After catching the Will Smith film version a week ago I was immediately inspired by a fellow reader friend to pick this novel up, and within 24 hours I set the book down feeling depressed, fulfilled, and thoughtful. I love a great story that not only entertains but also affects your thoughts of life in general, and after reading the story I did exactly that.

The book sets itself sometime in the mid seventies with Robert Neville, who believes he is the last man alive after a plague took the worlds population. It’s apparent immediately that Nevilles need to exist is pure instinct alone. After five months he starts his day off with a glass of whiskey and loathing the fact that his has managed to exist. He makes procautions around his home, but the reader is left in the dark as to why.

That evening we found out the existence of vampires is manifestation of something that happened with the plague, and though Neville is very safe in his home, they come every night to taunt him with the hopes he will end his life by prolonging theirs. At this point the solitude and monotony of his existence is tearing Neville apart. He has seen unimaginable horrors and has no answers as to how or why they happened in the first place. Anytime he asks questions, he only winds up with more questions after those are answered.

A few months pass and Neville attempts his own research, and it goes nowhere quickly. He begins to lament about his former life and is sure he’s ready to end himself when something shocking happens. He finds a dog that has managed to exist. Some very important things happen in the chapters with the dog and thereafter sets the finale of the book into play. The twist, the answer, the explanantion, the ending of the book is not what myself or I think anyone else would imagine. Without giving it away I will simply say it couldn’t have been more simple or more complete. After it happens you simply have an abvious understanding to something bigger than the induvidual experience. Suddenly life is much larger and evolution and nature exploit this.

As Neville said, suddenly things came full circle. An abosulutely amazing book. One of the most profound and frightening stories I’ve read since The Shining.

Dexter is now a popular show in it’s third season on showtime, but the show was inspired by a novel written by Jeff Lindsay about a sociopath serial killer, who essentially only murdered the “evil doer”. If I hadn’t read so many of her books myself I wouldn’t have seen the parallels between vampires in Anne Rice novels and Dexter, but they do exist.

Dexter is a blood splatter specialist for the Miami forensic department. But what the department doesn’t know is they have their very own serial killer right under their noses. Dexter. At a young age Dexter and his foster father recognized his urges to kill. After a certain amount of time when it was obvious the urges wouldn’t disappear, Dexter began to utilize his talents against those whom the law had yet not caught or could not punish. And afterwards, when he’d finished his methodical and almost musical routine, he saved himself a souvenir. A drop of blood from each victim.

What makes this book so remarkable and sets it apart from other books about serial killers is the narrative by Dexter himself. Not only is he charismatic, he’s handsome, likable, and quite funny. While the book certainly maintains a serious tone, it balances the lightness and darkness perfectly. The most interesting part is Dexter’s self knowledge of his own lifeless detachment to society, but in some ways it gives him a completely clear picture of reality.

The manner in which I would compare it to an Anne Rice vampire novel is Dexter reminds me of my all-time favorite literary anti-hero Lestat de Lioncourt. He is more than aware of his evilness, but embraces it in a way that not only makes the reader adore him, but even love him. I seldom see characters so rich with charisma that are essentially so empty and dead inside. It impresses me to no end the talents both Rice and Lindsay have to make such things possible. The icing on the cake is the humour that bounces off such dark stories. And it works.

I absolutely adored this offbeat novel and would recommend to anyone who has a slightly irregular sense of humour or obsession with serial killers.

Brian “Head” Welsh is the former lead guitarist from a contreversial rock band called: Korn. Sometime in 2005 he shocked the world announcing he was leaving the band to be saved and become a Christian. In this book, his memoirs, he explains the affect his addiction to speed, alcohol, and violence affected his life and eventually, after a chaotic trip, lead him to Jesus Christ.

