The Friday Five

Five Awesome Opening Lines (in no particular order):

• There was once, in the country of Alifbay, a sad city, the saddest of cities, a city so ruinously sad that it had forgotten its name. -Salman Rushdie, Haroun and the Sea of Stories
• When Josey woke up and saw the feathery frost on her windowpane, she smiled. Finally, it was cold enough to wear long coats and tights. It was cold enough for scarves and shirts worn in layers, like camouflage. It was cold enough for her lucky red cardigan, which she swore had a power of its own. She loved this time of year. -Sarah Addison Allen, The Sugar Queen
• It is a day of yellow fog, and the Folk are hungry. -Franny Billingsley, The Folk Keeper
• A surging, seething, murmuring crowd of beings that are human only in name, for to they eye and ear they seem naught but savage creatures, animated by vile passions and by the lust of vengeance and hate. -Baroness Orczy, The Scarlet Pimpernel
• I have been afraid of putting air in a tire ever since I saw a tractor tire blow up and throw Newt Hardbine's father over the top of the Standard Oil sign. -Barbara Kingsolver, The Bean Trees

December Book #1

Book: Chime by Franny Billingsley
Age-range: 16 and up

The first few chapters are a little hard to get into, but once you get used to the narrator's self-loathing and fall into the cadence of the language it's quite beautiful. There were a few metaphors that were gorgeous, but pulled me out of the story as I tried to work out the relevance they had to the story.

This was a good book with lots of surprises, but lots of hints along the way to discover those surprises. I also love the "assignment" of animals for a few of the characters. It made me think of my sister Heidi.

Happy reading!

May Book Review #4

Book: The Folk Keeper by Franny Billingsley
Age-range: 8 and up
Recommended: Yes

I knew nothing about this book when I checked it out from the library yesterday afternoon.  All I knew was that somewhere along the way I had written it down on my to-be-read list.  So I picked it up.  It's an amazingly fast read with a full story.  It also reminds me of some folktale or fairy tale I've read before, but I can't place the actual name of it.  If, after reading this book, you know what it is then please put my mind to rest and tell me.

Corinna is a Folk Keeper, a responsibility that requires her to keep all the "Folk" (who seem to me to be close to demons or malicious sprites, or something) who live in a certain area happy.  She does an extremely good job and the book is her journal of what happens on certain days.  I will be the first to admit that diary- or letter-formatted books usually irritate me, but this one is very well done.  Corinna documents her move from a house to a large island where the Folk are more malicious and evil than any she's come across before.

It has everything: a mysterious former lady of the house, a sweet red-headed sailor, a calculating and cruel man who is not set to inherit, Sealmaidens, storms, death, and, most importantly, love.

The story is interesting and moves quickly from beginning to end.  It's definitely something I would recommend to anyone with the slightest interest in folk or fairy tales.