Posted by: Fence in Books
Author: Charles De Lint
ISBN: 0330339591 DDC: 813.54
Once Upon a Time Challenge
LibraryThing : More reviews
Katherine Mulley had been dead for five years and two months, the morning Isabelle received the letter from her.
I’ve read a few of De Lint’s books in recent years (and how old does typing that make me feel) but I think this may be my favourite so far. It tells the story of Isabelle Copley, an artist who has, in many ways, retreated from the world to live in isolation on an island, and the beings her paintings breathe life into. The story takes place over twenty years, and a lot is told through flashbacks, as well as the odd journal entry. The majority of the story we see through Isabelle’s eyes (though not in first person), but there are few others who have bits and pieces to tell us as well. The use of flashbacks and these different narrators means that the reader is never sure what happened in the past. Important events seem so different depending on the character, but it never gets so frustrating that I wanted the author to have used a different story-telling device.
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Posted by: Fence in Books
A Modern Tale of Faerie
Author: Holly Black
ISBN: 0689860420 DDC: 813.6
Read for the Once Upon A Time challenge.
See also: LibraryThing ; About Holly Black ; Stainless Steel Droppings ; Book~Adorer ; The page wanderer
Other OUAT challangees: bottle of shine ; Stephanie’s books ; Cafe Shree
Kaye took another drag on her cigarette and dropped it into her mother’s beer bottle
Our hero, Kaye, has always seen faeries and their ilk. Her mother dismisses these characters as imaginary friends and Kaye has always accepted her weirdness makes her difference from other people her own age. But when she moves back home and meets up with her old friends she realises just how different she is from her few friends.
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Posted by: Fence in Books
Author: Graham Joyce
ISBN: 1857983424 DDC: 823.914
Read for the Once Upon A Time Challenge
See also: LibraryThing ; Author’s Site ; Scooter Chronicles ; SF site ; Tier 3000
Clive was on the far side of the green pond, torturing a king-crested newt.
I’ve read a few Graham Joyce books at this stage; this one by him won the British fantasy award so I was hoping for good things. It tells the story of Sam, a young boy growing up in 1960s England, who one night is visited by the tooth fairy, an entity that is not the insect sized woman with wings that you might expect. Instead he or she changes depending on circumstances. Sometimes male, sometimes female, sometimes an androgynous figure, but always unsettling and unwelcome in Sam’s life.
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Posted by: Fence in Books
Author: Elizabeth Cook
ISBN: 0413771393 DDC: 813.54
Read for the Once Upon a Time Challenge
See also: LibraryThing ; John Sledge ; Brief author bio
Two rivers. Flowing in contrary directions.
Two layers of water, each moving steadily, separate and self-possessed.
When I was thinking of books to read for the myth section of Carl’s challenge I did consider the Iliad, and the Odyssey too, so when I was wandering around the library and stumbled across this book it seemed perfect. And I’m so glad I picked it up; it makes for a really good read.
This is a very poetic novel. And more than a tad post-modern. But don’t be put off, it is beautifully told. Or maybe told is the wrong word. Cook doesn’t really attempt to tell any story, rather she gives us flashes of scenes, hints at this and that, spartan[1] depictions of events and people. It works so well.
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Linknotes:
- see what I did there? ↩
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Posted by: Fence in Books
Author: Joseph Campbell
ISBN: 0586085718 DDC: 291.13
See also: LibraryThing ;
Read for Once Upon a Time Challenge (mark II)
Whether we listen with aloof amusement to the dreamlike mumbo jumbo of some red-eyed with doctor of the Congo, or read with cultivated rapture thin translations from the sonnets of the mystic Lao-tse; now and again crack the hard nutshell of an argument of Aquinas, or catch suddenly the shining meaning of a bizarre Eskimo fairy tale: it will be always the one, shape-shifting yet marvellously constant story that we find. together with a challengingly persistent suggestion of more remaining to be experiences than will ever be known or told.
I think maybe I’m just not in the mood for studious type books. At least, that’s the excuse I’m making for not really enjoying this book. Then again it may simply be that we’re all aware of these great themes that so many myths and fictions retell over and over again. Back in 1949 it was all original and new and so of course deserved all that attention. Now? Well the writing style is a little on the ponderous side and I think I’ve read most of these arguments before.
That being said, I’m still glad I read it. I simply don’t have a lot to say about it.
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Posted by: Fence in Books
A good while ago Carl launched his second Once Upon a Time reading challenge. And I think I’ve finally made my decision and a going to go with the second option:
Quest the Second
Read at least one book from each of the four categories. In this quest you will be reading 4 books total: one fantasy, one folklore, one fairy tale, and one mythology.
- Fantasy - Memory and Dream by Charles de Lint, and it turns out that this is the first in the Newford series, which is nice.
- Folklore - The Tooth Fairy by Graham Joyce. The tooth fairy counts as a character from folklore right?
- Fairy Tale - Tithe by Holly Black. It is subtitled a modern faerie tale so it must fit.
- Mythology - this one I have yet to decide on. I’ve one or two in mind, but I’m not certain exactly what I’ll be reading.
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Posted by: Fence in Books
I’m still not totally on board with the new Wordpress layout. I think long term it’ll turn out to be handy, but at the moment I’m still getting used to it.
I’m also still thinking about what to read for this year’s Once Upon a Time Challenge. Carl’s deadline for participating isn’t til Midsummer’s Eve, so i have a bit of time left, and a fair few books I think’ll fit sitting on the “I really should start reading” pile. But I’ve also almost finished two other books, final few chapters yet I can’t seem to get motivated enough to pick them up, which is surprising, as one[1] is very very good.
As you can see I’ve changed the theme, but I’m not sure if it’ll stay for long. I may see about altering the header image. Not hugely, but a tad. We’ll see.
Anything else? Erm… not really so I’m off now.
Linknotes:
- The Assassination of Jesse James by the coward Robert Ford ↩
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