Book Review - When Books Went to War

So, you could say that I'm a big fan of most things literary. Books are one of those things that have always been important to me, and asking me if I like reading is like asking if like breathing - I need it to live. But I've never felt able to put into words the importance of books as a whole, not just to me but to society at large.

When Books Went to War does a marvelous job of putting words around the idea that wars of ideas are just as powerful as the physical fighting. It describes how the US, in the form of a council of publishers and the War Department, took control of the war of ideas on the Allied front during World War II. The council published books specifically to be sent overseas to be given to the soldiers fighting, thus providing entertainment and new ideas to people who may not remember why they're fighting. It also helped publishers popularize the paperback book, a format that had been seen as the purview of pulps and dimestore novels.

One of the fascinating things is how the publishers worked together, forgoing their own profits in order to make these editions and sell them at cost to the military in order to send them overseas. In addition, it made a generation of readers out of men who may only have looked at the headlines of newspapers before. It gave the soldiers a safe way to vent their emotions in an era when men weren't meant to show any sign of weakness or emotion. The publishers even worked to publish books that would help the soon to be demobilized soldiers with their return to civilian life, offering ways to make the skills they had learned into something they could use at home.

The story may begin with one of the biggest book burnings in Germany, but it ends with the high note of how many books were published and disseminated over the course of the war. The stories from the soldiers are heartfelt and heart-breaking, and overall, it's an uplifting book that reminds us that while we may be afraid, we will have the ability to fight a war of ideas so long as we have the words to spread them.

Book review - The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

I am a big fan of comfort reading. I tend to re-read books that I love many times over the years, because even if I remember the broad strokes of the plot or the characters, there's always something new to discover and remember with every reading. This book? This is one that probably has, if not the most re-reads, at least in the top 5, in my library.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society was one of the first epistolary books I ever read. The entire story is told in letters and journals, which as a writer, is always fascinating to me - how can an author fit so much about a character into a simple letter? The fact that the book is also historical fiction, taking place not long after the end of the Second World War, helped to attract my attention as well.

The main theme is the love of the written word. The main character is an author who wrote columns for the newspaper during the war, and is now trying to find the best idea she can for a book. Out of the blue, she receives a letter from a man on Guernsey Island, who had purchased one of the books she had had in her library from a second-hand bookshop, and was writing to see if she knew of any other books by the same author. It leads to a discussion about reading, writing, and the importance of not only the written word, but also the ties of friendship and family, during the worst that life has to offer.

There's a bit of history that's rarely told in the US in this book - the occupation by the Germans of the Channel Islands. By hearing the voices of the people who lived through the occupation, the authors are able to give a good amount of detail to what happened, without coming across like a textbook. Knowing that it's in the past for them, but still building who they are in the present, is a gift for the reader to unwrap with each letter.

The audiobook version has multiple actors, which make the letters separate and distinct in ways that reading them can't quite get across. This is a book that I can honestly say I wholeheartedly love, and I recommend it to pretty much everyone.

Book review - The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

It's been a while since I've done a book review, so a quick perusal of my Goodreads shelf and I found one of my comfort books - The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern.

The book follows the basic idea that magic is real, and two magicians have taken apprentices - one a boy, the other a girl - from an early age. It follows the apprentices as they grow up and learn about the different kinds of magic, not knowing that they are in a competition with each other. Throughout, there's also a description of a carnival known as the Night Circus that travels around the world. No one knows when it will appear until it does, and it only opens at sundown. The different exhibits and tents are unlike anything anyone's ever seen, and they develop a following of people who create their own kind of family as they bond over the circus.

One of the beautiful things about the book is the way the storylines are woven together. You're introduced to the circus before you meet the main characters, and it gives you a sense of wonder and awe from the beginning - you know right away that this is no ordinary carnival. Following the characters, they are developed wonderfully and in-depth, so they aren't just about the tricks they can perform. Watching it all come together, and trying to figure out how it will all end, is breathtaking.

The writing is gorgeous and haunting, and there's a subtle melancholy through the entire book that doesn't send it into the realm of depressing fiction, but reminds you that not everything is as happy as it may appear. For me, it makes me want to curl up with a cup of tea and settle down with the book, preferrably on a rainy day. I highly recommend it.

