Archives - April 2004

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5 April 2004

Guy Gavriel Kay, The Last Light of the Sun, The Lions of Al-Rassan: Guy Gavriel Kay is one of my very favorite authors, and he only has a new book out every three years or so, so I've been looking forward to The Last Light of the Sun enormously. I must admit that I was just a tad disappointed.

Though fantasy rather than historical fiction, Kay's books evoke different regions of medieval Europe, and The Last Light of the Sun is set in the harsh northern realms analogous to Scandinavia and England, among the Anglcyn (Anglo-Saxons), Cyngael (Welsh), and Erlings (Vikings): rather a different setting from the warm regions and courtly society of his previous (particularly the two books of The Sarantine Mosaic and The Lions of Al-Rassan. The language is beautiful, and Kay deftly interweaves the stories and viewpoints of different characters, until the stories all come together into the finale.

The problem for me was that none of the characters grabbed me in the way that Kay's characters usually do, and thus, the conclusion was less emotionally satisfying. Perhaps it was the lack of a strong central female character like Jehane of The Lions of Al-Rassan or Dianora of Tigana; there were interesting women - Kendra, Judit, Enid, Rhiannon - but we got a point of view from only one of them (Kendra) and none of them received enough screen time to get to know them well. I felt curiously distanced from the male characters as well, even those who might be considered the main characters, Bern and Alun.

With that said, any Kay novel is head and shoulders above most other fantasy, and The Last Light of the Sun is certainly worth reading.

For comments on The Lions of Al-Rassan, see my favorites page.

Books read: 2

8 April 2004

Christine Allen, Roses for the Pacific Northwest: an excellent reference book for growing roses in this region, including specific rose recommendations. I wish there were a new edition, as this one is about 5 years old and therefore doesn't include any newer roses (and has a fairly small section on the English roses). Don't buy it for the photographs, though, which are almost all dreadful - terribly underexposed, and the colors of the roses are completely off (for instance, Fragrant Cloud, which is a bright orange-red, looks almost purple in this book's photograph).
David Austin, Old Roses and English Roses; Shrub Roses and Climbing Roses, with Hybrid Tea and Floribunda Roses: two excellent handbooks on roses, with lovely photographs and substantial comments on each rose.

Books read: 3

10 April 2004

Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Aurora Floyd: published right after Braddon's Lady Audley's Secret, Aurora Floyd was almost as popular. Aurora Floyd is a newlywed with a deadly secret, and although (like Lady Audley's) Aurora's secret is fairly easy to guess early on, that doesn't slow down the fast pace and drama of the novel. Braddon's novels are being heralded recently as challenges to the Victorian notion of ideal ladyhood, but in the other books of hers I've read, those unusual women receive suitable punishments for their violations of femininity; Aurora suffers but isn't punished as drastically as Lady Audley or Olivia Marchmont (of John Marchmont's Legacy) - a refreshing change.

Books read: 1

12 April 2004

Steven Brust, Sethra Lavode: the excellent and satisfying (though bittersweet) conclusion to his Viscount of Adrilankha trilogy. Brust is a master of style, ranging from the tight, colloquial, first-person voice of the Vlad Taltos books to the Dumas-esque style of this series. A swashbuckling narrative, an intricate plot, and witty dialogue between vividly drawn characters are standards for the Khaavren books (of which this is the fifth), and Sethra Lavode keeps the standard high.
Vita Sackville-West (edited by Robin Lane Fox), The Illustrated Garden Book: a nicely edited anthology of Sackville-West's columns on gardening, with excellent photographs of her gardens at Sissinghurst and nice watercolor drawings of some of the plants mentioned in the text. I took many notes on garden design and plant suggestions, but this is more a book for reading than studying, vividly written and opinionated.
Caroline Stevermer, A Scholar of Magics: a good sequel to Stevermer's A College of Magics, charming but not quite as good as its predecessor. I was delighted to see that the heroine was the witty and self-possessed Jane Brailsford, perhaps my favorite character from the first book; Stevermer matches Jane up with the equally interesting American sharpshooter Samuel Lambert. Although the action is slow at times, the dialogue is witty, and the setting (Glasscastle University in England, in an alternate Edwardian universe) is atmospheric, making for a fine fantasy of manners.

