The Summer Book by Tove Jansson: Review

The Summer Book is a beautiful book. It's as if Tove Jansson took someone's most lovely summer memories and put them into words. I was drawn to it at first because it is about living on an island during the summer in a Northern climate. Being an island dweller, I know the best time to experience life here is in the summer. Gentle summers create the memories I hold onto during the brutal winter months.

The Summer Book is a series vignettes chronicling the day to day life of Grandmother and Sophia (and sometimes Papa). They have small adventures on their island in the Gulf of Finland. Grandmother is coming to the end of her life while Sophia is just six but dealing with the loss of her mother. Jansson wrote it just after her mother died, basing the characters on her own mother and niece. There is a pall of melancholy over the book. Jansson creates an excellent example of show-don't-tell in The Summer Book. In each vignette, we are shown how the characters feel through the things they do or say. We aren't told Grandmother is doing something to help Sophia feel better or that Sophia reacts the way she does because she is afraid of losing someone else. It's in everything they do. I don't know how a story about a tent could bring me close to tears but Jansson did it. There is plenty to laugh about as well.

Jansson wrote children's stories as well and this has that feel to it even though in is a book for adults. In a well written children's book, the story is simple but the message is a complex one. It is the same for The Summer Book. She knew children well enough to create a believable one in Sophia. Kids say the most startlingly true things at times; they express their anger and fear in surprising ways as well. They are complicated little creatures.

Here is an example of some of the things Sophia says:

“It’s funny about love,” Sophia said. “The more you love someone, the less he likes you back.”

“That’s very true,” Grandmother observed. “And so what do you do?”

“You go on loving,” said Sophia threateningly. “You love harder and harder.”

Her grandmother sighed and said nothing.

The Summer Book is the kind of book you read when you are some place quiet where you can ponder every sentence in peace.

Lazy Sunday Thoughts: The Cranky Post

Hello, Lovelies! How is your Sunday morning treating you? I have a headache. Maybe I should write a book about it. What am I talking about? The NYT article, The Problem with Memoirs. I saw some discussion about it on Twitter so I gave it a read this morning. It's a divisive article. Some people agree and some people are throwing the E word around (E for Elitist).

He has a point. I'm not saying he is totally right but there are memoirs out there I have zero interest in which seem like an excuse to whine about personal troubles. Life is tough. Bad things happen. Often bad thing after bad thing. Somehow we get through. Do we need a memoir about it? Not always. That's why God invented blogs. And friends.

An interesting story to one person is a boring one to another. It's a matter of taste. Who gets to decide whose life is interesting enough? That's up to the publishers to decide and ultimately the people who read them. Personally, I have no interest in celebrity memoirs but millions of other people do. I'm not the Queen of Publishing so celebrity memoirs will continue to be printed. For the people who read memoirs, do us a favor: review them, let us know as much about them as possible and we'll decide whether or not to read them ourselves.

Now onto other things...

I finished a totally beautiful book this week, The Summer Book. It was short and so good I read it in a day. Lately I can't seem to get involved in a book. I keep finding other things I want to do. I thought maybe I was losing my reading mojo. I was just waiting for the right book I guess.

Anyway, this was a pointless post. I need to get my blogging act together. I don't have any strong opinions lately. Or I don't have the words to express those opinions. Maybe I'm just cranky. I don't know. Damn winter.

Are you cranky lately, readers?

Friday Bookish Buzz: Goodbye January

 

Winter is long here but at least January is nearly over. It went by quickly and yet Christmas seems like eons ago. February is a short month. I think I can get through it.

I was very productive last weekend with so many of my Bloggiesta goals accomplished. I wonder what was accomplished in the book world this week.

*Still working on that novel? I guess it's never too late.

*Author dies while on tour. So sad.

*Surprise! Canadians worry.

*Nabokov knew his way around a butterfly.

*Jane vs Becky. Obviously, the guy didn't see the Bronte sisters action figures.

*Snooki is all over the place but can't sell 10000 books. Maybe she should try selling them out of the back of her car.

*Even birds like books: hawk caught in Library of Congress.

*Etsy Love: Now you can even shower with your favorite book with soap from The English Major Soap Co.


And now- Don't you ever interrupt me when I'm reading a book. It's so catchy. Enjoy!



