Saturday Snapshot: Fairy Tale Walking Stick

Sticking with the fairy tale theme, here is a photo of my old man in a stick. This walking stick was carved by a gentleman in Utah. A shimmering ribbon of poetry is inscribed and wraps around the stick all the way to the bottom. This old man usually gets quite a few compliments when I take him out for walks on the trails!

Saturday Snapshot hosted by Alyce of At Home With Books.

The Fairy Godmother by Mercedes Lackey

I've gone off on a bit of a fairy tale jaunt during the past few days. I pulled out The Tale of the Firebird  and posted a glimpse of my gorgeously illustrated copy of that Russian folktale by Gennady Spirin the other day. Apparently I hadn't satiated my desire for a bit of the faerie, so I picked up The Fairy Godmother by Mercedes Lackey. What a pleasant surprise it turned out to be!

The Fairy Godmother is the first in the Five Hundred Kingdoms series. This book appears, at first glance, to be a re-telling of the Cinderella fairy tale but after reading just a few short pages I realized that this is no traditional re-telling. In fact, Lackey breaks with tradition and, well, writes about breaking with tradition.

Bits and bobs of many different fairy tales appear throughout The Fairy Godmother, but Lackey weaves a new tale and those who like to buck tradition will enjoy it. Traditionalists should also enjoy this book for the many familiar elements included. Princesses in need of rescue. Champions on quest. Dragons, fairies, elves, and evil sorcerers. And, of course, fairy godmothers. Just don't expect these characters to toe the line.

Ah. There is also a happy ending, and, as one of the characters says:

"To happy endings, however they come about!"

*******************

"Fantasy for me has always gone far beyond the magic rings and castles of the classical fairy tale, although heaven knows I love the classical fairy tales! To write or enjoy fantasy requires an open mind and heart, and the ability to believe that things are not always what they seem."
-- Mercedes Lackey

Reading Fairytales ...

"Once upon a time, in a faraway kingdom, lived the great ruler Tsar Vasilyi. He had three sons, and the youngest was named Ivan-Tsarevitch.

"The Tsar's greatest pride was his garden, filled with exotic trees, and in the center of this garden was the prize of his kingdom: a tree with golden apples."

The Tale of the Firebird

Retold and Illustrated by Gennady Spirin

Translated by Tatiana Popova

Philomel Books

2002

Gorgeous illustrations by Gennady Spirin in this retelling of the classic Russian folk tale.

In the Forests of Serre by Patricia A. McKillip incorporates parts of the Firebird tale and makes a nice side-by-side reading with The Tale of the Firebird by Gennady Spirin.

In the Forests of Serre

Patricia A. McKillip

Cover illustration by Kinuko Y. Craft

Ace Trade Reprint Edition June 1, 2004

The Gambler by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

The destructive force of gambling. Human passions and the difficulty of controlling them. This is the primary focus of The Gambler, a short novel with big themes by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

Winners, losers, and users. Alexei, the main character, observes that " ... people not only at roulette, but everywhere, do nothing but try to gain or squeeze something out of one another." This astute yet cynical observation sums up the characters in The Gambler. The tutor, the naif, the imperious general, the wealthy matriarch ... all are driven by obsessive love/hate passions with gambling, with money, with each other and it spells ruination for them all. In the midst of these self-destructive characters are the users, the parasites, who also gamble ... gamble on the rise and fall of the fortunes of others.

Did I like The Gambler? I wouldn't use the word "like" since it was much too noir for my tastes. The Gambler looks at the dark side of human nature and is very psychological. It is also very honest, peeling back the masques of the characters ... characters who are representative of the darker side of us all with our suppressed obsessions and passions that, if let loose, would likely drive us to destruction. Yes, this makes for an uncomfortable read.

Dostoyevsky's ability to pull the reader into the tension filled mental state of a character is also quite uncomfortable, yet brilliant. These moments of extreme tension set your nerve endings vibrating and looking for release. Dostoyevsky does this in The Idiot as he describes the increasingly manic internal state of Myshkin preceding an epileptic seizure. You can feel it. Likewise, the mania in The Gambler as Alexei tries to guess the next turn of the wheel at the roulette table is palpable. Dostoyevsky's own bouts with epilepsy and addiction to gambling undoubtedly contribute to his ability to capture these states so vividly.

Some things never change. I saw something in The Gambler that took me by surprise. A reference to lawyers using mental illness as defense:

"Lawyers have taken to arguing in criminal cases that their clients were not responsible at the moment of their crime, and that it was a form of disease. 'He killed him,' they say, 'and has not memory of it.' And only imagine, General, the medical authorities support them - and actually maintain that there are illnesses, temporary aberrations in which a man scarcely remembers anything..."

