Friday Face-Off: Puffy Dresses

On February 21, 2020 By cherylmahoneyIn Ruminations2 Comments

It’s time again for the Friday Face-Off meme, created by Books by Proxy, with weekly topics hosted by Lynn’s Book Blog. The idea is to put up different covers for one book, and select a favorite.

This week’s theme is: Meringue – the puffy dress? – Lots of covers with ‘big’ dresses

What a fun theme! I thought of several books with impressively puffy dresses, but they only had one cover each. And then I considered that my Jane Austen Book Club is currently reading Pride and Prejudice – and that’s a book with many covers. I’m not sure “puffy” is exactly right for Regency fashion, but sure enough, puffy dresses abound.

I suppose this is Elizabeth and Jane? Movie versions tend to make Jane blonde, but the book doesn’t actually say – though there is a reference to Elizabeth’s “dark eyes,” so she probably is a brunette.

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Friday Face-Off: A Kissing Book

On February 14, 2020 By cherylmahoneyIn Ruminations2 Comments

It’s time again for the Friday Face-Off meme, created by Books by Proxy, with weekly topics hosted by Lynn’s Book Blog. The idea is to put up different covers for one book, and select a favorite.

This week’s theme is: Romantic – “thus with a kiss I die”

I thought a bit about different romances I’ve enjoyed, and then hit on the classic “kissing book,” The Princess Bride by William Goldman, beautifully brought to life in the movie of the same name. One of the greats, and a book I’ve been meaning to reread. And happily, there are MANY covers.

I kind of enjoy the swashbucklingness of this one, even if it’s put Buttercup in the classic clinging-heroine pose. But…that’s not altogether inaccurate.

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Book Review: Incarnate

On February 10, 2020 By cherylmahoneyIn Fantasy1 Comment

You may have noticed the blog was quieter than usual last week – my marketing job had me in Las Vegas for a conference, which rather overwhelmed everything else for a few days! I did very little reading while I was traveling–and then spent the weekend after doing little else, recharging my introvert batteries after being surrounded by hundreds of people. I spent a good bulk of the past few days tearing through Incarnate by Jodi Meadows. It was a great way to recharge.

Incarnate is a fascinating fantasy novel that hit a lot of my favorite things. Set in a world with sylphs and dragons (you don’t want to cross either), the most interesting part is still the humans: there are a million of them, and for five thousand years they have all reincarnated again and again, and remember all their lifetimes. But then Ana is born–a “newsoul,” replacing another soul, and no one knows why. Eighteen year old Ana is seeking answers for why she exists, and what it means to be human when you’re the only one without 5,000 years of identity behind you, or the promise of countless lives ahead.

I find reincarnation stories fascinating, but I’ve never seen one like this. Normally the person remembering their succession of lives is the oddity. I loved seeing a society where that’s the norm, and the culture, the societal structure, even the government, are based around that idea. There were so many fascinating details – like the journals everyone keeps to help them remember their many lives, or the notion of maintaining a graveyard of all your past bodies (a little creepy, I know, but well-handled in the book), or the possibility of being mothered by someone younger than you, after your mother died in childbirth and came back again.

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Blog Hop: Reading for Therapy

On January 31, 2020 By cherylmahoneyIn Blog Hop2 Comments

Today’s Book Blogger Hop question is: What is your opinion of bibliotherapy? Do you think this is a useful way of dealing with psychological issues? If you’ve used it yourself, or know someone who has, what books(s) would you recommend?

I’ll admit I had to look up “bibliotherapy” for this question, but it appears to mean pretty much what I’d expect: reading as a component of therapy. It seems to be not so much about reading instructive books, but reading in general, often fiction. Here’s an interesting article on the subject.

So, now that we’ve defined our terms–as a very definite non-expert on the subject, I think it sounds like a good idea. I don’t think it would be a substitute for other kinds of therapy, especially for people with very serious things to deal with, but as a component it seems like it could be helpful. I’ve long said that Terry Pratchett books are my favorite cure for gloomy days! And with more seriousness, I think exposure to stories, especially ones that are uplifting or have good messages, can be very positive for mental health.

On the flip side, sad stories or horror stories could have a negative impact, in the wrong moment for the wrong person! So it’s not quite as straight-forward as “read anything, it will do you good.”

I once attended a very interesting presentation at a sci fi/fantasy convention about using Harry Potter books as a component of therapy. I unfortunately don’t remember most of it, but what stuck was an anecdote about using Professor Trelawney’s story to combat anxiety.

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Friday Face-Off: Year of the “Rat”

On January 24, 2020 By cherylmahoneyIn Ruminations4 Comments

It’s time again for the Friday Face-Off meme, created by Books by Proxy, with weekly topics hosted by Lynn’s Book Blog. The idea is to put up different covers for one book, and select a favorite.

This week’s theme is: Chinese New Year – Year of the Rat

I thought I’d take this broadly/slightly sideways and look at a cover featuring a mouse–who would probably be offended to be called a rat! I thought of Tucker Mouse, most famously from A Cricket in Times Square, but my favorite of the series is Tucker’s Countryside. And it seems appropriate to pick the book with his name in the title!