Heroine - BTT

Another week has past (they always seem to fly by) and Booking Through Thursday has a new question:

Who is your favorite female lead character? And why? (And yes, of course, you can name more than one . . . I always have trouble narrowing down these things to one name, why should I force you to?)

At the risk of being trite and picking the same one millions of others would choose, the first heroine to come to mind is Elizabeth Bennet. Here is a girl with a family that is nothing like her, but she has a strength about her and she is witty. Even in the world she lives in, she still needs to respect the man she marries, which makes her different from many women who would just marry to secure herself a position for later in life. And if none of that works for you, she is just fun - her sense of humor and the way she was written are all amazing.

Of course, there are one or two others. Jaenelle from the Black Jewels Trilogy was great. Here is a little girl with more power than anyone in the history of her people and she collects the most amazing friends from around the world, always remaining sweet and humble. A sense of humor is also found here - in fact, it seems that is an essential part of a good heroine, in my experience.

If a girl is smart, witty, and capable of carrying herself through the plot with dignity, chances are I will like her. I know there have been other female characters that I loved but there two seem to stand out, Elizabeth because she is from one of my favorite books written by one of my favorite authors and Jaenelle because she is from my favorite series. Then again, it may be that these are my favorite books because these characters are there. Either way, I suppose that (sort of) answers as to who my Reader's Oscar for Best Female in a Leading Role would go to... or at least who I would have to decide between.

Through the Looking-Glass

Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There,, by Lewis Carroll is the sequel to the world famous Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Here, Alice travels through the mirror in her living room to find a chess-board country, inhabited by talking flowers, chess-men, Humpty Dumpty, Tweedledee, and Tweedledum.

I was rather hoping for a little more sense to the story but found much the same as found in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Of course, there didn't seem to be as many completely senseless characters, like the Duchess or the Mad-Hatter, but that may be because I was getting used to characters making completely odd comments for no reason at all. The story is still a random excursion into absurdity personified. Many children would doubtlessly enjoy the story but my sentiments toward this book are the same as to it's prequel - no thank you.

Rating: 3.5

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

This classic tale has long been famous for the oddity of its scenes and characters but I confess that I have never had the chance to read it until now. I am sure most people know the story of a young girl named Alice who fell down a rabbit's hole and found herself in Wonderland; a place full of talking animals, hookah-smoking caterpillars with strange advice, riddles with no answers, and a Queen of Hearts who is continually bellowing "Off with his (or her) head."

It seems to me that the main element of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is simply the level of absurdity found in the story. I must admit that Lewis Carroll had an amazing imagination, or, at least, the ability to take normal events in ordinary life and twist them into something quite unusual. Even with that, or perhaps, because of that, I am not sure I really enjoyed it, though I did find some passages amusing, such as: "'Give your evidence,' said the King, 'and don't be nervous, or I'll have you executed on the spot.'" I am sure a child would find it interesting but perhaps, I am just too old to find real enjoyment in such a light tale, with seemingly no point (which is probably the point). Anyway, it wasn't terrible, per say - just not really my cup of tea.

The sequel (which is in the same book in my copy) is Through the Looking-Glass.

Rating: 3.0

Format - BTT

Another Thursday and another question from Booking Through Thursday! This week it's:

All other things (like price and storage space) being equal, given a choice in a perfect world, would you rather have paperbacks in your library? Or hardcovers? And why?

Some of the most adorable books in my library are these small, hardcover books, with a red cover and gold-edged pages, that I bought from Barnes and Noble a while back. They even have thin, red ribbon to use as a book-marker! One of my favorite things about them is that they are small enough to fit into nearly any of my purses, so I can carry any of them around with me; a great classic novel that I can take anywhere without having to lug some big, thick tome around with me - Wonderful!

While my library is, at present, almost completely composed of paperbacks, I think I would prefer hardcovers, if all other factors (read "price") were equal. At the present, hardback books cost too much more for me to buy them, but they are more attractive sitting on your shelf. They also have the advantage of not falling apart as easily. There are a few books in my collection that have been read so many times that I fear it will fall into a couple pieces. I also don't feel so bad about cracking the spine of a hardcover... I always feel just a bit guilty for opening a paperback and putting a bend in the spine of the book (I can't dog-ear pages either... it's something about "damaging" the book - I just can't manage it without a bit of guilt).

Persuasion

With as many times as I have tried to start this book and set it down before getting to page 3, I wasn't expecting to enjoy this book as much as I have enjoyed many of Jane Austen's other books. I was very mistaken, to say the least.

