strange and random happenstance

Uzo Aduba's performance as Cordelia Cupp will go down among the great fictional detectives of all time. This amateur ornithologist deserves a place alongside Benoit Blanc, Hercule Poirot, and Jacques Clouseau. Unfortunately she's not the star of the show, the White House is. Because this show is perplexingly based on a non-fiction book about life in the White House. Kate Andersen Brower's 2015 book The Residence: Inside the Private World of the White House takes a deep dive into what makes the White House function and for some reason all those excruciating infinitesimal details of what makes the White House work are the backbone of this series. While yes, this does give the show a grounding, the verisimilitude is off the charts, the problem is the show became so enamored of these details and how many cooks and chefs there are that is was repetitive. I do not need to hear what everyone was supposed to be doing and where and when for the hundredth time based on "protocol." I need to have some forward momentum. And to have a show with only eight episodes seem overly long, that signifies you are doing something wrong. They blundered cameos, they underutilized Australian red herrings, and, in the end, sure, I got a good, nostalgic Jason Lee rant, be he didn't even seem to be feeling it. They should have asked Jane Curtain in the first episode who did it and been done in five minutes. But instead the show limps on, they release the suspects and have a hearing only to have to bring everyone back. And all the while they never even explained the calligrapher! By the end I didn't care. I just wanted it over. But for me the biggest misstep was Al Franken. Al Franken is supposed to add to the verisimilitude. He's playing a Senator from Washington and was a Senator of Minnesota until he was forced to resign in 2018 due to sexual misconduct allegations. And while what Al Franken was accused of is nothing compared to what is happening right now in the government that doesn't mean that he should be forgiven because his crimes were minor in comparison. Yes, discount the suffering of his victims because it could have been worse. That's a great stance to take. MSNBC seems to take that stance as well because they've been trying to rehab his image for years which I find simply repugnant. And that's what The Residence is doing, it's helping to rehab his image. Look, he was so good as a senator, don't you want him back? No. No I absolutely do not. And every single time I saw his face on this show or heard his voice I was enraged. He is an abuser given this platform and that is just unacceptable. Shonda Rhimes should be ashamed of herself. Resigning from the Kennedy Center Board doesn't make it right. For once I was glad a show I watched was cancelled. They wanted verisimilitude but all they got was my ire. And the ire of my friend who studies the habitat of birds. Yeah. They might have got the details of the White House bang on, but they did not do so with the birds. 

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Al Franken, And the Emmy Goes To, Australia, Benoit Blanc, Birds, Cancelled, Cordelia Cupp, Jane Curtain, Jason Lee, Kate Andersen Brower, MSNBC, Ornithology, Senator, Shonda Rhimes, The Residence, The White House, Uzo Aduba

Homecoming by Kate Morton
Published by: Mariner Books
Publication Date: April 4th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 560 Pages
Rating: ★★★
To Buy

Jess's life isn't exactly going to plan. She's lost her job and her partner in quick succession when she gets a call from Australia saying that her grandmother Nora has had a fall and Jess needs to return home. Her grandmother might be eight-nine years old but the woman who raised her has always seemed so young so she doesn't understand the urgency in the doctors' voices. But it's not exactly like she can claim she's busy at the moment so she returns to the home in which she was raised, Darling House, in Sydney. There she tries to piece together how Nora could have fallen. This seems so unexpected, but when she starts to ask questions she realizes that the grandmother she thought she knew and loved had been acting odd lately. Nora had been secretive, furtively reading a book which she wouldn't let anyone else see. She might even have been digging around in the attic when she fell. This could all be dated back to a letter she got in the mail from a solicitor in New South Wales. But Jess can't think of any connection her grandmother had there until she remembers that Nora had an older brother who died right around the time that Jess came to live at Darling House. A brother who lived in New South Wales. Her grandmother's injury seems to be tied to a secret in the past and so Jess, being a journalist, even if she's currently unemployed, starts to dig. Thomas Turner returned to Australia after World War II. He decided to settle in Tambilla in the Adelaide Hills. There he purchased and renovated a house that was commonly referred to as the Wentworth House. A large, sprawling home that had a tragic backstory, but not nearly as tragic as the one that would befall the house once it was rechristened Halcyon. Thomas brought his English bride Isabel to live there with their expanding family. When December 1959 rolled around they had four beautiful and precocious children, Matilda, John, Evie, and a newborn baby girl. On Christmas Eve Isabel took the children down to the creak to escape the heat of the day. That is where they lay when Percy Summers, the proprietor of the local grocery store, found them. They were all dead. Except for the baby. The baby was nowhere to be found. It was assumed that the baby was dragged off by some wild animal. This entire sorry affair was documented by Daniel Miller in his book As If They Were Asleep. Which happens to be the book that Nora was reading when she had her turn. Which means that Nora's preoccupation with the past does indeed figure into the present. It turns out Nora was there at Halcyon. She gave birth to Jess's mother Polly on Christmas Eve as her family lay dead. But why Nora's obsession? Could she have known something, some secret, that she's been holding on to all her life? And could Daniel Miller have the answers? He conducted extensive interviews with Nora. Did she confess something? And can Jess help lift the guilt from her grandmother's shoulders before it's too late?

If you're a fan of Kate Morton, you know you don't read her for the mysteries. You read her for the atmosphere; the old wallpaper crumbling in a stately manor, the creak of an old floorboard that the house's inhabitants have long grown accustomed to, the sense of elegant decay. This is what Kate Morton books are about and thankfully, after a misstep with The Clockmaker's Daughter, she is back in fine fettle, once again delving into the darkest secrets that Ancestry.com doesn't document. Family secrets that not even the family are aware of. These mysteries pepper all of Kate Morton's books, and sadly, are often easily solved. As I stated previously, you don't read her books for the mysteries. Which, ironically, would be doing this book a disservice, because for the first time I think the mystery steals the show. We have what amounts to a more deadly version of the Lindbergh baby kidnapping, an unsolved case she has taken inspiration from before, and we see it played out through dual timelines. But what I feel really sets Homecoming apart are two things, Daniel's Miller's book and her sticking to the Golden Age rule of fair play. Miller's book within the book, As If They Were Asleep, reads as just a wonderful gripping true crime story. It has such a unique and different voice and tone to Morton's usual work that it actually feels like it could conceivably exist and therefore the tragedy in Tambilla is given a greater weight. You actually feel as if this isn't a fictional story that Kate Morton has created for her dedicated readers, but that she stumbled on a real case and a real book and wove this narrative around it. Of course, this isn't the case, but it really feels like it is and that makes this book special. This makes the book something more, something unique, especially among her bibliography. The other thing that sets this apart is that she followed the Golden Age rule of fair play. The rule states that the reader has to be given all the information that they need in order to solve the crime. The author can't pull some weird Josephine Tey The Man in the Queue bullshit wherein there was no way in which the reader could conceivably solve the case. Ronald Knox codified this in his ten rules which, really, if you want a good laugh you should read them to see how badly some of them have aged. Also, he really didn't like secret passages. He would have hated the movie Clue. Therefore we could never have been friends. In fairness to Morton, I don't think she's ever played dirty, but here the way she draws out the information leaves you guessing until almost the very end when all the pieces click into place. It was masterfully done. Also, seriously, wicked vengeance. I approve. I can't wait to see where her writing goes next. Now to just sit here for her next book, which if it follows her average three year gap would mean a new book next year... Though it could be at least five. Here's hoping it's not more.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: As If They Were Asleep, Australia, Cold Case, Darling House, Fair Play, Golden Age of Detection, Halcyon, Homecoming, Kate Morton, Lindbergh Kidnapping, Murder Most Foul, The Clockmaker's Daughter, True Crime

