A Reader's Respite Hits the Road

A Reader's Respite is taking our show on the road and so this week we'll talking about books from Kona, Hawaii. Well, we will be talking about books on the days that our internet connection actually connects. Because a reliable connection to the interwebz is not a big priority here. So I'm going to do my best. But whenever the interwebz is on island-time, I'll be reading a book.

Random Shakespeare Day

How to Make a Reading List

In case I’ve never mentioned it, I have a fetish for organization. Some might even diagnose call it a little obsessive-compulsive. You’re probably feeling a little kinship with me right about now, but I can safely assure you that until you have sat down with a notebook and, working with your five-year average of annual books-read, made an actual list of books you intend for the entire upcoming year - in order - you are nowhere near my level of organizational sickness. That’s right. An actual list of 135 books that I intended to read in a specific order over a twelve month period.

What the f%@k was that about?

Because here’s the thing: I can make book lists until hell freezes over. But I will never, ever, ever possess the ability to make it past #2 on the list. Because as much as my mind screams for organization, the sad fact is that I am a moody reader. And if #3 on my reading list doesn’t suit my particular mood, thump, back in the pile it goes as I will proceed to dig around for something that does feel right. Before I know it my nice, organized list is shot to hell when I find myself reading books that weren’t even on the damned list to begin with and oh for gawd’s sake it’s all out of order, now what do I do…..crap, just buy a new notebook and start a new list.

Shampoo, rinse, and repeat.

I only share this book angst with you this lovely Monday morn because I opened my calendar to see that I was supposed to be sharing a review of a new, upcoming release novel with you today. And I would have. Really, I would.

It was on my list to read.

It was #3. crap.

TudorFest 2013!

TUDORFEST 2013

Yesterday I dropped a few hints about my reading list for the Fall Readathon. And that, my friends, is where TUDORFEST 2013, comes in. What the hell is Tudorfest, you ask?

This is the brainchild of The Literate Housewife (you knew A Reader's Respite just wasn't smart enough to come up with this on our own, right?).  Now that all the Tudor nonsense spawned, I suppose, by Philippa Gregory's The Other Boleyn Girl has finally (dear God, FINALLY) died down, The Literate Housewife and I decided we kinda sorta missed the dysfunctional little bastards (the Tudors, that is, not Gregory...ahem).

The Tudor horrors we've all been subjected to over the past few years have been, admittedly, a trying time for all historical fiction buffs. We've been assaulted with salacious Tudor porn on television and far too many forgettable novels to count.  We've seen alternative Tudor histories, historical Tudor mysteries, and just plain bad history.

Thankfully, nestled among the avalanche of Tudor mania, were wonderful gems that kept many of us coming back for more: Cate Blanchett's unbelievable screen portrayal of Elizabeth I, Hilary Mantel's award-winning series about Thomas Cromwell, and the recent release of Elizabeth Freemantle's impressive debut novel, Queen's Gambit.

But with historical attention now riveted on another dysfunctional royal dynasty these days, The Literate Housewife and I found ourselves a little nostalgic for Henry and his brood. Thus, TUDORFEST 2013 was born.  Audiobooks seemed like the best way to make our way down memory lane so we came up with a general list of books, authors and narrators we were pretty certain would make this an enjoyable Tudor feast.

Here's what we came up with:

This non-fiction look at the life and reign of the first Tudor king, Henry VII, was released last year and seemed like a good place to start, especially since it is narrated by our fav voice belonging to Mr. Simon Vance.

Although we have both read this second installment of Mantel's series, it's worth another go. It's a first listen for me...and yes, you guessed it, another one narrated by Simon Vance.

Okay, it's a whopper, weighing in at +31 hours, but it's narrated by Kate Reading, one of the best!  And we've agreed in advance if we're not loving it early on, we're tossing it and that's the end of Liz for us and we move on to the next victim in our Tudor line which is.....

