Little Blog on the Prairie

The title: Little Blog on the Prairie
The author: Cathleen Davitt Bell
Publication: Bloomsbury, 2010
Got it from:  The library

Gen is just an ordinary 13-year-old when her mom signs her family up for a summer at "Camp Frontier," where the participants all have to live 1880's-style.  Like any modern teenager would, Gen hates it at first.  Forget the cuddly version of prairie life, with Melissa Gilbert running through a sunny field.  The real frontier was non-stop labour and no modern comforts.  Gen's only respite is the phone she snuck into camp, which she uses to text her friends back home.  Unbeknownst to her, her texts are turned into a blog that goes viral.  

The author clearly, clearly used the PBS show Frontier House as an inspiration (right down to the preparedness contest, the starving dad and the little boy crying over killing chickens).  I watched that show this summer, and I couldn't help making comparisons - more so than to the actual Little House on the Prairie series.  If anything, this book drives home just how much frontier life would have sucked.  Hard.  I doubt I could have lasted a month there.  And there's no sugar-coating it for Gen: everything - from the nastiness of the outhouse to near-starvation to the mind-numbing hard work of hand washing laundry to the cramped, primitive living space - sounds like a slightly sunnier Soviet Labour Camp.  No wonder Gen practically passes out in ecstasy when she discovers a secret "electricity shack" complete with Internet and Diet Coke.

Then there's the relationship between Gen's family and the three other families living in Camp Frontier.  There's a love interest for Gen - a boy named Caleb, who at times is a little too good to be true for a teenage boy.  There''s good times, like a kick-the-can game that brings the kids together having fun.  But mostly what the families battle with is jealousy and resentment of one another's accomplishments and living conditions.  There's clearly a "holier-than-thou" attitude that drives a wedge between all the families and that Gen's family in particular resents, having the least experience with frontier living.  A sociologist would be fascinated by the way modern societal niceties break down under primitive living conditions.

There's also a "Nellie Oleson" character, the daughter of the camp's owners, who is over-the-top mean to Gen because of her raging jealousy over Gen's normal life.  One can't help but read a warning into the dangers of parents isolating their children with their own warped ideas about what reality should be.

As a YA novel, I enjoyed this one much more than Going Vintage, a novel with a similar theme, mainly because the main character immerses herself so much more completely in the past.  Even though the story went on a bit too long at the end and Gen sometimes seemed too mature for her age, she was very likeable character and this was a pleasant, fun read.

Quick reviews: Sex, Pirates and Mr. Darcy

I didn't want to go into full reviews for any of these books so I'm introducing quick reviews!

The title: The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists
The author: Gideon Defoe
Publication: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 2004
Got it from:  The library

Ridiculous is not too strong a word to describe this silliness.  A whopping 135 pages long (with comprehension exercise and words to know included), the joke of this whole book revolves around how absurd pirates are.  The Pirate Captain and his crew live in a strange 19th century/modern world hybrid where people are dispatched in various gruesome ways and their love of ham is a running joke. Sprinkled throughout are factual footnotes on historical personages appearing in the book - or, indeed, anything.  Most of the humour is groan-worthy bad, but there are some genuinely funny moments such as when The Pirate with a Scarf and Erasmus Darwin play a game of Animal, Vegetable or Mineral while meeting their doom strapped to the cogs of Big Ben.  Special note should be made of the fact that the chapter titles (Battling the Octopus!, etc), while appropriate to most pirate adventures, have absolutely nothing to do with the content of the respective chapter.  Teenage boys and pirate fanatics will love this, everyone else can skip to the cute Aardman movie released last year based on the book.

The title: Mr. Darcy's Guide to Courtship
The author:  Emily Brand
Publication: Old House, 2013
Got it from:  AG, B-day 2013

Speaking of foolishness, we have this book, written as if it had been dictated by a pre-Lizzie Mr. Darcy.  "The Secrets of Seduction from Jane Austen's Most Eligible Bachelor" reads like a one-note joke - he's a jerk!  Ha ha!  It stretches the limits of credulity to suppose that a man who could fall for Elizabeth Bennet would ever advise women to not be opinionated and lively.  But no matter how tongue in cheek this book is meant to be, there is simply no excuse for paragraphs like this: "Ladies, if you have failed to secure a husband by the age of thirty - at which point the bloom of youth will fade most desperately - admit defeat and harden yourself to the idea of not being worth looking at.  A single woman of nine and twenty ought not to expect to feel or inspire real affection again."  Here's some advice of my own: "Young women of six and twenty should not attempt to imitate the wit and genius of Jane Austen.  Wait a few more years until you have something better in you in than this unfunny, tiresome book."

