Mary Who Wrote Frankenstein

Title: Mary Who Wrote Frankenstein

Author: Linda Bailey; Illustrated by Júlia Sardà

Publisher: Tundra

ISBN: 9781770495593

Length: Unnumbered + "Author's Note" + "Sources"

Obtained: Library hardcover picture book

Comments:

I have a series of Frankenstein programs scheduled for work, and I've been reading some Frankenstein related books (just kids books so far). This is one of them, but I realized when I finished it that the author, Linda Bailey, is Canadian, so I'm posting to fulfill the 12th Annual Canadian Book Challenge.

 This is a children's book that looks into Mary Shelley's background from her childhood on. It focuses on what inspired her creation of Frankenstein, from her "dreamer" nature as a child to the challenge that prompted the story. The illustrations are charming, and I couldn't help but like Mary her past and creativity is uncovered.

The Good, the Bad, and the Uncanny

Title: The Good, the Bad, and the Uncanny

Author: Simon R. Green

Series: Nightside, Bk 10

ISBN: 9781101171455

Obtained: Library ebook copy

Comments:

I decided it is about time I finish this series.  Unfortunately, I forgot that I had already read this one.  All worked out, though, because while scenes were vaguely familiar as I read them, I remembered nothing in advance.  I do have a post from the first time I read this, but I will not be reading it until after I've written this one so I can provide fresh impressions.

I felt like I had already been through the bulk of the story, and then saw that I had just finished chapter 2.  The majority of this book was like that.  Loosely linked together with some connected threads, but told in what seemed more like short stories or episodes.  I do still enjoy this series, but I can tell I've forgotten a lot.  In that sense, the way this is written allowed me to be reintroduced to a number of characters that I recognize from throughout the series, but didn't distinctly remember.

And now I am ready to read book 11, A Hard Day's Knight.

I've gone back and re-read my first post, and I thinking I may need to re-read the other books in this series as well.  Apparently, I last read this in 2010.  What was I thinking to let such time pass by!

Garrett for Hire: Deadly Quicksilver Lies, Petty Pewter Gods, Faded Steel Heat

Title: Garrett for Hire: Deadly Quicksilver Lies, Petty Pewter Gods, Faded Steel Heat

Author: Glen Cook [Macmillan][isfdb][Goodreads]

Publisher: ROC

Series: Garrett, P.I., Bks 7-9

ISBN: 9780451464958

Length: 870 pages

Obtained: Library copy

Why this book?:

I've been reading the series.

Comments:

As a whole these stories fall right within my interests.  Magic, PI or Detective, grim, etc. Individually...

Deadly Quicksilver Lies

Garrett is told someone is coming to hire him, and come she does.  But everything else he's been warned about is different, and the strangeness just keeps piling up from there.  Garrett is thrown into an insane asylum - apparently to get him out of the way - and meets some interesting new characters.  He's been paid to do a job, but his client is no longer around.  Every hint, clue, and discovery seems to be lie on top of lie...and all these lies are adding up to a very dangerous case for Garrett.

Petty Pewter Gods

Garrett has encountered all sorts of creatures and monsters in the previous 7 books, but now he's been dragged into a case by the "gods" themselves.  Some have called them "petty pewter gods" and boy does the name fit.  Being in the middle of a squabble between simplistic and self-serving gods is the most dangerous case Garrett has been on to date, not just for Garrett, but for all of TunFaire and the world.

Faded Steel Heat

Garrett just wants some peace, but the political landscape is heading up, prejudice is rampant causing great tension and threatening to cause war right there in TunFaire.  Now that the war to the Cantard has been won and all TunFaire's human males are coming home, they've found that many nonhumans have filled in doing all the many jobs that needed doing while they were away.  Garrett doesn't want any part of this bigotry, but he seems to fit the profile of the desired member and could potentially worm his way in a sort of "undercover" role.

In the meantime, the one job he held on retainer has also heated up with the local brewing family being threatened.  And to top it all off there is something going on with shapeshifters - a creature unlike one Garrett has dealt with before.

I definitely intend to read more of the series, but I'll need to have a block of time set aside for these.

