Linkie. All about what Jane Austen might have listened to. It’s only available up to the 9th of January, but I thought people might be interested.

Link stolen from a post on LT.

Books in Review

30 – The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
29 – Karel ende Elegast by Anonymous
28 – Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick
25 – Tamsin by Peter S. Beagle
20 – The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper
20 – The Ruins of Gorlan by John Flanagan
16 – De rover Hoepsika by Paul Biegel
14 – Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper
13 – Arthurian Romances by Chrétien de Troyes

Total: 9

Books Unreviewed

- Atlas: Poems by Katrina Vandenberg
- Dark Moon of Avalon by Anna Elliott (review forthcoming closer to May)
- The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle
- Luisterland vol ? by various
- Luisterland vol ? by various
- Luisterland vol ? by various
- Luisterland vol ? by various
- Luisterland vol ? by various
- Girl Genius vol 4 by Phil & Kaya Foglio
- Girl Genius vol 5 by Phil & Kaya Foglio
- Girl Genius vol 6 by Phil & Kaya Foglio
- With the Light vol 3 by Keiko Tobe
- With the Light vol 4 by Keiko Tobe

Total: 13

TBR Status

Started with: 191 (+18 rereads)
Ended with: 186 (+14 rereads)
Ban Allowance 10 Books Read: 3 books – The Nr 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith; With the Light vol 4; Charles Darwin’s ‘On the Origin of Species’ Graphic Novel (which I don’t yet own, by the by)

Other Stuff in Review

26 – The Fall (Movie)

Total: 1

Posts of Potential Interest

– On ‘Leedvermaak’
- Gift Natter (vlog)

Books That Entered My House

If there’s a nice little asterisk behind it that means I’ve also already finished reading it.

The Nr 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith *
Girl Genius vol 4 by Phil & Kaya Foglio *
Girl Genius vol 5 by Phil & Kaya Foglio *
Girl Genius vol 6 by Phil & Kaya Foglio *
Atlas: Poems by Katrina Vandenberg *
The Fairies in Tradition and Literature by Katherine Briggs
With the Light vol 3 by Keiko Tobe *
With the Light vol 4 by Keiko Tobe *
Drawing Down the Moon by Charles Vess *
Stardust by Neil Gaiman & Charles Vess (*)
A Dictionary of British Folk-tales part A by Katherine Briggs
Strange & Secret Peoples by Carole G. Silver

Total Already Read: 9
Total Never to Be Read Cover-to-Cover: 0
Ban Allowance Books: 4

Books That Left My House

RG Veda vol 2-9

First off, happy new year to everyone! (Ignore the fact that the new year is in various stages of growing older around the globe already.)

My new year was heralded by a catastrophic power loss of undetermined origin and I spent my evening frantically scribbling in a dark room. Don’t do that, you get headaches even tilting the screen down so much you can’t read what you’re typing. But I’m pretty happy with the reworking anyhow. We found out this afternoon that one of the cats had chewed through the power cable of dad’s alarm clock. The cats appear fine, but the alarm clock is dead. Power is now restored properly.

Given this is the worst that’s happened to me this new year year, I’ll take it as a good sign. (I’m due for a good year-start anyhow. It seems to go up and down lately.)

Last year, or yesterday, I read 200 books. Counting the ones I didn’t finish and the rereads and not counting the ones I read online. I’ll probably not surpass that any time soon. I read, counting loose poems and short stories, well over 100 new authors. Otherwise I’ve read only 96 new-to-me authors. I’m pretty durned impressed even so. That’s almost half the amount of books I read.

Favourites… I’m just going to make a small list here, nothing fancy or elaborate. These are just my ‘top five’ in random order.

