sort-of ditto

Books are back? Yay! (I think I still maybe want an e-reader at some point, though...but to complement my real-book reading, not to replace it...)

E-Books, Shmee-Books: Readers Return to the Stores
Julie Bosman, New York Times, December 12, 2011
In the so-called year of the e-book, retail bookshops are reporting brisk sales for high-priced titles.

personal reading-adjacent

It's about books anyways, and too wonderful for me to forget about, so I need a way to find the story again:
http://thisiscentralstation.com/featured/mysterious-paper-sculptures/

ANOTHER month's worth of books

D**m, I am getting bad with this blogging thing...before more time goes by, I should at least list the books I read, I suppose, even if I don't get around to discussing them. The order is going to be all messed up, because while I think the piles around the apartment are in (reverse) chronological order (most recently read on top, oldest on the bottom), I'm not sure about the order of the piles...
N.B. - I just discovered after writing everything else in this post that some of the books were mentioned in the November 9 post, but never discussed. Specifically, The Red Garden, The Sisters Brothers, and Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead. I must have held on to them to discuss them in greater detail, and then forgotten. So, basically, I have completely lost track of what I read, when. But at least I'm making a start now...and can bring a boatload of books back to the library this week!

The Magician's Book: A Sceptic's Adventures in Narnia, Laura Miller  -  interesting at points, but not as good as I was hoping it would be.

The Red Garden  Alice Hoffman  -  amusing enough, I guess, but there was some shady "history" at the outset that kind of turned me off, and it was hard to ever really get invested in the stories (weaving in and out of successive generations in the same town in Western Massachusetts) after that.

Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead  Sara Gran  -  NOT what I thought the book was going to be; I thought for some reason (it had been on the list a long time), that it was about a woman who returned to New Orleans where her deceased aunt (grandmother? something like that) had performed rituals to soothe the restless undead. Instead is was about a woman private investigator who returns to New Orleans (that part was right), where she had formerly had an older, female mentor (that part was kind of right), to solve a case involving a missing, possibly dead, man (which is...I guess a little like soothing the restless dead?) I don't know now if the book I was picturing actually IS a book, and I just got them confused, or if I totally imagined a different, and non-existent, book. In any case, this one was...fine? I actually think maybe I didn't like it that much, but I'm not sure if that's just because I was disappointed it wasn't what I thought it was...

The Sisters Brothers  Patrick DeWitt  -  fun. A "Western," I guess, but also well-written with an interesting main character.


The Vaults  Toby Ball  -  I really rather liked this one. Which was a very pleasant surprise because I had had it on the list for a while, and for some reason I thought it was some sort of trashy mystery-thriller thing, and then I got it and it was a mystery set in an alternate, sort of dystopian, U.S. past, very well conceived and written.

A Secret Alchemy  Emma Darwin  -  dumb. I wanted to like it, but dumb. I didn't even really remember what it was, I had checked it out from the library forever ago, and it had just been sitting on my bookcase, and finally one night I had nothing new to read, and the title sounded fairly light-weight, and I was tired and just wanted to read a bit in bed, so I started it. It's one of those stories where it switches back and forth between ye olde England and modern England and it was the stupid Woodvilles and the Yorks and all that bother. Novelists clearly love the whole drama, and I can see why, there's obviously a lot to play with, it's just never really captured my attention.

All About Lulu  Jonathan Evison  -  great, great, great.

The Black Tower  P.D. James  -  this is one of the books I got off the bargain carts outside Harvard Bookstore over a year ago (yes? will need to check - a long time ago, anyhow), when I was super hung over and looking for some light reading, and I finally got around to reading it; that is, to finishing it. I actually started it a while ago, got a couple of chapters (if that) in, and then gave up because it was boring and I got more interesting books. But I was going to be taking the train to the 'burbs for some reason (Thanksgiving?) and it's a small paperback, unlike most of the big, heavy (library bound) books I had on hand at the time, so I plowed through it. It got better, I supposed, but I found the whole thing rather boring. I've enjoyed James' books featuring the detective Cordelia Gray (I think that's her name - An Unsuitable Job for a Woman? Mom had it years and years ago, and I read it a few times, and then I think I read another one - Cover Her Face? I might just be making up titles now...), but her Adam Dalgliesh character, who I think it the protagonist of her biggest series, has really never done it for me.

The Imperfectionists  Tom Rachman  -  quite good, not that that should be a surprise - I feel like this was widely, and well, reviewed...

A Month's Worth of Books, pt. 4

Next I read The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt*; honestly, I don't know why. It's been on my "list" since December 2009, I think: I'm pretty sure I had noted it down (pretty cover) around the time of my melanoma surgery, but, honestly, I am glad I never got around to picking it up - probably because I never was that taken by Possession, so I've been skeptical of the Byatt hype. I was so out of it, half the time with pain and half the time with sleepiness (thanks a lot, pain meds), and I would have been bored to death. Actually, maybe that would have been a good idea, because sleeping was the only time I wasn't hurting, and the medication was only useful for making me sleepier faster...

The book was wasn't all that bad, I guess, or even really bad, but it was sloooow. The book was set in the Victorian years through World War I, and focuses on a loose association (at times tight, at times vaguely incestuous) of families, mainly liberal and artsy, in England, and I enjoyed the basic premise and setting, but some of the characters were really annoying (Olive!) and Byatt would go off on these page-long digressions about what was happening in the theater or literature or politics at any given moment in the book.

Context is fantastic, and I can see where she was going with all the information, but it was like chapters from an encyclopedia got dropped down inside a novel. At one point she starts talking about the general nature of the Edwardian English on page 391 and keeps going, listing books published, theories propounded, and social behavior, until 397. That's seven pages of nothing directly related (or all even, really, related more than slightly) to any of the characters or plot points.

The thing is, I almost don't even blame Byatt. I totally get it - you do a ton of research, you learn a lot of cool stuff (and, of course, it seems extra cool to you, because you've been working for it, and immersed in it, even if it's not that cool to other people), and you can't bear not to use it. I've been there. But someone needs to edit that sh*t. So I mostly blame her editors, because it's their f***ing job, but she needs to take some of the blame. Because, yeah, sometimes you would rather lose flesh than a fascinating bit of trivia you've dug up, or even a (to you at least) marvelously well-crafted passage, but sometimes you just have to. That's life.

There's a better example of what I think she was aiming for on page 480, when she inserts just a brief paragraph about some books that were being published at a certain time; the type of literature hitting the English market is clearly related to the public sentiment and actions of her characters that she is describing, and it's mildly valuable context that's not intrusive. Or a hundred pages later:

"Wolfgang Stern was already on the battlefield, in the German Sixth Army, under Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria. He was on the left of the Schlieffen scythe, retreating deliberately towards Germany to draw the French Army outwards, away from Paris. The French soldiers wore a uniform from the past, with red trousers, a long great-coat, broadcloth tunic, flannel shirt and long underpants, winter and summer. Their boots were known as 'Brodequins' which was the name of an instrument of torture. They carried a rifle, a kit weighing sixty-six pounds, and a regulation bundle of kindling wood."

