Book Review: Gemini

Gemini by Sterling Children's
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When my partner and I first met, she was a long-time believer in the power of one’s zodiac signs to affect one’s life, and had done a bit of research on it, while I staunchly refused to countenance any such ideas. My Pentecostal parents raised me to believe that astrology (no matter which cultural version you prefer), numerology, palmistry, and tarot reading were all actively satanic, and even though, as an adult, I’ve stopped seeing Satan around every corner, I still used to dismiss astrology as ridiculous superstition, embraced only by the desperate or the gullible. There’s nothing like falling in love with someone who holds an opinion you once denounced to get a crash course in your own prejudices!! These days, I describe myself as a healthily skeptical seeker. Many things that were once considered just superstitions have since been proven to have a scientific basis; our ancestors simply observed and attempted to explain phenomena, without having access to the data necessary to puzzle out actual causes vs. effects. So I’m prepared to accept that a similar situation may be at work here, especially since some of the things I’ve read have really helped explain some issues that have arisen in my relationship with my partner over the years.

In some ways, I found these small books the most helpful on astrology I’ve ever tried. Ostensibly written for teens, they are written simply, but without any insulting tone, and though they don’t overwhelm with information, they definitely go deeper into the topic than most popular guidebooks or manuals, even most of those intended for adults. The range of relationship types—friendships, family members, love interests—are addressed, covering how each zodiacal sign is likely to interact with those who are the subjects of the individual books (in this case, Geminis). I really felt that I learned some useful information, I greatly enjoyed the illustrations, and I appreciated the fact that the writers acknowledged the fact that the stars are simply guides, and every human is an individual, that not everything they wrote may fit neatly into the readers’ lives!

The only thing I found genuinely unhelpful here was the fact that the date charts they provided—which should have been a very useful inclusion!—only covered a small cross-section of the population, those born from 1995-2006. The addition of just 3-4 additional pages could have covered a MUCH wider range, and even if these books WERE only being read by teens, those additional dates could have allowed them to understand more about their older and younger siblings, as well as their parents and grandparents. The writers did give a one-line aside, suggesting how to use the chart if the necessary dates weren’t listed, but it wasn’t very clear at all, and it took me ages to figure out what it meant; I have to imagine it would baffle many younger readers.

Still, I really like this series, and would recommend it to anyone who wants a more in-depth beginner’s introduction, for themselves or their children, to their signs and how they might have shaped their personalities. Unless you can find the books on a sale, as I did, they’re a bit expensive, so you probably wouldn’t want to pick up a complete set of them to learn more about the signs of others; a more comprehensive, all-in-one introductory volume would probably be more appropriate for that. But for the reader who just want to read up on one or two signs, they’re ideal, as they’re delightfully personal, and further personalizable, with some lined pages included on which to record the birthdates/signs of all one’s friends and family, allowing the owner to put greater effort into understanding and building better relationships with others. Those are skills that are important at any age, but really vital for teens who are attempting to grow out of the complete self-focus of childhood and into more outward-looking young adulthood. For that reason, if no other, I don’t think you have to fully believe in astrology to reap benefits from this book; the relationship advice it provides is just generally wise.


View all my reviews

"The Fry Chronicles": A Review

The Fry Chronicles: an Autobiography
by Stephen Fry

Great Britain is a very small island, and the number of great British actors is therefore a rather smaller club than the personnel involved in the bloated machinery of Hollywood. The result, in my opinion, is that autobiographies of British performers are easier and more satisfying to read, because the cast of characters is much more manageable. A lot of American actors' biographies that I've tried simply read like a "Who's Who" of people of whom I've never heard and names that I can't possibly keep straight. I didn't really have that problem with this one.

However, the real joys here are Stephen Fry's self-deprecating humor and honesty, the quirky way in which he marshals his thoughts, and his highly readable, thoroughly enjoyable writing style. He is the first to admit in these pages that he often comes off as smug, and actually is pompous at times. Moreover, his vocabulary is a truly formidable thing; I certainly encountered new words. Taken all together, these factors make Stephen Fry an acquired taste for some, and frankly unpalatable to others, but I'm a die-hard lover of Fry, and therefore of this book.

The Fry Chronicles is the actor/author's second installment in what I hope will eventually be a multi-volume autobiographical series. The first, Moab is My Washpot, covered his childhood up to the age of 17, and this one picks up from the first, extending to the year 1987. I anxiously await the publication of the continuing story.

