Tag Archives: book reviews

The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova

Posted by melydia on May 7, 2010 1 comments

The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova: Dr. Andrew Marlowe, psychiatrist, tracks down the three major women in the life of painter Robert Oliver to figure out why the man attacked a painting in the National Portrait Gallery. His wife (Kate) and his mistress (Mary) both tell abridged versions of their life stories, which are interesting but not especially relevant. Interspersed are letters from 1879 between a young painter (Beatrice) and her husband’s uncle (Olivier). The ending is long in coming but predictable nonetheless, and somehow unsatisfying as well. That said, I very much enjoyed this book, if only for the passionate descriptions of painting, both the act and the appreciation of. It filled me with a longing to paint, to draw, even just to visit an art gallery. Sure, the story didn’t really go anywhere, but for once that didn’t bother me. Still, I’m not sure who I’d recommend this to – maybe a struggling artist in need of inspiration. It certainly inspired me.

The audio version of this book is decent, with a full cast of narrators. I could have done without the occasional music in the background, and I saw no reason for Beatrice and Olivier to read with such obnoxiously fake French accents, but otherwise it was pretty good.

Also posted on BookCrossing.
Read as part of the Books Won Reading Challenge.

Death Comes as Epiphany by Sharan Newman

Posted by melydia on May 1, 2010 None comments

Death Comes As Epiphany by Sharan Newman: Catherine LeVendeur is a novice nun who, while devoted to God, is more interested in the fact that living in a convent allows her to study and learn. When a psalter she helped write is defiled, the abbess sends her home to discover the vandal. In the midst of this she is swept up in a mystery of murder, theft, and vanity, as well as a timid budding romance with a secretive man. I enjoyed this one, which surprised me a little since I’m not much of a mystery reader, but I think what fascinated me most was the detailed description of life in the 12th century. It was very different from now, and it takes a talented writer to convincingly portray such characters without showing them in a modern light. Sure, perhaps Catherine herself is more progressive than was likely for a woman of those years, but she is engaging enough that one can overlook it. I may have to look up some other Newman books.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

The Fire Within by Chris D’Lacey

Posted by melydia on April 30, 2010 None comments

The Fire Within by Chris D’Lacey: David rents a room with a somewhat eccentric potter and her young daughter who is obsessed with squirrels. The back of this book talks about dragons at great length, but there’s far more about squirrels than dragons in this brief novel. Which is fine, since I like squirrels. The dragons in question – small ceramic creations that made me think of Pocket Dragons – were pretty predictable, but charming nonetheless. I wonder if the subsequent books in this series explain why all the dragons had names that started with G. Anyway, I’m rambling. In short, this would be a nice book for a younger reader. I found it to be pretty generic overall.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

BookCrossing Through Middle-Earth by Skyring

Posted by melydia on April 21, 2010 2 comments

BookCrossing Through Middle-Earth by Skyring: A memoir about two trips to New Zealand, twenty years apart: first for Skyring’s honeymoon, then another trip with his wife and two teenage children. This is a fun and friendly narrative, with plenty of rich detail. I especially enjoyed the little historical anecdotes, like the toilets on ships and the Maori’s sound defeat of the British. Skyring’s side comments, particularly when dealing with language, are often quite funny. (One such example: his assurance that Wakatipu is not widely pronounced “Wakkity-poo”, especially by locals.) As an American, Australia and New Zealand are quite closely connected in my mind, but Skyring’s adventures reminded me that they are indeed two separate countries. However, amidst all the humor, there is no mistaking Skyring’s abundant awe and respect for the beautiful land and people he encounters. I nearly salivated at some of the scenery he describes. I would recommend this thin book to other BookCrossers, of course, but also to anyone who enjoys travelogues. This certainly whetted my appetite for New Zealand.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

The Big Over Easy by Jasper Fforde

Posted by melydia on April 7, 2010 None comments

The Big Over Easy by Jasper Fforde: Detective Jack Spratt heads the somewhat failing Nursery Crimes Division of the Reading Police Department. Shortly after being assigned Mary Mary as his new partner, Spratt and his team are faced with solving the suspicious death of one Humperdink “Humpty” Dumpty. In a world where police departments get much of their funding from royalties earned publishing the gripping tales of their cases in Amazing Crimes magazine, Friedland Chymes is king, and he wants the Humpty case. Spratt’s boss gives him until the budgetary committee meeting to solve the case, so it’s a race against time and the laughs are nonstop. This is, quite simply, one of the funniest novels I’ve ever read. I listened to it on audio, read by the immensely talented Simon Prebble, and on many occasions I laughed out loud or even repeated some of the funnier lines. They come at you from all sides, from hilarious takes on famous nursery rhyme characters to witty business names (my favorite newspaper name was The Daily Eyestrain) to truly bizarre plot twists. Highly recommended, but you might want to brush up on your nursery rhymes first so you can catch more of the jokes. Trust me, you’ll enjoy it just that much more.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

