Arthur of Albion by John Matthews
Arthur of Albion by John Matthews. Paintings by Pavel Tartarnikov
Pages: 136
Ages: 9+
First Published: 2008 (Oct. 1, 2010 Chapter book edition)
Publisher: Barefoot Books
Rating: 4/5
First sentence:
Long ago, in the time before now, when the world was stilled filled with marvels, a fair green island lay beyond the Pillars of Hercules.
Acquired: Received a review copy from Barefoot Books.
Reason for Reading: I love the old Arthurian Tales of Camelot and the Knights of the Round Table. Which this book is. FYI, I’m not so fond of modern retellings, only if they involve Arthur as a boy or focus on Merlin as the main character.
This book was published a couple years ago in an oversized picture book format which I am sure is simply breath taking and would be the edition you would want if you want to read this aloud to younger children or even a group of children. This edition I have has been reduced into a trade paperback chapter book edition, meant to be read alone. (but of course you can read it aloud too!) I’ve come to realize now that Barefoot Books produce quality books and Arthur, by example, is covered with thick stock card covers that have flaps and the inside pages are of the same thick quality, found in their hardcovers, not used by many publishers for softcovers.
The paintings by Tartarnikov are exquisite medieval representations of the scenes he has chosen to illustrate. Hi paintings are 3 dimensional but he does leave a small 2 dimensional aspect remindful of the artwork from the original time period. The paintings have a mystical, dreamy quality to them as he combines the magical with the reality of the then knights in all their splendiferous glory. A perfect illustrator for this text.
The book itself concentrates on retelling several stories from the multitude available. The stories start logically with the sword in the stone and end with the quest for the holy grail, but in between the tales are a various selection, of no particular order, mainly those featuring chivalry, saving maidens and fighting brutish knights. Of course, everyone is sent back to Arthur to tell his tale and this is the one constant through the flow of the individual tales. The author has managed to keep a sense of time and place in his choice of vocabulary making the book seem authentic to its medieval setting. This does make the book better suited to being read by the middle grades and up, though. None of the steamier storylines are introduced here, even though those characters are present, leaving only the convictions against Guinevere to be suggested. A lovely introduction to the Arthurian literary world.
Tales of Mystery and Magic by Hugh Lupton
Tales of Mystery and Magic retold by Hugh Lupton. Illustrated by Agnese Baruzziwith Storytime CD
Pages: 64
Ages: 5+ (ALL AGES)
First Published: Sept. 1, 2010
Publisher: Barefoot Books
Rating: 4/5
First sentence:
Once upon a time there lived a blackbird and his wife and they sang so sweetly together that everyone who passed beneath the tree where they lived would stop and listen.
Acquired: Received a review copy from Barefoot Books.
Reason for Reading: I love reading illustrated books of fairytales, myths and legends. The tales mentioned in the publisher’s summary didn’t sound familiar to me so this book intrigued me.
A fabulous collection of fairytales (and a couple of legends) that all involve elements of magic or unexplained happenings. Some have happy endings, but not all. This collection was all new to me except one, and not knowing the originals I cannot say whether they have been watered down but I doubt it because of the elements that are included. We have a disembodied body, a reanimated corpse and a couple of elves who cut off their feet! And sometimes someone learns there lesson the hard way.
These tales are all perfect for even the youngest listener and perfect for reading aloud as they are written in a storyteller voice and these tales all include the element of repetition in various formats. One story uses the sing song phrase which gets repeated over and over throughout the tale, another has an animal walking along and asking a question, the answer is yes, then another animal comes along and so on until at the very end things change when the answer is no. Then there’s the scenario where one goes out and tries one thing for a certain result and that doesn’t work, so they do another thing and that doesn’t and so on. These repetitious tales are always favourites for younger children and I’ve found them the most fun to read aloud. If you are not into reading aloud, then you are in luck as the book comes with an audio CD with all the tales narrated by the author Hugh Lupton, a professional storyteller.
Besides the repetition, another thing that makes this selection unique is that not one of the tales is common. I read a lot that I can’t be sure I haven’t heard some before once, but out of the seven stories I know, for sure, only one. The average person will not know any unless perhaps they are from the culture the tale comes from. Each tale originates from around the world and present here are: India, Chile, Inuit, Seneca Natives, Scotland, Russia and West Africa. My favourite was the last story from West Africa which is the one that involves the reanimation of a corpse, but it has a very touching ending. It’s original title is “The Cow Switch Tail” and I should remember it as I’ve read “The Cow-Tail Switch, and Other West African Stories” by Harold Courlander, a Newbery Honor winning book, but that was a long time ago. Due for another read I guess! The illustrations are all done in digital collage and nothing more can be said than that they are wonderful to behold and this is a fine book both visually and textually.
Finally, the book ends with a little goldmine. The author tells us the source from which he took the original tale before he wrote his retelling. Here we are introduced to books from the ’30s and ’60s, some long out of print, others not, but great additions to fairy tale enthusiasts list. Also another random bit of information is imparted here. Hugh Lupton is the great-nephew of Arthur Ransome, whom he used to visit as a boy. He even recommends Ransome’s Old Peter’s Russian Tales as the book from which his Russian tale is told. This is the one I knew beforehand. Recommended for all ages. Young and old who love fairy tales & legends.
The Arbian Nights (Nicola)
The Arabian Nights by Wafa’ Tarnowska. Illustrated by Carole Henaff
Pages: 127
Ages: 9+
First Published: Oct. 1, 2010
Publisher: Barefoot Books
Rating: 5/5
First sentence:
Long ago, when tales traveled along the Silk Road from China to Persia, crossing wind-blown sand dunes and busy oases, bleak mountain passes and fertile valleys, there lived two Persian kings of the Sassanid dynasty.
Acquired: Received a review copy from Barefoot Books.
Reason for Reading: I love fairy tales and have read a few versions of The Arabian Nights along with many stories included in fairy tale collections and am always on the look out for new unique versions.
Wafa’ Tarnowska, even though writing a children’s book best suited for middle graders, used a 14th century Syrian manuscript (which has been translated into both Arabic and English for publication) as her basis for these stories. She has chosen here to showcase tales which feature women, princess, who bravely help their men in need. While a prince may rescue a princess, he receives ample help from her in pulling off the scheme. This makes Tarnowska’s selections unique from other collections of the Arabian Nights. Also the tales are told within the famous plotline of Shahrazade telling the evil Shah a story every night to save him from killing her or anymore girls as he has been want to do over the years. Usually (from my past reading’s of children’s retellings) this story starts off with the evil Shah who kills a bride every morning and gets a new one every night, but this author has started the story much earlier here and explained how and why the Shah became this way in the first place, another unique feature in a children’s retelling of the Arabian Nights.
The stories chosen, apart from Aladdin, are lesser known tales and probably will be new to most readers. The stories are told within a series of several connected tales, making for an exciting extended story involving the characters before tiny segues with the Shah and Shahrazade ending and beginning each new set of tales. They are wonderfully told, in rich language, never talking down to the young reader, the stories don’t involve any violence but people are turned into animals and stone, etc. with magic. The sensual aspects are present but kept to an age appropriate level. Kings or princess are “with” the princess and then a year later there is a baby, the word “lover” is used, that sort of thing. I enjoyed the authentic flavour of these tales.
The art also adds to the authenticity of the book. Done in acrylic paintings, the style reflects the time period using two dimensional figures and a palette of desert colours including sand, turquoise and terracotta with browns and greens. The book itself is beautiful, being overly oversized (picture book format) with quality paper and a cloth covered spine. A lovely addition to any children’s or fairy tale enthusiast’s bookcase. This is a keeper.
