The Sunday Salon - The Snowman by Jo Nesbo

I was in  a reading funk last week.  I picked up four or five books, read a few pages, put them down again. I knew my knee was distracting me, and sorrow, so I waited while I went to work and came back, some reading time lost because I am not taking the bus while my kneee heals.  Finally, I got so impatient on Thursday, I looked around me and thought, what do I want to read?  My eyes lit on The Snowman, the latest Jo Nesbo thriller featuring my love, Harry Hole.  Harry!  I thought. Harry can save me!  And indeed, he did.

For two days I read it, yesterday lost in bliss for most of the afternoon.  The Snowman is chilling, eerie, creepy.  Harry is back to his old self, that is, the self we met in The Redbreast before he went on his drinking binges over the next few books.  He is without his protector and former boss Byarne Moller, who has joined the ranks of the Dead Policeman's Society gracing Harry's wall:  Ellen Gjelten, and Jack Halvorsen, Harry's previous colleagues, and Byarne Moller, all dead over the previous  books in the series. Harry is now alone in his police force, and he knows it.  Even though he has two new colleagues assigned to work with him, he is not liked, although he is respected for his detective work, he is feared because he is that worst of policemen also, an alcoholic who regularly goes on drinking benders.

And yet, be still my heart.  For he is Harry Hole, who has love and loyalty too, to give, and who when he is not drinking, is the keenest detective alive. He makes brilliant leaps of deduction, but can't see what is in front of him until it's almost too late.  He is also clever enough to realize that the plight of the motherless children reminds him of how he felt when his own mother died, which we get to see in this novel.  He may be a lone wolf, but it's not because he doesn't care, it's because he can't find his right home outside of the police work he does.  At the end of the novel, when he is offered what he thinks is a choice, and he accepts.  It means that for the first time, he has realized he has to find more in his life, more to his life.  That seeking justice and the thrill of the hunt are not enough to sustain him any more.  I for one am terribly anxious now to read his next book!  Will he be in North Africa?  What will Harry do next?  If he stays on the force, what next for him?

So, the plot: is it good?  Yes, very. The Snowman is about a series of missing mothers.  All of them are linked by a snow Man built near the house.  The first snow fall of the year.  And yet, the children in the house didn't build the snow man.  When one woman's head is found on a snowman, and another has the missing woman's scarf tied around it, the police realize the cases are linked, and that a serial killer, one of Norway's first, is among them.

Harry is put in charge of the investigating team as he is the only one with experience with the only other serial killer in Norway.  He has also been on a serial killer FBI course in the USA because of this experience.  So he is the logical one to put in charge.   As always, the clues are in the details, and following Harry as he finds each clue and puts them together makes for riveting reading.  This is a very good police procedural.  It's also a very good mystery, even though I had narrowed the possible killers down to two, by 2/3 of the way through the book, this in no way took from the mystery - instead, I kept urging Harry to find the one thing that would confirm what I suspected!    And when he does, it is still almost too late.

This gets 5/5 from me.  Highly recommended, just make sure you have some hours free when you sit down with it, because you really won't want to do anything else but follow Harry as he uncovers the secret behind The Snowman.

Other bloggers and reviews:
Kerrie at Mysteries in Paradise

Sunday Salon: Where around the world do you read?

So Memory over at Stella Matutina has a post today about books she's read by authors from different countries. That got me thinking.  How widely do I read?  Is as widely as I hoped?  What do I want to read, and from where?  So today I'd like to take a little trip around my bookshelves and the world, to talk about:

THE WORLD OF BOOKS


You and I know, Gentle Reader, that there is a whole wide wonderful world of books out there.  Published in almost every language (because some are only spoken languages, they can't be written in words and therefore no books exist in that language), books come from every corner of the lovely planet.  They cover every genre, every possible idea that has flitted across man's mind.  What I'm interested in talking about is fiction, and because I'm me, particularly mystery, and fantasy/science fiction, my two main interests in fiction.


Last year this is where I read from:
Canada (my home country and nationality):  14
USA:  26
Britain: 24
Scandinavia (including Iceland): 7
Russia: 2
New Zealand: 2
Ireland: 2


Well, not nearly as world covering as I would like!  I am thrilled that I have read so many from Canada, which is one of my personal challenges every year any way.  I am delighted that I am expanding my reading to Ireland, to New Zealand, to Russia.  There are so many other countries to try.  I usually have Fred Vargas for France, but I haven't seen her new book yet.  One country in particular I do want to read more from is Australia, which hasn't made it on my list yet for several years now. 


I want to explain here that I do sometimes base my reading on where books come from.  I have a finite amount of time, so I do look for books from other countries, authors who write mysteries that sound interesting.  I like to read good books. I guess I'd say that I don't care where a book comes from, so long as it is good, but that makes it sound like I'm in search of the book, without the flavour that a different perspective and setting gives.  I am interested in the differences in viewpoints, in how we see the world, and what living somewhere else means when we tell stories.  I want to read more fiction set (or from) Central and South America, as well as Africa.  I do have on my to-read shelves books by Deon Meyer (South Africa), Andrea Camilleri (Italy), Alexander McCall Smith (Zimbabwe), Karen Healey (New Zealand), Jenny Erpenbeck (Germany; the last two are library books), Tolstoy (Russia), Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Argentina)......As our world grows closer in ability to communicate, I'd like to know what mysteries, what poetry and literature is like in other countries.  I think how we tell stories is one of the best ways into a different culture.  It's like where we stand in the world does affect how we perceive the world, our relationship to it.  So a writer in Canada has a different perspective than a writer from The Netherlands, or China, or New Zealand.  I like that. There is always room to read more from other places, so my question to you is:

Do you,  my Gentle Readers,  read around the world?  Do you have any favourite authors that are from another country?  Who are they?  What do you look for?  Tell me who you recommend - from your country, or who you love from another one. 

Here is my list - because fair is fair, and these are writers that I've come to love and seek out, whose books are imprinted on me and inform me about the world and the times they were written in - it is only a partial list, representative only for the UK and the US, where I read most widely from:

Artur Indridason - Iceland
Fred Vargas - France
Isaac Babel - Russia
Henryk Sienkiewicz - Poland
Henning Mankell - Sweden
Jo Nesbo - Norway
Peter Hoeg - Smilla's Sense of Snow - Denmark
Kerry Greenwood - New Zealand
Ian Rankin - Scotland
Phil Rickman - England
Jane Austen -   "
Charles de Lint - Canada
Robin Hobb - USA
Giles Blunt - Canada


Poets
Mary Oliver - US
Nikki Giovanni - "
Evgeny Yevtuschenko - Russia
Wendy Cope - England
Carol Ann Duffy - "


Books I have to take with me wherever I go

I also asked Memory if she had taken any particular books with her when she moved to New Zealand - books that she had to have with her, that she had to know were safe, and were with her to read, while she waits for the rest of her books to arrive.  I asked her because when I moved to England 10 years ago, I sent most of the books I couldn't replace ahead of me by boat (after dispersing much of the rest of  my library), and I kept a few special books with me to bring in my luggage on the airplane.  At that time, they were:
 The 2000 move -  Books I Brought in my Luggage
*If  You Want to Write - Brenda Euland
In the Garden of Iden - Kage Baker
*Bellwether - Connie Willis
*Black and Blue - Ian Rankin
Immortal Poems - Oscar Williams
Writing Down the Bones - Natalie Goldberg
*The Encyclopedia of Dreams - Rosemary Ellen Guiley
Animal Dreams - Barbara Kingsolver
*Smilla's Sense of  Snow - Peter Hoeg
*Persuasion  - Jane Austen
*Pride and Prejudice - "
*Dreams Underfoot - Charles De Lint
Tea With The Black Dragon - R.A. MacAvoy
*The Language of the Night - Ursula K. LeGuin
*The 20th Century North American Ephemeris
Secrets from a Star-Gazer's Notebook - Debbi Kempton Smith
The Assassin's Apprentice - Robin Hobb

I know, that was a lot to pack into two suitcases!  In 2000, of course, pre Sept 11, we could have two heavy suitcases.

