Silly Fluff Without the Fun

Next up, an author I did not forget last time, but that you haven't seen yet - Sophie Kinsella. Last time,  I figured I'd get the next in the Shopaholic series, but as it turned out I didn't get the next one, I got one that I had already read. When I realized that, I was just not interested in reading it, and really just not all that interested in the series at all.  So I moved on the stand-alones for this one.  Now Sophie Kinsella's stand-alones have, I would say, a mixed track record.  In general, she's a pretty funny author, and some of these are definitely funnier than others.  From a romance aspect, there's also a lot of variation, some quite enjoyable and others just missing some necessary elements.  There's also the point that it seems like all of her characters are the same - silly girls and brooding boys.  Doesn't sound like I like these books all that much, right? Like I said, it varies.

Moving on to this particular book, it had a strike against it right away because it was about two people. That almost always means at least one story that's not as interesting and always means not enough time given to each.  Strike to was that one of the two sisters has a kid - not that I have anything against kids of course :p Just complicates things.  One of the two sisters is the usual Kinsella flighty sprite, the other is somewhat more refreshingly down to the earth. Their menfolk are, respectively, refreshingly down-to-earth and a brooding male.  The romances are actually both potentially interesting - persuasion-type reconciliation and P&P hate-at-first-sight.  So - an ok mix of potential and meh.

But unfortunately, it didn't even live up to that mix.  Most of the book consisted of Fliss (down-to-earth sibling) ruining Lottie (flighty one)'s honeymoon.  Like really. We just go from incident to incident.  Some interaction with Fliss and her guy, though not much. None with Lottie and her guy (who is not the one on the honeymoon with her).  Sigh.  Quite a disappointment. I was really just trying to get through this silly book. Which incidentally, was also continuously inappropriate (Sophie Kinsella books vary on this front as well).

So yeah, a miss. We'll see what the next one is like.

Verdict: 2/5

My Kind of World-Building

Well, vacation is over, just a speck in the distant past, but the book reviews remain ahead. One book I am still in middle of (priorities change when vacation ends... really just it worked out like that), but one I finished on vacation, just did not take the opportunity to review while I could. And now, now the memory is fading, the impression not as vivid as it once was, the details are hazy... Oh well, reviews must be done. SO

Continuing my list of favored authors, I picked up Jasper Fforde's latest (yes, his latest - he does take a while to write books :)), the next installment of the Thursday Next books.  Thursday is recovering from an assassination attempt and thus not quite on her game, so that's one fun element lost. But eh, that's not what I read these books for.  What do I read them for? Ah, the cleverness, of course! The books remind me of Terry Pratchett's in that the world they portray is not an arbitrarily imagined future, but a careful satire of our own, where the slightly illogical is transformed into the obviously ridiculous.  The Toast Marketing Board, law enforcement agencies dedicated to books, time travel, and creatures with unauthorized DNA, and (in this book), a stupidity surplus the government keeps an eye on.  All very tongue-in-cheek of course.  The tone is absurd yet subtle, and I enjoy the silly parallels between this world and ours.  Beyond that, there is a cleverness in the plots themselves, somewhat complex threads that all come together nice and neatly at the end.  And all with a light touch and ne'er a whiff of undue tension.

So yeah, that's why I read those books, and I'd say this one lived up to promise in that way.  Anything specific? Well, it didn't take place in the BookWorld, unlike some of the recent ones, which I think was somewhat of a loss, but that's ok.  As I said, I didn't particular enjoy the older, creakier Thursday who seemed somewhat behind Goliath most of the time.  And though  threads were resolved in the end, I thought some felt either anti-climatic or somewhat unfinished (the last one deliberately, as the next book will continue developing those).  But yeah, totally clever, totally funny, totally light fun, as anticipated.

Verdict: 4/5

Sometimes, Same Silly is Simpatico

And now for the second library pickup -  so I was in the library with two kids, not really the time for browsing. I just needed an author I could check for for quickly.  PG Wodehouse was the one who popped up - not sure why  - maybe because I think of his books as filler between others? Maybe because old libraries tend to have his book and this library looked pretty old? I think I had heard him mentioned somewhere in the relatively recent past and it just stuck in my head.  Anyway, that’s what I searched for, and that’s what I found - Jeeves and the Tie That Binds (I think the only Jeeves book they had).  So Wodehouse - now, talk about sameness (see review below), these books are all exactly the same. I have no idea if I’ve ever read this particular one since its plot is so exactly like all the other Jeeves and Wooster books I’ve come across. This one was actually PG Wodehouse’s 90th birthday book, so I think it was deliberately derivative (nice, right?) but really they are all the same. You don’t read these books for the plot, that’s for sure.

So what do you read them for? Well the setting, for one thing (again :)) I just love that English aristocratic countryside, even if it’s early-twentieth century (between the wars maybe? don’t even know), not Regency.  The jokes - silly references and plays on words, along with absurd situational comedy (that’s the long form of sitcom, which is probably not what I want - but I mean comedic situations :)) The ever-so-comfortable antics of vapid-but-amiable Bertie, a host of mean, silly, hearty, and other people, and the wise Jeeves who always cleverly saves the day.  After a while, it can all get old, especially with poor Bertie always trying to do the right thing and always getting stuck in the wrong, but you just have to let it all roll off. Does make for a less engaging read, but still very easy to get through :) And inspires me to such eloquence in review, you see? He really was quite the master, that PG.  Will continue reading the same book over and over :)

