Tag: Books

Marie, Dancing

On By cherylmahoneyIn Historical Fiction, Reviews6 Comments

Marie, DancingI think we all know I’m a fan of the Phantom of the Opera…and I’d be lying if I said that wasn’t the primary reason I wanted to read Marie, Dancing by Carolyn Meyer.  It just happens to be set in the Paris Opera House around 1880, the same time as the Phantom.  But besides that, the book also plays to my interest in Impressionist art, and in Paris in general, and in stories about strong young women.  The book only shares a setting with Leroux and there are no Phantom references at all…but there is a good story and a lot of information about the Company of the Paris Opera.

Marie and her two sisters are ballet dancers at the Palais Garnier.  The story opens when the painter, Monsieur Degas, selects Marie to be his model for a sculpture he has in mind–the sculpture that will become The Little Dancer, Aged Fourteen.  Degas and his art are just one part of Marie’s story, as she struggles with her family’s poverty and tries to make choices about her future.

Marie lives in a very, very different world than Christine Daae.  Unlike Leroux’s spooky thriller, this is a gritty, realistic book.  Marie’s problems are real and serious, with never enough food, a mother who drinks too much absinthe to forget her pain, and an older sister who aspires to become a rich man’s mistress and thinks Marie should do the same.  The book is not depressing exactly, but it is a glimpse at the harsh reality behind the elegant forms of the dancers.

Marie does love to dance, and she has dreams of becoming a great dancer.  The book is not really about dancing though–that recedes more and more as it goes on, and becomes more about Marie’s family, her struggles, and a romance–lest you think it’s all grim!

From the point of view of a Phantom fan, this definitely gave me some different angles on things.  It gave me more basic information about life at the Opera House than anything else I’ve read, and was utterly eye-opening on the subject of money.  I never appreciated just how much money 20,000 francs a month (the Phantom’s salary) really is, until Marie sighed with envy over the salary of the higher-level dancers–6,800 francs a year.

The sections with Degas were particularly interesting.  There are occasional references to specific sketches or paintings, and I think I recognized some famous ones!  Mary Cassatt is also present as a supporting character, and I loved the glimpses of the history of Impressionism.

I would have liked more description of the setting–the Opera House is gorgeous, and yet other than a few bits here and there, I didn’t get much sense of it.  But even if appearances were somewhat lacking, Marie’s world came vividly to life.

If you’re interested in dancing, and particularly the Paris Opera, this is a very good slice of historical fiction, unflinching but not unremittingly grim either, and the characters and plot are both engaging.  And you’ll look at Degas’ Little Dancer in a whole new way!

Author’s Site: http://www.readcarolyn.com/

Other reviews:
The Estella Collective
That’s all I found!  Anyone else?

Buy it here: Marie, Dancing

Chalice by Robin McKinley

On By cherylmahoneyIn Fantasy, Reviews13 Comments

ChaliceFor the second year in a row, I began the Once Upon a Time Challenge with a Robin McKinley re-read.  Last year it was Rose Daughter, a surreal “Beauty and the Beast” retelling.  This year it was Chalice, about a beekeeper trying to take on a very difficult magical role.

Chalice is set in a fascinating magical realm that I so wish we could spend more time in.  The land is divided into demesnes (rather like Fiefdoms) each of them ruled over by a Circle, twelve individuals with specific roles, bonded together by magic.  The first member of the Circle is the Master, the hereditary Lord of the demesne.  The second member is the Chalice, who binds the demesne together, tending to everything from magically encouraging fellowship among the Circle to quieting restless earthlines.

In Mirasol’s demesne, an unstable Master and his Chalice died suddenly together, sending the land into disarray.  In desperation, the Circle summons the Master’s brother, now a Fire Priest, the last blood heir who can assume the duties of Master.  Meanwhile, Mirasol finds the powers of a Chalice suddenly erupting within her, and she must find a way to learn and manage her new role.

This is a fairly slim book, but hard to summarize, because the world and the magic system is so integral and so complex–and not quickly explained in the book!  McKinley has a tendency to throw the reader into a novel without a lot of explanation, and then drop dribs and drabs of information as we go.  I often find that frustrating in books, but McKinley is generally quite good at making it work.  All the same, I think I did enjoy this book more on a reread because I had a clearer context at the beginning.

It’s a truly fascinating world and magic system, and it all ties together into the larger conflict.  The demesne is threatened both from within and without, from political manuevering and from the land literally fighting the instability brought on by human actions.  Mirasol and the new Master have to work together to hold the demesne together, while dealing with their personal internal struggles, and with conflict among the people around them, who have serious reservations about a Fire Priest Master.

