Book Review: Song of the Wolf

Thank you to the author, T. C. Smith, for sending me an ARC copy of this book for review.

Content Warnings – provided by the author:

This book contains the following content which may be distressing to some readers:
Alcohol, Animal Death, Anxiety, Blood and Gore, Bones, Death, Decapitation, Racism/Xenophobia, Graphic Depictions of Violence, War
This book contains mentions of the following content which may be distressing to some readers:
Child Death, Harm to Children, Forced Experimentation, Genocide, Kidnapping, Terminal Illness

The Plot:

Talin Zylvaris, second of that name, is a young and inexperienced queen. Having ascended the throne of Kies Tor after her father’s death in battle, it is not long before she finds herself beset by enemies, both on the borders of her realm and within her own court.

Red Wolf, the Lord Commander of Talin’s Royal Guard, as well as her personal bodyguard, wants only to do what is best for his queen and her subjects. But he has dark secrets buried in his past which threaten to shatter the trust Talin has always placed in him.

When Hellhounds threaten their northern border, they must ride west together in search of allies, but will they find help in time to avert disaster?

Full disclosure: I have known T. C. Smith personally for several years. Talin and Red Wolf are also old friends of mine, as I had the privilege of reading snippets of this novel while it was still a work in progress, as well as getting further insights about the characters direct from the author. That said, while I knew the characters well, I knew few details of the plot.

I was incredibly excited to read Song of the Wolf and counted the days until my ARC arrived… I was not disappointed. The novel gripped me from the very beginning, and I have had several sleepless nights this week because I wanted to stay up reading to see what happened next.

Blending high fantasy, magic, political intrigue, and romance, Song of the Wolf ticked so many boxes for me. I am eagerly awaiting the next installment (a long wait, perhaps, given Song of the Wolf won’t officially be released until December 4th).

Book Review: The Pursuit of Love

I chose to read Nancy Mitford’s The Pursuit of Love for the “20th century classic” category in the Back to the Classics 2022 challenge. I don’t know why I left this one until last but I’m glad I did, because it’s only short and here I am down to the wire!

The Plot

Linda Radlett and her cousin Fanny grow up longing for love, and marriage… but they find that their childish ideas of sex (gleaned from a book on Ducks and Duck Breeding) are very different from the reality they find as adults.

I mentioned in a post earlier this year (it’s still this year, just) that I was excited to read this book because I have learned a lot about the Mitford sisters over the past couple of years. I have read several novels loosely based on their lives, as well as Jessica Mitford’s autobiography. Let’s just say that Nancy didn’t have to stretch the imagination very far in writing this novel. It’s (not very loosely) based on her own life and those of her siblings – with the names changed to protect the innocent. It was fairly easy to see which parts of the story were based on real life, and where the author had changed things up.

I did really enjoy this one, in spite of the fact that I was reading it under time pressure. I’ll probably go on to read the two sequels at some point – Love in a Cold Climate, and Don’t Tell Alfred – but maybe not straight away.

Book Review: Dracula

As with many of my more recent posts, Bram Stoker’s Dracula is a book that I read this year without initially considering using it for the “Back to the Classics 2022” challenge. But as the year is rapidly drawing to a close, I have decided to include it for the “19th century classic” category.

The Plot

Newly qualified lawyer Johnathan Harker is sent to Transylvania to assist the mysterious Count Dracula in the purchase of a property in England. Meanwhile his fiancée, Mina Murray, studies shorthand, typing, and railway timetables, as she awaits his safe return.

Technically I read this book twice in 2022. I had it delivered to my inbox in chronological order as part of the Dracula Daily project, and I also listened to a full-cast audiobook (in the order Bram Stoker intended) starring Alan Cumming and Tim Curry. I have also read it twice before in paperback form, many years ago.

It was such a delight to see all the reactions of people who had the passing knowledge that Dracula was a vampire, but didn’t actually know anything about how the story actually went. Watching people gushing over their excitement about getting “a letter from our dear friend Johnathan” while secretly knowing exactly how it was all going to end up was one of the highlights of my year. As classics go, I think Dracula is one of the most accessible to 21st century readers. If you’re interested in reading along with a whole lot of other people, the organisers of Dracula Daily will be running the project again in 2023.

