Fia Friday

Here's Fia outside sniffing my daffodils!

I keep trying to get a video of her chasing her tail but here she is right afterwards with her ducky.

Cover Contemplation- Alas Babylon

It’s another cover contemplation! Today is Pat Frank’s post-apocalyptic novel Alas, Babylon. These first three covers all feature the same picture of a group of people out of focus all being led by one man. I’m guessing the man is supposed to be Randy Bragg, the main character in the novel, the last cover is the copy I own of this book.

I've been told that this blue and purplish-pink cover is the bookjackets that were on the first editions of this book. Not really sure what all the shapes are supposed to mean; if anything, but I do like the font on this one. The yellow cover of the man looking into the explosion was a 1993 paperback release.

The really interesting Pan Giant cover with the mushroom cloud rising over the city and has broken telephone poles is an Australian cover of the paperback. The red cover with the black broken telephone poles is a hardcover found in the UK.

These last two are the only foreign language editions I could find. The first is the Italian cover which translates to Goodbye Babylon and is the only cover that actually looks like the time period it's set in with the cars from the 1950s gracing the cover. You can also tell that this is set in a sunny place (in this case Florida) with all the palm trees too. I'm really not impressed with the French edition (which translates to This World Was Not Saved) even if I do like the title, since it's a bit misleading. It does show a family but the main character has no children. The children belong to his brother's wife who is in the SAC and when he thinks their might be war headed their way, sends his family down to his brother and childhood home. Randy does take care of them but he also takes on several others, mostly his neighbors as family too.

That's all I could find out there for this book. If there are any others that you know about, please send them to me!

Teaser Tuesday- Alas, Babylon

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read and share two (2) “teaser” sentences
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

ALAS, BABYLON BY PAT FRANK

Randy and Mark never forgot Preacher Henry’s thundering, and from it they borrowed their private synonym for disaster, real or comic, past or future. If one fell off the dock, or lost all his cash at poker, or failed to make time with a promising Pistolville piece, or announced that hurricane or freeze was on the way, the other commiserated with, “Alas, Babylon!”

Musing Monday- Family Day

This week’s Musing Mondays post asks…


In honor of the Canadian “Family Day” holiday, today, I’m curious… What was the last book (or, what was your favorite book) that dealt with family? What did you like / dislike about it?

I've never heard of Family Day but it sounds like a good practice! The last book I read that dealt with family was Pat Frank's Alas, Babylon. I loved this book the first time I read it and I still loved it when I finished it last night. It's a dystopian post-apocolypse type of book but what makes it eligible for this post is that the main character Randy pulls together not only his brother's wife and kids but also the town doctor and all his nearby neighbors to make a family that works together in this new dangerous life without modern conviences. I loved how with them all teaming up, and eventually working with the town itself, they brought order to the chaos.

Fia Friday and a Toothache

This is Fia up in her bed (which is in my bed) which used to belong to the cat but after it sitting in a corner for a year without her getting in it once, I thought Fia would get more use out of it.

I haven't abandoned the blogs again, I've just had a horrible toothache the past few days and I can't find a book that truly interests me. I've tried three so far since Made to Be Broken and I got pretty far into the last one (enough that I do plan on finishing it eventually). The writing style and the voice was just too awkward for me. Also, it was really bugging me since the scenes weren't transitioning well. Since I'm not feeling good, this is doubly irritating for me.

That's not to say I'm not working on some reviews because I've finished the children's book one and I'm about to start the movie adaptation so I can review it all in one post. Also, I'm listening to the audio commentary of Under the Tuscan Sun so look for that review soon too. Hopefully I'll pick something up soon that I'll love and actually feel like reading... maybe a re-read of something I haven't reviewed?