Now though, I look at that list, and I wonder, would I take the same books with me if  I had to move to another country?  Some I would, and some I wouldn't.  I marked the ones I think I would take with me still, on the plane, with at asterisk *.  The rest on the list would be shipped instead!  I still love them all......The astericks ones are mostly because I know it would be cheaper to bring them with me than to replace them, and these are ones I would replace, absolutely.  This post is so long now that I will save the other books I would bring with me now, for another post. Because of course in the interim, I have new books and authors that I've discovered and love (Jo Nesbo, Phil Rickman, Gile Blunt, Louise Penny, Mary Oliver....the list goes on!) that I would have to take my favourites with me on the plane, to keep them safe with me.



Carl's Sci-Fi Experience

In one of those amazing coincidences that fill our lives, I just finished re-reading In the Garden of Iden by Kadge Baker, this morning.  I read it for Carl's Sci-Fi Challenge, and now realize it also falls in the Historical Challenge since most of it is set in 16th Century England, in 1555 as Mary takes to the throne. I read this also  to honor Kadge, who passed away last year.  She is one of my favourite female SF writers, and I wanted to see if I loved her first book as much as when I first read it.  Well, while I was upstairs looking at my books to see what I had brought with me 10 years ago, I came across some old journals that held, of all things, lists of books I'd read, going back to 1993!! So that's where they are! I said to myself, and then started flipping through, to see if any titles jumped out at me for what I'd bring over.  I found that it in 1998 I read In the Garden of Iden for the very first time, and this is what I wrote:
  "1st novel, very good! Wonderful SF, interesting characters, great history.  Solidly good!"
So I'm going to let that be my review today, because the book is just as good today for me as it was then.  Highly recommended.

The Year of the Ian Rankin re-read
So, this is by no means an exhaustive or even complete list of books that I love from around the world.  I keep wanting to put Alexander Pushkin on, but I haven't read him in years.  This just reminds me that the more I read, the more I find to love, but also that there are old favourites wanting to be reread, and I have decided that this will be the year I revisit my favourite Scottish writer, Ian Rankin, and his detective John Rebus.  I miss reading new Rebus!  I know he's retired (and personally I am glad Rankin left him alive), but I had years and years of reading him, and I miss him under my tree.  There is only one John Rebus, and so this year I am rereading him in order.  I have no set date for starting, and it's very loose - no schedule.  I'm not sure if I will get done reading the 16 books in the series, this year.  If you are interested, drop me a line or let me know in the comments, and we can read the books together and talk about them here whenever we are ready. 
** I have just discovered I am missing the first 4 books in the series, so I have to go buy them and then I can start.

Happy reading wherever you are in the world, Gentle Reader!

The Sunday Salon - Dissolution by C.J. Sansom, the Tudor historical mystery that brings 1537 to life

There is one more book from last year that I haven't mentioned yet, but that really made a lasting impression on me.  It's Dissolution by C.J. Sansom.  It is set in Tudor England during the time of Henry the 8th, and as the title suggests, it was during the period of dissolution of the Catholic Churches as Henry set himself up as the head of the Church of England.  All of this is 'dry' history, in that it's done and dusted long ago.  Why this book made such an impression on me is because we are at an abbey - Scarnsea in Sussex -  where a murder of the king's commissioner has occurred, and the chief suspect is related to the king's new wife Jane.  Matthew Shardlake is a trusted lawyer and works for Thomas Cromwell, who is responsible for ensuring the surrender of all the monasteries to the king.  Cromwell assigns him to go sort out the case and clear the kinsman's name. 

Almost the entirety of the novel is set at Scarnsea Abbey.  It's a very good mystery, the characters are well-drawn, and the remote setting at the abbey in the middle of a long winter adds to an element of isolation and fear.  It's 1537, and the surrender of the abbeys and monasteries to the king has begun.  Everything revolves around politics, even there far from the center of London, because  Matthew is also sent as a replacement commissioner for the dead man, to continue to examine any sign that there is heresy (adhering to the old ways) at the church, which would mean surrender of the abbey to the king and dissolution.  It is a fascinating way to explore religion and the meaning of a life dedicated to God, and what the monasteries were really like, how wealthy and how they justified it.  Matthew supports the Reformation, as anyone who survived had to. So he is looking in on the abbey and asking how the monks got so far away from the edicts of Benedict.  It's sounds boring, but it's not, because it's set under the 'wish' that Henry the 8th wanted it solved quickly, so Matthew must solve it, and fast, and because there is death and fear all around the monastery.

What so affected me about this mystery wasn't something I paid attention to at first, because I was busy watching (catching up) on the final series of The Tudors, which ended on CBC in November here.  I was thinking of King Henry one day on the bus, and what an enormous change he created by breaking with the Roman Church in order to divorce Catherine of Aragorn.  So I saw the political reasons and games and all the fascinating power from The Tudor court perspective.  Then I thought of the Abbey in Dissolution, and even though it was fiction, I thought, that's what it would have been like back then.  The monks would suddenly have had their world turned upside down.  Whether or not they were too wealthy, too far from their origins of serving God by being away from the world, what the real result of Henry's decision to leave the Church, was that hundreds and thousands of men and women who served God in their way, could suddenly not do it any more.  The churches were dismantled of all their wealth, taken for Henry himself and the Treasury of the kingdom.  The monks, Dissolution makes clear, were dependent on charity then, either family or a charitable stipend from Henry.  Matthew tries to find out what will happen to the monks at this abbey and discovers there is little he can do.  And so a whole way of life is dispersed, not because God ceased to exist, but because one man wanted to do things his way.  I"m not going to get into a political debate about the wrongs of the Church, the rise of Protestantism, Martin Luther, any of that.  What interests me is that Dissolution was able to bring home in an immediate way to me what happened in the abbeys and churches as they were dissolved.

From a historical perspective of course, many of the greater abbeys still stand whole and complete in England, and some became mansions and great houses, some disappeared as their stones were used in the neighborhood for repairs and building, and some stand as haunted ruins.  The landscape of Britain is littered with empty churches and abbeys, the wind blowing through stone, all that is left of once superb craftsmen.

One of my favourite abbeys is Whitby Abbey.  My husband and I have visited it often on our trips to Whitby, and it is still a presence overlooking the bay and town.  Once, long ago, an old religious house stood here that was the scene of the synod that  decided to bring  Christianity to England, the Synod of Whitby in 664 (destroyed by Vikings later).  The Abbey  is the remains of an 11th century Benedictine Monastery, just like in Dissolution. Already in ruins a little over a 100 years ago, Bram Stoker wandered around it and thought up the vampire story that began a whole new literature: Dracula.

I was privileged to also get to Lindisfarne in Northumberland and walk among the old castle ruins and monastery  at Holy Island, which at high tide is cut off from the mainland.  The monastery was one of Christianity's first monasteries in England, built in 635 Ad. A priory was built in 1070 but 'abandoned' in 1541.  Then a castle was built in 1543 with stones from the priory,  to protect the harbour,  and  was destroyed in the civil war, and eventually the remaining parts of the castle became a home in the early 1900s. It is one of the most remote and fascinating locations in England for me.  I thought what a wonderful place it would be to be close to the land and the sky, to be close to the sacred of the world, and how restful the location was.  There is something about how Dissolution was written, now, that when I think of Lindisfarne, and Whitby Abbey, I add the laments of the monks now as their way of life dissolved right before them.  How frightening and unknowable it all must have been for them. Dissolution makes that change real, in a powerful and sad way. 

