"Stranger in a Strange Land" by Robert A. Heinlein

Goodreads Synopsis:
Valentine Michael Smith is a human being raised on Mars, newly returned to Earth. Among his people for the first time, he struggles to understand the social mores and prejudices of human nature that are so alien to him, while teaching them his own fundamental beliefs in grokking, watersharing, and love.


My Review:
This book definitely gives you a lot to chew on. Or should I say grok? The main character, Michael, is very endearing for the first half of the book. As he begins to better understand humans and acclimates to their ways, I think he loses some of the innocence that makes him so likable in the beginning. But throughout the book, his curiosity and bafflement of human mores & nature give the reader a fresh and enlightening perspective on how we view things.

Within the character of the Man from Mars, Heinlein, with sharp observation and relevant questions, creates an opportunity for people to truly step back and LOOK at humanity. To ask ourselves WHY do we think this, WHY do we believe that? And the questions are presented through an innocent, almost child-like, man.

As the story progresses, Michael tries to understand our views on sex and religion. Still confused after several years, he creates his own set of beliefs and his own lifestyle that quickly gains loyal followers.

My favorite part of this book? The word GROK. Heinlein does such a thorough job using this word and its variations that it becomes a part of the reader's vocabulary. And it's such a great word. Even after finishing, I still catch myself using it. That will be the biggest thing I take away from this book.

Just a warning: This book was published in the 1960's. There are definite sexist & homophobic remarks. There is one use of the word, "n-gg--," by characters that were painted in an extremely ignorant light. The sexism & homophobia, however, were not painted in an ignorant light. These opinions seemed to be the natural mindset of the author and, I'm sure, of his readers at the time it was written. 

I would urge you to ignore it. Discard it. (I reached a point where I got really frustrated with certain comments. Almost quit reading). It's a shortcoming of the writer and of society during that period. There are many other GREAT things to take away from this book if you can get past these particular issues.

The Author

Author Tidbit: Heinlein served as an officer in the Navy and, later, went on to work in several different occupations such as real estate sales and silver mining.

Favorite Quotes: 

"He was not in a hurry, "hurry" being one human concept he had failed to grok at all. He was sensitively aware of the key importance of correct timing in all acts — but with the Martian approach: correct timing was accomplished by waiting. He had noticed, of course, that his human brothers lacked his own fine discrimination of time and often were forced to wait a little faster than a Martian would — but he did not hold their innocent awkwardness against them; he simply learned to wait faster himself to cover their lack."

"His idea is that whenever you encounter any other grokking thing — he didn't say 'grokking' at this stage — any other living thing, man, woman, or stray cat… you are simply encountering your 'other end'… and the universe is just a little thing we whipped up among us the other night for our entertainment and then agreed to forget the gag."

The Island of the Mighty by Evangeline Walton

Goodreads Synopsis:
Tricked into giving birth to him, the sorceress Arianhod swore that the child should be nameless until she named him...that he should not bear arms until she herself bestowed them...and that he should never love a woman of the human race.

But her brother and lover Gwydion tricked her into bestowing a name, Liew...and Gwydion's wiles brought her to arm him...and then Gwydion called upon his craft to produce a woman who was supremely lovely and ardent in her passion for Liew..yet not human. (less)


My Review:
If you are a fan of mythology in general then read this book. If you are a fan of, more specifically, English and Welsh mythology/literature then you definitely need to read this. Evangeline Walton takes from the Welsh cycle of legends, called the Mabinogion, and creates an amazingly vivid narrative. And for the super nerd, she sprinkles footnotes and various references throughout the book that refer to these ancient stories.  You can definitely get a sense of Walton's love and knowledge of the legends. She uses all of it to bring each character to life with language that is flowery but intelligent. I absolutely loved this book and look forward to reading the rest in the series.

