Poe Fridays: Bridal Ballad

This week's Poe Fridays selection was the poem Bridal Ballad.

The ring is on my hand,
And the wreath is on my brow;
Satins and jewels grand
Are all at my command,
And I am happy now.

And my lord he loves me well;
But, when first he breathed his vow,
I felt my bosom swell--
For the words rang as a knell,
And the voice seemed his who fell
In the battle down the dell,
And who is happy now.

But he spoke to reassure me,
And he kissed my pallid brow,
While a reverie came o'er me,
And to the churchyard bore me,
And I sighed to him before me,
Thinking him dead D'Elormie,
"Oh, I am happy now!"

And thus the words were spoken,
And thus the plighted vow,
And, though my faith be broken,
And, though my heart be broken,
Behold the golden token
That proves me happy now!

Would God I could awaken!
For I dream I know not how,
And my soul is sorely shaken
Lest an evil step be taken,--
Lest the dead who is forsaken
May not be happy now.

I didn't really understand this poem the first time through so I had to go do a little research and it clarified the situation for me. This is the poem of a woman who has married after her first lover died in battle. She feels she has betrayed him and is worried that her infidelity to their eternal love will make his soul unhappy. Yet she wants to be happy with her husband because he is kind and wealthy. Apparently this poem is unique in that Poe wrote in a woman's voice (which he almost never did) but I think really it's just his voice. I also found the amusing fact that a few different people called Poe out on the cheesy made up name "D'Elormie" which he obviously needed for the rhyme. Anyway, I really liked this poem and the angst of it. I think it's not so far-fetched.

I think for the next Poe Fridays short story, I will choose Mesmeric Revelation. I can't remember if it's more of a treatise on mesmerism (sort of like the diddling "story") or if there is an actual plot.

Feeling pity for the poor woman,
K

New Release: An Edible History of Humanity

I'm not sure what I was expecting from Tom Standage's An Edible History of Humanity. It would definitely be a good choice as required reading for a basic cultural anthropology class but for the average reader, it may be a bit dry. Perhaps I should have read his book on beverages at the same time! Ahh ... food humor.

This book begins with a description of hunter/gatherer societies and the human interactions that were typical in this sort of structure. Then it moves on to cultivation of grains and the creation of farm-based cultures. Soon, we have societies that travel to obtain more desirable goods from foreign lands. And finally, we have the struggles of the modern day societies to feed their entire populations. There are, of course, extensive historical examples and anecdotes to illustrate the progression of humankind and its relationship with food.

To be honest, I read about the first fifty pages of the book and then skimmed the rest. It just wasn't the right book choice to get my mind off of this sweltering summer heat. I will definitely hang on to it though and finish it at another time. It's obvious that Standage did comprehensive research and he does a good job of giving a global perspective with examples from many different cultures. I would say that if you have taken any anthropology courses or if you watch the History Channel, you have already probably been exposed to the concepts that he presents in this book. There didn't seem to be any revolutionary ideas here but it's interesting nonetheless and deserves a look if you're interested in this topic.

Heading out for a burger,
K


Support our site and buy An Edible History of Humanity on Amazon or find it at your local library.

Some More Book Shopping

Oh Half Price Books ... why must you send me 40 and 50 percent coupons when I already have a large TBR pile?

Recently, I acquired these books at very reasonable prices --

First, a hardcover of The Monsters: Mary Shelley and the Curse of Frankenstein by Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler, a look at the life of Mary Godwin (later Mary Shelley) and the night that a house party spawned the world's most well-known monster. This is the same writing duo as The Crimes of Paris which I thought was well researched and executed. We all know that I'm a huge Frankenstein fan as well.

Then a hardcover of Icelander by Dustin Long, a surreal mystery told by multiple narrators and set in Iceland. I remembered hearing about this book but I have no idea if it was supposed to be good or not. I just loved the cover and I love Iceland.

I got a paperback Oxford copy of Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell, the classic tale of strong women and their influence on an entire community. I watched the miniseries when it was on and really loved the characters so I can't wait to read this book. It's also on the 1001 Books to Read Before You Die list.

Finally, I found Ghost Stories by Muriel Spark, a collection of, obviously, eight ghost stories that I plan on reading in the fall. One of these stories is in the Roald Dahl ghost story collection that I reviewed last fall and I really liked it so I have high hopes for this one.

Z got Sharks (Eyewitness Books) because little boys love sharks and Paddington Treasury by Michael Bond because the day that kids stop growing up knowing about Paddington Bear is a sad, sad day.

Always on the lookout for books,
K and Z

Early Review: Of Bees and Mist

I have read a few debut novels this year and Erick Setiawan's may be the best of them all. Of Bees and Mist is set in an unknown place with a fantastical reality that is scary and powerful but ultimately just.

After growing up in a home where her parents animosity toward each other literally makes her nearly invisible, Meridia finally comes into her own outside her home and falls in love. Little does she know that Daniel's family has their own palpable magic -- that of misery and oppression. As Meridia tries to keep her own new family together, she must learn to overpower the magic and also learn the secrets of the past. I can't say much more without this becoming too complex or giving anything away so just believe me that this is a well-formed reality.