Verdict: 3.5/5

A Matriarchal Memoir

Before we get on to the aforementioned new stuff, need to finish up Pesach reading.  After finishing up Slaughterhouse 5, I moved on / back to Cheaper by the Dozen - or, actually, Belles on Their Toes. I ordered it after so thoroughly enjoying CbtD (ordered CbtD too, since I’m sure I’ll want to reread it one day :)) Obviously, I’ve read and enjoyed Belles on their Toes before, but I did want to see if it held up quite as well as Cheaper by the Dozen did.  It’s definitely a sadder book, both because the father is no longer living, and because it features extensive passage of time, which I always find somewhat depressing.  And it has fewer hilarious incidents than the first book.  That’s not to say it’s sad though, maybe just not *quite* as humorous.  But still humorous, very well-written, and a lot of fun.  It’s definitely up for discussion whether the book would be as much fun had we not been introduced to the Gilbreths already, but I kind of think it would be.  The main thing is that the Gilbreths are so much fun to read about - they make even stressful situations fun and light-hearted.  So even though there’s more stress in this book, there’s not that much less fun.  What makes this book special is right there in the intro “this is Mother’s story” (might not be the exact quote). Mother, who is an admirable figure in Cheaper by the Dozen, really comes into her own in Belles on their Toes.  She is strong, wise, and kind, a career women whose children adore her.  It is clear from the book that the Gilbreths love their mother, and I have to say, I love her too.  The story of the Gilbreths after Dad died is a happy one, told in light and entertaining fashion, and she made it all possible.

Verdict: 5/5

Better than Fiction

And for a something a little different - during some Shabbos at my in-laws' in Jan/Feb (forgot when), I neglected to bring reading material from my house, and had to make do with what was there.  They recently reorganized their books, so there was lots of new scope, and, to my delight, I came across Cheaper by the Dozen. I'm not sure when the last time I read this book was, but I don't think it'll be long before I read it again :) (must order a copy).   History of this book goes back a while, and it's fun to go down memory lane.  One day in CL, Peryl started telling me about a really funny book she had read about a family with a dozen kids.  The specific story she told me was, if I recall correctly, the story of the Peeping Tom and Ernestine, and I was very intrigued.  I got the book out of the Peckville Library (the old Interboro Library) and loved it.  Read it many, many times since then (I was certainly in elementary school when I first read it, though I'm not sure what age), and read Belles on Their Toes as well (that one used to be harder to find, I remember being excited when I picked it up in Towson).  Rereading it now, it's funny how many of the references I understand that flew over my head.  Some innuendo, but some more intellectual ones.  I'm sure I understood them in later readings, but I've forgotten those and the earlier ones stick in my head.  Anyway back up memory lane...

This book is great! It is, literally, laugh-out-loud funny.  The writing is neat, quick, fresh, and amusing - every phrase is well turned.  And while it's strange to speak of characterization in a non-fiction book, the characterization of bother Mother and Dad (forgetting what they call him at the moment) Gilbreth is fantastic.  I picked the book up expecting to just read a little, and then kept on reading most of Shabbos. Finished it this past Shabbos on Friday night.  There are so many moments in there that I feel like have stuck in my consciousness without me even realizing where they are from. And quotes that make me smile every time I hear. It's classic.

It's also kind of fun reading about NJ now that I am a resident of this fine state :)  Montclair, of course (I looked up Eagle Rock Way on google maps, it's still there), but even New Brunswick was mentioned once or twice.  Also interesting to look up the Gilbreths on Wikipedia and follow them for a bit - not much info there, but the last one (Fred I think) just passed away a few months ago as it turns out.

Anyway, I thoroughly, thoroughly enjoyed this book and will definitely be handing it over to my kiddos when they are old enough to start appreciating it (maybe 5-6 years, that's all, iyH :)) So glad I picked this one up again, and I'm sure I'll follow it up with Belles on their Toes at some point.

Verdict: 5/5

(p.s. the pic is the original version that I read)

Boringly Unrealistic

Once back in Edison and in my new house (technically not back in Edison I guess since I was in Highland Park before) I resumed the book of which I had been in the middle when I took my unplanned month long stay in Teaneck - the latest 44 Scotland St.  I had picked this up from Sarah Sp. at some point, not nearly as promptly as I had the previous books (all of a piece with my library habits these days) and then never really gotten into it as there was no rush (no one on line behind me).  I finally picked it up sometime after Succos, only to be interrupted for over a month.  This is actually similar to the way I read the last book, which was interrupted by events.  And I think my reaction to the two was similar (though I didn't reread my previous review of course before writing this one :))  The story just kind of goes on, never really grabbing you and never really getting anyway.   There are some funny moments and lots of unexpected ones... but it just failed to hold my interest.  Was this due to the unscheduled hiatus? Probably partially.  But more, this is like the seventh book in the series (eighth? I don't know).  And these books are written as serialized newspaper columns.  So what can really be expected? If everything was resolved, the books would be over.  But how else to keep things interesting than rather random twists and turns? I guess the books continue to amuse, at least in places, but I think I care about the characters less and less rather than more and more... and if I don't care, why do I keep reading? (Of course I will keep reading b/c it's not exactly tedious but I'm not eagerly awaiting the next book or anything).

Verdict: 2.75/5

Light, Fluffy, and Real-Life!

It's a good thing I'm keeping a list of books I need to review on my phone, because otherwise I don't think I'd know what's on my agenda (forget next on my agenda, order is on my whim at the moment).  So coming up next we've got Jen Lancaster - this is an author recommended by Laren Willig, who loves her books.  She writes non-fiction, comedic memoirs.  Not a genre I've read much of, but since she seems very well liked, definitely worth a try.  And two of her books were available from the library on kindle, so that settled it.