Book review - Maskerade by Terry Pratchett

Now, I know I've already done a series review for the entire Discworld series, but this is probably the first time I've re-read Maskerade in years. It was the very first book in the series that I read, and reading it with more than fifteen years more life experience behind me, it's a very different read.

The friend who lent me the book in the beginning did so because a) he loved the series and thought I would, too; and b) he knew that I am a musical theater junkie, so would appreciate the gratuitous Phantom of the Opera references. At least, those were the reasons he told me originally. I believe now, there is a third reason - I am Agnes Nitt.

Agnes is the main character of the book, and she's frequently referred to as having a "lovely personality and very good hair". This, as many of us know, is the polite way of saying that she's not conventionally attractive - in her case (as in mine), because she's heavy. She has also gotten "a reputation for being calm and capable in a crisis." At the time in college when I was given this book, I had already established myself as being someone people could come to with their problems, or to figure out what to do when things went wrongs. Reading Agnes was a little like looking in the mirror.

I guess the biggest difference time has made for me is that, unlike Agnes, I don't really rail against the fact that I'm not the star of the show. I like being useful. I like being the go-to person when there are questions, and feeling like I can confidently give the answer. I enjoy getting to see behind the scenes how everything works (or doesn't) and finding ways to make it work better. But twenty-year-old me, reading this for the first time? I absolutely identified with Perdita, Agnes' "inner self." She gets to say all the things Agnes won't or can't, and there's nothing you can do about it. I longed for that kind of freedom, then.

I really enjoyed re-reading this, remembering (and wincing) at all the whininess that happens when you haven't figured out your place in the world and are determined to force yourself into something that doesn't fit. There's some excellent humor, of course, and lots of opera and Broadway references that I totally missed the first time through.

Series Review - The Glamourist Histories by Mary Robinette Kowal

Several years ago, I started reading books by Seanan McGuire and listening to the Writing Excuses podcast. These things may not seem all that related, but they are, through one Mary Robinette Kowal. She is a regular part of the Writing Excuses podcast, and she is the audiobook narrator for Seanan's October Daye series. So when I heard that she was going to be publishing her first novel, I was interested. When I heard that the premise could be summed up as "Pride and Prejudice with magic," I knew I needed to find it. I have never been happier to have a book series cross my path.

The first book of the series, Shades of Milk and Honey, sets the stage for an alternative Victorian-era England, in which there is a kind of magic known as glamour. As it deals with light and illusion, it is frequently considered a woman's art, alongside embroidery and painting. The main character, Jane, is the eldest of two sisters and the "plain" one, so she tries to content herself with a future as a spinster, living with her parents and, later, her sister and brother-in-law. This is before she meets Vincent, a professional glamourist of some renown.

I realize that this is coming across as more of a traditional romance than what I normally recommend, and that's not inaccurate. However, the characters are well-developed, and there's more to them than simply a "will they or won't they?" storyline. The later books delve into the relationship between Jane and Vincent, as they struggle with the things most married people need to figure out when they're building a life with someone after living alone. There's also some wonderful world-building with regards to how having magic may have changed key elements in history and society as a whole, which is part of the reason why I love alternate histories.

I am exceedingly fond of these books, and they have been added to my regular rotation of comfort reading.

Series Review - The Sandman by Neil Gaiman

Lo these many moons ago, when I was in college, I was fortunate enough to have friends that led me to a wonderful resource my school had. It's called the MLLL (it used to stand for Multimedia Listening and Learning Library), or the Comic Books Reading Room. Such is the beauty of going to a college populated by geeks.

The MLLL was a tiny, windowless room, and you could only get in if somone gave you the code to the lockbox on the door. Once inside, however, you were surrounded by comics. Graphic novels, single issues, multiple single issues bound together on-site - it was the kind of thing to make a comic book lovers' heart leap for joy. And it was here that I discovered The Sandman.

I'll be perfectly honest - I was never much of a comic book geek. Superheroes have never really been my thing, and for a long time, that was the only kind of comic book I knew about. I wish I could remember who introduced me to Neil Gaiman's Sandman series, because it was truly a life-changing exxperience. I didn't know that stories like that could be told with such artistry. I was led to the MLLL at just the right time, too, as I was going through a major depressive episode and needed someplace to hide for long stretches of time. Being able to sit scrunched up in a beanbag chair and read through the stories of Dream of the Endless as he tries to rebuild his world after being away for long felt like a true escape.

