New-ish Release: The Winged Girl of Knossos

The Winged Girl of Knossos isn't actually a new book. It was written in 1933 by Erick Berry, pen name for Evangel Allena Champlin Best. It was a Newbery Honor Book but was sadly out of print for many years. Thankfully, Paul Dry Books has reprinted it because I haven't been able to stop thinking about it since I finished reading it a couple of weeks ago.

The "winged girl" is Inas, daughter of Daidalos. He is an inventor who longs to soar like the birds and she is an adventurer who does everything from sponge diving to bull jumping. Their home is ancient Crete, under the reign of King Minos. This story brings to life an era that time has turned into myth. Ariadne, the labyrinth and the minotaur, and Theseus are all real and they all have their places in Inas' tale.

Not only did Berry use an impressive vocabulary but she knew the right amount of tension to keep readers of all ages engaged and the historical setting is incredibly accessible. Best of all, the strong, active female character of Inas was truly ahead of her time. I suppose this is why the book received Honors. I keep thinking about the various adventures, the setting, the idea that myths come out of facts. I'm really looking forward to getting this book into our local elementary school so that more kids can enjoy it and be exposed to its ideas.

Digging in the past,
K

New Release: The Cottingley Secret

The story of the Cottingley fairies has fascinated me for years. I'm sure it is because Arthur Conan Doyle got involved by writing about and promoting the photographs created by the two girls in Yorkshire. Now I'm fascinated because of the other point of view, that of those girls. The Cottingley Secret by Hazel Gaynor has a dual plot -- one is historical and imagines an autobiography written by Frances Griffiths, the younger of the two cousins, explaining what they did and why and the other is that of a modern day bookshop owner, Olivia, who is reading the manuscript for the first time and finding her unexpected connection to it.

I am going to tell you something amazing about this book. Both the historical narrative and the modern day one? EQUALLY INTERESTING. While I was reading one, I was simultaneously getting excited to get back to the other one. Crazy, right? This hardly ever happens. Gaynor managed both eras perfectly and I truly cared about both Frances and Olivia (and many of their friends and family members). I don't want to spoil anything about the modern-day story but I was also impressed by how she closed out that story line. She didn't take the expected route and make everything tidy and I loved that. If there is an overarching message in this book, it is the fact that life isn't tidy and that there are grey areas in everything and many of us are just trying our best. Also, there just might be fairies in the world after all.

Believing,
K

Tesla, Tesla

The Last Days of Night is a newish release by Graham Moore, best known for his debut book, The Sherlockian. It explores the dawn of the electrical age by following the lawyer, Paul Cravath, who defended George Westinghouse in his battle with Thomas Edison over the lightbulb and direct versus alternating current. Because Nikola Tesla, after leaving the employ of Edison, spent some time working with Westinghouse and ended up selling him his AC patents, this ends up mostly being a tale of the relationships between Cravath, Westinghouse, and Tesla. There is also a love story for Cravath and a glimpse into New York high society.

At the end of the book, Moore calls it a "dramatization of history", a "Gordian knot of verifiable truth, educated supposition, dramatic rendering, and total guesswork". I thought it was fascinating and a fun read ... and it led me to finally pick up my next read from the TBR, where it has languished for years.

Tesla: Man Out of Time by Margaret Cheney is considered the definitive biography of Nikola Tesla. It is technical and mostly covers his inventions and patents but also veers into his social life and unique mental abilities. I only wish that it had been updated after the 1981 publication date because one of the most interesting parts was the discussion of how modern scientists are now putting some of Tesla's more "far-fetched" ideas to use. I know that there have been even more researchers and corporations in the last 35 years that have come to see the light about Tesla's ideas, so to speak, and it would have added even more strength to the narrative of his genius. Sometime soon I'll read Tesla's own short autobiography, maybe when I take delivery of my electric car later this year!

Plugging in to history,

K

#MarchMagics - Dodger

The first book I'm going to mention for March Magics, Dodger by Terry Pratchett, isn't one I read this year. I actually listened to it as I wrapped Christmas presents in December. But the reason that I think it's a great one to share with all of you is that it isn't what you might expect from Pratchett if you're only familiar with his Discworld books.

