The Blue Fairy's Bookshelf

Once upon a time, in late 1995, I was in a bookstore.  Probably a Borders. And I saw a book.  Not just any book, THE book I had heard about, waited for, anticipated.  I ran over, seized a copy off the shelf, and crushed it to my chest, proceeding to do a rather ridiculous happy dance there in the store. As it turned out, that book was not worth my eager enthusiasm, as the quality was somewhat mixed, shall we say.  (Shame on you, Weis and Hickman, for toying with my affections!) But the memory of that feeling remains.  Even today, now that I get my new hardcovers from the library, and only buy books that I've read at least once, the first time I see a book I've been anticipating is a thrill. Yes, even when I don't read it right away.  I occasionally check in at Barnes and Noble to look longingly at the new editions that I'll read when they appear at the library. When the book I'm on the lookout for appears on the New Releases shelf, I feel an ...

Vatta's War Series, Books 1-4 Trading in Danger, Marque and Reprisal , Engaging the Enemy , Command Decision Elizabeth Moon, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007 I've read the first four books in Moon's sci-fi series now, and they're each quite short, almost bite-size, but enjoyable.  The premise is fairly straightforward: Kylara Vatta, daughter of a major trading family and military student, is thrown into leadership when her family is attacked and interstellar communication disrupted by unknown forces. Trading in Danger / Marque and Reprisal : 4 Stars and 3 Stars, Respectively I noticed that in the first book, the main character is barely described.  What she's wearing is mentioned, as far as if it's a uniform or casual, but not what she looks like.  And it doesn't hurt the book in the least.  I only noticed because she thinks at one point, that another character is obviously (racially) from the same part of her world as she is.  Much as I like Honor Har...

Birds of Prey: Of Like Minds , Birds of Prey: Sensei and Student Gail Simone, Ed Benes, et. al.  2003-2004, 2004 For the past couple weeks, more than anything else, I've been reading comic books. All kinds of comic books: back issues, new issues, specials, one-shots, and graphic novels.  These two graphic novels collect the beginning of Gail Simone's initial run with Birds of Prey (she recently returned to the relaunched book, but I'm not sold on the new run quite yet.)  Birds of Prey , of course, gets special love just for being an all-female superhero team (most of the time), but also I really like each of the main characters. (Character FYI for non-comic readers: Oracle: Barbara Gordon, formerly Batgirl.  Now paralyzed from the waist down and confined to a wheelchair, she maintains her connections with the superhero community and her vast computer network to become an information broker and coordinates the team. Black Canary: Dinah Lance, daughter...

Second in a series.  Read the first post here . I love it when books include small concrete details, such that I learn something independent of the story.  This is more prevalent, and more universally enjoyed, in children's literature, but for me occurs elsewhere as well.  Extra points if the activity or knowledge is useful in either historical recreation, or otherwise comes up in real life. Some examples: I only vaguely remember the book Five Children and It , but I remember that the kids had a trick to make themselves wake up at any particular time they chose.  I couldn't get this to work for me as a kid, but it ensured that I never forgot the book. Similarly, I don't recall being able to make maple candy as described in Little House in the Big Woods , but I may have ruined some maple syrup trying. A YA historical fiction novel called Quest for a Maid I mostly remember for the main character using whole cloves for toothache. Another YA book I love...

The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian Robert E Howard (Compilation published 2002, stories written 1932-1933) Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing. - "The Tower of the Elephant" Fantastic.  I'm so delighted I got around to reading these, and I'm actually glad I didn't do it sooner.  There are certain styles, especially dated styles, that I've grown to enjoy over time.  This book contains the first thirteen Conan stories, in the order they were (probably) written.  I don't know that I would have been able to understand or appreciate the prose and the undercurrents of these stories if I were hung up on the scantily-clad females. There are plenty of such women, but I find it actually honest, on a certain level.  Howard has created a complicated war-torn world, in which plenty of its fairer denizens are used as pawns by the men around them.  Many ...

This is the first in a trial series of pieces from a more personal point of view, each focusing on a subject related to reading or books, but not necessarily on one specific work.  Comments are encouraged! I've been thinking recently about the controversy surrounding the Twilight novels.  You can slam them for being badly written, or for warping the archetype of the vampire, but some of the more interesting commentaries I read were from people worried about the message absorbed by young girls.  Bella is a doormat, and apparently the later books are even more troubling in their messages about love: Simmons, an educator who specializes in raising girls' self-esteem, lays out what parents and teachers are up against. "Among the cringe-worthy morals of this story: When you're in love, the only thing that matters in life is your man. If you get dumped, your life is over, so feel free to act suicidal to get him back. Even if he tells you he never wants to see you a...

Lud-in-the-Mist Hope Mirrlees, 1926 (Some spoilerish things included today.) I don't know quite what I expected when I opened this book, but it was surely not what I got. I picked up this one for a dual reason: it was reprinted and lauded in the Fantasy Masterworks series, and it was written by a woman in 1926.  Worth looking into, I figured. The synopsis of the premise said that “the law-abiding inhabitants of Lud-in-the-Mist... must contend with the influx of fairy fruit from the bordering Land of Faerie.”   So I thought maybe there would be politics, diplomacy, smuggling, etc. I was reading quickly at the time, and I thought maybe they might treat Faerie as a peculiar neighboring country. No such luck.  What I got was a truly strange novel that seems to be about the inadvisability of legislating hallucinogens.  Which, whatever you think about the subject, was not quite what I was expecting.  It's not badly written, for the most p...