A Couple Of Newbery Reviews

I've been falling behind on a couple of reviews, so here are two quick ones for two books that I loved reading for the Newbery challenge.

The first was Lois Lowry's, The Giver. The Giver is a dystopian novel about a brave new world that cherishes "sameness" There is no color in the world, there are no true feelings, there is no true love. Families are manufactured and every aspect of life is planned from the day you are born, in fact, from the moment you are conceived; seeing as each member of the community is assigned a job at the age of 12, and one of those jobs is "birth mother," a position that is looked poorly upon.

Jonas is assigned the title of Receiver of Memories, a title that is given only once every few generations. The job of the receiver of memories is to be the only person who remembers humanity as we know it today. The receiver of memories is the only person in the community who will ever know what the word "snow" means, what the word "love" means, what the word "war" means. He is given these memories by The Giver, the former receiver of memories. Jonas actually experiences each memory when The Giver lays his hands on his back and transmits the memory. The training is often brutal and painful. Throughout his training, Jonas realizes how animalistic and cold humanity has actually become and he wishes to restore love and compassion back to society.

I absolutely loved The Giver and wish I would've read it earlier in life. I certainly plan on reading more of Lowry's work. My next book of her's may be Gossamer after reading Nicola's wonderful review of that book for the RIP challenge! Sounds like a great one.

I also finished Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson today. I had read this one ages ago when I was much younger, and I remember loving it then. I remember it being such a magical book to me and relating perfectly to Jess and Leslie's kingdom. It reminded me of me and my cousin when we used to build forts outside made out of whatever wood that we could find, and to us, it would be a real battle zone. Or me and my sister would make tents in the house with the kitchen chairs and a sheet and it would be a little magical place.

So, I read this book today, years later, and what do you know, I fell right back into that place. I suspect that this will always be a special book to me. It's a comfort book. A book that I can fall into and relate to. But it's such a tragic book. No matter how many times I read it, this book will always choke me up. I won't talk about why, but for those who have read the book, I'm sure you understand.

I've yet to see the movie, because I wanted to refresh myself on the book first, but now that I've reread it, I think I'm just going to go out and buy it! I've heard nothing but good stuff about it and am really looking forward to seeing this book as a film. And I'm just thinking, this is also my first read for the Cardathon Challenge...cool!

OK, all caught up! Now, on to the RIP Challenge with Dracula!!! Yay!

And guess what?! Megan's coming in town!!! But only for a day :( But that's better than nothing. A friend of hers is coming to pick up another friend and bring him back to Texas, so he asked her if she wanted to take a ride. So I get to see her for a day. So I'll probably disappear from blogging for the next couple of days. Might be here tomorrow, but Sunday will most probably be a no show ;) Enjoy your weekend everyone!

How I Found My Favorite Author...

As I mentioned the other day, Becky is hosting a challenge that officially begins in January 2008 called the Cardathon Challenge which focuses on books written by, introduced by, edited by, or reviewed by my favorite author, Orson Scott Card. As a part of this challenge, she made the suggestion that fans of Orson Scott Card share their stories of how they came to know and love this author, and I thought that it was such a neat idea! So here's my story.

My first "meeting" with Orson Scott Card was in 2001. I was taking a Science Fiction literature course while in college and my professor has assigned Ender's Game as one of the novels for the course. I had heard of Orson Scott Card and Ender's Game, but had never read anything of his and had no idea what to expect from this book. I was hooked from the first chapter of this book as I first met Andrew "Ender" Wiggin, a character that I would come to love, a character that will always be, in my opinion, one of the best characters ever written. I continued to read, literally blown away at Card's ability to write one of the best novel's I had ever read. I was fascinated by the depth of his characters. This book was about war, brutality, an alien species, the power of the human mind, the innocence and loss of innocence of children, yet it didn't have a strictly sci-fi feel...it was a human drama, it played with emotions, it was a beautiful story and a heartbreaking story. When I didn't think the book could get any better, it did. The last couple of chapters were my favorite and with this one book, Card was sealed as my favorite author.

I went on to read it's immediate sequel, Speaker for the Dead, which to this day remains my favorite book. I can't even put into words what Orson Scott Card has achieved with Speaker for the Dead. It's a book of many colors. It's certainly a sci-fi book, but it's also a book of philosophy, a book of religion, a book of politics, and it echoes some of the beautiful themes of ancient tragedies. Speaker for the Dead takes us into another world, in a different time, with a couple of different species. And we meet Ender at an older age when he is the Speaker for the Dead. The new world is settled by Portuguese colonists and is called Lusitania, and on this world we meet the Pequininos, or the "Piggies," quite possibly my favorite alien race ever written. Slowly, we the reader are allowed into the piggies' beautiful and strange culture and rituals as Card's masterpiece unfolds. The other two sequels, Xenocide and Children of the Mind are also wonderful books and rank high on my list of favorite books of Orson Scott Card's.

I have many favorite Card books and could go on and on, but I won't. Needless to say, he has written something for everyone. He's written sci-fi, fantasy, urban fantasy, fairy tales, horror, biblical fiction, historical fiction, plays, political fiction, etc. His bibliography is huge and one that I still haven't tackled completely after all these years, but I'm coming close ;) His series are wonderful. The three main series that he has written are his Ender series, the Homecoming Series (another favorite), and the Alvin Maker series which is absolutely amazing.

My favorite thing about Card and what sets him apart for me is his character development. He has the ability to write the most amazing characters I have ever read. I've written about this before and it's something that you can't truly appreciate until you've read one of his works. In nearly every review of his books, I see people mention this. I always feel so attached to his characters and it's so hard to let go when it's time to. I was very saddened when I reached the end of the Homecoming series, because I knew that was really the end. At least I know that with the Alvin Maker series, there's one more book, and in addition to War of Gifts, there are two more books in the works for the Ender series! One is called Shadows in Flight, and the other is Ender in Exile.

Since I've discovered Orson Scott Card, his website has become a daily visit of mine. The Hatrack community is amazing! The forums are great. People are extremely friendly over there, and I've had the pleasure of talking with Orson Scott Card himself 3 or 4 times as he actually posts occasionally on the forums. I was giddy as could be the first time I asked him a question on his forums and got a response! In fact the question was in regards to the future release of any type of new fantasy project and he responded that there was a new contemporary fantasy project in the works based on a magical world created in one of his earlier works that he was revisiting! So now that I'm looking back on that (that was in April of 2006), I'm thinking that may be the Mithermages series coming out in 2008!

As a last mention, this has become the most meaningful Card story for me. As you all know, our home was pretty much lost to Hurricane Katrina and we still haven't been able to rebuild. I've lived in a trailer, a hotel, a condo, a cruise ship, a duplex, and now we're finally renting a whole house :D Around last Christmas, Subterranean Press released their edition of Orson Scott Card's novel, Saints...which I will be reading as part of this challenge. It's a beautiful cover by the way. I asked for the book for Christmas and Orson Scott Card agreed to personalize all of the copies, as in "To Chris...Orson Scott Card." Our first Christmas after Katrina was spent in a trailer, our second was in a duplex...neither was home, so they were a little rough. I unwrapped my book (like a 10 year old boy getting a nintendo) and the book is signed "To Chris: Trying to find home -Orson Scott Card". I asked my mom if she told him to write that, and she said no...she just put my name on the order form. I'm sure it has something to do with the story which I haven't read, but I thought that it was the perfect coincidence and ray of light that I needed from this author that I've always felt so close to. So, Mr. Card...thanks for everything ;)

I Got A Job!!

