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Sunday, September 30, 2007

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Still the best novel in the English language. In my fourth reading, I still found myself fascinated with Mr. Lydgate, Mr. Farebrother, Dorothea Brooke, and Caleb Garth. Rosamund Vincy and Edward Casaubon remain deliciously hateful. Though the book is set in the early 1830s in Britain, the characters are alive and nuanced in a way that grips me today. All the residents of this country town do their part to "make sport for their neighbors," but their lives also have something timeless to teach about honor, ambition, and diligence.

The book opens and closes with Dorothea Brooke, a young woman of independent means and a keen sense of duty. She feels called to do some great humanitarian work, but propriety dictates that she refrain from working, or participating in unwomanly activities, or spending her money in ways inconvenient to her family. In short, no one expects her to accomplish anything in particular, and she has no one to guide or direct her ardor. Dorothea leaps at the chance to marry a learned clergyman twice her age, thinking that his intellect and spiritual wisdom will allow her to labor in a great work within her reach, namely, assist Mr. Casaubon in writing a comprehensive book on religion. Too late, she finds that Mr. Casubon is not an intellectual and spiritual giant, but full of self-doubt and vain ambition - his efforts at writing are fumblings in the dark. Moreover, he seems incapable of true affection - he accuses Dorothea of base desires and freezes her tenderness with icy mistrust. It is sobering to watch her youthful idealism erode under the influence of her husband's suspicion, her family's worry, and society's opinion. Her lack of direction and her own blind spots prevent her from being other than ordinary.

Mr. Lydgate resembles Dorothea in his longing to accomplish a lasting good. He arrives in Middlemarch bent on medical reform. Unlike Dorothea, he has concrete tasks and goals before him, and is confident in his fitness for the work. He is an honorable and masterful man, who enjoys fellowship with the strong but has compassion for the weak. He errs in supposing Rosamund Vincy's beautiful exterior is an extension of her inner character. In fact, she is cunning, secretive, and obstinate, not to mention wholly self-centered. After they marry, Rosamund's strategems and Lydgate's entrenched pride subvert his career and all his lofty goals. He, too, fails to achieve what he set out to do. Lydgate's story is tragic, all the more so because of the several ways his misfortunes might have been prevented, if Rosamund had been different, or he himself had been different.

Mr. Farebrother, Fred Vincy, Mr. Bulstrode, Mary Garth, Will Ladislaw, and Caleb Garth all their stories told as well. What strikes me again and again about Middlemarch is its intelligence and depth. Each individual is drawn with sympathy and accuracy, to map a human landscape full of suspense, truth, and sometimes beauty. I hope to read this book many, many more times.

Title:Middlemarch
Author:George Eliot
Date published:1871-1872
Genre:Fiction
Number of pages:766

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Saturday, September 29, 2007

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cover of A Fire upon the Deep

I've been hearing good things about Vinge for a while, and finally read the book he is (I think) most famous for. It took me a while to get into this one, but when I did I found it completely engaging. This book presents a fascinating vision of the universe, full of diverse life-forms and aliens. The big idea is that there are different "zones" in different parts of space where different technologies function-- in the slower zones, like Earth, there is no faster-than-light travel and the more complex technologies don't work. In the higher zones, beings can evolve into something like gods (or "transcend"). What sets all the conflict of this book into motion is a group of humans discovering an old archive near the Transcend and awakening an ancient and powerful evil being. The rest of the book is the story of the battle against this being as it grows more and more powerful, taking over civilizations and starting interstellar wars.

Vinge has created a fascinating and compelling universe, and particularly interesting are the alien life-forms. There are the clever Tines, a pack-mind creature made up of several dog-like animals communicating and thinking together at subsonic levels-- they can live for centuries, with different members of their packs dying out and new ones taking their place. Also, the skroderiders-- a plant-like creature riding a mechanical "skrode," which provides them with the short-term memory they would otherwise lack.

