Lost Favourites

When I was little, my favourite thing was going to the library (okay, so not much has changed). We would go without fail every 3 weeks to take back the books we'd read and take out a whole pile of new ones. Sometimes, we'd even stop for a chocolate bar on the way home. Now that was an evening out!

I read all kinds of books as a kid. I liked classics by Lucy Maud Montgomery and Laura Ingalls Wilder, but I also read Babysitters Club and Sweet Valley Twins/Sweet Valley High (probably when I was a little older.). I also read a lot of sci-fi and fantasy - my tastes are still the same today. I was surprised when I was looking at my library's holdings for Monica Hughes (one of my favourite Canadian sci-fi authors) - they were missing a substantial part of her works. This made me sad. I have always counted on the public library to have copies of the books I don't own. If they're not going to maintain a collection of Hughes' works, I am going to have to find the copies I want to read. I suspect I will have to get out in the second hand bookstores to find some!

When I was working on the gardening post a few posts back, I was reminded of one of my favourite books as a child. The protagonist is a girl named Gertie. She finds a wishbone and makes a wish - that her house would turn into a garden. Little does she know that this is a magic wishbone and that her wish comes true! First, there is grass growing in the hallway. Then plants and flowers begin to sprout in other corners of the house. Finally, her house turns into a beautiful forest/jungle. I loved the book and wished that the same thing would happen to my house. Sadly, I had no magic wishbone.

Armed only with the knowledge that the protagonist's name was Gertie, I searched the internet for the book. Voila, I soon found it. It's called Gertie's Green Thumb and it's by Catherine Dexter, illustrations by Ellen Eagle. I quickly went to the electronic catalog of my local library. I was devastated to find that they didn't have it. I do realize the library can't have a copy of every book in the world in it, but this is an excellent book for kids. Well, not just for kids - I would like to read it again! I guess it means another trip to the used bookstore for me. Or maybe e-bay?

So, faithful readers, what books did you read as a child that you can no longer find? If you could read it again, would you? And do you think the book would be as good now as it was back then? I'm curious to find out your lost favourites so we can find them together.

[Postscript: According to all the publishing information I can find about the book it was published in 1996, which would make me definitely no longer a child when I read the book. However, some books are good for all ages! Also, it may be a second edition or republishing, because I'm pretty sure I remember reading this when a kid. Although I did read lots of kids books still when I got into my teens and beyond.]

Grown-up Fairy Tales

Much to my great surprise, the new Mercedes Lackey book in her 500 Kingdoms series came in to the library the other day. I had put it on hold in April and wasn't expecting it so soon. I love this series: it is light-hearted and full of romance and adventure, with a twist on the traditional fairy tales. I don't think you ever get too old for fairy tales and I love reading books that take the traditional tales we all grew up with and expand the stories to a full length novel; often with a few twists along the way.

Mercedes Lackey gives the traditional fairy tales her storyteller's polish in her 500 Kingdoms series. The premise for the series is this (and I'm not giving anything away, this basic introduction is woven into every book - although perhaps not right away in the first one): the 500 Kingdoms are various lands which are governed by the Tradition. Call it fate, call it predestination - this is an external force that governs the lives of the residents of the 500 Kingdoms. Basically, the Tradition follows traditional fairy tales and tries to force the lives of residents whose lives already match certain factors in the fairy tales down the path of the fairy tale. So, for example, if you are a young woman whose father has recently remarried to a lady with two daughters of her own, the Tradition is setting you up to follow the Cinderella path. Hopefully, you will find your Prince and live happily ever after. But what if your Prince is too young, too old, already married, or gay? The Tradition will still try and force the traditional path to happen, leading to misery for the unwilling participants. These participants with the Tradition hanging over them are also a focal point for magic. Dark magicians can drain the magic from the people, leading to more misery and unhappiness. Fortunately, the 500 Kingdoms have Godmothers, whose job it is to watch over the lands and help direct the Tradition when things are about to go awry.

The most recent book is The Sleeping Beauty, where Lackey ties together elements of Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and the Rings of the Nibelungen. There is a princess, a prince, actually, several princes, some dwarves, and a fairy godmother to save the day. And yes, there is a romance, but you'll have to read it to find which prince wins the hand of the fair princess! Lackey's characters are not stereotypical fairy-tale characters - they are well-rounded and interesting. This was an enjoyable, quick read. Maybe not the best literature out there, but entertaining. I would recommend reading the other books in the series prior to this one, but that is not necessary as the books stand alone to a certain extent (although characters from other stories pop up from time to time). I appreciated how Lackey tied together three different fairy tales/myths that I'd never thought about together before. Both Snow White and Sleeping Beauty involve sleeping princesses, and it was interesting to see Lackey take those elements and twist them in her tale.

