Review: Shelf Discovery by Lizzie Skurnick

Talk about a walk down memory lane! Lizzie Skurnick is about my age and she is a long time bookworm. So of course our childhood reading was going to overlap to a large extent. Skurnick has written about the some of the most important books both in terms of forming who she is and in terms of her reading education. These are certainly not the books we read in school as a class. Come to think of it, I can't remember the titles of any of those. But I do vividly remember reading many of the books spotlighted in this collection of essays.

Skurnick's collection is separated into thematic sections: heroines we wanted to be, danger girls, historical fiction, after school special novels, the supernatural, girls on the verge, tear-jerkers, living in the wild, romances, and books we probably shouldn't have been reading. And any girl reader worth her salt who grew up in the 70's and 80's would have dipped into many of the listed books. Now, unlike the implication of the sub-title (The Teen Classics We Never Stopped Reading), these books are not really teen classics. They're more of the middle grade, tweenie variety, but they are no less fileld with nostalgia for that fact.

In each of her essays, Skurnick provides a general plot summary and often the effect that reading that particular book had on her as a person. The essays are mostly just pure fun and enjoyable for revisiting a book that loomed large in so many young girls' lives. There is some analysis of the themes within the books and what made them so appealing to their target demographic but not enough to really call the essays a critical look at the books. They are more pleasing reminiscences than anything so someone going into the book looking for a more in depth scholarly examination will be disappointed. But reading the book in the charming, skimming the surface spirit in which it was meant provides a happy reading experience. And because the essays are short, this is a book you can dip into slowly over long periods of time without ever missing anything or losing the thread of a narrative.

Reading about some of the books I didn't read as I was growing up, I am inspired to pick some of them up and go through them now. Just see if they still have magic or if they were definitely of a certain time and place. While Skurnick read a lot deeper in certain novelists' canons than I did (she clearly adored Madeleine L'Engle while I loathed A Wrinkle in Time and never read any further), as girls of around the same age with bookish interests, we might very very have been library partners. And I would have happily introduced her to some of the books I read during those formative years that she clearly missed in her reading life.

Review: Blue Highways by William Least Heat Moon

After losing his job and having his marriage crumble, Least Heat Moon sets off on a journey around the country, traveling slowly, along blue highways (state and local routes marked in blue on his maps), meeting the people and examining the small, forgotten places along these back roads. He drives around in a converted van he names Ghost Dancer but rather than have adventures, there's a sort of dreamy, wandering pace to his travels and his narrative. He never mocks the people he meets, listening to their thoughts and opinions respectfully, chronicalling a fast disappearing way of life.

The narrative, as would seem appropriate, is loaded with descriptions of the areas in which he is driving so the reader sees the shift in the physical landscape as Least Heat Moon loops around the country. There is also very much a personal, introspective theme running through the pages. Least Heat Moon interweaves his own Native American heritage and beliefs throughout his chronicle as well as calling attention periodically to history, both recent (at least recent at the time of his journey--1970's) and centuries past. The writing is as meandering as the trip and if the reader is in the proper frame of mind, this works. But be forewarned that only the trip itself, both physical and of self-discovery unite the various chapters. This is a quiet, contemplative sort of book but it resonates deeply long after the last page has been turned.

Review: Eve's Ransom by George Gissing

Maurice Hilliard is a young man who is given some money long owed to his late father and with this unexpected windfall, he determines to spend a year, or as long as the money holds out, truly living his life. He quits his job, bids farewell to his friend, and strikes out to do just this. But after determining that he is as aimless in Paris as he was in England, he decides to search out a young woman with whose portrait he'd become enamoured at his former landlady's home. Once he tracks down Eve, he pushes to know her and her friend Patty, becoming a major player in their lives. He falls for the sometimes unapproachable Eve, taking on a sort of benefactor's role in her life. Eve has known real penurious hardship and so she allows Maurice to buy his way into her life, all the while knowing that Maurice's windfall is temporary. She cannot see her way to living a life on the edge of poverty again and so she continues to hold herself slightly aloof from Maurice.