Did we need all this information? No. Could it have been presented in a more organic way? Yes. Is it even accurate? I have no idea, and don't care enough to look it up (I should ask my brother; I don't think WWI is his bag, but he does military more than I do, and goodness knows, for some bizarre reason he seems to enjoy French history - stupid Napoleon). But it works. And she picks things up with the next line/paragraph:

"The French soldiers believed in attack, and then attack, and then again attack. They believed they had been defeated in 1870 because of a lack of firmness and elan [what is up with everything I want to cite tonight needing accents??]. They charged, heavily, drums beating, bugles sounding, their long bayonets held in their guns before them. They were very brave, and the German machine-gunners, including Wolfgang, mowed them like fields of grass."

MUCH better. Same tone and pacing, more or less, but so much better. Pretty d*mn good, actually.

There were also awkward points throughout the book when she would follow the trail of one of her digressions to a date, and then have to move back in time when she finally returned to the actual storyline. Sometimes this happened even within the story itself; Byatt would focus a lot on certain episodes in the characters' lives, and then advance the plot forward with a jump to a more interesting period. Fair enough, but it got awkward in places. For example, on page 408 we read,

"In 1904 Major Cain travelled [sic/B] with the Director, Sir Casper Purdon Clarke, and Arthur Skinner, who was to succeed Clarke, to the opening of the Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum in Berlin: they went also to the Kunstgewerbemuseum, and Cain went on to Munich, where the display impressed him. They went in 1901 to the opening in Paris, in the Louvre, of the Musee [sorry, can't make the accent happen] des Arts Decoratifs [ditto]..."


So we've traveled from 1904 back in time to 1901, and learned some not-so-pertinent information about the leadership structure of the Victoria & Albert. But time resumes its usual forward momentum - assuming we're sticking with 1901 as the starting point - because on the very next page,

"He [Cain] had his worries about her, also. In 1902 she was twenty-three..."

Really? I'm sorry, but this is a prize-winning author, and she couldn't come up with a less clumsy way of advancing the narrative through time? Then again, as far as I could tell at least two women wound up pregnant as the result of a single sexual encounter (for one woman it was her first time), and while I realize that can happen, honestly, what are the odds of two women, in the same circle, both getting knocked up so easily? Well, what are the odds, I mean, when the author doesn't need some surprise babies to shake up the narrative a bit... Lazy, is all I'm saying - this isn't General Hospital (which I watched two hours of today, because I was home and felt terrible and just sat around feeling bad for myself - anyhow, they ALSO love a random pregnancy to spice things up).

I feel bad that I am being so negative - that I came away from the book feeling so negative - because I thought it started out really strongly, and there were certainly a lot of elements that I really liked. Some of the characters were interesting and finely drawn (although she really let down the reader with Tom, I think, and let down Tom, for that matter, towards the end) - and she moved back and forth between different threads of the story competently. Maybe the bitterness is because I was disappointed...it's like the book and I had a bad breakup. And I had had such high hopes - because Byatt lured me in with early passages, like the one where she describes a complex, magical, macabre puppet show:

"An illusion is a complicated thing, and an audience is a complicated creature. Both need to be brought from flyaway parts to a smooth, composite whole. The world inside the box, a world made from silk, satin, china mouldings, wires, hinges, painted backcloths, moving lights and musical notes, must come alive with its own laws of movement, its own rules of story. And the watchers, wide-eyed and greedy, distracted and supercilious, preoccupied, uncomfortable, tense, must become one, as a shoal of fishes with huge eyes and flickering fins becomes one, wheeling this way and that in response to messages of hunger, fear or delight." [72]

In some ways it can be the same thing for a book. Obviously each reader brings his/her own background and experiences to a book, and every reading (even different readings by the same reader) is of a somewhat different book, because to read a book is an experience as much as an act, and there's so much more than just the words on the page. But the author still needs to control the reader somewhat, make the reader follow along, and if we, the audience, are the fishes, Byatt had me hooked initially, but lost me.

*I don't anticipate it really mattering, but the edition I read was the Chatto & Windus (London - obviously, the British punctuation was driving me nuts at first until my brain adjusted) 2009.

A Month's Worth of Books, pt. 3

And now the American edition...

First up, Serena, by Ron Rash. This was one I had picked up a long time ago from the library. I don't remember why; I think maybe I just saw it when I was looking for something else on a nearby shelf, and something about the spine caught my eye. It was a while ago, but I still remember it more or less. It was interesting. A solid, unusual premise - stone-cold WITCH (and I'm not being coy, she's not just a b*tch, she's scary mean) and husband in a ye-olde-timey logging camp down south. She, Serena, is definitely a unique character, and there several other characters that stand out or are appealing. The ending felt like it was out of character with the rest of the book, though, and I particularly didn't like the way the second main character, her husband, was developed...it was both predictable and a bit of a let-down. It was worth reading though; I'd be interested in learning what other people think about it.

Then I read The Girl Who Fell From the Sky, by Heidi W. Durrow. And it was GREAT. SO great. Just beautifully, gorgeously written. I'm loathe to refer to a book as "lyrical" because it sounds so unreasonably cheesy, but this book actually is. It's also sweet, funny, smart... Ha, I sound like I have a crush on the book! Let's see, how do I dial back the lovin' on the book...well, it's also terrifying in places. Except that it's terrifying when describing with admirable clarity what awful things people can do from and for love. So...yep, I would consider dating this book :)
Technically I suppose this is a coming-of-age story, and also about race, but both of those things inform the book, and lend it gravitas, without taking it over or getting predictable/stereotypical. The main character is a young half-Black, half-White girl, new to America (the child of a European woman and an African-American soldier stationed abroad) who is badly injured and loses most of her family in a horrific incident, and goes to live with her paternal grandmother. The story traces her twisting path to near-adulthood, as she tries to figure out if she's Black, and what that means, and how to process the tragedy she has barely survived, physically and emotionally. All of the main characters, and there are several, are fully-drawn and compelling. Durrow has a keen eye for just how to describe someone, and make a character come to life, and has her creations act in ways that feel completely true. She doesn't shy away from the negative or harder-to-accept aspects of her characters, but she approaches all of them with enough compassion that the reader always feels a respect for the character (well, not all of them, but a few of the minor characters do NOT deserve our respect). I wish I hadn't had to return the book today, because there is so much more I could say, and I had marked a bunch of passages that were just so fantastic I remember thinking at the time I wanted to post about them... Oh well, the only think I can really say about the book, the only thing that matters, is READ IT.

