strange and random happenstance

Jim Henson by Brian Jay Jones
Published by: Ballantine Books
Publication Date: September 24th, 2013
Format: Kindle, 608 Pages
Rating: ★★
To Buy (different edition than one reviewed)

Jim Henson was destined for greatness from the very beginning. When his parents bought a television set he was enraptured by the possibilities, and formed a strong affinity to Edgar Bergen, who would one day appear on The Muppet Show, as would his daughter Candice. Before he was even out of high school he was working as a puppeteer on morning shows. But it was during his freshman year at the University of Maryland, College Park, that his big break came with the creation of Sam and Friends with Jane Nebel, who would later become his wife. The show didn't just bring him to the attention of advertisers and television shows like The Ed Sullivan Show, it also brought about his most famous creation, Kermit the Frog. Those early years were about muppets killing each other in hilarious methods, from explosions to mastication, and also dancing and singing to popular songs. It was simple, but it was unique. The way Jim viewed the camera as the proscenium made it possible to expand the traditional framing device of puppetry. They were interactive, they were characters, they were people in their own right, Rowlf playing the piano as Jimmy Dean's sidekick. But the thing about Jim Henson is he was always thinking what innovation will be next? How can we move beyond the expected? How can we bring joy and education to children? You see where he was going? He was going to Sesame Street. To this very day Bert, Ernie, Oscar the Grouch, Big Bird and the lot are teaching children about kindness. Because that's what Jim brought into the world, kindness. He had an irrepressible optimism. If one innovation or idea didn't work, then the next would. He dabbled in traditional filmmaking, earning himself an Oscar nomination in the process. But for all the creations and side projects, from Saturday Night Live to Fraggles to nightclubs, he will forever be remembered for The Muppets. While the movies were designed to showcase puppet ingenuity, from bike rides to air ballons, the zany antics of Kermit and the gang really shine brightest on The Muppet Show. Jim wanted the Muppets to forever be remembered, which is why he was working with Disney when he died. He wanted Kermit to be as recognized as Mickey Mouse. Little did he know he'd already achieved that.

If there's one celebrity who was omnipresent in my childhood it was Jim Henson. I learned to speak watching Sesame Street, which initially confused my parents to no end because I was asking for water in Spanish. Gobo, Wembley, Red, Mokey, and Boober were my daily companions thanks to friends who hooked us up with HBO. When The Muppet Show went into syndication when I was in high school I would come home every day after school and watch an episode. It didn't matter how many times I'd seen it I'd still watch it. I still view The Storyteller as one of the most innovative shows ever made. And as for Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas? I literally watch it every holiday season and am beyond thrilled that we finally have the version with Kermit restored. I should also mention Labyrinth. Because I'd be remiss to mention it. I do have a poster for it currently on my bedroom wall. And yes, I am serious. The worlds that Jim Henson created I inhabited. I had dreams and nightmares from his many creations. Don't get me started on how The Christmas Toy forever traumatized me. Likewise the entirety of The NeverEnding Story. Therefore you'd think I'd be the perfect audience for this book. You'd be wrong. I don't know who this book was written for. Perhaps people who were ignorant of Jim Henson's contributions to the world? Those who knew him but didn't know him? Because this book has no depth. Brian Jay Jones was obviously hired to write a puff piece, a comprehensive chronology of Jim Henson's life that doesn't look behind the curtain. It almost felt like a PR piece; look at this great man who died too young. And he was a great man who died too young. An innovator who, in my mind, had a midas touch which turned all his projects into gold, and when he finally encountered an insurmountable problem, the merger with Disney, his body turned on him and he didn't realize he was dying until it was too late. But as for insights? As to his charisma that made him a player? Well, his womanizing is swept under the carpet. That wouldn't align with what this book is about, a fairly sanitized view of Jim Henson. Yet the true failure of this book is that Brian Jay Jones is ill-equipped to write about a visual artist. The book begins with him trying and failing to recount the famous "Kermit and Joey Say the Alphabet" piece. Why am I reading about someone writing, not very well, a famous moment when I could just watch it? In fact, that's my advice to you. Just go watch some of Jim Henson's work. He was a visual artist, all of The Muppet Show minus that episode with the actor from The Thick of It who turned out to be a sex offender is available on Disney+, so you have no excuse to not watch it. All his work can be found if you just look for it. So go look, don't read.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Brian Jay Jones, Disney, Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas, For the Love of Book Clubs, Jim Henson, Kermit the Frog, Labyrinth, Sam and Friends, Sesame Street, The Christmas Toy, The Muppet Show, The Storyteller

Smoke and Mirrors by Elly Griffiths
Published by: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Publication Date: November 5th, 2015
Format: Kindle, 352 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy (different edition than one reviewed)

The holiday season has descended on Brighton, which means it's Panto time! In seaside towns across England theaters are getting ready to open up for the Christmas season. In Brighton it's caused rather a stir that Max Mephisto is going to be staring in a production of Aladdin as the villainous Abanazar. But soon it's not the pantomime or the unending snow that is the number one conversation in Brighton, it's the disappearance of two children, Annie and Mark. Sadly there will be no happy ending in this case as their small bodies are found under the snow. They are staged like some sick version of Hansel and Gretel with candy strewn about their bodies. Who would abduct these children, destroying two families in the process? As Edgar starts to dig into the lives of Annie and Mark he realizes how amazingly talented and beloved these best friends were. They loved staging plays at an "uncle's" house. Annie would write all the dialogue while Mark was the production assistant. They had their own troupe of players, younger kids who admired them and in particular Annie's ability with a dark twist. The kids feed on dark material and are encouraged by their teacher, Miss Young, who loves to recount the darker of Grimms' Fairy Tales to her pupils. This raises eyebrows amongst the police force. Do children really crave and understand darkness like Miss Young insists? Annie's plays may indicate that this is the case, though to Edgar it makes Miss Young their prime suspect. That is until she is murdered as well. Desperate Edgar turns to his fellow Magic Man Max Mephisto to try to get a grip on the theatrical and fantastical aspects of these crimes and learns of a similar case years earlier that eerily echoes the one they are investigating. But that murder was so long ago and the culprit was caught and hanged. Could this be a copycat killer? Anything is possible, but there's one thing Edgar knows, he will do everything in his power to catch the killer before they strike again. The snow may fall, the wind may whip, but justice will be served.

