r e i f i e d

Twelve-year-old Artemis Fowl is the most ingenious criminal mastermind in history. With two trusty sidekicks in tow, he hatches a cunning plot to divest the fairyfolk of their pot of gold. Of course, he isn’t foolish enough to believe in all that “gold at the end of the rainbow” nonsense. Rather, he knows that the only way to separate the little people from their stash is to kidnap one of them and wait for the ransom to arrive. But when the time comes to put his plan into action, he doesn’t count on the appearance of the extrasmall, pointy-eared Captain Holly Short of the LEPrecon (Lower Elements Police Reconnaisance) Unit–and her senior officer, Commander Root, a man (sorry, elf) who will stop at nothing to get her back.

Disappointed. This has been on my bookshelf for so long (along with book 2, 3 ,4) that I forgot who recommended it to me, and where I heard that it was the next Harry Potter. It really freaking is not.

The whole time, I felt like it was trying too hard to be a novel that could both appeal to children and adults, like Harry did. The character of Artemis acted mostly like a maniacal criminal genius, with occasional, awkward glimpses of the child inside Artemis. It even ends with a stereotypical suggestion of innate goodness inside him. BLEH. He didn’t come to life as a character for me - he had no evident inner struggle (just blips of his childish vulnerability), no mature thought (all his genius plans are SO brilliant and SO developed, that they seem rather contrived). He is either a very badly written character, or a child with very severe psychological issues. I found some of it clever, though. The supernatural characters (the aforementioned Captain Holly and Commander Root) were quite admirable as characters - they didn’t have their qualities beaten over the head over and over again to the extent of Artemis’ and I quite appreciated them.

Will I read the Book 2 and 3 and 4? Well, I have them. And I’m not sure if the character was meant to develop over the books, because the reviews are still good for them. So, probably.

When Dorothy triumphed over the Wicked Witch of the West in L. Frank Baum’s classic tale, we heard only her side of the story. But what about her arch-nemesis, the mysterious witch? Where did she come from? How did she become so wicked? And what is the true nature of evil?

Gregory Maguire creates a fantasy world so rich and vivid that we will never look at Oz the same way again. Wicked is about a land where animals talk and strive to be treated like first-class citizens, Munchkinlanders seek the comfort of middle-class stability and the Tin Man becomes a victim of domestic violence. And then there is the little green-skinned girl named Elphaba, who will grow up to be the infamous Wicked Witch of the West, a smart, prickly and misunderstood creature who challenges all our preconceived notions about the nature of good and evil.

Shaena, you would LOVE this one too.

I admit that I have never watched/read the wizard of oz (which is now in my List), so I don’t really have the adequate background to read this book… but it was good! It was difficult to get into because I couldn’t quite remember which one was the Wicked Witch of the East and which was the Wicked Witch of the West, and I had no idea which bits Maguire made up or which ones he took from the original story… And when I purchased it on chapters.ca, there were lots of people who did NOT like it, and I was a bit skeptical…

There’s another review on chapters somewhere for this author who said that his greatest talent is to make these characters human, and I couldn’t agree more wholeheartedly. Elphaba, our main character, so genuinely and conflictedly struggles to identify herself as either good or evil, this is never fully resolved. You never REALLY like her because she doesn’t actually do anything that I can admire a person for, but you do get attached to her - it’s actually quite strange. And, underlying the entire story are question of conspiracy and fate. Very well done and subtle.

I can’t wait until the musical comes to Vancouver. There’s a sequel to this book called Son of the Witch, and I’m definitely going after that, and maybe even his ‘Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister.’ I’d like to read the Wizard of Oz, but that stupid movie that kept showing when we were kids from the 80s has really turned me off of it. Anyone else know which one I’m talking about?

During our lives, we struggle to forget… And forgetting can sometimes be the most creative and life-sustaining thing that we could ever accomplish

Soucouyant, David Chariandy’s dynamically lyrical and poetic first novel captivatingly addresses the very common human desire of wanting to escape from our personal histories, while maintaining those beautiful parts of our memories.

