Book Reviews: That Salty Air & The Sleeper and the Spindle

That Salty Air by Tim Sievert

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This graphic novel/novella made me feel uncomfortable. Maybe because, like the lead character, I am still coming to terms with my own issues on dealing with events beyond my control. What I liked about the novella is the presence of a loved one who is willing to stick around no matter what happens.



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The Sleeper and the Spindle by Neil Gaiman

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


The plot twist took me by surprise. Gaiman's handling of language is beautiful, as always. His trademark bending of old tales to combine and reconstruct new ones never cease to amaze.



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Reading Inventory: First Quarter of 2013

My, how fast time flies. It's March now and soon, the second quarter of 2013 will begin. In the midst of all the busy-ness, I ask myself how my reading life has been the past two months.

I have read the following, so far:

The Sandman Vol. 1: Preludes and Nocturnes by Neil Gaiman - Gaiman combines the scary and the charming. What a mix!

The Best of Chico, Delamar and Gino: The Morning Rush, Top Ten Vol. 2 - My first Filipiniana for the year. It's as hilarious as the first one. I wish there will be a third volume.

The Magicians by Lev Grossman - I agree with the reviews. This is Harry Potter for adults.

Peaches for Father Francis by Joanne Harris - This book is comfort food for the mind.

Reading now: The Hobbit and Philosophy: For when you've lost your dwarves, your wizard and your way, edited by Gregory Basham and Eric Bronson.

On my reading list:

The Sandman Paper, edited by Joe Sanders
Love is a UFO by Ken Spillman
NW by Zadie Smith
Banana Heart Summer by Merlinda Bobis
The Silmarillon by JRR Tolkien

Library Succes Stories

This is part one of the paper I read during the ASDAL Conference's special session for Adventist school librarians.

My School Library Experience

I got my first library card when I was in grade one. I was only six years old then. Our library at that time looked like a cave with its walls painted white. There were books on display and we were allowed to choose books we can borrow for a period of time. The librarian, Ms. Oliva, was a plump lady with a cute little smile. On that first visit, she gave a library orientation that focused on the expected behavior at the library. She and my grade one class adviser wrote the title of books on the library card. My mother, who is a librarian, borrowed books for me from the school library where she worked. As I grew up, my reading choices changed and developed too.

These days, to borrow books from the school library I use my ID number which is logged in by default in the library database. To read online journals and encyclopedia articles, I use a username and password. At home, I log in the Internet and, clicking the Bookmark button of my web browser, open the school library's OPAC for instant searching of books and resources.

As a teenager, I read the Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, Sweet Dreams Romance Series, Judy Blume, Cynthia Voight, Madeline L'Engle and Ursula Le Guinn. My kids, age 15 and 11 years old respectively, read graphic novels, the Harry Potter series, Capt. Underpants, John Green, Neil Gaiman, and yes, Twilight. Sigh. To keep up with my high school students I read what they read, and more! A good number of them could not understand the book format, so we acquired three Kindles. This coming school year, we begin developing our ebook collection.

In the 80s and well into the early 90's I owned a Sony walkman and collected audio tapes. Two years ago, I bought myself an iPod and my eldest taught me how to search for free mp3 downloads online. I could use the sync and Bluetooth features of my iPod to transfer audio and video files from one gadget to the other.

A lot has changed since the day I received my first library card. But I remain a reader, a user and consumer of information who seek to derive meaning and construct knowledge from the constant flux of all these information.

Libraries Change Lives: A Tale of Two Writers

Candy Gourlay, an award winning writer and journalist based in the UK, wrote with fondness in her blog about Miss Evelyn Diaz, her grade school librarian at St. Therese's College. Miss Diaz allowed her to read beyond the number of books required of elementary grade school students to borrow. Miss Diaz saw in Candy, a child who needed a space to dream, reflect and wonder through books and reading. It did Candy a lot of good. She met characters like herself from the stories she read. Eventually, she broke out of her shell and became a journalist in the 80's. During the People Power revolution, she was there at the front lines doing her job for the freedom and democracy.

When Neil Gaiman received his Carnegie Award in 2010 for his young adult novel, The Graveyard Book, he waxed poetic on the magical realms he discovered in public libraries when as a child, his parents would drop him off the library. He may have spoken of public libraries in his acceptance speech, but the services which it provided children opened many fantastic opportunities for the young Neil Gaiman to imagine other worlds that we now find in his fiction. He pointed out the dynamic ways that children’s librarians reach out to young readers, becoming bridges between books and readers and developing, in the process, a community who continuously learn. Lamenting the budget cuts that UK libraries were experiencing, he ended by saying that libraries are the future. To cut down the library budget would be, in Gaiman’s word, a terrible thing to steal from the future to pay for today.

KISS Book Review

I have been reading. And I feel I owe readers of the blog some reviews. I am Keeping It Short and Sweet (well, not on all the books I've read). If it isn't sweet at all, I'll try to be as Substantial as possible.