One interesting note: in her introduction to the novel, Lackey mentions the writer Terry Pratchett and seems to imply that she was going for Pratchett-type humour in her book. I must say I groaned at that mention. I am not a Terry Pratchett fan and really fail to find his books funny. I've even owned a few of his books and they were okay, but not laugh-out-loud funny. Fortunately for me (but perhaps not for Ms. Lackey) I failed to find the Pratchett-type humour in the novel at all. Maybe the lisping unicorn was supposed to be funny, but I didn't find it so. A little annoying to read, yes (fortunately the beast does not have that much dialogue) but funny, no. Further, these were originally meant to be a series of romance novels (which is clearly evident in the first novel, less so as the series goes on) and I would rather focus on the romance of the fairy tales and not the humour.

All in all, I would recommend Lackey's 500 Kingdoms series. You don't have to, but I do recommend reading them in order: The Fairy Godmother, One Good Knight, Fortune's Fool, and The Snow Queen. She is a very prolific writer, so there are already several books even though the first was only published in 2004. My only sad note involves the next in the series - it will be published in October 2010 (hurray) but it will only be a novella (boo!) and included in the Harvest Moon anthology. I wish it was a book as I'm not sure I will be bothered to hunt down an anthology in which I probably only read the one novella. I do like the series though, so maybe I'll console myself with getting all the novels in paperback (and then a new bookshelf!).

The Fantastic Mr. Fforde

My father had a face that could stop a clock. I don't mean that he was ugly or anything; it was a phrase the ChronoGuard used to describe someone who had the power to reduce time to an ultra-slow trickle. Dad had been a colonel in the ChronoGuard and kept his work very quiet. So quiet, in fact, that we didn't know he had gone rogue at all until his timekeeping buddies raided our house one morning clutching a Seize & Eradication order open-dated at both ends and demanding to know where and when he was.

[The Eyre Affair, Jasper Fforde (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 2001) Chapter 1, page 1]

And with these words, I was immediately swept up into Thursday Next's world - a world amazingly realized by Jasper Fforde. It's all there in the first chapter; literary detectives, time travelling, the Crimean War, the government taxes on cheese, Goliath, a dodo.... If you're in my bookclub and haven't read the first novel yet - stop now! In fact, stop now if you've only read the first novel - I intend to discuss all the books in the Thursday Next series with this post. July was my month to pick for bookclub and I wanted something entertaining yet still intellectual. The Eyre Affair, by Jasper Fforde (one of my favourite books of all time) was the result. I thought I might as well reread the entire series while I was at it, and did so in a matter of a few weeks.

I will limit myself here to discussing the Thursday Next series. I haven't really read the Nursery Crime series all that much, so will remedy that defect and post on it in the future. Fforde's latest book is Shades of Grey, which I read when it came out, and will have to read again before I think I can post on in adequately. I can't wait for the rest of that series.

The first book in the series is The Eyre Affair. It was fun to re-read it for the bookclub - I approached it with fresh eyes and tried to read it as if it were the first time I had read it. It really does draw you in with the opening chapter. You really just have to go with it - to dive in completely to Fforde's world and be completely immersed in his reality. I found Thursday's world amazing and intriguing and was interested in her work with Special Operations as a Literary Detective. However, then she jumped into books and really blew my mind. I had never thought of books and characters like that - as being like actors in a play who act the scenes they're given, but then offstage/offpage have this whole rich and varied life needing to be policed by Jurisfiction! This notion has affected the way I read all fiction books now - I can't help wondering what the characters are doing offpage and what else is going on behind the story.

Basically, the premise for book-jumping is this. All characters in a book are technically "alive". They act out the story as they're being read, but if they are not being read, they are free to act however they wish. There is a whole world inside fiction - the Bookworld. It is policed by characters from books under the auspices of an agency called Jurisfiction. Has anyone ever read a book and then been disoriented and surprised to still be at home once they have finished the book? Well, book-jumping takes that to the next extreme and allows you to cross the barrier between reality and fiction.

The next two books, Lost in a Good Book and The Well of Lost Plots deal with Thursday's life inside books and her training as a Jurisfiction agent. Of the two, my favourite (and I think my favourite book of the whole series) is The Well of Lost Plots. I love seeing inside the world of fiction, and The Well of Lost Plots takes place almost entirely inside the Bookworld. For someone who is as big a reader as I am, the notion that you could travel inside books is immensely appealing. I also appreciate how Fforde pulls together the villain from Lost in a Good Book and continues that plot arc into a satisfying conclusion.

