A Book Blog. Period.

Teaser Tuesday

February 9, 2010 · 2 Comments

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
  • Open to a random page
  • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
  • 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 & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Olive Kitteridge – Elizabeth Strout

“He would not let her go. Even though, staring into her open eyes in the swirling salt-filled water, with sun flashing though each wave, he thought he would like this moment to be forever: the dark-haired woman on shore calling for their safety, the girl who had once jumped rope like a queen, now holding him with a fierceness that matched the power of the ocean—oh, insane, ludicrous, unknowable world! Look how she wanted to live, look how she wanted to hold on.”

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Book of a Thousand Days – Shannon Hale

February 8, 2010 · 9 Comments

When Dashti, a maid, and Lady Saren, her mistress, are shut in a tower for seven years for Saren’s refusal to marry a man she despises, the two prepare for a very long and dark imprisonment.     As food runs low and the days go from broiling hot to freezing cold, it is all Dashti can do to keep them fed and comfortable. But the arrival outside the tower of Saren’s two suitors—one welcome, and the other decidedly less so—brings both hope and great danger, and Dashti must make the desperate choices of a girl whose life is worth more than she knows.     With Shannon Hale’s lyrical language, this forgotten but classic fairy tale from the Brothers Grimm is reimagined and reset on the central Asian steppes; it is a completely unique retelling filled with adventure and romance, drama and disguise.

Book of a Thousand Days is a YA novel based on the Brothers Grimm fairy tale Maid Maleen. With a very similar plot, there were some changes to the newer story that gave it an interesting twist. BoaTD takes place in the Asian steppes, namely around Mongolia I want to say. From my memory, this is the first YA novel that I’ve read based around an asian heroine and land. I really enjoyed the change and liked learning, even if it was in a fictional land, about a more eastern version of fantasy as opposed to a western one.

The story was written in diary fashion and has lovely drawings strewn throughout. I thought the diary style worked very well with the girls being stuck in the tower and all. It was quite quick paced and was easily finished in one or two sittings. Hale’s writing was very clear and easy to get in to.

The characters in the book were quite vibrant and you got a good picture of them in your head. Lady Saren, Dashti’s employer, was quite the handful. I just wanted to shake her and yet I also wanted to give her a hug and tell her everything would be okay. She was the most. . . annoying of the characters, but I still felt like I needed to look out for her. I felt for the characters and definitely felt emotion for them when awful things happened.

There was plenty of action and love and fighting and angst and magical stuff, so there’s something for everyone. It also takes place in a culture that I don’t think many people have read YA novels in. It was a quick, delightful read. I will be on the lookout for more by Hale.

B+ = A good, quick entertaining read that takes place in the steppes of Asia.

Other Thoughts: Violet Crush /  Book Rat /  Becky’s Book Reviews

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The Painted Veil – W. Somerset Maugham

February 6, 2010 · 14 Comments

Set in England and Hong Kong in the 1920s, The Painted Veil is the story of the beautiful but love-starved Kitty Fane. When her husband discovers her adulterous affair, he forces her to accompany him to the heart of a cholera epidemic. Stripped of the British society of her youth and the small but effective society she fought so hard to attain in Hong Kong, she is compelled by her awakening conscience to reassess her life and learn how to love. The Painted Veil is a beautifully written affirmation of the human capacity to grow, to change, and to forgive.

Okay, I am just going to put this out there: I cried while reading this. In public. In a busy place. Not that I don’t ever feel like crying during books, but the only other time I can remember actually shedding tears in public was while I was reading A Thousand Splendid Suns.

Needless to say, I really enjoyed this novel. It was my first experience with Maugham, and I hope it’s not my last. It’s a pretty slim book, but it definitely packs a punch.

Maugham has a very easy writing style. It never seemed dated or heavy and was crystal clear without losing any meaning. There weren’t any unnecessary words, everything had its place, and everything had a meaning. Due to this, it all went very fast, but it wasn’t lacking in any way.

Now, the story itself. Wow. wow. It’s quite a dreadful situation no matter how you look at it. It’s bad for Walter, the husband, as his wife’s cheating on him. It’s bad for Kitty, the wife, because in revenge, her husband is taking her into a cholera infested land. It’s just bad. I was afraid I was going to hate both of them for being petty and dumb, but that most definitely was not the case. I was expecting Kitty to be whiny and annoying and while she was extremely dependent (a la the 1920s) at some points, I ended up liking her character. Everyone was so dualistic. There was no bad guy and no good guy. It wasn’t that clear cut. They all grew, changed, and regressed so much that they weren’t ever stagnant– they were definitely multidimensional.

