Between Coraline and Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman is being interviewed everywhere you turn. In one interview I was reading today, the last question seemed a bit strange ... but Neil had a beautiful answer.
"So what do you think about children's books?"
"They're terrible; they should be banned. What kind of question is that? I think they're wonderful. When I was a kid, I was a kid with a book. As far as I was concerned, had you asked me at the age of seven what the most important things in the world are, I'd probably say the first six Narnia books, the first three Mary Poppins books. . . . Had I discovered The Hobbit yet? Not yet. The books that took pride of place on my shelves were Stig of the Dump by Clive King, Tales of Ancient Egypt by Roger Lancelyn Green. I was the kind of kid who, during my summer holidays, would persuade my parents to drop me off at the library in the morning, and I'd spend my day there. Sometimes I'd pack a lunch. At 6:30 when they closed, I'd walk home.
Children's fiction, for me back then, was the most important thing there is. It has a holy place and position that adult fiction doesn't have. Adult fiction is a wonderful thing and enriching to the soul and mind, and it takes you to great places. But children's fiction can change the world and give you a refuge from the intolerable. It can give you a place of safety and show you the world is not bounded by the world you live in--there's more than that."
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
James Brady, local writer, dies
James Brady, a resident of East Hampton and author of books set in the Hamptons has passed away. A full obituary from Newsday is here.
From the article:
"I'm a city boy, born in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn," Brady told Newsday in 1997, upon publication of his Hamptons novel, "Further Lane." I have never lived in a place - and I've lived in Paris, London, Washington, Manhattan - which I've found as beautiful, as comfortable and as wonderful as East Hampton. Part of that is the strangeness of it."
It seems we have lost so many writers lately ... I hope they have a good library in heaven.
His story is now complete.
John Updike has passed away. The New York Times has a story here. Pay your respects: read one of his books.
Rabbit novels
(1960) Rabbit, Run
(1971) Rabbit Redux
(1981) Rabbit Is Rich
(1990) Rabbit At Rest
(2001) Rabbit Remembered
Bech books
(1970) Bech, a Book
(1982) Bech Is Back
(1998) Bech at Bay
Buchanan books
(1974) Buchanan Dying (a play)
(1992) Memories of the Ford Administration (a novel)
Eastwick books
(1984) The Witches of Eastwick
(2008) The Widows of Eastwick
Other novels
(1959) The Poorhouse Fair
(1963) The Centaur
(1965) Of the Farm
(1968) Couples
(1975) A Month of Sundays
(1977) Marry Me
(1978) The Coup
(1986) Roger's Version
(1988) S.
(1994) Brazil
(1996) In the Beauty of the Lilies
(1997) Toward the End of Time
(2000) Gertrude and Claudius
(2002) Seek My Face
(2004) Villages
(2006) Terrorist
Rabbit novels
(1960) Rabbit, Run
(1971) Rabbit Redux
(1981) Rabbit Is Rich
(1990) Rabbit At Rest
(2001) Rabbit Remembered
Bech books
(1970) Bech, a Book
(1982) Bech Is Back
(1998) Bech at Bay
Buchanan books
(1974) Buchanan Dying (a play)
(1992) Memories of the Ford Administration (a novel)
Eastwick books
(1984) The Witches of Eastwick
(2008) The Widows of Eastwick
Other novels
(1959) The Poorhouse Fair
(1963) The Centaur
(1965) Of the Farm
(1968) Couples
(1975) A Month of Sundays
(1977) Marry Me
(1978) The Coup
(1986) Roger's Version
(1988) S.
(1994) Brazil
(1996) In the Beauty of the Lilies
(1997) Toward the End of Time
(2000) Gertrude and Claudius
(2002) Seek My Face
(2004) Villages
(2006) Terrorist
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Neil's Newbery!
I nearly drove off the road this morning when I heard on the radio that Neil Gaiman had received the Newbery Medal for The Graveyard Book. I am a huge fan of Neil and he has won numerous awards in the past - but mostly sci-fi or graphic novel related. The Newbery - as he said in an interview - is like winning the Nobel or an Oscar. It is extremely prestigious.
I met Neil when he was on tour for his last collection of short stories, Fragile Things, and he said my favorite quote of any author at any signing. Someone from the audience asked about his tendency to wear dark colors and Neil responded that he liked his clothes to be "a reassuring shade of black."