As an ardent Anglophile there is one thing I will just never get and that's Panto. Whatever theatrical traditions it's origins, it has evolved, or in my opinion, devolved, into this weird spectacle of garish costumes, cross-dressing, lewd humor, and tons of double entendres. Like variety shows your grandmother would force you to watch where all the humor seems out of date and you are praying for it to be over but based on fairy tales or folklore, like Dick Whittington's cat, making it somehow more inherently English in the process. So the Brits actually go to these shows over the holiday season, most of the productions staring former B-List or lower celebrities, with the rare A-lister, all of whom are willing to tart themselves up to make the kiddies laugh. Yet that seedy celebrity angle combined with the fact that it's done for children gives it a duel edge that can go from cute to creepy in a second. Therefore it's the perfect backdrop for the investigation of the murder of some children. It somehow feeds into it so well. Yes, the murder of children will always have a seamy side, because what perverted person would cut a life so short. But having this added creepiness made this mystery something so much more. In fact, what it reminded me of, not the least of which because of the 1950s setting, is the second Flavia De Luce book, The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag. This is easily my favorite book in Alan Bradley's series, but more importantly, it's one of my most favorite mysteries ever and it deals with the murder of a beloved children's puppeteer. I can't get enough of murder mysteries that bridge the gap between horror and innocence, when it's done right, and Smoke and Mirrors does it oh so right. And as if this book couldn't be more perfect the fairy tale "Hans My Hedgehog" plays an important role. This is one of the fairy tales that was adapted for Jim Henson's The Storyteller and is therefore a favorite of mine. I feel like not enough people embrace how wonderful it is and am glad to find an author who agrees. Don't be surprised if this makes in on my top ten list of books I read in 2021.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Aladdin, Brighton, Elly Griffiths, Grimms' Fairy Tales, Hans My Headgehog, Jim Henson, Magic Men, Murder Most Foul, Panto, Smoke and Mirrors, The Storyteller, The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag

Smoke and Mirrors by Elly Griffiths
Published by: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Publication Date: November 5th, 2015
Format: Kindle, 352 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy (different edition than one reviewed)

The holiday season has descended on Brighton, which means it's Panto time! In seaside towns across England theaters are getting ready to open up for the Christmas season. In Brighton it's caused rather a stir that Max Mephisto is going to be staring in a production of Aladdin as the villainous Abanazar. But soon it's not the pantomime or the unending snow that is the number one conversation in Brighton, it's the disappearance of two children, Annie and Mark. Sadly there will be no happy ending in this case as their small bodies are found under the snow. They are staged like some sick version of Hansel and Gretel with candy strewn about their bodies. Who would abduct these children, destroying two families in the process? As Edgar starts to dig into the lives of Annie and Mark he realizes how amazingly talented and beloved these best friends were. They loved staging plays at an "uncle's" house. Annie would write all the dialogue while Mark was the production assistant. They had their own troupe of players, younger kids who admired them and in particular Annie's ability with a dark twist. The kids feed on dark material and are encouraged by their teacher, Miss Young, who loves to recount the darker of Grimms' Fairy Tales to her pupils. This raises eyebrows amongst the police force. Do children really crave and understand darkness like Miss Young insists? Annie's plays may indicate that this is the case, though to Edgar it makes Miss Young their prime suspect. That is until she is murdered as well. Desperate Edgar turns to his fellow Magic Man Max Mephisto to try to get a grip on the theatrical and fantastical aspects of these crimes and learns of a similar case years earlier that eerily echoes the one they are investigating. But that murder was so long ago and the culprit was caught and hanged. Could this be a copycat killer? Anything is possible, but there's one thing Edgar knows, he will do everything in his power to catch the killer before they strike again. The snow may fall, the wind may whip, but justice will be served.

As an ardent Anglophile there is one thing I will just never get and that's Panto. Whatever theatrical traditions it's origins, it has evolved, or in my opinion, devolved, into this weird spectacle of garish costumes, cross-dressing, lewd humor, and tons of double entendres. Like variety shows your grandmother would force you to watch where all the humor seems out of date and you are praying for it to be over but based on fairy tales or folklore, like Dick Whittington's cat, making it somehow more inherently English in the process. So the Brits actually go to these shows over the holiday season, most of the productions staring former B-List or lower celebrities, with the rare A-lister, all of whom are willing to tart themselves up to make the kiddies laugh. Yet that seedy celebrity angle combined with the fact that it's done for children gives it a duel edge that can go from cute to creepy in a second. Therefore it's the perfect backdrop for the investigation of the murder of some children. It somehow feeds into it so well. Yes, the murder of children will always have a seamy side, because what perverted person would cut a life so short. But having this added creepiness made this mystery something so much more. In fact, what it reminded me of, not the least of which because of the 1950s setting, is the second Flavia De Luce book, The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag. This is easily my favorite book in Alan Bradley's series, but more importantly, it's one of my most favorite mysteries ever and it deals with the murder of a beloved children's puppeteer. I can't get enough of murder mysteries that bridge the gap between horror and innocence, when it's done right, and Smoke and Mirrors does it oh so right. And as if this book couldn't be more perfect the fairy tale "Hans My Hedgehog" plays an important role. This is one of the fairy tales that was adapted for Jim Henson's The Storyteller and is therefore a favorite of mine. I feel like not enough people embrace how wonderful it is and am glad to find an author who agrees. Don't be surprised if this makes in on my top ten list of books I read in 2021.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Aladdin, Brighton, Elly Griffiths, Grimms' Fairy Tales, Hans My Headgehog, Jim Henson, Magic Men, Murder, Panto, Smoke and Mirrors, The Storyteller, The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag

A Dead End Christmas by Alyssa Day
Published by: Holliday Publishing, LLC
Publication Date: December 25th, 2019
Format: Kindle
To Buy

The official patter:
"It's Christmas time in Dead End.

And this year Santa's bringing...murder!

Join Tess, Jack, and the gang for the craziest Christmas since Fluffy the taxidermied alligator was still alive and got into Otis's moonshine.

Because in Dead End, that reindeer you thought you saw might have been Bigfoot in disguise … and you never, ever want to see elves. Christmas might be merry after all, if Tess can investigate Santa and Jack can use his tiger's eye to see the truth.

Warning: This book contains a taxidermied alligator, shapeshifters, Santa, elves, a dead body, magic, hideously bad singing, horrible puns, a slow-burning romance, mystery, mayhem, and "I laughed so hard I almost peed myself"* humor.

Read at your own risk.

*From a reader review of the Tiger's Eye Mysteries."

For when you need to escape your relatives. Just sneak upstairs and download this book onto you're Kindle and your sanity will be saved!

Daughter of Chaos by Sarah Rees Brennan
Published by: Scholastic Inc.
Publication Date: December 26th, 2019
Format: Paperback, 368 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Half-witch, half-mortal sixteen-year-old Sabrina Spellman has made her choice: She's embraced her dark side and her witchy roots. Now her power is growing daily...but will it come at too high a price?

Sabrina Spellman has just made the hardest decision of her life: She's leaving behind her beloved friends at Baxter High. Now it's time to follow the path of night and find her way among the witches and warlocks at the Academy of Unseen Arts.

Sabrina has always been good at the school thing, but now she has a whole new world to navigate. Her power is growing daily, but it comes with a high price. She must always remember her new allegiances and the cost they have on her friends...and on herself.

And then there's her new classmates. Prudence, Dorcas, and Agatha are friends, kind of, but can Sabrina trust them? And what about Nick Scratch? He's as charming as ever, but will his feelings for Sabrina last?

Based on the hit Netflix show, this original YA novel tells an all-new, original story about Sabrina."

For me I didn't ever really "feel" the new series until the Christmas episode last year, so lucky for me I'm getting something Sabrina for Christmas! 

Jim Henson's The Storyteller: Sirens by Jim Henson et al
Published by: Archaia
Publication Date: December 24th, 2019
Format: Hardcover, 128 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A collection of stories of sirens and mermaids, inspired by folklore from around the world and told in the spirit of Jim Henson’s beloved television series.

It’s not the stories you tell, but how they are told. The critically acclaimed Jim Henson’s The Storyteller: Sirens showcases four alluring tales of mermaids and the sea, inspired by folklore from around the world and told in the spirit of Jim Henson’s beloved television series.

Featuring beautiful stories told by some of today’s most exciting voices, including Jakub Rebelka (Judas) with Sztybor Bartosz, Chan Chau (Elements), Sarah Webb (Jim Henson’s Labyrinth: Under the Spell), and Aud Koch (The Wicked + The Divine), this stunning hardcover edition also includes an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the process and care taken in adapting each of the these timeless tales."

I get nostalgic around Christmas, and nothing takes me back quicker to my childhood that something Jim Henson...

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: A Dead End Christmas, Alyssa Day, Christmas, Comics, Graphic Novels, Jim Henson, Sabrina, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Sarah Rees Brennan, Sirens, The Storyteller, Tuesday Tomorrow

The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K. Le Guin
Published by: Houghton Mifflin
Publication Date: 1971
Format: Hardcover, 422 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy (different edition than one reviewed)

Tenar doesn't remember her life before. A life filled with love and apple trees. She has even forgotten her name. She is the One Priestess of the Tombs reborn in the service of The Nameless Ones. She is now Arha, "the eaten one." Her life of abnegation began at six. Lonely and cold and devoid of friends her days are filled with worship and dark rituals to The Nameless Ones, who dwell beneath the hall of the throne in the place of the tombs. Each day is much the same, passing in routine and ritual in windowless rooms. When she is fifteen, a year after crossing into womanhood and coming into her full powers, she is finally permitted into the undertomb. What should be a wonderful experience, entering her true domain of the tombs and the labyrinth that follows becomes one of her worst memories as she was brought there to punish prisoners of the Godking. Prisoners she leaves to starve to death.

This memory is like ashes in her mouth and she withdraws from the world above of petty conflicts and power struggles seeking comfort in the tombs and in the labyrinth beyond. It is there that her endless days of monotony suddenly change. For it is there she sees a Wizard! She knows instantly what he is and that he is there to steal from her, seeking the long-lost half of the Ring of Erreth-Akbe. The magical ring which, once whole, will bring peace to all of Earthsea. But for now he has brought light into the darkness, her darkness, and she traps him behind the iron door at the start of the labyrinth. Yes, the Ring is in the labyrinth but only Arha can navigate it. So the labyrinth shall be the wizard's tomb, if Arha decides to let him die. She is oddly fascinated with this man. She has lived all her life in seclusion with females all with only one point of view. Here is an outsider who has a different viewpoint and who might just open her eyes. But has Tenar lived in the dark for too long?

