Book reviews? Am I crazy? I'm not very adept at giving summarized or concise reviews on anything. I'm either long winded and meandering, or else you'll get a "It was boring, but a nice boring.", with no more explanation. I have things to say, however, on these four books (something that's rare, which is why I lack skills in the book review department), so I'm going to try my damnedest to give something good. You can check other attempts here, here, and here if you are so inclined. When I go to the library, I have my routines. There are certain places I'll hit up, but not every time. These places include the discarded books for sale, the DVD's, the YA (young adult/teen) section (all three located in the entry level), the children's section (in the sub-level), and the non-fiction (second floor to the right). I rarely search the computers to find something, because rarely do I ever have a specific book in mind. I choose a section and then just meander down every isle seeing what captures my fancy. I could use the computers, say to search for a specific genre of book, but I never really know what I want until I see it. Just with the first book in this post, I didn't have a mind to read about seafaring or sailing, yet that is the book that piqued my interest when I stumbled upon it tucked away in a small section in non-fiction. My forays to the library are always fun because I never know what will interest me on that particular day nor what I'll walk out with. It's always a mixed bag, so to speak, of random oddities. I could walk away with a children's book (translated from French) about a little boy wolf who wears a red riding hood (that book was really cute, by the way), a book on historic costuming, a documentary on a historical figure or a national park - perhaps some Golden Girls, a DIY book on stained glass, a teen fantasy book, and a German language book that I purchased for a quarter. Sailing Alone Around the World by Captain Joshua Slocum (First published serially in 1901 (this paperback edition - Dover 1956)) This is one of those books that I would tag as "Boring, but not." Also, that my take-away, is that "No, most people (including myself) could not sail the world alone and survive." Also that intro picture is of a chapter in the story where the Samoan women are saying they don't believe that Slocum was the lone crewman on that ship. I laughed out loud when I read that they thought he'd eaten the rest of his crew! Captain Slocum, having originally hailed from Nova Scotia, was an extremely experienced seaman and ship builder by the time he decided to set out on the task of circumnavigating the world alone in 1895. He wanted to prove that it could be done and that one didn't need anything but bare necessities. Someone offered him a wreck of a sloop named the Spray, which he completely rebuilt by hand and outfitted for his purposes of a one man crew. It took him three years to sail from Boston, MA to Providence, RI, taking the most direct & typical route of circumnavigation. He sailed from Boston to Nova Scotia, and then across the Atlantic to Gibraltar. Then he skirted Africa and shot back across the Atlantic towards Brazil, down the coast and to the Strait of Magellan (in order to cut through the tip of South America to gain the Pacific, instead of swinging around Cape Horn, which I remember from History class would have been a terrible mistake). This part actually bored me; his journey through Le Terra del Fuego. It wasn't on his first go though, but a gale caught him up right when he entered the Pacific and sent him careening towards Cape Horn, but he found a way in and up back to The Strait and had to relive half the journey over again. So, one time was enough, but I see that it was important to relay what happened and having to go back through. He then traveled to islands in the South Pacific, including The Cook Islands (where he stopped to honour Captain Cook), Juan Fernàndez Islands (where Robinson Crusoe was marooned), and Samoa (not yet American) on his way to Australia, where he spent some months around the continent waiting for more favourable sailing conditions. Then onto the Keeling Islands and Madagascar in the Indian Ocean before venturing around The Cape of Good Hope at South Africa. Once around and back into the Atlantic, he sailed for St. Helena (exile of Napoleon) and The Ascension Islands before heading to the top of Brazil and up through the Caribbean islands. Through the Sargasso Sea and up around the coast of the US before landing in Providence. That's probably already too much information, but it was really interesting his route. I've never been someone who had a pull toward the sea or of sailing (exploring under the sea, now that's a different story), and I'm not someone who really reads much about seafaring exploration. But it was interesting to read about the world at the turn of the 20th century. It had been demarcated and conquered, so that the British were just about everywhere he stepped foot, but also not so much as places were still rural and wild or that Samoa still had their royalty installed. The juxtaposition between the old