Theatre Review: Mary Poppins

Tonight I had the privilege of seeing Mary Poppins at the Princess of Wales here in Toronto.


Before I go further, may I just blatantly pronounce that I adore that we are getting Les Miz back in 2012? I have seen it 8 times in Toronto (four of those times WITH Colm Wilkinson as Jean Valjean), once on Broadway and once in London's West End.   Apparently, this new production has re-imagined staging.  Bring it home to Toronto, people, we LOVE this show.


But, I digress. 

Mary Poppins is produced by Cameron Mackintosh with a new Book by Julian Fellowes. While it maintains many of the standards penned by the Sherman Brothers (composers-in-residence for many of the best-loved Disney films of the 1950s and 1960s ---- they wrote It's a Small World, y'all), there are new numbers added to the show at an unfortunate disconnect. Any musical number not penned by the Brothers Sherman, and added to the re-vamped stage production, though perfunctorily performed by tonight's awe-inspiring cast, seemed jolted and intrusive. 


While this adaptation's story varies from the 1964 Julie Andrews movie and borrows heftily from the P.L. Travers' source material, the jumbling of the musical numbers in different chronology than the film and the insertion of some of the anecdotal instances indigenous to the book make for an odd theatrical experience.  


That being said, this production has some of the greatest moments of staging I have ever seen in my 20+ years as an avid theatre goer.  This production's choreography of "Step in Time" was nothing short of slack-jawed brilliance. At one point, amidst a bevy of chimney sweeps scaling and tapping the staged London rooftops, our Bert escalates aside the stage and upside down: with the careful engineering of the suspensions fans of Wicked are now used to as a mainstay in modern musical theatre.   It was one of many enchanting moments.  The choreography in SUPERCALIFRAGILISTICEXPIALIDOCIOUS (sorry, it must be capitalized) was equally remarkable.





The story plays out much as it does in the film: with the motifs of childhood imagination, lessons being learned with a "Spoonful of Sugar" and a hint of charity for man and child and with adults realizing that flying a kite with their family trumps any invasive moments of financial precision at one's obsessive job.   Much like Peter Pan's Mr. Darling, so investor Mr. Banks must slowly learn that his family and his childhood are worth re-possessing and the sense of awe and wonderment found in gingerbread stars is as close a link to his growing son as it is to his own careful upbringing.


As in the film we are so familiar with, the hand-shake of a chimney sweep is good luck, the tattered wares of a woman on the steps of St. Paul's heed all to sacrifice tuppence in motions of charity, and made-up words and colourful antics are the stuff that teach children exactly what they need to move from precocious to darling...


The cast was fabulous having just toured the US from Broadway and I was happy to see some familiar Canadian faces grace the stage.  As one example, Laird Mackintosh played Mr. Banks: anyone who saw The Phantom of the Opera here in T.O. during the 90s as many times as I did ( also with Colm Wilkinson. Torontonians, we are LUCKY that he calls Toronto home!!!!), would recognize him as a popular Raoul.   Rachel Wallace sang with the clear Julie Andrews' crystal soprano befitting the nanny "practically perfect in every way" and it was a delight to see the hints of romantic chemistry flowering between Mary and Nicolas Dromard's adorable Bert. [check out the full touring cast here]. Dromard is from Ottawa!  So glad he's a national treasure!


Bert was a wonderful narrator/jack-of-all-trades much like he is in the film (as we excuse poor Dick Van Dyke's mournful Cockney accent).  This Bert was pitch-perfect and both he and Mary seemed to be having genuine fun with the material they presented in high-pitched, gleeful intensity.  If they needed to kick their knees up to "step in time" with the band of guardian angel chimney sweeps, they did so with jubilant conviction.


Two minor points: the first time I had heard and internalized the meaning of the word "Suffragette" was due to Glynis John's recognizably husky number in the film version.  I wished that Mrs. Banks' character on stage were given the same political convictions to levy her stance as female equal to her workaholic husband. Instead, we are given glimpses into a theatrical history which she trades happily to be full-time nanny to her children when all is happily resolved. Secondly, I thought that the production threw away, as it were, the number Feed the Birds.  Specifically requested at Walt Disney's funeral (being his favourite number) and providing a symbol of charity and good-will, the ethereal chords of this hymn-like number were heard clearly (with strong organ, thank goodness) during its performance; but I wish they had returned to its theme as they did other songs.


