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Mmmm... beauty and the beast, where the beast is a vampire. How intriguing is that? McKinley's writing is always enjoyable, and this book is no exception. Sunshine is a baker who one day reaches the tipping point, and realizes she is fed up with her mundane life at the coffeehouse (where almost all her friends and acquaintances are from), and goes out to the lake. This choice leads to more dangerous choices. To situations most humans would not come out of alive. But Sunshine does -- and brings with her a vampire, the worst of the Others. How is that possible? Can she control her own abilities? What are the desires of her heart?

One of the few people Sunshine knows outside the bakery is her landlady, Yolande. Who happens to be a wardskeeper (someone who is really good at making wards to keep people safe and has earned this honored title). Sunshine is keeping secrets from everyone she loves with nobody to talk to, and one day her seemingly helpless old landlady comes out for a chat. Yolande speaks Sunshine's secrets to her, in such a way that makes Sunshine feel safe and cared for. Keeping secrets from those we love is hard -- and something I'm glad I don't have to do often (although I keep reading books and watching shows about people who do ...). But to have someone who already knows your secrets -- that is truly a gift. Someone who not only knows your secrets but still trusts you and relates to you without fear or disgust. Someone who has their own secrets, but is willing to share those. Hmmm... in the middle of so many questions and fear there can be a safe relationship or two.

Title:	Sunshine
Author:	Robin McKinley
Date published:	203
Genre:	Horror
Number of pages:	405
Notes:	Repeat reading

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In a world where stars have denizens known as luminaries, Sirius, the dog-star, is on trial for destroying another luminary and misusing a powerful Zoi. Because the details are hazy, Sirius is punished by being sent to Earth in the form of a dog to look for the missing Zoi that fell somewhere to England. There, he is adopted by Kathleen, a young Irish girl who is living with her uncle's family because her father is in prison in Ireland. In dog form, Sirius grows from a puppy into a dog and learns to understand English, and carefully begins to search for the missing Zoi. As he does, he becomes more acquainted with the beautiful and surprisingly powerful Earth, with all its strange and wonderful children, and Sol, the luminary of Earth's solar system. It's a wonderful story told from a dog's perspective, but there's also so much more because of the larger vision of a cosmos inhabited by effulgent beings which are something like angels.

In some ways, this book offers a wonderful picture of incarnation. A luminous, powerful being is sent to Earth in the flesh and blood form of a helpless puppy. And even though Sirius is so powerful in his natural state, he is limited by his new form-- especially when he is a puppy. He has both a dog nature and a green, powerful nature that doesn't quite fit into his dog body. But he is also able to learn many things from being a dog; one thing that got Sirius into trouble during the trial was his horrible temper, and as a dog he has to learn to control himself-- partly because the humans have power over him and could have him destroyed, but more often because he doesn't want to make things worse for Kathleen, who he quickly comes to love. As a dog, he also learns to read people-- which ones are kind and likely to give a dog scraps, and which ones are cold and heartless, likely to kick a dog (such as Duffie, Kathleen's aunt who makes her do all the housework). Eventually, Sirius discovers that his luminary Companion (the denizen of the smaller, pearly star in orbit near the green dog-star) is the latter, only he never recognized it when he himself was a luminary.

At one point, Sirius gets Kathleen to read an astronomy book aloud to him-- and he's surprised that humans have any picture at all of the universe, even though it bears only minimal relation to his real home. And just as the stars are beings in this world, so too are the moon and Earth. They help out Sirius as they can, and he learns how powerful and rich (and beautifully green) Earth is-- and also comes to know the power inherent in being a child of Earth. Eventually, Sirius comes face to face with one of Earth's darker children: Arawn, Lord of the Underworld. This portrait of a powerful, dark, suffering being is quite masterful, and adds interesting depth to Jones' story, suggesting that there is more going on, more than we can see or perceive both out in the stars as well as deep under the earth.

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

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What a delight -- a McKillip book during vacation. A variety of characters have lives that intertwine more than they realize. The safety of their kingdom is held in the hands of those who are unlikely, but also both powerful and gentle. A young princess has recently become queen. An orphaned translator intercepts a book with an alphabet only she can read. Two friends grow up together and discover a way to do all they dream, which is impossible. 3 separate tales (and their own larger stories) are drawn to one ending, where each has a vital role to play, and seeming weaknesses are suddenly strengths and characteristics to depend on.

The Queen of Raine is young and is not her father. Her advisor is an old witch (in a good sense -- not a hag!), who is frustrated at all the work she must do. Through a series of events, it is discovered that the Queen of Raine does not her father's skills -- but she does have magic powers and unexpected wisdom. This Queen has the unlikely ability to hide -- to go into the magic forest and to be told secrets and kept safe and quiet. She can also be invisible so that others go on with their business and let her in on truth. This comes in very useful -- the innumerable army is coming to conquer her land, and she gets all the other magicians to help her hide her kingdom and people. It works .. and the land they come to is desolate, decaying, empty. at least that's how it appears ...

The powerful mage who has supplied the means to this king and his army to conquer untold lands is slowly revealed through the story she writes of herself to her daughter. She hid herself in a disguise so she could be near the man she loved -- the king. To keep it secret, since his marriage day, nobody but him has truly seen her or heard her voice. She is feared and honored, but not known or loved by any but him. When he discovers how powerful she is, he asks what she wants from him. One thing only does she ask of him -- a child. Nepenthe is that child. At the end, the mage is asked to choose between her lover and her daughter -- to choose between power and being seen. How often we seek to hide, to be something we are not -- even for good reasons. But what great freedom is offered to us when we choose to step out of hiding and be as much ourselves as is possible. What great freedom comes in truth.

Title:	Alphabet of Thorn
Author:	Patricia McKillip
Date published:	2004
Genre:	Fantasy
Number of pages:	304
Notes:	Borrowed from lark

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Another one of Alan Moore's unique and creative comic books. This one is set in the Victorian age, and gathers together several of the heroes and monsters from the fiction of the time into one extraordinary league. The characters include Mina Murray (formerly Mina Harker, of Bram Stoker's Dracula), the adventure Allan Quartermain, Captain Nemo, the Invisible Man, Jekyll/Hyde, and Holme's adversary Moriarty. Many times I wished I was more familiar with the works that these characters come from, because they are all quite fascinating. There's a quote at the front of the book about the difficulty of distinguishing between monsters and heroes which seems particularly apt.

The book starts with Mina Murray slowly gathering the league together, at the behest of Campion Bond and his unknown boss. The league eventually discovers a disaster brewing in London, and of course there's the usual double-cross by the unknown boss (having an invisible man to trail your suspicious funder seems to come in handy), and they manage to avert the destruction of London.

The volume also includes a short story about Allan Quartermain travelling forward in time in a drug-induced haze and meeting H. G. Well's Time Traveller along with John Carter of Mars and one of Carter's descendants. It was an odd story, but interesting-- and reminded me that I would like to read John Carter of Mars at some point.

All the credits and writing about the story are humorously done in Victorian style, which I found quite entertaining (although some of the actual content seemed a little too racy to fit with that). Apparently, lots of the more minor characters also reference Victorian fiction (perhaps a bit like the hidden characters in Top 10), but I guess I'm not well-read enough to catch most of them.

I read somewhere that part of the reason Moore could create this series is because all of the characters are now in the public domain. That's pretty cool, and makes me even more sad for the crazy state of copyright laws now, because I'm sure there are other people with crazy, fascinating ideas like this, but the books can't be written yet.

Title:	The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume One
Author:	Alan Moore
Date published:	2000
Genre:	Graphic Novel
Series:	League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
Number of pages:	192

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This book presents an enjoyable mingling of Bangladesh and London, past and present, freedom and obligation, stoicism and emotion. Nazneen, a woman from a village in Bangladesh, is married to a Bangladeshi man who lives in London. At birth, the midwife believes Nazneen to be dead, but then she begins to breathe .. and Nazneen's mother decides to leave her to Fate. Nazneen lives, but this idea of accepting Fate plays a large role in her life. The attitudes in London are entirely different from what she knows, although she lives in a Bangladeshi community in an estate (big apartment buildings). How to marry all these things which seem to not fit together .. what does it look like to raise children and learn to live with and love a husband, to resign oneself to Fate, to ask questions that might be too dangerous to answer?