Something Rotten jumps forward a couple of years after The Well of Lost Plots, which is kind of too bad. I would have liked to have read about Thursday's adventures inside the Bookworld during that time. However, her return to real-life and the Literatecs is entertaining too. Fforde has really created two interesting worlds here - the Bookworld and Thursday's everyday world. Both are fascinating, and it would have been interesting to have explored more of Thursday's world before jumping into the Bookworld (which is slightly more fascinating to me). But it's good to be back out in the "real" world and have Thursday interact with all the characters we've been missing since the first two books.

The last book, First Among Sequels, takes place 14 years after Something Rotten, which is almost a mistake. 14 years brings about a lot of changes - especially after the final events in Something Rotten - and those changes almost aren't acknowledged in First Among Sequels. It's almost as if the author wanted to set the book further ahead in time to catch up on technological advances, but didn't necessarily advance the story 14 years on (other than making everyone 14 years older). Too much of the story seems like it would have taken place immediately after the events in Something Rotten, and not 14 years later. It is still better than most non-Fforde fiction, but is probably my least favourite of the series so far.

And, of course, just a quick note on the editions of the book. I love the paperback edition that I have in the first three books (I've lent The Eyre Affair to a friend, which is why it isn't in this photo):

These are the Hodder and Stoughton paperback editions. I like the colours and the nice clean lines of the font and illustration. They are eye-catching without being annoying. Plus, they are a nice smaller size of book.

Sadly, Something Rotten and First Among Sequels are completely different....

I bought Something Rotten as soon as it came out, so this is not the paperback Hodder and Stoughton edition; I believe it is the "hardcover" edition. (Although my copy is a soft cover) So I suppose that's my fault for jumping too early and not waiting for the paperback. However, I don't think I can get the nice paperbacks anymore as Hodder and Stoughton seems to be re-releasing the books with new covers similar to First Among Sequels, above. I don't like the art on the cover and the scuffed-up book look. I like the more abstract nature of the paperbacks. Plus, both Something Rotten and First Among Sequels are taller than my other 3 books, which makes them hard to keep all together on a shelf and look nice.

All griping about looks aside, the Thursday Next series is a great series for people who love books, reading, mysteries, time-travel, and dodos. I hope I've made you curious to go pick up the book and read it for yourself. Finally, if one day I quit posting, you'll know I've succeeded in my quest to bookjump. Keep an eye out for me in Austen!

A Visit to the Library

There's nothing like a visit to the library to cure any sort of bad day. Even just a few minutes of wandering dreamily through the stacks and I'm as happy as a clam.

Here are my borrowings for the day:

Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores The Hidden Side of Everything, by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner (only one is an economist, so title is still correct)

Gilded Youth: Three Lives in France's Bell Epoque, by Kate Cambor (again, I know there's an accent on the E, don't know how to put them on)

The Sleeping Beauty, by Mercedes Lackey

Woodland Gardens: Shade Gets Chic, ed. by C. Colston Burrell (Brooklyn Botanic Gardens series)

The English Roses: Classic Favorites & New Selections, by David Austin

Gardening With Tulips, by Michael King

Trees for the Small Garden, by Simon Toomer

Again, my usual random assortment gleaned from holds, books on display shelves, and attempting to take out the entirety of one section at a time.

As you can see, I've discovered the gardening section. My life will never be the same again. So many wonderful books with fabulous full-colour photos of entirely unobtainable gardens! I did say earlier I read to escape, right? So why not escape into some beautiful gardens?

I am very excited about the Mercedes Lackey book. It seems I put it on hold ages ago, but it was only April. I can't wait to read it and will probably tackle it first thing, even though I still have most of the behemoth (see photo in earlier post) waiting for me, plus 6 Georgette Heyers to read. Sadly, there's no new nosy bookworm post coming up with this hold - I couldn't get a good look at the other books to see the title. At least it was a book - the past several holds I've picked up have been sandwiched by dvds! This is the nosy bookworm, not the nosy dvd-watcher.

Finally, a word of caution. When carrying a bag of chips around in your library bag, just be careful about putting the books in your library bag, in case the chips get squished. I am happy to report that despite some squishage, the chips still taste great. (Old Dutch Cheddar & Sour Cream, if you must know.)

Happy Reading!

How Does Your Garden Grow?

One of my other favourite pastimes (besides reading) is gardening. Admittedly, this is of recent provenance - I now have some land to garden in! My garden may be small, but I have big ideas. Likewise my gardening library is small, but it is full of many ideas.

