Bookcases

My bookcases - overflowing not only with books, but with a variety of knicknacks, candles, notebooks, and knitting. They're not in any order at the moment, but ideally I would like to arrange them in genre, and then alphabetically by the author's name. Due to the size of our house, some of the books I don't often use (law and history textbooks, for example), are packed away in boxes. One of my dreams is to move into a house big enough to have a room lined with bookshelves - a little library, with a big armchair and a beanbag, for flopping in and reading on rainy days.

Gabriella's Book of Fire (Venero Armanno)

Gabriella's Book of Fire has also been published as Firehead, and is by a Brisbane author. It's set in Brisbane, during the last 30 or so years, and I enjoyed learning a bit more about Brisbane history, having only lived here for 5 years.

This book was chosen for our August book club discussion, but unfortunately, we talked about an enormous amount of other things, and not a great deal about the book. I did really enjoy it - Armanno writes very lyrically, and it's a pleasure to sink into his words.

One member of the book club, describing herself as very pragmatic, said that Sam's unrequited and almost unreasonable passion for Gabriella (which is the central premise) irritated her enormously. I was surprised that it didn't irritate me, actually - usually I dislike characters pining after someone for a lengthy amount of time, but it seemed to fit within the feel, the vibe, of the story. It was a somewhat dreamlike tale, thick with memories, so the fact that the ghost of this man's teenage love permeated it made sense to me.

I was disappointed by the novel's conclusion, but enjoyed the book enough to recommend it as a nice light read - a 3/5 kind of book.

Doomsday Book (Connie Willis)

This was a bloody good book. The sort of book you put down, and sigh, and simultaniously wish there was more of it and feel satisfied at the whole of it. (That was a convoluted sentence. One day I'm going to become more sophisticated at saying exactly why I enjoy things.)

This is technically a novel about time travel, but involves much more than that. The narrative is split fairly equally between a student sent back to the Middle Ages, and one of her professors in the future, dealing with an epidemic. The story set in the Middle Ages is utterly engrossing, and wonderfully done. Not having a very great knowledge of the Middle Ages, I'm assuming that most of the historical details were accurate, but in the end, it doesn't really matter. It feels convincingly realistic, which is more important.

This is a ridiculously short review for such a wonderful book. Let me recap. It's a great read. The parts set in the Middle Ages are amazing. The characterisation is fantastic. It made me cry. I'm kind of low on iron this week, so that may have contributed, but, irregardless, read it.

Book Lust (Nancy Pearl)

I was rather disappointed by Book Lust. I expected it to be full of quirky reviews, a book that I would read in one hand with pen and paper in the other, making a list of new discoveries.

Unfortunately, however, it doesn't really consist of reviews at all. Just lists of books that fit certain categories, and not a great deal of commentary as to whether those books are actually any good or not. As several books I'd read and not been impressed with were listed, I wasn't all that inclined to start taking Pearl's other recommendations very seriously.

Not worth picking up, unless you don't read much at all and need to expand your horizons. I get much more relevant book recs from blogs.

Upcoming

Lots of authors I enjoy seem to be writing away fairly speedily, which is nice - there are quite a few books being released in the upcoming months that I'm looking forward to.

Isobelle Carmody, who irritates me with her habit of starting on series of books and then drifting off onto other projects instead of finishing them - her Obernewtyn Chronicles and Legendsong Series, particularly - has a new book coming out in October. I can't say that I'm particularly attracted by the title - Alyzon Whitestarr - but I'll certainly be getting it out of the library. Penguin also have a title and a tentative release date for the fifth (and final?) book in the Obernewtyn Chronicles, amazingly - The Sending, due in October 2006. The final installment of the Legendsong Series is also supposedly to be published soon after The Sending, and is titled Darkbane.

Robin Hobb has begun a new trilogy, Soldier's Son, and the first book, Shaman's Crossing, is due to be released in September. I've enjoyed all of Hobb's previous series, so I'm looking forward to this one (despite my dislike of reading a series while it's being written, and therefore having to wait impatiently for the next volume to be published).

As most fans know, Neil Gaiman's new book, Anansi Boys, is going to be released in September - I've already got that on hold at the library.

As I've already mentioned, the 30th Discworld book, Thud!, is due to be released in the next month or so, and I'm terribly excited by the appearance of old and well-loved characters in this one.

Blade of Fortriu, the second book in Juliet Marillier's Bridei Chronicles, is going to be released in Australia and New Zealand in November this year, but won't be available in the UK or US until November, 2006. That seems very strange - I don't understand publishing at all.

Anyone else know of any exciting books being released soon?

