Books under the Covers

Y: The Last Man: One Small Step, by Brian K. Vaughan

2009-10-20T22:00:00.032-04:00

Yorick, 355, and Dr. Mann meet up with a Russian agent who is trying to get somewhere in the Midwest U.S., because the three astronauts who have been on the Space Station since the plague hit are going to try to land-- and two of them are men. Yorick, 355, and Dr. Mann go to a “hot suite” and try to make arrangements to protect the men (so the plague doesn’t kill them as soon as they land), but the Israeli military force that’s been tracking Yorick gets in the way-- kidnaps Yorick, attempts to take out the landing capsule, possibly contributing to its explosive landing.

The last two sections follow a traveling drama troupe, and this gives the writers a chance to comment on a lot of their own story and their influences-- this all-female theater group comments on how in Shakespeare’s time only men performed, mention some of the influences of this story, and even make fun of stories that use Shakespearean names (like Yorick and Hero-- although those names aren’t actually mentioned).

The last section also has mysterious hints of a traitor, a female ninja trying to steal Ampersand, and mention of a "Dr. M" who might be the Dr. Mann who is working with Yorick and Agent 355, or might be a red herring and really is someone different...

Title:	Y: The Last Man - One Small Step (Vol. 3)
Author:	Brian K. Vaughan; Pia Guerra; José Marzán, Jr.
Date published:	2004
Genre:	Graphic Novel
Series:	Y: The Last Man
Number of pages:	168

Y: The Last Man: Cycles, by Brian K. Vaughan

2009-10-17T22:00:00.019-04:00

Does a good job of summarizing what happened in Vol.1 (all the males on earth died except Yorick and his pet chimp Ampersand), and reminding us what a male-dominated world we still live in, as most of the business owners, pilots, construction workers, etc. are now gone. Yorick, Agent 355, and Dr. Mann are working their way across the country to get to Dr. Mann’s laboratory and backup copies of the notes and data destroyed when her east coast lab was burned down. After a little incident on their train, they end up in a small town that seems Edenic in comparison to the rest of the places they have seen on their way through the country-- they have electricity, food, and seem to be taking care of themselves quite well, and even deal rather well with the news of Yorick’s existence (as compared to the other extreme reactions he’s seen before). Meanwhile, Yorick is being hunted-- by some Israeli troops, and by the extreme Daughters of the Amazon, now accompanied by his sister Hero, who seems to have been brainwashed by the care and attention of the leader who protects and feeds her and all the other women.

Title:	Y: The Last Man - Cycles (Vol. 2)
Author:	Brian K. Vaughan; Pia Guerra; José Marzán, Jr.
Date published:	2003
Genre:	Graphic Novel
Series:	Y: The Last Man
Number of pages:	128

Y: The Last Man: Unmanned, by Brian K. Vaughan

2008-07-05T14:15:00.003-04:00

This is the first volume of the acclaimed Y: The Last Man series, and it is engaging right from the start. Some unknown disease (or something) kills off all the males on the planet (not just humans but every species), and it happens all over the world at the same time. The only male survivors are Yorick, an out-of-work street magician and escape artist, and his pet monkey Ampersand. Vaughan presents a compelling picture of what the world might be like and how people might respond to an abrupt change like this. Some women form a new gang of Amazons, insisting that the world is better off without men; others mourn the incredible losses of all the talented musicians, scientists, and other great men that were taken away all at once. Even the political aspects are compelling: Congress is left with mostly Democratic politicians and the wives of the dead politicians demand their share of the power. The title of the series works beautifully on so many levels-- Y for Yorick, the last man on Earth, but also for the Y chromosome, as well as a play on the question, "Why?" since no one knows the cause of this disaster (although Vaughan offers a couple of possibilities in some of the different storylines).

The artwork is great, and so many little details-- in the art and in the story-- are delightful. Yorick's father is a literature professor who named his children after characters in Shakespeare (Yorick's sister is named Hero). The opening of this volume grabs you immediately because it shows the catastrophic event and then jumps back a little bit and gives you some of the different events in the storylines that lead up to the moment when all the males on the planet drop dead. This technique is very effective for this part of the story, but it began to seem a little overused when I saw it in the other sections of the story, at the beginning of some of the other issues in this volume, where it really wasn't needed to tell the story effectively.

Overall, very interesting and engaging. I will be looking to read more of this series.

Title:	Y: The Last Man - Unmanned
Author:	Brian K. Vaughan
Date published:	2003
Genre:	Graphic Novel
Series:	Y: The Last Man
Number of pages:	128
Notes:	gift from Jane (from my wish list)

Castle in the Air, by Diana Wynne Jones

2009-09-25T23:30:00.028-04:00

After finishing reading Howl's Moving Castle, I wanted to re-read Castle in the Air. It is an unusual sequel, because the characters we know from the first book are in disguise (by magic of course, in this case not their own) when we first meet them in this story, and even that is not right away. We actually follow a day-dreaming carpet merchant named Abdullah, whose fairy-tale daydreams start coming true after he buys a magic carpet-- he meets a beautiful princess, he ends up wandering in the desert and runs into the villainous bandit he dreamed up, and ends up on a quest to rescue the princess he loves. Of course, his daydreams literally are coming true because a djinn has overheard them and is playing a bigger game.

The djinn Abdullah runs into is capturing princesses at the bidding of his evil half-brother, who has stolen his life and compels him to serve him-- but at the same time the good djinn is having a lot of fun leaving behind jilted lovers everywhere he steals a princess, hoping someone will find them and make things interesting. The princesses are every sort, and really not quite to the evil djinn's liking-- a very young one who throws tantrums and screams, an older, practical one, and Abdullah's beloved, who is very intelligent and reasons and argues until she gets what she wants.

