In the meantime, I haven'
t gotten much reading done, but the couple of little short books that I've read I enjoyed. Very light reading here :p The first is the second Edgar and Ellen book by Charles Ogden called Tourist Trap and while not great literature by any means, it's a fun little book that was better than the first in the series and can be enjoyed by kids and adults alike. The second was Ray Bradbury's short story The Homecoming which is beautifully illustrated by Dave McKean. I highly recommend picking up a copy of this book if you come across it. I've really grown fond of Bradbury's writing this past year and of course McKean is one of my favorite artists if you can't tell by my header. The Homecoming is a perfect tale for Halloween about an ordinary boy in an anything but ordinary family who just wants to fit in during their Homecoming gathering on All Hallow's Eve.I'm throwing in an unplanned book next because what the hell, it's time to spice things up! I have Alan Campbell's Scar Night sitting on my shelf and I keep eyeing it up. It wasn't originally on my RIP bonus list, but it's going to be now! I've ordered the prequel, Lye Street, that Subterranean Press is publishing in January 2008 so I'd like to read this one first anyway. Lye Street has a great Dave McKean cover which I can't wait to see in person.
So I'm glad to be back and I'll be making the blog rounds soon. Back to work tomorrow!
17 comments:
welcome home baby boy :o)..
hmmm, so this is how you surge way ahead of me in the number of books you read eh? Reading small books.. sigh.. you get small books and all the last books I've gotten are tombs! sheesh... even my Stephen R Donaldson book is 590 pages!
I bought the Historian because you and many others liked it so much...but it will be a bit before I get to it. When I finish Fatal Revenant I will read The Tigers Egg (sequal to Palace of Laughter).. I'm glad I surpassed the 4 I said I'd read for the Perils!
It sounds like the funeral went as well as possible. And what a great song to play for the recessional. I'll be thinking of you in the days to come.
Thanks for the heads-up on the Bradbury book. One of my all-time favorite books is his Dandelion Wine. I'll see if we have a copy at work today.
Glad to have you back!
"My Way"...how perfect was that, huh? From what you said, it sounds like he would have approved wholeheartedly. My thoughts are still with you all. Hope your grandma's holding up okay!
I can understand your new-found love for Bradbury...I've acquired it as well. All it took was half of a book. (I'd have finished it had Annie not taken it off with her to her grandparents this week.) But I've got The Halloween Tree sitting here, and I'm definitely tempted to indulge in that one this weekend.
And speaking of weekends, hope you have a great one!
I'm sorry to hear about your uncle, but it is nice to hear about how much you appreciated him.
I'll have to add The Homecoming to my list of books to look for. I have just fallen in love with Bradbury this year. :)
I know it doesn't really ease the pain of losing a loved one, but having a proper chance to say goodbye is always helpful. It sounds like it was a very touching funeral.
I REALLY need to get the illustrated version of "The Homecoming". I love that story so much. I checked out "From the Dust Returned" from the library the other day - I will be reading it for RIP if time allows.
Deslily, Yes, it's all a ploy to surge ahead of you in number of books read ;) I'm back to longer ones now with a 412 page tiny print book! I hate tiny print...Makes me feel like a slow reader (which I already am).
I'm so glad you bought The Historian! I think you'll enjoy it...I sure hope you will. It's quite a creepy little book, particularly towards the beginning.
Les, It really was such a great song to play at the recessional. Perfect for him. Thanks for the thoughts :) Glad to be back!
Debi, Uncle Rob definitely would've approved of the whole day...except he probably would've told us all to "lighten up" :p My grandma's doing a little better each day. It'll take her some time, but she has lots of support.
I've heard that The Halloween Tree is EXCELLENT! I really want to read that one! Wasn't that one of Annie's challenge books? Sounds like y'all switched :p
You have a great weekend too! I know you have a great one in store for you!
Jenclair, Thanks :) He was a great man and had a great send off. Things have been getting better.
Becky, The Homecoming was a great little story and the illustrations in this edition were just so cool!! I love McKean's stuff and it lent itself so well to Bradbury's writing.
Nymeth, It was a very touching funeral and definitely helped bring some closure to the situation. That sense of ceremony and celebration of the person's life allows you to sort of mourn but at the same time realize that he had a fulfilling life.
You NEED to get an illustrated copy of The Homecoming :) It's great. Like I told Becky, this story just begs for McKean's art...it goes together so well. I know how you feel with the "if time allows" part. I haven't read half as much as I wanted to, though I read a fair amount. Still have about 10 more books that I'd like to read, but that won't happen...
I'm glad the funeral went well. What a great choice for a final song.
I think I'm about to throw in a book I wasn't planning to read, too - we'll see if it "takes". I just got an embarrassing box full of books from BookCloseouts, today. Ask me why. Go ahead, ask. Okay, seriously, the kiddo insisted that he *had* to have the third book in a series by Timothy Zahn (Dragon and Slave?), and he *had* to finish up a series by children's author Laurence Yep, because we couldn't find them last time we ordered . . . quite a while ago. So, naturally, I looked up everything on my wish list. Hahaha. And, they had a few. ;)
Bookfool, Whatcha get?! ;) I know ALL about those embarrassingly large boxes of books from bookcloseouts.com! I get about 1 a month...I have a shopping cart full right now and it keeps growing but I keep saying "no!" but I suppose that I'll buckle soon. My TBR bookshelf really just can't take anymore. I haven't heard of the Zahn series that Will is reading, but I've heard of the author and it's almost always good! I'll have to check it out on his recommendation.
I got:
The Coffin Quilt - Ann Rinaldi
A Break with Charity - Ann Rinaldi
(both are YA, recommended by Tammy at Under a Blood Red Sky)
Making Your Mind Up - Jill Mansell (a favorite British Chick Lit author)
Star Split Kathryn Lasky (blogger recommendation)
Our Yanks - Margaret Mahew
Remind Me Again Why I Need a Man - Claudia Carroll
Out of the Silence - Wendy James (blogger recommendation)
The Linnet Bird - Linda Holeman
The House With a Clock in its Walls - John Bellairs (thanks to an RIP review)
I've only read one Timothy Zahn book, but Will has read tons - Zahn writes a lot of fan fiction, like Star Trek books, and Will started looking specifically for his books because he thought Zahn's were among the best-written fan fics. The one I read is Night Train to Rigel and it was very good. I think I gave it a 4/5.
Bookfool, I haven't heard of any of those except for The House with a Clock in its Walls and I absolutely LOVED that one and both of its sequels. I read all three earlier this year and have review buried somewhere in the blog. Don't you just love Bookcloseouts...such a dangerous site!
ha - we're both back!
glad the funeral was as you wanted it to be (if you know what i mean - couldn't really say "glad you liked it"...).
hmmm, ray bradbury and dave mckean...! sounds like a very cool combination!
JP, Indeed we are :) Glad you're back too! Bradbury and McKean are a very cool combo...I'm telling you, it's a match made in heaven...they should collaborate more.
Yep, I love it! They're definitely dangerous, though. The moment I placed my order, I thought of several authors I should have looked up. I only have one book in my cart, though. I'm showing admirable restraint. ;)
Bookfool, Don't you love how they conveniently save all the items in your cart for you too ;)
Just don't clean your cookies when you have a cart-load of books or your cart will empty. I've had that happen. It's great that their cart feature works so well, though, yes. My cart has mysteriously filled up, again. How does that happen? ;)
It seems mine mysteriously fills up all the time too! Thanks for the cookies tip! That's something that I would definitely do..
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