Monthly Archives: January 2012

“The Poisonwood Bible” by Barbara Kingsolver

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The Poisonwood Bible is not the type of book I usually read. Generally, most of my reading is escapist – where the world is exciting and people are having a more interesting life than I am, and I want to switch places with them. (I assume they’d probably want to switch places with me too, since they don’t know that they’re in a book and everything’s going to be okay at the end.)

I would definitely not want to switch places with Orleanna Price or any of her four daughters. The Poisonwood Bible follows Nathan Price, a zealous and uncompromising Baptist missionary who drags his wife and daughters to the Belgian Congo. They are totally unprepared for what that means, and all sorts of unpleasant surprises ensue. Most of this arises from Nathan’s total refusal to let Africa bend him to her will (as he thinks of it – I’d call it being adaptable.) In addition, the Congo is in the midst of gaining independence from Belgium, and major world powers are very interested in controlling the valuable resources of the fledgling new nation.

This book is definitely going to stay with me for a while. I think Kingsolver did an excellent job of depicting life in Africa, although you should take that with a few grains of salt since I’ve never been there. It did ring true, though. All the characters – Orleanna, Adah, Leah, Rachel and Ruth May also seemed like real people, and all very different. I didn’t have to look at the chapter headings to see whose viewpoint it was. Ruth May was charming in the way she reported things without understanding what the meant, Adah made a lot of sense as the “crippled” girl that was actually the keenest learner, Leah’s devotion to her father was pretty heartbreaking and Rachel was also believable, although I didn’t really like her from the start.

I identified most with Adah – her limp, her palindrome poems and her quirky but organised mind made a lot of sense to me.

I didn’t know very much about the history of the Congo/Zaire, so the background of the book was fascinating. However, Leah and Rachel seemed to embody extremes on the political spectrum, and although I liked the contrast, I wouldn’t take either of their opinions as fact. (I think that they are plausible opinions for the characters, though.) I’ve seen criticisms that the author was being preachy, but I think it was just Leah’s character being preachy and Rachel being a little underdeveloped at the end. I kept hoping that Rachel would redeem herself, but she didn’t ever seem to.

There is no neat little bow of an ending, and the characters remain flawed in the end, even though they grow up noticeably. That’s why I don’t read books like this (general award/prize winning books) often – even though I appreciate them and I think they are masterfully done, they leave me very sad. Please note that I don’t mean to insult The Poisonwood Bible by lumping it into an arbitrary category – I think it was unique.

This is book 14 of 25 of my Dec 11, 2011 book challenge.

“Fly Trap” by Frances Hardinge

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Fly Trap cover I was instantly captivated when I read Fly by Night by Frances Hardinge, so I was really looking forward to this sequel, Fly Trap (Twilight Robbery in the U.K.)

Fly Trap follows the continuing adventures of Mosca Mye, an orphaned 12-year old who has the rare ability to read, her travelling companion Eponymous Clent, a well-known con-artist, and her homicidal goose, Saracen. They have recently (accidentally) helped cause a revolution in the city of Mandelion and run afoul of the powerful Guilds that control the realm. They’ve been trying to make a living using their conning skills and Mosca’s ability to read, but winter is coming, and they’re not in a comfortable spot. After they accidentally stumble upon a kidnapping plot, they head to the city of Toll hoping to notify the intended victim and earn a reward. Predictably, things don’t end up turning out like they’d hoped and they become embroiled in far larger schemes.

This is another of those books that is labelled “fantasy” simply because it is set in an alternate world, even thought it does not contain any magic. The world is really interesting, though. In the previous book, we learned that every hour and day has its own patron saint or god (called “Beloved”), and a child is named in honour of the reigning deity when he or she was born. This book explores this concept even further. The city of Toll takes these names very seriously, as Mosca and Eponymous soon find out.

Just like Fly by Night, Fly Trap is a self-contained adventure, and I don’t think it’s necessary to read the previous book in order to enjoy this one. A few familiar faces appear, but their appearances and significance are explained.

