"High Fidelity" by Nick Hornby

This is an amazing book. Any guy living in the present day will find something thought-provicing in this book. I won't say that women won't enjoy this book, it definitely has something for everyone, but "High Fildelity" is more of an approach to adult relationships and themes from a male perspective.

It has a modern male protagonist, Rob, who's thirty-something and has no idea what he's doing with his life. He narrates the story and frequently interjects his fantasy sequences into the story telling. Often what he, or another character, says is at odds to his personal thoughts and/or feelings, and he narrates the story as such. This makes the book quite an amusing read.

Also, Rob owns and runs a music store. He is completely ingrossed in the world of music and doesn't seem to undrestand why his record collection and mounds of music related trivia seem useless to everyone he knows. His employees, Dick and Barry, are the only people he feels comfortable ever around (and even then not that comfortable) merely because they share his passion for the world of music. The three of them seems to survive (just barely) by making all-time top five favorite lists on every possible subject.

As well, Rob has issues with women. It's not that he can't even get a date (in fact he does quite fell for himself) but it's just that he can't seem to figure women out. This is the protagonist's primary motivation as he surveys the women populating his all-tiem top five worst break-ups list.

Obviously, I emphathise with Rob through-out the entire book. I too have a (sometimes unhealthy) obsession that most others don't relate to. I frequently fantasize about nonsense. Often I find myself at odds with, and at a loss to understanding, the world I live in. This only makes the book that much better of a read.

Reading this book was an amazing, surealistic experience.

The book's author, Nick Hornby, is British, and as such the plot takes palce in London and the characters in the novel use a lot of British slang. (He also wrote the books "About A Boy" and "Fever Pitch". The fact that a bunch of his stories kept getting made into movies, is what interested me in him in the first place.)

The movie based on this book is easily one of my favorite movies - usually not on my all-time top five list, but consistently in my top ten. I've seen the movie about a dozen times, I know the story very well, and I frequently quote dialouge from it. It has an amazing cast: John Cusack plays Rob, Jack Black plays Barry, and Tim Robbins, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Lisa Bonet all co-star.

Having now read the book, I can say that the is an extremely true adaptation: very little was changed at all. Obviously there are differences between the book and the movie, but most of these are due to an americanization of the story. (The events are tweaked here and there a bit, but mainly in minor ways that aren't intrical to the plot.) For the most part, though, the two are identical. Even the dialouge from the book is, for the most part, unchanged when it appears in the movie - again with minor, Americanized alterations: "bullshit" becomes "bollocks", and Rob talks about "sixth form" instead of "grade twelve".

So, reading this book was, for me, very much like re-living a favorite part of my life, but with a British twist. This is something I found very comforting.

"Watchmen" by Alan Moore (writer) and Dave Gibbons (artist)

There are two types of comic book stories that I especially enjoy. The first is stories about superheros: stories about super-powers, costumes, secret identities and the like. The second is stories about more mature topics (typified by DC's Vertigo imprint) that deal with real-world issues in an intelligent and adult manner.

"Watchmen" is a story of both of these types. It is the most intelligent piece of literature that I have ever read. It just happens to be a graphic novel about superheroes.

Set in the mid-eighties, in an earth so similar to our own that it could very easily have been, the series twelve issues follows the exploits of a group of real world superheroes. These are not the archetypical characters that one usually stumbles across in comic books (or in mainstream novels either, for that matter). The characters in the "Watchmen" mythos are each complicated personalities; these are flawed people trying desperately to make a difference in a world slowly desending into hell.

The story was written by Alan Moore. With "Watchmen" he approached in a brand new way, a field that was over-run with stagnant stories and over-used characters. (And this is hardly the only time that he has done this.) "Watchmen" is well-regarded by the comic book community as one of the greatest stories ever told. It won many awards (including a Hugo, making it the only comic to do so) and frequents must-read lists.

I must admit that this last week was not the first time that I had read this story. About five years ago Curtis collected each of the twelve issues - a week or two at a time - and I read them then, as he did. This was, however, only my second time reading the issues. I have been meaning to re-read the story for quite some time. (Troë just bought me the complete run as an anniversary present.)

I was surprised at how much more there was to the story then what I had percieved on my first read. I quite liked it the first time, but now I have such a greater appreciation for the creators. With "Watchmen", they created something entirely new and original. And they did one hell of a job.

This is a story that everyone should read. I say this with no bias towards the subject matter or the format. (Well, maybe a little.) This is simply a smart story told in a manner different than what most people are used to.

"The Elements: A Very Short Introduction" by Philip Ball

http://www.oup.com/uk/catalogue/?ci=9780192840998

You don't have to be a chemistry geek to understand this book - heck you don't even have to be a science geek. (Being one probably just adds to your enjoyment.) This book is more of historical overview of how our understanding of chemicals and elements has evolved from ancient times to the present day.

The book contains a lot of interesting facts and trivia associated with many of the elements. I sure that Troë will atest to the number of times I stopped reading for a moment to tell her some random bit of information - like that South Africa is responsible for 40% of all the gold ever mined.

Overall I found it very engaging, and difficult to put down at times.

(This book is number 104 in the "Very Short Introduction" series published by Oxford University Press, and the first book of the series I've read. Book 104 may seem like an odd place to start - and that's probably because it is.)