Nazneen has one sister, Hasina, who is beautiful. Too beautiful. She eloped at a young age and since then the only contact these sisters have is letters. Ali uses these letters to full extent, including them periodically throughout the story. They give updates about Hasina's life, about how Bangladesh is changing, share stories from their childhood, shed insight into their worldview. Hasina's letters do this, while Nazneen's letters are short and just give brief details about her life. Hasina does not agree with Nazneen or her mother's desire to just give in to Fate -- she fights and hopes for things to change and asks questions. Sometimes the letters were too much, and rather annoying -- but generally gave a good taste of some contrasts between Nazneen's present and past life.

Nazneen continually refers to Fate, and wonders what she really feels about it. Her mother left her to Fate and she lived. Her mother taught her to accept whatever fate brings. Nazneen seeks to lose her feelings, so that she is not angry or happy at what Fate brings her. But this becomes too much of a challenge. Some things really must be delighted in. Others must be mourned and fought and questioned. Nazneen comes to see this, and realize that she can play an active role in her own future -- not just a passive one. This is a piece of hope. Hope is not just that I can do something worthwhile - but also that there are worthwhile things to be done. Ideas worth believing in and acting on. Hope is that God is active, present, and will return to make all things as they were created to be -- under and in Him. But as humans we are not simply spectators, but participators and watchers and those who are involved. Nazneen comes to realize this and chooses to accept the responsibility it brings .. and that is a change worth reading about.

Title:	Brick Lane
Author:	Monica Ali
Date published:	2003
Genre:	Fiction, Cultural
Number of pages:	492

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In a totalitarian England desolated and isolated from the rest of the world by nuclear war, V is an anarchist who dresses like Guy Fawkes and uses violence to break apart the current regime and remind people that freedom is important. V is an interesting and enigmatic hero/anti-hero. It's never made completely clear if he has any super powers-- he seems to move faster than the police or "fingermen," but it's also pretty clear that the existing regime isn't used to much resistance. One of the great lines, which summarizes the main thrust of the book (and stays with you afterwards), comes near the end when detective Finch finally tracks down V and faces him. V responds: "Did you think to kill me? There's no flesh or blood within this cloak to kill. There's only an idea. Ideas are bullet-proof."

Shortly after finishing the book, I watched the movie (I usually try to read the book first, although this may be the first time I've done so for a comic book movie). It was interesting what they changed-- such as updating the desolation to include biological warfare, making Evey a more appealing character, condensing and combining certain parts of the story (which is obviously necessary for a movie), leaving the many side characters out. Even the portrayal of England is much more clean and comfortable than the dirty, desolate, dark impression I got from the book (conveyed largely by the artwork, although also in the language). I think the totalitarianism in the book is a bit more extreme (for instance, cameras and microphones in every house, on every street), which makes the extremity of V's tactics seem a little more acceptable-- because only something extreme would shake people out of their situation.

The one thing that they carried over unchanged, and that worked perfectly, was the jail sequence-- Natalie Portman did an amazing job with this, but it's also a testament to Alan Moore's writing that this part of the story and the secret letter from the unknown woman prisoner are so effective, and translate so perfectly (unchanged) to the screen. They did, of course, turn V into a bit more of a wise-cracking superhero and added a few big fight sequences (although, really, not as much as you would think the creators of "The Matrix" might). I was a little disappointed that they turned the political situation into a bit more of a mystery and made the dictator clearly evil and responsible for the situation, where in the book morality and culpability is a bit more murky.

The book includes an interesting & entertaining essay by Alan Moore, written sometime during the middle of the series run, about the genesis of V. It also includes two short graphic stories set somewhere within the V story, one of them without any words at all.

Title:	V for Vendetta
Author:	Alan Moore (writer), David Lloyd (artwork)
Date published:	1998
Genre:	Graphic Novel
Number of pages:	286

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A hilarious, enteraining book that is worth re-reading every now and then. I always describe this to people as a time-travel mystery romance Victorian novel-- and that gives some idea of the originality of this book. Even though I've read it before, I still found myself chuckling and laughing out loud. And even though I know the answers to all the various little mysteries, I was still amazed at how very many clues (that I had missed before) there were scattered through the story. Part of Willis' genius is that she can use all the standard mystery clichés and turn them into something completely new. Another part of her brilliance, and the charm of this book, is the narrator's voice, including the effects of time-lag.

In the world Willis creates, time-travel is handled by the historians (in this case, at Oxford). When the corporations discovered they couldn't loot the past (because that would cause incongruities), they lost interest. However, funding is always scarce, so when a money-making proposition comes along, they take it-- little knowing the demands that will be made by Lady Schrapnell and her project to rebuild Coventy Cathedral (in Oxford), including tracking down such oddities as the Bishop's Bird Stump.

The book is narrated by Ned Henry, and at the beginning of the book he is severly time-lagged because he's been working hard doing time-travel research for Lady Schrapnell (and the deadline for the cathedral is coming quickly). According to Ned, "one of the first symptoms of time-lag is a tendency to maudlin sentimentality, like an Irishman in his cups or a Victorian poet cold-sober." Every now and then Ned will start rhapsodizing about something, and then he (or someone else) will catch himself. Having a future time-traveller experiencing the Victorian age also gives the opportunity for lots of wry commentary-- for instance, Ned's explanation that the repression in Victorian society was due to the enormous over-abundance of furniture and the great care that was required to move among it all. Every now and then Ned will mistakenly refer to something that hasn't happened yet (usually under his breath), like the Titanic, and then looks around and hopes no one was paying attention.

The other brilliant thing about this book is the portrayal of time as a chaotic system. Willis is able to give a very understandable sense of this, partly through the ongoing argument between two eccentric Oxford dons and their view of history-- whether it is shaped by individuals or natural forces (of course, chaos theory includes both). Ned and his fellow time-traveller Verity are trying to steer history to the correct course (as they know it), and don't know how much or how little effect something like a cat, or a dog might make in the grand scheme of things. Towards the end Willis gives one dizzying glimpse of the significance of the actions that take place in this story and their part in the larger chaotic system of the time continuum, but then the characters almost immediately discount it as a sketchy theory, leaving the reader to wonder.

Title:	To Say Nothing of the Dog, or How We Found the Bishop's Bird Stump at Last
Author:	Connie Willis
Date published:	1998
Genre:	Science Fiction
Number of pages:	493
Notes:	repeat reading

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Ignore the cover picture, ignore the book jacket. This novel is not about South Africa’s apartheid-era “law governing the relationships between the races.” Rather, it is the story of an honorable man’s emotional and spiritual struggle with sin and weakness. It is a story about the virtue that humans can attain and the pride and pain that entangle us. Too Late the Phalarope, a work often overshadowed by its more famous counterpart, Cry the Beloved Country, is one of the best books I’ve ever read.

First, Alan Paton’s writing is deceptively simple, yet betrays deep insight into human thoughts and feelings. His words sweep past the veils and maneuvers that people often use to conceal unworthy motives, revealing the fear and hunger that alternately lead us to both hide from and love each other. Yet Paton’s incisive methods are so gentle, so compassionate, that it is evident that he means the stripping away to also heal. It is charged with hidden emotion but not sentimental, sympathetic but not blind, clever but not smug. It is perfect.

Although some people try to make this book out to be a pointed statement against the injustice of apartheid, it’s not. It tells of a young Afrikaner policeman, Pieter van Vlaanderen, who is a giant among his people: renown rugby player, decorated war veteran, upstanding citizen, honest, kind, and authoritative. But he fights secretly against his own fallibility and corruption. He and his family are such a complex mix of pride, honor, Puritanism, restraint, reserve, and love that this struggle plays out painfully and tragically.

