Stepped in front of a car. She is a real trooper, though. At day three, she soldiered her way upstairs (and grumbled at me the whole time I carried her back down--was worried she'd slip coming down in the dark) and also onto our hip high bed.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Pat O'Shea - The Hounds of the Morrigan
I wanted to post a recommended read for "The Hounds of Morrigan" by Pat O'Shea and, in searching for links for the books, find that the author passed away just this May at the age of 76.
The Hounds of the Morrigan released in 1985 and was Miss O'Shea's first novel. (Note, the link is to the newest printing, which would not have sold to me with the cover. This is the cover that made me first pick up the book sometime around 2002.) Doing the math, Miss O'Shea was in her early fifties and the book, by some reports, took her almost 13 years to write. Along with it being a completely enchanting read, I've long found the book to be an inspiration because of the perseverance shown by the author in completing and publishing the story (it is nearly 700 pages long in the print I read, an unusual investment in a first time author, another factor recommending it).
Here is the School Library Journal blurb on it, which does an excellent job of imparting some of the whimsy that makes the story so enjoyable. Although the grade recommendation is Fifth through Eighth, it is certainly readable for all ages and is very richly written.
The Hounds of the Morrigan released in 1985 and was Miss O'Shea's first novel. (Note, the link is to the newest printing, which would not have sold to me with the cover. This is the cover that made me first pick up the book sometime around 2002.) Doing the math, Miss O'Shea was in her early fifties and the book, by some reports, took her almost 13 years to write. Along with it being a completely enchanting read, I've long found the book to be an inspiration because of the perseverance shown by the author in completing and publishing the story (it is nearly 700 pages long in the print I read, an unusual investment in a first time author, another factor recommending it).
Here is the School Library Journal blurb on it, which does an excellent job of imparting some of the whimsy that makes the story so enjoyable. Although the grade recommendation is Fifth through Eighth, it is certainly readable for all ages and is very richly written.
After he unwittingly releases an evil force long imprisoned in an old Irish manuscript, Pidge and his little sister, Brigit, are drawn into a series of adventures to help the good god, the Dagda, destroy this evil before it is found and used against the world by the Morrigan, Celtic tripartite goddess of battle. The Morrigan, in both hilarious and terrifying personae, is seen mostly in mod guise as a pair of motorcycle-riding hags, who set up a command post in Galway to observe and meddle with the action. (In one terrific touch, their fingerprint, suspended in air, becomes elsewhere a maze to entrap the children.) Their mean sense of humor lets them create a "watch frog" (who speaks in bog-Irish malapropisms); comb their blue and red hair with a live hedgehog; and make chess moves by sticking pins into chess pieces given temporary life. And constantly, their shape-changing, flick-tongued, slyand dominatedhounds track the children, but they may not kill unless they see their quarry run. The unfolding quest baffles and challenges the pair as it will readers, as shapes shift and dreams take on independent life. ...
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