   
The title: The Read Deal
The author: Debbi Rawlins
Publication: Harlequin, 2010
Got it from:  MC, B-day 2012

I enjoyed this book much, much more than I thought I would.  Emily Carter is hoping to break out of her stay-at-home rut so she signs up for a sightseeing adventure in New York City over Thanksgiving.  On an impulse, she buys a copy of Erotic New York and accidentally ends up leaving it behind in the cab she's sharing with a good-looking guy.  The guy turns out to be Nick Corrigan, a star baseball player.  I don't normally go in for sports-themed romance but this one worked for me as it takes place in the off-season.  It dealt a lot more with the realities of sports fame than the game itself.  What really worked for me is how darn likeable the characters were.  The romance was definitely pure fantasy, but the warm-and-fuzzy kind that felt so feel-good and satisfying.  And I love holiday getaway romance, especially the cold-weather kind.  Total thumbs up.

Full Frontal T.O.: Exploring Toronto's Architectural Vernacular

The title: Full Frontal T.O.: Exploring Toronto's Architectural Vernacular
The author: Patrick Cummins and Shawn Micallef
Publication: Coach House Books, 2012
Got it from:  Oakville PL

I'm completely in love with Full Frontal T.O. and I want to share this book with everyone.  Photographer Patrick Cummins has spent more than thirty years documenting Toronto and in this book he shows (along with text by Shawn Micallef) photos of the same building over the course of decades.  I find this kind of thing absolutely fascinating and I spent hours pouring over tiny details in each photo.  Many of the houses and stores show the marked changes in the 80's, 90's and 2000's.  For instance, a furrier in 1988 becomes a Money Mart in 2001.  Some neighbourhoods slowly decay over time, others become gentrified and old buildings get a facelift.  Old labelscars are revealed anew thanks to Cummins's time lens.  

Perhaps this book strikes a particular chord with me since it's a city I visit several times a year and it covers my entire lifetime (early 80's-present).  I love how he captures both ugly and beautiful stores and buildings and somehow manages to make them all fascinating.  Every picture on every page tells a story and then some - I found myself wondering about the lives of the people who lived and worked in these spaces.  

Some great examples from the book can be found here.  If you want to lose several hours of your life in a good way almost all of his photos are stored here. 

Going Vintage

The title: Going Vintage
The author: Lindsey Leavitt
Publication: Bloomsbury, 2013
Got it from:  The library

The plot:  16-year-old Mallory has just found out her boyfriend Jeremy has been cheating on her via an online game called Authentic Life and leaves him an angry message on Friendspace.  The next day, while going through her grandmother's basement, she uncovers a list her grandmother made when she was 16 in 1962: sew a dress for homecoming, run for pep-squad secretary, etc.  Still hurt and angry, Mallory decides to swear off all technology and complete her grandmother's list.  

My thoughts: Wow, it's been awhile since I did a contemporary YA review - apparently my last one was Little Miss Red back in May 2010.  Ever since Meg Cabot finished off the Princess Diaries series that same year I haven't found a YA book that's caught my eye.  This one looked like it had an interesting premise.

I have mixed feelings about the book.  At first I thought Mallory was pretty shallow and her commitment to actually living like it was 1962 seemed fairly weak.  But I did feel that she grew as a character, particularly as she learns to see Jeremy for what he really was and her decision that it's okay to go alone to her homecoming dance.  She also learns some pretty valuable lessons about taking off her rose-coloured nostalgia glasses as she uncovers truths about her grandmother's past.  I liked her growing relationship with Jeremy's cousin Oliver, who is a genuinely nice guy despite being a hipster, a species of male considered extremely unattractive by a panel of me.  

My biggest concern with the book is how uninterested Mallory is in her schoolwork.  How often in pop culture do we see teens blowing off their studies and considering school to be boring?  That is outside of my experience.  Sure, some classes could be tedious but I also found a lot of it fascinating as I was encountering it for the first time.  Would it have been too much to have Mallory show an interest in at least one subject?  The most troubling part of the story comes when Mallory essentially plagiarizes a paper on the Industrial Revolution and is never caught out for it.  There is no indication that she is aware of how wrong this is, only an acknowledgment that researching in books is "hard" compared to copying and pasting from the Internet.

