Agatha Christie was an extraordinary mystery writer, and several of her earlier works are now free on Project Gutenberg, where I was poking around a fAgatha Christie was an extraordinary mystery writer, and several of her earlier works are now free on Project Gutenberg, where I was poking around a few days ago to see what new books from 1926 are now in the public domain and available for downloading there. I got sucked into this collection of eleven early short stories featuring Christie's favorite detective, Hercule Poirot. The stories are a bit of a mixed bag but it was still fun reading, and Agatha Christie still fools me pretty much every time.
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This collection includes: 1. "The Adventure of 'The Western Star'" - written warnings are sent to two women, an American movie star visiting London and a British lady, ordering them to turn over their identical, valuable diamonds (the Star of the East and the Western Star) ... or else. Solid thumbs up for the mystery element. Minus points for the casual use of racial insults to describe Chinese people (keep in mind this was written in the early 1920s, so this kind of thing comes with the territory). 2. "The Tragedy of Marsdon Manor" - a middle-aged man dies in a strange way, leaving a beautiful young wife behind. Was it suicide? 3. "The Adventure of the Cheap Flat" - a very nice apartment is rented for a suspiciously low price. Poirot too is suspicious. Nefarious dealings ensue. 4. "The Mystery of Hunter's Lodge" - Mr. Havering, a baronet's younger son, consults Poirot and his friend Hastings about the murder of his wealthy uncle at their hunting box in the country. Poirot is ill, so the intrepid Hastings goes to the lodge with Havering, sure he can solve the mystery as well as Poirot could. Hastings is, of course, wrong. 5. "The Million Dollar Bond Robbery" - an enjoyable story featuring a cross-Atlantic voyage and a million dollars in Liberty bonds stolen from a locked chest on board. The chest was in the custody of a nice young banker, who’s now in hot water. His distraught fiancee begs Poirot to figure it out. I came thisclose to figuring it out, and a little more pondering probably would have done it. Still, a good story. 6. "The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb" - this story plays with the popular idea of a deadly curse against those who open ancient Egyptian tombs. Several people die. A solid mystery. 7. "The Jewel Robbery at the Grand Metropolitan" - How did wealthy Mrs Opalson's opals pearls get taken from jewel case in her hotel room while her maid and the hotel chambermaid were right there, except for about 15 seconds a couple of times when the maid stepped into a connecting room? I like these stolen jewels mysteries, and this is a tricky one. 8. "The Kidnapped Prime Minister" - The British Prime Minister needs to attend a secret peace conference in France, but someone first tries to shoot him and then kidnaps him on the way. Another interesting one that I had half-figured out ... 9. "The Disappearance of Mr. Davenheim" - A banker mysteriously disappears from his country home one afternoon, and soon after it is found that the safe in his home has been forced open and emptied. More stolen jewels! plus money and bonds. Christie is at her trickiest here. I thought I had the answer but I was barking up the wrong tree. 10. "The Adventure of the Italian Nobleman" - an Italian count staying in England is murdered, his head crushed by a small marble statue. How then did he telephone his doctor for help? And what is one to make of the remains of the dinner found in the count's apartment? Only Poirot knows. 11. "The Case of the Missing Will" - I really enjoyed this one! No murder, stolen jewels, or other dastardly crimes for a change, just a sneaky, rich dead uncle who wants to make his niece prove herself in order to inherit his wealth. Not being stupid, she turns the case over to Poirot.
3.5 stars overall. Not bad at all for a freebie if you like little mystery bites, though I think I like Christie's full-length novels better....more
This 1930 British novel is a witty and often very insightful story, somewhat a coming-of-age novel about a young woman, Ann Laventie. Ann is from an iThis 1930 British novel is a witty and often very insightful story, somewhat a coming-of-age novel about a young woman, Ann Laventie. Ann is from an intellectual, snobbish and rather pretentious family, just wealthy enough to consider themselves above all of their neighbors in Sussex. Ann is the youngest and doesn't quite fit the family mold. She's more down to earth and caring about others' feelings than her siblings and father (her mother is an invalid and pretty much a non-entity; until the very end you have very few clues as to what's going on in her head).
The question is whether she'll break the mold completely or be fully absorbed into the family's social sphere and way of life.
[image] The rhododendron pie of the title is a great symbol: Ann's family’s tradition is to have a birthday pie filled with fresh flowers instead of fruit. Beautiful but inedible. Everyone loves it except poor Ann, who's just dying for a good old apple pie.
There is a little romance here, but it's a minor element. Mostly it's about social standing and the way people view and treat each other. That may sound simple, but Margery Sharp had a gift with words that made this a joy to read even when events were rather slow-moving and (seemingly, at least) mundane. It's very self-assured for a first novel, and well worth reading if you enjoy this type of historical, personality-driven novel, especially for the $2.99 Kindle price.
