BLUE IS FOR NIGHTMARES (book) and Happy Halloween!

                                                      Good story for a Halloween Night!

Blue is for Nightmares is a YA (Young Adult) book. This is the first book of a trilogy written by Laurie Faria Stolarz. . I know that not everybody is a big fan of this kind of story, however this one is interesting and catch your attention in the most part of the chapters.

Stacey Brown is the main character, a college girl who has blood of witch running in her veins and has had enigmatic nightmares every night. Her nightmares are always trying to reveal to her that someone is in danger, the person in danger is her best friend Drea. They are predicting what is going to happen in the future, but she needs to figure it out how to solve the situation.

Some support characters are important too: Chad (Drea’s ex-boyfriend), Donovan (Chad’s roommate) and Amber (her friend). One more character must be on readers’ attention: Stacey’s grandma, especially the connection between them.

You are wrong if you think it is a slowly reading, the reading is very intriguing. Although I can’t deny that in middle of the story I had a lack of interesting, I recovered the enthusiasm really soon. And then, I just can’t stop reading.

Of course it is a book for a teenage, but that is not an excuse to not read a good story, don’t you think? So…

Have Fun and…

Happy Halloween!

More information:

http://www.amazon.com/Nightmares-Stolarz-Series-Laurie-Faria/dp/0738703915/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1382845278&sr=8-2&keywords=blue+is+nightmares

Other books of the author:

http://www.lauriestolarz.com/

See you in November.

Inessa Silva

THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW (short story) and the beginning…

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is a short story inside The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent written by Washington Irving in 1819.

My connection with this story has begun in 2008 when I was finishing my course and needed to find a theme for my final paper at university. Since my childhood I have been interesting in Literature, especially English Literature, so I decided to choose a book of a North American writer to study, but who?

That’s when I remembered of Sleepy Hollow (film) that I watched in 1997 (nine years before). I asked myself why I couldn’t pick up the shot story which film was based on, it could be interesting and fun. Next day, I showed the idea to my teacher and she immediately agreed with it, she said that maybe it   could be difficult to find material because the Washington Irving’s main short story was Rip Van Winkle, not The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Even though I accepted it. I have to admit I love challenges.

The following week, my resources has begun… First step, read the story.

Let me tell you how it was the process. In the beginning, it was a bit hard because it is a story written in 19^th century, so the language used was different. However, I got used to it faster than I thought.

Sometimes the plot can be considered offensive or inappropriate according to Educational Principles nowadays, but I justify the reason you cannot give up to read it stealing a sentence from Oscar Wilde in The Picture of Dorian Gray: ‘There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That is all.’

The way Irving describes the scenes is weird and fascinated at the same time, showing all the details, all the events. He doesn’t waste any adjective in vain. 

In some aspects, the reader can notice why Washington Irving influenced Edgar Allan Poe. I will not write about this, I will let you find out!

At the end of that year, my paper was done and approved for all members of the jury.

There is a Disney short film (animation) based on the story:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxX66vLSZoQ

 Check it out :

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_0_20?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=the+legend+of+sleepy+hollow&sprefix=the+legend+of+sleepy%2Caps%2C551

Don’t miss it! It is worth…

Inessa Silva

SLEEPY HOLLOW (film) and… Watch your head!

Title: Sleepy Hollow

Director: Tim Burton

Year: 1999

Back to 1999, a friend of mine invited me to go the movies to see a film about a headless horseman who was decapitating people in a small town in 1799. I wasn’t sure whether a YES could be good idea, but I accepted anyway.

First of all, when I go to see a film that I am not convicted about it, I see who are the cast, the director, the producers... Well, the whole crew.

That’s when, I read the names Tim Burton and Johnny Depp. They reminded me Edward Scissorhands (1990), one of the worse films I had ever seen, I simply hated it. For a moment, I almost gave up. Truly! But my friend had lucky, I always keep my promises. The only thought that came to my mind was: Let’s see heads roll down.

Sleepy Hollow is based on The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, a short story written by Washington Irving. The main character is Ichabod Crane, a police office who believes more in science than supernatural events. He was sent to an agricultural town to solve a mysterious case of murders.

There, local people tell him the legend of a hessian horseman whose comes from the world of the dead to cut heads off and take them with him to darkness. Ichabod denies this possibility and affirms the murder as a flesh and blood human being. The investigation begins…

The conflict between science and supernatural/superstition is evident in every single scene. All is connected to somehow. None of the characters is mere a secondary character, he/she has an important position in the plot, no matter what.

I know it is a kind of horror film thriller, but I recognized a comedy atmosphere from Johnny Deep sometimes. It is interesting and worth to noticed, very clever.

At the end of my odyssey, I was stunned. The movie was spectacular. I loved the visual effects. Although, the visual effects crew and photograph director work is incredible, the colours were the diamond of the film. From my point of view, they were used as painters paint their paintings.

YES… I had to admit to my friend that Tim Burton and Johnny Depp are amazing and I was totally wrong about them. I didn’t know that time, but Sleepy Hollow would be an important piece in my academic studies.

You will know why in the next review about The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Very soon!

Inessa Silva

 Hello, Everyone...

I am here to tell you that this month (october) I will write and post three reviews at least. They are about:

Sleepy Hollow (1999) - film

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow - short story

Blue is for nightmares - book

See you and I hope you like it,

Inessa Silva