It was fun to read this book again with Howl's Moving Castle fresh in my mind, and also remembering in advance who the disguised characters are. This time I was paying more attention, and noticed there were clues-- like the first time you see Howl, he yells at everyone and the verb used is actually a version of his name. It’s also great to see a little more of Sophie coming into her magic (still conversational and natural, talking life into things), and to see a glimpse of what married life is like for Howl and Sophie (lots of arguments, and with their magic that must make things interesting-- it's hard to imagine it would ever be dull around them).

Title:	Castle in the Air
Author:	Diana Wynne Jones
Date published:	1990
Genre:	Young Adult Fantasy
Series:	sequel to Howl's Moving Castle
Number of pages:	298
Notes:	second reading

Howl's Moving Castle, by Diana Wynne Jones

2009-09-20T20:00:00.020-04:00

The delightful story of Sophie, Howl, and Calcifer. In a magic, fairy-tale land where seven-league boots actually exist (although they are demonstrated to be difficult to control when your balance is very good), Sophie doesn’t ever bother to seek out her fortune because she knows as the oldest of three sisters, she is destined to fail first and worst. Her sisters aren’t afraid to seek out what they want (even to the extent of deceiving their mother to trade places), but Sophie stays where she is. Only when she is cursed into old age does she venture out, and her “disguise” as an old woman gives her a new kind of freedom-- she isn’t afraid, she’s more willing to speak out and do what she wants, even to the extent of forcing herself into the castle of the wizard Howl as his housekeeper. Howl is selfish, vain, slapdash, and heartless (literally, in a way, because of his contract with Calcifer that Sophie is supposed to be trying to figure out and break), and yet he is also sweet, quite thoughtful at times, and tenderhearted. Of course, it is Sophie’s qualities as an older sister that make her capable of dealing with Howl-- when he has a tantrum of green slime, she and Michael push him to the bathroom and dump him in the tub, and Sophie mops up the slime that is everywhere.

Sophie’s magic is wonderful-- so human, and natural. She talks to the hats she decorates because she’s lonely, and doesn’t even notice for quite a while that her words seem to come true. Calcifer tells her that she was the one he asked to break the contract between him and Howl because she "talks life into things", and he thought that she might be the only one who could break the contract without killing one or both of them.

I finally got to see Hayao Miyazaki’s film version of this story a few months ago-- it is delightful, and beautiful, and catches some aspects of this book quite wonderfully-- although it is also strange how the film tells a rather different story than the book, even though they share so many of the same pieces. Reading the book again made me want to watch the movie again, and watching the movie again makes me want to re-read the book-- they are both so well-done and beautiful, I think this could result in an endless loop if I’m not careful.

Title:	Howl's Moving Castle
Author:	Diana Wynne Jones
Date published:	1986
Genre:	Young Adult Fantasy
Number of pages:	329
Notes:	repeat reading

Sabriel, by Garth Nix

2009-09-08T20:15:00.001-04:00

As an infant, Sabriel nearly-- or, to be more accurate, briefly-- died. But her father, Abhorsen, stepped across the boundary between Life and Death, and brought her back. Abhorsen is a necromancer unlike any I have ever read about-- instead of summoning the dead, he binds the dead that haunt the living, and he assists-- or forces-- them to cross the final gate. Now a young woman and nearly finished with her schooling in Ancelstierre, Sabriel learns that something has happened to her father-- he is either bound somewhere in Death, or perhaps actually dead. So, she crosses back into the Old Kingdom, where she discovers that Abhorsen is not a name but a title, and that she has inherited it. A powerful, Greater Dead creature and its minions are stirring, and she must outrace them to find her father and save the kingdom.

Sabriel is assisted by a powerful, flaming white creature of Wild Magic who appears to her in the form of a white cat with a magic collar, and tells her to call him Moggett. Along the way, Sabriel discovers and frees a young man who has been held in a kind of magic stasis for centuries-- and who is, of course, tied up with the events at the beginning of the powerful Greater Dead being Kerrigor that eventually they must face.

One of the more interesting parts of the world that Nix has created is the idea of the Charter. Sabriel and her father practice Charter Magic, and they and others are marked on their forehead with a Charter mark, like a kind of baptism. Sabriel attends a boarding school outside of the Old Kingdom for her own safety and because the Clayr knew she would need familiarity with Ancelstierre to defeat Kerrigor, but as a result she does not learn what children are taught about the Charters that bind the Kingdom, in the ancient stones, and in the bloodlines of royalty and the Abhorsens-- and which Kerrigor has been systematically working to undo.

There are many wonderful details to this world, the story, and the characters-- for instance, the magic that Sabriel and her father do through the bells of the necromancer, each bell with its own name and different power over the dead and the living. Or the whiteness of their skin, because their trips to the Land of the Dead leeches the color out of them. The story is a wonderful adventure, and the conclusion is equally satisfying-- with enough open-endedness to leave you wondering, wanting more.

Title:	Sabriel
Author:	Garth Nix
Date published:	1995
Genre:	Young Adult Fantasy
Series:	Abhorsen
Number of pages:	292
Notes:	loaned by Catey

Buffy Omnibus, Vol. 1, by Whedon, Golden, Nicieza, Lee, et. al

2009-08-22T23:45:00.008-04:00

For some reason, I was unaware of the fact that there were so many Buffy comic books before the new Season 8 run. This is the first book in an omnibus series that collects them all in chronological order. This one starts with "All's Fair", a story about Dru and Spike on a rampage at the 1933 Chicago World's Fair, which I didn't particularly enjoy, but then it gets more Buffy-centric. "The Origin" is a comic-book adaptation of Joss Whedon's original screenplay for the Buffy movie; the stories after that cover the time between the movie and the TV series, while Buffy was on her own without a Watcher. She and Pike take a trip to Las Vegas to hunt down vampires in "Viva Las Buffy!". In "Dawn & Hoopy the Bear" we get a story of Dawn's experience while Buffy has run off and their parents are on their way to divorce; a teddy bear ensorceled with a djinn meant for the slayer is mistakenly delivered to Dawn, but her distracted mother just thinks Dawn has a wild imagination when she takes about the bear coming alive. Then, in "Slayer, Interrrupted" we get the story of Buffy's stay in the mental hospital, which is referred to in the TV series. Interspersed with these, we also get some interesting parts of Giles' path to becoming Buffy's Watcher.

