The Wild Wood - Charles de Lint (Fantasy)

I’d heard some excellent things about Charles de Lint from members of the group here, so I was excited to read something by him for the first time… unfortunately, this book fell far, far short of my expectations. *looks around nervously* Sorry, everyone…

The story itself is about a painter who has lost the passion in her art, and has retreated to a cabin in the woods to recapture the passion again. She begins to see faces in the woods, and she receives some odd messages. In essence: the woods needs her help.

For whatever reason, after the premise was established, the rest of the book just didn’t do it for me. I found the ending to be rather trite and unbelievable, though I’m sure some people really liked it and probably found it ‘poignant’… but I was just frustrated.

I was very glad, however, that it was short book, and I won’t give up on de Lint just yet…

Rating: 2 coffees out of 5

Skellig – David Almond (Children’s Fiction)

I picked this one up on the recommendation of others, but I wasn’t really expecting anything from it. It didn’t “look” very good, and usually I get a pretty good sense from a book when I’m holding it whether I’ll like it or not (I jokingly call it my ‘book sixth sense’… okay, now you all think I’m crazy), and this one didn’t really seem like my kind of thing…

Was I ever wrong. I don’t want to get into plot details because I really think this is a book you need to experience for yourself, but let me say this: when you turn the last page of the book, after the last word has been read, make sure you give yourself a few moments. Allow the sense of the book, the words and the sentiments evoked to wash over you. Absorb the truth behind the fantastic. I finished this book in a coffee shop and had brought along an action-oriented chick lit book to read afterward, but I simply couldn’t do it – I didn’t want to tarnish what I’d just read.

Needless to say, I’m very, very glad I gave this one a try.

Rating: 5 coffees out of 5

Tags: 5 coffees, books, children's fiction, fantasy

Silent Thunder: In the Presence of Elephants – Katy Payne (Nature/Science)

I picked this one up on a whim as I wandered through the shelves of animal books at the library, partially because it looked interesting, and partially because it looked like the shortest animal book there (and I already had a pile of other books to read). After reading it… wow. I think I would have seriously missed out if I skipped past this one, and I plan on tracking down my own copy to own.

Payne is first and foremost a marine biologist, in the sense that she spent a significant amount of time researching and studying whale communications. She’s an expert on echolocation, specifically the various frequencies whales use and the ins-and-outs of the correlation between communication & behavior. So, naturally it seems a bit odd that she would be writing a book about… elephants?!

Apparently one day, Payne visited a zoo and became curious about the way elephants communicate. After some observation, she formed some theories about elephant communication – centered around, you guessed it, echolocation and frequencies beyond human hearing – and decided to conduct some tests. The rest, as they say, is history.

Payne was only the second person to suggest elephants could communicate over vast distances, and it was her work that truly paved the way to a better understanding of these magnificent creatures. The first half of this book is packed with incredible anecdotes about elephant behavior (most of which I repeated to anyone who would listen, I was so amazed) and information about elephant society & structures. I raced through the first half of the book, mesmerized…

But when the second half hit, I slowed down. While still very important to read, the material becomes very heavy in the sense that difficult issues are addressed like poaching, culling, and the inevitable difficulties with working in an African country where the local governments aren’t always as cooperative as researchers would like (not to mention the corruption in some places). Payne details several meetings with governments and conservation groups where drastic decisions are made that affect the elephant populations, and not necessarily for the better. After reading some of these sections, I had to put the book down and walk away for a bit, just to let it sit before continuing. Still, it was important to read, and I’m glad I did.

I’d also have to say that the second half of the book dealt not only with the elephant studies, but also with the relationships between the people of the area, the researchers, and the animals (elephants, lions, et al). There are brief forays into ‘spiritual’ observations about the people (and their traditions) and several dreams that Payne has which relate to the animals, which seem slightly out of place, but I didn’t think they distracted too much from the core of the book. If anything, I thought it slightly intriguing that a scientist would include her spiritual experiences in a book like this, as strange as it was.

On the whole, I’m very glad I read this book. I learned so much more about elephants than I previously knew, and I have a greater understanding of what people go through when they dedicate their lives to observing and studying a species in the wild. My favorite part of the book was definitely the inclusion of behavioral anecdotes, which were fascinating – I’m inspired to read more about African wildlife, and would be interested in reading more about elephants specifically in the future.