Have a good one!

Flight of the Falcon by Daphne du Maurier

Ever read a book that makes you feel like you need to take a shower while you read it? There were parts of Flight of the Falcon by Daphne du Maurier that did that to me. I felt the way I did when I read The Lottery by Shirley Jackson.

Armino is a tour guide for Sunshine Tours. He wheels American and British tourists to all the popular spots in Italy. One night he spots a homeless woman in Rome who looks a lot like the woman who took care of him as a child. When he and his mother ran from their hometown of Ruffano during the war with a German soldier, they left the woman behind. He hasn't seen her in 20 years. The next day she turns up dead.

Armino drops everything to return to Ruffano hoping to find out if the dead woman is his old nanny and why she ended up on the steps of a church in Rome. When he arrives, he finds the town has changed a lot in 20 years. The local university is booming with students taking the new Commerce and Economics degree. The students are rowdy and there's animosity between them and the Arts students. When the head of the Arts department organizes a festival celebrating the Flight of Falcon (a local wack job from the middle ages), the tension between the two groups grows to dangerous proportions and Armino is in the middle of it all.

Why did I feel uncomfortable while reading this? It was the way that the festival organizer riled up the students. It was so manipulative they would have followed him off a cliff. He convinces both student groups to murder each other. Yep, murder. You see the festival is a re-enactment of a riot that occurred to drive out the man they called the Falcon: "the blood ran in the streets" they say. This guy wants authenticity, so real blood must be shed. And these kids don't have any qualms about it (ok, maybe a couple do but they never do anything about it). They're all, "Yeah! Let's get those C&E kids! That'll teach 'em to want educating!" This is also 1964 and there are references to World War II. The shadow of fascism falls over those pages.

Then there's the secret society that sneaks around doing awful things to people in the night. One of those things was an apparent rape (apparent because that's the rumour, no one really knows). When word gets out, people treat it like it's a big joke and make comments about the woman. I was bothered by that.

Armino is the only person horrified by these goings on. Yet he doesn't do much about it. My frustration with him is how he could have prevented a lot of things that happen to him if he went to the police. Of course, there's a reason Armino doesn't and I can't mention that because it's spoilery. However, du Maurier uses so much foreshadowing in the first couple of chapters, the Big Reveal isn't that surprising. I was thinking, "Well, duh."

Throughout the novel I wondered what was the motive of the organizer, was he just crazy? When he tells Armino what happens was his plan was all along, I thought maybe du Maurier was the crazy one! That was wacky.

Du Maurier is not shy about showing readers the ugly side of humanity. And it's pretty ugly. As you can tell from this, the story meanders all over the place but somehow it comes together in the end. There are mysteries and family secrets in there too. Although I had to walk away from it when I was too disturbed by it, I wanted to know how things were going to turn out. This is different than many of her other books but much more like one of her short stories. It's not my favorite Daphne du Maurier but it is definitely interesting.

Recommended after you've read a lot of her other work.

This Old Thing? Seven Tales by Hans Christian Andersen

It's been awhile since my last This Old Thing post. Today I have Seven Tales by H.C Andersen translated by Eva Le Gallienne. This one is quite old (1959). It was a library sale find and a discard. Unfortunately in has "Discarded" stamped all over the inside. No fair! It has some gorgeous illustrations inside in colour and black and white by Maurice Sendak. It seems like a sweet edition with standards like The Princess and the Pea and The Ugly Duckling. I'm thinking I'll read it for the Nordic Challenge.


Though we all know the stories, have you ever read Hans Christian Andersen? As a child or to your children? What's your favorite?

Here's something to get stuck in your head for the day. I remember seeing this movie as a kid.

Jane of Lantern Hill by L.M. Montgomery

Jane Stuart, or Victoria as she is called, lives with her mother and grandmother in an old mansion in an old part of Toronto. Though her mother loves her the same can't be said for Grandmother who has a hate-on for Jane. Grandmother has no room in her heart for anyone other than her daughter; she keeps tight rein on her. Jane and her mother walk on eggshells in fear of Grandmother's wrath.

