The Whale: In Search of the Giants of the Sea

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The Whale: In Search of the Giants of the Sea

By Philip Hoare

Ecco: Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers

ISBN: 978-0-06-197621-6

4 stars

I’ve always been fascinated by whales — the size, intelligence, and grace of such large animals. As a child I wanted to be a marine biologist, a dream I’m sure that was prompted by a childhood trip to Sea World but that’s a story for another time.

Philip Hoare is an interesting writer. He’s clearly a man in love with his subject and that I can appreciate. He has the same childlike fascination I have with whales and that’s what drove me to this book. Hoare’s also a man obsessed with Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick, something I am not. Following Ishmael’s footsteps — yes, the infamous “Call me Ishmael” character of the named book — he takes the reader on a journey to quench a lifelong interest and come to an understanding with an animal we humans only understand through their death.

Interweaving a lot of Melville throughout the first part of the book, it feels a bit like a literature lecture of sorts. While I found Melville’s relationship with Nathanial Hawthorne during his years of writing his famous tome to be somewhat relevant, I also felt like I wanted him to get on with the whale talk. Maybe I was expecting something more scientific but I can’t say that the first part intrigued me as much as the last.

He does get into whaling and what it meant for the world in general and I have to admit that I didn’t really know there were so many uses for a single whale. It’s so much more than just the oil and meat but the skins for shoes, intestines for laces, ambergris for perfume. If you don’t know what ambergris is, well, it’s whale poo. Anyway, I was somewhat aware of the enormous carnage whaling created but when put in terms of lighting Victorian England, the need for whale oil seemed so much more destructive. For a species with no natural enemies, man managed to become the death of these creatures.

I wanted to be blown away by this book and in many ways I was but it also felt like I was left wanting more. It’s a travelogue of sorts and you follow Hoare on his quest to find the meaning of the whale to him. While I found it interesting, I felt it didn’t do much for my quest.

There are some very good facts and he has done his research well casting himself far and wide to discover everything he can from early whaling to the modern day culling to the science of whales. At one point he even communes with a few trying to understand them better.

It’s a good book and a great look at creatures we know so little about. I’m glad to have read it. Hoare has an evocative style that makes you want to turn and ask him a question while reading. This style, even if you have no interest in whales, is enough reason to read this book.

The Sunday Salon – Birthday Wishes, Library Loot, and an Excellent Read This Week

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First — HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!

I had to take a moment to wish my Mom a great day today. Love you Mom!

Now, the library loot. I was planning to do this post yesterday but got hung up running a million and one errands yesterday and didn’t find time to sit so today it is.

Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones. I put this one on hold in the hopes that I would have it for Jenny’s Books’s Diana Wynne Jones Week but it didn’t arrive in time. I’m a few chapters in and enjoying it. This book has been on my list for so long and I was worried that I would be disappointed by it (you know that whole books living up to expectations complex) but it’s good and funny. I thought the main character was going to bother me but once I got to understand her a bit, she’s grown on me and now I find myself happily following her along on the strange little journey she’s taken to find her fortune.

The Thieves of Manhattan by Adam Langer. I will admit that I know nothing about this book. I took it home with me without even checking what it was about but I have a feeling I am going to love it. I read the first few sentences and was completely taken in. When I dropped the books on the table my husband picked it up and asked if he could read it too. Maybe it’s the stark cover or the title, I don’t know, but I can’t wait.

The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner. Oh yes, now I get to found out what happens to Gen. You see, Gen is a Queen’s thief for a neighboring country and he’s managed to fall in love with the Queen of Attolia. Now, in the name of not giving it all away, I’ll stop there but I’m so looking forward to this one.

Kings of the Earth by Jon Clinch. I browse the new arrivals shelf when I have time and this one was there with its intriguing cover. It looks sad, depressing, and I’m not sure there is a happy or even a little less depressing end to the story but there was something that made me want to read it. It’s about brothers who live together on a crumbling upstate New York farm. When one dies the other two are suspected of murder.

I had a good week of reading last week. Here’s the wrap-up:

The Queen of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling

The Queen of Attolia was good and I’m looking forward to continuing the series.

