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Text, audio, video
Oct. 30th, 2011 09:49 pmThe City of Dreaming Books by Walter Moers:
Excellent fun - sentient dinosaur narrates his adventures in and under the city of Bookholm, which is entirely peopled by writers, literary agents, critics and Bookhunters, the latter being an impressive breed of adventurers, who delve the catacombs in search of literary gems. The plot is paper-thin, and actually only rears its head in two or three places - first to get the narrator, Optimus Yarnspinner, to the city, second to get him into the catacombs, and thirdly to bring him back above ground again. In the meantime, Moers has tremendous fun showing us round the fascinating world he has created - the book is more travelogue than thriller, with Yarnspinner taking in the sights above ground and sampling the many dangers below. All very silly, but highly entertaining.
Peter and Max by Bill Willingham:
The first novel set in the Fables universe, read in audio form by Wil Wheaton. The narration was perhaps a little over-enthusiastic in places, but Wil is very easy to listen to overall. The story is that of Peter Piper and his evil brother Max, who becomes the Pied Piper of Hamlin. As always with Fables, things don't go as you might expect, and it's certainly not a children's tale, but it's very engaging and kept me intrigued right to the end.
The Help:
I'm sure this is a very good film in its way. I think it tried a bit too hard, and was just a little too obvious - plus it made me cry, which I really didn't need today. Good performances all round, though, with some excellent moments. Just rather too sad for my liking - I wasn't in the right mood for it.
Excellent fun - sentient dinosaur narrates his adventures in and under the city of Bookholm, which is entirely peopled by writers, literary agents, critics and Bookhunters, the latter being an impressive breed of adventurers, who delve the catacombs in search of literary gems. The plot is paper-thin, and actually only rears its head in two or three places - first to get the narrator, Optimus Yarnspinner, to the city, second to get him into the catacombs, and thirdly to bring him back above ground again. In the meantime, Moers has tremendous fun showing us round the fascinating world he has created - the book is more travelogue than thriller, with Yarnspinner taking in the sights above ground and sampling the many dangers below. All very silly, but highly entertaining.
Peter and Max by Bill Willingham:
The first novel set in the Fables universe, read in audio form by Wil Wheaton. The narration was perhaps a little over-enthusiastic in places, but Wil is very easy to listen to overall. The story is that of Peter Piper and his evil brother Max, who becomes the Pied Piper of Hamlin. As always with Fables, things don't go as you might expect, and it's certainly not a children's tale, but it's very engaging and kept me intrigued right to the end.
The Help:
I'm sure this is a very good film in its way. I think it tried a bit too hard, and was just a little too obvious - plus it made me cry, which I really didn't need today. Good performances all round, though, with some excellent moments. Just rather too sad for my liking - I wasn't in the right mood for it.
