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1 Girl Genius Volume 8: Girl Genius Volume 8: Agatha Heterodyne and the Chapel of Bones

One of the first “grown-up” books I ever received was The Complete Sherlock Holmes. Since then, I’ve had a love for mysteries set in Victorian or Regency England, which branched out to historical mysteries in general.

You may have noticed there are a lot of these mysteries on the shelves in the book stores. Some are good, some are terrible, but most fall in between. Because most historical mysteries fall into the in between category, I’m always delighted to find a series that stands out. I discovered several years ago that the Sebastian St. Cyr series by C.S. Harris is a mystery series I find to be consistently good.

Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, is a young aristocrat who went and fought in the Napoleonic War and came back a changed man–a bitter man with a sharp temper, yet still a strong sense of justice. When Sebastian is believe to be the perpetrator of a horrible rape and murder, his desire for justice is helped along my his desire to keep his neck out of the noose.

Sebastian believes himself to be a bitter, cynical man who doesn’t care what happens to anyone else, however, he isn’t really, and his desire for justice only strengthens over the course of the series.

One of the things I particularly like about this series is how Sebastian became a detective of sorts, and how those around him–especially his family–react to his investigations. C.S. Harris did a very good job of creating a background for Sebastian that all but forces him to continue to look into crimes, after he has cleared his own name.

Another strength is that characters are easily recognizable and not easily confused–they have distinct personalities that seem reasonable to their backgrounds and to the time. An example is Sebastian’s sister. She’s typically comes across and cold and calculating, however, when you consider the time in which she lives, and how heavy the opinion of society laid upon women of the time, her actions are understandable, even if they are completely foreign to a modern woman.

I also really like Kat, who sees far more clearly than Sebastian her place in society, and how his association with her affects him. She is one of the rare women of her time who made her own future, despite knowing what her place in society is supposed to be.

If you like historical mysteries, then I highly recommend the Sebastian St. Cyr series. It’s unusual, but it’s also very good.

What Angels Fear (2005), When Gods Die (2006), Why Mermaids Sing (2007), Where Serpents Sleep

Thank you for the books!

I didn’t order them, though they were on my wish list, and there wasn’t a packing slip, so I’m just assuming Amazon decided I needed more books. (I DO!)

YAY!

And THANKS!

Tasty Tuesday: The All-American Dessert Book by Nancy Baggett

As I’ve repeatedly whined, I’ve been too busy to do much of anything recently, and unfortunately, that includes cooking and baking–I haven’t made anything since my birthday. Boo!

So lacking anything of my own for you today, I want to tell you about one of my favorite cook books.

I picked up The All American Dessert Book on a whim, but immediately fell in love. First it was with the pictures. The book is full of color pictures of the desserts in the book, but what I love best about the pictures is these are desserts that look like they were made by a real human being. Often cookbooks present photos of perfect food that you know you are never going to be able to recreate in your own kitchen, and so instead of even trying, you decided to fall back on an old standard. But these pictures show pans and dishes that have been used, and food that looks like you could easily recreate it in your own kitchen, instead of some ideal food made by an artist.

These are the kinds of pictures I want to see in my cookbooks. That’s not to say that my desserts look as good as the ones in the book, only that the photos in the book don’t look unachievable.

But enough about the photos, what I really want to talk about are the recipes.

Oh. Yum.

I have tried many of the recipes in this book, and loved almost all the recipes I’ve tried. And here are some of my favorite recipes from the book: Deep Dish Apple Pie, Molten Lava Chocolate Cakes, Chocolate Pudding, Chocolate Chunk Coconut Pecan Chews, Pumpkin Whoopie Pies, Sugar Cookies with Strawberry Icing.

You’ll notice that several of those recipes are familiar and I’ve featured them here. And there are many more recipes I want to try.

So if you’re looking for a cookbook that has a little of everything, with clear and easy to follow recipes, I highly recommend The All-American Dessert Book.

I’ve read 73 books so far this year. I’m averaging 12 books a month, which is pretty good, all things considered. But then, books have always been an escape for me, so perhaps that isn’t so impressive after all.

I forgot to mention earlier that Todd Wheeler is once again holding his Summer Reading Program.

For every book we read and post on his site, Todd will donate add $1 (up to $100) to The Children’s Literacy Foundation (CLiF). Additionally, even if we read more than a 100 books, for every 25 individuals who read, Todd’s sponsor will donate one book to the CLiF.

So if you’re reading anyway, you may as well help us force Todd to donate books and money to a good cause!

Despite the fact that the second book in Simon R. Green‘s Eddie Drood series was sub par, you really should be reading the rest of Simon Green’s books. Especially his Nightside series.

