In 2015 I have watched 6 full TV series, seen 5 films in the cinema, and read a lot of graphic novels. I now feel more confident in my knowledge and immersion into geek culture.
2016 resolutions: I will be more active on my blog. The content will include Top 10 lists, reviews for each Sailor Moon manga volumes, and additional book reviews. Extra films and comics too.
Happy New Year! :D x
Thursday, 31 December 2015
I would like to wish everybody a fantastic new year. A new year of changes, trying out new things, gaining new experiences, and forever growing wiser about life and the world as a result. Throughout the bad times, let's remember the good times as well, for each of us is capable of hope, and bringing it out into the open for others to see. Let us all give and receive through supporting and understanding each other. Happy 2016 xxx
Wednesday, 30 December 2015
Tuesday, 29 December 2015
And I just realised that the majority of books that have disappointed me this year are fantasy - my favourite genre - and are critically acclaimed.
Sometimes it's lonely being the black sheep. Or the dark horse.
Oh well, I am still hoping for a more positive year in books in 2016! There is real magic to be found in reading and writing :D
Sometimes it's lonely being the black sheep. Or the dark horse.
Oh well, I am still hoping for a more positive year in books in 2016! There is real magic to be found in reading and writing :D
My Top 10 Worst/Most Disappointing Reads of 2015
Top 10 Worst/Most Disappointing Reads of 2015:
1. Slaughterhouse 5 (Overrated classic)
2. Hogfather (Sorry Terry Pratchett)
3. In the Hand of the Goddess
4. Frankenstein (Couldn't finish it)
5. The Vampire Lestat (Horrifically dull)
6. The Last Ever After (FUUUUCK THAT ENDING!!!)
7. Quintana of Charyn (Don't know why everyone loves it)
8. Wildwood Dancing
9. The Dark Is Rising Sequence
10. Libriomancer
1. Slaughterhouse 5 (Overrated classic)
2. Hogfather (Sorry Terry Pratchett)
3. In the Hand of the Goddess
4. Frankenstein (Couldn't finish it)
5. The Vampire Lestat (Horrifically dull)
6. The Last Ever After (FUUUUCK THAT ENDING!!!)
7. Quintana of Charyn (Don't know why everyone loves it)
8. Wildwood Dancing
9. The Dark Is Rising Sequence
10. Libriomancer
My Top 10 Best Reads of 2015
Right, here goes -
Top 10 Best Reads of 2015:
1. Women Who Run With The Wolves (Might have changed my life)
2. Everyday Sexism (Feminist text)
3. Saga Volume 1
4. Nimona (Standalone graphic novel)
5. Misery (Horror)
6. Dreams of Gods and Monsters (Trilogy ending)
7. Princeless Volume 1
8. Red Sonja Volume 1
9. Momo (Children's)
10. Batman: Mad Love
What a year for graphic novels and nerdy stuff!
Top 10 Best Reads of 2015:
1. Women Who Run With The Wolves (Might have changed my life)
2. Everyday Sexism (Feminist text)
3. Saga Volume 1
4. Nimona (Standalone graphic novel)
5. Misery (Horror)
6. Dreams of Gods and Monsters (Trilogy ending)
7. Princeless Volume 1
8. Red Sonja Volume 1
9. Momo (Children's)
10. Batman: Mad Love
What a year for graphic novels and nerdy stuff!
Thursday, 24 December 2015
Wednesday, 23 December 2015
Book Review - 'Momo' by Michael Ende
Lovely. Sharp. Shocking. Dazzling. Clever. If you loved Michael Ende's other children's book, 'The Neverending Story', like I did, then check out the criminally-underrated 'Momo', as it provides a similar magical experience.
Really, with its theme of time and how much of it each human being has within themselves as they grow older - and how much of it can be taken away so we have no time for leisure activities and just turn into rushing, irritable, grey adults - it would fit a 'Doctor Who' episode beautifully. Maybe as a Christmas special.
