Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace ... One School at a Time

This is a very interesting read. It's really quite a fascinating look at political matters, the way people live in other, less westernised countries and, most importantly, the lengths that people will go to in order to help themselves. All they need is the resources, which are so very hard to come by. Greg Mortenson, however, makes sure that they get them.

This book is partly about the development and work of the Central Asia Institute (much to my disappointment, this doesn't fit the requirements of my Middle Eastern challenge as a result) and the work they do. It's also partly about Greg Mortenson - who he is, why he is the way he is and so on. It's not really a biography, though it's certainly biographical. It's a weird mix of things. It's definitely worth reading, though it can be heavy-going in places.

These Happy Golden Years

The second last in the series, this is the book where Laura grows up. She starts off at fifteen, teaching school and then, as a result of being away from home, her relationship with Almanzo Wilder begins. The book ends with their marriage, when Laura is eighteen. The book is different to others in the series because Laura's essentially an adult and her life is different as a result. I don't know that it works as a children's story as well as the others in the series, but it's a good milestone.

The Long Winter

A whole book where only a few months pass by is rather a departure for Laura Ingalls Wilder. Still, one can't complain because it really is riveting, if rather depressing. I can imagine that many people would have starved to death, if the weather didn't get them first. Of course, that kind of harsh reality isn't really appropriate for a children's book, so of course everyone survives in the book. I'd be surprised if that really happened. The idea of facing such a harsh environment with so little in the way of resources really does invoke admiration and a certain amount of thankfulness that I live when I do.

On the Banks of Plum Creek

I'm not sure where Plum Creek is, except for the rather general direction of Minnesota, but it sounds delightful. I'm sure the reality was a lot harder than it seems simply from reading this book. Still, it seems like an adventurous kind of life, though a hard one. Like all her books, this is well-written and one can't tell where fact leaves off and fiction begins.

Sister

A fun book, somewhat similar to those by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I can't help but feel sorry for the main character, despite not particularly like her very much. I would have preferred it it the book had been written by someone closer to the action and not the grand-daughter of a girl not even born. Similarly I would've preferred a bit more resolution to the story, it felt as though it just stopped arbitrarily, as well as if the blurb on the back of the book had had more resemblance to what the book was actually about.

The Wind in the Willows

For some reason I never read this as a child. I think that if I had I would've enjoyed it a lot more. I found it very difficult to enjoy this simply because it makes no sense in so many ways. Animals seem to co-exist peacefully with each other, regardless of food preferences, which is something that I'm willing to forgive. That's pretty much a requirement for this kind of story. Where I lose the suspension of disbelief is where you suddenly get an interaction with humans - not only is the toad put in jail, but he is of the right size to disguise himself as an adult human. I can only think with horror of a toad that size.

All in all, I have to say that this was disappointing in many ways and I really do wish that I'd read it as a child so that I would have the memory of it to help sustain my suspension of disbelief.

Little Town on the Prairie

This is the seventh book in this series and so far, though I've not read all the previous six, it's my favourite. Laura, author and main character ages from 14 at the beginning of the book to very nearly 16 at the end. Calm, sedate Mary goes off to the school for the blind in Iowa and while her family might miss her, it doesn't really affect the rest of the book.

This is the book that takes a step away from the intense focus on the immediate Ingalls family and starts to really interact with others. Laura and younger sister Carrie attend the local school and form friendships with other children there. The family again spends the winter in town, though this is a far milder winter than the previous one they experienced (see The Long Winter), and as a result they are far more social. At least part of this may be due to the fact that there are far more families in the area than there were the previous year.

Anyway, it's a classic series that you really should read. It's also worth reading from an adult perspective, in my opinion, if you enjoy historical stories.

The Five Find-Outers and Dog

Many consider this series to be Blyton's best. I don't disagree, but I do think the Adventure series warrants more attention than it gets. The Five Find-Outers are far better than the Famous Five. The Famous Five tend towards arrogance and blind luck. The Five Find-Outers, on the other hand, go about things with a little more method.

Fatty, the leader from the second book onwards, intends to be a detective one day and it is from him that the children get most of their method and their good ideas. Larry and Pip are the other boys in the group and while Fatty is off disguising himself and being ingenious, these two tend to take on the more routine aspects of the investigations. Along with wandering around in the dark, of course.

