The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy

Nov 092011

The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy
Published by Signet Classics, an imprint of Penguin

Recently Nicole and I read The Scarlet Pimpernel for a classics rip episode of What’s Old is New. Now, this isn’t the first time that I had read – or blogged about, for that matter – The Scarlet Pimpernel. Almost three and a half years ago, I read Baroness Orczy’s book alongside Lauren Willig’s flower spy series (as an aside, how is that I have blog posts that are almost 3.5 years old?!?) and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Still, even though it was a relatively recent read, I was afraid that The Scarlet Pimpernel might not hold up, since I’ve probably read 600 books since then.

What I found was that I loved The Scarlet Pimpernel just as much as I did three years ago. As a classic action adventure novel it is an inordinate amount of fun. There are the requisite misunderstandings and thwarted love affairs, dashing heroes rescuing people from certain death, and a villain readers will love to hate.

Of course, nobody is going to be super surprised that I enjoyed The Scarlet Pimpernel since I loved it three years ago and suggested it for this classics rip episode. Nicole was a skeptic, though, and only really agreed to read it at all because I told her it was very short. If you want to know if she liked it too, though, you’ll have to listen to the episode.

By the way, in this episode we also announced a contest for the first person who can recommend to us a Dickens book we actually both like. If you have suggestions, please add them to the comments on the episode.

Buy this book from:
Powells | Indiebound*

Personal copy.
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.

Why Read Moby-Dick? by Nathaniel Philbrick – Book Review

Nov 082011

Why Read Moby-Dick? by Nathaniel Philbrick
Published by Viking, an imprint of Penguin

Nathaniel Philbrick is a great fan of Moby-Dick, having even written a highly-regarded account of the real maritime tragedy behind Melville’s famous work. As a great lover of this great American maritime novel, Philbrick understandably wants to share his passion with other like-minded readers. To this end he wrote Why Read Moby-Dick, essentially as an academic love letter to Melville’s masterpiece. More than just a personal love letter, though, Philbrick wants to convince anyone who reads his words that they, too, should read Moby-Dick.

“Most of all, however, I am interested in getting you – yes, you – to read, whether it be for the first time or the twelfth time, Moby-Dick. -p. 10

It is important that you know, for context of this review, how I came to read Why Read Moby-Dick. I have personally never read Melville and have alternated between being somewhat terrified of the tome and being intrigued almost to the point of reading Moby-Dick by its passionate defenders. Nobody has ever quite tipped me over the edge into reading it, however, and I picked up Why Read Moby-Dick hoping that Philbrick might finally sway me.

At times, I was nearly convinced. As Philbrick went on about Melville’s lovely prose and his humor I found myself craving the pages. Even more so, when he told me things like :

So it is with Moby-Dick, a novel about a whaling voyage to the Pacific that is also about America racing hell-bent toward the Civil War and so much more. -p. 6

Unfortunately, many of these assertions were not backed up with any evidence, anecdotal or otherwise. Slowly, the lack of support for those statements began to lose me. Presumably, someone who had already read Moby-Dick would understand the references and gain an increased appreciation, but without having any real experience with the book, they meant very little.

Still, I kept an open mind until page 64:

There is a wonderful slapdash quality to the book. Melville inserts chapters of biology, history, art criticism, you name it, sometimes at seeming random.

Stories that meander without much guidance or purpose are an annoyance in my opinion, so with that one sentence Philbrick set me fervently against his beloved book, hundreds of pages of randomness are not an appealing proposition. Again, I can see how such a statement could recall those who had previously read Moby-Dick, reminding them of that farrago of subjects they so enjoyed, but it is not particularly convincing for someone who was unsure about reading it in the first place.

Why Read Moby-Dick is, physically, a gorgeous little book. It would make a wonderful gift for the Melville devotee in your life, and would likely encourage them to return to the book. If you are the devotee, however, do not expect it to convert your loved ones. On the other hand, even Philbrick himself does not necessarily advocate that one read the entire book every time, so perhaps he can at least convince the unsure to read a line, a page, a chapter.