No clever title there, just the basic facts :) After nearly 4 months of searching and all of your helpful and very much appreciated crossed fingers (and toes ;), I finally landed a job! And it's perfect...exactly what I was looking for.

It's a job with the state as a "school based mental health counselor." I'll be placed at a school in New Orleans that's mostly for kids who have been kicked out of other schools, so there will probably be lots of behavior disorders...but I love a challenge ;) The program is set up to help rehabilitate kids who have behavior disorders, depression, ADHD, and anxiety disorders. I'll be working with adolescents, which is the exact age group that I wanted, and will be doing individual, some group, and family counseling when I can get the parents involved. I'm so excited about this.

Since it's a job with the state, the salary is decent...not great, but decent...the benefits are incredible, and there's job security. The program has guaranteed funding for a good amount of time. There's lots of supervision worked into the job, so it's perfect for me as a first job out of school. Now I just have to play the waiting game as I get all the paperwork lined up for my licensure and all the paperwork that I have to go through for the state. My guess is that it will probably be anywhere from 2 weeks to a month before I'm actually working, but the job is there, and that's all that matters!

The hours are 7:30-4 Monday through Friday, so I'm going to have to do some serious readjusting to my sleep schedule (as I blog at 1 AM). Blogs will probably be a little less frequent, but rest assured that I will most definitely still be blogging and reading away ;)

Yes, I Am Indeed Crazy

This really should come as no surprise to anyone, but I'm signing up for two more challenges :p The good thing is that neither one starts until next year, so all of my other challenges will be done by the time I start these two! And both challenges will work nicely into other challenges (like the chunkster if that one's done again, the Once Upon a time, and RIP 3 ;) So here they are:

The first is Caribousmom's Themed Reading Challenge. I think that this one is such a neat idea! You pick the theme and then commit to read at least 4 books associated with that theme. The challenge runs from January 1st through June 30th. So I went over to my TBR bookshelf and found a VERY specific theme: Orson Scott Card religious fiction! Now, I'm normally not a fan of religious fiction, but as I've said before, Orson Scott Card can write just about anything...and he does. So here's my list for the Themed Reading Challenge:

1. Saints by Orson Scott Card - This one is definitely considered a "chunkster." It's huge! I got this one for Christmas last year. It's the new Subterranean edition of the book with an amazing cover and is signed and personalized to me :)
2. Stone Tables by Orson Scott Card - This one's been on my shelf for a while and is the one I'm most looking forward too. It's cards retelling of the story of Moses and the Ten Commandments. This one's also signed.
   
3. The Folk of the Fringe by Orson Scott Card - This is one of Card's sci-fi novels. It's about a nuclear attack set in the future and about a religious community trying to rebuild their society after the attack.
   
4. Rebekah by Orson Scott Card - This is the second book in Card's Women of Genesis series. I read the first book, Sarah, last year and really enjoyed it.
   
5. Rachel and Leah by Orson Scott Card - Sequel to Rebekah.
   

The other challenge has me so excited that I just don't know what to do with myself. Becky's hosting this one, she is the very cool person who won The Tale of Despereaux in yesterday's drawing. It is the Cardathon Challenge and everyone should join it! The challenge is all about my favorite author, Orson Scott Card! The greatest thing about this challenge is that there is something for everyone. Orson Scott Card has written Sci-fi, fantasy, historical fiction, religious fiction, political thrillers, horror novels, poetry, coming of age stories, short story collections, speculative fiction, etc. etc....The challenge is to read between 6-12 books (or more if you would like) that were written by Card, edited by Card, have an introduction by Card, or have been reviewed and recommended by Card! How cool! She has a whole site up and dedicated to the challenge that lists all of his many books and she's compiling lists of the books that he's recommended as well. I think that this is such a great challenge that will expose so many people to a wonderful author. I've incorporated the Themed Reading Challenge into this one along with the rest of Card's books that I haven't yet read. After these, I'll be all caught up with him! Here's my list:

1. Invasive Procedures by Orson Scott Card and Aaron Johnston
   
2. War of Gifts by Orson Scott Card
   
3. Saints by Orson Scott Card
   
4. Stone Tables by Orson Scott Card
   
5. The Folk of the Fringe by Orson Scott Card
   
6. Rebekah by Orson Scott Card
   
7. Rachel and Leah by Orson Scott Card
   
8. Robota by Orson Scott Card and Doug Chiang
   
9. Maps in a Mirror by Orson Scott Card
   
10. Treason by Orson Scott Card
    
11. Wyrms by Orson Scott Card
    
12. Hot Sleep by Orson Scott Card
    
13. First Meetings by Orson Scott Card
    
14. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
    
15. The Dead Zone by Stephen King
    
16. The Stand by Stephen King
    
17. The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
18. The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
19. The Bone Doll's Twin by Lynn Flewelling
20. Eifelheim by Michael Flynn
21. Prospero's Children by Jan Siegel
22. Here, There be Dragons by James Owen
23. The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
24. The Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Patterson
25. Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill
26. Spirit Gate by Kate Elliot

Now, I've noticed that the sidebar is getting ridiculous with all these challenges, so I've decided to take them down and what I've done instead is created a link on the sidebar to a new blog called Dream Stuff Challenges that will document all of my reading challenges and my progress. So if your ever curious about all of that, feel free to pop on over there by clicking the link!

A Winner, Short Story Sunday, And Purple Poppets!

Let's take care of business first! It's time to pick a winner for the book giveaway for The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo. So without further ado, the winner is BECKY of Becky's Book Reviews (one of her many blogs ;). Becky's very cool and I'm happy to send this book her way. She's an Orson Scott Card fan, which automatically makes her one hip chick in my book! Send me the address you want the book sent to, Becky and I'll ship it out to you. My email is chrisa511 at gmail dot com.

I guess today officially kicked off the RIP Challenge for me with Short Story Sunday. I read the first two stories in the Wizards anthology which were Neil Gaiman's The Witch's Headstone and Garth Nix's Holly and Iron. Nix's story was a bit disappointing. It was a high fantasy story told in a short story format which was it's main problem. Pretty cool concept...2 kingdoms battling for a crown, one uses "holly" magic, the other uses "iron" magic, main character can use a bit of both, but the problem was that I really just didn't care about the characters. I think the story was just too big to fit into 30 pages. This story may have worked better as a novel. Two major characters died in the story, and you can tell that it was supposed to be an emotional scene, but it wasn't, because I as a reader wasn't attached...I may have been though if he would've introduced us to the characters a bit more. And I know that Nix is capable of doing this as I LOVED his Abhorsen trilogy. I'd like to see this story told in a longer format, I really think it has potential.

