Books under the Covers

The Mark of the Horse Lord, by Rosemary Sutcliff

2011-09-15T19:15:00.023-04:00

Red Phaedrus the gladiator was born a slave and unacknowledged bastard son of a Roman merchant in the household, son of a northern slave woman; when his owner died he was sold, and then sold again to be a gladiator. Phaedrus survives four years as a gladiator (no small feat), and when Governor Sylvanus Varus celebrates his appointment in Corstopitum with an elaborate four days of games, Phaedrus draws the lot of dueling to the death with his one friend among the group. He nearly loses, but when he survives he wins his freedom-- which, it turns out, he doesn't really know what to do with. Fortunately (or, perhaps unfortunately), his red hair and northern face catches the eye of a merchant who has a particular use for him.

Phaedrus decides to go along with their plan-- which is that he should impersonate the exiled Prince Midir (who he looks very like) and return with them to reclaim the throne from the usurper, Queen Liadhan, a cruel ruler who "made sure" of the young Prince Midir when she took control-- not by killing him, but by blinding him, because a blind man cannot be a Horse Lord. Phaedrus accepts because he feels he has nothing better to do, and he misses the purpose and solidarity of being among the gladiators, so he feels he can be useful-- even though it may be difficult. Phaedrus receives the forehead tattoos and other marks that Midir has (the titular mark), and he spends weeks learning everything he can from Midir about his past and the people he will meet, whom he must recognize and remember if he is to convince them.

At first, Phaedrus makes a few mistakes and it seems like he will almost be caught out-- and there is a tense moment when he first meets Conory, Midir's closest childhood friend. But after facing off against Liadhan, and starting the battle skirmishes in earnest, Phaedrus grows more and more into the role he has been thrust into-- until, at the very end, he becomes the Horse Lord that his people need him to be.

The book seemed a little slow going for a quite a while to me; in fact, I think it wasn't until an interesting female character showed up-- Murna, Liadhan's daughter, whom he must marry to solidify his claim to the throne. They have a rather interesting courtship, and he doesn't know for quite a while that she and Midir had a bit of history, when she was much younger than Midir and he callously killed a pet otter that she loved.

At one point, Conory takes Phaedrus aside and basically tells him that he knows he is not Midir, but that it's okay-- and his expression of how he knew is wonderful; he tells Phaedrus that "the balance of the sword was off," but that only someone very close to the real Midir could recognize it. Also, the moment between Murna and Phaedrus when he finally finds out ("remembers") what he (Midir) had done to her, and takes the blame, and apologizes for it-- she seems to understand that this is a different man that the cold-hearted youth who killed an innocent pet for spite, and hints at this without outright saying it by calling him "my gladiator" instead of by his false name.

This was a very interesting read, and I found myself transported to another place and time-- and one that was fascinating. I will probably keep an eye out for more Rosemary Sutcliff books in the future.

Title:	The Mark of the Horse Lord
Author:	Rosemary Sutcliff
Date published:	1965
Genre:	Historical Fiction
Number of pages:	245
Notes:	loan from Catey

Just Run, by Chris Culver

2011-10-31T22:30:00.037-04:00

I purchased and read this book because it was the ebook was sale for 99 cents, and the description of the protagonist intrigued me: a woman math professor on the run, who sees patterns and numbers and also knows about poker from her father. I was rather disappointed with the character of Dr. Renee Carter-- she seems like the generic pretty-lady plucky heroine, with a few trappings and comments to remind us she works as a college professor. Dr. Carter accidentally gets in trouble with some bad guys because, in her role as mentor to the campus poker club, she notices a statistical anomaly that would significantly benefit the owners of the website. Because of this, a couple of bad guys come to "take care of" her and the other professors she consulted about the data. When the hit men frame Renee for the murder of the local sheriff, she ends up on the run with the regional detective who was called in, Trent Schaefer. Carter can tell there is something off about Trent (he's a little too good at surviving on the run), something he's not telling her, but she never really does figure it out, and the best that can really be said is that she survives.

It was pretty obvious there was more going on with Trent, so the twist ending with his real motivation and purposes was kind of good surprise, in a way, but also a little disappointing in another way (he's not quite the nice guy he seemed).

There were a couple of aspects to the style and structure that I found a bit interesting. First, each chapter or section is labeled with the date, time, and place of the scene-- and frequently the times are stacked pretty closely together, so that we get the same or at least overlapping views of the same scene from the perspective of different characters. At first this was a little disorienting, until I discovered that the table of contents in my e-reader functioned pretty nicely as a stand-in for flipping back to the last section to compare dates and times. Secondly, the story is told from a third-person perspective that centers around different characters at different times, and it seems like an omniscient narrator, because we are told the feelings and inner thoughts of the characters-- and maybe this is why I felt like the book was a bit of a cheat. It's not just that details are withheld from the reader-- that's understandable, something has to be kept back to keep up the suspense; but I felt that certain parts of the omniscient narrative were actually misleading or maybe even wrong, portraying inner thoughts of characters according to the roles they are playing (even when they are by themselves), rather than hinting at their true inner thoughts or motives-- or at least not outright lying-- as I think a more skillful writer would have done.

The price may have been about right, but I'm not sure this book was worth my time (although it was a pretty quick read).

Title:	Just Run
Author:	Chris Culver
Date published:	2011
Genre:	Action/Adventure Fiction
Number of pages:	504
Notes:	ebook

Starcrossed, by Josephine Angelini

2011-10-22T11:30:00.000-04:00

Warning! This book is dangerously engrossing. I started it in the evening, thinking I would just read a few chapters before I went to sleep, and I ended up staying up much later than I intended. (I think the last book I read like that was The Hunger Games...). Helen is a teenager who lives on the island of Nantucket, and she does her best to avoid attention (attracting people's attention actually gives her painful cramps); this is difficult, because she is very tall, quite beautiful, and stronger than a girl her size should be; she is afraid that she might be a freak, but doesn't admit it to herself and does her best to keep others from thinking it. The book begins just as the school year is about to start up again, and the whole island is buzzing with gossip about a new family that has just moved to the island. Helen isn't particularly interested in them, but she has started seeing visions of three bloody women (the Furies, but she doesn't know that), and having strange nightmares that seem a little too real; and the first time she sees some of the Delos boys at school, she launches herself at Lucas with an immediate, irrational hatred and tries to kill him. Eventually, Helen discovers that Lucas and his family are special, and that she is like them--they they call themselves Scions-- and that is really only the beginning of her discoveries. Apparently, the Fates are really into re-runs, and one of their favorites is the Starcrossed Lovers.

Lucas eventually explains to Helen that they are descendents of the demigods of Greek mythology and the Trojan War. The Furies incite members of the four different Houses to an irrational blood lust whenever they are near-- which is what happened the first time Helen saw Lucas. Helen doesn't know anything about her heritage because she was raised by her father - her mother left them when she was very little. Lucas and Helen manage to break the power of the Furies over them by nearly dying and saving each other's lives; and after that, the Deloses start teaching Helen about her heritage and training her to protect herself and use her Talents. The Delos family are a splinter group of the House of Thebes; they moved to Nantucket to get away from the rest of the family, who are trying to kill off all the Scions from the other Houses because they believe that will raise Atlantis and make them immortal. The downside of this, and the reason the Deloses are against it, is that the gods will come down and make war on humanity, which will result in destruction unlike any seen since the Trojan War, the last time the Houses allied together. So, the Deloses are watching over Helen and protecting her from others who are trying to capture or kill her, because they believe she may be the last survivor of any of the other Houses, but they also can't let Helen and Lucas be together, because a union between them would constitute a truce between the Houses and bring about the same war they are trying to avoid.

Eventually, as you might expect, Helen's mother comes back into the picture and we learn more about Helen's heritage, and why her mother left her and hid her on this island (and even cursed her-- to protect her of course).

The teenager and High School aspects of it seemed pretty believable to me; at one point, everyone at school seems to hate Helen, and her best friend explains to her why: all the girls are jealous of her, because two of the gorgeous Delos boys were overheard fighting over her (at the time, they're actually fighting over who will get to kill her), and the rest of the school hates her because the big, athletic Delos boys were kicked off the football team because of that fight. Some of the relationship stuff between Helen and Lucas seemed a bit over the top at times-- misunderstandings, the biggest one caused by Lucas' initial refusal to tell Helen why they can't be together. They are so drawn to each other that they can barely stand to be apart (even when they are fighting or avoiding each other); but I like the fact that, once they figure out they are playing the roles of Helen and Paris, they both agree that the original Helen and Paris were stupid and selfish, and they do their best to keep apart so as not to start another war.

There is an exciting, climactic fight and enough of an ending to make this book satisfying, but at the same time there are plenty of hints for interesting things coming up, including a prophecy that clearly concerns Helen, and also Helen's mother's quest to free the families from the cycle of killing and revenge that they are forced into by the Furies, and freedom for the Outcasts (kin-killers) and Rogues (children of two Houses, like Helen). I'm looking forward to reading the other books in this series, and sorry that they aren't available yet.

I first heard about this book thanks to Geeks On, who had Josephine Angelini as a guest on their podcast a couple of months ago.

Title:	Starcrossed
Author:	Josephine Angelini
Date published:	2011
Genre:	Young Adult Fantasy
Series:	first book in a new trilogy
Number of pages:	487
Notes:	read in less than a day

Tremendous Trifles, by G. K. Chesterton

2011-08-20T23:55:00.043-04:00

This is a collection of short essays, taken from Chesterton's column in the Daily News. He describes them as "a sort of sporadic diary - a diary recording one day in twenty which happened to stick in the fancy - the only kind of diary the author has ever been able to keep." They range widely in topic-- from fairy tales, to art and color, to travel, and morality, and what it means to be human. As he says in one essay, "let us learn to write essays on a stray cat or coloured cloud." Many of them are little stories of moments in time, an interesting experience or an instant of insight; as he describes in one of these essays, the kind of moment that has "no explanation and no conclusion; it is, like most of the other things we encounter in life, a fragment of something else which would be intensely exciting if it were not too large to be seen." Some of them are more entertaining or illuminating than others, but overall I quite enjoyed reading this book. Because most of the pieces are fairly short, it is an easy book to read a little at a time.