This novel has a unique concept of emotion being channeled magically into tangible manifestations -- swarms of bees, impenetrable clouds, a yard of sentient flowers. It took a little bit of time to understand and embrace this alternate world but, once in it, it was easy to follow. There are so many different types of relationships explored in this novel -- parent/child, spouses, in-laws, siblings and even friendships. All of these things make Meridia who she is but also give her insight into who she wants to become. She is a strong and smart character that makes difficult decisions. I really enjoyed this book for being inventive and unique and fairly satisfying in the resolutions of its many story lines.

This novel releases next week on August 4th.

Wondering what my emotions would manifest as,
K


Support our site and buy Of Bees and Mist on Amazon or find it at your local library.

"Emmy was a good girl."

Some book titles are irresistible like Lynne Jonell's Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat. I had to read this book! Z also had an interest in this book but not because of the title. He found the "art" by Jonathan Bean -- a flip-book type illustration through all the pages of a rat falling out of a tree.

Emmy is a young girl who had a happy life with her parents, living above the bookstore they owned, until they inherited money and a mansion from a distant uncle. Along with the mansion came a nanny, Miss Barmy. Emmy's parents start traveling incessantly and neglecting her and Barmy becomes Emmy's main caretaker. She has strange home remedies for Emmy's non-existent health problems and insists Emmy visits the school psychologist regularly for non-existent mental problems. However, Emmy is a good girl and and doesn't question any of this. She also doesn't question that nobody in her class seems to notice her even though she is an A+ student. The only one that seems to notice her is the classroom rat, Rat. He notices her so much that one day he speaks to her. This is the start of an incredible adventure that reveals some hidden truths, some bad magic and some true friendship.

This was a an inventive and amusing book. The writing is a bit simple but the plot keeps you moving forward. Emmy is really likable and smart. There is a sequel to this book, Emmy and the Home for Troubled Girls, that I will definitely look for.

Living in a world with no magical rats,
K


Support this site and buy Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat on Amazon or find it at your local library.

Why Do You Own Books?

I saw this post recently on Maw Books Blog where Natasha admitted that she is not a re-reader but owns many, many books anyway. I was a bit surprised but even more so when going through the comment section and seeing how many people admitted to being the same or, even further, owning ridiculous amounts of books that they hadn't even read once. Comments like these shocked me --

"About 95% of the books I own haven’t been read."

Eek! I understand having a selection of unread books for different moods but this just seems ridiculous unless they own ten books and haven't read nine and a half of them. ::wink::

I have said it before but I consider most of my books as entertainment in the same way that I think of movies. Would I ever buy a DVD to watch it once and then just enjoy seeing it sit on the shelf? No way! So why would I do that with a book? And even better than a movie, the entertainment of a book can last for days! If I don't like a book, I don't keep it. And I'm even getting better about borrowing books from the library first instead of buying them unless I'm sure they will be keepers. If I love a book after I've read it at the library, I then put it on a mental list to buy at some point -- probably the point that I want to re-read it.
The way I see it, books are decorative but they aren't for decoration. Books are meant to be read. Otherwise, you're just a hoarder. What's the difference if you have a house full of old newspapers that you will never read again or craft kits that you will never assemble? Nothing. They're just there to satisfy some superficial need but they don't enrich your mind or your soul.

So my challenge to you non-re-readers is to head over to your shelves and find a book that you remember fondly. Pull it down ... and read it! Maybe you don't love it anymore or maybe you love it for entirely different reasons. How will you ever know if you don't read it again? If you do this, come back and comment on your re-read experience. If you are already a re-reader, help me convince the others why it's fun and exciting to revisit a book.

Looking fondly at my disintegrating books and those waiting to disintegrate,
K

Poe Fridays: Morella

This week's Poe Friday selection was the short story Morella. It's rather short so go ahead and give it a quick read here!

The narrator tells us of his great friend, Morella, a young woman who he married despite never loving her. She however was entirely devoted to him. They would spend their days discussing philosophy which she was especially interested in. Eventually though, the narrator loses his interest in these bizarre topics and starts to turn his thoughts against Morella. She becomes ill and wastes away for many months and he grows impatient waiting for her death. When that day finally comes, she speaks her enigmatic last words -- "I am dying, yet shall I live." After she sighs her last breath, a daughter is born alive. This girl grows abnormally fast, both physically and mentally. She is the spitting image of her mother and even says things in the exact way that Morella did. Time has passed and the narrator finally decides to get his daughter baptized and give her a name. Up until now he has simply called her "my child" or "my love". So, in the church, he is going through all of the glorious names he can think of but for some reason he speaks a terrible name to the priest -- Morella. At this word, the girl (or the spirit in the girl) must take its rightful place and so she drops dead. When the narrator takes her to be buried in the same place as her mother, he finds no previous body there.

Well, here is our return to the stereotypical Poe story. This is exactly what one expects from the horror master -- unrequited love, death and a wandering spirit. This wasn't my favorite story though. There were some strange tangents with the philosophy and the kid part was a little too creepy.

Next on our Poe Fridays journey, let's read the poem Bridal Ballad.

Glad that Z does not creep me out,
K

Book Blogger Appreciation Week

Book Blogger Appreciation Week is September 14-18. It will include themed posts, giveaways and tons of other fun. Head over to the official site to nominate your favorite blogs in all sorts of fun categories. Feel free to include We Be Reading in your nominations!

