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Riddles and Rain
Apr. 16th, 2011 05:14 pmI just came back after an incredibly lazy afternoon of stopping in two of my favorite cafes and having lunch and cupcakes while reading a Ngaio Marsh mystery. The weather is grey and its doing a kind of drippy rain where it could rain harder but isn't. Things keep getting knocked off my list of stuff to do, which is an an amazing feeling. By the end of Monday, I'll have one group big paper and presentation and one paper left. I love this feeling and since my class for the Spring/Summer semester is on a Monday, I'll have some more time off as the first day of the new semester is a Tuesday.
Now I'm going to talk about books as I've been reading some fascinating things lately and had some neat finds. The first two are amazing Brian Jacques things, Castaways of the Flying Dutchman, that I've been wanting to read since it came out but just never did. I found it at Dawn Treader's and recently finished it. I enjoyed it, it was pure Jacques, compelling characters, beautiful setting and some neat riddles. One thing I found interesting was I recently reread some George MacDonald and was struck by how Jacques has some of the same types of stories. There's a simplicity to the magical elements and at times almost the feeling of a parable as things are sorted out. And though there is a dark edge, its not as dark as what you get in Poe who doesn't seem as attached to his characters. I'm not sure if that makes sense, because Jacques writes moments that are truly terrifying. In one of the early books, the hero fights this snake in a quarry and it gave me nightmares when I was younger. I remember that I thought of that when I read Chamber of Secrets.
The other book of Jacques I found is this beautiful picture book called The Great Redwall Feast, at the moment I'm debating on giving it to my niece for her birthday or keeping it for myself. Its so hard since its apparently a first edition and a rather long poem, but I haven't found anything else that just seems right for her. Perhaps tomorrow I'll drive out to the Borders or even Barnes and Noble to look for other options and I do have a nice Borders' coupon. I want to buy the Harry Potter DVD and so far Borders hasn't had it in store so that might work too. I'm really enjoying the fact that I don't have enormous amounts of reading to do every weekend. There are still things to do but my time is getting to be my own.
I've also been doing a reread of the Toby Daye series though I've taken a break between the third and fourth book to reread some mysteries. I love going back through this series and seeing how everything fits together. Also the fact that the books improve on rereads is wonderful. I had a feeling they would and I like being right. One of the issues I've had with some urban fantasy series is that they don't stand up to rereadings and since I adore rereading this is kind of important. I think that's why I gave up on The Dresden Files, I had a bad vacation and was stuck with two of the Dresden books to reread and I kept finding flaws. With the Toby Daye books, I just find deeper layers. If you haven't read them I can't praise these books enough.
Now I'm going to talk about books as I've been reading some fascinating things lately and had some neat finds. The first two are amazing Brian Jacques things, Castaways of the Flying Dutchman, that I've been wanting to read since it came out but just never did. I found it at Dawn Treader's and recently finished it. I enjoyed it, it was pure Jacques, compelling characters, beautiful setting and some neat riddles. One thing I found interesting was I recently reread some George MacDonald and was struck by how Jacques has some of the same types of stories. There's a simplicity to the magical elements and at times almost the feeling of a parable as things are sorted out. And though there is a dark edge, its not as dark as what you get in Poe who doesn't seem as attached to his characters. I'm not sure if that makes sense, because Jacques writes moments that are truly terrifying. In one of the early books, the hero fights this snake in a quarry and it gave me nightmares when I was younger. I remember that I thought of that when I read Chamber of Secrets.
The other book of Jacques I found is this beautiful picture book called The Great Redwall Feast, at the moment I'm debating on giving it to my niece for her birthday or keeping it for myself. Its so hard since its apparently a first edition and a rather long poem, but I haven't found anything else that just seems right for her. Perhaps tomorrow I'll drive out to the Borders or even Barnes and Noble to look for other options and I do have a nice Borders' coupon. I want to buy the Harry Potter DVD and so far Borders hasn't had it in store so that might work too. I'm really enjoying the fact that I don't have enormous amounts of reading to do every weekend. There are still things to do but my time is getting to be my own.
I've also been doing a reread of the Toby Daye series though I've taken a break between the third and fourth book to reread some mysteries. I love going back through this series and seeing how everything fits together. Also the fact that the books improve on rereads is wonderful. I had a feeling they would and I like being right. One of the issues I've had with some urban fantasy series is that they don't stand up to rereadings and since I adore rereading this is kind of important. I think that's why I gave up on The Dresden Files, I had a bad vacation and was stuck with two of the Dresden books to reread and I kept finding flaws. With the Toby Daye books, I just find deeper layers. If you haven't read them I can't praise these books enough.