Yes, another whopper. Margaret George is incapable of writing a short novel. Donada Peters narrates this oh-my-God 42 hour audiobook all about Elizabeth's unlucky-in-love cousin north of the border in Scotland.

So how long does TudorFest 2013 last?  With the length of these audiobooks, we can assume it will usher in 2014.  But I think it's a fabulous idea and cordially invite anyone who might feel so inclined to jump in for a book with us.

You can find us over on Twitter! #TudorFest2013

Head on over to The Literate Housewife and see what she has to say about the entire thing....oh, and wish her a happy birthday while you're there!

It's Nearly Here....

Yes, it's almost here. The fall READ-A-THON! I truly do look forward to these twice-a-year events and not just because it gives me an excuse to ignore the telephone, the kids, and all other responsibilities of daily life for a full 24 hours, but it always seems to usher in a new season of reading.

And this year I've been extra busy preparing for the hoopla. In addition to total book submersion, A Reader's Respite will be hosting a mini-challenge during the event so I fully expect you to stop on by and enter to win a pretty nifty prize (if I do say so myself, thankyouverymuch).  And if you hang out with me on Twitter or Facebook, you've probably been subjected to my CRAFT HELL saga as I attempted to crank out around 100 bookmarks to go out as prizes for other read-a-thon events.  What can I say, other than I probably am not destined to be an Etsy Queen?  Alas, it is (or so I'm told) the thought that counts.

Okay, okay, 'nuff with that enticement.  Readathon is Saturday so you still have time to signup. Throw up a blog post, join in the fun on Twitter (that's where the real fun is) using #dewey #readathon #minichallenge #rahrahreadathon, get your Instagram on (hysterical fun there, too), if you use Tumblr that is also a fun way to document your Readathon triumphs and woes without cluttering up your blog, etc and so on.  If you've never participated before, you might be surprised how much fun it really is. And you'll really be surprised how anyone gets any reading done at all given the level of social media going on. But what the hell...it's all about the love of books.

So what will I be reading this time around? This time I'm changing it all up and going for the AUDIO. You'll have to tune in later this week when I will talk about audiobooks, The Literate Housewife, and TudorFest2013.  Curious?

A Goodreads Broughaha Primer

It's come to my attention (and I probably should have thought of this myself) that there are many book lovin' folks and Goodreads users out there who have been hearing about the recent Goodreads broughaha and have no idea whatsoever what the heck is going on over there.  And why should they?  If like me, you are one of those Goodreads users who have just been minding your own business, updating your status, checking out what your friends are reading, and occasionally getting sucked into the never-ending book quiz (damn that quiz), there is no reason any of the recent controversy would ever cross your path.

After all, Goodreads has yet to officially notify members of this change to their Terms of Service. Have you had to officially acknowledge any new terms of usage yet?  I didn't think so.  And yet, here it is:  NEW POLICY

So what on earth led to this?  I will attempt to give you the Reader's Digest Respite version here.  For those of you who are well-versed in the controversy, I hope you will forgive my simplistic version here. Yet I believe that the entire thing is, at the core, quite simple.

Goodreads, like it's owner Amazon, has always allowed comments to be made on any book review posted on the site.  Comments of course can run the gamut from another reader saying, "Hey, I loved that book too!" to the author commenting, "Only 2 stars? You wouldn't know a good book if it bit you in the ass."  I'm sure you see the potential for some pretty heated conversations here.

Now couple this with the Goodreads' feature of shelving.  Users can create any shelves they like. If you'd like a shelf labeled "Green Covers," go for it.  Want a shelf called "Wouldn't Read it if it Were the Last Book Left on Earth"?  Hey, knock yourself out. Again, I'm sure you see the potential for some over-the-top stuff here.  There were shelves that were pretty out there.  "Author is an Asshole" was one of the milder ones. You can see where authors, especially self-published ones with no publicists to help them navigate the messy world of reviewers, might take umbrage and start making comments.  Reviewers, especially the ones lacking enough common sense to create shelf names like this in the first place, were likely to comment back.  It didn't take long before all-out wars were being raged on Goodreads.

