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Friday, December 30, 2011

Turn of Mind by Alice LaPlante

LaPlante's award-winning book is cleverly narrated. The narrator, Elizabeth White, is a murder suspect who happens to have the advanced stages of dementia. She is also a former renowned hand-surgeon.

Almost like a stream-of-consciousness novel, Dr. White has many memories that surface at crucial times. Like a pendulum that swings back and forth, she has good days and bad days.

Hand imagery is present but not omnipresent. Dr. White has a beloved icon, a theotokos, that is notable for its three hands. She collects medieval icons but it is this one in particular that she loves. Amanda, the woman she is accused of murdering, has always coveted the icon.


This a psychological suspense novel at its finest. The story hinges on the killer's motivation. Several people wonder why Dr. White why she would kill her best friend--including Dr. White's son. Amanda's ex-husband, though, staunchly believes Dr. White is innocent. All of Dr. White's memories of Amanda seem pleasant enough.

Her caretaker, Magdalena, has kept careful records and has encouraged Dr. White to keep a journal. A clever police detective, however, noticed that some pages have been carefully sliced outs.

Divided into four parts, this novel is horrifying but also fascinating. Like the best thrillers, the ending comes as a surprise.  Deeply moving and affecting, this is a powerful novel.

Turn of Mind has won the Wellcome Trust Book Prize that celebrates medicine in literature.

Monday, December 26, 2011

Christmas Singing by Cindy Woodsmall

Childhood friends and sweethearts, Maddie and Gideon expect to marry and have a lifetime together. One day, however, Gideon unexpectedly breaks things off with Maddie, leaving her bereft. Will Maddie find happiness with her new boyfriend, Sol, who is solitary and likes to hunt by himself?

Though most readers know how this novel will end, The Christmas Singing, is still charming. Maddie is a bit to clumsy for my taste and Gideon is a little too perfect (even with his alleged wandering ways) yet it's easy to see them together.

Maddie keeps herself busy in another Amish town after Gideon jilts her. Her bakery, Maddie Cakes, does well until an accidental fire causes it to burn to the ground. This bit of ill luck brings Maddie back to Apple Ridge where she has a series of chance meetings with her ex-beau, Gideon. He is the carpenter who is building her cousin's house.

Gideon tries to explain why he broke up with her but Maddie refuses to let him into her heart again. She's engaged to Sol because he's a good man who will never break her heart. Convenience, safety and companionship are no reason to marry. Her heart is safe with Sol only because it is never really engaged. As her cousin astutely argues, "You can't break what you cannot touch."

Maddie's heart melts when she know the real reason why Gideon broke up with her. None of the horrible things she thought about Gideon were true. He has lied to her in order to protect her. Nonetheless, Maddie is furious that he was not more straightforward. She has already made a promise to Sol.

Will Maddie returns to Ohio to attend the Christmas Singing and reunite with Sol? Or will she reunite with her past love, Gideon?

Even though most readers can guess what will happen, this novel, like a good comic play, is enjoyable to the last line.

As a participant in the Waterbrook/Multnomah's "Blogging for Books" program, I have had a chance to view an e-version of this novel at no charge. The opinions are my own. I was not required to write a positive review.




Friday, December 9, 2011

A Sound Among The Trees by Susan Meissner

Readers will find the plot of A Sound Among the Trees intriguing. Newly transported from New Mexico, Marielle has trouble dealing with her new role as wife, stepmother, and inhabitant of the historic home, Holly Oak.

Holly Oak belonged to Carson's ex-wife's family. In fact, the oldest living Holly Oak woman, Adelaide, still lives in the house. The historic house was built before the civil war and was the setting of much sorrow. Several Fredericksburg women has stepped forward to warn Marielle that the house is haunted by a ghost.

Adelaide, the matriarch of the family, believes the house is "stuck" the same way that a needle can get stuck in a record. The house barely survived the civil war and still has a cannon ball in its walls. More recently, Sarah, Adelaide's only grandchild died from complications of child birth. All of the Holly Oak women, she believes, are all doomed to unhappy lives.

The story becomes even more interesting once Marielle finds a stash of letters belonging to Susannah Towsley, the woman who supposedly haunts Holly Oak's parlor and cellar.

Susanna helps her beloved Union soldier, Will, escape from Libby prison. The escape is orchestrated by her ingenuous Aunt, Eliza, but it is Susanna's courage that ultimately makes the breakout from Libby prison possible.

Resolution is only possible after Adelaide's estranged daugther, Caroline, returns to Holly Oak. Caroline provides the clues for understanding the elderly Susana's final words and digs up the hidden stash of letters. She presses the family into finding solutions to problems that have previously eluded them.

While I wouldn't call this page-turner, some of the characters are admirably drawn; most notably Susannah and Eliza. Pearl is delightful for comic effect and Adelaide is charming though I think she accepts and forgives Caroline too easily.

A Sound Among the Trees made me want to read more about the civil war period, especially civil war Fredericksburg.

As a member of the Waterbrook/Multnomah's "blogging-for-books" team, I received this book at no charge. I was not required to write a positive review.

Monday, December 5, 2011

Drawing From Memory



Drawing From Memory by Allen Say
Scholastic Press, September 2011. 63 pages.