Gaiman's story on the hand was excellent! It's the story of a boy named Bod (short for Nobody) who lives in a graveyard and is raised by the spirits of those who have passed on. He meets the ghost of a witch who was buried in a potter's field with no headstone. Bod feels bad for the witch for not having a headstone and decides to leave the graveyard after finding an item that may be worth some money in the hopes of buying her one. This story is actually the first chapter of Gaiman's future book, The Graveyard Book, and I am super excited about this one now! The latest news from his blog was that he had begun typing it from the written draft...so progress is being made!

And finally, I predicted in a previous post that it was going to happen! If you let the red and blue poppets hang out together, well....purple poppets will eventually come along, and it seems that they have. Lisa Snellings-Clark has some very cool items up on eBay right now including Little Purple Poppets! I've already bought one for myself of course ;) There are 6 left as of this post, but I'm sure she'll post more if those sell out, so keep checking if you want one. They're quite cool!

*Sticky Post* 10,000 Visitors Book Giveaway!

SCROLL DOWN FOR NEWER POSTS

It seems like I just started this blog, though at the same time, it's quickly become a very familiar part of my life. My first blogger post was on January 3rd and since then, this blog has evolved into something that I never imagined it to be, but something that I'm very happy with. It's grown into a community of readers and friends and a celebration of things I love and enjoy and a place to ponder on life...a far cry from my old myspace blog.

What I never imagined was that 8 months later, my blog would have it's 10,000th visitor!! That's incredible. Thanks to the wonders of StatCounter, I found that the 10,000th hit came from a google search for "Tale of Despereaux Review". I thought that it was the perfect hit for this blog. Kate DiCamillo's The Tale of Despereaux sums up what this blog is about. To begin with, it's a book :p It's fantasy related, it's a wonderful, heartwarming story filled with adventure and memorable characters, and it's visually stunning. It's one of those books that's a joy just to hold in your hands. So I'm giving away a copy!

I really wanted to give away a hard back copy, but couldn't find one :( But the soft cover version is even wonderful with it's antiqued pages, wonderful illustrations, and the Newbery medal on the cover. Just leave a comment on this post and let me know that you want in on the drawing. Even if you already own a copy, feel free to enter...maybe there's someone else in your life that would enjoy it. While it was written for children, anyone will enjoy this book, I promise. I certainly did. You can read my review of it by clicking here. The drawing will be held on August 26th!! Spread the word!

The Death Of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy

This is another one that has sat on my shelves for awhile, but finally got read thanks to the Classics Challenge. I really enjoyed The Death of Ivan Ilyich...well, I don't know if "enjoyed" is the write word, but it is a remarkable novella. There's a wonderful intro written by Ronald Blythe. In the intro Blythe writes about Tolstoy's great fear of death that eventually turned into an obsession with death that lead to the creation of The Death of Ivan Ilyich, his meditation on the subject.

The book opens immediately after the death of Ivan Ilyich. Ivan was a judge and when his co-workers find out about his death, the first thing they begin to talk about is who will take his place. This scenes is followed by his funeral where we meet his wife who is in mourning. The book then goes on to introduce us to Ivan and his wife in the early days of their marriage and paints a picture of a marriage that was all bright colors on the outside, but rather dark behind closed doors. Ivan soon finds out that he has a "floating kidney" and his health slowly deteriorates over the next few months eventually leading to his death.

The beauty of this book is that the plot is given away in the title. Ivan dies...you know the book ends with his death. Tolstoy's masterpiece lies not so much in the actual storyline, but in the thought process, the philosophy, and the atmosphere behind it. The only way I can describe the feel of this book is claustrophobic. From the minute that Ivan learns and recognizes that he is dying, the feel of the story is one of collapsing, closing in. It becomes a story of seeing the world fly by so fast that you can't grasp on to anything to stay in it. It's quite sad actually, but so wonderfully told by Tolstoy and becomes one of the most haunting stories I've ever read in it's final pages.

I'm glad that I've finally gotten around to this one and look forward to revisiting Tolstoy in the future, most probably with Anna Karenina based on comments from yesterdays post! This one's a quick read, but a poignant one...highly recommended.

Migraines And Moving Forward

The migraines are back...blah. Things have actually been pretty decent lately when it comes to headaches. Ever since I started the topamax the migraines have started to cool down to maybe 3 or 4 a month instead of the previous 6 to 8 per month. The neurologists says that the best I can hope for is to get them down to about 2 to 3 per month, which will work for me, but she says that unfortunately, I'll probably always have them and I'll just have to take the Relpax to get rid of them when I get one. But in the last week I've had 2! This will be the third. That sucks...I haven't had 3 headaches in a week in ages...probably about 6 months.

So I'm spending the night watching Lord of the Rings on TV even though I own the dvds and could watch them with without commercials, a topic that Deslily wrote about not too long ago. Funny how us silly humans do things like that...but then again, if you watch the movie on tv, you do get the wonderful entertainment of seeing commercials with little jingles that sing "viva viagra"......

I've been reading again lately which is good. I'm so glad to be out of that slump, and the books that I've been reading have been really good! I'm currently reading my first Tolstoy for the classics challenge (a very short Tolstoy) and his writing is incredible! If I'm feeling brave one of these days I'll attempt to tackle War and Peace or Anna Karenina, but that probably won't happen any time soon. There's a great 30 page introduction by Ronald Blythe before my version The Death of Ivan Ilyich that tells you all kinds of really cool things about Tolstoy. Strange guy, but cool guy.

The best news of the week is that I have 2 job interviews next week! One on Monday and one on Friday. The one on Monday is for a job that I've been wanting since before I graduated and I've applied for that job 3 times, so I'm really keeping my fingers crossed for that one! They're both state counseling jobs, so while the pay wouldn't be the best, I would have excellent benefits and it would be good experience while I'm getting my licensure. At this point I don't really care that much about the money any more. Sure, it needs to be enough for me to live on, but I just want to be somewhere where I am happy and where I'm working with kids and making a difference in their lives. If I can find that, I'm cool.

The Higher Power Of Lucky by Susan Patron

The Higher Power of Lucky is a small little book with an enormous amount of power. It's the most recent recipient of the Newbery Medal and I read it for the Newbery challenge.

Lucky is a 10-year old girl living in the town of Hard Pan, California, population of 43. Her mother passed away two years ago while admiring the rain and accidentally stepping on a down power line. She is left in the care of her father's previous wife Brigitte, who has flown from Paris to take care of her. Lucky never knew her father as her father never wanted children and had no desire to meet her. Lucky and Brigitte get along well enough, but Lucky is left with the fear that Brigitte will surely leave her one day to go back to Paris leaving Lucky to an orphanage.

Lucky has one of the few jobs available in the small town. She sweeps up cigarette butts and picks up candy wrappers outside of the wind-chime museum where the alcoholics/smokers/overeaters/gamblers anonymous groups meet. While the groups are meeting, she listens from a crack on the outside of the building and here's stories of people reaching "rock bottom" and then finding their "higher power" and redeeming theirselves...finding hope in their lives. Lucky is on a search for her own higher power, her own hope.

Lucky's best friend is Lincoln, a boy who is misunderstood and is seen as a "special" child. Lincoln is a member of the International Guild of Knot Tyers and always has a piece of rope or string in his hand and is tying intricate knots. He sees the world through a different filter and offers a fresh perspective. Lincoln's mother wants him to be the perfect son...he's named after a president because she wants him to be president one day.