[Though Mary Poppins is set in the Edwardian era, I must say that this hardcore Horatio Lyle fan kept thinking of Lyle: partly through Bert's accent, perhaps with the backdrop of St. Paul's.... he is never far from imaginatively away.]

A final moment for the set: like a story book illustration: the set is sketched and blasted with broad strokes of colour and charcoal, not unlike Bert's drawings in the park.  The house on Cherry Tree Lane unfolds quite wonderfully like a doll's house, with Mary Poppins able to snap the gas lamps on and off at her every whim.


There are hints of magic everywhere in this production and the children in the audience, of a generation who probably wouldn't be able to sit through the 1960s movie, were dazzled. As was I.

BOOKS in the NEWS!

They're making Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town into a film starring Gordon Pinsent and Eric Peterson.  Sunshine Sketches is inspired by my hometown, Orillia, by Orillia's favourite son, Stephen Leacock. This book is very close to my heart due to its Orillia connections!

The World Fantasy Convention will be here in Toronto in 2012 and you can see Scott Lynch!  (and maybe friggin' Republic of Thieves will have been released by then; but I doubt it)

Adorable girl strives to make Horatio Lyle popular internationally on youtube 

Torontonians: 'tis fall -- and you know what that means! IFOA! 

At IFOA this Fall Rachel Recommends:

IAN RANKIN!!!!!

Ian Rankin’s first Rebus novel was published in 1987, and the Rebus series is now translated into 22 languages and are bestsellers on several continents. He is the recipient of four Crime Writers' Association Dagger Awards, winner of the Edgar Award for Resurrection Men and recently received the Order of the British Empire for services to literature. Rankin presents The Impossible Dead, the second novel in the Malcolm Fox series, in which a major inquiry into a neighboring police force leaves Fox and his colleagues unsure of territory, protocol or who they can trust.

...and I guess other people, like:

Will Ferguson

Published in 33 countries and 26 languages, Will Ferguson’s debut novel, Happiness, won the Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour and the Canadian Authors Association Award for Fiction. He also co-wrote the humour book How to Be a Canadian, which won the CBA Libris Award for Non-Fiction Book of the Year. In Canadian Pie, Ferguson shares stories from his travels to Yukon in search of gold, gives lessons of a mini-bar ninja and discusses his misadventures working on the Vancouver Olympics Closing Ceremonies.

Charles Foran

Charles Foran is the author of eight books, including four novels and the essay collectionJoin the Revolution, Comrade. He also writes regularly for magazines and newspapers in Canada and abroad, and is a contributing reviewer for theGlobe and Mail. Foran presents his Charles Taylor Prize-winning work, Mordecai: The Life, a biography of one of Canada's most beloved and successful writers, Mordecai Richler.

Frances Itani

Frances Itani is the author of 14 books, includingDeafening, which won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best Book (Caribbean and Canada) and Remembering the Bones, which was shortlisted for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. She has taught creative writing for many years and her reviews, stories and articles have been widely published. She is also a Member of the Order of Canada. Itani’s Requiem tells the story of a recently widowed man who embarks on an unforgettable journey that encompasses art and music, love and hope

Wayne Johnston

Wayne Johnston was born and raised in Newfoundland. Once a reporter for the St. John's Daily News, Johnston eventually earned an MA in Creative Writing. His bestselling novels include The Custodian of Paradise, The Navigator of New York and The Colony of Unrequited Dreams. He is also the author of the bestselling memoir, Baltimore's Mansion, winner of the Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction. Taking place in St. John’s, Princeton and North Carolina at the end of the 19th century, Johnston’s A World Elsewhere, is a sweeping tale that questions the loyalties of friends, family and the heart.

Jane Urquhart

Jane Urquhart is the internationally acclaimed author of six previous novels, a collection of short fiction, three books of poetry and a short biography of Lucy Maud Montgomery. She has received the Marian Engel Award and the Harbourfront Festival Prize, and is a Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in France and an Officer of the Order of Canada. Urquhart presents Sanctuary Line, which weaves elements from 19th century Ireland and Ontario to create a gradually unfolding story of events that come to irrevocably alter the future of one family.