Rating: 4.5 coffees out of 5

Tags: animals, books

Hood - Stephen R. Lawhead (Historical Fiction)

This was the first in Lawhead’s new trilogy about Robin Hood, but it was far from being the ‘traditional’ tale as we know it today. Lawhead did an extensive amount of research concerning the beginnings of the ‘Robin Hood’ folklore (the first appearance of the legendary thief was in the 1200s!), and wove this tale from what he believes was the beginning of the Robin Hood myth. Thus, we have a hero whose story is set in Wales, away from Sherwood Forest, and a little more gritty and realistic than simply a tale of ‘merry men’. It’s set in the historical past, with real and fictional characters interwoven – similar to what Lawhead did with his Pendragon Cycle – so that you can truly begin to believe that this was something that literally occurred in history, but perhaps wasn’t retained as part of the period’s ‘official’ historical record.

I thought it was exceedingly well done, and I’m very much looking forward to the next book, Scarlet, where Will Scarlet – who else? – makes his first appearance.

Rating: 3.5 coffees out of 5

Golden Treasures of Troy: The Dream of Heinrich Schliemann - Herve Duchene (Ancient History/Archaeology/Biography)

Concise, brief, fluid… and some great photos. This was a quick look at the life of Schliemann and his contribution to archaeology, incorporating such elements as: his childhood, his training, his business ventures, his tendency toward lies, his archaeological digs & their controversy, and the basics of why archaeologists either love what he did for ancient history or wish he’d never touched a trowel.

The text is woven alongside photos and paintings from the digs, as well as treasures he found, and scans of various documents – it was very interesting to read the tale of Schliemann from beginning to end in this way, because during classes for my archaeology degree, we only heard snippets about him and his work (but mostly about the sites themselves, since my profs tended to speak of Schliemann with a bit of disdain… as it happens, this is not uncommon).

If you’re interested in the beginnings of the archaeological process in the Greek world, it’s worth the hour it’ll take you to read this 170 page book (really, there are a lot of pictures!). I got my copy from bookcloseouts.com for about $5, and it was certainly worth it.

Rating: 3 coffees out of 5

Tags: ancient history, books, fairytales

Helpless: A Novel – Barbara Gowdy – audiobook (Fiction)

I received this audiobook in the mail awhile back (an ‘add-on’ from a HarperCollins ARC) and finally got around to converting it from mp3 to CD format so I could listen to it in the car. Unfortunately, I wasted my time. I knew from the start that it wasn’t really my kind of book, but I was willing to give it a shot, in hopes that it would provide some level of entertainment during all the driving I do. To give you a sense of what I’m going to talk about in regards to how I felt about the story, here’s the description from the back of the disc case:

“Nine-year-old Rachel Fox has the face of an angel, a heart-stopping luminosity that strikes all who meet her. Her single mother, Celia, working at a video store by day and a piano bar by night, is not always around to shield her daughter from the attention – both benign and sinister – her beauty draws. When a summer blackout plunges the city into darkness and confusion, Rachel is taken from her home. A full-scale search begins, but days pass with no clues, only a phone call Celia receives from a woman whose voice she has heard before but cannot place. As Celia fights her terror, and Rachel starts to trust in her abductor’s kindness, the only other person who knows where the little girl is wavers between loyalty to the captor and saving the child. Will Rachel be found before her abductor’s urge to protect and cherish turns to something altogether less innocent?”

Now I’ll talk about what I thought, so **SPOILERS AHEAD**!!! …mind you, that description from the back doesn’t really leave much out from the book itself. In fact… I think the description from the book jacket gives away the whole darn thing. Sigh.

Anyway, I listen to this book with a sense of trepidation the whole time, worried that things were doing to delve into the disturbing realm of child molesting and I was going to have to turn it off, but fortunately, this didn’t happen. However, as the story progresses (almost all the ‘twists’ of which are revealed on the book jacket), we find the captor begin to struggle with his adoration for Rachel. Near the end of the book, it finally seems like his “love” for her is starting to get difficult to control, and it may turn into something else that he can’t control. He spends a lot of time convincing himself and his female partner that he’s not a perv and that he’d never do anything to hurt Rachel, but in the last chapter, he begins to struggle with the seeds of temptation. We already know that there’s something wrong with his mind – what kind of person would convince themselves they need to kidnap a child to “save her” from her own parents and then lock her in his own basement believing she’ll come to thank him and love him like a father for it??? – so this development isn’t strange.