Here's the thing. I am the target audience for The Artful Dodger. Period piece set in Australia which continues the chronicles of Charles Dickens with beloved named stars and I only heard about it by accident. This is a crime against humanity. And by humanity, I mean it's a crime against me in particular. Thankfully things worked out. This past holiday season I rewatched David Thewlis in the magnificent 2015 adaptation of An Inspector Calls. Which got me to thinking, what else has David Thewlis been up to lately? And I saw he was playing Fagin in a show called The Artful Dodger with Thomas Brodie-Sangster and oddly Tim Minchin, who is the composer and lyricist for the Broadway musical Matilda, which made me cry for hours and hours. Damn you Minchin! I instantly went, I must watch this show immediately. Which lead me to learning that my PS3 no longer supports Hulu and therefore I'd have to find a time to watch it when I wasn't on the treadmill. At about the time I finally started watching it was when Disney+ and Hulu merged and out of nowhere everyone was talking about this show. A show which had premiered almost half a year earlier. I mean it's not like the weird Suits success years after it ended, but The Artful Dodger took awhile to find it's audience. People were binging it as fast as they could. Twitter, and yes, I will always call it that, was twittering about how this show deserved a larger audience and several seasons. That The Artful Dodger isn't just a show to binge and forget, it was a show to binge and to never recover from. While I agree that more seasons would fill me with glee, I don't think I'm as fanatical was the other viewers. I enjoyed it. I thought it was a wonderful concept and a fresh twist on the Charles Dickens classic, Oliver Twist, with Dodger finding a new life as a surgeon in Australia and running into Fagin who has been transported there and is up to his old tricks, as well as some wonderful jokes at the expense of Oliver being thrown in. But despite the stellar casting this felt like a kind of in between show. It was in between being a kind of cheap Jack of All Trades esque show and a typical Dickens adaptation. Mostly likely this had to do with budget. And don't get me wrong, I'm not disparaging shows like Jack of All Trades, which I adore. It's just that you can see that the money wasn't there and it makes me sad, almost as sad as those weird cages all the women were wearing under their dresses. Do they REALLY have to swing that much!?! But again, budget. I would far rather a show look cheap and be well acted than the reverse. It's why I love British miniseries from the seventies. Because in the end, this isn't about the money, all though within the story, it is about the money, it's about the characters and their relationships and how I got so invested that everything else fell away. Now I'm not saying that slapping on a banging Murray Gold score like Gentleman Jack, a show with the same type of pacing, wouldn't bring this show to a whole new madcap level. I'm just saying it can do without. But with it would be amazing.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: An Inspector Calls, And the Emmy Goes To, Australia, Budget, Charles Dickens, David Thewlis, Fagin, Gentleman Jack, Jack of All Trades, Matilda, Oliver Twist, The Artful Dodger, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Tim Minchin

Trouble with the Cursed by Kim Harrison
Published by: Ace
Publication Date: June 14th, 2022
Format: Hardcover, 464 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Rachel Morgan must keep her friends close - and her enemies closer - in the next Hollows novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Kim Harrison.

Rachel Morgan, witch-born demon, has one unspoken rule: take chances, but pay for them yourself. With it, she has turned enemies into allies, found her place with her demon kin, and stepped up as the subrosa of Cincinnati - responsible for keeping the paranormal community at peace and in line.

Life is...good? Even better, her best friend, Ivy Tamwood, is returning home. Nothing’s simple, though, and Ivy’s not coming alone. The vampires’ ruling council insists she escort one of the long undead, hell-bent on proving that Rachel killed Cincy’s master vampire to take over the city. Which, of course, Rachel totally did not do. She only transformed her a little.

With Rachel’s friends distracted by their own lives and problems, she reaches out to a new ally for help - the demon Hodin. But this trickster has his own agenda. In the end, the only way for Rachel to save herself and the city may be to forge a new understanding with her estranged demon teacher, Al. There’s just one problem: Al would sell his own soul to be rid of her...."

Why don't they have like book holidays from work? Like if a book you've been waiting for forever is coming out you can take the day off and just read. I think it would catch on. Really I do.

Go Hunt Me by Kelly Devos
Published by: Razorbill
Publication Date: June 14th, 2022
Format: Hardcover, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"For Dracula lovers and fans of Diana Urban’s All Your Twisted Secrets, this spine-tingling thriller follows seven horror buffs as their dream trip to a remote Romanian castle turns into a nightmare when they begin to be killed one by one.

Alex Rush is ready for the trip of a lifetime.

She and her friends have made some creepily awesome films together throughout high school, so with only a few months left before they go their separate ways for college, they’re determined to make the best one yet: an epic short film that reimagines the story of Dracula, filmed on location at a remote castle in Romania.

But when they get there, it’s not quite the majestic setting they planned for. Menacing weapons line the walls, the twisted halls are easy to get lost in, and with no connection to the outside world, the group is unexpectedly off the grid. After just a few hours spent under its roof, Alex and her friends have no trouble imagining how this dark, terrifying castle inspired one of the most enduring horror novels of all time.

Only soon they no longer have to use their imaginations to understand the location’s terrifying history - just as they get the film's first shot rolling, one of Alex’s friends disappears, and she’s nearly certain she saw a cloaked stranger lurking in the shadows. As more members of the group begin to meet an untimely demise, Alex is desperate to stop the bloodshed, even if it means facing a monster she never thought would be let loose."

Romanian murder mystery with a bite? Yes please!

Not Good for Maidens by Tori Bovalino
Published by: Page Street Kids
Publication Date: June 14th, 2022
Format: Hardcover, 352 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"They’ll lure you in with fruit and gems and liquor and dancing, merriment to remember for the rest of your life. But that’s an illusion. The market is death itself.

