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It’s always interesting to look at the graphic novelisation of a story to see what’s been left out, what’s been changed, do the characters look different to what you imagined and so on. I have to confess that although I have the novel I haven’t got round to reading it yet, but I do remember the BBC TV series from goodness knows when, so I have something to compare it to.
And it’s Gaiman of course so it’s bound to have a higher quality starting point than lots of other things.
So Richard helps a girl he finds in the street and gets dragged into a world below London which slightly mirrors what goes on above, but only slightly. There is a quest, there is betrayal, there are some rather unpleasant villains, there is a satisfying resolution (well I thought so anyway).
I enjoyed this; the artwork was cool, the story made sense, I liked the mythology of a London under London (I will never look at Knighstbridge quite the same way again) and the authors showed proper respect to Neil Gaiman without being constrained. And now I really must read the novel….
Oh, and this was my final read for the Dream King Challenge, though I feel the pull of Sandman…….
So last year I had a very simple aim, which was to read The Graveyard Book as soon as I could get my hands on it; the evidence here shows how well that went in practice!
And now we are seven or eight months further along and I have finally managed to find the time to savour this award-winning novel by one of my favourite writers properly and of course I’m kicking myself for having waited so long as, as far as I’m concerned, it’s a little gem of a masterpiece.
No need to set the plot up I suppose, but I’m going to anyway. Bod is taken in by the inhabitants of a graveyard when the remainder of his family is murdered; brought up by ghosts and with a guardian who is one of the undead (and I don’t think that’s a spoiler, just look at Silas on the cover and tell me what else he could be) with a witch as a friend and Miss Lupescu as an occasional governess, this is the story of how he grows up, how he learns from his friends and how he finally faces up to what happened to his family. And it’s absolutely fantastic.
I’m boringly recommending this to almost everyone I know , forcing the Book God to read it so that I have someone to talk to about it, because I read it days ago and it’s still in my head, in a good way of course. I love Silas, I love Miss Lupescu, I love the fact that whenever a new ghost is introduced they have a quote from their epitaph in brackets after their names (Dr Trefusis (1870-1926 , May He Wake To Glory), I even loved the bad guys.
I’m going to stop gushing now, but if you haven’t already read this then you must; seriously, you must.
And it contributes to my reading for The Dream King Challenge.
So you have two children with a pet gazelle (like you do) and a treasure map, who go off exploring behind their father’s back and find a whole world underneath the city full of monsters and pirates and creepiness. Will they find what they are looking for? Do the 26 lines of the story actually stick to the alphabet as we know it, or do things go a little awry?
This is a great alphabet book, full of wonderfully creepy illustrations with lots of detail to pore over at your leisure. It’s huge fun and I for one became very fond of that gazelle.
Oh and look out for the creatures with deep sea diving helmets for heads…..
Another read for the Dream King Challenge.
This week’s Weekly Geeks topic was suggested by Sheri of A Novel Menagerie. She writes: “Reading Challenges: a help or a hurt? Do you find that the reading challenges keep you organized and goal-oriented? Or, do you find that as you near the end of a challenge that you’ve failed because you fell short of your original goals? As a result of some reading challenges, I’ve picked up books that I would have otherwise never heard of or picked up; that, frankly, I have loved. Have you experienced the same with challenges? If so, which ones? Do you have favorite reading challenges?” As we pass the halfway point of 2009, how are you doing with your reading challenges? Did you participate in any challenges this year?
Well, if you read my last post you will know that I certainly failed Once Upon a Time III, and I had already given up on Becky’s Arthurian Challenge, but am still technically involved in the following:
- The 2nd Canadian Book Challenge – well that’s not going to happen, finishes at the beginning of July and I haven’t read any of the 13 books on my list
- Non-Fiction Five Challenge – I have hopes of completing this one though haven’t actually started yet….
- The Dream King Challenge – doing well with this one, just a graphic novel to read
- 100 Shots of Short – have stalled a bit here but have high hopes of getting started again soon
- Art History Reading Challenge – only one read but at least this runs until the end of the year
Not a great track record (I did better last year). I think the problem is that I love the idea of challenges because of the thematic nature but there is a time limit for each one and I know that if I’m under pressure then reading is the first thing to get hit. It’s also the case that a bit of me begins to rebel at the idea that I must read a particular book or selection of books when I just want to pick up anything I fancy.
So I guess what I’m saying is that they are a great idea but I sign up for too many and crack under the pressure….
