The Spiral Staircase

When I was considerably younger, I hated all things pretty and most defiantly all things pink. Not to mention denim jackets...My hate of girly things ended with these, for I did like playing with dolls such as Barbies and Bratz and I enjoyed watching princess animated films...

I was and still am in some respects a tom-boy. As a result - having dreams about the list of girly things I stated above would have disgusted me.

This dream is very vague, seemingly twenty seconds long, but it could have gone on painfully for hours...

From what I can remember of the awful dream, I was either running or walking up a spiral staircase. The staircase happened to be within a regular tower, most likely I was Rapunzel as my hair was exceedingly long and was brushing off the steps as I ascended the tower. A cone was set securely on my head and a trail of satin flowed out of the point of the cone. I was dressed in pink and purple, the dress sweeping to the floor. I reached the top of the tower and my heart shuddered, once I realized I was trapped and worst of all - I was a helpless princess chained to her royal duties.

The End of Shit.

The Peaceful Vines

I don't remember ever having any nightmares as such, I most likely did have some, but thankfully they are not within my memory. In saying that, this particular dream is not particularly peachy...

To build up the expense, all horror films start with normal circumstances, but gradually build up to a frightening climax or some decide to drop you suddenly into a pit of horror. My Brain the comedian opted for the second option- it has a dark twisted sense of humor and wanted to see me suffer when I was at my most vulnerable.

My dream began in what can be considered a normal circumstance for a dream...There was a door, a mediocre door, yes , nothing special about that door besides it leading to the middle of a cliff face...There was a ledge extended out from the door that appeared to be about three meters long. There was even a sheltered area. Remembering it now, it seems as if a group of stone masons came along with their equipment and took a huge cubic chunk of rock out of the cliff face and after doing so settled for a door which led out to that unnatural place.

That is only the background of the dream, what actually was happening was my adventurous buddies Rebecca and Michelle and myself were putting on gear for rock climbing. I set off first, always being the most irrational out of the three and obviously a disaster occurs as the above horror films description hints.

Fundamentally, the cable was not attached to me, I climbed, nothing was supporting me so - I guess I didn't have floating abilities like Barnaby Brocket because I started falling slowly to my death - it appeared to be a long way down - considering how long it took for me to reach the ground.

It was a peaceful moment, falling - maybe that's how it feels like to free-fall out of a helicopter? I don't know, perhaps it is more exhilarating, heart pounding and whatnot...It was a peaceful, almost blissful, for around me were twirling green vines, subtly pointing down to where I would evidently end up. Also, more importantly there was a gorilla in the distance, through the vines watching my free-fall to the darkness below.
Just before I hit the ground and a big "SPLAT" sound could be amplified between the two cliff faces, I woke up with a "THUD" to the floor. Not as satisfying as hearing her go "SPLAT". It will have to do for today...but not for tomorrow...-Something along the lines of what my Brain was thinking.

Merged Places

I am unsure how common it is dream-wise, but this specific dream was a combination of two real life places that appeared to be under the same roof. One place was a classroom from my primary school and the other was my kitchen. Why did the hall that joins the rooms of my house together suddenly decide to attach itself to a classroom from my primary school? To this, I have no answers, but only  that anything can happen in a dream, so I just have to except that and try not to read to much into it...

I wondered into my sixth class classroom - since it was the last classroom I was assigned to from my primary school days, I remember it quite well. It is a room with a high sloping ceiling; high at the front of the classroom then the ceiling gets lower at the back until it reaches the back windows.

Lying down on the the low ledge at the wide back window was Misty - my ancient springer spaniel who has long since passed. She was just lying there, staring solemnly at me with cobwebs  draped over her - the mere presence of them suggesting how truly ancient she was.

I found the sight of her with the cobwebs draped around her frail body quite eery. I retreated to the hall which happened to be the hall in my house and I sauntered down the hall to the kitchen. I must of been hungry or perhaps I was drawn to the wooden bread bin by something else. I opened the bread bin and to my disgusted amazement their was something fuzzy inside. I took a closer look and it started moving. It was a robotic spider with great crawling metal legs and fuzzy hairs all over it. It SPRANG at me.

The End.

The Attack

I did have some unpleasant dreams, but I wouldn't classify them as nightmares, as they didn't make me scream or run in panic to my parent's bedroom. They merely made me squirm and frown in disgust...