Mirasol is an excellent heroine, one who is clearly strong, intelligent and good-hearted, but doesn’t entirely believe she has any of those qualities.  She’s a beekeeper who is suddenly dealing in things so much bigger than her former realm, and she’s struggling to learn the role and duties of Chalice.  Even more, her struggle is how to stay Mirasol within the Chalice, and carve her own unique path.

I pretty much can’t avoid liking the Master as a hero.  He’s dark and terrifying and mysterious (it’s that Fire Priest thing), while kind and caring underneath the intimidating exterior.  I love dark, brooding heroes with hearts of gold, and this is one of the most clearly good heroes of that type.  His magic is also just so intriguing.  As a Fire Priest, he’s been physically transformed so that he’s not quite human anymore, and he’s struggling to adapt to this return home.

Arguably, this is McKinley’s third “Beauty and the Beast” retelling, though unlike the first two, which lift direct elements from the fairy tale, this is only the tale in its themes.  It is a story about a girl who finds herself, while helping a man who lost his humanity learn to be human again…but all the surrounding details are different.  Still, I’m sure the themes are deliberately there.  Somewhere I heard McKinley say that “Beauty and the Beast” is THE story for her, the one she’s really telling, to a greater or lesser extent, in all of her novels.  That is certainly abundantly clear here.

If there’s a flaw in the book, it’s that the ending is too fast.  It’s completely right.  I love the way things work out, all the earlier hints and clues are there to set up the conclusion, and the details are all immensely satisfying.  But it happens so quickly!  The first time I read Chalice, I read the ending twice, because I just couldn’t get the emotional resolution so fast.  This time, I found myself rereading individual paragraphs, trying to linger on key moments.  The point here is that I love the whole thing…I just wish there was more of it.

This is among my favorite McKinley books, and I highly recommend it.  I also recommend having honey on hand while you read…remember, Mirasol is a beekeeper, and honey figures prominently!

Author’s Site: http://www.robinmckinley.com/

Other reviews:
Starlight Book Reviews
Bookshelves of Doom
Beauty Is a Sleeping Cat
Anyone else?

Buy it here: Chalice

Princess of the Midnight Ball

On By cherylmahoneyIn Fantasy, Reviews, Young Adult19 Comments

Princess of the Midnight BallSomewhere in the last couple of years, “The Twelve Dancing Princesses” (or, “The Shoes That Were Danced to Pieces”) became one of my favorite fairy tales.  I’ve read many retellings, and even wrote one for NaNoWriMo 2011.  For the Once Upon a Time reading experience this year, I decided to go back and re-read one of the first retellings I encountered, Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George.

This is a lovely, magical retelling that evades the typical pitfalls of the story, while shining mostly for its two lead characters.  The point of view is split between Galen, a young soldier just returning from a long war and taking up a job as under-gardener at the palace; and Rose, the oldest princess, trying to hold her sisters together as they suffer through a curse, evading questions about their mysteriously worn-out slippers.

Rose and Galen both have a way of looking harmless, with unexpected depth and strength beneath.  Rose is a pale, beautiful princess–but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t have intelligence and strength of will.  Galen is a gardener who spends his spare time knitting–which proves to be a surprisingly valuable skill.  When I think about it, the two of them don’t spend much time together.  But I don’t really think about it when I’m reading the book, and this is a rare occasion when I find myself completely buying into a very cute romance, even when the characters don’t really have much opportunity to get to know each other.

The other eleven princesses largely run together, which tends to happen quite a bit in these retellings.  It actually worked rather well in this one, though, I think because George hit a very nice balance of giving me just enough information, while not making me feel like I should be knowing/remembering more.  I’m not sure that makes sense…but for example, on the princesses’ ages: Rose and Lily are the two oldest, at eighteen and seventeen.  Petunia and Pansy are the youngest, seven and six.  The other eight exist in some vague space in between, and while I don’t know precisely how old they are, I also never felt like I needed to know.

Similarly, I had a slight sense of the personalities of roughly half the princesses, and that seemed to be enough.  George has a nice way of never asking the reader to remember the princesses’ personalities, because it’s self-evident whenever that particular princess is referenced.  Poppy is the boisterous one, and it was no effort to remember that because she’s always being boisterous whenever we see her.

For the most part this is a very light retelling, though there are a few moments of genuine creepiness.  It follows pretty close to the original fairy tale, and comes up with some very nice explanations and backstories, filling in the empty spaces in the Brothers Grimm’s much shorter tale.  Some retellings move farther away from the original and it works…but others have completely floundered in the process.  This one didn’t try to go too far, and succeeded very well within its own scope.