To be honest, I had really hard time getting through the first portion of the book. I suppose I was looking for the grit, the raw detail, the honest acclaim for all the things that he did while in the band with Korn. I think because I honestly wanted to know more about Korn and their debauchery as a band. However, there is little about the band itself, practically no stories about touring, and even very little about the creation of the music. I think I understand now why. The story was about the band. The story was about the choices, and portions of his life he never shared with anyone, the band included. The private side he kept to himself. The side that ultimately lead him to be free.

There were other problems I initially had with the book. First, he wrote it himself and while never a main song writer for Korn, and never writing anything before, it showed. But after awhile I got used to the way he delivered his story and some of the amateurish way he organzied his thoughts (which unfortuantely sometimes didn’t make a ton of sense)and just appreciate the fact that he was trying to share.

The third problem I had was not his own doing, it was my own cynicism. First of all, I felt the book was probably put out to convert more people to Christianity (not that I have a problem with that, but just not for me), so I kept waiting for that, you should all stop doing this or that and come to church. That never happened and I’m very sorry I initially placed that judgement. The second thing was I didn’t believe that he had kicked drugs for good. It’s only been a few years since he’s been clean and found god, and the likelihood of a relapse????? Well, let’s say, in my mind that’s not unprobable. He was is an addict, but believes he’s been freed by Christ, and so he won’t go back to drugs again. I think he is still an addict, he’s just transfered his addictive and COMPULSIVE personality to fixate on his spirituality. So yes, on that I’m still skeptical, but here I’m getting ahead of myself.

I wanted to mention all of the initial negative energy I had towards the book and Brian himself first because by the time I finished it, he’d changed my mind about a lot of things and I understood why he was so vague and past tense on the years of partying, because that was not what his book was about. It was about him finding joy in God, but he felt he needed to share his story and what led him to that point to really understand how he got there. The time he was with Korn, he was a different person, when he was on drugs that was. Before that the idealism of being a kid, and growing up he wrote in great detail about, before the drugs. And then he wrote in great deal after the drugs. The only thing he was very specific about on the drugs was how he treated his then wife, and his daughter Jennea. I understand now why. He was not the same person who he is now when he was in Korn, and it was probably excruciatingly painful to go back to that person, when he’s in the process of leaving him behind and moving on. And that’s what I belive the other half of the book was about, moving on.

The second half of the book explained how he discovered God and the journey he took to be where he is now, and I have to say, it was really beautiful. All in all I would say it would have been much more inspiring or maybe appreciated better by someone who is on their way to finding Christ or those who already have. Some of the spiritual experience he had were amazing and I’m very happy for him and for his daughter.

The book on a whole was just, “okay”, but it’s IDEAS and it’s meaning behind all of the distractions is what really got me and I’m very glad I read it. I hope Brian stays on his path, I hope he doesn’t relapse, and I hope he continues to find the peace and freedom in his religion that he does now, because it’s beautiful.

Cleaning out some old storage units Nikki Sixx, from Motley Crue, recently stumbled on a old diary he kept during the height of his heroin (and coke and alcohol) addiction. Now sober and recovered he decided that sharing the diaries might be helpful to someone else going through what he did, or at least help someone relate and know they are not alone. And for those of us that aren’t junkies? It was just plain and simply captivating, entrancing, and addicting in itself.

I knew a little bit about what happened to Nikki during this year because I have read “The Dirt” and “Tommyland” where the subject had been skimmed, but never really examined. Such as the raw form of a diary. With exerts from former management, friends, and family (and not all nice I assure you) Nikki’s year of hell unveiled itself in a disgustingly self destructive picture. All the while you ask yourself why he kept torturing himself, especially when he didn’t even enjoy his high. The stuff his paranoia and delusions induced were beyond me. To his little closet, to constantly flushing his drugs, his freakish relationship with Vanity, to his belief his security was out to get him and to the little men with helmets climbing his fences and the Mexicans in the bushes, it was insanity at best. I’m amazed he didn’t shoot his brains out. Things were most obviously at there worst when he began to lose his passion for the music! No matter how bad things were, Nikki always took his music seriously and with heart. Until the Heroin to ahold. If you’ve seen the movie “Being John Malkovich”, this novel was like: “Being Nikki Sixx”. That bizarre but more than that it was profound.

