Fire and Hemlock - Diana Wynne Jones

It took me ages to review Fire and Hemlock. I just didn't feel ready. I loved it, but I wasn't sure what to say about it because the book lost me completely towards the end, and it almost gave me a headache. So, how can you say you enjoyed a book, if it gave you a headache, you might ask? Well, first of all, I loved it immensely till the last 50 pages, more or less. Then I kept reading but I had no clue what was going on. That was partly due to my ignorance. If I knew a little about the ballads of Thomas the Rhymer and Tam Lin it would have helped really a lot. So, my advice to those who haven't read it: Don't be scared, but do a bit of homework first. It'll be worth it.

The book tells the story of Polly, who, at 19 years old, realises that something is missing from her memories. Something very important that a picture called "Fire and Hemlock" suddenly brings back to her mind, after many years. Going back to when she was 10, Polly starts remembering about that day when she gate-crashed a funeral at that big mansion, near her grand-mother's house. There she had met Tom Lynn, and together they had slowly started something quite extraordinary. Then she had done something terrible, and Tom had disappeared from her life.
The narration starts almost at the end, and goes backwards to tell how Polly met Tom, and how their friendships created a whole sets of adventures while interfering with long established other-wordly recurrencies...

What I found most compelling about this story is that it's not fast-paced like so many fantasies for children. I think some writers think that kids today are too hyperactive, therefore they need to keep their focus constantly by adding one action scene after the other. But this superfast rhythm leaves no space for actually savouring the characters, finding a cosy place beside their lives and getting attached to them so that you never want to leave them. Which is exactly what Diana Wynne Jones does in this book. Easily and gently, her writing lulls you into the characters' world and without even realising it, it conquers your complete attention.
The story follows Polly growing from childhood into adolescence, showing her difficult relationship with her impossibly selfish mother and her absent father, her school activities and her normal day-to-day life. Her adventures are always linked with the real world, and often the magical happens in subtle ways. It's not a green-lights-flashing from-the-sky sort of magic. But it's there, and it gets more and more real by the page.
After all Diana Wynne Jones herself stated: what I wanted to do really was to write a book in which modern life and heroic mythical events approached one another so closely that they were nearly impossible to separate.Exactly what I meant to say, but better.

Her relationship with Tom is beautiful and complicated. At the beginning it feels a bit uncomfortable. After all she is only 10 and he is much older, although it's never properly specified. But after a while it just becomes part of the story. Tom is great fun, playing along Polly and making up their hero stories through their letters. And Polly has all the freshness and wild imagination of childhood. I love the fact that Tom sends books to Polly. It has an important meaning to the story, but it also shows Jones's literary loves: The Golden Bough, Lord of the Rings, The three musketeers, The Lion, the witch and the wardrobe, The Sword in the stone, Five Children and it,The Wizard of Oz, etc...
Then as Polly grows older the relationships starts to take a different, but I'd say, inevitable course, and that's when everything changes.

There's so much in this book, a review is not enough. It's literally packed with references, and it's so well structured is astonishing. Everything is there for a reason, everything means something, although I couldn't quite tell you what.
Nymeth has kindly directed me towards an essay that the writer wrote about this book, which I found extremely exciting.
You see, I've done literature in college, where you had to read essays after essays of people speculating on other people's writing. But here I had the actual writer analising her work just like a scholar! Exactly like it. Saying "this was there because I wanted to represent this and that"or "Polly's name means this and that" or even "The whole book's pattern refers to this other book...".
So much for just a story for children.
But don't be put off. Yes, it's complicated. Yes, it has many layers. But it can also be enjoyed just for the story, without knowing much about anything else. It still is completely gripping.
It's a fantasy story with a true heroine, smart and brave, who ultimately fights to win her love. A must read.

ps: here is the link to the essay, scroll down till the end of the page. It's easier to read if you print it. But DON'T read it before the book, it contains MAJOR spoilers!

other blog reviews:
Lightheaded
Nymeth
Rhinoa
Epiphany
Geranium's Cat

Got any more?please, let me know, I'd be glad to add it to the list!

Cybils 2008 - time for the nominations!

