The Battle of Evernight--The Bitterbynde--Book III by Cecilia Dart-Thornton -- Book review

The Battle of Evernight is the third and final book in the Bitterbynde series. In this final book of the series, we find the heroine once again traveling on a quest, having remembered who she was and why she was lost. She is battling langothe (the longing for Faere) and her longing for her betrothed lover, while searching for a way to complete her quest.

After many trials and strange adventures, the heroine of many names (Rohain, Tahquil, Golden Hair, Imrhein, Ashalind, Ash) is ready at last to be wed to her beloved. A final twist and and an unwelcome seer leave her fate in question till the last page.

For links and summaries of books 1 & 2, see:

http://booked4life.blogspot.com/2006/02/ill-made-mute-by-Cecilia-dart-thornton.html

http://booked4life.blogspot.com/2006/02/lady-of-sorrows-book-2-of-bitterbynde.html

The Guards by Ken Bruen -- Book Review

The Guards isn't exactly a mystery, and it's not exactly a thriller either. It's a sort of noir, stream-of-conscious, faux memoir in Ireland with crime. Bruen is evidently a reader of some breadth, since every chapter is headed with a quote, and the quotes are varied enough to include George Pelecanos and Francis Bacon. Purveyors of popular music are also cited frequently.

The Guards is narrated by Jack Taylor, a former member of the Garda (Irish police.) Between bouts of drinking and rehab, Jack is trying to help a woman who believes her daughter's suicide was really a murder. Jack doesn't so much solve the mystery/crime as stumble into answers while drinking and brawling with his "friend" Sutton.

The Guards is a quick read (largely because there is lots of white space and the chapters are very short, such that the 291 page book could have easily been printed on 125 pages full-up.) There are moments of charm and insight, but overall it was rather a slight entertainment. I've got a couple more Bruen books to read, so I'll see whether he wears well. I read this one, because I read a glowing review in PW of Bruen's latest.


More information about Ken Bruen is here:
http://www.brandonbooks.com/ken_bruen.html

Dear Departed, A Bill Slider Mystery by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles -- book review

Dear Departed is the 10th mystery in the Bill Slider series written by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles. In this outing, Slider and his crew are looking for a killer who has killed an extremely pretty and pleasant young woman who seemingly had no enemies.

Chattie Cornfield was a PR representative with her own small firm, and she represented creative people, especially in the music industry. Her body was found in the Park early one morning by a dog walker. At first glance, she appeared to be the victim of a serial killer, but on closer examination it turned out that she was probably killed by someone who knew her and that someone had staged the murder scene to look like a killing by the "park killer".

As a consequence, Slider, Atherton, and the members of their unit must investigate the people Chattie had recently been working for as well as her family and friends. As with other Bill Slider mysteries, the character development is a big part of the pleasure of reading this installment, though the mystery is certainly well constructed and enjoyable. Slider and Joanna continue in their amble towards marriage, while Atherton tries to resume his free-roving bachelor ways after being dumped by Sue (a musician friend to Joanna, and Atherton's first serious try at settling down.)

Overall, this is a comfortable addition to the Slider series. Series newcomers really should start with the first book in the series: Orchestrated Death.

Cynthia Harrod-Eagles has written more than sixty books, with two major series. You can learn more about her and her books at her web site:
http://www.cynthiaharrodeagles.com/

The Lady of the Sorrows, book 2 of the Bitterbynde, by Cecilia Dart Thornton -- book Review

The Lady of the Sorrows follows the tale of the maiden Rohain as she seeks to regain her memory and meet her obligations. Like the first book in the series, there is much of the picaresqe about this volume. There is also Court life for Rohain to learn about, and she is up against some devious and clever antagonists. Towards the end of the book, Rohain stumbles across an artifact that sends her into a reverie of memory and sets the scene for book 3.

Remembering Denny by Calvin Trillin -- book review

Remembering Denny is a memoir and meditation. Calivin Trillin (journalist, doggeralist, New Yorker essayist, syndicated columnits of Uncivil Liberties, and other accomplishments too numerous to mention) was a Yale classmate of Denny (Roger D. Hansen.) In Remembering Denny, Trillin writes of his memories of Denny Hansen. He also writes about the era in which they studied at Yale, what Yale students were like then and later (in the 70's and 90's), what sort of expectations men met who grew up in the fifties, and what happened in Denny's life to cause him to commit suicide.

Denny Hansen at Yale was known as a popular, handsome and athletic student with a future of great potential. He left Yale to become a Rhodes scholar. After his years at Oxford, he returned to the U.S. where he held several jobs--mostly in the field of international relations--until his final job as a professor of international relations at the Johns Hopkins University's Nitze School of Advanced International Studies.

In Remembering Denny, Trillin wrestles with the idea that sometime between Denny's time at Yale and the time of his death something happened to change him from golden youth to embittered man. In the course of his investigations and meditations, Trillin hits on some larger truths. He considers the problems of being a homosexual who came of age in the fifties. Hansen had unresolved sexual identity issues, that eventually he recognized as homosexsuality. Trillin also considers the problems for a man of early promise who fails to meet society's and his own expectations. And, Trillin considers the possible implications of personality and genetics in Denny Hansen's late life misery.

