The Graveyard Book

This was another book I practically inhaled. But with a Neil Gaiman work, it's actually impossible to do that because you always end up entranced. So you slow down to take in the scenery. In this case, a beautiful, slightly creepy graveyard.

Bod is the main character in the book and he has been given the Freedom of the Graveyard when two resident ghosts, and a guardian, took him in when he was a baby. His family had just been killed by a mysterious assassin and Bod had the good fortune to toddle out of the house on his own and wind up in the graveyard. He reminded me of the Luck Child at this part of the story.

Hi grows up learning about Fading, Haunting, opening Ghoul gates, and in general being a better person than your average child would be. He gets into one adventure after the other, usually because he is also quite stubborn and very curious -- a very lethal mix.

His last adventure is when he leaves the grave finally. But even then, I would like to read more about this extraordinary boy called Nobody Owens.

Mockingjay

This is way overdue.

I waited months on end for the final book in the trilogy, and when Mockingjay was finally released, one would expect me to have posted my reaction right away.

So where was I?

Or, some would wonder, was the book THAT bad?

To answer the second question first, no, the book was worth the wait. But I would have to say that it was not as likable as the first two books were. In the first few chapters of Mockingjay, you get the feeling that something is being set-up and developed. I re-read Hunger Games and Catching Fire to put my finger on why I felt the beginning of Mockingjay dragged. Well, I found out that there were some twists in the plot that needed time to stew. My advise to those who would read the book is to consider it in the light of the entire trilogy. It is more effective and less heartbreaking this way.

My only beef here is that Peeta so much less likable. It was as though Suzanne Collins drew up this perfect hero, and then just when all you ever wanted was to have someone like Peeta in your life, she tears him all apart. Suzanne redeems him in the end, but then you know that he isn't perfect anymore.

But I guess that is the exact point of Suzanne Collins. No one who has to go through what Katniss and Peeta and the rest of the characters did could end up alright. At best, you could have Haymitch. In fact, you could even call him the best-balanced mentally of the lot. The worse you could have is Annie, broken and mad, but redeemed in the end with a beautiful baby.

And I guess, that's the second point: no matter how life batters you, there is still some hope in the end, a point of redemption, a dandelion that lets you know that rebirth is possible.

And away we go!

Talk about getting what you wished for.

Early this year, I had been moping around and generally feeling sorry for myself for missing out on travelling. Everyone I knew seemed to be bound for one trip or another. But me, I was stuck in my city! To be honest, though, it wasn't as bad as that because B and I would often be visiting his parents 5 cities away. Actually, I rarely spent an entire weekend at our house for several weeks early this year because of school.

On with my narrative. I had just realized that as of last week, I had officially become a jetsetter of sorts. Two projects had me visit in quick succession Cebu, Bicol, Baguio, Bataan, Batangas, Tagaytay, Cavite, Pampanga, Iloilo and Davao. B even managed to come to Iloilo with me. That's another story.

Ok, since pining was so effective, next time I do it, I'll pine for my very own beautiful mountain house with a large garden full of gorgeous flowers and fruit-laden shrubs and trees and tons of money so that I could afford to maintain it and pay for real estate taxes.

I had been hopping in and out of planes so much recently that B thought I was off to some remote location again when I reminded him that he was fetching me tomorrow.

I have to admit: I LOVE travelling.

Finally!

What a week this was! First, Mockingjay, then Linger.

I'm in withdrawal now, though, because I inhaled both and am now without any books to read.

I'll be writing longer reviews soon but for now I'd like to share my two newest babies :-)

Mockingly, mockingly/ August is TOO far away

I re-read HUNGER GAMES, and now I can't wait to get my hands on MOCKINGJAY which is due for release on August 2010.

And to add to the unbearable waiting, I stumbled on the cover design which offers very little in the way of what's going to happen.
Still, I know what to look for know when I head out to the bookstores in August.

Back into the Labyrinth

Way back in high school, I fell in love with Jareth. I would stare at the moon and imagine a snowy white owl swooping onto my window ledge, transforming into this mysterious, gorgeously garbed and breathtakingly handsome king who would offer me the world if only I loved him. *Swoon*

What girl could resist? Of course, he was the Goblin King with frightful looking minions, but that was just a trifling matter to me then.