I am not one of those purists who insist on reading the entire untruncated text at all costs. Moby-Dick is a long book, and time is short. Even a sentence, a mere phrase will do. -p. 9

Buy this book from:
Powells | Indiebound*

Source: Publisher.
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.

The Taste of Salt by Martha Southgate – Book Review

Nov 072011

The Taste of Salt by Martha Southgate
Published by Algonquin Books, an imprint of Workman Publishing

Josie Henderson wants nothing more than to leave her family and the legacy of addiction behind her. She’s married now, a successful scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Still, though, she is terrified that if anyone at work new about her family she would go from being the only black female scientist to be the black girl whose daddy used to be a drunk and whose brother is in rehab. Life had been going more or less smoothly, but now her brother Tick’s release from rehab forces Josie to once again face her family. When a new scientist with a background similar to Josie’s own joins the staff at Woods Hole, it quickly becomes apparent that Josie’s carefully constructed life is simply a veneer, and that what is underneath is not as solid as she believes.

Martha Southgate creates with The Taste of Salt a moving picture of the ramifications of growing up in a dying Midwestern town, and the long echoes of alcoholism on a family. Neither Josie nor her mother realize just how much the alcoholism of the men in their family has damaged them, and their inability to confront these realities and ask for help from a program such as Al-Anon wreaks devastation on their lives. Josie in particular is somewhat broken by the experience of growing up with an alcoholic father, and as a result has intimacy issues of her own. Interestingly, Southgate mirrors Josie’s disconnect from her husband Daniel by making him the character kept at the greatest difference from the reader; he appears in The Taste of Salt as little more than a faint reflection of Josie, and it is by his virtual absence that the reader comes to grips with the true loneliness of Josie’s life.

That is not to say that The Taste of Salt is completely bleak. The positive side of Josie’s life essentially coming apart at the seams is that she is forced to consider, for the first time in a long time, exactly who she is and what it is that she wants from life, other than her career. Too, Josie is made to confront her family’s past, going so far as to imagine for the reader what her parents’ life together was like before she came along, a narrative pieced together from stories and impressions from her childhood. All of this forces Josie to grow as a character and leaves the reader with a feeling of hope for her future.

The Taste of Salt is a lovely book, and an incredibly discussable one. Recommended.

If you would like to discuss The Taste of Salt, come back here on Tuesday, November 15th for our BOOK CLUB discussion. Also, check out our BOOK CLUB giveaway for December: Maman’s Homesick Pie by Donia Bijan

Buy this book from:
Powells | Indiebound*

Source: Publisher, for BOOK CLUB.
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.

December BOOK CLUB giveaway – Maman’s Homesick Pie by Donia Bijan

Nov 062011

5256159881 7ba9c432e6 m picture It is that time again! We are gearing up for this month’s discussion of The Taste of Salt by Martha Southgate (Tuesday, November 15th, right here on my blog), but it is also time to give away next month’s BOOK CLUB selection. In December we will be reading another offering from Algonquin Books,Maman’s Homesick Pie: A Persian Heart in an American Kitchen by Donia Bijan.

mamanshomesickpie picture

We will be discussing Maman’s Homesick Pie on Tuesday, December 13 on Nicole’s blog. Please note this date is a week earlier than normal to avoid conflict with people’s holiday plans.

From the publisher:

For Donia Bijan’s family, food has been the language they use to tell their stories and to communicate their love. In 1978, when the Islamic revolution in Iran threatened their safety, they fled to California’s Bay Area, where the familiar flavors of Bijan’s mother’s cooking formed a bridge to the life they left behind. Now, through the prism of food, award-winning chef Donia Bijan unwinds her own story, finding that at the heart of it all is her mother, whose love and support enabled Bijan to realize her dreams.

From the Persian world of her youth to the American life she embraced as a teenager to her years at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris (studying under the infamous Madame Brassart) to apprenticeships in France’s three-star kitchens and finally back to San Francisco, where she opened her own celebrated bistro, Bijan evokes a vibrant kaleidoscope of cultures and cuisines. And she shares thirty inspired recipes from her childhood (Saffron Yogurt Rice with Chicken and Eggplant and Orange Cardamom Cookies), her French training (Ratatouille with Black Olives and Fried Bread and Purple Plum Skillet Tart), and her cooking career (Roast Duck Legs with Dates and Warm Lentil Salad and Rose Petal Ice Cream).

