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Saturday, March 16, 2024

Honeycomb by Joanne Harris

 I discovered this book by pure happenstance; I had no idea Harris, most famous for writing Chocolat, had written a collection of fairy tales. There are fables and just-so stories, but the bulk are fairy tales of the kind that used to be told, with fairies -- called Silken Folk -- who are as capricious as they are beautiful. Many relate the adventures and misdeeds of the Lacewing King, a prince of the Silken Folk who steals the Spider Queen's crown, aids the Clockwork Princess, and spars with the treacherous Harlequin before finally meeting his fate. Linking all the stories are the motifs of bees and honeycomb, by which stories are transmitted through the nine worlds. "This is a story the bees used to tell ..."

The stories are elegant but also deeply cynical. Kindness is rare, and virtue is never rewarded. A set of fables inspired by Animal Farm illustrate modern ills such as fascism and influencers, and the morals can be heavy-handed; others simply reflect the cruelties of the world. Each story is by itself clever and amusing, but read collectively they wear on the soul. What a shame to see such beauty in nature, in insects, in storytelling, but not in humanity.

Sunday, March 10, 2024

Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett

 The second in Fawcett's series was just as delightful as the first. The fairies in this novel are enchanting, dangerous, and illogical, just as in the old stories, and as a result humans take different approaches to dealing with them: some try to bargain with them, some placate them, some do their very best to ignore them. 

And then there are people like Emily Wilde, who want to study them. Emily makes for an unusual protagonist: she's a brilliant academic but a terrible people person, and often has to rely on her friend (and fairy prince in exile) Wendell to smooth things over. She's very good at getting herself into and out of danger, but she's no warrior princess and sometimes she needs to be rescued. She's dorky and prickly, and some of the funniest scenes are because of her own obliviousness. 

Emily is not the only scholar this time around (Wendell doesn't count, he's too lazy to actually learn anything); she's joined on her adventures by professor Rose, who is a welcome addition to the story. He is more experienced than she is but also more conservative and old-fashioned in his approach, making him a good antagonist who is nonetheless an ally when it counts. I don't think we will see him in the concluding novel, but maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised.

The covers of the American editions are gorgeous, and having embroidered a pendant based on the first novel, earrings made sense for this one:

Maybe a pin for the last one? Or a bookmark.

Friday, March 8, 2024

A Bit of Crochet

Well, more than a bit. I lost on the bus the wonderful hat my mom knit, and because of her arthritis she can't make me another (and I'm terrible at knitting, so that's out). It was big and slouchy and perfect for covering my ears, so I set out to find an hat to crochet that would be easy to adjust for maximum coziness. The "Ribbed Wonder" fit the bill; I especially liked that the rows are vertical, making it super easy to adjust for my giant head. Of course, I was so focused on the width I didn't pay attention to the fact that it is much too long for me, and I have to cuff it twice to avoid looking like "Dumb" Donald. But I love it!

 I find it amusing that as I've learned how to crochet I've gone from a ridiculously complicated hat to a moderately complicated one to the easiest possible style.

I also needed a way to store in my shower bars of soap that are likely to melt away if they can't dry properly. With only the vaguest idea of what to look for, I stumbled upon the notion of soap savers, and found an easy one to crochet. I didn't have any fancy linen yarn but acrylic seems to do the trick, and if it doesn't last I can always make another.

I still have to finish my sweater. Two years and counting!

Friday, March 1, 2024

Book Round-Up

 A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab: A month later, I'm still not sure how I feel about this novel, the first in a series (that can stand alone). There was a lot I liked about this book, including the concept of four Londons with differing levels of magic. And there was a little I didn't like at all, such as Lila's not-like-other-girls status and the unrelenting cruelty of White London. But either way, Schwab is a compelling writer. And I'm adding this to my imaginary shelf of alternate Londons.

The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien: I read this first in high school, dipped in and out of it over the years, and finally settled down for a reread in January. To my surprise, it wasn't as challenging as I remembered (all that reading over the last 30+ years has paid off!), and the stories were still as melancholy and beautiful as I remember. Anyone who thinks Tolkien only writes simplistic, black-and-white stories with happy endings needs to read about Feanor.

