The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness

 

Shirley J.                  Adult Non-Fiction                               The Age of Information/Technology        

The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness by Stephen R. Covey     432 pages

In this book, Stephen Covey continues from where he left off with The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, his previous book to continue and update now that life is all about the Internet and technology, the age of knowledge thereby, Covey discusses how effective people can continue on their journey to greatness with a new mind set and definitley a new skill set or in his words a new habit by becoming savvy in what he terms the new knowledge worker age - ie. it is all about the information at hand and the technological skills to acquire it.   It is no longer o.k. for any organization corporate or otherwise to think that the skills they acquired 20 or 25 years ago are going to stand up to the rapidly changing world around us.   What worked then may still get you there but if you want to excel and continue to be viable you have to open yourself  up to the idea that as information availability changes we must continue to learn and adapt as access to more and more ways to get information, virtual training and keep up with a constantly faster, better source of pulling any thing mankind can conceive from the invisible lightning that is information access.   A good book as his books all are.   I recommend this one to mature teens on up as there is a lot of corporate talk that younger folks might find not to their interests.

Disney's 5-Minute Villains Stories

 

Shirley J.                            Juvenile Fiction                                  Disney Villains Stories    

Disney's 5-Minute Villains Stories by Disney Books   208 pages

I love these 5 minute Disney stories.   First, they star characters we all grew up with and it is such a pleasant read to revisit them in stories continuing their life with us.   Having said that, a few of these stories were also in earlier versions of the Disney 5-minute stories series but that is okay because it is always enjoyable no matter how many times you read them.   The stories here are good for a Halloween read as they all deal with Disney meanies, the Wicked Witch from Cinderella, Cruella De Ville from 101 Dalmations, Captain Hook from Peter Pan, Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty, Ursula from The Little Mermaid and more.  The Wicked Witch is trying to rain everyone's happy day and ends up sulking in her dungeon which in a strange way is her happy place.  Cruella decides to hire a couple of henchmen and to test them out sends them to the Zoo to steal a polar bear for her.   Fortunately, the Polar Bear was a whole lot tougher than the henchmen expected.   They tried to capture other animals but all of them were too much for them to handle, however, they demonstrate their strong suit to Cruella by cleaning her house top to bottom and treating her to a delicious homemade breakfast - guess they are more minion than henchmen.  Peter Pan tells 2 tales of tricking Capt. Hook.   The first with the curse of the crow (no crows in Neverland but convince Smee and now Capt. Hook of that!  The other Wendy tells Peter about All Hallow's Eve and the tricks and scares and treats the day brings.  Peter decides to trick Capt. Hook and dresses up like a pirate ghost and frightens Hook, Smee and the crew dressed as a pirate ghost of legend.  Ursula is determined to ruin the Mer People's exciting Race Day but ends up everything she does to try to ruin turns out to make the day even more special for them.   So many great stories here even if the baddies are the stars, the stories turn on the sunshine in every case.   I recommend this book to young and old alike. 

Disney's 5-Minute Sleepy Time Stories

 

Shirley J.                      Juvenile Fiction                             Bed time stories about disney characters

Disney's 5-Minute Sleepy Time Stories by Disney Books   208 pages

Can't sleep?  Not quite ready for night-night?  Young or old you will enjoy these stories staring favorite characters from Disney films.   Tiana and Charlotte have differing views on what to do - Tiana sees all the work she needs to complete before the day is through to prepare the restaurant for business, her best friend Charlotte, wants her to forget working for one day and go shopping with her to help her pick out the perfect dress.  After a fuss and hurt feelings they each do their own thing but it is no fun without the other friend there to make it easier and more fun.   They end up compromising and each helps the other friend to accomplish what they want and have lots of fun together doing so.   Winnie the Pooh and Piglet campout and in another story help a lost duckling enjoy himself until they can get him back to his Mama.  Of course Lightning McQueen and Mater (who is just too adorable) are off and racing, and Lady and Tramp's son Scamp meets a little poodle girl who is being harassed by a bunch of big dogs for the bone she's found - turns out the huge bone was bone napped from a dinosaur display at the museum and Scamp becomes a hero twice!  So many more and such great stories here anyone any age will enjoy them.   I recommend them for anyone who loves Disney.  

