Tag: Books

Book Review: The Ugly Stepsister

On By cherylmahoneyIn Fantasy, Reviews1 Comment

You all know how I am about retold fairy tales, especially ones with a twist.  I certainly couldn’t resist The Ugly Stepsister by Aya Ling, retelling Cinderella from a very unusual perspective.

Kat is a typical modern teenager…who suddenly finds herself trapped inside the world of a storybook.  Specifically, Cinderella–but not as the heroine.  Kat is one of the stepsisters, and she won’t be able to get out of the story and go home until the book achieves its happy ending.  But the other stepsister is gorgeous and vying for the prince, the prince has no interest in balls or marriage, quiet and obedient Elle definitely won’t be pursuing the prince herself…and also, it’s hard work being in Society.  Kat could desperately use a fairy godmother, but none seems to be in sight.

I enjoyed the fish-out-of-water aspect of this, as modern Kat tries to cope with a (more or less) Victorian world.  Between corsets, curtsies and dull society calls, not to mention watching her modern slang, Kat struggles to find her way.  Her anachronistic status takes a more serious turn when she ends up confronting the harshness of child labor in the factories.  Her modern sensibilities drive her towards efforts at reform. Continue reading “Book Review: The Ugly Stepsister” →

Quotable Erin Morganstern

On By cherylmahoneyIn Quotable1 Comment

“Someone needs to tell those tales. When the battles are fought and won and lost, when the pirates find their treasures and the dragons eat their foes for breakfast with a nice cup of Lapsang souchong, someone needs to tell their bits of overlapping narration. There’s magic in that. It’s in the listener, and for each and every ear it will be different, and it will affect them in ways they can never predict. From the mundane to the profound. You may tell a tale that takes up residence in someone’s soul, becomes their blood and self and purpose. That tale will move them and drive them and who knows what they might do because of it, because of your words. That is your role, your gift.”

– Erin Morganstern, The Night Circus

Quotable David Shafer

On By cherylmahoneyIn Quotable2 Comments

“If you want truth tracked to where it is hidden, call a journalist; theirs is an honorable mission. But leave to novelists the country of Maybe in the land of What If, where all the animals are shadow puppets, and the rivers divide into countless streams that flow to a bottomless sea.”

– David Shafer

Book Review: On Writing by Stephen King

On By cherylmahoneyIn Reviews5 Comments

I’ve been hearing On Writing by Stephen King recommended by other writers for quite a while.  I finally sat down and read it–and now I wish I could remember if the people who recommended it were readers of Stephen King.  Because as a non-Stephen King reader, I find that I can wholeheartedly recommend…part of it.

On Writing is sub-titled “A Memoir of the Craft,” and that “memoir” part should have tipped me off.  The first (pretty sizable) section of the book is Stephen King’s “curriculum vitae,” describing the events in his life that influenced his writing.  This would probably be fascinating…if I had read any of his writing (well, I’ve read one novella, because they turned it into a Johnny Depp movie…)

So if you’re a Stephen King fan, you’d probably like this first section.  If, like me, you’re not…well, it’s perfectly well-written and not a bad narrative…but I still skipped half of it.  Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against Stephen King–he just doesn’t write the kind of books I read, and I came to this book looking for writing insights, not his autobiography. Continue reading “Book Review: On Writing by Stephen King” →

Quotable Oscar Wilde

On By cherylmahoneyIn Quotable1 Comment

“One’s real life is so often the life that one does not lead.”

– Oscar Wilde