Parents will want to choose this biography of Allen Say for children who may not choose this for themselves. Drawing From Memory introduces children to three important Japanese artists, Allen Say (called Kiyoi), Tokida, and Noro Shinpei who was their teacher (sensei).

Children will learn about Japanese history, Japanese culture, and cartooning, as well as the value of persistence and hard work. Sketches, drawings, and photographs illustrate the text. The title comes from Say's unique ability to draw people from memory. He draws, for instance, his teacher's first wife, Masako, who dies young. The title also has a double-meaning--to draw can also mean to pull something out from the deep well of memory.

Say, who at 13 convinces acclaimed artist Shinpei to take him as a student, has a unique story that will intrigue both young and older readers alike.

Sunday, December 4, 2011

New Photography Contest

I-Shot-It

http://i-shot-it.com/competition.php?id=4e80a6043af73

Friday, December 2, 2011

Three new writing contests

John Ciardi Prize for Poetry is offered annually for the best previously unpublished book of poetry. The winner receives $1,000 and publication by BkMk Press. Deadline: January 15.



Dixon Ryan Fox Manuscript Prize is awarded annually by the New York State Historical Association for the best unpublished book-length manuscript dealing with some aspect of the history of New York state. Prize is $3,000. Deadline: January 20.

Jesse Jones Award for Fiction recognizes the best book of fiction entered into the competition. Entrants must have either been born in Texas or lived in the state for at least 2 consecutive years. First place is $6,000. Deadline: January 1.

Source: Writer's Market, www.writersmarket.com

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Christian Love

A student asked for help. He was writing a paper on
Christian love and why its superior to love based on mere physicality.

I struggled to find anything that would help. I knew of Jason Evert's Pure Love (something not available at the library). Christopher West has some titles but I struggled to find any non-Catholic titles since most patrons are not Catholic.

I gave him C.S. Lewis' Four Loves but that had me thinking: why aren't there more titles like this?

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

New Contest

Instructables encourages everyone to make something glow.

http://www.instructables.com/contest/glow/

A similar site to this one,
http://makezine.com

Make something this holiday season instead of buying.

Thursday, November 17, 2011

13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher

I remember when this book came out in 2007-2008. I wasn't terribly interested in the premise except for the fact that it is a "pandora box" story. A mysterious box left on someone's porch turns out to have great import.

The book's official website has a map (supposedly drawn by Hannah) which is cool.

www.thirteenreasonswhy.com

Friday, November 4, 2011

Chaucer

For out of olde feldes, as men seyth,
Cometh al this newe corn from yer to yere,
And out of olde bokes, in good feyth,
Cometh al this newe science that men lere.
– Geoffrey Chaucer, Parliament of Fowls.

For out of old fields, as men say,
comes all this new corn from year to year,
And out of old books, in good faith,
Comes all this new science that men learn.


Here Chaucer is speaking of the legacy of the written word. His work is a product of his own imagination but its also a product of everything he's read.

I'm fascinated by this because in the digital age this fact tends to be lost. Anything older than a few years is considered passe and obsolete.

Thursday, October 6, 2011

An Artist Who Finds Beauty in Bound Periodicals

For years librarian have lamented how ugly bound periodicals can be and why they generally sit untouched on library shelves. Now, artist Mickey Smith located and photographs bound periodcals. Part of the beauty is that these bound periodical are ephemeral and will soon be replaced by digital texts. This is a little like finding a typewriter in a garage sale. If you have a good camera and eye for photography, start right away.


From http://www.20x200.com.


Collocation No. 14 (NATURE) Left Panel
by Mickey Smith ARTIST STATEMENT
Volume documents bound periodicals and journals in public libraries. Most of these publications are being replaced by their online counterparts. Several titles photographed in the process of this project have been destroyed. Searching endless rows of utilitarian text, I am struck by the physical mass of knowledge and the tenuousness of printed work as it fades from public consciousness.

The act of hunting for and photographing these objects is fundamental to my process. I do not touch, light or manipulate the books and words—preferring to document them as found in the stacks, created by the librarian and positioned by the last unknown reader. I focus on simple, provocative titles that transcend the spines on which they appear to create conceptual, language-based, anthropological works.

Recent works in this series are multiple panel installations, called Collocations. Collocation is defined as "the act or result of placing or arranging together, specifically: a noticeable arrangement or conjoining of linguistic elements (as words)."

Saturday, October 1, 2011

Kiss Me Deadly: 13 Tales of Paranormal Love, Ed. by Trisha Telep


Teens will be drawn to the goregous cover art and the tales contained therein. What's happening though in YA is very exciting because there's a lot of crossover. Adults are reading YA and YA is reading adult.

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Vanishing of Katharina Linden

In Helen Grant's debut novel a precocious narrator, Pia Kolvenbach, ponders the strange disappearances of several children in post World War II Germany. Pia has more than most ten year old's share of problems.

Her grandmother dies in a freak accident, her parents argue, her classmates tease her, and the medieval town is divided against itself. Most of the town is quite willing to believe idle gossip--that Herr Dussel has been kidnapping several young girls. Her only friend, Stefan, wants her to investigate the disappearances.

