BOOK; Tigers And Devils - Sean Kennedy

Title: Tigers And Devils
Author: Sean Kennedy
Genre: Romance
Publisher: DreamSpinnerPress (2009)
Pages: Paperback, 363
Language: English
Rating: 8/10
Summary: Simon's life is going along nicely: he has a good job and friends he loves. He doesn't need anyone else in his life, no matter how much his friends push him to go out more. Even if anyone would be interested in him, he is not looking for someone to mess with his reasonably comfortable existence. He's perfectly fine spending his time working, hanging out with his friends and watching football together.
Then his friends drag him to a party where he meets famous footballer Declan and as it turns out Simon wasn't wrong about relationships making life complicated.

Spoilerfree review
For the sake of full disclosure let me first say that I know the author. We've never met in person, but we have shared enough personal stuff online that I consider him a friend. That wouldn't in any way stop me from critisizing his book though. I would absolutely say it if I thought it sucked, but the honest truth is that I loved it. The dialogues in this book are brilliant; they had me grinning and cringing, depending on the situation. Varying from comfortable talks amongst friends to miscommunication and awkward conversations they are all a joy to read. I loved hanging out with these people. Obviously I related most to Simon, because I'm as apprehensive about relationships as he is. I was nearly biting my nails while he struggled to figure out if it is all worth it. I may have even learned a thing or two. Huh.

BOOK: 40 Days and 40 Nights - Matthew Chapman

Title: 40 Days and 40 Nights
Author: Matthew Chapman
Genre: Non fiction; Courtroom report
Publisher: HarperCollins books (2007)
Pages: Hardcover, 272
Language: English
Rating: 7/10
Summary: Following the case of Kitzmiller v. Dover in which a group of parents sued the Dover highschoolboard for wanting to put Intelligent Design on the science curriculum, Matthew Chapman talks to people on both sides of the argument. He also compares the case to the Scopes trial from 1925 when a teacher was put on trial for teaching Evolution.

Review
Written like a movie script with extensive descriptions of appearances and backgrounds of all the people involved, this is a fascinating read. In- and outside the courtroom Matthew Chapman gives both defendants and opponents ample opportunity to talk about their point of view, even if his own opinion is assumed and known. He is after all the great great grandson of Charles Darwin, a fact he has to mention at every opportunity. Obviously he isn't trying to be objective about the issue and there is more than just a little arrogance shining through, but to his credit he doesn't hide it.
What I found most surprising about this case and book was how little differences there are between the people involved. They may be on opposite sides of the argument, but their backgrounds are eerily alike. Being an avid atheist and supporter of the Theory of Evolution, I had hoped to be able to point and laugh at the losers. But I couldn't.
Matthew Chapman makes a great case in favour of keeping an open mind. I just hope the people who believe in Intelligent Design learned that as well.

BOOK: De Revue - Kees 't Hart

Title: De Revue
Author: Kees 't Hart
Genre: Novel
Publisher: ECI (2000)
Pages: Hardcover, 285
Language: Dutch
Rating: 6/10
Summary: Written from the first person perspective of a man whose been working for an archive-sorting business for over twenty years. On a job in Amsterdam he receives an invitation for a reunion and he remembers when he used to live there as a student, working backstage on the Revue.

Review
The whole premise of the book is leading towards reveiling a 'Big Dark Secret In The Past' that the main character is obviously struggling with. When he was a student he shared the top-floor of a house with one of the chorus-dancers. He had some sort of awkward relationship with the girl, even if he was already dating his future wife. Apparently something dramatic happened that made him run away from the Revue. He tracks down former employees to get a grip on the past. The build up to the reunion is very dramatic and the tiny hints about what happened are intriguing enough to keep reading, but as it turns out the 'Big Dark Secret' maybe wasn't as big and dark as he made it to be, in fact it wasn't even a secret. I was slightly disappointed.

10 Word Reviews: The grass is always greener....

STATISTICS:
Title: De Bruid Staat Rechts Van U (The Bride Is On Your Right)
Author: Rudi van Dantzig
Genre: Romance, Drama
Publisher: De Bijenkorf (1997)
Pages: Paperback, 78
Language: Dutch
Rating: 7/10
5 WORDS SUMMARY: Husband's boyfriend makes three.

10 WORDS REVIEW
Love is blind, I'm annoyed she can't see.


STATISTICS:
Title: Erken Mij (Acknowledge Me)
Author: Esther Verhoef
Genre: Thriller
Publisher: Ambo-Anthos (2009)
Pages: Paperback, 90
Language: Dutch
Rating: 6/10
5 WORDS SUMMARY: Therapist screws (with) her (head).

10 WORDS REVIEW
Not my favorite genre, but I liked the bloody mess.


STATISTICS:
Title: Groener Gras (Greener Grass)
Author: Annelies Verbeke
Genre: Short stories
Publisher: De Geus (2007)
Pages: Hardcover, 222
Language: Dutch
Rating: 6/10
5 WORDS SUMMARY: Common people on the edge.

