The Second Siege

The Second Siege by Henry Neff.

Hardcover: 496 pages
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers;(September 23, 2008)
ISBN-10: 0375838961

From Booklist

It’s Max McDaniels’ second year at Rowan Academy, a contemporary American boarding school where students are trained to fight against supernatural foes. He and his sorcerer roommate, David, along with several others, human and non, are embroiled in a quest to stop the demon Astaroth from finding the Book of Thoth, which holds the key to all creation. As governments fall to Astaroth, Max and David travel across Europe and beyond in search of the book’s location. Proud, emotional Max and frail, calculating David suffer realistic setbacks and humbling experiences that change them, while Astaroth is delightful in his sly, polite wickedness. Neff’s writing is infused with history and myth, and a sense of adventure: add well-rounded characters, and this makes for a captivating read. New readers should start with the first book, The Hound of Rowan (2007) as this one doesn’t look back, but the dark conclusion and its potential consequences will ensure an eager readership for the third. Although Neff will not escape Harry Potter comparisons, in this volume he moves into his own distinctive voice.

This series (which has 4 books out so far) is really quite a good read!  If you have young adults at your home that read Harry Potter or something similar, then I would say for sure they would enjoy these books.

The author is quite good in letting you really get to know your characters and that to me is the strongest point in a book! (storyline comes second !)  Very well written books, excellent story for the characters involved, and the books even have some illustrations along the way. 

So I highly recommend this for young adults and for adults that need a break from their normal books!  I found I was captured very early into the first book and remained interested during the entire two books that I have read so far.

I think the Amazon review gives a very good synopsis of the story, so I won’t give away any more.  But I will say I like certain Ogres and witches now! lol..

Old is New

As one has come to expect from me… more books have entered the apartment.  All of them are “used” books.. however I have to say that I doubt that the book First Man (Neil Armstrong) has ever been read and yet I found it for 2.50 ! (normally: 30.00)

A Cast Of Killers was found at a “new” thrift store, and Dust and Shadows used from Amazon and The Real Wizard of Oz from Friends of the Library.

 

…and then I went to Goodwill and found 2 more! 

I don’t have any of the Robin  Hobb’s books but now that I found this one I will watch for others in the series.

I’ve got to learn to stay home!

Once Upon a Time Wrap

It’s hard to believe that Once Upon a Time VII has come and gone already!

Once again Carl hosted this great challenge so that we might all give more focus to Fantasy/ Mythology maybe a little more than we might normally do.  And once again he brought many readers together to read and review some great Fantasy books!

This year I managed to read 14 books (admitting one was really small).

For me it all began with Seraphina…

 

1.  Seraphina........................Rachel Hartman (512 pgs)

2.  Cats of Tanglewood Forest........Charles DeLint (285 pgs)

3.  Natural History of Dragons.......M. Brennan     (334 pgs)

4.  Watership Down...................Adams/Dotrice  (audio)

5. A Spell for Chameleon............Piers Anthony  (352 pgs)

6.  His Majesties Dragon.............Naomi Novik    (253 pgs)

7.  Throne of Jade...................Naomi Novik    (258 pgs)

8.   Runner of Pern...................Anne McCaffrey (60  pgs)

9.  The Apothecary...................Maile Meloy    (384 pgs)

10.  Jarka Ruus.......................Terry Brooks   (416 pgs)

11.  The Tanequil.....................Terry Brooks   (357 pgs)

12.  Straken..........................Terry Brooks   (368 pgs)

13. The Tapestry.....................Henry Neff     (414 pgs)

14. Mystic Warrior ................Tracy Hickman (448 pgs)

(4,441 pages)  one “book” was an Audio.  I also reviewed The Hobbit Movie. (which I saw 3 times) and one was a short story.

I think my favorite of this group was actually a trilogy by Terry Brooks: Jarka Ruus, The Tanequil and Straken.  Normally I would say my favorite was Anne McCaffrey but to be honest.. it was a short story and so I was left wanting more! And I couldn’t choose Watership Down because that was an audio…but I adore Roy Dotrice so much I’ll be listening to it again one day.

My least favorite was maybe Mystic Warrior.  However, I can’t say I disliked any of the books. But this book didn’t capture me as many of Tracy Hickman’s have.

I am pleased with my list… how about you? How many did you read? What was your favorite?

The Tapestry: The Hound of Rowan

 

(Book 13 for Once Upon a Time)

The Tapestry : The Hound of Rowan: by Henry Neff.