                    

Everything's Trash, But It's Okay

 

Shirley J.                  Adult Non-Fiction Essays                                   Comedy, U2, Relationships

Everything's Trash, But It's Okay by Phoebe Robinson   352 pages

Phoebe Robinson is a stand-up comic, a writer both books and t.v. shows, one of 2 Dope Queens podcaster and a terrific satirist on life.  This is the second book I have read by her and I plan to read her next one, too.  She has such a hilarious take on life.   She calls it as she sees it,  no b.s. and often how she sees it is not just spot on but she can break those aha and arrrgggghhhh! moments in life down their enth degree and keep you laughing the whole way.    She is a hardcore U2 fan and talks about meeting Bono, his wife and  the rest of the band.  She leads a charmed life because she tells so many stories about how experiences like that sort of drop into her lap and she goes with it, not only that she always shares her great experiences with a friend or relative sharing the joy and making it that much more fun.   She shares intimate details that she often apologizes to her parents for hoping maybe they won't read that part or if they did, she owns up to it, continues to express her point with a bit of self-reproach which makes her all that more human and the funny lady she is known to be.   She talks about relationships, how hers have affected her and again how her current one just sort of fell in her lap via an opening band for U2.  Her boo is English and has a beard by the way.  She has a unique and witty take on life and will often surprise you.   I look forward to her next book.   I recommend this book to mature teens on up.   

Crime and Punishment

 Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, translated by Constance Garnett, 484 pages

"...a fantastic, gloomy business, a modern case, an incident of to-day when the heart of man is troubled, when the phrase is quoted that 'blood renews,' when comfort is preached as the aim of life.  Here we have bookish dreams, a heart unhinged by theories.  Here we see resolution in the first stage, but resolution of a special kind: he resolved to do it like jumping over a precipice or from a bell tower and his legs shook as he went to the crime."

It is difficult to imagine a better description of Crime and Punishment than that which Dostoevsky offers through the voice of one of his own characters, especially as the form - a prolonged monologue - is how much of the novel's action unfolds.  Raskolnikov is a failed student languishing in late nineteenth century St Petersburg, possessed by the notion that he can, by a single decisive act, break totally with the past and enter a realm of absolute freedom.  What he slowly and painfully discovers is that that realm is found in an entirely different direction, at the end of a radically different path, than he imagined.

It is difficult to say anything new about Crime and Punishment.  Obviously, it is not for everyone.  It is dreary and disorienting and merciless towards the reader.  Just as obviously, it is a work of genius, an incredible artistic achievement as well as an antidote to much of the existentialist sophistry that followed in its wake.

Macbeth

 

Shirley J.                     Adult Fiction                                Drugs, Power, Corruption                    

Macbeth by Jo Nesbo (Part of Hogarth Shakespeare) 464 pages

A retelling of Shakespeare's Macbeth.   Same names, same characters set in the 1970s and Macbeth, Duncan, etc. work for the police force with Lady (Macbeth) working as a casino owner.   It is an excellent retelling and take on the story.   I thoroughly enjoyed it from beginning to end.   The web spinning done by Hecate behind the scenes and the Mayor and S.W.A.T. in the town not to mention the dire act that is driving Lady to madness.  Murder, drugs, power and corruption are all afoot in this really juicy take on the story of Macbeth.  Now that I have found out there are 8 other retellings of Shakespeare tales under the Hogarth tag, I am going to have to check them all out.   Due to the heavy drug incidents and very explicit murder descriptions I want to recommend this to adults though, given the video games that are available perhaps mature teens as well. 

Three Ages of the Interior Life

The Three Ages of the Interior Life: Prelude of Eternal Life (Volume One) by Rev Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange OP, translated by Sister M Timothea Doyle OP, 470 pages

This book is an adaptation of a course Father Garrigou-Lagrange taught for over twenty years at the Pontifical College of St Thomas Aquinas (the Angelicum) in Rome.  The subject is mystical and ascetic theology, subjects which are sometimes treated as distinct but which the author demonstrates form a unity.  More importantly, he explains that these are not the concern merely of great saints and spiritual athletes, but are the heart of the universal call to holiness.  The interior life in which the soul ascends to God is both a foretaste of and a necessary preparation for that heaven which is true life in His presence.