Being too tired to post a review for Picture Book Monday I'd like to remind you about the Cybils 2008 and the fact that they're accepting your nominations now!
Cybils stands for Children and Young Adult Bloggers literary awards. Awesome, isn't it? All you have to do is pick one book (only) for each category (which include Fantasy and Science Fiction, Fiction Picture Books, Graphic Novels, Middle Grade Fiction, Non-fiction: Middle Grade and Young Adult, Non-fiction Picture Books, Poetry, Young Adult Fiction, Easy Readers) and post it in the comments. Go do it now!

100 most frequently banned or challenged books of the 21st century (2000-2007)

In researching reviews for Huckleberry Finn to add to my review below I realised that I had just reviewed one of the most banned books of all time, during Banned Book Week! and I haven't even mentioned it! And I haven't even had a single post about it! ( I know it's only in the US, but I can be supportive, can't I?)
So, even if the week was officially over yesterday, I want to make up for it by doing this little meme about the most frequently banned books of the 21st century (I can't believe we're still talking about banned books in the 21st century......).
In bold the ones I have read. In purple those already in my wish list.

1. Harry Potter (series) - J. K. Rowling
2. Alice (series) - Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
3. The Chocolate War - Robert Cormier
4. Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
5. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings - Maya Angelou
6. Scary Stories - Alvin Schwartz
7. Fallen Angels - Walter Dean Meyers
8. It's Perfectly Normal - Robie Harris
9. And Tango Makes Three - Justin Richardson/Peter Parnell
10. Captain Underpants - Dave Pilkey
11. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain
12. The Bluest Eye - Toni Morrison
13. Forever - Judy Blume
14. The Color Purple - Alice Walker
15. The Perks of Being a Wallflower - Stephen Chbosky
16. Killing Mr. Griffin - Lois Duncan
17. Go Ask Alice - Anonymous
18. King and King - Linda de Haan
19. Catcher in the Rye - J. D. Salinger
20. Bridge to Terabithia - Catherine Patterson
21. The Giver - Lois Lowry
22. We All Fall Down - Robert Cormier
23. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
24. Beloved - Toni Morrison
25. The Face on the Milk Carton - Caroline Cooney
26. Snow Falling on Cedars - David Guterson
27. My Brother Sam is Dead - James Lincoln Collier
28. In the Night Kitchen - Maurice Sendak
29. His Dark Materials (series) - Philip Pullman
30. Gossip Girl (series) - Cecily von Ziegesar
31. What My Mother Doesn't Know - Sonya Sones
32. Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging - Louise Rennison
33. It's So Amazing - Robie Harris
34. Arming America - Martin Bellasiles
35. Kaffir Boy - Mark Mathabane
36. Blubber - Judy Blume
37. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
38. Athletic Shorts - Chris Crutcher
39. Bless Me, Ultima - Rudolfo Anaya
40. Life is Funny - E. R. Frank
41. Daughters of Eve - Lois Duncan
42. Crazy Lady - Jane Leslie Conley
43. The Great Gilly Hopkins - Katherine Patterson
44. You Hear Me - Betsy Franco
45. Slaughterhouse-Five - Kurt Vonnegut
46. Whale Talk - Chris Crutcher
47. The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby - Dav Pilkey
48. The Facts Speak for Themselves - Brock Cole
49. The Terrorist - Caroline Cooney
50. Mick Harte Was Here - Barbara Park
51. Summer of My German Soldier - Bette Green
52. The Upstairs Room - Joanna Reiss
53. When Dad Killed Mom - Julius Lester
54. Blood and Chocolate - Annette Curtis Klause
55. The Fighting Ground - Avi
56. The Things They Carried - Tim O'Brien
57. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry - Mildred Taylor
58. Fat Kid Rules the World - K. L. Going
59. The Earth, My Butt, And Other Big Round Things - Carolyn Mackler
60. A Time to Kill - John Grisham
61. Rainbow Boys - Alex Sanchez
62. Olive's Ocean - Kevin Henkes
63. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - Ken Kesey
64. A Day No Pigs Would Die - Robert Newton Peck
65. Speak - Laurie Halse Anderson
66. Always Running - Louis Rodriguez
67. Black Boy - Richard Wright
68. Julie of the Wolves - Jean Craighead George
69. Deal With It! - Esther Drill
70. Detour for Emmy - Marilyn Reynolds
71. Draw Me A Star - Eric Carle
72. Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
73. Harris and Me - Gary Paulson
74. Junie B. Jones (series) - Barbara Park
75. So Far From the Bamboo Grove - Yoko Watkins
76. Song of Solomon - Toni Morrison
77. Staying Fat for Sarah Burns - Chris Crutcher
78. The What's Happening To My Body? Book - Lynda Madaras
79. The Boy Who Lost His Face - Louis Sachar
80. The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
81. Anastasia Again! - Lois Lowry
82. Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret - Judy Blume
83. Bumps in the Night - Harry Allard
84. Goosebumps (series) - R. L. Stine
85. Shade's Children - Garth Nix
86. Cut - Patricia McCormick
87. Grendel - John Garner
88. The House of Spirits - Isabel Allende
89. I Saw Esau - Iona Opte
90. Ironman - Chris Crutcher
91. The Stupids (series) - Harry Allard
92. Taming the Star Runner - S. E. Hinton
93. Then Again, Maybe I Won't - Judy Blume
94. Tiger Eyes - Judy Blume
95. Like Water for Chocolate - Laura Esquivel
96. Nathan's Run - John Gilstrap
97. Pinkerton, Behave! - Steven Kellog
98. Freaky Friday - Mary Rodgers
99. Halloween ABC - Eve Merriam
100. Heather Has Two Mommies - Leslea Newman

