Thoughts on Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I enjoyed this audiobook a lot, and I really enjoyed the character development arcs of some characters but got very frustrated with the development of one of the major players in this tale and how wishy-washy they were throughout. This is a tale of a nation at war with itself, with a history and current state of crushing those who used to have magical abilities under the lethal magicite boot of the king. The story revolves around Zélie Adebola and her family and friends, and the party that forms pretty early on in the book to quest for the return of magic to the oppressed people of Orïsha.

I think the writing was pretty strong throughout, but some of the plot points were so obvious before they happened. I gained a new perspective on the story after listening to the author’s note at the end of this audiobook and learned what inspired her to write these gripping descriptions of tragedy and the mess it leaves behind. The idea that certain wounds can never heal is both reenforced and denied by the actions of different characters and how they react to their past trauma. The core idea this book was built on is that there is always something you can do to fight back against injustice, which is inspiring. It also presents a very real perspective on tragedies that happen and how difficult it can be to truly recover from them after they occur.

I would recommend this book to anyone that loves magic and fantasy that is semi-grounded in reality(or inspired by reality? That may be too broad of a statement…), but I gave it a solid three stars instead of four, even though I feel it falls somewhere in between these two ratings.

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Thought on The Fellowship of the Ring (dramatized audiobook version)

The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Warning: spoilers ahead!

I’m not going to leave a long review. This is a very entertaining dramatized shorter version of The Fellowship of the Ring(click link above to view details and grab the ISBN # if you want). I enjoyed listening to this over a few days on my daily commute and I’ve got holds on the rest of this audiobook series. I can recommend this version to others, especially to realize some important differences between the book and the popular film.

I only have one real question–what the heck is Tom Bombadil? He’s bigger than a hobbit, but smaller than a man, and claimed to have lived/existed before the Sauron and his scions rose the first time thousand(s?) of years ago… How is he so overpowered with his magic songs and flute and everything?? He knew the ruler of the Willow trees in that forest to free the hobbits that were closed up in willow trees before they made it to Bree on their journey… He seems so out of place as a character compared to many of the others in the series.

Tom Bombadil may have been one of the first character’s Tolkein created when he was a child or teen and then Tolkein decided to include him in The Lord of the Rings but left him unchanged, which may explain the extreme OP nature of the character.

Also, Galadriel was way more chill in the book than the film. I laugh when I think of that “interesting choice” in the film for that moment when she considers taking the one ring from Frodo as she lets them see things in her magical mirror/scrying device.

A last general comment–the pronunciations of many character’s names vary from this audiobook to the film series by Peter Jackson. I don’t know if the pronunciations are correct in the film or the audiobook, and I found a couple of versions of the pronunciation guides from The Silmarillion, but this doesn’t provide a complete explanation of how to pronounce everything. AKA Legolas as pronounced in the film versus LeGOlas as pronounced in the audiobook.

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Thoughts on The Hobbit (Dramatized) audiobook by J. R. R. Tolkein

The Hobbit [Dramatized] by J.R.R. Tolkien
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Can one spoil a novel that was released a bit over 82 years ago on September 21st, 1937? Either way, spoilers lie ahead! You’ve been warned.

For some reason or another, I never got far when I picked up a print copy of The Hobbit and tried to read it in the past. I found this four hour dramatized audiobook version of the tale from 2009 through the Libby app(powered by Overdrive) my library offers and got swept away in the adventure quickly. The ISBN number for this title is 1598874497, if you’re interested.

Sometimes they go a bit overboard on the sound effects, but overall this production is very well done. I had a hard time making out the words to the songs the dwarves sung at Bag End as they were preparing to set off on their journey to the Misty Mountains/the Lonely Mountain near the beginning, but perhaps that was done a bit on purpose as it did feel like an overwhelming house party with much carousing, making it hard to understand what anyone says…

I’ve seen the regular and extended editions of the Lord of the Rings films too many times to count, and I have to say I was still surprised at how large a part Bilbo Baggins played in the story of The Hobbit. There is also a major plot hole surrounding Bilbo’s discovery and use of the One Ring throughout the story before Frodo gets his hands on it in The Lord of the Rings. The scenes with Bilbo and Gollum are really great, and just lend credence to the quality of Andy Serkis’ performance in the Peter Jackson films–BUT since this audiobook was released after those films, perhaps the dramatized Gollum from this audiobook was influenced by Serkis’ performance, instead of the other way around.