Gissing, a Victorian author, has drawn a realistic and challenging portrait of a man who is in love with a woman who cannot force herself to love him, feeling gratitude but nothing deeper. Although this is a short book, his descriptions of dreary, dingy, industrial age London, Paris, and Birmingham is instructive. He has captured the reality and result of grinding poverty on the soul and the limited prospects available to the lower class of the time. Only Maurice and Eve are completed characters and neither is totally likeable, both grasping and desperate in their own ways. I was disappointed in the ending of the book. The tone changed very drastically and the characters seemed so changed without the reader seeing that change that the conclusion just felt off. It almost seemed as if at the last minute Gissing felt as if his intended ending was too depressing to foist on the serial reading public and so whitewashed things. Other than that caveat though, I enjoyed this and would recommend it to other readers who enjoy the realism so often found in Victorian fiction.

Review: Autumn in Scotland by Karen Ranney

Charlotte, the Countess of Marne, has traveled to Scotland in hopes that the man she married so recently is holed up in his castle there. Her parents are disapproving and reluctant to leave her, especially when they discover that he is not there, the castle is in disrepair, and he's absconded with her entire dowry, leaving her with no word of her whereabouts. But for the first time in her life, she stands up to her parents (after all, they arranged this disastrous, only weeks old marriage for her) and chooses to stay. 5 years later, she has turned the repaired castle into a thriving girl's school and the first class of young women is about to graduate when Dixon MacKinnon walks through the doors. Mistaken for Charlotte's long lost husband, whose cousin he is, Dixon is reluctant to disabuse her of her assumptions, enjoying their sparring and eventually falling for the spirited woman who is so terribly capable. Their passion ignites but Dixon still hasn't told her his identity, a serious miscalculation. While he's looking for personal peace, he is also trying to unravel the mystery of what happened to his cousin and he thinks he's found the key when he hears the poem of the old family legend from an ancient family retainer.

Yes, there was the withheld truth of Dixon's identity offering and obstacle to their love, but more than that there was Charlotte's pride and Dixon's guilt. The missing Earl of Marne was less an impediment to the plot and blossoming sexual tension than he probably should have been but Ranney neatly deals with that problem by having Dixon mistaken for George. There are several sub-plots tossed into the story to lighten the tension between Dixon and Charlotte but they were so over the top, like when the older women all came to Balfurin to discuss sex like an X-rated coffee klatch, they didn't fit with the seriousness of the main story. Somehow, the pieces of the story just didn't hold together all that well and I suspect diversions such as these are at fault. Not a terrible historical romance, this was decent but nothing special for me.

Review: Nobody's Baby But Mine by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Jane Darlington is a physics professor. She's single-mindedly focused on her work but when her ex-boyfriend dumped her and announced that he was having a baby with the new girlfriend, the tears kicked her biological clock into high. But Jane has a problem. She is a certifiable genius and she doesn't want her child to have the unhappy, freakish childhood she had so she purposely sets out to have her baby fathered by someone who is dumb as a post. (Obviously understanding genetics and the role it plays in intelligence is not her strong point though.)

Her next door neighbor's ditzy daughter decides to set her up with the quarterback of the local pro team and Jane, seeing him play the rube on tv, agrees. She is to be Cal Bonner's birthday present from his teammates who think that releasing sexual tension might make ole Cal less of a bear to work with on the field. Somehow, despite Cal's aversion for prostitutes, he is willing to have at it with the vamped-up, anonymous, supposed high class call girl Jane. But she doesn't get pregnant. And so all on her own initiative, she accosts him for a repeat performance the following month, at which time she does fall pregnant. Now he's never supposed to know about the baby but finds out, leading him to strong arm her into an unpleasant marriage of convenience, at least until the baby is born. Even worse, they go back to his tiny home town and Jane has to deal with his family, including his wacky, backwoods grandmother, all while maintaining a frigid relationship with a man she's coming to love.

There is much sexual tension, some laughable scenes, and the requisite misunderstandings in this contemporary romance. Cal is not nearly as stupid as Jane had hoped and she is not nearly as savvy as he assumed. There are mini plots galore amongst Cal's family as well. This is a generally likable book that doesn't require deep reading. It will be a hit with most romance fans.