Another coming of age story, this one partially about race, is The Improper Life of Bezellia Grove, by Susan Gregg Gilmore. So, this one is definitely one that I grabbed off the shelf while looking for another book, because the title just sounded funny. And of course it's library-bound, so it's not like I could read the back or anything, so it's been on my shelves at home for months now, and I had no idea what it was about, so then I started getting nervous that it might suck, and never read it. And, I'll be honest, I was on such a high after The Girl Who Fell From the Sky that I almost didn't want to read it because I was worried I would be let down. To my surprise, I wasn't. I mean, it wasn't a fantastic book by any means, but it ended up being a lot better than I expected.
The main character needs to grow up  in the 60s and 70s with her dysfunctional on the inside, but ever so proper upper-class Southern family, while figuring out what she needs, and along the way falls in love with the African-American son of her family's driver (I'm not giving anything away - that part was pretty predictable). At first the book just seemed kind of fluffy, and after The Girl Who Fell From the Sky, I just wasn't feeling that. But I ended up getting drawn in the the story, and attached to some of the main characters (the ones you should be, anyways), and enjoyed it, and it even gave me a little to think about. I thought the ending was particularly good, in so far as it was satisfyingly unsatisfying - we don't know exactly what happens, we don't even know if it's a happy ending or a tragic ending. Especially for a book that in many ways is just a good old-fashioned story, it was a bold choice on the author's part.

A Month's Worth of Books, pt. 2

Okay, so, my thoughts on some of the books I read over the last month - we'll call this the "Foreign Mystery" edition:

S.J. Parris, Heresy - I read this one a while ago, but I got the sequel from the library, so i figured I'd re-read the first one so that I'd remember who/what was going on. I guess that was a good idea? In any case, the book was also fine, I guess? I read it either right around the time of the wedding (my best friend's wedding, yay!) or right after, so I was really just looking to relax with something mindless. And mindless it was, despite being a period mystery starring Giordano Bruno. What does it say about me that I find it more interesting to ponder if it should be "S.J." or "S. J." than the book itself?

S.J. Parris, Prophecy - I suppose this one deserves a review of it's own, since it's not a re-read, but I don't really remember it all that well at this point. More Giordano Bruno in England, working as an information-gatherer. I think it was...fine? Not so bad I stopped reading, or that I remember having a strong negative reaction, but certainly not good. I do vaguely remember thinking that I'm done with the series; even if there's another one written, I don't have any desire to read it (or them). I've stuck with plenty of other series before, even when they weren't all that well-written, but I'm not invested in the character, either, so it's just not worth the time.

Teresa Solana, A Not So Perfect Crime - I'm not sure if "Murder and Mayhem in Barcelona" is part of the title or just a snazzy teaser line they put on the cover. In any case, apparently the book won a prize for being the best crime novel written in Catalan in 2007. I'm thinking maybe there weren't a lot of competitors? I feel bad being snarky, but it really wasn't all that impressive. Not sure if maybe it was a translation issue, but I just didn't feel like the story was that good. It wasn't gripping, or compelling, or even, really, interesting, and in the case of a mystery, that's a pretty bad thing. The basic premise was interesting: a man and his brother work as fixers, more or less, but nobody knows that they're brothers, and their company is more or less literally a shell. They have an office, and there are fake doors in the wall that lead to the "offices" and when clients come they greet them in the main area, saying the other offices are being painted, and the receptionist is out - and even leave a bottle of nail polish on "her" desk to help sell the illusion. In that sense I felt like the author put a lot of thought into the book - her main characters and their setting, the world they live in and move through, is creatively and vividly imagined and fleshed out. The plot was boring though - no suspense, no surprises. Some humor, but nothing that stood out.

A Month's Worth of Books

The pile of books threatening to topple over and take out my laptop may be a sign that I haven't written about any books in a while. I've been meaning to, but I kept waiting to write something thoughtful, and now there might be a book avalanche and the library wants some of the books back, so I need to at least just list them out.
So, after the most awesome wedding of all time (YAY, my best friend is married!!!), I suddenly found myself with tons of free time for the first time in months, and as well as catching up on my coffee and adult beverages with other friends, and tv, and READING. Roughly in order:
Heresy  S.J. Parris
Prophecy  S.J. Parris
A Not So Perfect Crime  Teresa Solana, translated from the Catalan by Peter Bush
Serena  Ron Rash
The Girl Who Fell From the Sky  Heidi W. Durrow
The Improper Life of Bezellia Grove  Susan Gregg Gilmore
The Children's Book  A.S. Byatt
The Sisters Brothers  Patrick DeWitt
Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead  Sara Gran
The Red Garden  Alice Hoffman

I ALSO read Ransom Riggs' fantastic Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, but I'm not sure where in the order it goes...maybe between Serena and before The Girl Who Fell From the Sky? I know the Parris books came right after the wedding, if not during; I figured more-or-less brainless period mysteries would be nice and relaxing. Then I think I grabbed the Solana off my bookcase one day because I needed a paperback (something light) to carry with me some where (which is funny, because I totally took it on a trip to DC to visit E for the same reason, and never got around to reading it). And those all feel like they happened a while ago, but the Durrow seems relatively recent, so I think Ransom must have been before it...

In any case, Miss Peregrine's is going to get its own glowing review, just not now. And when did I read the even more awesome, although very different, River of Smoke (Amitav Ghosh)?

more updates

I was cleaning the apartment tonight (well, I was walking around putting away one or two things every 30 seconds or so, in between using my phone to identify songs - whoo, Verizon song id! - from R's old "booty mixes" FOR HER WEDDING AFTERPARTY THAT'S IN LESS THAN TWO WEEKS [had to do that]) and came across Tess Gerritsen's The Bone Garden, which I read at some point this summer / early fall, I don't really remember when. I vaguely remember it - one of those two parallel stories, different timelines kind of things. It was fun enough, but mostly because it was set in Boston and New England, and that's always fun. But a lot of silliness, too. And I guess the medical examiner who makes a brief appearance in the contemporary storyline is the protagonist of her own  series (and television show) - Dr. Isles?
I remember I added the book to my "might be amusing?" list a while ago, after I saw The Bone Gatherers (nonfiction, about early Christianity and women, if I remember correctly) at the Harvard Bookstore, and went to look it up at the library, and then saw this one, and was mildly intrigued by the brief description in the catalog...I think it worked out.
Anyhow, at least it's another book that I read semi-recently...hopefully after all the wedding stuff is over (YAY, MY BEST FRIEND IS GETTING MARRIED IN 12 DAYS!!!) life will calm down a bit and I will get back to plenty of reading.

Feeling a little better

Last week (actually, I think last Wednesday, maybe, so exactly a week ago), I felt awful because it appeared that I had barely read anything in the longest time. But then when I was packing for DC (YAY!!!) Thursday night/Friday morning, I came across three more books I had read recently:
A House for Mr Biswas V. S. Naipaul (quite good)
The Forgotten Island Sasha Troyan (okay-to-good)
The True History of Paradise Margaret Cezair-Thompson (really good; maybe not the highest art, but captivating [I passed on a nap to finish the book], thought-provoking, and GORGEOUS, evocative descriptions.

The over the past few days (including on the plane to and from DC to visit E - did I say "YAY!!!" yet??) I re-read Amitav Ghosh's fantastic, amazing, love-it-so-much Sea of Poppies in preparation for reading the newly released, second in the Ibis Trilogy, River of Smoke.