Preparing to appreciate my fellow book bloggers,
K

"Heavy steps crisscrossed overhead."

One of the books that I bought recently in Barnes and Noble's big clearance sale based mainly on the cover image was Hippolyte's Island by Barbara Hodgson. This is billed as an illustrated novel but not in the way you might imagine. The first half of this book is the travelogue of a journey of exploration, including sketches, charts, maps, photographs and other related things.

It's difficult to summarize this book in a way that doesn't sound completely boring but to me it really wasn't. It's the story of Hippolyte Webb, a man in his late thirties who has so far in life traveled only in the Northern Hemisphere. He started a travel magazine and has written various travel articles. Now, though, he's bored. So he takes his rickety old globe whose two halves have shifted a bit and draws a line from Vancouver due south and ends up in the South Atlantic. His line goes right through three small, unlabeled dots between the Falkland Islands and South Georgia Island. He starts searching old maps and finds a few that name these islands -- The Auroras. Hippolyte becomes obsessed with the Auroras and decides to travel there. He takes sailing classes, secures an advance for a book about his journey and heads through South America down to the Falklands. From there he charters a boat and sets off toward what he believes are the coordinates of these mysterious islands. He records his experiences and at the end of the month-long journey returns home to write his book.

The second half of the novel is about Hippolyte's experiences with the publishing house and the editor that is assigned to him. I don't want to talk too much about this part because things that are revealed in it make you question what you were told in the first half of the book. This part is about belief, trust and emotion.

This book was interesting and different. I really enjoyed the natural history parts of the story but I know that some people might find them dull or hard to understand. There are also a decent amount of sailing terms and descriptions that I know nothing about but I took it as a chance to learn something new. If you are feeling adventurous and want to try a different sort of novel, you might want to take a trip to Hippolyte's Island.

Wishing I didn't get seasick,
K


This book is out of print so you will need to find it used or at your local library.

Not A Post

Antoinette Portis understands the minds of children. What could be more fascinating to a child than the most mundane objects. Why? Because they have the potential to be anything at all. In her first book, Not A Box, a little bunny has adventures in a cardboard box. Each time his parent questions why he would be playing in a box, he tells them simply "it's not a box". Then there is an illustration of what the bunny is imagining. First it's a racecar, then a mountain peak. It becomes many different things in the mind of the bunny and everything is fun and exciting. Finally he has to give it a name and he calls it his "Not-a-Box". The illustrations are simple line drawings that even leave some of the imagining up to the reader. It's got a fresh look with bright colors and the ability to get a child thinking out of the box, so to speak.

Portis followed this book up with the similar Not A Stick. This one has a little different premise in that the parent is worried about the little piglet playing with the stick. But each time they say "be careful with the stick" or something similar, the piglet says "it's not a stick". This one is a bit more predictable with the stick being a sword, a fishing pole and other typical kid props. Still, it's his "not-a-stick" and he has infinite amounts of fun with it.

Of course, with a five year old boy, I've experienced these books first hand and I love that it's something that Z can really relate to. He loved shouting out what each imaginary situation was. He also liked the simply drawn animals. After we read the book, we talked about some other things that a box or a stick could be. I loved this chance to turn our reading into a conversation and imagination session! These are great books for about three to six year olds.

It's not a couch, it's a lounge chair on a Maui beach,
K and Z


Support our site and buy Not a Box and Not a Stick on Amazon or find them at your local library.

Book v. Movie: Inkheart

First in a trilogy, followed by Inkspell and Inkdeath, Inkheart by Cornelia Funke is everything I love in a children's fantasy book. She writes of fear and hope, bravery and cowardice, humor and sadness, imagination and reality -- all without any gore.

Meggie is a twelve year old who has literally lost her mother. When she was three years old, her mother disappeared under circumstances that her father, Mo, keeps to himself. Mo repairs old books and they move and travel pretty constantly. One night Meggie looks out the window of their farmhouse to find a strange, disheveled man looking back in at her. She tells Mo and he actually invites the man in, calling him Dustfinger. Dustfinger calls him Silvertongue. Meggie tries to find out what this could be about but only overhears part of their conversation about someone named Capricorn who has sent men after them to get something he wants from Mo. Meggie asks her dad what this is about but he isn't ready to tell her yet. Instead, they travel to Italy to her aunt Elinor's house. There Meggie finds out--again by spying--that the item that Capricorn wants is a book called Inkheart. Unfortunately, Capricorn's men find them there and they must fight for their freedom and their lives.

I loved this book and am a bit annoyed that I didn't pick it up until now. The pacing and suspense in the book were really well done. I was tense during escape attempts and ecstatic when something goes right for Meggie. This book is written for an older child but I think it works well for all ages above that. The writing doesn't seem like it was especially directed toward a young audience except for the quick pace and relatively short descriptive passages.

Now, as this is a book versus movie post, I will tell you about Inkheart the movie. As a film, it's acceptable. The special effects were done well and Helen Mirren, Jim Broadbent and Andy Sirkis did fantastic jobs with their roles. But as a retelling of this fantastic book, it's terrible. It does all of the things wrong that the Harry Potter movies have done right. How could they take an ultimate villain and make him a henchman? How could they take the real evil henchman and turn him into comic relief? How could they turn a willful but innocent young woman into a murderer? How could they turn a misguided but heartbroken rogue into a milquetoast family man? This movie did something that it's difficult to do -- it made me angry at the many ways that they distorted and ruined the book. I'm not a big stickler for book/movie syncing because I know how difficult it can be to translate every scene to the big screen. However, the spirit of the book should be projected and the characters that they use should be true to the book as well. This did not happen with Inkheart.

