Hilary's book blog experiment

Lady of Quality - Georgette Heyer, 1972

2008-03-27T21:38:00.002-04:00

The other in the pair of Heyer's Regency romances which I like enough to have kept and re-read (along with The Grand Sophy). Annis Wychwood, practically "on the shelf" at twenty-nine, takes in and gives countenance to impetuous young Lucilla Carleton, who 's run away from home to avoid being married off to Ninian Elmore. Her companion in this escapade? Ninian himself, who doesn't want to marry her but is being guilted into it by his parents. The inevitable sparks between Annis and Lucilla's guardian naturally kindle into love, but the many amusing moments come from primarily from Lucilla, Ninian, and Annis' foolish suitor Lord Beckenham. The plot climax arises when Annis nurses her little niece through influenza and then catches it herself. Heyer's heroines may be independent, rebellious, and witty, but of course they reveal themselves as Angels at the Sickbed when needed--I guess as part of their competence and clear-headedness in contrast to the other flighty and muddle-headed females (very Austenish), but it's a bit tarsome, as Georgie Pillson from the Lucia books would say.

The Mapp and Lucia books - E.F. Benson

2008-03-16T08:40:00.003-04:00

This must be my fourth or fifth time through this wonderful series of novels, but this is my first reading of them on my Sony Reader. It was great to stick all of them in my purse and take them on vacation. Unlike many feather-light comedies, the more I read these the more I relish every word, and I'm always sorry to get to the end. Their appeal is hard to explain; the characters have no redeeming virtues and in fact are snobbish, fake show-offs; the plot incidents are the most trivial possible minutiae of everyday life; there is no real change or growth. But there are hundreds if not thousands of fans who absolutely adore them, and I'm one of them. It's mostly Benson's writing, which extracts the maximum comedy and suspense from the tiniest observations. The titles are:

Queen Lucia (1920) - We're introduced to Lucia as the Queen of Riseholme society--a small British village with Elizabethan architecture, which Lucia and her husband Peppino make the most of ("Perdita's garden" full of only Shakespearean flowers, smoky fireplaces, tables that are difficult to sit at). Some wonderful episodes, including the stir caused by an imported Guru with whom Lucia's rival Daisy Quantock tries to outshine her. Lucia's victories will become even more satisfactory when she encounters a more formidable opponent.

Miss Mapp (1922) - Introduction to Elizabeth Mapp and Tilling society. Similarly, we're itching for Lucia to get there and the maximum fun to begin, but Captain Puffin and Benjy's "duel" is one of many delightful scenes.

Lucia in London (1927) - Lucia and Peppino inherit money and Lucia uses it to claw her way up the social ladder in London. Her snobbery and pretension reach their peak. Also features the wonderful Riseholme museum, with an assortment of junk donated by the residents, including mittens which supposedly belonged to Queen Charlotte. (They would have looked like this and not this.) Peppino falls ill at the end and we glimpse Lucia's better nature for one brief moment.

Mapp and Lucia (1931) - Finally, the two social titans meet when Lucia and Georgie rent houses in Tilling. The irresistible force encounters the immoveable object! In the climactic episode, the two ladies are swept out to sea on a kitchen table and vanish for three months, but the plot point that dwarfs this minor excitement is that Mapp has copied Lucia's recipe for Lobster à la Riseholme. The psychological warfare over a recipe mattering more than physical jeopardy epitomizes the feel of these books. Perhaps that's one reason they're so appealing--it's a bizarre kind of escapist fantasy...

Lucia's Progress (1935) (US title: The Worshipful Lucia) - Contains probably the funniest episode of all, when Lucia thinks she's discovered Roman remains in her garden.

Trouble for Lucia (1939) - More plot than I remembered, with Susan Wyse's dead parakeet and Major Benjy's tiger whip popping up in various places throughout the book.

Oh, how I wish there were more of these! Although on principle I hate sequels by different authors cashing in on the originals, perhaps I'll try to ILL the two Tom Holt follow-ups, which do seem to have a certain credibility among Bensonites.