The first volume treats of some foundational matters as well as the first of the three stages described by the great mystical writers, the purgative way.  Given the origin of the book, Garrigou-Lagrange's intended audience is current and future priests and spiritual directors, but despite occasional digressions into theological complexities, the work itself is imbued with a deep love of God and a concern for the souls of the faithful, so that it is pastoral in the best sense of the word.  A lay reader is likely to find himself both enlightened and inspired, though there is danger in reading beyond one's level.

The Address

The Address by Fiona Davis 400 pages 

Author Fiona Davis, known for her use of iconic Manhattan landmarks as characters in her novel, features the Dakota Apartment Building. That name may ring a bell to contemporary readers, even though the building dates back to the 1800s. Just outside The Dakota is where rock legend John Lennon was murdered. Lennon’s untimely death is mentioned, but more as a historical footnote than a contribution to the plot. 

Davis also uses dueling timelines to create the landmarks settings. This time the story vacillates between 1884 and 1984. 

In 1884, Sara Smythe is the head housekeeper of London’s Langham Hotel. Looking out the window of her office, Sara sees a child dangling from an open window. Her quick reaction saves the child. The child’s father is struggling architect Theodore Camden. He is eternally grateful and eventually offers Sara the position of manager of the Dakota…in the U.S. 

Sara accepts and sails for New York. The Dakota is not yet finished, but Theodore and Sara make a great team. So much so that later, when Theodore strikes out on his own, Sara goes with him. 

In 1984, Bailey Camden is just out of rehab and ready to start her life afresh. Bailey is not biologically related to Theodore, but is the great-granddaughter of his ward. The former interior designer isn’t sure what to do, so she enlists her “cousin” Melinda to help her at the Dakota, which she is vigorously renovating. Gutting is probably a better word, as Melinda is taking Theodore’s former apartment and making it sleek and sophisticated. 

Davis allows the readers to see the struggles of Sara and Bailey and what secrets the Dakota hides… and now. We also get to see the building’s grandeur at two distinct times. The secrets involve the stabbing of Theodore and a missing sheath that could hold the key to who inherits Theodore’s fortune. 

I’ve loved all of Davis’ other novels and this one is no exception. “The Address” receives 5 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world. 

 

The Christmas Wedding Guest

The Christmas Wedding Guest (Book 1 in a new series) by Susan Mallery 432 pages

I love a great cover, and this first book in a new series by Susan Mallery has one!  The white wedding dress is gorgeous, and it hanging in front of that red door really makes it pop. 

It’s Christmas all year in the tiny town of Wishing Tree, Washington. It’s a magical place most of the year, but during the Christmas season, it’s amazing. 

“The Christmas Wedding Guest” features two sisters and a dog named Belle---a 120-pound Great Dane with a nervous condition. 

The last time Reggie, short for Regina, had come home, she had the world’s shortest engagement. Jake proposed on Friday, the couple celebrated with a party on Saturday night, and on Sunday afternoon, he dumped her. Luckily he has moved away from Wishing Tree, and she won’t have to run into him while she helps plan her parent’s vow renewal.  

Reggie’s sister, Dena, is a pregnant single mom---by choice---who is tired of the dating scene and looking for Mr. Right.

 Things are about to change when Reggie’s high school sweetheart, Toby, moves back to Wishing Tree with his son. She wonders if the sparks are still there, but Toby is a much different person than he was back then. He has a lot of scars that he’s not willing to sacrifice anymore of his heart. Toby owns and operates Judy’s Hand Pies, a fleet of food trucks, that have made him a multi-millionaire.

Speaking of multi-millionaires, Dena is about to meet one too. She runs a local B&B and Micah checks in for the holidays. Micha’s a rock legend who has come to Wishing Tree to be inspired. He hasn’t written a song since his wife and unborn child were killed in an auto accident. Luckily, he goes mostly unnoticed by the people of Wishing Tree. 

What transpires is typical holiday romance, but the hilarity arises when Great Dane Belle has to maneuver around Reggie and Dena’s parent’s 22-pound dachshund, Burt. Burt is always trying to intimidate Belle, and most of the time, he succeeds. Until one day... 