- Twilight of Avalon by Anna Elliott (you, er, might have guessed as much. The second book in the trilogy gets excluded by virtue of not being out yet.)
- Libyrinth by Pearl North (might have guessed as much too.)
- Seaward by Susan Cooper
- Moonheart by Charles de Lint
- The Good Soldier by Ford Maddox Ford

I feel sad leaving out all the other good books I read, though. I had a whole, prettified list of all the books I’ve read, but it was too big to post and DreamWidth ate it. *sad noise*

If you’ve an LJ and want to have some fun with bookish things, though, here is my 2009 book poll. Ignore the fact it’s lopsided and missing a few books. >>

Things I want to do in 2010? Get my BA! Go onto my MA/teaching certificate. Possibly get a full-time job instead or… something. Have to get that BA first. >>

Title: The Nr. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency (LT)
Author: Alexander McCall Smith
Series?: First of the Nr. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series.
Basic Reason for Beginning: Kept hearing about it for a while, sounds fun and interesting, saw it when my ban allowed a book and, thus, got it.
Basic Reason for Finishing: Didn’t. I like the characters well enough, but I’m having some severe style issues.
Texture: I… am not even going to try. I’d say ‘childish’, but that’s not really a texture.
Blurb: Wherein Precious Ramotswe, Botswana’s only – and finest – female detective solves cases and the reader learns of her past.
Book Rereadability: I might try again when I’m in a different mood, but for now… this goes to my mystery-loving mum. She doesn’t much like reading in English because it asks more of her, but I think she won’t have that problem so much here.
Author Rereadability: It’d all depend on that hypothetical reread. (And/or someone whose tastes I trust implicitly going “But this book is a lot more Shanra-friendly!”)
Recommendation: Having read only a little, I can’t really say much on the recommendation front, but they seem to be more a collection of short stories than anything else.

Pages: 57/250
ISBN:
Challenges: None.
Aside: This marks my 200th book this year. (Yes, people, I made it! With time to spare! *little happy dance* I expect this to be a personal record for some time yet.)
Warning: Prose-snobbery strikes again!

Thoughts, Burbles, Etc

It may be that I’m reading this at completely the wrong time, but as you can see, I didn’t finish this. And I’m not sure I can tell you why in useful terms.

The bottom line of it all is: I didn’t care, and I wasn’t in the mood to give the book a page more of my time. I blame this, largely, on the writing style. McCall-Smith has some pretty imagery in the stories, very vivid, very visual, but not enough to draw me in, to make me feel Africa as best as my “I’ve never been here” body can feel it. (Read Monique and the Mango Rains, and you’ll know what I mean about feeling Africa as you read.) That’s my problem with the prose: It didn’t make me care.

I can sit here and tell you that I think Precious Ramotswe sounds like a fascinating person. I can sit here and tell you that I actually liked the short story structure and the way we start out with a case, and then go back to see who Precious is and how she got to where she is. I can sit here and tell you I liked the glimpses into a different culture, a different set of values.

I can do that, and I wouldn’t be lying. What would be lying would be telling you that I got sucked into the book. That I thought Precious truly shone with her personality. That I could see Botswana, rejoice in Precious solving cases, in her setting up a successful business venture, that I could feel the dust and darkness of the mines, the violence, see the beauty.

If I told you that, I’d be lying. Because I didn’t. I could have. I think I would have if the prose style and I got along better, but we don’t. The prose reads… childish. Simple. A million miles from where it feels it could be. It’s like… Giving silk to someone who’s never woven anything in their life and feeling the smoothness the fabric could have been, if only, but isn’t. These aren’t his first short stories, nor his first published works, so this isn’t a debut. Makes the analogy just that little bit faulty, but… Still feels that way. I hate that feeling. You all know I hate that feeling because I always point it out.

Storywise what I read is solid enough. Not, perhaps, the deep mysteries I was expecting, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Maybe the whole is a case of Mystery Light or aught. You’d have a hard time fitting a great big plot into those shorter stories, after all. As said, I appreciate the structure to the book. I appreciate the heroine. She comes across as a smart, no-nonsense, practical lady.