As I said, this isn't a genre I've read much of,  so not much to compare it with (I thought maybe Dave Barry since I've been read one of his books at Dov's parents' house but those aren't really memoirs).  Actually David Sedaris (Yael H. was at my house last Shabbos and reading this) but I've never read any of his books.  So I did find the format of the books interesting - it's a little hard to tell what's real, and what's, shall we say, exaggerated.  And there's of course not much plot and, sometimes, an iffy timeline.  But small potatoes... These books are funny, easy reading.  I read two of them, one is more about her childhood and one more about contemporary stuff, but both are just full of light anecdotes and slightly satirical portraits of Jen herself and everyone around her.  Like I said, I'm not sure how much was real and how much either fictionalized or fiction, but I don't think it matters.  I'm not sure how much it even mattered that these were non-fiction as oppose to fiction.  Well it's definitely funny when you can say, hah, I know people like that (or I know people exist like that, they don't exactly run in my circles :)) but even if I have to say, yeah, there's no one really like that, enough elements of human nature / life in America / and all that shine through to be appreciated.

So I liked these books - I don't think I liked one more than the other, they were pretty similar and kind of ran together a little bit, but I'd be happy to read more of the same.  Really quite perfect reading for nursing, as there's not much continuity involved and everything flows along pretty fast.  Almost surprising how much she has to say about not that much... unfortunately these were the only two available at the library, and I'm not interested in paying.   So maybe I'll get some physical copies out at some point, or maybe she's a finished chapter (for now).  But good stuff.

Verdict: 3.753.5/5

PS Just searched for an image, and she is quite hefty.  Not that it matters, but interesting (oish I'm horrible :)) But that started me thinking about the books, where she does go into some weight issues, and then I realized I should probably add a post script.  I did like these books, but I'd say they are kind of guilty pleasures - or semi annoying, however you look at it.  (I hope more the latter).  She is really not the most refined, or the nicest, person.  Oh well, she's still funny.  But I am lowering my verdict.

Not Much To Say, But That's Not a Bad Thing

This next one is going to be short (unless I can start remembering more (which I suppose is a review in itself, though not so much in the case)) Last summer I borrowed the latest 44 Scotland St from Sarah Sp. (yes, AMS just never stops) and I was in middle of reading it when events interrupted.  I didn't resume it until months later, when I needed something to read while nursing on Shabbos.  So it was an interrupted reading, both by a months-long-hiatus and by the stop-and-go nature of nursing (ok, that might not be the most felicitous turn of phrase).  And of course, it's been a few months since I finished it.  So between all that, what can I say? Not much.

I did like the book,  I think more than some of the other 44s.  It definitely moved and I felt like it moved places rather than just jumped around.  Funny and interesting things happened to the characters, some of them (many of them) somewhat far-fetched, but not the less interesting for that.  Nothing bad happened (nothing ever does), no evil specter even loomed its head (none ever does).  Do I still care about these characters? Most of them, yes.  Is anything ever going to happen to them? Well some stuff really did for some of them.  For others (Bertie), probably not (unfortunately for him).  But I'll keep reading, I definitely have no reason to stop.

Verdict: 3/5

Germans Make For Some Light Humor

Oish, behind, behind.  So far behind order becomes a fuzzy thing.  Luckily I wrote down a list of books to review before I forgot, so Iet's just pick one - Porteguese Irregular Verbs, by our ubiquitous Alexander McCall Smith.  This is actually the first in a series of which I read the other two previously.  They are some of AMS's funnier work, with very little serious intent at all.  Professor vod Igelfeld and his colleagues take themselves very seriously, but I don't think we are meant to take them seriously at all.

(This was, by the way, kindle reading, and free from the library,  if you're wondering)

So I think the first thing to clarify about this book is just how seriously one is supposed to take it.  I mean, the professor's subject matter, linguistics, is certainly not meant to be accorded the importance he gives it.  So that gives you a hint as to the legitimacy of his opinions :) I guess the only question is whether we are supposed to advise his colleague Unterhollzer with the same pity he does and whether his colleagues accord him the respect he seems to assume they do.  Pretty sure the answer is yes, but it makes little difference - overall this is a story of a man quite disconnected from reality, and amusingly so. Most of AMS's books have a good amount of humor in them, but I think these are the only ones with no serious side at all.  Part of the reason is that these are short stories, with no need for real plot development, but mostly it's just because I think.

And as far as the humor goes, I don't know if it's laugh-out-loud funny, but it has its moments.  Once I stopped trying to decide who was sympathetic and who was not, I could just enjoy the ridiculousness of Prof. von Igelfeld's opinions of the world, his colleagues, and himself.  And enjoy the mostly ridiculous plot devices as well.  The book went fast, though there's no denying it's quite short in any case :) Basically, a fun read - can't say I would have wanted it to go on forever, but I think there's a fourth one out on the series, I should really try to get my hands on it.

Verdict: 4/5 (for its genre)

Some Lesser-Known Works of a Master

Getting behind again, no surprise, and I'm not quite sure of the order in which I finished the next few books, but abg's comment that she is actually reading this has inspired me to soldier on - so here we go :)  One of the authors for whom I checked in the library's ebook system was P.G. Wodehouse.  His books have, in fact, been transferred to Kindle form but, and this should not come as a surprise, are the Jeeves and Bertie books were out.  Yes, I could have reserved them, but for now, I just checked out a different series, Psmith.  I had read the first of these previously, but only had a hazy recall of the book, so I figured I'd start with that one.  Once I did though, I found that the adventures of adolescent males, even gentle English ones, failed to hold my interest.  I think this was more of a product of my diet of tv watching than a fault in the book, but nevertheless, I decided to move on to the next of the series, Psmith in the City, which featured a more mature Psmith and Mike (the straight man to Psmith's over-the-top).