Beginning of dream:

I happened to be prowling around my older brother's room - like I sometimes tend to do - and  I looked out the window, for there was a rumbling sound and the things which occupied my brother's room started to vibrate. I was sightly confused to see fighter plans flying over the sea and heading in my direction. My confusion adjusted into the more appropriate emotion of complete horror, as I noticed the enemy's symbol displayed proudly on the planes' wings.

 I ran for they were the enemy and they were laying a plague of bullets at my brother's window. I retreated to my friends house and we hoped to seek shelter from our mortal enemies; to no avail for they quickly rounded us up. I tried to make another phenomenal escape out the sitting room window, but within seconds I was rounded up by those hard working soldiers.

Conclusion of dream.

All I can say is-"Damn those hard working soldiers..."

Noah Barleywater Runs Away by John Boyne

Noah Barleywater Runs Away by John Boyne

 

Noah Barleywater left home in the early morning, before the sun rose, before the dogs woke, before the dew stopped falling on the fields.

A nice, easy read. A book in which not a lot of action takes place. Simple, slightly boring at first, but it gets more interesting - not considerably more though... Is this a book addictive book? Defiantly not, but I'll tell any potential Noah Barleywater Runs Away readers what it is. An average story with gradually, slow building pace almost like an artery slowly closing up with gunk. It is a book that I could of put down and happily never picked up again, yet I did not do that and matter of factually I read it...I'm somewhat of a book craving adrenaline junkie, so I do not know why I continued to read this specific book...Though I did actually like it...just about.

Not very surprising, but Noah Barleywater runs away...He runs away from his parents and if I told the potential Noah Barleywater Runs Away readers why, well that would just ruin one of two worth reading twists in the story. Though Noah does claim that his reason for leaving home is simply because he wants to go on an adventure...

On his travels through villages strange occurrences take place such as hospitalized apples, a hungry donkey, an easily offended dachshund, spectacular trees - well just the one(hint*cough*book cover) and where many helpful wooden objects are present. Noah seems to take all of the unusual goings on quite well - he just excepts them without much consideration.

My Cat Catch Book Rating Scale above- I liked it...just about(3/5 cats)

Cat Cat Rating Scale- http://minstrelcrazy.blogspot.ie/p/reviews.html

 I must mention that I feel somewhat disappointed with Noah as a character - he appears to be almost identical in nature to John Boyne's other small boy character Barnaby Brocket from The Terrible Thing That Happened to Barnaby Brocket. Although, one must eliminate Barnaby Brocket's ability to float, following this they may as well be twins except maybe a few minor details regarding brief physical appearances. Furthermore John Boyne has a knack for not clearly wanting to give much description on the physical appearance of his characters...We are told Noah is short for his age, has black hair and green eyes - that is completely acceptable, but not when John Boyne doesn't develop his characters personalities enough! His readers are left with scraps for a character instead of a nicely done, not at all burned around the edges type of character.

Dexter is Delicious by Jeff Lindsay

Dexter is Delicious by Jeff Lindsay

Dexter always lived by a single golden rule: only kill people who deserve it. But the Miami blood spatter analyst has recently become a daddy - to an eight-pound curiosity named Lily Anne - and strangely, Dex's dark urges seem to have left him. Is he ready to become an overprotective father? To pick up soft teddy bears instead of his trusty knife, duct tape and fishing wire? What's a serial killer to do?

Then Dexter is summoned to investigate the disappearance of an eighteen-year-old girl who appears to have been abducted by a bizarre group who just may be vampires... and, possibly, cannibals. There's nothing like the familiar hum of his day job to get Dexter's creative dark juices flowing again. Assisting his bull-in-a-china-shop detective sister, Deborah, Dex wades into an investigation that gets more disturbing by the moment.

To compound the complication of Dexter's ever-more-complicated life, a person from his past suddenly reappears... moving dangerously close to his home turf and threatening to destroy the one thing that has maintained Dexter's cover and kept him out of the electric chair: his new family.

  I've come to a certain problem with the Dexter series. Constant, near death situations that Dexter always gets out of unharmed to any extent at all - there just is not an tense build up anymore. I feel there is not enough interest in Dexter's somewhat unusual hobby...being a serial killer and all. He is not challenged enough, where as in the Dexter TV series, Laguerta is a prevailing force who would have been scrutinizing Dexter's activities with great interest.

