Incline Our Hearts by A.N. Wilson

This is a well written and interesting novel, written in the first person. Unfortunately the protagonist has a very unattractive way of viewing the world and other people, so it is not always a fun experience to read. There were a few disliked-by-the-protagonist characters I felt were probably quite attractive people in real life. Apparently there are thinly disguised real people in this novel, which is not autobiographical but has a lot of elements from the author's life. Growing up middle class and male in Britain in the forties and fifties seems to have been an endurance test with not many moments of joy.

The increasing maturity and understanding of the protagonist is well done. He is twelve at the start, and as he gets older we get an increasingly nuanced view of his relatives. Interestingly, the objections made in the novel to a fictional biography of a fictional character mirror some of the objections made to Wilson's own biography of C.S. Lewis, published 2 years later.

Incline our Hearts first published 1988

Grantville Gazette III & Clifford Simak

I like the 1632 series a lot, especially the way that the main novels set up a world and cover the important events, and then you have the Grantville Gazette short story collections showing what else was happening to some other people at the same time. These stories are of variable literary quality - a definite thumbs down to Hobson's Choice, written in imitation seventeenth century prose - but really increase the richness of the world as a whole. People who like every loose end tied up eventually, this is your series! I don't myself, but still love the way that you can spend time with people not important enough for even a mention in the main books.

I particularly enjoyed Pastor Kastenmayer's Revenge, all about finding husbands for a group of refugee girls - and increasing the number of Lutherans. Also Hell Fighters and If the Demons Will Sleep, where we see librarians and nurses and monks dealing with a changing world, and meet a family living around Post Traumatic Stress Disorder quite successfully - if you accept their definition of success, of course, which at least one nurse is not willing to do.

I read some science fiction short stories by Clifford Simak collected in The Civilisation Game - though an excellent writer, he mostly doesn't read all that well now as his SF future had changes in technology, but no changes to society. This reads very oddly when there are women in his stories, and just as much so when you read a whole story with a large cast of male only characters in a workplace.

Grantville Gazette III first published 2007; stories in The Civilisation Game first published 1939 to 1961.

Atmosphere: Gellis, Spider-Man and Vande Velde

I was trying to work out what was wrong with Overstars Mail: Imperial Challenge by Roberta Gellis; which is a perfectly competent adventure cum mystery story set in an future interstellar empire on one level, yet totally unsatisfactory on every other level. Then I read a quote by C.S. Lewis about the importance of atmosphere in book - world building they call it now I think. Gellis's book is completely devoid of anything that would tell you what sort of society you are reading about. You could be in any age or time, if the action wasn't set on a spaceship; which has obviously been chosen to give a small group of suspects. Not really worth reading.

The Best of Spider-Man: Vol 2 disconcertingly has 3 different artists with very different artistic styles in the one volume, which somewhat ruins the atmosphere. The second artist could not bring himself to draw wrinkles, so Aunt May's supposedly elderly face looks like she has been face lifted and botoxed till her face is a skull with skin stretched over it, yuck. Apart from thinking that choosing today's emotions as your major guide to life's big decisions is bound to lead to tears and regrets, I quite enjoyed it.

Ghost of a Hanged Man by Vivian Vande Velde is a children's ghost story with an abundance of excellently done atmosphere, both as a ghost story and as a picture of a place and time. There is nothing unusual about the story, except that it is so well done it is worth reading.

Overstars Mail first published 2004, The Best of Spider-Man in 2003 (I am not sure whether it the year's best for 2002 or 2003), Ghost of Hanged man first published 1998

Robb, Lackey & Koontz

Between travel, visitors, illness and other domestic dramas I am well behind in this journal. So I shall dispose of the bad and the so-so in this entry.

Earlier I read a JD Robb novel, the sixth in a detective series. I thought there would be character development over the series, but having tried the fifth and ninth I now know the plot of every one. Dallas is assigned a case, her extremely wealthy husband is involved (his building is blown up, there is a body in his house etc), they have hot sex often, lots more people die before the murderer/s are discovered and caught, the dead will include someone with a personal connection, and nobody changes or learns anything. A wonderful series for those who like to read the same book over and over.

Joust by Mercedes Lackey reads like a YA book, apart from a few mild references to adultery and prostitution. It is loosely based on Ancient Egypt, just add dragons. If you have nothing better to read it will do, but it is a teenage paint-by-numbers fantasy, obviously the beginning of a series.

I tried another book by the very popular Dean Koontz, Forever Odd, but gave up when it took Odd Thomas 2 pages to walk down a street for no plot or literary reason that I could see in the next 3 chapters. Koontz takes so long to get to the point of anything! And the narrator's gloominess is wearing even if he has excellent reasons to be gloomy.

