Absence makes the heart founder or my spring break gone too long!

Well here I am, absent for a month, have not done anything special and have not read much either.

I spend a week or so reading the first four books of The Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter by Susan Wittig Albert. In the first book “The Tale of Hill Top Farm” we get to know the human and animal characters of “the land between the lakes” and learn of why and hows of Beatrix’s purchasing a farm there. In other books small and large mysteries are solved by humans and animals both. Second book “The Tale of Holly How”, the third “The Tale of Cuckoo Brow Wood” and the fourth is “The Tale of Hawthorn House”. I had read the fifth book “The Tale of Briar Bank” before. These stories are enchanting and sweet. You can lose yourself in peacefulness of the village life, cuteness of cats and dogs and badgers and guinea pigs and even fall in love with a fox. As for human characters I liked Beatrix and Mr. Heelis and Captain Milles and his sister, also the little children were endearing. Wish Ms. Albert would hurry and write the last three books of the series too.
Else? “The Courtesan's Wager” by Claudia Dain was lovely. I was laughing really hard at all that verbal banter and those stubborn characters. I really enjoyed it and hope that Ms. Dain would continue with the series.
“Accidental Human” by (Accidental Friends, Book 3) by Dakota Cassidy was fun. I liked Marty’s story the best, Wanda’s was good and Nina’s story (the second book) was so so.
Anyway, here Marty is pregnant, Nina is enjoying the life as Elvira and Wanda is hiding a deep dark secret and a very cute new guy!
“Lulu in Marrakech” by Diane Johnson was boring. Somehow I was expecting more action in a spy thriller. The narrative for this novel was boarder line yawn and snore! The characters were detached and incomplete and the finale was like the author has run out of paper and decided to wrap things up in a hurry. Somehow I was expecting more from Ms. Johnson.
The best of my readings this month was rereading Kim Harrison’s “The Hallows” series and finishing it with the latest book (number 7) “White Witch, Black Curse”. I loved it. In this one, Rachel is getting to a balancing point in her relationship with Ivy, she get to find Kisten’s killer and put her grieving to rest. And yes, she is dealing with demons and everyone knows it and people are unkind to her, but what the heck! She is alive and kicking and powerful. Ooh, there is also a new character (an old brief character coming back to the main series, actually) and all new twists in her love life. I think both Big Al and Trent have hots for Rachel and also this new Rachel Candy! I so love these romantic tensions!
With this good note let’s wrap up and look for new things too read!

P.S.: Still can’t get my mind around my spring schedule. I have a long “To be Read” list and were not been able to put my hands on any of them.

Gregory Maguire

My long over due post on Gregory Maguire goes like this:
I’ve always been cautious of stories written using already existing characters. I assumed lazy unimaginative noncreative writers use these ready characters and write second tries, sequels or whatever they are called to disguise their lack of talent. I can name two series as sequels to “Pride and Prejudice” and one sequel to “Gone with the wind” that were more than disappointments.
Anyhow that the case, I tried not to read Gregory Maguire books, second hand characters and all that. But somehow (call it not finding anything else in the library!) I checked out a few weeks ago four of his books and started reading “Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister” right away. I was hooked! By the second chapter I was preferring his version to classic Cinderella. I totally forgot that I’m reading a story which I know the ending of. The characters were endearing even the most crass and cruel ones. The historical view point was refreshing and the narrator engaging. And at the end when we find out who the actual narrator is, who the real villain is… I only can tell the story builds up expectations and it precedes them.
So it was with this new found love that I started the Wicked Years series. Although I knew the story of “Wicked” through that famous Broadway play and the “Wizard of Oz”, I enjoyed the book much more. It is a well written story with amazing characters and multiple perspectives. The only critique I can think of is when Dorothy and her team enter the scene. The rational controlled Elphaba changes drastically and behaves way out of character. “Son of a Witch” is not as great as “Wicked”, Liir appeared very weak, however I think that weakness was in his make up and character from the beginning, he was not as strong or driven as Elphaba, he was always on the fringe. “A Lion Among Men” continues with side characters of Yackel and Cowardly Lion Brrr and Nor (Liir’s lost half sister). There is not much about Elphaba or Liir in the book but a couple of puzzles are solved and we know for certain that Elphaba is gone, her life story finished. Now is time for other characters. This third book was not as engaging as first or second, a little boring and lengthy perhaps. The thing is I was not interested in reformation of Cowardly lion! I hope for the next book of the series to be more interesting.
“Mirror Mirror” is the re-telling of Snow White fairytale. What I like about the book were multiple narrators, four to be exact! It made the story a little confusing at firs but when I got the hang of different voices, it made for an amazing read.
The only book of Gregory Maguire that I didn’t like was “Lost”. It is supposed to be a reference to "A Christmas Carol" and a bunch of other books but I was so lost half way into the book with all the mental pictures and dialogs and stories going through main character's head that I gave up reading the book for good!
Consequently Gregory Maguire is an author that I look forward to read more from, well; I’m waiting for the next book of Wicked Years anyway!