Stardust

 Since a couple of my favourite movies (Coraline and Stardust) were based off of books written by Neil Gaiman I decided to go on a reading spree of his books. Thanks again to Allison for lending a few of them to me :) I really appreciate it! So I started off by reading Stardust and must agree with Allison when she warned me that the movie was much better than the novel. It is slightly disappointing since on a regular basis the novel a movie is based off of is substantially better than the movie itself, alas. Needless to say it was an enjoyable and quick read, sure to pick up your spirits if the last novel you read was a heavy or depressing read.

Castle in the Air

A sequel to Howl's Moving Castle, this novel is heavily based off of stories from the Arabian Nights. So if you liked Aladdin and you liked Howl then you're going to love this book! It is a great combination of old world superstitions and customs of two very different cultures. Plus Diana Wynne Jones takes you through many different vivid landscapes from a desert oasis to a marshy countryside. She even gets some food into the picture by describing how difficult it can be for someone to adjust to a new menu when you're used to something very different. It touches on many subjects such as arranged marriage, warring empires, over protective fathers, and what would you wish for if you had a wish a day for the rest of your life? Speaking of over protective fathers, I will say that the physical description of the Sultan met all of my expectations and was worth a good chuckle.

Howl's Moving Castle

 

I loved the movie version of Howl's Moving Castle done by Studio Ghibli so I was very excited to finally get to read the book series. Luckily, my friend Allison owned all three books and was willing to lend them to me, yippee! So here I am now done the first book and ready to dive into the second. This was the first time I had ever read a book by Diana Wynne Jones and find that I really want to read more by her, especially seeming how she has so many novels written in the same genre. She sucked me in with her awesome ability to bring inanimate objects alive with her descriptive writing; I can see why Miyazaki was able to make such a colourful film. Needless to say if you enjoyed the movie you will definitely love the book since it explores the back stories of each character in more detail.

Homage to Rob Thurman

Oh Lu, can I ever thank you enough for buying me Nightlife? It changed my life forever and gave me a new favourite author. So basically I went out and bought the rest of the novels that she's written, read every one, and am holding out until March 1, 2011 when the next Cal Leandros novel, called Blackout, comes out. I recommend these novels to anyone who enjoys the supernatural, Greek mythology, Roman mythology, mythology in general, weapons (she sources all her weapons references from an FBI agent so you know it's legit), and an affordable read that will keep you glued to it's pages.

House of Night Series

I recently struck a great bargain in purchasing the first 6 books in the House of Night series for $5 each in hardcover! I love me a good deal. Anyways, I was a bit skeptical at first being that A) this was yet another vampire series and B) it was in the teen section which brought out alarm bells involving Twilight silliness but I was pleasantly surprised. Each novel is well written and extremely engaging which kept me wanting to read more. I think this is thanks to the fact that PC Cast enlisted her daughter Kristin's help with all of the teen talk which is surprisingly similar to how a lot of my friends talk. Although I did find that for something in the 12+ section of Chapters these books were slightly inappropriate, personally I wouldn't let anyone under the age of 14 read them unless they were already having sex in which case whatever... point being is that there are a lot of mature themes and scenes in these books that I don't remember reading when I was that age but times are changing I guess I'm just a little old fashioned.

A Clockwork Orange

I finished this book a couple weeks ago. I definitely know a lot more Russian now than I did before, even if it took a while to learn it. Unlike the original publication of the novel in North America the version I read had an additional chapter which was in the British publication. After reading it I can kind of understand why it was originally left out and how with that last chapter Stanley Kubrick's film adaptation would not have been as successful.