Retrieved from: the library
(0670033596)
Good news: I followed the plot of this book in the series better than any other so far. Does that mean it's getting stale? No, I think it just means I'm more fully integrated into the world Thursday lives in than I used to be. It also helps that I know "Hamlet" and Shakespeare in general, and the other literature mentioned was also generally stuff I was clued in on (Alice in Wonderland and bad sf....hah).
Landen returns...and leaves...and returns. Thursday figures out who Gran is and dies...only not really, of course. And her mother is contemplating or has already started a love affair with Otto von Bismarck. And Hamlet is impersonating Thursday's Cousin Eddie while he sorts out his psychological issues in the real world. Not a good time to be doing that since Goliath Corp. has cracked down on all things Danish. Oh, and Norman Johnson returns, but you have to watch carefully for his tracks. Thursday doesn't, endangering her and her assassin...
There are 13th-century prophets turning up and croquet battles aplenty, mixed in with stalkers, a visit to the Rest Area of the Living Dead on the M4, and the chance for the Neanderthal community to finally be able to reproduce naturally.
Confused yet? Read these books!
Tuesday, September 28, 2004
The Thief Lord, by Cornelia Funke (on CD--read by Simon Jones)
Retrieved from: the library
(0807217751)
I've read this book on paper already, but listening to it was (as usual) a different experience entirely. For one thing, the Italian pronunciation was there, which it certainly wasn't quite in my head while reading!
This is a fabulous book, in the original sense of that word. It seems to drag a bit in the middle, maybe because I knew what was coming and wanted to get there already?
Anyone who says kids' books are for kids only is missing a lot in this author.
A rollicking good time, once adult cynicism and "reality" is set firmly aside.
(0807217751)
I've read this book on paper already, but listening to it was (as usual) a different experience entirely. For one thing, the Italian pronunciation was there, which it certainly wasn't quite in my head while reading!
This is a fabulous book, in the original sense of that word. It seems to drag a bit in the middle, maybe because I knew what was coming and wanted to get there already?
Anyone who says kids' books are for kids only is missing a lot in this author.
A rollicking good time, once adult cynicism and "reality" is set firmly aside.
The Ecclesiastical History of the English People, by Bede
Retrieved from: Someone else's library
(0192838660)
Sigh. I didn't really do well in this. Skimmed it, looked at the maps, read the intro and many of the notes. But the actual text reminded me too much of Medieval History class and reading piles of primary source material till my head hurt. I wonder if one of those assignments was Bede and I've blocked it. Anyway, I only really READ up to about A.D. 750. The Angles, Jutes and Saxons had just been forcibly ejected from Britain, those horrible folks...
So now I can at least say I've read Bede.
(0192838660)
Sigh. I didn't really do well in this. Skimmed it, looked at the maps, read the intro and many of the notes. But the actual text reminded me too much of Medieval History class and reading piles of primary source material till my head hurt. I wonder if one of those assignments was Bede and I've blocked it. Anyway, I only really READ up to about A.D. 750. The Angles, Jutes and Saxons had just been forcibly ejected from Britain, those horrible folks...
So now I can at least say I've read Bede.
Tuesday, September 21, 2004
Secrets of the Code (ed. by Dan Burstein)
Retrieved from: the library (although I think my copy was another library's)
(1593150229)
Started this in July, put it away while on vacation and during the Great Vacation Readup, and now it's finally done. If you read and enjoyed The Da Vinci Code (which I did, two years ago, but it's only a thriller people!), this might pique your interest. Burstein has rounded up some of the sources that Dan Brown used and either reprinted the crux of their works or interviewed them specifically for this book. He then goes and finds a rebuttal for all this kooky stuff. :-)
It's a bit boggy at times, and if you're in a hurry you could get by with just reading the glossary. Had I know about it, I think I might have done just that. Especially regarding the bits I didn't care about at all. I scoured the pages pertaining to the Leonardo debate, and I find the Mary Magdalene arguments to be flat-out fun to observe. I so enjoy taking the piss out of Fundamentalists... heh.
Again, however, I must say: The original book is a NOVEL. And Burstein generally keeps that pretty clearly in sight as he investigates the non-fictional possibilities that spring from Brown's book.
(1593150229)
Started this in July, put it away while on vacation and during the Great Vacation Readup, and now it's finally done. If you read and enjoyed The Da Vinci Code (which I did, two years ago, but it's only a thriller people!), this might pique your interest. Burstein has rounded up some of the sources that Dan Brown used and either reprinted the crux of their works or interviewed them specifically for this book. He then goes and finds a rebuttal for all this kooky stuff. :-)
It's a bit boggy at times, and if you're in a hurry you could get by with just reading the glossary. Had I know about it, I think I might have done just that. Especially regarding the bits I didn't care about at all. I scoured the pages pertaining to the Leonardo debate, and I find the Mary Magdalene arguments to be flat-out fun to observe. I so enjoy taking the piss out of Fundamentalists... heh.
Again, however, I must say: The original book is a NOVEL. And Burstein generally keeps that pretty clearly in sight as he investigates the non-fictional possibilities that spring from Brown's book.