Miles is another boy that is somewhat annoying, but looks up to Lucky in an almost mother type way. Miles is 5 years old and doesn't know his mother. His favorite book is one of my childhood favorites: Are You My Mother by P.D. Eastman. Miles is raised by his grandmother and is always looking for cookies and a story from Lucky.

Patron has crafted a beautiful, heartbreaking, and heartwarming story of coming to terms with the cards that life deals and finding hope in dark situations. There's a message of community in this tale...it's so easy for us to fall into the mindset of "I have to do this on my own" when in reality there is help all around us if we only take a second to accept it, for most of the time it's freely offered.

The story is wonderfully illustrated throughout by Matt Phelan who I was unfamiliar with. The drawings go very well with the story and the whole book is very nicely packaged. I highly recommend this book for readers young and old. I certainly enjoyed it.

The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis

Halfway through this book, I had decided that I wasn't going to write a review for it - mainly because my thoughts would stray from it at times because it would not always hold my interest and I didn't think that I could do the book justice. I probably still can't do the book justice, but I did realize that I was writing down quite a few quotes from this book, so there had to be something there!

What Lewis has done here really is a beautiful piece of work. It is a meditation on love. He discusses his "four loves": affection (love shared between a parent and child), friendship, erotic love, and charity. He discusses these from a Christian philosophy point of view which normally might dissuade me as it may be too preachy, but I felt safe in the hands of Lewis, an author that I love. He balances his thoughts well and discusses the subject of love in a way that certainly appeals to Christians, but would not be unreadable to non-Christians.

After reading for awhile, I figured out what was making my mind wander. When it comes to philosophy and one's views on love (especially when mixed with religion), you're never going to agree 100% of the time. Not that my mind drifts when I disagree, in fact, most of the time, I become more interested when I disagree with something. But with this book, I found that at times Lewis was a bit long winded on topics that didn't hold my interest. There were other times however where I thought that Lewis did a marvelous job of writing on a very personal level with an almost conversational tone.

This one's been sitting on my shelf for about 3 years now, and thanks to the Classics Challenge, I finally got to read it. I'd like to leave you with my favorite passage from the book. This passage jumped out at me and really struck a chord with me, especially considering all that Megan and I have been through since the hurricane. Anyone who's ever loved anyone can relate, I'm sure:

"To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. but in that casket - safe, dark, motionless, airless - it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy is damnation. The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell."

Stardust, Short Story Sunday, And A Sad Article

I finally made it out to see Stardust tonight and I was so pleased with it! I can't wait for the DVD release of this movie now and I came home wanting to dive right back into the novel for the second time this year. The movie started out a bit rocky for me. It took me a little while to get out of critic mode. My main complaints were with the beginning of the movie in that it was too rushed, the every 9 years fair didn't exist (it was instead just a part of "Stormhold"), and all of Faerie became known as simply Stormhold...but I can overlook that with how wonderful the rest of the movie was done. Sure there were some other parts that weren't exactly like the book, but what movie is?

The casting was absolutely wonderful! Claire Daines as Yvaine was a perfect fit. She played the part wonderfully and I think they did a terrific job with translating her character onto the screen. Michelle Pfeifer deserves a nomination for her portrayal as Lamia. She did such an amazing job and I so looked forward to her screen time. Her final battle was superb. Charlie Cox as Trist(r)an was another great casting decision. This guy did such a great job with the part. Perfectly done. And Deniro...I was so leary about what they were doing with Captain Shakespeare, but it was....well, fabulous.

The ending, which I won't talk about, was totally different from the book...well not totally, but yes totally, you'll just have to see for yourself. But it worked for the movie version. I wish that they would have filmed the book ending as well to put on the DVD, but Neil has already said on his blog that they did not :(

All in all, I was very pleased with the movie, the special effects were amazing, the acting was top notch, and the story...well it's Gaiman! Entertainment at it's best. I loved it. For fans of the book, as hard as it is, go into it realizing that no book is going to translate perfectly to the screen...some changes are going to have to be made for the wider audience and for times sake. Just pretend that Peter Jackson didn't do such a good job with Lord of the Rings :p

Next topic: I've decided that I'm still adding stuff to the RIP Challenge! I'm also going to take up the additional peril of Short Story Sunday. For this peril, I'm going to be imbibing in the Wizards collection, which contains 18 stories by some amazing authors. This will work out nicely with 2 stories per Sunday, so I think I'm going to start that this Sunday! And it begins with the first chapter of Neil Gaiman's forthcoming The Graveyard Book!

And finally, I wanted to point everyone to this very disappointing article on CNN's website that you may have seen floating around on other people's blogs. It's an article about the reading habits of Americans. According to the article, "One in four Americans read no books last year". I couldn't believe that! That's so sad. The whole article is sad really. I sort of surround myself in this little book blogging bubble where everyone reads and forget how small of a chunk of the population we really are. It's unfortunate that more of us don't read. The "typical reader" of America....the person who actually does read, still only reads 4 books a year. Which I'm not complaining about, that's still wonderful! But it's so sad how unpopular reading has become. So I really, honestly want to extend my heartfelt thanks to everyone out there who does sponsor these reading challenges, or works as a librarian, or works in a bookstore, or writes, or reads, or recommends a book to a friend. It's important to keep books out there and to keep those minds working!

OK, I'm off my high horse :p

The Stainless Steel Rat by Harry Harrison

"Society had more rats when the rules were looser, just as the old wooden buildings had more rats than the concrete buildings that came later. But they still had rats. Now that society is all ferroconcrete and stainless steel there are fewer gaps between the joints, and it takes a smart rat to find them. A stainless steel rat is right at home in this environment."

Welcome to the world of James "Slippery Jim" diGriz. Jim is a professional thief, or more correctly, a con-artist...for what he does is truly an art. He makes his living by pulling off grand schemes of theft and burglary, but does it all with a touch of class. He's a "stainless steel rat": a rat, yes, but a smart one who is able to out think nearly everyone and is nearly indestructible. That is, until one operation goes wrong and he finds himself face to face with the Special Corps, the sort of FBI of the future. The Corps however, is not made up of fools, and rather than arrest diGriz, they offer him a job. The criminal has become a cop. His mission sends him on a chase that puts his life and his heart in jeopardy as he pursues the shapely, stunning, and equally sharp Angelina.

Harry Harrison has created a story here that I found myself totally absorbed in. You may recognize the title as one of our favorite bloggers, Carl, has titled his blog "Stainless Steel Droppings" as an homage. In fact, I got my copy of the book from Carl in my recent prize pack from the Once Upon a Time Challenge! I read this book in a few hours because I just couldn't put it down. I kept thinking of Sin City while I read this book. While the story line has nothing in common with Sin City, the feel of the novel was similar. It had that old detective story throwback narration feel, with a futuristic sci-fi story. Harrison's writing style is incredible and my quotes journal saw quite a few entries from this one.