Mosca and Eponymous are fun protagonists, and their half-antagonistic, half-affectionate relationship is very endearing. I particularly loved the scene where Mosca makes up some choice insults in order to get Eponymous out of trouble, and his reaction to it. Even though both Mosca and Eponymous would deny having a sense of right and wrong, they definitely do – especially when it comes to saving each other from trouble. Saracen was a hoot (or rather, a honk) as always, but I was a bit disappointed that he wasn’t a bit more murderous.

Hardinge is a total delight to read – she loves playing with words, and her descriptions are inventive and charming. I think that she is one of the best young adult writers of today, having also read her The Lost Conspiracy. I don’t think she’s nearly as popular as she should be.

“Dark Lord of Derkholm” by Diana Wynne Jones

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I returned to my 25 book challenge with Dark Lord of Derkholm by Diana Wynne Jones. I’ve been meaning to read more of her books, I really enjoyed Howl’s Moving Castle, and I’ve had this one for a while.

Dark Lord of Derkholm is about a fantasy world that has essentially been turned into a theme park by the evil Mr. Chesney from what seems to be our world. Every year, Chesney’s Pilgrim Parties, packaged tours for adventure-seeking people, devastate the world. Basically the entire economy of the world revolves around these tours, which consist of staged adventures including a battle between the Forces of Good and the Dark Lord, attacks by leathery avian creatures, bandits and pirates, a Glamorous Enchantress, treasures guarded by dragons, etc. The inhabitants of the world spend all year trying to make this happen, but resent it thoroughly. However, Mr. Chesney has a powerful demon on his side, and they do not know how to end the contract with him without risking doom.

The Wizard Derk is chosen to play the Dark Lord this year, and the book follows the adventures of him, his family (his wife, two human children and five griffin children) and his menagerie of unusual animals as they struggle to pull it off.

This book is absolutely hilarious, but also makes you feel pretty touched in places. Derk the wizard was a really fun protagonist – I thought he was going to be pretty ineffectual (as did the rest of the wizards), but he dealt with everything really well, despite all the setbacks he kept running into.  I loved the unusual family that he has – humans and griffins that consider each other siblings and are treated equally. All the characters were really fleshed out and charming in their own way. This applies to the supporting characters too – Querida the High Chancellor was a lot of fun to read about (I imagine that she looks a bit like Dame Maggie Smith), and so was Scales the dragon.

I thought the concept of the book was pretty awesome, too. It allowed the author to affectionately satirise common fantasy tropes and our perceptions of them, while remaining true to the fantasy genre. I loved it the same way I loved The Princess Bride.

Howl’s Moving Castle was pretty great, but after reading this, I’ve realised that Diana Wynne Jones definitely deserves her reputation.

This is book 13 of 25 of my Dec 11, 2011 book challenge.

“Warbreaker” by Brandon Sanderson

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Warbreaker cover.Warbreaker was also one of my birthday presents, and I was really excited to read it. It’s interesting that I read this book right after Elantris, because they have a lot of the same concepts. Men undergoing a transformation and being deified, and a princess being promised to a royal of a neighbouring kingdom in a political move. I thought Brandon Sanderson was being a bit repetitive (although he takes the concepts in very different directions in both books), but it was deliberate; he wanted to explore concepts that came up in Elantris, but couldn’t due to the direction of the story.

Warbreaker follows two Idrian princesses, Siri and Vivenna. Vivenna has been promised to Susebron, the God King of neighbouring Hallendren, in the hopes that it would avert a war, and she has been studying and preparing for this all her life. However, at the last minute, her father cannot bear to part with her, and instead sends her sister Siri. Vivenna is outraged and goes on an unauthorised mission to rescue her younger sister from her fate. We also follow Lightsong, a Returned god of Hallendren who doesn’t believe he is a god, and the mysterious Vasher and his sentient sword, Nightblood.

As usual, there is a lot of political intrigue and sudden plot twists that make an amazing amount of sense in retrospect, but which I never saw coming. Siri and Vivenna are very different from each other (and from all the other Sanderson female protagonists), and both very likeable. Lightsong reminded me a bit of Oscar Wilde’s lazy and frivolous protagonists, but of course he’s curious underneath it all. (I loved the revelation of who he was before he Returned.) Vasher is gruff and mysterious, but definitely an interesting person to follow.

