Review: After Dark, Haruki Murakami

"Walk a lot; drink your water slowly."

"That's not it," he says. "Walk
slowly; drink lots of water."

"One's as good as the other, I'd say."

That's one of my favourite conversations between Mari and Takahashi, the 2 main characters in After Dark.

After Dark is book about events that take place in 1 night, between the early hours of the night and dawn.

I liked the book. I finished it quite fast actually.

But I don't feel like writing much about it.

That's all I have to say about it.


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Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro

I stole some time during lunch to finish Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro, and I am left feeling a bit weepy and melancholic. Ugh, an unbearable mood to be in, right after lunch, in a freezing cold office. So, I had to write this review as an exorcism.

Basically, I am also feeling abit nonplussed, as I come away without a grasp of what this book is about, if there really is a "purpose" to the story.

With some books, you know right away, the writer's agenda or focus. Some others, like this one, the "meaning" is obscured. Normally, I'm not keen on fiction with an agenda. Afterall, stories are meant to be enjoyed as they are, stories of possibilities and imagination. However, I have a sense that Never Let Me Go has a larger meaning but I'm just not getting it.

I think this has to do with the heavy themes in the book: death, ethics in science, morality, the existence of a soul, etc. They linger and are hinted at. In fact they are actually central to the story but are never really addressed. Maybe that's what frustrated me. On the surface, it appeared to be simply a story about a typical love-triangle. Except, seriously folks, there isn't anything typical about the 3 people in this love story!

Never Let Me Go is told from the point of view Kathy H, who is 31 years-old reminiscing about the past. Her memories focus on the relationship between herself and 2 other people, Tommy D. and Ruth (I can't find her initial). The memories are roughly divided into 2 periods: When they were growing up in a sort of boarding school called Hailsham, and after they left Hailsham.

Hailsham is not an ordinary school, and the students there are not ordinary either. This fact becomes clearer as the story progresses with clues coming from references to "donations" and the students' lack of surnames or parents. If you'd like to read the book, I'd leave you to figure the "mystery" out yourself, although I would think, if you're like me, you'd have figured it out already, once book reviews make references to those clues I mentioned.

For me, the enjoyment of the book comes from Kazuo Ishiguro's writing, the way he phrases sentences, chooses words and creates scenes. There is such a sense of loss and longing in the book, that maybe a less melancholic soul might find it hard to finish reading it. However, I would say I enjoyed this book tremendously and would recommend it to anyone who is keen on a quiet and meditative reading material.



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Review (of sorts): Breaking Dawn, Stephenie Meyer

Well, that's it, I finished Breaking Dawn last night!

What a rush it was, but strangely, I have no thoughts about this book beyond what I wrote yesterday and from before.

Ofcourse, my feelings remain the same as those right from the start: I apologise that I was disinterested with Bella's new experiences as a "newborn" and her experiences as a "wife". I admit I was slightly impressed with Bella's innate talent/gift, and how it morphed from something passive into something powerful.

I have no right to read this Twilight series!

As usual, I was totally sold on Jacob Black, I'm glad his imprinting with Renesmee was tastefully written. I'm glad his role is so central to everything that brings goodness, happiness and peace to the Forks and Bella world.

Someone I know said she hated the ending.

Me? I am apathetic. It only makes me happy that Jacob got someone great like Renesmee. Right now, I really love to know their story. I bet there's a tonne of fan fic out there on this couple.

Now, on to my movies and k-dramas. But I got to decide on a book for commute-reading: Graveyard Book, Anathem (so huge!) or Never Let me Go?

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Review: Eclipse, Stephenie Meyer

Finished Eclipse last night. Again, no synopsis from me, to avoid spoilers (if it means anything at all), just my feelings about the book.

Everyone grew up in this book, including Bella, and I think I can like her better now. I stopped getting annoyed with her first person "voice" that the book was written in. I loved the last portion written in Jacob's voice (ie. from his perspective) the most. I could identify with his feelings when he thought about running away and remaining a wolf forever. Not that I am facing love problems, just that sometimes, life ...

How can I only root for Jacob Black? No matter how idiotic he gets? Isn't this series supposed to be about Bella and Edward? Seriously, maybe I should have read Twilight. Maybe that would have helped me feel more for Bella and Edward. Yet, I like Jacob best. No matter what. How impossible of me.

