Ketutar
“It is a good rule after reading a new book, never to allow yourself another new one till you have read an old one in between”, said C.S.Lewis. Now, I don't know if it is a good rule, but I do enjoy a good reread every now and then. This was one of them. Now, I read this when I was a child, some 40 years ago, and I loved it. I suppose I read it then because I thought this would be about some other kinds of swallows and amazons, but it's not worse for that :-D Also, I read it in Finnish, and as far as I know, the sequels have not been translated. So I haven't read them. I'm looking forward to do it.“Swallows and Amazons” is about two groups of siblings who have adventures on a lake during the summer holiday, with their sailing boats. We have the Walker children, John, Susan, Titty, and Roger, and the Blackett girls, Nancy and Peggy. The Walkers' dad is in the navy and teaches the children boatmanship during his holidays. I assume Nancy and Peggy were taught by their uncle. I love the equality here, even though Susan is a good little housewife, but I suppose some girls are exactly that.Anyway, they are having adventures, safe but exciting ones, in a safe environment where children can be children and train being adults... this book reminds me of Edith Nesbit's books, Enid Blyton's books, and E.T.Seton's [b:Two Little Savages 1282886 Two Little Savages Ernest Thompson Seton https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1328865394l/1282886.SX50.jpg 1271917]. Very clean, safe children's books.
This is a story of a little girl living in the Russian countryside, in a small village. There's magic in this world and... hmm... magical creatures, dragons, rusalkas, etc. Magic has been outlawed, but people still use it.
Now, Anya is a bit different from other little girls in the village, she's Jewish. The book does a good job showing this by including the Jewish traditions and ways to the story of her life.
One day a family arrives to the village. It's a family of the Czar's fools, in the village to look for a dragon. All the dragons in the country are to be taken to the Czar. The family has several sons, and they are all named Ivan. Ivan the second, fourth, seventh and so on. The father is also Ivan, Ivan the first :-D
Ivan the Eight and Anya become friends and they find the dragon. It's not what they thought it would be.
Todella hyvä kirja! Rakastin kaikkea säätietoutta ja Leenan suhdetta säähän. Hyvin tutkittu ja kerrottu, tuntui ihan aidolta. Joonaksen tarina oli kuin Waltaria :-D Tämä on toinen Johanna Sinisalo, ensimmäiseni oli peikko-tarina [b:Ennen päivänlaskua ei voi 678472 Ennen päivänlaskua ei voi Johanna Sinisalo https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1284384084l/678472.SY75.jpg 2995200], jota rakastan myöskin. Olen saanut uuden lempikirjailijan <3
Well... second time reading, about 25 years after the first time. Wow, how time flies!Back in the 90s, Jostein Gaarder was very famous for his [b:Sophie's World 10959 Sophie's World Jostein Gaarder https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1343459906l/10959.SY75.jpg 4432325]. I didn't like that one, but I remember liking this one and the tarot card book. Now I re-read this one, as it's Christmas time and this one is kind of a count-down calendar. I noticed things I didn't see the previous time.We have this 5 years old girl who Pro-Palestinians kidnap to force her father, a rather famous journalist, to write about the Palestine-Israel situation. She is taken to Palestine and raised as a Palestinian girl. Her parents never knew what happened to her, so I suppose the kidnapping went awry. That's the frame story, though, and it's not much talked about in the book. The main story is about this young boy who wants a “Christmas calendar” - a countdown calendar with 24 “doors” you open one each day from December 1st to December 24th - which is when the Norwegians celebrate Christmas. His dad and he go to a bookstore and find a handmade calendar and there are small slips of paper with a story written. It's a story about the 5yo. In this version she starts following a little toy lamb that becomes real, and runs through Europe to Bethlehem and from 1945 to the year 0, to be by the manger at Jesus' birth. She meets several different characters during the journey, angels, shepherds, the three wise kings, etc. about one a day, and the stories are about small things that happen during the journey. It is fascinating that they were supposed to find a road that isn't too inhabited, but they go straight through Europe; Germany, Italy, Turkey - and not through Russia. I suppose that was so that Jostein could write about how Christianity spread over Europe, but backward - starting from the 1940s and ending in the 0000s. Anyway, it's like a frame story around a story around a story around a story... so many layers. But that's Jostein Gaarder for you. Anyway, this story is too Christian to me, but at the same time not enough. I don't get a feeling about the ages of the kids. Elisabet behaves like a much older person than 5, and the people treat her as a much older child. I mean, 5yo is a toddler! Joachim - I don't know how old he is, but he's also behaving as... older and younger. Sometimes he's like 5 and sometimes like 10 and sometimes like 15. Really hard to relate. And the parents! So what if the kid invents stories about real places? He could have heard the name on the television or something. How is that in any way alarming? How does that in any way warrant breaking his privacy and looking into his box? It doesn't. And the story isn't that amazing, either. I don't understand why the parents are so amazed and awed and keep talking about imagination and things. Sounds like Jostein Gaarder is tooting his own horn here. Really stupid and irritating.Anyway, the idea is great. Makes me want to have a countdown calendar like that, but with small dolls so that I could play the book with my kids from the 1st of December to Christmas and “walk” the characters from the bedroom to the creche. The story itself sucks though, so maybe I'll write something better myself and make us a countdown calendar like that.