It's also a very good mystery, and I like the main character  Matthew Shardlake very much. He is intelligent, and a good judge of character, and not always a nice person although he tries very hard, as a lawyer, to be fair.  This book would have to counted among my notable mysteries for 2010.  I have already Book 2, Dark Fire,  on my shelf to be read. 


Have you read Dissolution?  What did you think of it?  Have you read a mystery, or a novel recently, that made you understand something in our world a little more?

Sunday Salon - So have you read any of the books you said you would this year?

Bart at Bart's Bookshelf has a lovely post on his book-buying ban, here. It got me to thinking.......how many of you put a ban on your book buying for the first part of this year? And more importantly, because that ban was most likely put into place because your TBR Mountain of Books is likely as big as mine (over 100 books, like Bart's), have you succeeded in reading any books that were on your TBR mountain yet?

I am happy to say - YES! However, I have to modify this by adding: I didn't give myself a book-buying ban. I know myself well, and I walk past Chapters after work, on my way home through downtown, every night. There is no way I can resist the lure of shiny new books!!! So, I confess that actually, my TBR might have ..........increased since New Year's Day. However, in my defense, I did read some books that were on the mountain already! Here is my somewhat sad total, since I should be at 16 books read today, and I'm only at 10:

Books read since Jan 1
taken off the TBR pile:
The Serpent's Tale - Ariana Franklin
The Face in the Frost - John Bellairs
Fearless Fourteen - Janet Evanovich
Arctic Chill - Artur Indridason
Farthing - Jo Walton
currently reading : The Red Breast - Jo Nesbo

Books added to the TBR Mountain since Jan 1 (ie books bought.....)
Late Nights on Air - Elizabeth Hay
The Pillars of the Earth - Ken Follett
Magic for Beginners - Kelly Link
Lethal Legacy - Linda Fairstein
Grave Goods - Ariana Franklin
A Cure For All Diseases - Reginald Hill

***this never made it onto the pile, I bought it and started reading it the next day.
The Godstalker Chronicles - PC Hodgell *****Counts as 2 books

That's a difference of 0 to my TBR Mountain! I'm really thrilled with that!! It could have been much higher.....but I am making a point of reading what is on my TBR Mountain this year, and letting myself read (and buy) whatever catches my fancy. No rules. Just reading. So if my TBR Mountain looks the same size next winter as it does now, at least the books formerly on it will have been read and replaced by new books to read! This I think is my ultimate goal this year.

So how are you doing with your reading resolutions? Since my goal is 100 books read, I'm falling behind and for March, is my goal to catch up. Luckily for me, Carl's annual spring challenge Once Upon a Time IV (Yaaay Spring! Hurray Carl's Challenge)!!! is going to start on March 21, and I have some books on my TBR mountain I've been saving just for this:
The Book of Lost Things - John Connolly
Little, Big - John Crowley
Magic for Beginners - Kelly Link
The Naming - Alison Croggon
The Sea of Trolls - Nancy Farmer
Cry Wolf - Patricia Briggs
Urban Shaman - C. E. Murphy
Greywalker - Kat Richardson

and, I also confess that Patricia Brigg's latest paperback in the Mercy Thompson series is finally out, Bone Crossed, which I will be buying. Very soon.

There, they say confession is good for the soul.

So, how is your TBR mountain?

Oh, and what started all this? I opened my email this morning to find one from Amazon.ca, saying that finally, The Coffin Trail was sent to me on Friday, and I can expect early this week in my mailbox! Since I bought it in December, it doesn't really count for the new year slow-down, and I plan on reading it as well as Bone-Crossed as soon as I get my hands on them, so they shouldn't make my TBR Mountain fall over. Yes, confession is good for the soul!

Happy Sunday reading, my Gentle Readers!!

Sunday Salon: Some Science Fiction

Apology: Yesterday I wrote that the actress who starred in the English version of the Kurt Wallender tv mysteries had killed herself. I thank the blogger who wrote in quite rightly furious with my mistake - my apologies, the English actress did not kill herself, it was the Swedish actress Johanna Sallstrom who committed suicide in Feb 2007. The article that brought the story to my attention is here, from the Guardian website. So, the error is all mine! In my mind, I knew I was writing about the Swedish actress, but I unfortunately did not make it clear in my writing. Many apologies to the English actress. **although, I do say in my defense, that the article doesn't say that a different actress played Linda in the English version, so, I thought it meant Ms Sallstrom had appeared in the Kenneth Brannagh version as his daughter.

Now, onto the Sunday Salon:


Some Science Fiction, for a change.....



I have a book review! I have read Farthing by Jo Walton for Carl's Sci Fi Experience, which also counts for Becky's 42 Science Fiction things. I also saw a science fiction show on dvd last weekend, Firefly, which I will also give a little review here. Now, I went to Jo Walton's site, and discovered that she is writing for Tor Publishers online, and she has a recent post here, which is about reading science fiction. ( If it doesn't link directly, the post date was Jan 18.) I think it is a very interesting post. It is an attempt to explain why some people can read science fiction, and why some people can't. It has to do with the ability to look at words like 'tachyon drive' and know it means faster than light, but to not get hung up on whether the tachyon drive exists or could exist and what that would mean; science fiction is about what would happen to people if it could exist. Let me know what you think about Jo's post, and let her know too!

I was surprised to see she is considered Canadian now, since she is from Wales. I had always thought of her as a British writer. Now she lives in Montreal. And here is another interesting post from today by her, on what sf books to introduce to readers who haven't read SF before....


Now, on to Farthing. Farthing is set in 1949 England, after the war that is ended by forming a peace with Hitler. This is an alternative history book. Part of the charm for me of alternate history is to see what is different, and how the author has worked it in. In Farthing, the British political scene is rather different - Churchill never became the grand leader of the country, he remained a minor politician, because one of the characters in the novel went to Germany and fashioned a peace with Hitler so he could turn his attention to the East and Russia. The peace is holding, although the price has been high: the continent is under Hitler's control, and the Jews are still going to work camps and highly restricted. Farthing is about a murder mystery that takes place in a country mansion featuring the main politicos in the Conservative party who helped engineer the peace, so they are called the Farthing Set. When one of the main party members is killed, the house guests fall under suspicion. A yellow star is pinned to the chest of the victim. Only one character is Jewish, and he is being framed.

This was an unsettling book for me to read. I have difficulties with fascism, with totalitariasm, with basic loss of freedom. I tend to get very anxious and start rants in my head - yes, even with characters! who are being unfair and abusing power terribly. I know it's a story, but it felt real, both the alternate history and the usurping of powers for 'the good of the nation'. It was creepy, frightening, astonishingly fast, and very well-done. At the same time, I could not put this book down, and I thoroughly enjoyed the history aspects that are the same and different. The mystery is fun - it's a major part of this novel, but as this is the first of three (Ha'Penny and Half a Crown are the others in the trilogy), it also sets the stage, and end with the story hanging. I have to know what happens! It is also a very open and brave look at what people will do to survive, making a commentary on how - by showing how easily fascism arrives in England - how easily it came to Germany. A few look the other way, and it's here. The characters are very well done, the mystery is good, and the setting is fantastic. It is really a very good book. It was a nominee for both the Nebula and the John W. Campbell award in 2007. I am curious if the characters who look the other way in this book, find a way back to honour or not, if they find a way to take a stand - and I have to know what happens to Lucy and David Kahn, the two main characters caught in the middle of the mystery. I give this a 4.5/5.