world of sailing and the brand new century was fascinating to me. While in some parts he would explain more than for others; even if it was just a glimpse, you were still able to see the world before and the world at this time and things that one wasn't really taught in history and geography classes. Like, while I knew that Patagonia was relatively wild and untamed, even today, I did not know that there were groups of Indigenous People's who were living there at the very bottom (of which Terra del Fuego gets its name) or that it was so wind-swept there and sparse of wildlife or trees. There was so much to learn. Blood rain in Australia (which is just red dust from Africa that gets mingled with the atmosphere and rains down) or the red dust storms that one can encounter off the western coast of Africa. While I was reading it, I couldn't stop; however, getting me to pick the book back up again was a little trying. Which is why it was at once boring and not. It's like a British film set before WWII. They're boring. But if it's done well (most are), it is a comforting boring where nothing exciting happens and you are complacent and interested in watching it. So, a comforting boring, but not so boring that you'll turn it off. This book was that; the type of boring like the calm lapping of waves that brings complacency. And just like that British film, you might be hesitant to start it back up if you had stopped before it was finished. I like the book overall and would recommend it to people (and I have), but there were things that I didn't much care for, though at the time at which it was written were perfectly acceptable. Like how he caught a shark just to kill it and bring on deck to charge people to view it. Or how he sort of glorifies Christopher Columbus in certain parts (it's to be expect during the time period, but it's still off-putting, like a bad taste in one's mouth). Or how the Indigenous Peoples of Terra del Fuego are nothing but savages. Were they really? Would they kill a man? Were they really as bad as he and other white seafaring people said? And if they were really bad, was it, in fact, a direct result of white sailors over all the years since Magellan? I have no idea. It's not explained, it's just a shoot first and ask questions later sort of deal. A good point is that no other people living primitively (by white man standards) were written about as being savages, so that's good. He was also shocked and expectant of peoples generosity. A lot of trading happened, or if in a port some other larger ship saw he needed something, they'd just give it to him. Berthing and port fees were waved everywhere except one place. It's written where everyone was so generous and that's just how seafaring people are, but also that perhaps it was slightly unexpected because the world was changing? I also wondered if it wasn't because he was somewhat of a celebrity. The news of the Spray's voyage, with a crew of one, was making the papers all over the world. Everywhere he went, people knew about him and if they didn't, they were impressed by the knowledge. People like to give celebrities things. It's like someone trekking across the US on foot. People realize what they're doing and that seems important and worthy and they give the trekker free stuff; food, lodging, clothes, an item they need, etc. So, was it just seafaring people or also the celebrity factor? Apparently this was required reading for people in high school at some point, but I'd never heard of this book, or this guy, until I saw it on the shelf at the library. There's a forward in the copy I read, that stated that he ventured out in the Spray after this voyage in about 1910 and was reported as missing at sea because he never returned. My first thought was bittersweet. That it was sad, but also fitting for an old sailor. But then when I read his words about Juan Fernàndez (I have no idea why Crusoe ever left this paradise), that perhaps he just left for paradise on that voyage. Before I told The Sister about his words pertaining to that island and only that he was reported missing at sea, she said, "I bet he just disappeared to somewhere on purpose!" That seems nice, so that's what I'll think. One last thought on this book. As I said I'm not a very nautical person, yet while reading this book the words weren't so alien and far removed from my every day to warrant utter confusion. Words like leeward, jibb, sheet - I am already familiar with them. Leeward is direction (though which one I don't know), jibb is something to do with the sails, and sheet is the fabric of the sails. I remember The Sister reading about seafaring ways once and in the book it stated that the sailor lexicon is prevalent in ones everyday life. I believed her and what she had read, but I was witnessing it first hand by reading this book. No three dollar words here; the type of which you've never heard a day in your life and are so far removed from your current existence that they bring you out of the story. Enough of them riddled through the writing and one might likely put the book down for good. The nautical terms, even if I didn't know them (a lot I did know), they weren't foreign to me and I could figure enough about them to know he was talking about direction, movement, something to do with the sails or the ship itself. The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp by Kathi Appelt (2013) On one jaunt into the children's department I noticed the cutest book. It was one of those larger, thin books for really small children. If something is new or a theme that month, they display them. It was a book about The X-Files, where Mulder & Scully are children and are hunting aliens. It was really, really cute and while I flipped through it and read the story right there, I did take a few pictures and told The Sister about it. "You should have chequed it out!" She was right, but I felt that I shouldn't deny something for a little kid when it's something I could easily sift through while standing. However, her words struck me, when a few months later, one of the books showcased was that French book about the little boy wolf. I did cheque that one out. So, on this last trip to the library, I wanted The Sister to see that X-Files book, so we trooped off to the children's department and I had to ask for it. It was in the 3 foot high bins (perfect for tiny kids, but which, to actually look through, I'd have to kneel down) where the books are arranged like vinyl records for sale, in genres like Space, Birds, Mammals, Weather, etc. (It'd been so long since I needed a book like that, I had forgotten how simple the cataloging was, until the librarian said, "It'll be in Space.") The point is, that while we were waiting for the librarian to look it up, The Sister spotted this book on the top shelf and said, "This is the book you need to cheque out!" She wasn't wrong. It's like it was written specifically for me, though at the time I only knew it was about two raccoons trying to save their swamp home. Turns out that it's about raccoons, sugar, and a creature akin to the Sasquatch, which is why I say it's like it was written for me. I like to bake and I like sugar and fried sugar pies that feature in the story just made me want one (they seemed easy enough to make and were such a big player, that she missed an opportunity to include a recipe, I think), and of course cryptozoology! Barring that, the only other problem I had with this book was that I don't know what happened to the raccoon parents. The first lines of chapter one are of the two raccoon brothers, Bingo and J'mia waving to and watching their parents leave. It's never discussed where they went. Did they go on holiday? Is there a Home for Retired Raccoon Scouts? Every time the brothers were in trouble or thought of their parents it only made me think, "Yeah! Where are the parents?!? She should have explained that a little." So, The Sugar Man is the Sasquatch type creature. He is in fact not Sasquatch, as he's related to him as well as Yeti. He just happens to live in this swamp and he loves the Muscovado Sugar Cane that grows there, hence why he's The Sugar Man. He sleeps a lot and thus, hundreds of years ago initiated these raccoons as Sugar Man Swamp Scouts; their job was to kind of monitor the woodlands and keep it in check and if there was a real emergency to find and wake The Sugar Man so he could take care of it. That same family of raccoons are still Official Sugar Man Swamp Scouts. Apparently there's only that one small family of four (or is it just two? What happened to the parents?!). Scout HQ is in an old car; a 1940s DeSoto. Which, I like how she connected the stories. So, this guy really digs birds and wants to find an Ivory-Billed Woodpecker. He earns money, purchases that car and a camera and hits the first swamp in East Texas that he finds which is Sugar Man Swamp. He met The Sugar Man, who taught him this lullaby to sooth the Canebrake Rattle Snakes (so you could access that sugar cane), then he spotted and photographed the bird. But with swamp flu he lost his car and couldn't find it again in the swamp, but he liked the area that he stayed and started making fried sugar pies from that sugar cane and searching for his car and that bird again. He has died by the beginning of the book, so the human part of the story really centers around his grandson. His grandson looked for birds with him, made those sugar pies with his grandpa and mom, learned the lullaby and cut sugar cane, and heard about The Sugar Man. The Swamp is in danger. There are wild hogs who have learned of the sugar cane and are destroying their way to Sugar Man Swamp. The raccoons have to figure out what the rumbling is and then figure out how to stop the hogs. The boy is about to lose his home because the man that owns the swamp just wants to sell it and make money, though his ancestor (a pirate from the 1700s) made a blood pact with The Sugar Man to always protect the swamp and all the creature (turns out that this man's dad broke that deal by killing an animal and was killed by The Sugar Man). The man says if they raise enough money they can keep their home and pie restaurant. When that seems almost impossible, "If you show me proof of The Sugar Man, I'll give you the