07 March 2009

When I was at the library the other day with the boys, I checked the new release shelf as is my wont (although I've been pretty disappointed with most of what's come out in the past months).

This is what I found: The Laughter of Dead Kings by Elizabeth Peters

First a little background:
A very dear friend introduced me to Ms. Peters's works when I was 16 or 17, and I've been an avid fan ever since. I love the Egyptian history that permeates her books, and her characters are almost a part of my own family. There were a few of her Amelia Peabody books that got a bit dry, mostly because I didn't really care about Ramses's war exploits, et al. But I've read them all and loved most of them. I had read one or two of her Vicky Bliss books, although not since high school, and I remember adoring her characters in those books as well. So imagine my delight when I picked up this new book to find a new Vicky Bliss with Egyptian undertones! YAY!

The boys have all been sick with a nasty virus, so they had no energy for anything but TV and Wii last night. I curled up in a corner of the sofa, opened my book, and dove headfirst into what turned out to be the most amazing 4 hours of my life this year.

There are four main reasons I loved this book:
  1. Ms. Peters wrote herself into the book as a crazy writer who breaks into houses and bribes "venal men" for the Amelia P. Emerson journals.
  2. She wrote the Emerson family history into the story as a wonderful underscore for the Mastermind's backstory.
  3. There were subtle but definite barbs of animosity and sarcasm directed at a certain Egyptologist/Indiana Jones figure/tomb robber of the worst sort whose name I shall not bother to repeat. Either you like him or you don't. I don't.
  4. Only Ms. Peters would have the audacity to make the prime subject of the book and unsuspecting target of 'kidnappers' the mummy of King Tut. Yes, the main plot is the kidnapping of his mummy from his tomb in the Valley of the Kings--and I agonized through the whole book right up until his restoration to safety.

I thoroughly enjoyed all of the twists and turns the plot took, the elaborate ruses used by the characters to bring their quarry back into the light, and the sheer hilarity that pervades these books. While Vicky is not Amelia, she has a charm and wit all her own; although I must say I love little old Herr Doktor Schmidt the most.

I will confess to a slight problem on the subject of Vicky's love interest and sometime Master Criminal, John Tregarth. Although we find out late in the book that he was in fact a direct descendant of the Emersons, I realized by the end of the first chapter that I would not make it through the book without substituting another certain John into the mental image implanted in my head. I will admit that it was rather distracting to picture the Colonel in Egypt...and it was altogether tempting to place myself in Vicky's place in order to let that scenario play crazy games of its own. In short--sometimes you just have to let the voices in your head read along too. Keeps a happy balance.

This book will be a purchase in the not too distant future, and I hope to go back and get the others to complete the collection.

Ah, Elizabeth. Some of my most fond bookish memories are courtesy of your novels. I thank you.

One of the main things on my to-do list for the year was to start a Book List w/Notes.
Obviously keeping this on paper is just going to be a headache for a vast number of reasons (the main one being that I cannot possibly take the time to actually WRITE on paper during the course of a week). So I hope to at least type up my reviews here and then (at some future date) print them off to put in a binder.

Book List 2009 (with notes)

January/February
('cause I didn't start this sooner....)

The Apothecary's Daughter by Julie Klassen
I really enjoyed this book. It was a romance without the smut...or...a Christian book! Okay, to point the finger and laugh at myself, I've found that I much enjoy these books for one very odd reason: if a smut book is well-written, the smut ADDS to the story. Most of them just don't. So I've found that Christian romance novels usually have at least passable storylines. They have to; they can't fall back on the smut for support.

What I loved about this book the most was the references to the herbs and sundries that were sold in the apothecaries shop, as well as the underlying current of tension between medical doctors and the apothecaries guild. The characters were fun and well-written, and my heart ached at the end for the people lost and the love that is found. If I had a few spare dollars (or found this at the used-book sale in July), I would definitely add it to the book collection.

The Virgin Queen's Daughter by Ella March Chase
I picked it up 'cause I love conspiracy theories.
I put it down 'cause I was bored out of my mind.
I guess you just have to be really into the whole English Royalty Drama to like this book.
Not my thing.

March

The Laughter of Dead Kings by Elizabeth Peters (This book review gets a post of its own. A+++)

Troll Fell by Katherine Langerish
We read this together as a family, and the boys all loved it--especially Max. It was about trolls and orphans and treasure. Fun for them...kinda long for me. But a good read nonetheless.

Brisinger by Christopher Paolini
Please God...don't let him finish the final book for at least another three years. I need the time to recover my will to live. I don't care that Eragon has a really cool new sword. I don't care that Brom was his dad. Nor do I really give a hoot what happens to the dragon hearts and all. BLEH. The one redeeming feature of this third book in the series was that every time I read something about Roran, I pictured Hector (aka Eric Bana) all buff and sweaty, and miraculously the chapters went MUCH faster. *headdesk*

April

Rosanna of the Amish by Joseph Yoder
This is a wonderful, quaint little volume I picked up at the library that is falling apart at the seams. It looks well-loved, and one chapter in it's easy to see why. It's an easy read and just completely enjoyable. Rosanna is abandoned by her father when her mother dies in childbirth and is raised by an Amish woman and her subsequent husbands. I cannot wait to see how the book wraps up 'cause there was a sequel on the shelf too!