Beneath the streets of York, the goblin market calls to the Wickett women - the family of witches that tends to its victims. For generations, they have defended the old cobblestone streets with their magic. Knowing the dangers, they never entered the market - until May Wickett fell for a goblin girl, accepted her invitation, and became inextricably tied to the world her family tried to protect her from. The market learned her name, and even when she and her sister left York for Boston to escape it, the goblins remembered.

Seventeen years later, Lou, May’s niece, knows nothing of her magical lineage or the twisted streets, sweet fruits, and incredible jewels of the goblin market. But just like her aunt, the market calls to her, an echo of a curse that won’t release its hold on her family. And when her youngest aunt, Neela, is kidnapped by goblins, Lou discovers just how real and dangerous the market is.

To save her, both May and Lou will have to confront their family’s past and what happened all those years ago. But everything - from the food and wares, to the goblins themselves - is a haunting temptation for any human who manages to find their way in. And if Lou isn’t careful, she could end up losing herself to the market, too."

A goblin market tale? Oh yes.

The Midwife by Tricia Cresswell
Published by: Mantle
Publication Date: June 14th, 2022
Format: Hardcover, 352 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A haunting and moving debut, The Midwife by Tricia Cresswell is perfect for fans of The Familiars and The Binding.

1830. After a violent storm, a woman is found alone, naked and near death, on the Northumberland moors. She has no memory of who she is or how she got there. But she can remember how to help a woman in labour and how to expertly dress a wound, and can speak fluent French. With the odds against her, a penniless single woman, she starts to build her life from scratch, using her skills to help other women around her. She finds a happy place in the world. Until tragedy strikes, and she must run for her life...

In London, Dr Borthwick lives a solitary life working as an accoucheur dealing with mothers and babies in the elegant homes of high society together with his midwife, Mrs Bates, and volunteering in the slums of the Devil’s Acre alongside a young widow, Eleanor Johnson. His professional reputation is spotless and he keeps his private life just as clean, isolating himself from any new acquaintances. But he is harbouring a dark secret from his past - one that threatens to spill over everything."

Dark secrets and a dark past mean I will be reading this long past dark.

Alchemy and Rose by Sarah Maine
Published by: Hodder
Publication Date: June 14th, 2022
Format: Paperback, 384 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A beautiful and sweeping historical novel that takes the reader from the west coast of New Zealand, to Scotland and Melbourne in the 1870s.

1866. Will Stewart is one of many who have left their old lives behind to seek their fortunes in New Zealand's last great gold rush. The conditions are hostile and the outlook bleak, but he must push on in his uncertain search for the elusive buried treasure.

Rose is about to arrive on the shores of South Island when a storm hits and her ship is wrecked. Just when all seems lost she is snatched from the jaws of death by Will, who risks his life to save her. Drawn together by circumstance, they stay together by choice and for a while it seems that their stars have finally aligned.

But after a terrible misunderstanding they are cruelly separated, and their new-found happiness is shattered. As Will chases Rose across oceans and continents, he must come to terms with the possibility that he might never see her again. And if he does, he will have to face the man who took her..."

Ever since reading The Luminaries I might be New Zealand gold rush obsessed.

Moonlight and the Pearler's Daughter by Lizzie Pook
Published by: Simon and Schuster
Publication Date: June 14th, 2022
Format: Hardcover, 288 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"For readers of The Light Between Oceans and The Island of Sea Women, a feminist adventure story set against the backdrop of the dangerous pearl diving industry in 19th-century Western Australia, about a young English woman who sets off to uncover the truth about the disappearance of her eccentric father.

Western Australia, 1886. After months at sea, a slow boat makes its passage from London to the shores of Bannin Bay. From the deck, young Eliza Brightwell and her family eye their strange, new home. Here is an unforgiving land where fortune sits patiently at the bottom of the ocean, waiting to be claimed by those brave enough to venture into its depths. An ocean where pearl shells bloom to the size of soup plates, where men are coaxed into unthinkable places and unspeakable acts by the promise of unimaginable riches.

Ten years later, the pearl-diving boat captained by Eliza’s eccentric father returns after months at sea - without Eliza’s father on it. Whispers from townsfolk point to mutiny or murder. Headstrong Eliza knows it’s up to her to discover who, or what, is really responsible.

As she searches for the truth, Eliza discovers that beneath the glamorous veneer of the pearling industry, lies a dark underbelly of sweltering, stinking decay. The sun-scorched streets of Bannin Bay, a place she once thought she knew so well, are teeming with corruption, prejudice, and blackmail. Just how far is Eliza willing to push herself in order to solve the mystery of her missing father? And what family secrets will come to haunt her along the way?


A transporting feminist adventure story based on Lizzie Pook’s deep research into the pearling industry and the era of British colonial rule in Australia, Moonlight and the Pearler’s Daughter is ultimately about the lengths one woman will travel to save her family."

And since I'm already in New Zealand, how about I stop off in Australia too?

The Grief of Stones by Katherine Addison
Published by: Tor Books
Publication Date: June 14th, 2022
Format: Hardcover, 256 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In The Grief of Stones, Katherine Addison returns to the world of The Goblin Emperor with a direct sequel to The Witness for the Dead...

As a Witness for the Dead, Thara Celehar can speak to the recently departed: see the last thing they saw, know the last thought they had, experience the last thing they felt. It is his duty to use that ability to ascertain the intent of the dead and to find the killers of the murdered. Celehar’s time in the city of Amalo has brought him both friends and enemies - and no little notoriety. Now, when solving the murder of a marquise raises more questions than it answers, he finds himself exploring Amalo’s dark underside.

His investigations lead him to the Cemchelarna School for Foundling Girls, where all is not as it seems. Discovering the truth about its headmistress will lead Celehar deep into the city’s history - and into the shattering depths of the loss he fears the most."

A DIRECT sequel you didn't have to wait years and years for!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Australia, Dracula, Goblin Market, Katherine Addison, Kelly Devos, Kim Harrison, Lizzie Pook, New Zealand, Romania, Sarah Maine, The Goblin Emperor, The Hollows, The Luminaries, Tori Bovalino, Tricia Cresswell

The Witch's Heart by Genevieve Gornichec
Published by: Ace
Publication Date: February 9th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 368 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"When a banished witch falls in love with the legendary trickster Loki, she risks the wrath of the gods in this moving, subversive debut novel that reimagines Norse mythology.

