So here are my book reviews, in accordance with my Resolutions. This month’s theme was “Books I Could Have Watched”. I will review them in the order that I read them.

The first is Stephen Colbert‘s I am America (And So Can You!). Now, I am biased because I absolutely adore the Colbert Report. This book was funny and witty, but you know, not as good as the show. Not by a long shot. In that sense I was sort of disappointed by this book. It sort of went downhill by the end, the laughs got fewer. The beginning of the book is fabulous though, I was laughing out loud, I couldn’t read it in public. If you like the Colbert Report, you will like the book, I am sure. I have given it 4/5 stars, though it probably is more around a 3.5/5 for me. It just sort of let me down and got a bit waring after a while.

Second, Morgan Spurlock‘s “Don’t Eat This Book”. I will again admit to my bias. I loved loved loved Supersize Me. This book greatly expanded on the movie, addressing criticism and adding on to ideas expressed in the movie. Spurlock is a great writer and adds humour when it is most needed in this book. I recently read Fast Food Nation, and while these books were similar, I think Spurlock made his point more accessible to the general public and your run of the mill soccer parents (not to detract from Fast Food Nation, that book scared the shit out of me). This book has made me wary of fast food, and I suppose food in general. One commenter asked if I had already read Don’t Eat This Book when I posted I was starting #292 to go 100 days without fast food. I hadn’t finished reading the book yet when I started that, but the beginning of it combined with my recently completion of Fast Food Nation pushed me over the edge to do this.

It changed a few other things for me as well. I doubt anyone is keeping hard and fast track but you may have noticed that I removed go to the Olympics from my list. Well, this book has influenced me, as I’ve discussed already. After readying this following excerpt I decided against giving any of my hard-earned money to the Olympics through Visa.

“By the way, you want to know what sort of control the big food sponsors have over what gets consumed at the Olympics? Total, that’s what. Complete food fascism. At the Athens Games, according to the London Times, spectators-not the athletes, but the paying spectators-were told that ‘they could be barred for taking a surreptitious sip of Pepsi or an illicit bite from a Burger King Whopper. Strict regulations published by Athens 2004 dictate that spectators may be refused admission to events if they are carrying food or drinks made by companies that did not see fit to sponsor the games.

Since Coke was the official soft drink, Pepsi was of course confiscated at the gate. But you couldn’t even walk in carrying any brand of bottled water except for a Greek one called Avra, a subsidiary of Coca-Cola. Even T-shirts with a competitor’s logo on them could get you into trouble, and if they thought you might be on TV when the cameras panned the stands, they’d tell you to wear it inside-out. If you were on staff of a volunteer at the Games, the only sneakers you could wear were Adidas. ‘It is not even possible to buy a ticket to the Olympics using a card other than Visa,’ the Times reported.

How insane is that? I thought the Olympics were supposed to be all about international brotherhood and fair and open competition. Guess not.”

So Don’t Eat this Book was a phenomenal read, I really enjoyed the content and Spurlock’s writing style. I give it 5/5 because I found nothing lacking.

Last but certainly not least, was the V for Vendetta graphic novel. I guess I could have called this biased month, because I have seen this movie several times and am in love with it. As in I would marry that movie, if it were legal to do so.
I had never read a graphic novel before, and doubt I would have ever given it a shot if Adam hadn’t gotten it for me for Christmas. It was a little tough in the beginning, since I was really unfamiliar with the writing type. Sometimes the dialogue was hard to follow and I’m still iffy on who some of the characters were. It took me a while to get through because I had to keep re-reading pages. Other than that, it was phenomenal. The story differed quite a bit from the movie (expectedly so), but it was just as captivating and brilliant. I will definitely be reading it again, and trying out more graphic novels! I give this book 4/5 because I found it quite hard to understand at points, but I’m sure this is due do my unfamiliarity with the style.