Christmas at the Mysterious Bookshop (Nicola)
Christmas at the Mysterious Bookshop edited by Otto Penzler
Pages: 230
First Published: Oct.12, 2010
Publisher: Vanguard Press
Rating: 3.5/5
First Published: Oct.12, 2010
Publisher: Vanguard Press
Rating: 3.5/5
First sentence:
It was hard to run, Dortmunder was discovering, with your pockets full of bronze Roman coins.
Acquired: Received a review copy from the book’s publicist.
Reason for Reading: The book was sent to me unsolicited. I read several short story collections last year but haven’t been reading many, if any, this year at all and the thought of spending some time with the short story format again was enticing, the book had come at just the right time for me.
This is a collection of the stories that Otto Penzler has had commissioned to be written for his store each year beginning 1993. He then has them bound and gives them away to customers at Christmas. The little booklets have become collectible themselves and Otto decided to publish them all together in one compilation for the final enjoyment of the masses. Each story is written by a different mystery writer though I have to admit I had only heard of 7 of the 17 authors, and read even fewer. The qualifications for each story was that they must happen at Christmas and must contain at least a scene that takes place within the Mysterious Bookshop. Apart from 3 of the 17 stories, the authors chose to make the bookshop and, more often than not, Otto Penzler himself as a major character, the prime components of the story. This was fun at first but became repetetive as the book progressed. Even though the stories were different there was a cookie cutter substance to them when you knew Otto would have some mystery happen in his Bookshop each time, or a clerk would be involved in one. Now that’s not to say the stories weren’t good. A few of them were excellent, most of them were good and there were only a couple of duds for me. Averaging up the total ratings of each individual story came up with a 3.5/5 for the whole book which feels perfectly spot on about how I feel for the compilation as a whole. Since these stories have only ever been printed in their original special edition format, this would make a unique gift for the mystery fan you’re not sure what to buy them.
1. Give Till it Hurts by Donald E. Westlake - a humorous story of a man who robs a numismatic show of a pocketful of ancient coins and while escaping seeks refuge in a poker game he stumbles upon. 3/5
2. Schemes and Variations by George Baxt - it’s fabled knowledge in the rare books world that a Dashiell Hammett manuscript entitled “The Thin Woman” has surfaced and someone is determined to have it, as an assassin is killing off the world’s best known rare books and manuscripts dealers trying to find it. With its bookish theme this was obviously a fun story, as was the mystery. Otto Penzler is one of the main characters. 3.5/5
3. The Theft of the Rusty Bookmark by Edward D. Hoch - another fun book-ish themed mystery. A professional burglar is hired by a man who has just sold his late brother-in-law’s book collection to Otto Penzler. The burglar is to go find the boxes of four hundred books and retrieve a bookmark left inside one of them. 3.5/5
4. Murder for Dummies by Ron Goulart - A two-bit author whose career is going south as his publisher no longer wants to renew his contract for his children’s mystery series goes to the dark side when an elderly fan asks him to read her manuscript, and he loves it. A great mystery with all the right elements including a twist and a surprise ending. My favourite so far. 5/5
5. As Dark As Christmas Gets by Lawrence Block - The owner of The Mysterious Bookshop (never mentioned by name, but the real owner is poked fun at) has a Christmas party, wakes the next morning to find an extremely unique Cornell Woolrich manuscript missing. He calls in a friend, a private detective, who works in the same manner as Nero Wolfe and actually believes Wolfe is a real person. The detective quickly whittles the 50 party attendees down to 7 suspects, gathers them in a room and proceeds to unravel the mystery. Loved this one, even though it crossed the line and spoke to the reader; it was done for humour. The sleuthing was classic detective style and had a great solution that perfectly fit the tone of the story. 4/5
6. The Holiday Fairy by Jeremiah Healy - Otto Penzler calls in a P.I. from out of state to question three of his close friends that he has figured out have all been in his private rooms the preceding week on the exact days that three collectible objects have disappeared and been replaced with envelopes containing the book price payment of each. The plot of Otto calling in an investigator to find stolen objects wasn’t new to this collection and this story didn’t have anything new to offer. The ending was quite different but didn’t save it for me. 2/5
7. I Saw Mommy Killing Santa Claus by Ed McBain - Title pretty much gives everything away but still pleasant story of a kid roaming the bookstore. Upstairs staff assumes mother is downstairs and boy tells downstairs staff mother is upstairs, but boy starts to get creepy when he starts insisting to everyone that Santa is dead. 3/5
8. The Grift of the Magi by S.J. Rozan - Otto tells two friends, separately, that he would like an extremely rare book for Christmas but knows he’ll never find one. Silly little story with lots of word play. 2/5
9. My Object All Sublime by Anne Perry - Half an hour before closing a man finagles his way into seeing Otto in his private rooms and his intentions are no less than deadly. Loved this one. Grew creepier and creepier as it went along until a twist ending. My new favourite so far. 5/5
10. Christmas Spirit by Michael Malone - A chief of police from South Carolina accompanies a detective to Otto’s Christmas party where the night ends with a body. The chief and a cat solve the crime. An ok story but I did enjoy the narrative voice very much. 3/5
11. The Lesson of the Season by Thomas H. Cook - A clerk has worked Saturdays all by herself in the store for ten years and every Saturday the same man has been coming in buying trashy paperback original action mysteries, with a special interest in one author. A book snob herself she finally asks him why he reads that junk and gets an answer worth far more than she was looking for. Great lead up, with a twist and satisfying end. Another favourite. 5/5
12. Yule Be Sorry by Lisa Michelle Atkinson - The unnamed owner of The Mysterious Bookstore is in dire straights: the phone’s been cut, last month’s mortgage is due, he’s worried about the electricity, etc. He’s desperately hoping one of his buyers can come up with a first edition of Hammett’s second book as he already has a buyer. The book arrives the day before Christmas but as he is about to hand it over to the buyer he can’t find it anywhere. That’s only the first twist. Cute story. 3/5
13. The Long Winter’s Nap by Rupert Holmes - A new Mysterious Bookstore has opened at another location at it’s celebrating its first Christmas so O.P. hires a brass band to play out front. When the tuba player asks to use the washroom, a clerk shows him the way downstairs where they find a dead Santa in the storeroom. This story is much longer than any of the others so far, thus allows for quite a bit of a set-up and detecting as the murder is unraveled just in time, as the police arrive. Straight forward, classic mystery story. 4/5
14. Cold Reading by Charles Ardai - Just a regular day at the bookstore a few days before Christmas when a young woman walks in and starts talking to the clerk, Roger, turns out her grandmother was a highly collectible ’50s author who only wrote two books before her untimely death. This woman says her father has just died and going through his stuff she’s found a lot of grandma’s things including a third book but it’s only in manuscript form. Would he come over, she doesn’t live far away, and take a look? When he arrives her apartment has been ransacked and she is missing, that is until her kidnapper calls on the phone. Quite a delightful story. You know something’s up from the beginning but there’s a twist and it’s not what you thought it was. Fun. 3.5/5
15. The Killer Christian by Andrew Klavan - A brother and sister in the city for a while now from their more rural beginnings are leading very different lives. Holly, an aspiring actress, who currently has a part as an angel in a play, works part time in “The Mysterious Bookshop” and has been given a low rent apt. above it. Brother Steven however, has got himself mixed up with the criminal world and had Holly bail him out several times. But this time, he’s in big trouble because his boss had decided to “off” him and Steven tries to stay alive, just ahead of the assassin. I really enjoyed this one. It had quite a bit of action and the characters were developed enough that I actually liked them and could imagine them outside the confines of the story. Apart from the very first story in the book, this is the only other one *not* to take place entirely in the store and use the owner as a major character. By this point in the book, I found that very refreshing! 4/5
16. The 74th Tale by Jonathan Santlofer - A young man walks into the bookstore near closing time and buys himself a Christmas present. Thinking he’s getting more for his money he chooses a book with 73 stories in it. When he gets home and starts reading the stories, from his descriptions, we can tell the book is Poe. Then he comes across a story that inspires him to conduct a real life experiment he has always wanted to try. This is the creepiest story is the book! A good suspenseful tale and one of the best in the book. 5/5
17. What’s in a Name by Mary Higgins Clark - Can’t really give a summary of this as it slowly unravels until the end but it begins with a woman who is slowly clearing out her Nana’s house after her death. For the past 20 years Nana has written mystery novels but none of them were ever accepted and her office is full of manuscripts (never having let anyone read one) , some in envelopes that have been sent and returned. Nana gave instructions to her granddaughter that upon her death, if she had never sold a book, then all her papers were to be thrown away with the promise that nobody would ever read them. This story was more cheesy and like a “Hallmark moment” than a mystery. 2.5/5
How to Escape from a Leper Colony (Literary Feline)
It is the night of Easter Sunday. I’ve already been to chapel and received God on my tongue. I sit in my cell with the lights off. Everyone’s light is off. I wait for the man with the cross to begin his walk. He’s been doing it once a year for the whole twelve years I’ve been in here. Carnival is coming in a few weeks. The queens have already had their pageants. The steel bands are practicing every night–until late in the morning. But this man. He will come, I believe. He always comes. I wait for him. And I think about why he is doing his penance. And I think about why I am doing mine. [opening paragraph of "Kill the Rabbits"]
How to Escape From a Leper Colony: A Novella and Stories by Tiphanie Yanique
Graywolf Press, 2010
Fiction; 184 pgs
Graywolf Press, 2010
Fiction; 184 pgs
There is beauty in words. Beauty in a story. And beauty in the characters that fill those stories. Tiphanie Yanique captures all of that in this collection of stories and a novella, steeped in culture and life.