Great science fiction, fascinating and compelling. This book is the beginning of a series, but it stands perfectly on its own as well.

Title:A Fire upon the Deep
Author:Vernor Vinge
Date published:1992
Genre:Science Fiction
Series:Zones of Thought
Number of pages:391

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Friday, September 28, 2007

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cover of The Irresistible Revolution

This man came to speak at my college while I was a student there, and incited a number of dialogues and questions. He's good at that, I think .. stirring up the way people are living in such a way that they have to ask questions and wonder and perhaps even change the way they are living. Which seems to me to be a very good thing. Claiborne's main premise is that many Christians don't actually live as followers of Christ. We may go to church and do good things periodically, but we don't actually do the things that we read about in the Bible. If Christ's words (and other words and ideas in the Bible too, of course) were taken seriously, our lives would have to change radically.

Claiborne's main ideas are conveyed through stories, most of which he has lived through himself. He spent some time in India working with Mother Teresa and getting to know some lepers. He has experienced a variety of churches and ways of doing Christianity. He lives in Philadelphia with a number of other Christ-followers, seeking to live out what it means to be a community and care for their community. He makes many of his own clothes (if not all?), doesn't settle for easy answers, and likes playing with the kids on his street. Claiborne has things to say, and is worth listening to .. not simply because they are good things, but because he is seeking to live what he talks about. To be a radical for Jesus not because it's cool or because he has to, but because it is simply what all those who follow Christ are called to.

Title:The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical
Author: Shane Claiborne
Date published:2006
Genre: Spiritual, Nonfiction
Number of pages: 358
Notes: borrowed from Diane

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Saturday, September 22, 2007

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cover of Flying in Place

This was not exactly the story I expected when I started this book-- but by the time I'd discovered that, it was too late to stop. I hadn't heard of Susan Palwick until I read a brief article about her book The Necessary Beggar being nominated for the Mythopoeic awards. The book sounded interesting, and according to the article Palwick is a Christian, so I thought I'd try some of her stuff-- the only one I could find in the library was this one. It's actually a story about dealing with sexual abuse, but there are still some fantasy elements because the main character, Emma, is visited by the ghost of her sister Ginny, and together they deal with the father that visited them both. What I found particularly interesting is that neither of these girls will fight for themselves, but they are both willing to fight for others-- Ginny comes back to help Emma, Emma won't stand up for herself, but will to protect her mother and other girls.

The idea of the title is one I've come across before in other books-- the person who is being abused sort of leaves their body to escape the terrible thing being done to them. This book takes it a bit further-- Emma is flying on the ceiling the first time she meets her sister Ginny. Then, together they begin exploring and flying other places.

The book is set up with a frame narrative-- an adult Emma is finally telling her husband (and, a little, her young daughter) about her childhood and her special relationship with the sister who died before she was born. This device gives some nice closure to the story, but otherwise it felt a little unnecessary to me, since most of the book was the story of her childhood.

I enjoyed the book pretty well, and found the characters believing and engaging. I still hope to read The Necessary Beggar sometime if I can find it anywhere.

Title:Flying in Place
Author:Susan Palwick
Date published:2005
Genre:Fantasy
Number of pages:192

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Friday, September 21, 2007

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Parallel story to Ender's Game, except the protagonist (and thus viewpoint) has changed. This time Bean is central - the little kid who is in Ender's army and is brilliant, even more than usual for the kids at Battle School. The story starts in Rotterdam, where street kids run in crews to protect themselves. Bean (as a tiny, starving 3 or 4 year old) manages to attach himself to a crew and civilize the whole system from the inside without seeming to. He and the crew he is part of are tested by Sister Carlotta - and she recognizes his genius (he's taught himself to read, and to speak a few different languages, to name a few of his more obvious skills at age 4 or 5). This eventually gets him sent to Battle School, where he is still miles ahead of those around him academically, but must learn how to lead well (because his small size somehow leads to negative comments) .. all the while being compared by everyone around him to Ender, who is going to save the world from the buggers (aliens).

