Do we really need to introduce JRR Tolkien? With the arrival on the movie scene this December 2012 of The Hobbit movie, let’s re-immerse ourselves in this epic story of self-discovery. In the episode we will discuss both the movie and the book, and how they compare to each other.

And for those out there who do not yet know Bilbo Baggins, welcome to one of the greatest quests of all times!!

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Lovers of cracked.com, this book is for you. Funny, gory, silly, completely off the wall, and of course… full of spiders! This sequel to “John dies at the end” is as funny as the first one but with a different plot all together. Yes, we are dealing here with… zombie apocalypse, spider style!

Two overgrown teenagers, John and Dave, have been transformed forever after taking the “soy sauce”, a very black (and alive!) drug that gives you abilities, but at a price. Sure! now you can see things and other creepy crawlers from other dimensions. But when they start invading people’s mouth and you are the only ones to see them, there’s a problem, especially since the government believes the only way to get rid of the problem, is to nuke the whole town of Undisclosed.

Fan of Men and Black you will love this book. Definitely different, very comic-bookish and amusing. You just need a pretty strong stomach!

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This sequel to “A twisted ladder” is just as good as the first novel.

The reader gets reacquainted with Madeleine LeBlanc, with Zenon, with Chloe and the Briar. This time, the novel does not play between psychological abilities and madness, letting the reader wonder how the main characters can do what they shouldn’t be able to do. Rather, it focuses on the briar itself, its intricacies, its depth and the creatures that inhabit it. We meet Maddie’s family and, like in the first novel, the story oscillates between New Orleans of the past, and Louisiana in the present, until both intersect and clash, leaving the reader wanting for more and hoping a third novel will answer all the remaining questions.

A great read, full of mystery, dark and misty, perfect for a good Halloween scare, woodoo-style!

This is one of the most intelligent books out there. Creepy but amazing!

If you are looking for a story with a clear beginning and end, don’t bother! This book is more question than answer, more quest than resolution.
It’s an exercise in deconstruction, in reader-response, it’s a labyrinth, an essay on space and time, an exercise in narratology with a voice within a voice within a voice. It is absolutely brilliant!

When Navi and his wife move into their new house, little did they know that said house had a mind of its own… literally!!

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What a strange book! Often compared to The Arabian Nights or The Decameron, this novel touches on every genre (with a large portion dedicated to the Gothic), every theme, every concept of the era from romance, to marriage, to chivalry, religion, politics, succubi, ghosts, skeletons, you name it, The Manuscript has it! Written at the turn of the 19th century, Jan Potocki, Polish author writing in French has achieved a tour de force with this novel. A whole encompassing novel that deals with everything! Not a small task

Whether you like it or hate it, you can’t remain indifferent to it.

Composed of stories within stories within stories, told and re-told from a variety of different voices, despite its apparent disconnect the novel really forms a whole which only becomes apparent as the reader nears the end.

This is not for everyone, but it is one of those texts that need to be read at least once before you die.  By now, it has become a Classic. A tedious read, but worth it!

This is the story of an unusual encounter. A young single mother working as a housekeeper is sent to work for an elderly mathematician whose memory only lasts 80 minutes. The most beautiful friendship will come out of this chance encounter, adding to the mix Root, the housekeeper’s 10 years old boy who shares with the old professor a love of baseball.

The language of mathematics will soon begin to unite these three people and allow them to understand each other. A whole new world opens for each of of them in this tale of hope and life in early 1990′s Japan.

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Young newlywed Grace did not think that her honeymoon at sea on a ship from England back to the United States would end up changing her life forever. But her beloved is no more, the ship is under water and she is stuck with another 39 people on a lifeboat somewhere in the middle of the ocean a couple of years after the disaster of the Titanic.

With no water, reduced food portions and a very uncertain future will people behave themselves? Or will they show their true colors? What kind of person IS Grace, the first person narrator of this story? And why is it that when the novel starts, she is on trial for murder?

Is it really necessary to present Stephen King's most acclaimed book series?

Roland the gunslinger, his ka-tet, his quest to find the mysterious Dark Tower, his dealings with the Man in Black and the Crimson King, Gilead, Susan Delgado, Oy the billy-blumber, etc etc etc. Stephen King has written a masterpiece in 9 books (well, 7 plus 2 really..) with connections and repercussions on most of his other novels from It to The Shining, to The Stand among numerous others.

Mixing fantasy, western, dimension hoping sci-fi, adventure, hard-core violence with a very large spoonful of darkness, the Dark Tower series will grip you like it has gripped so many before.

In this episode, we review not only the books but also the recently published graphic novels, and we talk about the upcoming TV series :)

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For the few of you out there who haven't yet heard of Game of Thrones, may it be the book series, the HBO series, or the graphic novels among other media, this episode should give you an idea what George RR Martin is all about.

Set against a background of seven kingdoms and one king to rule it all from his Iron Throne, the Song of Ice and Fire of which Game of Thrones is the first installment will entice young and old! Intertwined political intrigues, manipulations, undead beyond the Wall and yes, dragons! Pick your favorite character, or for that matter, your favorite family, and see their stories enfold.