Daisy and Bets are Larry and Pip's sisters and they join the boys in the interviewing of suspects, witnesses and the finding of clues. Bets, the youngest of the five, has a talent for solving the mystery by accidentally saying or noticing something that leads Fatty to the answer. Buster, the dog, is a Scottie that belongs to Fatty and loves nothing more than to have a go at the team's nemesis, Mr Goon.

Theophilus Goon is the local policeman, a bumbling idiot who is always taken in by Fatty's disguises and, no matter how hard

he works, is always outshone by the children. As an adult one feels rather sorry for Mr Goon, as the children star in front of his boss, Inspector Jenks, even though they lay false clues and interfere with Goon's investigations. They even waste police time by creating non-existent mysteries for Goon to investigate. He's a fantastic nemesis for the children, but a rather pathetic figure from the point of view of an adult reader.

This is one of Blyton's best series. You should read it.

The Treasure Hunters

This book has the exact same plot as Five on a Treasure Island, give or take some details. It's a simplistic story about a group of children and their dog determined to find the lost treasure of whatever to help their family. There are the obligatory adult caretakers who don't really understand what the children are doing and so almost stop them from succeeding. There are the lower class, but very friendly and proper farm adults who exist to feed, serve and believe the children. There are the 'bad' adults, trying to buy the property and get the treasure themselves. Naturally the children win.

It's a light read that's quite fun, but nothing out of the ordinary.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Christopher is a young autistic gentleman. He likes dogs and is distressed when he finds his neighbour's dog dead. He decides to solve the mystery and write a book about it at the same time. This is his book. Along the way he has to do things that he doesn't like doing - for example, talking to strangers (and I really don't blame him, strangers are weird). Then, a few things happen and he finds out that his father lied to him. About something big. And if there is one thing that he does not like it's lies. So then Christopher has to be extremely brave and not only talk to people he doesn't know, but go to places he doesn't know where there are too many people and some of them might touch him.

It's beautifully written and exceedingly clear on how he sees things. His logic is wonderful, though the story is rather sad. This is highly recommended.

The Dana Girls

I'm behind for this month, so I need to catch up. Of course, the reason that I'm behind is that I spend all my time reading (and the best part is that the universe listened and I'm actually being paid for it). I feel very sad some days that I haven't had a chance to buy more books. Well, I'll get some on Saturday, but it seems so long to wait.

Now the Dana Girls books are by the same people that did Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys. I personally like the Dana Girls more than the others, but that's probably just because I used to read them when I was at Plumstead Prep. Anyway, I've started collecting them in my old age and have discovered that there are two series which sort of overlap. Also, it appears that finding decent images of covers is impossible. I shall have to take some pictures of my pretty covers (including The Haunted Lagoon, which I accidentally stole from Karen Jennings back in Std 1 and still have).

Anyway, these books are about Louise and Jean Dana, two sisters that are teenagers. Jean's the blonde and slightly younger. I've always preferred Louise, probably because she's somewhat less impetuous than her sister. Naturally they have boyfriends and many friends that occasionally show up. They are orphans and attend boarding school, where some of their mysteries are based, or at least start. When they're not at school, they spend time with friends and their aunt and uncle, a sea captain on the Balaska.

These are fun books in the style of Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys without being nearly as irritating. I imagine that most of my likely for them is due to some form of nostalgia and a memory of loving them as a little girl.

Harry Potter

Ah, Harry Potter. It had to happen eventually. I own all seven books, I have read them all and I occasionally reread them. The first one I read was Goblet of Fire, the fourth book. I was working/volunteering at a convent school in England. The book was lying in the senior common room, so I picked it up and read it. It was a good book. When I came home, I went about purchasing and reading the rest of them.

This is a good series. It's fun, mostly well-written and full of glorious details. The books centre around Harry Potter, the Boy who Lived, and his experiences at wizarding school. Though, really, if any of you don't actually know this I'd be very surprised.

The earlier books are much better than the later ones, in my personal opinion. The earlier books are very much school stories with, of course, the obligatory adventure at the end. My favourite of these is Prisoner of Azkaban, though I am very fond of Chamber of Secrets as well. The later books are far more action-oriented - they are far more in the adventure style than in the school style. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but the books lengthen and the plots suffer for it. It's hard to pick a favourite here, but I'd go for either Goblet of Fire or Order of the Phoenix. Phoenix does have the problem of making me cringe, but then Goblet of Fire has the problem of Hermione looking drastically different in the same way that no-one recognises Superman when he puts on different clothes and glasses. It's ridiculous. There are increasing plot-holes and bad characterisation as the series goes on.