The Vicar of Wakefield, by Oliver Goldsmith
Retrieved from: the library (and it needs to be replaced, I'm afraid)
Here is our online catalog's record for this edition of this book:
BUT, it also had big print and fun illustrations, so I guess you take what you can find. No clue what year this was published: before I was born, probably before WWII even.
I read the book because we were in Wakefield this summer. However, it appears that most of this book does not actually take place in Wakefield, after about page 10. If you are a fan of Jane Austen, this book might be very enjoyable for you. I found it deadly, although I finished it because I kept thinking it had to get better. Very mannered, very 18th century, very sexist, very classist...and all very neatly tied up in the end.
By the last few pages I was chuckling over how a director would film the denouement, which takes place in the debtor's prison and involves pretty much EVERY SINGLE PERSON in the novel, all in the cell together.
Sorry, it makes me laugh just writing that. Lightweight. Didactic. But I smiled, so I can't be too hard on it (even though I'm not sure all the humor was intended).
Here is our online catalog's record for this edition of this book:
Goldsmith, Oliver, 1730?-1774.Messy record, messy copy of the book: loose pages, mostly yellowed paper...
The Vicar of Wakefield
[S.l. : s.n.]
xcv, [97]-278 p. ; 14 cm.
T.p. missing.
"The life of Dr. Goldsmith": p. [xiii]-xcv.
Goldsmith, Oliver, 1730?-1774.
BUT, it also had big print and fun illustrations, so I guess you take what you can find. No clue what year this was published: before I was born, probably before WWII even.
I read the book because we were in Wakefield this summer. However, it appears that most of this book does not actually take place in Wakefield, after about page 10. If you are a fan of Jane Austen, this book might be very enjoyable for you. I found it deadly, although I finished it because I kept thinking it had to get better. Very mannered, very 18th century, very sexist, very classist...and all very neatly tied up in the end.
By the last few pages I was chuckling over how a director would film the denouement, which takes place in the debtor's prison and involves pretty much EVERY SINGLE PERSON in the novel, all in the cell together.
Sorry, it makes me laugh just writing that. Lightweight. Didactic. But I smiled, so I can't be too hard on it (even though I'm not sure all the humor was intended).
Thursday, September 09, 2004
Ten Big Ones, by Janet Evanovich
Retrieved from: The library
(0312289723)
Um, well, what the hell does the title have to do with anything??
Other than that, a typically raucous romp through New Jersey with Stephanie Plum. We find out a lot more about Ranger, most of which does nothing but ruin his persona. He’s quite the businessman. But he has good shower gel. This was a one-guffaw book. Only one. Compared to the usual three or four laugh-till-you-pee, it’s just not up to snuff. Not sure where the magic has gone; maybe it left, for me, when Stephanie actually is threatened seriously with rape in this book. She needs to make a decision, get her apartment back, get BOTH guys out of her system, and move on.
(0312289723)
Um, well, what the hell does the title have to do with anything??
Other than that, a typically raucous romp through New Jersey with Stephanie Plum. We find out a lot more about Ranger, most of which does nothing but ruin his persona. He’s quite the businessman. But he has good shower gel. This was a one-guffaw book. Only one. Compared to the usual three or four laugh-till-you-pee, it’s just not up to snuff. Not sure where the magic has gone; maybe it left, for me, when Stephanie actually is threatened seriously with rape in this book. She needs to make a decision, get her apartment back, get BOTH guys out of her system, and move on.
The Wind Eye, by Robert Westall
Retrieved from: The library (children's room)
(0688801145)
This is a kids’ book I picked up because it was in the library’s catalog under St. Cuthbert as a subject. It has lots of legends about him indeed. In fact, it’s a sort of time-travel-meets-problem-novel book, but in the best possible way, from the 70s. Holds up pretty well, actually, since the problems of step-parenting and blended families haven’t gone away, and neither have obnoxious adults viewed through the eyes of powerless children. Very interesting family, although I don't see particularly happy things in the future of the adults. The kids are remarkably well-adjusted but realistic.
A really good book, even if you aren’t interested in St. Cuthbert particularly (you may be once you finish!). Robert Westall is always a good read.
(0688801145)
This is a kids’ book I picked up because it was in the library’s catalog under St. Cuthbert as a subject. It has lots of legends about him indeed. In fact, it’s a sort of time-travel-meets-problem-novel book, but in the best possible way, from the 70s. Holds up pretty well, actually, since the problems of step-parenting and blended families haven’t gone away, and neither have obnoxious adults viewed through the eyes of powerless children. Very interesting family, although I don't see particularly happy things in the future of the adults. The kids are remarkably well-adjusted but realistic.
A really good book, even if you aren’t interested in St. Cuthbert particularly (you may be once you finish!). Robert Westall is always a good read.
R is for Ricochet, by Sue Grafton
Retrieved from: The library
(0399152288)
Not bad, although Kinsey is not a major player in the solving of this particular case. That is kind of weird. And so is her connection to this cop who rather suddenly appears in her romantic life. That said, this is a book that gets the series moving forward again after a couple of recent dead ends: her failed romance with Dietz, and the case involving her former husband spring to mind as examples.