Honestly, I wasn't expecting as good of a story as I got here! I was expecting something more pulpy, but it wasn't very pulpy at all. This is really a sci-fi classic and it's story telling at it's best. I'm not going to give away the ending, but I will say that the ending did leave me a little bit sad and possibly a little disappointed, but I may have to read the sequel to see what happens with a couple of our characters.

If you're looking for a good, fast paced, action story with lots of imagination, futuristic 007 type adventure, and a wonderful sci-fi story, I highly recommend that you check this one out. And I'm sure that Carl would recommend it even higher than myself!

It's RIP Challenge Time!!!!

I can't tell you how much I've been looking forward to Carl's RIP Challenge!! I'm so psyched about this one. "Halloween time" has always been my favorite time of the year and I have so many books that go along with it. Gothic/Horror/Dark Fantasy is one of my favorite genres as well. It's probably the genre that I've been reading the longest, starting with Clive Barker and Anne Rice, 2 authors that I will be revisiting with old reads in this challenge. I'm looking forward to everyone else's lists and to all of the great conversation that will be going on in blogland about all of these great books :D

I've set aside 20 books for this challenge....I know, yikes! I'm officially signing up for Peril the first, which is to read four books of any length, though I'm also reading two rather chunky books and as far as additional perils go, I have Dracula and Fragile Things on the list too. I seriously doubt that I'll get through 20 books in 2 months, but I'm officially committing to 6 and would REALLY like to read the other 14 during this time of the year. So I'm going to try my damndest. Here they are:

Official Reads
1. Dracula by Bram Stoker
2. Renfield: Slave of Dracula by Barbara Hambly
3. The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
4. Heart Shaped Box by Joe Hill
5. The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
6. Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman
Bonus Reads
7. Something Wicked This Was Comes by Ray Bradbury
8. The Witching Hour by Anne Rice
9. The Homecoming by Ray Bradbury
10. Whispers by Dean Koontz
11. I'll be Watching You by Charles de Lint
12. Blaze by Richard Bachman AKA Stephen King
13. Four and Twenty Blackbirds by Cherie Priest
14. Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving
15. Currency of Souls by Kealan Patrick Burke
16. A Soul In A Bottle by Tim Powers
17. Thief of Always by Clive Barker
18. Surrender by Sonya Hartnett
19. Tamsin by Peter Beagle
20. Storm Front by Jim Butcher

So there it is. Can't wait til September 1st to get started on these! Until then, I'll try to get caught up on all of my other challenges!

Love In The Time Of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Every now and then a novel comes along that plays games with me. It's not until I can view it in it's entirety that I can sort out my opinions on it. Marquez's Love in the Time of Cholera was one of those novels for me. It started out fantastic, a unique story with a well developed setting and well defined characters that I enjoyed. As I continued with the novel, my thoughts began to blur. The characters became blurry for me. I didn't know how to feel about them. My thoughts would change from page to page. Characters that I loved would suddenly seem vile and vice versa. But by the time I finished the novel, Marquez had sealed the deal for me. His beautiful words had won me over and I'm so happy that I chose to read this wonderful work of literature.

Love in the Time of Cholera is a love story. It is not your typical love story, however. This story is honest. The characters admit that sometimes love is feigned and at other times love comes as a surprise. It is the story of Fermina Daza, Juvenal Urbino, and Florentino Ariza; three characters that will remain with me for a long time. The setting is Colombia in the early 20th century and Marquez does an amazing job at placing the reader in that setting with it's warm landscape, almond trees, and markets. Florentino Ariza pledges his love to Fermina Daza when they are both in their youth, but the relationship is forbidden by Daza's father. Fermina Daza marries Juvenal Urbino, a doctor who saves the town from the cholera epidemic, and Florentino Ariza spends the next fifty years having various affairs with women who will never match up to Fermina Daza while observing her from the sidelines. When Urbino dies, Ariza once again pledges his love to Daza.

This book won the Nobel Prize for literature and I can't argue with that. I don't know if this book would be for everyone though. It is not a fast moving book at all, and I think that it is best read slowly. I'd also recommend that it be read in the summer as it goes nicely with the weather. This book reads like a memoir, a history of lovers. There are emotional highs and lows; anger, betrayal, love, passion, death, deceit, hilarity, honesty, and contentedness. There were times when I found it hard to stick with the book because it seemed stagnant, but it all comes together when observed as a whole and that final picture is a beautiful one. I'm glad that I saw this one through. Marquez has written a true masterpiece of literature and I look forward to visiting some of his other works.

Other Reviews:

Chris (Book A Rama)

Otherworldly Treasures and Nice People!

I seem to have acquired a few really cool things lately and I thought I'd share with everyone. Two of them come from eBay, and one comes from Barnes and Noble.

The first is something that I have sought after for a long, long time (well, as long as it's been out), but have never been able to afford. But thanks to the wonders of eBay, I now own The Absolute Sandman Volume 1 and it is gorgeous!! I had never actually seen a copy of this book...just online. But I knew I wanted it as Sandman was one of my favorite comic book series. It comes packaged in a beautiful slipcase (not pictured) and the book itself is just amazing. Leather bound and perfectly done. The inside pages are done beautifully and I don't even want to read it for fear of ruining it! There's an afterword by Neil Gaiman with some bonus stuff in the back too. I can actually say that this book is worth the $100 sticker price on it, but I got it for a little less than half that on eBay and it was still sealed! Volume 2 is due out on Halloween of this year and can be pre-ordered on Amazon now for $62.37 which is a great price!

The second thing that came from eBay is Season 1 of the new Doctor Who series which is being produced by the BBC. They've been showing these on the Sci-Fi channel and I'm obsessed! One of the best shows on tv in a long time. They are currently airing season 3, which is where I started watching, so I picked up season 1 on eBay. This one's also costly if you order it through Amazon or another retailer, but I got a great deal on eBay. The show has been picked up for a fourth season which will air in 2008 and there's a cool looking spin off that hasn't hit the states yet called Torchwood (an anagram of "doctor who").And the last thing I picked up is yet another copy of The Hobbit. This is the fourth copy I own of this book and won't be the last, but dammit, I keep finding all these great versions of it. This one was in the bargain book section of Barnes and Noble. Only $7.98. It's a hardback and it's The Annotated version of The Hobbit and has all of this incredible info along the way along with all kinds of Hobbit art by different artists. I couldn't pass it up. I swear that the last one I'll buy is the beautifully illustrated Alan Lee version and then I'll stop! Can you tell it's one of my favorite books?

Different topic: The ever so nice Robin of A Fondness for Reading has nominated me for the Nice Matters Award. Robin is an amazing person and I can definitely see why she was chosen. Nice is a term that describes her...well, nicely :) She writes wonderful book reviews and I love reading about her wonderful family and her thoughts on life. So I was honored when she chose me as one of her nominees. And in the company of such nice people as Carl, Bookfool, and Jenclair...3 people who I consider some of the nicest bloggers out there. Here's my 4 Nice Matters Award nominees:

Nymeth of Things Mean A lot: Nymeth is one of the most passionate people I know in the blogosphere. Her love for all things creative, be it books, music, or art come across perfectly in all of her posts and she's a joy to talk to. I always look forward to a new post from her and her comments. Definitely a nice person ;)

Bellezza: Many of you know Dolce Bellezza. She definitely has to be one of the nicest bloggers I've met. She's such an honest and caring person and I get the impression that she would be a great person to sit down with for coffee. Her passion for books and life in general are expressed beautifully in her well written posts. Pop on over for some good reading.