This comes at a perfect time for Neil. Another children's book that he wrote to great reviews will be released as a movie on February 6. Coraline the book is a great read-aloud (as it the Graveyard Book) and Coraline the 3D movie will be showing soon! I will be in New York City that weekend for Comic Con so I may just slip into a late showing of Coraline after a day of rubbing shoulders with Art Spiegelman, Bryan Lee O'Malley and Brian Wood.
I met Neil when he was on tour for his last collection of short stories, Fragile Things, and he said my favorite quote of any author at any signing. Someone from the audience asked about his tendency to wear dark colors and Neil responded that he liked his clothes to be "a reassuring shade of black."
This comes at a perfect time for Neil. Another children's book that he wrote to great reviews will be released as a movie on February 6. Coraline the book is a great read-aloud (as it the Graveyard Book) and Coraline the 3D movie will be showing soon! I will be in New York City that weekend for Comic Con so I may just slip into a late showing of Coraline after a day of rubbing shoulders with Art Spiegelman, Bryan Lee O'Malley and Brian Wood.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Beautiful Children: Pretty Ugly
I started out liking Beautiful Children by Charles Bock. It is a novel set in Las Vegas and begins with a missing boy. From the publisher:
"In this masterly debut novel, Charles Bock mixes incandescent prose with devious humor to capture Las Vegas with unprecedented scope and nuance and to provide a glimpse into a microcosm of modern America. Beautiful Children is an odyssey of heartache and redemption–heralding the arrival of a major new writer."
At times Bock's writing is almost beautiful - most of the time it is tedious. It verges on pseudo-philosophical and there are scenes that have actually turned my stomach. I was excited to read a book based in Vegas - with Vegas as a character - but I have been sorely disappointed. It seems only the dirty, seedy side of Vegas is of any interest to Bock. Missing children, pregnant runaways, porno, strippers, pawnshops, and drugs surround a family that is falling apart.
I don't mind dark books, or mysteries and thrillers where bad things happen. But I don't like books that seem to try to shock me with each new chapter. As I progress I think, "Maybe he is getting at something with this .... I'll just trudge through this and get back to the plot ..." Alas, something disturbing is happening in Vegas with every turn of the page.
NOT recommended.
"In this masterly debut novel, Charles Bock mixes incandescent prose with devious humor to capture Las Vegas with unprecedented scope and nuance and to provide a glimpse into a microcosm of modern America. Beautiful Children is an odyssey of heartache and redemption–heralding the arrival of a major new writer."
At times Bock's writing is almost beautiful - most of the time it is tedious. It verges on pseudo-philosophical and there are scenes that have actually turned my stomach. I was excited to read a book based in Vegas - with Vegas as a character - but I have been sorely disappointed. It seems only the dirty, seedy side of Vegas is of any interest to Bock. Missing children, pregnant runaways, porno, strippers, pawnshops, and drugs surround a family that is falling apart.
I don't mind dark books, or mysteries and thrillers where bad things happen. But I don't like books that seem to try to shock me with each new chapter. As I progress I think, "Maybe he is getting at something with this .... I'll just trudge through this and get back to the plot ..." Alas, something disturbing is happening in Vegas with every turn of the page.
NOT recommended.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Happy Anniversary!
January 11 was my one year blogging anniversary, and this article in the New York Times was the best present ever!
"...for the first time since 1982, when the bureau began collecting such data, the proportion of adults 18 and older who said they had read at least one novel, short story, poem or play in the previous 12 months has risen."
"...for the first time since 1982, when the bureau began collecting such data, the proportion of adults 18 and older who said they had read at least one novel, short story, poem or play in the previous 12 months has risen."
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Yes, Doctor!
In the other blog that I contribute to, I reviewed a fabulous book: Doctor Olaf van Schuler's Brain by Kirsten Menger-Anderson. To my great surprise (and delight ... I am an author groupie) Mrs. Menger-Anderson quoted part of my review on her blog!
Here is my original review.
Here is the author's blog.
Here is my original review.
Here is the author's blog.
Books and Movies: The Good, the Bad, the Overhyped
So much blogging I want to do, so little time. I have been enjoying so many books and movies lately, I just had to share. Here are my mini-reviews:
Books made into movies:
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: the short story is fabulous, the movie is great but too long and really just takes Fitzgerald's general theme and creates a whole new story with it. Worth seeing in the theatre for an amazing naval war scene.
The Reader: Powerful, beautiful and well acted. Be warned, sex scenes and nudity abound. Worth seeing in the theatre.
