happy finds

I don't do a post like this very often now, because over the years I have gotten much more strict with myself about buying books. The reason is obvious (and probably familiar to you, dear readers)- I accumulate books far faster than I can read them, and they pile up like mad. But every now and then I take a chance.

Recently I came home from my first-ever trip to Europe (amazing!) and one of the first things I saw when stepping out of the train station in London was this:

a floating bookstore! I so much wanted to go in there, but we only walked by this location at night, when it was closed. I'm guessing that during the day it was traveling up and down the river plying its wares. But I was tickled just to have seen it.

We did, however, stop in a used bookshop called Shakespeare and Sons when in Prague, where I bought three books. I was delighted to find a bookstore with mostly English stock in the middle of Prague, and a bit dismayed at the prices, which made me very choosy. They were each marked at 200 or 300 koruna, which amounts to ten or fourteen US dollars apiece, and that's a lot more than I'm used to paying for used books. On the flip side, I also bought a pair of shoes for the equivalent of $15, that would have cost twice as much here at home. So... in the Czech Repulic books are valued more, and shoes less? Hm.... I kind of like that, even if it restricts my purchases!

Well, about the books. The Orwell was a given; I've been gradually replacing my collection of Orwell's works (they went with my ex when we separated) and had read this one before. The other two were a chance I took, and it turned out I liked them both immensely. I read Animals on the journey home (several hours' wait when a plane delayed) and Noah's Garden immediately on arriving home- another unusual thing for me- normally recently-acquired books wait a long time on the shelf before I actually read them.

So that was a few weeks ago. Just the day before yesterday I did a bit of secondhand shopping. Drove up to a little rural community north of us called Lucketts, where I like to poke around in this huge antique store on the main corner. I rarely find anything I really feel like spending money on, but I made a discovery this time. This shop tends to use books as decorative objects; they're arranged into displays holding up knick-knacks and the like, often I can't even read the spines. But after going through several rooms I happened on a stack of books about horsemanship (most too technical for me) from which I picked out a collection of short stories about sports. It seems to feature a lot of stories about equestrian sports, fishing, and hunting with dogs which I might like. (I'm reading a book of fly fishing stories right now, it's quite fun).

The real prize was an 1860 edition of Mr. Sponge's Sporting Tour. For some reason I felt like I'd heard of this book before, and pounced on it. And it was only four dollars! It puzzled me to no end that neither the title page, publication information, dedication or forward actually named the author. (There don't seem to be any pages missing that would have held this info) It stated that this was the same author as other works (which must have been famed in his time) but never actually gave a name. I had to look it up online to discover that this book was written by Robert Surtees, and it's about a guy who goes around the countryside pulling scams in hunting clubs (as far as I can tell). It has the most amazing illustrations and I spent a half hour just turning all the pages to look at them. Wood and steel engravings by John Leech, awesome linework and excellent characterization with just a few strokes. I can't wait to read this.

The last book, on the top, I found at a thrift store on the way home. I don't look for books there very often anymore, because where they used to be only fifty cents to a dollar, now the hardcovers go for two or three dollars and that's a bit much for me when I can usually find the same books at the library for free, until I fall in love with them. In fact, I passed up a copy of Racing in the Rain and Pearl S. Buck's Peony for that very reason- felt sure I'd find them in the library system. The one about the bookseller looked too interesting to leave behind, though.

And then today the topper was the local library's annual book sale. The pickings were slim, and their prices, like those in the thrift store, have gone up in recent years. It used to be on the final day of the sale you could fill a box or bag for five bucks, but this time they were asking the initial price even though unsold books were getting packed up around me to go to charities and the like. I was a bit disappointed at that, but understand that the library needs its funds more than ever so I didn't mind paying more, to support them in my own small way. I came home with this pile:

I started reading Wildflower on the way home, and it looks real good- about a woman who lived in Africa, married to a wildlife filmmaker and very involved in conservation efforts with the local wildlife herself. The book is based on tons of journals and letters that were found after her untimely death (she was murdered, and the author tried to figure out why).

Peony- the very book I passed up at the thrift shop! I never read any Pearl S. Buck but have always meant to.

Marley: A Dog Like No Other- Well, I did enjoy the intial Marley book, but after thumbing through this one I'm suspicious if it has much new material. Didn't the first book end with the dog getting old and dying? Is he finding more stories to tell that weren't included in the first book? I'm a sucker for animal stories, so I'll read it and find out.

Elephant Keeper- Set in the 18th century, about a young man who is keeper to two elephants privately owned by a rich family. That's all I know, but it was enough to whet my curiosity.

People of the Sea and People of the Nightland- some novels about prehistoric people. This could be good, or not, I have no idea yet. Some prehistoric novels I really enjoy.

The Complete Sherlock Holmes- I might have made an error here. I believe I already have a volume of Sherlock Holmes stories, but not sure if it includes the Holmes novels (as this one does) or just short stories. I haven't looked yet to see if this is a duplicate. Won't be the first time that's happened!

World of Birds- beautifully illustrated encyclopedia on birds and their behavior. Sometimes I find books with nice illustrations on birds more attractive than those full of photographs, and this one really caught my eye.

The real treasure in this pile is Relentless Enemies, a book of stunning photographs that chronicles the constant friction between lion prides and cape buffalo in Botswana. I never ever expected to find a book like this at a library sale. And it was only one dollar!

The best way ever to spend a birthday: book hunting!

Trout Reflections

by David M. Carroll

The writer who enthralled me with his descriptions of swamps and wetlands has penned a lovely book describing the lives of trout. I'm not one who goes fishing, so I probably didn't love this book quite as much as an avid fly fisherman would but I do like reading about natural habitats and the behavior of different kinds of animals, so there was much here to interest me. The lives of fish are pretty unfamiliar to me. I did not realize, for example, that trout prefer very cold water; to them the hard times are summer when they must avoid the warm areas and suffer from low water levels. I never thought about the fact that trout, like most animals, mate in fall and their young hatch in spring- but that means that their eggs lie unattended all winter long under the cold and ice. Fish eggs seem such small, fragile things to me but of course they're not. I also did not know how territorial the fish can be, shuffling hierarchy amongst themselves, their movements to different kinds of water flow or shelter according to the season and needs they face.

There is, within the narrative, some discourse on how human meddling has altered the numbers of native trout and how species intermingle, and the problems that releasing  hatchery-raised fish into wild populations cause. And encounters the author has with other wildlife: herons, kingfishers, mink, beavers and their structures. But mostly it's all about the elusive fish.