Started River of Smoke last night, and already in love. Even after a thirteen-hour Sunday-into-Monday-funday (seriously - DC with E - YAY) and then a delayed flight home, and then errands, and then drinks shading into Tuesday, and a severe insulin shortage to top it all off, I STILL didn't want to put the book down and go to sleep.  So great...

Nope, don't read much...

I can't believe I haven't even posted a list of books I've read recently, much less any kind of discussion...
So - the first weekend in August, in Newport, RI, I read The God of Animals by Aryn Kyle; I had some issues with it, but overall I thought it was fantastic, particularly the quality of the prose (and especially since it's a first novel, by a young author).

Then at some point I read The Commoner by John Burnham Schwartz (I think - I can't quite see the spine of the book from where I'm typing, and I'm too lazy to get up and look at the book). Another grab off of the Harvard Bookstore bargain table.

I think there was some other stuff, but I don't remember.

Finally, last night I finished (after starting in Puerto Rico, for R's bachelorette weekend, yay!) Make Him Look Good by Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez...I think it was also a bargain book, since I can't imagine paying full price for it, and there's a little gross sticker-residue on the front cover. Although, now that I think about it, I think maybe it was from the Barnes and Noble in the Pru, when they still had a bargain table? Anyhow, A V-R used to write for the Globe and I really enjoyed her, and then I think I read her first book, for that reason, and it was...okay? As was this one, I guess. The characters were somewhat appealing, and I thought she balanced the various voices well, but overall it was SO freaking fluffy, it was annoying. I think A V-R is totally capable of insightful social commentary, but there was virtually none of that here. Lots of name(brand)-dropping, although maybe that was a deliberate commentary on the fact that one of the major themes in the book was how superficial life in Miami can be. Or lazy, or she thought that was what people wanted. I believe I have the third book here somewhere, but I took this one because it was a paperback, and would be lighter in the carry-on. We'll see; not in any huge hurry to read it, but maybe, at some point.

Do I seriously not read anymore?

I feel like I do...maybe I just don't remember to post. Anyhow, read Geraldine Brooks' latest, Caleb's Crossing. It was fine, and now it has to go back to the library - it is popular, at least, for sure!

Knocked another one off the pile

The Law of Angels Cassandra Clark

Okay, the cover is God-awful, but I checked the book out from the library, so I didn't see it...and nobody saw me reading it, lol.

The book was fine; I think it's the third in the series (and the third that I've read), and it's getting a little boring. But it passed the time.And now I am only in the middle of four books, yay!!!

I am so far behind...

The stack of books I've been reading has been getting higher and higher, in part because I had this vague idea of writing actual mini review essays about some of them, but f**k it. In generally the order presented, I think, here are the books I've read over the last month or so:
Captivity  Deborah Noyes
 A novel about the Fox sisters (spirit-rappers in 19th century New York) - I think I just liked the cover, maybe? I remember I came across the book when I was meandering through the Harvard Bookstore, and I added it to the list, but I can't see how the story itself would have necessarily appealed to me. However, I do think it's kind of awesome that a woman named Deborah Noyes wrote a book called "captivity," because I feel like there was a 17th or 18th century captivity narrative written by someone with that name, no?
In any case, don't remember the book all that well, I read it a long while ago now, but I believe I enjoyed it. I think the writing and pacing were probably better than the plot. I also enjoyed the secondary storyline, about Maggie Fox's reclusive friend/employer more than the primary plot, although I appreciated how they mirrored one another.

The Invention of Everything Else  Samantha Hunt

Enjoyable, although more because it made me want to read more about Nicola Tesla than anything else. The events of the book itself were rather implausible, and that doesn't always mean it's no good, but in this case I wasn't as willing as I might have been to suspend my disbelief. Also, a man was in love with a pigeon - and I'll get back to that momentarily.
Picked this one up one day on the way back from lunch, from the bargain table outside Harvard Bookstore, so for the $4 or whatever it was, definitely a good deal.



Jane and the Damned Janet Mullany

Read this on the plane to / from D.C. (as always, another fantastic weekend with E!) - which should help me date these books, like a drought-ring in a tree...this point in the series was June 3-5 (was only not-quite a month ago??? Has it seriously only been 4 weeks since I met Senor Mustachio???). I had picked it up a long time even before the trip, when the Borders in Back Bay was going out of business and the book was, like, 75% off, and then totally forgotten I had it, until the night before the trip when I was looking for paperbacks to bring with me, so my carry-on wouldn't be too heavy.
It was surprisingly fun. I mean, the whole premise of Jane Austen becomes a vampire and defends Britain against a French invasion is more than a little ridiculous, but the Jane here was an appealing character (although I think Jane Austen was probably just an appealing character - or do all novelists and biographers make her out to be because we want her to be?), so smart and feisty isn't exactly groundbreaking on Mullany's part. But it was a solid plane read, and I'll probably read the sequel if I realize it comes out...

The Elephant Keeper  Christopher Nicholson

So, Nicola Tesla was in love (kind of) with a pigeon in Invention..., and in this book the main character is in love with an elephant (more than kind of, but it doesn't get gross, thank goodness). Which is why, in my head, I totally thought I could write a co-review entry. And then got too busy/lazy - oh, well. Good book, though, I really, really enjoyed it. It was touching and funny, heart-wrenching in places, with nice, evocative little touches as far as the setting. I will say, the book got stronger as it went along after a weak start - my memory is a bit fuzzy at this point (I think I actually started this in late May, and then took a break while I was in DC?), but the story starts with the titular elephant keeper, in late 18th century England, writing the life story of the elephant in his charge, and the pseudo-18th century writing was just SO badly handled. It was awkward and forced, but once the writer hit his stride, and dropped that (for the most part) all was good. Quite good, in fact.

Spring Flowers, Spring Frost  Ismail Kadare

Very nicely written (or, at least, translated), with notably well-handled pacing. Set in a small town in the mountains of Albania, Kadare explores what could happen if ancient myths and customs filled in the mental, and governmental, space left by a collapsing Communist regime. The surreal touches were perfect, tipping the whole story just enough off its foundations so you never knew exactly what was meant to be "real," and what wasn't, and how that uncertainty played out for the reader as for the characters. I definitely need to know more about Kanun (code of vendetta) and Albanian history now.



The Girl Who Would Speak for the Dead  Paul Elwork

More spirit rapping! This would have been posted about with Captivity, back when I had grand dreams of mini review essays. I think I also saw this one on the same evening, in the Harvard Bookstore, and liked the cover AND the title. As for the book itself, it wasn't the most original or fascinating plot, but the story was quietly compelling in its own way. The writing was solid (better, I think, than Noyes'), and Elwork does a nice job of drawing a setting (an estate, in this case) that is simultaneously absolutely real and normal for the inhabitants - of the book, and the story - but also clearly "off" in many ways.


