I am stinking hot here, but I'm going to try to concentrate on writing about Peter and the Starcatchers, the book that I read while on vacation.

Peter and the Starcatchers is about Peter Pan and how he becomes Peter Pan. The story was written by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson. I'm sure you've heard of Dave Barry (yes, that one that used to work for the Daily Local News) before. Ridley Pearson is apparently a writer of thriller novels, and is also in Dave's band.

Anyway, the story begins with Peter and some orphans (to become known as The Lost Boys) are shipped out on the boat, The Never Land, to become slaves of an evil king. Some things happen, including the switching of certain important cargo between boats, and Peter falls in with this girl named Molly, who is apparently an apprentice Starcatcher.

Not to give a whole lot away, and I suspect that if you read it you'll guess as much on your own, but the "Starcatching" has to do with where all the weird powers and creatures in the story come from.

The best part about this book is that you learn the history of Peter Pan that you might not have known before - Why Peter never grows old, the deal with Captain Hook's hook and the crocodile that hunts him, and how the lost boys managed to pull off peace with the indians in the first place. Among other things. For example, I could now tell you the name of the big crocodile, but then I might ruin some of the story for you.

I was somewhat disappointed in the origins of Tinkerbell. I had a definite candidate in mind, and that just didn't happen. There are a couple of things left unexplained. For instance, why Hook continues to harass Peter after the big treasure has been taken from the island remains a mystery to me.

The book was well written, and I think Mr. Pearson did a good job incorporating some of his triller-writing skill into the novel, as did his co-author of the witty humor. Of course, this is a book that is intended for children, and I would say it's aimed at a younger crowd even than Harry Potter. So it's quite a quick read even at 450+ pages.

Anyway, Peter and the Starcatchers gets a thumbs-up as a nice and suspenceful introduction to the characters of Peter Pan.

The Muslim month of Ramadan begins today, as many Muslims start their month-long fast of religious introspection. Ramadan undoubtably has to be the coolest name for a religious holiday. Ramadan is also the title of one of the best Sandman issues, #50.

In the Ramadan comic, the ruler of Baghdad views his kingdom as having reached perfection, and its only future is one where it is less great than it currently is. To save his city, he entreats Morpheus (the "main character" of the Sandman comics, who is often inferred and not physically present) to buy the kingdom from him so that it may live on forever in its current state in the land of dreams. It's really an awesome story - if you can find a copy, I highly recommend it.

If you have read it, there are good Ramadan Annotations online, showing how well Gaiman researches his work even for mere comics.

After months of it sitting in the CD player at home, I finally finished the audio version of Joseph Finder's Paranoia. It's a story about a guy who uses company funds for a lavish party, gets caught, and then is forced by his boss into industrial espionage to keep himself out of federal prison.

The story starts off pretty good. He is deep in the new company spying and stuff. Moving up the corporate ladder. The love interest. It all looks pretty good. The book even takes its tragic turn at the right time, when the main character decides that he can't do it any more and gets the stuffing beat out of him. But then it loses focus.

There's something about rappelling down a building, and it starts to get all Mission Imossible. His friend gets Rambo skills out of nowhere, and they start doing things that no sane person would consider, imminent jail term or no.

I really liked the character as it was developed, but as I said, at the end he started to act a little weird. It's as if the author knew where he wanted it to go, but didn't know how to reveal it so he went completely insane with the action.

So, yeah, the end was kind of a letdown, but I wouldn't call it not worth the time. It was surely a good 3/4 of a read.

Last night, in the middle of watching Amish in the City, I read the last of Stardust, by Neil Gaiman. I had started this book a long time ago, but at the time I was so stinking sick of fairies and the fae that I couldn't get past the second chapter. Honestly, the word "fae" invokes such distaste for me and yet does not jibe with how I feel about the actual topic. It's absurd.

Anyway, the book is not about the guy that you meet in the first chapter, but rather about his son, who was born to a cat-person (another thing I find distastefully commonly desirable - plushie folk) and promised that he would fetch a fallen star for the woman that he loves.

Well, things go awry. I shouldn't ruin the story if you've not read it. What I can say is that Gaiman (of Sandman fame) is in typical form, and I think I might actually like this book better than American Gods. American Gods was ok, but just lacked something. Stardust migh be good, but it's not as good as Neverwhere, still Gaiman's best book, in my opinion.

The story is colored with a lot of fairy stuff. There are vivid descriptions of everything imaginable and even of most things not. There are plenty of good moments where the book loops around on itself in a pleasant way. I should describe this aspect a bit.

Have you ever watched a stand-up comic perform? Did you ever notice how they tend to start with a certain joke, and then do quite a bit of other funny stuff, and then circle back around to that joke? Doesn't it always please the crowd? It's like a comedian skill - returning to reference a prior joke. It's like asking a juggler to do a cascade or a car mechanic to change the oil.

Anyhow, Gaiman does that a few times. The characters overlap so often that one might wonder if everyone in the story would recognize everyone else, if only in passing. I guess this is an interesting way of illustrating what a small world Fairie is, and how unusual it is in its social intricacies.

There are other scenes of typical Gaiman dialogues. When Tristran, the main character, meets Yvaine for instance, she's very rude to him. Not that all of Gaiman's characters are rude, just that it plays on the twist of her fate very well.

You have no idea how difficult it is to write a review of soemthing when you can't say anything about it.

To dissemble- Stardust is a good book. Go read it.

Another small note- This book is not for kids. There's sex and violence and other very true-fairie things that are quite unfit for readers who aren't already too jaded for a fairy novel.