Title: The Cry of the Icemark
Author: Stuart Hill
What it's about: Thirrin Lindensheild, heir to the throne of the Icemark, is set to battle the ruthless general of the Polypontian Empire. She gathers allies, men and monsters, to rally a victory for her people. Alongside Thirrin is Oskan, son of the Whitewitch who wields magic in the battle field and Maggiore Totus who lends logic to decisions in tactics of war.

It's an exciting and engaging read. Hill tends to romanticize war and does not allow the lead protagonist to suffer much. When Thirrin's father King died, she was given everything she needs to win the war against a brutal enemy. It's Cinderella all over again and she gets what she wants. Good thing though that this Cinderella kicks butt!

Title: Beastly
Author: Alex Flinn
A modern retelling of Beauty and the Beast with the lead male protagonist, Kyle Kingsbury narrating. Kyle is a young, rich kid whose absentee father sends him away when he turned beastly and was looked after a blind tutor and housemaid who happens to know more about house cleaning. Linda, the beauty, enters Kyle's life to break the spell freeing him from it.

The strength of the novel lies in the plot. The way events were sequenced make up for poor characterization. Kyle is one dimensional. His transformation from person to beast and back again did little to really change him. He is still a brat who got what he wanted. Linda, though described as smart and sensitive, is pretty boring. It bothers me that Kyle's father neglected his teenage son. Thanks to Will, the blind tutor and Magda, the housemaid for filling the gap left out by Kyle's father.

Title: The Cellist of Sarajevo
Author: Steven Galloway
One day, in May (1992) in Sarajevo,  a bomb fell in the city killing 22 people who were buying bread. A cellist played for those who died as his memorial and eulogy. This is the backdrop that Galloway used to tell the story of four people who struggled to survive during that dark decade known in modern history as the Siege of Sarajevo.

I love the book. It's tempered and written with restraint making it a powerful narrative. Four lives -- a baker, a sniper, a father and the cellist -- intertwine to depict the hard realities of war among civilians who are always the victim. Many books on struggle and conflict romanticize war but in this novel, nothing is romantic about it. Among the four, it is the cellist and the father who touched me on many levels. I fear for my family if war ever happens in this country. I laud the cellist for his courage in turning his art and music into tools of subversion. The human spirit endures in times of war and conflict but the cost is high.

Title: Wolves of Mercy Falls
Author: Maggie Stiefvater

It's Twilight all over again except that, there is no rich vampire clan but werewolves. A pack of them. It's a trilogy that begins with seventeen year old Grace being bitten by a wolf and she, being saved by Sam in his wolf form. More biting and wolf-human-wolf-human transformations occur in the next books.

Shiver and Linger made me give up reading paranormal romance books. The saving grace is Stiefvater's lyrical use of language. But even that won't make me finish Linger or start on Forever.

Title: Odd and the Frost Giants
Author: Neil Gaiman

Odd, small and crippled, saved the day for many Vikings who had to endure a very long winter. Thanks to the help of Loki, Odin and Thor, he defeated the Frost Giants by sheer cunning and a bit of luck.

Classic Gaiman. He pulled out another old folktale, broke it apart and created something new yet, warmly familiar story. Not his best work but it is endearing and sincere at the same time.

Neil Gaiman: Libraries Are the Future

November is here.

I am inundated with workshops and talks on storytelling, bibliotherapy, books, reading, why libraries and the printed word are still important in this day and age, and blogging. Not that I'm complaining, but it's another busy month.

So, for the first post of November, being Library and Information Services month, here's a link on Neil Gaiman's acceptance speech on winning the 2010 CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway award. His book, The Graveyard Book, was conferred winner as well.

He drums up the importance of libraries in his speech. In the end, he shares his sentiments at the closure of many libraries worldwide due to budget cuts.

Book Review: The Graveyard Book

Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book won the The Newberry Award in 2008. I've always wondered why. I do not question his brilliance in crafting stories. I've read enough of Gaiman's work that I consider his novels, graphic and print, too edgy for the Newberry crowd.

But the Newberry jury has realized, somehow, that the young adult readers of this day and age are more risque in choice of reading materials. I say this as a hypothesis from reading winners of years past. I'm not complaining. Just wondering.

Finally, after two years of waiting, I bought a copy from my hard earned dough and understood why. The Graveyard Book is classic Gaiman- grim and macabre. Yet, it bespeaks of life blossoming. Ironic, huh? That's Gaiman. And his handling of contradictions work.



What worked
The novel begins with a mystery and ends with a mystery.

A baby, to be named as Nobody Owens later on, is the sole survivor from man Jack's slaughter of his family. He was adopted by ghosts in the town graveyard and was given a guardian. For sixteen years, he lived among the dead and learned their ways. At the given time, he learned of his real identity and set forth into the world to discover life among the living.