I'm not going to detail my every objection to the series, but Rowling needs some practice at writing believable teenage romance and angst. She could also have used a better, less star-struck editor who was capable of spotting the glaring errors and fixing them. I cannot complain too much though, given the horrific editing of some of my favourite books (here including Enid Blyton and Agatha Christie, but not Tolkien). I will, however, complain about the way that she 'develops' her characters. They not only grow, they regress. Now, while I grant that there is some cause for some of this, occasionally she just takes a character and disregards their entire personality and turns them into someone else with the same name (and yes, I'm thinking particularly of Cho here). I also think that a few of her supporting characters are a little too two-dimensional and could have been far better developed, considering the length of time she had to develop them in all the enormous tomes she wrote.

I don't think very much of the movies, but that's mostly because of the way that they deviate from the books. The errors that the books make are bad enough - there is no need to compound them by making even worse errors in the movies. They did, in my opinion, have very good casting for the most part.

And, a word about the covers. I for one like the majority of the covers. There is only one I object to and that's the one for Deathly Hallows. The artwork seems out of character with the rest in the sequence. I would have much preferred for all the artwork to have been done by one artist, preferably one of the ones that did Prisoner of Azkaban, Goblet of Fire and Order of the Phoenix. I do not like the covers by the artist who did the ones in the Afrikaans translation (and possibly the books that were published in the States? It's hard to tell). There are also the 'adult' covers. Entirely unnecessary in my opinion, but some people are weird about their book covers. I personally don't usually care too much about the cover (except when it comes to my Enid Blytons' - I don't want the covers to be too modern 'cause those covers tend to be awful).

Anyway, if you haven't read these, you probably should.

Mundo and the Weather-Child

There's a beautiful rainbow in front of Table Mountain this morning - the other end is going over Lion's Rump and I could see it from the bedroom. I'm not sure whether or not it's going to rain again today, though.

Anyway, this is a wonderful book - another coming-of-age story, there seems to be almost nothing but those around - about a boy who moves to a new house with his family. As you can imagine, he doesn't like this and wants to go 'home'. This house has a big rambling garden, which Edmund does not like. Come winter, he can't hear anything, except the mysterious child in the garden that he makes friends with. This is a beautifully written whimsical book that you should all read.

Peter Pan

When I was little I had a big yellow (Disney) picture book telling this story. I remember it fondly. And, I will say only this: if you have fond memories of the story from your childhood, do not ruin them by actually reading the book. The book itself is dreadful. There are only two decent characters in it: Tootles (a Lost Boy) and Liza (the Darling's maid). The narrator is irritating and ingratiating. The Darlings are ridiculous. The children are spoilt and horrible. Peter Pan is the worst of the lot. Tinker Bell is an awful example of fairies. The 'Picaninny' tribe of 'Red Indians' is the most offensive characterisation in the book. The pirates are ridiculous, with Captain Hook the most foppish dandy that ever led a group of cutthroats. The prose is ridiculous and... well... words cannot describe how disappointed I was by the reality of this book.

Do yourself a favour, remember this story fondly and do not read the book.

Equal Education and Shine

Just a quick note to talk about the Bookery that is where Charly's Bakery used to be on Roeland Street. I'm sure there are similar places in the areas where you live. I will now be donating my unwanted books to them (unless they're 'unsuitable'). Equal Education is calling for every school in South Africa to have a functioning library with a librarian or other qualified administrator to run it. It has been shown that the pass rate is higher in schools with libraries (though I cannot actually locate the citation they give - maybe you can: Bhorat & Oosthuizen 2008). And, quite frankly, I cannot imagine going to a school that didn't have a library. How do these children cope?

A similar movement is the Shine Centre, which targets specific children in a few schools (I don't know if they do it anywhere other than Cape Town though) and helps them to raise their literacy level. Essentially, it's an hour a week of reading with them as they just don't get enough attention in the overcrowded classrooms and are failing.

So if you can, support these ventures or similar ones near you. The future of the world depends on a literate body of people (also, this might all go towards showing the government that books are not 'luxury items' and dropping the tax on them).

The Star of Kazan

Another Eva Ibbotson. I picked this one up at random because I liked the cover (this is a picture of the audiobook cover 'cause I couldn't find a decent-sized image of this version of the book cover. Eventually I'll replace it with a photo. Really [really. It's done now]) and it was cheap (how many times have you heard that?). There were bits of it that were just too predictable, but on the whole it was a beautifully written story of the naivete of a young girl and the consequences of having all your dearest wishes come true.

