This is essential reading for children and adults alike because it will help them understand the perspective of others.
I listened to the audiobookThis is essential reading for children and adults alike because it will help them understand the perspective of others.
I listened to the audiobook version of this on a flight from England to Rome this morning to help pass the time. And I wasn’t expecting it to be as good as it was. I thought it would be a nice simple novel about horses that would help me feel relaxed as I tried to forget about my dislike of heights and airports. Instead, it’s a heartbreaking tale with a very powerful animal rights message.
The novel is told in such a clever way. It’s told from the perspective of a horse, Black Beauty. He experiences all manner of treatment from humans: kindness, neglect, ignorance and objectification. Some of his worse experiences are when he is a cart horse. And as I walked round Rome and saw the sad looking horses strapped to carts to drag tourists around the city, it made me think about this even more. Why do we still do this in the 21st century? Why are we still using horses as beasts of burden?
Of course, this is more prevalent in other parts of the world and in other cities. And it was even more prevalent during the era in which this book was written. And it is so easy to forget about the silent victims of society and history. This novel asks us to look a bit closer; it ask us to consider what our way of life costs other animals. And I really do encourage everyone to read it because it has a very powerful and very important message to share.
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This book is so insanely popular, and whilst it is not without merit, I think it’s totally underserving of the amount of hype it has received.
Now letThis book is so insanely popular, and whilst it is not without merit, I think it’s totally underserving of the amount of hype it has received.
Now let me explain: the idea of combining words and photographs to tell a story is undeniably original and clever, and here the distorted black and white snaps fit the eery gothic vibe of the narrative. They work well together but ultimately become a little problematic. At times, it felt like the story was pushed to breaking point as the narrative was twisted around the photographs. It’s almost like the photo dictated where the story was going, and the events were stretched around it. There were a few instances where this was particularly bad, and it gave the direction of the writing a totally random feel. It was bizarre.
If you take the photographs out of the book, and leave the writing as it is, ultimately, we are left with an average young adult story about escapism with very poor characterisation. There are other books that deal with this theme much better; thus, this would no doubt become a little lost in the saturated market. The photographs are the unique selling point, and without them the book would flounder. My point here is that the writing is quite weak and by itself would not be strong enough to carry the story. I find this a little problematic: the writing should be enhanced by the photographs, not become completely reliant on them.
I do think this is a creative and remarkable way to tell a story but ultimately the execution was a little poor. I don’t think Riggs’ prose was quite up to scratch nor his ability to give his characters any real depth. It felt amateurish, difficult to get into and the story did not work for me. For me this book is a curiosity, nothing more.
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This deceptively simple dark fantasy fairy tale will appeal directly to readers of The Chronicles of Narnia,The Golden Compass and Coraline. It's a sThis deceptively simple dark fantasy fairy tale will appeal directly to readers of The Chronicles of Narnia,The Golden Compass and Coraline. It's a story that has a lot more going for it than the surface level of the writing suggests.
What makes The Book of Lost Things so special is the way in which in interacts and adapts a multitude of fairy tales from various sources and blends them all into one big adventure. There’s a lot of ideas here and it’s all brought together in a warped world as a young boy (David) attempts to navigate his way home. The world he has found himself in is an amalgamation of stories and characters and his own dreams. This idea works fantastically well and it’s something a lot of readers will really appreciate. Who doesn't want to ditch reality and escape into a fantasy world?
So central to the novel is the importance of reading and the strong sense of escapism books can bring us. Whilst David, essentially, gets lost in his own world of books and ideas, it’s the act of reading that helped him come to terms with the loss of his mother. His adventure, enacted through stories and the characters he has read about, becomes a means for him to grow as a person and to learn about decency. Fairy tales are often moralistic, and David’s tale is no different.
It’s worth mentioning just how dark this book is. For the first part of the story, it appears to be very much a book for children. Moreover, it’s marketed and published as one too, which I find a little odd considering just how disturbing some of the sections are. There are often creepy undertones to fairy tales, but here it is much more blatant. There are brutal death scenes and there are graphic descriptions of surgery and creating human-animal hybrids by sowing corpses together. It’s dark and creepy. This isn’t by any means a criticism of mine, but just a warning for those who think this is a children’s book: it’s not one.
Now back to the importance of reading. I’ve always found books that cement a love of literature within their own stories to be quite special. I guess it’s a case of knowing your audience and writing to them, letting them know exactly how significant books can be in our lives. There’s a lot to be said here and in some ways this book is deceptively simple. It follows a basic quest like narrative, hopping from story to story, after some initial set-up in the real world, but what it’s actually doing is a bit more complex: it weaves together unconnected fairy tales to establish the transformative power of books. And I loved it. It’s such a clever device and the delivery was excellent.