Goodreads staff became experts at sticking their heads in the sand. Perhaps understandably, they did not want to get involved in these wars. Both sides became very good at calling the other trolls, internet bullies, stalkers, etc and so on. This seems a good time to point out who was taking part in this. It really has been a small percentage of reviewers (but, boy, are they ever vocal...wow) and self-published authors.  The self-published authors, feeling that Goodreads wasn't helping them get rid of the reviewers who were giving them 1 star reviews, went and founded a website called Stop the Goodreads Bullies.  Somewhere along the line, they blurred the line between online bullying and a poor book review, but that's another post and I won't go there right now. Suffice it to say that they are as bad as the people they wanted to curtail, going so far as to track down the reviewers who give them negative reviews and publish all of their personal information (ie, names, home addresses, work addresses and phone numbers) online. Ahem. Who's the bully there, right?

Anyhoo.  So after months of threatening, screaming, hollering, yelling, tantruming (I know, that's not a word, but if you've ever had a two year old, you know of what I speak), Goodreads finally caved in to the self-published authors and said "Okay, okay, we give in. We will delete all those nasty reviews, the nasty shelves, and won't let them do that to you anymore."

So now you can reference my post yesterday where I resigned my Goodreads membership.  I get that a lot of Goodreads people went too far.  I don't agree with the nasty shelving and the nasty commenting and the arguing back and forth by both reviewers and authors.  But I don't believe in deleting reviews. I don't believe in deleting shelves. And I don't believe in kowtowing to authors.  

Now before I piss off every author out there by saying that please understand: I value your work (heck, given the amount I read in a year, I love you!).  But once you put your work out there for everyone to read it is like any other work of art and open to criticism. And not everyone is going to love it. And so what, right? You created it, you love it and that is all that matters. The rest of us can read it and go to hell in an apple cart.  That is what is called having a thick skin.

And if I digress anymore in this post I will end up with a novel of my own.  Goodreads: we have two sides of the argument and as usual, the truth lies somewhere in the middle. But the answer is not, and never will be, censorship. Goodreads believes the answer lies in prohibiting the mention of author behavior in any book review (excepting autobiographies). I intensely disagree. An author's behavior very much influences my book-buying decision making.

Example: last summer I discovered the magical world of Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card.  I know, I'm a little late to the game, right? This sci-fi classic has been in print forever and it wasn't until last year that I finally got around to reading it.  I was blown away. It was that good. And I was thrilled that there were so many more books in the series.  And then I found out about the author.  Card, if you didn't already know, puts his considerable wealth to use by backing political entities devoted to anti-gay rights causes.  Of course he is free to do so. But I am free to not purchase his books. I should also be free to mention this in any review of write of his book. It broke my heart to make the decision not to purchase the sequels given how much I loved that damned book, but I have a moral compass that speaks pretty loudly in these kind of cases. 

It is the same with Goodreads. My moral compass is screaming at me.

An Open Letter to Goodreads

Dear Goodreads,

It is with great sadness, a heavy heart and more than a little anger that I hereby resign my membership from your online community.  A member since 2008, I will be deleting 497 book reviews this week.  As I'm sure you have guessed, my discontent largely stems from the events of the past few days.

In all of my years as a Goodreads' member, I have never been involved in any controversy. I largely avoid the forums in favor of simply checking in to see what my friends are reading. My most controversial shelf label is "Did Not Finish".  I've never participated in a reviewer-author argument, although I have been the recipient of a handful of not-so-nice messages from authors who were unhappy with a less than five star review. On the whole, I'd say my personal experience with Goodreads has been rather benign.

One could say, in fact, that I have no dog in this fight.  I might very well continue on my merry way, using the features I've come to love on Goodreads, interacting with my small circle of friends, and keeping track of the books I read just as I've been doing since 2008.  I might, that is, if I did not possess a moral compass.