It’s just the prose I can’t get along with. As I said way at the beginning, though, before I started trying to sort my reactions out, I may just be reading it at the wrong time. My new-to-me books apparently are still failing to catch my attention, and dark, cold winter months may not be the best time to read about a country where it’s a lot warmer. (Want waaaaarmth.) So, yes, I can’t positively state I was in a very forgiving mood.

Other Reviews

Both Eyes Book Blog
Bonnie’s Books
Dancing among the stars
Educating Petunia
Grasping for the Wind
Maw Books
Rat’s Reading
Reading Matters
Somewhere I have never travelled
Tammy’s Book Nook
Vulpes Libris

Title: Karel ende Elegast (transl. ‘Charlemagne and Elegast’; LT)
English Translation?: Not that I’m aware of, but if you search for ‘Ingelheim: Charlemagne the Robber’ on this page you’ll have a summary.
Language: (Middle) Dutch
Author: Unknown, but the version I read was compiled and translated by Hubert Slings
Series?: Not unless you count a series of medieval texts intended for use on secondary schools.
Basic Reason for Beginning: Course book.
Basic Reason for Finishing: Course book. Also I’ve had an interest (a passive one) in this story since I read it for secondary school.
Blurb: Wherein Charlemagne goes out pretending to be Robin Hood and learns which of his vassals are true and which are false.
Book Rereadability: This is a reread, granted not one I think I’d have attempted without some prodding, but it’s a pretty interesting story and one anyone with an interest in Charlemagne/Carolingian Cycle.
Recommendation: *points up* Anyone with an interest in Carolingian tales, mediaeval tales, Dutch literary history… Probably more people, but that makes a good start. ^-~

Pages: 96
ISBN:

Thoughts, Burbles, Etc

I suppose you might wonder why I’m nattering on about a story which non-Dutch-speaking people may only get in summarisation. (I might be missing a few editions in French or German, I suppose, but I’ll bet the vast majority of the people reading this won’t be much helped by that either.)

Well. One the one hand, I’m happy to tell you all about some Dutch literature (not all, but some) and hopefully generate some interest in those books I’ve read and think worth looking into if possible. But, with this particular story, it’s because it’s a shame that it seems so little known. You see, in Carolingian stories, Karel ende Elegast has a pretty… unusual role, in that it portrays Charlemagne as very, very different from how most of the stories portray him. Seems a shame to deprive students of the literature of what at least over here is reputed to be one of the most interesting stories in this particular body of literature. I’m sure it must exist somewhere in an English translation. (But I thought this about Reinaert too and, lo, that wasn’t true until this year. >>)

The basic summary of the story is as follows: Charlemagne has a dream in which God tells him to go out stealing (stark contrast with ideology at the time), he meets his (wrongfully banished) knight Elegast* and together they uncover a plot against Charlemagne. A duel is had, treason is punished and honour is restored.

* whom Wikipedia wrongfully describes as “elf guest”. For all we know it’s “noble guest”. Lots of speculation on the figure of Elegast exists.

Interestingly, over here at least, Karel ende Elegast is also one of the examples cited to show you how bad medieval women had it, seeing how the good and noble wife of the traitor dares speak against him. (In private, but still.)

So, that’s the story and, not being an expert in the field, I’m afraid that’s all I really feel like I can say about it. So I’m just going on focus on this edition. As said somewhere, this edition is aimed at secondary school students. Which means I’m not getting as much information as I would were I buying one for university students and what I’m getting is simplified.

But I liked it and I wasn’t too bothered by the information. It actually taught me quite a lot that I didn’t know before. At least it feels like it did. The set-up isn’t one I’m used to – the story keeps getting interrupted to present us with some background information, but the story is also presented in a way I appreciate: with the old text beside the translation.

