frumiousb

I periodically reread this trilogy. More specifically, I frequently reread A Wrinkle in Time and A Wind At the Door. Even as a child, I had the most mixed feelings about A Swiftly Tilting Planet. I was curious how I would experience it now.

And the answer is: I still don't love it. At least not in the same way. Meg is very incidental here, and despite Charles Wallace's specialness throughout the book I (kind of obviously) preferred Meg. I also missed having Calvin as a character, although his mother makes for an interested addition. I like that L'Engle felt the need to question the way that she drew his family as trailer trash in the earlier books.

Mostly, I'm uncomfortable with the biology as destiny side of the novel. The notion that the wrong father = a bad baby sits wrongly with me. Even as a child, I felt some uncomfortable sympathy with the "bad" siblings and cousins in this book. That feeling got worse as an adult.

My passion for the trilogy as a whole remains what it is. Even in my least favorite installment I still remembered it well enough to recite large passages word for word from memory. This just isn't my favorite of the three.

(Note: I'm aware that she eventually wrote two more books in the world of these three. But I haven't read the last two. A trilogy it was to me as a kid, and a trilogy it remains to me, I'm afraid.)

A Novel of the Minnipins

B. got really sick of this book by the time I was done reading it-- I kept poking him to read passages out loud. This has a specific context. Since my husband is Dutch and I live in the Netherlands The Gammage Cup has some particular resonances. Most particularly, one of the things that I *always* choke on here is the (in my opinion) neurotic insistence that All Houses Should Look Just Like All Other Houses-- in the name of harmony. An acquaintance of ours was involved with a long-standing battle with the city since he repainted his house its original historical color, but it turned out not to be in the list of approved colors and oh-- it was just so incredibly ridiculous. He had to change the color, in the end, history be damned.

Anyhow, one of the big points of The Gammage Cup is that things that look different are Not Evil. Part of the basic premise is that there is a little town with a few rebels in it, and these rebels do Shocking Things. One of the Shocking Things is that they keep insisting on painting their door the wrong color. For which they are exiled. This part of my review probably doesn't help anyone, but if I had a million dollars I would have this book translated into Dutch with brightly colored illustrations and pass it out to all school age children for free.

This is one of those children's classics that I never read as a child, and at the urging of an online acquaintance got around to doing so now. It is a Newbery Honor Book and deserves to be one. Muggles, Gummy, and Walter have aged well since the book's release in 1959. I'm really glad that I got to know them here.

Perhaps not a perfect book-- the lurking menace wasn't very well fleshed out, and at times Kendall was a *bit* too heavy-handed with her message. Still, probably worth reading for grown-ups and younger readers alike. Enjoy.

As I slowly get the books unpacked into my new bookcase, I have been discovering all kinds of hidden gems. In one long-waiting box that had been shipped from the US I found all of my old Nancy Drew books. At a certain age, I received double Nancy Drew book editions in the mail until the series was over. I just had to sit down one afternoon this summer to take a look at one of the books.

In the end, I sat down and read both novels. I remembered them both very vividly, even the illustrations. I'm constantly amazed how much of childhood reading sticks with me under the surface. I'm planning to read some more (or even some Trixie Belden, which I actually liked more than Nancy Drew) in the coming year.

The Mystery of the Ivory Charm

My edition published the standard 1936 version of this Nancy entry. It was originally written by Mildred Wirt Benson. It's an interesting look at race and class in the 1940s, if nothing else. Nancy comes across a circus boy (Coya) being abused by a man who claims to be his father but who is somehow "clearly inferior" to the boy. But class will out in the end, and it turns out that both greater danger and a greater destiny awaits the young man. This is actually a pretty coherent Nancy Drew book. The plot makes sense and the characters are engaging. There's a nice mixture of international intrigue and basic human nature.

The Whispering Statue

In this case, I had the 1970s revised edition-- apparently a nearly total redo of the original 1937 book. No Togo, no jewel thieves. I believe that I have read the original at some point (I first read my aunt's editions of these books) since I actually remember a plot that seems like the description of the original book. The revision isn't one of the best Nancy Drew books. The plot is a little bit scattershot, although I do like the bit with Nancy's secret identity.

I've really enjoyed Garth Nix's work ever since I read the Old Kingdom series. (I actually originally thought of this as the Abhorsen trilogy, but when preparing to write this review, I see that there's another book coming out in 2010-- joy!)

My experience of reading Mister Monday was a little bit ruined by the fact that the book which I had bought was missing pages-- printing error. But there was enough there for me to still enjoy the book and want to give Grim Tuesday a chance.

The Keys to the Kingdom is more obviously Young Adult than Abhorsen-- perhaps aimed at a slightly younger adult? But there is still a lot there for the grown-up reader to like. Nix is a clever writer-- and small touches like making the bad guys attack Arthur's family financially are both witty and appropriate. There are enough of those moments so that the adults feel as though they get their special allusions. The plot is interesting (perhaps a little dark for the younger reader?) and Arthur is a warm and likable character. He continues his unwilling quest to assemble pieces of the will and save his family. The personality of second piece is one of the best things about the book, by the way.

Still haven't found anything to equal the experience of reading Sabriel for the first time. But I will go on to read Drowned Wednesday.

I don't automatically call speculative fiction, mystery, or any other kind of genre a junk book. I try to treat nearly everything that I read with the respect that it deserves. But on vacation, I tend to take books that have been collecting which I won't mind leaving in a hotel room somewhere. I take light reading, stuff that I'm only picking up for nostalgic reasons.

( Henry and Beezus, Beverly Cleary )

( Ars Magica, Judith Tarr )

( Forever in Blue: The Fourth Summer of the Sisterhood, Ann Brashares )

( Centaur Isle, Piers Anthony )