Photo courtesy of Stephen Fry
Signature courtesy of IIVeaa

Once Upon a Flock--a Review

Once Upon a Flock: Life with My Soulful Chickens
by Lauren Scheuer

Okay, the current chicken-raising craze baffles me, I must admit. Although I was raised in a rural Indiana town, surrounded by cows and corn fields, I have never been a farm girl, not least because I have varying degrees of allergy to nearly every land-dwelling creature. However, I have many friends who are animal lovers and small-scale farmers, and I completely understand and respect the attention they lavish on their livestock. I have a more difficult time comprehending the people who decide to raise chickens in backyard suburbia. And yet, the moment I spotted this wonderfully-illustrated book in the library, I knew somehow that I had to read it, and I devoured it without pause in one sitting. Though I have not achieved Lauren Scheuer's degree of success, I am a fellow blogger, and I really enjoy the brief, pithy tableaux that characterize our infant genre. It is a writing style that Scheuer has certainly mastered.

Once Upon a Flock follows the author's journey with her unusual pets from fluffy, down-laden chicks through the trials of motherhood and chronic illness. (Who knew chickens could develop such diseases?) It definitely isn't all smooth sailing in the coop, but there is delightful humor to ease the dilemmas, and Scheuer managed to make me genuinely care about a group of squawking chickens. When I think of chickens, I normally think of crap everywhere, dust flying up that could be fatal to my lungs, and invasions of the damn mites with which most birds are replete. I couldn't believe a writer inspired me to emotionally invest in a flock of them, but she did it with ease, and I enjoyed this read very much. I can recommend it to readers of all kinds.

Sister Fidelma Goes to Whitby

Absolution by Murder
by Peter Tremayne

Honestly, I have very mixed emotions about this little mystery novel. It is set at and during one of the most important events in the history of Christianity in the British Isles, a famous local council known as the Synod of Whitby.

St Hilda, shown holding
her abbey at Whitby

Some of my favorite saints in the early British church were involved in this synod, the subject of which was to determine whether or not the Christians of Britain would fall into line with liturgical and ecclesiastical practices promulgated by Rome. I especially admire St. Hilda of Whitby, abbess of a monastic establishment that housed both men and women; she was an amazing and formidable figure, as were many of the others who participated in the council.

Ruins of the Abbey of Whitby
Photo by Hugh Chappell

Indeed, this whole event is one of my favorites in British history (even though I can easily wax romantically nostalgic about the elements of Celtic Christianity that began to disappear as a direct result), which confirms my Geek status for life. So I loved reading this novel about it, but felt very ambivalent about some aspects of the author's handling of it, and especially his characterizations of some of the historical figures involved.

As a mystery, this book is acceptable, about average, but the starring sleuth, Sister Fidelma of Ireland, is quite an enjoyable character. She is an attorney, of all things, a legal expert recognized in the medieval Irish courts. Who knew that women could do such things in 7th-century Ireland? Sister Fidelma was a lot of fun; the rest of the book was readable, but not exemplary.

A Few Facts About Fibonacci

The Man of Numbers: Fibonacci's Arithmetic Revolution
by Keith Devlin

I will freely admit that before reading this book, the only thing I knew about its subject was the famous "Fibonacci sequence" or "Fibonacci numbers," but for the record, I would like it to be noted that I knew about them LONG before Dan Brown launched The Da Vinci Code against the defenseless public.

Fibonacci's numbers often express themselves
in nature in extraordinary ways.
Photo by Alvesgaspar and modified by RDBury

So I learned a great deal while reading this one, and actually found it very interesting. First off, the man's name was actually Leonardo Pisano filius Bonacci, "Leonardo of Pisa, son of Bonacci," and "Fibonacci" is a contraction of the final phrase.  Obviously, the brain adjusts quickly to the author consistently referring to his subject as "Leonardo," but for the first few pages, I frequently thought, "Who?!", and had to reset my mind.

Secondly, despite what the subtitle might suggest, Devlin is very clear about the fact that Leonardo Pisano did not invent modern arithmetic. In this work, we travel through an overview of the development of our basic numeral system, i.e. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9, as it evolved in India, Persia, and the Arabic-speaking Middle East. We then encounter Leonardo, the son of a merchant from Pisa, whose father brought him along to a post in Islamic North Africa. There Leonardo first encountered the calculation systems that would evolve into algebra, geometry, and the four basic functions of modern arithmetic. Having finished his apprenticeship in mercantile trade, Leonardo brought these concepts back to Pisa, published them in a book designed to be accessible to other members of the merchant class, and quietly ignited a revolution in the mental structures of medieval Europe.

I felt that Keith Devlin overemphasized the need to prove his assertions about Leonardo a bit, but it was at least a refreshing change to read such a work from a scholar, who felt the need to offer some support for his work, rather than someone who provides enormous, fulsome statements as fact. I didn't understand every word of this book--anyone who knows me can testify that I am certainly no mathematician!--but I certainly came away with a knowledge of how much the Western world owes to one medieval thinker who became the conduit for math to countless generations.

I Actually Review a Book!

