The Complete Stories, Flannery O'Connor

From "The Geranium": Old Dudley folded into the chair he was gradually molding to his own shape and looked out the window fifteen feet away into another window framed by blackened red brick. He was waiting for the geranium. The put it out every morning about ten and they took it in at five-thirty.

Flannery O'Connor is such an amazing writer. Her stories create such a feeling in you even though they're only between 10-40 pages long. I read Everything That Rises Must Converge, and I just had to read the rest of her stories. And really, they're so amazing. There's an element of the macabre to them. You get this deep chilling certainty as you read that something bad is going to happen in the end, which it usually does. And they're kind of scary that way, but it just shows how talented O'Connor was. America lost a great writer when she died in 1964 at the age of thirty-nine from lupus. You got to give the South credit; they've turned out some great writers. Now I've got to have this volume for my own collection.

I've got to give A Good Hard Look credit for motivating me to read O'Connor. I'd obviously heard of her before, but never actually read her. I guess I thought it would be boring or something. I couldn't have been more wrong. Her stories are gripping, and her words are beautiful. O'Connor is definitely now among My Top Ten (by the way, the order in the list is kind of arbitrary really. I switch the order around every few weeks or so according to my whims.) Really, I cannot stress how much I recommend her. Wonderful, wonderful writer, and wonderful, wonderful stories.

Read The Complete Stories:

• if you like Flannery O'Connor
• if you like short stories
• if you like Southern fiction
• if you are looking for a gripping collection of stories

550 pages.

 

Outstanding Book That Will Stay On My Bookshelf For Rereading (jf I own it)!

The Magicians, Lev Grossman

Quentin did a magic trick. Nobody noticed. 

The Magicians is an excellent adult fantasy. It was kind of a new genre for me; I've read plenty of children's, middle-grade, and YA fantasy, but not that much adult fantasy. And I enjoyed it. The Magicians is the story of Quentin, a high school math genius who is secretly still hooked on the Fillory books, a children's fantasy series. He dreams of magic; imagine his surprise when he stumbles from Brooklyn into a hidden college of magic, Brakebills. He meets a whole bunch of new people there, and realizes that magic is not what he has always imagined, or what is commonly thought. It is much harder, and much more painstaking.

The Magicians definitely gives a nod to Harry Potter (the school) and Narnia (the fantasy land of Fillory), but it's much darker, I would say. And obviously more adult. There are curse words/lewd references etc. But it was funnier, I think. And Quinton is a good narrator, with a certain wry humor about him. I think it's pretty obvious to the prospective reader that Fillory actually exists, so I'll say it: Fillory exists. There. The writing was fairly absorbing, and I never knew quite what to expect. Though the first section of Part 2 is kind of depressing. There is a sequel too: The Magician King. I would recommend it to fans of fantasy.

Read The Magicians:

• if you like fantasy
• if you like Lev Grossman
• if you like books set in colleges/schools

402 pages.

Very Good! I would recommend this book!

The Outlaws of Sherwood, Robin McKinley

A small vagrant breeze came from nowhere and barely flicked the feather tips as the arrow sped on its way. It shivered in its flight, and fell, a little off course- just enough that the arrow missed the slender tree it was aimed at at, and struck tiredly and low into the bole of another tree, twenty paces beyond the mark. 

I enjoy Robin McKinley's fantasy, and have been looking forward to reading this lesser-known book of her's for a while. The Outlaws of Sherwood, is, of course, a retelling of the story of the outlaw Robin Hood. As with a lot of McKinley's work, this book is a little slow to get into, but once you're in, you're hooked. I really do love her writing style, and the story of Robin Hood is a great tale. The book starts when Robin is just a young forester, hated by the Chief Forester because of his father. Robin accidentally kills another of the foresters, forcing him to go into hiding in Sherwood Forest. But his friends, Much the miller and Lady Marian, see it as an opportunity to form a band of Saxon outlaws to defeat the oppressive Normans. The book details how the band forms and gradually becomes more and more powerful. It also offers some insight into what Robin Hood is actually feeling. (Though of course, each version is different.) I enjoyed all of the classic characters (Robin, Marian, Much, Little John, Will Scarlet, Friar Tuck, Alan-a-Dale) retold in this fresh version. I liked Marian is an independent and skilled young lady.  Robin McKinley really is a great writer. The only thing I didn't like was the ending and how Richard decided to treat them. That's not what I envisioned at all. I guess it was just so different from the 1939 film.

Read The Outlaws of Sherwood:

• if you like Robin Hood
• if you like Robin McKinley

357 pages, 4.5 stars.