Books read: 3

13 April 2004

Joan Aiken, A Cluster of Separate Sparks: a suspenseful thriller, somewhat in the style of Mary Stewart; though not quite as good as Stewart, this was still a very entertaining book.
Allen Lacy, with photographs by Cynthia Woodyard, The Inviting Garden: a marvelous series of essays on the garden, lavishly illustrated with lovely photographs.

Books read: 2

14 April 2004

David Austin, with photographs by Clay Perry, David Austin's English Roses: the older edition (got it from the library) of Austin's main work on the English roses he's been breeding since the introduction of "Constance Spry" in 1961. There are chapters on the history of the rose, the development of the English roses (and a particularly fascinating section describing exactly how rose hybridization works), gardening with and taking care of English roses, and detailed entries on the best varieties. I'll certainly be buying the newer edition.
Clair G. Martin, with photographs by Saxon Holt, 100 Old Roses for the American Garden, 100 English Roses for the American Garden: two very valuable books which I intend to buy as soon as possible (I got these from the library). Martin provides an excellent botanical and cultural history of roses and then gets down to brass tacks with specific recommendations of good old roses and English roses to grow in American gardens, with detailed descriptions, lovely and clear photographs, and information on obtaining and growing each rose.
Martin A. Sklar, Walt Disney's Disneyland: an early souvenir book with photographs and a brief history of Disneyland (up until 1969, the year this edition was published). While little was new to me, there were a few amusing Walt anecdotes I hadn't previously seen and interesting details on early attractions. If you're a Disney fan, you may recognize the name of the author: Marty Sklar is now a top executive (I can't remember his exact title) in Walt Disney Imagineering.
Kendra Trahan, Disneyland Detective: I'm very torn about this book. Billing itself as "an independent guide to discovering Disney's legend, lore, and magic," it's full of fascinating trivia and historical details, as well as hidden Mickeys (not covered in any other Disneyland book I know of). However, it's not very well-written and terribly copy-edited: misspellings, sentence fragments, misused words, incorrect punctuation - there's something wrong on almost every page. It's a worthwhile addition to any Disneyland book collection (and small enough to carry with you into the park), but I certainly hope for a better-edited second edition.

Books read: 5

15 April 2004

Roger Angell, The Summer Game: a classic baseball book, collecting articles Angell wrote for the New Yorker from 1962 to 1972. Angell's descriptions are so vivid that it's almost like being at the games he narrates (including most of the World Series meetings during the period of the articles); the pieces are remarkably fresh given their age (hey, all of these games were played before I was born!). Angell muses on numerous aspects of baseball: the awful beginnings and eventual triumphs of the New York Mets, the advent of domed stadiums, spring training in Florida, the decline of the mighty Yankees, and players from Mays and Clemente to Koufax and Gibson. The Summer Game is simply one of the best baseball books I've ever read, and I'm eager to read more of Angell.
Rayford Clayton Reddell, Full Bloom: Thoughts from an Opinionated Gardener: a collection of Reddell's columns for the San Francisco Chronicle. Having recently read and very much liked Reddell's The Rose Bible, I was mildly disappointed to find out that most all of the articles in Full Bloom on roses were quoted word for word in The Rose Bible. However, Full Bloom contains many useful columns on other aspects of gardening, and Reddell's outspoken opinions are great fun to read.

Books read: 2

16 April 2004

Joan Aiken, Mansfield Revisited: a reasonable sequel to Jane Austen's Mansfield Park. Aiken does a good job of creating an Austen-like atmosphere without slavishly imitating Jane's style, and her interpretations of Austen's characters (particularly Susan Price and Mary Crawford) are vivid and believable. I was disappointed by the ending, but it was overall enjoyable.

Books read: 1

19 April 2004

Ian Hamilton, Keepers of the Flame: Literary Estates and the Rise of Biography: a lively and witty look at the development of literary biography and the handling of literary estates, from Donne and Shakespeare to Sylvia Plath and Philip Larkin, from the early reverent biographers, who whitewashed their idols by destroying or editing their letters and writings, to the later chroniclers, who seek to discover and publish every last sordid detail of a life.

