The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy

It is 1792. The Reign of Terror grips Paris, France, and hundreds of aristocrats are being sent to their deaths at the guillotine. Only one mysterious person dares to stand up to this bloodshed: the elusive Scarlet Pimpernel. Though no one knows who he is, the Scarlet Pimpernel saves the innocent from death, employing incredible disguises to escape the French revolutionary government and bring his charges safely to England. Naturally, the French government doesn't like this much, and sends its best agent to track the Pimpernel down.

Written in 1905, this tale of espionage and secret identities has been credited as the grandmother of James Bond and other super-spies. The book's only negative aspect is that the good Baroness Orczy occasionally falls prey to the snobbery of her aristocratic rank and the prejudices of her time. However, in spite of these lapses, the story is filled with wit, swashbuckling, and a good dose of romance. This novel remains a classic for a reason.

Only You Can Save Mankind by Terry Pratchett

Johnny Maxwell is your average teenage kid. He avoids doing homework and spends most of his time hanging out with friends or playing video games. One night, while playing the computer game “Only You Can Save Mankind,” a strange message flashes across the screen: We wish to talk. We surrender.

Rather than obliterating the alien’s spaceships in order to set a new high score, Johnny nobly accepts the game aliens’ surrender. Then things really start to get weird. The game aliens expect to be properly treated as prisoners of war. They demand safe passage back to their home planet, as well as several thousand orders of hamburgers and fries to feed their fleet.

In this mind-bending, reality-warping novel from Terry Pratchett, nothing is quite as it seems. How are the aliens able to enter Johnny’s dreams from the game? Why is everyone else’s copy of “Only You Can Save Mankind” now broken? Is this all a dream, or is it real? And will Johnny be able to save the alien race from the most dreaded enemy of all – humans?

Set during the first Gulf War, Only You Can Save Mankind is a crazy tale of real and virtual warfare that is as darkly funny as it is insightful. As Pratchett writes in the introduction: “On your computer: games that look like war. On your TV: war that looked like a game. If you weren’t careful, you could get confused….” Indeed.

Five Poets of the Pacific Northwest

One of the advantages to spending a lot of time in the library is that occasionally you find some rare treasure of a book hidden among the bestsellers. Five Poets of the Pacific Northwest is an older anthology; it was complied in 1964, shortly after the death of notable northwest poet, Theodore Roethke.

All of the poets in this small anthology are northwesterners, either by birth or inclination, and all have been noticeably influenced by Roethke’s work. The similarities end there, however, for all five have distinct styles and differ greatly in subject matter. Some write about loss in a lyrical style much like that of the Chinese poets, others focus more on simple, earthy language to describe the landscape of the northwest and their travels through it.

This is a lovely little volume, well worth reading for anyone fond of poetry and the beautiful northwest.

The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke

Sometimes stories are wonderful. Sometimes they are good. And sometimes you end up with something of a mixed review. This and the following are mixed reviews.

Cornelia Funke has been called “the German J.K. Rowling.” The Thief Lord, one of her bestselling novels, follows the story of Bo and Prosper, two brothers who run away from their scheming aunt to Venice. There, they meet up with the Thief Lord (an Italian version of Dickens’ Artful Dodger) who invites them to join his gang of thieves. Their aunt pursues them to Venice, a hired detective starts to follow them, a mysterious old man asks the Thief Lord to steal a strange object, and all this takes place against the exotic backdrop of Venice’s famous maze of canals and cathedrals.

Sounds exciting, no? Well, I hate to say it, but something must have gotten lost in the translation, because for the first half of the book, I could scarcely make myself read anymore, I just found it so boring. The characters did not seem realistic. Even though we have a gang of kid thieves sneaking around Venice, the plot dragged and it felt like nothing was happening. It wasn’t until the second half of the book that things started to pick up and the story gained some traction. Then, the mysterious stolen object turns out to be something quite magical. In the end, the story turned out better than I thought it would, but was still rather less than I had hoped it would be.

The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo

The Newberry Award-winning Tale of Despereaux tells the story of a mouse who falls in love with a (human) princess and saves her from the hands (or rather, claws) of an evil, dungeon-dwelling rat. DiCamillo, (author of Newberry Award-winning Because of Winn Dixie), tells this fairytale with a quaint, “dear-reader” style narrative. Three of us recently read (or listened to) this story and compared notes on our reactions to it. We found our reviews were decidedly mixed.

The dominant reaction was that the book had its lovely moments, but it left us all somewhat disappointed. I found DiCamillo’s commands to go look the difficult words up in a dictionary and “dear-reader” comments at the end of each chapter rather patronizing. We all found the portrayal of the servant girl, Miggory Sow, who is badly beaten by every adult around her, quite disturbing. The rats in the story are also pretty nasty – they love to run about through the filth in the dungeon and torture prisoners there. One of our favorite characters got killed off abruptly for no apparent reason and I found the ending didn’t quite live up to the build-up it had been given.

