Snow

Snow by Tracy Lynn One of my favorite subgenres of all time is the fairy tale made into a novel. For the conceit to work, the simple cartoon outlines of the original story have to be fleshed out, the story moving from anytime, anywhere, with any motherless child to a particular time, place and characters that feel real. This is a truly excellent example of the art. Jessica was born a duchess in a tiny manor in Wales. Neglected by her father, she took refuge in the kitchens. When her new stepmother came, over forty and determined to produce an heir at any cost, Jessica became a servant girl named Snow. The new duchess’s madness grows, and Snow flees by train to London, where she finds refuge with a little band of outcasts. The late Victorian setting works beautifully for the tale, with the industrial jungle of London substituting for the forest of the original Snow White. Magic and science blend in the stepmother’s experiments, while the world that Snow lives in also flows back and forth between modern and ancient. Lynn keeps the story close enough to the original to be recognizable, yet without providing the neat edges and answers for which fairy tales are known.

Other books in this little series (which I am going to track down) are The Storyteller’s Daughter and Beauty Sleep, both by Cameron Dokey.

A Dirty Job

Many, many thanks to tina_inara for checking this audiobook out and even delivering it to our door! amnachaidh and I both enjoyed it.

A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore. Read by Fisher Stevens Modern life and fantasy blend in this dark and funny novel. Charlie Asher was a stereotypical beta male, cautious, fearful, still having a hard time believing that his wife actually consented to marry him. When Rachel dies just after giving birth to baby Sophie, Charlie’s world is turned upside down. It’s not just losing Rachel and being a single dad, either. A man in mint green that only Charlie could see appeared at Rachel’s bedside when she died. Ever since, many of the objects Charlie’s second-hand store are glowing a dull red, and again, only Charlie can see it. The man in mint green turns out to be Minty Fresh, owner of a second-hand music store and self-described Death Merchant. It is his job – and now also Charlie’s – to collect the souls of the dead, which transfer to material objects when they die, and hold on to them until they are found by the next person they need to go to. Unretrieved soul vessels are snatched by sewer harpies (whom we know to be the Morrigan) to bring the harpies closer to taking over the earth. The ideas are consciously uncomfortable, as characters discuss the great irony in the Eastern idea of reincarnation being so closely tied to Western materialism: how would you feel about your soul ending up in your favorite sneakers? What about all the people wandering around soulless until they find their soul? The story is set firmly in modern San Francisco, with kooky and lovable characters, including Charlie’s lesbian sister, the foul-mouthed and soft-hearted goth girl who works at Charlie’s secondhand store, the immigrant old ladies in the apartment building who watch Sophie while Charlie works, and a pair of hellhounds that just show up one day. The biggest disappointment was that Sophie’s character never gets fleshed out, for all that she’s supposed to be the most important person in Charlie’s life. The answer to the book’s Big Question is really obvious, and I was frustrated with Charlie for not figuring it out. That’s not to say that the book was light on action, though. Fisher Stevens did an excellent job as the narrator, sounding the perfect beta male most of the time, but also adeptly creating unique and authentic-sounding voices for all the characters. The book is pretty heavy on the f-word and has some fairly graphic violence, so it’s probably not a good choice for a family listening. Still, this was a really fun book.

Knitting Rules

I think I'm posting like a maniac today, but I am still three books behind, so I'll continue.

Knitting Rules by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee Would you believe that I had been reading The Yarn Harlot for maybe close to a year now, without reading any of her books? So I finally read one, the only one checked in at the library when I looked. She starts out with a nice description of the addiction, including things to tell people who comment on your stash and how to tell if you have a problem. (Hiding skeins behind books on the bookshelf does not count.) She moves on to some musings on technique, and has chapters with recipes for basic garments like hats and socks, with lists of reasons to knit them (or not.) The advice is straightforward and good – she knows her stuff – but the reason to read this book, even if you’re only a casual knitter, is that it is flat out hilarious. This book rates high on the overall comedy scale, not just the knitting comedy scale (where, alas, the competition is not quite so stiff.)

Tapestries

Trying to research Waldorf, and this book came in a grocery bag of Waldorf-related books. Interesting, though not really helpful for doing Waldorf with children.

Tapestries: Weaving Life’s Journey by Betty Staley People change around every seven years, says Staley, and they tend to go through similar challenges at about the same time. In this book, she talks about these challenges, and illustrates them with interviews from a dozen people around the world narrating that phase of their life. It had some really good insights, though it was not the easiest book to read.