The characters are the main thrust of each of Tiphanie Yanique’s stories. And with many of them, the endings gave me pause. The stories may not be wrapped up with a neat little ribbon at the end, but they certainly offer one food for thought. Yanique’s writing style is lyrical, and, while several of the stories are straight forward, with others she takes creative license. I was reminded of how much of an art writing can be. I found myself wanting to take my time with each story, lingering over the words and taking in the experience. For each story truly is its own experience.
There was not one story in the collection I did not like. In fact, I’d come across one story, decide it was a favorite and then claim the next was a favorite too. This happened over and over again.
One of my favorites was “Street Man”, about a drug dealer who falls for a straight girl. He is so focused on his own life and his own perception of their relationship, keeping the street out of his relationship with her, that he misses the fact that she may have a life and ideas of her own. There is also the story about a young woman who is sent to live in a leper colony, isolated from the rest of the world. She befriends a young man whose entire world is the island, and they both long to be free. I was moved by “The Bridge Stories: A Short Collection” which is a series of stories seemingly independent of one another but interconnected at their core. Another of my favorites was the novella, “The International Shop of Coffins”, covering moments in the lives of three very different characters. The story begins the same in each case, and yet each story is unique but equally sad.
The collection is made up of eight stories all together. The stories are about love, despair, regret and longing. They are about dreams, both lost and hoped for. They are set mostly in the U.S. Virgin Islands, touching on several different cultures and lifestyles. This is one of those books that would make a great book club selection, if the group is willing to take a chance on a collection of stories.
Ratings: 
(Very Good)
Book Source: I bought the book myself.
Printed with permission by Wendy Runyon (aka Literary Feline); © 2010, Wendy Runyon of Musings of a Bookish Kitty. All Rights Reserved.
The Devil and Sherlock Holmes (Nicola)
The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession by David Grann
Pages: 334 pages
First Published: Mar. 9, 2010
Publisher: Doubleday
Rating: 4.5/5
First sentence:
Reporting, like detective work, is a process of elimination.
Reason for Reading: I loved David Grann’s debut book “The Lost City of Z” and really wanted to read this when I heard about it.
An extremely interesting book on a variety of different topics. A collection of previously published articles mainly from “The New Yorker” magazine, with three being from other magazines. These are investigative journalism where the author goes out to meet the people involved, shadow them as they go about their business, and interviews criminals in jail, in search of the truth behind a mystery that has never been solved or never quite to satisfaction or just why somebody would do what they do. It makes very fascinating reading. Each article gives a small one liner to let you know the topic of the article and to me personally, some of them I was eager to read, while others didn’t seem like they’d be my cup of tea.
However, out of the twelve stories there was only one I didn’t enjoy and that was one that was about a baseball player and the game. I don’t like sports and that story just had nothing else to offer so for me it was a dud. Otherwise, whether I initially thought the subject would interest me or not, I was fascinated with the remaining eleven articles. Even one which is about the old water tunnel system below New York City and the building of the third tunnel. Sounds like something engineering folks might like but I was fascinated with the history of the building of the tunnels which have been worked on since the early 1900s, the dangers, and the personal stories of the men who work down there, often generations of the same family. Other stories include the mysterious murder of a famous Sherlock Holmes scholar, a Frenchman who serially poses as orphaned teenage boys, trying to track down the truth of a man about to be executed for murdering his children who swears he is innocent, a man who was obsessed with capturing the first live giant squid, and the life story of a stick-up man who committed his last robbery at age 79 but who enjoyed escaping from prison more than committing the crimes, and so on.
The mysteries and murders I was immediately pulled into, knowing I’d enjoyed those stories. But even the first couple that made me wonder whether they’d be my thing also pulled me in quickly as David Grann is a wonderful writer. From that point on I was eager to read each and every story. He gets up close and personal with his subject; he follows the people he is writing about and he gets in there with them doing the things they do (or standing beside them, watching) and explaining how he feels. He’s been in more than one situation where he’s admitted that he was scared. He can also pick up on all the different angles of a story so that no matter where a reader’s interests lie they will find an angle that interests them. Most of the stories were riveting, the rest were very interesting, and, for me, I struck out with the baseball story. (There just was nowhere else Grann could go with that one and I realise that.)
I read the book slowly. Reading one story a night, taking the time to savour and appreciate each story. David Grann is certainly a talented writer who has a way with engaging his reader, and I do hope he is currently working on another book length story for us.
Where The God of Love Hangs Out (Jill)
Where The Love of God Hangs Out
By Amy Bloom
Completed February 1, 2010
For readers unfamiliar with Amy Bloom, her latest selection of short stories, Where The God of Love Hangs Out, would be a good start into this talented writer’s world. Stories in this collection showed the wide range of love - family love, friendship, forbidden affairs and lust. Bloom explores it all, hiding from nothing, exposing her readers to the many types of love that exist in this world.
Several of the stories in this book are interwoven, giving readers a peak into certain characters’ journeys. This is especially true of Lionel and Julias, whose stories comprised a good portion of the collection. Julia was Lionel’s stepmom, and the two shared a love that ranged from motherly to intimate to aloof. Other stories stood alone - short tales that packed a mighty punch - such as the last story (my favorite ) that explored the friendship between a father and his son’s wife.