The Smartest Investment Book You'll Ever Read: The Simple, Stress-Free Way to Reach Your Investment Goals - Daniel R. Solin, 2006

2008-03-13T21:54:00.010-04:00

Here's the same basic investment advice you'll hear from the few smart-and-honest money people out there: index mutual funds with low expenses, folks. So why do we need another book about it? Because people still choose active over passive investments. Why do they do that when study after study has shown that nobody can beat the market consistently?* Because media companies of all kinds make money on financial pornography, and dull doesn't sell; the very adjectives "active" versus "passive" fit into that paradigm. Solin instead calls them "hyperactive investing" and "smart investing" styles. It's a quick read and an extremely worthwhile one if you have any money at all to invest. The meat is in the chapter telling you exactly what funds to invest in, and to rebalance twice a year. (For Vanguard, Total Bond Market 80%/60%/40%/20% from low to high risk, rest in Total Stock Market Index and Total International Stock Index, 2.33:1 ratio). If only the library's 401(3)b was in the "smart" TIAA-CREF instead of the "hyperactive" Putnam Investments (with correspondingly high fees). Aaargh.

*Unless they are actually getting involved in the company's future, like Warren Buffett. Thas was fascinating to read about--I think it might have been Andrew Tobias who explained it, but I can't remember.

Slackjaw - Jim Knipfel, 1999

2008-03-09T19:22:00.002-04:00

Years ago I went through a phase of reading the New York Press when we visited New York, and my memory of that publication boils down to Jim Knipfel's column, Slackjaw--kind of fascinating, kind of repellent. When the book came out, I noted the positive reviews, but never had an opportunity to read it. Then it turned up as a donation at the library, and I'm the first to check it out. He's a brave, articulate, cynically funny man who's had more bad breaks already than another ten people put together, from retinitis pigmentosa to a brain lesion. His descriptions of dealing with the various agencies helping the blind in New York City--particularly the way they valued him symbolically for holding down a full-time job, yet continually expected him to have time during the day for their bureaucratic paper chase--are both entertaining and enlightening. I enjoyed the writing and the anecdotes, admired Knipfel's resilience, and identified to a certain extent with his misanthropy. But overall, I can't say I loved it, and I was glad to part ways with him at the end. Sometimes the person who moves into my head when I read a biography or memoir turns out to be somebody I just don't click with long-term; no reflection on the book itself. My favorite passage, about a stint at the Whitney when they decided to hire impoverished artists as museum guards:

This is what my fellow guards and I experienced, during a typical ten-hour day: Packs of wild grade-school children on a field trip, running rough-shod over Giacometti sculptures. Tourists protesting, "But I am French!" when told not to touch the paintings. American visitors demanding their money back, arguing that there was no real art in the museum.

Oh, and Thomas Pynchon loves him! I thought blurbs from Pynchon must be pretty rare, but perhaps I'm wrong.

Blog Rules: A Business Guide to Managing Policy, Public Relations, and Legal Issues - Nancy Flynn, 2006

2008-03-09T19:08:00.003-04:00

This is the one book on blogs we had at the library, and I wanted to read up before teaching my Montrose Adult School class. It's OK, not great, and could have been edited down to a much shorter book. Two problems that jumped out at me: quite a few of the author's examples of trouble that can be caused by blogs were actually email issues, and she seems to have misunderstood what permalinks are: "posts...typically remain accessible forever via the permalink (unlike web pages, which are subject to change and removal)." Ummm...unless the post or entire site is taken down, which happens not infrequently! But for a large organization, this does provide a helpful overview of pitfalls, best practices, and the importance of including blogs and relationships with bloggers in crisis communication plans.

The Grand Sophy - Georgette Heyer, 1950

2008-03-04T14:51:00.003-05:00

Continuing on my Heyer kick--this time one of the few Regency romances I like. Now that I've finally become an Austen fan, I can understand the desire to create works like hers, but not the veneration of the Regency period itself as a setting. What makes Austen delightful to read, for me, is primarily her humor and subtle observations--she was not writing historical fiction. As in most Regencies, proof of research is laid on with a trowel; every page is studded with period detail and every speech is stuffed with period slang, ironically far more than in all of Austen put together. But this book is so delightful that it doesn't bother me too much--and even thought I don't think it works well artistically, I do enjoy the vocabulary itself, from "great gaby" to "puptons of fruit." Sophy Stanton-Lacy is a wonderful heroine--independent, wise, funny, and kind--but there are lots of great minor characters as well, like the impractical poet Augustus Fawnhope and the interfering fiancée of the male protagonist, whose appearance gives rise to my favorite exchange (between the two leads):

"Since you have brought up Miss Wraxton's name, I shall be much obliged to you, cousin, if you will refrain from telling my sisters that she has a face like a horse!"
"But, Charles, no blame attaches to Miss Wraxton! She cannot help it, and that, I assure you, I have always pointed out to your sisters!"
"I consider Miss Wraxton's countenance particularly well-bred!"
"Yes, indeed, but you have quite misunderstood the matter! I meant a particularly well-bred horse!"
"You meant, as I am perfectly aware, to belittle Miss Wraxton!"
"No, no! I am very fond of horses!" Sophy said earnestly.

