Florence (Lefty) MacIntosh's Reviews > Coraline

So glad you enjoyed this one (and it improved a crummy day)! The movie is a treat as well - if you happen to still be under the weather tomorrow...

Talk about a firm kick in the pants, this review delivers. I love how you make yourself well on a crummy day.

I always go back and forth with whether I want to read this book or not because I tend to not read books after I've seen the movie. The movie just won't get out of my head while I'm reading and it's frustrating. But you make me want to give this one a try.

Mary wrote: "So glad you enjoyed this one (and it improved a crummy day)! The movie is a treat as well - if you happen to still be under the weather tomorrow..."

Thanks for turning me onto it in the 1st place Mary, cheers. I was in a foul mood, better now.

Arah-Lynda wrote: "Talk about a firm kick in the pants, this review delivers. I love how you make yourself well on a crummy day."

Ah, added. Great Arah - it's really short and kinda perfect for this time of year.
Caution: Be careful with that perscription, choose the wrong book and your hooped.

Lauren wrote: "I always go back and forth with whether I want to read this book or not because I tend to not read books after I've seen the movie. The movie just won't get out of my head while I'm reading and it'..."

Know exactly what you're saying Lauren, you can't get the movie out of your head when you're reading - constantly comparing the two. I FAR prefer reading a book 1st, then watching the movie just to see how it stands up. Movie get's great reviews - plan on checking it out.

I bringing you some chicken soup.

If you loved this, you really need to read The Ocean at the End of the Lane. It has the same misty, magical, fairy tale feel to it.

I've had this for ages, will really try and get to it soon. Great review Florence!

I love your review, Florence. It reminds me of when I was a little girl poorly in bed. I always used to read either '101 Dalmations' or 'The Secret Garden' to make me feel cosy and secure. I can remember those 2 books better than anything I read yesterday!

Lovely review. Glad it didn't give you nightmares. The dangers of looking for love in all the wrong places is well documented. As is the sense of death underlying the surfaces of life. The guy is not bad at all with drawing images by picture and by words.

Good review, Florence. I saw the movie and maybe should read this. The movie is total eye-candy (and it was made in stop-motion animation--look it up!--so took YEARS to put together). Definitely watch it!

I like your review Florence. I too, liked this story, and it resonates the Grimm Tales in some ways, because it is not all light and happy laughs

Agnes wrote: "I bringing you some chicken soup."

You bring me soup - I'll lend you the book. Such a deal. ps: and none of that canned stuff!

Melki wrote: "If you loved this, you really need to read The Ocean at the End of the Lane. It has the same misty, magical, fairy tale feel to it."

I know Melki! I'm not allowing myself to add any more books unless I own them or the library has it. The Ocean at the End of the Lane is on my Santa list - 4.11 average - yeah, looks terrific.

Tania wrote: "I've had this for ages, will really try and get to it soon. Great review Florence!"

Hey Tania, you'll polish it off in couple of hours max - have some fun, and thanks!

Ruth wrote: "I love your review, Florence. It reminds me of when I was a little girl poorly in bed. I always used to read either '101 Dalmations' or 'The Secret Garden' to make me feel cosy and secure. I can..."

Celebrate the child inside you! I can tell you're a book fanatic from way back, we've got that in common. Those 1st books were like that 1st kiss - always remembered. Hah! So glad you enjoyed it - and thanks:)

Michael wrote: "Lovely review. Glad it didn't give you nightmares. The dangers of looking for love in all the wrong places is well documented. As is the sense of death underlying the surfaces of life. The guy ..."

No, he's not bad at all...:) Thanks Michael. "Looking for love in all the wrong places" from a song...can't place it. No nightmares - guess I'm all grown up now. Now Pinocchio scared me to death, thinking about it still gives me the creeps. In a good way.

Caroline wrote: "Good review, Florence. I saw the movie and maybe should read this. The movie is total eye-candy (and it was made in stop-motion animation--look it up!--so took YEARS to put together). Definitely wa..."

Hear the animation is just outstanding - not sure if much value reading this if you've already watched the movie to be honest. There's not a lot of depth to it, just a straightforward fairytale. And thanks Caroline, you know it feels good not to second guess the spelling of your name, you've got it right - while Coraline just seems, well... like a typo!

Snowy wrote: "I like your review Florence. I too, liked this story, and it resonates the Grimm Tales in some ways, because it is not all light and happy laughs"

Exactly Snowy, and thanks. Put me in mind of Grimm's fairytales as well, with a modern twist. Grimm's were my absolute favorite when I was a kid and I've never outgrown the attraction to kinda dark novels.

As always a wonderful review....how fun to go to a magical and childhood time to refresh yourself both mentally and physically! We should all let our "child" out to play every once in a while!

I love your review. I saw the movie before I read the book, and -- blasphemy here! -- liked the movie more. I feel guilty even typing it!

Good review. Loved the movie, surprised I'd never seen the book before.

Nice review Florence. Love the movie also and never read the book.

Connie wrote: "As always a wonderful review....how fun to go to a magical and childhood time to refresh yourself both mentally and physically! We should all let our "child" out to play every once in a while!"

Connie - I so agree, embrace the child within! Well, once in a while anyway...Thanks so much:)

Ivonne wrote: "I love your review. I saw the movie before I read the book, and -- blasphemy here! -- liked the movie more. I feel guilty even typing it!"

As you should Ivonne! Well, like I said it's not that it's particularly deep or anything - just a great story. Fact is, if Gaiman hadn't written it - there would be no movie:) I so need to watch it now.