Ceremony in Death first published 1997, Loyalty in Death 1999, Joust 2003, Forever Odd 2005.

Impossible Odds by Dave Duncan

Another fun stand-alone Blades tale, this time a journey to Duncan's version of Ruritania. More of the tale than usual is taken up with the tale of a main character before the Blades arrive, and the stakes are lower, as all that will happen if they lose is they will die.

I enjoyed Paragon Lost more, but this will re-read well I think. I always enjoy reading Duncan, and I am impressed at his ability to give each world he writes about quite a different feel; even his prose style seems to change a little for each separate world.

Impossible Odds first published 2003

Century by Sarah Singleton

This book is definitely worth reading. It is very well written and structured, and I found I was interested all the way through. The plot is not all that original for frequent fantasy and SF readers, but this book is so well done it doesn't matter. Mercy can see ghosts, but whose explanation and solution should she believe, and can she choose? And this isn't really a ghost story.

Century first published 2005

Final Witness by Simon Tolkien

A competent detective cum courtroom drama novel. The characterisation is very clear, and even if the police are sure they have the right person, the author makes you wonder mostly by showing how people are acting and reacting. Is the teenage boy making it up or reporting it as it was?

Final Witness first published 2002

Night of the Wolf by Alice Borchardt

This was a good book on the whole. I found the ending, how they got out of a tight situation, way too duex ex machina, but that was the only big flaw. I also thought there were more detailed sex scenes than needed, but probably most people wouldn't. And to my surprise, I didn't skip the fight scenes! Detailed accounts of fights usually bore me.

Night of the Wolf is part of a series, and although the second written it is the first in time, being set in the time of Julius Caesar. I liked the characters, and I liked the way Borchardt didn't make the historical setting overwhelming, it was just interestingly there and no more was said than we needed to know. A very competent writer.

Night of the Wolf first published 1999

Paragon Lost by Dave Duncan

Dave Duncan is aways fun to read, and this book was no exception. I enjoyed this book, which had a strong plot, characters I had no trouble telling apart, politics and a hero too clever for his own good. Also Durendal makes a cameo appearance for fans of the Kings Blades trilogy, though this is a self contained book set a decade later.

Duncan is excellent at magic systems, and I like the way magic is just part of the society, not especially feared or desired, just there like death and taxes. Even when abused by rulers, as naturally it would be on occasion, it is not magic that is feared but the ruler - in this case a mad Czar, based on Ivan the Terrible. The long journey to the mad Czar is interesting all the way.

Paragon Lost first published 2002

Monette, McCrumb and Goudge

Foggy Mountain Breakdown by Sharon McCrumb is a collection of short stories, and well worth reading. The first story is very striking, and there is a Rattler story for Rattler fans, but no Norah Bonesteel, alas. There are Appalachian stories and straight detective stories, and humorous stories too. A few stories are not that interesting, in the usual way of collections.

Don't read Melusine by Sarah Monette unless you like detailed accounts of pain, anguish, betrayal, and violent sex. And other horrible events and people, though some of them can't help themselves because of their dreadful past, or at least that's the excuse. I only managed a few chapters before giving up, though I did check out the end. I requested this book at the library because I read a favourable review, but was doubtful as soon as I saw it. Pretty boy covers rarely presage books I enjoy.

Immediate Family by Eileen Goudge starts with four friends at a college reunion, aged 36, all with sufficient money and fulfilling enough jobs to give lots of attention to their not very interesting emotional lives. One is married, one is divorced with a child, one has a boyfriend and the single one decides to have a child without a partner. By the end of the book there has been one divorce and one healthy baby, two breakups and two deaths (a parent and a still born child), one father found and three weddings - I probably missed a few other events in this action packed 18 months as I got bored and skipped more than half the book. This book reminded me why I so rarely read straight romances (as in books where the whole focus is on finding a bloke to sweep you off your feet).

Foggy Mountain Breakdown first published 1998, Melusine in 2005, Immediate Family in 2006.

We'll Meet Again by Hilary Green

This a pleasant enough book, if you have nothing better to read. It is set during World War II, and finding out about the people who did the radio communication and coding of messages for and from agents behind enemy lines was quite interesting, as were the characters. I found the events of the last quarter a bit unrealistic - the main character seems rather good at persuading higher authority to do things her way - which reduced my enjoyment of the book.

