Review – Frenchman’s Creek

/ justbookreading / 7 Comments

Frenchman’s Creek is a book I wanted to read last year. I even got it out of the library, very excited to have it in my hands, and then I never read it. It went back to the library unopened. A few weeks ago I decided to put it on hold and decided this would be the time I read it, and I did. And it was wonderful. It’s full of cold, rainy Cornwall days, French pirates, romance, and pillaging. What more could I want?

Lady Dona St. Columb is not one for high society although she is a fixture in London society. Always the most daring and outspoken one in the room, and mostly by choice, she tires of it all and take off for her husband’s country estate on the coast of Cornwall with only her children and a few servants in tow. She arrives at the dreary closed up home happy to finally be alone and out of London. She can’t stand the neighbors and does her best to make a few scenes to amuse herself but they reluctantly pester her to write to her husband and ask him to take care of the pirate who is raiding the coast. Not at all wanting to see her husband, she doesn’t bother with telling him the news but she does find she’s interested in finding out more about this pirate.

This book is certainly more romantic than the other du Maurier books I’ve read. Dona, a very selfish woman by all accounts, and even though she claims to care for her children, is happy to run off for days without seeing them. It’s all about her and what she wants. What she wants is the French pirate and that’s what she gets. I can’t say I blame her. I too pictured a lovely French pirate as well, but overall, Dona’s not an endearing person and not all that likable for her actions. Did I mention her leaving her children for days on end and she doesn’t even think about them while she’s gone. Oh, and she’s claiming this entire time that she’s a good parent. And, you guessed it; she’s also having an affair. If you didn’t guess that, my apologies, I didn’t mean to ruin that for you. Wipe that last sentence from your memory. But I came to like her anyway and especially at the end which I won’t be sharing.

The strong personalities in du Maurier’s books are amusing, entertaining, and full of passion of one kind or another — think Rebecca, Rachel, and add Dona to that list — and that’s what I like that about her characters. I don’t always like her characters but do like the surprises her sometimes selfish, mean, and cruel female characters can bring about.

Frenchman’s Creek has only made me want to read more of her books. My library has Jamaica Inn and that might be the next one on my list of du Maurier books to tackle. This one was a real pleasure.

Frenchman’s Creek

By Daphne du Maurier

Source Books Landmark

ISBN: 9781402217104

4.5 stars

Thoughts – Little House on the Prairie

/ justbookreading / 3 Comments

I haven’t read this book since I was, I don’t remember actually, but I was much younger than I am now. When it came up as a possible July title for the Book Hoarders Anonymous Book Club, I was excited to pick it up again and see what I thought of it as an adult. Here’s the discussion post if you’re interested.

First, as a child, I loved this book. I read it over and over thinking how wonderful it would be to live in a log cabin, days to run free in the prairie, chasing animals, and sitting nights by the fire. As I got older, that stopped appealing which is probably why this book moved to the back of my bookshelf and was replaced by fantasy books. Hello Tolkien! Re-reading it now, I had an entirely different reaction, and not surprisingly, a more adult reaction.

Second, a few things that stood out to me. When Charles Ingalls decides to move his family out west, he packs up the wagon and heads out. There was no family discussion at all except for his wife Caroline saying something like, “If that’s what you think is best Charles.” Of course. Insert big eye roll here. His wanting to be away from everyone and everything was something I couldn’t identify with. Living in a city with close proximity to people and services, I love the idea of getting away from it all, but I don’t want to live away from it all. I can appreciate his adventurous spirit though. However, something about moving your family to the middle of nowhere with no help or contact with family, or any other people, strikes me as foolish. But that’s what people did and that’s how the plains were changed. I won’t get into the implications this had on the Native American tribes living in this area at the time. Obviously, my thoughts on this are very different then they were as a child, if I even had any thoughts about this as a child which I probably didn’t. I was happy to see that Charles was not quite as close-minded as Caroline though in his thinking even if he was still off the mark. If you want more on this, Jillian at A Room of One’s Own has some interesting thoughts about it. (Side note: Thanks for the link in your review Alison. Gave me a new way to view a story I’m familiar with.)

