Fiction

Today’s Book

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I finished The Sherlockian by Graham Moore last night which has left me with a craving for some Sherlock Holmes tales but I’m going to pass on detective stories for the moment (although The Sign of Four is on my TBR to be read sooner rather than later) and move onto The Exile by Diana Gabaldon.

The Exile is a graphic novel based on Gabaldon’s first book, Outlander.  I’m excited about this book especially after hearing her talk about it at the National Book Festival back in September.  Outlander ranks high on the favorites list and the only problem I expect to have is being annoyed that the characters don’t look like the ones that have already been established in my head.  I’ll get over it but there’s always that initial shock of, “Hey, that’s not what Jamie Fraser looks like.”

Peter Pan

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Peter Pan

By J.M. Barrie

Barnes & Noble Classics

eISBN: 978-1-411-43289-5

5 stars

My mom once told me that as a child I wouldn’t sleep until she read me Peter Pan.  It usually took three or four reads since I was a child who didn’t care much for sleep.  My mom had the story memorized and said if she turned the page too early, I would stop her to let her know she wasn’t done with the page yet.  Apparently, I also had the story memorized. 🙂  The version I was read while tucked snuggly in bed was not this version but rather an illustrated book probably courtesy of Disney.  Whatever version of the book I was read as a child, this one held true for me and every bit of it was fantastic.

Peter Pan is a young boy who simply refuses to grow up.  He lives in Neverland with the Lost Boys, the Piccaninny tribe, the mermaids, pirates, a ticking crocodile, and of course, Hook.  Peter is the captain of the boys and they do whatever he tells them to.  One night, he meets Wendy and her two brothers, Michael and John, and takes them all away to Neverland to share in his adventures.

One thing I noticed about the book was the violence.  There’s open talk of killing Hook, Peter is not shy about telling anyone that he cut off his hand, and that he plans to finish him.  While no one says what happens to the Lost Boys that get too old, one doesn’t have to look very far for the reason for their disappearance.  Peter is extraordinarily arrogant (Maybe that’s not the right word for describing a child; cocky?) and nothing happens without his say.  Even when danger lurks, not one of the Lost Boys questions his authority even when they are told to kill the pirates.  That astounded me and made me happy to see that Barrie didn’t dumb this story down.  Bad things happen in life and he brought it down to a level that was understandable for a child.  As an adult, I obviously have a different view but was interested in the way he portrayed Peter and the fact that even though he was just a boy, he was a boy with responsibilities for others even if he didn’t think much about it in those terms.  Well, at least until he brought in Wendy to be the mother which solved some of his responsibility issues.

Wendy is playing the mother of the Lost Boys and Peter is somewhat the father as Wendy does say to him often how wonderful their boys are.  It’s slightly odd but I overlooked my wiggly feeling about it.  The boys so badly want someone to love them, and when Wendy comes along, they cling to her like no one else.  It’s almost sad how starved they are for love and attention.  She delights in telling them stories of her parents and tests them frequently so her brothers will remember.

Most of all, this story is all whimsy.  It’s beautifully told with an almost poetic quality to it at times.  It can be harsh and it can be so simple in the way it describes the games the children play.  It’s both amusing and sad reading it as an adult.

I did a few Google searches to find out more about Barrie and it turns out the idea for Peter Pan is based on a brother who died in childhood.  In his mother’s eyes, his brother always remained 14 years old, the age at which he died.  That made me so very sad but if this was the way he finally managed to immortalize his brother, it’s a wonderful tribute.

I wondered how I would feel about this story as an adult and I can honestly say that for me, it will always be a favorite.  It’s magical and I’m glad I got around to reading it again.  I had a whole new perspective as an adult and it gave me a greater appreciation for the story.  I do wonder what my mom would think of it now though…

The Burning Times: A Novel of Medieval France

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The Burning Times: A Novel of Medieval France

By Jeanne Kalogridis

Simon & Schuster

ISBN: 068486923-3

4 stars

Jeanne Kalogridis writes historical fiction that I love.  She mixes a little fact with a little fiction and adds a tiny bit of the paranormal.  The magical element never feels odd in her stories either and most times when I come across it, I go right along with it.  She blends everything so well.