The titular Dodger is a young man who is a tosher, someone who searches the sewers under Victorian London for valuables. His most priceless find, though, ends up being a young woman that he rescues from some very seedy men. Dodger then begins a journey through social strata, running into the likes of Dickens, Disraeli, and, eventually, making it all the way to the top.

There was so much to like about this story! There were amazing historical details, amusing uses of historical personages, harrowing moments, and also extremely touching ones. It was also just incredibly fun! Dodger is an amazing character and I plan to reread this book many times to spend more time with him.

If you're looking for a book to read this month but aren't really into fantasy/sci-fi, this would be a perfect choice. Pratchett is an amazing author no matter what the genre.

Toshing for the best reads,
K

The Miniaturist

The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton got a lot of attention in the last year or so and rightfully so. There aren't many English novels written about Amsterdam in the seventeenth century. This is the story of young Nella Oortman, eighteen years old and from the country, brought to Amsterdam to be the wife of an older merchant. When she arrives, she is given a beautiful room and grand possessions but is immediately left alone in his home with his ill-tempered sister. While her husband continually delays his husbandly duties in favor of business, her attention is drawn by his wedding gift -- a cabinet replica of their home that she feels compelled to furnish. She looks through a directory of craftsmen and finds a listing for a miniaturist. So, while her husband is away on business, she starts building a new home that is uncannily like their own, but without the secrets.

This was a slow-paced, rich story with unexpected facets to the characters. It ended in a somewhat vague manner but that is usual in the case of magical realism. It's a story of manners and culture and the constraints of civilization. However, I will say that there wasn't anything in the story that stayed with me much past the ending of the book. It left an overall satisfying feeling but, a month later, I had almost forgotten that I had read it. Still, Burton's writing was strong and I look forward to her second novel.

Dealing honestly,
K

RIP X: 2, The Uninvited

My second RIP read of the year was the new release The Uninvited by Cat Winters. I got a review copy before it came out in August but I just couldn't resist saving it until time for the challenge.

Set during WWI and the influenza epidemic of 1918, Winters takes us to Buchanan, Illinois, former welcoming home of European immigrants but now a place of illness and suspicion. Ivy Rowan, a twenty-five year old "spinster" has just recovered from the flu and word has recently arrived that her brother Billy was killed in the war. The reaction of her father and other brother? Murder. This prompts Ivy to leave the home that she had been stuck in for years but what she finds in town might just be as horrible.

There are so many surprises and twists in this story that I don't want to say much more. I was annoyed by Ivy for a good chunk of the book but then, as I got to know her, I forgave more of her foibles. What was more interesting to me though (but also horrifying, especially when reading it in the context of current events) was the treatment of the German, Polish, and even Swedish citizens of this small town. Street and business names were changed, music and language were treated suspiciously, and, eventually, almost everyone who was different was either killed, arrested, or driven out of town. This was brutal to read about and almost as terrifying as the spooks. This was a fantastic historical fiction and a fairly good ghost story.

Trying to learn from the past,
K

Today at The Estella Society: The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate

Yep, I'm still reading chapter books over at The Estella Society and the one I'm featuring today is an absolutely amazing book -- The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly. Head over and read my thoughts on this modern gem.

Girl power! Equalization between the sexes!
K

New Release: The Visitors

When The Visitors by Sally Beauman arrived in the mail, I read the synopsis and thought "whoever sent this knows me well!" Then I remembered that I requested it from the publisher so apparently I'm the one who knows myself well ... but still! It was nice to have it arrive and still be excited about it. Now that I've finished it, I still feel the same. I loved this story.