Now, the story. You know what, it held up for me. I read it on a Sunday afternoon curled up on my couch remembering all the wonderful things about this book and why I loved it so much as girl. There’s adventure, change, a tight knit family, and it has a homespun, charming quality to it. One part I forgot about was Jack the family dog. Don’t worry this is not a spoiler because it happens in chapter two. As the family is crossing the river, Jack gets lost when he has to swim for it himself. Why they don’t put him in the wagon baffles me but they didn’t. It get depressing for a while here and I was a miffed at Charles then remembered that Jack did make it across the river and joins up with the Ingalls again who are nothing but happy to see him. As a dog person, this was a little heartwarming moment. Now, Laura is my favorite but I was surprised that I didn’t remember Mary as being so quiet. Yes, Laura gets in trouble, is somewhat jealous of her well-behaved, older sister but I didn’t remember her as so meek and mild. It’s probably because I identified more with Laura and probably never thought much about Mary at all.

As I was reading, visions of the TV show kept popping in my head. No matter how many times it was mentioned that Charles had a beard, I couldn’t picture it because in my head, Charles Ingalls is Michael Landon and he didn’t have a beard. I wish that didn’t happen but I does. I should admit that I was a huge fan of the show as a girl so the two are pretty well intertwined for me.

I enjoyed this book, laughed at it, remembered some sweet things about it, and was glad I took a day to immerse myself it in. It was a complete comfort read and I remembered why these books were a staple for me. You won’t find lyrical prose here. You won’t find an amazing plot. You will find some heartfelt moments of a close and loving family and an adventure of a lifetime for a young girl.

For those not familiar with the series, the books in order are:

Little House in the Big Woods

Little House on the Prairie

On the Banks of Plum Creek

By the Shores of the Silver Lake

The Long Winter

Little Town on the Prairie

The Happy Golden Years

The First Four Years

There is also one book, Farmer Boy, which is based on Laura Ingalls Wilder’s husband’s, childhood.

Thoughts – Little House on the Prairie

By Laura Ingalls Wilder

Illustrated by Garth Williams

HarperCollins Publishers

ISBN: 0060264454

 

The Sunday Salon – New Books

/ justbookreading / 4 Comments

On Friday night, the husband and I made a stop at our neighborhood bookstore and walked out carrying three new books. Yeah for me! Not so much yeah for the bookshelves already straining under a tremendous weight. Logistics of my bookshelves aside, here’s what I got.

The Likeness by Tana French — I read In The Woods recently and was wowed so of course this one needed to be bought.

A Wise Man’s Fear by Patrick Rothfuss — I read The Name of the Wind earlier this summer and had to buy this one when I saw it on the shelf. Rothfuss is my new fantasy writer crush.

I’ve been on a bit of a book acquiring trend lately and I need to start backing off or clearing the shelves. Since I don’t want to think of either of these things coming to pass, I simply won’t.

I’m hoping to finish up The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley in the next few days. I’ve been reading this book for weeks, six weeks is my best guess, and it’s been an enjoyable re-read but I’m ready for it to be done. I’m also reading The Map of Lost Memories by Kim Fay which is set in Cambodia. It’s a very interesting read so I may spend some time with this book today if I find a few moments of time to steal.

That’s all for me. I managed to schedule some posts so it won’t be so quiet around here this week and maybe now that summer is approaching its end, I may actually get back to blogging regularly.

Enjoy the day in your part of the world today.

Happy Sunday.

Review – Timeless Desire

/ justbookreading / Leave a comment

I don’t read much romance but throw in time travel and a Scottish man and I’m in. All in.

Actually, I do read romance novels about once or twice a year. It’s not part of my regular reading feast but I like to change things up every few months and romance seems to be the thing for me. So when this book came along I was happy to find myself totally in the story and hoping for a happy ending.

Panna Kennedy is a librarian in Pittsburgh, PA. She’s in her 30s and a widow — her husband Charlie died two years earlier after a long and painful illness. She’s tried dating but doesn’t feel ready for a commitment yet. One night, a well-meaning friend sets her up on a blind date. As she’s getting ready to leave work, she stumbles upon a door in the library that is a time portal to 1706, and more precisely the border of England and Scotland which is about to erupt in battle. After going through the portal, she finds herself in a chapel. Not wanting to be seen, Panna runs off and ends up hiding in the library with a man named Captain James Bridgewater. He owns the castle and the library that she can’t help but admire. Trying to come up with a believable story for how she ended up in his house, she finds herself attracted to Bridgewater and keeps coming up with reasons to stay. Panna finally goes back to her own time but can’t stop thinking of Bridgewater and what might happen to him. Rushing back to the library, she hurls back in time and ends up in a whole mess of trouble that might get her and Bridgewater killed.

