The Chinese Egg

Catherine Storr was a children's writer most known for her awesome Marianne Dreams which was later made into the movie Paperhouse. Marianne Dreams was by far her masterpiece but I liked The Chinese Egg as well. This is more young adult though. It's about a boy who finds an egg in an antique like place. Only he ends up breaking it but by doing so he unleashes its magic. It gives him and another local girl Vicky supernatural powers. I like the dynamic between Stephen and the sister Chris and Vicky. Chris is the beautiful one and the one he is drawn to at first but by the end of the book he is falling for Vicky. Through Vicky and his foresight they are able to see into events concerning the kidnapping of a baby. The kidnapper is an abusive man and I couldn't help but feel for Maurren, the dumb overweight girl who is there to take care of the baby and along for the ride. She hates living wtih him but doesn't have the guts or the brains to leave the situation. I like how the police force is handled, their skepticism of the situation but in the end how they decide to take a chance on the teenagers. I didn't expect the ending. Overall it was a good read.

The Knight from Olmedo

This was a play from the Spanish 1600's playwright Lope de Vega. Like his play Fuenteovejuna this was loosely based on a real life story. It's a typical love story about a man in love with a woman engaged to another. But then it takes a more interesting turn he starts to get premonitions of his murder. We think it is going to be the bull fight coming up but really it's the jealous fiance of the girl he is loved with. He wants revenge. This was a pretty cool play. Why haven't I heard of this playwright?

Jakob von Gunten

I tried reading this in my 20's and lost interest. I'm in my 40's and now finally did. It's always been a book I've been meaning to read. It's weird how time can change things. It's dreamlike. This boy joins a school for servants. The writer himself joined a school for servants and was a butler once. The headmaster falls for him. Actually I need to read a biography of Robert Walser because he spent some of his life in mental institutions. He sounds like an interesting guy. I thought the writing was unique and wonder if he continued this atmopshere in his other writings. The Brothers Quay did a movie of this except it's called Institute Benjamenta.

Poor Deer

For some reason I got this from the library thinking this was a children's book which it definitely is not. It's disturbing, grim, but it was well written. It's about a young girl whose friend dies in a cooler when she is four. The relationship with her mother worsens as her mother more or less blames the girl Margaret for it. (The mother's love interest turned on her with the death of the young girl. That is just one of the many reasons.) The real problem is Margaret trying to rationalze it. She does this with a mythical creature a poor deer that talks to her who is more or less a bully. This carries into her teenaged years when she steals a car and goes on a journey to try to make sense of it all. What the author really got down was the rationalizing the girl has with religion, trying to make sense of it all. I've done it myself with some of the trauma of my life. It's not a light story but it was worth a read.