Persuasion is the story of Anne Elliot, the middle and often ignored daughter of Sir Walter Elliot, and Captain Fredrick Wentworth. Eight years ago, Miss Elliot and Captain Wentworth met and fell in love. They were going to be married but because of objections from her family and friends, Anne was persuaded to break off the engagement. She is still single, at 27 years old, and at this point in her life, she meets him again.

I would love to gush and tell you the whole story but then you might not read this book and you really should. As we all know, Austen is known throughout the world as a masterful story teller and she does beautifully here. The plot is rather small but Austen uses the novel to delve into the minds of her characters, or at least the thoughts of Anne, as the story is told principally from her point of view. This method allows the reader to understand how rediculous Anne's family is, especially her father, as seen in the first chapter:

Vanity was the beginning and the end of Sir Walter Elliot's character: vanity of person and of situation. He had been remarkably handsome in his youth; and, at fifty-four, was still a very fine man. Few women could think more of their personal appearance than he did; nor could the valet of any new made lord be more delighted with the place he held in society. He considered the blessing of beauty as inferior only to the blessing of a baronetcy; and the Sir Walter Elliot, who united these gifts, was the constant object of his warmest respect and devotion.

From access to Anne's thoughts, the reader sees how poor Anne still cares for Captain Wentworth, who seems very bitter towards her, even eight years after she was forced to send him away.

All of it is lovely; there is Austen's classic wit that makes us laugh as well as some beautiful passages and speeches of devotion that can make a poor girl's heart flutter (I can't help it! Books like this have made me a hopeless romantic!).

While Persuasion does begin slowly and the first chapter or two can seem slow or uninteresting, keep going. It is worth it, truly!

Rating: 5.0

That Hideous Strength

That Hideous Strength is the final book in C.S. Lewis' Space Trilogy and follows up on the battle between good and evil. While Out of the Silent Planet took place on Mars and Perelandra took place on Venus, this last episode takes place on our own planet, Earth. The books in the series can stand alone but they can form one larger story.

The first two chapters are more "real life" than the rest of the book but Lewis wants the reader not to base the book on these in his preface. As he says, a traditional fairy-tale always begins with hum-drum scenes and he wanted to show how his story affected ordinary life. The subtitle of this novel is A Modern Fairy-Tale for Grown-Ups and that is what Lewis seeks to make.

One problem I had was that our favorite interplanetary hero, Dr. Elwin Ransom, was as much of a major character in this book, where he was the main character of the two stroies preceding it. This is probably one of my biggest pet-peeves in literature... Just as I have come to love a character and want to hear more about him, the author decides to set him to the side to follow characters that I have never met and I have to get to know this whole new set of characters. I understand why an author does this but it can put me off a book, just the same.

Ransom is in the book and he plays an important role but the main character of this book are Jane and Mark Studdock, a couple that have been married for about six months and who live in the college town of Edgestow. This town is gaining prominence in the area as the proposed site for a new organization called the National Institute of Co-ordinated Experiments (N.I.C.E.). The N.I.C.E., though, is a cover for more sinister purposes, though different men at different levels of the organization seem to have different ideas of what that purpose is.

I enjoyed the story, though it was hard to follow at times. I enjoyed the first two books more, but this was a good ending to the stories on Dr. Ransom. Still, any who tend not to like conservative works may not enjoy Lewis' work. Lewis is telling a story with Christian backgrounds and ideas. It is not as obvious as the Narnia Chronicles but it is there. If you are willing to try this series, you will be well rewarded.

Rating: 4.0

Perelandra

Perelandra, by C.S. Lewis, is the second book in the Space Trilogy. The first book was Out of the Silent Planet and the finale to the series is called That Hideous Strength. In the fashion of nearly all of Lewis' work, there are major Christian themes to his stories and for readers who don't enjoy that, you might want to stay away. However, for those who aren't put off by that and for those who want to be challenged to think in your reading, this is a book you should try.

Perelandra picks up not long after Out of the Silent Planet, and follows Dr. Elwin Ransom on his journey to Perelandra, also known on Earth as Venus. He has been sent there by the Oyarsa of Malacandra for some purpose, though he knows not what it is. In the end, he will be a major part of the battle to take place on Venus.

While I don't normally associate anything creepy with Lewis' writing, I have to say I was very disturbed by some portions of the book, which I suppose may have been his intention but it did get to me a bit. Ransom goes against what he calls an Un-Man and this creature and his actions were so twisted, he ends up being the stuff of nightmares. This reaction is amplified by the peacful atmoosphere of Perelandra, before the presence of the Un-Man.

One other difficulty for me in this book was found in a few areas of very dense perhaps cryptic writing. Some areas of the text were difficult to understand and while spiritual things are the subject, it can be hard to follow Lewis' writings in this book (which is not a problem I usually encounter in his work). Still, the book was strong enough to hold interest and it definitely draws you in.