Review: Enchanting Pleasures by Eloisa James

I tend to pick romances up when I am overly stressed or just completely overbooked with things to do. They satisfy me at these sorts of times because I need something that will read quickly for a sense of accomplishment and that will end happily ever after. Their very predictability calls to me at times and that is not a negative, especially if an author can write well within the rather strict confines of the genre. James is one of the best at this.

Third in a series of Regency-set historical romance (the previous entries of which I've not read), this is the story of Gabby Jerningham, the exuberant, clumsy, and incredibly imaginative daughter of a British missionary in England and of Quill Dewland, the heir of Viscount Dewland. Gabby has been sent back to England from India, where she was maligned and belittled by her termagant of a father, to marry Peter Dewland, a man she's never met. Traveling with her is a young, simpleminded Indian boy, heir to the throne near her birthplace. He has been sent with her to England for safekeeping and to keep him out of the clutches of the East India Company. Meanwhile Peter Dewland, the younger son of the current Viscount has been ordered to marry Gabby because his older brother, Quill has had an accident that leaves him unable to participate in any repetitive action (including sex) without suffering a days long, blinding migraine as a result. Peter is very conscious of looks and social approbation and so he is horrified to see the, in his mind, dumpy, unfashionable Gabby, chastizing her at all turns. Quill, however, is captivated by her fresh, unstudied beauty, her charming imagination, and her quick intelligence. And despite her rushed bethrothal to Peter, Gabby falls for Quill, even while not understanding his horror of marriage. The impending death of Viscount Dewland rushes everything here and yet Quill, without explaining his fears to Gabby, marries her in lieu of the rather prissy, fastidious Peter.

How they come to an understanding and a solution for Quill's disability and the political machinations Gabby indulges in regarding her sweet and simple, missing Indian prince take up the second half of the book. There are the requisite misunderstandings as a result of communication failures and shame but the reader is never in any doubt that Quill and Gabby will end up having a comfortable, passionate, long-lived marriage. Quill's illness does seem a bit unbelievable and Gabby's naivete is occasionally over the top but generally, the plot and sub-plots hold together nicely. James' writing is smooth and consistent; her characters always stay in character. Fans of historical romance will definitely appreciate this novel.

Review: The Great Divide by Daniel Evan Weiss

What was I thinking, keeping a book full of statistics and a 1991 publishing date on my shelf for so long? Better yet, what was I thinking buying a book that is nothing more than a compilation of statistics in the first place? Did I not look at it in the bookstore? I have to believe that I didn't even open it to the first page and glance at the contents because if I had, I certainly never would have bought it. And given my blithe unconcern about the innards of the books on which I spend money (even if this one dates back to my college binge buying years), I'm not certain what that says about my ability as a discerning reader/buyer of books. Actually, I know exactly what it says. I am a profligate spendthrift who should have saved the $8.95 (remember when trade paper books only cost this?) I spent on this book.

Was this interesting when the statistics were current? I have to believe the answer is still no (which also points to my complete inability to tell a good book from a hole in the ground, incidentally). There's no commentary at all about the statistics. It is just line after line of "x% of men do this, y% of women do this." It gets really fascinating when it throws age into the equation: "x% of men ages 16-60 do this, y% of women ages 16-60 do this." So, ummm, yeah. Boring in every way shape or form, especially for the ninny getting her degree in English who apparently thought she was going to get some sociological look behind the numbers (and knowing my long ago college self as I do, I suspect that's exactly what I thought I was getting--because seriously, straight numbers make me run for the hills even when they aren't in a mathematical equation).

On the (slight) plus side, there is unintentional humor here in the complete worthlessness of many of the stats given the advances in technology since 1991. How many men vs. women have used a public telephone in the past 24 hours? Who cares? How many public telephones are still in existence in this age of cell phones might be a more instructive statistic--not that it would point to the difference between the sexes alluded to in the title. And that's the most disappointing thing about this, the lack of meaningful commentary on the differences between the sexes more so even than the outdated and ultimately unimportant statistics.