swamp!". She connects the stories more than this and everything works out in the end (as you figured it would being a book for 7 - 12 year olds), but I also like that the boy didn't have to out The Sugar Man for things to work out, though he had the proof; he instead chose integrity in a situation concerning his new friend and everything worked out alright. Plus, those raccoons were so adorable! Bingo likes to climb, so climbs to the tallest pine tree and sees a red, blinking star (a radio tower light, but he doesn't know that) and he names the star Blinkle. Adorable! And they're adorably bad like raccoons. While the book is a little hokey (I had to remind myself that it was spot on for the age group, so it isn't written badly), my only other complaint is that there needed to be an illustration of those raccoon brothers on every single page, because come ON! adorable raccoons in raccoon shenanigans! I need to see them poofing up because they're scared, or stuffing themselves on dewberries, or cleaning the inside of HQ with leaves. It was such an enjoyable book, that along with recommending it to everyone, I would own this book. That's a big deal as once I've read a book it has to be kind of special for me to keep it or want to own it. It really was surprising for me to read that a fair amount of people on Goodreads hated this book; I mean absolutely seethingly hated it. Even a librarian who reads these books was all, "What kid would enjoy this book?!" That was disconcerting. Perhaps this book was written just for me. But it was nice to read from a few kids who thought it was awesome, so I guess some of us are out there... somewhere. Rebel Mechanics by Shanna Swendson
(2015) So, I pulled this book from the shelf on a lark, after reading the title of Rebel Mechanics. My head flooded with, "Oh, let me a guess... another steampunk brave girl romance novel?" But why did I pull it in the first place? The word mechanic, of course! It's not often that that word will be in a title in the YA section. It did seem very steampunk brave girl romance from the front cover. Go search the book to see. She's even pulling her hair back because she's got her big girl panties on and work needs doing. I shelved it and continued looking. However, I couldn't stop thinking about the book even after pulling another one to cheque out. I went back to read the inner cover and though it seemed slightly interesting, wasn't making me want to read it all that much. When I checked the back cover, however, I thought, "OK, now I'm interested in seeing what this is all about. Over-done steampunk brave girl romance story or not." While I do like steampunk, it's sorely over done in the YA section. Everyone's cashing in on it. It gets old y'all. But I do like that, and if it's not too hokey (or the girl isn't written poorly or annoyingly), I do like the girl doing things alone not needing a man type of heroine. I also like historical fiction, that is stories set in certain historical periods and are either accurate for the time period with a story weaved through them, or else, meshing historical accuracy with flights of fancy (like magic or the supernatural or alternate realities). I also dig the American Revolution and while this book is set in the very over-used 1880s, this alternate reality stems from that war and might be mentioned. I'm not very far into the book, but she lives in the British colonies of America in the 1880s, she's set out on her own for a governess job in New York City and has already run into the rebel mechanics, who are a group of university students trying to stick it to the man. By the man, I obviously mean the British empire and their magic wielding. See, in the preface Swendson makes some interesting points. What if the colonies had never gained their independence and the British continued to rule? What if that ruling class had magical powers? Great Britain abolished slavery in 1833, and if the American colonies had still been part of the empire, there might never have been the need for the Civil War. The pattern of westward expansion might have changed as well, altering relationships with the native peoples. With magic in the mix, some technologies might have come later or never been developed at all, while others might have been ahead of their time. If magic provided the power for all industry and technology, common people would be dependent on the magical classes for the livelihood and survival. ....Other forms of power, like steam and electricity, and if people could learn about and make use of this power, they might have a way to fight against the magical classes and gain their freedom from the British. So, no slavery after 1833. That's great, right? Yes. But also the end of slavery here in America ushered in the Industrial Revolution. There is no such thing in this alternate world. There was no need for it since the British are the rulers and they have magic. However, I'm wondering how that's really any different, since that's really what she's proposing. The Industrial Revolution was steam and then electricity powered existence run by the wealthy Americans. Common people worked in