Quite by accident, Jane learns that her father is alive and living on Prince Edward Island. When he sends for her, Jane is devastated. She can't imagine being away from her mother and living with a stranger for a whole summer, even though she'll be away from Grandmother. Jane is surprised to find that her father is a warmhearted man with a big imagination. They buy a house in Lantern Hill and Jane set about making their house a home, the home she always imagined she would have. Jane makes friends with the neighbours and gains a reputation for being able to do anything. When she returns to Toronto, Grandmother learns that Jane is a force to be reckoned with and things will never be the same again.

What an excellent little book Jane of Lantern Hill is! In a way, it reminded me of The Secret Garden. A precocious little girl moves away from the place she has always lived, meets new people and tries new things becoming a better person by the end of the book. The difference is Jane is lovable right from the beginning. She has loyalty to her mother even though the woman is completely spineless. Jane becomes so wise and strong, much wiser than the adults. And that Grandmother...yikes! Icy cold nasty lady. I kept imagining the step-mother in Cinderella.

The differences between her life in Toronto and Prince Edward Island are so completely opposed that I wondered if this was a comment on Montgomery's own life. At the time this was written, Lucy Maude was near the end of her life. She had been married to a minister with mental problems not to mention her own depression. The weight of keeping up appearances must have been smothering, much like Jane's life with Grandmother. She must have had fond memories of herself as a young woman in PEI. Jane is set free to be herself on the island. The island is as much a character as Jane is.

Although Montgomery's writing is prone to unbelievable coincidences and unlikely situations, it's full of quirky characters and sparks of insight that even adults can appreciate like the following:

Jane, the most awful as well as the most beautiful things in the world can be said in three words or less… I love you…he is gone…he is come…she is dead…too late…and life is illumined or ruined.

Though  Montgomery is known for Anne Shirley and her adventures, I hope readers will give Jane Stuart a chance.

Highly recommended though difficult to get if you don't live in Canada.

Bloggiesta Update Numero Dos

How sad is it that I had to look up 'numero dos'? Oh well, I took French in school.

So. Bloggiesta Day Two has gone rather well. I cleaned up my Google Reader. I made folders! Wahoo! I also put some books in Goodreads and stopped ignoring all those 'Be My Friend' messages. I might actually use it now.

I'm rocking the new look of my blog. (Yay, me! *toot-toot* That's me tooting my own horn.) If you are curious, I made the background with Dg Patterns. You can customize a background to suit your needs. The new icons for RSS, Twitter and Tumblr, I found on Softicons. They have some beautiful sets there.

Now for Wordlily's mini-challenge!

1. Read the post, 10 Things Bloggers Should Not Do.
2. Rate yourself (on a scale of 1 to 5, 5 being muy excellente) on each point. How are you doing?
3. Brainstorm examples of what you can/will do to improve your ratings in those areas that could use improvement. And/or:
4. If you feel you’re doing particularly great in one area, share examples of how you’ve reached such excellence.

1. You Must Not Expect Results Overnight: I'm not too bad with this one, though I do get impatient when I make changes. I think everyone should notice right away. 3/5

2. You Must Not Ignore Your Readers: I hope I don't do this. I know I'm not the best commenter but I try to be helpful and (possibly) entertaining. I appreciate all my readers. 4/5

3. You Must Not Scrape Another Bloggers Content: This should be an easy one but surprisingly people do this, sometimes naively believing it's how things are done. Always ask permission to use someone's content and be polite if they say no. 5/5

4. You Must Not Expect Success Without Promoting: I try to promote my blog without being a pain in the butt about it. I could always improve. 4/5

5. You Must Not Be Another Blogger: What you see is what you get. 5/5

6. You Must Not Fail To Update Your Blog Regularly: I'm here every week. Same bat time, same bat channel.

7. You Must Not Ignore SEO: Um....yeah.... not totally aware if I'm doing this. 2.75/5

8. You Must Not Ignore Networking: Well, I'm on the Twitter and the Tumblr now. If you follow me, you will be sick of me. 4.5/5

9. You Must Not Have An Unreadable/Unnavigable Site: *Looks around* Seems all okay to me. What do you think though? You are the one that matters! 4/5

10. You Must Not Throw Mud Around: You know what they say about mud, can't throw it around without getting some on yourself. 5/5

That's it for now! 

