Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Tattoo Tuesday



Hey there Marauders!! It's our favorite time of the week once again!!
For those of you who are new to the site here's a bit of background. Tattoo Tues
day was started by our good friend Tara over at 25HourBooks and celebrates our love of literature plus the people like us who are obsessed enough to ink something literary on their body! Every week we feature a literary tattoo that interests or compels us. So sit back, relax, and enjoy the ink...


This week we found a beautiful text submission on LiveJournal Literary Tattoos from Corporatepiracy:





"That which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."



From Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem "Ulysses"


Alright folks, that is all for this Tuesday. Don't be too remiss, for we will return next and every Tuesday with a brand new literary tattoo for your viewing pleasure. We encourage every one to check out Tara's site as well, or even feel free to send us an e-mail with any tattoo's of your own!

Tattoo Tuesday



Hey there Marauders!! It's our favorite time of the week once again!!
For those of you who are new to the site here's a bit of background. Tattoo Tues
day was started by our good friend Tara over at 25HourBooks and celebrates our love of literature plus the people like us who are obsessed enough to ink something literary on their body! Every week we feature a literary tattoo that interests or compels us. So sit back, relax, and enjoy the ink...


This week we found a beautiful text submission on LiveJournal Literary Tattoos from Corporatepiracy:





"That which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."



From Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem "Ulysses"


Alright folks, that is all for this Tuesday. Don't be too remiss, for we will return next and every Tuesday with a brand new literary tattoo for your viewing pleasure. We encourage every one to check out Tara's site as well, or even feel free to send us an e-mail with any tattoo's of your own!

Thursday, November 8, 2012

Prongs 24th Review - Sharp Teeth


Hey there Marauders. Prong here bringing you a review of a book that we at P&P have become very excited about. This review is coming off the heels of October, the perfect time for interesting, page-turning, thrillers. Marlow’s book is exactly the perfect kind of read for this time of the year, when the leaves are changing, the days shortening, and the winds changing.
This book is worth the purchase just for the ‘bonus features’ alone. There are interviews with the author, a complete cast of characters, and even a play-list from Marlow himself that is meant to accompany his writing. He gets serious bonus points for making sure the reader is involved as possible with his story, as if I needed extra incentive.
Now since is not your average book, I thought it would only be fitting to write a not-average review. His first work, Sharp Teeth, is told in the style of an epic poem, using free verse, and I thought it might be fun to try and recreate his style in homage to his current opus. Hopefully this review doesn’t end up being something for the dogs. Also make sure you check out the quotes for this book, as I almost ran out of highlighter ink trying to keep up with his beautiful inscriptions. Enjoy!


" He knows that it’s impossible to tell a wolf
from a man if
he keeps his chin up
and his teeth clean."

Sharp Teeth

As fall settles in this year
into your hollow bones, your candy-coated stomach
you like most will make your way
to that dusty section of your bookshelves
that holds those selections
best fit to get your blood pumping
the way only a truly scary story
can do.
Next time this happens, that feeling
gnaws and nips at your imagination,
and you begin playing
ennie-meenie-miney-mo with those classic tales
of monsters
of men
of all things ‘frightening’
consider picking up a copy of Sharp Teeth.

Actually; don’t consider. Just do.

What more could you want from a story
that tells of LA’s seedy underbelly
the love, the lust, the drug fueled
ambition of hungry beasts
thirsting for their place on the mean streets
and looking for a pack
to call their own.
An ancient race werewolves brought to the 21st century,
in a way that would make Stephanie Meyer
eat her own words for dinner,
at the sheer superiority
of his ingenuity,
his wit,
his style.

One thing is for sure, these wolves
do not sparkle in the LA sun.

Marlow pulls at the literary leash
that reins and reels all us readers in
with his epic free verse,
leading you from page to page
leaving a trail of drool across the pages
that has the faintest hint of
wet dog.
It is a Romeo and Juliet story
for the 21st century
or maybe the 12th.
The transformative power of his writing
kicks ass across all centuries.

