"Coraline" and "The Better Part of Darkness"

Yesterday, I read Coraline. I've seen the movie probably half a dozen times -it's a great, great movie. My boyfriend got it for me for my birthday. He spoils me. :)

I had never read the book, though, which I considered an egregious error on my part. I always try to read the book first. Plus, it's by Neil Gaiman, who is one of my favorite favorite favorite writers in the entire world. I could write an entire post about how great he is. Also, follow him on Twitter if you get the chance.

Coraline

It's short. I am not exaggerating when I say I finished the book in 45 minutes. I had 15 minutes to read before a couple of my classes, and I finished the rest of the book in the half hour before I went to sleep last night. It is a fast read, which is great if you need a book for a doctor's appointment wait or are looking for something that will suck you in but won't keep you from getting work done.

It's a really fun read. It's creepy, it's sweet, it's scary and it's well-crafted. I am an avid fan of well-written books, and Coraline totally fits that bill.

One of the things that surprised me was that the character Wybie -one of my favorite characters from the movie -is not in the book. Coraline is almost totally isolated for the entire book, which somehow adds to the psychological creepy-factor. Wybie helps divert some of that frightening feeling of the book just by his existence. In the book, Coraline is all on her own, and that is very intense.

If you're even a little bit interested in Gaiman's work, Coraline is a good place to start.


The Better Part of Darkness

This is a book I won a few months ago, but just now picked up. I've had a lot of academic and other reading sort of butt in between when I won it and when I decided to actually crack it open.

It was totally worth the wait, and I'm kicking myself for not tearing into this book earlier. I started it around 9:30 this morning, and after a solid hour of reading, I'm about 1/3 of the way through it. It is a kick-ass thriller/mystery/fantasy+science blend, and I cannot put it down.

It has a nearly pulpy feel at times, other times it almost delves into romance novel territory (the word "throbbing" was not used, but was absolutely implied) and above all it just a great romp through a world that has largely stopped making sense for Charlie, the main character. She's died and been brought back, she's divorced, she's trying to figure out who's dealing a deadly drug called ash -oh, and two parallel realms have been discovered, and their inhabitants have begun to live in our world.

This is one book that I'm really hoping has a sequel. There are a million places this story could go, and I am thoroughly enchanted.