Reflections of Osiris: Lives from Ancient Egypt
by John Ray

Okay, I really enjoyed reading this book--as long-time followers will not be surprised to hear--so let me enumerate its weaknesses before I dive into any immoderate praise. The author attempted to tell the story of the history of ancient Egypt by making each new chapter a brief biography of an individual Egyptian--king, priest, or peasant--about whom we know something unusual, or the knowledge of whose existence has survived to modern times because an extraordinary document was discovered. As a result, the entire book feels somewhat disjointed, and the eponymous attempt to use Osiris (Egyptian god of the dead/underworld) as the common link for all those highlighted is weak, almost an afterthought in practice, though it works in principle if you already know a bit about the Egyptian theology of the afterlife.

Neith
(image by Jeff Dahl)

Now for the fun stuff. The scholarly author has an enjoyably readable style, and most importantly by far, I learned about a HOST of things of which I was previously unaware, and got much more detail about some things with which I was already familiar. So much so, in fact, that I lost a whole day researching Neith, patron goddess of the city of Sais, because of one passing reference in Ray's book that piqued my curiosity beyond endurance. Now that's MY kind of Egyptology read, especially since I've read enough on the subject by now that not just every book sparks a real quest for further detail like that anymore.

It's a lovely book, a quick read, and I can recommend it to those interested in the subject, from novices to armchair Egyptologists like me.

The Missing Review

People!  You will never believe the enormous oversight I have just discovered in my own reviewing history.  Fellow book bloggers, have you ever gotten so absorbed in the routine of reading and reviewing that you somehow forgot to ever write a review for one of the books that left the greatest impression on you of the whole year?!  Somehow, I managed to never review The Hunger Games!  Because I was taking part in The Hunger Games Read-Along at the time and had to post my review of a specific chapter, I seem to have somehow overlooked my usual habit of posting a full review for the book. Considering how much screen space I dedicated to it, however, I think we can consider my view of The Hunger Games well and truly explored--I found it fascinating and thought-provoking, and gave it 4.5 stars.  Having now corrected that mistake, let us dip once again into my Review Backlog Files.

April 10, 2012

Catching Fire

by Suzanne Collins

After seeing the recently released film of the first Hunger Games book, I was even more determined to read the rest of the trilogy ASAP (even though I'm sure I've got a few years to wait before THOSE movies are released).  I scarfed both of them down very quickly, staying up to unholy hours with each because I couldn't put either of them down until I finished.

Having now read this second book, I have to agree with the Tweet of one of my fellow book bloggers, which said that this book contains too much rehash of the first book.  After all, we go to another Hunger Games, we see the preliminary work of Cinna and Co. again, watch the Tributes settling into their domiciles again, being dangerously defiant before the Gamemakers again, and undergoing their training again. 

It seemed a bit lame to me at first, too, but I pretty much got over that when I reached the quite literally explosive ending, which was very effective and couldn't have happened at all if Collins hadn't taken us back into the arena.  Oh, the cliffhanger!

Reviewing My Way to Joy

Friends, unless I'm just going to lie to you all, I have to say that it's only Tuesday and already I've had a shitty week.  I hope and pray that it can only get better from here, that my doctors will continue to make progress in finally diagnosing my mystery illness, that my daughter will be able to overcome her new and worrisome addiction to playing games on my iPod Touch, and that I will stop feeling a bit like Chicken Little, running about screaming, "The sky is falling! The sky is falling!"  I'm going to take an important first, optimistic step toward this week looking up, and share another review from my Review Backlog Files, which always makes me feel like I've accomplished something worthwhile.  New posts instantly make me feel a bit more chipper, especially when you lovely people stop by and leave encouraging comments.  It's a beautiful circle of blogging friendship, really. 

*I'd like to teach the world to sing/
In perfect harmony* 

Ahem...sorry...moving on...

April 8, 2012

A Light in the Window

by Jan Karon

[I must warn you that there are SPOILERS in this review, but since the book was published in 1998, it's kind of fair game at this point, don't you think?]

So, the second of the Mitford books, and our sweet, kindly, fusty little vicar is engaged, of all things!  Or at least, by the end of the book he is, but there's an extraordinary amount of hemming and hawing about it before he and his lovely next-door neighbor finally get it sorted out.  In other words, when it comes to romance, Fr. Timothy is a scaredy cat!

Of course, you can hardly blame the man, as he's highly distracted by the machinations of a nauseating female parishioner.  She's recently widowed, and as she was never very fond of the poor blighter who was stuck with her for all those years, she's now determined to drag the poor old vicar into her bed by any means necessary!  Naturally, he would rather eat carpet tacks, and on top of everything else, he also has to find some way to keep her from driving the local diner out of business.  Never a dull moment for the harassed, well-meaning clergyman.