The Road. What do I say about this book other than it was probably one of the best books I’ve read in a long time. It’s about a post-apocalyptic world where the only survivors are left to fend for themselves in world with nothing left to give. The stark writing mirrors the situation of the characters. It’s sad, disturbing, disgusting, and honestly scared me more than anything I think I may have ever read. At one point I thought I might have to pull a Joey and put the book in the freezer but decided to push on, mostly because I couldn’t put it down. I don’t know if I will ever be able to read another McCarthy book, we have No Country for Old Men on the shelf, and while my husband assures me that it’s not as violent or disturbing, I don’t think I can do it. There is one scene in this book that actually made me put the book down and walk away from it and the hubby seeing this, the following conversation occurred:

“The basement scene.”

“What?”

“The basement scene. That’s what you just read wasn’t it?”

“Uh, yeah. How did you know? I thought you said you didn’t read this one.”

“I didn’t but that scene is legendary.”

“Legendary. Legendary! I don’t think I want to read anymore today. I’m freaked. I think I’ll go watch Shark Week in the bedroom for a while.”

Yes, the basement scene. I plan to include it in my review so I will say no more. Let’s just say I was so glad to pick up Harry Potter after that book. I needed a safe place after that. I still stand by what I said though — fabulous book and one of the best I’ve read.

Next week will be all about whales and kraken so I need to get writing and editing a few reviews.

Enjoy your Sunday fellow readers. 🙂

My Favorite Reads – My Life in France

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Alyce from At Home With Books features one of her favorite reads each Thursday and this week my pick is…

My Life in France by Julia Child with Alex Prud’homme.

From the inside cover: In her own words, here is the captivating story of Julia Child’s years in France, where she fell in love with French food and found her “true calling.”

From the moment the ship docked in Le Havre in the fall of 1948 and Julia watched the well-muscled stevedores unloading the cargo to the first perfectly soigné meal that and her husband, Paul, savored in Rouen en route to Paris, where he was to work for the USIS, Julia had an awakening that changed her life. Soon this tall, outspoken gal from Pasadena, California, who didn’t speak a word of French and knew nothing about the country, was steeped in the language, chatting with purveyors in the local markets and enrolled in the Cordon Bleu.

After managing to get her degree despite the machinations of the disagreeable directrice of the school, Julia started teaching cooking classes herself, then teamed up with two fellow gourmettes, Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle, to help them with a book they were trying to write on French cooking for Americans. Throwing herself heart and soul into making it a unique and thorough teaching book, only to suffer several rounds of painful rejection, is part of the behind-the-scenes drama that Julia reveals with in inimitable gusto and disarming honesty.

Filled with the beautiful black-and-white photographs that Paul loved to take when he was not battling bureaucrats, as well as family snapshots, this memoir is laced with wonderful stories about the French character, particularly in the world of food, and the way of life that Julia embraced so wholeheartedly. Above all, she reveals the kind of spirit and determination, the sheer love of cooking, and the drive to share that with her fellow Americans that made her the extraordinary success she became.

My thoughts: I have always wanted to be able to cook like Julia Child. Her love of food is contagious in this book and the frank almost off-hand way she tells the story is wonderful. It’s as if she’s sitting next to you telling the story. It’s more than just food but the way food becomes such a large and totally encompassing part of her, and her husband’s, life during their years in France and how a woman, who didn’t know how to cook at all, found herself the icon of French cooking.

I have one of her small cookbooks in my kitchen that is ratty, food stained, and dog earned. I reference it often when I’m trying to cook something I bought and realized had no idea what to do with when I got home. It’s called Julia’s Kitchen Wisdom and is by far one of the best cookbooks I ever bought. She has a way of breaking down a recipe so easily and making it sounds as if you can make the most complicated of dishes with ease.

Memoirs are not a genre I frequent but having watched Julia on PBS for years I had to read this book. It’s just as funny as she is on the show and the stories she tells about learning French, learning to cook, and finding her way in a country and culture very foreign to her is unforgettable. Not only a good cook, she’s a great story-teller as well.

This book was finished after Julia died in 2004 by her grandnephew Alex Prud’homme but none of her voice is lost. The photographs are absolutely fabulous as well.

