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1 November 2005

• The Imagineering Field Guide to the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World, by the Disney Imagineers is a nice little pocket-sized guidebook, full of interesting information about the creation, design, and development of the park. It's almost too pocket-sized, in fact, as the small size means that the many pictures are also small, and it's often hard to make out details. However, it would certainly be handy to carry around the park for in-line reading, so I guess that's the trade-off. I assume that they'll be doing guides to the rest of the WDW parks (and I hope Disneyland as well), and if so, I'll definitely buy those as well.

Books read: 1

3 November 2005

• I've reached the third book in my reread of Anthony Trollope's Barsetshire novels, Doctor Thorne. Here, the focus shifts away from the city of Barchester and its clergymen, to a more rural setting and a (mostly) new set of characters. The hero, Doctor Thomas Thorne, has a ward, Mary, who is secretly the illegitimate child of his dead brother (no, this isn't a spoiler, Trollope isn't interested in keeping secrets from the reader); Mary is being courted by Frank Gresham, heir to Squire Gresham, who is badly in need of money and needs Frank to marry for the wealth Mary doesn't have. The plot is unusually contrived for Trollope, depending on a secret which I find it impossible to believe could have been kept for so long, and quite creaky. Happily, the characters largely make up for it, particularly Doctor Thorne himself, who's in many ways a self-portrait of Trollope, and the marvelously irreverent heiress Miss Dunstable.

Books read: 1

4 November 2005

• Helene Hanff's 84 Charing Cross Road, The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street, and Q's Legacy are on my favorites page.

Books read: 3

5 November 2005

• When Manija Brown (now Rachel Manija Brown) was seven, her parents decided to pack up and move to an ashram in India, there to devote themselves to the teachings of guru Meher Baba. All the Fishes Come Home to Roost is Brown's memoir of her life in India and since. It's both searingly funny and simply searing; though Brown finds humor in much of what happened to her, the pain of her misfit life is always present, and I often found myself going from laughter almost to tears in the space of a few pages. The writing is trenchant and observant; the descriptions of India are particularly good, sharply and colorfully conveying the sights, sounds, smells, and tastes Brown experienced. All the Fishes Come Home to Roost is often not an easy read -- the physical and emotional abuse Brown endured was no small thing -- but it's always deeply compelling; I stayed up far too late one night to finish it.

Books read: 1

6 November 2005

• In Conor Kostick's excellent new science fiction novel Epic, the eponymous computer game isn't just a game; it's reality. Erik's world is controlled by the game; every person plays it, and one's standing in the game is reflected in one's standing in society. In charge are the Committee, a group of people whose characters are the most powerful in the game, and when they treat Erik's parents unjustly, he and his friends decide to fight them. The setting is chillingly believable, and the characterization is excellently done. Kostick spends almost as much time with the characters on the Committee as he does with the protagonist and his friends and family, which gives the characters and their interactions a lot of depth and well-roundedness. Epic won't be out in the U.S. until January 2006; if you like good science fiction, role playing games, or just a darn good story, go right out and pick it up.
  
  Sherwood Smith has a better, more in-depth review of Epic, at SFSite. If my comments intrigue you at all, go read her review for more details and commentary.

Books read: 1

7 November 2005

• Harrowing the Dragon is an excellent collection of the short stories of Patricia A. McKillip, whom I have long admired for her gorgeous prose. There are fifteen stories here, from 1982's "The Harrowing of the Dragon of Hoarsbreath" to 1999's "Toad", and the quality is, as one would expect from McKillip, very high. For me, standouts were the title story, of a young man who returns to a island of perpetual ice to seek a sleeping dragon and of the young woman who tries to stop him; "The Lark and the Lion", a fairy tale with overtones of "Beauty and the Beast", "Psyche and Eros", and "East of the Sun, West of the Moon"; "A Matter of Music", where matters of music collide with matters of politics; and "The Snow Queen", a modern retelling of the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale. A couple of the stories, notably "Ash, Wood, Fire", falter due to too much language and not enough plot (an occasional failing of McKillip's), and I didn't care for "Star-Crossed", in which Verona investigates the deaths of Romeo and Juliet, which just seemed rather pointless to me (plus I've never been fond of that play). Overall, though, this is an enchanting collection, essential for McKillip fans and an excellent introduction to her work for those who don't yet know it.

Books read: 1

12 November 2005

• Robin Hobb's trilogy, The Tawny Man, is the third (and presumably) last in a series of three fantasy trilogies set in the same world; the three books in this trilogy are Fool's Errand, Golden Fool, and Fool's Fate. They follow very directly on from the Farseer trilogy and a little less directly from the Liveship Traders books; if you haven't read both of the earlier trilogies, I probably wouldn't recommend reading The Tawny Man first, as it contains many spoilers for the earlier books. As with the other books, this trilogy features Hobb's strong worldbuilding and characterization skills, but the plot isn't as coherent; the focus switches from one plotline to another from book to book, and the plotline most important in the first book is resolved mostly offstage in the third book. Overall, though, The Tawny Man is mostly a satisfying conclusion to the overall series and a must-read if you've read those.

