While I was reading Doctor Sleep I was bouncing back and forth between my memories of the novel, written by Stephen King in 1977, and the movie adaptation by director Stanley Kubrick, from 1980. I suspect King may have had both in his mind as well. Although it is well-documented that King didn’t love the film version, Jack Nicholson’s portrayal of Jack Torrance was indelible, as were Shelley Duvall as his wife Wendy and the Overlook Hotel itself. The sins of the father will play out in his […]
Hogwarts … You Can’t Go Home Again?
The kid and I recently read Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Hmmm … I don’t know what to say. I guess I can say that my daughter liked it better than I did. Initially it was wonderful to see favorite characters again — Harry, Ron, Hermione especially. There are even appearances by some folks you might not expect. I won’t spoil it. But … I just didn’t buy it. This was not who I imagined Harry, Ron, Hermione to be as adults. There are so […]
Beware Intimate Objects Which Speak
The Creature in the Case is a novella set in Garth Nix’s Old Kingdom novels. It takes place after the events of Abhorsen, and you would probably benefit from not reading it out of order. If you’re at all interested in fantasy and you haven’t read these books, you definitely should. They remain one of the more innovative fantasies out there right now. Yes, even tough they’re technically YA novels. Honestly, for my money, Nix is one of the more inventive writers in fantasy and […]
Speak the Truth, Keep no Secrets
The Truth-Teller’s Tale is the second book in Sharon Shinn’s Safe-Keeper series. I enjoyed this one more then I did the first one, Shinn’s books are just comfortable to read. What they are not is particularly memorable. It’s Monday, I read this on Friday and most of the details are slipping out of my memory. This book is set about 15 years after the events of the first one, and it can definitely be read as a stand alone novel. Adele and Eleda are twins growing […]
Also, not enough ponies.
Murder of Crows picks up a couple of days after Written in Red. The Lakeside courtyard is still dealing with the fallout from the whole Asia Crane incident and the resulting storm that could have killed all the humans in the city, but didn’t thanks to our heroine Meg’s calming influence. Now, the problem that only slightly showed itself in book one, the two drugs Gone Over Wolf and Feel Good, are becoming more of an issue, as is the Humans First and Last movement, […]
A little magic, a little nostalgia
I have read all seven of the Harry Potter books and seen all of the movies (although I think I slept through most of the last movie). So of course I was going to read the new Harry Potter book…eventually. I just didn’t think I would get to it so quickly. My book club decided that we had to read it immediately. So I found myself picking up Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (2016) by J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany, and Jack Thorne. I’ve fallen a […]