Review: East of the Sun by Julia Gregson

India has long held a fascination for me. Having had the good fortune to visit, it continues to intrigue me and so I often search out Indian-set novels. This particular novel was on my radar because it combines my interest in India with the genre of historical fiction so I was pleased as punch when my bookclub chose to read it. In the waning years of the British Raj, single women left England for India in search of husbands. They were called the "Fishing Fleet," and what they found in India was very different than what they left behind them. Gregson has taken this actual historical occurrence as her jumping off point for this sweeping novel.

Viva Holloway is 25 and she has hired herself out as a chaperone to two other younger women and one teenaged boy in order to pay her own way back to India, the country of her birth and where she lost her family. Viva's charges, Rose, Tor and Guy become completely intertwined in her life both during the long days of sailing and once they get to India itself. Rose is going to be married to a British officer whom she has only known for a brief time. Her best friend, Tor, is going to be Rose's bridesmaid but she's also looking forward to slipping the stifling, unrealistic bonds of her mother. Troubled, young Guy is returning to India to be reunited with his parents after being expelled from his boarding school. Viva forges a friendship with her charges Rose and Tor and with Frank, the ship's doctor, when Guy has a violent episode while on the ship.

Once they land in India, all of their lives diverge and converge again in surprising ways. And the physical plot is far-reaching and wide-ranging. But the book is as much about the personal landscape as it is about British ex-pats in India and their role in a British Raj coming to a close. Gergson deftly examines the nature of friendship and secrets, expectations and the role of women, memory and the reality of the present. Each of the women has a different reason for traveling to India and responds to their situations in country in very different ways. Their circumstances highlight a wide variety of lives and yet they remain quintessentially British. The faint whiff of decay from the waning years of the Raj is fully evident throughout the novel but doesn't overwhelm the storyline. The main characters are well-rounded and appealing, even when the reader winces at their naivete. Superficially the novel is well-paced and compelling but it works on a deeper thematic level as well. Fans of historical fiction, women's literature, and Indian-set novels will all enjoy this grandiose addition to the shelves.

Review: Girl From Mars by Julie Cohen

Fil (Philomena Desdemona Brown, daughter of two professors) is happy living with her best guy friend and hanging out with two more of her sci-fi obsessed friends. She's the main artist on her very favorite comic book, Girl From Mars, and is content with the way her life is going. When one of the four mates starts a serious relationship and pulls away from the group, the other three make a vow not to forsake each other for relationships. Meanwhile, at work there's a shake-up as well. Dan McKay, the grandson of Girl From Mars' creator and a hotshot Hollywood director in his own right, is brought in to breathe new life into the Girl From Mars storyline. Fil, who has a long standing attachment to the comic and who knows the history backwards and forwards, is highly resistant to any change in the timeless Girl. And while Fil and Dan face off over the direction of the comic, they also try to figure out the growing attraction between the two of them. But of course, Fil has made the no-relationship vow with her best friends and so she feels underhanded and disloyal for wanting so badly to be with Dan. Things get even more complicated when Fil's best friend admits to feelings for her.

This was a fun romp of a book. It was generally fairly predictable but it was enjoyable anyway. There is a lot of fascinating information about the writing, art, and production of comics. Fil is a conflicted but loyal character and while some of her decisions would inspire a thwack on the noggin' in real life, in general she's unusual and sympathetic. Plunking her firmly in a male dominated world makes her naivete about relationships completely believable. Even her inability to see the insularity of their small group seems in character for her. Her friends are less fleshed out, as is love interest and antagonist Dan McKay, but as the focus is more on Fil's self-realizations within the confines of her friendship and romantic relationship, backgrounding the secondary characters doesn't take away from the plot. Fil and Dan's relationship evolves slowly and naturally, adding to Fil's confusion and final understanding about herself. The ending to this book is slightly unexpected and perfect. Fans of chick lit will enjoy this unique and delightful novel.

