Everything Is Better With Dragons
Book blogger, Autistic, Probably a Dragon
According to the BBC, the Bank of England announced that Jane Austen’s illustrious features would grace the new £10 note. In addition there will also be an illustration of various places associated with Miss Austen and a quote from her most famous novel ‘Pride and Prejudice’.
I’m very tempted to keep the first one I get. I also hear that Shakespeare will be on one of the new notes as well.
2013
Headline Publishing Group
The unknown narrator, escaping from a family funeral, returns to his childhood home, but not finding what he sought he carries on down the Lane, to the Hempstock Farm, home of his only childhood friend Lettie Hempstock, her mother and grandmother. While there he remembers the bizarre events that happened in the spring just after he turned seven, forty odd years before. Then, he forgets again.
The genius of Neil Gaiman’s storytelling is his ability to weave myth, memory and fantasy into original narratives. His unique take on stories that have been around forever makes them fresh and new, where a less inventive writer would be dull and repetitive.
The Ocean At The End Of The Lane is another fine example of his creativity, and is currently fighting with ‘American Gods’ for first place on my list of favourite Neil Gaiman books (Mr Wednesday and ‘Lo-key’ Lyesmith are such wonderfully devious bastards – I love them), and by the end of the book I was crying. I felt so sorry for the narrator, and Ginnie Hempstock. I have a sneaking suspicion that the Hempstock ladies are based on the weird sisters. Whoever they are based on though, they are archetypal characters – the wise old lady, the motherly farm-wife, the wild country girls – without being caricatures. The narration, with it’s changing perspective, is a seamless reflection on memory; what is real? Which of our childhood memories do we forget and why?
This is a thought-provoking, beautifully written book. At 243 pages it isn’t huge, but I read it in four and a half hours. I couldn’t put it down.
Rose
July 2012
Dark Minds Press
I found this collection of short stories in the library; I wish I’d left it there. Not because it’s bad but because the stories are so effectively creepy I’ve given myself a new set of nightmares. Which I don’t need, thanks a lot for asking.
If you like dark fiction and psychological stuff it’s a great collection but I’m a wuss and only managed to read four of the fifteen takes. The artwork throughout is sufficiently weird and is well drawn.
Bye
Rose
2013
Ebury Press
This second book by Stone Sour and Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor follows on from Seven Deadly Sins in a round about way. He is again pondering the mysteries of life and death while sprinkling the whole with memories. This time it is his experiences with ghosts. Ever since he was young he has had encountered the paranormal and lived in various haunted buildings. People have told him their own ghost stories; they are gathered here with the express intention of starting a conversation.
Corey Taylor is an articulate and intelligent, if uneducated, man and has clearly thought his ideas through. Whether the reader believes the stories he tells or agrees with his hypothesis of ‘intelligent energy’ is up to them. He won’t tell you what to think, only to think.
I’m not sure whether I agree with much that he has written, except that people need to use their intelligence and not let ignorance and dogma control them. He clearly believes and feels strongly about the subject. It shines in his writing. The writing style is conversational, he goes off at a tangent regularly, but that is not necessarily to the detriment of the work.
An enjoyable and interestting look in to the mind of an important member of the Metal music fraternity.
Bye,
Rose
On top of this pile of books I will also be reading and reviewing four more e-books for
http://www.everythingbooksandauthors.com.
I like to be busy it seems, especially since I also need to finish a college course before the end of the month as well. I question my sanity at times.
And then I remember, yes I am cracking up, that’s what the medication is for, and stop worrying about it.
Bye, again,
Rose
I have a pile of books from the library, and as I’m not doing any overtime this coming week I should be able to make some progress through them.
I’ve almost finished Corey Taylor’s new book and then I’ll be working my way through the following:
This is the second book in the ‘Wave Trilogy’; I read and reviewed the first book a couple of months ago and have been waiting patiently for it. In fact I’d forgotten I’d ordered it from the library until they rang me to say it had arrived. I’ve had a lot on, I forget things.
Next up (I’ve already started reading it) we see a fine example of my inner geek escaping.
It’s really interesting; there’s so much I’ve forgotten but as I read things are coming back to me.
This is a collection of short stories called Darker Minds. I’ve read one at random so far; it haunts me. I’m going to try to read more.
New Neil Gaimen book. I may have to buy myself a copy.
And finally (this one actually belongs to me so no time limit in getting it read, it may be a while):
I loved ‘The Long Earth’ when I read it last year and so when I had the opportunity to get both of the books I did (birthday presents!). I might reread ‘The Long Earth’, now I think about it. I like the characters and the concept. Wouldn’t it be great to be able to cross to a world that was completely different, it would certainly give a new meaning to ‘getting away from it all’.
Although I’d probably go and not come back. So long as I had a power supply, internet access, notebooks, pens and a delivery of new books every week or so I’d probably be happy.
Time to settle down with a book, hope everyone has had a good weekend,
Bye for now,
Rose
It’s 2004 and Thursday Next is in semi-retirement after a terrible accident which has left her unable to visit the BookWorld and means she has had to give up her Jurisfiction job. Her old mob SO-27 are back in business, but she’s not getting the job of leading them. Instead she becomes Wessex Chief Librarian.
Unfortunately, Swindon is due to be smote by a pillar of holy fire, unless Thursday’s daughter Tuesday can fin a way to get the anti-smiting shield to work. Then of course there is the additional problem that Friday Next is going to kill Tuesday’s boyfriend Gavin.
Jasper Fforde’s seventh Thursday Next novel is as surreal and entertaining as the first, with the additional bonus that it us internally consistent, so it makes marginally more sense, because I’ve been there before. Thursday as got older and wiser, the characters are developed further and the plot is as unique as ever.
4th July 2013
Simon & Schuster UK
Liz Jones is Fashion Editor at the Daily Mail and a columnist for the Mail on Sunday, having worked in the media for the last 30+ years.
Born in 1958 the youngest of seven children to an ex-army captain and a housewife, Liz Jones grew up in a variety of places around Essex wearing handmade and hand me down clothes, but dreaming of working for Vogue. She never quite managed it. Anorexic at 11 and still obsessed with food, having it all and losing it all because she never felt good enough, Ms Jones has considered herself a failure from a young age and has striven to be better.
I think I’ve occasionally read her column, for the simple reason that when I’m at my grandparents flat and I haven’t anything with me to read, it’s the only vaguely honest and interesting piece I can find in the paper. This autobiography is the same; the writing is fluid and moving. I read it in a single sitting.
One review described the book as ‘laugh out loud funny’. I disagree; it’s sad, with odd moments that are funny in hindsight, but must have been embarrassing or painful at the time. A vivid example of how a strong work ethic and success can mask low self-esteem, this is a powerful story.
Rose
After reading and reviewing the first Thursday Next novel I found the most recent, last year’s ‘The Woman Who Died A Lot’, in the library this morning.
Set nineteen years after ‘The Eyre Affair’, the now 54 year old Thursday is semi-retired and living in the country with her husband Landon, son Friday and mad scientist daughter Tuesday.
It’s quite enjoyable so far.
Everything Is Better With Dragons 