It's this moral compass, you see, that tells me the actions that Goodreads has taken over the past week are just plain wrong. While I do not dispute your right to take these actions, it was done to make one particularly vocal group of users happy while sacrificing the freedom of expression of all users. To prohibit discussion of author behavior in a review (excepting autobiographies) is ludicrous. The deletion of entire bookshelves and reviews with no advance notice was lacking honor.  The deletion of bookshelves regardless of their names just because they contain certain authors is madness.

What I am seeing is an online community that has decided it's interests lie more with authors and publishers than it does with readers. And while there may be short-term revenue in that interest (your flashy-ads must be generating some big-bucks), it might behoove you to remember that without readers to actually visit and review books on Goodreads, there is no Goodreads. (Okay, so there might be a Goodreads, but it wouldn't be using up much bandwidth and trust me, that's not how you want to save money.)

You are entitled to run your company as you (and Amazon) see fit. I am entitled to post my reviews where I see fit.  I no longer see fit to post them at Goodreads.

If you ever change your policy, you can find me at where freedom of expression still reigns supreme.

Sincerely,

The Top Ten Historical Fiction Authors. Says Who?

A little feature article appeared in yesterday's edition of the Washington Independent Review of Books entitled The Top Ten Historical Fiction Authors.  The very first thing you should understand about this list is that it is the result of a reader's poll and not, repeat NOT, the opinion of the article author, M.K. Tod.  The poll was conducted at Tod's personal website, A World of History.

The list reads as follows:

1. Sharon Kay Penman
2. Philippa Gregory
3. Elizabeth Chadwick
4. Diana Gabaldon
5. Bernard Cornwell
6. Ken Follett
7. Anya Seton
8. C.W. Gortner
9. Alison Weir
10. Margaret George (tie)
11. Georgette Heyer (tie)

Sharon Kay Penman

The list turned out *ahem* interesting.  The good news is that readers quickly acknowledged legendary historical fiction writers like Sharon Kay Penman, Elizabeth Chadwick, Anya Seton, Bernard Cornwell, Georgette Heyer, and Margaret George as among the best of the best of this amazing genre.

Philippa Gregory

Others, such as Philippa Gregory, may not be my own personal favorites but I have to give credit where credit is due.  It was Gregory, after all, who turned historical fiction from a specialized genre often lumped in with fantasy and sci-fi into mainstream fiction that now, more often than not, graces the front displays in most bookstores.  She made historical fiction cool.  Whether I like her novels or not, my hat goes off to her for that feat and historical fiction authors everywhere owe her a debt of gratitude.

But there is one name conspicuously missing.  If you are a regular reader of historical fiction, I'm willing to bet you spotted it immediately.

If Philippa Gregory can be credited with bringing historical fiction into the mainstream, it is Hilary Mantel who proved that historical fiction was also capable of being prize-worthy literary fiction.  Wolf Hall and it's sequel, Bring Up the Bodies, were both (yes, you read that correctly, BOTH) recipients of the Man Booker Award.  For Mantel's work to go un-noted in Tod's poll in favor of authors like Gortner and Weir (who are both fine writers, don't misunderstand, just no where near Mantel's level!  Apples and oranges, my friends, apples and oranges....) is a downright shame and led to me reaching for blood-pressure medication.  Oh, that's right, I don't have any.

Hilary Mantel

I can only assume that our dear readers who participated in the poll haven't yet gotten their hands on Mantel's work yet.  Or perhaps they didn't understand it.  That second-person POV was pesky to understand at first.  So I'm going to give everyone who struggled with that a big ol' tip that you will positively thank me for later:

Go and get your hands on the audiobook version.  Trust me on this.  You see, the narrator gets it.  And when he gets it, YOU get it.  You will love, love, love these books.  Really.  They are amazing. Hilary Mantel will be your new favorite historical fiction author.  And then you will see what a travesty this little poll really is.