Moving between the present-day life of Lucy Payne as an nonagenerian in England and her childhood trips to Egypt at a significant point in history, the season before and during the discovery of the tomb of King Tutankhamun, this is an historical fiction that makes use of all the known accounts of this event. Though the main character and her family are fictional, many of the characters are not. Together, they all form a narrative tapestry of friendship, competition, belief, memory, loss and death.

photo by k

I've had a fascination with this time and place in history for many years and am pretty well read in both fiction and non-fiction about it. This book definitely had the possibility of being a disappointment but it wasn't in the slightest. From modern-day Highgate to the Winter Palace hotel in Luxor to Lord Carnarvon's Highclere Castle (yes, Downton Abbey) and back to the Valley of the Kings, all of the settings were appealing and believable. The research was impeccable and I truly enjoyed this return to the tomb of the Boy King, to view his treasures but also to consider them in context of the true treasures of friendship and scholarship. This book was a treat.

Re-discovering everything,
K

p.s. I received an ARC of this book from the publisher.

New Release: The Care and Management of Lies

Usually when there's a new Jacqueline Winspear book, I have to put my blinders on and avoid all details about them because they're new Maisie Dobbs stories and I'm still about three books behind the latest one (on purpose). But now she's written a stand-alone novel, The Care and Management of Lies, a very in-the-moment story of the First World War, so I got to read this one right away.

As you might expect from Winspear, this isn't a big action story. Rather, it's about the relationships between the characters, old school friends Kezia Marchant and Thea Brissenden, and their maturation into adults as they face the trials that come with a nation entering war. It's quiet and poignant, heartbreaking but also uplifting. It's a reminder that no lives were left untouched but that many people rose to the occasion and became the best version of themselves that they could be during a dark time. Winspear is really an expert at bringing this period of history to life.

Grateful,
K

p.s. I received a galley of this book from the publisher.

All The Books I Haven't Reviewed Yet This Year

My friends, I have not been the best blogger this year. I started out well but my productivity dropped off when real life stepped up with a few stresses and challenges. Consequently, I've ended up with a nice stack of books that haven't been reviewed. I want to at least mention the books because many of them are fantastic. I also want to put this stack of books away and start fresh in the new year. So bear with me as I take you on a whirlwind tour of a dozen or so books!

(Apologies for the poor quality pictures. I was in a hurry to get this post going. The notebook on the left that is propping up all of the books is my short story journal.)

First up are the children's books, three of which Z and I read together at bedtime --

Cosmic by Frank Cottrell Boyce was a super fantastic book about a twelve-year-old boy, Liam, who pretends he's an adult (he looks old for his age) and ends up lost in space with four other children. This book is his attempt to explain how he got there. Z and I both loved this book. It's very British and also very engaging.

Fortunately, the Milk by Neil Gaiman, illustrated by Chris Riddell (in the UK), was hilarious and also very British since I ordered a beautiful slipcased edition (signed by both author and illustrator) from Foyle's Bookstore and had it shipped over the pond! Though the book was a little young for Z, he didn't mind one bit. Personally, I loved how Riddell made the dad look like Neil himself.

The Templeton Twins Have an Idea by Ellis Weiner, illustrated by Jeremy Holmes, was a fun enough read but it never quite grabbed Z's interest. There is a saucy narrator that just seemed to annoy him though I'm sure other kids would find that voice hilarious. I loved how the kids each used their own individual talents to their advantage.

A Great and Complicated Adventure by Toon Tellegen, illustrated by Jessica Ahlberg and translated by Martin Cleaver, is a book of very short bedtime tales that were originally published in Dutch. I read them quickly on my own one afternoon and ended up perplexed but amused. The stories are quite strange and yet I had one or two kids come immediately to mind who would probably enjoy them immensely.

Next is a non-fiction read --

I finally finished Reflections: On the Magic of Writing by Diana Wynne Jones, which I began during DWJ March. I savored this book all year long and learned so much, both about DWJ and about storytelling. And, of course, a highlight of my year was having the foreword signed by Neil Gaiman.