Brew some coffee, or maybe
topping it up with a fifth of that
liquid gold
to sit back and enjoy
Marlow’s book that grips, and rips
and shreds your innocent mind to pieces
with its cutting words
and ravenous appetite.
Showing the best, and the worst
that man and his best friend
have to offer.

Prongs 24th Review - Sharp Teeth


Hey there Marauders. Prong here bringing you a review of a book that we at P&P have become very excited about. This review is coming off the heels of October, the perfect time for interesting, page-turning, thrillers. Marlow’s book is exactly the perfect kind of read for this time of the year, when the leaves are changing, the days shortening, and the winds changing.
This book is worth the purchase just for the ‘bonus features’ alone. There are interviews with the author, a complete cast of characters, and even a play-list from Marlow himself that is meant to accompany his writing. He gets serious bonus points for making sure the reader is involved as possible with his story, as if I needed extra incentive.
Now since is not your average book, I thought it would only be fitting to write a not-average review. His first work, Sharp Teeth, is told in the style of an epic poem, using free verse, and I thought it might be fun to try and recreate his style in homage to his current opus. Hopefully this review doesn’t end up being something for the dogs. Also make sure you check out the quotes for this book, as I almost ran out of highlighter ink trying to keep up with his beautiful inscriptions. Enjoy!


" He knows that it’s impossible to tell a wolf
from a man if
he keeps his chin up
and his teeth clean."

Sharp Teeth

As fall settles in this year
into your hollow bones, your candy-coated stomach
you like most will make your way
to that dusty section of your bookshelves
that holds those selections
best fit to get your blood pumping
the way only a truly scary story
can do.
Next time this happens, that feeling
gnaws and nips at your imagination,
and you begin playing
ennie-meenie-miney-mo with those classic tales
of monsters
of men
of all things ‘frightening’
consider picking up a copy of Sharp Teeth.

Actually; don’t consider. Just do.

What more could you want from a story
that tells of LA’s seedy underbelly
the love, the lust, the drug fueled
ambition of hungry beasts
thirsting for their place on the mean streets
and looking for a pack
to call their own.
An ancient race werewolves brought to the 21st century,
in a way that would make Stephanie Meyer
eat her own words for dinner,
at the sheer superiority
of his ingenuity,
his wit,
his style.

One thing is for sure, these wolves
do not sparkle in the LA sun.

Marlow pulls at the literary leash
that reins and reels all us readers in
with his epic free verse,
leading you from page to page
leaving a trail of drool across the pages
that has the faintest hint of
wet dog.
It is a Romeo and Juliet story
for the 21st century
or maybe the 12th.
The transformative power of his writing
kicks ass across all centuries.

Brew some coffee, or maybe
topping it up with a fifth of that
liquid gold
to sit back and enjoy
Marlow’s book that grips, and rips
and shreds your innocent mind to pieces
with its cutting words
and ravenous appetite.
Showing the best, and the worst
that man and his best friend
have to offer.

Sunday, October 28, 2012

The Casual Vacancy - J.K. Rowling

Hello Marauders, or should I say Dia dhuit , which is hello in Gaelic! Sadly I wish I knew more words from P&P’s great stint across the pond, however I was much to busy sipping espresso, drinking pints, and basking in Irish sunlight with a good book. Sounds idyllic right? Not going to lie, it basically was. However now we are back to the real world and that includes of course book reviews!! This is my first review in over a year so please bear with me. In fact you might just want to ignore this one all together, and wait for next weeks as I imagine it will be a huge improvement. Alas, here we go….


“Things denied, things untold, things hidden and disguised.”

 The Casual Vacancy

By J. K Rowling

 
To quote a fellow book reviewer,” I think J K Rowling is a brilliant writer and I would have bought this book if it were $117.99 and written in pencil on toilet paper”. Couldn’t have said it better myself, which is proven by the fact that during the day of the long anticipated release of J.K Rowling’s ‘First Adult Fiction Novel’ I was literally standing at a Dublin airport circa 5 a.m. hounding the airport book store employees to just ‘PUT THE FRACKING BOOKS OUT ALREADY’. Needless to say not my finest hour. And sadly for my all time literary hero, Rowling, not hers either.