If you would like to be considered as a participant for December, please fill out the form below by Monday, November 14th, 2011. Your mailing address will be discarded if you aren’t selected to participate and used to mail you the book if you are. I do not share or retain any personal information. Only those selected will be contacted by email.

October 2011 Reading Wrap-Up

Nov 062011

So, this was basically a super-awesome reading month for me. Despite being crazy busy I finished 24 books, six of which were audiobooks. That was a total of 50 hours of listening and just over 6,000 pages of print and ebooks. I also hit a total of 200 books read this year around the end of the month, so that was a pretty big deal.

What I Reviewed:

Audiobooks
Birds of Paradise by Diana Abu-Jaber
The White Woman on the Green Bicycle by Monique Roffey, narrated by Adjoa Andoh
Very Bad Men by Harry Dolan, narrated by Erik Davies
The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaum, narrated by Tara Sands

Fiction
Little Gale Gumbo by Erika Marks
S is for Silence by Sue Grafton
Damascus by Joshua Mohr
Practical Jean by Trevor Cole
The Marriage Artist by Andrew Winer
The Wondering Falcon by Jamil Ahmad
Wherever You Go by Joan Leegant

Speculative Fiction
When She Woke by Hillary Jordan
Zone One by Colson Whitehead

Historical Fiction
The Lady of the Rivers by Philippa Gregory
The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb by Melanie Benjamin
The Maid by Kimberly Cutter
Lionheart by Sharon Kay Penman

Nonfiction
The Kitchen Counter Cooking School by Kathleen Flinn
Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind by Ellen F. Brown and John Wiley, Jr.

Saturday Story Spotlight
Five Little Pumpkins
Whooo’s That?
Halloween Dogs
Where’s Baby’s Pumpkin?

Other Posts:
School of Night by Louis Bayard
D.E.A.R. Fall Books

Pick of the Month:

Llama Llama Red Pajama – Saturday Story Spotlight

Nov 052011

Welcome to Saturday Story Spotlight, my feature where I discuss books my husband and I are reading with our son, Daniel. These are books that he, we, or all of us particularly enjoy.

Llama Lllama Red Pajama by Anna Dewdney
Published by Viking, an imprint of Penguin

After reading Llama Llama a story, Mama Llama puts him to bed and go downstairs. Not quite ready to go to sleep, Llama Llama wants a drink. Well, actually, he just wants his Mama Llama to come back and keep him company. So Llama Llama begins to call and cry for his mother.

I’m sure most little kids can relate to Llama Llama here, not wanting yet to go to sleep, just wanting Mommy or Daddy to come and cuddle, and not getting it. Mama Llama has things that need to be done while Llama Llama is in bed, so she doesn’t return immediately, but when she does return, she reassures her little Llama Llama that she is always around, even when she isn’t immediately present.

Daniel has decreed this his new favorite book. “Do you want to read XYZ?” “No! Llama Pajama book!” I don’t blame him, really. For one thing, the illustrations are beautiful and the little llama is absolutely adorable. Plus, Llama Llama Red Pajama is a book that simply begs to read aloud. Llama Llama gets progressively more anxious the longer his mother is away and Dewdney uses incredibly expressive words that are perfect for a slightly dramatic reading.

I think part of the current appeal of Llama Llama Red Pajama is that Daniel is attempting to transition from his crib to a toddler bed. It is making him more anxious about bedtime than usual, so Llama Llama is somewhat reassuring.

We now love Llama Llama (and our cute little Llama Llama doll in his red pajamas that Unabridged Bookstore included with our order). I have a feeling that we’ll be buying all of Dewdney’s other Llama books soon.

Buy this book from:
Powells | Indiebound*

Source: Personal copy
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.