Review: The Bloody War, Mate by John Mantle

This book has been on my shelves literally for years. And I think the reason it languished there for so long was that I didn't really have a proper idea of what it was about, having been handed the book at a bookcrossing meet-up so many years ago. But I am grateful that I had not yet learned self-preservation in regards to turning books down back then because this turned out to be an entirely worthwhile and appealing reading experience despite my years-long reservations.

Based on many events that Mantle himself witnessed as a boy in London during WWII, this is the story of John, a young boy on the cusp of growing up who becomes a teen and then an adult through the terrible years of destruction and deprivation. Childhood during war is still childhood but it has a gruesome backdrop no child should have to endure. John lives with his mother and his older sister in a sort of shabby section of London. His father is generally missing from their lives even before the war comes, causing them financial hardship. When the war starts, his mother takes in relatives as boarders to help them survive. But young John seems generally untouched by the war and the new circumstances at home because he is smitten with his neighbor Sheila. And the two of them grow up together as the war pounds on, coming closer, becoming more personal, and finally obliquely tearing them apart.

The characters here are compelling and real. And Mantle has drawn a very clear and detailed London, before, during, and after the Blitz using sight, sound, and smell all to good advantage. He has carefully drawn John and Sheila's relationship and then offered the reader the perspective of both characters through the use of different narrators for different chapters. John narrates the bulk of the story but other characters do get their say and help to flesh out the story. What Mantle has done so very well is to capture the everyday horror of living with a war and the sheer mundanity with which life must go on even while bombs are dropping all around. John and Sheila are engaging characters for whom the reader roots, even as their differences become clearer and clearer. Their story is touching and the plotline will carry the reader along happily. Readers who enjoy immersing themselves in WWII will thoroughly appreciate this smooth, evocative slice of historical fiction.

Review: Wicked Charms by Jayel Wylie

In this medieval set romance, Aiden is a knight worthy and true (or so we're told) and he is to marry the king's sister after fulfilling one last errand: taking and securing the Scottish castle of an English lord killed on the Crusades. Standing in his way is the lord's betrothed, Evelyn, and their toddler son. Evelyn has been waiting in the castle for her fiance to come back to her and when she hears he's died, she is determined that his son should have the castle as his birthright, not that an illegitimate child had any birthright. Aiden storms onto the scene arrogant and demanding, making snap judgements and riding roughshod over everyone. And he takes one look at Evelyn and decides he'll keep her around for his pleasure just as long as it suits him but that ultimately she'll have to go because she'll throw a monkey wrench in his plans to marry the princess. Evelyn, for her part, plays the tease in an effort to secure Aiden and the castle. As the two play off of each other, they uncover the pasts that have made them who they are. In Evelyn's case, she was bartered to her fairly indifferent English lord by her brother-in-law at her nasty sister's urging. She had a youth devoid of love and so it is not surprising that she doesn't recognize what she finds with Aiden until almost too late. Aiden is fighting against his wizard heritage, which he knows has always shamed his father. But Aiden and Evelyn have an indescribable connection that stems from the magic that entwines them.

Neither the hero nor the heroine were hugely appealing and the magical aspects of the story were fairly sparse until the author needed to invoke them to move the plot to crisis point, a sort of hastily constructed deus ex machina. The story of Aiden and Evelyn coming to trust each other, despite their initial cold-blooded plans for seduction solely for pleasure's sake was a much more interesting plotline than the magical history by the castle. I wasn't wowed by this one but it was a decent enough read.

Review: The Shape of Mercy by Susan Meissner

Lauren Durough is the only child of a fabulously wealthy and successful entreprenurial father. She has spent her whole life trying to live up to the family legend of success and ability. But she doesn't want to do everything the way that she imagines her father wants her to and so she enacts small moments of rebellion, choosing to go to a state school instead of Stanford. She lives in a dorm with a roommate instead of alone in a fancy condo. And she has now decided that she wants to forgo the allowance that has made her college life so easy so she applies for a job. But Lauren is not finished walking off the beaten path, applying for a job in which none of the other English majors is interested. And when she goes to Abigail's gracious home and hears that the job is to transcribe Abigail's distant relative's diary from the time of the Salem witch trials, she wants the job desperately.