No matter which story you read, Bloom’s prose will sweep you away. She works magic with every sentence. Her characters are realistic and engaging, and their love for their spouses, lovers, family members or friends represented all types of love. My only word of caution would be to those who don’t like to read about sex: some of the scenes are graphic and could be a turn off to some readers. With that said, I thoroughly enjoyed the stories in Where The God of Love Hangs Out - and look forward to reading more stories by Amy Bloom. ( 
)
The Dragon Book (Nicola)
The Dragon Book edited by Jack Dann & Gardner Dozois
Pages: 433 pgs.
Ages: 15+
First Published: Nov. 3, 2009
Rating: 4/5
Comments: This collection of 19 never previously unpublished short stories by mostly well-known authors is written for an “all ages” audience, meaning for adults but an acceptable cross-over for older teens. The book is entirely language and s*x free, though the themes keep the book form being suitable for anyone younger. There were a couple of stories I didn’t appreciate but for the most part I rated the others 4s or 5s. I really enjoyed that this book of short stories contained one longer almost novella sized story along with several lengthy 30 page stories along with the shorter short stories, making for a wide range of reading, with the longer stories letting the reader become quite involved in the story. I certainly had my appetite whetted for some of the others here I hadn’t read before, which was shamefully quite a few. Of the 19 authors, I had heard of 12 (even owning books by most of them), of those 12, alas, I had read only 8. A very engaging collection of stories with an amazing array of dragons: good, bad, those who fly and those who swim, with wings and without, those who breath fire, those who breathe ice. Plus the stories are told from all sorts of points of view including that of the dragon itself. A very enjoyable collection of stories. Recommended!
1. Dragon’s Deep by Cecelia Holland - I really enjoyed this story of a fishing village that the Duke visits one day and tells them their taxes are now doubled. Not knowing what else to do they venture into the dangerous waters called “Dragon’s Deep” to fish where they are attacked by a dragon and one girl, Perla, is accidentally taken away by the dragon. The story shows that a beast can learn to love through human tenderness and that humans can turn to beasts when they forget human tenderness. 4/5
2. Vici by Naomi Novik - An enjoyable and funny story with a quirky ending set in Ancient Rome of a man presumably sentenced to death when his punishment is to single handedly kill a dragon. Pure luck makes him successful and he comes home rich with the dragon’s hoard and an egg, presumably is dead. When the egg hatches the man’s life takes a turn for adventure and will never be the same again. Quite humorous while rather violent at the same time. 4/5
3. Bob Choi’s Last Job by Jonathan Stroud - A dragon hunter goes out on a hunt has an encounter with a couple of dragons. Didn’t really get this one. Well, I “got” it but wasn’t that entertained. 2/5
4. Are You Afflicted with Dragons? by Kage Baker - This was a fun, clever romp of a man who owns a seaside hotel and has a bunch of small dragons come to roost on his roof. After trying the usual pest control measure for ridding oneself of these wyrmin pests he encounters a man who specializes in the job and promises to rid him of his troubles forever. A clever, humorous tale. 4/5
5. The Tsar’s Dragons by Jane Yolen and Adam Stemple - Much longer than the other stories at 35 pages this is the story of the beginnings of the Russian Revolution and the repeated attempts to kill Rasputin. Dragon’s are in the story but don’t really come into play until the end, when the Tsar’s black and the revolutionaries red dragons are leashed upon the world. The dragons have a more metaphorical place in this story of empire vs communism. 3/5
6. The Dragon of Direfell by Liz Williams - I really enjoyed this story of a mage who has been hired by a small Dukedom to rid itself of a worm-like dragon wrapped around a mountain. The mage undertakes what should be a routine job and finds more than he expected. Deeper magic is at work and as he tries to expose the hidden dark mage things are even more complicated than they had appeared. 4/5
7. Oakland Dragon Blues by Peter S. Beagle - A Police Officer gets called to a traffic hold-up to find an old, sad-looking dragon sitting in the middle of the intersection. Not wanting to deal with all the hoopla that capturing a dragon is going to cause him he convinces the dragon to move out of the way and out of sight where the officer will see if he can fix his problems for him. Turns out the dragon is a remnant from an unfinished story and he wants to find the author, to have his revenge. Absolutely loved this one. Very humorous and we get to see a dragon’s life from his point of view. 5/5
8. Humane Killer by Diana Gabaldon and Samuel Sykes - at 55 pages this started to feel more like a novella than a short story and contained a lot of plot. I really enjoyed it though very much. Two pairs both set off to kill the fierce dragon unbeknownst to each other. One pair is the weakling son of a recently deceased valiant hero who must return with his father’s mace to prove himself and joins up with a heartless warrior woman wearing a full body leather thong. The other pair is a half heathen girl, therefore a sorceress, but a nice girl who has reanimated a dead soldier to be her protection and strength as she needs to kill the dragon to rescue a precious spell book. Obviously they meet up and the story is quite hilarious. But it was confusing when it first started with the jumping back and forth between these people without the reader knowing who they were or what was going on. 4/5
9. Stop! by Garth Nix - A short, interesting story that doesn’t seem to have anything to do about dragons until the strange ending. 3.5/5
10. Ungentle Fire by Sean Williams - The author has written ten books set in the same world and this short story is also set in that world. A young man is bound to apprentice a warrior until he is deemed fit to go on a quest for his master. After five years his master sends him off to find and slay a dragon plus to bring back proof of the dragon’s death, then he will set the man free to return to his homeland and marry his intended. The story starts on the 23rd day of that quest. I really, really enjoyed this story! I’ve never heard of this author before and this is the first story in this book that makes me want to read more by a new-to-me author. 5/5
11. A Stark and Wormy Knight by Tad Williams - A funny story in which a mother dragon tells her children a bedtime story of the days of old when there were big bad knights who slayed dragons and relates a time when their great great great grandpap pulled one over on such a knight. Humorous story, told with lots of word play in the vein of “Jabberwocky” with Williams creating his own fun words but also adding a “snicker”, “beamish” and “uffish” here and there. 4/5
12. None So Blind by Harry Turtledove - Set in some time and world of an explorer’s age with magic, a group of explorer’s and sorcerers set out to explore a part of the map that has always been labeled “Here Be Dragons”. The go to find if these dragons are real and also to find any other unusual flora and fauna. An ok story but I figured out the surprise ending and just didn’t enjoy this more than ok. 2.5/5
13. JoBoy by Diana Wynne Jones - DWJ is one of my fav. authors and I loved this one! Can’t really tell much without giving anything away but it’s about a boy who experiences adolescence with both joyful and painful revelations. 5/5
14. Puz_le by Gregory Maguire - One rainy afternoon, a boy works on an old jigsaw puzzle picked up at a garage sale with strange results. Can’t say much as this is short and has a twisty ending. Really enjoyed it! 4/5
15. After the Third Kiss by Bruce Coville - May Margaret is cursed and turned into a dragon by her wicked stepmother and only three kisses from her sea adventuring brother will return her to her rightful form. He unexpectedly does arrive home after hearing his homeland is threatened by a dragon. May Margaret gets her three kisses and the stepmother is punished and you would thing all would be well. But this is just the first few pages! No, this fairy tale-like story has much more to it and May Margaret finds that though she no longer breathes fire, there is a yearning fire burning in her blood. I loved this one! 5/5
16. The War that Winter Is by Tanith Lee - In a land where winter lasts 9 months of the year, and may well last longer as time goes by, the tribes have learnt to cope in this harsh land but one thing they have no control over is the dragon, Ulkioket, who can blast a village with it’s breath of of ice and freeze everything and everyone glass-like ice that will shatter. Until one day, a small group of scavengers find a frozen city with a pregnant women near the edge, when they touch her she shatters and a live baby is born, one with pale skin and white hair. This, they believe is the hero who has come to rid them of the dragon. At 29 pages, this short story has a lot of space for a well developed story that I just loved. I’ve only read a few books and stories by Lee but I’ve never been disappointed yet. 5/5
