Trixi Thursday

Congratulations Mr. Gaiman!

I was very excited yesterday to read that Neil Gaiman had been awarded the 2009 Newberry Medal for The Graveyard Book. It was a most excellent book and I got the pleasure of hearing him read the last half of chapter 7 in Boulder on his book tour. I did a post about my Evening with Neil if you would be interested in reading more about his reading. Then if you haven't had the wonderful experience of reading The Graveyard Book, I highly recommend it. You can go to my The Graveyard Book post for more information on the book.

Funny, I remember while reading the book I had a dental appointment. I brought it along with me not only to occupy my time but to take me to a place far far away from the one I was having to be in at the moment. The dentist came in and made some comment about me reading a horror novel. I told him it really wasn't a horror story but more of an adventure about a little boy being raised by ghost in a graveyard. I went on to explain that Neil Gaiman wrote it, how he came up with the idea and it was like the juggle book but instead in a graveyard. I believe I may have even added my excitement about getting to go to his book tour.

Then for the next several minutes (in dentist time I believe it is equivalent to an eternity) with numerous instruments in my mouth thus unable to defend my dear favorite writer, I got to hear how ridiculous of a story that would be, totally unbelievable...uh, excuse me, but that is why they call it FANTASY!! He went on that the Jungle Book was far fetched but not as an absurd of a concept as The Graveyard Book. He continued to rant on after that how a better storyline would have been a little boy lost in the city raised by homeless people. I will be honest, at that point I started drifting, thinking what would be cooler is if talking rats or perhaps a mutant race of homeless people would raised him. I doubt if my dentist and I would ever be Goodreads buddies.

Any way, I guess a story of a little boy being raised by ghost in a graveyard isn't so absurd after all.

Congrats Neil!!

The World of Edward Gorey by Clifford Ross and Karen Wilkin

The World of Edward Gorey is a perfect gift for the Gorey Groupie. Since I am a Gorey Groupie, this was a most excellent Christmas gift from my husband. Loved the interview with between Clifford Ross and Edward Gorey at the beginning of the book:



CR: What about other objects you collect? Your house is filled to overflowing with all kinds of things.

EG: It’s filled with little animals. Little things-

CR: Finials?

EG: Well, I do adore finials...

And really who does not enjoy a good finial? I have a few scattered about myself. Then the book is stuffed full of his inquisitive artwork and sketches. At the end of the book are a few photos of the above-mentioned collection of things in his home. If allowed, that could so be my sister’s house. Yes, a perfect addition to my growing Gorey collection.

The Good Fairies of New York by Martin Millar

Get ready for a wild ride with The Good Fairies of New York by Martin Millar. First there is Heather and Morag, Scottish thistle fairies, that only wanted to start the first radical fairy punk rock but end fugitives fleeing to New York. Then there is their task of matching an overweight disgruntled inept violinist with a beautiful free-spirited artist who has pledged her life to complete her flower alphabet to beat out her ex-boyfriend’s production of a Midsummer Night’s Dream in a local community art contest. Unfortunately Heather's and Morag's attempt at this creates havoc with the Italian, Chinese and African New York fairies. Meanwhile back in England, Aelric the leader of the Cornish Fairy Resistance Movement is trying to sabotage the oppressive leadership of Tala, the Fairy King of Cornwall, who by the way, is setting forth an invasion on New York. During all of this we also have a delusional bag lady that always happens to be in the wrong or right place depending on how you want to look at it as well as a ghost of a dead rocker who is trying to track down his lost guitar. All I can say is...whew!!

Trixi Thursday

Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall by Bill Willingham

I have not read any of the graphic novels in the Fable series, but since Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall was listed as a prequel to that collection, I thought I would take a chance of being able to follow along. In the introduction by the author, Bill Willingham, explains that Fables is a modern day account of those fairytale characters we grew up with like Snow White, Prince Charming, the Big Bad Wolf and so on. These immortals have been chased out of their magical realm by an evil warlord known as The Adversary and forced to live in our world in a secret underground colony known as Fabletown, bidding their time until they are strong enough to over throw The Adversary and reclaim their homelands.

Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall takes place before the Fable series began. Snow White travels to Arabia as an ambassador from the exiled Fables community to seek an alliance with the sultan against The Adversary, but instead of his guest she ends up his prisoner. With her execution looming, Snow attempts to charm her captor with not-so-familiar stories of the familiar Fable characters. This is no Disney folks; these captivating tales definitely put the grim in fairytale. If you like happily ever after this book is probably not for you. But if you like intriguing story-telling reminiscent to that of Neil Gaiman’s Sandman entwined with intense imagery, then I highly recommend it.