In fact, this development coincides with the plot twist that Rachel, her captor, and his girlfriend are going to pack up and leave for Florida, since the police search is literally just about to find out where she’s being held. During the grid search, Rachel’s mother ends up at Rachel’s captor’s house, and we get a sense that she knows something is up and will come back to look again. So, they plan to pack everything and leave for Florida. Just as the bags are being packed, the captor’s girlfriend leaves with plans to go to the police station and tell them everything. We enter a scene with Rachel and her captor getting into a van with some suitcases, and it’s assumed that they’re going to leave the girlfriend behind, since they’re running out of time to escape. They begin driving, and the next thing we know, the captor pulls up a block away from Rachel’s house, says goodbye, and lets her go . What? No, seriously… WHAT???

This wasn’t hinted at. This wasn’t led up to. There are a few thoughts that flit through the captor’s head as they’re driving that suggest he might commit suicide (which really does NOT make sense, since it’s completely inconsistent with his character), but then after he lets her go, he drives off and the book ends. I literally sat in my car, pressing ‘rewind’ to see if I’d missed something, but no. That’s it. He lets her go without motivation, and then the ‘bad guy’ is off. Presumably Rachel will tell the police and they’ll find him, but maybe he’ll be dead by then…??? But… but… *holds head in frustration*.

All I can figure is: the author got lazy and didn’t know how to end the book. Or, no one bothered to read this book and edit for consistency. It was just too ridiculous, the way things ended, and I can’t recommend it to anyone… unless you like finishing a book unsatisfied. Oh well. I’m going to pass this one on to whoever wants it, but I can honestly say, I think someone would get more enjoyment out of smashing the CD than they would actually listening to the bloody thing.

Rating: 1 coffee out of 5

Tags: books

Doctor Who: The Pirate Loop – Simon Guerrier (Sci-Fi)

I borrowed this from the library 3 weeks ago (it’s due tomorrow!) and hadn’t planned on actually reading it… for some reason, I just couldn’t muster the courage to pick up a book based on the beloved show, because I didn’t want to waste my time with some cheap, contrived version of Doctor Who. Also, I tend to have a strict policy against reading books based on TV shows (okay, fine… I admit I’ve read some Star Trek & Star Wars books… so sue me!). Then, I read on someone’s thread (I can’t remember who, augh! Sorry!) that they had just read several Doctor Who books and enjoyed them. “Hmmm”, said I, “Perhaps I’ll give it a go after all.”

Well, read it I did, just this afternoon in a few hours. It was a quick, fun read that made for an entertaining diversion from the work I should have been doing. Oops. But I couldn’t put it down! I thought the writer did an excellent job of capturing the Doctor (Tennant’s version) and Martha, with their signature phrases and personality traits and all. Even the ending sort-of made sense, in the Doctor Who-y sort of way that we’ve all come to love and cherish.

Needless to say, I was surprised and very pleased to have enjoyed this one so much. I’ll definitely be on the lookout for more.

Rating: 3.5 coffees out of 5

InterWorld – Neil Gaiman & Michael Reaves (YA)

Intriguing concept, fast-paced story, and enough world-building to make me wonder if they ever wrote a sequel… apparently the concept they use for this novel was originally an idea the two of the authors came up with for a TV show, but no one was interested. Then, about a decade later, a publisher mentioned to Gaiman that people might like to read this book (go figure, considering Gaiman’s success), so they dusted it off, polished it up, and published.

I’m going to be very disappointed if nothing else was written/will be written based on this multi-universe concept. I think it was very well done, and many of the usual problems with traveling between alternate realities (ie. consistency of time, questions of gravity on alternate Earths, etc.) were actually addressed or commented on. Fairly intelligent for a YA novel of this variety, if I do say so myself.

It’s well worth the evening spent devouring this one!

Rating: 3 coffees out of 5

Tags: books

The 39 Clues – Book 2: One False Note

- Gordon Korman (Children’s Fiction)

Again, a strong story with continuous action that will appeal to young male readers in particular. In my review of the first book, I said I was really rooting for this series to succeed, and after reading book 2, I reaffirm my statement! I won’t say much, since you’ll need to start with book 1 (Maze of Bones) but it’s a quick, enjoyable read that’s fun for children and adults alike. I think the idea of having different authors for each book is also an excellent concept, and I didn’t find there to be any continuity or tone issues between these first two books.

