I have a relatively small collection of children’s books that I add to whenever I come across a book whose art and design appeal to me. When I came across Oliver Jeffers‘ latest release, The Incredible Book Eating Boy, I just knew I had to bring it home with me. Dear readers, this book is a true gem.
For those who devour the written word, Henry is indeed a kindred spirit. I have no doubt that were you to read this book you would clearly identify with his passion and his dilemma.
Per usual (and believe me, this is a good thing) books played a major roll in the festivities at the Stainless Steel Droppings home for our family Christmas. One of the books on my list was A War of Gifts by Orson Scott Card. Having recently become enmeshed in the life of Andrew “Ender” Wiggin during my recent encounter with Ender’s Game, I made sure this book was at the top of my Christmas list. I had wanted to buy it for myself prior to finishing Ender’s Game simply because of the beauty of the package. Its petite size and explosive John Harris cover had me coveting it at first site. I am so happy to have waited because this is a special gem of a book given to me by the jewel of my life, my wife Mary.
At 252 pages, Kevin Brockmeier’s latest fictional offering, The Brief History of the Dead, has garned both praise and derision for either being too brief, or entirely too long. With an ending that excites some and disappoints others, The Brief History of the Dead is sure to be named among those books that one either loves or despises.
I have been held captive by Kevin Brockmeier’s writing for the entire weekend. I cannot deny that I closed the final page with some disappointment as I was not yet ready to be parted from these characters and also because of the reservations I have about the way the novel ends. That being said, I awoke this morning with a feeling of electricity and this tale still buzzing around inside of me.
Hearken back to April of this year, in the heart of the inaugural Once Upon a Time Challenge. Are you there? If so, you may recall that I read and reviewed a graphic novel by Howard Chaykin and Mike Mignola entitled simply, Fritz Leiber’s Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. This was a reprint of their earlier work, paying homage to Fritz Leiber, a prolific author who coined the phrase ‘sword and sorcery’. Although he wrote many other stories unrelated to these characters, it is for the many stories written over a 50 year span featuring Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser that he is most well known. Immediately after reading the graphic novel I picked up the first book in Dark Horse’s collected stories of their adventures: Lankmar Book 1: Swords and Deviltry.
It is the nature of being a reader that the first book you pick up after a profound reading experience is not always an easy choice. After the experience I had with Ender’s Game, I was unsure where to go next with my reading. Two of the books that I desperately want to read, Ian Fleming’s Goldfinger and Orson Scott Card’s Speaker for the Dead are ones that I want to save for Annie’s challenge and the Sci Fi Experience, respectively. What to do, what to do? This is where having a library of unread books comes in handy. I went and browsed my own shelves. In so doing my eyes alit upon a gift from Pat that I received last Christmas that was written especially for this time of year: The Book of Dead Days by Marcus Sedgwick.
