Book Love: The Nix:

Not my regular genre, but I absolutely loved The Nix: A novel by Nathan Hill.  I stumbled on it after seeing a tweet from author Stephen King saying how funny he had found the first fifty pages.  Given his background as a teacher I assume that he could definitely relate to Samuel Andresen-Anderson's opening predicament.

Meet Samuel Andresen-Anderson - stalled writer, bored teacher at a local college, obsessive player of online video games. He hasn't seen his mother, Faye, in decades, not since she abandoned her family when he was a boy. Now she has suddenly reappeared, having committed an absurd politically-motivated crime that electrifies the nightly news, beguiles the Internet, and inflames a divided country. The media paints Faye as a radical hippie with a sordid past, but as far as Samuel knows, his mother was an ordinary girl who married her high school sweetheart. Which version of his mother is true? Two facts are certain - she's facing some serious charges, and she needs Samuel's help.

As Samuel begins to excavate his mother's - and his country's - history, the story moves from the rural Midwest of the 1960s, to New York City during the Great Recession and the Occupy Wall Street movement, and back to the infamous riots at the 1968 Chicago Democratic National Convention. Finally, the trail leads him to wartime Norway, home of the mysterious Nix that his mother told him about as a child, a spirit that can take the shape of a white horse, luring children to their deaths. And in these places, Samuel will unexpectedly find that he has to rethink everything he ever knew about his mother - a woman with an epic story of her own, a story she has kept hidden from the world.

Well-drawn characters; I was rooting for some and really hoping others would get their just deserts.  Loved the insights, including the guys that play a fictional MMO called Elfscape.  The team leader spends five hours a day just in preparation for "having fun" later in the evening with his crew.  A cautionary tale for sure.

The plot kept me guessing and I ended up binge-reading to get to the conclusion.

Highly recommended!



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Book Love: The Nix by Tatiana Dokuchic on 2016-11-07 Not my regular genre, but I absolutely loved The Nix!

Joyland: Stephen King pits Pulp against Pixels

Another Canadian Labour Day Weekend has rolled around and as usual I'm in denial about the summer coming to a close.  My summer 2013 reading (now read) list turned out to be as eclectic as always and I've just finished reading Joyland by Stephen King which means that it just squeezed in under the wire for inclusion on that list.

There's a bit of a story concerning Joyland's late addition.  In May I heard early whispers about the book and knew that it was going to be published by Hard Case Crime same as The Colorado Kid (waves hello to fellow Haven fans) so I was eagerly anticipating an e-book download in June.  Then came the news, trumpeted by the Wall Street Journal no less, Stephen King Says No to E-Book, to Scare Up Business.

Seems that Joyland wasn't destined to reside companionably beside The Colorado Kid on my e-reader after all!

An Unexpected Briefing: Hobbit themed Safety Video

Since I began the Walking to Mordor Challenge I've really had Middle Earth & Hobbits on the brain.

 

I've always loved Tolkien's magical realm and now that I'm "walking" through it I'm catching frequent glimpses of it in the everyday world.  Apparently I'm not the only one!

 

Air New Zealand partnered with WETA Workshop on a brand new Hobbit inspired Safety Video. It features cameo appearances including Sir Peter Jackson and it really is a lot of fun.

 

Enjoy!

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Wallis & Elizabeth

Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon & Wallis Simpson

 Anyone who has seen Madonna's movie W.E. has caught a glimpse into the life & romance of Wallis Simpson & Edward VIII.  They know that this was a relationship that altered history and they know that "W.E." was the cypher used to symbolise that relationship.  They may also remember a few of the movie's "bit players" including Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, first seen as the Duchess of York and played by Natalie Dormer (who in a lovely little twist also played Anne Boleyn in The Tudors).

Elizabeth pops up again in The King's Speech where she is portrayed as charming & rather quirky by Helena Bonham Carter (who, as luck would have it, also played Anne Boleyn in the ITV mini-series Henry VIII). She goes about her business, dutifully supporting her husband as he makes his reluctant transition from Duke of York to King George VI.

This certainly was the image that I had of Elizabeth; always gracious (except when it came to Wallis of course), always smiling and always a bit boring.  Elizabeth appeared to be more like the "Bound to Obey and Serve" Jane Seymour while Wallis appeared more along the lines of the stylish, sophisticated and, some might say, shrewish Anne Boleyn.

Apparently I was off track with these stereotypes, way off track.  Having dug a bit deeper, it now appears to me that instead of being polar opposites Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon and Wallis Simpson were actually more like "sisters under the skin".  Who would have thought that theirs is the "W.E." relationship that is truly fascinating!