Paperback: 448 pages
Publisher: Yearling; September 23, 2008)
ISBN-10: 0375838953

 

From Booklist

In a hidden alcove within Chicago's Art Institute, Max McDaniels discovers a faded tapestry. As he watches, the tapestry begins to glow; soon after, he receives an invitation to attend a private boarding school in New England. When he arrives at Rowan Academy, where young people with Potential are trained to fight an unnamed enemy, he and the other apprentices are housed in magically morphing rooms and assigned animal charges. Max is paired with the last lymrill in the world, a nocturnal creature with metallic quills. They train on the Course, where they experience different scenarios as they try to achieve a goal and move up levels as they progress. Meanwhile, apprentices and even some full-fledged agents are disappearing all over the world. This novel's sprawling, quirky boarding school has obvious parallels to Hogwarts, but Neff's storytelling boasts charms of its own, and  readers may appreciate that this magical adventure, the first installment in the planned Tapestry series, takes place here rather than abroad.

As the above preview mentions:  this book (along with others that follow) are a set up similar to Harry Potter in that Max goes off to a school that is indicated will take 6 yrs to get thru.  There are magical powers involved and a good against evil story to be told. (and even a witch and an ogre)

So far I have found that the author is very good at flushing out and giving the protagonist and other characters well defined personalities which allows one to begin to feel they actually know the characters.  This is a good thing!  I always enjoy books where I feel I really know the characters involved.

This is a YA series of books written for 9 yrs and above but I don’t feel the author “writes down” to the young.  It is a little young feeling for me to read this but at the same time it’s a welcome relief  to not have to think so much while reading! I am enjoying the story and have had 2 of the 4 books that were released  here for longer than I care to think about and so I dug them out for Once Upon a Time thinking this was a trilogy (obviously I was wrong! But in my defense it’s because I hadn’t read the first book until now, that lets me realize it is a longer series.)

I plan to read book 2 even though Once Upon a Time will be over, and if it reads as well as book one I will most likely send for the other two installments.

I just want to Thank Carl for being so nice to have Once Upon a Time each year!  And needless to say I look forward to RIP for yet another  year also!!!  Start stacking up those Gothic Mysteries now!!

Elsa Lanchester, Herself

Elsa Lanchester Herself by Elsa Lanchester.

Publisher: Olympic Marketing Corporation (April 1984)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0312243774

I found the following review online and it really sums up the entire book…

KIRKUS REVIEW

Only a half-accurate title for this quiet, generally engaging memoir--because, once she's married to Charles Laughton, Lanchester concentrates almost entirely on his story (a sad one), with surprisingly little about her own work or feelings. The first chapters, however, are disarming and distinctive: Elsa's one-of-a-kind childhood as the illegitimate daughter of unlovable Biddy, a notorious liberated-woman who lived in sin with diehard socialist Shamus (a common-law marriage as confining as any legal one), turning her back on her family's pride and property. (Biddy's father and brother once had her committed to an insane asylum--a celebrated ease.) Thus, Elsa grew up in the thick of WW I-era British bohemianism, with vegetarianism, political talk, and dance classes from Isadora in Paris. (""I soon learned that all lsadora could do was teach us to run away from or toward an enemy or to become an autumn leaf. . . ."") She became a dance teacher herself, a Children's Theatre innovator, a performer/manager on the fresh 1920s-cabaret scene, a soon-famous London presence (odd clothes, wild hair, that unusual face), and a hit in small theater-roles. But in 1929 Elsa married rising ""genius""-actor Charles Laughton; thereafter (despite Bride of Frankenstein celebrity), her career would always take second place--with producers slimily using Elsa to get to recalcitrant Charles, then casting her off. Even more of a shadow over the marriage: Laughton's guilt-ridden homosexuality, which Elsa tolerated (""Perhaps it was unkind of me not to show disapproval"")--though she raged when Laughton's young, handsome lovers took advantage of him. . . or when Laughton sold or gave away her favorite art acquisitions. (""Selling the mask was part of a killer thing in Charles, and it killed my taste and initiative."") Still, she doted on his talent, helping him to overcome his massive neuroses and achieve stage success (in Galileo and Lear); meanwhile, as they settled in Hollywood, she became the resident toast of a local cabaret-theater, singing satiric and whimsical songs. (Oddly, though detailing almost all of Charles' roles, Lanchester barely mentions their acclaimed work together in Witness for the Prosecution.) And when Laughton became ill with bone cancer, she nursed him until his death--a long ordeal, thoroughly reconstructed here. But, with only fleeting references to her own love-life, or to the 20 years since Laughton's death, Elsa herself remains somewhat elusive; and this unflashily well-written memoir, while effectively depressing (if not, at this stage, surprising) as a Laughton study, is only intermittently involving as a self-portrait.

