Bride of the Book God

The Graveyard Book

July 26, 2009 in Challenges, Reviews | Tags: Fantasy, Neil Gaiman | 4 comments

TheGraveyardBookNeilGaim53580_f 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.

Book buys

July 19, 2009 in Book buys | Tags: 15th Century, Crime, Victoriana, Whales | 3 comments

bookshop Some new additions to the Bride’s library in recent weeks:

Margaret of York: The Diabolical Duchess by Christine Weightman: a biography of the sister of Richard III, a thorn in the side of the Tudors, wife of Charles of Burgundy, fomenting rebellion from across the Channel. Looks absolutely fascinating;

Leviathan, or The Whale by Philip Hoare: this book has just won the BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction 2009, and is apparently a mixture of the natural history of the whale and Hoare’s own obsession with them which was triggered by Moby Dick. Already dipped in, and this may move to the top of the tbr pile;

The September Society by Charles Finch: the second Charles Lenox mystery, set in Oxford in 1866. I enjoyed the first one very much so looking forward to this as part of August crime month.

Pashazade: The First Arabesk

July 18, 2009 in Reviews | Tags: 42 Challenge, Alternative history, Sci-fi | 3 comments

PashazadeTheFirstArabesk21232_f So we find ourselves in an alternative 21st century, one where Germany won the First World War and the Ottoman Empire still exists. Ashraf Bey is the son of an American photographer and apparently the Emir of Tunis, though his mother always told him his Dad was a Swiss watchmaker or something. Anyhow, Raf is on the run from prison near Seattle where he was serving time for a murder he probably didn’t commit, and has been summoned to El Iskandryia (alternative world Alexandria) by an aunt he didn’t know existed, and is to be married off for money. For he is pashazade, a member of the aristocracy with a diplomatic passport and extremely eligible as a husband for the daughter of a man climbing his way up the social ladder.

But of course it doesn’t work out quite like that. His aunt is murdered, he is the prime suspect and of course that means he has to go on the run again, relying as much as he can on the help, reluctant or otherwise, of Felix (an expatriate American policeman), Zara (the woman whose hand in marriage he has rejected) and Hani (his nine year old niece). All while trying to identify both the killer and the motive and clear his own name.

I really enjoyed this, because it brings together two things I love – science fiction and crime – and does so very successfully. The sci-fi is quite light, the world of El Iskandryia is not so far away from our own that its unrecognisable, but still sufficiently different that you know we are in an alternative time-line. The mystery is well done; didn’t guess the murderer this time but you can’t win them all. It works because Raf himself is an ambivalent and attractive character and its easy to root for him. This is the first of a trilogy and I am looking forward to reading the sequels.

My Sister, My Love

July 11, 2009 in Reviews, TV & Film | Tags: Crime, Joyce Carol Oates | 3 comments

MySisterMyLoveJoyceCaro50994_f While I was about a quarter of the way through this novel I happened upon an episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent from a few years ago (we are woefully behind here…) which was similarly based on the Jon-Benet Ramsay murder case but took a very different approach (and guest starred the wonderful Liza Minnelli as the grieving mother); an interesting coincidence.

The L&O slant was very much a classic solve-the-murder thing, as you might expect, but My Sister, My Love is as much about family dynamics and wider society as it is about who killed a small, precociously-talented girl and why.

But it’s fair to say that this is really the story of Skyler Rampike, the older brother of Bliss Rampike, the tiny little skating prodigy who is found murdered in her parents basement not long before her seventh birthday. Skyler tells his story in the first person, and not only gives us the background to his sister’s murder (which happened when he was only nine) but the effect that it has had on him – his estrangement from his parents, his drug addiction, his myriad doctors and special schools as he becomes a problem child who has to be managed rather than a damaged youngster who needs to be looked after.

What is interesting for me is the satirical picture it paints of a certain section of society in the USA, of which I have to say I have no knowledge other than what I see on TV and read in books like this. His parents are acquisitive and have aspirations to move up in society. Skyler (and a number of the youngsters at his various schools) are diagnosed with a range of disorders and syndromes and heavily medicated, and you get the impression from Oates’ perspective that actually most of the time there isn’t really anything wrong with them at all, they are just inconveniently becoming teenagers with all that entails.

Part way through I had developed a pretty good idea of who was responsible for what happened to Bliss but not why, and being right re the culprit didn’t spoil the enjoyment of the novel for me, it’s really well-written and wonderfully put together. I’m a huge JCO fan and looking forward to working through the pile of her stuff that I have tucked away on various bookshelves in the house; happy to have started with this one.

