365 Days of Books

And Then You Die has a lot in common with The Ugly Duckling (which I lost before I finished). There is a delicate looking but strong woman who is exposed to terrible violence and bloodshed and survives, just barely, a physical attack. Enter a strong but not really handsome man with gorgeous eyes. He is pushy and saves the woman though her determination to live makes all the difference. The bad guys keep trying to find and kill the woman for mysterious reasons; the man knows the reason but is keeping it a secret for his own reasons. The man helps the woman to get revenge. They have sex and fall in love. There is more killing and some good guys who are trusted friends die.

shrug

The Ugly Duckling came to me in a box of paperbacks from a friend. It wasn't too bad for a thriller and I was about 2/3 through the book when I took it to school to read during the one hour waiting period between participant drop-off and the start of the Winter Concert. Then I left if under my chair at the end of the night and it had disappeared by the next morning. I'll keep my eyes on the Lost and Found for a few days but I fear it went home with someone else. There were some pretty graphic sex scenes. Argh! The guilt.

Dies the Fire chronicles the changes, trials, and lives of several groups (who later interact) following a strange technological apocalypse. With a flash of light electronics and explosives have stopped working, planes drop from the sky and create fires that ravage cities unable to use their motorized pumps, refrigeration failure causes massive loss of stored foods, the government (local and national) fails.

I really enjoy S. M. Stirling's books about "the change" and its results for the people on Nantucket. As in Elizabeth Moon's books the military strategy often goes over my head but the people and stories grab me. Dies the Fire is the other side of the story, the people who don't go back in time but loose much of their technology.

I have some non-technological skills - I can sew, quilt, make candles, cook from scratch over a fire, plant and weed, do a little minor woodcarving - but I have none of the skills that could keep me alive in S.M. Stirling's worlds. The people who survive longest are those with weapon skills then those with horse training/riding and medical knowledge and supplies. The ideal is a group which can protect itself while maintaining a respect for other lives.

One group in the book is lead by a woman who is Wiccan. As their clan grows and becomes, through holding of land, fighting skills, management, and care for their neighbours, influential in their area more and more people join their religion.

Marque and Reprisal is military science fiction. Frankly, a lot of the military detail goes over my head but Elizabeth Moon's characters and plot always intrigue me. I can't turn down one of her stories. Some of her books contain sexual content like rape and forced breeding which lead me to think carefully before I recommend this to younger teens or tweens. Marque and Repisal does not include any of those issues.

Angel-Seeker is part of the Samaria series by Sharon Shinn. Peace seekers landed on an environmentally hostile planet and set up a religion and government which depend on genetically modified "Angels" who communicate with the ship which is still in orbit.

Angel-seekers are a kind of groupie; they seek out angels and attempt to become pregnant. An angel baby (rather than a plain human baby) brings prestige and lifelong care for its mother.

I thought that the angel-seeker thread of the book was the weakest, well the second weakest. The strongest thread is about the Jansai tribe. The Jansai had been slave owners but have recently been forced to give up that income. The Jansai also restrict their women in property, power, against outside contact at all, and from the sight of men outside their family - there is a strong shariah like law that mandates outcasting or death for women who have contact with men outside of family and marriage. Rebekah is a bored Jansai young woman who finds a male angel in the desert and gives him lifesaving help. Both lives are changed through this contact.

What can I say about Lord John and the Private Matter by Diana Gabaldon? The good news (at least for me) was that there was no sign of the author's nipple fixation and this is not a Jamie and Claire Frasier book.

Lord John Grey is a homosexual. He is tangled in two matters: his cousin's fiancee has a STD and vital military secrets have been stolen. Both matters require tact and subtlety and there is a little of each employed as Lord John tracks the missing documents while trying to figure out how to bring up the indelicate subject with his soon to be inlaw. There is much blood and savagery and several trips to brothels.

I was sure I'd never read another of Diana Gabaldon's books and now I'm really sure and not just because of the use of the word connexion.

For Nickel and Dimed: On (not) getting by in America, Barbara Ehrenreich set out to see how people coming off welfare managed work and housing. She made three forays into entry level work in three different areas of the US: Florida, Maine, and Minnesota. She started out with set-up money but then paid for her food, clothes, and housing from her wages. The jobs she worked at were waitressing, hotel room cleaning, house cleaning, food worker at a nursing home, and retail work at Wal-Mart. She lived in a variety of housing options some of which did not meet her minimal starting requirements of basic safety.