Title:	Too Late the Phalarope
Author:	Alan Paton
Date published:	1953
Genre:	Fiction
Number of pages:	284
Notes:	At least the 5th reading

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This book fits the Crichton I know .. a thriller, a mystery, an adventure, a visit to some unknown place, and a bit of psychology thrown in, of course. A high-tech (extremely so) company is on the search for a certain type of diamond that would revolutionize the computer industry. A few other companies (& countries) are also on the search for these diamonds. They are somewhere in the Congo .. but to find them and to get out alive .. that's the challenge.

One interesting theme Crichton brings up is that of time. The book is written with a chapter for each of 13 days, minus the prologue and epilogue. The company that is seeking diamonds has only days to find them. A comment is made that in the past, people had months to find information and make decisions -- now they are made in a week, and in the near future huge business decisions will be made in a day. This need for speed drives two main characters to do dangerous things, which of course bring all sorts of new factors and challenges into the story. And the Congo is a place that seems outside of time .. with pieces of history that are actually reality in the present and things that should be gone which are alive.

Another idea I enjoyed is a gorilla who has learned sign language. She and her trainer go with the expedition to the congo (for various reasons), and are important to their survival (of course). Amy has the largest vocabulary for a gorilla on record. But she is still a primate. Very sensitive to emotions and able to read people much better than most humans. This means that she knows which people are trustworthy and when they are lying. But in all her interactions with humans (to learn sign language and as they studied her), she's also picked up interesting habits -- like smoking as a reward, going to the drive-in, and wearing lipstick. I firmly believe that humans are different than all other animals -- but that doesn't mean animals can't do amazing things and have real personalities. Or surprise us now and again.

Title:	Congo
Author:	Michael Crichton
Date published:	1980
Genre:	fiction
Number of pages:	313

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The exquisite use of language and enthralling storytelling in this book left me slightly stunned. In describing the experiences of a young Italian soldier, Helprin includes uncanny details and provides a very close encounter with the sights, smells, tastes, and sounds of his character’s world. Alessandro’s matter-of-fact courage and his yearning for his family are very moving.

Alessandro is Italian, in his mid-twenties when he enters the armed forces during World War I. His four-year tenure is astounding, partly because he is at once an ordinary and a very gifted person. Alessandro takes improbable risks, and while he is not able to avoid misfortune, he does escape death. The book follows him from his duty as a part of an elite guard unit, then as a deserter, a death-row inmate, then again a fighter, and later a prisoner of war. The scope and depth of knowledge displayed is remarkable: mountaineering, rock-climbing, horse-riding, weaponry, geography and topography, painting, music, and military procedures.

This book is about war, and so there is a lot of blood and a lot of death, often in cruelty. There were moments when my heart seemed to stop with the significance of an event. But there were also times when I found myself laughing out loud at Alessandro's gutsy impudence. Alessandro's faithfulness to beauty and his hope of reunion with his loved ones allow him (and the reader) to surface through the horror. Though the war seems to him meaningless, he suffers without relinquishing his joy in family, God, art, humor, and the beauty of nature. An amazing book.

Title:	A Soldier of the Great War
Author:	Mark Helprin
Date published:	1991
Number of pages:	792

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This is a mysterious, moving, and haunting work, and the first science fiction by Patricia McKillip that I've read (she's only written a couple, as far as I know). As in other McKillip works, there is a beauty and a power to her language, although here her tone and imagery seems perfectly suited to the futuristic setting. The story begins and ends with the likely-insane prisoner Terra Viridian, who has been sent to the space prison orbiting Earth, known as Underworld. All the other characters and threads of the story eventually get connected to Viridian and the unearthly vision that made her kill over a thousand people and made her crazy.

McKillip's futuristic is different and believable; it makes sense without an overwhelming amount of detail. For instance, the Suncoast Sector is immediately recognizable. Music also plays a large role in the story, and the futuristic musical instruments are referred to just enough to give hints of what they might be (for instance the "cubes," which are some kind of strange percussion instrument akin to drums). The music is also still connected to the past by way of the ancient instruments pianos and guitars that bar owner and music afficionado Sidney Halleck collects and the ancient music, such as Bach, that the Magician plays.

The book is full of interesting, fascinating characters, all with their own stories and problems. A psychologist comes to Underworld to run an experiment on Terra Viridian; they hook up a computer to her brain and train it on her thoughts so that they can see the images she sees, but even then they can't make any sense of it. The Magician's band gets invited to give a performance for the prisoners at Underworld, and unbeknownst to them they bring along Terra's twin sister (who has been in hiding for years), and the guard Aaron whose wife was murdered by Terra and has been trying to track her sister down for years.

The fool's run of the title is a poker hand: "Ten, Jack, Queen, King, Ace of Hearts, and the two wild cards, the jokers, the jesters", but it's also the foolish race through space that the Magician makes from Underworld in his ship, the Flying Wail-- he knows he won't be able to get away, and has no weapons to protect himself, but it gives him and Terra Viridian enough time to communicate some part of the vision that made Terra crazy.

There are hints early on that the Magician is psychic-- he knows things about peole he shouldn't, and claims that he heard it in the intonation of their voices. When he meets Terra at Underworld (almost by chance), he sees her vision-- and during the fool's run of a chase, he is able to share enough of it to Aaron and the head of Underworld. Terra is a psychic who has somehow been caught up in the compelling, beautiful, foreign vision of some immense alien creature far away as it goes through its harsh life cycle, and this was what caused her apparent insanity and why she killed all those people. It's a beautiful, strange vision, and even the other people who only experience it second-hand are clearly haunted by it.

Very poetic; even the prison, Underworld, and the Magician's flight from it, becomes a version of the Orpheus myth. Beautiful descriptions of music, as in many of McKillip's fantasy works. Sidney Halleck, the lover of antique music, says:

I don't believe anything is ever really lost. Not a note of it. I think we dwell among the echoes of all the music ever played just as surely as we dwell among our ghosts. No instrument is ever obsolute; someone is always born to play it. You play music hundreds of years older than you are; it lingered for that long in the air, beyond all the noises of the world, until you heard a fragment of it, between noise and noise, an intimation of its existence. Then came the quest for it. The hunger.

Title:	Fool's Run
Author:	Patricia McKillip
Date published:	1987
Genre:	Science Fiction
Number of pages:	221

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I savored this book for at least a month. Reading a chapter before bed sometimes, or a couple chapters during a slow morning. Then I got close to the end and read even more slowly because I didn't want to finish. In this book, readers are invited to join Norris during a year of her life. A year in which she spends much time at monasteries, with monks and nuns, doubting, returning to life in South Dakota, and reflecting on how liturgy, prayer, psalms, and metaphors can fit into regular life.

Norris has a wonderful way of writing, and of thinking -- she asks good questions and makes connections between people and ideas that feel true. Norris also writes humbly -- not as someone with all the answers, but someone who is seeking and who has been found and is in awe when she glimpses the Kingdom of God. In many chapters, monks (from a variety of centuries including the most recent) are set alongside regular society. What does it mean for Christians to set themselves apart from the world? What do their interactions look like when they come in contact with the world again? What does it mean to be celibate in a society where sexuality is exploited and over-emphasized? What does it mean to continue rhythms (daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, lifetime) and remember the past, when society so often longs to forget it and move on?

One set of ideas I really appreciated was those connecting artists with theology and prophecy. (By artists I mean all varieties.) Artists see the world differently, and artists who are Christian are called to share this different vision. It doesn't mean that artists are better -- but that artists often grasp different pieces of God's character and are able to make connections for others in ways that minister to the whole person. This is important to me because I consider myself an artist and sometimes find little encouragement in Christian circles. It's easy to get caught up in words and abstract ideas and forget about what it means to live practically as a Christ follower in this world. Artists and pastors and other truth-speakers have the opportunity to call us back to reality. To connect ideas with concretes and emotions and colors and the future. To take what has become mundane and remind us how amazing and incomprehensible truth actually is. I'm glad for the encouragement and understanding and exhortation Norris gives to herself and others in these pages.

