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© Katy Kramp and alibrarymama.com, 2004-2024. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Katy Kramp and alibrarymama.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
The Thirteenth Tale
Today, this book is #60 on Amazon’s bestseller list. This may or may not mean anything. In some sense, it is decidedly ironic that a book devoted to old-fashioned tastes in literature should be doing so well among today’s thrillers. But I am getting ahead of myself.
The Thirteenth Taleby Diane Setterfield ”Do you believe in ghosts, Miss Lea?” Margaret Lea is a quiet and unfashionable woman. She works in her father’s antiquarian bookstore and lives in an apartment above it, living more in the pages of books by the likes of Bronte than in the modern day. Then she receives a letter from the most celebrated of modern authors, Vida Winter, requesting that she write her biography. The aged Miss Winter is accustomed to being a storyteller, not a fact teller, so it is up to Miss Lea to discover the truth behind the story that Miss Winter tells her. The tale is of wild girl twins whose mother and uncle, lost in their own dark secrets, abandoned them to the housekeeper and the gardener. Her quest leads her to a ruined Yorkshire manor, in search of a ghost and a missing governess, but finding instead a gentle giant. While searching, Margaret Lea must face her own ghost – the twin sister she never knew but cannot live without. The tale is unashamedly gothic, with an appreciation of language,well-developed characters, a darkly atmospheric setting, and a Plot Twist.
The Book of Lost Things
The Book of Lost Things by John Connelly is a seriously creepy but ultimately satisfying book, especially for the lover of fairy tales. Once upon a time, in London, near the beginning of World War II, there lived a boy named David. David is a slightly neurotic but likeable boy who loves his mother and books more than anything. His mother dies, and his father marries a woman, Rose, whom David cannot forgive for trying to be a second mother. The arrival of a new half-brother and a move to Rose’s house in the country only make things worse. David starts to hear books talking to themselves. When out in the garden, he sees a crooked man walking through his room and his half-brother’s room. Then, one dark night, he runs from a crashing German bomber through a wall and into a forest where the trees bleed and the flowers have the faces of lost children. A Woodsman finds him as he is being chased by Loups, the half-wolf, half-man offspring of Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf, with the cunning of humans and the appetite of wolves. Unable to find his way back home, David and the Woodsman set out on a journey to find the King, whose Book of Lost Things might hold the answer to David’s questions. The world David travels through (mostly alone) is a world of twisted familiar stories, where Red Riding Hood chases down the wolf, and Hansel gets eaten the second time around. A little closer to horror than I usually read, this book has memorable characters and setting and a fast-moving plot that makes it very hard to put down.
Favorite Holiday Books
A few favorite holiday books (mostly for children):
The Nativity with pictures by Julie Vivas I first discovered this book in library school. Julie Vivas is an Australian illustrator who does beautifully expressive watercolors. Her Nativity is a long way from the formal and reverent oil paintings you’d expect of such a book. The Angel Gabriel sits down at the kitchen table over a cup of coffee with Mary, his wings dripping rainbows and his boots unlaced. A three-picture sequence shows Joseph trying to hoist a hugely pregnant Mary onto the back of a donkey who looks less than pleased at the idea. The text is taken from the King James version, which I have to edit for Mr. FP, but the words are few enough on the page to keep a toddler interested.
Hershel and the Hannukah Goblins by Eric Kimmel with pictures by Trina Schart Hyman The classic story of Herschel the fool outwitting the wicked goblins who prevent the village of Ostropol from celebrating Hannukah. Trina Schart Hyman is one of my all-time favorite illustrators. The story is fun and a little scary, and, alas, a little too long for Mr. FP still. [Updated 12/12 to add]: He was about 4 when he started loving this.
Winter Lights written and illustrated by Anna Grossnickle Hines Looking for broader winter holidays than just Christmas and Hannukah, I found this book. It centers on the celebration of light during this dark time of the year, with all different kinds of celebrations. Santa Lucia, Solstice, Chinese New Year, the disappointment of a child when the sun goes down way before bedtime, as well as Christmas and Hannukah. Each holiday is featured in a two-page spread with a short, expressive poem and a quilt illustrating it. The poems are lovely and the quilts are absolutely stunning. I hope my son will want to read it before it’s due back at the library, but in the meantime, everyone that comes near me is enjoying it.
The Father Christmas Letters by J.R.R. Tolkien This book is probably the reason that I still believe in Santa Claus, even though I’ve never liked the Santas at the mall. Father Christmas is strong and wise, managing to get presents out on time in spite of his bumbling assistant, the North Polar Bear, and goblin raids on the toys.
[Edited to add book covers 12/3/2012]
Airborn
Airborn by Kenneth Oppel is set in a world very similar to our early 20th century, except that the sky is populated by large airships filled with hydrium, a gas lighter and safer than hydrogen. Matt Cruse is a cabin boy aboard one such ship, the Aurora. Throw in a rebellious young heiress, some pirates, and a hunt for a new species, and you have a perfect adventure, one that will give you just half a page to catch your breath before flying off to the next danger. It was so exciting that I actually snapped at poor when he tried to interrupt during the last chapter. But although the adrenaline level is kept high, this is a book for teens – just one kiss, and a tastefully low body count. I hear the next one is even better.