The novel weaves the stories of Lauren, the elderly Abigail, and the long deceased Mercy together. Mercy's diary was probably the most interesting bit of the story but instead of choosing to portray it in the language and tone of the times, Meissner chose to have the diary be in modern language which made it hard to distinguish between Mercy's voice and Lauren's. There was no real legitimate argument for having Abigail ask Lauren to not only transcribe the diary but to transliterate it as well to make it accessible to a modern reader. If Abigail's intention was to have the diary published, an intention she disclaims, that might be one thing but as she doesn't there is no compelling reason to her request, thereby robbing the novel of some of its authenticity.

The love story between Mercy and John Peter is sweet and charming as portrayed in the diary and certainly is a foil to the long ago love of Abigail's that Lauren pushes to discover. But the story of Abigail's love and loss is abrupt and never fully fleshed out making it hard to compare it to the sacrifice that Mercy makes. Many of the plot threads in the story are not so much left dangling as ignored completely once the end of the story nears and that is a frustrating thing. I don't think the strived for parallels between all three of the women were as successful as I suspect they should have been. I didn't love the book, because of these flaws but I'm not sorry I read it. There was potential there and the nugget of the story was a good one that just didn't fully work.

Review: Meeting Mr. Wrong by Stephanie Snowe

Stephanie Snowe was handed lemons and she's made it into lemonade, spiked lemonade, in this entertaining account of re-entering the dating world after her cheating husband left her while she was pregnant with twins. Each of the chapters in this short, quite funny book details another of Snowe's disastrous dates. The men she finds on the internet are hilarious in their complete awfulness. And their total unsuitability is only funnier given that Snowe herself was brutally honest in her description of herself in hopes that she would maybe find a nice man who didn't have any unreasonable requests.

Snowe is not really a stereotypical Southern belle, although it was gold when her mother suggested that she needed to cultivate an interest in NASCAR in order to find herself a man. She could, instead, start a successful career as a stand-up comic with her throw-away comments and sass. The tone of this book is conversational and chipper, snarky and entertaining. Reading this feels like you're sitting with Snowe and dishing the dirt on each dreadful date while you laugh and drink wine and laugh some more. It's hard to believe that someone endured all those bad dates and cheesy lines but I'm glad she did or we wouldn't have this light bit o' fun. An easy and quick read, this will please the chick lit set even if it is a memoir rather than fiction.

Stephanie Snowe is a North Carolina author.

Review: 100 Shades of White by Preethi Nair

A novel with alternating narration, this is the story of Nalini and her children, Maya and Satchin, reluctant Indian immigrants to England. Starting with Maya's recall of their life in India before her handsome and charming father moved them to London, the novel progresses through the death of Maya's beloved Achan. Or at least her understanding of his death as created by Nalini in order to spare her children from the devastating knowledge that he has abandoned them, leaving them to fend for themselves without money in this foreign land. Because when Nalini takes over the narration, she admits that she has created out of whole cloth the story of his death, thinking this white lie is less terrible than the truth. And this is just the first of the shades of grey that teem through the pages of this novel.

Adrift and penniless in London, the family is taken in by the older sister of the young man/boy who delivered spices to Nalini in better times. And so they move to the East End of London, amongst so many other immigrants, while Nalini tries to eke out an existence for the three of them. And in time she not only finds her calling, in cooking spicy pickles to cure the problems people might not even know they possess, but she also falls in love again. But the white lie she has told her children still lurks in the background, lying in wait for the right moment to reveal itself.

There is much about families, families by blood and families created, and the sacrifices we each make for others, including the un- and under-appreciated sacrifices, in this novel. But the overarching theme, is, of course, that of honesty and the need for truth. Nalini's secrets, Maggie's secrets, and so many other secrets coursing through the narrative ultimately cause pain. But they also highlight the fact that life isn't lived in black and white and that intention is just as important in the telling of stories as the truth. Most importantly of all, regardless of the actual truth, it is most important to know the truth of yourself and who you are, as Maya finally comes to know in the end.

