Willingham, Medina, Leialoha, Hamilton - "Fables: Legends in Exile"

     I was telling one of the guys that I work with about me reading my very first comic (Artemis Fowl) a few weeks ago, and he immediately told me about the  "Fables"comic series.  The whole series is based upon all of the fairy tale characters that we grew up with, but with the twist that their adventures are set in a modern day urban setting rather than the typical, "far far away" or "long long ago" scenario.

     I thought it was so clever that when each of the fabled characters was introduced, they had their own unique (and usually corresponding) character in the "mundane" world.  For instance, Old King Cole was the mayor of "fable town" and Bigby Wolf was the investigating detective throughout the mystery that serves as the center of this story.  Overall it's just terribly witty and clever!

                              Fables Vol. 1: Legends in Exile
  
     The story opens with a murder scene, presumably the murder of Princess Rose Red, sister of Snow White.  Jack, of beanstalk fame, rushes in to alert Bigby of the terrific tragedy.  Detective Wolf begins his investigation of the crime, and in the process of, encounters many of our favorite story-book characters such as: Blackbeard, Cinderella, The Frog Prince, and Prince Charming.  Quite a few other legendary characters make brief cameos throughout the story as well.  Not only are Bigby and Snow (the Director of Operations of Fabletown) investigating suspects to solve the murder, but Princess White is trying at the last minute to pull together the annual "Rememberance Day" celebration.  As in most fairy tales, modern or not, everything finds itself working out to a "Happily ever after"... almost.  "Why almost?" you ask, well you'll just have to read it for yourself to discover the answer to that one. 

     That was a nice little break from real life, now, back to reality.... *sigh*

J.K. Rowling - "Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone"

.     I've finally succumbed to the Harry Potter craze.  Yes, I DO realize I'm like a whole decade behind, but I like to take my time about things.  You know, let other people test out the waters first, and it seems that this is a series I'll be working my way through as well!

     I've obviously not read the whole series, but I've been told that it's a series designed to "grow with it's readers."  The tale begins with ten-year-old Harry living a miserable life with his aunt, uncle, and awful cousin believing that his parents had been killed in a car crash when he was a tiny baby.  This same crash is where his lightning bolt shaped scar is supposed to have originated as well.  On the eve of his eleventh birthday he receives a letter in the mail addressed to him.  This has never happened before!  His aunt and uncle destroy it because they know it contains things that point to Harry's past, and they are of the belief that the past is best left in the past.  It's through this that Harry's true nature as well as pieces of his past are revealed to him.                                                                               Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Book 1)


     Harry is in fact the son of a witch and a wizard and is, in fact, a wizard himself!  The letter that he receives in the beginning of the story is his acceptance letter to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry where his parents met and where, unbeknownst to young Mr. Potter, his name is famous as being the first person to survive an attempted murder by Voldemort.  Through a long, eventful, and magical adventure, Harry finds himself at Hogwarts with his newfound friends Ron and Hermoine.

     Throughout the course of the story Harry, Ron, and Hermione find themselves entangled in a plot to prevent the heist of the very powerful sorcerer's stone by one of the Hogwart's professors.  As the trio works towards their end, they discover that it takes the skills and strengths that each of the three possesses in order to protect the precious stone from falling into the wrong hands.
                                                                      
     The story is cleverly written and highly entertaining to readers of all ages (I'm rapidly nearing the big three-oh...It doesn't look so scary when it's spelled out in letters rather than numbers).  I love how Ms. Rowling has truly created an entire world of her own down to the smallest detail.  She writes in a way that is easily understandable to her "intended audience," but is not so easy that it's beneath it's older readers.  Every time I opened the book, I was (as cliche' as it is...) whisked off to a land far, far away.  I highly recommend it to readers of all ages!

      Now I just need a few weeks of undisturbed reading to get through the rest of the series.

Francine Rivers - "Her Daughter's Dream"

Her Daughter's Dream (Marta's Legacy)

     I've said it before, and I will say it again, and again, and again, and well, you get the point... I LOVE FRANCINE RIVERS' BOOKS!!!  She writes stories with "real life grit," with spiritual truths embedded, with pictures of extravagant love, and with a poignancy that is truly nothing short of a gift.  I was up till almost 3 a.m. finishing this one, because I simply could NOT put it down! 
 