I’ll be honest and tell you that I don’t think the random “Oh, you try and read these lines with only hints” was very successful. (If you’ve been reading the modern translation you’ll find it a big jolt, not to mention it defeats the purpose of reading the story in translation first.) But that’s a minor quibble. It probably does work for its purposes, which is to introduce the story to a teenage audience in its original text (albeit with modernised spelling) along with background information to understand certain events in the story. Personally, what I liked most is how long the book stopped to consider the scenes where Charlemagne goes out being a robber/outlaw and, more importantly to me, what impact it would have had on the target audience. Those were insights that, in truth, I don’t often see given or reflected in any of the medieval texts I’ve read, not even much in the lectures. I don’t know whether that’s because we’re supposed to find out on our own in doing research or whether there’s no time to consider it or what, but I really appreciate it. The book does an admirable job at trying to get you as reader to experience the text the way it may once have been experienced.

It’s not perfect and I’m fair certain I’d recommend the version I read years ago over this one purely because the story doesn’t get halted all the time, but it’s a nice edition and I’m pretty happy with the purchase. (My tutors, I suppose, may feel different.) And if you have any interest in the topic whatsoever and you ever get a chance to read this I’ll happily recommend it. It’s a fun story and, so I’m told, a very interesting one in terms of subject matter.

Other Reviews

I haven’t found any yet. Please don’t hesitate to drop a note if you’ve written one!

Title: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (LT)
Author: Philip K. Dick
Series?: Apparently it’s the first of Blade Runner, but I’m fair sure my copy makes no mention of it. You can read it on its own anyhow.
Basic Reason for Beginning: It’s been so long, I can’t remember. But I’ve been having a shorter-book kick lately and this fits the bill page-length-wise.
Basic Reason for Finishing: ’twas… interesting. Very, very different from what I was expecting.
Texture: I don’t know. I feel a little dizzy having finished it, but that’s about as far as I stretch right now.
Blurb: (shamelessly stolen from Amazon) “World War Terminus had left the Earth devastated. Through its ruins, bounty hunter Rick Deckard stalked, in search of the renegade replicants who were his prey. When he wasn’t ‘retiring’ them with his laser weapon, he dreamed of owning a live animal — the ultimate status symbol in a world all but bereft of animal life. Then Rick got his chance: the assignment to kill six Nexus-6 targets, for a huge reward. But in Deckard’s world things were never that simple, and his assignment quickly turned into a nightmare kaleidoscope of subterfuge and deceit — and the threat of death for the hunter rather than the hunted…”
Book Rereadability: On the one hand, there’s a lot to reread the book for, I feel, but it didn’t grab me enough to let it merit a reread.
Author Rereadability: I don’t know. Time alone will tell. I’d probably want recommendations from people whose taste I know, though.
Recommendation: I genuinely don’t know. I don’t read a lot of scifi, but this might be a good introduction. I don’t know.

Pages: 244
ISBN: 9780345404473
Challenges: None.

Thoughts, Burbles, Etc

If I told you that this was my first encounter with science fiction, I’d be lying. I’m pretty sure my first encounter with scifi was Star Trek, or possibly Star Wars. I’m not rightly sure; it was a long time ago.

But, unless it was visual, I’ve never much been drawn to the science fiction, and then only in a handful of instances. Mostly, those instances seem to be the once where the focus is on people rather than anything else. You’d think that Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? has enough of that focus to get me interested, but if I told you I knew why I finished it, I couldn’t tell you. I finished neither out of a sense of obligation nor out of a sense of desire to finish. I’d have as happily put the book down fifteen pages in as I did 240 pages in. It’s an odd sensation to have.

I can look at this book and tell you that I consider it a good book. But I couldn’t, for the life of me, tell you why, which is rather the crux of my reviewing/book-rambling policy. I don’t even know where to begin looking for that answer.

Did I enjoy the book? I can’t rightly say I did. Just as I can’t rightly say I didn’t. I feel ambivalent in a way I’m not used to. Maybe it’s because science fiction is a genre I’m not familiar with. I have no guidelines, not even technical ones. It does feel like I’m floundering.