Firefly - Season 1, on DVD. Firefly has been out since 2002 on DVD. It only aired for one season, during the last years of Buffy. It's made by the same creator, Joss Whedon. There are no vampires, no kick-ass teens...no wait, there is one kick-ass girl. This is where Summer Glau (lately of Terminator: the Series fame) made her appearance, as River. And she has some stunning moves. But the series isn't about her. It's about Mal, the captain of a transport for hire ship with his crew for hire: Zoe, his loyal sargeant from the war, who continues to serve as his second in command, and her husband Wash, the pilot (completely endearing himself to us when he plays with dinosaurs at the console); Jayne, who has more guns than any person should and whose ethics are questionable as well as his loyalty; Kaylee, the engineer, the sweetest girl who can understand engines; and Inara, the companion , who rents out a shuttle from Mal, and provides him with a decent cover of civilization when his rebellious outlook would get him banned from many worlds. Into this come Simon, a doctor, who has rescued his sister River from the clutches of a dubious government experiment. They are both extremely intelligent, but completely naive about life off-planet. And off in the corner, because this is Joss Whedon, there are scary monsters in the form of Reavers, who eat people, who are terrifying.

Firefly is science fiction without space suits. Or, as my son said, "this is like cowboys in space". It is. It has the same western code of honour (a man's word is as good as he backs it up with action; all he has to keep him civilized, also, and with honour). I grew up reading westerns, Zane Grey and Louis L'amour, so once I understood that this wasn't typical science fiction with space technology but a gun-slinging western set in space, then I sat back and fell in love. This is pure fun. I enjoy the writing, the characters, the stories with each episode, the setting. There are scary moments and funny times, and unexpected humour - the same things I loved in Buffy, are here in Firefly. I really wish it had gone beyond one season, but Fox cancelled it, and one season and one movie (Serenity, which I will be watching and reviewing later this year when I'm done the dvd) are all we have.


If you have never seen Firefly, and want some storytelling and action that does have the western ethos about it, then you can do no better than Firefly. I haven't gone into how Mal is kind of an outlaw, because he fought on the losing side of the war, mostly because I want people to be enchanted by this show too as they fall into this amazing world of space adventure. I kind of wish we could have a world like Firefly, without the Alliance (creepy and filled with government bad guys) and the Reavers, of course!!!

Firefly is as delightful as ever, and I am now working my way through the series. For Carl's Sci-Fi Experience, this is a great way to introduce someone to science fiction.

There is a lot of good science fiction out there. As Jo Walton said in her post today, it's a question of finding what you like in this genre, just like it is with any genre. I hope Carl's Reading Experience is helping those who aren't quite sure, to find some science fiction they can really enjoy.

Happy reading (and watching) science fiction, everyone!

Sunday Salon: What I am Grateful For: Books

The What I am Grateful For: Books Meme. The meme is from Charlotte at Charlotte's Web, who got it from litlove. I love this little meme, short and all about books and reading!! Please feel free to do it yourself and let us know.

What reasons do you have to be grateful for books?

Books keep me sane! Books inform me, guide me, allow me to understand so many other existences that otherwise I would not have the possibility to glimpse. Most of all, books are filled with uncounted, unlimited treasure that is available any time I open them. I can go anywhere the human imagination can go, through a book. Books also inspire me. There is so much to be grateful for, in the existence of books. I have always been delighted and thrilled and felt it was the most wonderful thing, to love books so much.

Is there any author for whose existence you are especially grateful?

Gee, there is no easy answer to this! It would have to be the writers who have helped me through rough times in my life - that would principally be Lucy Maud Montgomery and Anne Frank, when I was growing up. As an adult, the poet Mary Oliver, whom I discovered last year, has become my inspiration and my joy. Her poems reach into me and move me in indescribable joy, and outwardly reveal the natural world as I know it to be.

I also give thanks to every writer, for making the creative effort to write their books. Even if I don't like a book, I appreciate the attempt to write one. This doesn't apply to those who write formula books to make money; that easy work doesn't take something of the soul that real creative effort does.

What positive impact does reading have on your day?
It gives me breathing space, a private time that is my own. It is hard to describe how reading calms me down, how my brain can be running around like an animal out of control, until I begin reading and only when I come out of my reading time, do I realize I am refreshed and able to think better. In some ways, reading is like meditation for me, it has much of the same physical results on me: all of me is centered on the reading, and I am not here, I am there, in the book. Reading is my guidepost to being centered in my life; if I can read, everything is fine. If I can't, then something is wrong.

I also can't really imagine going very long without picking up a book. If my life is really busy and a couple of days pass without reading something, I get a little anxious feeling. I suppose if I were to be diagnosed with an obsessive-compulsive disorder, it would be this. I can't go long without reading! So it has an extremely powerful positive impact on my day!!

Reading is like going for daily walks, and eating properly, and getting enough sleep - it's part of my routine for health!

What good things has reading taught you?
Oh where to begin? Almost everything I know I have learned from books. I wish they would do a poster of that one!!

Is there any particular book that’s special to you?
Depends what category....I have favourite books in spirituality, mystery, science fiction, YA, horror, fantasy, poetry, astrology, biography......A special book, one that I treasure? Not any that stand out, mostly because I really like all the books that I own. I don't have any special editions of books except the hardcover of The Hobbit with the artwork by Tolkien. Some day I might look for older editions, or special editions of books I love, but so far I haven't had the money to spend; I'm not a book collector (of rare editions), I'm a book lover.

What are you most happy to have read recently?
Surprisingly, graphic novels. Every one I've read so far, I've been delighted in. I've gone looking for Alison Bechdel - I had her Home out from the library, but couldn't finish it, and I really enjoyed what I did read. Plus the Buffy graphic novels I read really impressed me (and made me miss Buffy on tv all over again). I haven't done a review of any yet, as I plan to do a post on all of them as part of my year-end review of books this month. And it all started with Castle Waiting, earlier this year. Who knew? Those, and the classics I've read this year - Jane Eyre, Middlemarch, Persuasion - I'm always happy when I include some classics in my reading in a year.

So, have you done this meme? Let me know, and I'll link to you.

Advent Virtual Tour round-up

Dec 5

Michelle at GalleySmith wrote about her childhood with advent calendars. My mother just made one each for Holly-Anne and Graham, and they rush out of bed every morning to see what toy or treat thay have for the day!! I really like them, and will try to post a picture shortly of what they each look like. Michelle's post has brought a lot of memories for other bloggers who also grew up with advent calendars. I didn't, so this is a new tradition for us!


Becky at Becky's Book Reviews posted a lovely list of Christmas-themed books for children. I don't recall any of these titles from when I was a child!! Did you have a book you liked reading for Christmas when you were growing up? Please let Becky know, she will be glad to add another title to her list. There is a wide mix of titles here, and I think I will be picking up a few for my children this year. Thanks, Becky! For some reason I keep forgetting about The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. And I know my children would enjoy it!

***This reminds me that Nymeth has a question on her blog today: Do you have any books you read at Christmas time? Any books for the solstice, anything that is a mix of family and slightly scary and magical too? She is looking for something similar to The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper, which she thinks perfectly captures this time of year for her. Please let her know if you know of any books like The Dark is Rising, and me too!

Back to the tour:

Kerry at Saving My Sanity has given a very moving post about her family traditions at Christmas. The first part of her post is hilarious, as she describes the long trip from the North Island of New Zealand to the South Island. I didn't know that New Zealand celebrates their Christmas in the summer!!! I should know this, I just never made the connection before. She used to have a full English meal in the heat of summer!! The emotional part is because they almost lost a family member earlier this year, and while her relative is in recovery, she is grateful that she is here still with them. This is a lovely post about what this time year is all about.