As a side note: I have also been delighted by the sudden surge in the popularity of classic literature, with a number of other works being broken up into bite-sized chunks and emailed to new readers. I’ve only signed up for one other email newsletter this year – Letters From Watson, in which we’ll be reading all of the Arthur Conan Doyle short stories about Sherlock Holmes. The project doesn’t officially start until January 1st, but there have been a few teaser emails sent out already, and there has been a lot of lively discussion on the Letters From Watson Discord server.

Book Review: Anne of Green Gables

I had originally chosen a different book for the “classic set in a place you’d like to visit” category in the Back to the Classics 2022 challenge, but I couldn’t find my copy of The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and Other Verses from the Red Book anywhere. Then I remembered that I had been on a bit of a rereading kick this year, and several of the books I had read were classics. So, the book I ended up choosing for this category was L. M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables.

The Plot

Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert are astonished when, after sending word to an orphanage that they wish to adopt a boy to help them run the farm at Green Gables, they instead find themselves raising a red-haired girl with a temper to match.

Classic set in a place you’d like to visit… the truth is, this book (and its many sequels) is the reason I’d like to visit Prince Edward Island in Canada. I’m sure a lot has changed there in the 150 years since the time when the book was set (and 110 years after it was published) but the house where L. M. Montgomery grew up is now an Anne of Green Gables museum, and that would be worth seeing.

The entire series of “Anne” books includes eight novels and two spin-off short story collections. I’ve (re)read most of them this year (the last 2 novels and the short stories might have to wait for next year now). This first novel of the series follows Anne through her first 4 years at Green Gables, the prettiest farm in Avonlea. She grows from a talkative and easily distracted 11-year-old with a temper that sees her yelling at the neighbours and breaking her slate over the head of the handsomest boy in her school, to a mature and sensible 15-year-old starting to spread her wings in the wider world.

I first read this book when I was about 11, after being given it as a birthday present. I’ll admit at that age I struggled with the unfamiliar phrasing, and only got through it after having seen the movie adaption starring Megan Follows. Knowing how it ended certainly made it easier for me to keep pushing through. It is now a series that I reread fairly often – every couple of years or so!

Book Review: The Tempest

I originally chose to read Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales for the “Pre-1800 Classic” category in the Back to the Classics 2022 challenge, however I found it was just not keeping my attention, in spite of my attempts to make it easier by listening to an audiobook version and consulting online study guides to help me make sense of it. Instead, I dropped it in favour of something a little bit more familiar, and read William Shakespeare’s The Tempest. I’ve read a number of Shakespeare’s plays before, but The Tempest is one I had previously only experienced through seeing the movie starring Helen Mirren.

The Plot

Prospero, the rightful Duke of Milan, has lived for some 12 years on a remote island with his daughter, Miranda. His brother, Antonio, conspired with King Alonso to take the Dukedom for himself, leaving Prospero and Miranda exiled with only a few of Prospero’s most prized books, and two servants who he keeps under his thrall with magic. Prospero is a skilled sorcerer, and when his brother and the king happen to be sailing past on a voyage from Tunisia back to Naples, he calls up a storm that sinks their ship, and forces them to take refuge on the island.

What can one say about Shakespeare? He is widely regarded as a genius, and while his works don’t make as much sense to readers today as they would have to those who saw them performed when they were new, they are still beautiful and enjoyable pieces of art. I’m sure I’m not the only one who thinks that.

The Tempest is very typical of Shakespeare’s comedies. There is a love story, while chaos is going on all around. Plots get foiled, comic relief characters get drunk and start boasting, but everyone gets their just rewards in the end. To paraphrase Miss Prism in The Importance of Being Earnest, “the good end happily, and the bad unhappily – that is what fiction means”.