Honestly, these books are about 6 parts Mayberry, USA, 3 parts tent revival, and only one part believable plot, but they're soothing to read.  They're not total escapism--the characters do actually have some problems and heartaches--and though I didn't like this one as much as the first, I can still recommend it to anyone who needs something as cozy as an old bathrobe and fuzzy slippers after a long day in a busy, care-worn world.

A Review, or Back to Basics

Photo by Andewa

Yes, dear friends, despite a flood of posts lately about mental health, physical health (and the lack thereof), new favorite British comedies and the wonders of the fountain pen, I do consider myself a book blogger in the sense that I do read books--frequently! Constantly!--and I do review each one I finish, even if it takes me a while to get those reviews posted.  The blog is called "The Beauty of Eclecticism" BECAUSE I have all these varied interests, because I'm more than a "one-trick pony," but it's still nice to get back to basics every now and then and just review something.  Here's another golden oldie from the Review Backlog Files, the collection of hand-written reviews that I'm slowly getting transferred to the blog.  I hope you find it informative.

March 28, 2012

The Third Reich in Power

by Richard J. Evans

So, this is the second installment in Evans' trilogy, chronicling the Nazi movement from its antecedents to the unmitigated human tragedy it left in its wake before it was finally defeated.  The horrific saga of human depravity continues in this volume, as the author takes us inside the daily lives of Germans ruled by a newly triumphant Nazi party.

In reading about the Nazis' program and how it developed in The Coming of the Third Reich, I greatly appreciated the fact that, unlike so many historians these days, Richard Evans attempted to tell a single, unified story, presented in as chronological a fashion as possible.  Historical surveys tend to be heavily compartmentalized by subtopic--economic trends, cultural developments, social mores and so forth--and are only arranged chronologically within each of these categories.  It's a format that frankly annoys me, even though I can understand why it is useful or in some cases even necessary.  I so enjoyed the fact that the first volume of this trilogy was NOT arranged in that way.  Unfortunately, this one is arranged in precisely that fashion.

Still, I found that to be the book's only major detracting feature, and as I said, I can understand why Evans felt the subject would be too unwieldy otherwise.  This book is very thorough, and though it would no doubt be boring to those who really dislike non-fiction or have no interest in reading histories, I was absolutely spellbound by it.  Art, literature, films, music--virtually every aspect of human life, the Nazis attempted to control as much as they possibly could, even sex.  This book only covers the period between Hitler's rise to chancellor of Germany and the moment he began annexing other territories, so it really doesn't touch upon the Nazis' treatment of non-Germans, though it certainly covers the early development of their anti-Jewish policies.  The subtlety, the insidious and deceptive--even, at times, self-deceptive--nature of Nazi propaganda was breath-takingly terrifying, something I didn't fully understand until I read this book.  As in the first volume, the subject matter Evans has chosen to cover is chilling, but his handling of it is brilliant.

"The Coming of the Third Reich"

The next block of reviews from the backlog files represents a reading project that took up most of my spring this year, and captivated my brain the way few things have in quite a while.  It was certainly gruesome reading at times, and a warning from history par excellence, but as so many historians of sheer human lunacy have discovered, it has a terrifying, mezmerizing quality of its own, the account of a mass hysteria something like that which I imagine gripped the noose-wielding citizens of Salem, Massachusetts, who were victims as well, whether they realized it or not.

March 20, 2012

The Coming of the Third Reich

 by Richard J. Evans

This book possesses all the eerie, morbid fascination of a car crash that you can see coming from where you're sitting in your own car across the intersection, and since you know that there's nothing you can do to prevent it, you indulge your curiosity, telling yourself that you're doing so in order to give the police an accurate witness statement when they arrive.  Though you know full well what the outcome will be, you still experience the adrenaline rush and suspense of reading a thriller, or at least, I did.

Since my very first viewing of The Sound of Music at the age of about 10 (before which I'd been completely ignorant of Nazism), I have wondered where on earth this insane movement came from, and exactly what kind of occult powers it was able to exercise that allowed Hitler to surge into power, while the entire world stood by dumbfounded.  I was also curious to learn how Adolf Hitler cooked up his psychotic ideas about the Jews.  This is the book on the subject that I was waiting to read.

How disappointingly mundane the facts of the Nazi rise to power proved to be.  No magic--just Hitler and Goebbels discovering how to herd people's mental processes around like so many unruly cattle.  In early 20th-century Germany, and much of Europe generally, Hitler's antisemitism was unusual only in its level of vitriol.  Basically, the whole world just really was that gullible, and Hitler really was that bitter because no one had ever decided he was a genius and given him a glittering career as an artist.  How pathetic. 