17. The Dragon’s Tale by Tamora Pierce -This story is set in Pierce’s fictional universe of Tortall, which I haven’t read before. At 39 pages, this one felt like a novella and really had plenty of time to be a well-developed tale. Told through the point of view of a young dragon who is on a trip with an entourage visiting the Emperor’s villages, he gets bored and watches a group of boys through stones at a lady scrounging in the garbage who then runs away. Feeling magic in the air, the dragon follows her and discovers magic and a whole lot more. He keeps his secret and comes up with a plan to keep him occupied with big results. I loved, loved, loved this story!! 5/5
18. Dragon Storm by Mary Rosenblum - Tahlia’s eyes are different from every one else in the grove and the other children call her “bad-luck eyes”. But she does have a special closeness to the surf dragons and one day when she finds a dragon egg a bit different than usual and it hatches, the dragon does not appear to be a surf dragon. In fact it starts to grow at an alarming rate, protects her against any harm, talks to her and reveals the truth that has been kept secret from her for so long. Another fabulous story that I just loved, just shy of 30 pages making it long enough to really develop some character along with the plot. 5/5
19. The Dragaman’s Bride by Andy Duncan - It’s the 1930s, in the Virginia mountains and every so often when the sheriff’s men are around a few of the adolescents will go missing. At first this caused great concern but they all eventually came back after 6 weeks with tales of a hospital, being treated well, and fed well. The girls all had small scars as they’d had to have their appendix out. The boys, well, they had tiny scars a bit lower down, but after finding out everything worked fine they had no complaints. That is until Allie Harrell goes missing for 3 months causing the mountain folks to rile up against the sheriff and his men. Then one day Pearl Sunday follows an old Fire Dragaman down a hole and discovers a lot of answers. Another longer story just shy of 30 pages that combines some historical fiction with a shapeshifting giant/dragon that reads a lot like a folk tale. Really enjoyed this as well 5/5
Graphic Classics: Louisa May Alcott (Nicola)
Graphic Classics: Louisa May Alcott edited by Tom Pomplun
Graphic Classics, Vol. 18
Pages: 144
Ages: 13+
First Published: Nov. 2009
Rating: 4.5/5
First sentence:
It’s so dreadful to be poor.
Reason for Reading: I love this series and will eventually read them all.
Comments: I’ll start with my immediate response to finishing this volume, “Fantastic!”. This is the second full colour offering in the Graphic Classics series and it is a beautiful book. The artwork is absolutely stunning and each artist has worked in a style and palette perfectly suited for each individual story. Usually, in these collection there will be at least one illustrator’s rendition I’m not too fond of but I loved them all. The book includes 2 poems, an adaptation of the novel Little Women and 5 short stories. It’s been ages since I’ve read Little Women and, of course, this is a quick run through of the story but the essence of the story is there; the individual personalities of the girls shine through and this graphic adaption pays homage to the novel well, especially with the wonderful artwork by Anne Timmons.
The highlight of this volume, though, is the short stories. I have not read any of Louisa May Alcott’s stories before and was wondrously surprised at this ghastly Gothic collection. Four of them are fabulous 19th century sensationalist stories full of corpses, murder and madness while the other is a strange, yet delightful, morality tale for children. My favourite story out of the whole book was the last one, A Whisper in the Dark, which at a full 41 pages is a perfect example of the era’s Gothic story with romance, long dark corridors, strange noises in the night and madness, all wonderfully illustrated by Arnold Arre using a palette mostly of browns, going to greys and black to suit the mood.
Yet another fine volume in the series and a must read for fans of the series or Louisa May Alcott. And further research tells me we don’t have long to wait for Vol. 19 which is shooting for a May release date entitled “Western Classics”. I can hardly wait!
Love Begins In Winter: Five Stories (Caribousmom)
And then suddenly an arm of sunlight reached through a high window and opened its hand upon her face. I saw her eyes as clearly as if we had been pressed against one another in a very small space. - from Love Begins in Winter, page 41 -
Simon Van Booy’s five story collection, Love Begins in Winter, explores the lives of ordinary men and women who stumble upon love in all its many forms. From the lonely and grieving cellist who literally bumps into the woman who becomes his lover, to the young gypsy boy who lingers outside the home of two girls who have lost their parents … Van Booy’s characters take the reader on a journey of the heart. Threaded through these simple stories are the themes of self identity, grief, longing, and renewal.
Van Booy is a poet and a journalist who has lived in London, Wales, Greece, Paris and New York City – and these experiences are apparent in his writing. Lyrical and stylistic, Van Booy’s prose is a bit like listening to a complicated musical performance – at once beautiful and elusive. He sets his characters in places like Montreal in the winter, and in St. Peter’s square in Rome, and along the steep cliffs of Ireland – places that invite introspection.
One story in this collection baffled me. Tiger, Tiger is disjointed and confusing, a story about a pediatrician and her boyfriend which draws on childhood memories and behavior. It is the second piece in the collection which, had it not been for the wonderful title story, I might have put the book down. I am glad I did not.
My favorite story in the collection is the title story: Love Begins In Winter. From the first, the reader understands that Bruno Bonnet, a cellist, holds grief in his heart from the loss of his childhood friend. He carries her mitten in his pocket at each of his performances.
If only one of them recognized me, I could slip from the branches of my life, brush time from my clothes, and begin the long journey across the fields to the place where I first disappeared. A boy leaning crookedly on a gate, waiting for his best friend to get up. The back wheel of Anna’s bicycle still spinning. – from Love Begins in Winter, page 4 -
Van Booy captures the loneliness of the protagonist, even when Bruno is in the bustling city of Los Angeles.
Further north, approaching Hollywood – hot dog stands with neon arrows and faded paint; tattooed women with chopped black hair buying lip gloss at Hollywood pharmacies; a homeless man pushes a shopping cart full of shoes but he is barefoot. He keeps looking behind. His stomach hangs out. Sometime in the 1960s he was delivered into the trembling hands of his mother. If only it could happen again. Los Angeles is a place where dreams balance forever on the edge of coming true. A city on a cliff held fast by its own weight. – from Love Begins in Winter, page 50 -
It is only when the cellist meets Hannah, a woman who still mourns the loss of her brother, that he realizes he is no longer alone in the world. Love Begins in Winter is a touching story about the healing power of love.
I also was delighted with The Coming and Going of Strangers which revolves around a love sick gypsy boy named Walter living in Ireland.
Walter wheeled his hot, ticking motorbike up and down the muddy lane, breathing with the rhythm of a small, determined engine. Fists of breath hovered and then opened over each taken-step. He would soon be within sight of his beloved’s house. – from The Coming and Going of Strangers, page 135 -
In this tale about first love, Van Booy provides a wonderful surprise ending that lifts the story a notch above excellent.
In The City of Windy Trees, a character named George Frack receives a letter which completely changes the course of his life. I loved this story about the renewal of the human spirit through our connections with others.
Van Booy captures the essence of what makes us human, and how love can be found in the most unexpected places. Readers who love poetry will enjoy this collection of stories which often feel like long, narrative poems.
Highly recommended.
One More Year: Stories (Jill)
One More Year: Stories
By Sana Krasikov
Completed April 17, 2009
One More Year was a collection of short stories by new writer, Sana Krasikov. In this book, Krasikov introduced us to memorable characters through eight stories – each focused on Russians and their experiences in America and their homeland.
