Ern's Monthly Page Turners (September 2009)

I know its the middle of October and my book reviews are late this month. But as I only read two books for the month of September, I debated about featuring these two titles with other books I will have read in October. Why only two books for this month? The main reason being my trip back to the U.S. I either slept or watched movies on the flight to and from and was busy writing up my blog pieces from said trip. So forgive me if my choices seem so few.

MORE BOLLOCKS TO ALTON TOWERS: FURTHER UNCOMMONLY BRITISH DAYS OUT by Robin Halstead, Jason Hazeley, Alex Morris, and Joel Morris – This is one of those fun travel guides to places not chosen for most regular guide books. I missed out on reading the first book, but this sequel has treasures of its own. When I think of Great Britain, what comes to mind as a potential tourist is Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, and Piccadilly Circus. These books do not give you any information on those. Instead, this book features places like the Margate Shell Grotto, the Hundred Acre Wood (home of Winnie-the-Pooh in case you didn’t know), the Yelverton Paperweight Center, and a bunch of other offbeat museums and collections you probably didn’t know existed or cared. But someone did care enough to keep some type of collection and will gladly sure their treasures with the rest of the unknowing public. Even the U.S. has its series of “Weird” travel guides which is a guide to “local legends and best kept secrets”. So, if you want to get off the beaten track in the UK, forget Lonely Planet and pick up the two Alton Towers book for a more novel experience. It’s what I would do if I were to travel there.

CARPE DIEM by Autumn Cromwell – In Autumn Cornwell’s debut novel, we are introduced to Vassar Spore. Vassar is a sixteen year old over-achieving high school student who has her life planned out for the next ten years. She is planning on taking AP and AAP (Advanced Advanced Placement) classes in the summer. Is determined to be Class Valedictorian, and has no doubt about being accepted and graduating from the college which bears her name, or rather the college which she was named after and intends to win the Pulitzer Prize. However, one calm evening the Vassar residence receives an envelope postmarked from Malaysia. It is addressed to Vassar from the Grandmother she’s never met – Gertrude. Inside she finds a note that says “Happy Birthday, kiddo!” Along with the note is another white envelope. Inside this is a round-trip ticket to Singapore. Of course there is no way Vassar could go to Southeast Asia, not with her meticulously planned life. No, she would just have to decline her grandmother’s present, but can she??? After reading this book, you may want to take the next flight to Southeast Asia yourself.

The above is a shortened version of my review as this title will also be featured on the blog "Asia by the Book". But its with novels like this that may inspire you to take chances and experience the world for yourself. Planning is good, but travel is also a life-changing adventure. Be it a package tour to Hawaii or backpacking through Southeast Asia. And just to make things interesting, I thought I would feature one more title - although its a title I did not manage to finish reading and I will tell you why.

SHOOTIN' THE SH*T WITH KEVIN SMITH: THE BEST OF SMODCAST by Kevin Smith and Friends - I really enjoy Kevin Smith's movie, from his first independent feature "Clerks", to the Hollywood produced "Mallrats", "Dogma", and "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back" (I have yet to see "Chasing Amy"). Anyway, this book is collection of his podcasts that he does with his friend Scott Mosier. The first bit was rather amusing as Smith talks about walking in a not-so-nice neighborhood with Alanis Morissette while filming "Dogman" and nearly being mugged. Unfortunately, the pieces I read after that was all about dicks (the man-thing kind). How if chickens were able to talk, they would be talking about their dicks (if they were guy chickens), his dog's dick that he didn't neuter, and just dicks in general. Okay, it might be amusing to listen to the podcasts, but reading one dick anecdote after another gets tiring. And I just gave up on reading any more of this. If your in the mood for a juvenile waste of time, you might want to pick this up. If not, I highly recommend his movies instead!!