Having Trouble Keeping Track of Your English Monarchs?

Consider, then, this little mnemonic and you'll never forget who's who in English history again.....

William the Conqueror long did reign,
William, his son, by an arrow was slain;
Henry the First was a scholar bright;
Stephen was king without any right.
Henry the Second, Plantagenet's scion;
Richard the First was as brave as a lion;
John, though a tyrant, the Charter signed;
Henry the Third had a weakly mind.
Edward the First conquered Cambria dales;
Edward the Second was born Prince of Wales;
Edward the Third humbled France in its pride;
Richard the Second in prison died.
Henry the Fourth for himself took the crown;
Henry the Fifth pulled the French king down;
Henry the Sixth lost his father's gains.
Edward of York laid hold of the reins;
Edward the Fifth was killed with his brother;
Richard the Third soon made way for another.
Henry the Seventh was frugal of means;
Henry the Eighth had a great many queens.
Edward the Sixth reformation began;
Cruel Queen Mary prevented the plan.
Wise and profound were Elizabeth's aims.
England and Scotland were joined by King James.
Charles found the people a cruel corrector;
Oliver Cromwell was called Lord Protector;
Charles the Second was hid in an oak,
James the Second took Popery's yoke.
William and Mary were offered the throne,
Anne succeeded and reigned alone.
George the First from Hanover came;
George the Second kept up the name;
George the Third was loved in the land,
George the Fourth was pompous and grand,
William the Fourth had no heir of his own,
So Queen Victoria ascended the throne.
When good Queen Victoria's long reign was o'er
Edward the Seventh the English crown wore;
George the Fifth rules the vast realm of England today
And "God Save the King!" all his subjects' hearts say.

Have fun historical fiction buffs!

Historical-Historical Fiction

Historical fiction can be broken down into numerous sub-genres, but one of the most important distinctions is between modern historical fiction and, well, historical historical fiction.  What on earth is the difference and why should you care?  Knowing the difference can make or break your reading enjoyment, depending on your literature taste buds.

Modern historical fiction is generally that which has been written since author Philippa Gregory made the Tudor dynasty uber-fashionable.  You can usually recognize one of these modern historical fiction novels by their head-less covers, which admittedly A Reader's Respite believes was originally some artist's attempt at irony that simply became a fashion trend.

What style characterizes modern historical fiction?  Broadly speaking, you'll find these novels written in first person narrative with a female protagonist who is usually connected with royalty in some manner, be it legitimately (a queen, a dethroned queen, a misunderstood and maligned queen, a jilted queen, or a soon-to-be-headless queen....you get the picture)  or not (a mistress, a discarded mistress, a misunderstood and maligned mistress, a jilted mistress, or a soon-to-be-headless mistress). Descriptive passages are usually limited to royal life, royal fashion and royal sexual escapades and the royal female protagonist is generally searching for some elusive happiness (a nod to modern-day female sensibilities).

None of this is, of course, to say that modern historical fiction isn't accurate.  Despite the soap opera presentation, many historical fiction novels published in the past twenty years are a marvel in their accuracy of historical events.  One need look no further than Sharon Kay Penman's Eleanor of Aquitaine series for an incredible medieval history lesson, the likes of which we guarantee no college history professor could provide.

Likewise, writers such as Elizabeth Chadwick, Susan Higginbotham and Helen Hollick have done much to further the integrity of their craft, devoting years and years of intense historical research to provide readers with historical details that rival the best non-fiction available.

Historical historical fiction (A Reader's Respite is loving that redundancy so you'll just have to get used to it), on the other hand, is older historical fiction frequently disguised behind book covers that reflected what popularly sold in the day.  The 1970's and 80's versions can usually be identified by a seductively clad (period style, of course, no matter what it's wind-swept state) heroine in the clutches of dark-haired hero in manly military dress.  Do not be deceived.  Underneath that tattered cover you'll frequently find fantastically accurate historical events that every-day, non-royal  protagonists find themselves swept up in, changing their lives forever.  Instead of royal life, you'll find more day-to-day life of the common citizen.  Seriously compelling stuff, if you can find it.

