A fabulous book. Read and re-read and would still read again. It's about a boy called James Archer Fielding who goes into the wilderness for the summer and meets a stag in a valley. And many many other things happen and it's all awesome because of the wonderful humorous narration. Romance in this book is realistic, and the guy is actually not a jerk at all. Amazing. Plus, my version was published in 1988 and I fished it out from an old bookshelf in my malaysia house. Don't let the summary fool you. Though this may be rather hard to find now I guess but you can borrow it from me :)

I heard about this author soooo many times and I thought it was time I actually found out who the heck he is. So at a malaysian airport bookstore I saw just this one book with his name on it and it didn't seem too childish and had the normal quotes saying it was his best work yet, so I bought it. Didn't regret it, it was funny and interesting and all, but not sure it's the kind of book I would want to re-read. It's about a wave. A huge wave. And the island, and the people left behind. Has romance, but they don't - you know what kind of romance I approve of most, so I shall not give you spoilers. (even though it's obvious enough.) Recommend this.

I was not impressed by this. After the Inkheart trilogy, this just seemed rather disappointing. I mean, I absolutely loved her mythical creatures and all, but the storyline... just not as interesting. I hated Jacob Reckless. There are really no likeable characters in there at all. Except maybe the king's general whatever his name is... I kind of liked him. at first. I think he died, though. The fantasy world is beautiful, but I felt that her introduction to it was too rushed. We're given lots of infodumps about interesting creatures that I feel could play a great part in the story but then they disappear and are never heard of again. I felt like she was kinda trying to squeeze too many ideas into this story. Inkheart was different, it was all just the basic mythical and legendary creatures with some tweaks here and there that I love. And the characters were real, well developed. This just read like a sightseeing tour trying to be an adventure story. I didn't get any sense of love/feeling between Clara and Will; they were just plain touchy-feely, which doesn't show anything. The storyline was forced. Characters with potential are just left there to shrivel and die. Funke seemed to be trying to show too much in too short a book. If this were another series centered around Jacob's quest for Will, and the regaining of his humanity, I might have bought that. It would allow for more character development and things. Right now, I don't even know anything about Jacob's character except he supposedly loves his brother and does everything recklessly. right. Clara is just there to form a love triangle and Fox... fox doesn't DO anything. Just there for convenience. There are so many interesting creatures/people in there... they appear and we get an intro to them, they last for three pages - some even less - and disappear forever and ever.

In summary, I was disappointed with this book, and I'll think twice before buying new books from her again (I did this silent fangirl dance in my head and bought this one like a shot when I saw it.)

Hard to believe, I know, but I've never watched any of the movies or read any of the books until now. yeah, I neither have a childhood nor a life. (a childhood reading Dianne Wynne Jones is not a bad childhood, though.)I believe I watched some excerpts on TV when I was young but I was all like "uh... that weird blue bird-horse died... glowy stag. yeah. what's going on, and who is that guy with the glasses who keeps running around everywhere with a stick?" that kind of thing.

Up till now, though, I'm still not impressed with the books. Maybe it's because I'm too old for this stuff, or something? I loathe Harry. He just seems incredibly smug and stuck-up to me and I can't help picking up little hints of his contempt of others that just plain irks me. Is this part of his characterization, or is it just me? I don't like any of the characters. Their dialogue seems rather forced and, yeah, horrible horrible abuse of dashes. Harry is always just so plain SPESHUL. This is giving me flashbacks of twilight sporks, and that is not a good thing. Thankfully, there are no sparkly vampires or anything like that. But does anyone else find the magical creatures there... rather ridiculous? I mean their names. Just, really. Not impressed. Or I'm missing the whole point that this was written for kids. Not fair to compare to Percy Jackson I guess since they're just kinda borrowing mythology. But still.

I guess the thing is that I don't get what people love so much about these books. No nice characters, many annoying characters. The plot is okay, but I CANNOT STAND HARRY. BLARGH. I mean, it's good for fun reading and all, but I'd rather re-read Artemis Fowl any day. All Harry Potter gets is taunting from Draco Malfoy and the Slytherins and Snape and... that's about it, actually. Artemis Fowl is made to time-travel in his underwear (red, to top it off), gets chased around by a giant squid while yelling "I'm the nut! I'm the nut!" and is forced to wear t-shirts and jeans while calling his mother "Mum". (absolutely horrifying.)

Just, really. Can anyone tell me what the big deal is? I've sat here for half an hour trying to figure it out and can't think of anything. Oh well. Three more books to impress me (is it three? pffft). If it fails I'll start reading a new series I found called Montmorency or something. On that note:

I bought Monsters of Men and Montmorency's Revenge. First book, I'm waiting to read because I'm tired of all that epic battle crap, I'm sure Patrick Ness will impress me again but I'm still mad about Davy plus it starts oh-so depressingly. I mean, come on. Spackle army astride alien creatures is coming. Resistance army armed with bombs is coming. Immigrants (or whatever they're called) land in there without a clue. Todd, Viola, and the Mayor in the middle. Just makes you want to start reading, right?

Montmorency's Revenge had an... interesting first paragraph and convinced me to buy the book. I've seen it around for a bit anyway, plus it was only $6.90. Hardcover. whoo.

ah, it's late. I planned to sleep at 10. well, it's 11 now. sleep-deprivation kills. esther greenwood. Goodnight.

EDIT: heard a song on the radio this morning.

just... lol. I was just, "does she know what she's saying?! is this a parody? whutttt"

And my dad said "her voice is... kinda... sticky." LOL

Good lyrics. With meaning. Please.

Might as well do music I'm listening to as well.

The Flaming Lips

The Postal Service

Owl City

The Hush Sound

Explosions In The Sky (songs getting kinda repetitive, though. bleh.)

Jason Mraz

Bright Eyes

I want to write... like them. ugh. talentless hag am I. pffft.

Heard about this band called Deep Purple or something... but unfortunately due to my (not enforced) ban on youtube... uh wait... o.o