Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Abducted by Uncle Montague's Tales of Terror

Alright, well, we are only three days into this new year and I am already suffering from a severe case of too many books and too little time!!!

Luckily enough I've already finished one,

so now it is time to share about my abduction by...





Uncle Montague's Tales of Terror by Chris Priestley.

In this collection of short stories there is a little boy named Edgar, who goes to visit with his Uncle Montague. Uncle Montague lives in an old house filled with lots of random trinkets and gadgets. Each object that Edgar stumbles upon has a story behind it that Uncle Montague then shares with Edgar.

Out of the 10 stories only half of them really had a moral or a purpose to them and those were the ones I liked. The other half of the stories had no meaning at all and those were the ones that were hard for me to get through.

All of the stories did have a kind of twilight-zone style behind them and were meant to be more unsettling then they were frightening. I'm not really sure what demographic these stories were intended for. I mean they are written in a manner that would make you think they are intended for 8 year old boys but a lot of the stories actually involve the main characters (who were also young kids themselves) off killing their cats or their siblings or their parents. I mean actually killing them. One of the stories was about a young girl who killed her own grandmother by pushing her down the stairs and then went to go smother her younger sister.

I enjoyed Priestley's obvious love and natural talent for storytelling and I really enjoyed the graphics and artwork laced throughout the book. But I was continually thrown by the relationship between the Uncle and Edgar. Priestley gives you little snippets to show their relationship in between the individual stories. These snippets lead me to believe that Edgar adored his Uncle and visited him quite often, however the very last chapter in the book left me feeling like they really didn't have a bond at all.

If you are a fan of twilight-zone type stories then this series of books may be right up your alley but I think I'll pass on reading any of the other volumes.

Now, before I sign off I also want to mention another recent abduction of mine. One of my absolute favorite things in life is TV on DVD, I can't get enough!

And for Christmas my dog, Riley, got me the complete series of a certain show. I had actually never seen this particular show before, but I have had a lot of friends recommend it to me over the years so I was pretty sure I would like it.

So, over this past week, I have been completed abducted by Arrested Development!!!





And guess what...

I really..



really...



REALLY

LOVE this show!!!
Italic


I am completely won over! Now I can't wait for the movie!!!

And not only has it cemented my love for Michael Cera, whom I have always adored,

But it has also aided me in developing a thing for Jason Bateman.



hmm...I wonder if Silver Spoons has made it to DVD yet?

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Do you think the author was shooting for an Edward Gorey-esque kind of black humor with the stories of kids killing thier family members?

The fact that you like Arrested Development raises you in my esteem (you were already on a pretty high level) another 10points, at least.

Kate @Midnight Book Girl said...

He is totally going for an Edward Gorey-esque kind of black humor, which is why I picked it for our old book club. :)

Virginia Prigg said...

This is on my much to large to read list for 2011, I hope I find it easier to read than you did. Although I do enjoy reading about everyone's individual take on books. Fantastic review, love the blog.

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