Take author Emma Drummond who published the novel Scarlet Shadows back in 1978.  Would you believe that lurking behind this cover is a compelling love story wrapped up in the horrors of the Crimean War, including the Charge of the Light Brigade?  Even more astounding than the remarkable history lesson within is the complete lack of sex scenes within?  Yes, you read that last sentence correctly.  Not. One. Sex. Scene.  And yet how many of you would never have even picked this book up based upon it's cover?

(Of course, there is such a genre known as historical romance that offers up the sex scenes for those who prefer a little spice....but that's a different post for a different day.)

So what kind of historical fiction should you be reading?  That's entirely up to you.  But if you take the time to find a respected historical fiction author, no matter what year they were published, you'll find yourself wrapped up in history.  History can come alive in the pages of a novel.

Review Mishaps

The Literary Guild review went something like this.....

"...what Stephen King would write like, if Stephen King could write."

Even great reviewers step in it every once in a while.


*(For the few who don't know, Richard Bachman is a pen name of Stephen King.)

It's enough to make us want to start a journal....

Well, almost.

We're not the journaling type.  But if we were, A Reader's Respite would have to write in this:

These folks make these in Estonia.  Which just makes it even cooler.

Yet Another Fitzgerald Pot-Shot

As critical as Fitzgerald was of other author's works, he was apparently inept when it came to titling his own novels.  Among the titles he floated for his most famous novel:

The High-Bouncing Lover  

On the Road to West Egg  

Trimalchio

Gold-Hatted Gatsby

Finally convinced by both his wife and editor that The Great Gatsby was the best title, Fitzgerald made one last, frantic attempt to change the title to Under the Red, White and Blue.  His editor told him it was too late and later Fitzgerald said, "the title is only fair, rather bad than good."

Make what you will of all the analytic term papers written by students divining the meaning of Fitzgerald's choice of title.

Farewell, my friend (or how to strain a friendship)

On September 27, 1929 Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms was published.  According to legend, Hemingway sent a draft of the novel to his friend F. Scott Fitzgerald who returned it to Hemingway with nine pages of suggested revisions.

Hemingway made a note at the bottom of the last page of Fitzgerald's suggestions.  It read,

Kiss my ass.

We *heart* Hemingway.

Mini Reviews and a Photo Journey

Summer is always a short affair in the Pacific Northwest and this year it seemed even shorter than most.  A Reader's Respite took the past week to have, well, a respite.  We escaped to The Mountain for a few days, holed ourselves up inside a cozy little cabin and read, hiked, then read some more when the mood struck Big Kid and Little Kid weren't beating each other over the head with giant sticks.

Mt. Rainier (aka The Mountain)

We thought we'd share some photographs and a handful of the books we've read the past month or so that didn't warrant a big official review.

the historical church in Elbe, Washington (population 21), at the base of Mt. Rainier

With fall comes an entirely new reading mood.  We love this.  A Reader's Respite isn't an organized reader.  By this we mean we read where the mood takes us.  Frequently one book will make reference to another which then leads us down a completely new path.  We're the flower child of bibliophiles, wandering aimlessly here and there.  (Unless it's a series.  Then our obscene OCD about reading a series in order comes into play.)

Narada Falls

Fall usually leads us to what we like to call our curl-up-next-to-the-fireplace books.  We ease our way into it, this year wanting to start off with Scott Turrow's Innocent, a sequel to his masterful courtroom thriller, Presumed Innocent.  Because the original novel was published twenty years ago (who waits twenty years to write a sequel, for the love of Pete?), it was clear a re-read was in order.

 Stone bridges rock.  Yes, it's a great pun, too...but really, we think they rock.  This one is over Box Canyon.