A very intricate plot with loads of ramifications! A masterwork that is 15 years in the making.

Episode 57 deals with all five novels, the HBO series AND the graphic novel volume 1. Check it out :)

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What is entropy you wonder? Why does time exist at all and what is its purpose? Can one live outside of time? And more importantly, what on earth (or in space? lol!) is time?

Sean Carroll sets out to explain time in a scientific way, dealing along the way with quantum theory, black holes, the Big Bang and other goodies!

Not an easy read but it has its good moments, and the pics are cool! However, if you are not verse in at least basic physics, this book is not for you!! It does tend to go deeper than it looks at times and may potentially lose the reader that is not familiar with some of the concepts.

So I tickled your curiosity and you want to take on the challenge?

Then check out the episode above for more details

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Money governs all these days. How do you pay your rent without? Food? What about that nice new electronic device you have your eyes on? Everything has a value, but it wasn’t always that way. In Episode 55, we discuss the history of money from its origin to now.

An interesting anthropological view of the matter, Jack Weatherford’s History of Money studies not only the way currency itself has changed, but also, and maybe more importantly, how people’s perception of money and of one another through money has evolved. Good or bad, that’s in the eye of the beholder!

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A nice mix between “Desperado” and “The Punisher” with a pinch of Tarantino, this self-published novel will keep you on the edge of your seat.

Our main character has been wronged, his wife and unborn child killed by the Irish mob. Is he going to stay put and wait for his turn? Hell no! He is going to take his .38 gun and go seek revenge!

I suggest a strong umbrella and a raincoat! Blood will flow!!

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For Randy, ex-cop recovering alcoholic down on his luck, losing his AA sponsor in mysterious circumstances doesn't bode well. Randy owes it to Terry to at least find out what happened to him in the last hours of his life. This will lead Randy to discover many surprising elements about Terry's life and, consequently, about himself. In doing so, he will have to deal with people that, frankly, he would have done better to avoid. Will all this prevent him from finally getting custody of the love of his life, his daughter Crash?  Or, on the other hand, will he finally be allowed to live a good life, alcohol and guilt free?

Very-well written and highly entertaining, The Next Right Thing takes the reader in a Southern California devoid of glamor and sandy beaches. In fact, we are dealing with ex junkies, porn stars, recovering alcoholics, even the son of a Mafia don. The story is real and the dialogues rich. You just want to find out what happened; and the more you find out, the more the plot thickens.

A great read for the summer. Find out what happened to Terry and who he really was in this noir mystery. You will not be disappointed!

The Gods of the mythology are angry! America is more interested in worshiping icons of the modern world like the media, Internet or television and those "real" Gods are all but forgotten. So what can they do about it? They can go to war! New Gods versus Old Gods, for the soul of America, a clash of titans.

And in their quest to regain power and recognition, they enlist the help of Shadow, and ex-con just out of prison who is down on his luck now that his only reason to live, his wife Laura, has died in a car crash in the middle of an affair with Shadow's boss. What better time for Mr Wednesday, an enigmatic figure who seems to know way too much about Shadow's past, to come into his life and force him to join him in a quest to rally the Gods and rage war on all those modern icons.

Peopled with strange creatures coming from the mythology of countries ranging from Norse to Hindu, from Irish to Egyptian, dark, humorous, sad and extremely sobering at times, American Gods is an interesting study of what the modern world has become and what needs to be done about it. Oscillating between reality and a fantasy-like dream world in which Shadow jumps at will, the novel will entice readers from all walks of life.

And it won the 2002 Hugo Award!! What better reason to give it a try :)

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The day is going as usual, nothing particular has changed but in the sky, there are two moons side by side, one big and yellow, one smaller and green. This shows that you have entered 1Q84, a universe slightly off. You are not in the year 1984 anymore; you have veered into a different universe with Q as “question mark”. Once in this world, there is no going back.

This is what happened to Aomame and to Tengo, two people whose fate is more intertwined than they could ever imagine. In order for Aomame and Tengo to meet and fulfill their purpose, 1Q84 will put in the two main characters’ path the young Fukaeri, author of the Air Chrysalis, a novel whose sole existence will unleash the fury of the Little People. In 1Q84, they also encounter Leader, the head of a powerful yet extremely secret sect whose relation with those mysterious Little People seems to be more than a mere acquaintance.

As the two separate stories of Aomame and of Tengo slowly come together, the reader’s conception of reality gets more and more tempered with. Deeply philosophical and metaphysical, dealing with predetermination and the illusion of reality among other themes, 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami is one of those novels that leave its audience pondering about life and the universe. It will even appeal to those in dire need of a beautiful love story. An interesting mix between Kafka’s Metamorphosis, Lewis Carroll’s Through the looking glass and George Orwell’s 1984 to name just a few, this novel cannot leave the reader unmoved.

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