Hello everyone! I write this to you from the great city of London!! I have been here for about a day and I am already loving it-- for those of you who are world travelers, it's a bit like Paris with the exception that there is more vehicular traffic, including those famous double-decker buses. Oh, and as a note, pedestrians beware: in London, car, bike, bus, it doesn't matter, they *will not stop for you* or *even slow down*. So be sure you have plenty of room before you cross. Because they'll run you over. No joke.
Alright, well, what is this post about? I finished "The Road" a little while ago and it was brilliant. McCarthy did a brilliant job of engaging and entertaining, even through suffering, his audience to the bitter end. I felt so emotionally involved that I literally couldn't put the book down, and on the second day of reading I nearly polished off the rest of the book. A definite must-read, through and through. I give this book a 9.
I have since then started a book, one of three, called "A Spell for Chameleon" by Piers Anthony. I love Piers Anthony's work because he is so delightfully sarcastic without being sarcastic. He makes you think he's being serious, and yet underneath you can smell that something...something is no quite right. And it might even be humorous. His books are witty and colorful and well-planned; two of my personal favorites are "Double Exposure", a sci-fi/fantasy crossover that combines the two worlds in a fantastic and incredibly creative way, and "Bearing an Hourglass", a story about a normal man who becomes Chronos, the controller of Time. Both have their drama and action, and both are hilarious all the way through. "Bearing an Hourglass" is in particular hysterical by means of the problems the hero encounters while trying to learn how to use Chronos' powers...such as making humans unaware of the fact that he may be at one point or another turning time backwards. There is a particularly memorable scene where the new Chronos is running through the alleys after setting time backwards, watching all the bewildered and panicking creatures struggling with their suddenly reversed states, and he passes by a man being 'dragged' back into a lavatory accompanied by helpless screams of horrified "No!" as his biological processes go backwards to his full awareness.
You have to be there. Read there. You know.
In any case, I look forward to seeing more about what Piers Anthony has to offer me in this Xanth novel. I tried reading "Night Mare" once, and it failed to capture my attention. I'm not entirely sure why. I'll have to give it another go at some point. But this one so far is intriguing, about a young man named Bink who is threatened with exile because he is a non-magical human living in a magical world. He must find his talent or be thrust into the other-world, the mundane and non-magical normal-verse.
As soon as I'm not so jet-lagged, I'll be sure to read more. And I'm also going to see if I can find any intriguing manuscripts while I'm here in London. What a place to buy books, is it not?
See you on the other side, my friends!
Caitlyn
