The Haunting of Tram Car 015 by P. Djeli Clark

 October 31, 2020

The Haunting of Tram Car 015 by P. Djeli Clark

In a parallel Cairo in the early 20th century, magic has been unleashed on the world by the djinn.  Normally the magic is well-contained but it occasionally gets out of control.  When a city tram car starts displaying strange phenomena, the agents of the Department of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities are called in to investigate.

A quick steampunk read that features some of the same characters from the author's previous novella.  I look forward to more from her.

I hurt my back a couple of weeks ago and haven't been able to sit comfortably at the computer.  There's not much to do beside read, watch TV, and play on my tablet.  It's getting better and I'll start catching up with the blog.

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab

October 22, 2020

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab

Addie LaRue is a girl who always wanted more than life in her small French village offered.  Born in the late 17th century, in a moment of desperation, she makes a bargain with a dark god, gaining immortality but cursed by the god to be forgotten by everyone she knows or meets.  But all of that changes 300 years later, when she meets a young man in a bookstore and he remembers who she is.

This was an interesting take on the Faustian bargain with the devil, bartering one's soul for eternal life.  Characters throughout fiction have made such deals, including Faust and Dorian Gray.  Although at devastated at first at everything she has lost, Addie gradually learns what she has gained from her pact.  We experience history through her eyes, from Paris in the early 18th century through World War II, up to the present day. 

To be honest, I got a little bored and felt this could have been 50 or so pages shorter - the reader doesn't need to know every little facet of Addie's life as an immortal.  But fantasy enthusiasts will find it entertaining and fresh.

The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton

 October 17, 2020

The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton

Samuel Pipps is the most valuable agent employed by the Gentlemen 17 who run the United East India Company.  His cases are read by the public like the adventures of Sherlock Holmes.  But after successfully completing a mission in Batavia on the island of Java, he is suddenly arrested and imprisoned in a dungeon before being transported to Amsterdam to stand trial for an unknown offense.  His bodyguard and associate Arent Hayes is determined to not only find out what Sammy stands accused of, but also to discover and thwart the unknown force that is threatening to destroy the ship they are sailing on.

The second title by the author of The Seven and a Half Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, this is another historical mystery but with less of a fantasy overtone than Turton's first book.  Almost all of the story takes place on an Indiaman, a type of 17th century sailing ship, and without a diagram of the ship, it was difficult to figure out exactly where the players were located at any given time.  It is a clever mystery although the ending felt rushed and therefore a little unsatisfactory.

Sailors were a superstitious lot in the 17^th century – they may still be, although my husband was in the Navy and while there were lots of bad habits, they didn’t seem to indulge in much superstition.  But it seems like just about everyone was extremely superstitious in the 17th century.  Superstition, religion, and social standing ruled everyone's lives.

I have an uncommon last name, and I was startled to find that it was used in this book – it was a little disconcerting every time I saw it in print. 

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an eARC in return for a review.

Sex with Presidents by Eleanor Herman

October 6, 2020

Sex with Presidents:  the Ins and Outs of Love and Lust in the White House by Eleanor Herman

Oh my.  The men that the American people have elected president, and those who have sought this high office.  It's surprising some of the men who have been sex magnets for women - who would have thought that women would be throwing themselves at chain-smoking 5-pack-a-day Lyndon Johnson?

Best presidential lover:  Bill Clinton.  He always tried to satisfy his (many) sexual partners and give them a good experience.

Worst presidential lovers:  it's a tie between Kennedy and Trump (there are a number of other parallels between the two).  One actress noted that her sexual encounter with JFK was "a memorable minute."

Full of trivia about a select collection of presidents and First Ladies, this is a light and entertaining read to get your mind off the pandemic.  Don't feel too sorry for some of those First Ladies:  most of them knew what they were getting when they married their husbands (some knew and schemed to marry them anyway), and some First Ladies gave as good as they got.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an eARC in return for a review.

