48. Heavy Words Lightly Thrown

The title: Heavy Words Lightly Thrown
The author: Chris Roberts
Publication: Penguin, 2004
Got it from: The library

It just goes to show you that just because I like a subject matter, it doesn't mean I'll like the book. Who'd have thought I'd be so downcast over a book about the origins of nursery rhymes, and one that spends most of its time talking about British history to boot? Alas, I was gravely disappointed. Roberts' wink-wink nudge nudge anecdote style may appeal to some, but I really don't care all that much about football. Or who Charlie Dimmock is and that she goes braless. This book just went too much all over the place without ever really focusing on the nursery rhymes themselves. If I wanted a book of funny British anecdotes I would have bought one, thank you. I felt less like I was hearing an expert talk about the facts and more like some dude was just showing off his knowledge about dirty British secrets. I wish I could have been more of a merrie olde soul after reading this, but them's the breaks. C

47. Our Enduring Values

The title: Our Enduring Values: Librarianship in the 21st Century
The author: Michael Gorman
Publication: ALA, 2000
Got it from: SC, Christmas 2005

I doubt that anyone except professional librarians would be interested in this book (and if you're even reading this, congratulations) so I'll just say a few quick words. This book was written before 9/11 when our notion of privacy in libraries via the Patriot Act changed American librarianship dramatically. It would be interesting to see how his views on this have changed, particularly regarding the "privacy" chapter, which he targets as one of the key values of librarianship (the others being stewardship, service, intellectual freedom, etc). I agreed with him on a good many points, particularly when he describes the vague buzzwords of MLIS programs and the ALA accreditation process. And trust me, I know all about the accreditation process, having served as a student council VP during an accreditation year and having to (almost literally) court the visiting panel. Other concepts I had to disagree on, particularly concerning the right to privacy, which I think he takes too far, although I'm probably in the minority on this one. I wish this book hadn't been quite so dry, although again, I'm probably in the minority in thinking that librarians take themselves way too seriously. It was interesting to retread some of the points I haven't thought of since I took my MLIS, but overall it wasn't anything I hadn't heard before. B-

I promise I won't mention this again...

...but I just have to include the recent comments by Mags over at AustenBlog regarding crappy Jane Austen adaptations, because I agree with her 100%. And I don't just love her because she calls Lost in Austen "dopey" and refers to the last episode as "goodbye, cruel fanfic."

(This is in response to Seducing Mr. Darcy, but also, I think, by Lost in Austen):

...we are of the opinion that these extraneous items should not be accepted just as they are, like Bridget Jones running through London in her knickers. Each should be judged and criticized on its individual merits. Every Janeite is not going to agree on the quality of a particular book or film or action figure, and some may wish to have nothing to do with them at all, but there is no reason to condemn them on general principles; but at the same time, we are impatient with the idea that “it’s not really Jane Austen so if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.” Just because one doesn’t like a particular book, that does not mean one must dislike them all, and just because we are critical of certain projects doesn’t mean we are toffee-nosed snobs who can’t abide any of it. We just like quality. Perhaps our notions of quality are different from other Janeites’.

I guess I shouldn't say I hate all Jane Austen spin-offs and homages on principle. Just awful ones.

The Austen diaspora is in a weird place when it comes to these ancillary items, and it is reflected in the either-or attitude. The Brontëans don’t hold their noses when they read Wide Sargasso Sea and the Shakespeare folks don’t freak out over A Thousand Acres or The Story of Edgar Sawtelle (at least we don’t think they do; feel free to disabuse us of our mistaken notions). But the Austen fandom hasn’t really had a Wide Sargasso Sea or A Thousand Acres or The Story of Edgar Sawtelle.

There we are! See, I'd enjoy a good Austen spin-off. Keyword: good.

...there is a tendency in some quarters to fall into another easy place of “I liked this movie with pretty people in nice costumes so I am going to like this other movie with pretty people in nice costumes, even if the plot has been manipulated so much that it no longer makes sense and it’s so cheaply done that one can see the metaphorical zipper on the back of the monster’s costume.”

*cough*lostinaustenfans*cough*

...we don’t think we’re doing ourselves or our fellow Janeites a favor by supporting projects uncritically. If we keep watching and reading and buying, The Powers That Be know we’ll take anything, and they don’t have to try very hard or spend much money or offer us the very top quality items. If, perhaps, we are critical of the lesser-quality items, if we maybe vote with our feet and our voices, we’ll get something better. Perhaps. Would it hurt to try?

That, my dear readers, is how I feel about literature as a whole.

46. The Blue Roan Child

The title: The Blue Roan Child
The author: Jamieson Findlay
Publication: Doubleday, 2002
Got it from: Book Club

"The unforgettable story about the magical bond between a young girl and a wild mare." That's what the back cover says. If you like horses and similes, you'll probably love this book. As for myself, I'm hesitant to say anything harsh about it because I don't think it was all that badly written. But oh my sweet nectarines, was it ever boring. I had to force, force, force myself to read it until the end. If the interest-o-meter was like those hospital vital signs, I don't think mine would register far over "dead." I can't even even write this review without getting a little heavy-lidded, so...C.

Summer roundup, autumn lineup

Autumn 'tis upon us - in two days, anyway - so it seems time to see how I did on my summer goals and make a new list for fall.