I hadn't noticed the profusion of exclamation points in the dialogue until typing it up. !

Fair warning: on top of the usual classism, there's a very offensive (anti-Semitic) scene with a money-lender.

Envious Casca - Georgette Heyer, 1941

2008-02-18T21:53:00.003-05:00

A week ago I would have called this one of my favorite mysteries of all time, but on re-reading it's not as compelling as it used to be. It may be the falling tide of my interest in mysteries lowering all boats (as I get pickier with age) because all the ingredients still seem to be present: good British cozy setting, entertaining characters (well-meaning Uncle Joe, who manages to drive everyone straight up a wall while trying to be nice, is particularly memorable), the always-enjoyable locked room setup, funny dialogue and situations, and a heart-warming romance. But there's a little too much telling instead of showing, and the solution is not as believable as one might wish. Maybe I've just read it too many times. I got out all the Heyers I kept (purged most of them years ago) because of recommending them to a library patron who loves Agatha Christie best of all and doesn't find anyone to compare to her. She enjoyed the one (IMO inferior) Heyer mystery we had at the library (A Blunt Instrument, I think) and I'm going to lend her mine. Where's Behold, Here's Murder, though? I must have misplaced it...

Play Dead - David Rosenfelt, 2007

2008-02-16T20:33:00.002-05:00

Oh, how I wanted to love this mystery, centering on a golden retriever who "testifies" in court to get his owner out of jail--in a completely realistic and believable way (ie no Lillian Jackson Braun-style anthropomorphization). It had great reviews so I ordered it for the library and put it on hold for myself; there was a hitch in the ordering so anticipation built for much longer than usual. And... it's fine, no more. Lawyer Andy Carpenter, the narrator, has a not-particularly-funny wisecrack for every occasion. The story is told in present tense--bleurgh--is that popular simply because it allows authors to avoid the pluperfect? I've seldom/never found it to be anything but annoying as a technique. The solution was a little deus-ex-machina, especially because the dog, crucial in the beginning, is shuffled off to the side by the end. The golden rescue operation in the book is based on the author's real-life Tara Foundation, but it's only mentioned in passing. I would have loved more dog detail instead of rote courtroom scenes!

Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith - Anne Lamott, 1999

2008-02-16T17:48:00.002-05:00

(Another large print read on the elliptical trainer.) Lamott can be a wonderful writer with interesting things to say...sometimes. Other times she is a good writer who's gratingly narcissistic and overdramatic. I'm afraid most of these essays show the second style. Her willingness to expose her worst sides is admirable (although where is the line between emotional bravery and exhibitionism?), and she's certainly handled more adversity than most--I feel almost guilty that she gets on my nerves.

Good Dog. Stay. - Anna Quindlen, 2007

2008-02-13T10:46:00.003-05:00

There's been a lot of "it's just a jump on the Marley & Me bandwagon," and it's true that at a skimpy 82 pages for $14.95, this is basically an essay posing as a book. But on the other hand, Quindlen writes rings around Grogan and compresses almost all the emotion in a fraction of the space. A good third of the book is cute dog photos, which is a little confusing because some of them do seem to be of her two dogs (Beau and Bea), but taken by the same professional pet photographer (Amanda Jones) who did many of the unrelated dogs. (Alas, my favorite (p. 6, a Bichon Frise whose eyes are totally concealed by fur) isn't on the website). One hopes this wasn't some kind of kickback. But no matter, if you love dogs, the book's a winner. (My favorite dog book ever ever is still Elizabeth Marshall Thomas' The Social Life of Dogs.)