If you'd like to read more about the Mabinogion: http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/mab/index.htm

The Author

Author Tidbit: Walton said of her knack for writing fantasy: “My own method has always been to try to put flesh and blood on the bones of the original myth; I almost never contradict sources, I only add and interpret.”

The Uninvited Guests by Sadie Jones

Goodreads Synopsis:
One late spring evening in 1912, in the kitchens at Sterne, preparations begin for an elegant supper party in honor of Emerald Torrington's twentieth birthday. But only a few miles away, a dreadful accident propels a crowd of mysterious and not altogether savory survivors to seek shelter at the ramshackle manor—and the household is thrown into confusion and mischief.

Evening turns to stormy night, and a most unpleasant parlor game threatens to blow respectability to smithereens: Smudge Torrington, the wayward youngest daughter of the house, decides that this is the perfect moment for her Great Undertaking.

The Uninvited Guests is the bewitching new novel from the critically acclaimed Sadie Jones. The prizewinning author triumphs in this frightening yet delicious drama of dark surprises—where social codes are uprooted and desire daringly trumps propriety—and all is alight with Edwardian wit and opulence.



My Review:
I looooooooved this book. This entire novel spans one evening of merriment and madness that is almost dream-like. The characters enter the story already well-developed, the dynamics of each relationship understood and entertaining. The problem these characters face seems simple at first. But there is a dark twist towards the end that throws everything into new light.

My absolute favorite character is the youngest daughter, nicknamed Smudge. Her Great Undertaking is a hilarious balance for what the rest of the characters are going through in their grown-up dinner party. The author creates a wonderful romantic tension between the younger characters as they see each other with new eyes, but the underlying menace of their mystery guest creates a darkness that stretches for the novel's duration. 

Another added treat is the author's use of language and imagery. When describing the dinner scene, she actually makes ox tongue sound sexy. Her style made me think of Elizabeth Cunningham's "The Wild Mother." Both have that delicious combination of English propriety set against the Wild Primitive. Sadie Jones can write a story.

The Author

Author Tidbit: Sadie Jones's first novel, "The Outcast," was adapted for television by the BBC.

The Museum of Extraordinary Things by Alice Hoffman

Goodreads Synopsis:
Coralie Sardie is the daughter of the sinister impresario behind The Museum of Extraordinary Things, a Coney Island boardwalk freak show that thrills the masses. An exceptional swimmer, Coralie appears as the Mermaid in her father’s “museum,” alongside performers like the Wolfman, the Butterfly Girl, and a one-hundred-year-old turtle. One night Coralie stumbles upon a striking young man taking pictures of moonlit trees in the woods off the Hudson River.

The dashing photographer is Eddie Cohen, a Russian immigrant who has run away from his father’s Lower East Side Orthodox community and his job as a tailor’s apprentice. When Eddie photographs the devastation on the streets of New York following the infamous Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, he becomes embroiled in the suspicious mystery behind a young woman’s disappearance and ignites the heart of Coralie.

My Review:
This is a uniquely told love story. In fact, the characters don't even officially begin to interact until halfway through the book. The author uses the first half of the book to establish the temperaments, back stories and current states of her two main characters, Coralie and Eddie. As you read, you're able to watch two very different people from two very different places slowly make their way to each other. And once that meeting happens there is nothing that can change their course together.

As always, Alice Hoffman tells a seamless story. With elements of history and fairy tale, she creates another lyrically beautiful novel that shows all the facets of love, even the dark ones. And she throws in a bit of mystery too. Hoffman also gives us an educational perspective on the New York scene around 1911 and the working condition of factory workers. You'll walk away with a better understanding of that time and place and you'll feel like her characters are your friends. I will always recommend Alice Hoffman. For further reading, try her collection of short stories, "Blackbird House."

The Author

Author Tidbit: The movie, Practical Magic, was based on her novel (same title). After being treated for breast cancer, she started the Hoffman Breast Center at Mount Auburn Hospital.