There are books that you struggle with initially but eventually pay off in such spectacular fashion that all that you went through was worth it. The Tombs of Atuan is just such a book. Reading the Earthsea series consecutively like I did The Tombs of Atuan is a drastic shift from A Wizard of Earthsea. It's far more formal with a dense backstory about Godkings and Nameless Ones and religion. Not to mention that Arha is hard to initially relate to. She's very standoffish. But you just have to get under her skin, get past all her training that stripped her personality away and watch as she struggles to become someone she can like. As many have pointed out, this is basically the companion story to Ged's journey to becoming a Wizard in A Wizard of Earthsea, what with shifting from a male to a female protagonist. But I think it's so much more. Yes, you could say it's because I'm a girl so that I could relate more, but I felt like Le Guin took Tenar on a greater journey than she did with Ged. Yes Ged traveled and ran from his mistake, but Tenar was there day after day facing her mistake and working out who she was. It was a far more satisfying journey. Sometimes it's about inner change more than anything that makes a story work.

What also helped was that while Ged was important, he was put on the back burner. He wasn't the focus at all just a conduit for Tenar's change. What I find fascinating with this decision of Le Guin's is that she takes a character that we know well after reading A Wizard of Earthsea and makes him mysterious again. Yes, some time has elapsed and he has aged, but he's still Sparrowhawk. Seeing him though Tenar's eyes makes you feel like you're seeing him for the first time all over again. While I do love series where I can follow the entire journey of the characters I love from beginning to end, this time lapse that Le Guin utilizes makes this second book so fresh that I actually heart it way more than the first volume. You could guess what Ged was up to down in the labyrinth and all his plans, but in the end, everything that happened to him hinged on what Tenar did. Seeing her fascinated with and then eventually coming to trust Ged makes you, as a reader, more fascinated with Ged than you ever have before. It's interesting that in stepping back you see more clearly. Personally, I didn't want this story to end. They could have stayed in that maze forever just talking.

Yet it wasn't just the change in perspective that made The Tombs of Atuan so compulsively readable, it was that the location changed and with it the style. Earthsea is basically a generic fantasy land that is predominately water. Yes, it's kind of an unfair generalization, because each island is so unique, but as a whole it's built from the blueprints of other fantasy stories. Here the basis is less fantasy and more adventure. More H. Rider Haggard and Elizabeth Peters. Dusty old cultures whose bloodthirsty customs are a danger to the more enlightened times we are now in. Once I realized and embraced this I came to adore this book. I think this was where I had problems initially connecting. This book is SO different from it's predecessor that it's kind of a culture shock. But what makes it amazing is all the ways it's different from A Wizard of Earthsea. I felt like I was reading some of my favorite Egyptian stories about gods and temples and a plucky heroine. Add to that an underground maze that is so awesome and has so many connotations from all different mythologies and made me think of everything from Labyrinth to Jim Henson's The Storyteller and this book appealed to both the child and the adult in me. I only wish I had read it sooner.

Though the reveal of the connection between Ged's and Tenar's stories is what just blew me away. I have to fully admit that I was reading these books while sick so I might have been a bit slow on the uptake, but when I realized who exactly were Tenar's Gods I was in awe. Yet again did Le Guin make the known mysterious. In A Wizard of Earthsea Ged is fighting an Unnamed force. Victory is achieved by naming it. Tenar is in service to The Nameless Ones. In other words, literally, another way of saying Unnamed. Please do not mock my inability to connect them immediately, as I said, I was sick, but also I think the way the story is written it's made to ingeniously hide something in plain sight. None of Tenar's beliefs seem evil or dangerous at first, so why would her Gods be dangerous? It's only as she grows and learns that it becomes obvious that her Gods might not be kind ones. To then learn they are the world destroying evil that Ged faced? Epic reveal. Plus, it's rather an indictment on religion. To learn that you are serving the forces of darkness? That could quite mess with your mind.

Which leads to the message of The Tombs of Atuan, the very heart of it's maze. This book is all about guilt and redemption. Tenar, in sentencing those prisoners to death set herself on a path. A path she didn't like. The way she takes care of and treats Ged, keeping her prisoner alive and eventually freeing him breaks her chains. She is able to redeem herself through doing an act of kindness, by doing good. While she didn't know that the forces she served were malign, she was able to search her own conscience and realized that what she did didn't make her feel good. Think of the power this book would have on a young reader. If you are trapped in a bad situation there is always hope. There is always a chance to make tomorrow better. I know it might be trite, but it's so true that reading opens your mind. Reading makes you more empathetic, more able to feel and understand and just get it. That's why I never trust people who say they don't like reading. They are shutting themselves off from feeling from becoming the best human being they can be. Read this book and I dare you not to be moved to be better to do better to question everything and to find the right path for yourself.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: A Wizard of Earthsea, Earthsea, Egypt, Elizabeth Peters, Empathy, Ged, Gods, H. Rider Haggard, It's a Kind of Magic, Jim Henson, Labyrinth, Tenar, The Storyteller, The Tombs of Atuan, Ursula Le Guin

The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K. Le Guin
Published by: Houghton Mifflin
Publication Date: 1971
Format: Hardcover, 422 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy (different edition than one reviewed)

Tenar doesn't remember her life before. A life filled with love and apple trees. She has even forgotten her name. She is the One Priestess of the Tombs reborn in the service of The Nameless Ones. She is now Arha, "the eaten one." Her life of abnegation began at six. Lonely and cold and devoid of friends her days are filled with worship and dark rituals to The Nameless Ones, who dwell beneath the hall of the throne in the place of the tombs. Each day is much the same, passing in routine and ritual in windowless rooms. When she is fifteen, a year after crossing into womanhood and coming into her full powers, she is finally permitted into the undertomb. What should be a wonderful experience, entering her true domain of the tombs and the labyrinth that follows becomes one of her worst memories as she was brought there to punish prisoners of the Godking. Prisoners she leaves to starve to death.

