Day 3- My favourite Author and Book by Them

Choosing a favourite author is difficult, but there are two that really stand out for me, and have quite a few books each.


Image from Google

One is Neil Gaiman. He's brilliant, and I have two favourite books by him. One of which is Good Omens, which is jointly written by Terry Pratchett, so it's very funny and pretty darn good. Good omens is basically about the Rapture, Doomsday, The end of the world. You know, that kind of thing. It even features the Horsemen of the Apocalypse, the Antichrist, an angel and a demon. Please read it, you won't be disappointed.

The second, just by Neil Gaiman is Neverwhere. Neverwhere is about a world underneath London (London Below), and features an unlikely hero and many names of places thet you know, but have never thought of in this way before.
I would also recommend this book to everyone, although other Neil Gaiman books can be difficult. However, Stardust is wonderful, short and was also made into a film for those of us who like stories, but are too lazy to read them.

The second author is Gregory Maguire. His books are quite adult, so I wouldn't recommend them to everyone. I'd say young adults and above. However, the theatre production of his novel Wicked is a must-see for everyone.

Beautiful cover - Image from Google

Gregory Maguire is probably most famous for Wicked, but he has also written adaptations of fairy tales. My favourite is Mirror, Mirror. Which is absolutely nothing like the 2012 film. Mirror, Mirror, protty obviously, is a reworking of Snow White. It's less magical and farcical than the Disney version, with more true to life and powerful themes, but it still includes some elements of magic. It also happens to feature the Borgias, which is just another plus really.

Of course, both also write childrens stories. Having not read any of Maguires stories I can't recommend them. Having read The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, and seen Coraline, I'm not sure I can reccommend his either.

Day 1- My Favorite Book

Inkheart Film Poster (from IMDB)

Well, I have many books that I love.
But if I had to choose it would be Inkdeath by Cornelia Funke.

Inkdeath is the third book in the Inkworld Trilogy (Started by Inkheart, then Inkspell, and finally Inkdeath) by German writer Cornelia Funke (who also wrote The Thief Lord, which was also made into a film, and Reckless, the newest of her books and Reviewed HERE). They are really childrens or early teens books, but I love them.

And the reason Why is this:
Cornelia Funke writes in such a wonderful way. There are beautiful descrptions of magical worlds, people and creatures and basically, it's a situation I would love to find myself in.

As an avid book fan, Inkheart opened up an adventure that to me seemed infinitely possible. Characters coming out of a book seemed like on of the best things in the world. I think it did help that I read it when I was quite a lot younger, because there was still a magical wuality about this world, and the child's idea that anything can happen. I hope I haven't lost that really.

The whole series is wonderful, and I would encourage everyone to read it, no matter how old you are. I almost guarantee that you'll love it.
And, the books have some lovely covers.

You can read about the series on Cornelia Funke's website
or, by Visiting Wikipedia
or, if you don't trust my view on the subject, have a look at other reviews on Goodreads.

Inkdeath cover - from Wikipedia.

Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Cinder is the story of a cyborg mechanic in futuristic New Beijing. Captivating already.
Now, it also has other elements: the stepmother (legal guardian), handsome prince, a ball. This is Cinderella, but not at all as you know it.

As an avid consumer of fairy-tale adoptions, both in literature and film, I was always going to go for this one. But the thing that really got me wanting to read it it the setting, and in fact the general premise of it. What makes it so different from other adaptations is that it is futuristic (kind of like in A Long, Long Sleep, but better). The idea of Cinderella being a cyborg in New Beijing is wonderful, especially as we get to know the perks and difficulties that come with it. Throw in a few androids, portable screens, I.D chips and were peachy for the future. These ideas are very, very well thought through, and for such a small book I am very impressed with how much was explained, although I would like to see more explanation of what happened to the world in the next few books. The ideas of the futuristic earth aren't really that far out of reach, which I love.

Image from Google.

The characters have the depth that is needed to really bring this story to life, with Cinder far more feisty and interesting than her Disney counterpart. (I was always very disappointed with Cinderella, because she let things happen to her, and gave up far too early for my liking. If it were me I'd have moved out of that house waay back). The prince has a far larger role to play than in original stories, with emotional turmoil and the weight of a kingdom on his shoulders he has his work cut out.

The themes in this are wonderful. It has all the usual that you would expect: Love, life issues, death, good and evil, and so on, but they are looked at in ways that I've rarely seen before. It makes them more interesting.
Then theres the other themes: duty, loyalty, betrayal, freedom, guilt, lies, finding who you are, all weaving into Cinder's life to make a truly complex book.