Within the short span of the book you meet so many different characters. From the nun to the widower father, they each have a sort of shining inner wisdom that is burning to get out. Even Walter and Kitty have it. You watch them try to get at it, and let it out.

I’m talking a lot about meaning, and I’m sure there’s someone out there who’s like ‘Oh, meaning, great… boring’, but NO! Yes, it all has meaning, but it’s so subtle and interwoven that it’s not beat-it-over-your -head-force-feeding-you-can-you-see-it-now? meaning. It’s so quietly built up from the beginning that by the end you’re like… oh, okay. Yes. I see.

I just thought it was a beautiful novel. I loved that it was small and clear and yet it wasn’t incomplete. I didn’t feel like there needed to be more– it was definitely perfect in the way it was. The story ended in a way I didn’t guess it would, but it was lovely none the less. It is a sad story, and some may say that the particular sad part I’m thinking of was a cop out, and couldn’t he have written it up more? I think it was perfect. It didn’t make the moment more than it would have been in real life. Sure, the reasoning behind the event was a bit dramatic, but it was totally believable. It was angering, but there was no clear resolution and it was amazing that way. Maybe the resolution wasn’t between two people but rather one. Okay, don’t know if that made sense to anyone else but myself and maybe people who’ve read it. :p

A+ = I luurved it. It was beautiful and simple. It was sad and short, but it was fabulous none-the-less. It was my first Maugham so I don’t know how to compare, but I’d hazard a guess and say that it should be your first too, haha. (Correct me if I’m wrong…)

I’ve seen the first twenty-odd minutes of the movie and was moved by the beauty of the filming (and Edward Norton… can’t forget him). I really want to see it now, as I think it would make an amazing movie. Have you seen it? How did you like it? How does it compare to the book?

Other Thoughts: Naked Without Books /  The Zen Leaf /  Book-a-Rama

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Library Loot!

February 5, 2010 · 6 Comments

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Evaand Marg that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library.

I finally made it to the library to pick up all the books I had on hold in order to be prepared for the impending snow doom. Here we go!

Anatomy of a Beast – Michael McLeod– In trying to meet my non-fiction goals, I have been paying close attention to that section of the library. I picked this one up on a whim because who doesn’t love Bigfoot? Well, I can probably think of a lot of people, but it seems like a pretty righteous book either way.

Dark Banquet: Blood and the Curious Lives of Blood Feeding Creatures – Bill Schutt– Another awesome gem from the non-fiction section. Cool. Blood.

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince – JK Rowling – - WHAT WHAT YEAH.

Olive Kitteridge – Elizabeth Strout — Just kinda saw it around and heard about how awesome it is. Gonna check it out!

The World According to Garp – John Irving — ditto from above.

Did you all check anything out this week? Any comments about my loot? I’d love to hear them!

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The Year of the Flood – Margaret Atwood

February 3, 2010 · 9 Comments

The times and species have been changing at a rapid rate, and the social compact is wearing as thin as environmental stability. Adam One, the kindly leader of the God’s Gardeners—a religion devoted to the melding of science and religion, as well as the preservation of all plant and animal life—has long predicted a natural disaster that will alter Earth as we know it. Now it has occurred, obliterating most human life. Two women have survived: Ren, a young trapeze dancer locked inside the high-end sex club Scales and Tails, and Toby, a God’s Gardener barricaded inside a luxurious spa where many of the treatments are edible. Have others survived? Ren’s bioartist friend Amanda? Zeb, her eco-fighter stepfather? Her onetime lover, Jimmy? Or the murderous Painballers, survivors of the mutual-elimination Painball prison? Not to mention the shadowy, corrupt policing force of the ruling powers . . . Meanwhile, gene-spliced life forms are proliferating: the lion/lamb blends, the Mo’hair sheep with human hair, the pigs with human brain tissue. As Adam One and his intrepid hemp-clad band make their way through this strange new world, Ren and Toby will have to decide on their next move. They can’t stay locked away . . . By turns dark, tender, violent, thoughtful, and uneasily hilarious, The Year of the Flood is Atwood at her most brilliant and inventive.