Bloggiesta Update

Whew! After 12 hours, I've gotten a couple of things done for Bloggiesta. I had a problem with my blog header which had me pulling out my hair. I uploaded a new photo but it was all blurry. I deleted it, fiddled with it, uploaded again. Still blurry. I Googled my problem and it turns out it's a recent Blogger issue. So I used Photobucket to host the photo instead. So much clearer! Keep that in mind if you are using or viewing Blogger... or lay off the Tequila if you aren't!

I mentioned awhile back that I made my blog mobile friendly. If you are using Blogger, find out how to do it on WapReview. I love how mine turned out.

I did make my lemon squares. I cheated a little and made them from a mix but I'm looking forward to them.

Jen at Devourer of Books is hosting a mini-challenge on Google forms. I've used them in the past and it makes contests and challenges so much easier. Fill this one out just for fun!





Now I'm off to do some more blog work!

Bloggiesta Goals

Hello! Welcome to my Bloggiesta Starting Line post. I have my list of goals ready, do you? I'm sure as I start visiting people I'll find new ones. For now, here's my list. I'll update it throughout the weekend. Good luck to you if you are participating!

• Play with a new photo for blog header. No thanks to Blogger I managed to get this done.
• Change background design.
• Update About Me page.
• Find Tumblr icon and maybe new Twitter icon.
• Update Goodreads account.
• Write a couple of posts.
• Answer emails (I know, bad me).
• Clean out inboxes.
• Work on projects with other bloggers.
• Get rid of Book Blips links.
• Brainstorm.
• Clean up blog subscriptions in Google Reader.
• Update blog footer.
• Do some Bloggiesta mini-challenges.
• Make lemon squares. (Okay, so not blog related but I'm craving them.)
• Back up blog.
• Add to this list. ;)

Catch ya later!

Friday Bookish Buzz: Ay, Chihuahua!

Ay, Chihuahua! It's Bloggiesta time again. Yes, I will be participating in a weekend of blog maintenance along with a number of other bloggers. Follow Pedro on Twitter @bloggiesta and the hashtag #bloggiesta to watch how we're all doing. That's my weekend plan, what's yours?

*Twitter users like Neil Gaiman show support for libraries around the world.

*Speaking of libraries, this library in the UK urged patrons to borrow all the books in protest of budget cuts. And they do!

*The Girl With 200 Pages of Stieg Larsson's Last Book by Eva Gabrielsson.

*Edgar Allan Poe turned 202 and his admirer didn't show up to the graveyard.

*According to the National Campaign for Reading, Canadians bought or borrowed 2.7 million books last week.

*The Underground Literary Society discuss Zombies.

*The Nimbus Publishing catalogue came in the mail today and it has a cute otter on the cover. Yes, I'm making you all look at it.

*Dewey's Read-a-thon wants volunteers.

*Etsy Love: Very nice bookends with a message by Knob Creek Metal Arts.

Whatever you're up to this weekend, hope you have fun!

Wordless: Old Books

Dead Politician Society by Robin Spano: Review

Clare Vengel is new to the police force and eager to get out into the field. She's handed an opportunity in the form of an undercover assignment. Pose as a student to gain information about a secret political society: Society for Political Utopia. A high profile politician has been poisoned and a SPU calling card left at the scene. Could the murderer be one of the overachieving students or maybe their sleazy professor? Clare joins the class but will she get close enough to find out the truth?

Okay, so I have a few beefs with the characters of Dead Politician Society by Robin Spano. Let's get them out of the way first.

Clare: She's the protagonist of the story but the book is written in short chapters from several points of view. I never got a good feel for Clare because of this.
Clare's Handler: Dude, what is your problem? He has no faith in Clare and when she wants help he's all, "My sarcasm, let me show it to you." If he really believed "if you fail, I fail" wouldn't he be more helpful? He needs a good butt kicking.
Matthew: Sleeping with your students = Gross.
Those Students:  So blase about murder. So blase about the possibility of one of them being a murderer. Friendship. Sex. Love. They're like the kids from Village of the Damned. Maybe it's their studies, but they are too young to be so jaded. It made me sad.

Emotion is irrelevant, it is not our nature.

