I heart libraries.

I love libraries. I even love how I paid off my heinous (sp?) overdue charge there, even though it burned because fifty dollars hardly even exists in my bank account vocabulary. I am almost completely finished all of the books I took out last week -- all of the graphic novels except a manga comic called "Death TV", Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None" and a handful of paperbacks I'm seriously reconsidering reading (Kelley Armstrong's "Industrial Magic", Tamara Thorne's "Bad Things".)

I was going to do this whole fabulous entry about graphic novels, but I'll save that for later. For now, I wanted to blog about the a children's lit book I read recently, courtesy of my new best friend the Library.

Levine's "Ella Enchanted" is an incredibly charming, quick read about a girl "gifted" (cursed) from birth to be ever obedient. What I loved about this book is that its not a quick fix -- an answer that seems to be the easiest, for sure outcome at the beginning is later thwarted. I hate when things get predictable, so I loved that the aspect of "Big Magic" versus "Little Magic" often times didn't work in Ella's favour.

The novel has more than a passing resemblance to "Cinderella", but is so many shades different and modern that you're really reading a completely different tale. Please note, I would totally not recommend the film -- I love Anne Hathaway, but I remember being massively disappointed when Alicia and I watched the cinematic version a while ago.

Mary Freaking Poppins, P.L. Travers

Technically I only read the first few chapters of this book, last night, when I was bored out of my mind at 4 a.m. The reason I picked up this book was that I had decided to reminisce and watch the movie again earlier in the day, as it was one of my childhood favourites and I haven't seen it in over ten years, and as such I was curious to see how the book compared to the film.

Both of them are pretty much the same in that they are irritating as hell. There are some parts of the film I love -- I love when Katie Nanna is leaving and they are all singing Sister Suffragette, and my most favourite part ever is when they are singing Chim Chim Chiree and all of the dirty Chimney Sweeps come into the house and start dancing with everyone. The scenes at the bank with the Senior Mr. Dawes still freak the hell out of me, as they are part of some fabric of my childhood nightmares and probably the reason I hate going to banks. I also love the tea party on the ceiling scene, as well,* but my main problem is thus: Mary Poppins Herself**.

I love Julie Andrews, even though I can't stand her two most famous movies, those being "Mary Poppins" and "The Sound of Music". I think she is a really classy lady and I love her voice. That said, Mary Poppins is irritating. I suppose there is supposed to be some humour in her being how she is, but I just found it grating. Just relax a touch, Mary, and enjoy your damn ceiling tea party.

The book is shades different -- four kids instead of two and Mrs. Banks actually meets Mary Poppins. There is also further insight into Mary Poppins' character (makes me hate her even more) and some more background on Uncle Arthur's ability to float to the ceiling when he laughs.

I haven't actually finished the book, so I will refrain from commenting on the whole thing, although I will say that I have absolutely no intention of finishing it.

... on the plus side though, my copy is from the Walt Disney version, in that it must have been sold right after the movie was made, is in superb condition and still contains the library card inside -- all dates listed 1968.

*And who can keep from laughing crying at the "Feed the Birds" scene? Note, Mary Poppins was the last movie for Jane Darwell (Bird Woman) of Grapes of Wrath fame.

** That said, there is also something infinitely charming about Mary Poppins. I can't even put my finger on it, but she is not totally hateable. And I love her fashion sense.

Touching Evil, Kay Hooper

So I am in the middle of my book club book, "Touching Evil" by Kay Hooper. I just wanted to sum up some of my preliminary thoughts of the book -- I'm not finished it yet, but I've already got a fairly definite idea of how I feel about it.

Its a good story, good concept, excetera, but it feels like its missing personality. Maybe I've been spoiled by personality-ridden books such as Laurell K. Hamilton's "Anita Blake" series, or Charlaine Harris' "Southern Vampire" series*, but I miss the wicked humour, the sarcasm, protagonists struggling with a thousand different things at once.

Or, to be blunt, I don't like the character of Maggie Barnes in "Touching Evil".

