We Be Reading

New Release: My Father's Daughter

2012-01-31T00:49:00.000-08:00

Sometime, in all of the flurry and confusion of the holidays, I won a book on Twitter from Grand Central (an imprint of Hachette). All I knew was that it was Gwyneth Paltrow's new book. I thought it was a memoir (because apparently I didn't bother to read the subtitle) and though I rarely read memoirs, I kind of love Gwynnie so I thought it would be okay. Imagine my surprise last week when the book arrived and I realized it was a cookbook -- My Father's Daughter: Delicious, Easy Recipes Celebrating Family & Togetherness.

Though you may remember Gwyneth's macrobiotic phase, she has since returned to more normal dining choices, only avoiding red meat. But in this book, she not only celebrates the food that she makes for and with her children, Apple (who is one day younger than Z) and Moses, but she tells some of why she went macrobiotic during her father's fight against cancer (he passed away almost ten years ago). She tells many stories about cooking or eating with her father, her mother, her adopted family in Spain and her grandparents. It's very sweet and very down to earth. She offers some healthy alternatives for sweetener (ie. agave syrup) or bacon (turkey or duck bacon) but also allows for the more regularly accessible choices in her recipes. Since she doesn't eat red meat and Apple is vegetarian, she has mostly vegetable, seafood and poultry recipes. There are also some delicious looking breakfast and dessert recipes.

The photographs in this book are gorgeous and there are pictures for maybe a quarter of the recipes. There are also some beautiful family photos from her childhood and even some with her kids (though very few that show their faces). And Gwyneth isn't afraid to have less than glamorous photos in the book -- in one you even see a bra strap! That's my kind of gal.

I always like to make something from a cookbook before reviewing it to make sure that it's not a chef's cookbook. Last night, I chose to make Maple-Dijon Roasted Winter Vegetables to go with our steaks. I used carrot, sweet potato and butternut squash. They are cut into strips tossed with a dijon mustard/pure maple syrup/oil/salt/pepper mix and baked for a relatively short amount of time. This is what they looked like before baking. Just the colors were enough to raise my mood!

So how did they turn out? Absolutely delicious. I happen to strongly dislike dijon mustard (and I considered using mustard powder instead) but chose to go for the full flavor and I don't regret it. Z isn't a big fan of squash or sweet potato but he ate a good amount of both. The only thing was that I wished there had been a little more caramelization because those parts were super delish!

What else am I looking forward to making from this cookbook? There's a miso soup recipe that looks really simple and delicious. I always enjoy eating it when we're out but have never made it at home. I will definitely try the corn chowder and the polenta with fresh corn this summer. And the Spaniard in me has always wanted to make paella but I don't like most seafood so I'm very happy that she has a vegetable paella recipe. But probably the next thing I will make are Bruce Paltrow's World-Famous Pancakes. With a bit of sugar and buttermilk and an overnight set-up, I expect greatness. I am really so happy to have this book and I will read it regularly for the anecdotes as much as the recipes.

A little bit drooly,
K

"The elevator continued its impossibly slow ascent."

2012-01-30T00:18:00.000-08:00

Just in the nick of time, I finished one Japanese book in translation for the Japanese Literature Challenge 5, hosted by Bellezza, which ends tomorrow. Unexpectedly, this book also worked for the 2012 Science Fiction Experience so I was able to get double credit out of this one. The novel was recommended to me by Natalie after my first experience with Haruki Murakami and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle and she did a great job. I liked this one even more than that one!

I'm not sure that I will be able to give a good summary of the plot because information is slowly doled out and part of the enjoyment of reading this book is going on that journey with the unnamed main character. He is a mentally-altered man whose job is to process and encode sensitive data for a corporation called The System. His most recent client is a man known only as Grandfather and his data must be something truly special because, as soon as the main character gets home, his world is literally turned upside down. And in alternating chapters, we learn of another main character -- another unnamed man who moves to a city surrounded by a Wall. It's a unique place full of unicorns and detached shadows. This man is assigned to be the Dreamreader, a job with a mysterious purpose. The intersection of these two mens' lives might just be the End of the World.

As Japanese literature, I really enjoyed this one. The translation (by Alfred Birnbaum) was very smooth and readable. I didn't have any issues with it. The bits of the story that happened around normal Japanese culture were interesting and enlightening. There was definitely a non-Western sensibility to it but it never felt completely unfamiliar.

As a science fiction book, this was also a really good story. There were a couple of long scientific explanations that actually didn't bore me and the ideas of human modification for financial gain were sufficiently frightening to make me hope that this scenario stays in the realm of fiction. I'm actually surprised that this book isn't talked about more in the science fiction world. It's one that I will be thinking about for a long time.

Searching for a happy, peaceful wonderland,
K

"Go Tesla!" "Go Science!"

2012-01-26T00:48:00.000-08:00

Yes, that is Nikola Tesla with two lightning-shooting guns and some stylish goggles, flanked by his assistant Tim and being goaded on by the one and only Mark Twain. The Five Fists of Science is a short graphic novel, written by Matt Fraction and drawn by Steven Sanders. With an irresistible title, this was an impulse buy at our local comic shop. And while it had some laugh-out-loud moments, cool technology and a truly wicked Thomas Edison (as we all know he is, the damn elephant murderer), I wasn't entirely sold on this one.

Pairing Tesla, Twain and the Baroness Bertha von Suttner as a team united against the evil forces of J.P. Morgan, Edison, Guglielmo Marconi and Andrew Carnegie is a fun idea. While Tesla's team believes in science (and in Twain's case, a bit of showmanship), Morgan is relying on black magic and mythical creatures to gain power. Which will win?

Some of the dialogue in this book is hilarious and some of the art is inspiring. But then there are other times when some of the dialogue is repetitive and some of the art is a bit too dark to decipher. But, with a giant robot that works like Big O and looks like the Iron Giant, there's enough to enjoy in the book to make it worth reading for fans of science and/or steampunk. A fair warning, though, there is a decent amount of profanity and some blood in the book -- and more than enough New Jersey jokes.

I chose to add this to my reading list at the last minute because of Carl's 2012 Science Fiction Experience. It's my first time participating which, honestly, doesn't make much sense. Usually I protest "well, I just don't read science fiction very much" but then I went to my TBR and was able to pull this right off the top of a stack. So, with this and my upcoming review of Connie Willis' Blackout and All Clear, I guess I will officially be joining this annual event. It feels nice to come out of the sci-fi closet!

Getting my geek on,
K

"I was never so frightened as I am now."

2012-01-24T00:49:00.000-08:00

My pending-review books are now stacked by size and not by when I read them because the stack was starting to wobble (yikes!) so my apologies if my thoughts in any upcoming posts are a bit scattered or, most likely, sparse. I think Affinity was the first book I finished this year. There was a lot to like about it and then there were things that just didn't work for me. What I liked the most was the familiarity of Sarah Waters' characters. I would never be able to tell you what it is about them but I could recognize one of her women anywhere. Waters really has a distinct voice and a certain way of writing her leads. I also really liked the descriptions of the Victorian women's prison. I don't think this is something that gets talked about very much so it was quite fascinating (and heartbreaking, of course). What I didn't really like in this story was the plot. I didn't hate it but it just didn't do much for me. I think by never finding out what this novel was about before reading it, I got my expectations too high for a ripping good ghost story. Instead, it's a tale about belief and kindness and the human condition.

So, because this didn't become my new favorite Waters' novel, I'll have to keep The Little Stranger in the number one spot. In fact, if I get a chance, I wouldn't mind re-reading it later this year!

(If you would like a more thorough discussion of this book, Kelly and Marg just posted about it yesterday and had some great thoughts about it.)

Waiting for the next offering,
K

New Release: The Orphan of Awkward Falls

2012-01-20T00:16:00.000-08:00

If you remember, I was really amused by the title of Keith Graves' middle school novel, The Orphan of Awkward Falls, and I put it on my Chronicle Books "Happy Haulidays" list last month. Well, it was sitting right there on the "featured books" shelf of the library so I grabbed it. And while it has a fun idea and some interesting characters, overall I just didn't love it like I thought I would.

Situated in remotest Canada, Awkward Falls is a college/criminal asylum town just like any other. But when twelve year old Josephine and her parents arrive, they step right into a snowy hotbed of escaped lunatics, robot butlers, Frankenstein cats and so much more.

There were certainly elements of this book that I enjoyed. The relationship between Josephine and Thaddeus, the abandoned boy next door, was really interesting and sweet. The whole mad scientist plot was fun too. But overall, the writing was uneven and the dark, sketchy illustrations, though good on their own, were badly placed throughout the book and seemed like a badly-executed imitation of Brian Selznick. I don't know if my hopes were too high for this book or what but I found myself nitpicking as I was reading -- which is never a good sign.

Looking for a bit more,
K

New Release: I Am Half-Sick of Shadows

2012-01-17T00:12:00.000-08:00

I am going to start sounding like a broken record here when I anoint each new novel in the Flavia de Luce series as "the best so far" but I truly believe that about this newest one -- I Am Half-Sick of Shadows. This was Flavia at her best--slightly more mature with a more believable "voice"--and the murder took place right inside of Buckshaw this time! The winter setting was timely and I could truly feel the deep chill of the east wing of the house.

As is my new method with series, rather than worrying about spoilers and such when reviewing the plot, I am simply going to try and convince you to read this series from the start.

So, begin by reading my review of The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie where I said

"Bradley has crafted a young detective that is bright, impetuous and strong".

And then, if you aren't convinced, see what I had to say about The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag --

This book was everything I wanted it to be and more. I think it's possible that I like it better than the first!

Still not convinced? Well, the third book, A Red Herring Without Mustard, was one I couldn't put down --

I read almost the entire 400 page book in one day. I didn't get the laundry done. I didn't make it to the grocery store. I took the book out to read during brunch.

If you're a fan of unique characters, old manor houses and a little bit of poison, you can't go wrong with these books. Plus, the colorful series will look wonderful on your shelves! And if you've already devoured the series like I have, why not host a Murder Mystery Tea Party at Buckshaw?

Counting down the days until the next story, Seeds of Antiquity,
K

All Apologies

2012-01-16T12:00:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to let you all know that I'm having some issues with my site right now. I can't access it from any of our home computers for some stupid, most-likely-Comcast-related reason. I'm trying to figure out what exactly is going wrong and am hoping to be able to post again soon (my next entry needs links from past posts). I haven't stopped reading. In fact, I'm over half-way through Blackout by Connie Willis and am loving it! I'll start All Clear as soon as I'm done too in order to avoid any mid-story angst. Also, Z and I just finished The Phantom Tollbooth and I'm thinking of a fun way to tell you about that because we had a great time with the book!

In the meantime, please enjoy my snow.

Frustrated but hopeful,

New-ish Release: Dandy Gilver and the Proper Treatment of Blood-Stains

2012-01-09T00:47:00.000-08:00

Always on the lookout for a new mystery series to devour, I was excited to hear about Catriona McPherson's Dandy Gilver and the Proper Treatment of Blood-Stains. This isn't the first in the series but rather the fifth and most recent. Though I would have liked to have a bit more background on the life of the cheeky, upper class Dandelion Gilver and her life in Scotland, I fell right in with Dandy and her crime-solving ways.

In this story, Dandy, already an established amateur sleuth, receives a letter from Lollie Balfour, a woman of means who is afraid for her life. She thinks her husband plans to kill her. And this isn't the typical case of hints and suppositions. Lollie's husband has directly stated that he soon will kill her. He recites psychotic poetry and draws his finger across his throat in front of her. And the rest of the household seems to think he's a scoundrel as well, though when Dandy meets him, he seems like an average sort of person. But, Dandy senses that there's more to the story than meets the eye and she decides to take the open lady's maid job and work the case from the inside. And being a convincing maid might just be a harder task than solving the impending murder!

This was a really fun story. Though there are comparisons to Maisie Dobbs in some of the blurbs, I think that Dandy is something of an anti-Maisie. She is married, a mother of grown children and one of the privileged class. She has no formal training in investigation but, rather, she uses her own brains and her best friend, Alec Osborne, as a sounding board. Her methods are not always appropriate but somehow she pulls through each situation with only a few scrapes. The mystery in this book is a bit far-fetched but in a fun way. I will definitely be getting copies of Dandy's previous adventures and will enjoy getting to know her better.

The next book in the series, Dandy Gilver and an Unsuitable Day for Murder, will be released in May.

Sorting the clues from the herrings,
K

Yes, I received a copy of this book for review but my thoughts are honest.

A Literary Love Letter to Matthew Pearl

2012-01-03T00:46:00.000-08:00

Dear Matthew Pearl,

Many years ago, when I used to find my next read solely by wandering the aisles of my local Barnes & Noble, I happened upon your first novel -- The Dante Club.

I thought it was a fantastic book, putting well-known American authors Longfellow, Holmes and Lowell in a shockingly dark adventure based on the writings of Dante. I liked it so much that I gave it to my mom to read and she liked it too (except for the part about the maggots which she still brings up every once in a while as being just a bit too vivid and memorable). The only problem was that I didn't know much about these authors before reading the book and so, while I had a great time with the story, it didn't mean quite as much as if those authors had been literary "friends" of mine.

Then, in 2006, I was thrilled to find that your next novel did feature a chum of mine, a recently deceased Edgar Allan Poe. The Poe Shadow is about a very likable young lawyer, Quentin Clark, who can't believe the rumors flying about Poe after his untimely death. He follows the clues that many die-hard Poe fans have also followed over the years to try and prove that Poe's bad reputation was not in fact true. It was a fantastic novel that brought an unsolved mystery back to life in vivid color.

And then, just a couple of years ago, I almost fainted when you tackled the death of my beloved Charles Dickens and the missing ending of his final novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood. After a less than satisfying experience with another novel about the same subject that came out around the same time, this story turned out to be just what I was looking for. I wasn't disappointed with your book at all.

Finally, last month I had the pleasure to read an early copy of The Technologists, which will be coming out in February. Like The Dante Club, I wasn't previously familiar with the characters or setting--the first graduating class of M.I.T., The Massachusetts Institute of Technology--but, by the end of the story, I became more invested in the lives of these young men (and women) than I would have thought possible. In fact, I was disappointed when the book ended because I wanted to follow your characters through the rest of their lives and even back into their pasts. With fascinating studies of science versus religion, Tech versus Harvard, women in education, the Civil War and more, this was a deep and thoughtful book that also read as a love letter to Boston, a city with a long history. And the mystery, oh, the mystery! I almost wrote you half-way through reading the book because I thought I was so clever and had it all figured out. But I was wrong and couldn't have been happier to be so. I didn't feel cheated or misdirected at all. I simply followed the clues, as did Marcus and the other Tech students. Even the best scientist can only form conclusions with the facts he or she has at hand.

And writing a prequel short story, The Professor's Assassin, was a brilliant way to set the stage for why M.I.T. was so important, especially to its founder, William Barton Rogers. It also avoided the increasingly-present Prologue that is starting to bother some readers of modern novels. And now I've just found some novellas and short stories on the website for The Technologists about Marcus, Edwin and Ellen and I'm incredibly excited to read about the students' time at M.I.T. It's exactly what I was wishing for!

One of my reading resolutions for this year is to re-read your first three novels and I may even throw in a re-read of The Technologists at the end of the year for good measure because it was just that good. Thank you for writing books that I want to read over and over. I hope to convince a few other readers to pick them up as well.

Yours in literature and history,
K

Looking Ahead to 2012

2012-01-01T12:58:00.000-08:00

Unless my recent fortune comes true, I plan on 2012 being a quiet and peaceful year! ::grin::

I have a couple of reading goals and plans that I'm pretty excited about for this year. So, without further ado (since I really should get to the gym today!) --

First, read at least 50 books from my home TBR stacks. I've put the ones I anticipate wanting to read on a LibraryThing list (here, if you're curious) but I know I will switch some out for other books as the year goes on. And, as you can see, the list is only at 49 because I already finished one today!

Second, read Gregory Maguire's Oz quartet from the beginning. I've read Wicked twice and Son of a Witch once but haven't read the other two books in the series yet and I think I will enjoy them better if I just start again. I don't know if I will read them all in one block or (more likely) just fit them in one at a time through the year.

Third, re-read three Matthew Pearl novels. I just read (and loved) his new novel, The Technologists, that comes out in February and it reminded me how much I loved his first three novels -- The Dante Club, The Poe Shadow and The Last Dickens. And I happen to have signed bookplates for each one now (thank you, Matthew!) that I will put in as I finish each book. (Although I'm thinking that I now need to get a nice hardcover of Dante because I just have a mass market paperback of it.)

Fourth, successfully progress through my Year of Dickens (look for my launch post in February) for the Dickens Bicentenary. I'm sure it will be a trial at times (I almost just made a really bad Chancery joke but I resisted) but I'll be inserting favorites when I need a morale boost and I should be okay.

Fifth, I want to read more non-fiction and international/translated fiction but I'm not going to commit to specific numbers. I will just go with a loose "more than last year" kind of goal on this one.

I've decided to start recording the chapter books that Z and I read together at bedtime in my spreadsheet because they really should count as books/pages read for me too.

And I think that's it! Some clearing of my TBR shelves (LibraryThing seems to think I have 236 unread books here), a few re-reads of old favorites and a grand celebration of a favorite author -- what more can I ask for in 2012?!

Moving forward with a bounce in my step,
K

2011 Reading Wrap-Up

2011-12-31T14:20:00.000-08:00

I'm not feeling very motivated to look backward this year. I would much rather look forward! So, here are some quick stats and such from this year's reading and I'll be back tomorrow with some goals for my 2012 reading.

Pages read: 24914+
This is down from 38102 last year but I also spent a lot more time reading chapter books at bedtime with Z and I didn't record those books or pages for some reason. I'm definitely not going to complain that I'm spending more time reading with my son!

Books read: 72+
This is down from 125 last year and even the books I read with Z wouldn't catch it up but that's okay!

Non-US/UK authors: 9
Books in translation: 4
I'm a bit disappointed by these numbers and will have to be more aware of my international reading habits next year. I already have two Murakami's on the schedule so that's a start!

New-to-me authors: 34+
Most read author: Jasper Fforde - 7 books
This is a lot lower than last year but I did a lot of re-reads, bulk reads of the same author (Jasper Fforde, Agatha Christie, Neil Gaiman, Rick Riordan, Diana Wynne Jones, Georgette Heyer) and just read less in general.

Oldest book finished: The Dead Secret by Wilkie Collins - 1857
Longest book read: The Map of Time by Felix J. Palma - 609
These will both be blown away next year by my Dickens' project. A lot of my reading will be Victorian and will be from chunksters. It will be fun to compare! (The "finished" is because I started The Mysteries of Udolpho which is older but I haven't finished it yet. I think it might be longer than 609 too!)

Non-fiction: 5
I failed here again but I'm happy with the non-fiction titles I chose even though there weren't twelve of them.

Books from the library: 7
Books from my shelves: 29
Re-reads: 13
Review books/ARCs: 23
My goal was to read 50 books from my shelves and, between the new ones and re-reads, I got to 42 which seems pretty good! I controlled myself at the library and read nine less review books than last year too.

DNF: 1
Would not read again: 3 definite, 2 maybes
This is one of my favorite stats to see this year. I may have read less books this year but they were good ones and obviously the ones I wanted to be reading.

Some favorites read this year:
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day - Winifred Watson
Three Men in a Boat - Jerome K. Jerome
A Red Herring Without Mustard - Alan Bradley
To Say Nothing of the Dog - Connie Willis
The Emerald Atlas - John Stephens
Nerd Do Well - Simon Pegg
House of Many Ways - Diana Wynne Jones (re-read)
Juniper Berry - M.P. Kozlowsky
Smith - Leon Garfield
The Thursday Next series - Jasper Fforde (mostly re-read)
The Devil in the White City - Erik Larson
The Penguin Book of Gaslight Crime - Michael Sims, editor

Favorite book read this year:
The Poisoner's Handbook - Deborah Blum

Favorite book read that comes out next year:
The Technologists - Matthew Pearl (review-ish thing in a week or two)

Happy New Year, my friends,
K

New Release: The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories, Volume 1

2011-12-30T00:35:00.000-08:00

I don't usually start a post with a video but this one is the perfect introduction for this original little volume. hitRECord (said like you're pushing a button on a recording device, not like a popular song on the charts) is a collaborative online art community that's headed by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who you might recognize as an actor but he goes by RegularJOE online. This first volume, The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories, Volume 1 represents the work of 67 writers and artists. Most of the stories are a single sentence (and at most three) and are truly flash fiction.
Here are a couple of the stories in the book that I liked --

Not all of the stories are so dark in tone though. In fact, there are some that are quite uplifting and beautiful. My favorite story, one that I'm sure you all will also love is this one --

His hands were weak and shaking
from carrying far too many
books from the bookshop.
It was the best feeling.

Another cool thing I saw in the fine print at the beginning of the book is this --

The work may be further edited, sampled, or remixed at www.hitRECord.org according to the posted terms of service.

I love the idea that, as this was a collaborative effort in the first place, the collaboration never truly ends. One idea may spark another or a different artist may want a chance to illustrate a story in a whole 'nother way. Art doesn't have to be static and lonely and I like that.