Anyway, like the previous review of Elantris, I don’t really have much to say. I loved the book.

One cool thing about Warbreaker is that it is available for free on Brandon Sanderson’s website, as well as all his previous drafts of the book. This is a really cool, especially for people who want to write books. He also has annotations for each chapter. All of this is available at his Warbreaker portal.

“Elantris” by Brandon Sanderson

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Elantris cover.I got Elantris for my birthday yesterday, and immediately dove into it. If you’ve been reading my blog, you know that I’ve really wanted to read this for a while. I think Brandon Sanderson is my favourite fantasy writer, and this is his debut novel.

Elantris is about the city of Elantris, which was once radiant and magical, where all of its inhabitants were benevolent, and used their magic to benefit the people. However, Elantris fell ten years ago, and its inhabitants are basically zombies who can still think. People are still being turned into Elantrians, but it is no longer a blessing. The religious zealot kingdom of Fjordell is getting very powerful, and Prince Raoden of Arelon is about to be married to Princess Sarene of Teod, forming an important political treaty between their nations in the hope of resisting Fjordell. However, a few days before their wedding, Raoden is taken by the Shaod and turned into an Elantrian, and Sarene is declared his widow. Now Raoden needs to find hope in the anarchy and despair of Elantris, and Sarene needs to stop Hrathen, the Fjordell priest from converting and subjugating both her adopted kingdom and her home kingdom.

I really liked this book. Sarene and Raoden are both people that you want to root for; they’re both intelligent and principled, and very well-matched. I was a bit surprised at how quickly their romance came together at the end (primarily because Sarene is otherwise so sceptical), but other than that, I thought they had great chemistry. Hrathen is also a great point of view character; he’s devoted to his faith but also a rationalist. His battle with Sarene over the conversion of the Arelish people was pretty interesting.

As usual with a Brandon Sanderson  book, the magic system was very well thought out. As also seems to be the case with his standalone fiction (I’m looking at you , The Alloy of Law), every loose thread is not explained at the end, which is frustrating because now I really want a sequel!

I don’t think I can say very much more about this book – I was pretty much completely immersed in the world and didn’t get out of it enough to think about what I liked or disliked about it. I’m really excited to read Brandon Sanderson’s annotations of Elantris, available for free online.

“Climbing the Stairs” by Padma Venkatraman

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I found myself in a bookstore (that had some great bargains) yesterday, and ended up breaking my resolution not to buy any books until I’d read 25 of my old ones. However, in light of recent events, and also in light of today being my birthday, I think that’s okay. Climbing the Stairs by Padma Venkatraman was one of the books I bought, especially since I was looking for a few easy reads. This book used to be on my wishlist, but then I decided it sounded a bit too chick-lit for my tastes, but I decided that it would be a quick read and it sounded like fun.

Climbing the Stairs is about fifteen year old Vidya, a member of an orthodox Tamil Brahmin family, who does not want to get married, but instead wants to attend college and make something of herself. It is the early 1940s, and India’s independence movement is in full swing, even as World War II rages across the world. Vidya has a liberal family, but when tragedy strikes, she has to move to Madras to her grandfather’s home, which is a traditional joint family home. (And of course, she meets a boy there that dashes all her dreams of spinsterhood.)

This story resonated with me more than I thought it would because my grandmother was part of a joint family in Madras (albeit not Brahmin.) The relationships between the various family members (the grandfather being the supreme authority, the older sister in laws being bossy, the family hierarchy) really seemed to ring true. I don’t think my grandmother’s family was as strict as this one, but I’m not sure.

Vidya is a likeable protagonist (although it’s hard to go wrong with a girl that likes books), she knew what she wanted and tried her best to get it. She didn’t complain too much, though, or stoop to the petty level of the other women she was surrounded by. I loved the turn that her relationship with Raman took (to say any more would be a spoiler, but I was glad that she didn’t have to be “rescued.”) I think that her voice and opinions were also very well portrayed – she was a very believable sheltered fifteen year old girl.

I also liked the setting a lot, despite being a fairly lighthearted and simple book, the various factions in India during this very volatile time period were portrayed pretty well. The non-violent Gandhians that believed in ahimsa, the people that believed that independence required violence, the sycophants to the British. There were British police that wanted to stop protests with violence, but there was also a kindly British man.

