by: Alexander McCall Smith
genre: General fiction/mystery
Grade: A
Precious Ramotswe is a traditionally built African woman with a skill for solving mysteries. So when she comes into an inheritance, she opens the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency in Botswana. Of course, it is the only ladies' detective agency in Botswana . . . .
Precious is a great character, compassionate but not a door mat, hindered by her past but willing to grow and change from it, a good judge of character who also has a tolerance for others mistakes.
I liked Smith's writing style, which while simple is able to evoke strong images and relay just the right amount of information. I loved his look at Africa, the way people think and how life there is conducted. It was wonderful to read about winter being a great time to take a stroll (not so much where I am ;-), snakes getting into the engine or undercarriage of your car (very dangerous), the bush Mma. Romotswe loves, the culture of the Botswana people and their language -- it was all interesting and wonderful.
The mysteries are simple but that is what makes them fun. There is great danger in Africa -- witch doctors (of which the modern people are ashamed), gangsters, frauds -- but most of what the Ladies' Detective Agency deals with are simple frauds made by people who while dishonest are not serial killers (what a refreshing break!)
There is a gentle romance in the story which involves two good friends slowly working towards a marriage. It was subtle but its undercurrent is felt through out. I really enjoyed it because it was so refreshingly normal -- no heavy lust, no "IloveyoubutIhateyou", just a relationship that gently goes from step to step ending in love.
If you haven't given these a chance, give them a try. They are easy, quick reads.
Tea:If you can get your hands on it bush tea. If not, one of the red teas which are grown in Africa.
tea time
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Gone
by: Lisa McMann
Grade: B+
This is the third book in McMann's trilogy (Wake, Fade) about teenager Janie, a young woman who has been able to read dreams all her life. In fact, it goes just a little bit deeper than that -- Janie is sucked into the dreams of anyone around her who is sleeping, whether she wants to be or not. The only thing that protects her is being separated from the sleeper by wood or a closed door of some kind.
Janie is on her first real vacation in years. Things are really looking up for her; she has graduated from high school and is spending her summer with Cabel, the boy she's in love with. But she's panicking about how she's going to survive her future when getting sucked into other people's dreams is already starting to take a physical toll. Not just that, it is a danger at every moment of her day -- like when she is water skiing and falls off, hitting her head and nearly drowning because she passes someone sleeping and is pulled into their dreams -- and out of her reality.
As if her future worries weren't enough, a call from her best friend alerts her to some BIG present concerns. Her mother is at the hospital. Racing home to deal with her nightmare parent she finds out that there is more to the issue. As Janie comes to terms with meeting someone new and important she also learns about options for her future. But are those options a solution -- or just a different form of torture?
This book really intrigued me with its possibilities. Enough so that I was surprised to learn that it is the end of the trilogy, rather than just another episode in a longer saga. Given that information I was disappointed by one aspect: why does simply everyone fear research? In Janie's shoes I would want to be tested. I would want someone working on HELPING ME, I don't think I would go quietly into the night the way she is. This is an ongoing theme recently in paranormal novels. Got a problem? For goodness sake, don't go to the authorities! When a problem is as severe as Janie's is I think I would give going to medical researchers a real good try --or two or three.
The book is well written, though, and a good sequel to Wake and Fade. If you like the others, definitely go for it.
Tea: Celestial Seasonings Sleepy Time tea. Sweet dreams!
Grade: B+
This is the third book in McMann's trilogy (Wake, Fade) about teenager Janie, a young woman who has been able to read dreams all her life. In fact, it goes just a little bit deeper than that -- Janie is sucked into the dreams of anyone around her who is sleeping, whether she wants to be or not. The only thing that protects her is being separated from the sleeper by wood or a closed door of some kind.
Janie is on her first real vacation in years. Things are really looking up for her; she has graduated from high school and is spending her summer with Cabel, the boy she's in love with. But she's panicking about how she's going to survive her future when getting sucked into other people's dreams is already starting to take a physical toll. Not just that, it is a danger at every moment of her day -- like when she is water skiing and falls off, hitting her head and nearly drowning because she passes someone sleeping and is pulled into their dreams -- and out of her reality.
As if her future worries weren't enough, a call from her best friend alerts her to some BIG present concerns. Her mother is at the hospital. Racing home to deal with her nightmare parent she finds out that there is more to the issue. As Janie comes to terms with meeting someone new and important she also learns about options for her future. But are those options a solution -- or just a different form of torture?
This book really intrigued me with its possibilities. Enough so that I was surprised to learn that it is the end of the trilogy, rather than just another episode in a longer saga. Given that information I was disappointed by one aspect: why does simply everyone fear research? In Janie's shoes I would want to be tested. I would want someone working on HELPING ME, I don't think I would go quietly into the night the way she is. This is an ongoing theme recently in paranormal novels. Got a problem? For goodness sake, don't go to the authorities! When a problem is as severe as Janie's is I think I would give going to medical researchers a real good try --or two or three.
The book is well written, though, and a good sequel to Wake and Fade. If you like the others, definitely go for it.
Tea: Celestial Seasonings Sleepy Time tea. Sweet dreams!
Bloody Right
by: Georgia Evans
Genre: Fantasy, light hearted
Grade: B+
Brytewoods others have managed to kill two of the four Nazi spies sent into their midst but two more remain. And one of them is formidable indeed!
This is the atmosphere Gryffyth Pendragon faces as he heads home from the war. He has done his part and given a leg for his country, forcing him off the front lines. Now at home with his dad, he mourns the opportunity lost of using his dragon strength to defeat the Nazi's. Then he becomes embroiled in the battle to free Britain's heartland from bloodsucking, secret stealing predators of the Third Reich and finds himself falling hard for a recent transplant who is more than what she seems. Their battle force featuring a couple of sexagenarians, a school teacher, a nurse and the local doctor may not look like much but they have some surprises up their sleeves that may make the undead finally simply dead.
This is another good installment in the Brytewood saga, written with gentle humor and good will. I took some points off because Gloria had planned to confront Mary early in the book and forgot all about it, which felt a bit sloppy. That mistake certainly didn't make this one less enjoyable though.
Tea: All books British always go down well with a cuppa of the Earl.
Genre: Fantasy, light hearted
Grade: B+
Brytewoods others have managed to kill two of the four Nazi spies sent into their midst but two more remain. And one of them is formidable indeed!
This is the atmosphere Gryffyth Pendragon faces as he heads home from the war. He has done his part and given a leg for his country, forcing him off the front lines. Now at home with his dad, he mourns the opportunity lost of using his dragon strength to defeat the Nazi's. Then he becomes embroiled in the battle to free Britain's heartland from bloodsucking, secret stealing predators of the Third Reich and finds himself falling hard for a recent transplant who is more than what she seems. Their battle force featuring a couple of sexagenarians, a school teacher, a nurse and the local doctor may not look like much but they have some surprises up their sleeves that may make the undead finally simply dead.
This is another good installment in the Brytewood saga, written with gentle humor and good will. I took some points off because Gloria had planned to confront Mary early in the book and forgot all about it, which felt a bit sloppy. That mistake certainly didn't make this one less enjoyable though.
Tea: All books British always go down well with a cuppa of the Earl.
Bloody Awful
by: Georgia Evans
Genre: WWII Vampire Fiction, light hearted
Grade: A
Vampires? In Brytewood? How shocking! And how much more shocking that they are Nazi spies!
Gloria Pruit, district nurse, knows only that she stopped a rather strange man, for lack of a better word, from bombing the local "secret" munitions plant. She received no credit of course since at the time she was a werefox. Now she finds herself drawn deeper into the strange shenanigans of those fighting the bloodsucking Nazi's from overseas while she grows ever closer to Andrew, the head of the munitions plant. Can there relationship survive the revelation that she likes to go furry at the full moon? And will it even matter given what is running around Brytewood right now?
These books are great fun, they are light hearted and take themselves accordingly and I strongly recommend.
Tea: Earl Grey of course!
Genre: WWII Vampire Fiction, light hearted
Grade: A
Vampires? In Brytewood? How shocking! And how much more shocking that they are Nazi spies!
Gloria Pruit, district nurse, knows only that she stopped a rather strange man, for lack of a better word, from bombing the local "secret" munitions plant. She received no credit of course since at the time she was a werefox. Now she finds herself drawn deeper into the strange shenanigans of those fighting the bloodsucking Nazi's from overseas while she grows ever closer to Andrew, the head of the munitions plant. Can there relationship survive the revelation that she likes to go furry at the full moon? And will it even matter given what is running around Brytewood right now?