Trout seem to be such wary, sensitive creatures, always with an eye to the ceiling of their world, watching for prey to snatch or predators to avoid. A lot of this book is just a description of the turning seasons (it begins and ends in the chill of winter) and of how the author moves stealthily along streamsides, exploring them and trying to approach without alerting the fish. He releases most of his catch, extols their beautiful colors, and sketches their forms. Exquisite artwork decorates nearly every page. This guy is even better at drawing fish than he is sketching turtles and birds. It is a very quiet, musing, contemplative sort of book. Rarely do any other people make an appearance. Mostly the author's thoughts and the quiet woods and the changing weather and the subtle fish hidden under moving water. I often had this Escher print in mind when reading.

It's the kind of book you want to read uninterrupted, surrounded by quietness- or at least, the sound of wind in trees and bird calls perhaps, as opposed to traffic noise or background tv or kids yelling. No. It requires a calm background to really appreciate.

Rating: 4/5 .......... 143 pages, 1993

More opinions:
Books- any which way they come

Katy No-Pocket

by Emmy Payne and H.A. Rey

This has got to be one of my favorite picture books, ever. It's a charming story about a mother kangaroo who inexplicably has no pouch to carry her baby in. She sobs and frets about the inconvenience and then decides to find a solution. First she asks other mother animals how they carry their babies, and tries a few different methods. Nothing works for her and her little joey. In despair she goes to the owl who tells her to find a pocket in the city. The kangaroo travels to the city where she happens to meet a handyman wearing an apron simply full of pockets in all sizes. She is so amazed and he is so surprised to meet a kangaroo asking for help that he kindly gives her the apron. Delighted, the mother kangaroo hops back home where she proudly becomes the local babysitter, because now she has more pockets than any kangaroo, and can tend to all the other baby animals!

I knew this story from my childhood, and read it to my older daughter when she was little. Now, some six years later, I'm reading it again. I had forgotten how much the mama kangaroo cries about her predicament, and also how lengthy the text can seem to a listening toddler. I left out probably half the words when reading this to my two-year-old, and she enjoyed it anyways. The pictures really tell the story well (done by the same man who illustrated the original Curious George books, with a very signature style). I'm sure eventually I'll be reading the entire text to her, and then hopefully she'll be reading it someday on her own!

Rating: 5/5 ........ 32 pages, 1944

more opinions:
Mom Always Finds Out
Vintage Kids' Books My Kid Loves

Theophilus

Semicolon

Noah's Garden

Restoring the Ecology of Our Own Back Yards
by Sara Stein

This is one of those books so awesome I don't quite know how to describe it all. Even though it's not really what I expected upon first reading the back cover. It's more, and better, than I had imagined. It's informative and descriptive about plants and wildlife ecosystems in one person's yard, how she tried to improve that- but it's also written with a sense of humor. If you chuckle aloud at how someone describes the growth habits of plants, you know that's a darn good writer!

The book is about how the author quit trying to control her land with gardening and landscaping but instead thinking of what habitats the animals need, let things grow up their own way and planted native foliage and took out exotic or invasive trees and weeds. Sounds straightforward perhaps, but she details precisely how complicated it is. Discusses so many things. How out of balance things get in nature when we get involved. How un-inviting to wildlife and birds the open spaces and empty, uniform lawns we like are. How problematic -on many levels- alien species are in the ecosystem. How important and scare open water like ponds are, and their efforts to build and dredge one. How varied the trees of the forest are, their stages of growth, their needs. How the land and plants will take care of themselves if you have the right ones in the right place. How marvelous the return of living wild things to the places you make welcoming for them. How childhood memories of certain birds, insects, frogs and other living things came back when she restructured and left alone the landscape for them. How to make things look appealing (appeasing neighbors who don't like messy or neglected-looking yards) and yet have the foliage, food sources and cover the wild things need. How communities could interlink the plant cover in their yards to create the "corridors" animals need to travel and disperse. And on and on and on.

Most of all, it makes me realize how wrong my own ways of going about gardening and plant tending are (if I want to be nature-friendly and stress-free, that is). Why all my gardening efforts fall prey to insects and diseases- because the plants aren't native or are varieties cultivated for beauty and food value, which of course means they've lost the natural means to fend for themselves. We tend to breed the bitter taste and stomach-cramping factors out of plants we want to eat, of course- the very thing those plants use to ward off insects! I now feel guilty for having dug up and harbored in pots hibiscus and mimosa from seedlings that sprouted in my old yard, just because they were pretty, when they are strangers introduced here...

And I know she's just mentioned a few of the things her reading and research and delving educated herself to, so I wish I could hear the all of it. She's published another book prior to this one, about her gardening before she went the ecology route, and another volume continuing where this one lets off, and I want to read them both but of course my library has none of her works so it's another name/title combo stored in my head for those lovely hours spent poking and browsing through used bookstores in the hopes of coming across a treasure.

I just learned that I will have to enjoy whatever books of hers are extant, and this having only now discovered the author! This post at Sphere about her property informs me that she passed on in 2005. I wonder what has become of her land now.

Rating: 5/5 ........ 294 pages, 1993

more opinions:
Writing and Healing Year 2
What all the cool kids are reading
Town Mouse and Country Mouse

more TBR

culpable book bloggers duly noted below

Animal Wise by Virginia Morell from At Home with Books
Still Alice by Lisa Genova- Caroline Bookbinder
The Last Banquet by Jonathan Grimwood- Farm Lane Books Blog
Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan- books i done read

Shaman by Kim Stanley Robinson- The Lost Entwife
A Dog So Small by Phillipa Pearce- Things Mean a Lot
Touch Not the Cat by Mary Steward- Indextrious Reader
Airs Above the Ground by Mary Stewart- A Work in Progress
A House in the Woods by Kai Fagerstrom- very unlikely it seems, that I'll find this

Bowser the Hound

by Thornton W. Burgess

A bit of different focus for a Burgess story, this one is about the hound dog that lives on the farm. Bowser is feared by many of the forest creatures, and an annoyance to the fox and coyote, who can outwit him but are bothered when he chases them for miles, which he loves to do. One day the coyote determines to get rid of Boswer by leading him on a long run, confusing him and leaving him lost far from home. This works well, and for quite some time the other animals enjoy a respite from the dog's presence at the farm and in the surrounding woods. In particular, the fox quickly discovers that Bowser is missing and launches new raids on the chicken house. Blacky the crow, however, finds the dog when he is injured and disorientated, and feels sorry for his plight. He helps the dog locate a populated farm, where he gets temporarily adopted and cared for. Later, the crow tricks the fox into showing Bowser the direction of his old home, and the reunion when he meets the farmer's boy again is joyful.