Chesterton's language and ideas are consistently delightful and quotable; here, he even introduced me to the delightful word of "pumpkinity" (I checked the OED - it's an actual word, and Chesterton is even one of the few usages they mention). Rather than try to summarize a few favorite essays or ideas of the many contained in this book, I'll just provide a taste by some of the lines I thought were worth remembering.

Some quotes relating to fairy tales, scattered through the essays in this book:

... contains all the highest qualities of a modern fairy tale, including that of being wholly unfit for children.
Fairy tales in their essence are quite solid and straightforward; but that this everlasting fiction about modern life is in its nature essentially incredible? Folk-lore means that the soul is sane, but that the universe is wild and full of marvels. Realism means that the world is dull and full of routine, but that the soul is sick and screaming.
The baby has known the dragon intimately ever since he had an imagination. What the fairy tale provides for him is a St. George to kill the dragon.
When I was a boy I had a fancy that Heaven or Fairyland or whatever I called it, was immediately behind my own back, and that this was why I could never manage to see it, however often I twisted and turned to take it by surprise.

On work and working conditions:

A really human human being would always put the spiritual things first. A walking and speaking statue of God finds himself at one particular moment employed as a shop assistant. He has in himself a power of terrible love, a promise of paternity, a thirst for some loyalty that shall unify life ... my evident and epic destiny. (on worker conditions being approached backwards-- after seeing posters asking whether shopworkers are fit for their shops rather than vice versa)
My friend, the human race is always trying this dodge of making everything entirely easy but the difficulty which it shifts off one thing it shifts on to another.
How did people come to chant rude poems while pulling certain ropes or gathering certain fruit, and why did nobody go anything of the kind while producing any of the modern things? Why is a modern newspaper never printed by people singing in chorus? Why do shopmen seldom, if ever, sing? ... The more I thought about the matter the more painfully certain it seemed that the most important and typical modern things could not be done with a chorus. One could not, for instance, be a great financier and sing; because the essence of being a great financier is that you keep quiet.
Remember always that there is one thing that cannot be endured by anybody or anything. That one unendurable thing is to be overworked and also neglected. (the point of a little fable about a road that suddenly went uphill and led somewhere different, after being ignored by a businessman who took that road every day to and from work without paying any attention to the road itself)
They were the slaves of the modern bondage, you could hear their fetters clanking. Each was, in fact, bound by a chain; the heaviest chain ever tied to a man - it is called a watch-chain.

On democracy and civilization:

Great empires are necessarily prosaic; for it is beyond human power to act a great poem upon so great a scale. You can only represent very big ideas in very small spaces.
... civilization is founded upon abstractions. The idea of debt is one which cannot be conveyed by physical motions at all, because it is an abstract idea. (part of a story about trying and failing to explain, without a common language, to a German restaurant owner that he owed him money)
All real democracy is an attempt (like that of a jolly hostess) to bring the shy people out.
Democracy means appealing to the different people. Democracy means getting those people to vote who would never have the cheek to govern.

A few quotes about morality and virtue:

It can be maintained that the evil of pride consists in being out of proportion to the universe.
... the chief assertion of religious morality is that white is a colour. Virtue is not the absence of vices or the avoidance of moral dangers; virtue is a vivid and separate thing, like pain or a particular smell.
... a drunkard ought to have strict rules and hours; a temperate man may obey his instincts. ...
It is only the very good who can live riotous lives.
I have come, rightly or wrongly, after stretching my brain till it bursts, to the old belief that heresy is worse even than sin. An error is more menacing than a crime, for an error begets crimes.

A few lines about play:

If you could play unerringly you would not play at all. The moment the game is perfect the game disappears. (part of a story about a twilight game of perfect croquet)
...anyone playing at anything has to be serious. Whereas, as I have only too good reason to know, if you are writing an article you can say anything that comes into your head.

And a few about writing:

Once I planned to write a book of poems entirely about the things in my pockets. But I found it would be too long; and the age of the great epics is past.
... any collection of printed words is quite enough to suggest infinite complexities of mental ingenuity.
... after one has met a man a million times in the newspapers it is always a complete shock and reversal to meet him in real life.

These aren't always obvious or easy to categorize (even some of the lines above could easily be put into other lists). Here are a few more that caught my eye as I read through the essays.

...it was such sunlight as reminds a man that the sun beings to set an instant after noon
I can understand that a deity might be worshipped with joys, with flowers, and fireworks in the old European style. I can understand that a deity might be worshipped with sorrows. But I cannot imagine any deity being worshipped with inconveniences. (on English "sabbatarianism")
The only way of catching a train I have ever discovered is to be late for the one before.
... boundaries are the most beautiful things in the world. To love anything is to love its boundaries; thus children will always play on the edge of anything. They build castles on the edge of the sea, and can only be restrained by public proclamation and private violence from walking on the edge of the grass. For when we have come to the end of a thing we have come to the beginning of it.
... false optimism, the modern happiness, tires us because it tells us we fit into this world. The true happiness is that we don't fit. We come from somewhere else. We have lost our way.

I read this book over a few months, an essay or two at a time. The free ebook is available at manybooks.net, from Project Gutenberg, or for Amazon Kindle.

Title:	Tremendous Trifles
Author:	G. K. Chesterton
Date published:	1920
Genre:	Essay
Number of pages:	128
Notes:	read an ebook

The Witling, by Vernor Vinge

2011-10-16T23:45:00.000-04:00

Ajao Bjault and Yoninne Log-Wot are an archeologist and space pilot team form Novamerika doing an initial investigation of the planet Giri, using cameras and microphones and computer technology to learn the language and the culture of the local people, who seem to be primitive miners and farmers. Their companion colony ship is on its way down to join them on the surface, in spite of Ajao's concerns that they don't understand the culture enough, or their strange roads, or a whole class of words... And he turns out to be right, because those words they didn't understand were the ones for the Talent all the mammals on this planet have, in varying degrees: seng (a kind of far-sensing), reng (teleportation), and keng (a kind of remote-killing by jumbling a person's insides). The ferry landing goes drastically wrong, since they underestimated the power and sophistication of the local people, and Ajao and Yoninne are captured and become caught up in the political machinations of the Summer and Winter Kingdoms. Their one initial ally is prince Pelio-- heir to the throne, but himself a "witling", with so little of the Talent that he is considered a cripple, and needs to be attended by his watchbear, Samadhom, for protection from others.

So many details of this alien culture are so well-thought out and it is fascinating to discover, with the outsiders Ajao and Yoninne, how the Giri Talent works, what its strengths and limitations are, and as they begin to figure out the potential for combining their space-faring technology (which the summerfolk consider "magic") with the teleportation Talent of the Giri, particularly the super-talented Guildsmen, such as Thengets del Prou, who can seng anywhere on the planet and teleport rocks down from the moon if they want to. In fact, early on Ajao and Yoninne figure out that the Talent may make FTL travel possible and pave a way to reconnect the far-flung and lost colonies from Homeworld. When Ajao and Yoninne are transported to the capitol, they ride in a boat that makes many small teleportations from lake to lake, and the puzzle out the details of how the teleportation works: they exchange one mass for another, and need to slice along common quantities, hence the common water transit pools; they can only teleport so far in a single jump due to the rotational speed of the planet - or from a spot in the northern hemisphere to the same spot in the southern hemisphere. The details of this explain the roads that Ajao and Yoninne couldn't quite make sense of (along the equator), and also accounts for the strange ways the countries are organized-- the summer kingdom, centralized more around the equator, and the winter kingdom, taking up both poles.

When we first meet the pair of explorers, Ajao is thinking to himself that he'll be glad of other company because Yoninne is not very nice company and not very pleasant to look at-- too stocky, not enough curves. However, to the stocky Pelio, Yoninne is a graceful, alien beauty-- and he is entranced with both her looks and her amazing confidence in spite of the fact that she is a witling like him. His interest in her turns out to be a very good thing for all of them, in the long run-- since the warring powers of Giri are all too interested in the gear that they recovered from Ajao and Yoninne, tools which any person could use without needing the talent of a Guildman-- potentially upsetting the balance among the ruling countries, the small but powerful Guild, and the large proletariat.

Eventually, Ajao and Yoninne meet up with the Guildsman Thengets del Prou and figure out a plan to get back to their isolated telemetry station so they can get a mesage back to Novamerika (while all this is going on, Ajao and Yoninne are slowly being poisoned by the heavy metals everywhere on Giri including their food). The problem with getting there is that the telemetry station is on an island out in the middle of the ocean-- too far to jump safely at once, and even they had time to take a boat it wouldn't be safe because the large ocean creatures would keng them before they got anywhere near it. But, when Bjault looks at a map projection of the planet which initially makes no sense to him (until he figures out that is conveys exactly what a teleporter would need to know about distances), he figures out a crazy, clever plan to combine their technology with the Giri Talent to get out to that telemetry station. The plan is told to various people and discussed, but never actually explained to the reader until it is nearly complete-- which I found a little bit annoying, although it was fun to guess at (and I did figure out part of it).

The ending seemed a little bit abrupt, and some of the chase and fighting leading up to the crazy daring plan to get to the island station seemed to go on a bit long, but over all I quite enjoyed this fascinating story and its world.

Title:	The Witling
Author:	Vernor Vinge
Date published:	1976
Genre:	Science Fiction
Number of pages:	220

The Story of the Stone, by Barry Hughart

2011-08-17T23:30:00.007-04:00

Another story of the adventures of the brilliant Master Li and his stout peasant assistant Number Ten Ox in an ancient China filled with myths and monsters, with a new mystery for them to unravel. A monk from the Valley of Sorrows comes to seek the assistance of Master Li, because one of the monks has died strangely (perhaps murdered), and the Laughing Prince has been seen-- a psychotic ruler of the valley generations ago who destroyed the beautiful land with his mines, and who experimented on peasant "volunteers" to learn anatomy. Part of this mystery is a strange fragment of a manuscript that the dead monk had found, which delights Master Li immensely and is what initially draws him in to the mystery-- a forgery so beautiful and perfect in form and calligraphy, but so obviously a forgery by the content, with words and phrases that the original author would never choose.