Honestly, I want a story, a book about Jacob. I want more stories about the werewolves. I got quite abit of it in this book, there's more background about werewolves, vampires and individual histories of the various characters are explained a bit more in Eclipse. The other positive aspect of Eclipse is that the plot is a little more rich compared to New Moon.

Overall, Eclipse was a better read than New Moon. I'm starting on Breaking Dawn today. I need to finish the books, because I have a stack of k-drama DVDs to watch, and I just picked up some cheap movie CDs yesterday.

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Review: New Moon, Stephenie Meyer

I finished New Moon 2 nights ago and have started on Eclipse. I shall discuss my feelings about the book and leave out synopsis and details so as to avoid spoilers for those who have not yet read this book.

The first thing I must say is this: I don't think I've ever disliked a main character so much as I've disliked Bella Swan.

I must qualify that I saw the Twilight movie but didn't bother to read Twilight, the book, but went on straight to New Moon. I did this because I simply wanted to know how the rest of the story turns out. I was also keen on reading about the backstory about the werewolves and vampires.

New Moon satisfied both goals, but along the way made me feel supremely irritated by Bella. I don't like the "voice" that she's written in. She's not a bad girl, but the way she's written, I end up disliking her. I don't like the choices she makes, I don't like the way she makes those choices, and I don't like the way she behaves.

Edward Cullen was physically not around for most of this book but ofcourse his presence was always felt because everything Bella does is centred around him. What I loved was the way the story developed for Jacob Black. While I think Stephenie Meyer never meant for him to be a "hero", Jacob Black drew out most of my feelings and I cared for him the most among all the characters.

As the youngest character in the book, he seems to have behaved the best and I felt he deserved none of the shit that Bella or Edward Cullen gave him! Just because you are hurting or in love doesn't give you the license to be inconsiderate or irresponsible ... which was what I felt Bella and Edward were doing.

Anyway, as I'm reading Eclipse now, I really wish Stephenie Meyer wrote the books in a 3rd person voice, because I'm extremely annoyed to be seeing the third book unfold through Bella's eyes again.

Plot-wise, I didn't find New Moon very thrilling/suspenseful, neither was it an exciting or emotional book, but Stephenie Meyer is able to tell a simple story in an effective way. Her writing is easy to read and while nothing much is really happening (that's what I feel though others may feel differently), the pacing is fine so the reader is able to just move along and get through the story quickly.

Overall, I found New Moon to be good entertainment but I wish Stephenie Meyer made Bella a different sort of girl.

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Review: The Road, Cormac McCarthy

Cormac McCarthy's book, The Road, is about a father and his young son who walk alone through a post-apocalyptic America, heading toward the coast to escape the cold northen country. Relying only on each other along the way, they scavenge for food, shelter and supplies. As they journey on, they run into trouble: they lose their things, starve, freeze, encounter scary humans, such as cannibals and savage road gangs.

That is, basically, the entire plot of the book. While there were many points of tension, there wasn't really any typical climax or crisis in the middle of the book, which the characters needed to resolve. The crisis/disaster has already happened: the world is dead, from an un-named apocalypse. One could make a deduction that it's some sort of nuclear winter that has befallen the world.

I was driven to read the book, I believe, entirely by my emotional connection with the father and son, both who remain nameless to the end: The Everyman and The Everyboy, perhaps. I just didn't want them to die or come to any harm, rooting for them all the way. Yet, all the while, I asked myself, "Why?" Why did I want them to make it? What is left for them in that dark, barren, hopeless world?

I was unable to put down the book, but while reading on the bus or in public, there were numerous times I was so close to crying and I had to stop. I'm so glad that I was reading in the privacy of my room last night, because by the time I got the end, I was bawling. Weeping uncontrollably yet, not wanting to stop, for all the heart-break and fragile love.

The book has been made into a film, similarly titled, The Road, directed by John Hillcoat and starring Viggo Mortensen as the father. Sad to say, stills from the film do not live up to how I imagined the world from the book would look like.

I suppose for the purposes of filming, there needs to be sufficient light and colour, but the stills seem to make the world look too happy, too bright, too alive, and simply too promising.

McCarthy's prose on the other hand conveyed to me an unrelenting bleak and harsh landscape, with a utter loss of hope, life and light. The silence of the broken world in The Road screamed in a single continuous harsh mono note.