Doubt: (based on the Pulitzer-prize winning play). An amazing play, an amazing cast, and the playwright-turned-director is fantastic. Bring a friend, you will want to have a discussion when this film is over. Worth seeing in the theatre.
Books:
I finished the last pages of Doomsday Book by Connie Willis, reading through the tears in my eyes. Outdated and lengthy, the core story is timeless and the book is well worth a read.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stied Larsson: I know one person who is enjoying this book ... I know two who gave up. I am the third person to give up. The beginning is wordy, confusing, has many characters and keeps flashing back. I kept getting lost, then I started day dreaming, then I returned it to the Library.
The Lagoon by Lilli Carre: eh. This is a short, beautifully drawn, sci-fi-ish graphic novel. It is worth checking out because the full page pictures are so great and, while the ending was really neat, it didn't really make sense and I kept looking for more pages to turn. A sequel maybe? Or just a short, pretty, weird book.
Beautiful Children by Charles Bock: a first novel, I can't decide if this is fiction, mystery or literary fiction. It is set in Las Vegas and is the story of a missing boy. But not a cute, 4-year-old with rosy cheeks. This is a 12-year-old brat who uses horrible language and is beyond rude to his parents. The author goes into the lives of surrounding characters - his parents, a comic book artist, a stripper, teen runaways. It's weird but I like it.
The Angel Maker by Stefan Brijs: I wasn't quite sure at first, but now I'm loving this creepy mystery. In a small town in Belgium, a geneticist returns after being mysteriously gone for 20 years. He brings with him 3 identical infants that he keeps in his house - no one sees them or hears from them. When Charlotte, a local retired teacher, is hired to take care of the three boys she begins to unravel the mystery of the doctor and his strange sons.
Books made into movies:
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: the short story is fabulous, the movie is great but too long and really just takes Fitzgerald's general theme and creates a whole new story with it. Worth seeing in the theatre for an amazing naval war scene.
The Reader: Powerful, beautiful and well acted. Be warned, sex scenes and nudity abound. Worth seeing in the theatre.
Doubt: (based on the Pulitzer-prize winning play). An amazing play, an amazing cast, and the playwright-turned-director is fantastic. Bring a friend, you will want to have a discussion when this film is over. Worth seeing in the theatre.
Books:
I finished the last pages of Doomsday Book by Connie Willis, reading through the tears in my eyes. Outdated and lengthy, the core story is timeless and the book is well worth a read.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stied Larsson: I know one person who is enjoying this book ... I know two who gave up. I am the third person to give up. The beginning is wordy, confusing, has many characters and keeps flashing back. I kept getting lost, then I started day dreaming, then I returned it to the Library.
The Lagoon by Lilli Carre: eh. This is a short, beautifully drawn, sci-fi-ish graphic novel. It is worth checking out because the full page pictures are so great and, while the ending was really neat, it didn't really make sense and I kept looking for more pages to turn. A sequel maybe? Or just a short, pretty, weird book.
Beautiful Children by Charles Bock: a first novel, I can't decide if this is fiction, mystery or literary fiction. It is set in Las Vegas and is the story of a missing boy. But not a cute, 4-year-old with rosy cheeks. This is a 12-year-old brat who uses horrible language and is beyond rude to his parents. The author goes into the lives of surrounding characters - his parents, a comic book artist, a stripper, teen runaways. It's weird but I like it.
The Angel Maker by Stefan Brijs: I wasn't quite sure at first, but now I'm loving this creepy mystery. In a small town in Belgium, a geneticist returns after being mysteriously gone for 20 years. He brings with him 3 identical infants that he keeps in his house - no one sees them or hears from them. When Charlotte, a local retired teacher, is hired to take care of the three boys she begins to unravel the mystery of the doctor and his strange sons.
Sunday, January 4, 2009
You know you are a Librarian when...
you are stuck in traffic so you begin to translate licence plate numbers to Dewey numbers. Hmmmm... NY 746, must be a knitter.
Friday, January 2, 2009
Happy New Year!
Whew, the holidays are over! They really get in the way of my reading time. Currently, I am very much enjoying Doomsday Book by Connie Willis. It was published in 1992 and won both the Hugo and Nebula awards. According to Wikipedia (which means, take it with a grain of salt...) it is the most-honored work of science fiction in recent history. It was recommended to me by Elizabeth, our head of Reference.