Although this was an enjoyable read and did remind me of Meg Cabot, and Mallory does grow some over the course of the book, I would probably rate it a B- because of my conflicted reaction.

Flu: The Story of the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918

The title: Flu: The Story of the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918
The authors: Gina Kolata
Publication: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1999
Got it from:  The library

I have been wanting to read a book about the influenza epidemic of 1918 and this one was recommended as one of the best.  Unfortunately it doesn't actually go into as much detail as I'd like about the actual epidemic.  It's almost entirely about what happened after, which is itself a fascinating story.

In recent years there has been more interest in studying this flu, but until the 1990's (ie, in living memory), it was almost as if it never happened.  But the facts are shocking: more people died of the flu in just a few months than were killed in World War I.  What made the disease so horrifying was that it most often struck and killed young adults (aged 20-40).  Until recently, no one knew what it was and what caused it.

The author goes into great detail about the lives of the scientists who in the years after searched for the killer virus.  This is a timely subject for those of us living today, having just gone through the 2009 swine flu epidemic and will probably be facing another one in a matter of years.  The problem was that in 1918 doctors and scientists weren't equipped with the tools and knowledge to combat the virus, let alone to figure out what was causing it.  Modern-day scientists had to do some serious detective work to track down the extinct virus.  In a few cases, they used tissue samples taken from victims and stored in paraffin, in other instances they traveled to the Arctic and unearthed the bodies of victims from permafrost.

Reading this makes me want to know more about the social history of the effects of this disease.  How could 40 million people (most of them in the prime of life) just disappear without it affecting the course of history?  There is some hint at the ripple effects on people's psyches, such as the 1976 American vaccine debacle where scientists and politicians rushed to vaccinate people because they feared another 1918.  Perhaps these are questions to be answered by another book.

The House on Durrow Street

The title: The House on Durrow Street
The authors: Galen Beckett
Publication: Spectra, 2010
Got it from: Amazon b-day money 2012 (thanks sis!)

The House on Durrow Street is the sequel to The Magicians and Mrs. Quent (my review can be found here.)  There are some minor spoilers for the first book in my review below.

The narrative splits the three main characters and separates them for most of the 700-page novel.  Having married Mr. Quent in the last book, Ivy, her sisters and new husband take up residence at the Lockwells' old house on Durrow Street.  It is currently under renovations to restore it to its former glory, and the workmen uncover several secrets about the house, chief among them a set of doors which had formerly been walled up.  Some of the most interesting scenes in the book involve Ivy's investigations into the life of the house's original owner, Dratham, and his work as a magician.  Another key in the form of her father's journal is uncovered, which provides Ivy with more clues to the house's secrets as well as her father's younger years.  Meanwhile, Mr. Quent's work for the government sees the family rising in rank.  Ivy suddenly finds herself moving in more exalted circles and making friends with nobility.

While this is going on, Rafferdy is still in love with Ivy and trying (unsuccessfully) to get over losing her to Mr. Quent.  He finds some distraction in taking his father's place in parliament, which provides the reader with an insight into the political machinations of Altania.  Rafferdy also joins a secret magician's cult that is not as it seems.

And then we have Garritt, who has taken up a relationship with the illusionist Dercy and is supporting himself and his sister through his work as a church clerk.  Garritt slowly uncovers his talent for illusions while nursing a dream of entering the priesthood.  His ambitions are stymied by the fact that both illusionists and gay men are banned from the priesthood.

Once again I was drawn into the author's well-crafted world.  This is not by any means a page-turner.  It is meant to be read slowly and savoured like a twelve-course banquet.  The messages are subtle and the action is all character-driven.  Beckett is the master at dropping intriguing little hints at things but not quite following up with definite answers.  For instance, in a book Ivy reads, it's suggested that their world once had regular days like ours instead of days of varying length - will we discover that this novel actually takes place in the future?   There's also some suggestion that Altania was once a more matriarchal society, with women/witches having strong ties with the Wyrdwood.  In fact, I loved how focused this book was on the Wyrdwood, the ancient forests of Altania (and clearly a reference to the old forests of England).  I love the idea of the Wyrdwood having almost human-like sentience and the power to defeat enemies.  Basically I love trees and wish I could communicate with them like Ivy.  It seems way cooler than just being a regular old (male) magician.