Rating: 4.25

After the Honeymoon - BTT

So I recently found something called Booking Through Thursday and decided to try it out and throw my own answer in there. The question for this week is:

Have you ever fallen out of love with a favorite author? Was the last book you read by the author so bad, you broke up with them and haven’t read their work since? Could they ever lure you back?

I don't think I could say that I feel out of love with an author but I did fall in love with a series. For a while, I was reading a lot of Piers Anthony's work. His Incarnations of Immortality series, along with the Mode and Geodyssey series were fascinating and I enjoyed reading them. In fact, I still would read those books, and am looking forward to reading the most recent installment of the mode series. Around the time I was reading all these other books, someone recommended the Xanth series to me. The first three books (which I later found out have been written with an adult audience in mind) were fine. Anthony had created a great world for his characters and the result was good storytelling with a few puns on the side. As the series progressed, Anthony had found out that young adults and children had been reading the Xanth series so he changed the direction of the books to suit that audience better. In doing so, he packed the books so full of puns that I was unable to appreciate the plot that may have been buried underneath everything else. Everything was a pun and the later books got so "punny," I simply couldn't bear to finish the book, much less pick up another.

As I said, I still like the other books that Anthony has produced but I completely fell out of love with this particular series. Some of my friends continued to read the series and they still (as far as I know) enjoy the books, but I don't think I would ever want to read another of that particular series.

Out of the Silent Planet

The first book in the Space Trilogy, Out of the Silent Planet is the story of a man named Ransom who is kidnapped by two men and taken to Malacandra, also known as Mars. When he is to be handed over to the inhabitants of Malacandra, he instead runs and finds himself alone on a strange planet.

I was first introduced to this book by a professor for a course on the literature of Lewis and Chesterton and I think reading this may have been the best assignment I have ever had. The story has a great plot and the story also raises many thoughts (I would say more but I would rather leave it to the individual so everyone can get something different from this book). This is not like the Narnia series in that it was written for adults and is not an allegory (I love the Narnia series but it can be rather in-your-face with the Christian story). Still, Lewis is trying to use his story to tell the reader more than just what appears on the surface. Even if that isn't your cup of tea, Lewis does tell a good story that can be enjoyed for itself.

Written in 1938, Lewis didn't have a lot of base knowledge on which to build his story and you can tell that this was written long before man actually achieved space flight but I think that this makes the book even better. The story is fantastical and making it more accurate in terms of technology would probably mess the story up.

While the books in the series can stand alone, the sequels are Perelandra and That Hideous Strength.

Rating: 4.5

Another Challenge...

Why not? This one looks fun and I can cross-list several of the books from the A-Z Challenge. This one is the Decades '08 Challenge and the rules are fairly simple. You must read at least 8 books from consecutive decades, with the one restriction being that books from the 2000's don't count. With that in mind, here is my tentative list.

1810's- Persuasion by Jane Austen
1820's- Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper
1830's- The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo
1840's- The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
1850's- Phantastes by George MacDonald
1860's- Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
1870's- Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne
1880's- The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James
1890's- The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
1900's- The Enchanted Castle by Edith Nesbit
1910's- Manalive by G.K. Chesterton
1920's- Whose Body? by Dorothy L. Sayers
1930's- Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis
1940's- Perelandra by C.S. Lewis
1950's- Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis
1960's- Mila 18 by Leon Uris
1970's- The Princess Bride by William Goldman
1980's- So You Want to Be a Wizard by Diane Duane
1990's- A Wizard Abroad by Diane Duane

All of this may change and the 1840's and earlier may get scrubbed by the end of the year but this is what I am looking at doing for now.

The Undomestic Goddess

So, I have never read anything that would be classified as "chick lit," but I think I may be a fan. At least, I enjoyed Sophie Kinsella's The Undomestic Goddess.

Samantha Sweeting has devoted her whole life to being a lawyer and she is great at what she does. She has no life outside of the office, carrying her BlackBerry everywhere, and her idea of a balanced diet is pizza and Chinese food (anything she can order for delivery). She hasn't had a vacation in 2 years and put in around 200 office hours this month. Now, at 29, she is up for a position as a partner in one of the best law firms in London. At least, until she realizes she has made a huge mistake that will erase any chance of being a partner. In shock, she walks out, catches the first train and ends up in the middle of nowhere and soon finds herself employed as a housekeeper, of all things.

This story is fluffy and amusing. I enjoyed reading it so much that I didn't set it down until I finished it. Kinsella's writing is easy to read and enjoy - a perfect book for a slow day or a bit of relaxation.

