Review: The Magician's Nephew

The Magician's Nephew
by C.S. Lewis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I love the narrative voice of this book -- the story is humming along full of excitement and adventure and the author pops in with a word or two of omniscient observation which brings you back to a broader perspective (and keeps it from getting too scary). This is a beautiful book and echos familiar stories (I won't spoil the book by telling you what stories).

"This was a difficult and delicate job but they managed it in the end. The little paper bag was very squashy and sticky when they finally got it out, so that it was more a question of tearing the bag off the toffees than of getting the toffees out of the bag. Some grown-ups (you know how fussy they can be about that sort of thing) would rather have gone without supper altogether than eaten those toffees." (p. 164)

This is my final book for the What's in a Name challenge (one with a familial relationship in the title) and is the 105th book I read this year, which completes by GoodReads goal for 2015. I'm looking forward to the 2016 WIN challenge.

Review: A River in the Sky

A River in the Sky by Elizabeth Peters
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Amelia Peabody just cracks me up. This was an excellent adventure with lots of situations where Peabody gushed over the marvelous Emerson and was sensible (yet ridiculous) with her plans and lists and such. A really good adventure story with a lot of humor despite the serious events. The narrator of this audio version (Barbara Rosenblat) to was just wonderful. I liked how the story was told from 2 mostly simultaneous points of view with "excerpts from manuscript H."
I am counting this as my "body of water in the title" book for the What's in a Name Challenge.

Review: Gate City

Gate City by Michael Davidow

This was an excellent novel. It tells the story of several men, primarily Henry Bell and Jack Mercer, and their involvement with the conventions leading up to the 1960 U.S. Presidential election. There are a lot of interesting ideas and philosophical questions in the novel and they are discussed by various characters so you see multiple sides. The style of the writing reminded me of classic Los Angeles noir (think Raymond Chandler) which kept the story from getting bogged down in the philosophy. Early in the novel a man (in a suit and tie) walks across a beach carrying a surfboard which is a fabulous image and set a tone for this character that held for me through the book. The next volume in the story of Henry Bell is Split Thirty which I look forward to reading.

Reading this novel was an interesting experience. The author is someone I know and when I started reading I couldn't help picturing him as the person telling the story. As I got further into the novel though the characters he created took over and I was thoroughly pulled into the place and time he created.

I am counting this book toward the What's in a Name challenge as it includes a city (by nickname) in the title.

Review: Do Your Om Thing

Do Your Om Thing: Bending Yoga Tradition to Fit Your Modern Life by Rebecca Pacheco
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book did a good job of explaining yoga concepts, like chakras and the eight branches of yoga, in an approachable way that connected them to the real world. It touched on, but didn't really go into, Pacheco's life which was ultimately what kept it from being a 4-star book for me. I felt a bit like I was eavesdropping on someone else's conversation. She referred to stuff--specific friends, romantic disasters--but didn't tell the stories that she touched on. I think this book would have been improved by either going into the autobiographical details or leaving out the references.

I am counting this book as my "ing-word" book for the What's in a Name Challenge.

Review: Wolf to the Slaughter

Wolf to the Slaughter by Ruth Rendell
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

There is a very subtle clue toward the end of this novel that one of the policemen misses and I caught. I was very pleased with myself. This is a very well crafted mystery full of red herrings and a wide cast of possible suspects. The setting is 1960s Britain and the contrast of generational attitudes--which wasn't a major factor in the story, just came up here and there--was an interesting element of the setting.
Rendell's writing is really good--she can build dramatic tension really well. The scene in this novel where a body is discovered is brilliantly done. (I'm not going to quote it because it would be a spoiler.)
This title counts toward the What's in a Name Challenge (an animal in the title).

Review: Black as He's Painted

Black As He's Painted by Ngaio Marsh
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I liked this book, though the comments of some of the anti-black characters struck my 21st-century ear as out of line. For a book written in 1973 they were probably not outrageous.
One of the characters is a funny old bachelor with a cat and I found him quite charming. There was a lot about Alleyn's relationship with his old school chum (now President of an African nation) which I liked as it showed me another side of our hero. I thought the conspiracy at the heart of the mystery was a bit overly-complex and the business with the medallions for the members of the conspiracy was ridiculous.

This is my first book read for the What's in a Name 8 Challenge (a colour in the title).

WiN8 Challenge

The What's in a Name Challenge is hosted at The Worm Hole. I have completed it the last 2 years and am signing on for the 8th iteration of this fun challenge. During the coming year I will need to read a book the title of which meets each of the following criteria to complete the challenge:

• A word including ‘ing’ in it 
• A colour
• A familial relation (Magician's Nephew is on TBR list already)
• A body of water
• A city
• An animal

Books in any format are acceptable, a different book must be read for each category and it is preferred (but not required) that they don't overlap with other challenges. I doubt I will manage not to overlap with other challenges.