Master Li and Ox travel to the Valley of the Sorrows, where the meet with the monks and the current prince of the valley, and Li does an autopsy on the dead monk (discoursing all the while on the various emotions seated in the organs he is removing, and the strengths and weaknesses of the character of Brother Squint-Eyes), when strange events like the ones described to them occur-- another monk dies, as if from fright; a strange, compelling noise, and another section of the vegetation in the valley dead, with a clear demarcation from live greenery. They go with Prince Liu Pao to look for the tomb of his psychotic ancestor, so he can tell his people that the Laughing Prince is still dead and in his grave So, Li and Ox take soil samples and travel to find a "sound-master" who can help them understand the strange noise they heard. So, they add Moon Boy and Grief of Dawn (the only woman who can control him) to their little group of adventurers, and make their way to understand what is really going on. They listen to all the folk tales and children's stories in the valley of the sorrows for anything relating to the stone that the Laughing Prince apparently worshipped (according to Master Li), and when Grief of Dawn (whom they all love), they make a vision-trip to Hell (by way of hallucinogenic mushrooms) to unravel more of the story and also find out where to find the one rare item that will cure her. In the end, they all see what has really been going on, have their own run-in with the moldering Laughing Prince, and come to understand both what the stone is, and what the connection is between Grief of Dawn and Moon Boy is (why the act as if they were two halves of the same soul), and their part in the same story. As Master Li works his way through it, he mentions instances of other people encountering this stone, who exclaimed "evil!" and threw it away, but he gradually comes around to a different interpretation of these stories-- that it is not the stone itself that is evil. Along the way to solving the mystery, they also learn more about the Laughing Prince, and how he drove himself insane; as Master Li tells Ox, "show me a quest for personal immortality and I'll show you a path through the slaughterhouse, and the incense of personal divinity is the stench of other people's corpses."

For some reason, I enjoyed this book a lot more than I remember liking Bridge of Birds. The end of that book is amazing and beautiful, but for some reason I had a hard time getting into it-- I don't know if it was easier to get into this one because I'm more familiar with the style and the sense of humor, or perhaps because the relationship between Master Li and Number Ten Ox is more established and easier to go along with, or something else... This one also seemed a bit less like a disjointed string of loosely related adventures than the other; while there are some strange and entertaining side-jaunts here, they were all pretty directly tied to the main mystery, or seeking something or someone to help solve it.

Title:	The Story of the Stone
Author:	Barry Hughart
Date published:	1998
Genre:	Fantasy
Series:	Master Li Chronicles; sequel to Bridge of Birds (read 8/2009)
Number of pages:	289
Notes:	loan from Catey

Daddy-Long-Legs, by Jean Webster

2011-08-06T08:15:00.039-04:00

Jerusha Abbott (or Judy, as she decides to call herself) is the oldest girl at the John Grier Home (an orphanage), and when the subject of her future comes up at a Trustee meeting, along with the fact that she is quite good in school (particularly in English)-- they read a humorous essay she's written for school about the Wednesdays when Trustees come to visit the orphanage, and one eccentric Trustee decides to pay for her to go to college and educate her as a writer. He prefers to remain anonymous - she doesn't even know his name, and all she sees is a tall silhouette, and a shadow from car headlights that looks like a daddy-long-legs spider, which is where Judy comes up with her nickname for him. His only requirement for putting her through college is that she write him a letter once a month. From there on, the book is told entirely through Judy's letters to her benefactor as she goes through her four years of college. The book is a quick, entertaining read, and Judy is delightfully engaging letter-writer: the letters change style depending on her mood or the things she is learning in college, and she is good company.

Judy seems like such a real, believable character. She's very opinioniated in some ways-- particularly with regard to other people's ideas of the poor and the orphans. At college, she keeps to herself the fact that she was a foundling, and trie her best to fit in-- and when the other girls mention books she's not familiar with, she starts reading all the wonderful books that she missed out on as a child in the orphanage. She had such an active mind and imagination that it is easy to be carried along with her as she learns and studies and develops.

I read this book years ago; I think it might actually be better than I remembered it (perhaps I read it too quickly or wasn't paying enough attention). I think I've also seen at least two movie versions of it - most recently, the 1955 Fred Astaire / Leslie Caron version (which I initially decided to watch mainly for the stars-- to see two amazing, but very different, dancers together). At various points as I was reading the book, I discovered that movie version to be rather more faithful than I had expected (although of course jazzed up with some dance scenes to let Astaire and Caron show off), and is an interesting counter-point to the book in a way, because it shows much more of Jervis' perspective than the book, which is naturally all filtered through Judy's mind and her pen.

I read the free Google Books epub version, which had some typos and spacing errors (although never unreadable), and had some of the illustrations but I think not all of them. If it had occurred to me to look, I might have read the Project Gutenberg version, although their epub version apparently doesn't have pictures either. I did enjoy the illustrations, because they help convey some of Judy's playfulness and girlishness.

Title:	Daddy-Long-Legs
Author:	Jean Webster
Date published:	1912
Genre:	Epistolary Fiction
Number of pages:	218
Notes:	second reading; read an electronic edition

D.A., by Connie Willis

2011-08-01T23:00:00.047-04:00

This fun novelette (even shorter than a novella!) takes us into the world of Theodora Baumgarten, a student at Winfrey High School where just about everyone (except her) wants to get into the fiercely competitive IASA Space Academy. The story is told from Theodora's perspective, with her wry commentary on everything that goes on; she'd wanted to do remote learning but her mother was a "nostalgia freak", and her dad went along with the idea because he wants her to be independent, and what better place to do that than in a crowd? Shortly after the story begins, there is a mandatory assembly called, and the rumor is that one of the students has been selected to for Space Academy. No one is more surprised than Theodora that it is her name the visiting admiral announces-- particularly since she didn't apply, and really doesn't want to go into space. But things happen very quickly, no one will listen to her protests that she didn't apply and doesn't want to go (mostly because none of them understand why you wouldn't want to go or be selected for something so prestigious), and she is whisked away to Space Academy where she is sent aboard the RAH (a spaceship named for Robert A. Heinlein) and launched into space before she can clear up the mistake. Fortunately, she's got a good friend on the outside, Kimkim, who can hack into just about anything; they manage to re-establish communication and work together on figuring out just what has happened.

When Theodora fights her initial space-sickness (her roommate is so gung-ho about space that she has already practiced in zero-G) to go talk to the registrar about the mistake, she is reassured that they will clear it up quickly as soon as the materials arrive in a couple of weeks, so she bides her time. But then they show her actual registration materials that she knows she never submitted. On the outside, Kimkim is helping investigate, and soon figures out that there are a number of Space Academy cadets over the years who fit the pattern with what has happened to Theodora, all of them with the initials 'D.A.' on their records.

This is a fun, clever story-- and the idea behind it makes a lot of sense. If an organization is so popular and desirable that they can select the cream of the crop, the people who want so badly to go into space that they will take whatever classes and do whatever training they have to just for the chance to get in, it seems pretty plausible that such an organization could quickly become unbalanced-- which is where Theodora and the D.A. experiment comes in. The details of this world and Theodora's sense of humor make it an enjoyable read.

This is a fun little story, but too short. It would be fun to spend more time in this world and see what trouble Theodora and Kimkim get up to. Like Inside Job, which I also read recently, this book has been out for a while but I didn't have access to it anywhere, so I finally purchased and read the digital edition.

Title:	D.A.
Author:	Connie Willis
Date published:	2007
Genre:	Science Fiction
Number of pages:	83
Notes:	read an electronic edition

Inside Job, by Connie Willis

2011-07-31T18:25:00.046-04:00

Rob is a professional skeptic and debunker who edits and publishes the The Jaundiced Eye, a little publication that tries to keep up with and discredit the various scams of mediums, channelers, psychics, and the like that people are so eager to believe and pay. He is joined in his work by Kildy Ross, a beautiful and wealthy former actress who decided she didn't want to pursue the fame game (as she tells him, she didn't want to play the love interest in "Hulk IV", date Ben Affleck, or end up in rehab). Kildy takes Rob to see Ariaura, a new psychic who claims to channel Isus, an ancient priest of Atlantis; Ariaura is clearly a poor fake, speaking in thees and thous without even getting the grammar right, and Rob can't figure out why Kildy would bother bringing him; but then, in the middle of the session, something strange happens-- another voice speaks out, a gruff, skeptical voice that sounds an awful lot like H. L. Mencken.

Rob has a tough time trying to figure out what is going on-- everything Ariaura-as-Mencken says seems believable, and it's much more realistic than the standard channeler practice of quoting verbatim; they ask questions and can't prove it isn't Mencken, but Rob finally thinks he's got it figured out. He thinks it must be an inside job - that Kildy has been setting him up to endorse this channeler (she's too good to be true, so the skeptic in him doesn't believe she will keep showing up to work with him); so Kildy has to figure out how to prove she's not involved (and that she's in love with him, too, of course), and challenges Ariaura-as-Mencken to prove it's really him without proving that Ariaura-- who is clearly a fake-- is actually channeling a real spirit. And then, wackiness ensues.

I've been aware of this little novella for a while, but unable to find a copy of it-- it's a novella that was apparently a limited edition hardback print run; maybe it will eventually be collected in a short story collection. I finally was able to read it because they made an electronic edition available at a reasonable price.

Strictly speaking, it's a bit of a stretch to call this novella Science Fiction - it's pretty contemporary fiction with a touch of the supernatural. It's got a bit of the screwball comedy Willis does so well in some of her other short stories and novels, although this one perhaps isn't quite as comedic or delightful of my favorites of those. It is also a fun little tribute to H. L. Mencken (who I don't know that much about, but now may have to look up), as well as skeptics and lovers of Truth everywhere.

Title:	Inside Job
Author:	Connie Willis
Date published:	2005
Genre:	Science Fiction
Number of pages:	159
Notes:	read the electronic edition

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, by J. K. Rowling

2011-07-15T08:30:00.066-04:00

I haven't felt very "into" Harry Potter in a while-- I think that maybe after I finished reading the last book, I felt like I was done; I found it to be a satisfying conclusion to a good series. When "The Deathly Hallows Part 1" movie came out last fall, I wasn't excited about it and I didn't actually end up seeing it until just a few weeks ago. But I guess the enthusiasm of other Harry Potter fans and seeing a few of the later movies again was contagious and got me back into it. So, I decided to re-read the last two books in the series, leading up to seeing the last movie, and I'm glad that I did. This is the book where we, with Harry, learn who Voldemort really is, and how the boy Tom Riddle became the fearsome Lord Voldemort. And we also get to see a bit more human and vulnerable Dumbledore.

