Review of The Story Sisters, by Alice Hoffman

Fiction Review, General, Starred Review 0

story_sistersThe Story Sisters

by Alice Hoffman

Shay Areheart Books (Crown), New York, 2009. 325 pages.
Starred review.

Sisters Elv, Meg, and Claire Story have their own language, Arnish, created by Elv, along with stories of the fairyland Arnelle. But Elv’s fantasies begin to take a dark path. On top of that, threesomes are always difficult, and Elv and Meg begin an unspoken rivalry for Claire’s devotion. But Elv’s path becomes dangerous; Claire, once rescued by Elv, cannot continue to follow her.

The story of the Story Sisters is dark and sad, but somehow it is also uplifting and beautiful. Some terrible things happen to them; they let each other down in tragic ways. But in the end family (blood family and chosen family) pulls them through.

This book did get me crying. I found myself forgetting it was fiction and wanting to ask God why He let some of these events happen to these girls! Yes, the author created a believable world. And in her cruelty to her characters, she made a wonderfully compelling story. Some terrible things happen, but the characters eventually rise above their difficulties.

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Review of The Marriage Benefit, by Mark O’Connell, PhD

Current Issues, Nonfiction Review, Personal Growth, Relationships, Starred Review 0

marriage_benefitThe Marriage Benefit

The Surprising Rewards of Staying Together

by Mark O’Connell, PhD

Springboard Press, New York, 2008. 214 pages.
Starred review.

Recently, a friend said, “Don’t you love it when science catches up with the Bible?” I was rather amused by the word “Surprising” in the title of this book, just as I was with the word “Unexpected” in the title of the book, The Unexpected Legacy of Divorce, by Judith Wallerstein, which presented a study that showed — surprise, surprise — that divorce isn’t good for kids.

Our culture floods us with the message that divorce is a happy solution to marital difficulties. This book attempts to present answers to the question, “Why stay married?” using research and the author’s own counseling experience. He finds that, in fact, long-term marriage can have many benefits for those willing to invest themselves into it.

Why should I, a woman going through divorce, read this book? Well, I do think that God is asking me to wait and pray for restoration, and I definitely have moments when I think that’s insane. This book helped remind me of why a healed marriage could, in fact, be a good thing, and is still something worth praying for. It was an encouraging reminder of how marriage can be. I especially liked his words about the power of forgiveness and how good and transformative it is for the person doing the forgiving.

I do highly recommend this book for married couples, especially those approaching midlife. The author has plenty of wise insights as to how to stay married, as well as pointing out why it’s worth it.

The author’s own words tell you what to expect:

“This is a book about marriage, but it’s not the kind of ‘how to make your marriage better’ book that we have come to expect. This is a book about how stretching the boundaries of what we imagine to be possible can turn our intimate relationships into remarkable oppportunities for growth and change. This is a book about how our relationships can make us better.

“And this is also a book that offers a radical and contemporary answer to an age-old question. Why stay married? Because our long-term relationships can, at their best, help us to navigate the maddeningly relentless passage of time. They can teach us how to find purpose and meaning even in the face of life’s most immovable limits, making growing older an expanding, rather than a diminishing, experience. . . .

“In the pages that follow, I will argue that our long-term intimate relationships can help us to grow up, or, to put it another way, they can help us to live fully and creatively even as our private hopes and expectations meet the immutable realities that come with our advancing years. Even better, they can help us with core midlife challenges while bringing us joy, allowing us moments of unexpected laughter and lightness, and helping us to become our best selves.”

A major theme of this book is personal growth and that a long-term relationship can be a wonderful help toward that goal.

“This book is organized around two simple principles:

“First, if we are to get better as we grow older we will need to find growth and meaning through the very hardships and limitations that we often seek to avoid and deny.

“Second, more than any other means available to us, our long-term intimate relationships can help us with this critical life task. By opening ourselves to intimately knowing, and intimately being known by, someone different and separate from ourselves, we can uncover the world of untapped possibility that lies unexplored within our own selves.