Set in a rickety house, in a “good neighborhood” near the Scarborough Bluffs, the story follows a son’s return to his mother, Adele, who is suffering from dementia. A soucouyant, an evil spirit taken from Caribbean folklore, has symbolically taken her over, as traumatic memories of her past fester within her. The story fittingly progresses in a “stream of consciousness” style, having the story drift from the present tense to the past, where the narrator becomes occupied with becoming one of his mother’s caretakers, in addition to bearing the responsibility of remembering. The narrator recounts the details of his mother’s life from her difficult childhood in Trinidad during World War II through to her immigration to a Canada still rampant with racism and prejudice.

The memories Chariandy imbeds throughout this story are witty, haunting and sometimes quite heart-breaking, but incredibly vivid, painted with such passion and vibrancy. The novel touches on something deeply moving; perhaps, because of the fleeting nature of memory itself and because of our very complex understanding of mortality.

This narrative voice of Chariandy is exceptionally beautiful and I imagine he writes magnificent poetry and short stories. However, as a whole, there was something missing from this novel. You know those novels where you come to the end and you just want to know more about the characters? This novel was sort of like “Oh, that was pretty” and you completely forget the characters. The story he weaves is touching, but maybe the sordid nature of dementia and watching your parents slowly deconstruct in any context and with any narrative is going to be touching. The tone was lovely and he had some very profound quotes, but all in all, the way the story and the metaphors came together was a little “English 101″ (and I’m not just saying that because he’s a prof at SFU).

The memories, ideas and imagery Chariandy writes about are very beautiful, but the novel as a whole was a bit empty. Or is that Chariandy’s ironic method of conveying “dementia”? This novel won a couple awards, and I mean, everyone loves a winner, right? I recommend this book primarily because I can’t figure out if I like it or not and because I have a copy of it I wouldn’t mind passing along. It’s short too, if that helps.

2.75/5

From Publishers Weekly
Though Bushnell’s fourth book opens in familiar Sex and the City territory—a fashion show in Bryant Park where attendees sport Jimmy Choo and Baume & Mercier—the novel quickly takes off for deeper waters. For once, men—how to get them, how to keep them—aren’t Bushnell’s central focus, and her three main characters, all women in their early 40s, are surely her richest to date. Two of the three are married with children; all are at the top of their field. Wendy, a movie executive at the Miramax-like Parador, struggles to finish a potentially Oscar-winning flick while placating her unemployed hubby at home. Nico, editor-in-chief at Bonfire magazine, juggles the Machiavellian politics of her corporate parent-company with the needs of her naïf boy-toy lover and her savvy Columbia professor husband. And while fashion designer Victory Ford may date a Mr. Big-like character, she takes the relationship lightly. Most of her energies are directed to saving her business, which has fallen on hard times since she launched a new, more innovative line. Bushnell herself won’t face the same problem. There’s plenty of the old razzle-dazzle to satisfy her fans. Her characters lunch at Michael’s, go on dates to the Whitney Biennial and shop for ponies at the Palm Beach Polo Club. There’s a make-out session in a bar bathroom, panty ripping on a kitchen countertop and many frank descriptions of urban sexual mores. But Bushnell’s emphasis on female friendship and career ambition may also win her a legion of new readers. Her characters want “the sweet, creamy sensation of power,” and it’s Bushnell’s account of how they got it, and how they keep it, that will really keep readers turning pages. Expect a splashy debut, followed by a long run of sales.