So I really recommend this one to those who enjoy fantasy and to those that appreciate the escapism that books can bring.
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The Lost Spells is a celebration of the natural; it is a collection of prose poetry about foxes and trees and birds and rabbits and flowers: it is an The Lost Spells is a celebration of the natural; it is a collection of prose poetry about foxes and trees and birds and rabbits and flowers: it is an elegy to what we are losing and what we must try to retain.
It’s educational; it’s a book we should give to our children and to our adults to help them see the sense of wonder that is outside, and its captured perfectly though the power of words and the beautiful illustrations.
I write these words as our green spaces are reducing, as more land is given over to housing and native animal populations plummet even further and perhaps even into memory itself. I wonder what the world will be like in fifty years. I wonder if the only way people can learn about the natural world is through books rather than observing her directly. Sure, there might be reserves, or isolated pockets, but I think one day there will be nothing natural left about modern life (if there is, indeed, anything natural about it now.)
I loved this book; it’s a book I will revisit and a book I will encourage others to read because despite increasing decline and modernisation, the natural world is still on our doorstep: she is still there if we are willing to look and to appreciate her. Lets make an effort to understand her magic and (better yet) keep it alive.
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So, I wanted to review something a little bit special for this landmark and this fits the bill perfectly.
I will spThis is my 1000th book review!
So, I wanted to review something a little bit special for this landmark and this fits the bill perfectly.
I will spend my life learning and reading, but no matter how much time I spend in study I will still die with an unfinished reading list. The point is, no matter how much you know and have read there is still so much out there to still discover. There are still stories that can surprise us just like Mr Clever is surprised when he realises, he does not actually know that much.
And I think this is important to say and important to remember. __________________________________
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“If you knew Time as well as I do,’ said the Hatter, ‘you wouldn’t talk about wasting it.
There are so many great things to say about this“If you knew Time as well as I do,’ said the Hatter, ‘you wouldn’t talk about wasting it.
There are so many great things to say about this story. For me, as a work of fantasy, it is on par with The Chronicles of Narnia,Peter Pan and The Wizard of Oz in terms of its creative imagination.
These stories seem to centre on the idea of escape, escape from a boring reality in which the protagonist enters a world of exciting, and sometimes terrifying, adventure as they walk away from their old mundane life. This is a popular trope and here it works very well, Alice jumps down a rabbit hole and enters a truly insane world that makes little sense.
“In another moment down went Alice after it, never once considering how in the world she was to get out again.”
Of all the fantasy worlds that work around this idea, this is by far the most bizarre I have read about. To put in mildly, the things Alice encounters feel hallucinogenic as if the mind has conjured them up whilst being intoxicated. Because as strange as it all seems, there is always a touch of the real about them. And I think this is because Lewis Carroll draws on real life experiences to bring his world to life.
The Mad Hatter, of course, is the best example. Although he only plays a small role here, and the movie versions certainly capitalise on his colourful character, he still stands out within the narrative: his character is the most memorable part of the story. He is only referred to as that name once, and he never identifies with it, though the name is distinctively his.
“How puzzling all these changes are! I'm never sure what I'm going to be, from one minute to another.”
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He is the embodiment of true madness: dementia. And I did a little research on him and the origins of his character. In Victorian society, hatters often went mad because of the hat making process. They handled chemicals that caused what we now identify as dementia. Prolonged exposure to such substances degraded their minds to such a degree. So, in a way, he embodies a little piece of history with his quirkiness.
So I had a lot of fun here. This was actually my first ever read of this story. I've seen the films but never actually picked this up, it's certainly a quaint piece of madness to brighten your day with its nonsensical nature.
“We is in Dream Country,' the BFG said. 'This is where all dreams is beginning.”
I love the BFG, as a child this was one of my favourite books (an“We is in Dream Country,' the BFG said. 'This is where all dreams is beginning.”
I love the BFG, as a child this was one of my favourite books (and films.) There’s just something captivating about the story, about how a mystical creature could appear in your bedroom in the middle of the night and take you to another world (a more exciting world.)
And that’s why Roald Dahl is such a successful children’s author; here he does exactly what the best books in the genre do. He gives you a glimpse of the real world, of the standard realities of everyday, then underneath it all he reveals something spectacular: he reveals fantasy. Time and time again a child is whisked off to experience the adventure of a lifetime. And when reading his books as a child of similar age, it’s so easy to imagine yourself in the shoes of one of his protagonists.
