Books I've Read Recently
1. The Blue Castle, L.M. Montgomery
My book club read this last week when we discovered that a few of us
hadn't read it yet. This is one of my all-time comfort reads and I
heartily recommend it to everyone but especially girls 10 and up. The
blue castle is the imaginary home of Valancy, a poor spinster
continually squashed by her family. When Valancy discovers that life
is shorter than she thought, she decides to take her life in her own
hands.
OK, as an adult I can taste the saccharine on Valancy and Barney, but
they are still worth reading about. And the bad guy family members
are still deliciously described. Go read this book.
2. Those Who Hunt the Night by Barbara Hambly
These vampire books are set in pre-WWI England and I enjoy the setting
and the sense of time a lot. The vampires are mean and underground;
they feed off death as well as blood. We meet them when one breaks
into the protagonist's house and announces that he can solve a mystery
or his wife is toast. The relationship between the spouses is good --
he tells his wife what is going on and accepts her help when
appropriate.
If you like vampire novels, this one is good, but it's more like
Sunshine than like Better Off Dead (although it's not nearly as
brilliant as Sunshine). Read this book if you are on a vampire kick.
3. Traveling With the Dead by Barbara Hambly
This sequel looks more directly at the idea of being friends with a
vampire -- does the fact that vampires murder people to live mean that
you can't like them? What if you need the vampire's help? Can you
discount their psychic ability to mess with your mind -- how do you
know if they are really trustworthy?
And the plots moves along, with husband and wife chasing each other
across Europe and finding out a lot more about vampires than they ever
wanted to know, with the specter of WWI looming over them (well, we
know that, but they only know that they are trying to avoid a clash of
nations) to add spice. Again, good if you like vampire books, not
good if you tend to avoid scary and bloody bits.
4. The Will of the Empress by Tamora Pierce
This is the latest in her "Circle" series, so maybe it's the first of
four. It follows Sandry (the thread mage) going back to her mother's
homeland to check in with her empress and look over her vast holdings.
The four mages are now young adults, too old to live with their
foster-parents (although somehow the foster parents forgot to tell the
kids that they would be kicked out at this age, oops) so they are
setting up on their own. Now that they are old and mature, they don't
want to connect magically with each other because they think they have
these dirty secrets.
I thought the set-up for the book was the weakest part. The fight
between them was really quite ridiculous and obviously happened purely
to make the plot more interesting. On the other hand, Pierce does
have a habit of letting the plot drive her characters, but since I
usually enjoy her plots I let her get away with it. Their eventual
reconciliation (I hope that isn't a spoiler) is interesting to watch,
and the four children have grown up believably. The Elizabeth I type
empress was a lot of fun, although the Evil Anti-Women traditions were
a bit heavy-handed. And the children have a very modern contempt for
feudalism but are continually surprised when they are the only ones
with this viewpoint.
Anyway, I recommend it as a good read but I don't advocate looking to
far under the covers. Next month's book club is discussing this book
(and all previous Circle books) so we'll get to talk about how we
liked in and then we'll compare plot holes :-)
5. Circle of Magic 3 : Daja's Book by Tamora Pierce
I scouted the local library for more Pierce books for the book club meeting
next month and got three books. So I'm going to try to read the eight Circle
books by character, where I read a Circle of Magic book and then that character's
Circle Opens book. So since I had both Daja books I started there.
Daja is my favorite mage because she's not all flighty like the others (OK, not
*as* flighty as the others). She has cool fire magic and she makes real stuff. Daja's
book focuses on her Trader roots and has a nice fire threat looming over everyone.
It's cute and fun, and I liked that the Big Decision was dealt with quickly and not
agonized over.
6. Circle Opens 3 : Cold Fire by Tamora Pierce
Daja is now fourteen and a responsible mage who has journeyed into the very cold
north with her teacher to study more techniques of smithing and magic. Again, a nice
little book but I'm left wondering why she was such good friends with the firefighter,
why she doesn't know about her sacred responsibility to teach, and a few other whys.
I liked how she thought back over what her teachers did for her as she works on how
to teach others, and I liked how her religion is a part of her life instead of an occasional
tool.
I also read a few magazines:
Natural History, 12/05(nice article about the uterus)
Economist 11/26/05 (yes, I'm behind, you have no idea)
Atlantic Monthly 6/05 (see above, I remember the bits on torture and the French guy who
gets lost in America and the usual mom-too-cool-to-complain complaining review)
Puget Sound Journey 1/2006: AAA tells me about all the places I won't go
PS. The fish are alive and back at school -- you can all breath easily now.