Angrboda’s story begins where most witches' tales end: with a burning. A punishment from Odin for refusing to provide him with knowledge of the future, the fire leaves Angrboda injured and powerless, and she flees into the farthest reaches of a remote forest. There she is found by a man who reveals himself to be Loki, and her initial distrust of him transforms into a deep and abiding love.

Their union produces three unusual children, each with a secret destiny, who Angrboda is keen to raise at the edge of the world, safely hidden from Odin’s all-seeing eye. But as Angrboda slowly recovers her prophetic powers, she learns that her blissful life - and possibly all of existence - is in danger.

With help from the fierce huntress Skadi, with whom she shares a growing bond, Angrboda must choose whether she’ll accept the fate that she’s foreseen for her beloved family...or rise to remake their future. From the most ancient of tales this novel forges a story of love, loss, and hope for the modern age."

Loki and subversive? Sold. 

The Girl from Shadow Springs by Ellie Cypher
Published by: Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: February 9th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The Revenant meets True Grit with a magical twist in this thrilling and atmospheric debut fantasy about two teens who must brave a frozen wasteland and the foes within it to save their loved ones and uncover a deadly secret.

The answer to what freezes first is the eyes. That ain’t what most people would guess.

Everyone in Shadow Springs knows that no one survives crossing the Flats. But the threat of a frozen death has never deterred the steady stream of treasure hunters searching for a legendary prize hidden somewhere in the vast expanse of ice. Jorie thinks they’re all fools, which makes scavenging their possessions easier. It’s how she and her sister, Brenna, survive.

Then Jorie scavenges off the wrong body. When the dead man’s enemy believes Jorie took something valuable from the body, he kidnaps Brenna as collateral. He tells Jorie that if she wants her sister back, she’ll have to trade her for the item he thinks she stole. But how can Jorie make a trade when she doesn’t even know what she’s looking for?

Her only source of information is Cody, the dead man’s nephew and a scholar from the South who’s never been hardened by the harsh conditions of the North. Though Jorie’s reluctant to bring a city boy out onto the Flats with her, she’ll do whatever it takes to save her sister. But anything can happen out on the ice, and soon Jorie and Cody find they need one another more than they ever imagined - and they’ll have to trust each other to survive threats beyond their darkest nightmares."

I reading a book right now heralded as True Grit meets True Blood, and I need more books of this ilk in my life. 

The Burning Girls by C.J. Tudor
Published by: Ballantine Books
Publication Date: February 9th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 352 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"An unconventional vicar must exorcise the dark past of a remote village haunted by death and disappearances in this explosive and unsettling thriller from the acclaimed author of The Chalk Man.

A dark history lingers in Chapel Croft. Five hundred years ago, Protestant martyrs were betrayed - then burned. Thirty years ago, two teenage girls disappeared without a trace. And a few weeks ago, the vicar of the local parish hanged himself in the nave of the church.

Reverend Jack Brooks, a single parent with a fourteen-year-old daughter and a heavy conscience, arrives in the village hoping for a fresh start. Instead, Jack finds a town rife with conspiracies and secrets, and is greeted with a strange welcome package: an exorcism kit and a note that warns, “But there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed and hidden that will not be known.”

The more Jack and daughter, Flo, explore the town and get to know its strange denizens, the deeper they are drawn into the age-old rifts, mysteries, and suspicions. And when Flo begins to see specters of girls ablaze, it becomes apparent there are ghosts here that refuse to be laid to rest.

Uncovering the truth can be deadly in a village with a bloody past, where everyone has something to hide and no one trusts an outsider."

Sounds very much like Midsomer Murders gone horrific... I LOVE IT!

Loner by Georgina Young
Published by: Text Publishing Company
Publication Date: February 9th, 2021
Format: Paperback, 304 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Set in Melbourne, Loner is a humorous and heartfelt exploration of new adulthood. Lona kills her days by sneaking into the dark room at her old art school to develop photographs. She kills her nights DJ-ing the roller disco at Planet Skate. She is in inexplicably, debilitatingly love with a bespectacled Doctor Who-obsessed former classmate, and in comfortable, platonic love with her best friend Tab. Lona works hard to portray a permanent attitude of cynicism and ennui but will her carefully constructed persona be enough to protect her from the inevitable sorrows and unexpected joys of adult life? Loner re-examines notions of social isolation experienced by young people, suggesting sometimes our own company can be a choice and not a failing."

I'm all about books set in Australia right now!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Australia, C.J. Tudor, Ellie Cypher, Genevieve Gornichec, Georgina Young, Loki, Loner, Norse Mythology, The Burning Girls, The Girl from Shadow Springs, The Witch's Heart, True Blood, Tuesday Tomorrow

Color: A Natural History of the Palette by Victoria Finlay
Published by: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Publication Date: January 1st, 2003
Format: Paperback, 448 Pages
Rating: ★★★★
To Buy

Long before our modern world of chemicals dyes, all the hues and colors came from something found in nature. A tangible object, a plant, a bug, somewhere in nature's paintbox there was something that could make our ancestor's lives more richly hued. Victoria Finlay goes around the world in search of these "lost" colors and where they came from. Part travelogue, part memoir, and part history book, this read definitely isn't for everyone with her casual writing style relying on anecdotes and suppositions. This is by no means a perfect book, the author admits so herself. But for me, there was just the right combination of my interests and fields of study that I was sucked in. Though I will never look at maraschino cherries the same way again. Icky bugs.

I have never been one for history books or nonfiction for the most part. I find it dry. Hence my interests lean toward historical fiction. In this medium I thrive. I am able to get the history that I am interested in without the dry discourses. The characters bring a human element that connects me to the subject in a way that I never would otherwise. This has had odd ripples in my life, especially in history classes. I would always love the books that told a story. I remember in one class discussing the book King Leopold's Ghost about Africa in the 19th Century. The book was riveting to me, I just really enjoyed it; but during the discussion in class everyone was ripping it apart because it wasn't scholarly enough and made history too accessible. Well, you know what classmates in a class I very quickly dropped, history should be accessible. It's little anecdotes and stories that add a bit of the human factor into history and help me connect like I do with historical fiction. It makes me actually care about history.

The history and art history geek in me likes the more living narrative that Finlay infused in her book versus the dull dry facts and figures that she could have presented us with. Sure, this does lead to some problems, mainly invention, speculation, and supposition on her part that might drive those pedants in my history class to tear their hair out. But I read this book knowing that it wasn't a straight up history, though really, is any history cut and dry? This book is her take, her insights, her opinion. While I might disagree with her, I was never not entertained by her and the anecdotes she used to highlight the different colors.

