More Borrowed Books

Reading these reminds me that, even though I try to keep my readers abreast of the latest publications, there were good books published before 2000.

Framed in Lace by Monica Ferris A quick little cozy mystery, again borrowed from my mother. It’s the Needlecraft Series, so all the books in the series include details on some form of handicraft, with a pattern. This particular novel focuses on bobbin lace, but I guess figures that not that many people can do bobbin lace, so the pattern is for cross-stitch instead. But again, digressing. Betsy Devonshire, still in Minnesota running her murdered sister’s needlecraft shop, is starting to settle in and getting to know the locals. They’re all excited about the raising of an old ferryboat, sunk in the forties, which is to be restored and put back in service. But when the boat is raised, there’s a skeleton on it – and an old lace handkerchief. Once again, Betsy finds herself drawn into the search to find out whose the body was, and who killed her. It’s a fun little world, with lots (maybe too many) of colorful village people and details of everyone’s current projects. Read if your interests include fibers and comfy mysteries.

The Little Country by Charles DeLint Loaned from yet another friend, as I really like DeLint. The are two storylines, both set in a small village in Cornwall, one at the turn of the last century, the other in the late 1980s (which would have been the present when the book was written.) Janey Little is a piper, contemplating her next tour, when she finds an old book in her grandfather’s attic. It’s a book she’s never heard of, written by her favorite author. As she reads it, strange things start to happen. In the corresponding story – which might be the one that Janey is reading - Jody is working for her uncle, a scientist, when the Widow transforms her into a Small, only a few inches tall. Music is woven throughout the book, with the chapters named after traditional tunes. I have always loved DeLint’s ability to intertwine magic, suspense, and the everyday world. For me, this book was no exception, though putting the two stories together does slow the action down somewhat.

Deep Thoughts

I read this book for the second time while on leave. I love this book, and it is another older one. When I lived in Germany, it was still pretty new and popular, but I didn’t buy it because I was a little afraid to try to read it in German. Plus, books are much more expensive in Germany. When I was in Up With People, a host mom gave me her copy of it, full of sticky notes and scribbles in the margins. I made the mistake of loaning it to another cast member after I read it, who said she’d return it but never did. Alas! Last summer it was featured in a Borders display and so I bought a replacement copy. And what is this fabulous book, you ask? Read on!

Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaardner The novel stars fifteen-year-old Sophie Amudsen. (This leads to more existensial reflections on my part – I was 15 when the book was published; now I am 30 and Sophie is destined to remain 15 forever.) She’s a pretty ordinary teenager, when mysterious letters and packages begin arriving in her mailbox, some to her, and some to another girl who shares Sophie’s birthday and who ought to live nearby, but who isn’t in the telephone book. The packages to her are lessons in philosophy, and the novel itself is a history of philosophy – the plot mirrors Sophie’s current philosophy lesson, and we get the text of her lesson as well as what she’s doing. This manages to make a potentially dusty subject quite lively, even if it’s a little hard on the characters. By the end of the book, Sophie and her tutor have realized that they are probably only characters in a book, and are trying to find a way to wrest control of their lives from the author.