Modern Fairies, Dwarves, Goblins & Other Nasties: A Practical Guide by Miss Edythe McFate, Lesley M.M. Blume

From the introduction: My name is Miss Edythe McFate, and once you've read my practical guide to modern fairies, you will never see the world around you in the same way again. 

This is an amusing "guide" to fairies and other related species. Miss Edythe McFate (a.k.a Lesley Blume), well-versed in the art of studying fairies, tells the reader everything you need to know. There are also some stories about urban fairies, set in New York.  I thought that was kind of interesting; you generally don't think of fairies as living in the city. Of course, you don't generally think of dwarves and goblins as fairies either. In this one, Lesley Blume takes a new look at "fairies"; there's more to them than just dancing in flower-filled meadows. There are interesting illustrations by David Foote. I would hesitate to call them beautiful though. Lesley Blume is the author of Cornelia and the Audacious Escapades of the Somerset Sisters, The Rising Star of Rusty Nail, and Tennyson, all of which I enjoyed. I liked this one too; it wasn't great, but it's good for a couple of hours of entertainment. It reminded me a bit of the Wizardology Books.

Read Modern Fairies, Dwarves, Goblins & Other Nasties:

• if you like Lesley Blume
• if you like books about fairies, dwarves, goblins, etc.

242 pages.

Very Good! I would recommend this book

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains. 

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is a very different version of Jane Austen's classic novel with...zombies! (I know, hard to tell that from the title.) Some of Jane Austen's writing is preserved, but there's a whole new side to the novel. The Bennet sisters are warriors trained in China to kill zombies, and are a whole lot tougher and more independent. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is definitely not for die-hard Austen fans, but it could be funny at times. It was amusing, though I didn't like the take on some things. And other things didn't make sense like how could Mr. Collins not notice that his wife is stricken? Also, it says the zombie plague is only in Britain. Why not just move to Europe and leave them behind?

However, there were some interesting twists and turns, and I enjoyed Elizabeth. Much of the same gaiety and mischievousness of spirit is preserved, with a fierce streak added. The only thing that was kind of offensive to me was how the book is described on the back cover: "...Pride and Prejudice and Zombies transforms a masterpiece of world literature into something you'd actually want to read." What the heck? I enjoyed Pride and Prejudice, thank you very much. I'm not even a really big Jane Austen fan, and I was disconcerted. That's not the way to sell a book; by insulting the book that it's based on. Jane Austen would be rolling in her grave- and emerging as a zombie herself to attack Scholastic's Marketing Department. But still, I enjoyed this one overall. Becky's review can be read here.

Read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies:

• if you like books with zombies
• if you enjoyed Pride and Prejudice and don't mind a big change to it

317  pages.

Very Good! I would recommend this book!

Rereading The Princess Bride by William Goldman

The year that Buttercup was born, the most beautiful woman in the world was a French scullery maid named Annette. 

Yes. That's right. "By William Goldman." I'm 99.9% sure that there was never an S. Morgenstern who wrote the original. In other words, the whole introduction is a lie. And I'm not sure if I like that. It makes me kind of uneasy that Goldman is so blatantly lying to the reader. Many people from reading it, would assume that there was an S. Morgenstern, when it was really Goldman.

Most of you are probably familiar with the story from either having seen the movie or read the book, but The Princess Pride is a tale of: Fencing. Fighting. Torture. Poison. True love. Hate. Revenge. Giants. Hunters. Bad men. Good men. Beautifulest ladies. Snakes. Spiders. Beasts of all natures and descriptions. Pain. Death. Brave men. Coward men. Strongest men. Chases. Escapes. Lies. Truths. Passion. Miracles. 

I really like the story; it has humorous parts, and, lying aside, Goldman's asides (ha ha) can be funny. I love all of the many and varied characters, and the setting, and the plot. What more can I say? If you loved the movie, this is an excellent book, and it was just as good the second time around. One thing however, is that I really don't like how dumb Buttercup is. Even the name. Buttercup. She's an empty-headed, beautiful blonde, and being one of the only female characters, that was kind of annoying. I mean, she has some intelligence, but not much. But still. I love the story.

Read The Princess Bride:

• if you liked the movie
• if you like fantasy

317 pages. 

 

Outstanding Book That Will Stay On My Bookshelf For Rereading (jf I own it)!

Books in Seattle

I was in Seattle this weekend, and we went to the Elliot Bay Bookstore (an amazing store by the way.) And yes, I just had to get some books:



Joseph Anton is signed, by the way. I'm looking forward to reading these (hopefully) in the near future.