If you like a mix of politics and murder, Dead Politician Society might be for you. I did end up liking it. It has good pacing and an interesting plot. Even though there is a number of points of view, Spano tries to get into their heads and make them as three dimensional as she can. Yes, Matthew is a sleazeball but he's a sleazeball with depth. I'd like to see more of Clare in the next book. Will she still be as approachable as a porcupine? Will she get any better at undercover work (and maybe use less questionable tactics)?

So even though the characters often got on my nerves, Dead Politician Society keep me guessing and I wanted to keep reading until the end. I'd like to see where Spano goes with this series.

Recommended to readers of crime fiction who don't mind swears.

I picked this one up from the new section of the library. Robin Spano did a guest post for my blog that you can read here.

Lazy Sunday Thoughts: Distractions

I feel like I'm crawling into 2011. I know I said I was going to relax but maybe I'm too relaxed. I'm not exactly reading at lightning speed here. I finished Dead Politician Society a couple of days ago but I haven't picked up a book since. I have too many distractions.

I'm not going to count the regular day-to-day stuff that must be done. That's always there. Like I always say, laundry never ends. However, I've picked up a few distractions lately. First, Angry Birds. Have you played this? It's an app for the i-touch and other devices. I played it before 2011 but now I'm addicted. Then I downloaded Zombie Farm and am obsessively checking on my zombies. There's always Twitter for a distraction which leads to other distractions. So electronically I'm covering all the bases. Raych actually read a book about that this week. After I die, I'll donate my brain to science. They'll probably find a bird of some sort in there.

Other projects are keeping me from reading too. I decided to make curtains for a couple of windows. Not that that project has gotten any farther than buying the fabric. Plus, I started a crochet project. Guess what it is? An Angry Bird. Yep, I've lost my mind. In Bloggery, I joined some people in plotting the next Armchair BEA, since I will not be going. That will be fun.

Oh and guess what else? I got a new camera and whenever I decide to leave the premises I'll be trying it out on the world. For now, here's a photo of my kitty.

Well, since this post took me quite some time to write, I might as well count that as a distraction too.

What distractions keep you from reading?

I Give You...

This. It made me laugh. And since it really is Friday today- enjoy and have a good weekend!

Friday Bookish Buzz: Snowed In Edition

We had some snow last night here. Not a whole lot but enough to cancel school this morning. I think the local kids would be disappointed if it wasn't. The weather people were building this storm up but it was kind of a flop. At least it's quiet right now with the girl out playing in the (very wet) snow.

Anyway, what is new in book news this week.

*Want to see some impressive libraries? Check these ones out. (Love Rod Stewart's.)

*Archie to go digital.

*William and Kate, the comic book? Kinda creepy.

*Weird stuff happens in the library.

*What were the best sellers on the day you were born?

*National Book Count. If my visit to the book store yesterday proves anything, Canadians buy a lot of books.

*I thought for sure we were being punked: Baz Luhrmann wants to make The Great Gatsby in 3D.

*Are you a blogger? Need to fix up your blog? Join Bloggiesta January 21-23 for a weekend of virtual clean up.

*While you're at it, mark your calendars for Dewey's Read-a-thon, April 9, 2011.

*Etsy Love: A creative way to keep loving a favorite book, Jane Eyre bracelet from Sue Hebden's shop.

Have a great weekend!

The Sherlockian by Graham Moore: Review

Yay! I'm starting the year with a fun and smart book: The Sherlockian by Graham Moore.

The Sherlockian alternates between 2010 and 1900. In 2010, a man has been murdered over the discovery of Arthur Conan Doyle's lost diary. The man in question is, Alex Cale, a member of the Baker Street Irregulars, a group obsessed with Sherlock Holmes. Alex was about reveal the contents of this mysterious diary when he is killed in his hotel room. Harold White is the newest member of group, out to prove himself. With the help of a pushy reporter, Sarah, Harold embarks on a journey to England to find out just what was in that diary that drove someone to murder.

Back in 1900, Arthur Conan Doyle is experiencing the events in the missing diary. He is trying to put the much loved Sherlock Holmes behind him. All of England mourns for the deceased detective and Arthur is sick to death of it. When a exploding letter with the message "elementary" comes to his house, Arthur is drawn to action with the help of his friend Bram Stoker. Where the mystery leads him will forever change the man he is and bring Holmes back from the dead.