Every beginning gardener needs a guidebook. My guidebook is The Garden Primer by Barbara Damrosch. I received this book as a gift from my mother, and I can already say that it has been very useful. I foresee it becoming like my Joy of Cooking, an indispensable guide I turn to, a book that is dog-eared, pencil-marked, and muddy from constant use. So far, however, it's in pretty good condition:

This book has everything a gardener would need to know. It has chapters on Annuals, Perennials, Vegetables, Herbs, Fruits, Bulbs, Roses, Lawns, Ground Covers, Vines, Shrubs, Trees, Wildflowers, and Houseplants. The beginning chapters contain wisdom on such matters as What Plants Need, Planning Your Landscape, Gardening Gear, and How to Buy Plants. It is an excellent resource. The author's voice comes across clearly throughout the text and it is not dry or scholarly. It is like talking to a friend; albeit one with an impressive knowledge of gardening lore! I love her stories about her personal experiences. So much of gardening is the stories one gardener shares with another.

My one minor quibble with it is that it is American. Our growing zones up here in Canada are much cooler than the States, so often I will get excited about a plant only to find it won't grow up here (or at least without lots of tender care). But that is a minor distraction. The book is packed with solid tips and advice and should be on every gardener's bookshelf.

Because temperatures vary so much across Canada, it is important to have a few good books which talk about the plants which do grow well in the climate you have. Such as the following:

Both books are published by Lone Pine Publishing; a publishing house based in Alberta. Often local publishers are the best source for books about issues specific to your area - I urge you to check out your local publishers for gardening books specific to your area.

Gardening Month by Month in Alberta by Alison Beck is a handy resource to assist the gardener in planning his or her year. It is especially helpful for the first time gardener! Of course, the recommendations must be taken with a grain of salt as so much of gardening is weather-dependant. However, it is a handy overall guide for the seasons. It also contains such useful information as a chart of Alberta Climate Normals for various locations around Alberta, as well as maps indicating the last spring and first fall frost dates. It is a useful book.

Best Garden Plants for Alberta by Donna Dawson and Laura Peters does not contain the range of plants in The Garden Primer, above, but with this book you know that the plants listed will grow in Alberta. The book is divided into sections (Annuals, Perennials, Trees & Shrubs, Roses, Vines, Bulbs, Herbs, and Grasses & Ferns) with a brief description of each plant and a lovely full-colour photo. I often find myself looking up plants in this book and then turning to The Garden Primer for more information before I plot out the plants on my garden plan. Both books are helpful for the beginner Alberta gardener.

Why I Read

I was thinking about reading the other night as I was drifting off to sleep, and I was wondering why I read. There are so many ways to entertain oneself these days: TV, computer games, XBox, etc.; so why do I choose reading as my primary source of entertainment? Why do I read? I thought about it for a little while, and managed to narrow it down to three factors. If a book doesn't meet one of these three factors, I probably won't finish it and I won't be entertained. This is why I read: curiosity, relaxation, and escape.

1. Curiosity
I read because I want to know something. This is separate and distinct from any reading you may have to do for school and work. This is reading on your own time. For me, this is mostly non-fiction reading (as evidenced by my giant bookshelf of royal history non-fiction books!) but it may also be fiction. Every now and then at the library I pick up a random book because I am curious about the title or picture on the front cover. Sometimes this leads to a good read; sometimes it doesn't. This also works for non-fiction too - I stroll up and down the history aisles at the library, looking for books.

In fact, I can trace my love of history to curiosity. I was reading A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett, and the main character, Sara, remarks that she was worried she would forget that Henry VIII had six wives. I was intrigued. Who was this Henry VIII? Why did he have 6 wives? Who were they? What happened to all the wives I turned to my at-home encyclopedia to find out. Then, of course, I wanted to know more about Henry's predecessor and successor. I wanted to know more about Henry's family - his sisters, brother, parents, children. This lead to a deep and abiding interest in the history of the English Royal family; all from that one moment of curiosity.

2. Relaxation
I also read because I want to relax. Whether because of a hard day at work, or I'm waiting at the doctor's office, or I'm on a road trip, I read to rest and recover from the day. These types of books are what my mom and I fondly call "junk food books". They're not the great classics of English literature: they're quick, enjoyable reads that one can get through in an afternoon. (If one is so lucky to have an afternoon to devote solely to reading!) These are books like the Shopaholic series, Bridget Jones series (although I've only actually read the first books of either of these two series), Mercedes Lackey and Georgette Heyer. Not every book you read needs to be Jane Eyre. Every now and then it's good to have a little fun. When reading them, you know the hero/heroine isn't going to get in too much trouble that's not going to be set right by the end of the novel. You worry, but you're not stressed at the predicaments the characters find themselves in. The books are enjoyable and entertaining, but don't keep you up at night. A nice light read when you need a break.

