I will have to say I was touched by Rebecca Stead's When You Reach Me. I feel as though I have been able to look at life in yet another light because of a book. The themes of friendship and courageousness exude from the last third of the book.I think something we can all take from the last couple of chapters is the value of friendship and how it is indeed okay if someone needs a break from a relationship of any type. People, especially those of the Sagittarius demeanor, need breaks from routine, monotony and familiarity. Two best friends in the book split for a period because one needed a break. He (Sal) didn't know how to tell her (Miranda) without making her mad. At the end, he told her he needed a break from her; they were always together because they had grown up together. He wanted a change of scenery. I guess this is something many people can relate to in life. Sometimes we need those breaks and it is not because we are trying to be mean. Absence makes the heart grow fonder. Now, let me be for real...I need to stop preaching to the choir and practice.
So now that my "A" week is over, it is time for the new pick. From Douglas Adams I will make my way down a few bookshelves in the Sci-Fi section to Brom. Brom is his name. He is too cool to go by anything but Brom. That is why I went by Rodden at the high school. HA. The inspiration for picking Brom's The Child Thief came from several outlets. First of all, I continually hear co-workers chattering about the book. They say it is a delightfully twisted book and full of sickness. I said "sounds good to me." The second comes from the fact that I just read Dan Elconin's Never After. Never After is a twisted version of J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan. Peter was not the fun-loving, mischievous never aging child of Disney's fantasy. Peter was an ass, a murderer and a crook. He took children from their homes to steal their souls so he could stay eternally young. PS...this is the reason I work in the Children's section of B&N: eternal beauty. HAHA. Bull. It will kill me before it makes me younger. I encourage you to read Never After after you read The Child Thief (if you are choosing to read with me). Never After can be bought for $8.99 at B&N unless you have the member card...I am an automaton for Barnes. It was written by a 19 year old.
Brom (nee Gerald Brom), as I have discovered, was born in the South (Albany, Georgia to be exact) in 1965. He was raised an army brat and spent a lot of time living around the world which he attributes to his sick, demonic thinking and illustrations. He is indeed an artist...a fantasy, sci-fi and horror painter to be exact. He has worked in illustrations in about every genre from graphic novels to role playing to covers of works of literature. He has even worked on illustrations for Tim Burton movies (one being Sleepy Hollow...score). Books by Brom include The Child Thief, The Plucker, The Devil's Rose and a couple featuring only his artwork. The book that has won him awards (the Chelsey to be exact...an award created by the Association of Science Fiction and Fantasy Artists...the ASFA...to recognize the achievements of individual artists) was The Plucker which is supposedly a twisted little children's book for adults. Brom lives in Seattle with his family. His website is bromart.com. I encourage you to look at it. It contains some pretty awesome paintings.
The Child Thief was obviously written and illustrated by Brom. The book was first published in 2009 by Brom and of course HarperCollins. Sorry folks, but it is still in hardcover (or trade cloth as BookMaster likes to call it...and no I am not BookMaster...I have not stooped to that level as of yet). It can be purchased for $26.99 but is well worth it. Brom has illustrated the crap out of it. There are many stunning black and white panels, but the coolest part of all is the set of glossy, color inserts of main characters. So, you are not only paying for a great read (from what I have heard), you are also getting art. Art is a good thing...and this art is incredible if you are a graphic novel fan...but the book is not in graphic novel form.
The most basic pre-synopsis I can give to this book is that once again, I have come across a twisted Peter Pan. Peter is nice and fun and looks great to the kids, but lures them into Avalon (Neverland) to help fight in a war against what we know as Captain Hook, that has been raging for centuries. Peter steals children (hence child thief) to use as his own Chess pieces. He does not mind bloodshed and will stop at nothing.
I am pretty stoked about this book. I hear a couple of people are going to read it along with me. I think this is going to be a pretty SWEET week!
Work today. Quick blip. The crazies came out. The families that make you want to pull your hair out came to the store. These are the ones that let their babies and kids run or crawl around and pull all of the books off the shelves. All of those came out of the woodwork today. I was not too happy at all and wanted to throw the Thomas the Train set OUT into the trade floor. Even my sweet little co-worker Fabi was muttering curses out of her mouth. Yesterday, I got to see a little redemption because a kid was running up the down elevator and busted his ass and hurt his knee. Schadenfreude biotch. Plus, kids laughed at him when it happened. Karma is a bitch. Think twice about throwing books all over my floor.
Night. :)
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