This had flaws, and also things I didn’t personally like so much, but oh the CHARACTERS (Miryem and Irina are my type of Strong Female Characters) andThis had flaws, and also things I didn’t personally like so much, but oh the CHARACTERS (Miryem and Irina are my type of Strong Female Characters) and the Eastern Europe-ish setting.
Plus it’s a Rumpelstiltskin retelling (which involves ruthless fae) and I just...yes. Just yes. It was lovely.
And, uh, Mirnatius. Tortured villains - wait, no, antiheroes? - wait, no - well - yeah we’ll leave it at antihero - he was a side character but WHAT a side character. Like, the evolution of my opinion and feelings for him, as deftly guided by the narrative, was SO GOOD.
This book is just, like, well written. And I am a fan....more
Confession: I have never read a Jeeves novel in its entirety. I started to once, wanting something light and funny, but was unfortunately not in the mConfession: I have never read a Jeeves novel in its entirety. I started to once, wanting something light and funny, but was unfortunately not in the mood for something quite so light and funny. One day I will return.
Meanwhile, though, this was my very favorite type of light and funny: an actual story with real stakes garnished with comedy. P. G. Wodehouse is a HILARIOUS writer, and if you want a ridiculous romance that spans the Atlantic, high society London, and the world of musical theatre in New York City - featuring no less diverse characters than a loving con artist uncle, a somewhat dim but rich and (at bottom) goodhearted young Englishman, and a parrot named Bill (there was an entire sub-chapter from the parrot’s point of view - greatest thing I’ve ever read) - please do yourself a favor and read this. Even the heroine, Jill, is pretty grand.
But nothing in the book is as grand as Freddie, the Last of the Rookes. I love him immensely.
“I say, if you have come over as an ambassador with the idea of reopening negotiations with Jill on behalf of that infernal swine...” “Old man!” protested Freddie, pained. “Pal of mine, you know!” “If he is, after what’s happened, your mental processes are beyond me.” “My what, old son?” “Your mental processes.” “Oh, ah!” said Freddie, learning for the first time that he had any. ...more
Once upon a time, my favorite Booktuber (okay, my only Booktuber) read Treasure Island for the first time. Hearing her talk about it was honestly fascOnce upon a time, my favorite Booktuber (okay, my only Booktuber) read Treasure Island for the first time. Hearing her talk about it was honestly fascinating, because of how different two people’s experience reading the same book, that they both like, for similar reasons, can be. Treasure Island is culturally ubiquitous. Everybody knows the characters and the plot points and the twists, even if they haven’t read it. And it’s different, reading a book that way. What is it like to read it and NOT be floored by the twists, NOT be in doubt of the fates of certain characters and the motives of others, NOT to go in completely blind? It’s inconceivable. That surprise and tension and immersion is so engrained in my memory of the experience, in the enjoyability of the experience. Can you still enjoy it? Is there any magic left?
Well, yes, if Stevenson’s other culturally ubiquitous work Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is anything to go by, there is some magic left. It is weird, though. It’s weird to read it and know the major plot twist, and I can’t help wistfully imagining how cool it would be to have read it for my first time blind.
Because it does work so well, even knowing what’s coming all along. It builds ever so slowly - it wasn’t till the last few pages the horror finally blossomed fully in my respectable Victorian breast - but it builds. And it works. And yikes....more
I can’t really do this book justice in a review (although...who are we kidding, when do I ever do books justice in my so-called reviews? when do I eveI can’t really do this book justice in a review (although...who are we kidding, when do I ever do books justice in my so-called reviews? when do I even try to do them justice?), but like...imagine that history research paper you wrote for that one class, where you had that really great professor who graded really strictly but cared far more about the quality of your prose and the interesting, unique facts you could dig up and your ability to convey the flavor of the era than about a few paltry grammar or citation errors, and it was like twelve pages long, and he gave you an A and an Actual Real-Live Compliment and you were really proud of that paper.
So that’s what this book is, except your professor probably wrote it himself because he’s a professor and all, and it’s 200 pages instead of 12.