The entire book was written in a third-person narrative. Conversations did not have the reported speech quotations and sometimes words not attributed to the speaker but like in a written play, you can hear the silent actors speaking the words in your mind. I felt this was a fantastic device. Combined with the detached third-person narrative, it made an extremely effective way to convey the sense of loss, loneliness and desperation.

My heart was wrenched by the relationship between the father and son. There was awful beauty in the touching way the father never ceased to protect and care for the son. Like any parent would, he wanted to shield the son from the horrors of the world, but there came a point when, like any parent would, he realised his son has to grow up. This made all the worse by the fact that the world is indeed The Horror. Where else could he turn their eyes? How could the father protect the son?

As the son grows up in the passage of their journey, one sees how he comes to accept the reality of the life he was born into. He kept asking to keep various people he meets along the way. For example a child about his age, that he spotted but lost. A dog. An old man. I didn't quite understand why he kept wanting that. And why he kept asking who else is in the world. Or where are "the good guys".

Finally when I woke up this morning, I had a thought and I realised, he was afraid he'd be alone, with the inevitability of death that he foresaw coming.

Such awful, awful sadness. Images from this book remain etched in my mind. Passages of the prose and their conversations ring on.

This is a brilliant book. I love it. It'll be one book that I will go back to reread every once in a while, perhaps bringing tears to my eyes again and again.

"He leaned his forehead on his arms crossed upon the bar handle of the cart
and coughed. He spat a bloody drool. More and more he had to stop and rest. The
boy watched him. In some other world the child would already have begun to
vacate him from his life. But he had no life other. He knew the boy lay awake in
the night and listend to hear if he were breathing." - The Road, Cormac
McCarthy.

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The Woods are Dark & Out are the Lights, Richard Laymon

I read about The Woods are Dark at a blog that discussed the newly-released full original version of the book, which is filled with gratuious sex and violence that were edited out in the previous editions.

Not wanting to spend money and storage space on such a "trashy" book, I went to the local library to borrow it. I found a 2-in-1 edition, which also included another book of short stories, Out are the Lights, by the same author

The Woods are Dark is sufficiently fast-paced, gory and freaky, but I'm thinking it's the censored version that I read because I was shocked at several parts but it wasn't ever really too stomach churling. I wish the library has the new uncensored version for a frightening read.

As for the short story collection, Out are the Lights, not all the stories are well-written and some are actually quite corny, but there are a few gems in the collection.

Overall, these 2 books are easy and quick reads for light, scary amusement.


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The Book of Dead Days, Marcus Sedgwick

The Book of Dead Days has been variously described in online reviews as "fast-paced", "spell-binding", "chilling" and "suspenseful". It was nominated for the Guardian Award, and was also shortlisted for the Sheffield Book Award and the Edgar Allan Poe Award. This book is not part of my Once Upon A Time II challenge list, but I picked it up after finishing My Swordhand is Singing for the challenge, so I might as well to review it for the Challenge review site, in case anyone else is interested in it.

Set in the Dead Days between Christmas and New Year's this is a young adult's fiction whose central character is a young boy simply named Boy. Boy serves as something of a slave to a famous magician Valerian. The focus of the story is Valerian's attempt to escape a devilish pact made 15 years ago before his time runs out on New Year's Eve. Aided by Boy and a young servant girl, Willow, Valerian runs about, encountering obstacles and detours, trying to find a book that will provide him with a way out of this death pact. There is a twist at the end of the story, that is linked to Boy and the solution to Valerian's problem.

After reading My Swordhand is Singing, I did not have unreasonably high expectations for The Book of Dead Days. I only wanted a quick and easy read, knowing that Marcus Sedgwick's writing is straightforward and plain, as it should be to be suitable for young adults target market. The Book of Dead Days began with some promise: descriptions of The City in which these adventures take place evokes a haunting and complex labyrinth of crumbling, dark structures and some interesting characterisations of Boy, Valerian and Willow. However, these promising starts did not continue into the rest of the book. After the first few chapters, the book ended up purely driven by plot. Sadly though, the plot was so contrived and peppered with so many awkward plot devices that I lost interest in the story! I only finished the book so I could evaluate its suitability for my 8-year-old son.

With the many loose ends and unanswered questions at the end of the book, the story is set up for a sequel, which I imagine the author hopes will leave readers yearning for more. But I did not even feel for Boy nor did I want to know how the story continues for him. I did not enjoy this book at all and I'm sorry to say that I will not be reading the sequel, but I'll ask my son to write a review if he decides to read The Dark Flight Down. For such a positively-reviewed book, nominated for so many awards, I think I'm really being very picky about the books I want to read! I've even lost interest in Interworld, which I'll ask my son to review, since I'm moving on to The Dark Materials trilogy ASAP!