I always wondered how celebrities could be on the top of the world and be so miserable, how they could have their dreams come true and resent every moment of it. It all seemed so ungrateful and spoiled. After reading many autobiographies on rock stars I’m starting to see the common denominator: DRUGS And Alcohol. In the right settings alcohol and drugs can be all fun and games, but when abused they are deadly. In many cases, like Nikki’s, it just brought up unresolved issues he had with his family, that if had been dealt with may never have took him where it did. I mean that careerwise and addiction wise. But who’s to say? If there was one thing I learned about Nikki, it was that the man has vision. He has the ability to see the bigger picture, that is when he wasn’t being scandalous and self destructive. Like setting hotels on fire. Or banging his managers girlfriend right in front of him. Between the alcohol and drugs on that tour influencing him and letting him have the ability to do what he wanted because he was a rock star was no more than simply acting out. Some deep part of him needed a parental figure to tell him to stop. To make him stop. To intervene. He was not unlike a two year old throwing a tantrum. And though he kept his distance from everyone close to him, the last thing he wanted was to be alone. Nikki’s tantrumlasted years before he finally he learned to be an adult himself and deal with his addiction and deal with his past and take control of his life. It only took him dying to do it.

I adored this and want to thank Nikki for sharing his very private experience with us. It touched me in more ways than I can explain, and I’m not even sure it was supposed to.

I’ve been finally tackling the task of making sure every surface of literature I own has been conquered and read. In a box I found “The Firm” and “The Brethern” gathering dust. After breezing through “the Firm” I was certain I may have read it in the past, but the Brethern I knew I had not. Years ago, I was always quick to pick up the newest John Grisham novel right when it hit paperback, I have read them all straight through to “The Partner”, but thereafter have for some reason not purchased one, so my curiosity was perked. What was Grishams more recent writing like? What suspenseful twisted legal thrillers had he congered? The result was fairly disappointing.

The Brethern’s setting involved three judges that had been sentenced in a Federal Prison for enough time to have simply lost hope at having a respectable or normal life after their release. In their prison they conspired together a scam that extorted money out of people from the outside. While they all had a long time before their releases, it gave them motivation and hope of a life after prison. The first portion of the book deals with much foreshadowing to what seems an uncertain future. With the secoondary plotline it seems very implausable that the two plotlines will eventually mesh and explode.

The second plotline involved a concerned CIA director who needed a Zest fully clean candidate to run for President. NOt only that, one who would reinforce the military and calm the directers concerns of Russian military power. When he found the man Aaron Lake, it seemed that there were no skeletons, the man was, who the man was. The story goes on with great lengths of how his campaign is ran and why he suddenly becomes an important candiatate and why he is suddenly a threat to the other career politicians who are running for President as well. But for the most part makes no allusions to any connection with the first plotline.

It’s my opinion the connection between the two plotlines develops way too late in the book and lacks the suspense and believability it needs to push the to the climax. The connection and likelihood of the events is paper thin and it runs over the line of suspension of disbelief. In fact it’s downright outrageous. The CIA’s involvement was actually annoying and it made them seem powerless and weak. It’s obvious is prior books Grisham has no love for the Feds or Langley, but he always impresses the power they do have. In this novel that sense of dread and fear did not exist or intimidate. The Judge charecters weren’t likeable other than Yarber, and even he was stretching it. The only charecter that was likeable was Aaron Lake and he was boring, even though he was supposed to be, if running for President I would assume him to be very charismatic. If you are attempting to make the badguys be your heros, you need to give them some redeeming or interesting qualities.

I pushed hard to the final pages of the book hoping for something. There isn’t usually a huge shocking twist in a Grisham novel, but the way things pan out is usually interesting in themselves, because he is not a predictable writer in the good guy always winning. The final chapters were at best flat.