The novel is much less cheerful than the cover would indicate and far less about the differences between East and West but once you adjust your expectations accordingly, there is still much enjoyment to be found between these pages, especially for those who enjoy reading about the immigrant experience. There is some difficulty in separating the voices of Maya and Nalini, especially in the beginning of the novel but that becomes easier as the novel progresses. And it is well handled when the truth of Nalini's fib comes out, with each of the characters acting in character. Overall, this had a few problems structurally but I did enjoy it and would recommend it to those interested in Indian diaspora writing.

Review: Pink Slip Party by Cara Lockwood

Jane is having an incredibly bad day losing both her job and her boyfriend on the same day. It is even more undignified that her boss is actually a company VP for the office products company firing her and had personally signed off on her termination. The resumes that Jane sends out throughout the story are the most entertaining bit as she's quite creative and unafraid of stretching the truth. But she is only half-heartedly invested in finding a new job. Really she's more focused on figuring out how to borrow money to stay in her apartment, avoiding her successful and fairly know-it-all overbearing older brother's condemnation of her life, and keeping her slacker ex-boyfriend out of her life.

Jane's father loses his job and her mother gets a job, despite his 1950's attitude towards wives working. So while Jane is trying to play mediator between her parents, she invites a woman, also fired from Jane's company to move in with her and share the rent. Inviting Missy into the mix will send everything spiralling out of control as Missy plots to get back at the company, taking Jane and another former co-worker along for the ride. When things go horribly pear-shaped, Jane will turn to Kyle, her brother's cute best friend, for help.

Lockwood tosses many balls in the air with this novel and because they are lighter than air, she manages to keep juggling them. She has multiple plot lines twirling past each other at all times. Her characters are frequently not as fleshed out as the reader might like, perhaps because there are so many of them, all of whom are fairly significant to the story. But Jane does start to grow up and act her 28 years, instead of coming across, as she did in the beginning, as a college-aged woman incapable of facing her own life.

Overall, this was a fun, frothy read. Watching as the characters plan their caper was entertaining and a good way to spend an afternoon. Ultimately the plot and the characters weren't terribly memorable and the writing, while competent, doesn't sing so this is recommended for those who enjoy a bit of chick lit fluff or who want a generally cheery, but potentially forgettable read.

Review: The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall

This was a totally delightful children's book, complete with a lovely old-fashioned feel. Like many of the children's and YA books floating around the house, I read a description of this one and decided that my crew needed to have it always available to them in case reading inspiration should strike. And like any other book I have waved enticingly under their adorable noses, they have snubbed this book without a second glance. So I had to read it. And I am so very, very glad that I did because it is simply charming. Now I just have to come up with an underhanded and completely sneaky way to get the intended audience to read it too. Even if they don't, I want the sequel!

The Penderwicks are four sisters, a father, and one large, scruffy dog. The book opens with the family driving into their rented summer cottage tucked at the back of the estate of the rather snobbish, intolerant Mrs. Tipton and her very lonely son, Jeffrey. The bulk of the novel focuses on the madcap escapades of the girls and Jeffrey as they traipse through the summer, annoying Mrs. Tipton and causing their absent-minded botanist father to emerge from behind his policy of benign neglect. From 12 year old Rosalind's crush on the young gardener to 4 year old Batty's love of wearing butterfly wings and refusal to speak to strangers, from budding writer Jane's tendency towards melodrama to Skye's enmity, competition, and friendship with Jeffrey, this novel has the feel of being the latest entry in the beautiful children's literature of yesteryear.

The conflict here is, of course, Mrs. Tipton's blindness towards what makes the rather sad Jeffrey happiest and her desire to impose her strict and joyless life even on the free-spirited Penderwicks. The plot is more a series of connected scenes than a novel in the strictest sense but in this lighthearted book of adventures, this works. The childrens' characters are all nicely defined and while the adults are more stereotypical, they are by no means the focus of this sweet chronicle of friendship. I highly recommend this book for the young and young at heart, especially those who like a nostalgic feel to their children's literature.

