"Fingersmith" by Sarah Waters [book]

FINGERSMITH by Sarah Waters

Gosh, it's been a long time since I last came across a book I could not put down. This engaging novel reads like a part-mystery, part-coming-of-age story that turns out to be somewhat convoluted romance about half-way through. Oh, and the plot is very much Greek tragedy. Set in Victorian England with a memorable cast of characters, the writing reminds me a bit of Margaret Atwood meets Jeanette Winterson.

It was first recommended to me by my English teacher in Year 12, and I think I glanced over it once in the bookstore, but for some reason it didn't engage me. Am very glad I gave it another go, though. There be madhouse, which takes me back to my Extended Essay in English for the IB. Normally I don't like switching character POVs, but Powers does it to good effect, and the twisty plot kind of requires it. I enjoyed Maude a bit more than Susan, perhaps because I could identify with her situation.

Highly recommend this, and I hear that Powers' other books are excellent also.

"Nim's Island" [movie]

NIM'S ISLAND
Directors: Jennifer Flackett, Mark Levin
Writers: Joseph Kwong, Paula Mazur, Jennifer Flackett, Mark Levin
Production Company: Film Farm, Walden Media

Things that made Mars happy:

• The animation at the beginning and end were excellent. Sort of like Monty Python's Gillianimation, but for kids.
• Gerard Butler was funny and ruggedly dashing. Even if he was only an imaginary figure.
• The stork.
• Pro-environment agenda FTW!

Things that made Mars hide:

• The 9375802349 times Nim reiterates her need to protect the island.
• Australians running away from flying lizards, and mistaking them for dragons. I mean, have you seen the kinds of critters you get Down Under?
• Bad Guys a la Caricatures

Thing is, I wonder if the points I dislike about the movie are more because of me being an old cynical gecko watching a movie for kids. I did enjoy a good portion of it; Jodie Foster was very amusing and Abigail Breslin was sweet. I loved the animals, and the story-like format at the beginning was brilliant. But yeah, looks like Peter Pan won't be coming by anymore.

That said, I also don't think that a movie/TV show/book should be dumbed down just because the target audience is children and families.

Recommended for: Light, casual viewing and semi-cheap laughs.
Warning: Watch out for the cheeze. It'll dribble all over you.

"Candide" by Voltaire [book]

CANDIDE by Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
Translation by Burton Raffel, Yale University Press

One of the most distinctively unique pieces of literature I've ever read, this French satirical novella is a response out of the Enlightenment period to the indoctrination of the people by the church and state, and particularly to Leibnizian Optimism. The central character is continuously disillusioned by the hardships and obstacles he experiences, and sets out trying to prove the philosophy of the world being the "best of all possible things" by finding one person who's life story supports it. The style is partly picaresque, after the popular romance and adventure stories in European culture, which Voltaire's satire also addresses by reversing the normal archetypes and highlighting the unrealistic and superficial nature of the characters based on them.

A thought-provoking and memorable book, and quite short, though full of action. The narrative seems to consist almost purely of cause and consequence. At first, the reader may be taken aback by the swift changes in scene and circumstance, hardly allowing time for thought (which may have been the author's intention), but the prose soon transcends the details in a blur of half-remembered names. The ending feels like there's a morale in there somewhere, but is rather open-ended in what exactly the message of this morale could be.

Torchwood Season Two Premiere in....

Um. One hour?

The forums have quietened down, except for the faithful core who are inseparable from the internet anyway will linger to the very last minute. There is a feeling that I might liken to a pre-game tension, if I actually watched games. Even those of us who are not in the UK are a bit subdued, by which I mean that we are very quietly doing the internet equivalent of bouncing off walls in each other's blogs and online journals.

Pretty soon, the fandom will go quiet. And though we who are left to twiddle our thumbs in wait may grumble and throw envious looks, the British fans have truly waited a painfully long time for this day, so we don't begrudge them the chance to see it first. Much.

The ride begins again tonight!

"The Wee Free Men" by Terry Pratchett [book]

THE WEE FREE MEN
by Terry Pratchett

The wonderful thing about Terry Pratchett is that even when he writes a book intended for young readers, he doesn't patronize with simplified vocabulary or formulaic plots. The Discworld came into being as a parody of conventional fantasy literature, and this carries right into the story of nine-year-old Tiffany.

After all, fairy tales are just another form of fantasy.

From the start, I was enchanted by Tiffany Aching. An exceedingly sensible girl who has a way with cheese, Tiffany deals with a monster that jumps out at her from a stream by going at it with her mother's frying pan. She wants to know why the handsome prince and beautiful princess in the stories are what it says they are. She is able to identify a witch on sight, though perhaps the talking toad was a bit of a clue. Above all, she wants to find Granny Aching.

Great read, had me in tears the first time, and now I reread it at least once every year. It's also where I first came across the word "susurrus". There's also a cameo by certain characters from the main Discworld novels. Fits in best with the Witches' storyline, but the character of Tiffany reminds me a lot of Susan from the Death storyline. Highly recommended to readers of all ages, and especially to fans of Pratchett's other works.

2K8, or so my countrymen call it

Hello 2008! You look a mighty lot like 2007, but it's only been a week. How time marches on. Friends of mine will be finishing their final stint at university in the coming months, at least in the undergraduate level.

On the other hand, the start of the second season of Torchwood next week has hyped up branches of the Doctor Who Forum and LiveJournal communities to an almost amusing degree. But those are fandom matters, which I have resolved to try and keep out of this blog, at least.

Speaking of which... I still haven't decided what to do with this blog. Certainly not something that needs constant updating.

Starting with the easy, usual choices- books. Movies are good, too, though dear RC is doing a stellar job with those in her blog, because your life isn't interesting. Yes, what just passed before your eyes was a not-so-subtle pimp of her blog. Because a healthy regimen of sarcasm is good for the intellectual soul, don't you know?

So we'll start with books. Maybe food? Not necessarily recipes, but new dishes or eating establishments, perhaps the odd kitchen experiment. Poetry? Interesting geography? What about umbrellas?

We'll go with the books and see what follows on from there. I also want to try completing the 50 books challenge over at LJ (which involves, of course, reading 50 books, in the space of 1 year) so this'll be hitting humanely accosting two birds with one stone. First up will be a reread... Wee Free Men, by Terry Pratchett.

One Month Later...

I am back.



If you're wondering what NANOWRIMO is, I made an earlier post about it that has more information. Alternatively, feel free to visit the official website -- http://www.nanowrimo.org

What it really means though, is this:
30 days of living, breathing, eating, prodding, twisting, and hallucinating a work of original fiction. Friends being put on hold in favor of another hour on the keyboard. Family members spewing on about misplaced priorities. Copious amounts of caffeine. Writing on anything within reach that stands still long enough. Walking around with a mad, sleep-deprived gleam in the eyes while muttering dialogue.

Ah, sheer bliss.

This year, I hit 50,117 words on day 28. Took a little longer than last year, but still pretty good for somebody who had never before gone beyond the 10k mark on a piece of original fiction.

And now it's back to the real world.

I really need to figure out what to put on this blog.