So, i thought i would do some book reviews for the summer, but didn't quite know where to begin...
http://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/0,,20355856_20399391,00.html
...this is where i finally ended up. It's a top6 list by none other than America's own world renowned author Mr. Stephen King (have you ever been to a bookstore and stumbled into the shelves with King's novels, they take up their own case!). However, it is not for his horror writing prowess that i trusted this man to a top reading list, or the fact that he lived in Boulder, CO for a short time, but his blurb in Entertainment Weekly, which i find acutely accurate and insightful regarding culture and life (true). It will be interesting to see how the group as a whole reads; will they share a common thread, perhaps something in the more morbid vein? Or, can I trust as an author his tastes will prove broader? I'll keep you posted as i make my way through his selections :) I confess, i'm awfully excited!
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Monday, March 15, 2010
I heart Books (Dorky, but true)
Have you ever gotten your heart broken by a book? You were rooting so hard for the heroine but she still turned left instead of right, you saw the disaster, she saw the disaster...but she went anyway, and it was all downhill, no redemption, no happy ending...what about the star crossed lovers? The ones in every good story...the girl and boy better off apart, though aching to be together...what about the parent that has to let their child go....the man who just couldnt not, would not help himself and wound up alone....those stories that you invest so deeply in a character, put all your heart and hope into for a few hours, a few pages to be torn apart, let down...broken. What about when a story you love is finally over? Where will you go next? How do you fill the hole in your day? in your heart? And OH, what if another book in the series unexpectedly comes out, and on PAGE 1 you find out the characters you loved made poor choices, fell apart, when astray from the path YOU picked out for them? I'll tell you what i do....throw the book, slam it down, pout, refuse to read more, read ANY FURTHER!!! All over a book...a place where, for a short time, you lay your heart down between each word, each plot; a place where, when the book closes, your heart breaks just a bit.
~Kim
~Kim
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Red Is The New Alice
So lately there's been a big Alice in Wonderland resurgence, something I've had zero complaints about as I am a long-standing member of the Alice in Wonderland fan club. I even have plans for an epic Alice tattoo one day. But I digress.
Syfy's (stupidest name change ever, btw...it was much better as SciFi, but again I digress) original miniseries, Alice, was quite good. Very offbeat retelling of the story, in which a new Alice has to save Wonderland, and our world, from the Queen of Hearts. Many more science fiction touches to the story, as it revolves around the baddies of Wonderland kidnapping people from our world, more or less turning them into zombies, and then milking them for their emotions. Said emotions are then later sold to the people of Wonderland by the Queen as a kind of drug. The acting is decent, and I personally enjoyed the weirdness of it all, even if the pacing was a bit slow. Plus, Hatter was pretty cute. ;)
Now we have the giant, zomg, huge names, billboards, big production, big-screen retelling by Disney and Tim Burton of Alice in Wonderland. Another cute guy playing Hatter, although Johnny Depp doesn't look quite so attractive under all the Hatter makeup. I am CRAZY (the caps mean I'm serious) excited for this one. I'm seeing it in 3D IMAX on Saturday night, and I cannot wait. So while I can't review it yet, I can be fairly certain that my inner fangirl will ensure I like the movie, even if it's terrible, which it won't be.
Now if you're looking for an awesome book series that's a retelling of the Alice story, I highly recommend The Looking Glass Wars series by Frank Beddor. It's well-written (if a bit fluffy, but I think that's to make it accessible to readers of various age groups), and the story is such a creative retelling that it sucked me in immediately. Here's a synopsis of the first book from the website:
Alyss Heart, heir to the Wonderland throne, was forced to flee through the Pool of Tears after a bloody palace coup staged by the murderous Redd shattered her world. Lost and alone in Victorian London, Alyss is befriended by an aspiring author to whom she tells the surreal, violent, heartbreaking story of her young life only to see it published as the nonsensical children’s sojourn Alice in Wonderland. Alyss had trusted Lewis Carroll to tell the truth so that someone, somewhere would find her and bring her home.
But Carroll had got it all wrong. He even misspelled her name! If not for the intrepid Hatter Madigan, a member of the Millinery (Wonderland’s security force) who after a 13 year search eventually tracked Alyss to London, she may have become just another society woman sipping tea in a too-tight bodice instead of returning to Wonderland to battle Redd for her rightful place as the Queen of Hearts.