This memory is like ashes in her mouth and she withdraws from the world above of petty conflicts and power struggles seeking comfort in the tombs and in the labyrinth beyond. It is there that her endless days of monotony suddenly change. For it is there she sees a Wizard! She knows instantly what he is and that he is there to steal from her, seeking the long-lost half of the Ring of Erreth-Akbe. The magical ring which, once whole, will bring peace to all of Earthsea. But for now he has brought light into the darkness, her darkness, and she traps him behind the iron door at the start of the labyrinth. Yes, the Ring is in the labyrinth but only Arha can navigate it. So the labyrinth shall be the wizard's tomb, if Arha decides to let him die. She is oddly fascinated with this man. She has lived all her life in seclusion with females all with only one point of view. Here is an outsider who has a different viewpoint and who might just open her eyes. But has Tenar lived in the dark for too long?

There are books that you struggle with initially but eventually pay off in such spectacular fashion that all that you went through was worth it. The Tombs of Atuan is just such a book. Reading the Earthsea series consecutively like I did The Tombs of Atuan is a drastic shift from A Wizard of Earthsea. It's far more formal with a dense backstory about Godkings and Nameless Ones and religion. Not to mention that Arha is hard to initially relate to. She's very standoffish. But you just have to get under her skin, get past all her training that stripped her personality away and watch as she struggles to become someone she can like. As many have pointed out, this is basically the companion story to Ged's journey to becoming a Wizard in A Wizard of Earthsea, what with shifting from a male to a female protagonist. But I think it's so much more. Yes, you could say it's because I'm a girl so that I could relate more, but I felt like Le Guin took Tenar on a greater journey than she did with Ged. Yes Ged traveled and ran from his mistake, but Tenar was there day after day facing her mistake and working out who she was. It was a far more satisfying journey. Sometimes it's about inner change more than anything that makes a story work.

What also helped was that while Ged was important, he was put on the back burner. He wasn't the focus at all just a conduit for Tenar's change. What I find fascinating with this decision of Le Guin's is that she takes a character that we know well after reading A Wizard of Earthsea and makes him mysterious again. Yes, some time has elapsed and he has aged, but he's still Sparrowhawk. Seeing him though Tenar's eyes makes you feel like you're seeing him for the first time all over again. While I do love series where I can follow the entire journey of the characters I love from beginning to end, this time lapse that Le Guin utilizes makes this second book so fresh that I actually heart it way more than the first volume. You could guess what Ged was up to down in the labyrinth and all his plans, but in the end, everything that happened to him hinged on what Tenar did. Seeing her fascinated with and then eventually coming to trust Ged makes you, as a reader, more fascinated with Ged than you ever have before. It's interesting that in stepping back you see more clearly. Personally, I didn't want this story to end. They could have stayed in that maze forever just talking.

Yet it wasn't just the change in perspective that made The Tombs of Atuan so compulsively readable, it was that the location changed and with it the style. Earthsea is basically a generic fantasy land that is predominately water. Yes, it's kind of an unfair generalization, because each island is so unique, but as a whole it's built from the blueprints of other fantasy stories. Here the basis is less fantasy and more adventure. More H. Rider Haggard and Elizabeth Peters. Dusty old cultures whose bloodthirsty customs are a danger to the more enlightened times we are now in. Once I realized and embraced this I came to adore this book. I think this was where I had problems initially connecting. This book is SO different from it's predecessor that it's kind of a culture shock. But what makes it amazing is all the ways it's different from A Wizard of Earthsea. I felt like I was reading some of my favorite Egyptian stories about gods and temples and a plucky heroine. Add to that an underground maze that is so awesome and has so many connotations from all different mythologies and made me think of everything from Labyrinth to Jim Henson's The Storyteller and this book appealed to both the child and the adult in me. I only wish I had read it sooner.

Though the reveal of the connection between Ged's and Tenar's stories is what just blew me away. I have to fully admit that I was reading these books while sick so I might have been a bit slow on the uptake, but when I realized who exactly were Tenar's Gods I was in awe. Yet again did Le Guin make the known mysterious. In A Wizard of Earthsea Ged is fighting an Unnamed force. Victory is achieved by naming it. Tenar is in service to The Nameless Ones. In other words, literally, another way of saying Unnamed. Please do not mock my inability to connect them immediately, as I said, I was sick, but also I think the way the story is written it's made to ingeniously hide something in plain sight. None of Tenar's beliefs seem evil or dangerous at first, so why would her Gods be dangerous? It's only as she grows and learns that it becomes obvious that her Gods might not be kind ones. To then learn they are the world destroying evil that Ged faced? Epic reveal. Plus, it's rather an indictment on religion. To learn that you are serving the forces of darkness? That could quite mess with your mind.