Since those nights in the MLLL, I've found some other graphic novels and comics that I enjoy. None of them, however, hit me the way that the Sandman did. I own them myself now, and will occasionally reach for them when things are getting bleak. It's not just a matter of the story itself helping me out of the dark, it's the circumstances in which I first read them that remind me that I've hit rock bottom before, and managed to get my way out.

Series Review - Cecelia & Kate by Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer

Growing up, my father spent a decent amount of time travelling abroad. He was in the Air Force, and would have to go on temporary duty for a few weeks or months (twice, he had to leave for a year at a time). This was all before the internet was a big deal and easily available, so we communicated by written letter. The memory of coming home and finding a new letter waiting for me is one that I remember fondly, and I've always had a fondness for snail mail. When I found out that two authors had written a series of YA novels via letter, I knew I wanted to read them, and I'm glad that I did.

The first book in the series, Sorcery & Cecelia: or The Enchanted Teapot, introduces two characters as good friends who are spending some time in different parts of the country. They are writing letters to each other, describing what's going on in their respective territories and asking questions about the other's predicament. Even though the tale is told only through letters from the two main characters, there's a wonderful amount of character development and world building.

I love that the authors wrote these letters without discussing the plot with each other, so each letter they received revealed something new about the characters, and referenced past acts that they might not have known about. The series goes on for three books, and they each have the charm and humor of the first.

Series Review - Incryptid by Seanan McGuire

I've been a fan of Seanan McGuire for quite some time, and when I learned she was doing a new urban fantasy series, I was tremendously excited. I had already read and loved her October Daye series, but I admit that it does have its moments of being really flipping dark, so I was looking forward to a lighter series. Plus, there are monsters!

The first book in the series, Discount Armageddon, introduces the family of Prices, who are cryptozoologists that make it their mission to study and, when they need to, protect cryptids, which are essentially the stuff of myths and legends. Sasquatches, dragons, gorgons, etc. - all of them exist, and most of them have integrated into society, though in hiding.

The main character of the books changes throughout the series - we start with
Verity, then move on to her brother Alex. There are several short stories available for free on Seanan's website, and they give a better sense of background for the family as a whole, as well as the society in which they grew up.

I'm not saying that everything is peaches and roses for everyone - there are several heartbreaking moments that come up, and it's to Seanan's credit that you care about the characters, even when they only appear in a short story. The novels tend to be a little lighter than the short stories, but they all build a rich world and characters that are worth investing in.

Book Review: A Wrinkle in Time

Over the years, I've found that I enjoy books in various formats. I've been a member of Audible for many years (disclaimer: I work for Amazon.com, which is the parent company for Audible), and the eBook revolution has definitely made an impact in my reading habits. The more I like a book, the more different formats I'll end up buying it. Based on that alone, my all-time favorite book must be A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle.

I grew up with parents who read, particularly my father. Everyone in our house tended to wander around with books in hand, which meant the question "Where's my book?" was asked on a regular basis. My dad was the one who was big on science fiction and fantasy, along with military fiction, and his enthusiasm spilled into my reading choices. A Wrinkle in Time was the first science fiction book I remember reading, and it was pivotal for me.

It wasn't until years later that I realized just how the book had affected me. It has a female protagonist - something unique in the world of speculative fiction of the 1970's - and she's realistic. Let's be honest, Meg Murray isn't exactly what most girls would aspire to be - she's unattractive, obnoxious, scared, whiny, and something of a brat. At the same time, she does what needs to be done, even if she fights it along the way. She wants to save her father and her little brother, and make her life as close to normal as it ever was. It's something that most teenagers can relate to, even if the various worlds and space travel that she takes to get there are a little outside of most people's experiences.

This is the kind of book that holds up well over the years, and I find myself rereading it on a regular basis. I definitely recommend it, particularly as an introduction to science fiction.