Bean is a unique character .. he is small but more intelligent and quick thinking than most adults. Instead of having strong feelings, he is seen to analyze the situation and act as he feels fits. Because the barriers between him and others are so large (his small size, his brilliance, his analyzing which comes off as pride..) he doesn't have many friends, but at Battle School he gets his first friend - Nicolae. This turns out to be a nice 'coincidence', and they have more connections than they know. Bean is able to connect ideas in such a way that he understands what the teachers are doing, what are simulations and what is real, what is really at stake. Which turns out to be very frustrating to his teachers and those above him, but also leads to him being second in command for the simulation of the bugger war. Even as they are preparing for and fighting the war, he is thinking of what will come next and what will happen on Earth (what other battles there will be) and what part he is to play. Easy book to read and enjoy, and will be read again.

Title:Ender's Shadow
Author: Orson Scott Card
Date published:1999
Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction
Series: Ender Wiggins Saga
Number of pages: 467
Notes: Repeat reading

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Tuesday, September 18, 2007

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Saw this book when I was in the Mary Stewart section of the library, and was intrigued enough to check it out and read them. I was mildly surprised (although maybe I shouldn't have been, since Stewart's writing is generally pretty tight, careful and well-crafted) to find myself enjoying them. For the most part, they are fairly formal and make use of rhyme schemes, although not all of them. There's one about a petrel that reminded me very strongly of Hopkin's sprung rhythm, particularly his poem "The Kingfisher."

There were also several mythological poems (none of them particularly struck me), and the book ends with her Merlin poems which I guess were originally published in her Hollow Hills series.

(The copy I read is a hard-bound library book with no cover; I looked all the usual places online and couldn't find a single book cover image for this book.)

Title:Frost on the Window
Author:Mary Stewart
Date published:1990
Genre:Poetry
Number of pages:110

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Sunday, September 16, 2007

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A story about a young girl, Carrie, and her sister, Emma. Their father (who was a good man) died, and their mother remarried a man who is not so good. Really not good, actually. He drinks and is very abusive. These two sisters find good things in life, and continue to survive despite harsh conditions. Carrie has a book that is full of postcards of places to visit, and when she is very sad it is comforting to her .. the idea of going someplace else. Eventually, they decide to run away .. and life gets much worse after that for a while. Their mother should be a protector, but can protect neither herself or her children. Many ideas and events presented in this novel are sad, but there is some hope throughout.

They move to a new place because the step-father found a new job, and there is an old man, Mr. Wilson, who lives nearby. He also has not had a hard life, but he enjoys getting to know this young girl and her sister. He treats them like real people and takes time to teach them how to shoot. Since they live in a fairly rural area, this is somewhat common. Mr. Wilson is a sharp contrast to the stepfather .. he doesn't let things slide by, but he actually cares about Carrie and her sister. In the last few chapters, there is a twist that changes the whole story. It is well done, in that I wasn't expecting it .. but also very sad. A very psychological book, although perhaps one doesn't realize how much so until the end.

Title:Me & Emma
Author: Elizabeth Flock
Date published:2004
Genre: Fiction
Number of pages: 298

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Wednesday, September 12, 2007

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cover of The Ivy Tree

This book is rather different from most of the other Mary Stewart books I've read. A young woman visiting northern England is mistaken for a missing heiress who disappeared years ago. Con, the cousin of the missing girl convinces Mary to pretend to be the missing Annabel and come visit her father's farm-- all in order to cement the disposition of the property on Con, who has been managing the land for years. Of course, when she gets there things are much more complicated than she expected, and she becomes less and less certain that Con can be trusted, as it seems he will do anything (even commit murder) to accomplish his goals. She also discovers, seemingly by accident, that the missing Annabel had a relationship with a neighboring farmer-- they used to leave each other notes in the hollow of an old ivy tree where the road split between the two properties.