My Swordhand is Singing, Marcus Sedgwick

Amazing! I finished My Swordhand is Singing in 24 hours. The fun of reading an easy children's book! I didn't even spend all day reading. I started the book last night, did all my usual Saturday stuff today, then continued with it in the late afternoon, finishing it at about 0930pm.

I'd recommend this book for anyone seeking a simple and enjoyable escape. Set in Churst in the middle of winter, it is a story about a father coming to terms with a secret from his past and a son's coming of age, as they both confront a menacing evil in the form of "vampires" or the dead who return from the graves to terrorise and infect the Churst villagers.

The plot is straight forward and the writing refreshingly uncluttered. Despite the creepy subject matter, the scares are few and far between. Marcus Sedgwick instead relies successfully on mood and anticipation to build tension and suspense as the story unfolds. I think children will enjoy this fast paced story that reasonably does not delve too much into introspection or lengthy descriptions. It is also not too frightening or gory, so I wouldn't hesitate to let even my son read it if he wanted to.

I am pleased that I found several Marcus Sedgwick books on my trip to the library today. I borrowed The Book of Dead Days and The Dark Flight Down. I expect they will be equally quick and pleasant reads, and look forward to starting on them. I also found Neil Gaiman and Michael Reeves' Interworld. Since there is a due date to return these books to the library, I will be reading them first. I don't think it will take too long to read them, so I can afford to put off reading The Dark Materials omnibus for a few more days.

Lyra's Oxford, Philip Pullman

I read Lyra's Oxford in one sitting the other night, before I started on The Dark Materials trilogy. This is because I need to return the book to the library this weekend and also I felt I wouldn't lose much as I already know quite abit about the Dark Materials world from the publicity and fanfare of The Golden Compass film release.

Lyra's Oxford is a short story that takes place post-The Amber Spyglass and tells of Lyra's encounter with a bird-shape daemon, Ragi, his witch and the alchemist Sebastian Makepeace. In this short story, Lyra escapes from a death trap when she is assisted by various forces in Oxford, particularly the birds, and this leads her to believe that Oxford is protecting her.

I liked Philip Pullman's easy tone that draws the reader into the story quickly. I anticipate I will enjoy The Dark Materials Omnibus that I caved-in and purchased last weekend. I had been trying in vain to borrow all the books in this trilogy, so when I found it in the omnibus edition, I purchased it so I could read them all consecutively.

With this trilogy, Lyra's Oxford and Vellum, I am technically fulfilling the Quest The First criteria of reading 5 books from the Once Upon A Time II genres of fantasy, or folklore, or fairy tales, or mythology.

However, since I listed 6 books when I signed up for the challenge, and I have decided I can't bear to read Ink, I am replacing Ink with My Swordhand is Singing, by Marcus Sedgwick. It is a vampire story for children that I borrowed from the library, so I shall be reading this first, before I dive into The Dark Materials books.

Vellum, Hal Duncan

This is a difficult book to review.

First of all, there isn't a clear straight line narrative in this book. The plot and pace are sparse yet convoluted due to the lack of the linear progression. It's not an easy book to read. In many portions, it reads like an extended version of an epic poem with many remixes. This is clearly due to the fact that, as Hal Duncan admits in his Acknowledgements section, "large portions of this novel involve adaptations of various ancient myths, poems and plays." And Vellum is repetitious, mainly because Hal Duncan is out to prove a point, that I will mention in the next paragraph.

Secondly, I'm not going to lie and say that I understand Vellum. I'm guessing someone with larger and deeper knowledge of ancient mythology might do better than I did with this book. Hal Duncan seems adament about proving, through his novel, the theory of archetypes in myths that recurr in different cultures in different times. Almost all the subtexts, premises and underlying connections between the central characters in his book are based on knowledge of these myths. This also leads to the repetition of passages, used as a stylistic means for expressing the idea of cycles.

The tone, pacing and prose in this book is also very uneven. I was bored to death in certain portions and gave in to my frustration by skimming through several long passages and some pages. But in other portions, Hal Duncan's prose is lyrical, the imagery lush and raw. I experienced quite a literary rush reading those parts. And in 2 to 3 instances, where there was actually some plot driving the story forward, it became quite exciting to see ideas and events unfold.