Remembering Denny is a warm reminiscence of a time and a person as well as an exceptionally well-thought-out and beautifully written consideration of a place and time.

Remembering Denny by Calvin Trillin, c. 1994, Warner Books, 1994.

You can find out more about Calvin Trillin here:

Bio page from The Nation
http://www.thenation.com/directory/bios/calvin_trillin

Interview from Salon
http://www.salon.com/weekly/interview960624.html

Interview on The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/white_house/july-dec98/trillin_10-14.html

Goodman Speaker's Bureau bio
http://www.goodmanspeakersbureau.com/biography/bio-trillinC.htm

Teacher Man by Frank McCourt -- book review

Teacher Man is Frank McCourt's third book, a follow-up to his memoirs Angela's Ashes & 'Tis. Teacher Man is a sort of patchwork memoir. There are many charming stories of McCourt's experiences while teaching, but it lacks the cohesive and narrative drive of his previous efforts. Fans of Angela's Ashes will probably enjoy reading Teacher Man, and it is selling well among educators, but I can't really recommend it highly.

Angela's Ashes was such a gripping and beautifully wrought book that many readers, myself among them, grew attached to the Frank McCourt we met through reading the book. I couldn't wait for 'Tis to come out, and I had high hopes for it. Unfortunately, I did not enjoy it nearly as much as Angela's Ashes. In thinking about why this might be so, I've come to a couple of conclusions. Angela's Ashes was written after the death of McCourt's mother, who was a major character in his memoir. It seems to me that McCourt wrote more honestly and intimately in Angela's Ashes, possibly because he needn't fear that what he wrote would hurt the people he loved. I think, too, that its possible that the distance between the time of writing and the time of the experience might have helped McCourt to write Angela's Ashes. The immediacy of the writing in Angela's Ashes is one of its great strength, but it is an immediacy filtered through memory, and memory tinged with the wisdom of age.

Both 'Tis and Teacher Man suffer by comparison to Angela's Ashes for me. The are interesting and readable books, and they benefit from McCourt's narrative voice, but they are more like collections of anecdotes than memoirs.

A biographical interview with Frank McCourt can be found here:
http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/mcc1bio-1

The Ill-Made Mute by Cecilia Dart-Thornton -- Book Review

The Ill-Made Mute is book one in a three-part series called The Bitterbynde. There is little that can be said about the book without spoiling some of the surprises that make its reading so delightful. It is a fantasy, and takes place on a world called Erith. Erith is a world with a social class system that is reminiscent of feudal Earth. It is also a world where humans dwell in not-so-peaceful coexistence with the seelie and unseelie folk of the forest and alterna-realms.

Cecilia Dart-Thornton has researched Scottish folktales, and uses the legends therein as the source for the magical creatures that inhabit Erith. Songs and tales are intrinsic to the narrative and woven smoothly into the story.

The book's protagonist is skillfully drawn as are even the incidental characters. The story, upon examination, is neither particularly original nor particularly clever, but the way it is told is entirely captivating.

The two remaining books in the series are:

The Lady of Sorrows

&

The Battle of Evernight

Cecilia Dart-Thornton has a web page, where you can find out more about her books:

http://www.ceciliadartthornton.com/homepage.html

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See -- Book Review

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan is a novel about the lives of women in nineteenth century China. The novel is in the form of a fictional memoir, written by Lily. Lily is the second daughter of a farming family. Her family is not very prosperous, but they are prosperous enough that Lily and her sisters have their feet bound and spend their time in the women's quarters of the house.

Lily is set to begin having her feet bound at age six, when her fortunes change. The Diviner who has been hired to determine the proper date to begin the binding sees something special in Lily, and calls in Madame Wang--a matchmaker. Madame Wang suggests that Lily's family should wait a year to begin the footbinding, and that in the interim, Lily should be "mated" with a laotong (lifelong, contracted, female friend) or "old same". A girl whose horoscope and prospects are propitious is found; her name is Snow Flower. Snow Flower begins their relationship by sending Lily a fan, on which she has composed a message in nu shu (women's writing.)

Through the lens of Lily's memoir of her friendship with Snow Flower, the reader is taken on a journey to a time and place distinctly "other". Snow Flower and the Secret Fan is interesting on many levels. The explorations of women's writing, footbinding, and everyday life in nineteenth century China are seamlessly woven into the story of the friendship between Lily and Snow Flower. I have read other novels set in historical China, but this one gives a more intimate glimpse into the lives of the women who lived at Lily & Snow Flower's level of social standing. Other novels I've read dealt with footbinding, but this one does much more explain how footbinding affected the lives of those who engaged in the practice. Other novels also include women's secret writing as a theme, but this one is much more detailed and descriptive of its use and development. Finally, the growth of Lily in wisdom throughout the novel is a powerfully eloquent piece of writing.

Lisa See has written four other books that I will certainly be looking for. Here's a link to her website:
http://www.lisasee.com/