I’m going to pick up The Street Lawyer next time I’m out with the hopes that some of his other newer novels don’t have the same deadpan storytelling, because he is really a genius of a writer, but this book I wouldn’t recommend to anyone.

The final installment of the Bourne series has offcially been completed by me. For those that are not familiar with the novel series they are nothing like the films, in fact the main charecters barely even share an indentity. They entail much greater depth, more complex charecters, and so many twists and turns of govermental and otherwise espionage that your most quick witted person can easily be thrown off their rocker.

The last book ended with the completion of Jason Bourne as the first book began with the creation of Jason Bourne and his mission with Carlos the Jackol, this final poetic story of thirteen years finally came to a standoff. Bourne vs. Carlos. In the intro David Webb, Bournes original identity is discovered by Carlos and his family and friends lives are put in jeopardy. This requires Bourne to return, and DAvid Webb to hibernate. While his wife and children are ushered off to a remote Carribean island, he returns to his creator, the CIA for answers. As with it’s predessors nothing is cut and dry, who may be trusted and who may not be are never clear, and the real story behind Carlos and the old government group MEDUSA.

With his old adversary and his old creator Medusa returning, David Webb slowly begins a downward spiral in his split personality. His old creation, the assassin Jason Bourne is resurfaced in need to protect his family, but also to finally have his revenge on Carlos, whom he was porgramed to take out. Beneath the surface David Webb is always lingering, but the mad Bourne cannot be calmed, and so a mad former assassin vs. another old and mad assassin, mixed with others that have their own ulterior motives begins the most interesting and suspenseful of the novels.

The two aging men spend the entirety of the story trying to draw each other out with no concern for outside sources or the consequences for their actions. Madness ensues, and the story is pushed forward with a neverending of urgency and despair. By the end a very deep balance has been restored, but at what cost? How many lives lost? And will David Webb ever be able to return to his family or has Bourne done too much damage? Those questions aren’t answered and they don’t need to be.

If at all intrigued by the other Bourne novels this one is a most read. It’s the most in depth, plot twisting, charecter challenging, and entertaining of them all. Please read and enjoy.

WARNING: DO NOT READ IF YOU DON’T WANT TO HEAR SPOILERS!!!!!!!!

The final chapter to the story of Harry Potter has finally been made. Did it live up to the hype? Did it meet it’s readers expectations? Was it everything I had wanted and expected? After a three-day run I finally closed the book feeling both pleased and a little depressed. My feelings of conflict seem to be a bit more clear now that more time has passed on to reflect.

The theme was based around two main storylines: Horcruxes and Hallows. The Hallows don’t come to light till nearly halfway through the book, and the Horcruxes even remain strangely obsolete until about a third of the way into the storyline. I’ll break it down into two parts: My likes and dislikes:

Starting with Likes: The book started off magnificantly. From Malfoy Manor to the final goodbye at Privet Drive I was enthralled. When the idea of the “Harry’s” was introduced I knew this book was going to be different from the rest, and immediately thereafter, the death of Moody and Hedgewig, and the injury of George (or Fred, I am endlessly confusing them) told the reader that anything goes, and anyone could die.

Throughout the woods and hiding portion, the mysterious Patronus and the stories about Dumbledore’s dark past was enrapturing. Finally after six novels we have a clear picture of what Dumbledore was actually like. His vieled personality up to this point has been a frustrating, yet compelling mystery, but in Hallows it was no more. Not only was Dumbledore power hungry, but he dabbled in dark magic, and was not only tempted by it, but to an extent driven as well. His connection to Harry, his own mangled childhood, and his final plotting for the destruction of Voldemort was laid out perfectly.

The development and end for some of our favorite charecters was fantastic. For Neville to finally come into his own and become a hero in his own right was more than merely satisfying. The fact that Dumbledores Army continued after Harry, Hermione, and Ron were no longer there to lead it. Hermione and Rons growth into adulthood, yet still the youthful same qualities. (I.E. Ron’s stubborness and infiriorty complex-leaving Harry and Hermione) The resolve of all of those left to the Order of the Phoenix to be willing to lay down all of their lives, so those thereafter had a chance to actually live.