I had a little bit of trouble getting into this book because I didn't enjoy the first story; I know some people really love Spike and Dru, but a whole story with them killing and destroying just isn't my thing. In this story and in some of the others, I felt like there might be references to characters or events in the TV series, but I'm not familiar enough with them to catch it-- and not sure I care enough to go to the trouble of looking it up. Angel shows up in the Las Vegas story, and I wondered about the time lines of that, but again, I guess I'm not familiar enough with all the details of his back story to know how this fits in.

As Scott Allie points out in his brief introduction, these stories include Dawn-- which is an interesting choice. Like him, I'm glad that we got the story of "Dawn and Hoopy the Bear"; but other things make me wonder a bit about how things would have worked without Dawn being there. For instance, Dawn is the one who reads Buffy's diary (because she misses her), and that is how Buffy ends up getting sent to a mental institute.

Artwork for comic books based on TV shows and movies can be a little strained sometimes-- either they are too creepily like the actors or they aren't quite recognizable. In this case, I found the artwork to be quite good, and it certainly never distracted me from the story being told.

I enjoyed this enough that I'd be interested to read the other Buffy Omnibus collections, although I'm a bit intimidated by the fact that there are 7 volumes.

Title:	Buffy the Vampire Slayer Omnibus, Volume 1
Author:
Date published:	2007
Genre:	Young Adult, Graphic Novel, Horror
Series:	Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Number of pages:	296

The Purpose Driven Life, by Rick Warren

2009-04-03T06:19:00.001-04:00

Read this in a few months. All in Romanian! 40 days .. most less than 10 pages .. ending with a one sentence truth and question. Warren contends that we are here with 5 purposes in life .. worship, fellowship, discipleship, service and evangelism. Written by an American, challenging particular ways of thinking in America, it does a good job. Americans (as well as others) are trained culturally to seek pleasure, to seek the simple way out, to care for self first. But God did not create us to do such things! He created us for Himself, and has plans for our lives that can have long-term effects, not just make us happy today.

Warren writes in a style that is a bit inflammatory, making bold statements in order to provoke questions and thinking. Not everything that he writes is perfectly true (although, honestly, there are few authors or people who speak only truth), but overall many good points are made. Warren encourages the reader to be well-balanced, not simply to choose one thing and do it well. We are made to do each of the 5 things mentioned above, and while one or two will be much more natural, the Church is called to participate in all of them.

Title:	Viata Condusa de Scopuri (The Purpose Driven Life)
Author:	Rick Warren
Date published:	2002
Genre:	Spiritual
Number of pages:	332
Notes:	repeat reading

Les Miserables, by Victor Hugo

2009-06-03T06:14:00.001-04:00

This is the first time I can remember reading a book with a soundtrack playing along in my head. The musical is wonderful, so as I got to distinct events, the music was in my head. Quite interesting. Jean Valjean goes to prison as a young man for trying to steal a loaf of bread for his sister and her numerous children. He stays longer because of escape attempts, and when he finally gets out nobody will receive him because of his criminal's passport. A bishop takes him in for a meal and a night's sleep, but Valjean steals something valuable, is caught, and taken back to the bishop who says he forgot the silver. He 'buys his soul' for God, and after that Jean Valjean is a changed man who seeks to care for those around him, live honestly and make up for past evil.

Over and over, Valjean is shown to be a man who is strong beyond reason. He gets under a horse cart which has trapped a man and lifts it up by himself. He climbs a high wall by pushing himself up the corner where it meets another wall. He saved men in the quarries by various acts of strength. He saves Marius' life by carrying him through horrible conditions in the sewer for a great distance. And yet .. more than his physical strength .. the reader sees his character. This is, of course, shown most strongly in his care of Cosette, the daughter of Fantine, who he rescues and raises as his own with great affection and care. A man who was consistently treated as less than human in the quarries returns grace and mercy. Humanly speaking, that is not possible. This man exemplifies what a transformed life can be .. a second chance, used to the fullest, for the good of all those around him. Javert is another very intrigue character. He is a policeman and very just. For him all things fall easily into categories. One of which is that all criminals are evil and cannot be good. Throughout Jean Valjean's life, Javert continues to search for him to send him back to prison. When Valjean does something extraordinary, Javert can no longer fit him into the 'evil' box .. and something inside Javert crumbles. Valjean is the criminal turned benefactor, and Javert is the upright man who can no longer comprehend the world. What striking juxtaposition. A book worth reading again!

Title:	Les Miserables (abridged)
Author:	Victor Hugo
Date published:	1961
Genre:	Fiction
Number of pages:	321
Notes:	repeat reading

The Hungry Tide, by Amitav Ghosh

2009-08-13T06:09:00.001-04:00

This story is set in India which means that as one reads, bits of culture are picked up along the way. In a quiet and delightful way. A number of stories are woven together into one novel, with themes running through each of them, and deep connections. Kanai is a well-to-do Indian going to visit his aunt, to read a story that his uncle wrote and left to him years ago. Piya was born to Indian parents but grew up in America, and is back in India to study dolphins. Fokir is a man who catches crabs for a living and knows the islands and rivers and tides in the Bay of Bengal as well as his own home.

As always, nothing is quite as clear as it seems. People meet each other and their initial reactions are rarely correct. Especially in this setting, where there are so many factors that are unseen. Each of the characters in this book is searching for something .. meaning, a place to call home, worth, accomplishment, a better life, love. In various ways, with varying amounts of success. Fokir is a simple man who is viewed as inferior by many, but Piya sees him as someone who is knowledgeable, and could be a boon for her research. This is a beautiful example of someone who sees differently. So often we get caught up in matching things to the standards of the world, but Piya refuses to play into that and is willing to see value in anyone around her. Her example, while not perfect, is a reminder to me to be careful of who and how I see those around me.

