Things I haven't been reviewing, 2011 edition

I just realized it's been exactly one year since I did my summer roundup of interesting things I'd recently read/seen. So I thought, why not make it an annual event? Thus, here is my list of things I have enjoyed in the past few months, in no particular order:

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer - I had to read this one for book club, and it's one of the few book club books that I've really enjoyed. (I'm working on overcoming the trauma of Still Alice and trying not to freak out when I can't remember something). I can totally see this book as a movie. I love the character of Juliet, and stories written in letters. I wish I belonged to the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society!

The Adams Chronicles (PBS, 1976) - I haven't seen the new John Adams movie, and I didn't know anything about John Adams, but it was on sale for $10 at a store last Christmas so I picked it up. I'm not done yet, but I love this series! Such a bargain for ten bucks! Abigail Adams is my hero. I'm so mad I never learned about her before this. She was a feminist AND she was opposed to slavery AND she has her own mystery series! Which makes her 200% awesome. I love her and John as a couple, and how they were so smart and affectionate and loyal to each other. Plus, I really just enjoy the late 18th century as a time period. As much as I love the 19th century, there's something about the 1700's that I think is also great, especially in North American history. I'm not as big a fan of the ostentatious Marie Antoinette-style dresses, but I love the simple ones worn by women of the period - here's an example I found online.


Also, tricorn hats = win!



Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See - A really interesting look into 19th century Chinese women's lives. I had no idea footbinding was so brutal. After reading this book, you'll realize how little women were valued in that society and how restricted they were. Although I enjoyed this, I found the ending to be a real downer because everybody dies.


Victorian London by Liza Picard - My love of Victorian London never ceases. I'm fascinated by all the little details, reading this book with a giant map of London by my side so I can locate the places the author talks about. Victorian London is like a vacation spot to me, a place I never get to go to but know so well just from the descriptions. I'd visit in a second if I had the chance, but the smog and cholera would probably kill me after three days.

Manor House (PBS, 2001) - Yes, I'm ten years behind on this one, but I'm enjoying it as much as 1900 House last year. I was glued to YouTube for the few days I watched this show (what would I do without YouTube movies?) This one is set in the Edwardian period and shows just how miserable the lives of servants were. The people playing the rich people, though, loved being waited on hand and foot and didn't want to leave at the end of the three months. Hmm, I wonder why?


The Once and Future Giants by Sharon Levy - I don't talk a lot about my love of science and all my science reading on this blog, but as this is an "anything goes" list and I loved this book, I thought I'd throw it in here. It's an account of what our world looked like at the end of the last Ice Age and how our ecosystems have gone haywire without the megafauna that are supposed to be roaming our landscapes. Some people have even proposed inserting African elephants and other large animals back in North America as replacements for their extinct cousins. All I know is, I want to be the first to sign up to have a wooly mammoth as a pet. They're like elephants, only fuzzier!



Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition. My guilty pleasure reality TV this summer. There's just something about weight loss shows that draws me in. It's three parts inspiration, one part horror at seeing how other people eat. This show is great, because it doesn't just chronicle people losing ten pounds (big deal), but actually hundreds of pounds in one year. Every time I watch this show, I want to immediately go to the gym afterward.

That's it for another year - unless I go wild 'n' crazy and do another one at Christmas or something. In the meantime, lots more good book reviews ahead, as always!

Black Sheep

The title: Black Sheep
The author: Georgette Heyer
Publication: Sourcebooks, 2008 (originally 1966)
Got it from: JL, August 2009

Abigail Wendover is the youngest sister of a formidable clan, "on-the-shelf" and headed to spinsterhood at the ripe old age of 28. She and her much older sister Selina are in charge of raising their headstrong niece Fanny. Abigail has just returned to Bath from a visit to London and discovers that Fanny has taken up with ne'er-do-well rogue Stacy Calverleigh (who is after her fortune), although Fanny is in the throes of love and can't see Stacy's faults. Chance happens to bring Stacy's uncle Miles Calverleigh to Bath, after having been exiled to India for 20 years. Miles's blunt manner should shock Abby, but instead she finds herself laughing at his disregard for society and family duty. At first he is unwilling to have anything to do with his wayward nephew and refuses to intervene for Abby's sake, but his regard for her soon has him rethinking his stance.

This is a delightful book, my favourite so far of all the Heyer books I've read. (Yes, I liked it better even than The Grand Sophy, whose heroine is a little bit too unconventional for my taste). Heyer is a genius at creating three-dimensional characters, so that even the hysterical older sister is shown to be sympathetic when she sides with Abby against their tyrannical older brother. Abby is one of the most delightful heroines I've ever encountered, right up there with Elizabeth Bennet. She is fashionable and pretty but not overly gorgeous, she has a wicked sense of humour and she doesn't take herself seriously. The real conflict of the novel here is internal, with Abby warring against a sense of duty to her family and desire to do something for herself and marry the man she loves. This is one of the few novels where I think I actually liked the heroine better than the hero.