The Clocktaur War by T. Kingfisher: This duology about a small group of ordinary people -- naive scholar, allergy-prone forger, traumatized paladin, and cynical assassin -- sent on an impossible task to put an end to unstoppable war machines was so much fun. Kingfisher has a knack for putting ordinary people in deadly situations without losing sight of her characters' humanity or sense of the ridiculous. She is rapidly becoming one of my favorite writers.

Monday, February 12, 2024

Annual Late Winter Jewelry Photo Dump

 My mom bought me a Riverstone bracelet for Christmas. It was lonely so I made two more:

Humblebeads had a cute, Spring-y necklace made with waxed linen and assorted charms and beads; I used dyed hemp cord (so rough, my poor hands) and beads and charms from my stash, making it the perfect easy project.

 

I bought this lovely Anne Choi bead decades ago and made it into a necklace that I really liked but never wore:

So I remade it as a chunky bracelet. I hadn't intended a Valentine theme but that's how it worked out; fitting, given the inscription on the bead: lux et umbra vicissim sed semper amor.


 I've been telling myself for two years to make a pair of small brass earrings to wear with brass necklaces. I finally did!



Wednesday, February 7, 2024

Book Round-Up: Better Late than Never Edition

The Shape-Changer's Wife by Sharon Shinn: Shinn's debut novel is about an apprentice wizard who studies under a powerful mentor and his odd wife. It's often (rightly) compared to Peter S. Beagle's The Last Unicorn in style and vibe, but it also reminded me of Naomi Novik's Uprooted.

In Search of Lost Books by Giorgio van Straten: This is less a deep dive into known books that have disappeared, and more an idiosyncratic meditation on those books colored by Straten's tastes and experiences. Enjoyable as it it, but I would have preferred a more investigative work.

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman: My battered paperback disappeared, so what better excuse to buy a lovely hardcover with Gaiman's preferred text? It's a gritty, magical, weird exploration of an alternate London that also forces us to think about the parts of society we'd rather not deal with.

Murder in the Family by Cara Hunter: The premise is that of a TV producer who creates a true crime show to explore a brutal death that happened in his childhood. The text, then, is a transcript of the shows, plus emails and research, that gradually reveal what happened. But transcripts are an awkward thing to serve as the bulk of a novel. The mystery wasn't hard to figure out, either, but it was enjoyable enough.

Cat Tales by James Herriot: A collection of some of his anecdotes and stories involving cats, and just as sweet and comforting as you'd expect.

Monday, January 29, 2024

This Bird has Flown by Susanna Hoffs

It took me a shamefully long time to realize Hoffs' debut novel is a riff on Jane Eyre. Jane, a one-hit-wonder trying to make it many years later as a singer-songwriter, flees a bad breakup and a bad gig by hopping a plane to London. On that flight she meets her Rochester, and their relationship develops astoundingly quickly while Jane also prepares for a musical comeback. The book is full of literary references and song lyrics, and I'm positive there are many more I missed (like, say, the really BIG one I almost did!).

Modern retellings of Jane Eyre sometimes flatten Jane's morality, misunderstanding her integrity as simply a certainty in the correctness of Christianity, and try to present a more inclusive point of view; this is partly why I think Margot Livesey's novel, while thoroughly enjoyable on its own, failed as an Eyre retelling. Hoffs, on the other hand, understands that Jane's integrity is what matters. Like Livesey's novel, the antagonists are not caricatures of evil. Tom's ex does some bad things, makes some poor choices, and even starts (accidentally) a little fire, but she is neither evil nor crazy, just suffering deeply. Tom's handling of the matter is terrible, but not because he is arrogant or misogynistic; he just truly doesn't know what to do. And when Jane learns the truth, she is compassionate and understanding, but it doesn't stop her from doing what she knows is the right thing, no matter the cost to her personally. It makes her a character to root for whole-heartedly.

And it's not just in love that Jane keeps true to herself; the B-plot of the book is about her comeback performance with the mega star* who wrote the song that made her a star. Jane wants the acclaim (and, more importantly, the steady income) that a collaboration will bring, but she can't quite manage to stop wanting success on her own terms, in a way that is meaningful to her. The novel is full of sex, drugs, and rock and roll, but through it all Jane does not lose her core; as a result she gets what she wants, even if it doesn't quite look like what she thought.

*Clearly an analog for Prince, although I sincerely hope he was a better person to Susanna.