Title:	The Hungry Tide
Author:	Amitav Ghosh
Date published:	2005
Genre:	Fiction
Number of pages:	329
Notes:	from Karen K.Y.

Miss Marple Omnibus Volume 2, by Agatha Christie

2009-07-29T05:09:00.002-04:00

This book is composed of 4 complete books: A Carribean Mystery, A Pocket Full of Rye, The Mirror Crack'd From Side to Side, and They Do it with Mirrors. In each, Miss Marple makes her gentle, unassuming appearance and quietly solves the murders. She is such an enjoyable character, and so often underestimated. She is from a village called Mary St. Mead, and often as she meets new people she compares them with those she has known before in her 'quiet' village, and finds someone with whom they share characteristics. This usually gives her extra insight and reminders as to what humans are really capable of doing. Because she is an elderly woman, those who don't know her try to be careful of her sensibilities, but she understands better than they do how humans are complex and sometimes evil beings.

As always, with good murder mysteries, there are all sorts of false clues and important clues that are understated or ignored. Miss Marple sometimes asks questions which don't seem to make much sense, but are actually vital. In one of these cases, the final clue which convinces Miss Marple of what actually happened is one short conversation between the victim and another character. Everyone that overheard it remembers a different answer that was given, but the correct answer reveals both the murderer and the motive! A reminder of what it means to be attentive. So often we hear without actually listening, and we see without actually observing. Well-written enough that I'd read these again .. after enough time so that the details become foggy!

Title:	Miss Marple Omnibus, Volume 2
Author:	Agatha Christie
Date published:	1997 (individual books published between 1952 and 1964)
Genre:	Mystery
Number of pages:	654
Notes:	from Amy

A Short History of Nearly Everything, by Bill Bryson

2009-08-16T05:02:00.001-04:00

Bryson is an author who is knowledgeable and entertaining at the same time – a combination not to be taken for granted! As stated in the title this book gives a general overview of the history of the world, scientifically speaking, and includes glimpses into a wide variety of subjects – chemistry, physics, geography, lots of -ologies, but in a way that they are comprehensible. Bryson talked with a large number of specialists, visited them, learned from them, asked lots of questions. And we get his summaries.

One of the best parts of the book is the stories about various characters. Many of them incredibly strange. Brilliant – but strange. One Oxford professor that I remember reading about was extremely absent-minded. Upon returning home one evening, his wife told him to go upstairs and change for their dinner party that evening. He got undressed, but then couldn't remember what he was doing, so he changed into pajamas and got into bed. His wife was duly exasperated when she found him shortly thereafter. Or the chemist who insisted on tasting all of his experiments, something which clearly aided his death in arriving sooner. Or the fact that if a meteor were to actually hit earth, it wouldn't be visible to the naked eye until one second before it hit earth, and the impact could easily damage a whole continent and most likely throw the whole ecosystem wildly off-kilter. In the process of reading this book, two facts became more clear to me:

1) we often take for granted things for which the margin of error (or possibility) is actually incredibly narrow.

2) there must indeed be a Creator!

Title:	A Short History of Nearly Everything
Author:	Bill Bryson
Date published:	2003
Genre:	Nonfiction
Number of pages:	478
Notes:	from c. knapp

The Riddle-Master Trilogy, by Patricia A. McKillip

2009-01-29T06:55:00.001-05:00

Wonderful book! Glad that I have this in a one book set, because I'm not sure I'd do well waiting to find the next book. :) Mckillip always writes well. And in a way that there are a number of layers to her writing and stories and characters. This book is no exception, although it is one of her earlier works. Morgon of Hed is sent on an adventure that covers the entire length and breadth of known lands .. and beyond. His circle of acquaintances grows, as does those who he trusts and those who trust him. Hed is a quiet, peaceful island where most of the people are farmers who live simply. But his journey takes him far from all of those things. A journey filled with land-rule .. the High One .. his harper .. music .. riddles .. learning .. endurance.

This time around, I really enjoyed the land-rule. Morgan is a land-ruler, and when he is tormented by Ghisteslwchlohm he loses that land-rule. Like losing a layer of himself. But .. over time .. he learns that he knows how land-rule works. And eventually, this means that he forms a set of connections similar to land-rule without taking it from the rulers already in place. Of course, they feel what he is doing, and allow him to do so .. but he learns the intricate details of every place across the land. Each kingdom has specific characteristics. Hed, where he is from, is sown with a deep peace and quietness that is reflected in the people and their ruler. Herun, a land full of dangerous marshes, has a ruler who is highly perceptive and can see into people and beyond mountains. She is quiet but with a deep awareness of everything around her. An is a land with a history full of fighting, so the land-ruler is powerful and must keep all of the old spirits in check. The land is hard and somewhat ferocious, ready to fight for what matters. Osterland is in the north, a land of gentle snow beasts and harsh conditions, so the people and the ruler know how to endure and are full of strength. Isig is a mountain, and the ruler is steadfast and secure. How beautiful .. that each of these lands brings something specific and unique and beautiful to their people. So it is with humans .. each person is meant to be themselves, and in so doing, can reflect an amazingly beautiful diversity.

Title:	The Riddle-Master Trilogy
Author:	Patricia A. McKillip
Date published:	1976/1999 (in one book)
Genre:	Fantasy
Series:	Riddle-Master
Number of pages:	571
Notes:	Repeat reading. Gift from Larq

Till we have Faces: A Myth Retold, by C.S. Lewis

2009-03-29T06:18:00.001-04:00

In college, I was told that this is a book that is generally understood better as one matures and ages. That is true for me. I still don't get it all, but I understood more of it this time! Orual is the oldest of three daughters of a king in a small land. She is not beautiful, and is not treated well by those around her, but nor does she treat them well. Their father provides them with a Greek tutor who becomes like a father to them, caring for them and teaching them in a way that is very different than the beliefs of their people. There are variety of themes that run throughout the book .. religion vs. reason .. faith vs. knowledge .. and love of self vs. love of other. The youngest daughter, Psyche, is given as a sacrifice to the gods to save the people, and Orual finds herself in a fight with the gods over this .. and fights until the end of her life.