Rating: 3/5 ........ 96 pages, 1920

Down and Out in Paris and London

by George Orwell

This is the second or third time I've read this book; you can read my earlier post of it here. I found that my memories of it had gotten quite mixed up with Jack London's People of the Abyss. Orwell's book is much narrower in scope than I had recalled; it details mainly his fruitless searches for work in Paris and finally landing a few jobs- first scrubbing dishes in the basement of a "nice" hotel, then working in a poorly-run restaurant (the source of my revulsion, it was much worse conditions than the hotel, which I had remembered incorrectly). In between jobs he scrapes pennies, pawns his clothes, follows up useless leads, and often just lies around bereft of energy due to hunger. The second half is about his time spent as a tramp in London, when he showed up for a job that did not materialize for several weeks. Having nowhere to go and no money he slept in various charity wards, other homeless men showing him the ropes. He analyses the system of public assistance (such as it was in his day) from the perspective of the recipients, makes suggestions for its improvement and most of all, lays bare how insulting and demeaning the offers of aid can actually feel to men in dire straits.

I had forgotten completely that the book opened with an unsavory scene where a friend of his pays a nun for the privilege of raping a girl- or so it seemed to me; the scene was more suggestive than than explicit. I think if I had been a bit more of an astute reader the first time around, this would have put me off the entire book! More interesting to me than the narrative itself this time around, what what I gleaned from the introduction. I did not realize before, for instance, that Orwell used a pen name. His real name is Eric Blair, and he assumed a pen name because his parents were appalled that he wanted to be a writer. I also found interesting the descriptions of how much he had to edit out swearwords from the original text, and the variations between the French translation and the English version. Orwell's own little list of local slang terms he encountered on the streets and their various meanings intrigued me as well.

Rating: 4/5 ........ 230 pages, 1933

more opinions:
Much Ado About Books
the Oddness of Moving Things
another cookie crumbles
wandering walls

Animals

by Keith Ridgway

I seldom, nowadays, purchase an unfamiliar book from a shop. Usually try to read them first, from the library. This one was an exception, and even more exceptional, I started reading it that very same day and couldn't put it down. Animals is one of those curious, amusing and disturbing books that makes you wince and laugh aloud at the same time. Or at least, it did for me. On public transit, no less!

It's all about the disintegration of an unnamed character. He is an illustrator but does not draw much during the short course of the novel; however the frequent references to his manner of thinking, desire to sketch things, assessment of good pens, fears of being unoriginal and such felt like very familiar territory to me, so I enjoyed that. As the title would have you guess, he has quite a few encounters in his big-city environment with animals; they are all unsettling, and he worries and frets about his reactions to each. He muses internally a lot, over decisions that haven't even been made. His inner monologue reminded me a lot of Holden Caulfield. Also like Catcher in the Rye, the book covers just a few days, or perhaps a week, turning around and around.

The main events are not really solid events at all, and before long you start to wonder how much in just in the narrator's mind, and not really occuring at all... It starts when the illustrator is disturbed at seeing a dead mouse in a gutter and examines it in detail; he is fascinated and upset at his friend's description of a haunted building; he gets locked into a public park after hours and has a run-in with an amicable policeman; he has an encounter with a famous woman which goes all wrong; he has an inexplicable row with his partner and bunks with various friends for a few days, but that all goes awry as well. His friends are experimental artists, architects and writers, all very interesting characters in their own right. One, which never ceased to amuse me, was a man who had created an elaborate imaginary country (centuries of detailed history and all) for the sake of writing anonymously about politics but had never yet penned a political novel; our narrator bluntly points out flaws in this fabricated world and causes that friendship to go sour as well. Threaded through it all is a fascinating look at societal norms and blunders, an examination of details that often go unremarked.

I was reminded somewhat of Animal Crackers.

The ending took me completely by surprise. I didn't know what to think. It made me realize how utterly unreliable this narrator was. How much of what he related was just imagined? It's one of those endings that makes you sit and flip your brain back and forth: did what I think just happened, really happen? I was doubly frustrated because I also wanted to know, of course, what happened to his partner, if it really was what the narrator had suggested, because his memory turned out to be unreliable as well. I'm definitely going to have to read this book again to see if I can pick it all apart and read between the lines better.

Rating: 4/5 ........ 265 pages, 2006

more opinions:
Asylum
anyone else?

Blacky the Crow

by Thornton W. Burgess

This little book is about some things that happen to Blacky, a crow in Burgess's community of talking wildlife. There are some daily doings of Blacky as he moves about searching for food, pestering his neighbors, rousing up his flock to mob larger birds of prey, acting with great curiosity and caution when he finds new things, and other typical crow behavior.

There are three storylines, and they don't quite fit together well. The first story tells how Blacky discovers that the owls have set up housekeeping very early in the spring, and he tries to find a way to steal the owls' eggs to eat. Unable to get them by himself, he enlists the (unknowing) help first of his fellow crows, then of the farmer's boy. Neither plan succeeds, and Blacky is frustrated that the boys' recent change of heart (which I still have yet to pinpoint in the chronology of these little books) causes him to relent at the last moment and put back the owl eggs, instead of keeping them for his collection.

Then the timeline suddenly jumps to fall and we have a new storyline about Blacky getting involved with two different groups of ducks, warning them from the threat of hunters. The second little duck flock doesn't listen and further concerned, Blacky tries to get rid of the hunter himself but fails. So he alerts the farmer's boy to the hunter's presence and then watches to see what the boy will do. This kid has a very strong moral sense; because the hunter is on public land and has a right to be there, the boy doesn't feel like he can rightfully tear down the hunter's blind. He finds another way to spoil the man's hunting and save the ducks.

The final story is again about eggs. Blacky spies two eggs in a hen's nest just inside the door of the henhouse and is tempted to steal them, although normally he would not dare approach so close. He is greedy and takes the larger of the two eggs, and then finds out later to his anger and dismay that he has been duped. I chuckled at this story. Blacky stole a fake egg which was put there to coax the hen to lay. The crow realizes his mistake and after being thoroughly upset, he then treasures the egg as a pretty object, part of his collection of shiny things.

Well. I did like these stories. They are a bit repititious and stuffed with moral lessons as usual for Burgess, but I don't mind. I did find the arrangment odd, that the storyline suddenly jumped from early spring into fall, but that's a small matter too.

Rating: 3/5 ......... 80 pages, 1920

The Whale Rider

by Witi Ihimaera

I recall when I first saw the film made from this book, several years ago, and how moving it was. It's the story of a Maori community on Whangara, set in modern times. Reading it, there is a distinct familiarity to The Bone People (the local language and customs) and the role of a young man being friend and protector to a little girl reminded me a lot of the books with Fynn and Anna. That's one of the main differences between film and movie; that in the book the story is told from the viewpoint of Kahu's young uncle, even though to me she still seemed to be the main character.