Hellboy Volume 1: Seed of Destruction by Mike Mignola

When my husband asked me what I wanted for Christmas, I told him The Sandman Volume 10: The Wake, the last chapter in the incredible Sandman series. So imagine my surprise when I opened up my present on Christmas Eve to reveal Hellboy Volume 1: Seed of Destruction. Oh well, at least he made it to the right section in the bookstore.

I have seen the first Hellboy movie and the second one is on my “to-see” list. I just assumed that this book would be a rehash of the first movie but again to my surprise, it was quite different. Hellboy is a great paranormal investigator. After being attacked by a mutant frog, he and his two paranormal sidekicks, pyrotechnic Liz and gilled-friend, Abraham Sapien, take a visit to a 150 year-old American home to find some answers. There he not only discovers the secret of his own origins, but also a dangerous force about to be released upon the world.

I have a birthday coming up at the end of the month so maybe I will get my coveted last volume of Sandman then, but if it happens to be Hellboy Volume 2: Wake of the Devil, I will not be disappointed.

The Discworld Graphic Novels The Colour of Magic & The Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett

Last year I thoroughly enjoyed reading The Last Hero: A Discworld Fable by Terry Pratchett. Several LOL moments. Thus I was very excited when I stumbled across the first two volumes of the Discworld series in graphic novel form, The Discworld Graphic Novels: The Colour of Magic & The Light Fantastic. It was right before Thanksgiving and I decided to go ahead and treat myself to a pre-holiday gift. And after reading it, may I just add, I have excellent taste in gifts.

In a parallel universe hurtling through space is Discworld, a flat world sitting on the backs of four elephants balanced on a giant turtle. I am already hooked. The adventure starts out with Twoflower, Discworld’s first ever tourist, hiring Rincewind, an apprehensive wizard, to be his guide. Rincewind gets a little bit more than he bargained for with this new job including encounters with dragons, trolls, barbarians, a giant squid-like creature, druids, and the occasional visit from the Grim Reaper. He also has to contend with Twoflower’s luggage that has a mind of its own and many feet. Oh, did I mention along with all of this that the turtle hurtling through space with four elephants standing on its shell with Discworld balanced on their back is headed straight into a sun and Rincewind is the only wizard who can save them all from a fiery death?

This was a pretty thick graphic novel that I thought would take me a good week or more to get through, but it only took a few days as I could not put it down wondering what on earth (or I guess in this case Discworld) would be happening on the next page. There were several “...did not see that coming.” All in all, a humorous read with great detailed illustrations. I will definitely have to think of more gift giving occasions for myself for future Discworld reads

Trixi Thursday

Trixi Thursday

2009 Karma

I received an email last Friday from freekibble that during 2008 they served 590,333 delicious and nutritious meals to dogs and cats in shelters across the country. If you want to rack up a few good Karma points here in 2009, visit freekibble.com and freekibblekat.com daily to answer fun canine and feline trivia questions. Whether right or wrong, everybody wins as they will donate 10 pieces of kibble to animal shelters to help feed their hungry cats and dogs. You can even set up a daily email reminder. A pretty easy way to earn those Karma points.

Trixi Thursday

Whew, what a year!

Happy 2009!!

Trixi Thursday

Vintage Holiday Trixi - 2000

Holiday Trixi

Not a creature was stirring...

Happy Christmas to all and to all a good-night!

Holiday Trixi Tuesday

Vintage Holiday Trixi - 2001

Trixi Thursday

Vintage Holiday Trixi 2004

Vintage Holiday Trixi 2006

Holiday Trixi 2008

Books Are Great Gifts

I stumbled upon BooksAreGreatGifts.com yesterday and this video below. The video, produced by Random House, Inc., has authors and celebrities sharing why they feel books make great gifts.



From what I have seen, I think you still have a few days to order books online taking advantage of free shipping and/or other discount offerings and get them by Christmas.

If you need some ideas for great books, check out the Red River Writers' Christmas Event (RRW Christmas Exchange) on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=32917461597.

Holiday Specials on Totes, Journals and Printable Gift Tags

If still needing to do some holiday shopping check out the All Us All the Time Blog. They were running a 12 Day of Christmas Special and Day 12 is where you can take advantage of any of the previous 11 day specials which include free totes, journals, and magnets with purchase. Also they are giving away free printable gift tags that are adorable. The offer is good through 12/16.

