Serenity Found is Found

Serenity Found is the second book of essays about the crew of the Firefly and the 'verse they live in. This collection was written after the movie came out. It was edited by Jane Espenson with Leah Wilson. I found it a bit too much of the same thing; I read it too soon after Serenity Lost, the book written before the movie. I do enjoy the idea of reading essays about entertainment, so eventually I'll probably seek out more of the Smart Pop series.

Honestly, my best memory of this book is that I lost it for several weeks, allowing my household to revel in an endless series of jokes: Is Serenity Found lost? Did you lose Lost? No, I lost Found. I found Serenity Lost but lost Serenity Found. Hey, I found Serenity Found! Always funny.

It was in my kitchen, in case anyone was wondering. B-.

Storm Season: The Name of the Wind

It was a bit hard for me to get into Patrick Rothfuss's The Name of the Wind (Kingkiller Chronicles, Day 1), an epic fantasy complete with map in the front (although the mountains aren't marked with triangles). I checked it out the library, but never started. I checked it out again, renewed it twice, and finally finished it days before it was due for a final time. It wasn't a hard read; the pages turn quickly and the plot moved along; there were interesting ideas and a nice use of magic. It's a fun fantasy read, and I'll probably end up reading the next one, which I gather is due out fairly soon.

The book is written in a giant flashback. We meet our hero and his mysterious companion at the end of his life, when he has retired to run a quiet inn. There are hints that all is not over -- there is the mysterious companion, and he does sneak out to deal with various evils. Our hero is apparently not yet thirty, so there may still be a few drops of life in his worn out body yet. Hmm, perhaps that was one problem -- the book made me feel OLD. Most of the book is our hero telling his story to a traveling secretary, who collects stories. It covers his youth up to almost sixteen, as he loses his family, learns of the existence of ancient evil, and enters the magic university, which has more in common with the Unseen University than Hogwarts, despite the protagonist's youth. I didn't like the love interest, but I think that also came with being old and cynical -- I didn't believe in the girl at all, since the prism of a fifteen year old boy looking at True Love is so wildly distorting. I'd see if my kid wanted to try it, except it is due today so he'll have to struggle on with age appropriate stuff instead. B-.

Since I'm linking to Amazon anyway, I signed up for their associates program. When I remember, I do the link through them, so if anyone buys the book I may get something. I'm not sure what; probably a pony.

Library Haul, No Problem!

Sound the trumpets! I checked out no extraneous items today. Not only that, but we got no new music and no new picture books, because it's almost time for non-stop Christmas carols and my kids are going away for Thanksgiving week. I did have four books on hold, but most of them are kids books so I can probably read them very quickly the day before they are due

• Isabel and the miracle baby, by Emily Smith Pearce. I saw this recommended on BookNAround.
• Someday my prince will come : true adventures of a wannabe princess, by Jerramy Fine. Again, I blame BookNAround.
• The grounding of Group 6, by Julian F. Thompson. This one is for the Shelf Challenge.
• To take a Dare, by Crescent Dragonwagon and Paul Zindel. Another Shelf challenge book.

Technically there are a few other books I checked out on my card, as well as a plethora of movies, but those were for my kids. Who are leaving on Saturday, so I'm not sure when they plan to watch these, but hey, not my problem. Things they got involving paper include:

• Meteor shower messenger, by P.J. Rudi. I believe this is a Sonic the Hedgehog monstrosity.
• Transformers : stormbringer / story by Simon Furman ; art by Don Figueroa. N likes the Transformer graphic novels. I don't imagine the stories suffer because he can't read yet.
• Transformers animated : how to draw, by Sadie Chesterfield ; illustrated by Carlo LoRaso. I highly suspect N expects ME to master these, while I think it is time he stepped up to the plate. We'll see whose will is stronger. Better get good odds if you bet on me, though.

I am hoping not to read these books, although that hope may be unrealized for that last one.