So, if you're interested, go out and buy this palm-sized gem and support a whole community of writers and artists as 50% of the profits go to the contributors. And if you're even more motivated, go to this page on the hitRECord site to submit an entry for Volume 2!

Her heart rejoiced at the beauty of the tales but sank a bit at the final closing of the tiny book --
K

Yes, I received a copy of this book for review but my thoughts are honest.

New Books in Our Home

2011-12-28T16:36:00.000-08:00

K's holiday haul

As you can probably guess, a lot of new books made their way into our home this Christmas! I received

London Under by Peter Ackroyd

The Sisters: The Saga of the Mitford Family by Mary J. Lovell

A Burial at Sea by Charles Finch

The Midnight Palace by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Charles Dickens: A Life by Claire Tomalin

All Clear by Connie Willis

I was so excited by all of these especially since five are hardcovers! I wanted the Dickens bio for my Year of Dickens that I'm starting in February (yes, a year ... yes, I know it's a lot of Dickens). I needed All Clear since I have Blackout but didn't want to start it knowing how the story ends abruptly at the end. Now I can just read the novels together. My sister gave me The Sisters and I'm excited to pair reading it with the Diana Mosley book I got from the holiday swap. I also have a couple books still on the way this week -- I Am Half-Sick of Shadows by Alan Bradley and The Somnambulist by Essie Fox (which I had to order from the UK).

Z got even more books than I did. I split his up into a couple of groups so that you could see them better. There are so many fantastic colors in there! He's already spent a lot of time filling in the Wimpy Kid book and reading his Pokemon manga (which I just realized I photographed on the wrong side of the books - duh!).

Non-fiction titles

Manga and graphic novels

A couple more books

The husband got a couple of graphic novel and comic collections, Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson, Revolutionaries by Jack Rakove and Onward by Howard Schultz. He already put them away in his TBR stacks so I didn't get a picture. I'm not even entirely sure that's all he got but it seems right!

I gave my sister Modelland by Tyra Banks, Bridget Jones' Diary by Helen Fielding and An Abundance of Katherines by John Green. I forgot to get a picture of those before she flew back home yesterday. I also wish I had read the John Green book before I gave it to her.

Besides that lovely stack of books, I also got a couple of classic movies--Bringing Up Baby, My Favorite Wife and Notorious--that all feature Cary Grant (yay!), a new iPod classic because my 30GB one is full and almost seven years old and is starting to fail a little, some wonderful gift cards and lots of dark chocolate from See's Candies. I'm going to have to be good and just stick to one piece a day or I'll never lose these last pounds!

I hope you all got some fantastic books and gifts over the holidays but, most of all, I hope that you were able to relax and enjoy yourselves. We still have one week off of school and I plan to spend it reading and getting caught up on the blog again. I have some great books to write about, a year to summarize and some plans to finalize.

Happy to be in a family of readers,
K and Z

New-ish Release: The Family Fang

2011-12-20T23:44:00.000-08:00

December is my month for getting through review copies and one that I was hoping to enjoy was The Family Fang by Kevin Wilson. I was sold by the comparison to The Royal Tenenbaums but sadly this book was lacking the heart that really gave that movie meaning. Though Royal Tenenbaum (the Tenenbaum patriarch for those of you who haven't seen the brilliant film but are going to get a copy and watch it tonight because there is a tiny hole in your soul that needs to be filled) frequently made bad choices and wasn't great at interpersonal relationships, he did truly love his family. The Fangs, on the other hand, were the most disturbing parents that I have ever read about.

Caleb and Camille Fang are conceptual artists whose specialty is disruption of the peace. They frequently use their children Annie and Buster (who they simply call Child A and Child B or even just A and B) as props or instigators of their art. This leads to their becoming highly dysfunctional adults. When things go truly wrong for them, they're forced to return home to the parents who screwed them up in the first place. But, as is the norm with Caleb and Camille, even this ends up being far from the comforting solace that most children would experience.

If this had been a film, I might have enjoyed it. But as a novel, it went into too much disturbing depth and was incredibly depressing and dark. Wilson is a good writer and I had no problems with his storytelling. I just wasn't a fan of the story itself. I can see though how different readers will appreciate it more than I did. I am certainly curious about Wilson's first book of stories, Tunneling to the Center of the Earth. I hope the subject matter of that one is a better fit.

Trying to forget things that should never have been read,
K

Special Offer: Mrs. Claus Explains it All

2011-12-18T00:09:00.000-08:00

Do you have an inquisitive little one (or more than one!) in your house?

Are you being bombarded with questions about Santa and his helpers?

Do you find yourself faced with questions that only one woman is qualified to answer?

Sourcebooks has a special promotion going right now on the e-book version of Mrs. Claus Explains it All by Elsbeth Claus and illustrated by David Wenzel. For only $1.99 you can have the answers handy to such questions as

Why can't you see Santa's village at the North Pole?
What is Santa's favorite cookie?
I'm worried that Santa is too fat. Does he ever exercise?
How does Santa know where I live? How does he keep track of what I want?

I was really happy to see that Santa and the elves like to spend time reading when they're not busy getting ready for Christmas. And, not surprisingly, the elves and I have some favorite books in common -- Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and The Wizard of Oz. I guess I could have been an elf in another timeline! Z was particularly interested to learn the history of the reindeer. This is a great "reference" book for believers of all ages and it's well worth the magical price.

Here are the links for iBooks and Nook versions:

Apple’s iBookstore
http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/mrs.-claus-explains-it-all/id485469062?mt=11

NOOK Book Store
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/mrs-claus-explains-it-all-elsbeth-claus/1102174204

(Available on the following platforms: iPad, iPhone, iPodTouch, NOOK Tablet, NOOK Color, NOOK app for iPad)

In the know,

K and Z

New Re-Release: An Autobiography

2011-12-16T00:08:00.000-08:00

It's been a week or so since I finished Agatha Christie's An Autobiography (newly re-released by Harper and including a cd of Christie's own voice as she recorded this book for her typist). It took me almost a month to get through it because there was just so much in it that I had to read it in short bits and then spend some time absorbing each section. I apparently also spent quite a bit of time having feelings of intense jealousy. I spent a lot of November feeling dissatisfied with my life for no apparent reason -- and then I realized that I was jealous of Agatha's world travels and her multiple marriage proposals and her plethora of houses. She lived an adventure-filled life and she worked hard for everything she had. Some of her views on women were quite Victorian but she actually lived a rather pioneering life. There are few writers who lived lives that rivaled their novels in excitement but she is certainly one of them.

Some of the highlights of this book for me turned out to be entirely coincidental. The three books that I chose to re-read last month were most of the ones featured in the book and it was fun to get an expanded view of the stories. The best was probably The Man in the Brown Suit. Most of the travel and location portions were actually taken straight from Christie's own sea voyage to South Africa and her time there. I was happy to have the novel fresh in my mind while reading of Christie's own adventures.

Fans of Agatha Christie's novels will probably enjoy reading this book and learning all sorts of things about this amazing woman -- like the fact that she wrote her first detective story on a bit of a dare and that's when she created Hercule Poirot. Sadly, she doesn't speak at all of her disappearance after her first husband's infidelity so that remains a mystery. But seeing as she is the Queen of Mystery, it seems somewhat fitting that she left us with one that will never be completely solved.

In awe,
K

'Tis Awesome to Give AND Receive

2011-12-12T17:08:00.000-08:00

After sitting out last year and being rather sad about it, I made sure to sign up for the Book Blogger Holiday Swap this year. I chose an international swap and I am so incredibly glad that I did! The gifts that I bought went to Montreal, to Tina of Bookshipper (which she posted about today if you're curious). Thankfully she loved them all!

The gifts that were bought for me arrived today and I was floored when I saw that they came from South Africa! The lovely Robyn (of The Book Club Blog and I'm So Not A Blogger) sent some absolutely thoughtful gifts and I couldn't appreciate them more. Here are the wrapped gifts, each with a pressed-tin magnet attached.

First, there was "LAUGH", with a copy of The Pursuit of Laughter: Essays, Articles, Reviews & Diary of The Most Controversial Mitford Sister by Diana Mosley. I know that Robyn looked at my wishlist and saw that I was wanting to start in with the Mitfords. I know little to nothing about them and I'm so glad that she chose this for me!

Next, there was "LOVE" and a cookbook -- The South African Illustrated Cookbook by Lehla Eldridge.

The South African Illustrated Cookbook is a compilation of recipes dear to South Africans from all walks of life and traditions. It includes Xhosa, Cape Malay, Zulu, English, Indian, Afrikaans, Portuguese and new South African dishes.

I can't wait to try some of these recipes, especially once I figure out what "mealie meal" is (I think it's a fine corn meal -- anyone?).

Then there was "HOPE" and Robyn sent a favorite holiday book of hers from Norwegian author Jostein Gaarder -- The Christmas Mystery. It has time travel in it which makes me very excited! I love that she wanted to share a favorite book with me.

Everything was wonderful and these gifts certainly brought more laughter, love and hope into this season for me!

Finally, there was one more small item that didn't make it into these photos because it was already on the Christmas tree --

Thank you so much, Robyn! I love everything and love the thought and effort that you put into choosing the gifts.

I hope that those of you who participated in the swap were as fortunate as I was and that more of you will choose to participate next year!

Spreading the cheer,
K

Catching Up on Bedtime Reads

2011-12-11T12:36:00.001-08:00

Things are a little crazy around here right now (as I'm sure they are for many of you)! I've started to feel a bit stressed about the growing pile of books that we haven't reviewed yet. Two of them are ones that Z and I enjoyed together at bedtime so I will quickly mention those today.

Bunnicula: A Rabbit-Tale of Mystery by Deborah and James Howe was one of my childhood favorites and I couldn't wait to share it with Z! The book was written in 1979 so it wasn't very old when I read it but luckily it has held up well and, not only did I have a great time reading it again but Z thought it was fun too. I loved the different cat and dog points of view and Z really liked the mystery surrounding the little bunny. I read the next two books in the series when I was a kid but I think there are four or five sequels now so we will have to work our way through them all. Luckily this isn't just a fall/Halloween series!

Frankie Pickle and the Closet of Doom by Eric Wight is one that we picked up at last year's book fair. I know Z looked at it a bunch but I wasn't sure that he had ever read the entire thing. This book is about 2/3 chapter book, 1/3 comic. When Frankie starts imagining an adventure, it comes to life in graphic detail. This was a really fun story with a nice "clean your room or else" message. We will definitely get the next two books in the series when they are available in paperback. And isn't Frankie just adorable?!

Right now we are finishing up The Invention of Hugo Cabret. I can't wait to share our thoughts with you on that one!

Looking toward our next reading adventure,
K and Z

Z Reviews: My Father's Dragon

2011-12-06T00:37:00.000-08:00

Z and I read My Father's Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett together as a bedtime story a month or so ago. Here are his (brief) thoughts on the book!

---

The book is about a boy named Elmer Elevator. One rainy day, Elmer meets a cat that tells him about Wild Island. Elmer decides to go there so that he can rescue an abandoned baby dragon. Will Elmer get past the wild animals and rescue the dragon in time?

The Wild Island mouse messes up his quotes all the time! I thought it was funny. I enjoyed the book. There are other books: Elmer and the Dragon and The Dragons of Blueland. I still don't have My Father's Dragon #2 yet.

---

This was a really fun book to read together. I personally liked doing voices for all of the different animals on the island. The plot moves along at a quick pace and I was impressed by how the story didn't seem very dated even though it's from 1948. It was a Newbery Honor Book in 1949. The original illustrations by Ruth Chrisman Gannet are beautiful and quite unique. I'm glad they haven't updated them at all! There was a 1997 anime film made from this story (Elmer no boken) but I don't think it's available in the States. Bummer.

Finding friends in unusual places,
K and Z

Christie November: And Then There Were None

2011-11-30T00:13:00.000-08:00

from Wikipedia

First published serially in 1939 under a very offensive title that most of you have probably seen at some point and then released in book form in 1940 as And Then There Were None, this is one of Agatha Christie's most shocking and well-known stories (and this cover is fantastic!). The title refers to the last line of a poem in the vein of Ten Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed except instead of a little head-knocking, each "Indian" in the poem ends up dead. So when ten seemingly unrelated people end up stranded on a mysterious island under false pretenses, their lifelines all start looking rather short.

Though the outcome of the story is pretty obvious from the title, the way it unfolds is anything but obvious. With an unknown murderer loose and no way to escape, the psychological tension comes through on almost every page as we see into eight increasingly disturbed minds. Though this was a rare re-read where I did remember most of the ending, I couldn't remember the exact course the story took and I was hooked again from start to finish.

This is the last day of the month and should be the end of Christie November but I am still working through Agatha's autobiography. It's a great read but is so jam-packed with stories and tidbits that it's taking a while to get through. I hope to finish it in the next couple days. Therefore, Christie November will bleed a bit into December.

Still counting,
K

Silly Discussion: It's All in the Phrasing

2011-11-27T12:16:00.001-08:00

I stayed up pretty late last night and, as I was falling asleep, I started thinking about the most random things. I obviously won't share them all with you but I thought you might be amused by one of them. When I was a kid, because of the way this classic Dr. Seuss book was read to me, I thought they were Green eggs and just plain-old pink ham. It's the natural rhythm of the text to read it as "gree-neggs" and ham versus the more correct green "egg-sand-ham". And then when I finally paid attention to the pictures, I thought it was terribly wrong! It's green ham and yolks, really, right?

Are there any stories from your childhood that you had the wrong impression about because of the way they were read to you? I've been trying to think of others but nothing has come to me yet. Maybe it will at 2am tonight.

Food for thought,
K

Giveaway Winner: Can You See What I See?: Toyland Express

2011-11-25T11:43:00.001-08:00

Congratulations to the winner of a signed copy of Can You See What I See?: Toyland Express by Walter Wick --

Kirsten

Thank you to all of the entrants!

Clapping,
K and Z

Christie November: The Mysterious Mr. Quin

2011-11-22T00:15:00.000-08:00

First UK edition, from Wikipedia

One of my favorite Agatha Christie character pairs is the mysterious Mr. Harley Quin and the elderly Mr. Satterthwaite. When I was choosing stories to re-read this month, this was one of the first to come to mind. These twelve stories were as good as I remembered, with some of them being among Christie's best writing.

I have become more familiar lately with the Harlequin character, especially through my Neil Gaiman readings this fall. It lent a different perspective to my reading this time through. Mr. Quin shows up when there is a mystery to be solved or a fate to be changed and acts as a catalyst for the discovery or solution. Mr. Satterthwaite is his willing accomplice, someone who has lived his life on the outside-looking-in and is especially adept at seeing things that others do not. This book has a dozen stories that were all written separately and then collected later and published together in 1930.

For readers who are not fans of the typical Christie detective stories, these tales might be something different to try. They feature some of her best writing.

In awe of her mind,
K

New Release: Can You See What I See?: Toyland Express

2011-11-17T00:21:00.000-08:00

'Tis the season to start collecting holiday books and one of the most colorful and time-intensive (both for the creator and for readers!) out there is the eighth and newest in the Can You See What I See? series by Walter Wick, photographer of the I Spy series. Toyland Express follows a wooden train from the workshop to the store shelves, to the playroom and beyond. Each page has the expected list of items to find and they are not easy. Z and I have spent forever looking at a single woodcarving scene and still can't find every hidden item!

There's a great YouTube video featuring Walter Wick that talks about this book and how he creates these books in general. We found out that he photographs the scene first and then writes the item rhyme later because the listed items need to be the least obvious ones in the picture. We also learned that there's a red, yellow and blue character named Seymour that's hidden in every I Spy and Can You See What I See? scene. We can't wait to pull out our other books and look for him now that we know he's there!

Also, there will be an exhibition featuring photographs and models of Walter Wick's work at The Bruce Museum in Greenwich, CT next winter/spring. For more information, visit his website.

You can enter to win a signed copy of this book from Scholastic by filling out the form below before Friday, November 25th. Good luck!

Still searching,
K and Z

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All Scholastic, All of the Time

2011-11-14T00:06:00.000-08:00

Since I'm spending the next five days surrounded by Scholastic Books, I thought I would share this release with you. Maybe you have a book fair coming up soon and need to decide what to buy or maybe you are just starting to think about holiday gifts. This is a great starter list!

Making my book fair shopping list,
K

SCHOLASTIC PREDICTS THE HOTTEST NEW CHILDREN’S BOOKS OF THE 2011 HOLIDAY SEASON

Children’s Literacy Experts at Scholastic Book Clubs and Book Fairs Offer Recommendations to Help Holiday Shoppers

November 7, 2011 – Get ready for holiday shopping. The children’s book experts from Scholastic Book Clubs and Scholastic Book Fairs have just revealed their picks for what will be the most popular new children’s books for the 2011 holiday season. This go-to list features books for all ages from a variety of authors and publishers to help gift-givers pick the right books for the kids in their lives.

Some of the book picks include new releases and sequels for popular series, such as The Heroes of Olympus, Book Two: The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever by Jeff Kinney, and The 39 Clues®: Cahills vs. Vespers Book 2: A King's Ransom by Jude Watson; others are tied to highly anticipated film releases such as War Horse, Hugo, and The Hunger Games, all of which are based on books.

“Parents, grandparents and educators all know the value of giving the gift of reading to kids, but we know they also struggle to compete with the hot new toy, electronic device or video on the market,” stated Francie Alexander, Chief Academic Officer at Scholastic. “This list was curated by the experts at Scholastic Book Clubs and Book Fairs to help shoppers identify the books that will be sure to delight a child as much as any other favorite gift.”

Scholastic’s Holiday Gift List for Kids:

Picture Books
10 Little Caterpillars by Bill Martin Jr., illustrated by Lois Ehlert (Simon & Schuster)
Can You See What I See? Toyland Express written and illustrated by Walter Wick (Scholastic)
If You Give a Dog a Donut by Laura Numeroff, illustrated by Felicia Bond (HarperCollins)
The Man in the Moon written and illustrated by William Joyce (Simon & Schuster)
Pinkalicious: The Princess of Pink Treasury written and illustrated by Victoria Kann (HarperCollins)

Click here for full list

Transitional Readers and Chapter Books
Clementine and The Family Meeting by Sara Pennypacker, illustrated by Marla Frazee (Disney Hyperion Books)
Fly Guy: Fly Guy vs. The Flyswatter! by Tedd Arnold (Scholastic)
Magic Tree House: Dogs in the Dead of Night by Mary Pope Osborne, illustrated by Salvatore Murdocca (Random House)
Rainbow Magic: Magical Holiday Boxed Set by Daisy Meadows (Scholastic)
Super Diaper Baby 2: The Invasion of the Potty Snatchers by Dav Pilkey, George Beard, and Harold Hutchins (Scholastic)

Click here for full list

Middle Grade Fiction
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever by Jeff Kinney (Abrams)
The Heroes of Olympus, Book Two: The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan (Disney Hyperion Books)
The 39 Clues: Cahills vs. Vespers Book 2: A King's Ransom by Jude Watson (Scholastic)
War Horse by Michael Morpurgo (Scholastic)
Wonderstruck written and illustrated by Brian Selznick (Scholastic)

Click here for full list

Young Adult Fiction
Crossed by Ally Condie (Penguin)
Inheritance by Christopher Paolini (Random House)
Okay For Now by Gary D. Schmidt (Clarion Books)
The Hunger Games Trilogy Boxed Set by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic)
The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater (Scholastic)

Click here for full list

Nonfiction
How Cool Is This: An Up-close, Inside Look at How Things Work (DK Publishing)
The Hugo Movie Companion: A Behind the Scenes Look at How a Beloved Book Became a Major Motion Picture by Brian Selznick (Scholastic)
Lego Harry Potter: Building The Magical World (DK Publishing)
Lego Star Wars Character Encyclopedia (DK Publishing)
Ripley's Believe It or Not!: Special Edition 2012 (Scholastic)

Click here for full list

These books are available through Scholastic Book Clubs and Scholastic Book Fairs in schools and online at www.scholastic.com/bookclubs. When you purchase these or any other books through Book Clubs and Book Fairs you are helping out your child’s school. Teachers are awarded bonus points through Scholastic Book Clubs to purchase books and materials for their classrooms, and schools raise money through their Book Fairs to support the school community. If a title from Scholastic’s holiday gift list is not available through your child’s Scholastic Book Club or Scholastic Book Fair, check with your child’s teacher or visit a book retailer or library.

For the full list please visit http://oomscholasticblog.com/2011/11/we_predict.html.
For more information on Scholastic (SCHL), visit us at mediaroom.scholastic.com.

2nd Annual Happy Haul-idays From Chronicle Books!

2011-11-11T11:11:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite posts to write and dream about last year was my Happy Haul-idays post -- now apparently just full of dead image links instead of holiday cheer. So sad! But the contest is back this year and, even though my spare time right now is non-existent, I couldn't wait to make my list!

So, here's the deal -- I get to choose $500 of books from Chronicle Books. If I win, one commenter on this post wins the same haul. And to sweeten the pot this year, a charity of my choice also gets $500 worth of books! I am choosing Room to Read to win if I do.

Room to Read seeks to transform the lives of millions of children in the developing world by focusing on literacy and gender equality in education. Working in collaboration with local communities, partner organizations and governments, we develop literacy skills and a habit of reading among primary school children and ensure girls have the skills and support needed to complete their secondary education. Learn more at www.roomtoread.org.