A few mentions of my own…

In the beginning of the book she talks about Woman’s Suffrage in England and of her mother knowing Karl Marx.  So because of when and where she was born we get a little insight to history at that time.

We also learn of living poor (nothing new to me) constantly moving around and how poorly educated Elsa was.

Although we learn early on (if you didn’t already know) that Charles Laughton was gay, we also find a strong bond between Elsa and Charles that lasts right up until he dies.  The marriage helps protect Charles from being gay in a time when it was well  hidden, and allows Elsa freedom to search out her own career while having the protection of a home with Charles.  In one portion of the book when Charles is about to leave on a reading tour: Charles and I did not like being together all the time, but we  hated parting and loved our reunions.

When I neared the end of the book Elsa made me smile when she mentioned an actor and his family that I have met.  She says they met the Dotrices, Roy and his family and “taught them about how to BBQ” .. it made me smile.

The book was very interesting, but I will say Elsa spoke more of Charles then of herself.  They had a strange life together what with Charles always telling her how ugly he was and Elsa mostly singing apposed to acting.  But I think I came away from this book with more regard and a touch of sadness for the life she had.    Yes, she found fame and fortune, and that makes life easier.. but not always happier.

It was a good book I am glad I read it.  (took me long because of smaller print !)

Michael Whelan has Entered the House!

Thanks to Carl who went to the Spectrum show in Kansas and then posted a photo of Michael Whelan’s display… I frantically emailed him and told him to ask “how much” the White Dragon Print was……….

He didn’t answer my email until the show was over so I thought.. “it was too much”.

Then I get this email from Carl saying.. he had a surprise for me..

Ahh yes!  As you will see.. the Print was not beyond my means and Carl was nice enough to purchase a “package” from Michael with each and every thing autographed!

In the mail yesterday came my “surprise”!  Not one print.. not two prints but THREE Michael Whelan prints all with Dragons from Pern!

Today I managed to frame and hang two of the three….

(sorry for the reflection)

This second print is in my bedroom… it’s named: A Dragon Aboard. (in the lower right corner you can barely see Michael’s autograph on the print)

The Third Print is as big as the first on called Weyworld.  I just don’t have wall space in my tiny apartment to hang this one… so it remain protected at the moment and the photo of it is from the web.

As anyone who knows me knows how much I love Anne McCaffrey’s Pern books.  I loved them so much and for so long that more then 30 yrs ago I attempted to copy Ruth and Jaxom on to a piece of cloth and then fill it all in with embroidery thread… it took the better part of a year to complete it…

And so… 30 years after i fell in love with Pern, all of the Weyrs, Jaxom and Ruth..and the artist who first painted the book cover… I now own a print signed by Michael Whelan.  It doesn’t get much better!       O.k.  so “better” would have been ME meeting Michael and getting the prints, but seeing as that was impossible.. Carl stepped in to complete the task.  (And “task” it was to find a way to mail these very large prints!)  I am thrilled to own these prints!

And if you scroll back up and look closely at Dragon Aboard.. you will see that Michael drew Anne herself to be in space with her dragon!

There are but a few stories that when I re-read them I actually feel as if I am there.  That the characters are real and the stories reach in and grab my heart.  Pern is one of them. 

So, now as I sit in my reading chair,  I can look up and see the magnificent Ruth watching me and know the dragons are close by.

I can’t thank Carl enough for going thru the trouble of getting them and mailing them to me.  I am very happy that Carl has found the Spectrum show and that such fantastic Artists such as Michael gives their time to be there for the public.

Now the Pern dragons will never be out of my sight or my mind!

I Am Spock

I Am Spock by Leonard Nimoy.

Hardcover: 352 pages
Publisher: Hyperion;(October 26, 1995)
ISBN-10: 0786861827

From Publishers Weekly

Few actors are as inextricably associated with one role as Leonard Nimoy is with Star Trek's Mr. Spock. In 1975, when he was embarking on a post-Star Trek career, Nimoy published an autobiography with the tongue-in-cheek title I Am Not Spock. Twenty years later, despite a fruitful career as a film director (Three Men and a Baby, The Good Mother) and theatrical actor, he here remembrances his legendary half-Vulcan alter ego. Star Trek fans will find this a, well, fascinating history of the "birth" and evolution of Spock?Nimoy explains the original conception of the character and describes his own contributions to the development of Spock's persona. He also provides an insider's account of the production of the TV show and the highly successful series of Star Trek movies, and offers his insights into why the Star Trek phenomenon has maintained such a grip on our cultural imagination. Nimoy's admirers may find this fairly impersonal memoir disappointing; it touches only tangentially on the author's private life. But this is an intelligent and entertaining look at an actor's engagement with a character who "seemed to take on an existence of his own."