I'll go sign up at A Striped Armchair to celebrate this day of glorious restraint. Oh sure, I was tackled twice by my burly offspring when they saw me heading for the new books section, but that's why I had kids, so it is all part of the Master Plan. My library list has me at 66, but that includes a stack of books I finished but didn't return because I haven't reviewed them.

O! Scots for the Blessed Mother! Outlaws of Ravenhurst

Today, Wednesday, is Reading on the Beach's A-Z Wednesday, which compels me to inflict another book upon y'all. I had several choices and I went with the one I've been carrying around the longest: Outlaws of Ravenhurst, by Sister M. Imelda Wallace, S.L. I'm a bit concerned by the lack of an imprimatur, but I have to believe the Catholic Authors Press wouldn't be selling anything that doesn't deserve one.

This book was a delight. The purple prose that the first sentence promised cheered me tremendously. ("Night lay on the long swelling waves of the Chesapeake Bay: no wind, no star, a murky darkness." Not too much, but just enough.) Our hero, George, finds that he is really the lost Scot Earl Gordon, not merely a poor American frontier lad. This is no happy Fauntleroy tale, however. Gordon's evil uncle has embraced PROTESTANTISM and is horrified by Gordon's devotion to the true church. It is the reign of Charles I, and Roman Catholics are hotly persecuted in Scotland. Will Gordon's faith be strong? Has his mother really forgotten him in a whirl of parties, or has the uncle locked her in a dungeon while forging those frothy letters? Shall we stop the narrative right after the confrontation between uncle and boy so we can read along with Gordon in his sixty page book of family devotions? Yes, yes we should.

There is a good amount of action and skulduggery, and also a lot of Catholic propaganda (hint, if a character isn't R.C., DON'T TRUST HIM). A bit of history as well; if I got my kids to read it they'd know something about the English Civil War, Scotland, and the founding of the American colony of Maryland. They'd also know a bit about Catholic traditions. Sadly, they are Greek Orthodox, not Roman Catholic, so I'm not getting a nibble, although P thought the idea of a book within a book very funny (especially the part where a character in the inner book told a long story). I know I would have loved this book as a kid. B+

PS. There is also a study guide, but I don't have that.

Library Haul, Belated and in Denial

I've been avoiding this post, as it again represents a drastic failure of purpose. Because of the attempt to switch library day to Monday, I've been going twice a week since many books still come due on Thursday. Sadly, those second trips are by myself, and there is no one to prevent me from picking up a book or so extra. My children are trained in throwing themselves between me and the books and preventing detours to extra stacks or recommended shelves or award displays or... For a brief and shining moment all my library books fitted in the box allotted to them, but that is no longer the case. Oops.

The hold shelf yielded a few, manageable treasures:

• Forest Born by Shannon Hale. I like her YA fairy-tale themed books.
• Angels' blood / Nalini Singh. This is one of the authors from the M book last week.
• Sammy Keyes and the Sisters of Mercy / Wendelin Van Draanen. For my son.

P and I selected a few picture books. A usually reads next to us while we read aloud to each other, but then he'll grab the book and read it himself in bed.

• Bat's big game / retold by Margaret Read MacDonald ; illustrated by Eugenia Nobati.
• Blueberry girl / written by Neil Gaiman ; illustrated by Charles Vess.
• Dad, Jackie, and me / written by Myron Uhlberg ; illustrated by Colin Bootman.
• Fat chance Thanksgiving / by Patricia Lakin ; illustrated by Stacey Schuett.
• My name is Sangoel / written by Karen Lynn Williams and Khadra Mohammed ; illustrated by Catherine S
• Take care, Good Knight / Shelley Moore Thomas ; pictures by Paul Meisel.
• The getaway / Ed Vere.

A picked up a book for himself:

• Sonic the hedgehog archives. Volume 6 / editor, Mike Pellerito. Bleh.