So to shake things up, we listened to the original and it's new sequel on audiobook.  What did we learn?  That the original is still the best courtroom novel ever written (sorry Grisham) and the sequel was.....well....it was a sequel.  Some novels are just best left alone.

 Little Kid pretending to be sweet and cute.  In her hand she is holding a giant stick she uses to smash into an unsuspecting Big Kid every time our head is turned the other direction.

 
Harry Potter nostalgia always sets in this time of year, especially when the temperatures drop at night and the leaves start changing color. And we've promised ourselves no more re-reads.  It's over and we just have to accept that.   So despite the ridiculous back-cover comparisons to Harry Potter and The Chronicles of Narnia, we took a chance and bought a copy of Lev Grossman's The Magicians.  It was the best magical-fantasy we've read in quite some time.  All of the great fantasy elements were there: a school for magic, a group of friends, a mystery to solve.  Sounds like it's been done before, you say?  Yes, but not when the school is a university and the protagonist is coming of age facing what every college freshman faces....sex, alcohol, drugs, relationships and finding your place and identity in this world.  It's hard enough us non-magical folk to get through that phase in life.  Can you imagine how dangerous we would have been with magic at our disposal?  If you like losing yourself in a world of magic, we'd recommend this one.

Big Kid pretending to be sweet and cute.  In his hand he is holding a giant stick he uses to smash into an unsuspecting Little Kid every time our head is turned the other direction.

Moving away from magic, we turned to a National Book Award finalist.  Await Your Reply by Dan Chaon was on so many "best of the year" lists in 2009 that it demanded to be read.  A literary thriller, the novel fairly teems with overt themes of identity as three apparent strangers find their lives intersecting in the oddest manner.  Who we are, how we see ourselves versus how other see us, and the flimsiness of identity prevail here.  It was a page-turner, no doubt about that, but in the end felt contrived as if the author was writing merely to enforce his themes.

 the Nisqually Glacier

A Reader's Respite was a big fan of Tatiana de Rosnay's novel, Sarah's Key last year.  So when we saw a copy of her new book, A Secret Kept, being offered for review via the Amazon Vine program, we jumped on it.  The theme of family secrets is revisited here as adult siblings Antoine and Melanie are forced to sort through their dysfunctional childhood memories in search of who their long-dead mother really was.  Great premise (we love dark-family-secret novels, but that's a subject for another day), but it fell short by taking just a few concepts and reiterating them over and over until it became tiresome.  Still, if you enjoyed Sarah's Key you likely won't be able to pass this one up.  Just don't expect the same impact.

1000+ year old Douglas Firs.  These trees were here while the Normans were busy conquering England.

Hope everyone out there is sliding into fall as well as we are.  May your reading grow cozier, your fireplace burn warm and your hot cocoa be topped with whipped cream.  Happy reading.

Is it safe to come out?

A Reader's Respite has been in hiding for the past week or so.  With Book Blogger Appreciation Week inundating blog-world, we thought we'd do you the huge favor of not contributing to your over-flowing feed reader this past week.  So go ahead and appreciate that.  You're welcome.  (Do we get an award for that?)

It appears that a good time was had by all and since that is the entire purpose of BBAW, we can safely declare 2010 a success.  Congratulations to all the winners this year!

And if you subject yourself to the random and bitchy musings left on Facebook by A Reader's Respite, you'll know that there was another compelling reason for our absence.....

Yes, we decided to allow a mad scientist the opportunity to shoot laser beams directly into our eyeballs just for kicks and giggles.

Okay, so it wasn't a scientist, it was really a board-certified opthamologist and he wasn't really mad (just a tad cranky).  And it wasn't just any old laser beams, it was LASIK surgery.  And he transformed our vision from this:

into this:

Technically speaking, the mad opthamologist gave us 20/15 vision, but we won't quibble over details.  Anyhoo, we have needed this past week to recuperate from having our eyeballs lasered into.  Recovery has included no television (not a problem), no computer usage (tad bit of a problem), and no reading.  (GASP!)