Reading it as an adult, gives the book a slightly different flavour. For starters, the hilarious nature of the language is blatant. And it just feels funnier. I was invested in this as a child, I cared about the characters and I was worried about what could happen. Now it just seems all so ridiculous.
It was fun and entertaining, revisiting a book I read fifteen years ago....more
This is a collection of four essays, each forceful and energetic, that directly address why it is so important to re"Make good art. I’m serious."
This is a collection of four essays, each forceful and energetic, that directly address why it is so important to read and write and, more importantly, they impress upon you why children should be doing it too.
1. Credo 2. Why Our Future Depends on Libraries, Reading and Daydreaming 3. Making a Chair (more of a poem really.) 4. Make Good Art
So you may have read these before, as I have; however, that being said, I’m not overly disappointed that there’s nothing new here beyond the illustrations. These pieces speak to each other and form a persuasive argument about the importance of art, regardless of the particular medium, and establish why it’s so important for society.
We need people who understand the world and can empathise with situations different to our own, we need leaders and individuals who can look past their own personal experience and act accordingly. We need literate people. We need people who can imagine a better world than the one we have so they can work towards building it (or at the very least representing it.) All in all, the world needs more readers, writers and artists. And Gaiman establishes it so convincingly here (not that many people who would pick a book up like this need convincing.)
“We need to teach our children to read. And to enjoy reading. We need libraries. We need books.”
I have so much respect for Gaiman and his work. As all writers do, he wrote stories to make money though he also did it because it was his passion. At the young age of fifteen he knew it was his calling and he worked towards his goals until he achieved success and fame (then he carried on writing some more!) Beyond that though, he has got so many children into reading with his work. Just look at his sales figures. Granted many of his readers are adults, but he has opened the literary doorways for many with his creative and intelligent writing.
Because of the sheer volume of quality work he has produced, the variety of it and the innovative nature of his original ideas, I think he deserves the noble prize for literature. I’m almost certain that this year he will win it. He has been shortlisted, and from the four candidates chosen, it seems to be a two horse race between Gaiman and Murakami (Guardian article.) Both are fantastic writers, though I think Gaiman has a slight edge because he can write in very different ways where Murakami has found his niche and dominates it.
Could 2018 be Gaiman’s year? If I were a betting man, I’d put money down that it is. (What a victory that would be for the world of fantasy literature.)
Winnie-the-Pooh is so much fun. It has all the things that make for a fantastic children’s story.
Like The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe and Harry Winnie-the-Pooh is so much fun. It has all the things that make for a fantastic children’s story.
Like The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe and Harry Potter there is a hidden world (a much better world) on the fringes of our own. Enter a wardrobe, a platform or a tree and you are on the cusp of something grand. It’s pure escapism. However, for all that, the Pooh stories are very simply written. Unlike the two books I just mentioned, I don’t think there’s much beyond the basic humorous moments in this series.
So I don’t have much to add, other than to say, they are a delight for young readers. I loved them as a child, and I enjoyed my re-read before going to the cinema to watch Disney’s recent film Christopher Robin. And it is such a clever movie because of its fantastic use of the characters to tell an endearingly funny story about how easy it is to become wrapped up in work, and to forget what's important in life. If you liked Pooh as a child, I sincerely recommend watching it. It made me feel nostalgic and warm inside, and even made me appreciate this book a little more.
“If a person has ugly thoughts, it begins to show on the face. And when that person has ugly thoughts every day, every week, every year, the face gets“If a person has ugly thoughts, it begins to show on the face. And when that person has ugly thoughts every day, every week, every year, the face gets uglier and uglier until you can hardly bear to look at it.
A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts it will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.”
I do love this quote. The Twits are the epitome of nastiness and everything a person shouldn’t be. They are vile and small, silly little people that enjoy inflicting pain on others for no reason other than their own amusement.
So in typical Roald Dahl fashion they get exactly what is coming to them. They may be caricatures, though they are a very good example to children about why we should never hate. Even though they are horrible, hating them is the wrong thing to do because we are just as bad as them. Toxic people should be removed from our lives. There’s no point hating them, just walk away from them like the animals attempt to do here.
That being said, why does Roald Dahl hate beards so much? You'd think he'd heed his own words....more
This book is a little treat. If you enjoyed Norse Mythology then you will likely adore this. This is a children’s tale, though as with all good childrThis book is a little treat. If you enjoyed Norse Mythology then you will likely adore this. This is a children’s tale, though as with all good children’s books it’s perfect for adults too.