3. Escape
At first glance, one may think this is the same as "relaxation", above. No, it is not and I'll explain why. Some authors are so good, the stories and characters so intense and believable, that you are completely engulfed in the book. Ever read a book and been surprised when you put it down to find yourself still at home? Those are the kinds of books I'm talking about. This is mainly why I read - to escape into another place or time. Some of my favourite authors here are Sharon Kay Penman and Laurie R. King. You read their books and you are there in Medieval England or 1920's England. It is always a shock to put one down and find myself still in 2010's North America. It is these kinds of books Jasper Fforde was probably inspired by to write his Thursday Next series. The one downside with "escape" books is they do tend to interfere with your life a little bit, which is why "relaxation" reads are better everyday choices and "escape" reads better for when you have more time!

So, there it is. I read to satisfy my curiosity, I read for relaxation, and I read to escape into another world. Why do you read?

The Play's the Thing

As promised on Monday, today I am going to talk about the Ngaio Marsh book I recently read: Enter A Murderer. This is the second book in her series featuring Chief Detective-Inspector Alleyn. The book also features intrepid reporter Nigel Bathgate, whom we first met in the first book in the series, A Man Lay Dead.

This book, as evidenced by the title, takes place in the world of the theater. Nigel takes his friend Inspector Alleyn to watch a play; The Rat and The Beaver. The final act is especially dramatic as one of the characters is shot on stage at the climax of the play. However, this time it is no performance - those were real bullets in the gun, not blanks and the actor is actually dead. There is a short list of characters who could have killed him: the cast of the play and the stagehands who run things behind the scenes. Inspector Alleyn must delve into the offstage world of the theater and investigate the real-lives of all the actors and actresses to determine who is the murderer.

It is a typical Christie/Marsh set-up - someone is murdered and there is only a limited number of people who could have committed the murder. I appreciate this style of murder-mystery as it is like solving a puzzle. Plus, the gore and violence are kept to a minimum. It is an exercise for the brain, not for the stomach!

Like Marsh's previous Alleyn novel, I enjoyed this one as well. It is a fast-paced quick read. Not overly challenging, but draws you in and keeps you interested as the mystery unfolds. Marsh's books, Heyer's mysteries, and Christie's books, are all set in the same time period. However, unlike Heyer's mysteries, I am not reading Marsh awaiting the arrival of Hercule Poirot! Inspector Alleyn is a real and developed character, and he carries the mystery on his own. He is intriguing, as there seems to be a hint of sadness in the character, and some mystery about his past life. I am curious to read more of the mysteries and see how the character develops. There is even a whisper of romance in this novel as it appears that Alleyn is attracted by one of the suspects. I'm curious to see if that subplot is carried through to the other novels as well.

One thing that makes Marsh's novels stand out from Christie's is that the protagonist is an actual police detective. This makes it natural and right that he should be investigating crimes. Of course, Poirot was also a consulting detective, so his involvement in crime was natural as well. Mystery writers can get into some trouble if their detective is not private or police - the writer gets tied in knots trying to find a way to involve their character in a murder without the character being suspected of the murder! After awhile, the coincidences are just too much, and the series often loses its charm. (Such as Diane Mott Davidson's Goldy/Caterer mystery series. Eventually, a caterer always stumbling on a dead body and solving the mystery gets a little far-fetched.) However, if your detective is a police or private detective, the crime comes to them and the investigation of it is their job. I like that Alleyn is a police detective and I am interested in Marsh's portrayal of the police force and its detective abilities.

In summary, I enjoyed this Ngaio Marsh book too. I will have to put the next one on hold from the library! I enjoy her police detective as an alternate to Christie's private detective, but enjoy the similar themes and puzzles that are contained in each work. The real test will come when I finish the series - will I want to read them again? I own nearly all of Christie's works and reread Poirot and Marple probably about once a year. Will I want to own the Marsh series and reread them? Only time will tell.

Masquerade

I have been reading a lot lately and finishing books in a few days or less. So I have a backlog of books to talk about! Which is good because this is my next read:

However, I recently finished two quick reads: The Masqueraders by Georgette Heyer and Enter a Murderer by Ngaio Marsh. Today I will talk about The Masqueraders and talk about the Ngaio Marsh next time.

As with most of Heyer’s works, The Masqueraders was a quick and entertaining read. While her books are not challenging intellectually, they are charming and fun to read. Heyer writes great stories and engaging characters. She makes you want to keep reading until you have finished the book. I think her reads would be good for a car trip – you’d be caught up in the story until you arrived at your destination.

The Masqueraders is the story of a brother and sister on the run in Georgian England. Having participated in the Jacobite rebellion, they are perceived as traitors to their country and risk imprisonment or death. Their father, an adventurer, rogue, and master of intricate plots indicates that the siblings should meet him in London. So, in order to limit the risk of arrest, the pair don disguises and switch sexes in order to meet their father in London incognito. Prudence, the sister, dresses up as a young man, Peter Merriot, and her brother, Robin, dresses up as a young lady, Kate Merriot. The two make their way to the house of a close friend in London to await further developments from their father. The pair and their father have led a highly irregular life so disguise and deception are a way of life for the family.