I’ve read several of her books including: The Scarlett Contessa, The Devil’s Queen: A Novel of Catherine de Medici and Covenant with the Vampire.  My library does not have a huge back list for her, but I plan to seek out a few of others if I can.

In The Burning Times, we meet Sybille, a poor midwife with pagan ways who is forced into hiding and assumes the name and appearance of Sister Marie Francoise so she can take refuge among the Franciscan sisterhood.  She does this to escape the Inquisitors who wish to burn all heretics and those they deem witches.  She is eventually caught by the Inquisitors, and during the course of her imprisonment and interview with a young monk, her story unfolds and the powers she holds, she sees the future and can heal the sick, become clear.  It’s obvious to the other Inquisitors that she’s clearly a witch and should be burned but the young Monk Michael wants to hear her story not thoroughly convinced that she is what they all say.

The story is told through this interview and even if you think you know how it will end, the way in which the story is told keeps you interested.  Sybille won’t be rushed, knowing this will be her last chance to tell her story and that of her people.  There are others in the world with her powers and abilities and she wants the church to know that killing her will not end what they consider to be a scourge of heresy.

There’s an interesting mythology to this book that is more than just witchcraft. The pagan ideals of worship and belief in something higher added an interesting new level that ran against the stalwart beliefs of the church.  The historical elements — the Black Plague, the Hundred Years’ War, and the war between England and France — provided a nice background for the story to play out.

I love going back to read earlier works of an author I like.  While the writing quality of this particular book doesn’t compare to the book released this year, The Scarlett Contessa which I thought had a much better flow and felt much more cohesive, I like to go back and see how a writer evolved.  Don’t get me wrong, this is still a good book, but I can see how Kalogridis’s writing has changed over the years and I know that she will be an author whose work I continue to enjoy in the coming years.

Corrag: A Novel

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Corrag:  A Novel

By Susan Fletcher

W.W. Norton & Company

978-0-393-08000-1

4 stars

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I started this book.  It’s historical fiction (which I adore), set in Scotland, (a favorite setting of mine), features Highlanders as characters, (see previous), and is about a woman accused of witchcraft.  All things I usually enjoy entangled in a story.  What I found was something entirely different and not all bad either.

Corrag is a woman accused of witchcraft and slated to burn for her wanton ways.  It’s 17th Century Scotland and the accusation of witchcraft is common enough for women who have an understanding of medicinal herbs, are outspoken, and in some cases misunderstood.  Corrag is a mixture of all the above.  She’s a very small person, so small that some think of her as a child and in many ways she is childlike.  She was the only daughter of a woman hung for being a witch, has little education, and has been on the run for most of her life in search of a place to feel safe.  She finds that place in the Highlands of Scotland.  The MacDonald clan, which is settled in the area Corrag decides to call home, welcomes her and she feels finally at peace in the world.  When the clan is massacred by English soldiers, she is thrown in jail to await her death.  While there, a man named Charles Leslie comes to hear her story and hopefully find out more about the massacre.  What he finds is a filthy woman with a tale that will astound him.

This story is told by Corrag and is broken up by letters from Charles to his wife.  While Corrag’s story does skip around (She fully admits to being a rambler and in some places I felt inpatient with her telling.), but eventually she weaves a tale that makes your heartbreak.  It’s not only about the massacre but there’s also an interesting love story between Corrag and Alasdair MacDonald.  He’s married and while her heart breaks for him, she refuses to break the vow he has made to his wife.  I almost wish that it was a different story but the way Fletcher chose to tell it made sense from the perspective of Corrag.

It’s also a story about an incredible woman who showed little fear even when facing her own death.  She spent a great deal of her life alone, by choice, and was raised by a mother who told her never to love.  Corrag understood why her mother told her that but lets herself experience it anyway.  Becoming involved with the clan creates a life she never imagined possible.  She stops being this strange figure and starts to see herself in a better light.