Evans' account of the miserable tale, however, is masterfully written, and I can highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in this time period or just well-crafted histories.  Before you dive in, however, be aware (and the author points this out in the foreword) that this volume covers only the period up to Hitler's election as chancellor of Germany; this is a trilogy, each section of which can stand on its own, in my opinion, if you're only interested in reading about one specific period of Nazi history.  However, I recommend the whole experience, especially if you're fairly new to certain portions of it, as I was.  Chilling, but very eye-opening.

A Review of "At Home in Mitford"

Another review from the files for you today, and one that was particularly satisfying when I was finally able to bury it in my Victory Garden.  Why, you may ask, was I so especially thrilled with myself when I actually finished this book?  First of all, it was the first (and thus far only) book I'd read for Book Dragon's Lair's Getting Lost in a Comfortable Book challenge.  But more importantly, this was my FOURTH ATTEMPT to get into and all the way through this book.  I don't know what stopped me the first three times; I'm just pleased that I finally managed it.

March 8, 2012

At Home in Mitford

by Jan Karon

I really LOVED this book.  I sort of have to laugh at myself for loving it, considering that it's a little meandering, that one of the main characters is a little annoying, and that the whole "town that time forgot" theme is MORE than a little improbable.  But I loved it all the same.  It's just so comfy and cozy and wholesome.  Reading it is kind of like spending an evening soaking in a bubble-laden bath, snuggling up in flannels and hand-knitted socks before a lovely fire, and then slipping away to sleep between cool, clean sheets.  In other words, it doesn't get much snugglier than this book.

Fr. Timothy is an Episcopal priest, the rector of Lord's Chapel in the hills of Mitford, North Carolina.  The tiny southern town has its requisite share of odd and quirky "characters," beautiful gardens and small shops.  "Where everybody knows your name" kind of thing.  There's a bit more Evangelicalism in the book than I would prefer, but I still enjoyed the discussions of liturgical Episcopalianism.  Like so many other things in Mitford, a visit to Lord's Chapel is like using a time machine, with its portrait of the Madonna and Child and its regular application of incense.  Really, that's one of the nicest things about the whole experience.

On a personal note, I found Fr. Tim's struggles to adjust to his diagnosis of diabetes heartening, as I'm still battling with that same adjustment myself.  He gave me some hope to keep trying.

A Review of "The Casual Vacancy"

The Casual Vacancy

by J.K. Rowling

I finished this book in a mad dash at 4:00 a.m. this morning.  It is now nearly 10:00 p.m., and after giving myself the whole day to process it, I have to sit down and review it while it's still a fresh wound on my mind.  I don't use the word "wound" in an entirely perjorative sense; after all, when a surgeon recently repaired a hernea for me, I was very grateful to have him do so.  However, the large incision he made in the process was certainly a wound nonetheless.  And honestly, I'm still not sure how grateful I am to J.K. Rowling for the experience of The Casual Vacancy, but certainly not as grateful as I was to my surgeon.  Of that I have no doubt whatever.

All of us knew going in that there would be no magic or centaurs or floo powder in this book.  We wished we were wrong about that, but we knew that we weren't, and that all the publicity for this book had pointedly reminded us over and over that this is Rowling's first book solely for ADULTS.  Yet my overriding impression throughout most of the book was that this book was for Rowling what Equus was for Daniel Radcliffe--it was as if she wanted to shock, to prove that she does know stronger swear words than, "Bloody hell!", and is aware that teenagers actually have sex every day all over the world.

The language of this book is extremely crude.  I never met a swear word I didn't love, and I routinely ruffle people's feathers before I remember that not everyone employs the full force of the English language in ordinary, dispassionate conversation.  So, I really wasn't that bothered by the language, but I know many, many people who would never have survived past the first chapter or two.  They would have been desperate to bleach their brains.  The much greater challenge for me was the actual content of the book.  Nearly everything that took place from start to finish was on a scale of negativity ranging from unpleasant to totally horrific.  Until the very end, there's hardly a single character that you can actually like.  It is just an unrelenting onslaught of hateful human thought and behavior and depressing, tragic events.  If the book had been by almost ANY other author, I would've given up in disgust very early on.

Here's why I didn't.  There were several moments in the last three or four Harry Potter books at which I thought, "Oh, my gosh!  She's finally let the whole thing get away from her.  My favorite series is about to jump the frigging shark!!"  She always pulled it off in the end.  After the genuinely epic Harry Potter saga, I had learned to trust J.K. Rowling.  Implicitly.  So I barrelled on through this tale of woe, often thinking to myself, "I am used to your writing always ending with an absolutely life-affirming larger message.  How on EARTH are you going to manage that in these last 100 pages, Jo?!"

