Book Reviews – Page 82

The Memory Keeper’s Daughter

I’m really not a big fan of the drama genre. I’m escapist by nature, and straight drama (*coughoprahsbookclubcough*) is really not my cup of tea.

This is why there are books in this genre that have been languishing in my TBR, because I’m reluctant to read them and I have to space them out.

I picked up Kim Edwards’ The Memory Keeper’s Daughter (book #68 for 2009) because it’s not very thick and I figured I’d make a dent on this sector of my TBR.

I’d been forewarned by my Flipper friend Islandhopper that the book was highly dramatic, so I was prepared for the worst when I picked it up.

I find that there are some books that are very thick but I can read fast, like The Historian, and some thin books that take me forever to finish, like The Reader. The Memory Keeper’s Daughter is somewhere in between, it wasn’t very thick, but it wasn’t moving quickly enough for me.

The novel unfolds in 1964, and Dr. David Henry’s wife Norah gives birth to twins in the middle of a blizzard. The second baby, a girl, has Down’s syndrome, and Dr. Henry decides to spare his wife from the difficulty of raising a special child and instructs his nurse, Caroline Gill, to take the baby to a special facility. Caroline is horrified by the institution she brings the baby too and decides to raise the baby on her own. Meanwhile, the pain of losing a child devastates Norah, adding another layer to the wall that has formed in their marriage, caused by the guilt Dr. Henry feels from giving their daughter away.

I think the premise, up until Caroline raising the baby on her own, is pretty interesting, actually. I imagine this sort of scenario did happen a lot in the past, when Down’s syndrome wasn’t very well understood yet, and I imagine there are still some cases of this happening today.

Mainly it’s the melodramatic development of the story that brings it down, because it’s a drawn out domestic drama, spanning two decades of misery and emotional lashing in the Henry household, with nothing much happening otherwise.

While it wasn’t as bad as I expected — I even cried a bit at the end, but well, I can cry at the drop of a hat so I’ve never put stock in a book’s tearjerking abilities — it was nothing spectacular for me either, and I don’t think there’s a chance that I’ll read it again.

***
My copy: trade paperback, mooched last year

My rating: 2/5 stars

P.S. By the time you read this, I’ll be in the mountains of Sagada soaking up some fresh air, great food, and a whole lot of culture :) I’ve advanced some posts, I hope you’ll enjoy reading them while I’m gone, and I’ll get back to comments when I get back in the city.

I’m not sure it’s a good idea…

… for a rabid book hoarder (such as myself) to get ahold of a book like this: Miller’s Collecting Books by Catherine Porter (book # 67 of 2009), which I found in a pile of bargain books at National Book Store.

I’d been reserving this for a nice leisurely read, and finally grabbed it off the TBR pile during the 24 hour read-a-th on, appointing it my last read for the event so that I wouldn’t be pressured to rush through it.

The book is a nice hardbound volume with thick, glossy pages and lots of colored photos. Published by Miller’s (an antiques price guide that has paved the way for the average person to start collections, or buy and sell with confidence), the book is an excellent guide to all the basic information you need to know about collecting books: the parts of a book, bindings, illustration techniques, printing processes, and finally more than a dozen chapters on what kinds of books you can collect.

The introduction sounds like a call from the mother ship:

“Book-collecting is often associated with academics or dark, musty shops; a secret, inaccessible world for the initiated only — and maybe this was once so. But today these are myths, and this guide seeks to dispel them. It is surprising how many people buy one or two books, slowly, without necessarily meaning to, begin to build up a collection and get hooked.“

I haven’t really particular about old first editions as some people are because my allergies are easily triggered by dust and other particle allergens (among many other things) but I realized the books I have today could be worth more in the future, and so I make a solemn promise to dust (achoo!) my shelves more frequently.