Would I recommend The Gambler? Yes, with some caveats. Everyone should be able to relate to the larger theme, the struggle with our darker natures and passions and the destructive force of those passions. The 19th century struggle of Russian identity and the culture clash with other nationalities, especially the French, might be harder to grasp or understand. Dostoyevsky also pays little attention to details of settings and personal descriptions of his characters, which might leave some readers without a "place to hang their hat." There are no lovely snow swept vistas or lilac infused gardens in which to revel here. Dostoyevsky chooses to focus on the thoughts and emotions of his characters. The characters are effusive and a bundle of contradictions always undergoing some kind of internal torment. The emotions and situations will seem sensationalistic, but it is important to remember that Dostoyevsky likes to examine the depths of human experience in his writing. He has done just that in The Gambler.

A Winter Dream by Richard Paul Evans

I just finished reading A Winter Dream by Richard Paul Evans. I picked this book up just before Christmas and thought I'd read it Christmas week. Well, that didn't happen. I debated with myself whether or not to go ahead and read it this week or to hold it until next Christmas. It isn't a Christmas book per se, but it does have a lovely Christmas tree on the cover and I just couldn't get past that bit of Christmasy-ness. I finally decided that it wasn't too late to read it even if it did turn out to have a Christmas orientation. I'm glad I went ahead and read it!

I've never read anything by Evans but A Winter Dream really hit the spot for me as a thoughtful bit of January reading. The story is a modern re-telling of the Biblical story of Joseph. For those not familiar with Bible stories, it is the story of Joseph and the coat of many colors found in the book of Genesis. Joseph, in both renditions, is a dreamer ... a dreamer both literally and figuratively. The modern day Joseph is an ad man working with his eleven brothers for their father's very successful ad firm in Denver, Colorado. Like the story in Genesis, Joseph is wronged by his brothers and finds himself in a "foreign land." Instead of ending up in Egypt, this Joseph ends up in Chicago working his way up the ranks of a very prosperous transnational ad firm. Yes, there is even a "Potiphar's wife" in this re-telling. I don't want to say too much else about the storyline, but it does indeed follow the outline of the Biblical story. I often dislike Bible story re-tellings or analogies, but Evans handled this incredibly well, following a faithful storyline without being twee.

I particularly like the sense of endings and new beginnings that comes out in A Winter Dream. This made my choice to read it in early January a happy accident. Lessons learned, triumph through adversity, and forgiveness play very large in this story for the ages. It will make you think about your own life and the choices you make every day about how you will respond to circumstances. Each chapter of the book includes an entry from Joseph's diary that not only introduces the chapter but presents the reader with something to consider. For instance:

"I have wondered why it is that our greatest triumphs spring from our greatest extremity and adversity. Perhaps it is because we are so resistant to change, we only move when our seat becomes too hot to occupy."

As someone who does not like change, this spoke to me. I hope to remember it when I am forced from complacency by the hot seat.

I will leave you with the letter written to a young Joseph, before his trials, by his father:

  "... always remember that --
Adversity is not a detour. It is part of the path.
  You will encounter obstacles. You will make mistakes. Be grateful for both. Your obstacles and mistakes will be your greatest teachers. And the only way to not make mistakes in this life is to do nothing, which is the biggest mistake of all.
  Your challenges, if you'll let them, will become your greatest allies. Mountains can crush or raise you, depending on which side of the mountain you choose to stand on. All history bears out that the great, those who have changed the world, have all suffered great challenges. And, more times than not, it's precisely those challenges that, in God's time, lead to triumph.
  Abhor victimhood. Denounce entitlement. Neither are gifts, rather cages to damn the soul. Everyone who has walked this earth is a victim of injustice. Everyone.
  Most of all, do not be too quick to denounce your sufferings. The difficult road you are called to walk may, in fact, be your only path to success."

It is true too that such advice can not be fully appreciated from the front end of life, but is more often a comforting reflection as we look back.

R.J. Moeller's "Books to Read by Christmas 2013"

I haven't joined any reading challenges for 2013 ... yet. I do know that I will challenge myself to read books from my TBR shelves as much as possible. Like many book bloggers, my TBR shelves (mine is more of a TBR storage system) are *ahem* quite full so it makes sense to focus on reading those books. With that said, I wanted to share a reading list that is not only an extraordinary list of MUST READS but has the added personal benefit of listing 13 books on my TBR shelves!

The list, Books to Read by Christmas 2013, is created by R. J. Moeller who writes at Acculturated: Why Pop Culture Matters.