I remembered this as one of the best of the retellings I’ve read, though it was hard to judge since I read it before most of the others.  Happily, I was right!

Author’s Site: http://jessicadaygeorge.com/

Other reviews:
Lili’s Reflections
The Dead Authors’ Club and More
Bird on a Pencil
Anyone else?

Buy it here: Princess of the Midnight Ball

Blog Hop: Five Books to Grab

On By cherylmahoneyIn Blog Hop, Ruminations14 Comments

I’m joining in with the Book Blogger Hop again today, when bloggers discuss bookish topics!

book blogger hop

This week’s question is: What are the top 5 books you would grab in an emergency?

I’m not entirely sure what this question means…I mean, the five books I would read during a personal crisis are not necessarily the same five books I would choose if I was only going to have access to five books for an extended period…  But let’s assume the point here is, which five books would you choose if you could only have five books.  Say, on an extended spaceflight to Mars.  I like that better than the idea of being stuck on a desert island, where I’d need books about survival on a desert island!

So if I was on a long spaceflight and could only bring five books…

1) The Bible, although that’s so obvious it almost feels like cheating.

2) The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (unabridged), because I read so quickly, I’d need something that would last.  Which is an argument in favor of the Bible too, apart from spiritual inspiration.

3) Susan Kay’s Phantom because, I mean, it’s Susan Kay’s Phantom and I just madly love it.

4) The Little White Bird by J. M. Barrie because it’s a wonderful, lovely, magical book.  Plus, even a spaceflight to Mars would probably have its alarming and homesick moments, and this would make a perfect comfort read.  George Davies, the boy who inspired David in the book, brought a copy with him to the trenches in World War I.

5) And finally, The Blue Castle by L. M. Montgomery, because I couldn’t possibly get by without any Montgomery, and this is my favorite of her novels.  Though I’d be tempted to bring Volume I of her journals instead.

And if, as I know I surely would, I decided to toss a pair of shoes out of my luggage and squeeze in two more books…

6) The Song of the Lioness quartet by Tamora Pierce–there is an omnibus edition, so it could be counted as one.  Alanna is the most inspiring of heroines, and every so often, everyone needs to believe that they can do anything.

7) Something Terry Pratchett…possibly Night Watch.  Because of course I’d need something funny too.

And then I’d probably have to discard some more clothes so that I could bring something by Edgar Rice Burroughs, and also If You Want to Write by Brenda Ueland, and a spaceflight to Mars really would be a good moment to read some favorite Star Trek books, and so we begin to see why I have three enormous bookcases in my small apartment!

So if you had to grab five books, for a spaceflight to Mars or maybe if you were on a desert island, what would you snatch up?

Springing Into Fantasy

On By cherylmahoneyIn Ruminations31 Comments

Today marks the launch of spring–and of the Once Upon a Time Reading Experience, hosted by Carl at Stainless Steel Droppings.  This will be my third year participating, and I’ve been looking forward to joining in again.  If someone was going to design a reading challenge around my favorite kinds of books…it would look a lot like this one.  I mean, fantasy with an emphasis on fairy tales!  That’s what I read (and what I write too).

I’ve been telling myself that I’ll make progress on my To Be Read list over the next three months, since so many of the books on it are fantasy.  This, of course, ignores that fact that I’ll probably add tons of wonderful new books too…but shhh, let’s not talk about that right now!

I have far too many books that fall into this Experience to list them all here, but I’ll give you a few initial ideas…

~ Stardust by Neil Gaiman, for the group read-along

~ Chalice by Robin McKinley, which I started yesterday…but close enough

~ Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George (a reread) and its once-removed sequel, Princess of the Silver Woods (because I already read the immediate sequel, Princess of Glass)

~ The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien, to get me set up for the real challenge…

~ The Lord of the Rings trilogy–or at least a good attempt at them

~ Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, because…Pratchett and Gaiman!  How have I not already read this?

~ The House on Durrow Street and The Master of Heathcrest Hall by Galen Beckett, as I thoroughly enjoyed the first book in the trilogy, The Magicians and Mrs. Quent

~ The Blue Sword and The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley, which I read SO long ago that I’ve completely forgotten them, and now I feel like they’re a gap in my McKinley reading

~ More installments of the Sevenwaters Series by Juliet Marillier, part of my goal to complete series

And, oh, so many, many random fantasy novels…really, the list above barely scratches the surface!  Well, scratches it, maybe, but not so far as a dent.  So, I’m not worrying too much about which books I read, or how many, or which Quests they fit into.  I’ll just toss lots of books into the air (metaphorically) and let them fall where they will.  I hope you’ll come along for the fun!