Introverted Reader

The Classics by Caroline Taggart: Book Review

Do you ever find yourself reading along, and when you come to a reference to ancient Greece or Rome, you start scratching your head? With sort of a, "I think I heard something about that somewhere, but I don't remember much about it" kind of thought? The Classics: All You Need to Know, from Zeus's Throne to the Fall of Rome is the book for you. Caroline Taggart has put together a short (169 pages) primer/refresher for all that ancient stuff that you used to know but that has fallen by the wayside. Or maybe you never learned it in the first place. For such a short book, Taggart has packed a surprising amount of information into it. Topics covered include language, mythology, philosophy, history, the arts, the sciences, and a few more things. You won't read the book and be an expert by any means, but you will certainly have a decent base of knowledge to work from. The book might sound boring, but Taggart's style is actually pretty fun. "Atlas was inhospitable to Perseus (see page 47), who used the head of Medusa to turn him into a mountain range in North Africa, which takes almost as much talent as cutting someone's head off while looking at their reflection in a shield, and makes me think that Perseus could have taught David Copperfield a thing or two." She also occasionally mentions modern-day references to these ancient stories. "The first famous figure to emerge from this was Draco, who has given his name to very harsh measures in any context, as well as to a character in Harry Potter who provokes the audience to hiss whenever he appears." It's very good for what it is, but after suffering through a 10th-grade English teacher who seemed to think that World…

Bookish Miscellany

Article from Caroline Taggart, Author of The Classics

The Classics By Caroline Taggart, Author of The Classics: All You Need to Know, from Zeus's Throne to the Fall of Rome Do you know Latin? How about Greek? Odds are you know more than you think. The influence of these "classical" civilizations is incredibly widespread. The classics have left their mark on our language, architecture, history, and even our popular literature. We still talk about a "Midas touch," because of the mythical character who asked the god Dionysus to make everything he touched turn to gold. These days we tend to think of the Midas touch -- a seemingly effortless ability to make tons of money -- as a good thing. However, the original Midas had to crawl back to Dionysus and beg for mercy when he realized that the "everything" that was turning to gold included his food, drink and, in some versions of the story, his daughter. In the political world, the Athenians invented democracy over 2,500 years ago, when Cleisthenes introduced the idea of giving citizens -- well, male citizens, in those days -- the vote, regardless of wealth or class. From this time on, any man over the age of 30 was entitled to register with his local deme -- a smaller version of the modern American counties, and derived from the word demos meaning "the people" -- and have a say in every major public decision. If you turn to popular literature, you'll find some good examples in the Harry Potter series. Most of Harry's spells are based on Latin words, and the evil Draco Malfoy is named after an extremely harsh Athenian lawmaker. On top of all that, the ancient Greeks invented the Olympic Games and are to blame for almost every problem you have ever come up against in math class. The…

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November 8, 2010

The Somnambulist by Jonathan Barnes: Book Review

The Somnambulist features Edward Moon, a conjurer most easily compared to Sherlock Holmes, but with a freakish twist. His Watson is an 8-foot-tall mute man named--can you guess?--The Somnambulist. The pair are asked to investigate a bizarre murder in the seamier part of London at the beginning of the novel. Within pages, they have solved the murder. Or have they? This was a quick, enjoyable read. The characters may have seemed a little like stock characters at first, but they almost always turned out to be something other than they appeared. The plot was well-paced and, for me anyway, the mystery was pretty unpredictable. But, be warned. I picked this up thinking that it might be like The Alienist but set in London with a few sideshow freaks. It starts out that way, but by the end, the book wanders into solid fantasy. That wasn't a problem for me because I am a huge fan of fantasy, but I know that's not the case for a lot of mystery fans. But it did go a little over the top for me, which is part of why it's 3.5 stars instead of 4.5. Also, I was left with a lot of unanswered questions. I like to have everything pretty tidily resolved at the end. I can't even figure out why the book is titled The Somnambulist instead of The Conjurer except that it sounds cooler. If nothing else, read the first chapter of this book. It's only about a page long. Read it while you're browsing the bookstore or the library. This was the best first chapter I've read in a long time. Here's the first paragraph: "Be warned. This book has no literary merit whatsoever. It is a lurid piece of nonsense, convoluted, implausible, peopled by unconvincing characters, written in…