These books are great fun, they are light hearted and take themselves accordingly and I strongly recommend.
Tea: Earl Grey of course!
Monday, February 22, 2010
The Postmistress
Author: Sarah Blake
Genre: General Fiction
Grade: D
I've had a lot of good luck with World War Two tales. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (Thanks, Mrs. Fairfax) and The Book Thief (Thanks, Wendy in WI)were both big hits for me. I am always on the look out for another book that can recapture the magic these two wove.
This book is a living testament to what a lovely cover and a good blurb can do for sales because let me assure you, had I known what lay between the covers, this stinker would never have left the store -- or wasted three hours of my life.
I often find myself tongue tied when deeply emotional. In this case, I was so angry and disappointed at the end of the story I found myself hard pressed to do anything but come out here, type the letter F in caps with lots of lovely exclamation points and then move on. I am taking a deep breath and trying to get over myself :-)Still, a description eludes me so here is a brief blurb from Publishers Weekly:
This review acts as though there are three main characters but we spend the majority of our time with Frankie, a hardened reporter who is horrified by the war she sees in Europe and frustrated by her struggles to bring it "home" to the people in America. She can't understand why American's refuse to enter the war and is even more horrified by their refusal to provide asylum to all the people, especially those who are Jewish, who were displaced by the Nazi Regime. It is Frankie's struggle to come to terms with the horror and seeming randomness of war, her conviction that God doesn't exist as proven by said war, and her desire to shake America out of it's comfort zone that make up the bulk of the book. One of Frankie's struggles is what can she actually tell people? Much of what she sees won't pass the censors, the rest of it is truth but a truth that has no frame, no facts to balance it. This is the beginning of the war, when what is to come is only guessed at, when the true horrors have yet to take place.
The real problem to me was that Frankie is not a character but rather a mouth piece for the author's views, which seem trapped in a past she doesn't understand. Little thought seems given to the depression which led the world to 1940, the effect that depression had on current government policies or even the fact that the world had never seen something like the genocide happening in Europe and had no real way to expect it or deal with it. Blake's only concession to the past seemed to be the idea that we should have expected this from Germany after WWI. That surprised me. I know Winston Churchill always felt that the events following WWI, most especially the issue of reparations, caused the war but I had never heard the idea before that the seeds of the genocide actually lay in that war. I was offered no evidence to support this and frankly, don't buy it for a minute.
We see only glimpses of Iris James, a formidable postmaster for a small local office and Emma Fitch, the young wife of a doctor scarred by his past and present so badly that it threatens their very future. It is unfortunate because I would have been interested in their stories had I had more of a chance to actually read them.
In conclusion, here is a quote from the book (page 313), regarding death, that I felt actually referred to the entire tale:
I agree. That's it? How disappointing!
Tea: Don't waste a cuppa.
Genre: General Fiction
Grade: D
I've had a lot of good luck with World War Two tales. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (Thanks, Mrs. Fairfax) and The Book Thief (Thanks, Wendy in WI)were both big hits for me. I am always on the look out for another book that can recapture the magic these two wove.
This book is a living testament to what a lovely cover and a good blurb can do for sales because let me assure you, had I known what lay between the covers, this stinker would never have left the store -- or wasted three hours of my life.
I often find myself tongue tied when deeply emotional. In this case, I was so angry and disappointed at the end of the story I found myself hard pressed to do anything but come out here, type the letter F in caps with lots of lovely exclamation points and then move on. I am taking a deep breath and trying to get over myself :-)Still, a description eludes me so here is a brief blurb from Publishers Weekly:
Weaving together the stories of three very different women loosely tied to each other, debut novelist Blake takes readers back and forth between small town America and war-torn Europe in 1940. Single, 40-year-old postmistress Iris James and young newlywed Emma Trask are both new arrivals to Franklin, Mass., on Cape Cod. While Iris and Emma go about their daily lives, they follow American reporter Frankie Bard on the radio as she delivers powerful and personal accounts from the London Blitz and elsewhere in Europe. While Trask waits for the return of her husband—a volunteer doctor stationed in England—James comes across a letter with valuable information that she chooses to hide. Blake captures two different worlds—a naïve nation in denial and, across the ocean, a continent wracked with terror—with a deft sense of character and plot, and a perfect willingness to take on big, complex questions, such as the merits of truth and truth-telling in wartime. (Feb.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
This review acts as though there are three main characters but we spend the majority of our time with Frankie, a hardened reporter who is horrified by the war she sees in Europe and frustrated by her struggles to bring it "home" to the people in America. She can't understand why American's refuse to enter the war and is even more horrified by their refusal to provide asylum to all the people, especially those who are Jewish, who were displaced by the Nazi Regime. It is Frankie's struggle to come to terms with the horror and seeming randomness of war, her conviction that God doesn't exist as proven by said war, and her desire to shake America out of it's comfort zone that make up the bulk of the book. One of Frankie's struggles is what can she actually tell people? Much of what she sees won't pass the censors, the rest of it is truth but a truth that has no frame, no facts to balance it. This is the beginning of the war, when what is to come is only guessed at, when the true horrors have yet to take place.
The real problem to me was that Frankie is not a character but rather a mouth piece for the author's views, which seem trapped in a past she doesn't understand. Little thought seems given to the depression which led the world to 1940, the effect that depression had on current government policies or even the fact that the world had never seen something like the genocide happening in Europe and had no real way to expect it or deal with it. Blake's only concession to the past seemed to be the idea that we should have expected this from Germany after WWI. That surprised me. I know Winston Churchill always felt that the events following WWI, most especially the issue of reparations, caused the war but I had never heard the idea before that the seeds of the genocide actually lay in that war. I was offered no evidence to support this and frankly, don't buy it for a minute.
We see only glimpses of Iris James, a formidable postmaster for a small local office and Emma Fitch, the young wife of a doctor scarred by his past and present so badly that it threatens their very future. It is unfortunate because I would have been interested in their stories had I had more of a chance to actually read them.
In conclusion, here is a quote from the book (page 313), regarding death, that I felt actually referred to the entire tale:
The casual way that one thing led to another, slick as a rope uncoiling and roping silent into the sea, was proof positive that Death - if you could catch him-wore a smile. After all, it wasn't why? It was that's it?
I agree. That's it? How disappointing!
Tea: Don't waste a cuppa.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Haunting Beauty
By: Erin Quinn, aka Erin Grady
Genre: Paranormal romance
Grade: C
This book was lost in its own complexity. While Grady's "Echoes" and "Whispers" combined the past with the present to reveal a complex intertwining of history repeating itself this book was completely lost in the mazes Grady had handled so well previously.
Heroine Danni was stunned when the visions returned. And even more surprised when the vision is rapidly followed by the appearance of Sean, the man she had seen in the "dream". What he has to say is the largest surprise of all in a rather shocking day. . .
Danni thought she knew everything important about her past: that she was a child abandoned by her mother at Cactus Wren Preschool. And Danni had no doubts as to the cause of that abandonment; while she has managed to block out most of her memories she has never forgotten that her strange "visions" alienated foster parents and friends alike. When Sean Ballogh tells her that things are not quite what they seemed, the small comfortable world Danni has worked so hard to build spins out of control.
Sean claims Danni's remaining family has been looking for her since she first disappeared and that they need her to return to Ireland and set things right. Because things have been very, very wrong in the village of Ballyfionuir since Danni has been gone.
Danni agrees to a flight to Ireland and does go but the trip is not quite what either she or Sean had in mind.
Danni and Sean are both difficult characters to get a handle on but I think this is because of everything happening to them and around them. The book contains visions, ghosts, time travel, seers, a magic book and an evil fairy. My experience is that one or two of those things make for a good story but piling on everything in the paranormal world you can get your hands on doesn't.
The subtle air of menace that Grady/Quinn weaved into her last several books is also missing. Here the menace is very overt but also almost comical.
I looked forward to reading this one and think it could have been good if the author had not tried quite so hard. Still, I will read the next one and hope for the best.
Tea: As we all know by now, tea is very beneficial to your health but did you know hibiscus tea lowers blood pressure? Three cups a day has been found to take about five points off. Check the ingredients on your tea, many herbal teas have a main ingredient (which is what is wanted) of hibiscus. I am drinking Black Cherry Berry and Lemon Zinger right now. I am only at one cup a night but I am determined to get to three.
Genre: Paranormal romance
Grade: C
This book was lost in its own complexity. While Grady's "Echoes" and "Whispers" combined the past with the present to reveal a complex intertwining of history repeating itself this book was completely lost in the mazes Grady had handled so well previously.