A cozy mystery about restaurant owners.
I liked it. I liked the insight to the Philippinian culture, I liked the many different cultures in this book, the diversity, and the family feeling. Everyone was so nice. I felt good after having finished it.
The villain was pretty awful, but a bit two-dimensional. I would also have wanted to know what happened with the whatshisname guy. Nevertheless, a nice, quick read.
Another book I don't know what to think of... it ALMOST did it, but not quite. As if Margaret didn't quite dare to take it to the level it could have been.
I didn't like most of the characters. Tessa grew on me. I think I liked old Charles best. I think the best part of the book was the little tea discussion Tessa and Charles had. I wish Charles had told Tessa to move to live with him and become his little girl so that she could have had a life.
Lewis... a disgusting piece of crap. And he killed her. As certainly as if he had shot her. It was his fault that Florence said what she said, he should have taken better care of her during the journey to Brussels, and then the window. Selfish little piece of shit.
But Florence... that bitch was something. How can you accuse a 15 years old of seducing an adult man?
And Lewis, f-ing p-ile. He would have f-d her had she not died. She was 15, and he had known her since she was a little girl, if not even earlier. And he was like twice her age.
Oh, and it's f-ing misogynist and racist as well.
Ladies of Fantasy: Two Centuries of Sinister Stories by the Gentle Sex
There is really only one reason why I wanted to read this. Come on, you know what it is. The cover. Edward Gorey was wonderful.
The problem with anthologies is that it's bound to be uneven. Some of these were amazing, some not so.
Edith Nesbit. The Pavilion
- I love Edith Nesbit. I recommend everything she has ever written, her horror stories are sublime.
Joan Aiken. Searching for Summer
- very sweet :-)
Mary Elizabeth Counselman. The Unwanted
- Absolutely fascinating
Dorothy Salisbury Davis. The Muted Horn
- interesting
Grazia Deledda. The Sorcerer
- Oh. Witty, funny, slightly scary. Really good.
Helena Blavatsky. The Ensouled Violin
- A good gothic story.
Jane Roberts. The Red Wagon
- Heartbreaking - but also funny. Very smart.
Grena J. Bennett, Thomas J. Vivian. The Tilting Island
- Interesting. A bit stupid, but good storytelling.
C. L. Moore. Doorway Into Time
- The story was interesting, but the storytelling wasn't good :-D Way too elaborate and flowery
Lady Eleanor Smith. No Ships Pass
- Sorry, I found it rather boring.
Another rather uneven book. It was partially great and partially really boring. All in all, it was good. I don't regret reading it.
It took me a little bit longer to read than it should have. I found it hard to get into it. About halfway I forced myself to read it.
I liked the feminist history and matriarchy in it. I don't like the witch burning and book burning.
Also, I have to commend Alix' ... er... what's it called now... dang it. How she follows the shape of the story. We get a small victory and then she rips it apart, we rise from the ashes, and she burns everything down again, again and again, the steps get higher and higher, the disappointment and loss bigger and bigger. When she burned the tower I almost stopped reading. It was a bit much. Obviously not too much, as I finished the book :-D
Another book I don't know what to think about.
It's a retelling of the ballet, and that story is somewhat stupid. Mercedes manages to keep the spirit of the ballet, there are scenes that are written from the ballet, I can see the scene in my mind. :-D
This is written from Odile's POV.
Mercedes also wrote a different end to the story. I am not too happy about that. So, Odile kills her father, and moves to live in Odette's household, stripping the wizard's mansion and gave everything away. Or most of it, anyway. It felt forced.
So, people die, happily ever after! YAY!
Now... this was a bit muddled by the fact that I have been reading this book on and off for a couple of months, and I have been reading a lot of other books together with it. This one should be read by itself, and rather quickly.
Now I understand the cover, though I don't think it's a good choice.
I found the alchemy part fascinating. Seanan made it sound real, and I like that.