10 WORDS REVIEW
Disturbing disconnected stories made me feel rather sad about mankind.

BOOK: The God Delusion - Richard Dawkins

Title: The God Delusion
Author: Richard Dawkins
Genre: non-fiction
Publisher: Random House Group Ltd (2006)
Pages: Paperback, 420
Language: English
Rating: 9/10
Summary: In his inimitable, compelling, humorous style Richard Dawkins explains his view on belief in a supernatural god. Dawkins criticizes the idea of God in all its forms: from the sex-obsessed tyrant of the Old Testament to the much milder (but still illogical) "Great Watchmaker" praised by believers in intelligent design. He attacks the argument that religion is the foundation of ethics and shows the great improbability of a supreme being. He shows how religion fuels war, welcomes intolerance and encourages child abuse. The author makes clear that faith in God is not only irrational, but potentially lethal.

Review
In an earlier review of Richard Dawkins' The Devil's Chaplain I already explained that his view on religion was very similar to mine. In that book he already touches on the issue of subjecting children to religion. In The God Delusion he takes it a step further and asks the reader to stand up against this form of child abuse. I agree with him that even the mildest form of religious upbringing has the potential to sow the seed of fundamentalism. The danger with religion is the dismissal of reason, simply because someone was brought up to believe in a supernatural source that needs to be followed.
I'm so glad I learned that I'm not alone in not believing and this book sure helps me to be a proud atheist.
The Bible and other holy books certainly have great literary and historical value, but The God Delusion has reason and science on its side. I'll take that over inconsistencies and belief any day.

BOOK: Female Chauvinist Pigs - Ariel Levy

Title: Female Chauvinist Pigs
Author: Ariel Levy
Genre: non-fiction, feminism
Publisher: Pocketbooks (2005)
Pages: Paperback, 214
Language: English
Rating: 7/10
Summary: Women and the rise of Raunch Culture; why do young women feel the need to look and act like porn stars? Is this the final stop of feminism? Ariel Levy explores this strange phenomenon of female empowerment.

Review
Acting sexy is not the same as embrasing your sexuality. I know this, you know this, but apparently a lot of girls confuse the two.
Levy shows that pornography has become part of the mainstream of American culture. One of the examples she uses is the nude photoshoot for Playboy by Olympic athletes. Apparently they find that looking good naked gives more prestige than their athletic performance. American gyms offer courses in 'cardio-striptease'. Between 1992 and 2004, the number of breast enlargements in the U.S. increased from 32,607 to 264,041 per year.
Levy concludes "This is our establishment, these are our role models, this is haute couture and low culture, this is sport and politics, this is television, this is publishing and pop music and medicine , and -good news!- if you play the game you are a strong and powerful woman. Because we have decided that an emancipated woman openly proclaims her sexuality. As the only sign of sexuality we recognize is a direct reference to red light entertainment, we have the rancid aesthetics of a titty-bar or a photo shoot for Penthouse woven through our entire culture."
Levy here does not so much protest the fact that men sometimes enjoy porn or prostitution, but she (and I) object the fact that women copy this world and base their sense of self and self-esteem upon it.

I liked this book and finished it fast, because I was fascinated by the subject. I felt Levy could have dug a little deeper, but it sure is a good effort to poke all those women who can't tell the difference between having real power and simply getting attention.

BOOKs: Death Note - Tsugumi Ohba (writer) & Takeshi Obata (artist)

Title: Death Note
Author: Tsugumi Ohba (writer) & Takeshi Obata (artist)
Genre: Manga
Publisher: Dark Kana (2007 translation, original 2003)
Pages: 12 parts, about 200 pages each
Language: Dutch (original Japanese)
Rating: 7/10
Summary: University student Light Yagami finds a supernatural notebook dropped on Earth by a shinigami - a death god. Light discovers the book is a Death Note; when someone's name is written in the book, that person will die. He decides to use the book to cleanse the world of evil and starts to kill off criminals. This does not go unnoticed and the public nicknames the anonymous vigilante Kira ("killer" in Japanese english). A detective known only by the initial L. is put on the case to find out who's taking the law in his own hands.

Spoilerfree review
My first manga! I noticed part 1 because it looked cool; it had a black cover with Light holding a scythe and behind him the shinigami on a mountain of skulls. I like skulls. I leafed through the book and liked the drawings, so I decided to give it a try.
I wasn't dissapointed; the story was intriguing and the characters were complicated enough to entertain. I ordered the bookstore to save me a copy every month. (The shopgirl was excited to meet a fellow fan; she gave me a big promotional banner and additional goodies.)

The plot offers a good subject for discussion; can you make the world a better place by eliminating the apparent bad people? Light doesn't seem to have a conscious and doesn't feel guilty about killing people, but he creates a society where suspicion and paranoia rule; Kira decides whether people deserve to live or die. Curious detective L. represents reason -even though he himself is a little detached from the real world-, but he realizes soon enough Kira leaves no room for negotiation; the power of the Death Note makes Light feel like a god.

Unfortunately after book 7 the story kind of drags on; I had the feeling Tsugumi Ohba never meant the story to go beyond a showdown between Light and L. I was very dissapointed it continued after that. In the first half of the series every possible outcome is already handled and apart from the addition of new characters the second half simply feels like a repeat of the original plot.
That gave me the opportunity to find more flaws in the story; such as the horribly shallow depiction of women, who act like puppets as soon as they meet a man. What's also annoying is how the rules of the DeathNote keep piling up to a point where no-one even knows what the book does anymore.
The series is turned into animes and a couple of actual movies. I'm only interested in the first ones, since I understand they are about the initital cat and mouse play between Light and L. That was definitely a good story. Too bad it didn't end there.
Unless I find a manga with strong women and a completed plot, I'm very hesitant to give the genre another go.