This is one of those books that intentionally tricks the reader-- and at the end, when all is revealed, you flip back through the pages and realize, yes, the evidence was all there, carefully placed, but obscured and easy to miss. In Stewart's novels, things are rarely what they seem-- but in this book that is even more so than with the others I've read. Characters in the book are often surprised at Mary-- she seems so changed from the Annabel they knew, and yet she knows and does things that fit so well. Even as the reader I found myself wondering and then second-guessing myself-- in spite of the fact that Annabel was a masterful horsewoman, and Mary Grey seems quite terrified of horses. Of course, this made it a much more interesting and exciting read.

This seemed like a darker book and a more questionable romance than I remember in other Stewart novels. Annabel, as a young woman, was having an affair with a married man who detested his wife. This forbidden love was the reason she left her home and fled to America, and now the old lover is scarred and wounded by his terrible life. It has a fairly happy resolution, but it seems bittersweet, and there is plenty of darkness and evil around, too.

Title:The Ivy Tree
Author:Mary Stewart
Date published:1961
Genre:Mystery / Romance
Number of pages:320
Notes:recommended by Nancy Pearson, author of Book Lust, on her NPR radio show / podcast

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This book took me months and months. Because it's really more than one book, but rather four or five books in one. And while detective stories are enjoyable, to read too many at once is not so good for one's brain or looking over one's shoulder. Sherlock Holmes is famous for his eye for detail. He sees things many of us miss and is able to determine where they come from and what they signify. In every story, some of his reasoning is made clear to the reader, and it does not cease to amaze. Toward the end, there are some examples of Holmes even being able to follow Watson's train of thought and agree or disagree even without Watson saying anything. This is fun to read about and imagine, and although Holmes holds to it being simply scientific, I have a hard time believing something like this possible. It's at least really really unprobable.

One device that I enjoyed is the use of Watson. He is also a character, but is the narrator and chronicler and is written well enough that he could indeed be the author. Not just another character. Watson is often refering to cases that he cannot write up (because there are too many), which makes the stories he does tell seem even more real. All the details and places, people, history, weather .. combine to make Watson feel like a person instead of simply a character. And as good as Holmes is at discovering and catching criminals, it's too bad that these two people and their adventures are fictional. Ah well.

Title:Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Novels and Stories, Volume 1
Author: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Date published:1887
Genre: Mystery
Number of pages: 1059
Notes: borrowed from Amy

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Monday, September 10, 2007

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cover of Touch Not the Cat

Bryony is a young woman from an old British family, the Ashleys, and she returns to her family home under strange circumstances, after her father dies in a suspicious hit and run. There are plenty of legends and colorful stories about the Ashley family history, but one story-- that some family members have a "gift," some kind of psychic ability-- turns out to be true, because Bryony has had a special connection with one of her cousins since she was a child, and now thinks of him as her psychic lover. The only problem is, she isn't quite sure which cousin it is; none of them quite seem to fit. Of course, there turns out to be a cousin she didn't know about, and another interesting complication to the Ashley family legends. It's been long enough since I read this book that I didn't remember right away who Bryony's love was, which made reading it more fun.

As in most Mary Stewart novels, there's plenty of intrigue and mystery. Bryony's cousins (twins who were always partners in crime as children) have started selling off heirlooms from the estate (which they will inherit) because they have a "cash flow problem," in the process corrupting the young American girl whose family is renting the estate (and who is in love with one of the twins). There's also a cryptic message from her father that she can't quite make out, and interesting connections and revelations about their family history, the family crest and motto (which is where the title comes from), drawn and combined from various sources over history. And then, near the end of the book, after the trauma of a flood and near death, the discovery of a ancient Roman mosaic (of a cat, of course) that might be enough to save the family home.

The cover image is from my copy-- an old paperback I bought somewhere with a strange design, but it plays with the idea of the family crest and the maze and the cat images that run through the book.

