Kenneth Grahame - The Wind in the Willows

Title: The Wind in the Willows
Author: Kenneth Grahame
Pub. year: 1908
Pages: 256
Editor: Egmont
Summary: The Wild Wood seems a terrifying place to Mole, until he finds it's full of friends - kind, sleepy Badger; brave and lively Ratty; and the irresponsible Mr Toad, famous for his wealth and his car smashes.
But there are also the sinister weasels and stoats, and they capture Toad Hall when Mr Toad is in jail. How will he escape? And can the friends fight together to save Toad Hall?

I wanted to read that book for a while, so when I get the opportunity to buy it, I did. Still, I waited a year to read it.
I'm glad I did, but I can't say I enjoyed it. It's not the first time I'm desappointed by children books' authors from the beginning of the 20th century. I think I'll stop here with that kind of literature, because everytime I get angry at the author. The thing is, I always find them patronizing in their way to telling tales to children. So most of the time it pisses me off and I just want to get rid of this story and read something more entertaining.

Every character is a cliché, 100% good (kind or brave) or 100% bad (weak or mean). I'm so bored with that kind of character. They're so predictable and and annoying. I know that this way of writing was appropriate at the time it was written, but even when I try to forget what bother me, I can't enjoy the story.

Still, like I said, I'm glad I read it, because now I know what it's about and it's all good for my own culture. Not much more to say about this book so I'll stop here and try not to read that kind of stories anymore.

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Clive Barker - Abarat

Title: Abarat (Abarat, books 1 & 2)
Author: Clive Barker
Pub. year: 2002
Pages: 388
Editor: HarperCollins

Summary: Abarat: an archipelago of amazement and wonder. A land made up of twenty-five islands, each one representing one hour of the day, each one a unique place of adventure and danger (and one mysterious place out of time), all ruled over by the evil Christopher Carrion, Lord of Midnight, and his monstrous grandmother, Mater Motley. Candy Quackenbush, a 16-year old from Chickentown, Minnesota, crosses by accident from our world into Abarat, and discovers she has been there many, many times before. She has friends there and she has enemies. As Candy makes her journey between all the islands of the archipelago, she will discover a plot by Christopher Carrion to block out the Sun, Moon and stars to achieve a condition of Permanent Midnight. In order to prevent this disaster, Candy must find the courage to confront the Lord of Midnight; and in doing so come to know who she really is: a revelation which will transform her own understanding of her place in the epic events.

I already presented many of my favorite books to you, and I don't think this would feel right if I don't add Abarat to the list. I discovered this book by chance at the bookstore—the cover was beautiful, I knew the author from The Thief of Always (excellent book by the way) and the story seemed intriguing enough for me to go home with the first two books. Probably one of my best compulsive bought of the latest years.



The story works around some classical fantasy elements—a young and courageous girl with a greater destiny, magical creatures, an epic quest to save the world—but beyond all that there is something really fascinating about this story. I don't know if it is because the illustrations (by the author himself) are dazzling, or because the creatures living in the Abarat are so weird that you can't even begin to imagine where they come from, but it seems impossible to remain untouched by these books. Candy is the typical hero that you look upon to, flawed but oh so human, and all the people she meets on her journey are so surprising, terrific and terrible that it's impossible to forget them.

With the third book going out this month, the Abarat quartet will surely be one of the must have for a very long time, fit as well for children as for adults. Original, full of magic, mysteries, epic adventures and emotion, it has everything to seduce the reader, including delightful paintings (don't get the massmarket paperback or you will miss them!) and complex characters. Well, is there anything that could be missing? Oh yes, humour—forget it, it's also funny. If you a have some hours to spare, you definitely should spend them in the Abarat. The islands frozen in time are waiting for you!

Scarebaby, scarebaby,
Where do you run?
Out in the graveyard,
To have some fun?
Dancing with skeletons
Up from the ground?
Doing a jig
On the burial mound?

Scarebaby, scarebaby,
Horrid you are!
With the wings of a bat,
And a face with a scar,
The fangs of a vampire,
The tail of a snake;
You open your mouth
And the noise that you make
Is a song that the Devil sings,
Bitter and loud.
Tell me, my baby,
Was your mother proud?

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China Miéville - Un Lun Dun

Title: Un Lun Dun
Author: China Miéville
Pub. year: 2007
Pages: 521
Editor: Pan Macmillan

Summary: Stumbling through a secret entrance, Zanna and Deeba enter the strange wonderland of UnLondon. Here all the lost and broken things of London end up, and some of its people too - including Brokkenboll, boss of the broken umbrellas, and Hemi the half-ghost boy.

