I can’t remember how long ago I read Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne, but it was probably high school or even earlier.  I’ve been meaning to reread it for a while now, for a very writerly reason!  In my Phantom of the Opera reimagining, my protagonist Meg dreams of travel.  The Phantom needs a Christmas gift for her, and I thought–Around the World in Eighty Days!  Verne was a French author popular at the time.  Perfect!  Except I thought I ought to reread the book to make sure it really was perfect.

The novel tells the tale of English gentleman Phileas Fogg and his (possibly) mad bet that he can travel around the world in a mere 80 days.  Accompanied by French manservant Passepartout, Fogg travels east from London, through India to America, passing through a series of adventures and mishaps with perfect, imperturbable calm all the way.

This is a strange and fun book.  Like its protagonist Fogg, it is frequently quite calm and unperturbed and serenely explaining (in more detail than really necessary) the exact mathematical calculations enabling Fogg to pursue his goal.  But like its secondary protagonist Passepartout, it also goes on wild flights of drama, including encounters with a murderous cult in India and an extremely bloody attack by Indians somewhere in the American west. Continue reading “Book Review: Around the World in Eighty Days” →

I love it when a book I picked up on impulse turns out to be excellent.  I stumbled across Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline in my library’s audiobook section and it turned out to be a gem.

The story begins with Molly Ayer, seventeen and about to age out of the foster home system.  She’s bounced from home to home for years, rootless and trusting no one.  Enforced community service brings her together with Vivian Daly, a wealthy, elderly woman who needs her enormous attic cleaned.  But the attic holds all the memories of Vivian’s life, of when she was a nine-year-old orphan in the 1920s, sent west on an orphan train to find a new family.

The book is in alternating storylines, with the bulk of it on Vivian’s memories–or rather, Irish-born Niamh, who acquired new names as she was taken into different families.  Niamh’s story is frequently heart-breaking, as she bounces from adult to adult who won’t or can’t take care of her.  She encounters terrible callousness, occasional brutality, and a few sparks of kindness.  Her perseverance and will to survive is powerful.  For all the bleakness, she does eventually find safety, if not a fairy tale ending.

I loved the way Molly and Niamh/Vivian’s stories are paired.  On a surface level, they’re both orphans who passed from family to family.  On a deeper level, that has caused them both to struggle with trust and relationships.  In Vivian we see how her tragedies and her fears caused her to accept a life that, while not unhappy, was not all that it could have been.  The much younger Molly still has a chance to learn and grow and seek something different for herself–although there is a nice piece at the end suggesting that it’s not too late for Vivian to find new meaning either. Continue reading “Book Review: Orphan Train” →

Ages ago I reviewed Little House in the Big Woods, and then went on to read the entire rest of the series…but somehow I never came back to review the others.  Today I thought I’d finally pick that thread up and review the nine books en masse!  And since it happens to coincide with the Fourth of July, I guess that’s fairly appropriate…

The series follows the somewhat fictionalized life of Laura Ingalls, growing up as a pioneer girl as her family moves west.  It starts when Laura is four, moves on up through adulthood, her marriage to Almanzo Wilder, and the first four years of their marriage.

This is a charming and mixed series.  The first few books were fun but also bogged down a bit for me.  There was frequently too much detail on how various pioneer occupations are done and not enough of an active role for Laura. The broad strokes of life were interesting and the forays into the wild country were exciting (if slightly unfathomable why anyone would want to!)  Also in these early books, they so rarely seem to have any fun!  But by about book five, By the Shores of Silver Lake, Laura is getting older, the level of detail gets more reasonable, and the books pick up significantly.

Book Six, The Long Winter, is a wonderful choice during a hot summer.  I was listening to the audiobook last summer (it was that long ago!) and despite a heat wave it made me long for cozy firesides.  Little Town on the Prairie and These Happy Golden Years recount Laura’s teenage years, her school days, becoming a teacher, and her courting by Almanzo.  These were always my favorites—the most happens, plus Laura is actually having a much better time! Continue reading “Book Review: The Little House Series” →

I’ve been continuing along in my Newbery Medal reading, but I’m behind on reviewing…so today I thought I’d do a three-for-one of three very different books, connected only by that shiny gold stamp on their covers!

The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare

Set in first-century Galilee, Jewish Daniel is acutely aware of his people’s oppression by the Romans.  He is driven by rage and the desire to avenge his father’s death at the hands of the Romans; he believes the way to achieve it is with a group of Zealots hiding in the mountains.  His path turns when he has to assume responsibility for his sister Leah, so frightened as a child by Roman attacks that she can’t leave the house or meet strangers.  Daniel chafes at being held back by Leah—but is also beginning to wonder if this new preacher in Capernaum, Jesus of Nazareth, might be the answer to Roman oppression after all.

This book intrigued me with the promise of a story set in first century Galilee that wasn’t the Nativity, Passion or ministry of Jesus.  Not that there aren’t a lot of good stories centered around those—but there are a lot of them.  And when Jesus entered into this story after all, I was fascinated to see him from an outside perspective.  Daniel isn’t an apostle, or even an ongoing follower.  He’s just one of the five thousand when loaves are multiplying, one of the people crowding the beach to hear the preacher. Continue reading “A Newbery Three-fer” →