I enjoyed this novel. I see it as two separate Hallmark Movies for the holiday season. They fit the mold. “The Christmas Wedding Guest” receives 4 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world. 

 

Nina Soni: Sister Fixer

Nina Soni: Sister Fixer (Book 2 in a series) by Kashmira Sheth; Illustrations by Jenn Kocsmiersky 144 pages

Readers are first introduced to Nina, a slightly forgetful nine year old, in “Nina Soni: Former Best Friend.” I was drawn to Nina because she is so organized; she loves to make lists!

In this second adventure, Nina is having problems with her six-year-old sister, Kavita. Kavita is e-m-b-a-r-r-a-s-s-i-n-g-l-y weird. She likes to sing, at the top of her lungs. It doesn’t matter if she knows the words or not; she makes up those that she doesn’t. Plus she makes up songs that are even more annoying…about anything. 

Nina’s plan is to come up with something that will stop Kavita from singing about anything and everything.  However, Nina is distracted by the constant rain and the big pile of dirt in their neighbor’s yard.  

Using STEAM (without knowing it, of course), Nina wants to use the dirt as part of an engineering project. Nina decides to dam up the small puddle and make a lake!

Donning their rain gear, the girls head outside. The rain is pouring through a downspout. What they don’t understand is the dammed water has to go somewhere…and OMG! A disaster is narrowly avoided. 

As in the first book, word pronunciation pull-out boxes are used. These are great to introduce new words to young readers. 

I wasn’t as enthralled with this book as I was the first one. The singing went on way to long, making several pages seem redundant. There didn’t seem to be as much depth as the first book offered. Therefore, “Nina Soni: Sister Fixer” receives 3 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world. 

 

Madam

Madam by Phoebe Wynne 352 pages

“Rebecca” meets Margaret Atwood in this creepy neo-historical fiction tale of a girl’s boarding school in the Scottish Highlands. The atmosphere is fabulously creepy, which I loved.

Elite families wishing to train their daughters in the fine art of being a perfect wife send them to Caldonbrae Hall in order to be trained to be “resilient and ready to serve society.” The premise of the school is basically for the girls to emerge with this ideal:  In order to be a perfect wife, a woman must be a conversationalist at his dinner table, a chef in his kitchen (or at least know how to run a kitchen because she will hardly ever step foot in one) and a whore in his bed. Side note: I remember reading that in a book form the 1920s titled “How to Catch a Husband and Keep Him.” Can anyone spell “Stepford Daughters?”

While this novel has that 1890s feel to it, the story actually takes place in 1993-94 over the course of an academic year. I never felt as if I could actually see the girls’ uniforms, but they gave off a strong 1890s vibe. I also never really got the grade levels; they weren’t freshman-senior, but that didn’t bother me too much.

Into this nightmare, comes twenty-six-year-old Rose Christie, the new head of the Classics Department. Immediately, she is affronted by the environment where she has found herself, but no one will talk with her. All the staff is referred to as “Madame”; No need for names. The girls automatically dislike her and plot to drive her mad. No one will speak of her predecessor who seems to have had an inappropriate relationship with one of the girls. No one wants to discuss the student who is obviously having a mental breakdown. She cannot leave or go into to town with permission and supervision.

Rose is always in trouble with those who preside over the school. She is the first new hire in over a decade, and the reason why is extremely creepy. Another reviewer describes Rose perfectly: she is “that mix of naïve yet earnest (ness) and has this massive sense of justice.”  She uses Greek mythology to try to get through to her students, but they aren’t interested. Their goal is to land a wealthy husband.

“Madame” was not a tough read, but much of it seemed redundant. If, dear Reader, you decide to give this novel a shot, do not read the “Prologue.” It gives away the ending, which ticked me off, so that is why I’m warning you now.

“Madam” receives 3 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world. 