But the two girls have arrived at a dangerous time. UnLondon is a place where words are alive, where a jungle lurks behind the door of an ordinary house, where carnivorous giraffes stalk the streets... and a sinister cloud called Smog is bent on destruction. It's a frightened city in need of a heroine...

When I first heard about Un Lun Dun, I thought "sounds like Neverwhere by Gaiman" (which has been in my TBR pile for a while) and I didn't want to read 2 similar books one after the other. But I don't know why, when I saw this one's cover, I just wanted to buy it and read it as soon as possible—which I did.

China Miéville has an impressive imagination and even in the foggy, dark and a bit scary world he writes about, he manages to put slices of humour that are really enjoyable. The illustrations aren't too much to help us picturing the characters he depicts. The story is full of mystery enhanced by the mist around and the threat of pollution that lays around. There's a lot of different parts in the evolution of the main frame so it leaves no time for boredom.

Apart from that, I felt a lot of references during the reading, to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Neil Gaiman's world, Ghibli movies, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and so on (some of them are confirmed at the end of the book, I might be wrong for the others) and really appreciated it!



Therefore, this book was a great discovery. Now I'm curious about Miéville's other works! Luckily I have another book he wrote in my TBR Pile (even if the beginning looks complicated): The City & The City.

Quotes :

"The hautest of couture. Be entertained while you wear. Never again need you face the misery of unreadable clothes. Now you can pick up your favorite works of fiction or non-fiction for your sleeves. Perharps a classic for the trousers. Poetry for you skirt. Historiography for socks. Scripture for knickers. Learn while you dress !"

"If you're brave enough to try, you might be able to catch a train from UnLondon to Parisn't, or No York, or Helsunki, or Lost Angeles, or Sans Fransisco, or Hong Gone, or Romeless... It's a terminus."

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Florent Chavouet - Tokyo on Foot

Title: Tokyo on Foot: Travels in the City's Most Colorful Neighborhoods
Author: Florent Chavouet
Pub. year: 2011
Pages: 208
Editor: Tuttle Publishing

Summary: Florent Chavouet, a young graphic artist, spent six months exploring Tokyo while his girlfriend interned at a company there. Each day he would set forth, with a pouch full of colored pencils and a sketchpad, to visit different neighborhoods. This stunning book records the city that he got to know during his adventures, a gritty, vibrant place, full of ordinary people going about their daily lives. Realistically rendered city views or posters of pop stars contrast with cartoon sketches of iconic objects or droll vignettes, like a housewife walking her pet pig and a Godzilla statue in a local park.
With wit, a playful sense of humor, and the colored pencils of his kit, Florent Chavouet sets aside the question of urban ugliness or beauty and captures the Japanese essence of a great city.

I think it's high time we present you some of the French goodies, dear little English readers. You probably know some classics already, as if the French were only good so many years ago... but not at all ! For once, here is a young French guy with amazing ideas and a book translated into English, that you absolutely cannot miss.

This book kind of looks like another tourist guide, at first. Or maybe like a kid illustration book. Well, it is neither one nor the other. Florent Chavouet has spent six months in Tokyo, living among its inhabitants, looking at the small details which the city is full of and that no tourist ever see. Here, you can discover Tokyo through new eyes, curious and baffled by all those exotic things that Japanese take for granted. An excursion into the unknown, or a bunch of souvenirs for those who already set foot there.



The drawings may look funny in the beginning but you quickly get used to them. Sometimes scenery, sometimes people, sometimes weird anecdotes, they take you along the ride without ever getting bored. The small comments written all over the pages are full of humor and jokes, and if you are like me, you will spend hours looking at the amazingly detailed maps of the neighborhoods. Even though the book is quite long, there's never enough... for your eyes at least ! Pray for your arms that will carry it and turn it around to read the small lines... time for a good massage after that !

And if you liked it, his second book, Manabe Shima, is already out in French. Time to take a trip on a small island and live the life of the locals there...

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Marcus Sedgwick - The Raven Mysteries

Title of the series: The Raven Mysteries
Author: Marcus Sedgwick
Pub. year: 2009 - 2012
Pages: 256 (or so)
Editor: Orion Publishing

Summary: Meet the wonderfully weird Otherhand family and their faithful guardian, Edgar the raven, and discover the dark secrets of Castle Otherhand.
Edgar is alarmed when he sees a nasty looking black tail slinking under the castle walls. But his warnings to the inhabitants of the castle go unheeded: Lord Valevine Otherhand is too busy trying to invent the unthinkable and discover the unknowable; his wife, Minty, is too absorbed in her latest obsession - baking; and ten-year-old Cudweed is running riot with his infernal pet monkey. Only Solstice, the black-haired, poetry-writing Otherhand daughter, seems to pay any attention. As the lower storeys of the castle begin mysteriously to flood, and kitchen maids continue to go missing, the family come ever closer to the owner of the black tail...