Kahu loves her grandfather and is anxious for his attention and approval but he dismisses her entirely for being "a mere girl." He is looking for a boy child to be born into the family line and become the next leader. Kahu is shunned from the gatherings where Maori culture and ancient songs are taught to the young boys, but she sneaks near and listens anyways. She absorbs the old ways like no one else, but it goes practically unnoticed. When a group of whales becomes stranded on the beach nearby, the event feels catastrophic to the islanders, who see the whale as an important figure in their cultural heritage. They feel it is a sign of  impending doom and work frantically to return the whales to the water, but all their efforts seem to be in vain. Kahu steps forward against the voices of the men, and proves herself attuned to nature and the power of the Maori ancestors.

I liked this story well enough, although some parts were a bit of a stretch of the imagination (namely, the segments that showed things from the whales' point of view, and some of the things that happened when Kahu connected with the whales). But the great frustration for me was the frequent inclusion of Maori words in the narrative. There were so many words and phrases, it made my reading very choppy and I often misunderstood or just guessed at the meaning of entire conversations and fragments of paragraphs. I had the great misfortune to read an edition that has no glossary whatsoever. It is a must in this situation! I would not have minded at all to constantly flip to the back to find the translation of things; I actually enjoy the inclusion of foreign words in narratives about a different culture. But in this case I felt like I had to constantly read adjacent to a Maori/English dictionary online, and that was very annoying.

It's the whole reason I didn't enjoy this book. I have no desire to read it ever again, without a glossary included. Then I might be able to immerse myself into it more, and even like it.

Rating: 2/5 ......... 122 pages, 1987

more opinions:
the Book Coop
forest of paper
Fifty Books Project
Little Bonobo's Book Cafe
a strong belief in wicker

The World Without Us

by Alan Weisman

Imagine humanity suddenly vanished from the earth. Wiped out by a virus, raptured up, abducted by aliens, whatever. How would the Earth recover? Would it, at all? How long would the effects of changes we have wrought here last, how long would edifices we had built remain (perhaps for future intelligences to discover and puzzle over)? Weisman explores all these questions in detail, including the variables between how things would differ if we had time to turn stuff off before we disappeared. In the process, he makes very clear how terrible the things we have done are, and thus it became one of those books that both fascinated, educated and absolutely horrified me.

I learned about vast storage spaces underground (some dug into salt domes!) that harbor extremely toxic and volatile waste. I learned about how huge the explosions and radioactive fires would be if our chemical production and nuclear energy plants were suddenly unmanned. How quickly the subterranean transport systems around the world would flood, how the tweaking we have done with animal and plant genetics would spread (or not) through biological gene pools. I have a new loathing of plastics, now. I never again want to purchase a plastic product that cannot be recycled onto something else. Because plastics are not part of nature. They break down smaller and smaller until you cannot even see them, but they never biodegrade. This means that in the ocean, the little plankton and microscopic filter-feeders are dying of constipation when they eat teensy plastic bits. And what happens when the base of the ocean's food chain ALL DIES? I am horrified. I think we should worldwide quit creating any new plastics right now and only reuse what is extant. My kids? I am buying them no more plastic toys, unless they are obviously recyclable. Wood, cardboard, even metals are fine. NO PLASTICS! *

I do have a new fondness for copper and sculpture, by the way. I have always been fond of copper, it's my favorite metal (um, how many other people have a favorite mineral?) And I've always liked sculpture, but now that I know that bronze will far outlast (thousands of years) all the paintings in the world, my appreciation for this art form is even more heightened. Parts of this book are even encouraging. The sum conclusion is that even though we have overburdened and contaminated and poisoned and denuded our beloved Earth, it will eventually recover. Life will survive, even if we don't, and become something new and interesting again.

And all that is just barely scratching the surface. Read this book!! It has given me so much to think about and bolstered my resolve to even more environmentally conscious in my purchases and actions and eating habits that in my own small way, affect our Earth.

*After writing this little rant on plastics, I did a search and found several ways old plastic toys can be recycled. I can't just throw them in the recycling bin and there isn't a toy recycling center option here. Other than reusing for craft projects or donating those in relatively good condition, the most useful option seems to be downcycling, where plastics are used as filler in other materials. Even that doesn't seem to be the best thing either, though...

Rating: 4/5 ........ 416 pages, 2007

more opinions:
A Variety of Words
Green Fudge
boblog
Amateur Earthling
think or swim
Science Book a Day
book of joe

the dim and far away future

Have you ever wondered what will happen to your personal book collection when you die?

Not that I expect this to occur any time soon, but sometimes I think about it. I picture myself decades from now, an old lady in a little house or nursing home all alone yet not too lonely as I am content to be surrounded by my books and have ample time to reread them all!

And then I wonder where they will go after me... I would of course leave them to my daughter, who's becoming an avid bookworm in her own right, but she's not really interested in the animal books so she might not really want them all. I wonder if a library might take the collection but I know the actual fate of most books donated to libraries: they end up in the annual library sale and if not purchased, get recycled. Very rarely do they get into circulation for library patrons. (All you librarians out there correct me if I'm wrong!)

Sometimes I fantasize a dreadful future where the wildlife has all gone extinct, but my odd collection of animal reference books will be valued for its subject matter. But of course, any public library has a more extensive collection than mine about the same, so why would my books be special? ha ha

I just hope wherever they do go someday, they would continue to be appreciated!

Bunny Cakes

by Rosemary Wells

This Max and Ruby book is one of my favorites. Max and his big sister Ruby are each preparing a cake for their grandmother's birthday: Max is making a mud-pie cake with earthworms in it outside, and Ruby is methodically baking a cake in the kitchen. Max wants to help her, but keeps accidentally knocking things off the table. Each time Ruby sends Max with a written note to the grocery store to replace the item. Max wants a special ingredient to top off his earthworm cake, but he can't quite communicate that to the grocer. Finally he is inspired by one of Ruby's own notes to himself, and finds a way to get his treat.

I love so many things about this book. First, it's so darn cute. The bunnies determined to make something special for their grandma. Each doing something on their own: Ruby's lopsided pink-frosted cake has a close contender in Max's mud-and-earthworm cake. Grandma appropriately looks thrilled with both, and when I ask my toddler at the end which cake she would like to eat she always says "the brown one!" She doesn't quite get the yucky factor in that yet, but it does make my older daughter giggle. The story has a very realistic dynamic between siblings: the bossy older sister, younger one trying to help but messing things up, doing his best to make up for his mistakes and determined to get what he wants as well. Of course my favorite element is the role drawing takes as a communication vector. Wonderful story!