Deathless  Catherynne M. Valente

 Loved, loved, loved this book! Also one I saw at H.B. and knew I just had to read - first, that cover, gorgeous! Second, there was a mention of Baba Yaga, and I loved the stories about her and her chicken-legged house when I was a kid, so I was IN. The book itself lived up to the hype I gave it in my head. A mix of Russian folklore/fairy tales and the history of the coming of Communism to Russia (hmm, I guess it goes with Spring Flowers...), the book was impossible to put down. It sucked me in from the opening pages, which called on the seductive pacing of old tales when three events, with three parts, happened on three consecutive occasions - the rhythm, and the familiarity of "something magical is going to happen" from childhood fairy tales, pull you into the story and don't let you back out. Overall, Valente handled the mix of elements so imaginatively, I adored it. My one concern was when she started throwing some sex scenes in, only because I feel like 9 times out of 10, sex in books is just terrible, but it wasn't at all gratuitous, and they were more exciting than explicit & cheesy. I was so sad when the book was over!

A Discovery of Witches  Deborah Harkness

I kept seeing this book around, and meaning to read it, just because I liked the title, and then finally got around to it this weekend. It was actually surprisingly fun! I am not generally into the whole witches/vampires/whatever thing, but the main character is a witch who is a historian! So the plot all turns on her coming across a super-rare alchemical text in the Bodleian, and THAT is a fantasy I can get on board with :)
Romance-y stuff was fine; seemed kind of over-wrought to me, but then again a lot of it does, and I was willing to bear with it for the more historically inspired parts.
I was wondering, as I got near the end of the book, how on earth Harkness was going to wrap things up, and of course it turns out that she doesn't, and there's clearly going to be a sequel (I'm guessing maybe it's going to be a trilogy?). I think I will probably remember to keep an eye out for it, but I'm not sure this is necessarily a book that will stick with me for a long time.

odds and ends

I think my plan was to write about the Hunger Games trilogy all at once, which I think I finished post-Cleopatra, and then I read The Greatest Show on Earth: the Evidence for Evolution (Richard Dawkins's latest...or near-latest?), and I think there was something else...but now all the books have gone back to the library, and I don't remember.
I'll work on it, but not now. Generally - positive with minor/medium quibbles in both cases.

Oh, right...

And I forgot, I read the second book in the Hunger Games series, whatever it's called. That was...a week ago? After Roger Williams and before Cleopatra. The latter of whom would have kicked A*S in the Hunger Games. Just saying. She was a wily b*tch.

Another quick update!

Blogging is getting really boring...

In any case, I finished Cleopatra: A Life, by Stacy Schiff, last night. Basically, it was fun. I don't think I learned anything, but it was a quick, easy, and amusing read. Schiff's tone was very Cosmopolitan-esque (not shocking - I think that, shortly after the book came out, Cosmo did a mini "feature" on Cleopatra, as an original Cosmo girl, and her approaches to life, love, and power...an accessories, too, no doubt). The contemporary feminist take on Cleopatra worked, though; I imagine it would be hard, however, to not be able to make a compelling case for C. getting a totally unfair reputation at the hands of the Romans.

This would be a good "history for non-history major" books, although there could be an issue with Schiff's casual references to the ancient historians / sources. *I* get why Josephus was such a d*ck about Cleopatra, but there are probably lots of people who don't know who he even is - ditto for Dio, Lucan, etc. I would also be wary of recommending it as "history" the more I think about it. It's not that I think her facts are wrong - although they could be, my Ptolemaic history is sketchy at best - but she just makes stuff up: what characters were thinking/feeling, how a particular scene looked, sounded or smelled...but those details do work to draw the reader along, so who knows.

One thing that confused/bothered me: as I read, there were little footnotes, marked with asterisks, throughout the text, but no footnotes. And, I will admit, I took the book less seriously, I suspect, than I would have otherwise, if there had been numbered footnotes or end notes...except that there were? After the close of the book, there are end notes for each chapter, nice and scholarly, listing the sources, with commentary. But then I went back into the text itself, and didn't see any numbered notes...so, what? The publisher left the notes, but took out the little superscript numbers, because they cluttered up the page? How on earth does that make sense? And how on earth am I supposed to track down Schiff's references if I need more information? NOT lovin' on Little, Brown, & Co. for this one, if that is what happened. I don't see what else it could be, unless Widener somehow got a bad copy (and considering I had to wait in line for months to get it, that's too bad).

more quick updates

Finished Roger Williams: the Church and the State by Edmund S. Morgan (2006/2007 edition) over the weekend (including a 4:30 a.m. drunk reading in bed session - I woke up around 7am with the lights on and the book still in my hand, whoops!) and then read Mohsin Hamid's The Reluctant Fundamentalist last night (super quick read).

Quick notes

A lot has happened in the last couple of weeks; mostly personal, some reading.

My Noni, one of the most loving, generous people I have ever known, and the maker of the world's best spaghetti sauce, became very ill and then passed away, but only after beating back cancer for 18 years after being told to go home and prepare to die, and not to bother fighting. But nothing could ever stop her from fighting, and her strength and tenaciousness gave all of us who loved her almost two more decades to benefit from her huge heart and inspiring grace and humor in the face of (almost) overwhelming odds.

While this was going on I kept reading; killing time, and trying to escape (both my grief and sometimes my family). Off the top of my head, I read/finished: The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart, Spider Bones, The Hunger Games, and I think something else.

Clearly there's a lot I need to add in here, but the most pressing issue is Niall Ferguson's Civilization: The West and The Rest, which the library is calling back on me. Suffice it to say, for now, that from the opening lines of the introduction, I kept wanting to heave the book across the room. Ferguson may be smart, but I suspect he is also a pompous, self-righteous, and unimaginative ass. The book really deserves a longer and more vituperative review, but I need to finish the book and then really look at my notes and think about making valid, as well as angry, comments. Since I am already two days overdue with the book, for future reference, pages that I found particularly offensive, problematic, laughably self-centered or small-minded, or in need of further research (to refute his stupidness, obviously) are: 4, 8, 76, 77, 88, 90, 97, 105, 111, 132, 135, 136, 138, 140, 145.

eh

Read another Rev. Merrily Watkins book over the weekend, The Smile of a Ghost.  Honestly, not much to say - I still enjoy the series, in as much as I'm somewhat attached to the recurring characters, or at least fond of them when they are on the page in front of me, but that's about it.  The series premise seemed unique and interesting at first, but it's getting pretty boring, and the twists and turns are pretty predictable. I think this was the sixth or so in the series, and I am sure I will get around to reading whichever other ones the library has, but it's not like I'm dying to.  Good for a T ride, though, and a rather emotionally draining family weekend.

Orange Prize for Fiction, 2010 - that I might read

I wasn't aware that the U.K. had an annual prize for fiction written by women; for more on all the books, see the March 16, 2011 slideshow in The Guardian.  For the ones I think I might read:
Lyrics Alley  Leila Aboulela

Jamrach's Menagerie  Carol Birch

The Pleasure Seekers  Tishani Doshi - maybe

The Memory of Love  Aminatta Forna - already on my list...should really get on that

The Seas  Samantha Hunt - I think I have another book by this author on the list (Invention of Everything?)

The Birth of Love  Joanna Kavenna

Great House  Nicole Krauss - have I read about this book elsewhere?