“By now it is probably obvious that we’re not talking about a quick fix. If our relationships are to be all that they can be, if they are to become opportunities for meaningful change and growth, we will need to give them time. And in this age of fast and easy gratification giving things time is becoming a lost art.

“This is particularly true when it comes to love.”

Mark O’Connell gives the central take-home message of this book to be:

“We have the power to change ourselves, often in surprising and important ways. And we change best when we allow ourselves to be changed by someone to whom we are very close.”

I found this to be an uplifting and encouraging message, and one I’m excited to tell other people about.

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Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Nonfiction/marriage_benefit.html

Review of Emotional Freedom, by Judith Orloff

Nonfiction Review, Personal Growth, Starred Review 0

emotional_freedomEmotional Freedom

Liberate Yourself from Negative Emotions and Transform Your Life

by Judith Orloff, MD

Harmony Books, New York, 2009. 401 pages.
Starred Review

Judith Orloff defines emotional freedom by saying,

“It means increasing your ability to love by cultivating positive emotions and being able to compassionately witness and transform negative ones, whether they’re yours or another’s. . . . With true emotional freedom, you can choose to react constructively rather than relinquishing your command of the situation whenever your buttons get pushed, as most people do. This lets you communicate more successfully and gain more confidence in yourself and empathy for others. Then you own the moment no matter whom or what you’re facing.”

This book doesn’t present a simplistic approach. I like that about it.

Recently, a friend asked me when I’m going to forgive my husband. I was taken aback. I thought I already have forgiven him! But on thinking about it, forgiveness from a deep wound is complicated. You still have pain from the wound. New things happen that bring up new anger. If lies were involved, there’s a certain need to discover truth. Then there’s fear of being hurt again, especially if the person who hurt you is unrepentant.

Judith Orloff acknowledges the complicated nature of emotions, and presents tools for helping you face the negative ones and begin transforming them into positive ones.

The word transformation sums up her approach. She’s not trying to make you give up or suppress your negative emotions. She’s simply giving you tools to begin transforming them.

She specifically looks at seven important transformations in the seven last chapters:

Facing Fear, Building Courage

Facing Frustration and Disappointment, Building Patience

Facing Loneliness, Building Connection

Facing Anxiety and Worry, Building Inner Calm

Facing Depression, Building Hope

Facing Jealousy and Envy, Building Self-Esteem

Facing Anger, Building Compassion

Another nice thing about the book is that, while reading it through gives you good reminders of helpful ways to lift your emotions, when you actually find yourself in the negative emotion, you can use the book as a cookbook of ideas to help you transform it.

As a physician, she has some ideas of how your body and biology can help you. For example, if you’re lonely, boost your oxytocin. If you have trouble with fear, lower your intake of caffeine.

As an empath, she also gives you ideas for letting your intuition help you. As well as some ideas about spirituality, energy flow, and psychology as they relate to these emotions.

Altogether, this book has many wise ideas about dealing with negative emotions, and I imagine at least one of these ways of looking at them is one you’ve never considered before.

I also like that she doesn’t say that negative emotions are bad and positive ones are good. The use of “negative” and “positive” have more to do with how they feel. She acknowledges that everyone has negative emotions aplenty. But she helps us use the energy they bring with them to transform into a more powerful and more pleasant emotional state.

I’m not sure how much of this book I really grasped on the first reading. As I said, I think I’d like to pick it up the next time I’m feeling depressed, for example, and think about her ideas for using that energy to move into hope.

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Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Nonfiction/emotional_freedom.html

Review of Dreamdark: Silksinger, by Laini Taylor

Adventure, Fantasy, Stand-outs, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

silksingerDreamdark

Silksinger

by Laini Taylor

G. P. Putnam’s Sons, Penguin Young Readers Group, September 2009. 441 pages.
Starred review.
Sonderbooks Stand-out 2010: #6 Fantasy Teen Fiction

I thought that the first Dreamdark book, Blackbringer, was excellent. Laini Taylor built an intricate world of feisty fairies and told a tale of a young fairy becoming a champion and saving the world.

