Georgie’s Comments (group member since Jan 11, 2016)

Georgie’s comments from the The Last Day of the Month Book Club group.

I prefer the kind of fantasy with human characters with extra abilities, for example Harry Dresden (a wizard), Charley Davidson (a grim reaper) and Karou from Daughter of Smoke and Bone. I liked how, in Chosen, Alex was a normal bloke, it was his very humanity, with all the flaws that entails, which made him what he truly was.
I like my fantasy worlds to be of the 'small f' kind, i.e. ultimately similar to ours with clever twists.
I quite like mythology and legends to be incorporated into fantasy books, especially Celtic ones. I find Greek mythology a bit overdone (the pulled pork of the fantasy world, if you like) but if it's handled right it's still interesting. Celtic myths and legends have such a dark edge, though, what with dullahans (headless horsemen) and banshees and the like, and close to home. Norse mythology and legends are cool too, I like the blending of these old stories with characters and plots in present day settings.

I remember when we were having the big refurb at York Explore. We'd closed to the public and were clearing out the first floor while the builders worked downstairs. Down in what used to be the stack, and is now the Family History room, we found a door halfway up a wall. I'd never noticed it before because of the big metal shelves that used to be in that room. It was quite exciting. Alas, the room behind it turned out to contain only a busted old water boiler.

I've also always wanted to know what's behind that door which is opposite the basement door downstairs.

Then of course there's the library basement. I don't like going down there. I would like to see the ghost that is supposed to haunt it, but it's dusty and cold and there are rumours of spiders, so I spend as little time down there as I can.

I like short story collections. I do a lot of reading, and I read everywhere - on the bus, on my lunch break, in the bath, and in bed, as well as around the house during my time off work. Short stories are perfect for pre-bedtime, bus or lunch-break reading - you don't get too deeply involved and can finish a story quite easily.
That said I think there's less time to get to know the characters, and it takes a really talented author to create a short story which has great characters and not just a great plot. With fairy tales it's easier because they are really more about the plot and the message behind it than the characters. Fairy tale characters can be cardboard cutout goodies and villains, and that works for them. Though I thought some of the characters in Parkin's stories were surprisingly complex (by fairy-tale standards), I think she had more freedom to play with them as the stories were re-tellings of original classics.

My favourite poems were:

-Tea -for the same reasons Anne-Marie said that she liked it. I always think it's the small gestures that are most romantic, and that making tea for someone is such a personal thing - you have to know exactly how they like it, and they have to trust you to make it the right way. It's such an intimate, simple cosy gesture too, and I think Duffy expresses all of that with very few words so well

-Chinatown - I've visited New York's Chinatown and would love to visit other places' ones as well. I thought the poem was so evocative of visiting a Chinatown anywhere,