May 2021 group read with the Retro Reads group....more
1937 murder mystery featuring the indomitable Miss Silver. The twist here is that a man has already been convicted of the murder and has been in jail 1937 murder mystery featuring the indomitable Miss Silver. The twist here is that a man has already been convicted of the murder and has been in jail for a year, but Hilary Carew accidentally bumps into the murdered man’s servant (there’s a lot of lucky—or sometimes very unlucky—accidental meetings in this book), and the woman’s oddly guilty words start to make Hilary wonder. One thing leads to another, and soon Miss Silver gets involved.
It has its moments, but the story also gets bogged down by some clunky inquest transcripts, too many coincidences, and a romance subplot that I was giving the serious side-eye. Recommended only if you’re a fan of Golden Age murder mysteries.
February 2021 group read with the Retro Reads group!...more
4.5 stars - my favorite of the 1944 stories nominated for Retro Hugo awards! You can read "Arena" free online here or here. Review first posted on Fan4.5 stars - my favorite of the 1944 stories nominated for Retro Hugo awards! You can read "Arena" free online here or here. Review first posted on Fantasy Literature, together with reviews for ALL of the current Retro Hugo novelette and short story nominees. Seriously, this FanLit column took me HOURS to put together, even though I didn't write all of the reviews in it, so please scoot over there and take a quick look and let me know if my efforts paid off. Feel free to add a comment to the thread there. :)
So, "Arena":
Two huge space fleets near Pluto are about to engage in a battle to the death: Humans and the aliens they call the Outsiders. Bob Carson, a young human in an individual scout ship, is about to engage with his Outsider counterpart in another scouter when he suddenly blacks out, only to awaken under a dome on a planet in another dimension. Across from him is a large red ball with retractable tentacles that turns out to be the Outsider scout, and the two are separated by an invisible barrier.
A disembodied voice informs Carson that if the space battle ensues, one side will be wholly exterminated, but that “winner” will be so damaged that it will “retrogress and never fulfill its destiny, but decay and return to mindless dust.” So this powerful entity has plucked Carson and the Outsider out of the two fleets to fight a one-on-one duel to the death. This being will destroy the entire spacefleet of the loser, allowing the winning species to continue to progress. But given the invisible barrier between the two, it will be a battle of brains as much as physical strength.
I first came across "Arena" at about age 13 in The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume One, 1929-1964, a book that was instrumental in shaping my love and tastes for SF. "Arena" was one of the most compelling and memorable stories in the collection, and rereading it now, a few decades later, I’m impressed with how well this novelette has withstood the test of time. Compared to some of the other Retro Hugo nominees from this year, it’s an outstanding piece of storytelling, and there’s a nice note of irony to the ending.
"Arena" was used at least partially as inspiration for a famous Star Trek episode in 1967 (also called Arena), which has a quite different ending. Many prefer the Star Trek ending, and I can't really argue with that, but considering that this was written during WWII, when the mood for righteous war was at its peak, it’s impressive that Brown actually took the time to show that Carson does attempt to make peace with the Outsider, which responds with a wave of hatred so strong that it physically weakens him.
"Arena" may be somewhat lacking in depth and nuance, but as a suspenseful, well-told SF action tale from this era, it’s hard to beat....more
This Kindle bundle has three of Georgette Heyer's most well-known novels: The Grand Sophy, Arabella, and Frederica, along with a so-so novella, “A MatThis Kindle bundle has three of Georgette Heyer's most well-known novels: The Grand Sophy, Arabella, and Frederica, along with a so-so novella, “A Matter of Honour.” Those really are three of her best novels (except Venetia should be included. But I digress.).
These three novels shouldn't be missed if you're a Georgette Heyer fan or are interested in checking her out. They're old-fashioned Regencies, but with the emphasis more on witty dialogue, interesting characters and the occasional farcical comedy scene, than the actual romance part. So set your expectations accordingly....more
3.75 stars. It's New Year's Eve 1941, and the wealthy Paradine family and their various relatives and in-laws have gathered at James Paradine's mansio3.75 stars. It's New Year's Eve 1941, and the wealthy Paradine family and their various relatives and in-laws have gathered at James Paradine's mansion to celebrate. But James has a surprise: he tells the family that someone has "betrayed the family interests" ... and that he knows who that person is, and the guilty person has until midnight to come to James' office and work things out with him. Several people go to his office, but for different reasons. And by the next morning, someone is murdered.
Miss Silver, a detective, is called in by the family to solve the murder mystery and maybe solve a few other problems while she's at it. (The main suspect is worried - with good reason - that the police will arrest them.)
I've read a couple of these old Miss Silver murder mysteries now. The mysteries aren't quite up to Agatha Christie's - at least not the ones I've read - but the characters are well-drawn and there always seems to be a troubled romance or two to work out along with the crime. :) Good old-fashioned fun.
