Christmas Tales

Let it Snow John Green, Maureen Johnson and Lauren Myracle
published 2008; 352 pages

It was the night before Christmas.

Well to be precise, it was the afternoon before Christmas. But before I take you into the beating heart of the action, let’s get one thing out of the way. I know from experience that if it comes up later, it will distract you so much that you won’t be able to concentrate on anything else I tell you.

My name is Jubilee Dougal. Take a moment and let it sink in. (1)

This seems to be my month for short stories; Let it Snow is a collection of three interconnecting Christmas stories – novellas, actually. What I enjoyed most about the format of this book is that the small details from one story, interesting but inconsequential, become critical plot points in later stories.

Author John Green (Looking for Alaska), Maureen Johnson (13 Little Blue Envelopes), and Lauren Myracle (TTYL) set their stories during a blizzard in a small town. Their individual voices work well together – so much so that it wouldn’t take a lot to convince me that all three were written by the same author (a book like James Roy’s Town).

I’ll admit that I picked this book up simply because I’m a John Green fan (very much so), but the book as a whole was fabulous, and I’ll definitely be looking out for books by both Myracle and Johnson. All three authors weave together romance and humour in an entirely charming way. These are characters whom you might have known in your own youth. 4/5

Challenges

• 100+ Reading Challenge
• A-Z Challenge
• Twenty-Ten Challenge

Magical tales…

M is for Magic
Neil Gaiman
published 2007; 249 pages

Stories that you read when you're the right age never quite leave you. You may forget who wrote them or what the story was called. Sometimes you'll forget precisely what happened, but if a story touches you it will stay with you, haunting the places in your mind that you rarely ever visit. (ix)

 

I was never a great fan of short stories as a whole until I discovered Neil Gaiman. And while I love all his writing, it is his collections of short stories that I have been devouring.

M is for Magic is a collection aimed at a younger audience. Though it appears to be marketed (and shelved, in my libraries case) at a junior level, it is probably more appropriate for a middle to YA level. With life-eating trolls, story-telling months and ghosts to boot, this collection is sure to please. The richness of Gaiman’s voice does not go lacking.

My only point of concern with the collection was that several of the short stories are found in other collections (Angels and Visitations and Fragile Things) – certainly not a problem, just something to be aware of. 3.5/5

 

 

Challenges

• 100+ Reading Challenge
• A-Z Challenge
• Neil Gaiman Challenge

The Other Boleyn Girl

The Other Boleyn Girl
Philippa Boleyn
published 2001; pages 532

The tent for the queen and her ladies was hung in cherry-red and white silk, the queen was wearing a cherry gown to match and she looked young and rosy in the bright colour. I was in green, the gown I had worn at the Shrove Tuesday masque when the king singled me out from all the others. The colour made my hair glow more golden and my eyes shone. I stood beside the queen’s chair and knew that any man looking from her to me would think that she was a fine woman, but old enough to be my mother, while I was a woman of only fourteen, a woman ready to fall in love, a woman ready to feel desire, a precocious woman, a flowering girl. (28)

 

Life at the royal court is not as easy or as glamorous as one might think. Behind the words of courtly love, exchanged between handsome noblemen and beautifully gowned ladies, are a multitude of schemes all designed with a singular purpose: to gain power.

In Tudor England, in the court of King Henry this is no different. Determined to profit from the King’s desperate desire to produce a male heir (not to mention his eye for the ladies), the prominent Boleyn family do all they can to put one of their own in the path of the King. Young Mary Boleyn, beautiful and somewhat naive to the harsher realities of court, is the one chosen. Coached and manipulated by her family and their unquenchable greed and ambition, Mary catches the eye of her king.

Until her sister Anne comes to court. Her more intelligent, more seductive – more ambitious – sister. And suddenly Mary finds herself set aside, becoming ‘the other Boleyn girl’, forced to aide her sister in procuring all she sacrificed for.

I’ll be honest right from the start: I absolutely adored The Other Boleyn Girl. The intrigue, the scheming, the oh-so-polite betrayals of the court – all of it was written so well that I simply couldn’t put the book down.