What is so cool about this book is that it blends science-fiction with historical fiction. While I have a few sci-fi books that I really love, I am not first and foremost a sci-fi reader. But when you throw in time travel, I'm there! Connie Willis is also a great writer - keeping up the pace in a somewhat lengthy book while sprinkling in humor and great character studies. And did I mention a historian from 2054 gets sent back to 1320 and there is a mysterious plague in both times?!?!
One drawback to the plot is, because it was written in 1992, cell phones were not such a prevalent part of society. However, the book is set in 2054 and although there are "video phones" in use, the author did not predict cell phones. While there is a massive epidemic and historians lost in time, much of the tension is around characters not being able to get in touch with each other, or waiting around for phone calls from this specialist in Scotland or that archaeologist at a dig. It seems funny, but if I can let go of reality enough to imagine time travel, I think I can imagine a world without portable telephones.
I have also just received my copy of The Angel Maker by Stefan Brijs from the Library and it looks so amazingly creepy:
The village of Wolfheim is a quiet little place until the geneticist Dr. Victor Hoppe returns after an absence of nearly twenty years. The doctor brings with him his infant children—three identical boys all sharing a disturbing disfigurement. He keeps them hidden away until Charlotte, the woman who is hired to care for them, begins to suspect that the triplets—and the good doctor— aren’t quite what they seem. As the villagers become increasingly suspicious, the story of Dr. Hoppe’s past begins to unfold, and the shocking secrets that he has been keeping are revealed. A chilling story that explores the ethical limits of science and religion, The Angel Maker is a haunting tale in the tradition of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Frankenstein. Brought to life by internationally bestselling author Stefan Brijs, this eerie tale promises to get under readers’ skin.
Also, I stumbled across a review of a book in the newspaper - The Lonely Werewolf Girl by Martin Millar. I was thrilled that our library owns it, but I have been enjoying hanging out in 1320 so much that I didn't want to start a new book. Terry caught sight of it and got just as excited as me - werewolf fashion designers and werewolf outcasts running the streets of London and being called back to their Scottish castle to take over the royal werewolf family. So, I shared and let Terry borrow it first. She loves it so far and I'll be reading it before long!
New Years Resolution: read more.
What is so cool about this book is that it blends science-fiction with historical fiction. While I have a few sci-fi books that I really love, I am not first and foremost a sci-fi reader. But when you throw in time travel, I'm there! Connie Willis is also a great writer - keeping up the pace in a somewhat lengthy book while sprinkling in humor and great character studies. And did I mention a historian from 2054 gets sent back to 1320 and there is a mysterious plague in both times?!?!
One drawback to the plot is, because it was written in 1992, cell phones were not such a prevalent part of society. However, the book is set in 2054 and although there are "video phones" in use, the author did not predict cell phones. While there is a massive epidemic and historians lost in time, much of the tension is around characters not being able to get in touch with each other, or waiting around for phone calls from this specialist in Scotland or that archaeologist at a dig. It seems funny, but if I can let go of reality enough to imagine time travel, I think I can imagine a world without portable telephones.
I have also just received my copy of The Angel Maker by Stefan Brijs from the Library and it looks so amazingly creepy:
The village of Wolfheim is a quiet little place until the geneticist Dr. Victor Hoppe returns after an absence of nearly twenty years. The doctor brings with him his infant children—three identical boys all sharing a disturbing disfigurement. He keeps them hidden away until Charlotte, the woman who is hired to care for them, begins to suspect that the triplets—and the good doctor— aren’t quite what they seem. As the villagers become increasingly suspicious, the story of Dr. Hoppe’s past begins to unfold, and the shocking secrets that he has been keeping are revealed. A chilling story that explores the ethical limits of science and religion, The Angel Maker is a haunting tale in the tradition of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Frankenstein. Brought to life by internationally bestselling author Stefan Brijs, this eerie tale promises to get under readers’ skin.
Also, I stumbled across a review of a book in the newspaper - The Lonely Werewolf Girl by Martin Millar. I was thrilled that our library owns it, but I have been enjoying hanging out in 1320 so much that I didn't want to start a new book. Terry caught sight of it and got just as excited as me - werewolf fashion designers and werewolf outcasts running the streets of London and being called back to their Scottish castle to take over the royal werewolf family. So, I shared and let Terry borrow it first. She loves it so far and I'll be reading it before long!
New Years Resolution: read more.
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