The whole set of Miss Silver mysteries - there are 25 or 30 of them - is free online at the FadedPage website....more
4.5 stars. A unique and intriguing Sherlock Holmes mystery about a valuable missing racehorse and a dead man. This one came close to making Arthur Con4.5 stars. A unique and intriguing Sherlock Holmes mystery about a valuable missing racehorse and a dead man. This one came close to making Arthur Conan Doyle’s list of his top 12 Sherlock Holmes stories, but he couldn’t quite forgive it for some errors he’d made regarding the rules of the horse racing world. But I think maybe it does make my own list of the top dozen Sherlock stories, because of the unusual plot and the fact that Doyle actually gives readers enough clues to solve the mystery for themselves....more
3.75 stars for this heartwarming religious 1910 short fiction story about the Christmas experiences of the Fernald family, with their six grown childr3.75 stars for this heartwarming religious 1910 short fiction story about the Christmas experiences of the Fernald family, with their six grown children (all except one married) and kindly parents. This story is a sequel to On Christmas Day in the Morning, and both are free to read at Project Gutenberg.
The grown kids now gather at their parents’ home whenever possible at Christmas. Some of them are there a couple of weeks before Christmas, and one evening the talk turns to the local village church, which has been completely closed for the last 17 months since some terrible quarrels between several members of the congregation. Nan decides it’s time to open the church back up, have a Christmas evening meeting with a guest sermon (conveniently, an in-law’s brother is a well-known preacher), and get people to forgive old grievances. It’s a bit of an uphill battle, but her family rallies around her and they fix up the old church. But then their guest preacher has an unexpected inspiration...
It’s an inspiring, traditionally religious story about forgiveness and love, and pulling together as families and communities. Recommended if you enjoy that kind of read. Here’s the link to it on Gutenberg: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/19384...
And like Carol, I’ve completed my 2019 reading challenge with this story. I had to squeeze in a few short ones there at the end to hit my goal, but I made it!...more
The Weapon Makers, a 1943 SF novel currently nominated for a 1944 Retro Hugo award, is the sequel3.5 stars. Review first posted on Fantasy Literature:
The Weapon Makers, a 1943 SF novel currently nominated for a 1944 Retro Hugo award, is the sequel to the better-known The Weapon Shops of Isher. As discussed in my review of The Weapon Shops of Isher, A.E. van Vogt was fond of creating fix-up novels based on his earlier works, and the creation and publication history of both of these novels in his EMPIRE OF ISHER duology is complicated. The Weapon Shops of Isher, was published in its final form in 1951, several years after The Weapon Makers, but The Weapon Makers is set several years after The Weapon Shops of Isher,. It may help to keep in mind that about half of The Weapon Shops of Isher, comes from two short stories published in 1941 and 1942. For its part, The Weapon Makers was first published in serialized form in Astounding magazine in 1943, then printed in book form in 1947, then substantially revised by van Vogt and republished in 1952. (This publication history makes my head spin.) I think it’s advisable to read The Weapon Shops of Isher, first, so you’re grounded in the world of the Empire of Isher, but it’s not strictly necessary, plot-wise.
At any rate, this story begins about seven years after the events in The Weapon Shops of Isher, (we know this because the Empress Innelda, who was 25 years old in the first book, is now 32). One of the weapon shop organization’s executives, Robert Hedrock, has been a spy in the Empress’ palace for the past six months. Hedrock is Earth’s only immortal man, a secret he’s never told anyone. He’s about 2500 years old but looks like a man in his prime.
One of Hedrock’s secret weapons is a “spy ray” machine, and using it he finds out that the Empress ― who’s treated him very favorably in the past six months ― has just ordered him to be arrested after their lunch in a few hours and then immediately hanged. Despite the personal danger, Hedrock decides to stay in the palace and try to brazen it out. It works, at least partially, but it seems a lucky break for Hedrock when a weapon shop carplane whisks him away from the palace after lunch.
It’s not actually so lucky, though: the High Council of Weapon Makers, a group of thirty men who run the weapon shops organization, has convened to put him on trial on the spot. Hedrock is under grave suspicion because the Council has realized that he’s not the person they originally believed him to be. Their sentence is immediate death, and that sentence is a lot more dangerous coming from the Weapon Makers than from the Empress.
From here Hedrock plunges into a dizzying series of adventures, including trying to save the world’s first and only interstellar spaceship, which the Empress is intent on destroying to protect her regime; first contact with an alien race, which has questionable intentions toward humanity; avoiding capture by the Weapon Makers; stomping around the country in giant form (seriously!); and a little bit of time travel. The plot is definitely imaginative but rather disjointed. Van Vogt claimed that many of his story ideas came from his dreams (during his active writing years he reportedly would wake every ninety minutes to write down ideas from his dreams), and after reading The Weapon Makers, I believe it.
Empress Innelda is a strong-willed, vividly-drawn character here and in The Weapon Shops of Isher,, but makes some odd choices in this book regarding love, marriage and motherhood. This development was probably generally satisfying to readers when this book was published 65 or 75 years ago, but (though I’m all for marriage and parenthood) the way she acts seems quite out of character. For their part, the weapon shop personnel in this story are far less altruistic than they seemed in the first book, and more inclined to take offensive action against perceived threats like Hedrock and the Empress, but that plot development makes much more sense and works well.