Verdict: If you read the book, which I highly recommend, then DO NOT watch the movie. It's really quite bad.

I read this book and watched the movie together for Jenners' Take a Chance Challenge. I had originally planned on a different pair (Portrait of a Lady by Henry James) but have had my eye on Inkheart for a couple of years so I took a chance and got the book and DVD. I will definitely read the next books in the series and probably many more of Cornelia Funke's books but I hope to never see the movie again. Luckily, they didn't actually seem to leave the story in a way that they could finish the trilogy of movies.

Wondering what book I would bring to life,
K


Support our site and buy Inkheart (the book) on Amazon or find it at your local library.

Are You In Control?

So, last night ... wait, let me be more accurate ...

So, in the wee hours of this morning, I started wondering if I am in control of my reading. I know that I have a kid that gets up at a certain time and yet, there I was, finishing a book when I should have been sleeping. Of course I've been doing this even before he was born. When I read a compelling book, I just can't set it down. This happens a lot with youth fiction -- probably because they are always moving forward the narrative and you feel like you are stopping right before they serve up some juicy tidbit. More than once I have decided to read before bed only to find myself many hours later watching Harry walk back into the house at Privet Drive for the summer holidays. Sometimes I will close the book at a late but acceptable hour and then lie awake in bed, wondering about the story, until I sneak out to the couch and flick on the light and dive back in.

Is this a common problem? Do you also find yourself at four in the morning, closing the book after the last page and falling asleep exhausted but satisfied? Or am I not in control?

Suffering from my nocturnal habits,
K

Poe Fridays: The Devil in the Belfry

This week's Poe Fridays short story is The Devil in the Belfry. If you haven't read it yet, you can find it online here.

This was a strange little story (is there any other kind with Poe?) about a tiny Swiss town called Vondervotteimittiss. This town exists in a small circular valley and has remained the same for as long as anyone can remember. Everyone lives in identical little houses and they all look the same. They focus their lives on two things -- cabbages for sauerkraut and timepieces. Their pride and joy is the large seven-sided clock tower in the center of town. It sets the pace of their lives. One day, a strange man comes to town and basically destroys the entire place by doing one thing ... making the clock strike thirteen times at noon. This throws the whole town into turmoil and the narrator asks if anyone is willing to go to the town to set things straight.

This was a very odd one indeed. It was amusing it its descriptions of a strange little town that is truly out of time. The only action in the story is in the last few paragraphs. Poe's stories are usually slow starters but this one almost never got going. I'm not really sure what the point or moral would be either. I am really interested to hear the other reactions out there to this one!

I think I need something a little more concrete for next week so let's do the short story Morella.

Letting go of my time obsession a bit,
K

"When Runner Coghill fell through the ceiling, she interrupted what we can only call a domestic quarrel."

I submit to you three summaries/reviews of Sean Dixon's The Last Days of the Lacuna Cabal in verse -- haiku, limerick and free verse. I am most definitely not a poet so this is obviously part of a challenge!

***
A group of women,
From a story they seek hope
They find self instead.
***

***
There was a book club in Montreal
One fragile member took a fall.
They read ancient tales
And ranted against males
And had a strange time one and all.
***

***
A young women's book club with an identity crisis --
A member who isn't young and one who pretends to be female,
A little brother constantly around and
Two men who are recruited unwillingly.
Something is not right.

A member has died, dynamics have changed.
Her twin sister manifests the illness
And wins the group over to a story
Written on ten stone tablets from ancient times.
Someone wants control.

The story is translated but the group needs more,
To see the actions portrayed in the real world.
Some unwitting victims are brought into the fold,
One looking for love and the other for identity.
Some lines are crossed.

Things go wrong and feelings are hurt.
Two members leave and the others embark on improbable journeys.
A robot leads the way, searching for the boy.
Everyone discovers who they ought to be.
Somehow it works out.
***

The idea for the poetic review comes from Jenners' Take a Chance Challenge. I didn't think I was going to participate in this one but this book really lent itself to a bit of creativity. It would have been just as difficult to write a regular review post for this novel! When I started the book, I thought that I wouldn't end up liking it. However, Dixon's plot kept me curious as to what would happen with this group and I stuck with it. Once I completed the book, I was able to appreciate it for the whole. I enjoyed the Canadian setting and the variety of personalities. This novel apparently started out as a play and I definitely think it has a staged feeling to it. This is one of those books that is hard to categorize and must just be read to be understood!

Avoiding the book club drama,
K


Support this site and buy The Last Days of the Lacuna Cabal on Amazon or find it at your local library.

Book Unfinished: Gaia Girls Way of Water

While my first book for the Take a Chance Challenge worked out incredibly well (Judge a Book By Its Cover), my book for Phoning an Author was pretty much the opposite. I had major problems with my selected book and decided to quit reading it after 96 pages.

Phoning An Author. Pick a random last name out of the phone book. Find an author with the same last name and read a book by them. Write about it. (I'm flexible ... if the first random name you pick is Xprxyrsss, you can pick again!)

