Top Ten Tuesday: Books I’d want on a desert island

November 13, 201210 Comments

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday asks the classic question: What books would you take if you were stranded on a desert island? For the sake of the fun, I’m not going to include books about how to survive in the wilderness/books with info on medicinal and edible plants/books to use for kindling/etc. Instead, I’ll restrict my list to books I would want to read if I were stranded on a desert island. Not surprisingly, there will be a lot of overlap with my all-time favorite books!

1. Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice — This is my favorite book of all time, so of course I’ll need it with me.

2. J.R.R. Tolkien, Lord of the Rings — I love this book, and it’s certainly long and complex enough to keep me occupied for a while!

3. E.M. Forster, A Room with a View — When I’m bored with the limited scenery on my island, I’ll pick up this book to immerse myself in two beautiful places: Florence, Italy, and the English countryside.

4. William Goldman, The Princess Bride — I’ll definitely need this hilarious and charming novel to keep me from getting bored!

5. Maggie Stiefvater, The Scorpio Races — I loved this book so much when I read it! I’ll definitely need to revisit its beautiful language, wonderfully understated romance and perfect, mysterious setting over and over again.

6. G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy — Chesterton’s cheerfulness and optimism should come in handy when I start to get depressed about being marooned on an island!

7. Walker Percy, Lost in the Cosmos: The Last Self-Help Book — There’s a lot of variety in this book, which should stave off the boredom: philosophy, religion, popular culture, space travel, semiotics, and the list goes on.

8. Robin McKinley, The Blue Sword — I have to bring something by Robin McKinley, and this gorgeous fantasy/romance is long overdue for a reread!

9. Connie Willis, To Say Nothing of the Dog — I’ve been wanting to reread this charming time-travel novel for a long time. Seems like being stranded on a desert island is the perfect opportunity!

10. The Bible — I think I’ll be needing substantial spiritual consolation if I’m going to be stuck on this island for a while!

Tune in Tuesday with Katelyn: If I had a wish, or even a choice…

November 13, 20128 Comments

Time for another Tune in Tuesday! My pick this week, “Sound of Your Voice” by the Barenaked Ladies, is an obvious choice because I’ve had it stuck in my head all week! Something about the simplicity of the lyrics or the old-school doo-wop feel just burrowed its way into my brain. Also, BNL was one of my absolute favorite bands in middle school and high school, so there’s a certain amount of nostalgia as well. Remember “One Week”? I actually used to know all the words to that! But anyway, here’s “Sound of Your Voice”:

Bookish trailers

November 11, 20127 Comments

Is it just me, or are there a lot of great-looking book-related movies coming out soon? Here are a few that I’ll be lining up to see:

“Cheerful Weather for the Wedding,” based on the novel by Julia Strachey, looks like sheer delight for those of us who love period pieces! The U.K. release date is early 2013, but I can’t seem to find a U.S. release date anywhere (alas!). However, it is available to rent on Comcast On Demand if you feel like spending $10. I plan to sit tight and hope for a theater release, but it does look tempting!

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I’m so excited that Baz Luhrmann’s doing “The Great Gatsby”! I read the book a couple times in school and didn’t particularly love it. (I didn’t hate it either; it just didn’t make a huge impression on me.) But with Luhrmann directing, the movie is sure to be gorgeous. The cast also seems great, with Leonardo DiCaprio in the title role and Carey Mulligan as Daisy. U.S. release date is May 10, 2013.

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And then of course there’s Peter Jackson’s “The Hobbit: Part One.” (About that…are three movies really necessary, Mr. Jackson? Don’t you have enough money already?) Lord of the Rings is one of my favorite books, so obviously I can’t miss this! Martin Freeman is a great choice for Bilbo — and after “North and South,” I’ll watch Richard Armitage do anything, even with a giant dwarf beard! U.S. release date is December 14.

Review: Light Boxes

November 10, 2012Leave a comment

Shane Jones, Light Boxes

This slight novel is set in an unnamed town that’s experiencing perpetual winter. The townspeople know that this is caused by a godlike being named February, who has also banned all forms of flight. Birds fall from the sky, kites don’t work, and hot-air balloonist Thaddeus Lowe can no longer take to the sky. The town’s children begin to go missing, and adults commit suicide out of their desperation and despair. Eventually Thaddeus and some of the townspeople decide to fight back, but how can their pitiful efforts outmatch the might of February?

I should say right up front that I don’t think I’m the right audience for this book. I loved the concept, and the cover blurb made me think that it would be sort of a magical fable. But ultimately I just didn’t get the point of the book; in fact, I’m not entirely sure it has one. The writing style is lyrical, almost like poetry — and maybe I’d have liked the book more if I’d approached it as poetry rather than a novel. The plot is interesting, but it’s only outlined as the merest sketch. I felt like a lot more could have been done with the ballooning/flying idea, for example. That said, I don’t think this is a bad book at all, and I’m sure there are many people who would absolutely love it. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t for me.