The narrative is good, the story completely sucks you in within the first few pages. The plot points, revelations and details are executed well. I think that this book is more aimed at young adult readers, although I would still recommend this to adults and slightly younger teens too.
Also, look out for other fairy tale references.

The themes are good, the heroine is believable (even if she is a cyborg) and the twists are cutting, so I'm giving this book 5/5 stars.


----------------------------------------------------------
Marissa Meyers Website
Marissa Meyers Journal
Reviews from Goodreads.

The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly.

First and foremost. I loved this book when I read it.
As a fan of fantasy and adventure, and also fairy tales, this captured my eye when I saw it in a charity shop. The dark red cover with black creepers edging their way around it told me it was a dark and powerful book. I was under it's spell.

My sister has already reviewed this book, and seeing as it's pretty much exactly what I would have said about it I think that I can safely say that you should visit her review HERE.

Saying this, after reading such books as Fire by Kristin Cashore and The Pact by Jodi Picoult, I would have to give it more of a 4 1/2 out of 5.

A Kiss In Time by Alex Flinn

I was going to review this book, but I lent it to my sister to read.
She has now finished and reviewed it, so here's a wonderful link to My Sisters Blog (The Review List).

Book Cover

The story is a modern day take on Sleeping Beauty. Unfortunately I'd say it's not as good as Alex Flinn's Beastly. And Still too teeny for my liking, but it was an easy, light-hearted read. (And I quite liked the take on the Prince being a normal boy, who liked gardening, also apparent in Beastly. Interesting.)

I also quite like the more soft and empathetic telling of the 'witch'. It tells her small story in a way I hadn't seen before.
Then again, I always like stories being told from a different point of view. Especially fairy tales where there is usually a good side and an evil side, and you rarely get a hero or heroine with major personality flaws, or an antagonist with a good streak. Whereas in this book both things are apparent. Which is always good.
Still. Nice book to read, if only as one of many in the summer.

I'd say 3 out of 5 stars.

Beastly by Alex Flinn.

Beastly Movie Poster.

I bought this book because I happened to see the trailer for the new movie coming out, with Vanessa Hudgens and Alex Pettyfer as the leading roles.
I didn't think much of the trailer (especially upon learning that the weird wiry tattoo things were supposed to make Alex Pettyfer look like a beast instead of fur, and the fact that he has to put on an American accent) but as soon as I knew it was a book I was there.

You see... I'm a massive fan of the fairytale genre. Especially the revamped fairytale genre.

Now I've read Neil Gaiman's 'Stardust', Gregory Maguires 'Mirror, Mirror', 'Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister' and 'Wicked' series (although, yes, those aren't really fairytales, just reworkings) and John Connolly's 'The Book of Lost Things'. All of which contain sometimes very dark interpretations of fairy tales.

And that's the way I like them.

Beastly Book Cover

So Beastly was a surprisingly small book. I ordered it from Amazon and surprisingly it came a couple of days later at a bargain price. The blurb on the back says: " I Am a Beast. A beast. Not quite wolf or bear, gorilla or dogbut a horrible creature who walks upright - a creature with fangs and claws and hair springing from every pore. I am a Monster." And this is how Kyle Kingsbury, an ex popular guy who had it all (looks, money, popularity :/ ) now looks. Which is great. Because he was a right ass.

So yeah, a witch turns him into the beast and he now has 2 years to find true love.

I think what I liked most about Beastly was the way that it told the tale of Beauty and the Beast in the Beasts point of view. Sure, we all would know what it's like, but you never knew before what the Beasts life was like beforehand, how being a Beast, and falling in love, changed him.
And this story does just that.
Obviously aimed at teens and young adults (but I'd recommend it to anyone) Beastly plays out a beautiful friendship and romance and I'm sure a character or two might live in your heart for a while. Kyle's tutor was a favourite of mine. (Who, in the film is played by the wonderful Neil Patrick Harris.)

Something I didn't find quite so great though, was the way that Alex Flinn tried to incorporate other fairytale. Sure, It works for some books, but to me the chat room and other obvious fairytale characters in it wasn't needed. Sure, it made it modern, but it already felt modern to me. One thing it does do is highlight a flaw of Kyles- self-centredness. I'm not so sure this was supposed to happen. So I've taken a point off for that.
And because it's just a little bit too teeny for my liking, another half point.

So I give Beastly 3 1/2 out of 5 stars.

Either way, lets just say, I've found a new love of roses.