Silksinger is simply awesome.

In this book, Laini Taylor weaves together six or seven different plotlines in a beautiful tapestry rivaling the carpets of the Silksingers. The world is already built (Yes, I think you should read Blackbringer first.), so now she can get down to the business of weaving a glorious tale.

Not that she doesn’t show us more surprising and imaginative details of that world. We meet new fairies with wonderful new magical abilities, whose clans have long and storied histories, all wound and interwoven together.

Magpie is back, the feisty champion from the first book, with her friend Talon. (And the romance between them is so gently done!) The book opens with Magpie taking on a challenge.

“‘The Tapestry of Creation is failing,’ hissed the Djinn King.

“Looking up at him, Magpie Windwitch could see why the few humans who had ever glimpsed fire elementals had mistaken them for devils. With his flaming horns and his immense bat wings of hammered gold, he was magnificent and terrifying. Sparks leapt from the eye slits of his golden mask as he said, ‘My brethren must be found, little bird. Do you understand?’

“‘Aye, Lord Magruwen,’ Magpie said. ‘I understand.'”

Then, by contrast, we meet Whisper Silksinger, helpless in a desperate flight from a horde of devils. After her grandparents sacrifice themselves to save her, she’s alone on the ground, a “scamperer” whose wings don’t work.

“Tears glistened in Whisper’s lashes but didn’t fall, and ashes caught there and clumped. She was too stunned even to grieve. The teakettle had rolled onto its side in the sand and she stared at it, unblinking.

“Inside it burned an ember. It didn’t look like much, a small seed of fire, but devils would kill for it, her grandparents had died for it, and the world depended on it. And now it fell to her to keep it safe.

“What would she do? She couldn’t go home — the devils had found them there. Where could she go? She knew nothing of the world beyond her island. She couldn’t fly, and she was no warrior — she had no weapon, and she wasn’t even brave.”

We find ourselves wanting sweet and vulnerable Whisper, with the amazing gift, to be able to find the strength to save the world. To somehow survive long enough to complete her task.

Meanwhile, someone else with secrets shows up along her path. He wants to be a champion. Why do visions keep leading him to quiet little Whisper?

And who set the devils on Whisper and her grandparents? Will they find her again? What power has even dragons under its control?

I got to read an advance review copy of this book, but it is already available for pre-order on Amazon. The September publication date will give you time to read the delightful first book. Then you will be set to be blown away by Silksinger.

Although this book comes to a satisfying conclusion, the saga is not over yet, and I’m so glad! I hope the audience for these wonderful books will build as the series continues, because if Laini Taylor continues with books like Silksinger, the series will be truly magnificent!

One of the author’s strengths is to come up with imaginative details. I don’t want to give anything away, so let me just say that the abilities of the new clans and fairies who are introduced are surprising and delightful. It’s also great fun to hear stories of adventures that could be happening right under our noses, and we are just not perceptive enough to see it.

One thing’s for sure: If you ever find an abandoned bottle that appears to have a genie inside, whatever you do, don’t open it!

Dreamdark gives you fairy tales unlike any that have gone before.

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Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Teens/silksinger.html

Review of Summers at Castle Auburn, by Sharon Shinn

Fantasy, Fiction Review, Romance, Starred Review 0

castle_auburnSummers at Castle Auburn

by Sharon Shinn

Ace Books, New York, 2001. 355 pages.
Starred Review

“The summer I was fourteen, my uncle Jaxon took me with him on an expedition to hunt for aliora. I had only seen the fey, delicate creatures in captivity, and then only when I was visiting Castle Auburn. I was as excited about the trip to the Faelyn River as I had been about anything in my life.”

Corie is the illegitimate daughter of a lord. She has been apprenticed to her grandmother, a village witch. She never met her father, but after his death, her uncle found her and persuaded her grandmother to let her spend summers at Castle Auburn.

