As the title suggests, this is a sequel to Pride and Prejudice. I have to admit that I am more of an Jane Austen movie watcher than a reader (although I loved reading Northanger Abbey), but I found Tennant's treatment of Elizabeth and Fitzwilliam Darcy to be very believable. I can imagine Jane Auten writing something along the same lines. All of the familiar characters are there with the exception of Elizabeth's beloved Mr. Bennet, who had died.
Elizabeth is in despair because after a year of marriage she still has not produced an heir for Pemberly. Through a series of invitations and some conniving, the entire cast of characters assembles at Pemberly for Christmas, including Jane, who is expecting her second child momentarily, Mrs. Bennet (fussing and criticizing, as usual), snooty Lady Catherine de Bourg and her daughter Anne, who was meant to be Mr. Darcy's bride, and the despicable Wickham along with his wife, Lydia, and their 4 children. Everyone gets up to their usual antics and Elizabeth suffers mightily both from criticism over her housekeeping and questions as to whether or not she will be bearing a child in the near future. To top it off, Darcy's tendency to disappear without communicating causes a misunderstanding that prompts Elizabeth to plan on leaving her home to work with the poor. All in all, Tenant has done of great job of recreating the chaotic atmosphere of life with the Bennet family and the Darcy relations. I would read more.
BIBLIOPHILY
Thursday, February 26, 2015
LAST WOOL AND TESTAMENT (Molly MacRae)
This was my first Molly MacRae Haunted Yarn Shop mystery, despite the fact that I have been LOOKING at her books and been friends with her on Facebook for quite a while! It was well worth waiting for. I have to say, in case you are not a huge fan of ghosties and, like me, usually prefer feet firmly on the ground in your cozies, that the spirit in this novel is very well done. MacRae's ghost is an integral part of solving the crimes and she is a perfect foil to heroine Kath Rutledge.
Kath is a textile preservationist living and working in Chicago who heads home to Blue Plum, Tennessee when her beloved grandmother, Ivy, dies and leaves her a cottage and yarn shop. Kath is shocked when she discovers that the locks on Ivy's cottage have been changed, leaving her with no access to her grandmother's belongings. Shocks continue to accumulate for Kath when she discovers a letter from the landlord demanding back rent on the cottage that Ivy had so proudly owned and when she is unceremoniously let go from her Chicago job as a result of inadequate funding. To add to the mix, she discovers an unidentified ghost haunting the caretaker's cottage where she is staying. Before she even has a chance to spend the night in the cottage she discovers that her grandmother's "landlord" was recently murdered in the main bedroom of the cottage. What else could go wrong, except perhaps more murders?
MacRae's Haunted Book Shop series is cozy with a little edge. Kath and the staff of Ivy's yarn shop promise to deliver an enjoyable and, perhaps, hauntingly appealing series of adventures in books to come (a couple of which have already been published). Try them!
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Kath is a textile preservationist living and working in Chicago who heads home to Blue Plum, Tennessee when her beloved grandmother, Ivy, dies and leaves her a cottage and yarn shop. Kath is shocked when she discovers that the locks on Ivy's cottage have been changed, leaving her with no access to her grandmother's belongings. Shocks continue to accumulate for Kath when she discovers a letter from the landlord demanding back rent on the cottage that Ivy had so proudly owned and when she is unceremoniously let go from her Chicago job as a result of inadequate funding. To add to the mix, she discovers an unidentified ghost haunting the caretaker's cottage where she is staying. Before she even has a chance to spend the night in the cottage she discovers that her grandmother's "landlord" was recently murdered in the main bedroom of the cottage. What else could go wrong, except perhaps more murders?
MacRae's Haunted Book Shop series is cozy with a little edge. Kath and the staff of Ivy's yarn shop promise to deliver an enjoyable and, perhaps, hauntingly appealing series of adventures in books to come (a couple of which have already been published). Try them!
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Wednesday, February 11, 2015
THE WIZARDS RETURN (Michael Walsh)
In a world where we are inundated with greed, lust, self-aggrandizement, and obsessive technological competition, is is refreshing to a read a novel that focuses on our basic humanity. Author Mike Walsh obviously believes in the power of good over evil and how effective simple trust and teamwork could be in changing the world for the better. Yes, it also helps to have the power of wizardry behind you when you set off to save the world, but it is how that power is used, not just the fire balls, thunderbolts, telepathy, and miraculous healing talents of the wizards, that make this story special.