Books read: 1

20 April 2004

Mirabel Osler, A Gentle Plea for Chaos: Osler describes the process of creating her own garden and how it turned her and her husband into gardeners - not full of specific plant advice, illustrations, or pictures; rather reflections on aspects of gardening, and as the title says, a plea for less tidiness and more disorder in the garden. A pleasant book, though perhaps not as good as A Breath from Elsewhere, which I enjoyed more for some reason that I can't pin down.
Lytton Strachey, Eminent Victorians: perhaps the turning point in biography, veering away from the pious and reverent biographies popular in Victorian (and earlier) days to a more realistic and analytical style. I've had this on the shelf for a while and decided to read it after reading Hamilton's Keepers of the Flame, which of course discussed Eminent Victorians. Strachey's character studies shocked the literary world at the time and are still incisive and scathingly witty today.

Books read: 2

22 April 2004

Wilkie Collins, Basil: a study of how love leads a young man astray into intrigue and violence - one of Collins's first books, and not as compelling as Armadale or The Woman in White, but still engrossing.

Books read: 1

25 April 2004

Philippa Gregory, The Other Boleyn Girl: a very good historical novel about Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn, and Anne's sister Mary, the "other Boleyn girl" of the title, an earlier mistress of Henry VIII (before Anne) and the narrator of the novel. Gregory's writing style is a little awkward at times (though I appreciated her choice not to try to render the dialogue in Elizabethan English, which one rarely sees done well), but her history is well-researched, her picture of court life convincing, and her portrayals of the chief players in the Tudor drama strikingly vivid and realistic.

Books read: 1

27 April 2004

Philippa Gregory, The Queen's Fool: having greatly enjoyed The Other Boleyn Girl, I was pleasantly surprised to run across The Queen's Fool while searching for new reading material on vacation. It's set in Tudor times, largely during the brief reign of Queen Mary, and told through the eyes of Hannah Green, a Spanish Jew masquerading as an English Christian, who is taken into the royal court as a holy fool, one who sees visions and speaks truth; this may sound a little far-fetched, but Gregory manages to make the plot believable and Hannah a fascinating character. Interestingly, Queen Mary is portrayed very sympathetically (though her responsibility for the heretic burnings at Smithfield is glossed over), and Elizabeth is seen as charming, but manipulative in the extreme and rather nasty. I hope Gregory continues to write historical novels set in this time period, as I'm very happy to have discovered her.

Books read: 1

29 April 2004

Thomas Christopher, In Search of Lost Roses: a thoroughly fascinating book on Christopher's quest to find the old roses that fell out of fashion and were almost lost when the new-fangled hybrid tea roses were introduced in the late nineteenth century. Christopher tells of the history of old roses, from the Romans' love of them to the Empress Josephine's fabulous collection at Malmaison, and of the rose enthusiasts who are trying to bring them back, collecting them ("rustling" them, in Texas) wherever they can find them. There are no photographs or illustrations (other than small pen-and-ink drawings at chapter headings), but Christopher describes the roses so vividly that this isn't at all a drawback. Obviously I've become somewhat of a rose freak and would find almost any rose book worthwhile, but I think even a non-rosarian would find this wonderful book engrossing.
Alison Weir, The Children of Henry VIII: a well-woven collective biography of the "children of Henry VIII": his son Edward (later Edward VI), daughters Mary (Mary I) and Elizabeth (Elizabeth I), and great-niece, Lady Jane Grey (the nine-days queen), focusing on the tangled relationships between them. I could have wished for a little more analysis together with the narrative, but the narrative is certainly well-written and engrossing, and Weir does a good job of presenting the characters and incidents in a fresh and lively way.

Books read: 2

30 April 2004

Betty MacDonald, The Egg and I, Anybody Can Do Anything, The Plague and I, Onions in the Stew: on my favorites page.

Books read: 4

Total books read this month: 31
Total books read this year: 154


Last updated 29 November 2005. All text and photographs © George Mitchell and Margaret Johnston, unless otherwise noted Comments, questions, suggestions to margaret@lonelymountain.net.