Author: booknutgirls

booknutgirls http://thebooknutdotcom.wordpress.com I read. I blog. I sell books. I chauffeur my kids. What more do you need to know?

These is My Words

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Laura mentioned she liked this one a while back; I looked for the specific post, but granted not very hard, so I didn’t find what excatly she wrote about it that led me to check it out. At any rate, I’m glad I did. It’s a beautiful, simple book. There really isn’t much to say about it: it’s a fictional (based on one of the author, Nancy Taylor’s, ancestors) journal of a woman, Sarah Prine, from 1881 to 1901. There isn’t anything really remarkable about the story; it’s just her jottings from life. Yet, she is one remarkable woman. She is honest, just, fair, hard-working, admirable in just about every way. And yet, she isn’t lofty or unreachable. Sarah is a woman I’d love to know and spend time with. And I was with her through all her trials, her marriages (she was married twice; her first husband died!) and loves and births and deaths. And I admire a writer who can capture that.

Books like this are wonderful for the soul.

Books for Birthing

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I’m about two weeks away from my due date; the fourth girl we will have brought into this world. Don’t ask. We don’t do boys.

I’ve found myself thinking lately (along with the usual WHEN is this baby going to FINALLY come?) about the book I’m going to bring to the hospital with me. I’ve never thought about this before, yet I’ve always ended up wtih a book in the birthing room. And hubby’s either read it to me, or it’s been there for me to pick up afterward. And, yes, I remember each of the books. The Chosen, by Chiam Potok for my first, Megan. Is God a Republican or Democrat?, Tony Campolo (it was a book group selection) for my second, Caitlyn. And Lonsome Gods, by Louis L’Amour for Alison, my third.

So, being the person I am, I’m actually giving some forethought to this rather than just grabbing any book off the shelf. Though, given that labor is what it usually is, I might just do that anyway.

Any suggestions?

Dragonsong, Dragonsinger and Dragondrums

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I first read these two sometime growing up. Don’t remember exactly when; but the images of Pern stuck with me for years. I picked up these two again (they’re by Anne McCaffrey, as if the author of the Pern books could be anyone else) because my oldest is interested in dragon books, and I remembered these, but not well enough to recommend them without at least a cursory re-reading. However, what started out as a cursory reading (so M would have something to read over Spring Break) ended up completely engulfing and devouring my time. After all these years, I still love these books. (Whatever did I do without them?) Menolly’s plight in Dragonsong still tugs at my heart, and I still find myself cheering for her by the end of Dragonsinger. I didn’t want the books to end. They did, though, and now it’s time to pass them on to another soul who will hopefully love the stories as much as I do.

So, because M saw it in the bookstore, we bought Dragondrums. I’d forgotten about that one, and I finally got around to re-reading it (halfway through I realized that it was familiar, and figured I’d read it before). It’s not as good as the other two, but it finishes up the story quite nicely. Actually, what struck me is how well these three books fit into the other Pern series we own: Dragonflight and Dragonquest. We used to have White Dragon, too, but I decided that wasn’t worth owning.

The Orange Trees of Versailles

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I must be getting impatient with youth fiction books.

This one sounded great in the Chinaberry write up (“this delightful historical novel delves into the delicate complexities of royal life and vibrantly brings to life the day-to-day goings on in 17th century France. A truly great read!”): a 14-year-old girl with an excellent nose and memory for smells gets appointed to make perfumes for King Louis XIV’s mistress the Marquise de Montespan. Said girl discovers a plot to poison the queen, foils said plot (entirely on her own — is it really believable that a respected doctor would listen to 1) a new servant and 2) a youngish girl, even if her sense of smell is impeccable??), and then ends up happily ever after in the queen’s service while said marquise gets shunted off to the side.

Could have been a great book. Maybe something was lost in the translation — Annie Pietri is French — but whatever the reason, it really didn’t grab my attention. Nothing about the book. Not even the pages and pages and pages and pages of smells that were described. Not even the murder plot (there was absolutely no suspense or build up). Not even the “oh wait the king knew my dead mother so we can all live happily ever after” ending.

