bookrblog

Alistair MacLean Books

Sun, 29 Aug 2010 10:15:58 +0000

I’ve read quite a few Alistair MacLean adventures over the years, and recently grabbed half a dozen more at the CWA book fair. As a young combatant in WW2 he knew adventure and learned how to craft readable adventure stories. They’re made up of the same ingredients - a few good men, a lot of bad ones, and an extreme situation, either wartime (South by Java Head, San Andreas), arctic (Ice Station Zebra), or something similar (biological warfare in The Satan Bug - rather prescient actually). So they’re usually a lot of fun, especially the earlier ones, which have lots of twists. His later ones are pretty poor and in fact I couldn’t get through Athabasca, but on the whole they’re fairly similar - interesting, fun, not too deep, and a good entertaining read.

Enchanted Glass

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 10:08:44 +0000

The latest Diana Wynne Jones book is great! I really enjoyed it. An old wizard dies, and his grandson inherits the place - inheriting not just the house, but a stray boy, two funny domestics, and an entire village to take care of. It’s a fun adventure, with great characters and interesting situations. While it’s primarily a 10-12yr old book, there are a few twists which raise your eyebrows, but which probably would go over the head of your 10-12 yr old anyway. A good one!

The Return of the Soldier

Sun, 15 Aug 2010 03:24:30 +0000

I just can’t believe that Rebecca West wrote this at age 24. By which time she’d had a 3 yr old with H G Wells who was married (to someone else). This story - a novella really - was written in 1916, about a soldier who returns in 1916. He’s suffering from shell shock and has amnesia (and it’s unusual for a writer to have understood those themes so early on in the war). He has forgotten the last 15 years, thinks he is living in a particularly idyllic summer in his youth.

What a wonderfully written, beautiful, powerful story. Yes, it’s about the change in England from the Edwardian period to the darkness of the War. Yes, it’s about expectations of being an adult, growing up, taking on responsibilities. It’s about a lot of things, but it’s written so beautifully, it’s so lovely. I loved it.

Tongues of Serpents

Sun, 01 Aug 2010 10:18:41 +0000

This is the latest in Naomi Novik’s Temeraire series. We have both been looking forward to reading this one for at least a year so it was wonderful to get it in the mail . . . “you can read it first, no you . . .”

This book was set in Australia just after the Rum Rebellion and just before Macquarie comes on the scene. It has the crossing of the Blue Mountains - and then historically gets a bit crazy, but in a cool way, with bunyips and smugglers and a brand new type of dragon. She makes a few errors (it would be emus not cassowarries in the desert), but whatever. It had mystery, struggle, history, and even a battle with an unexpected ending. And hurray, Macquarie turned up to save the day in the end (well, maybe not save the day). And Tharkay was in it, who is a wonderful character. I don’t know why, but I enjoyed this far more than the previous book, which I felt wrote itself into a very dark corner. This one opened up large possibilities, and that is lovely.

Baby Books

Sun, 25 Jul 2010 10:18:52 +0000

I am now 19 weeks pregnant which is nearly halfway. I have just counted the number of baby/birth/pregnancy type books that I have read so far. It’s nearing thirty . . .

Misconceptions (Naomi Wolf). Brilliant, a must-read.
Motherlove, 1 & 2 (debra adelaide). Great range of stories by women.
Birthing from Within (Pam England). Practical & thoughtprovoking
Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth (Ina May Gaskin). Interesting, mostly stories.
Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering (Dr Sarah Buckley). Nice, but a bit unbalanced
Lady’s Hands, Lion’s Heart (Carol Leonard). Hysterically funny, very sad, story of a midwife
Birth (Tina Cassidy). A bit grotesque but very informative about the male takeover of birth.
The Midwife (Jennifer Worth). Fascinating story of a 1940’s East Ender midwife.
Babycatcher (Peggy Vincent). Funny and sad story of a US midwife as insurance disappeared.
A Midwife’s Tale (Penny Armstrong). Great story of a midwife working among the Amish
Labor of Love (Cara Mulhuln). A NY midwife who comes across as more than a little unbalanced.
Having a Great Birth in Australia/Men at Birth (David Vernon). Stories of births.
Birth Skills (Juju Sundin). A workbook of exercises to get through the pain - except her co-writer couldn’t and had an epidural - which kinds of nullifies her theories, doesn’t it?
Baby on Board (Dr Howard Chilton). A good practical mainstream book on the first month or so of babycare.
Up the Duff (Kaz Cooke). A pregnancy book aimed at the Dolly readers out there . . . inaccurate and silly.
Your Social Baby (Lynne Murray). A beautiful book of photos and research on the first months of baby’s life.
The Birth Wars (Mary Rose MacColl). A scary book about the war between midwives and Drs in Australia.
Diary of a Baby (Daniel Stern). Covers the emotional life of a baby from 6wks to 4 years.
The First Relationship (Daniel Stern). Covers the same information in more detail - emotion is everything!
The Infant’s World (Phillipe Rochat). Current theories of child emotional development, as above, really.

