Quatrain

Quatrain by Sharon Shinn


My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Sharon Shinn is one of my favorite contemporary authors because her stories are compelling, her main characters feel like people you know or want to know, and the worlds she creates seem real.

In Quatrain, Shinn tells four stories set in four separate worlds. The first--"Flight"--fits into her Samaria series--just before Gabriel becomes Archangel. Salome has spent the past 17 years avoiding angels and raising her niece, Sheba, and now her past is about to find her again.

In "Blood", Kerk's search for his long-lost mother leads him to a new understanding of the gender-based power dynamics in gulden society and a new appreciation for one particular indigo woman. This novella fits into the world Shinn created for her novel Heart of Gold, and the only thing I didn't like about it was that it wasn't longer! I actually exclaimed aloud in protest as I turned the last page and realized I'd come to the end.

The third novella, "Gold," is set in a world I didn't recognize (although for all I know, it may be from one of the remaining Shinn novels I haven't yet read). A petulant seventeen-year-old crown princess is escorted to safety in the magical kingdom of Alora to wait out the impending war. The longer she stays, the less she remembers her home and family. I think it's the weakest of the four stories, but I give Shinn credit for her portrayal of the self-absorption of so many teenagers.

The fourth and final story was, of course, my favorite. "Flame" features Senneth and the world of Gillengaria and its Twelve Houses. This one takes place in the days leading up to the start of book 1 of the series, Mystic and Rider. Senneth burns down three plague-ridden cottages as a favor for a village and later saves a small child from the flames of a hearth fire. In the process, she's exposed as a mystic and faces prejudice from both strangers and acquaintances when mysterious fires start erupting all over town.

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Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A year of food life

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver


My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Two words: turkey sex.

Barbara Kingsolver is hands down my favorite modern author. She uses the most beautiful prose--vivid and lyrical--to write stories and characters that come to life, no matter whether she's writing fiction or nonfiction.

In Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, Kingsolver tells the story of her family's decision to deliberately buy, grow, and eat only food produced in the vicinity of their farm in southwestern Virginia. The idea is to eat seasonally and get off the petroleum-fuel-dependent global food system with its gigantic carbon footprint and devastating environmental consequences. They aren't quite as strict about defining "local" as were the authors of Plenty: one man, one woman, and a raucous year of eating locally. But Kingsolver's family lives on a small farm where they can grow much of their own produce and raise--and slaughter--their own poultry, so they have a head start in the "local" department.

Barbara wrote the bulk of the book, while her husband, Steven Hopp, wrote sidebars filled with related facts & figures, and her daughter, Camille Kingsolver, contributed the sections about meal plans and recipes. The sidebars were really interesting (if sometimes a scary reality check), despite my irritation that they interrupted the flow of the story. I only wish I were a competent enough cook to attempt some of Camille's recipes. (What does "braise" actually mean & how do you do it?)

I already miss having my own vegetable garden, and this book is inspiring me to plan how I can carve out space to grow much of my own produce in the back yard I now have. I can spend this winter poring over online heirloom seed catalogs and drawing diagrams, just like my father used to do (and maybe still does?) with roses and flowerbeds.

And as for the turkey sex...well, let's just say that Barbara's evocative description of the trials and tribulations of mating teenage turkeys had me laughing 'til my face hurt.

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Plenty: One Man, One Woman, and a Raucous Year of Eating Locally

Plenty: One Man, One Woman, and a Raucous Year of Eating Locally by Alisa Smith


My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Basically, Plenty is Animal, Vegetable, Miracle for the urban dweller. It's the story of one couple's determination to get off the petrochemicals & pollution diet our global food supply has turned into these past few decades. They made a decision to--for one year--only buy & eat food grown/raised/gathered within 100 miles of their Vancouver, BC, apartment, started blogging about it, and learned just how many people were interested in their story.

I enjoyed how the authors took turns writing the chapters, so readers get two different perspectives on this adventure. I felt I got to know the authors--to the point where I got really anxious when they nearly broke up over canning tomatoes. And they inspired me to plant a garden in my back yard next year as well as to resume purchasing the bulk of my produce from my local farmer's market this summer. I just wish I knew how to cook (or even recognize!) half the vegetables J.B. MacKinnon writes about using.