Jean Pierre of Bombastic Bagman: JP's blog is one of the newer blogs that I've started reading and is quickly becoming a favorite! He's just an all around nice guy. He lives in Oxford and shares his love of words, books, and life in posts that are always entertaining and he's always up for some great conversation.

CJ of My Year of Reading Seriously: Cj's great! Her blog is also one of the newer ones that I've started reading and I love it. She's an incredibly nice person and I'm really looking forward to the craziness of NaNoWriMo with her this November! Her book reviews are wonderful and I always enjoy reading her Booking Through Thursday and Thursday Thirteen responses to get to know her a little bit better.

Stay tuned tomorrow for a book giveaway in celebration of the 10,000th visitor to Stuff As Dreams Are Made On!!!!

The Pulitzer Project

CJ made me do it!!! So I said no more challenges this year except for Carl's RIP challenge which is coming up really soon and I'm SO excited about. But this one sounds so cool and it will give me a reason to read so many classics that I haven't had the chance to read yet. It's The Pulitzer Project sponsored by 3M. The challenge (or project if you'd like to call it that) is to read all 81 novels that have won the Pulitzer award. Sounds daunting right? Well here's what I like about it...there's no time limit! So if it takes me 3 years to do it with all of my other reading, that's fine! And I can work some of these into other challenges as well. So Nymeth, if you're still thinking of that Pulitzer challenge...I'm all in! ;)

Thoughtful Bloggers

After writing the most depressing post that I could possibly come up with yesterday, something positive had to happen, right? Well it did. First of all, a big thank you to everyone for cheering me up. The blogging community never ceases to amaze me with the sense of kinship and support that's created through it. I really wish we could all just meet for coffee! You've all become such great friends. So speaking of how thoughtful you have all been, Stephanie has nominated ME for a Thoughtful Blogger award! Stephanie is an amazing person and I always enjoy her blog, her reviews, and her musings. Thanks Steph :) In turn, I'm supposed to nominate 5 people, and it kills me that I can only nominate 5! You've all been so thoughtful lately!
1. Carl at Stainless Steel Droppings - Thoughtful is a word that describes Carl well. Here's a blogger who is always thinking of others and loves to share his passion for reading and art with everyone else through his challenges (and those amazing prizes ;), his words, and his actions. He's also been a great friend and one of the first bloggers that I "met".

2. Elaine at Quixotical - I always look forward to Elaine's posts and get excited when there's a new one! She could write about potatoes growing and it would be interesting because she DOES put so much thought into her posts. And her photos are some of my favorites.

3. Nancy at Bookfoolery and Babble - The Bookfool is another one of my favorite bloggers. Her reviews are absolutely top notch, but what I enjoy most are her comments on day to day life and her amazing photography. She has plenty of wonderful thoughts to share and her posts always interest me to the point where my comments are sometimes longer than her posts :p

4. Pat at Here, There, and Everywhere - You may know here as Deslily. Pat's an amazing woman! She can always make me smile, she's written her own trilogy of fantasy of novels, she's met some amazing people, she's a wonderful artist, she's worked at the Shambala preservation with lions and tigers and elephants (oh my!), and she's just an all around cool person!

5. Kim at Honeyed Words - Kim is one of the more recent blogs that I started following, but it's quickly become one of my favorites! She definitely puts tons of thought into her posts. She writes these amazing posts about food and recipes, but they're so much more involved than that. And then we also get our wonderful, beloved book reviews....and then there's everything else...the ongoings of life.

These are only 5 of the many wonderful, thoughtful blogs that I read every day. I wish I could nominate everyone as each blog I read is special in it's own way.

Thanks again Stephanie!

I've Joined The Collective Funk

It seems that there's a funk going around right now and I've just fallen into it this month. As you might have noticed, my blogs have been less frequent lately and it's mainly just because I've felt so uninspired which is a new thing for me. I'm not used to this. I'm used to creativity flowing, passion for things whirling around. Not happening right now.

Part of it is the weather, I know. The temperature today reached 100. I hate August...always have. What a miserable month. I miss the rain, I hate the heat. It smothers and takes away and just drains every bit of energy. What I wouldn't give for October right now...my favorite month. It's coming soon. The only good thing about the heat is that it has meshed well with Love in the Time of Cholera which I am reading very, very slowly. It's a wonderful book, but a book that is to be read slowly and to be enjoyed in it's own atmosphere. I sit on my porch every afternoon reading a little at a time and feel the heat and imagine walking through the streets of Colombia with stucco buildings around me and the Carribean shore. I definitely recommend this as a summer read if anyone ever decides to read it.

The other thing that has me down is the situation with Megan being so far away and her mom's house being in such bad shape. I feel that there is not enough that I can do for either one of them. I want to be able to just make everything better, but I can't. I help in what little ways I can, but there are some things that are beyond my control. With Megan's mom, I know she appreciates my help with the yard and my visits and I really enjoy just hanging out too...I just wish that I could fix the whole house!! It's so unfair what this city has done to it's own residents. My mom is fighting too for her house and it's like running into a brick wall over and over and over again. No help, no answers, nothing being done. No one accounts for anything. It's unbelievable. Words can't describe our frustration down here. Our government down here is a joke. Every politician associated with this city has had their reputation so tarnished that it's no wonder we can't get any help. How can they find the time to help us? They're too busy defending the crooked choices they've made.

So I'm sorry for the lack of posts. We're halfway through the month and I'm still only on my second book of the month. I'm in a reading rut too. Hopefully this picks up soon seeing as I have nearly 20 books planned for the RIP challenge which is 2 months long. At this rate, that's not going to happen. Autumn should definitely cheer me up...it can't come soon enough.

I'm SO sorry for this horribly depressing post...I just had to vent. Thanks for listening guys :)

A Flattering Nod

I got an email from a guy named Vladimir the other day who had read my review of The Time Traveler's Wife on Amazon.com. He was emailing me to ask my permission to publish my review on a website he is putting together called BooksAlley.com. Of course, I gave him my permission as he was a very nice guy and any publicity is good publicity in my eyes. His website is pretty cool and is just getting started. It looks like the finished product will be a website that reviews and offers audio books and audio book related products. Some really good content!

Well I head over to his site today and in the upper right-hand corner, I see that "This Week's Editorial Choice" is none other than myself! So, a big thank you to Vladimir! And if you have a second, go check out his site...like he said, it's in the works right now, but in the future he hopes to have the full site running. He was worried about his English too, as it's a second language, but I say he does a fine job!

He's also looking for content, and there's a link you can click on to submit any articles you have on audio books.

What Book Are You? and Who's Going to See Stardust?

I never do these little quiz things...or I should say that I do them, but never post them, but this one was just fun! Here's my results:

You're Watership Down!

by Richard Adams

Though many think of you as a bit young, even childish, you're
actually incredibly deep and complex. You show people the need to rethink their
assumptions, and confront them on everything from how they think to where they
build their houses. You might be one of the greatest people of all time. You'd
be recognized as such if you weren't always talking about talking rabbits.


Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

I've never actually read Watership Down or seen the cartoon movie..I suppose that's another one that I should add to the list of classics to read.

So who's going to see Stardust tomorrow night?! I was going to go by myself, but I just realized that Megan's mom and little brother would probably love it, so I'm going to see if they want to go too. Yay! Finally!

I've Got Some Book Porn For Ya'

I could say Carl made me do it, but no one would believe that...Truth is, I got my rebate card from Cingular from when I bought my new phone and pretended that it was a gift card, not money that I had previously spent...so I went to bookcloseouts.com (those people should pay me a commission) and bought 9 new books.... That website is quite dangerous and here's the reason why: The 9 books that I bought cost me $43.41 (and that's after shipping)! Great deal right?! Yeah, it stops being such a great deal on your wallet when you buy from them once a month :p But I really do love that site and they do a great service to us readers. And if you spend $35 or more, there's a $5 off coupon...drop me an email and I'll give you the code.....So what did I buy? Here's the list:1. The Thief of Always by Clive Barker: This is one of the first "long books" I remember reading. I read this when I was 11 years old and I remember loving it, but lost my copy over the years and I haven't read it since then. I've been craving some Clive Barker lately and when I looked up his name on Bookcloseouts.com, I found this book and had to have it. Funny coincidence...I'm reading Darla's blog today and she's looking for young adult horror novels and Nymeth suggests this very book! Very strange that this book should come up in blog conversation today!

2. The Onion Girl by Charles de Lint: This one comes recommended by Carl through another book. He gave a wonderful review of de Lint's latest Newford book Widdershins which is sort of a sequel to The Onion Girl. I instantly scooped up Widdershins after reading his review and decided I'd read The Onion Girl first. So here it is!

3. The Watermelon King by Daniel Wallace: Here's another one that comes from an online review. This one was reviewed by Nymeth and her review instantly convinced me that I had to read this one. Wallace is the same author who wrote Big Fish (which I haven't read, but loved the movie) and from what I've heard, this one is even better.
4. Crossroads: Tales of the Southern Literary Fantastic: Here's another one recommended by Nymeth. Living in the south, I had to read this one. It's one of the most unique premises for a short story collection I've heard. Fantasy tales from the south. Very cool. There's one story that Nymeth described that sealed this one for me, here are her words:

"See My King All Dressed in Red" by James L. Cambias is set some 20 years in the future, at a time when the whole city of New Orleans has been flooded. In this sad tale, a couple returns to the flooded city for one last Mardi Grass, and one last goodbye to its traditions.

5. Tamsin by Peter S. Beagle: Ever since I read The Last Unicorn, I've been craving some more Peter Beagle. Last time I was at Barnes and Noble, this one popped out at me. It's from the young adult section and it's a ghost story.

6. Surrender by Sonya Hartnett: This book sounds amazing. I'm not sure where I first heard of it, but I needed to have it as soon as I read a synopsis and I hope to get to it soon. Love the cover of this one too!
7. Treason by Orson Scott Card: Basically it's just an Orson Scott Card book that I didn't have and hadn't read. He never disappoints.

8. Tree and Leaf by J.R.R. Tolkien: Fence gave a great review of this book for the Once Upon a Time Challenge and I had never heard of it before. It's been on my wishlist ever since and I found it for a great price on bookcloseouts!

9. The Stolen Child by Keith Donahue: Another one that I've been wanting to read for awhile with a strange cover that I've never seen. This one comes with a quote of high praise from Audrey Niffenegger on the back. That's a good sign!

So that's all!...and that's enough! Surrender, Tamsin, and The Thief of Always may become RIP reads if I get through the 16 books that I already have planned for the challenge (which is only 2 months long!) Anyone else acquire new books lately?

Smoke And Mirrors by Neil Gaiman

"Stories are, in one way or another, mirrors. We use them to explain to ourselves how the world works or how it doesn't work. Like mirrors, stories prepare us for the day to come. They distract us from the things in the darkness."

Smoke and Mirrors is Neil Gaiman's first collection of short stories, or as he subtitles the book: Short Fictions and Illusions. This book was perfect! It was just the book that I've been waiting for after the reading slump that I've been in. I knew that I wouldn't be disappointed with Neil Gaiman, but I was even more pleased with these than I thought I would be.

As I read through these stories, I found myself continually amazed by the scope of Neil Gaiman's work. The man has an endless array of the most unique, far-fetched, bizarre, fully entertaining, haunting, and genius ideas and he writes them all so well. Put in the wrong hands, some of these story ideas could turn out really awful, but Gaiman makes them true literature (I'd love to hear what our Once Upon a Time basher blogger friend has to say about that sentence!). I have no doubt that Gaiman will live on as one of the great fantasy/horror writers of our time...he's already secured the title for himself in my book and in many others'.

Smoke and Mirrors starts off with a wonderful introduction that includes one of my favorite stories in the book "The Wedding Present". He then goes on to give a little history behind each short story in the collection which I absolutely loved. One very cool thing that I noticed from the intro is that 3 of the stories in this collection are based on sculptures by Lisa Snellings-Clark. He also mentions a sculpture of hers that he has sitting on his mantelpiece that he "suspects is a novel"....I'd be curious to know if that will see the light of day.

I enjoyed nearly every story in this collection, and counting "The Wedding Present", you get 31 stories in this book! Some of my favorites were:

Chivalry: about a woman who buys the Holy Grail at a thrift store

The Goldfish Pool and Other Stories: about a man who flies to L.A. to meet with Hollywood execs who are interested in a screenplay he has written. While there, he meets a very interesting janitor who holds age old secrets of the hotel he is staying at.

Troll Bridge: a young boy runs into a troll under a bridge and makes a deal that his life will be spared until the next time he crosses.

Changes: A man invents a cure for cancer that also changes the gender of the person who uses the drug...the drug soon gains a street value.

Shoggoth's Old Peculiar: A tourist happens upon an English pub and meets a couple of strangers who buy him a couple of drinks....a strange night ensues.

Looking for the Girl: A man spends the better part of his life looking for a girl that continually pops up in Penthouse as a nineteen year old model.

Bay Wolf: Modern take on an ancient epic.

We Can Get Them For You Wholesale: I really liked this one. A man decides to put a hit out on one person and decides that he can't pass up a bargain....

One Life, Furnished in Early Moorcock: Another favorite, this one was nostalgic...about a few young boys at school, their favorite author and the problems of life.

Foreign Parts: Alien STDs...

When We Went to See the End of the World: Written by an "11 1/4 year old", a tale of a young girl who goes with her parents for a drive to the end of the world. Very sad at times...deals with issues of abuse.

Babycakes: Very disturbing, but meaningful story about animal cruelty.

Murder Mysteries: The investigation of a fallen angel's death

Snow, Glass, Apples: Another absolute favorite, Neil's much darker telling of Snow White. The kiddies won't like this one ;)

OK, so I should've just given a summarization of all of them :p This was such a great collection and I can't wait to read Fragile Things now! I'm very excited to have another collection of his short stories waiting for me. I just can't believe I waited this long to get to this one. If you're looking for a book for the RIP challenge in September (right around the corner) this is a definite winner.