Review: The Weed That Strings the Hangman’s Bag

November 8, 20122 Comments

Alan Bradley, The Weed That Strings the Hangman’s Bag

In this second Flavia de Luce novel, the town of Bishop’s Lacey plays host to some prestigious guests from the BBC. Rupert Porson, puppeteer and creator of the popular TV show “The Magic Kingdom,” has arrived in town with his entourage and plans to put on a show. Naturally, Flavia is in the thick of things, helping to set up the show and making friends with Rupert’s beautiful companion, Nialla. Being an exceptionally observant child, Flavia notices that there is some tension between Rupert and Nialla, and also that Rupert seems to have a surprising number of acquaintances in Bishop’s Lacey. When Rupert is murdered during the climactic moment of his show, Flavia is on the case, using her intelligence and passion for chemistry to discover the killer and uncover new information about a years-old tragedy.

How you feel about this series will largely depend on how you feel about its narrator and protagonist, Flavia de Luce. She’s an incredibly precocious 11-year-old girl who has an encyclopedic knowledge of poisons and can’t keep her nose out of a mystery. Personally, I don’t find her remotely believable, or even very likable, but she is extremely entertaining. This book moves fairly slowly, with lots of top-heavy exposition as the main players are introduced. For this reason, I was less interested in the mystery than in the de Luce family dynamics, which are both fascinating and a little disturbing. But fans of The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie will undoubtedly enjoy this second installment of the series, and I’ve already borrowed the next two books from the library.

Secret Santa Exchange at The Broke and the Bookish

November 7, 2012November 7, 2012Leave a comment

The holiday season is upon us, which means it’s time for some cheer and good will — and nothing says cheer and good will like fabulous bookish presents! Luckily, The Broke and the Bookish is hosting a Secret Santa gift exchange to spread the love (and awesome gifts) among book bloggers. Once you sign up, TBTB will assign you a Secret Santa, for whom you’ll buy gifts based on their wishlist and other preferences. Then you mail them their package and receive your own bundle of holiday joy in return. If you’re interested, click here for details about how to participate. The deadline to sign up is November 17. I’m looking forward to finding that perfect gift for my Secret Santa!

Tune in Tuesday with Katelyn: Singing death or glory

November 6, 2012November 6, 201210 Comments

For this week’s Tune in Tuesday, I’m going with “Where We Belong” by Lostprophets. I first heard this song while watching “Chalet Girl” (a cute little rom-com starring Felicity Jones, who was also in “Northanger Abbey” — there’s your Jane Austen connection for the day!). It’s got a lot of energy and triumph behind it — perfect for the climactic moment of that movie. Enjoy!

Review: Jamaica Inn

November 5, 20125 Comments

Daphne Du Maurier, Jamaica Inn

Mary Yellan is a young woman who finds herself alone in the world when her mother dies. She decides to seek out her Aunt Patience, who lives not far away at Jamaica Inn. But as Mary travels to her new home, the coachman warns her that it’s not a respectable place and that it could be dangerous for a young woman like her. Nonetheless, Mary continues her journey, but she soon finds that the coachman was right. Her uncle, Joss Merlyn, is a brutish drunkard who completely dominates Aunt Patience with violence. Joss is also involved in some extremely unsavory business activities, which Mary does her best to ignore for her aunt’s sake. But eventually, Joss and his sinister confederates perpetrate an outrage that is too shocking to ignore, and Mary must decide whom she can trust to ask for help.

I’ve read several books by Daphne Du Maurier, and this is the first one that I really didn’t like. Honestly, my overall reaction was simply meh. The prose is too flowery, the plot is too melodramatic, and the whole thing is entirely too drawn-out and predictable. I knew immediately what Joss Merlyn’s mysterious business was, I knew whom Mary would end up with, and I knew who the bad guy was — all before the book was half over. In such a slow-paced book whose main entertainment value is the suspense, this much predictability just made the whole thing dull, in my opinion. So all in all, I wasn’t a fan. It’s one of Du Maurier’s earlier works, though, so presumably her writing style matured over the years. I would definitely recommend Rebecca, My Cousin Rachel or Frenchman’s Creek instead!

Review: Death at Wentwater Court

November 5, 20122 Comments

Carola Dunn, Death at Wentwater Court

The Honorable Daisy Dalrymple doesn’t need to work for a living, but she’d rather be independent than live with her disagreeable relatives. She works as a journalist, writing about English country houses for the society columns. Her latest assignment is at Wentwater Court; since Daisy knows the family slightly, it shouldn’t be difficult for her to get some good interviews. Daisy arrives in the midst of a small house party and soon notices tension within the group. When one of the guests is found dead, everyone assumes it’s an accident, but Daisy finds evidence that points to murder. Inspector Alec Fletcher of Scotland Yard arrives to take charge of the case, and Daisy is eager to assist the investigation. But what if the murderer is someone she knows and cares about?

This is a fun little cozy mystery set in the 1920s. Daisy Dalrymple is a likable heroine — cheerful, intelligent, modern but not unbelievably so. I often get annoyed with amateur detectives in mystery novels, because they always seem to do stupid things (not tell the police everything, go off to hunt the killer on their own, etc.). But here, Daisy works with the police, and her motives are pretty plausible: she wants to help prove her friends’ innocence if possible, and she’s attracted to Inspector Fletcher. And from Alec’s point of view, it makes sense to ask for Daisy’s help because she knows the people involved but is still a somewhat impartial observer. The actual plot is somewhat unoriginal and forgettable, but the book is still a pleasant read. I wouldn’t mind reading more in the Daisy Dalrymple series.