Everyone knows the tale – not to mention fate - of Anne Boleyn, second queen to King Henry VIII, but this is not her story. This is the story of Mary Boleyn, the younger sister abused and then thrown aside in the name of family duty. And this balance between Mary’s ownership of the story and Anne’s inherent capacity to dominate and control every situation is an interesting one.

Historical accuracy was, I felt, given its appropriate respect before giving way to the embellishments of fiction. It included enough history for those with no background knowledge to follow the story without turning it into an incomprehensible political piece. Having said that, I was left with the feeling of needing to know more. As I said earlier, this is Mary’s story – and once her time at court is over so too is the story.

Highly recommended to lovers of historical fiction or period romance. 5/5

 

Challenges

• 100+ Reading Challenge
• A-Z Challenge
• Twenty-Ten Challenge

Angels and Visitations

Angels and Visitations: A Miscellany
Neil Gaiman
166 pages; published 1993

Memory is the great deceiver. Perhaps there are individuals whose memories act like tape recordings, daily records of their lives complete in every detail, but I am not one of them. My memory is a patchwork of occurrences, of discontinuous events roughly sewn together: the parts I remember, I remember precisely, whilst other sections seem to have vanished completely. (141)

I always enjoy Neil Gaiman’s writing, so I pretty much knew I would love this one too. His writing is just so clever, so rich, that you can’t help but want to read more.

Angels and Visitations, however, was a little different from the other novels and short stories of his that I’ve read. It is, as the title says, ‘a miscellany’, a collection of literary bits and pieces he has accumulated over the years: poetry, book reviews, stories written for this and that. As such, it was a bit of an odd collection, but still full of wonderful pieces that I’d recommend to any Neil Gaiman fan. 4.5

Other Reviews
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Button, button, who's got the button?

Coraline (Graphic Novel)
Neil Gaiman and P. Craig Russell
186 pgs; pub 2008


When Coraline and her family move into a new house, she is pretty much left to entertain herself while her workaholic parents are distracted by their own pursuits. Getting to know the neighbours only takes up so much time, and their apartment isn’t really that big. In fact, to Coraline the budding explorer, the most exciting thing about their new home is the door in the corner of their apartment that goes… nowhere at all.

Left alone, yet again, Coraline is drawn back to the door – only to find that, this time, it actually leads somewhere. Crossing the dark passageway through the door, Coraline finds herself entering her own apartment once more. Except, in this apartment, everything is slightly off. For one thing, her parents are exceptionally happy to see and spend time with her, and, for another, they have black buttons sewn on in place of their eyes.

Fearing for her safety, Coraline runs home, only to find that her parents – her real parents – are missing, being held hostage by her Other Mother in the apartment behind the door. Coraline is afraid of this woman with her black button eyes and long sharp fingernails, but she knows she must return to rescue her parents.

This was one of my Christmas books this year (yay!) and I was so happy to get it because not only is it written by one of my favourite authors, and it was a book I had wanted to read for awhile, but also because I had no idea that I was going to get it – always fun! So as you can imagine, I was very much looking forward to reading it, and I enjoyed it very much.

However, it scared the heck out of me!

I think that if I had been reading the prose version (which I’m still planning to read eventually) I wouldn’t have been as scared. The images of the Other Mother with her scary eyes and fingernails freaked me out a great deal – which, I imagine, was the plan.

Fright aside, I thought the book was a fascinating look at the dynamics of a family and the role of a single child of working parents. The emotions felt by the young Coraline – boredom, loneliness, curiosity, fear, relief – are all beautifully rendered in Russell’s drawings. I’ve not read a lot of graphic novels (something I’m trying to remedy this year), but I thought Coraline to be an intriguing one. 3.5/5

Other Reviews
Have you written a review for this book? I would love to include it, comment below and I'll add your link!

The end of the world...

Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch

Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

383 pages; published 1990

"This isn't how I imagined it, chaps," said War. "I haven't been waiting for thousands of years just to fiddle around with bits of wire. It's not what you'd call dramatic. Albrecht Duerer didn't waste his time doing woodcuts of the Four Button-Pressers of the Apocalypse, I do know that." -- Armageddon delayed by technical difficulties

Never before has the Apocalypse been so funny. Forget fire and brimstone or Doomsday clocks, when the end of the world is being told by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman you know you're in for a strange ride.