Van Vogt found some fascinating ways to work time travel into the plots of his EMPIRE OF ISHER books, but the science in The Weapon Makers ― spy rays! A countless variety of rings for Hedrock’s fingers that allow him to teleport and do other incredible stunts! Aliens with amazing mind-over-matter powers! ― is definitely of the handwavy, soft science variety. This is an imaginative novel with an intricate plot, but it doesn’t cohere as well, or impress me as much, as The Weapon Shops of Isher,. It’s worth reading, though, if you enjoyed the first book....more
A science fiction classic from 1951, or from the 1940s, depending on how you slice it. :) Review first posted on Fantasy Literature:
I first came acrosA science fiction classic from 1951, or from the 1940s, depending on how you slice it. :) Review first posted on Fantasy Literature:
I first came across the 1942 short story “The Weapon Shop” by A.E. van Vogt in The Science Fiction Hall of Fame: Volume One, 1929-1964, a fantastic collection of some of the best short fiction from the pre-Nebula years that was instrumental in shaping my taste for science fiction when I was an impressionable teen. A few years later I came across the full-length novel The Weapon Shops of Isher in the two-volume collection A Treasury of Great Science Fiction, edited by Anthony Boucher, and was surprised to see that the short story I’d enjoyed was actually part of a much longer work that was far more complex and appealing to me.
What had actually happened, though I didn’t know it at the time, was that van Vogt had taken three of his shorter works that had been published in science fiction magazines in the 1940s ― the above-mentioned “The Weapon Shop,” “The Seesaw” from 1941, and “The Weapon Shops of Isher” from 1949 ― and combined them into the “fix-up” novel The Weapon Shops of Isher. (Reportedly, van Vogt even coined the term “fix-up”; certainly he was enthusiastic about the process of combining and reworking his earlier stories.)
As a result, The Weapon Shops of Isher is a wide-ranging novel with multiple plot threads and characters. Seven thousand years in the future, Earth is ruled by the Empress Innelda, an intelligent, rather despotic young ruler who is the latest descendant of the long-reigning House of Isher. For the last couple of thousand years, the monarchy’s tendency toward tyranny has been checked by the Weapon Shops, where anyone (except government agents) can get a super-high-tech weapon to use for self-defense.
In this setting there are three interlocking plotlines, logically enough, since this novel is composed of three shorter works. In the first, Chris McAllister, a reporter, enters a weapon shop that suddenly appeared in his town in the year 1951 and is instantly transported to the time period that the shop came from, some 7,000 years in the future. The weapon shop’s owner and his daughter soon realize that McAllister and the shop are seesawing in time because of an energy weapon being turned on the shop by the Empress. Because of the huge mass differential, McAllister is swinging back and forth far further in time than the shop … and it’s only getting worse. Not to mention he’s building up a massive charge of energy in his body, with no safe way to discharge it.
The second plot thread follows Fara Clark, an older man who’s extremely set in his authoritarian attitudes toward his family and his devotion to the Empress. His harshness has alienated his 23-year-old son Cayle. Fara despises the weapon shops and their philosophical views that set them in opposition to the Empress, but when Fara’s repair shop business and livelihood are ruined by a ruthless corporation, he may have nowhere else to turn.
The third (and most interesting, at least to me) plotline follows Cayle Clark as he escapes his village, intent on making it in the big city, Imperial City. He’s hampered by his small-town habits and lack of sophistication, but on the plus side he has immense “callidetic” (PSI) mental powers and has gained the interest of Lucy Rall, a young woman who works at the weapon shop and has Connections. But Cayle’s mental powers may cause him trouble as well as helping him out, especially when he gets carried away with his lucky streak and wins far too much money in a gambling palace. The owners of the establishment are not at all amused, and they have ways of making people like him pay.
One of the secondary characters is a man named Robert Hedrock who, through an accident of some kind about 2500 years earlier, is now Earth’s sole immortal man (something he keeps secret), and who is a key executive within the weapon shops organization. Hedrock’s immortality is oddly handwaved in The Weapon Shops of Isher, but he takes center stage in its sequel, The Weapon Makers, which was first published in serialized form in Astounding magazine in 1943, but is set several years later than this novel.
I originally read back The Weapon Shops of Isher in the 80s and enjoyed it hugely. It has some strikingly imaginative ideas and ― what is more surprising ― characters who are actually memorable (something that can’t be taken for granted in classic SF). On reread, I can see that some aspects of it are dated: Fara Clark’s dismissive treatment of his wife and adult son seem very mid-20th century, though arguably it could remain a small-town attitude in the far future. Though most of the power players in this world are men, the Empress wields impressive power and Lucy Rall takes a fairly active role in directing her own and Cayle’s lives. Van Vogt is also patently enthused about the Second Amendment; the weapon shops’ slogan is “The right to buy weapons is the right to be free.” It’s a measured take on the right to bear arms, however: the shops’ high-tech weapons can only be used only by the buyer, and only for self-defense and approved hunting.