My interest in Elizabeth was first piqued when we recently discovered a photo of her in an old family album (see The King's Trip: George VI visits Oba, Ontario) but I took a rather roundabout means of learning more about her starting with That Woman: The Life of Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor by Anne Sebba.  After that I tackled The Queen Mother: The Untold Story of Elizabeth Bowes Lyon, Who Became Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother by Lady Colin Campbell.  Both books have eye opening "revelations" and they were good to read in series noting the contradictions and collaborations, especially in some of the more controversial areas.

I certainly came away with a greater appreciation for the era in which they lived and I'm now happily indulging myself with Downton Abbey which, I imagine, reflects a bit of the lifestyle of Elizabeth's early years.  It's interesting to note that Elizabeth is just two years younger than the Downton character Lady Sybil Crawley and that her childhood home, Glamis Castle, was actually turned into a convalescent home for wounded soldiers, which Elizabeth helped to run.

As for my opinion of the two women, it does seem to me that they were very much alike although Elizabeth certainly represented the old ways while Wallis was forging ahead with the new.  I have more respect and sympathy for each of them and I'm going to try to keep an open mind as I discover more.

Gareth Russell's excellent post,  Beyond a stereotype  should help me with this.  As he relates "The six wives of Henry VIII hover in our collective imagination, fulfilling our need for female stereotypes or historical fantasies".  It's intriguing that this also seems to be the fate of Wallis & Elizabeth.

Wallis & Elizabeth at the funeral of the Duke of Windsor, 1972

Have you already discovered Wallis and Elizabeth?  What's your opinion of these two "warring wives of Windsor"?

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Related articles

• The King's Trip: George VI visits Oba, Ontario

Step by Step: Walking to Mordor Challenge

I often daydream as I walk; my mind wandering farther & faster than my feet could ever go.  Given that I'm an avid The Hobbit & The Lord of the Rings fan, it's not surprising that I frequently catch myself musing about the journey that Frodo & Sam made from Hobbiton to Mordor.  Now that was quite a quest!  How far did they go?  How fast did they travel?  When did they reach certain memorable milestones?  Do those hairy, hobbit feet ever get sore & tired?

Am I the only one who ponders these questions while they pace through their local parks?

Apparently not, as I delightfully discovered in A Hobbit's Guide to Walking.  Now even if you don't enjoy the tales of JRR Tolkien I highly recommend that you read this blog post which highlights some of the benefits of walking including weight loss, stress reduction and longer lifespans.

And for those of us who have always longed to join the Fellowship there's the added attraction of the "Walking to Mordor" Challenge.  Based on The Atlas of Middle-earth by cartographer Karen Wynn Fonstad, Frodo & Sam's route has been recorded in minute detail.  Used in conjunction with The Fitness Nerd's Walking to Mordor & Back spreadsheet and a pedometer (I'm using my Fitbit) you have everything you need to begin your quest to destroy the ring.

I will be organizing my journal under Walking to Mordor Challenge and I would love to have company along the way (a two year round trip can get lonely!) so please feel free to jump in at any time.  Let's get started!!

Hobbiton to Mount Doom is 1779 miles (2863 kilometers) and it wasn't unusual for the Fellowship to cover 20 miles or more in one day.  My daily goal is much less ambitious since my experience shows that I have to work hard  to maintain the recommended 10,000 steps a day which, for me, works out to approximately 4.5 miles.  So I'm looking at an elapsed time of 395 days or just over a year to complete the outward journey.  Apparently questing is not for the faint of heart!

Fortunately, this challenge has been broken down into four distinct stages (as shown on the map) averaging about 440 miles each: Hobbiton to Rivendell; Rivendell to Lothlorien: Lothlorien to Rauros Falls; Rauros Falls to Mount Doom.  If I make it that far (when I make it ... when I make it ...) I intend to journey back again to Hobbiton which should take until early 2014.

As Bilbo says “It’s a dangerous business going out of your door. You step into the Road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off to.”

Wish me luck!

Previous Stage: None
Next Stage: Hobbiton to Bree
Pinterest: Walking to Mordor

Journal: Walking to Mordor Challenge

Illustrations: Gandalf Returns to Hobbiton by John Howe; Panorama by John Howe; Middle Earth original by Christopher Tolkien

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• Step by Step: Hobbiton to Bree
• An Unexpected Briefing: Hobbit themed Safety Video
• Embracing Canada's 30x30 Nature Challenge

The Uninvited Guests by Sadie Jones

One late spring evening in 1912, in the kitchens at Sterne, preparations begin for an elegant supper party in honor of Emerald Torrington's twentieth birthday. But only a few miles away, a dreadful accident propels a crowd of mysterious and not altogether savory survivors to seek shelter at the ramshackle manor—and the household is thrown into confusion and mischief.

The cook toils over mock turtle soup and a chocolate cake covered with green sugar roses, which the hungry band of visitors is not invited to taste. But nothing, it seems, will go according to plan. As the passengers wearily search for rest, the house undergoes a strange transformation. One of their number (who is most definitely not a gentleman) makes it his business to join the birthday revels.