Now, time for the wishing and dreaming to begin again. I'm posting this at 11:11 on 11/11/11 for extra good luck!

The Life & Love of Trees, text by Lewis Blackwell ($50.00). After waves and sunsets, my favorite things to take pictures of are trees.

Milk & Cookies: 89 Heirloom Recipes from New York's Milk & Cookies Bakery by Tina Casaceli ($24.95). I think this was on my list last year but here it is again because a) I am fully confident in my awesome cookie-making abilities and b) you can never have too many delicious cookie recipes.

TCM Classic Movie Trivia by Turner Classic Movies ($22.95) because I already know a lot about classic movies but I can always learn more.

The Doorbells of Florence: Fictional Stories and Photographs by Andrew Losowsky ($18.95). I've wanted this one since I first saw it. It's such a unique idea!

The Orphan of Awkward Falls by Keith Graves ($16.99) because the title cracks me up and I want to read it.

Prisoners in the Palace: How Princess Victoria Became Queen with the Help of Her Maid, a Reporter, and a Scoundrel by Michaela MacColl ($16.99). This is another one that caught my eye when it first came out.

Ghost Wave: The Discovery of Cortes Bank and The Biggest Wave on Earth by Chris Dixon ($24.95). I just heard about this one recently but I totally want to read it, dude.

Taking Aim: Unforgettable Rock 'n' Roll Photographs selected by Graham Nash ($50.00). I saw the exhibition at the Experience Music Project museum and it was truly amazing.

Tea & Crumpets: Recipes & Rituals from Tearooms & Cafes by Margaret M. Johnson ($19.95) because I love both!

Baking for All Occasions: A Treasury of Recipes for Everyday Celebrations by Flo Braker ($35.00). Yes, I'm still trying to lose weight but that doesn't mean I can't bake for other people.

Brittles, Barks & Bonbons: Delicious Recipes for Quick and Easy Candy by Charity Ferreira ($16.95). I said I'm making it for other people! Why don't you believe me?

Deep Dark Chocolate: Decadent Recipes for the Serious Chocolate Lover by Sara Perry ($18.95). Okay, if I make anything from this one, I'm eating it. See ... I don't lie when it's important.

Garden Anywhere: How to Grow Gorgeous Container Gardens, Herb Gardens, Kitchen Gardens and More--Without Spending a Fortune by Alys Fowler ($24.95) because I live in a wooded area and have only small patches of open space that also get sun.

Saveur The New Comfort Food: Home Cooking from Around the World from the Editors of Saveur Magazine ($35.00). Maybe I shouldn't have made this list right before dinner ...

For Z, I would choose these --

Boo: The Life of the World's Cutest Dog by J.H. Lee ($12.95). Z absolutely loves looking at pictures and videos of Boo. It's so weird because he doesn't really like dogs but he loves Boo!

Eye-Popping 3-D Bugs: Phantogram Creepy-Crawlies You Can Practically Touch by Barry Rothstein and Betsy Rothstein ($19.99). This ... looks ... awesome.

A Zeal of Zebras: An Alphabet of Collective Nouns by Woop ($17.99). This is just the kind of thing Z would love and would memorize and remember forever!

And for others, I would choose --

Obsessed with Star Trek: Test Your Knowledge of the Star Trek Universe by Chip Carter ($29.95) for the husband. Do I really need to explain why?

Pantone: 100 Postcards ($19.95) for my sister-in-law who lives, breathes, drinks and bleeds in Pantone colors.

Audrey Hepburn: The Paramount Years by Tony Nourmand ($22.95) for my little sister. We have many things in common and one of the best is our mutual love for Audrey.

And this list comes to a eye-popping $500.36. I hope that Chronicle Books will spot me the 36 cents. I'm rounding down anyway!

If you think I might win these books and want to get in on the action, leave a comment before December 2nd. You could win the entire set! (Sorry, open to U.S. residents only.)

Thinking about how so very good I've been this year,
K

Christie November: The Man in the Brown Suit

2011-11-10T13:48:00.001-08:00

Image from Wikipedia - first UK edition

The Man in the Brown Suit was first published in August 1924. It's a stand-alone mystery that starts in England but quickly moves onto the Kilmorden Castle, an ocean liner destined for South Africa. The reason for this change of scenery is the adventuresome nature of Anne Beddingfeld. Anne, who has lived for years with her archaeologist father in a mentally stimulating but still dull existence, is set free when her father unexpectedly dies. She has only a few pounds to her name and isn't sure what to do next in life until she sees a man accidentally fall and die on the underground train rails. A mysterious doctor, who happens to be on hand to tend to the man immediately, drops a cryptic note on his way out of the station and Anne takes it as a sign that she is meant to set out and follow the clue -- which leads her to the Kilmorden Castle. What follows is a quest for not only a murderer but also a master criminal and a parcel of stolen diamonds.

The reviews when it was released were mixed. Some reviewers thought the plot was far-fetched (which it is), some lamented the absence of Poirot (which could have worked but wasn't necessary) and some thought it was a good fun story (which it also is). There are a few small bits here and there that make the modern reader cringe a little but nothing too terrible. More than anything, I think that the story reveals Agatha's fondness for South Africa (where that wonderful piccie of her with a surfboard was snapped) and for the social changes that allowed women to become more independent. Anne even takes a detour while on her way to an appointment and tries her hand at surfing -- which I'm now thinking could be a lightly-veiled autobiographical tale!

Taking the waterway less traveled,
K

Please Excuse My Upcoming Absence

2011-11-06T00:23:00.000-07:00

I have decided to pre-apologize for the fact that I will probably not be around the blogosphere (or Twitter) much over the next two weeks because I'm busy promoting reading in real life by chairing the Scholastic Book Fair at Z's school! Set-up is this week so I'm frantically getting some last minute things together and then I will be working the fair for most (or, more likely, all) of the following week. I'm still managing to spend some reading time with Agatha Christie but I might not have much blog writing time until later in the month. I'm sure you all understand my desire to help the school library. All of the funds and credits raised mean new books for the library -- something there can never be too many of (especially since I usually get to help unpack the boxes)!

Helping people everywhere find the right books,
K

Last RIP Post: The Great Ghost Rescue

2011-11-05T12:22:00.000-07:00

Z and I were reading The Great Ghost Rescue together at bedtime and we ended up finishing a day or two after Halloween. It was our first time reading Eva Ibbotson (and coincidentally, her first book, written in 1975). She was recommended to me because of my love of Diana Wynne Jones and I have to say that I found the same sort of intelligent fantasy that I hoped I would, though for a slightly younger reader.

One thing that I really like about Z is that he's not afraid to explore books from another country. This is a very British book and he had to frequently ask about things like kippers and kilts, Prime Ministers and MPs, and even Henry the Eighth. But, then again, it's quite a universal book about helping those less fortunate than you -- even if "those" happen to be ghosts!

Rick is a young boy at a boarding school who wakes up early one morning to find he is sharing his bed with a ghost. It's Humphrey, the youngest in a family of ghosts that have been driven from their home by developers who have turned it into a vacation resort. There are no longer damp cellars or broken windows or boggy marshes to haunt -- only modern plumbing and a game room. Rick decides that what the ghosts need is a sanctuary and his friend Barbara thinks that the only man who can help is the Prime Minister. So Rick sets off to London, picking up a few others along the way who are also seeking sanctuary. Rick can only hope that he's successful before the British Isles lose all of their fantastic ghosts (and other creepy creatures).

Z and I both loved this story. It was a bit scary and sad at times but that is to be expected in a ghost story. The plot was more complex than I expected with a seemingly pleasant resolution about two-thirds of the the way through the book that, alas, wasn't permanent. The characters were quite amazing too. Z's favorite was Humphrey's older brother, George the Screaming Skull. I rather liked Aunt Hortensia who had been beheaded by Henry VIII and whose head regularly travelled separately from her body.

We can't wait to read our next Ibbotson book together! We actually have a few here to choose from -- Which Witch?, The Secret of Platform 13, Dial-a-Ghost, Island of the Aunts and The Beasts of Clawstone Castle. We will have to savor each one as Ibbotson passed away just a year ago at the age of 85.

Setting out with a new friend,
K and Z

New Release: Can You Survive? Jack London's Call of the Wild

2011-11-03T00:05:00.000-07:00

You might remember that I recently inherited a second edition copy of Jack London's Call of the Wild from my grandma. It wasn't a book I had ever read but it was a beautiful volume and I promised myself I would read it this year. When I was asked if I wanted to review this new book from Ryan Jacobson, I thought it was the perfect opportunity.

I grabbed my copy of Call and flipped through it and decided that it was a little loose in the binding and I was afraid of damaging it. So then I checked one of my many book apps on my iPhone and found a copy of it and started reading (my first full e-book read, by the way). I have never been so devastated, so heartbroken by a book and also loved it at the same time. Jack London's writing is nothing short of magical. Following Buck, the St. Bernard/retriever mix, through his abduction from California and delivery to Alaska to become a sled dog during the Gold Rush was a harrowing and awe-inspiring journey. I didn't expect to have such a meaningful reading experience with this book but I did.

Almost as soon as I put down the device at the end of the story, I picked up Can You Survive? Jack London's Call of the Wild: A Choose Your Path Book and I found myself nodding as I read because I thought that it really brought what made Buck special to light. As the reader (in the guise of a boy who is miraculously swept into the story as Buck) makes each choice in the story, it showcases what an amazing creature Buck was -- how he knew when to stand his ground, when to turn and run, and when he applied a lesson learned (always hard ones) in a way that made his life easier. Jacobson uses much of London's original text and I thought that it was edited together in a clear way -- providing the reader with a similar experience but having the necessary changes that come with this Choose Your Path format. The paths that are best not chosen (those that lead to The End sooner than later) have a melancholy feeling to them that I thought fit well with the tone of the original.

I think that the execution of this book was spot on and now I'm very curious about some of Jacobson's other Choose Your Path titles like Can You Survive? Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. I can only hope he's already thought of Poe or Jules Verne for his next one!

Hearing the call of the wild,
K

Late RIP Post: The Poisoner's Handbook

2011-11-02T00:04:00.000-07:00

The last book I read for the RIP Challenge (and finished hours before my wrap-up post but didn't bother to go back and change it) was the thoroughly awesome The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York by Deborah Blum. I loved this book. I don't say that very often but this was the perfect read for me. It had the right amount of history and science and murder to fit right in the niche that my brain is happiest in.

This book won't be for everyone. As you can tell from the title, the birth of forensic medicine is going to include a lot of details about gory (yet fascinating things) -- autopsies, brain tissue disintegration for testing, examination of lung tissue after poisoning and all sorts of other bloody tests. There's also no avoiding the animal testing that had to happen at the time to measure the effects of various toxins in order to have reliable data, the kind necessary to secure convictions and send murderers to the electric chair.

I'm mostly against animal testing and possibly against the death penalty and certainly against murdering family members but I still found every aspect of this book fascinating. It made me regret that I didn't take those three extra classes to get a minor in chemistry. My scientific background helped me through the book but I don't think one is necessary to understand what Blum is presenting. Her love for chemistry also comes through in her writing and I thought it was refreshing and highly readable.

On cloud nine,
K

November is Agatha Christie Month (On This Blog)

2011-11-01T00:08:00.000-07:00

A recently-released photo of Agatha in her surfing days

There's nothing significant linking Dame Agatha Christie to the month of November. She was born in September and died in January. But I have three non-fiction books here about her (two of which will be released in November, right before the 85th anniversary of her mysterious disappearance for eleven days) and sixty-one of her books (only three unread) and I'm not quite ready to leave the RIP season behind so I'm declaring this my own personal Agatha Christie Month!

I will be reading:

An Autobiography by Agatha Christie (1977, to be re-released by Harper Collins on 11/22/2011)
Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks: Fifty Years of Mysteries in the Making by John Curran
Agatha Christie: Murder in the Making: More Stories and Secrets from Her Notebooks by John Curran (also being released by Harper Collins on 11/22)

I believe that the three unread books I have are all Poirot stories so I will try to get to those and will surely re-read some of my favorites, like the Harley Quin and Parker Pyne stories. I may also re-watch some film and television adaptations of her work this month. Murder on the Orient Express is always a good choice on a gloomy fall night.

If you would like to join me this month in an Agatha Christie reading or watching, please do! She was such a prolific author that there ought to be something in her catalog for almost every reader. The official Agatha Christie website also has a great page that lists her own ten favorite books and has a "Where to Start" article if you aren't sure what to try first.

Embarking on a treacherous but highly enjoyable journey,
K

RIP Wrap-up Post

2011-10-31T00:10:00.000-07:00

This is one of the saddest days of the year for me -- the end of the RIP Challenge! Not that it ever stops me from continuing to read the books that are so fitting for our gloomy (and extremely short!) Seattle fall and winter days. In fact, I have something special planned for next month that will keep the peril going for a while longer. I'm a bit of a cheat, I guess!

So what did I get through this year? Not as much as I planned but some great books nevertheless!

I started in September with The Mysteries of Udolpho. When the middle of the month rolled around and I was only about 250 pages in, I decided to set it aside. It wasn't bad but it just wasn't grabbing me the way I thought it would. I haven't abandoned it forever, I promise.

Also, as I'm sure you noticed, I spent all of September and October with the prolific Neil Gaiman and a group read of Fragile Things. It was my second time through this collection but the first time that I read every single piece. There were some definite favorites and some that really didn't work for me. But it's a volume that I will keep on my shelves and revisit every so often.

I didn't post my first RIP review until the end of September and it was the thoroughly enjoyable The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson. But all through September, Z and I were reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone at bedtime and so we posted about that (and about watching the movie together) soon after.

My third RIP post was about the short story collection The Penguin Book of Gaslight Crime, edited by Michael Sims. There wasn't a dud in the bunch which made it a quick and fun read! I hope to explore a few of the authors and characters a bit more in the future.

My fourth book was the middle grade new release Sally's Bones by MacKenzie Cadenhead. I started reading it with Z but soon realized that it was meant for an older audience.

When October began, I also started a second group read -- The Lantern by Deborah Lawrenson. It was strange to stretch out the reading of a novel to three weeks when I probably would have read it in a day or two if left on my own!

The fifth review we posted was Z's next bedtime story, Ghosthunters and the Incredibly Revolting Ghost! by Cornelia Funke. It was a fun spooky read (but not too spooky for bedtime!). When I asked Z about his thoughts on the book, he decided he would like to try writing them down himself and so you got his first full post on the blog. I hope that it wasn't his last!

Then I tried another classic and was much more successful with Wilkie Collins' The Dead Secret. It reminded me how much I enjoy his writing and I plan to pull another of his books off my shelves soon.

And then there was the Read-a-Thon and I got through two middle grade books in a series -- Spellbinder (a re-read) and The Midnight Gate by Helen Stringer. They were the perfect choice!

But, of course, our RIP reading didn't stop there. I'm hoping to finish my current read today, The Poisoner's Handbook by Deborah Blum. It's probably going to rank higher for me than The Devil in the White City which is saying a lot! And we are also coming to the end of Z's bedtime book -- The Great Ghost Rescue by Eva Ibbotson. It's scarier than our last read but it doesn't seem to bother Z to read books like that right before bed.

So, I got through two non-fiction titles, one classic (and about a third of another) and a volume of short stories that were in my original RIP stacks. I also read three middle grade books, two group reads and Z's three bedtime books. That's a lot less than I planned but it's been a much busier two months than I anticipated too! But come back tomorrow and see how I plan to keep the chills alive through November. You might even want to join in!

Closing the books on another great RIP challenge,
K

Fragile Things Group Read: Four Stories and Wrap-up

2011-10-30T00:55:00.000-07:00

After two months of time spent in the twisted but sometimes glorious imagination of Neil Gaiman, our time together is coming to an end. This was the last week of readings. It will be strange to finally put this book away for a time. I've loved reading it in small doses and I didn't skip any stories like I did the first time I read it. I think I understood so many of them in a different way now that I know Gaiman's writing better. This has actually put me in the mood to re-read Coraline soon! Thank you again to Carl for hosting this read along and keeping us all on task each week.

THE DAY THE SAUCERS CAME

This is probably my favorite piece of the entire collection and I was patiently waiting for its time to come. It is creative and funny and light-hearted in an incredibly nerdy way. Not only all of that, but it reminds me of my teen years, sitting by the phone, oblivious to anything that was happening around me because I was so self-absorbed and I thought the world revolved around boys and friends. I missed out on so much during those years in the world and even in my own family -- but nothing as dramatic as "the saucer day, the zombie day The Ragnarok and fairies day, the day the great winds came ..."

SUNBIRD

This is one of the few stories that I remembered vividly from my first reading of this book. There are so many ways to look at it -- as an exploration of myth, a study of eternal life and even as a story from father to daughter. The phoenix is always an interesting idea but to pair it with the idea of living eternally through your children--as they pick up in life where you left off--I think it's interesting. It's a much less literal interpretation of the phoenix and that's something that I like about Gaiman's writing. Sometimes he presents things in their most basic form but other times he gives a story or a myth a little twist that takes it somewhere that it has never been before.

INVENTING ALADDIN

And I really enjoyed this story as well! It's just a brief look into the mind of Scheherazade and what she goes through each day, her life dependent on the ability to imagine one more tale or to satisfactorily continue the current one. She's not just a storyteller. She's a sister and a mother and a housekeeper. And yet, only her stories keep her alive. It's sad and hopeful at the same time.

THE MONARCH OF THE GLEN

I can honestly say this collection ended on a high note for me because I breezed through this novella -- enjoying the chance to follow Shadow again through Scotland. Smith was more likable in this story and Mr. Alice, well, let's just say he was tolerable. And it made all the difference in the world (obviously) to have finally read American Gods this year. I might not have even read this story the first time (I couldn't remember it at all which means I probably didn't) but this time I was happy to revisit one of Gaiman's best characters. Now I just need to visit Scotland (and hope that Grendel isn't still hanging around).

Putting it on the shelf,
K

RIP Reads 7 & 8: Spellbinder and Midnight Gate

2011-10-29T00:23:00.000-07:00

Helen Stringer's Spellbinder was an RIP read for me in 2009. I loved the middle grade novel of magic and suspense (read my review) and, though it was a fairly self-contained story, there were enough loose ends to suggest that Stringer hoped to make it a series. This year, the second book to feature Belladonna Johnson, The Midnight Gate, was published. Because I enjoyed the first book so much, I decided to re-read it before starting the second book. I even bought a hardcover copy of the book (my original copy was an ARC) to have in my permanent library. I chose the books for the read-a-thon and ended up spending an enjoyable (but suspense-filled) day with this amazingly resilient young lady.

Belladonna is anything but a typical twelve-year-old -- not because she is an orphan (sadly, that happens regularly to children) but because she still lives with her parents though they are now ghosts. She had started to see ghosts even before her parents died but it became an unexpected blessing when she faced the prospect of living without them. But along with this ability come other responsibilities that Belladonna soon realizes are hers as all of the ghosts of the world start disappearing. With the unexpected help of a classmate and a single remaining ghost girl, Belladonna must restore order to both the worlds of the living and the dead.

The Midnight Gate picks up two months later. Everything seems to be back to normal but soon the mean girl in school seeks revenge on Belladonna by exposing the fact that she appears to be living alone (as her parents are not visible to anyone else). Her new foster parents are suspiciously mild-mannered and it is soon obvious that they aren't all they seem. Again, Belladonna must take a break from her school work to save the world.

Though I spent almost an entire day in these stories, I didn't tire of them at all. In fact, I was sad again when the story ended. The characters are interesting and believable (even the ghostly ones), the villains are terrifying and the worlds are vivid and well-written. There is real peril in the story and true bravery and self-sacrifice.

I can only hope again that Feiwel and Friends continue to support Helen Stringer and the story of Belladonna Johnson! It probably won't hurt that MTV bought the rights to a pilot script for Spellbinder earlier this month (though right now I can only think of all of the ways that they could possibly ruin this empowering and ultimately positive story).

Under the spell,
K

RIP Read 6: The Dead Secret

2011-10-28T12:10:00.000-07:00

I'm falling behind in reviews so this is going to be more of a mention instead.

The RIP read that I finished right before the read-a-thon was The Dead Secret by Wilkie Collins. If you are a fan of Collins or even of Dickens, you will probably like this one. It's one of his earlier novels, published serially three years before The Woman in White. It can be very sentimental in parts and, as you will find in many other Collins novels, it includes an examination of social issues -- in this case, the opinions of the era on birth and position. It also has a couple of really stellar characters worthy of Dickens -- the vicar Doctor Chennery and Uncle Joseph really stand out but most of the characters are interesting for one reason or another.

The "secret" will probably seem obvious to a modern reader fairly early on even though it isn't actually revealed until right near the end. And, as has happened many times before, Oxford manages to give it away right on the back of the book. So if you have this version, try and avoid looking at the back before you start or while you're reading. For me, this means always setting the book down face-up. Luckily, this version has a really beautiful cover!

What makes this an RIP read? A gloomy, derelict "castle" (complete with ghost) and a woman driven mad by a secret that she is forced to keep for years.

Loving this view of a different era,
K

The Lantern Group Read: Part 5 & Wrap-up

2011-10-24T00:22:00.000-07:00

It's the end of our group read of The Lantern by Deborah Lawrenson. I actually finished reading it over a week ago so I'm glad to finally be wrapping this up. Heather of Capricious Reader wrote up our questions for this week.