Overall, a pretty enjoyable and easy read.

“New Spring” by Robert Jordan

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The Wheel of Time is a series that I really love, so I knew I would love New Spring even before I started it. New Spring is a prequel to the main Wheel of Time series, featuring the Aes Sedai Moiraine Damodred and Siuan Sanche as young women who have not yet been raised to the rank of full Aes Sedai. It also follows the story of al’Lan Mandragoran, the last King of Malkier, who we know in The Wheel of Time as Moiraine’s Warder, and how he ended up bonded to Moiraine.

The book assumes that you’re familiar with The Wheel of Time, the various organisations, countries, etc. aren’t really given that much of an explanation.We meet some familiar faces, primarily in the Aes Sedai – Verin, Elaida, Cadsuane, Sheriam and Leane, among others. It’s kind of hard for me to figure out what information was new to us in the book because I read the Wheel of Time wiki so much.

It’s definitely interesting to see Moiraine and Siuan, both so inscrutable and awe-inspiring in the main series, as young and immature women still finding their way in the world. Their friendship is really affectionate and well-portrayed. Lan is pretty much unchanged, he’s still honourable, sensible, dutiful and proud. We get to find out a lot of backstory, for instance why Moiraine was searching for the Dragon Reborn, how Lan and Moiraine ended up trusting each other so much, what the Black Ajah had been up to, the decline of the White Tower starting to show.

Basically, read it if you love The Wheel of Time. If you haven’t read The Wheel of Time, read at least the first few books in the series before reading this. Skip it if you don’t love The Wheel of Time.

This is book 12 of 25 of my Dec 11, 2011 book challenge.

“Ringworld” by Larry Niven

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Ringworld coverI keep telling myself I need to read more science-fiction, so I decided to make good on that, starting with a classic, Ringworld by Larry Niven. I haven’t read any books by Larry Niven before, although Ringworld is part of his Known Space book universe.

Ringworld is about an artificial world, 3 million miles across, that is built in the shape of a ring that spins around a sun (the concept is similar to a Dyson sphere.) Nessus, a Pierson’s puppeteer (a cowardly alien species with two heads) leads a motley crew on a top-secret mission to explore it. Louis Wu is a two hundred year old world-famous adventurer, Teela Brown is an extraordinarily lucky twenty year old girl (and Louis’s lover), and Speaker-to-Animals is a ferocious Kzinti diplomat.

The book starts off as an exciting adventure, I really enjoyed it up until the point where the expedition actually lands on the Ringworld (halfway through the book.) After that, it got a bit tedious, like Niven didn’t know what to do with his characters.

Some of the ideas mentioned and explored in this book are pretty interesting – I enjoyed the discussions about the different kinds of evolutions (what the puppeteer’s fight or flight response meant, for example) and how that led to different priorities for different species. I also liked the Ringworld itself, as well as the puppeteer’s home world. Teela’s “psychic luck” was also an interesting concept, although I found it implausible.

The characters are interesting to start off with, but like I said above, halfway into the book, they get pretty dull. I also found the descriptions of Louis Wu’s (constant) sex kind of awful (“she impaled herself” is an awful description.) Also, the writing felt a bit dated; I think our conceptions of space were very different in the 70s.

I probably would not have stuck through this book if it was not part of my 25 book challenge, but I’m glad I did because it’s a classic, and at least I’ve read it now! I probably won’t be reading the other books in the series soon, but maybe eventually.

This is book 11 of 25 of my Dec 11, 2011 book challenge.

“Fannie’s Last Supper” by Christopher Kimball

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Cover for Fannie's Last SupperI’m a big fan of America’s Test Kitchen, and I love reading about food and history, so I was really looking forward to reading Fannie’s Last Supper by its host and founder, Christopher Kimball.The book’s tagline is “Re-creating One Amazing Meal from Fannie Farmer’s 1896 Cookbook”, and is (purportedly) about recreating an elaborate dinner party from Victorian-era Boston, based on the recipes of Fannie Farmer, a famous cooking teacher and businesswoman from the time.

