The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud
I’ve read a lot of children’s books this month. This is the first in a series of books about a demon and the magicians he deals with. Bartimaeus, the demon, is the narrator for much of the novel and has a funny voice both in the text and in footnotes. The young magician he deals with, the apprentice Nathaniel, ends up a hero but is driven by the believable hurts of childhood. It was a nice change from the ‘boy with special talents is kind and self-sacrificing despite suffering cruelty sets out, and succeeds, to save the world formula’. I’m hopeful that my eight year old will read it.
I’ve not gone on to the rest of the series but may – assuming I ever have time! The writing was good the voices believable and interesting and there was a fair amount of humor in the novel.
Bottom Line: Recommended.
Jacob I Have Loved – Katherine Paterson
Apparently Katherine Patterson read the non-fiction award winner Beautiful Swimmers about the blue crab and the Chesapeake Bay watermen who catch them. It’s a book worth reading if you haven’t. Sarah Louise – sometimes called Wheeze – is the daughter of a watermen growing up on a Bay island during the depression. She lives with her parents, a mean and somewhat confused grandmother, and her very delicate and talented twin sister Caroline. Not long after we first meet Louise we read the family story about the birth of the tiwns. Louise is born strong and put in a basket, Caroline is barely breathing and small. She is taken to the mainland by her mother. The story follows her, the desperate concern for her, her mother’s relocation to be near her, that she was nursed at the hospital out of special concern. Louise, when she asks, is told vaguely ‘I don’t remember what you were doing … I’m sure you were fine.” It doesn’t come as any surprise that Louise is hurt by this and grows to hate her sister who always gets the attention. Louise, who works early in the mornings to earn extra money to give to her parents knows that it’s spent on Caroline’s music lessons which are a great family sacrifice. Louise herself is apparently taken for granted and develops the attitude one might expect.
The title comes from the Bible – god says, ‘Jacob I have loved but Esau I hated.’ This is what Caroline’s perceptive but insane and cruel grandmother tells her when she sees that the older man Louise has a crush on is going to great lengths to further Caroline’s education. It’s a painful book but tender as well. In the end Louise finds her own way and comes to terms with her childhood. It is not an ill to be considered strong and reliable after all.
Bottom Line: Recommended
Murder Takes the Cake – Gayle Trent
It’s my week for light reads! This was a freebie for the kindle. It’s the first in Gayle Trent’s cozy mystery series about a cake decorator in the mountains of Virginia. I do like cozies but this wasn’t a favorite. I’m not a huge fan of gimmick cozies (mystery with recipe/quilt pattern included) though some are fun to read. This one was fairly flat for me though I could see potential in some of the characters.
My favorite cozy mysteries are from M.C. Beaton’s Agatha Raisin series. They are very funny though perhaps the later selections suffer from repetition – almost always the case with that kind of series. The first Agatha Raisin was very funny – this first by Gayle Trent was not funny or suspenseful or especially engaging in any way. It doesn’t bode well for those that follow!
Bottom Line: Not bad for the price
The Girls’ Guide to Hunting and Fishing by Melissa Banks
I remember seeing, years ago, this title appear on people’s reading lists and wondering what it was all about. My book group decided, at our Holiday party, to make the first quarter all about sporting references in the title. We had the soccer read posted last month and have one about racing in the rain coming up for March but had trouble finding a third until we saw this title. Sadly there was not much hunting or fishing involved – unless one counts hunting for men and fishing for a husband.
The reviews when this novel were published seemed very complimentary. “A major new literary voice’ one proclaimed. I don’t see that at all. The novel is essentially a connected series of stories about Jane Rosenal over the course of her life. One story, in the center of the book, is about a family living in Jane’s Aunt’s building. I found it misplaced myself. The final section was a response to that book ab out traditional man hunting ‘The Rules.’ The writing was inoffensive, it was a quick read, parts were entertaining – though mildly so. I didn’t mind it but it’s not a favorite and I doubt I’ll remember it long.
Bottom Line: Chick lit
Nights at the Circus – Angela Carter
This was my first, but not last, encounter with Angela Carter. I’d heard her name but hadn’t developed much idea what to expect. It’s unusual for me to open a book with very little idea of what to expect. It was quite a surprise.
The novel opens with Walser, a journalist who, taking a break from more serious war reporting, is interviewing an aerialist, Fevvers. The aerialist, we soon discover, is more than six feet tall and has multicolored wings. She was hatched from an egg. The clock strikes midnight three times before the first interview, and first night, ends. We hear the history of Fevvers’ life from her childhood playing Winged Victory in a brothel, her experiments in flight with Lizzie an ardent feminist former prostitute. Her ‘religous’ views apparently had an unfortunate affect on her potential clients and, eventually, she simply began working for the women instead of their clients. Fevvers encounters a nobleman who plans to sacrifice her to gain eternal youth, an old woman who maintains a bizarre collection of people, and finally lands in a circus.
Walser, who becomes a clown to follow her into the circus, travels to Russia and, in sending his dispatches, ends up sending Lizzie’s and Fevvers’ as well. Invisible ink. After a run in with another collector the circus escapes Petersburg on the train to the provinces and promptly wrecks. Walser loses his memory and becomes the apprentice of a shaman. Fevvers and Lizzie encounter various strange people before finding him again. In the end Fevvers and Walser are united – somehow.
The novel is surreal, fun, feminist, and worth more than one read. It’s comical but not light weight.
Bottom Line: Recommended – and I’ll read it again.