I have two books of short stories on the stack --

Under My Hat: Tales from the Cauldron, edited by Jonathan Strahan is a wonderful collection of witch stories. I was pleasantly surprised by the diversity and quality. There was only one story I didn't enjoy. The ones I loved most were from Diana Peterfreund, Garth Nix, Patricia A. McKillip, Tim Pratt, Isobelle Carmody, Jim Butcher and Peter S. Beagle. Close on their heels were tales by Charles de Lint, Neil Gaiman, Ellen Kushner, Jane Yolen and Margo Lanagan. As you can see from the names, this is a star-studded collection!

Revenge: Eleven Dark Tales by Yoko Ogawa was a read-together with Natalie but she also had real life get in the way and so we never got the chance to write about these strange and definitely dark tales. The word "disturbing" pops up more than once in the blurbs on the back of the book and it's a fantastic descriptor. I also used the word "creepy" in my notes. The stories begin as separate entities but then start weaving together in big and small ways. I found my biggest confusion arose from the question of gender in many of the stories. There weren't enough clues and many times I was reading the story from the wrong gender perspective until sometime near the end when it was revealed clearly. It was very disorienting and I'm not sure if that was purposeful on Ogawa's part or if it was a consequence of translation.

Then we have the adult fiction --

Doomsday Book by Connie Willis is another of her time travel "series" (in quotes because they really all are perfect stand-alone books with only brief reference to the other adventures and some character sharing). This was a trip back to the Middle Ages and it was amazing but long. It's my least favorite of the time travel novels but probably only because the others are set in times that I know more about.

The Counterfeit Guest by Rose Melikan is also a series book but would work well as a stand-alone. It's a fun adventure/mystery with a strong female lead and a wee bit of romance. If you want to start at the beginning, the first book is The Blackstone Key.

The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens is only half of a story and though I thoroughly enjoyed it, I felt out of sorts for days after finishing it. I finally realized that it was because I was annoyed at not being able to continue with the story! I think that Dickens wrote some of his most complex characters for this novel and his pacing was perfect. It is a tragedy that he never finished writing the story.

Bellman and Black by Diane Setterfield is one I purposefully avoided reviewing. I just don't know what to say about it. It was okay but not great or memorable in the way that her first novel was.

And finally a few series books --

The Grey King and Silver on the Tree by Susan Cooper were the last two books in the Dark is Rising Sequence. The Grey King was amazing and made me want to travel to Wales immediately. Silver on the Tree suffered a bit from my timing in picking it up, being the book that I read over the Christmas holiday. I was busy and it took longer than it should have and so I kept losing track of the story. Still, I think this was an amazingly deep and complex series and I truly hope that Z enjoys it in the coming years.

Seventy-Seven Clocks by Christopher Fowler is the third Peculiar Crimes Unit Mystery though these are books that could be read on their own as they skip around in time. This one takes place in the middle of Arthur Bryant and John May's careers -- 1970's London. It was a crazy roller-coaster story of murders and phobias and I am definitely looking forward to picking up the next book.

Rumo & His Miraculous Adventures by Walter Moers is the second Zamonia book and I put off reading it for a long time because Rumo was not a very exciting character in the first book. That was a mistake because this book was fantastic. I don't even know how to begin to explain this book or series but if you are looking for something completely different, this is it. If you don't enjoy the absurd or fantastic, then don't read it.

If you're still reading, thank you,
K

New Release: A Fatal Likeness

I was very excited to receive an ARC of A Fatal Likeness by Lynn Shepherd this summer and I read it almost immediately and then forgot to note the release date. I just looked today and, well, it came out last week! So now I get to tell you about this second book of Charles Maddox, young detective (the first being The Solitary House). This time, Charles is contacted by the son and daughter-in-law of Mary Shelley, told that he is being hired to investigate the veracity of papers that could be used to dim the brilliant legacy of Percy Bysshe Shelley. The story journeys through time and space to review some of the relationships between the Shelleys, their families and friends and to cast a light on some of their more questionable actions.

I will admit that I only know the bare minimum about the Shelleys and Byron, mostly from works of fiction or as side-notes in non-fiction about other subjects. I have heard that some readers are taking issue, accusing Shepherd of taking liberties with the history and painting the Shelleys with a darker brush than history warrants. However, I didn't feel that they were made into villains so much as being shown as victims of their own eccentricities and maladies. If that was exaggerated at any point to make them seem criminal, I still understood that it was in a fictional context and didn't take offense.