Heroine Danni was stunned when the visions returned. And even more surprised when the vision is rapidly followed by the appearance of Sean, the man she had seen in the "dream". What he has to say is the largest surprise of all in a rather shocking day. . .
Danni thought she knew everything important about her past: that she was a child abandoned by her mother at Cactus Wren Preschool. And Danni had no doubts as to the cause of that abandonment; while she has managed to block out most of her memories she has never forgotten that her strange "visions" alienated foster parents and friends alike. When Sean Ballogh tells her that things are not quite what they seemed, the small comfortable world Danni has worked so hard to build spins out of control.
Sean claims Danni's remaining family has been looking for her since she first disappeared and that they need her to return to Ireland and set things right. Because things have been very, very wrong in the village of Ballyfionuir since Danni has been gone.
Danni agrees to a flight to Ireland and does go but the trip is not quite what either she or Sean had in mind.
Danni and Sean are both difficult characters to get a handle on but I think this is because of everything happening to them and around them. The book contains visions, ghosts, time travel, seers, a magic book and an evil fairy. My experience is that one or two of those things make for a good story but piling on everything in the paranormal world you can get your hands on doesn't.
The subtle air of menace that Grady/Quinn weaved into her last several books is also missing. Here the menace is very overt but also almost comical.
I looked forward to reading this one and think it could have been good if the author had not tried quite so hard. Still, I will read the next one and hope for the best.
Tea: As we all know by now, tea is very beneficial to your health but did you know hibiscus tea lowers blood pressure? Three cups a day has been found to take about five points off. Check the ingredients on your tea, many herbal teas have a main ingredient (which is what is wanted) of hibiscus. I am drinking Black Cherry Berry and Lemon Zinger right now. I am only at one cup a night but I am determined to get to three.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Kindred in Death
By: JD Robb
Genre: Futuristic Suspense
Grade: A-
I've had a huge stack of library books to get through and it has not been fun. Honestly. Most especially the last four weren't books I was anxious to read and I actually pushed myself through them. Driving me was my guilt in overhearing a librarian gripe about how people didn't understand how wasteful it was for them to request books and not pick them up because the libraries had to pay for the transpo. I have never been quite that evil but have ever since felt like I owed it to the tax payers of my fair city to read the books I got on loan from other libraries. Fortunately, the handful left are books I have really, really wanted to read.
Kindred in Death is such a book. It stars, as do all the In Deaths, Detective, now Lt. Eve Dallas. She is on vacation, enjoying the life of the idle rich with her husband Roarke when she is tagged by her boss for a special assignment. A cop's daughter has been brutally murdered and it is up to Eve and her team to catch the killer. The crime scene is especially gruesome, the victim especially sweet and innocent. The killers errors are so minute they have to work hard at every lead to unravel them. Even as the evidence piles up, all is not as it would seem. And the ending leaves you wondering who is truly responsible for the crimes a man commits? Only the man himself? Or those who formed him?
It felt great to want to turn the pages as quickly as possible, a feeling missing from my last few novels. I was excited and happy when we reached each new milestone in the case and as anxious as Eve and her team to put it to bed. The minus is for two little quibbles. I would have like to have watched the trial alluded to at the end of the book. It would have made me oh so happy to watch that particular perp put into the cage he belonged in. Yes, we know it will happen but I wanted to see it, hear the description of how he felt going in. The second part of the minus is for the overuse of the word "solid". Seriously. Way overused.
I know Nora Robert's/J.D. Robb books lack the lyrical quality of the Curtis's writing or the technical skill of many another author but this book was refreshingly fun for me. In spite of the gruesomeness of some of the activity it was still a pleasure to read something so easy. If you have been reading the series, this is a worthy addition.
And I am not kidding when I say I am so, so happy to be down to three books in my library stack. And two of them I really, really want to read.
Tea: Iced and sweet. There is a scene that will explain it all if you read it.
Genre: Futuristic Suspense
Grade: A-
I've had a huge stack of library books to get through and it has not been fun. Honestly. Most especially the last four weren't books I was anxious to read and I actually pushed myself through them. Driving me was my guilt in overhearing a librarian gripe about how people didn't understand how wasteful it was for them to request books and not pick them up because the libraries had to pay for the transpo. I have never been quite that evil but have ever since felt like I owed it to the tax payers of my fair city to read the books I got on loan from other libraries. Fortunately, the handful left are books I have really, really wanted to read.
Kindred in Death is such a book. It stars, as do all the In Deaths, Detective, now Lt. Eve Dallas. She is on vacation, enjoying the life of the idle rich with her husband Roarke when she is tagged by her boss for a special assignment. A cop's daughter has been brutally murdered and it is up to Eve and her team to catch the killer. The crime scene is especially gruesome, the victim especially sweet and innocent. The killers errors are so minute they have to work hard at every lead to unravel them. Even as the evidence piles up, all is not as it would seem. And the ending leaves you wondering who is truly responsible for the crimes a man commits? Only the man himself? Or those who formed him?
It felt great to want to turn the pages as quickly as possible, a feeling missing from my last few novels. I was excited and happy when we reached each new milestone in the case and as anxious as Eve and her team to put it to bed. The minus is for two little quibbles. I would have like to have watched the trial alluded to at the end of the book. It would have made me oh so happy to watch that particular perp put into the cage he belonged in. Yes, we know it will happen but I wanted to see it, hear the description of how he felt going in. The second part of the minus is for the overuse of the word "solid". Seriously. Way overused.
I know Nora Robert's/J.D. Robb books lack the lyrical quality of the Curtis's writing or the technical skill of many another author but this book was refreshingly fun for me. In spite of the gruesomeness of some of the activity it was still a pleasure to read something so easy. If you have been reading the series, this is a worthy addition.
And I am not kidding when I say I am so, so happy to be down to three books in my library stack. And two of them I really, really want to read.
Tea: Iced and sweet. There is a scene that will explain it all if you read it.
The Windflower
The Windflower
Author: Tom and Sharon Curtis aka Laura London
Genre: Pirate Romance, War of 1812
Grade: Liked it much more than Sunshine and Shadows
Merry Wilding is drawing rutabagas in her aunt's garden when first we meet her. Hers is a solitary life, isolated from the local villagers by an imagined superior family lineage courtesy of her aunt, and kept from her father and brother by their all important jobs in government. Merry is thrilled when her brother Carl involves her in a small way in a job which he is doing. It is all cloak and daggers, danger and adventure and is just the sort of thing to appeal to any young girl who wants to help family and country. Carl is unknowingly launching Merry into an adventure that will change the course of her very life.
It is during this evening of mayhem, however brief it is, that Merry first sets eyes on the pirate Devon. A gorgeous blond with the face of an angel he becomes her unlikely savior when her adventure goes bad. They part at the end, Merry turned to mush by a kiss, but this is a romance and of course they meet again.
They meet in the unlikeliest of ways, through a series of misunderstandings, misdirections and diabolical plannings. Merry, on board the pirate ship where Devon makes his living, is intent on not telling him who she is and what she has been up to. Devon is equally intent on getting her to talk. Love seems unlikely between two such diverse people but then, love can always be counted on to conquer all.
This book had to have been among the first ever to feature a gamma/beta hero. Devon is charming, talented and undoubtedly a skillful fighter but he is not the alpha male that the captain of the pirate vessel, Rand Morgan, is. And he is no rapist hero, an unusual aspect of a pirate in a romance novel circa 1984. He is chivalrous and casually kind and reminded me mightily of a cross between Will Turner and Jack Sparrow.
The pirates on board the vessel are definitely of the Disney variety. They quickly turn to much in the sweet hands of Merry and become her pals, some willing to risk Devon and Rand's wrath to protect her. Even when one of them seems likely to be a danger to her he quickly proves he isn't and becomes more of father/brother figure to her, engaging in mock battle with her at one point, than I believe her father and brother ever actually were.
All of them voted to risk their own lives to save a mother/child from another set of pirates. And their discipline? Far, far more democratic than anything offered by the British or American Navies. I didn't mind them being of the Disney variety and actually enjoyed quite a few of their antics. In fact, Raven and Cat were two of my very favorite people in the book. I actually searched for sequels to see if anything more had been written about these two really great secondary characters.
Rand Morgan, though not as mentioned as I would have liked (I read his scenes twice) was perhaps my favorite character in the book. He was an alpha character but in the best sense of the word. He was no bully but he had complete control of the vessel and all his property, he was a builder of men and an incredibly strong character in his own right. He reminded me of Beverly's Rothgar or Balogh's Wulfric Bedwyn.
