All posts by Carl V. Anderson

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The Arrival of Autumn

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(Image by Cat Man)

Yes, I am a day late in announcing the arrival of Autumn (for those whose seasons coincide with those here in the U.S.), but am certainly not a day late in celebrating it. Monday morning arrived with highs in the 60’s, clouds, and rain. It really was a perfect Autumn day. It had just that bit of melancholy that floats upon the autumn breezes which makes me love the season so. While the R.I.P. IV Challenge is rapidly nearing the half way point, the season change and the weather change is an apt reminder that it is indeed the right time of year for the creepy, the mysterious, the harrowing and the suspenseful. Isn’t it delicious?!?!

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Book Reviews, Young Adult

The Magician’s Elephant ~Kate DiCamillo

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The Magician’s Elephant ~Kate DiCamillo

–published 2009
–201 pages, Candlewick Press
–5 heartwarming stars out of 5

“When a fortuneteller’s tent appears in the market square of the city of Baltese, orphan Peter Augustus Duchene knows the questions that he needs to ask: Does his sister still live? And if so, how can he find her.

The fortuneteller’s mysterious answer (An elephant! An elephant will lead him there!) sets off a chain of events so remarkable, so impossible, that Peter can hardly dare to believe it.

But it is–all of it–true.”

Precious few authors could drag me out of my gothic/suspense/mystery reading mode with a new release, especially given how satisfying this first month of the R.I.P. IV Challenge has been. One of those authors is Kate DiCamillo. The moment I saw her latest release, The Magician’s Elephant, I knew that I would be rolling out the red carpet to escort it center stage in my reading. Following so closely on the heels of my unforgettable experience with The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, I feel like I have reached reading Nirvana, a place where every book one reads makes you feel like a choir of angels is singing.

But then, Kate DiCamillo will do that to you.

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Short Story Sunday ~September 13th

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(Red Riding Hood image by Raquel Aparicio)

An abundance of NFL opening weekend football and my immersion in a chunkster read with Kailana for the R.I.P. IV Challenge distracted me from feasting heartily on short stories this weekend. I was able to get a nibble in, however, and the focus of my short story reading, though not planned, was on the subject of werewolves.

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Book Reviews, Mystery

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie ~Alan Bradley

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The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie ~Alan Bradley

–Published 2009
–370 pages, Delacorte Press
–Winner of the Crime Writers’ Association Debut Dagger Award
–5 enthusiastic stars out of 5

When a book with a lovely apple-green cover locks eyes with you on an innocent stroll through your local purveyor of books, and then continues to whisper insistently at the back of your mind for days upon days upon days, what is a person to do? I submit that the only thing to do is to adopt the little beauty, for a small fee, and give it a loving home.

Pardon my french, dear readers, but To Be Read pile be damned, this book needs to find a home with you, immediately!

Need more convincing? Read on.

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Book Reviews, Gothic/Horror, Young Adult

Tales of Terror from the Black Ship ~Chris Priestley

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Tales of Terror from the Black Ship ~Chris Priestley

–2008
–238 pages, Bloomsbury Children’s Books
–4.5/5 stars

Snail revenge, killer mud, a child with a wicked laugh, dangerous love, death ships, tattooed hands and many other grisly tales await the reader bold enough to brave the tempest.

Hot on the heels of the haunting experience I had with Uncle Montague’s Tales of Terror, I sat myself down at the bar of an old inn and listened to terrifying tales of the sea with the book’s two youngsters, Ethan and Cathy. To be perfectly honest, I was so enthralled with the fun I was having with Priestley’s stories that I read half of this book on the same day that I finished Uncle Montague’s Tales of Terror!

In his second book on a similar theme, Chris Priestley manages to bring the same spine-tingling fun to the reader with a shift of setting, a change of milieu, thus keeping the reader engaged and not feeling that he/she is simply getting more of the same.

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