My personal view is that if Hal Duncan wanted to dabble with or make an argument about theories, I think he might have done better to write an essay. There are some interesting ideas that he presents in this novel that I wish he expanded on, eg. the Vellum, the war between the forces of good and evil angels, etc. but he only keeps harping on the idea of beings trapped in cycles of action / fate / destiny. It's sad to see promising portions drowned in Hal Duncan's obsession with this idea.

I'm having second thoughts about reading his follow-up novel Ink, because to be honest, I'm not done with Vellum but I'm already thinking of giving up, at page 369 out of 499. But since I'm already amost done, I'm going to spend a couple more days with Vellum and see how it goes, then will read Ink and see how I feel about it.

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell

A R.I.P. II Challenge Book Review


I lost track but I think I took almost a half year to finish this book. It was a good book to dip into whenever I had some time so I had not felt any urgency to complete it (Edit: I must qualify that I took 3-4 months reading just 3-4 chapters and it was the R.I.P II Challenge that spurred me to read at a faster pace). A large part of this is due to Susanna Clarke's writing. It encouraged that sort of slow reading: It is subtle. meandering and filled with little details which you can savour slowly. Overall, there seems to be very little overt tension in the story - there is no big bad evil dark enemy and the survival of the world does not depend on one clear single Hero. The mood of the book is very close to real-life, which means things are interconnected and the story is driven forward by choices and external events. Even though a Prophecy is pronounced early in the book, it is vague, does not feature largely as a plot driver and only becomes clearer nearer the end of the book.

The central driving force of the book is magic and how 2 English gentlemen vie with each other in the magical arena. But this magic is not like the dungeons and dragons sort of magic, Susanna Clarke does not spend alot of time trying to fancy it up. Instead when the magic is performed, she describes it in a very matter of fact manner. Set in England and some parts of Europe at early decades of the 1900s, it includes some fantasy woven into some real historical events. Due to the era it is set in, Susanna Clarke also conveys a lovely, proper Edwardian English tone. The themes explored in the book are wide-ranging: pride, human nature, the dangers of toying with things we don't understand, rigid social class prejudice, and a hint of, perhaps, the power of love.

The book is divided into 3 parts, which Susanna Clarke titles as Volumes: (1) Mr Norrell (2) Jonathan Strange and (3) John Uskglass. For the most part of volume 1 and 2, Susanna Clarke lays the groundwork and intricate tapestry of the lives of all the characters. I've said it before: The tone of these 2 volumes is like that of listening to an old person telling a story. I felt like I didn't really know what it all meant and what this old person is trying to tell me, but I still wanted to hear more because of all the interesting things that she was saying. There were many curious things, motivations and the path of the story are not always clear so it is not like most other stories where one reads it to find out how things will turn out next. It is a story that is not really completely driven by plot, if you know what I mean. It is only in volume 3 that the pace picks up and events begin to be embroidered clearly together into a larger tapestry.

While I took the most part of the time reading volume 1 and the first half of volume 2, I took only about a week to complete the second half of volume 2 and volume 3. This is partly because of my own reading habits and preferences. When the pace of a story starts to be driven more by plot, I tend to get caught up and want to know the outcome. Thus, I was driven to push aside everything else and I finally finished the book late last night.

I like books which have characters that I sympathise or identify with, but even though I did not get that from Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, I felt I knew and understood every character well enough so that I came away very satisfied with this book. Although there was alot going on in the book, none of it was superfluous. I was upset with the ending, which left something unresolved, and gave me a bitter sense of regret. However, I think it is a good ending, as it is not fairy tale perfect. I am left with a sense of wonder and also admiration for Susanna Clarke's mind! How did she manage to think of everything? It is an incredible book which I think will suit anyone who enjoys intricacies and details.

American Gods by Neil Gaiman

I completed reading this book within 2-3 days. That's because I was rushing to finish it by Saturday so I could return it to the library and also I was home all day yesterday. It's a very good read - like many others who read this book, I had fun trying to figure out who the gods were before they were named in the stories. I'm having a hard time with one though - the one who's name Shadow always never seems to grasp. I didn't read this book very carefully. It was more like a fun quick read for me. I think if I have the mood, I'll try picking it up for a re-read some time in the future. Other than that, my next goal is to complete reading all the books I purchased in the past.