Mentoring Moments for Christian Women has post about Christmas cookie trees! They provide the recipe (a basic sugar cookie recipe) and it's very easy. So easy that I can myself trying my hand at it. Of course, my gingerbread houses fall down all the time (one year I declared it a national disaster zone as each house fell and could not be rebuilt!!), so there's no telling how my anti-crafting nature will strike the trees. The pictures on the blog look lovely, true tree creations.

Dec 6 - today!!

Melissa at Booknut has given her Top 10 Reasons She Loves Christmas. Except for the shopping and for the Nutcracker (I've never seen it live), I can relate to everything she writes about. This is a wonderful post to remind me of why I love this time of year!

Chris at Stuff As Dreams Are Made Of also wrote about books, as Becky did yesterday. His post is about the Christmas-themed books he'd chose for different booklovers on his list.
He has a wide range of books on offer, many of which I haven't read. *hangs head in shame* why haven't I read A Christmas Carol yet? I love the different movies! I'm very happy to see the tour including so many posts about books to read through or for the holidays. Ana, Becky, Chris, three of the most popular book bloggers have given us many Christmas themed books to read about over the holidays. I think I will be buying a few to start a little Christmas collection of our own! Thanks, Chris, and Becky and Ana once again.....

Stephanie at Stephanie's Confessions of a Bookaholic has written about her children growing up and that there is only one left who believes in Santa Claus. I can still remember when my eldest son declared he didn't believe any more. He was about nine, and I think a little piece of my heart broke. Even though I'm pagan, and he is raised in both traditions (Christian and pagan). Go figure, the human heart has it's own reasons. Maybe it's the belief in something a little magical, and it is a loss when our children realize Santa is imaginary. I might be pagan, but a part of me still firmly believes there is a Santa. Thankfully I have two years left with our two before I have to go through what Stephanie is going through this year. At the same time, Stephanie writes about her thoughts in the past wishing she didn't have to be up at 2 am stuffing stockings on Christmas Eve and could be in bed at a decent hour. I laughed! At last, after 20 years of wrapping gifts at the same hour, I find out I'm not the only one!!! Thank you, Stephanie!! I don't have the heart to tell her that children, until they have left home, expect the stockings to be magically filled anyway on Christmas morning, no putting them out early already stuffed....

Lilly at Reading Extravaganza has written about how Christmas was celebrated in Poland when she was a child. It's a fascinating piece on how different it is, especially in the solemnity leading up to Dec 25th. I didn't know Dec 6th was celebrated in Poland; I know it is in other European countries, as the day St Nicholas visits and leaves presents - under the pillow or in shoes by the bed are some ways. I know a little bit, but not much, because my grandfather was Polish. Sadly he didn't pass on any of the language to my mother, nor many of the customs from Poland, so reading this post meant a lot personally to me. Then imagine my surprise when she mentions there are pagan elements in Polish Catholicism, which is my heritage!

I hope you have enjoyed the tour so far, I certainly have. I am definitely getting into the Christmas/solstice spirit now. Our tree is decorated, the gingerbread houses are about to go up, and our Christmas dishes are down to use throughout the season. I'm participating in the Secret Santa exchange this year, so off I go to finish wrapping the parcel up. I do love this time of year, it is exciting as the year draws to an end.

May you have some reading time today!

Scaredy Squirrel - Sunday Salon

Scaredy Squirrel is a big hit among Canadian children. I know. Two of them live in my house, and reading time has become a big frenzy of who gets to read the book first. Why? you may ask. Why does everyone like Scaredy Squirrel? Who is Scaredy Squirrel?

This is Scaredy Squirrel. Scaredy Squirrel is afraid of a lot of things. Part of the fun of this book for children is that Scaredy Squirrel likes to list what he's afraid of. And he has a kit, a preparedness kit in the event that the unfortunate happens, and he has to leave his tree. See, Scaredy Squirrel is so scared that he has never left his tree.

And then the unfortunate happens. Scaredy Squirrel leaves his tree!! What happens? N-uh uh, I'm not telling. You'll have to get the book and read it for yourself. Then, if you know any children, read it to them. And see if you ever get the book back from them, or can ever read it by yourself again. I guarantee every child under the age of 95 will love this book.

There are two extra bonuses to this book:
1) it's Canadian, thus you would be one book further along in the Canadian book Challenge; and
2) there are three more books already in the series:
Scaredy Squirrel makes a Friend
Scaredy Squirrel Goes to the Beach (this one I have to read!)
and
Scaredy Squirrel At Night.

Luckily for our family, we had two recent birthdays, the eldest son (now 21!) and the youngest son, now age 5. At his birthday party he received Scaredy Squirrel at Night:

Much to my son's delight - ok, for all of us! , Scaredy Squirrel at Night is just as good as Scaredy Squirrel. Now is there anyone out there who has never lay awake one night, watching shadows on the wall, heart pounding? Anyone? Well, then Scaredy Squirrel is for all of us. Scaredy Squirrel in this book is so afraid of the dark that he is afraid to go to sleep. So how does he stay awake all night? what happens when he does? what happens when he eventually falls asleep? Kids everywhere will love this book. Mine love this one as much. Because Scaredy Squirrel has a bad dream action plan in case he does fall asleep and in case he has a bad dream. And then one night he gets to put the action plan into effect.......

I like Scaredy Squirrel. I can relate to him.

One of the many very very good things about this series is that the almost 7-year old and the now-5 year old both love these books. Best of all, the five year old, who almost never picks a book up on his own, has been seen reading Scaredy Squirrel at Night on his own, in the middle of the day.

Well, both children are now circling around me while I write this, asking what I'm saying, why am I writing about Scaredy Squirrel? I can see some reading time coming up again. Because they both want to read the books, we've had to work out a system where one child goes first one day to read one book out loud, and the next day the other child gets the chance. And don't ask why they can't take turns with the books on the same day, it's all about being first these days. Sometimes they have to read in separate rooms because they don't want to hear the other child reading it out loud! 'I can do it better than you!" No one ever said people in my family weren't competitive.....

My book-lover's heart is secretly overjoyed that they are fighting over who gets to read Scaredy Squirrel first. They are fighting over reading!!!

Happy Sunday reading everyone!

Sunday Salon : Talking About Books

I've missed talking about books. I've missed you, my dear Book bloggers. It's good to be back.

Yesterday I was writing about Flashforward, a book I wasn't quite done reading yet. I finished it this morning, and I have a few things to add about it, and science fiction writing in general.