I'll be damned if she didn't manage it in the end.  I was absolutely gob-smacked that she pulled it out of the fire, but she did.  I kept thinking that in order to try and put a decent ending on this long, drawn-out tragedy, she'd have to make people change so much and behave so completely out of character that she'd just be blowing sunshine up our asses, and it would be completely unbelievable.  But let us never forget that when all is said and done, the woman can WRITE!  My God, she can write, and she managed it in the end.  I think the only question will be whether that ultimate payoff will be big enough for others who wade through all the misery to get to it.  For me, it was--barely.

Review of "Knocked Out By My Nunga-Nungas"

Another of my seriously back-dated reviews, this one for the "Just Contemporary" YA challenge that I've undertaken this year (because my Twitter friend, Basically Amazing Books, is hosting it, and she's several colors of awesome). Hope you enjoy it!

March 8, 2012

Knocked Out By My Nunga-Nungas

by Louise Rennison

Another of my complete fluff YA books.  (Not all YA books are complete fluff by ANY means, let me point out; THIS series, however, certainly is.)  Thankfully, Rennison went back to what this series does best on this one, cutting WAY back on the "things that have never happened to an average person in the history of the world" scale, so I enjoyed book #3 much more than I did its predecessor.

There were some truly, wonderfully funny moments in this one.  As always, Georgia Nicholson's toddler sister Libby stole the show, leaving me laughing so hard at one point that I was afraid I would either wake up MY sleeping toddler or pass out from trying to keep quiet!

In books like these, I'm not accustomed to the author TRYING to make you dislike the boyfriend that the girl has spent three books trying to land, leaving you HOPING that the girl will break up with him and go for the other guy, instead, but that seems to be where we're headed here.  Georgia's "Sex God" (Robbie) is an indecisive, wishy-washy, annoying "wet weed" (as Georgia's calls his ex, Lindsey), and she really needs to dump him and go out with Dave the Laugh, in my opinion.  The Sex God is too old for her, anyway, so she really doesn't have any fun hanging out with him and his college-aged Bohemian friends. 

Ah, the trials of being 14--much more fun to read about than they were to endure.

A Review of "Unnatural Death"

Ah, a day without Lord Peter Wimsey is like a day without food for your brain...

March 8, 2012

Unnatural Death

by Dorothy L. Sayers

I cannot believe that a mystery writer can make it ridiculously obvious from the very beginning who the murderer is, make other vital information so clear that I figured it out 150 pages before the detectives did, and make one of the primary opening characters turn out to be utterly annoying and completely inconsequential by the end, and yet STILL keep me riveted--and even still keep my GUESSING!!!--to the very end.  How is that even POSSIBLE?!  I knew who did it, I knew the person's dirty little secrets, I even knew HOW the person did it, and yet Sayers would throw me a little curve ball in plot or wording once in a while that would leave me going, "Well, now, wait a minute...maybe I was wrong..."  It was infuriating, but still a great deal of fun.

The more I read of Lord Peter Wimsey, the more attached to him I become.  He just grows on you, like some sort of good-natured, nonsense-babbling, insidious lichen or ivy.

I Heart Judi Dench! : A Review...

I simple ADORE Dame Judi Dench, and she IS an actual dame of the British Empire.  I think we all know that NONE of us want to get me started on the British honors system (a.k.a. that deal where the Queen goes around "knighting" people every year), the intricacies of how it works and the fact that most people who get referred to as "sir" or "dame," especially by us Americans, don't actually have a right to the title, but sufficeth to say that DAME Judi Dench DOES have a right to the title, and personally, I think she earned it.  She sweated in a lot of Shakespearean costumes and labored to give a lot of theater-goers their money's worth to get that title.  On with the review.

 

And Furthermore

by Judi Dench
(as told to John Miller)

March 8, 2012

 Celebrity memoirs often seem like they will be simply fascinating until you actually start reading them, and then they all develop the same problem--they talk endlessly about a HUGE group of people, none of whom has the reader ever heard before.  Other actors, movie executives, agents, members of various filming crews, acting instructors and countless others are all described in excruciating detail, along with a rough sketch of their impact, for good or ill, upon the person telling his or her own story.  While this book does not entirely escape that pitfall, a couple of mitigating factors made it far better about the issue than most I've read.

First off, as we all know, Britain is quite a small island, so the number of its actors with careers as long-lasting and broad-ranging as Judi Dench's forms a pretty exclusive club.  When we take into account the fact that she has spent most of her career doing Shakespeare on stage in companies like the RSC (Royal Shakespeare Company) and the Old Vic, that club gets even much smaller.  So a number of the names she dropped at least rang a bell for me, and some were very familiar, indeed.  Secondly, Judi Dench is just so entertaining, and she so infectiously enjoys life, that I happily read her telling me stories about complete strangers!