Movies

I finished watching Jersey Girl today, which was an enjoyable gooey and teary film - not at all what I expected from Kevin Smith. And the little girl was extremely cute without being nauseating. Flicking through some of the extra features on the DVD reminded me that I've yet to watch Clerks, despite it being recommended to me as one of his best movies.

I've also recently seen Starsky & Hutch, which was good for low-maintenance laughter. Raising Helen didn't seem to know whether it wanted to be a comedy or a teary drama, but was fairly enjoyable. The first half of Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban was great - dark and brooding, gorgeous visual production. I'm looking forward to finishing that one. And once I got into it, Napoleon Dynamite was fantastic. Definitely worth a second viewing.

Specimen Days (Michael Cunningham)

Michael Cunningham is the author of The Hours, a novel I really enjoyed, so I was expecting great things of this story. As The Hours was inspired by Virginia Woolf, Cunningham's muse for Speciman Days was Walt Whitman, whose poetry is quoted by characters, often involuntarily, throughout the book.

Speciman Days is three separate but interlinked stories in different time periods - the first during the industrial revolution, the second in the present day, and the third at sometime in the future. They all contain a boy, Luke, a woman, Catherine, and a man, Simon, but they all play different roles in each story and in each time.

Speciman Days is quite different to anything I've read before - reviews desribe it with words such as "different", "bold", and "daring", and so it is. I also found it to be a rather chilling story, despite its emphasis on beauty and humanity. The stories have a sense of immensity and foreboding, and I was rather alarmed to find myself in a house alone after dark after finishing the second story, The Children's Crusade.

Cunningham's writing is immensely beautiful, and I think he captures Whiteman's sense of ecstasy in life well. After breathlessly finishing reading it on the train this morning, the imagery of the stories remain in my mind, and I think they'll do so for some time. This is a wonderful book - a 5/5.

Giants of the Frost (Kim Wilkins)

I've never found the Norse Gods and legends particularly appealing. I'm not sure why - perhaps it's all the fighting. This fantasy novel tells the story of Victoria, a re-born love of one of the Old Gods, and their efforts to find each other again despite the best efforts of Odin, Loki, and various other characters.

It's not great. Not only did I not like the Gods, I didn't like Victoria, and I just didn't enjoy this story. It's cliched, and dull - some nice evocative description, but that's about it.

I was surprised - I expected this to be on par with the other books I've read of Wilkins, but this is more a 2 out of 5 story. Not worth it.

Locked Rooms (Laurie R King)

This novel is the latest from Laurie R King, and continues her series revolving around her Sherlock Holmes and his wife, Mary Russell.

The reason I like these books is King's Sherlock Holmes. I wouldn't call myself a mad fan of Arthur Conan Doyle, but I did read all his Sherlock Holmes stories when I was younger, and I think King captures Holmes perfectly, and also makes him a far more interesting and sympathetic character than Doyle ever did.

Mary, though, is what makes the books. Mary is a wonderful character. I like her enormously, and her relationship with the prickly Holmes is fantastic.

The mysteries - for these novels are all mysteries - are secondary, to me. I enjoy the characters, first and foremost. The mystery in Locked Rooms is rather disappointing. While it delves a great deal into Mary's history, which is interesting, the villian revealed at the end was a bit of a let down. The motivation was rather unrealistic.

Despite that, I enjoyed this - King alternates Mary's first person with a third person narration, and I really liked that. You get to know Holmes' better, I think, rather than purely through Mary's eyes. The let-down of the mystery doesn't ruin the book, but it's a little disappointing to imagine what it might have been. Oh, and it's not really worth reading as a stand alone novel - you need to start at the beginning, with The Beekeeper's Apprentice.

Terry Pratchett

I was delighted to realise that Terry Pratchett has a new Discworld novel, Thud!, being released soon (and I've already put it on hold at the library in anticipation). And it features Samuel Vimes, one of my favourite characters, so I'm terribly excited.

I've been reading the Discworld novels (and other ventures of Pratchett's, including his brilliant novel Good Omens which he co-wrote with Neil Gaiman) for about ten years, and I continue to find them just as funny. They're fantasy novels with bite, dry satires of the modern world, and they often make me curl up in my chair, wheezing with laughter.

They're difficult books to gush about with other people, I find. I don't know too many fans - my friends often sadly lack a taste for fantasy or sci-fi, and even though Discworld is more satire than fantasy, it tends to put people off if they don't enjoy the odd wizard traipsing through their stories. And when you do find someone who enjoys them, they're not the sort of books you can dissect, or discuss how you absolutely fell in love with this character. Conversations tend to be along the lines of, "It's fantastic, isn't it, so dry and witty?" "Yeah." "And I love how that particular footnote was put there." "Yeah." And you trail off into silent satisfaction of your mutual good taste.