Grant lived in Germany for six years and she brings a unique perspective--that of an English woman writing about a German town. Notably Pia is half-English. To Pia's dismay her mother wants to take Pia back to Middlesex, England to discover the "English" side of herself.

Despite being ostracized in school, Pia wants to stay in Germany to find out what happened to the missing girls. Ghost stories and fables, mostly unique to Bad Munstereifel, act as a backdrop to the main story. Pia's elderly friend and town historian, Herr Schiller, keeps her well stocked with spine-chilling stories. Pia and Stefan feel compelled to investigate any connection between the town's ghostly tales and the missing girls.

This is a first-rate debut by an author who is worth watching.

For more information about Helen Grant, www.helengrantbooks.com

Monday, September 26, 2011

Ghost story competition

Here's a ghost story competition that I found on Helen Grant's blog.

Ghost story competition
As I've mentioned before, I'm a great fan of the classic English ghost story writer Montague Rhodes James, and a contributor to the Ghosts & Scholars M.R.James Newsletter, which is all about MRJ and his contemporaries. I recently received issue 20 of the Newsletter and I was very excited to see that it includes details of a new competition, so I thought I'd post them here too!


Editor Rosemary Pardoe writes:
"Following the very satisfying level of interest in the 'Merfield Hall' and 'Game of Bear' story competitions, I'd been considering the possibility of a third competition when Dan McGachey came up with the suggestion that writers might like to produce sequels to MRJ's completed tales. All the people I've sounded out about this agree with me that it's a fine idea, but I want to extend it to include prequels too. Of course there have already been examples of sequels - David Sutton's 'Return to the Runes' in the second issue of G&S for instance - but there are still plenty of possibilities. What happened to the 'satyr' (or 'satyrs') after the end of 'An episode of Cathedral History'? Are the lanes of Islington still frequented by whatever it was that Dr. Abell encountered in 'Two Doctors'? What is left of the residue of the atrocities in 'An Evening's Entertainment'; and do Count Magnus and his little friend still lurk at a certain crossroads in Essex? As for prequels, I for one would like to know what sort of treasure Canon Alberic found, how it was guarded, and the details of his death in bed of a sudden seizure. And what exactly was James Wilson's belief system, which prompted him to have his ashes placed in the globe in the centre of Mr. Humphrey's maze: what is the significance of the figures on the globe - was Wilson a member of a Gnostic sect? Need I go on? I'm sure you can think of many more mysteries and questions that demand to be solved and answered.
I must emphasise that any competition entry which is just a revamp or parody of the plot of the chosen story is unlikely to be placed very highly. I'm looking for something more original than that. There is no necessity to confine yourself to Jamesian pastiche or to attempt to write in the James style. But there are no other rules aside from the usual ones: I will not look kindly on entries which have been simultaneously submitted elsewhere; the word count is entirely up to you (within reason!); and you can send your manuscript either in hard-copy or preferably as a Word (pre-Vista) or Rich Text file on e-mail attachment or CD-Rom*. The competition is open to everyone, not just Newsletter readers.
The winning story will be published in the first Newsletter of 2012, and there will be a £40 prize for the author, along with a one-year subscription or extension. If I receive enough good, publishable entries, Robert Morgan of Sarob Press has expressed considerable interest in producing a hardback book containing all the best ones (to be edited and introduced by me). This is exciting news, but it's up to you to make it happen. If there are not enough quality stories to fill a book, then the best runners-up will appear in the Newsletter (and receive a one-year sub extension) as with previous competitions.
The competition deadline is December 31st, 2011."


*Mailed entries to: Rosemary Pardoe, Flat One, 36 Hamilton Street, Hoole, Chester CH2 3JQ, UK.
e-mailed entries to: pardos@globalnet.co.uk


If you are already familiar with the stories of M.R.James then hopefully by now you are rubbing your hands! If not, and you'd like to enter the competition, you need to lay hands on a copy of his Collected Ghost Stories. Many of them are available online too but personally I'd buy a copy to read and re-read (I'm on my third copy, the other two having fallen to pieces).


Do consider subscribing to the Newsletter too if you are interested in classic ghost stories - it's not expensive. It contains all sorts of interesting bits and pieces including previously unpublished work by the great M.R.James himself, news of related books, film adaptations etc and sometimes descriptions of visits to the scenes of his stories (I have contributed a number of those myself).
Details are here: http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~pardos/BackIssue.html#anchor23566

Friday, August 5, 2011

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs.


Jacob Portman is a well-to-do teen who is traumatized when he witnesses his grandfather die. Jacob is convinced his grandfather's dying words are portents rather than an old man's ramblings or dementia.

Most intriguing of all, however, are the bizarre photographs of apparently real people that illustrate the book. Ransom Riggs, a film maker who also writes photo essays for magazines, inserts photographs of people doing unusal things e.g. levitating in the air or creating balls of fire.

The photographs become part of the fictional world Riggs creates in Miss Peregrine's School for Peculiar Children. Jacob assumes the photographs his grandfather shows him are fake, as most people would. He concludes that his Grandfather's stories of a war-time escape and a home for peculiar children are fairy tales.