Of course this book has its own protagonist, though I found Maddox's role in this story to actually be somewhat minimal. Still, I saw character growth and I am very interested to see where his character is headed if Shepherd continues writing about him (which I kind of think she has to from where she left his personal story). The bottom line is that I enjoyed the first Maddox novel more but I thought this one was interesting and just as strong in research and construction as the first. But I do like Shepherd's foray into fiction (Dickens and Collins) better because there wasn't so much questioning of whether she had accurately represented her historical figures and done right by them.

Avoiding those both treacherous and fatal,
K

Catching Up 2: Adult Series

I haven't been good at remembering to post here each time but I am still writing at The Estella Society for the 100 Best Chapter Book Project, with posts going up on the 15th and the last day of each month. My most recent read was Harriet the Spy. I would love to get more comments over there!

As for books I've read recently but neglected to write about, here are a couple more --

The Mapping of Love and Death is the seventh of Jacqueline Winspear's Maisie Dobbs books. The series, while remaining quite good since the beginning, had started to stagnate just a little bit but happily this one took Maisie's character in a bold new direction. The mystery itself was interesting -- tracking down the wartime love of an American cartographer who joined the British forces during The Great War. But the changes to Maisie and her lifestyle really stole the story. There were moments of great sadness and also of satisfaction and joy. I'm definitely looking forward to getting the next book in the series -- A Lesson in Secrets. There are now all new aspects of Maisie's life and circumstances to explore.

I finally started the Peculiar Crimes Unit Mysteries by Christopher Fowler (which is a good thing since I already own five of the books in the series ... damn you, Half Price Books). The first book, Full Dark House, alternates between present day and WWII-era stories. In the present, John May is both mourning and investigating after a bomb decimates the offices of the Peculiar Crimes Unit and, presumably, his investigative partner of decades, Arthur Bryant, who was working there alone. Because the clues from the modern day explosion point back to Bryant and May's first case together, the reader is taken back to see how that unfolded. The writing was a little uneven in this book but I'm assuming that it's because it was a first outing for these unusual men. I definitely intend to continue with the series. The past case was quite unique and the period details of the Blitz were very well done while the emotions of the present were also believable and touching.

Quite a while ago, I got an ARC of the third book in this trilogy (which I obviously couldn't just read on its own, right?) but luckily another blogger was offloading the first two books. And then the size of the three books (this one is 544 pages and the others are similar) caused me to stick them in the TBR pile for a while. But I've been in the mood for chunksters lately so I finally picked up The Tea Rose by Jennifer Donnelly. This was the straight-forward but compelling story of a young woman from very modest means who made her way in the world despite constant setbacks and tragedies, all because of her own strength of spirit and her special talent for identifying tea. I really enjoyed this story. It's been a while since I read a nice big saga and I had forgotten how much I like working my way through a character's entire life. As our main character is only about 30 at the end of this book, I am assuming that the next book is still about her but I'm not sure. I will definitely be finding out sooner than later though! I've (hopefully) learned my lesson about leaving books on my TBR for too long.

Finding mystery and romance in the past,

K

Catching Up 1: A YA/MG Collection

It's time to catch up with what I've been reading lately in a quick-look fashion --

The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor is a book that has been on my shelves for far too long. I bought it on Celia's recommendation a couple of years ago when she was out for a visit in Seattle. I'm glad she got me to pick it up because it was a fun read, especially for a Wonderland fan. It was quite loosely based on Lewis Carroll's classic stories (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass) and on his (Charles Dodgson's) life and I thought it was an interesting and fresh take on the Wonderland story. I'm not sure if I will continue on with the series (too many books, too little time) but I wouldn't be against picking up the second book -- Seeing Redd. There are also the Hatter M graphic novels that I might try out.