The Map of Time by Felix J Palma – Audiobook Review

Nov 042011

The Map of Time by Felix J Palma, translated by Nick Caistor, narrated by James Langton
Published in audio by Simon & Schuster Audio, published in print by Atria Books, both imprints of Simon & Schuster

Synopsis:

After H.G. Wells publishes The Time Machine, the idea of time travel becomes all the rage in Victorian London, giving rise to, among other things, hopes of a better world and time tourism. Unsurprisingly, H.G. Wells finds himself in the middle of all of these plots and dreams, even if not always willingly. In The Map of Time, Palma weaves together three highly interrelated plots of time travel and the way it affects the lives of those involved, beginning with a man whose lover was murdered by Jack the Ripper, and who simply can’t bear to continue living in a world without her.

Thoughts on the story:

In the first section of the book in particular, the characters involved tend to go on expository flights of fancy. Far more of this section is exposition than any actual movement of plot. However, I begrudgingly admit that the information was more or less pertinent and interesting, and in such a long book, conveying it in a manner less resembling an info dump would have been space prohibitive. What is more important is that Palma created three novel-length stories that intertwine beautifully, all with Wells and time travel in the middle.

At times I wondered if all should really have been put together into a single book, but all depended on one another to such an extent that I was unable to decide whether they were even separate stories at all and can’t help but agree with the decision to keep them in a single volume. The most remarkable thing, is how quickly Palma was able to re-engage me each time we transitioned to a new section of the story. Part of this was the continuity with Wells, but part is also simply his gift for creating characters who are instantly interesting.

Thoughts on the audio production:

One potential downfall of audiobooks is that when things get boring, you cannot simply skim. With the tendencies that Palma’s characters had towards excessive exposition, I was afraid that this might be a serious problem. Instead, Langton’s extremely able narration kept things going. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t space out a bit during some of the extra-long histories of time travel, but Langton always kept me wanting to come back. For more complete thoughts on the audio production, please see my Audiofile Magazine review.

soundbytes picture Overall:

An incredibly entertaining and engaging read or listen.

Buy this book from: Powells: Print* Indiebound: Print* Audible.com

I’m launching a brand-new meme every Friday! I encourage you to review any audiobooks you review on Fridays and include the link here. If you have reviewed an audiobook earlier in the week, please feel free to link that review as well. Thanks to Pam for creating the button.

Source: .
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.

The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka – Book Review

Nov 032011

The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka
Published by Knopf, an imprint of Random House

In the early 20th century, many immigrant men living and working in the United States desired wives from their native lands. Matchmakers, armed with pictures of the men who were unable to travel home to find a bride and recommendations from family members, paired couples and sent the girls, frequently referred to as “picture brides” to America to meet their mates.

It is a group of these picture brides whose lives form the basis for Julie Otsuka’s anticipated second novel. As with her debut, When the Emperor Was Divine, Otsuka follows the fortunes of persons of Japanese descent living in the United States in the first half of the 20th century. Interestingly, her trademark style is very impersonal. In When the Emperor Was Divine, most of the story is told in third person limited omniscient. The Buddha in the Attic is told in first person plural, attempting to convey the variety of responses of the picture brides to their new life, resulting in passages such as the one below, which describes the women’s first nights with their husbands:

That night our new husbands took us quickly. They took us calmly. They took us gently, but firmly, and without saying a word. They assumed we were the virgins the matchmakers had promised them we were and they took us with exquisite care…. They took us greedily, hungrily, as though they had been waiting to take us for a thousand and one years. They took us even though we were still nauseous from the boat and the ground had not yet stopped rocking beneath our feet.

Coming from most authors, this would be distancing, but from Otsuka it is universalizing. We see a variety of responses from the different women in different situations that shows both their individuality and the commonalities between them. The result is a beautiful and surprisingly emotionally work culminating with World War II and the “Instructions to all Persons of Japanese Ancestry.” Highly recommended.

Buy this book from:
Powells | Indiebound*

Source: Library.
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.