“When I learned who my traveling companions were to be, I stopped complaining and began dreaming. Bryan of Auburn was everything a young prince should be: handsome, fiery, reckless, and barely sixteen. Not destined to take the crown for another four years, he still had the charisma, panache, and arrogance of royalty, and not a girl within a hundred miles of the castle did not love him with all her heart. I did, even though I knew he was not for me: He was betrothed to my sister, Elisandra, whom he would wed the year he turned twenty.

“But I would be with him for three whole days, and say clever things, and laugh fetchingly. I expected this trip to be the grandest memory of my life.”

This is the opening of the book Summers at Castle Auburn, and the trip does become an important memory for Corie, but partly because of how much her opinions change over the years.

As she reaches adulthood and Bryan approaches his coronation, Corie begins to think differently about the custom of taking the aliora into captivity, and about her Uncle Jaxon who is so skilled at capturing them.

She begins to think differently about Bryan. We as readers can see from the beginning his petulance and selfishness and pride, but Corie’s eyes get opened more gradually. After that, she begins to see more clearly her sister’s feelings about the upcoming wedding. Or does anyone really know what her sister is thinking?

As for Corie, what place does she have in the castle? Can she do anything about the injustices against the kind aliora? Which of her two lives — in the castle or in the village — will determine her life path?

Our library has this classified in the adult section, but it’s a coming-of-age tale, and completely appropriate for teens, too. I found the story compelling enough for it to keep me going without stopping until the early hours of the morning, much to my annoyance! But it was a good tale, and though I fervently wished at work that day that I had read it in at least two sittings, I was still glad I read it.

There isn’t a lot of magic in the story — the main touch of fantasy is the fairy-people, the aliora and the imaginary herblore. A fine tale of romance and power in a medieval setting.

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Review of Graceling, by Kristin Cashore

Adventure, Fantasy, Romance, Stand-outs, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

gracelingGraceling

by Kristin Cashore

Harcourt, Orlando, 2008. 471 pages.
Starred review.
Sonderbooks Stand-out 2010: #5 Fantasy Teen Fiction

Katsa has a Grace. Like every child whose eyes settle into two different colors, Katsa has an extraordinary gift, and was sent to the court of the king, her uncle, until it became clear what her Grace would be and if it would be useful to him.

When she was only eight years old, it became clear that her Grace was killing. She can fight and defeat anyone, with weapons or not. The king did indeed find this gift useful, and from the time that she was ten, he ordered Katsa to do his bullying for him, to punish anyone who displeased him.

Now that she is eighteen, she is finding ways to rebel, ways to use her Grace to help people, to fight injustice instead of causing it. On one mission, she encounters a mystery. Why would anyone want to kidnap the kind old father of the king of Lienid?

Then she meets the old man’s grandson, a prince of Lienid, who is also apparently Graced with fighting, and the first real challenge she’s ever encountered. They begin practicing together, and Katsa is horrified to find herself beginning to trust this man. They decide to tackle the mystery together.

This book has a great story of adventure against impossible odds, with a tremendously likable heroine who can defeat almost anyone or anything. Woven into the story is Katsa’s struggle with who she is. Is she a killing machine for a bully of a king to use for his purposes, or can she choose to be something more?

I found the romance particularly wonderful, as we watch Katsa wrestling with her feelings and her habits of not trusting anyone. I thought that part especially well-written and delightful to read.

Parents, this book isn’t for young teens. Katsa is not interested in marriage, and she and the prince decide to be lovers. Their encounters are described tastefully, even beautifully, but they are described. You might want to discuss your opinion of Katsa’s choice not to marry. To me, it seems consistent with her character and her difficulties with trust. But on the other hand, it’s clear that either one of the lovers would be completely devastated if the other one were to take advantage of the “freedom” they’ve been granted. I like the way Kristin Cashore shows us Katsa talking about being free to leave her lover, but then having tremendous difficulty actually doing it, even when their lives depend on it.

