Reading, Like, Books n' Stuff
At countless folks' suggestion, I have finally started reading Philip Pullman's The Golden Compass. Whoo! Fifty pages in and I can definitely understand why people get worked up about it. We'll see how I like it as the book progresses, but it's an artful blend of alternate realities, steampunk, children's fantasy, etc. I'll be particularly interested to see how the religious themes develop, as I think they provide a healthy and much-needed antidote to the Other Forces to which kiddies in the U.S. are currently exposed.
Am also working my way through The Delicate Prey, a collection of Paul Bowles' short stories. I read and loved The Sheltering Sky some years ago, but the stories really are a different ballgame. It's not by accident that he gives thanks to his mother in the dedication for having read him Poe's stories. If I remember correctly, the HWA actually put this volume on its "horror must reads" list, and I can understand why. The stories are powerfully creepy and stand as a testament to the truly different ways that fiction can be "fantastic" or "horrific" and feature little that seems overtly to fit with the rest of the genre.
Am also working my way through The Delicate Prey, a collection of Paul Bowles' short stories. I read and loved The Sheltering Sky some years ago, but the stories really are a different ballgame. It's not by accident that he gives thanks to his mother in the dedication for having read him Poe's stories. If I remember correctly, the HWA actually put this volume on its "horror must reads" list, and I can understand why. The stories are powerfully creepy and stand as a testament to the truly different ways that fiction can be "fantastic" or "horrific" and feature little that seems overtly to fit with the rest of the genre.