Lewis repeatedly and variously asks questions about love. What is love? Is love that is selfish really love? As humans how much can we love? Can humans understand divine love? What does love demands of others? These are almost all asked through story and not simply words. They (and Lewis' answers) are seen in the lives of characters, for either good or ill. Orual tells her own story, and of course she tells it as she sees it, through her own eyes. The reader confronts his own selfishness, the way that emotions and actions which are not really love are treated and conveyed as love. Human love is so far from divine love .. and we have no way to make it perfect or right. At the end Orual confronts the gods and is left speechless. As it should be. Except for the gracious gift that God makes to give us one to speak for us, we have no defense. A book worth reading and re-reading, giving its truth space to work its way down into one's soul.

Title:	Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold
Author:	C. S. Lewis
Date published:	1956
Genre:	Fiction
Number of pages:	313
Notes:	Repeat reading

Dancing Arabs, by Sayed Kashua

2009-03-18T06:13:00.001-04:00

A young boy is growing up in an Arab family in Palestine, with a father full of pride and anger toward the Jews who will not give them their land. This young boy is very good at surviving, although he doesn't always keep his pride. Because he does well on a test at school, he is given the opportunity to attend a Jewish boarding school and receive excellent training. He doesn't want to go, but his father won't let him back out. So he goes to the Jewish school, but to survive he ends up working to blend in. He can fade into either culture, and does so throughout his life. But .. as with anyone who lives in two cultures .. the question then becomes if he belongs in either one.

Kashua gives a wonderful picture of Arabic life. Narrative-style .. not by explaining or show and tell .. but simply by putting the reader in the room with events as they happen. Enough is explained to understand something very 'other' from what I know, but not so much that one is ever bored. The stories are told vignette style, with pieces and chunks missing. But everything flows together beautifully. I remember Larq talking about how fantasy or science fiction works when authors have so crafted the respective world or culture that slang and expectations about how life works. These rules or expectations are taken for granted, in a way. Which is true of Kashua's writing as well. Things which he has experienced, growing up in similar places to the main character, make some things 'commonplace' for him that I have never experienced in my life. The reader is given a gift in this glimpse into daily life. Not just important events or big stories .. but family relationships, village etiquette, violence, religious rituals .. this book is worth savoring, both for the writing style and the cultural learning to be gained simply by reading a story.

Title:	Dancing Arabs
Author:	Sayed Kashua
Date published:	2002
Genre:	Fiction, Cultural
Number of pages:	227
Notes:	Given by Jude

We Wait You: Waiting on God in Eastern Europe, by Taryn Hutchison

2009-03-19T06:05:00.001-04:00

A story of a young woman who chose to follow God to Eastern Europe, almost immediately after Communism fell. She moved to Romania for a year with 3 other teammates, living, studying, and evangelizing among college students. Because things were so unsettled, life was indeed very interesting. But God showed up in some astounding and beautiful ways. During that first year, she felt God asking her to stay longer, so she stayed another 4 years. After that, she spent another 5 years living in Hungary and traveling around a number of countries throughout Eastern Europe. because the countries in this part of the world had been so closed, when Communism fell, the hunger for God and truth was immense. Hearing the story of someone who was part of God's answer to that hunger and search is encouraging and refreshing.

Because I currently live in Romania, I understand some of what she speaks about .. the culture, the language, the history. Things have changed dramatically in the almost 20 years since Communism fell, so my time here has been less dramatic and exciting than hers was. And I think I'm glad for that! God is still working here .. perhaps a bit less dramatically, but still powerfully and wisely. I am glad for those who have gone before among these people and this culture, planting seeds and watering them. God's Kingdom is always a work in progress, and it's a joy to take part in any of it!

Title:	We Wait You: Waiting on God in Eastern Europe
Author:	Taryn Hutchison
Date published:	2008
Genre:	Autobiography
Number of pages:	219
Notes:	Given by my parents

A Thousand Splendid Suns, by Khaled Hosseini

2009-01-24T14:05:00.003-05:00

This author and his books are highly respected and talked of, and this was indeed well written. But also hard to read. It's so full of despair. Once I finally reached the end, there was some hope .. but a few times I had to force myself to pick up the book .. knowing I would most likely read something deeply saddening. Mariam is a young girl when we first meet her, in a house a few kilometers away from a small city in Afghanistan. We follow her through her life and in the process see pieces of the history of Afghanistan that one might not wish to have seen.

Mariam is born to a unmarried mother, and has a father who is rich but will not marry her mother. She adores her father .. until she discovers that he does not wish to acknowledge her existence in public. After her mother dies, Mariam is quickly married off to the first suitor. Who happens to be much older than her, not physically handsome, and overweight. As a young teenager, she takes over the duties of a household, cleaning and cooking and of course sexual relations. Mariam has little to look forward to in life, and simply tries to get through each day. war becomes part of their daily lives, and the daughter (Laila) of the next door neighbors ends up an orphan, and is 'kindly taken in' by Mariam's husband as a second wife. There is rivalry .. but eventually these two women become friends as they face a common enemy. And Mariam, who has had little hope since childhood suddenly finds herself with hope. Laila has two children, and these two women value them and nurture them. Even Rasheed, their husband, is human again when he is with his son. Laila's childhood sweetheart who she hoped to marry, named Tariq, is a strong man who has seen evil and still come out gentle. May there be more men such as him!

This book is full of sadness. It's about life during war. A number of wars. Evil is clearly depicted. Men who want power, men who tell lies, what death can do to people, what living under fear does, how boundaries can change .. stories that can be hard to read. But for this story .. there are millions of other stories with similar pieces. That are true. Despite the overall sadness and weight and pain in the book, the end is actually hopeful. Not amazing or perfect or wonderful, but there is some light. In the places where darkness has reigned so long, there are people choosing to value each other, choosing to not only survive but work to find the beauty in life. And, by the grace of God .. that is strangely possible in life. Even in the darkest places, God made humans to find reasons to delight in simple pleasures and to hope.