Another important theme is friendship, and how much time and energy we spend with them for as long as we can before things change...
'Momo' has the ingredients of a classic, conventional children's fable or fairy tale. Except that it isn't so simple, as it is fundamentally about the concept of time. But the book is a vastly addictive read; it flows like it possesses its own little time bubble for readers to dive into. The plot moves steadily - beat-to-beat - like a ticking grandfather clock in a grand dome, with its bell about to strike at midnight towards the climax. Its atmosphere sings the universe-travelling music from Professor Hora's majestic hour-lillies.
Momo is an optimistic, poor orphaned heroine with no education or any sense of how society works - yet she has all the time in her little world to listen to everyone around her and go wherever she wants to, whenever. Supporting characters such as Guido, Beppo and the child friends of Momo are also memorable and charismatic. (Guido's stories are wonderfully imaginative, even if he himself is very eccentric and self-centred).
Then, outside of "normality", there's the master of time, the mentor called Professor Secundus Minutus Hora (great name), and perhaps my favourite character, Cassiopeia the tortoise, whose slow-moving pace and simple answers on her shell are maybe what the world needs right now.
Like every good fable, 'Momo' begins with the world being happy and uncomplicated for the hero. Then darkness lurks, disturbing and penetrating the normal way of life. At around the middle of the story, despair threatens to take over completely, and the hero is at her lowest, loneliest point. But there is always a glimmer of hope that grows within her, and she resolves never to give up on her quest to defeat the darkness and save the world. At the end she returns to her old way of life; more brave, knowledgeable and resourceful than before.
Thank you, dear 'Momo'. Now I know there's no doubt that Michael Ende was a storytelling genius. He used his imagination to the fullest, and was well aware of what happens to anyone who loses touch with it. People lose a part of themselves otherwise, and, poignantly, they forget about the innocence of childhood. They forget what it's like to have fun and play and dream, because they "have no time" for any of that anymore. They become pale. Lifeless.
I'm very much surprised 'Momo' isn't more well-known. As well as being a charming little fantasy, it contains essential messages about how life isn't to be rushed, for no matter how much time is saved, more time and other things are lost as well. You'll not be satisfied with anything. Like a well-made animated movie, 'Momo' teaches us how necessary it is that we stop and make time for loved ones and to smell the blossoms. To recognise how beautiful the world is without so many narrow, artificial, industrial, materialistic and self-indulgent constraints which threaten to poison how we live. And how we feel about living.
Darkness in the light in stories never hurt anyone.
This is a perfect gift for children and even adults for the holidays.
Merry Christmas.
Final Score: 5/5
Really, with its theme of time and how much of it each human being has within themselves as they grow older - and how much of it can be taken away so we have no time for leisure activities and just turn into rushing, irritable, grey adults - it would fit a 'Doctor Who' episode beautifully. Maybe as a Christmas special.
Another important theme is friendship, and how much time and energy we spend with them for as long as we can before things change...
'Momo' has the ingredients of a classic, conventional children's fable or fairy tale. Except that it isn't so simple, as it is fundamentally about the concept of time. But the book is a vastly addictive read; it flows like it possesses its own little time bubble for readers to dive into. The plot moves steadily - beat-to-beat - like a ticking grandfather clock in a grand dome, with its bell about to strike at midnight towards the climax. Its atmosphere sings the universe-travelling music from Professor Hora's majestic hour-lillies.
Momo is an optimistic, poor orphaned heroine with no education or any sense of how society works - yet she has all the time in her little world to listen to everyone around her and go wherever she wants to, whenever. Supporting characters such as Guido, Beppo and the child friends of Momo are also memorable and charismatic. (Guido's stories are wonderfully imaginative, even if he himself is very eccentric and self-centred).
