8. The Tattooed Potato and other clues
"A lonely figure stood in Cobble Lane, studying the red-brick house number 12."
The Tattooed Potato and other clues, Ellen Raskin
Ellen Raskin certainly was an interesting writer. She wrote so few books (well, chapter books - I guess she wrote some picture books, but I haven't read them), and while they all have certain things in common - i.e., I would classify them all as mysteries - tonally, they are just as varied as possible. The Westing Game is a classic locked room/puzzle mystery, Leon (I Mean Noel) is a humorous puzzle, Figgs & Phantoms is a metaphysical mystery, and The Tattooed Potato is a mystery, but one that takes on the real emotions caused by crime, too. By which I mean, I guess, that it's a mystery, but one in which the characters seem to be real people with real human emotions. We enjoy solving the silly crimes with Garson and Dickory Dock, but at the end, we are left with real people who have been victims of real crimes. Her oeuvre is strange for someone who wrote YA - it's hard to imagine a book like Figgs or Potato being marked to young readers today, but thank god for the strange 70's because I love these books.
Now, in case you haven't read these, the plot is as follows. Dickory Dock (and yes, she's heard all the jokes) is an art student who takes on a job as an assistant working for a slick portrait painter named Garson. Garson becomes an advisor to the police (starting as a sketch artist), and the two solve strange mysteries together (the case of the bald hairdressor, the case of the phony twenty dollar bill). Meanwhile, strange things are going on at Garson's house - what is Dickory to think about her strange employer?
And it's great. When I first read this, when I was younger, I thought it was bizarre (see my comment on the strange 70's) but now I love it - love Dickory, love Garson, love poor doomed Isaac. A great book.
Categories: Re-read, YA
7. The Copper Peacock
"A famous designer, young still, who first became well-known when she made a princess's wedding dress, was coming to speak to the women's group of which Bridget Thomas was secretary." ~First lines of "A Pair of Yellow Lillies"
The Copper Peacock and Other Stories, Ruth Rendell
A typically fun collection by Rendell. You know, short stories of this sort really are a lost art - unless the author is already successful, like Rendell, or Stephen King, where do you ever stumble upon a genre short story? Not a New Yorker slice of life type thing, but a short mystery, or horror story? For that matter, where, other than The New Yorker (and small literary magazines that no one reads) do they even publish short stories these days? It's a shame, because there is something very enjoyable about picking up a short story collection where the stories are all small creepy mysteries knocked out efficiently (rather than short ponderous think pieces you have to figure out at the the end). These particular stories range from suspense to mystery, and most of the stories are stand-alones, though there is one Wexford at the end. While they slant towards the psychological suspense angle that Rendell is known for, they aren't too overbearing in that way (which is to say, they aren't all about psychopaths, as some of her later novels tend to be). If you like Rendell, you'll definitely like these, and if you haven't read her, it's be a good place to start.
Categories: Fiction, Ruth Rendell Project
4.-6. Three Ruby Oliver Books
"Before anyone reading this thinks to call me a slut - or even just imagines I'm incredibly popular - let me point out that this list includes absolutely every single boy I have ever had the slightest little any-kind-of-anything with." ~first line of the boyfriend list
the boyfriend list
the boy book
the treasure map of boys, all by e. lockhart
These are three very charming young adult books, all about a high school girl named Ruby Oliver (and I just found out there is a fourth I haven't read!). Written by the author of The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau Banks (which I LOVED), and Dramarama (which I didn't, quite as much, but I freely admit that it was very well written - I just didn't like the main character, who was sort of a pill). Anyway, these are all about how Ruby's life fell apart during her sophmore year, when she loses all her friends because of a misunderstanding over a boy. Soon she's having panic attacks, and trying to rebuild her life as a sophmore.
The books are funny and charming, because Ruby is funny and charming, but they also are about real stuff - figuring out who you are, who your friends are, how to be a girl, how to be a person, and all sorts of good stuff like that. But mostly the it's just great to spend time with Ruby - she can be maddening and obtuse (as a grown up you sort of want to shake her and tell her to pull her emotional life together) but that's what being a teenager is all about, isn't it?