I also like the fact that she opened the door for further adventures while finishing the story. I love how Seanan McGuire makes me expect things I don't expect :-D I mean, she has a unique way of seeing things. Most solutions aren't obvious. The conclusions and choices the characters make aren't predictable. Most of the time. I like that. She also widens the concept of a “happy ending”. Seanan McGuire's books aren't rosy and unicorn farts. They are pretty dark and some very horrible things happen. But it's not necessarily bad. Or, of course, it's bad, but one can have a happy ending, be content and enjoy life and see the beauty of it, even though some very horrible things have happened. I believe that is important because that's what human life is. Everyone suffers in some ways, and experiences pain and disappointment and depression and “bad things”, even though one could argue some people's “pain” is nothing compared to some other people's pain. It's all relevant, isn't it? Anyway, that's not all there is, and life is beautiful, and Seanan McGuire makes me remember it. I love her books.
This was a huge disappointment.
I was expecting a wise and witty guide to the holidays.
I was expecting to be delighted.
I was expecting to have my holiday cheer maintained.
Nope. Didn't happen.
Some of the Little Golden Book illustrations were wonderful, but the text felt forced and preppy and perky and... so fake. It was a bit like they had a general idea of what they wanted to say, and then just found images that fit the thought somewhat, but that wasn't enough, so they filled it with Christmassy images and something that might fit if shoehorned a little, and then write something to go with the images. I didn't count, but I have the memory that about 1/4 of the images were actually Christmassy and relevant. (And now I kind of want to go back and count :-D)
It was like reading a Christmas-themed Cyrano de Bergerac death scene. The text was going one way and started ebbing out, so Diane went back to the beginning and started over, repeated herself, and it went on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and LET THE MAN DIE FOR GOODNESS' SAKE!!!
Oh, and don't forget that this is a Christian-themed book, so when Diane had said all they wanted to say about Christmas as they saw it (cleaning and stress and chores and “don't stress!”), she started talking about Jesus. All the same old cliches.
Another hard one to rate... I like Alice Hoffman's writing, so that's good, but how can Kylie be so damned stupid? Her stupidity made it hard for me to read this book, and that's why it took so long for me to actually finish it.
I mean... if you are a stranger in a town, and a lady at a pub warns you about a guy you met earlier the day, maybe not take sides, but for heaven's sake, don't assume they are talking smack about the guy just because you met the guy first! People usually don't warn strangers about people just to make things difficult. They usually at least think they have good reason to do so. And her being under a spell or something like that? Nah.
And then we have the red dust. I mean... had I been stepping on red dust and that caused me almost die, I'd be very careful about red dust.
Wow.
The beginning was really hard. I wanted to puke.
It didn't get much better in that - “I'll skin you alive!” and he meant it. He would have done it... how can people be confident about having right to have and use that kind of power over other people? It's still happening, all over the planet.
Anyway, it felt better, because of Dana.
Oh... I don't have words to tell how I feel about this. Except that I found it really weird that it was written some 50 years ago. It felt so modern. It could have been written now.
Oh my goodness! What an emotional roller coaster! When he died, I cried, I bawled my eyes out. It was so unfair! So f-ing unfair! I was thinking that if this is someone's experience of God, I can understand that they become atheists, because one cannot live with a God like that! And somehow, after all that, Colleen managed to make it OK!
Difficult...
I like that there are so many competent women in here. I like Phryne.
I don't like the fact that she's underweight.
I don't like the... I don't know what to call it. Racism? Like, you get better pasta, olives, olive oil and mushroom in Australia than in Italy. Or the “quaint” Australian idiom “picaninny dawn”.
I loved the beginning, but the end was a bit hurried. I wish it had been more prepared, you know, more discussions and so on, right now they just went there, for no reason, really, and did that, and the end.
And she is like 11 or so. (I forgot and as it's the middle of the night, or actually very early morning (4 a.m.) I can't be bothered to go and check. Anyway, as in many other books, these teenage heroes feel more like adults with adult reasoning and skill set, and abilities. I seriously can't see an eleven years old beat a sixteen years old in sword fighting. Especially when it's medieval-type fantasy swords and not some light foil :-D It wasn't as bad though as in Percy Jackson :-D At least Alanna worked really hard on her skills.
Also, it was very nice of the villains to leave Alanna her sword, and then wait politely for her to get dressed. :-D
I'm also a bit unhappy about how easily she got her horse and magic sword, and how no one is asking any questions. Except what-his-name the smiley one, you know. I mean, they are really amazing. Well, well... it's a good book, and I'm looking forward to its continuation.
