Practical Demonkeeping was Christopher Moore’s debut novel, and I’ve had my copy for approximately 20 years. I have a vivid memory of picking it out at this awesome discount bookstore by our house and convincing my mother to let me buy it. I was maybe 11. It was way too adult for me. But I loved it at the time, and have reread it several times since. I just found out that Moore wrote TWO sequels to it (!!) and when I recently found one at Half […]
Revisiting a foggily-remembered classic
Does it count as a reread if you don’t remember anything about the books? These have been on my shelf for years, but I remembered nothing but dragons. Aerin is a princess, but not the Disney variety. Her mother was a commoner and a witch, and the people of her father’s kingdom don’t like her much. She keeps to herself, feeling alone and useless, until one day she decides to take fate into her own hands and rides off to become a dragon hunter. She […]
Yer a Parseltongue Harry!
It’s been a pretty long time since I’ve seen Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (it’s my husbands least favorite so we tend to start our marathons at Azkaban) and even longer since I’ve read the book (like, I dunno 15 years…) So this journey was a pleasant surprise. After a miserable summer with the Dursley family, and despite an ominous warning from Dobby the house elf, Harry Potter finds himself back at Hogwarts. Shortly after arriving there are attacks on several students born to non […]
Hell is Empty and All the Devils Are Here
When I first heard of Hogarth’s Shakespeare Series, modern retellings of various Shakespeare plays by various novelists, I was mildly intrigued by the concept. When I first realized that my favorite Shakespeare, The Tempest, was being reinterpreted by Margaret Atwood, I immediately added it to my must-read list….and promptly forgot about it for a couple of months while I waited for it to arrive from the long queue at the library. But at last, it arrived and was promptly devoured within 3 days of reading. […]
If Neil Gaiman reads it, you can get used to any name
I’m fairly sure I saw this movie, but I can’t remember it for the life of me. So I picked up the audiobook. (Neil Gaiman, why must you insist on reading your audiobooks softly? Talk louder!) Our protagonist, Tristram Thorn, doesn’t show up for a while. We see his origins first, and discover how he came to be. Growing up in an extremely small and isolated town, he is understandably a bit naive. He does take direction and advice well, though. Except in […]
And it was all going so well…
This is a short story/YA book written by Neil Gaiman, and performed by a full cast in the audiobook. I suppose we get a full cast in exchange for the illustrations we do not get to see. It is an extended and alternate take on Sleeping Beauty, as you may have guessed. And if you know Neil Gaiman, you may have also guessed that nothing is straightforward here. The story seems straightforward enough – the sleeping curse on the kingdom is spreading, and Snow White, the queen […]