There's so many little things in this book that I could talk about that I almost could have done chapter-by-chapter blogging.  However, I will leave it at this and say that if you enjoyed the first book, you will undoubtedly love this one.  Can't wait for number threee.

And speaking of which:

My predictions for The Master of Heathcrest Hall

Rafferdy will continue to wear awesome outfits and carry his vanity cane.

Sashie will jump off a cliff.  (Just kidding.  Although I wish that were true).

Mr. Quent is going to die.  This is unfortunate because I quite like him.  But I'm sorry, the man is toast.

Garritt will finally catch a break.

The man in the Black Mask will turn out to be Dratham.

The people of Altania will stop fighting, band together, and defeat the Ashen with the help of the Wyrdwood.

Ivy and Rafferdy will finally resolve their unresolved sexual tension.

British things

I am close - very close - to having some new reviews up soon!  In the meantime, I have been thinking a lot about how so many of the books I read and shows I watch are British.  I've been a huge Anglophile ever since my family lived in England for a year when I was little.  There's something about fiction set in Britain that just appeals to me.  I love their mysteries, their histories and especially their sense of humour.

In honour of absolutely nothing, I thought I'd pull together a list of my favourite British movies and TV shows.  This is not a list of ones I consider "the best," just ones I happen to love.  I'm hoping to do one for British books soon too.  So brew yourself a nice cup of English tea and enjoy!

(This list is not in any particular order!)

Pride and Prejudice 1995

It's become kind of a cliche to admit you love this version of P&P, but it really is excellent.  Forget all the wet-shirt Darcy nonsense and enjoy Jennifer Ehle's performance as an intelligent and thoughtful Lizzy.  The 1980 version with Elizabeth Garvie and David Rintoul is also really well done and often overlooked in the shadow of its more famous counterpart.

Downton Abbey

Again I'm stating the obvious here, but this soap opera is very addictive.  My favourite is the first season.  The second season was okay and the third season pretty much jumped the shark for me - but I keep coming back anyway.  I especially loved the feminist Lady Sybil and her Irish revolutionary chauffeur romance storyline from Season 1.

Blackadder

I first saw this show on a visit to England in 1999 and I've loved it ever since.  (By the way, the episode I saw was the infamous Puritans vs. the "rude turnip.")  The series set in the Regency period is absolute perfection.  Rowan Atkinson and Tony Robinson are delightful as the sarcastic and exasperated Blackadder and mentally unstable dogsbody Baldrick, respectively.  And forget House - Hugh Laurie is at his best as the insanely dim-witted Prince of Wales.  Stephen Fry also has a wonderful cameo as a bullying Duke of Wellington.  The episode "Dish and Dishonesty," where Baldrick gets elected as an MP, is one of my favourite episodes from any show, ever.

Doctor Who  (New series 1-4)

I will admit up front I've never seen the original Doctor Who and I had no interest in the show after series 4.  However, I loved the Christopher Eccleston/David Tennant years.  Even though there were some seriously dark moments in the show,  it never lost its sense of fun.  Highlights for me include the introduction of Donna in "The Runaway Bride" and the three-story arc of the Master's return at the end of series 3.

Sense and Sensibility 1995

Not surprisingly, there are a number of Jane Austen movies on this list.  This version of S&S was my first introduction to the world of Jane Austen when I saw it in the theatre as a thirteen-year-old.  I instantly fell in love with the Regency era through this movie.  I still enjoy watching it - not just for the great story, but for the wonderful settings and costumes.  (Fun fact: I got a private tour of Montacute House, where the Palmers live, on a visit to England in 2006).   Although many people think of Snape when they think of Alan Rickman, for me he will always be Col. Brandon.  And speaking of Alan Rickman -

Love, Actually

It's hard to believe it's been ten years since I first saw this warm and fuzzy movie in the theatres.  Describing its many tangled plotlines is almost impossible if you haven't seen it, but here are some highlights: Bill Nighy playing a hilarious and awful aging rock star, Colin Firth having his heart broken and mended in France; Martin Freeman being adorable and Martin Freeman-y; Hugh Grant playing a prime minister who falls for one of his household staff.  And that leads me to...

Bridget Jones' Diary

Even though I'm not a fan of chick lit and bumbling heroines, I just can't help loving this movie.  I  always end up rooting for Bridget, who is a screw-up but less awful than everyone else around her.  The wimpy fight between Colin Firth and Hugh Grant toward the end gets major bonus points, as does the fact that the story is based on Pride and Prejudice.  Bonus points also to Colin Firth for being so cute as Mark Darcy and James Callas for playing Bridget's flamboyantly sassy guy pal.  And yes, I even love the sequel that everyone hates and will watch it every time it's on TV.

