Once there sang a carefree shepherd
in a field of emerald green.
He lullabied his cloud-white lambs
and gentlied off their fleece.
Once Tom’s world was all at peace.
All posts by Karen
Porcelain Dolls
I kind of just really wanted to bring these two books to everyone’s attention because of the covers. That’s honestly it. There’s zero meat to this post, but I think the books featured are both compelling in similar ways (insofar as the cover is concerned) and find myself hoping for an entire collection of creepy doll head/face covers like this. Perhaps they constitute a new genre in their own right?
First up is The Little Friend, by Donna Tartt, author of The Goldfinch and The Secret History, which Alyssia reviewed in her post earlier this year. I remember seeing it on the shelves way back when and slotting that book away into my memory for future reading. I still haven’t gotten to it, but I remember it quite vividly and, more importantly, was reminded of it when I saw this other book (see below) floating about.
Having read a number of reviews on Goodreads, I’m actually pretty convinced that The Little Friend and You’ll Never Know, Dear (below) are quite different in tone, but part of me still wants to believe that whoever will like one will like the other.
In The Little Friend, we follow twelve-year old Harriet as she tries one summer to solve the mystery of her brother’s murder, and of course she plunges into much more than she could ever have imagined starting into her investigation.
You’ll Never Know, Dear by Hallie Ephron. My first thought was that I had probably seen that doll before, which was immediately followed by the realization of where I thought I’d seen it before: The Little Friend. It’s clearly not the same doll, but I really want a huge collection of porcelain doll face close-ups that fill book covers. Does anyone have some more (porcelain) doll book covers they would like to share?
Poetry of the Apocalypse at the TIFF
Calling all Tarkovsky fans! (And anyone interested in examining their innermost desires and exploring what it is to be human. Also sci-fi fans.) TIFF is currently holding a series on the films of Andrei Tarkovsky called The Poetry of Apocalypse: The Films of Andrei Tarkovsky, the schedule for which you can view here! And seeing as I’ve only seen the one film by Tarkovsky, I’m going to talk a bit about Stalker and touch lightly upon the novel that served as its inspiration: Roadside Picnic by Boris & Arkady Strugatsky.
You can check out the screenings for Stalker at the TIFF here, and they actually have a special event on Tuesday November 14th (tomorrow) where guest speaker Robert Bird talks about Tarkovksy and his influence on Soviet films.
Now, onto the film. This felt more like a foray into the heart, where each member of the group must confront their own desires and the reality of what, or who, they are before they are able to reach their destination: the area of the Zone where, people say, your deepest desire will come true. But do we really know what it is that lurks within the depths of our hearts?