Monthly Archives: September 2012

The book contains 27 new stories by authors like Neil Gaiman, Joe Hill, Alice Hoffman, Dave Eggers, Harlan Ellison, Margaret Atwood, Jacquelin Mitchard and many others. After each story there’s a short explanation of how the writers came up with the ideas. Some have met Bradbury, even got writing advice from him, or grew up reading his stories, and those stories had shaped their lives as authors. All the stories in the book are connected in some way to Bradbury’s work – be it characters or themes or just concepts that were inspired from his stories; dystopian worlds, monsters, mysterious strangers, these are just some of the ideas the stories are based on. I did not read anything Bradbury until last year, when Fahrenheit 451 had such an impact on me I don’t think I’ll ever forget that first sentence, so when I saw this book, I knew I had to read it. Like with any short story collection, some of the stories were quite enjoyable, others less so. A few words on my favorites:

The Man Who Forgot Ray Bradbury, by Neil Gaiman.
This story has the feeling of a soliloquy on the subject of Ray Bradbury’s work as a writer. It’s also about forgetting things, particularly names and about the stories that stay with you even though you forgot who wrote them or their complete name. From all the stories in the book, this is the one that feels more like a farewell tribute than a story in itself.

Headlife, by Margaret Atwood
A very apt title, meant to be taken ad literam. Everything happens in the future, where technology is so advanced that heads can be severed from the body and still live to talk. Memories and fantasies can be projected on screens for others to watch and buy. A scary look into what happens when you lose the right to your own privacy.

The Girl in the Funeral Parlor, by Sam Weller.
What happens when you meet your soul mate but she’s already dead? This is a twisted tale of a young man who falls in love with a dead girl and tries to find out more about her and how she died. What he finds out only strengthens his conviction that they would have been perfect for each other but the timing was wrong. A beautiful story.

The Companions, by David Morrell
Death comes at the right time. A couple go out to for a night at the opera where they meet two men who later they find out were dead. The mystery gets deeper as they meet them again a year later and then again, a few years after that. The sightings are not random and the last time the couple sees them, the mystery is revealed and everything comes together. Sad and moving.

Children of the Bedtime Machine, by Robert McCammon
This was a story I particularly liked; maybe it was the loneliness of the old woman living in a world on the brink of extinction, or perhaps the sense of joy and fulfillment she found in reading stories to children. It just goes to show that no matter where you live of how your life turns out, there’s always new territory to discover between the pages of a book.

Who Knocks, by Dave Eggers
A girl takes a boat out on a lake in the middle of the night and is never seen again. All that remains is her journal which is found in the boat – and a few lines that provide a glimpse into the mystery of the disappearance. Scary and entertaining.

Because I’ve only read one book by Bradbury, in a way I feel like I missed out on some of the stories in this collection. Some of them were great as standalone stories but with others I felt like maybe I would have liked them better had I read the original first. Most of the stories were good, some were great (like the ones I mentioned above) and some just didn’t do much for me, but in the end it was worth the read.

*Read in August, 2012

What do you do when you find out about a major book sale? You take advantage of it. On my first trip to that book shop I came away with a bunch of books. The second time I got a smaller bunch but even then, I found some titles that made me happy; The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake is one book I look forward to reading, and I’ve already started on the new Anne Rice’s series, The Songs of The Seraphim – sadly, 57 pages into Angel Time, the first book, and my mind already wanders to other novels. Have I been spoiled by my recent Victorian read where drama lurks in every corner and mysteries abound? I find my patience is running out and long conversations stretching over a seemingly interminable number of pages make me want to speed read. That being said, I’m not giving up.

Yesterday was our monthly bookcrossing get-together and I came away with two books. One was I Am The Messenger, by Markus Zusak , a novel I was reading about only a few days ago on Jen’s blog and even though she didn’t seem to like it all that much, I was curious to see what it was all about; the other is called The Best American Travel Writing 2000 which is a collection of short stories from various corners of the world, from Russia and China to France and Uganda, to name just a few.

There are also these two (big!) books I keep telling myself I should read because I need to return them to a friend. I actually started on The Widow for One Year but it just didn’t click with my mood so I put it aside and went on to read something else. Maybe I’ll give the other one a go first. The Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao sounds more interesting.

Right now I’m working on a review for Shadow Show, a collection of short stories inspired by Ray Bradbury, which should be up sometimes this week (I hope).

What are your reading plans for this week and do you have any books you can’t wait to read? Or maybe you’re familiar with some of the titles you see here…opinions and recommendations are always welcome.

A read-along. Part IV/Volume IV

This is the fourth week of the read read-along I am doing with Vishy in which we discuss the last part of The Mysteries of Udolpho.

In this last volume, all mysteries are being revealed and everything comes together, explanations are given and a happy end ensues. Between the drama played by Valancourt and Emily – who was still caught between what was “proper” and what her heart really wanted (a timeless dilemma, isn’t it) the story of the strange goings on at the castle of the count de Villefort, and the nun with a terrible secret at the monastery of Saint Claire, there are banditi attacks, a shocking disappearance and of course, a double wedding. The bad guys get their just punishment, a dark family history is revealed and everything ends on a happy note.

I enjoyed the book – in spite of its happily-ever-after ending and a few high drama moments that had me roll my eyes, there was still enough tension, unpredictability and plenty of mystery to keep me engaged until the end. I liked it better than “A Sicilian Romance” (by the same author) – it was darker, scarier and more mysterious, not to mention much longer and with a more intricate plot. Reading this book only confirmed my preference for Gothic novels which combine romance with mysteries and of course, if there’s a haunted castle and a few ghosts, real or not, even better.

Published in 1794 and the fourth of Ann Radcliffe’s six published novels, The Mysteries of Udolpho was considered the archetypal Gothic novel; while at first sight it appears to be just a novel where romance and elements of the supernatural are combined, the author later provides an explanation for those “supernatural” elements – I’m not sure if that’s good or if an unsolved mystery would have been better but I liked it nevertheless. Sometimes it’s good to have closure.
The book is also mentioned in Jane Austen’s “Northanger Abbey”, which is the reason why I now have this book on my to-be-read pile. Would I recommend The Mysteries of Udolpho? With all my heart, but then it depends on what you want to take away from it – if you’re looking for some deeper meaning, this is not the book you want, but if you’d like something entertaining, with poetry scattered here and there and a wonderfully old language, this is just perfect. Enjoy.

You can find Vishy’s review here.

*Read in August, 2012