All in all, I thought the romance, with all its ambivalence and wildly fluctuating new feelings for Katsa, was the most beautifully written part of this magnificent book. I’m amazed that it’s a first novel, and am now among those eagerly looking forward to the sequel, Fire, which comes out in October 2009.

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Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Teens/graceling.html

Review of the Audiobook The Last Battle, by C. S. Lewis, performed by Patrick Stewart

Audiobooks, Children's Fiction Review, Christian, Fantasy, Fiction Review, Stand-outs, Starred Review 0

last_battle_audioThe Last Battle

by C. S. Lewis

performed by Patrick Stewart

Harper Audio, 2004. 5 hours, 5 compact discs.
Starred review.
Sonderbooks Stand-out 2010: Wonderful Rereads

When I saw the library had The Last Battle on audio CD, performed by Patrick Stewart, I snapped it up without a moment’s hesitation. Patrick Stewart could make the phone book sound entertaining!

This is the last book of The Chronicles of Narnia, which I’ve read so often I’ve lost track of how many times. It struck me on this listening that this one isn’t so much about the story as it is about describing the wonders of what heaven may be like. After all, the main characters don’t win the last battle — they are defeated, but then Aslan makes all wonderfully right.

So I’m not sure you could really enjoy this book if you don’t believe in heaven. If you do, however, here’s a chance to glory in the magnificent voice of Patrick Stewart marvelling over the wonders of what may be in store for us. Definitely an uplifting treat!

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Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Fiction/last_battle_audio.html

Review of the print version.

Review of Dreamdark: Blackbringer, by Laini Taylor

Adventure, Fantasy, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

blackbringerDreamdark

Blackbringer

by Laini Taylor

Firebird (Penguin), 2007. 437 pages.
Starred review.

Magpie Windwitch is as different from the other fairies in her world as her world is different from your “typical” fantasy fairy kingdom.

Fairies have been in the world for eons longer than humans, and thousands of years ago, fairy champions had great battles and sealed all the devils into bottles. The sealing spell on the bottles ensured that nothing existing at that time could possibly break the seal. But humans showed up on earth some time after that, and the seals had no power against them.

“Magpie sighed. One devil, just one in all of devil history, had granted three wishes to the human who freed it. Magpie had caught that troublemaking snag five years ago and put him back, but the damage was already done. The mannies had a mania for it now, and every chance they got they freed some wicked thing back into the world, and they surely didn’t get wishes for their trouble.”

But the devil whose empty bottle Magpie finds at the start of this book is no ordinary devil. The fishermen are gone, but there is no blood. When Magpie reads their last memory, it is only of darkness. Most sinister of all, the bottle was sealed by the Magruwen himself, one of the great djinn who made the world, but is now sleeping. He wouldn’t normally bother with a mere devil.

Most fairies wouldn’t worry about it, either. But Magpie is different. She and her crow “family” can’t let it rest, and her attempts to set right this evil unloosed on the world bring her to terms with her own destiny. Ultimately, the very existence of the world rests in her hands.

Along the way, she meets some others her age who seem, like her, able to sense the Tapestry that makes up the world, each in a distinctive way.

Laini Taylor has constructed an intricate world with feisty, memorable characters. The different fairies and fairy clans have different types of magic, usually intriguing. I especially like the one who can knit himself a magical skin with wings that work. (It makes sense. Knitting is magical!) There’s even an imp with the gift of serendip that can find anything it seeks, wherever it may be.

Magpie is incredibly tough and loyal to her crow “brothers.” But she still has the vanity of a lass, hurt when an elegant lady turns up her nose at the dirt of battle sticking to Magpie and her unpolished manners. She’s a believable and lovable heroine.

I like fantasy books where the fantasy could really be happening, only we humans are oblivious. In that case, I’m mighty thankful to Magpie for saving the world!