It could be that I am still holding against her the fact that she called the rapist "an animal" three times nearly consecutively in the opening chapters. I know it isn't rational, but holy irritation, Batman. Secondly, she doesn't really have a definite voice. She is strong, but she is also weak, and while a contrast like that is normally interesting, her character seems to just ... fall flat. I don't care about her. I don't care what happens to her, and for the most part, I don't care what happens to the other characters in the book either.

I don't hate this novel, but its not a novel I'll remember for a long time after reading it. Its sort of ... a quick, beach read -- although right now I'm doing it without the beach.

*Okay, and don't even get me started on Anita Blake's sextacular activities of late. Way to jump the shark, Laurell. HOWEVER, The Southern Vampire series by Charlaine Harris is probably one of my favourite series ever, and I cannot recommend it enough.

Ooo! Shopping!!!!

I've been doing some online book shopping, as I have money to spend on books and can't stand the hole its burning in my pocket any longer.

The problem with online book shopping is that there are so many books to choose from (any book shopping really), so I'm having a hard time deciding between a few of them. I've been looking up graphic novels -- I love graphic novels. And Charles Vess is one of my favourite illustrators -- I looked for a decent copy of the illustrated "Stardust" on Chapters (where I have to order from) but they didn't appear to have the same version as Amazon.

This is just a quick list of some of the various books I'm looking at purchasing...

Zine Scene by Francesca Lia Block -- I have a few 'zine type projects in the works(ish) right now so this could only be helpful.

The Rose and The Beast: Fairy Tales Retold by Francesca Lia Block. I actually haven't read anything by Block yet, but I've heard excellent things. Plus this is on sale (though temporarily unavailable to order, lame) so thats a plus.

Lady Cottington's Pressed Fairy Album by Brian Froud. I have almost all of Brian Froud's books now. I lovelovelove his art. Uhm, and this is on sale. Yay!

The Golden Book of Faerie by O.R. Melling. Seriously, y'all, I think you should know that Melling is awesome. I love her forever just for "The Singing Stone" alone. But she also did these other books, like "The Hunter's Moon", which is about two cousins, one from Canada and one from Ireland who decide one night to sleep on a faery mound. That book was followed by three sequels, the fourth being previously super hard to get. HOWEVER, now the entire series is wrapped up in a giant book. And is much cheaper online than bought in store. I am all about the cheapness this shopping trip.

The Walking Dead Volume One: Days Gone Bye by Robert Kirkman. I love zombies. It is super, super hard to find a decent zombie book, too. In all honesty, the only thing that ever came close was el's "The Rising", and even that was GOD AWFULLY HORRIBLE NEVER READ IT. So I am walking into this thing with a lot of faith in Mr. Kirkman. I'm hoping that by blending the visual with the written I'll finally be able to find a decent zombie tale thats not in movie form.

Circle of Cats by Charles de Lint. I find Charles de Lint iffy. Or at least my seventeen year old self did. I'm totally ready to give him another chance -- based on the fact that the short stories I read back then affected me enough so that I still remember most of them and because the man is using Charles Vess for his covers. His books though? Damn expensive. Lets have sale, Chapters, 'kay?

Faery Reel by Various People. More faery type stories.

Anyways, all of this shopping has worn me out. (Very strenuous, online shopping.) Will post more later, maybe. Perhaps I might even buy Gaiman's Death: The High Cost of Living. What books are you guys (yes, other people might someday post on this, too, so I look like less of a loser. Yes, I am totally looking at you.) wanting to buy book-wise?

The Golden Compass

This book is awesome. Seriously. If you haven't yet bought / borrowed / stolen it in order to read it, do so. Do so now. Now Now Now. I started this book sometime in December and it took me more than a month to finish. Unbelievably scandalous, granted, but my reading pace was slowed to levels of extreme retardation due to Frenzied Christmas Shopping, Bouts of Extreme Busyness and a certain Literary Restlessness that wouldn't even let me sit down and re-read Charlaine Harris' "Dead Until Dark". So, of course, something was obviously mentally wrong with me.

