The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe

The novel is about 4 children, Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy, who are sent to live with a relative in a country house during World War II. The children find a closet in the house which leads to a magical land called Narnia, which is full of talking animals, fauns, and other enchanted creatures. Edmund meets and evil White Witch who tricks him into betraying his siblings. The once ruler of Narnia, Aslan the lion, returns to help the children defeat the evil queen. I had half read this novel when I was much younger but I remember what the cover looked like better than what the actual story. Now, reading it for a second time I go so much more out of it. The book deals with serious themes in a way children can understand. For example Edmund shows his selfish human nature by selling out his family for a few turkish delights from the white queen. But it equally demonstrates selflessness and strong family values when Peter and the other siblings rescue Edmund despite his previous actions. However I really did no like the religious comparison the stressed sense of heiarchy. I am sure there was another way the story could have been resolved besides Aslan being crucified like a lion version of Jesus. In that case I guess Edmund would be Judas (which is a little harsh for a naive kid) and the witch would be satan. I think that this is a wonderful story in general because of the descriptions, the animals and all the positive aspects. I just wish it would not push Catholicism so much on the readers, because once you pick up on it, it is hard to ignore.

The Dragonbone Chair

I thought that this book was good for what it is, but as a woman I often feel it is hard to relate to the main character Simon, I feel that the book is better suited for my 14 year old boy cousin. Also I found that there was a little too much dialog between the characters, I felt it became too wordy and the author repeated the same thing often. The focus was taken away from the action a little. The story-line itself is your basic unlikely young hero fight ing for good against evil, and taking on the responsibility of a very dangerous mission. The book is based around Simon, a teenage boy with red hair who has lived as a servant in the castle all his life. The king ends up dying sparking the return of his two sons. The one son takes over but ends up being corrupted by a magical priest and locks his brother in a dungeon. Simon rescues him from the dungeon and thats when his adventures start to take place. Along the way, he witnesses dark events, and then joins a quest to find a talisman that may give some remaining hope to the kingdom. I felt like the pacing of this book was so slow I did not even want to read it anymore at some points. As I continued I warmed up to the other characters, because there was a lot of them. As I got a little more involved with the story, it got better.

Mirror Mask

I had started to watch this movie about a year ago, but turned it off because I really could not stand the way it was animated. To me it looked so low budget, over stylized, the colors were over saturated in a bad way, and it just looked like they tried too hard. Although I am much more a fan of traditional animation, I can appreciate computer animation if it helps the movie but in this case I think it hurt it. So I set my biases aside and reluctantly watched it again, and to be honest I still was not impressed. I am extremely picky when it comes to movies especially fantasy, to me the characters lack depth and the narrative was just low in energy. The movie is about a girl named Helana who is the daughter of circus performers. She is a very imaginative girl and when he mother became seriously ill, she finds her self in her own fantasy land that appears to be a different version of her real life. She meets a juggler who accompanies her while she tries to escape from this weird shadow that is trying to capture her. I have to say this plot is so overdone: a adolescent girl who does not want to face the reality of a situation escapes to some fantasy land where she encounters relevant situations, eventually learning valuable lessons and returns home. Two good examples of this is Alice in Wonderland and the Wizard of Oz. I just think this movie could have been pushed a lot further story wise, and could have been executed better visually.
On a side note, half the costumes in this movie were reinterpreted by Lady Gaga. I am not sure if this was done on purpose or if I am the only one to make the connection.

Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuk

I am a huge Chuck Palahniuk fan and have already read this book along with a couple others. Palahniuk has a very distinct writing style where he introduces many characters and plots and them weaves them together in a compelling way. Lullaby is a very dark, twisted modern horror story that is about a poem that can literally kill people if read out loud. The first one to discover this song is a man named Carl Streator, a journalist writing about sudden infant death syndrome. Other characters become involved like Helen a real estate agent who specializes in selling haunted houses to unsuspecting buyers, Mona, Helans secretary and Wiccan, and Mona's jerk hippie boyfriend Oyster. They all know the power of the culling song, so they make it their mission to seek out all the copies of the song and destroy them. Although not my favorite Palahniuk book, the pacing of it was nice and it is has all the elements of a good thriller. But it is more than just a novel about spells and witches, it goes into themes below the surface like the evil in people, greed, the media and various other themes. I really enjoyed the crazy plot twists as well as the complex, extremely flawed characters.