Like. Have you ever researched for a paper, maybe your first long paper, and you were so excited because you could fit so much more into 10 pages than into 3? And then you looked over your thirty closely-handwritten pages of notes and realized there was NO WAY you could get all that in? You’d have to just skim the surface? And it kind of crushed you? And ever afterward when you read an academic paper you saw that skimming going on and you KNEW there was so much interesting stuff below the surface that they just couldn’t fit within the confines (whether topical or length-wise) of their paper?
That’s this. This is 200 pages of skimming.
Very fascinating skimming, I might add.
Sure, it’s dry in places. It’s about economics, for heaven’s sake. (There are those who find economics an ever-flowing stream of fascination, but I am not one of those strange folk.) And it has to summarize so much, since it wants to be an overview of the whole Progressive era - what they accomplished (in government, university-system, and theory-of-economics reform), what their philosophy behind much of this was, and how it ultimately affected several different groups (women, racial minorities, the disabled). Here’s a quote:
“If we are to maintain a race that is to be made up of the capable, efficient, and independent,” Seager warned, “we must courageously cut off lines of heredity that have been proved to be undesirable by isolation or sterilization.”
So that’s just...horrifying. And it was a mainstream position. (The book mentions it and passes on, but apparently thousands of people were involuntarily sterilized in the U.S. after passage of laws in some states? That is CRAZY. I don’t even...I don’t even know what to say.) The way Seager, and others, proposed to figure out who was undesirable enough was via the minimum wage.
I’m not saying terrible origins are a good reason for abolishing the minimum wage, but it’s just a really stupid idea, seems to me? Always has been? And when you realize that originally it was created to cause unemployment...well, I rest my case.
Anyway. The thing about the progressives (as it goes hand in hand with their fascination with eugenics) is that they have no respect for the individual. None at all. I’ll not deny that big companies took advantage of ordinary workers, but what was the progressives’ supposedly compassionate solution? To merge many of those big companies into a few even bigger ones! Giving the government a share of the pie - for Science(TM) or something. Yeah, that helped who exactly?
And just...everything, all these quotes, are so CONDESCENDING. Even when they don’t want to sterilize and euthanize and generally eliminate inferior races, they still clearly view common people as like...zoo animals or something. THEY ARE HUMAN BEINGS, SIR. THEY HAVE SOULS, HENCE THEY HAVE DIGNITY, HENCE HOW DARE YOU SET YOURSELF ABOVE THEM OR THINK YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO DIRECT THEIR DESTINIES
UGH. it’s just EW.
ok maybe I will come back and edit this review because it’s a mess but for now: really good intro book, I need to look into this more, eugenics is HORRID MY GOODNESS...more
I was always sad, as a wee thing, that there were no more than five Betsy-Tacy books for me to read. There they were out in the world, more of them, aI was always sad, as a wee thing, that there were no more than five Betsy-Tacy books for me to read. There they were out in the world, more of them, and I couldn’t get my hands on them.
Beyond frustrating, I tell you.
But...I’m not sad I didn’t read them now. One’s first time reading a good book is a gift that’s never (or rarely) re-given, and sometimes books get to you at the exact right time in your life. Which is something I think these books did for me. Betsy-Tacy when I was very young, Betsy in Spite of Herself in my teens, and this one now. (This is a perfectly useless fact to put in a review, but after all my one joy in life is writing perfectly useless reviews.)
Anyway, the best thing about this book was the bathtub incident. But also I long to see Munich in the winter of 1914 now, and Venice in spring (or at all), and to be in London as the Great War begins. All of which won’t happen, but reading about it was beautiful anyway. And Betsy is just...does anyone not love Betsy? Because I will fight them....more
I actually enjoyed this one a lot and would probably enjoy rereading it. (I try not to have high expectations for Heyer, because while sometimes she’sI actually enjoyed this one a lot and would probably enjoy rereading it. (I try not to have high expectations for Heyer, because while sometimes she’s brilliant, a lot of times she’s just...entertaining but not really rereadable.)
