Blue-Footed Musings

Both of these books were gifts from a dear friend. I hope she knows how much I appreciate the books that she sends my way.

The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale
Grade: A

The Goose Girl is a retelling of the Grimm tale with the same name. I’m not familiar with that tale, but I’m guessing Hale did a good job with it. It’s a beautiful story, well told. Its one weakness is that the princess’s victory is ultimately won through the use of a supernatural power. I think I might have liked it better if she won just because she was the stronger character. But that’s not how the story goes, as they say, so I suppose I shouldn’t complain. All in all, this is the best fantasy novel I’ve read in a long time.

The Mysterious Benedict Society
Grade: B+

The Mysterious Benedict Society came so close to being a favorite! I love the setup: children take a test, the purpose of which they do not yet understand. Four of them pass the test, each for a different reason. Reynie is a brilliant solver of puzzles, Sticky has a photographic memory, Kate uses tools and her circus training to achieve her goals, and Constance is stubborn as a mule. Together they would make a formidable team, says Mr. Benedict, the man behind the test, so how about joining together to save the world?

I think the book does a great job of showing how there are many different types of talents, and it encourages independent thinking. But in order to teach those lessons, you have to keep the story believable. That means keeping the details as real as possible, so that we might not pause to say, “But would that really happen?” There were several points where I doubted the details, and then at the end, the author pushed my credulity beyond its limits. I simply could not believe it.

And so my final judgment on this book is that it had enormous potential, and though it did not quite live up to its potential, some of the characters and situations made it worth reading anyway.

Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren
Grade: B

I used to own a different copy of this book. I don’t know what happened to it. I don’t remember ever reading it either, and that’s very strange. When I saw a copy at the Westerly book sale, I couldn’t resist picking it up.

Pippi Longstocking is a nine-year-old child who lives by herself. Her mother is dead and her father is missing. She has a bag of gold and plenty of determination, and so she continues to live in her old house, waiting for her father to return. In the meantime, she makes friends with the children nextdoor and introduces them to pastimes like rounding the kitchen without touching the floor, hunting through the neighborhood for discarded items, and climbing down the inside of a hollow tree.

I can see the appeal that Pippi would have for children. She ignores the rules, couldn’t care less about education, has complete independence, and always likes to play. What child wouldn’t want to live nextdoor to Pippi Longstocking?

But Pippi can barely read. She’s rude. And she does dangerous things, like playing with guns and dancing so close to an inferno that she gets burned. She’s not, in my adult opinion, a good companion for children. The book is also episodic, jumping from one short tale to the next. Some of the tales, such as “Pippi Entertains Two Burglars,” are entertaining, but most of them are lackluster.

Perhaps it was better in the original Swedish. Should I ever learn to read Swedish, I will let you know, but the English version is going to the Chopping Block.

Here’s a look at four more books I read during the last few months.

The Reluctant Tuscan: How I Discovered My Inner Italian by Phil Doran
Grade: A-

In The Reluctant Tuscan, a Hollywood writer is maneuvered by his wife into relocating to Tuscany and renovating an ancient farmhouse, a story that is supposedly autobiographical.

On the back cover, Doran is compared to Frances Mayes and Dave Barry. I’ve never read Mayes and I’m not a huge Dave Barry fan so I can’t speak to that. However, I thought this book was very similar to A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle. Like Mayle, Doran makes light fun of the locals, sprinkles the text with words from the local tongue, and goes on and on about the local food, except he does it in Italy instead of France. It’s amusing, but then Doran makes a giant misstep toward the end. One last conflict was necessary to finally bring the main character around, but the conflict wasn’t believable and neither was the character’s turnaround.

The ending wasn’t great, but I don’t think it was enough to ruin the whole book, so I still recommend it. I will probably read it again if I ever decide to visit Tuscany.

Get That Novel Started (and Keep It Going ’til You Finish) by Donna Levin
Grade: B

I read through this book quickly. I thought it was OK but not overly inspirational, and its effectiveness was certainly questionable, as I still have not started that novel.

The Lost Continent by Bill Bryson
Grade: C

I’ve read several books by Bill Bryson. Most of them have been tolerable. Some of them have been good. This one was neither. Bryson traveled across the United States looking for a perfect American town. What he found always seemed to disappoint him. He spent too much time alone, ate bad food, and drank too much. It was depressing to read about. I was also insulted by the way he treated Connecticut and Rhode Island, and it made me doubt his opinion about other locations. I would not recommend this book, not even to fans of Bill Bryson.

Death in Cyprus by M.M. Kaye
Grade: B-

In this mystery, the young Amanda Derington travels to Cyprus and is nearly killed en route. What was meant to appear as an accident is clearly not, and once on the island, she finds out that her life is still in danger.

I had the oddest problem with this book. I couldn’t keep track of who was who. I mean, “Captain the Hon. Tobias John Allerton Gates” is hard enough to remember, but if you then call him “Toby” sometimes and “Captain Gates” other times, you risk confusing the reader. And if you do it with all of your characters, you’ll definitely confuse me.

Not that I would let name confusion turn me off to a good book. I gave this book every chance to win me over. I like a good romantic mystery. This one was just a little too dated, I think. True, I often enjoy the datedness of Agatha Christie’s novels because it makes me feel nostalgic for faraway places and times, but M.M. Kaye is not Christie, and Death in Cyprus didn’t make me feel much of anything.

Now the big question: am I persistent enough to continue reading Kaye’s “Death in…” books or have I had enough? Stay tuned.

It took all day, but I finally finished posting about all of the books I have read recently. Those posts will appear here and there over the next week or so. I’m also happy to note that I have already read and reviewed more books this year than last. Go me!