book reviews

Russell E. Erickson, A Toad for Tuesday. I read this one way back when I worked for Houghton Mifflin, and was charmed by the indomitable toad and the grumpy but lovable owl. It's a simple story, but well-written and with memorable characters.

Brian Jacques, Mossflower. I picked this one up at the book fair last year - it's the prequel to the long-running Redwall series, and I thought I'd try it out. While I thought it was well-written, I couldn't get very far because I couldn't quite imagine the animals in the fantasy setting. It's odd, because I like Disney's Robin Hood, among other animated animals in fantasy movies/shows, but something about this one was too realistic for me to see it properly.

Isaac Asimov, Puzzles of the Black Widowers. I've always enjoyed the Black Widowers - the different personalities sifting through the possibilities of a mystery, moving enough extraneous details aside that Henry, their esteemed waiter, can see the answer. The stories are a bit old-fashioned (the guests' continual negative and snobbish attitude when the waiter is turned to at the end of the discussion is dated and occasionally annoying), but still clever and well-turned.

Steve Dublanica, Waiter Rant. I've been reading this guy's blog for a while now, finally picked up and read the book, and I definitely enjoyed it. He's got an honest, take-no-prisoners style, but he includes himself amongst his targets and manages to be surprisingly intimate but anonymous at the same time. It's an interesting view into a world most of us don't think too much about, the inner workings of a restaurant.

book reviews

Kate Summerscale, The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher. This sounded like it was going to be pretty cool - the subtitle is "A Shocking Murder and the Undoing of a Victorian Detective" - but it fell flat. Yes, the murder was shocking, and yes, it undid the reputation of a detective ... but the detective had a very small role in the murder and in the book itself, and the ruination of his reputation was more a footnote than anything else.

Diane Wilson, Spirit Car: Journey to a Dakota Past. This was a gifted book, not one I would have chosen myself. It's the story of a woman searching for her ancestors, juxtaposed with scenes from those ancestors' lives. I found it disjointed and nonlinear. While the ancestors' stories were interesting, there wasn't enough in any time period to truly get to know the people involved, and the narrator herself seemed uninteresting.

Margaret Sidney, The Five Little Peppers Abroad. The title, of course, is a complete misnomer - it's really Polly and Phronsie abroad, but then, Polly and Phronsie are the most memorable and interesting of the Peppers. It's not one of the best installments of the series, but it's filled with all the traditional Pepper innocence and earnest good-heartedness.

Sally Gunning, The Widow's War. My book group pick of the month - loved it! It's the story of a woman in 1700s Massachusetts whose husband dies, and how she deals with the aftermath. I liked the detailed setting and the depth of the immersion into the society of the time. I also appreciated that Lyddie, the protagonist, wasn't an exceptionally talented woman - she was just a woman who suddenly found herself in an untenable situation, who took the exceptional step of standing up for herself. I'm not sure I was wild about the ending, which left some threads untied, but the book itself was very good.

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