Staying with my Star Trek obsession of having seen the new movie 4 times and then seeing 2 of the original movies and then reading Walter Koenig’s book “Chekov’s Enterprise”, I decided to go on and read “I Am Spock” by Leonard Nimoy.

I wasn’t sure what it would be all about but I hadn’t read any books by Leonard so I thought this would be a good one… and it was!

Normally, I can’t say that I like books that do nothing but list movies by any one celebrity and talks about nothing else concerning the person.   I was surprised that this virtually took that route.   But I was glad it included theater that Leonard did and not “only” the movies in which he portrays Spock.

Having said that.. I found Leonard’s writing very amicable and enjoyed everything he wrote.  I learned some things I never knew and got to relive the Star Trek Movies through “Spock’s” eyes. (and through Leonard’s eyes as both an actor and director)

I felt as if I was back in time reading Leonard’s book.  It felt good.  And I have to say I am glad that Leonard liked his roll as Spock well enough to reprise him for J.J. Abrams. 

I still find it so hard to believe how many years have gone by since the beginning of Star Trek.  How young they were back then.  How young I was back then!  It’s not easy watching life go by so very fast.  But I do cherish every single memory I have of the Original cast.  Of course I wish they were all still with us.. and happy for as many of them as we still have.  We should all be so lucky as to have something so wonderful to happen to us as to be known as a character that effected so many lives..

May you all:  Live Long and Prosper.

Books For the Month of May

Wow!  I actually read 7 books in May!!!  That’s a lot for me!   The down side is that many of them were not exactly “big” books.   But hey.. still.. this is great for me!

Four of them: The Apothecary, Jarka Ruus, The Tanequil and Straken were all for Once Upon a Time. The other 3 are actually “reality” books.  Exiles in Hollywood is about actors that were exiled from their countries and came to Hollywood.  Dear Mrs. Kennedy is letters written to Jackie Kennedy after JFK’s assassination, and Chekov’s Enterprise is Walters account of making the movie Star Trek the Motion Picture.  The two not shown, The Apothecary and Exiles in Hollywood I sent out for friends to read.

21. The Apothecary...................Maile Meloy    (384 pgs)
22. Jarka Ruus.......................Terry Brooks   (416 pgs)
23. The Tanequil.....................Terry Brooks   (357 pgs)
24. Straken..........................Terry Brooks   (368 pgs)
25. Exiles in Hollywood..............David Wallace  (266 pgs)
26. Dear Mrs Kennedy.................Jay Mulvancy   (240 pgs)
27. Chekov's Enterprise..............Walter Koenig  (222 pgs)

I guess it was right timing to read Chekov’s Enterprise and then wind up going to see the new Trek movie “Into Darkness”.. 4 times.  *sigh* then I came home and watched the first JJ Abrams Trek movie!   I’m guessing I will soon move on and watch the 6 original cast movies… it’s been a while since I’ve done that.  Actually, it’s a bit hard on me doing that because I never seem to stop missing DeForest and Carolyn.  Once I watch him for a while on tv  then  I start feeling sorry for myself because they are no longer in my life.  Such is life.  But it doesn’t get any easier.

I was nearly finished with yet another book for Once Upon a Time but June 2nd happened before I completed it.  However, that one makes 12 books for Once Upon a Time!

Mystic Warrior

 

(Book 12 for Once Upon a Time)

Mystic Warrior by Tracy and Laurie Hickman.

Hardcover: 448 pages
Publisher: Aspect; (April 20, 2004)
ISBN-10: 0446531057

From Publishers Weekly

Three universes converge-faerie, goblin and human-in this impressive and provocative fantasy, the first of a new series from bestseller Tracy Hickman and [his] Dragonlance cocreator, Laura Hickman. Galen Arvad, a newly married blacksmith, struggles to discover the nature of a dream state connecting him with inhabitants of the faerie and goblin realms. Galen tries to hide this uncanny connection, but fails when he runs afoul of the Dragon Priests in Benyn Township, whose people equate magic with insanity. Galen's wife, Berkita, and his dwarf friend, Cephas, vow to rescue him. Meanwhile, Galen strives to understand how his fate intermingles with the destiny of a faerie Seeker who wishes to aid her war-torn people and a goblin toiling amid the vast mechanical machines left by Titans. This emotionally intense novel's meticulously crafted magical system and likable characters evoke an atmosphere both timely and timeless. While lively action sequences and rich descriptive passages provide plenty of excitement, mature examinations of politics and individual responsibility lend philosophical weight and emotional poignancy. Sure to hit many bestseller lists, this is a fine example of socially conscious and unpredictable imaginative fiction.