In reader's advisory terms: the main doorways are story and character, although setting is fairly important as well. Many of the chapters include stories and information about the history of people, wildlife, and food in the Pacific Northwest--which I found fascinating and often sad.

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Breaking Dawn

Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer


My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I absolutely devoured this book. It's 756 pages long, and I read it in two days, despite having many other things to do that weekend that prevented me from focusing all my attention on the book. I really wanted to focus all my attention on the book.

Breaking Dawn is the fourth novel in the Twilight series, and--not to give anything away--does a pretty good job of wrapping up the story lines. It's a real page-turner, obviously, since this series is perfect for people who want to read "a good story." In reader's advisory terms, "story" is the primary doorway, and "character" is a close second. I especially enjoyed the sections from Jacob's point of view.

There isn't much else I can say without spilling the beans, so I'll stop here.

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What Happens in London

What Happens in London by Julia Quinn


My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is now one of my all-time favorite romance novels, primarily because it made me laugh out loud numerous times. Quinn's books are usually humorous, and this one now rivals Romancing Mr. Bridgerton for the title of My Favorite Romance Novel (Pride and Prejudice is just in its own category/league altogether). The scene in which Sebastian performs his reading of Miss Butterworth and the Mad Baron while standing on a table had me laughing so hard, tears were pouring down my cheeks.

The premise of the book is that Olivia Bevelstoke's gossipy friends tell her Sir Harry Valentine--her new next door neighbor--is rumored to have murdered his fiancee. She doesn't believe them...really...but it makes her curious, so she spies on him from her bedroom window, thinking he doesn't see her. He does, which distracts him from his translation work for the War Office, and that irritates him. However, Olivia has caught the attention of a visiting Russian prince, so Harry is ordered to spy on her. He ends up paying court to her in public as a way to spend the requisite amount of time in her presence, and since this is a romance novel, they discover they actually might be able to stand each other after all.

The characters feel like real people. The writing is funny and quick-witted. And the story moved right along so that I was frustrated by any and all interruptions that forced me to stop reading.

My only quibble with it is that it ends a little too quickly. I wanted to find out more about Vladimir--like maybe he needs his own book to clear up the mystery that is his back-story.

Incidentally, this is the second in the new Bevelstoke series, which began with The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever.

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Reduced Shakespeare: The Complete Guide for the Attention-Impaired [abridged]

Reduced Shakespeare by Reed C. Martin


My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The full title for this book is actually Reduced Shakespeare: The Complete Guide for the Attention-Impaired [abridged:]. It's written by the same fellows who brought us the play The Complete Works of William Shakespeare [abridged:], which you can get on DVD or in book format. (It's hilarious!)

Even the Table of Contents is funny in this book--the fact that it's annotated cracks me up. It should also be a clue that this is not the book to start someone out on if they are just being introduced to Shakespeare for the first time. Yes, it gives plenty of biographical information and plot summaries--even movie reviews--etc, but the humor is so irreverent that a newbie to the Bard might get confused in spots. (Actually, the tone is so irreverent that sometimes I questioned whether the authors even LIKED Shakespeare's works.)

There was one place I found, however, with some glaring errors, and that was on page 105 of the hardback edition. The plot synopsis of Titus Andronicus is incorrect. It's confusing and has the characters mixed up. A better summary can be found at SparkNotes. Otherwise, the book is a very entertaining read!

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At Last Comes Love

At Last Comes Love by Mary Balogh


My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I thoroughly enjoyed this 3rd installment in the Huxtable sibling series. It was a great summer read--entertaining and light but with enough substance that I wasn't wincing or rolling my eyes. I did guess most of Duncan's big secret, but I did not predict the twist at the end.

Margaret Huxtable and Duncan Pennethorne are both 30 years old, which is a welcome change from the norm of historical romances and their 20-year-old heroines. They both need to find a spouse in a hurry: Margaret, because she unwisely boasted to her ex that she had a secret engagement, and Duncan, because his grandfather is going to cut off his income if he's not married within 15 days. Some secrets are kept a little too long; others are leaked too soon. And at last comes love. (*groan* Sorry! I couldn't resist.)

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