The book has a rocky (pun kind of intended) start with the chapter on ochre and the aboriginals. Finlay seems unable to successfully merge her personal experiences with the historical origins of the ochre medium. It feels as if she almost doesn't know what her own intentions with the book are. Therefore we are left with a muddy mess that made me fear for the rest of the book. Yet in the very next chapter on black and brown she finds a natural balance that she is able to maintain through the rest of the book. By taking real people and imagining their hunt for colors that mimic her own, she is able to create a tangible, though fictional, link to the past.

Finlay is telling us stories that bring the materials to life. There is a part of me that wishes that this was a TV Documentary so that I could see all the pictures and places she went to, as this book is lacking on the visual side. But there's another part of me that is glad this is a book. The stories about Turner and his laissez-faire attitude to the permanence of his medium choices making him the Jasper Johns of his age, with his cats and their flap on the door made from one of his paintings would have come across as a bad reenactment in a documentary. And Ruskin's slam against Turner that no picture of his "is seen in perfection a month after it is painted" is not only humorous, but brings into account something I had never really thought about. Before chemical dyes color would change. There was a flux with it. The color you paint on the wall today will be a different color in a week, a month, a year, who knows, if there's enough arsenic in it it might just kill you.

I think that is what I will take away most from this book. It made me think. I am an artist and designer and with this comes a heritage, one I haven't in a long while thought about. I now want to go out into the world, go to museums, go to artist supply stores, meet Victoria Finlay and tell her to embrace Pantone. I want to go out and explore the paintbox of the world, which, while I find it a cliched and dumb phrase, same as "the world is my canvas," but, you know what they say about cliches? There's something right about them. Now let me see the earliest flight I can get to England to check out that Winsor and Newton museum...

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: A Natural History of the Palette, Africa, Australia, Color, Jasper Johns, King Leopold's Ghost, Paintbox, Palette, Pantone, Ruskin, Turner, Victorian Finlay, Winsor and Newton

Garth Nix (yes it's his real name) was born in 1963 in Melbourne, but raised in Canberra, which is the capital of Australia. Originally intending to be a solider he soon turned away from that insular world and focused on his love of writing. Nix got a BA in professional writing from Canberra University, but had to supplement his income with, well, an income, till he was able to quit his day job and become a full-time writer in 2001. Yet during those years of struggling to be a writer he was always on the periphery of the literary world. Starting in a Canberra bookshop after graduating he has since been a literary agent, a marketing consultant, a book editor, a book publicist, a book sales representative, and finally a full-time author. Nix's wife is even in the literary world, being a publisher. Though as Nix has pointed out, all these jobs didn't help him get his leg up as an author, just kept him connected with that world.

The fact that he is a fantasy writer should come as no surprise when you learn he spent his formative years playing Dungeons and Dragons, only to go on to write scenarios and articles for the RPG. His books, which have sold more than five million copies around the world and appeared on numerous bestsellers lists, include the award-winning young adult fantasy novels Sabriel, Lirael, Abhorsen, and Clariel, which is a prequel to the Old Kingdom trilogy; the dystopian novel Shade’s Children; and the space opera A Confusion of Princes. His fantasy novels for children include The Ragwitch; the six books of The Seventh Tower sequence; The Keys to the Kingdom series; and the Troubletwisters series and Spirit Animals: Blood Ties (co-written with Sean Williams). And while he might live in a Sydney beach suburb with his family, in his newest book, Newt's Emerald, he inhabits England during the Regency era with a magical romance.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: A Confusion of Princes, Abhorsen, Australia, Canberra, Clariel, Dungeons and Dragons, Fantasy, Garth Nix, Lirael, Newt's Emerald, Regency Magic, RPG, Sabriel, Sean Williams, Spirit Animals, The Ragwitch, YA

Bittersweet by Colleen McCullough
ARC Provided by the Publisher
Published by: Simon and Schuster
Publication Date: August 19th, 2014
Format: Hardcover, 352 Pages
Rating: ★
To Buy

Edda and Grace, Tufts and Kitty, two sets of twins and all inseparable sisters. While they appear to have a perfect life they are thwarted by conventions and by expectations from their dear mama. Kitty has suffered the worst, being the beauty of the family her outward appearance clashed with her inner retiring nature resulting in several suicide attempts. Edda views it as imperative that they get out from under the thumb of their mother in order that they can have fulfilling lives. Women in Australia can now train to be nurses and the local hospital in Corunda, with the encouragement of the girl's father, is willing to take on the four sisters. It's hard but satisfying work, with all the sisters, save Grace, finding that this could be their true calling. Grace is the first to get married and leave the hospital. It was love at first sight for her and Bear. Soon the girls have to choose between love and a career, or a precarious balance of both. Times are tough and nothing is easy, especially in a world made for men, not women.

I can't remember a time in my life when I didn't know who Colleen McCullough was. Her book The Thorn Birds was not only a phenomenal bestseller, but the miniseries adaptation was one of my late Uncle's favorite shows ever. This is, of course, the man who bragged my entire life that the last movie he paid to see in theaters was The Name of the Rose and decided that nothing could compare after that so he closed his mind. Despite being a fan of The Name of the Rose, his seal of approval actually had me avoiding The Thorn Birds in any form for my entire life. So, despite knowing all about her, Colleen McCullough has been a part of my life without really being a part of it. Until now. I should have left well enough alone.

Don't let the talented graphic designers fool you by their pretty cover, this book is painfully bad. Rage reading bad. Full of bad cliched writing and stereotypes. Repetitive to the point where I wanted to pull out my hair. Did Colleen ever learn that you shouldn't keep repeating the same words in a paragraph? No she didn't. Or maybe she just has a very tiny vocabulary to go with her tiny mindset on the place of women, more on that to come! Oh, and all love is love at first sight? Seriously? Yet the pinnacle of this atrocious writing is that I got to know the sisters moods very intimately by the color of their eyes. Blurg. Every five seconds it's Kitty's eyes are now sparking violet, Edda's eyes are going green. Are their eyes freaking psychedelic rainbows? In fact, in this relatively short book (despite how long it felt, 352 pages is relatively short) eyes are mentioned 236 times! Eyes are mentioned on 67% of the pages! Just no.

Yet what just got under my skin like an immovable tick was that despite starting this book out with four independent women and an apparent feminist bent it very quickly went on to show that women need men and can rarely handle hard thinking and need a husband to complete them. WTF! Why would you destroy such a strong and powerful message by having each character only find happiness once she was married? These women were trailblazers, fighting to have their own lives away from parents, learning skills often reserved only for men, to then give it all up for what? Men who weren't nice and controlled them? Seriously, what's going on here? Why did this book go to cliches and limp-wristed writing? How can anyone justify saying this to an amazing and competent nurse: "Kitty, life never meant you to be a children's nurse. Your life means you to have children of your own!" Gag me now.