Merry was a very sweet, naive, incompetent 18. She tried to escape three times and while everyone admired her gumption no one could speak for her competence. She did have skill, as an artist, but she was presented as a rather helpless character. If not for her male rescuers she would have died easily and would have had her pick of venues in which to do it in. This is where my love of YA really works against me because I read about so many competent under 18's that when I run into a Merry I am not impressed. I didn't dislike her but she will never be a favorite heroine.
I can see why this book is a favorite for many, though. It had to be huge breath of fresh air when first published for featuring decent, caring non-rapist men. But I will return this happily to the library tomorrow. I have read far too many great romances since 1984 to be bowled over by this one.
Tea: Did you know that at one point people of this time tried to stop drinking tea because of it's British roots? Coffee and non-black tea's were pushed as more "American".
Author: Tom and Sharon Curtis aka Laura London
Genre: Pirate Romance, War of 1812
Grade: Liked it much more than Sunshine and Shadows
Merry Wilding is drawing rutabagas in her aunt's garden when first we meet her. Hers is a solitary life, isolated from the local villagers by an imagined superior family lineage courtesy of her aunt, and kept from her father and brother by their all important jobs in government. Merry is thrilled when her brother Carl involves her in a small way in a job which he is doing. It is all cloak and daggers, danger and adventure and is just the sort of thing to appeal to any young girl who wants to help family and country. Carl is unknowingly launching Merry into an adventure that will change the course of her very life.
It is during this evening of mayhem, however brief it is, that Merry first sets eyes on the pirate Devon. A gorgeous blond with the face of an angel he becomes her unlikely savior when her adventure goes bad. They part at the end, Merry turned to mush by a kiss, but this is a romance and of course they meet again.
They meet in the unlikeliest of ways, through a series of misunderstandings, misdirections and diabolical plannings. Merry, on board the pirate ship where Devon makes his living, is intent on not telling him who she is and what she has been up to. Devon is equally intent on getting her to talk. Love seems unlikely between two such diverse people but then, love can always be counted on to conquer all.
This book had to have been among the first ever to feature a gamma/beta hero. Devon is charming, talented and undoubtedly a skillful fighter but he is not the alpha male that the captain of the pirate vessel, Rand Morgan, is. And he is no rapist hero, an unusual aspect of a pirate in a romance novel circa 1984. He is chivalrous and casually kind and reminded me mightily of a cross between Will Turner and Jack Sparrow.
The pirates on board the vessel are definitely of the Disney variety. They quickly turn to much in the sweet hands of Merry and become her pals, some willing to risk Devon and Rand's wrath to protect her. Even when one of them seems likely to be a danger to her he quickly proves he isn't and becomes more of father/brother figure to her, engaging in mock battle with her at one point, than I believe her father and brother ever actually were.
All of them voted to risk their own lives to save a mother/child from another set of pirates. And their discipline? Far, far more democratic than anything offered by the British or American Navies. I didn't mind them being of the Disney variety and actually enjoyed quite a few of their antics. In fact, Raven and Cat were two of my very favorite people in the book. I actually searched for sequels to see if anything more had been written about these two really great secondary characters.
Rand Morgan, though not as mentioned as I would have liked (I read his scenes twice) was perhaps my favorite character in the book. He was an alpha character but in the best sense of the word. He was no bully but he had complete control of the vessel and all his property, he was a builder of men and an incredibly strong character in his own right. He reminded me of Beverly's Rothgar or Balogh's Wulfric Bedwyn.
Merry was a very sweet, naive, incompetent 18. She tried to escape three times and while everyone admired her gumption no one could speak for her competence. She did have skill, as an artist, but she was presented as a rather helpless character. If not for her male rescuers she would have died easily and would have had her pick of venues in which to do it in. This is where my love of YA really works against me because I read about so many competent under 18's that when I run into a Merry I am not impressed. I didn't dislike her but she will never be a favorite heroine.
I can see why this book is a favorite for many, though. It had to be huge breath of fresh air when first published for featuring decent, caring non-rapist men. But I will return this happily to the library tomorrow. I have read far too many great romances since 1984 to be bowled over by this one.
Tea: Did you know that at one point people of this time tried to stop drinking tea because of it's British roots? Coffee and non-black tea's were pushed as more "American".
Friday, February 12, 2010
Crashed
Author: Robin Wasserman
Genre: YA, Scifi, sequel to "Skinned"
Grade: B+
Here is a blurb from the authors website:
No one to trust... everything to lose.
Before the accident, Lia Kahn was happy.
Before the accident, Lia Kahn was loved.
Before, Lia was a lot of things: Normal. Alive. Human.
Lia no longer lives in before.
Lia is a mech: a teenager whose memories have been downloaded into a mechanical body. Dangerous to her former friends and family and not really wanted by them anyway she is currently living with other mechs at an estate in the land of the privileged. An errand has her enter the city though, the rough area where those not working in a corp town or the world of the privileged must eek out an existence in any way they can. Here Lia comes face to face with the past that belonged to three of her housemates - and the future that just might be hers if the Brotherhood of Man wins their political push against the mechs.
It is odd how the littlest things can turn you on to or off of a book. When I read the "Marked" series by the Cast's I hated the clearly anti-religious bent of the books. There is a whiff (and sometimes more than a whiff) of that here but that is not the sole purpose of these books. Here religion is used only when it comes up against something like Lia, something new and unnatural in a world that is hard to explain already. And the focus stays on Lia, her day to day struggles to come to terms with who and what she is in a world that is asking exactly that same question. I really enjoyed how all the characters have motives and histories that are revealed only a piece at a time for us and how the worlds of some people who would rather not know the other existed are hopelessly enmeshed by their past history. The action here is taut and thrilling, the characterization solid and complex. I enjoyed this one much more than the first and am looking forward to book three.
Tea: What tea will we drink in the future? Something artificial and cheap I think so reach for a cup of Lipton ;p
Genre: YA, Scifi, sequel to "Skinned"
Grade: B+
Here is a blurb from the authors website:
No one to trust... everything to lose.
Before the accident, Lia Kahn was happy.
Before the accident, Lia Kahn was loved.
Before, Lia was a lot of things: Normal. Alive. Human.
Lia no longer lives in before.
Lia is a mech: a teenager whose memories have been downloaded into a mechanical body. Dangerous to her former friends and family and not really wanted by them anyway she is currently living with other mechs at an estate in the land of the privileged. An errand has her enter the city though, the rough area where those not working in a corp town or the world of the privileged must eek out an existence in any way they can. Here Lia comes face to face with the past that belonged to three of her housemates - and the future that just might be hers if the Brotherhood of Man wins their political push against the mechs.
It is odd how the littlest things can turn you on to or off of a book. When I read the "Marked" series by the Cast's I hated the clearly anti-religious bent of the books. There is a whiff (and sometimes more than a whiff) of that here but that is not the sole purpose of these books. Here religion is used only when it comes up against something like Lia, something new and unnatural in a world that is hard to explain already. And the focus stays on Lia, her day to day struggles to come to terms with who and what she is in a world that is asking exactly that same question. I really enjoyed how all the characters have motives and histories that are revealed only a piece at a time for us and how the worlds of some people who would rather not know the other existed are hopelessly enmeshed by their past history. The action here is taut and thrilling, the characterization solid and complex. I enjoyed this one much more than the first and am looking forward to book three.
Tea: What tea will we drink in the future? Something artificial and cheap I think so reach for a cup of Lipton ;p
Sunshine and Shadows
By: Sharon and Tom Curtis
Genre: Romance
Grade: Not sure, but I didn't enjoy it. It wasn't a bad book but it just wasn't a fun one.
Most novels turn on the actions of the book. This is understandable as there has to be something going on to make you want to turn the pages. This was one of those rare books where very little seemed to be actually occurring, that the book itself takes place within the characters. Part of that is that the authors use a very poetic, almost lyrical style of writing. They are all about conveying emotion, setting and character interactions. Some might think this is like "Pride and Prejudice" but in fact P and P has a great deal of action, from the early walk home from church to the dance to the ball -- well, you get my drift. A lot happens. This one had the feel of a warm, summer day -- cozy and almost drowsy in some ways.