The Tiger's Wife  Tea Obreht - okay, I thought it looked intriguing when I saw it in the window of the Harvard Bookstore, and then the Times loved it (more than once), and now this...really must read it sooner rather than later

Swamplandia  Karen Russell - already on the list

The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives  Lola Shoneyin - I wish the title didn't rhyme :(

Annabel  Kathleen Winter - on the list

Also on the list: Room, by Emma Donoghue, which I still think was just amazing...

For when life seriously sucks

I really, really needed a distraction last night, which I handled in a not-totally-positive-but-fun way and by reading more of the "newest" (to me) Karin Fossum / Inspector Sejer book I picked up last Friday / finished today, He Who Fears the Wolf. It was the oldest of the ones the library had, at least the ones in English, so it was interesting going back in time, so to speak, when it comes to the characters (including Kollberg, yay!!!).  It was hard to tell, but I would guess this book was set at least ten years before The Indian Bride, so clearly a lot had happened in the lives of the main characters, Sejer and Skarre (?).  I'm not sure I think this book was as good as the one I first read (in particular, the parts where the crazy character was being all crazy got a little repetitive, I sorta skimmed), but it was just as good at pulling my mind out of my world and into Fossum's, and I needed that.  It also makes much more sense now that the series is named after Inspector Sejer, as he was both more present and more deeply drawn than in the other book. Might go grab another one later in the week or next week, but I have a stack at home and one waiting for me from deposit that I should get through, as I'm running out of floor space to pile my read and to-be-read books.

back to Norway

Finished The Indian Bride by Karin Fossum last night (once again, it kept me up too late), and it definitely lived up to its potential.  It's not a GREAT book, but it was interesting and engaging, and the characters were drawn nicely - detailed, nuanced - and the scenes were set well.  I also liked the dog.  How was I not more familiar with the Leonberger breed in general (huge and adorable)?  And the one in the book is great; I don't know why, he [Kollberg - I think] doesn't do much, but I just wanted to cuddle him...  He belongs to Inspector Sejer, who is - I guess? - the main character of the book (I wouldn't have thought so, but apparently the book is part of the Inspector Sejer Mysteries" series, so it seems likely), so maybe there will be more of him if I go track down the other books that have been translated into English??

One a more serious, or at least more literarily-minded note, I was also pleasantly surprised when the book ended without really much of a conclusion.  That is to say - we're not totally sure the person in custody on the last page is actually guilty, we don't know if someone else is going to crack and kill someone (although I think said person has already cracked, and it's just the potential killing that's in question), etc.  Some books, if they ended like that, you would think it was just so you'd buy the sequel (AHEM, Lev Grossman and The Magicians), but I don't think that's the case here.  I suppose there could be a sequel, but it felt more like Fossum had told the story she (he? must check...) wanted to tell, and ended things.  And instead of it being incredibly frustrating not knowing the answer at the end of the mystery novel (this issue came up in The Sherlockian, didn't it?), it was open-ended enough to keep me thinking after I shut the book, but still satisfied.  I wanted to mull it over more, but I didn't feel like I needed more, if that makes any sense...
Think I might run downstairs and see if they have any more in the stacks - pretty sure they did when I picked this one up - for reading this weekend.  I'll be interested to see if Sejer becomes a more prominent character; from the first Inspector Lynley novel (by Elizabeth George) I read, it was pretty clear how central he was, but in this Inspector Sejer novel, he was just one well-drawn character out of many.  I'm curious if he's a main character in the series, or simply a linking character...

Know When To Bail: Sunk Costs

Know When To Bail: Sunk Costs

So, this has nothing to do with books, or reading, but I came across it, and I think it's a really, really good lesson for me to try and learn, especially where I am right now, so this will remind me...

Books for when guys seriously suck, pt. 2

I had a...tumultuous... Sunday (very early) morning, and spent much of Sunday wanting to thow a shoe (either heavy or pointy, I was going back and forth) at a guy's head.  I wanted to read before bed, to distract myself from alternately being wrathful and a little sad (okay, mostly wrathful), and so I wouldn't go to sleep stewing, but I didn't know what to read.  I was too angry and unable to think about anything else but what a d-bag the guy had been to read something that required attention; but I didn't want to read anything remotely positive about relationships, or men in general; and I didn't think anything too light would be enough to take my mind off being treated with a complete lack of common courtesy.  But then I decided to pick back up Karin Fossum's The Indian Bride - and it was perfect! 

This entry is probably a bit premature, since I am not done with the book yet, but I have to say, it was so fantastic: I got completely caught up in the story, and almost entirely forgot how upset I was.

The book has been on my list for a while, and then I forgot about it, and then R mentioned she had picked it up to read on the plane (will need to remember to ask her how she liked it), so I remembered it again, and I am glad.  The writing style is interesting; it's SUPER expository - like, "Tom is a man.  He has blond hair and blue eyes.  He is friends with Harry.  Harry is a man with brown hair.  Tom, Harry, and their friend Dick were sitting in a cafe.  The cafe tables had red and white checked tablecloths."  I'm exaggerating, of course, but it took some getting used to.  Not sure how much of it is the author, and how much of it is the translator, but I think it's definitely the book itself, and not just the translation.  But, honestly, I can deal with lots of exposition as long as it's nice and clean and spare - I am still recovering from those silly Girl Who... books, and am delighted to know I don't need to be leary of all Scandinavian authors.  Hmm, that reminds me that I really need to get onto the Wallander books. 
Anyhow - yeah, Fossum / Indian Bride: good stuff for when guys seriously suck :)  And, based on last night, when I had cooled off, also for when you don't really care as much any more.  However, not so good for when you need to get up at 6:00 a.m. to go have breakfast with your mom before work, but can't put the book down, even though you were "only going to read for 10 minutes" in bed - I am tiiiiiiiiiiiired today!

Wow:

have I only read/finished one book in the last week?  I know I started The Indian Bride on the bus one night, and have spent a few hours before bed with something else, but still...
In any case, I DID finish Graham Moore's The Sherlockian. I'll be honest, I was disappointed.  It sounded cool (where I read about it, God knows - maybe another Harvard Bookstore newsletter), and the cover was appealing (worse, though, is the library's version, which has this enormous shiny - literally, reflects the light - red silhouette of a man in a deerstalker, and it actually hurts my eyes when the light bounces off the cover and into them just right/wrong).  It was fine - would have been decent plane reading if it had been available before my trip - but boring as sin.  And the two stories, of Arthur Conan Doyle and Bram Stoker trying to solve a murder, and a contemporary Irregular trying to solve the murder of a man who supposedly found A.C.D.'s diary from the same year, don't mesh all that well.  I am sure it is incredibly hard to do the whole two-time-periods-in-the-same-book thing, but I think they need to sort of twine around each other, not just run parallel.  And these stories don't, in my opinion.  And, really, the whole conceit of looking back in time was just waaaaay over-played - I mean, okay, a joke about how A.C.D. feels bad that Bram Stoker's silly novel about undead creatures and "Count Something-or-Other" will never amount to anything?  I get that it's not inaccurate, but it's certainly not funny either.  WE ALL GET IT.  I guess that was how I felt about a lot of the book - we get it.  It is, seriously, elementary.  Oh, well - as always, I should say (and do believe) that it's wicked easy for those that can't to criticise.  I am sure it's a delightful book, and that I couldn't do any better.  Etc.  Did make me want to go read more A.C.D. in general, and Holmes in particular.  Also learn more about Oscar Wilde.

