Book 8 of 20: 1602 by Neil Gaiman

1602 by Neil Gaiman

Image from Neil Gaiman  's website

From Book 7 you know I enjoy reading comic books, and given my newly discovered love of Neil Gaiman I was happy the two could collide.

Although I've never read the books of many of these characters, I understood who they were from the movies, and even if  I hadn't seen those, doesn't everyone have a grasp on who Spiderman, The Fantastic Four, Daredevil and The X-Men are? They're pretty much public knowledge these days. Add to the fact that this is pretty much a stand alone story means that anyone can read this without having to worry about previous histories.

It's story is wonderful, I love it, why can't this be a movie? I'm not getting into a film rights conversation, but it usually bubbles up, and no, I don't care that the guy they've cast as Human Torch is black, it makes no impact on the story and we'll all be seeing the movie anyway.

Back to my point, it would make an awesome movie, I mean, just imagine the costumes! Great characters, the story is wonderful, I enjoy the time setting. I guess it'd be a sci-fi historical romp of a movie. Seriously, make this. It's so interesting.

Gaiman's writing really shines, I could gush for hours about how much I love his writing style, and it translates well to the comic format, which doesn't always happen for other authors.

I really enjoyed the artwork too, vibrant and each character is easy to identify and distinct throughout.

This has to be read.

Book 7 of 20: Deadpool Volume 3: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Deadpool Volume 3: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. Posehn, Duggan, Koblish, Shalvey.

Image from Forbidden Planet

It's a graphic novel, but it has pages which make it a book and a heart wrenching story, so it's allowed.

I know comic books are not everyone's cup of tea, but I really enjoy them, I'm not going to pretend that I know everything about them that ever existed, but I am a Deadpool fan, and I adore him.

Brief history of Deadpool

Real name is Wade Wilson. Deadpool is a Mercenary who has regenerative abilities. He got these abilities from the Weapon X program, like Wolverine. He joined to cure his cancer, which it did, but left him with horrific scars/tumors across his body and he never dies. Most other characters in the Marvel Universe call him crazy as he talks to the two other voices in his head. Is he a good guy? Well, he's pretty much in the grey area on that, but he usually does things for the right reasons.

He was created by Rob Liefeld in the 1990's, making his first appearance in New Mutants #98.

Mostly, I think he just wants friends, but is too scared to put himself out there.

Back to the post.

I think this story may have broken my heart a little bit, it started out all fun, as usual, with a romp of an issue where Deadpool is working alongside Luke Cage and Iron Fist, that has a ridiculous villain and 4th wall breaking antics, and then floor falls away, and your stomach drops, and it's such a straight story. Deadpool teams up with Wolverine and Captain America, and finds out about his past and it will leave you heartbroken.

The artwork in this book is wonderful.

All the heartbreak aside; this book has Deadpool, Captain America and Wolverine kicking ass! Serious ass-kicking. It's kick ass.

Book 6 of 20: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon

Image taken from ebooks.bigw

I remember when this book came out in 2003, how every magazine I picked up had this book in it, and then I kept hearing people around me talk about it wherever I went. Fast forward to 2012, and whilst having coffee with my Auntie, this book came up in conversation, as she'd just finished reading it and couldn't praise it enough, she decided to buy it for me, as I hadn't read it yet. Once more, it became another book that was left sitting on my shelf.
And now to January 2014, whilst sat in the cinema, waiting for the stream of Coriolanus, live from the Donmar Theatre, to start I saw a trailer for the play of Curious Incident that would be coming in May as an encore playing of the show to be streamed in cinemas, and it caught my interest, and we decided that we'd go see it. So I resolved that I'd read the book before we watch the play.

Last night I finished reading it and I loved it. I think that I may have put off reading it for so long because of all of the hype that surrounds this book, and honestly, this book lives up to it.

It's a mystery novel, that is so innocently naive and quite humorous because of that, there's the added bonus that you may learn something from it like I did. It's a wonderful look into Christopher's mind, who has learning difficulties but it's never really revealed as which one it is.

I urge you all to read this, and I'm now really looking forward to seeing the play.

Book 5 of 20: Stardust by Neil Gaiman

Stardust by Neil Gaiman

Image from hachette

Given that the film has been one of my favourite films since it's release, I thought it was about time that I read the book.
Now that's something I seem to do a lot, enjoy a film and some time later buy the book only to put it on the shelf, rinse and repeat.