Psmith is quintessential Wodehouse - urbane, gentleman-like, polite - and utterly oblivious to societal norms (or at least he appears to be).  He knows how to manipulate things (and people :)) to go his way, but he's so debonair doing it, it's not even wrong.  And he takes Mike along in his various schemes to improve their rather dull City-man lot.  All this is of course related in Wodehouse prose, light and delicate but full to the brim with humor.

There's not much of a story, it's mainly anecdotes of Psmith and Mike at work, but I can't say I read Wodehouse for the story.  It's more about the characters, and in the case of this series at least, it's all about Psmith.  I'd say he does an okay job of carrying his series - he's not as much of a genius as Jeeves, and cares far more about appearances, niceties, etc. than Uncle Fred, and certainly not as lovable as Bertie, but he's not too bad.  The book moves along as lightly as Psmith himself does - never a real page-turner but amusing enough to keep me reading.  So typical Wodehouse, though not in prime form I'd say.

Verdict: 3/5

Not Quite As Much of a Romp As You Might Expect

When I finished Miss Marjoribanks, it was on with the search for kindle material.  I browsed the library's ebooks, but nothing good is ever available.  I noticed a book called "Brewster's Millions" which had a classics appearance to it (not a real cover :)) and the title itself sounded familiar.  Once I looked it up, I realized the title sounded familiar to me only because of the movie based on it (fairly loosely I think), but the book itself fell into the same kind of minor classic category as Miss M - although American, not British.  It seemed worth a go.

It was quite turn-of-the-century American, all lightness and fluff.  The premise of the book is Brewster spending a million dollars in a year - how will he do it? This was obviously much harder 100 years ago, and the various provisions for spending (having nothing to show it for it at the end, not giving it away) made it harder still.  But of course, the book would have had no plot at all if it was just about spending money.  There's a love story to go along with it of course - and then there's the tension of whether Brewster will succeed, that is, succeed in spending money in the correct way and succeed in spending it all.

None of the elements were particularly pleasing on their own, but put together, I guess they were something.  Brewster himself is likeable and we certainly sympathize with him on his ridiculous journey.  I knew the whole time the ending wasn't going to be simple though - what would be the point? So of course I was tense as he spent, knowing he wouldn't get it all back in the end (he needed to spend a million dollars to inherit seven million, sorry for not explaining that earlier :)) But in the end, it was resolved nicely enough, though I think slightly anti-climactically.  In any case, an amusing journey, which was short enough that it never really got boring.

Verdict: 3/5

Storms In The Teapot

And now on to the main (or more interesting I think) event - yet another AMS.  He must be the most prolific author on this blog - of this series alone, The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, I've reviewed one a year since I started, so I think I'm up to my third already.  But I'm not going to go back and read old ones, so you'll get this on its own merits only :) Anyway, what I love about this series is the amazing sense of peacefulness and well-being they manage to convey, no matter what's going on.  That's accomplished largely by keeping the personal issues of the main characters somewhat on the DL and never in too dire straights.  But that does sometimes result in a *bit* of plodding, where it takes a while for me to get into the rhythm of the book.

So The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection was actually somewhat of a departure from this.  A departure in that personal issues really took front and center - and they mattered.  I suppose Mma Potokwane's orphanage isn't really directly related to the mains, but Mma Ramotswe certainly feels her pain sharply enough.  And of course Fanwell's trials and the suspicious circumstances of Mma Makutsi's house are closer still.  So the mood is just a little more... I don't know dark, but definitely more serious than usual.   With that still, we know everything is going to be alright (well we know that, because AMS was not about to write a tragedy) - but we *feel* it's going to be alright too.  Maybe that's because the book is actually fast-paced enough to deal with all this in pretty swift fashion.  In fact, it almost feels at times like a a real detective story :) In the way the action moves along and clues are discovered.  But don't worry, not too much action, at least I didn't feel that way.

So some of the charm of the earlier books wasn't quite as present here as usual. And I'm not sure I'd be a fan of many books in a row where all this happened.  But certainly, it was a good read this one time.  And Clovis Andersen's appearance was definitely an added bonus! All in all, all remains good in Botswana.  Not bad for number, was is it? 11? 12?, AMS.

Verdict: 3.75/5

Almost, But Not Quite, More of the Same

Remember way back when, through the fog of time, this blog was a newborn babe, and I did other things besides reviewing every book I read, methodically? It was a short but sweet time, glorious in its variety.  Oh how I miss it... but nothing remains the same, not forever anyway... All right, enough nostalgia.  The point is, one of the first reviews I did, about a book I had read before I started the blog, was The Spellman Files #4.  Last year (I think it was last year), I read and reviewed Lisa Lutz's stand-alone, and this year, I'm back to #5.  I think we were all a little surprised that there is a #5, since #4 ended off just fine from my POV.  But she chose to write a #5, and if I have gleaned properly from the website, there's more where that came from!  Sarah Sp. has not been happy with her since at least #4, and I think #3 too, so she wasn't very enthusiastic about the continuation.  My feeling was that Isabel was with Henry, and all grown up, so why go further? And yet, here we are.

Two years into the future that is (and we actually *are* two years in the future, how funny :)) Isabel is with Henry, Rae is in college, and the ex-convict Isabel liberated in the last book has taken up residence with the Spellmans.  Isabel herself has not regressed in maturity, I'm happy to say.  Other than the slight irregularities that are a product of her personality (and perhaps Lisa Lutz's) she appears a stable, relatively successful adult.  The rest of her family is up to their usual antics, but they were never as crazy as Isabel.  So to start off with, less self-destructiveness and just as much harmless zaniness as before.  I think it's a change for the better.  The plot itself is mostly harmless too.  I have to say I don't have that much of a memory for previous plots, which suggests they are mostly of the same nature as this one - lots of meandering threads that get somewhat loosely enmeshed towards the end.  I think it's Spellman as usual, for most part.