In Withdrawal...

for E. and Washington, D.C.  Had the most amazing weekend - as every weekend there, and with her, is - and now I'm having trouble settling back into the freezing cold, up early for work, drinking coffee and not mimosas in the morning life.

However, unlike most of the flights back, I actually wasn't totally depressed while on the plane, because the one benefit to heading home was I got to get back into the book I was reading on the flight down: Lev Grossman's The Magicians.  I have a ton of work to catch up on, and I'm clearly not moving fast (E & I may have taken some time to enjoy ourselves & relax, but we still rolled pretty hard this weekend, and I am exhausted today), but I will jot down a few quick notes and then take the lazy-girl's route and throw in a couple links to what other people have said about the book.

For starters, I don't really remember how this one ended up on my list (I think maybe it was in one of the Harvard Bookstore monthly fliers?), but I am really glad it did.  It's essentially an homage to C.S. Lewis, loving but jaded and critical, and some of the other teenagers + fantasy usual suspects.  Since the main character is a kid who gets whisked away to a school for magicians, the obvious parallel is J.K. Rowling and Harry Potter (although way less twee and annoying, and way darker - not just hints at "big themes," but sex, drugs, and alcohol, if not rock and roll).

I think the Narnia references are the deeper and more pertinent ones, though - the boy's favorite books growing up, which he learns may or may not be based in reality, are a pentalogy of childrens/young adults novels about several siblings who get pulled in and out of a magical land as they are needed to perform various feats and quests where talking mice sail ships and bunnies drink tea.  Oh, and the only way to get you there under your own steam is by jumping in and out of ponds in a sort of deserted ante-chamber world, with the right rings...er, BUTTONS...in hand... 

Sounds so derivative, but it's not.  On the one hand, clearly you need to love the Lewis series, and the whole "teenagers fight evil with magic" genre to even start this project (and know them back and forth), but there's also a darker, snarky, and ultimately rather depressing side to the whole book - it's like when you grow up and first realize your parents are just as flawed as any one else in the world.  It's not that you don't love them, but you've seen the other side, and the original innocence doesn't come back.  When magic doesn't ultimately solve any of the protagonist's problems, any of the worlds described in the book look infinitely uglier, no matter what the enchantments.

This is already too long...okay, obviously some Tolkien in the stew, as well, although not much, maybe a whiff of Susan Cooper?  I kept almost seeing it, but then I wasn't sure if I was making it up - certainly it would be a bigger stretch than the others.  Basically, if the book were chicken soup, the broth is Rowling, the chicken, carrots, and onions are Lewis, Tolkien is the celery, and Cooper would be the rosemary, or the garlic - just a hint of a taste, if it's even there at all (of course, in this book as in soup, if it's not, it should have been).

Only other major point would probably be that I finished it and went "huh?" - towards the end I thought there was no way it would be wrapped up, and that it must have a sequel, then Grossman whipped up all the loose ends, and then in the last pages introduced a new-ish direction, and re-introduced a character, which threw me.  No longer, though, as when I googled the book this morning, Wikipedia informed me that a sequel has been written and will be published this fall.  Which makes MUCH more sense, and I will definitely read it.  Also, just as a side note, not only did I enjoy the book enough to look it up online, I then read two reviews, from the Times and the Onion:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/13/books/review/Agger-t.html

http://www.avclub.com//articles/lev-grossman-the-magicians,31495/

Finally - I liked Grossman's writing.  It was a bit uneven, and I think he occasionally tried to make the story "edgier" by throwing in coarser scenes, language (his, not the characters'), and dialogue, which was a little off-putting (just because I didn't think he needed to try that hard), but over all comfortable and confident with his characters and story.  The Times reviewer (I think it was that review) suggested the characters were a little too obvious and one-dimensional, but I don't really agree - there is a difference between enlarging and expanding on a type, and adding nuance, which makes sense in a book that is SO referential, and just relying on stock characters.

Interesting article on editing in the Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/feb/11/lost-art-editing-books-publishing

Cleaning house

I was looking for something to read on the plane to/from DC Fri/Mon (WHOO!) and realized some of the books I have on my "to read(?)" lists I've actually already read, so:

Making Haste from Babylon: the Mayflower Pilgrims and Their World, Nick Bunker, 2010.  Really enjoyed this one; had been meaning to read it for a while, and then had to read it for work when we got to the chapter on the Pilgrims.  Good stuff.  A lot of wandering around in the hedges & stopping to smell the flowers (literally - Bunker loves to set a scene by getting down into the weeds, and giving detailed descriptions of the local flora & fauna), but very informative, and I kind of liked that it was pretty wide-ranging and not super focused.  A LOT of information, but not at all scholarly or academic, in a good way - I think it's very accessible for non-historians, although it could be a bit dry, I guess...I didn't think so, but I know I am not the normal non-academic audience either.  More English history than American, by far; this is very much about the background in England (and Leiden) of the Pilgrims, and really has nothing much to say about what went on over on this side of the pond.  Lots to say about English politics, religious disputes, and social life, though.  I'd assign it in an undergrad English history class, only an advanced or grad class on the Pilgrims specifically, if the imaginary class were operating out of an American history department.

late might not be better than ever

But in any case,  a while ago I read Cereus Blooms at Night, by Shani Mootoo; enjoyed the story & characters quite a bit (imaginative and unique, but believably familiar at the same time, if that makes sense.  The dialogue irritated me, though - literally, almost, in so far as it didn't make me angry as much as it sort of chafed at my brain and mental ear...  Mootoo, who I think is from Trinidad (already returned the book, and am too lazy to look it up) & sets the story in a imaginary West Indian place, attempts to replicate a...general West Indian patois?  I have no idea if it's even authentic or not, but it comes and goes willy-nilly, and when it comes, it feels forces.  Perhaps if it had been more consistent it wouldn't have bugged me so much, but it just didn't seem like it fit.  The post-colonial and gender/sexual identity issues, on the other hand, were handled lightly and gracefully, and were an absolute delight.  I see now that she has some other books, and I think I would definitely read one or more of them...
I would also maybe read more by Claire Harman, author of Jane's Fame: How Jane Austen Conquered the World - a bit on the light side, to be sure, but interesting.  Harman traces Austen's early writing and publishing attempts, and how her cult was slowly (well, in fits and starts, some very, very fast) grown over the years.  Very chatty tone; I think I would have preferred something a bit more scholarly, but it worked well for pre-bed reading.  Another small complaint would be that she references a lot of images not all of which are reproduced in the book, so some of them are kind of hard to picture, but I suppose there may have been prohibitive costs associated with some of the images.  My fingers are too cold to type more about it, but it was fun, in any case - and gratifying to know how many super smart people think she's nifty...
Additionally, I finally learned more about the most deliciously "cheeky experiment" (thank you, Guardian, that wouldn't get said in an American paper), in which someone tried to get only barely-disguised versions of Austen's books published, and was rather soundly rejected: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2007/jul/19/books.booksnews.  I HAVE to think that a lot of the rejections were because the books were so obviously Austen's classics, even if the letters didn't say so - one imagines the manuscript was picked up, a page or two was read, and it was immediately dumped in the "no way in Hell pile" where it was later picked up by another person entirely, who wrote a bland rejection letter without reading the mss.  At least, I hope that's what happened!