Categories: Young adult, library (for the second two)
3. Vampires, Zombies, Werewolves, and Ghosts
"He remembered how carefully and expertly Grandmother would fondle the cold cut guts of the chicken and withdrew the marvels therein; the wet shining loops of meat-smelling intestine, the muscled lump of heart, the gizzard with the collection of seeds in it." ~ First line of "The Man Upstairs" by Ray Bradbury
Vampires, Zombies, Werewolves, and Ghosts: 25 Classic Stories of the Supernatural ed. Barbara Solomon and Eileen Panetta
This is one of the best collections of supernatural tales I've read. It has few of the usual supects (indeed the only "classic" one is an excerpt from Dracula), and lots of variety, as the title suggests. It also has a lot of modern writers - not just Stephen King, but even a story by Joe Hill, which can't be more than ten years old. Not only that, the stories capture a variety moods - from super creepy (Bradbury's "The Man Upstairs" quoted above, Joe Hill's tale), to the goofy (Woody Allen's "Count Dracula", Wilde's "The Canterville Ghost"). I always struggle to talk about short story collections here - it's hard to say much more beyond I liked it/I didn't, but I really recommend this collection. Solomon and Panetta did a great job of curating a collection of creepy, funny, supernatural tales, and managed to do it without "Whistle & I'll Come To You My Lad" OR "The Monkey's Paw," which alone should recommend it!*
Categories: Fiction
*Which is to say that I compare this favorably to the last book of ghost stories I read.
2. The Night Circus
"The circus arrives without warning."
The Night Circus, Erin Morgenstern
This is a magical novel - a story of a mystical circus, the spectacular result of a magical duel that two wizards (is that what they are? Magicians? Mages?) fight. But they don't fight it themselves - each selects a champion, and set them against other. The game has been played for years, this battle by proxy - but this time things go astray when the two combattants meet and realize that they don't want to battle each other at all. The result is a magical ride, and a phenomenal read.
But this description doesn't really capture the book at all, because the plot is secondary to the atmospherics which are what makes the the book. The way Morgenstern creates the Circus with her words is amazing - I can't think of when I've read such a sensual book in the literal sense that you feel like you are seeing, hearing, smelling the circus - and what a circus. You couldn't read this book and not want to visit the Circus. To be able to even visit it in literature seems like a reward. People have complained about the plot of the book, and I can see that. It's only reasonably interesting, but it's hardly the point. You read this book so that you can visit the circus - and you won't regret having done so.
Categories: Fiction, Library Book.
1. Bossypants
"Welcome Friend, Congratulations on your purchase of this genuine American-made book."
Bossypants, Tina Fey
Insert obligatory self-flogging about how I haven't blogged in months, and how I am so far behind on 2012 blogging I'll likely never catch up. Basic reason - two small children; no need for more explanation, given that the only person reading this is me!
But, appropriate segue, I guess, because, Fey's book is, at least in part, about being a comedian, sure, but also about being a woman and a mother and all that jazz. Anyways, I know that everyone read this book ages ago, when it first came out (and when it comes to it, *I* read it ages ago myself, about January 2nd), but just in case you didn't, do! It's great! It's a breezy read, sure, but Fey is a delight. The much re-blogged "Mother's Prayer for a Daughter" was probably the highlight (Quote - "And when she one day turns on me and calls me a Bitch in front of Hollister, Give me the strength Lord, to yank her directly in a cab in front of her friends, For I will not have that Shit. I will not have it."), but the whole thing - learning about her childhood, SNL, her struggles with her appearance in Hollywood, the Sarah Palin thing - all of it was great.
Categories: Non-Fiction
2011 Wrap-Up
Once again, I'm too far behind to bother with write-ups, so here's the full list of what I read this year. Some of my favorites (that is, some of the best books I read for the first time this year) are hyperlinked to the reviews (lamest best of list yet!)
Here's the full list:
1. Lincoln's Dreams, Connie Willis
2. The Heart of the Matter, Graham Greene
3. Frank, The Voice, James Kaplan
4. Tender is the Night, F. Scott Fitzgerald
5. Finishing the Hat, Stephen Sondheim
6. 84, Charing Cross Road, Helene Hanff
7. The Anthologist, Nicholson Baker
8. Point Counter Point, Aldous Huxley
9. The Gyrth Chalice Mystery, Margery Allingham
10. American Rose, Karen Abbott
11. Nightingale Wood, Stella Gibbons
12. Portnoy's Complaint, Philip Roth
13. I Shall Wear Midnight, Terry Pratchett
14. To Fear A Painted Devil, Ruth Rendell
15. Scarlett Fever, Maureen Johnson
16. The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories, Michael Newton, ed.
17. The Wordy Shipmates, Sarah Vowell
18. The Secret Agent, Joseph Conrad
19. Where There's A Will, Rex Stout
20. Wide Sargasso Sea, Jean Rhys
21. Under the Net, Iris Murdoch
22. The Age of Innocence, Edith Wharton
23. I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have To Kill You, Ally Carter
24. Cross My Heart And Hope To Spy, Ally Carter
25. Don’t Judge A Girl By Her Cover, Ally Carter
26. Theater Shoes, Noel Streatfield
27. The Care of the Howling Dog, Erle Stanley Gardner
28. Charmed Life, Diana Wynne Jones
29. The Lives of Christopher Chant, Diana Wynne Jones
30. The Magicians of Caprona
31. Witch Week, Diana Wynne Jones
32. Conrad’s Fate, Diana Wynne Jones
33. The Pinhoe Egg, Diana Wynne Jones
34. The Golden Bowl, Henry James
35. Grave Mistake, Ngiao Marsh
36. The Greater Journey, David McCullough
38. Sourcery, Terry Pratchett
39. Throwing Shadows, E.L. Konigsburg
40. Tigerlily's Orchids, Ruth Rendell
41. Footsteps in the Dark, Georgette Heyer
42. My Booky Wooky II, Russel Brand
43. The Wapshot Chronicle, John Cheever
44. The Saturdays, Elizabeth Enright
45. The Four Story Mistake, Elizabeth Enright
46. And Then There Were Five, Elizabeth Enright
47. Spiderweb for Two, Elizabeth Enright
48. Faithful Place, Tana French
49. The Girls of Murder City, Douglas French
50. Bed-Knob and Broomstick, Mary Norton
51. The Selected Journals of L.M. Montgomery Vol.11, L.M. Montgomery
52. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, Alan Bradley
53. 93 Orchard, An Edible History of Five Immigrant Families in One New York Tenement, Jane Zieglman
54. A Private Hotel for Gentle Ladies, Ellen Cooney
55. Past Imperfect, Julian Fellows
56. What I Saw and How I Lied, Judy Blundell
57. Anne of Green Gables, L.M. Montgomery
58. The House at Riverton, Kate Morton
59. Anne of Avonlea, L.M. Montgomery
60. The Mysterious Disappearance of Leon (I Mean Noel), Ellen Raskin
61. The Lonely Polygamist, Bradley Udal
62. Anne of the Island, L.M. Montgomery
63. Night at the Vulcan, Ngaio Marsh
64. Anne of Windy Poplars, L.M. Montgomery
65. The House of Mirth, Edith Wharton
66. Anne's House of Dreams, L.M. Montgomery
67. That Old Cape Magic, Richard Russo
68. The Courtiers, Lucy Worsley
69. Anna and the French Kiss, Stephanie Perkins
70. Anne of Ingleside, L.M. Montgomery
71. The 39 Steps, John Buchan
72. Rainbow Valley, L.M. Montgomery
73. Rilla of Ingleside, L.M. Montgomery
74. A Visit From The Goon Squad, Jennifer Egan
75. Among the Shadows, L.M. Montgomery
76. Under the Dome, Stephen King
77. A Tangled Web, L.M. Montgomery
78. Black Sheep, Georgette Heyer
79. After Many Days, L.M. Montgomery
80. The Story Girl, L.M. Montgomery
81. Full Dark, No Stars, Stephen King
82. The Golden Road, L.M. Montgomery
83. My Life With the Saints, James Martin
84. Along the Shore, L.M. Montgomery
85. Figgs & Phantoms, Ellen Raskin
86. Emily of New Moon, L.M. Montgomery
87. Freaky Friday, Mary Rogers
88. Kilmeny of the Orchard, L.M. Montgomery
89. Why Not Say What Happened? Ivana Lowell
90. Emily Climbs, L.M. Montgomery
91. The Secret Language, Ursula Nordstrom
92. Jane of Lantern Hill, L.M. Montgomery
93. Chronicles of Avonlea, L.M. Montgomery
94. Magic for Marigold, L.M. Montgomery
95. Someone Like You, Sarah Dessen
96. Akin to Anne, L.M. Montgomery
97. Emily's Quest, L.M. Montgomery
98. The Doctor's Sweetheart, L.M. Montgomery
99. Summer Switch, Mary Rogers
100. Pat of Silverbush, L.M. Montgomery
101. Mistress Pat, L.M. Montgomery
102. Daddy Long Legs, Jean Webster
103. At the Altar, L.M. Montgomery
104. Dear Enemy, L.M. Montgomery
105. Christmas with Anne, L.M. Montgomery
106. Further Chronicles of Avonlea, L.M. Montgomery
107. The Autobiography of Mrs. Thom Thumb, Melanie Benjamin
108. Against the Odds, L.M. Montgomery
109. The Post Birthday World, Lionel Shriver
110. Confessions of the Sullivan Sisters, Natalie Standiford
111. The Duke's Children, Anthony Trollope
112. The Blue Castle, L.M. Montgomery
2011: 112. Favorite Books: The Blue Castle
"If it had not rained on a certain May morning Valancy Stirling's whole life would have been entirely different."
The Blue Castle, L.M. Montgomery
Well, as has become my tradition, I finally am finishing my 2011 book blogging in late March of 2012, following my now-traditional late March blogging lull. Luckily, I am picking it back up with one of my very favorite books of all time. Maybe the best Montogomery book, The Blue Castle.