Black Books

Honestly, everything Graham Linehan does is pure gold and I can't decide which of his creations I like best, so I'm just sticking them all on this list.  In Black Books, Dylan Moran plays a disheveled (and that's putting it nicely) bookstore owner, whose only contact with the outside world are his customers and his friends, alcoholic Fran (Tamsin Grieg) and cheerful assistant Manny (Bill Bailey).  My favourite episode is Locked Out, where Bernard has to survive one night in the outside world and ends up working for a fast-food restaurant, Fran goes ga-ga over a deep-voiced man, and Manny has to resort to eating bees to survive.  It's even crazier than it sounds.

The IT Crowd

I was only introduced to this show recently, and already it's in my top 10.  In The IT Crowd, Graham Linehan proves he's the master at finding ensemble casts that compliment each other perfectly.  Katherine Parkinson plays Jen, an IT manager who knows nothing about IT, but is great at reining in her wayward employees and wearing fabulous outfits.  Her two uber-nerd employees are Roy (Chris O'Dowd), a scruffy and somewhat lecherous Irishman, and Moss (Richard Ayoade), who is a technical genius but can't comprehend the real world.  Expect lots of insanity and comedy of errors.

Father Ted

Graham Linehan's first show isn't technically "British" but the humour definitely is.  Dermot Morgan plays a disgraced priest who is banished to Craggy Island, a remote parish off the west coast of Ireland, as punishment.  There he must share a parochial house with two deranged priests: Father Jack, who is constantly drunk, angry, and insane; and wide-eyed man-child Father Dougal (Ardal O'Hanlon).  My favourite episode is "Speed 3" but it's too ridiculous to even describe.  If you like your humour beyond absurd, you'll love this.

Hot Fuzz

I can't even talk about how much I love this movie.  My brain pretty much imploded with laughter the first time I saw this and I haven't gotten it back yet.  All I'll say is: if you love traditional British murder mysteries, but love seeing traditional British murder mysteries turned on their head even more, you need to watch this movie.  I think I've seen it five times now and I'm still catching new jokes that fly fast and furious.  I'm impatiently waiting for The World's End.

Northanger Abbey (2007)

Of all the newer (post 2000) adaptations of Jane Austen, this one is my favourite.  NA is my second favourite Jane Austen, and this is a fun adaptation.  JJ Feild plays a teasing and flirtatious Henry Tilney, and  Felicity Jones strikes just the right note as the daydreaming Catherine Morland.  Look out for a pre-famous Carey Mulligan as the scheming Isabella Thorpe.

Emma (1996)

In my opinion Kate Beckinsale's version of Emma is better than Gwenyth Paltrow's.  It felt truer to Austen, more British and less "Hollywood."  I re-watched it a few years ago when I re-read the book and enjoyed it just as much as when it originally aired.

The Vicar of Dibley

This is not just one of my favourite British shows, but one of my top three favourite shows of all time.  It's my ultimate go-to, cheer-me-up comfort show.  Dawn French plays a female vicar who goes to work for a sleepy little English village called Dibley.  She ends up being the only sane woman in a village of loveable loonies.  Let me just say that I want to live in Dibley in general and the vicar's house in particular.  Not to spoil anything if you haven't seen the show, but Richard Armitage shows up at the end as a handsome stranger and - SWOON!

The Office 

 Even though Ricky Gervais's character makes you extremely uncomfortable, I was hooked on the original version of this show.  Tim and Dawn's will-they-or-won't-they romantic storyline had me on the edge of my seat.  The Tim vs. annoying co-worker Garth sub-plot was also extremely funny and so true to real life.

Sherlock

Okay, so maybe I have saved the best for last after all.  This show could hardly get more perfect in terms of cast, script and setting.  The British have done their duty to women the world over by giving us extremely excellent chocolate and the combination of Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman as Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson.  And on behalf of women everywhere - thank you, England!

There are so many other great British TV shows and movies that I enjoy, but that's all I have time for now.  Please let me know if I've made any huge omissions!


ETA:  I can't believe I forgot to add The Supersizers!  My favourite documentary series.  Giles and Sue are so funny and great together.  The perfect mix of hilarity and history!