offensive attitude, Odin's high handedness and Tony Stark's negotiating skills providing the drama. History in the making stuff! Comics courtesy of Earth638 (2.31J, Kelana Street Mall, Jalan SS6/12, Kelana Jaya, Petaling Jaya, Selangor – next to Giant Hypermarket). Hotline: 03-7804 8380/e-mail: earth638@yahoo.com, Twitter: @earth638. |
| This Major Zombie is hard to chew Posted: 29 Sep 2011 07:54 PM PDT Major Zombie features eye-catching artwork but a puzzling plot. Major Zombie: The Blood Trail IF you've been keeping tabs on the Malaysian comic scene, you'll probably be familiar with multi-talented Penang-based artist Julian "Lefty" Kam's Major Zombie. Published under the independent Gilamon Comics label, the superhero/adventure series is about, umm, a zombie who's a major? We need to read up on the back story. The Blood Trail marks the first time we've read a Major Zombie comic (the character has been around since 2003 with two titles Black X'mas and Love And Loss to chew on), and we had plenty of questions as we were reading it. Why is our undead hero helping strangers in Thailand? Why doesn't anybody bat an eye when monstrous aliens try to sell drugs to people on the street? And why is there a cemetery of super-warriors in Kampung Kerinchi? You might think that it's pointless to ask these sort of questions in a comic that's mostly about a super-powered zombie beating the royal snot out of supervillains in glorious action-packed fight scenes, but unfortunately that's not the case. See, a comic's narrative is important in establishing our interest (especially first timers) in the story, and The Blood Trail's not keen on developing its plot with detail. For some background, we surfed the Internet and discovered that Major Zombie was once Supreme-Man, a sort of A-list superhero. His life changed when he was infected by a zombie virus after rescuing a girl from the Zombie King's clutches. Yes, Supreme-Man died but from the grave rose Major Zombie. If we read correctly, Kaktus, the girl he saved from the Zombie King, eventually became his sidekick. In this new book which carries on Major Zombie's adventures, Lefty wrote and illustrated story #1, The Blood Trail while Faezal Tan wrote and illustrated story #2, In The Dead Of The Night. It feels like the characters are just moved from one scene to the next until we get the satisfaction of watching Major Zombie lay the smack down on the current Villain Of The Day in the climatic boss fights. This is a shame for two reasons. Firstly, the comic has some solid artwork and excellent action scenes, but they're let down by the writing. Secondly, the two stories in The Blood Trail actually held a lot of promise. One had Major Zombie chase down a murder mystery involving drugs, strippers and monsters in Thailand; while the other had the hero stopping an undead army. If these stories were expanded across, say, half a dozen issues, then we might have had a really engrossing story on our hands, but unfortunately they were instead crammed into 24 pages and eight pages respectively. Oh, one more observation we'd like to note: The Blood Trail's printed on recycled Tetra Pak cartons, giving the pages extra heft and adding an interesting tactile element to your reading experience. The dark brown pages does, however, give the visual impression that you're reading the comic in perpetual twilight, but hey, we're all for saving the world, whether it's by recycling or by beating up monsters. All in all, we liked the artwork and the series' potential enough to keep an eye out for the next issue. Major Zombie may not be the best comic we've read, but we're not going to give it up for dead, either. Major Zombie: The Blood Trail is available at Kinokuniya KLCC. Browse gilamon.blogspot.com or facebook.com/gilamonstudio for more details. |
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