Here is the list in short, but I encourage you to go read Moeller's article which includes his comments on the books:

Books to Read by Christmas 2013

January - The Gambler by Fyodor Dostoevsky
February - One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
March - Out of the Silent Planet and Perelandra by C.S. Lewis
April - The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
May - The Man Who Was Thursday by G.K. Chesterton
June - No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy
July - The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
August - Moby Dick by Herman Melville
September - 1984 George Orwell
October - We by Yevgeny Zamyatin
November - That Hideous Strength by C.S. Lewis
December - The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

As you can see, the books are spread out over 12 months which provides some nice pacing and looks to be quite doable.

You can join any of the discussions on Twitter by using the appropriate hashtag. The hashtag for the January read is #TheGambler. You can also banter with @rjmoeller on Twitter. Feel free to chat with me @MsTerriB.

Happy Reading!

Merely Mystery Reading Challenge Wrap Up

I didn't join too many reading challenges this year. Good thing since I didn't seem to stick to any reading plans ... not really. I love to read mysteries though so managed to read 21 books from that genre which made my participation in the Merely Mystery Reading Challenge, hosted by Literary Feline at Musings of a Bookish Kitty, fairly successful. I only wish I'd written more reviews and been a bit more social. Oh well, at least I did the reading part of the challenge! Here is the list of mysteries I completed in 2012 (along with my own categories):

Historical Whodunit
A Morbid Taste for Bones (Brother Cadfael) by Ellis Peters
The Winter Queen (Erast Fandorin) by Boris Akunin

Classic Whodunit
"The Murders in the Rue Morgue" by Edgar Allan Poe

Crime
In the Bleak Midwinter (Russ Van Alstyne/Clare Fergusson) by Julia Spencer-Fleming
Bad Boy (Inspector Banks) by Peter Robinson
Forests of the Night by James W. Hall
Another Man's Moccasins (Walt Longmire) by Craig Johnson
The Dark Horse (Walt Longmire) by Craig Johnson
Junkyard Dogs (Walt Longmire) by Craig Johnson
Borderline (Anna Pigeon) by Nevada Barr
Burn (Anna Pigeon) by Nevada Barr

Kinda Cozy Crime
Serpents Trail (Maxie and Stretch) by Sue Henry
The Tooth of Time (Maxie and Stretch) by Sue Henry

Funnier Than Heck Parody
Sizzling Sixteen (Stephanie Plum) by Janet Evanovich
Smokin' Seventeen (Stephanie Plum) by Janet Evanovich
Explosive Eighteen (Stephanie Plum) by Janet Evanovich

Culinary Mysteries
The Grilling Season by Diane Mott Davidson
Stick and Scones by Diane Mott Davidson
Dark Tort by Diane Mott Davidson
Fatally Flaky by Diane Mott Davidson
Crunch Time by Diane Mott Davidson

I'd love to have a clear favorite, but each one of these mysteries brought its own pleasure. Sometimes I needed to laugh and the Stephanie Plum books would often leave me laughing until I cried. Other times I needed to curl up with an old favorite feel good cozy or culinary mystery. The historicals took me to other times and cultures. I also read a lot of grittier crime novels, but none of them hopeless like the Noir subgenre. Each of the crime novels had a satisfying ending where justice was mostly served. Of the crime novels, I favored the Walt Longmire books by Craig Johnson. I watched the TV series Longmire this year too. I was a little wary going into the TV series, since I didn't want it to interfere with my reading images, but ended up REALLY liking it. The TV series is not a direct copy of the books but instead captures the characters well and follows the spirit of Craig Johnson's novels. I highly recommend both the book and TV series.

A big THANK YOU to Wendy for hosting such a fun reading challenge!

Books Read 2012

I only reviewed a few books this year and I've hyperlinked those titles with reviews in the list below. A post will follow with some commentary about favorites, my overall thoughts about reading in 2012, and commentary on my participation in a few challenges and the Clarissa group read.

Edited to add:
Merely Mystery Reading Challenge Wrap Up

January
1. A Morbid Taste for Bones (Brother Cadfael) by Ellis Peters
2. Clockwork Angel (Infernal Devices) by Cassandra Clare
3. The Winter Queen (Erast Fandorin) by Boris Akunin
4. "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" by Edgar Allan Poe
5. The Palace of Tears by Alev Lytle Croutier
6. In the Bleak Midwinter (Russ Van Alstyne/Clare Fergusson) by Julia Spencer-Fleming

February
7. Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson
8. The Mostly True Story of Jack by Kelly Barnhill
9. Bad Boy (Inspector Banks) by Peter Robinson
10. The Rose Garden by Susanna Kearsley
11. Wither (The Chemical Garden) by Lauren DeStefano

March
12. Lipstick Jungle by Candace Bushnell
13. The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba
14. The Iron King by Julie Kagawa
15. The Iron Daughter by Julie Kagawa
16. The Iron Queen by Julie Kagawa