Which leads to the message of The Tombs of Atuan, the very heart of it's maze. This book is all about guilt and redemption. Tenar, in sentencing those prisoners to death set herself on a path. A path she didn't like. The way she takes care of and treats Ged, keeping her prisoner alive and eventually freeing him breaks her chains. She is able to redeem herself through doing an act of kindness, by doing good. While she didn't know that the forces she served were malign, she was able to search her own conscience and realized that what she did didn't make her feel good. Think of the power this book would have on a young reader. If you are trapped in a bad situation there is always hope. There is always a chance to make tomorrow better. I know it might be trite, but it's so true that reading opens your mind. Reading makes you more empathetic, more able to feel and understand and just get it. That's why I never trust people who say they don't like reading. They are shutting themselves off from feeling from becoming the best human being they can be. Read this book and I dare you not to be moved to be better to do better to question everything and to find the right path for yourself.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 3 comments  

Labels: A Wizard of Earthsea, Earthsea, Egypt, Elizabeth Peters, Empathy, Ged, Gods, H. Rider Haggard, Jim Henson, Labyrinth, Personal Journeys, Tenar, The Storyteller, The Tombs of Atuan, Ursula Le Guin

Where Angels Fear to Tread
Based on the book by E.M. Forster
Starring: Rupert Graves, Helena Bonham Carter, Judy Davis, Giovanni Guidelli, Helen Mirren, Barbara Jefford, and Sophie Kullmann
Release Date: June 21st, 1991
Rating: ★★★★
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Widow Lilia in a flurry of goodbyes flees her in-laws for the romance of Italy. There her and her charge, Charlotte Abbot, enjoy the sights, sounds, and especially the people. It's the people that is worrisome. Or one person to be precise. One person who Lilia met at her hotel in Monteriano whom she is going to marry. Of course she may have embellished Gino to her in-laws back in England. He has no title, and is the dandy son of a dentist. Also Philip's journey to prevent the marriage is hopeless, as they married the second they realized that an emissary from England was on the way. Lilia wants to finally be free of the constraints that she has lived under for so many years, little realizing that she is changing one prison for another. Philip returns to England with Charlotte in tow, and Lilia learns to live with her mistake. Gino wanted her money, not an independent English wife. She is stifled by him and slowly loses her will to fight and dies in childbirth. Back in England the Herritons decide that they will inform Lilia's daughter Irma about Lilia's death but not about her marriage or her child. Yet Gino doesn't wish Irma to be ignorant and soon an inconvenient postcard arrives and the young child isn't able to keep silent about her new brother and father. Realizing something needs to be done Lilia's brother and sister-in-law, Philip and Harriet, head to Monteriano to buy the child off Gino so that Irma will have her little brother. They surprisingly run into Charlotte Abbot, who claims to be there as spy for their family, not traitor. But what might have looked like an easy mission turns complicated when dealing with the Italian mentality and love.

I find it interesting in looking up other reviews of this movie how it was criticized for it's lack of depth and exploration of social themes that Forster was known for. Yes, Forster was known for this, but for his later work. He struggled to try to incorporate them into his first novel and failed miserably. Only Ebert was wise and educated enough to point out the flaw in the source material verses the film. Coming from just reading the book I see the film not in comparison to other Forster adaptations but in comparison to the book. What this movie was able to do is grasp what Forster was trying and failed to do with his book. The film is a tour de force comedy of manners satirizing societal values. It's an interesting conceit. Because it's like taking the most staid of Sunday night television viewing from PBS and then filtering it through the lens of Mystery Science Theater 3000. Despite the death and despair, there is never a time when the film takes itself too seriously. The entire thing is done with a nudge and a wink, wherein we, the audience, are part of the joke. We are there to laugh at and make fun of the drawing room foibles of the characters and the petty lives these people live wherein an inlaid box that was "lent" not "given" is more important than anything else. The fact that the cast is comprised of the same actors that appear in the work they are satirizing, well, that's just the cherry on top of the sundae.

The movie is able to effect these changes from a lackluster book to a fun movie by the simple expedient of streamlining the story and adding a little movie magic. The movie magic is that instead of showing the deplorable and unseemly side of Monteriano that Forster focused on, everything has been covered in pixie dust. Lilia's house isn't a ramshackle affair, it's actually quite nice. The town is picturesque. We see the world through a cinematic haze that makes everything that much nicer. Also by the magic of cinema, the language barrier is whisked away. Instead of having laborious misunderstandings everyone seems to magically know what everyone else means. Sure it's a little unrealistic, especially in the case of the ignorant Lilia, but it's expedient and let's the story focus on what is important and not have a stumbling block. Also Gino hardly being around doesn't hurt the film in the least due to his horrific casting, but that falls under another category all together. The one thing that did mystify me though was that the film underused Helena Bonham Carter. Charlotte Abbot is a rather important character and almost all of her storyline was pushed aside in favor of showcasing the foibles of the Herritons. As for the subplot of Philip falling in love with her, it was only hinted at in two scenes. While this does work in the film's favor, I have to wonder why she even took the role.

Despite how much I liked this movie I can't say it was without flaws. What worried me the most at first was the Helen Mirren factor. Unlike the rest of the known world, I greatly dislike Helen Mirren. The only movie I liked her in was The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, because she was a disembodied voice, and I tolerated her in Gosford Park because there were enough fabulous actors to balance her deficet. As for that atrocious Elizabeth I miniseries, NEVER mention that to me ever again. Of course my hatred of her was balanced by the fact she was playing Lilia and would therefore shuffle off this mortal coil pretty fast. So while I can't stand Helen Mirren, Helen Mirren doomed to die was acceptable to me. But her casting had more issues then just my dislike of her. She was too old for Lilia in my mind. In the book she is about 35, but Helen Mirren was 45 when she made this movie. Of course this makes the likelihood of her dying in childbirth more likely, but how likely was it that she'd get pregnant in the first place? Lilia is supposed to be believable to get with child AND be an older woman, but she has freakin' grey hair here! NOT the blond Gino boasts about. It's pushing credulity. And yet this is not the worst casting. Ebert nailed it when he said of Giovanni Guidelli who played Gino that he "never seems like a real character and is sometimes dangerously close to being a comic Italian." I couldn't have said it better myself! Gino is almost a pretty boy gangster who actually isn't that pretty and had more than a passing similarity to Lucky Luciano from Boardwalk Empire. If it wasn't for his character being minimized he might just have ruined the movie.

