Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay

Having watched the tv series of the same name, I was probably more enthused to read this book than I should have been. A more useful outlook would have been a clean slate, but unfortunately the book was measured against Michael C Hall's performance, which is utterly unfair.

Having said that, I did enjoy this book, but the main character is not nearly as charismatic as Hall and the writing is nowhere near as sharp. I feel somewhat ashamed in admitting this stance, since I'm usually the one looking down my nose and people who watch the movie before reading the book, but this is one of the rare cases in which the tv show exceeds the source material.

Having recently finished the book Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin, I'm forced to wonder if I've become too bitter and tainted to enjoy a mild young adult story of two teens finding love in an alternative universe, or is this another case where a great story has been trivialized by focusing on the inept lovelife of two characters? This is the same issue I had with Titanic. The tragic story of 1500 people who drowned on the maiden voyage of the largest shipliner at the time, a movie in which 200 million dollars was spent creating the idyllic picture and demise of the 1912 cruiseship Titanic and what story are we treated to? Peasant Jack and spoiled rich girl Rose's failed relationship.

I'm sure any souls reading this would accuse me of being a curmudgeon, but I don't like the idea of foregoing an immense amount of rich material, just to focus on a story that could take place in the normal world.

Other than this trite relationship, I found myself enjoying the side stories of this book. The aging backwards thing, the talking dogs, the well in which the Elswhere residents can communicate with the real world, all of these were fun details to explore. If you don't mind a few heavy-handed themes and a nauseating romance arc, this is the book for you.

Freedom To Read Protection Act

Rep. Sanders Brings Back Freedom to Read Protection ActJoined by members of organizations representing librarians, booksellers, publishers, and writers, Rep. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) announced at a March 9 news conference that he will reintroduce the Freedom to Read Protection Act, which would exempt libraries and booksellers from provisions of the USA Patriot Act that allow the federal government to access records without a traditional search warrant.
“Section 215 and the USA Patriot Act must be seen in the context of a creeping erosion of our constitutional rights that little by little, bit by bit, is making us a less free nation,” Sanders said.
“In seeking to curb the overly broad provisions of Section 215, we are not trying to thwart government efforts to investigate terrorists,” noted ALA Washington Office Executive Director Emily Sheketoff. “However, we do not believe that the government needs unsupervised, secret powers to learn what ordinary Americans are reading.”
Sanders first introduced the Freedom to Read Protection Act in 2003 with the support of a bipartisan group of more than 150 cosponsors. After the bill did not come up for a vote, Sanders proposed a similar measure as an amendment to an appropriations bill in 2004; that effort was narrowly rejected in July 2004 when Republican leaders extended voting time and convinced some lawmakers to switch their votes.
Posted March 11, 2005.

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Violence research data from the National Institute of Justice, Data Resources Program, U.S. Department of Justice
Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research.; National Archive of Criminal Justice Data.; National Institute of Justice (U.S.).1994
English Computer File : Numeric data computer optical disc ; 4 3/4 in. + documentation.
Ann Arbor, MI : Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research, National Archive of Criminal Justice Data,
Contains data from 59 studies or data compilations about violence. Does not contain full-text National Institute of Justice publications. Focal offenses include homicide, assault, robbery, domestic violence, and sexual aggression; some studies also include other offenses for comparison purposes. Datasets can be grouped into nine arbitrarily defined categories: violence (general); youth violence; domestic violence; homicide; other specific offenses; violence in criminal careers; violence and mental disorder; victims of violence; capital punishment


Publication:
Ann Arbor, MI :; Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research, National Archive of Criminal Justice Data,
Year:
1994
Description:
computer optical disc ; 4 3/4 in. + Includes: documentation.
Language:
English
Series:
[ICPSR ;; 6495]; Variation: ICPSR (Series) ;; 6495.
Abstract:
Contains data from 59 studies or data compilations about violence. Does not contain full-text National Institute of Justice publications. Focal offenses include homicide, assault, robbery, domestic violence, and sexual aggression; some studies also include other offenses for comparison purposes. Datasets can be grouped into nine arbitrarily defined categories: violence (general); youth violence; domestic violence; homicide; other specific offenses; violence in criminal careers; violence and mental disorder; victims of violence; capital punishment.
SUBJECT(S)
Descriptor:
Violence -- United States -- Statistics -- Databases.

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