Remembering favorite writers from my early years

From the Rosamund du Jardin website:

"Most people wonder why I like these books so much when I am a child of the '80's and the '90's and these books are about what it was like to be young during the '50's and the '60's. To tell you the truth, I don't know myself! Perhaps it's because they are about a time when it was safe to walk a girl home at night or when people drank malteds in the soda shop while wearing their charm bracelets and sweater sets. In some ways, their world of wearing class rings and hoping for orchid corsages is the opposite of my world of MTV, gangs and violence, and teenage pregnancy, but it's still the same when it comes to joys and heartaches, growing up and learning."

Most people remember Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Robert Frost (March 26, 1874 – January 29, 1963) for his poem, The Road Not Taken.

However, my favorite Frost poem is Reluctance. It ends like this:

Ah, when to the heart of man
Was it ever less than a treason
To go with the drift of things,
To yield with a grace to reason,
And bow and accept the end
Of a love or a season?

Mary Stolz, et al

I've liked that poem ever since my early teen years, when I read a book whose title was taken from it: A Love, or a Season, by Mary Stolz. To be honest, I don't remember what the book was even about. I do remember that Mary Stolz was one of my favorite writers at the time, along with the likes of Betty Cavanna, Rosamund du Jardin and Janet Lambert.
(By the way, if you were ever a Rosamund du Jardin fan, this website dedicate to her is really enjoyable.)

While some of these books were already ten to 20 years old when I was reading them, they still resonated with me as a starry-eyed bookworm.

Francena H. Arnold

Christian fiction was in its early stages, but there was some good stuff out there even then. I loved Not My Will, Light in My Window and Then Am I Strong, by Francena H. Arnold. (I even listed Not My Will as one of my Top 25 Books of All Time.)

I've since lost track of most of my copies of these books, but I see now that many of them are available online. Moody Publishers has even re-released Not My Will. I will probably eventually purchase some of my favorites online. Reading them again will be a delight.

Any favorites that you'd like to let me know about?

 (Originally posted on my main blog, Notes in the Key of Life, 3/26/07.)

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children: my review

"Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" is one of the most charmingly quirky books I've read in quite some time.

With unbridled imagination and deft world-building reminiscent of Andrew Peterson's fantastical books (a must-read if you love fantasy), this tale also fulfilled my number-one need in a reading experience: the motivation to keep turning pages because I couldn't wait to see what happened next.

It's about Jacob Portman, a 16-year-old self-described bored rich kid from Florida, whose grandfather raised him on unbelievable tales of bloodthirsty monsters and children with unusual abilities who live in an idyllic haven on an island in Wales.

Jacob had long since stopped believing his grandfather's stories, despite the fact that he had the photographs to "prove" them.  Photographs that Jacob could see were often doctored, and not even that skillfully.

And because Jacob's grandfather was a Jewish man whose family was killed in the holocaust, and who joined the army to fight the Nazis, it was easy to decide the monsters in his grandfather's tales were simply an allegory for the real-life monsters he had fought.

It isn't until Abraham Portman's death that Jacob begins to believe all the stories might have been real. And prompted by his grandfather's last words, Jacob embarks on a trip to the Welsh island, determined to learn the truth.

Criticisms of the book

Because I enjoyed this book so much, I was really surprised to see the number of one- and two-star ratings it got on Goodreads.

Most of the criticism seems to be that the cover of the book was misleading.  Readers thought they were in for a chillingly creepy horrorfest, and were disappointed to find that it's a young-adult fantasy novel in which the only creepy things are the actual photographs that pepper the book.

Having read some things about the book, I wasn't expecting a bone-chilling tale, and I actually liked the story's air of fresh, sweet innocence.  Don't get me wrong...there's danger, bloodshed and mild scariness, but nothing along the lines of Stephen King or Dean Koontz.

About those photographs 

The vintage photographs are quite real, and author Ransom Riggs admits he built the story around them.  To me, they lend a quirky charm, despite the fact that some of them are rather weird and creepy.  They all came from the hands of collectors of such pictures.  One can't help but wonder about the circumstances in which some of them were taken.

A sequel is coming--yes, the book pretty much ends on a cliffhanger--and Riggs promises that more such photographs will be featured.

Overall, I truly enjoyed reading "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children," and I look forward to finding out what happens in their further adventures.

Deeply Odd was deeply enjoyable

Deeply Odd by Dean Koontz
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Deeply Odd was deeply enjoyable.