The major plot hole question is as follows: why doesn’t one of the Nazgul come after Bilbo when he used the ring A LOT in The Hobbit and then had the ring in his possession for 60 years, only using it occasionally after the events of the book(as far as I know)? This may simply reveal my own lack of knowledge, as I have not read any full novel by Tolkein, and only have a vague understanding of The Silmarillion’s larger mythos.

Also, I knew that damn Thrush bird was going to be important! After knowing that when the Thrush knocks a snail against the hidden door of the mountain on Durin’s Day, that is when the keyhole is revealed at sunset. I thought it was funny that Bilbo thought nothing of discussing’s Smaug’s weakness in front of one of these Thrush birds looking on, but that is kinda the Deus Ex Machina of the story anyway (other than the One Ring, of course), to get rid of the mighty Smaug and go on to the rest of the tale.

I found the portion of the tale spent in Mirkwood to be fascinating, and of course, the conversations between Bilbo and Smaug are highly entertaining as well. The scene of Gandalf getting Beorn to host their large party of 14 through the telling of their adventures so far before entering Mirkwood, and the periodic introduction of more party members, two by two, was hilarious.

I plan to listen to dramatized versions of all three Lord of the Rings novels in the coming months as I have them on hold through the Libby app. This is a very accessible way to hear a version of The Hobbit that was NOT like too little butter spread over too much bread–like Peter Jackson’s Hobbit film trilogy.

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Thoughts on Not Funny Ha-Ha by Leah Hayes

Not Funny Ha-Ha: A Handbook for Something Hard by Leah Hayes

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book/graphic novel is a straightforward look at the process of getting an abortion and explores both surgical and medical abortions. The author manages to put it together into an engaging story about two archetypical women that decide to get different types of abortions and the process they go through after making their decision.

There are clear explanations of what is involved in both types of procedures with plenty of side notes about what normal side effects and emotions you may experience. There are important side notes to always check with a doctor for any questions you have about this, and the importance of acting quickly, depending on the type of procedure you are interested in.

The author is kind, direct and caring towards her readers and I would recommend this book to anyone going through something like this or if you are interested in learning more about the subject in a straightforward way, regardless of gender, without involving anyone’s politics.

I’ve shared images of a couple of my favorite spreads from this title that demonstrate the above ideas.

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Thoughts on This Woman’s Work by Julie Delporte

This Woman’s Work by Julie Delporte

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I originally checked this out of the library with a combined interest in the subject matter and the accessible way the art and handwriting combine to create a book that feels like a personal journal, something inherently non-threatening about it…

The depth of the subject matter surprised me and I identify so strongly with some of the passages(one pictured above) that I felt the author was talking directly to me. I also thought the translators did a great job and occasionally inserted an important note to make the author’s references understood across languages.

This graphic novel is way more than an “accessible” piece of art that does not intimidate my own slacker artist tendencies–it is a meditation about being a woman and the subtle ways we may be robbed of our validity by those around us, told through vignettes. There is so much style in how the colored pencil medium expresses Julie Delporte’s emotion, and how abstract moments are frequently expressed through a drawing of another famous piece of art that impacted her…

Highly recommended. Easy to read through in a single evening, but not always fast to do so, as I was often caught up in emotions stirred up by moments in the book and reread pages often.

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Thoughts on Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer (book and film adaptation)

Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Disclaimer: I watched the movie a couple of times before listening to the book, so bear that in mind. Don’t read ahead unless you don’t mind spoilers or have already read the book!

I finished listening to this audiobook this morning and the Libby app my library uses to rent out audiobooks and ebooks is pretty great, at least from what I’ve experienced with audiobooks so far. Overall, I’ve been fascinated by the concepts of the film and the novels. I adore body horror in general, and strange mutations of existing native animals and forms–for example, John Carpenter’s The Thing is my favorite horror movie. I can’t get enough of pod people and no matter how bad the latest film adaption of Invasion of the Body Snatchers is–I’ll watch it! So, I definitely come to this tale with love, keen interest, and an ability to overlook some of its weaknesses. I would recommend it to anyone that loves weird science and “otherness”/alienation.