Also fun (for me, anyhow), but MUCH more scholarly was Susan Hardman Moore's Pilgrims: New World Settlers and the Call of Home, which I've been wanting to read for a while, and then had to read for work, so that worked out.  Really interesting book about the Puritans (and others) who went to Massachusetts / New England in the 1630s and 40s and then ended up going back to England.  The strength of the book definitely lies in her case studies, where she follows the lives of individuals who came over and then returned.  She's weaker on the math: there aren't all that many numbers, and the ones she has start to fall apart a little when you get into how she arrived at them.  Still, excellent work for what it is, if not what it aims to be.

More books, Pt. 2

Can NOT say the same (see Kate Morton entry, below) for the latest Tasha Alexander "Lady Emily" mystery, Dangerous to Know.  I think I picked up the first book in the series, And Only to Deceive) used or something, cheap paperback for sure, maybe before a trip?  And I enjoyed it; not the most original or brilliant book, but I liked it, and it was fun, in that "independent before her (Victorian) time" genre.  I know I read the second and third ones, but I don't really remember them; I guess they were fine enough, though, because as I recall (and as I could check in this blog, I think - go, online record keeping!) I was kind of itching to get the fourth in the series, Tears of Pearl, when it came out.  Also don't remember much about what I thought of it, except that I knew the next book would be demoted to a lower-anticipation-level.  And now I'm done.  This most recent book was a fine, if workman-like affair, but I'm over it.  Neither the characters nor the plot really held me at all, and while I wouldn't say I will never read another book starring Lady Emily and Colin,  I have no desire to seek the next one out.


The other book I got at the same time, and another entry in a series I've enjoyed in the past, fared better - A Stranger in Mayfair, by Charles Finch.   I liked the other three books in the series; again, nothing super new here, I am sure there is a massive library of Victorian gentleman / amateur detective books, but there are several nicely delineated characters, in addition to the hero, and I appreciated that they were all developed over the course of the series.  My issue with this book is that it was just so f***ing obvious from very early on who the killer was, so it was a little boring as far as the mystery.  And while there were some momentous (and gratifying) events in the main characters' lives, no significant character development.  But it was a fun read - I started it a little before 5:00 a.m. this moring, before going to bed, and then read it on and off (mostly on) throughout the rest of the day, finishing around 4:00 p.m. (it's a slim volume, obviously).  Good for a not hungover, but sleepy, kinda cold, under the covers sort of day.  And no gratuitous sex, thank God, so I may recommend it to my dad - I gave him the first two books to read when I finished them (I had bought them; this one and the last I got from the library.)
And....that's it.  That's what I've been reading the last week and a half or so.  I think - can't think of anything else I might have missed, anyhow.  I've been super busy with work, both jobs, so I imagine that's all of them.

More books, Pt. 1

Tired today (went to bed at 5:00 a.m., woke up at 10:30), so just the basics, so I can get rid of the pile of books under my desk...

Last Wednesday (Wed. before last?  1/12/11) I finished Valerio Massimo Manfredi's The Ides of March.  Enjoyed it, but definitely wasn't blown away.  As I recall, I read about this book, or possibly another one by the same author, in one of the Harvard Bookstore monthly newsletters, and was captivated by the awesomeness of the the name "Valerio Massimo Manfredi."  The book is interesting, a run down of the last day's before Ceasar's assasination, but I wasn't so impressed with the plot or writing (granted, it's a translation) that I would read another of Valerio Massimo Manfredi's other books. 
Then I picked back up a novel by Fiona Mountain (another great name) that I had abandoned weeks, if not longer, before and forgotten about - Lady of the Butterflies, a historical romance - I guess - inspired by the real Eleanor Glanville who was a Restoration-era entomologist.  I don't remember what made me request the book from deposit, but I do remember being totally embarassed when I checked it out, the cover of this particular edition being so freaking cheesy.  I read a couple chapters (in December, maybe?) and then put it aside until I stumbled across it after finishing The Ides of March and needing something else to read because I couldn't sleep.  Overall, I was really not a fan, and don't think I will read one of Ms. Mountain's books again.  I will say, I think she did a nice job of describing life in rural England, and London, from 1662 to 1695 - all the mud and muck and filth, the anxious neighbors of dawning reason and science with slow-to-die superstitions.  Even the politics, ever-present but frequently serving only as backdrop, or catalyst, for local and personal turmoil, was somewhat realistic.  But the story was just ridiculous.  Overwrought drama and romance and danger, with what seemed to me like clumsily interlaced sex scenes.  Mostly I think my issue was just that I kept wanting to shake all the characters and make them talk to each other.  I realize some of that is the time the book is set in, but Mountain goes out of her way to create a heroine, and some other characters, who are open-minded, advanced, and like to taaaaaaaalk, so it was frustrating when they just didn't talk to one another honestly and get on with their lives, without all the soap opera nonsense kicking in.  I didn't realize until the end of the book, when I reached the historical note, that Eleanor Glanville was a real person, and that some of the drama was real, so I suppose I should cut Mountain a little slack, but mostly it just makes me want to go read the actual biographies of the woman.  I did notice that Mountain referred to some very decent historical works (including David Cressy) in her acknowledgements, which also makes me feel a little more kindly towards her, if not towards the story.
Of course, I didn't enjoy the story so much that I didn't happily put it down when Kate Morton's The Distant Hours came into my hot little hands!  The two readers of this blog will know that I was a huge fan of her earlier books, The Forgotten Garden and The Shifting Fog (which I read when it was called The House at Riverton).  While in the end I don't think I liked this one as much as those two, I still really, really enjoyed it.  A whopping 497 pages (and hardcover!), I just poured myself into it.  It seems clear that Morton is stuck on the idea of two stories unfolding side by side, as the characters in the present seek to unravel the secrets of the past, but then device works for her, so I have no problem with her staying with it (God, that sounds pretentious!).  In this case a daughter in present(ish) day London sttumbles across her mother's hither-to secret time spent during World War II in a country house filled with loving (more or less) but strange characters - including the reclusive and mysterious author of a massively popular and influential horror story for children, which the protagonist fell in love with as a child.  From then on, the two stories circle around and through each other, with all the different plots and secrets tangling and untangling.  So - not my favorite of Morton's books, but still a great book, and I am just as eager as ever for her next one to come out.