BBAW: THESE BOOKS NEED MORE ATTENTION

Today's BBAW topic, Forgotten Treasures, is a favourite: inspiring readers to turn their thoughts to books you, as a reader and blogger, feel may be under-marketed

Well, if you’ve read my blog at ALL… ever... you know that I am passionate about the books I am passionate about.

The Extraordinary and Unusual Adventures of Horatio Lyle by Catherine Webb. Subsequent books in the series include The Obsidian Dagger, the Doomsday Machine and the Dream Thief. Take my word for it--- you will never read anything like Catherine Webb’s prose: it is scintillating, shiny, spectacular, fantastic, amazing, splendid, wonderful…..

Catherine Webb has earned the spot of my favourite Young Adult/Teen Novelist ( though she is fast seeping into label of My Favourite Living Writer). I have introduced Horatio Lyle to all of my kindred spirits in an act of Book Kismet that immediately allows me to determine my Best Book Friends. If you like Catherine Webb: you and I are probably meant to be friends.

The Blue Castle by L M Montgomery.

People. People. People. We all know Montgomery is one of my passions and I could rant on and on about how there are two different kinds of L M Montgomery fans in the world: those who subscribe to the Kevin Sullivanesque Anne-verse and those of us who love LM Montgomery’s Life and Lesser Works ( enough to know she came to despise the red-headed orphan and her character’s pronounced hindrance on her ability to creatively excel in other types of fiction.

Montgomery spent more than half of her life in Ontario and wrote every book but Anne IN Ontario. The Blue Castle, however, is the only book in Montgomery’s canon set entirely outside of PEI (and not too far from where I grew up). I sum up my love for it in my With Reverent Hands Post (at BookLust)

I also have taken it upon myself to promote Arthur Slade’s books. This has been a project for years now and I try to do what I can to make sure that EVERYONE KNOWS ABOUT HIM. A fabulous moment occurred when a blog reader/author emailed me and asked: does Arthur Slade pay you commission? I am an author and I would like to see if I could pay you to do the same type of marketing.

HA! What a compliment. I knew, then, I was doing a good job. Jolted is my favourite of his books ( but tends to have a decidedly Canadian sense of humour).

The Jack Absolute series by CC Humphreys

Some of my favourite books to hand-sell as a bookseller. Few customers I served would be able to walk out the door without a copy of something Jack Absolute in their hands. Canadian history reads out of Bernard Cornwell with a Patrick O’Brian chaser. They were just what I needed in university to wile away those hours not spent at the library. The Thinking Person’s Beach Read.

The Lies of Locke Lamora and Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch.

“I bought this stupid book because of you!” my friend once told me sardonically “ And now I can’t bloody stop reading it and I am not getting any work done. “

I think the quote above speaks to the book's appeal and engagement.

Of course I am not paid commission. My book love is completely genuine and borne out of a need and passion to contagiously spread the books that make me giggle and clap; screech and tap; that make my fingertips tingle and cause me to ration them so that I don’t reach the end too quickly ---to the world. I want you to experience books I love in the same way I do.

In turn, I appreciate how the blogging community immediately sends me to look up a favoured title on amazon or to the hold shelf on the Toronto Public Library homepage.

The Dream Thief by Catherine Webb

Readers of this blog are aware of my total passion for any and all things written by young British prodigy, Catherine Webb. I adore Catherine Webb's unique style and am so lucky to have invested in her career early on. Watching a young author develop from a young author into a literary force is a great privilege for a keen reader. Readers of this blog will be familiar with my rambling rants ACHING for a new Lyle book, will have read the interviews with Catherine Webb I have stumbled upon over the years and will have heard me squeal over and over again just how much she has revolutionized the reading experience for me. Whenever I lose my faith in literature ( for young adults or otherwise ), I remember that there are writers like her who are willing to take a risk, write passionately and gleefully and completely about what they love.

The Horatio Lyle books are about so much more than just character and plot: it’s the evolution of her writing, I appreciate, her London, the way her phrases string together, the outrageous similes, the poetry, the incessant italics, the dialogue, the stirring emotional resonance, the clips and snippets of 19th Century prose wedded with modern fantasy’s sensibility, the delicious interruptions by the narrative voice, the literal twinkle in her eye when she races to describe a scene. The fact that , while reading, you sense you are having as much fun as Webb did writing. A preternatural author-reader kinship.

The books have sparkle. They are dynamite. They are the apotheosis of clever writing within the umbrella of story arc.


