strange and random happenstance: Mrs. Bennet

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Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Book Review - Terry Partchett's Snuff

Snuff by Terry Pratchett
Published by: Harper
Publication Date: October 11th, 2011
Format: Hardcover, 416 Pages
Rating: ★★
To Buy

Samuel Vimes has finally been made to go on vacation. Sybil insists, as does Lord Ventinari. They have this lovely estate they never go to and young Sam needs country air, and apparently lots of poo to look at. The country is good for poo... but then again, so are the streets of Ankh Morpork... it's just different. Of course, you can take the copper away from the watch house, but Sam will always be a copper. Always asking the uncomfortable question, pushing on people and never willing to let things be. His fellow noblemen, how Sam hates being in the same titled category as the likes of Rust, soon realize that Sam is going to be a problem. A problem that they will solve.

After the local blacksmith disappears after a confrontation with Sam and copious amounts of blood are found on his estate, Sam is "arrested" by the local copper Feeney. It only takes a few minutes to get Feeney over to his side and then the hunt is on for the body that used to contain all that blood. The body is that of a young Goblin girl. Goblins are a tricky subject. They are technically classified as vermin, not creatures capable of love and feeling like Dwarves, Trolls and the like. Sam doesn't care though. I body is a body and if the law has to catch up to him, then so be it. Soon Sam has a plethora of suspects, but they are all lower level henchmen. Sam wants to know all the secrets in this sleepy shire and wants to get all the skeletons out of the closets. He wants who is behind the Goblin problem, and if he has to turn to his darker half, if he has to take on Old Treachery, the dangerous river known for damn slams, then he will. Sam Vimes is a copper to the core!

I felt that this started out so strongly. Snuff was like Terry Pratchett doing a little cosy country mystery with balls and tea promised but with coppers, a la Hot Fuzz. The Pride and Prejudice spoof was one of the best written parodies in all Austen parodies, yes I'm looking at you vampires and zombies. Why didn't I ever think how funny the juxtaposition of a lumberjack would be against Mrs. Bennet? But did we get one ball, one gala? NO! Instead we got a treatise on Goblin rights. About how to categorize sentience from plain vermin. Sam Vimes would not approve of a bait and switch! Unless of course it was to catch a criminal, but he'd have a lot of inner monologues, and I am no criminal.

Snuff is well plotted, which is a rarity in Discworld, where there's usually lots of threads running every which way and then somehow tangling all together at the end, in some sort of knot, if I'm to stick with the thread analogy. Yet, it just didn't work. Maybe Sam Vimes needs his watchmen by his side to maintain the humor. Because Sam has successfully functioned outside Ankh Morpork before, yet not here. If the plot had stuck with the country house and the ingrained superiority of the landed gentry versus the peasants and not brought in the Goblin slaves, then this could have been the best book yet. Instead he retreads familiar ground and eventually ends up making this some sort of sea faring tale with a battle against Old Treachery. Sigh... what could have been... Hot Fuzz meets Jane Austen.

Another disappointment was that I've been reading the Discworld books in order so that I don't miss out on something. They can stand alone, but their cumulative history is so wonderful, knowing the first time Wee Mad Arthur appeared, or getting a joke that would only be gotten had you read the first Witches book. But here I skipped ahead because of my excitement hearing passages at the North American Discworld Convention, I shouldn't have done that... what really happened in Koom Valley!?! I think Thud! has to be required reading to get half of what's going on with Sam's internal monologues. So maybe after I finally get to Thud! (I'm still like nine books behind) and then get back up to Snuff (five books later), I might appreciate this book for what it is and not bemoan what it isn't.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments

Labels: Ankh Morpork, Discworld, Goblins, Hot Fuzz, Jane Austen, Koom Valley, Mrs. Bennet, NADWCon, Pride and Prejudice, Sam Vimes, Snuff, Terry Pratchett, Thud

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Book Review - Jasper Fforde's First Among Sequels

First Among Sequels: Thursday Next Novel the 5th by Jasper Fforde
Published by: Viking
Publication Date: January 24th, 2007
Format: Hardcover, 362 Pages
Rating: ★★★
To Buy (different edition than one reviewed)

A lot has changed in the twelve years since we last saw Thursday Next. She now is the star of five books, the first four being very well received due to the sex and violence, while the touchy-feely fifth book is remaindered. But not that her being a star of books matters with the continuing plummet of outland reader rates. The world has changed, why read books when there's reality tv suited for those with short attention spans. The world Thursday knew and loved is gone. Bookstores are more likely to have video games and coffee shops than any books. The new and efficient government has made Spec Ops obsolete as a government entity. So Thursday runs a carpeting business that's a front for her old Spec Ops unit, which is run on proceeds from illegal cheese sales, which in itself is a front for still working at Jurisfiction. None of which she tells her husband, Landen. The years are catching up to Thursday, even book jumping is harder and harder. She has two teenagers, one of which is a sullen boy who should have joined the Chronoguard awhile back to assure the future and the discovery of time travel, but of course, try telling a teenager that the world depends on him actually leaving his bed. Not to mention a big old baddie from the past shows up. Felix8. Aornis Hades might know what's going on, as unlike other members of the Hades family, she's easy to access seeing as she's being detained in an eight minute time loop at a check out lane at T.J. Maxx. Of course, villains rarely agree to help.