But Spellman as usual can get irksome after 5 books.  Rae is definitely not aging gracefully.  And I find the unnecessary rudeness and shenanigans... unnecessary.  And maybe it's just this book, but I feel like I can very much hear Lisa Lutz writing.  Isabel is funny when we're laughing at her and her insane family.  But if Isabel is right in her "quirky" view of the world, even a little bit ... well what's there to laugh about?   I guess what's left is a certain cleverness in the antics.  I definitely stayed curious the entire book, through all the plot twists and jumps.  There is the little annoyance of *constant* event-droppping (just coined the term) where all we hear is "we'll get to that later".  If *you* know, we want to know too! Get that through your head.  But I guess it's just par for course with the Spellmans... even though I bet Lisa Lutz could write a whole book in chronological order and I would still find it interesting.  Really, she should try it.

ANYWAY... why am I going on and on about this? It's not like I care about any of this (ok not like I care *most* about any of this :)) What's going on with Isabel and Henry? Of course that's the question on all your minds :)) And first, let me say that, in book #5, I would have been just fine with letting I&H fade into the background as a mature couple - their story was well-played out already.  What I am NOT fine with is them breaking up! I will however forgive LL if/when they get back together in #6.  I'm betting they will, because otherwise, what was the point of breaking them up? To be realistic? I mean, really? I'm definitely going with engagement in a book or two.  But even with that, I'm not sure we needed a breakup now... Oh well, what's done is done.  'Twere well it be repaired forsooth.

Verdict: 3/5 (I don't know, I just didn't find it at all hard to read)

Approachable Star, Approachable Story

After a hiatus of, what has it been, 3 weeks? and 1 book, I'm back with *yet another* AMS.  This one actually just published, the latest Isabel Dalhousie.  I've reviewed at least one of these before on the site, but I'm not going to go back and read it, because, as you know, I like my reviews fresh :) This series is the least popular one amongst the Swia. public - that is, the Sp's don't even read it.  It used to be my favorite, since it featured a very satisfying, if a little unusual (the unusual is what bothered the Sp's) romance.  But that's been long over (or long-settled), so what's left? Isabel herself and her many musings.  AMS is fond of philosophical ramblings of course, but in these books he's given extra license to digress on whatever he fancies, possessing of the perfect mouthpiece in one who philosophizes by profession.

As you can imagine, that can get annoying.  Especially when I disagree with Isabel, but also because spending so much time delving into every perceived moral dilemma does not make for thrills and chills all day (not that that's what I'm looking for anyway :)) And at times, that was definitely my prevailing feeling while reading Isabel #... 8? I think it's 8 - The Forgotten Affairs of Youth.  She goes on and on about this or that and my feeling is, it just doesn't matter that much, lady.  AMS presents her as the gentle, refined, and cultured woman, but it's hard not to find her boring at times.  And because she's boring, she becomes unlikeable, since AMS is so clearly enamored of her carefully crafted thoughts, feelings, and lifestyle (in other words, we have a Mary Sue).

That was sometimes... and more at the beginning, I'm glad to say.  As usual, somewhere along the way, the pace picked up.  But it wasn't just the plot development - interestingly enough, I actually found myself liking Isabel, a lot more than I have in a while.  For once, she isn't left as this rather inhuman pillar of morality and thought  - to a much greater extent than I think ever (or at least in the past few books) previously, we are invited into her inner life.  A vacuous phrase, but what I mean, we see how much she loves Jamie and Charlie, how she cares about Grace, how she gets frustrated with Cat.  These are things we know about, but I think not ones that took as central a role before this.  Even the obligatory "mystery" feels more personal, more about Isabel meeting people than about finding something out.  And I think it's a good change.  It's amazing how important it is to like the people you are reading about. And in this book, I find that I did like most everyone.  Cat was annoying as ever, but AMS acknowledges her "impossibility" with that very word (maybe in a different form, but that root :))

The plot itself may have been a tiny bit lacking, in that, except for the central story, loose ends were for the most part not tied up.  Not sure what happened with Charlie swearing, with Max Lettuce, with Sinclair+Cat... but I guess none of those were very important, and that was the point.  It was all about Isabel and how she handled them - and I think she did it very well, getting it right and keeping it real too.  Isabel is fun again, at least for the moment. (Ok, not sure she ever was, but she certainly wasn't always as stodgy as lately).

Verdict: 3.25/5

Ordinary Life, Slightly Stale

In the back of your minds, I know you've all been wondering, every time I update this blog, what happened to AMS? It's like what, 6 months since he published something? What's with the guy? Never fear, my trusty followers - the fault is mine.  AMS *did* publish a new book, sometime in the summer - the next in the 44 Scotland St series (#7 maybe?), as he always does in the summer (of course, only in England, but my wonderful cousin Sarah Sp. orders it special :)) Anyway, she got it in the summer, and I was supposed to be first (or maybe second) on line to read it, but you know... I was kind of busy then.  And once I didn't read it immediately, and I wasn't living in Queens (i.e. within easy access of the book) it kind of slipped my mind.  But I remembered eventually, and had Elisheva Sp. bring it down to Baltimore when she stopped there on her way to her Thanksgiving Tenessee getaway (I just felt like putting some life details in for color there, if you're wondering).  I had to finish my library books first, of course, but once I did, I got right down to this one.  Finished it unexpectedly fast too, due to an unusually long bus ride yesterday and a ridiculously long wait today (left for work late because I got officially married, more life detail for color :)).