What's so amazing is that so many of these books promote tolerance, acceptance of diversities, humanity. They have been banned for what they stand AGAINST. That's what bugs me mostly. I'm against censorship full stop. I once had an argument about whether it was right to sell Mein Kampf or not in the bookshops. I thought it would go against my principles to deny the right to read that book, even if it obviously encourages racist and violent attitudes. This said, I wouldn't have been THAT surprised if it was in a list of banned books. Same for other books that realistically encourage racism, fascism, antisemitism or homophobia (I'm sure there are, only I can't think of any now). But these books above do the exact OPPOSITE! So it's not just a figure of speech. Censorship really causes blindness.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain

I really wanted to like this one. I really did. I tried hard, I promise. I absolutely adore Tom Sawyer, so much that I can safely say it would make my top 10 of all-time favourites. That's why I wanted to like this too. But probably I should have picked a better time to read it, when my mind didn't keep wondering somewhere else. And that isn't a small issues when the book you're reading is written in 19th century American English. When I was concentrated enough to follow the story I did enjoy it. At least till the storyline shifts away from Huck and starts focusing on two annoying crooks, who call themselves the Duke and the King. I hoped they would get out of the way soon enough, but they were still there when I "temporarily" put it aside for something else.

I'm sure it's not even necessary to tell what the book is about. Most of the people know it is about Tom Sawyer's friend Huck, who escapes on a raft with his runaway "nigger" friend Jim, to avoid being pestered by his drunk father. Following the river, they get into all sorts of adventures, including getting involved in a family feud and in several elaborated scums with the King and the Duke.
It was never easy to get into the flow of the story. I picked up some of the southern accent at the beginning, and I was able to read Jim's accent as well, but it was never relaxing.
But I love Huck, so I kept going. He is so careless and peaceful. All he needs is a raft, a pipe and a starry sky to feel happy. No rules for him, no manners or schedules. All he wants is to be free and be left that way. I also admire how he instinctly helps Jim even if he thinks he shouldn't. He feels guilty but still can't bring himself to betray him.
He is only a kid but he has this spontaneous wisdom that allows him to deal with the most unexpected situations with incredible ease. He knows that the King and the Duke are fakes, but he lets them believe he doesn't so not to hurt they're pride.
He is one of the most tolerant character in literature I've met. He is the epitome of the longing for freedom. You have to love him for that.

So excuse me Huck if I couldn't finish to read your adventures. I know you will take care of yourself, I trust you. I just hope you ditch those two little scumbags because they really aren't worth your time.

Other blog reviews:
Becky's Book Reviews
Tower of Books

Let me know if you've reviewed it too!

Weekly Geeks: Best of 2008 so far, Read-a-thon coming up and a big THANK YOU!

This week WG is about our favourite books published in 2008. I've just checked and honestly, I haven't read that many new books. That's because my ever-growing pile of books is, of course, ever-growing and I always tend to delay the reading of new books in a miserable attempt to diminish that leaning tower...but the ones I've read I liked, mostly. I would definitely recommend the following to any book lover.
Also I love the idea of having a end-of-the-year book bloggers favourites. I'm really curious to know what's gonna make the list, I'm sure I'll find some to add to my wish list:)

Ok, The first I have here is Confessions of a fallen angel by Ronan O'Brien. It's an Irish novel, and it's a debut. It was surprisingly gripping, and totally heartbreaking, but funny too. It's coming out in paperback in October with a brand new cover, completely different from the hardback, have a look!

