Finding Ben : a mother's journey through the maze of Asperger's/ Barbara Lasalle

Brutally honest.

That's how the book came across to me. In the preface, Lasalle explains that even though the book was about her, her journey and discovery, she wasn't sure if it was OK for her to write the story so she had to ask for permission from her son, Benjamin. Her hesitation became clear when reading more of the book.


ISBN: 0071431942
NLB Call No.: 618.9289820092 LAS
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It tells of one mother's experience of discovering her child not behaving like other kids his age, and not quite knowing what exactly was the problem because medical science had yet to give a proper diagnosis and name to the problem.

While much of the story is from the mother's point of view -- of trying to find a school for a son who couldn't quite fit in (none of the teachers understood his condition either); of her strained relationship with her ex-husband and even the second one; of her frustrations of her son's behaviour and weight problem.

Her story is also interspersed with the Ben's personal account of certain specific episodes of his life. Like the part where he was arrested and jailed, being humiliated by the police and prisoners alike. It's especially poignant when told by Ben himself.

Lasalle does not gloss over her disappointment, shame, guilt and bitterness of having a son with Asperger's. It was this brutal honesty that kept me turning the pages.

What's interesting is also Lasalle's account (near the end of the book) of her meeting Jack -- a man who spoke in riddles and in non-linear and logical ways due to an aneurysm. Yet Jack's utterances sometimes made the most sense, in a strange way.

The reader learns that there is no cure for Asperger's. One has to just deal with it as best as one can. That's the medical reality and it is this factual acceptance that enables both Barbara and Ben to cope.

P. 273 has a list of recommended resources:

• Books and articles on Asperger's Syndrome
• Books on dealing with Issues of Loss and Disappointment
• Mother's Accounts
• Support Groups

Benjamin has an official website at http://aspergerjourney.com/

The fifth mountain/ Paulo Coelho

I didn't quite get what Paulo Coelho's introduction alluded to, until after reading the last page of the book. I think that's the beauty of this particular story.


ISBN: 0060175443/ 0722536542
NLB Call No.: COE
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In his introduction, Coelho gave an example of how he was suddenly dismissed from his job when his career was at its peak. So basically, the story attempts to answer the question of why problems and tragedies seem to befall on people when they are at their most secure and confident time of their lives.

The Fifth mountain tells the story of the Bible's Prophet Elijah from Elijah's perspective -- his escape from persecution and then winding up in the city of Akbar.

The chapters are short and succint. I borrowed this so that I had something to read on my 16-hour flight to Oslo, Norway. Finished it when I touched down in Norway. Perfect timing.

The writing was simply poetry in motion to me. Very Zen.

Little wonder that Coelho's works are labelled as "Spiritual Fiction". Fifth Mountain was my first Coelho's story. If this is representative of Coelho's works, I'm definitely going to read more.

P. 21: Souls too, like rivulets and plants, needed a different kind of rain: hope, faith, a reason to live. When this did not come to pass, everything in that soul died, even if the body went on living

P. 64: The high priest knew that, of all the weapons of destruction that man could invent, the most terrible -- and the most powerful -- was the word. Daggers and spears left traces of blood; arrows could be seen at a distance. Poisons were detected in the end and avoided. But the word managed to destroy without leaving clues.

P. 128: "All life's battles teach us something, even those we lose. When you grow up, you'll discover that you have defended lies, deceived yourself, or suffered for foolishness. If you are a good warrior, you will not blame yourself for this, but neither will you allow your mistakes to repeat themselves."

P. 145: "... Fear reaches only to the point where the unavoidable begins; from there on, it loses its meaning. And all we have left is the hope that we are making the right decision."

P. 180: "... They had achieved everything they desired because they were not limited by the frustrations of the past."

P. 193: "The pain you and I feel will never go away, but work will help us to bear it. Suffering has no strength to wound a weary body."

P. 201: "... I know that children have no past... A child can always teach an adult three things: to be happy for no reason, to always be busy with something, and to know how to demand with all his might that which he desires."

