Professor Yaffle: November 2005

Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Moondial, by Helen Cresswell

Lux et Umbra Vicissim, sed semper Amor - Light and Shadow by turns, but always Love.

This book was turned into a children's tv series in the 80's, which is where I, and probably a lot of other people, first came across it. Got this copy for 20p, which has to be one of the bargains of the year.

Minty (Araminta Cane) is staying with her Aunt in the village of Belton, while her mother is in a coma following a car crash. Drawn to the sundial - or moondial - in the grounds of the big house next door, she discovers it is a link through time, meeting up the kitchen boy Tom and the persecuted and mysterious Sarah in two different periods of history. Threatened by the mysterious Miss Raven, it's a race against time to save the children and pull her mother back from 'moontime'.

I remembered quite a bit of this from the tv series, but what I'd forgotten and really wish I'd found out in time was that Jacqueline Pearce (Servalan from Blakes 7) played Miss Raven. Might have to re-read her bits and imagine them differently.

A recommended, nostalgic, spooky, beautifully descriptive read.

Monday, November 28, 2005

Black Wind, by Clive Cussler

Having seen the film Sahara, noticed that it was based on a book by Clive Cussler and further investigation revealing that he'd written loads, I was quite keen to try one. Picked one up second-hand last weekend, and then discovered that it's currently in the top 20 bestseller lists. Nothing like starting a series at the wrong end.

It's not overly well written - a lot of the dialogue feels rather stilted, I think because of his reluctance to use contractions - eg people seem to say 'it is' and 'I am' rather than it's and I'm a lot, and it doesn't feel natural. Descriptions are repeated too much - one of the baddies has deathly cold black eyes, and I know this because it's mentioned almost every time he appears. Summer Pitt gushes a lot (no not like that you smutty minded lot). One of the ships can stop on a dime - several times. Tenses are mucked about with - there's a prologue set in the 2nd World War that switches back and forth between present tense action and past tense historical information.

All that said, it's a ripsnorting adventure on the high seas, and I read it (677 pages) in a week. The plot involves the recovery of Japanese 2nd World War biological weapons from a wrecked submarine by an evil Korean business tycoon (complete with evil mountainside lair) who's going to launch them at a G8 gathering in America from a hijacked rocket. There's a lot of chases and explosions and escapes and wisecracking. It's also possibly the first book I've come across where the author makes a cameo appearance, popping up to do a spot of rescuing.

Highly recommended for a spot of non-taxing adventure. And also for the (presumably) unintentionally hilarious line "His finger was just tightening on the trigger when a loud poof erupted at his feet." Yes, another assassination attempt thwarted by Graham Norton...

Sunday, November 27, 2005

The Spirit of the Green Man, by Mary Neasham

Published by Green Magic, I bought this in Glastonbury last year, and finally just got round to reading it. One of the best things about it are the full page illustrations by Jane Brideson - and it's worth checking out the colour versions on her website at Dark Moon Designs.

The book itself is more a collection of disparate pieces rather than one continuous text, and I confess to finding some sections hard going where the author started to irritate me - describing a friend who'd picked a bunch of wild garlic in a wood, she writes: "He had a brief and transient attempt at possessing nature whilst nature responded by dying in his hands. I haven't seen him again." Oh please, get over yourself. The other thing that annoyed me at the beginning was her habit of making assertions and immediately following them with "there are, I know, many scientific people who will disagree with me on this" or similar. Look, either research something properly, or if it's the product of meditation/spiritual revelation SAY SO, and have faith in your material, don't just make a statement and then cancel it out with one that comes across as well this is what I think despite all evidence to the contrary.

Sections include origins of the green man, connecting with him through meditation and exercises, the green man's message today, his presence in literature (where the author re-presents some familiar tales in her own way), organisation contacts, and an informative section on individual tree species. It then finishes with a few essays by other writers.

Conclusions then, it is well worth a read, although I'm not sure I'd spend a tenner on it. Borrow it, get it second hand or order it through the library. I'm sure that's the greener alternative anyway!