Series Review - Finishing School by Gail Carriger

I've recently been re-reading some of my favorite books, in part to get myself ready to read the most recent book in the series. It's one of my biggest habits as a reader, and one that I'm actually trying to work on - I'm trying to make sure that I'm reading more new books than re-reading old books in a year, and that can be difficult when all I want to do is curl up with an old favorite. At any rate, a series I recently finished was the Finishing School series (first book is Etiquette & Espionage) by Gail Carriger.

I had previously read the Parasol Protectorate series by the same author, so when I found out that she was writing a prequel, young adult series, I was very excited. It was lovely to see how some of the characters in the Parasol Protectorate books started out, and getting a better sense of where they came from makes re-reading the later books take on a new meaning.

The series are set in an alternate Victorian England, in which vampires and werewolves have been integrated into society. Sophronia is the main character of the Finishing School series, and she is a young lady who has been sent off to, well, a finishing school. She is under the impression that it will be the standard type of schooling, teaching her how to behave in society and hopefully marry well; however, she quickly learns that she will be learning very different skills, in addition to the standards.

Following young women in the early 19th century as they learn how to set up a household and also spy for Queen and country (or hive, or pack, or some other service) is a joy to behold. The characters grow over the course of the books, while still behaving believably as teenagers would. The language is appropriate for the time period, but doesn't hit you over the head with dialect.

Overall, I found the series highly entertaining, and light enough to make for a good afternoon's read while still tackling some difficult issues. I definitely recommend all of the series by this author.

Book review - Furiously Happy

It's been a while since I've done a book review, and since I've just finished this one, it seemed like a perfect time to review it.  I've been reading The Bloggess (Jenny Lawson) for several years, and thoroughly enjoyed her first book, Let's Pretend This Never Happened.  When she started discussing her new book, Furiously Happy, I knew I would pre-order it.

The author has had more than her fair share of struggles with mental illness, including anxiety and depression, and this book includes several essays that deal with those struggles.  There are moments of hilarity mixed in with serious discussions of self-harm and suicide, and the balance feels like what you would expect when a fantastic author allows her brain to run wild.  Even when things are at their darkest, she still finds some glimmer of light; even when things are at their brightest, she subtly points out the shadows in the corner.

I've been in a pretty rough spot the last couple of weeks, and I didn't realize how much I needed this book until I started reading it.  The author also narrated the audiobook, and I highly recommend it; the conversational tone of the book definitely benefits from the author's reading.

If you need to remember how to find the funny, or just want to know what the deal with the diabolically happy raccoon on the cover is, pick up Furiously Happy in your format of choice.

Series Review - the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher

Hello, my friends, and welcome to 2015!  Thus far, I have spent the new year fighting off a terrible cold, continuing in my plans to re-read the entirety of the Discworld series (I'm currently on Sourcery, so I've still got a long way to go), and working on a project for my Ravelry swap.  This project may or may not involve sparkly pink yarn and skulls.

This swap, in fact, is based on the Dresden Files, so it seems fair to give them a run-down.  I didn't start reading them until the last few years, but they hooked me pretty well.  My husband's best friend kept insisting I would like them, and curse him if he wasn't right.  (Of course, I got him hooked on the October Daye books, so I think we're about even.)  I'm actually kind of surprised that I like the books as well as I do, because generally, I don't handle books very well where bad things are constantly happening to the protagonist.

Harry Dresden is the only professional wizard in Chicago.  In the beginning of the series, there's a bit of the Humphrey Bogart, down-on-his-luck private eye feel about Harry, especially when you realize that there aren't many people willing to pay someone to do magic, because they don't believe magic exists.  Fortunately, the local police has a detective, Karrin Murphy, who is willing to put a little faith in magic when weird crap goes down.

Throughout the series, Harry gains allies and enemies, builds a family and a community for himself, and then has it all stripped away from him.  Things don't go well for Harry, is what I'm saying.  This isn't the case of a protagonist who has a lot of stuff thrown at them but they, through just being The Best At Everything, manages to survive with nothing more than a bruise - Harry's life gets straight-up ruined a couple of times.  He survives through skill, a talent for making incredibly bad decisions and bargains, and pure luck.

What I like the most is that, over the course of the 15 books in the series, Harry has changed and developed - he doesn't remain static though the experiences, and that part makes him feel much more realistic.  Not only that, but Harry's friends and enemies also adapt and incorporate changes in the status quo, so the next time Harry deals with them, it isn't just a rehash of the last encounter.  We discover later in the series that Harry's allies are capable of handling things without him (not particularly well, but they manage), and that isn't really something you see in a long series centered on one character.