Gaiman's world building is exceptional. In his book, the graveyard residents have their own laws and culture. He placed Nobody Owens in the middle of all these and the reader is treated to profound commentaries on life, love and loss. Written in a very simple manner that early teens could easily read, his depiction of the dead and their after life adventures is far from superficial. I find it very philosophical. There's depth - an indicator of what a great speculative fiction must be. For example, when Nobody "Bod" Owens insists on staying in the graveyard, one resident ghost explains that death is a completion; that he needs to face life smack in the face while breathing air; this his mission is yet to be fulfilled. Another example is the judgment made by The Grey Lady at the start of the novel - the dead must have charity. Humanity is for all. Dead or alive.

In between, Gaiman provides the reader with enough clues and cues to fill the gaps in the mystery that began in Chapter One. Silas, Bod Oswens' guardian, is a shadowy character but through Gaiman's deft description of his habits and background, one would surmise that he belongs among the undead. A vampire with compassion? Come on. Believe. Or at least suspend it. Edward Cullen has an enormous sex drive.



But these are not the reasons why I think it won the Newberry. It is a given that in every Gaiman novel, the reader is mesmerized, pushed to the limit, delighted to high heavens and plunged to sadness the next. It's Gaiman's treatment of Nobody Owens, this orphan-foundling, that cliched him the award. Nobody was given a home. He was loved. He had friends. He disobeyed and made mistakes. He was made to face the consequences of his actions and was forgiven. Nobody was characterized like your typical child growing up. At the cusp of adulthood, he is more than ready to embrace life.
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What did not work

While Nobody's character is solid and the supporting ones are convincing enough for me to suspend my disbelief, I wished that there's more to Silas' Honor Guards. That's all I have to say on this part of my review. Everything worked for me from structure to troupes and the motifs that Gaiman used. It's very similar to Kipling's The Jungle Book and shades of Harry Potter color the plot. Then again, it's still a unique piece of well crafted story!

The Graveyard Book gave me a lot to think about life and death. It is very much deserving of the Newberry (conceited me, I know!). At the end of the book, I ask myself if I'm ready to put go back to Coraline and American Gods. Nah... I guess I'll save up for another year to be able to buy Gaiman's Odd and the Frost Giants. Coraline and American Gods have to wait.

Rating: Four Bookmarks


Sources for images:
coveroutloud.blogspot.com
time.com

Book Magic

Rocket Kapre asked for the first (few) line(s) or sentence of my favorite speculative fiction. For the novels in the list, I have taken the beginning line(s) from the first chapter and not the prologue. I would have wanted to include more short stories from anthologies I own but the books are still in boxes in a room where we've not gone back to fix after surviving Ondoy. So, for this exercise, I've culled some from current reads and rereads.

If you read closely, these first lines are all pregnant with possibilities or contain an action waiting to happen. Alfar's beginning for The Kite of Stars presents to us, a history that spans six decades of loving and longing. Some, like Zusak's The Book Theif, Dahl's The Witches, Rowling's Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban and Gaiman's Stardust start with wonder and intrigue. Enough to keep the reader to move further on in the story or novel. Others like Collins' Hunger Games, Hughes' Iron Giant and Niffenegger's The Time Traveller's Wife prepare the reader to the mood and tone of the story.

Beginnings are beautiful things. I go back to these beginnings after reading the last line and then establish connections; create hypothesis; and yes, imagine. Such capabilities that make us truly human. We get that from READING!

And oh! Does it help to say that today is Literacy Day? What a way to celebrate it by blogging about books and the writers who've made them possible. Hurray to the publishers who put them together; the book designers and illustrators who enriched the cultural and artistic value of the book; to the booksellers and the librarians who provide accessibility; and to the reader who will always discover an intimate, if not engaging and enraging, relationship with the author.

Happy Literacy Day, everyone!

The night when she thought she would finally be a star, Maria Isabella du'l Cielo struggled to calm the trembling of her hands, reached over to cut the tether that tied her to the ground, and thought of that morning many years before when she'd first caught a glimpse of Lorenzo du Vicenzio ei Salvadore: tall, thick-browed and handsome, his eyes closed, oblivious to the cacophony of the accident waiting to occur around him.
Kite of Stars
Dean Francis Alfar

First the colors.
Then the humans.
That's usually how I see things.
Or at least, how I try.
The Book Thief
Markus Zusak

Clare: The Library is cool and smells like carpet cleaner, although all I can see is marble.
The Time Traveller's Wife
Audrey Niffenegger

When I wake up, the other side of the bed was cold.
The Hunger Games
Suzanne Collins

In fairy-tales, witches always wear silly black hats and black cloaks, and they ride on broomsticks.
Witches
Roald Dahl

When Mr. Bilbo Baggins of Bag End announced that he would shortly be celebrating his eleventy-first birthday with a party of special magnificence, there was much talk and excitement in Hobbiton.
The Fellowship of the Ring
JRR Tolkien

The Iron Giant came to the top of the cliff.
The Iron Giant
Ted Hughes

There was once a young man who wished to gain his Heart's Desire.
Stardust
Neil Gaiman

Harry Potter was a highly unusual boy in many ways.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
JK Rowling

You must understand that all of this occurred some thirteen years ago, when I was young still and the Empire had but newly begun its campaign to rid the realm of the Wildness.
EmberWild
Nikki Alfar