More minis: Well Wished by Billingsley (reread), Orphan Train by Kline (reread), I Love It When You Talk Retro by Ralph Keyes

She eased onto the ice and cast her words in front of her, threading the air with her voice and tugging it taut with a bright invisible line. And the ice flowed into her legs -- or maybe it was that her legs flowed into the ice -- and even when she took the air in a jump there was some secret that whispered between the ice and her feet. 

[p. 62]

Well Wished by Franny Billingsley is a reread but I'll go ahead and write a bit about it, just for grins and because I happen to love Franny Billingsley's writing.

Nuria lives with her grandfather, whom she calls "the Avy", in tiny Bishop Mayne, a village with a magical Wishing Well. One can only make a single wish in a lifetime and that wish must be worded very carefully or things can go very, very wrong. One such wish caused all the children in town to disappear -- all but 11-year-old Nuria, who lives up on the mountain.

When a single child returns, Nuria becomes friends with her. Catty Winter is unable to walk after illness took away the use of her legs. She and Nuria spend time together in a cabinet under the stairs, which they have decorated. They're very imaginative children. When Catty convinces Nuria to make a wish with her and the wish goes horribly wrong, Nuria wants to rescind the wish. But, Catty does not. How will she convince Catty to speak up so things can return to normal but without making Catty's life as bad as it was, before?

Highly Recommended - There are a lot of things I love about Well Wished: its complexity, the relationship between Nuria and her grandfather, the creativity of the children, the word game ("Bring me a description") Nuria plays with the Avy, the way the story is resolved. It's a lovely story. I read a few reviews while I was reading the book because I noticed it didn't have a very high rating at Goodreads and found that some people considered Nuria a bit snarky. She's a wit, definitely, but I don't think of her as negative. Rather, it seemed to me that she's a good person who wants to do the right thing. And, the writing is lovely.

Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline is also a reread. This time, I read it for discussion with my local book group. I suggested it when our group leader asked me if I knew of any discussion-worthy books that weren't downers, as we'd read a series of truly dreary books and everyone was in need of an upper. I recommended Orphan Train, which she quickly read and added to the schedule for discussion.

I'm not going to write a full description since I've reviewed Orphan Train in the past (that's a link, at left, to my old review) but it's a story that flits between the story of a teenager in foster care in the present day and a historical story about a young orphaned Irish girl who was sent on a train to the West. Their lives, as it turns out, bear some uncanny parallels. The story ends on a very happy note.

We discussed Orphan Train, last month, and used some of the questions in the paperback version for discussion (but it was also a partly organic conversation). I don't recall anyone at all saying they disliked the story and it was definitely a good choice. Everyone was relieved to have a break from sadder reading material and there was plenty to talk about.

Still highly recommended - Loved it the first time; appreciated Orphan Train even more upon rereading.

I Love It When You Talk Retro by Ralph Keyes is about the crazy things we say, the origins of some of the words and phrases that we use, and how some of them have been altered by time, shifting their meaning -- sometimes to its opposite.

I bought I Love It When You Talk Retro as a remainder and had set it on the end table with the thought that I planned to read it soon. If you're a regular here, you know I decided to go ahead and read the book after my husband spilled coffee all over my copy. It's not in great shape.

Although I can't recall what rating I gave the book, I liked it a lot but didn't love it. The history of words and phrases is, of course, fascinating to me because I'm a lover of words (I'll bet most of you share that with me). There were only a couple problems with the book. One is that sometimes the author was wrong. It didn't happen often, as far as I know, but I did catch a few mistakes. The second problem is that the author seemed to grow tired of his subject matter toward the end of the book. Within the last 50 pages, the depth of history seems to narrow, the passion wanes and the reader is left with questions that were answered earlier in the book when describing other retro terminology. The final problem is kind of shocking for the type of book: the author inserts his opinion where it is absolutely not appropriate. He may, for  example, say the origin of a phrase came from a particularly bad movie, for example -- his opinion, not necessarily the opinion of the reader or even the popular viewpoint.

Recommended with slight hesitation - Because of the three problems mentioned, I can't give I Love It When You Talk Retro an enthusiastic recommendation but it was fascinating enough that I occasionally read passages to my husband and he enjoyed them as much as I did. So, it's worth reading, even though it may not be a perfect book.


©2015 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

A few mini reviews - Behind the Scenes at the Museum by K. Atkinson, Well Wished by F. Billingsley and French Leave by Anna Gavalda

All three of the following books are from my personal library.

Kate Atkinson's Behind the Scenes at the Museum tells the story of Ruby Lennox's life from the moment of conception to a time well into her adulthood. But, it's not just about Ruby. Behind the Scenes at the Museum is a family saga that leaps back and forth in time, dashing back to examine how Ruby's family has been fractured by wandering souls and forward to show how the wounds caused by loss and unexplained disappearances, misplaced blame and emotional pain reverberated through several generations.