Because so much happens to Harry, I find it hard to marathon these books.  There are some cases where I know what's going to happen, which just makes it worse.  However, they do stand up to a re-read, particularly when you realize that Butcher has been laying the groundwork for some of the later developments from the very first books.

Overall, five stars, and I highly recommend the audio books, narrated by James Marsters - his is the voice I hear now when I read the books, and I'm not complaining.

Series Review - Discworld by Terry Pratchett

Well, that last post certainly got more attention than I expected!  To any new readers, welcome to my little corner of the internet.  I'm a writer who's working on making writing a bigger part of my life, and will someday have a book or short story published, be it by a publisher or by my own hand (thank you, self-publishing).

Being a big fan of fantasy and science-fiction works, I read a lot of books in a series, and I've enjoyed seeing how different authors handle the overarching story lines.  My favorites are the Discworld books by Terry Pratchett, the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher, and the October Daye books by Seanan McGuire.  Conveniently, I'm involved with craft swaps on Ravelry for two of the three series, so I've been going through the books again and reminding myself why I love them so.

The Discworld books were the first series that hooked me from the start.  They're not a traditional book series, in that you don't necessarily need to read each book in order, but they contain several overarching plot lines, as well as a few threads that are seen in the entire series.  For those of you who don't know the books, the series is set on a fantasy world that is flat (a disc, one might even say), which is carried on the backs of four elephants who ride through the stars on the back of a giant turtle.  There is magic, obviously, as well as some technology that resembles more modern tech.  Don't let the fact that there are 40 books in the series scare you - you can start anywhere.

The first few books are more or less a take on the standard sword-and-sorcery tales of old, with a whole lot of humor thrown in.  Pratchett is wonderful at taking the status quo of fantasy and looking at it from a different perspective.  He creates some characters that start with a standard archetype (wizard, barbarian, witch) and gives them enough unique personality traits that they become something more than a stereotype.

Later books in the series take breadcrumbs that were dropped in the early books and fleshes them out, building on stories and characters that could really only exist on the Discworld.  For example, there's a passing reference in an early book about using semaphore flags to signal from one police officer to another.  By the more recent books, this system (now known as the clacks) has become incredibly important politically, as well as essentially mirroring modern mobile phone services.

Personally, I enjoy the books that are about the City Watch, and those about the character of Death.  The character development for the Watch (particularly the character of Sam Vimes) is a master class in how to create interesting, complex characters, and Death is just a great voice in the series.  He appears in many of the books, even if it's just a cameo, but there are a few in which he has a starring role.

I give the series as a whole five stars, and not only would I read it again, I do on a fairly regular basis.

Book review - Help Fund My Robot Army!!!

I thought it might be nice to try something new this week.  If you watch my Goodreads profile, you'll see that I tend to read a lot of different kinds of books.  Of late, I've become hooked on short story anthologies, as they give me such a broad range of stories and styles in one convenient package.  The best anthology I've read recently is John Joseph Adams' Help Fund My Robot Army!!!

The premise of the anthology is that each story is told as though it were a project page on a crowdfunding site such as Kickstarter or Indigogo.  The format is pretty well restrained, as the author is limited to essentially a sales pitch, different levels for backers, updates, and occasionally some conversation through backer comments.

Even with these restrictions, the authors who wrote the stories that make up this anthology are able to use every little bit to create characters and worlds that feel completely fleshed out.  For example, Jake Kerr's story "A Memorial to the Patriots" gives us a United States in which terrorist attacks have led to a severe reduction in any kind of communication (and shows us how futile that can be), while Carmen Maria Machado's story "Help Me Follow My Sister Into the Land of the Dead" manages to give an in-depth view of a family that's falling apart.

There are some silly projects, too, since that makes up a good number of the projects actually available on Kickstarter.  Even these, however, have far more depth than I expected in such a small amount of space.  As a reader, I'm enchanted by how many different worlds and how many unique voices the authors are able to create.  As a writer, I wish to learn exactly how they managed to pull this off.

Overall, five stars, would definitely read again.