Odd is a tough little boy. He is physically disabled and shunned by his step-father who pushes him out of his family home, though he refuses to give up. He refuses to stop smiling and it is because of this that he succeeds. Positivity can go a long way and it certainly helps when you stumble across the Gods.
Imagine this: Thor (who has been transformed into a bear) has his paw stuck in a tree after trying to reach a bee’s nest. Odin (who has been transformed into an eagle) flies overhead watching the scene. Loki (who has been transformed into a fox) skulks in the corner bemused. Odd walks in unawares and offers his help. The three Gods have been banished from Asgard and their kingdom is now in the hands of the Frost Giants. Unsurprisingly, it’s all Loki’s fault. Sound familiar?
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Gaiman has captured the essence of Odin, Thor and Loki terrifically. The marvel cinematic universe and the comic book writers do a good job with their personalities, though their actual physical attributes are completely wrong. It’s all in the minor details. Some of it may sound unimportant (the fact that Thor is supposed to have a big red beard for example) though things like this are quite important when dealing with Gods. So I like the attention to detail here.
It’s a fun little book. And watching Odd resolve the problems of the Gods is amusing. I recommend it to fans of Thor as portrayed in the marvel cinematic universe....more
“I went away in my head, into a book. That was where I went whenever real life was too hard or too inflexible.”
This is a book that teaches us th“I went away in my head, into a book. That was where I went whenever real life was too hard or too inflexible.”
This is a book that teaches us that we should never stop dreaming, that we should never stop seeing oceans in ponds and that we should never, ever, stop seeing better worlds in the things we read.
The pond that was an ocean bespeaks the level of optimism that is inherent with childhood dreams. Everything seems better. Everything seems bigger and grander. Imagination makes the ordinary seem extraordinary and fantastic. I have no idea what elements were fantasy within the novel. It could even be magical realism or a child’s interpretation and exaggeration of real life events. Part of me felt like it was based on real things but distorted and twisted to evoke the sense of unfamiliarity a child has in an adult world.
But to perpetually see the world through child eyes would be a boon:
“I do not miss childhood, but I miss the way I took pleasure in small things, even as greater things crumbled. I could not control the world I was in, could not walk away from things or people or moments that hurt, but I took joy in the things that made me happy.”
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It’s a book for the lost, for the social pariahs who do not fit in with normal society. It is a book for those who would rather spend their days reading than interacting with the human race. Humans are always disappointing, books are not. And our little hero knows this so he concocts his own friends and draws upon the lessons he learnt through reading. In this regard it reminded me of Coraline. It’s a book about an odd child who dreams of something a little bit better than the reality they experience.
The friend he meets becomes his guardian against the forces that would destroy him and his family. She becomes a doorway into understanding an entirely new world. In this I saw a lonely child longing for something he didn’t have, a connection with someone who would hold him up when the days become their darkest. In The Ocean at the End of Lane anything is possible as a child’s dreams and memories propel the narrative forward.
The Ocean at the End of the Lane is a truly fantastic book in every regard. I absolutely loved it.
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I read this so many times as a child and I was always so fiercely jealous of James.
James is a dreamer. He has a boring life and one day he gets the oI read this so many times as a child and I was always so fiercely jealous of James.
James is a dreamer. He has a boring life and one day he gets the opportunity to experience something weird and surreal. Everyday breaks away from mundanity and becomes something exciting and unusual. James makes friends with interesting insects and explores places he has never seen. A giant peach takes him there. His dreams become reality.
This is certainly a story that could make any child (or adult too) fall in love with fantasy....more
Update- The show was fantastic- best I've seen in London!
I’m off to London today to see this on stage. I am so, very, very excited.
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As much Update- The show was fantastic- best I've seen in London!
I’m off to London today to see this on stage. I am so, very, very excited.
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As much as I love the Disney film version, nothing quite compares to live theatre. And although this little book here is a faithful rendition, it could never capture the majesty of the story on page. Without music this falls terribly flat.
Today is my birthday and a friend of mine bought me this (as a joke.)
My “obsessive” reading hobby and book collecting means that it is rather difficulToday is my birthday and a friend of mine bought me this (as a joke.)
My “obsessive” reading hobby and book collecting means that it is rather difficult for non-readers to find books for me that I do not already own. I think they did well here to think outside the box.
This is the third Mr Men book I have read, and although I feel like the author ran out of ideas for characters when he created this one, it was still a good bit of fun. I enjoyed the ten minutes it took me to read and I enjoyed the optimism and good-will Mr Birthday tries to spread when he organises birthday parties for people.