I loved that Panna was a librarian and pretty much fell in love with every book she came in contact with. It was a quirk I found very endearing. Being a young widow, she has her sad moments but it doesn’t consume her and while Panna professes she’s not ready for new love, well, it’s a romance so we all know what’s going to happen. And sometimes that predictability about a story is what I want. I wasn’t reading this book because I thought she might find a new man, I was all out waiting for him to appear, past or future.

Now James Bridgewater (Jamie to his friends) is likable in that gruff sort of way. A man without a family, floating between being a Captain in the English army and the grandson of a Scottish Clan leader, he’s more than stuck in the middle. Panna doesn’t make his life easier but she certainly makes it more enjoyable.

I’m a fan of Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series, and while I’m not out to make comparisons, I will anyway. Woman is the time traveler, meets Scot named Jamie, battle brewing between English and Scottish, two people marry under duress, find they really do love each other. You get the picture. Don’t take any of this as negative because it’s certainly not. I liked all these elements in the Outlander series and I liked them in this book. The story had a familiarity to it but didn’t feel the same for me. This happens when I read books with similar settings, which I do often especially with historical fiction, and while I wanted to mention it, it certainly wasn’t a drawback for me.

Here’s what it comes down to — Timeless Desire was a fast and entertaining read. The characters were likable, the setting a favorite time period of mine, and I can’t pass up a hot Scot. I was looking for a change in my reading and this book was a perfect summer evening read for me. I really I have to say I enjoyed it. This doesn’t necessarily mean I’ll be adding more romance to my regularly scheduled reading but it did make me realize I need to give it a chance more often.

Timeless Desire: An Outlander Love Story

By Gwyn Cready

Astor + Blue Editions LLC

ISBN: 9781938231292

4 stars

Review – Among Others

/ justbookreading / 7 Comments

I’m not sure where to go with this review. On one hand, I loved this book and on the other, I felt somewhat lost. Maybe not lost but not part of the story but outside it.

Told through the diary entries of Mori, we come to find out she’s now living with a father she doesn’t know, is being shipped off to boarding school, is doing what she can to escape the magical wrath of her mother, and using books to ease the pain in her world that is both physical and mental. Having survived an accident that took the life of her twin sister, Mori lives every moment with a reminder of that day — a shattered leg that pains her. Not interested in anything her father, her aunts, or the boarding school can offer, she sets out to find herself a place in the world. She employs a little magic to make things happen and worries each day that what she’s done will attract the mother she’s running from.

There is one aspect to this book that I loved and that was the books. Mori is a voracious reader and I adored her love of science fiction and fantasy. I wanted to read everything she was reading. Really I’m going to now pull that Roger Zelazny book off the shelf and read it. I swear it. This was the part of the book I fell deeply in love with. Not knowing the details of Mori’s life and having to pick up small hints here and there made me feel as though I was on the outside — much like Mori herself. Maybe it was an effective way to tell the story after all looking back on it.

Fairies do feature in the story and I’ve never been a fan. I love fantasy and almost all elements that go with it but fairies are sort of so-so for me. I didn’t see the appeal but I gave Mori and her woodland friends a chance. I’m glad I did. After finishing, I felt a much stronger tie to this book and a great appreciation for Walton’s writing so much so that I picked up another of her books soon after. A quick skim through that book tells me I’m going to enjoy that one too.

Among Others

By Jo Walton

Doherty, Tom Associates, LLC

ISBN: 9781429991520

4.25 stars

Review – Heartless (The Parasol Protectorate #4)

/ justbookreading / Leave a comment

Heartless is the fourth book in The Parasol Protectorate series following, Soulless, Changeless, and Blameless. Consider this your spoiler warning.

In book four of The Parasol Protectorate series, we meet up with Alexia, who at this point is very much pregnant and still very much living her life. Her husband, Lord Conall Maccon, is trying to integrate a new member into his pack, Biffy, who used to be a drone of Lord Akeldama’s, and get Alexia to sit still for a moment. Alexia, however, is less concerned with daily life and whether or not she should still be in public in her condition than with solving a problem with the local hives, surviving assignation attempts on her life (of which there seem to be many), and solving a pack problem. When things finally start to come together, another problem arises leaving Alexia once more the only person with answers.

