We've had a few days of snow and cold weather. It's just cold today but from what the weather forecasts are indicating we're in for a week of warmer weather and rain. Bummer.
I've been trying to finish off the books I've been working on and have been reasonably successful. I have 3 left that I hope to finish before end 2022. I should be able to finish at least two of them. For now, I'll update those books I've completed since my last update and I'll add the synopses of the couple of books I've received / purchased as well. Then I'll see about continuing with my ongoing look at Women Authors whose Works I've been enjoying.
Just Finished
"It turned out that the stories that make up The Doll's House by Neil Gaiman were also contained in the collection of Sandman stores I'd read previously but it didn't really matter as I enjoyed reading them again. The main story line is The Sandman trying to find subjects who disappeared while he was held prisoner in a previous storyline. He also tries to stop a Dream vortex from taking over the dreamscape.
We find Rose Walker, first with her mother, visiting England to claim an inheritance. Rose is next seen in the US searching for her younger brother, Jed, who is held prisoner by relatives. She will end up in a hotel in Georgia hosting a psycho serial killer convention. There are other storylines in this collection; Sandman visits one man every 100 years to see if he is ready to die and to get an update on the man's observations on life in general.
It's a rich collection of fascinating stories, well-written, well-drawn and so enjoyable to read. I didn't even mind it being a reread. Try it out. (3.5 stars)"
"Maddie Hatter and the Deadly Diamond is the first book in the steampunk trilogy featuring, yes you guessed it, Maddie Hatter. The story was created by Canadian author Jayne Barnard, who is also known for her crime series, The Falls Mysteries.
The Deadly Diamond is a YA, steampunk - light story which features Maddie Hatter, a young lady, daughter of a Steamlord. Maddie is hiding out in Egypt, trying to avoid an arranged marriage by making a life for herself as an investigative journalist. Unfortunately for Maddie, she is stuck in the fashion circuit, reporting on what the high polloi are wearing as they summer in Cairo. While there she gets involved trying to solve the disappearance of famed English explorer, Baron Bodmin, who was searching for the Diamond of Africa. When Bodmin's body floats up on shore in England, Maddie will begin a journey from Egypt, to Venice and onward to England to try and solve the mystery.
It's not a perfect story by any means but it's entertaining and is a nice teaser for Barnard's steampunk world; neat airships, mechanical sparrows that can record conversations and even provide videos. There is lots of action and Maddie is an interesting character. Her pal Obie, who works for Madame Taxus-Hemlock, as does Maddie in fact, is also a great character and helps her throughout this adventure.
I think this would make a great graphic novel as well as Jayne draws wonderful pictures of the clothing, the locales, the people, but it's still enjoyable as a story. I hope Book 2 continues to develop the characters and I'm looking forward to reading about parasol dueling. 😁 (3 stars)"
"The Sandman Vol. 3: Dream Country is the 3rd book in the Sandman graphic novel series by author Neil Gaiman. I will start this review off by saying that I should have been a mite more careful when I started down the Sandman rabbit hole. I had read Book 1 awhile ago and then next bought Vol 2, The Doll's House and now, Vol 3, Dream Country. Unfortunately for me, the Book One contained stories 1 - 20, which includes The Doll's House and Dream Country collections. LOL.
Having said that I still enjoyed rereading these stories. And there was a nice edition, which contained the actual script that Neil Gaiman drafted for the story line for Façade. This is the script he sent to the Kelley who would provide the art work for the particular story. That was very interesting as it contains Gaiman's panel by panel description of what he wanted as well as some of Kelley's comments.
"Page 17 panel 6
TWO PANELS ON THE BOTTOM TIER. HEAD SHOT OF THE SANDMAN, STARING STRAIGHT AT US: HE SEEMS HALF AMUSED, HALF DISGUSTED, HALF HURT. (YES, I KNOW IT MAKES THREE HALVES)" Comment "It's okay. I failed math. K" 😃
Dream Country contains storylines 17 - 20. My favorite was Calliope, in which struggling author Ric, pays to have an imprisoned Muse, Calliope, handed over to him (the cost a bezoar) to help him write his latest novel. Fascinating story and loved the ending.
Sandman is a great character and we also see his sister, Death in this collection. (Unfortunately, again, the story in which Death appears, also shows up in the Death collection. Oh well).