This is well-written - you care about the characters and you wish to walk down to the square and see the houses. Even though you can tell there's something not quite right you can't do anything about it, no matter how much you want to. And you do. You want to take poor Annika in and show her how much better off she is before her deepest desires come true and she has to learn the hard way. At least, I did. You might do something different.

The Wind Eye

This is a great book about a long dead saint and his interactions with a modern day 'blended' family. I do loathe that term. Family is family - regardless of how many mothers and fathers and children there are (or aren't). Anyway, this family has a fairly long journey to go in learning to love each other and get along with each other. It takes a couple of miracles and supernatural experiences for it to happen, but eventually they're ready to devote their lives to the 'family business' as it were. Leaving behind devoted (if dogged) scientific scepticism aside. Although, to be fair, one can only judge the world through one's experiences and given the experiences related I too would abandon certain ideas I hold about the world. Of course, I wouldn't be quite so closed-minded (as the father) in the first place.

Anyway, this is a fun read and well worth it.

St. Clare's

Among other things, I discovered that the Wellness Warehouse has a market every second Saturday. Included in the market is a book stand belonging to Help the Rural Child, which is some sort of charity, similar in nature to CAFDA. Their prices are higher, but I was impressed by the selection (hello Enid Blyton and Cadfael!) Unluckily I didn't have my list with me, but I only bought one duplicate, which is actually in better condition, so the other will be going to CAFDA. I do tend to use CAFDA rather like a library - if I don't like a book I just take it back.

This series was written before Blyton's other school series Malory Towers (I'll get to that one some time). I like each series for different reasons. And there are a couple of reasons why I don't particularly like either series sometimes. I'll leave the comparisons for when I review Malory Towers though. The only book in the series that I don't own is Second Form at St. Clare's. There are a number of girls that make up the form we're interested in, chief of which are the O'Sullivan Twins, Pat and Isabel. They start off as terribly stuck-up and unwilling, but learn to be model heroines. Naturally all the stereotypes are there - the arty girl, the musical girl, the sporty girl, the pretty girl, the rich girl, the spiteful girl, the mousy girl. Nevertheless this is a fun series with interesting characters that still seem fairly fresh.

Arguments have been made that Malory Towers is a far better series simply because Blyton's daughters had started at boarding school by then and she had a better idea of how things worked. As it happens, I myself have never been to boarding school (though I did work in one for a year) and I really can't tell what differences there are that make Malory Towers seem more real than St. Clare's. One of the things I particularly like about St. Clare's (and which infuriates me about Malory Towers, but we're not talking about that) is that as the series moves up into the higher forms we keep with the same characters. There is some interaction with the lower forms in the last book as the lower form girls have to wait on the older girls to a degree and one of the girls has a sister in the first form that year. At Malory Towers, however, the last couple of books move from a focus on the main characters to being half about the main characters' younger siblings and other relatives as if Blyton felt that the older girls wouldn't be interesting to her readers.

All in all this is a fun series that's worth reading and rereading. I even have some interest in having a look at the sequels written by Pamela Cox, though I'm not sure what they're like.

[I am reminded again why I don't like the whole multiple-pictures-per-post thing.]

I, Nigel Dorking

The subtitle reads: 'an autobiography about an unusual boy with a suit of armour, an unshakeable dream and a most unusual vocabulary, written by that very boy, Nigel Dorking.' This is a book about a boy who is, undoubtedly, one of those geeky outcasts destined to become a roleplayer. As you might imagine, this is a kid I can relate to. I was never really an outcast, but I was always one of those bookish types that's too smart for their own good. Nigel, however, also has a younger brother with some sort of mental/developmental disease. Not something designed to make other children treat you with kindness. And then, his parents get divorced and there are the possible step-parents and their children. All-in-all it's yet another coming-of-age story. This one, however, is well told with an emphasis on fantasy and a hint of roleplaying that sets it apart and makes it loads of fun. Even if there isn't any actual roleplaying. There's almost LARPing.

[Picture will be coming forthwith.]

The Snow Kitten

Probably not the best book for me to be reading at this time. This is the story of a kitten who has been abandoned, with winter approaching and no one willing to take him in. It is absolutely heart-breaking. I cried when I first read this story. If you can't handle sad stories, this is not a book you should read. Eventually the kitten finds a home and there is a happy ending, but as a kitten-mother I'm not sure I'll ever manage to reread this book.