I'd basically forgotten that I'd put a hold on this book from my library app. It was "The Wolf in the Whale", and I was intrigued by its mixture of Inuit history and Norse mythology. I don't recall if I knew that it was by a familiar author when I reserved it, but when it came up for me, I looked at her name and remembered my middling experience with her previous writings about Greek gods in modern times, another concept I love. I thought I'd give her a chance on this one, though I didn't have any certainty about finishing the book. But it grabbed me somehow. I think I might have been more liable to bounce off the previous books because of the fairly clinical disposition of the narrator, but "Wolf" is seen through a more earnest and open lens. Somehow, that's enough to make it resonate more when all else is relatively equal. This novel's getting devoured.
Bonus Question!
Best whale song?
"So Long and Thanks for All the Fish".
I didn't even know that there was a Percy Jackson musical till I saw a poster on the subway a few weeks ago that announced its one-week engagement in Toronto. I decided on the spot that I basically had to give it a look.
And hey. It was a time. It almost felt as though it was made by people who just got thrown together and wrote the whole thing in order because it really got progressively better as it went on. Everything got tighter and more decisive, but it never dropped that bathetic whimsy, which so heavily defined the books. Honestly, I'd put it around the level of the movies, but its strengths and flaws were wildly different. Still. A good time. And the kind of thing I basically had to do.
Bonus Question!
Movie Grover versus musical Grover!
Each was a divergent take on the character, but musical Grover felt closer to Ned from "Spider-Man: Homecoming" with an undercut, and that did a lot to endear him to me.
I just watched "Good Omens", and I've got to say that Crowley is the best example since Alan Rickman's Snape of the ability of an adapted character's entire aesthetic to transcend that of the source material so wonderfully. Dude feels like an underworldly Ziggy Stardust. The book did not set my expectations for that.
Also, it's just good, man. And still true. I don't have any issue with the "American Gods" show, but it didn't do for me what the book did. Along with "Good Omens", I could probably fit it near the top of my favourites. The television series felt too different for my own tastes. But "Good Omens" recreated the novel's feel brilliantly, and I've got to cheer for that.
Bonus Question!
Best omen?
I don't know. Red skies at night? At least if you're a sailor.
The first thing to strike me about "A Wrinkle in Time" when I read it in fifth grade was the majestic winged centaur on the cover. After much anticipation, that marvelous image turned out to be naught but a momentary transformation of Whatsit. But I was already enjoying the book by that point.
The film didn't even show that brief appearance of the centaur, but it compensated by throwing full effort into Oprah's makeup. All the glitter. Maximum sparkle. And if I'm honest, that's at least as meaningful to me as a winged centaur at this point in my life.
Bonus Question!
Best centaur?
Cenarius!
