Book Review - Philip Pullman's The Collectors
The Collectors by Philip Pullman
Published by: Alfred A. Knopf
Publication Date: September 22nd, 2015
Format: Kindle, 24 Pages
Rating: ★★★
To Buy
On a winter's night at Oxford College Horley sits in the Senior
Common Room with his guest Grinstead. As the room gets colder and the
hour gets late the other occupants slowly leave while the two talk about
Horley's recent purchase of a painting and it's link to another piece
of art, a rather terrifying bronze monkey. The painting Horley bought
because it was a rather arresting portrait of a young women with an
enigmatic air whose expression seems to always be changing. The dealer
he bought it from had already made the sale so the story that came with
it appears to be genuine. The painting has never been in one owner's
hands for long. But wherever it goes the bronze monkey is soon to
follow, though occasionally it is the monkey that arrives first and the
painting shows up later. These two objects have some connection that
cannot be broken as the provenance of the two pieces has undoubtedly
shown. As it so happens the monkey has just arrived in Horley's
possession as payment for a debt just after he purchased the painting. He hasn't even opened the packing case
but the fact of it's arrival proves the story to be genuine. At this
point Grinstead almost demands of his host that the time has come for
Horley to show him these two pieces. They return to Horley's rooms where
things take a turn. Grinstead has not been entirely honest with Horley and the story that was told wasn't new to him. These two pieces have a storied past steeped in mysteries from a distant world. And their subjects? They might just be pleased at the fate of these two men.
The Collectors never registered on my radar when it was first released in 2014 because it was an audiobook and while I am a fan of books in all forms there's something about audiobooks that I just tune out. Therefore my recent discovery that it was released as a short story for Kindle was a joyous surprise because it took me back to the beginning of Lyra's story in The Golden Compass and reconnected me to what I loved best, Lyra's life at Oxford before her journeys began. If there's one image seared in my brain from His Dark Materials it's Lyra sneaking into the Retiring Room at Jordan College. That musty and fusty domain of the male teachers that holds so much interest to the young girl and also catapults her into her destiny. With Horley and Grinstead I felt I was back in that room hearing about the adventures as the true armchair traveler that I am. I was totally absorbed until the story went a little too Douglas Adams and I felt Dirk Gently wandering about. But issues aside, what Pullman does here is to tap into the zeitgeist of the traditional English ghost story and deliver his own spin on classics like The Turn of the Screw and The Woman in Black. There's not just the mystery surrounding these two pieces of art which is almost timeless, but something akin to an ancient Egyptian curse. Something about these kind of tales that fascinate people down through the generations. Why else would people still talk about the curse of Tutankhamun?
This story taps into something primal with this idea of worlds touching and bleeding into each other and through this we get another way to look at ghosts. When I was little I had an imaginary friend. Years later I started to wonder if he was actually imaginary. I remember when we moved across the street I told my parents that Robbie couldn't come over anymore. Later I learned that the previous owner of our old house had hanged himself in the garage, right near where I saw Robbie. What if Robbie was a ghost? Or, here, what if he was someone from another world who slipped through and played with me until one day he couldn't. Maybe it was his ghostly tether or maybe it was his doorway into this world. Whatever it was this story showed me another way to look at the world. Yet this little glimpse into the fluidity of worlds was nothing for what I felt for the connection the two pieces of artwork had for each other. The painting was of Lyra's mother, Mrs. Coulter, before her marriage, and the bronze was of her daemon. While within Pullman's stories these two are morally ambiguous characters leaning towards being unrepentantly evil their connection even after death is so touching to me. That their link was so strong that inanimate objects that are basically their totems or avatars must always be together shows the power of love. They had each other and would always return to each other. So while yes, this is a ghost story, true ghost stories always, deep down, highlight something more, something human, and here, it's the power of love.