(End of book questions mean, obviously, SPOILERS. Don't read if this is a book you're interested in. Just read the book!)

1. Now that it's all said and done; what did you think of the book? Did you see the ending coming?

The story line with Dom and Eve pretty much wrapped up the way I thought it would. It was kind of anti-climactic. Although I was surprised that they had a kid and stayed in the house. I actually liked that bit. The Benedicte story line was more interesting with the medical condition and her having lived with Sabine's family. I liked too that they eventually found the recordings of Benedicte's story and found out the truth about everything.

2. What do you think of the characters? Lawrenson took us on a twisty little ride there, I had trouble deciding who was good and who wasn't for a while there! What do you think of Dom? Of Sabine? Rachel?

I think the only one who turned out to be better than I thought was Sabine. She had a reason behind what she was doing though I'm not quite sure why she was so sneaky and mean about it. Maybe she was just French. I saw everything coming with Rachel and Dom because of the parallels to Rebecca.

3. Pierre was such a conflicted character. In the end, do you think he killed Marthe and Annette, or did the fall to their deaths because of their blindness?

Well, they both ended up with trauma to the back of the skull. I don't think they both happened to do that falling. Plus, he lied about Marthe going back to Paris and eventually faked his own death and disappeared. If he wasn't guilty about something, he would definitely have still tried to get his portion of the estate. He was just a bad man.

4. The book is being compared to Rebecca and Daphne du Maurier's writing. Do you think the book lives up to that description?

I think the connections to Rebecca were obvious but I think that the book suffered a bit from that. The writing was not of the same level as du Maurier's and the story wasn't quite as tight and compelling as Rebecca. I just think it's really hard to emulate a true classic. I think I would have enjoyed this book more if I wasn't such a big fan of Rebecca already.

5. Did you have any problems with the book? Narration? Plot? The back and forth between two different characters and times?

Any problems I had at the beginning seemed to work themselves out by the end.

6. Do you think Lawrenson tied both stories together well in the end? Is there anything she could/should have done differently?

I think the stories never really tied together. Rather, they both happened around the same house and so it's the house's history but I don't think the Benedicte/Marthe/Pierre story truly affected Eve and Dom's life at all.

7. One problem I had with the novel is the reliability of the narrators. Do you think any of them were telling the truth? Which ones?

I think that Eve was the only one who was telling us things that weren't true and that was just because she was stupid and weak. Benedicte was telling things in a round-about way and from her own point of view but she never told us anything that wasn't, from her perspective, the truth. But there were a lot of lies of omission and mistaken ideas in the story.

This was a really fun group read! Thanks to Carl, Kailana and Heather for the thought-provoking questions and the idea to run this in the first place.

Closing the book,

Fragile Things Group Read: Four Stories

2011-10-23T05:55:00.000-07:00

I almost forgot to do my Fragile Things reading for this week! Life got in the way, as it sometimes does. But luckily I remembered to grab my book and here we are. My responses are pretty short this week. I don't know if it's because we've been doing this for so long or just because there wasn't much to say.

(By the way, if you don't know about Gaiman's All Hallow's Read initiative--gifting scary books on Halloween--check out this video about it. I still haven't quite decided what I'm going to do but I want to participate.)

IN THE END

Well, I'll admit that I don't have a clear idea what this single page story ultimately means. It's a backwards take on the Adam and Eve story. I've read it a couple of times and, really, I just don't know. He says in the introduction that he "was trying to imagine the very last book of the Bible". I guess it's just a re-winding of everything -- like a yo-yo returning to God's hand.

GOLIATH

This is a rare science-fiction story in this volume and I loved it. It's bleak and Matrix-y (as it should be because it was inspired by the script for the film The Matrix) but it's also beautiful in a weird way. It's about humanity and disposability and uniqueness and homogeneity. I really can't explain it but this is one story that I can always go back to for a thought-provoking read. The main character, "Goliath", is no Neo. He's something else all-together -- someone who is meant to be a savior but not of mankind. Rather, he is a savior for the machines. Crazy.

PAGES FROM A JOURNAL FOUND IN A SHOEBOX LEFT IN A GREYHOUND BUS SOMEWHERE BETWEEN TULSA, OKLAHOMA, AND LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY

And here is another piece inspired by Tori Amos and I just don't like it. It seems like it's trying too hard to be etherial and mysterious. Gaiman says it's in the American Gods world but I didn't see that so much. A mysterious identity-shifting narrator, an unrealistic driving journey around the United States, impossible dates -- they just didn't come together to make anything that worked for me.

HOW TO TALK TO GIRLS AT PARTIES

This is a strange story. It's fantastical but also somehow bland. I guess I'm just kind of neutral about it. I can't even think of anything really to say because, though it is rather vague, I also feel that it is fairly straight-forward.

With my eyes on the finish line,
K

Good Night, Sweet Read-a-Thon!

2011-10-23T03:02:00.000-07:00

Alright, I'm calling it a night. After only six and a half hours of sleep last night, it seems that I've hit the wall of no return or something like that. I've only managed 30 pages in the last hour and am spending most of my time wandering around the house trying to stay awake.

Local time: 3:00am
Books/Stories Finished: Spellbinder by Helen Stringer, The Midnight Gate by Helen Stringer, three Gaiman stories, one DWJ story
Started Reading: Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld
Pages Read: 796
Time Spent Read-a-Thoning: 18.5 hours

Eight hundred pages in one day isn't bad. I think it might be as much as I've read all month! I'm going to take old Scott up to bed with me but I probably won't get more than a dozen more pages in. Too sleepy!

Thank you so much to everyone who stopped by to comment today. The cheerleaders were awesome as were all of the other readers! I'm so glad I participated again this year, especially since the weather was completely miserable today. It was nice to feel no obligation to go out into the wind and rain.

Buenas noches,
K

Hour Twenty-Two Read-a-Thon Update

2011-10-23T02:01:00.000-07:00

Well, I've given the toughest task of the Read-a-Thon to Scott Westerfeld. He's got to keep me awake and engaged for the next three hours. Can he do it? Time will tell!

Local time: 2:00am
Books/Stories Finished: Spellbinder by Helen Stringer, The Midnight Gate by Helen Stringer, three Gaiman stories, one DWJ story
Currently Reading: Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld
Other Books Being Read in the House: none -- Z is fast asleep and the husband is still on the computer and watching tv (he stays up really late on the weekends)
Pages Read: 766
Goodies Consumed: a couple of chocolate orange wafers and that's it -- it's kind of late to still be eating! I'm not above sneaking a bit more caffeine though.

Putting on my steampunk goggles,
K

Hour Nineteen Read-a-Thon Update

2011-10-22T23:18:00.000-07:00

I'm still here and still reading!

Local time: 11:15pm
Books/Stories Finished: Spellbinder by Helen Stringer, two Gaiman stories, one DWJ story
Currently Reading: The Midnight Gate by Helen Stringer
Other Books Being Read in the House: none -- Z is asleep and the husband is on the computer and watching tv
Pages Read: 626
Goodies Consumed: Haribo Gold-Bears (apparently there's a hyphen in there ... who knew?!)

I have 125 pages left of my current read so I'm going to just finish it and then read my last Gaiman story and finish that post up for tomorrow/today/whatever, it's late.

Thinking about some nice caffeinated green tea,
K

Hour Sixteen Read-a-Thon Update

2011-10-22T20:08:00.000-07:00

This day is totally flying by! I'm sure it will start dragging in a few hours but I'll be good for a while more. I've almost been reading for twelve hours now which is quite a lot! We're finally having dinner soon so I thought I would get my update written before that --

Local time: 8:05pm
Books/Stories Finished: Spellbinder by Helen Stringer, two Gaiman stories, one DWJ story
Currently Reading: The Midnight Gate by Helen Stringer
Other Books Being Read in the House: none -- they've finally lost interest and gone to the other room to play on the computer
Pages Read: 529
Goodies Consumed: None! I'm barely done digesting lunch and we need to have dinner before too late. I'll snack later. :)

I hope everyone is having a great time. Nine hours left? Easy. Maybe.

Waiting for the rice cooker to finish,
K

Hour Thirteen Read-a-Thon Update

2011-10-22T17:41:00.000-07:00

I'm kind of on an odd update schedule here! Hour thirteen? Oh well!

Local time: 5:35pm
Books/Stories Finished: Spellbinder by Helen Stringer, two Gaiman stories, one DWJ story
Currently Reading: The Midnight Gate by Helen Stringer
Other Books Being Read in the House: A Cheese Related Mishap AND Piranha Pancakes by Ray Friesen (Z)
Pages Read: 394
Goodies Consumed: Belgian mint chocolate crisps, lunch (omelette, hash browns and toast) and iced tea

Things slowed down there with familial interruptions and writing up my thoughts on the Gaiman stories for our group read post for tomorrow. I hope to make some good time now through The Midnight Gate. It picks up two months after Spellbinder ends so I feel like I'm still enjoying the same story. I also won't be breaking for snacks any time soon because I am stuffed from lunch -- maybe just some tea in a bit.

As you can see, Z is still reading the same two graphic novels but now he's alternating between them. Whatever ... he's doing a great job of reading today!

Back in my yoga pants,
K

Hour Ten Read-a-Thon Update

2011-10-22T14:09:00.000-07:00

I just finished Spellbinder and it was just as good as I remembered the first time. Luckily I have the next book in the series here--The Midnight Gate--and I'll be reading that today too! First though, I have only read one of the four pieces for the Fragile Things group tomorrow so I'll read one or two of those and maybe a short story or two from Diana Wynne Jones from Unexpected Magic before I start in on The Midnight Gate.

Local time: 2:05pm
Books Finished: Spellbinder by Helen Stringer
Currently Reading: Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman and Unexpected Magic by Diana Wynne Jones
Other Books Being Read in the House: A Cheese Related Mishap by Ray Friesen (Z) and Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond (husband)
Pages Read: 331
Goodies Consumed: Sea salt flavored Popchips and Lipton Diet Green Tea, Berry flavored

I still need that shower so I suppose I will do that now, get into some different comfy clothes and then sit back down with Neil and Diana (and some candy)!

Spending time with the fragile and unexpected,
K

Hour Seven Read-a-Thon Update

2011-10-22T11:16:00.000-07:00

Well, it's hour seven of the Read-a-Thon but I'm really only coming up on hour four because of my late start. Here's an update --

Local time: 11:15am
Currently Reading: Spellbinder by Helen Stringer
Other Books Being Read in the House: Piranha Pancakes by Ray Friesen (Z)
Pages Read: 125
Goodies Consumed: One mug of Awake tea (sweetened, no milk) and two freshly-baked blueberry scones (Sticky Fingers brand)

I would be reading much faster but Z is reading his graphic novel out loud and it's a bit distracting. We also had to break for a bit of fighting after Z told me to "bring it on". I brought it and he got karate chopped until he could stand it no longer.

I'll check back in after I finish this book (and take a shower). Snack updates and other random photos will be on twitter (@webereading).

Off to look for an amulet,
K

Real Read-a-Thon Start

2011-10-22T08:36:00.000-07:00

Hey there, fellow read-a-thoners! It's 8:30am and I'm only 3 1/2 hours late to this party! I ended up staying up until about 2am last night so I'll probably be ducking out for a nap sometime today.

I started Spellbinder by Helen Stringer last night and got through the first two chapters (41 pages) so that's what I'm starting with today. It's a re-read but I don't remember a whole lot about it so I'm excited to revisit it.

I'll be making those blueberry scones in about half an hour but I want to get a bit of reading done right off so I'm starting NOW! I'll do small updates on Twitter (along with some food pics, I'm sure) and be back here on the blog in a bit.

20 1/2 hours of reading ahead (more or less),
K

Read-a-Thon!

2011-10-22T05:01:00.000-07:00

Okay, fellow readers and most awesome cheerleaders ... I'm ready for the Read-a-Thon! There's just one problem. There's a 99.9% chance that, as you read this, I'm not awake yet and won't be for at least a couple more hours. I'm so incredibly not a morning person. This means that I'm going to miss out on the opening questions. I'm sad to miss that part so I'll answer last year's while I sit here on Friday night and watch Pearl Jam 20.

1)Where are you reading from today?

The suburbs outside of Seattle, with my bum firmly planted on the couch for most of it. I'll turn on the gas fire if it's as rainy and dark as it's supposed to be.

2)Three random facts about me…

I am a 5th generation Californian, I have a degree in zoology and my favorite ice cream is rocky road (but only with almonds in it, not that gross walnut kind).

3)How many books do you have in your TBR pile for the next 24 hours?

Well, I changed my pile just a little since I lasted posted about it. I've decided to stick to the Westerfeld steampunk trilogy and the two Springer books, interspersed with short pieces from Mister Gaiman and Madame Wynne Jones. If by some ridiculous miracle I get through all of these before 5am tomorrow, I'll decide on more then!

4)Do you have any goals for the read-a-thon (i.e. number of books, number of pages, number of hours, or number of comments on blogs)?

No goals. I just want to get through my TBR a bit and have some fun! I also want to get both the husband and Z reading for part of the day. I bought some bribe snacks so I'm sure they'll sit down until the gummy clown fish and cotton candy run out!

Speaking of snacks, I know you're all curious --

Two kinds of Popcorners, gummy bears, chocolate orange wafers, Belgian mint chocolates and lots of green tea and peppermint hot chocolate. And I'll be starting the day with blueberry scones and some Awake tea. We'll probably head out for lunch but I'll take my book along!

5)If you’re a veteran read-a-thoner, any advice for people doing this for the first time?

I've only done one Read-a-Thon so far but here's my meager advice. If you need a break from reading, go visit some other participants' posts. Their enthusiasm will get you going again! And there's no rule against naps.

See you soon,

RIP Read 5: Ghosthunters and the Incredibly Revolting Ghost

2011-10-19T00:44:00.000-07:00

Z has decided he wants to write the review about our last bedtime book, so without further ado (and with only a little parental prompting) --

This book is called Ghosthunters and the Incredibly Revolting Ghost! The author is Cornelia Funke. She's the author of The Thief Lord.

It's Book 1 of Ghosthunters series. It's German in 1993 and English in 2006. The main character is Tom and his sister Lola. Lola treats Tom like a joke. One day an Asg (Averagely Spooky Ghost) named Hugo moves to Tom's cellar. Tom has to bring Hugo home and avoid a huge Irg (Incredibly Revolting Ghost). Tom gets help from his grandmother's friend Hetty Hyssop because she is a ghost specialist.

I really like this book because it's really funny. I'll read the next book. That book is called Ghosthunters and the Totally Moldy Baroness! It's about a Tomob (Totally Moldy Baroness).

BOO!
Z

The Lantern Group Read: Parts 3 & 4

2011-10-17T00:59:00.000-07:00

This week we read parts 3 and 4 of Deborah Lawrenson's The Lantern and they were gripping! I had to really force myself not to read the last part immediately. But I wanted to be able to answer the questions for this week properly so I resisted. I also admittedly checked my inbox frequently to be ready when the questions came in so that I could answer them and finish the book! (They came in an hour ago and here I am already.)

So, here are this week's questions from Kailana of The Written World -- as you can guess, these are questions for the middle of the story so they are quite SPOILERY. Please don't read this post if you plan on reading this book!

1. The title of this book is The Lantern, and a lantern makes an appearance in both of the stories. In Benedicte’s past, it had a meaning, but what do you think the lantern signifies in her future and in Eve’s story?

I'm guessing it's the same lantern that was left behind by Andre? If Benedicte was haunted (and her ghost seems to be there now as the lady in the grey dress, right?), then I'm not sure the lantern is linked to Eve but just to the property. After all, it never leads her anywhere -- it just shows up.

2. Carl mentioned scents in last week's questions, but they have been addressed even more in these sections. What significance do you think scents have in this story overall?

I'm still not entirely sure why the scents are included to the degree that they are. It might turn out to all just be for atmosphere. I do think it's interesting though that Marthe's haunting scent is interpreted by Eve as being Rachel's. It's a property with a long history (and even a perfumer that she knows about) so I'm not sure why she doesn't make that connection at all. If she's willing to accept that there is a scented ghost, why wouldn't it be the perfume maker? Why would it be the ex-wife that supposedly died of cancer and never lived in the house? Why would it haunt her when she wouldn't recognize the scent? That would be a stupid ghost. ;)

3. What do you think of the combining storyline of Marthe? She connects Benedicte, Eve, and Rachel. What do you think will be revealed about this connection in the next sections?

I haven't thought about this at all while reading. There are a load of current novels that have a past narrative and a present one that are strongly linked by research but this doesn't feel like one of those. We are finding out much more about Marthe than Eve or Rachel ever did and their research is not a real part of the story (except for making Dom upset). If it wasn't for Benedicte, we wouldn't know much about Marthe at all. So I guess I've just kept the stories separate for the most part and have seen them as just coincidentally intersecting. I wonder if in the fifth part they will really collide.

4. Now that things are beginning to move along, what do you think of the characters? Are any standing out for you? Do you particularly like any? Dislike any?

Well, Andre turned out to be a real piece, didn't he? I totally didn't see that coming. I thought he was going to be outed for flirting, not for having a wife and two kids! That was probably the first time I really had to do an about-face on how I felt about a character. The others all seem to be consistent for the most part. I still don't really especially like any of them. Benedicte was the closest but she kind of messed everything up in that whole situation with Pierre and Marthe. Marthe's not bad but I just don't feel a lot for her except sympathy that she basically got ambushed. Eve is driving me up the wall and Dom is still an enigma. And Sabine's "Mrs. Danvers move" was somewhat amusing even though I saw it coming -- getting Eve to research Marthe. Evil! (Don't want to spoil Rebecca for those who haven't read it.)

5. What do you think really happened to Marthe and Annette? What do you think the significance of the bones in the pool are to the story? Especially now that it has been revealed that Rachel is also dead.

I thought it was obvious that Pierre killed them while Benedicte was away. The first bones found were a woman in her fifties and then there was a younger woman. It sounds like Marthe and Annette to me especially since we know from Eve's research that Marthe disappeared "at the height of her success" (page 159). Plus the pool was going in when Pierre showed up (although one skeleton was found in the bordering soil, not under the pool). I just don't see how/why Dom could have buried his wife on someone else's property. Why would you bury someone and then buy the property later and forge a tangible link with it? Then again, that sounds just like something that would happen in a novel. :)

6. Do you have any other things you think are significant to talk about? Are there any other predictions to be made for the last two sections of the book?

I have no idea what will happen next! Will we find out about Rachel? I think there's a good chance that she really just died of cancer and is buried in a normal way somewhere and Eve is just exaggerating and sabotaging her relationship. But Dom's a "man who has done a terrible thing" (page 5) -- I'm just not sure if it's emotional or physical. And why wasn't there an obituary when Eve did the web search for Rachel? And, of course, there are the missing local girls ... hmm. Although killing your annoying (possibly cheating) wife is much different than ambushing random young local girls.

Benedicte's story seems to be mostly over except for whatever happens to Pierre (which I hope is especially gruesome). If anything else exceptional happens to her, it will be a real shocker.

7. Lastly, what do you think of this book overall? Other than for the read-along, why are you reading it? Is it meeting your expectations?

This book had already caught my interest before the read-along was announced so this just got me to read the book sooner than I intended. I put it on my library list and then, as I still had 40 names ahead of me, I ended up buying it instead! I guess that worked out well for Harper. ;) I'm really liking this book. I wouldn't say loving it but yes, it's definitely meeting my expectations. I was hoping for a fun, creepy read and it's certainly turning out to be just that. I'll finish the last part in the next hour (only 76 pages) and know for sure!

Off to (hopefully) witness Pierre's untimely death,
K

Fragile Things Group Read: Four Stories (Starting with a Poem)

2011-10-16T00:54:00.000-07:00

Last week's reading had some real gems in it and a lot of discussion which was fun! Let's just get into this week's "things" --

(As always, these are short stories and poems so there are bound to be SPOILERS ahead ...)

MY LIFE

Okay, this might be the first time I have found anything really funny in this volume. This free-form piece was just like a country song -- "my dad was blind but then he could see so he divorced my mom who became my dad after my dad died from being hit by alien debris from outer space". And that's just the first verse! The drunk on a barstool is always good for a story or two, right? And the thought of that drunk being a sock monkey just pushes this all over the edge into pure hilarity.

FIFTEEN PAINTED CARDS FROM A VAMPIRE TAROT

Unlike my feelings about the "Strange Little Girls", I loved these vampire studies! It's strange to think of them paired with the art of Rick Berry though because they are so much more vivid than Berry's blurred art. I can't find why it's called "Fifteen Painted Cards" when there are twenty-two. Did anyone find that out? Anyway, I don't think there was a bad one in the bunch here.

FEEDERS AND EATERS

This story is gross and gory but still a good read. It's interesting that it came to Gaiman as a dream (or as he says, a nightmare) because, if I had dreams like this, I would never sleep again. I'm happy that I read this while it was still light outside and not right before bed because I would be afraid to sleep. Is the woman a vampire or a cannibal? I don't know but she sure ain't right.

DISEASEMAKER'S CROUP

This piece is indeed "...a netherworld of pseudo-medical nonsense." It takes one a little while to realize that the problem is not in the reading of this piece but in the writing. The brain tries to make sense but it is really nothing but nonsense. I think if one admitted to liking this, one's mental condition would be questioned. And yet, how can one not enjoy a bit of tongue-in-cheek nonsense every once in a while?