After watching his Grandfather die, however, Jacob begins having nightmares and even believes that he can see monsters. Are his Grandfather's stories true? Jacob travels to Wales with his father to find out and that is only the beginning of his adventures.

Ransom Rigg's first novel is a gothic coming-of-age like no other. The otherwordly setting--a dilapidated house on an isolated Welsh island, time loops, and a school for mysterious students--will immediately capture a reader's interest. Marketed for young adults, this novel also will also appeal to adults who are intrigued by supernatural mysteries.

Review by Chantal Walvoord

Scrappy Startups by Melanie Keveles


Scrappy Startups: How 15 Ordinary Women Turned Their Unique Ideas Into Profitable Businesses.

Melanie Keveles profiles fifteen women who started their own businesses from scratch. Nancy Gruver started a media company, New Moon, that lets tween girls write articles for girls in their age group. Bev Halisky started a driving service for the elderly because she saw a need. Many seniors had no one to drive them to their doctor's appointments. Halisky's Canadian-based business has generated several franchises.

Possibly the most impressive business, however, is the one started in a war zone. Sarah Chayes, a journalist for National Public Radio, started an Arghand Cooperative in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Hoping to spur economic development in the area, Sarah started a high-end soap company. She uses native agriculture e.g. pomegranate seeds and pistachios to create natural soaps and then exports them as luxury products. Though Sarah's business is successful, it is also a personal mission.

Scrappy Startups is full of wonderful businesses started by women who did not necesarily have a business background. Many of these businesses were started by women who saw a social need e.g. Cherry Brook Kitchen, 29 Gifts, Eco-Me, Arghand Cooperative. Questions at the end of each chapter may help budding entrepreneurs realize their business dreams.

Thursday, July 14, 2011

The Blind Contessa's New Machine

The Blind Contessa's New Machine
Is this novel really about the machine as the title suggests? Since the machine, a typewriter, is what allows the blind Contessa to communicate with her lover its obviously pretty important.

But frustratingly, the novel doesn't tell us (or maybe its not meant to) what Pellegrini Turri's last letter relays. The Countess leaves his last missive on the bed even though a girl offers to read it to

her. We also don't know how much Antonio knows when he burns the typewriter. Typewriters at this time were apparently made almost entirely out of wood, except for the "type" plates.

The ending and the setting instantly remind me of a Henry Jamesian novel. The reader is left in the "dark" on purpose. What we don't know about characters is just as important as what we do know.

The novel does make me eager to learn the Carolina Fantoni and Pellegrini Turri's history. It leaves readers with a delightful scent of lemons, winding rivers, and fanciful dreams. Though Carolina's fate is tragic the novel also leaves readers with a new appreciation for the lengths someone will go through to find a chance of happiness.

Becasue there are so many open ended questions, this novel would make a wonderful book club selection.

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Out Stealing Horses

Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson.

Out Stealing Horses is a novel that immediately grabs hold of readers's attention. I was hooked from the moment Petterson describes Trond's friend, Jon:

Jon came often to our door, at all hours, wanting me to go out with him: shooting hares, walking through the forest in the pale moonlight...balancing on yellow logs...it was risky... He never knocked, just came quietly up the path from the river...Even in the morning early when I was still asleep, I might feel a restlessness far into my dream...He smiled his little smiled and squinted...'Are you coming?' he said. 'We're going out stealing horses.'

The phrase "out stealing horses," has a double meaning, one for the son and quite a different one for the father. Stealth is an important element in the novel, though there's no actual stealing: the boys never intend to take Barkald's horses.
The point-of-view, expertly executed by Petterson, moves back and forth in time. Readers see Trond as a fifteen-year-old, enjoying his last summer of  innocence, and Trond as a sixty-seven year-old man vexed with a neighbor that could be his doppelganger.

Though Trond would rather not revisit his past, the summer he played "out stealing horses" comes back to him in his older years and in his dreams. As a teenager, Trond is blissfully unaware of  anything beyond the beauty of the woods and the game he plays with his friend, Jon. Two unrelated accidents, a shooting and a fall, soon set a whole different series of events in motion that are as irreversible as the stacked timber that  falls in the Glomma river.

Trond's father is not the man Trond thinks him to be--not the man he trusts and admires. The pair, Trond and his father, have been staying in a rented cabin in the furthermost reaches of Norway. Though their time cutting trees bonds father and son together; sadly, it is also a precursor to betrayal. Petterson won one of the highest literary awards, the Dublin IMPAC award, for this evocative novel.



Review by Chantal Walvoord

Thursday, May 5, 2011

David Mitchell's Black Swan Green


Jason Taylor is a “middle-ranking” boy who watches his position in the school yard fall perilously into “leper” status, before bobbing back to “middle-rank.” Jason is comfortable exploring the woods outside his home, yet finds himself at odds with his mother, father, and know-it-all sister. Jason doesn’t realize the vanity of labels or name-calling until close to the end of the novel, when he triumphs over local bullies and overcomes his strange fixation with cruel Dawn Madden. As usual Mitchell employs innovative narrative techniques. Jason Taylor hears voices in his head, “Unborn Twin” and “Maggot,” that speak up at various times in the novel. Hangman, the personification of his speech impediment, also takes control of the exasperated Jason at humorously inappropriate times.

