growyourwings (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
growyourwings) wrote2008-10-07 04:41 pm
growyourwings) wrote2008-10-07 04:41 pm
Entry tags:
Is it just me?
Isn't it weird how when you are faced with some major "thing" in the your life, you start to see "messages" everywhere? Have they always been there and you just haven't noticed? Or does the universe start throwing them at you when you need to see them?
I was reading through my flist to try and disconnect my brain a bit and saw Neil Gaiman's RSS feed. While I really like Gaiman I'll admit that mostly I've skimmed by his posts. I just normally don't read them at all. Not because I'm not interested--I just don't feel like I have the time.
I started to skim by this one as well--but something stopped me.
He was posting about his newest book (I believe) called "The Graveyard Book". He posted a couple of links to some reviews--one of the link sites was called "book slut" (Hee!) I just couldn't resist that name, plus I didn't really even know what his book was about. So I clicked over to the review.
The page reviewed three different books. Gaiman's was the last.
The first book reviewed could be easily used as an SPN plot. The book is called "Those Who Went Remain There Still" by Cherie Priest. It sounds like an American legend that centers around Daniel Boone and the Cumberland Gap (which is part of my family history--Cumberland--not Boone). Evidently the author weaves a story around some kind of "monster" that Boone encountered while trying to clear a path through the Cumberland Gap in 1775. Then the author pulls the myth into 1899 and another American family. The Book Slut site concludes this review by saying "With Those Who Went Remain There Still Cherie Priest continues her exploration of place and America's ghostly history. Her stories and novels are exquisite in the way they tap into our national consciousness. " Sounds like excellent SPN fodder to me.
The reviewer then goes onto a book about Steinbeck called "Steinbeck's Ghost" by Lewis Buzbee. And this is where I feel like something is trying to beat me over the head with a message. With comments like (emphasis is mine):
- "why living an original life that doesn’t blindly follow the herd is something to strive for"
and
- "The problem though is not so much that everyone stays locked up in their houses behind their perfect manicured lawns with their scarily similar facades, but that his parents are working themselves to death to keep this slice of the American dream -- which means no one can enjoy it, let alone time with each other. "
and
- "“no one plays in the street, or paints their house purple or works on a car in the driveway” suburban insanity that Americans have willfully trapped themselves in and through Travis shows how shallow this way of life can be. Driven to find something real, something that matters, ..."
and
- "While joining the community effort to save the Salinas library, Travis also reconnects with Steinbeck’s writing and that is when things take a decidedly otherworldly turn. He sees the ghost of the author on several occasions and begins also to run into characters from his books. From the wild spaces of the California scrubland to the waterfront location of Cannery Row, Travis finds Steinbeck at every turn. It is clear the author wants him to know something, to uncover a truth that he was unable to tell while alive, but Travis can’t help but think that maybe he’s going a little crazy."
Gawd I'm so cliche with my mid-life crisis, aren't I?
The review concludes with, "This is one of the most carefully crafted YA novels I’ve read in quite some time; it’s beautifully done and packs a wonderful literary mystery in the midst of quite a bit of bookish talk, buddy moments and X-Files type encounters. " (SPN reference!!!)
Now I want to read this book (and the first one too). But my life and online reading habits have given me ADD when it comes to reading real books. I keep buying them and never finishing them. Still working on "American Gods" - which even though I really enjoy--I can't force myself to set focused on.
And I also want to read Gaiman's book which is summarized by the reviewer by: "One of the aspects of The Graveyard Book I really enjoyed was the normalcy of life in the cemetery. Gaiman goes out of his way to make the ghosts believable and normal in all of their quirky and individual ways. There are no saints or demons here, merely a lot of people formerly living who are trying to get along now that they are dead. Bod’s relationships with this new “family” are the crux of the novel and the emotional weight that carries him and the reader along to the end."
But I ramble...
...again...
