Musings

The Stars My destination is essentially a book about revenge where the main protagonist, Gully, is initially changed from a mindless drone to a mindless predator, then a showman and finally a rounded and compassionate human being. Without spoiling the ending for those who haven't yet read it, I will say one thing-- Gully was incredibly lucky to survive, as were his targets. He was not alone in seeking revenge: Olivia Presteign sought to pay back all of humanity for her blindness and isolation. The Outer Planets sought revenge against the Inner for economic collapse, while the Inner Planets sought revenge against the Outer for the nuclear attacks. Even the proud Lindsey Joyce sought revenge on herself for her crimes; a martyr of sorts. All of these groups and individuals were changed, some for the better, some for the worse-- but none would ever be the same again. Gully Foyle is left stranded for 170 days in space on the wreck of the Nomad with not a single thought or hope....

"If you have to classify it, it's probably a magical-horror-thriller-ghost-romantic-comedy-family-epic," commented Gaiman during an interview about Ananzi Boys .  You're probably wondering why I'm starting off this week's blogpost a little differently. You see, I have a habit of reading about the author and their thoughts of the book before even diving head first into anything. Why, you ask? To discover any sort of context regarding the plot, the characters, etc. Were they related to him or her in some way, shape, or form? Were they semi-realistic figments of their past? Or even unrelated to the book itself; what am I to expect from the novel?  He makes it a point to include a little bit of everything-- humor, satire, comedy, etc. For example, the fact that Fat Charlie isn't actually fat acts as... well, a foreshadowing for the hilarity that is going to ensue later on. Things take a, rather sudden, dramatic turn afterwards however when Charlie...

Cover art for Erin Morgenstern's "Night Circus" It is a risky business indeed to devote nearly 400 pages to a circus that occurs at night and is famous for doing "wild, magical, life-changing, impossible things." Like a magician, the writer of a genre such as this must pull the rabbit from the hat, cut the lady in half, make the elephant disappear and so on. We long to be fooled, and Erin Morgenstern works hard to do just that by creating a fantastic sense of magic in this novel. Perhaps one of Morgenstern's most remarkable feats is the creation of Marco and Celia  (enter, main characters!) , both of who, over the years, become passionately involved in the Night Circus's performances and acts, as well as, inevitably, with each other. Their prescribed competition becomes a mutual test of love. Whether they will destroy each other and the circus into the bargain, or whether they can escape their magical indentured servitude and rewrite their fates, e...

After reading  The Annotated Hobbit, it l eft me with one impression...   w hat a wealth of information this thing has. Of course, the main body contains Tolkien’s masterful tale, with all the adventure and sly humor that we love-- but there is so much more than that. Along with the original story, there are extensive  notes about, well.... about everything you can think of. Lots of stuff. These notes are about Tolkien’s private life, his work as a philologist, his varied inspirations gotten from other writers and his own personal experiences, and scores of illustrations. Connections are drawn from  The Hobbit  to the many details in  The Lord of the Rings  and also  The Silmarillion . Some of the more helpful notes clarify language that is "hopelessly British" or a bit antiquated for today’s reader. These numerous annotations/marginal notes  seemed a bit overwhelming at first glance, but the further I got into it, the more I realized that ...

For this week's topic, I tackled the book "Aunt Maria", written by Diana Wynne Jones. This book deals with a wide variety of things including difficult relationships, abuses of power, a parental break-up, and even their mother's complete subjection to a sweet and helpless— but very strange—great-aunt. The stresses of life with Aunt Maria are developed in the format of a suspenseful story which includes ghostly apparitions and other paranormal phenomena. Although the events that take place are unlikely to occur, Meg and Chris themselves are believable characters who must tackle family problems that most readers can recognize in their own lives. Jones presents ideas about tyranny in families that also apply to the community, since Aunt Maria's actions have overwhelmed the men, women, and children in her entire town.  Aunt Maria  works on several levels to examine conventional rules, personal freedom, and the roles of men and women. Meg and Chris resist Aunt Maria...

There's no other way to put it. Over the course of this past week, I read one of the most brutal, violent, and disturbing books I've ever experienced--  The Girl Next Door  by Jack Ketchum. Being my very first Ketchum read, it very well gave me nightmares to a certain degree and made me cling to the life I love, with more determination than I've felt in a long time. In fact, the only other book I've read that gave me nightmares was Stephen King's "IT" (although, it DID appeal to my totally-reasonable fear of clowns...)  The Girl Next Door,  although vile and disturbing, is utterly remarkable... and despite everything, is definitely worth a read. Emphasis on the single "read". Seriously. I don't know how you could want to read it twice, unless you're into having troubles sleeping at night.  After reading the summary on the back of the book and several synopses online, I knew it was going to be intense-- but I was still unprepared, espec...

If you're searching for short stories that ultimately tell tales of man-eating monsters and supernatural occurrences, look no further! Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things is a collection of just that, written by Lafcadio Hearn in 1998. These short stories take place all over asian countries-- both modern and ancient, giving readers a unique take on the culture as well as supernatural lore of the time period. While some may be more chilling than others, the concepts as a whole still fit under this week's category in focus: Asian Supernatural Narratives, while telling a story with a convincing and applicable moral to every day life. For example, the  Jinkininki  story focuses on the protagonist Muso Kokushi-- a priest whose immediate conflict seems to be the need for food and lodging. Naturally, he finds himself strangely guided elsewhere by an even-tempered man (who we later find out to be the evil, man-eating spirit). But several questions remain-- why on earth ...