But Kitty's domestic fate isn't the worst held in store for the sisters. Oh no, not by a long shot. That fate belongs to Edda. Edda the invincible. Edda who wanted to be a doctor. Edda who wants to travel and be amazing. What becomes of Edda? She becomes a fag hag. Now I don't mean this derogatorily I'm just saying what is true, this is what Colleen McCullough did to her most powerful character, she made her need a man, but because Edda wanted more she needed a man who wouldn't threaten her sexuality or ambitions. Edda was at a point in her nursing career where she was at the top of her field and was scared to take that leap to be a doctor, despite wanting that originally and being thwarted by an evil step-mother. So truthfully, she could have become a doctor on her own impetus. But it takes her finding a gay politician in need of a wife for her to get to medical school. Seriously, WTF. Even worse, at the end she's obviously fallen in love with her husband and is now trapped in a marriage to a man whose nature can never give her what she now wants. Thanks for destroying the independent Edda in the most vicious and heartbreaking way possible Colleen.

From idiot girls to politics, this book doesn't just go downhill fast, it plunges itself off a cliff. I'm not the biggest fan of politics as it is, Australian politics during the depression? There is no way in hell this will ever interest me that I can think of. What is worse though is by aligning the politics with the most hated character in the book even if the politics didn't bore you to tears you'd grow to hate them because of Charles Henry Burdum. Charlie, I'm going to call him Charlie because he hates it, is the most controlling, possessive, jealous dumb ass with a Napoleon complex to ever be written. I am still baffled that Kitty was somehow bamboozled into marriage with him because from his first appearance in this book I wanted to throw him under the train he road in on. He isn't an anti hero, he is a douche. And in true douche manner he came in and took over the book and what little ray of feeble light that was trying to shine through was blocked out by this diminutive dumbass. But in the end, I hated all the characters, I hated the message, and I definitely hated this book, so I think I should just move on. When's the next boat out of Melbourne?

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Australia, Bittersweet, Colleen McCullough, Corunda, Downton Denial, Politicians, The Name of the Rose, The Thorn Birds

Name: Jessica De Gouw

Dream Character Casting for the Lauren Willig Fantasy Movie Adaptation: Imogen Grantham

First Impression: Dracula, the new campy over the top tv series that is oddly but amusing done by the people who do Downton Abbey. She was not only the perfect independent Mina, but she has real chemistry with Jonathan Rhys Meyers and got to be engaged to sexy Neville Longbottom.

Why they'd be the perfect actor for the Lauren Willig Dream Movie Adaptation: Just look at her! She is the dream model for any Pre-Raphaelite painter. She has the hair, the jawline and chin, plus look at the "Dresden Triptych" from Dracula, it screams Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood! Plus she is able to do a nice transition from naivete to shattered expectations.

Lasting Impression: I've actually only seen Jessica in Dracula... so, lasting impression in one.

What else you've seen them in: Jessica hasn't been in much yet, but I'm sure she will be a big presence in film and television in years to come. Though she was in The Mystery of the Hansom Cab that I've been wanting to watch...

Can't believe it's them: Arrow! She went from supernatural to superhero pretty quickly.

Wish they hadn't: Again, Arrow. This has nothing to do with her, this has everything to do with my hatred of Arrow. Yes, I should love it, yes there are tons of good actors from John Barrowman to Alex Kingston to Jessica De Gouw. But I can't and won't get past the fact that just a year after Smallville ended here they are making a Green Arrow series when Smallville did such an amazing job with Oliver Queen's journey. Oh, and I did watch the first few episode so I could have informed hate here.

Bio: Here's something interesting... she's not English but Australian. One of the many Australians sneaking into our shows. I think there is truly an Australian power elite, Simon Baker is the treasurer. Also, there doesn't seem to be much else out there on her, I'm surprised she doesn't have more fan pages yet... ah, it will only be a matter of time.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Alex Kingston, Australia, Downton Abbey, Dracula, Jessica De Gouw, John Barrowman, Lauren Willig, Pre-Raphaelite, Simon Baker, Smallville, That Summer Spotlight

"What do I love about the golden 20's? It is truly a glamorous and fun time especially needed after the horrors of the Great War (WWI). I adore Poirot mysteries so built this series with a blend of the two : frivolity, fashion and intrigue - a deadly combination." - Joanna Challis

Joanna Challis is a true kindred spirit to me and many others. She is a lover of old manor houses, endless castles, wild English Gardens, ruins, all things Gothic, and dusty bookstores. Joanna is a voracious reader who could never consume enough and turned to writing herself, penning her first unpublishable 800 page novel at 15. Luckily she continued to write and not only has a book that was a finalist for the Romance Writers of Australia's 2004 Romantic Book of the Year Award, but a few set in Cornwall... notably Murder on the Cliffs, about a young Daphne Du Maurier solving a murder mystery.

While she now lives in Australia, her heart resides on the cliffs of Cornwall, much as Daphne's always did. I am beyond excited to have someone with such similar loves (check out her favorite things) on my blog for my Golden Summer, and I hope you'll give a hearty welcome to Joanna Challis!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Australia, Cornwall, Daphne Du Maurier, Fashion, Golden Age of Detection, Golden Summer, Gothic, Joanna Challis, Murder on the Cliffs, Poirot, The Great War

Flying Too High (Phryne Fisher Book 2) by Kerry Greenwood
Published by: Poisoned Pen Press
Publication Date: 1990
Format: Hardcover, 245 Pages
Rating: ★★★★
To Buy

Something is in the air and it seems to be effecting local pilots associated with The Sky-High Flying School. Bill McNaughton has been arrested for the murder of his father, William, and Henry Maldon's daughter Candida has been kidnapped. In an odd twist of fate, Phryne Fisher was called in to prevent the murder of William McNaughton, Bill's father... though sometimes things don't go to plan. Looking into William's death she realizes that he was a horrid man who abused both his wife and his daughter and, in a just world, his killer could get away with it. Sadly though, in order to save Bill, she must figure out what really did happen, because though he deserved to die, Bill is innocent, not matter what the local police think.

Then there's Candida. Plucked off the street with her bag of sweets falling into the gutter. Candida's father recently won some money in the lottery, money that is now gone thanks to buying a new home and purchasing a plane for the flying school. Though the kidnappers don't know that he is skint. Believing in wealth, they put up with Candida and her demanding ways, she did vomit quite a lot on one of the culprits. Because of helping Bill, Henry Maldon risks calling Phryne for help. She's not the police so he's not going against what the kidnappers said. Phryne knows that they have to act swiftly and comes up with quite a daring and dangerous rescue plan. Here's hoping she can pull it off and get justice for all who deserve it.