That said, I seemed to snap out of it in mid-to-late January and I began to stay inside my house so that I could read and talk to NO ONE because I was reading His Dark Materials and they are AWESOME. live again. I also began to have dreams that I was Paula Abdul's assistant on American Idol, but this blog is about books, so.

I found "The Golden Compass" somewhat difficult to get into. Truthfully this may have been because of the aforementioned restlessness, but either way, I reached a certain point within the novel after pushing myself to read further and further and had simply had enough. I put it down, and there is lay for a few weeks. Then, while looking for something to read whilst waiting for my ride at work, I picked it up again, through it into my purse and thus began my love affair with Philip Pullman that he knows nothing about.

I'm currently working on "The Amber Spyglass" and I've just read the first five pages. I will probably post a review of "The Subtle Knife" when I am not gushing continuously, endlessly on about "The Golden Compass". I realize that this review hasn't even gone into the plot, but it is a fantasy/science sort of adventure that had me almost wishing I lived in the North.

And then I remembered that I do, and it is god-awful.

I leave y'all with a plea that you pick up this book and you read it, and you read the second two books and you love the movie when it comes out in 2006 even though they are not going to mention the Church AT ALL in it and it might even possibly be ruined because of that. Read. This. Book. Please.

Book Club Meeting, Feb. 03

The book club meeting, held in a darkly-lit coffeehouse, was great. Since I can't remember everything we talked about (Five favourite books, Lindsay from the Lovely Bones, that men-who-are-pregnant-via-their-brothers book that el had to read for uni) I will list what we drank:

El, had an apple cider. Upon arriving at our table, she exclaimed, somewhat terrified, "What the hell? Why are there sticks in my cider?!" On further inspection said sticks were actually not stripped from trees growing in the back lane of Seattle Coffeehouse but were cinnamon sticks.

Alicia ordered a banana flavoured steamed milk, all frothy and banana-ish.

I ordered the Mega White Mocha, which had me wired until five a.m. when I collapsed in bed and fell immediately asleep.

The Breakdown of February Book Club Selections:

El is reading The Notebook.
Alicia is reading The Golden Compass, part of Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" series.
Laura is reading The Colour Purple.
I'm reading Kay Hooper's Touching Evil.

The Dwelling

The Dwelling by Susie Moloney was picked up at a secondhand book shop and I can see why the seller didn't want it. Its not that it isn't well written, because it is, and its not that certain passages don't pop with description and emotion -- but the book is damn boring. It took me about a month to struggle through it, and even then, admittedly, I have about a chapter left.

One might ask, "If you have a chapter left, why not just finish it?!" and the answer is simple because, "I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE." I am so ready to put down this book and leave it be. This book is not as bad as some that I've read -- not as bad as "The Rising" by some guy who probably shouldn't want his name associated with his book anyway, or the romance novels I used to (inexplicably) read when I was fourteen. Moloney is a talented writer, but I found this book to be dry.

A lot of the characters she started with were real, fleshed out, detailed -- but only up to a point. The climax hits and they are suddenly gone from the story, flitting in and out as ghosts. You have small conclusions of their lives after the house is once again sold to the realtor, but thats about it. It leads to thinking that all the build-up, everything you learned about their careers, family life and personality were for naught -- was pointless. And that is incredibly frustrating.

Rating : 2/5 stars.

Hardcore First Post Action.

I started this blog because I wanted to keep track of the books I've read and would recommend (or not recommend as the case may be). December and January were slow months for me, read-wise, and I hope to get back on top of my "few a month" norm. Part of my problem throughout the holiday months was busyness / restlessness, but also a smattering of not being able to find the right book -- throughout December I pushed myself through "The Dwelling" by Susie Moloney. (Review to follow.) But I also have a habit of picking up several books at once and reading them in intervals.

Likewise, this blog won't only be used in regards to books that I, personally, am reading, but books that I've read in the past and loved (or hated). This blog is also open to several other people who will be posting (hopefully!) the books their reading / loving / loathing.