My goals for the summer were:
1. Read at least one Western. Check. See Taggart.
2. Read the next book in the Amelia Peabody mystery series. Check. See The Last Camel Died at Noon.
3. Read at least one book in my collection that's been on the shelf for years which I should have read a long time ago. Check - sort of. It's only been in my collection for two years, but I'll let Jane Austen's Guide to Dating suffice for now.
4. Read at least one other Civil War romance. Check. See River Magic.

My goals for this fall are going to be slightly more modest. I have a slew of books on order from the library that are due to come in shortly, so I won't be able to tackle as many of my books at home as I'd like. I also have a couple of other genres that I mentioned at the beginning of the year that I plan to tackle (I've even got some titles picked out) but I don't think I'll be able to get to them until my winter reading list. I can't forget that my resolution was to go outside my comfort zone and I don't plan on stopping, even when the year ends.

So, without further ado, here is my fall list. Can you tell I love making lists? It's so cathartic.

1. Read at least one children's book. This should be easy, as I have one already lined up.
2. Read one of my many, many Christmas regency romances. Again, this should be a cakewalk since I happily do this every year anyway.
3. Read at least one book that I bought in New York City last spring.
4. Read at least one book that's been on my shelves, waiting to be read, for way too long. Hey, I have to get them read somehow!
5. Finish reading a couple of books that I've been working on all year but can never get around to finishing.

Now I'm getting excited! I'm really looking forward to the books I have lined up. There's a hilarious-sounding mystery 'round November, a couple of interesting non-fiction books that will appear here in the next couple of weeks and a fantasy children's book that sounds very interesting. Hooray for autumn!

45. River Magic (Kathryn reads Civil War romances, Part II)

The title: River Magic
The author: Martha Hix
Publication: Zebra, 1995
Got it from: Freemont's Used Books, downtown St. Catharines

You might recall that last winter I was on a Civil War romance bender and bought a huge stack of them for something like $2 at our local used book emporium. My first foray into the genre, as you well know, turned out badly. And by badly, I mean like Krakatoa's eruption turned out badly for the Indonesians. The pain of this particular novel having slightly worn off, like the pain of childbirth, I decided to persevere in my quest for the Ultimate Civ. War romance. So, the burning question is, was it as bad or was it the holy grail?

It was neither, fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it. My review won't be as hilarious. I was neither disappointed nor satisfied by this novel.

Assuming that none of you have or ever will read this novel, I'll give you the lowdown. There's this pair of batty aunts, you see, who get hooked up with this magic lamp. Shh, don't ask questions. The round, silly aunt wishes that her three nephews will meet their wives on their thirtieth birthdays. I smell...trilogy! Cut to Rock Island, Illinois, where Major Connor "Easy on the Eyes" O'Brien (and I kid you not, that is what he's called at least once) is serving the Union and looking after a jail full of Rebel soldiers. On his birthday, India Marshall shows up, dressed as a grandmother and tries to worm her way into the prison so she can free her brother. Sexy hijinks ahoy!

You know, I was cool with a lot of this book. Crazy aunts who have no other desire than to see their nephews get married, and get a real-life genie to do it? Sure, why not! Young woman disguised as an elderly woman? All the better for hilarious double-entendres and scenes of old coots courting the fake granny! A heroine whose name is India and has sisters called Persia, America and Europa? Why not Australasia and Siberia, too!

There were, however, several things I didn't like about this novel. The first was that the romance blossomed too quickly between the hero and heroine. I don't like it when books do this. I like the tension to build for a long time before anything happens. Secondly, I thought that the bad guy was too caricatured as the bad guy. He kept being described as the ugliest thing on two legs over and over, and was just too mean and nasty (and I mean like incestuous nasty, among other things) to be believable. I also felt like I wasn't being told something in this book. Often the characters would say or do things that contradicted their personalities or just plain didn't make sense. I mean, I like a book with plot twists, but this one kept setting things up only to have everything veer in a direction I didn't expect. I felt like I was being jerked around and I ended up being confused half the time.

I really think this book could have worked better with more editing and I suspect the author was under time pressure to complete the trilogy. The ending seemed particularly poorly done, with the bad guy and his abused niece meeting bizarre ends. I don't want to give it all away, but the niece gets involved with the hero's brother so this sets him up for major pain and torture for the next novel. Frankly, it doesn't make me want to read about the other two brothers, because one seems to be a tortured jerk and the other one is just a jerk. Because this book was somewhat fun, but had some serious flaws, I'm going to brand it in the B-/C+ category.

Until the next one! We're not through yet, Civil War romance...

44. Imagining Anne

The title: Imagining Anne: the Island Scrapbooks of L.M. Montgomery
The author: Elizabeth Epperly (editor)
Publication: Viking Canada, 2008
Got it from: The Library

Oh, what I wouldn't give to spend a week in Montgomery's world. I've spent so much time in PEI and read so many of her journals, it's creepy. I'd wear fancy hats and dresses, go to tea parties and concerts, sleigh rides and dances and concerts. Then I'd come home and admire my flush toilet.

In a way, reading these scrapbooks is a bit like time travel. They're a direct glimpse into the life of a woman in turn-of-the-century Canada, and what a different world it was! No cars, no TV, no Internet, no cell phones (no phones at all, not until later). One had to amuse oneself by doing chores and paying calls and playing with kittens and, at least in Montgomery's case, writing. It's an almost enviable life, because despite lacking modern conveniences, people then were rarely bored.

This book has also reminded me I'm woefully behind in my own scrapbooking. I need to get snipping and pasting fast.