Best of all, in this book she finally dedicated an entire chapter just to talking about television series in which she has starred, something she didn't really do in previous publications.  That chapter was all too brief, in my opinion, since I simply ADORE As Time Goes By, but it was a lot of fun to read, all the same.

I Review, Therefore I Am

Good evening, my dears.

I must admit at the outset that I've had a rather depressing week, with pain, nausea, and pills that may very well hurt more than they help.  After days of this, I've decided to shout a big "PISS OFF!" to everything that could be depressing me right now, and write you all a review of a lovely book, instead.  Shall we?

Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey: The Lost Legacy of Highclere Castle

by The Countess of Carnarvon

If you haven't watched any of Downton Abbey, or have no idea what Downton Abbey even is, may I first congratulate you on finding so remote a rock under which to live for the past two years.  That aside, Downton Abbey is a "period piece" which is filmed, at least in part, on location at Highclere Castle, the seat of the Earls of Carnarvon for several generations now.

For those of you who may have some interest in Egyptology, yes, we are talking about THAT Carnarvon, the family that was to have such a crucial role in Howard Carter's discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun in the early 20th century.

Written by the current Countess, this book chronicles the setbacks and ultimate triumphs of one of her predecessors, another woman who married into the title and all that came with it.  (Such books are often ghost-written, of course, but I don't believe this one was; after all, the author is speaking--with great authority--about her own home in which she currently resides, and her acknowledgements make it very clear that she delved into the necessary archives herself.)  Almina was the 5th countess and wife of the 5th earl, the man who poured so much of his own blood and sweat, not to mention a great deal of his money, into excavations of the Valley of the Kings, so that he and Howard Carter could enter the tomb together as partners when King Tut was finally found.  Unfortunately, Carnarvon didn't live more than a few weeks after the dig began, but he did have his moment of triumph.

Still, the center of the story is Lady Almina and how she kept her husband's estate running smoothly through "wars and rumours of wars," and in all honesty, I found much of her story more compelling than the tapestry of fiction that has been woven around her house by the BBC.  I have enjoyed very much watching Downton Abbey and am anxiously awaiting the next season, but I have to wonder if I wouldn't have enjoyed it even more if they had included less of the fanciful and more of the facts of Highclere Castle's life.  I avidly read my way through this book, made quick work of it, really, and can recommend it to anyone who likes love stories, Egyptology, adventures, period pieces, Victorian or Edwardian history, or just wants a decent, simple, enjoyable read.

Review of "On the Bright Side, I'm Now the Girlfriend of a Sex God"

On the Bright Side, I'm Now the Girlfriend of a Sex God

by Louise Rennison

This entire series of books is absolute nonsense, and the only reason to read them is because they're hilarious and fun.  They're full of a whole bunch of total nothing, just the everyday sorts of things that can happen to poor, unsuspecting teenage girls as they go about their everyday lives, with the added joy of British English mixed in to complete my happiness.  Georgia, the main character, is obnoxious to her parents to a level that I could never stand even when I WAS a teenager, let alone now that I've become a parent, but I've known real kids who were even worse, so at least it's authentic.

HOWEVER, I didn't like this second installment nearly as well as I did the first, for the very reason that the strong points of the series faltered and the flaws got seriously magnified.  Quite improbable and unrealistic things started happening, and Georgia's bad attitude achieved new levels of annoyance.  Her parents set her such a bad example of behavior that I couldn't totally blame her, though, and before it was over I was pretty much tired of everybody but the cat and Georgia's baby sister, Libby, who is by far my favorite character in the entire series.

So, this one was kind of a dud.  But, I had to read it, anyway, so that I'd know what was going on in the next one, and because it was part of one of my reading challenges.  That somewhat disagreeable task over with, we can now move on to other things.

Review of "In the Garden of Beasts"

In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin

by Erik Larson

This book is the story of the poor man who got roped into taking on the job of U.S. ambassador to Germany during the early years of Hitler's regime, when the archlunatic was still just chancellor under the blundering and ineffectual presidency of the aged von Hindenburg.  It also spans the death of said president, along with the "Night of the Long Knives" and other horrifying events of Hitler's eventual rise to unquestioned power, during all of which, William E. Dodd held the most unenviable ambassadorial post available in American diplomacy.

The tale is told through the vehicle of the activities and reactions of the thoroughly human Dodd family, and believe it or not, it's truly a thriller in its own way.  Since we all know the unadulterated evil that is brewing in a way that none of the Dodds could have at that time, I read this book in much the same way that I watched Titanic, i.e. wanting to stand up and shout, "Oi! There's an iceberg coming!" the whole time.

