As I explained on my main journal, I'm making a list of books I own, which for one reason or another I've never actually read. The goal is to finish these in 2010. Now I reserve the right to abandon a book if I decide it's not worth the effort, but as ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) lizzardgirl said, in that case I should probably get rid of it. I can start other books too, but not too many at one time. And I'm not starting any new books until I finish the four (!) I'm reading right now.
So here's the list:
Currently Reading
- Old Friends and New Fancies by Sidney Brinton (I'd gotten halfway through when we moved, and then was distracted and didn't finish)
- Goudy Night by Dorothy Sayers (long overdue re-read, since I just got my own copy via Paperbackswap)
- In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan
- Anna Karenina (I've been reading this via DailyLit for over a year, and I'm nearly finished)
Recently Acquired- April Lady by Georgette Heyer
- The Five-Minute Marriage by Joan Aiken
- The Dubious Hills by Pamela Dean (these last three from Paperbackswap.com)
- The Convenient Marriage (for Christmas)
- The Memory-Keeper's Daughter (my mom read it and passed it on to me)
Old Shelf Residents- The Hollow Hills by Mary Stewart
- Cover Her Face by PD James (got it for my birthday last year and then decided I'd had enough James for a while)
- Pilgrim's Progress (got halfway through and never finished)
- The Spellcoats and the Crown of Dalemark by Diana Wynne Jones (both from Paperbackswap; the final two in a quartet I started reading)
- A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula LeGuin (owned it for ages)
- The Riddle-Master trilogy by Patricia McKillop (ditto)
- The Silmarilion by Tolkien (belongs to Ryan but I'd like to read it)
Nonfic- Letters to Malcolm by CS Lewis (started, never finished)
- The Contrary Farmer by Gene Logsdon (ditto)
- The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan(checked out from the library several times but never read; now we have our own copy)
- The Art of Looking Sideways by Alan Fletcher
- Thinking with Type by Ellen Lupton (these two are graphic design books I got a long time ago but then we moved and I never got a chance to look at them)
Okay. That's quite the list. We'll see how I do!
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 A Tangled Web by L.M. Montgomery
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Since we just moved, I opened up several boxes of books that have been packed up for years. Seeing my old favorites always makes me want to reread them, and A Tangled Web was the first to catch my eye.
Anyone who knows me knows I'm a die-hard LM Montgomery fan, but I admit some of her work is better than others. This is not her best, but it still has enough of her particular charm to be enjoyable reading.
Unlike LMM's better-known novels, A Tangled Web has an ensemble cast rather than one central heroine. It follows the interrelated stories of several members of a sprawling family, over an eventful year. There are half-a-dozen plotlines, which means each character gets only a sketchy caricature rather than an in-depth development. This works sometimes and doesn't work sometimes. Aunt Becky, the matriarch of the family whose mysterious will sparks the action of the book, is genuinely funny and unique. But other characters tend to fall into LMM's typical formulaic boxes. The plot elements are also fairly predictable for LMM fans – she includes all of her usual themes: long-separated lovers, secret quarrels, family feuds, love triangles, orphans, old maids, humorous older men.
I wouldn't recommend this as a starting place for anyone unfamiliar with LMM, but it's still enjoyable and satisfying if you like her style.
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 Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I wavered between giving Pride and Prejudice and Zombies two stars or three. It finally got three just because the idea of Lady Catherine having personal ninjas still makes me laugh. The book overall is just too inconsistent – it's a funny concept and there are some hilarious twists to the original plot. But the writing is pretty rough. The zombie parts could have been integrated with the original Austen passages much more smoothly and cleverly. And since it's kind of a one-joke wonder, I got a little bored with the book halfway through. I might have skimmed the rest, in fact. Ahem.
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 Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I wish I could give the first half of Animal, Vegetable, Miracle five stars and the second half three. Or maybe two. The first part of the book is mostly general principles of eating local food, discussions of food culture in America, and history on how said culture got to be so strange and messed up. The author uses her own family's experiences mainly as brief anecdotes that introduce her topics. From the first chapter in which she describes their move from living in non-sustainable Arizona to the green hills of Appalachia, I was blown away by how logical and coherent and true her arguments are.