The Blue Castle is the story of Valancy Stirling, an old maid (at 29! the horror!!), who lives with her overbearing mother, and her overbearing clan, in a sad house, where all the life has been squashed out of her (indeed, she is like Jane, if Jane had never met her father). Her only escapes are the books of the naturalist John Foster (her mother doesn't allow novels) and her imagination, where she escapes to her Blue Castle in Spain. She might have gone on like that forever, until she decides to consult a doctor about a heart problem and learns that she has less than a year to live. Suddenly Valancy decides she will live what life she has left - and we're off to the races.
There is so much good stuff here - the parts when Valancy starts speaking her mind to her horrible clan are some of the best writing Montgomery has done (and so funny!) and Valancy's bravery in damning convention and going to take care of poor Cissy Gay is sweet. And, of course, there is Barney Snaith - the least romantic name for the most romantic love interest. Barney is the best of the Montgomery heroes - better than Gilbert, better than Walter. Seriously, if you've never read The Blue Castle, you HAVE to.*
Categories: Fiction, Re-Read, Favorite Books, L.M. Montgomery Project
*I must bring up the one weird part - I once found a book by Colleen McCullough (of The Thorn Birds Fame) called The Ladies of Missalongah that straight up plaigarizes the plot of The Blue Castle. MAAAAYBE you could call it an homage, but how strange is that?
2011: 111. The Duke's Children
"No one, probably, ever felt himself to be more alone in the world than our old friend, the Duke of Omnium, when the Duchess had died."
The Duke's Children, Anthony Trollope
Well, after five lengthy Victorian novels I have finally come to the end of the Palliser novels.* This final novel takes place (as you can tell from the first sentence) after our friend Lady Glencora (the Duchess of Omnium) has died, and the book deals with how the Duke, Plantagenet Palliser (good old Planty Pal!) tries to cope with her loss - particularly in the issue of shepherding his three children into adulthood. The Duke is a famous stick in the mud - a policy wonk before such things existed, who, if he had his druthers, would have spent his life working in the Exchequer, trying to push through his plan for decimal currency. Instead, he was elevated to the House of Lords, forced to be the Prime Minister for the coalition government (this is all backstory, btw), and then, when he wasn't very good at that, retired. Now he is a widower, adrift, disconnected from his children (that was Glencora's thing), and at a loss. And how his children vex him! Falling in love with the wrong (read: not titled) people, running up debts, etc.
It's a funny book, because our main character is a very conservative stick in the mud, with outdated principles (particularly for the American reader), and yet, we do sympathize with him (it helps that SPOILER he comes around to his children's wishes. By which I mean, it doesn't end with his daughter coming to her senses and throwing over her commoner for a noble chap, but rather, with him coming to terms with the marriage). I don't know if you'd enjoy it if you hadn't read the other books - you need to be pretty in the bag for the Duke of Omnium to really care. But on the other hand, if you are Downton fan, there is a lot of scheming around about marriage (I didn't even mention Lady Mab!) which is always fun. If you do like Downton, I'd recommend, actually reading The Eustace Diamonds, which was my favorite book in the series, by far (and one of my favorite books the year I read it, when ever that was). If you like that, you might then start the series and give it a go. If you do like that Dowton-y upstairs stuff, you'd like these, I think. As for me, having done the political Paliser novels, I guess I'll turn to the church-Bartsetshire chronicle! I am a Trollope fan.
Categories: Fiction
*N.B. - how irritating to have come to the end of the series at a time when I don't have my blog archives up and can't brag about all my hard work with links!
2011: 110. Confessions of the Sullivan Sisters
"The Sullivan family's Christmas began in the traditional way that year."
Confessions of the Sullivan Sisters, Natalie Standiford
Oh, I loved this book. Total guilty pleasure, because it's young adult, but it was so so fun. The book hits a number of my sweet spots. The book is about the Sullivan family, a quasi rich* society family who live in a big old crumbly mansion (a big old crumbly mansion is just oh, my one dream in life), there is a whole passel of kids (the book focuses on the four sisters, but there are also three brothers), they all have waspy names (one brother is named St. John!). Luv it! I mean, I officially loathe wastrely society people, but I secretly evny their self possessed upper crust lives (this explains my love hate with Georgetown), so this was right in my wheelhouse.
The book opens with the grandmother (who is called Almighty, so you get the drift) calling the whole family together and saying that one of her grandchildren has offended her so much that, unless that person confesses and apologizes, she will disinherit the entire family. The book, then is the confessions of the four daughters. It's just super fun - what they "did" ranges from sneaking out with inappropriate older boys to spilling family secrets on a blog. It's well written, too - one of those YA books that you can just enjoy, and not wince at it being dumbed down, or clunkily written, or totally implausible. Just pure fun.
Categories: Fiction, YA, Library Book
*quasi, because they depend on their grandmother for the money