Although several reviews I read complain about the ending, I thought it was perfect, and a perfect way for Miles to force Abby to overcome her scruples. As always, the dialogue is excellent, making me grin throughout my reading of the novel. I love how the repartee represented the way both the hero and heroine have had to develop their personalities, given that neither are the best-looking people in town. I found myself eagerly looking forward to when I would be able to fit in a few more chapters, a sure sign of an excellent book. A real summer treat.

Countess of Scandal

The title: Countess of Scandal
The author: Laurel McKee
Publication: Hachette, 2010
Got it from: Chapters, 2011

This is the first in the "Daughters of Erin" trilogy by Laurel McKee, aka Amanda McCabe. Eliza Blacknall and William Denton grew up together in Ireland, best friends who found themselves falling in love. They are both from English families, although Eliza embraces her Irish home more fervently, loving the Irish people in her community and enjoying their legends and folklore. They are torn apart by Eliza's having to marry a count and Will's joining the British army.

Seven years later, and Eliza is a widowed countess living in Dublin, involved in the Irish movement that eventually culminates in the 1798 uprising. Will returns as a commanding officer, and they find themselves once again falling for each other despite being on opposite sides of the Irish rebellion.

I love the time period just before the Regency, and it is refreshing to read a story set in Ireland rather than England. The whole story had an Irish Scarlet Pimpernel feel, and there's even a daring escape with disguises as the aristocracy flee the countryside for the safety of Dublin. I really liked the historical aspects of this book - it's very much a political book, which may weigh it down for those not enthused about history. The romance I felt was a bit on the warm, rather than hot, side. I usually enjoy the "childhood friends become lovers" trope, but I felt like it was such a foregone conclusion that they loved each other deeply. I usually prefer a bit more tension before they hop into bed and declare their love. Overall, I found this to be a pleasant (rather than page-turning) read.

Proof by Seduction

The title: Proof by Seduction
The author: Courtney Milan
Publication: Harlequin, 2010
Got it from: A library

Courtney Milan has been getting a lot of buzz since this book debuted last year, so when I read the premise I just had to try it out. It's 1836, and Jenny Keeble, aka Madame Esmerelda, pretends to predict the future for the rich and titled of London. It's the only way she knows how to make an honest living, with no prospects for a respectable job. One day a young man named Ned comes to her. He's suicidal, depressed, and in desperate need of guidance. Jenny convinces him that it's written in the stars he will thrive and grow into a man.

Flash-forward two years later, and Ned is completely under the spell of Madame Esmerela, believing everything she says without question. This enrages his uncle, Gareth, the Marquess of Blakely, who is a scientist and demands evidence for everything. One night he goes along with Ned to confront the so-called gypsy Esmerelda. Jenny is desperate to retain Ned's trust and bring the haughty Lord Blakely down a peg or two. So she makes a bet with him that she really can predict the future, and he must complete three tasks to win his future wife.

The first two-thirds of this novel were a delight. The time period comfortably straddles the conventions of the Regency and Victorian worlds, giving it a timeless 19th-century feeling. Gareth is an archetypal Mr. Darcy, putting on a cold demeanor while struggling with an overwhelming physical attraction to Jenny. Jenny is no typical historical debutante - she's in her 30's - and she matches Gareth intellectually to produce some fun (and funny) verbal sparring. But this is also an extremely emotional book. Gareth fights the whole way through to break free of his fear of being ridiculed and it takes him a long time to come around to seeing the value in human companionship. Jenny also must face her own demons, and see the consequences of her lies.

The book only loses points because the last third of the book meandered too much, being relentlessly uncheerful and going around in circles of sadness without anything really developing. I felt like both Gareth and Jenny could have come to their senses much sooner. Still, I loved the first part of the book and couldn't put it down. It's now on my list of all-time favourite romances.

O Come Ye Back to Ireland

The title: O Come Ye Back to Ireland: Our First Year in County Clare
The author: Niall Williams and Christine Breen
Publication: Soho Press, 1987
Got it from: London, Ontario used book store 2004

I've only just returned from Ireland, and I re-read this book in anticipation of our trip. It's funny re-reading a book you first read at 16, and it's certainly different looking back now after the trip. It's the story of a Manhattan couple who, in the 1980's, decided to give up urban life and live on a rural farm on the west coast of Ireland. It is far from the idyllic paradise it sounds. The weather is awful, the farm difficult and material comforts are few and far between. The authors documented a world that is ancient but rapidly fading away, something that is still very much in evidence in Ireland today. Although they describe the kindness of neighbours and the beauty of the land, it's not a life I think I could live. It's basically a chronicle of the hardships that nature keeps throwing at them, relentlessly. They really have to eke out a living on the land, no extra money to fall back on for them. Yet I felt it rang true for what Ireland is really like - many of the scenes and people they describe are familiar. It's an interesting book, one of the best "travel" stories I've read and a true portrait of Ireland.

Touch Not the Cat

The title: Touch Not the CatThe author: Mary Stewart
Publication: Hodder & Stoughton, 1977Got it from: Hannelore's, 2010

How is it that I have gone all my life without ever having read a Mary Stewart book? How is it that I have waited so long, after so many online recommendations by people who love the same books I do, to read this book? And how is it that Mary Stewart has managed to take a premise that could be so silly and instead write something that is so wonderful?