You can see the seams where van Vogt melded together the three novellas, but the plot threads all weave together fairly well in the end. The Weapon Shops of Isher is one of the better science fiction novels from its era; I recommend it to readers who are fond of Golden Age SF. Both this novel and its sequel, the Retro Hugo-nominated The Weapon Makers, are available on Kindle for a reasonable price (currently $3.99 each)....more
3.5 stars. If you're a fan of the old Mary Poppins movie (I am!), the original book is worth checking out. But I didn’t love it as much as I’d hoped. 3.5 stars. If you're a fan of the old Mary Poppins movie (I am!), the original book is worth checking out. But I didn’t love it as much as I’d hoped. Review first posted on Fantasy Literature:
When Katie Nanna disappears from the Banks home without notice, Jane and Michael are pleased (“She was old and fat and smelt of barley-water”). But they’re not quite ready for the replacement nanny that the East Wind blows to their door: Mary Poppins, who promptly intimidates Mrs. Banks into hiring her without references, slides up the banister, pulls a great number of items from her apparently empty carpet bag, and shares magical flavor-changing medicine with Jane and Michael (their baby siblings, John and Barbara, just get milk from the medicine bottle). And so the magical adventures of Mary Poppins and the Banks children begin. Despite her sternness, Michael and Jane soon beg her to never leave, but she only promises to stay until the wind changes.
I was inspired by the movie Saving Mr. Banks to pick up the original 1934 novel of Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers. FAR less touchy-feely than Disney’s movie, Mary Poppins in the novel is a surprisingly vain, acerbic, and mysterious woman who regularly snaps at Jane and Michael and gets offended easily, but also takes them on grand magical adventures and wins their devotion.
Mary Poppins is episodic in style: each chapter is a different, stand-alone adventure. Some of their adventures will be familiar if you know the movie, but most were brand-new to me. Bert the Match-Man shows up in Chapter 2, when he and Mary (without the children) jump into one of his chalk sidewalk drawings, but never appears again. Nor are there any penguins, animated or otherwise, or parents who need to reconnect with their family. Mr. and Mrs. Banks appear to be doing just fine, thank you, or if they’re not, no one in this book seems to care.
But there’s a touching chapter about Andrew the dog who, using Mary Poppins as his translator with his owner, insists that his owner Miss Lark accept his friendship with a common street mongrel and welcome him into their home … and, by the way, quit making Andrew go to the hairdresser’s and wear embarrassing overcoats. Another standout is a tender chapter about the 11-month-old twins, John and Barbara, who have a sweet conversation with Mary Poppins, the sunlight that streams into their room, and a visiting Starling. The twins are still young enough to understand and talk with the animals, the sun and the wind talking to them, but their first birthday is fast approaching. There’s a visit to the zoo on the night of the full moon and Mary Poppins' birthday, when the animals can talk and switch places with people, who are in their cages.
There’s also a curious chapter called “Bad Tuesday” in which Michael feels driven to be naughty all day long, but is nevertheless rewarded with a quick magical trip around the globe with Mary Poppins and Jane, visiting with a polar bear, macaw, panda and dolphins at each of the four corners of the world. It’s worth noting that Travers rewrote this chapter after receiving many complaints, replacing the highly stereotypical “Red Indians,” a Chinese Mandarin, Eskimos, and black Africans with non-controversial animals. The original text and some illustrations can be viewed in this online article.
After the premiere of the film version of Mary Poppins, according to Richard Sherman, Travers tracked down Walt Disney at the after-party. A New Yorker article reported their brief exchange:
“Well,” she said loudly. “The first thing that has to go is the animation sequence.” Disney looked at her coolly. “Pamela,” he replied, “the ship has sailed.” And then he strode past her, toward a throng of well-wishers, and left her alone, an aging woman in a satin gown and evening gloves, who had travelled more than five thousand miles to attend a party where she wasn’t wanted.
Whether Disney improved on Travers’ original story is a matter of personal taste; what is certain is that she herself never forgave his adaptation of her beloved book.
Mary Poppins, which has seven sequels written by Travers, is dated in its social viewpoints, though that’s understandable for a 1934 novel, and you have to squint to see the plot, but there are many charming and memorable moments....more
I was a child when I first saw Disney’s 1971 movie Bedknobs and Broomsticks and have fo[image] Final review, first posted on www.FantasyLiterature.com:
I was a child when I first saw Disney’s 1971 movie Bedknobs and Broomsticks and have fond memories of it. So when I found out that the book that inspired the movie, Mary Norton’s The Magic Bed-Knob, was nominated this year for a 1944 Retro Hugo award, I was excited to read it. It’s charming and old-fashioned … but not everything I had hoped for. Also, it’s not much like the Disney movie, which is both a positive and a negative thing.