Rating: 5/5 ....... 32 pages, 1977

more opinions:
Brenna's Books
Kindergarten Reads
The Toy Bag

The Eye of the Heron

by Ursula K. Le Guin

This novel is set on a fantasy world named Victoria, which was founded as a prison colony for Earth. When the story takes place, Earth has essentially abandoned their contact with the planet and the civilization there has evolved into two separate groups: peaceful people who farm and support a more violent faction that lives inside the city. The pacifists grow tired of supporting the city and decide to splinter off and form their own colony elsewhere, free of oppression. Daughter of a powerful man in the city decides to join them as a rebel. The rest of the book is about the struggles that ensue. I don't know why it was so forgettable for me, when I recall the storyline and characters of other books of hers so vividly (such as Earthsea) even though I read them just as long ago (ten years running, at this point). It must have not been as captivating for me. Out of curiosity I would like to revisit this one someday, as well.

Rating: 3/5 ........ 208 pages, 1978

Good-Night, Owl!

by Pat Hutchins

When I came across this book on the library shelf I immediately recognized the illustrations in the same style as Rosie's Walk. This book is just as fun and engaging. It features an owl trying to sleep in the daytime, but bees are buzzing nearby and keep him awake. Then a squirrel comes to sit on a branch and crack nuts, crows caw, a woodpecker taps on the trunk and so on. Each page adds a new animal to the tree making its particular noise: robin, blue jays, doves, cuckoo, sparrows and starlings. They make such a racket altogether when the tree is full the owl looks frazzled with wide open eyes. At last night falls and all the animals sleep. Then the owl wakes them up again with a loud screech! The last page always makes me laugh. My two-year-old doesn't quite get the humor of the owl "getting back at" the other animals, but she enjoys the lovely textured illustrations and the litany of animal noises and bird sounds. The book has a distinctive foreign flair (to my eyes) because I recognize that the squirrel as a red fox squirrel and the robin a diminutive european robin, different from the ones we have locally.

Rating: 4/5 ........ 32 pages, 1972

more opinions:
Momma Reads

Zebra and Other Stories

by Chaim Potok

One of my very favorite authors is Chaim Potok. Astonishing that I haven't really written about any of his books yet. And this has got to be the only one that I'm not really crazy about. Short stories about teenagers. Each one rather unique. There is a boy with an injured hand learning to use it again in art class, a pair of young girls who become sisters when their widowed parents marry, a teen dealing with the death of her baby brother, a girl who must confront a bullying drug-dealer, and a girl dealing with the turmoil caused by an airplane collision over her school. Potok is the master of understatment, and usually I enjoy reading his stories and getting immersed in the characters, reading between the lines. But here it didn't quite work as well. Still good, but something just missing in it for me.

Rating: 3/5 ........ 160 pages, 1998

The Invisible Ring

by Anne Bishop

So. Curiosity will lead me to sometimes read things outside of my norm, and this was one of those instances. It didn't sit well, let's say. The Invisible Ring is in a fantasy world where the social system is turned on its head. People are born with magic powers, women are controlling, men are pretty much slaves to their instinct to protect and serve women. In fact, if I remember rightly, a backbone to the premise was the idea that women were not 'ahem' available all the time, but only receptive to men at certain times, and when that came around, the men would battle to the death for the privilege. Like animals. And as you might guess, most of the people in this book treat each other besitally. Everyone's been done wrong to or tormented and they all suffer from mental problems or past traumas, and act strangely. At least, I couldn't make sense of it. The main character, Jared, was sex slave to an evil queen until he killed her and got sent to an auction. He is bought by the Grey Lady and taken along on a journey. Of course he moves from being her slave to her paramour, with lots of fights in between. It was predictable. Characters alternated between being dull and confusing. The book is a prequel to the Black Jewels trilogy, which I haven't read- I don't know if it would have been better or worse for me if I had. This book made me never want to read another thing written by Anne Bishop. Sorry, but it was that bad. So forgettable I'm not sure now if I even finished it.

Rating: 1/5 ......... 416 pages, 2000

more opinions:
A Novel Read
Romance Book Wyrm
the Bookwyrm's Lair
books in review

bookmarks giveaway!

Here's a free pair of donkeys.

Actually, a quartet, there's one on each side of each bookmark. Stylishly presented, on a backdrop of green plant texture and caterpillar bristles (yes, that's right- caterpillar hair, even though it looks like the fringe of a rug or cactus spines at first glance, or so I thought). These burros would like to save your spot, in whatever book you're reading!

For a chance to win this laminated bookmark pair, simply leave a comment on this post. I'll draw a winner's name at random on tuesday, Oct 1st. Open to anyone with a mailing address in the US or Canada. Please be sure I can easily find your email address to contact you if you win!

A Kiss for Little Bear

by Else Holmelund Minarik

This is one of those picture books I think of as classic. I know my mother used to read Little Bear books to me as a child, and I have a few in the collection for my own kids now, as well. I absolutely love Maurice Sendak's illustrations, I think of them immediately in context with these stories. They have a definite realism with beautiful, meticulously inked detail (the bear's fur, hen's feathers, leaves on the trees, every blade of grass or bit of tree bark delicately rendered) yet at the same time retain a lovely charm and timeless appeal. The brief stories center around a little bear, his mother and father, sometimes his grandparents make an appearance too. His friends are an owl, cat, hen and duck, simply called by their animal names.

In this story, Little Bear has drawn a picture of a monster which "makes me happy" and asks Hen to take it to his grandmother. Grandmother is delighted and asks Hen to take a kiss back to Little Bear in thanks. On the way back, Hen stops to talk to friends and gives the kiss to a Frog to take to Little Bear, who gives it to Cat, who gives it in turn to a Skunk. But the Skunk meets a girl skunk and gives the kiss to her instead, until Hen comes along, finds the skunks still exchanging kisses and sets things straight. It's really cute, especially when the skunks have a little wedding at the end, and Little Bear presents them with another drawing.

Rating: 4/5 ........ 32 pages, 1968

Dogland

by Will Shetterly

A family sets up an attraction of a display of various dog breeds as a tourist attraction in the middle of nowhere. Well, it was in Florida, but sounded like a remote location. It was a strange idea, to my mind. The family built their little enterprise around having the dogs on display like a zoo, running a roadside cafe and selling stuff in a gift shop. Their story is told through the eyes of one of the youngest siblings. I had hoped (of course) on opening the book that it would be about the dogs, but it's mostly about the family, the string of curious visitors to their roadside setup, and how their attempt at running a tourist stop gets them involved in the community. It's set in the sixties and they hire some black people which upsets the locals. They got mixed up in some kind of trouble with the police, I think, and there were other events that caused family turmoil. Also, there were some elements of magical realism, which just confused me. Especially as I thought this was a memoir; there is a website about it here. Bottom line is, this book was unfortunately mostly forgettable for me. I don't recall any of the characters or events very well. Have any of you read it? What did you think? Other readers (see below) seemed to like it better than I.