So how was it? 44SS was at one point, I think, my favorite of all the AMS series.  Of course, most of them were at one point my favorite, but the reason I liked 44, I think, was how real it all was.  The characters were so varied, and kept plenty busy, but it was just their lives, basically.  And, for the most part, the characters were likeable enough, so reading about their lives wasn't painful.  I sound rather unenthusiastic, but the point was, these books can be a perfect mix of light-hearted mundanities and absurd little incidents, all about people we care about.  Add to that the finely-painted picture of Edinburgh, the real Edinburgh, we get from these books, and they can carry their own weight (it still thrills me when I recognize the locales that are mentioned with great regularity).  On the downside, there's never much of a plot, since the novels are serialized - what plot there is often doesn't start till the middle and doesn't always end either.  But you get used that after a while.

That's the series, what about the book? Well the book is #7... that means AMS is probably feeling some fatigue, and, the truth is, I am too.  The characters, once so likeable, now seem faintly annoying in many cases. Or too smug, or a little too pathetic, or just a little too cruel.  Bertie is a delight, as always, but I found myself more annoyed than not with Matthew, with Domenica, with Big Lou even.  And of course there's Irene and Olive and Bruce, who are as unlikeable as ever.  The lives themselves... well, the improbable incidents, I'd say, are continuing - Matthew with his triplets, Antonia and her nuns... but the mundanities consist a little too often of philosophical jaunts.  Now, AMS is no stranger to asides, and often asides that I do not agree with, but I felt that, here, there was sometimes little else of significance happening.  Towards the middle/end, that impression started lessening - not surprisingly, the plot was finally picking up.  But even then, I felt like there was just a slowness to it all, or at least a heavy weight pulling back on the faster-pace incidents.  Lou meets another unsuitable man, but it all just peters out before much happens.  Matthew buys back his flat for 300,000 pounds more than he paid, but no one seems to care.  Domenica meets her lost love, but realizes he's just that...

What I'm saying is, it just wasn't that engaging.  I would find myself interested, only to have it either go nowhere at all, or be resolved far too quickly.  And I didn't feel like the usual humor was there either, at least not generously distributed.  I can't say the book was awful, just that Edinburgh doesn't have *quite* the same homey sound as it did before I read this.  And like I said, it's hard to stay fresh, and keep me interested, after 7 books.  With all that though, I still want to know what's going to happen to them all... well I guess there's not that much left dangling right now (other than Pat actually), but I'm sure AMS will find something new to visit upon the denizens of 44 Scotland by the next book.  And, of course, I'll be reading it.

Verdict: 2.9/5

Not the Universe We Know and Love

In my last post reviewing a Terry Pratchett novel, I said that, although I really like his books, there's not much to choose between them.  He's a master of comic sci-fi, satirizing our world with just the right amount of absurdity thrown in, poker-facedly masterminding creation of the utterly crazy and yet utterly realized Discworld.  That was up until his latest, Snuff.  I think every Pratchett reader (in fact, I think I'll go check now - well I couldn't find it offhand, but I'd be shocked if it isn't there - nope, checked GoodReads, always plenty of people who share my feelings :)) must be saying, what happened?! The truth is, I think I know what happened, and it's kind of (actually really) sad - Terry Pratchett has early-onset Alzheimers.  Now I knew this going into this book, was even kind of expecting it, so maybe that's the reason I felt this way? Maybe it's been too long since I read a TP and my expectations got too high, or my tastes changed? There were probably elements of that, but this was not all in my head.  Snuff was just not up to par, not in the writing, not in the humor, not in the plot, and not even in the characters.

Let's start with the plot.  Now that's the one I care about least, of course, but I was waiting from about 1/3 of the way in for this book to be over.  There was overdramatic foreshadowing all over the place, but the actual movement... well it just felt like something out of an amateur thriller's playbook.  There's always some action in the Discworld, but it's never enough to distract me from the humor and the fun bits.  But I guess in this case, there just weren't many of either not to be distracted from.  The predominance of scatological and that other inappropriate kind of humor was disappointing enough.  The lack of subtly in the writing and the clumsiness of the occasional bits of Pratchett wisdom seem to suggest that Pratchett is trying, but can't hit his stride - or even manage a steady jog.  I hope it's not his brain, it could be just a temporary slump, but this is not the Pratchett I know and love.

But it's not just the the pale imitation of TP's usual style - I don't think I have read a Discworld novel yet that is so completely unfun.  It's almost as if Pratchett wants to write, besides a more thriller-esque tale than usual, a philosophical tome of sorts.  The central theme - sentient, non-human species are people too - is one that Discworld readers are eminently familiar with.  I hadn't remembered that the last book featured a creature known as the orc, but was reminded of it by someone's GoodReads review. Then there's the dwarves, the vampires, the trolls, the golems even... yes, we are all worthy of respect and common decency.  So why do we need another book pounding - and I mean pounding - it into our heads? Add to that Sam Vimes always present anxieties about class and how unfair it all is... and don't forget his crisis of conscience about his darker side and whether he lets it take over... and what you get is one heavy hunk of reading material.  Sam himself alternates between internal monologues stressing about the above issues and being supposedly supercool and tough-as-nails - but even that, the classic Vimesian grace under fire and inimitable ability to carry the day, seems mostly forced.

So overall, it's what have you done with the real Discworld? When we can we have our absurd and crude, yet sprightly alive universe of awesome dudes (Vimes and Vetinari, go Vs! :) and over-the-top something-other-than-dudes (can you say Nobby Nobbs? :)) Let's hope it's with the next book, though I don't hold out much hope of that.  I guess I can just go back and read the ones I skipped, or just reread them all.