That is not in fact the setting, though. The book begins with Alan Wilde, a James Cameron/George Lucas sort of character, cursing his idea to film in the frigid spring weather of Wisconsin. He is even more taken aback when that filming is disrupted by a breathtaking young Amish woman attacking his monster. The scene he is filming quickly becomes farcical and many of the production crew believe the film has been wasted. Alan disagrees. Watching it that night he is struck by how the camera catches the lovely Susan and determines to have her fill the now vacant leading lady role.
Susan is embarrassed to have been taken in by a fake monster and more than a little hesitant to get involved in such a project. But Alan has an odd effect on her senses and she soon finds herself involved in secretly filming the movie. She is uneasy with the deception she is putting upon her family and friends but views it as temporary and necessary. Her brother Daniel is supportive of what she is doing and soon Susan finds herself drawn to much in the world she has always been taught to fear, most especially the man who has mesmerized her into being involved with the project to begin with.
This book was a very slow read for me. One of the disadvantages of romance is that you know the ending. That means the authors job is to really intrigue you with the road she is going to use to get there. In this case, because of how little action took place, I knew that there was only one road to get there. Susan and Alan would succumb to their desires and find a way to make his world fit into hers. I also knew that things would have to come to a head with her community - there was no way Susan was going to keep her involvement in this project hidden. She was making a movie for national release. The Amish may not go to movies but they do on occasion go to stores and restaurants and there was just no way they wouldn't stumble across the information there. She would have had more luck keeping a pregnancy secret.
And this is where I begin with what I found difficult about the book. Alan "teaches" Susan to act by telling her it is like a game of pretend. That is lovely but filming is actually not quite like that. The director decides your words, your reactions, where you stand, how you tilt your head. And you do it all in front of a rather large crew. With tons of technology around you (yes, even in the 80's we had technology. Probably bigger, more mechanical stuff than the sleek stuff they use now.) I just found it hard to stretch my disbelief that innocent Susan, who didn't recognize a stereo when she saw one, was able to react naturally around boom mikes, cameras, lights, and dozens of people. That she felt comfortable in the make up and costuming also seemed a stretch. Had Susan been rebellious against her community, the kind of person who loved to sneak into town to listen to music and watch the English at play, if she had crept into Walmart or K-mart to stare in amazement at their televisions, I might have bought it. But that she loved her community, loved their simple way of life and simply wasn't interested in the world outside of it made it impossible for me to buy into her transformation into an actress who was anything but awkward before the camera.
Alan's interest in her was on the creepy side for me. Fortunately, he questioned it himself, wondering if he had become so nasty that the only joy he could take was from the destruction of purity. He goes on to resolve this in his own mind but not really in mine. I couldn't ever quite get a handle on what he loved about Susan other than her wholesomeness and her sense of community.
I also couldn't get a handle on why Susan, who supposedly loved her community, felt so comfortable betraying it. Yes, she had some unease but she was fascinated by what she was doing too. I couldn't reconcile the Susan I was told she was with what she was doing. The two seemed like puzzle pieces which looked like they match but when you put them together they don't.
In the end this book was entirely a love story and it was one I didn't buy. It was beautifully written, the characterizations were well drawn, but the romance just didn't work for me. Since it was only a romance, that left me with a puzzling lack of satisfaction at the end of the book. Like a delicious desert which leaves you wishing you hadn't eaten it.
Tea: I have no tea in mind but here is a link to Amish recipes.http://www.amishrecipes.net/amish-recipes.php Personally, I love their fat egg noodles. Essenhaus makes some that I like to boil in chicken broth. Yummy!
Genre: Romance
Grade: Not sure, but I didn't enjoy it. It wasn't a bad book but it just wasn't a fun one.
Most novels turn on the actions of the book. This is understandable as there has to be something going on to make you want to turn the pages. This was one of those rare books where very little seemed to be actually occurring, that the book itself takes place within the characters. Part of that is that the authors use a very poetic, almost lyrical style of writing. They are all about conveying emotion, setting and character interactions. Some might think this is like "Pride and Prejudice" but in fact P and P has a great deal of action, from the early walk home from church to the dance to the ball -- well, you get my drift. A lot happens. This one had the feel of a warm, summer day -- cozy and almost drowsy in some ways.
That is not in fact the setting, though. The book begins with Alan Wilde, a James Cameron/George Lucas sort of character, cursing his idea to film in the frigid spring weather of Wisconsin. He is even more taken aback when that filming is disrupted by a breathtaking young Amish woman attacking his monster. The scene he is filming quickly becomes farcical and many of the production crew believe the film has been wasted. Alan disagrees. Watching it that night he is struck by how the camera catches the lovely Susan and determines to have her fill the now vacant leading lady role.
Susan is embarrassed to have been taken in by a fake monster and more than a little hesitant to get involved in such a project. But Alan has an odd effect on her senses and she soon finds herself involved in secretly filming the movie. She is uneasy with the deception she is putting upon her family and friends but views it as temporary and necessary. Her brother Daniel is supportive of what she is doing and soon Susan finds herself drawn to much in the world she has always been taught to fear, most especially the man who has mesmerized her into being involved with the project to begin with.
This book was a very slow read for me. One of the disadvantages of romance is that you know the ending. That means the authors job is to really intrigue you with the road she is going to use to get there. In this case, because of how little action took place, I knew that there was only one road to get there. Susan and Alan would succumb to their desires and find a way to make his world fit into hers. I also knew that things would have to come to a head with her community - there was no way Susan was going to keep her involvement in this project hidden. She was making a movie for national release. The Amish may not go to movies but they do on occasion go to stores and restaurants and there was just no way they wouldn't stumble across the information there. She would have had more luck keeping a pregnancy secret.
And this is where I begin with what I found difficult about the book. Alan "teaches" Susan to act by telling her it is like a game of pretend. That is lovely but filming is actually not quite like that. The director decides your words, your reactions, where you stand, how you tilt your head. And you do it all in front of a rather large crew. With tons of technology around you (yes, even in the 80's we had technology. Probably bigger, more mechanical stuff than the sleek stuff they use now.) I just found it hard to stretch my disbelief that innocent Susan, who didn't recognize a stereo when she saw one, was able to react naturally around boom mikes, cameras, lights, and dozens of people. That she felt comfortable in the make up and costuming also seemed a stretch. Had Susan been rebellious against her community, the kind of person who loved to sneak into town to listen to music and watch the English at play, if she had crept into Walmart or K-mart to stare in amazement at their televisions, I might have bought it. But that she loved her community, loved their simple way of life and simply wasn't interested in the world outside of it made it impossible for me to buy into her transformation into an actress who was anything but awkward before the camera.
Alan's interest in her was on the creepy side for me. Fortunately, he questioned it himself, wondering if he had become so nasty that the only joy he could take was from the destruction of purity. He goes on to resolve this in his own mind but not really in mine. I couldn't ever quite get a handle on what he loved about Susan other than her wholesomeness and her sense of community.
I also couldn't get a handle on why Susan, who supposedly loved her community, felt so comfortable betraying it. Yes, she had some unease but she was fascinated by what she was doing too. I couldn't reconcile the Susan I was told she was with what she was doing. The two seemed like puzzle pieces which looked like they match but when you put them together they don't.
In the end this book was entirely a love story and it was one I didn't buy. It was beautifully written, the characterizations were well drawn, but the romance just didn't work for me. Since it was only a romance, that left me with a puzzling lack of satisfaction at the end of the book. Like a delicious desert which leaves you wishing you hadn't eaten it.
Tea: I have no tea in mind but here is a link to Amish recipes.http://www.amishrecipes.net/amish-recipes.php Personally, I love their fat egg noodles. Essenhaus makes some that I like to boil in chicken broth. Yummy!
Ring of Roses
Author: Lucilla Andrews
Genre: British Medical Romance
Grade: B/C range
Cathy Maitland has been in Canada for a year, visiting her mother, brother and step-father but is thrilled to return to England and get back to work at St. Martha's, London. She has only a brief stop to make in her home village to be bridesmaid for her childhood friend, Ruth. Ruth's brother Joss is bestman . There is a wonderful scene in The Godfather where Michael Corleone sees Appolina and is struck by the thunderbolt. That is what happens here when Joss and Cathy meet once again. They spend an enchanted evening, drinking, dancing and sipping chamapagne, parting only when they return to London. But when they meet up again the following morning at St. Martha's -- where Joss turns out to be Cathy's boss-- the thunder seems to have been silenced. What happens next is one of those big misunderstandings that can be solved by five minutes of conversation which never takes place. Joss and Cathy limp through the book, saving life after life and casting baleful eyes at each other. Finally, forced together on a journey where Joss must nurse Cathy back to health, they reach a truce. Then in a final climatic scene at the end all the truth spills out, the big mis is cleared and love conquers all once again.