P. 212: "Tragedies do happen. We can discover the reason, blame others, imagine how different our lives would be had they not occurred. But none of that is important: they did occur, and so be it. From there onward we must put aside the fear that they awoke in us and begin to rebuild."

A morbid taste for bones/ Ellis Peters

This is the first of the 'Brother Cadfael' series by Ellis Peters, (pen name of Edith Pargeter). I remember staying up late to watch the television series, starring Sir Derek Jacobi.


NLB Call No.: PET
ISBN: 0751517496
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Set in A.D. 1100 England, the series centers around the main character, Brother Cadfael, who's an ex-soldier of the Crusades turned monk, with a talent for solving crimes.

The story starts with acquisition of the remains of Saint Winifred by the Abbey. It's actually a ploy by the ambitious head of the Abbey, Prior Robert, to consolidate his political power. The remains are in a remote Welsh village and the Welsh are not on friendly terms with the English. Negotiations turn sour when Prior Robert tried to bribe the defacto-representative of the villagers, Rhisiart. Soon after, Rhisiart was found murdered and that's where the story takes off.

The writing is beautiful. It reminded me why I liked to read when I was younger, which was partly to pick up choice words for use in English composition homework:

"'God resolves all given time,' said Cai philosophically and trudged away into the darknesg. And Cadfael returned along the path with the uncomfortable feeling that God, nevertheless, required help from men, and what he mostly got was hinderance."

"His chin was shaven clean, and all the bones of his face were as bold and elegant as his colouring was vivid, with russet brushings of sun on high cheekbones, and a red, audacious, self-willed mouth."

"Brother Cadfael let loose his bardic blood, and rejoiced silently. Not even because it was Prior Robert recoiling into marble rage under Welsh seige. Only because it was a Welsh voice that cried battle."

A very engaging read. The characters are believable and the story is made even more interesting with the sub-plots, like the romance between Sioned and the foreigner Engelard (who becomes the chief suspect); Brother John and the Welsh girl, Annest. What was interesting was that both girls are Welsh and the men are English, and the couples had cultural and language barriers to overcome.

Like all good crime novels, you are kept guessing as to who is the real murderer. You would like this if you also like historical fiction.

Concrete: Think like a moutain/ Dark Horse Comics

Concrete is this man who was trapped in an avalanche and would have been dead if aliens did not encase his dying body in concrete. So now he's almost indestructable. Almost. But still very human.


NLB Call No.: q741.59
ISBN:1569711763
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In this story, Concrete is approached by a group of environmentalist who urge him to join their cause to save an old-growth forest from loggers. Concrete eventually agrees to go but only as an observer. He doesn't want to get into any trouble with the authorities by engaging in criminal acts. But soon, he has to decide if he is remains as an observer or active participant.

The story is well researched and gives good insights into environmentalism and eco-terrorism.
I also like the art. The drawing style and colours has this comtemplative feel to it. Come to think of it, that's something that Concrete does a lot -- contemplate.



I'm definitely looking for more Concrete stories. Try searching OPAC for "concrete paul chadwick".

The Sgt. Rock archives Vol. 1/ DC Comics

This archive covers issues #68 (Jan 1959), and #81 to #96 (Apr 1959 to Jul 1960). It's clearly a "Comics for Boys" type of story and drawings. One could say the plot is cheesy by today's standards but that's not a fair assessment.

This is best appreciated in the context of its time -- the comic series was produced in the 1950s.

In terms of storylines and plots, it's clear things were more straightforward then. It's really like watching old movies. The stories deal with heroism, perserverance and courage under fire. Not a complex "Saving Private Ryan" storyline but something more plain and simple.


NLB Call No.: 741.5973 SGT- [Art]
ISBN: 1563898411
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The foreword by Joe Kubert explains how Sgt. Rock came about, and Kubert mentions the people responsible for the art over the years.