But above all there is one actress who raised this film to new heights. Who knew just how to deliver her lines and knew when a pause or a look would be better than something more dramatic and showy, and this talent is Judy Davis. While this film was made just at the beginning of her ascendancy to independent film darling, the epoch of The Ref being three years in the future, she is the star here. The way she keeps harping on about her lent inlaid box, the way she won't share a conveyance with an overweight woman who turns out to be a famous opera star, her trying to shush the excited audience at the opera, every line, every look, every interaction with her fellow cast shows that she was born to play this role. More than anyone else she understands the humor, though dark, that the film is trying to bring forth from the source material. She "gets" the film and takes the character of Harriet that is basically a catalyst in the book and makes her fully three dimensional and so wonderful that you are counting the minutes until she returns to the screen. The one scene I would highlight above all others is when Harriet and Philip have finally gotten the carriage to Monteriano and she just lays into him about his duty and how things are going to play out. Her exasperation is palpable. The way she sighs and glowers are too perfect, but what makes the scene perfection is how during the entire scene she is still worrying at her eye that got some smut in it back at the train station. Her belaboring of that injury perfectly captures he comedic capabilities and why you should watch this film just for her.

If there is one thing though I would change about this movie, it would be the score. Most people don't realize the importance of music in a movie, it shouldn't overwhelm, it should compliment. It helps aid in the emotional impact of the story. Rachel Portman's score did not aid this movie. Yes, at times it was suitably dramatic and had the right vibe, but sometimes it would try to force the situation. It would try to make Gino more menacing, so cue the menacing music. At times like this it felt like she was trying to do the evil music from old silent films that would accompany a moustache stroking villain tying the damsel to the train tracks. She could do grand panoramic music that is the standard miniseries fare but everything else was beyond her grasp. Even more perplexing to me is that I have loved some of her previous scores, for example Jim Henson's The Storyteller, that was fantastic. So one, being me, wonders where did she go wrong? Was it the director? Because he seemed to understand what he was doing all along and then just, what? Decided that he wanted to make the movie something more than it is and tried to fix it with the music? Seriously, that is never going to work. Music reflects the movie and vice versa, you can't try to change one with the other. Accept the brilliance that you have and enjoy. Because this is a movie to be enjoyed.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: E.M. Forster, Ebert, Forster Fall, Gosford Park, Helen Mirren, Helena Bonham Carter, Italy, Judy Davis, Monteriano, Mystery Science Theater 3000, PBS, The Ref, The Storyteller, Where Angels Fear to Tread

How to Start a Fire by Lisa Lutz
Published by: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Publication Date: May 12th, 2015
Format: Hardcover, 352 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"From a bestselling writer, a story of unexpected friendship—three women thrown together in college who grow to adulthood united and divided by secrets, lies, and a single night that shaped all of them.

When UC Santa Cruz roommates Anna and Kate find passed-out Georgiana Leoni on a lawn one night, they wheel her to their dorm in a shopping cart. Twenty years later, they gather around a campfire on the lawn of a New England mansion. What happens in between—the web of wild adventures, unspoken jealousies, and sudden tragedies that alter the course of their lives—is charted with sharp wit and aching sadness in this meticulously constructed novel.

Anna, the de facto leader, is fearless and restless—moving fast to stay one step ahead of her demons. Quirky, contemplative Kate is a natural sidekick but a terrible wingman (“If you go home with him, might I suggest breathing through your mouth”). And then there’s George: the most desired woman in any room, and the one most likely to leave with the worst man.

Shot through with the crackling dialogue, irresistible characters, and propulsive narrative drive that make Lutz’s books so beloved, How to Start a Fire pulls us deep into Anna, Kate, and George’s complicated bond and pays homage to the abiding, irrational love we share with the family we choose."

Beyond excited for Lisa's foray into non-Spellman territory on her own.

Lost on Mars by Paul Magrs
Published by: Firefly Press
Publication Date: May 14th, 2015
Format: Paperback, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"With the scale and scope of the great science fiction epics, Lost on Mars tells the story of Lora and her family, third generation human settlers on the red planet who are strugging to survive in incredible circumstances. The family clings to life on a smallholding in the desert landscape, surviving storms and sinister rumours of unexplained disappearances - until one night Lora sees the Dancers. When her father and grandmother disappear themselves, Lora's family is driven out to seek a new life across the plains. But none of them are ready for what they find - the beautiful, dangerous City Inside."

The last few months have been a veritable treasure trove of new books for fans of Paul. Can not wait for more!

The Storyteller: Witches by Jim Henson
Published by: Archaia
Publication Date: May 12th, 2015
Format: Hardcover, 112 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Jim Henson’s The Storyteller is a beloved celebration of fairy tales and folklore. After releasing a critically acclaimed graphic novel we’re thrilled to share more of The Storyteller’s magic. In the spirit of Henson’s inventive imagination, this hardcover collects four stories of witches and witchcraft from all over the world. Each story is told by different a different writer and artist, exploring classic witch stories and fairy tales through an incredible blend of art styles and storytelling techniques, and taking full advantage of the visual medium."