Can I just get a what, what?! Not only did I think that The Year of the Flood was an amazing sequel to Oryx and Crake (click for my review), but I really do think it outdid its predecessor. This is not to say that O&C was not good, because it totally was, but I fell in love with YotF.

The two novels are quite, quite different. They both have that sorta reminiscent style where the reader slowly finds out information as the characters go through their memories, but the whole feeling of the novel is just different. O&C pretty much had a singular narrator who was slowly melting into madness while being quite annoying at times. Flood had two narrators whose experiences were absolutely different from both each other and from Snowman (O&C man). They were very likable even in the worst of times and there was something to relate to in each of them.

It was really interesting to see a different view point of the big fall out. The women in this story were in totally different places and yet, and yet, they ended up in the same place. They saw different things happening and they had different thoughts. It really brought a new perspective to the old story and clarified quite a lot of loose endings. This is not to say that at the same time it didn’t bring up so many MORE questions. Because it most definitely did namely why are they alive?!

Oryx and Crake was confusing, there is no doubt about that, but in YotF it all begins to really make sense. Throughout the book you see so many connections to the previous story that it’s almost frustrating. At many points you just want to scream at the character to walk 50 yards further because they would be ’saved’. It was all just a nice clarifying agent.

This is not to say that that was the purpose, however, as the story itself was great. I was super invested in what was going on and what was going to happen to the characters. As with in O&C, things in the future are crazy, but they are not totally unrealistic. It could happen, and Atwood writes in such a way that you can understand why the characters make their choices. While you know what they are doing is wrong or is a bad idea, you can’t help but root them on because you could see yourself being in the same position.

In the future there are a crap ton of religious cults (namely some crazy off shoot from the ‘green’ movement) and mobs run streets. There are more bad guys than good guys. You finally get to see what life outside the compounds is like. Jails are turned into a kinda battle royale setting, if you can kill your competition, you gain back your freedom. Drugs are raining down from the sky. Sexual fetishes are king. While many of the topics at first seem heavy, the book goes by quickly. I never felt bogged down and confused as I did with O&C. Things might not make sense at first, but it never leads to a total confusion moment.

The whole story also brings up good topics. How far will we go? How will religion play a part in the future? Will it morph into segregating cults (some may already think it’s like this) rather than attempting to keep the more ingratiating, love everyone attitude? Will political/social/environmental ideals take the place of organized religion? While thinking we are going forward with knowledge and ideas, will we actually be digressing into a sess pool of drugs, sex, and violence? Who knows!

With all this said, it is not particularly necessary that you read O&C before reading this book, but I would highly, highly, highly recommend it. It will all make so much sense and you will feel enlightened after reading it. The story does not pick up where O&C left off but rather ends where it left off. It’s neat to see all the connections and the false beliefs. edit: you do need to read it first.

A+ = Read it! Get through Oryx and Crake first because you will appreciate this book even more. It isn’t as confusing as the former but it definitely doesn’t lack on meaning. Give it a go! I hope there’s a third addition. . .

Other Thoughts : book-a-ramaa lovely shore breeze Let me know if I missed yours.

Have you read it? What did you think? How did it compare to your experience with O&C? Also, why do you think those particular people survived?

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TSS – January Monthly Wrap Up

January 31, 2010 · 15 Comments


January. The month of new beginnings and righteous snow storms. This month has been pretty great as far as months go. I’ve returned to school for my last semester of undergrad, met our new (and social) housemate, officially started my grad school applications, been in the most snow that I’ve ever been in (it went up to the top of my rain boot!), celebrated my housemate, A, getting into med school, made friends with Oskar the cat, and read some pretty groovy books.

My classes have been pretty great as well. I finally got into the mythology class that I’ve wanted to take for a while, and the professor is really down to earth and knows a lot about what he teaches. My experimental lab, sensation and perception, is so much cooler than I thought it was going to be. I forgot how much I actually like biology– namely nerves and ze brain. Such an awesome class. There’s this dude in my social psych class who’s pretty groovy, but I think he’s younger than me. My health psych class is pretty righteous, too. The professor is not the megabitch I thought she was going to be, and we’re doing a sorta Socratic seminar type deal for class. Definitely interesting. Last but not least there is learning and motivation which is at 8am because I hate my life. It has just been a good month. Sorry for all the details ;p

Books Read in January:

A Different Day, A Different Destiny – Annette Laing

The Maze Runner - James Dashner

Kidnapped – Robert Louis Stevenson

Life As We Knew It – Susan Beth Pfeffer

The Magicians – Lev Grossman

The Invisible Man - H G Wells

French Milk - Lucy Knisley

Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro

Tender Morsels – Margo Lanagan

The Unfinished Angel – Sharon Creech

The Year of the Flood – Margaret Atwood

Preludes and Nocturnes: Sandman vol. 1 - Neil Gaiman

The Painted Veil – W. Somerset Maugham

Book of a Thousand Days – Shannon Hale

Total = 14! ! ! Nice start to the year!