The explanation at the end of the Hallows and the Horcruxes was laid out brilliantly and delivered perfectly in the end, and the mystery of Harry and Voldemorts actual connection was wholely and completely revealed.

The most satisfing aspect for me was the revalation that Snape was in fact all along a good guy, even though he was still a yuckity greasy gross man who was obssessively in love with Lily. It was true to this charecter and still allowed him to be a good guy. I was so happy after seven novels to be proven right about my instinct.

Onto the bad: It began with the woods. How many pages of it was there? The repitition, the fighting, the dullness, and the depression of those few hundred pages were nauseating. I read the majority of the book in one day, but spent at least two just on the wood scenes. The worst of the worst was the description of the locket Horcrux for me. The wearing it around the neck, the tearing each other apart, and the evil it gave to whomever wore it was way too Frodo and Lord of the Rings for me, and everytime there was mention of it, it irked me.

The next issue I had was the Deathly Hallows themselves. I thought they were cool, the idea behind them smooth, but as a friend pointed out, with the exception of the Eldar Wand and the walk with Dumbledore, how did they really push the plot forward? What did they have to do with the story, other than create a distraction for Harry away from the Horcruxes? I’ve wondered about this and though still not sold think it was possibly a test from Dumbledore to see if Harry could overcome to urge and desire for power himself, to do what was neccessary, because even Dumbledore succumbed to temptation by trying the Horcrux ring on, and thereby ending his own life, but his own greed. Harry overcame that desire by finally making the choice to get the Horcruxes instead, even though he desired the Hallows more and knew Voldemort wanted the Eldar Wand. This epiphany has changed my mind about the relevance of the Hallows as I now believe they were an intricate and important part of the story itself.

After that, I had only a few small reservations: Essentially the deaths of Lupin, Tonks, and Fred (or GEorge????). Sure they were at the climatic ending of the story but the vagueness of emotional detachment to their deaths seemed awkward and out of place, and I don’t understand why Molly was trying to take Bellatrix down, instead of mourning her dead son. Someone else should have had the kill on Bellatrix, too many had personal vendetta’s against. I personally thought it should have been Neville. Yes, he got the wicked scene of taking off Nagini’s head, but really he suffered the most from Bellatrix’s evil, and he should have been the one to end her.

Other than that, just the fight between Harry and Lupin. It was strange and really seemed to serve no point, even Tonks having the baby seemed a bit out of place in the story, almost like it was just shoved in with a sentence here or there and then immediately ignored thereafter.

And lastly I LOATHED the epilouge. LOATHED it. The rest I could have done without, but didn’t ruin the story for me, but the epilouge was just terrible. I really wish it would have just left the rest of Harry’s life open ended, we all knew he’d be happily ever after and marry Ginny. We didn’t need to have their kids being sent off to Hogwarts being named Lily, James, and Albus. Way over the top for me. Maybe some people needed that closure, but I like the idea better of giving the reader their own imagination to decide how it all ended up, instead of writing it for them, but that’s a personal choice.

All in all great book. And mostly a fantastic ending to a beautiful and wonderful epic tale, that in reality just kind of dealt with the evil trials and tribulations that is adolescence which I believe J.K. captured perfectly. Joss Whedon, the creater of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, said the reason he made her a teenager and the reason he put monsters in high school was more or less a tongue in cheek metaphor for his own adolescence in which high school was, “a nightmare”. In a lot of ways I saw this tale about Harry as the same. I can’t wait to read the stories to my boys s they get older and grow. Bravo.

In Order of My favorite:

1.Prisoner Of Azkaban
2.Goblet of Fire
3.The Order Of the Phoenix
4.The Deathly Hallows
5.The Socerers Stone
6.The Half Blood Prince
7.The Chamber of Secrets