Introverted Reader Features

Stoyan: Character Connection

Don’t you just love larger-than-life characters? The ones who jump off the page and grab you? Whether you love them or hate them, you can’t be indifferent to them. I would love to know about the characters who just won’t leave you! Most of you will probably post about how much you love (or loathe) each character, but this is a great place for the more creative ones among you to let go and have fun! Write yourself into a scene with Anne and Diana. Write a love poem in elvish for Aragorn. Draw a picture of Harry obliterating Voldemort. The possibilities are endless. Be sure to post the book's title and author, and be very careful not to give away spoilers while talking about how much you love your characters. Mr. Linky will be posted here on The Introverted Reader every Thursday. Character Crush today! Stoyan from Cybele's Secret by Juliet Marillier made me weak in the knees. If there were such a thing as a perfect man, it would be him. I think I really said it all in my review, so please allow me to cut and paste. "And then there’s Stoyan. Oh, Stoyan, my love. He almost made me cry. The page got all blurry on me and everything. Do you know how it is killing me to admit that? I absolutely hate to cry, but he got to me. Captain Wentworth’s letter is the last word in romance from an eloquent lover, but Stoyan takes the cake for the blue collar guys. He’s tall and handsome of course, but he’s a wise, old, gentle soul. He can handle himself in a fight, but he ultimately knows what’s important in life and inadvertently reminds Paula of that frequently. He’s loyal, quiet, and willing to do anything…

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November 4, 2010

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson: Book Review

Everyone who knows pleasant Dr. Jekyll is surprised that he has taken the brutish Mr. Hyde under his wing. Hyde is a horrible person, and everyone who meets him claims to be immediately repulsed by him. It's obvious that there's more to the relationship than meets the eye, but no one guesses exactly how twisted this relationship is. Okay, you probably know the basic story. I think that takes a lot away from the book. I can imagine that this novella was shocking and horrifying when it was first published, but I just felt a little "meh" about it. I understand that there's a message about pride and ambition and man's dual nature and all that, but I'm usually looking for a good story. I'm not saying that this is a bad story, or that it shouldn't be a classic or anything like that, I just found it a little disappointing. If you're interested, pick it up. If you somehow don't know what's going on with these two men, go ahead and give it a try too. It's a pretty easy read for a classic, it's short, and it would be creepy if you didn't know what was going on. I read this as part of Dueling Monsters, hosted by Jill at Fizzy Thoughts and Heather at Age 30+...A Lifetime of Books. They pitted The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson against each other. I read Dorian Gray a couple of years ago (my review), and I have to say that he wins out as the worse monster in this match-up. It might help that I didn't know much of his story before I read the book, but he primarily wins for me because he…

Dracula by Bram Stoker: Book Review

I have somehow never seen "Bram Stoker's Dracula" or any of the other movie incarnations of this book. In fact, I was surprised to read the back cover of this book and find out that the book is about Dracula moving to Enland to set up shop. So, I had no expectations going into it. Overall, I enjoyed the book. It's written in a journal/letter style, which I (mostly) liked and found interesting. I liked seeing what was going on with the main characters as we went along. The voices of the narrators kind of all blended together though. Mina was different, but Jonathan and Dr. Seward were pretty interchangeable for me. If there wasn't a clue in the content, I very often had to flip back to see which one was supposed to be writing this section. And I thought Van Helsing's "accent" was terrible! This intelligent physician/lawyer makes some horrible grammar and syntax mistakes that didn't come across as real to me. Granted, I'm not an expert at that kind of thing, but there's my opinon. Speaking of characters--the characters in this book were all (with the obvious exception of the vampires) too noble and good for words. A typical, paraphrased conversation between characters (I think spoiler free): "If I should show signs of becoming a vampire, give me your oath that you will do the honorable thing and destroy me in the appropriate way." "I would lay down my very life to prevent such a thing from happening, but if it should, I would gladly fulfill such a duty to you, in order that you might go to your eternal reward in Heaven." Is this for real? Okay, the book's over a hundred years old, but still... Now for my big pet peeve: the way Mina is…

Introverted Reader Features

Abby Normal: Character Connection

Don’t you just love larger-than-life characters? The ones who jump off the page and grab you? Whether you love them or hate them, you can’t be indifferent to them. I would love to know about the characters who just won’t leave you! Most of you will probably post about how much you love (or loathe) each character, but this is a great place for the more creative ones among you to let go and have fun! Write yourself into a scene with Anne and Diana. Write a love poem in elvish for Aragorn. Draw a picture of Harry obliterating Voldemort. The possibilities are endless. Be sure to post the book's title and author, and be very careful not to give away spoilers while talking about how much you love your characters. Mr. Linky will be posted here on The Introverted Reader every Thursday.I was going to write one of my regular Character Connections this week, but Abby Normal, from Christopher Moore's Vampire Love Story Trilogy (Series order: Bloodsucking Fiends, You Suck, and Bite Me) insisted on writing about herself. Fair warning--her language is a little *ahem* colorful. Anyway, please welcome Abby Normal to the blog! That's Abigail Von Normal, Emergency Back-up Mistress of the Greater Bay Area Night, to you, bitches. Pay attention, 'cuz there will be a test. 'Kayso, what can I tell you about my baneful existence? My bff Jared, that disgusting lover of rodents (and I totally mean lover in the most revolting way, but he's amazing at helping me choose my black eye makeup), says I'm perky at heart but I'm totally lost in a dark pit of despair. I mean, the mother unit just took away my fave pair of Skankenstein® boots! Life is not worth living. But my manga-haired love monkey, Foo Dog, totally…