Evening turns to stormy night, and a most unpleasant parlor game threatens to blow respectability to smithereens: Smudge Torrington, the wayward youngest daughter of the house, decides that this is the perfect moment for her Great Undertaking.

The Uninvited Guests is the bewitching new novel from the critically acclaimed Sadie Jones. The prizewinning author triumphs in this frightening yet delicious drama of dark surprises—where social codes are uprooted and desire daringly trumps propriety—and all is alight with Edwardian wit and opulence.

I was delightfully deceived by The Uninvited Guests, though I guess that it's more precise to say that I somehow managed to deceived myself while reading the description & early reviews for this new novel by Sadie Jones.

 

For some reason the equation that I originally came up with was: 

Edwardian England + Mansion + Dead First Spouse + Party + Paranormal + Dodgy Housekeeper = Rebecca the classic novel by Daphne du Maurier.

Therefore, I was expecting to proceed at a rather leisurely pace wandering dream-like through the story from "Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again" to "And the ashes blew towards us with the salt wind of the sea".  Instead I ended up blasting through this page-turner, anxious to see how things developed & surprised that the characters weren't behaving at all as I assumed they would.

Florence Trieves, the housekeeper, is no evil Mrs Danvers though she has quirks and secrets enough.  Charlotte Torrington, the matriarch, is certainly not "to the manor born" and her daughter Emerald may or may not be as beautiful inside as she is out.  Smudge, the youngest Torrington child, is free-spirit whose safety I fear for while Charlie Traversham-Beechers, party crasher extraordinaire, should never have been let into the house in the first place.

Shades of Rebecca, Maxim de Winter or the second Mrs de Winter are nowhere to be found but as with Rebecca this book does have a strangeness & charm unique to itself.

Published on May 1, 2012 (exactly 100 years after the story ends, how cool is that!), it's apparent that some special May Day magic has found its way onto the pages of The Uninvited Guests.  I'm looking forward to reading it again, sometime in the not-too-distant future, at which time I will be able to slow down and fully savour the wonderful prose of Sadie Jones.

For those of you that have already read The Uninvited Guests what did you think of it?  Was it what you expected?  Did you enjoy it?  Were you also thinking it was going to be more of a gothic romance?
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Summer Reading 2011

I don't know why, but my reading speed seems to accelerate during the long and sunny summer days.  Perhaps my metabolism is more efficient making everything I do go a little bit faster or perhaps it's just that I tend to pick lighter reads.  In any case, my pile of books melts away like a snow pile in July!

Here is a selection of my Summer Reading for 2011.  Please note that the links will take you to amazon.com where you can also get Kindle ebooks.

The first book I tackled (or should I say, sunk my teeth into) was Dracula in Love by Karen Essex. It's the classic tale with a twist as it is told from Mina's perspective. It's always easier to read dark, foggy, gothic dramas when the sun is shining and I quite enjoyed it!

I know that the original classic, Dracula by Bram Stoker is a free Kobo ebook which gives you the perfect opportunity to read them both and compare.

I read The Help by Kathryn Stockett before the movie actually came out. I thought the book was great and so I waited quite a while before seeing the movie as I didn't want to be disappointed.  As it turns out, the movie won all kinds of awards but I have to say that the book was better still.

I finished A Dance with Dragons: A Song of Ice and Fire: Book Five in a flash (though with it's multiple, dark, twisting plotlines and over 1000 pages I wouldn't exactly call it light reading) having started the series earlier this year on the recommendation of a friend. All I have to say is GRRM better not die before finishing the last two books of the series ;)

Looking for a little more magic I turned to  the New York Times bestseller The Magicians: A Novel and it's followup The Magician King: A Novel by Lev Grossman.

If you like fantasy these books will probably appeal to you as they are sometimes referred to as "Harry Potter for adults". Grossman has a great "turn of phrase" and I loved his contemporary references.

I am hoping that there will be more in the series because I'm invested in these characters and there are a number of things that just need to be made right for them!

Update: Title Revealed for Lev Grossman’s Third (and Final?) Magicians Book.  Woohoo!  Looks like fans are going to get our wish with The Magicians' Land!

Wow!  The Passage: A Novel by Justin Cronin is a page turner for sure!! I got a lot less sleep because I just had to read one more chapter before turning in for the night. It begins in 2018 as all hell breaks loose when a human engineered virus turns the majority of the population into vampires (and not the Edward & Bella kind). It then fast forwards 100 years to the post-apocalyptic world where the remaining humans are trying to survive.

It's the first book of a trilogy with the second installment due October2012.

So that was the Summer of 2011! I would love to hear what you think of these books so please feel free to comment.

