Book Review - Atomic Lobster By Tim Dorsey

How did I come into possession of this book?

This is a somewhat longer story than the usual, oh I just picked it up at the library.  My partner, Rob, teaches zumba and it is pretty rare that he ever gets guys to come to his classes.  Well one guy who was coming to many of his classes in Kentucky became a friend (even though he played football at notre dame and was quite a bit older that us).  We invited him and his wife over for dinner and had some good conversations, well of course books and reading came up.  When we mentioned we really liked the Carl Hiaasen books they said we have to look up Tim Dorsey and his series of ridiculous books about Florida.  A couple months later one of the kindle daily deals was a book by him, not the particular one they recommended but I thought I’d give it a try anyway.

What is it about?

It is basically a convergence of a bunch of individual story lines that all revolve around a particular area of Florida and a group of bad guys that the government is trying to catch.  Immediately you are introduced to some of the most ridiculous characters around.  And they are mixed in with what seem like perfectly normal people.  The further into the story you go the more the story lines cross and every time they cross it is in a more ridiculous manner.

What did I think?

I thought this book was hilarious, there were points where I giggled and some crazy scenes where the more I pictured them, the funnier they got! With all the hilarity and ridiculousness I do think there was some lack to the plot, which is too bad.  When the book ended, it all wrapped up within like 5 pages and I felt like that could’ve happened anywhere in the book, so it didn’t quite leave me satisfied.  But it did leave me laughing and for that reason I would read more books by him.

Who would I recommend it to?

Definitely if you like Hiaasen you will like this guy.  I also found his book not to be as involved as some of Hiaasen’s book so it might make for a faster read.  But I also thought this book was a bit more violent than Hiaasen’s tend to be so keep that in mind if you have a weak stomach while reading.  I love throwing in a humor book every now and then (especially a fiction one) and even though it might not’ve been the best literature I’ve read I enjoyed reading it from start to finish.

Disneyworld Vacation Part 1

We just returned from an amazing trip to Disneyworld.  It was my first time there but I have been to Disneyland (in California) at least 12 times.  Everyone had always said how much better Disneyworld was, but most of those people have never been to Disneyland.  I took this as a great opportunity to compare the two!  I will preface this with saying that Disneyland is still my favorite, there are quite a few reasons, but one of the main ones is probably because that was where I discovered how magical Disney is and holds a special place in my heart for remembering all the great trips there with my family.

Disneyworld did have some amazing things that I had never seen before, but there were a lot of rides that were the same as the Disneyland parks.  I’ll split it up into a couple different posts, let’s start with Epcot!

I think one of the best things about Disneyworld was the world showcase at Epcot.  However, this might not be appreciated as much if I were younger so I’m happy that I got to experience now as an adult.  And it’s not just the drinking (although drinking around the world was pretty great!) but see all of the cute setups for the countries and actually learning something about each of them.  We had snacks in many of the countries but had a nice late lunch in Italy at Tutto Gusto Wine Cellar (which apparently just opened!) and it was delicious.

We also explored the futureworld area, which just seemed like another tomorrowland to me, but they did have some rides I hadn’t been on.  The ride inside the big golf ball was pretty cool, even though RoB was adamant that it was terrible and not worth the time, we went anyway and I laughed pretty hard at this video (sadly it didn’t capture my face but RoB’s is classic).  We also enjoyed Mission Space (Orange side) and Living with the Land.  Sadly, the Nemo ride was a disappointment and the really sad thing is I can’t really remember what happened on it, (that was not the drinking around the world, I swear!) it just wasn’t memorable enough for me.

The only thing that was the same in Epcot as Disneyland was Soarin’ Over California.  RoB wasn’t too excited about going on it since we had already done it in California, but we got fast passes (for 6 hours later) and went anyway.  The ride was exactly the same, but the line and building weren’t as cute or fun as it is in Disneyland.


RoB started telling his side of our trip in Animal Kingdom (our points of view will be quite different!)