I like childhood friends become sweetheart stories because that shared history can be a shortcut to real soul baring. Having a sense of where someone is from, sharing friends, family relationships and memories can help the couple fit together early in a way two strangers can not. But as Joss said three pages from the end "Twenty four years! Twenty four years you've had to add me up and that's what you figure? Thanks very much!" It was true. They each thought some rather nasty things about the other that made no sense in light of their shared history. Additionally, the big mis was so easily cleared with just a few light hearted sentences that it seemed silly for it to go on several hundred pages. Surely two people who had known each other for many years would have felt comfortable enough together to at least try to clarify things a bit? Not here.
In the end I did like the look at London in the late 60's, early 70's and Andrew's writing style makes for easy reading. You certainly learn a lot about nursing in England during this time period. But unless that is a subject you are dying to pursue, I wouldn't pick this one up. Short of that it just didn't have a lot to recommend it.
Tea: Did you know tea bags are a new phenomenon>?
Most of the tea you can buy in a grocery store now comes in bags. However, these bags are a recent development. They become popular after World War II, when tea was rationed in the UK. Tea giant Tetley introduced the bagged tea to the UK after rationing ended to great success. Consumers loved that each bag had the perfect amount of tea already included.
Information from:http://www.beyondgourmet.com/eight-little-known-tea-facts/
Genre: British Medical Romance
Grade: B/C range
Cathy Maitland has been in Canada for a year, visiting her mother, brother and step-father but is thrilled to return to England and get back to work at St. Martha's, London. She has only a brief stop to make in her home village to be bridesmaid for her childhood friend, Ruth. Ruth's brother Joss is bestman . There is a wonderful scene in The Godfather where Michael Corleone sees Appolina and is struck by the thunderbolt. That is what happens here when Joss and Cathy meet once again. They spend an enchanted evening, drinking, dancing and sipping chamapagne, parting only when they return to London. But when they meet up again the following morning at St. Martha's -- where Joss turns out to be Cathy's boss-- the thunder seems to have been silenced. What happens next is one of those big misunderstandings that can be solved by five minutes of conversation which never takes place. Joss and Cathy limp through the book, saving life after life and casting baleful eyes at each other. Finally, forced together on a journey where Joss must nurse Cathy back to health, they reach a truce. Then in a final climatic scene at the end all the truth spills out, the big mis is cleared and love conquers all once again.
I like childhood friends become sweetheart stories because that shared history can be a shortcut to real soul baring. Having a sense of where someone is from, sharing friends, family relationships and memories can help the couple fit together early in a way two strangers can not. But as Joss said three pages from the end "Twenty four years! Twenty four years you've had to add me up and that's what you figure? Thanks very much!" It was true. They each thought some rather nasty things about the other that made no sense in light of their shared history. Additionally, the big mis was so easily cleared with just a few light hearted sentences that it seemed silly for it to go on several hundred pages. Surely two people who had known each other for many years would have felt comfortable enough together to at least try to clarify things a bit? Not here.
In the end I did like the look at London in the late 60's, early 70's and Andrew's writing style makes for easy reading. You certainly learn a lot about nursing in England during this time period. But unless that is a subject you are dying to pursue, I wouldn't pick this one up. Short of that it just didn't have a lot to recommend it.
Tea: Did you know tea bags are a new phenomenon>?
Most of the tea you can buy in a grocery store now comes in bags. However, these bags are a recent development. They become popular after World War II, when tea was rationed in the UK. Tea giant Tetley introduced the bagged tea to the UK after rationing ended to great success. Consumers loved that each bag had the perfect amount of tea already included.
Information from:http://www.beyondgourmet.com/eight-little-known-tea-facts/
Monday, February 8, 2010
Autism's False Prophets
By: Paul Offit, MD
Grade: D-
Genre: Nonfiction, medical, vaccinations
In 1998 Andrew Wakefield, MD, published a study in the British Medical Journal "Lancet" pointing to the MMR vaccine as a possible cause for autism. His statement couldn't have been timed better -- with autism numbers rising by the year and more and more parents demanding an explanation for what was happening it was the perfect moment to create the perfect media storm. His report led to drops in vaccination rates, changes in the vaccines themselves and launched an entire repertoire of bio-medical treatments to cure thousands of children of vaccine damage.
If the world needed any more books on the issue it was one that detailed the other side of the story. Where was science on this question? What did other doctors have to say on this issue? With warm, concerned people like Robert Kennedy Jr. and Jenny McCarthy giving a voice to the concerns of the anti-vaccine crowd, where was the voice of those saying vaccines were safe and effective -- and they could prove it?
Sadly, if this book is that voice their side is destined to lose. Dr. Offit begins well. He gives us his own history of becoming a doctor, then touches briefly on some of the scarier aspects of the debate. He points out the flaws in Dr. Wakefield's study and points to other studies which show the efficacy and safety of vaccines. And then he rapidly degenerates into finger pointing, name calling and a stand on intellectual superiority.
He begins by pointing out other therapies that parents have believed in that have been proven to be untrue -- most notably facilitated communication and secretin. He tried to come across as sympathetic but I found it to be more snide, that the point seemed to be that desperate people might believe anything and therefore can not be trusted to make a single rational decision.
Offit follows this up with saying exactly his point: that actors, celebrities and congressmen all trumpeted Wakefield's cause but as Senator Waxman said (and Dr. Offit supports): "Let us let the scientists explore where the real truth may be." This is, I think, the primary message of Dr. Offits book. He seems to hold forth, as Michael Fitzpatrick does in MMR and Autism, "We need to establish the foundations of an informal contract between parents and professionals that respects both our different spheres of expertise and - most importantly - the distinctions between them. Doing the best for our children means concentrating on being parents and leaving science to the scientists, medicine to the doctors and education to the teachers." This very example showed a fundamental lack of understanding of how medicine, education and even science work on the front lines. Doctors rely on evidence presented in dialogue with patients to reach a diagnosis. Teachers expect parents to take on educational roles as they help with homework. In fact, there are thousands of books out there explaining exactly why having a child in school feels like a full time job to many moms. And science on the front lines is an often messy business because things are moved from the comfortable world of the lab to the totally unregulated world of reality. The recall of tons of cars recently points to how things can go wrong from drawing board to execution.
Offit goes on to say that our courts get science wrong. Our media gets it wrong. He pulls out cases such as silicon breast implants (which have supposedly been proven NOT to cause cancer) to prove his point. But anyone over say 10 years of age knows that often our courts and media get things right. For every medicine they have wrongly accused of causing problems there is also one they have saved us from. He carefully keeps from giving balance to his point by mentioning none of this.
The book's finger pointing is aimed at Jenny McCarthy's lack of degree, at Wakefield's rather small kick backs from a legal firm that stood to benefit from vaccine suits, that some of the people who believe vaccines are harmful are religious (Oh, horror!), the fact that Robert Kennedy only got into environmentalism because of a misdemeanor in his youth (and his law firm does civil action suits, even if he doesn't),and most importantly that parents and most civilians (even our pediatricians) can't understand vaccine science. He makes no effort to explain it to us.
Dr. Offit pointed continually to scientists as experts, forgetting the other side also had degrees, many of them from prestigious institutions. But what bothered me most was that medicine, the type of science being talked about here, is big business. And history has shown us businesses need to be watched. He felt this business should somehow be exempt from public watch dogs. Start giving medicine away for free, having it made by non for profit's and the time may come when we watch them less often. It amazes me these people have the guts to be angry that people feel this way. Do they have any idea what a cop makes? And how the heck closely we watch that poor guy? A guy who literally risks his life to do his job? And yet reading this we are to believe that the multi-billion dollar vaccine companies should be exempt from public skepticism because we couldn't possibly understand what they are doing? And that we should trust government agencies to do the over sight and not question said agencies? Sorry, that's what a free people do.
There was much to be upset with in this book but I think the primary problem lay in the philosophy that permeated it. That the public couldn't understand and that it was therefore dangerous and wrong for us to question. What saddened me is that there was much he could have spoken of that people would have understood. Like why having even small handfuls of people opt out of vaccines is dangerous to the entire program, what epidemics look like of the diseases the protect against, what numbers we are actually talking about (number possibly harmed by vaccines vs. numbers will be harmed by epidemic), etc. Rather than reassuring me that I do the right thing by getting a flu vaccine for myself and my kids annually he made me wonder if I was the dupe of good advertising by an industry bloated with money. Bummer. I could really have used some reassurance.