The Dream Thief by Catherine Webb is the fourth offering in this incredulously inventive, wonderful, gripping, unique and imaginative series and it may, just may, have secured Webb an upgrade in the Rachel-Hierarchy-of-Author-Appreciation from favourite YA novelist to favourite contemporary novelist-- regardless of genre. Strong words indeed.

...For no other writer on the planet elicits such a euphoric, magical and sometimes physical response from me.


I ABSOLUTELY QUAKE in anticipation for these books. Unfortunately, their release dates are more often than not more than sketchy and oft-postponed. My copy was secured from amazon.co.uk due to the fact that this Lyle won’t see Canada until the Fall. Iwas in Austria on holiday when the order dispatched and I remember looking up from the public internet terminal at my hotel in Vienna and beaming at the nearest person ( whose bewildered stare could not PHASE my excitement).


My best friend Jess ( who you may remember from previous entries ) also secured a copy of The Dream Thief from the UK asked me to help her describe what makes the Horatio Lyle series so fabulous for her blog.


I summed up the way they make me feel. The EXPERIENCE of reading a Catherine Webb book supersedes mundane details like plot or review. What does the book DO to you?

For real readers, books are far more than pages between hardbound covers. REAL readers feel their senses employed.

Wrote I:


“After reading Horatio Lyle, I don’t want to read anything else for weeks. Everything tastes flat after her prose. It is really hard to pull myself from that world, so I end up starting her book at the beginning again.

Very few authors have that power over me. There is a snap there. A spark. Her books have a taste to them. I can taste and smell and see them and they whiz by in colour.

Her dialogue sticks with me forever after, and my heart literally swells. These books make me tingle! Some books are fun and amusing but don’t really elicit a physical reaction. Horatio Lyle makes me jump and giggle and clap and sigh and catch my breath and read and re-read and re-read sentences over and over again.

I want to hang on every one of her words. I forget to eat. I like to stay up late and revisit, step into her world and just revel in the corners of my imagination reserved for her fabulous workings. I like to click along with her wordy paragraphs and fall into her spell.

She often talks directly to the reader: she’ll invite you on the journey and whisper to you, with a little twinkle in her author’s eye to follow her and you see her alleyways and her London and meet her characters and smell the magnesium and drift into Lyle’s crazy laboratory and dance over stones with Lin.

These books do things to me.

I think it’s the closest I have ever been to being love-sick.”



Catherine Webb also writes adult urban fantasy under the pseudonym Kate Griffin. Visit Kate Griffin's stupendously well-written blog: here. It is one of my missions in life to ensure that all passionate readers of historical YA fiction... or just brilliant fiction.... find themselves as besotted with Lyle as I have been for four glorious years. If urban fantasy is more your cup of Earl Grey, Matthew Swift is going to tickle your fancy.

in which I am EXCITED

Kids,

I am quite excited about a few books soon to be available:

First, Scout, Atticus and Boo by Mary McDonagh Murphy: view it here

Secondly, the wait is soon over ( thank goodness ) for the first Richard Jury novel in THREE whole years! Get that here

Thirdly, one of Christian fiction's absolute best, most erudite, glorious, talented, wonderful and sparkling writers, Siri Mitchell, has taken her penchant for exploring the theme of clothing and appearance in different time periods ( see the use of makeup in A Constant Heart and dresses in Puritan Massachusetts in Love's Pursuit) to take on the Victorian period in She Walks in Beauty. Buy that over here

And even though this keeps getting flitted around from date to date like a pesky hummingbird ( as is usually the case with Catherine Webb's delectable series), the wait, I should hope, is soon over before the first Horatio Lyle in two years. The Dream Thief, apparently ( this could change at any moment, bah humbug!) publishes in June.

Just a few of the many yummy books the horizon.

If you can wait 'til the Fall, there is a NEW LYNN AUSTIN ( I yipped about it at my Christian Fiction site last week )

Pre-order While We're Far Apart

And I think that is all I have to say.

Cheerio!

Jess and Rachel Talk Books: Horatio Lyle by Catherine Webb

First off, kids, I wanted to publish this last night but blogger was down.

Thanks to the lovely Aarti, I was able to do a Rosie's Riveters post at her fabulous Booklust site: so go there to hear my gush about Irene Adler from the Sherlock Holmes stories.