Living a normal life,
K

One Week 'Til Read-a-Thon Time!

2011-10-15T00:32:00.000-07:00

We're one week away from the 24 Hour Read-a-Thon, a.k.a. Dewey's Read-a-Thon and I've signed up to participate again this year as a reader. I never know what my schedule will be or how many hours I'll actually end up reading but I will try my hardest to read as much as possible with a husband and kid around. One of these times, I'll do the whole hotel room getaway thing!

So, I'll see you at 5am Pacific (though more likely a bit later as I'm not a morning person) on Saturday, October 22nd! I will probably write a couple of blog posts during the day but will be mostly on Twitter. You can see my tweets in the sidebar if you're not a Tweeter.

I'm going to use the Read-a-Thon as a chance to take a one-day break from my RIP classics and non-fiction so my potentials list looks like this right now --

Eight Days of Luke by Diana Wynne Jones
Island of the Aunts, Secret of Platform 13 and The Beasts of Clawstone Castle by Eva Ibbotson
Spellbinder (re-read) and The Midnight Gate by Helen Stringer
Affinity by Sarah Waters
Leviathan, Behemoth and Goliath by Scott Westerfeld
A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
The Technologists by Matthew Pearl

Thinking about snacks (... Popcorners ...),
K

A Huge Ego and A Huge Mistake

2011-10-12T00:51:00.000-07:00

We're sadly getting near the end of our picture book days in this house. Z is more and more interested in longer and more complex stories. He's also really into graphic novels these days. So now we have to keep an eye out for those rare picture books that have a little something special, something that can still grab a seven year old's attention and make him laugh. Candlewick happens to have two fun new picture books this fall that do just that.

King Hugo's Huge Ego, written and illustrated by Chris Van Dusen, is a book in verse -- the tale of a king whose diminutive size is greatly eclipsed by his large ego. When he finally angers a sorceress, she secretly curses his head so that each time he brags about himself, his head inflates. Pretty soon, he can barely move because of his huge noggin. When he reencounters the witch, can she get him to realize just why he now has a head the size of a hot air balloon?

The brilliant colors of the detailed and sometimes hilarious illustrations in this book are really fun. This one also works well for slightly older children because it introduces a lot of great vocabulary words including enormous, cocky, adoration, crimson, arrogance and ermine! And, of course, the lesson that is taught is a great one these days in a world of rampant overpraise and quite a few bratty kids. Plus, the king's pug is just the cutest little guy ever!

The other picture book that we enjoyed recently is I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen. It's a book of simple words and simple illustrations but it's got real personality.

A bear has lost his favorite hat and so he goes from animal neighbor to neighbor, asking if anyone has seen his hat. After he talks to a few animals, he realizes that he might have actually seen his hat on a shifty rabbit a few pages back. When he finally gets his hat back, the rabbit is soon nowhere to be found.

Z cracked me up when we sat down and read these books together. One of the words we learned in King Hugo was "buffoon". He asked what it meant and I told him it was someone who acts foolishly. Then, after we read this second book, we had the following exchange --

Z: That rabbit is a buffoon.
K: What happens to rabbits who are buffoons?
Z: They get eaten.

Holding on to picture books for just a bit longer,
K and Z

The Lantern Group Read: Parts 1 & 2

2011-10-10T00:58:00.000-07:00

The first week of the group read of The Lantern by Deborah Lawrenson has just ended. This book is conveniently broken up into parts and so we read Part 1 and Part 2 this week (only 130 quick-reading pages if you still want to catch up and join in). Carl of Stainless Steel Droppings is the host for the week and these are his questions --

(NOTE: The first few answers are spoiler-free. I'll let you know when potential spoilers creep in later.)

1. This may seem like an obvious opening question, but what do you think of The Lantern thus far?

I think this is a great opening question because I wasn't immediately drawn into the book. As mentioned in the next question, the story alternates back and forth between two women in the same place but in different eras and it took some time to understand either story line and become invested in them. Once I got used to the switching narratives though and figured out the time frames, I started enjoying the story much more. I'm still not sure exactly where it's going but I'm more interested in finding out than I was in the first 40 pages.

2. The book appears to be following the experiences of two different women, alternating back and forth between their stories. Are you more fond of our main protagonist's story or of Benedicte's or are you enjoying them both equally?

Right now I'm enjoying both equally. They are very different stories--one of an old woman remembering her childhood and the other of a young woman at the beginning of an adult relationship--and so, though I see no real intersection yet between the stories, I am interested in where they are going.

3. The Lantern is a book filled with descriptions of scents. How are you liking (or disliking) that aspect of the book? How do you feel about the lavish description of scents? How are the short chapters working for you?

I'll answer the second part first and say that I'm really liking the short chapters for some reason. It's almost like a soap opera where you experience a scene and then move on to a different story. Not that I like soap operas at all, but it's working in this book for me. And it makes the book just fly by, doesn't it?

The scents, on the other hand, are confusing me. I knew they would be a big part of the story when the prologue began with a heavily descriptive bit about scents but, because they are a much harder thing to conjure up in the mind (as opposed to images), I wasn't sure if it would work so well. At one point, I was able to imagine a warm breeze over a field of lavender because I have an established brain pathway for the scent of lavender. But then, elsewhere in the novel, another scent or combination of odors will be mentioned and I have no reference for it in my mind and that section will just fall completely flat for me. It reminds me of when someone begins talking about the composition of a wine (I'm not really a wine drinker because the fermented grapes just taste like death and decomposition to me), the notes of this and hints of that, and I have no idea what they are talking about. Sometimes I don't believe that they are really getting all of that out of a sip and sometimes I just don't care. And that's how I feel about some of the scent descriptions in the book. I have no frame of reference and so I am either skeptical that someone was paying that much attention to individual scents or I just don't care because it's not conjuring anything up for me. And yet, some of them still somehow grab me and draw me a bit more into the atmosphere of the story. So, yeah ... I'm torn.

4. How would you describe the atmosphere of Parts 1 and 2 of The Lantern?

(This answer is really SPOILERY. Move along to the next question if you don't want to know plot details!)

I think the atmosphere of Benedicte's story is truly menacing because her brother Pierre is actually evil and bad. I don't know if I'm so afraid of his ghost but I'm terrified of the real boy. I'm worried about what actually ends up happening to Benedicte and those around her.

The unnamed protagonist's storyline, however, is much more ambiguous. I would describe it as invoking a sense of nervousness and doubt. I believe Benedicte's reminiscences are true (and even kind of believe that she is seeing real ghosts) but I am not sure if I believe in this woman's feelings or not. Part of me thinks Dom could be shady but part thinks that she is just overreacting to things. Even with her "he's done a bad thing" speech at the beginning, I still don't trust her entirely.

5. Has anything surprised you to this point? Anything stand out?

I'm not sure that anything has surprised me or really stood out yet. There's certainly a sense of building tension in both stories but it's pretty evenly paced. I'm hoping that the next two parts will have some shockers in them.

6. What are your feelings about Dom in these first two sections of the story?

(Very SPOILERY again. Move along.)

I still kind of like Dom and I feel sorry that his girlfriend is constantly badgering him to give up info about his ex-wife that he obviously doesn't want to talk about! I think it's because I've always liked Max de Winter despite everything and I'm kind of banking on Rachel being a bit of a Rebecca. I mean, Dom did save the girlfriend from the collapsing roof, right? Yes, he might have actually caused the cave-in and just saved her at the last minute for some reason but there's no proof of that! And hey, he's a musician so there's ample reason for him to be moody and brooding. Not to mention the fact that his girlfriend is a mooch. ;) Just kidding!

Bonus question: Did anyone else hear "Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again" ringing in their ears through the first sections of the book?

(Sorta SPOILERY.)

This is a tough one for me because, being a big fan of Rebecca, I notice when things are similar to that classic story (like the protagonist with no name) but I also notice when things are pointedly different. Then it feels a little heavy-handed, like Lawrenson is writing "see, my narrator has a new house with her man and new sheets and new trinkets and she doesn't have to step into another woman's house like the girl who went to Manderley did!" But then we find out that maybe not all of those trinkets are new and maybe the stories are more alike after all and ...

On to parts three and four,

Fragile Things Group Read: Four Stories (Includes Poem-ish Things)

2011-10-09T00:53:00.000-07:00

And we come back around to this Fragile Things cover, the beautiful one I get to enjoy during these two months. Though you can't tell from the image, the cover is actually vellum with the text and eggshell printed on it and the butterfly and snowflake are printed on the white book cover underneath. That's what gives them the faded appearance. They look different in real life than in this image -- less like pictures and more like actual specimens.

We're halfway through the group read and it's interesting to spend this much time thinking about a set of stories and poems. For days I thought about the comments on last week's post including those about Tori Amos and then, with fantastic timing, my iPod decided to play "Little Earthquakes" the other day when it hasn't "randomly" chosen Tori Amos in months. Carl was right -- her songs are still hauntingly beautiful and I think I will spend a little more time with her earlier albums this fall. And yet, maybe I'm spending a little too much time with Mr. Gaiman. Recently I had a dream that I woke up and Neil was waking up at the same time -- in my bed. There's wasn't anything going on, we had just, literally, become bedfellows. Anyway ...

(remember, there might be some SPOILERS ahead ...)

LOCKS

This is a beautiful little free-form piece about parenthood and story-telling that was written for Neil's daughter when she was two. You can read it here and there are plenty of videos out there of him reading it. It's about a father telling his two-year-old daughter the story of Goldilocks and also contemplating his own role as a Father Bear. He says in the introduction that stories are "the currency that we share with those who walked the world before ever we were here. (Telling stories to my children that I was, in my turn, told by my parents and grandparents makes me feel part of something special and odd, part of the continuous stream of life itself.)" I wasn't told many stories when I was a kid (although my dad would make up the most hilarious songs sometimes), but I know that my time reading with Z is a special time where we share a story. We may not experience it in exactly the same way or be looking to get the same things out of it, but the moment is there for us to remember, each in our own way.

THE PROBLEM OF SUSAN

I don't have any real connection to The Chronicles of Narnia. I read them when I was a kid (or most of them at least -- I can't really remember) and thought they were fine but I didn't love Narnia the way I loved Oz. So, I didn't recall what had happened to Susan and the others. But I do remember that Aslan and the White Witch never had dirty s.e.x. and Aslan never ate children. I have yet to be comfortable when Gaiman writes explicitly dirty things. It kind of ruins everything else around it for me because it rarely seems super relevant. I mean, Aslan could have still eaten Susan and Lucy without stopping for nookie in the middle, right? This story could have been okay (and was really thoughtful about the elderly Susan in parts) but really lost me toward the end there. I just searched for "gaiman susan" in the Googles and the second thing there after the Wikipedia entry on Susan Pevensie was the wonderful Jenny and her thoughts on this story from January 2009. You should go read what she says. It's smart and stuff and the comments go on for ages. It seems this story is thought-provoking for a lot of readers (who don't all have the same interpretations of it).

INSTRUCTIONS

Here is another free form poem that you can read online. It has the unique distinction of also having been turned into a picture book last year, illustrated by Charles Vess. Here is the book trailer that also includes the whole piece, read by Neil himself --

While I was embedding this, Z sat down and watched and listened with me. He seemed to like it quite a bit. This was strange because when I read it from my book just moments before, I thought it felt old and dark and my imagination took me to slightly frightening places that I didn't think were quite appropriate for children. But when Z was presented with these pictures along with the story, these ones with muted colors and only hints of danger, it was okay for him. And I think that's kind of the point of this piece. The instructions are for a journey through fantasy worlds -- whether it be the literal journey that Z still believes in (especially when he sees it right before his eyes) or the mental one that I took when I was reading. The instructions are a bit vague because the journey isn't the same for everyone. But the basic ways of getting through trials, both in fantasy and in life, are similar for most --

"Remember your name.

Do not lose hope--what you seek will be found.

...

Trust dreams.

Trust your heart, and trust your story."

HOW DO YOU THINK IT FEELS?

And then again with the s.e.x. I'm a bit perplexed by the order of the pieces this week. How can a poem, fit to be turned into a children's picture book, be nestled between two stories that are so incredibly adult? And this one isn't only very adult but it's very male. I got more and more annoyed as I read the story. Years later they meet up and she's still beautiful and trim but he's overweight and balding and she wants him more than ever? Of course. Although, I think this did finally clarify some of my thoughts on Gaiman and his writing of sex. At the start of the story, when the man and woman are young and in love, it's glossed over and barely mentioned, just a small part of all the things the couple does together and what their relationship is about. But later, it turns explicit when it's connected to sadness and anger and is the last remaining connection between them -- when it's no longer really love. Not my favorite story of the week (obviously) but I kind of get it.

Not thinking about how it feels,

RIP Read 4: Sally's Bones

2011-10-06T00:48:00.000-07:00

Sally Simplesmith is a kid who just doesn't fit in. Her mom is dead, her dad is an absent-minded professor and she's the only one in the 6th grade that is into "death rock". She doesn't fit in and she's pretty much accepted it until a new girl comes to town and decides that Sally doesn't belong anywhere near her -- or any of the other kids at school. Sally is so distraught that she throws herself on her mother's grave and wishes for death. Her wish isn't interpreted quite the way she expects, though, and what she receives instead is a skeletal pup who loves her from almost the first moment they meet. Should Sally keep him secret? What does a dead dog eat? Is Bones the key to Sally's fitting in at school? Sally's Bones is written by MacKenzie Cadenhead and illustrated by the aptly-named T.S. Spookytooth.

Z and I started this book together as an RIP read but, after a few chapters, I ended up making a parental decision to choose something else for him and just finish reading this one on my own. The book is full of mellifluous alliterations and Sally and Bones' friendship is truly heartwarming. Cadenhead has also discovered a way to write different dog barks so that they come out perfectly believable when reading aloud! But there are also some rather bleak and disturbing descriptions of Sally's mother dying in a hospital bed after a lingering illness. There are some shockingly mean girls and Sally's depression is, well, depressing. This wasn't the book for my little second grader but I can absolutely see it being the right book for an older child (middle grade) who is dealing with some of the issues that Sally is. For a kid who has lost a parent, is a victim of bullies at school or maybe just feels like they don't fit in for whatever reason, Sally's story will be familiar and, hopefully, a ray of hope as it does have a happy ending. I'll be donating the book we received for review to Z's school in the hope that the right kid will pick it up at the right time.

Looking for friends in unexpected places,
K and Z

RIP Read 3: The Penguin Book of Gaslight Crime

2011-10-04T16:50:00.001-07:00

Besides having the most amusing cover of almost any book I've ever owned, The Penguin Book of Gaslight Crime is a fantastic little collection of late Victorian crime stories. The editor, Michael Sims, deserves credit for a wonderful collection that doesn't include a single dud. Every story in this book was enjoyable and a few were unforgettable.

Though we are all fairly familiar with a famous Victorian detective or two, Sims decided, after working on a collection of stories about the famed gentleman thief Arséne Lupin, that the era's thieves weren't getting the attention they deserved. After reading this collection, I heartily agree.

I hadn't read any of the authors in this volume except for O. Henry and his classic Christmas heartstring-puller "The Gift of the Magi" -- which couldn't be more different from his tale of frontier town trickery, "The Chair of Philanthromathematics". I also read Sinclair Lewis for the first time in this book with his RIP-worthy "The Willow Walk". Though this group of stories turned out to be more witty than terrifying, I'm still going to include it in the challenge because there's many a mystery in the volume -- even if we are viewing them from a more prosecutable angle!

"The difference between you and me is this," Cecil was saying. "You exhaust yourself by making money among men who are all bent on making money, in a place specially set apart for the purpose. I amuse myself by making money among men who, having made or inherited money, are bent on spending it, in places specially set apart for the purpose. I take people off their guard. They don't precisely see me coming. I don't rent an office and put up a sign which is equivalent to announcing that the rest of the world had better look out for itself. Our codes are the same, but is not my way more original and more diverting?" -- Arnold Bennett, "A Comedy on the Gold Coast"

Keeping my hand over my purse,
K

Fragile Things Group Read: Four Stories (No Poems)

2011-10-02T00:53:00.000-07:00

It's another week and we seem to have earned a respite from poetry this week in our Fragile Reads schedule. Not that Mr. Neil is not a competent poet but it really does take a lot for me to love a poem (as you will see toward the end of October where I will finally gush over a poem).

Standard warning: mild SPOILERS ahead.

GOOD BOYS DESERVE FAVORS

I might have recognized the title of this piece if I had been a bass clef musician but, alas, I am mainly a treble clef one and I only know FACE (the notes between the lines of the staff) and EGBDF (the notes on the lines -- did I ever know an acronym for them? I don't recall). Well, apparently the notes between the bass clef staff are ACEG and the ones on the staff lines are GBDFA -- Good Boys Deserve Favors Always. As you can probably guess by now, this is a story about imaginary "young Neil" and his experience with the double bass. I would assume that the "real Neil" was never so fortunate as to escape an embarrassing situation with a celebrity by being possessed by his double bass and playing an amazing piece that saved the day. This is a simple story and might be one of my favorites. It's so matter of fact and then the little "haunting" is slipped in as if it was no big deal. The ending is sad but fitting and I think this is a very satisfying piece.

THE FACTS IN THE CASE OF THE DEPARTURE OF MISS FINCH

The thing with this story is that I'm not sure if it's a good weird or a bad weird. I have really mixed feelings when I finish reading it. Was it too over-the-top, too strange without that certain something that gives it heft and cohesion? Maybe. I did like, however, the way that Gaiman played with the sentence transitions between sections to change the mood, lend a sense of movement and urgency to the story. I don't think this one will ever be a favorite but I don't really mind reading it.

STRANGE LITTLE GIRLS

I used to like Tori Amos more than I do now. I think I just became too content, too satisfied in life to connect with her particular brand of angst and sadness. The music is still beautiful but the lyrics break my heart. And I think I once would have found these "twelve very short stories, written to accompany Tori Amos's CD Strange Little Girls" interesting but now I find them dreary and depressing.

HARLEQUIN VALENTINE

And, to finish the week, I was rather meh on this one as well. I could see how the story was inspired by the artist Lisa Snellings-Clark's brilliant little Poppets but it didn't grab my heart (haha!). Maybe like the previous piece, it was just too sad and bleak. I'll admit that Neil's descriptions of February made me shiver though!

So, one favorite this week and three neutrals. That's still better than the revulsion of last week!

Sticking to the simply supernatural,

RIP Read 2: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

2011-10-01T01:10:00.000-07:00

Z and I have started bedtime reading together in earnest again after a few off-and-on episodes and we finished our third book on Wednesday night -- Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. He had seen the movie a few times but I didn't feel like he ever really paid attention. He certainly wasn't very interested in the story or the characters. But, after our first two reads (book one and two of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series), I needed something that I would also enjoy reading and that had a good message and a strong story. I asked Z if we could read HP and he said sure.

He was excited about the book every night. We read about half a chapter at a time so we always had a bit of a cliffhanger or something to look forward to because of the chapter title. Every time I mentioned Harry's scar, Z leaned over and traced a lightning bolt on my forehead. When I said "muggle" he smiled and said "muggle, muggle, muggle". Once I had mentioned Nicholas Flamel, he asked me every night when we sat down "who is Nicholas Flamel anyway?" and I had to remind him again that we wouldn't find out until later. When the chapter called "Nicholas Flamel" finally arrived, he was ecstatic! He also thought Neville's toad, Trevor, was a hoot. Although, he won't believe me that Rubeus is Hagrid's first name. Z wants him to just be Hagrid. And Z also insists that Voldemort is a professor -- I think because he was attached to Professor Quirrell.

So, now we are sitting together, watching the film together again (along with the necessities, namely popcorn and gummy worms) and he is loving it. He remembers the book quite well and is noticing things that have been changed, like when McGonagall is calling names for the sorting hat. In the film, she calls them first name first. But in the book, they are called last name first. So when she says "Susan Bones", Z is over here saying "Bones, Susan". It's cute! He knows all the characters and even waits for certain things to happen -- like Harry seeing Quirrell in the Leaky Cauldron for the first time.

This was an awesome RIP read for both of us. I was a bit worried about spooky things like Nearly Headless Nick, Voldemort and the Forbidden Forest and scenes like the unicorn hunt and Harry finding out about his parents' death but Z did alright with them. His favorite holiday is Halloween after all! We'll definitely be reading more RIP-eligible books together through October. I pulled out our Halloween picture books but I really think he's craving something more substantial now so I bought a copy of Bunnicula and have some other choices from Eva Ibbotson and others to get us through.

Sharing the peril,
K and Z

RIP Read 1: The Devil in the White City

2011-09-30T15:12:00.000-07:00

I spent most of September trying to get through The Mysteries of Udolpho but when I was only one third of the way through after almost three weeks, I threw up my hands and threw down the book. I needed something to get me back on track and so I picked up The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson. Thank you to everyone who recommended that I finally read this one! It was just what I needed.