Rating: 2/5 ......... 402 pages, 1997

more opinions:
EyeWrite
Liz Andra Shaw

Rosie's Walk

by Pat Hutchins

I have been enjoying reading to my kids books that my own mother read to me as a child. And I'm visiting many of them a second time around, as my youngest is now old enough to appreciate regular picture books. One of those on our shelf is Rosie's Walk, an old favorite. It's a simple picture book about a hen taking a walk through a farmyard. She's followed unawares by a sneaky fox. Every time the fox tries to pounce on the hen, he gets thwarted by one mishap or another: falls into the pond, trips on a rake, gets tangled in a rope, stumbles into a wagon, and so on. There are very few words (a nice emphasis on position or directionals: over, under, around, through, etc.) but the pictures are rich with texture and the chain of events is easy for young readers to follow. Will Rosie get home safe from the fox? Of course!

My daughter's favorite page is when the beehives fall over and the fox gets chased away by the bees. I always add a buzzing noise and sometimes a circling finger into a little giggly tummy.

Rating: 4/5 ........ 32 pages, 1968

more opinions:
Story Snug
goodnight moon, goodnight blog

Anna's Book

by Fynn

I don't know why I keep getting ahead of myself with these past-reviews, but here's another one. Anna was a little girl found abandoned on the streets of London and taken in by a fellow who calls himself Fynn, and his mother. The first two Anna books (on my shelf, easily accessible so I'll write about them later, probably after an enjoyable re-read) are collections of incidents revolving around Anna and the funny, curious and insightful things she would say. I loved those two books, and couldn't believe it when I found this one as well. Apparently Fynn kept a box full of Anna's own drawings and writings, and he later complied them into this book (she died young). If you ever wanted a look directly into the mind of a child, this is a delightful one. Anna's words (which charmingly, but also sometimes confusingly, include her prolific misspellings) describe her thoughts and feelings on various emotions (love and tears I remember in particular), God, kindness, her vague memories of her mother, and her own self. Some are endearingly silly stories she made up herself. They have the quaint, yet sometimes surprisingly wise perspective of a child. Anna's simple little stories and insights make me pause and think again.

Rating: 4/5 ........ 75 pages, 1986

World of the Fox

by Rebecca Grambo

I've always been very fond of foxes, and this book is one of the best ones I've read about the beautiful animals. Although aimed at a younger audience, it's very well-written and excellently illustrated. It describes the biology and daily lives of foxes, their various skills and acute senses, their family habits, and how they have been alternately persecuted and revered by man. The book is full of fascinating information, especially in how the stereotypes foxes have for cunning and slyness have a rational, physical explanation. It focuses on five species in particular: the familiar red fox, the gray fox (which can climb trees), arctic fox, swift fox and kit fox. Oh, and did I mention the awesome photographs? If you like foxes, or want to learn more about them, this book is a must read!

Rating: 3/5 ....... 109 pages, 1995

Dinosaur Tracks

Curious George
adapted by Julie Tibbott

This is one of those "modern" Curious George books based on the tv series. I suspect the pictures are stills straight from the computer-generated animation; they have that too-smooth style that doesn't really appeal to me. But my kid loves Curious George and the stories are always fun and educational, so I overlook my nitpickiness on aesthetics here once again, and just enjoy it.

George, the ever-curious monkey, is going about with a camera taking pictures of animals. His friend Bill helps him look for a fawn to photograph, and George learns how to find and identify animal tracks. He finds some tracks that puzzle him, tries to guess what they are from, and decides it was a dinosaur. George is frightened at the idea of a dinosaur walking around, but he follows the tracks and finds out who really made them; quite a surprise! In addition to having a fun story that teaches some things about wildlife and basics of logical thinking (making a guess and testing a theory), the book also has a few pages in the back that give kids activities to match animals to their tracks, and how to make a casting of tracks you find yourself. I might just try that with my older daughter; we often find deer tracks in the nature park nearby, and once I thought I saw the footprints of a raccoon.

Rating: 3/5 ........ 24 pages, 2011

Buster Bear's Twins

by Thornton W. Burgess

Another charming animal story by Thornton Burgess. This one is about a pair of young bear cubs and their early education. Their mother leads them through the forest, teaches them to be safe and stay where she puts them, and corrects them when they disobey. Mostly she allows the natural consequences of their own misbehavior stand in as sufficient punishment. I like that this book illustrates a lot of emotions and behavior young children will feel themselves. Desire to do their own thing, pride at small accomplishments, feeling unjustly treated when corrected for wrongdoing, pouting and wanting others to feel sorry for them. The little bear who does wrong even runs away from home and soon learns that he can't at all get along in the world by himself yet. He gets teased by Peter Rabbit, the blue jay, an owl and then has worse encounters with innocent folk who nonetheless teach him painful lessons when he is rude and overbearing: a porcupine and a skunk. You can guess what happens to the poor little bear cub who is relieved to at last find his mother, feeling sorely chastened by experience. He has yet one more lesson to learn from his family, though. As ever, I found the story a simple yet very entertaining read. It teaches a lot about wildlife and good behavior hand in hand.

Rating: 3/5 ........ 79 pages, 1921

Never Use White Type on a Black Background

and 50 other Ridiculous Design Rules
edited by Anneloes van Gaalen

This has been my "bathroom book" for a while now. It's one that's easy to dip into, read a few pages, come back to the next day. It's a compilation of design rules- both those unspoken and those rigorously taught in schools (at least to my experience) alongside numerous quotes by various photographers, architects, typographers, fashion designers and other artists either agreeing with, expostulating on or simply further exploring said rules. There's often a source as well: who first made up the rule, or a famous quote it was derived from. Sometimes the rule has evolved a long way from its origins! I got a kick out of some of these; one of my favorite Golden Age illustrators, Norman Rockwell, gets a serious nod here. Nearly all the rules I have either heard in art school (although some phrased differently) or just known intrinsically, but there were a few I had never encountered before (if you don't know what to do- just make it big and red took me by surprise). The ones related directly to fashion weren't as applicable to what I do, but felt familiar regardless. And if you read between the lines you get a sense of the paradoxical relationship that often exists between designers, their clients or directors, the intended audience and so forth. It's all about the rules of good design, how to apply them and know when to bend or break them. (And the title rule? I happen to agree with that one, especially when applied to web pages! White text on black ground makes my eyes swim and I get a headache. I usually never revisit a website that has a black ground.)