Title:	The Cloister Walk
Author:	Kathleen Norris
Date published:	1996
Genre:	Religious, Nonfiction
Number of pages:	380
Notes:	repeat reading

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A fairly interesting story without too much thinking required. Sophy recently left her husband of 10 years to live in New York City. She gets involved with a man and his four children, when interrupted by the death of her husband. She abruptly leaves to return to the island they lived on and sort out both his life and her own. Sophy deals with questions of what it means to be a woman & a mother, what she needs to write about, where her hope comes from, who her friends are.

Sphy's husband was in the CIA, which adds an interesting element to the story. When he is discovered dead, he's been there for about three weeks, so there is little which can be determined about how he died. When his son died he almost committed suicide, so many wonder if Sophy's leaving caused his death. Sophy wants to find clues to his death -- to see if he left messages for her, for his two daughters, and his ex-wife. But at one point she realizes that she needs to stop investigating and just let herself grieve.

I was disappointed with this book. Didn't seem to have much to say. Started with some inflammatory remarks about sex to get your attention, but they didn't really pertain to the story. In some sense - but not worth being the first thing mentioned. Various individuals are seen as 'shallow' or 'deep', but most of them fall into the shallow category. Everyone is hiding something, trying to cover certain parts of their life so others (including family) won't see. That doesn't work well -- and when it does, life can be pretty empty and scary because there's nowhere to be yourself. Toward the end sophy is perhaps discovering room to be herself and deal with her own pain and acknowledge her past, but there doesn't seem to be much hope for the future. Or even that much hope for today.

Title:	Almost
Author:	Elizabeth Benedict
Date published:	2001
Genre:	Fiction
Number of pages:	258
Notes:	Read in less than 24 hours

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I've read most of McKillip's more recent books (pretty much everything I could get my hands on), so I've started to look for some of her older works. This one is only McKillip's second published book, and it's a little strange in some ways-- but it also has the fairy tale feel that so many of her books do. The story centers on the Cnite Caerles, who loves the King's Damsen (his daughter) and asks for her hand in marriage. But the King is pining away for the great Throme of the Erril of Sherill and demands that Caerles quest to find the Throme before he can marry Damsen. However, this is an impossible task (as everyone else tells Caerles), because the Throme doesn't exist. However, Caerles loves Damsen and sets out to find the Throme-- even if it doesn't exist, he intends to find it-- and this leads him on an interesting journey.

Caerles meets all manner of interesting people and creatures on his quest, and gradually trades or gives away (all for honorable reasons) all the trappings of a Cnite (his horse, shield, sword, and even his boots) so that by the end of his journey, he no longer even looks like one. Everyone he meets tells him that the Throme does not exist-- but each sends him to a completely different place to look, such as the Floral Wold at the end of the world, or the Dolorous House of the Doleman. Finally, he meets a country woman who gives him some sensible advice-- he must write the Throme himself. He is able to do this, but only because of the experience of the Quest. In fact, his throme is so wonderful that the King is convinced that Caerles succeeded-- but Caerles is unwilling to win his Damsen by a lie, and tells the truth. The King demands that Damsen refuse to marry him, but after seeing what he has gone through for her and laughing at him, barefoot in his leaf cloak with a starry staff and riding a fire-breathing hound, she finally stands up to her father and chooses to live with her love.

The names and language in this book are a little strange, which suits the kind of story McKillip tells, although sometimes it is more jarring than magical. Caerles come across a "dagon," a huge hound with violet eyes and fiery breath that is large enough to ride like a horse, and falls into a Borebel pit, and falls asleep in a norange grove. Even the names of the people that Caerles meets, such as the Earl Merle, seem more like they belong in a Dr. Seuss book than in a McKillip fairy tale.

An enjoyable little tale, and a quick read, with entertaining, musical language. Also shows some hints of the magic and depth of McKillip's later works (Caerles reminds me in some ways of Cyan Dag in The Tower at Stony Wood; even his emblem of three moons bears a similarity).

Title:	The Throme of the Erril of Sherrill
Author:	Patricia McKillip
Date published:	1973
Genre:	Children's Fantasy
Number of pages:	69

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This is a slim volume that contains gentle and persistent encouragement to keep a sabbath one day a week apart from the other six days. The spirit of gentleness is evident in the absence of guilt, obligation, or to-do lists in relation to the sabbath. For those trying to rest on their sabbath, Baab devotes a couple of chapters full of details and ideas about what to cease from doing, what to do, and how to approach the day. But she writes with “fear and trembling,” saying,

“if they create in you a sense of obligation, I will have defeated the very purpose of the sabbath. If the various possibilities—worship services, candles, festive meals, prayers, walks, special games and so on—become one more way to be successful or productive, one more burden to carry, then the spirit of the sabbath will be violated.”

Baab has been thinking about the sabbath for decades. It was surprising to learn that some of her friends were hostile to her idea that Christians would benefit from keeping a sabbath, describing it as legalistic. For this reason, she spends much time justifying the practice, asserting that God’s grace to us overflows abundantly and allows us to rest in the conviction that he loves us simply as his good creation (and in His image!). It is a very helpful and accessible book that strives to help others “find freedom in the rhythms of rest.”

Title:	Sabbath Keeping
Author:	Lynne M. Baab
Date published:	2005
Number of pages:	130
Notes:	Recommended by Intervarsity staff person

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A long and enjoyable book. Isabel Archer, a young American, is taken by her aunt to Europe. Shortly thereafter, she inherits a large sum of money and then has the opportunity to choose how she desires to spend her life. Her cousin, Ralph Touchett, is sick with tuberculosis, but finds many things to enjoy in life, particularly watching Isabel to see what she will do with her life. The question of marriage (if, who, when) of course comes up, and plays a large part throughout the story. Isabel is a woman who is self-aware and a wonderful character to observe, as are many with whom she interacts.

Before Isabel decides whom she will marry, she turns down two other suitors. One is a well-to-do American, another is an English lord, and the third whom she decides to marry is an American with distinguished taste who has lived in Italy most of his life. Those who know she turned down the first two have a hard time understanding why, especially when they learn of her final decision. In the narration, we discover that Isabel feels that this is the right decision to make - even though she does not know how to justify it to anyone but herself. Some things are simply right for now and must be done. It makes one wonder, though -- what does it mean to choose well? to love well? to be loved well? Out of Isabel's choice comes suffering for many, especially herself -- and one wonders if suffering is thus an essential part of life, and how much a part suffering has in creating people who are solid and deep.

Madame Merle is present through much of the story, as someone who is practically perfect. A Mary Poppins of Europe during this time period, if you will. Except that she has accomplished little. She has many talents and an ability to fit in and be comfortable almost anywhere -- but has little to show for it. She knows when to speak and when to be silent, how to make others aware of her presence but not uncomfortable in it, how to manipulate while seeming to be unassuming. Ralph says that she is too perfect. Too kind. Too everything. That everything about her is studied and planned. Which is true. Madame Merle is very good at pleasing people -- as long as she can still reach her own goals, of which only one is truly vital. When the reader understands this goal, everything that has been done and said can be seen in a very different light. Which is true in life too -- we think we understand someone or know why they act a certain way, and then something else happens and suddenly their motive or experiences clear the air. Sometimes for the better, and as in Madame Merle's case, sometimes for the worse. Overall, James does a marvelous job of revealing character and personality. Although it does take quite a number of pages to do so!

Title:	The Portrait of a Lady
Author:	Henry James
Date published:	1881
Genre:	Fiction
Number of pages:	613
Notes:	recommended by lark

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Gaiman describes a contemporary America where all the gods, demons, and mythical beings that anyone in America has ever believed in are real, walking around looking like humans (at least, most of them, most of the time). It's mentioned several times that America is a bad place for gods-- all of the many peoples who came and settled here brought their faiths and beliefs with them, but most of them abandoned or forgot their old gods shortly after. And even the new gods don't last long, like the railroad god who was so powerful for a brief time. It's a disturbing book in a lot of ways-- not least because of the things that ring a little too true, like the god of TV that people worship by sacrificing time and sometimes relationships, or the car gods, with "their black gloves and on their chrome teeth: recipients of human sacrifice on a scale undreamed-of since the Aztecs."