About the title – although Kimball was certainly inspired by his discovery of Fannie Farmer’s cookbook, I would not go as far as to say his meal was a recreation. He does not seem to respect Farmer as a cook or as a person, which makes for odd reading. His reactions to exact recreations of her dishes range from “inedible” to “truly horrible” to “rather uninspired” to “second rate.” (There is the occasional “good”, but it is rare.) This means that pretty much all of the recipes were changed quite a bit. A few of the recipes were even sourced entirely from other books, after Farmer was deemed unsatisfactory. This is all fine, but it seemed like false advertising.

The book is peppered with fascinating facts and insights into the world of the 19th century cook. The industrial revolution was changing cooking at an extremely rapid rate, plus domestic servants were no longer common. Kimball likens it to a music aficionado in the late 1990s (p. 193):

who used a turntable for his LP collection while relying on a large group of CDs and then a smattering of digital downloads from iTunes on his MP3 player.

I loved that description (although, what about cassette tapes? that’s what I used in the 90s) – I think it’s a great analogy.

I think the structure of the book could have been easier to read – part of it deals with the evolution in cooking methods and ingredients in the US, some of it is about how Boston’s food culture and how that changed (including random little details like the price of gelatin), some of it is about Fannie Farmer’s life, and then there’s the story of Kimball’s journey to making this dinner, testing recipes, finding silverware, etc. The trouble is that each chapter contains a bit of everything. I think it would’ve showcased the material far better if it had been better structured, although it is still really interesting.

I also appreciated a lot of the trouble that they went to to make the dinner accurate – mock turtle soup using calf-brains, and making gelatin from calf-feet stand out. It sounded like a horrendous amount of work.

Apparently PBS did a special to accompany the book (or vice versa), also called Fannie’s Last Supper. Here is the trailer for it. I really want to watch it, but I’m not sure how it can be obtained.

This is book 10 of 25 of my Dec 11, 2011 book challenge.

“Two Lives” by Vikram Seth

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Cover for "Two Lives"Two Lives: A Memoir is the first Vikram Seth book I’ve read (I seem to be making a habit of introducing myself to authors who primarily write fiction by reading their non-fiction work; the only Barbara Kingsolver book I’ve read is Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, and On Writing is the only Stephen King book in the house, although I haven’t read that one yet.) I found the title of the book slightly misleading – while the book is certainly about Seth’s uncle Shanti and aunt Henny, it’s also very much about his relationship with them.

The book is divided into five independent parts, each approaching different facet of the story. It starts off with the young Vikram Seth arriving to live with his aunt and uncle while he attends school in England, and his perceptions of them. Then, we learn about Shanti’s life, then Henny’s, then their life together. I was expecting the book to be more narrative than it was; a large portion of it quotes various interviews and letters. Much of the narration that accompanies the quotes seems more like annotation or clarification of context. At first, I found this annoying, but I got used to it.

The story of Shanti and Henny is certainly makes fascinating reading. Shanti is a Hindu from India who studies dentistry in Germany, and Henny is the daughter of the Jewish family he boards with while doing so. However, their love story blossoms in England. Both of them are remarkable people in their own right – Shanti is a much-loved practising dentist, even though he lost one of his arms in World War II. Henny’s story is quite tragic; her mother and sister do not make it out of Germany, and she has to face many truths about her family and friends after the war is over. I think her correspondences were the most interesting part of the book – we got an intimate look at how she coped with a tragedy of the magnitude of the Holocaust. She always remained incredibly dignified and restrained, though.

At times, I found myself wishing that the book was a little more focused. It seemed like Seth structured the book around trying to present every bit of information that he had (especially about Henny), rather than build a cohesive narrative. At other times, I appreciated the tangents and extra details about the couple’s family and friends.

I also had mixed feelings about the author talking about his own feelings at various points in the book. On the one hand, they made it feel more intimate – he is in fact, writing about the aunt and uncle that he loves and respects, so it’s nice to see that come through. On the other hand, some of the things he said seemed superfluous and distracting; for instance, he talks about the different areas of the world and technologies that Germany has had an impact on (including some thoughts on the future.)

This is book 9 of 25 of my Dec 11, 2011 book challenge.