During the London Blitz, three siblings ― Carey (“about your age”), Charles (“a little younger”) and Paul (“only six”) ― are sent to Bedfordshire to stay with their Aunt Beatrice. (Tangentially, it’s worth noting that in recent editions of The Magic Bed-Knob, all references to the war have been redacted, perhaps in an effort to make the story less tied to a particular era.) One day the children find their very proper neighbor, Miss Price, has fallen and hurt her ankle. As they help her back to her house, Paul lets slip that he’s been watching Miss Price practice flying on her broom at night, and that falling off her broomstick ― not her bike ― is why she’s now injured. She’s a newbie witch, it turns out, and is learning her craft through a correspondence course.
Miss Price is appalled that her secret’s been found out by the children, and is almost ready to cast a spell that will silence them permanently (perhaps by changing them into frogs, which she temporarily does to Paul). But the children manage to convince her to bribe them into keeping her secret instead. So Miss Price casts a spell on a bed-knob that Paul is conveniently carrying in his pocket. If they twist the knob when it’s attached to the bed and make a wish, the bed will (almost) instantly fly to where they wish. Or, as it turns out, where Paul wishes, since it’s his bed and bed-knob. Paul’s older siblings are a bit appalled, but Paul himself is ecstatic.
The Magic Bed-Knob is rather dated, as might be expected from a children’s fantasy published in 1943, but still retains much of its old-fashioned charm. The interactions between the three children are realistic, particularly with Carey and Charles treating Paul rather dismissively because he’s several years younger. Paul is resentful of this treatment, which makes the fact that he’s the only one who can work the bed-knob magic so much sweeter to him. Miss Price, interestingly, is shown to have some struggles with the kind side of her nature vs. the wicked streak that the study of witchcraft apparently brings out in her.
I’ll admit to some disappointment that the talking animals and the uproarious soccer game on the magical island of Naboombu in the Disney movie wasn’t in the original book; instead we have a rather mundane, boring trip to their closed-up home in London and a less boring but somewhat wince-inducing run-in with stereotypical cannibals on the island of Ueepe. How Carey immediately identifies the natives as cannibals after a single glanced is never explained, but the correctness of that assumption never comes into question. The Star of Astaroth never makes an appearance, but we do get an extended run-in with the London police.
The Magic Bed-Knob has limited creativity and lacks much of the excitement of modern children’s fantasy, but there’s a sweetness at its heart.
“Keep your warm hearts, your gentleness, and your courage. These will do,” said Miss Price, sniffing audibly, “just as well as magic.”
Recommended for fans of old-fashioned children’s fantasy.
Cold War spy thriller, written in 1966, that manages to be both cozy and steely. For the uninitiated (like me), this is the first book in a series of Cold War spy thriller, written in 1966, that manages to be both cozy and steely. For the uninitiated (like me), this is the first book in a series of old-fashioned Cold War spy novels, featuring one Mrs. Pollifax. She's a rather fluffy, quirky and kindhearted lady in her 60s, with an unexpected core of steel. You have to like her.
Mrs. Pollifax is a widow who lives alone, and her despair at the monotony and lack of excitement in her life leads her to take a trip to the CIA offices in Washington DC and offer herself up as a spy. Surprisingly, they take her up on it. More surprisingly (at least for the CIA), her adventure in Mexico City - she was supposed to do a simple courier job - turns out to be a lot more dangerous than anyone expected.
It’s a quick read, mixing seriousness and humor, and it’s great to see Mrs. Pollifax rise to the occasion when things get tense and deadly and difficult. It’s easy to see that this was written in the sixties; it has some stereotype characters and definitely isn’t “woke,” despite the female author and main character, so don’t bother digging this book up if some dated social attitudes are going to grate. On the plus side, though, Mrs. Pollifax definitely pushes far beyond the expectations that people have for an older woman.
My friend Hana's advice to me made me laugh: "You just have to be in the mood and try and forget that the people the CIA was actually hiring at the time were more along the lines of mobsters like Sam Giancana than little old ladies with flowered hats :D ... If it's a first read and you treat the whole series as something akin to parallel history time travel you will love it!"
Parallel history time travel works for me!
April 2019 buddy read with the Retro Reads group....more
Philip K. Dick's first published story, from 1952, has a group of humans loading up their spaceship with various birds and animals from Mars, which thPhilip K. Dick's first published story, from 1952, has a group of humans loading up their spaceship with various birds and animals from Mars, which they plan to eat on the way back to Earth, despite the disapproval of the Martians. Captain Franco, it is clear from the start, is a boorish guy. But Franco approves when one of his men, Peterson, shows up with a 400 pound pig-like animal called a wub. Clearly good eating is ahead!
But it quickly turns out that the wub is an intelligent, sentient being, with a taste for philosophical discussions and a self-deprecating sense of humor, not to mention some other powers. Can the men on the spaceship really kill and eat it? Franco, undaunted, says yes, definitely, even though the wub and at least some of his men disagree with that plan.
There's a nice twist to the story, but I liked that Philip Dick reached beyond the standard space adventure plot to explore some deeper themes about ethics and use of resources. It's interesting that the leader of the humans, their captain, apparently has the least moral development.