Now, I finished reading this last week but got a little preoccupied by other things and forgot to write this, so my apologies.

I really enjoyed this book, there's just something about Gaiman's writing style that I need to keep reading, he truly gives magic to the world around us.

Again, if I ever do film/book comparisons, this would certainly be a part of that series, as there are some differences between these two versions of Stardust, but like in other cases where I'll be extremely disappointed in the film, I don't think the film is a bad adaptation and it really expands the source material.

So if you've enjoyed the movie, you'll love the book.

My copy of Stardust has a couple of extras, including a short story involving a young girl, and what happens to her is something every woman will empathise with, and I just wish that when it happened to me it was as magical an experience. I'm mostly surprised by how well Gaiman wrote the experience.

Book 4 of 20: The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin

The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin with an Introduction by Chuck Palahniuk

Image from www.theworks.co.uk

You know what? I rather enjoy the Nicole Kidman movie, I never realised it was based on a book, so now I get to see the root material and how the film compares.

The film is a comedy, whereas I've been told this is more sci-fi.

My edition of Stepford Wives has an introduction by Chuck Palahniuk, which gives a very interesting overview of the story and how it relates to us now, in this era, though it is pretty full of spoilers, so if you're going in with no idea of the story, I'd skip it if I were you and read it afterwards. In itself, the introduction is an interesting essay on the state of the current media, and is a rather eye opening piece of text.

Now I've finished reading it all I can say is how fantastic it is. How utterly amazing, thought provoking, suspenseful, scary and completely modern and relevant to today, despite first being published in 1972, that's 42 years ago.

I'm going to be honest here, I read it in one sitting. It's not a long book, and that's what appealed to me, but it's brilliant. I just had to keep reading it.

This is way scarier than the 2004 film. I may have to compare the two at some point. The ending to the film is so different to the book.

Read it.

Book 3 of 20: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

Coraline and Stardust are two of my favourite films, I watch them over and over, but I realised that I hadn't read them, or any of Neil Gaiman's books and it was about time I did. So I popped down to my local bookstore and found a small selection of his books on a shelf.

One in particular stood out to me, and that one is the reason for this post. So let's jump into The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman and Illustrated by Dave McKean.

Image taken from Wikipedia

Straight from the off I was enchanted by the story, a little boy who grows up in a grave yard, and taught by ghosts is one of the most amazing sounding things I've ever heard. This is one of those wonderfully dark children's stories, that adults seem to really love. 

It's innocent enough for children, but with darker themes and adult can appreciate.

The story spans years of Bod's, short for Nobody Owens, life in the graveyard, discovering it's magic, adventures he has there and ultimately the reason that he's there.

I was so engrossed in this book that I stayed up until 3am reading it before I noticed the time. This is a book that is certainly worth your time.

And, if we're very lucky, Disney will soon be releasing a film adaptation of it.

Prince of Shadows by Rachel Caine

I haven't changed my format, I just wanted to tell you how super excited I am about this book; Prince of Shadows by Rachel Caine, which is out February 4th. It will more than likely end up in my  Book # of 20 reviews this year.

Here's what it's about;

In the Houses of Montague and Capulet, there is only one goal: power. The boys are born to fight and die for honor and—if they survive—marry for influence and money, not love. The girls are assets, to be spent wisely. Their wishes are of no import. Their fates are written on the day they are born.

Benvolio Montague, cousin to Romeo, knows all this. He expects to die for his cousin, for his house, but a spark of rebellion still lives inside him. At night, he is the Prince of Shadows, the greatest thief in Verona—and he risks all as he steals from House Capulet. In doing so, he sets eyes on convent-bound Rosaline, and a terrible curse begins that will claim the lives of many in Verona…

…And will rewrite all their fates, forever.

Romeo and Juliet has been done a thousand times, my favourite film incarnation has to be Warm Bodies, so it's interesting to have a perspective shift to another character and have it be about them instead. I'm seriously looking forward to see how this story will fit in the R&J storyline.

Rachel Caine is one of my favourite authors and I've had the good pleasure of meeting her, she's so lovely and warm. I remember the Q&A she did at Waterstones in Walsall, I asked her if there were any plans of her books becoming graphic novels, I was so excited and nervous, I'd gone there alone and my only regret is not asking someone to take a picture for me!

I've read all of her Morganville books, including short stories and her Weather Warden Books, plus the "Manny" books, so I am looking forward to having a new series to look forward to!