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Book/Comic/Manga/Movie Recs, 2/7/10
Sunday, February 7th, 2010 04:35 pmIn Books:
My Soul to Keep, by Tannarive Due: This was the horror/suspense choice for book group, and I'm a little hard-pressed to describe it that way (with the exception of one scene about 2/3 of the way through). This is a story with supernatural elements, but not a fantasy, urban or high. Stephen King, in his cover blurb, likens it to Interview with a Vampire, which would be a good place to start, except that I wouldn't name the monster in the story as a vampire. At no point does he drink blood (except for the ritual that made him a monster in the first place), and he walks around in sunlight with no ill effects. I think a better word would be "immortal". ( Read more, with spoilers. )
I'm very pleased that we read this book for Book Group, since the author is a woman of color, and the reading list tends towards the whitewashed side of the sci-fi spectrum. I'll be curious if people enjoyed the book, though. It's a lot differently paced than other books we've read.
In Comics:
B.P.R.D., Volumes 1-3, by Mike Mignola and others: Hellboy is my favorite superhero, but the side characters in the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense (Dr. Kate Corrigan, Liz Sherman, Abe Sapien, Roger, and Johann) are quickly becoming my favorite superhero team (ensemble, group, whatever you want to call it). The monsters and ghosts they face in these collections of short stories range from the mildly perturbing (aliens! inhabiting children's toys!) to the rather disturbing (Lovecraftian frogmen commanded by a fungus-monster-thingie! Creepier than advertised!). My only regret is that Mignola isn't doing more of the artwork. This isn't to say that the replacement artwork is poor; I just miss the swathes of dark ink that set the mood so effectively in the "Hellboy" stories.
Demo: The Waking Life of Angels, by Brian Wood & Becky Cloonan: I am so sorry I missed this when it was first published and am only happening to discover it now. This is a wonderful marriage between words and pictures, deceptively simple at the outset, but perfect in its execution. The story centers around a woman who's had a recurring dream, the thought of which has kept her awake for nine days straight. Through random coincidence, she identifies the location of the dream and heads there to stop the events she's sure are about to happen. The outcome of this endeavor unfolds in gorgeous black and white illustrations with a dreamlike layout that serves the story incredibly well. I'm planning to go back to the comic book store and buy the collected volume of the previous stories and I cannot wait to read it.
In Manga:
Rinne, Volume 2, by Rumiko Takahashi: Volume 2 picks up squarely where the story left off in Volume 1, and continues largely on the highly entertaining notes the first installment of the story had. A new character is introduced in the second half of the story, and I enjoyed his interaction with the reluctant hero--the two have a history, but in grand Takahashi tradition, the new adversary is a pretty goofy villain whose grudge against the hero is based on something pretty silly. The heroine continues to be plucky and helpful, even venturing into Hell to help our hero! Lots of fun, guilty pleasure reading.
In Movies:
The Young Victoria: The casting in this was excellent; poking around Wikipedia afterwards, I was surprised to see how similar almost everyone in the film looked to their real life counterparts (Mark Strong, as the controlling Sir James Conroy, in particular, looks eerily familiar in portrait form.) Of course, there's been some Hollywood "prettying up" for all the characters, but that's to be expected in such a costume pageant of a movie. The script isn't especially revolutionary or daring, but the touching chemistry between Emily Blunt and Rupert Friend makes up for the somewhat slow moments. This is one movie that won't suffer much from the transition from big screen to small screen, but it's still a solid piece of filmmaking, and I'm glad we had a chance to see it.
My Soul to Keep, by Tannarive Due: This was the horror/suspense choice for book group, and I'm a little hard-pressed to describe it that way (with the exception of one scene about 2/3 of the way through). This is a story with supernatural elements, but not a fantasy, urban or high. Stephen King, in his cover blurb, likens it to Interview with a Vampire, which would be a good place to start, except that I wouldn't name the monster in the story as a vampire. At no point does he drink blood (except for the ritual that made him a monster in the first place), and he walks around in sunlight with no ill effects. I think a better word would be "immortal". ( Read more, with spoilers. )
I'm very pleased that we read this book for Book Group, since the author is a woman of color, and the reading list tends towards the whitewashed side of the sci-fi spectrum. I'll be curious if people enjoyed the book, though. It's a lot differently paced than other books we've read.
In Comics:
B.P.R.D., Volumes 1-3, by Mike Mignola and others: Hellboy is my favorite superhero, but the side characters in the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense (Dr. Kate Corrigan, Liz Sherman, Abe Sapien, Roger, and Johann) are quickly becoming my favorite superhero team (ensemble, group, whatever you want to call it). The monsters and ghosts they face in these collections of short stories range from the mildly perturbing (aliens! inhabiting children's toys!) to the rather disturbing (Lovecraftian frogmen commanded by a fungus-monster-thingie! Creepier than advertised!). My only regret is that Mignola isn't doing more of the artwork. This isn't to say that the replacement artwork is poor; I just miss the swathes of dark ink that set the mood so effectively in the "Hellboy" stories.
Demo: The Waking Life of Angels, by Brian Wood & Becky Cloonan: I am so sorry I missed this when it was first published and am only happening to discover it now. This is a wonderful marriage between words and pictures, deceptively simple at the outset, but perfect in its execution. The story centers around a woman who's had a recurring dream, the thought of which has kept her awake for nine days straight. Through random coincidence, she identifies the location of the dream and heads there to stop the events she's sure are about to happen. The outcome of this endeavor unfolds in gorgeous black and white illustrations with a dreamlike layout that serves the story incredibly well. I'm planning to go back to the comic book store and buy the collected volume of the previous stories and I cannot wait to read it.
In Manga:
Rinne, Volume 2, by Rumiko Takahashi: Volume 2 picks up squarely where the story left off in Volume 1, and continues largely on the highly entertaining notes the first installment of the story had. A new character is introduced in the second half of the story, and I enjoyed his interaction with the reluctant hero--the two have a history, but in grand Takahashi tradition, the new adversary is a pretty goofy villain whose grudge against the hero is based on something pretty silly. The heroine continues to be plucky and helpful, even venturing into Hell to help our hero! Lots of fun, guilty pleasure reading.
In Movies:
The Young Victoria: The casting in this was excellent; poking around Wikipedia afterwards, I was surprised to see how similar almost everyone in the film looked to their real life counterparts (Mark Strong, as the controlling Sir James Conroy, in particular, looks eerily familiar in portrait form.) Of course, there's been some Hollywood "prettying up" for all the characters, but that's to be expected in such a costume pageant of a movie. The script isn't especially revolutionary or daring, but the touching chemistry between Emily Blunt and Rupert Friend makes up for the somewhat slow moments. This is one movie that won't suffer much from the transition from big screen to small screen, but it's still a solid piece of filmmaking, and I'm glad we had a chance to see it.
