Day 4 - 3 more down, 101 to go

Ok, so, I managed to read a book *and* go out to eat....

Last night before I went to bed, however, I did send a quick letter to my brother.

"Fun Book" Review 1 (of 30)
Coraline - Neil Gaiman
I borrowed this book from Aaron, expecting it to last me the day as i snagged snippits of it between laundry, dishes, and cleaning over the next few days. It is shorter, as it's aimed at children, so it wasn't going to take long. Little did I know that between laundry, dishes, cleaning, and running errands, it would be done by mid afternoon of the first day i had it in possession.

The cover boasts a blub by the New York Times: "One of the most frightening books ever written." That's stretching it a little. The author's own words, as my version contained a suppliment about Gaiman himself, are more exact "More than ten years ago I started to write a children's book...I wanted it to have a girl as a heroine, and I wanted it to be refreshingly creepy."

Refreshingly creepy does work. The book is set up somewhat like a fairy tale. The girl, unsatisfied with normality, discovers a passage to a world of superlatives. There she learns a lesson.

The girl's name is Coraline, and Coraline (age about 8-12) lives in a flat in England with her mother and father, who work with computers so they're often home but not there. Her father makes meals from dreaded recipes, and Coraline is supposed to be up to the odeous task of entertaining herself over summer break. Her neighbors are odd, and she's generally fed up with the world.

She discovers a passage to another world behind a blocked off door in her flat. Passing through it, she finds the same world, but not quite. She has an other-Mother there, as well as an other-Father, but they seem to be ... not quite right. The same goes for the neighbors. They all want to play with her, they all try to entertain her, all food tastes great, and she has everything that she wants.

Soon she finds that her other mother will not let her go home, and Coraline must try to outwit this world in an attempt to save others drawn into the web and get home.

The book is well written. It seems to have a childish sentance structure and vocabulary at times, but that's because it is a children's book. The story moves quickly, the world is limited, the characters are engaging and refreshing, and the settings are well described. All of this makes the book light and allows the reader to enjoy the story and not be bogged down with details.

I liked it.


Litton's
Restaurant 1/10

Last night, Aaron and I were hungry, but neither felt much like cooking. We had a few choices, grocery store sushi, Papa Murphey's Pizza, or (decided randomly) hamburgers at Litton's. We had been curious about the restaurant that has won all local "Best Hamburgers" and "Best Desserts" awards for the last 7 years (Knox News Sentinal, CityView Magazine, MetroPulse Alternative News Weekly). Neither of us had had hamburgers in a while, much less red meat, at least on my part. So I had meat for the second time this week already.

We arrived at 8:15, and the doors said that they closed at 8PM, but as someone left, we slipped in and joined a group of people waiting for tables. The host did not seem to mind seating another table, and as there were lots of large parties there (one with a guest in cap and gown), we figured we wouldn't keep them open by ourselves.

There were no small tables. So, the two of us sat at a table for 8. We got all comfortable, the waitress was awesome, actually laughing at Aaron's bad jokes ("I'm not drinking the water... just pouring it under the table"). She was just a sweetheart. The food, we each got a burger with onion rings, was *really* good. I had a plain burger with chedder cheese, Aaron had a "Thunder Road", loaded down with pimento cheese, jalapanos, and onions. They were really really good.

We couldn't get dessert... there was too much food.