Started in Jan. Finish in Feb.

Ice Land – Betsy Tobin

Challeneges:

Harry Potter – 5/7

Countdown – 30/ 55

Young Adult – 4/25

2010 – 3/20

A to Z – 12/26

What’s in a Name – 1/6

Read Your Name – 2 /5

Take Another Chance- 0/15

Check out my challenges page for more info.

Other Schtuff

Hmm, there’s not too much to say book wise. I am very much excited for the month of February though. My birthday is around the middle of the month, so I’m getting stoked for that as well as the prospect of spring break at the end of the month. President’s day is pretty great too, I guess. Hope y’all have an amazing feb-ru-ary.

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The Unfinished Angel – Sharon Creech

January 30, 2010 · 6 Comments

Peoples are strange! The things they are doing and saying—sometimes they make no sense. Did their brains fall out of their heads? And why so much saying, so much talking all the time day and night, all those words spilling out of those mouths? Why so much? Why don’t they be quiet? In the ancient stone tower of the Casa Rosa, in a tiny village high in the Swiss Alps, life for one angel has been the same, well, for as long as she (or he?) can remember. Until Zola arrives, a determined American girl who wears three skirts all at once. For neighbors who have been longtime enemies, children who have been lost, and villagers who have been sleepily living their lives: hold on. Zola and the angel are about to collide. Figs start flying, dogs start arfing, and the whole village begins to wake up. Zola is a girl with a mission. And our angel has been without one—till now. This hilarious and endearing novel by Newbery Medal winner Sharon Creech reminds us that magic is found in the most ordinary acts of kindness.

What a delightful little book. I read it in one sitting and was very much taken by it. The voice of the main character made me laugh, and I very much liked the story. It was weird, no doubt, and sometimes a bit what-the-heck-is-going-on ish, but the message was good. Just a refreshing and creative read.

The characters were all very colorful and while it is considered a children’s book, they had a considerable amount of substance. They each had a certain depth that allowed adult readers be more involved with the story. The lives of the people were sad, but through the consistent actions of one little girl and her angel, their lives were made to be bright again. However, I felt as though the book might be appeal more to adults than kids at times.

It’s a good little pick me up after a heavy read or for when you feel down and out. The angel is definitely a trip, and his way of speaking is quite comical though not hard to understand. For example:

“What, they are thinking time is going somewhere? Where is it going, I ask you, where? Listen. You hear any ticking? No. You just hear the world being the world. You see any clocks in the sky? You see calendars on the trees?”

B+ = A good pick-me-up read that is a bit strange but lovely all the same. Toted as a children’s book but might have more appeal for adults.

Other Thoughts: Becky’s Book Reviews Miss yours? Lemme know!

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Tender Morsels – Margo Lanagan

January 27, 2010 · 14 Comments

Tender Morsels is a dark and vivid story, set in two worlds and worrying at the border between them. Liga lives modestly in her own personal heaven, a world given to her in exchange for her earthly life. Her two daughters grow up in this soft place, protected from the violence that once harmed their mother. But the real world cannot be denied forever—magicked men and wild bears break down the borders of Liga’s refuge. Now, having known Heaven, how will these three women survive in a world where beauty and brutality lie side by side?

This is another one of those reviews I struggled with writing. It’s for a different reason than with Never Let Me Go, but it is no less difficult– perhaps even more so. Why I say this is not so much because of the content, which is in itself quite heavy, but more because of my feelings. When people call books haunting or they tell you to think about it for a while, this is the type of book I will think of from now on.