The main story follows Shadow, an ex-con who finishes serving his time in prison and gets out only to discover that his wife was just killed in a car accident. Since he has nothing else to do, he decides to take the job offered him by a strange personage who calls himself Wednesday. Shadow travels with Wednesday as they try to recruit some the old gods for a war that is coming, a huge storm-- or a paradigm shift. Of course, all is rarely as it seems. As Shadow says at one point, "you play your cards so close to your chest that I'm not even sure that they're really cards at all." Interspersed with this story are many smaller tales of the various peoples who came to America and the gods they brought with them.

Part of the genius of Gaiman's story is the way it rings true-- including the way the names of gods and pagan rituals have become part of our language, although most people don't realize it. Shadow eventually discovers that Wednesday is the Norse god Odin, and his modern name is completely apropos because the word is derived from a variation of Odin's name, Wotan. At another point, they meet a goddess of fertility who calls herself Easter (Odin calls her Eostre), and claims that people still worship her, but Odin proves her wrong by asking a few people at random what the Easter holiday is about-- and they know practically nothing about it.

The book does contain a three fairly explicit sexual encounters, two of which I found quite disturbing. One of them came quite early in the book, and it bothered me so much I had trouble wanting to pick up the book again to keep reading (I got the point metaphorically-- a guy is worshipping sex and is literally swallowed up by it-- but still thought it was very disturbing).

American Gods is an interesting book which offers plenty to think about. Many times I found myself noticing the great turns of phrase in Gaiman's language. Here's one passage that demonstrates that as well as his tone and some of the underlying ideas in this book.

None of this can actually be happening. If it makes you more comfortable, you could ismply think of it as metaphor. Religions are, by definition, metaphors, after all: God is a dream, a hope, a woman, an ironist, a father, a city, a house of many rooms, a watchmaker who left his prize chronometer in the desert, someone who loves you-- even, perhaps, against all evidence, a celestial being whose only interest is to make sure your football team, army, business, or marriage thrives, prospers, and triumphs over all opposition.
Religions are places to stand and look and act, vantage points from which to view the world.
So none of this is happening. Such things could not occur. Never a word of it is literally true. Even so, the next thing that happened, happened like this...

Title:	American Gods
Author:	Neil Gaiman
Date published:	2001
Genre:	Fantasy
Number of pages:	465

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The precursor to this novel is At Home in Mitford, a refreshing and amusing story of a small-town Episcopal priest that I read last year. Father Tim is a good-natured, reverent, and generous person who excels in showing kindness to others and applying his faith to his everyday activities. Lauren Winner, author of Girl Meets God and Real Sex, has written on several occasions that the Mitford series was instrumental to her becoming a Christian. Unfortunately, A Light in the Window, the second book in the series, was a disappointment.

The book was very difficult to read because much of the plot was strained and far-fetched. The author appears to feel the need to invent artificial obstacles to the inevitable engagement between Father Tim and Cynthia. It was unfathomable why Cynthia, a woman whom Father Tim praises for her understanding, kindness, and inventiveness, would lapse into juvenile petulance without warning. One moment Cynthia is sweetly concocting birthday plans, and the next she’s storming off in a huff or rudely hanging up on Father Tim. With little justification, Cynthia pouts about his lack of commitment and emotional reticence. And then there’s this ridiculous subplot involving a rich and devious widow, Edith Mallory, who can’t wait to get her clutches on Father Tim. Also, people seem to have an unrealistic relationship to money. They go about sending dozens of red roses left and right, or flying up to New York for a spontaneous surprise visit, or flying a perfect stranger into small-town Mitford from Italy. Too, too contrived.

The thing about Mitford is that it is very... pleasant. Everything, though it might seem shaky for a while, eventually turns out all right. Stunningly all right, in fact. This trait was comforting through the first book, but the second comes across as saccharine and improbable.

Now, it could be that I’m being too hard on this book, which is part of a very popular series. The character inconsistencies that bothered me so much could really be a reflection of how people behave in real life. Even well-meaning people can act immaturely and even rudely. And I congratulate Jan Karon for writing a book that affirms the capacity of humans for kindness and generosity. But I won’t be reading the rest of her series.

Title:	A Light in the Window
Author:	Jan Karon
Date published:	1998
Genre:	Fiction
Series:	The Mitford Years
Number of pages:	400
Notes:	2nd in series

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After finishing this book, I almost picked it up and began reading again. But I stopped myself. There are other books to read. And this one will come around again, I'm sure. Card's writing is intriguing, involving, enjoyable. A story in our future where they create technology that allows them to see the past as video. It gets fine tuned enough so they can hear dialog and follow individuals (this amazing technology lets one see practically anything anywhere anytime, a sort of 'big brother' as it were). One woman starts watching the stories of her ancestors, many of whom were slaves - absorbing and understanding their pain. She begins to ask herself -- is there some way this can be stopped? And in one instance, they discover people in the past can see them in the present/future. And those in the past call for help from these 'gods' of the future.

The book is largely about time - about history, how events came into being, how people came into being. Christopher Columbus, who is the main event of the book, has a story to tell about how he became the way he was. Key pieces of his life which formed him. Key beliefs. But Card also shares key pieces about the other three main characters - their parents and families, how others viewed them, where they fit into society (if they fit at all..), what their dreams were. This is very fitting - that in a novel about changing history (and thus the present and future as well), Card is not content to just pick up where the story begins - but must return to beginnings and leap ahead to possibilities. Makes time really seem like the fourth dimension that it is.

Diko, Hunahpu, and Kemal are the three who are chosen to return to the past. Hunahpu, of Native American descent returns to 1475 to help bring unity, speed up their technology, remove human sacrifice, and prepare them for the coming of Christianity. Diko, a tall black woman goes to Haiti in 1488, to prepare the people on this small island for the coming of Colombus. Because she has knowledge of the near future and medicine from the far future, everyone in her village comes to respect her and listen to her. She has great influence to prepare them to love the Spaniards who come to learn, and prepare them for Christianity, and to bring greater equality between men and women. Kemal, a tall white Muslim, goes to Haiti in 1492. He makes sure all three of the ships are ruined somehow (and then dies for his deeds, praising Allah). All 3 also bring pieces of the past so the memory of those who died (became as if they had never lived) to save the past and thus present and future, would not be forgotten. The ideal world that is created has no slavery or human sacrifice, does not have one race subjugated to another, has room for many ideas and religions, and is a world where the land and people are well cared for. This sounds like an amazing place to live. Sounds a lot like the Kingdom of God, in fact - but I don't believe this is possible for humans to accomplish without God.

Title:	Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Colombus
Author:	Orson Scott Card
Date published:	1996
Genre:	Science Fiction
Number of pages:	398
Notes:	Repeat reading

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Another collection of essays, this one loosely grouped by the idea of telling and seeking the truth. The first section of essays focuses on those who have devoted their lives to the pursuit of truth, the second section on thinkers who engage with important questions but don't necessarily always arrive at truth, and the last section considers the idea of "computer control." This book doesn't have any of the personal essays which I found so amusing and moving in Jacob's A Visit to Vanity Fair, and sometimes the connection with truthtelling seemed a little more tenuous than others, but the essays are always interesting and thought-provoking.

Among of the exemplars of the first section, I was most impressed with Jacob's portrayal of Auden, who rejected one of his earlier, and very popular, poems as "a resonant lie," and determines instead to seek truth in his writing. Jacobs has convinced me (yet again) that I need to read more Auden. Also interesting are the portrayals of Camus (more distinct from the other existentialists than I expected) and Solzhenitsyn, who saw himself called upon to bear witness to the terrible things he, for some reason, survived (what sacrifices should be made or demanded from others for the sake of great art?).