I’ve also read a couple more book of birth stories (e.g. Birth at Home, Birth Stories, Simply Give Birth)- and some old books from the 60s and 70s (which make you very glad things have changed!!) as well as some random books from people’s bookshelves about pregnancy, eating in pregnancy, naming babies, etc. Probably the stories are the most useful, because you’re hearing the same things over and over again about the breast crawl and natural oxytocin and positioning and the importance of constant contact etc etc. However, which will have been the most useful in a year’s time? That will be interesting.

The Island of Sheep

Sun, 18 Jul 2010 10:14:18 +0000

The only problem with this John Buchan novel is its title - really doesn’t give the impression of a rollicking adventure tale! It is, of course, and is actually the last story of Richard Hannay (which began with the 39 steps). He’s aging, a bit anxious about it, a bit aware that something is always around the corner. Each chapter introduces a new character - the mysterious Stranger, the crazy Treasure-Seeker, the idealistic Dreamer. And of course these 3 characters come together in a big battle where Honour, honour, honour, is the name of the game.

I had just finished studying Old Norse when I read this, and so it was interesting that it was set in the “Northlands”, with a Norse hero who changes slowly from a timid man to a man who embraces his heritage and thereby saves the day. It was also interesting to see Hannay with his son, who has inherited his curious outlook, and of course his number one characteristic, his sense of honour. Character drives this book. Buchan isn’t perfect, and either is this, but I enjoyed it.

British Folktales and Legends

Fri, 18 Jun 2010 09:59:46 +0000

I came across Katherine Briggs as a child with her lovely Dictionary of Fairies. This is a larger sampler of stories, not particularly for children, with a wide variety of tales sorted into categories from Dragons to Jokes to Saints. The stories are all fairly short, some well-known, some ancient, some quite new, some quite new to me. It was incredibly entertaining and very informative, both the wonderful introduction, which really explained the entire science of folk-lore, and the stories themselves which really gave such a good picture of British life. A fantastic book - I read it cover to cover. It was published post-humously from her other writings, but as those books are hard to find, this one is definitely one to get your hands upon.

Rosanna of the Amish

Thu, 10 Jun 2010 10:05:14 +0000

It’s unusual to find a book about the Amish, by the Amish - in this case, Joseph Yoder was born and raised Amish although as an adult went to college and married “outside”. This was written and published many years ago, probably the ’30s - I came across this second-hand copy in “Shakespeare & Co.” in Paris!

Joseph tells the story of his mother, who was left as a baby to be raised by an Amish woman when her Irish mother died. Rosanna lived her life among the Amish people and by telling her life, Joseph explains a lot of the customs and history of the Amish from his experience, from the beliefs to the music to the habits and some of the mysteries too. It’s a cheerful read, as Joseph despite not agreeing with every belief obviously thought they were a pretty decent bunch of people. A good story.

Rogue Male

Sat, 01 May 2010 11:13:09 +0000

I first heard of Geoffrey Household’s book when I caught a snippet of a film based on the novel. I forgot about it, but after reading Roger Deakin’s books, discovered he was a huge fan of the book, and so searched until I found a copy.

It is an exciting novel, where a man is caught and tortured after trying to assassinate “an unnamed european dictator” (ie Hitler). He escapes but realises he has to go to ground - literally - because the baddies will never let him go. He digs an underground hiding place in Devon, and there has to face not only an old tormentor, but the truth of why he went after the dictator. It has a wonderful twist which I didn’t predict, and adds such depth to the character. A very exciting and fascinating novel.

This Real Night

Wed, 28 Apr 2010 04:57:35 +0000

I stumbled across Rebecca West’s sequel to The Fountain Overflows at the library. What a find - it is a fantastic book. The children from the first book are now reaching young adulthood, having to accept their father’s death and the way in which they are different from other people in the world, and each other, too. It is in the age just before war, and somehow they know everything will be ended by the war, everything that is important in their lives.

She is such a wonderful writer; her characters are people you wish you knew, and her insights evoke smiles and tears from the reader. I loved this book and I hope I can dig out the final unfinished novel in the trilogy.