 

Wishing on the Moon: The Life and TImes of Billie Holiday

 

Shirley J.     Biography of Billie Holiday                     A deeply researched biography of Lady Day

Wishing on the Moon: The Life and Times of Billie Holiday by Donald Clarke     480 pages

EXCELLENT BOOK!  One of the best biographies I have read.   Clarke's research gained him access to a vast amount of interviews previously unavailable to the public.  Friends, family, fellow celebrities, co-workers- musicians, singers, managers, club owners all filling in who Eleanora Fagan, later christened Billie Holiday, but known by her closest circle as Lady Day or "Lady" for short, a name bestowed on her by her friend, Lester Young and which she preferred to be known by the rest of her life.   Lady was a jazz singer,  a big band singer and a pop singer not so much as a blues singer though it was often said she sang the blues because during her early days in show business black women and men were often expected to sing the blues and were often hired and billed so.   Lady Day was so much more.   Her life as told here is so much more rounded than many of the writings about her would have readers believe.   While she did have her times with drugs that wasn't all her life was about.   She was tough and wouldn't take guff off of anybody either on her own behalf or on behalf of people she cared about.   She would throw down and fight men as well as women and for the most part came out the winner but she also loved children and her dogs and cooking.   She was your best friend ever is she liked you and those who really knew her adored her.   She was unlucky at love always picking the same type of guy who would treat her bad, steal her money, use her, beat her up then cast her aside.   Her esteem may have been a little skewed as sometimes it took getting a beating from her current lover to best her and get her in line.  Maybe this was because she and her mother had a volatile relationship though after her mother passed she bore guilt over what she thought she could have done to make her mother's life better though no one was ever certain if the two even liked one another.   She led a life of constant contradictions and though she made no bones about the fact she loved shooting heroin, she would get bent out of shape is she thought one of the younger people in her entourage were getting loaded, but, then there were stories of her having given shots of heroin to her dog who hid and wouldn't have anything to do with her when she got out of prison though she told a story of how he was happy to see her.    Good nostalgic trip through Lady Day's life as well as Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway, Jimmy Dorsey, and others letting the reader in to the inner sanctum of the life of musicians during a majestic time in musical history.   I recommend this book to adults on up due to explicit drug use described, language - Lady's greeting for most everyone was M.F.   A beautifully in-depth look at a special lady taken away by an awful addiction but who managed an amazing life none-the-less.

The Little Rascals: The LIfe and Times of Our Gang

 

Shirley J.                        Adult Non-Fiction                              The films of the Little Rascals

The Little Rascals: The Life and Times of Our Gang by Leonard Maltin and Richard W. Bann *I only read 40 pages it was so similar to the previous book I read on Our Gang

Good book, Maltin lists each film complete with cast and crew, year it was made and a full description of what takes place in each.   He also list them chronologically.   Excellent book and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the genre.   It is very similar to another book by a different author that I read last month so I decided not to invest any more time in this one, though, had I not read the first one, this would have been a great book on the subject.   I recommend it as a great research source and entertaining read.

The President's Vampire: Strange-But-True Tales of the United States of America

 

Shirley J.       Adult Non-Fiction                Sensationalized headlines and the real stories behind them

The President's Vamppire: Strange-But-True Tales of the United States of America by Robert Damon Schneck     * I only read 92 pages 

Just like the tabloids that tempt us with those outrageous headlines to get us to buy a copy this book was just like that.   The tales told sound so intriguing from the title but sadly the actual stories were not so exciting.   For instance as fun as the title is and promises a very interesting tale indeed, it isn't.   The President shown is Andrew Johnson and the tale behind the headline is that he gave a stay of execution to a Portuguese sailor accused of sucking the blood from people he had attacked aboard the ship.  An eyewitness stumbled upon the man "feeding".   While his execution was called for, Andrew Johnson without any fanfare spared the man's life but allowed that he serve out his life in prison.   No other details were given as to why the President felt leniency should be shown in the case.   That is the dry way other of the stories are, too.   I was looking for something a little spicier with surprising details behind the headlines, but, alas after 92 pages it was just one dry story after another.  Though there are 232 pages to the book, I was done at 92.  I can't recommend this title because I found it to be less than promised and the stories so dry it was like licking sand.  

