Chris' Fish Place

Disclaimer: ARC via Netgalley

                Earlier this month, Kate Elliot re-tweeted a thread about little known heroes, women heroes to be exact.  And this is true.  In America, the story goes women in the Second World War built the planes and nursed.  We are usually not taught about the women who dropped into Occupied France, and if it is mentioned, they are British.

                And we usually don’t tell.  Recently, a student read a selection of Julia Child.  He didn’t hate it, but found it a bit boring.  It was about food after all, but tell that same student about Child’s wartime work, and he gets more interested.

                Violette Szabo wasn’t an American, and she did have a movie made about her.  Yet, today, she is not well known by history books.  At least the ones used in schools.  After the death of her husband, Szabo joined SOE and went into Occupied France twice.  Her actions during both missions were heroic.

                Susan Ottaway’s biography of Szabo is in many ways, a counter point to Crave Her Name with Pride.  Ottaway was able to interview not only Szabo’s brothers but also her daughter Tania.  What is presented here is a pretty good and seemingly fair biography.  While detailing the heroics of Szabo, Ottaway weighs the validity of stories, looking at not only the narrator but also the possibility of such action.

                At times, it does feel that Szabo is just out of reach, but considering the scant sources, this is hardly surprising.  What is interesting is looking at what Szabo and her daughter think about Szabo’s work and the “morality” of a mother doing such duty.  Ottaway also details life after the war and how the family was treated by the makers of the film.

Smith ties the beast of Gevaudan to French history, showing in particular, how the raise of the news was able to use the Beast. The book is interesting

I was going to use this for a square.  But since I skimmed the last 200 pages, I'm not really comfortable using it.  (Undoubtedly because I have so many books that qualifiy for squares).

Moore's story telling is good and I love the historic notes. So why two stars to this good look at the Ripper? While the nudity is equal (ie both men and women), it seemed as if it was there too much. I do not think Moore was sexualizing or objectifiying anything or anyone. And it is the Ripper there is going to be violence. It just seemed over the top to my tastes. 

I love the tone and humor in the novel. Peter Grant is a great guy to hang out with. The music riffs were nice too. 

Yet, the big reveal was something that anyone, including a bug, could have seen coming and quite frankly, the fact that Grant didn't see it was stupid.

I did like the morality debate at the end though

Since this seems to be the week for everyone telling me my reviews are stupid because I am stupid western woman, let me say I didn't read the other books in this series.

On one hand, I really like this. Jane Yellowrock is a very interesting character and the audio narration was brilliant. Yet I found myself getting increasing annoyed with the story. I am sorry but in the middle of a big fight you are going to take the time to describe what your partner is wearing? Seriously? Additionally, I kept getting told the same thing over and over. And finally, I am sick and tried of the all powerful Mary Sue. Jane was totally wonderfully until she bound Angie and then you were like WTF, how she do that. 

It's a shame really because Hunter has one of the best relationships between the human and the animal in any were or shifter story I have seen.

- A story about stories and illusion.



Magic and reading have something in common. It’s that thin wedge that question of what is real and what is fantasy. We know that the magician is doing some trick, but we just can’t get it, can’t figure it out. With books, good ones at least, the trick is the writing taking you someplace else. Books aren’t the only thing that can do this – a good movie, painting, music. 
It’s this line between reality and fantasy that Carter explores in this novel about a circus performer who may actually have real wings. At first glance it seems as if Fevvers is the only character with this problem, but every character in the book comes into contact with this question. Even the tigers, which may or may not really be jealous lovers.
In many ways, this is the human condition, the search for ourselves. Is our work face our real face? It might not be the wings that Fevvers has, but the question of reality and fantasy is one we change and fight in some way every day

I'm not sure how long this is going to last, but $3 kindle credit for romance (there are some urban fantasy books mixed into the list).

Go here

Over on Amazon, there are like 4-5 Batman comics featuring Harley Quinn for free.  If you go here you can see.

9 times out 10 people who tell you that you shouldn't review  or rate a book unless you read 100% of it, only have like under 100 books on their shelves, and only read  like ten books a year?

Pumpkin Outline - Called, not read

Jack O'Lantern - Read but not called

JackO'Lantern with hat - Called and Read

Lately, I've been applying the Bechdel test to books. It's actually quite sad how many of them fail. From a techincal standpoint, this book fails as well. But like Gravity, it is a story about survival with other characters making only brief appearances.

Trisha is a young girl whose parents are divorce, and in part the book is about her struggle to come to terms with the change in the family. Her journay though the dark, dark woods that she finds herself lost in mirrors in some ways, the journay that her family is on as they struggle to come to terms with a new life. It is hardly surprising if the reader wonders are the ghosts and demons real or only in Trisha's mind.

What King does is capture, to a great degree, the mind of a young girl and her struggle. (To be fair, at times Trisha seems to be older than her given age). There are wonderful lines about Twinkies. He captures the friendship of young girls quite well with descriptions of Trisha's relationship with Pepsi (her friend, not the drink. Look, I know. But we all know someone who would). 

Neither Trisha's mother or her father is demonized. In fact, we see what Trisha gets from both of them. And while Trisha's spirit animal is the pitcher Tom Gordon, some of her survival knowledge comes from her mother.

There is so much in this brief book and yet it is just right. Not bloated, and not a wasted word. Yet it covers family relationships, survival, nightmares, and religion.

This is a charming book. It isn't a novel, more a collection of interlinked short stories about the witch Anita. Anita lives with her Granny (who is a forerunner of Granny Weatherwax). The stories cover a wide range of themes, including pollution and urban development. But at the heart there is always sense of humor and beauty. It is impossible not to like Anita and her surrondings.

This is one of those books that looks at gender issues but does it very subtly. Irene Huss is not a perfect character, she might not even be the smartest detective in the room, but unlike many other detectives, in particular nordic ones, that I can think of, she is one of the most well adjusted ones. She is an everywoman, and there is something comforting about that.

The mystery here is quite good and rather engrossing. It plays with the ideas of ghosts, both "real" and emotional.

Two stars mostly because I never really felt like the heroine, who is narrating, seemed to be a character. She simply seemed to be a mouthpiece more than anything else. I also didn't quite by the solve the mystery reveal (in fairness, there is acknowledgement of the far outness of the plot).

However, there were a few things here I liked. Even while feeling wooden, the character does grow. Furthermore, the heroine is not jealous of her best friend - they are best friends for real. I like the baker. I have book 1, and will give it a try.

It's not bad. And I think I hold Gedge to a very high standard. In this little book, which has a great ending, I found myself not really caring for any of the characters, which was a huge problem for me.

The ending was good and very horrible in terms of what happens.  Nice terror that.

In the dark, dark woods: a mystery, suspense, horror or supernatural book in which a forest/woods plays a significant role, or which has a forest/woods on the cover.