Secondly, I am starting a bit of a series wherein Jess and I are going to chat about books and you, fair reader, just by staring at this screen and using ye olde comments box can interact.

So, for our first topic, I emailed Jess about one of our favourite things: The Horatio Lyle series by Catherine Webb.

Look for Jess' erudite commentary in bold and mine in italics. Also, Jess spells things like humour without a 'u' because she's American ( I, of course, forgive her for this )

I asked Jess why she thought we loved Horatio Lyle so much. Here's the chat:

Horatio Lyle appeals to us for many reasons. Which I will now list because I like lists.

1) The Setting. The books are set in Victorian London, which for anglophiles and history nerds like us is pretty much the ideal setting. And they’re not just set there – London itself is almost as important a character as Horatio, Tess, and Thomas. The descriptions are gorgeous, and the author’s love for her city comes through every word on the page.

Rachel: I especially love anything set by the Thames which, to Lyle, is the beating heart and life-blood of the city. Webb uses the Thames often as a focal point in her story. Also, there’s lightning. At St. Paul’s. St Paul’s struck by lightning.

I think my favorite thing about Webb’s portrayal of London – which she also does in her Matthew Swift books as Kate Griffin – is that yes, the London love is shining bright, but it’s not shying away from the dirty side of London. The smell of the Thames, the muck in the streets, the sewers, the urchins, the beggars. In fact, the books almost seem to revel in this sordid underbelly, to extoll its virtues as the real London. And I just love that.


2) The Stories. They’re historical fantasy mysteries. A detective and his sidekicks running about Victorian London solving mysteries and fighting monsters – with science! It’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer in a corset at the science fair. Sherlock Holmes meets Doctor Who, minus the time travel. Dickens and Gaiman collide.

It doesn’t really matter that there is hardly anything believable about them. They’re glorious. And Steampunk ( to use a now waay over-used word). They’re equal parts scary and wonderful and gritty and there are things that go bump in the night. Green-eyed things.

3) The Characters. How can you not love Lyle, Tess, and Thomas? Lyle, the brilliant scientist/detective with a strong sense of justice and a vulnerable side. Tess, the incorrigible, somewhat-reformed pickpocket. Thomas, the naïve, awkward young nobleman with a fierce love for science. When you put them together, they’re absolutely irresistible.

And when Lyle meets Faraday, his hero: he totally goes all fan on him and squeals. The characters are why we read this story. Even Feng Darin. Lin ( of course ---the chemistry between Lin and Horatio is to die for) and the horrible Lord Lincoln. The cold-hearted stone-creatures; those who reluctantly create a genocidal steampunk machine….. the hybrid of good n’evil and NO ONE IS WHO THEY SEEM TO BE….. and they all have British accents.

4) The Humor. The dialogue snaps with wit, Tess is hilarious more or less constantly, Thomas’s bumbling stabs at adulthood make you giggle, and Lyle’s frequent forays into confusion, embarassment, and panic make it impossible not to smile. I know one of your favorite scenes, Rachel, is when Lyle gets himself thrown in jail by pretending to be a cattle rustler, involving a marvelous speech about how much he loves cows.

There are few books that make me laugh as hard as these books. I think this is partly because her dialogue, and in turn dialect, leap off the page. You can hear the characters: the bouncy Tess; the prim and reticent Thomas; the skeptical and bemused Lyle in your head. Tess’ cockney dialect is one of the strongest parts of the story. Also, she shifts perspectives and sometimes ….sometimes…. even Tate ( the faithful hound) gets a moment in the spotlight.

5) The Heart. The above might draw you to the series, might guarantee you enjoy yourself immensely while reading them, but what will sink into your warm, gooey center is the heart of these books. And it’s a big heart. The love between these three characters is the source for more touching scenes than I can count: Lyle’s glowing pride at Thomas’s achievements, the depth of Tess’s affection for Lyle surprising even herself, how the only time Lyle gets angry is when someone threatens the children, the post-danger reunion hugs that make my heart melt like ice in Phoenix. These characters would do anything for each other, which just exponentially increases my love for them.