I don’t have copies of The Art of French Cooking but if you were to ask me what two books I covet most in the world, it would be The Art of French Cooking, Volumes 1 and 2. I should admit that I don’t cook a lot of French food and rarely follow a recipe, I mostly look at recipes for ideas, but these are two books I know I would find use for.

Witch Week – Read for Diana Wynne Jones Week

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Witch Week

By Diana Wynne Jones

Greenwillow Books

ISBN: 0-688-12374-0

4 stars

Diana Wynne Jones is an author I’ve meant to read for a long time. In fact, I’ve had Howl’s Moving Castle on my list for many years now and never got around to reading it. So when I saw that Jenny’s at Jenny’s Books was hosting a Diana Wynne Jones Week, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to read one of her books. A quick library search made me realize I was in for a challenge in just picking a book (she’s a prolific writer) but decided on Witch Week and put Howl’s Moving Castle on hold as well.

Witch Week is about students at a boarding school in England. It’s an alternative England where magic is banned and witches are burned when found. The school, Larwood House, is home to many witch orphans so when a note is found in classroom 6B that says, “Someone in this class is a witch,” chaos begins. The note starts off a flurry of accidental discoveries by students, false accusations are hurled at everyone, and an inquisitor is brought to the school to find the witch.

I started this book with visions of Harry Potter. Boarding school, witches, you know, general Harry Potter stuff. I found a book full of something else entirely. The magic is different and it’s a wonderful sort of magic that comes from being and it’s enchanting to see the students find themselves in the mess they create.

The students. I don’t know where to start with this one because I didn’t actually like any of them at the start. They’re all mean in a way, some catty, some obnoxious and I couldn’t understand why I was supposed to dislike them all. Eventually, I began to see the kids emerge and you do like them more and more. They’re real kids, and by the end, very likable people. The school is full of oddball characters — for instance, Miss Hodge, who wants desperately to marry Mr. Wentworth, another teacher at the school. She’s intent on making him like her and seeing the value in becoming her husband that she’s short sighted about everything else. She’s incredibly annoying and the use of her brain is relegated to finding a husband instead of helping any of the children.

There are some amusing and funny moments along the way that make the story very entertaining. While I was let down by the ending, not in a bad way I was just hoping that it would go another way, I think there is a sequel to this one (Year of the Griffin maybe) and sequels always make me happy so my deal with the ending is minor.

I don’t know why Wynne Jones never made it high up on my TBR but thanks to this week, I now have another author to add to my list and about 40 books to pick from for my next read. That makes me happy I took the time to read this one.

Teaser Tuesdays

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Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. The idea is to give everyone a look inside the book you’re reading.

Play along: Grab your current read; Open to a random page; Share two teaser sentences from that page; Share the title and author so that other participants know what you’re reading.

I started Witch Week by Diana Wynne Jones last night and that’s where my teaser comes from this morning.

“At the end of breakfast, another rumor went round: The police had sent for tracker dogs.

A short while after this, Miss Hodge arrived, to find the school in an uproar.” (131)

What are you teasing us with this week?

July 2010 Wrap-Up

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I was planning to post this as part of my Sunday Salon yesterday but was busy all day and never got around to it. When I finally had a moment to think about it, I was too tired to do it. I know, bad excuse but, hey, it’s the truth.

July was an average month for me reading wise, seven books. I had one DNF – The Rosetta Key by William Dietrich. It’s only my third DNF of the year which isn’t bad. Usually by this time I have a few more on that list.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling

The Dead Travel Fast by Deanna Raybourn

The King’s Mistress by Emma Campion

The Good Thief by Hannah Tinti

The Scarlet Contessa by Jeanne Kalogridis

The Whale: In Search of Giants of the Sea by Philip Hoare

Kraken by China Mieville

The Scarlet Contessa and The Whale were my two favorite books in July.

As for 2010 Challenges, I’ve completed two and it looks like I’ll finish up another very soon. The Arthurian Challenge I finished a while ago and the Historical Fiction Challenge is also done. I have a few books left on the Read Your Own Books Challenge and the Support Your Local Library Reading Challenge. I have three books left on the A Tournament of Reading Challenge as well.

One of these days I’ll put butt chair and update the page properly with review links. I’ve been meaning to do it but I know it will be a hassle so I keep putting it off. Maybe by the end of the year.