You’ve got Sir Richard Wyndham, a fabulously rich Corinthian who basically gets bullied into proposing marriage to someone he doesn’t want to marry. I like this because Heyer often writes such rude heroes, and while I guess that’s fun wish fulfillment, I prefer when there’s something of normality to a character, even a character in a comedy (which this is - it does not pretend to depth, and I wouldn’t want it to). Believe me, being nagged by slow degrees into doing something completely repellent to you is the MOST normal thing I can think of. So I feel for Sir Richard.
Then there’s Penelope Creed, the young heiress who escapes persecution out a window and drops coincidentally into a drunk Sir Richard’s arms. Because he is drunk, he agrees to go on a journey with her (she’s disguised as a boy. for escape purposes), wherein they will hopefully both outdistance persecution. Shenanigans ensue.
In fact, as soon as one outlandish event begins to be settled, another arises. Romance happens. And Sir Richard (who, whenever Cedric calls him Ricky, I cannot but picture with the disdainful face of my cat) and Penelope are both so matter-of-fact and laid-back about the whole thing - while cherishing a good healthy fondness for an adventure - that I just love them. This book is nothing but a skylark, and I love it for it....more
Between Ms. Sayers and me, one has surely improved, for this was the best time I’ve had yet reading a mystery, I do believe - Lord Peter or no Lord PeBetween Ms. Sayers and me, one has surely improved, for this was the best time I’ve had yet reading a mystery, I do believe - Lord Peter or no Lord Peter. There’s so much cleverness floating around - sardonic narrative and burbling dialogue and zany, wonderfully ordinary characters. And dope. I love the word “dope,” don’t you? Also it just adds such a nice thread of danger to a story.
Unfortunately, unlike the last Lord Peter book I read, Five Red Herrings (which left me feeling unexpectedly good), this one left me feeling rather rotten. Because...well...really, it gets worse the longer I think about it. Detective-Assisted Suicide is the absolute Worst Trope of All Time and you will NEVER cure me of that opinion. It’s especially dark here, because...because. And the murderer is so...endearingly brave?
Oh, I hate it. I am disappointed in you, Lord Peter....more
Do you ever read a bit of history, particularly history about some French or British military campaign, and nearly double yourself into anxious knots Do you ever read a bit of history, particularly history about some French or British military campaign, and nearly double yourself into anxious knots by the end of the account of all the politics, stupidity, misfortune, petty intriguing, cowardice, treachery, and arrogant mishandling of EVERYTHING by some of the people in charge that ends up ruining the best-laid plans, causing needless tragedy, and snatching defeat from the jaws of victory?
Well, then, you know what to expect if you read this book. I still enjoyed it (I like scornful heroes and virtuous heroines and obscure pockets of history - it’s about an attempt by Breton farmers, haughty emigres, and some others to restore the French monarchy shortly after Robespierre’s death), but man was it frustrating....more
Oh, I really, really like this book. It starts a tad slowly, in my opinion, but that’s okay because it’s just...quiet and wholesome (if sometimes darkOh, I really, really like this book. It starts a tad slowly, in my opinion, but that’s okay because it’s just...quiet and wholesome (if sometimes dark) and imaginative and human. Maddie and Paul are such sweet kids, and they feel like they belong well and truly in their little Highland village, which is not something you can say for a lot of historical YA characters. The priest was so good, too, I loved his character. And Maddie’s parents and even Black Ewan and Lady Mary were really good characters. Plus, it takes something I normally can’t stand (werewolves) and makes actually a really good story out of it. I feel like most of the charm of the story is in the details? Which I can’t really capture in a review.
I really, really liked it, though. The nearest thing I can think to compare it to is The Perilous Gard? They’re not exactly the same, but they’re both really good....more
This was so CHARMING. I tucked myself away from the world to read it, because I got halfway through the first chapter and overwhelmingly wanted to be This was so CHARMING. I tucked myself away from the world to read it, because I got halfway through the first chapter and overwhelmingly wanted to be cozy, and I was smiling the whole time.