Then, outside of "normality", there's the master of time, the mentor called Professor Secundus Minutus Hora (great name), and perhaps my favourite character, Cassiopeia the tortoise, whose slow-moving pace and simple answers on her shell are maybe what the world needs right now.
Like every good fable, 'Momo' begins with the world being happy and uncomplicated for the hero. Then darkness lurks, disturbing and penetrating the normal way of life. At around the middle of the story, despair threatens to take over completely, and the hero is at her lowest, loneliest point. But there is always a glimmer of hope that grows within her, and she resolves never to give up on her quest to defeat the darkness and save the world. At the end she returns to her old way of life; more brave, knowledgeable and resourceful than before.
Thank you, dear 'Momo'. Now I know there's no doubt that Michael Ende was a storytelling genius. He used his imagination to the fullest, and was well aware of what happens to anyone who loses touch with it. People lose a part of themselves otherwise, and, poignantly, they forget about the innocence of childhood. They forget what it's like to have fun and play and dream, because they "have no time" for any of that anymore. They become pale. Lifeless.
I'm very much surprised 'Momo' isn't more well-known. As well as being a charming little fantasy, it contains essential messages about how life isn't to be rushed, for no matter how much time is saved, more time and other things are lost as well. You'll not be satisfied with anything. Like a well-made animated movie, 'Momo' teaches us how necessary it is that we stop and make time for loved ones and to smell the blossoms. To recognise how beautiful the world is without so many narrow, artificial, industrial, materialistic and self-indulgent constraints which threaten to poison how we live. And how we feel about living.
Darkness in the light in stories never hurt anyone.
This is a perfect gift for children and even adults for the holidays.
Merry Christmas.
Final Score: 5/5
Tuesday, 22 December 2015
Friday, 18 December 2015
Book Review - 'The Shining' by Stephen King
2021 EDIT: Not as addictive or flowing as the first time I read it (which was, admittedly, ages ago), but 'The Shining' remains a well-written, well-paced and haunting classic. There is excellently done character writing and foreshadowing, and whether the 500-page tome is unnecessarily, overly detailed and meandering or not is up to the reader.
But there is the casual homophobia, as is to be expected in an early King book, like with the character Watson's dialogue at the beginning. And we are meant to like Watson, or at least Jack Torrance thinks highly of him; which, yeah, maybe that in of itself is an indication that we are not meant to like Watson after all (I didn't care much for Jack this time, who is a violent, aggressive drunk and had serious issues long before going to the Overlook Hotel, and Wendy was too much of a forgiving doormat early on). At least the sexism and racism are clearly shown to be wrongheaded and come from very dark places. But not when it comes to homophobia.
There are other things which I was uncomfortable with in 'The Shining', and not in intentional ways, but I'll leave it at that for now. It's a good, long read, that on a subtext level is about breaking the monstrous cycle of abuse; and, perhaps accidently, a deconstruction of American white male privilege and entitlement. This can lead to abuse, toxic behaviour, and violence of all kinds.
Final Score: 3.5/5
Original Review:
REDRUM. REDRUM.
Cabin fever is catching. One doesn’t realise how affectively it can take hold of one’s soul, one’s sanity...
Creepy, claustrophobic, smart, well-organised and well-paced; with a reality subtext that is far more terrifying than any of the supernatural ghouls to check out at the Overlook Hotel. 'The Shining' has shown me how much of Stephen King's novel writing has improved when he was starting out in the 70s.
Every page, every passage of 'The Shining' demands the reader's attention, and the imagination presented in the context of a seemingly simple story is palpable. It is a straightforward, addictive read to get lost in.
A large hotel in winter is the haunted house setting, but there is history to be discovered down every corridor, even within the psyches of the characters before they enter the heart of the violent, bloody Overlook. It is in this prestigious hotel where the words "isolation" and "trapped" take on external as well as internal meanings. One moment it is described as a beautiful building, and then frightening underneath the next.