Behind the Scenes at the Museum is yet another book that does the leapfrogging in time thing, although it's quite different from the historical/contemporary blend with two main characters that's become so common.  Instead, Atkinson leaps from one decade or even century to another and none of the stories are told in a strict timeline sense.  Near the end of the book you find out even the narrator, Ruby, has blocked a critical incident from her memory because it was so painful.

It's tedious wading through detail about one generation of the Lennox family, only to be thrown to another time period and have to reorient yourself to another -- so many characters!  There were several times that I considered closing the book for good because the jumps between time periods were exhausting. And, yet the characterization in Behind the Scenes at the Museum is stunning. When you get to the point that the dots connect, the family members who drifted away are finally explained, the psychic wounds that caused some to be unhappy described you can't help but walk away from the ending thinking Kate Atkinson is one hell of a writer.  

I did, however, get the sense that Atkinson was trying a bit too hard to say, "Look, look how brilliant I am!"  She probably wasn't, but you know how some books come across that way.

Well Wished by Franny Billingsley is a children's fantasy (middle reader).  Nuria lives with her grandfather, whom she calls "the Avy". They live near a beautiful little village with a magical well.  But, wishes made at the village well have to be carefully worded or they can go terribly wrong.  One wish has already caused all but two of the children in the village to disappear.  The Avy has tried to wish the children back and he has forbidden Nuria to ever make a wish.  

Nuria quickly becomes friends with Catty Winter, a child who has been called back by the well.  But, Catty is stuck in a wheelchair after a lengthy illness left her without the use of her legs.  When Catty convinces Nuria to join in on a wish to return her to full health, the wish goes terribly wrong -- and the rules of the well are strict.  A wish can be recanted within a month.  But, if two parties make a wish together, both must agree to undo the wish; and Catty seems unlikely to change her mind.  

The description of Well Wished is a lot more simplistic than the plot. The well itself is a trickster and a series of wishes to undo wishes has created a tangled mess but Nuria is a clever child.  In fact, she's such a witty, inventive child that just reading the dialogue in Well Wished is a delight.  The way everything works out in the end is so brilliant but twisty that at least one adult reviewer at Goodreads said she was confused and couldn't fathom how a child could possibly understand the story.  I can see how someone would have difficulty following the concept.  You have to let go a little and think like a child.  If anything, I think children are more likely to understand the concept in Well Wished than adults.  Well Wished is the third book I've read by Franny Billingsley and it is a wonder.  I've also read and loved Chime and The Folk Keeper.  

French Leave by Anna Gavalda is a short book by the author of one of my long-time favorite short story collections, I Wish Someone Were Waiting for Me Somewhere.  

From Google Books:

Siblings Simon, Garance and Lola flee a dull family wedding to visit brother Vincent, who is working as a guide at a chateau in the heart of the charming Tours countryside.  

Sounds great, but unfortunately the bulk of French Leave describes the drive to the wedding and the escape portion of the book is deeply disappointing.  After some jumpy but very entertaining set-up with great interaction and Garance's reflection on a wild and crazy youth, not much actually happens when the siblings finally gather.  When Simon, Garance and Lola first encounter Vincent, though, it's pretty funny and I think the fact that not much happens is probably the point of French Leave.  Garance has happy memories but she and her siblings are simply not the same people they used to be; adulthood has changed them too much and even happy-go-lucky Garance, the narrator, realizes it's time for her to move on.

Well Wished is my favorite of these three books and the one I'd most highly recommend.  Fantasy is a genre I seldom read because the elaborate worlds and names in many fantasies overwhelm me but so far I have loved everything I've read by Franny Billingsley, although it takes a while before the pictures she paints become clear.  

Behind the Scenes at the Museum has such depth of character and setting that it can become tiresome but in the end it's quite an amazing read so I also recommend it but I'd save it for a time when you're feeling patient and willing to wade through a lot of detail.  Between the characterization and the bouncing back and forth in time, it's a frustrating book but when the pieces start to fall together it's pretty spectacular to look back and realize just what the author has accomplished.

French Leave is okay; I recommend it, but hesitantly.  Too much build-up that leads to nothing, in my humble opinion, although I don't regret the time spent reading.  I liked the first 2/3 or so.  It's unfortunate that the story petered out once the siblings gathered together.  Even if the point is that they've changed, the last portion is such a huge let-down that it colors the entire reading experience.

Wish me luck.  I'm going to do my level best to finish catching up on reviews, this week.  My goal will be to keep things short and incisive.  I am laughing at myself, already. 

©2013 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

More minis - The Folk Keeper by F. Billingsley, Poison Study by M. Snyder and The Garden of Happy Endings by B. O'Neal

Once again, these are mini reviews of books that came from my personal library.

The Folk Keeper by Franny Billingsley was my last book read in 2012.  After reading the neurotic cat humor book that I found somewhat less than humorous, I felt like I needed to quickly read something I loved to end my year.  I figured that The Folk Keeper was a good bet, since Chime by Franny Billingsley was one of my favorite books in 2011.  

The style in both books is very similar; both are fantasy and in both cases, Billingsley doles out clues slowly and sparingly so that it takes a while to figure out where you are and what's going on . . . but in a good way.  You know how sometimes it can be terribly frustrating to have an author keep too many secrets from you, but at other times it feels more like a mystery is slowly unfolding and it's more of an adventure?  The Folk Keeper was the latter.