Then there was the second half of the book. It focusses mostly on the author's family and how they do things and while she does still bring up good points, they are so suffused with smug pride in her own rightness it's difficult to admit she IS right.
Still HIGHLY recommended for well, anyone. But I wish it had been a book half the size.
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 The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I'm not sure how to review The Time Traveler's Wife, actually. I liked it and I didn't like it. It was extremely absorbing, but I'm glad to be finished with it. My conflicting feelings about it make it hard to write a coherent review. Let's see. What can I say about it?
It was fairly well written, despite use of present tense, which I absolutely despise as a writing technique. There were only a few scenes that seemed contrived, but mostly the non-chronological storytelling and alternating POVs flowed well and made sense.
The characters were likeable and real, but I didn't identify with them, didn't understand their choices, and didn't approve of their behavior.
The story was deeply romantic, but also sort of boring in the middle. Lots of interesting questions about fate and motivation and WHY... but I'm not sure the author answered them. Hence the boredom. Why do Henry and Clare love each other? I'm still not sure, at the end of the book. And I don't care for Fate and One True Love and Destiny as plot concepts. They don't appeal to me, and ultimately I don't believe in them.
I almost cried near the end, but when I got to the final sentence my first thought was "Hmm. Whatever."
And I guess that's where I'll end this review. Hmm. Whatever.
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 Tap & Gown: An Ivy League Novel by Diana Peterfreund
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Tap and Gown wraps up the "Secret Society Girl" series – to my regret, because I've loved these deliciously fun and satisfying books. Perhaps obviously for a novel about people graduating from university, the underlying theme of this book is choices: right and wrong choices, and choices that are neither but take the characters in widely different directions. As I said, maybe obvious as a theme, but Peterfreund handles it with surprising subtlety and nuance. I think that's really her greatest strength as a writer. On the surface, these novels are a bit frothy, full of snarky humor, cultural references, and kissing scenes. It's easy not to notice at first that there's actually thoughtful insight and profound character development underneath the fun stuff.
( Insert spoilers here )
This series makes me think of dark chocolate – it's lusciously indulgent reading, but at the same time there's a complexity of flavor under the sweetness. And you get some antioxidants. Okay, metaphor over.
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 Tears of the Giraffe by Alexander McCall Smith
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I didn't find Tears of the Giraffe quite as absorbing as the first book in the series, although it has much the same charm and sweetness. I think the novelty wore off a little. I still liked it, but it didn't have much of a plot, which made it easy to set down the book and get more interested in other things. And it seemed somehow more simplistic – there was very little character development other than repeating the same lines set down in the first book, and the minor characters did not seem as vivid or funny. I'd still like to continue the series, but I think they will read better if I give myself a break in between each one.
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 Rites of Spring (Break): An Ivy League Novel by Diana Peterfreund
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Reading Rites of Spring (Break) just proved my own point about sex scenes in my review of book 2 in this series: the slow-burn kissing in this book was WAY hotter than the explicit sex in the previous book. *squeeeee* I had a guess about the romantic interest that emerges in this installment, and I was so right. To my joy. Not much more can be said without giving away the plot, but I will add that this is my favorite of the series so far. And that I suspect Ms. Peterfreund is something of a Janeite.
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 Under the Rose: An Ivy League Novel by Diana Peterfreund
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
The same general remarks apply to Under the Rose as in my review of the first book, Secret Society Girl: surprisingly well-written fun with some lovely themes of loyalty and friendship lurking under the fluffy chicklit surface.
I particularly enjoyed the deeper-than-your-average-trade-paperback characterizations in this installment. The plot was a little too similar to the first book, perhaps, but was saved by some vivid insights into several secondary characters. I don't know the author's background, but as a Christian I appreciated her avoidance of stereotypes in the portrayal of Amy's Christian society sister. (A few other characters were pretty stereotyped, but they were minor.)
There was one sex scene in this book that I thought could have been described in a little less enthusiastic detail, although it still wasn't as explicit as it could have been. FYI for those who care about that kind of thing. I think hinting is sexier and more effective, myself.