On the positive side, the writing is quite well done. The characters are brilliantly written and very funny (on the audio book, the voices are marvelous), and you can’t help butlove Despereaux, the mouse who was “born with his eyes open.” There were also some wonderful messages in the book about love and forgiveness. Still, I couldn’t help thinking, throughout the abuse of Miggory, the “dear reader”-ing, and DiCamillo’s musings about courtly love, perfidy (that's one of the words she tells you to look up), and non-conformity: “Is this book really meant for kids?”

Wild Swans by Jung Chang

This is truly one of the best books I have ever read. By turns informative, heartbreaking, funny, and fascinating, this book follows the story of the author's family as they try to live and survive in communist China.

The story focuses on the lives of Chang's grandmother, a concubine to a warlord general, Chang's mother, an official in the communist party, and Chang herself, a curious girl growing up during the Cultural Revolution. The story also takes asides into other family member's lives, as well as the local and national history of the time.

Chang does something truly amazing with this book: she makes China's recent history come alive through the eyes of her family. From the terrible (her father's imprisonment in a "Thought Reform" Camp) to the beautiful (her grandmother's second marriage), Chang writes simply, truthfully, and with such honesty that you can't help but get caught up in her past.

Woe is I by Patricia T O'Connor

Along the same geeky lines of 100 Words Every Highschool Graduate Should Know, I checked out this book on grammar in the hopes of improving mine.

This book is pretty amazing: it is a guide to English grammar that is clear, readable and even (gasp!) enjoyable to read. (Well that last one may be a stretch for some, but I must confess I enjoyed reading it.) With witty title headings (such as "Plurals Before Swine" and "The Which Trials") directing you to common grammatical mistakes and quick fixes, this book is a great guide for anyone who finds themselves writing an important paper or cover letter, or simply trying to improve their English.

Angels in Pink Series by Lurlene McDaniel

This is a YA series. I often read some of the YA books expecially the ones by this author. This series is about three teenage best friends. Each book in the series is about one of the three girls. I have read "Kathleen's story" and "Raina's story". I am waiting for us to get the third one in the series "Holly's story". These three friends decide to volunteer at a hospital one summer, and they continue with volunteering with credits towards their high school diploma. The books are about teenage problems, romance, sex, values and self-esteem. Included also in these books are problems that can run deep. There are people they meet who have medical problems and it shows us how these girls deal with real life and death situations. Lurlene McDaniel sure has a way of getting into your heart and making you feel what her characters are feeling. Most of her books deal with kids and teens with medical problems. Many of her books can be considered tear jerkers, but are well worth reading.

100 Words Every High School Graduate Should Know

Just for fun, my husband and I checked out this book and read it out loud on our way into Spokane the other day. While I suppose this is a rather geeky way to spend an hour, it was much better than listening to commercials on the radio.

While the book did contian some useful terms, it tended to be biased towards the sciences (words like chromosome or mitosis were common), politics, and business. While many terms were useful, I think many good words from other disciplines or areas of life got left off the list.

Though I think this book could be helpful for those looking to learn new words, I think it would be far more interesting and instructive to read the dictionary. Better yet, I think you’d do more for your vocabulary by simply reading a good book.

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling

The 6th book in the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, continues the story of Harry Potter, the young boy who discovers that he is a wizard. In this book, Harry, now age 16, returns to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for his 6th year. While there, he hangs out with his friends, witnesses some strange events and accidents (one begins to wonder what kind of insurance Hogwarts has considering how many students end up in the hospital wing in these books), discovers a mysterious textbook, and learns more about Lord Voldemort, the evil wizard who killed Harry’s parents.

While the series in general and The Half Blood Prince in particular is at times very dark and scary (the wizarding world is under the constant threat of the evil Lord Voldemort), J.K. Rowling’s terrific sense of humor lightens the mood considerably. Also, in spite of the dark parts to the books, there is a wonderful theme of friendship and hope. Harry and his friends use magic we might use our own talents and abilities, but in the end, what wins the day in every story is bravery, self-sacrifice, and unconditional love for friends and family.

One more thing to note about the book is this: if you read it, you will be left with a cliffhanger at the end, and if you’ve come to enjoy the books as I have, you’ll find yourself wishing that J.K. Rowling had superhuman powers and could finish the final book yesterday. Until that final book comes out, however, you’ll find me in the children’s section along with the kids, scouring the first 6 books for clues about what’s going to happen next.

the speed of dark

I must admit that I am a real fan of Elizabeth Moon and have read every one of her SciFi offerings and many times have passed by this book as it is not Science Fiction, however a couple weeks ago in a fit of nothing to read I decided to give it a try and I was not disappointed. It is a novel which explores the anxiety and tension of life through the eyes of an autistic adult named Lou. It is a very enchanting and insightful read which had me pondering the question "what is normal?" I recommended this book to a patron and friend who has a young autistic son to help her to understand what the world may look like through his eyes. Ms. Moon is intimately acquainted with autism, through the raising of an autistic son, who is now a teenager.