As I explained in my original challenge post, in this internet age we no longer keep a phone book in the house so I got out the only other book I had with lists of names, my AMC Classic Movie Companion. I went to the actor list at the end and randomly selected Orson Welles. From this I looked and found Gaia Girls Way of Water, the second book in Lee Welles' pre-teen Gaia Girls series. I liked the cover and illustrations and with my marine zoology background, I thought it would be right up my alley. I was also interested to read a book set in Japan. However, there were aspects of this book that bothered me to the point that I lost interest and that would also keep me from wanting a child of mine to read this book.

This is the story of Miho, a ten year old Japanese-American daughter of whale biologists who are lost at sea. Her only family is her mother's brother in Japan and so she sets off to a country where she holds citizenship but knows nobody and close to nothing about their culture. Despite her hopes, she finds her uncle to be unfriendly and inattentive. When they take a trip to his childhood home for O-bon, the festival for the dead, Miho has strange visitations from an otter claiming to be Gaia, the earth spirit.

And this was as far as I got because I couldn't stand it any longer. The plot was fine up to this point and the descriptions of the ocean and its inhabitants were well written. My main problem was with the portrayal of the Japanese in the story. Not only were they almost all rude, starting with the flight attendants who made fun of her in Japanese to her face, but the author actually wrote in that stereotypical Japanese-speaking-English way that comedians use. For example, an old man says "No spoke Engrish for ... long time". Yes ... "Engrish". This was incredibly irritating and would be the main reason why I would keep this book away from my child. I don't want the Japanese English pronunciation stereotype being brought to my kid's attention and being presented as the standard.

My next problem was the anti-smoking message. Now, don't get me wrong, I am strongly anti-smoking and I will teach Z the reasons why choosing to smoke is a bad idea. However, this book repeats the message over and over to the point that it's distracting. Miho's uncle smokes and every single time he walks into a room she has to mention the smell that is on his clothes. Each time he pulls out a cigarette, the author calls it a "stinky stick" or gives some other negative description. I don't know the purpose of literally mentioning the smoking on almost every page the uncle is on.

Finally, there was just too much drama. Every time this kid hears or sees something she wasn't expecting, she gets weak in the knees, her legs get heavy or she stops breathing. This made sense when she was being chased by a shark at the beginning of the book but doesn't make as much sense when she merely sees a pod of dolphins in a bay or finds out she will be taking a ferry ride. This book also has a plethora of exclamation points and italics which are distracting and unnecessary.

I guess the point of the Take a Chance Challenge is to try something new without knowing if it will be good or bad. It didn't work out so well in this case but that's the chance part! I wouldn't have picked up this book otherwise but I might try another young reader book, even one with an environmental message. I wanted to like this book but I just didn't think it was very good.

Thinking about writing my own series,
K


Buy Gaia Girls Way of Water on Amazon or find it at your local library.

Reading Aloud

The other day, Neil Gaiman blogged a fantastic answer to a parent's question about reading aloud to his child.

Here's part of Brian's question --

"...I'm looking for some suggestions from a masterful book reader (you) to a very coarse book reader (me). How do you keep the character voices straight in your head? I suppose it helps that you know the words particularly well since you wrote them, but any tips or suggestions? Any other pointers for engaging the listener? I know my daughter doesn't mind (she still wants me to read, after all!), but I'd like to be better for her and for me."

And here is part of Mr. Gaiman's answer --

"Even at your worst, you're doing better than you would if you didn't do the voices, and kids are a mostly uncritical audience, especially if you do it with confidence.

Read it as if you're telling a story. Read it as if you're interested and you care. And, the biggest and most important one, vary the tune.
...
But mostly my advice is this: just do it. Enthusiasm and willingness to do it counts for most of it, and you learn by doing it and get better from doing it."

I highly recommend heading over and reading the entire answer as it is thoughtful and helpful and very positive. Thanks to Neil Gaiman for helping us be better readers!

Practicing my British accent for Neil's books,
K

"The night before he went to London, Richard Mayhew was not enjoying himself."

After reading Un Lun Dun, Eva of A Striped Armchair asked me to compare it to another alternate London story, Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere. I sadly hadn't read Neverwhere so I moved it to the front of my reading queue. It turned out to be a very fascinating contrast because although these two stories share a similar premise of a London Above and a London Below, the executions of these two stories are extremely different.

The main character of Neverwhere is Richard Mayhew, a Scotsman living a settled but uneventful life in London. One day, an injured girl appears on the ground in front of him while he is walking down the street. For no explainable reason, he takes her home to tend to her. While they are there, a pair of sinister men show up looking for her. Richard lies about her being there and, in fact, she seems to disappear during the time the men are there. He learns her name is Door and that she is not from the London he knows but rather a subterranean London, existing in the Underground tunnels and sewers. Door's family has been murdered and she is on a quest to find out who did it while avoiding the two evil men who are tracking her. When she is on her way again, Richard finds that he is no longer able to return to his old life. Something has changed and he has stopped existing in London Above. So he sets off to help Door in her quest in the hopes that she will find a way to get him restored to his life.