Needless to say, Jim Henson' LABYRINTH became the pixie dust that transformed my mundane life into something so much more exciting. My friends and I obsessed about getting the Sarah look: long straight hair with the bangs clipped to the side, a long flowing shirt, vest, slim jeans, flat brown shoes, and a fancy charm bracelet. A trip to the National Library near Intramuros became a make-believe trek through the labyrinth facing "dangers unknown and hardships unnumbered". Did I mention that we memorized the movie lines and song lyrics? We also became die-hard David Bowie fans because to us he was and will forever be Jareth.

LABYRINTH really meant --mean-- so much to me that when I found the manga, BACK INTO THE LABYRINTH, continuing the story, I had no compunctions at all (maybe a little; I am, after all, an OC person) about buying it, budget be damned.

However, it was a purchase that I am now regretting. The storyline is too derivative, and too obviously that. It was liberally laced with Harry Potter devices; the main character, Toby -- the baby in the movie -- is now inexplicably the Goblin King's heir in the story. He is weakly written and so unlikeable. I also just absolutely hated it that they worked certain scenes and narrative devices from the movie into it. I didn't need to be reminded every page or so that this was the sequel to the movie! For instance, they showed the statue of Hoggle taking a leak at the entrance of the labyrinth, echoing the movie. There are also repeated lines of "through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered, etc." Thing is, this isn't Sarah' story anymore. I wish it were.

The beauty of LABYRINTH for me was its imagination and the world of what-ifs it opened. This manga showed me nothing but been-there, done-that scenes instead.

One saving grace, though, is that it reminded me of why Howl's character (Howl's Moving Castle) completely enchanted me. Howl could have been a younger Jareth, or his younger brother.

It just occured to me, though, right now that they have turned Jareth in the manga into a flamboyant, and unscrupulous version of Howl in this manga. Grrr.

I wish that this could've been written better if only to do justice to Jim Henson's vision and genius.

Lazy Day-sies

As the title implies, I'm somewhat at a loss at what to do. Make that, too lethargic to do anything. Plus, a slight migraine has completely ruined any appetite to gallivant outside.

It's a holiday today, a welcome treat following so closely on the heels of the Holy Week. I've been looking forward to this day for some R&R, but you know what they say about all the best-laid plans, and all that.

Howl's Moving Castle (Dianna Wynne Jones) beckons but I'm adamantly searching online for re-upholsters in the neighborhood. We are woefully out of chairs. B has managed to maul all but 2 of our dining chairs (further proof of a need to diet :-) ). The one he didn't wreck, my cousin C took the honor of doing it in on his first visit to the house. I'm using the remaining chair in my study area.

I had wanted to have two storage benches customized for the dining area, but the price quotation of the furniture maker we asked last week had me gaping in incredulity. So right now I'm weighing the relative merits of just having my poor dining chairs re-upholstered.

Later, maybe I'll have time to travel with Sophie in her adventures with Howl. Much later, I'll go back to reading Fruits Basket online, the first manga I will ever read. I was tempted to read the Inuyasha manga, but then the anime is so much fun. I'm in withdrawal though because the series ended just last week.

I'll be having a book fair at the office come Monday and I can't wait to get my hands on Hunger Games and Catching Fire (Suzanne Collins). I've read both in B's iPod but I am a confessed book fetishist: I'd rather be holding a book than reading the story from an eBook gadget. B said, though, that our local bookstore has an ongoing promotion, and why not just check it out if all I wanted were discounts? Speaking of Hunger Games, both of us are doing a countdown to the release date of Mockingjay, which is coming out this August. Proof of our excitement: B was insisting last week that the books were in the local warehouses already because how then could our bookstore have a price for it already when it's just April?

Might try to read Maggie Stiefvater's Shiver next. I'm dragging my feet though because I've had my fill already of werewolves and vampires. But Shiver's list of awards is making me curious about it.

That's it for now.