The Dangerous Alphabet

July 7, 2009 in Challenges, Reviews | Tags: Books for children, Creepy stuff, Neil Gaiman | 4 comments

TheDangerousAlphabetNeil49688_f 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.

What’s new on Bride of the Screen God?

July 4, 2009 in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

A quiet month for films, but if you would like to know what I thought about Red Cliff, you should head here.

Thursday Thunks

July 2, 2009 in Thunks | 3 comments

This week we will answer some crazy questions brought to you by

Kimber, the number 14 and the color of your mother’s hair dye.

1. When you close a door, do you close it quick and just let it slam or do you hold the knob and slowly shut it tight? Depends on whether I’ve lost my temper or am trying to make a big exit for other reasons; but on a normal day I do the quiet thing.
2.Train A is moving at 60 miles an hour. Train B is moving at 22 miles an hour. They will pass each other at X time. Now what color shoes are you wearing when train A derails? Black, almost certainly

3. What if M&M’s grew on trees? What color M&M tree would you have? Red

4. How many petals on a flower does it take to make it the perfect bloom? 42

5. I took you to spend $421.67 on you, what did we spend that money on? Handbags

6. If you were a squash, what type of squash would you be? Butternut

7. Have you ever gotten a wrong number call and ended up talking to the person for longer than 5 minutes? No, why would I want to talk to someone who can’t even dial the correct phone number?

8. Why haven’t you joined Berleen & Kimber at Insanity Cafe yet? Do we stink? Just a failure, I suppose

9. Now for one of Ber’s questions back when TT was brand new… Shampoo bottles say lather, rinse, repeat… do you? Lather, rinse only, repeating is so last century

10. It’s July, the year is half over. Do you see it as “whew that part is over” or best is yet to come? The best is yet to come; I prefer the autumn

11. Why do you do the Thursday Thunks meme? Because it’s there!

Court of the Air

June 28, 2009 in Reviews | Tags: Fantasy, Steampunk, Victoriana | 8 comments

CourtoftheAirStephenHun53155_f So, what to say about The Court of the Air by Stephen Hunt, which was intended to be one of my reads for Carl’s Once Upon a Time III challenge but which I miserably failed to complete on time? Well, before getting into the meat of the plot, it’s worth recording that this is one of the best examples of steam-punk that I have read, and it’s a good introduction to that genre if you have never tried it before.

We are in Jackals, a pseudo-Victorian society with a parliamentary democracy of sorts, a nominal king (who has his arms amputated when he inherits the throne so that he can never take up weapons against his people) and an extensive secret police. We have two young people: Molly, who is an orphan in the Poor House and towards the beginning of the book is taken to work in a local bawdy-house; and Oliver, who is shunned by his local community because of the time he spent within the Feymist, from where people return dangerously changed, if indeed they return at all. A separate series of violent deaths lead these two to go on the run supported by a motley crew of helpers, before their paths cross as a mysterious, ancient evil foments rebellion, threatens civilization as they know it, and all the usual society-in-peril-waiting-to-be-saved-by-an-ordinary-person-with-a-hidden-secret stuff

This is a really good adventure story with a remarkably well-imagined world as its setting. Some of the other species (if that’s the right word) that Molly and Oliver come across are absolutely fascinating, my particular favourites being the Steammen, sentient machines with astonishing abilities and a well-developed society of their own. There is an extensive cast of characters but these are so well-drawn that there is little danger that a reader will get confused over who’s who, and the plot comes together well without those obvious coincidences that sometimes get in the way of a good tale.

I absolutely loved this; another one of those books that I got so wrapped up in that I nearly forgot to get off the train at the right station, and when I got to the last third of the book where things really get moving I basically gave up all thoughts of doing anything else and spent a happy Sunday morning polishing the thing off.

I can really recommend this, and am looking forward to reading the next book in the sequence, though not quite yet….

Weekly Geeks – Reading Challenges

June 26, 2009 in Challenges, Weekly Geeks | 1 comment

im-a-weekly-geek 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….

Once Upon a Time III – wash-up post

June 26, 2009 in Challenges | 1 comment

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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…….

Bride of the Book God

The Graveyard Book

Book buys

Pashazade: The First Arabesk

My Sister, My Love

The Dangerous Alphabet

What’s new on Bride of the Screen God?

Thursday Thunks

Court of the Air

Weekly Geeks – Reading Challenges

Once Upon a Time III – wash-up post

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