Among the "explorations," or those who fall short of truth telling and seeking, are Rousseau (who considered himself the "only honest man" and used this as an excuse for all kinds of incivility), Iris Murdoch (who writes of religious matters, but substitutes the Good for God), Wole Soyinka (whose brilliant writing has been forced by the political situation in his homeland into more polemical and less literary modes), and the fantasy author Philip Pullman of the His Dark Materials series.

I found Jacob's comparison of Rousseau with Voltaire quite enlightening-- particularly when he elaborates on why Rousseau's vision of humanity is the one that won out-- because it is so much more appealing. Rather than requiring hard work and discipline to fight corruption and return to innocence, one need only follow one's own heart to know what is right-- and any of failures are someone else's fault, because they have corrupted that original innocence.

The last section, on "computer control," is quite different from the essays-- and perhaps more interesting to me (although I was surprised at how engaged I was with the essays throughout) because of my own interests in technology. Jacobs chronicles his own engagement with computers, including his attempt to install and use the operating system Linux on his own. His attempts are quite interesting and sometimes comical, but he makes the somewhat surprising (and the very interesting) argument that the more smoothly a computer user's experience goes, the less they are in control-- because, if things go smoothly, it is the computer (or the logic embedded in the software by programmers) that is in control. Jacobs makes the counter-intuitive claim that resistance-- which a user encounters when the computer doesn't exactly do what they want-- is important, and even a virtue. One other detail I found interesting was the idea that the overriding metaphors we use for our computer interfaces (that of a desk, with files and folders) is not the only, and perhaps not the best, metaphor-- because (like any metaphor), it has limitations.

Title:	Shaming the Devil: Essays in Truthtelling
Author:	Alan Jacobs
Date published:	2004
Genre:	Essays
Number of pages:	231

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This one's been on my 'to read' list for a couple of years now, and I'm glad to have finally read it. And enjoyed it. This is a story of hope, and of life in the midst of struggle and challenge and need. Francie Nolan lives with her parents and brother in the Williamsburg slums of Brooklyn. Francie observes everyone and everything around her, noticing deep truths in places few would look. The story follows Francie and her family from the time she is eleven until she has become a grown up. The topics cover a bit of everything (as with real life) -- politics, fear, family relations, religion, education, dreams, death, humor, longing -- with some unusual ways of thinking and asking questions that make the read well worth the time.

One central character is Johnny Nolan, the father. He is a handsome man who always looks just right, but also is a drunk. Francie and her brother, Neely, love him as a father, and aren't ashamed of him the way their neighbors are. He isn't perfect but he's aware of that fact and sometimes tries to make it up to them by taking them for a special day trip, or bringing home something they will love, or just sitting on the roof and watching the stars with them. Having a dad who loves you and is able to show it sometimes seems invaluable. Having a dad who loves you and acts that way most of the time is rather a miracle, in this day and age. And being unashamed of those we love is something to remember. Despite the awkward stage of being embarassed by everything (especially parents!) many teens go through, how sweet to return to a confidence that is not based on what others think. That we can love someone no matter how others perceive them. Even if they do get drunk. Or if they smell bad. Or if they aren't as 'smart' as most people. Or if they're poor. A good challenge.

Francie loves english in school. She loves to write and her teachers encourage her to do so. But when Francie tries to write about life as she experiences it, her english teacher gives her bad grades and becomes disappointed in her. For one, the idea of good writing is to escape into beauty and ignore pain and the messiness of life. For the other, writing can be a way to express the messiness of life and find beauty within it. Very different ways of thinking and going about life. Before this, one teacher had discovered Francie lying and this is what she said about lies and truth and stories.

"You know, Francie, a lot of people would think that these stories that you're making up all the time were terrible lies because they are not the truth as people see the truth. In the future, when something comes up, you tell exactly how it happened but write down for yourself the way you think it should have happened. Tell the truth and write the story. Then you won't get mixed up."

How indistinct the line can become between truth and story. And sometimes we can only see the truth when it is in a story.

Title:	A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Author:	Betty Smith
Date published:	1943
Genre:	Fiction
Number of pages:	493
Notes:	recommended by jewell

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The concept and main idea of this book is worth reading about -- but the writing isn't so much. Richardson includes many stories from all over the world about people groups who were prepared to receive the Gospel long ago. That in some specific way, truth found in the Bible was written into the innerworkings of their beliefs and traditions. Many people groups (these particular examples came largely from Ssia) had lost 'The Book' and were waiting for an 'older brother' or 'white man' to come and restore this book and more instructions to them. Another common belief includes a supreme God -- who for some reason had been angered by their people and left them alone. For those who believe this, they often sacrificed to other spirits to keep them from being angry - instead of blind worship. This idea -- that humans are made to worship and know God is exciting and true. Not just as individuals, but as cultures and societies God's truth is written in our very being.

One chapter was devoted to other strange practices, telling a few stories of people groups who were prepared in other ways. These stories (and some others) made the book well worth reading. One fairly well known example is that of the Chinese writing system, which uses characters. Some words are portrayed visibly (drawn or written) as combinations of others. For example, the word righteousness is formed by writing the character for 'lamb' over the character for 'I' -- which shows the truth that to be declared righteous by God, we must be under the Lamb of God. In a very different vein of preparation, a couple cultures created cities of refuge, where murder and violence were not allowed (strangely parallel to God's instructions in Numbers to the Israelites). Lastly, Native Americans are often raised to understand and remember things in fours. They often pay attention better when there are four points to a lesson and resonate with places throughout the Bible where four is a valuable number. Hebrews also enjoyed numbers and found them very symbolic, so pieces of the Bible and God's truth easily make sense culturally to Native Americans. It's good to be reminded that God is all places long before we were, that He is the one who prepares hearts, minds, societies, cultures.

But -- I don't plan to read this book again. Richardson's tone was very discouraging to me. Some individuals have a way of speaking (and/or writing) which conveys their opinion is the only right opinion. Which also conveys that anyone who disagrees is wrong (and also stupid..). Richardson also goes back to look at Christ and the apostles in the Gospels and Acts, and creates lots of fiction. He gives emotions and reasons to various characters -- which could be true, but are not actually found in the narratives. Unless the Bible specifically states an individual's reason for a certain action -- we cannot know and should not assume. At least not to prove a point as if it were Biblical. Humility is a vital characteristic of a Christ follower, and sadly, Richardson does little to evidence that he has chosen to live humbly.

Title:	Eternity in their Hearts
Author:	Don Richardson
Date published:	1981
Genre:	Religious
Series:
Number of pages:	213
Notes:

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Another fast paced Grisham novel. Not too much thinking required, but with a reasonable plot and some distinct characters. 3 ex-judges are in the same low-security prison in florida. And they decide to run a scam to make money while they're inside. Put out ads in homosexual magazines and find the rich men -- get to know some of their personal stuff, find out who they really are, and then threaten to expose their dirty secret. Working pretty well, except one man who answered the ad is in line to become the next president. And his secret can't come out, so extreme measures must be taken.

Teddy is the man in charge of the CIA. He's brilliant and in pain and in a wheelchair, but he knows more than any man should have to know and makes decisions that are truly life and death. He (and the CIA and who knows who else) decide that Russia is a big enough threat that the military needs to get beefed up. So they decide to throw a presidential election. It would mean lots more money and business for certain companies, so they willingly throw in their money and votes. Favors are called in and huge ad campaigns are run. The idea of being able to throw an election is very interesting to me. That money can buy more than we think it can. Don't usually care that much about politics, but this concept raised my eyebrows and I wonder who else has thought this and who has actually done it.

The whole idea behind the prison scam is that some secrets are worth paying big money to hide. That image is valuable enough to warrant bribery. Which has happened for years and generations and probably in most if not every culture. I want to be the sort of person who doesn't have anything to hide. To make wise decisions - but also to admit that I am a sinner and that I have made, make, and will continue to make mistakes and choose poorly. But no matter what God will not forsake me. To live in the freedom of knowing we are loved and saved no matter what -- that's the gospel of Christ!