Daniel has spent his 25 years living on a mountaintop with his grandfather. When he loses his grandfather, the only family he has ever known, Daniel is faced with leaving his home and peaceful life to join a group of people living in the desolate and nearly lifeless country of Now. Once a beautiful, thriving community, Now was destroyed in a great war and its remaining inhabitants are barely surviving. Despite the devastation, danger still lurks in the person of Peter, a contemporary of Daniel's grandfather whose life's obsession is to possess the magic staff that he believes will give him ultimate power over Now. The staff is currently housed in a museum and legend has it that only the true owner, a descendant of the original Wizards of Now, can use the staff's power to save Now and restore life to the country. When Daniel meets his grandfather's friend Gavin and his niece and nephew, Anna and Marcus, he is shocked to learn that he might be destined to play a role in finding the staff and restoring peace and tranquility to the country.
The Wizards Return has some of everything a young adult reader might want: action, intrigue, romance, and some good old-fashioned battles. It even offers some telepathic communication with the local wildlife. For me, though the main thread that runs through the novel is that we can overcome almost any obstacle and get through the worst imaginable situations if we have faith in ourselves and in our own power to achieve the impossible. Oh, and the magic powers don't hurt, either! I am not really a fan of fantasy or wizardry, but The Wizards Return offers much more than just magic and adventure. It offers both a scary glimpse of how our world might end up and a glimmer of hope that enough of our innate humanity will survive to save it. I like a book that leaves you thinking, and this one does.
Daniel has spent his 25 years living on a mountaintop with his grandfather. When he loses his grandfather, the only family he has ever known, Daniel is faced with leaving his home and peaceful life to join a group of people living in the desolate and nearly lifeless country of Now. Once a beautiful, thriving community, Now was destroyed in a great war and its remaining inhabitants are barely surviving. Despite the devastation, danger still lurks in the person of Peter, a contemporary of Daniel's grandfather whose life's obsession is to possess the magic staff that he believes will give him ultimate power over Now. The staff is currently housed in a museum and legend has it that only the true owner, a descendant of the original Wizards of Now, can use the staff's power to save Now and restore life to the country. When Daniel meets his grandfather's friend Gavin and his niece and nephew, Anna and Marcus, he is shocked to learn that he might be destined to play a role in finding the staff and restoring peace and tranquility to the country.
The Wizards Return has some of everything a young adult reader might want: action, intrigue, romance, and some good old-fashioned battles. It even offers some telepathic communication with the local wildlife. For me, though the main thread that runs through the novel is that we can overcome almost any obstacle and get through the worst imaginable situations if we have faith in ourselves and in our own power to achieve the impossible. Oh, and the magic powers don't hurt, either! I am not really a fan of fantasy or wizardry, but The Wizards Return offers much more than just magic and adventure. It offers both a scary glimpse of how our world might end up and a glimmer of hope that enough of our innate humanity will survive to save it. I like a book that leaves you thinking, and this one does.
DEATH OF A LIAR ( M.C. Beaton)
Hamish MacBeth is getting to feel like an old friend, a frustrated, love-lorn friend who can never achieve true happiness. This time around Hamish investigates several murders while his cohort, Dick, finds happiness in a new relationship and new career. This time it looks like an international drug ring might be operating in Scotland and Hamish is anxious to find a connection between this and the seemingly unrelated local murders. Of course, Inspector Blair continues in his relentless quest to get rid of Hamish by shutting him out of the investigation and attempting to discredit him at every turn. Needless to say, if you love Hamish you will love Death of a Lair.
IN THE BLEAK MIDWINTER (Julia Spencer-Fleming)
We read this, the first in Spencer-Fleming's Rev. Clare Fergusson series, for our Windsor Locks Library mystery book club, the Christie Capers. I absolutely loved it!
Clare is an Episcopal priest and ex-army helicopter pilot who drives a snazzy MG and doesn't own a decent pair of winter boots. She is also the first female priest ever to serve in the small upstate New York town of Miller's Kill (If you live in New York or New England you know that "kill" in the town's name has nothing to do with the mystery at hand). Soon after the newly ordained Clare arrives in town, she finds a baby on the doorstep of St. Alban's Church along with a note instructing that the child be given to a childless couple in town. When a young mother is found brutally murdered soon afterwards, Clare is torn between her pastoral duties and her desire to bring a killer to justice. Complicating things is her tendency act on her instincts and growing friendship with and attraction to married Police Chief Russ Van Alstyne, who suspects that the murdered girl and the baby are connected .