The character of Rita(Dexter's wife) can be considered rather aggravating in relation to her stumble of speech. Her dialogue consists of half sentences, that are broken up by other mumbled, often pointless statements. Although, I am quite pleased with Dexter's brother Brian. He is serial killer with purpose, charm and for some untold reason he has a considerable amount of interest in Dexter's family. Brain is to some degree a Dark Daddy Dexter Defender.

Barely any to no mentoring is done by Dexter to try and stir Astor and Cody firmly and directly down the Harry path. Dexter finds himself intoxicated with family life prior to being intoxicated by a certain Dark Passenger... The constant need that pulls from the gleam of the moon to the dark, feathery wings that tickle his neck with a piercing insight into what it thinks he needs to do is gone. Will it stay gone? Will Dexter Morgan, blood spatter analyst ever return to his former guilty pleasure?

My Cat Catch Book Rating Scale above- I really liked it (4/5 cats)

Cat Cat Rating Scale- http://minstrelcrazy.blogspot.ie/p/reviews.html

 A big bubble of a surprise bursts triumphantly into the crevices of the this very book - a fascinating theme crops into view for the duration of the book - that is cannibalism. Not a particularly light theme, but has a respectable amount of blood and gore, like is expected from the combination of the blood spatter design that glows a proud red on the cover, and from the lengthy description. Several scenes honestly were simply too much for my mental gag reflex - various flesh chewed, cooked, violently torn, generally ripped to shreds and eaten...Furthermore the dysfunctional vampires with purposely sharpened canines that like to dance and sway to awful sounding music, while drinking masses of blood colored, red punch...

All of the Dexter book series always have good conclusions. There are no big wriggling worms of cliff hangers, but instead a nice, concise ending. It mightn't have the effect of wanting the reader to read more about Dexter experiences, but then again I don't think an exploding cliff hanger is needed to keep one's attention; Jeff Lindsay's clever writing style and general creative story telling is quite enough for readers to lock and load their minds' for another Dexter book.

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel's story is about to be completely rewritten.

Insightful, bold, irreverent, and raw, The Fault in Our Stars is award-winning author John Green's most ambitious and heartbreaking work yet, brilliantly exploring the funny, thrilling, and tragic business of being alive and in love.

I had finally gotten a copy of The Fault in Our Stars and was ever so excited to get munching on John Green's extravagant usage of words. My build up of excitement was not only, because of  the endless prong of praising reviews for the book,or the Fault in Our Stars Tumblr plague of obsession, but because I am a subscriber to the vlogbrothers. I found it incredibly exhilarating that one part of the vlogbrothers was in fact an author. John Green an author, a person who spends his time writing fiction while finding time to make YouTube videos. Really? The same man that subscribers find themselves learning from every second video on the vlogbrothers channel. I could almost not believe it, so I was exceedingly eager to investigate this book called The Fault in Our Stars.

Life. Cancer. Struggle. Love. Death. I generally try to avoid cancer books due to the often depressing story lines, but my above stated excitement made me scramble to buy a shiny new copy of the renowned book. It was undoubtedly very important to me to get a copy of this book...It is the fourth book I have ever bought. The library staff just could not get a copy of the book transferred to them, as other libraries do not transfer relatively new books to other libraries.


Leonardo da Vinci wanted to be able to fly. If he had the determination of a terrier who wanted to escape a yard he would of not of been able to fly. So he drew up inventions for various flying contraptions. Unfortunately, sometimes no matter how strong willed a person may be s/he can not fight something and win; in Leonardo's case gravity and in Hazel Grace's own personal experience, she could not successfully fight cancer. 

Hazel Grace excepts her situation, but does not want to be a "grenade" by leaving people mentally ripped to pieces after her inevitable demise. She meets Augustus Waters and she likes him. Likes him to the extent of love. Loves him to the extent of letting herself  mean something to him without worrying about the "grenade" effect.



 

My Cat Catch Book Rating Scale above- It was absolutely amazing(5/5 cats)

Cat Cat Rating Scale- http://minstrelcrazy.blogspot.ie/p/reviews.html

Hazel Grace and Augustus Waters seem to live not to fight cancer anymore, but to live for the wonderful happiness of being within each others company. They laugh, cry, smile and live within the most desired moment of young love blossoming beautifully. A bitter-sweet love that will warm and squeeze your heart simultaneously.

In truth, there is a considerable amount of sadness throughout this book, but it is mixed with a very special thing...love. Love that runs through the veins of the book in union with the sadness to make a modern day, heart twisting masterpiece.