The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly

This coming-of-age journey of a boy, David, who lost his mother to death, was a very difficult book to read in public places. At numerous points in the story, I had stop reading because I was afraid I couldn't control myself from bursting into unstoppable tears.

Somehow, this simple but cleverly crafted tale struck many raw nerves for me. Maybe because it was about a boy, who might be the same age as my son is now. Maybe it was about the loss of childhood but the attainment of the wisdom and kindness that might come from suffering if one learnt to grow up by facing one's fears. Whatever it was, I came away feeling that John Connolly wrote a mighty fine book that was imaginative, emotional and enlightening.

This book had none of the hovering writer's presence that I felt in reading John Connolly's book of short stories, Nocturnes. Once I started on the first sentence, I was immediately transported into David's world, entering his experiences, his mind and emotions. Though it seems a typical story about a child who loses a much-loved parent, and having to come to terms with living with a new mother and half-brother when his father remarries, The Book of Lost Things does not fall into the trite or cliche. As a real war with the Germans rages about him, a battle on his mind begins. There is never any doubt that David is slowly losing hold of this world and will enter into the world where stories come alive. When he hears books whispering to him and he falls into fits where he loses consciousness with increasing frequency, David eventually and inevitably hears his mother calling to him to save her. He decisively follows the voice and enters another realm where he walks the path of the Hero's Journey, battling monsters and facing his inner demons.

Throughout the book, I felt myself understanding more and more the message that John Connolly wanted to send but I never felt he was didactic or overbearing in putting it across. Instead, the Hero's Journey that David experiences enriches Connolly's moral-of-the-story. As David grows in understanding and courage, so too the sorrowful yet comforting feeling that this is truly the best way. That if a child should lose his innocence, it would best be lost to be replaced with these best qualities that might be born from suffering: to become a loving person with a forgiving heart; to be protective to those who might be weaker and even fair to the wicked. David ends his journey becoming such a person and more! How wonderful it would be for a mother to see her child grow to be such a fine young man!

I truly enjoyed reading this book, even though I experienced a roller-coaster of emotions, and ended up tearing or weeping many times over.

Books Not Read

This entry isn't about books I've read recently. It's about books I've borrowed from the library and NOT read. I'm in this rushed and stressed state of mind. I am unable to think straight and the books I picked up just demanded too much from me. So I didn't read them at all. Here are the reasons why:

1. The Book of Dave, Will Self

Promising premise and captivating blurb on the back cover, but the writer lost me from the start of the 9th line of the first page. Trying to be the next Anthony Burgess, I suppose, he wrote conversations and thoughts to reflect future vocabulary, speech patterns and pronunciations. One sentence of "Wot if Eye woz up vair, Carl thought, up vair lyke ve Flyin I?" is fine enough to grapple with. But when the frequency of such writing increased and I lost sense of what the characters were saying, I put down the book, never mustering anymore interest in picking it up again.

2. Nocturnes, by John Connolly

I wanted to read The Book of Lost Things which Chris reviewed beautifully, but my library reservation wasn't ready yet, so I picked up Connolly's anthology of scary stories to tide me over. I read a couple of the stories and they were interesting enough, but John Connolly's writing voice is very peculiar and its dryness seems to hover consistently over every story I read in the anthology, making it difficult for me to lose myself in any of the plots. I am ever conscious of John Connolly the writer, so it made me feel like I was going through an academic exercise, instead of enjoying myself reading stories. I read two and a half stories, then didn't continue with the rest of the collection.

3. Resonator, by Prentis Rollins

This was one book I borrowed without flipping through the contents first. I thought it would show me how writers wrote up the script for comics and graphic novels. I recall seeing something like a script in one of Neil Gaiman's books, so I thought this book might provide equally interesting enlightenment. Serves me right for not checking first. I found Rollins only wrote about the process of developing the story, and that took about 4-5 pages of the chapter. He did not show how he wrote up the script for the comic, except for one page which contained partial images from his original stories and just a bit of his comic script. I suppose it is because he is both the writer and the artist for the graphic novel, Resonator, he did not need to write much more than the dialogue for the script. In the end, I did not learn much from this book as a wanna-be-writer and I lost interest in reading the graphic novel itself. His artwork is very lush and detailed though and he does go into great lengths to describe his drawing process, with chapters on preproduction, pencilling, inking and lettering. I think it will be a better resource for an artist interested in drawing a comic or graphic novel.