Irregardless of their gushing factor, the Discworld series (may they never end) are fantastic books. I haven't been as enamoured of the latest two volumes, but I think the return of Samuel Vimes and (presumably) the Watch bodes well. Now I just have to wait impatiently for Thud! to be released and make its way to my local library.

Beloved Favourites List

I hate it when people ask me what my favourite book is. Not only does the question make my mind go blank, but I don't have a favourite book - I'm not sure that any voracious reader does. I do have a list of favourite books, though - the most beloved, heart touching ones. Not necessarily life-changing, or written brilliantly, but you remember vividly when you first read them. You have them on your book shelves, usually battered rather than pristine, re-read them often, find comfort in them and love it when they get shoved to the back for months and you can rediscover them some time later. Childhood favourites, adult epiphanies. You recommend them to friends, buy copies as birthday presents, and hope that they will like the book as much as you did, because it will mean they understand part of you.

You know those books? Well, at the moment (and it will definitely be added to), this is my list.

Fiction

Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver

An Equal Music by Vikram Seth

Lords and Ladies, The Wee Free Men and The Fifth Elephant by Terry Pratchett

The Fifth Sacred Thing by Starhawk

His Dark Materials Trilogy by Philip Pullman

Tigana and The Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay

Brief Lives by Neil Gaiman

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Due Preparations for the Plague by Janette Turner Hospital

A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
What Katy Did and What Katy Did at School by Susan Coolidge

April Fool's Day by Bryce Courtenay

The Lives of Christopher Chant, Charmed Life and The Magicians of Caprona by Diana Wynne Jones

Singer from the Sea and The Family Tree by Sheri S Tepper

Onion Girl by Charles De Lint

84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff

The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie R King

The Diddakoi and The River by Rumer Godden
The Obernewtyn Chronicles by Isobelle Carmody

Non Fiction

Forgiveness and Other Acts of Love by Stephanie Dowrick
Paula by Isabelle Allende

My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell

At the Root of This Longing by Carol Flinders

Beyond Black (Hilary Mantel)

This 10th novel from Hilary Mantel has been put in the long list for the Booker Prize this year. I'd never read any of Mantel's books before, but she's a long established and respected English author, and I'm looking forward to reading through her older books. So, as you can imagine, I enjoyed this one.

Alison Hart is a psychic, travelling around with her assistant Collette, her horrific medium Morris, and a whole pile of memories and ghosts from her childhood. Despite the characters, and a proliferation of dead people, it's not really a fantasy novel, but one with a much more personal scope. The real story is Alison and Collette, and their pasts that creep along behind them.

This is a dryly humerous novel, in parts, but I found it too dark and disturbing to describe it as funny. It's an excellent read, though - I love the way Mantel writes, and the way the bulky character of Alison treads through the pages. It also, on a note unrelated to the writing, made me want to use my tarot cards more regularly again - as long as Alison's fiends don't accompany me as they do her.

The Resurrectionists (Kim Wilkins)

Kim Wilkins is a Queensland author, whose usual genre sits around the fantasy/horror mark. The Resurrectionists is desribed on the cover as chilling horror, but I think I'd classify it more firmly as fantasy. Somewhat scary fantasy, certainly, but I don't think it contains enough gruesome detail to call it horror. And that's a good thing - I'm not a big fan of horror.

Maisie, dissatisfied with her career, her partner, and her life, heads to England to find her grandmother, who has been long estranged from Maisie's mother. From those beginnings, the story veers headlong into witchcraft, sorcery, ghosts, ancient diaries and good-looking gypsies.

Unfortunately, my excitement in the story began to wane two-thirds of the way along. Maisie can be an irritating character - she never knows what she wants, and she's not appealing enough in other ways to make up for the constant vacillating. The story she's living is set up well, but suddenly races towards what I found to be a dissatisfying conclusion. It's a 3 out of 5 book - exciting, but not well plotted enough to sustain it til the end.

The Reading Group (Elizabeth Noble)

This book probably comes under the category of chick-lit. Although, while I tend to think of chick-lit as books aimed at women readers, I think it actually refers to books with young women protagonists. The Reading Group has characters of all ages and both sexes, although the main ones are women.

The Reading Group involves a group of women meeting once a month to discuss a book. Their meetings and discussions form a relatively small part of the story, while the rest of the book branches off into the many directions of their different lives.

There's not a great deal to say about The Reading Group. While it's what I'd consider a fairly light read, the characters aren't cardboard cutouts, and the story was sufficiently exciting to keep me reading eagerly. It's good, a bit bland - it's just nice, really. It was a three out of five for me.