And then I was sent by myself to drop off a few books, and I happened to remember some authors I had heard of and saw a few books on the New shelves:

• Captain Alatriste, by Arturo Perez-Reverte. Historical fiction recommended by author Elizabeth Moon.
• Life without friends, by Ellen Emerson White. I'm tracking down all her works.
• Where have all the flowers gone? : the diary of Molly Mackenzie Flaherty. Another Ellen Emerson White book, this time from the kid books section.
• In the stormy red sky, by David Drake. A silly SF space-war series book.
• Scepter of the ancients / Derek Landy. In the running for some kidlit prize.

And I'm pretty sure we got some music, too. Library Elf puts me at 78. But remember, many of those are picture books and music. And a few are for my children. So I probably only have 30 or so actual books, and some of those are kid books. I'm OK. I can do this.

I'm going to go sign up on Reading Adventures for this Library Loot.

Best Sister Award: Noonday Friends

This Wednesday I went back to my kidlit piles for A-Z Wednesday, the weekly challenge hosted by Reading on the Beach to spotlight books starting with each week's letter. I was hoping to find a kidlit N book about soldiers in some form, but that proved too specific a request for my disorganized piles. So I grabbed Noonday Friends, a Newbery Honor that I either completely forgot or somehow missed reading (it's copyright 1965). My cover is older looking; I prefer it.

Mary Stolz mostly writes family stories about children growing up in the city. In this case, Franny's family is poor and teetering on the edge of worse, with a well-meaning dad who loves to paint but isn't that good at holding a regular job. Her twin brother Jimmy cares for his family but doesn't really know how to show it. Her little brother idolizes her and doesn't really understand the problems his family faces. Franny worries about her father's health, her family's instabilities, and her friendship with girls in her class. It's an excellent mix of big and little problems, with Franny child's eye view rating them according to their emotional impact, not any exterior scale. I'll put it out for my boys, but it's probably not plot driven enough for them. B

Shelf Challenge

Time for another challenge, because all the cool kids are doing it. At least until they hear I've joined in. And I have the key book already -- I'm about to start Shelf Discovery, and Booking Mama has announced a challenge to read six books from the many described in there. So I browsed through the table of contents, and found the books that I either haven't read or can't remember squat about.

My six picks for the challenge, taken one from each chapter, are:

1. Ludell. I've put in an ILL, but just in case, the backup book is Starring Sally J Freedman As Herself, which I cannot remember an iota of.

2. To Take a Dare. On hold. There are two others in this section I haven't read, but that's a later challenge. (Sister of the Bride and Caroline, if you are wondering.)

3. The Grounding of Group 6. I think this is the one I always meant to read but didn't, so I've summoned it via the magic of the library. The others I can't remember are: Daughters of Eve, Summer of Fear, and Secret Lives. I'll hold them in reserve in case I find I remember the 6.

4. Beat the Turtle Drum. The Gift of the Pirate Queen will be a good reserve.

5. Don't Hurt Laurie! is a book I heard about somewhere else lately, so it beats out Are You in the House Alone? despite the name Richard Peck on the cover.

6. I've, er, read all of these. I liked them all, too.

7. Hangin' Out with Cici will be my sixth book, although there are three others I don't think I've read here: Stranger With My Face, Jane-Emily, and Down a Dark Hall.

The other chapters will be optional extra credit, depending on my whim and OCD desire to check off at least one from each list.

8. Ooo, ick, love stories. I'll try Happy Endings Are All Alike but if it's too sappy I have In Summer Light and To All My Fans, With Love, From Sylvie as possibilities.

9. Um, read them all again. What a nifty feeling.

10. I can't believe how few of the naughty books I've read. I'll try Domestic Arrangements because I trust Norma Klein more than V.C. Andrews (Sweet Audrina), and I suspect I've just repressed Wifey.

I haven't forgotten my other challenge. I'm still clearing off my shelves, sorta. In October I read about 23 books, 5 of them old. So I'm on track with my 20% goal. Of course, this recent glut of library books isn't helping. Maybe I should count books I've had out for over six weeks...