There is a cute story about cats and also an interesting one featuring Shakespeare and his deal with Sandman, as Shakespeare's troupe performs out in a field for the legion of faeries. All entertaining stories and great art work. Even with them being repeats, still most enjoyable and highly recommended. (Just get them in the proper order) Season of Mists now on order. (3.0 stars)"
"December 2022 has been a Neil Gaiman month for some reason. I've been enjoying the Sandman and Death graphic novels. Today I purchased and enjoyed Coraline, a horror story that was put in graphic novel format by Craig P. Russell.
It's a simple story concept. A young girl, Coraline, whose family has newly moved to a new house is bored, somewhat mad at her parents, bored with her new neighbors and just BORED! She is housebound one day due to rain and doesn't know what to do. Her father tells her to explore the house, count the windows and doors, find the water heater. She finds one door, behind which is a brick wall. Supposedly there is an empty apartment behind the wall, which is for sale.
In the night, Coraline hears scratching sounds, creeping noises. When her mother goes out to get lunch, Coraline gets the key to the door and when she opens it, she discovers a passage instead of a wall. *shudder* On the other side is 'another' mother and father. Both have dark button eyes and the 'mother' has long claw-like fingers.
This begins a journey for Coraline. Her real parents disappear. She discovers ghostly spirits in the basement of the other house. To get her parents back, she must trick this 'other' mother. It's an interesting, creepy story, well-drawn and well-written. I have not read the original book so can't compare but this was an enjoyable read. Thanks, Mr. Gaiman for continuing to entertain me. (4.0 stars)"
"I enjoyed the first book in Justin Cronin Passage trilogy, The Passage, very much. I've had this 2nd book, The Twelve early in 2022 and finally, with some hesitation, started it at the end of July. Now, my hesitation was mainly because it was such a tome, not because I was worried I wouldn't enjoy.) Anyway, it's taken me since July to get through the book, basically half a year, but it was worth it. It didn't take me a long time because I wasn't enjoying it, but more because I usually have 4 or 5 books on the go and it was easy to put one down so I could finish another.
Anyway, enough rambling. let's get to this story. This has been an exciting, rich epic novel, a battle between the remains of mankind against the Twelve and their minions. The Twelve are powerful vampires created in a laboratory from genetic material provided from Zero, the first vampire, discovered in the first novel in South America. (If I remember it all correctly, because so much has happened in the two novels, that I may have forgotten some specifics). The first two novels, in my mind, are like The Stand on steroids.
This second follows many of the characters in the first novel (check out the Dramatis personae at the back to refresh yourself on the characters). The story moves from character to character; the Expeditionary folks from Texas who go out to battle the minions of the Twelve, the baddies in The Homeland, in Iowa, where they hold humans prisoner, feeding off them, building the Dome (why?), etc.
The story will lead to a climactic denouement, a 'final' (probably not because there is still Book 3) battle between insurgents in the Homeland and their allies from Texas vs the acolytes of the Twelve. I know I'm glossing over the whole scope of the novel because so much happens. The characters are fantastic, with their imperfections, the future is described in fantastic rich detail and the events will cause you to go through the gamut of emotions. This story might have taken me a long time to read, but once I settled down to focus on it, I couldn't put it down. I know it's a great story when I fell happiness, sadness, anger, all the emotions. I can't say enough good things about this 2nd story. Loved it and now I have Book 3 on order. (5.0 stars)"
New Books
"Prudent Jana and impetuous Sofia were best friends when they were schoolmates. One day Sofia approached a man in a car when she shouldn’t have and ended up being raped by a nefarious Communist Party bigwig. Jana pursued the culprit’s car, identified him, and vowed someday to bring him to justice.
Now Jana is a commander in the Slovak police force and Sofia, having made her name as a reformer, is a member of Parliament. Jana has fallen in love with an upright government prosecutor and Sofia is carrying on a notorious affair with a suave, married fellow MP.One day Jana finds an enormous diamond dangling from a string fixed to the ceiling of the living room of her house. Was it put there as a present? Or, more likely, to entrap her? Where did this magnificent jewel come from? And why was it left for her to find? The answer leads Jana across Europe to unravel a criminal conspiracy involving multiple murders which has entangled her hapless, impulsive friend, Sofia, in its web, and ultimately to the criminal mastermind, the onetime Communist Party boss."
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