Book Reviews – Page 68

Christmas Picture Books (The Flash Review Roundup)

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It’s Christmas! It’s Christmas!

I’ve been having trouble updating my blog because of the sheer busy-ness of the season, with Christmas parties left and right, endless shopping and giftwrapping, and I’ve been attending the dawn masses (at 4:30 am) at church as well (today was the last one!).

I’ve been poring through some Christmassy picture books for the holidays, (i didn’t realize I had so many on my shelves!) so here’s another picture book roundup, flash review style.

(Oh, and this doesn’t include How the Grinch Stole Christmas, which I already reviewed a few months back).

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Blood! Blast! And Fire! (The Cry of the Icemark)

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I’m not a hardcore fantasy reader — I usually balk at unpronounceable names, epic quests and battles, made-up languages, and maps of imaginary lands — although I pick up a fantasy book with all of the elements mentioned above once in a very long while.

Last month, I received a copy of Stuart Hill’s The Cry of the Icemark (thank you Scholastic!), and it isn’t normally my type of book but it came so highly recommended that I bumped it up my TBR. At 400+ pages, it’s not a quick read, but it’s certainly one I enjoyed.

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The first of the flash reviews

671338_14461703 I’ve been meaning to catch up on some reviewing backlog, because the to-be-reviewed pile doesn’t seem to be going down. I was saving some books for thematic reviews but the stacks have been driving me crazy, and I’m way off my target for this year, hence I’ve decided to write some flash reviews for the quick reads.

Here’s how it works: I give a summary of the book, my take on it, plus a rating.

Deep breath. Here goes:

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El Indio

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If you’ve been a regular visitor to this site, you’ve probably noticed I’ve been slowly acquiring the taste for graphic novels, as more and more of them seem to be making their way to my shelves.

Last week I had the chance to read Francisco V. Coching’s El Indio, a action adventure “komiks” (local comics) series first published in Pilipino Komiks back in the ’50s, which is said to be the golden age of Philippine comics, which flourished until the declaration of Martial Law in the Philippines.

Francisco V. Coching dominated this era of comics, hailed by general consensus as the Philippines’ greatest komiks illustrator, with 61 komiks novels, all but 10 of which were turned into popular films. El Indio is one of Coching’s most popular works, the sequel to the komiks “Sabas, Ang Barbaro.”

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Bah, Humbug!

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I saw the Christmas Carol movie this weekend, and I have mixed feelings about it.

On the one hand the animation was amazing! Five years has certainly done wonders for 3D performance capture — compared to Zemeckis’ 2004 Polar Express, Christmas Carol looks phenomenal! The musical score (especially Bocelli’s God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen) was hauntingly beautiful too.

I’m glad Disney didn’t “cutesify” this movie, but for a holiday flick, it didn’t do much for my holiday spirit, and the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come terrified quite a few kids in the audience — a bunch of parents had to take their kids out of the theater because they started screaming and bawling. I think the film lacked the warmth and goodwill that the classic story evoked.

Anyway, this post isn’t the start of my Christmas posts, but it is related to A Christmas Carol.

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