Favorite Quote: "There was sorrow in the seams of his clothes, but he was used to death. It seemed that life was a bolt of cloth to him, and he was there to fold it and set it in a drawer. He said the prayers over the open grave, then, after being paid, quickly went on to his next appointment. I shoveled the dirt onto the coffin, as was the custom of our people, while the gravediggers looked on, arms folded across their chests. In our faith we are instructed to bury our own, and in doing so grant them that last favor."

Homestead by Rosina Lippi

Book Synopsis from Goodreads:
Each life has its place, and every variation ripples the surface of the tiny alpine village called Rosenau. Be it a mysteriously misaddressed love letter or a girl's careless delivery of two helpless relatives into Nazi hands, the town's balance is ever tested, and ever tender. Here is a novel spanning eighty years -- years that bring factories and wars, store-bought cheese and city-trained teachers -- weaving the fates of the wives, mothers, and daughters in this remote corner of Austria. To quote Rosellen Brown, "the women in this haunting book are deeply and uniquely of their place, yet they speak (often wordlessly) of women's longings and satisfactions everywhere."

My Thoughts:
Rosina Lippi weaves a story the way Bob Ross throws a landscape onto canvas; masterfully and without hesitation. This is a collection of moments, of memories both sweet and painful for several women who live in the same alpine village. Some of them are family, but all are connected in one way or another. The imagery is haunting and delicate fueled by words that have a razor sharpness beneath them. Her descriptions will stick with you. This is what I want in a book when I'm looking for something of substance. Since the narrations change from woman to woman it can become difficult to keep track of the different perspectives, but the author does provide family trees that you can refer to. Any woman who reads this will find a piece of herself in it and that's what makes this book magic.

The Author

Author Tidbit: Rosina Lippi won the 1999 Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award for "Homestead." She also has a degree in linguistics and is a fiber artist.

The Wild Mother by Elizabeth Cunningham

Book Synopsis from Goodreads:
The delicate relationship growing between Adam Underwood and Eva Brooke is nearly destroyed with the reappearance of his former wife, Lilith.

*This synopsis doesn't even cover the half of it, but I can't judge because writing a synopsis was never my strong suit.*

My Thoughts:
Oh my goodness. I just finished this an hour ago and I'm still trying to untangle myself from it. Except I really don't want to. I feel lucky this book found its way to me and I plan on getting my hands on every other book this wonderful lady has written. Where to start?

This book reads like a dark fairytale. It doesn't lack in archetypes and symbolism. The imagery is bold and haunting with plenty of PRIMAL to go around. This is not a book about any particular religion, however, it does resurrect the biblical roles of Adam, Eve and Lilith while emphasizing the sacred feminine. Elizabeth Cunningham finds a beautiful balance between these two, often contradicting, themes.

So, now the characters. The dynamics developed between each character is subtle and real. The author doesn't impose action or drama on her plot, she lets her characters develop, change and react naturally and that moves the plot forward. And yet there is plenty happening in this story. What makes a book really special to me is when a relationship within it changes unexpectedly. Even more so when enemies become allies or when an author underplays a character's capacity to love and SHOW love. So that when they do open up it's a thousand times more special because it's so rare. This book overflows with these moments and by the end of it, yep, I was crying like a toddler. And that's not because this is a really sad book. It's not. It's a breath of fresh air in its reminder that we need to open our eyes to the world around us and the people in it. Especially the ones we take for granted. 

The strongest element in this book is the bond between a mother and her daughter. Blood or otherwise. And the book is appropriately named. The main characters in this element are Ionia and her wild mother, Lilith, who comes from the Empty Lands and must return there or die. Ionia's human father, Adam, holds Lilith captive in their home while the children and grandmother eventually plot Lilith's escape. And while the bond between Ionia and her mother strengthen, there are other maternal bonds that play out as the story progresses. Each one of the author's characters meets a pivotal moment that projects them through a very critical change. Each undergoes their own transformation and, by the end of it, it creates a beautiful patchwork of what FAMILY truly is.