Title:Touch not the Cat
Author:Mary Stewart
Date published:1976
Genre:Mystery / romance
Number of pages:302
Notes:repeat reading

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Saturday, September 08, 2007

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cover of Storm Front

Harry Dresden is a working wizard (at one point he calls himself a blue-collar wizard), listed in the Chicago phonebook-- not for parties or entertainment, but to use his power to help people, find lost items, etc. He also consults with the police on unusual cases, and this book finds him getting drawn into the investigation of a gruesome double murder which his own people (the White Council) think he may have committed. The book is narrated by Dresden, and at several points he talks about a wizards' perception; he's careful not to meet people's eyes, because if he looks for too long he sees into their soul and they see into is his, which apparently can be quite a shock. He also recognizes the non-human creatures around him that normal people don't see (and are generally safer because they don't know). When he's thinking about the power and movement in a storm going on, he gets an insight that opens up the case he's working on-- he realizes that the dark wizard he's trying to find is harnessing the raw power of the storm to do his dirty work.

An engaging story with an interesting mystery, and sub-plots that connect in fairly believable ways. I like the way the otherworld of magic and monsters is integrated into the regular life of Chicago. But sometimes it wasn't the magic that strained my credulity. In one long scene Dresden is fighting for his life against a demon summoned by the dark wizard he's trying to track down-- but the whole time he is supposed to be naked, with shampoo suds running down from his air into his eyes (he jumped out of the shower suddenly and grabbed a towel, but he loses it pretty quickly), and then of course the lady friend that is trapped in his house accidentally drinks a love potion (which is really more of a lust potion) instead of an escape potion. I'm not sure why this bothered me so much-- it just seemed completely superfluous and unnecessary. It doesn't advance the plot any, it doesn't really convey anything about Dresden's character (is it supposed to make him tougher that he survives in spite of these facts?).

Not a perfect book by any means, but it's a fun read and a great idea to stick a wizard in the middle of Chicago. I'll probably read more Dresden Files sometime.

Title:Storm Front
Author:Jim Butcher
Date published:2000
Genre:Contemporary Fantasy
Series:The Dresden Files
Number of pages:322

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Tuesday, September 04, 2007

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This book is labeled on the cover as a sequel to Howl's Moving Castle, and while that is the case, it's not a typical sequel. Many of the main characters show up again, although not where you expect them, and not in ways you will necessarily recognize, at least at first. The main story centers on a young carpet merchant named Abdullah whose daydreams (good and bad) start coming true after he is given a magic carpet. But then the princess he has fallen in love with is stolen away by a djinn, and Abdullah must do whatever he can to recover his beloved-- traveling to a strange land with interesting companions to find the castle visible in the sunset skies where the djinn has taken hostage many princesses from all over.

Like many of Diana Wynne Jones other books, this is a delight to read. Abdullah in particular is always complimenting people in ridiculously flowery language (because that is how he is used to negotiating in the marketplace of Zanzib), until he learns that some people (like the genie in a bottle he's carrying around) prefer a more straight-forward approach.

The djinn who is stealing all the princesses, Hasruel, is actually a good djinn who has been enslaved by his brother, a half-wicked djinn. He is forced to do these deeds, but everywhere he steals a princess he sets up a lover he hopes will come to her rescue. It eventually becomes clear that Hasruel is having a great deal of fun playing this game (almost like a huge kind of chess game, with human pawns at stake across a board spanning many countries).

It was a delight when familiar characters started showing up-- particularly Howl and Sophie still arguing all the time, but happy that way, in love and now with a new son. When I finished the book and discovered the twist about where these characters had been hiding from the evil djinn (because he stole Howl's magical castle), I almost felt like reading the book straight over again, so I could pay proper attention to them. I'll have to read it again sometime soon.

Title:Castle in the Air
Author:Diana Wynne Jones
Date published:1990
Genre:Fantasy
Number of pages:298

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