Each short story dropped the reader in the middle of the action, and after several pages, you get the idea of the story. Each story presented a conflict with love and life, and though it’s focused on Russians, their trials and tribulations are universal: Maia struggled with pleasing her teenage son, who she hadn’t seen in years, and was frustrated with the whole process. Anya had enough of the physical and verbal abuse of her husband, Ryan, and sought protection from his ways. And Regina, who traveled to Russia to see her old friend, and ended up judging her friend when Regina herself was making a similar mistake.
I found it helpful to look up some of the Russian towns and words on Google to help me understand the story better, but one could follow along without this knowledge. I also devoted one night to each story. Many reviewers complained that they tired of the stories, and I found reading one story per day made each one enjoyable.
One More Year is highly recommended to readers who enjoy short stories by women authors and to those who like learning about other cultures. I was reminded of Rose Tremain’s The Road Home when I read some of these stories. Taken in small doses, I found One More Year to be a wonderful depiction of hope and the pursuit for a better life. I look forward to Krasikov’s first novel, which she is working on. ( 
)
The Mechanics of Falling and Other Stories (Caribousmom)
Some people are too stupid to be afraid on a runaway horse. Some people seize up. Some people turn cold and clear inside, like Clay, and only start to shake afterward. Annie sails into trouble like she wants it to last forever, like she can skim off from fear only what’s precious. She almost never comes off. - from The Mechanics of Falling, page 90 -
Catherine Brady’s latest collection of stories explore the various ways individuals respond to the unexpected events in their lives - will they seize up? Turn cold inside? Face things head on? Will they get back up after a fall, or give in to it? By exploring the ordinary lives of her characters, Brady reveals the extraordinary turns of fate and the gradual insight which swells inside us all when life does not go as expected.
In Scissors, Paper, Rock Natalie, an aging photojournalist, resists conforming to the changes in her profession and her behavior is accommodated at work. This irritates a co-worker, Liz, until a seemingly minor incident illuminates a deeper issue and forces Liz to examine her own values and sensitivities in the light of another person’s crisis.
Natalie’s visits reminded her of the happy time when her children were small, and they taught her over and over how to let each day happen as it would, centered on the wobbly axis of their needs and not her own intentions. The sick days that disrupted her plans were also enticing pools of time in which she might spend an entire afternoon reading in bed with a feverishly hot child pressed against her or playing endless rounds of scissors, paper, rock, in which no strategy could defeat the illogic of the hierarchy that set paper over rock, an open hand over a fist. - from Scissors, Paper, Rock, page 78 -
One of my favorite stories of the collection - Much Have I Traveled - involves Nina, married twelve years to her college professor, who examines the base on which her marriage turns during a weekend visit with friends. Nina and Carter’s marriage reveals itself gradually not only to Nina, but to the reader as well. When Brady describes a pond clotted with algae, it becomes a metaphor for the evolution of Nina and Carter’s relationship which has begun to shift under the shadow of Carter’s newly diagnosed multiple sclerosis.
When the pond became clotted with algae scum a few years ago, the channel from the creek slowly filling in, Nina had accepted this next small loss, the pond growing murky the way her memories of summers here as a child had silted up over time. They couldn’t really afford to keep up the property that had come to her, and they could not pay to dredge the pond. But Carter started digging a new channel from the creek and enlisted their guests in daily labor, flinging stinking muck on the grass, scoring the earth with shovels, tearing rocks from the creek bed and carting them in wheelbarrows to line the raw trench. - from Much Have I Traveled, page 162 -
In all of Brady’s stunning and beautifully wrought stories, there is a shift or change either inside the protagonist or within the primary relationship - boyfriend/girlfriend, daughter/father, husband/wife. The internal struggles of the characters are often paralleled with external events or catalysts. In Seven Remedies, a middle-aged woman finds herself juggling work, major house repairs, and rebellious children - but it is her struggle to communicate with her Mexican housekeeper which grants her the most insight into her relationships and what her life is all about.
She cannot get used to the construction noise, the sound of blows raining down as men rebuild her house. The gods have poor aim too. There are only these bungled missives that may or may not encode ruin. Or maybe it’s that Laurel misjudges the peripheral cues she’s given. The kind of peripheral cues - right turn after the yellow house, second left after the light, there’s the bus stop - she is forced to rely on when she tries to talk with Mayda, nothing ever precisely located. There’s just stumbling on. - from Seven Remedies, page 189 -
Brady creates memorable and complex characters whose inner lives are rich with doubt, fear, faith, and conflict. The characters encounter such things as infidelity, violence, medical decline, issues of aging and single parenthood. A simple story becomes an intriguing look at deeper issues through Brady’s careful and wise prose. I often found myself re-reading certain passages, teasing through them just to listen to the perfect rhythm and finely tuned nuance.
Short story collections like The Mechanics of Falling are rare - the ideal blend of excellent writing and good story telling, giving the reader a wealth of detail about the characters while leaving room for interpretation of what will happen next. A good short story makes the reader think while pulling them deeper into the lives of the characters. Catherine Brady has written eleven outstanding stories which compliment each other perfectly.
Highly recommended.
See more reviews of this book through TLC Book Tours.
Catherine Brady has published two other collections: Curled In The Bed Of Love (co-winner of the 2002 Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction and a finalist for the 2003 Binghamton John Gardner Fiction Book Award.) AND The End of the Class War (a finalist for the 2000 Western States Book Award in Fiction).
The Mechanics of Falling and Other Stories (Literary Feline)
These days the staff treated Natalie like a family retainer who had faltered long ago but was kept on, given occasional tasks and told nostalgic lies about her continuing usefulness. [pg 63]
The Mechanics of Falling and Other Stories by Catherine Brady
University of Nevada Press, 2009
Fiction (short stories); 227 pgs
The Mechanics of Falling and Other Stories by Catherine Brady is made up of 11 short stories, set in or around the San Francisco area. As a former Northern Californian, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of familiarity when a place name was mentioned that I recognized.
I have come to appreciate short stories more and more in recent years. Once I realized that short stories are not supposed to be mini novels, I am better able to enjoy them for what they are. Short story writers have less time to hook the reader in, and that includes creating characters that the reader can connect with. Catherine Brady not only is able to do that, but her characters are fully realized. Just a few of the characters introduced in the book include Judith whose former boyfriend committed suicide and who is struggling with her current relationship; Cerise who wants more for her daughter than what she had, pregnant at a young age, forgoing her education, and working long hours to support she and her daughter; a once successful photographer who is no longer the shining star; a middle child struggling to care for her elderly parents, including a father who had been abusive during her childhood; and a woman whose life seems to be falling apart around her, including her house and her family.
The language within each story flows effortlessly, the words carefully placed and yet natural. The stories are full of turmoil and strife, but not overwhelmingly so. They are stories about life, many of which readers will be able to relate to in one way or another. Each of the characters faces difficulties and is struggling with the present or the past; many striving for something better or at least different. Catherine Brady has put together a short story collection that is well worth reading. I definitely will be looking for Catherine Brady’s other short story collections.
Check out Catherine Brady’s website for more information about the author and her books. She is also the author of Curled in the Bed of Love, The End of Class War, and Elizabeth Blackburn and the Story of Telomeres: Deciphering the Ends of DNA.
Unaccustomed Earth (Caribousmom)
It was like the painting they’d first looked at together in London, the small mirror at the back revealing more than the room at first appeared to contain. - from Only Goodness, page 157 -
Jhumpa Lahiri’s collection of short stories - Unaccustomed Earth - reveals more about the relationships between its multi-faceted characters than first appears. Each story seems initially simple and then evolves into a wonderful look at how relationships between husband/wife, brother/sister, girlfriend/boyfriend, and parent/child evolve over time.