One of the coolest things about this series is the way in which the people of Wonderland can use their imaginations to bring things to life. Alyss battles her foes by conjuring things up out of thin air through the sheer power of her imagination. Too awesome.
But then, I heart anything Alice-related.
Now, I also heart anything fairytale-related. Especially if it's a dark re-telling of a familiar story. Which leads me to my blog title. Lately it seems that every website I go to (especially io9) is full of rumors of Red Riding Hood projects in the works. Which I'm pretty excited about. I mean, if done correctly, both Alice and Red can show strong, female characters kicking ass. Which is something I always enjoy (Buffy, anyone?). So here's what I've seen so far...
SyFy has cast the always adorable Felicia Day to play "a werewolf-hunting descendant of Little Red Riding Hood" in Red.
Amanda Seyfriend (who I adore) is slated to play the title role in a gothic adaptation to be directed by Catherine Hardwicke (of Twilight fame).
"American McGee's Alice PC game is best known for it's warped take on the fairy tale, by making Alice (a) suicidal orphan. His next fairy tale victim is Little Red Riding Hood, and here's a glimpse at the gory concept art."
On that last one, American McGee's Alice remains one of the best games I've ever played. It was a deliciously dark spin on the story, and the gameplay was excellent. If his take on Little Red Riding Hood is anything close to that, I will be picking up the game the day it comes out. Whenever that may be.
So, Red is the new Alice. And I'm okay with that.
~Dorkopotamus (aka Katy)
Syfy's (stupidest name change ever, btw...it was much better as SciFi, but again I digress) original miniseries, Alice, was quite good. Very offbeat retelling of the story, in which a new Alice has to save Wonderland, and our world, from the Queen of Hearts. Many more science fiction touches to the story, as it revolves around the baddies of Wonderland kidnapping people from our world, more or less turning them into zombies, and then milking them for their emotions. Said emotions are then later sold to the people of Wonderland by the Queen as a kind of drug. The acting is decent, and I personally enjoyed the weirdness of it all, even if the pacing was a bit slow. Plus, Hatter was pretty cute. ;)
Now we have the giant, zomg, huge names, billboards, big production, big-screen retelling by Disney and Tim Burton of Alice in Wonderland. Another cute guy playing Hatter, although Johnny Depp doesn't look quite so attractive under all the Hatter makeup. I am CRAZY (the caps mean I'm serious) excited for this one. I'm seeing it in 3D IMAX on Saturday night, and I cannot wait. So while I can't review it yet, I can be fairly certain that my inner fangirl will ensure I like the movie, even if it's terrible, which it won't be.
Now if you're looking for an awesome book series that's a retelling of the Alice story, I highly recommend The Looking Glass Wars series by Frank Beddor. It's well-written (if a bit fluffy, but I think that's to make it accessible to readers of various age groups), and the story is such a creative retelling that it sucked me in immediately. Here's a synopsis of the first book from the website:
Alyss Heart, heir to the Wonderland throne, was forced to flee through the Pool of Tears after a bloody palace coup staged by the murderous Redd shattered her world. Lost and alone in Victorian London, Alyss is befriended by an aspiring author to whom she tells the surreal, violent, heartbreaking story of her young life only to see it published as the nonsensical children’s sojourn Alice in Wonderland. Alyss had trusted Lewis Carroll to tell the truth so that someone, somewhere would find her and bring her home.
But Carroll had got it all wrong. He even misspelled her name! If not for the intrepid Hatter Madigan, a member of the Millinery (Wonderland’s security force) who after a 13 year search eventually tracked Alyss to London, she may have become just another society woman sipping tea in a too-tight bodice instead of returning to Wonderland to battle Redd for her rightful place as the Queen of Hearts.
One of the coolest things about this series is the way in which the people of Wonderland can use their imaginations to bring things to life. Alyss battles her foes by conjuring things up out of thin air through the sheer power of her imagination. Too awesome.
But then, I heart anything Alice-related.
Now, I also heart anything fairytale-related. Especially if it's a dark re-telling of a familiar story. Which leads me to my blog title. Lately it seems that every website I go to (especially io9) is full of rumors of Red Riding Hood projects in the works. Which I'm pretty excited about. I mean, if done correctly, both Alice and Red can show strong, female characters kicking ass. Which is something I always enjoy (Buffy, anyone?). So here's what I've seen so far...