Sir Simon is a very wicked ghost who has haunted the Cantervilles’ mansion for centuries, and you should feel sorry for him, because now the Cantervilles have gone and sold their mansion to a rich American family who don’t believe in ghosts. Or, at least, if they’re going to roam the hallways at night, can they just oil their chains so they don’t creak so? People are trying to sleep! Not to mention the regrettable twins - and then - well, and then Virginia. Because this story is charming and witty and amusing until suddenly it dips its feet here into pathos, here into beauty, here into the sensation of everlasting peace beneath the shadows of the summer trees....more
The ONLY flaw this book has, in my opinion, is one it shares with a lot of MG historical fiction - namely, a few places where the prose gets kind of wThe ONLY flaw this book has, in my opinion, is one it shares with a lot of MG historical fiction - namely, a few places where the prose gets kind of weak. But for the most part, it’s a beautiful story told in Marlee’s own, strong voice. Having a very quiet little sister, it was so special to me to see the way this book shows both sides - Marlee growing and finding her voice, but also that her quietness isn’t completely bad, that it’s a kind of strength too.
“Marlee listens to lions.” <<< I love that.
I may laugh, as a homeschooler, at how important public schools were made out to be, but it was nevertheless glorious to see the community come together to do something about racial injustice and their kids’ futures, and to know that it was based on real events! And the way Marlee’s and Liz’s friendship was portrayed - Liz herself - and the way ALL the characters were drawn and redrawn (as you learned more things about them or as they changed) was so good. One of the most interesting things to me - and I’ve seen this in real life - was how the only time KIDS were racist was if they were explicitly taught to be by their parents. Sometimes parents might fall into casual, unthinking racism, but kids really don’t. To kids everyone’s the same. But they also really really mimic their parents. Just...interesting to me. Especially since, as I said, it lines up with my real-life experience.
All in all, a story about friendship, courage, quiet people, and school integration in 1958 Little Rock....more
I got two very different comments about this book before reading it. One person said it bored her to tears. The other person (my aunt, who lent it to I got two very different comments about this book before reading it. One person said it bored her to tears. The other person (my aunt, who lent it to me) was enthusiastic about how fun and clever and Scottish it was and thought I'd like it very much.
And I guess I'm siding with my aunt. Family ties and all. xD
For real, though, it WAS fun. There were boring bits - a couple chapters where they're tracing movements and train tickets and calculating times - but I almost like them just because they feel like they're letting you in on every last process of solving the mystery? It's fun how that's set up too. A murder (that was supposed to look like an accident) happens in a little community of fishermen and painters, and Scotland Yard doesn't get called in. Lord Peter happens to be up there and to know the people involved, and he helps the local police figure it out. And constables and inspectors and Lord Peter each gather different bits of evidence and work together to figure it out and it's just...a pleasantly collaborative atmosphere.
(I also really, really liked the ending. Sha'n't spoil, but one of the nicest endings I've read to a murder mystery, ever. Though I take umbrage with the Goodreads summary, because I wouldn't say that six people didn't regret Campbell's death. I wouldn't say that at all.)
And then to balance out the boring chapters, there are chapters like the one where Lord Peter talks to Gilda Farren. And where he finds and talks to Hugh Farren. And where Graham and Waters try to duplicate Campbell's "last painting." Those are just...riveting, in an odd way. Because speculation and human nature and Lord Peter being Lord Peter are all jumbled up in them, tight.
(Speaking of Campbell's last painting, I guessed the murderer and I'm very proud of myself for that.)
It's a detective story cliche, to reenact the crime scene, but I've literally never seen it done before now. So that was fun. Wimsey's enthusiasm and ridiculous running commentary made it especially fun.
I just...really like Lord Peter. He grows on you, my aunt said, and he does.
And then the Scottish accents, you know. They're all written out. Some people hate that, but I love it.
Besides, almost all the suspects are such...wimps. I don't know if they were supposed to be? They struck me that way, and I'm grateful for the amusement provided.
It also appealed greatly to my sense of humor that Sayers included an actual note in the text saying that "since the reader can figure out what mysterious item I'm talking about, I won't say what it is" because now she can't be accused of cheating but she can still be mysterious and signal to you that this missing item is VERY IMPORTANT. And you definitely can figure out what it is, so she really isn't cheating.