I am so impressed with Franny Billingsley.  The Folk Keeper is a middle-reader about a girl masquerading as a boy to get the job of Folk Keeper -- a person who keeps the harmful Folk at bay.  Taken from the foundling home by a dying Lord, she is transported to a manor where she will continue her job as Folk Keeper in the cellar.  But, there are new dangers near the seaside and there is much that Corin/Corinna doesn't know about herself.  Scary and original enough to compete with a Gaiman, with a bit of magic and even a tiny touch of romance.

Highly recommended - a dark, mysterious, atmospheric book, beautifully written and deliciously creepy.  The Folk Keeper was the perfect read to end 2012 and would make an absolutely wonderful read for the annual R.I.P. Challenge.

Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder is actually Kiddo's book.  I noticed Snyder has a more recent series and since Kiddo has read two of her series and enjoyed them, I bought him the two newer titles for Christmas then asked if I could read one.  Instead, Kiddo shoved Poison Study into my hands.  Here's what Isabel has to say about Poison Study:

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Obviously, she missed some key discussion points.  Poison Study is about Yelena, a woman who is reprieved from a death sentence for murder when there's an opening for the job of food taster to the Commander of Ixia.  Not only must Yelena take her chances with the potential for poisoning (because there is no escape), she must also keep her eyes out for the people who want to kill her for the murder she committed.  Plus, she's got a little bit of a magic problem -- a touch of magic in a place where magical ability alone is a death sentence -- and she's haunted by the ghost of the man she killed, a very nasty man who deserved to die.  Just so you know Yelena is a cool chick.

There were things I disliked about the world of Poison Study, but once I became accustomed to it I loved the story, even though I thought it bore some similarities to the only Snyder novels I've read: Inside Out and Outside In.  A super-tough heroine who sometimes doubts her own strengths and abilities and gets beat up quite a bit, plus a very evil bad guy and at least one character who is not what he or she seems were the common denominators I recognized.  Regardless, I loved Poison Study and actually had a little trouble switching gears when I picked up the next book.  Poison Study was my first read in 2013.

Highly recommended - A very entertaining read with numerous dilemmas, a touch of magic and an action-heavy plot.

The Garden of Happy Endings by Barbara O'Neal is a book I won in a drawing, last year, after a friend's gushy recommendation just happened to coincide with a blog drawing.

In The Garden of Happy Endings, minister Elsa's world is rocked when a young girl from her church is murdered.  Unable to help her church family through their grief because she is having her own crisis of faith, Elsa leaves Seattle to spend time with her sister, Tamsin, and her former fiancee, Joaquin (aka, "Father Jack") in Pueblo, Colorado.

In Pueblo, Elsa stays busy helping build a neighborhood garden and serving in Father Jack's soup kitchen while helping her sister through a crisis of her own.  There are a lot of personal crises in The Garden of Happy Endings, some really scary trouble with gang members, a few poignant moments with parishioners and a bit of a romance.

I liked The Garden of Happy Endings but I didn't love it and I can't quite put a finger on why. There was just something about the writing style that bothered me a bit, I suppose, or perhaps it was a little too predictable.  Regardless, The Garden of Happy Endings is an engrossing story that explores some deep topics and which contains a surprising amount of conflict of both the internal and external varieties -- stuff happens, in other words, and yet there is a nice balance of darkness and light.  While the book addresses God and faith, it's not a preachy book.

Recommended - A nice, light read about life, love and faith that is very difficult to put down. I'd recommend The Garden of Happy Endings for beach reading.

In other news:

• We went to Les Miserables for the second time, this weekend, and loved it just as much on the second viewing as the first.  I really, really need to read the book.  But, mostly I just walk past my copy and sigh.  
• I read about a study in which diet soda was implicated for causing higher incidences of depression in regular drinkers.  Huh.  In the same study, they found that regular coffee drinking reduces depression.  So, I bought a coffee maker.  I need all the help I can get. 
• I've photographed some recent arrivals but a "book box" has just arrived at my house, so I've got a few more to snap.  I'm in an online group that holds group swaps, you see.  We just pass a box around.  Each person removes a few books and replaces those removed with an equal or greater number of books -- usually ARCs, but not always.  Fun!
• Isabel got her shots recently.  She weighs 9.1 pounds.  That makes her the smallest cat I have ever been owned by.  I was wondering if Vans (she's a rescue and obviously not a breed but a distant relative of the long-haired Turkish Van) are unusually intelligent because she is also the smartest cat I've ever owned. So I read up a bit and, sure enough, she fits the description perfectly.  Vans love water, are very energetic explorers, play hard and sleep hard, are people cats and are fiercely intelligent.  One of Isabel's favorite games keeps me running to change her water frequently.  She likes to drop her dry cereal in the water bowl, just so she can fish it back out.  
•  It's cold and rainy, perfect reading weather. Happy Monday!

©2013 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery and Babble or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.