Title:	A Thousand Splendid Suns
Author:	Khaled Hosseini
Date published:	2007
Genre:	Fiction,
Number of pages:	367
Notes:	Given by Birgit

The Loved Dog, by Tamar Geller

2009-07-20T23:15:00.005-04:00

I was pleasantly surprised with how readable and interesting this book was. It starts off almost more like a memoir, as Geller tells some of her story and how she came to her view of how dogs should be trained. She has a great story of trying to use foreign toilet facilities in a strange land, and then compares this to dogs, who she says don't know what we want them to do and don't know how to ask us. She also describes her observation of wolves, who teach pups how to behave by playing games. Geller is apparently a dog coach to the stars, and at times it feels like she is name dropping, but she tells plenty of other stories about non-celebrity dogs and families when it suits the purpose of what she is trying to communicate. Geller claims that most of what passes for dog training these days is actually abusive, and she has some horror stories of dogs with broken feet and crippled legs that bear witness to this.

The training ideas are easy to follow along with and Geller generally provides reasons why you should do things a certain way. I found new ideas and insights that were helpful to me with my dog, who is mostly pretty well trained (and some thoughts about why he has trouble with a couple of commands he doesn't always do so well). The idea of different levels of treats to help reward different kinds of behavior is helpful, and even the notion that dogs need structure but also like a surprise now and then. I found Geller's opinion on training dogs to heel interesting and sort of emblematic of the rest of her thinking-- she says it goes back to a time when dogs were soldiers, and had to be on the opposite side of where the rifle was carried, but that dogs aren't soldiers anymore and we don't need to treat them like they are.

Geller is clearly very passionate about her work and dogs, as evidenced by the organizations and campaigns she describes in the back of the book: Stop Puppy Mills, Another Chance for Love, and Pets for Life.

Title:	The Loved Dog
Author:	Tamar Geller with Andrea Cagan
Date published:	2007
Genre:	Nonfiction, Dog Training
Number of pages:	227
Notes:	gift from Ardis

Friday Night Lights, by H. G. Bissinger

2009-07-13T19:15:00.009-04:00

This may be the best nonfiction book I've ever read. Maybe that's not saying much, since I don't read all that much nonfiction, but I found it engrossing and well-written. The well-known book that's been turned into a movie and a TV series follows the season of High School football for the Permian panthers in Odessa, Texas; but along the way, Bissinger not only brings the town and the people to life, he also gives fascinating insights to racism, classism, politics, the oil bust and boom, the history and culture of Odessa and neighboring rivals, as well as the fanatical, near-religious devotion to football.

Every now and then I found myself wondering about the narrator-- not because he is present or noticeable in the text, but precisely because he is so invisible and yet manages to capture so many details and moments in a way that seems so clear and insightful; even though it's never mentioned, I imagine the author doing his careful, meticulous research, following along all season long with the team, the coaches, the players and their families to capture so many of these crucial moments in the season, and to hear and understand their stories.

There are so many fascinating insights here that are just a part of the fabric of the story that Bissinger tells. For instance, desegregation of the schools in Odessa was delayed quite a bit, in part because no one wanted to mess up the football programs; and when they finally did desegregate, the district lines were gerrymandered so that Permian would get a greater share of the black athletes. When the star running back is severely injured, he becomes a nobody, and they don't even try to coach him back, they just replace him with somebody else; when he no longer gets the preferential treatment of a football player, he can't keep up with his classwork because he never was really taught.

The story of the many oil millionaires in nearby Midland Lee gives a personal glimpse into the oil industry, and the way that government policies had a tremendous impact on people's lives, and the striking difficulty of getting oil from Texas as compared to the Middle East. Men who happened to be in the right place at the right time were suddenly rich because of luck and politics, but because they thought it was their own business skill they all spent and invested like crazy, until suddenly the oil prices crashed and all these oil-millionaires went broke.

This edition of the book includes a look at where the players were ten years later, and it is fascinating, but mostly quite sad. For a school year or two, these young men were treated like heroes and gods, they could do no wrong and were allowed to get away with pretty much anything-- but as soon as they lost in the semi-finals and the season was over, that was gone and they were replaced by the next group of kids who had worked and dreamed of playing for Permian since they were children. Even the few who were able to play college football talk about how nothing was ever quite like playing for Permian.

Title:	Friday Night Lights
Author:	H. G. Bissinger
Date published:	1990
Genre:	Nonfiction
Number of pages:	367
Notes:	borrowed from Sapphire

Bridge of Birds, by Barry Hughart

2009-08-07T23:55:00.008-04:00

This delightful, entertaining book is written in the style of Chinese stories, and set in an ancient China filled with magic, monsters, and gods. The story is narrated by Yu Lu, known as Number Ten Ox, from the village of Ku-Fu as he goes to find help to save the children of the village who have been accidentally poisoned. He goes to Peking to find a sage who will help, but they all turn their noses up at his bag of copper coins-- until he stumbles upon an alley where the ancient, drunken Li Kao is slumbering-- a sage who always introduces himself with the fact that he has "a slight flaw in his character." As it turns out, Li Kao may be the only man who would have been capable of helping Number Ten Ox and his village, because their quest for the great root of power which may cure the children leads them all over the country, facing powerful humans, labyrinths, and terrible monsters, until they eventually realize their quest overlaps with the story of minor deity, the princess of birds, who was unwittingly betrayed by her handmaidens and lost divine protection and access to heaven.

The tone of this book is perfectly suited to the setting of the story and the characters. Every time Li Kao introduces himself, he mentions that slight flaw in his character. More than once, the two adventurers face near-certain death, and before they dive in they decide what they will request the Yama Kings to let them be reborn as-- for Li Kao, a sloth, and for Number Ten Ox, a cloud. As they gather and lose other members of their parties, this becomes a recurring refrain as they invite their friends to join them in declaring what they will ask to come back as just before they face deadly danger together.