Book Review: Narrative of the Life of James Allen

I had originally chosen a different book for the “Wild Card” category in the Back to the Classics 2022 challenge, but instead I ended up reading James Allen’s Narrative of the life of James Allen, alias George Walton, alias Jonas Pierce, alias James H. York, alias Burley Grove, the highwayman: being his death-bed confession, to the warden of the Massachusetts state prison.

As with my last review, this is a memoir, so I won’t be talking about it in the same way as I would a work of fiction. I had never heard of James Allen, but I was drawn to read this one after seeing his name come up in a couple of discussions about book binding – particularly (not for the faint hearted) discussions about the binding of books bound in leather made from human skin.* There are a small number of these books held in libraries around the world, and James Allen’s memoir is one of them. (Fear not, I did not read the original, but a facsimile copy available online here.)

It’s a very short account, only 30 pages or so – fitting, given that Allen only lived to the age of 29. In it, he describes the circumstances of his life, how he came to turn to a life of crime, and his experiences in jail. It is quite a tragic story, if true, and suggests that if he had not been taken advantage of by employers in his early years, he would not have felt the need to obtain money by less honest means. I wasn’t sure what to expect when I started reading it, but as it was short, I thought it worth a try. I ended up being both educated and entertained – it’s definitely worth spending an afternoon on (and if you’re a bit icked out by the thought of the binding, you can also get modern reprints on various websites).

*For more information on the subject of books bound in human skin, I can highly recommend “Dark Archives” by Megan Rosenbloom, or this YouTube video from Caitlin Doughty of “Ask a Mortician”.

Book Review: A Lady’s Visit to the Gold Diggings of Australia

I chose to read “A Lady’s Visit to the Gold Diggings of Australia in 1852-53” for the “classic by a woman author” category in the Back to the Classics 2022 challenge. Although, perhaps it would be more truthful to say that I read this book six months ago, and just realised that it would be an appropriate fit for the category!

This book is a true memoir of Ellen Clacy’s year on the goldfields, which I picked up because… Well… To be honest, I can’t remember where I first heard about it, but I was intrigued by the fact that Clacy had visited a number of places I was very familiar with, including my home town, and the city I lived in when I was at university. One of my favourite parts about reading the memoir was reading her descriptions of the areas she visited, and picturing what they may have looked like then as compared to now.

Clacy writes with intelligence and humour about a number of trying experiences starting with her voyage from England and her arrival in Melbourne, making preparations for the journey to the goldfields, dealing with thieves and ruffians, and the eventual decision to return home. There were some subjects about which I wish she had given more details, but her attitude was very much one of wanting to write about the country and her experience of it, but not about herself.

I don’t usually love reading memoirs or biographies of people I’ve never heard of, but it’s something I’ve done a bit of this year. (My next review is also of a classic memoir I read this year, but didn’t think to count towards the challenge until today.) I certainly didn’t regret reading Clacy’s memoir, and while it’s probably not for everyone I would certainly recommend it to people interested in Australian history, the history of the goldfields, or the experience of 19th century women.

Book Review: Whose Body?

I chose to read Dorothy L. Sayers’ “Whose Body” for the “Mystery/Detective/Crime Classic” category in the Back to the Classics 2022 challenge.

The Plot

Lord Peter Wimsey is a gentleman of leisure who lists his hobbies as “criminology; bibliography; music; cricket”. On receiving a phone call from his mother informing him that “a respectable Battersea architect has discovered a dead man in his bath”, he cancels his plans to attend a rare book sale, and instead hastens to the scene of the crime.

Meanwhile, Lord Peter’s friend, Detective Inspector Parker, has been tasked with finding out what has become of a respectable Jewish financier who disappeared the previous evening. Could his be the body in the Battersea bathtub?

Usually cosy mysteries like this are my jam. I have read over 100 of them, but this was my first meeting with Dorothy L. Sayers. I admit to struggling to get into the story at first, but that may have been because I was also juggling a number of other books at the time, some of which had to be returned to the library, so poor Lord Peter got put down for several months.

