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Woooo, so many little ghosts and witches and ninjas and teddy bears running around out there, I can't even close the door between visits! And the whole world under the masks and paint: a Chinese grandmother carrying a tiny panda bear baby, a flock of Latina vampires, a tiny Black pumpkin, some redheaded aliens. I'm going to run out of treats before the big kids get here, which is fine.
But while there's a lull, here were my own treats for the month. Quality over quantity this month, for sure, but some really good reads:
77. Sherwood Smith, Inda (re-read): On second reading, still a wonderful world with many fascinating characters. Inda, a second son of a prince, first goes to train in a military academy where he forms close friends, discovers powerful enemies, and develops a natural talent for leadership, and then the machinations of one enemy lead to his being sent off to sea. I'm amazed at how well a woman writer can imagine the inner life of young boys. Women have plenty of opportunity to fight, but also to develop their own interests (including magic). Language, history, family traditions, geography--it's a complex and intriguing world. Now on to The Fox.
78. Jonathan Franzen, Freedom: The world as we know it. The lives of a family from the late seventies to the present, from various points of view. How Walter, the honorable environmentalist, gets involved with coal interests in DC; how Patty, the good-hearted athlete, becomes a family-destroying alcoholic; what happens to their children and friends. It could as well have been named competition, for Franzen's skillful eye that sees how rivalries, conscious and unconscious, undermine our rational selves. And freedom...where we find it.
79. Elizabeth Marie Pope, Perilous Gard: A very satisfying Tam Lin story, set in England just at the start of Elizabeth I's reign. One of the soon-to-be queen's maids of honor is exiled to a strange country manor, where the younger son tries to atone for what he thinks is his negligence, and the heroine saves him by intelligence as much as bravery. And a nice way of looking at the Queen of the Wood and her court, from a nice historical/anthropological background.
Brenda Rickman Vantrease, The Heretic's Wife: Put down after two chapters. Seemed to be covering much the same time from the same point of view as Wolf Hall (Henry VIII's various prosecutions) without Mantel's skill. And The Illuminator wasn't good enough to make me keep trying with this one.
80. David Mitchell, The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet: Not quite finished, but will be soon. Another fine book by Mitchell. Unlike Ghostwritten and Cloud Atlas, this is not linked stories, but a fairly unified plot (well, plots, but only a couple, and they all run throughout the novel). A Dutch accountant meets a Japanese midwife in Nagasaki in 1799--and evil abounds, but heroism as well. Great suspense, fascinating characters.
82. Michael Stone, Freeing the Body, Freeing the Mind: Just started. Essays on Buddhism and Yoga, and their commonalities and differences. So far, one excellent piece on Patanjali .
David Foster Wallace, Infinite Jest: I've tried before and quit after one chapter. So far, I'm into chapter two, but still overwhelmed by how much of it there is. I love long books, but this gives so much detail on each tiny moment. Beautifully done, yes, but the moments so far are miserable, and I'd like to get beyond them.
But while there's a lull, here were my own treats for the month. Quality over quantity this month, for sure, but some really good reads:
77. Sherwood Smith, Inda (re-read): On second reading, still a wonderful world with many fascinating characters. Inda, a second son of a prince, first goes to train in a military academy where he forms close friends, discovers powerful enemies, and develops a natural talent for leadership, and then the machinations of one enemy lead to his being sent off to sea. I'm amazed at how well a woman writer can imagine the inner life of young boys. Women have plenty of opportunity to fight, but also to develop their own interests (including magic). Language, history, family traditions, geography--it's a complex and intriguing world. Now on to The Fox.
78. Jonathan Franzen, Freedom: The world as we know it. The lives of a family from the late seventies to the present, from various points of view. How Walter, the honorable environmentalist, gets involved with coal interests in DC; how Patty, the good-hearted athlete, becomes a family-destroying alcoholic; what happens to their children and friends. It could as well have been named competition, for Franzen's skillful eye that sees how rivalries, conscious and unconscious, undermine our rational selves. And freedom...where we find it.
79. Elizabeth Marie Pope, Perilous Gard: A very satisfying Tam Lin story, set in England just at the start of Elizabeth I's reign. One of the soon-to-be queen's maids of honor is exiled to a strange country manor, where the younger son tries to atone for what he thinks is his negligence, and the heroine saves him by intelligence as much as bravery. And a nice way of looking at the Queen of the Wood and her court, from a nice historical/anthropological background.
Brenda Rickman Vantrease, The Heretic's Wife: Put down after two chapters. Seemed to be covering much the same time from the same point of view as Wolf Hall (Henry VIII's various prosecutions) without Mantel's skill. And The Illuminator wasn't good enough to make me keep trying with this one.
80. David Mitchell, The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet: Not quite finished, but will be soon. Another fine book by Mitchell. Unlike Ghostwritten and Cloud Atlas, this is not linked stories, but a fairly unified plot (well, plots, but only a couple, and they all run throughout the novel). A Dutch accountant meets a Japanese midwife in Nagasaki in 1799--and evil abounds, but heroism as well. Great suspense, fascinating characters.
82. Michael Stone, Freeing the Body, Freeing the Mind: Just started. Essays on Buddhism and Yoga, and their commonalities and differences. So far, one excellent piece on Patanjali .
David Foster Wallace, Infinite Jest: I've tried before and quit after one chapter. So far, I'm into chapter two, but still overwhelmed by how much of it there is. I love long books, but this gives so much detail on each tiny moment. Beautifully done, yes, but the moments so far are miserable, and I'd like to get beyond them.