Preserving the Harvest

The Big Book of Preserving the Harvest, by Carol Costenbader is one of the best canning and preserving books out there. I have been canning for 25 years and am always looking for new, interesting, and easy recipes. This book is extremely comprehensive - there are chapters on freezing, drying, pickling, etc - and all the recipes are easy to follow. One of my favorite recipes is for spiced peach jam - it tastes like peach pie! Many canning books seem old-fashioned and are full of laborious recipes. This book is up-to-date, fun, and full of practical ideas for preserving food at the peak of flavor and freshness to enjoy for months to come.

Ventus

Ventus, by physicist and writer Karl Schroeder, kept me up past my bedtime several nights in a row. It is way too involved and complicated to say much more than it is a Science Fiction adventure novel that takes place in the far future, involving an epic journey across a fascinating planet, with at least two big mysteries ongoing. The characterization is great, with a deeper and more involved plot than most run of the mill SciFi. An extremely detailed and enjoyable read that was really hard to put down.

Driving with the Detectives

A long drive last weekend allowed me to enjoy listening to two cozy British mysteries in the car. Jigsaw by Anthea Fraser features character Rona Parish, a writer by trade who ends up solving murders as she researches her books or articles. This story is set in the village of Buckford and it seems a delightful place, except of course, that a murderer is on the loose. I followed that up with a death on stage, Murder Unprompted, by Simon Brett. Charles Paris, the unsuccessful actor whose real talent lies in solving murders is finally on stage in London’s west end but only because the lead was shot during a performance and his understudy is being sought by the police for the crime. Jigsaw is read by Jacqueline Tong very smoothly on cd and Murder Unprompted is ably read by Geoffrey Howard on cassette.

Druids

Traditionally, history is written by the victors; the stories of the conquered are forgotten. In this historical novel Morgan Llywellyn tells the story of Julius Caeser's conquest of Gaul from the point of view of the native Celts. She portrays their daily lives, their beliefs and values, and their struggle to defend themselves against the invaders who neither understand nor value their culture. The "good guys" don't win in the end and the novel leaves us with a taste of what has been lost.

Locked Rooms

1924. On the voyage from Bombay to San Francisco, Mary Russell begins to have a series of recurring nightmares that seem to have to do with her childhood there. Her husband, Sherlock Holmes, is alarmed by the effect these have on his normally rational, competent wife. Eighth in the series by Laurie R. King, this is a fine mystery with a fine evocation of time and place.

A Single Pebble

Tired of the same old same old? Here's a new old.
John Hersey wrote this in the 1950's, and we've got a reissue on the shelf in Colville. Not finding anything new in my standard genres, and it being a day to be lazy, I took this classic. Hersey writes sparely and with elegance about a mixing of cultures. The narrator is an American engineer coming to tame the Yangtze, doing a survey prior to building a dam. He is caught by the rhythm of life in China, as are we. The rhythm of the words, the rhythm of the songs of the lead tracker, the rhythm of the water all combine to bring the narrator, and us with him, a different view of life.

The Mistress of Spices

This first novel (4th book) by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is fun and interesting. It's about Tilo, a young woman born in another time, trained in the ancient art of spices with special powers, who happens to be immortal. She travels through time to open a shop in Oakland, Ca. (in her ancient, arthritic body) where she administers her spices to a large variety of customers, and eventually falls in love with a handsome stranger and must choose between the supernatural life of an immortal and that of a modern woman. Quite a spellbinding tale of joy and sorrow, and an extremely enjoyable, easy read of 338 pages in paperback. No barcode- must be requested from the Northport Library.

Tried and true

The Colville Improvement Club Used Book Sale was last month and a bunch of books jumped right off the shelves in to my bag! Just finished one, Maigret and the Madwoman by Georges Simenon which was published in 1970. Maigret, if you don't remember, is a French police inspector and Simenon wrote over 80 mysteries featuring him. Unlike much of the mystery or detective novels of today, there is little in the story that doesn't relate to the crime so it reads quickly and refreshing straightforward. Maigret is a sympathic character, human enough but tres professional! While the library doesn't carry all of the Maigret books any longer, there is a generouse sampling for anyone who would like to try one.

Bella Tuscany : the sweet life in Italy

Bella Tuscany : the sweet life in Italy by Frances Mayes is a follow-up companion to her more famous, Under The Tuscan Sun. This is a great read for early spring since the author takes a sabatical from her job in the United States to spend a spring and summer at her home in Italy. It's full of gardening plans (and failures!), crazy weather, great food, wine, and ancient ruins. The author has a knack for taking you to a place and allowing you to discover it slowly with her. Just be prepared to crave some great pasta!

Spring Break Reading

Witch Hunt by Ian Rankin. A steady, quietly suspenseful puzzle tale of British intelligence agents tracking a young woman assasin. Who is she? Where is She? And most important, who is her target?
The Reader by Bernhard Schlink. A bequiling mix of love and horror; and finally a plea before the world for literacy. A very quick read, don't let the subplot of the Holocaust keep you away.