Jetsons, The by Charlton Press
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Another fun little book from Charlton Press, this one features the comic strip adventures of the Jetsons. There’s actually a couple of sublime chuckles in this one, and a cameo by another famous Hanna-Barbera character, so it’s rather readable.
Road Runner by D.J. Arneson
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
So this has been the least of the Charlton Press paperbacks I’ve been trying to re-collect. Which is a shame, since D.J. Arneson is usually a good creator, bordering on great with his Dell character Lobo (no, not THAT Lobo; this was the first African-American character to have his own title). The strips in this book are pretty forced – I think I had two genuine chuckles in the whole book. It’s definitely only for the ardent Road Runner or Arneson collector.
Dog River Confidential: The Even More Super Complete Corner Gas Guide by Michele Sponagle
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Very good follow-up to Tales of Dog River, this time covering the last three seasons of the TV show Corner Gas. There’s a lot of background information about the show and CTV in general, and it’s related in the same entertaining fashion as the first book. Definitely recommended for TV fans!
Tales From Dog River: The Complete Corner Gas Guide by Michele Sponagle
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Even though it only covers the first 3 seasons of the best sitcom in North America, this book is a great read. It gives the reader a lot of interesting background information on Corner Gas, along with how Canadian television works (hint: Much better than the US version of it). If you’re a fan of the sitcom, you’ll want to read this book!
Yogi Bear by Charlton Press
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Another fun Charlton Press book, this time with a comic strip version of Yogi Bear. While Snagglepuss makes a cameo in one strip, a big problem with the book is that the artist can’t decide how to draw Boo-Boo Bear – most of the time he ends up looking like a mountain lion kit, not a bear cub. I don’t know if Ray Dirgo – one of the main artists on Charlton Comics’ Hanna-Barbera titles – was responsibile for the art, but it’s a little annoying in any event.
Peace on Earth by Stanisław Lem
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Another excellent science fiction novel from Stanislaw Lem, and yet another adventure of his greatest character, Ijon Tichy. The story was a bit more predictable than most of Lem’s work, but the tale took you on the usual entertainingly convoluted ride to the climax. The world is at peace and there were no more arms races after all the nations of the world sent their arms-making capabilities to the moon as an ultimate mutually-assured destruction deterrent. But naturally, not every one is happy with that and Tichy is sent up to investigate what is happening on the Moon. The story begins after he comes back, having had the two sides of his brain separated so now his right side literally doesn’t know what his left hand is doing. And neither side can remember what happened to him…
Very entertaining book and definitely recommended!
Ghost in the Coffee Machine: Coffee and Ghosts: Episode 1 by Charity Tahmaseb
My rating: 1 of 5 stars
I’m not exactly sure what this story was supposed to be; it reads like there are huge chunks of it missing. I know it’s this serial of some sort, but it doesn’t read like much of anything – certainly not a proper cozy, not a romance, and only barely a ghost story. I’m at a loss with this really disjointed narrative, and certainly not going to invest any effort or money to read anymore.
The Cool War by Frederik Pohl
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Not Pohl’s best, but it was an interesting look at war without all the bloodshed; I wouldn’t doubt many of the things happening today are the result of this sort of behind-the-scenes activity.
The book does place high on the deceptive cover list, though, as there’s not a darn thing in this book that resembles what happening on the cover.
Balls Deep and crying like a baby... 