It's been a while since I read an Odd Thomas book. I skipped "Odd Apocalypse" because, frankly, I wasn't in the mood for an apocalyptic read. So when I saw this one at my local library, I decided it was time for a return to the world of a uniquely sweet young man who "sees the spirits of the lingering dead."

Honestly--unlike some of the reviews I've read on here--I think "Deeply Odd" is one of my favorites in the series.

Although there was the requisite evil and the horrific tragedy Odd needs to avert, it was also infused with a spirit of hope and goodness.

The book leaves the enigmatic Annamaria in the background. (She's the pregnant young woman that he befriended a couple of books ago. Enigmatic almost to the point of being annoying, I might add.)

It also introduces a wonderful new character that I hope sticks around...the elderly, but feisty and sparkling, Edie Fischer. Edie is also enigmatic and mysterious, but also down-to-earth and very likable.

For example, after the story's suspenseful and nerve-wracking climax, this exchange:

Edie: "How do you feel, Oddie?"
Odd: "Starved. I need a big pile of breakfast."
Edie: "First you need a shower, dear, so the rest of us will have the stomach to take breakfast at the same table with you."

A new ghost is also introduced (in the past, Odd has helped ghosts like Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra pass over to the other side), and there's a new, awesome twist with this one. Plus, he seems to be even more helpful to Odd than some of the spirits in past books.

One of the criticisms I've read has been that Odd didn't ever seem to be in very much danger. Umm, did you read the same book I did? I would think being relentlessly pursued by a bloodthirsty demon would qualify as "dangerous."

I actually appreciated that the story seemed to be a tad less chaotic than some of the "Odd" books. For me, the main attraction of an Odd Thomas book is Odd himself. His thoughts, his ponderings, his humor, his unique outlook on the world. All that I got in spades.

Another criticism was that "not enough questions were answered." The better to keep us buying the next books, maybe?

As for the element of hope? Previous Odd Thomas books have held the gloomy undertone that the world as we know it is being overtaken my evil. "Deeply Odd" revealed that the good is out there too, and working just as hard.






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Lauren Willig's "The Ashford Affair"

The Ashford Affair by Lauren Willig
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Two books came out at about the same time, both set in Africa in the 20s. I couldn't finish one of them--Deanna Raybourn's A Spear of Summer Grass--but I really enjoyed the other, Lauren Willig's The Ashford Affair.

I'm normally a big Deanna Raybourn fan. I love her Lady Julia series. Lady Julia is an eminently likable character, and her husband Brisbane is one of the most attractive male characters ever--brooding, mysterious, very cool.

But I had to quit reading A Spear of Summer Grass simply because I didn't like the characters. I had no sympathy or connection whatever with Delilah, and her male love interest just bored me. Definitely no Brisbane.

On the other hand, The Ashford Affair captured me immediately. I liked the main character, Clementine, very much. As for the characters from the past (the 1920's), I wasn't crazy about any of them, but I was vitally interested in their story.

Addie is one of the most multi-dimensional characters I've encountered in fiction. Kind of like real life--few people are totally good or bad. Addie had her likable, admirable qualities, but definitely her questionable ones as well.

Bea was much like Delilah in Raybourn's book, but unlike Delilah, she had to face the consequences of her selfish, devil-my-care attitude.

Altogether, an entertaining and absorbing tale.



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My review of "The Historian," by Elizabeth Kostova

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I had read so many rave reviews of this book, I went into it with great anticipation...despite the fact that vampires are not usually my thing.

Ultimately, despite good writing and a basically interesting storyline, I found myself disappointed.

The daughter in the book doesn't feel fully fleshed out at all. Did it ever even mention her name?

I did like the narrator, her father, very much, and Helen was a terrific character.

There were times that I read eagerly and couldn't wait to see what would happen next. Other times, I felt like I was plodding through a dull textbook that barely held my interest.

Then when we finally get to meet the object of everyone's interest, fear, research, etc, it feels like an anticlimax...and not even as frightening as you might think.

I think the book would have greatly benefitted by shrinking it down to about half its size.

I don't regret reading it, but it didn't live up to my expectations. And unlike a lot of other readers, I actually preferred her sophomore book, "The Swan Thieves" to this one.



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Extended hiatus

I think, for now at least, I'm going to have to put this blog on an extended hiatus. When I started it up again, I was unemployed and had plenty of time on my hands. Now, I feel any blogging time will have to go to my main blog, Notes in the Key of Life. For the time being, any book reviews I do will be on that blog. I'll leave this one up, and will even be moving some reviews over to the other blog. And who knows, maybe at some point I'll have the energy to devote time to this one again. Thanks to all 20 of you who occasionally read it! :)