Seriously, no matter how much time has passed, my love of The Storyteller has never waned. NEVER!

Kisses and Curses by Fierce Reads Authors
Published by: Square Fish
Publication Date: May 12th, 2015
Format: Paperback, 400 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Beloved of readers and booksellers, our Fierce Reads program has garnered tons of enthusiastic fans since its inauguration in 2012. Now, the authors you know and love are coming together in one book! With standalone short stories from a handpicked set of FR authors, this fabulous collection will often feature characters or worlds from existing Fierce Reads titles. Extended, personal introductions from each author will make this a must-buy for fans as well as a fantastic portal for engaging new readers with the program. With a wide range of genres and subject matter, there will be something here for everyone!"

Seriously, I would have to buy this book if it was just Marissa Meyer or Leigh Bardugo or Ann Aguirre, and to have them and more? Heck yeah!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Ann Aguirre, Fierce Reads, How to Start a Fire, Jim Henson, Kisses and Curses, Leigh Bardugo, Lisa Lutz, Lish McBride, Lost on Mars, Marissa Meyer, Paul Magrs, The Spellmans, The Storyteller

This past month saw the penultimate release of the Return to Labyrinth manga series by Tokyopop. I remember back in 2006 when the first volume was released I was really excited, but as is often the case the reality rarely, if ever, lives up to the expectation. I found the comic ill conceived and just not what Labyrinth is to me. So three years have passed, and I thought, hey two new volumes, I should give this another try. So now that I've read them...well...they're entertaining, they just aren't Labyrinth.

For girls of my generation Labyrinth is the movie of their childhood. David Bowie as Jareth, well, there aren't really words to describe who or what he is in this movie, let's just say, I still have the poster on my wall. Every girl has probably thought in passing about being Sarah. So as it is, if Labyrinth were to continue on outside the boundaries of the film, there are a lot of high expectations. Labyrinth means something different to everyone and I personally feel that the comic actually does a disservice to the movie and the girls of my generation who revere the film. This book seems to have been thought of with the sole purpose of making more money out of the Labyrinth franchise. The end result is enjoyable, a sort of Monty Python meets Alice in Wonderland feel, but it's NOT LABYRINTH! Just because the idea of Jareth as manga sounds like it will work and looks visually interesting does not mean it should be done.

The comic's plot is about Jareth still being obsessed with Toby, which I don't buy, because Toby was just a way to get to Sarah. Toby must then enter the Labyrinth, get a posse of friends (BTW Skub, could he be anymore of a Dobby rip off?), similar to his sisters, and take his place as king because Jareth is doing poorly. The first installment ends with Jareth proclaiming Toby his successor and then disappearing. The only thing I really liked was the Queen of Cups and her daughters, members of a rival kingdom, predominantly wet. In installment number two Toby is still trying to fit the Goblin King mold while the Queen of Cups trys to "help." What I did like is the idea that Moppet (one of Toby's new friends) is basically a part of Sarah that has been siphoned off and made to be Jareth's slave, a cool concept and a way he actually would try to get back at her. Also the psychological profiling of Jareth having created the Labyrinth as a kind of armor (mainly to keep the Queen of Cups out) is fascinating. By volume three Jareth is up to no good in the human world messing with the not quite complete Sarah, having lost her ability to dream (and is now apparently able to shrink at will, having a car half the size of her front door, that's just lazy perspective). Toby is now king and The Queen of Cups, Mizumi, is up to no good (having thrown Toby in an Oubliette till he agrees to play ball). One daughter (Drumlin) is already "dead" with the other soon to go (and they were the only ones I liked!) And now the waiting game, I'm guessing it will be awhile till the final installment comes out, and for something that isn't the greatest to start with, I'm not exactly holding my breath.

The most annoying fact of this comic is that the author, Jake T. Forbes seems to truly love the world Jim Henson has created (the fraggle Traveling Matt shows up as well as the red demons from the episode of The Storyteller, "The Solider and the Death") but he just got it so wrong! Labyrinth is about Sarah NOT Toby, though he seems to be trying to rectify this. Also Jareth exists in Jareth's world, not outside, he IS the Labyrinth, one cannot exist without the other and he's not handling this right. Plus they could have set this at any time during the existence of the Labyrinth...why didn't they go back in time like they are doing with The Dark Crystal Mangas so that canon would not be affected and fans less annoyed.

Final thoughts, the writer Jake T. Forbes says that he was strongly influenced by Terry Jones of Python fame, and his script for Labyrinth, which is evident when you read Return to Labyrinth. But Terry Jones himself has stated the fact that the script that was filmed was in no way connected to his. Therefore basing the comic on this fact is ill researched and thought out. All in all, better if you don't think of it as Labyrinth, just go watch the movie again.

Return to Labyrinth Volume 1 by Jake T. Forbes and Chris Lie
Published by: TokyoPop
Publication Date: August 2006
Format: Paperback, 208 Pages
Rating: ★★★
To Buy

Return to Labyrinth Volume 2 by Jake T. Forbes and Chris Lie
Published by: TokyoPop
Publication Date: October 2007
Format: Paperback, 192 Pages
Rating: ★★★
To Buy

Return to Labyrinth Volume 3 by Jake T. Forbes and Chris Lie
Published by: TokyoPop
Publication Date: May 2009
Format: Paperback, 192 Pages
Rating: ★★★
To Buy

Posted by Miss Eliza at 3:26 PM 0 comments  

Labels: Book Review, David Bowie, Jim Henson, Labyrinth, Manga, Monty Python, Terry Jones, The Storyteller