“The tree that wanted to be a beautiful book ...”
Sunday, 22 August, 2004
One of the greatest in pleasures in life is looking forward to reading a book. It will usually be one of your favourite authors—one of the top elite who have withstood the test of time and whose complete bibliography is a feature of your bookshelf (sometimes with multiple copies). It will usually be on a subject or in a particular genre that you really enjoy for numerous reasons (eg. fairy tales: because of the way they are reinvented and yet remain true to their original spirit; because of the way conventions are played with, exploited and stretched; because of the development of the central protagonist who overcomes all obstacles on his/her journey to reach that happily ever after [well, sometimes]).
I waited two months for it to come in the mail from America (in Australia, it would have cost me $50 but, on eBay plus postage, it only came to a mere $30. It was a hardback in mint condition, it had a sticker with the author's signature on it and, as far as I was concerned, it was worth every cent). There were people discussing it on a mailing list devoted to the author but I skipped over their posts. I read and re-read the review written by another pet author of mine. And I waited.
It came on Friday. I spent part of Friday and most of Saturday devouring it. It stayed swimming around in my head for hours afterwards. I even re-read bits of it to savour it again and think about it further—particularly the ending which left me plaintively asking what happened next. It wasn't what I was expecting but I was pleasantly surprised by it since this author has never dabbled in the realms of vampires and horror before. This metamorphosis of her archetypal source story was intriguing and she dealt with her subject matter well, using a blend of the urban and the ordinary and the gothic and the extraordinary.
One of the greatest sadnesses in life is coming to the end of a good book. But then there is always the pleasure of re-reading.
Current:
Bible: Isaiah (ESV) 28/09/2010
seen: Tropic Thunder 26/09/2010
seen: The Life of Mammals 24/09/2010
seen: What a Girl Wants 19/09/2010
seen: Jerry Maguire 19/09/2010
seen: The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 06/09/2010
seen: Tomorrow Never Dies 05/09/2010
seen: Nanny McPhee 28/08/2010
read: Mercury (Hope Larson) 27/08/2010
read: Spellcheckers Vol 1 (Jamie S Rich, Nicolas Hitori de, Joelle Jones) 16/08/2010
read: Solipsistic Pop Vol 2 (Solipsistic Pop) 16/08/2010
read: Chiggers (Hope Larson) 15/08/2010
seen: Josie and the Pussycats 14/08/2010
seen: Mr & Mrs Smith 14/08/2010
seen: Step Up 2 13/08/2010
Blinks:
How to recalibrate the home button on your iPhone.
Unsolicited manuscripts accepted by Pan Macmillan with certain conditions.
Thought Balloon is a group blog in which the writers tackle a new theme every week? month? with one-page scripts. This URL is for their Phonogram ones.
How to sew a zipper on a knitted garment.
Issues organised by tale.
Online magazine that publishes fairy tales that are not reworkings of old tales.
Journal that publishes fairy tale writing.
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