When I first finished reading it I was indifferent. I liked it, yes, but I wasn’t positive that I would be joining in on the hype raising. I thought it was a weirdly dark-yet-light story with a meandering plot line. This changed. I had time to ruminate (haha, Lu) on it and think and compare and relate. It wasn’t a gushing revelation– it’s not like I saw God or anything– but more of a seeping ‘aaahhh, I get it now’ moment.

Lanagan created such a beautiful yet disturbing experience. Her writing was lovely and her ideas were creative. It was told in a sort of lilting way, and I could see it turning into some trilling ballad. There’s a pretty heavy supernatural element, and it took me a while to figure out that the book takes place in a made-up world overall. At first I thought the ‘real world’ aspect was told from medieval Ireland or something like that. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t.

I felt as though there was a character for everyone. While I wasn’t totally in love with any one person, I could understand the merit and the necessity of each individual character. There was the quiet, lovely child, the wild one, the old witch, the stained mother, the beastly man, etc. There is some connection for everyone.

The story itself was quite dark as I’m sure you’ve heard. The beginning was disturbing and very, very heavy namely in the realm of child abuse/incest. Nothing is right with it. After the initial 75 pages or so, it is resolved if you can call it that, but the effects of those first pages continue on through the rest of the book. It does get a bit less dark though. Once Liga, the mother, is accepted into her ‘heaven’, things begin to slow down. This is where I lost some of my love for the story. While it was necessary for the final message and the theme of the whole book, I was a bit blasé about the story after the initial shock of the change. This is mainly what accounted for my indifference until reaching the end of the book. Things happened, but I wasn’t all that invested in it all.

This all changed however. I thought about it, and I realized why everything was the way it was and it was beautiful. The idea of the personal heaven and the real world. The idea of escape and what it means to different people. I got it. I wasn’t looking at it as purely a source of entertainment but as more of a story with a moral, a fable if you will, but on a more adult level. I just needed some time to digest it all and to realize what it was and what it was not.

As I said above, I learned to love this one. My initial response was to give it a ‘good’ stamp and leave it at that, no more no less. On revisiting my thoughts, however, I changed my mind. It is more than good and more important than that I think, but it’s not for everyone. There are disturbing scenes that may turn some of you off. As I said, it’s not exactly a fast paced book so if you’re looking for a quick read, this probably isn’t for you. You probably won’t like it as I didn’t like it. . . at first at least.

A – = Once I thought about it, I really liked it. It took me a week and a half though. I guess it’s just one of those books. Give it a go, but remember that it has some heavy topics. Beautiful.

Other Thoughts:  Farm Lane Books Regular RuminationA Striped ArmchairThings Mean A Lot /  Zen Leaf

Don’t see your thoughts there? Let me know and I’ll add them!

Did it surprise you that this book is considered YA ?

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Never Let Me Go – Kazuo Ishiguro

January 26, 2010 · 20 Comments

As children Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy were students at Hailsham, an exclusive boarding school secluded in the English countryside. It was a place of mercurial cliques and mysterious rules where teachers were constantly reminding their charges of how special they were. Now, years later, Kathy is a young woman. Ruth and Tommy have reentered her life. And for the first time she is beginning to look back at their shared past and understand just what it is that makes them special–and how that gift will shape the rest of their time together. Suspenseful, moving, beautifully atmospheric, Never Let Me Go is another classic by the author of The Remains of the Day.

Hokay. I am a bit torn on how I want to approach this review as I’ve heard how so many people love this novel and yet. . . and yet. It’s not that I didn’t like it, because I did, but I didn’t luuurve it.

I don’t know if it was the reminiscent style or just the general plot that didn’t get me, but I was not totally connected with the story. I liked the idea of going back over time to kinda put all that happened into perspective, but it felt a bit slow and predictable.

With this said, however, I think Ishiguro is a great author. I liked his style, and I liked the life he put into the story. His characters were very vivid– I could see Kathy being more shy and subservient than authoritative and infuriating Ruth. I could also see Tommy with his temper tantrums and relate them to someone I knew in elementary school. The setting of the book was also very well described. I could definitely picture the little diner cafe in Norfolk and the pavilion at their alma mater.

This is just one of those books that I will put on my mental shelf with the note that it was good. Just plain good. I found it to be predictable, but that doesn’t mean that it was a bad story by any means. I did have emotions towards it all– particularly at Ruth who was quite the megabitch (stealing from Drop Dead Fred). I will definitely keep Ishiguro in mind when I look for new books if my tbr ever dwindles down. I liked his writing, but I don’t know if the story itself was right for me. I don’t know if I got from it what I was supposed to– I didn’t feel as though I learned a lesson or anything like that.