Deceptions can hurt you, horribly. Like snow, or denial in thinking that things are working out, when they're not. That things are going to be okay, when they won't.
I liked all of the people. They are a complex crossroads between likeable and unlikeable, but more importantly they are human. There is the recovering alcoholic and writer Jack Torrance, who recently lost his job as a schoolteacher for beating up a student (he has a violent temper; he once broke his three-year-old son's arm). Every scene that Jack is in, he shows clear signs of frustration, stress, and going cold turkey even after months of sobriety. No matter how hard he tries for his family's sake, he may not be wilfully strong enough to avoid going deeper and deeper into the abyss. Even when he is self-aware enough to take responsibility for his actions and realise he is turning into his own abusive father, he can't help blaming other people for his problems. His theology is that life is all, "Up yours, Jack"; he is a passive participant, and the outside world is out to make his life a living hell. He will become an easy target for the Overlook Hotel to do that for him and push him further into madness from which there is no return.
Jack's wife Winnifred "Wendy" Torrance is a traditional loving homemaker and mother, but she has her limits. She had seriously considered a divorce after the incident when Jack broke their son Danny's arm. She gets jealous of Danny's close bond with Jack, despite the father's violent outbursts, and feels ashamed because she fears she's becoming like her own overbearing, emotionally abusive mother. Wendy knows there is only so much support she can give alone to a lost cause, and unlike her stubborn husband she is perceptive enough to catch on quickly that the Overlook is not a normal place; it can hurt her family physically and mentally. She ends up believing in Danny's psychic powers, and doesn't patronise him, but listens. I admired her bravery and level-headedness throughout the book, and how this leans into stupidity at times of impossible decision-making only reinforces how human she really is. At her core Wendy is a parent who will do anything to protect her child; she would die for him. Though of course she has to be beautiful, as well.
Danny Torrance, the five-year-old son, is surprisingly engaging too. From the get-go I cared about him, and how his mind-reading and precognitive abilities - his "shine", as Dick Halloran calls it - affect the way he sees the world in his young, innocent mind. I could understand his love for his troubled daddy, just as Jack once loved his abusive father at an age when he didn't know any better or what constitutes as "normal" family behaviour. Before Danny even learns to read, he comes to realise that adults do not always hold the answers, and that his parents are not perfect. Little Danny may not understand everything, but what he certainly will learn is how much his close-knit family struggles to keep it all together - emotionally and financially - and that the world is full of things wanting to hurt him. Like the ghostly Overlook Hotel, just to name an example. His "invisible friend" is Tony, who helps him to use his powers along the way. Danny will reluctantly have to outgrow Tony in order to save himself in the climax he has seen coming throughout the book. That Tony is revealed to look like Danny's older self is significant in of itself. Danny isn't a child character who's pushed to the sidelines - he is an active hero, arguably the true protagonist of 'The Shining'; innocent but extremely gifted in more ways than one.
The Overlook's cook, Dick Halloran, also has the "shining", and is also three-dimensional; brave yet a perfectly flawed human being. In such a short period of time in his long, hard life, he encounters other people with the "shine", not just the boy Danny. It is very touching, as it shows he is not alone with abilities rare and sparse in humans; abilities indistinguishable from a gift and a curse. (Did Carrie White have a powerful "shine" as well, I wonder? Though there's no telekinesis on display here, so...) While Dick does ultimately serve a Magical Negro role, the fact that *spoilers* he doesn't die and is active to the very end, makes up for that. It's an impressive, self-aware move in a book written in the 1970s.
So the characters and the setting are among 'The Shining''s highest accomplishments. I wouldn't call it the scariest book of all time, since it is rather long and slow in places. But while the scares are not frequent or leave a lasting effect, they are built-up with great skill. The reader wants to know what happens next because the characters are fully developed. The atmospheric intent is excellently done. Besides, the last hundred pages are gripping and exciting - a payoff to look forward to.