Rating: 3.5 coffees out of 5

Why Don’t Cats Like to Swim?: an Imponderables Book – David Feldman (Humor/Reference)

This was a fun read to pick up and go through in segments. It’s basically one of those ‘random question and answer’ books, and I have to admit, I learned a few new facts that I don’t think I’ll ever forget: for example, ever wonder why you can’t buy shelled ‘cashew nuts’, though you can buy all other nuts still in their shell? It’s because… *drum roll please*… cashews aren’t nuts, they’re seeds! Mmm-hmm, it’s true! And if you want to know more, read this book (or you could Google it, but which one is more fun?).

I’ll be the first one to say, it makes great bathroom reading. *heehee*

Rating: 2.5 coffees out of 5

Tags: books

Midnight Pearls: A Retelling of “The Little Mermaid” – Debbie Viguie (YA)

This is my second foray into the ‘Once Upon a Time’ series of retellings, and after Belle, this one had a lot to live up to. Unfortunately, it didn’t quite make it for me. I realize that the original story had few details and could be easily re-imagined in a variety of ways, but I thought Viguie took it too far and was unable to capture the magic and tragedy of the original fairy tale. Too many secondary characters who seemed forced into place, combined with a happy ending that felt far too Disney-esque (in fact, there were many occasions when I wondered whether she was retelling the original version or the Disney version, which was frustrating), made this one less than outstanding for me. I would have liked to see an element of the original tragic ending, but somehow refined to be wondrous and optimistic… oh well.

Rating: 2 coffees out of 5

Big Boned – Meg Cabot (Chick Lit)

This is the third book in a series, after Size 12 Isn’t Fat and Size 14 Isn’t Fat Either. I quite enjoyed the previous two… I thought they were light, funny, and entertaining. Book 3… not so much. I think maybe Cabot just wanted to wrap up her characters from the previous two books, because this one suffered from a severe case of “nothing happens”. These are supposed to be pure escapist chick lit mysteries… and while the previous two books have a ridiculous mystery and silly action while the heroine keeps trying to solve a crime when she knows nothing about police work, this one had, well… uh… I remember she had a protein shake at one point and thought it was gross… that was exciting… or not.

I read it all the way through in one sitting (because I was forcing myself to relax, hah), but I think I could have done without this one. My verdict is: read the first two, then stop and don’t bother with this one. It’s not necessary, and it’ll spoil the smile on your face from the previous two.

Rating: 1.5 coffee out of 5

Tags: books, fairytales

16) The Missing, Book 1: Found – Margaret Peterson Haddix (Children’s Fiction/YA)

I stumbled across this in the library, and was hesitant to pick it up. After reading most of her Shadow Children series, I figured she had a lot to live up to, and this book looked like part of an attempt to repeat her prior series’ success. But… I read it anyway.

It was good, but not as good as her other work. There were some aspects of the book that felt contrived – particularly the ending sequence, though I understand that it needed to set up the next book – and the writing style and characters were similar to that of Shadow Children. There were some unbelievable parts, while other parts simply surprised me… namely, she doesn’t turn around and give everything a perfectly natural explanation in the end, like in many of her other books. That was good – a bit of a departure, so I appreciate the effort – but I’m not quite sure how it’ll pan out.

That said, I can say with certainty that I’ll read the next book, though it isn’t released until this coming August. I want to reserve judgment on the series as a whole until after I see how she develops the theme and moves the plot. In the meantime…? If you’ve liked her other books, it’s worth checking this one out. If you haven’t read Haddix before, try book #1 in the Shadow Children series first (Among the Hidden).

Rating: 2.5 coffees out of 5

Tags: books

15) Belle: A Retelling of “Beauty and the Beast” - Cameron Dokey (Children’s Fiction/YA)

I have to say, I was surprised by this book. It took me a few pages to really get into it and stop trying to urge the story into familiar territory, but I have to say: Dokey knows her craft. She presented likable characters – even Belle’s sisters – which is certainly not traditional in the original fairy tale. I found it to be rather delightful that her sisters weren’t evil or completely self-absorbed (in a manner of speaking… the characters actually grow throughout the course of the narrative, and for the better!), and the family actually acted like… well, a family.

As for the traditional core of the Beast and Belle’s obligation, Dokey puts a lovely little spin on things that keep the story familiar enough to the reader, while also making it a little more believable for a modern-day audience. I’ll admit: the ‘revelation’ scene between Belle and the Beast actually caused me to tear up, it was so incredibly well-written. Maybe it’s just me, but I found the delivery particularly powerful.

It’s a small book and a quick read… but well worth it.

Rating: 4 coffees out of 5

Tags: books, fairytales