The second is Odd and the Frost Giant by Neil Gaiman.
How can you not love this little book. It was published for the World Book Day, so it's tiny and short. It makes a perfect bedtime story, and it introduces children to Norse Mythology, which is always good. Cosy and adventurous at the same time. Great Fun!

The third and last, for now hopefully, is The Book of a thousand days by Shannon Hale.
It's the first Shannon Hale's book I've read. Everyone raves about The Goose Girl, which I haven't read yet, but this was a fantastic read for me to start with. It has everything: humour, smart heroine, non-sappy romance, great writing, original development of a fairy-tale. Go read it!

Also, how can I not mention my wonderful picture books? I adore very single picture book I've reviewed, but I have two favourites:
The odd egg by Emily Gravett.
and
The girl in the castle inside the museum by Kate Bernheimer and Nicoletta Ceccoli.






I've been meaning to post about the Read-a-thon for a while now, but I've still haven't made out my mind yet. I'd love to read, just to take a day off from everything else and read till I'm sick of it. Only, I don't know if I can bring myself to do it. I'm worried I'll feel horribly guilty for not doing all the other things I should/want to do. I haven't written anything in ages, and that would be my biggest guilty feeling. Wouldn't it be great to have a writ-a-thon as well? That way I could join the readers happily if I knew I would write another day for 24 hours!!! Just an idea...Anyway, I'm more for the yes than for the no, but still very undecided.
If you don't have a clue what I'm talking about (which I doubt) go read about it HERE!

And finally, but not less importantly, I have to give a BIG hug to Melody and Darla
for saying such nice things about my blog, I love their blogs just as much.
Thanks girls, you rock!

Fingersmith - Sarah Waters

This book was exhausting. It kept me turning its pages frenetically, impatiently, just to know what happens to its heroines.
I loved it because it never let go, and shot one plot twist after the other, keeping me always in tension, waiting for the next surprise.
I hated it for the same reasons. For making me suffer with and for its heroines, waiting for an happy resolution to arrive, which instead kept eluding them, finding endless ways of slipping away. It was an emotional roller coaster. And to this day, I'm still not sure if I enjoyed it more than I hated it for that. One day I basically did nothing but reading it, and I didn't put it down till I finished it. Was I satisfied at the end? I don't know! It was a great piece of storytelling and it must have been pretty well-crafted to manage to keep my attention for so long. Still, at the end I was like, is this it? Can I have some more, please?

I can't tell you much about the plot, for obvious reasons. If Angela's Ashes had no plot, this is all about it. I can't tell you much about the writing style either, because, to be honest, I didn't stop enough to notice it, so much I was gripped by the story.
I can tell you it's set in Victorian London. 1862, to be precise. And it's about two young women, whose destinies interlock at some point in their lives.
Sue is an orphan, her mother was hanged for murder, and grows up among petty thieves.
Maud is also an orphan, but grows up in a dark mansion in the countryside, brought up as a secretary for her uncle.
When Sue accepts to take part to a fraud that will make her richer than she has ever imagined, she becomes involved in a series of events that bring up old secrets, treachery and lies. But also unexpected love and desire.

The first book by Sarah Waters I read is Tipping the Velvet. It was also set in Victorian London but it was much more daring and decadent in its portrait of lesbian love. I loved it, but I can see why it's not for everyone. Fingersmith instead, seems to be more suitable for a broader audience. It's far more focused on the fast-paced action and on its unravelling of hidden truths, than on the romance side of the story. I wouldn't have minded, though, if the romance had been developed a bit more. Actually, that's the main issue I have with it. But other than that, an absolute winner. If you want gripping historical drama to keep you awake at night, try this.

Other blog reviews:
Books I done read
Among the Jumbled Heap
A work in progress
Dear Reader
Tammy's Book Nook

Did you review it too? let me know and I'll add it here.