John Taylor is a private eye who also happens to have mystical powers. These powers give him the ability to find lost things. Unfortunately for him, despite thinking he has escaped the Nightside, he’s drawn back in, and one there, he’s returned to the intrigues and mystery that drove him away in the first place.

What is the Nightside you ask? It’s where dark deeds are done and your worst nightmares are available at any price. It’s where all the scary things you were hoping didn’t really exist actually live and hang out.

Nightside is appalling. But so is John Taylor.

The Nightside is full of Gods and monsters, visitors from the past and from the future, and people who simply don’t fit in the real world.

Like John Taylor.

John Taylor is Spenser living in a modern Thieves’ World, only with magical powers. John Taylor is wanted dead by many in Nightside, although he has no idea what he’s done to earn that death sentence. And of course many who want him dead are also willing to hire him, because he may be a right bastard, but he’s also John bloody Taylor, part of the Nightside royalty although no one is quite sure why.

These books are both fantasy and horror, but they’re not frightening (which is what I typically associate with horror). The creatures that fill the Nightside are horrifying monsters, misshapen and evil. Because that’s what the Nightside is. The place where evil can go and hang out.

Why, you are asking, would anyone want to read about John Taylor and the Nightside? Because these are tales well told. Good mysteries, but most importantly they’re a lot of fun. John doesn’t take himself seriously–nor does he take anything or anyone else seriously. Despite his powers, he often relies on slight of hand and a nasty reputation to get things done. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t do nasty things–he does, and sometimes quite willingly. But he also tries to do good, at least in his own way.

That doesn’t mean these books are for the faint of heart. Nightside is a dreadful place where dreadful people and creatures live. Really awful creatures in many cases, such as the Lamentations or even Dead Boy.

Best of all, since Nightside is such a terrible place, Simon Green can have his characters do really terrible things and you don’t feel bad about it at all. But John Taylor and his friends are witty and amusing, so even when they’re being appalling, they’re still a lot of fun.

Nightside: Something from the Nightside (2003), Agents of Light and Darkness (2003), Nightingale’s Lament (2004), Hex and the City (2005), Paths Not Taken (2005), Sharper Than a Serpent’s Tooth (2006), Hell To Pay (2006), Unnatural Inquirer (2007)

Night Watch Sergei Lukyanenko, translated by Andrew Bromfield

Stumbling across the fourth book in the series gave me the excuse I was looking to reread the Night Watch series.

Anton Gorodetsky is a Light Other who works for the Moscow Night Watch. Although they usually have human parents, Others consider themselves a separate species. Their ability to enter the Twilight gives them magical powers, as well as the ability to live a life far longer than that of normal humans. However, the Light Others are in constant opposition to the Dark Others (and vice versa) so the job of the Night Watch and the Day Watch to enforce the treaty, and make sure that neither the Light Others or the Dark Others gain an advantage and change the course of the world.

This balance is kept by the Inquisition, a group comprised of both Light and Dark Others who believe that a balance between Light and Dark must be kept, or the world will be destroyed.

Although there are Watches throughout the world, and in later books Anton travels to some of those Watches, the books are primarily set in Moscow. They follow Anton Gorodetsky as he becomes a stronger magician, and matures in the process. He initially works as a computer programmer for the Night Watch, but Gesar, the head of the Night Watch, pushes him out into the field, an area where Anton feels incompetent, but where Gesar wants to see him never the less.

The more time Anton spends in the Night Watch, the more he learns that the Night Watch and the Day Watch scheme for power, and because they can see future probabilities, will use the Others under their command to achieve their ends. Yes, of course the Day Watch has nastier schemes and cares less about who gets hurt in the interim, but the Night Watch is not above scheming, and it leads you to wonder where Gesar (the head of the Moscow Night Watch) and and Zabulon (the head of the Moscow Day Watch) are heading with their schemes.

In addition to these mysteries, we also get a look at post Soviet Russia, and can actually see how it changes over the course of the series.

To be honest, I thought the series was even better the second time through. The first time I read the first three books I wanted to know what happened, so I read quickly. The second time I caught details that seemed insignificant at first, but had importance later on. It also made the second book easier to read, since I understood where the series was going.

Excluding Day Watch, the second book in the series, the books are told from the point of view of Anton. Because the second book is about the Day Watch, if follows the lives of several Dark Others, which was initially off-putting when I first read the series, because I wanted to read about Anton, not these Dark Others. But the Day Watch is even more complex than the Night Watch, and the plans of Zabulon even more convoluted, and seeing how Zabulon’s plan unfolded throughout the course of the book was fascinating.

Each book is divided into three complete but related stories. Night Watch tells of Anton’s move though the Night Watch. Day Watch looks at the Dark Others from their own point of view. The last two books continue Anton’s story and complete the threads started in the other two books.