A Beacon of Light

New Orleans can be a real bummer these days. As you all know my girlfriend's mother recently moved back to New Orleans and I've been trying to help her get her house back to a livable condition. We're slowly getting there, but everything is a fight. This city is a constant reminder of loss and sadly it seems that nothing is easily done...everywhere you turn there are miles and miles of paperwork with a big "no" waiting at the end. Megan's mom is struggling to make it and I know she constantly asks herself why she came back here. This is such a wonderful city and all of us who are born and raised here know and love this city for what it is...and that's why we stay for so little.

We're one of the lucky ones. While we still haven't touched our house after 2 years because of FEMA's incompetence and constant fights with them, we were able to find affordable rental property. So we are at least comfortable. There are a couple of things that still sadden me though about our situation. Of course, I feel for my mom. Our house was everything she had and we've been through this 4 times before. Now our house is just sitting there, empty and gutted and there is nothing we can do. The other thing that saddened me was the loss of a few things that I didn't think I could replace.

I wrote a post a while back on some new bookshelves that we bought for this house we're renting. I was very excited to finally take my books out of the boxes that they've been in since Katrina and put them back on the shelves. However, I was saddened when I saw how few books I had left after Katrina had claimed many and among them were some of my absolute favorites - Chiefly, my set of Tolkien's Lord of the Rings Trilogy.

Well today a package arrives at my doorstep and I can't begin to explain the outpouring of emotion I felt when there was a brand new boxset of Tolkien's The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings along with my prize from Carl's Once Upon a Time Challenge. Carl, I honestly can't find the right words to express my gratitude and heartfelt appreciation for this. I thought that I had lost something that was irreplaceable, but they have been replaced by something that will always mean so much more. These books not only represent some of the finest pieces of literature ever written, but they truly come at a time when I needed a beacon of light when things were looking pretty damn dark down here. Carl had told me about these before, but they were just so much more than I was expecting and I felt bad accepting anything at all in the first place! But I will truly cherish these and I'm so glad to have them back on my shelf. They look just right.

For that matter, all of you bloggers have been so wonderful since I've met you and have gotten me through some pretty rough times whether you knew it or not :)

Oh yeah, the rest of the prize package was pretty cool too! I got my Terri Windling print which I love and will get framed as soon as some money comes my way. I'm sure I'll wear the shirt out in no time at all, and the Stainless Steel Envelope O' Goodies is so cool!!! I love things like that. It's a grab bag of comic samplers, post cards, bookmarks, cards, and my very own copy of The Stainless Steel Rat!!! I'll be reading that one right after Love in the Time of Cholera which is up next.

Tiny Revelations and Being Bad!

The results from Carl's Tiny Stories contest are in and the stories are all amazing. I have to give a big round of applause to everyone who participated in this one. I really enjoyed reading everyone's stories and the amount of effort put into these really shows. They were all top notch. Many were very touching and all of them were quite powerful. Elaine's (Quixotic) amazing story Father took home the top award, and rightfully so. Very touching, haunting, and something I can relate to. Great job ;)

For those not in the know, the contest was to write a story that was exactly 100 words and you could not repeat the same word twice! Very challenging. If you haven't tried it already, you really should. It was quite fun. My story was titled Jaden's Nakaya. Jaden was to be the main character of my NaNoWriMo story and Nakaya was the world in which it was set, but that idea has been laid aside for now and a new one has taken it's place...but I'll revisit them later. Here's my story:

His eyes shifted to an egg shell white – pupil and iris removed. Jaden was tranced.

He re-appeared where childhood ended. That dark memory when imagination could no longer play the savior.

It had worked until then.

Couldn’t face pain…always running…

Wicked thoughts awoken Nakaya, my bright world…I’m safe here, free. There are others – some like me, winged creatures, sparkling nymphs, things of water who create mystical sounds…All stolen away.

Bang…blood…sirens…funeral…

…It’s time to grow up…

…Gotta be the big boy…

Kaya’s gone forever…innocence lost.

I have a choice in this.

Beauty reclaimed.

The End! I'll pursue his story and go much further in depth in the future. It's so hard to tell a story in 100 words. I know what I'm saying in this story, but I don't know if anyone else would! I wanted to capture the imagination as a place of escape and how we often lose that or feel that we have to lose that as we grow older...how we're sometimes forced by "real life" to lose our imaginations...but I also feel that to an extent we have a choice...we can choose to use creativity as a means of expression and a means of escape and release...

OK, so enough with the heavy stuff...on with the being bad! I spent a lot of money on books and I only bought 2 of them! Both are pre-orders. Subterranean Press had to go and announce 2 really incredible books. The first is their new edition of Neil Gaiman's Coraline with an all new cover by Dave McKean. The book will also be signed and numbered, though they haven't specified if it will be signed by Gaiman and McKean or just Gaiman. It will also include a few new illustrations by Dave McKean and will have several full color photos of Coraline puppets from an Irish Puppet production of the book! If you preorder the novel, you are entered in a drawing to win one of three Coraline dolls made by puppeteer Mary Robinette Kowal! The other 2 dolls are going to Gaiman and McKean. How frickin' cool is that!

The second book that I bought is Lye Street by Alan Campbell. This book sounds amazing. It's a prequel to a book called Scar Night that is available now that has gotten wonderful reviews and has been compared to Neil Gaiman and Charles Dickens. I'll be picking up that one soon. Lye Street won't be released until January 2008, so I have plenty time to read Scar Night first. The main reason I ordered Lye Street (aside from the fact that it sounds cool) is that Dave McKean did an incredible wrap around cover for it! I love it. That one's only $25 for a signed hardcover which really isn't bad for a Subterranean Press edition.

Alright...that's all I got!

Treasures Hidden In The Stacks

A fun question has come up in the comments of a previous post. Me and Jean Pierre have been talking about discovering those magical books that you weren't prepared for and give you the surprise of a lifetime....the ones that stick with you...the ones that become favorites when you weren't expecting much at all. Here's how the question went:

Jean Pierre:

just randomly discovering one of those great books must be one of THE BEST experiences in the world!!

which books have you discovered like that?

My Response:

Two of my favorite books were discovered like that actually JP. The first was Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. I had never read any Card before, but had heard of the title "Ender's Game" mentioned as a Sci-fi classic, so I bought it. I was hooked by the end and he's now my favorite author. I'll never forget that book.

The second is American Gods by Neil Gaiman. I had read Gaiman before. I read Good Omens about 10 years ago, but wasn't a huge Gaiman fan from just that one. American Gods sounded like a cool premise, but I was absolutely blown away when I actually read it. Had no idea how amazing that book would be.

This year, I've had a couple of reads that have been somewhat like that such as George R.R. Martin's A Game of Thrones, Kate DiCamillo's The Tale of Despereaux, and John Connolly's The Book of Lost Things.

How about you?!

So there's my question to all of you if you have an answer...are there any books that you ever picked up off the shelf, not expecting anything more than a normal read and ended up with one of your favorite books?