from Mary Saums
Brrrrrr ... it's definitely and officially winter here way down south. Icy cold and AND ... a dusting of snow on the ground this morning!!!! Weeee!! None on the roads though. Just beautiful sunshine and a wind that'll freeze anything standing still.
Inside, we have perfect reading weather, fortunately. Here are a few books that gravitated to me this month, all most entertaining and just a tad on the different side.
THE RUBY IN THE SMOKE by Philip Pullman
The Sally Lockhart series, #1
Set in Victorian London (you know I've got to have my fix), this series has so many wonderful aspects. Philip Pullman does a brilliant job of mixing the old standard style of Victorian Penny Dreadful-type stories with the more modern ideas of believable characters and plots.
Sally Lockhart is left alone in the world when her father dies. Not good for an underage youth in any place or time period, but in old London, there's menace aplenty skulking around in the fog.
Sally's a wonderful strong girl who does find friends but also some very nahhh-sty villains who want her dead.
THE SHADOW IN THE NORTH
by Philip Pullman
Sally Lockhart #2
A few years have past since the events in book #1. Sally has made a most unconventional choice for her time in setting up her own business in her own office. This does not sit well with certain members of society. Worse, she dares to advise clients, mostly women, on financial matters including how to invest their money. Her father, who had been a successful businessman, educated Sally himself rather than send her to school. From him she also learned foreign languages and how to shoot pistols. Mighty handy.
A client, a retired woman who took Sally's advice to invest in a shipping company, loses all her money when the company goes under. She and Sally believe something underhanded was going on so Sally investigates.
THE TIGER IN THE WELL
by Philip Pullman
Sally Lockhart #3
Things are going very well for Sally when this book begins. Then an extremely bizarre thing happens. A man she has never met claims to be her husband. Obviously a nut case and an easy thing to disprove, right? Not so.
An interesting lesson in Victorian society and anti-feminist sentiment, but somewhat overdone, IMIO. (in my ignorant opinion) Also, the icky-ness of a few villains gave me the creeps. Still a great read.
And of all the books I've read in my life, never have I read anything in mystery fiction about the plight of European Jews in England during this time. If you know of others, please let me know in the comments section.
One more thing, at the end, when Pullman writes about a group of orphan misfit children who rescue a child, you're not reading a book anymore. You're watching a movie. Each child is so beautifully written. Careful - you'll fall in love.
The BBC made a TV series based on the books starring Billie Piper as Sally.
And ... wait a minute ...
... why didn't anybody tell me Matt Smith was in it? Geez, I'd have been all over it by now. Maybe it's streamable on Netflix or Acorn.
LEGION: SKIN DEEP
by Brandon Sanderson
Stephen Leeds Book #2
Stephen Leeds isn't like most fictional heroes. He's off-the-scale intelligent, extremely wealthy, but he's famous because he participated in a well-publicized scientific experiment in which he was the guinea pig. Leeds doesn't have multiple personalities, he has what he calls "aspects" who behave as if they're separate people/entities. He knows they're not real. And yet, they are his "team" when an unsolvable problem is brought to him to figure out.
In SKIN DEEP, he's hired to find a missing corpse, one that may have been spiked with experimental DNA that could cause a worldwide plague. Cameras in the morgue are no help, so Leeds must rely on his aspects' help to solve this one.
AN ANTHROPOLOGIST ON MARS: SEVEN PARADOXICAL TALES
by Oliver Sacks
Oliver Sacks writes the most interesting and touching non-fiction books in the world. He's a distinguished neurologist who is able to show us marvelous things about our brains, how we think, who and what we are, through his studies of exceptional people. In ANTHROLOPOLOGIST, most of the cases are to do with artists who have developed a brain problem.
Sacks relates complex scientific info to those of us who are not neurologists very well. His obvious compassion makes all of his books worth reading.
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If you've read a "WOW!" book lately that you'd like to recommend, feel free to do so. Would love to hear from you.
Have a good weekend!
I read Jumper by Steven Gould years before the not great movie came out, as well as the follow up, Reflex. I didn't know there were two more recent books, Impulse and Exo until a month ago. They follow the teen age daughter of the original character. I read and reread the whole series several times and found the concepts and people totally believable and really exciting.
Posted by: Susan Neace | January 25, 2015 at 05:49 AM
Oh thank you, Susan. Yes, when the characters grab you and are believable, you want to spend more time to see how their lives turn out. These will definitely go on my list.
Posted by: Mary S. | January 25, 2015 at 10:50 AM
SO great Mary-- I adore these books, and its even fun to read about them.
Have you read THE MARTIAN? It's amazing.
Posted by: Hank Phillippi Ryan | January 26, 2015 at 05:08 AM
Cool! Thank you, Mary!
Posted by: Dana | January 26, 2015 at 08:46 AM
Drat, the Pullman books aren't available on Kindle...
A favorite series of mine is by Elly Griffiths. The books' main character is Ruth Galloway, a forensic archaeologist who teaches at the University of North Norfolk (in the UK). The next book in the series, The Ghost Fields, is due out in April and I can't wait!
Posted by: Cathy Adams | January 27, 2015 at 01:58 PM
Hank, I haven't read The Martian. Thanks!
Cathy, surely the Pullman series will eventually make it to Kindle. Surely!
Ah, and thank you for the heads up on the new Elly Griffiths. It has been a while since I read this series which makes me wonder if I've missed the latest. Off to check! Isn't the internet wonderful. :)
Posted by: Mary S. | January 27, 2015 at 02:48 PM