Interview with a Vampire

As children, me and my older sister were oddly fascinated with scary story and just horror in general. Although our parents blocked most channels containing violence and sexual nature, we some how had access to a fuzzy HBO channel where we discovered Interview with a Vampire for the first time. I was about 10 but at the time but I remember watching Kirsten Dunst as a child vampire and having the desire to be just like her. Re-watching the movie recently has made me realize #1 I had really good taste in movies and #2 that movie was extremely inappropriate for little kids. I feel like this is one of the first examples of the inner struggles of vampires and how they feel about their lifestyles verses those of humans. Vampires are now seen in a completely different light rather than the in-human, blood-sucking creatures they were previously thought to be. Eternal life is seem as a curse, the vampires are constantly tormented with loneliness, compassion, moral issues and other human emotions. Claudia, the child vampire, is such an interesting and compelling character. She was transformed into a vampire at the age of 6 against her will, forever trapping her in the body of a child. Now knowing that Ann Rice herself experienced the loss of a child, I think it was extremely brave and commendable that she turned her tragedy into something brilliant. Another theme in the movie was homosexuality. Louis and Lestat turned innocent Claudia into a vampire, so essentially it is like she has two fathers. Interview with a vampire touches on countless controversial topics, sexuality, immortality, incest, death. It examines the myth of vampires and puts a totally new spin on it which has opened up the door for future vampire tales. Overall I love this movie and I wish I had time to read the full book.

The Monkey's Paw

The Monkey's Paw was a rather short story that had a very clear message, horrible consequences can occur if you try to control your own destiny. The plot of this story is pretty simple, three wishes are granted to the holder of the monkey paw, but the catch is the wishes come with a tragic price. The story begins with a Sergeant coming to a family's house and sharing stories about his experience serving in India where he obtained the monkey paw. He told them about the power of the monkey paw and that his wishes ended in tragedy. He tries to destroy the paw by throwing it into the fire but the mother retrieves it. They wish for some money, and the next day an employee of the company where the son is working arrives at the family's residence and tells the parents that their son has died in an accident and they will receive a monetary compensation, the exact amount they wished for. About a week later, the mother wishes that their son would return home alive. When knocking is heard at the door, the father realizes what has happened and before the mother can open the door, the father uses the last wish. The knocking stops and when the door is opened, no one is there. Overall I was already familiar with this story so there was no real element of surprise for me. But I do think its a classic, it just seems to be more appropriate for a younger age because the concept is spooky but simple.

What the Moon Brings- H.P. Lovecraft

Although this story was enjoyable because it was written beautifully, it was a little hard to understand because of how poetic and abstract. I though that it was really impressive how Lovecraft creates really vivid visuals with great detail describing a surreal dreamlike atmosphere. I could literally picture what the beach looked like at night, the moon and all the surroundings. I always have very vivid dreams that I try describing to people but I feel like they could never picture it like I do. Lovecraft does and excellent job of making the reader experience his world along side him. The narrator never really identifies himself, but he takes the reader on a mysterious journey with him as he recalls memories and feelings about a summer night. He talks about walking through a garden and as he goes further, the scene gets creepier and more disturbing because he discovers that the garden has no end to it. Then he sees these lotos-faces and wants to know their secrets but the moon scares them as well as himself. Next the ocean parts revealing some kind of city of death. This is where Lovecraft gets ridiculously visual, he describes the city as being a place where all the people in the world come to die. The grossest description was when he talks about the smell of all the rotting flesh from all the grave yards. In the end all this sorrow and pain is too much for him to take, so he ends up plunging himself into the streets to kill himself and be with the rest of the world's dead. Even though this story was really graphic about death I though the way it was worded was fantastic. Also the concept of the afterlife being this horrible, acid trip garden of death by the beach was so original and unforgettable.