O'Keeffe & Stieglitz: An American Romance - Benita Eisler, 1991

2008-02-13T08:46:00.004-05:00

Reading biographies often takes me a long time. The people move into my mental landscape, and I feel almost like I'm living life along with them in real time. (I had to return Ackroyd's wonderful Dickens to the library eventually, before finishing it, so he's still hanging out in my brain at the peak of his career.) For the past month or so my companions have been Georgia O'Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz, thanks to this engrossing book. (Eisler was recently at the Historical Society researching George Catlin and his family, and it turns out she knows my mother, hence my interlibrary loan.) O'Keeffe's art doesn't speak to me particularly, but Stieglitz's photos, especially his portraits of Georgia herself, certainly do. The story of their relationship, the rise and fall of Stieglitz's galleries (from 291 to An American Place), and O'Keeffe's path to the Southwest (which seems so inevitable now) are particularly interesting, as are the canny ways they positioned and marketed themselves in the art world. Unsurprisingly, neither seems like someone you'd want in your own circle--all kinds of power corrupt. Eisler has chosen wonderful plates, and each chapter also starts with a painting or photo. I can't think of any other woman whose image is more striking or iconic than O'Keeffe's. Her little sideways smile haunts me still.

Duma Key - Stephen King, 2008

2008-01-27T15:00:00.000-05:00

King is one of those writers I (usually) find compelling despite his flaws. But the worst of those flaws were barely in evidence in this book, one of his very best. Presumably because he's drawing on his recent experience of recovering from a horrible accident, the non-supernatural characters and incidents in Duma Key are fully realized and believable. I particularly love stories of success, and Edgar Freemantle's sudden flowering as an artist was delightfully involving; finding redemption and healing in creation clearly draws from King's recovery as well, and it's thrilling to watch unfold. The supernatural elements are still somewhat random and motiveless (which is why I fundamentally prefer fantasy and SF to horror--a lot of horror relies on not questioning WHY the Big Bad showed up and why it's attacking the protagonists). King's worst faults in my view: a) vulgarity; b) going for the cheap gross-out; c) an intrusive sort of verbal ticcing, where he repeats cultural or personal catch phrases (joking expressions, song lyrics, ad taglines) ad nauseam. The latter has its good side of adding texture and interest, and it's realistic in the way the human mind works (mine included). In the recent Lisey's Story, where he did it constantly, it was incredibly irritating. Here he manages to do it almost as much, but it works because it becomes a natural part of the exchanges between Freemantle and his friend Wireman. Duma Key also has a wonderful portrait of the love between father and daughter. I'm very glad King hasn't retired, as he threatened to do years back, since he has books like this still in him.

Les malheurs de Sophie - Comtesse de Ségur (née Rostopchine), 1858

2008-01-21T20:47:00.000-05:00

Another for the Sony Reader. I read dozens of Comtesse de Ségur books in the Bibliothèque Rose when I was a kid, but this is the one I remember best (I was going to say aside from the passages about the Great Pyrenees dog in L'auberge de l'ange gardien, which I now realize I have confused with Belle et Sébastien.) I still to this day identify with poor silly, greedy, impulsive Sophie who is always getting in trouble, but this is a strange book to modern eyes. The children are tiny (Sophie turns five in the book) but behave, and are expected to behave, like much older kids. For example, Sophie has a little pocket knife with which she enjoys cutting up all kinds of things (good and bad). (This may be what influenced me to loan my little brother, who was 5 at the time, a "knife" I had made from a ripped metal can embedded in a piece of styrofoam, on the condition that he be careful and not cut himself. Of course he did and I got in trouble, but I was angry at him for breaking his promise to me! I was 7.) Sophie and her cousin Paul keep all sorts of pets which always meet a bad end by the end of the chapter. No sugar-coating death in the 19th century, no siree. Everything is a moral lesson about "le bon Dieu." But it's still extremely readable today--lots of dialogue, and very realistic portrayals of child characters. A wonderful way to time travel.

The Incredible Shrinking Critic: 75 Pounds and Counting: My Excellent Adventure in Weight Loss - Jami Bernard, 2006

2008-01-21T20:38:00.001-05:00

Like many people I'm fighting some middle-aged spread--it's no lie that a few extra pounds are harder to get rid of after you hit 40, alas. Health books are perenially interesting to me, and this one caught my eye at B&N. It looked sensible and very amusing from a quick flip-through. Now that I've read the whole thing: yes, it is. Good input from pros--"Chef Terry" gives some great coulis recipes for steamed vegetables. Wonderful "cheat sheet" in the back--"a summary of every pearl of wisdom in this book."