Books read: 3

13 November 2005

• As its title implies, The Penultimate Peril is the next-to-last book (the twelfth) in Lemony Snicket's wildly popular Series of Unfortunate Events. As the book begins, the unlucky, orphaned Baudelaire siblings arrive at the Hotel Denouement, where they work as concierges and run into all sorts of characters, good and wicked, from previous books, making it even more clear that the series is winding down. Not much happens by way of plot, and there's quite a bit of repetition, but on the plus side, Snicket introduces some interesting thoughts about the nature of good and evil and where the Baudelaires actually fall along that spectrum, after some of their actions in previous books and in this one. I can't say that I was enthralled by the book, because of the lack of action, but I'm certainly very much looking forward to the next and last one.

Books read: 1

14 November 2005

• I've had The Hand Behind the Mouse, Leslie Iwerks's biography of her grandfather Ub Iwerks (written with John Kenworthy), sitting on my shelves for months. Now I regret not reading it sooner, because it's fascinating, written in a clear, readable style and covering Ub's life from early family background through his death in 1971.
  
  Ub was the largely unacknowledged talent behind much of what Walt Disney accomplished. He first met Walt and started to work with him in Kansas City; when Walt went to Hollywood, Ub soon followed him. He created Mickey Mouse (and animated his first short, Plane Crazy, all by himself -- 700 frames -- in just two weeks) and worked on Walt's Alice shorts and the Silly Symphonies as well before deciding to leave Walt's studio and go into business for himself. However, his cartoons, though technically excellent, never became as popular as those from Disney or Warner Brothers, and eventually Ub returned to Disney.
  
  Here, his career changed, as he left animation behind in favor of invention and technical wizardry. I knew that he had played that role after his return to Disney, but I had no idea of the extent of it: the Xerographic process for creating cels, the Circarama and Circlevision cameras, matte photography, optical printing -- the list just goes on and on. Ub worked on films from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea to The Parent Trap to Mary Poppins (for which he won an Academy Award), and even Hitchcock's The Birds. The Hand Behind the Mouse would likely be interesting to any fan of film, but it's an indispensable addition to any Disneyphile's library.

Books read: 1

15 November 2005

• Leslie What's Olympic Games is a quirky modern fantasy in which the Greek gods are alive and well and living in New York City. (In fact, the book is based on What's short story, "The Goddess is Alive, and, Well, Living in New York City", first published in Asimov's in 1996.) Zeus and Hera live in the big city, still enacting the old story of Zeus's philandering and Hera's jealous rages, when something from Zeus's unfaithful past comes back to affect them -- a nymph named Penelope, once Zeus's lover, now his enemy. Zeus and Hera are utterly wonderful translations of their old selves into the modern setting, and the other characters What introduces match Zeus and Hera in their vividness: betrayed Penelope; Possum, her new love; Eddie, the developmentally disabled stockboy who is destined for bigger things; and Alexander, the architect-turned-cook with an unhappy past. Olympic Games is funny and well-written, and a marvelous mix of ancient and modern.

Books read: 1

16 November 2005

• Penelope Farmer's Charlotte Sometimes is a wistful, fascinating blend of boarding school story and time travel fantasy. When Charlotte wakes up from her first night at boarding school, she finds that she has been magically transported back into the past, where everyone thinks she's a girl called Clare, attending the same school forty years earlier. When she wakes up the next morning, she's back in her own time, but she soon realizes that she slips back and forth every night, spending every other day as Clare. Farmer does a masterful job rendering Charlotte's sense of displacement and confusion, which increase with every switch, until she begins to doubt her own identity. The historical details are nicely done too, as Charlotte sees the differences between her own time and the time during World War I to which she slips back. Charlotte Sometimes is a beautifully atmospheric, character-rich book, which I would think would work well for older children and for adults as well - it certainly did for me.

Books read: 1

18 November 2005

• For My Lady's Heart and Shadowheart are a pair of related historical romances by Laura Kinsale, whose Flowers from the Storm I enjoyed very much. In fact, it's a good thing I enjoyed Flowers from the Storm, because, not to put too fine a point on it, if For My Lady's Heart had been the first Kinsale I picked up, I would likely not have read any more. It begins with the hero, Ruck, losing his wife, who thinks herself a saint, and all of his possessions to the church, leaving him penniless until he's rescued by the gift of two emeralds, given to him by the Princess Melanthe on a whim; when Ruck meets Melanthe again years later, he swears to her service and is drawn into her conflict with the powerful man who wishes to marry her and take control of her lands. The book just doesn't work for me on a number of levels. For one, Kinsale has the characters use a bizarre sort of quasi-old English dialect which is often jarring or confusing; for another, the characters felt emotionally distant to me, and I was never very engaged with them. This might be partly because the threat to Melanthe doesn't feel very real, as the villain doesn't arrive until near the end of the book.
  