My boyfriend brought this book back from a visit to Holland. I've been really enjoying it. Some parts make me me think, others make me laugh, others I grin in recognition and agreement. And most of all, it makes me feel inspired to create again.

Rating: 3/5 ........ 145 pages, 2009

more opinions:
Greeting Card Designer
Battlefield Man

A Dance with Dragons

by George R.R. Martin

Warning: there are spoilers in this post

Well, not as spoiler-y as you'll get with readers who actually finished the thing; this mostly has my general impressions and suspicions about what is to come. Yes, I've given up on the beast that is this book. I made it through just over a hundred pages and it just wasn't holding my interest any more. There is too much political scheming, talking and talking, not much action and again new characters I'm not connected to yet. I didn't quite feel frustrated, but just found it dull- which is surprising in a way, considering how richly Martin has built this world and the intricate interactions of the characters who inhabit it.

The gist of what I read is that Jon struggles to hold his command on the Wall as Stannis tries to make things go his way, Theon comes back from the (supposed) dead and has a role to play again, and Tyrion gets smuggled away to safety but then ends up a pawn. He's lost his lust for women and scheming (for the time being at least) and seems bitterly resigned, at least as far as I could tell. I did flip through all the succeeding chapters to see if any of my favorite characters made a reappearance (I miss Arya, Sansa and Brienne in particular) and also to see where the dragons come up. No qualms about reading ahead of myself, as it were. What I found of Tyrion's situation intrigued me- reduced to slave status, alongside another of his stature, which gave him a completely different worldview of things. Also I found that Denarys' chapters are mostly about her efforts to rule the city she sacked, with very little mention of dragons until in the aftermath of a firey disaster she flies away on Drogon. I did read the entire sixteen pages near the end of the book that tell of Dany living in wild isolation on an island her dragon flies to; her struggle to survive there and master control of him. It was interesting, but not quite what I had hoped.

The threat of a years-long winter cold continues to loom in the background, while most of the characters go blithely about their regular lives, concerned with all the wrong things it seems to me. I have a suspicion that this series is aiming to pitch me into reading something I usually avoid from complete disinterest: zombies. Yep. What else are the walking dead, the wights, the Others and the white walkers they run into north of the Wall? And what's the difference between all those anyways? are some different names for the same creature, or is it four distinct kinds of dread things? That was never clear to me. I don't really want to read about zombies. It was bad enough the glimpse of what Catelyn Stark had become, and the strange things these various invented religions get into. Intriguing though. Mark of a very good writer: Martin makes me want to go on reading even though I detest half the characters, get bored with the politics and don't like the hint that a zombie invasion is coming over the wall (ha ha)!

End sum: I think I will like this book better in the future. It certainly has some things I want to read about, some character developments I want to follow, but not right now. When I have to pick up and continue a series after a gap I usually like to recap by reading the immediate prior book to the one that's newly published. So I'm thinking I will wait until book six comes out, then read this one just before that.

Abandoned ........ 1016 pages, 2011

more opinions:
You're Entitled to My Opinion
In a Bookshelf
Temporary Escape
Lulu's Bookshelf

more TBR

books I am likely to read as they have a local presence (the library):

HHhH by Laurent Binet - Reading the End
Being Caribou by Karsten Heuer- Ardent Reader
Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell- Things Mean a Lot
Before Green Gables by Budge Wilson- The Lost Entwife

books I might never read, as they are sadly absent (from the library):

Song of the Dodo by David Quammen - Shelf Love
My Leaky Body by Julie Devaney - Indextrious Reader
Nature Cure by Richard Mabey- A Work in Progress
Mud Season by Carin Siegfried- Caroline Bookbinder

winner

The winner of my bookmarks giveaway is Susan from You Can Never Have Too Many Books! (I love her blog title. That's my sentiment, for sure). Congrats, Susan! Send me your postal address and I'll mail them to you promptly. Happy reading!

The Custer Wolf

Biography of an American Renegade
by Roger Caras

In the 1920's (and surrounding decades, as far as I understand) regular war was waged between ranchers and wolves, to the point where wolves in North America were pretty much exterminated. Poison, baits, traps, dogs, shooting- whatever it took. People were eager and passionate about killing off these intelligent predators. Quite a number of individual wolves gained notoriety with the public as being regular killers of livestock- not just for sustenance but large numbers of animals being found dead and just left there. Whether the wolves were actually responsible for wanton killing of cattle and other livestock remains a question in my mind, but this animal certainly got blamed for a lot of it.

The Custer Wolf, also called Lobo, became legendary for how much livestock he supposedly killed and for his ability to escape all attempts by man to kill him. The first part of this book describes the wolf's early life, patterned after wolf behavior the author observed first-hand when he spent time with a captive pack and also viewed films made of young wolves being born and raised by their parents. This part was enjoyable reading and reminded me a lot of how White Fang commences, with the unfolding of the young wolf's awareness, its learning through instinct guided by the parents, its experiences encountering other wildlife and exploring the world. The white wolf soon meets with mankind and witnesses the death of both its littermates and parents until it remains a solitary animal and eventually becomes known as a killer of livestock and hunted down.

The firsthand accounts of people actually witnessing this wolf destroying livestock were nil, a few people glimpsed the animal briefly, and stories of its size and ferocity were greatly exaggerated. It mostly gained fame from being able to avoid traps that took hundreds of wolves and other wild animals in the vicinity. When the Custer Wolf was at last shot, men were surprised at its relatively small size. The author was careful in his account to point out which stories were probably fabricated and which had shreds of the truth. He also includes a lot of native american folklore that praises the wolf, as well as recounting ancient cultural fear and loathing of wolves that people brought with them from Europe when they came to America.

It was interesting reading for me, and reminded me of why I enjoy reading these kinds of books.

Rating: 3/5 ......... 175 pages, 1966

more opinions:
John Vernon's Reviews
Society and Natural Resources
wanderingref

There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Books!

by Lucille Colandro

I read this book to my kid last night. Do you know the rhyme There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly? and each successive creature she swallows is after the one before it? This is another version of that, but with the old lady swallowing school supplies- a pen to write in the books, a pencil case the hold the pen, plus a ruler, folder and chalk until she finally swallows a bag, cheers for the school bus coming around the corner, and coughs up a backpack with all the stuff in it ready for school. I remember the tune that goes with the original rhyme, but when I tried to read this book in that singsong, it didn't quite fit. A lot of the lines have uneven rhythm, and the refrain I don't know why she swallowed the books / but she didn't get any looks feels particularly awkward to me. Perhaps it wasn't meant to be read to the tune, but when I tried to just read it straight, it didn't go any smoother. So for that, I didn't really enjoy sharing this book with my daughter. Plus she seemed really puzzled as to why an old lady was consuming all these non-food objects! She didn't get the humor. So... I didn't enjoy reading this one, mostly because the words came out awkwardly.