There's also a biographies section at the back -- of the various artists involved in the Sgt. Rock series: Ross Andru, Mort Drucker, Mike Esposito, Jerry Grandenetti, Bob Haney, Russ Heath, Robert Kanigher, Joe Kubert, and Irv Novick.

Reading this gives me the impression that I'm holding on to a piece of comic history here. You certainly get a sense that comics (from North America) have come a long way since the 1950s.

Orbiter/ DC Comics

The cover and title attracted me. It showed a space shuttle boosted into space. Maybe it was the talk by Astronaut Cady Coleman not too long ago. Reading the backcover blurb made it all the more intriguing:

In the early 21st century, the space shuttle Venture has suddenly returned to Earth after disappearing ten years ago... its crew missing -- save for the catatonic pilot -- with new instrumentation, new engines, and covered in something very much like skin.

And with Martian sand in the landing gear.

By Warren Ellis & Colleen Doran, with Dave Stewart
NLB Call No.: 741.5973 ORB (Graphic Novel/ Art section)
ISBN: 1401202683
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The story mainly revolves around three people -- a psychologist, a forensic specialist, and a jet propulsion engineer -- well, a fourth if you count NASA pilot who was the sole survivor of the mission.

I liked the way their personal lives are revealed as the entire story unfolded. There's enough weird and scientifically intriguing concepts to satisfy the sci-fi reader in me. But lest you mistake this book as purely Science Fiction, I'd say it's really about human hopes, dreams and the drive for self-discovery.

How I felt about reading this: The story started off weird (in a Sci-Fi weird sort of way), there's suspense, then discovery, and finally a hint of something wondrous in the end.

Read it for yourself. I suspect you'll like it as much as I did.

Aliens: Stronghold/ Dark Horse Comics

This isn't scary at all, and is actually funny! A talking Alien called Jerry... ok, you read the comic for yourself to find out what's the deal.


Here's the gist of the story:
The Strunks are a husband and wife team sent by Grant-Corp to investigate on the bio-tech operations run by Dr Caspar Nordling. Not surprisingly, he's mad (i.e. psycho) and is an ego-maniac to boot. When the good doctor discovers that the Strunks are going to report on him, he attempts to kill the Strunks, but the Strunks have unexpected help...


NLB Call No.: 741.5973 ALI
ISBN: 156971262X
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Star wars: X-wing rogue squadron. Mandatory retirement

While I like Star Wars, I'm not exactly a Star Wars fan and don't necessarily pick up all Star Wars -related books. But I picked up this one up as it's an easy read (comic books don't take much time).

ISBN: 1569714924
NLB Call No.: q741.5973
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Rogue Squadron is one of the Rebel Alliance's Special Ops Forces, with a reputation for pulling off suicide missions. In this story, their mission is to rescue the disposed acting-Emperor Pestage. They get to him but gets stranded on a planet with the Imperial forces in pursuit. The Rebel Alliance can't send anyone to rescue them so it looks like their done for but of course they manage to escape but their missionisn't exactly fulfilled...

This comic book also includes a section called "In the studio with Terese Nielsen". Terese is the artist who did the comic cover, and the section shows how she did it.

Star Wars: Chewbacca/ Dark Horse Comics

This comic book has an introduction by Peter Mayhew, the guy who played Chewbacca (with picture of Peter Mayhew as well).


NLB Call No.: q741.5973 (Graphic Novel/ Arts section)
ISBN: 1569715157
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As I learnt from the blurb at the end-cover, Chewbacca got killed off in the New Jedi Order novel, Vector Prime. So this Dark Horse comic book is sort of a commemorative story of the history of Chewbacca, as told by Star Wars characters who knew him:

• Chapter 1: Mallatobuck (Chewbacca's wife)
• Chapter 2: Attichitchuk (the father of Chewbacca)
• Chatper 3: Ssoh (as told by a Wookie Slaver who had a run in with Chewbacca -- and survived)
• Chapter 4: Mala Mala (the bounty-hunteress who was saved by Chewbacca)
• Chapter 5: Turrdko (a Wookie who's the father of Tojjevvuk the albino Wookie killed by Chewbacca in Chapter 2)
• Chapter 6: Wedge (as told by Wedge Antilles on an incident when he was a rookie pilot)
• Chapter 7: Lando (as told by Lando Calrissian)
• Chapter 8: Leia (she's the Senator now, and interestingly the story she tells is something very human and mundane as jealousy...)
• Chapter 9: Luke (his version alludes to how Chewbacca got killed)
• Chapter 10: Han (he explains what he regrets not doing...)

If you're remotely interested in Star Wars, you'd like this one.

Reinventing comics: How imagination and technology are revoluntionizing an art form/ Scott McCloud

If you enjoyed Understanding comics: The invisible art, then you're likely to appreciate more of Scott McCloud's thesis-in-comic-form. And it's really a thesis on the art form of comics presented in (whatelse) the comic art form. This is not a "how-to" manual. Be ready for some serious stuff.



Main chapters

• Comics as literature
• Comics as art
• Creators' rights
• Industry innovation
• Public perception
• Institutional scrutiny
• Gender balance
• Minority representation
• Diversity of genre
• Digital production: The creation of comics with digital tools
• Digital delivery: The distribution of comics in digital form
• Digital comics: The evolution of comics in a digital environment

Beginning chapters "Setting Course: A "low" art takes the high road" (p26) and "Negativeland: The business of comics" (p56) gives more insights into the development of the North American comic business and industry. I now understand how the major players (like DC Comics) and the independents came about.

p62 mentions "Creators' Bill of Rights" for comic artists:

"It seems like some gruesome fairy tale now, but there actually was a time when comic books were literally burned in the streets! In the mid-50s the book Seduction of the Innocent by psychiatrist Fredric Wertham helped trigger a firestorm of anti-comics hysteria."

p86 - persecution of comics in the mid 1950s.

p124 "... it is often those most schooled in life's harshest realities who grow up least inclined to revisit them in fiction"

p125 "but all readers want to be transported by fiction in the end, even if the journey is through a mirror of the world we already know --"

"-- and as long as no one gave us a choice of the world we were born into, a little escape seems a reasonable request, and one of the many that comics can fulfill."

p128. Chapter on "The things about tools: Some thoughts on computers" has interesting condensed version of the development of computers from early 70s to late 90s.

p 138 "Through the door: Digital production" - on the development and use of computers to make art.

p154 "The frictionless economy: Digital delivery" - talks about the internet and the impact, possibilities and issues to the comic industry. In fact, this chapter could very well apply to the publishing business as a whole.

p. 160: "As I write these words, about 16,000,000 domains have been registered worldwide. There are now more sites in operation than there are books in the Library of Congress -- and the Web is growing a Hell of a lot faster!"
(this book came out in 2000)

p161 brilliantly shows why libraries and books are still relevant:

Scott: Imagine anything you could possibly want to know about any subject!
Guy: Anything at all?! Uh... How about fishing?
(Woah! [shows books crashing down])
Scott: You got it!
Guy: (picks up book) Woo-Hoo! Look at all this stuff about fishing!
Scott: No matter how esoteric, no matter how specialized, it's either on the web now or it will be soon... With millions of sites in existence today, and more coming at a rate of --
Guy: (opening a book) Ahem. Why are all these pages blank?!
Scott: Hold on a minute... There. (flips book)
Guy: Oh. I see...
Scott: There ya go. Something's coming in now.
Guy: "Win a free dream Vaca --"
Scott: Oh sorry... No, that's just an ad banner

p175 - gives arguments on the advantages of print over digital.

p200 - "The infinite canvas: Digital Comics" - talks about how new digital medium can transform at how comic art is presented (from printed strip format to hyperlinking). Uses the analogy of "temporal maps". Of comics "being told vertically, horizontally, packed slowly in a revolving cube".