The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt by Caroline Preston – Book Review

Nov 022011

The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt by Caroline Preston
Published by Ecco, an imprint of HarperCollins

When Frankie Pratt graduates from high school in 1920 she has a scrapbook, a typewriter, and a dream of attending Vassar. Caroline Preston’s The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt follows Frankie through her early adulthood – at Vassar, in New York, and in Paris – in the pursuit of being able to support herself with her writing.

I can only imagine that locating and selecting vintage 1920s ephemera to match her story must have been both excruciating and a great deal of fun. The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt is a visual feast, a tantalizing sketch of the life of an ambitious young girl in the early 20th century. Preston does take some liberties with the form, Frankie’s scrapbook is a good deal more expository and diary-esque than most would be, but not to a point that strains credulity. Certainly a less text-heavy version might have been difficult to engage with and lacking in emotion from the reader’s point of view. Frankie is a wonderful protagonist, alternately naive and pragmatic, and between her personality and the gorgeous pictures, The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt is a joy to experience.

The following are some of my favorite page spreads from The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt to give you an idea of just how beautiful it is.

Page 17 shows some of the things that Frankie does with her friends at home. It also give you an example of the slightly overly expository nature of the scrapbook in its attempt to get more characterization of Frankie:

FP17 picture

After graduation, Frankie heads to New York City; here she (pgs 94-95) is trying to get her bearings:

FP94 95 picture

Finally, page 112 might be my favorite page in the entire book, Frankie’s record of her time out on the town with Oliver:
FP112 picture

Really, how can you lose with these gorgeous pictures? Highly recommended – and hint, hint, it would make a lovely Christmas gift!

Buy this book from:
Powells | Indiebound*

Source: Publisher, all pictures used with permission.
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.

The House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz – Book Review

Nov 012011

The House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz
Published by Mulholland Books, an imprint of Hachette

For the first time ever, Arthur Conan Doyle’s Estate has authorized a new Sherlock Holmes novel and chose author Anthony Horowitz to write The House of Silk.

When Edmund Carstairs approaches Sherlock Holmes with his story of intimidation and robbery, it seems like nothing more than a bit of a challenge for the brilliant detective. An unexpected murder throws a wrench into the works, however, and leads to the disappearance of Rpss, one of the young boys in Holmes’s Baker Street Irregulars. Almost before they know what is happening, Holmes and Watson find themselves on the trail of an insidious and well-connected organization called The House of Silk, an organization that is willing to protect their secrets at any cost.

The House of Silk is a good continuation of Conan Doyle’s reluctant legacy;* Holmes and Watson are much as they have always been, Watson a bit of a dolt – even when he thinks he is being clever – and Holmes clever beyond belief. Horowitz’s special Sherlockian flourishes will keep fans reading intently. Of particular interest are Sherlock’s escape from his captors and the subtly placed appearance of a character who is particularly well-known to Holmes’s fans.

The story Horowitz tells is interesting partly for its layers; I found that, by the middle of the book, I had become so involved in the mystery of Ross and the House of Silk that I had all but forgotten about Carstairs and the murder that set everything in place. That being said, the actual reveal of what happened in the House of Silk seemed rush, over-explained, and not particularly thrilling. This slight disappointment with the climax is not enough to negate the overall enjoyment of the book, however.

Fans of Sherlock Holmes should be very pleased with this new release. Recommended.

Buy this book from:
Powells | Indiebound*

*If you want to know more about Arthur Conan Doyle’s unhappy relationship with his famous creation, please see our What’s Old is New show on Sherlock Holmes.

Source: Publisher.

* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.

Newer Entries

Devourer of Books

The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy

Why Read Moby-Dick? by Nathaniel Philbrick – Book Review

The Taste of Salt by Martha Southgate – Book Review

December BOOK CLUB giveaway – Maman’s Homesick Pie by Donia Bijan

October 2011 Reading Wrap-Up

What I Reviewed:

Pick of the Month:

Other Books Read, Watch for Reviews:

Llama Llama Red Pajama – Saturday Story Spotlight

The Map of Time by Felix J Palma – Audiobook Review

The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka – Book Review

The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt by Caroline Preston – Book Review

The House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz – Book Review

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