April09_3
Three books of fluff, inhaled at speed this month:
'Visible Panty Line' by Gretel Killeen. Thumbs up to Gretel, she wrote a whole book from beginning to end and some of it is very funny.
'Endymion Spring' by Matthew Skelton. Conventional YA fantasy set in 21st and 15th century Oxford; books infused with timeless power, accessible only to children pure of heart, etc. The Oxford setting suggests Philip Pulman but it's nowhere near as dense, beautiful and black. The book-theme is very like Cornelia Funke's 'Inkheart' but the adult characters are flimsy. It's typical of the many fat fantasies populating the bookshelves of childrens's bookstores; perfectly good and entirely predictable, but then, I'm not 12.
Stephanie Meyer's 'The Host' was a surprise. I'd read 'Twilight' and set it behind me with some embarassment not intending to read more, then I heard Nancy Pearl's podcast interview with Stephanie Meyer and I was seduced back. Stephanie is a nice Morman mother, youngish, always wrote but never thought it would come to anything. A scene from 'Twilight' came to her complete in a dream, and so she wrote the book. She said it was easy; she loves the writing and is bemused by her success.
'The Host' was engaging (benevolent aliens have taken over almost all human life) and an easy, fun read. Stephanie says she didn't know if she was writing young adult or grown-up novels and doesn't care, but the romance which drives the plot is definitely YA - frequent overwhelming urges and miscommunications - which is wearisome. Perfect holiday reading.
'Visible Panty Line' by Gretel Killeen. Thumbs up to Gretel, she wrote a whole book from beginning to end and some of it is very funny.
'Endymion Spring' by Matthew Skelton. Conventional YA fantasy set in 21st and 15th century Oxford; books infused with timeless power, accessible only to children pure of heart, etc. The Oxford setting suggests Philip Pulman but it's nowhere near as dense, beautiful and black. The book-theme is very like Cornelia Funke's 'Inkheart' but the adult characters are flimsy. It's typical of the many fat fantasies populating the bookshelves of childrens's bookstores; perfectly good and entirely predictable, but then, I'm not 12.
Stephanie Meyer's 'The Host' was a surprise. I'd read 'Twilight' and set it behind me with some embarassment not intending to read more, then I heard Nancy Pearl's podcast interview with Stephanie Meyer and I was seduced back. Stephanie is a nice Morman mother, youngish, always wrote but never thought it would come to anything. A scene from 'Twilight' came to her complete in a dream, and so she wrote the book. She said it was easy; she loves the writing and is bemused by her success.
'The Host' was engaging (benevolent aliens have taken over almost all human life) and an easy, fun read. Stephanie says she didn't know if she was writing young adult or grown-up novels and doesn't care, but the romance which drives the plot is definitely YA - frequent overwhelming urges and miscommunications - which is wearisome. Perfect holiday reading.
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