We'll Meet Again first published 2005

Mystic and Rider by Sharon Shinn

Sharon Shinn is always interesting to read, though sometimes I don't like her endings. She does very interesting societies and characters, and her villains are real people too. But in spite of there nearly always being a political plot line, she writes the climax of the novel as the climax of the romance plot line, which is occasionally not strong enough for the book as a whole. (I'm thinking of Wrapt in Crystal here)

So I read this one and was fascinated as usual by her story, but a bit apprehensive about the ending. However, it was quite satisfactory, as this is part of a series, so the romance bit ended this book nicely with the political plot line obviously to be continued in next volume. This was a good strong fantasy novel, as in enjoyable and well thought out rather than anything strikingly new, highly recommended if you like fantasy or romance.

Mystic and Rider first published 2005

The Sighting by Jan Mark

This is not science fiction or fantasy, even though the cover and title make perfect sense once you have read the book. UFO's do get a mention however. Jan Mark is a very good children's writer, with interesting plots and well differentiated characters and no facile answers to problems.

In this story 2 boys, with help from other family members, attempt to find out why their grandparent's generation became what one character refers to as a "thermonuclear family" - something happened and the brothers and sister never spoke to each other again. I enjoyed this book.

The Sighting first published 1997

The Angel and the Sword by Cecelia Holland

This is marketed as a historical novel, because as it is set in the ninth century Holland can pass off the fantasy elements as theology. An angel is protecting the main character, Ragna, because she is the last person descended from the line of the rightful kings of Spain; or possibly because her mother has power over the supernatural.

This is a well written novel, with a decent plot, but I just didn't find it very interesting. Ragna didn't seem a very consistent character to me, even taking into account her need for disguise.

The Angel and the Sword first published 2000

Poetry and other

This poem is by Margaret Stanley-Wrench, the last third in particular is lovely.

Hinterland

I like the backs of houses. Fronts are smug,

Stiff and formal, masks which smile at neighbours.

These roofs, shrugging, relaxed, these sun-warmed bricks,

Smooth, rounded bays, they are like lovers in bed

At ease, knowing and known. Cats stalk here.

The wagging lines of washing wave, the knops

Of hollyhocks knock and stroke the walls. A sunflower

Rises, bearded god with a black face.

And the swarthy, smiling, grape-bloomed neighbours stand

Amazed between the vines, the flower, the walls,

Themselves placid yet savage deities

Of these long gardens, of these hinterlands,

Green, warm and secret territory here

Like love behind the streets' correct facade.

Love, fierce and unexpected, sharp, uneven,

Sun and flower, the darkness and the sap

Surging through leaf and body, the quick flashed

Recognition of opened windows, white

Glances meeting, and doors, open wide.

There is another short poem by her here.

Otherwise I have mostly been re-reading - Flowers for the Judge (1953)by Margery Allingham, one of her charming light reads; The Corinthian (1940) by Georgette Heyer, not one of her best but with some funny moments and the usual amusing conversations; and The Gorgon in the Cupboard (2004), an excellent short story by Patricia McKillip, who is one of my favourite authors. This is one of the stories inspired by the Pre-Raphelite artists set (Victorian era), which all have women trying to live a human life in the confines of their society. We all need to live within the bounds of our society, but some times and some people seem to chafe more than others.

Other reading - Perry, Prozchazkova and Dylan Thomas

The Season of Secret Wishes by Iva Prozchazkova is a pleasant but unexceptional children's book of the girl moves to new place and meets interesting people type; only made slightly more interesting by being set in Prague before the Iron Curtain fell.

A Christmas Visitor is a short mystery novel by Anne Perry, and I'm sure I would have found the ending very moving if I hadn't got bored with the plodding pace and poor characterisation and skipped to the last chapter halfway through. And I was pleased to see an ending where they really did think family and justice more important than status and money.

Dylan Thomas' poetry did not fail to enthrall however - well, some of his poetry, he can be a bit opaque. This is my favourite.

The force that through the green fuse drives the flower
Drives my green age; that blasts the roots of trees
Is my destroyer.
And I am dumb to tell the crooked rose
My youth is bent by the same wintry fever.

The force that drives the water through the rocks
Drives my red blood; that dries the mouthing streams
Turns mine to wax.
And I am dumb to mouth unto my veins
How at the mountain spring the same mouth sucks.

The hand that whirls the water in the pool
Stirs the quicksand; that ropes the blowing wind
Hauls my shroud sail.
And I am dumb to tell the hanging man
How of my clay is made the hangman's lime.

The lips of time leech to the fountain head;
Love drips and gathers, but the fallen blood
Shall calm her sores.
And I am dumb to tell a weather's wind
How time has ticked a heaven round the stars.

