I don't know Tom Holt. Never read any of his books. But what caught my eye was the cover design of a woman dressed like Wonder Woman holding a vacuum cleaner with mice scurrying in a hurry. And the title: "Expecting Someone Taller". This might be worth a read, I thought.
And what a journey it was. Honestly I didn't expect it to dwell on things I am interested about. A lot of it is about Mythology. Norse Mythology, that is: Yggdrasil, Loki (Logi in this book), the ravens Thought and Memory, some river spirits. With a twist on how they have evolved (or not!) with the times, and how Malcolm Fisher, a man who has not done anything spectacular or noteworthy in his life (and constantly being overshadowed by his elder, more intelligent sister), suddenly - by a twist of fate - becomes the ruler of the World.
With great power comes great responsibility (hmmm... that sounded familiar), and Malcolm took it upon himself to be more conscious of his thoughts and actions, as it has a direct impact on how the world operates, so to speak. But aside from worrying about about the fate of the world, he also had to worry about Norse gods and deities after him - or rather after the power he has accidentally acquired.
Or was it accidental?
Inspite of the premise that it works on material that has been making waves recently (think Harry Potter and Percy Jackson), "Expecting Someone Taller" reads quite differently. For one thing, it has a lot of humor injected in it. It's fun and witty. Makes me want to categorize it under "divine comedy". And at the same time it deals with pretty serious stuff, like personal worth and how we value others.
The great thing is, this book has been around for some time now and so you can get it rather cheaply. It's a great read. Grab one and give it a go.
Technorati tags: book review
24 August 2010
20 August 2010
A celebration at the Cathedral
Technorati tags: Baguio
09 August 2010
The Book of Lost Things
A narrative composed of other narratives. This is how author John Connolly describes The Book of Lost Things. The boy David loves the company of books, and in them he thoroughly enjoys stories that take him away from his place where the second world war is imminent and his beloved mother lay dying. Interspersed with the real world, he soon steps into a magical land where things seem vaguely familiar. And David realizes they are indeed familiar, for many are tales from the books he loved, but have been given different twists.
Also, the imagination is quite powerful here, because when it is mixed with strong emotion, things find a way to materialize themselves. Unfortunately, such emotions are usually of fear and hatred.
It is interesting how - given its source material of children's fairy tale books - this book is actually not meant for kids. Deeper, underlying messages geared towards adults. And there are even scenarios that are obviously understandable to adults and not to kids. But the author did find - as he shared in the interview at the latter part of the book - that kids did enjoy reading them as well, though some did not comprehend the real meaning within it.
The soft-bound book, at 399 pages, is quite thick. But the story ends at about three-quarters of the way, and the rest is a recollection of the stories from whence the author created David's world. This section is a worthwhile read too, as it shares a bit of history about how the story has evolved over the years and then it proceeds with the telling of the story. Many of these, understandably, comes from the version of the Brothers Grimm.
If you loved reading books as a kid and you are familiar with Snow White, Rumplestiltskin, Sleeping Beauty, and their company, The Book of Lost Things will read like a magical book. It is a well-written story, engaging and rich with imagination.
If you stayed outdoors playing more than you read books as a kid, you will still surely find an adventure within the pages worth travelling to, as the kid David discovered in the sunken garden.
Related link: The Book of Lost Things website
Technorati tags: book
Also, the imagination is quite powerful here, because when it is mixed with strong emotion, things find a way to materialize themselves. Unfortunately, such emotions are usually of fear and hatred.
It is interesting how - given its source material of children's fairy tale books - this book is actually not meant for kids. Deeper, underlying messages geared towards adults. And there are even scenarios that are obviously understandable to adults and not to kids. But the author did find - as he shared in the interview at the latter part of the book - that kids did enjoy reading them as well, though some did not comprehend the real meaning within it.
The soft-bound book, at 399 pages, is quite thick. But the story ends at about three-quarters of the way, and the rest is a recollection of the stories from whence the author created David's world. This section is a worthwhile read too, as it shares a bit of history about how the story has evolved over the years and then it proceeds with the telling of the story. Many of these, understandably, comes from the version of the Brothers Grimm.
If you loved reading books as a kid and you are familiar with Snow White, Rumplestiltskin, Sleeping Beauty, and their company, The Book of Lost Things will read like a magical book. It is a well-written story, engaging and rich with imagination.
If you stayed outdoors playing more than you read books as a kid, you will still surely find an adventure within the pages worth travelling to, as the kid David discovered in the sunken garden.
Related link: The Book of Lost Things website
Technorati tags: book
02 August 2010
American Taxi Drivers in Isabela
This has been going around in Facebook for a while now but it's so interesting I wanted to share it here in my blog as well.
The caption for the video reads thus:
As I watched this video, a number of questions entered my mind (as did a number of people of FB), like: how did they get work visas, and didn't they know there's a dress code for drivers? You can't wear sleeveless shirts.
Questions nothwithstanding, it is very amusing how one of them (Turock, I Guess?) is able to speak Filipino quite well. I feel that he must have had spent some considerable time in the country previously. And in local driver "tradition", he even has paper bills looped around his fingers.
Understandably, they weren't able to get passengers because Filipinos generally stay out of extraordinary things, and Americans plying a taxi route is extraordinary indeed (as Americans are generally thought to be well-off). But if they spent some time in the area and are generally known to the locals, then they'd have a better chance at it.
Technorati tags: Baguio
The caption for the video reads thus:
Turock (aka Tory) and Jason have been running their taxi in the Philippines for the past year. They both lost Jobs in the USA and picked up and moved to the Philippines to look for jobs. Jobs in the Philippines are scarce but starting a taxi service made sense.
This is a video of their very first run almost one year ago. They are running a taxi in the province of Isabela thru to Cagayan. Their route starts in Santiago and makes stops in Alicia, Cauayan, Ilagan, Tuguegarao. They only charge 30PHP per trip, MAY AIR CON PA! So the next time you are in Isabela sana sumakay kayo sa taxi nina Jason ni Tory
As I watched this video, a number of questions entered my mind (as did a number of people of FB), like: how did they get work visas, and didn't they know there's a dress code for drivers? You can't wear sleeveless shirts.
Questions nothwithstanding, it is very amusing how one of them (Turock, I Guess?) is able to speak Filipino quite well. I feel that he must have had spent some considerable time in the country previously. And in local driver "tradition", he even has paper bills looped around his fingers.
Understandably, they weren't able to get passengers because Filipinos generally stay out of extraordinary things, and Americans plying a taxi route is extraordinary indeed (as Americans are generally thought to be well-off). But if they spent some time in the area and are generally known to the locals, then they'd have a better chance at it.
Technorati tags: Baguio
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