Bones of the Moon by Jonathan Carroll

Posted by melydia on April 6, 2010 2 comments

Bones of the Moon by Jonathan Carroll: Cullen James (who is a woman, believe it or not) is happily married to Danny, is being romantically pursued by a famous movie director named Weber Gregston, has a fabulously (and stereotypically) gay best friend named Eliot, corresponds with her teenage axe-murdering former neighbor, and has serial dreams about a land called Rondua, in which her son (named Pepsi) is attempting to collect the five Bones of the Moon with the aid of giant animals Martio the camel, Felina the wolf, and Mr Tracy the dog. The dreamworld and the real world interweave in strange ways, from Cullen’s bizarre magical powers to the appearances of Jack Chili and Sizzling Thumb. I was disappointed at the lack of description of Cullen’s real life, such as her travels to Europe and her experiences living in New York City. There were a lot of “white room” experiences for me. On the other hand, I actually quite liked how little Rondua was described, leaving most of it up to the imagination of the reader. There is no explanation as to what exactly the bones of the moon actually are, nor any number of other strange things, like the Hot Shoes or Fire Sandwich – just like in real dreams. The bizarre names created all kinds of interesting mental pictures for me. I wish, however, that there had been a little bit more plot. Most of the dream sequences felt more like I was hearing them second-hand than experiencing them with the narrator, and the “twist” ending felt more like a cheap shot than anything truly shocking. But all in all I can’t say that this is a bad book. Just a very strange one. A nice change from the ordinary.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

A Secret Atlas by Michael A. Stackpole

Posted by melydia on April 4, 2010 None comments

A Secret Atlas by Michael A. Stackpole: The Anturasi family have been mapmakers for generations. This puts them in a unique position of power, since without maps trade and travel suffer. It has been almost 800 years since The Cataclysm, a magical holocaust which both literally and figuratively changed the face of the world, and everyone is still getting things sorted out. This is (more or less) the story of three of the Anturasi children: studious Keles, adventurous Jorim, and soul-searching Nirati. Keles is sent west to survey the lands where dangerous wild magic still has a great hold. Jorim is sent east in a ship to find a new route to the west (and his voyage is similar to Columbus’s in many ways). Nirati, concerned that she still does not exhibit a Talent, gets tangled up in local politics. Of course, this is barely scratching the surface. Like many fantasy epics, the characters and subplots are numerous. It is clear that a lot of world-building went into this book, and much time is spent explaining customs, fashions, and history. This doesn’t seem distracting at first, but I did find I lost the thread of the plot on several occasions. Nirati’s tale in particular confused me; I feel like I somehow skipped a chapter or something. Keles and Jorim’s adventures, on the other hand, were great – once they finally got started. I was especially fascinated by the effects of wild magic, how it moves in storms with unpredictable results. It’s unfortunate that this is the first book of a trilogy, which meant the ending was unsatisfying and things cut off just as the plot had at last begun to move along well. It simply does not stand on its own. I would probably read the other books were I to come across them, but I’m not sure I’ll seek them out. While this was certainly not a boring read and I had no problem churning through many chapters in a sitting, it is not something I thought about when I wasn’t reading. It was simply something to pass the time. So while I really enjoyed the world it was set in, I would have appreciated a tighter story.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

The Blind Geometer by Kim Stanley Robinson/The New Atlantis by Ursula K. LeGuin

Posted by melydia on March 30, 2010 None comments

The Blind Geometer/The New Atlantis by Kim Stanley Robinson/Ursula K. LeGuin: This is one of those books where if you open it one way, it’s one book, but if you turn it over and open it the other way, it’s another book, and they meet upside-down in the middle.

The Blind Geometer by Kim Stanley Robinson: A blind mathematician in nearish-future Washington, DC, is approached by a colleague to aid in a strange puzzle in the shape of a woman who draws esoteric geometric diagrams and talks in jumbled phrases. The intrigue is less interesting than the experiences of the blind narrator. It’s a novel way of telling a story, since you can never mention what anything looks like. This story was my introduction to Robinson, and I think I might pick up more of his stuff.

Return from Rainbow Bridge by Kim Stanley Robinson: This bonus novella tells the tale of a teenage boy in the 1960s and his strange experiences with Paul, a mysterious Navajo Indian friend (though in this story it’s spelled Navaho). It’s not strictly science fiction, but it’s a fun and slightly spooky story that rekindled my desire to visit Arizona again.

The New Atlantis by Ursula K. Le Guin: I love Le Guin, but I had a terrible time following this one. I got that they were living in a strange fascist state, and there was talk about new continents rising in the oceans, but all the italicized parts completely lost me, and I have no idea what was going on at the end. It felt almost like it was building up to something and then just sort of stopped.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris

Posted by melydia on March 29, 2010 2 comments

Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris: Since I haven’t read Barrel Fever, all but one of the stories in this collection were new to me, and I really enjoyed them all. Some of them were more weird than funny, but there were enough laugh-out-loud moments to make up for the bits that fell short of awesome. I especially enjoyed the Santaland Diaries, about Sedaris’s stint as a Macy’s elf, and Front Row Center, which is basically what would happen if a theater critic started covering elementary school Christmas pageants. Definitely recommended, but not if you’re feeling too sentimental about the holidays. Sentimental is one thing this book definitely is not.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

The Darkest Evening of the Year by Dean Koontz

Posted by melydia on March 13, 2010 2 comments

The Darkest Evening of the Year by Dean Koontz: Koontz books are many things – exciting, amusing, preachy, absurd, creepy, fun – but never boring. This book, alas, is boring. The Koontz staples are there – magical dogs, blameless Catholics, bad people with no motive other than being Pure Evil – but they’re all just a bit too yawn-worthy in this story. The baddies spend too much of their time demonstrating how bad they are, from killing strangers for sport to abusing a child with Down’s Syndrome, and very little time having distinguishable personalities. The only time I felt any emotional connection to the story whatsoever was when a dog died, but I always cry when animals die, so that’s not saying much. I’m starting to think Mr. Koontz and I need to break up. Or maybe I should just stick with his older stuff.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

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