When Harry first sees Dumbledore in this book, Dumbledore has a withered, dead hand; by the end of the book, we know basically what happened, but we don't get the full explanation (including Dumbledore's mistake) until near the end of Deathly Hallows. As Dumbledore tells Harry, since he (Dumbledore) is "rather cleverer than most men, my mistakes tend to be correspondingly huger." Among the many other intrigues and plots of this book, we see the relationship between Dumbledore and Harry more clearly than before. Harry confirms to the Minister of Magic that he is "Dumbledore's man through and through"; and near the end, when Dumbledore and Harry are leaving the cave where Voldemort's horcrux had been stored, a weakened Dumbledore says he is not worried because he is with Harry - rather the way Harry has always felt safe when he was with Dumbledore.

Throughout the book, as Harry learns more about Voldemort, he learns about horcruxes and a bit about how magic and evil affect the soul. As Slughorn told a younger Tom Riddle, "the soul is supposed to remain intact and whole. Splitting it is an act of violation, it is against nature" - an act of evil such as murder "rips the soul apart." And we see a bit here of what will becomes even clearer in the last book, the short-comings and misunderstandings that Voldemort has. As a young man, he asks Slughorn: "wouldn't it be better, mank you stronger, to have your soul in more pieces...?", clearly not understanding what Slughorn has just told him about the soul being meant to stay whole. In fact, Dumbledore first begins to suspect what Voldemort has done because of the episode with Riddle's diary in the Chamber of Secrets - in Dumbledore's words, Voldemort was "remarkably blasé about that precious fragment of his soul" (using it as a weapon, instead of keeping it safe and protected); and Dumbledore later comments that Voldemort's lack of humanity seems only to make sense in light of this "mutilation" of his soul. Voldemort clearly doesn't think his soul is all that precious, and his horcruxes are valuable to him only as an insurance policy against death, not because they carry a portion of his soul. I find all this talk of souls fascinating, and it seems that some of the notions translate beyond the magical world of Harry Potter - because it makes sense to me that acts of evil would mutilate a person's soul, and that continued soul-mutilation could make a person less human and more carelessly violent. It's interesting to think about, and consider how precious a soul is.

Of course, I haven't even written about the main plot - and title - of this book! The fascinating, conflicted character of Snape; the brilliant Half-Blood Prince, who had a mastery of potions that improved on the standard textbook, clever and talented, but also with a mean streak and capable of nastiness. And also the tortured, desperate Malfoy. It's interesting reading this book again, after having read Deathly Hallows, because so much of what is going on in this book - and in Snape's case, an undercurrent and thread running through the entire series - is not explained until the end of the series. I think it may make the end of this book a little less satisfying in a way (although it can stand on its own to a certain extent); reading it again definitely leaves me wanting to (re-)read the next one soon.

Title:	Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
Author:	J. K. Rowling
Date published:	2005
Genre:	Young Adult Fantasy
Series:	Harry Potter
Number of pages:	652
Notes:	third reading

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, by J. K. Rowling

2005-06-12T00:00:00.001-04:00

G & I wanted to prepare ourselves for the release of Harry Potter book 6, and when G found an unabridged book-on-tape edition of book 5 at the library right before a long road trip, it seemed like perfect timing. Normally, I don't do books on tape very often (if at all); G does more since he has a long commute to work right now. At first it took me a while to warm up to the reader's voice, but he did such a great job with all the different character's voices that it was delightful to listen to. It was also fun to enjoy the book together and talk about what we remembered and didn't remember, or speculate about things. As long as our road trip was, The Order of the Phoenix was longer-- we didn't have time to finish the book on the road. But that worked out fine for me: G listened to the rest on his work commute for the next few days, and I just read the last few chapters in our copy of the book.

Reading this book made me want to go back and read all the other Harry Potter books, too (the practical part of me realizes both that I don't have time for that right now, and that there are lots of other books I want to read-- maybe I will re-read them all before book seven comes out). Sometimes I think that Rowling's writing is not so fabulous (on the level of wording or style), but somehow the characters she creates are so memorable and likable-- which is a far more powerful literary gift than perfect style.

One of the interesting things about this book is the different kinds of evil Rowling presents. Umbridge is clearly an awful woman, and she is evil-- she uses dark means to what she considers to be "good" ends, and she is very interested in power and control (without even the wisdom or the skill to be able to manage them well-- it's made quite clear she's not nearly as talented in magic-practicing as the other Hogwarts teachers, as exhibited by her inability to clean up the portable swamp Fred & George created in a hallway). Umbridge is clearly evil-- she is both like and un-like Voldemort. And, just as in the real world, Harry has to learn that not all evil people are in league with each other. There are plenty of evil people even in supposedly good institutions.

Title:	Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Author:	J. K. Rowling
Date published:	2003
Genre:	Fantasy / Young Adult
Series:	Harry Potter
Number of pages:	870
Notes:	Second "reading".

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, by J. K. Rowling

2005-07-18T14:30:00.001-04:00

I know Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince is one of the "most talked about" books online now (at least according to Technorati), so it's hard to know what to write. I will say I was a bit surprised by the interest & reactions of friends who haven't read any of the Harry Potter books and have only seen the movies-- one heard all the brouhaha in the news about someone dying and had to know who it was that died; the other's first question was whether or not this book was better than all the others (a question I find extremely difficult to answer), and wanted to be reassured that his favorite characters hadn't been killed. As well-done and enjoyable as the Harry Potter movies have been, I find the books so much more pleasurable. You get so many more hours of entertainment (even if I do tend to cram it into just a couple of days, at least on the first reading); you get to know the characters better, and you get more details than you do in the movies. It's amazing how many people and how much time & money it takes to create a two hour movie... I suppose it takes many hours of J. K. Rowling's work, and the help of editors and publishers, but that seems different, somehow.

I didn't start The Half-Blood Prince right away (that is to say-- not on Saturday, when our Amazon pre-order arrived). I wanted to let G read it first, and usually once I start a book like this I have trouble putting it down, so I tried to show some self-restraint. (A couple of summers ago when The Order of the Phoenix first came out, I waited until we were on vacation, and then I read the whole thing in just a day or two.) But on Sunday, G told me I could go ahead and start reading (I thought it very generous of him to share), and of course I ended up spending most of Monday reading it (figured I might as well finish it and get it out of the way, so it wouldn't be distracting me from everything else I should be doing). I was lost in the world of the book, so I remember distinctly that when I finally closed the book and looked up, and rejoined the world of normal reality, it was exactly 2:30 in the afternoon.

I think I came across on J. K. Rowling's website a hint in answer to a question about how the Order of the Phoenix communicate-- she said they only used their wands, and that we'd seen them do it before (I don't remember when, but will have to look for it next time)-- it seems pretty clever to use the Patronus as a method of communication, and it has a built-in kind of identification. I wonder if Harry & his friends will be able to use that, too, now that Harry knows about it. I like how Rowling sometimes will take some magic we are familiar with and use it again, or in a slightly different way.

I was hit pretty hard by the ending... I think I was crying for the last several chapters. But I like the fact that Rowling makes the stakes real-- this is a real war, and there are real casualties, major players that we and the characters in the book care very much about. I was also fascinated, almost the whole way through, to see the ambiguity about Snape's position. Right from the beginning of the book, we don't have enough information to know who he is lying to and who he is deceiving. I think Dumbledore must have had a pretty good reason indeed to trust Snape (more than what Harry comes up with), and I partly wonder if maybe Dumbledore had Snape swear an unbreakable vow to protect and/or help Harry (since Rowling has previously introduced a particular kind of magic once, and then brought it back in a larger role later). I will be very interested to see how Rowling deals with Snape and Snape's relationship with Harry in the last book (among other things, of course)-- but I will try to be patient.

Title:	Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
Author:	J. K. Rowling
Date published:	2005
Genre:	Fantasy
Series:	Harry Potter
Number of pages:	652

Dogsbody, by Diana Wynne Jones

2011-05-22T23:30:00.060-04:00

dogs·bod·y: A person who is given boring, menial tasks to do; naval slang for someone of very little importance.

Like the title, this book works on so many levels; it is well worth repeat readings. The luminary of the dog-star Sirius, as punishment, is sent to Earth where he is born as a half-breed pup. So, he is literally born into a dog's body, but in the process, he's also given a pretty low status, especially for someone who used to be something like an angel. I've lost track of how many times I've this book, but I still had new insights into the book this time around. When I first read of Diana Wynne Jones' death, my first thought was that I should re-read my favorite of her books as a kind of memorial, and this was the first favorite DWJ book that came to mind (although then I remembered the Chrestomanci books, and Howl's Moving Castle...).

As I think about it, it's really a testament to Jones' skill that she can make luminaries of stars, humans, dogs, and dark creatures of mythology all walk the same Earth and live in the same universe-- and all the pieces fit together beautifully. Sirius, as a dog, gives us a perspective on Sol, the luminary of Earth's system-- a lesser luminary than Sirius, Sol is still brash and clever, and quite proud of the beautiful gem that is Earth. Even the relationships between Sol, Earth, and the moon are fascinating; they do as Sol tells them, but when the moon wants to help Sirius he works around the exact command. Earth is sheltering one of her own dark, unhappy creatures-- and Sirius is amazed that Earth should hold a creature so powerful, who can stand up to a luminary in a way (and, in a way, is the perfect antithesis to a luminary).