Firstly, I need to say that there is some very, very good writing in science fiction. There always has been. If you're interested in the best science fiction has to offer, than start with the Hugo (this year's winner was Neil Gaiman for The Graveyard Book) and the Nebula (this year's winner was Ursula K LeGuin for Powers) awards reading lists. From there, check the Locus (link is on the sidebar) best novels of the year. I think I felt a little guilty last night when I couldn't come up with more writers who are excellent right away! Gosh, there are so many - Lois McMaster Bujold, Elizabeth Hand, Paul Park, Naomi Novik, Mary Gentle, Kim Stanley Robinson, and Orson Scott Card. There are classics that I think should more widely read just for the ideas and the future examined, as well as characters and plot. Urusula K. LeGuin, Larry Niven, Neal Stephenson. So many. So when I say Flashforward is an average read, I feel guilty on two fronts; one, Robert J Sawyer is Canadian and I desperately want most of our books to be really good! and two, I feel like I'm perpetuating the stereotype that science fiction is about tomorrow and science ideas first, and good writing second. It's not. The best science fiction transcends the genre and becomes a very good book about people in the future. And how cool is that, to be able to imagine what we could be and to, tomorrow?
Flashforward - Canadian Book Challenge 3 review
So, with that said, my final review of Flashforward is that it is a decent read. It ends better than I thought it would. There still isn't enough characterization to satisfy me, but then I read Middlemarch at the beginning of this year and so far many books I've read this year haven't come close to it yet. Which sometimes I think is unfair, but again, if the best book I read this year was written two centuries ago, doesn't that say something amazing about how literature survives past its immediate time? I don't think Flashforward will - although the idea it presents is so interesting - but some of the very best SF, oh yes, we'll be reading into the next 100 years. So, if you are watching the tv show and it's going too slowly for you, read this book - the tv series is different enough that I think you can do the two at the same time. If you are interested in Canadian science fiction and need a book for the Canadian Challenge, this is a fun one to read for it. And if you want to know what life could be like in 2023, as well as 2008, this is also enjoyable. And the characters are fun, but I can't take them seriously. Some of their motivations aren't explained, and how they react could be more explored, but he took a philosophical bent and that was interesting to think about too. I understand the Schrodinger's Cat physics theory better after reading this book! This book is about the science, but it is enjoyable to read also. 3/5

Talking about best books of the year, Bart at Bart's Book Reviews has a very good post up about choosing your favourite books of the year, since we are approaching that time of year again. He is interested in how readers go about choosing their favourite books. Please let him know, he wants to hear from anyone who goes through this process! How do you choose your favourite book read? I will be doing a post about this later, so all I'll say for now is, yes, there are certain criteria a book has to meet in order to make my list of best books of the year.

I have one last thing before I finish this post. This is for you, my lovely Bad Bloggers. I have a journal now that I keep my list of books I want to read because of YOUR REVIEWS. When I was compiling my list of books I want for Christmas, that was merely what I'd seen in one bookstore this week. I had an idea last night, and went into my bad blogger journal. Here are some books I'm adding to my Books I Want For Christmas List that I began yesterday, that are due entirely to YOUR REVIEWS (bad bloggers are highlighted)

SUSAN'S BAD BLOGGER'S CHRISTMAS BOOK LIST

- Book of Lost Things - John Connolly (Robin, A Fondness for Reading)
- Voodoo Season - Jewell Parker Rhodes (Chris, Stuff as Dreams are Made Of and Eva, A Striped Armchair- reviewed closely together, both equally guilty!)
- Monkey Beach - Eden Robinson (Stephanie, Stephanie's Confessions of a Book-a-Holic)
- Company of Liars - Karen Maitland (Margaret, Books Please)
- The True Story of Hansel and Gretel - Louise Murphy (Wendy, Musings of a Bookish Kitty)
- Looking For Alaska - John Green (Tanabata, In the Spring It is the Dawn)
- Leviathan or the Whale - Philip Hoare (Bride, Bride of the Book God)
- The Way the Crow Flies - Ann-Marie MacDonald (Ann, Table Talk)
- Sea of Trolls - Nancy Farmer (Book Pusher, The Genteel Arsenal)
- Rosemary and Rue - Seanan McGuire (Joanne, Book Zombie)
- An Instance of the Fingerpost - Iain Pears (Ann, Table Talk)
- Mortal Love - Elizabeth Hand (Nymeth, Things Mean Alot)
- The Night Watch - Sergei Lukyanenko (Memory, Stella Matutina)

*Eva at A Striped Armchair is also responsible for The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie review she did recently, which also brought to my attention that Alan Bradley is Canadian. So she gets another point even though I mentioned it yesterday.....

The best of all? Many of these books are books that you loved and posted about. Some you mentioned to me in comments, or in separate emails. All are books I made a note of, and then looking through my journal, thought, "yes! yes, I'm ready to read this now." So thank you, lovely bad creative book bloggers. That's 13 books easily added to my Christmas list. This does NOT include the books from the library I've been getting out and reading because of your blogs, although alas, I'm not doing very well at posting about the books I've read because of you this year.

******Oh! Added just now: just found this one on Genteel Arsenal and MUST find this book asap:
The Bog Child - Siobhan Dowd.

Yes, I'm back. Happy Sunday reading, every one!

Sunday salon - Fabulous Fall is finally here, in pictures.....

In autumn, here in Canada, we are treated to a glorious array of colours as autumn descends on us.

There is something about the smell of the leaves and the ground, the final harvest, the early frost and fogs and much cooler evenings, that I have always loved.Yesterday I went for a walk.

It was a sunny afternoon, and I'd noticed in the past week that some leaves are starting to change colour.

I love autumn.


It is my favourite time of year.


Whenever I do go on my picture-taking walks, it is now, in the fall. Autumn is slow this year, and only the rare tree is fully changed colours. Sometimes in past years this or next weekend has been the weekend to go out and tour the valleys and hills for the glorious colours. I was most surprised to learn when I lived in England that they have autumn too - we never talk about what autumn is like in other countries, only pay attention to what is in ours. Julia at Piece of My Mind (in Nova Scotia) has also done a picture post about autumn in her area, the link is here.

These are what I saw yesterday. I especially like dark branches against the sky.


There is something about the brilliant colours, like a final array of glory before the leaves die, only to come again in the spring. It's like everything is saying, "now, one more time."


I love the rainy days, the sound of the leaves beneath my feet, the bare branches, the last flowers in the garden.

Melancholy, and dark beauty. Smell of smoke from chimneys in the air. Pumpkins and turkey (for us Thanksgiving is next weekend, right in the middle of autumn), apples and squash,


last roses and mums and daisies.

And what do I do when it's cold and rainy out? Why, I read. I can finally curl up on afternoons with a book, and not feel guilty that I'm missing sunshine outside. Now, as the night draws closer, I drink cocoa and start hiding out in my home, preparing for our long winters ahead. Come, see what my almost-finished library looks like:
I am still missing one more shelf at least (you can't see the books still piled on the floor), but at least A-S is on the shelves! I plan on adding a comfortable reading chair and getting a better reading lamp, and then my reading corner/library will be all set. This is not my TBR shelves, by the way. At the top of my shelves, you can see my bear collection. They think they need a shelf to themselves, but as they can see, there is no room yet.....

So what do you do when it's cold and rainy? What do you love about autumn? Do you take many fall pictures? Are there any traditions you associate with this time of year that you enjoy?


Before I forget, here is today's Bluenose Excerpt. Autumn has definitely put me in the mood for ghost stories!

Dr Robinson of Annapolis Royal used to hear the story of the Grey Lady and, if my memory serves me faithfully, it was from his family that I learned of his meeting with her. It happened one night when he was driving home from a call. He came to an elbow in the road where there was a small bridge that crossed a brook, and there were alder thickets that grew close to the side of the road. As he drew near the bridge his horse stopped. The doctor urged it on but it snorted and jumped and stamped. He got out of his old-fashioned gig with its big spider wheels and went to the horse's head. There he saw the Grey Lady standing in front of the horse and trying to stop him. As he approached, she disappeared from sight. The horse was so agitated that he took it by the bridle and led it along. When they got to the bridge, he discovered that it had been washed out by a spring freshet and, if he had not been stopped in this extraordinary way, he would probably have had a bad accident. He recalled then that other people had told of seeing her on this bridge, and that her appearance was usually a warning of one kind or another. This was a foggy night when he would not have been able to see the gap until it was too late.

Happy reading, everyone!

Sunday Salon - reading Neil Gaiman to my daughter

Tonight I read The Wolves in the Walls by Neil Gaiman to my 6 year old daughter. At the end of the book, she asked me, "Mommy, are there really wolves in the walls?"