Review: Me, Chi and Bruce Lee by Brian Preston

Try going out where little kids congregate these days and tell me how many short people you see wearing white pajamas, also known as martial arts uniforms. My children have never participated so my knowledge of the sport remains incredibly superficial. I've never seen a Bruce Lee or Jackie Chan movie. And Eastern philosophy doesn't tend to stick nicely in my brain (Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is on the short list of books that actually made me want to poke myself in the eye with a pointy stick). So you might wonder why I would even think to pick up a book purportedly about martial arts.

But this is not an instructional book. It is an interesting and insightful book about author Preston's journey towards learning what drives martial arts, both traditional and modern, how people practice this sport, and the underlying philosophies behind it. He himself was a complete novice when the idea for this book popped up and he thought he could chronicle his own journey to a black belt. Only it wasn't as easy as it looked. After his own learning was derailed (or at least postponed), Preston examined the different disciplines, interviewed big names, and traveled to China to search out practitioners where it all originated. While Preston is respectful, he doesn't shy away from the problems plaguing the sport or some of the ridiculousness associated with it. He finds humor in his search and pokes gentle fun at himself during this journey. And what he learns about himself during his research is as interesting as the research itself.

Preston is quite thorough in his coverage although for the uninitiated, the differences in disciplines seem to be splitting hairs and are not necessarily particularly clear. And I'm not certain how this fault could be remedied in a book as it would probably take a video. Despite missing nuances that must certainly speak volumes to actual practicing martial artists, this was an interesting read and one that let me poke a toe over the threshold of a world in which I'll probably never have a part. I enjoyed my time visiting monastaries and temples, meeting Ultimate fighters, and learning in neighborhood martial arts schools and clubs.

Thanks to LibraryThing Early Reviewers for a review copy of this book although in the spirit of full disclosure, I actually bought the copy I read, not having changed my address after we moved and therefore some other lucky soul, perhaps the folks who bought our last house, was the lucky recipient of the free copy of the book.

Review: A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains by Isabella Bird

Isabella Bird was an inveterate traveller, naturalist, and writer. This might not be an unusual description for women today but Bird was all of these things in the mid-nineteenth century, a time when women's lives were far more constrained than they are today. She chronicled many of her travels in letters home to her sister before they were published in collections.

This particular collection of letters details Bird's long journeying through the Rocky Mountains, into the heart of the land, often unaccompanied, only choosing her routes based on her preference of the moment and always willing to deviate from the plan. She wrote beautiful descirptions of a time and place much changed today, appreciating the remote wildness she found on many of her tramps. In addition to her natural writings, she also turned her eye on the people who inhabited these lonely, majestic places as well and her character depictions are delightful. She has captured the character of the folks who chose to eke out a living homesteading in the shadows and valleys of these majestic mountains, capturing the fortitude, the sometime lawlessness, the hospitality, and the suspicions of her hosts and acquaintances.

Make no mistake that this is a modern day account. It is very much rooted in its time and it takes a little adjustment to Bird's language and writing to get into the book. But once in the story, the reader will happily accompany her on her meanderings, oftentimes in awe of her determination. The writing flowed clearly and smoothly along and I'll probably try searching out more of her straightforward and appealing travelogues. I may not have to suffer the discomforts she did in traveling but the romanticism of her journey, even when she encounters difficulties, is unbeaten.

Clear Off Your Shelves Challenge

I think this challenge was designed with me in mind. Of course, the number of books that have been on my shelves for more than six months is simply mind-boggling. But the beauty of the Clear Off Your Shelves 2009 Challenge is that you only have to declare a percentage that you intend to read. So I can safely shoot for 20% of my reading for October and November to fit the guidelines and still have completed the challenge. Love this! Given that I have made some review commitments for those two months already, I think I will be a big baby and stick with the minimum percentage, which is indeed 20%. Obviously living on the edge is not my thing! But this should help remind me that it's not all about the new books, either in the mailbox or from the store. I should revisit why I bought or requested some of the stuff I did so very long ago.