David Mitchell might become popular again now that a movie version of Cloud Atlas is forthcoming.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Deborah Noyes' The Ghosts of Kerfol


 

Ghosts of Kerfol by Deborah Noyes
The Ghosts of Kerfol by Deborah Noyes.


Don't miss Deborah Noyes fascinating tribute to Edith Wharton's short story "Kerfol." The cursed house, Kerfol, figures prominently in each short story. When a lonely wife, Anne de Barrigan comforts herself with pet dogs, her husband, Yves de Cornault, retaliates by killing them. A chambermaid, Perrette, narrates what happens when the ghosts of her mistress' dogs exact revenge. The rest of the stories move forward and backwards in time as characters of various decades enter the house as owners, tourists, and restorers.


"These Heads Would Speak" is set shortly after the French Revolution when a recently impoverished nobleman, Victor, is set to inherit Kerfol. Victor, an artist at heart, has no idea why the servants vacate the house on a certain day, the anniversary of a particularly gruesome death. In "The Figure Under the Sheet," an American man and his spoiled daughter have inherited Kerfol. Noyes interweaves a Breton folktale, a rich king and his ungrateful daughter, that oddly mirror Kerfol's most recent owners.


Tourists in the 1980s story "When I Love You Best" learn about the murder of Suze, the young woman who dies under mysterious circumstances in "The Figure Under the Sheet." The house and its ghosts continue to haunt new inhabitants in the final story where a deaf boy hears ghosts speak.  Anyone interested Ghosts of Kerfol may also be interested in Edith Wharton's
Collected Stories, 1917-1937.
Collected Stories 1917-1937
For more books by Deborah Noyes please see her official site,
http://www.deborahnoyes.com/books.html

Philippa Gregory's Constant Princess

Constant Princess by Philippa Gregory.

Philippa Gregory’s novel about Katherine of Aragon, The Constant Princess, sets the stage for many of Gregory’s Tudor novels. In this novel, Katherine is a young girl who dazzles three Tudor men, Arthur Tudor, Henry VII, and young Henry VIII.  She is headstrong and vibrant--completely unlike the sad, defeated woman that we see in The Other Boleyn Girl.  
In The Constant Princess, Katherine is ambitious and proud, yet entirely devoted to her cause—that of becoming Queen of England. When her first husband, Arthur Tudor, unexpectedly dies before she produces an heir, she considers and then rejects Henry VII’s odd marriage proposal.  She endures years of hardship after refusing Henry VII. She becomes his prisoner--the King refuses to release her from England—and she is reduced to near poverty.  Her betrothal to Harry, a betrothal the Tudors never intended to honor, was the old King ploy to avenge her having snubbed him.
 Katherine marvelously triumphs over her vindictive father-in-law by marrying the boy king, Henry VIII. She becomes a ruling Queen who oversees the minutiae of the court, including the foreign policy and expenditures.  She gives the impression of abiding by Henry VIII while guiding him in what she sees as the right direction. She even defies Margaret Beaufort, Henry VIII’s Grandmother, of whom everyone is afraid.
What Gregory does exceptionally well is dramatize historical events without altering them or modifying them to suit contemporary times. The novel is rich in historical details that simultaneously elucidate the period and edify the reader.  Katherine, for instance, longs for “salad,” but the English cannot believe that anyone would eat raw vegetables.  She is astounded to learn that the English have no running water and that they take baths infrequently. Equally astonishing is the fact that the English have no medical colleges or universities.
Every scene in Gregory’s novel propels the action, deepens characterization, and imparts historical details. When Katherine believes she is with child (for the first time) she sends for a Moorish doctor.  He cannot conduct a proper examination because the Queen’s body cannot be touched. During this time and beyond, royals believed their bodies were sacred after being anointed with oils during coronation.  Sadly, for three months Katherine stays in confinement, believing, erroneously that she is pregnant.
During her confinement, Henry VIII has his first extramarital affair. Katherine’s friend, Lady Margaret Pole, confirms it. Despite Katherine’s success in marrying Henry VIII and assuming the throne, a shadow of doubt about the validity of her marriage emerges, setting the scene for Gregory’s next exuberant novel, The Other Boleyn Girl.  Readers who want another version of the same story will want to read Jean Plaidy’s trilogy about the doomed queen:  Katherine, the Virgin Widow; The Shadow of the Pomegranate; and the King’s Secret Matter.  For a non-fiction treatment of the same subject, try Garrett Mattingly’s Catherine of Aragon.