I'm not going to write much about this book because many of you have already read it and others will probably be at least a bit familiar with it. For those who aren't, the long and short of it is that it tells the parallel stories of the Columbian Exposition in Chicago at the end of the nineteenth century and the exploits of H.H. Holmes, a serial killer and all-around creep in sheep's clothing. Larson takes a little bit of liberty and really creates a narrative with the facts that he unearthed to make it a compelling read. (He explains why he did so in the end notes and I accepted his reasoning even though it bugged me a bit while reading.)

My only complaint (and why I gave it 4.5 stars on LibraryThing instead of 5) is that I love science and wanted to read more about Tesla and less about architecture. I know that it would have been a heftier tome if Larson had included everything possible about the fair but I was just a bit sad that the amazing things that were happening at the Exposition were glossed over. Even the first electric chair (thanks a lot, Edison) was only given one sentence.

But, of course, I heartily recommend this book to anyone interested and it certainly made a chilling RIP read. The evil that men do is always worse than any fiction.

Avoiding life insurance policies that benefit relative strangers,
K

Fragile Things Group Read: Four Stories

2011-09-25T00:52:00.000-07:00

This week just flew by and I totally was not able to do the story-a-day thing. Still, I wrote about each piece after reading it and that seems to have worked okay (except for a lack of good "absorbing" time).

Again, minor SPOILERS so be aware --

GOING WODWO

From the introduction: "A wodwo or wodwose, was a wild man of the woods." And while it's a very interesting word, I think the key word in the title of this short piece is "Going" because this is really a poem about the transition from a "regular" life to the escapism and communion of the wodwo lifestyle. The narrator talks about what he is leaving behind and the hardships of starting to live off the resources in the forest. At one point, you almost think he will give it up and head back but then he realizes that the spiritual gains outweigh the physical trials. This is a very thought-provoking piece and is an interesting addition to this collection -- though it certainly exposes a few "fragile things".

BITTER GROUNDS

There was nothing wrong with this story. But I don't like Santeria or zombies and so I didn't really like this either. It was well written but it wasn't for me. It just made me sad and uncomfortable. It's strange because I like fantasy magic A LOT but this particular flavor of New Orleans magic, the kind that is always associated with evil and never with good, just seems pointlessly dark to me -- kind of like the bitter grounds left after brewing strong, black coffee.

OTHER PEOPLE

The most puzzling thing about this story is the title. Interestingly (and according to the introduction), it wasn't Gaiman's title for the piece. He called it "Afterlife", which makes much more sense to me. This is a brilliant little story that truly proves a well-known quote --

"We are each our own devil, and we make this world our hell." -- Oscar Wilde

KEEPSAKES AND TREASURES

This was one story that I wanted to re-read again now that I've finally read American Gods because it's supposedly set in the same world. It turned out to be incredibly disturbing and revolting. I didn't remember much about it as I was re-reading it, which means I probably put it out of my mind, trying to not absorb any of its darkness. Though there were many dark and violent things in American Gods, there was nothing quite like this and for that I'm glad. I'm wondering if there will be anyone in the reading group that truly likes this story.

Hoping for something bright and beautiful next week,

Coming Soon! Northwest Bookfest 2011

2011-09-24T00:41:00.000-07:00

Was anyone else unaware until recently that the Northwest Bookfest has been resurrected this year and is happening on October 1 and 2 in Kirkland, WA? Well, it has been and it is!

Maybe it’s our cloud-cover. Maybe it’s the Northwest lifestyle. Maybe it’s the creative climate of our region. For whatever reason, Seattle continues to be – possibly more than anywhere else in the nation –a place of voracious readers and talented authors.
The 2011 Northwest BookFest, to be held October 1 and 2, promises to feed the appetite of both in grand style. This year’s theme – what else? – It’s Raining Books!
With generous support from the City of Kirkland, King County Library’s Kirkland branch, Kirkland Performance Center, Teen Center, and Peter Kirk Community Center, this family event will draw thousands to Peter Kirk Park and the aforementioned buildings.

The schedule is up and there are tons of panels and bookish activities, even book-related theater (did you know about Seattle's own Book-It Repertory Theatre?). There are also workshops for writers, which I think is a fantastic idea as our area seems to breed creative souls. I love that the King County Library System (2011 Library of the Year!) is one of the sponsors and is having presentations at the Kirkland Library, reminding attendees of the great resources that are always available in our community.

I hope that this is a permanent revival of the Northwest Bookfest and I hope to see some of you there! I have no idea what portions we will be attending but I know that we will be there.

Gathering for the love of reading,

New Release: The Flint Heart

2011-09-23T00:46:00.000-07:00

The Flint Heart is a unique release because it's not actually Katherine Paterson (our current National Ambassador for Young People's Literature and author of the sob-inducing Bridge to Terabithia) & John Paterson's story. The original author was Eden Phillpotts, an early-20th century writer and poet who loved setting his stories in his home region of Dartmoor and who happened to be friends with Agatha Christie. This is an abridged version of his 1910 story, paired with the fantastic illustrations of John Rocco (illustrator for the Percy Jackson series and some beautiful picture books).

The titular "Flint Heart" is exactly what it sounds like -- a stone talisman that hardens the heart of the wearer. It was created in the Stone Age to help a soft-hearted man become chief of his tribe but, as is usually the case, it held more power than he bargained for and the man became a violent tyrant. The charm was buried with him, only to be dug out of a cairn by a kindly Victorian farmer. Soon after, the farmer, Billy Jago, also becomes an insufferable boor who mistreats his wife, children and neighbors. Billy's children, especially his son Charles, believe that their only chance of receiving help is from the local fairies and it is to them that they turn. And so, we follow the Flint Heart through many sets of hands (and paws) as it creates mischief in Dartmoor.

This was a fabulously Victorian tale. There are moors and fairies and all sorts of wonderful and fantastical details. One might balk a bit at the part where the children must impart their knowledge on another creature and, of course, the boy teaches math and history and the girl teaches needlework and poetry but, again, it's a late Victorian tale! The illustrations really enhance the book and I wish that my review copy had them in color like the gorgeous one here of a belligerent badger --

I would love to see more Victorian tales come back into fashion in such a brilliant way as this. This story was honest and heartwarming and I really just enjoyed reading it. I'm sure that Z will enjoy it as well (he already thumbed through it and was really into it) and it will definitely make a good bedtime story. There is also supposedly a film version in the works, produced by the Paterson's son. And, if you're interested, you can read the original tale online (which from a brief browse also seems utterly charming).

Remembering to have a good Point of View,

BBAW Giveaway Winner(s)

2011-09-18T12:03:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to the winner of our $20 Out of Print Clothing gift certificate --

GMR of Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers!

And, I've been thinking about Out of Print's mission and want more of you to be able to place orders with them to help Books For Africa so I chose two more winners to receive $10 certificates each --

Erin of Erin Reads!

and

Eli Squared of Eli to the nth!

And to everyone else, please consider shopping at Out of Print Clothing or even just supporting Books For Africa with a donation.

(Winners, this will be an e-mailed gift certificate to the e-mail address you entered with and it says they are delivered within 1-2 business days.)

Thank you to everyone who entered. I hope you had a fantastic Book Blogger Appreciation Week!

Wearing it well,
K

Fragile Things Group Read: Four Fragile Things

2011-09-18T00:51:00.000-07:00

Continuing on (and featuring another of the covers that this collection has been published with) ...

(Please know that there might be minor SPOILERS in this post.)

First, I would like to say that I did, in fact, go back and read The Fairy Reel out loud this week and it made a difference. I understood it a bit better and now I want to listen to Neil himself read it as well.

THE HIDDEN CHAMBER

And I also read The Hidden Chamber out loud and I still didn't entirely understand it. Originally I didn't really remember the tale of Bluebeard though. And then I went and looked up the Bluebeard story and it made a lot of things clearer once I remembered what it was about. The ghosts are the Bluebeard character's previous wives and the piece is addressed to the current (and final?) one. It's strange to have such a violent man speaking with such a calm and rational voice -- even setting free a butterfly that has strayed into the house. But then you realize that it's not a calm voice but a cold and creepy one. And that he actually tells the woman that it would be best if she ran before ... well ... ::cue finger across the throat motion::

FORBIDDEN BRIDES OF THE FACELESS SLAVES IN THE SECRET HOUSE OF THE NIGHT OF DREAD DESIRE

I think I was tricked by this story again. You start by reading the writings of a somewhat shoddy author who seems to have an incredibly over-active imagination and who writes mainly in clichés of the horror genre. Then you see the author's own life interspersed -- and it's a life of clichés and ridiculously horrifying happenings! This was one of Neil's early stories, one that was tucked away in the attic for years. Should it have stayed in the attic? I don't think so. Though it's not a brilliant gem, it's amusing and is just the slightest bit thought-provoking. And I smiled a bit when the fictional author mentioned the novel I am currently still reading, The Mysteries of Udolpho (seriously, it's been over two weeks and I'm barely a third through). If this sort of novel is his reality, I truly feel for him! And, oh, the Poe! There are at least a couple of references to different Poe pieces in the story. Yay! My Poe Fridays have finally paid off.

THE FLINTS OF MEMORY LANE

In the introduction, Neil tells us that this story "had the unsatisfying advantage of being perfectly true". I think it's perfectly satisfying because I don't believe a story needs any length or depth to be affecting, only a sense of personality and tangibility. And this, his true ghostly encounter, is a moment that he relates perfectly, that sends cold tingly sensations down your arms and spine. Are there many things creepier than a malevolent gypsy apparition?

CLOSING TIME

This is another ghost story that is told in the first person. I have to admit that, just like the first time I read it, I came out of it not quite knowing what happened. Who was the storyteller? Why did he draw a door with a red knocker? What exactly happened to the old man and his brothers? What was the deal with their father and his devilish "playhouse"? How could they be ghosts when he, at least, was still alive many years later? I'm hoping that someone else really understood this one because I just can't wrap my brain around it! It's very atmospheric and spooky but also a bit unsatisfying -- like some of the story was missing. I do feel a bit better, though, knowing that Neil kind of feels the same way (from his web journal, March 2003) --

"Michael Chabon's McSweeney's Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales is out in the shops as well. I'm less happy with "Closing Time", which is a ghost story, perhaps, about childhood. It's not a bad story, but it does, on rereading, feel more like a preliminary sketch for something, rather than the thing itself."

Heading home after last call,
K

The Best Way to Celebrate Bloggers

2011-09-16T09:26:00.000-07:00

The best way to celebrate bloggers is, of course, to meet some more of them! Today and tomorrow I'll be heading into the city to meet some lovely bloggers, publicists and authors at KidLitCon. I'm nervous (as usual) but I know I'll have fun once I'm there. I'll try to get some pictures but that's something that I always seem to forget in the moment.

If you want to follow along, I'll be tweeting the experience. I'm @webereading if you don't already follow me. Just look for #kidlitcon!

Still deciding what to wear,
K

BBAW Giveaway: Gift Certificate to Out-of-Print Clothing

2011-09-13T00:10:00.000-07:00

I'm really excited about my giveaway for BBAW this year and wish I had a chance at winning it too. I'm going to be giving away a gift certificate to Out-of-Print Clothing! I love their shirts and I love their mission --

In addition to spreading the joy of reading through our tees, we acknowledge that many parts of the world don't have access to books at all. We are working to change that. For each shirt we sell, one book is donated to a community in need through our partner Books For Africa.

So, if you would like to win a $20 gift certificate toward a tee-shirt, sweatshirt, iPhone case or eReader jacket, just fill out the form below -- no following or comments required. My only request is that only bloggers enter this one. And to help out our international entrants with the higher shipping cost, I will make it $25 if you win and are not in the U.S.!

There are options for men, women and children so I'm sure there's something that you or someone you know would love. Entries are due by Saturday September 17, noon Pacific and the winner will be announced soon after.

&lt;p&gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Loading...&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&lt;/p&gt;Thanks to all bloggers and good luck,

Book Blogger Appreciation Week Begins Today

2011-09-12T00:04:00.000-07:00

For many reasons, I wasn't excited by Book Blogger Appreciation Week this year. I haven't been keeping up with my own blog as well as I want to and I haven't been commenting on the blogs I read as much as I should. I was planning on sitting out on this week altogether. And yet, as the week has approached, I couldn't help but think how lucky I am to have become a part of the book blogging community. I hope that I have contributed something worthwhile so far and I can honestly say that there are bloggers out there who have had a lasting effect on me.

Today's post is actually supposed to be about Community and those bloggers who have "made book blogging a unique experience for you" so it fits in with the only thing I really want to accomplish this week -- to thank book bloggers (in a meaningful way) who have made an impression on me. This may get a bit mushy and so I apologize in advance.

First, I want to again thank Jenny of Jenny's Books for reminding me that blogging should be fun. Her witty and sometimes hilarious posts are always a blast to read. She fills her posts with sugar and vinegar in equal measure, as honesty dictates. She has also reminded me that loving a children's author is nothing to be ashamed about. Sometimes we get caught up in wanting to be taken seriously and forget that we will be respected more for being honest than for having the proper reading list.

But I also want to thank Karen (of Books and Chocolate), Danielle (of A Work in Progress), Jane (of Reading, Writing, Working, Playing), Jenny and Teresa (of Shelf Love) and Amanda (of Dead White Guys) for reminding me how much I love the classics and for constantly bringing new ones to my attention. They may not be the flashiest titles in today's reading world and we might already know how they end but they are still beautiful novels and are well worth reading (sometimes again and again).

And for helping me expand the scope of my reading, I want to thank Natalie (of In Spring it is the Dawn), Bellezza (of Dolce Bellezza), Leeswammes, Iris (of Iris on Books) and Zee (of Notes from the North). They make international fiction accessible and have led me to books that I would never have found on my own. Natalie has been especially influential in introducing me to the world of Japanese fiction that I had been missing out on for so long (and she's an absolute sweetheart). Now I'm eagerly awaiting the release of 1Q84 this fall!

I want to thank Carl (of Stainless Steel Droppings) for hosting the best challenges in the entire bookblogging world. I might not still be blogging if it wasn't for the RIP Challenge! And you have to appreciate any challenge that insists on nothing more than having fun.

For being my friend in the kidlit world that I sometimes dabble in (and hope to be much better about going forward), I want to thank Danielle of There's a Book. She's not only one of the sweetest bloggers out there but she might just be the hardest working one. I'm incredibly sad that she won't be at the Kidlitcon this weekend!

I also want to thank Selena (currently of Luxe Hours) and Cecelia (of Adventures of Cecelia Bedelia) for the meet-ups this year. Part of the joy of the book blogging community is when it spills over into the real world. Both of these ladies are smart and fun to hang out with and I can't wait to do it again!

The other joy of the community is when you are able to discover other joint interests and celebrate them together and so I want to thank Tasha a.k.a. Heidenkind (of Truth, Beauty, Freedom and Books) for being the fearless leader of our Saturday night Hitchfest group. I also want to thank all of the other #hitchfest crew for being an awesome bunch to spend an evening with while watching (and sometimes mocking) the brilliant films of Alfred Hitchcock. (Anyone is welcome to join us on Twitter -- 10pm ET Saturdays!)

And I really, really want to thank Eva of A Striped Armchair for being a curious reader. She reminds me that there's nothing wrong with picking up a book that you know nothing about. You might be annoyed with it and put it down early, but there's also the chance that you will find a new favorite author. Eva also always reminds me that we are all dealt a different hand in life and go through our ups and downs. The mark of good character is that after the downs, you stand up, dust off the cobwebs and start walking again. Thank you for always coming back, Eva!

And finally, I want to thank Tif (of Tif Talks Books) and Jenners (of Life ... With Books). It is my biggest regret that I haven't been able to meet either of these gals in real life yet because I have truly come to consider them as friends. It doesn't matter whether we share almost the exact same reading tastes (Tif) or have almost no reading in common (Jenners). I can always count on them for comments (even if Tif's come a bit late sometimes ;)) and support. They're both very resilient and strong people and I envy them in many ways.

There are so many other bloggers that make this a world that I'm loath to leave and, just because I haven't listed you here, it doesn't mean that I don't want to send out a big THANK YOU to you as well.

Sincerely,
K

Fragile Things Group Read: Introduction and Three Fragile Things

2011-09-11T00:29:00.000-07:00

I'm very excited to begin my second reading of Neil Gaiman's short story collection Fragile Things: Short Fictions and Wonders with this RIP Challenge group read.

From Carl of Stainless Steel Droppings:

There are 32 short stories in Fragile Things, counting the introduction. Those of you who have read a Neil Gaiman short story collection know that it is a special treat to read the introduction. Not counting Sunday, September 4th (because that is almost upon us), there are 8 Sundays during the R.I.P. Challenge (Sept 1 through Oct 31st). The plan will be to read 4 stories per week and post about them on each Sunday throughout the challenge. The Fragile Things reading will officially begin on September 1st and this first week will include the:
Introduction, A Study in Emerald, The Fairy Reel and October in the Chair.
We will post about these stories on Sunday, September 11th.

My goal is to read only one story a day and write about it that same day so that I can really give a good amount of thought to each piece (we'll see if that happens!). This was the first of Neil's writings that I read in October 2008 (brief thoughts) and I'm guessing that, now that I know him and his style better, I will have different views on some of the pieces (although I will probably love many of the same ones!).

I placed my hold again at the library but then thought that, since this is a second reading, I would just try to find a good copy of the book to own. I was very lucky to find a used hardcover with the beautiful cover above that looks as if it has never been read! So, without further ado, let's start with --

INTRODUCTION

In about 20 pages, Neil Gaiman visits the circumstances behind all of the pieces in the book -- whether they were written for anthologies or gifts, in a brief flash of inspiration or after years of aging in a box in the attic. There's even a short story within the introduction that couldn't find a home elsewhere. What I've found most interesting about Gaiman over the past few years of reading his blog is that he is able to relate the smallest things in life in a way that makes it all seem magical. I think that it's because he believes in the magic of everyday life. You may be doing something mundane or run-of-the-mill but that doesn't change the fact that you are the only person doing it at that moment, in that place, in just that way. I think this is one of the "fragile things" that Gaiman tries to define in the introduction to this collection.

"I believe we owe it to each other to tell stories. It's as close to a credo as I have or will, I suspect, ever get."

"Stories, like people and butterflies and songbirds' eggs and human hearts and dreams, are also fragile things, made up of nothing stronger or more lasting than twenty-six letters and a handful of punctuation marks. Or they are words on the air, composed of sounds and ideas--abstract, invisible, gone once they've been spoken--and what could be more frail than that? But some stories, small, simple ones about setting out on adventures or people doing wonders, tales of miracles and monsters, have outlasted all the people who told them, and some of them have outlasted the lands in which they were created."

A STUDY IN EMERALD

As a marriage of Sherlock Holmes and H.P. Lovecraft, this story is pretty straight-forward. There are beasts in caves and the world has been ruled by tentacled monsters for seven hundred years. And, of course, there are mysteries to be solved and Sherlock Holmes is still on the case. And this story proceeds in a fairly predictable manner -- until right before the end when something rather shocking is revealed and it elevates the story to a whole new level. I remember feeling this same way the first time I read the story but somehow had forgotten the twist. I find that the "fragile things" in this story are one's assumptions.

THE FAIRY REEL

This is a poem of regret at a foolish choice made as a youth. It's simple and sad but also a bit sterile somehow. I'm hoping that other readers have something more to say about it.

OCTOBER IN THE CHAIR

This story is quintessential Gaiman. The voice, the topic -- it's exactly what you get in novels like American Gods and The Graveyard Book. In fact, this story was born of the same idea for The Graveyard Book and it shows. It's an archetypal sort of story but at the same time it seems entirely unique. He personifies the Months in such a way that you can actually see them sitting, together in a wood around a campfire, telling stories and bickering. In fact, I went searching to see if the story happened to exist online and came across these illustrations (by artist Mike Sgier) of April and June and these of May and October (from the Tumblr called Pochemuchka) and they are just as I imagined them -- showing that Gaiman's storytelling is so vivid that most readers will actually see these characters the same way in their minds. And the part of the story about a young boy who feels unloved and runs away from home is heartbreaking. I can't recommend this story enough if you want a small taste of Neil Gaiman's work.

I'm already glad that I decided to participate in this group read. I'm experiencing these stories in a different way than I did the first time, especially October in the Chair which I could barely remember but now wanted to read again immediately. This is going to be a wonderful journey.

Until next week,
K

New Release: The Map of Time

2011-09-07T00:42:00.000-07:00

This summer I read The Map of Time by Felix J. Palma but have been putting off writing about it for a long time. I don't know if it was my high expectation for the novel (because of the rave reviews, the subject matter--time travel, Jack the Ripper, London, H.G. Wells and much more--and the fact that it was a work in translation from Spain) but it ended up falling short of being a stellar read for me.

I don't want to tell you anything about the story because it really is amazing the way it all unfolds and the scope is rather large and impressive. So much of it was unexpected and really quite smart. And yet I said that it wasn't all it could be, right? This is because it is mainly a collection of long narratives told by various narrators. I kept thinking "don't tell, show!" and it became a bit boring to never be in the action of the story. There were also a few things of a sexual nature that were thrown in for shock value that I didn't think were entirely necessary and one part was just plain gross. Overall, though, I think that this is one worth reading (and maybe worth reading again). I will also inevitably read whichever is the next novel to be translated from this author.