I was excited to see a new Belladonna Johnson book on Amazon (I loved Spellbinder and The Midnight Gate). Well, it turned out to be a self-pubbed novella from Helen Stringer, so much shorter than I expected, but it was a good story with lots of depth and emotion. I almost went and reread the first two books right after because I really enjoy the characters and the world. Sadly, Helen Stringer's next book is not in this series. It's a YA novel called Paradigm and here's what it's about --

... it is set in a future in which everything has happened. Everything that earlier generations were warned about, yet chose to ignore. Continents are isolated, global communication non-existent, poverty and disease rampant. America has become a country of powerful city states, separated by the barren Wilds, where people struggle to survive.
Sam Cooper’s parents took him to the Wilds when he was five, now he’s seventeen and alone, driving the empty roads, scraping by. But something has been watching and waiting. Waiting for the moment when Sam would leave the Wilds and visit a city state. Sam will need everything he learned in the Wilds if he hopes to survive, and he’ll need something else too: the beautiful, scary Maori warrior, Alma.

On the plane ride over to Maui (6 hours from Seattle), I read a pretty large chunk of Eva Ibbotson's The Star of Kazan. It was only the second of her books that I've read that wasn't a children's ghost story (the first was Journey to the River Sea) and I pretty much loved it. I am incredibly happy that I have so many of her books still ahead of me. It almost makes up for the fact that I'm nearly out of new Diana Wynne Jones books (almost but ... well ... not really ... ::small sob::). This story had a lot of great elements and I didn't have any problems with it until right at the end. The main character, Annika, makes a choice that I guess is a good example for children of being forgiving and kind but I really wanted her to go the revenge and prosecution route! Anyway, if you have a favorite Ibbotson book that you think I should read next, please let me know in the comments. I own a few more spooky titles but that's it.

And, happily, my library hold finally came through on Clockwork Princess, the final book in Cassandra Clare's The Infernal Devices trilogy. I made it through some tragic situations in the book without even a sniffle until I hit one certain part and, well, I hope they don't mind that I'm sending back this library book with a few tears in it! This was a great end to the story and I thought all of the characters were treated fairly. My only complaint is probably that the action/battle parts of the story all seemed a bit rushed but, by the end, I didn't really care about that.

I chose to read this series first instead of The Mortal Instruments because of the alt-Victorian setting which was more to my liking and seemed like a better entry point for me. Because the setting obviously isn't the only thing that makes this series enjoyable though, I will start the other one next, especially with the City of Bones film coming out in August. I wonder how long the library wait is ...

Full of romance, magic and adventure,
K

New Release: The Black Country

It was only last September when I read Alex Grecian's first novel of the Scotland Yard Murder Squad, The Yard. The inaugural tale of Inspector Walter Day and policeman Nevil Hammersmith, solving crime in the shadow of the Ripper killings, was incredibly dark and brutal but thoroughly compelling and I was looking forward to continuing with the fledgling series. And today The Black Country, second in the series, is out. I had a moment of cold feet before starting it, worried that the queasiness I felt during the first book was going to surface again but I shouldn't have worried. Though there was still a bleak setting and a shocking crime (or two ... or three), the main characters were even more well developed and the story just as compelling.

Set in the industrial region known as the Black Country (thus called because of the soot in the air), Day and Hammersmith travel to investigate a missing persons case -- that of a father, mother and son who have mysteriously disappeared, leaving behind three more young children. Many things stand in the way of the investigation including an insular mining community and the superstitions of the townspeople. And when the ground under their feet literally starts giving way, this might be one case that they can't solve.

This is quickly becoming one of my favorite series. The characters, including the pathologist Dr. Kingsley and his assistant Henry, are complex and anything but the stereotypical Victorian crime solvers. The Black Country setting was very well incorporated, the dismal atmosphere almost tangible. And I'm happy that Grecian took his detective out of London so soon. It allowed for the characters to develop out of their element, their homes and their standard relationships. This means that there will be no expectations for the third book other than a strong story about these flawed but noble men doing a job that they are each uniquely qualified for.