Also feels like I’m missing a great point. I used to feel that way in philosophy class. Always like I wasn’t understanding the theory at all, but I had pretty good marks all round for it, so I suppose I must’ve understood something of it. That’s a bit how I feel upon finishing this book.

I don’t particularly like scifi. I like the wonder and beauty of magic – the organic, so you will, that comes with pseudo-medieval settings, as opposed to the ones I’ve normally encountered in scifi – more than the coldness. And this book was cold, make no mistake. Nothing ever makes it any warmer, only colder and bleaker. Perhaps that’s the point, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it. I don’t.

I think that’s it for me. I can appreciate the craft behind the novel, but I don’t like the book. Hostile and cold, that about covers it, even the idea of Mercerism feels like that. Odd feeling.

So… Yes, you may have noticed that I have very little profound to say (not that I usually do, but hey). It’s just that this book is so far from what I usually read that I feel I should say something about it. I am glad I read it. There’s some very interesting thoughts in here and some interesting prompts and questions, but, ultimately, I still didn’t enjoy it. Suppose I lack the empathy to, if you want to put it in terms more related to the book. Least I guess you could put it that way.

Other Reviews

Book Gazing
Olduvai Reads
somewhere I have never travelled
Stainless Steel Droppings
Whimpulsive

(I’ve probably missed tons.)

So I’ve been lurking about a few blogs today.

Thought I’d do a small post. (Feeling a bit nervous now.) Well, a vlog really. Of stuff.

Hear me be self-conscious. Also, extra thanks go out to Amanda (from The Zen Leaf), Chris (from Stuff as Dreams Are Made on), Debi (from Nothing of Importance), Nymeth (from Things Means a Lot), though they’ll all have to forgive me the non-linkage. (Unless they don’t, of course. ^-~ Not obligatory.)

Also mentioned are several books, but you’ll have to watch the vlog to hear which ones. ^-~ I keep feeling like I’ve forgotten something… >> (If I have, then I profusely apologise and ask that you please remind me, so I can rectify that.)

I’ll go and try to do what I’m supposed to be doing now!

Title: The Fall (IMDB)
Director: Tarsem Singh
Rating: 12+
Length: 117 minutes
Year: 2006
Basic Reason for Beginning: I think Amazon recommended it to me on basis of owning MirrorMask, but I can’t remember. I saw it was on tv and promptly asked dad to record it for me. (I don’t know how it works. Can never remember it.)
Basic Reason for Finishing: It’s sweet, in a heartrending kind of way.
Quick Summary: Alexandria has broken her arm, picking oranges, and whilst she’s in the hospital she meets Roy. Roy decides to tell her a story, an epic story of love and revenge.
Rewatchability: I… honestly can’t say. I think, were I a child, I’d have appreciated Roy’s story more – and it makes up the bulk of the movie – but as an adult I can appreciate the nuances between Roy and Alexandria’s relationship better.
Recommendation: And then I got stumped. You see, I’d recommend the majority of this to anyone happily – and then the end of the story came and I was in tears. Up to that moment I didn’t see any reason to

Thoughts, Burbles, Etc

I’ll be frank and tell you that the story Roy decides to tell Alexandria is silly to the extreme and anyone with a vested interest in the mechanics of storytelling may cringe. I will also tell you that it comes across perfectly as a story being made up on the fly, which is what it pretends to be. So don’t be put off by that because you’ll be missing something incredibly beautiful.

The Fall, by the by, is not a whole lot like MirrorMask. Oh, sure it’s got the whole “reality – unreality/dreamlike state” going on and the whole ‘unreality commenting on reality’, but that’s about where the similarities end. And, if you think about it a little, the story Roy is telling isn’t even the important bit. But I’m going to be cruel and stick with the fantasy bits for a while longer. ^-~ The way the ‘reality’ interacts with the ’story’ is wonderful. Alexandria – a five year old – frequently interrupts to ask questions (like “What’s a buccaneer?”), she interrupts the story, forces change into it at times. Sometimes – if not often – the story comments on the reality of their situation. For all the swashbuckling adventure, it is very much Roy’s story, especially after a while as he settles into the telling.