So how did we spend our time (besides cheating on the computer thing here and there....shhh, don't tell my mad doctor)?

Audiobooks.  We knew we'd have to download about a bazillion of them in order to make it through.  We remembered a recommendation written a couple of weeks ago by Reader for Life which extolled the virtues of Danish author Christian Moerk's novel, Darling Jim, and this was #1 on our list.

Audiobooks are really, if the truth be known, two reviews rolled into one.  At one end of the spectrum is a review of the actual content of the book itself....plot, characterization, dialogue, etc.  At the other end is a review of the presentation, or the narrator. 

A Reader's Respite has always found it amusing that while a good novel cannot recover from a bad narrator, a bad novel can certainly be redeemed by a good narrator.  Darling Jim is blessed with both a good story with good narration. Two narrators, actually. 

Stephen Hoye, a prolific audiobook narrator whose credits include Flags of Our Fathers and The Book of Air and Shadows reads the main of the story here, in which an Irish postal worker accidentally discovers the diary of a notorious murderess who was later herself murdered under horrific circumstances.

Stephen Hoye, winner of 13 Earphones Awards and 2 Audie Awards

The narrator chosen to read the discovered diaries - for more are discovered throughout the novel - was Justine Eyre, who has lent her lilting voice to The Historian and most recently to Dracula, My Love.  Eyre won an Earphones Award (her second!) for her performance in Darling Jim.

Justine Eyre

A Reader's Respite thought Eyre's voice one of the most beautiful, enchanting ever piped over the airwaves, making us feel as if we were sitting in a small pub in Ireland, listening to a local tell us the story.  Hoye's narration was a tad more dramatic (you can go here to listen to a sample of his narration in Darling Jim), with a tendency to draw out the last syllable of each sentence, but compelling nonetheless. 

All nuances of narration aside, author Moerk is simply a damned good story teller.  This tale of gothic suspense, set in a small Irish town, requires the reader to suspend disbelief, as do all good yarns.  And an old-fashioned story is what this is, keeping you on the edge of your seat just dying (no pun intended) to find out what happens next. 

If you're looking for a good creepy gothic-ish tale complete with a handsome, dastardly stranger who mysteriously appears in town only to insidiously destroy an entire family, all wrapped up with a special twist, you'll likely enjoy reading (or listening) to Darling Jim this Halloween.


Title:  Darling Jim
Author:  Christian Moerk
Narrators:  Stephen Hoye and Justine Eyre
Unabridged Audiobook, 10 hours 31 Minutes
ISBN:  978-1400111985
Source:  Purchased from Audible
Grade:  A

DH Lawrence

Happy Birthday, DH.  You would have been 115 years old today.  Had you not died of tuberculosis back in 1930, that is.  (Sorry about that, by the way....that had to have sucked big time.)

Anyhoo, A Reader's Respite must admit that we've never been the biggest fan of your novels.  We tried.  Really, we did.  Your penchant for travel (some would call it self-imposed exile) and wanderlust always appealed to us.  The fact that you actually traded your manuscript of Sons and Lovers for property near Taos, New Mexico with the intent to set up a Utopian community really appealed to our commie, hippie-loving roots.  Sadly, despite multiple attempts, we've never made it past page 50.

handsome young whipper-snapper, wasn't he?

It's not that you were an untalented writer.  Clearly, anyone who could write Women in Love and Lady Chatterley's Lover had a bit o' the author in him (and more than a bit o' the repressed homosexuality).  It's just that as much as we appreciated the themes of your work, the actual execution left us a tad glassy eyed.

Regardless of our inability to appreciate your actual novels, we do appreciate you, Mr. Lawrence.  You took an unpopular antiwar stance during WWI, wrote about homosexuality in a time when even thinking about it was taboo, and were even briefly arrested for being a spy (how very James Bond of you!).

So happy birthday, DH.  You're still remembered fondly and really, what more could a person ask for?