The only really frustrating thing about Larson's style is that he--also aware of the momentous times in which the Dodds were living--constantly pulled the "but even WORSE was lurking just around the corner!!" stunt, trying to keep suspense at fever pitch, and pretty soon it just became rather corny.  I kept expecting to hear an invisible orchestra burst out playing dramatic notes: "Bump bump BUMMMMM!!!!"  So that got old quickly.

Otherwise, however, I actually was fascinated by this book, found it an exciting read, and was challenged to look into a few other books, especially the novels of Christopher Isherwood, and Richard J. Evans'  3-volume history of the Third Reich (on which, much more is soon forthcoming).

Review of "They Came to Baghdad"

They Came to Baghdad

by Agatha Christie

Accustomed as I am to thinking of all of Agatha Christie's novels being set in the Gilded Age or the Roaring '20s, I was astonished at first to find out that this one takes place in the thoroughly war-weary Europe of 1951.  (Indeed, I had no idea until I read the blurb at the end that Agatha Christie and I only missed being in the world at the same time by one year.  Elvis and I only missed each other by TWO WEEKS, and I've always felt rather cheated about it, even though he does annoy me mightily.  Sorry--I digress.)

The basic idea here is that a large, disparate cast of characters--primarily, a rather silly young woman--find themselves entangled in international intrigues.  Although this is only the second Agatha Christie book I've ever read, I have to say that I don't think this one is typical Christie fare, so devoted fans might be disappointed in it.  It focuses so heavily on the evil, pointless futility of war that it almost turns into a sermon near the end.

That said, however, I have to admit that I liked this book, though I really didn't expect to at first, because the heroine got on my nerves.  I've never had much use for people who habitually lie just to liven up their everyday, hum-drum lives, and Victoria Jones is the queen of the recreational liars.  However, the author quickly taught me how useful that character "flaw" can be to a woman who accidentally finds herself embroiled in espionage!

I did manage to figure out who was "behind it all" before Victoria did, which is always my main criterion for whether or not I "succeeded" in reading a mystery novel, but I think I really should have figured it out even before I did.  This book was a fascinating glimpse into Agatha Christie's mind, into the view of the Cold War world.  I'd be interested in reading her diaries or letters from the time, to find out what she was thinking as she crafted the plot.  Either way, I enjoyed it, and at least the heroine didn't do many of the stupid things that so annoy me in a lot of other books.  She's bright and very quick at thinking on her feet, even if she isn't fond of veracity.

Too Much Book, Not Enough Blog, or Review of "Whose Body?"

Have you ever found yourself so engrossed in books that it was difficult for you to take a break from READING them long enough to BLOG about them?  That's the state of distraction I've been in the past few weeks.  I've just been DEVOURING books like a starving man who has stumbled upon a smorgasbord.  Huge, non-fiction tomes, tiny little novels, all have been gobbled up lately into the swirling vortex that is my new-found reading appetite.  I'm already over 30% finished with my Goodreads goal for the year, despite the fact that it's only March, and my Goodreads "currently reading" shelf is displaying four books at the moment.  Don't ask me what happened; I've always been an avid reader, but suddenly, I simply cannot get enough of the written word.

ANYWAY, the fact that I've been reading a non-fiction trilogy lately, the last two volumes of which are each over 900 pages long, has slowed me down enough that I can breathe for a minute and continue chipping away at my reviewing backlog.  Thus, on with a review, what, what?

Whose Body?

by Dorothy L. Sayers

 I really enjoyed this mystery novel, the first in the "Lord Peter Wimsey" series, though the jury was out for most of it on whether I liked Lord Peter himself (and therefore the whole book) or not.  He's one of the first of what became a very familiar pattern--the rich young English nobleman who makes a hobby of investigating crime and gets away with it because of who he is and how powerful his family is.  His mother gets into the act as often as possible to keep her life from getting dull, and his older brother, the responsible one who inherited the family titles and estate, thoroughly disapproves of the whole business, to no avail whatsoever.

In this first novel, the case in hand quickly blossoms into two cases, one a missing business magnate and the other the random appearance of a naked corpse in someone's bathtub.  As usual, the police officer assigned to the corpse case is a complete imbecile, but unlike in all the Sherlock Holmes books, the cop's idiocy gets exposed before the end.  Meanwhile, another police officer, a friend of Lord Peter's, actually has a brain, and Lord Peter uses him as his side-kick/lackey/Watson.

Wimsey himself is very aptly named, if his conversation is anything to go by.  He's so full of random quotations that he's barely intelligible at times, speaks with a rather annoying drawl, and really did not make a favorable impression on me at all until he started demonstrating post-World War I "shell shock" (PTSD).  That factor humanized him in a very dramatic and effective way.  It didn't occur until about 2/3 of the way through the book, and it wasn't until then that I was truly hooked.  Fortunately, I got invested in the next in the series much more quickly (as future reviews will demonstrate).