#sally gardner

[sailing-the-seven-seas]

The Red Necklace 🌹 | by Sally Gardner

N.B. The audiobook is narrated by Tom Hiddleston 📚

[haveyoureadthisbook-poll]

Have you read Maggot Moon by Sally Gardner (2013)?

yes

no

I didn't finish it

I've never heard of it

Voting ended onOct 8, 2024

[fireladybuckley]

HELP ME DECIDE WHAT AUDIOBOOK TO LISTEN TO PLEASE i am going insane with indecision 😭

Fellowship - I’ve been trying to get through reading this book for years and can never manage it no thanks to Tom bombadil so I thought maybe the audiobook will finally carry me through. Plus I just got a LotR Lego set so I’m in a bit of a Tolkien mood.

Red necklace - this would be a re-listen. Not the greatest book (about the French Revolution and Romani people and some mystic and confusing magic… could be interesting but writing is a bit weak), but Tom Hiddleston narrates it and is absolutely delightful and does like a dozen different accents extremely well

Jurassic park - been wanting to read/listen to the book for a long time, I’m a big fan of the first movie and I’m curious to see how the book and movie differ, plus it’s science-y and I love that

Axiom’s End - novel written by one of my favourite video essayists, narrated partially by one of my other favourite video essayists. I don’t know much about it except that it’s dystopian and set in the early/mid 00’s.

Which one should I listen to first?

Fellowship of the Ring

The Red Necklace

Jurassic Park

Axiom’s End

Results/Dani button

Voting ended onOct 28, 2024

[booksandbricks]

Just finished reading The Kingdom of Sweets by Erika Johansen- Much wilder and darker than expected! It was Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker Berlinker Philharmoniker, specifically at 1:57 onwards PERSONIFIED. The prose reminds me of I, Coriander by Sally Gardner, but this is of course far more adult and chilling. There were moments where I felt almost creeped out all alone in my room this night. Top 2 nutcracker retellings and I feel scared to turn off my bedside lamp now :”)

[bangbangwhoa]

books I’ve read in 2023 📖 no. 029

The Weather Woman by Sally Gardner

“The weather is not just what we are subjected to outside, he thinks, we carry it within us. Passion, love, despair, male or female, it fogs all rational thought."

[drowning-in-tall-grass]

What if we kissed 😳... in a government detention cell... and then promised we would always be there for each other... not just because we are best friends 😳 or because we love each other 😳 but because we are the only hopebringers in this world of despair and corruption, and we are each other's sanctuaries... and this kiss may be the last pleasant thing we ever experience... ha ha 😳

[francescacammisa1]

Il cuore

Blog per chi ama arte, letteratura, libri, aforismi, musica, fotografia, cinema, teatro, testi, radio, danza, storie di vita e altro

“[...] non avrei mai creduto che il cuore potesse causare tanti dolori e tanti conflitti. Che si potesse rompere, ma anche aggiustare. Che si potesse donare, ma anche riaverlo indietro. Perderlo e trovarlo di nuovo.”

Sally Gardner

📷 Ph André Brito

[semper-legens]

4. The Snow Song, by Sally Gardner

Owned: Yes Page count: 285 My summary: The village is old; older yet than even the mountain that hides it, perhaps. And in the village lives a girl, Edith. She is promised to a man of power and influence, the butcher - but her heart belongs to a wandering shepherd. They can marry, her father says, if he returns for her after one year. But the time goes on and he does not return, and Edith’s voice goes along with him. Can she break the superstitions of the village that keep her imprisoned and find out what happened to her love? My rating: 2.5/5 My commentary:

Here’s a good example of a book that, on paper, seems like something that’d be right up my alley. If you’ve read a decent amount of my posts, you’ll know that I am, in fact, a giant sucker for a fairytale-style narrative. I love fairytales, I love folklore, I love both traditional stuff and modern narratives that ape the style. So this definitely seems like it’d appeal! But in practice, I found it to be severely lacking in a lot of elements that would have made it truly satisfying, in my opinion. It’s not bad, it’s just kind of...meh?

Part of my problem is how shallow the world and characters seem to be. Writing fairytales and folklore is a really fine line - it’s not like Snow White or Sleeping Beauty are particularly well-defined in their original texts - but I couldn’t feel a lot of depth to many of the characters in this setting. Even Edith herself is pretty one-note - she’s in love with her man, and sad when he is gone, and struggling to survive in the village essentially on her own, but I didn’t really get a lot of other traits from her. What does she like? What is she thinking? Perhaps this sort of character would have worked in a shorter narrative, but as-is it just felt lacking. The author bio says that Gardner is usually a children’s author, and I think that shows, as I’d be a lot more willing to accept the more simplistic characters presented here in a narrative aimed at younger audiences. I’m not saying there’s no depth to any of the characters here, but there’s less than I would have hoped for in an adult-oriented novel. Something I particularly balked at was how all of the characters would just spill their guts about their darkest secrets to Edith - sure, there’s a point to be made in the fact that she’s mute and the tendency for people to spill secrets to those who can’t repeat them or openly judge them, but it stretched credulity that everyone was so willing to talk about some of this stuff so easily.

One element that I think is emblematic of this problem is the character of the Butcher. He’s Edith’s betrothed and an utterly repulsive man. He’s an abuser and a rapist and a manipulative bully, and since he holds all the power in the village, pretty much everything bad that happens ever can be traced back to him. Now, I’m not going to say that this in concept is the worst idea ever. Such people do exist, and hold that kind of power, and destroy the lives of many. However, in execution I found him to be more of a caricature than a person, and his position as pretty much the root of all evil felt overblown. Everything comes back to him, everyone is in fear of him, and the morality at play just felt a bit simplistic.

I’ve been pretty negative here, so let me share a few things about this novel that I did really enjoy. This book does a really good job of creating this mythical, fairytale atmosphere, and the sense of place was well-achieved. Once it got going, some of the side characters were compelling, and Edith was also interesting enough to maintain my focus for the duration. It wasn’t bad, as I say, I just wasn’t grabbed by it.

Next - my first comic of the year, with a story that’s very dear to my heart.