The Anti-Christ has come to Earth. This means the end of the world - it has, after all, been foretold in the 'Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter' (sixteenth century witch and nutball). The final battle between Heaven and Hell will soon be waged and all of it will be brought to head by this one child.

Unfortunately for all involved, there's a slight mix up in the baby-switching operation and the child in question is just an ordinary child, whereas the Anti-Christ, the spawn of Satan himself, is sent off to the quiet little suburban town of Tadfield to live his days as a normal kid and all round rascal.

'Field agents' in this cosmic battle are the demon Crowley (formerly the more serpentine 'Crawley' - the reptilian temptor) and the angel Aziraphale. The pair have been monitoring ("messing with") the state of avairs on Earth - a touch a good here, a slew of evil there - since the beginning of time and, despite their inherent differences, have long since come to a kind of truce, even friendship. What's more, this friendship allows them to come to the reluctant opinion that, inspite of the Great Plan, in spite of the fact that their respective sides have been working towards this final showdown for millenia, well, they rather like Earth.

'We'll win, of course,' he said.

'You don't want that,' said the demon.

'Why not, pray?'

[...]

'...No salt, no eggs. No gravlax with dill sauce. No fascinating little restaurantswhere they know you. No Daily Telegraph crossword. No small antique shops. No bookshops, either. No interesting old editions. No -' Crowley scraped the bottom of Aziraphale's barrel of interests - 'Regency silver snuffboxes...'

'But after we win life will be better!' croaked the angel.

'But it won't be as interesting. Look, you know I'm right. You'd be as happy with a harp as I'd be with a pitchfork.' (47/8)

Putting a plan in motion to monitor the "Anti-Christ", to make sure his natural evil tendencies do not come out in full force, the pair are rather pleased with themselves ... until they lean that it has all been for naught. The Anti-Christ, one Adam Young, is still out there somewhere, the four horsemen (bikers) are riding and the Apocalypse is nigh.

Can Crowley and Aziraphale get there in time to stop it? Can they dodge paranoid witch hunters, aliens, and superiors from Hell (literally) and save the Earth before it's too late?

I normally avoid books written by two authors, I find that more often than not, the two voices jar against one another. But when I saw that Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman (two of my favourite authors) had paired up, I just couldn't resist. And I could not have been happier! Pratchett's outrageous humour was not suffocated but cushioned, enhanced, by Gaiman's rich detail; their two styles flowed together beautifully.

Good Omens was just the right amount of serious story telling and nutty commentary. Heartily recommended! 4.5/5

Dinotopia: A Land Apart from Time

James Gurney

168 pages; published 1992

Dinosaur eyes take in a wider field of view, blending in at the edges like a glass globe filled with water. Nothing is gray or drab or dull; rather they see swimming particles of colour, a moving mosaic of dancing coloured specks. As we would see a starscape in the night sky, they see a sparkling “lifescape” in the woods by day, a world teeming with life.

Some humans can see with dinosaur vision, Bix explained: artists, poets, and children. But for the rest of the us, as we grow older, the mammalian part of the brain clouds over the older reptilian part, and drains away a little of the glory. (106)

When I was little I read Swiss Family Robinson ... at least I assume I did. I don't remember actually reading it (the first time), only having known that I had. Whatever the circumstances, the story was one that fascinated me and stuck with me for a long, long time. The story of the shipwreck and having to find a way to live on a deserted island has been the basis of many (many) of my dreams over the years and there is always something about those types of stories that draw me in immediately.

The first book I remember reading (after the start of the fixation) that had the same idea was Dinotopia. I picked up in the primary school library and just feel in love with - but it was always one of those books that was, at the time, far too expensive to buy and has no become one that I actually enjoy tracking down and finding again when the mood strikes. Not having it on hand makes it a little more special.

Dinotopia is the fictional journal kept by Arthur Denison, a turn of the century scientist and explorer, when he and his son, Will, are shipwrecked on an island the world never knew: Dinotopia. In this fantastic world, humans and Dinosaurs ("Saurians") live together in harmony, in a beautifully cultured and fertile utopia.