The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley; 1984

2008-01-21T20:29:00.000-05:00

I'm trying going back to one entry per book, even if it's a short one. Picked this up at the Penguin Putnam warehouse sale (catnip for booklovers, and one of the GREAT things about living in the Binghamton NY area!) because I remember liking The Blue Sword years ago. The young-woman-hero-fantasy genre is well-populated now, and McKinley is one of the people who paved the way. Excellent, almost LeGuin quality, with memorable characters (including a wonderful horse, Talat). I can't believe this hasn't been made into a movie--it deserves the full Peter Jackson treatment. Actually, this would be perfect for Joss Whedon...sigh...if only... I also did not know McKinley is/was married to Peter Dickinson, whose Changes trilogy I found compelling but disturbing as a child--haven't gone back to those yet...

January 6 2008 catch-up

2008-01-06T21:56:00.000-05:00

Wish I could keep up with this--or that I could download thoughts directly from my head--but at least I will try to continue to list titles. So, to catch up:

Charlotte Brontë
Jane Eyre, 1847
Read on my Sony Reader. One of my all-time favorites.

Arthur C. Clarke
Dolphin Island: A Story of the People of the Sea, 1963
Re-read because of a query that came up on Project Wombat. Led me to this page about Mary Watson.

Michael Crichton
The Great Train Robbery, 1975
Sphere, 1987
Crichton is so darn readable, but he holds up less and less well as I get older. I don't think I'd actually read GTR before; it over-relies on contemporary slang for color, but I enjoyed that part most of all.

Mark Doty
Dog Years: A Memoir, 2007
Large print, read on the elliptical trainer. Well-written if a little self-indulgent.

Sue Grafton
T is for Trespass, 2007
Grafton writes as well as ever but my taste for her is fading. Is time passing so slowly in Santa Teresa (it's now January 1987) because she doesn't want Henry to die of old age? Not that I blame her--he's a great character. Suprisingly action-filled ending.

Maria Dahvana Headley
The Year of Yes: A Memoir, 2006
It took me a while to get used to the author's voice, but I loved it! Fascinating, especially to see the world through the eyes of someone who is constantly propositioned (I grew up in NYC and thankfully had a very different experience) and apparently has very little need to sleep. She crammed an incredible range of experience into her 21st year.

Ursula LeGuin
Powers, 2007
One of the strongest of her novels in years. Truly great. The "Annals of the Western Shore" almost live up to the Earthsea books.

Nigel Marsh
Fat, Forty, and Fired, 2007
Ehhh... Wanted to like it, but I had to skim big chunks. The comparison to Ray Romano on the jacket flap is right on.

Jean Shepherd
In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash, 1966
I hadn't actually read this all the way through before, but I remembered "Hairy Gertz and the Forty-Seven Crappies" making me laugh out loud in the bookstore. Still somewhat funny, but no long rip-snortingly so for me. The photo on the back of the book makes him look totally unlike his author personality. Now that we have YouTube and Google Images I have a better sense of him--check out this clip.

Weird and Wonderful Words - Erin McKean, 2003

2007-12-14T08:15:00.001-05:00

Delightful and fascinating, with wonderful cartoons by Roz Chast. The brillian Erin McKean, editor of Verbatim and rock-star lexicographer, gives just the right amount of information on each word--sometimes tantalizing, sometimes thorough--to make the book easy to read cover-to-cover, as well as fun to dip into. Essays on linked words (beginning with Z, relating to pigs, for diseases) are sprinkled in. Word stuck in my head now: mammothrept, a spoiled child (from "raised by one's grandmother"). A

Two more today

2007-12-09T22:07:00.000-05:00

Maxwell, John C. - The Difference Maker: Making Your Attitude Your Greatest Asset, 2006. Full of clichés, short, and dull. Why did I read the whole thing? D

Brock, Betty - No Flying in the House, 1970. OK kids' fantasy which I've picked up many times & finally read. C+.

Starting over!

2007-12-09T12:07:00.000-05:00

It was my 43rd birthday yesterday and I'm working on a 101 Goals in 1001 Days project, one section of which is daily goals to strive for. One goal is logging books immediately after I read them, since otherwise they pile up and I still never "catch up."