And I am dumb to tell the lover's tomb
How at my sheet goes the same crooked worm.


Dylan Thomas 1914 - 1953; The Season of Secret Wishes first published 1988, first translated into English 1989, Berlin Wall fell 9/11/1989; A Christmas Visitor first published 2004

Lost Children by Edith Pargeter

This is in some ways typical of a British post-WWII novel, containing a cross-class romance and friendships and social comment, both on class and on the acute shortage of housing in the post war period. It wasn't earnest and polemical about it though, and I enjoyed this book.

The style is a little stilted and wordy occasionally, but I liked the people, and the way there were four main characters and their interactions. I also liked how the novel left their history going on, some problems are solved or at least become manageable and some don't, like life.

The romance was only part of the plot. The title refers to the isolated family situation of several of the characters, the four main are all effectively motherless, and one is illegitimate. You can see the times changing, he is still presented as a sympathetic character!

Lost Children first published 1951

Give It Up! by Mary Carlomagno

The subtitle of this book is My Year of Learning to Live Better with Less. Carlomagno decided her stressful life needed a bit of change. As a child she had been given up something small each Lent; as an adult she realised Lent was supposed to make you in some way a new person. So every month for a year she gave up one item or activity and assessed its place in her life. At the end of the month it was re-introduced, often in lessor amounts or differently.

Alcohol was her first effort, and she found it astonishing how much social pressure she experienced when she was with a group of people and was the only one not ordering alcohol. There was also pressure to keep up and drink the same amount as everyone else.

Giving up her mobile phone was not a good idea overall, as it inconvenienced everyone around her. Giving up chocolate led to no changes. Giving up TV proved one of the most difficult, even though she picked a month when her favourite sports team wasn't playing.

I thought giving something up cold turkey for a month and then re-introducing it, possibly with changes, was a sensible idea. A month is short enough to manage for most people's willpower, and long enough to work out your level of dependence and if you want to change it or not. It also gives you a good idea of how much it changes your social interactions, and whether that change is good or bad or neutral.

Giving up eating out (Carlomagno bought 3 meals a day) was one of the most valuable changes, as she re-discovered fresh food, choosing your own portion size, and re-connected with her mother over cooking.

Giving up shopping (by which she meant clothes and shoes and personal adornment rather than groceries) had a large and permanent impact on her finances, as she hadn't realised the amount she spent, how much she never wore anyway, or how much she bought just because she shopped socially with friends.

Of course, everyone would have to look at their own life for a list of things to trial - not being a single young women in a big city, in an average month I don't do 9 of the 12 things she chose to give up!

Give It Up! first published 2006

Terenesia by Greg Egan

This book was fascinating to read, but I'm not entirely sure about the ending, which seemed a bit fast to me. Though on reflection (and re-reading the last page) probably what I thought was a sub-theme was what the author thought was the main theme. Oops.

The setting really seemed like a possible future 2030, the science and the politics likely to have sprung from our present. As this book was published 8 years ago, this is all the more cause for admiration. The science was a little daunting in parts, though not impenetrable and still very interesting.

I thought the relationships and people were very well done. This included the homosexual scenes, which have come off as pretty icky in some books I've read, but here were very good and a necessary part of the book and characters. (And yes, I've read some pretty yuck heterosexual scenes as well.)

All in all, this was the best straight science fiction novel I have read in ages, and I look forward to reading more of Greg Egan.

Teranesia first published 1999

Mulengro by Charles de Lint

Charles de Lint is a prolific author whose style is always good and characterisation excellent. I find some of his more popular characters irritating, and his view of the world a bit cloying sometimes, but he is a good reliable read, sometimes excellent.

Mulengro is one of his earlier books and edges close to horror - the body count is pretty high! I enjoyed the depiction of the modern Romany (gypsy) world view, and I admired de Lint's ability to sympathetically portray characters with very different world views and attitudes. Even when the characters were interacting you could still see and understand both points of view.

Mulengro first published 1985

Men of Stone by Gayle Friesen

Finally a decent book from the library! Sometimes it seems only the Young Adult genre is writing interesting books that deal with ordinary people ethical issues - I mean, most of us don't have that many murderers around, or find only we can save the world/country/family.

This book doesn't gloss over the pain caused by death and bad parenting and bullying and hate, but it doesn't make it look like you can't go on from there either. The first half of this book seemed well done but not unusual, but the second half was excellent. This book contains a sensible conversation about reasons for not fighting; and a very old person who actually seems like a real person grown old and not your generic always-been-old stock character. I recommend this book.

Men of Stone first published 2000