At first, this story seems to be just a wandering tale of strange encounters, but eventually Li Kao puts together the pieces of the story, and it seems that every little detail is a piece of the puzzle-- even the story of the village of Ku Fu and the section of wall that doesn't connect to any of the rest of the Great Wall because the general building it had a dream where he met the August Personage of Jade who adjusted his maps. All the strange characters they meet along the way seem to have a part to play or some key piece of information that allows Li Kao eventually to put the entire puzzle together-- Miser Shen, who later falls in love with Lotus Cloud and wants to be reborn as a tree named "Old Generosity"; the scholar Henpecked Ho and his daughter Fainting Maid, who always falls two steps back and six to the left; the Ancestress and the fearsome Duke of Ch'in, and even the greedy villagers Ma the Grub and Pawnbroker Fang.

The magnificent ending is completely satisfyint and beautiful, and none of the pieces of the story seemed forced when I finally discovered the whole story of what Li Kao and Number Ten Ox's quest was really about, and who was guiding things all along with an unseen hand.

Title:	Bridge of Birds
Author:	Barry Hughart
Date published:	1984
Genre:	Fantasy, Fairy Tale
Number of pages:	248
Notes:	loaned to me by Catey

The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm, by Jack Zipes (trans.)

2009-05-21T23:16:00.002-04:00

The things you can learn from fairy tales! For instance, in reading these stories I discovered:

Poor but beautiful peasant maidens who wish to marry well should get themselves cursed by an evil witch, and then they are bound to end up married to a king or a prince (although there may be some discomfort along the way)
Young kings shouldn't go hunting or wandering in forests, as they are bound to run across a witch and bad things will happen to them as a result
If a gnome, an animal, or a saint talks to you in the woods, it is best to be kind and generous to them
Naive, fearless simpletons will either end up rich, married to princesses and heirs to kingdoms; or they will trade away their wealth for something worthless
Saints and miracles intermix freely with magic
Things are more likely to end well for you if you are the youngest sibling of three

It was a lot of fun to read these stories. Some were mostly-familiar versions of well-known tales, others were unfamiliar stories with echoes of the more familiar fairy tales, and others were just strange. In some cases, reading the stories again gave me a new perspective on them. For instance, there is the story of the old fisherman who catches a fish, and when the fish tells him that he is an ensorceled prince, the old fisherman releases him and goes on his way. But his wife wants something, and there begins a succession of ever greater houses and palaces and positions of power until the wife finally wants to be like God, and the old fisherman and his wife end up in their hovel again. I had always thought this meant they had met the limits of the powerful prince-fish's patience, but re-reading it this time I saw an alternate interpretation-- perhaps the fish actually gave them what they had asked for; it's just that they-- and we-- understand so little of what it means to live like God.

I borrowed this book from Abiel a few years ago (actually swapped it for one of mine), and she moved away before we managed to trade books back! I enjoyed reading the stories over several months, just a few stories at a time so I could take them in slowly.

Title:	The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimmm, Volume I
Author:	Jack Zipes (translator)
Date published:	1987
Genre:	Fairy Tale
Number of pages:	416
Notes:	loan from Abiel; read over many months

Summer Knight, by Jim Butcher

2008-06-27T01:15:00.002-04:00

The fairy godmother that dogged Harry's footsteps in Grave Peril was forced to trade the debt-- Harry now owes a debt to Queen Mab of Faerie, and she is requesting him to look into the murder of one of the knights of the Summer Court of Faerie-- a person of great power, whom it would be difficult to kill, which may mean that it is one of the other Queens of Faerie. Mab wants Harry to prove that it wasn't her, in order to avert a war between the two courts of Faerie. There's also some wizard politics going on, fallout from encounters with the vampires in previous books, that forces Harry's hand and makes him accept Mab's offer even though he knows he should avoid entanglements with fairies at all costs. Harry begins the difficult task of investigating the other six Queens of Faerie (three for each of the Summer and Winter courts), and does his usual bang-up job of alienating people along the way. And, naturally, someone doesn't want him to succeed in his investigations and keeps sending warriors and beasts to try to stop him.

There are some clever, fun parts to this story. I liked the way Butcher worked in all the known names of the Queens of Fairies by giving the Summer and Winter courts each three queens-- sort of a past, present, and future queen, in a sense. I also liked the continuity from the other books-- the Alphas from Fool Moon are around, keeping an eye on Harry and helping him out of trouble, and eventually helping him out in the final showdown.

That final showdown is pretty exciting. There is a war going on in the heavens-- the beginning of a full on Faerie battle that, if left unchecked, could destroy the human world. Dresden and his allies climb up into turmoil and dark clouds over Lake Michigan in order to fight their way into the center of the battle and stop the unraveling that was caused on purpose, to upset the balance of the Winter and Summer courts of Faerie.

Title:	Summer Knight
Author:	Jim Butcher
Date published:	2002
Genre:	Fantasy
Series:	Dresden Files book 4
Number of pages:	371
Notes:	borrowed from Garvey

Grave Peril, by Jim Butcher

2007-11-30T18:30:00.001-05:00

This time around, Dresden is dealing with ghosts popping up everywhere. Someone is stirring them up, causing trouble, and the barrier to the spiritual world is thinner than usual. Then, there is some kind of nightmare demon that is destroying people in their sleep and coming after Harry with a vengeance. Eventually, Harry has to face off against vampires (three different kinds, one of them an uneasy ally) to figure out who is behind the ghostly disturbances. This book did not seem as well-written or edited as the previous books in the series, but it's still a pretty fun ride. I particularly liked the character of Michael-- he fights alongside Harry against evil, but he's a holy warrior with a sword that's some kind of relic. The part I like best is that Harry, with his wizard's sight, can see the visible aura of power surrounding Michael-- which is his faith.