Yet again I was struck by how much I just loved this book with it's perfect balancing of the fun and frivolous with the dark and disturbed. There's something so much more that you get that isn't in the television series, Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, though I dare say, the series is lovely in it's own rights. Flying Too High is not afraid to have sympathetic bad guys and unlikable good guys. There's a non-traditional feel to the narrative that makes it fresh and original. All this though comes through Phryne. It's her unique views on the world that inspire this non-traditional feel. She has interesting notions of justice which she carries out. Just because someone has been forced into a life of crime doesn't mean they are a bad person. If need be, she will be fluid with the truth if it will help that person out. Likewise, the kidnapping, which is a trope that everyone falls victim to, was made more interesting and original by the fact that Candida handled her situation in a more rational and thoughtful manner and was surrounded by criminals that had more depth, motive, and originality then your random thug. This also led to a very interesting solution cooked up by Phryne. Instead of either a) going to the police against the kidnappers wishes or b) bungling the counter plan that isn't police approved or sanctioned, she goes with c) a plan that works brilliantly.

Also, for some reason, this book really made me think more of the victim of a crime. Here I'm talking about the murder of William McNaughton. At the beginning when his wife is pleading to have his life saved, you think that he's probably a good, upstanding citizen, whose wife loves him dearly and would do anything to save him. You think of him as the good man in a bad situation. Of course, in short order your views are rapidly changing, doing a complete 180. Which brings me to my thought of the day. Why meet out justice for the bad guys? I mean, yes, it's what is legally and morally right, solve the crime no matter who the victim was... but this is fiction. Which led me to another thought. How many times have I sat around watching a murder mystery and been rooting for someone to die? Take Midsomer Murders, I often root for the death and then the more death and more death, but in the end, the killer is just as guilty and evil as the victim. Here, finding out after the death of the man's rotten soul, well, I just wanted the killer to get away. I'm not sure if this is because, like Phryne, I found out after the fact of him being evil, or because of some weird notions I have from watching one too many episodes of Midsomer Murders that if you die you deserve it. Whichever way you look at it, it made me think and made me that much more absorbed in the book.

Now, even though I have for the purposes of my Golden Summer finished reading Phryne, I have a feeling I won't be letting her rest much longer on my shelves. There's just something so compelling in these books, something that I just didn't expect, that makes me want to read more and more of them, thankfully I have quite a few! As it says on the back cover "Imagine Emma Peel as a flapper, and you have Phryne Fisher." While I think Phryne deserves better then comparisons, this is an apt one. She has the same physicality, the same sense of justice, the same remarkable wardrobe. Also the same awesome house. I didn't mention her new house yet did I? She literally bought a house whose address is 221 and then added the "B" because she thought it would be fun on the business cards. That and it's a gorgeous townhouse, with a floor all for Dot AND the funniest servants in Mr and Mrs Butler that one could hope for. I wish I could be invited round for tea just once... but then I'd end up solving crimes and hanging out with Bert and Cec... wait... I don't really see a downside to this plan... it must be put into action now!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Australia, Emma Peel, Flying Too High, Golden Summer, Kerry Greenwood, Kidnapping, Midsomer Murders, Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, Phryne Fisher

Cocaine Blues (Phyrne Fisher Book 1) by Kerry Greenwood
Published by: Poisoned Pen Press
Publication Date: 1989
Format: Hardcover, 175 Pages
Rating: ★★★
To Buy

Phryne Fisher is a little bored in England. One more tedious yet perfectly prepared dinner party and she might lose it. Fast cars, aeroplanes, dancing lessons by gigolos only go so far as to fill the void. The night Bobby tried to make off with the Ambassador's wife's jewels, which Phryne quickly stopped, she is given an interesting alternative to her current life. The Colonel is worried about his daughter Lydia. Lydia has taken herself with her new husband off to Australia and her parents are convinced something is wrong. Phryne has always played with the idea that one day she would return to Australia. Having been raised out of the gutter and spirited away to wealth in England was well and good, but Australia is still her true home. She agrees to help the Colonel, if she is allowed to do it her way, with her money, and in her own time.

On the way to Melbourne, she befriends a female Scotch doctor, Dr MacMillan, and once she disembarks, Phryne picks up associates and friends left and right like they are strays. From the cab drivers, Bert and Cec, to her new maid Dot, who she stopped from committing a heinous crime, to the luscious Russian dancer Sasha, they soon all become her confidantes. Phyrne plans on approaching Lydia obliquely and naturally in a social setting so that she will never guess that Phyrne was sent by Lydia's parents. To do this Phyrne starts to mingle in society, a society she notices that has several flaws. One being a rather robust trade in cocaine, the other being an abortionist who rapes his patients. Seeing as by taking the Colonel's job she has ostensibly set herself up as a detective, Phryne figures she might as well solve these cases too. She doesn't expect to be shot at, set up, sapphically seduced, detained, and threatened. At least this is far more interesting then England.

Back in 2011 someone recommended the Phryne Fisher books to me. I really can't for the life of me remember who it was, but I have a feeling that it was because of my love of Daisy Dalyrymple and Amelia Peabody and my having just read The Forgotten Garden by fellow Aussie writer, Kate Morton, that this mysterious someone said "read this now." I obligingly bought Cocaine Blues and then promptly forgot to read it as it worked it's way into the morass of my reading pile. About a year after that forgotten purchase I was down in Illinois for a book signing with Lauren Willig and Tasha Alexander and afterwards I headed out to the local bookstore, because that's what I do. If I have an event to go to, I immediately find all the bookstores in the vicinity and try to visit as many as possible. This happened to be a Half Price Books Store. I hadn't been to this branch in, oh, at least a year, which is a long time for me. In the mystery section there was a large display of about eight of Kerry Greenwood's Phryne Fisher books. I immediately remembered that I had been recommended to read Kerry Greenwood and promptly bought all of them, not realizing I was re-buying Cocaine Blues, but on a side note, a hardcover edition when I only had a paperback, so score. This was one of those days I remember as a windfall bookstore day of awesomeness! Who would sell these books? Oh, what do I care, their lose is my gain.