The post-danger reunion hugs ( for hereafter that is what they shall ever be called ) make my knees go to jelly and my fingertips tingle. Can one be unhappy when one is reading a Catherine Webb post-reunion hug? Seriously? Can there be anything wrong in the world. Like all the stuff we like, Jess: Firefly, BSG, Buffy, me and my Master and Commander obsession, it involves decidedly different types of people from all spectrums of life who are thrown together to battle circumstances and end up forging a bit of a connection: with Lyle, Tess and Thomas, that is the most solid thing in each of their lives. If you take one component out of the mix, everything would fall apart: like a key ingredient in Scientific-Lyle’s experiments.

You make a brilliant point about people from all spectrums of life. I hadn’t thought about that, really, but you’re absolutely right.


And that, my dear, is why we love Horatio Lyle. What’d I forget?

The fact that he runs around London with things that explode in his pockets.

And he makes a mean breakfast.

BBAW Meme

• Do you snack while you read? If so, favorite reading snack? Sometimes on a weekend night, I will go and get a bag of jellybellys to accompany what I am reading. Other than that, usually not. I drink tea.

• Do you tend to mark your books as you read, or does the idea of writing in books horrify you? It really depends on the book. When I am working ( I have a job as a reviewer), I pencil mark my books for sure and use post-its throughout. I was an underliner in school and on my own ( just ask Once Upon a Bookshelf). Often, my favourite books are underlined ( favourite passages that are just aching to stand out on the page) but I will purchase an unmarked copy. Reading is a very engaging and interactive experience and I am a very effusive reader: I physically respond to reading and one of the ways is to underline or star a passage. It is ownership for me.
• How do you keep your place while reading a book? Bookmark? Dog-ears? Laying the book flat open? Bookmark---often in the form of a post-it or train ticket if it is there. Sometimes my Aragorn bookmark. Or else I remember the page number. I am really good with page numbers
• Fiction, Non-fiction, or both? Mostly fiction. But, I like to read the context of books I love so I read a lot of biography; lit crit and history
• Hard copy or audiobooks? Hardcopy of my favourite authors whose books I cannot wait for in trade. Trade is my favourite format. I loathe being read to so I loathe audio books.
• Are you a person who tends to read to the end of chapters, or are you able to put a book down at any point? Depends on the book. Really.
• If you come across an unfamiliar word, do you stop to look it up right away? Nope. Unless it excites or intrigues me. I love word sounds and the pairing of sounds with sentence structure and the way words fit into a book.
• What are you currently reading? Dogwood by Chris Fabry
• What is the last book you bought? The new Alatriste book by Arturo Perez Reverte: The Cavalier in the Yellow Doublet
• Are you the type of person that only reads one book at a time or can you read more than one at a time? I read more than one. Usually one “comfort” book for just before I go to sleep ( a re-read: right now it is Les Miserables); one kids or YA book for work; one non-fiction ( right now a biography on the slave abolitionist Wiliam Wilberforce) and I always have the Bible on the go ( I am a Christian so this ties into my daily reading) and sometimes a Christianesque devotional---right now Grace Notes by Philip Yancey so subsidize my reading
• Do you have a favorite time of day and/or place to read? Favourite place? A fall day down by the Toronto Harbour in a little Second Cup. I can read anywhere. I like my couch at home with lots of pillows and low light and tea. I like when I go to my parent’s house in Orillia and make use of the chaise lounge in the sun. It really depends on my mood. Sometimes Philosopher’s Walk( a park in Toronto near the University) under a tree.
• Do you prefer series books or stand alone books? Depending on genre: YA and Mystery and nautical fiction SERIES!!!!! General fiction standalone

• How do you organize your books? (By genre, title, author’s last name, etc.?) I literally own thousands of books. So much so that a lot of my mass markets are in layaway in big rubbermaid bins until I have my own library. I have bookshelves specifically for YA and childrens. My classics are separated ( alphabetically ) and my general fiction alphabetical; series are chronological (ie Aubrey Maturin ) if I have lit crit or biographies or related material on a certain book I put it with the author after the novels are lined up. I have a shelf just for Christianity ( alphabetical); history, etc. Let’s sum this up: alphabetical but in genre-specific regions.
• Is there a specific book or author that you find yourself recommending over and over? CATHERINE WEBB'S HORATIO LYLE SERIES!
  

Booklust

Some up-and-coming books I am jived about:

harry potter and doctor who hybrid...what?

Book covers and editions fascinate me. They are part of the bibliophilic experience and I collect numerous editions of my favourite books. Some for the covers;some for translations; some for prefaces or biblographies or historical significances or footnotes.