Thank you, Mr Gaiman, for this beautiful funny book. Thank you for writing down your dreams and imaginings, and teaching my daughter to wonder if indeed, wolves can live in the walls of a house.



Happy reading, Gentle Readers!

Sunday Salon - Stephen King is back!!!

Sometimes, very occasionally, a book is worth the buzz around it. Even more rarer, a book is better than the reviews. I am so thrilled to say that Duma Key deserves more rave reviews than it got. It's a return to vintage Stephen King, MINUS the extra gore-fest that he admitted in his first writing nonfiction look at horror book, Danse Macabre, that he would do if he got stuck when writing. He would go for the gross-out rather than holding back. In Duma Key, he has learned how to hold back, and for the first time since The Shining, I found myself scared, and hearing noises in the dark that weren't really there, and scared of my open windows at the back balcony - I had to close them both in order to get rid of the feeling someone was there, looking in, so I could finish the book. That's how effectively creepy Duma Key is. And I am so delighted to be able to say it. Uncle Stevie is back.

Duma Key is about a wealthy construction owner who survives a terrible accident at one of his worksites, and what happens to him afterward. A lot of people aren't aware that when there is a head injury, sometimes the personality changes, and anger and other emotions are much more uncontrollable for the victim. King writes about this in his character, and it is one of the strengths of this novel that the anger doesn't take over; this is not a novel about rage, it's a novel about finding strength to recover no matter the odds. And Edgar Freemantle loses a lot in this story, but he doesn't lose his sense of humour, and Stephen King the author doesn't lose the plot.

So now you are asking me, "So Susan, what about the horror? Is there any good horror in this story?" Oh my, yes, there is. To aid in his recovery, Edgar's doctor recommends a change of scenery, and Edgar goes, as many people do, to someplace warm: Florida. Except he's not in the centre of Florida with all the snowbirds (as we call our Canadians who head down south for the winter, and there are a lot of us, thus the term!), he's down on the edge of Florida in the Gulf, on a tiny island which is called a key. And this is not a good island to live on. It is owned by one family, the Eastbournes, that Edgar finds during the novel have a tragic history. But he only discovers this slowly, because Edgar discoveres that he can draw, and not only can he draw, he is almost possessed to do so.

This part of the book where Edgar lets the paintings come through him, the focus and the opening of himself to it, feels so authentic - this is what an artist does, this is what any creative person does, this is how Stephen himself recovered from his terrible car accident when he was hit by the truck driven by a man who had bent over to dig some food - a steak I believe -for his dog. The truck smashed into Stephen, as we all know, and he almost died. Some of that recovery process is used to excellent service in Duma Key. One of the best things is that Edgar doesn't question opening himself to his art; he does not know what he is painting or why, the pictures just come to him, so he paints them. When he discovers that the figure he is painting is someone he loves, both he and us the reader share in that awful moment of clarity that something dreadful might happen, might be happening, and can it be stopped?

There are genuinely terrifying moments in this book, of which one scene has direct links to a scene in The Shining, but I don't want to say any more. I do know that if I was alone in a house and woke up to find footprints that aren't mine leading to my bedroom door, I would be out of that house so fast there would be a puff of air behind me. Edgar doesn't leave, but I never felt the same about the Big Pink, as he calls the house he stays in, again. I felt dread throughout the rest of the novel that he was staying there still. It was like the horror was drawing nearer to him, only he couldn't quite grasp it, but we the reader can.

At the end of the book, when he could have so easily gone for the gross-out, King doesn't. And so I can genuinely say the ending is as effective as any he's done. This book is almost as good as The Shining. It has the same slow build of wrongness, the same slow build that terror is coming but we (and the characters) don't know where from, and of good people caught in a spiral that they can't get away from. When the evil is revealed, it's not a cop-out as say some of Stephen's middle books have had; the characters here have a choice of action, have a choice to fix it, and they try. They are heroes. This is like The Stand mixed with The Shining. Without the grand scale of The Stand, and without the absolute terror of Danny alone with his gift in that terrible hotel. For me, The Shining is one of the scariest novels of all time. Duma Key is not as scary as that, but it comes a very good second in Stephen King's books for me. It does not have as many scary moments as The Shining, but it shares some of the same themes: isolation, a gift one can't control, an old evil that needs to be contained, and good friends that help the hero. One of the main differences is that this is an adult novel, with the characters of varying ages, with adult themes of love, and loss, and death. Like Bag of Bones (the last Stephen King novel I read), the characters are thoughtful, and look backwards and forwards to try to explain what happens, but they do not have all the answers.

I like this restrained ghost-story telling. And don't get me wrong; there is plenty of death, and gruesomeness in Duma Key, but it fits into the story. And the ending is good, very satisfying. Indeed, when I closed the book late last night, I wanted more of Edgar Freemantle. I wanted to know what his life was like, the adventures he had, what he thought about things. I genuinely like him. And that is some achievement in any book, never mind a horror book.

This is a good horror novel, and one I can happily recommend as a scary read. 4.5 /5, because I would have liked more spookiness...

This is my first book read for Carl's RIP IV. I hope the others are as good. I'm just sad it took me a year after buying Duma Key to read it!

Today's Bluenose Excerpt:
"A dwelling known as Shelburne House was erected at the time of the Loyalists but it was torn down many years ago. The sound of the front door opening and of an officer's sword clanking as he ascended the stairs was heard at times, but only by certain people.
"One time a lady who had never been in the town before was a supper guest at Shelburne House and, during the evening, she heard this same mysterious interruption. When her husband called for her later she asked if the house was supposed to be haunted. He asked her whatever made her think such a thing? 'What did you hear?' he said.
" ' I heard the front door open and it was followed by the clank of a sword on the stairway, ' she said.
" ' I can't say you imagined it,' her husband said, 'for it's been heard before.' Nobody knows the reason for it, or whether this was a restless ghost or a scene re-enacted from the past. "

And as a treat, since I have missed a few days posting, here is another ghost story:

When Annapolis Royal was taken over by the English in 1710 a number of the people who came also brought slaves with them. Some of their descendants are there to this day....I visited one of the older women one day with the following result.
"When I was first married I lived in a house on the left hand side of the Granville road above the railway tracks. One day I was in my kitchen when I looked up and saw a man standing in the doorway with a chain around one leg and a dog sniffing at his heels, and I could hear the sound of the dog sniffing. That seemed so strange to me. I wasn't frightened, but I must have moved because suddenly they disappeared and I have never seen them since. He must have been trying to lift the wooden latch to come in. I didn't like to say anything about it to anybody until one day the rector's wife came to call. I thought she would laugh at me but I wanted to tell her and I did. But she didn't laugh. She knew the history of the houses in Annapolis and she said that years ago that house had belonged to a general and that he was known to have had a slave who was chained by the leg."

Sunday Salon - today's Bluenose Ghosts excerpt

From Bluenose Ghosts, today's ghostly excerpt:

Forerunners come sometimes as a kindly form of preparation where the shock of sudden death might be too great. An Amherst couple, for instance, lived happily together, and both were in excellent health. There was no reason to suppose any change would come to alter their unruffled lives. The house they lived in was very old and had bolts to fasten the doors. One night Rachel and her husband went to their room and he bolted the door as he always did. They were no sooner settled than she asked him to shut the door. He said, "I did." She said, "It's open," so he got up and closed it a second time. Once more they prepared themselves for sleep when again Rachel pointed out that the door was open. This time after closing it he got back into bed, but crawled in beside her and shivered and shook. She said, "What did you see?" but he refused to tell her. Finding him so greatly upset, and not being able to discover the reason, she appealed to her brother for help. "No," her husband said, "I won't tell you now, but if it ever comes to pass I'll tell you then." The next day Rachel took sick and a few days later she died and it was very sudden and distressing. She was laid out in a white dress and, when her husband saw her like this, he said,
"There, that's what I saw. Yes, I saw her laid out in her grave clothes."