In the Bleak Midwinter is a delight from start to finish. Spencer-Fleming has created a near-perfect combination of mystery, action, local color, and developing relationships. Clare's profession is blended beautifully and believably into the plot. Will I be reading any more in this series? Watch for reviews soon! In the meantime, pick up this book and give this series a try. You might be a little disoriented by the dated technology in the story since it was written in 2002, but it won't really matter to your enjoyment. What a difference a cell phone makes in a mystery, though!
Clare is an Episcopal priest and ex-army helicopter pilot who drives a snazzy MG and doesn't own a decent pair of winter boots. She is also the first female priest ever to serve in the small upstate New York town of Miller's Kill (If you live in New York or New England you know that "kill" in the town's name has nothing to do with the mystery at hand). Soon after the newly ordained Clare arrives in town, she finds a baby on the doorstep of St. Alban's Church along with a note instructing that the child be given to a childless couple in town. When a young mother is found brutally murdered soon afterwards, Clare is torn between her pastoral duties and her desire to bring a killer to justice. Complicating things is her tendency act on her instincts and growing friendship with and attraction to married Police Chief Russ Van Alstyne, who suspects that the murdered girl and the baby are connected .
In the Bleak Midwinter is a delight from start to finish. Spencer-Fleming has created a near-perfect combination of mystery, action, local color, and developing relationships. Clare's profession is blended beautifully and believably into the plot. Will I be reading any more in this series? Watch for reviews soon! In the meantime, pick up this book and give this series a try. You might be a little disoriented by the dated technology in the story since it was written in 2002, but it won't really matter to your enjoyment. What a difference a cell phone makes in a mystery, though!
AS CHIMNEY SWEEPERS COME TO DUST (Alan Bradley)
This seems to be my month for beloved characters in some of my favorite series to be vexing me by being in an unusual setting! First, Rev. Max Tudor, and now Flavia de Luce! Still, Flavia is still as charming as ever even thousands of miles away from home.
For the first time in her life (and ours), Flavia travels away from her family and her beloved Buckshaw, all the way to Canada to attend her mother's alma mater, Miss Bodycote's Female Academy. Soon after her arrival at the school a mummified body wrapped in the Union Jack falls out of the chimney in her room. This incident vastly improves Flavia's predicament, a mystery to be solved literally being dumped at her feet. Attempting to discover the identity of the victim and figuring out how to distinguish between friends and enemies ease some of Flavia's homesickness and sense of isolation. Being granted access to the school's state of the art science labs and the veiled references to "duty" and following in her mother's footsteps spur Flavia on to solve this new mystery. Of course the question in every reader's mind will be, "What about Buckshaw?"
I have to admit that this was my least favorite Flavia de Luce mystery so far,. The crumbling estate that Flavia calls home and her relationships with her family, Dogger, and the local police all serve to add a special flavor to the series that is missing here for me. I would definitely recommend this book, but fans should be aware that it's going to feel a little bit different from what you might expect.
For the first time in her life (and ours), Flavia travels away from her family and her beloved Buckshaw, all the way to Canada to attend her mother's alma mater, Miss Bodycote's Female Academy. Soon after her arrival at the school a mummified body wrapped in the Union Jack falls out of the chimney in her room. This incident vastly improves Flavia's predicament, a mystery to be solved literally being dumped at her feet. Attempting to discover the identity of the victim and figuring out how to distinguish between friends and enemies ease some of Flavia's homesickness and sense of isolation. Being granted access to the school's state of the art science labs and the veiled references to "duty" and following in her mother's footsteps spur Flavia on to solve this new mystery. Of course the question in every reader's mind will be, "What about Buckshaw?"
I have to admit that this was my least favorite Flavia de Luce mystery so far,. The crumbling estate that Flavia calls home and her relationships with her family, Dogger, and the local police all serve to add a special flavor to the series that is missing here for me. I would definitely recommend this book, but fans should be aware that it's going to feel a little bit different from what you might expect.
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