Finally, I wanted to mention the endpapers of the book which are absolutely gorgeous (as is the cover) and were a special treat every time I opened the book. Sometimes I found myself just staring at them and trying to discover new details. If you walk by a copy, be sure and take a peek inside! This picture I snapped for Twitter doesn't even do them justice --

Wondering what is real,
K

"He was called Smith and was twelve years old."

2011-09-02T00:12:00.000-07:00

Months ago, I ordered a book from Powell's (I think it might have been Tom's Midnight Garden) and the site suggested I also buy Smith by Leon Garfield. They had a copy for $2.95 (it's still got the tag so that's how I know) and it sounded like my sort of thing even though I had never heard of it or the author. It also had this cool cover by Brett Helquist (whose art you may recognize from the Series of Unfortunate Events books) so I went for it. Then I let it sit around for a while until I grabbed it this summer and was transported to a Victorian world every bit as vivid and heartwarming and tragic as any Dickens.

It's been a couple of months since I read the book so I'm going to pull the summary from the Powell's site --

This brilliant, picaresque novel follows the adventures of an illiterate young ragamuffin known only as Smith. Smith picks the pocket of a stranger, only to witness immediately the strangers murder. Smith's booty from the theft is an Important Document, no doubt worth quite a lot to somebody, which is proved by the pursuit of Smith by two very shady characters. Smith artfully dodges them and winds up in the odd company of a wealthy blind man, who takes Smith into his home and provides him with an education. But this new comfort is lost when Smith himself is suspected of the very murder he witnessed. Smith was a Boston Globe--Horn Book Honor Book, winner of the Phoenix Award, and a Carnegie Honor Book.

If I had to give Smith one of those strange mash-up tags I would say it's "a YA version of Dickens with all the tragedy and redemption of Jane Eyre". What it really reminds me of is Charles Palliser's The Quincunx, which I loved but which also broke my heart along the way. The nice thing is that this is a book for younger readers and so it has a happy ending. The way it takes to that ending, though, is full of servants, highwaymen and dangerous figures hidden in dark alleys. I was so in love with it that I recently bought another of Garfield's books, Black Jack. Sadly, many of his books are out of print (this one was written in 1967) and so I'm going to have to do some work to find them. I think it will be well worth the effort.

New to me is new enough,
K

Imbibing Peril Yet Again! (RIP Challenge VI)

2011-09-01T00:01:00.000-07:00

'Tis the season again, my old chums, for me to take you on a journey through books that feature the ghostly, the macabre, the perilous and the downright spooky -- the sixth year of Carl's wonderful RIP Challenge! This year, I am making this a true challenge for myself. I have chosen only classics and non-fiction from my own shelves to make my list. These are books that I pass over regularly because they take longer to read. I'm tired of them leering at me (what can I say -- they're true RIP candidates) each time I go to choose my next book. So, over the next two months, I will attempt to read as many of these fiends as possible so that they can be moved from my bedside TBR shelves down to the near-infinite stacks of the already read.

This year's possibles:

Non-Fiction
The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher by Kate Summerscale
The Monsters: Mary Shelley and the Curse of Frankenstein by Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler
Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks by John Curran
The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
The Poisoner's Handbook by Deborah Blum

Classics
The Monk by Matthew Lewis
The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens
The Leavenworth Case by Anna Katharine Green
The Dead Secret by Wilkie Collins
The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe (my first read this season)
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

Classic Short Stories
The Oxford Book of Victorian Ghost Stories, edited by Michael Cox
The Oxford Book of Gothic Tales, edited by Chris Baldick
The Penguin Book of Victorian Women in Crime, edited by Michael Sims
The Penguin Book of Gaslight Crime, edited by Michael Sims

As you can see, I need to make use of some of the dollars I've given to Penguin and Oxford! Of course, I might want to sneak in another book or two (or ten) that aren't such weighty reads and, as always, I have plenty to choose from. These were just the closest ones to hand that I could bring together for a picture.

And, finally, Carl recently posted about a couple of group reads for the season that I'm also planning on participating in --Neil Gaiman's Fragile Things short story collection through Sept and Oct (which will be a re-read for me) and The Lantern by Deborah Lawrenson in October.

So that signs me up for Peril the First (or as I usually call it, the Infinite Peril, since I always read more than four books), Peril of the Short Story and Peril of the Group Read. I'm sure I'll also do a bit of watching for Peril on the Screen but I'm not sure how much I will write about. I'll decide that as I go along!

Are you going to join the RIP Challenge VI this year? I'm sure that there's at least a few of you that I've tempted into it over the years!

Breaking out in goose flesh,
K

Fforde-a-Thon Book 6 and Wrap-Up: One of Our Thursdays is Missing

2011-08-31T00:39:00.000-07:00

And that's it for my Fforde-a-Thon (which turned into Fforde August). It took about two weeks longer than I thought it would but it led up to a wonderful ending. One of Our Thursdays is Missing is interesting and funny and smart and absolutely one of the best of the series, even considering the real Thursday Next is only in it for a couple of sentences at the end. If you're a fan of this series, you've got to get to this sixth book. Once you're done, I don't think you'll ever read a book the same way again.

Thanks to everyone who commented throughout the month on your own love of this series (especially Tracy and Karen) and the many strange thoughts it spawns and thanks to Tif for finally giving The Eyre Affair a read. I can't wait to see your thoughts on it! And, of course, a million thanks to Jasper Fforde and his endless imagination. To write books that stand up to as many re-reads as I've given some of the books in this series and to have them still offer up something new each time is quite astounding.

Totally stuck on what to read next that isn't Thursday Next,
K

Heyer in the Summer: Detection Unlimited

2011-08-28T00:21:00.000-07:00

Visit Stiletto Storytime today to read our review of Georgette Heyer's Detection Unlimited as part of Courtney's "Georgette Heyer Gems of August" series!

Shooting first, asking later,
K

Fforde-a-Thon Book 5: Thursday Next in First Among Sequels

2011-08-27T12:37:00.000-07:00

Thursday Next in First Among Sequels is easily my least favorite in the series. It feels "phoned in" in a way. There's a lot of recapping and repeating that becomes even more evident while reading the books all in a row. The plot doesn't even pick up until the middle of the novel. Luckily, the start of the sixth book is quite good so far so it seems that Fforde will redeem himself in One of Our Thursdays is Missing.

First Among Sequels focuses on Thursday's interactions with two of her fictional selves -- one that was "unauthorized" and is super violent and slutty and then the one she has written to correct that but who turns out to be a bit too new agey and meek.

If someone wrote a fictional account of your life, what traits would they exaggerate to draw in readers? I'm not sure I want to answer this question myself! I hope the author would decide to take me from average honors student to super genius. Maybe my time cleaning fish tanks at the Seattle Aquarium could be turned into an awesome, death-defying animal rescue plot line. I just wouldn't want my introvertedness magnified into full-blown agoraphobia or something!

Off to find a missing Thursday,
K

Fforde-a-Thon Book 4: Something Rotten

2011-08-22T13:18:00.001-07:00

In the next book in the Thursday Next series, Something Rotten, Thursday returns to the real world after spending almost three years in the BookWorld. One of the things she has to do when she gets back is track down a Shakespeare clone (which she didn't previously know existed) who can help reverse the merging of Hamlet and The Merry Wives of Windsor into The Merry Wives of Elsinore before the plays become irretrievably intertwined.

If cloning of historical figures were possible, who would you hope would be copied? Or is cloning humans something that should never happen? Would the world be better off with a couple hundred Mother Teresas back on the job? Should we clone a few John Adamses to straighten out politics again? Could we ever have too many Cary Grants?

Considering the options (just in case),
K

Fforde-a-Thon Book 3: The Well of Lost Plots

2011-08-17T01:16:00.000-07:00

In the third Thursday Next book, The Well of Lost Plots, Thursday has to move into a novel to hide from the nefarious Goliath Corporation. She ends up in Caversham Heights, a novel that was abandoned. She gets to live on an old converted house-plane. Her bedroom is in the nose of the plane and she falls asleep each night to the gentle rocking of the house.

Thursday was put into this novel because it wouldn't ever be read so it didn't matter so much if she did things out of the normal narrative flow. But wouldn't it be much more fun to get to choose a published novel to live in? Which novel would you choose to settle down in for a year or two? You might be filling in for an established character while they go on vacation (you would have to deliver their lines and live in their home) or you might just be hiding out in the backstory. I would consider choosing to be Martha, the maid in The Secret Garden who invites her brother Dickon to play with the unfortunate Mary. Or I might spend some time as Trillian (a.k.a. Tricia McMillan) in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, traveling the stars in a unique ship. Or maybe I would just settle in as Madame Rosmerta, spending my time serving butterbeers in The Three Broomsticks to the youngsters from Hogwarts.

Daydreaming about impossible travel,
K

Fforde-a-Thon Book 2: Lost in a Good Book

2011-08-13T00:15:00.000-07:00

Lost in a Good Book steps up the word play and silliness of this series but there's one idea that gets me thinking every time.

It was time to go and visit the closest thing to the Delphic Oracle I would ever know: Granny Next.
...
"Do you want to know a secret, young Thursday?" she asked ... "I am cursed to eternal life!"
...
"I got mixed up with some oddness in my youth, and the long and short of it is that I can't shuffle off this mortal coil until I have read the ten most boring classics."
I looked into her bright eyes. She wasn't kidding.
"How far have you got?" I replied ...
"Well, that's the trouble, isn't it?" she replied ... "I read what I think is the dullest book on God's own earth, finish the last page, go to sleep with a smile on my face and wake up the following morning feeling better than ever!"
"Have you tried Edmund Spenser's Faerie Queene?" I asked "Six volumes of boring Spenserian stanza, the only saving grace of which is that he didn't write the twelve volumes he had planned."
"Read them all," replied Gran. "And his other poems, too, just in case." (page 134-135)

..."can you think of any books that might be included in the 'ten most boring classics'? I'm about ready to go."
"Gran!"
"Indulge me, young Thursday!"
I sighed.
"How about Paradise Lost?"
Gran let out a groan.
"Awful! I could hardly walk for a week afterwards--it's enough to put anyone off religion for good!"
"Ivanhoe?"
"Pretty dull but redeemable in places. It isn't in the top ten, I think."
"Moby Dick?"
"Excitement and action interspersed with mind-numbing dullness. Read it twice."
"A la recherche du temps perdu?"
"English or French, its sheer tediousness is undiminished."
"Pamela?"
Ah! Now you're talking. Struggled through that when a teenager. It might have had resonance in 1741, but today the only resonance it possesses is the snores that emanate from those deluded enough to attempt it."
"How about A Pilgrim's Progress?"
But Gran's attention had wandered. (page 234-235)

So, what books would you try if you were trying to identify the "ten most boring classics"? Or have you read one already that you're sure should be on the list? I know many of you would choose Dickens but I have yet to read one of his novels that I would put on the list. Maybe I've just avoided the boring ones so far! I think I probably would try Don Quixote -- I wasn't able to get through that one when I tried it last. The Grapes of Wrath would be on my list as well. 20,000 Leagues Under the Seas is redeemed by a few interesting scenes but the majority of that one gets the big BORING stamp on it. And oh, to have my lifespan determined by which books I chose to read ...

Falling into The Well of Lost Plots,
K

Heyer in the Summer: Sylvester or The Wicked Uncle

2011-08-09T00:20:00.000-07:00

Visit Stiletto Storytime today to read our review of Georgette Heyer's Sylvester or the Wicked Uncle as part of Courtney's "Georgette Heyer Gems of August" series!

Believing the best,

I'm Starting a Book Club! (But Not For You)

2011-08-07T00:05:00.000-07:00

For the last couple of years, I've volunteered at the library at Z's school. It's a great way for me to spend time with the kids, help the incredibly overworked librarian and to hopefully steer a few students toward books they might love. It's even helping me decide whether to head back to school to get my MLIS or not. But this year, I have decided to step up and do more to promote reading at the school -- I'm reviving the PTA-sponsored Book Club!

My first decision was to make it available to students of all grades so, instead of choosing single books to read together, I've decided that we will read on a topic each time. I will publicize the topic and post a list of book suggestions and kids can choose their books on- or off-list. The younger kids can also be read to if they aren't ready for chapter books yet.

I've decided to start slowly and see how things go with just three meetings throughout the year. So, the next thing for me to do is something I'm hoping you want to help me with. I have decided the three topics -TIME -TRAVEL, ANIMALS and FOREIGN LANDS (anything with a mostly non-U.S. setting, real or imaginary)-- and need to start some book lists! I'm looking for books that span a range of genres and will appeal to both boys and girls (obviously). This will be a K-6 group but we also have an Elementary Advanced program at the school so the lists could include anything through younger-level YA books.

Can you help me out? Please leave a comment with a couple of book suggestions that fit under any of the three topics. I'll start the lists here with some of my favorites and update them with your suggestions. I would also appreciate any input if you have run an elementary school book club before.

Sharing the list making fun,
K

TIME TRAVEL
The Time Quake Trilogy by Linda Buckley-Archer (The Time Travelers, The Time Thief, The Time Quake)
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling
Tom's Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
Time at the Top by Edward Ormondroyd

ANIMALS
Charlotte's Web by E.B. White
Bunnicula by James Howe
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O'Brien
Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat by Lynne Jonell
The Giraffe and The Pelly and Me by Roald Dahl
Flight of the Phoenix (Nathaniel Fludd, Beastologist, Book 1) by R.L. LaFevers

FOREIGN LANDS
The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
The BFG by Roald Dahl
Inkheart by Cornelia Funke
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling
Bloomability by Sharon Creech

Fforde-a-Thon Book 1: The Eyre Affair

2011-08-06T00:10:00.000-07:00

Ten Things I Love About The Eyre Affair

1. The breeding of extinct animals as pets.

"I ... took Pickwick for a waddle in the park. I let him off the leash and he chased a few pigeons before fraternizing with some feral dodos who were cooling their feet in the pond. They splashed excitedly and made quiet plock plock noises to one another until it was time to go home."

2. A world where there are still airships.

"I took a small twenty-seater airship to Swindon. It was only half-full and a brisk tailwind allowed us to make good time. The train would have been cheaper, but like many people I love to fly by gasbag."

3. Officer Spike Stoker

"--SpecOps-17: Vampire and Werewolf Disposal Operations. Suckers and biters, they call us. ... By way of explanation he tapped a mallet and stake that were clipped to the mesh partition."

4. The Global Standard Deity

"'Does the GSD encourage such blatant personal attacks?' I asked.
Joffy shrugged.
'Sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn't,' he answered. 'That's the beauty of the Global Standard Deity--it's whatever you want it to be. And besides, you're family so it doesn't count.'"

5. Landen Parke-Laine

"His voice sounded the same. The warmth and sensitivity I had once known were still there. ... He had gone slightly gray but he wore his hair in much the same manner. There were slight wrinkles around his eyes, but they might just as easily have been from laughing as from age."

6.Translating carbon paper

"'We'll start with a plain piece of paper, then put in a Spanish carbon, a second slip of paper ... then a Polish carbon, more paper, German and another sheet and then finally French and the last sheet ... there.' ...
'Write something on the first sheet. Anything you want.'
'Anything?'
Mycroft nodded so I wrote: Have you seen my dodo?
'Now what?'
Mycroft looked triumphant.
'Have a look, dear girl.'
I lifted off the top carbon and there, written in my own handwriting, were the words: ¿Ha visto mi dodo? 'But that's amazing!'"

7. SO-27 Operative Bowden Cable

"He led me around one of the desks to where Bowden was sitting bolt upright, his jacket carefully folded across the back of his chair and his desk so neat as to be positively obscene."

8. Mycroft Next

"It certainly looked impressive, but not all Mycroft's devices had a usefulness mutually compatible with their looks. In the early seventies he had developed an extraordinarily beautiful machine that did nothing more exciting than predict with staggering accuracy the number of pips in an unopened orange."

9. Mr. Edward Fairfax Rochester!

"He silenced the dog with a shout and then stopped to feel his leg; it was obvious that he had hurt it quite badly. I felt sure that a man of such dour demeanor must surely be very angry with me, yet when he espied me again, he smiled kindly and gave me a broad wink, placing a finger to his lips to ensure my silence. I smiled back, and the rider turned to face the young woman, his brow furrowing once more into a grimace as he fell back into character."

10. Thursday Next (of course)

"I opened the drawer of my desk and pulled out a small mirror. A woman with somewhat ordinary features stared back at me. Her hair was a plain mousy color and of medium length, tied up rather hastily in a ponytail at the back. She had no cheekbones to speak of and her face, I noticed, had just started to show some rather obvious lines."

What is your favorite thing about The Eyre Affair? Have I convinced you yet to give this book a try? (If you've read it recently, leave a link to your post about the book!)

Taking refuge in a Good Book,
K

Support our site and buy The Eyre Affair on Amazon or find it at your local library. I bought my own copy of this book and have put it to good use!

The Fforde-a-Thon Begins

2011-07-30T00:22:00.000-07:00

Photo from thursdaynext.com

Well, I've turned the last page on my current read so it's time to walk over to my shelves and pull down Jasper Fforde's The Eyre Affair! I would guess that it's my fourth or fifth time reading the novel but it will be my first time with this copy of the book. A year or so ago, I found a pristine used hardcover copy and, as this was the only one in the series that I had in paperback, I upgraded.

So, if you wanted to join me in this first of six adventures with the amazing Thursday Next, grab your copy today! I'll be tweeting a bit about the book over the next couple of days (@webereading, if you don't follow me yet) and will be back with a post when I'm done. By the way, I'm not doing this in any sort of speedy, twenty-four hours of reading type deal, just a regular pace, so don't feel like you can't join in a day late!

Plock, plock,
K

New Release: Killed at the Whim of a Hat

2011-07-28T00:23:00.000-07:00

Killed at the Whim of a Hat is the first book in a new mystery series by Colin Cotterill. It features Thai crime reporter Jimm Juree and her family (grandfather, mother, brother and brother-turned-sister).

I had a bit of a problem hearing Jimm's voice at the beginning and wasn't entirely sure that she was, in fact, a woman but once I settled in with the character, I was amused and informed by this unique look at the ocean communities of Southern Thailand. There are two mysteries in the book, both interesting, but the biggest mystery is probably the title of the book. It turns out that it's taken from that inexhaustible list of gaffes known as "Bushisms" -- yes, the brilliant words of wisdom of our previous president. Each chapter is prefaced with a Bushism and, while not everyone will find that funny, well, it is.

There was a lot of ground covered in this story--politics, rural community dynamics, gay and transgender issues, religion, press tactics and more--so it's just a taste of Thailand that will please most readers. It will be interesting to see if Cotterill tries to tackle so many subjects at once in his next outing with Jimm Juree.

''I'll be long gone before some smart person ever figures out what happened inside this Oval Office.''
-- President George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., May 12, 2008

Lost in translation,
K

Support our site and buy Killed at the Whim of a Hat on Amazon or find it at your local library. We received an Advance Uncorrected Proof from the publisher.

Coming Soon: Fforde-a-Thon

2011-07-27T00:07:00.000-07:00

Though I have a stack of books here waiting to be reviewed, my reading isn't slowing down at all these days. And now I've gotten to the point where I am almost free to begin my re-reading of the entire Thursday Next series, concluding with a long-awaited first read of the sixth novel, One of Our Thursdays is Missing.

I plan to start reading this weekend (likely Friday) and will probably finish a book every two to four days. So, if you haven't started this wonderful series yet, join in with The Eyre Affair. If you stopped somewhere in the middle, pick up the next book with me. If you still have the final book sitting in your TBR stacks as well, pull it out and let's get reading together!

The books in the series are (in order)
The Eyre Affair
Lost in a Good Book
The Well of Lost Plots
Something Rotten
First Among Sequels
One of Our Thursdays is Missing

I will post on the day I finish each book so that you know when to pick up the next one if you're joining in. Otherwise, just sit back while I try and convince you to try this hilarious and smart series.

Shortly departing to Swindon and beyond,
K

New Release: Juniper Berry

2011-07-20T00:10:00.000-07:00

M.P. Kozlowsky's Juniper Berry is a middle grade fantasy novel that teaches a wonderful lesson in a very frightening way. The titular Juniper is a girl that has it all and yet has nothing at the same time. Her parents are famous movie stars and she lives on a large estate with private tutors. But she has no friends and her parents don't want to spend time with her the way they used to before they became famous. One day, Juniper meets Giles, a boy who lives nearby and whose parents have also become fully absorbed in their musical careers. Is this just a coincidence or does the fact that both of their parents have been seen disappearing behind a spooky tree in Juniper's yard mean there is actually something sinister behind it all?

I read this book in two sittings because I couldn't put it down! The villain was terrifying but the message was clear -- you can never be truly happy unless you are being yourself. When you take shortcuts and try to get things you haven't earned, you hurt yourself and those around you. And thankfully this was not presented in a heavy-handed way but in the context of a gripping and imaginative story. There are shades of gray, just like in real life, even if most situations aren't matters of life and death like Juniper's is. This is a book that I hope Z will read in a couple of years and I'll definitely be recommending it to the school librarian (and hoping for a film version)!

Staying true to myself,
K

Support our site and buy Juniper Berry on Amazon or find it at your local library. We won a copy from the publisher during Armchair BEA.

Blogiversary Giveaway Winner

2011-07-19T11:11:00.000-07:00

Thank you all again for your blogiversary wishes and for entering our giveaway!

A lovely copy of The Emerald Atlas is on its way to

Hilde in Norway!

