More "Books Books Books"

The Road by Cormac McCarthy. This one was a big bestseller, and it came out a few years ago. It's a science fiction novel that won a Pulitzer Prize. That just doesn't happen very often at all.

It's not about aliens or robots or cyber-dystopias, but is part of the post-apocalyptic genre of science fiction. One web page describes the general post-apocalyptic scenario:

"It’s a classic theme of science fiction: something really, really bad happens, and mankind is knocked back to the Stone Age. Of course, with the dropping of atomic bombs by the U.S. to end World War II, people came to realize that for the first time Man himself possessed the power to bring about a global cataclysm. And science fiction wasted no time in examining the possible effects (there were speculative stories in print well before the Manhattan Project was even conceived)."

These books were of popular in the bomb-scare era of the 1950s and 1960s. Great examples include Edgar Pangborn's novels and short stores, and "A Canticle for Leibowitz" by Walter Miller, and "The Postman" by David Brin. In movies, the genre is well known from the second two "Mad Max" movies, "Damnation Alley", "The Postman" adaptation, and others. A popular recent twist on this is the idea of the Zombie Apocalypse.

"The Road" is a more recent example of this, and it fits in perfectly with the description of the classic theme described above. A bad event happens (probably a quick global nuclear war; the book does not really dwell on that) that leave the Earth as a cold, dying, ash-heap. It's not the Zombie Apocalypse, but it appears that most of the humans left behind have (for Lord of the Flies-type reasons) the social skills, and often the culinary habits, of zombies. Across this global version of Zug Island walks a man and his son. The man is trying best as he can to make sure his son survives and is raised properly.

I liked the book, but felt it was perhaps half as long as it could have been. It all went too quickly. But it does make me want to go back and read Edgar Pangborn's incomparable novels.

And it is going to be a movie, starring Viggo Mortensen, out very soon. Think "Aragorn in Mordor".

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"American on Purpose" by Craig Ferguson. I've been a fan of Ferguson since first seeing him chewing up the scenery as the loud boss Nigel Wick on the "Drew Carey Show". I was surprised to hear that they gave him a job hosting CBS's "Late Late Show" a few years ago. How could he get a job based on that? I figured he must have a really great agent or something.

When I ran across his autobiography, I could not help but read it. It turns out he has done a lot more than his Drew Carey role, including playing music (he was in a band with Torchwood's Peter Capaldi) and a long vaunted career in comedy performance (under the state name of Bing Hitler, of all things!).

Also, along the way, he had a rather bad time with alcoholism. So bad, in fact, that he abused drugs copiously in order to cope with the alcoholism. Which of course causes its own problems. Well, he has been clean and sober for years. I think this is the second 'recovering alcoholic celebrity" autobiography I have read, after Kelsey's Grammer's "So Far".

The title refers to Ferguson's lifelong dream and ambition to come to America, make a career here, and to be an American. Born in Scotland and raised around Glasgow, he is now an American citizen.

The book was very enjoyable. I'd recommend it for fans of the Craig Ferguson Show. I'm a fan of it, even though I've only seen a few episodes. It's on late, late, afterall. If David Letterman gets forced off of his show due to the growing scandal, Ferguson should replace him.

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"Columbus: For Gold, God, and Glory". This is a large "coffee-table" with many photos. I found out there was really a lot I did not know about the planning of Columbus' voyages. But the book was long on huge pictures and short on text, so I don't think I'm going to read it again.