Guardian of the Dead

Healey, K. (2010). Guardian of the dead. New York: Little, Brown and Co

I don’t know why, but reading this book gives me the feeling of watching a movie. Partially this is due to the cover on which the main characters white mask can’t help but remind me of countless scenes in popular culture horror where killers and creeps walk around in similar disguises. While the story started out formulaically enough for that to have been the case, I am pleased to say that after all the suspense was built and built, Healey delivered with some interesting twists! No spoiler, don’t worry, unless even knowing there’s a twist spoils it for you.

I like Ellie as a main character because she’s strong and doesn’t put up with garbage from people. I’m not a huge fan about her always being upset about being bigger than average, especially since that size is part of what helps her kick butt! Still I think that she’ll rub off on most of you readers and the story (after about 60-80 pages or so) gets into some really cool stuff with Maori folklore and mythology. Kia mau ki to Maoritanga.

Napier: Ellie’s home town

http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Napier,+New+Zealand&aq=&sll=49.891235,-97.15369&sspn=31.38647,65.126953&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Napier,+Hawke's+Bay,+New+Zealand&ll=-40.913513,175.341797&spn=18.311358,49.306641&z=5

GloomCookie Vol.1

Valentino, S. & Naifeh, T. (2001). GloomCookie. San José, Ca: Slave Labor Graphics.

The GloomCookie world reminds me of being 14 to an almost painful degree… oh the drama and angst of it all!
I like the art, although Ted Naifeh has done better stuff. Mostly this is because things of a gothic nature appeal to me (hence the HR Giger in my featured artist section). The story is fairly interesting, although there were a few too many characters and I had a hard time keeping up with who was related to who and who was in love with (or at least sleeping with) who… Also Sebastian’s Monster confused me at first, but I kinda figured it out. After all, I think It was my favourite character!

I’m not sure how old the characters are supposed to be, they drink and have sex, activities associated with people aged 17+, or so, but the dialogue is junior high material, at best! In fact, there are many places where…excuse the junior high lingo… the dialogue is downright barf worthy. Still though, I think this is an entertaining book and effectively stylized to give the reader a good sense of what being in the GloomCookie worlds is all about.

Another interesting addition to this book is that Naifeh has a bunch of his preliminary sketches in the back of the book (not uncommon in the graphic novel world). As well, there are a few pages of fan art, which isn’t that great, but it’s nice to see the GloomCookie community supporting its own.

This book is exactly what I picture a gloom cookie to be. A nice dark treat, with little nutritional value.

My Little Red Book

Kauder-Nalebuff, Rachel. (2009). My Little Red Book. New York: Twelve.

When I first saw this book I was instantly reminded of the The Little Red School Book (an awesome book I HIGHLY recommend you read… if you can find it!) so I grabbed it off the libraryshelf and checked it out without even reading the back cover. This left me rather surprised when I discovered that the contents of the book were various, first-hand, anecdotes about women’s first periods. I would recommend this book to females because people need guidance especially when starting something new. On one hand women are supposed to feel a powerful sense of pride and maturity when they begin menstruating. But, on the other hand, it is portrayed in advertisements as a dirty secret to be corrected in solitude. We live in a culture where biased information is used to propagate consumption. Literature, I say, is a cure! That’s why I would also recommend this book to guys. For guys it is hard to imagine what periods are like generally, let alone understand how another experiences it.

Through the voices of a variety eloquent females, such as Judy Blume, males can glean a more accurate understanding of what their female peers are experiencing. We live in a liberal democracy (at least we have with the illusion of living in one), but still we need to be more understanding and we still need to treat each other better! I believe this book can help with that.