I thought I’d try a book by Tracy Hickman and his wife since I like Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis so much (Dragonlance). 

This is book one of a trilogy.. but I can’t say I’ve enjoyed it near as much as his writing with Dragonlance.  I sincerely hope that my love of Dragonlance prevented me from enjoying this book.

There just seemed to be too many characters in too many places with too many things going on to keep things straight in my mind.  Also because of so much going on I didn’t feel I got to know the characters as well as I like to.  My Fantasy reading tends to go  from good characters to a good story involving them.  But after reading the entire book I can’t say I have the feeling that I can’t wait to read book 2.  The very sad part is that I have all 3 books in hardback!  I will deliberate a day before deciding if I go on with this series or go on to something entirely new.

In my mind I figure that they all come together somehow but I still feel there are too many individual stories going on at once to really get into them all at once.  Ah well…  It wasn’t so bad I didn’t no finish the book.  I am sure others will like the books very much…. I just wish I did.

Once Upon a Star Trek…

A few years back… before the first of J.J. Abrams Star Trek movies came out.. the photo’s below appeared on websites…

I thought:  Well, he cute as heck but he’s no Kirk.

I thought: I wonder how well he will do with the Vulcan pinch?

I thought:  Someone else play McCoy?!  Not gunna happen!

I thought: wow just as pretty but can she really play Uhura?

I thought: What? Another Miracle Worker?  I doubt it.

I thought: Wow two great smiles, but can he be as “cute” a Russian as Walter?

I thought:  hmm a young Sulu? I wonder if he can fence?

And I never gave a thought to Pike!… but this one did make me wish I was younger so I could have a crush!

I thought many things.. none of which were very positive.  It was one thing to do Star Trek movies but it would be sacrilegious to use the same names of the Originals! 

Kirk is Shatner!

Spock is Nimoy!

McCoy is Kelley!

No way is a different face with the same name going to convince me that these were the men and woman from the “original” Star Trek that I have loved for so very long!

Well..

………….no way until Karl Urban really, really did act like McCoy.

And no way, until Karl Urban even sounded a bit like McCoy. (what’s happening to me?!)

That make me look closer at the others… after all, this was supposed to be them at a much younger age than they were when we last saw them in the movies! 

Hmmm.. yep.. Kirk is still arrogant.

Spock can still keep a straight face and deliver the “fascinating” line.

I will admit, different time line or not, it’s still a tad hard excepting the love of Spock and Uhura… but I’m getting there.

And Chekov just made me laugh out loud with this cute Russian accent!              (W-W-Wicktor, W-W-Wicktor…)

Sulu,the man who, way in the future would captain his own ship, was still learning how to take a ship out of dock.. that made me smile .

And then the miracle worker came aboard ……and made miracles!

Holy Cow!  … This was really going to happen!

I was  not only going to see the transformation.. but like it so much that I’d feel like I did when the originals finally got to make their own movies!! This is surreal!

How can I possibly be  34 years older (from the first movie) and still feel this way?  How is it that I could hardly wait to see the next movie?  This shouldn’t be happening to someone MY age!  I should be over all the memories of those movies and conventions!  But there I was going back to that new movie and then even buying it and watching it more!  *fist in air* “I curse thee  J.J. Abrams!”

And then … and then…  only a few weeks ago the second Star Trek movie came out.  Once again I “stepped back” thinking that they can’t do it twice to me….

…ok, …………………so I was wrong! (again!)

The actors all fit their parts now!  

They ARE the younger of the originals!  

And they are fantastic! 

The best I can say about Mr. Pine, Mr. Quinto, Ms Saldana, Mr Urban, Mr. Pegg, Mr. Cho and Mr Yechin is this:

If this were the very first Star Trek I ever saw (referring back to the old television series)  I would have fallen for them all as much as I did the Originals.

Never in my life did I think I would say such a thing. 

Is it because I am old now?  Or is it just because this group of actors carries off everything Roddenberry had envisioned his crew to be…and every bit as well?

Deep breath, …………. Wow.

Thank you Gene Roddenberry for your wonderful gift ..

And Thank YOU,  J.J. Abrams, for bringing Star Trek back to life and making me love it every bit as much as I loved the Originals!!

Now.. if you will all excuse me.. I have to leave …  I am going back to the theater to see My Crew …. and to flood my mind with memories, both old and new!

addendum: I didn’t post this before I left.  I’ve seen Star Trek for the 4th time.. can’t wait for the dvd to come out!!!