I Listen to Books
Jun. 2nd, 2012 04:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bedsitter23Issue: Sharing a 500-mile round trip journey with someone who's literary interests lean toward the Young Adult readers. Solution: Find audio discs of Young Adult books written by my favorite authors.
Coraline- by Neil Gaiman - I suspect a few of you are probably already familiar with Coraline, either the book or the movie. I was doing a fairly good job of keeping up with Gaiman's literary works, but admit to having fallen behind, and have not read this or seen the film.
It's a creepy horror story without the horror (I would say ages 9-12, if I had to guess). It's very similar in my mind to some stuff Gaiman has done before. It does work well as an adult book, too - a bit of a Alice in Wonderland style tale. The CD also gets points for including music (albeit really only a small snippet) by the Gothic Archies aka Stephin Merritt.
I thought this was good, but compared to Gaiman's other works, I didn't really feel it stood out. If it was my first introduction to Gaiman or that genre, I likely would have loved it. If I was the intended age (teen or young teen) I also likely would have been charmed, I think. Instead, I did really enjoy it, but would have liked something a bit more out of it, and felt it was a just a slight bit lacking.
Hoot - by Carl Hiaasen - Hoot apparently was also a movie (I don't remember this) that was a massive failure on a Gigli-scale.
I really enjoyed this book from the start to the finish. It truly felt like a Hiaasen novel. The characters are well-developed, incredibly memorable, and usually a little bit off. The theme (perfect for kids) wasn't too much different than what you'd find in a regular book of his (The Florida wildlife vs evil, corporations who want to destroy it to make money). This makes for a good lesson for kids, and their are also elements of learning responsibility and dealing with bullies.
This would probably be recommended for ages 9-12, only because of a few scenes and words that probably wouldn't be appropriate for the youngest readers. The main plotline is obvious, but this is a page turner (or whatever the audio equivalent is) and the reader/listener is caught in a spot where they wonder what is going to happen.
I think Hiaasen fans would be worthwhile in taking the time to read it, and for those who tend to have tastes towards Young Adult titles, I would certainly recommend it. It is as good as tales can be. Warning: May make you hungry for pancakes.
Coraline- by Neil Gaiman - I suspect a few of you are probably already familiar with Coraline, either the book or the movie. I was doing a fairly good job of keeping up with Gaiman's literary works, but admit to having fallen behind, and have not read this or seen the film.
It's a creepy horror story without the horror (I would say ages 9-12, if I had to guess). It's very similar in my mind to some stuff Gaiman has done before. It does work well as an adult book, too - a bit of a Alice in Wonderland style tale. The CD also gets points for including music (albeit really only a small snippet) by the Gothic Archies aka Stephin Merritt.
I thought this was good, but compared to Gaiman's other works, I didn't really feel it stood out. If it was my first introduction to Gaiman or that genre, I likely would have loved it. If I was the intended age (teen or young teen) I also likely would have been charmed, I think. Instead, I did really enjoy it, but would have liked something a bit more out of it, and felt it was a just a slight bit lacking.
Hoot - by Carl Hiaasen - Hoot apparently was also a movie (I don't remember this) that was a massive failure on a Gigli-scale.
I really enjoyed this book from the start to the finish. It truly felt like a Hiaasen novel. The characters are well-developed, incredibly memorable, and usually a little bit off. The theme (perfect for kids) wasn't too much different than what you'd find in a regular book of his (The Florida wildlife vs evil, corporations who want to destroy it to make money). This makes for a good lesson for kids, and their are also elements of learning responsibility and dealing with bullies.
This would probably be recommended for ages 9-12, only because of a few scenes and words that probably wouldn't be appropriate for the youngest readers. The main plotline is obvious, but this is a page turner (or whatever the audio equivalent is) and the reader/listener is caught in a spot where they wonder what is going to happen.
I think Hiaasen fans would be worthwhile in taking the time to read it, and for those who tend to have tastes towards Young Adult titles, I would certainly recommend it. It is as good as tales can be. Warning: May make you hungry for pancakes.