B – = Good.

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TSS: Introduction to the World of Graphic Novels

January 24, 2010 · 13 Comments

Hellooooo there world. I hope the past week has been lovely and wonderful for you all and that this next week will mimic that. Anywho, I recently read my first graphic novel/memoir/whatever, French Milk – Lucy Knisley, which I will tell you about shortly. I also finished reading my second one this morning, Preludes and Nocturnes: Sandman vol. 1 - Neil Gaiman, which was quite different from the former. I’m very happy with what I chose to read. I am glad that I picked two totalllllly different types of graphic novels/comic books/what? I saw two very different drawing styles as well as two very, very different stories. I feel as though I got a pretty nice introduction into this new world of books and reading. I like the idea of GNs, and I am definitely looking for more to read.

As I said above, French Milk was my first GN read. I thought it was a pretty interesting way to go about a travelogue. If I could draw, I would totally do this. Oh, here’s a little synopsis:

Through delightful drawings, photographs, and musings, twenty-three-year-old Lucy Knisley documents a six-week trip she and her mother took to Paris when each was facing a milestone birthday. With a quirky flat in the fifth arrondissement as their home base, they set out to explore all the city has to offer, watching fireworks over the Eiffel Tower on New Year’s Eve, visiting Oscar Wilde’s grave, loafing at cafés, and, of course, drinking delicious French milk. What results is not only a sweet and savory journey through the City of Light but a moving, personal look at a mother-daughter relationship.

Okay, while I thought it was an interesting way to chronicle her travels, I don’t feel as though it quite lived up to its description. Yes, you do see her sitting at cafes and visiting the sites, but there wasn’t much more than that aside from her saying she missed her boy friend and how bad she felt for feeling so low. Now, I realize it’s not supposed to be a story story, but I thought there would be more. . . substance. It kinda reminded me of a twitter-er that only talks about what she had for lunch and what place she went to that day. That’s all fine and good, but I felt misled. There wasn’t really any mother daughter bonding from what I could tell. It was purely a travelogue, so keep that in mind if you decide to pick it up. I wish I would have known that for my expectations would not have been what they were. This is not say that I didn’t enjoy it. I did, and I thought it was fun to look at all the places she went to. I really liked her clean style. The panels were all very easy to read and decipher. There were also some great photos strewn throughout the drawings. All in all I enjoyed it, but it wasn’t what I thought it was going to be like.

B – = It was a really cool travelogue, but I felt the description was a bit misleading. There was no real story but more of a play-by-play of her touristy adventures.

More thoughts: Ms. Bookish / Fizzy Thoughts / Capricious Reader / Book – a – rama / Jenny’s Books

What a totally different read from French Milk. First of all, it is fiction, it’s not a travelogue, and the artwork is much more. . . insane than that drawn by Lucy Knisley.

A wizard attempting to capture Death to bargain for eternal life traps her younger brother Dream instead. Fearful for his safety, the wizard kept him imprisoned in a glass bottle for decades. After his escape, Dream, also known as Morpheus, goes on a quest for his lost objects of power. On the way, Morpheus encounters Lucifer and demons from Hell, the Justice League, and John Constantine, the Hellblazer. This book also includes the story “The Sound of Her Wings” which introduces us to the pragmatic and perky goth girl, Death.

This is much more of what I think of when I think ‘comic book’. It has that kinda colorful, crazy style with heroes (if you want to call him that) and evil guys. It is still different from that though. It has Gaiman’s signature awesome. There is myth, gods, dark humor, and the bending of reality. It was a pretty cool story that seems to have a lot of room for growth. I can’t say that I wasn’t a bit confused for a while– things lost focus– but in the end I was left wanting more. I feel as though my confusion might have been induced partly by the art work as well as the story itself, but this didn’t last long. I really enjoyed the crazy characters and the weaving of mythical creatures into the story, as always. I’m pretty stoked to get the second volume from the library!

B+ = Very awesome story but the artwork was a bit overwhelming at times. Definitely getting the second one.

More thoughts: Jenny’s Books / Get Thee to a Punnery / Books & other thoughts

Have you read these? What did you think? Do you have any suggestions for other GNs to read?

If I missed your thoughts please let me know and I will gladly add you!

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