This 1904 short story starts out as a treasure-hunt mystery spiced up with a little cryptography, like Edgar Allen Poe's The Gold Bug, but then takes This 1904 short story starts out as a treasure-hunt mystery spiced up with a little cryptography, like Edgar Allen Poe's The Gold Bug, but then takes a serious turn toward the spooky. A British gentleman, Mr Somerton, is perusing some old Latin texts talking about one Abbot Thomas, who died in 1529, and was reputed to have hidden away a treasure in gold. Somerton puts this text together with the pictures depicted in an old stained glass church window that he tracks down and realizes that he's got a serious clue as to the whereabouts of this fortune in gold.
Some intriguing sleuthing ensures, as Somerton figures out the clues, engages in some amateur cipher-breaking, and heads off to the area of Koblenz, Germany to try to track down the treasure ... but then something goes wrong. The next thing we know is that Somerton's valet has written an anxious and rather incoherent letter to a rector friend, Mr Gregory, begging him to come to Germany and help his master. And the mystery unfolds from there.
The turn-of-the-century writing is rather old-fashioned and it can get a little esoteric with all the Latin (which does get translated for the reader, thank goodness). But it's a well-crafted story with some pretty decent spookiness to it, once it gets rolling. It's worth reading if you like classic suspense stories. You can read it free online here at A Thin Ghost....more
4.33 stars. I picked up this charming 1933 British novel on a $1.99 Kindle sale, and it was well worth the price. Our story begins in 1929, when a 28 4.33 stars. I picked up this charming 1933 British novel on a $1.99 Kindle sale, and it was well worth the price. Our story begins in 1929, when a 28 year old prickly, self-centered London socialite, Lesley Frewen, feeling a bit at loose ends, decides on a whim to adopt a 4 year old boy who's been orphaned. Fairly soon she discovers that she can't maintain her current lifestyle or even her London apartment with Patrick, and retreats to the small village of High Westover, where she's able to find a small, ugly cottage that's within her limited means. (She's got some kind of inheritance that means she doesn't need to work for a living, but it doesn't give her a whole lot of extra cash.)
Lesley really isn't the maternal type, but she finds she has a strong practical streak that now stands her in good stead. She's not very affectionate toward Patrick, but luckily he's a stolid, fairly independent boy, and he and Lesley rub along fairly well ... and gradually begin to grow closer. At first she and the villagers view each other with suspicion, and there's a very funny scene where she invites a few of her London friends to come stay in her cottage for a few days as a housewarming party, which is mildly disastrous (but has a very interesting consequence a couple of years later).
Lesley plans from the beginning to send Patrick off to boarding school when he's eight years old - luckily she has Connections - and move back to the city and take up her old life at that point. But what she doesn't count on is the ways that life in the country might change her. There's some nice symmetry and contrast in Lesley's dealings with two young men who fall in love with her, one at the beginning of the book and one at the end(view spoiler)[, neither of whom interest her romantically (hide spoiler)].
The Flowering Thorn is noticeably old-fashioned and retro in its sensibilities, but I really enjoy that kind of read now and then. A heartwarming story, with just enough edginess mixed in that it doesn't come across as sappy. I really enjoyed the way the characters were drawn, fallible and with human foibles, but sympathetic and (mostly) likable....more
In this 1896 short story by Willa Cather, a down-on-his-luck young man is at the end of his rope financially and in spirit.
It is a tragic hour, that h
In this 1896 short story by Willa Cather, a down-on-his-luck young man is at the end of his rope financially and in spirit.
It is a tragic hour, that hour when we are finally driven to reckon with ourselves, when every avenue of mental distraction has been cut off and our own life and all its ineffaceable failures closes about us like the walls of that old torture chamber of the Inquisition. To-night, as this man stood stranded in the streets of the city, his hour came. It was not the first time he had been hungry and desperate and alone. But always before there had been some outlook, some chance ahead, some pleasure yet untasted that seemed worth the effort, some face that he fancied was, or would be, dear. But it was not so to-night.
He decides to rob a wealthy home, but gets more than he bargained for when he embarks on his new criminal career.
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"The Burglar's Christmas" is definitely a sentimental tale, but it touched my heart. I liked the subtle tie-ins to the Biblical story(view spoiler)[ of the prodigal son in Luke 15 (hide spoiler)], and there are some literary references in the story - the Inquisition, the Dance of Death, and Childe Harold - and some character insights that raise this story above the norm for sweet, heartwarming tales.
Some interesting background notes: When this was originally published in 1896, Willa Cather was only 23. She originally used her cousin's name as a pseudonym for this tale. Some scholars think that (view spoiler)[Cather's own relationship with her mother (hide spoiler)] is reflected in this tale, which would be a lovely thing.
I came across this 1916 Christmas-themed novella while on the search for online short stories about Christmas and the holidays, for the Retro Reads DeI came across this 1916 Christmas-themed novella while on the search for online short stories about Christmas and the holidays, for the Retro Reads December group read.