Anyway, I've started book three and requested book four from interlibrary loan – this series continues to be un-put-down-able. Yes, that's totally a word.
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 Secret Society Girl: An Ivy League Novel by Diana Peterfreund
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Fluffy, guilty-pleasure fun is the bottom line for Secret Society Girl. The premise is simple and the title pretty much covers it. The appeal is... not terribly intellectual, although there are some nice zingy lines based on typical college study content. And the plot twists are a bit predictable. Given "first girl to join an all-male secret society must fight against prejudice" it was pretty much guaranteed that there would be one of those movie moments when our heroine gives an impassioned, inelegant but heartfelt speech that shows up the good ol' boys. BUT obvious though it might be, that moment somehow still manages to be moving, inspiring, and funny. Which is the strong point of this book. It may be fluff but it's really decently written fluff with a good sense of humor; and the heroine is engaging and sympathetic despite skirting the edge of "fiesty college girl" stereotypes. And the setting is convincing, with just enough authentic university detail to add a touch of nostalgia.
I'm getting the next one.
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 The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
My review
rating: 5 of 5 stars
Everyone has been telling me that the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series is completely made of win, and well... they were right. It IS made of win, and adorable, thoughtful, simple, beautiful, charming, peaceful. It's been a really long time since I read a book so thoroughly grounded in sense of place, and at the same time so simply and unselfconsciouly written. This book and its protagonist project a quiet sense of confidence. No affected artsiness or overly clever twists here – just a good story and good characters.
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 Drowned Ammet by Diana Wynne Jones
My review
rating: 3 of 5 stars
Unfortunately after raving about the complexity of Diana Wynne Jones's writing, I found an example of what happens when she doesn't quite get it right. Drowned Ammet has some of the same themes that made Cart and Cwidder so much fun, but it lacks the irresistible appeal. The main problem is that DWJ is usually good at POV – and that's where most of the complexity comes from, because she has the ability to make you see through a character's eyes. But she fails to do this for some reason with the main character here, Mitt. As a result he is unsympathetic for most of the book and at the same time he's unsympathetic in a very unconvincing way and his motivations don't even have an internal logic.
The positive side is that the setting of this book is really creatively depicted and there are some nice ideas about religion and faith and the proper use thereof. But it would have been a lot more fun to read if any of the protagonists had been more appealing/convincing.
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 Clean, Naturally: Recipes for Body, Home, and Spirit by Sandy Maine
My review
rating: 4 of 5 stars
Clean, Naturally is a pretty comprehensive book on soapmaking by a woman who has her own soap company. It covers everything from the basic from-scratch soap recipes using lye, to glycerin-based melt-and-pour soaps, to home and laundry cleaning recipes.
Each section includes an overview and individual recipes.
Strong points: the wide scope includes in-depth recipes as well as easy recipes that could be made with common ingredients. Good emphasis on healthy herbals and aromatherapy.
Weak points: some recipes are beyond the reach of a beginning hobbyist and would be prohibitively expensive to make, including one with a scent that is only available through the author's company. Could have used more tips and explanations for making your own recipes instead.
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 Cart and Cwidder by Diana Wynne Jones
My review
rating: 5 of 5 stars
What I generally love about Diana Wynne Jones at her very best is the complexity of her writing. Her worlds have immense detail, only hinted at in the actual text. Her characters have dimension and depth, they make difficult decisions and sometimes guess wrong. And right and wrong have shades of grey just as they do in the real world.
All this is true of Cart and Cwidder. Great 3D characters, plot that moves at a snapping pace, and incredible writing. I can't wait to read the other three books in the Dalemark series.
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 The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder
My review
rating: 5 of 5 stars
I actually think The Long Winter might be the best of the Little House books, although it was not my favorite when I was younger. Laura Ingalls Wilder was an amazingly talented writer, but the kind of writer who does not attract attention to her own writing. Her stories are constructed with deceptive simplicity so you are drawn in, experiencing the long-ago world she describes, without paying attention to how she did it. Because of this it's possible to read The Long Winter and get absorbed in the story – when will the next storm come? will the train ever get through? – and not at first realize what incredible courage and beautiful devotion to family she describes. The phrase "pioneer spirit" is so overused now I hesitate even to say it, but the true pioneer spirit did exist, and this is it.