Sigh. I guess the point of catalog write ups is to make you want to buy a book, even if it isn’t all that great. Thank heavens for libraries.

Talk to the Hand

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Okay, I admit this: Lynne Truss’s Talk to the Hand is really one, long, extended whine about how terrible, awful and RUDE people (especially those under the age of 20) are today. Ah, but it’s a terribly funny whine. And I agreed with it. And it almost pulled me out of the 9th-month pregnancy funk that I’ve been stuck in for a while. Therefore, in my book, it’s a good book.

There’s really nothing new about this book, though. Except maybe for her blaming the telephone (rather than the television or the internet) for the downfall of society (she makes a really good case for it, too). And she really doesn’t have any “pointers”, except for maybe, hopefully, if we all pretend to be polite to one another than maybe we will actually want to be polite to one another. Whatever. The point of the book isn’t to change the world. It’s really to amuse those of us who agree with Ms. Truss that the world is going to hell in a handbasket, and by the way, why can’t you just say THANK YOU once in a while?

The Queen’s Fool

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This was another one of my Chinaberry reads. I guess I was in the mood for some historical fiction, and (surprisingly — I never cease to be amazed) our library had this one by Phillipa Gregory.

It’s set in 16th century England — the time of Queen Mary and Elizabeth vying for the throne. The main character is a girl, Hannah, who also happens to be a Jew (running, with her father, from the Inquisition in Spain) who has the Sight — she can see visions of things to come. She, mostly inadvertently, gets involved with Lord Robert Dudley, who begs her off as a fool to King Edward before he dies. From there, she becomes a companion/servant/fool to Queen Mary and from there a companion to Princess Elizabeth. You see Hannah grow up over the years — following her relationships not only with her masters, but with her betrothed (an arranged marriage). She’s an incredibly sympathetic character, traditional enough to make her fit into the time period, but modern enough to relate to her and her plights and predicaments.

I think I liked this book solely because of Hannah; there weren’t many other sympathetic characters in the book (many interesting ones, though). It’s not a pretty book. It could have very easily gone the way of the train wreck — everyone just falling apart and it’s not very enjoyable to watch. Gregory doesn’t spare the details of life, war, the purging of heretics, tragedy, sex, gossip, animosity, and love/lust at this time. However, she does it in a way which actually adds to the book and makes it more believable. And all the decadence at court was a great juxtaposition to Hannah and her innocence and trust and charity.

In the end, I couldn’t put it down.

No god but God

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I actually haven’t ever really been interested in Islam as a religion, or culture. I’m sure we discussed it in my Religions of the World class at college, but I have absolutely no memory. That said, some time back I realized that if I’m going to be an intelligent, informed person these days (at least on a world scale) and if I’m ever going to understand the reason people want to strap bombs to themselves and blow up others, I ought to learn a bit about the religion that’s driving the events in that part of the world.

No god but God: The Origins, Evolution and Future of Islam by Reza Aslan is the perfect book for that. It’s essentially a history book — he begins at the beginning with Muhammad and follows the history of Islam up through current times. I’m not sure if it’s at all accurate — having no other exposure to the history of Islam — but given that Aslan’s devoted his life to this (aside from being a Muslim) I’m pretty confident he’s not spouting tales. Anyway. I found myself fascinated by the origins of Islam, the prophet Muhammad in particular. I kept drawing parallels with my religion, and wondering what (if any) place the Muslims have in God’s plan. Needless to say, it made for some interesting discussions with my husband. The middle section — after Muhammad dies and Islam dissolves into several competing factions — weren’t as interesting. I’m still not sure if I’ve got Sunni, Shi’ah and Sufi Muslims all straight in my mind. But I guess it’s helpful to know that the conflicts between the three (or more) factions aren’t new. The last two chapters are worth reading for anyone (even if you already have a pretty thorough knowledge of the rest of the stuff) — that’s where he gets down to what’s going on currently. And he has a fascinating take on it. In short: Muslims are fighting internally for control of the religion and how best to interpret an Islamic state. The West just happens to be a bystander. Not to make the events of 9/11 seem less, but, in his view (if I got it correctly), they just happened to be a byproduct of a bigger conflict, not a direct assault on the west in general and the US in particular. What is more important to al-Qaeda is the “near enemy” (as Aslan puts it): the unbelievers (or those who don’t believe the way they do).