Here’s to a good August.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

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Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

By J.K. Rowling

Scholastic Press

ISBN: 0-590-35340-3

5 stars

This summer I thought I would re-read the Harry Potter books. A lot of people are talking about them and it reminded me how much I loved this series. I haven’t read the books in so long and I thought it was a good time to start from the beginning again.

I’m not going to do a full re-cap or review of the book. I’m going to say — and yes, it’s a generalized statement but I think also a rather true one — that most people know what the books are about so this is all I’m going to say by means of a re-cap:

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone is the first book in the series. This is the book where Harry finds out he’s a wizard, goes off to Hogwarts, makes friends with Ron and Hermione, learns to fly a broomstick and play quidditch, makes enemies of Professor Snape and Draco Malfoy, and starts to understand what it means to be the boy who lived.

Good? I am. Now, let’s move on. I haven’t read this book in several years but as soon as I cracked the cover, I remembered how much I loved the world that Rowling created. There are so many wonderfully magical things, creatures, and people that I wonder how someone could not be swept away. There are also a lot of little details that I didn’t remember, for instance, the fact that Dumbledore wears high heeled shoes and is a lot flashier than I remembered him to be. I relished the fact that I still don’t like Snape (I don’t know how anyone can and I still won’t forgive him even in the last book for all the horror he inflicted for an old grudge, among many other things.) and how snarky and cruel Draco can be. Hermione is slightly unlikable at the start but I found it fun to see Harry and Ron become her friends and the three become inseparable. Oh and Ginny. Ginny is one of my favorites and I love her enthusiasm and crush on Harry. I find it so endearing. Ahhh….is all I want to say when she points at him in the train station. Hagrid, oh Hagrid, you big, lovable oaf. A dragon? Really? And who else would name a three-headed snarling beast of a dog Fluffy? Yes, Hagrid would. When Harry’s first year finally comes to an end and he has to return to the Dursley’s I don’t feel disappointed at all. I look forward to opening the next book and continuing the adventure.

The books are not perfect and there are some awkward bits of dialogue and this book, being the shortest in the series, is not nearly as detailed as the later books but the enchanting nature of the story itself makes all of that fade away for me. There is something very endearing about Harry that makes me always want to cheer him on even when he’s being stupid. The world of Hogwarts is an amazing place to fall in to and there are some wonderful characters to take on the journey with you.

My Favorite Reads – Pattern Recognition

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Alyce from At Home With Books features one of her favorite reads each Thursday and this week my pick is…

Pattern Recognition by William Gibson.

From the inside cover: We have no future because our present is too volatile. We have only risk management. The spinning of the given moment’s scenarios. Pattern recognition…

Cayce Pollard is a new kind of prophet — a world-renowned “coolhunter” who predicts the hottest trends. While in London to evaluate the redesign of a famous corporate logo, she’s offered a different assignment: find the creator of the obscure, enigmatic video clips being uploaded on the Internet — footage this is generating massive underground buzz worldwide.

Still haunted by the memory of her missing father — a Cold War security guru who disappeared in downtown Manhattan on the morning of September 11, 2001 — Cayce is soon traveling through parallel universes of marketing, globalization, and terror, heading always for the still point where the three converge. From London to Tokya to Moscow, she follows the implications of a secret as disturbing — and compelling — as the 21st Century promises to be…

My thoughts: I’ve read a few Gibson novels and this one is by far my favorite. It’s also set in the present which is a little different since his books are almost always set in the future.

My husband has a soft spot for Gibson and he was the one that brought this book home. At the time, I didn’t have any intention of reading it. I like Gibson but it just didn’t grab me. He kept telling me I’d love it and finally I picked it up one day and didn’t put it down until I finished. I wish I could describe it better, and maybe it’s just that I also have a soft spot for Gibson, but I got pulled into this book and couldn’t put it down. Yes, there’s a lot going on and you’re not quite sure how it all fits together but then suddenly, all the pieces fit and you’re left wondering if any of this will actually happen. In the case of this one which is about marketing and globalization, the answer is probably yes.

If you don’t think a book based on business intelligence can make for an interesting read, well, you’re wrong. It does.