Lady in Waiting by Anne Glenconner

 September 24, 2020

Lady in Waiting by Anne Glenconner

Lady Anne Glenconner met the princesses Elizabeth and Margaret when the three girls were small children living on neighboring estates, long before Elizabeth became the heir to the British throne.  They remained friends into adulthood, and Princess Margaret eventually asked Anne to become one of her ladies in waiting.  Wanting to take a break from her disaster of a husband, Anne gratefully accepted and remained in the princess's household for the next 30 years.  As lady in waiting, Anne's role varied from actual serving duties to being just a companion to Margaret, accompanying her on her world travels as representative of the crown and attending social occasions with her.  Both women had made disastrous marriages, and while Margaret was forced to divorce her husband Tony Snowdon when his mistress became pregnant, Anne stayed married to her childish husband for 54 years, although they only lived together occasionally for the last 40 years of their marriage.

Anne's husband Colin Tennant, later Baron Glenconner, had serious psychiatric issues and was well-known for throwing public fits of rage and temper tantrums.  Today he would probably be diagnosed as having manic depression and narcissistic personality disorder.  But it was highly unusual for the English aristocracy to divorce at the time - instead, they all had multiple affairs (including Lady Glenconner).  It's surprising more of them didn't murder their spouses.  As Violet, Dowager Lady Grantham, states in Downtown Abbey, "People of our social class are never unhappily married.  We just aren't able to spend as much time together as we might like."

In addition to her erratic husband, Anne's children were also a source of heartache and tragedy in her life.  She takes the blame for some of it, being an absent mother for much of the time.  Again, it was traditional in the English aristocracy to have others raise your children while the parents spent their time socializing and organizing parties, working for charity, and sucking up to the royals.  

Anyone who is a fan of the Netflix series The Crown will enjoy this memoir by one of Princess Margaret's closest friends and confidantes.  Lady Anne didn't like Vanessa Kirby's portrayal of Princess Margaret in the first two seasons of the series, and was more pleased with Helena Bonham Carter as the older Princess Margaret.  English actress Nancy Carroll is playing Lady Glenconner in seasons 3 and 4 of The Crown (photo below).

 

 

The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow

 September 21, 2020

The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow

January Scaller lives with her guardian, Cornelius Locke, in a vast mansion filled with odd and unusual objects.  Her father works for Mr. Locke, traveling the world and collecting rarities for him, leaving January alone much of the time.  January is sure that Mr. Locke loves her, for she finds gifts that he leaves for her, most recently a wonderful book called The Ten Thousand Doors.  But then her father doesn't return from one of his trips.  With her faithful canine companion Bad (short for Sindbad, her favorite great adventurer and explorer) by her side, January resolves to go and look for her father or at least find out what happened to him.

First:  let me tell you that Bad the dog is fine at the end of the book, and he and January are together.

This is a wonderful fantasy adventure story about the power of words, books, and doors.  There is a book-within-a-book which I actually liked better than the story that frames it.  I'm not going to say too much more because that would spoil the story.  Wonderful characters, great world building and a complex plot, plus a beautiful cover, all contribute to making this a most satisfying read.  Set aside some time, curl up with your favorite cozy throw, and immerse yourself in January's world.

A Most English Princess by Claire McHugh

 September 18, 2020

A Most English Princess by Claire McHugh

Victoria, Princess Royal, was the first-born child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.  Intelligent and outspoken, at age 17, she married the Prussian prince who would later become Emperor Frederick III and went to live with him in Prussia.  Although their married life was happy and they had eight children together, the political climate was tense and Vicky found the court etiquette to be restrictive.  From the beginning, the aristocracy and their Prussian subjects did not trust Vicky, feeling she was too English and would always support causes that benefited the land of her birth.  Vicky and her husband Fritz favored a parliamentary government based on the English system and backed progressive causes, but were strongly opposed by Fritz's father and his chancellor Bismarck.

Extensively researched, this is a very well-written historical novel about a lesser known historical figure.  You can see the roots of the wars to come in the 20th century.  However, I have to say that I would have preferred more about Vicky and less about the politics of the time.  The constant infighting in the Prussian royal family and the wars grew repetitious after awhile.  There were also a lot of guys named Frederick and nicknamed Fritz!  Unfortunately, the novel ends when Vicky is 30, before her husband even becomes emperor.  Personally, I would rather have heard more about the last 30 years of Vicky's life rather than to have them very briefly glossed over in the epilogue.  

Victoria, Princess Royal, as a young woman