Once Upon a Bookshelf

I love this series. So much. Since I first read the first two books a year ago, I’ve reread each of them at least a half dozen times, so I was both super excited and a little worried for this installment. I needn’t have been worried…

The backstory of the series is that Katie is completely immune to magic, and can see through illusions that the majority of people cannot - include wizards, fairies, and the like. She works at a company that sells magic (Magic, Spells and Illusions, Inc.), and although it’s not in her job description, she spends most of her time foiling (or at least helping to foil) the plots of Idris, a magician who wants to sell spells that can be used to hurt other people.

Owen and Katie have actually started dating (a huge accomplishment for the both of them), and for once Katie appears to be having good luck in the dating department… until her fairy godmother, Ethelinda, shows up. Her plans are to make the relationship more romantic, but she seems to have a very skewed idea of what women these days find romantic, and just ends up making things more complicated. Plus, it looks like Idris has some seriously determined people backing his plans to open a store providing alternate spells to what MSI, Inc sells.

This book was pure fun, and though it didn’t end like I wanted it to, it left me satisfied. And wanting more. (Can I wait until the next one comes out?) I was a little disappointed that some of the minor characters from the earlier books had such tiny appearances in this book (really, I wanted more Trix and Isabel!), but other characters got a bigger role which was fun…

I don’t know how long I’ve had this sitting on my bookshelf - since I was quite young - and yet for some reason, when I was reading this book I had no recollection of reading most of it before. It’s a collection of Scottish folk tales, fairy tales and little poems, some of which we’ve all heard of before, some that are similar to other fairy and folk tales, and others that were completely new to me.

In the foreward, Manning-Sanders writes that all of these stories were told to her as a young child, spending the summers on a farm in the Highlands, but the stories themselves come from all over Scotland. So of course, the book includes the story of the Loch Ness monster … or rather the Loch Ness Kelpie.

Like I said previously, some of the stories were familiar. There’s a version of The Frog Prince, only in this case it wasn’t a kiss that turned the frog into a prince. The girl has to do whatever the frog asks her to do for a whole night, and then chop his head off in the morning before he’ll turn back into a prince. The Black Bull of Norroway seemed very familiar too, but I couldn’t figure out where I’ve heard it before.

Another addition for the Once Upon a Time Challenge, and my last for the challenge until A Midsummer Night’s Dream, because I need to step away from the fantasy for a while. (And I’m not counting Shanna Swendson as fantasy because it’s more chicklitish than anything else.)

It was the window in my bedroom that made me fall in love with my apartment the first moment I saw it. I have always wanted a window just like it, that one could curl up in a warm blanket and read a good book (or if one is lucky, watch a good thunderstorm!), and it thrilled me that I finally found my window.

For my birthday, my parents bought me Amy Butler’s book, In Stitches. I had mentioned to them how I was going to sew a few cushions for that window, but had never gotten around to it (such is the story of my life). Partially because I was extremely daunted. I made the curtains in my kitchen, and realized that I don’t know how to sew in a straight line . . . Very discouraging, let me tell you.

Anyway, this book got me motivated to actually go out and buy materials and give it a another go. So, I spent the majority of my May Two-Four weekend holed up in my apartment in front of Lord of the Rings while attempting cushions for my window. And look! I am happy to say that I now have the most comfortable window in the world. Or at least the most comfortable window that I’ve ever had. (You can click on the thumbnail to see the picture bigger.)

The best thing of it all, though, was that this book made the project so easy - the most stressful part was threading the bobbin (the instructions in my sewing machine manual are HORRID, and I had forgotten how to do it… alas). Good for beginners like me, which is awesome because I needed a hobby, and there were a couple other projects in here that looked like they’d be fun.

(Side note: I leafed through this book, and it was lust at first sight. Seriously. The design of the book - sleek, sassy, rather sexy - all book designs should be this drool worthy. End of Graphic Designer shpeal.)