This story is unmistakably Gaiman -- filled with darkness and a strange sense of humor. It's an imagined world but it makes the fantastical seem mundane somehow. This is the opposite of Un Lun Dun in which everything seems magical. Mieville's novel seemed much more in the spirit of Alice in Wonderland where sometimes the nonsense is amusing and sometimes frightening. In Gaiman's world, everything is always frightening. Honestly, I think I prefer the lighter fantasy. I like to be taken away to a world that under at least some circumstances would be a pleasant place to visit. I would be terrified to find myself in London Below!

Strangely, the main characters of both novels willing choose to return to these worlds when their quests have ended -- one of them as a visitor and one as a permanent resident. We see this as well in the Wizard of Oz series when Dorothy returns to Oz, when Alice goes through the looking glass and when the Pevensie children return to Narnia. This would actually be a very interesting thesis topic -- why do these authors send their characters back willingly to alternate worlds where their lives were put in jeopardy?

Can anyone suggest other alternate London novels? I'm enjoying the comparison.

Content to visit the London we know,
K


Buy Neverwhere on Amazon or find it at your local library.

ABC Book Meme

Rebecca at Lost in Books started the ABC Book Meme --

For this meme, you list a favorite book that starts with each letter of the alphabet. If you don't have a book for a letter (such as Z or X) than you can substitute a favorite book that simply has that letter in the title (ex. The Lost City of Z or Hot Six by Janet Evanovich). However, you can only do this a maximum of 3 times. (Z, X, and Q. But not Z, X, Q, and V.) Books can be of any genre from fiction to non-fiction to poetry to textbooks.

Here's my go!

Armadale by Wilkie Collins
Brat Farrar by Josephine Tey
The Chronicles of Chrestomanci by Diana Wynne Jones
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Hamlet by William Shakespeare
The Island of the Day Before by Umberto Eco
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Kiki's Delivery Service by Eiko Kadono
Lady Audley's Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon
The Meaning of Night by Michael Cox
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
The Odyssey by Homer
Persuasion by Jane Austen
*The Mysterious Mr. Quin by Agatha Christie
Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien
Un Lun Dun by China Mieville
Villette by Charlotte Bronte
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
*The Double HeliX by James D. Watson
Year of the Griffin by Diana Wynne Jones
*Harry Potter and the Prisoner of AZkaban by J.K. Rowling

This was a great meme! Thanks Rebecca!

Wanting to read more of my TBR list to gain letters,
K

Poe Fridays: The Gold Bug

Our two week reading for Poe Fridays has been The Gold Bug. You can read it here if you haven't yet.

This is the longest story we've read so far but it was definitely one of the easiest and quickest! Some of the short stories (think "Why the Little Frenchman Wears His Hand in a Sling") took much longer to decipher. This is a straight-forward story about a treasure hunt, told by a first person narrator. The narrator has a friend who has retired to a very small island barely off the coast of South Carolina. One day he visits the friend who tells him about a unique beetle that he has found that appears to be made of gold. He doesn't have the beetle at the moment to show the narrator so instead he grabs a piece of paper from his pocket and draws a picture and hands it over. The narrator comments that the beetle looks exactly like a skull and hands back the paper. His friend looks at it again and becomes agitated. A month later, the narrator is contacted by his friend and asked to come help him on a short excursion. They end up in the middle of the island, digging in the soil until they come across a couple of skeletons and a treasure chest! The narrator then demands that his friend reveals how he came across the idea that treasure was buried in this place and we are treated to some more of Poe's fascination with detection skills.

This was yet another type of story from Poe. There were a few Gothic touches but overall it was an adventure story. The only issue I had with the story was the dialect assigned to the friend's black manservant. Poe definitely tends to overdo the stereotypical language styles of his non-white-American characters. The servant-- a freed slave --was also written to be quite stupid which was irritating from a modern perspective. It's hard to even excuse Poe based on the times. If you are sensitive to these sorts of portrayals, I would suggest skipping this story.

I've chosen the short story The Devil in the Belfry for next week. It is apparently about the Dutch and has some ridiculously spelled words in it but hopefully it's readable!

Hoping to come across my own treasure map,
K

Our One Year Blog-iversary!

Thank you to our Followers and Subscribers and all of the people who just stop by once in a while to see what we have to say about books and reading! We've had visitors from all fifty states now and seventy countries. Thank you to the person in Wyoming who finally clicked in!

When I started this blog last summer, I decided to give it one year. Now, just over 300 posts later, I'm excited about what we have contributed to the book blogging community. I feel like I am making progress on finding my voice and improving my blog writing style. Thank you for all of the comments and the sense of community. I'm looking forward to discovering more new authors, revisiting some old ones and exploring new books with Z as he gets another year older. I hope you all stick around on this fun book journey with us!

Of course, one of the awesome parts of blogging is getting a comment on something you write so I would just like to give some link love to our regular commenters ... thanks to each of you! If you haven't visited any of these fine bloggers yet, head on over.

Jenners of Find Your Next Book Here, Elizabeth of As Usual, I Need More Bookshelves, Tif of Tif Talks Books, Lenore of Presenting Lenore, Danielle of A Work in Progress, Eva of A Striped Armchair, Juxtabook, Robin of A Fondness for Reading, and the Corbett Family.

Happy reading in the year ahead,
K and Z

"It was the week following Easter in Reading, and no one could remember the last sunny day."