‘The Casual Vacancy’ takes its title name from a term in politics, applied when someone on a council seat is suddenly found unable to retain their position. For example a sudden aneurism in the middle of a parking lot, which is exactly how Barry Fairweather, Padgeforth council man kicks off the namesake of the novel. What follows is a measured, some-what convoluted, look into the lives of the residents of what appears on the surface to be a small tranquil English town. Of course with any good story, the appearances of the town are not what they seem, as the residents begin to show their true colors and intentions fuelled by their own immorality and dissolution. Rowling offers up a cornucopia of characters for us to hate, to judge, and to at times root for, making the slow progression of the townsfolk the central theme to the story. The death of quite possibly the only true protagonist of the story, is just a McGuffin to keep the reader moving along with the story, hoping that the tragedy of one man will hope to lead to the moral triumph of another. It was an interesting literary device to use on Rowlings part, but I couldn’t help but feel at the end of the day, it fell a bit flat.

We have seen it countless times, a successful actor, entrepreneur, comedian, whathave you who finds tremendous success in one genre, then almost rebels against that success to prove that they are not a one trick pony. For a good example listen to Bob Saget’s standup comedy routine. Writers are not without exception. No one will blame Rowling for wanting to move away from the ‘Young Adult’ genre, however what I cannot forgive on this occasion is the lack of artistic merit that went along with her debut. It seemed to me that while Rowling was clearly targeting a more adult audience, with drug references, abuse topics, and even rape, she seemed to forget that adult themes does not an adult book make. While the topics were more mature, the writing style was not, and there were times when I was literally forcing myself to continue on with the story. There is good stuff here, but the gilmers are few and far between.
“She had a way of moving that moved him as much as music, which was what moved him most of all. Surely the spirit animating that pearless body must be unusual too? Why would nature make a vessel like that, if not to contain something still more valuable?”
With the success of the Harry Potter series, it is obviously impossible to judge this book on its own merits. We have seen first-hand the sheer ‘Sandy’ force winds that Rowling is capable of using to blow us down, and I for one had my rain jacket and umbrella prepared for this hurricane of a novel. Sadly while expecting to get drenched, I came out only mildly soggy. While this book is undeniably 'Rowling-esque', it is just lacking that certain care-and-love-and-magic that came pouring out so effortlesly from every passage in the Potter series. It is this marauders greatest hope that with her next work Rowling will find a balance between the adult and the immature, the magical and the mundane, and perhaps hire a new editor.

The Casual Vacancy - J.K. Rowling

Hello Marauders, or should I say Dia dhuit , which is hello in Gaelic! Sadly I wish I knew more words from P&P’s great stint across the pond, however I was much to busy sipping espresso, drinking pints, and basking in Irish sunlight with a good book. Sounds idyllic right? Not going to lie, it basically was. However now we are back to the real world and that includes of course book reviews!! This is my first review in over a year so please bear with me. In fact you might just want to ignore this one all together, and wait for next weeks as I imagine it will be a huge improvement. Alas, here we go….


“Things denied, things untold, things hidden and disguised.”

 The Casual Vacancy

By J. K Rowling

 
To quote a fellow book reviewer,” I think J K Rowling is a brilliant writer and I would have bought this book if it were $117.99 and written in pencil on toilet paper”. Couldn’t have said it better myself, which is proven by the fact that during the day of the long anticipated release of J.K Rowling’s ‘First Adult Fiction Novel’ I was literally standing at a Dublin airport circa 5 a.m. hounding the airport book store employees to just ‘PUT THE FRACKING BOOKS OUT ALREADY’. Needless to say not my finest hour. And sadly for my all time literary hero, Rowling, not hers either.