He spent a good deal of space talking about how an Islamic democracy isn’t an oxymoron. Essentially, Islam is supposed to be able to be diverse. And moral. Which both support democratic ideals. However, extremists (like al-Qaeda) refuse to see that point. He’s actually very harsh on the factions of Islam (throughout history) that have suppressed the various individual sects. He blames colonization, and the US for some of it, but mostly he points to the limited interpretations that have been held by a few (not the majority) throughout history as warping the ideals of Islam.

In the end, though, Aslan’s hopeful that something good will come out of all this bloodshed.

Fascinating.

The Grand Tour

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I was looking forward to this sequel by Patricia Wrede and Caroline Stevermer (the first being Sorcery and Cecelia). I loved the first, but in retrospect, I think I loved it more for the writing method (the Letter Game) than for the story. And it just didn’t hold up this time. Oh, don’t get me wrong: the story was fun (chasing a mad murderer wizard who wants to reinstate an Emperor across Europe while on their wedding trip), but it wasn’t nearly as engaging as the first book. The two distinct writing styles really came through this time. Stevermer’s character would spend pages talking about wedding bliss, or opera, or getting used to be a Marchioness and then Wrede’s character would swoop down, write a couple of pages and advance the plot tons. I could just imagine Wrede saying to herself, “Crap. Gotta move the plot along again.” It just made for a very uneven book. Granted, it all picked up in the end, which was good (a good ending can redeem a less-than-great book, just like a bad ending can kill). Still, I think next time I’ll stick with the first book, and forget the sequel.

Vanity and Vexation

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So, I was happily engaged in reading the Deptford Trilogy when the libarary called and said I had a couple of inter-library loan books waiting. And since they aren’t renewable, I reluctantly pulled myself away from the Robertson Davies book and picked up this one by Kate Fenton.

And I’m glad I did. The premise: take Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and not only update it, but completely switch the roles. Mr. Darcy becomes Mary Hamilton, big-shot movie director (who, incidentally, is filming a mini-series of Pride and Prejudice). Mr. Bingly is the lead actress Candia Mayhew. Lizzy is Nick Brevan, a witty, slovenly, novelist down on his luck. And Jane is Nick’s ex-brother-in-law John Simmonds: handsome, poor, yet with a heart of gold. And the rest of the characters were there: from Wickham and Lydia to Charlotte and Mr. Collins (even Lady DeBerg) and Colonel Fitzwilliam. Sounds trite? It could have been.

Aside from the language (I probably shouldn’t complain so much about the excessive use of the f-word in adult novels, but after a while it does grate on me. And I think it’s unecessary…), it was a funny, engaging and thoroughly enjoyable. Fenton did a good job updating the characters and situations and keeping it fresh while also keeping the spirit and the basic outline of the original. For one who loves the original, it was a lot of fun seeing how everything unfolded (even though I knew exactly what was going to happen).

In the end, it was worth the time away from the Davies book.

The Illryian Adventure

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I found the perfect antidote for long and disappointing adult novels: great little works of youth fiction. In any other circumstance, I probably would have decided this little book by Lloyd Alexander wasn’t really that great, but in this case it was exactly what I needed. It was short, plot-driven, full of adventure and thankfully lacking in the language and sex departments. It had a great, strong, fun heroine. And it was an amusing little tale. Not a deep or profound book by any means. But, enjoyable.

And maybe I’ll even be willing to try some adult fiction again. I was feeling adventurous at the library on Friday — I picked up a Phillipa Gregory historical fiction novel and the Deptford Trilogy by Robertson Davies. The hard part now is figuring out which one to read first.