Monday, February 16, 2009
Happy Birthday to...Salman Rushdie's fatwa?!
Yes, it's true. Salman Rushdie's fatwa is all grown up.
Yes, it HAS been awhile...! (Hasn't it?)
Well, it’s been a spell since the last post went up. Figured it was time to dust off the old gray matter and drop a thought or two down. So, here goes…
…on the book end of things, I’m finally getting around to reading The Reader by Bernhard Schlink. Don’t blame the Oscars, please! I’ve had this book for ages and ages, but for one reason or another, never got around to actually reading the darn thing and…well, hmmm. Okay, I suppose you can blame the Oscars. Publicity machines be damned! What matters is the actual reading of the book.
And no, I’ve not seen the film yet. So there.
Ahem.
Two gems at the top of my ‘to gobble’ list right now:
Drood by Dan Simmons. Can’t wait to sink my teeth into this spooky-boo novel based on actual events in the life of Charles Dickens. AND, this writer is coming to sign at my local indie bookstore at 2/22, so I hope to post some pics up real soon, too.
The Dust of 100 Dogs by A.S. King. Debut YA novel from King about a 17th century pirate girl who finds herself the victim of a dreadful curse: she must live 100 lifetimes as a canine before becoming a girl again, memories fully intact.
And waiting in the pile on my floor to be gobbled:
Delicate Edible Birds by Lauren Groff
Erotomania by Francis Levy
The Drop Edge of Yonder by Rudolph Wurlitzer
Lark & Termite by Jayne Anne Phillips
Poe by Peter Ackroyd
Angels and Ages by Adam Gopnik
Heroes of the Valley by Jonathan Stroud
Fool by Christopher Moore
Last but not least, here’s an extra special treat that I’m currently enjoying in my car: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman on audio CD! Yes! If you have never heard Mr. Gaiman do a read-a-loud, this is your excuse to try him out. He’s just won the 2009 Newbery Award (see below post!) for this smart, witty and extremely touching coming-of-age story about Nobody Owens (aka “Bod”), a boy who has lost his entire family to a mysterious and sinister man. But, being raised in the very capable and loving hands of the neighborhood’s graveyard ghosts certainly does have its perks….
Currently on heavy iPod rotation: Flight of the Conchords, Noble Beast by Andrew Bird, Mama Mia! Original Soundtrack
Monday, January 26, 2009
Neil Gaiman (yes, that Neil Gaiman) wins...The Newbery Award!
Announced this morning, Neil Gaiman's completely wonderful, creepy, exciting, spellbinding and magical book for young readers (or for anyone who enjoys a good tale, frankly) The Graveyard Book has won the much coveted Newbery Award!
Huzzah!
Here is Neil's reaction to the news.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Book Review: Blankets by Craig Thompson
If I could jump up and down and cheer in addition to writing a review of this wonderful book, and as a result, get more people to sit down and read it, I certainly would .
This is not a "comic book" in the sense that most folks take the term to mean (read: poseable action figures, collector's trading cards, movie tie-ins, etc.) There are no multi-powered, spandexed super heroes or super villains in this plot - only the everyday kind, the ones who look just like you and me and pass us in the street everyday.
This is an illustrated or graphic novel (in the official trade lingo) from one of the brightest talents writing and drawing today. A tender and painful story based on Thompson's own life, Blankets is a marriage of words and pictures that will lead you through the complexities of childhood, family, love, hope, despair, time, memory and healing - in no less than 582 black & white pages.
Highly recommended for all us grown-ups looking for great literature in the not-so-obvious form it can sometimes take in the hands of a truly gifted creator.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Book Review: Paper Towns by John Green
Oh how I do love John Green.
Not only does Green populate his works with unforgettable characters and situations, be packs them with persistently challenging ideas, too. And Paper Towns, Green’s 3rd foray into Young Adult lit, is no exception to that rule.
Our tale begins with a ninja. A girl ninja who happens to read Walt Whitman. And one night, she unexpectedly pops up in the middle of the night, at the window of an old childhood friend. And what is said ninja’s name? Margo Roth Spiegelman. And what is our ninja’s game? Namely, to enlist her onetime playmate Quentin, or “Q” for short, into becoming a fellow ninja/sidekick/getaway driver on a series of cleverly plotted all-night-escapades. Quentin, shocked and thrilled by the abrupt reappearance of a girl he hasn’t had contact with for years, suddenly finds himself drawn into the unimaginable twists, turns and tangles that all add up to Margo Roth Spiegelman, our Whitman reading ninja.
An enigma wrapped up inside a mystery, Margo is the kind of girl whose orbit everyone wants to be part of; and, she is also the kind of girl who can disappear from family and friends for days or weeks at a time, leaving only small, seemingly insignificant “clues” behind in her wake.
Part mystery, part nail-biter, and part quest, Paper Towns is ultimately a story about finding yourself lost, finding your way out, and just plain finding yourself in the most unlikely of ways and in the most “consistently misimagined” of places.
Favorite quote, which truly sums up the premise of Paper Towns:
“It is easy to forget the world is full of people, full to bursting, and each of them imaginable and consistently misimagined.”
A fabulous read and very highly recommended.
~Reviewed by L. Payne, The Book Gobbler
Not only does Green populate his works with unforgettable characters and situations, be packs them with persistently challenging ideas, too. And Paper Towns, Green’s 3rd foray into Young Adult lit, is no exception to that rule.
Our tale begins with a ninja. A girl ninja who happens to read Walt Whitman. And one night, she unexpectedly pops up in the middle of the night, at the window of an old childhood friend. And what is said ninja’s name? Margo Roth Spiegelman. And what is our ninja’s game? Namely, to enlist her onetime playmate Quentin, or “Q” for short, into becoming a fellow ninja/sidekick/getaway driver on a series of cleverly plotted all-night-escapades. Quentin, shocked and thrilled by the abrupt reappearance of a girl he hasn’t had contact with for years, suddenly finds himself drawn into the unimaginable twists, turns and tangles that all add up to Margo Roth Spiegelman, our Whitman reading ninja.
An enigma wrapped up inside a mystery, Margo is the kind of girl whose orbit everyone wants to be part of; and, she is also the kind of girl who can disappear from family and friends for days or weeks at a time, leaving only small, seemingly insignificant “clues” behind in her wake.
Part mystery, part nail-biter, and part quest, Paper Towns is ultimately a story about finding yourself lost, finding your way out, and just plain finding yourself in the most unlikely of ways and in the most “consistently misimagined” of places.
Favorite quote, which truly sums up the premise of Paper Towns:
“It is easy to forget the world is full of people, full to bursting, and each of them imaginable and consistently misimagined.”
A fabulous read and very highly recommended.
~Reviewed by L. Payne, The Book Gobbler
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