Here she is hired by the father of a woman being released from prison. He asks Kinsey to please collect his daughter and bring her home and get her started on the path to retrieving her messed-up life. Which amounts to babysitting and that's ok with Kinsey: easy money. However, this wouldn’t be much of a book if that’s all it was, and Reba turns out to be smarter than the average con. Once she faces the fact that she was set up to go to prison, and continues to be set up now, by her former boss, she methodically exacts her revenge on him before being sent back to prison on multiple parole violations. She’s spunky, smart, scary and I shudder to think what she’ll be like when she gets out next time.
A good book. But why, WHY, does Kinsey have to fall for a guy named CHENEY!!!? Ugh.
(0399152288)
Not bad, although Kinsey is not a major player in the solving of this particular case. That is kind of weird. And so is her connection to this cop who rather suddenly appears in her romantic life. That said, this is a book that gets the series moving forward again after a couple of recent dead ends: her failed romance with Dietz, and the case involving her former husband spring to mind as examples.
Here she is hired by the father of a woman being released from prison. He asks Kinsey to please collect his daughter and bring her home and get her started on the path to retrieving her messed-up life. Which amounts to babysitting and that's ok with Kinsey: easy money. However, this wouldn’t be much of a book if that’s all it was, and Reba turns out to be smarter than the average con. Once she faces the fact that she was set up to go to prison, and continues to be set up now, by her former boss, she methodically exacts her revenge on him before being sent back to prison on multiple parole violations. She’s spunky, smart, scary and I shudder to think what she’ll be like when she gets out next time.
A good book. But why, WHY, does Kinsey have to fall for a guy named CHENEY!!!? Ugh.
Now We Are Sixty, by Christopher Matthew
Retrieved from: The British Library bookstore
(0719559790)
My first “real” book that I remember reading over and over once I was old enough to read was Now We are Six, by A.A. Milne in paperback. My sister gave it to me when I turned (duh) six, and she annotated it. How cool is that!
Which goes a ways toward explaining why I couldn’t resist this book when I saw it. It’s mildly amusing, probably the way I would feel about the original if I hadn’t read the original as a child. The poems here are parodies of the original. But this is definitely more grown-up, as this excerpt from the “rewritten” version of "The Little Black Hen," entitled "Saloon Bar Romeos," shows:
(Among the poems I love from the original, he didn’t do--as far as I can tell--the “Anne” poem, or “The Knight Whose Armour Didn’t Squeak,” two of my favorites. But he did work on “King John’s Christmas.”)
(0719559790)
My first “real” book that I remember reading over and over once I was old enough to read was Now We are Six, by A.A. Milne in paperback. My sister gave it to me when I turned (duh) six, and she annotated it. How cool is that!
Which goes a ways toward explaining why I couldn’t resist this book when I saw it. It’s mildly amusing, probably the way I would feel about the original if I hadn’t read the original as a child. The poems here are parodies of the original. But this is definitely more grown-up, as this excerpt from the “rewritten” version of "The Little Black Hen," entitled "Saloon Bar Romeos," shows:
Hebblethwaite and Hopwood,This is probably only for Milne fans, and only a select few of them. I had a couple of twinges of “don’t ruin THAT one too” as I read this book. But these are generally in good spirit and amusing.
Fothergill and Fenn
And Bob Stanford-Dingley
Are five grown men . . .
And all of them are ogling
Our barmaid, Jen.
(Among the poems I love from the original, he didn’t do--as far as I can tell--the “Anne” poem, or “The Knight Whose Armour Didn’t Squeak,” two of my favorites. But he did work on “King John’s Christmas.”)
Saturday, September 04, 2004
1066 and All That : The History Book to End All History Books, by W.C. Sellar & R.J. Yeatman
Retrieved from: The British Library bookstore
(0413772705)
Funny book. Which is good, considering that its "A Methuen Humour Classic." If you are at all into history, you'd find something in here to chuckle or even belly-laugh over. If you are a British history nut, or someone who went to school for 12 years in Britain, you'll actually understand all the references. I'm closer to the former. My husband read about 10 pages and said, "It seems funny, but I don't get it." Here's a taste:
(0413772705)
Funny book. Which is good, considering that its "A Methuen Humour Classic." If you are at all into history, you'd find something in here to chuckle or even belly-laugh over. If you are a British history nut, or someone who went to school for 12 years in Britain, you'll actually understand all the references. I'm closer to the former. My husband read about 10 pages and said, "It seems funny, but I don't get it." Here's a taste:
"Meanwhile, Queen Victoria had celebrated another Jamboree, called the Diamond Jamboree (on account of the discovery of Diamond mines at Camberley during the Borewore) and after dying of a surfeit of Jamborees, Jokes, Gladstone, etc., had been succeeded by her son, Edward VII."If a) that seems perfectly reasonable and you see no humor, or b) you can't see at least three wrong "facts," don't bother with this. Otherwise, by all means, do. It's short and sweet and worth the hour or so it takes to read.
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