So many of the good stories have some way to get into a magical world - doors and wardrobes (C.S. Lewis’s The Silver Chair and The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe), mirrors (Lewis Caroll’s Through the Looking Glass) or even fireplaces (obligatory Dr. Who reference…). In Coraline, there’s a door which normally opens to a brick wall, but one night that changes.

Coraline, like many young girls in good stories, is an explorer. She loves to explore the grounds around the house her family has just moved in to, so of course a locked door with nothing but a brick wall behind would hold fascination for Coraline. Especially when one evening the door was opened a crack, after being locked earlier in the day. On the other side of the door exhists a house that is very similar to the one Coraline lives in, with only a few small differences. Her parents there, who call themselves her other parents, however, want to keep Coraline forever and not let her go back into her real world.

This book was nowhere near nightmare inducing, as apparantely most adults find it, but it was deliciously creepy. Everything in that other world was creepy, from her parents, to the neighbours, to the rats… Of course, I think the illustrations (done by Dave McKean) help in a large part.

As much as I enjoyed the book, it was the interview with Gaiman in the back of the book that made me a fan. At one point, he says:

As for believing in fairies . . . many years ago I wrote the copyright notice for a comic called The Books of Magic, in which I said words to the effect of “All the characters, human or otherwise, are imaginary, excepting only certain of the faerie folk, whom it might be unwise to offend by casting doubts on their existence. Or lack thereof.” A position I still wholeheartedly support and defend.

And another…

I think most things are pretty magical, and that it’s less a matter of belief than it is one of just stopping to notice.

This was the first book I’ve read by Gaiman… so many people have been blogging about his stuff lately, that I needed to see what everyone was raving about. I’m definitely going to be reading more of his stuff. Plus, I hear there’s going to be a Coraline movie, and that TMBG is doing the music for it… can we say “greatest thing ever” here? I think so.

Yet another addition for the Once Upon a Time Challenge.

After walking in on her boyfriend making out with her mom, Val runs away to New York, and takes up with a group of kids who live in the subway tunnels. Val soon discovers that these kids make deliveries for a troll to the local fairy population of New York. After breaking into Ravus’s (the troll’s) home, Val finds herself in servitude to him, making these deliveries as well - taking medication to the fairies in New York that will help them live in such close proximity to iron. Of course, after spending so much time in Ravus’s company, Val begins to realize she has feelings for the troll.

I don’t know why it’s taken me so long to read this book; I liked Tithe a lot, and always meant to pick up Valiant but never got around to it. I enjoyed Valiant even more than I expected to, and in fact even more than I remember liking Tithe; I’m not sure if that’s because I had forgotten how much I enjoy Black’s writing, or just because I like the story better… at any rate, I’m happy I’ve rediscovered Black, and am not going to wait quite as long this time to read Ironside.

I love stories that have elements of fairy tales, but I think I’ve mentioned that on numerous occassions. I love how this book was all Beauty and the Beast ish, as it is one of my favourite fairy tales. The whole “all that is gold does not glitter” (borrowing from Tolkein for the moment) idea and theme really is such a wonderful thing to be reminded of every once in a while, and when it includes fairies or something magicial, it makes it an even more enjoyable reminder.

I think I can probably relate more to Val than any of the characters in the first book, which is a reason why I enjoyed this book better than Tithe. We’ve all been in a position like Val’s - where we know we’re making bad choices, but are happy about it because gosh-darn-it, we’re the ones making the choices, no one else is telling us what to do.

As Val jumped down into the litter-strewn concrete after them, she thought how insane it was to follow two people she didn’t know into the bowels of the subway, but instead of being afraid, she felt glad. She would make all her own decisions now, even if they were ruinous ones. It was the same pleasurable feeling as tearing a piece of paper into tiny, tiny pieces.

And then in the end, even after making all these bad choices and being in a position where she’s addicted to drugs and whatnot, she’s still the one to save the day. She’s still the little mortal who can beat the bad fairies.

I’m not sure whether this is an addition or a substitution for the Once Upon a Time Challenge… I’m half way through Le Morte D’Arthur and loving it, but am having a hard time picking it up again because it takes so long to make any visible progress in it.