Tea: You know the rule, don't waste a good cuppa on anything below a C. (Though a stiff drink of the Irish might make this more palatable.)
Grade: D-
Genre: Nonfiction, medical, vaccinations
In 1998 Andrew Wakefield, MD, published a study in the British Medical Journal "Lancet" pointing to the MMR vaccine as a possible cause for autism. His statement couldn't have been timed better -- with autism numbers rising by the year and more and more parents demanding an explanation for what was happening it was the perfect moment to create the perfect media storm. His report led to drops in vaccination rates, changes in the vaccines themselves and launched an entire repertoire of bio-medical treatments to cure thousands of children of vaccine damage.
If the world needed any more books on the issue it was one that detailed the other side of the story. Where was science on this question? What did other doctors have to say on this issue? With warm, concerned people like Robert Kennedy Jr. and Jenny McCarthy giving a voice to the concerns of the anti-vaccine crowd, where was the voice of those saying vaccines were safe and effective -- and they could prove it?
Sadly, if this book is that voice their side is destined to lose. Dr. Offit begins well. He gives us his own history of becoming a doctor, then touches briefly on some of the scarier aspects of the debate. He points out the flaws in Dr. Wakefield's study and points to other studies which show the efficacy and safety of vaccines. And then he rapidly degenerates into finger pointing, name calling and a stand on intellectual superiority.
He begins by pointing out other therapies that parents have believed in that have been proven to be untrue -- most notably facilitated communication and secretin. He tried to come across as sympathetic but I found it to be more snide, that the point seemed to be that desperate people might believe anything and therefore can not be trusted to make a single rational decision.
Offit follows this up with saying exactly his point: that actors, celebrities and congressmen all trumpeted Wakefield's cause but as Senator Waxman said (and Dr. Offit supports): "Let us let the scientists explore where the real truth may be." This is, I think, the primary message of Dr. Offits book. He seems to hold forth, as Michael Fitzpatrick does in MMR and Autism, "We need to establish the foundations of an informal contract between parents and professionals that respects both our different spheres of expertise and - most importantly - the distinctions between them. Doing the best for our children means concentrating on being parents and leaving science to the scientists, medicine to the doctors and education to the teachers." This very example showed a fundamental lack of understanding of how medicine, education and even science work on the front lines. Doctors rely on evidence presented in dialogue with patients to reach a diagnosis. Teachers expect parents to take on educational roles as they help with homework. In fact, there are thousands of books out there explaining exactly why having a child in school feels like a full time job to many moms. And science on the front lines is an often messy business because things are moved from the comfortable world of the lab to the totally unregulated world of reality. The recall of tons of cars recently points to how things can go wrong from drawing board to execution.
Offit goes on to say that our courts get science wrong. Our media gets it wrong. He pulls out cases such as silicon breast implants (which have supposedly been proven NOT to cause cancer) to prove his point. But anyone over say 10 years of age knows that often our courts and media get things right. For every medicine they have wrongly accused of causing problems there is also one they have saved us from. He carefully keeps from giving balance to his point by mentioning none of this.
The book's finger pointing is aimed at Jenny McCarthy's lack of degree, at Wakefield's rather small kick backs from a legal firm that stood to benefit from vaccine suits, that some of the people who believe vaccines are harmful are religious (Oh, horror!), the fact that Robert Kennedy only got into environmentalism because of a misdemeanor in his youth (and his law firm does civil action suits, even if he doesn't),and most importantly that parents and most civilians (even our pediatricians) can't understand vaccine science. He makes no effort to explain it to us.
Dr. Offit pointed continually to scientists as experts, forgetting the other side also had degrees, many of them from prestigious institutions. But what bothered me most was that medicine, the type of science being talked about here, is big business. And history has shown us businesses need to be watched. He felt this business should somehow be exempt from public watch dogs. Start giving medicine away for free, having it made by non for profit's and the time may come when we watch them less often. It amazes me these people have the guts to be angry that people feel this way. Do they have any idea what a cop makes? And how the heck closely we watch that poor guy? A guy who literally risks his life to do his job? And yet reading this we are to believe that the multi-billion dollar vaccine companies should be exempt from public skepticism because we couldn't possibly understand what they are doing? And that we should trust government agencies to do the over sight and not question said agencies? Sorry, that's what a free people do.
There was much to be upset with in this book but I think the primary problem lay in the philosophy that permeated it. That the public couldn't understand and that it was therefore dangerous and wrong for us to question. What saddened me is that there was much he could have spoken of that people would have understood. Like why having even small handfuls of people opt out of vaccines is dangerous to the entire program, what epidemics look like of the diseases the protect against, what numbers we are actually talking about (number possibly harmed by vaccines vs. numbers will be harmed by epidemic), etc. Rather than reassuring me that I do the right thing by getting a flu vaccine for myself and my kids annually he made me wonder if I was the dupe of good advertising by an industry bloated with money. Bummer. I could really have used some reassurance.
Tea: You know the rule, don't waste a good cuppa on anything below a C. (Though a stiff drink of the Irish might make this more palatable.)
In Storm and In Calm
By: Lucilla Andrews
Grade: IDK
Setting, 1970's Shetland, Islands: For the uninitiated, such as myself, Shetland is, according to Wikipedia, a chain of Islands off the North East Coast of Scotland. The heroine of our novel, Charlotte Anthony, is a nurse on break from St. Martha's Hospital in London. A vivacious, pretty blond with a sense of adventure she is spending part of her vacation working at a hospital in Shetland while a friend, whose job it actually is, goes to be with a sister in a remote village. Said sister is determined to give birth at home in spite of having a bad history with birthing and everyone feels she would do better with a nurse midwife on the premises. On the way To Shetland our gal meets a wonderful fellow traveler named Rod, who becomes her fast friend, and notices a fellow traveler who seems pale and wan. The two speculate as to what he could possibly be doing and what has caused him to be so pale. Charlotte watches him until through a stroke of luck she is seated next to him on the plane over to the island. It is a stroke of luck for her, as he turns out to be a very understanding neighbor, not so much for him as she splatters on him while throwing up during a bumpy landing. He turns out to be Magnus, a doctor who is also spending vacation time subbing, in this case for his brother in law (also a doctor) who is going on vacation. Expecting a quiet little Island hospital Charlotte is shocked as she works long hours dealing with every kind of emergency possible as the sea and small, surrounding islands bring them patients from all walks of life whom they must deal with in storm and in calm. As she watches Magnus, Jeannie and the other nurses and islanders about her she can't help but wonder if she will give her heart to this beautiful blue and green island and it's people. Most especially the tall, Scots doctor with his soulful eyes and skillful hands whom she finds herself more and more intrigued with as the days pass.
Lucilla Andrew's book are labeled medical romances but really aren't, imo. They are more tales of being a nurse during the 1970's in Great Britain. In this particular case, the setting of the Shetland Islands is discussed in some detail and you get a sense of the wild hills and gentle valleys bracketed always by a dangerous, mysterious sea that can turn on you at any minute. The villagers about the island are seen as something of a closed community, wary of newcomers but excited about the oil just discovered around the islands. A theme throughout the book is the question of whether the fact that the oil brings new jobs and new people will be a plus that balances out the inevitable changes to a place lost in time. Mostly, though, you get a very up close look at the type of ailments and treatments that occur in a rural UK hospital. You don't at all get a feel for the romance. Magnus and Charlotte really had only moments together while working and a handful of meetings out of work to make up their relationship. Granted, the declarations of love were made without a proposal since they planned to get to know each other better before moving to marriage. Still, it felt awkward to hear them between two people who had exchanged only a handful of kisses. Additionally, there were lots of big misunderstadings between the two regarding who was seeing who and what was happening with whom. I did like the fact that Magnus was very reserved, it struck me as being very true to his character and also to the type of person he was to portray (if that makes any sense). Most surgeons I know are reserved, most men aren't as anxious as romance heroes to spout undying love, and it added to the overall "Britishness" of him. It gave a depth and perspective to his character that would actually have been lacking had he been all chatty. As a whole, the book was an interesting reading experience but one I am glad to put behind me.
Tea: Here's a tea tidbit for you. In England you put in an extra teaspoon "for the pot". That means you add a teaspoon of leaves for each cup of water and then an extra for the pot.