Plus, the book validates my irrational habit of upgrading paperbacks into hardcovers that my book club friends have dubbed as “doing a Blooey”:

“For some rare books it is possible that the only copy to be had will be in poor condition or imperfect, in which case this will be better than nothing. Generally, however, the rule is always to buy the best copy you can find, and upgrade if you find a better one.“

The book also explains why they don’t make books like they used to:

“With the increase of mechanization and the arrival of the iron presses used for printing newspapers as well as books, alongside a substantial increase in literacy and demand for affordable printing matter, the quality of most printing declined. Speed, quantity and cost became key factors. Cheaper paper made by machine and full of acid was used, and stereotyping came into use across Europe..”

And how the dust jacket came to be:

“The dust-jacket as protective covering became familiar in the early part of this century, and was initially plain, featuring only the title and author. Publishers soon began to commission artists to decorate these covers, making the books themselves commercially more attractive.”

Aside from the rich and interesting information it provides about all kinds of books, this book also incorporates a price guide for some collectible books, and even a built-in bookmark with the conversion rate of pounds to dollars. They’re probably worth more today, though, and in Euro, because this book was published in 2001.

The back of the book also showcases a useful glossary of book terms you can throw around so you can sound like those stuffy old gentlemen collecting books!

I got this book for aboutP300 (~$6) , more than I’d usually spend on an impulse buy, but it’s one of the best book purchases I’ve made this year :) Definitely worth every peso.

***
My copy: hardcover with dustjacket

My rating: 5/5 stars

Guilty Pleasure: Special Edition HP

I couldn’t resist. After six months of longingly staring at it on the bookstore shelf, I finally took home my very own copy of the Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone Special 10th Year Anniversary Edition, using part of my Book Geek winnings.

If you’ve just “tuned in” to my blog, well, I’m a big Harry Potter fan (^_^), and I collect different editions of Harry Potter books, even in languages I can’t read. I haven’t counted recently, but I think I’m up to nearly a hundred different Harry Potter books (I know, I know, I owe the readers of this blog a nice long pictorial entry on my collection, but I am still scrounging for time to do that).

While my ultimate dream is the collector’s edition of The Tales of Beedle the Bard , I have resigned myself to the impossibility of that for the moment, so this is the next best thing (or so I try to tell myself).

It’s practically the same as the hardbound US edition except for the dustjacket, clothcover, and the front matter.

Here are the photos (because I know my Flipper friends have been waiting to see this!):

Harry

dust jacket with special Mary Grand Pre art

Spines

Red clothcover with gilt stars

brand-new frontispiece, also by Mary Grand Pre

My favorite part: an early sketch of Snape by J.K. Rowling

and a little intro by JKR

P.S. Speaking of Harry Potter, here’s a hilarious video Dianne showed me yesterday. Enjoy!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuEAJFnMIjk]

***
My copy: hardcover with dustjacket

My rating: 5/5 stars

Some vague ramblings…

In my last entry, I talked about my growing pop-up collection. This time, I’m reviewing two illustrated novels that are part of my growing illustrated novel collection: The Secrets of Pistoulet: An Enchanted Fable of Food, Magic and Love; and the Legend of Villa della Luna: The Sequel to the Secrets of the Pistoulet (books #65-66 of 2009); both by Jana Kolpen (text and illustrations) and Mary Tiegreen (design).

the books, in their slipcases, with “peekaboo” windows

I discovered the books in Amazon, looking for illustrated novels, and I added them to my BookMooch wishlist until I was eventually able to mooch copies from two different users some several months apart last year. Book 2 arrived first and I shelved it until I got a copy of the first book, and so I wasn’t able to read them right away.

I was actually very excited to read the books because they were so pretty from the outside, with their own cardboard slipcase and a “peekaboo” window that showed a teaser portion of the back cover (see photo above).

actual book covers

But as I turned the pages of the first book (my copy happens to have an inscription made out to a certain Ed, with the scrawling signature of Jana Kolpen underneath), I had a sinking feeling that the book wasn’t what I hoped it would be.