April
17. Beyond the Highland Mist by Karen Marie Moning
18. Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr
19. Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr
20. Sizzling Sixteen by Janet Evanovich
21. Smokin' Seventeen by Janet Evanovich
22. The Grilling Season (Goldy Culinary Mystery) by Diane Mott Davidson
23. Sticks and Scones (Goldy Culinary Mystery) by Diane Mott Davidson

May
24. Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver
25. Serpents Trail by Sue Henry
26. Another Man's Moccasins (Walt Longmire) by Craig Johnson
27. The Dark Horse (Walt Longmire) by Craig Johnson
28. Junkyard Dogs (Walt Longmire) by Craig Johnson

June
29. Delirium by Lauren Oliver
30. White Cat by Holly Black
31. Forests of the Night by James W. Hall
32. Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
33. Borderline (Anna Pigeon) by Nevada Barr
34. In the Forests of Serre by Patricia A. McKillip

July
35. The Dragonfly Pool by Eva Ibbotson
36. Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
37. Linger by Maggie Stiefvater
38. Forever by Maggie Stiefvater
39. The Secret of Platform 13 by Eva Ibbotson
40. The Beasts of Clawstone Castle by Eva Ibbotson
41. Sixpence House by Paul Collins
42. The Tooth of Time by Sue Henry
43. Dark Tort (Goldy Culinary Mystery) by Diane Mott Davidson

August
44. Explosive Eighteen by Janet Evanovich
45. Iron Knight by Julie Kagawa
46. Fatally Flaky (Goldy Culinary Mystery) by Diane Mott Davidson
47. The Shakespeare Thefts by Eric Rasmussen
48. Rules of Civility by Amor Towles
49. The Forests of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

September
50. The Secret History by Donna Tartt
51. The Woman in Black by Susan Hill

October
52. Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith
53. A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
54. Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness

November
55. Crunch Time (Goldy Culinary Mystery) by Diane Mott Davidson
56. Burn (Anna Pigeon) by Nevada Barr
57. A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray
58. Rebel Angels by Libba Bray

December
59. The Sweet Far Thing by Libba Bray
60. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
61. Unholy Night by Seth Grahame-Smith

SPORADICALLY ALL YEAR
Clarissa by Samuel Richardson

Christmas Reading List 2012

Are you looking for some Christmas reading? Look no further! Here is my annual Christmas reading recommendations list. This year's list is focused on Christmas short stories that can be read online or freely downloaded.

Short Stories: The Classic Christmas Collection
A collection of classic Christmas short stories from East of the Web. You might want to explore this site for other freely available stories outside of the Christmas story category.

Stories in this Christmas collection are by Saki, Robert Louis Stevenson, Bret Harte, Frank Stockton, O. Henry, L. Frank Baum, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Hans Christian Anderson.

Read these stories online or download them from East of the Web to read on your iPhone, iPod, or iPad. The app is available from the iTunes Store. (see details here)

20 Famous Christmas Stories 
Stories by O. Henry, Hans Christian Anderson, Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, Leo Tolstoy, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Brothers Grimm, Pearl S. Buck, Raymond Briggs, Robert L. May, L. Frank Baum, Selma Lagerlof, Anton Chekhov, Lizzie Deas, E.T.A. Hoffman, Oscar Wilde, Frances Browne, Henry Van Dyke, Willa Cather.

This collection of stories is gathered from several different sources that offer free online access to pieces of literature (mostly classic literature in the public domain). Check the links below for a wealth of additional literature:

Project Gutenberg
The Literature Network
Literature.org
Wikisource
About.com Classic Literature

Classic Mysteries of Christmas Past
Stories by Damon Runyon (1884-1946), O. Henry (1862-1910), Thomas Hardy (1840-1928), Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930).

This list includes A Chaparral Christmas Gift by O. Henry for those who like Westerns.

A Child's Christmas in Wales
This classic story by Dylan Thomas is on the American Literature web site which provides access to many more short stories, poems, speeches, essays and letters.

A Christmas Carol
"Marley was dead: to begin with." Need I say more?

The above link is not downloadable. To download a copy of this story see this link. It will provide you with various download options for your computer or mobile device.

Kids Christmas Stories, Poetry, Rhymes, Plays and Recitals
Looking for something for the kids? Apples 4 the Teacher web site provides links to stories, poems, and activities.

Previous Christmas Reading Lists
2010 Christmas Reading List
2011 Christmas Reading List

Clarissa Group Read: September Links

Here is the Mr. Linky for the September Clarissa group read posts. If you've written a post for Letters 457-522 or have comments on your reading of Clarissa, please leave a link to your post below.