However, the pairs’ efforts to keep a low profile in London are nearly immediately thwarted when the pair prevent an elopement from occurring as the siblings are journeying to London. They make an enemy of the prospective groom, Mr. Markham, while Robin falls in love with the prospective bride, Letitia Grayson. Prudence, meanwhile, falls in love with Sir Anthony Fanshawe, a friend of the Grayson family and Letty’s other potential suitor.

The siblings must work to maintain their false identities and act in the manner expected of a lady or gentleman of the time while concealing their true identities from Sir Anthony and Leticia. Eventually their father appears on the scene in a most unexpected manner, and the siblings must follow their father’s plan to clear their names before their true identities can be revealed.

All in all, The Masqueraders was an entertaining and enjoyable read. It is set in an earlier time period than most of Heyer’s works, but she brings her same close attention to detail in clothing, slang, and manners that she does to her Regency work. At times this is almost annoying, given “Kate’s” propensity to call everyone “child”. One assumes that was usual address for a young woman at the time, but it grates on the reader a little bit. I also saw the twist at the end coming well before I got to the end of the novel, but you're not really reading this type of book for the surprise.

I think I prefer Heyer’s Regency work and storylines, but this novel is just as entertaining of a read as any of Heyer’s Regency romances. I am more interested in the romantic storylines and fashionable society of the Regency period, but The Masqueraders is still an enjoyable way to pass the time with a book.

Good Night, Irene

Since his creation, Sherlock Holmes has been considered to be one of the greatest of all the literary detectives. Authors have reinterpreted the Holmes canon in new and unexpected ways. I am just beginning to realize how many Holmes interpretations are out there. One of my favourites is the Mary Russell series by Laurie R. King. My mother recently advised me of a new interpretation - the Irene Adler series by Carole Nelson Douglas. Thus intrigued, I ordered the first book, Good Night, Mr. Holmes, from the library and read it immediately.

I will say that I prefer the Holmes in the Mary Russell series: there he is a little more human, instead of a merciless, mechanical, thinking machine. However, with Irene Adler as the heroine, perhaps that is to be expected. There was also a brief moment of bait and switch at the beginning of the novel when I read along in the first person, thinking I was hearing the voice of Irene Adler, only to be surprised several pages later when the narrator became introduced to Irene Adler! However, perhaps that is more the fault of the person who wrote the blurb on the back of the book than the writer, for not indicating the true provenance of the narrator. Irene Adler is a known commodity in the Holmesian world; Penelope Huxleigh, not so.

After I recovered from my initial shock, I quite enjoyed the book. Penelope is an interesting and intelligent narrator, and her cool intelligence and morality are a perfect foil to Irene's passionate sense of drama and intellect. Penelope is Watson to Irene's Holmes; but a Watson with her own gifts to bring to the deduction of mysteries. Just as the Holmes stories are about male friendship, so is this book about female friendship. There is also a nice contrast between Irene's free-spirited American feminist and Penelope's parsons'-daughter conventional Victorianism. The two characters relate nicely to one another and their friendship is enjoyable and believable.

The story is a touch oddly plotted in that it suddenly seems to skip a number of years while alluding to other events that happened in those years that we are not privy to (and that presumably do not intersect with the mystery plot underlying this narrative.). My point only is that I don't think that the gap in years is necessary for the novel - a gap in months would have sufficed.

One should know the Holmes stories well to read this book - I like how the author weaves Irene Adler into the established Holmes mysteries (beyond "A Scandal in Bohemia"). It is like seeing the other side of the story - the side that Conan Doyle did not write about.

I also enjoyed the descriptions of Victorian law and lawyers as represented in the person of Godfrey Norton. Penelope learns how to type and becomes a typist - in essence, an early form of legal assistant - to Godfrey Norton. He and his family are also the subjects of a mystery which causes him to be tangled up with Irene and Penelope. Now, I've read "A Scandal in Bohemia" and I know how that turns out. I know that Irene Adler marries Godfrey Norton in the end. But I hoped against hope the whole book that somehow that would change and it would be Penelope marrying Godfrey! That seemed a more likely pairing. However, the author is constrained by the source material.

In general, I really quite enjoyed the book. I was annoyed at first to find the book not in Irene's voice (and I still think she deserves a starring role and a chance at first-person narration) but I grew to like Penelope and enjoyed the relationship between the two characters. I am interested to read the other books in the series to see how the worlds of Irene Adler and Sherlock Holmes intersect behind the curtain - as it were - of the Conan Doyle stories.