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Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Teens/blackbringer.html

Review of His Majesty’s Dragon, by Naomi Novik

Adventure, Audiobooks, Fantasy, Fiction Review, Historical, Starred Review 0

his_majestys_dragonHis Majesty’s Dragon

by Naomi Novik

Read by Simon Vance

Books on Tape, Westminster, MD, 2007. 10 hours, 9 CDs.
Starred Review.
Sonderbooks Stand-out 2010: #5 Fiction

His Majesty’s Dragon reminds me of a Patrick O’Brian naval adventure story — with dragons!

Set in an alternate world where dragons are used for aerial combat, the book opens as Captain Will Lawrence discovers a ready-to-hatch dragon egg on the French ship he has just captured. He orders all the officers to draw straws to decide who will have to give up their life on the navy, harness the dragon, and switch to the lonely life of an aviator. They all know that the new aviator will henceforth have mainly the dragon for company.

However, the newly hatched dragon has his own plans and chooses Lawrence himself. Without having given it thought ahead of time, he names the dragon Temeraire, after a ship he once served on. Then he must leave the Navy to train with Temeraire for the expected imminent invasion by Napoleon’s forces.

The facts of dragon training are presented matter-of-factly, as we learn along with Lawrence how it’s done. It’s all taken as seriously as if these were sailing ships of the time, and you find yourself completely believing in this world and coming to understand the strategies of dragon combat.

As you might expect, despite his youth and inexperience, Temeraire and his captain are drawn into a great battle at the climax. It’s all exciting and fascinating.

I listened to this book on my way to work, and found myself quickly drawn in. Simon Vance presents the different voices so you can recognize who is speaking. I found life in His Majesty’s Aerial Corps to be so intriguing, I quickly forgot it had never really happened.

Yes, an aviator’s life is limited in human companionship, but Lawrence quickly finds that Temeraire’s companionship more than makes up for it.

This is a brilliant book, and I’m looking forward to listening to the rest of the series.

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Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Fiction/his_majestys_dragon.html

Review of The New Codependency, by Melody Beattie

Nonfiction Review, Personal Growth, Relationships, Starred Review 0

new_codependencyThe New Codependency

Help and Guidance for Today’s Generation,

by Melody Beattie

Simon & Schuster, New York, 2009. 270 pages.
Starred review.

Those who have been blessed by Melody Beattie’s earlier books, particularly Codependent No More and Beyond Codependency, will be excited to hear that she has written a new book about codependency, called The New Codependency.

Her first book, Codependent No More, is the one that made the term “codependent” a standard part of recovery vocabulary, but she wrote that more than twenty years ago.

She says,

“I’m writing this book to clarify confusion, discuss new information, write about how codependency has mutated, address new support options, and remind us about what we’ve learned.

“Although I’ve changed significantly since writing Codependent No More, I still step in codependent puddles. I might get hooked into someone’s stuff, let their problems control me, over-engage, or start reacting instead of taking right action. I’ll let family conditioning affect me, neglect to set boundaries, or shut down emotionally. There are times I have to slam on the brakes, STOP, and remember to take care of myself. I don’t sink in the quicksand of life like I used to, but sometimes I revert to survival mode. That’s yesterday’s news.

“I don’t call that relapsing. Caring about people we love, feeling victimized when we’re betrayed, giving our all to people we love, or wanting to control people because we’re watching them destroy themselves and hurt us doesn’t mean we’re sick. These are natural reactions. Codependency is about normal behaviors taken too far. It’s about crossing lines.”

All in all, you can think of this as a book about healthy relationships, about setting boundaries, and about remembering to care for ourselves and let other people live their own lives. There are quizzes to help you examine your own issues and emotions, and there are many suggested activities to help you put these ideas into practice.

As with all of Melody Beattie’s books, this one is uplifting and encouraging. She concludes,

“Learn to love and take care of yourself. You’ll learn to love others better. Being healthy doesn’t mean being so tough we don’t care, or so hard-hearted nobody can hurt us again. The path we’re on might start with not giving so much or so compulsively but living and loving with an open heart — even when that means paying the price of saying goodbye too soon — is where this journey leads. Don’t stop until you’re there.”

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Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Nonfiction/new_codependency.html