‘The Casual Vacancy’ takes its title name from a term in politics, applied when someone on a council seat is suddenly found unable to retain their position. For example a sudden aneurism in the middle of a parking lot, which is exactly how Barry Fairweather, Padgeforth council man kicks off the namesake of the novel. What follows is a measured, some-what convoluted, look into the lives of the residents of what appears on the surface to be a small tranquil English town. Of course with any good story, the appearances of the town are not what they seem, as the residents begin to show their true colors and intentions fuelled by their own immorality and dissolution. Rowling offers up a cornucopia of characters for us to hate, to judge, and to at times root for, making the slow progression of the townsfolk the central theme to the story. The death of quite possibly the only true protagonist of the story, is just a McGuffin to keep the reader moving along with the story, hoping that the tragedy of one man will hope to lead to the moral triumph of another. It was an interesting literary device to use on Rowlings part, but I couldn’t help but feel at the end of the day, it fell a bit flat.

We have seen it countless times, a successful actor, entrepreneur, comedian, whathave you who finds tremendous success in one genre, then almost rebels against that success to prove that they are not a one trick pony. For a good example listen to Bob Saget’s standup comedy routine. Writers are not without exception. No one will blame Rowling for wanting to move away from the ‘Young Adult’ genre, however what I cannot forgive on this occasion is the lack of artistic merit that went along with her debut. It seemed to me that while Rowling was clearly targeting a more adult audience, with drug references, abuse topics, and even rape, she seemed to forget that adult themes does not an adult book make. While the topics were more mature, the writing style was not, and there were times when I was literally forcing myself to continue on with the story. There is good stuff here, but the gilmers are few and far between.
“She had a way of moving that moved him as much as music, which was what moved him most of all. Surely the spirit animating that pearless body must be unusual too? Why would nature make a vessel like that, if not to contain something still more valuable?”
With the success of the Harry Potter series, it is obviously impossible to judge this book on its own merits. We have seen first-hand the sheer ‘Sandy’ force winds that Rowling is capable of using to blow us down, and I for one had my rain jacket and umbrella prepared for this hurricane of a novel. Sadly while expecting to get drenched, I came out only mildly soggy. While this book is undeniably 'Rowling-esque', it is just lacking that certain care-and-love-and-magic that came pouring out so effortlesly from every passage in the Potter series. It is this marauders greatest hope that with her next work Rowling will find a balance between the adult and the immature, the magical and the mundane, and perhaps hire a new editor.

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Tattoo Tuesday

Hey there Marauders!! It's our favorite time of the week once again!!
For those of you who are new to the site here's a bit of background. Tattoo Tues
day was started by our good friend Tara over at 25HourBooks and celebrates our love of literature plus the people like us who are obsessed enough to ink something literary on their body! Every week we feature a literary tattoo that interests or compels us. So sit back, relax, and enjoy the ink.
This week we have a simple yet unique tattoo from Contrariwise.  



Nikita says:
 
"It's from Shakespeare's Hamlet (Act II, Scene ii), which I read in high school and which really struck a chord with me.  My favorite English teacher taught the class, high school was a difficult but ultimately emboldening time for me, and I have been an avid theatre-lover for as long as I can remember– the line seemed to to fit."



Alright folks, that is all for this Tuesday. Don't be too remiss, for we will return next and every Tuesday with a brand new literary tattoo for your viewing pleasure. We encourage every one to check out Tara's site as well, or even feel free to send us an e-mail with any tattoo's of your own!

Tattoo Tuesday

Hey there Marauders!! It's our favorite time of the week once again!!
For those of you who are new to the site here's a bit of background. Tattoo Tues
day was started by our good friend Tara over at 25HourBooks and celebrates our love of literature plus the people like us who are obsessed enough to ink something literary on their body! Every week we feature a literary tattoo that interests or compels us. So sit back, relax, and enjoy the ink.
This week we have a simple yet unique tattoo from Contrariwise.  



Nikita says:
 
"It's from Shakespeare's Hamlet (Act II, Scene ii), which I read in high school and which really struck a chord with me.  My favorite English teacher taught the class, high school was a difficult but ultimately emboldening time for me, and I have been an avid theatre-lover for as long as I can remember– the line seemed to to fit."



Alright folks, that is all for this Tuesday. Don't be too remiss, for we will return next and every Tuesday with a brand new literary tattoo for your viewing pleasure. We encourage every one to check out Tara's site as well, or even feel free to send us an e-mail with any tattoo's of your own!