I love this series. I love the characters and the complexity of the story, and the setting that is so unfamiliar to me. If you are at all interested in urban fantasy, then I highly recommend Sergei Lukyanenko’s Night Watch series.

Night Watch (2006), Day Watch (2006), Twilight Watch (2007), Last Watch (2009)

This week I’m jumping back to comics. And not just any comics, but comics for kids. Yes, I love Sandman and Fables, but they are both adult comics and not acceptable for kids. In fact, it seems like many of the really good comics aren’t acceptable reading for younger kids. But Runaways is a series for kids that can be appreciated by adults as well.

A group of kids ranging from a pre-teen to teens old enough to drive discover that their parents are actually a band of supervillains called The Pride. With this discovery, the kids also discover that many of them have powers of their own–powers they must come to terms with even as they attempt to come to terms with the actions of their parents.

Although this is a kids series, it takes the problems of the characters very seriously, and does not hesitate to face complex and often painful issues. In addition to teen angst, there is also the issue of betrayal and death throughout the series, as well as issues of gender identity, and the simple learning who to trust and how to get along with your friends–even your friends who can throw cars at you if you make them mad.

But they get to have fun too–after all, when you find your supervillain parents’ stash of magical and technological artifacts, you get to test things out.

The stories told in Runaways are complex and deep but also fun. Brian K Vaughan does a masterful job with the story for the first seven volumes, and Joss Whedon’s writing for volume eight was wonderful. I’m still unsure how I feel about the newest writer and I’m not enamored with the newest artists, but I’m going to keep reading, at least for awhile, because I like these characters and I like the risks that have been taken with the story.

The story takes place in the Marvel universe, and there are occasional appearances by other characters in the Marvel universe, but as someone who isn’t particularly familiar with the Marvel Universe, this wasn’t a major problem or issue.

The first three volumes of the series are a single story arc. However, most of the rest of the volumes are single story arcs contained within a single book (although there are often teasers at the end of the story.) The latest volume beings a completely new story arc, but there weren’t any major hanging plot threads.

If you know a pre-teen–or would like to read a story that’s quite unlike anything else out there–then hie thee to a comic store (or Amazon) and check out Runaways. The volumes are being republished in a larger format, which is probably better than the teeny format I have for the first seven volumes.

Pride & Joy (2003), Teenage Wasteland (2003), The Good Die Young (2004), True Believers (2005), Escape to New York (2006), Parental Guidance (2006), Live Fast (2007), Civil War: Runaways & New Avengers (2007), Vol 8: Dead End Kids (2008)
Vol 1: Dead Wrong (2009)

Farmer’s Market (fresh eggs, Rustic Italian bread, and a tomato)
Grocery shopping
Recycling center (We filled the trunk and the entire back seat, mostly with cardboard and #1 plastic)
Fish market (wild sockeye salmon is in season!)
Lunch

Now off to take Grandmom to the grocery store.

Then, if I’m lucky, reading and a nap later (still re-reading Sergei Lukyanenko’s Night Watch series).

I love mysteries almost as much as I love fantasy (fantasy and mystery together is perfect, but not always well done) and I’m willing to take more of a chance on an unknown mystery than an unknown fantasy. (The fact my grandmother loves to read mysteries probably encourages this habit.)

About a year ago I picked up Bangkok 8 by John Burdett. I’ve always been fond of British mysteries, and I’ve branched out to Spanish and Italian mysteries in recent years, so a mystery set in Bangkok (by a Western author) seemed interesting, so I picked it up.

Sonchai Jitpleecheep is a detective on the Bangkok police force. He’s half Thai, half white, and his mother worked as a prostitute to make sure Sonchai received a good education and future. His boss is corrupt, but pretty much all the police in Bangkok are corrupt, except Sonchai. Not that he wouldn’t be judged as corrupt by Western standards, but by Bangkok standards he’s a clean.

And Bangkok standards are very very different from American standards: prostitutes work openly, drugs of all kinds are common, and corruption is as common as the pollution.

These books are different from my usual reading, first and foremost because of the sex. Prostitution is common and the Thai in Bangkok have very different ideas about sex than Westerners (even if many of the customers are Westerners). But although there is sex, it’s simply part of the landscape: people have sex. That’s life, get on with it. I like that attitude towards sex; it doesn’t bother me the way heaving bosoms tend to annoy me.

And Sonchai himself is fascinating. He’s a bundle of contradictions and foreign to the Western mind. He lives in a corrupt city and accepts that corruption as a way of life, yet lives by his own beliefs.