the factories and doing the drudgery jobs with no labour unions and dismal salaries. Only the people wealthy enough to attend university would learn about steam mechanics and then later electricity, and were an entirely different class of people from the commoners working in the factories. In this world it's no different, where magic is subbing in for the steam and electricity. I'm not certain how university students were able to figure out or obtain information on steam and electricity as that's not been discussed yet (will it?), and besides in this world, they are the commoners yet are able to attend university, and prestigious ones at that! But besides being able to attend university, they are still considered the lower class and aren't allowed in the nicer, more British (and thus magical) area's of the city. I also like that her conclusion to the preface is basically that 'damn it all to hell, even without the American Revolution we're still going to gain our independence from those stupid Brits!' When I read that last part I did actually bellow out a laugh. That sounds weird, but I'm not laughing because I hate British people or because I am so very 'Merica! I actually feel like more of an outsider and see them as both equal and the squabbles seems ludicrously funny to me. As far as the westward expansion and the treatment of the Indigenous Peoples goes, I'm not so sure it would have gone all that differently. Sure the expansion west might have taken longer than it did in our real history, but I have no doubt it would have happened and by the time of the 1880s too. As far as the other, The English were notoriously horrible in their treatment of the Indigenous Peoples. Really, generally speaking, every group of Europeans were. From the Spanish to the Portuguese, it's just that some ranked higher than others. The French were bad, but they pale in comparison to the Spanish or the English. I mean Canada was under British rule until 1931 and their treatment of the Canadian Indigenous Peoples was and still is pretty terrible. I remember some Canadian girl coming into our coffee house once stating that her country had always treated the Indigenous Peoples so very well and they still did. She was a white, blonde Canadian (I'm not even sure how she ended up in south Mississippi). I didn't buy her words at the time, but not having enough information I didn't argue with her. Turns out Canadian history is just as white-washed as its American counterpart and honestly I'm not surprised. Americans in their newly formed country were just as bad as the British. Sure there might not have been the great and terrible Manifest Destiny because there wouldn't be this need for further freedom (or would there? Since in this history we lost the American Revolution and apparently are still gearing up for it). Manifest Destiny to white people is all about freedom. To anyone else it was crazy carnage of death, destruction, and thievery. I was taught to cherish the term and think of it in a favourable light. I stopped seeing it that way in high school. Manifest Destiny was early colonization on insane amounts of cocaine basically. It was like the Supermarket Sweep of exploration. Supermarket Sweep was a fun gameshow, but putting that into real life is just sickening. Anyways, as I said I'm not too far into the book. She's been in a train robbery and met those wily rebel mechanics in their outrageous steampunk fashions and steam driven buggies; she's also obtained employment as a governess to some wealthy lord and his wards (nieces and nephew). And it's really a predictable book, or so I think, just from this early get-go on page 58 of 310. The nice bandit on the train with the piercing blue eyes will no doubt end up being this young lord also with piercing blue eyes. They'll fall in love and have lots of sex and babies (post book obviously). Oh, but I'm getting ahead of myself. Before all the sex and babies she'll fall in with the rebel mechanics for real (and not just a slight foray), perhaps even using her magic to help them out of a dire situation or two, she might even learn some mechanics herself, and they'll overtake the entire British empire and kick those limey bastards out of 'Merica once and for all! We'll see if I'm correct in a later post... possibly. I did cheque out another book, Wandering Star by Romina Russell. Upon coming home and logging it into Goodreads, I realized it was the second book in a series. "Just great..." But I decided to start reading it because every other YA series recaps so much that one hardly needs the other books to keep up with the current one they are on. It wasn't true in this instance, of course. I got through chapter two and while the story was intriguing enough for me to want to check out the first book, Zodiac, there was no recapping and I was completely lost in the very inventive sci-fi novel. So, I'll pick that book up on my next jaunt to the library.
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AuthorA girl from South Mississippi who finds herself in exploration. Archives
November 2019
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