I enjoyed this book but it does move slowly.  I’ll admit to taking a few breaks and moving on to another story while in the midst of this one.  I wanted very much to know what happened to the MacDonald clan and Corrag takes her time getting to that part.  Yes, I understand this was about her telling her tale so that someone knew her fully before she died, but some of it was too meandering.  In the end, I was happy to have finished it.  Fletcher is an interesting writer and at times can also be quite lyrical.  Descriptions of places and Corrag’s thoughts added wonderful touches to the story.

Fletcher is a new to me writer but I plan to look up a few of her previous novels and see how this one compares.

I received a copy of this book through the Early Reviewers Program on Librarything.

Today’s Book

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I usually participate in a meme of some sort on Thursdays but since Alyce from At Home With Books has ended My Favorite Reads and I don’t do Booking Through Thursday anymore (although I love reading the responses), I’ve been struggling with what to do with Thursdays.  There are tons of memes out there and I like them all but I thought I’d do something a little less memey.  I thought I would simply talk about the book I’m reading today.  Marg over at The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader does this every once in a while and I enjoy hearing about what book(s) she’s reading so I thought I would take a page and do something similar.  It won’t be a review or a re-cap.  I may even get lazy a few mornings and post only the cover and leave you wondering.  Mostly it will be my first initial thoughts on a book and whether or not I’m enjoying it.  Nothing fancy, nothing extravagant cuz I’m lazy in the morning and far, far, far from being a morning person.

Today I’m reading The Distant Hours by Kate Morton.

I requested this book which is something I don’t normally do (my TBR is big enough without adding promised reviews to the mix) but this made it onto my list a long time ago and when I saw an ad for copies in Shelf Awareness, I asked for one.  Then it sat because I had other things to read and it’s long (672 pages), and while I love long books, I kept putting it off.

Yesterday, I decided it was time.  So, here’s what’s happened so far (I will try to avoid spoilers and since I’m only 144 pages in that should be easy.) —

Edie Burchill is having dinner with her parents when her mother gets a letter that causes her to cry, something her mother never does.  Edie gets her to talk about the letter and she finds out that her mother was a child evacuee during WWII and was taken in by the Blythe sisters at Milderhurst Castle.  A short time later, Edie gets lost on a business trip and finds herself at the castle.  She talks the sisters into giving her a tour, and after a creepy encounter with the youngest sister, she now seems a little obsessed with the castle and the sisters.

If you want general info, the publisher’s website has it.  I don’t want to add more since that’s actually as far as I got in the book last night.  I’m enjoying it but it’s reminding me of another book, The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield, and I keep comparing the two in my head and  I need to knock that off or I won’t get through this one.

On another note — and since I’m talking about whatever I want today — I bought The Exile by Diana Gabaldon.  It’s the Outlander graphic novel and, YES, Jamie Fraser looks nothing like the Jamie Fraser in my head but that’s okay.  He’s still a hot Scottish guy in a kilt.  🙂  The Outlander series ranks high on my favorite scale so I had to buy this one since I own all the other books.  It’s told from Jamie’s perspective, and I don’t read many graphic novels which I’m trying to change for the better, and I think a hot Scottish guy in a kilt will get me there.

A College of Magics

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A College of Magics

By Caroline Stevermer

Tor

ISBN: 0765342456

4 stars

Faris Nallaneen is heir to the Dukedom of Galazon.  Until that time, her uncle rules in her place.  To get her out of his way, he ships her off to the College of Greenlaw.  Fortunately for Faris, the school’s specialty, magic, is something she will come to be very practiced in.  When she is unexpectedly called home, Faris’s life becomes incredibly complicated, not only will she miss the school which had become home to her, but an incident involving magic will send her on a mission that will prove difficult both emotionally and physically.

This is a beautifully written book.  It’s witty, sarcastic, and there’s enough adventure to give it a fairly wide scope.  The politics are also interesting and become the story rather than the magic even though this is a story about magic — it’s the more the politics of the magical system and how the people and the world function.  It did start off a bit slow but Faris, who does her best to be unlikable, is actually likable and I kept reading to find out what would come out of her mouth next.  She’s stubborn, caustic, but funny and won’t put you off even if seems to be her mission in life.