The other thing that is different about Bangkok is that the Thai are quite open in their belief of spirits. It’s the way things are, and in these books everyone accepts this as fact. In reading some reviews, this apparently bothers some people, this open acceptance of the supernatural. Me? I like it. But then I also love urban and supernatural fantasy, so this should hardly come as a surprise.

If you like mysteries, and enjoy stories set in foreign settings, and aren’t squeaminsh, then you should check out John Burdett’s Bangkok series. It’s complex and fascinating and well worth reading. In theory, you should be able to pick up any book in the series and start there, but although each book is self contained, there is character development in each story, so you may prefer to read the books in order. And as all the books are easily available, it’s probably worth doing so.

Bangkok 8 (2003), Bangkok Tattoo (2005), Bangkok Haunts (2007)

Don’t forget your towel!

I realized I’ve been completely ignoring a genre: Comics (aka Graphic Novels).

I don’t read weekly comics for a couple reasons: I like story arcs to be completed in a single book, I hate waiting, the “graphic novel” format feels more sturdy than the paper comic format. I’m sure there are more reasons than that, but those are the three that come immediately to mind.

It’s actually a surprise that I like any comics. I read extremely quickly, and the slower format of a comic where I’m supposed to pick up details from the art is often an problem. And in general I’m not a visual person, so the artwork is often wasted on me as I zoom along devouring the words. Yet there are several comic series I’ve come to enjoy–some of which are on going. Here’s a look at one of my favorites.

Fables written by Bill Willingham with Mark Buckingham, Steve Leialoha and others.

You know all those fairy tales you read as a kid?

They’re true. All of them.

They didn’t take place here in our world, but those stories have power, and the individuals from those stories have in many cases have run here, to our world, to escape from a terrible war that has all but destroyed their Homelands. Many can easily fit into our world: Snow White, Prince Charming, Little Boy Blue, Beauty, and even the Big Bad Wolf walk the street (mostly) unnoticed among the mundanes. But those who can’t fit in are relegated to the Farm, and there you’ll find the Three Little Pigs and the Gingerbread Man and Baba Yaga’s hut, living in upstate New York in freedom from the Adversary, yet in many ways not free, since they cannot be seen by the mundanes.

I love folk and fairy tales, and even eleven volumes into the series new characters are introduced all the time, and I adore seeing these figures come to life. And just like the stories from which they come, these characters are complex individuals, some good, some bad, but most falling somewhere in between. Prince Charming is, of course, a jerk. Beauty and the Beast have occasional marital problems. The Big Bad Wolf is reformed and no longer hunts the Three Little Pigs or any other creatures unless they’ve broken the Covenant, because the Big bad Wold (or Bigby as he’s known in human form) is the sheriff of Fabletown.

Of course things change as the story progresses, and often wander in places you’d never expect.

There is an overarching story arc in the first eleven books, and that is the battle for the Homelands: the story of what happened to the Homelands and the war to take back the Homelands. The early books can easily stand alone, but later books build upon the story to retake the homelands from the Adversary.

What does this mean? It means you can pick up any of the earlier volumes and dive into the story, but don’t try to pick things up at volume 8 or 9. You’ll be sorry, because you’re missing so much of the back story.

There is also a stand alone book, 1001 Night of Snowfall, that is possibly my favorite in the series, and if you’re trying to decide if Fables is your thing, would be a perfect place to start.

Mind you, this is not a series for children. It’s full of sex and violence just like the original tales, which may come as a surprise to those who are familiar only with the Disney version of those tales. (For instance: in the original version of Sleeping Beauty, she is awakened not by the kiss of true love, but by the birth of her twins. And Rapunzel is also unwed and pregnant. Fairy tales are not what you remember from Disney.)

But this is a fun series, full of excellent storytelling, complex characters, and tales and characters that are modern, while keeping true to the feel of the original tales.

If you have any interest in fairy tales and folk tales, then you must check out Fables. Its many volumes contain some of the best stories around. And characters that are some of my favorites.

Fables: Legends in Exile (2002), Animal Farm (2003), Storybook Love (2004), March of the Wooden Soldiers (2003), The Mean Seasons (2005), Homelands (2005), Arabian Nights (and Days) (2006), Wolves (2006), Sons of Empire (2007), The Good Prince (2008), War and Pieces (2008)

1001 Night of Snowfall (2006)

skulk
intr. verb 1. To lie in hiding, as out of cowardice for bad conscience; lurk. 2. To move about stealthily. 3. To evade work or obligation; shirk.
noun 1. one who skulks. 2. A congregation of vermin, especially foxes, or of thieves.

I didn’t know the second noun definition, but I am definitely going to have to add this to my vocabulary.

“The discussion was overrun by a skulk of Republicans.”