Penni Russon's Undine

Undine by Penni Russon.
Undine has many features one would expect to find in a coming-of-age story: a confused heroine who battles with authority figures as she journeys toward self-understanding. Undine, for instance, finds herself at odds with Lou, her mother, who tries to shield Undine from the strange man who claims to be her father. Undine’s life is a lot more confusing, however, than an ordinary teenager’s. Not only must Undine deal with dreary Tuesdays, messy love triangles, and an overprotective mother, Undine must also deal the growing sense the she has powers—powers to control the weather and, quite possibly, alter the past and future.
Undine’s sleepy existence in Hobbart, Tasmania, comes to a halt when she hears a voice calling her “home.” Soon afterwards, a strange fish appears at her doorstep along with a note from a shadowy figure calling himself Prospero. Not having read The Tempest, Undine turns to her confidant, Trout. The two of them try to decipher the mystery until Undine begins dating Trout’s older brother, Richard. Trout, who has always loved Undine, becomes painfully estranged from both Undine and Richard when he learns of their involvement.
Because of their rift, Undine answers the call to meet Prospero alone at his house at Tasmania’s Bay of Angels where her magic is strongest. When Prospero reveals how he plans to misuse Undine’s magic, however, Undine creates a destructive tempest that nearly destroys the world. In a climactic scene, Undine and her father each make a life-altering sacrifice—one that Russon explores further in the next two novels, Breathe and Drift.
 Should Undine have answered Prospero’s call? Should she have accepted the gift of magic which leads to her discovery of other, alternate worlds? The magic is a gift but it results in ethical conundrums. In the final novel, Drift, for instance, Undine must decide if she should save a four-year-old if it would obliterate a young man’s existence in another parallel world. Undine also has a showdown with a street performer named Phoenix and an enigmatic creature that insists on calling her a “sister.” Russon’s thrilling and thought-provoking trilogy, about friendship, longing, transience, choices and sacrifice, is not to be missed.

Bruce Machart's Wake of Forgiveness

Wake of Forgiveness by Bruce Machart.
Race horses play an instrumental role in this carefully crafted debut novel. By cultivating winning race horses, Vaclav Skala acquires most of the land in LaVaca county. His love for winning horse races, however, comes at the expense of his family.

After his beloved Clara dies, Vaclav is an embittered man who uses his sons as "work horses" to plow the fields. He exempts his own horses from working since he uses them to race. What proves to be Vaclav’s undoing, however, is his blind hubris.

Vaclav has so much confidence in Karel's riding abilities that he offers up his three other sons as bridegrooms to the daughters of the second largest landowner. This proves to be a tragic mistake. Vaclav may know horses and farming but he knows little about filial bonds or the disarming power of love.

Karel is a good rider but he's distracted by his opponent, Villasenor's daughter, Gabriella. Though only fifteen, he's enchanted by her beauty and the possibilities she offers. Although he is only a boy he must deal with conflicting feelings for her and loyalty towards his family--a situation that continues throughout most of his young life until a pair of delinquents force him to re-prioritize his life.

This novel is a powerful family drama and an intriguing look at life in Texas at the turn-of-the-century. Few authors write so powerfully and evocatively; this novel will resonate for a long time to come.


Review by Chantal Walvoord

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Yannick Murphy's Signed, Mata Hari


Signed, Mata Hari by Yannick Murphy
This historical novel delves into the mind of a much maligned historical figure, Mata Hari.  Yanick’s Mata Hari is an extremely sympathethic woman who danced and spied in order to have the means to fight for custody of her child, Non.  While it’s hard to believe that she was entirely blameless, it is possible that she was entrapped by the Germans to look like agent H21, as she claimed.  Yannick’s Mata Hari is completely different from the film version.  To date, two films have been made about Mata Hari.
What I liked best about this novel was the way in which Yannick experiments with point of view so that we see Mata Hari through three points of view – 1st, 2nd, and 3rd.  In the first person point of view, Mata Hari constantly repeats the mantra, “I have walked across the sea” because she walked to Ameland island at low tide as a child.  She loves Java, where her cruel husband is stationed for a time, and seems most at home there.  In the 2nd person point of view, she ironically advises readers how to become a spy.  In the 3rd person point of view, we see her in her final days in prison where she befriends a nun.

Guy Gavriel Kay's Ysabel

 
Ysabel by Guy Gavriel Kay
Ned, the teenaged son of a famous photographer, unwittingly disturbs the past when he enters the cloister of the St. Saveur cathedral in Aix en Provence. What is supposed to be a lark turns into a nightmare when one of the photographer’s crew goes missing.  Ned and exchange student, Kate, become involved in a 2,500 year-old mystery that involves a love triangle and characters from France’s celtic past. Kay presents more than one twist in this thrilling fantasy.

Liesel Litzenburger's The Widower


The Widower by Liesel Litzenburger
A baby left in an orchard, a gun won in a pool game, a car wreck on an icy day, and snapshots taken in a hotel room are isolated incidents that fatefully converge in this beautifully written literary novel. In one sense, the stories of the people who live in this small town in Michigan’s upper peninsula are in the words of one of the characters “unbelievably sad.” Ray who says he’s in the “life saving business” can save everyone but himself. The widower of the title, Swan Robey, just wants to be left alone after a tragic incident on an icy road. A young Canadian woman becomes involved with an abusive boyfriend. A convict returns to his hometown after spending the last twenty years in jail.

Like the Wislawa Szymborska poem, “There But for the Grace,” chance encounters cause these characters to meet and find reprieve from their sorrows.

 What I liked best about the novel is the beautiful language Litzenburger uses throughout. Here’s one of many beautiful descriptions of the lake: “Soon the big lake is visible, silver, flickering through the trees. Then the whole of it bottomless, forever. It is his map, his secret. It holds his life. He can follow the shore road, the water, all the way home.”