Verdict: 2/5

Taking Humor In the Spirit It's Intended

He just never stops, so I can't either... Alexander McCall Smith has published yet another book.  This one, the third Corduroy mansions, has only been published in England so far (as is typical of that series and 44 Scotland St), but I was able to obtain a copy, thanks of course to my dear cousin Sarah Sp.  For the curious, here's my review of the second one, also published from Chapman Lake (oh yes, I'm here in CL for Memorial Day :)) I have to say, it was almost funny to reading the review from last year.  First of all, I think my blogging style has definitely changed, though I guess not hugely tangibly.  The interesting thing was that I spent that whole complaining how the ridiculousness of it all was driving me crazy until I realized the whole thing was a joke.

The funny thing about that is that, with this book, I also noticed the ridiculous characterization and improbable plot twists immediately... but this time, I was immediately aware that they were meant in a wholly humorous bent, with not one corner of the eye on their believability index (interesting turn of phrase, though I don't think entirely successful :))... can I say thanks to my post of last year for that cognizance of tone? Why not? :)  I mean, first and foremost, there's the gentleman in canine form, Freddy de la Hay.  There's the complete and utter antipathy of Berthea Snark, psychoanalyst, towards her own son, a more vile human being than most.  There's the tale of Hugh, kidnapped by Columbians to salsa dance on their cruise ship... yeah, you get the point.  But it's all funny.  Lightly told, highly engaging, and ever so humorous.  And not only that, I have definitely started to care about at least one - well actually two - characters, FdlH and his owner William.  Everyone else I can pretty much take or leave, but mostly they're worth taking.

I felt like this book ended less abruptly than some of the others, Sarah Sp. thinks he may not have written it as a serial, which would explain it.  It definitely had some unfinished storylines, but it wasn't like, what? you can't just leave it like that, for the most part.  And a huge plus, I really didn't notice any political, or moral, or philosophic statements I disagreed with getting in the way.  Another product of not writing a serial? Or did AMS just get tired of it all already? Or maybe I just wasn't watching for it... either way, nothing arose to cloud my enjoyment of this delightfully charming romp through England.

Verdict: 3.75/5

Comfortable, Elegant, and All That Is Good In Life

You know I like to start out with my recommendation source... I have to say, I finally have one I can't really easily identify :) Cold Comfort Farm has been on my list of "Books to Read" for years, under the category "English countryside types."  Now, I don't know why I originally put it on my list (Lauren Willig? :)) but Stella Gibbons is only English countryside in the most literal sense.  Recently, I read the Wikipedia summary of the book (or maybe it was just of the author) and discovered that, in fact, Cold Comfort Farm is a humorous take on English society books of the '30s.  So we're talking not only funny, which actually English countryside typically is, but completely filled with levity (I wanted to say levitous, but I just couldn't :)).  And better, we're talking high society, babe ;) not those boring working class stiffs tat typically inherit rural literature :)  Once I realized this, I put the book rather up on my todo list, and got on line at the library to wait my turn.

Cold Comfort was a surprise delight from the start.  The main character, Flora, is not only a perfectly lovely society girl of nineteen, pretty, popular, and educated (if not rich :)) she's adorable, smart, and utterly capable.  She reminds of what Emma thinks she is (a rather astute observation if I do say so myself :)) - she likes to organize everyone's lives, and she's actually good at it.  She's also totally irrepressible, writing to each of her relatives for an invitation to mooch off them until such time as she sees fit to move on (to get married, perhaps? :)) And she gets welcomes from each of them too.  But she chooses to go stay with her disturbingly strange cousins at Cold Comfort Farm, and proceeds to amuse herself with fixing up their wretched lives.

Now here's where the book could have gotten really boring, or worse, tense.  But instead, Flora remains totally in control of her absolutely bizarre relatives' various hang-ups and shenanigans.  And I'm telling you, they are bizarre.  But since the whole book is very clearly a joke, I could just relax and enjoy the joke of these larger-than-life, and for the most part, cruder than life, characters and their little neuroses.  Flora keeps everyone well in hand, and takes good care of disposing of every one to his or her greater happiness.  And she keeps herself pretty happy and very well liked while doing it.  At one point I noticed that not only were the characters simply out of this world outrageous, the setting, which takes place in the "near future" (which I interpreted to mean maybe within in a year of publication date 1932) actually takes place in some futuristic version of the 50's.  But it's funny, because far from greatly advanced, the book feels like a throwback to the last days of good English society - but why would I complain, that's exactly the society I like best :)

So Flora keeps herself, and us, entertained by meddling in all her silly cousins' lives, to their great benefit.  I'm sure you're asking by now, what about Flora? Well Flora's nice little love interest is introduced right at the beginning of the book.  There's not much suspense, since as far as I could tell, they liked each other immediately, and not much interaction, as Flora was far away in Susssex and only communicated with her Charles through letters we never see.  But you know she's going to be okay, not left alone at the end.  Since I didn't really expect the book to be a romance, I didn't mind the mostly lack of pathos threaded through Flora's own story.  But then, in the last chapter of the book, an extra bonus treat - she managed to finish up with a spectacular last chapter of a romance.  Despite my assumption that Flora's and Charles's romance was a foregone conclusion, there was apparently some suspense left between the two. And it made for some beautiful storytelling wrapping that suspense right up :) So not only thoroughly enjoyable, but a nice little tip at the end :)

Verdict: 4.5/5

So Much Potential...

There's a book I read sometime last year, can't remember exactly when, but it must have been before April since it's not in the blog :) Anyway, the book in question was Julia Stuart's The Matchmaker of Perigord, about a little provincial French town.  It was my kind of French town - kind of light and funny, irreverant - a fictional version of Peter Mayle's Provence books.  The book, since it was essentially a book about the town, was like that too, of course.  So anyway, comic travel book, about France no less.  Sounds good, so I read it.  And it was fine, pretty much what I expected, not at all a waste of time.  So when I saw Julia Stuart's new book, The Tower, the Zoo, and the Tortoise, on the shelves of the Mid-Manhattan library (yes, we're talking about that time back how many months ago when I went and browsed the shelves - up top for 10 times renewal :)) I didn't hesitate to take it out.  The first thing I noticed when I bothered to look at the jacket was that this book is not about France at all, but about the far more whimsical, and just as foreign in its own way, Tower of London.  Specifically, about the life of a Beefeater in the Tower of London.