Saturday, November 05, 2005

Cover Her Face, by PD James

Another Inspector Dalgliesh mystery, a light little thing of 200 pages. What is in some ways a satisfyingly traditional country house murder mystery, in other ways feels very dated, given that a large part of the plot revolves around the scandal of single mothers. It's an easy enough read, but Dalgliesh is rather incidental to the story, almost more of a background character. The focus is on the suspects, and the point of view moves from one to the other in turn - we mainly encounter the police through their eyes, rather than the other way round. Therefore, there is no sense of a case being unravelled and solved, Dalgliesh just rocks up at the end with the solution, dropping in things he's found out in the meantime, away from the narrative, which leaves you feeling a bit cheated. I prefer the books he's at the heart of to this approach, although he's not the most engaging of detectives at the best of times. Still, it's always good to have found a new series to read and this is a harmless enough way of passing an evening.

Wednesday, November 02, 2005

A Family Affair, by Rex Stout

If I ever had to nominate a list of things for Room 101, people that write in books would be on it. I picked this copy up second-hand, thinking that I hadn't read it before, and it's just as well it transpired that I had, because some of the notes scribbled in the margins would have given it away. Whoever the previous owner was, they'd got to the end confused over the plot, and gone back through underlining and annotating the pointers all the way through. And still to no avail, because the crucial points they thought they'd missed - who provided the key slip of paper and why it was left in the restaurant in the first place - is never actually revealed, which, frankly Mr Stout, is an extremely slack bit of plot device.

Anyway, rant over, what's the book like? This is the last of Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe mysteries, and anyone who likes a good detective story should discover this series. Some people may have seen the TV adaptations which crop up occasionally on BBC2, and they are a very good depiction of the books (also a good excuse for another picture of Timothy Hutton, who plays Archie Goodwin).

In this installment, a waiter from Wolfe's favourite restaurant turns up late at night, convinced someone is trying to kill him. Archie gives him a room for the night so he can speak to Wolfe in the morning, only for a bomb to deny him the opportunity. Incensed that someone was killed in his house, Wolfe goes after the murderer, in a story that involves the events of Watergate and his own arrest - but will he find the killer in time to prevent further deaths?

As the last of the series, and for certain plot reasons, this probably isn't the best book for a newcomer to pick up, but any of the others will do as a starting place, and there are lots to choose from. Heartily recommended.

"Cast A Bright Shadow", by Tanith Lee

This hefty book (427 pages), is the first in the planned Lionwolf trilogy. It's a fantasy epic in the style of her much earlier Birthgrave and Storm Lord trilogies, following as it does, the changing fortunes of the main characters amongst the tribes and royalties of an exotic land - in this case an icy arctic wasteland.

Saphay is a minor royal princess, who is to be married off to the chieftain of a northern tribe. However, nothing is as simple as it seems, as palace conniving does not intend her to reach her destination. Attacked by a warband, she escapes but is driven into the frozen ocean, where she encounters a mighty horned whale, and a God...this is one of the three gods, all of double aspect (benign and malign) that were given to her at birth, as custom dictated. They will all feature in the book in their own interfering ways, and this one sires a son on her - he who is Nameless, later to be the Lionwolf. It is he, really, who is the main character here, and the book follows him as he moves amongst the diffferent tribes, forming a huge war band, the Gullahammer, to move against his mother's royal city in revenge for their earlier actions. But there in Ru Karismi, the Magikoy are preparing devastating defences of their own...

The main problem with this book is that the main characters are largely unsympathetic. Their self-obsessed and fatalistic behaviour make it very difficult for you to care what happens to them, especially as half the time they don't seem to either. Coming in a semi-complete circle to the end, while not ending on a cliffhanger (good) it doesn't give any particular sense of satisfaction either, or leave you especially desperate to get the next installment (and Tanith Lee is my favourite author, so that's a shame. I'll get it anyway, mind you).

A better reason than characters or plot to read it then, would be the writing itself, as ever, the world and its peoples are beautifully described and fully imagined. Religions, creatures both natural and supernatural, cities, customs, landscapes, languages - all are vividly painted and explored. Very readable, if not at her most gripping.