I absolutely flew through the second half of the novel, and found the mystery was wrapped up nicely. There weren’t as many red herrings and false trails to contend with as you would expect with, for example, an Agatha Christie. There was still enough to keep me guessing until almost the end.

I was also pleasantly surprised with the way that Lord Peter developed as a character throughout the novel. He seemed a bit of a caricature at first, but as the story progressed we learned more about his past, his war service, and his internal struggles. I have several more books from the series in my collection, and look forward to reading them in the future.

Book Review: Hons and Rebels

I chose to read Jessica Mitford’s Hons and Rebels for the “Nonfiction Classic” category in the Back to the Classics 2022 challenge. This wasn’t my first choice for this category, but a combination of not being able to lay my hands immediately on my copy of Ernest Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast, and a work of fiction piquing my interest in the Mitford sisters led me to change my choice.

The Plot

The Mitford sisters, Nancy, Pam, Diana, Unity, Jessica, and Deborah, were controversial figures in the 1920s and 1930s. The daughters of the second Baron Redesdale, scandal followed them wherever they went.

Hons and Rebels is Jessica Mitford’s autobiography. While she talks a little bit about her childhood, and growing up with her six siblings*, it mostly focuses on the period of her life between her society debut in the mid-1930s and the outbreak of WW2.

Three years ago, I had never heard of the Mitford sisters… then I started reading Jessica Fellowes’ series of murder mysteries loosely based on the lives of the Mitford family.** Hons and Rebels is listed as one of the source materials for the series – and I was interested enough to see how the fact and fiction compare.

Jessica (known to all as Decca) writes candidly about her youth, and paints a vivid picture of a family that was torn between the traditional conservativism of their aristocratic upbringing, and the influences of the emerging political movements of socialism, communism, and fascism. She writes with some humor, but also admits that there were times when she made mistakes. I was actually a little disappointed that the book ended with the outbreak of the war, as she was only 22 at the time, and reading up on her I learned that she continued to make interesting choices throughout her lifetime.

I have another Mitford book on my Back to the Classics list for this year – The Pursuit of Love by Decca’s eldest sister, Nancy. I can’t wait to see how the two sisters’ writing styles compare!

*Five sisters, and her brother, Tom.

**So far there are five books in the series, each set during an important period in the life of one of the six Mitford sisters. they’re worth a read if you like an old fashioned historical/cozy/murder mystery.

Book Review: Dubliners

I chose to read James Joyce’s Dubliners for the “Classic Short Stories” category in the Back to the Classics 2022 challenge. At first I found it quite hard to think of a classic short story collection to pick for this category, but this one turned up on a quick online search, and it sounded pretty interesting.

The Plot

Normally this is the paragraph where I would give a basic outline of the story – but that’s not appropriate for Dubliners, which is a collection of short stories whose only common link is that they are all set in the city of Dublin. Each story is a slice of life, delving into the concerns of common people, from a variety of different backgrounds. The stories are: “The Sisters”, “An Encounter”, “Araby”, “Eveline”, “After the Race”, “Two Gallants”, “The Boarding House”, “A Little Cloud”, “Counterparts”, “Clay”, “A Painful Case”, “Ivy Day in the Committee Room”, “A Mother”, “Grace”, and “The Dead”.

I had never read any James Joyce before, although I certainly knew the author’s name. He is one of the authors whose name often turns up on lists of “100 books to read before you die”. I have found that these lists can be a bit “hit and miss”, as just because something is a “classic” doesn’t mean it will be “enjoyable”. So I wasn’t sure, going in, whether I was going to like it or not.

Having finished it, I’m still not quite sure where I stand. The prose is, well, Joyce’s descriptions are vivid and there is real life in the characters and situations he portrays. But there is something in the stories that left me unsatisfied. It is as though he draws the curtain back for just a short while, and then lets it fall just when the real action is starting to happen.

The themes covered in the stories are heavy, and may be triggering for some, with most of the stories featuring one or more of the following: alcoholism, religion, sex, politics, and death. I guess overall I would say, I didn’t hate it, but for a book that’s only 160 or so pages, it was quite a slog and took me two weeks to get through.