Familiar and Haunting

This is a large collection of Phillipa Pearce's horror short stories. The problem is after 392 pages it's a bit too much and they start to feel samey. I liked it though. I would have given it a 3.5 on goodreads but they don't do half stars for some reason. What amazed me about the book is that some of the stories are a little too violent for children like "The Rope" and "Mr. Hurrel's Tallboy." The ones I liked the most were "Still Jim and Silent Jim" and I liked the one about the horrible aunt who puts a mice trap in a barrel to punish her overweight niece. That woman was such a villain. But really Pearce's masterpiece was Tom's Midnight Garden which I'll review next week.

Minnow on the Say

This was Philippa Pearce's first book. The first part of the book involves two boys of different classes becoming friends and canoeing. The second part of Minnow on the Say concerns them looking for treasure. You might say that the plot of two boys looking for treasure has been done to death but I felt Pearce added an enthusiasm that made it worthwhile. It was cute. It's not Tom's Midnight Garden. She got better but I do recommend it.

Waiting for Godot

This is famous for being a play about nothing. It kind of reminds of "My dinner with Andre" where nothing much happens, just a lot of talking, but you feel that something important has happened. Two characters wait for a figure called Godot. As the play goes on, you realize that Godot is flawed and not a saint, maybe not worth the wait. Messenger boys come which give the characters the sense that Godot will arrive. The reason why I read it is because the actors behind "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure" Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter are doing a revival. I keep seeing ads on Facebook for it. I don't have the money to fly out to New York but that would be fun to watch. Reading it I guess is the second best thing.

Brazilian Mythology

I don't know why Brazilian mythology is not better known. There is some pretty interesting folklore here. I read more about botos. They are weredolphins (aka encantados). (I wrote a story about them once.) There's also a bit about their boogeymen. I also want to read Monteiro Lobato's Saci even though I heard that there's much to be desired with the English translation. If you want to delve into the mythology of a culture that is not really talked about here is the way to go.