Bryony Ashley is the only daughter of the esteemed Ashley clan. Her ancestors were noblemen, but it is now the 1970's and their money has run out. The only thing they have remaining is their enormous, beautiful estate. But Ashley Court has become neglected over the years and is starting to deteriorate. Bryony is in her early twenties and her mother is no longer alive. She grew up on the estate with her father and spent her childhood playing with her three boy cousins and the son of a local farmer who lives on the estate. Bryony also has another companion - the friend she has communicated psychically with since childhood. The Ashleys, you see, had a witch in their history, and ever since then, various family members have been able to communicate with each other via their thoughts. Because of this, Bryony thinks her secret friend (who becomes her secret lover) must be one of her cousins.

The story begins when Bryony is in Spain, and she receives a message from her secret lover that her father has been killed. She arrives back in Ashley Court, grieving, and discovers one of her cousins there. Being female, she is not allowed to inherit the estate, so it is going to her cousins' family instead. As time goes on and Bryony sees past her grief, she realizes that her cousins may be behind the disappearance of several valuable objects from the court. Worse, her father's death may not be an accident. As he lay dying, her father's last words were a riddle that she must solve, along with the true meaning of the Ashley motto, "Touch not the cat."

At first I wasn't sure if I was going to like this book. I thought Bryony was going to be too young and immature, but I ended up really liking her character, as she behaves with dignity well beyond her years. (In fact, I don't think I would have taken the destruction of my childhood home as calmly as she did). And of course, the Big Secret - the identity of her lover - is a perfect reveal toward the end. At first you are worried, because of the cousins' duplicity, that Bryony is going to be burned - but you needn't fear, this is a Jane Austen romance, not a Bronte one. The big reveal is a romantic moment that moved me in a way that most romance novels fail to do, being so sweet, so wonderful and so right. Of course you know who it is when you look back and see all the signs laid out for you.

But it was the writing - oh, the writing! - that literally blew me away. This book was meant to be savoured, slowly. It simply cannot be read quickly. To do so is not merely to miss the many subtleties and hidden meanings, but to miss the point of the book entirely. Read it a few pages at a time, and be amazed at the way it creeps over you, gothic novel that it is, and gets under your skin. There is so much going on, so much complexity, but at the same time it's the simple evocation of the place that gets to you. You are there on a summer's evening at this sprawling, crumbling estate, and you can almost smell the grass and see the shadows. Trust me, you will never look at a hedge maze the same way again.

What I love most about the writing is the way so much is told by what is left unsaid. A lot of authors love to beat you over the head with a stupid stick but Mary Stewart assumes her readers are a lot smarter than that, without being in the least bit pretentious, of course. It's a summer novel with weight to it, and I look forward to many happy hours with her other books in years to come.

Atlantic

The title: AtlanticThe author: Simon Winchester
Publication: Harper, 2010Got it from: La library

April was a disappointing month for me, reading-wise, since most of my reading material was for work and I didn't really enjoy it. (Dragon Tattoo, I'm looking at you). But one of the good things was that Atlantic was one of the books I got to book-talk at my library, so that meant I finally got to finish it.

I love Simon Winchester. I first discovered him when I was in university and I won the British High Commissioner's award, and my prize was a signed copies of two of his books (The Professor and the Madman and The Map at the Edge of the World), which my professor had him sign for me when he visited my university. I quickly became enamored of his writing and had the chance to meet him three years later when I was doing my library degree in Halifax, when I was the last person remaining at the Lord Nelson after his talk and I excitedly had him sign his latest book, Krakatoa. I remain in constant awe of the breadth of his travels, his sweeping narrative storytelling and his ability to ferret out the most fascinating little-known facts about the world. So you can imagine my happiness when I discovered that his next book would be about the ocean I grew up next to and adored.

Of course it would be impossible to write the entire history of the Atlantic, so Winchester has done something ingenious: he gives life to the Atlantic by treating it as a human being and chronicling its birth, life, and eventual death. He does this by dividing the book into seven chapters, each corresponding to one of Shakespeare's seven ages of man (the infant, the schoolchild, the lover, etc.) Humankind has only recently - since the age of Columbus - discovered that the Atlantic was in fact a separate ocean, rather than a dark, treacherous, unthinkably huge body of water. Here are just some of the subject covered by this book, each one made fascinating: Pangaea, the Lusitania. pirates, the Middle Passage, the age of exploration, the evolution of shipbuilding, the collapse of the Newfoundland cod fisheries, early aviation, the Falkland Islands invasion, the Vikings, Hurricane Katrina.

Through the book one thing is clear, and that is Winchester's reverence for and love of this ocean. The sad end to this tale is that we have come to disrespect the Atlantic. We cross it in our airplanes, not realizing its immense size, its awesome power or its incredible history. It has always been a dream of mine to cross the Atlantic by boat; reading this book makes me want to do it even more, if only to see it as it really is. This is a wonderful book, one that will surely resonate with me for years to come.