Litzenburger's latest work is Now You Love Me, a collection of short stories. 

Chris Wooding's Storm Thief

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Storm Thief by Chris Wooding
Two teenagers steal an artifact that is of valuable importance in this futuristic coming-of-age novel. Rail and Moa are restricted to a ghetto–they are tattooed and are not allowed to leave without a pass–yet their stolen artifact literally opens doors for them. With assassins and the secret police on their trail, the pair cannot afford to attract attention. Against Rail’s wishes, good-hearted Moa decides to protect an enormous, deformed golem with surprising consequences. Wooding’s novel travels at breakneck speed as the teenagers face further dangers–probability storms and ghost-like vampires called revenants–in this wonderful YA novel about risking everything for freedom.

Eva Hoffman's The Secret


The Secret by Eva Hoffman
In the near future a young girl, Iris Surrey, has always been plagued by a feeling that she is not normal.  Battling the Wierdness, as she calls it, has left Iris bitter, confused, and alienated.  These feelings are only exacerbated when she learns the painful truth: that she is a clone.  The truth sets you free, but in Iris’ case it compounds her misery.  She runs away to New York where she tries to establish a separate identity from her mother who created her by cloning her cells in a laboratory.  Iris frequently refers to herself as a “monster” and “facsimile,” even stating that whe is not sure she has a soul:  “Did my mother steal my soul, my very self?”

Breaking into her Aunt’s electronic mailbox, Iris tracks down her grandparents, only to face their rejection.  She tries to reunite with her stepfather who treats her as a sexual object – as the living embodiment of his ex-lover, Iris’ mother.  Iris feels condemned to walk the earth as a “mimetic being” until she falls in love with Robert who accepts her condition.  Even so, in the end, Iris is still not convinced she has a soul.
Written by a Holocaust historian, this book will resonate with anyone who has ever felt betrayed or marginalized.  It raises questions about self-determination, identity, and medical ethics.

Karen Armstrong's Through the Narrow Gate

 


Through The Narrow Gate is an intriguing memoir by a woman who spent seven years in a convent and who later became a pre-eminent writer and speaker on religous topics. Determined to find God, Armstrong leaves a comfortable life in Birmingham, England for an austere convent at 17.  She struggles with homesickness, the weekly baths, the sewing, the "rule of silence" and other strict rules. She is also not allowed, for instance, to read for pleasure, leave the convent, or write freely to her family.

Despite being called "useless" by the Novice Mistress, Armstrong or "Sister Martha" (as she has been renamed), soldiers on. Unfortunately for her, Armstrong has entered the convent before Vatican II. Her illness, epilepsy, is seen as a failure to discipline her emotions. Armstrong also find that her active mind is constantly at odds with religious life. After she enters Oxford so that she can become a teaching nun, she faces even greater turmoil. Her desire to obey the order is constantly at odds with her desire to study literature.

Surprisingly honest in her willingness to examine her mistakes, Armstrong also never shies away from asking hard questions about her religous vocation. After leaving the convent, Armstrong then went on to write about the commonalities she sees among various faiths: Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. She won the $100,000 TED prize in 2008 and drew up a Charter for Compassion that was signed by dignataries from around the world. Those who are interested in Karen Armstrong's memoir may also be interested in her second memoir, The Spiral Staircase: My Climb Out of Darkness.

Stieg Larsson's Millenium Trilogy

Thursday, October 28, 2010


There's must be something in the cold Swedish air that produces great spine-chilling mysteries. Two Swedish mysteries have recently been dramatized and released to audiences worldwide. The Girl Who Played With Fire is a sequel to Larsson's The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. The film version of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, that stars Noomi Rapace as the punk sleuth/avenger, was released to American audiences in 2010.

Book Review of The Girl Who Played With Fire.

Lisabeth Salander continues to be meticulous, ruthless, and self-reliant to a fault in the next book in Larsson's series. Some reviewers have called her an anti-social punk and have compared her (as far as her self-reliance goes) to Astrid Lindgren’s Pippi Longstocking. According to Blomkvist, Salander has her own sense of morality though it’s far from the traditional view. Salander has no problem exacting revenge as long as it’s directed at those who have harmed the most vulnerable members of society.

As far as Salander goes, we lose track of her short after she visits the couple intent on exposing Sweden’s involvement in sex trafficking. For then on, Salander appears in absentia, in negative space, as hearsay. Readers, as well as most of the characters, doubt Salander is innocent of the crime the tabloids accuse her of committing—a triple murder. Blomkvist remains incommunicado with his former researcher and love interest, until he finds a series of cryptic messages left on his hard drive.

What’s enjoyable about this novel is the pace, particularly the second half where the action moves at lightning speed. Larsson manages to enter and exit the characters consciousness seamlessly; just as we learn the motives of one, we’re plunged into the consciousness of another and a new mystery emerges.

Several of the scenes and situations in the Millennium series, however, are not for the faint-hearted. Larsson’s Girl Who Played with Fire explores the dark underbelly of Sweden, its sex trade and drug trafficking operations, the SAPO (Sweden’s secret police) and its cover-up of a key ex-Soviet defector.

