Daughter of Hounds

When I recently came across Caitlin R. Kiernan's Daughter of Hounds, I thought I'd give it a try.  It wouldn't be the first novel I'd read about changelings (Keith Donohue's The Stolen Child), but while Kiernan's name was familiar to me, I'd never read any of her novels.

The story started off well, with an interesting scene underground in the lair of the ghouls who steal children.  I found myself caught up in the story (that's a good thing) and appreciating Kiernan's prose, including some very nice turns of phrase (another good thing).  But along the way something happened, and I've decided to give up.

I'd always heard that it's best to use profanity and obscenities sparingly in one's writing.  That they can be useful in giving atmosphere to a situation, or conveying details of someone's character (or lack thereof).  But when used more than sparingly, it suggests a lack of skill on the part of the author in establishing atmosphere or character.  I can forgive an author for this but only up to a point.  Kiernan exceeded my tolerance level.  When it gets to the point where every piece of dialogue is laced with this kind of language, it becomes not only annoying and distracting but tiresome.

Midway through Daughter of Hounds, I realized that not only was I tired of the profanity and obscenities, I was also tired of waiting for at least a tidbit of resolution or explanation to what was going on, and I wasn't getting it.  So this one is getting my "abandoned" label.

Postscript:  Donohue's The Stolen Child (rating: 9/10) was an excellent story - interesting, moving, well-constructed, and a pleasure to read (as long as you don't mind sharing a character's profound sadness).  Highly recommended.

Dracula on Steroids

I'm a card-carrying member of the market segment of readers that likes the feel and smell and overall experience of reading a book made out of cellulose products more than the experience of reading a book made out of electrons.  But books made out of electrons appear to be catching on more and more, if you can believe the statistics.

I look at the bookshelves in my home office and bemoan how I've run out of room for new additions.  I hope my wife doesn't notice the Compulsion to Buy Books has led me to having to lay some books horizontally across the tops of others in order to get them "shelved."  I don't even want to think what she'd say if I started taking over the guest room for my office and let my current office become a library.

But e-books?  Sure, they don't take up room.  But if I don't see them lying around, I might forget about them and not read them.  They don't feel right, look right, smell right.  I can't trade them in at Half Price Books when I'm finished with them.

But what e-book publishers are starting to do with book design is pulling me in.  If a publisher can give me an experience with an e-book that I can't get with an ordinary book, I might just give it a try.  That's what I did with Dracula: The Official Stoker Family Edition (PadWorX Digital Media), named the iTunes App of the Week this past week.  Here we have a novel written in 1897, a novel I'd not ordinarily read because of its antiquated style, but through e-book magic has been made interactive, with music, sound effects, objects that move on the screen.  Letters and papers have to be moved with a finger swipe in order to read the letters beneath.  Tip the iPad and the rosary necklace hanging across the top of the book in an early chapter tips, following gravity.  PadWorX has taken an old book and made it fun!  This is Bram Stoker's book on steroids - a perfect piece of entertainment for Halloween, and I am thoroughly enjoying it.  For a preview, see this YouTube video.

Spooks

Anyone following this blog should know by now that I not only read books written for adults but also some written for "young adults" and children.  (I'm thinking the term "juvenile fiction" is probably going out of style because of the connotations of the word "juvenile.")  I just finished reading The Spook's Tale and Other Horrors by Joseph Delaney, one of the series (for older children, not quite young adults?) titled The Last Apprentice.  This series concerns the supernatural adventures of a young man, hundreds of years ago, who is apprenticed to a "spook", someone who battles witches and demons and evil creatures of many kinds.  The books in this series are all dark in mood and setting, but the stories are all compelling and chilling.

Somehow I'm reminded of the series of horror/supernatural/mystery novels for children written by John Bellairs.  When our daughter was growing up it was a family tradition for several years to get every new John Bellairs book that came out, and each member of the family would read it.  In contrast to the Last Apprentice series, the books by John Bellairs are set in present day, and are not as grisly, but there is plenty to capture the imagination.

Of Shadows and Mist

I have a habit of reading a number of books in parallel.  But when I discover one that really grabs me, I'll stick with it and quickly finish it.  Such was the case in 2005 when I decided to try Spanish author Carlos Ruiz Zafon's The Shadow of the Wind (rating: 10/10).  In Barcelona in 1945 a boy discovers that someone is methodically destroying every book ever written by an author named Julian Calax.  The mystery behind Calax's true identity grips the boy and won't let go.  Ruiz Zafon does a fantastic job of characterization and really kept my interest.  Few books that I read do I ever rate so highly.

The Prince of Mist by Ruiz Zafon (rating: 8/10) is a much different book but still very enjoyable.  This is a relatively short horror novel for young adults.  The author states in an introductory note that he hopes the young adult books he's written will appeal to readers of all ages.  The Prince of Mist did appeal to me, and I finished it quickly.  Like The Shadow of the Wind, the story takes place during World War II.  To me, there was the barest hint of the movie Summer of '42 - wartime setting, a beach, adolescents trying to understand their feelings for the opposite sex.  And the evil behind the story reminded me of something I would expect Stephen King to write, were he writing something for young adults.

My bookshelf also holds this author's adult novel The Angel's Game, and I'm looking forward to that one as well.  Once again the author turns to Barcelona as a setting, and books play an important role in the story.