Having just watched the 7-episode first season of Lipstick Jungle, I picked up the original novel. The show and the novel follow each other closely and are about three highly successful careerwomen working, living and thriving in New York. The gender role/battle of the sexes/men are evil themes run throughout -Wendy Healy is the successful careerwoman is our role reversal example as her husband is a “mousewife” - as does the theme of the vicious corporate world -Nico O’Neilly’s plots to oust her boss, the leathery-skinned, artificially tanned Mike Harness, before he does her. The novel’s plot includes everything that you would expect, from affairs with younger men, balancing life as careerwoman and mother, luxury brand name-dropping, jetsetting romances and career-climbing. The whole novel is about clichés surrounding a modern world in which women are rising to positions of power and influence and the obstacles and trials which greet them, all of which, in some form or another, originate from m-e-n. Bushnell packages the novel well, as our heroines are glamorous but not perfect, the children of our heroines are predictably naughty and cute and the men are two-dimentionally deficient and sub-par. Bushnell may have chosen to diminish the development of the male characters in order to emphasize the sisterhood (another theme) of the three female protagonists and thereby, not allowing readers any sympathy for nor any knowledge of the male characters. And as a result, the sisterhood theme comes off as artificial. Lipstick Jungle is a cry to the Girl Power urge in female readers and you can bet that there’s a happy ending if, of course, you happen to wear stilettos and have two X chromosomes and if as a reader, you’re looking for harmless, inconsequential reading on a lazy day.

Stardust is an utterly charming fairy tale in the tradition of The Princess Bride and The Neverending Story. Neil Gaiman, creator of the darkly elegant Sandman comics and author of The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish, tells the story of young Tristran Thorn and his adventures in the land of Faerie. One fateful night, Tristran promises his beloved that he will retrieve a fallen star for her from beyond the Wall that stands between their rural English town (called, appropriately, Wall) and the Faerie realm. No one ever ventures beyond the Wall except to attend an enchanted flea market that is held every nine years (and during which, unbeknownst to him, Tristran was conceived). But Tristran bravely sets out to fetch the fallen star and thus win the hand of his love. His adventures in the magical land will keep you turning pages as fast as you can–he and the star escape evil old witches, deadly clutching trees, goblin press-gangs, and the scheming sons of the dead Lord of Stormhold. The story is by turns thrillingly scary and very funny. You’ll love goofy, earnest Tristran and the talking animals, gnomes, magic trees, and other irresistible denizens of Faerie that he encounters in his travels. Stardust is a perfect read-aloud book, a brand-new fairy tale you’ll want to share with a kid, or maybe hoard for yourself. (If you read it to kids, watch out for a couple of spicy sex bits and one epithet.) –Therese Littleton

I looooooved it. It was so lovely and charming and so magical. Few books nowadays capture my attention like this one did - I couldn’t put it down. It began a bit awkwardly, but rolled along nicely and the plot was very well conceived. Well tied together, in the end. Couldn’t stop smiling. Recommend it to everyone who likes fairy tales. Loved it so much that I can’t tell you if the writing was actually any good. Oh, so so lovely.

5/5 for me. ^^;

From amazon.com:

Atlas knows how it feels to carry the weight of the world; but why, he asks himself, does it have to be carried at all? In Weight — visionary and inventive, yet completely believable and relevant to the questions we ask ourselves every day — Winterson’s skill in turning the familiar on its head to show us a different truth is put to stunning effect.

When I was asked to choose a myth to write about, I realized I had chosen already. The story of Atlas holding up the world was in my mind before the telephone call had ended. If the call had not come, perhaps I would never have written the story, but when the call did come, that story was waiting to be written. Rewritten. The recurring language motif of Weight is “I want to tell the story again.”

My work is full of Cover Versions. I like to take stories we think we know and record them differently. In the retelling comes a new emphasis or bias, and the new arrangement of the key elements demands that fresh material be injected into the existing text.

I usually love re-tellings of mythological stories, especially Greek ones. And I loved the story of Atlas and Heracles and the apples of Hesperides. I didn’t like it modernized. For me, reading this was very ’schooly’ because I ended up comparing it to actual ancient Greek stories - and the modernisation, while well written, held both the personally insightful and the crudely sublime aspects of modern literature. You know what I mean? Atlas was personally insightful and very humane and he really moved me. But, there were very sexual and incestual implications in other bits and it just made me uncomfortable and disappointed in these heroic figures.

Final comments, “Well written, but not for me.”
4/5

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