Sirius has been sent to Earth to retrieve the Zoi that fell there in the dispute with his Companion and another luminary. When he is nearly drowned as a puppy, he is rescued by the child Kathleen. We soon learn that Kathleen loves all manner of life-- the cats around the house, her huge dog Leo, anything-- even in spite of the terrible way she is treated by her aunt, negligent uncle, and the rude boys at school who make fun of her for being Irish (her aunt and uncle have taken her in because her father is in jail, for some kind of involvement in Irish rebellion, it seems). When Sirius finally discovers the dark child of Earth (Annwn) who has found the Zoi (but cannot use it), Sirius runs with his dogs in the hunt in order to ask a favor-- but his litter-mates from the town, and Kathleen and her cousins all manage to get dragged in by the end of the hunt. The dark Master of the hunt held on to the Zoi because he hoped it could help him, but he knows it is powerful and dangerous, too. When he asks Sirius how it works, Sirius explains: "if you think of all power as a kind of movement ... then a Zoi is composed of the movement behind the movement. It's the stuff of life itself." After this explanation, the Master understands why he is unable to use the Zoi-- he claims he is stronger than Sirius, but that it is a "different order of being", because his power is that of darkness and stillness. The Master asks Kathleen to use the Zoi on his behalf-- somehow, sensing that she could, although Sirius is afraid for her to touch it (the Master tells us that the Zoi killed the hound who first found it). I think this may be another indication that the children of Earth are more powerful and important than a luminary might give them credit for; but I think the bigger reason is one of those details I hadn't connected before-- Kathleen's love of life and all things living gives her the ability and the grace to handle the movement and power of the Zoi.

This is one of those beautiful, perfect books that you almost wish had a sequel (or at least wish there were other stories in this wonderful, unique universe), but at the same time you understand why it ends where it does.

Title:	Dogsbody
Author:	Diana Wynne Jones
Date published:	1975
Genre:	Fantasy
Number of pages:	261
Notes:	repeat reading

The Speed of Dark, by Elizabeth Moon

2011-06-20T22:15:00.072-04:00

In a near-future world, this book tells the story of an autistic man named Lou. Lou seems like a very high-functioning autistic person: he lives by himself, he drives a car to work, where he works with a team of autistic people who do some kind of abstract, pattern analysis or pattern generation that seems pretty technologically advanced and profitable to their company, and he even goes to a weekly fencing group. Early in the book, Lou is thinking to himself (during his required quarterly psychiatric evaluation, where he is careful not to say to much or say the "wrong thing") that "the speed of dark is as interesting as the speed of light, and maybe it is faster and who will find out?" This is a recurring question, which is pretty interesting in itself-- because of Lou's notion that dark must be at least as fast as light, since it is moving ahead of the light to get out of the way; but it also comes to have a larger significance in the book: certainly the darkness hints at ignorance and the unknown, but there is also Lou's discovery that the questions he asks aren't necessarily invalid even though he is "different" and has been told this all of his life.

As Lou's story unfolds, we gradually learn that, if Lou had been born in our day and age, he would have been considered severely autistic-- but in this near future world, they have been able to treat autism much better. When Lou was growing up, there were technologies to help train his brain attend to shorter signals, and there is now a cure for autistic children. Two big changes come into Lou's life in the course of the book: one comes by way of a new boss at work who wants to change the special privileges the autistic unit gets ("perks" that help them function), and even purchases an experimental cure for adult autism that he wants all of the autistic unit to take; and the other change comes through the personal interactions in his fencing group.

Moon does a wonderful job of describing Lou's life and perception of reality in a way that is accessible to the reader. Lou tends to understand human slang quite literally-- even though he has been taught what some phrases mean, he still wishes that people would just say what they mean. When he sees "normal" people in his circle of fencing friends communicate by exchanging glances or through expressions that he can't read, he feels that they are mind-readers. Lou has been taught what "normal" people are like and what they do, but this is clearly a caricature and an oversimplification. Sometimes Lou misses emotions that the reader probably won't miss; in one case, he refuses to follow what logic tells him is the right answer because a "friend" wouldn't do what logic tells him someone has done.

One of the more beautiful aspects of the book is Lou's love of pattern and the way he expresses it. He loves his work (and is very good at it) because it is all about seeing patterns. He loves fencing because he can watch the other fencer and see their pattern, and then he puts himself in to the pattern and becomes a part of it (of course, this ability to see the other fighter's pattern gives him a tremendous advantage-- although that is not why he fights). He loves star-gazing because it makes him feel like a small part of a large, ordered universe. Even counting the tiles in the laundry room and seeing where they match up with the walls, or paying attention to the colored beer lights that blink in the pizza place he and his co-workers go to is another way that he is drawn to pattern. When Lou decides he needs to read up on neuroscience in order to understand the "cure" for autism that the new boss is pushing them to take, he reads that the brain largely functions by pattern recognition, and he discovers more and more the assumptions that have been made about him and told to him all his life.

This is a beautiful and compelling book, one that lets us live for a while in a another world and see the universe a bit differently.

I have heard of Elizabth Moon before, but this is the first book of hers that I've read. "EMoon" is occasionally mentioned and quoted on Robin McKinley's blog (she is one of my favorite authors), and Robin actually wrote about this book in particular-- so when I came across it, I decided to give it a chance. I'm glad I did; I'll be looking for other books by Elizabeth Moon books in the future.

Title:	The Speed of Dark
Author:	Elizabeth Moon
Date published:	2002
Genre:	Science Fiction
Number of pages:	369
Notes:	reviewed and recommended by Robin McKinley

The Fire, by Katherine Neville

2011-05-15T23:30:00.051-04:00

This sequel to The Eight primarily follows Alexandra, the daughter of Cat and Solarin-- although it couldn't follow The Eight properly if it didn't also have a parallel story in another time line (filled with cameos of famous historical personages); among others, this alternate story includes Charlot, the prophet son of Mireille, but it also includes some new characters including the young Haid&eactue;e, the adopted daughter of Ali Pasha who makes a journey from Albania to Europe- in part to find her natural father, Byron; but of course, there is something to do with pieces from a certain chess set. As a child, Alexandra was a chess prodigy, and on a fateful trip to Russia - where she might have become the youngest chess grandmaster ever had she won - her father is shot and killed. Now, Alexandra is a young woman living in D.C., working at an open-hearth restaurant, and completely estranged from her mother-- until she gets a strange, mysterious invitation to her mother's birthday party in Colorado. what Alexandra doesn't know is that she is being drawn into the Game that her mother has tried to protect her from since Alexandra was a child.

I didn't find this book nearly as compelling as I thought The Eight was the first time I read it-- although recently I was disappointed in my re-reading of that book, too. I suppose it's hard to find an engaging mystery when readers already know most of the secrets about the Montglane chess service. It is revealed (or at least hinted at and then soon confirmed) early on in this book that there may be two copies of the Black Queen, but it was never clear to me what the significance or import of that might be (although we are eventually told how it happened). The most engrossing part of the plot doesn't come into play until much closer to the end of the book, when we learn that the formula hidden in the chess set isn't the only esoteric secret it carries, and that in fact anyone who uses the first formula for personal gain will be unable to discover or use the more important secret, which is intended to be used for the betterment of the world. Although that mystery is left pretty vague and open-ended, which makes the end of the book a little unsatisfying-- a bit like the end of The Eight in some ways, actually.

Until closer to the end of the book, I felt like I was slogging through this book. I didn't care that much about any of the main characters-- Alexandra didn't seem to have all that much personality, and I almost felt like I was supposed to like her simply because she was Cat and Solarin's daughter. Like her mother, she meets an incredibly handsome, foreign, chess grandmaster-- and of course, they fall madly in love. (In fact, there is another big parallel to a fairly significant plot twist from the original book, but it wasn't nearly as shocking here-- I suppose because it's a bit familiar by now.) Alexandra works tending the huge fires at a Basque open-hearth restaurant, and apparently this fire-working is significant because it relates to Alchemy and the deeper secrete of the chess set and the game; although that significance was never that clear to me, and it was not apparent that Alexandra had any extra insights into the Game or its mysteries because of her expertise with fire.

In her afterword, Neville says that she was inspired to write a sequel to The Eight by the events on 9/11 and the war in the Middle East-- the book suggests that the war is motivated by someone trying to get the chess pieces, rather like the machinations during the French civil war in the first book. But not enough time is spent on this to give it much weight.

Title:	The Fire
Author:	Katherine Neville
Date published:	2008
Genre:	Adventure/Mystery
Series:	sequel to The Eight
Number of pages:	451

The Eight, by Katherine Neville

2011-01-09T00:34:00.039-05:00

In the 1970s, Cat Velis is a computer expert working with big-business clients until she gets sent to Algeria as a kind of punishment for not playing along with the boys' club and throwing a bid as she was asked to do. In 1790s France, Mireille and Valentine are two novices at the convent of Montglane Abbey. With the political unrest of the French Revolution, the Abbess decides she must unearth the mystical treasure that has been hidden at Montglane-- a chess set given to Charlemagne, that is, according to legend, incredibly valuable beyond the gold, silver, and jewels of the pieces themselves, but some secret equation encoded in the pieces and the board. The Abbess unearths them and scatters the pieces with nuns and novices sent out from Montglane, in order to keep the entire set from falling into the wrong hands. The stories in the two different time-lines proceed in parallel, and Cat discovers that she is caught up in something involving the same chess set that Mireille was, and that some of those pieces may be in Algeria.

To some extent, there is a fun, puzzle-like quality to this book-- games of chess, messages with hidden, coded messages, characters acting as various chess players, and the connections between the stories in the two different time-lines. It is fun when the book gives you the same information and allows you to figure things out alongside the characters. It was also amusing to see how many famous historical figures Neville manages to weave into the older storyline, all with connections to chess or the Montglane service.

I thought I had read this book a couple of times before, at least, and enjoyed it on re-reading; so I was surprised at how preposterous and far-fetched so many parts of it seemed this time through. The first time through you are reading for the plot and the mystery, so it's a pretty engaging thrill-ride. I've read other Katherine Neville books and been disappointed with them, because they all seemed like knock-offs of The Eight without its magic, so it was a bit strange to discover myself not enjoying the original all that much. I've known for a while that Neville had a newer book out, The Fire, and I've been curious to read it, but once I learned that it was actually a sequel to The Eight, I thought I would re-read the original first.