  Happily, Shadowheart, which picks up the tale of Allegreto, a character in For My Lady's Heart, is better. The odd dialect is gone, and the plot and threat make more sense. In fact, the plot resolves the situation set up in the earlier book: the conflict between three Italian families (one of which Melanthe is a member of by marriage, and another of which Allegreto is the heir to). The heroine is Elayne, princess of Monteverde, who is kidnapped by Allegreto on her way to wed the head of the rival family of Riata. I wasn't enormously attracted to Allegreto, but I liked Elayne, whose transformation from naive girl into clever, powerful princess is handled nicely by Kinsale. (Be warned: there's a lot of intense, often violent sex in this book.)
  
  On the whole, I liked Shadowheart quite a bit more than its predecessor, but I can't really see rereading either of them; I'd recommend Flowers from the Storm over either if you're looking to give Kinsale a try.

Books read: 2

19 November 2005

• Sylvia Waugh's Mennyms books are fanciful children's tales about a family of live rag dolls and their adventures. I read the first two, The Mennyms and Mennyms in the Wilderness; I believe there are three more. The premise is engaging, and Waugh does a good job giving each Mennym, from Sir Magnus the patriarch down to Googles the baby, an individual and interesting personality. Especially in the second book, though, the resolution seemed too easy, and the magic involved was too convenient, for me to feel much interest in the plots. Still, these were pleasant enough reads, and although I probably won't be seeking out the other books, I shall certainly save these for Liam to read when he's older, as I think most children would enjoy them.

Books read: 2

20 November 2005

• I've had Mary Sheedy Kurcinka's Raising Your Spirited Child around for a while, but it's only recently that I got around to reading it, hoping that it would provide me with some strategies for dealing with Liam, who certainly qualifies for Kurcinka's definition of "spirited". As the cover of my edition says, spirited children are more intense, sensitive, perceptive, persistent, and energetic, all adjectives which describe Liam perfectly. Kurcinka's tone is friendly, reassuring, and often humorous, as she offers advice on understanding spirited children and coping with them. Perhaps the biggest eye-opener for me was realizing that it's not just Liam's spiritedness that's the issue; it's the essential difference between his extraverted personality and my introverted one. I've already put several of Kurcinka's suggestions to use and seen an improvement in how our days go. I recommend this book wholeheartedly to any other parent of a spirited child.

Books read: 1

21 November 2005

• Rosamond Lehmann's The Weather in the Streets is a sequel to her earlier book, Invitation to the Waltz, which I read not long ago and liked. Here, Olivia, who in Invitation to the Waltz was a nervous debutante, is now older, though perhaps not much wiser; separated from her husband, she falls in love with the married brother of an old friend and embarks upon a tempestuous affair. I found The Weather in the Streets even better than Invitation to the Waltz. The subject matter is more powerful and complex, and Lehmann more assured in handling it. Olivia's inner monologues are brilliantly done, and Lehmann even slips into the first person for one section of the book, though the change is so unobtrusive that I almost didn't notice it. Of all of the writers I've read, I think Lehmann is one of the best at getting into her character's thoughts and showing us their experiences and emotions honestly and directly; in the foreword to this edition (from Virago Modern Classics), Janet Watts refers to Lehmann's "exceptional emotional intelligence", which is such the right phrase that I can't come up with a better.

Books read: 1

22 November 2005

• Michael Dirda is a writer and senior editor for The Washington Post Book World; Readings is a collection of his essays and reflections on books, criticism, and book collecting. In the preface, he urges his readers to go slowly, not to "rush through these essays all at once," but as soon as I read the first few, I knew it would be a struggle not to devour the whole book in one sitting. (I managed to ration it out to three or four evenings.) I haven't actually read most of the books Dirda writes about, by authors from Nabokov to Jack Vance, but his thoughts are so engaging that it didn't matter, and in fact, I had to restrain myself from writing down every single book he mentions and adding them all to my to-be-read list. If you're a devoted reader, you'll love this book; I came out of it feeling as though I'd made a new friend, one just as crazy about books as I am.