ETA: Hee! The first book isn't even available until Dec 2008 and the 2nd book (about Steinbeck) is a Young Adult book. You know, I still think I want to read it! And it looks like one of the Amazon reviewers feels the same, "I'm an adult. Yep. Still, I love to read children's books and this one is terrific! "
BTW, I am so annoyed at LJ and how it's messing up coding these days....
I was reading through my flist to try and disconnect my brain a bit and saw Neil Gaiman's RSS feed. While I really like Gaiman I'll admit that mostly I've skimmed by his posts. I just normally don't read them at all. Not because I'm not interested--I just don't feel like I have the time.
I started to skim by this one as well--but something stopped me.
He was posting about his newest book (I believe) called "The Graveyard Book". He posted a couple of links to some reviews--one of the link sites was called "book slut" (Hee!) I just couldn't resist that name, plus I didn't really even know what his book was about. So I clicked over to the review.
The page reviewed three different books. Gaiman's was the last.
The first book reviewed could be easily used as an SPN plot. The book is called "Those Who Went Remain There Still" by Cherie Priest. It sounds like an American legend that centers around Daniel Boone and the Cumberland Gap (which is part of my family history--Cumberland--not Boone). Evidently the author weaves a story around some kind of "monster" that Boone encountered while trying to clear a path through the Cumberland Gap in 1775. Then the author pulls the myth into 1899 and another American family. The Book Slut site concludes this review by saying "With Those Who Went Remain There Still Cherie Priest continues her exploration of place and America's ghostly history. Her stories and novels are exquisite in the way they tap into our national consciousness. " Sounds like excellent SPN fodder to me.
The reviewer then goes onto a book about Steinbeck called "Steinbeck's Ghost" by Lewis Buzbee. And this is where I feel like something is trying to beat me over the head with a message. With comments like (emphasis is mine):
- "why living an original life that doesn’t blindly follow the herd is something to strive for"
and
- "The problem though is not so much that everyone stays locked up in their houses behind their perfect manicured lawns with their scarily similar facades, but that his parents are working themselves to death to keep this slice of the American dream -- which means no one can enjoy it, let alone time with each other. "
and
- "“no one plays in the street, or paints their house purple or works on a car in the driveway” suburban insanity that Americans have willfully trapped themselves in and through Travis shows how shallow this way of life can be. Driven to find something real, something that matters, ..."
and
- "While joining the community effort to save the Salinas library, Travis also reconnects with Steinbeck’s writing and that is when things take a decidedly otherworldly turn. He sees the ghost of the author on several occasions and begins also to run into characters from his books. From the wild spaces of the California scrubland to the waterfront location of Cannery Row, Travis finds Steinbeck at every turn. It is clear the author wants him to know something, to uncover a truth that he was unable to tell while alive, but Travis can’t help but think that maybe he’s going a little crazy."
Gawd I'm so cliche with my mid-life crisis, aren't I?
The review concludes with, "This is one of the most carefully crafted YA novels I’ve read in quite some time; it’s beautifully done and packs a wonderful literary mystery in the midst of quite a bit of bookish talk, buddy moments and X-Files type encounters. " (SPN reference!!!)
Now I want to read this book (and the first one too). But my life and online reading habits have given me ADD when it comes to reading real books. I keep buying them and never finishing them. Still working on "American Gods" - which even though I really enjoy--I can't force myself to set focused on.
And I also want to read Gaiman's book which is summarized by the reviewer by: "One of the aspects of The Graveyard Book I really enjoyed was the normalcy of life in the cemetery. Gaiman goes out of his way to make the ghosts believable and normal in all of their quirky and individual ways. There are no saints or demons here, merely a lot of people formerly living who are trying to get along now that they are dead. Bod’s relationships with this new “family” are the crux of the novel and the emotional weight that carries him and the reader along to the end."
But I ramble...
...again...
ETA: Hee! The first book isn't even available until Dec 2008 and the 2nd book (about Steinbeck) is a Young Adult book. You know, I still think I want to read it! And it looks like one of the Amazon reviewers feels the same, "I'm an adult. Yep. Still, I love to read children's books and this one is terrific! "
BTW, I am so annoyed at LJ and how it's messing up coding these days....