Title:	The Eight
Author:	Katherine Neville
Date published:	1988
Genre:	Adventure/Mystery
Number of pages:	598
Notes:	repeat reading

The Tough Guide to Fantasyland, by Diana Wynne Jones

2011-04-09T12:28:00.001-04:00

This is Diana Wynne Jones' hilarious skewering of the many tropes and clichés of fantasy fiction. It is structured as a guidebook written for a traveler, to help them make sense of or prepare for their journey through Fantasyland. The book, after an initial intro, is ordered into alphabetical sections, each of which starts with a "gnomic utterance" and has entries for places, features, or stock characters in the many worlds of Fantasyland. Throughout, the entries refer to things that "the Management" may or may not do (the managers organizing your tour through Fantasyland, of course-- i.e., the authors), and many of the entries have italicized phrases of words marked with "OMT" to indicate an "Official Management Term" (for those phrases or adjectives that somehow seem to always get used in Fantasy novels).

There are many humorous things that Jones points out about the clichés and nonsense of stock Fantasy-- for instance, that horses must reproduce by pollination, since we never see any indications to the contrary; or that travelers always eat stew on the road, even though it is one of the slowest possible meals to cook and really quite inconvenient. There are apparently gaping holes in the ecology and economy of Fantasyland, too; there is beautiful embroidery everywhere, but tours never visit the vast factories where they must come from; forests never have any animals except the ones you will need to hunt for food; whenever you visit a port city, the docks will always be full of barrels and bins, with no indication of where they came from, where they are going, or even if they contain anything valuable, or are just there for decoration. The Tough Guide also covers the variety of stock companions you may find joining your tour, and gives a good idea of how you will travel through the land, starting at one end and winding your way through the rest until you come to meet one of the stock villains, arrive at a dark place, or otherwise discover your quest object.

Throughout, I found the book pretty cheeky and humorous. At times I recognized specific books or authors, but more often I had a general sense of familiarity with the things described-- color-coding for good and evil characters, the limited forms of government usually found in Fantasyland, and the like.

I read this book a section or two at a time over many, many months.

Title:	The Tough Guide to Fantasyland
Author:	Diana Wynne Jones
Date published:	1996
Genre:	Fantasy / Guidebook
Number of pages:	302
Notes:	Borrowed from Catey

One Corpse Too Many, by Ellis Peters

2011-01-30T21:44:00.046-05:00

In the twelfth century, the town and Abbey of Shrewsbury are caught up in the civil war between King Stephen and Empress Maud. Stephen's advisors have told him he's gone too easy on those who oppose him, so when the town of Shrewsbury falls Stephen decides to make an example of the 94 soldiers who guarded the citadel by hanging them from the castle walls. The Abbot asks the kind, thoughtful, level-headed Cadfael to take on the grisly task of preparing the hanged men for burial and cleaning them up so that the people of the town can claim any dead kinsmen. Cadfael, with his attention to detail, notices not only that there is one more body than expected, and that one of the men was strangled rather than hung. Cadfael uses his skill and knowledge to investigate this murder and figure out why and how this unknown young man ended up with the other 94 guards.

Cadfael's quick wit observant eye is made clear from the very beginning of the book, when a young lad named Godric is brought to stay in the Abbey and work with Cadfael in the gardens. Cadfael almost immediately guesses, and with a few quick, subtle tests confirms, that Godric is actually a girl-- in fact, she is Godith Adeney, daughter to one of the chief allies to the overthrown lord of Shrewsbury Castle, whom they failed to get away from the castle before it fell. Cadfael does his best to take care of the girl and preserve her from suspicion, even from Hugh Beringar, who has pledged himself to Stephen and promised to find Godith-- who was actually his betrothed-- by way of proving his loyalty.

I had seen the wonderful TV version of this story with Derek Jacobi several years ago, but it was long enough ago that I didn't remember too much of the story, except the fact that Hugh Beringar is not the bad guy-- the story leaves that open-ended for a while as Cadfael and Beringar match wits about getting Godith and the Shrewsbury treasure safely out of the area, and they are pretty well-matched, but by the end they have begun such allies in solving the murder that Hugh is willing to issue a challenge based on Cadfael's intuition of the culprit, with very little actual proof, and Cadfael fears greatly for his new friend's survival as the challenge goes forward.

Even though I had seen the TV version and knew the basic plot (with the details made hazy by time and memory), the book added so much more, and I found it very enjoyable to read. One thing I hadn't remembered or thought about was the impact of nobility and saving face would have on solving mysteries in this time period. Cadfael and Hugh figure out quite a bit more of what went on the night that the castle fell and the unknown man was murdered than they will tell anyone, in large part because they do not want to bring dishonor to a dead man and his family. Rather than exposing him, Beringar instead puts his life on the line and issues a challenge to bring about justice in a way that will not bring shame.

Title:	One Corpse Too Many
Author:	Ellis Peters
Date published:	1979
Genre:	Mystery
Series:	Brother Cadfael
Number of pages:	214
Notes:	loaned by Catey

Blackout, by Connie Willis

2011-03-13T19:00:00.068-04:00

Set in the same world of time-traveling historians as Doomsday Book and To say Nothing of the Dog, this book follows several historians who are going to various parts of England during the second World War, in order to observe and study history as it happens. At the beginning of the book, there is a flurry of activity as students are running around Oxford trying to get in touch with Mr. Dunworthy (or avoiding him, for fear he'll change his mind and decide their trip is too dangerous), getting their props and outfits for the period and place they'll be going, memorizing or getting implants of vital knowledge they'll need to do the research they intend or to stay safe while they're there. There seems to be something going on with the time-travel lab-- assignments are getting shuffled around and re-ordered, drop dates are getting moved up-- but the characters we follow aren't privy to whatever it is that might be causing this, and for the most part are so anxious to get out on their trips that they aren't worried too much about the bigger picture. As the novel progresses, we follow three main historians: Merope, who is working as a servant in the country where London children have been evacuated; Michael, studying the heroism of ordinary people, plans to go to Dover as a reporter so he can interview the men involved in the evacuation of Dunkirk; and Polly, who is going to London to work as a shop girl so she can study the behavior of Londoners in the bomb shelters during the Blitz. Of course, for each of them, something goes wrong that changes their assignment and their time in the past.

The book itself is rather chaotic and even a bit confusing at first-- we're jumping from Oxford of 2060 full of time-traveling historians to various parts and times in England as we follow the three main characters. And thrown in the middle are a few brief stories about other parts of the war that seem unconnected to the characters we're following-- although, since historians with non-contemporary names like Merope have to use "contemp" names while on assignment, it's suggested (or, in one case, quite clear) that one of these characters is a time-traveler, although we may not know exactly who. Sometimes this made me feel like I wasn't paying attention or reading carefully enough-- but as the book went on, I became more and more convinced that the book was intentionally written to be disorienting to the reader-- because that is part of the experience of living in a war time, waiting for bombs to fall or troops to invade.

The characters make frequent reference to the known fact that time-travelers can't actually interfere with history (although where this book falls in relation to the story of To Say Nothing of the Dog, I'm not sure, because it seems like they discovered a few things in the course of that story that might have implications for this firmly held belief). For instance, Michael was only planning to go to Dover to interview the people on ships returning from the evacuation of Dunkirk, because Dunkirk was too dangerous and a crisis point; but the slippage on his drop ends up putting him far enough away from Dover that he has difficulty finding transportation to get there in time. His attempts to get there eventually get him entangled in the events at Dunkirk in a far different fashion than he intended-- which makes him worry that he may have altered history, so he is constantly reading the newspapers to make sure the war continues to go the way it is supposed to go.

Merope's assignment with the evacuees is nearly over when the other two are starting, but her scheduled departure is delayed due to an outbreak of disease and quarantine among the children. When she isn't rescued, and her drop won't open to send her back to Oxford 2060, she remembers that Polly is in London; so she makes her way there to meet her. Polly, meanwhile, has had a very interesting time trying to find a job as a shop girl in one of the stores on the "safe" list, that weren't hit by any bombs; she finds herself regularly going to a bomb shelter in the neighborhood where she meets an interesting mix of people, and is fascinated to watch their behavior as the bombs go off overhead and the big artillery weapons fire back.

For each of these three historians, something goes wrong that makes it hard for them to get back home to Oxford of 2060-- probably something related to the chaos and changing schedules in the time lab before they left, but none of them are aware of what it is. The story doesn't really end with this book, so I'll be looking to find the sequel All Clear sometime soon.

This book gives a wonderful sense of actually being in Britain during these historic events; the details and individuality of the people are fascinating, and the perspective of a time-traveler looking in on these events is a bit how I felt as a reader (although the characters from 2060 also reference a history that a reader isn't aware of, for instance a cathedral that survived the Blitz but was later destroyed by a terrorist with a pinpoint bomb). It was particularly interesting to see how various contemporary characters interacted with the time-travelers; at times, I almost wondered if there might be other time-travelers there in the bomb shelter or the village with them.

Title:	Blackout
Author:	Connie Willis
Date published:	2010
Genre:	Science Fiction
Number of pages:	491

A Game of Thrones, by George R. R. Martin

2011-01-22T17:30:00.051-05:00

An intense, complicated book with a large cast of characters, and plenty of political maneuvering and betrayal. This is the kind of world where children who wander around the castle, climbing walls or trying to catch cats (as children do), are likely to see or hear something that could get them killed. The book is narrated in the third person, but each chapter follows the perspective or events around a different person, so the story starts with Eddard Stark and his family in the northern part of the kingdom, but the story ranges out as members of the Stark family travel, and as we get the stories and perspectives of other characters, such as Daenerys and Vyserys, the exiled children of House Targaryen, which formerly held the throne of the Seven Kingdoms.

Stark is content to stay in the north at Winterfell with his family, away from the royal court; but when Robert Baratheon, the King and Eddard's good friend from years before (they were raised together and Eddard helped fight to win him the throne), comes and asks Eddard to be his Hand, Eddard feels he must accept. He seems to be the only honest man at court, and he doesn't know who to trust. Robert was a mighty warrior, but it seems that he doesn't make a very good king-- he'd rather be wining and dining, and leave the running of the kingdom to Eddard. As Eddard investigates the death of the previous Hand (which he suspects was not an accident), he uncovers a secret that could have a huge impact on the succession of the throne, and the kingdom itself-- but, in this world, the truth alone is not enough to win out.

