MotherReader's 48-Hour Book Challenge: A Weekend For MANLY MEN!

Hey all you reader guys in blogland, the CARLMAN has signed himself up for a challenge worthy of all MANLY MEN, especially all MANLY READER GUYS. One of the great book bloggers, MotherReader, has announced her fifth annual 48 Hour Book Challenge. The goal is to read as hours as you can in the weekend of June 4-6. Sounds like a challenge worthy of the CARLMAN! I wll also challenge you guys to read that weekend. Of course, I will give out prizes to those who also read that weekend. Not only will I challenge you to read, but I will also challenge you to donate money to the library system for every hour that I read. My goal is to read 12 hours that weekend. "TWELVE HOURS?" you say. Some may think that's a lot; some may not think it's much at all. Well, that's my goal. That's a full quarter of a weekend and that's enough to be do-able and still be enough of a challenge to prove that, when it comes to reading, the CARLMAN is an IRON GUY!! (I would say IRON MAN, but someone else is already using it)
Stay tuned, guys. I'll give you more details as it gets closer.

In the meantime, I'm looking forward to seeing you at the Boys Book Club this afternoon!

Leviathan Book Club and Iron Man 2

Here's a quick reminder--the Boys Book Club meets this Saturday at 3:00 pm in the Round here at Imaginon. Our book is Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld. We have 5 spots left, so call me at 704-416-4630 if you'd like to come.

The CARLMAN is curious if any of you have seen the Iron Man 2 movie. Did you enjoy it? Was it as good as the first one? Write a comment and let me know

The Whiiping Boy by Sid Fleischman: My First Blast From the Past

Hey, all you crazy reader cats in blogville, the CARLMAN has to apologize for not posting as much as I have before. With all these changes going on in the library, I'm busy with a lot of stuff, so I don't get as much time to blog or read as I used to. But it's all good--I'll get on here when I can. I've got several good books to write about eventually, like the first Redwall book. Our family also went ahead and bought The Red Pyramid and The Emperor's Code, so you'll hear about them before too long.

In the menatime, I thought I'd tell you about some terrific things I've read in the past but never blogged about. These are my Blasts From the Past. The first is The Whipping Boy by Sid Fleischman. This is one TERRIFIC book! You will REALLY enjoy this one!

Can you imagine how unfair it would be to be whipped for something someone else did? That's the situation that young Jemmy finds himself in--whenever Prince Brat misbehaves (which is all the time), Jemmy gets the thrashing since no one can whack the heir to the throne. No wonder that Jemmy runs away. But guess who's the first person he meets--that's right, Prince Brat!! The prince has run away also and wants to tag along with Jemmy. What could be worse? Well, how about being the both of them being captured by two murderous bad guys named Hold-Your-Nose Billy and Cutwater? I tell you, guys, this is a fun, fun, FUN read! There are laughs, escapes, and a circus bear. And wait until you see what finally happens to the bad guys! Go check this one out, guys! You'll truly be glad you did!

Athena: Grey-Eyed Goddess by George O'Connor...

... is another AMAZINGLY TERRIFIC graphic novel in his Olympians series. He's taking all 12 of the deities in the ancient Greek pantheon and making a graphic novel about each one. This one is the second; the first was Zeus: King of the Gods and you can read my review here. After reading this one, all I could say was--

WOW!!

George O'Connor is one extremely talented artist and writer, taking these stories, which are thousands of years old, and making them as thrilling, intense, and fun as any graphic novel you'd find at your local comics store. And what stories he has to tell, from Athena's highly unusual birth to her battle with the Gigantes! If that wasn't enough, you also get Perseus and Medusa and Athena's little weaving competion with Arachne. Guys, if you like mythology, or are a Percy Jackson fan, or simply like great stories and artwork that will knock your socks off, then you need to check out Athena: Grey-Eyed Goddess!

The Percy Jackson Graphic Novel, The Redwall Graphic Novel, Plus Capt'n Eli, Jack Kirby, and The Incredibles

A lot of reader guys have wondered when the Percy Jackson graphic novel will come out and I got an answer last week from D.A. Tyo. She gave us a link that gives all the info, so check it out. It'll come out at the same time as the new Camp Half Blood series. As I said before, this year will be a good time to be a Rick Riordan fan! (I can't show you a cover because it hasn't been created yet)

Speaking of graphic novels, Darth Bill sent us a comment reminding us that there's a Redwall graphic novel:

I have only read the first Redwall book, but I really enjoyed it. Also just to let you know, the first book has also been adapted into a graphic novel that is available at the library. Ops, sorry gotta go. Have some darn Jedi to deal with!!!!

Darth Bill!!!!!!

Must be a tough life as a sith lord, always looking over your shoulder for Jedi. Anyway, Bill wrote about that gn a while back. I have not read the Redwall graphic novel, but Bill did and you can see his review here. Good to hear from you again, man! Send us more comments when you're not souping up your T.I.E. fighter.

Speaking of graphic novels that Bill liked, I am forever in his debt for turning me on to the Capt'n Eli series. A new one is supposed to come out his year, although the Capt'n Eli website doesn't say when. I'll be waiting excitedly until then! I've just reread the second one, The Mystery of the Sargasso Sea and enjoyed it a lot! Jay Piscopo creates a Silver Age style universe but doesn't just copy the old masters--he keeps the stories fresh and exciting. You can find a link to the Capt'n Eli website in the list of links on the left-hand side of the page.