Flood and Fang is the first in a brand new six book series of tales of mystery (with a touch of goth-froth) from bestselling author, Marcus Sedgwick, with quirky black and white line illustrations from new talent, Pete Williamson.

I had to pick the summary from the book one of the series, Flood and Fang, in order for you to get a glimpse of what to expect from this lovely series. The fifth volume is already out in hardcover but if like me, you enjoy those nice monochromatic paperback covers, only thefirst three are currently available.

So, what's it about this Otherhand family? Well, one thing I can tell you, you'll have great fun with them. I don't know if you watched The Addams Family or Beetlejuice series on TV when you were kids, but these are pretty much the same kind of stories: funky goth characters, lots of silly jokes, adventurous kids, weird parents and extraordinary events occurring in an old strange mansion full of ghosts. Goth-Froth, they say. Yeah, whatever.

In this series, you will find a lot of pointless things (like Minty's many passions for cake tins, knitting, pottery...), a lot of complaining, some frighteningly-funny creatures tagging along and a couple of animal squabble. Because let's not forget who's the hero of these books : Edgar the raven! Yes, a raven is telling the story, and I must say he is one of the most delightful and entertaining creature I have encountered so far. And like my favorite pirate, he hates monkeys-especially Cudweed's Monkey, Fellah. Nasty little fellah, if you hear me.

I don't know if you've been following me at all, but if you have, I think there's a chance that you might have picked up on the fact that I have, how should I put it... a very bad opinion of monkeys.
I mean, to put it plainly, what are monkeys for? Really?
It's a question I suspect you will struggle to answer because I have wrestled with it myself ever since the arrival of Fellah at castle Otherhand, and I have found no satifactory answer.
Are they useful? No.
Do they look nice? Definitely not.
Do they sound nice? They do not.
Do they smell nice? Quite the opposite!
And furtermore, if the pickle-brained specimen we have to live with is anything to go by, they seem to be masters at being loud, irritating, smelly, ugly and rude.

Even though this is intended for kids, I fully enjoyed the first three books (or was it the kid in me?) and I recommend it to anyone at any age. The illustrations by Pete Williamson are pretty much awesome and fit very nicely with the story. These are some of the most funny books I've read so far, written in a simple but elegant style, and I am simply dying to read the next three.
I could kill a monkey for a it, can you believe that?!

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Shaun Tan - The Arrival

Title: The Arrival
Author: Shaun Tan
Pub. year: 2007
Pages: 128
Editor: Arthur A. Levine Books

Summary: The Arrival is a migrant story told as a series of wordless images that might seem to come from a long forgotten time. A man leaves his wife and child in an impoverished town, seeking better prospects in an unknown country on the other side of a vast ocean. He eventually finds himself in a bewildering city of foreign customs, peculiar animals, curious floating objects and indecipherable languages. With nothing more than a suitcase and a handful of currency, the immigrant must find a place to live, food to eat and some kind of gainful employment. He is helped along the way by sympathetic strangers, each carrying their own unspoken history: stories of struggle and survival in a world of incomprehensible violence, upheaval and hope.

What a better way to talk about a book than the author’s way? This simple plot summary contains all the essential elements that will make you fall in love with the story: images all over the place, small and square, big and bright, overwhelming and poetic. No words seem to be necessary to convey all the feelings the author is trying to pass on. We leave the protagonist’s family along with him, taking in the sadness, the fear of the unknown. This unknown that proves to be unbearable at first, full of questions that we don’t understand, of papers we cannot read, of things we don’t recognize and other that are almost frightening. The giant city is impersonal, overwhelming once again: giant buildings like monsters, strange people and pets everywhere, strange jobs that we cannot take... and in the midst of it all, some people are here to lend a hand, to tell their own stories, their own arrival, and we marvel with them at the beauty of it all.

I think I said it all already, but Shaun Tan really has this magical touch with drawing, this unmistakable talent that makes his stories alive, touching, engraving themselves in your mind forever. By choosing subjects that anyone relates to, like being a stranger somewhere, helping someone who is lost, reuniting with your family, he ensures that the message is received by every reader, big or small, old or young. Because the only size that matters to love one of his book is just the size of your heart.

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