     The story picks right up where the previous book left off.  Hildemara Rose's daughter Carolyn is a small child in the early 1950's who is being raised mostly by Marta, her "Oma" due to Hildie's health problems and hectic work schedule.  This causes a lot of resentment on Hildie's part because it feels like Marta's taking over.  Through the 50's, Carolyn grows up with loving her Oma dearly, while misunderstanding her own mother's feelings and desires.Carolyn graduates high school, and is off to UC Berkley in the mid 1960's.  

     It's at this point in the book where Carolyn experiences a great loss in her life and throws herself headlong into the turbulent Haight-Ashbury drug-leaden counter-culture hippy movement.  She experiences all manners of things from life in a communal house, the summer of love, the loss of her best friend, to living life as a starving homeless woman in golden gate park.  It is during her last few desperate days as a homeless woman, that she has an encounter with Jesus Christ, and her life is truly touched.  Through a series of events (that you will have to discover on your own as you consume this book...) Carolyn ends up back in her parents' home, pregnant with her daughter.

     May Flower Dawn is born in the early 1970's and is primarily raised by Hildemara.  (Just as Carolyn was raised by Marta.)  Throughout high school, Dawn lives the life of a church-going-Christian, but through her relationship with her first love, Jason she comes to the realization that her relationship with Christ is only skin-deep.  Throughout her college years, Dawn delves into knowing God wholeheartedly.  After spending her whole lifetime being pulled from both sides by the two women she loves most, (as well as growing us with a misconception of her own mother's sentiments towards her) and experiencing her own life struggles, Dawn seeks to act as a bridge between Carolyn and Hildie and their tempestuous relationship.     

      There are so many different story lines and plot points throughout this two-book series, it kinda' makes my head spin, but each different story is so well thought out, delicately told, and not to mention, is beautifully woven throughout the fabric of the whole story, it's worth the read.  Undoubtedly!  Just as in the first book, the delicate subject of the mother-daughter relationship is depicted in a difficult-to-read way.  It's hard, as the reader, to know just how each character really feels, but to see them all misconstrue and misinterpret each others' responses and intentions toward one another.  I really like the way that Francine was able to use the actual history of the US as part of the context of the novel that helped to shape each of her characters in a very tangible way.  It would not have the same depth without it.  This saga is an amazing work of art that should be read by women everywhere! 


     I hope that you are not confused after reading this post!  I have to say that is was very difficult for me to not give the heavily layered and detailed story away and still put together a coherent review.  My suggestion...read the book for yourself! 


Awaiting the next Francine Rivers book with bated breath...
    

Eoin Colfer - "Artemis Fowl The Arctic Incident"

    Can I just admit that in my next life, I too want to be a super wealthy, brainiac in Ireland complete with unlimited resources, a connection to fairy-folk, and an live in a fantastical universe?  One can dream....  I think I liked this book even better than the first installment.  (It was a nice refresher to read the comic of the first book before I read this novel; it had been a while since I read the original "Artemis Fowl" novel.)

     In this book, Artemis discovers the whereabouts of his MIA father and in a roundabout way, enlists the help of the fairy LEPrecon unit that he bested in the last book.   Out of nowhere, Artemis receives word that his father is alive and being ransomed by the Russian mafiya.  About the same time, our underground characters discover human-made batteries are being smuggled in by goblins.  The LEP force needs to find out who the above ground source is, and why they are needed by the goblins.  After their previous encounter with Artemis and his entourage, the LEP reason that he is a primary suspect.  What ensues is an extremely creative and highly entertaining story of mutual mistrust as well as mutual need for one another's resources. 

     Mr. Colfer has a unique wit about his characters and his writing, and is incredibly creative in his story-line and settings.  He also does a great job of using his story to make a statement about how we as humans have lost some respect for the planet.  He shows it in the contrast between the underground fairy network and the above ground "mud men" territory.  It's always good to read an author that makes a positive statement through their work, without letting it get in the way of the story, and who also uses it to actually enhance the story itself. 

     Just like in the last book, there is an encoded message along the bottom of the pages for the reader to crack and discover.  Genius, really!  I believe the code is only a part of this particular book's first edition, or maybe it's only in the non-US release.  I'm not sure which, but I had to do a little research and find a Puffin published book from England.  Call me a nerd, I'm okay with that. 

Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident

     I hope you choose to join Artemis, Butler, Holly Short, and the rest of the gang for this enthralling episode.  Until next time, I bid you, "Adieu."