Rating: 4.5

Queen of the Darkness

Queen of the Darkness by Anne Bishop is the last book in her Dark Jewels Trilogy and possibly the best one in the series. The earlier books are Daughter of the Blood and Heir to the Shadows and you will need to read them before you get to this book: the individual books do not stand alone.

Anyway, in Queen of the Darkness we find everyone gathering for a final conflict as Dorothea and Hekatah try to go to war with Kaeleer, with hopes of ruling all three Realms. On the other side, Jaenelle's Court is trying to save their and we are warned that a friend may become an enemy in order to remain a friend.

I do love this series and this book is my favorite from the series, possibly because we get to see Daemon, Lucivar, Saetan, and Jaenelle together for the first time. We also see Daemon change from who he has been in the past and find a good place for him to be, in all ways. Bishop helps us fall in love with the characters and you keep hoping that everything turns out right. Quite simply: its a great read for those who love fantasy.

Bishop has written a few more books that take place in this world, including a couple of short stories, found in Dreams Made Flesh, and a book coming out in March 2008. If you liked these books, you will probably want to check those out as well.

Rating: 5.0

Heir to the Shadows

I have to begin by saying that I love this book... it is one of my favorites, ever since I found it in the bookstore a few years ago. Since then, I have gotten several of my friends hooked on this series and they love it as much as I do.

Heir to the Shadows is the second book in Anne Bishop's Black Jewels Trilogy. I wouldn't recommend starting this book until you have read Daughter of the Blood as the trilogy is very much a package deal: the three books add up to creat one cohesive larger story and you skipping one book would cause you to be missing a great deal of information.

Once you have read Daughter of the Blood, you will definitely want to dive into this book. I loved it and in some ways, this book is better than the prequel. Bishop continues to use the endearing humor found in the first book; in fact, there seems to be more of it because Bishop can spend more time on the story, instead of establishing the world the characters inhabit.

After the events of the first book, this starts with Saetan adopting Jaenelle while Lucivar and Daemon try to escape Terreille. We watch Jaenelle grow up and finally meet some of her other friends, including some kindred. Of course, during this time, the evil forces of the first book continue to try to gain power over the realms.

There is some violence in this book, but it is more battle type violence or killing as opposed to the sexually-based violence found in the first book.

All in all, this is a great book for fans of fantasy and I heartily recommend it. The last book in the series is called Queen of the Darkness and you will probably want to have it nearby when you have finished with Heir to the Shadows.

Rating: 5.0

Daughter of the Blood

So, for my first review, I read Daughter of the Blood, by Anne Bishop. This book is a great fantasy read and one of my favorite books. I must admit that some of this book is a bit light but for those who are looking to enjoy a good book just for the sake of a good book, you will probably enjoy this. I tend to read this book on a regular basis, especially when I just want to curl up and read something for the joy of it. The story sucks you in and I flew through this book and the sequels in very little time.

In the world created by Bishop, magical abilities, known as Craft, are held and practiced by individuals called the Blood (nearly every character seen in any detail is a member of the Blood, though strength is a large variable between them). Of course, some of the Blood have become twisted and have sought to take over the world, without care for the lives of anyone else. The good are either dead, hiding, enslaved, or living a life of fear and doing whatever they can to avoid annoying those in power and to live their lives as best they can. The story begins with the arrival of a long-awaited savior of sorts – a Queen, “dreams made flesh” who would have the power to cleanse the world and save the good. The plot revolves around this savior, a character by the name of Jaenelle, and those closest to her. While this basic plot line may be a bit over used, there are interesting elements that makes Bishop’s story different.

One strange element to Bishop's story can be found in the names of several of the guys surrounding Jaenelle: names such as Saetan, Deamon, and Lucivar, all of whom are on the good-guy side of the equation. I'm not sure what kind of message Bishop is trying to send through these choices but it is something to wonder about.

One of my favorite elements in this book is the humor found at various intervals between the characters. Bishop adds real life humor into the story, making you love the characters even more. The characters are real, with flaws and strengths, and the humor amplifies this.

One warning I should add is that there are some seriously twisted elements in this book, including pedophilic characters, rape (though Bishop keeps most of it out of direct sight), and other violent sexual ideas. Most of this is used to establish the world the characters inhabit and the idea that something is very wrong in their society, but I would not give this book to anyone younger than 17.

Daughter of the Blood is the first in the Black Jewels Trilogy and the sequel is Heir to the Shadows. I would recommend having the entire series ready at hand. The first book ends on a bit of a cliff and you are probably going to want to dive right into the second book.

All in all, I love this book and would recommend it to almost anyone, especially for those who enjoy fantasy.

Rating: 5.0