4. Before Midnight, by Cameron Dokey.

I did not give this book a chance. I read the first page and then I felt I did not get a good enough hook right from the start - the pacing of the writing was not what I needed at this point - so I just stopped reading this. I think it might be a good story for light-reading but I just really want to sink into some "lose yourself into the story right from the start" type of story. This really didn't do it for me, right from the start.

5. Fantasy - The best of the Year, 2006 Edition

Read one and a half stories from this collection. Then no more interest. Too tired.


That's it. All the books I didn't read. I'm really out of it again at this point in time. Seems like life is bearing down on me again and I'm losing my mental capacity to sustain interest in reading. I didn't complete the Banned Books Challenge, which ended on 30 June. I seem to have energy only to knit while I watch TV/discs (Supernatural, Smallville, K-drama, that kind of thing) and do some sewing here and there when I can find the time. I really need to sink my teeth into some good escapist fiction. Just have to find the right one. I'm collecting The Book of Lost Things from the library reservation counter this weekend. I hope it will be the book.

Dead High Yearbook

Dead High Yearbook by Ivan Velez is a comic that made me roll my eyes in exasperation by the time I got to the end of reading it. The packaging of the book is very nice, but this does not redeem the stories from bordering on inane. I felt like it was trying to be be innovative, cool and dark, but failing miserably because the writers missed the point and focussed on the shock factor instead of telling a good story.

I'm guessing this book is targetted at a teen audience, seeing all the characters are high school students. For a young person who has not seen much, this book might be fun and provide a few scares. It is a collection of stories telling the demise of young people from a high school, who will be entered into a yearbook that is put together by an editorial team of dead people. The characters include vampires, zombies, mutants and basically some individuals who refuse to die. For a jaded adult like me, though, the stories don't provide much new material. Admittedly some are quite gruesome and ickky but none give new perspectives nor do they entertain with fresh or clever twists.

So overall, it might be ok for an older teenager (I'd keep the visual blod and gore away from younger kids), but it would just be mindless and humourless reading for an adult.

Fragile Things - Neil Gaiman

Fragile Things is a compilation of Neil Gaiman's short stories and poetry, which have been printed before in anthologies but are now collected together in one book. There are altogether 4 poems and 24 short stories. I read 4 of the stories before, and 1 poem, Faery Reel, which appeared in the same-titled short story collection. Other Neil Gaiman fans may find themselves in the same situation, but this collection is worth having even if you've read some of the stories before.

2 of the stories in Fragile Things - Keepsakes and Treasures and Monarch of the Glen - are linked to the character Shadow from American Gods. Monarch of the Glen tells of Shadow's adventures in Scotland and Keepsakes and Treasures is the story of 2 people Shadow met in Monarch of the Glen. After reading these 2 stories, I feel compelled to read American Gods, which shame on me, I have not yet done so.

I enjoyed this book, particularly when revisiting those stories I've read before, as it made me see new details. They all have the unique Neil Gaiman touch of imagination, wit and easy flow. In general, the stories have a tinge of weird and fantastical, even the one story, The Flints of Memory Lane, which according to Neil Gaiman is completely true. Neil Gaiman also provides a detailed and entertaining introduction, shedding light on the origins and inspiration for each of the tales and poems.

This is one book that fans of Neil Gaiman will enjoy owning. I for one do not regret buying this book because I will be rereading some of the stories.

I Completed the Once Upon a Time Challenge!

I've finished reading Alice in Wonderland, which means I've completed all 4 books for the Once Upon a Time Challenge. To recap, I've read the following:

Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll (Fairytale) - Completed: 28 May 07
Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny (Mythology) - Completed: 9 May 07
Mr Punch, Neil Gaiman & Dave McKean (Folklore) - Completed: 7 May 07
Abhorsen Trilgoy, Garth Nix (Fantasy) - Completed

I initially started off with some books I wanted to read but got distracted by others. Good thing they fit the criteria and also good thing Carl V allowed us to substitute books. He is very generous too, offering a grand prize for people who complete the challenge.

It was fun to do the challenge, even without the prize but the prize is very fun on it's own too.

In any case, I'm going to continue reading the other books I initially put down for the challenge: Faery Reel, Arabian Nights and Adventures in Unhistory.

I'm sorry I'm not posting as much as I used to. Some things coming up on the work front. I'll post about it when I receive more confirmed news.

Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny

When I was reading the first chapter of Lord of Light, I wondered whether it was really a science fiction and fantasy novel. It seemed like Robert Zelazny, in a fit of madness, decided to dump a mish-mash of characters with Indian names any old how into a confusing story filled with Hindu and Buddhist terminology.

With Brahma, Ratri, Karma, Mahasamatman, Nirvana, etc. featured in stilted English, like the way old Hindu and Buddhist religious texts are translated, you'd be forgiven if you thought the book is about religion or mythology. You won't be alone. Many others who have read this book have the same sentiment.

But come Chapter two, things become clearer. As you read on, you'd find that the first chapter is the present with the story taking a sequential narrative of flashbacks in the subsequent chapters, leading up to the final scene, which brings you back to the present.

Lord of Light was read for the Mythology category in the Once Upon A Time Challenge. Basically, the story of Lord of Light, without revealing too much, is about Sam, who goes by many other names like Siddhartha and Mahasamatman. He is one of the original colonists who populated a planet and subjugated the masses by making themselves gods. The colonists have a technology which allows them to be immortal through tranferring their "minds" from one body to another. They also have the technology to allow themselves to possess supernatural powers. They keep free use of these technologies exclusive to themselves and make them available in a limited fashion to the rest of the population. Sam is a rebel who wants to make this techonology freely and completely available for the masses and stages war against the gods.

It is science fiction because of the technology and fantasy because it is written like an epic journey. I feel that with the way the story is executed, it becomes all the more interesting and satisfying, though it makes for harder reading. I really needed to use my brains to keep up with the twists and turns, and also had to keep track of the various body changes and names that the characters go through.

Roger Zelazny used many literary devices to convey subterfuge just like the way religion was used as for deception in the planet. One could write a thesis about that clever style of writing. Overall, this is a book that bears numerous readings and is worthy of the cult status that it has been honoured with, though it might take some getting used to, because it is not the typical science fiction or fantasy that one might be familiar with.

Mr Punch, by Neil Gaiman & Dave McKean

So many layers of meaning, this one: Mr Punch, a graphic novel written by Neil Gaiman and drawn by Dave McKean; read as part of the Once Upon a Time Challenge, under the Folklore category. (The reason it is placed in this category is explained here.)

I think most people know of the Punch and Judy show, famous figures of popular culture. I know the stories and when I read them in the comic, I can remember them, but I don't recall where or when I saw the shows. I know I've always been afraid of Punch and Judy and I've always avoided watching them in any form in the media. I believe I've been fortunate enough to have never watched any Punch and Judy shows in real life, but then maybe my memory is faulty, because how else would I know the stories? I even remember Mr Punch flirting with his girlfriend when his wife wasn't around!

This is the basis of the comic, Mr Punch: it is about memories, blurred and unreliable, of disturbing and incomprehensible experiences etched into the mind but never really fully grasped.

Mr Punch is told from the point of view of an unnamed narrator, recounting his memories of a brief childhood stay at his grandfather's seaside house. His grandfather owned an arcade near the sea side and the narrator's days were filled with frightening Punch and Judy shows, and encounters with his dwarfish, hunch-backed uncle Morton; the Punch and Judy puppeter, the bottler, who collects money for the Punch and Judy shows; and the shivering mermaid in a tank.

Like the horrific Punch and Judy show, where Punch throws the baby out the window and kills or beats with a stick everyone he encounters, Mr Punch, the graphic novel, tells of family secrets, horrors and dysfunctions. You could even read parallels between Mr Punch the puppet and the various men in the comic - there are very telling motifs and references which are easy to pick up. But who really is Mr Punch? Mr Punch the puppet and the parallel human Mr Punch - evil sinister little man (or men) - who is he, or who are they?

A graphic novel - you could finish it quickly or you could take ages reading it. I always spend alot of time over a comic, especially if it is well-drawn. Always staring at the pictures - so much information in each frame. I can never fathom the amount of work that goes into drawing a comic. I am filled with awe by this one. The artwork by Dave McKean is gorgeous. Very dark and moody, tinged with a deep melancholy, fitting for the disturbing story. The juxtaposition of real and stylised images in the frames, mirror the blurring of reality and memory. This is an excellent book, which leaves you thinking and wondering. I might need to get a copy of this book for keeps. It will not disappoint any Neil Gaiman or Dave McKean fan.