I was, however, put off slightly by the College of Greenlaw and how they teach magic, which they don’t actually do.  In fact, they ignore it altogether and tell students explicitly if they are caught practicing magic they will be expelled.  It’s all theory but nothing practical and I didn’t understand how the magic worked.  There is almost always a system; here it’s basically if you think it’s so, it’s so.  Which is fine but there’s nothing, well, magical about it.  It feels like it’s missing something.  Faris was frustrated by the system and so was I.  I kept waiting for an explanation but none came.  There is magic performed though and it’s interesting when it happens but it’s theoretical and feels like a mere thought as opposed to something magical.

There is a bit of a love story and it develops nicely without becoming an overwhelming element.  It’s slow and fits with the story; it’s not forced at all.  I don’t want to ruin anything but it doesn’t end on a happy note and I was glad to see that since I feel that authors want to provide that easy ending sometimes.  Faris sticks to her beliefs and it was nice to see a character do that without letting the love story become the reason for change.

I know my library has several of Stevermer’s books and I think I’ll be checking out a few more to see if she lives up to my expectations.

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.

This week my teaser comes from The House on Durrow Street by Galen Beckett.

“The lumenal was far shorter than what the almanac called for, and the sunbeam that fell from the high window seemed to lurch across Eldyn’s writing table in fits and starts.

He did little work on the box of receipts.” (page 528 of 602 on Nook)

 

The Last Kingdom

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The Last Kingdom

By Bernard Cornwell

Harper Collins Publishers

ISBN: 0-06-053051-0

4.5 stars

I’m on a mission to read all the Cornwell books in my library and that’s a rather long list so it may take me a while.  The good news is that I will be entertained by the challenge I’m setting for myself.  This latest series I’m starting features Saxons and that’s a topic I fully enjoy.

Uhtred, a boy of ten, joins his father in battle against the invading Danes.  He’s the son of a nobleman and, thanks to the death of his oldest brother during the battle, heir to his father’s English lands.  In the same battle that leaves his father and brother dead, Uhtred is captured by the Danes.  Earl Ragnar, the Danish chieftain that defeated his father, raises Uhtred as his own teaching him to fight like a Viking.  Expected to fight the English alongside his Danish tribe, he fights an internal battle between his loyalty to Ragnar, who loved him as a son, and to his English heritage and the new king, Alfred.  Uhtred feels little loyalty toward Alfred and doesn’t like him on a personal level, but he clings to his dream of ruling his homelands someday.  Fortunately for Uhtred, he prefers battle to loyalties and would rather fight than worry about the person on the other side of the shield wall or political implications.

The Danish way of life portrayed in this book is brutal but it’s hard to dislike the Danes simply because of the love they show for Uhtred, and even when he decides that he must fight for the English, don’t hold it against him as they value his sense of loyalty which they instilled in him.  Alfred is a thoroughly unlikable person, and along with Uhtred, I had trouble liking him but you still have to appreciate his cunning.  Uhtred managed several times to get caught up in Alfred’s plans and being young, cocky, and willing to think with his fists instead of his brain, he walks right into situations that get him in trouble.  That’s also what makes him extraordinarily likable.  He’s flawed, frequently irrational, and single minded in his thinking sometimes, but he believes what he’s doing is right and you agree with him.

Cornwell, and I have probably said this before, has an amazing talent for writing historical fiction.  The details make his stories and each time I finish a book I immediately want to pick up the next in the series.  I have been trying to pace myself so I don’t burn out because while I always enjoy his books, they tend toward the violent aspects of war and I sometimes find myself needing a break to forget the sound of swords crashing against bone.

Religion plays a large part in this story as Alfred is extremely pious but Uhtred, who veers more toward the pagan, is an equal opportunity believer who is happy to let his king think he has found god and secretly prefer to ask Thor and Odin for their assistance in battle.  It’s an amusing side-story and I’m sure one that will be developed more as these types of religious battles seem to always find a place in Cornwell’s books.  It’s never overpowering but always presents enough of an internal battle for a character to be an interesting element.

There are five books in the Saxon series and I’m looking forward to more.