Persepolis (Marjane Satrapi)

Persepolis is a graphic novel, an illustrated story, a comic book. But there's no superheroes or magic here - just a rather simple memoir of growing up as a girl and woman in Iran, during the revolution.

I'd read Reading Lolita in Tehran just before I plunged into this, so I was fairly conversant with the recent history of Iran, pre and post revolution, and how it's affected women. But Persepolis is a very different view of that revolution, through a child's and then teenager's eyes.

I loved the spare black and white drawings, the stout little girl who longs to go to a demonstration, and wishes her father were a hero of the revolution. Satrapi portrays horrifying facts and figures in a very simple way - I'm thinking especially of the drawings of bodies layered on top of one another, after a massacre. It's very powerful.

In conclusion - a simple, elegant, powerful story. Satrapi has writtten a sequel, but I've heard it's not as good. I always wonder whether to read such books, usually do, and am almost always disappointed. I may read Persepolis 2 regardless, just for more of those little black and white drawings, marching across the page.

Never Let Me Go (Kazuo Ishiguro)

I've never read any of Ishiguro's work before, and knew him vaguely as the author of Remains of the Day. This is his latest book, and I'd read several excellent reviews of it before getting it out of the library. It has a slightly futuristic, dystopian theme which attracted me to it.

Reading the reviews spoiled the story a little for me, as while you're reading the voice of Kathy H., you're slowly let in to the world that Ishiguro has created. I would have liked to have that suspense, so I'm not going to reveal any details of the storyline here, as they're easy enough to find elsewhere.

Suffice to say, while it is set in a dystopian future, it's not a completely dark tale, although it's certainly depressing enough. But Kathy H.'s naive, hopeful voice carries you through the story with a lightness that relieves the despair that tends to crush down upon you as you race towards the end.

Ishiguro's characters are very real, but there's also an element of distance from them in his writing I found, although it was a vague disatisfaction that I can't really describe further. Other than that, I very much enjoyed this - a quiet, dark story, with a feeling of clinical calm to it.

Eating the Underworld (Doris Brett)

Doris Brett is an Australian poet and author, but the only reason I knew her name is because I own (or more accurately, stole from my mother) an extremely battered copy of her Australian Bread Book. A Google search reveals that it's not only out of print, but quite rare, so I should take better care of it, rather than dropping splodges of batter on its pages. (I can always easily find my favourite recipes in books - the pages are terribly stained).

Eating the Underworld is, according to the subtitle, a "memoir in three voices". It tells the story of Brett's encounter with cancer, in a journal, in poetry, and in short bits of fiction, although the journal is by far the dominant voice.

While cancer is the initial focus, the memoir also branches out into Brett's professional work as a psychologist and her family relationships, especially a particularly fraught and abusive relationship with her sister. It's a fascinating work - Brett writes beautifully and richly about her own emotional and physical experiences, and I really enjoyed the poems that, neatly chronologically, bookended each chapter.

]It was an inspiring book, about a woman who managed to reap great rewards from a terrible experience. It almost makes you believe that you would approach such hardship in a similar way. Very much recommended, if you enjoy memoirs, and if you can find a copy.

Snow Queen (Mardi McConnochie)

I'm not sure where I heard of this book, but I did put it on hold at the library, so I must have had a reason. Mardi McConnochie is an Australian author, and this book, set mostly in Adelaide, tells the story of Galina, a Russian ballerina and teacher, and her relationship with the younger Teddy.

One of the reviews described above describes McConnochie's writing as "cold", and I would agree - I would read along, not being touched by anything in particular, and then be suddenly pulled into a character's passion or pain. I found it effective for the story she's telling.

I got this out because I have a nostalgic fondness for stories set around ballet dancers, and this didn't disappoint - while the story centres around relationships, there's also a great deal of description of ballet training and touring.

While I wasn't stunned by the writing, or the story, it did draw me in - I'd give it 3/5.

The Plan

I've been keeping track of all the books I've read since the beginning of 2004. I'm a fast reader, and I read a lot. During 2004 I was studying, and had the corresponding leisure time. Now, in 2005, I'm working fulltime, but have two hours of commuting time in which to read, and consequently, I'm still getting through a lot of books.

I wanted to challenge myself to read more critically, and in order to do so, I'm going to write reviews of every book I read (and some of the ones I've read before). I find this prospect somewhat daunting, as I've never been particularly eloquent when it comes to describing exactly why I like something, and envy those who are. So this is partly a challenge to myself, to improve my abilities at description and reading with a sharper eye, but it's also simply for fun, and a way to share literary discoveries with others.