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October 28, 2010

Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld: Book Review

POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOR LEVIATHAN Now that Great Britain has officially entered World War I, Deryn and Alek find themselves official enemies. Alek knows that he has to escape the Leviathan before his secret is out and he becomes an ultra-important prisoner of war, and Deryn knows that she has to let him go. The two find themselves in Constantinople (or is that Istanbul?), where the Germans are making trouble for the Brits, and developing a weapon that could be devastating for the Leviathan. Can Alek prevent a war, and can Deryn save her beloved ship? I am still loving this series. Deryn is such a feisty character. She's super-intelligent, practical, and not afraid to do the right thing. She's also finding it harder and harder to keep her identity a secret from Alek. Her solutions to problems are always ingenious and she just leaps off the page for me. I don't have quite as much to say about Alek. I like him, but compared to Deryn, he's kind of boring. A new character, Lilit, is introduced in this book, and I loved her too. She's a lot like Deryn, but she's able to live as a girl and still show the boys a thing or two about driving Clanker machines. She's fantastic and I hope we see more of her. The action just didn't let up, and I was always interested to see how things were going to work out. The ending was a bit weak because I thought it just stopped. I actually flipped forward and backward a few times on my nook to make sure I hadn't missed anything. As far as I can tell, I didn't. It just ended. Not exactly on a cliffhanger, but just in an odd place. I received an e-galley from the publisher,…

The Fairy Folk and She by Mary-Anne Grosse Ivie: Book Review

The old woman who lives in a shoe is overwhelmed. Her children are hungry. She decides to pay a visit to Razzlewitch and ask for help. Razzlewitch agrees to help in exchange for the old woman's oldest daughter, Lisa. If Lisa will come cook and clean for Razzlewitch, the other children will be fed and clothed. Lisa agrees but wonders what she's gotten into when she finds herself in a strange new world. This was a lovely little fairy tale. It starts with the old woman who lived in a shoe, but then it becomes its own story. Like all good fairy tale heroines, Lisa grows and comes into her own throughout the book. She has surprising talents that she must learn to use. She must also learn to trust herself. She meets a whole host of magical beings who, for the most part, end up being gentle teachers for her. There's an element of darkness too. Lisa, and her new neighbors, learn that appearances aren't everything. They must work together to overcome the threat of darkness in their fairy tale land. There's a very sweet love story at the heart of the book also. I just loved how this played out. I recommend this for those who are fond of their happily ever afters and who are in search of a gentle, lovely read. Thanks to the author for sending me a copy for review.

Introverted Reader Features

Big Jim Rennie: Character Connection

Don’t you just love larger-than-life characters? The ones who jump off the page and grab you? Whether you love them or hate them, you can’t be indifferent to them. I would love to know about the characters who just won’t leave you! Most of you will probably post about how much you love (or loathe) each character, but this is a great place for the more creative ones among you to let go and have fun! Write yourself into a scene with Anne and Diana. Write a love poem in elvish for Aragorn. Draw a picture of Harry obliterating Voldemort. The possibilities are endless. Be sure to post the book's title and author, and be very careful not to give away spoilers while talking about how much you love your characters. Mr. Linky will be posted here on The Introverted Reader every Thursday. Not how I picture Big Jim, but exactly how he feels at first Big Jim Rennie is a "terrible, horrible, no good, very bad" character from Stephen King's Under the Dome. I hated him within about 3/4 of a page of meeting him. I could gag just thinking about him. Big Jim is a used car salesman with political aspirations. He actually is a politician in the tiny town of Chester's Mill, Maine. He's an alderman or mayor, or something important like that. The very basic premise of Under the Dome is that this tiny town is suddenly enclosed in a big, see-through dome. They're cut off from the rest of the world. As a leader, Big Jim should be organizing his people, tallying his supplies, caring for the sick and wounded. You know, all that stuff that comes along with real leadership. But Big Jim immediately starts figuring his odds. What can he get out of…

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October 21, 2010