Here we have the upcoming edition of The Doomsday Machine -- the third volume of my beloved Horatio Lyle sequence.

books I love that you've probably never read:

While reading Scott Lynch this weekend, I was forced to think about all of the books that I love that a lot of people would never stumble upon or read under normal circumstances.

So, I give you a bunch of books that have probably fallen under your radar, but are worth every word:


The Blooding of Jack Absolute by CC Humphreys. You've probably heard of Sharpe by Bernard Cornwell, you probably haven't heard of Humphreys. I love this series. Especially this book. It's one of the funniest I have ever read.


The Extraordinary and Unusual Adventures of Horatio Lyle, The Doomsday Machine, the Obsidian Dagger by Catherine Webb. Actually, if you have stumbled upon this blog you have read about them because I seem to talk about nothing else.

Captain Alatriste ( and subsequent novels ) by Arturo Perez Reverte. You have probably read or heard of the Flanders Panel and The Club Dumas but you have probably not read Alatriste.


Keturah and Lord Death by Martine Leavitt. This is a gorgeous, dark and brooding fairytale with a chilling ending that will steal your breath.


The Lies of Locke Lamora, Red Seas Under Red Skies and soon The Republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch. Sort of George RR Martin, Sort of Robin Hood, a heist and witty repartee that would make The Sting jealous, the best of high fantasy/imagined historical fiction.


Tribes by Arthur Slade. If you're Canadian, you have probably heard of Dust and Megiddo's Shadow but you probably skipped Tribes. Shame on you. Good book.


The Spell Book of Listen Taylor by Jaclyn Moriarty. This book is published by House of Anansi and has not quite risen to the status of The Year of Secret Assignments or The Murder of Bindy Mackenzie but it is brilliant and worth the read.

Deafening by Frances Itani. Set in small town Ontario during the years preceding and during the Great War, a well-spun romance between a deaf woman and a hearing stretcher-bearer who develop a language of their own. Glimpses of the homefront and the warfront are expounded upon poignantly.


Skulduggery Pleasant, Playing with Fire etc., by Derek Landy. Fire-throwing Skeleton detective pairs with whipsmart 12 year old in this funny and fresh series with the quickest dialogue since Nick and Norah Charles. Unbelievably good!


Montmorency: Thief, Liar Gentleman by Eleanor Updale. I am a champion of young adult novels with adult protagonists ( see Horatio Lyle ). A Jekyll and Hyde-esque romp through Victorian London.


Mairelon the Magician by Patricia C. Wrede. Magical, luminous historical novel.


The Privilege of the Sword by Ellen Kushner. Medieval-type fantasy starring sword-wielding heroine and a plethora of moody eccentrics.

La! Catherine Webb is the greatest thing to hit YA fiction since... since....

The Obsidian Dagger is like chocolate, nay, it's like Christmas.... it's like chocolate and Christmas and everything sparkly all wrapped up with a shiny red bow. It makes me giddy just thinking about how splendid it is.


If you have not read The Extraordinary and Unusual Adventures of Horatio Lyle and hold even the slightest interest in the world of incomparable YA fiction, please indulge now. They should hand this stuff out at workshops. It's delightful. Ingenious. Brilliant.
It deserves every droplet of hyperbole I bestow upon it.... and all the expressive italics I can muster besides.

Her writing has so improved in Obsidian ( a very worthy sequel ). These things are worth reading for the sheer bliss of the language, the smart turn of phrase, the interesting connection and allusions.... and of course, of course of course the dialogue.... that pitch perfect repartee......


I squint and squeal and bubble over. Like the first of this thoroughly fantastic series, I know I will end this and go straight to the beginning. A straight-away re-read is as savoury as the first time.



This kid's nineteen NINETEEN for the love of god.... and already she is one of the most creative and imaginative writers in her market.


I want to compare her to Doyle, to Jonathan Stroud, with a shot of Gorey and a sprinkle of Dr. Who.


She is a wonderful amalgamation.



I will report back once I have finished this darling book... that I am stretching and stretching it out....

And after, well, I am a reader on a committee for a popular Canadian literary award and I have been given the first six of a proposed 55 novels to read before its conclusion.

Step right over Stuart McLean, you're next on my list.

A very happy, bookwormy weekend to you all.

As for the Hallowe'en challenge, the Turn of the Screw lingers never far from reach.