It’s amazing that Alexia manages to survive her pregnancy at all. She doesn’t slow down at all; in fact, there are more attempts on her life in one week than maybe the three previous books combined. It’s highly entertaining. I also loved the addition of Biffy to the werewolf pack and all the adjustments that come with it. Biffy has always been a favorite of mine and to see him struggling with his new, unasked for life, was a nice addition to the story that’s mostly lighthearted and ridiculous in the most wonderful way possible. I also enjoyed the way Alexia, the most practical and analytical of people, thinks of the soon to come child — the infant inconvenience. She talks to it with commands — Alexia isn’t one for loving tones. When she yells in a much displeased tone, it’s her way of telling a person she loves them.

These books have been a guilty pleasure of mine these last few months and I’ve been dolling them out slowly knowing there are only five and the series will soon be coming to an end. What I love about them is the crazy lives of the characters, their habits, the totally unbelievable situations they get into and out of, and how everyone fits together in some way or another. These books will entertain you to the very last page. Crazy hats, Victorian manners, vampire hives, dapper drones, messy werewolves, pack politics, and ever messier pack leaders. Read them and be entertained.

Heartless (The Parasol Protectorate #4)

By Gail Carriger

Orbit

ISBN: 9780316179959

4 stars

The Sunday Salon – An Addiction to Series Book

/ justbookreading / 4 Comments

I spent a good portion of this Sunday eating pancakes and sitting on my couch reading Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I haven’t read this book since I was a child and it’s refreshing to know I still remember much of it. My opinion of some of the characters has changed but it’s a relaxing and comforting re-read and the book I needed today.

It got me thinking about the rest of the books in the series, and while I’m pretty sure I won’t be re-reading the other books this time around, I was glad to know they would be there when I needed another dose of the Prairie. And then I started to think about series books and how often I get myself mixed up with a series and can’t back away until I’ve read every book available to me. Looking over my list, I’ve read a lot of series books this year and started a few last year that I need to get back to.

Here’s what I’m following now:

The Parasol Protectorate series by Gail Carriger — I’ve read all five books this year and am sad there will be no more but the series was so good I’ll be reading them again so I’m not all that sad. For the curious, the books are: Soulless, Changeless, Blameless, Heartless, and Timeless.

Gentleman Bastards series by Scott Lynch — I started this series as part of a read along because the first book, The Lies of Locke Lamora, was on my list. Can I tell you how awesome these books are?! No really, they are that good. I finished the second book, Red Seas Under Red Skies, and can’t wait for the next book which I think comes out this fall.

The Dark Tower series by Stephen King — A co-worker gave me five books in the series and I made it through the first one, The Gunslinger, which sadly was a bit slow for me. I think I was expecting something very different and I’m not sure about the series but since I have the books I’ll probably continue. I’ve been told they do get better.

The King Killer Chronicle by Patrick Rothfuss — I finished The Name of the Wind and can’t wait to get A Wise Man’s Fear. If you like fantasy, you should be reading these books. All I’m going to say.

The Taker Trilogy by Alma Katsu — I finished the second book in the series, The Reckoning, a month or so ago and it was good. I’m looking forward to the third book. I was a little apprehensive at first because I wasn’t sure where the series would go after the first book, The Taker, but I’m happy to say I’m enjoying it.

All Souls Trilogy by Deborah Harkness — A Discovery of Witches and Shadow of Night were fun reads and now I’m waiting to see how it’s going to end. It might be a long wait for book three.

A Song of Ice and Fire by George RR Martin — Book five, A Dance with Dragons, is waiting patiently but I haven’t started it yet. Not one of the 1,100 pages has been read yet but I will find time for this one soon.

The Saxon Stories by Bernard Cornwell — I started this series last year and read the first two books, The Last Kingdom and The Pale Horseman, but sort of fell off and I need to pick it back up. I love the blood and gore of these books and I don’t think anyone delivers quite like Cornwell.

The Magicians & Mrs. Quent series by Galen Beckett — I actually finished this series last month. It took me a while to finish the last book and while I wasn’t completely wowed, I was satisfied. The books in the series are: The Magicians and Mrs. Quent, The House on Durrow Street, and The Master of Heathcrest Hall.

The Merlin Series by Mary Stewart — I started this series two years ago and then never went any further than The Crystal Cave. No real reason, I even have the books in my house; I just need to read them. I will admit to overdosing on Arthurian legend a while back though and needed some time off. This year may be the year.

There are more but I’m going to stop there. Really, looking at the list it’s sort of crazy I started all these. I need some help me thinks.

Do you have a favorite series? Let me know. There’s a good chance I’ll be adding it to the list. I can’t help myself.

Happy Sunday.