In the title story, a young Bengali woman named Ruma relocates to Seattle with her American husband and son as they look forward to the birth of their second child. A visit from Ruma’s father stirs memories of her deceased mother, and forces her to consider her duty as daughter to invite her father to live with her.
Ruma feared that her father would become a responsibility, an added demand, continuously present in a way she was no longer used to. It would mean an end to the family she’d created on her own: herself and Adam and Akash, and the second child that would come in January, conceived just before the move. - from Unaccustomed Earth, page 7 -
But Ruma is unaware that her father has begun to move forward after the loss of his wife, and treasures his new found independence.
He stared out the window at a shelf of clouds that was like miles and miles of densely packed snow one could walk across. The sight filled him with peace; this was his life now, the ability to do as he pleased, the responsibility of his family absent just as all else was absent from the unmolested vision of the clouds. - from Unaccustomed Earth, page 8 -
During his visit, Ruma’s father connects unexpectedly with his grandson, and plants a garden for Ruma. The visit unfolds in an unpredictable way, bringing a deeper understanding of both father and daughter; and opening a door to a new relationship.
This simple first story, rich in detail and expertly crafted, introduces the stories to come with the common theme of growing and changing relationships over time and how these changed relationships accommodate, or not, the needs of the characters. Each story involves a Bengali family or individual who has immigrated to America. In some stories, the characters are drawn back to India; in others they find a place for themselves in America; in still others, they are drawn to seek their future far from either place. The stories are also about loss - the loss of innocence, or intimacy, or love, or even life itself.
But death too, had the power to awe, she knew this now - that a human being could be alive for years and years, thinking and breathing, full of a million worries and feelings and thoughts, taking up space in the world, and then, in an instant, become absent, invisible. - from Unaccustomed Earth, page 46 -
The final three stories of the collection - interconnected by character - are actually more of a novella. In Once in a Lifetime, Hema recollects her childhood in Massachusetts when she meets Kaushik, the son of her parent’s close friends. Hema speaks directly to Kaushik in the narration, a technique which while unsettling, serves to bind the two characters together. The second story titled Year’s End, picks up the narration years later from Kaushik’s point of view as he deals with his father’s second marriage after the untimely death of Kaushik’s mother. In the final story titled Coming Ashore, Hema and Kaushik meet unexpectedly in Rome only weeks before Hema is to become married via an arranged marriage in India. These stories once again emphasize the growth of the characters and how this growth impacts and changes their relationship to each other. Lahiri also examines the cultural conflict between America and India as it reflects on the characters’ decisions.
Lahiri is a gifted storyteller, one who writes effortlessly and ties together complex themes with ease. Her writing is often simple, yet beautifully constructed with rich detail and in-depth characterizations. Readers who might shy away from short stories will find themselves delighted with Lahiri’s ability to make them feel connected to her characters. She compacts their lives in such a way that the reader feels as though they have spent a longer time with them - feeling their joys, sadness, regrets and hopes in rare depth.
Highly recommended.
The Tales of Beedle the Bard (Nicola)
The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling
A companion to the Harry Potter series
Pages: 109
First Published: Dec. 2008
Genre: YA, fantasy
Rating: 3.5/5
First sentence:
The Tales of Beedle the Bard is a collection of stories written for young wizards and witches.
Comments: A very short collection of five short fairy tales that are a part of the Harry Potter universe. They have no connection to Harry Potter except that these tales would have been told to children in his world as the first sentence indicates. The stories are cute, nothing spectacular, but certainly cute and well-worth a read for Potter fans. The best part of the book is that each tale is followed by a Commentary chapter by Professor Dumbledore. These are probably more interesting that the tales themselves. My favourite of the tales was The Warlock’s Hairy Heart, probably because it stood apart from the others because it is dark and gruesome while the others are light-hearted.
Overall, a cute little book, nothing terribly special, but certainly a fun read for fans. Younger children will appreciate the fairy tales while older children/teens will be more inclined to appreciate the Dumbledore commentary. If you are a Harry Potter fan, you won’t regret the hour or so it takes to read the book.
tales from outer suburbia (Nicola)
tales from outer suburbia by shaun tan
Pages: 95
First Published: Oct. 28 (Can), Feb. 1 (USA)
Genre: short stories, adult picture book, YA
Rating: 4/5
First sentence:
when I was a kid, there was a big water buffalo living in the vacant lot at the end of our street, the one with the grass no one ever mowed.
Comments: This is a beautiful, picture book of short stories. The publisher promotes it as juvenile literature but I found the stories immensely deep and could not imagine a child appreciating the full depth of each story. Some stories are one page long, some are several pages long but each is profusely illustrated in full colour by the fantastic shaun tan. The illustrations are not just there to illustrate the story but are an integral part of the story, in fact one story has several pages of wordless illustration to propel the story along. Some of the stories are about children but certainly not all of them, one for example is about a couple about to be married.
I enjoyed each story but would classify them as strange and quirky. Each tells a rather bizarre tale that the reader finds themselves looking deeper for the message or reading between the lines for what is really happening. The artwork is amazing and there are several spreads of collage art, which as a practitioner myself, I found highly appealing. I would recommend this to those who enjoy bizarre short stories and those who enjoy graphic novels. Even though this is not a graphic novel, I found the same elements present of text and illustrations working hand in hand. Really, a delightful quick read.
Broccoli and Other Tales of Food and Love (3M)
Click for info
Did you know it was Jewish Book Month? I didn’t, but when I found out, I wanted to read a title from a Jewish author. Lara Vapnyar won the 2004 Goldberg Prize for Jewish Fiction by Emerging Writers for There Are Jews in my House. She emigrated from Russia in 1994 when she was in her early twenties and now lives in New York.
Broccoli and Other Tales of Food and Love would be perfect for someone participating in the Well-Seasoned Reader Challenge. There are six short stories in the book, and they all have to do with food. There are even recipes for some Russian dishes in the back.
“A Bunch of Broccoli on the Third Shelf” tells the story of Nina, a Russian immigrant who loves to shop for vegetables but rarely cooks them.
“Borscht” is a sad story about two people who come to the States to earn money for their families, but then their loved ones are indifferent to them going back home to Russia.
“Puffed Rice and Meatballs” is about Katya’s memory of a childhood incident that she refuses to share with her American boyfriend.
In “Salad Olivier,” a mother tries to find her daughter a boyfriend — but he must be Russian.
“Luda and Milena” was my favorite story. Two older women fighting over an older man with their cooking.
In “Slicing Sauteed Spinach,” Ruzena lets her lover choose her food for her. Until…
I really enjoyed this collection, but especially “Luda and Milena.” It was a pure gem. I now plan on reading There Are Jews in My House for the Jewish Literature Challenge.
2008, 148 pp.
(4/5)
Imaginary Friends (Literary Feline)
Imaginary Friends edited by John Marco & Martin H. Greenberg
DAW, 2008
Fiction/Fantasy (SS); 304 pgs
The title was what first captured my eye. I pulled the book off the shelf, and it did not take me long to add it to my purchases that day. My curiosity got the better of me and I began reading the introduction as I waited in line to check out.
Imaginary friends have touched many of our lives. Perhaps even you had one. They were our sidekicks and sometimes our heroes. They got us into trouble just as much as they kept us out of it. They kept us company and understood what we were going through. They were our best friends and our allies when we needed them most.