Actually, I think this setting has a whole lot more promise than the French countryside.  My love for all things English remains intact and the Beefeater compound has a great mix of historic potential and absurd situational comedy (do I sound like I know what I'm talking about because I totally made that up).  It's definitely less educational, because less real, but oh so fun.  As for being real, I really should have read this with my computer (of course it got read on shabbos and the train so that didn't happen) because I just kept wondering what was real and what was totally fabricated.  Most of it was, I'm pretty sure - but even if only little bits were real, how cool to live in the Tower of London.  And not only that, but even more fun in a way, the Beefeater's wife work in the London Underground Lost Property Office.  Now I am *very sure* that her occupation is entirely made up, the lost property office is nothing but a repository of random junk, but whose dream isn't someone turning up all those years later with the long-lost old friend?  It's like a mystery with no tension :)  So all in all, there's a lot to be said in favor.

What's the catch? I'm not the only one who's tickled pink by this whole scenario.  And, not content to stop while she's ahead, the author can't go like two paragraphs without inserting a twee or profound yet sprightly tale of whimsy.  And mostly of them are completely gratuitous.  Totally unlikely stories about people we don't care about that are ridiculous rather than meaningful.  After a while, they really started annoying me.  Not only was the story not moving, but I felt like I was reacting exactly opposite the moving way I was supposed to.  About three-quarters of the way on, it starts moving a bit but unfortunately not to anywhere much.  The thread throughout the book is that they are torn about by the death of their son, which apparently the Beefeater thinks he caused.  At the end we find out why - and it wasn't even a decent reason! It's because - get this - he *yelled* at him the night before! I mean really? Why try for profound meaning when you have to use *the death of child* and *still* can't write something good and heartwringing?! So basically, even the cute part of the story was overdone to the point where I just wished it would all go away, and then, the story just disappointed in the end.  Oh well...

Verdict: 2.5/5

How Mattering More Than What

Okay, on for review of the first days' real reading material - Lisa Lutz's latest, a non-Spellman files joint effort at a comic mystery.  It's amazing that I've been writing this blog so long that I'm getting up to authors' second new books since I started... but in this case, that's only because I posted about the book a while after I read it, so I don't know if it's time to start waxing nostalgic :) Anyway, I think we were all ready for the Spellman Files to end even before the last one, so we were certainly happy that this latest is entirely independent of Izzie and her gang (though there's Spellman #5 out next year, which I shall certainly be reading, don't get me wrong :)) But other than being non-Spellman, I don't know that there was much to recommend this project.  It was an innovative idea, (or not hugely overdone anyway): Lisa Lutz and an ex-bf writer friend of hers would write alternate chapters, not discussing the plot beforehand.  Let the story unfold how it would, with the only guidance that it be a whodunit, with some resolution at the end.  I don't have any objections to the idea, but the descriptions made the book sound... well kind of horror-meets-kitsch, which just wasn't something that appealed to me all that much.  And it's not like I adore Lisa Lutz all that much... I mostly read her books for the romance, though the comedy is none too bad, of course.

But of course, it wasn't like I wasn't going to read it... because, of course, I don't exactly have to expend much to put it on reserve at the library.  And in this case, because my wonderful cousin Sarah Sp (see you really should read my blog ;)) is boycotting LL over her last book, the library was kind of my only avenue - which was just fine, because I put it on reserve months ago and got it immediately upon publication.  ANYWAY... I'm sure you want to hear about the book already.  The first thing I realized upon starting (just the intro, not even the book) was that the format was a big part, if not the whole point, of the book.  Every other chapter belongs to either Dave or Lisa and in between, we get notes discussing the previous chapter between the two authors.  So besides the unfolding mystery for Paul and Lacey, we get the story of how this book got written.  Or not exactly that, more like a running commentary on all that was lacking in the previous chapter.  And there are plenty of within-the-text jibes back and forth too.  So that the characters sometimes voice concerns about the narrative or make a slightly out of place comment, clearly the message of the current writer to his/her counterpart.  Whatever, the point is, it's funny.  And we never forget just what is really going on in the book.

The mystery itself... well don't take it too seriously, that's for sure.  First of all, my assumption is that most mystery writers have a pretty good idea of unfolding events from the beginning.  I would think it's fairly difficult to produce a well-crafted whodunit, one with a really satisfying ending, without knowing where every lead is headed.  But in this case, not only did the format make advance planning impossible, the authors didn't even try, forgoing narrative integrity for the chance to get the book at on Lisa/Dave's chosen track.  But it doesn't really matter, it's not like this book was meant as a serious mystery novel anyway.  And the back-and-forth, no-respect-for-reality bonanza of dead bodies and petty criminals makes that very clear.  It also makes the book funny, at least in its own way.  And I'll take funny over a good mystery any day.

I don't know why I'm giving this book such serious attention.  It's really very simple. The book itself is okay funny when it's read as a farce, which I think is definitely as intended (I don't even think it's in the mystery section of the library). The far more compelling narrative is that between the two authors, as played out somewhat in their notes, and more within the main chapters.  I'm pretty sure their petty jibes and textual battles are at least somewhat fictionalized, but I'm okay with that.  They're still funny.  Bottom line, I think Lisa Lutz sees herself more as a comic than as anything else, and I don't think anything in this book proves her wrong.

Verdict: 3.5/5