I do like the illustrations by Jared Lee. They're done with ink lines in a scribbly style, with some color medium. Really fun. There's a dog on every page frolicking with the old lady, but whenever kids appear in the picture they're standing there looking uncertainly at the old lady, with shocked expressions. I see that there are numerous other old lady swallowed books by the same author/illustrator where she starts out by ingesting leaves, snow, a baby chick, a sea shell, a rose... I'm a bit curious about those, and my library has quite a few, but I think I'll wait until my kid is older and will giggle at it instead of frown.

Note: some kids might find the premise alarming. Especially if they read the original my mother had, where the old lady swallows a fly, spider, bird, cat, dog, pig, cow, horse and the last page ends with I don't know why she swallowed a horse / she died of course!

Rating: 2/5 ......... 32 pages, 2012

A Feast for Crows

by George R.R. Martin

It's a bad sign when you're reading less and less eagerly, and start wondering when is this going to be over? This book was just too long, and it had too few of my favorite characters, and too many new ones to keep track of. Of course many many more people die, and in very unpleasant ways as well. That's something I haven't really mentioned before about these books: they are very brutal. Thankfully Martin doesn't go into a ton of detail, whether he's describing someone getting their arm cut off or raped (there's plenty of that). Women are not treated very well, but this didn't bother me much at first, as I pictured the world he's built being structured like a medieval society, and well, things were pretty awful for lots of people back then. Or so I imagine. What I do like is that there are plenty of powerful women who step outside the normal bounds of that society, here. Denarys is a notable one for me, because not only is she powerful, but also merciful, determined to set slaves free wherever her army goes (although the results of that are not always what she had hoped). Then there is Brienne. She is the opposite of most women: large, strong, wields a sword as good as any knight, puts her life into the service of others. Is constantly mocked for her looks and unfeminine strength. Stubbornly loyal as well. I like her, and I don't like how other people treat her. She's been a constant thread in the books before, but this is the first time that Martin has given entire chapters over to her point of view, which I appreciated. Compared to those two women Catelyn Stark is just plain dull.

I was horrified by what happens later in the book. I started to really detest some of the characters who treat others in a vile manner, repeatedly. Namely Cersei. How I loathe that woman! My eyes started to glaze over with the numerous names, the introduction of yet more minor characters, the constant shifting between viewpoints. And I haven't even told you of what happens! Well, a lot. People continue to struggle for power in the realm (if they are in a position to care about that, or have a shot at it) or they simply struggle for survival. It's a detailed picture of the aftermath of war (well, quite a bit of war still going on) and of how people pick up the pieces and go on when main figures simply fall off the map. Dealing with the aftermath of everything. Turning it into new events. I found it amusing a few times when certain characters would intersect with others and they had no idea who each other were, or why they were significant, but the reader knows.

I was disappointed that most of the characters I'd become most interested in weren't featured in this book at all, but are the focus of the fifth one, which is a companion volume to this (it was so long the author turned it into two volumes). I am in continual admiration at the author's skill in building so complex a world, and also continually feeling annoyed, tired, disgusted and bored (this last with the politics mainly). I do want to read A Dance with Dragons just because I want more of the dragons, but am starting to wonder if I will really finish this series (it's starting to feel like Wheel of Time to me- never got through all of that one...) I need to get back to something simpler, now. Maybe silly or fun. While I wait for the fifth book to become available to me (waiting for my turn to borrow a library copy).

Rating: 2/5 ........ 978 pages, 2005

a few more opinions:
Satia's Reviews
Val's Random Comments

The Kingdoms of Elfin

by Sylvia Townsend Warner

A collection of short stories about the Elfin kingdoms as Sylvia Townsend Warner imagined them. These elves are not gentle or necessarily wise and definitely not jolly or cute. They are cold, austere, often cruel and careless. Elegant and dazzling for sure but not lovely. They live centuries and have completely different, alien customs and values from ours. They are another race altogether and their depiction in these pages is fascinating. Language is a beautifully crafted thing and by itself enthralled me here. If you like intricate descriptions, that is. The stories are mostly about the elves themselves, and their various courts and aristocracies but sometimes about humans who have been captured by them or tricked into an exchange. I wish I could tell you some of the threads of the stories but have unfortunately forgotten them (it's been years since I read it). The impression lingers, though- of a dim, glittering world in a forest far away and yet close enough to be parallel, a place where beings live their own lives in a strange way, touched differently by time...

Another book I'd like to revisit someday, if ever I could find a copy (borrowed once from a public library when I lived elsewhere; not available in mine own here now). Anyone else read it? What was your impression?

Rating: 3/5 ........ 221 pages, 1977

more opinions:
Nannygoat Hill
My Book Blog

The Sea Runners

by Ivan Doig

An adventure story set in a place my heart is tied to: the Pacific Northwest. Set during the 1800's, it tells of a daring escape attempt by four men working in a fish packing house in Alaska, as indentured servants to the Russians. They flee in the dark of night and make their way south to Oregon, paddling a dugout canoe almost the entire way. They have to endure harsh weather, cold seas, hostile native tribes. They have to find food and navigate the rocky shores. Most of all it is a tale of endurance filled with vivid descriptions of the beautiful, wild scenery. Supposedly it's based on a true account. But for some reason I didn't fall in love with this story. The writing style takes some getting used to and I felt like I never really got to know any of the characters as individuals. I feel a bit ashamed to admit that I didn't really love it, as Doig is one my mother's favorite authors (I think I might have even borrowed this book from her). I've discovered that Ivan Doig has written many books about different places in the Pacific Northwest so I'm determined to give a few more a try. Any recommendations?

Rating: 3/5 ........ 288 pages, 1982

more opinions:
The Literary Tally
Andrew's Dedicated Blog

BIG and Little

by Samantha Berger

This simple little book compares sizes. It shows photographs of large and small animals (great dane next to a chihuahua, mother elephant with a small baby, etc) little kids next to older kids, a huge elaborate sand castle next to a small molded one, a grown-up's hand holding a child's, etc. My toddler likes the page with the hands, she always puts her hand on the small one and announces: "my hand!" and points to the other: "mommy hand!" As a little variation, the last page shows a pair of twins, which are the same size. This book is read often at my house. Liked so much that when I moved and realized I'd left it behind, I bought a new copy for my daughter.

Rating: 4/5 ........ 14 pages, 1999