Bonechiller

Title: Bonechiller

Author: Graham McNamee [RandomHouse Kids][Goodreads] (He's a modern award-winning author with no website and no good biographic information available...this is the best I managed to find.)

Publisher: Wendy Lamb Books

ISBN: 9780385908955

Length: 294 pages

Obtained: Library copy

Why this book?:

1) I needed to read some more Canadian books to finish the  7th annual Canadian Book Challenge 

2) I did a basic Amazon search and saw this title listed.

3) It sounded interesting enough to request (along with others), and when it came time to pick something, it appealed.

Comments: 

I very carefully did not read a description of these beyond the initial Amazon search I had made (most of which I promptly forgot), so I got to enjoy the story as it came.  It was not what I expected.  The protagonist, Danny has a strange encounter with a beast.  He's attacked by a "beast," but when he wakes up there isn't much evidence that what he remembers is real.

I really enjoyed this story.  I was with Danny all the way, rooting for him and his mixed-up bunch of friends.  Graham McNamee is an award-winning author and I can see why.  The situation had me guessing the whole time.  Is this beast the Wendigo, some sort of Yeti, some unheard of creature, or some group delusion between him and his friends?  Whatever it is, will Danny and friends triumph, or are they helpless?  I appreciated the cultural touches, the finding-himself aspect, and the horror suspense.

I would definitely read more by this author.

An Exploration of Halloween Children's Books, Part 2

Since I couldn't fit tags of all the authors, illustrators, etc. I've separated my original post into 2 parts.  The first can be found here.  I'm sure this makes how overboard I went on Halloween books more obvious than ever.

_____________________________________________________________________

Spooky Hour by Tony Mitton; Illustrated by Guy Parker-Rees (library copy)

This is one of those count-down books (11 witches, 10 ghosts, etc.) that I especially like to read to my niece.  The pictures are cute, and it was fun seeing the different creatures.  I also appreciate books play with descriptive vocabulary for kids...prowling, yowling, growling, rumbling, grumbling, scuttling, cackle... you get the drift.  This is one of those books.

Twelve Haunted Rooms of Halloween by Macky Pamintuan (library copy)

A Halloween version of the Twelve Days of Christmas, I had this one pretty much memorized after oh, three reads?  By the fourth or fifth... I was focusing on the end task of finding 2 snakes, 3 voodoo dolls, etc.  And guess who requested this one multiple times?  You've got it... my niece.  I wonder if she really enjoys books that much or if it's the age (she'll be 4 in a few months).  I think I used to read to my oldest nephew a more than I do now.

Ghosts in the House! by Kazuno Kohura (library copy)

I read this to myself first while browsing on my break.  It was pretty funny, so I knew certain kiddos would like it.  My niece loved how silly it is and I ended up reading it a couple times before I convinced her to get another book.

Halloween Mice! by Bethany Roberts; Illustrated by Doug Cushman (library copy)

I picked this because it was a Halloween board book ( had the youngest nephew in mind), cute, and it has the descriptive vocab I mentioned earlier.  But it didn't seem to attract my niece's attention the way others had, and my nephew hasn't heard it read yet.  I'll have to see...

Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich: And Other Stories You're Sure To Like, Because They're All About Monsters and Some of Them Are Also About Food.: You Like Food Don't You?  Well, All Right Then. by Adam Rex

I found this as amusing as the title makes it sound.  It's full of poems and matching illustrations.  Favorites would be "Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich," the "Phantom of the Opera" series, and (I'm being honest here) Godzilla Pooped on My Honda (because don't you appreciate the title that a 5 year old who got in trouble at preschool for saying poop too much HAS to like?).  I didn't get a chance to read it to my oldest nephew yet (I want to), but my niece heard some toward the beginning and seemed interested, though the books a little above her age level.  It has a staff recommendation at my library that says it's for grades 2-5.

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And that's it for now, folks.  Finally.

The Good, the Bad, and the Uncanny

Title: The Good, the Bad, and the Uncanny

Author: Simon R. Green

Publisher: ACE

Copyright Date: 2010

Print Date: January 2010

ISBN: 9780441018161

Pages: 275

Series: 10th full-length novel of the Nightside

Book Description:

In the Nightside — that hidden area in the middle of London where time stands still at three A.M. and the sun won't rise to refute it — nightmares go walking in borrowed flesh, and not everything that looks back at you with human eyes is really human. [...] in the night that never ends?