Matilda is a lovely little book. It’s a book about standing up against bullies (no matter who the bullies are.) It’s also a book about learning to livMatilda is a lovely little book. It’s a book about standing up against bullies (no matter who the bullies are.) It’s also a book about learning to live with yourself, about being who you are despite the pressures those who are supposed to love you may exert on your personality. It’s a book written for readers and one that establishes so firmly why reading is so damn important in a world that is becoming increasingly detached from the things that truly matter in life.
The best fantasy books for children rely on escapism, books like The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, the Harry Potter series and Peter Pan. Central tThe best fantasy books for children rely on escapism, books like The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, the Harry Potter series and Peter Pan. Central to each of these stories is the real world: the dryness that permeates the everyday. The children involved are often bored of their lives, or of school and their parents: the world of reality. So when they get to escape into a world that is much more interesting they are enamoured by a sense of magic and adventure that comes their way. For Kate Saunders' heroine Emily, the bizarre and eerily familiar world of Smockeroon awaits.
Like Neverland and Wonderland for Wendy and Alice, the new world makes little sense to Emily. It is mystical and otherworldly. She is met by strange people (and toys) with even stranger habits and dress senses. Emily's life is undeniably a sad one; she has recently lost her sister (Holly) before beginning her adventures. It was her who first told Emily of Smockeroon, the land her family thought was merely fictitious. Holly would tell them of this place and they would listen with patience and in good humour before she passed away. But now, after her loss, Emily finds herself transported to what she thought was make-believe.
What I saw in such a thing was the need for stories and escape when dealing with bereavement and heartache. Fantasy and imagination are a large part of what it is to be human, and sometimes we really do need them. Emily gets her wish; she manages to cope through temporarily escaping to a new place in order to adjust to the realities of loss. Although the novel is fairly short, Emily undergoes much in the way of character development. She overcomes her initial trepidations and fears, growing as a person. By the end she even begins to understand herself a little bit better along with life itself.
Smokeroon expands as the story progresses, and it becomes clear that such a name was merely what Holly gave it. Imagination is the key, the dream of another land; it propels the story forward as Emily looks for answers. On her way she encounters other people and their imaginations combine to form The Land of Neverendings. I loved the idea behind it, the possibility that this other world could be shaped and reached by a multitude of people in need of it. Their ideas become mixed up and their thoughts leaked into each other to create something rather individual. It all pushed even further towards a rather strong resolution.
Saunders writes with clarity and is able to mix very adult themes with a children's narrative. Despite dealing with issues such as loss and death, the prose is colourful and this new world remains rather enchanting, quirky and unique. The book has the potential to be enjoyed by adults and children alike and I especially recommend it to those that enjoy dark fantasy books such as Coraline by Neil Gaiman....more
I’ve somewhat neglected Terry Pratchett over the last few years. I read a few of his books in the Discworld series when I was very young and I didn’t I’ve somewhat neglected Terry Pratchett over the last few years. I read a few of his books in the Discworld series when I was very young and I didn’t really like them. So I’m yet to pick up another book from there (despite owning several) any time soon.
Instead I’ve been very selective about the material I read of his. I read Nation and was really rather impressed with its balance of humour and postcolonial themes. This year I read The Long Earth and I was swept away with the sheer scope of its ideas, again, made great by the undercurrent of ridiculous humour. So there’s no denying the talent of the writer. Perhaps I was too young to appreciate his humour in the Discworld series or perhaps I just didn’t understand it at the time.
In A View From the Cheap Seats: Selected Non-fiction Neil Gaiman explained why Terry Pratchett was so important to him as a writer and as a friend. I was quite touched by his words and felt that I ought to give Sir Terry’s Discworld another go some time in the future. But I’m being very careful with what I choose to read. I don’t want to be put off again if I chose the wrong book. Next year Good Omens will be going on my 2018 reading list. It seems like the best place to start, a collaboration with one of my favourite authors is bound to produce great results. It might give me a reason to pick up a Discworld novel.
Here, though, we see some of Terry’s very early work. It’s almost like Pratchett is experimenting, playing with words and themes to see if his writing has the desired effect. It is clearly the work of an inexperienced writer, and it shows many ideas that he would one day use to make his writing so remarkable and unique: so distinctively his own. They were all enjoyable, full of charm and wit, without being insufferable in their humour. The balance is perfect. Sometimes I feel like Pratchett tries too hard, inserting a joke or pun wherever possible, but here it was just right.
Sean Barrs
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