Well-written in many ways, in the details of things. Early on, Stark and a group of his men and older sons find a group of direwolf puppies in the snow-- their mother has been killed, and there is a broken-off horn of a stag still in her throat. Everyone except Eddard sees this as an omen, and we already know at this point in the book that the direwolf is the emblem of House Stark, but we don't yet know at this point in the book who the stag represents. This adds to the significance when the king comes to visit Winterfell and ask Eddard to be his Hand, since there are already indications that all is not well in the kingdom. I liked the fact that the direwolves aren't just a floating symbol-- the puppies become part of the story. There is one puppy for each of the Stark children, and they each claim and name their own-- and the wolves suit their owners, and accompany them, and play their own part in the stories that unfold.

I found the book a bit rough to read in some ways, because of the brutality and violence that happens, sometimes to those who seem completely innocent (children, animals). After about half way through, the story progressed in a way that made it harder to put the book down from there pretty much to the end. And the ending, which was surprising in some ways but included some details I had guessed, changes things and sets up more war and conflict in this on-going and deadly game to control the throne-- which makes it hard to wait to read the next book in the series.

Title:	A Game of Thrones
Author:	George R. R. Martin
Date published:	1996
Genre:	Fantasy
Series:	A Song of Ice and Fire (book 1)
Number of pages:	694
Notes:	loaned and recommended by Scott

Hogfather, by Terry Pratchett

2010-12-24T20:00:00.071-05:00

While going about his usual business, Death notices that something is wrong - that the Hogfather (the Discworld equivalent to our Santa Claus, with a sleigh drawn by huge pigs or boar named Tusker, Snouter, Gouger, and Rooter) is in danger, in fact very near to whatever the equivalent of death is for an immortal being. At the same time, a group of the Auditors has come to the Assassin's guild in Ankh-Morpork with an unusual request: end the Hogfather. But they offer enough money, and there happens to be an unusual member of the Assassin's guild who as a hobby has considered how one might end the Hogfather, the Tooth Fairy, or even Death-- so Mr. Teatime undertakes this request. In the meantime, Death decides to fill in for the Hogfather-- leaving footprints and presents and removing the treats left for the Hogfather (his assistant, Albert, is along with him eating the goodies and helping Death to be more jolly), in order to help instill belief in the Hogfather to help him survive. As he's doing his rounds (dressed in a red suit with a pillow and a fake beard), Death stops by the house where his granddaughter Susan works as a governness-- and warns her very carefully that she shouldn't get involved, of course knowing full well that this will result in her doing exactly that.

Susan is a wonderful character-- I love the idea of a governess who can see and deal with all the monsters that children see and imagine. Susan is quite handy with a poker, and of course, the monsters tend to be surprised she can see them. As Susan makes her way to Death's house, and then to the fallen ice palace of the Hogfather (riding Death's steed, Binky) she meets up with the newly minted oh god of hangovers, Bilious, and then with the rather silly wizards of Unseen University-- who are having some interesting run-ins with the after-effects of what is going on. With the assistance of a computer named Hex, they eventually come to the conclusion that there is a certain amount of belief in the world, and the lack of belief in the Hogfather is resulting in extra belief, so that the odd but plausible fairies or imps or sock eaters or pencil chewers that they mention suddenly pop into existence. While all of these other things are going on, Mr. Teatime and his crew have broken into the Tooth Fairy's castle - Teatime having hit upon the clever scheme of using sympathetic magic with the extensive collection of teeth housed there to undo belief in the Hogfather. But, of course, there is more to the Tooth Fairy than they had accounted for, and eventually most of Teatime's rough crew of thugs and criminals are undone by vicious versions of their childhood fears.

One of the themes running through this book is the idea that "old gods do new jobs." The Hogfather is a newer form of an ancient god who had something to do with blood and snow and the sun-- an old winder ritual transformed into the gift-giving and feasts of Hogswatch. When Susan sees the Hogfather at the end of the book, it is clear that he has many forms (some with tusks, some without), and Susan comments to her grandfather that she'd heard the red and white outfit was a recent invention; but Death tells her, "No. It was remembered." Even the original Tooth Fairy, when finally revealed, I found rather an interesting twist-- another old, perhaps even nasty being, who loved children, but not at all for the reasons we might think (not any childish goodness or sweetness, but rather their nastiness and inventive, terrible fears), and who decided to collect their teeth as a way of protecting them (protecting them against the kind of thing Teatime attempted to do, in fact).

Of course, one of the best parts of the book is Death filling in for the Hogfather-- Albert keeps trying to help him, tells him to "put more heart into it", has a checklist that includes saying "Ho, Ho, Ho", and insists that Death use the chimneys even in places where it is inconvenient - when of course Death can walk through walls. Death is fascinated by and seems to love humanity, but he doesn't understand the conventions of a holiday like Hogswatch, so he tends to do things differently. He drops in on a store and replaces a paid actor as the Hogfather listening to children, and then he starts giving the children what they want-- for free, instead of the parents buying it from the store, and gives them dangerous toys and even weapons in some case, because they ask for it. This results in all kinds of comedy and skewers a fair number of our traditional holiday stories in the process. It's a little bittersweet, though, too-- because Death particularly enjoys people looking forward to his visit instead of dreading him as they usually do.

I watched the BBC version of "Hogfather" a couple of years ago, so it was fun to read the book-- and at times I was surprised at how faithful the adaptation was, since I recognized entire lines or even scenes from the movie. This is an entertaining book that was fun to read during the holidays, with its seasonal irreverence and humor.

Title:	Hogfather
Author:	Terry Pratchett
Date published:	1996
Genre:	Fantasy
Series:	Discworld
Number of pages:	354
Notes:	borrowed from Levi

The Player of Games, by Iain M. Banks

2010-07-11T22:30:00.055-04:00

Jernau Morat Gurgeh is one of the best game players in The Culture, a space-faring society of advanced "genofixed" humans and artificially intelligent machines - he is such a gamer that he has taken the name "Morat", meaning game-player or player of games. But he's a little bit bored with his life-- nothing is that challenging or engaging anymore-- and his old family friend, the drone Chamlis Amalk-ney, offers to ask Contact to see if there might be something interesting he could do. When they do come up with an offer, it involves considerable travel, and Gurgeh is rather a home-body, preferring not to leave his home orbital, so he turns them down. However, not long after, he is manipulated by the rogue drone Mawhrin-Skel (who was intended for the Special Circumstances branch of Contact but then deemed unfit), and he is black-mailed and maneuvered into accepting the offered task that Contact had suggested, which involves traveling to a remote civilization where their society is obsessed with and run by a complicated strategy game called Azad.

Gurgeh spends the long space trip to the Empire of Azad learning the game and playing against the ship mind. He is joined, and accompanied planet-side, by a small librarian-type drone who will assist him with moving in their society without appearing antagonistic. This Empire is a large, space-faring society that the Culture would consider barbaric and inhumane, but the leaders of the Empire refuse to tell their people much about the Culture because they wish to remain separate (a bit of a military detente, in fact, as the Empire is large enough to be somewhat of a threat to the Culture, and the Culture wishes not to have to kill and destroy so many of the people of the Empire, many of whom are disadvantaged by the current regime).

Gurgeh arrives just in time to participate in the great tournament of Azad that is used to determine who will be the next Emperor. As he begins to play, he also is exposed to some of the seedy under side of this society, and sees the repression of the lesser genders (there are three) when he meets an intelligent woman who will compete in the games and wishes him well. As he progresses through the rounds of the games, he recognizes that he is a pawn in the hands of Contact that is playing a much larger game, and he glimpses some of the political unrest that is caused by his successes in the game, but as he is drawn more and more into the game, he becomes more and more oblivious to everything else. There is one particularly compelling moment after a game where Gurgeh is walking between the game facility and his transportation, and he is still thinking in terms of the game, so he sees the cluster of people as enemy tokens and realizes one of his tokens-- himself-- is in danger moments before an assassination attempt takes place.

Gurgeh continues to win his way through the rounds, and qualifies for the final set of games on the fire planet, Echronedal-- although officially he has lost at this point, as reported by the state-controlled media, he does not care as he only wishes to continue playing and winning. He wins the respect of some his opponents and destroys the lives of others (one official makes a body-mutilation wager on the outcome, an old Azadian tradition, no doubt at the urging of officials hoping to pressure Gurgeh to quit). As things progress, his companion drone is worried that Gurgeh is regressing and becoming more like the barbaric culture he's been immersed in, with it's aggressive game of Azad, and without the enlightening influence of speaking Marain, the language of the Culture. At the end, Gurgeh faces the Emperor in the final match, and it is a long, epic game that consumes all of Gurgeh's thinking and days, and finally Gurgeh recognizes that he and the Emperor are playing with the strategies of their respective societies: attacking, controlling, assimilating in the same way that the Empire and the Culture might. It is after this game, when everything falls apart and violence ensues, that Gurgeh understands a bit of his role as a pawn in the hands of Special Circumstances-- destroying this society at its core by beating them at their own game, which they have used to control and run their Empire for centuries. It is at this point that we see a glimpse of what Gurgeh's companion drone has hinted at a couple of times in the book, when Gurgeh comments about how mean and nasty the Empire is-- that the Culture is actually much meaner, in some ways.

An intense, thought-provoking book. I look forward to reading more Iain Banks novels when I have the energy and time to concentrate on them.

Title:	The Player of Games
Author:	Iain M. Banks
Date published:	1988
Genre:	Science Fiction
Series:	a Culture novel
Number of pages:	395
Notes:	recommended by Pete

The Masqueraders, by Georgette Heyer

2010-08-29T15:30:00.029-04:00

Prudence and Robin Tremaine are a brother and sister fleeing to London, and because Robin was involved in the Jacobite rebellion on the wrong side, they disguise themselves-- the tall Prudence pretends to be a young man, and the slight, elegant, talented actor Robin pretends to be the sister. On their way to London, they run into flighty young Letitia, who is eloping with a man because she thought it would be quite an adventure, but he turns out to be rather a brute and after her money. Robin and Prudence manage to rescue her shortly before Letitia's family friend, Anthony Fanshawe comes to help her-- a man so large that Robin teasingly calls him "the mountain" to his sister (a man large enough for so tall a girl). Anthony takes the young lad (Prudence) under his wing when they go to London, introducing him around and sponsoring him at the gentleman's club; meanwhile, Robin and Letitia become rather intimate friends (Robin has fallen in love with the silly girl, so on a few occasions-- like a masked ball-- he manages to be her mysterious, romantic hero). Eventually, Prudence and Robin's father comes to town-- he's an adventurer and master of disguise, and perhaps a bit of a con man, so even they aren't sure whether or not they can believe him when he claims to be the long lost son and heir to a nearby estate.

