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Monday, October 31, 2005

Books for October

Ratings are out of a possible 5; bold titles are first-time reads.

1. A Breath of Snow and Ashes -- Diana Gabaldon -- 3
   • Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series was an obsession for me at one time. I devoured the first four books, waited impatiently for the fifth, traveled a few hundred miles twice to have it signed, tried to love it, and waited again with combined eagerness and trepidation (what if it's even worse than #5?) for this sixth volume in the series. I was not terribly disappointed. Breath was, in my opinion, miles better than The Fiery Cross, book #5 in the series, which opened with a 250- or 300-page (about a fourth of the book) breastfeeding/diaper-changing/menstruation/bullet-removing/doctoring intrigue-fest which covered one day at a Scottish Gathering in North Carolina. And at times it went downhill from there. Anyway, back to book #6. There's more action in this one, and less navel-gazing, and far fewer soiled diapers, and not quite so many references to that boring old Jacobite gold, but don't expect the spark that Outlander had. In some arenas, Gabaldon pulls no punches in this book; bad things happen to a lot of people -- some of whom her readers love very dearly. There's the by-now-obligatory legal trouble which involves the necessity of both Jamie and C outsmarting various authorities in order to survive and be reunited; there is guilt and suspicion and there are some terribly unresolved issues involving a r a p e. Brianna's no longer bratty, but she is also apparently a combination of Annie Oakley and Thomas Edison; Roger's more present and believable but his character takes a few unexpected and not-quite-natural-feeling twists as well. And of course you can expect blow-by-blows of several medical procedures (you either love these or hate them), and all that sort of experimentation that comes with being a time-traveling doctor on the American frontier. Oh, and there are i n c e s t and b i g a m y in this one too. (um, sorry, that was a spoiler).
     
     HOWEVER. I still think DG is heading back in the right direction with this book. Some people reviewing it are acting like this is the point at which DG finally lost their confidence and her ability to string two sentences together. Whereas I think that may have happened around the time Roger was sold to the Indians in Drums of Autumn, and somewhere between Fiery Cross and this book, the author picked herself up and dusted herself off and decided to start really trying again. I'm looking forward to the next book (which will supposedly be the last in the series, but then all of them from the first one on were supposed to be that at one point or another), if for no other reason than to see if she continues to improve.
2. Henry and the Clubhouse -- Beverly Cleary -- 4.5
   • Just keeping up with the kids' reading every now and then. LT is going through my Beverly Clearys like wildfire, and I do love Beverly Cleary. Reading her books always makes me want to re-read her memoirs.
3. At Home in Mitford -- Jan Karon -- 4.5
   • I love this series, which surrounds a diabetic Episcopalian priest named Timothy, his neighbor Cynthia, his, well, his sort-of-adopted-ward-sort-of-son Dooley, and the rest of the very-real-seeming people who inhabit Mitford, the small North Carolina mountain village in which they live. Light, calm, chaste reading -- just perfect after the behemoth of plot, sex, battle, and death that is Diana Gabaldon. I might not review each book individually; they really are best read as part of the series.
4. A Light in the Window -- Jan Karon -- 4
5. A Common Life : The Wedding Story -- Jan Karon -- 3.5
   • This is a little novella, written out of series order, to placate the people who wanted to witness the wedding of Father Tim and Cynthia.
6. These High, Green Hills -- Jan Karon -- 4
7. Out to Canaan -- Jan Karon -- 4
8. A New Song -- Jan Karon -- 4
   • I liked this volume, wherein Timothy and Cynthia spend a year or so "supplying" for a congregation on the island of Whitecap, better on re-reading than I did the first time. It does seem like perhaps the author just ran out of things to say with and about the original townspeople (who can blame her?) and so decided to move her characters elsewhere to meet some new people. But it works.
9. In This Mountain -- Jan Karon -- 4
   • The darkest of the Mitford novels -- and even as such, don't expect it to be terribly dark. Father Tim's diabetes finally catches up with him in a very painful way, and his experiences working through the aftermath of that (both physical and emotional) are quite moving.
10. Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith -- Anne Lamott -- 4.5
    • This book of essays is not for the faint-hearted Christian. Lamott's life and her faith are gritty, and very real, but -- different from the traditional idea of Christianity in many ways. Definitely a discussion-starter. There's a post with some of the thoughts I had after reading this book here.
11. In Her Shoes -- Jennifer Weiner -- 2.5
    • I got this from the library because some girlfriends and I were thinking of going to the movies, and the possibility existed that we would watch the recent film adaptation of this novel, and I do have my rules, you know. Frankly, I wasn't crazy about the book. It didn't seem to know whether it was supposed to be dark or funny; characters' personalities changed markedly without the reader being able to be in on much of the process. The writing seemed heavy-handed, and at times (especially in the opening pages, which was a big turnoff to me) quite vulgar, in a way that should have been more dark but was handled in an almost sprightly, humorous way. I'll admit that when the characters weren't having complete personality shifts for no discernable reason, they were quite believable, but they still didn't pull this above the level of a stereotypical nerdy-sister/hot-sister chick book.
12. Letters from Pemberley: The First Year -- Jane Dawkins -- 3.5
    • I've owned this book for nearly two years and have just now pulled it off the shelf and actually read it. I really did like it; it was quite enjoyable, and better-written than the other Austen sequels I've tried (which, granted, wasn't many). The author injects just about every character from the six major Austen novels, as neighbors or friends of the Darcys, but under different (also Austen-related) names, which makes this not only an oh-goody-more-about-Elizabeth-and-Mr.-Darcy sigh-fest, it's also basically one long set of clever puzzles, figuring out who's whom.
13. The Bluest Eye -- Toni Morrison -- 4
    • The prose in this book is lyrical, and the dialogue and narration are nearly pitch-perfect, capturing a time, place, and culture (poor blacks, America, early 20th-century) deftly, passionately, and thoughtfully. The story is compelling, and it made me see life (and self-image, and cultural identity, and a list of other concepts as well) in a way I never had before.

Comments

Posted by: jenn at October 31, 2005 08:04 PM

Posted by: Maria at November 1, 2005 01:37 AM

Posted by: Kat at November 1, 2005 05:55 AM

Posted by: debi at November 1, 2005 07:43 AM

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