I was impressed by Moore's characterizations of both fictional and real people. I don't think I'll ever be able to think of Arthur and Bram without thinking of them as they are presented in the book. They leap off the page as real flesh and blood people with both admirable qualities and serious flaws. Harold himself is lovably dorky with his silly Holmes hat and brilliant mind. He is adorable. His 'Watson,' Sarah, is a kick-ass woman with secrets she keeps close to her vest.

I'm not always a fan of using real people in fictional works but I was got so involved in the mystery it didn't matter to me. At first, because I'm such a book nerd, I was excited when Arthur speaks to Bram. I was all, "Arthur Conan Doyle is talking to Bram Stoker! And OMG they're talking about Oscar Wilde. I know that guy!"

I know that guy!

In reality, they all did know one another so it's not like that is a weird thing. I just get excited about silly things like that. Bram makes a perfect Watson to Arthur's Holmes, though neither one of them like that idea. There are some very funny moments between them.

It's not all fun and games, however. There are dark elements to the story. The Victorian back alleys are more than a den of sin, they represent a tragic flaw in society. Arthur also struggles with a quickly changing world while Harold attempts to live in a world he sees as 'simpler' than his own. It's difficult for both of them.

Moore does an excellent job of weaving fact and fiction together. It's a book to keep you guessing. Now I want to read the Sherlock Holmes novels.

Highly, highly recommended.

Thanks to Penguin for the review copy. Also thanks to the ladies from What's Old is New Again podcast for bringing it to my attention.

You can check out Graham Moore's blog too.

Lazy Sunday Thoughts: Are Books the New Orange?

Well folks, it is snowing like a son-of-a-gun out there today. This snow, we could have used it a couple of weeks ago to get us in the holiday spirit. Now I'm not a big fan. It does make me think of the last Christmas and something I was ruminating over.

When I was a kid, Santa always put an orange in my stocking. I would think, "Santa, what gives? We got a bunch of these in the fridge." But every year the orange would appear, right down in the toe. Maybe Santa wanted to fill that sock up (cheaply) or Santa was thinking of his own Christmases back in the day when an orange was a Big Deal. Nowadays Santa skips the orange.

My girl always gets books from us at Christmas. Yes us, not Santa. We give books and clothes at this house. My daughter likes books, don't get me wrong, but it pains me a little that she doesn't react to books the way I did at Christmas. It's true that my brothers and I had lots of picture books at our house and the library was visited every two weeks. But as I got older, owning 'older' books was a rare thing. I remember saving up for Sweet Valley High books and then spending an agonizing amount of time deciding which one to buy. When I got books at Christmas, and I always did, I would spend hours reading them and then hours re-reading them. I'd stare at the covers and proudly line them on my shelf. I still own many of those books: Little Women, Tales of Mystery from Edgar Allan Poe, The Endless Steppe.

Maybe I liked them so much because they were a rare treat. Now, since I'm a book lover, I buy books for my daughter all the time. At book sales. From the school. From the book store. Everywhere and all the time. Her bookshelves are a fridge full of oranges.

Though I recognize that what made a book so special to me as a child was its rarity, I still can't keep myself from bringing them home. I can't deny my girl a book. But I wish my girl could see them through my own younger self's eyes.

Friday Bookish Buzz: Get Your New Year On

How was your first week of 2011? Are you keeping to your resolutions? I'm doing well so far. I reviewed my first book for the Nordic and Audiobook Challenge and the first review of the year. Not a bad start.

So onto the first Friday Bookish Buzz of the year! Let's see what's up.

*It's happened. Snooki's book is out. Hide your children.

*Wow. People might like to read the books on their shelves. Who'd a thunk it?

*Messing with the classics: editing Huckleberry Finn. Probably the biggest story of the week.

*That will do, pig. That will do.

*Goodreads hosts a Readers' Choice Awards.

*Apes are the new vampires.

*Etsy Love: A great little bag to take to the library or bookstore from The Little Fox.

 Have a great weekend!

Ice Land by Betsy Tobin: Review

Let's kick off The Nordic Challenge with a chilly title, shall we?