I will not be lending this book out, so if you know me, don't even ask! This will go on the shelf with "The Books of Great Alta" and "The Mists of Avalon." It's a keeper. Thank you, Elizabeth Cunningham!

The Author

Author Tidbit: Elizabeth Cunningham is a tenth generation Episcopal priest and was ordained an interfaith minister and counselor in 1997. She is also a poet and musician.

Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman

Book Synopsis on Goodreads: 
Sisters Gillian and Sally Owens were brought up by their two elderly guardian aunts in a world of spells and exotica. As the magical charm of their childhood wears away, they escape from this mystical mayhem - one by running away, the other by marrying. Many years go by before strange circumstances thrust them together again, and once more they are in a place that blends the mundane and mysterious, the familiar and fantastic. Three generations of Owens women are brought together in an experience of unexpected insight and revelation, teaching all of them that such perceptions are rare and wonderful and - to be sure - practical.

My Thoughts: 
Alice Hoffman writes the modern-day fairy tale. There's a harshness in her books that's reminiscent of fairy tales before Disney got a hold of them. But she balances it with a healthy dose of whimsy and magic. Her language is concise and simple, but the way she describes things creates very strong imagery. Her books are always a treat and so was this one. Especially since it's so different from the movie. In fact, forget the movie. It was good, but the book focuses more on the sisters and the two younger girls than it does on the aunts or the ghost of Gillian's boyfriend. You get an extremely personal look into the lives of two women and two girls on the brink of becoming women; their fears, insecurities, sexuality and love lives. The book doesn't have the somewhat hokey quality that the movie has in regard to witches and magic. Even if this book isn't up your alley, at least give the author a try. You won't regret it.

Favorite Quotes: “My darling girl, when are you going to realize that being normal is not necessarily a virtue? It rather denotes a lack of courage." - Aunt Frances” 

“The moon is always jealous of the heat of the day, just as the sun always longs for something dark and deep.” 


Author Tidbit: After being treated for breast cancer at Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, she helped establish the hospital's Hoffman Breast Center.

Wilderness by Dennis Danvers

       I am pleasantly surprised by "Wilderness." It's easy to be cliche with things like werewolves and vampires, but Dennis Danvers pulls off the werewolf story with crisp but endearing language. I love Alice, the lonely werewolf looking for love (that turns into an actual wolf by the way). She's concise and practical with a slight masculine quality. But as the book goes on you see bits and pieces of a vulnerable side and, by the end of it, you just want the girl to be happy.
        The author put Barry Lopez's "Of Wolves and Men" to good use. Instead of pulling on just folklore, Danvers pulls on the biology of the wolf and how it relates to other wolves. You get an honest feel for the creature and the confusion between the wolf and the woman.
       This is definitely a love story with very little cheese. Although there's not a lot of sex, the writing style is definitely charged and, at times, erotic. But this is not erotica. It's more a tale of being lonely and finding someone to love. Dark but sweet.
       And because great books don't always have good endings, I have to give a shout out to the author for the one he came up with. Loved, loved LOVED it. You see Alice come full circle and it makes you want to sing.
         
         Unfortunately, the new cover (below) makes me want to wretch. The publisher should have stuck with the old one (above) to avoid looking like your stereotypical paranormal romance. Don't let this cover deter you!

Book Synopsis from Goodreads: Alice White has a secret. There is no friend or family member she can confide in—and she cannot trust it to the strangers she chooses for the fevered one-night stands that are as close as she dares come to love. Then she meets Erik Summers, college professor and biologist, who draws Alice from her cage, igniting a passion within her that she can't control or deny. Though he shares her fire and a deep spiritual and emotional kinship, Erik recoils from Alice's apparent delusions and dark truths. But in the vast Canadian wilderness, he will be forced to confront a staggering reality—when the moon shines down on Alice White . . . and the change begins again.

*Author Tidbit: This book was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel

The Author