Title:	The Brethren
Author:	John Grisham
Date published:	2000
Genre:	Fiction
Number of pages:	440
Notes:	brought by sue

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A strange, quirky, whimsical little novel, written very simply. It is about Miss Brodie, a woman “unmistakably in her prime.” As a teacher in Edinburgh, she gathers about her six girls from her class who become, in a way, her disciples. However, what she proposes to teach them is less clear – anything that is slightly subversive and which doesn’t appear in their conventional textbooks. Her world revolves around her peculiar interests – Fascism, art, and romantic affairs, among others – and political battles against the school headmistress bent on getting her fired. This makes a light afternoon read.

Title:	The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
Author:	Muriel Spark
Date published:	1961
Genre:	Fiction
Number of pages:	187
Notes:	Recommended by L.H.

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This book is a departure from most of McKillip's novels in a couple of ways: it is set in the present-day, and is a kind of sequel to the haunting Winter Rose, although it happens several generations later. Sylvia Lynn is summoned home by her grandmother for her grandfather's funeral. She has purposely avoided home and lived in the city to avoid her home and the peculiar power of the forest near Lynn Hall because of her own connection to the Otherness of the wood.

Lynn Hall and its wood are a place of passageways, full of points of connection with the Otherworld of the wood-folk, the fairies. Sylvia knows that she herself is half fay (her mother never married and never said who the father was), but has never admitted it-- particularly to her grandmother. After the funeral, Sylvia learns that her Gram Iris leads the Fiber Guild - a group of women who get together to sew, but also to close and protect the passageways between worlds, binding things with their sewing needles and crochet hooks. (The Fiber Guild reminded me of McKillip's short story, "The Witches of Junket," which features another forceful grandmother and a group of unlikely modern witches who defeat an ancient evil with a fishing rod and crochet hooks.)

Some of Iris' bindings have come apart-- enough to open up a few passageways and allow for some connection with the world of the fairies (even though the two worlds are already more connected than she realizes, as with Sylvia). Events and people start to tangle and unravel-- Sylvia and her younger cousin Tyler both cross over into the other world (one by force, the other by choice), and eventually Iris and Sylvia come face to face with the Queen of the Wood, who asks the chance to "give them a different tale"-- to change the story they have been told about the wood folk. Iris and her forbears had been taught that the fairies were heartless, evil creatures who were dangerous and incapable of love, and must discover that, like humans, not all fairies are heartless and cruel. At the end, Iris comes to the wonderful recognition that her husband Liam loved the wood because he was not afraid of it-- while, because she was so busy trying to protecting them from it and keep it contained, she could never enjoy its splendor and beauty.

The book is told from many different perspectives, always in first person, shifting from chapter to chapter. This is an interesting device; sometimes I felt like the different characters' voices weren't distinct enough (they all have that overtone of McKillip's beautiful, lyrical language), and sometimes it felt a bit jarring when I had to wait for one part of the story to go follow a different character. But this also allows for some wonderful moments; one chapter is told from the perspective of a changeling pretending to be human, and his thoughts as he learns and experiences human language are delightful. At another point, when Tyler has been taken to the Otherworld he is caught up in memories of his dead father and thinks of his new step-father as a changeling (this image rang so true-- it was perfect within the context of the character and the whole world of the book).

Title:	Solstice Wood
Author:	Patricia A. McKillip
Date published:	2006
Genre:	Fantasy
Number of pages:	278

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Angle of Repose is such a fruitful book that I have had to mull it over for several days after finishing the story. Being drawn into the life and mind of Susan Burling Ward gives me much to contemplate about human frailty, personal attraction, and the uniqueness of the American West in the 19th century. Stegner is a subtle and intelligent writer; what’s more, he treats his subjects with the dignity due to well-intentioned but flawed human beings.

Lyman Ward is a 58-year-old history professor (a favorite persona in Stegner’s novels) who’s retired to the family cottage to pour over his grandmother Susan’s papers and reconstruct her life - at least the most important part of her life, the 14 first years of her life with Oliver Ward. Susan was educated in genteel New York fashion in the 1860s and began a very successful lifelong career as an artist and writer in the 1870s. Oliver Ward was a mining engineer whose dedication and bad luck led him all over the West, following job after job. They were perhaps a bit mismatched, but their marriage thrived on mutual goodwill. Slowly, misfortune and their natural imperfections interfere. It is a fascinating study, admirably written.

Optimism carries the couple along jauntily for several years (and a few hundred pages). It is a pleasure to see their youthful inventiveness in inhospitable mining towns; their loving encouragement of the other’s vocation. However, towards the middle of the book, I found myself wondering, “is this ever going to end?” Susan and Oliver became mired in what I called the Boise Stagnation. They were waiting and waiting for a break in their luck, which came after 8 long years (and then only briefly). As their hope and patience wore thin, the pages seemed to drag on and on, and I was amazed that the author was so effective in conveying his characters’ torpor that even I, the reader, felt it.

There are plenty of things to think about here, and one thing I began to wonder about was avoiding adultery. No one wrongfully sleeps with anyone else in this story. However, Susan’s mind seemed to drift away from Oliver toward the possibility of Frank. It wasn’t that Frank was a superior man, but being exhausted in hope, she yearned for something new and fresh, unsullied yet by real circumstances. It seems that “possibilities” are hopes unfulfilled and inherently seductive. “Who hopes for what he already has?” The first step in adultery may be awakening to some lack in the current relationship and imagining something better with another, lesser known, person. The mere fact that the other person is little known and the outcome nebulous makes the extramarital relationship more interesting, more attractive, fuller of hope and positive possibility. Possibly this realization can help people to recognize when they are in danger of wandering away from their love.

Title:	Angle of Repose
Author:	Wallace Stegner
Date published:	1971
Genre:	Historical fiction
Number of pages:	557

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I really enjoyed the musical and own the cd, so thought I would read the book too. But .. I didn't like Maguire's other book which I read last year. And didn't really like this one either. Long and felt windy without reason. (Both windy like a road and windy like too many words!) The concept is fun, to retell a well known story from the opposite side -- but not particularly well done. This is a case where the musical is much better than the book. Too political and too psychological (sort of ) to hold my attention. Got to a point where I kept reading simply to finish. And was still disappointed by the end which had little closure or explanation for the need for this book to be so long.

Elphaba is the woman who eventually becomes the Wicked Witch of the West. Maguire shows this to be not by choice, but because of a large number of circumstances and events which were largely beyond her control. Being born green, parents who didn't know how to love her, always standing out, not having a friend until college, living in a land which was politically divided. With all these factors, how could she help but fight back in the ways available to her? The story is somewhat interesting, but Maguire takes sizable chunks of the book to relate his own views about politics and where the dangers come from and who should have rights. (Not saying they are his own, but they certianly come through in the commentary that is shared about Oz.)

One idea which was particularly interesting was that of a soul. Elphaba keeps insisting that she does not have a soul. (The reader isn't even given clear reasons as to why..) But this comes into play in some of her actions. she mentions it -- 'If I had a soul...' or 'I'm glad I don't have a soul..' because many people who do have souls are not respectable for her. They are weak and choose poorly and have favorites -- which are always somebody besides her. Are some people born without a soul? Some people certainly have little ability to tell what is right or wrong -- but is that all a soul is good for? Those with views that differ greatly from society are not necessarily evil (although history can easily portray them that way ..) but I did enjoy wondering about what exactly a soul is. And what it might look like to 'prove' that someone was soul-full or soul-less..