SyFy has cast the always adorable Felicia Day to play "a werewolf-hunting descendant of Little Red Riding Hood" in Red.
Amanda Seyfriend (who I adore) is slated to play the title role in a gothic adaptation to be directed by Catherine Hardwicke (of Twilight fame).
"American McGee's Alice PC game is best known for it's warped take on the fairy tale, by making Alice (a) suicidal orphan. His next fairy tale victim is Little Red Riding Hood, and here's a glimpse at the gory concept art."
On that last one, American McGee's Alice remains one of the best games I've ever played. It was a deliciously dark spin on the story, and the gameplay was excellent. If his take on Little Red Riding Hood is anything close to that, I will be picking up the game the day it comes out. Whenever that may be.
So, Red is the new Alice. And I'm okay with that.
~Dorkopotamus (aka Katy)
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Alone Time and a New Book
Not the most creative of titles, eh? C'est la vie.
Some people need lots of alone time to function. Others can't stand being alone, and surround themselves with people at all time. Most people fall somewhere in between the two extremes. Me, I fall pretty closely toward the "needing a lot of alone time" end of things. I find extended periods of social interaction to be very emotionally draining, as much as I enjoy them (which I do, very much indeed). I just reach a point where my body and brain are like, well, that was nice, but we're all set with this being social business. Like now. Like right now. Like go-find-a-hole-and-crawl-into-it-immediately-before-you-explode now. Most of the time I simply a) hide it really well and force myself to deal or b) take an alone break for a few minutes from the situation, and then re-enter feeling much more myself. Now where am I going with this?
Since I am not working right now, I normally spend a great portion of my day alone. Until recently, that is. The hubby lost Old Job on Monday and, consequently, has been spending most of his now free time at home. With me. During what used to be alone time.
Now the hubby is the kind of person who always has to be doing something. And as you can see, I am the exact opposite. This leads to many squabbles in which he feels I am ignoring him, or not spending enough time with him. Now that he's been home during normal working hours, these squabbles have been occuring with much more frequency. It's difficult.
On the one hand, yayyy the hubby is home and I get the snuggle-pounce him whenever I want and play board games and watch TV and just be with him. Woohoo! On the other, all of this is now occuring during what was previously alotted alone time for Katy. I don't think he understands how weird/confusing/frustrating this is for me. Not that it isn't all three of those things for him - workaholic guy going from always being busy, to not being very busy at all, with a wife who doesn't seem to want to interact with him. I can totally get that. I want to interact, I really do. I just don't have it in me to be as interactive (which sounds dirty, but totally isn't) as he would prefer. It's strange situation, but we're muddling through - cutting each other slack when we can, and getting testy when we can't. No major outbursts thus far, which is good. I just think it's kind of interesting the ways in which we compromise. I make him lunch and spend time with him doing something I have zero interest in whatsoever, then he goes and watches some Stargate SG-1 while I take some time alone to blog.
In related news, the hubby is awesome. So I've been feeling kinda crapulently the past few days. And he's been kinda on my back about being more interactive and whatnot. My mood has led me to oversleep, and this always bothers him because his internal clock wakes him up super early, and it cuts into possible interacting time. Well, this morning (well, afternoon really) I wake up late and begin to prepare myself for a squabble over same. Instead, the wonderful hubby surprises me with a book he knows I've been dying to read! He wanted to cheer me up. And although he was irked over my messed up sleep schedule, he thought of my feelings over his. What a sweetheart - I knew I married him for a reason. ;)
Now onto the book! It's called Horns by Joe Hill, and they actually have an excerpt through the link if yall are curious (it's about a guy who wakes up with a hangover and a pair of horns growing out of his head). Joe Hill is actually Stephen King's son, and he writes in the horror genre much the same as his father. Only unlike his father, his writing is much more clever, gritty, and creative (IMHO). I find most of Stephen King's books these days to have great concepts, but terrible, terrible endings (if you get an ending at all). I read Joe Hill's first novel, Heart-Shaped Box, a few years ago and fell in love with his writing. The story was delightfully creepy, and I could not put it down. If you like horror novels that are more creepy than gorey, I totally recommend Heart-Shaped Box, which I now want to reread because enough time has passed that I don't remember it that well.