I do. I'm John Taylor, a PI with a knack for finding things, a talent that had made me wealthy enough to choose my own cases helping those the Nightside has chewed up and wass about to spit out. All things considered, my life lately had been bright, even in this shadowy place.

So it was only a matter of time before everything hit the fan and I found myself accepting jobs I really should have refused. First I agreed to escort an elf — a creature unwelcome even in the Nightside — across town. Then the Dead Detective, Larry Oblivion, asked me to help find his brother who vanished during the Lilith War.

And then Walker — the powerful, ever-present, never-to-be-trusted agent who runs the Nightside on behalf of the Authorities — came around. He told me he was dying and that he, too, had a job for men. An important job.

His.

Comments:

I read this — and started typing up the basic details here — in March. In the weeks since some of the details I intended to include in the Comments have blurred, but I'll try to provide my full impressions.

Some small details...

Toward the beginning of the book, John takes a job escorting an Elf. I wanted to point out, for clarification, that an "elf" in the nightside is actually a Faerie.

John also decides to help Larry Oblivion in this book. I was a little confused about here. I think (if I remember correctly) Larry has become one of the new Authorities. But something about the way he (Larry) talks about the Authorities, or maybe it's his interaction with Walker, who works for the Authorities (this is one of those points that have blurred) confused me. It hasn't been that long since I read Just Another Judgement Day, but I started wondering if I misremembered. Otherwise... ??? And since it's already been returned to the library, I can't check.

As usual for this series, there is quite a bit of darkness, etc. John may find his own contentedness, but the Nightside will always be dark, morbid, etc.

If I understand/"heard" correctly, only two more Nightside books will be published, so it's nearing the end. That did not stop Mr. Green from tossing in some new plotlines. I enjoyed reading this and look forward to reading books 11 and 12. And while I've only read his Nighside novels so far, Simon R. Green has become one of my favorite authors.

Just Another Judgement Day

Title: Just Another Judgement Day

Author: Simon R. Green

Publisher: ACE

Copyright Date: 2009

Print Date: January 2009

ISBN: 9780441016747

Pages: 263

Series: 9th full-length Novel of the Nightside

Book Description (from dust jacket):

I'm John Taylor. I work as a PI out of an office tucked away on a shadowy street in a corner of the Nightside, that secret centre of London where the clocks always read three A.M., where terrible things happen with predictable regularity, and where the always-dark streets are full of people partying like Judgement Day will never come.

Now it may have arrived — God's own enforcer, the righteous engine of destruction known as the Walking Man, has come to the Nightside.

The past few months, the Nightside has seen its share of chaos, some of it because of me. Still, things were getting back to as normal as they can ever be around here. But the arrival of the Walking Man has the Authorities seriously worried. He's a being whose sole purpose in life is the elimination of the wicked and the guilty — and given the nature of the Nightside, there's a good chance that once he gets started, he'll just keep on until there's no-one left.

So they've hired me to stop him. Legend has it that he can't be killed. I'm very much hoping that the legend isn't true...

Comments:

I really enjoy this series; this book was no exception. I'm not quite sure why that is — the whole series is gory and disturbing and pokes at various human flaws and ideologies.

Anyway, this time John has been hired to help the new Authorities to keep the Nightside — and them — from being wiped out in the name of "justice" and vengence and "God." Some familiar characters appear as do some new. Themes addressed include humans preferring false beauty to true ugliness (even when the truth was requested), the utter lows of what humans can be and do (and the existance of human monsters), reasoning vs. violence in the name of right and good, blind faith vs. reasoned faith, pride and humility, fate vs. free choice vs. a combo-deal, the virtues of hope, and the potential for miracles. Quite a lot there, but it doesn't come across as preachy or anything...just questioning (or, maybe it'd be more accurate to say, prodding the reader to question).

I've read some reviews by people feeling let down by this book. They feel that the series is due to end. I, however, did enjoy it, and I'm looking forward to reading The Good, the Bad, and the Uncanny which came out this January (I have it on hold at the local library). In any case, the series is scheduled to end with book 12.