Flash forward yet another year and I haven't started reading them yet. Let's be honest, I have so many books I shouldn't be allowed to buy anymore and just be forced to read what I own... I probably would never have to buy another book, want, yes, need, no... ok, yes, need, yes, I have an addiction, I need them! Anyway, back to my story. So anyway, I'm a huge fan of Acorn Media, they release all the best British shows on DVD, I mean seriously, look at all the best releases and they are from Acorn. Anyway, in their "new and exclusive" section this past January they had a new series that had aired in 2012 called Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries. As it so happened I was reading the description and I realized that this show was based on all those lovely Kerry Greenwood books I had languishing. I rarely buy the DVDs direct from Acorn, usually waiting the extra months till they are no longer "exclusive" and are therefore about $20-40 cheaper, but it being my mom's birthday (handy right?) I figured I'd splurge and get her the DVD set and therefore get to watch the show. Now I rarely, and I mean rarely, will watch a show before reading the book, but my mom insisted. I instantly fell in love with the show, and, I must say, the clothes. Therefore, going to pick up the first book I was a little hesitant. I mean, the show was fresh in my mind and now I was worried it would color the book! Thankfully all my fears were unjustified.

Cocaine Blues has the bare bones of what the show is, but it's so much more. And you know what? While I like the show, the book has more interest and depth... but then again, it's hard to fit a truly ripping mystery into a rather small time slot. So if your love of the series has been putting you off picking up the series, hesitate no longer! The book is sexy and a little bit raunchy and has a younger more vibrant feel. There is also a rawness to the book that makes it seem more real then other books set in the 20s. Instead of a golden aura of nostalgia that envelopes a lot of this type of fiction, there was an immediate realness. The description of what the evil abortionist, Butcher George did, made the horror that much more real then if it had been glossed over. Now of course I have too too vivid ideas of getting septicemia and loosing my womb... but by forging this connection to me and my insides, wow, it packed a punch. Of all the other books I've read this summer, I would say that Kerry Greenwood's style most reminds me of Dashiell Hammett and Red Harvest. There's a noir sensibility that I just adored. Add to that that Bert has a tendency to say "yair" which just might replace my love of saying "Hodor" and it's a series that I don't think will be languishing in my "to be read" pile much longer.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Amelia Peabody, Australia, Cocaine Blues, Daisy Dalrymple, Dashiell Hammett, Golden Summer, Hodor, Kate Morton, Kerry Greenwood, Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, Phryne Fisher, Red Harvest

"I write Golden Age Detective stories because they have a lovely, complex puzzle, they keep gore to a minimum, they have made the sort of strict form, as strict as a sonnet, but inside which the poet can say anything she wants. They are an intoxicating combination of severe rules and broad, expansive landscapes, exactly fitted to my 'post-impressionist' form of writing." - Kerry Greenwood

Kerry Greenwood is getting far more exposure these days with the success of Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, based on her Phryne Fisher books, which has finally been shown stateside, with the second series about to start in Australia. A second series where Kerry is going to have a cameo! Born in Australia, she has had many occupations having worked as a folk singer, factory hand, director, producer, translator, costume-maker, cook and is currently a solicitor. When she is not writing, she works as a locum solicitor for the Victorian Legal Aid. Yet her writing is what has garnered her international attention with awards flying in left and right. She seems to also possess my secret superpower, which is she can detect second-hand bookshops from blocks away and is often found within them, which has led to her being the unpaid curator of seven thousand books. She is also a cat person, as am I, so I think we should totally hang out and I can teach her how to knit. So far Kerry has written nineteen Phryne Fisher books with her signature wit coupled with the darker deeds of man, and I look forward to reading every single one. I am pleased to welcome Kerry Greenwood to my Golden Summer, her and Phryne are great additions to a great tradition.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Australia, Books, Cats, Golden Age of Detection, Golden Summer, Kerry Greenwood, Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, Phryne Fisher, Solicitor

The Last Continent (Discworld Book 22) by Terry Pratchett
Published by: Harper Torch
Publication Date: 1998
Format: Paperback, 390 Pages
Challenge: Terry Pratchett, Typically British
Rating: ★★★
To Buy (different edition than one reviewed)
Rincewind has gone walkabout and there is trouble brewing at Unseen University. The Librarian is having issues with staying his normal orange hairy self and keeps randomly changing from books to deck chairs. Left unattended the library could become one of the most dangerous places in the whole of Discworld with all that untended magic. The wizards, in a moment of clarity, realize they need to solve this disaster in potentia by getting the Librarian back to his normal orangutan shape. The hitch is they need to know his name, and it's hard for them to remember a time when he actually was human and referred to as something other than "Librarian," let alone remember his name. But they have an inkling that Rincewind knows. So they just need to find Rincewind and all will be well. Only thing is, Rincewind has ended up in EcksEcksEcksEcks, the last continent that gets no rain and no one can get to due to rim fall. Since his arrival things have gone odd, everything is different, but it's been different for thousands of years as of about five minutes previously. There are drawings in the rocks that look vaguely like the faculty of Unseen University... but surely their rescue mission didn't go so awry that they ended up in the right place thousands of years before they meant to? What happens next is what always happens to Rincewind, he has to run, because there's always someone out to get him, this time a magical kangaroo... while the Wizards are relaxing on a tropical beach they found outside a bathroom window in Unseen University. The window shut and now they are trapped... but with cigarette bushes and no apparent predators, life can't be all that bad. That is until they meet the God who is the creative force behind the island. Can all the wizards get together in the same time and place and sort out the Librarian and maybe this whole lost continent? Not even the wizards can be sure of that... they might have destroyed all of causality and stepped on an ant as Ponder says, or as Ridcully says, they've always stepped on the ant so they're on the right track!

I have come to a startling conclusion. I don't really like Rincewind. It's not a hate or a dislike of his character, it's a dislike of his story arcs. He's always running and he's just fixing things by pure chance. Whereas I love the Wizards! Their interaction and social dynamics are fabulous. I also think I'm crushing a little on Ponder Stibbons... ah young wizard geek, you are for me. So therefore this book became very two fold for me. Whenever it was Rincewind in Australia, because that is what "XXXX" is, it was too much "how can I fit in another film reference, cause that's all anyone knows about Australia," oh look, Mad Max and Priscilla references abound! Versus the Wizards and their exploration of their island and how it was evolving to suit their lethargic Hobbit esque ways. In fact I think Wizards might just have Hobbits beat on a meals per day basis... just putting this out there! Plus, with the inadvertent and unexpected company of their female housekeeper, well, the Wizards trying to maintain some sense of proper decorum and respect while still living the island life is hilarious.

The one thing I found very interesting is this book's correlations to Pratchett's later work, Nation. I really didn't like that book, it was slow and ponderous and at times very confusing. I know I'm alone in this, it's won lots of awards, whatever, it just wasn't my cup of tea. As I was reading The Last Continent I kept thinking, this here, THIS is what I expected and wanted Nation to be like. Just turns out Pratchett had written it ten years earlier with wizards!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Australia, Discworld, Mad Max, Nation, Ponder Stibbons, Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Reading Challenge, Rincewind, Terry Pratchett, The Last Continent, The Librarian, The Wizards, Unseen University