I should probably tell you, about Roy, that he’s suicidal. He’s telling Alexandria his story because he wants her to get him morphine he can OD on. Perhaps not at the very first, but… Yeah. (He’s heartbroken, see? And can’t walk.) He is, at times, exceedingly cruel to Alexandria – which I assume is the reason the movie isn’t rated for all ages. Those scenes will break your heart.

So. The Fall is a story about healing, about friendship, about love, about fantasy, about storytelling, about a small child suddenly finding herself in a grown-up world, about trust, about finding inner strength… And it’s also about a colourful – if silly – adventure story being told to a small child.

It always feels odd to say “I liked it” about something that, in fact, wasn’t very enjoyable at all. I cried watching this. It was heart-breaking to watch Alexandria, in good faith, get Roy the pills he needed to sleep. How she gets him only three pills because she believes his ‘e’ is a ‘3′… (No, I don’t think that spoils particularly much.) Stuff like that. The Fall is a movie that shines in the smaller gestures like this. They aren’t big scenes, they aren’t flashy, but they touch you to the very core of your being all the same.

The relationship between Alexandria and Roy is played down in favour of the big fantasy epic he’s telling her, but the relationship is definitely and believably there. It’s a beautiful thing to watch Roy and Alexandria. It’s also heart-breaking to see how she reacts to the story and how the story reacts to them and reflects the changes in Roy. I was hoping, so, so badly for that happy ending that Alexandria was also hoping for. A sad ending, I’m not sure I could have handled that any more than she could have.

It is a stunning film. The costumes of the story section are colourful and vivid, a stark contrast to the hospital. The way the movie draws on ‘real people’ for its roles – the way The Wizard of Oz does, but then better – is a beautiful touch, a little haunting and at the same time completely in tune with the idea of a story being made up of parts one knows – such as Sister Evelyn’s liking to throw oranges at the minister, which leads directly to a discussion of how Roy knows Alexandria likes to do that. There’s the touching scene when Roy tries to explain to Alexandria what a soul is – also, by the by, the whole movie in a nutshell that scene. I’d recommend watching it just for those precious few minutes of adult-child incomprehension. They’re beautifully done.

Oh, there is so much beauty in this movie. It’s a wealth of everything you could possibly want in a story and it works. It works in the most heart-rending, tenderly touching way a movie could possibly work.

You don’t, however, want to read it when you’re down. It’s got a beautifully poignant ending, but not truly happy the way some movies are (Hi, Disney!). It is one of the most unique movies I have ever seen and it’s also one of the most beautiful and heart-breaking.

Other Reviews

Stainless Steel Droppings

((Still wishing you all a happy holiday-season!))

Title: Tamsin (LT)
Author: Peter S. Beagle
Series?: Nope.
Basic Reason for Beginning: Poor, silly me had it got into her head that this was a retelling of Tam Lin. Instead it’s a ghost story.
Basic Reason for Finishing: Once the prose settled down, I quite enjoyed it. (Also, fey!)
Texture: We have these cotton towels in the house. They’re not rough, but they’re not particularly soft either. This is a little like that.
Blurb: Jenny loves her New York life, but when her mother remarries they have to move to rural Dorset. Jenny loathes it, but then she meets Tamsin, a three-hundred year old ghost stuck on this earth. Jenny is the first Tamsin has ever spoken to and it turns Jenny’s world upside down. Can she help Tamsin remember why she has not moved on as most ghosts do?
Book Rereadability: I’m a little baffled to be saying this, but yes. I think I’d reread this.
Author Rereadability: This is my third/fourth Beagle story.
Recommendation: Ghost story! Anyone not interested in ghosts will want to stay away. Beyond that, it’s got cats galore and ghosts and the Wild Hunt and teen issues…

Pages: 275
ISBN: 0451458206
Challenges: None.

