Commonwealth is a story about two families whose lives all change following a kiss. Every element of family life is covered in this compelling novel, including:
Life and death.
Childhood.
Trauma and secrets.
Relationship beginnings, middles and ends.
Love and tenderness.
Anger and regret.
In Commonwealth, Patchett’s writing style is wonderfully neutral and her perspective is perfect. Each of the characters are completely believable and develop, grow and change over the lifetime that the story is set over.
The plot is detailed and well thought out. Commonwealth is captivating, clever and intimate. It was totally absorbing from the very first word to the very last. I read Commonwealth literally in a few days, metaphorically eating and digesting the book.
In Commonwealth the chapters are overly long. Whilst the reader will understand the reason why Patchett has structured the chapters in this way, shorter chapters would have been more preferable.
Personally I was disappointed with Commonwealth’s UK book cover (pictured above). As I felt it did more to make the potential reader put the book down, rather than pick it up. So please don’t judge this brilliant story by it’s cover.
Commonwealth is a must read for anyone who likes stories about life and family life. It is available to buy on Amazon and at all good bookshops.
These stories were written for various anthologies or to amuse himself. Some of the stories are brilliant, others are bizarre and a few are just plain bad. But each story is unique and imaginative.
Smoke and Mirrors begins with an introduction from Gaiman himself. He explains the background for each story and even tells a tale entitled The Wedding Present within the introduction.
The Wedding Present story is great and sets the reader with high expectations for the other stories in the book.
My four of my favourite stories were:
1. The Price – Is about a stray black cat that fights with the devil at night, to protect his adopted family.
2. Changes – A Scientist creates a drug, a side effect of which is the ability to easily switch gender. The story shows the impact of this side effect on society, over the lifetime of the Scientist, through his perspective.
3. Virus – A story about a totally addictive computer game. Everyone that plays it gets addicted. When they can’t play it on the computers, they play it in their head. And so do their friends.
4. Mouse – This is a story all about subtext and reading in between the lines. The story is told through what isn’t written, rather than what is. A refreshing change and ultimately very clever.
Both Changes and Virus were great ideas for stories, but were too short and lacked the scope to explore each idea fully.
The exclusive content in Smoke and Mirrors is a short interview with Gaiman.
Overall Smoke and Mirrors was disappointing. Probably because the brilliant short stories were too short and the more lengthly short stories were either bizarre or bad.
The Stand was originally published in 1979. I’m reviewing an extended version with approximately four hundred additional pages. The original was cut by four hundred pages to save on printing costs.
The Stand starts with an infected Solider escaping a chemical lab in a military base. He’s infected with Project Blue, a pathogen which has a 99.4% kill rate and that spreads alarmingly quick through the US and rest of the world.
King starts to introduce characters as the world disaster plot begins. With just a few sentences, King gives each character a believable backstory and makes them feel completely real.
We watch each of these characters deal with the loss of their loved ones, seek out other survivors, attempt to make connections with them and adapt to this new world.
It’s then that the dreams start. A dream about a Dark Man that strikes fear into the heart. A dream about a kind old woman named Mother Abagail.
The different characters have now mostly come together and formed groups. They start their journeys towards the Dark Man or away from him – travelling in the direction of Mother Abagail.
Mother Abagail’s group set up Free Zone in Boulder, Colorado. It’s a democratic community, that grows day by day.
The Dark Man (known as Randall Flagg)’s group set up in Las Vegas. His community is a dictatorship, with severe punishments for minor rule violations. It grows day by day, but not as quickly the Free Zone. The Dark Man is intent on waging war on the Free Zone.
The first two thirds of The Stand are beyond brilliant. The plot is fast-paced and the characters are captivating. But the last third of The Stand felt like King didn’t know where the plot was going. The ending did satisfy somewhat, but had a tinge of disappointment as only two of the numerous main characters had a good conclusion.
The Stand is a large book, totalling 1,325 pages. I read it in about three weeks – which isn’t bad considering my other commitments. There were many times when I simply couldn’t stop reading The Stand.
There were two minor aesthetic annoyances with my copy of The Stand. Firstly, the cover has started peeling. Anyone who knows me, knows I look after my books. So I can only put this down to the cheap production. Secondly, the black and white illustrations randomly dotted throughout book were pointless and of a poor quality.
The Stand is an enjoyable read. It’s a great book that will entertain the reader. It will absorb the reader into an apocalyptic world where good and evil are engaged in their a final battle. The Stand is available to buy on Amazon and at all good bookshops.
I’ve been pagan for a long time, but it’s always good to go back over the basics. This book covers: working with power sources, magical boosters, tools (including Wand, Cup, Athame, Pentacle & other tools), casting a circle and pagan festivals.
Morrison has a warm, engaging and humorous writing style. Reading The Craft is like having an intimate and meaningful conversation with Morrison herself. She writes in a way that informs, ultimately inspires and without a single word wasted.
The Craft is bursting with little gems of knowledge and wisdom such as:
1. “When all elements are used in equal combination, they form static electricity.” (p. 20)
2. “successful magic relies heavily upon emotion rather than logic.” (p. 33)
3. “Magic usually works in twenty-one days, or not at all.” (p. 29)
4. “Part of basic witchery is learning to work with what you have and substitute if need be.” (p. 41)
5. “Not only must we engage our brains when performing magic, we must use them effectively. We have to be able to think, concentrate and focus. We must reply on the creative flow.” (p. 97-98)
6. “When we take our place in the center of the Circle and take our place as Akasha, we provide a perfectly balanced arena from which magic flows…” (p. 112)
I learned some new things and gained an even deeper understanding of somethings by reading The Craft. No matter who you are or what experiences in The Craft you have, undertake all activities and exercises in the book. I undertook all activities and exercises and they all benefited me. Each of the activities are designed to encourage personal growth and learning.
The only thing The Craft missed out is any reference or explanation of what a Book of Shadows is.
The Craft – A Witch’s Book Of Shadows by Dorothy Morrison is a must have for any Witch. It is an excellent reference book for moon phases, sun phases, days of the week, times of day, pagan festivals, plants, herbs, trees, magical tools, dream symbols, stones, deities and the Book of Law.
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