Working the seam,
K

New Release: The Map of the Sky

One of the books that I finished last year but didn't have time to review was The Map of the Sky by Félix J. Palma, sequel to 2011's The Map of Time. I was a bit conflicted in my thoughts about that first book but many of my issues (the chief of which was the first person narrative style) were solved in this one and, though not perfect, was a much more enjoyable read.

As with the first novel, I don't want to say too much about the plot of this story. It's a tangled mess that slowly unravels into a story that's incredibly inventive and part of the joy of it is the element of surprise. I don't think it would be necessary to read these books in order but many things would make more sense and have more meaning if you were to follow the order in which they were written. Then again, there is a secret kept throughout this book that is basically one of the plots of the original story so if you were reading this one first, you would likely be shocked when you went back to the first novel. Confused yet? Well, with an ocean trip to the Antarctic, an alien invasion, an appearance by a young Edgar Allan Poe and another bizarre adventure for H.G. Wells, this story will likely confuse you and excite you in similar proportion.

According to Palma's website (and if my Spanish isn't too rusty), the third book in the trilogy is currently being written and will focus on Wells' The Invisible Man (The Map of Time is built off of The Time Machine and The Map of the Sky uses The War of the Worlds as its inspiration). I'm definitely looking forward to Palma's final Victorian flight of fancy.

Traveling through time and space,
K

New Release: The Secret Keeper

While trying to decide which book review to catch up with first, my mind went back to The Secret Keeper and I remembered all over again how, though I thought Kate Morton's other books were all good, this one turned out to be great. My main problem was always with the mystery. While reading her other novels, I always guessed the overlying mystery within the first few chapters and, though the writing was good and I enjoyed the stories, that special "something" was missing for me. But this one ... oh how I want to spoil it for all of you! (But don't worry ... I won't.)

Laurel Nicolson is an award-winning actress in London whose mother is dying. She must return to her family home in the country, to reunite with her siblings and to revisit the scene of her most shocking memory -- the day that a sixteen-year old Laurel watched her mother kill a stranger. And, now that her mother's time is ending, Laurel decides that she has to know why her otherwise happy and loving parent snapped that day. Switching between the present and WWII, we find out the whole story -- the good and the bad.

I am finally a full-fledged Kate Morton fan after this book. The different narratives were compelling and very well written. I wish I could tell you just how Morton had me wondering where the story could go and then how it went somewhere I truly didn't expect. I wish I could tell you how certain events seemed brilliant by the end of the story. I wish I could tell you about unreliable narrators and so much more ... but you're going to have to just read the book and find it all out for yourselves!

Happy to have stuck with this author,
K

RIP VII Read #4: An Expert in Murder

I've been meaning to start this series, the Josephine Tey Mysteries, for a while and, now that the fourth book in the series is coming out next April, I finally picked up An Expert in Murder for the RIP season. I was hoping for a good read since I'm a fan of Tey's own books. Thankfully, Nicola Upson has written a very compelling historical mystery that doesn't ask the reader to believe that a playwright is secretly a top-notch sleuth. There is an actual detective in this story -- Detective Inspector Archie Penrose of Scotland Yard. Archie is, in fact, the inspiration for Josephine's fictional detective Alan Grant and is a very competent police officer. Tey's role in the story is simply as a bystander who is unknowingly a cog in the murderous plans of someone who seems to be obsessed with her hit play, Richard of Bordeaux.

Many readers will see some similarities between the Josephine Tey character and Jacqueline Winspear's Maisie Dobbs but, while both are strong, single women who have been damaged by a wartime loss, they are also different in many ways. I think the true test of this series will be in the next book, Angel With Two Faces. While Maisie is a private investigator, which lends itself well to a mystery series, Tey is simply an author, although one of detective stories. So, as long as the situations she finds herself in don't become forced or far-fetched, I'll be interested in following Tey and seeing how the character matures.