Grade: IDK
Setting, 1970's Shetland, Islands: For the uninitiated, such as myself, Shetland is, according to Wikipedia, a chain of Islands off the North East Coast of Scotland. The heroine of our novel, Charlotte Anthony, is a nurse on break from St. Martha's Hospital in London. A vivacious, pretty blond with a sense of adventure she is spending part of her vacation working at a hospital in Shetland while a friend, whose job it actually is, goes to be with a sister in a remote village. Said sister is determined to give birth at home in spite of having a bad history with birthing and everyone feels she would do better with a nurse midwife on the premises. On the way To Shetland our gal meets a wonderful fellow traveler named Rod, who becomes her fast friend, and notices a fellow traveler who seems pale and wan. The two speculate as to what he could possibly be doing and what has caused him to be so pale. Charlotte watches him until through a stroke of luck she is seated next to him on the plane over to the island. It is a stroke of luck for her, as he turns out to be a very understanding neighbor, not so much for him as she splatters on him while throwing up during a bumpy landing. He turns out to be Magnus, a doctor who is also spending vacation time subbing, in this case for his brother in law (also a doctor) who is going on vacation. Expecting a quiet little Island hospital Charlotte is shocked as she works long hours dealing with every kind of emergency possible as the sea and small, surrounding islands bring them patients from all walks of life whom they must deal with in storm and in calm. As she watches Magnus, Jeannie and the other nurses and islanders about her she can't help but wonder if she will give her heart to this beautiful blue and green island and it's people. Most especially the tall, Scots doctor with his soulful eyes and skillful hands whom she finds herself more and more intrigued with as the days pass.
Lucilla Andrew's book are labeled medical romances but really aren't, imo. They are more tales of being a nurse during the 1970's in Great Britain. In this particular case, the setting of the Shetland Islands is discussed in some detail and you get a sense of the wild hills and gentle valleys bracketed always by a dangerous, mysterious sea that can turn on you at any minute. The villagers about the island are seen as something of a closed community, wary of newcomers but excited about the oil just discovered around the islands. A theme throughout the book is the question of whether the fact that the oil brings new jobs and new people will be a plus that balances out the inevitable changes to a place lost in time. Mostly, though, you get a very up close look at the type of ailments and treatments that occur in a rural UK hospital. You don't at all get a feel for the romance. Magnus and Charlotte really had only moments together while working and a handful of meetings out of work to make up their relationship. Granted, the declarations of love were made without a proposal since they planned to get to know each other better before moving to marriage. Still, it felt awkward to hear them between two people who had exchanged only a handful of kisses. Additionally, there were lots of big misunderstadings between the two regarding who was seeing who and what was happening with whom. I did like the fact that Magnus was very reserved, it struck me as being very true to his character and also to the type of person he was to portray (if that makes any sense). Most surgeons I know are reserved, most men aren't as anxious as romance heroes to spout undying love, and it added to the overall "Britishness" of him. It gave a depth and perspective to his character that would actually have been lacking had he been all chatty. As a whole, the book was an interesting reading experience but one I am glad to put behind me.
Tea: Here's a tea tidbit for you. In England you put in an extra teaspoon "for the pot". That means you add a teaspoon of leaves for each cup of water and then an extra for the pot.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Fire
By: Kristin Cashore
Grade: B+
Genre: YA Fantasy/Romance
This fantasy tale of power, romance, betrayal and deception is set in the kingdom of the Dells. Here there be dragons -- and other monster, monsters of incandescent beauty, monsters who can slither into the mind, controlling it, and mesmerize the senses, dulling them till they ignore the danger before them. Fire is one such monster --the only living human monster. She is so beautiful men and women both can not help but lust after her. So powerful she can grasp your mind and make it her own at will. Deadly. And hungry, always hungering after the flesh of other monsters.
She lives in a dangerous time for the kingdom. Memories of the former King and his adviser Cansrel, another human monster, haunt the people. Their excesses, their sadistic cruelties set the stage for the civil unrest that has King Nash now sitting uneasily on his throne. As our story begins Fire is in the woods of her own demesne, far outside the seats of power, when an accident forces her to the Queen's court. It is there that she learns just how close to the precipice of civil war the kingdom dangles. And she meets the people who will be her future -- or her end.
This is a sophomore effort for Cashore and much more smoothly written than "Graceling". Here the plot fits together effortlessly, the fantastical elements blending seamlessly with the more mundane elements of "non-magic". I love the way Cashore uses both the "magically" gifted humans and the regular humans to make up her heroes. I love fantastical creatures but dislike when those without power are shoved into the background, unable to do anything but scurry around hoping for protectors. Here the clever, the strong, and the talented all work together with the magical and gifted.
I liked the character of Fire. She wasn't a favorite heroine for me but she was honorable and compassionate and I essentially liked her. If I have a complaint with the book it is that she and Briggen and Nash and the Queen and Archer and all the good guy supporting cast are from the basic mold of "hero". There is nothing deep in their character to make them unique, no little spark that takes them from character to person. It is that tiny spark that takes a book from good to brilliant and I have high hopes that as Cashore continues to improve this will someday be coming from her.
My second minor complaint was the complex and completely unnecessary paternity games played. It is hard to explain without giving away plot points but as you read the book you will find for yourself that characters turn out to be related to unexpected people (or perhaps unnecessary people would be a better phrase?) and I wasn't sure what Cashore was doing with that. Because it stuck out to me like a sore thumb I figured she was either using it to create some sort of moral point or to show how humans could all get along if we so choose. Uhm, duh? The very thing that makes heroes human is the struggle it often is to choose right over wrong, there is nothing worse than a smug author assuring us we should choose it and gee, it's easy and for the best. Whatever. That small thread in the story didn't belong and was like an annoying flaw in your sweater. At first you barely see it, then you obsess over it so much you can't even wear the darn thing. A small mark against an otherwise solid read.
Tea: How about some coffee with this one? It just struck me as a coffee book, even though tea drinking occurred throughout. I picture Steep and Brew's "Icing on the Cake" around a good campfire.
Grade: B+
Genre: YA Fantasy/Romance
This fantasy tale of power, romance, betrayal and deception is set in the kingdom of the Dells. Here there be dragons -- and other monster, monsters of incandescent beauty, monsters who can slither into the mind, controlling it, and mesmerize the senses, dulling them till they ignore the danger before them. Fire is one such monster --the only living human monster. She is so beautiful men and women both can not help but lust after her. So powerful she can grasp your mind and make it her own at will. Deadly. And hungry, always hungering after the flesh of other monsters.
She lives in a dangerous time for the kingdom. Memories of the former King and his adviser Cansrel, another human monster, haunt the people. Their excesses, their sadistic cruelties set the stage for the civil unrest that has King Nash now sitting uneasily on his throne. As our story begins Fire is in the woods of her own demesne, far outside the seats of power, when an accident forces her to the Queen's court. It is there that she learns just how close to the precipice of civil war the kingdom dangles. And she meets the people who will be her future -- or her end.
This is a sophomore effort for Cashore and much more smoothly written than "Graceling". Here the plot fits together effortlessly, the fantastical elements blending seamlessly with the more mundane elements of "non-magic". I love the way Cashore uses both the "magically" gifted humans and the regular humans to make up her heroes. I love fantastical creatures but dislike when those without power are shoved into the background, unable to do anything but scurry around hoping for protectors. Here the clever, the strong, and the talented all work together with the magical and gifted.
I liked the character of Fire. She wasn't a favorite heroine for me but she was honorable and compassionate and I essentially liked her. If I have a complaint with the book it is that she and Briggen and Nash and the Queen and Archer and all the good guy supporting cast are from the basic mold of "hero". There is nothing deep in their character to make them unique, no little spark that takes them from character to person. It is that tiny spark that takes a book from good to brilliant and I have high hopes that as Cashore continues to improve this will someday be coming from her.
My second minor complaint was the complex and completely unnecessary paternity games played. It is hard to explain without giving away plot points but as you read the book you will find for yourself that characters turn out to be related to unexpected people (or perhaps unnecessary people would be a better phrase?) and I wasn't sure what Cashore was doing with that. Because it stuck out to me like a sore thumb I figured she was either using it to create some sort of moral point or to show how humans could all get along if we so choose. Uhm, duh? The very thing that makes heroes human is the struggle it often is to choose right over wrong, there is nothing worse than a smug author assuring us we should choose it and gee, it's easy and for the best. Whatever. That small thread in the story didn't belong and was like an annoying flaw in your sweater. At first you barely see it, then you obsess over it so much you can't even wear the darn thing. A small mark against an otherwise solid read.
Tea: How about some coffee with this one? It just struck me as a coffee book, even though tea drinking occurred throughout. I picture Steep and Brew's "Icing on the Cake" around a good campfire.
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