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Highly recommended if you like sentimental, nostalgic stories about bygone days, but it has a few fun sprinkles of spice along with its sweetness.
The Romance of a Christmas Card involves a spirited minister's wife with a penchant for writing poems and painting pictures, which she decides to turn into a little extra cash (her correspondence with the manufacturer of the greeting card company is hilarious!), a couple of wayward young men who left town three or four years ago and are estranged from their families, and a selfless sister who's taken care of her brother's motherless twins since the day they were born (he's one of the aforesaid young men). Top it off with a dollop of small town gossip, affection and occasional cattiness.
The ending was a bit too abrupt - I really needed a couple more scenes for closure, even though it's perfectly clear what's going to happen - and I wanted to slap some sense into the martyr sister and her irresponsible brother. But overall I really enjoyed it, in a nostalgic turn of the century kind of way.
Free online here at AmericanLiterature.com (it' s also on Project Gutenberg, where you can download it). There are some sweet, old-fashioned illustrations for the story on both sites.
And yes, I'm going to recommend it to the Retro Reads group. :)...more
I've seen Helen MacInnes vintage thrillers on library and used bookstore shelves many times over the years, but never bothered picking one up and readI've seen Helen MacInnes vintage thrillers on library and used bookstore shelves many times over the years, but never bothered picking one up and reading it until now. I should have given her a chance earlier; this was pretty compelling reading.
Above Suspicion, published in 1941 and set in 1939, on the eve of World War II, is about a young British couple, Richard Myles, an Oxford don, and his wife Frances, who are approached by one of their friends, Peter Galt, who's been involved in anti-Nazi espionage. He asks them to use their summer vacation on the European continent to try to contact another British spy in Europe, who's been a key figure in helping people escape from Nazi Germany. The British fear that this man may have been killed, but he's so difficult to contact that no one is quite sure.
Peter asks Richard and Frances to go through the various levels of contact required to find out what's become of their man, hoping that they'll succeed because they're intelligent but unconnected to the espionage organization - thus (hopefully) they'll be above suspicion to the Germans. So Richard and Frances, beginning in Paris, go through the painstaking process of traveling from place to place, and contact to contact, all the while with suspicious Nazis eyeing their moves (not quite as suspicion-proof as their friend Peter hoped).
I enjoyed the first part, with all of its spycraft, though the process of reaching out to this mysterious man struck me as a bit illogical, or at least unnecessarily complex. But there's an unexpected turn of events in the middle of the novel, and then things really get crazy and tense for the last half. It's not nearly as graphic as it probably would be if this novel were written nowadays - I did get the sense that MacInnes was pulling her punches a bit - but it's still very tension-filled and sobering reading.
Perhaps the most interesting part is that MacInnes actually wrote this just when the Nazi machine was really gearing up. It's fascinating to read her views in the things the characters say and think: their horror at how the Nazi regime is changing people, and what it leads them to do; the pleas for people and countries not to be isolationist and stand aside, but to get involved to stop the Nazi threat to individuals and countries.
I will say that the novel is rather old-fashioned in its social views, especially with respect to the role of women. As intelligent as Frances is, she still exhibits weakness (which, honestly, isn't that unlikely), and it's still the men who are in charge and come to the rescue. That might frustrate some readers, though you have to take into account that this book was written over 75 years ago. Also there is one particular event where Frances takes action that made me cheer for her. (view spoiler)[ She throws a large rock at a Nazi chasing them in the mountains, resulting in him going off a cliff and saving her husband from being shot in the process. (hide spoiler)]
October 2017 buddy read with the Retro Reads group....more
3.75 stars for "The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb," one of the Sherlock Holmes stories collected in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (which is a 3.75 stars for "The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb," one of the Sherlock Holmes stories collected in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (which is a Kindle freebie, at least on Project Gutenberg).
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An injured gentleman is brought to Dr. Watson's medical office: his thumb has been cut clean off (ouch!!). After treating him, Watson decides that young Mr. Hatherley needs to tell his story to Sherlock Holmes, so off they go to see the great detective. Hatherley explains to Holmes and Watson that he was engaged by a man with a German accent to check out a hydraulic stamping machine that was having issues.
What is a hydraulic stamping machine? you may ask. (I did.) It's a type of hydraulic press. [image]
I didn't know they had those back in Victorian days, but yes. And the one Hatherley was supposed to fix fills an entire room. For some reason the project was top secret, but Hatherley was being paid well enough for a night's work that he didn't demur. Even being carted to an isolated house in the dead of night, and a grave warning from a woman at the house, didn't convince him to leave. He lives to regret it, but at least he lives to tell the tale. To Sherlock Holmes.
And now it's up to Sherlock to figure out what exactly happened, and why.
This was one of the better stories in the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes collection. I didn't figure out the mystery, even though the clues were all there. And there's a very tense scene in the middle of the story!
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Okay, not quite like this. But it was pretty scary, in that rather restrained Victorian way.
Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽
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