Only an expert in reading,
K

New Release: The Secrets of Mary Bowser

Destined to be on many "best of the year" lists, Lois Leveen has truly brought history to life in The Secrets of Mary Bowser. Starting from the briefest of mentions of this remarkable woman in historical records, Leveen deftly fleshes out the story of Mary Bowser, a freed slave who was educated in Philadelphia and who returned to Virginia to become a spy for the Union during the Civil War. Exploring such weighty topics as slavery, abolitionism, religion and war, this is also a story about family, friendship and the spaces in between.

I know many of you may already have started seeing positive reviews about this novel and some of you might even have review copies. I strongly urge you not to put off reading this one. It does not read like a first novel at all thanks to Leveen's smooth prose and tight story. The story is, in fact, so believable that the reader must constantly remind herself that much of it is only supposition. But if Mary Bowser was even half the woman that she is made out to be, then she deserves to have her story told.

I also had the opportunity to meet Lois at Third Place Books on Tuesday night and hear her read from the book. I even asked a couple of questions, something I rarely do. It was an enlightening evening and led me to an even greater appreciation of the novel. If you happen to be in Birmingham, Alabama, you can go to one of her events tonight!

In awe of those who came before,
K

A Weighty Pair: Blackout and All Clear

To save you the trouble of picking up one of these books without the other, I've gone ahead and merged Connie Willis' hefty Blackout and All Clear into a single 1132 page tome (which is also the way I read it). Look at how seamlessly the books fit together! Wikipedia actually calls it "two volumes that comprise a [single] novel" and that's the truth. It was meant to be a single book but then, as Willis says in the Acknowledgements at the beginning of each book, "it morphed from one book into two". What she ended up creating, regardless of length or format, was an amazing story that was entirely engaging from beginning to end. It got me through a snowstorm that kept us trapped on our property for an entire week and I definitely have to thank Connie for that!

Continuing with the world that Willis explored previously in the short story Fire Watch and the novels The Doomsday Book and To Say Nothing of the Dog, this is the tale of time-traveling historians Merope, Michael and Polly from Oxford in the year 2060, who independently head to WWII England and become a much larger part of the war effort than they ever imagined they would and certainly more than they thought possible under the rules of time travel. Skipping between narratives, including a couple told by initially unknown persons, this is a complex web that keeps the reader thinking, guessing and, ultimately, hoping and praying.

In 2011, this dyptych won the Nebula award for Best Novel, the Locus award for Best Science Fiction Novel and the Hugo for Best Novel. And it's not a mere matter of luck that she also was nominated for (and usually won) these same awards for the previous two novels set in this future of time travel and historical interest. The level of depth that she plumbs to make the world tangible and believable is nothing short of amazing. I frequently felt that I too had been transported to another time while reading. I found myself sitting in a packed tube station, waiting out a night of bombing during the Blitz. I looked into the burning mess of ships that was Dunkirk in May of 1940. And I held my breath as incendiary devices fell on St. Paul's Cathedral and threatened to set the wooden roof timbers ablaze. I'm still not entirely sure that Connie Willis isn't a time traveler who experienced these events firsthand!

And, lest this sounds like too gushy of a review, I had one small complaint -- that this story was split into two books. I am a reader who frequently goes back to look things up that I read previously and it was difficult when I couldn't remember if the passage I was thinking of was earlier in All Clear or all the way back in Blackout. Yeah, that's my complaint. Not really a deal-breaker, is it?

You still have time (until the end of February) to pick something up for the 2012 Science Fiction Experience. If you aren't sure where to start with the Oxford series, Connie's blog has an Oxford Time Travel Guide. It even has links to read or listen to the short story Fire Watch, which I will be doing soon. I just don't want to get through everything too quickly because I love this world and don't know if she will write another story in it. That said, I fully anticipate reading Fire Watch and The Doomsday Book before the end of the year.


Finally, congratulations are in order as Connie Willis was also just named a Grand Master of Science Fiction in January. And, as these books are just a drop in the bucket of her collected works, can anyone suggest what I should read of hers next after I finish these books?

Wishing I could travel back and read these again for the first time,
K

"Go Tesla!" "Go Science!"

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