C.S. Lewis, That Hideous Strength, 1946. Prompted by seeing The Golden Compass, which which I see many parallels even though Pullman vociferously denounces Lewis and tries to set himself up as the opposite. Mark Studdock has no redeeming qualities at all, at least until 2/3 of the way through the book. It's a flawed book but still I come back to it quite frequently. B

The Sisters: The Saga of the Mitford Family - by Mary S. Lovell. 2001

2007-02-28T21:34:00.000-05:00

Nancy Mitford is one of my perennial favorites, especially The Blessing, which I first read as a teenager and still consider one of the funniest novels ever. I'm not a huge fan of Jessica Mitford, the other sister famous for writing, but Nancy's autobiographical novels (Love in a Cold Climate and The Pursuit of Love) make the family fascinating. I very much enjoyed this group biography, but alas, I read it early in 2006 (or even 2005?) and now no longer remember much of it. I had marked two amusing passages, though:

Nancy told of asking her nephew Stoker, when he was two and a half, "'Can you talk?' He answered, 'Not yet.'"

Bob Treuhaft (Jessica's American husband) was baffled by a telephone operator in England and handed the phone to his wife.

"What is the matter?" [Jessica] asked him. "She's saying perfectly plainly that the number is Steeple Bumstead 267." "That's what I thought she said," Bob answered miserably, "but I thought she was pulling my leg."

Small batch

2006-11-12T22:22:00.000-05:00

The Last Picture Show, Larry McMurtry, 1966. Because of the Brokeback Mountain book club. B
Julie & Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously - Julie Powell - 2005. Fantastic. I want to read the whole blog. A-
Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim - David Sedaris - 2004. He's funnier when reading his essays aloud than he is on the page. B+
I Feel Bad About My Neck: And Other Thoughts About Being a Woman - Nora Ephron - 2006. I couldn't put it down but it didn't last--like potato chips. B

Odysseus' Last Stand: The Chronicles of a Bicycle Nomad - Dave Stamboulis, 2004

2006-09-12T14:19:00.000-04:00

Our new neighbor Mark lent me this book--he met Dave Stamboulis in Thailand and keeps in touch with him. I love stories like this, but they're not always well-told so I was wary. Mark indicated that Dave had published the book himself, and although it looked very pro on the outside, when I flipped through it I noticed that it ended abruptly in the middle of a sentence on page 342--the last section was missing (not ripped out, but mis-bound). I see from Amazon that it's supposed to have 355 pages. But all my doubts were put to rest when I started reading, and now I really want to get my hands on those missing 13 pages!

Dave rode his bike all around the world, 7 years and 40,000 kilometers. He brings the reader right along with him, through experiences harsh and disgusting, beautiful and heart-warming. The chapters on China and Central Asia especially made me grateful to Dave for describing it so vividly (he is very candid about toilet conditons) that I don't have to feel tempted to do it myself! He writes very well, both in describing the scenery and people and in reflecting on the nature of travel and the modern world. During his adventures he lives and works in various cities for extended periods, falls in love, gets married, travels with his wife, breaks up, and continues on the road. He meets farmers, artists, policemen, hoteliers, and lots of inquisitive children, most of whom ask for pens (you can read Chapter 5, where the "hello pen" greeting first comes up, here on Dave's site for the book). There are a few wonderful pictures in the center section of this book, although it would be nice if they were in the order of his travels. (Many more are on his site.) Periodic maps help keep track of the journey. I especially enjoyed the epigraphs which head each chapter, quotes on travel which highlight its fascinations and contradictions. What particularly stands out are the contrasts between different countries: not only the food, lodging, and road conditions, but also the general tenor of people's reactions to Dave, their happiness and frustrations, and the pace at which they lead their lives. Surprise, surprise--the US doesn't come off particularly well.

It was particularly coincidental to hear about this book. I had recently ordered one on the exact same topic for the library, Tim Travis' The Road that Has No End, after stumbling across the Travis' website. I've started reading that book and while it's also fascinating, by contrast with Stamboulis' the writing is subpar. Dave may have self-financed publication of Odysseus' Last Stand, but he does credit an editor and it was clearly carefully proofread, which makes a huge difference to a picky porcupine like me!

Trustee from the Toolroom by Nevil Shute, 1960

2006-08-22T21:43:00.000-04:00

I didn't realize this was Shute's last book; it's one of the best, with a decent plot and wonderful descriptions of machining. Epigraph: "An engineer is a man who can do for five bob what any bloody fool can do for a quid." Keith Stewart, miniature machinist, goes on a quest to retrieve a legacy for his niece, and one of the main ways he wins people over is by showing them a tiny working four-cycle engine he's designed and built. In my favorite scene he makes a set of metal eggs to comfort his grieving niece:

"We could do a silvery egg in steel, or a yellow egg if we heated a steel egg a bit, or a blue egg if we heated a steel egg quite a lot, or a grey egg if we case-hardened it. Or we could make a coppery-colored egg if we made it out of copper."