What did she find out? That poor people work very hard and barely make enough to survive. Any small health problem or the need to change jobs or housing can take the money that is used for sustaining food. Towns and city plans make affordable housing difficult to find near available jobs. Fresh, nutritious foods are not easily available near either the cheap housing or jobs and refrigeration and cooking sources/implements are often not included in rent even for furnished apartments/trailers.

I've put "Fear of Falling" on my list for future reading. I highly recommend this book. NEither the vocabulary nor the concepts are beyond the capacity of middle school children.

Going Postal is a Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett. A condemned conman, Moist van Lipwig, is given a second chance at life (after he has been executed) through taking the government position of Postmaster. This taking place in Ankh-Morpork, the post office turns out to be a haunted, pigeon infested, crumbling building with two employees huddled in the basement and a list of 5 recently dead Postmasters. Moist takes the job with the hope that he will soon be able to escape and return to his happy conning life.

Intertwined with the business of the Post Office and its decades of accumulated undelivered mail is the business of the GrandTrunk clacks which relay messages using a sort of code.

Terry Pratchett does a brilliant job of writing a funny punny story which also explains deeper truths. Ever thought that your little lie or cheat never hurt anyone or that the small theft would be absorbed by the large company? Ever wondered how it is that groups of people can take over businesses and run them into the ground, go bankrupt, sell the business, and still come out on top? Terry Pratchett will explain it through the story. I wanted the rascal to win because he was a better bad guy (although not the best bad guy which would be the worst sort of person) than the others.

I left a group of 7th graders fighting over this book. I wonder if I'll ever get it back?

I much prefer The Queen's Own Fool by Jane Yolen (2001) to The Queen's Fool by Philippa Gregory. Both deal with females who are fools to Queens named Mary. But the stories are very different. In Philippa Gregory's book Hannah and her father are Jews fleeing Spain following the torture and death of Hannah's mother by the Inquisition. They carefully attend church and attempt to look as Christian as possible. To Hannah's father it is a mask but Hannah feels separated from her heritage and distant from the traditions she is supposed to be keeping in hiding. Hannah has visions and when this talent is revealed to a powerful Lord at the Court, Hannah is offered as a Fool to ailing King Edward and set as a spy in the Court by her benefactor. I did like the way that the hiding of race and religion was shown and the further tension when Hannah and her father realize that they are in a coiuntry that cannot make up its mind about what religion will rule: Roman Catholocism or Protestantism. At least when Protestants reign there is no Inquisition.

Hannah's strength is in being able to see good in people and to love even when the majority of the people have turned their backs. She cares for and worries about Edward, she comes to love Mary, and she respects and emulates Elizabeth even though she acknowledges that Elizabeth is a scandalous and conniving rogue. Her adoration of her Lord Robert was difficult to understand and several times her actions caused me to exclaim out loud and wonder "What is she thinking, Foolish Girl!"

Hannah is a bit of a Peter Pan, she wants her life to go her way and will not take on the responsibility of an adult until she can ararnge it to her will. She finds some flaws with this process in the long run.

I just preferred the other book. Maybe it was the visions, they and the other magic got on my nerves.

Another foray into graphic novels: by ALan Moore, Kevin O'Neill, Ben DiMagmaliw, and Bill Oakley. One problem I had with this book was that I was not instantly familiar with the characters. It took me several hours before I recalled that Mina Murray was a character from Bram Stoker's Dracula and I could not place Allan Quartermain as the hero of "King Solomon's Mines" (I was enlightened by an irritated fan in the bookstore cafe). Other than that I followed the story easily. Five extraordinary characters are called together by the mysterious Bond (not James) and the mysterious M (this one is a James) to serve Britain. They are asked to use their talents to retrieve a stolen bit of dazzle before it can be used by the over-the-top stereotyped evil "Orientals" against their beloved homeland. They are suspicious of each other and wary but manage to retrieve the goods only to find out that they've been bamboozled. Q: Can they set it right? A: Sort of.

There were lots of puns and funny references to other literary characters which were amusing. It was an easy read and certainly lead me into entertaining and informative conversations with strangers.