Thoughts, Burbles, Etc

If you look over my reviews for the past month or so, you’ll notice something: I’ve been having a really bad time with my new-to-me reads. Tamsin started out like that.

Tamsin is written in the first person and, right off the bat and continuing down to the end, I’ve had a problem with that first person. See, Jenny is 18 (soon to be 19) when she starts writing down her story of what happened when she was 13. My problem is she doesn’t sound 19 to me. Now, Beagle captures the voice of 13/14-year-old Jenny wonderfully. It’s the “I am now 19 and looking back on this” that I’m not feeling. It’s not majorly important, though, and I stopped noticing it after a while. Jenny’s voice had my going “Once I hit my required 100ish pages, I’ll stop.” I kept on reading, and am I glad I did!

I do still have a problem with the ending, because it feels like it ends too abruptly for someone who’s been making comments on what she’s writing from page 1, but it’s a minor thing and I’m probably the only person in the world who’ll have a quibble with it.

I suppose, in a way, I could leave it at this as I’m feeling oddly unsure what else to say, but to leave it at this would be to leave you unaware of some of the things I loved. Like Mister Cat. He has and doesn’t have a big role both at once. You know one of those minor characters that gives the protagonist the answer and never comes back again? Mister Cat feels like that, but at the same time he’s also always there. Also, he’s a cat being a cat. I couldn’t not like him.

I liked the description of all the ghostiness – even the landscapes, and you’ll just have to read the book to know what I’m talking about. I liked the way we got to know just enough about Judge Jeffreys to understand him. I liked the way it wove together ghosts and fey. The Pooka was just a touch to human-worldly to feel for me to fully appreciate him, but he was a lot of fun when he was around. (Or maybe I just have an odd sense of humour. ^-~) The story, I will tell you, felt a little oddly paced as I was reading it, but ignore the feeling – the book also works. The pacing is great. It’s just that there are a few spots where I lost sight of the pacing/the page count threw me for a loop. Or something. If you feel it too on reading this, just go on and ignore it.

Also, I adored Julian. If I feel that Beagle didn’t get Jenny’s voice quite down, he absolutely nailed Julian. He’s a minor player, but he’s such an adorable little thing. The familial relationships are actually, in my opinion, some of the strongest aspects of the book. It may be a ghost story, but it’s as much about Jenny finding her place in this new world and finding herself.

But, most of all, this book is one that fills me with a dual-feeling not many books give me: that sense of wanting an adventure of my own and at the same time knowing that, if I were in Jenny’s shoes, there’d be plenty of times where I’d wish I was out of that adventure back home on my bed, safely reading about it. It’s a precious feeling, though, to me and so I’m glad I found a book that did it.

It’s a really fun book, first person and not being about Tam Lin and all, and I’m glad I read it. It’s incredibly early to mention this, but if there’s another R.I.P. challenge in 2010 (which I’m hoping there will) this would be a terrific addition. I’ll admit it’s not scary, or spooky, but it’s a lot of fun and feels like a great autumn read, definitely in some places. It’s got that feeling that you want to read this on a stormy, November evening with a cup of hot cocoa and a blanket and a great big chair to curl up in, or whatever else strikes your fancy, and the reading’ll warm you up right as much as the hot cocoa does.

Other Reviews

Never Jam Today
A Striped Armchair
Stuff as Dreams Are Made on
things mean a lot

Happy holidays, everyone!

(Yep. That’s all I have to say.)

I hope you’re all having a good time — I’m not feeling too lopsided yet — and that your holiday season is free of scares and nasty things!

(Okay, not all I had to say. ^-~)

But I hope you’re all well, me dears!