LabKitty Reads: Meditations by Marcus Aurelius

History remembers Marcus Aurelius as one of the "five good emperors," that extraordinary succession of Roman leadership in the guise of Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antonius Pius, and Aurelius, whose combined reign spanned most of the 2nd century AD. They arrived at a time when Rome's emperors had gone rogue, a period of decline triggered by transition of the Augustian Principate to Uncle Tiberius. Aurelius et al. pushed back against the incompetence, and by their efforts extended the Pax Romana another four score years. (The nadir of Roman imperial depravity was of course Caligula's giant head lawnmower. Some miscreants have claimed that was but a work of fiction sprung from Bob Guccione's fertile mind. I prefer to think more highly of our esteemed pornographers.)

It was a inimitable club indeed, the VGE. A collection of exemplary executives matched perhaps only by the plenipotentiary run produced at the founding of America. (This back when America was a Republic. Heutzutage, its heads of state are chosen by corporate fiat. But I digress.) So it was with great excitement I learned Aurelius had written a guide to living. Meditations. A sort of Chicken Soup for the Roman Soul. Tuesdays with Moricus. A classic in the tradition of Plato, Cicero, and Neo, the cover blurb promised. A touchstone of Stoic philosophy.

Alas, Meditations is also a classic in the tradition of Hans Christian Andersen.

For the emperor has no prose.

LabKitty Reads: Blood Meridian

LabKitty Reads is a recurring feature in which I recap and pass verdict on selected works of Nerd Literature, the sort of books they talk about at the orthodontist. In this installment, I tackle iconic cowboy gorefest Blood Meridian.

Rumored to be in production for the big screen, the film version is either going to leave out more parts than Ron Howard left out of A Beautiful Mind or the MPAA is going to have to invent a new rating category.

Blood Meridian, by Cormac McCarthy. Published 1985, Random House.

Hoo boy, this one's gonna be dark.

LabKitty Reads: 2001: a Space Odyssey

LabKitty Reads is a recurring feature in which I recap and pass verdict on selected works of Nerd Literature. The sort of books you deconstruct while waiting for your turn on the rope climb in gym class. In this installment, I tackle the iconic loopy space cautionary tale 2001: a Space Odyssey.

As a LabKitten, I never once saw the movie 2001 in its entirety. I would fast-forward through the monkeys at the beginning ('cause I was ascared of 'em) and turn it off when things got weird at the end ('cause what the Hector Lonzo is going on?). To me, the whole monolith thing was a distraction -- I just liked the cool space stuff. Who wouldn't want to go to Jupiter, or live on a moon base, or vacation at an orbiting hotel via PanAm shuttle?

Well, the year 2001 has come and gone, and we haven't gone to Jupiter, there's no base on the moon, and PanAm went out of business some time ago. But revisiting 2001 lo these many years later, I'm in a better position to appreciate the deeper themes in Clarke's story, even if the nerd in me would rather just go to Jupiter, live on a moon base, or vacation at an orbiting hotel via PanAm shuttle. But, as they say, the whole raison d'être of science fiction is the exploration of Deep Themes, so here we are.

2001: a Space Odyssey, by Arthur C. Clarke. Published 1968, by New American Library.

Here is my review.

LabKitty Reads: Alien

LabKitty Reads is a recurring feature in which I recap and pass verdict on selected works of Nerd Literature, the sort of books they talk about at Klingon language camp. In this installment, I tackle iconic space gorefest Alien.

Technically, there was no Alien novel, but there was a novelization of the movie (which, yes, LabKitty owns). Therefore, it's fair game for LabKitty Reads

Alien by Allen Dean Foster, from a screenplay by Dan O'Bannon. Original publication date 1979.

Here is my review.

LabKitty Reads: Neuromancer

LabKitty reads... is a recurring feature in which I recap and pass verdict on selected works of Nerd Literature, the sort of books with which you need at least a passing familiarity if you expect to get half the jokes on the Internet. In this installment, I tackle the cyberpunk classic Neuromancer.

The sky above LabKitty was the color of Blogger, tuned to a review of Neuromancer

The story is a tad brief, the characters take a backseat to the technoweirdness, and the bad guy's denouement is a little curt. But, yikes, this is the book that started it all. And the story has yet to be ruined by Hollywood.

Neuromancer by WIlliam Gibson. Ace Science Fiction (1984)

Here is my review.

LabKitty Reads: Dune

LabKitty Reads... is a recurring feature in which I recap and pass verdict on selected works of Nerd Literature, the sort of books with which you need at least a passing familiarity if you expect to eat lunch with the cool kids. In this our second installment, I visit Frank Herbert's Dune.

Every time I see my copy of Dune on the shelf, I can't help but think: NERRD! But pick it up and read the first few pages and be reminded just how amazing it is.

Dune, by Frank Herbert. Chilton Publishing (1965).

Here is my review.

LabKitty Reads: The Hobbit

LabKitty reads... is a recurring feature in which I recap and pass verdict on selected works of Nerd Literature, the sort of books with which you need at least a passing familiarity if you're going to Comic-Con or ARVO. In our first installment, I tackle the beloved DnD classic, The Hobbit.

Before The Lord of the Rings there was The Hobbit, both in our world (Tolkien wrote it before Rings) and in Middle Earth (events in Hobbit transpire prior to those in Rings). The Hobbit is a light read, and if you've already read or watched the trilogy it's fun to see events here that will have major consequences down the road.

The Hobbit: or, There and Back Againby J.R.R. Tolkien,

Here is my review.