Title:	Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
Author:	Gregory Maguire
Date published:	1995
Genre:	fairy tale retelling
Number of pages:	406
Notes:	from marion

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Written in turns by young Roddy (short for Arianrhod) and a teenaged Nick Mallory, this book is a magical romp through the Isle of Blest (a parallel world version of the British Isles with both magic and technology, where the King and his court continually travel around the country, and where the chief magician holds the office of Merlin) along with a variety of other parallel universes, as these young people attempt to fight a magical coup that has nearly all the adults taken in or bespelled. At the same time, Nick & Roddy are (of course) discovering more about themselves and their magical abilities. The story is set in the same multiverse of Jones' novel Deep Secret, and features a few of the same characters (most notably Nick).

The book is clearly written from the point of view of Nick & Roddy, and towards the end the reader discovers that they were actually assigned the task, as a kind of homework, to help them make sense of the extraordinary events they lived through. Their stories intersect more and more as the book goes along, and they trade off telling parts of the story more and more rapidly towards the end, which is really quite fun.

Roddy and her friend Grundo are learning to be magicians in the King's court (of which their parents are members), so they travel everywhere with the King's progress. Almost by accident, they escape drinking ensorceled water and overhear a plot-- but nearly no one will believe them. Along their adventures, they end up traveling with various members of Roddy's family, who are quite interesting relatives in a variety of ways (one grandfather is a Magid, the other is the King of the Dead, and one grandmother is the head of a female-only three-witch household).

Nick, in turn, is really the son of an emperor from another parallel world who chose to give up any claims to the throne and is growing up on our earth, although his deepest desire is to be a Magid and travel the many different worlds. He is accidentally sent traveling through other worlds (for quite a while, he thinks it is a dream because he often daydreams about going to other worlds), and begins to learn some more magic and make some interesting acquaintances. He eventually connects with Roddy and her Magid grandfather, and becomes part of the group that attempts to avert complete disaster as all the magic in the world of Blest (and the many worlds closest to it) is about to come unraveled.

The Merlin Conspiracy is full of interesting lands with wonderful details that bring them to life and make them feel very different from each other and from our own world. The magic and history of Blest is also interestingly brought out-- from such creatures as the little folk, and nearly-invisible magic-enhancing and emotion-loving day creatures all the up to a huge white dragon slumbering under the hillside and an ancient King of Blest who is roughly equivalent to King Arthur in our world. Very enjoyable and plenty to interest, although the story tends to ramble a bit and does not always jump directly to the action that is most interesting at the moment (although this furthers the illusion that the book is written by two teenagers).

Title:	The Merlin Conspiracy
Author:	Diana Wynne Jones
Date published:	2003
Genre:	Young Adult Fantasy
Series:	Magid multiverse of parallel worlds
Number of pages:	468

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This is a Newbery book, so obviously some people thought it worth reading. I'd agree with them. Historical fiction is not my favorite category, but this one snuck it's way in. Daniel is a boy who is successfully running away from his painful past, until two old characters turn up in one of his favorite places and he can't help but speak with them. This conversation leads his life in a whole new direction. These two are Joel and Malthace, brother and sister, who look alike and still have very unique personalities. They all go on this journey of life together, growing up and beginning to face life and death issues. Choosing who is worth following. Discovering what it means to lead well. Struggling with calling and passion and revenge.

All three (and many others) are strongly affected by Jesus. The story is placed during the time He was preaching and living in Capernaum. They have many opportunities to listen to Him speak, to see Him affect all those around Him, to see him heal. To listen to his words and see that they match his actions. Daniel's father was cruelly killed by the Romans, so at the age of eight he began to hate them. And this hate has only grown stronger with time. Daniel longs to follow this Jesus -- but Jesus is not calling anyone to fight and kill the Romans. They is a defining conversation where a weary Jesus takes time to listen to Daniel's story, and Jesus tells him the only thing stronger than hate is love. Daniel does not want to accept this but must struggle mightily to come to a final decision.

Samson is an amazing character. He speaks no words at all. He is taken from a slave trader, by the band Daniel is part of, at the beginning of the story. Samson is taken because he is huge and strong. He does things easily that four or five men would struggle to do, so his strength is unmatched. Daniel ends up taking him up to their hideout and freeing him from his chains (because he's the blacksmith), and earns Samson's devotion and love. They develop a sort of relationship. Whenever Daniel is gone from camp, Samson watches for him and misses him. Samson doesn't obey the leader of the band, but he's so strong that the leader can't do much about it. This human who is silent, doesn't show signs of understanding things, and often will not act of his own accord, saves Daniel and others from certain death. He chooses to give up his life willingly that they might live. (Reminds one of Jesus, eh?). When Daniel talks with Jesus and says he wants to revenge Samson's death, Jesus tells him that Samson did not give him revenge -- but love. That stops Daniel in his tracks. Everything which was so simple becomes much harder. When boundaries we've put in place are taken away from us, life gets much more complicated. But usually in a really good, growing, healthy way.

Title:	The Bronze Bow
Author:	Elizabeth George Speare
Date published:	1961
Genre:	young adult, historical fiction
Number of pages:	254
Notes:	repeat reading

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A collection of thoughtful essays-- sometimes humorous, frequently insightful. Some essays are inspired by particular books and others by personal experience (such as a young son eating paper torn from a Bible), but Jacobs always moves from these starting points towards deeper and more significant issues so that a review of a historical study of children's Bibles addresses our modern perceptions of children's spirituality, and whether editors of children's Bibles are justified in editing out violent and racy stories (other than the violence of the cross, of course, which is generally portrayed in some fashion). The essays range from personal experiences of fear and death to musings on such personages as C. S. Lewis, Bob Dylan, and Harry Potter, among other topics. Throughout, the essays are entertaining, readable, and thought-provoking.

A few favorites that particularly stood out, for some reason or another:

In "Dowsing in Scripture," when his two-year-old son eats paper from the Bible, Jacobs muses on the common, deprecated habit of opening the Bible at random as a kind of prophecy-- and finds himself unable to resist attempting to interpret his own son's act of eating scripture, with resonances of the prophets who were fed scrolls.

"In on the Kill" addresses the preponderance of violence in animal and nature shows and points out our society's preoccupation with, and entertainment by, death-- and even suggests that by watching we participate in this. In "Friendship and its Discontents," a review of an anthology of writing about friendship becomes an occasion to delve into what does and does not constitute true friendship, along with the question of whether friends must share spiritual beliefs.

"Lewis at 100" addresses the evangelical appropriation of C. S. Lewis as almost a saint, and the oddities that this has brought with it (such as a refusal by some to believe that Lewis consummated his marriage with Joy Gresham, as if Lewis must be 'pure' according to evangelical standards-- even though he was also known as a drinker and smoker, which such people happily ignore). One interesting point: Lewis did not think he was, or intend to be, original. He merely tried to articulate Christian views in a way that people of his time period could understand, and he did not expect his work to last. Jacob raises the question, why have there not been other writers and thinkers who might supersede Lewis by articulating these same points in a new way, for a new age?

"Harry Potter's Magic" is an insightful response to the mixed reception of the popular books in evangelical circles. Jacobs describes Rowling as a "world-maker" akin to Tolkien, and goes on to address ideas of magic in comparison to technology and science. He also makes a point that I have often thought myself-- many evangelicals condemn as "dangerous" the magical elements in books such as this, all the while holding the contradictory belief that magic isn't real. Jacobs also clearly points out the powerful moral dimension to the Harry Potter books-- the dangers of dark magic, the consequences for actions, and the power of the choices we make (such as Harry's desire not to be put in Slytherin's house) forming we who become.

The last section, "Lives of the Essayists," is a humorous look at a book Jacob's says will never be written, because it is more along the lines of "Lives of the Dentists" than the more dramatic-sounding "Lives of the Poets," or novelists, or painters. This gives him an opportunity to touch on some of the more interesting and famous essayists (some of whom did have very strange and dramatic life experiences), and even on the place of the essay itself as a genre, however poorly respected in some circles.

Title:	A Visit to Vanity Fair: Moral Essays on the Present Age
Author:	Alan Jacobs
Date published:	2001
Genre:	Essays
Number of pages:	173
Notes:	Christmas gift from Mom

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