Once Upon a Time in the North by Philip Pullman
Under the Pendulum Sun by Jeannette Ng
The Goblins of Bellwater by Molly Ringle
The Little Red Wolf by Amélie Fléchais 
The Witches' Tree by M.C. Beaton
The Dead Shall Be Raised and The Murder of a Quack by George Bellairs
Verdict of Twelve by Raymond Postgate
Snowdrift and Other Stories by Georgette Heyer
The Orphan of Florence by Jeanne Kalogridis
The Lido Girls by Allie Burns
I've spent much of this last year celebrating a certain "P and P," that of the Jane Austen variety. But there's a different "P and P" I'd like to celebrate this month, and that's the author Philip Pullman.* You might be asking why I'm celebrating Philip Pullman and polar bears in a month usually devoted to something ghastly and ghoulish what with the approach of Halloween, but there's a simple answer: La Belle Sauvage, the first book in Pullman's new series, The Book of Dust. Seventeen years ago with the publication of The Amber Spyglass Pullman's fans thought they had heard the last of Lyra, her daemon, and Dust with a capital "D." Yet Pullman kept offering up tantalizing hints that we had not seen the end of this fantastical parallel world. In 2003 Lyra's Oxford, set two years after the events of the trilogy offered us a glimpse into our heroine's new life. In 2005 the 10th anniversary edition of The Golden Compass came out with wonderful drawings by Pullman at the start of each chapter.** In 2008 we got another short story followed by an audiobook in 2014. The more time passed the more obvious it was that Lyra's world wasn't done with it's creator and the clamoring fans would be appeased and the announcement from earlier this year about The Book of Dust was literally everything. These books meant so much to me when I first read them but that was almost two decades ago, as hard as that is to believe. The announcement made me long to immerse myself in this world once more. Therefore I hope you'll join me in reading His Dark Materials whether for the first or fiftieth time as the release for La Belle Sauvage gets even nearer. Let's start with a story about something that happened in the north once upon a time... 
So I have a confession... I have yet to read any of the novels by Winston Graham that make up the Poldark Saga. Yes, I know! This is SO unlike me it's baffling! I've had most of the books for years, after watching Ioan Gruffudd as Jeremy Poldark in the 1996 Poldark TV movie I bought the ones then available and scrounged up the rest of the epic twelve volume series at library sales, only to watch them languish on my bookshelves. But once the new adaptation was announced, and before you ask, no I haven't seen the seventies version, I thought, heck, I'll give it a read because I KNEW I'd watch the series what with my love of 
If someone were to ask what my favorite TV series is, iZombie would be a strong contender. Whereas if you were to ask me what one of my most hated graphic novel series I've ever read is I'd again probably say iZombie. Quite literally the only thing the two have in common is the name from which the genius of Rob Thomas, of Veronica Mars fame not Matchbox Twenty fame, made this quirky show that harkens back to Veronica in the crime solving structure and societal warfare but puts a whole new spin on how the crimes are solved. This crime solving ability is all down to the casting of the lead. Rose McIver as Olivia Moore (Liv Moore, get it? You'll need to like puns to like this show!) is the delicate shoulders whom this show rests on. Because the quirk to the crime solving? She eats the victims brains and sees flashes of their lives, which also tend to bleed into her own as she takes on their traits. She has become a country western singer, a stripper, a kleptomaniac, so far it's unending how these other people change her while also expanding her heart. Of course there's a big bad, with the ever sexy David Anders as Blaine DeBeers, but it's the heart of the show, the friendships, not the nemeses that make it the only zombie show you should be watching. Plus I CAN NOT wait for the upcoming season now that the existence of zombies is known. Because in a show that is able to constantly change and reinvent itself it's now changed their whole world and I say bring it!
The Language of Thorns by Leigh Bardugo
The Wonderling by Mira Bartók
The Diary of a Bookseller by Shaun Bythell
Sleeping Beauties by Stephen King and Owen King
Sleep Like a Baby by Charlaine Harris
The Hunt by Chloe Neill
If you follow my goodreads feed you sometimes glean things that aren't readily apparent here on my blog. You might guess what I'm planning in the coming months, or you might, for example go "how the hell does she like The Magicians when she hated the book so much that she hasn't even bothered to write a scorching review because she probably views it as a waste of time." FYI I do view it as a waste of time. Well, this is one of those rare instances where an adaptation is so much better than the source material that it's best to forget that source exists. Although I will give a tip of the hat to how clever the showrunners are in circling around and sneaking in something from the books when you least expect it. Though they have a way of making it work where Lev Grossman didn't. Because, for those who've read the books, there's no denying that the protagonist Quentin Coldwater with his Fillory obsession is a bit of a wet blanket. He's mopey and just best avoided, hence here comes Elliot and Margo to the rescue. Secondary characters elevated to a bitchy king and queen of Fillory? Oh. My. God. Yes. Please. They not only add levity to the show, they seriously make the show what it is. Watch how much more screentime they get in season two compared to season one and you'll know what I'm talking about. And THAT is what I love most about The Magicians, they see areas where they need to improve and actually improve! This is the "dark/adult Harry Potter" I expected when I picked up the book series. This is what fantasy television is about! 