While in the book world Thursday is training both her book counterparts, the leather clad Thursday1-4 and the patchouli loving Thursday5. Neither of which will ever make a good agent. Thursday5 has a sweet heart, but she almost got Thursday killed by the Minotaur. Whereas Thursday1-4 is nothing but bad news, dropping a piano right into the plot of Jane Austen's Emma. Also there are signs that Goliath, the evil mega corporation, is working once again on breaking into books. Traffic between the two worlds is a no no. The crashing together of the two worlds, fiction with reality, could tear the very fabric of the book world apart. And that's just what the current government wants to do. They want to take Pride and Prejudice and make it a reality show. But not just any reality show, one within the book, so once changed, the story will be changed forever and one of the classics will be gone, never to return. Of course, they're not thinking of the bigger picture. What with government stupidity, corporate pigheadedness and death threats on characters within the bookworld, besides Thursday herself, it's a wonder that anything turns out right.

After getting to the final page in this book I have to say I'm glad I waited to read it till I had the next book in hand. The bigger conspiracy working within the bookworld that is targeting Thursday, and other characters, such as Temperance Brennan, making a much needed cameo, is starting to pick up speed and the pieces from all five of the current stories seem to be weaving together to create a larger threat. While the plot was still extremely convoluted and filled with techno babble, the little literary in jokes, not to mention the return of the bookworld, made this a far more enjoyable read than the previous installment. Mrs. Bennet needing to be restrained in a closet, the real reason for the appearance of the piano in Emma, to Bones' cameo in the back story of a P.G. Wodehouse novel were pure delight to my bookworm brain. Also the true meaning of what "T.J. Maxx" stands for is priceless, whereas the real reason for Aornis' imprisonment is heartbreaking.

The one thing I really didn't like though is the person Thursday has become. What with three very different incarnations of her walking about the pages of this book, you realize that yes, you don't want the two written extremes, but you don't really want the real Thursday either. She's a workaholic, she lies to the man she fought tooth and nail to have reactualized, and she does illegal dealings in order to keep this on track, all the while leaving other people to clean up her mess. She has not aged that gracefully, even if she can still kick ass, you have to ask, at what expense? And on a final note, the falling reader rates and the lack of book sales rings sadly true, what with Borders declaring bankruptcy, and while giving the book a poignancy, it brings such a sadness to me. I asked for a little literary escapism, to literal truths.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments

Labels: Aornis Hades, Borders, Chronoguard, Emma, Felix8, First Among Sequels, Jane Austen, Jasper Fforde, Mrs. Bennet, Pride and Prejudice, Spec Ops, T.J. Maxx, Thursday Next, Thursday1-4, Thursday5

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

A Rare Occurance in These Modern Times - Uncut or Unopened Books

Have you ever been reading a book and find that you can't read the next page because it has never been cut? But this surprisingly happened to me just the other day while I was reading my copy of Lark Rise to Candleford. Of course this used to be a common occurrence with older books, and it was de riguer in Austen's lifetime. Ever wondered why Mr. Bennet in the BBC miniseries has a knife whilst sitting in his study avoiding the shrill cries of his wife? And no, not just plotting on his behalf. People actually kept knives ("paperknives") nearby in order to open said pages... they weren't there to keep away book pilferers as you might have thought. So out of interest I wandered to the lovely web and looked up uncut pages only to find I have been using a misnomer for years, I should have been saying unopened pages! Also it turns out I should have used a parring knife not a regular old knife... but it turned out better than the time I tried to do it with my finger to the first volume of Pride and Prejudice that was my grandmother's when I was a teenager and it now has a very "badly opened" page indeed (ie torn and raggedy).

As the book collector's glossary explains unopened pages: "A state where the book's pages at the fore edge and/or top are still joined from the folding. This cannot occur if the book has been properly cut. At one time many books were issued unopened, and it is not uncommon to find older books still in this pristine state."

It further goes on to say: "A rare book that is unopened may be considerably more valuable than that same book opened. Therefore, one should consider carefully before opening a book. Of course, you cannot read a book that is unopened, at least not in its entirety."

Hmmm, I understand book collecting...but I think you'd want to be able to read it!?!

A final note: "If you wish to "Open" a book in order to read it, DO NOT USE A VERY SHARP BLADE TO OPEN IT. Use something like a letter opener, and gently TEAR the fold, DO NOT CUT THE FOLD. You may find it useful to sharpen the crease at the fold before you attempt to open it. Don't use your finger to open a book, either. (See I knew it was wrong!) That is guaranteed to result in a book that is "Badly Opened", with rough, ragged tears that extend into the page. "

Sigh, to live in a world where I could meet a gentleman who carried around a paperknife just so that his reading wouldn't be interrupted! But at least we have Bortoletti, who specialize in reading accouterments...including paperknives!