August 05, 2015

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams - PPP

August 05, 2015/ John Box

A few words come to mind: Disappointing, Underwhelming, Overrated.

I’m not even sure what the consensus rating is, but I’m confident it’s too high. Especially since it was turned into a movie starring Martin Freeman.

The Martin Freeman. He’s this generation’s Mark Hamil for Christ’s sake!

Anyhoo, in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, earthling Arthur Dent and his close

July 03, 2015

A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole - PPPPP

July 03, 2015/ John Box

As one would expect from the title, the cast of this character-driven novel includes a plethora of imbeciles, crooks, and trainwrecks, but in the protagonist, Toole has created an iconic character who is one of the most outlandish, entertaining, and memorable ever.

Ignatius J. Reilly is lazy, incompetent, condescending, hypocritical, self-entitled, sensitive, dramatic, irascible, intelligent, delusional, self-righteous, judgmental, sadistic, pathetic, offensive, litigious, self-pitying, and sexually repressed. He’s a fat bastard – a

June 08, 2015

Going Postal by Terry Pratchett - PPP

June 08, 2015/ John Box

I dove blindly into the Discworld series with Going Postal, Book #33 of 40 (as of June 2015). I was a little concerned about not starting at the beginning, but since author Terry Pratchett himself recommended against starting with Book #1, and since several fans said that this relatively highly-rated installment was as good a place as any, I took the plunge.

From what I gather, Discworld is a medieval fantasy world with creatures like golems (giant, indestructible gingerbread men with eyes of fire), nymphs, trolls, dragons,

April 13, 2015

The Hot Rock by Donald Westlake - PP

April 13, 2015/ John Box

In The Hot Rock, John Dortmunder, a hard-luck planner of heists, leads a five-man crew of career criminals on a series of capers in a quest to steal the Balabomo Emerald for an African UN Ambassador.

According to the back of the book, “this thrilling, often hilarious caper is the seminal work of fiction by a true master of the craft.”

According to the Johnny Box, “this caper is a work of crap.”

March 28, 2015

Slaughterhouse-Five, or The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death by Kurt Vonnegut - PPPP

March 28, 2015/ John Box

This book does not belong here. Despite being written by one of the most renowned comedic authors ever, it is not a comedy. While it is full of wit, insight, and creativity, it is not full of chuckles.

Centering on the infamous fire-bombing of Dresden, Germany at the end of World War II, Slaughterhouse-Five tells the story of Billy Pilgrim, a goofy yet gentle and unassuming kid from upstate New York who becomes “unstuck in time” during his brief involvement in the war mainly as a POW.

March 05, 2015

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller - PPPP

March 05, 2015/ John Box

Catch-22, the renowned classic by Joseph Heller, tells the story of an outrageous Air Force squadron stationed on a Mediterranean island during World War II.

The story centers around Yossarian, possibly the only sane character in the book, and his struggle to not get killed. He is convinced that everyone is out to get him and given that he faces enemy fire on each bombing mission and that Colonel Cathcart continually raises the number of missions that must be flown in order to be discharged, he might be right.

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