Euclid-lis blog

Archive for May, 2010

In all my life, I have read hundreds of books, and few were so enjoyable as this book, Artemis Fowl.

The book is set in our current time and begins with a 12-year-old genius finding a fantastical creature, green and slimy and in pain from alcoholism, and forces it to give him a copy of The Book–the Fairy’s Bible in essence. From here it goes into an exciting, dangerous, and twisty story full of surprises and characters you wouldn’t expect.

The novelty of this book is the fact that it has an entirely new take on fairies. It doesn’t show them as cute little creatures who sprinkle pink sparkly dust all over you. These fairies are heavily-armed, high technology, and completely human-like. They have very human qualities that makes them appealing, but they have (obviously) many things about them that are inherently fairy. They have familiar fairy qualities, but yet Colfer was able to add other elements to the fairies that we’ve never seen before. One of the most unique was the reinvention of the dwarf. Dwarfs have been transformed into tunnelers who consume the dirt and digest it in seconds to tunnel through the ground and cover up their tracks. It seems disgusting when you first read it, but it comes in handy later in the book and in the series.

The fairy technology is one of my favorite parts of the book. Such intricate ideas and designs–truly ingenious. There are too many to list them all, but probably the most dangerous is the Bio-Bomb, or “blue rinse.” It destroys all life in its proximity, yet leaves all other structures intact. This is one of dozens of inventions Colfer’s devious mind has created.

The writing was excellent, and although it was cheesy at some points, there are some witty elements that are going to make you laugh.

A great book all in all. I would call it “required reading!”

If you liked this book, you also might want to try:
Double Life by Dawson Vosburg
The Arctic Incident by Eoin Colfer (Sequel to Artemis Fowl)
Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff
West Michigan Bowler

I mean it really sucks everything up! I was so pleasantly surprised by how good the vacuum works and it’s wide so now it only takes a couple of minutes to vacuum a room. Very good value for the money and I recommend it to anyone looking to get a Great Vacuum at a good price!
Tax Policy Pharmaceutical Industry

I am twenty-two years old. Probably not the oldest reader of this series, but I had to put my two cents in for this book and the others that follow.

I am up to ‘Lost Colony’ and having read the four books preceeding it, I have to recommend Artemis Fowl to anyone even slightly interested in the teen-fantasy genre.

I read the first novel when I was sixteen or seventeen and loved it. It’s a creative joyride, with some humorous and epic encounters, and the pages never stopped turning until I came to the last line. The story involves a literal boy-genius, twelve year old Irish lad Artemis Fowl, as he uncovers a secret underground society of fairies and the like. He eventually comes face-to-face with the hero of the tale (Artemis can be seen as an anti-hero of sorts), a young female fairy named Holly Short, an employee of the LEPrecon (get it?) police division.

Personally, I chuckle at things like LEPrecon. It’s funny and it becomes obvious Colfer is a great(er) writer as you move from page to page.

Personally, I find Artemis Fowl to be a much more enjoyable read than Harry Potter. I barely got into the first of the series and it was almost painstaking to do so. Artemis Fowl reeled me in and, obviously, I’m hooked. Looking forward to the ‘Time Paradox’ in July. You should too.
150W Dusk to Dawn

“The Help,” by Kathryn Stockett, is remarkable in that she captures the sound and cadence of Missippi in the same sense that some musical people have perfect pitch. Additionally, “The Help” is as good an example of literary pacing I have ever read. Stockett’s timing, between highs and lows, danger and calm, simply keeps the pages flapping.

I avoided other reviewers’ problems with dialect since I heard the audio version and did not have to stumble over the oddly spelled words. There were four readers, which is unusual in an audio book, two with perfect black Mississippi accents, and two with perfect white Mississippi accents. Other reviewers thought that many of the characters were cardboardy. But since I am old enough to remember the attitudes towards civil rights, many of the social aspects attributed to white society strike me as being true. Inflexibility of some of the characters does not make them carboardy but makes them true to the times.

After finishing this book and learning that more than 50 agents rejected it, and only a new imprint agreed to publish it, I began to wonder what’s wrong with our book industry, especially since more than 425,000 copies have been sold in a year. But then again, this is the same industry that rejected “The Shack,” and dismissed “The Hunt for Red October” as being too technical.

Too many lattes on the Upper West Side?

Personal Integrity Shaw Contemporary

This Omrom is a wonderful Pal to have!. I decided to get the Omron pedometer to help me keep track of my daily activity… and to keep me motivated to exercise more frequently. I love how small it is, I can slip it in my pocket every morning and be on my way. I’ve found that it’s super accurate and doesn’t get tricked into counting false steps due to shaking, riding on the subway, etc. The memory function is really useful’ it’s nice to be able to look back and see how much I’ve walked on previous days. If you’re looking for a low cost-investment to help motivate you to get more active this is definitely worth the money.
Zatopek

I have a Wii Fit Plus and wanted the same for my older brother. Since he did not have the console yet, I had to find it first. I knew he would never buy one for himself, but he has loved it! His birthday is Feb. 15 and it took almost a month to find it in stock and at the right price.
Power Rangers Stylized Ranger

Since installing MS Office 2007 on my desktop and two laptops I have had nothing but problems and I use Word extensively for my work to write complex reports. The problems we have experienced, and continue to be plagued by are; numerous security updates through MS that have created hardware problems, the fact that MS never informed us that Office 2007 did not have a compatible spellcheck interface with Outlook Express, documents and whole folders disappearing from one computer to another on USB drives, and creating such an impossibly complicated version of Word that it is taking me months to use it….and I was exceptionally adept at Word 2003, which we thought was a great program and used for years.

NICE GOING MICROSOFT. WE NOW UNDERSTAND WHY MS IS SO DESPISED!
Klaus Mueller Prelude Violin

Love it right from Amazon of course i have been everywhere searching for one of these systems everywhere i hear there are a shortage on them. So i decide to go with Amazon, Great Choice!!!!! Amazon has and will keep my business and i’m very picky about where i spend my money.
Theories of the Mind

The new DSLR’s that include video need Class 6 SDHC cards to work effectively. This card does the trick. Any lower speed interrupts the transfer of data to the card and generates a stop and go effect. This card makes everything smooth and easy.
DEWALT DG5663 6 Pocket

LOVED getting this great item at a more-than-fair price. My sis-in-law had tried one but I didn’t care for the pricing found at main product site – got it on Amazon at 30% savings! Delivery was very fast and I’m extremely pleased with the item.
Advanced Tool Design Model