Archive for Recommendations

Skullduggery Pleasant

{ October 24, 2007 @ 8:32 am } · { Recommendations }
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Derek Landy is a genius!  This is SUCH a great book!  I read the whole thing in about five hours on a trip to visit my sister, and it was incredibly awesome.  The ending is also open enough for a sequel, which I HOPE happens. 

Anyway, this book is about a girl (Stephanie Edgley) who gets swept away by inhabitants of a world nobody knows exists.  While the premise is pretty straightforward and almost overused in YA fantasy, the way in which the details of that alternate reality are fresh, exciting and fully rendered.  Skullduggery Pleasant is a walking, talking skeleton who takes it upon himself to guard Stephanie after her uncle dies.  What ensues is dry humor and dark comedy at its best.  Skullduggery is wry and a tad jaded after all his years on earth. 

If you like film noir on the lighter side, this book is a must-read!  Oh, and you can find out more about the characters and their hobbies at the official website: http://www.skulduggerypleasant.com/us/

The Original Anne Rice

{ September 18, 2006 @ 11:56 am } · { Favorite Books, Recommendations }
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As interesting as it is that Anne Rice has re-accepted the Catholic Church and has since written a fictional biography of the youth of Christ (which I haven’t read.  Could somebody tell me if its worth the effort?), I find that her original popular works, the Vampire Chronicles and The Mayfair Witch Chronicles in particular, are worthy of note here.

I personally adored Interview With the Vampire.  Yes, Louis is a wishy-washy whiner, but the fabric of history she weaves is absolutely fascinating.  And, of course, who couldn’t fall in love with Lestat?  Oh, I haven’t written that name in a VERY long time.  It makes me so nostalgic for those books.  I loved them when I was in HS.  I believe I began with a hard-cover copy of Interview I picked up at a garage sale for 50 cents.  And from there I got my hands on all the other Chronicles in paperback from Borders, I believe.  I remember distinctly buying the large-format paperback from Barnes and Noble for Memnoch the Devil.

Interestingly, the Mayfair Witch Chronicles overlap the Vampire Chronicles in one very interesting way.  The man who researches the Witches also makes an appearance in Tale of the Body Thief.  That is by far the most bizarre of the Vampire Chronicles I’ve read.  After The Vampire Armand, it was getting a little redundant.  I may go back and read Violin, however.

Her style is very rich in detail and texture.  Each scene is rendered as though you were sitting in the room with these extraordinary creatures.  My only beef might be that she uses the word ‘preternatural’ an awful lot.  But, aside from that, the books are marvelous and definitely worth a look-see if you have the time.

The Princess Bride

{ September 13, 2006 @ 8:43 pm } · { Favorite Books, Recommendations }
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How do I love thee?  Let me count the ways…

Everybody is familiar with the movie with Carey Elwes, Andre the Giant, and Mandy Patinkin.  And I’m not really sure how many times I’ve heard the line “Hello, my name is Inigo Mantoya.  You killed my father.  Prepare to die.”

But, you may be surprised to know that the book is just as good, if not better, than the movie.  There are some substantial differences, despite the fact that William Goldman wrote both the book and movie script.  For example:  the Pit of Despair doesn’t exist in the book.  Instead it’s called the Zoo of Death.  And some of the plot holes of the movie are explained in the book.  Like how Inigo knows ‘the man in black’ is Westley.

The book came into being in the 70’s when Goldman’s two daughters gave him conflicting ideas for his next project.  One said she wanted a story about a princess, the other a bride.  In Goldman’s genius he combined them and even threw in a reference to the Vietnam War.  ;)

The movie took years to come into being, mostly because all the studios that wanted to film it went bankrupt before filming could begin.  Fickle industry, Hollywood.  But, an interesting tidbit about the book was that even for the novel, Goldman envisioned Andre the Giant as Fezzik.  And don’t worry.  Inigo’s famous line DOES come directly from the book.  You can’t get any better than that as a line for revenge.

Gregor the Overlander

{ September 11, 2006 @ 9:19 am } · { Recommendations }
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Just read this book over the weekend.  LOVED IT!  It’s the first in a series of five books called the Underland Chronicles by Suzanne Collins.  She freely admits that the original idea sprang from Alice in Wonderland, but she takes it in an entirely new direction.  It’s got a bit of everything: mystery, adventure, fantasy, giant cockroaches…  The funny thing is, by the end she had me crying over the death of a cockroach.  It takes some kind of skilled author to do that, lemme tell ya.

But, beyond that, I can’t really tell you much more or else I’d spoil the entire plot, and that wouldn’t be very nice of me.  But, if you DO want the plot spoiled, you can go to the Wikipedia site for the book:  Gregor

Eragon

{ September 6, 2006 @ 10:38 pm } · { Recommendations }
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<scratches back of head nervously>

Well, I guess I DID choose something I’m passionate about.  I just didn’t realize I’d be this…into blogging.

Anyway, on to a VERY good book, and one that made me feel a bit incompetent as a struggling writer for the genre.  Not that I get very far with my thoughts and ideas for books, mind you.  They all get written and published before I can even finish my manuscript.  <ahem.>

Christopher Paolini is perhaps the best young writer I can think of.  He began Eragon when he was 15, and is currently looking at publishing the third, and sadly last, book in the Eragon series.  I highly encourage picking up this book and devouring it with relish.  And possibly mustard, although that’s a personal taste.  (Yes, it’s an old joke, but I thought it worked here…Maybe I was wrong.)

They are going to make a movie out of this trilogy like they did Lord of the Rings.  (Another topic that I’ll cover in GREAT detail later.  I need to re-read them first.)  The imagery and plot pacing lends itself to a movie, probably more readily than Tolkein’s stories.  I still want to see the Hobbit made into a movie, though.  The cartoon just doesn’t do it justice.

To top it all off, the boy was homeschooled.  <blinks>  Maybe I’m missing something, but the homeschoolers in my area aren’t quite that ambitious.  Or that open-minded.  I’m not sure if ANY of their kids read Eragon or Eldest (book 2).  Ah, but that’s a topic for another rant, and I think it can wait for a while.

Wizards Howl!

{ September 6, 2006 @ 1:58 pm } · { Recommendations }
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As a fan of both Anime and SF/Fantasy books, Howl’s Moving Castle was a natural choice as a Recommendation.  Not only is Diana Wynne Jones’s book funny, it’s well-written and moving, too!

For those interested, you should probably read the book first to have a deeper appreciation for Miyazaki’s film.  It differs SUBSTANTIALLY from the book, but somehow I ended up LOVING them both!  Jones’s book is much more integrated with our world, and some typical Japanese plot styling has been added to the movie.  The characters themselves, however, have remained true to the book.  It’s almost like a fan-fiction that re-invents the plot laid out by Jones into one of a more cinematically-friendly story.  But it works.

And, as a side note, if you like Howl’s Moving Castle, check out the sequel, Castle in the Air!  It’s just as good, and even has Sophie and Howl making cameo appearances!