John Marco, fantasy author, had considered writing a research paper on imaginary friends for a human development class while in college. Unfortunately, he would soon discover, there was not a lot of research out there available, and so he had to put that idea aside for the time being. Years later he was asked to be a part of putting this little collection of stories together. What an interesting idea, I thought. Childhood fantasies and imaginary friends are topics that fascinate me. Perhaps in part because, like John Marco, I once had an imaginary friend too.
Imaginary Friends is an anthology of short stories by a variety of authors, each story taking the concept of the imaginary friend and weaving it into a fantastical tale—some set in far off worlds and others right here in our own. Anne Bishop’s name is the first that popped off the back cover at me when I initially picked up the book. As a fan of her Black Jewels world, I was anxious to read her contribution to the book. The twelve other authors whose stories you will find among the pages of the collection are Rick Hautala, Jean Rabe, Juliet McKenna, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Kristine Britain, Donald J. Bingle, Tim Waggoner, Paul Genesse, Russell Davis, Bill Fawcett, Fiona Patton, and Jim C. Hines.
I jotted notes down for each story as I read, and one concept that repeatedly appeared with nearly every story was a variation of the phrase, “Everything is not always what it appears to be.” Each of the stories in the collection are imaginative and thoughtful. Some are funny while others more serious. There’s the boy and his dragon who slay pirates; a prisoner trapped in a tower who is only able to look out at the world through a reflection in a mirror; a beggar and his dog just looking for their next meal; a young girl with a gift who must endure a difficult trial; a bar bet gone awry; a writer whose lost her way and needs a little help from a friend to get back on the right path; the man who professed his innocence right up until the end; a grieving father’s desperation; a young boy coping with the upheaval in his family; a lonely man’s ramblings and a postal worker caught in his spell; an imaginary friend reunites with his grown child during a tense moment in time; a man whose family is caught up in illusions; and a haunting story about Death and his tie to one boy and his mother.
My favorite of the stories included the first story in the collection, Rick Hautala’s “A Good Day for Dragons.” My initial thought upon finishing the story was what a wonderful bedtime story this would make. It reminded me of my own childhood adventures as I chased down drug dealers and mobsters with my imaginary partner by my side.
I was also quite taken with Anne Bishop’s story, “Stands a God Within the Shadows.” Whenever I read anything by this author, I quickly lose myself in the world she has created and it was no different with this particular story, which, while short, still enthralled me in its spell. A lonely person is trapped in a tower, unable to look out directly on the world outside her window, with only a figure in the shadow for comfort and conversation. The protagonist’s strength and resilience are what especially make this story stand out in an otherwise seemingly hopeless situation.
Paul Genesse’s “Greg and Eli” was a story that touched my heart. It is the story of a young boy who finds his entire life uprooted when his mother and father move to a small town in Nevada after the death of his unborn baby brother. His parents are too wrapped up in their own agony and little Greg finds himself having to face the world outside on his own, including a bunch of bullies.
Another favorite of mine was the story of the young soldier in Iraq who called upon his childhood imaginary friend, Thumper, as gunfire erupted around him in Bill Fawcett’s “The Big Exit.” It was a story of courage and trust. And yes, I did get a little choked up at the end.
The imagination is an amazing thing and Imaginary Friends brings out some of the best of that. Not one story disappointed me.
Rating: 
(Very Good)
Months and Seasons (Caribousmom)
These were adults with too much time on their hands. And didn’t they know that the projector, sound system, and speakers were all Japanese? Their dancing shoes were probably from Mexico or China. America’s jobs were going elsewhere and Americans were just dressing up and playing like kids. Gas prices were high. General Motors was going broke and laying off thousands - and these people were dancing. -From Months and Seasons, Dracula Slinks Into the Night, page 14-
Christopher Meeks stories are full of people who push through the obstacles of life and overcome their deepest fears in order to find joy in living. Months and Seasons, Meeks second collection of short stories is a delightful book which introduces the reader to characters who are ordinary, but in their ordinariness remind us of the common threads which bind people together.
In the story Catalina, we meet a man who is traveling to Catalina via a catamaran. He is grieving the loss of his son.
For the full hour-ride, Daunus sat outside, looking rearward into the gray wake. At one point, a white baseball cap landed in the wake. Someone lost it. His chest felt constricted. Breathing was hard. he’d given this country everything, including now his son. -From Months and Seasons, Catalina, page 37-
He meets a woman on the boat who optimistically tells him that Catalina is ‘like a persimmon - unexpected fruit on a naked tree.‘ The man’s discovery that there is still beauty in the world, despite his devastating loss, allows him to go forward into his life. This simple story is an example of the hope which Meeks infuses into all of his stories as his characters confront their fears of aging, mortality and the sometimes insurmountable challenges of relationships.
In some stories, the characters must battle their own inner demons to make sense of the world and their place within it. In A Shoe Falls, Max must evaluate his marriage to Alice - a woman who clutters the house with her shoes. He wakes from a dream about owing a cab driver $150,000 and thinks:
…if the ride was getting so expensive and monotonous, why hadn’t he asked the cab driver to let him off? Why hadn’t he done more than sit there, bouncing in the back seat pondering his sanity? He was a passive man, goddamn it. -From Months and Seasons, A Shoe Falls, page 72-
Max’s inner journey in this story looks at how one man (who could be any of us) examines his “dreams” in the face of his reality. Will he be able to overcome regret for what he has does not have in order to accept what is?
My favorite story of the collection is Breaking Water - which opens with a supermodel awakening from open heart surgery. Merrill appears to have lost everything of importance in her life - her career as a model, her marriage, and her vision of who she is. She must begin again and turns toward art school as a possible answer.
She also couldn’t draw knees well, or a cat’s mysterious stare, or the hope she had had on her wedding day at the Unitarian Church where the minister’s smile had stretched exactly from pupil to pupil - proportions as perfect as Michelangelo. Merrill, however, could draw losing. It was a mere scratch through a face or a line down the middle of one’s chest. -From Months and Seasons, Breaking Water, page 136-
Merrill’s story is one of falling down and getting back up again; of finding hope in the midst of despair. It touched me.
And this is perhaps the strength of the collection - in showing us the lives of these ordinary characters, Meeks exposes what is human in all of us. Who has never felt life was not living up to expectation? Or looked at the years unraveling and wondered if we had the time to do everything we wanted? Or experienced a loss so big that hope seemed irretrievable? Or found our fears so encompassing we felt paralyzed to overcome them? Meeks explores these ideas with humor and sensitivity, and creates a collection hard to put down.
For those readers who love short stories, Months and Seasons is a must read. Highly recommended.
Meeks’ is also the author of a previous collection - The Middle-Aged Man and the Sea.
At the end of Months and Seasons, Meeks includes an excerpt of a new book he is working on…a novel-in-stories titled The Brightest Moon of the Century. I read this excerpt and was hungry for more. Meeks characterization of the title character, Edward, reminded me of John Irving’s Garp. I have added The Brightest Moon of the Century to my watch list!
Barnacle Love (Teddy Rose)
Beautiful and Haunting Story of an Portuguese Immigrant Family
Manuel was sent off to fish for his Portuguese village, as all other men and boys do. But he wanted more for his life, and wanted to get away from this life forever. This is the story about him and his family’s immigrant experience in Canada.
This is said to be a book of linked stories, however, I read it as a novel. I loved the breath taking descriptions of both Portugal and Canada. Anthony De Sa paints a beautiful, at times haunting portrait of the immigrant experience. With sumptuous prose, he tells of the ups and downs of the Rebelo family. The only thing that I found difficult, is when the narrator changes from father to son, it took me a little while to figure out that the son took over.
That said, I recommend this beautiful small book. In this case, good things do come in small packages!
4/5
Publication Date in Canada: March 18, 2008