After reading the entire Thursday Next series multiple times, I still wanted to read more from Jasper Fforde. I was wary of the Nursery Crimes series because it seemed just a bit too silly and I didn't really understand how it could be executed well but after finding a hardcover version of the first book, The Big Over Easy, at an unbeatable price, I decided to give the series a go.

This book takes place somewhat in the same England that Thursday Next lives in. However, in Reading, besides the normal crimes and normal police force, there are also "nursery crimes", investigated and solved by the Nursery Crimes Division, currently headed by Detective Inspector Jack Spratt. These are such things as the murder of Mr. Wolff by the three little pigs and a "spinning-straw-into-gold scam" perpetrated by Rumplestiltskin. These people all function in normal society but tend to fulfill their nursery-rhyme-foretold destinies. The main crime in this story is the death of Humperdinck "Humpty" Dumpty. Did he fall or was he pushed? Why was he amassing stock in a footcare products company? Why were the ladies so attracted to an egg? Okay, so that question isn't answered in this book but I wish it had been!

It took a few chapters to acclimate to Fforde's created world but the story was quite interesting and I'm rather glad I finally decided to read this one. I don't think this is a series for everyone because it's a bit far-fetched and silly but at the same time it's hilarious and imaginative. Just like the Thursday Next series, this is definitely something different than anything you've read before. The second book in the series is The Fourth Bear, which I also happened to find in a hardcover at a reasonable price and will probably be reading soon.

Mother Goose was framed,
K


Buy The Big Over Easy: A Nursery Crime on Amazon or find it at your local library.

Mid-Year Review and Trip Pictures

Almost everyone seems to be looking at their six months stats so here are just a few of ours --

I read 66 books totaling 22,509 pages.
The Shadow of the Wind is my 1 re-read this year so far.
28 of the books I read were received specifically for review.
21 of the books I read were borrowed from the library.
20 of the books were classics or re-releases of older titles.
Out of 66, there were only 7 that I would not consider reading again.
13 of the books were youth or YA titles and 2 were non-fiction.
I can't wait to see how this changes over the next six months. I can't imagine not having more re-reads because I love to read books again!

And now, a couple of pictures from our holiday trip to San Juan Island, WA ...









(In order: Cattle Point, English Camp, Lime Kiln State Park, Lime Kiln Point Lighthouse)

Looking forward,
K

"I was leaning against the bar in a speakeasy on Fifty-second Street, waiting for Nora to finish her Christmas shopping ..."

A few years ago the husband and I discovered the Thin Man movies starring William Powell and Myrna Loy. We loved them for their wit and humor and also the strong detective stories. Powell and Loy are one of those classic Hollywood couples that have perfect on-screen chemistry. So when I was choosing books from the 1000 Books to Read Before You Die list, I knew that I would have to read the source, Dashiell Hammett's The Thin Man.

This classic detective story stars Nick Charles, a private detective turned businessman, his darling wife Nora and their terrier, Asta. They are visiting New York for their Christmas holiday and they get involved in a murder investigation due to Nick's former profession. A woman is murdered and her employer is missing. The employer's family is a trio of lunatics and those around them aren't much better. The mystery is strong in this story but what really stands out is the writing. It's incredibly simplistic and plot-driven but at the same time the characters are witty and smart--and usually tight (drunk).

I'm very glad to have read this book for the 1% Well-Read Challenge. It's an amusing look into 1930's culture with visits to the speakeasy, lots of burly cops and some unique slang. This is my fourth book to count toward the challenge and so far, between Rebecca, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Pride and Prejudice and this one, I think that this challenge is really worthwhile. These are books that have taken root in our social consciousness and reading them has given me a better understanding of our own culture. I can't wait to continue with my list!

Wondering if I could ever have a drink before breakfast,
K


Buy The Thin Man on Amazon or find it at your local library.

Let The Books Roll In

I'm away on vacation until later this afternoon so, in lieu of real content or beautiful pictures of San Juan Island (which I will post soon!), I thought I would just share some of my recent book acquisitions with you.

Last weekend I went out and bought Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman after reading Un Lun Dun. I can't wait to compare them!

I got an ARC from Penguin of Ice Land by Betsy Tobin. It seems like a mythical quest-type novel set in Iceland in 1000 A.D. It doesn't release until the end of August, I believe, so I won't be reading it for a bit.

And then I got a few cheap hardcovers in the massive B&N.com clearance -- none of these for more than $3.99 apiece! I always feel a bit guilty for some reason when I get awesome deals like this.

First is The Mammoth Book of New Historical Whodunnits. I own the Mammoth Book of Egyptian Whodunnits already and these are my favorite types of short stories because there's always a plot and resolution! Lynda S. Robinson is the only author I recognize in the collection so maybe this will even lead me to some new authors.

The second book of short stories I grabbed is 20th Century Ghosts by Joe Hill. These are obviously ghost stories -- which I could read all year long but I will probably save these for the fall.

The Book of Air and Shadows by Michael Gruber is one that I keep getting recommended on Amazon based on other books I choose. It's a thriller about books so I knew I would have to read it at some point! Apparently Gruber is a Seattle-ite as well so it will be supporting a local author.