The Super Metabolism Diet

 

Shirley J.        Adult Non-Fiction             Ways to Boost Your Metabolism to be the best You possible

The Super Metabolism Diet: The Two-Week Plan to Ignite Your Fat-Burning Furnace and Stay Lean for Life! by David Zinczenko and Keenan Mayo   288 pages

Really good book.   Takes low carb adds in a few high carb items for a new diet completely.   This one includes wheat and pasta even factored in cheat days where you eat anything you want and still because the foods the authors recommend are predominantly protein and get your energy burning you use up the calories fast and lose weight even without exercise.   Sounds too good to be true, but, these guys will make believers out every reader.   The book is well written and verbally pumps you up to want to go the distance and accomplish weight loss.   By now most everyone knows about low carbs so that really give you a step up when applying this diet to your own life.    I very much enjoyed learning more about the types of foods that burn fat fast while leaving you feeling far more energetic than you have im a long time.   It is true.  With a higher protein intake you are going to feel better, even wake up feeling ready for the day instead of wanting to snooze five more minutes.  Good book.   I recommend this to everyone teens on up.

The Knight's Tales Collection

 Shirley J.                           Juvenile Fiction                            Tales of King Arthur and his Knights

The Knight's Tales Collection by Gerald Morris   365 pages

I loved this book.   The tales told here of King Arthur and the Knights at his round table are excellent.  If you are a fan of tales of yore when noble men did battle with evil be they human or dragon (personally I am fond of dragons - see my previous notes on Game of Thrones), rescuing damsels in distress then this is the book for you.   Such well written and well told stories, many though the names were familiar the new information here just fleshed the characters out even more for me.  Fans of Renaissance Fairs, Jousts, Kings and Jesters, young and old will like this book I recommend it to all.  It is very relatable.   

Next to Last StandL A Longmire Mystery

Shirley J.                     Adult Fiction                              Veterans, Art Heists and Unexplained Money    Next to Last Stand: A Longmire Mystery by Craig Johnson     334 pages

There is a St. Louis connection to this story.   It involves a painting by Cassilly Adams of Custer's last stand as described by Curly, a survivor (soldier) of the Little Big Horn.  Augie Busch bought the original painting and a bar for $35,000 in a deal when the former bar owner couldn't pay his debt.   Augie had the painting replicated and used for advertising to his distributors (about 15,000 originally, today in the millions).   The original painting is said to have burned up in a fire at the 7th Calvary Headquarters in Fort Bliss, Texas in 1946.   This story revolves around a Veteran's Nursing Home in Wyoming, where Longmire had befriended many of the Vets, visiting and bringing them beer when it was allowed or (pretended) not seen.    Longmire's friend, Charley Lee passes away and since there is no contact info for family and he has been the only visitor over the years, given his job, too, the director of the home asks for his help especially when she opens a box of Charley Lee's belongings and about faints.    More digging takes Longmire down a whole lot more rabbit holes that come out to a surprising end.   Good story, I recommend this one to fans of western novels, mystery fans, Louis L'Amour fans and we baby boomers who appreciate seeing an older fellow be the hero now and then.           

The Personal Librarian

The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict & Victoria Christopher Murray 341 pages

 I love historical fiction. It teaches me things I never knew, and it sends me down rabbit holes, searching for more information. Marie Benedict & Victoria Christopher Murray’s new novel did those two things and more.

Belle Marion Greener is the daughter of Richard T. Greener, the first man to graduate from Harvard, and Genevieve Fleet Greener. The family left Washington, D. C. to escape the racial tensions that had been growing since the end of the Civil War for New York. There Genevieve decided that she and her children---Belle, her brother, and two sisters---would “pass.”  Mr. Greener, an activist, refused and left the family.

The family struggled, until Belle got a job as the personal librarian to financier J. P. Morgan. Belle knew that Morgan would never hire a Black woman, so she changed her name to Belle da Costa Greene, a woman of Portuguese decent, which explained her ‘dusty” complexion. Her job was to help Morgan build the most extensive library of rare books and manuscripts, antiquities and the finest art collection in the world.  

Taking place in the early 1900s, this novel is about the guilt that Belle carried; terrified that someone would discover her secret. After goggling images of her, I could understand why she was so scared.  But the book is also about how a hard working young woman became one of the most powerful and influential women in the art world. She was able to travel alone in New York and in Europe.

I had a little trouble with the first third of the novel as rare works that I had never heard of made me feel rather stupid. But Belle’s story is one of the most interesting period pieces I have read.