My book club read this last week when we discovered that a few of us
hadn't read it yet. This is one of my all-time comfort reads and I
heartily recommend it to everyone but especially girls 10 and up. The
blue castle is the imaginary home of Valancy, a poor spinster
continually squashed by her family. When Valancy discovers that life
is shorter than she thought, she decides to take her life in her own
hands.
OK, as an adult I can taste the saccharine on Valancy and Barney, but
they are still worth reading about. And the bad guy family members
are still deliciously described. Go read this book.
2. Those Who Hunt the Night by Barbara Hambly
These vampire books are set in pre-WWI England and I enjoy the setting
and the sense of time a lot. The vampires are mean and underground;
they feed off death as well as blood. We meet them when one breaks
into the protagonist's house and announces that he can solve a mystery
or his wife is toast. The relationship between the spouses is good --
he tells his wife what is going on and accepts her help when
appropriate.
If you like vampire novels, this one is good, but it's more like
Sunshine than like Better Off Dead (although it's not nearly as
brilliant as Sunshine). Read this book if you are on a vampire kick.
3. Traveling With the Dead by Barbara Hambly
This sequel looks more directly at the idea of being friends with a
vampire -- does the fact that vampires murder people to live mean that
you can't like them? What if you need the vampire's help? Can you
discount their psychic ability to mess with your mind -- how do you
know if they are really trustworthy?
And the plots moves along, with husband and wife chasing each other
across Europe and finding out a lot more about vampires than they ever
wanted to know, with the specter of WWI looming over them (well, we
know that, but they only know that they are trying to avoid a clash of
nations) to add spice. Again, good if you like vampire books, not
good if you tend to avoid scary and bloody bits.
4. The Will of the Empress by Tamora Pierce
This is the latest in her "Circle" series, so maybe it's the first of
four. It follows Sandry (the thread mage) going back to her mother's
homeland to check in with her empress and look over her vast holdings.
The four mages are now young adults, too old to live with their
foster-parents (although somehow the foster parents forgot to tell the
kids that they would be kicked out at this age, oops) so they are
setting up on their own. Now that they are old and mature, they don't
want to connect magically with each other because they think they have
these dirty secrets.
I thought the set-up for the book was the weakest part. The fight
between them was really quite ridiculous and obviously happened purely
to make the plot more interesting. On the other hand, Pierce does
have a habit of letting the plot drive her characters, but since I
usually enjoy her plots I let her get away with it. Their eventual
reconciliation (I hope that isn't a spoiler) is interesting to watch,
and the four children have grown up believably. The Elizabeth I type
empress was a lot of fun, although the Evil Anti-Women traditions were
a bit heavy-handed. And the children have a very modern contempt for
feudalism but are continually surprised when they are the only ones
with this viewpoint.
Anyway, I recommend it as a good read but I don't advocate looking to
far under the covers. Next month's book club is discussing this book
(and all previous Circle books) so we'll get to talk about how we
liked in and then we'll compare plot holes :-)
5. Circle of Magic 3 : Daja's Book by Tamora Pierce
I scouted the local library for more Pierce books for the book club meeting
next month and got three books. So I'm going to try to read the eight Circle
books by character, where I read a Circle of Magic book and then that character's
Circle Opens book. So since I had both Daja books I started there.
Daja is my favorite mage because she's not all flighty like the others (OK, not
*as* flighty as the others). She has cool fire magic and she makes real stuff. Daja's
book focuses on her Trader roots and has a nice fire threat looming over everyone.
It's cute and fun, and I liked that the Big Decision was dealt with quickly and not
agonized over.
6. Circle Opens 3 : Cold Fire by Tamora Pierce
Daja is now fourteen and a responsible mage who has journeyed into the very cold
north with her teacher to study more techniques of smithing and magic. Again, a nice
little book but I'm left wondering why she was such good friends with the firefighter,
why she doesn't know about her sacred responsibility to teach, and a few other whys.
I liked how she thought back over what her teachers did for her as she works on how
to teach others, and I liked how her religion is a part of her life instead of an occasional
tool.
I also read a few magazines:
Natural History, 12/05(nice article about the uterus)
Economist 11/26/05 (yes, I'm behind, you have no idea)
Atlantic Monthly 6/05 (see above, I remember the bits on torture and the French guy who
gets lost in America and the usual mom-too-cool-to-complain complaining review)
Puget Sound Journey 1/2006: AAA tells me about all the places I won't go
PS. The fish are alive and back at school -- you can all breath easily now.