Speaking of the old masters, none was more masterful that Jack "King " Kirby. I've been reading Marvel Visionaries Jack Kirby and, man, is that artwork AWESOME!! I mean, that word is overused these days, but no one has ever created artwork that truly inspired awe like Jack Kirby. Look at the stories about Galactus, Thor and the High Evolutionary, The Inhumans, and the Eternals and see if your jaw doesn't drop in awe-struck wonder. There are other stories too--old stories from the '40's and '5o's (including the very first Captain America story), an action-packed World War II adventure with Nick Fury and His Howling Commandos and a bit of silliness called "This is a Plot?" Nobody ever did it better than Jack Kirby! Check this out and see!

Finally, the Incredibles are back in town with City of Incredibles. Yes, Pixar's family of supers fight evil again. This time however, Jack-Jack causes a lot of the trouble. He got infected with an alien virus, so whenever he sneezes, other people get infected with super powers. The bad thing is that he's been kidnapped by the Confederacy of Crime and he sneezes all over the henchmen. Now the Incredibles have to fight not only Dr. Pixel, Tronasaurus, Roller Girl, and the rest of the Confederacy but also all their super henchmen as well! This one has all the action and humor you'd expect from the Incredibles! Don't miss it! (Darth Bill also reviewed one of their graphic novels--take a look here)

All right, guys, check these out and, as Capt'n Eli would say, "Stand by for adventure!"

Gentlemen, Start Your Reading!

Hey, guys, it seems like an eon since the CARLMAN reviewed any nonfiction but we got some new books that looked interesting (one of the perks of being a guybrarian is getting to see new stuff before it hits the shelves), so I checked them out. All three were books about NASCAR. Now I'm not a racing fan but these books were very interesting.

The first was Race Week: Seven Crazy Days by Stephen Timblin. You'd think a racer's life would be pretty plush, working only on weekends. WRONG! The life of a race car team is as busy as an anthill during race season. Every minute is packed full of--well, you'll just have to read to find out!

The second was Pit Stop Secrets by K. C. Kelley. Man, it's amazing what the guys in a pit crew have to do! And how fast they have to do it. Incredible feats of strength and skill have to be done at lightning speed while cars zip past only a short distance away. Unbelievable! This book breaks down all the steps of a pit stop and even has pictures. A really good read!

The third was NASCAR Tech by Bob Woods. It's easy to design and build a NASCAR car, right? Just take a car off the assembly line and drop in a souped-up engine, huh? WRONG AGAIN!! That's how it was back in the early days of racing but now it's almost as high-tech as building an X-wing fighter. Well, that's an exaggeration, of course, but I couldn't believe how much advanced technology goes into building NASCAR cars and race tracks. You'll be surprised too. Check out this book and see!

If you love racing or if you simply like to find out new stuff, these are the books for you!

BTW, May is a good month if you're a racing fan, especialy if you live in the Charlotte area. The NASCAR Hall of Fame opens May 11, the annual Speed Street festival is May 27-29, and the Coca-Cola 600 takes place on May 30. Good times for fans of high speed and high tech!

Spandex City, Update on the Sluggers Giveaway, and New Rick Riordan Books Coming Soon!

Before Darth Bill left us to tyranize planets in the Outer Rim, he wrote about a new comics store. It's Spandex City and their grand opening is this Saturday, May 1. It looks like a very cool place--check out their website here. They'll give out free comics on Saturday (while they last) AND they'll donate 10% of their opening day sales to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Library. So go see them, pick up some good stuff, and support the library! BTW, Darth Bill got a superhero to endorse the opening. Take a look:



On another subject, I've decided to add a little more incentive to the Sluggers giveaway. (see this post for all the details on the giveaway) Not only will I give a prize package to any guy who reads all 6 books in the Sluggers series, I'll give a mini-prize package after you've read the first two! Here's what you'll get:
A Quizno's bag, a coupon for free Quizno's food (but good only for the new one uptown), a "Catch the Reading Bug" water bottle, and maybe a couple of other goodies.

If you read all six you'll get--


--a "Be a Power User" library bag, a Book Lover's Journal, your choice of one of our t-shirts, and a couple of free books. Of course, you can't just tell me you've read the Sluggers books; you've got to prove it. And the best way is to send me reviews! This offer will be good all summer or until we run out of prizes.

Lastly, being Charlotte's #1 Rick Riordan fan, I'm very excited that The Red Pyramid comes out this Monday! It's the first book in the new Kane Chronicles series that brings ancient Egyptian mythology into the modern world. Of course, the library takes longer than bookstores to get copies on the shelves, but I'm on our waiting list! The newest 39 Clues book, The Emperor's Code, is already here and kids are checking them out. The last two, Storm Warning and Into the Gauntlet, come out this summer. We have endless discussions in our house about who can be trusted and what will happen to Amy and Dan. Plus the new Camp Half-Blood books arrive in October! The new series is called Heroes of Olympus and the first book is The Lost Hero. Read about all this stuff at Rick Riordan's blog or his main website. It's a good time to be a Rick Riordan fan!