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Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Short reviews ...



Shorts. Because otherwise I'll have three books to review, I'll panic, and basically nothing will get done. Because that's how I roll.
First is Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine, for which Nymeth at is totally responsible for. And it's sweet, and endearing and funny all at once. Seriously. Forget the movie. Read the book. Ella is given the “gift” of obedience at birth by an errant fairy. And so, of course, she spends most of her life finding ways to work around that particular gift, which can mean interpreting obedience very loosely. And when Ella falls in love, with a prince no less, well let's just say chaos ensues.
Very, very loosely based on Cinderella. This Ella is MUCH more resourceful.
8/10 That movie that you've watched 100 times and you never get tired of
And on to … Coraline, by Neil Gaiman. I may have mentioned in passing my deep, abiding and slightly unstable fangirl love for Mr Gaiman. Books like Coraline make my fangirl smile. That slightly off-centre loopy smile that would tell Mr Gaiman to get a restraining order before I could tell him I'm his number one fan. Um. Coraline. Coraline Jones has just moved in to a new house with her parents. School doesn't start for a while, and there's just not a lot to do. Until, that is, Coraline discovers a door that apparently leads nowhere.
Only, of course it does. Because this is Neil Freaking Gaiman. And all of his doors lead somewhere. In Coraline's case, the door leads to a kind of parallel universe, which at first looks so much better than her own. She has her other mother, her other father, and many treats. It doesn't take long for things to go south.
It's so good. So, so good. One of the things I love about Neil Freaking Gaiman is that he gets that it's okay for childhood to be scary. Sigh. I'll be over here, flailing. BRB.
10/10 Could not be improved on, even by angel dust and a basket of kittens

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I didn't know their was a book for Ella Enchanted. I will have to check into that.
I can not wait to watch Coraline, I tried reading the book but it was just too young for me. But the movie looks really good.
great reviews! :)

Ana S. said...

yay, I'm glad you loved Ella too <3 And yeah...I can't think of how Coraline could possibly be improved.

Marg said...

I completely forgot that I had Tivo'd Ella Enchanted the other day. I should make an effort to watch it!

Carl V. Anderson said...

Wonderful Coraline review. I feel the same way about it and am a fan of the film version as well. Bought it the day it came out and had to watch it immediately. Just as fun as it was to watch in theaters.

Maree said...

Trishalynn: Thanks. The book of Ella Enchanted is better than the movie, although I got Somebody to Love stuck in my head
Nymeth: I think I should just get you to pick what I read next from now on
Marg: It's a cute film :)
Carl: Thank you :) The movie releases here next month _ I'm really looking forward to it :)