Angela's Ashes - Frank McCourt

I had no intention to read this. It had been sitting on the pile for more than a year, until I had enough and chose it for the non-fiction challenge. See, I moan about the restrictions of challenges, but sometimes they help overcome some unreasonable blocks about some books we've had for ages. Like Angela's Ashes. In my head I had the notion that it was gonna be an immensely depressive read. I've seen the movie a while ago, and it was, immensely depressive. All the blog reviews I had read agreed. Very sad, unbearable, even boring.
But they must have read a different book, because I ended up enjoying it very much, I even found myself laughing and smiling quite often. It must be because of the language. Even when it recounts the most incredible hardship, it always has its very Irish way of telling it.
You have to get used to it, though. Especially because the prose doesn't use any quotation marks, which I didn't find confusing, but might require some adjusting at the beginning. I thought it added to the musicality and the flow of the narration.
So, the book, as many of you might know, is about Frank McCourt's childhood:

When I look back on my childhood I wonder how I survived at all. It was, ot course, a mirerable childhood: the happy childhood is hardly worth your while. Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood, and worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood

Forget about plot. This is hardship after hardship, in Limerick in the 1930's. Drunk father, depressed mother, constant hunger. While I was reading it I kept thinking how lucky I was that I could eat anytime I wanted! Not something I will take for granted again.
The story recalls Frank's memories from when he was 3 and still in America, to the Limerick years of poverty and rain. McCourt's memories are incredibly detailed, even during the early years. Indeed, you could wonder how he knew that much at only 3. So, I just assumed that at least these early memories were partially fictionalised to fit the story.
I understand that reading about what it is about doesn't sound very appealing. Who wants to read about endless sufferance, dirty rags, cold winters and rainy summers? About queues at the dole, dead babies, stinky alleys and broken shoes? I wouldn't. But again, it's how you say it that counts, not what you say. I wouldn't call it a masterpiece of writing, but it was certainly entertaining.
Few examples: Grandam is a grumpy, hard soul, who never stops going on against protestants. But she managed to make me laugh when Frank's mother had just had yet another baby and there were fears it will die without being baptized.

Grandma is there to help and she says, That's right, no hope in heaven for the infant that's not baptized.
Bridey says it would be a hard God that would do the likes of that.
He has to be hard, says Grandma, otherwise you'd have all kinds of babies clamorin' to get into heaven. Protestants an' everything, an' why should they get in after what they did to us for eight hundread years?
The babies didn't do it, says Bridey. They're too small.
They would if they got the chance, says Grandma. They're trained for it.

Another favourite part of mine was Frank's composition called "Jesus and the Weather" which its last paragraph was:

It's a good thing Jesus decided to be born Jewish in that warm place because if he was born in Limerick he'd catch the consumption and be dead in a month and there wouldn't be any Catholic Church and there wouldn't be any Communion or Confirmation and we wouldn't have to learn the catechism and write compositions about Him. The end.

The conditions in which Frank's family managed to survive were unbelievable. I'm not surprised he left the country as soon as he could and never wanted to come back. If even half of what he tells is true, it would have been enough to drive anyone insane, or bitter at least.
But there was often a comic side of their miseries. Once their house was so cold that Frank and his little brothers Malachy and Michael run out of wood and decided to burn the wall that divided the two rooms in it. When the rent man saw what happened he wasn't pleased:

He says , Great God in Heaven, where's the other room?
Grandma says, what room?
I rented ye two rooms up here and now there's one. And what happened to the wall? There was a wall. Now there's no wall. I distinctly remember a wall because I distinctly remember a room. Now, where is that wall? Where is that room?
Grandma says, I don't remember a wall and if I don't remember a wall, how can I remember a room?
Ye don't remember?Well, I remember. Forty years a landlord's agent and I never seen the likes of this. By God, 'tis a desperate situation altogether when you can't turn your back but tenants are not paying their rent and making walls and rooms disappear on top of it. I want to know where that wall is and what ye did with the room, so I do.
Mam turns to us. Do any of ye remember a wall?
Michael pulls at her hand. Is that the wall we burned in the fire?

I can't help but laugh. The book is full of these tragicomic situations, which make the unbearable even funny, sometimes.
Ok, I didn't find it impossible to put down, but when I did pick it up I enjoyed it. i didn't expect it to, so it was a very pleasant surprise, which should teach me something about prejudices and expectations. Only, I know I would make the same mistake again. It's just too good to be surprised sometimes.

other blog reviews:


Peruse Peach
Well above average
Trish's Reading Nook

Let me know if you've reviewed it too and I'll add it to the list!