Less of a wash-up and more of a wash-out I’m afraid as I failed miserably with Carl’s challenge this year due to pressure of work and other stuff which got in the way of my grand reading plan.
For the record, I finished one book from the list I posted here, and that was The Song of Kali by Dan Simmons, a review of which is here.
I did actually read one of the other books on my list, The Court of the Air by Stephen Hunt, but that was after the challenge was over; I still have to write my review of that one which will be posted in a day or so.
So not a great result but never mind, there’s always next year…….
I actually finished reading this weeks ago but have only just got round to writing this review because I didn’t really know what I wanted to say. Some of you will remember that I read my first Dan Simmons novel towards the end of last year (my review is here) and that I absolutely loved it. The Song of Kali is a trickier proposition.
So the American poet Robert Luczak has been commissioned by a magazine to write an article about the Indian poet M. Das, who appeared to be dead but has now resurfaced with a new work. Luczak’s wife is Indian, so she and their baby daughter accompany him to Calcutta to locate Das and see if a deal to publish the new poetry can be worked out. And then, of course, it all goes horribly wrong.
Has Das come back from the dead? Is there going to be a new age of Kali where violence and destruction hold sway? Will the Luczak family get out of all of this unscathed?
This seems to me to be much more of a horror than a fantasy work; it’s incredibly dark, grim, violent and really, really disturbing in places. I struggled to finish it despite the fact that it is so well written, because it is pretty compelling stuff which lodges in your mind, and actually I wasn’t sure that I really did want to know how things were going to work out.
This is very much an acquired taste, and was my first read for the Once Upon a Time III challenge.
I had the great pleasure of watching the latest Dr Who episode, Planet of the Dead, at the weekend as part of the 42 Challenge, and thoroughly good it was too. My review is here, along with some stuff about the remaining Tennant era stories.
I’m really pleased to be taking part in this challenge again this year, hosted by Trish – the official site is here.
My tentative list is:
- The Secret Life of Aphra Benn by Janet Todd
- Queen Victoria by Christopher Hibbert
- Bess of Hardwick by Mary S Lovell
- Murder, Magic, Madness by Owen Davies
- The Five Euphemias by Elizabeth Sutherland
So four historical biographies and a true crime book, to be read between May and September 2009; but I might change my mind….
I never know how best to review a picture book, especially one which is designed at least in part for children. They tend to be very short so it’s almost a cheat describing it as something that I’ve read, but they are always beautiful things that deserve to be celebrated, and that’s certainly the case here.
Blueberry Girl is a poem written by Neil Gaiman for his friend, the singer/songwriter Tori Amos when she was expecting her little girl. It’s a prayer wishing for all that’s good to be given to the child so that she grows up to fulfil her potential.
The poem itself is very moving, and is wonderfully supported by gloriously colourful illustrations by the great Charles Vess, filled with animals and flowers.
It’s a gorgeous book and one that I’m sure I’ll go back to; and it’s also my first read for The Dream King Challenge.
Halting State is only my second Charles Stross novel but I think it’s already clear that he and I are going to have a long and productive relationship as I’ve thoroughly enjoyed both reads so far (see this review for my previous foray).
So we are in Edinburgh and Sergeant Sue Smith has been called to the office of Hayek Associates, a company which produces and supports online games. There has been a robbery, but not one of your usual smash and grabs; this time the robbery has taken place inside a game, and has been carried out by a marauding but organised band of orcs, supported by a dragon.
Add to this mix Elaine Barnaby, a forensic accountant with practical skills in weilding very large swords in medieval role playing games, and Jack Reed, a games programmer who just happens to be unemployed at the right time and with the right skills set to assist in the investigation, and you have the three main characters in a tale of gaming, programming and international terrorism in a 21st century which is a bit of an advance on the one we recognise. And one of the questions is: when is a game not a game?
I loved this; I’ll admit it took me a day or two of typical reading-on-the-train commuter time to really get into the story but once I was housebound with the dreaded Head Cold 2: This Time It’s Personal, this book was exactly what I needed to escape from the depths of feeling sorry for myself. And what more can you ask?
I’ve never played World of Warcraft or any of its competitors but I can see the attraction it has, and although I’m sure you would get a lot of additional pleasure out of this story if you had a background in online gaming, I found I knew enough to make the story intelligible. The techy stuff was really interesting and was very happy with how the plot all worked out in the end. Another recommendation, and another read for the 42 Challenge.
Bride of the Book God 