One that I grabbed totally based on the cover is Hippolyte's Island by Barbara Hodgson. There is a naturalistic drawing of a tropical, probably flightless bird on the cover and some worn index letters down the side. Now that it's in my hands, I can see what I've actually gotten in for. This is an illustrated novel full of sketches and drawings and more about a naturalist that rediscovers some tiny islands in the South Atlantic. I think this will definitely find its way into my hands soon! It's a beautiful book.

One author that I have always wanted to try is Amitav Ghosh. They had The Hungry Tide on the list, a novel set in the Sundarban Islands off the coast of India. The main character is a marine biologist and this is another book that just begs to be read in the summer.

I hadn't heard about Guy Gavriel Kay or his book Ysabel until Eva mentioned this book a while back as one of her Once Upon a Time challenge books. She didn't love it but didn't hate it either so I will try it out. It has dark cathedrals and ghosts and lots of ambience so I will probably save this for a fall read as well.

The final book I grabbed is Darwin Conspiracy by John Darnton because I can't resist any novel with "Darwin" in the title. This book is set both on The Beagle and back in Victorian England while Darwin writes On The Origin of Species. What I really need to do is tie this in with my promised reading this year of Origin.

Hopefully I will be reviewing some of these titles for you this summer and fall! They are joining my tall TBR stacks but may make it out sooner than later.

Winding down a short but much needed vacation,
K

Poe Fridays: Holiday Break

Keep reading The Gold Bug and we'll discuss next week!

Wishing you a happy Independence Day weekend,
K

Your Toxic Yard

With its irregular size and brilliant green cover, Amy Stewart's Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln's Mother & Other Botanical Atrocities stands out, just as it should. This small collection of botanical descriptions, biological reactions and historical anecdotes reads like fiction and, in some cases, one wishes it was. Fifty or more "wicked" plants are mentioned in this book -- usually with a physical description, a mention of how and when they are toxic or irritating and some instances when this effect was proven on livestock or worse.

Here are some of the more fascinating examples:

Calabar bean, known as an "ordeal" bean, was used in the African trial system to determine one's guilt or innocence. If you vomited the bean, you were innocent. If you died, you were guilty.

Cashews must be steamed open to avoid contact with the toxic shell or the eater will develop a terrible rash. They are in the same family as poison ivy.

Mala Mujer (bad woman) has hypodermic-like nettles that contain a toxic sap. Even brushing against this plant causes excruciating pain.

Aloe is soothing for us but toxic to house pets. If your cat takes a nibble, they will have tummy problems and possibly convulsions and paralysis!

Dwarf Mistletoe can eject its seeds from the ripe fruit at a speed of sixty miles per hour.

This book certainly made me a bit paranoid while I was reading it, especially about toxic yard and house plants. On the other hand, I am not the sort of person to put random berries, seeds, fruits or leaves in my mouth so I should be safe. As for the dangers of seed missiles or stinging nettles, I guess we all run the risk of contact with these sorts of plants when venturing into the wild yonder.

On a side note, Stewart's introduction mentions Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story Rappaccini's Daughter which has a poisonous garden as a main feature of the plot. If you haven't read the story, I've linked to it here. It definitely makes you wary of trusting the beauties of nature!

Going for a hike in long-sleeves and goggles,
K


Buy Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln's Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities on Amazon or find it at your local library.

Burn This Book (Or Don't)

If you care about the freedom to read and write whatever you choose, you may be interested in this new book -- Burn This Book: PEN Writers Speak Out on the Power of the World. Released in May and edited by Toni Morrison, this collection fights for the rights of the author and the rights of the reader.

From the publicist:
Burn This Book was born out of a speech last April that Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison gave at the PEN International Festival dinner. Morrison observed that night, "A writer's life and work are not a gift to mankind; they are its necessity." As she paid tribute to the difficulties and challenges writers face in many parts of the world, she also reflected on the steep price we all pay when voices are silenced. This powerful, incantatory talk sparked a notion for a book of essays that would explore the issue and impact of censorship in the world.

Published in conjunction with the PEN American Center, Toni Morrison's speech now opens this collection of extraordinary voices from around the world: John Updike (in one of his final pieces), David Grossman, Francine Prose, Pico Iyer, Russell Banks, Paul Auster, Orhan Pamuk, Salman Rushdie, Ed Park, and Nadine Gordimer. The writers represent Nobel and other prize winners and they include writers who have had first-hand experience of censorship and its consequences.

Why protect free speech? What is the power of the word? The approaches they all take to these questions are as varied as their works of literature. Here, the personal and the political mingle and collide; philosophical reflection is partnered with the conundrums of experience. Across the pages there is a rush of ideas, emotions and perspectives that disallow assumptions to stand or acquiesce to any force, whether external or internal.

About PEN:
PEN is the leading voice for literature and a major force for free expression and the unhampered exchange of ideas and opinions worldwide. Founded in 1921, it is the world's oldest ongoing human rights organization, and it currently has 144 PEN centers in 102 countries dedicated to protecting the right of all humanity to create and communicate freely. By mobilizing the world's most influential literary voiced and an international network of writers, readers, and human rights supporters, PEN makes a difference every day in the lives of writers who are facing persecution around the world. For more information about PEN, visit www.pen.org

For more information please visit The Harper Studio.

Fighting for the freedom of books,
K


Buy Burn This Book: PEN Writers Speak Out on the Power of the Word on Amazon or find it at your local library.