Eoin Colfer, Andrew Donkin, Giovanni Rigano, Paolo Lamanna - "Artemis Fowl, The Graphic Novel"

     I've just read my very first graphic novel.  I feel so "with it."  I'm in the midst of reading "The Arctic Incident," and it's been a while since I read the first book in this delightful series.  The details of the first novel were a bit fuzzy; I've slept since then....  I was chatting with my hubby in his office, and my eye was drawn to this book.  I know he has a small collection of graphic novels and comics, so I was pleasantly surprised to find one that appealed to me, and was extremely relevant to my current predicament of pre-senior moments and memory loss. 
                                                                                                                                                                  Artemis Fowl: The Graphic Novel

    It only took me about and hour or two to read through it, and I must say it was pretty good.  It was easy to follow; it rehashed the story perfectly (from what my feeble mind can recall), was imaginatively illustrated, and was very entertaining.  I guess that's what one looks for in a graphic novel???  At least that's what I look for...  I'm not much of a connoisseur, but what more could you want?  The story introduces, 12-year-old criminal mastermind, Artemis Fowl.  He goal is to restore his family's VAST fortune by kid-napping and ransoming a fairy.  Genius!  (If only it were that easy...)  Mr. Colfer and friends do a wonderful job of constructing and bringing-to-life a quirky cast of characters and an entertaining plot. 

     Despite me liking the book so much, I don't know that I'll be continuing to read many comics/graphic novels.   The reason is the same one I have for not usually watching movies based on the books that I've read... I like to imagine the scenery, characters, actions, etc that are penned in books on my own.  Every person's mind constructs the mental images in their own way.  When books are illustrated or made into movies, it puts a defined "picture" of events, characters, scenery, etc into your mind.  Sometimes those images match up with your own, and sometimes they don't.  Either way, I prefer to enjoy my own little constructs rather than have them defined by another.  I just like the ambiguity, I think, but again, it's just my own opinion. 

     If you do decide to embark upon this pictorial adventure "down the rabbit hole" with Artemis and his crew, I hope you enjoy it!

Scarlett Thomas - "Going Out"

   What a unique premise for a book...  It SOUNDED interesting... Ok, I got conned!  I can admit that, I was suckered.  How, you ask?  My old roommate cleaned out her bookcase and handed over the goods.  She usually has amazing taste, so I accepted her offerings with gusto.  I have made my way through the box over the years and have generally enjoyed her taste in literature, but not so much this book.  I doubt she even finished reading it (which is probably why it was in the "give away box" now that I think about it.

     The book is primarily about Luke and Julie.  Luke is suffering from a very rare disease/allergy to sunlight that keeps him from being able to be exposed to any sunlight.  Julie is a mathematical genius, but is scared of everything from planes falling out of the sky and onto her to ingesting LSD that had been slipped into prepared foods by an angry food processing employee.  Her brilliant mind allows her to calculate probabilities for just about anything, and despite the low probabilities of some of these things happening to her, she is still afraid.  Sounds interesting right? (if in no other way than the "train wreck magnetism" of it all )

Going Out

     So long story short, Luke is basically trapped at home his entire life due to his illness with no real contact with the outside world with the exception of TV, books, Julie, and a limited number of friends from the neighborhood.  Julie is "trapped" in her own way as well, although it's more emotional/mental than physical.  To help balance the cast of characters out a little, there are quite a few "free spirits" thrown in for good measure, namely Charlotte; I love how they refer to her "type" as hippies throughout the book.   While in the end, Julie and Luke find freedom in one sense or another, it was not achieved in what I found to be a gratifying way.  What I mean by that, is that when Luke finally reaches the man claiming to heal his condition, it was merely an existential conversation that took place.  It may be that I'm just too dense to follow the conversation, or that I just didn't like it because it wasn't what I was expecting.  Who knows for sure??? 

     I do have to say, that although I didn't really enjoy the book, I was fascinated by how intelligent Julie was in regards to numbers, math, and mathematical theories.  That shows me that Ms. Thomas either knows something about math, or at least really knows how to write intelligently regarding math.  It was also interesting to see how she constructed a character who has no experience in the outside world other than basically TV.  It was a little extreme just how out of touch Luke was though.  For example, he got lost in an elevator and a stair well in a hotel, and truly had no grid for how they work or how to use them.  I find that a little bit of a strech, but then again, maybe that's actually how it would be if you never left your house. 

     Now... on to tackle something less existential and more Artemis Fowl, dum, da, dah, dum, DUM!!!!!