The Secrets of Pistoulet is set in the southwestern French countryside (my second favorite setting, after Venice), in a “very special farm” known as Pistoulet, where all who visit “leave with their hearts and minds transformed.”

The story, done in the style of “Griffin and Sabine,” (it claims on the back portion of the slipcase) revolves around a certain “Mademoiselle J,” a guest who is said to be recovering from heartbreak and experiences Pistoulet’s magical healing powers. Interspersed with the narrative are recipe cards for different potages for a variety of functions, e.g. spirit, strength, heart, passion, etc.) containing real recipes that you can try out for yourself, fold-out letters that come in their envelopes, and even handwritten cards.

In the same manner, The Legend of Villa della Luna picks up where the first book leaves off, but is located in Italy, and is the continuation of Mlle. J’s journey to self discovery.

It was difficult for me to get into the book for two main reasons.

First, while the covers looked good, the inside pages were a hit-and-miss for me. The text (which is in a hard-to-read calligraphic font) gets lost in a page that is cluttered with patterned backgrounds, elaborate borders, photos, and spot illustrations (i don’t really care for her watercolors), and sometimes the pages are downright garish or kitschy.

Book 2 is marginally better-designed than the first, but still not enough to redeem itself, much less the series. Granted, the books were published in 1996, but good design should be timeless.

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And second, I just found the content hokey. I mean, I’m all for magic, food, love, but the books were like a hippie dream and I just couldn’t buy it. Nothing much happens in the story, just a lot of vague rambling thrown in with some new age philosophy. Sigh.

Nevertheless, because they’re still illustrated novels, the books are staying in my collection, and I might try a recipe or two one day, just to see if it really works.

***
My copies: both hardbound in slipcase, both mooched from the US.

My rating: Book 1 2/5 stars; Book 2 3/5 stars

Pixie Hollow Pop-up

I’ve been oh-so-slowly building up my collection of pop-up books because elaborate paper engineering is fascinating, but the books are so expensive that I rarely get a chance to acquire them (er, translation: never full price; mostly chance finds at bargain stores, and not brand new).

Pixie Hollow Pop-up (book #64 of 2009) is the latest addition to my small pop-up collection, composed of Pirateology, Vampyre, Mommy?, Dr. Seuss Pops Up, and Alice in Wonderland Pop-up.

I’m not a big fan of fairies or pixies because I find them capricious and not very likeable, but Triccie knew I just started collecting (her own collection is amazing!) and she had an extra copy so she reserved it for me for mooching (gosh, a lot of my prize finds are from Triccie!!!)

Storywise, Pixie Hollow Pop-up is typical Disney – fairy fluff, and very few words in total, but it’s a good example of the recent trend of fairly complex pop-up books (and other children’s novelty items) in the mainstream.

I guess it’s also a sign of the times that it takes so much more to hold a young reader’s attention these days, but even as an adult (and an illustrator), it’s hard to resist the visual appeal. Of course the costs of producing such a complex structure are equivalent to hefty price tag, but the craftsmanship is just amazing, although it’s not as artsy and is more commercial than Robert Sabuda’s books.

I remember the pop-ups when I was younger: mainly flat, 2 dimensional layers that moved from left to right or up and down, or had little surprises when you pulled the tab or lifted the flap.

Now they’re like paper sculptures that fold completely flat but come alive as you turn the page, literary popping out of the book. Now that’s pop-up!

Of course the grand dream for the Filipino children’s illustrator (i.e. me) is that publishers would invest in producing novelty books for kids, but the market is just too small and the purchasing power too weak, so I guess it will still be some time before we see any of them out. Jomike’s Dinosaur pop-up book is a good start, though.

I know our local publishers would like nothing more than to come up with the best books for kids that they possibly can, but the practicality of keeping the books affordable for the average Filipino is a big factor. Our local children’s books more than make up for it in content, with high quality (and bilingual!) stories and illustrations, though, and I’m glad that the local children’s books industry has grown the way it has over the years.

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My copy: hardbound, mooched from Triccie

My rating: 4/5 stars