Frederica

A few days ago, I finished the most recent book in the Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde. (Expect a post soon - but I don't want to give away the ending to the book clubbers who may not have finished the first book!) I was at a loss for reading material until I remembered the book my friend had given me for my birthday a short while ago.

She, knowing my love of Jane Austen and the regency period, had recommended the author Georgette Heyer. I found her books in the library. I read Arabella and loved it immediately. My next foray into Heyer, with The Spanish Bride, had not gone so well and I soon put Heyer aside in order to reread the Mary Russell series and Jasper Fforde. However, I think Frederica has cemented the start of a beautiful relationship and the possibility of a new series I shall have to collect.

Frederica is the story of a young woman who has been acting as guardian to her younger siblings: Harry, Charis, Jessamy, and Felix. Frederica brings her siblings to London in order to give her extremely beautiful sister Charis a London season and a greater chance of a good marriage than she would have in rural England. Frederica asks for the assistance of a distant cousin, the Marquis of Alverstoke, to help her sister. Much to his surprise, the Marquis agrees and becomes involved in the exploits of Jessamy and Felix and further embroiled with the family.

I won't spoil the ending by giving it away, but suffice it to say that it is a happy ending. Frederica, like Arabella, has reaffirmed my appreciation for Georgette Heyer's Regency novels. They are like Jane Austen's work in that they involve young single woman and the quest for marriage (the only appropriate career for women at that time) but there's a little more detail. The same wit and sparkle are there, but Heyer's works are more gossipy, more detailed with descriptions of clothing and places. However, Heyer's characters are just as endearing as Jane Austen's creations and speak the same witty banter. Heyer's understanding of and research into the Regency period is remarkable. Her books were written in the 1900's, yet would stand up to Regency period work.

Now that I own Frederica, I may begin collecting the rest of Heyer's Regency work. Her novels are being republished by Sourcebooks Casablanca. Just take a look at some of the beautiful covers:

I love books with portraits of people in historical dress on the front cover. In fact, I get rather annoyed if I grab a book from the library shelf with a lovely old-fashioned portrait on the cover and it's a book about modern life. That's a bait and switch! At any rate, the books will make a charming edition to my library, and I have a new collection to begin (and probably a new bookshelf to buy).

Heyer also writes historical fiction about other time periods and locations, such as The Spanish Bride, which is set in the same Regency period, but on the Spanish peninsula during the Napoleonic wars. Maybe due to the fact that it is set during the wars, I did not find that it had the same charm and sparkle as Arabella or Frederica and I couldn't get into the book or the characters. My next Heyer, which I got out from the library, is The Masqueraders. This is set after the Jacobite rebellion and involves a brother and sister and a very Shakespearean disguise!

Heyer also writes mysteries set in the 1920's and 1930's - similar in some respects to Agatha Christie. I did try to read one of her mysteries, but found myself waiting for Poirot to come in and solve the mystery and save the day. I think I'll stick with my Christies for mysteries and my Heyer for Regency romance.

A Second Chance

Have you ever read a book, hated it, and vowed never to read it again? I have done that several times, with a number of books and have always kept my vow. However, sometimes a second chance can help you like a book you thought you hated.

In high school, like all high school students of my year, we had to read To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee in English class. I'm not sure I remember what grade I was in, but I know it was in high school. I read the book, because I read all the assigned books in class. But I was not happy about it! In short, I hated it. Yes, rank heresy I know, but I despised the book. I thought the first half of the book had nothing to do with the second half and didn't understand what all the fuss about Boo Radley was. I wanted to move on and get to some Shakespeare already! I hated To Kill a Mockingbird and vowed never to read it again.

Fortunately for me and literature, I had to reread To Kill a Mockingbird a few years ago for a law and literature class. When I saw the book on the reading list I groaned. I did not want to have to make my way through this book again! I opened the slim purple volume with trepidation, wondering how long I could make it through before the first feelings of disgust surfaced.

However, much to my surprise, I began to like the book. I was caught up in Ms. Lee's description of the South and her clearly rendered characters, time, setting, and place. I was enthralled, I was entranced. I read through the book in a few sittings and finished it in amazement. I no longer hated To Kill a Mockingbird; in fact, I could quite easily say that it was one of the best books I had ever read. I had gone from total disgust to total appreciation. I could only laugh at my high school self who had hated this book and be thankful that school had once again thrown this novel into my hands.

I have yet to read To Kill a Mockingbird a third time - or on my own, for my own enjoyment. But the book now sits on my shelf, and it is something I will turn to again, I am sure. I am glad I received the chance to revise my opinion of this classic. Perhaps being a little older and a little wiser helped too. So, if at first you don't succeed, try again with a book in a little while, and you too may be amazed.