Related articles

• Wallis & Elizabeth
• The Uninvited Guests by Sadie Jones

Elizabeth Woodville: A Queen of the May

Elizabeth Woodville, artist unknown

On May 1, 1464 the beautiful Elizabeth Woodville secretly married the newly crowned Edward IV of England.  Contemporary rumour suggests that Elizabeth managed to bring this wedding about by her calculated refusal of the young king's amorous advances, the same tactic so famously used by Anne Boleyn sixty years later on Elizabeth's grandson, Henry VIII.  Talk about women who managed to change history.

Following her coronation on May 26, 1465, Elizabeth lived an extraordinary life at the centre of medieval England.  Ambitious and intelligent she saw the fall and rise of her family fortunes during the reigns of Richard III and Henry VII; her descendants rule over Great Britian to this day.  A powerful woman, she definitely evoked strong, conflicting feelings and was said to be both a witch and the inspiration for the Queen of Hearts playing card.

I have often come across brief, tantalizing glimpses of Elizabeth in tales of the Tudors and the Plantagenets so I was delighted to find Phillipa Gregory's new novel The White Queen which allowed me to spend a bit more time with this fascinating personage.

This novel manages to deliver a lot of historical fact wrapped up as pure entertainment with liberal doses of romance and mysticism thrown in for good measure.

After thoroughly enjoying Gregory's story, I dug up an old favourite to act as a scholarly companion,  Royal Blood: Richard III and the Mystery of the Princes by Bertram Fields.  Fields, a lawyer by trade, tackles the mystery of Elizabeth's two sons, Edward and Richard who were in line for the throne and disappeared under mysterious circumstances from the Tower of London. 

It's intriguing to get a feel for the political motives and propoganda that have shaped our perception of some major players in history.  Richard III certainly appears to be a much better man than was ever portrayed by Shakespeare, Henry VII and the Duke of Buckingham emerge as suspects and Elizabeth's actions are analyzed for clues.

After 500 years, we will probably never know the full truth of Elizabeth Woodville's life.  She remains an enchanting mystery but maybe that's exactly how it should be for a Queen of the May.

Update September 8, 2013: For more of my musings on Anne Boleyn see Anne Boleyn: The French Connection on Tatiana's Tea Room.




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April 1st - April Fool's - FY2010-2011

John William Waterhouse: Penelope and the Suitors - 1912

Wow, where does the time go?  April 1st already and a new fiscal year is starting for the GoC.  Does anyone else ever find it amusing that the fiscal year starts on April Fool's Day?

I thought I would celebrate this new beginning with a reference to an epic journey, Homer's The Odyssey.  So here's Penelope, the clever spouse of Odysseus, keeping her odious suitors at bay by weaving a burial shroud by day, only to unravel it by night.  And why would this remind me of the new fiscal year?

To everyone working today, keep your heads down until at least noon!  I do hope you get to enjoy a bit of a fresh start and bonus, tomorrow is a statutory holiday.  Take Care!

Every Day in Tuscany

I have to admit I'm shocked to learn that Frances Mayes will soon be celebrating her 20th anniversary at Bramasole!

Where has the time gone?  It seems like only yesterday I discovered her first book celebrating the good life in Italy, Under the Tuscan Sun.  No wonder that her latest installment, Every Day in Tuscany, feels just like catching up with an old friend.  After all, I've been spending time with her for almost 14 years now and during all of that time she has been reminding me to slow down and enjoy the simple pleasures of life. 

I've always admired the guts this woman had, to take the dare, cash out her savings, renovate her house and her life all at the same time.  The risk paid off and perhaps her success enables me to be a bit braver in my own life. 

So while it's entirely possible that I will never get closer to Tuscany than the local Fratelli's restaurant, I will keep in mind her words written for Every Day in Tuscany:

"If you read it, I hope that it’s a reminder of life-in-the-moment, wherever you are. Tuscany is a state of mind; you can have that state of mind anywhere."

Congratulations on the new book and on your 20th anniversary, Frances. May you & yours enjoy many more happy years!

Beginning a Blog: Horton Hears a Who!

I was having a wonderful time putting this new blog together and then it happened ... 

I was busy, working on the blog design, getting connected to Twitter (and subsequently working on that design), planning articles, looking at all my favourite blogs for inspiration, reviewing code & widgets and then it struck me ... the connection between starting a new blog and the Dr Seuss classic Horton Hears a Who!

I admit that it may be a case of too much pixel editing in one day, but as I started blogging & tweeting I kept thinking of those Whos yelling "We are here, We are here, WE ARE HERE".

Too funny!!  So before I pack it in this evening, I decided to blog a little tribute to kind hearted Horton the Elephant who helped the Whos get connected.  This example of networking was a truly a life saver (fictional as it may be).  Making connections through my blog to a greater community is nowhere near as dramatic but I'm thinking it will be just as much fun!