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 Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder
My review
rating: 5 of 5 stars
I got out the Little House books again partly out of nostalgia and partly because I'm now interested in the way people used to live for reasons of self-sufficiency.
These really are some of the best children's books ever written. Laura lovingly details a lost and almost forgotten way of life with such simplicity, humor, and joy, you might not notice she's actually teaching history. Real individual history of real life 120 years ago.
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 The Ivy Tree by Mary Stewart
My review
rating: 4 of 5 stars
The Ivy Tree is another excellent Mary Stewart with an impersonation-mystery plot line.
Disarmingly, Stewart refers in the first chapter to other novels with a similar plot, such as The Great Impersonation, as if she is warning the reader that she plans to put her own interpretation on this somewhat clichéd suspense story. All the same, I wasn't entirely surprised by the twist revealed two-thirds of the way through. (I have, after all, read The Great Impersonation.) Still, Stewart manages to keep her storytelling engaging and enthralling with likeable and vivid characters, decent writing, and good action sequences.
This is second Stewart I've read with definite Jane Eyre allusions as well. She didn't make the parallels as obvious as in Nine Coaches Waiting but they are still there, and fit into her plot seamlessly. It's the little details that make her stories so much fun to read.
The romance is not quite as gorgeous as in Touch Not the Cat but the mystery plot is perhaps a little tighter. Overall I'd rank this on the same level as either Touch not the Cat or Nine Coaches, maybe a little higher than the latter. Good stuff for suspense/romance fans or Mary Stewart followers.
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 Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith by Anne Lamott
My review
rating: 3 of 5 stars
I had heard such wonderful things about Traveling Mercies, maybe I was just setting myself up for disappointment. To make matters worse, I have read Anne Lamott's book on writing, Bird by Bird, and loved it AND her.
Traveling Mercies was just okay. It's well written and interesting, because Anne Lamott is an interesting person. The first chapters which chronicle her life journey to faith were fascinating, if sad. But after some pages of this, I started to feel like her constant self-deprecating yet simultaneously self-absorbed navel-gazing was more affected than affecting.
There were some very good and thought-provoking chapters. I adored the chapter on prayer. It was funny and sweet at the same time and contained a lot of truth. But all the same, I finished the book with a slight unpleasant aftertaste from the overtones of I-am-too-good-for-the-regular-Christianity.
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I like Robin McKinley and always meant to read her Damar series. I found this on my brother-in-law's bookshelf just when I was feeling sick with a cold and in need of something escapist. It fit the bill perfectly.
As a classic fantasy, The Blue Sword has all the traditional elements: destiny, legendary swords, great battles, and evil Dark Lords. In the hands of a lesser writer it might end up cliche and predictable. But Robin McKinley has enough ability with description and character and detail that while it might still be predictable, it's also irresistibly enjoyable. Harry, the heroine, is likeable -- her loneliness and lostness are depicted just believably enough to save her from being a bit of a Mary Sue. There's a bit of wish fulfillment in the way Harry instantly masters skills and fits into her heroic role. But the sense that she is helpless in her destiny comes across as realistically bittersweet, and the ending is correspondingly satisfying. The background of McKinley's imaginary Damar is sketched in with the right degree of detail, enough to be convincing without being overpowering.
Overall, this classic deserves its reputation. I wish I'd read it when I was younger.
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The Skull Beneath the Skin is the last PD James I'm going to read for a while. I will say that this was a lot more fun to read than The Black Tower. I found Cordelia Gray to be a more sympathetic detective character than Dalgleish, and the plot followed a little more closely in the style of a classic English house-party murder.
The downfall of this one is that the theatrical setting is such a cliché, with the self-absorbed diva and her circle of followers – even to the mysterious and devoted female servant, the taciturn husband, the lover, etc, etc. *YAWN* It's all been done before and much more convincingly by authors like Ngaio Marsh and Agatha Christie.
I suppose I'd consider reading another Cordelia Gray mystery in the future, but not for a while. I need a break.
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