I don’t love how some of the plot points were resolved - like I don’t really think either of the secrets being kept needed to be kept, and I dislike wI don’t love how some of the plot points were resolved - like I don’t really think either of the secrets being kept needed to be kept, and I dislike when plays end with all the lies satisfactorily worked out rather than the truth coming to the surface and the characters having worked through that to a better place - but still this was BEAUTIFUL.
It was BEAUTIFUL. I don’t know how to tell you.
Lady Windermere and Mrs Erlynne are compelling characters, each of whose arcs...I don’t know how to tell you. But it was beautiful.
And also very clever (and I wanted to like you, Darlington, but you are despicable really and UGH), and just...the double meanings and the irony and the skirting around this and that and the lyricism of the dialogue. Can I write like Oscar Wilde....more
This is the book that first made me okay with thinking about the Trinity without developing a raging headacreread august 2024 Holds up, most assuredly.
This is the book that first made me okay with thinking about the Trinity without developing a raging headache and the threat of uncomprehending tears within the first ten seconds. (Was I a dramatic child? Possibly. But I wanted to understand and I could not.)
The insights into writing, creativity, how Christians should think about work, the "scalene trinities" that cause weaknesses in the work, and everything else she throws in are lovely and, moreover, practically useful (for me at least).
It's...not life-changing, but also it kind of was? For me? And the dry humor is next-level, y'all, I'm just saying....more
In which Oscar Wilde was a better playwright than Shakespeare will ever be.
...I admit that was unnecessary.
But true.
Anyway.
The thing I love about thisIn which Oscar Wilde was a better playwright than Shakespeare will ever be.
...I admit that was unnecessary.
But true.
Anyway.
The thing I love about this is how melodramatic the Chilterns are. It’s quite funny. Robert is an Ideal Husband, Lady Chiltern is an Ideal Wife, they are an Ideal Couple and their arc is an Ideal Character Arc. They say the kinds of things Ideals would say. Not quite Real.
But the issue they’re dealing with is very real, as is Lady Chiltern’s flawed idea of how and why one is supposed to love one’s husband. And it’s explored and resolved in a most thorough, SATISFYING way.
Very little happens, because that’s a weakness of plays, and I must admit lines like “A man’s life is more important than a woman’s,” whatever was meant by them, are not to my taste, but it’s a COMEDY that’s FUNNY and that EXPLORES A SERIOUS PHILOSOPHICAL QUESTION, and what more are you going to ask for, really?
Besides, Lord Goring is altogether too delightful, probably because Oscar Wilde wrote him.
And...the WIT. The ELOQUENCE. The delightfully comic father-son relationship between Lord Caversham and Lord Goring. The pure, dizzy little romance between Mabel and Lord Goring.
I think I liked this more than Code Name Verity, actually.
Which is crazy.
And technically it’s not quite as good a book, but it’s so very much My ThingI think I liked this more than Code Name Verity, actually.
Which is crazy.
And technically it’s not quite as good a book, but it’s so very much My Thing that I can’t help loving it. I love home front stories and I love RAF kids who should still be in school probably but instead they’re flying dangerous missions and leaving money in the wood at the pub for luck and often never coming home to spend it ever again. And I love codes and I love airplanes and I love intense German pilots who risk their lives to deliver vital intelligence and love Mendelssohn. And I love friendship between old people and young people who see the best in each other when no one else does, and I love a chaotic group of Scottish war volunteers just getting through life and worrying about their lads in the air and scheming together and celebrating Christmas, and I LOVE flight officers who are only boys themselves worrying themselves to death over the green lads in their command, trying to be a good leader, to train them, to protect them, feeling guilty over every single one of their deaths, and just generally shouldering WAY MORE RESPONSIBILITY than they should ever have to.
And in other words, I love Jamie Beaufort-Stuart TO DEATH and this book would be a gift just for putting more Jamie content out into the world but also it was a really good book. That FELT really authentic even though it was written last year or something. I’m not even into WW2 books and I think half the reason is they never sound like the characters are actually from back then? But this 100% did.
There are things that aren’t my favorite about the book too. But it’s just so good. It’s all the things I love. It has Jamie. (And Ignacy too. Does anyone else love Ignacy???) I kind of love Jamie too much. This KID. This gentleman. I LOVE HIM, SOMEONE HUG HIM NOW....more