For more reviews, check out my blog: Craft-Cycle

In all honesty, I didn't like this book when I first started it. I'm kind of picky about comics with black-and-white artwork. They have to be interesting enough to not make me feel like I'm just looking at a coloring book, but also clear enough that I can tell what's going on. It took me a little bit to get into the artwork, but it really is spooktactular. 

I'm not sure if I wasn't really interested in the first story ("My Bloody Valentine") or if I was just warming up to the characters, but by the end of the book, I was loving it. I especially liked "Ghouls Out for Summer". I think it helped having some background on Scary Godmother to understand what was going on and the various relationships. I might go back and reread the first story to see what I think of it now that I know the characters. 

By the end, I loved the characters. This book has a wonderful cast of lovable, spooky friends who help each other out and are there for each other through thick and thin. 

There are a lot of fun activities from treat recipes to crafting ideas throughout the book as well. A nice way to make the comics more interactive. There is also an Activity Book at the end that includes tutorials, a crossword, coloring pages, and more fun things. 

I actually hadn't realized this was targeted to children (because I apparently can't read the genre listed on the back). There are a lot of more adult themes (son moving out of mother's house, working through a rough patch in a marriage, things that seem more on par with adult readers than children). I also feel like the majority of current children's comics are in color so this one being in black-and-white might dissuade some young readers. I definitely think adults will like this book. Not so sure how popular it would be to young readers today, but perfect for those who like stories that are a bit creepy but still heartfelt and fun. 

An anthology of 22 short comedic pieces, I picked this up on impulse at a UBS, because I'd never read any of the authors before (correction: I've read Wodehouse) and there were more than a couple names here that I'd often felt like I should have read, but hadn't; I was afraid they'd be weighty and, you know, deep.  So here was my chance to read their work without a lot of emotional commitment.

 

Almost all of the stories here were excellent.  As in any collection, there were a few clunkers: I found the ending of V.S. Pritchett's piece abrupt and nonsensical.  Elizabeth Bowen's and Muriel Spark's pieces left me flat. 

 

The really great stories out-weighed those though: Wilde's The Model Millionaire was my favorite of the book, with Saki's Byzantine Omelette and Robertson Davies' The Xerox in the Lost Room close behind.  Oh, and A Piece of Pie by Damon Runyon had me laughing at the truly cunning ending.  Stories by Dorothy Parker and James Thurber had more of an emotional edge; the humor from these stories came from a darker, cynical view.

 

All in all a truly excellent collection; I've already bought a collection of Saki's work based on what I've read here, and I'm looking forward to reading more by some of these authors.

Since I did much better with my semi-planned reading in March than I thought I might, I'm trying it again this month with the above books, some of which have been sitting in the TBR pile for a very long time.  No non-fiction bricks this month, so perhaps I can get through the stack this time.

 

Happy reading!

Road trips are a tried and tested formula, one which is difficult to either get completely right or completely wrong. I have read and seen so many books and movies on the subject which I have liked enough to not get bored by them. But I had yet to come across something I truly loved. I have to say the “Driving to Belair” comes close to being perfect.

The book follows the formula very well. We start with a reason for the road trip which has meaning and does not seem frivolous. Each of the persons on the road trip has a personality and there are no filler characters. As, with any good road trip book, anything that can go wrong, does in fact go wrong. The characters develop and mature during the road trip as the hardships and the trials all bring them closer to each other than they were to begin with. And, it all ends on a hugely positive note. Frankly, I don’t see anything new there. But, I still loved the book! It is by far the best one I have read.

I loved the mix of characters the author has created. The trip consists of Dale, a person working in a New York advertising agency who comes from the modest background of a family raised on a farm. Then, there are his two brothers, both of whom have their own problems. One of them is a drug addict, who is totally immature and refuses to grow up. The other brother has held a grudge against Dale for a really long time for leaving the family behind and for “running away” from his responsibilities. He is now an alcoholic and is hostile towards Dale right from the start. Add to this trio, Dale’s ex-fiancé whom he also left behind and his current high-maintenance girlfriend who is the spoilt daughter of his boss. With such a cast, the storyline was bound to be explosive.

Each character is clearly well developed and complex. I kept changing my opinions about the all the characters, except for one, throughout the book. I kept moving from hating to loving characters and could not decide whether a character was the good guy or bad. For example, Dale’s past made me feel really sorry for him. He had a tough childhood with an abusive father, which made him bitter towards his family. But I couldn’t stand his actions now, after all these years. This is something I really enjoy, characters which are not painted with just one brush. Each character had a past and personality traits which added many dimensions to them and made them real. The talent of the author lies in making us feel the emotions he wants us to feel. This is not something easy to achieve, and for this I commend him.

The events which take place in the story are fairly standard to any road tip related media. They did add a lot of personality to the book though. They made me laugh, cringe, shout, feel sorry, and finally feel happy. The book also ends strongly. All the loose ends are perfectly tied and everyone goes home happy, well almost everyone. The author also gives us a glimpse in the life of the characters a few years after this road trip. We’re left contented as we know what finally happened to each of the characters.

I found it to be nice that such broken people can also find lasting happiness. This means there is hope for me too! LOL. That is the message I truly love.

Pretty good. A bit long in places but a nice intellectual romp.