I also can't help but vote the book down a tad due to its casual use of homophobic and racist language, even if they were common at the time and setting of the narrative. It just made me uncomfortable, and not in a way that's intended for a horror novel.
Overlooking all that, however, it is easy to see why 'The Shining' is considered a classic, and one of Stephen King's best works, if not THE best he’s ever put to paper. Brilliant job.
Final Score: 4/5
But there is the casual homophobia, as is to be expected in an early King book, like with the character Watson's dialogue at the beginning. And we are meant to like Watson, or at least Jack Torrance thinks highly of him; which, yeah, maybe that in of itself is an indication that we are not meant to like Watson after all (I didn't care much for Jack this time, who is a violent, aggressive drunk and had serious issues long before going to the Overlook Hotel, and Wendy was too much of a forgiving doormat early on). At least the sexism and racism are clearly shown to be wrongheaded and come from very dark places. But not when it comes to homophobia.
There are other things which I was uncomfortable with in 'The Shining', and not in intentional ways, but I'll leave it at that for now. It's a good, long read, that on a subtext level is about breaking the monstrous cycle of abuse; and, perhaps accidently, a deconstruction of American white male privilege and entitlement. This can lead to abuse, toxic behaviour, and violence of all kinds.
Final Score: 3.5/5
Original Review:
REDRUM. REDRUM.
Cabin fever is catching. One doesn’t realise how affectively it can take hold of one’s soul, one’s sanity...
Creepy, claustrophobic, smart, well-organised and well-paced; with a reality subtext that is far more terrifying than any of the supernatural ghouls to check out at the Overlook Hotel. 'The Shining' has shown me how much of Stephen King's novel writing has improved when he was starting out in the 70s.
Every page, every passage of 'The Shining' demands the reader's attention, and the imagination presented in the context of a seemingly simple story is palpable. It is a straightforward, addictive read to get lost in.
A large hotel in winter is the haunted house setting, but there is history to be discovered down every corridor, even within the psyches of the characters before they enter the heart of the violent, bloody Overlook. It is in this prestigious hotel where the words "isolation" and "trapped" take on external as well as internal meanings. One moment it is described as a beautiful building, and then frightening underneath the next.
Deceptions can hurt you, horribly. Like snow, or denial in thinking that things are working out, when they're not. That things are going to be okay, when they won't.
I liked all of the people. They are a complex crossroads between likeable and unlikeable, but more importantly they are human. There is the recovering alcoholic and writer Jack Torrance, who recently lost his job as a schoolteacher for beating up a student (he has a violent temper; he once broke his three-year-old son's arm). Every scene that Jack is in, he shows clear signs of frustration, stress, and going cold turkey even after months of sobriety. No matter how hard he tries for his family's sake, he may not be wilfully strong enough to avoid going deeper and deeper into the abyss. Even when he is self-aware enough to take responsibility for his actions and realise he is turning into his own abusive father, he can't help blaming other people for his problems. His theology is that life is all, "Up yours, Jack"; he is a passive participant, and the outside world is out to make his life a living hell. He will become an easy target for the Overlook Hotel to do that for him and push him further into madness from which there is no return.
Jack's wife Winnifred "Wendy" Torrance is a traditional loving homemaker and mother, but she has her limits. She had seriously considered a divorce after the incident when Jack broke their son Danny's arm. She gets jealous of Danny's close bond with Jack, despite the father's violent outbursts, and feels ashamed because she fears she's becoming like her own overbearing, emotionally abusive mother. Wendy knows there is only so much support she can give alone to a lost cause, and unlike her stubborn husband she is perceptive enough to catch on quickly that the Overlook is not a normal place; it can hurt her family physically and mentally. She ends up believing in Danny's psychic powers, and doesn't patronise him, but listens. I admired her bravery and level-headedness throughout the book, and how this leans into stupidity at times of impossible decision-making only reinforces how human she really is. At her core Wendy is a parent who will do anything to protect her child; she would die for him. Though of course she has to be beautiful, as well.