The book covers their first year(s) on the island: their travels around the larger cities, their education of Dinotopian ways (first rule of Dinotopia: 'One raindrop raises the sea'), and mostly, their adjustment to this new and wonderful world. Young Will takes to it quite readily while Arthur, amazed at all he sees, maintains his distance a little longer, allowing the reader to see and read the book through his curious, yet steady voice.

Dinotopia is a joy to read, not only for the pure imagination of it's story but for Gurney's unbelievably beautiful illustrations that fill the book. These are images that you just want to fall into. If you haven't already read Dinotopia, it is one you must track down and read. I am very much looking forward to reading his latest book in the series. 5/5

Deadly, Unna?

Phillip Gwynne

273 pages, published 1998

From the Back Cover:

Dumby Red and Blacky don't have a lot in common.

Dumby's the star of the footy team. Blacky's a gutless wonder.

Dumby's got the knack with girls. Blacky never knows what to say.

Dumby's got a killer smile. Blacky needs braces.

Dumby's from the Point. Blacky's from the Port.

Dumby's a Nunga. Blacky's white.

But they're friends.

And it could be deadly, Unna?

I'm finally getting to the bottom of my class reading list and so was quite eager to move this one into the 'done' pile. I can't say that I particularly liked Deadly, Unna? however there was certainly a lot in it that could be used in a classroom and, seeing as that was the point of reading it in the first place, I suppose it was all well in the end.

Blacky's voice was quite strong as he dealt with the issues of racial difference in his town as well as the difficulties faced by his own large family. There were certainly some interesting parts - the relationship between Blacky and Clarence, the incfluence of the town's politics on something as seemingly small as a local boys football team - but on the whole it wasn't really a book that I could re-read. 3/5

Neverwhere

Neil Gaiman

372 pages, published 1996

I love Neil Gaiman; I think I may have found a new favourite in him. He has a strange humour, slightly Pratchett-like in its random quality, but he also has a richness in detail and phrasing that makes his work more than just a light read.

Richard Mayhew is an ordinary man (some may say boring) who has little more to worry about in his life than keeping his appearance-conscious girlfriend, Jessica ("not Jess"), happy. Until the night he plays good Samaritan, that is.

Picking up an injured homeless girl on the street may seem straight forward at first, but the young girl, Door, is more than she seems. Rescuing her marks his unwilling descent into the real London underground: Neverwhere. A state of being as much as a location, Richard has to deal with the oddities of this realm while at the same time come to realise that, to the people populating his previous life, he is now literally invisible.

And so he and the Lady Door make a deal: he will do what he can to help her uncover the mystery surrounding the murder of her family, and she will help him get the heck out of there. 5/5

Catch a Falling Star...

Stardust
Neil Gaimen
198 pages, published 1999

Neil Gaimen is an author I have been intending to read for some time but had never quite managed to get to, so when the new Stardust movie came out, I thought I’d take the opportunity to get in and read the book before I saw the movie.

A lovely book, that read more like a fairy tale than I had anticipated, Stardust tells the story of a young man who sets off into the magical world beyond the village confines to retrieve a fallen star to impress the young woman he wishes to love. Of course, as is want with fairy tales, all is complicated when the star herself assures him that she has no intentions of being retrieved. 5/5

Through a Glass Darkly
Jostein Gaarder

154 pages, published 1999

Okay, I’ll come clean, I have never actually read Jostein Gaarder’s Sophie’s World. I know everyone always recommends it, it’s always on every book list I ever come across and, to make matters worse, I even have my own copy that I bought from the Penrith Library. I just never managed to get the whole way through it, I will try again … but not today. Anyways, when I saw this book sitting next to it on the shelf at the library I decided to give this, decidedly smaller (and much more manageable) one a read.

It is the story of a girl who (though it is never said explicitly) knows she is dying of cancer and is spending her last days at home with her family. One night she wakes to see a small white figure sitting on her windowsill watching her: an angel. The pair make a deal, she will tell him what it means to be human, if he will tell her what it is like to be an angel. Very beautiful, very sad, and, unsurprisingly for Gaardner, steeped in philosophy. 4/5