Book Reviews, Fantasy

The Return of the King Group Read, The End

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Could there be any more fitting image to represent our departure from this three month journey through the books that make up The Lord of the Rings? Alan Lee’s depiction of the bittersweet parting of those going into the west perfectly embodies the mood of these final moments in the life-altering journey of four hobbits who left the Shire.

How can one’s heart ache and soar at the same time? No work of fiction makes me feel that as poignantly and as profoundly as does that of J.R.R. Tolkien. If anyone ever captured lightning in a bottle it was him. Little wonder that these books remain as beloved as when they were first launched upon a waiting public.

You can tell from my ramblings that I get a great deal of pleasure out of discussing The Lord of the Rings and although I am sad that this is our final post discussing The Return of the King, I am not too sad as there will be many more Tolkien-related posts in the years to come.

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Book Reviews, Fantasy

The Return of the King Group Read, Part 2

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The major battles have been fought and won. The One Ring has been destroyed. There is hard won victory and the bitterness of death and destruction. And this is only part two of our discussion!!!

This middle section of The Return of the King is a densely packed section of action, adventure, introspection, hope, despair and triumph. I couldn’t help but tear through this section. Even though I remembered much of it quite well, I could not stop turning the pages.

I had the privilege of coming up with the questions for this part of our group read. Please join us in our conversation.

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Book Reviews, Fantasy

The Return of the King Group Read, Part 1

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(Image credit)

The month of November is nearly at an end and although I have kept up with and finished the reading for The Return of the King I have yet to engage in any of the conversation about the book. And that is a tragedy that simply cannot be born. So over the course of the next few days I will endeavor to get up to speed.

I heartily invite you to participate in the discussion whether you read this along with us this month or simply know the story from the book and/or film.

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Film

Hugo

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Orphan, Clock Keeper, and Thief, twelve-year-old Hugo lives in the walls of a busy Paris train station, where his survival depends on secrets and anonymity. But when his world suddenly interlocks with an eccentric girl and the owner of a small toy booth in the train station, Hugo’s undercover life, and his most precious secret, are put in jeopardy. A cryptic drawing, a treasured notebook, a stolen key, a mechanical man, and a hidden message all come together…in The Invention of Hugo Cabret.

This book jacket copy of Brian Selznick’s 2007 YA novel The Invention of Hugo Cabret is a most fitting synopsis for the just released film adaptation of the book. Selznick’s Caldecott award winning novel, the first novel to win this illustrator’s award, is above all things a love letter to classic film maker Georges Melies, whose iconic film images are likely to be familiar even to those of you who have no knowledge of Georges Melies. The Invention of Hugo Cabret is described by its creator as “not exactly a novel, not quite a picture book, not really a graphic novel, or a flip book or a movie, but a combination of all these things”.

Selznick’s novel was a brilliantly inventive work intricately pieced together with both prose and pictures. Despite its massive outward appearance it was a quick and delightful read and though I was late to the party, reading it a year after its release, I joined the large number of people who declared it one of their favorite books of the year. Needless to say, despite the stunning trailer, I was worried about how this creative work would translate to the medium by which it was inspired.

In the capable hands of Martin Scorsese, it translated just fine.

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Book Reviews, Science Fiction

The Heart of Valor ~Tanya Huff

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The Heart of Valor ~Tanya Huff

–2007, DAW Books
–432 pages
–7/10 stars

Take a group of soldiers in Marine basic and drop them on a planet for 20 days for a live-fire military exercise. Now throw in a civilian doctor and her charge, a Major who recently came out of a regeneration tank after being nearly killed on his previous mission. Just to make it interesting make sure that one subset of your recruits is an alien race that suddenly finds itself in a pheromone induced crisis. And one more tiny little thing: The mechanized war machines on the planet have suddenly gone rogue and are out to kill, communication is down, and no ships will be returning to pick you up any time soon. If you mix all that together, what do you get?

Just another routine day for Gunnery Sergeant Torin Kerr.

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Eclectic Musings of a Renaissance Geek