Joseph wrote: "Good review. Loved the movie, surprised I'd never seen the book before."

That happens to me all the time. Just finished reading a few friends reviews raving about Deliverance. Had no idea it was based on a book - and apparently a great one at that.

Carrie wrote: "Nice review Florence. Love the movie also and never read the book."

Carrie, thanks! But I'm really thinking not much point reading the book if you've already watched the movie in this case. It's not particularly 'deep', the suspense would be ruined...

Florence wrote: "Joseph wrote: "Good review. Loved the movie, surprised I'd never seen the book before."

That happens to me all the time. Just finished reading a few friends reviews raving about Deliverance. Had ..."

Not to get too far off track, but this actually happens to me pretty often too! I'm always surprised to finish a movie, then discover it was based on a book. If I liked the movie, I usually then want to read the book.

Caroline wrote: "Florence wrote: "Joseph wrote: "Good review. Loved the movie, surprised I'd never seen the book before."

That happens to me all the time. Just finished reading a few friends reviews raving about ..."

I get annoyed with myself when I find out after the fact - SO prefer books to film (in most cases anyway)

Every day at work was like that last week for me! I'm definitely going to get this book and read it.

Corinne wrote: "Every day at work was like that last week for me! I'm definitely going to get this book and read it."

Good plan Corinne - hope next week is an improvement, for both of us:)

I just picked this up at the book store the other night. Looking forward to reading it. Great review.

Love your review Florence! I might even re-read Coraline, but will probably need an atmospheric weather situation to enjoy it better.

Have you read his short story collections? There is one particular that is still haunting me about a jack-in-the-box. Read it years ago and it still gives me the creeps.

Shaun wrote: "I just picked this up at the book store the other night. Looking forward to reading it. Great review."

Excellent Shaun - perfect time of year to read it, and thanks:)

Ulrike wrote: "Love your review Florence! I might even re-read Coraline, but will probably need an atmospheric weather situation to enjoy it better.

Have you read his short story collections? There is one partic..."

Well you have no shortage of rainstorms to provide the appropriate atmosphere in Britian. No, haven't tried his short stories yet but I'm on a Gaiman roll (third this year) so odds are I will. Yeh, jack-in-the-boxes have a real creep factor...Ps: GReads is buggy, I've been missing notifications. have you as well? Must check feedback.

Florence wrote: "Ulrike wrote: "Love your review Florence! I might even re-read Coraline, but will probably need an atmospheric weather situation to enjoy it better.

Have you read his short story collections? Ther..."

Well, winter season has just begun as temperatures have dropped to about 5C over the last couple of days - so cosy wrapped up armchair with a cuppa reading time is near. :-)

I haven't noticed any buggy notifications but to be honest I have been spending more time over at BookLikes this week and only kept an eye on my GR update feed every now and then, so it could be that I just missed the GR bug.

Ulrike [Disclaimer: My opinion is not paid for by Amazon.] wrote: "Florence wrote: "Ulrike wrote: "Love your review Florence! I might even re-read Coraline, but will probably need an atmospheric weather situation to enjoy it better.

Have you read his short story ..."

Do you recommend booklikes Ulrike? I've been considering posting there as well (not ready to give up on GR's) but I've an aversion to all things techy so dread it. Nice to have an alternative in the wings though...

BookLikes is ok. It's different, needs getting used to, but I really like that you can save work-in-progress when writing a review.

All posts are based on the blog which makes it easy to control your own stuff, but makes it a bit more difficult to track conversations on other people's blogs. (I'm not sure if it posts on other people's blogs tracks on your timeline.)

There is no facility for groups or personal messaging at the moment, and there are some other features that GR has which would be nice to replicate on BL - like seeing your friends reviews listed first on a book page, consolidated book pages (at the moment each edition has a separate page), author pages etc.
But the good news is that the BL owners are putting a lot of work into improving the site and are considering the requests from users. There is a whole blog about BL improvements that is just a simple wishlist. And so far BL have delivered improvements on a weekly basis - always released on Thursdays - and communicated to everyone. Their communication is quite good actually. I email about a query and had a response within 24 hours.

With respect to techi-ness, I can't handle/be bothered with complicated programming either. Even the limited html on GR was unknown to me at first. Thankfully, there is not that much programming on BL unless you really want to individualise your blog. And if you do, there are already some existing manuals/instructions on how to change layout etc. from people who have migrated there recently.

In short I like it!

I'm no longer posting reviews on GR, only on BL. It tried to just add a link in the review box for my recent reads, but am not convinced that they show in my update feed. I may also re-think other updates such as adding to shelves as this to could add to the stats that Amazon will make use of. (Not that I hate Amazon, but I'd like there to be a limit to Amazon monitoring my life...)

The only reason I haven't migrated completely is that I do want to keep in touch with friends on GR who aren't on BL.

Have you tried BL yet?

Ulrike [Disclaimer: My opinion is not paid for by Amazon.] wrote: "BookLikes is ok. It's different, needs getting used to, but I really like that you can save work-in-progress when writing a review.

All posts are based on the blog which makes it easy to control ..."

Thanks for all the info Ulrike. GR is a tough act to follow but it sounds like BLikes has the right attitude – counts for so much. I’m flirting with the site – but my comment about an aversion to techiness related to syncing reviews on 2 sites. From posts on feedback it sounds problematic so I’m not confident I could pull it off (or am willing to put in the effort). Bottom-line I want to post reviews on one site or the other – not both. I’ve not decided to give up on GReads. I dislike the changes since the Amazon buy-out – but I’m still sitting on the fence. Like you I’d hate to lose touch with my GR friends!