The denouement in the Swedish countryside is particularly shocking and contains several gruesome scenes. The conclusion does, however, leave readers eager for the next installment.

Another Swedish book-to-movie not to be missed is Let the Right In.
Let the Right One In. John Ajvide Lindqvist. A bullied boy learns that his only friend is a vampire.

Movie tie-in: Let the Right One In.


by Chantal Walvoord

Juliet Marillier's Wildwood Dancing

Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier. Review by Chantal Walvoord


For a delightful break from reality, read Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier. This coming-of-age fantasy will interest young adults and adults alike. Marillier captures all of the wonder and horror that abounds in the original fey stories, yet she gives her heroines problems that anyone could identify with. Is it better to be safe or to take a risk? Is it better to control or to let go and trust your instincts? In chasing monsters (and seeking revenge) do we become what we chase?

Wildwood Dancing opens with a line that piques the reader’s interest, “I heard it said that girls can’t keep secrets. That’s wrong: we’ve proved it.” Every full moon four sisters, who live in a Transylvanian castle, lock their bedroom door and pretend to fall asleep. Then, they step into a portal that takes them into the Other Kingdom--the fairy realm of Wildwood forest—where they enjoy a night of dancing on the green.

After their father’s health deteriorates, the girls must deal with their ambitious, narrow-minded cousin, Cezar, who takes away their home and family business. The girls’ father, a textiles merchant, has left Jena in charge of the business, yet Cezar seizes it. Cezar also threatens to fell the woods surrounding the castle and promises to destroy the fairy realm that offends his sense of propriety.

Loosely based on Grimm’s “The Twelve Dancing Princesses” and “The Frog Prince,” Marillier breaks new ground with this young adult novel. More than anything this is a novel about consequences. “Nothing comes without a price,” the old crone tells Jena and her two cousins when they, as children, make the mistake of playing “King of the Lake” in the Dead Wash. The consequences of that forbidden game will have far-reaching effects—altering Cezar, Costi, and Jena’s lives while also binding them together.

Wildwood Dancing is also about impossible love, betrayal, and forgiveness. Fans of the Twilight series may enjoy the “doomed love” plot involving Tatiana and Sorrow. Sorrow is one of the Night People, who finds temporary refuge in Ileana’s glade. In addition to dealing with the supernatural elements from the Other Kingdom--an otherworldly frog, a witch who rides a white fox, the strange Night people--Jena must also deal with the desire to find love, independence, and self-fulfillment in her own world.

Wildwood Dancing won an Aurealis Award for Best Fantasy Novel (2006) and is a YALSA Best Book for Young Adults (2007).

Friday, January 21, 2011

Lisa Jones' Broken: A Love Story

Wanting to learn more about Stan Addison's methods of gentling wild horses and his healing abilities, Lisa Jones, a freelance journalist, comes to Wind River Indian Reservation. Jones had originally featured the quadriplegic Native American horse gentler in a Smithsonian magazine article. Broken does more than chronicle his Addison's life, which is amazing in itself. Broken aslo reveals Lisa's emotional life--the psychological hangups that have precluded her from committing to anything or anyone. Lisa bravely reveals all her vulnerabilities and honestly explores her deepening spirituality. If you liked Eat, Pray, Love, you will definitely like this memoir that takes a sometimes bohemian woman into one of the most broken places in America. Broken explores the notion of God, race, healing, and redemption. All in all, it would make an excellent book discussion book.
Review by Chantal Walvoord

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Piers Dudgeon's Neverland

 

Review of Neverland: J.M. Barrie, the Du Mauriers, and the Dark Side of Peter Pan.

Piers Dudgeon paints a mostly negative portrait of J.M. Barrie, the playwright and creator of Peter Pan. In Dudgeon's estimation, Barrie is an interloper who manipulated the Llewelyn-Davies children as well as those of the Du Mauriers. Daphne DuMaurier was a first cousin of the Llewelyn-Davies boys, the inspiration for Barrie's Peter Pan. 

Barrie played a large role in the Llewelyn-Davies' boys lives, eventually unofficially adopting them and later setting up Peter Llewelyn-Davies as a publisher. The book is highly detailed and quotes several credible sources and certainly there is proof that Barrie tampered with Syvia  Llewelyn-Davies' will, giving Barrie guardianship of her children. Whether Barrie played the part of their Svengali as Dudgeon claims in Neverland is for the reader to decide.  

The strength of Neverland is the detailed analysis of Daphne DuMaurier's works. That some of Daphne DuMaurier's characters may be directly related to her friendship with "Uncle Jim" (as she called Barrie) is fascinating. Her parents were actors who had met and fallen in love while playing parts in one of James Barrie's plays. Barrie was obviously a strong influence on DuMaurier from the beginning.

Dudgeon gives a fascinating glimpse into the lives of three families who happen to be actors, artists, and writers. Family secrets, suicides, unexplained illnesses are rampant; and, yet, these same individuals are also known for incredible bursts of creativity. Though some footnotes are given, Dudgeon's style is highly readable.


Review by Chantal Walvoord

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