Happy Canada Day!

Happy Canada Day everyone! In honour of this holiday celebrating our nation, I thought I would post a list of my top 5 favourite Canadian authors. When I set out to make the list, I was thinking I would try and make it inclusive - include Canadians from all across the country and all ethnicities. Then I thought - hey, I'm not the government! This is my list and reflects my thoughts.

#5 Gordon Korman
Who in elementary school did not have to read a Gordon Korman book? And then immediately read the rest of them too, just because they were so funny. He is best known, and best loved, for his Bruno and Boots/Macdonald Hall series. Mr. Korman wrote the first of those books as a Grade 7 English project and his career blossomed from there. I read and enjoyed the Bruno and Boots series and several other of Mr. Korman's books, including I Want to go Home, but my favourite has to be Losing Joe's Place. In this book, Jason and his friends move into Jason's brother's apartment for the summer and hilarity ensues - including something about a chocolate dessert with uncooked eggs in it.... This book is my favourite for purely sentimental reasons. It was read to the class by my Grade 6 teacher. The next year I would be moving on to Junior High, where teachers didn't necessarily read to their students. There was nothing better than a Friday afternoon when the teacher would pull out the book and read to us until the end of the day; the essence of childhood right there. Thank you, Mr. Korman, for your entertaining and enjoyable books.

#4 Pauline Gedge
Pauline Gedge is a Canadian writer who doesn't write about Canada at all. Instead, Ms. Gedge transports to the reader to that most unique and interesting of places, Ancient Egypt. Her books are well-written and meticulously detailed. She brings you to Ancient Egypt so that you feel you are there among the Pharaohs and pyramids. And she does this all from small-town Alberta. Ms. Gedge also has dabbled in Gothic (The Covenant), Ancient Celts (The Eagle and the Raven), and Sci-fi (Stargate), but my favourites from her will always be her Egyptian novels. My two favourite are Child of the Morning and Twelfth Transforming.

#3 Sandra Gulland
Sandra Gulland is yet another Canadian writer who doesn't write about Canada either. Instead, Ms. Gulland brings Empress Josephine (wife of Napoleon Bonaparte) brilliantly to life in her Josephine trilogy. These books are written as the diary of Josephine and cover her life from a young girl growing up in the sugar plantations of the West Indies, through to her marriage to a nobleman and experiences during the French Revolution where her husband was guillotined and she was imprisoned, to her life as wife to Napoleon and Empress of the French. Josephine was an interesting and complex woman, and Ms. Gulland really captures what she must have been like. Of the trilogy, my favourite is the first: The Many Lives & Secret Sorrows of Josephine B. Ms. Gulland has also written about Louise de la Valliere, a mistress of Louis XIV. For me, it is not as strong as her Josephine work, but still enjoyable.

#2 Monica Hughes
I was introduced to science fiction by Monica Hughes, and since then I have never looked back. And while her books may be more suited for a young adult audience, they still hold up today. She will always be one of my favourite sci-fi authors. She wrote many books, but I have two particular favourites. The first is The Tomorrow City, about the city of the future and what happens when something goes wrong, and Invitation to the Game, about young people trying to survive in a crowded and overpopulated world struggling with mass unemployment, when they receive an invitation to a mysterious game. Both books are inventive and have strong storylines and intriguing characters. Good books for readers of all ages.

#1 Lucy Maud Montgomery
Many of the other authors on this list have special memories for me relating to my childhood. Lucy Maud Montgomery was my childhood. I have read every book of hers (and own almost all of them) from Anne of Green Gables to Jane of Lantern Hill. Her dreamy, romantic tales were the building blocks for my childhood imaginings. I wanted to be like Anne, like Emily. I too had a bosom friend and kept a journal of poems. I adored all of her books and spent a whole day in Prince Edward Island going to everything Montgomery related, from her birthplace in New London, to the Lake of Shining Waters, Green Gables and her grave outside Cavendish. I read Ms. Montgomery's journals when I was a little older and was surprised to find out how little happiness she had in her own personal life. Her stories reflect the happy endings she was denied. That is not to say her stories are devoid of any depth: there are dark themes in her work. But overall her characters receive the happy endings they deserve. As for a favourite - I can't pick just one! Whatever mood I'm in, there's a Montgomery book for it. I love Anne, Emily, Marigold, Pat, Valancy, Jane and all the other residents of her fictional universe. Ms. Montgomery was a complex and passionate individual with an amazing talent for writing beautiful stories. She is my favourite Canadian author.


Those are my top 5 Canadian authors. Now go read them! Happy Canada Day Everyone!