Harry also has to keep dealing with a fairy godmother every time he goes to the Nevernever. She wants to make him a captive (like one of her trained bloodhounds) and take his power for her own, and she causes trouble for him-- but she also protects him, since she wants him for herself. And the times when she arrives and saves him it seems a little too convenient. Also, the ultimate answer to the mystery seemed a little too obvious (although it was fairly satisfying). When a book like this talks briefly about a case that happened recently, you know that someone or something from that case is going to be relevant to this one.

Title:	Grave Peril
Author:	Jim Butcher
Date published:	2001
Genre:	Contemporary Fantasy
Series:	Dresden Files, book 3
Number of pages:	378
Notes:	borrowed from Garvey

Host, by Faith Hunter

2009-06-24T15:30:00.002-04:00

In this follow-up to Bloodring and Seraphs, Thorn once again finds herself battling the powers of Darkness. Even though she just helped the Seraphs defeat the Fallen Seraph Forcas, and freed the cherub Mistress Amethyst and her Seraph mate, they also barely contained a major darkness-- a dragon imprisoned under the Trine. In addition, a new mage has come to town-- supposedly to teach Thorn all the training she missed when she was forced to leave Enclave at such a young age, but he is arrogant and unpleasant, and she can tell there is something he is hiding from her.

For some reason, this book didn't seem quite as exciting or enthralling ad the first two; in some ways, it feels like a rehash of the things that have happened before. Once again, demon spawn attack the town, and they are organized, not just a mindless swarm. Thorn and her friends manage to fight them off with heavy casualties, and as before Thorn agonizes over whether or not to summon the Seraphs to help them fight, since that may cost the lives of the townsfolk. Thorn is also agonizing over her irresistible attraction to the Kylen, Thadd, and still won't make any decision about Eli's continued interest in her-- even though he reveals some interesting things about human-mage interactions and the joy or fear that can result. Thorn also continues to agonize (notice a pattern?) over her ex-step-daughter Ciana, who continues to do powerful things with the Seraph pin she wad given for protection-- who, apparently, is no longer quite human, along with her uncle Rupert, although we're never told exactly what they've become.

Eventually, there's another big drawn out battle. Thorn gets some new champards pledging to fight alongside her, and they do their best in a battle against all the odds. Thorn eventually comes face to face with the dragon-- and rather than a hideous beast, a "Big Bad Ugly," it is an angel of light, a fallen seraph, who tries to get her to join him. Thorn slips into the river of time again, and continues the fight there, resisting the power and seduction of the dragon Azazel. Eventually, after a lot of death and destruction and loss, the dragon is defeated.

The ending seemed particularly unsatisfying. There is some indication that one of the seraphs has been playing Thorn, manipulating her to accomplish his own ends-- but no explanation or more details. Similarly, we don't get any more answers (or even that many more hints or suggestions) about the true nature of the seraphs and cherubs, or what the mages are and why they came into existence. The book just ends with Thorn and her remaining champards recovering from battle, Thorn still not sure where things are going next or how she will sort our her relationships to them all. I almost thought Hunter was setting up yet another sequel with this open-ended conclusion, but I don't think that is the case either.

Title:	Host
Author:	Faith Hunter
Date published:	2007
Genre:	Fantasy
Series:	Rogue Mage Novels
Number of pages:	340

Seraphs, by Faith Hunter

2009-06-08T01:15:00.009-04:00

This book picks up a few weeks after Bloodring ends, with Thorn now exposed-- and licensed by the Archseraph-- as a Mage. Even though she basically saved the town, most of the people don't know it, and at least half the town is afraid of her, eventually calling her to trial in front of the town council. From her fight underground in the last book, she knows there is at least one seraph imprisoned under the Trine, and maybe a cherub, although Thorn seems to think she imagined that part; and a Darkness has some of her blood, which it is using to try to seduce and control her. Thorn keeps trying to contact Lolo, the mage who sent her into hiding, but instead her scrying keeps turning to truth spells, and she is having visions of her childhood when she was taken prisoner by a Fallen seraph, and also sees a vision of Lolo as a young woman. As you might expect, eventually Thorn has to do battle with the Darkness under the Trine again, and this time not only does she survive (despite almost dying a couple of times), she discovers that she is an "omega mage"-- whatever that is.

The plans set into motion by a Darkness in the last book take a big step forward. A Darkness under the Trine has captured a seraph and a mage (or perhaps corrupted some mages and turned them rogue), and is using these captives to birth an army of powerful, dark soldiers. They've also used the blood of Lucas, Thorn's ex-husband who was previously kidnapped and then rescued, in these demon spawn-- because Lucas is descended from the Mole Man, a hero generations ago who gave his life and blood to chain a great dragon under the Trine, and the Seraphs have sworn to protect the progeny of the Mole Man. This Dark army is bolder than ever, even coming so far as to come against Mineral City itself in a coordinated, planned attack, which is rare for the wild, uncontrolled dark creatures.

As before, Thorn gets pulled into a battle and goes under the Trine in an attempt to free the Seraphs and Cherub who are trapped. She almost dies more than once, she barely escapes being bound to the Fallen seraph Forcas, and she also finds herself joining with the seraphs to fight in the river of time, a spiritual or other-dimensional realm that the seraphs are surprised she can enter-- although it turns out they need the help of the one they call "little mage."

Among the many other things going on in the book, Thorn is contacted by members of the EIH, or Earth Invasion Heretics, who think that the Seraphs aren't actually angels from the book of Revelation, but some alien race come to conquer Earth. Parts of the story are told from the seraphs and cherub imprisoned under the Trine, and while the descriptions of these beings and their conversations together seems to fit with them actually being angelic creatures, there is just enough leeway that after finishing the book I started to wonder about this.

Fast-paced and enjoyable, this book was hard to put down-- although the ending is a little unsatisfying, as it is obviously setting things up for another sequel.

Title:	Seraphs
Author:	Faith Hunter
Date published:	2007
Genre:	Fantasy
Series:	Rogue Mage Novels
Number of pages:	356