The main plot idea is not that different from Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, but I found it stretching my credulity at times-- it's a bit hard to believe that a young man, however pretty, slightly-built, and convincing an actor, could pass for a female in high society for a great length of time. The struggles of Prudence as she attempts to pass for a young man are quite interesting, however; she attends the men's clubs with Anthony Fanshawe, and fortunately her father has taught her how to play cards and a few tricks with a sword-- but when she is gravely insulted by a man who has it out for her, she has to challenge him to a duel and even pretend to be excited about it - however much she may secretly quaver. The huge Anthony Fanshawe may seem to others to be slow and steady, a quiet man, but he is actually very clever, and discovers Prudence's secret before she realizes it - although of course they are both falling in love with each other. He takes care of her, first as a naive young lad new to the big city, and then as he realizes her predicament he takes care that she doesn't end up fighting the duel, and works to get Prudence to reveal herself to him and trust him.

Another fun, entertaining romp of a Heyer book - perhaps my least favorite of the ones I have read, due to my incredulity that everyone but Anthony Fanshawe was so dimwitted they couldn't see through the siblings' masquerade - but still an enjoyable read.

Title:	The Masqueraders
Author:	Georgette Heyer
Date published:	1928
Genre:	Adventure/Romance
Number of pages:	325
Notes:	loan from Catey

The Mysterious Benedict Society, by Trenton Lee Stewart

2010-12-25T17:30:00.056-05:00

Reynie Muldoon is a clever, talented, and well-read young man, which makes him a bit of an outcast at the orphanage where he lives. He's outgrown the schooling they offer, and the man in charge refuses to let him go to an advanced school, so he has a tutor-- and he and Miss Perumal spend their mornings reading the newspaper together and conversing in Tamil, which she is teaching him. One morning, they spot an ad in the paper addressed to talented children and offering "special opportunities." They are both excited by this, so Reynie goes to take the first in a series of tests to see what this mysterious opportunity might be. Reynie is the only child from his group to make it through the first round of testing, and then there are some odd circumstances surrounding the second test-- a girl who lost her pencil down the grate and who claims to have the answers to the test; after the very difficult test, which turns out to be a kind of puzzle (Reynie figures it out in part because he follows the directions carefully), Reynie meets two other children who have been through this series of tests, and when they compare notes Reynie figures out that the lost pencil and offers of cheating are also a strange part of this test. Finally, after a few more strange tests, they meet Mr. Benedict and are told why he recruited the four of them (the fourth lagged behind), and what it is he hopes they will help them with-- which is where they adventure really begins.

Mr. Benedict has identified hidden messages in the TV and radio broadcasts that are affecting most members of the society (he and his young recruits are not yet affected because they have an "unusually powerful love of truth," and thus their minds resist it), and he has determined that a child's voice is being used to send the message in a way that adults will not reject the message. This is the cause of the vague "Emergency" that society is obsessed with (frequently referenced in the newspapers), and Mr. Benedict says people are missing but because of a message about the missing only being "departed", those in authority are not concerned and won't listen to Mr. Benedict's warnings. Mr. Benedict has also figured out that the messages are being sent from the "Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened" on Nomansan Island. So, he asks his young recruits to go undercover as new students and figure out what is going on, and hopefully help him disrupt the plans of whoever it is that is sending these messages.

The book is full of little puzzles and riddles along the way, starting with the tests at the very beginning, which is very fun because they are presented in a way that the reader can also try to puzzle them out. The children communicate with Mr. Benedict and his small team using Morse code, and they get intentionally cryptic messages in reply-- in case anyone else intercepts the message-- but sometimes this means the children must puzzle over the answers. The other thing that I loved about this book is that the four children are so very different-- but all quite special and intelligent, and each essential to their mission succeeding. Reynie is great at puzzles and riddles and figuring things out; but his new friend Sticky has incredible retention (hence his nickname: everything "sticks")-- he reads everything, including encyclopedias, and remembers everything he reads. When they initially compare notes about the second, very tricky test they took, Sticky is embarrassed that he wasn't able to finish the test in time, but Reynie is amazed that Sticky actually knew the answers to the incredibly vague questions, which Reynie didn't know but figured out by the puzzle-like way the test was structured. Kate Weatherall is much more physical and athletic than either of the two boys; she carries around a pail with rope, magnets, flashlights, and other various useful things and she's quite clever with how she uses them. And the fourth member of the group, Constance Contraire is small and quite contrary-- sometimes even the other children aren't quite sure about her, although she does make the occasional contribution (she's the one who names the group), but they keep her along because Mr. Benedict insisted they could only succeed as a team of four. In the end, of course, her very obstinacy and contrariness is essential to their success. The differences between the children are clearly demonstrated by the details of the way each of them tackles the tests, puzzles, and mazes that they are given before they meet Mr. Benedict-- they each solve it in a completely different way, which is why they make such a great team together.

A delightful book with characters I would be glad to spend more time with. An engaging plot with a pretty satisfying resolution (while still leaving things open enough for sequels), along with some happy resolutions for these children who were pretty much on their own when Mr. Benedict recruited them. I'm a little older than the target audience, so I found it a little easier to solve the puzzles than a younger reader might, but that didn't detract much from the pleasure of the book. I also found the coded answer to a secret question unrelated to the plot long before I came across the answer it belonged to, but that was kind of fun, too.

Title:	The Mysterious Benedict Society
Author:	Trenton Lee Stewart
Date published:	2007
Genre:	Children's Literature
Series:	Mysterious Benedict Society
Number of pages:	485
Notes:	recommended by Karen and Natalie

Devil's Cub, by Georgette Heyer

2010-08-22T17:30:00.057-04:00

This book is somewhat of a sequel to These Old Shades (which I read recently), as it follows Dominic Alastair, Marquis of Vidal. The "cub" of the title, he is the son of the Duke of Avon (who was known as "Satanas" to some, hence the title) and the fiery Leonie, and Heyer presents Vidal as a pretty believable mixture of his parents. He has his father's lack of morals and devil-may-care attitude, but he has his mother's quick temper instead of his father's subtlety and deviousness. He gets in a bit of trouble because he wounds someone in a duel-- and, what apparently makes it worse, he didn't even bother to go through the proper forms, but had the duel right then and there in the house where they were gambling. His father is quite angry with him and decides to send him to France, but this is mostly because Leonie is upset rather than that Vidal may have killed a man. Since Vidal is used to having pretty much whatever he wants, he decides to take along with him the pretty bourgeoisie girl who he has been flirting with-- but, of course, things don't go exactly as planned.

That pretty girl is Sophia Challoner-- she doesn't really like Vidal quite as well as some of her other beaus, but she thinks she would very much like to be a Marquess; and then when Vidal describes to her the wonders of Paris, and how normal and accepted it is to be a mistress there, she is seduced by his talk and agrees to run off with him. However, the note with the details comes instead to the hand of Sophia's older sister, Mary-- who is less beautiful, but much more sensible, well-educated, and wise. She knows that this would ruin her sister (as Vidal cannot wish to marry her), and hatches a plan to disguise herself and go in her sister's place-- but it works a little better than she intended. Once she is finally exposed as not being Sophia, Mary simpers and pretends it was all a trick, with the hope of completely erasing any interest Vidal may have had in Sophia. However, he decides he may as well have one sister as another, and so he threatens her and carries off in his boat across to France. It is only there, when Mary is forced to defend herself with the pistol she managed to grab from Vidal's coat in the carriage, that Vidal discovers she is a "noblewoman" and he begins to treat her differently (although perhaps what really impresses him is that she actually shoots the pistol, as he comments that he knows only one other woman-- his mother-- who could).

Mary and Vidal begin to know each other and become friends; Vidal suggests that he and marry must wed to save her reputation, but she doesn't want to force him into this when he clearly doesn't care for her (yet). His esteem for her grows throughout their experience, and it becomes clear to Mary that she has actually loved him for a while before-- seeing him from afar, watching him court her sister, she somehow saw and loved the lonely boy that he was behind all the flair and bravado.

Mary doesn't want to take advantage of Vidal, or force him to marry beneath him and hurt him in the eyes of his family, so while he is falling more and more in love with her, she decides to run off and marry another man (the disaffected lover of a school-girl friend and Vidal's cousin Juliana, who they met up with in Paris). Of course, this sends Vidal and Juliana chasing after them, and by this time Leonie has heard of the whole affair and is chasing after her son to try to straighten out the mess without troubling the Duke (as if this were possible).

It's all very exciting and dramatic when they meet up, but when Mary overhears Leonie's comments about "such a one" that her son will have to marry, it solidifies her desire to slip away yet again and spare Vidal from this (although it should be quite clear to her by now that he loves her, if she were willing and dared to believe). She has hardly any money, but she takes a coach as far as she can, and when the hotel owner doesn't want to give her a room (since no reputable noblewoman would travel without baggage or a maid), a distinguished older gentleman staying at the hotel comes down and persuades them to give her a room, and then he proceeds to feed her and hear the whole story. The man is, of course, the Duke himself (and I couldn't help suspecting he must have somehow planned or engineered that she should come to that exact hotel, although how he managed it I don't know). He is quite entertained by her descriptions of his son and himself (quite accurate, although she probably wouldn't have dared say them to his face if she'd known who he was), and finally he reveals that he is a good friend of her uncle, the man who payed for her education, and that they have been working together to take care of things and preserve her reputation. And he seems to be quite intrigued by Mary's assertion (and fairly clear demonstration) that she can manage his unmanageable son.

Quite an entertaining, enjoyable romp. Once again, read the entire book over a single weekend.

Title:	Devil's Cub
Author:	Georgette Heyer
Date published:	1932
Genre:	Adventure/Romance
Number of pages:	310
Notes:	loan from Catey