Books read: 1

23 November 2005

• The Will of the Empress is a standalone sequel to Tamora Pierce's Circle of Magic and The Circle Opens series, which follow the adventures of a group of four young mages. Here, the mages (Sandry, Briar, Daja, and Tris) reunite after several years of separate travels, when they accompany Sandry on a visit to the Empress of Namorn and to Sandry's own lands in Namorn, which need her attention. Soon the friends discover that the Empress will do anything to keep Sandry in Namorn, and though their former strong bond is frayed and weak, they must come together once more to defy her. Pierce does a very good job showing how the friends have grown apart; they're realistically awkward together, as even close friends are likely to be after being apart for so long. I don't think I liked this as much as the later books in The Circle Opens, but it's a worthy follow-up and a must-read for Pierce and Circle fans.

Books read: 1

24 November 2005

• I haven't read Elizabeth Marie Pope's The Perilous Gard in ages, but since I've been (rather dilatorily) rereading retellings of "Tam Lin" lately, I figured I'd better reread Pope. I had actually forgotten how good it is. It's set in late Tudor times; the heroine, Kate Sutton, is one of the lady Elizabeth's handmaidens, exiled by Queen Mary for a letter Kate's sister wrote to her. Kate is sent to Elvenwood, also called "the Perilous Gard", where she's immediately intrigued by Christopher, the enigmatic brother of the master of the castle, Sir Geoffrey Heron. Soon, she discovers the secrets kept by the people of the castle, and to her peril, discovers also the mysterious residents of the land around the castle. Pope's period detail is impeccable and never ponderous, and her fairies (the People of the Hill) have just the right note of otherworldliness. Kate is a marvelous heroine, clever and daring, and the rest of the characters are equally engaging. Along with Pamela Dean's Tam Lin and Diana Wynne Jones's Fire and Hemlock, this is certainly one of the best "Tam Lin" retellings I've read.

Books read: 1

25 November 2005

• In the Coils of the Snake is the conclusion to Clare B. Dunkle's Hollow Kingdom trilogy, which began with The Hollow Kingdom, which I liked very much, and continued with Close Kin, which I liked, but not as much as the first book. The third book brings the story forward by a good twenty years (or so I'd estimate), as the goblin king Marak steps down in favor of his son Catspaw. When Catspaw and his goblin subjects encounter a large group of elves, led by the powerful Nir, a wrench is thrown into Marak's careful plans for his son to marry Miranda, a human girl brought up to be the goblin king's bride. Unfortunately, I just didn't like this book as much as the first two. I didn't find any of the characters very engaging, and the uncertain command of the book's voice jolted me; it would slip from Miranda's point of view to Nir's and back again in the space of a couple of paragraphs, for example. The ideas and the world are intriguing, but for me, not enough to make up for the characters and voice; I almost had to force myself to finish.

Books read: 1

28 November 2005

• After seeing the new Harry Potter movie, Goblet of Fire, and not liking it much for the amount of stuff they had to cut from the book, I decided to reread the book and the two after it in the series: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (by J.K. Rowling, of course). I haven't really much to say, other than I'm glad that the books since Goblet of Fire have gotten tighter (Order of the Phoenix is long, but more focused), and I can't wait for the final book after the events of Half-Blood Prince.

Books read: 3

29 November 2005

• Susan Palwick's Flying in Place is a chilling book about abuse; it's hard to write about effectively, and I'm sure I'm not going to do it justice, and it was hard to read. Teenage Emma is being systematically abused by her surgeon father; she escapes his regular morning visits by leaving her body behind, separating her mind so that she doesn't have to acknowledge what's happening. One morning, she sees the ghost of her dead sister, Ginny, flying around the ceiling; Emma begins to see and talk to Ginny regularly, and the visits begin to spark Emma's resistance against what her father is doing to her. Emma's narrative is graceful and understated; the pain rarely breaks through to the surface, and when it does, it's especially wrenching. I'm very glad I read this at night, because it grabbed me and wouldn't let go until I got to the explosive climax.

Books read: 1

30 November 2005

• I've seen Angela Thirkell's Barsetshire novels so often recommended that when I noticed a copy of High Rising at my mother's house (I think it belongs to my aunt) I snapped it up. High Rising is a quiet comedy, nicely characterized and subtly witty, about the residents of the eponymous Barsetshire village: Laura Morland, widowed novelist; her son Tony, railway fanatic; Anne Todd, her quiet secretary whose mother is chronically ill; George Knox, another writer, and his daughter Sybil; Laura's publisher Adrian Coates; and George's new secretary, Una Grey, whose arrival unsettles placid High Rising. I'm not sure that I'm exactly panting to read more Thirkell, but I enjoyed High Rising quite a bit as an amusing light read and will certainly read any more of Thirkell's books I happen across.

Books read: 1

Total books read this month: 30
Total books read this year: 371

Last updated 23 January 2006. All text and photographs © George Mitchell and Margaret Johnston, unless otherwise noted Comments, questions, suggestions to margaret@lonelymountain.net.