I am totally one of those people who loves rereading good books. The hubby can't understand it. He's a read it once kind of guy, because there are so many books out there that he feels time shouldn't be wasted on reading one you've already read. Me? Rereading a good book is like coming home again. If it's one you don't remember that well, you get to fall in love with it all over again. If it's one you can almost recite fully from page one, you're awash with the comfortableness that only comes from knowing something so well that you love.
But first, Horns. \m/ Can't wait to start it.
~Dorkopotamus (aka Katy)
Some people need lots of alone time to function. Others can't stand being alone, and surround themselves with people at all time. Most people fall somewhere in between the two extremes. Me, I fall pretty closely toward the "needing a lot of alone time" end of things. I find extended periods of social interaction to be very emotionally draining, as much as I enjoy them (which I do, very much indeed). I just reach a point where my body and brain are like, well, that was nice, but we're all set with this being social business. Like now. Like right now. Like go-find-a-hole-and-crawl-into-it-immediately-before-you-explode now. Most of the time I simply a) hide it really well and force myself to deal or b) take an alone break for a few minutes from the situation, and then re-enter feeling much more myself. Now where am I going with this?
Since I am not working right now, I normally spend a great portion of my day alone. Until recently, that is. The hubby lost Old Job on Monday and, consequently, has been spending most of his now free time at home. With me. During what used to be alone time.
Now the hubby is the kind of person who always has to be doing something. And as you can see, I am the exact opposite. This leads to many squabbles in which he feels I am ignoring him, or not spending enough time with him. Now that he's been home during normal working hours, these squabbles have been occuring with much more frequency. It's difficult.
On the one hand, yayyy the hubby is home and I get the snuggle-pounce him whenever I want and play board games and watch TV and just be with him. Woohoo! On the other, all of this is now occuring during what was previously alotted alone time for Katy. I don't think he understands how weird/confusing/frustrating this is for me. Not that it isn't all three of those things for him - workaholic guy going from always being busy, to not being very busy at all, with a wife who doesn't seem to want to interact with him. I can totally get that. I want to interact, I really do. I just don't have it in me to be as interactive (which sounds dirty, but totally isn't) as he would prefer. It's strange situation, but we're muddling through - cutting each other slack when we can, and getting testy when we can't. No major outbursts thus far, which is good. I just think it's kind of interesting the ways in which we compromise. I make him lunch and spend time with him doing something I have zero interest in whatsoever, then he goes and watches some Stargate SG-1 while I take some time alone to blog.
In related news, the hubby is awesome. So I've been feeling kinda crapulently the past few days. And he's been kinda on my back about being more interactive and whatnot. My mood has led me to oversleep, and this always bothers him because his internal clock wakes him up super early, and it cuts into possible interacting time. Well, this morning (well, afternoon really) I wake up late and begin to prepare myself for a squabble over same. Instead, the wonderful hubby surprises me with a book he knows I've been dying to read! He wanted to cheer me up. And although he was irked over my messed up sleep schedule, he thought of my feelings over his. What a sweetheart - I knew I married him for a reason. ;)
Now onto the book! It's called Horns by Joe Hill, and they actually have an excerpt through the link if yall are curious (it's about a guy who wakes up with a hangover and a pair of horns growing out of his head). Joe Hill is actually Stephen King's son, and he writes in the horror genre much the same as his father. Only unlike his father, his writing is much more clever, gritty, and creative (IMHO). I find most of Stephen King's books these days to have great concepts, but terrible, terrible endings (if you get an ending at all). I read Joe Hill's first novel, Heart-Shaped Box, a few years ago and fell in love with his writing. The story was delightfully creepy, and I could not put it down. If you like horror novels that are more creepy than gorey, I totally recommend Heart-Shaped Box, which I now want to reread because enough time has passed that I don't remember it that well.
I am totally one of those people who loves rereading good books. The hubby can't understand it. He's a read it once kind of guy, because there are so many books out there that he feels time shouldn't be wasted on reading one you've already read. Me? Rereading a good book is like coming home again. If it's one you don't remember that well, you get to fall in love with it all over again. If it's one you can almost recite fully from page one, you're awash with the comfortableness that only comes from knowing something so well that you love.
But first, Horns. \m/ Can't wait to start it.
~Dorkopotamus (aka Katy)
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