I finished The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo tonight - yes, I read all day! Lovely, lovely reading day. And we did enjoy Walking With Dinosaurs very much yesterday. I'll review Girl With the Dragon Tattoo tomorrow, it's late now- so for now, I hope you enjoy the ghostly tale from Bluenose Ghosts. It makes me shiver. I can only read the book a little at a time or I get too frightened. I know, it sounds silly, but these are real tales that people told of things they'd experienced - very short, simply told, as Creighton says, folktales and superstitions aren't elaborate - and it makes them all the more vivid for me, anyway, so I get little chills and my heart beats a little faster and I get jumpy......delicious. Happy RIPIV reading!

Sunday Salon - Maisie Dobbs, an extraordinary mystery

Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear is the first in a series of now 5 books featuring Maisie Dobbs. In Book one, she opens her detective agency in 1929, 11 years after the Great War has ended. But the Great War is still very much alive in the minds and hearts and bodies of everyone who was at the Front, and this book - and I suspect the series - is about that effect. Maisie herself served as a nurse on the front, and most of the characters - the victims, the soldiers, the doctors, the killer - also served on the front. The War shaped everything after, a cataclysmic event that Winspear writes about evocatively, and yet, this is not a book about the war at all. It's a mystery, about why a survivor of the war, after he goes to a retreat for soldiers wounded in the War, is found dead, supposedly by his own hand. And yet, it isn't even the sister who asks for help, but the husband of the sister who is grieving and who spends part of her day at her brother's cemetary, unable to let go.

This mystery is about grief, and about change, but it's also about so much more. Maisie herself is an utterly fascinating character - strong, determined, focussed, and very very intelligent. She works her way up from being the lowest maid in a Lord's house, to going to Cambridge, and becoming a nurse, before opening her own detective agency. Her detective teacher is a marvel also, Maurice Blanche, who teaches Maisie so many things, among the most important, to sit still even when it's uncomortable, when asking a question, because asking the question is the important thing:
" I never want to learn that you 'don't know', Maisie, I want to know what you think the answer to the question is. The more it troubles you, the more it has to teach you. In time, Maisie, you will find that the larger questions in life share such behavior."

Isn't that a fascinating way to see the development of an investigator? Ask questions. Ask more questions. He also teaches that the answer comes in many ways. We are never told how he has come by all his knowledge, but I see traces of Far East teachings as well as Jung, in what he tells Maisie.

The mystery is part of the book, and then Maisie's life as she developed as a person and into an investigator is also part of the book. There is a reason, but to give it would be to spoil the revelation of Maisie's character and how the Great War affected her.

If you want to try any mystery series this year, try this one. I'm already looking for the second one in the series. It's on my Christmas list for people I love this year. In other words, this is one of my top 10, I think, for this year. It's not often a book has me crying at two separate times, on the bus! This is a very moving book, a well-recreated look at how World War 1 shaped the years after it, and a very tragic mystery as well. We might do well to remember this, when we come to look back on this decade, and the war currently being fought in Iraq and Afghanistan. It has, and will surely continue, to scar the world and wound so many lives. And in spite of the wounds that war leaves behind, and the psychological probings by Maisie, this book also has love and warmth at its heart, really loving relationships between Maisie and her father, Maisie and her mentor Maurice, Maisie and Billie Dodds, one of the thousands of soldiers whose lives she saved on the front, Maisie and Lady Rowan. It is also tender; Maisie doesn't hound her subjects, those she is asking questions of; her caring for the well-being of those she is ever so gently questioning - and how she gets the answers from them, is illuminating. There is no one like Maisie in the annals of detective fiction.

She's like a little bit of Hercule Poirot (although Maurice is more like him), a little bit Sherlock Holmes in her deductive reasoning and powers of observation, but to her, it'a normal way of being in the world. And lest you think she is all brain, she also falls in love.....

5/5 - except for the cover, which has to be one of the worst for a detective series, EVER. I honestly thought this was some Edwardian fiction (and thus utterly boring) so I only picked up it up because of Bride of the Book God, who is raving about the series, her posts books 4 and 5 here, and because someone else reviewed one of her books. I can't remember who - this is why I started my 'blogging books to get' journal! - so if you have reviewed Maisie Dobbs or any of the series, please let me know and I'll add your link. Someone out there beside Bride knows of this awesome series.......

Two extra things:
If I believed in hitting myself, I would be sporting a huge lump on my forehead right about now. I thought I had until midnight tonight to send my 5 posts for the next round of Blogger Appreciation Week Awards.....No, I discovered this morning when I opened my email, all ready to send my 5 posts today, that my deadline was last Friday at midnight. Yep, a great big lump right there....so my name sadly won't be going ahead (if the committee had chosen me), and for anyone who was going to vote for me, my humblest apologies. Obviously I should read more carefully rather than getting so excited I don't look at the date again! I will be casting my vote for other blogs, though!

And Bride has a post here, from today, that is continuing our deepening discussion about whether it's ok to use live people in fiction and probably/potentially/possibly fictionalize them too, without it being clear if they are fictionalized. I really do think it's okay to use people who lived, if they remain bound within who they were when they lived; that their interior life isn't made up of untrue things. I know, it sounds boring! It's not. As the schism deepens between those who believe it's fine to use real people and change their character somewhat in fiction, and those who don't believe this is fine, I think we are approaching something that is important in fiction, that's at the heart of why we read: telling a story, and what's permissable to use, and what needs to be created by the author. Let us know!!

Also, Bride has laid down the gauntlet by reviewing a book in the same post today - Oscar Wilde and a Game Called Murder by Gyles Brandreth - that uses real people as the main characters, and even though I'm against fictionalizing real people in a big way, the book sounds interesting! Darn it! Isn't life just full of quandries? Stay tuned to whether I give in and try reading the book, to whether more readers (that would be you, Gentle Reader!) weigh in on this interesting question, and to whether anyone else has read the same book and if they can say if Oscar Wilde and the other 'true' characters are true to life or not.

I leave you this fine Sunday with a final quote from Maisie Dobbs:
Maisie sat back on the bench and started to compose her questions. She would not struggle to answer the questions but would let them do their work.
"Truth walks toward us on the paths of our questions." Maurice's voice once again echoed in her mind. "As soon as you think you have the answer, you have closed the path and may miss vital new information. Wait awhile in the stillness, and do not rush to conclusions, no matter how uncomfortable the unknowing."

As I was writing that quote down, I began to apply it to our own debate, and so I'm taking it to heart. There is no right or wrong answer in using real people, but I do think there has to be respect and a clear line about saying - yes, he's fictionalized, no, he never acted that way, or I've tried to make it true to him as possible. I know that fiction is a marvellous way to come to understand ourselves and this wondrous universe we live in. I just wonder if it's some paucity of imagination, that we turn to real people more and more to write as fiction characters.

And - I have long been an admirer of Bride and her fabulously named blog, and normally we have very similar tastes, so I think this comes down to what can one live with in fiction? Interesting, isn't it?

Happy Sunday reading, everyone!

Other bloggers posts:
Bride of the Book God - Book 4
Bride of the Book God - Book Five
Word Lily: Maisie Dobbs
Word Lily: Birds of a Feather (Book 2)
Word Lily: Pardonable Lies (Book 3)