Short and sweet today,

"We came on the wind of the carnival."

2011-07-14T00:22:00.000-07:00

Joanne Harris' Chocolat has been on my TBR for quite a while and, as I'm behind on my reading from my shelves tally for the year (only at 20 of a desired 50 right now), I needed to get through some of the shorter books to try and catch up. Not only is this a short book but it was also a quick read, with some simple but powerful ideas and an interesting cast of characters.

Vianne Rocher is a wanderer, born of a wanderer. She decides to make a stay in Lansquenet, a French village, where she might not be entirely welcome. Her specialty is chocolate but her timing couldn't be worse as it's the start of Lent. The local priest sees her as a temptress who must be forced out of town but some of the villagers find that she supplies exactly what they've been missing in their lives.

Overall, I really enjoyed this novel -- up until the last few pages.

SPOILERISH MOMENT (skip if you plan on reading the book)

If you have read the novel, you know that something happens that Vianne acts like is no big deal but which will obviously cause problems once the truth gets out. She seems so intelligent and sensitive up until that point and then all of a sudden she is just incredibly self-centered. It almost ruined her entire character for me. Luckily, though, after some time now, it is the larger picture of the story that stands out and not the ending.

AND DONE

But until the end, I really loved the characters -- from children to old women, gypsies to retirees. Even the narrow-minded and boorish characters were well written. And the discussion of chocolates and flowers made me want to pick up and move to France as soon as possible. Instead, I will have to borrow the film and settle on an evening with Johnny Depp instead.

Dreaming of confections,
K

Support our site and buy Chocolat on Amazon or find it at your local library. We bought our own copy.

New Release: The American Heiress

2011-07-12T00:04:00.000-07:00

I read The American Heiress by Daisy Goodwin a few weeks ago and it was alright. I know that's not the highest praise and probably won't get you to rush out and pick this one up but I unfortunately can't say I felt strongly one way or the other about it. It was a good-enough story with a few flaws that made for a fun read but fell short of being a must-read.

This is the late Victorian story of an American heiress, Cora Cash, who ends up doing what many other similarly-endowed girls of her generation did -- marrying her money to a British title. But Cora is soon suspicious that her husband, Ivo, the Duke of Wareham, might have married her only for her money when she actually married him for love. Cora is forced to navigate the tricky world of the British aristocracy to find out if her marriage is worth saving and if she is really cut out to be a Duchess after all.

The quote on the back of the book likens this book to the works of Edith Wharton and Jane Austen but it is most definitely more in the vein of Georgette Heyer -- a romance with a cast of outrageous characters, a small amount of social commentary, a boatload of misunderstandings and a readability that is always welcome in the doldrums of summer. There were a couple of strange plot hints that could have turned this into a darker, more weighty book but those strings were never picked up and the book remained lighter in tone, even with Cora's constant angst. She reminded me quite a bit of Du Maurier's unnamed heroine in Rebecca because of her unintentional gaffes and her longing to simply feel the love of her husband. And yet she is different, having come from a life of extreme wealth where she has never had to fight for anything. Because of this, I had trouble connecting with the character, which might have contributed to my ambivalence about the novel. Still, there is nothing glaringly wrong with the book and I would recommend it if you are interested in a light period read.

Escaping the damp stone walls,
K

Support our site and buy The American Heiress on Amazon or find it at your local library. We received an Advance Readers' Edition from the publisher.

Blogiversary Giveaway!

2011-07-09T13:25:00.000-07:00

Thank you again to everyone who follows and reads this blog! We have decided to give away one book that we loved over the past year. So, please fill out the form below to enter and choose the book that you would like to receive if you win. We have tried to include a wide variety so that there's something for everyone -- the goal of our blog! International entries are welcome and we'll keep this open for a week.

So thankful for all of you,
K and Z

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Three Years of Blogging Fun

2011-07-08T12:28:00.000-07:00

photo by k

Well, apparently it's our three year blogiversary today and I had no idea until I just looked it up. I definitely want to get a giveaway together for you all because it's been such a fantastic ride so far! I've made some great friends in the community and read tons of wonderful books. So, let me get my ducks in a row and set something up.

In the year ahead, I plan to get back to regularly scheduled posts, more participation from Z and to just make the blog more fun in general. Thank you so much for coming along with us on our blogging journey!

Blowing out the candles,
K and Z

Book v. Movie: Auntie Mame

2011-06-28T12:11:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure when or where I came across this novel but, since I had seen the movie once and liked it and this book had a fabulous cover, I decided to pick up Auntie Mame by Patrick Dennis. It was published in 1955 and was on the New York Times bestseller list for over two years (112 weeks!). Though steeped in the superficial--clothes, homes, engagements--the story takes some surprisingly deep turns and I thought it was a fun read even though Mame was extremely exasperating at times.

The narrator is also named Patrick Dennis, writing as an adult who is looking back over his exceptional life with his Auntie Mame. After he is orphaned at the age of ten, he moves from Chicago to New York City to live with his father's sister. From the moment he steps out of the elevator at her floor, he is swept up into a world of high society, low inhibitions and many ups and downs. Mame is a free-thinker who falls head-over-heels for the young man that comes into her life. She always wants what's best for Patrick but maybe doesn't know exactly how to get it. Whether it's enrolling him in a nudist elementary school or pretending to be someone she is not to please his future in-laws, Mame always means well but her outrageous personality often gets in the way. The story takes Patrick from the age of ten until he has a seven year old son of his own.

The main difference between the book and the movie is Mame. In the novel, she truly loves Dennis but in a very matter-of-fact way. She speaks to him as she would to an adult and she expects him to catch up. She's not always kind but what she does almost always turns out to be in his best interests. In the film, Mame is much more emotional and sentimental. I would have loved to see Rosalind Russell be a bit less weepy and a bit more saucy. Also, the novel is quite a bit racier -- be it with Mame's marriage to a younger Southern gentleman (who was already engaged at the time he met her), her involvement with a young lecherous Irish poet or her ill-advised relationship with one of Dennis' college friends. Some of these situations aren't even mentioned in the film and the others have the teeth taken from them. The man she marries in the film actually appears to be older than she is, which makes the relationship not very interesting at all.

The novel also takes on the racism and sexism of the early- to mid-twentieth century in a very honest way. There is an exchange between Mame and Dennis' future father-in-law regarding Jewish people (at the start of WWII but pre-American-involvement) that is presented in about two lines of the film but takes pages of the book. Mame is absolutely amazing in this scene and it's one of the moments where her intelligence and depth are revealed. The film takes away many of those moments and makes them mushy with a bit of slapstick and a smile.

Verdict: Both are fun but I would recommend the book over the movie. It's got more substance and is a forgotten gem. And I would definitely recommend watching the film first because, if you watch it second like I did, you are bound to see its shortcomings.

Taking it in stride,
K

Support our site and buy Auntie Mame: An Irreverent Escapade (the book) and Auntie Mame (the film) on Amazon or find them at your local library. We bought our own copy of the book.

A Moment to Breathe

2011-06-24T11:19:00.001-07:00

photo by k

Apologies for being light on the posts lately but I've been sick for almost a month now (some icky lung thing that keeps me constantly tired and coughing), had a death in the family and had a ton of things to do that go along with the end of the school year. I have a small stack of books here that are waiting to be reviewed and I'll try to catch up in the coming week. In the meantime, please enjoy this butterfly that hatched in our habitat last week.

photo by k

Eyeing the wagon that I need to get back on,
K

Once Upon a Time V Wrap-Up Post

2011-06-21T00:06:00.000-07:00

I'm so happy to have finally joined in on the Once Upon a Time Challenge this year! It was nice to explore myth and magic this spring, especially since the sun decided not to ever come out in Seattle and so I've had to escape through reading.

I started in April with a re-read of Dogsbody by Diana Wynne Jones for Tif's Tales to Tomes reading group. I was just as heartbroken by the heavy topics this time through but fell in love with the book all over again. (mythology)

I then read the middle-grade new release Kat, Incorrigible by Stephanie Burgis. This was a fun tale of magic but I thought it relied too much on copying its magical and Regency influences rather than forging its own path. (magic)

I then went with the amusing and charming The Last Dragonslayer by Jasper Fforde. The sequel is already in the works and I can't wait to find out what happens next for young Jennifer Strange! (magic)

Next was The Emerald Atlas by John Stevens which I couldn't get enough of. It was the perfect blend of adventure and mystery. (magic)

Then I read Clockwork Angel, the first in the Infernal Devices series by Cassandra Clare. This was also for Tales to Tomes and it was kind of awesome. (magic)

My last "youth" read for the challenge was The Witch's Boy by Michael Gruber. This one took fairy tales in a fascinating direction and also took me by surprise with how good it turned out to be. (fairy tales)

Next, I picked up a very adult read -- American Gods by Neil Gaiman. This was an amazing and intense book that won't be for everyone. (mythology)

Finally, I found time for another Diana Wynne Jones re-read -- House of Many Ways. Though this is billed as a sequel to Howl's Moving Castle, it can definitely be read as a stand-alone book. It's one of her most perfect stories and I adore it. (magic)

And, because it was part of the quest I signed up for (5 books and a play), I finished this journey with a joint reading and watching of William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. I prefer Shakespeare when it is spoken aloud and, as I didn't have much time to myself to recite it, I simply read along with a bizarre version of the play from 1968, starring Helen Mirren, Judi Dench, Ian Holm, Diana Rigg and others. The acting was quite good but the makeup, costumes and special effects were rather bad and it was somewhat startling to see Judi Dench's breasts on nearly-full display. I think I prefer when this play is performed in a more whimsical and sweet manner rather than the dark and hate-filled way it was done in this version.

And that is the summary of my challenge overachievement! I can't wait to participate again next year.

With a little magic,
K

"Shadow had done three years in prison."

2011-06-15T00:17:00.000-07:00

June 19th is the tenth anniversary of the release of Neil Gaiman's American Gods. Not many novels have their anniversaries celebrated and so I couldn't resist reading it right now (not to mention the number of times that it's been recommended to me by many of you readers when I show it on my TBR list). Now that I've finished, I can definitely understand the celebration of this novel as an essential piece of the American literary canon.

Shadow is a convict, getting ready to finish his sentence and head home to his beautiful wife. He ends up being released early though due to his wife's accidental death, and on his way home he is approached by a mysterious older gentleman who calls himself Mr. Wednesday. Soon after, Shadow is working for Wednesday and moving back and forth across America, meeting other strange characters and discovering that the new world may have more ties to the old than he ever could have believed.

There were parts of this story that were difficult to read because of their graphic nature (violent and sexual). There were other parts that were uplifting and beautiful. The characters (including many gods, as you can guess by the title) were fascinating and diverse. I couldn't put this one down and I was constantly amazed by the way that Gaiman pieced together so many myths and histories in a subtle and seamless way. When I started the book, I wasn't even sure I would like it but, by the end, I was convinced that it is the kind of novel that changes you as you read it. It won't change your beliefs but rather will cause you to question if you should believe or not. I plan to brush up on world mythologies and then to read the anniversary edition of this novel which is longer and is Gaiman's "preferred edition". There will be a live webchat with Neil Gaiman about the novel on June 21st (I don't see a time listed yet but will update if I find one), the day the anniversary edition is released.

This is another of my reads for the Once Upon a Time V Challenge.

Saying a little prayer, just in case,
K

Support our site and buy American Gods: The Tenth Anniversary Edition: A Novel on Amazon or find it at your local library. We bought our own copy of this novel.

Books for Dad

2011-06-10T00:22:00.000-07:00

If you're like me, Father's Day is sneaking up on you and you still don't know what you're getting for the fathers in your life. Here are a couple of books that came through our house recently that I would definitely consider.

Atlantic by Simon Winchester has one of the longest subtitles I've seen--Great Sea Battles, Heroic Discoveries, Titanic Storms, and a Vast Ocean of a Million Stories--and yet it still seems inadequate for a book that has such an incredible amount of history packed in. I'm about half-way through this book and anticipate it taking quite a while longer to finish only because I can't read more than a few pages in one sitting before I am overwhelmed with the amount of information that has been presented. There is so much that I want to remember, so much to ponder that I want to savor it rather than rush through and miss things. I started this book right after seeing (and accidentally stepping in) the Atlantic Ocean for the first time and so this book also just means something a bit special to me now.

This is my second read by Winchester and I'm impressed again by the combination of in-depth research and an easy, conversational tone. Any father that loves stories of the sea will be fascinated by this book. And, I'm sure it's obvious that this book isn't just for dads. This might even be an appropriate grad gift for someone in marine biology, anthropology or history.

The book I'm most likely to send to the younger dads in my life is The Geek Dad's Guide to Weekend Fun by Ken Denmead. Also with an impressive subtitle (Cool Hacks, Cutting-Edge Games, and More Awesome Projects for the Whole Family), this book's strength comes from its wide variety of projects and clear instructions. Some of the activities are even done with things that a good geek dad should already have around the house like massive amounts of spare Lego. The dad in my house is eyeing the Backyard Zip Line project (although the idea makes me rather nervous!).

There's a cute animated trailer for the book that happily features both a daughter and a son spending an entire day with their dad, making all sorts of fun projects. So, this could be a gift for you as well when you get a free day while dad is busy building a trebuchet with the kids. With over two dozen projects there's also something for just about every age group so that even the littlest ones can have fun making homemade rootbeer or playing Pokemon bingo.

And finally there's The Greatest Music Stories Never Told: 100 Tales From Music History to Astonish, Bewilder, and Stupefy by Rick Beyer. This is the next in a series of books that are published in conjunction with the History Channel. The other books focus on General History, War, Presidents and Science and you can look at them here.

Though labeled as music stories, this is more of a general history book that is packed full of trivia that just happens to relate to music. I learned that Benjamin Franklin gave guitar lessons and about the origin of the Billboard music charts. There's also a companion webpage where you can play videos and sound samples that pair with the stories. The only thing that I would warn is that the cover of the book is a bit misleading as it lists names that seem like modern songs but are, in fact, the titles that are applied to historical events in a bit of a punny way. New York State of Mind is not about Billy Joel but rather the story behind the Sinatra hit New York, New York. Still, this book has a lot to offer including a wealth of historical photos and tidbits.

Hoping not to forget to buy gifts in time,
K

Support our site and buy Atlantic: Great Sea Battles, Heroic Discoveries, Titanic Storms, and a Vast Ocean of a Million Stories, The Geek Dad's Guide to Weekend Fun: Cool Hacks, Cutting-Edge Games, and More Awesome Projects for the Whole Family and The Greatest Stories Never Told: 100 Tales from History to Astonish, Bewilder, and Stupefy on Amazon or find them at your local library. We received uncorrected proofs of these books for review.

Heaven for Readers of Classics

2011-06-08T00:16:00.000-07:00

I have just seen heaven and it looks like this --

The British Library has just released an app for the iPad called British Library 19th Century Historical Collection App. What makes this different than any of the other collections of public domain fiction out there? Simply the fact that these are not digital files. They are scanned copies of early printings and first editions of a wide range of 18th and 19th century books.

I've just been perusing a collection of stories by Mrs. Henry Wood (Ellen Wood to those in the know) and looking at the title page of a 1882 printing of Frankenstein. There are easily 30+ novels in here that I would love to read. And there are also books on History, Poetry, Geography -- okay, I need to breathe! The only thing missing right now that I would love is Natural History. But I assume that it will appear as they add titles. They've launched with a decent number of titles but plan to increase it to 60,000 volumes by the end of the summer. The Beeb is impressed and so am I.

The current version is free but they will charge some undisclosed amount for an upgraded version later when there is more content. The app was created by Bibliolabs, LLC and it really is stellar. The pages are slightly yellowed, the covers are old and a bit faded and it is a book lover's heaven.

Can't blog, must read,
K

New Release: Nerd Do Well

2011-06-06T00:12:00.000-07:00

I will admit that when I saw this book was going to be featured on a TLC Tour, I contacted them immediately and begged to be included. I am a pretty big fan of the author's films and the television show, Spaced, that he created. And though I rarely read memoirs, this was one that I was really curious about. So, as you can imagine, my expectations were quite high for this book and thankfully it didn't disappoint. It definitely bodes well for a comedian/actor's memoir if they can make you laugh on the first page of the book. And laugh I did, half-way down the first page of Simon Pegg's Nerd Do Well: A Small Boy's Journey To Becoming a Big Kid.

You hopefully know Simon Pegg from his films Shaun of the Dead (a zombie comedy), Hot Fuzz (a small-town murder comedy) and Paul (an alien-visitation comedy) -- or at least his role as Montgomery Scott in the recent Star Trek reboot where he affects the cutest Scottish accent. If you aren't familiar with any of these, please go watch the trailer for my current favorite (which he co-wrote), Hot Fuzz with Simon as Officer Nicholas Angel, a London police officer sent away to a model village when he was too diligent. Of course, things are not going to remain calm for long when Angel's diligence uncovers the dark side of the seemingly happy town.

So now you probably have the gist of Simon's sense of humor. It's the backbone of the novel and his voice comes through quite clearly in his writing. The book is a combination of two parts -- the expected memoir of Simon's youth, education and early career interspersed with the story of a handsome super spy named, well, Simon Pegg. These chapters were absolutely hilarious to me but if you don't have the sense of humor of a fifteen-year-old fanboy (or the ability to enjoy that sort of humor), they might not really amuse you. The rest of the book is full of reminiscences of first films seen, childhood theater roles and musings on Star Wars among other things. It was fascinating to read about how Simon turned his youthful obsessions into a dream adulthood.

While the timeline skipped about a bit and sometimes took a little bit of work to follow, the content of this book was fun and I had a great time reading it. I'm sure it didn't hurt that Pegg is only five years older than I am so I was able to relate to some of his childhood experiences of the early 80s. My husband is excited to read it next and I think he'll relate to it even more than I did. Here's the book trailer (which is also rather funny) --

In a little nerd heaven,
K

This memoir is currently on a TLC Book Tour. You can read another review at

GeekDad

Other reviews will be posted throughout the month at the tour site.

Support our site and buy Nerd Do Well: A Small Boy’s Journey to Becoming a Big Kid on Amazon or find it at your local library. We received an uncorrected proof for review.

"Once upon a time, in a faraway country, there was a woman who lived by herself in the middle of a great forest."

2011-06-01T00:25:00.000-07:00

The Witch's Boy by Michael Gruber is in a rare set of books for me -- ones that I buy having heard absolutely nothing about them before hand. I happened upon it during an online search and it just caught my eye and was at a very reasonable price. But then, because I didn't know if it would be good or really even what it was about, it languished on my shelves for the last couple of years. Thankfully, the Once Upon a Time challenge seemed to be a good time to get to it and, in fact, it turned out to be a perfect read for the event.

The titular boy is named Lump and he is left as an infant on the doorstep of a witch with a note that reads "The devil's child for the devil's wife". He's ugly and hairy with a piggy nose, stumpy teeth and droopy ears. But the witch suddenly sprouts maternal feelings and decides to raise the boy. She employs a local bear to act as a nursemaid and nanny and has her captive afreet create a nursery for Lump. However, having not spent much time around regular people, she doesn't realize that there is more to raising a child than just providing material needs. And so Lump grows up to be an impetuous and surly child who doesn't appreciate the gravity of many of the rules that his mother has set for him. The result is a rough life for all who cross his path.

This story weaves alternate versions of many famous fairy tales into the narrative, including Rapunzel, Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella and others. It's a very engaging story and the witch is quite an amazing woman. Lump is an awful brat and yet you can't help but feel for him, growing up in such unusual circumstances with a face that only a witch mother could love. I really enjoyed this story and am glad to have taken a chance on it.

Seeing the magic in everything,
K

Support our site and buy The Witch's Boy on Amazon or find it at your local library. We bought our own copy.

"The demon exploded in a shower of ichor and guts."

2011-05-31T00:05:00.000-07:00

I can't imagine a better first sentence to draw the reader into the compelling web that Cassandra Clare has spun in Clockwork Angel. This book, first in The Infernal Devices series and prequel to the well-known Mortal Instruments series, is an amazing trip through a Victorian England that is home to angels, demons and everything in between.

Tessa Gray is an American who has just lost her aunt and her only remaining family is her older brother Nate, who happens to be in London. He sends her a note and a boat ticket and tells her that he will take care of her. But when Tessa arrives, she is met by two strange women that call themselves the Dark Sisters. Soon, she is being held captive by these evil women, being forced to do things that she can't understand and wondering where her brother is. But then she is accidentally rescued by the mysterious Will Herondale and she begins an adventure through a world that most Londoners don't even see though it is right in front of their eyes.

Despite a bit of flowery language (repetitive mentions of Will's blue eyes, for example), this was a gripping and dark story of love and allegiance, right and wrong and so much more. It is the type of book that you want to read again almost immediately because of its complexity and characters. And, as you can probably guess, I can never get enough of alt-Victorian stories so this was a good fit. The second book in this series, Clockwork Prince, won't be out until December and it's going to be a long, long wait until then. Luckily, I can enjoy the four books in the Mortal Instruments series in the meantime.

I read this book for Tif's Tales to Tomes group read and I'm so glad that this was the selection of the month.

Falling into a dream world,
K

Support our site and buy Clockwork Angel (The Infernal Devices, Book 1) on Amazon or find it at your local library. We borrowed our copy from the library.