Ice Land by Betsy Tobin is set in Iceland just before everybody turns Christian. It focuses on a small group of Icelanders though there are a lot of points of view and it is confusing at first. The point of view of Freya is told in the first person, so you always know when she is speaking. Freya is a goddess who walks around with the regular folk like it's no big deal, except she's awesomely beautiful and flies around in a feather suit. Hanging out with Freya is often disconcerting. Sometimes she acts like a regular person and sometimes she's being all goddessy.

The gist of the story is that Hekla, a volcano, is about to blow and destroy Asgard, the home of the gods. A seer tells Freya to find a magical necklace, the Brisingamen, created and kept by Dwarves that live deep in a mountain. Once she sees the necklace, she must have it. Getting and keeping the necklace ends up being quite challenging.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch (literally), humans are having their own dramas. Fulla is an orphan living with her Grandfather, Hogni. The neighbours have been at war with Hogni's clan for ages. They've been giving each other the stink eye over the border for years and now the neighbours' chief is dead. His sons are antsy about expanding that border into Hogni's land. Everyone is waiting for the shoe to drop. Just to add to the drama, Fulla is in love with Vili, one of the younger neighbours. Hogni is desperate to sell, I mean marry, her off to someone else. Being a dutiful granddaughter, she is torn between her loyalty and her love.

Honestly, I wondered what these two storylines had to do with each other until midway through a bomb is dropped that changes everything and brings Freya and Fulla together.

I listened to Ice Land as an audiobook and had a hard time turning it off. Davina Porter is an excellent narrator though I thought she made Freya sound really old. This did not help me in trying to figure out how old she was: 30 or 3000 years old? (Not because Porter is an older lady, but her voice would sound older as Freya. At least to me.) It was discombobulating. In fact, I found the whole gods mingling with the humans confusing. Who is just a regular Joe and who is a Big Deal? And those gods got around. They were a lot of ladies' baby-daddies.

I don't know much about Norse gods, and I'm thinking that's a good thing. Seems like there are some liberties taken with the mythology. If I knew anything, I think I'd be annoyed. Sometimes it's good to go into a book not knowing a thing. That said, I don't know what The Norns were but their presence is annoying. They are like the It's a Fact Girl from The Kids in the Hall, just popping up to make some random observation and then leave.

That's all that really bugged me about the book. The story is beautifully told and quite lyrical. There is action and adventure, travels across Iceland through mountains and caves, fights and chases. Lots to keep a reader engaged. Plus, the descriptions of the landscape, the sulphuric pools, the lava strewn fields give a vivid imagery to the story.

Freya is a strong heroine, although she can afford to be self-confident at that time. She is a goddess after all. Once she sets her mind on something, she will do what it takes to get it. (And that flying suit makes her a bit like Wonderwoman.)

Ice Land has been compared to The Mists of Avalon. I can see the similarities: a strong female character, religious and political change, several points of view, ancient European myths. However, Ice Land takes more liberties with those old stories by throwing more regular people in the mix. Not everyone is a Merlin or an Arthur.

I enjoyed Ice Land quite a bit and if you are willing to let go of any ideas you have about Norse mythology, I think you will too.

Highly recommended.

Challenge Roundup for December

Hello New Year! Hello New Challenges! Yes, like a sucker I signed up for a few new reading challenges. I think I can handle these ones though.

First up, Foodie's Reading Challenge hosted by Margot. For now I'm in for Nibbler which is 1-3 food related books.

I also signed up for Audio Book Challenge hosted by Teresa. I'm going to try for Curious (3 books) for now.

Finally, Zee is hosting The Nordic Challenge and again I'm signing up for the lowest level Freya 3-5 books. I already have Ice Land by Betsy Tobin read. I just have to review it.

As for the ongoing challenges...

I read three books in December for The 4th Canadian Books Challenge bringing my total to date to 8: The Blue Castle, Out of Old Nova Scotia Kitchens and An Orange from Portugal.

My own Daphne du Maurier Challenge was ignored once again. I will read something this month. Promise. The Book Nook read The Flight of the Falcon which I do plan on reading soon.

So how were your reading challenges for December?

Believe It Or Not....

Believe it or not this blog is....

4!

Yep, 4 years old today. I'm into my 5th year of book blogging. I must be enjoying it because I'm still at it.

And for funsies here's an earworm for you! (Do you remember this show? If you do, you're probably my age.)



Image: Arvind Balaraman / FreeDigitalPhotos.net