Shute's characters often sound incredibly stupid and dull when they talk--instead of using narrative license to improve dialogue, he makes it as bald and dopey as possible. Keith's wife, Katie, although by her actions revealed as nurturing and sensible, comes across as intellectually limited. The novel is also marred by Shute's unconscious racism and anti-Semitism. Nonetheless, he's kind to his characters and his readers--somebody on the Nevil Shute site pointed out that in his later books there are no enemies, or even unhelpful people--all the conflict is situational. It's a feel-good read with a very satisfactory ending.

Re-read -- third or fourth, probably first read in the mid-80s to early 90s. I came to Shute not by way of On the Beach (his most famous book, not one of my favorites) or even A Town Like Alice (made into a popular TV miniseries, and is one of my favorites) but through my dad's love for Round the Bend, which I first read as a teenager.

Update

2006-08-21T21:52:00.000-04:00

For almost a year I wrestled with the horrible Blogger/FTP-to-my-own-server "001 java.net.ConnectException: Connection timed out" issue off and on (the wrestling was off and on; the problem was continuous). Clearly something changed overnight and the Blogger people were no help, but I do think I got myself all mixed around and MAYBE at some point it was related to my archives path... at any rate I have SFTP working as of yesterday and I'm not looking back. (I even went to the trouble of installing WordPress but have to merge the three blogs, or at least the two active ones, plus having to publish everything to Blogspot, including all the many posts I had in draft at that point, was the final hump I didn't muster the energy to get over. And I like Blogger's interface very much. It's unfortunate that it's the worst of both worlds, as I mentioned here.)

At any rate, I didn't do the book blog thing for a long time and have just caught up with bare-bones listings (probably quite a few things fell between the cracks as well). Part of it was doing reviews for The Bridge (Binghamton's independent media quarterly, which doesn't have a web presence yet, alas), which killed a lot of my motivation to do it on my own. Writing briefly for Blogcritics did that too, unfortunately. But I guess it's worth continuing for my own sake. I've thought about reserving "real" reviews for just some new-to-me books, and quirkier notes for re-reads... we'll see. Right now I'm on a Nevil Shute kick and only one behind!

everything else up until now

2006-08-20T21:55:00.000-04:00

Adams, Richard:
The Girl in a Swing, 1980 - One of my all-time favorites. A+
Maia, 1984 - ditto, although in some ways too self-indulgent. A+

Binchy, Maeve
The Copper Beech, 1992 - B+
The Lilac Bus: Stories, 1992 (originally two novels, 1982 and 1984) - A-. The first Binchy I ever read and still one of my favorites.

Blyton, Enid - Third Year at Malory Towers, 1948 - C+

Card, Orson Scott:
The Folk of the Fringe, 1989 - B-
Lost Boys, 1992 - A-

Collins, Wilkie - The Moonstone, 1868 - B. Funny and well-written, but I had forgotten how unbelievable the plot is.

Cross, Amanda, In the Last Analysis, 1964 - B.

Curtis, Christopher Paul - Bucking the Sarge, 2004. The ending isn't very satisfactory, but Curtis is still one of the best new writers for kids out there. B+

Delafield, E. M. - The Diary of a Provincial Lady, 1931 - A

DiCamillo, Kate - The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane - 2006. B+

Durrell, Gerald - The Bafut Beagles, 1954 - B+. I idolized Durrell as a child, but some of his attitudes are a little hard to take now.

Eager, Edward:
Half Magic - 1954 - A
Knight's Castle - 1956 - A
Magic By the Lake - 1957 - A-
Seven-Day Magic - 1962 - A-

Enss, Chris - Hearts West : True Stories of Mail Order Brides on the Frontier - 2005. Slight, but interesting because of the primary source letters and advertisements included. B-

Finney, Jack
Assault on a Queen, 1959 - B-. My least favorite Finney; grim and devoid of his usual quirkiness. I think I'll get rid of it.
Forgotten News: The Crime of the Century and Other Lost Stories, 1983 - B+

Gorey, Edward
Amphigorey - 1972
Amphigorey II - 1975
Like nothing else, but don't have nearly the appeal to me now they did when I was a teenager.

Grove, Andrew S. - One on One With Andy Grove: How to Manage Your Boss, Yourself and Your Coworkers, 1987 - B+. Lots of decent common sense.