Danny Torrance, the five-year-old son, is surprisingly engaging too. From the get-go I cared about him, and how his mind-reading and precognitive abilities - his "shine", as Dick Halloran calls it - affect the way he sees the world in his young, innocent mind. I could understand his love for his troubled daddy, just as Jack once loved his abusive father at an age when he didn't know any better or what constitutes as "normal" family behaviour. Before Danny even learns to read, he comes to realise that adults do not always hold the answers, and that his parents are not perfect. Little Danny may not understand everything, but what he certainly will learn is how much his close-knit family struggles to keep it all together - emotionally and financially - and that the world is full of things wanting to hurt him. Like the ghostly Overlook Hotel, just to name an example. His "invisible friend" is Tony, who helps him to use his powers along the way. Danny will reluctantly have to outgrow Tony in order to save himself in the climax he has seen coming throughout the book. That Tony is revealed to look like Danny's older self is significant in of itself. Danny isn't a child character who's pushed to the sidelines - he is an active hero, arguably the true protagonist of 'The Shining'; innocent but extremely gifted in more ways than one.
The Overlook's cook, Dick Halloran, also has the "shining", and is also three-dimensional; brave yet a perfectly flawed human being. In such a short period of time in his long, hard life, he encounters other people with the "shine", not just the boy Danny. It is very touching, as it shows he is not alone with abilities rare and sparse in humans; abilities indistinguishable from a gift and a curse. (Did Carrie White have a powerful "shine" as well, I wonder? Though there's no telekinesis on display here, so...) While Dick does ultimately serve a Magical Negro role, the fact that *spoilers* he doesn't die and is active to the very end, makes up for that. It's an impressive, self-aware move in a book written in the 1970s.
So the characters and the setting are among 'The Shining''s highest accomplishments. I wouldn't call it the scariest book of all time, since it is rather long and slow in places. But while the scares are not frequent or leave a lasting effect, they are built-up with great skill. The reader wants to know what happens next because the characters are fully developed. The atmospheric intent is excellently done. Besides, the last hundred pages are gripping and exciting - a payoff to look forward to.
I also can't help but vote the book down a tad due to its casual use of homophobic and racist language, even if they were common at the time and setting of the narrative. It just made me uncomfortable, and not in a way that's intended for a horror novel.
Overlooking all that, however, it is easy to see why 'The Shining' is considered a classic, and one of Stephen King's best works, if not THE best he’s ever put to paper. Brilliant job.
Final Score: 4/5
Saturday, 12 December 2015
Book Review - 'The Fox and the Star' by Coralie Bickford-Smith
2023 EDIT: Part of my 2023 clear-up, of books I no longer like, or am no longer interested in, or remember well as standing out, or find as special anymore, or I otherwise will not miss.
Final Score: 3.5/5
Original Review:
A sweet, touching little story accompanied by fitting art that's simple yet truly starry. Nothing spectacular, but a nice gift for someone you love at Christmas. For all ages.
P.S. Did anybody else think of Nintendo's 'Star Fox' when they first saw the title? No? Just me and my nostalgia, then.
Final Score: 4/5
Final Score: 3.5/5
Original Review:
A sweet, touching little story accompanied by fitting art that's simple yet truly starry. Nothing spectacular, but a nice gift for someone you love at Christmas. For all ages.
P.S. Did anybody else think of Nintendo's 'Star Fox' when they first saw the title? No? Just me and my nostalgia, then.
Final Score: 4/5
Monday, 7 December 2015
I've come to realise that life is all about perspective and reflection. I wrote in my diary, the first entry in months, "My life has been filled with one disappointment after another. I wonder, what's the point?" Then I realised: You're living. You're breathing, thinking, feeling, and acting - what more point do you need? Progress is painful and slow, but worth it. Nothing ends unless you decide it to. Remember that.
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