Another interesting tidbit on this novel is the collaboration of the white Marie Benedict and the Black Victoria Christopher Murray. Personally, I could not tell which section of the novel each writer championed, but the two together created a deep, lush narrative that I found irresistible.

 “The Personal Librarian” receives 4 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world. 

 

Fire in the Steppe

Fire in the Steppe by Henryk Sienkiewicz, translated by WS Kuniczak, 717 pages

In With Fire and Sword, Poland was saved from the Cossacks.  In The Deluge, she was saved from the Swedes.  In Fire in the Steppe it is the Turks who threaten the Commonwealth, and again her heroes, gathered around the incomparable swordsman Volodyovski, stand ready to defend her.  One final time they take their places on the ramparts of Christendom, disregarded by the sensible men of their own time and sensible historians of times to come, but glorious giants in the world of song and story.

In many ways Fire in the Steppe parallels With Fire and Sword.  Again, steppe warfare features prominently, again the most prominent villain is an easterner living among the Poles who is driven to treason by his desire for the hero's woman, again there is a climactic siege in which the defenders face impossible odds.  The last novel in Sienkiewicz's trilogy is far superior to the first, however.  Love at first sight has been replaced with a dramatic romance and courtship with as many twists and turns as any battle.  Where the love interests in the first two novels fell easily into the role of damsel in distress, Volodyovski's wife is more capable of handling herself physically.  Best of all, the climax dramatizes in unforgettable fashion one of the central themes running through the entire trilogy, the necessity of brave men to defend Poland and the cowardice that turns soft men into traitors in spite of themselves.

Mazes and Monsters

Mazes and Monsters by Rona Jaffe, 329 pages

They are four very different people.  Jay Jay is an eccentric child prodigy with wealthy parents who dreams of becoming an actor.  Daniel is a computer genius who is, contrary to stereotype, exceedingly handsome and successful with women.  Kate is an aspiring writer whose father traded in her mother for a younger model.  Robbie should be so lucky - his parents never stop fighting, and the older brother he idolized ran away from home years ago and hasn't been heard from since.  They all have a couple of things in common - they are all undergraduates at Grant University, and they all share a passion for the role-playing game Mazes and Monsters.  In the game, they can be whatever they want to be: popular, a hero, a fighter, a savior.  For one of them, however, the game will slowly take over his life, and what he thought was an innocent escape will turn into a nightmare he cannot escape.

When it is remembered at all, Mazes and Monsters is remembered today as part of the '80s Satanic panic and for its TV movie adaptation starring a young Tom Hanks (as well as Wendy Crewson, who went straight from it to Skullduggery), making it the equivalent of Reefer Madness for gamers.  Not that there's any Satanism in Mazes and Monsters - Jaffe is far too sophisticated to worry about such things.  Her focus is on the psychodramatic dimension, connecting the players' invention of their characters to their self-invention in college, their confrontations with fictional monsters to their struggles with the burdens of social and parental expectations.  

The book would be more interesting if it was a lurid tale about a diabolical game that seduces players and drives them mad - as it is, Jaffe ultimately blames no one and nothing for what happens.  The kind of irony and insight Judith Rossner used to examine the New York singles scene and connect it to larger social trends in Looking for Mr Goodbar is entirely absent here - not that Jaffe falls short, but that she doesn't even try.  Young people will go to college, it seems, and some will be exceptional but most of them will be ordinary, there they will study, party, and fall in and out of love, most of them will move on to dull futures, others will have bright futures, and some will simply fall apart entirely, more frequently into drugs and sex than into fantasy role-playing games, but that's just the way it is.  Not only does the book avoid both social commentary and exploitative chills and thrills, it also avoids any kind of subtlety.  Jaffe continually drops large paragraphs of exposition detailing personal histories and explaining precisely how a character feels, the dialogue often serving merely to link one expository paragraph to another.  Mazes and Monsters may be "a far-out game," as one character famously puts it, but Mazes and Monsters is a bland, pointless waste of time.

SLPL September totals

 This month 4 people read 32 titles with a total of 9488 pages.  Only one bonus by Dennis.

Shirley was the super reader with 18 titles.  Go Shirley!