If you are looking for some cute stocking stuffer, unique gifts, reusable gift bags, or package bling, check them out but you will need to get the promo codes from their blog.

Trixi Thursday

Vintage Holiday Trixi

Day 8 of Holiday Specials

I particularly love today's special for the 12 Blog Postings of Christmas on the All Us All the Time blog. Purchase the Willow May Goes to the Midnight Carnival book from their site (it is even on sale!) and besides getting the free bookmark, button, book plate and character trading cards, if you order today, they will throw in a free Willow May tote. The great thing about the tote is no wrapping needed, you can just present the gift in the reusable adorable canvas tote. Hop on over to my site and print out some of the free coloring sheets to add in, throw in some crayons or markers and you are set with one neat gift. If to a child (because this book also makes a cool gift for adults who are fans of features like Nightmare Before Christmas and the Addams Family as well as enjoying to color, you know who they are), you could also include a coupon for a free reading, I suppose you could even include that if giving to an adult, it would depend on the recipient whether that would be awkward or not. You can visit the All Us All the Time Blog for the details and promotional code.

Also for more great book ideas check out the Red River Writers' Christmas Event (RRW Christmas Exchange) on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=32917461597.

Okay, I will stop with my special promotional announcement and let you get back to your normal Monday programming.

The Umbrella Academy: Apocalypse Suite by Gerard Way

I know a graphic novel is good when I scratch my head on how to try to describe it. That is definitely the case with The Umbrella Academy: Apocalypse Suite by Gerard Way (of My Chemical Romance) and illustrated by Gabriel Ba. I quite enjoyed it but not sure how to explain it, but I will give it a shot.

It starts with an atomic flying elbow and ends with making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. You can already tell it is going to be good, right? Forty-three extraordinary children were simultaneously born to women who had no signs of pregnancy. Most of the children were either abandoned or adopted. Reginald Hargreeves, an eccentric rich inventory, took in seven of the children. When asked why, he only replied, “To save the world.”

The seven children were known as the Umbrella Academy, a dysfunctional family of superheroes with unusual powers. But when the team gets older they disband and go their separate ways. Then one day they get a call from Pogo (a chimpanzee) that Hargreeves has died. When they reunite for the funeral a chain of events including flying Dalek like aliens and a mad Maestro signal the end of the world. The siblings once again need to band together not only to save the world but also rescue one of their own.

Deadly Eiffel Towers, zombie robots, mannequin mothers, and exploding carnivals...good stuff.

Free Holiday Gift Tags

The All Us All the Time's Day 5 of their 12 Blog Postings of Christmas is free gift tags...and they are pretty cool.

Hop on over to their blog if you would like to check them out.

The Dresden Files: Welcome to the Jungle by Jim Butcher

I just recently started reading the Dresden Files books by Jim Butcher and was a fan of the short-lived Sci-Fi show. Thus, how could I resist the first graphic novel of the series, Welcome to the Jungle? I could not.

Welcome to the Jungle takes place before his first book, Storm Front. Here our favorite paranormal detective and wizard, Harry Dresden, is called upon by the Chicago police to help investigate a brutal animal attack at the zoo that has left a security guard dead. But as you can probably guess, there appears to be something more of a supernatural nature behind this mauling. Once again, Harry finds himself the target of some pretty wicked dark forces as he tries to figure out who or what is behind this crime.

Welcome to the Jungle is an action-packed fun read. It took me 2 nights but most can probably read it in one sitting. The graphic novel has bold illustrations that nicely compliment the story and in the back of the book there is bonus material including a cover gallery and concept artwork that I found fascinating. Even though not necessary, if you have not read any of the Dresden Files books or watched the series on Sci-Fi, I would recommend reading Storm Front before reading the Welcome to the Jungle to get more of the background story on Harry Dresden and his wizardry.

I hope the second Dresden Files graphic novel is not far behind.

Trixi Thursday

Vintage Holiday Trixi

Just a Friendly Reminder

Just a friendly reminder about two events that are currently taking place online.

The first is the Red River Writers' Christmas Event (RRW Christmas Exchange) on Facebook featuring great books of all varieties. There are over 400 entries to date with 16 participating groups. Grab a hot beverage or for those in warmer climates a cool one and do some fun perusing at this online event. I am new with Facebook, but I think this link should get you there. You may have to create an account, but that is rather simple, and I promise, we will befriend you.

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=32917461597

The second is the 12 Blog Postings of Christmas happening online over at the All Us All the Time Blog. Each day between now and 12/12, they are have a one day only promotion for their site that is filled with creative goodies.