bits of slightly everything
Saturday, April 28, 2007
I've been on a reading streak lately. I needed to do something therapeutic.
I started with On Angel Wings by Michael Morpurgo. Beautifully illustrated by Quentin Blake, it tells the story of the birth of baby Jesus from the perspective of a shepherd boy. Based on biblical events with tinges of fiction, Blake's crayon-like illustrations shines like the host of angels singing in heaven. Makes a good gift for any occasion, for anyone, atheist or believer.
I progressed on to Coraline by Neil Gaiman with illustrations by Dave McKean. Told simply with the occasional tingle of goosebumps breaking out at the back of your neck. Being my first exposure to Gaiman's works I can hardly comment on his style just yet. But I have a feeling that I'll love his stuffs. Coraline is currently in the good hands of Henry Selick to become a stop-motion feature. Selick is the man responsible for the hugely successful The Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach and so I'm truly excited for it to come out in 2008.
Then I picked up a copy of Memories of My Melancholy Whores by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, translated by Edith Grossman from my warehouse. I came to know about this book after a writer requested it for review. Since it was only a hundred pages or so, I took the book home and tried to complete reading it in one sitting. I almost finished it because I really wanted to know if the 90-year-old bachelor was a lecherous paedophile. A life filled with brothel visits, the narrator finally found the meaning of love on the eve of his ninetieth birthday with a 14-year-old virgin. Spoilers alert, the latter remained a virgin till the last page of the book. I blame it on senility for this poor old man's hallucinations of finally finding love. Well, better late for more than half a century than never. The tale is told tastefully though, a good read if you're always curious to find out how you'll feel if you intend to grow old and alone.
Moving on, I'm currently reading The Complete Stories of Truman Capote. I can only say this: flamboyance aside, he is a brilliant storyteller.
I started with On Angel Wings by Michael Morpurgo. Beautifully illustrated by Quentin Blake, it tells the story of the birth of baby Jesus from the perspective of a shepherd boy. Based on biblical events with tinges of fiction, Blake's crayon-like illustrations shines like the host of angels singing in heaven. Makes a good gift for any occasion, for anyone, atheist or believer.
I progressed on to Coraline by Neil Gaiman with illustrations by Dave McKean. Told simply with the occasional tingle of goosebumps breaking out at the back of your neck. Being my first exposure to Gaiman's works I can hardly comment on his style just yet. But I have a feeling that I'll love his stuffs. Coraline is currently in the good hands of Henry Selick to become a stop-motion feature. Selick is the man responsible for the hugely successful The Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach and so I'm truly excited for it to come out in 2008.
Then I picked up a copy of Memories of My Melancholy Whores by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, translated by Edith Grossman from my warehouse. I came to know about this book after a writer requested it for review. Since it was only a hundred pages or so, I took the book home and tried to complete reading it in one sitting. I almost finished it because I really wanted to know if the 90-year-old bachelor was a lecherous paedophile. A life filled with brothel visits, the narrator finally found the meaning of love on the eve of his ninetieth birthday with a 14-year-old virgin. Spoilers alert, the latter remained a virgin till the last page of the book. I blame it on senility for this poor old man's hallucinations of finally finding love. Well, better late for more than half a century than never. The tale is told tastefully though, a good read if you're always curious to find out how you'll feel if you intend to grow old and alone.
Moving on, I'm currently reading The Complete Stories of Truman Capote. I can only say this: flamboyance aside, he is a brilliant storyteller.
7:23 PM
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