This book does a much better job of communicating and maintaining the mystery of Area X and it’s denizens than the film, though there are a number of awe-inspiring moments in the film. I don’t think the story weight that a gigantic moldering pile of expedition notebooks, far beyond the number of total expeditions the folks on “the twelfth expedition” were led to believe, was even included. At least, I don’t remember it being included. Luckily, the books seem to hold plenty of mysteries that the film handled with less grace–but I doubt any sequels will be made due to the first one’s popularity. We’ll see though!

A still from the Annihilation film adaption of people discovering the remains of a previous expedition member. One of a number of great set pieces that this film gets right, though I don’t think this was directly drawn from a scene in the book that I remember. This communicates some other “otherness” you encounter in this story.

I don’t mind the wandering strings of the biologist’s own memories and those of her husbands and their time together that twist through the narrative, that others have found as a fault. The biologist’s reluctance to share any personal information until later in the book is also endearing and very human, even as she slowly becomes something other than human. This may have been the first time I’ve encountered a book that entirely referred to the characters throughout as their titles, rather than their names. What’s in a name, anyway?

And the film also combined the lighthouse and the tower into a single place/entity which simplifies the complex nature of an equal and opposite reaction of the “thorn” or whatever was invading area x creating a downward spiraling tower into the earth of living tissue with the last lighthouse keeper trapped inside the “crawler”… and a door of light at the bottom that transports the unnatural clones of expedition members back into their life and out of area x, the vanguard of the thorn reaching out into the unaffected rest of the world… I’ll definitely continue reading the trilogy.

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Some other reviews of the film adaption you may enjoy:
https://nerdist.com/article/annihilation-lovecraftian-horror-alex-garland/
https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/23/17042290/annihilation-review-natalie-portman-oscar-isaac-alex-garland-jeff-vandermeer 

You may also enjoy my previous post about the music Jessica Curry composed for the game Dear Esther.

Jessica Curry is an incredible composer.

After playing Dear Esther, the haunting soundtrack of the game stayed with me longer than the beautiful experience of exploring the Hebrides islands, listening to the breeze as I wandered in and out of the waving grass, catching auditory scraps of the tale of a man falling to pieces.

The visuals of Dear Esther are often breathtaking, though that is not the focus of this post. Here are a couple of screen captures I took while replaying it a few months back.

I looked up the composer and bought the album, even though I had figured out how to pull the soundtrack files out of the game’s folders. I even wrote an email to her, just letting her know how much this album means to me. I have only done this with a handful or less of artistic creators I admire. I also don’t buy too much music, with all the streaming services out there now, but I felt compelled to support this woman and her work for TheChineseRoom.

My husband finds the music sorrowful(similar to his feelings on the Minecraft soundtrack) and while that emotion is certainly present–I find it relaxing and centering to listen to. I don’t tire of the songs after hearing them dozens of times. One of the only other albums I find more, or perhaps nigh equally, relaxing and captivating over many years is Sigur Ros’ Untitled album, but I don’t listen to that as often as I used to.

I would highly recommend you give it a listen, and here is a link to an assortment of tracks she chooses to highlight on her site as samples. The entire soundtrack is currently listenable for free as part of an Amazon Prime membership if you happen to have one of those. I am considering purchasing all her albums/her oeuvre, as it would be around $40 for all four albums available on Amazon, iTunes or Bandcamp, and $30 for the three I don’t own yet.

I posted a few words of review on Amazon after purchasing it in 2013:

Simply incredible. This is a fantastic album, just full of palpable emotion and dizzying heights. Whether or not you play the game, you should hear this soundtrack. For me, “This Godforsaken Aerial” and “Ascension” are highlights.

Thank you for reading. Any links included in the post are simply for your convenience and curiosity. They are not affiliate links or anything like that.

Salutations, dear readers!

I would like to start sharing my thoughts, reviews, photos and projects with the world in the same place. I have plenty of random reviews posted on disparate sites, musings on FaceBook and a now defunct LiveJournal… A new blog is a perfect home for my content!

Join me on my journey, if you wish! I plan to explore many of my interests here–from food and film to crafts and cleaning to books and more.

I look forward to your comments, suggestions and creative criticisms. It is nice to meet you!