Henry, Marguerite - King of the Wind: The Story of the Godolphin Arabian, 1948 - A-

Horne, S. Hamill - Camp Choconut : a history of the boys' camp near Friendsville, Pennsylvania - 2005. Just a few miles from our house, so I was interested. Cool to hear about created traditions that work--"heads and heels," "the Villa Hunt," "the Blinded Wanderer." B

Jansson, Tove - Moonminvalley in November - 1971 - B. No Moomins in this one, just their long shadows as Snufkin, the Hemulen, the fillyjonk and a few new characters move into the Moomin house.

Kipling, Rudyard:
The Complete Stalky & Co. - 1930 - B+. Some stories that weren't in my Stalky as a teen. I idolized Stalky. Now a lot of it is either opaque or offensive.
The Jungle Book - 1894 - A
Kim, 1901 - A
The Second Jungle Book - 1895 - A ("Red Dog" was always one of my favorite stories; doesn't hold up quite that well anymore...)

Lang, Andrew (editor) - The Green Fairy Book - 1892 - A. Introduced by saying "this is ... probably the last of the Fairy Books of many colors." Ha! Like comic books (and music to a certain extent), it seems that the exemplars I was exposed to at a formative age have much the strongest hold on my imagination and emotions--this, Flora Steel's English Fairy Tales, the single-volume Grimm and selection of Hans Christian Anderson tales are THE fairy stories for me still.

LeGuin, Ursula
The Lathe of Heaven, 1971 - A+. A perfect novel.
The Telling - 2000 - A. I have bookmarks in it for quotes I wanted to repeat. Will read again within a few years.
Very Far Away From Anywhere Else - 1976 - B+

Levin, Ira - A Kiss Before Dying - 1953 - Suspense classic. B+

Libbrecht, Kenneth; photos by Patricia Rasmussen - The Snowflake: Winter's Secret Beauty - 2003. Amazing. A

McCaffrey, Anne - Crystal Singer, 1982 - B. Wonderful descriptions of food!

Mitford, Nancy - The Blessing, 1951 - A+. Brilliant and very funny; I've read it many times since I was a teenager, and it never gets old.

Montgomery, Sy - The Good Good Pig: The Extraordinary Life of Christopher Hogwood - 2006. B

Nabokov, Vladimir (edited by Alfred Appel Jr) - The Annotated Lolita - 1991 - Novel A+, annotations B.

Nesbit, E: (Edith):
The Book of Dragons - Watermill edition 1987 - B
The Enchanted Castle - 1907 - A+
Five Children and It - 1902 - A+
The Phoenix and the Carpet - 1904 - A+
The New Treasure Seekers - 1904 - B-
The Railway Children - ? - B+. Only now do I see the problem of this family's toxic secret hiding...
The Story of the Amulet - c 1901, first published 1906 - A

Oxford Book of Fantasy Stories - 1994; A Treasury of Modern Fantasy - ed. Carr and Greenberg - 1981. I read every word of these so I could give them away without that sense of missing something... and now I have no memory of them whatsoever. But they have authors I'd like to be complete on, like A. Merritt and Jack Vance, so now I want to keep them... at this rate I will never shrink my collection!

Nichols, Beverley - No Man's Street, 1954 - B. Nichols was quite a hack, so it's not suprising that this doesn't have as much flavor as his garden memoirs (what he really loved). Too bad, though--I was very excited to find this at an estate sale for a buck!

Parker, Richard - The House that Guilda Drew - 1963 - B. In Australia, Guilda and her family finally find a house to live in.

Peddiwell, J. Abner - The Saber-Tooth Curriculum - 1939 - Brilliant! A-

Roach, Mary - Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers - 2003. Fascinating book and wonderful attitude: to want to be useful after one's death. A-

Schulz, Charles M. - Young Pillars: The Creator of Peanuts Takes a Look At Young Church People - 1958 - C+. A curiosity I'm getting rid of now. Take Linus and stretch him to six feet tall, then give him a one-panel strip with very, very weak jokes...

Sedaris, David - Me Talk Pretty One Day - 2000. B+

Strieber, Whitley and James Kunetka
Nature's End, 1986 - A-
War Day - 1984 - A-

Tannen, Deborah - You're Wearing That? Understanding Mothers and Daughters in Conversation - 2006. Tannen is always wonderful. A-

Voltaire - Candide (edition illustrated by Rockwell Kent, 1963). Since the 2004 elections, I've been feeling like all I can do is cultivate my garden...