Ballycumber Archive

ballycumber: "One of the six half-read books lying somewhere in your bed." - Douglas Adams & John Lloyd

Current ballycumber is in the sidebar on the home page.

Here are the archived entries.

June-July 2006
March-May 2006
November 2005-February 2006
October 2005
August-September 2005
July 2005
June 2005
May 2005

June-July 2006

The Tomb of the Golden Bird
"Can't you tell the story is not gripping me? I'm in a state of non-grippedness, I am completely smegging ungripped." Red Dwarf
I still love Elizabeth Peters but this didn't do it for me. I found it dragged and it was not funny. I really had to force myself to finish this one, hoping that it would get funny or suspenseful or ... something. Anything. Bummer. Ah well. This series rocks, but start at the beginning with A Crocodile on the Sandbank. Also check out her Vicky Bliss stories - great beach reading:
Borrower of the Night
Street of the Five Moons
Trojan Gold
Night Train to Memphis


Mindscan
Winner of the 2007 John W. Campbell Memorial Award - the world's top juried prize for science fiction. This story deals with the implications of a sort of cloning - not cloning your body, but cloning yourself (your mind, your essence) into an artificial body. Hmmmm. Well, I liked it but there was something NQR. I think I saw pretty much the whole book after the first 30 pp or so. A nice journey but not really suprising.

The Other End of the Leash
A keeper for dog owners.



They Came to Baghdad
An old Agatha Christie, more of a suspense than a detective story, and includes a soupcon of romance. Disquieting to read about cities which in our minds conjure images of terrorists, suicide bombers, rubble, extremists; these were holiday destinations and the English heroine just hopped on a plane on a whim to go there.





The Summer That Never Was
A mystery I picked up because the author was recommended by Stephen King. A tad too dark for me but I did enjoy it.







The Weather Makers
If you need convincing about global warming, this is the book for you. Written by a scientist but aimed at the general, intelligent public, this book presents the documentation which shows that yes, indeed, the world is warming, and yes, you should be very worried. It is meaty and detailed and at times hard to slog through but well worth it. I was getting depressed about a 1/3 of the way through & had to start reading it backwards for a while. The last section has some helpful suggestions for practical changes which we can undertake individually and collectively to prevent a global catastrophe. "Climate change is perhaps the most challenging collective action problem the world has faced. Almost uniquely, The Weather Makers provides insights not only into the history, the science and politics of climate change, but also the actions people can take now that will make a difference. Only through understanding can problems be properly addressed and solved. All who read The Weather Makers will be left wiser and able to appreciate how fragile our climate is and how it is this generation who must act to protect it." Tony Blair, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Check out the website for more information.

An Inconvenient Truth
If you can't slog it through The Weather Makers, get this book. LOTS of PICTURES. BIG FONT. SIMPLE VOCABULARY WORDS. It's sort of like the Coles Notes for The Weather Makers. Intespersed with the good information & interesting images and graphs - albeit all in abbreviated powerpoint style, are bizzarre chapters about Al, his family, his political life, and his epiphany about the environment. Check it out though for the images - melting glaciers, receding ice shelves, disappearing fresh water bodies....



Dr. Pitcairn's New Complete Guide to Natural Health For Dogs and Cats
Interesting reference to offset the rather conservative mainstream veterinary information which most of us get. More homeopathy than herbals.




Murder at Markham
I don't know who recommended this - I think someone may have had it in their Summer Reading Challenge list? (speak up if it was you) This is a fun, cozy, traditional mystery.

March-May 2006

Here's the thing. When I'm really writing, I mean REALLY writing, not just thinking about writing, or making plot notes, or story mind maps, but REALLY writing scenes and trying to figure out what these characters should be doing, I stop reading. It's not only a matter of lack of time (not that this isn't an issue) but more importantly, I need to keep my brain clear. I have a very strong mimickry instinct and to hang on to my voice, I need to keep other voices out. I can read a bit outside my genre but even that can have an impact. When I try writing romance after 4h of reading the Journal of Human Lactation, the results are not pretty. Which is why the ballycumber is looking meager.

Anyone But You
Quintessential Jenny Cruisie. Funny, silly, romantic. Great beach read.

Julie & Julia
It's not that this is awful, it's just not great, and it's not about cooking. Here's the scoop - depressed, rudderless secretary seizes upon the idea of making every recipe in Julia Child's How to Cook in the course of a year. She blogs about it. The blog is popular. She gets a book contract.

All fine and dandy except that good blog writers don't necessarily translate into book writers. A number of amazon reviewers commented that the author is potty mouthed, which didn't bother me. What did bother me is that the book is shallow. Shallow is OK in blogs but when she translated this into book form, she missed an opportunity to deepen her reflections on her life. She either didn't do it, or didn't want to share it with it the reader. Ultimately this is a moderately entertaining diversion but I didn't really like the author and didn't care about her histrionic attempts at cooking.

Don't Look Down
This is Jenny's new book, written with Bob Mayer. They have this fabulous blog. I love their blog. Have I mentioned the blog really rocks? The book? Hmmm. Shades of Julie & Julia - I like the blog more than the book. I dithered over reviewing this because I do write in the genre and one day, fate may smile upon me, and I might find myself in the same room with Jenny and Bob and I'll have a ms in my hand & I'll want to ask them for a blurb but I won't be able to - all becase I didn't like DLD...... And you see, it's tricky. I read a lot of romances but I don't review them because it's simpler this way. But then it occurred to me that the reason I don't like DLD is because it's not a romance but a "romantic adventure" and that's far enough away from my "romantic suspense" that maybe it's OK, and anyway, I'm sure Jenny and Bob understand that not everyone will LOVE it.

There were two things I really didn't like about it. One is the kid. I hate precocius kids in books. The only precocious child I tolerate is Ramses in the Amelia Peabody mysteries, and that's because Elizabeth Peters handled him so masterfully. This kid is unreal and annoying.

The second thing is the "sloppy seconds" thing. I don't want to ruin the plot for anyone who will read this so I won't expand on it but.... ick. Violates my rule for heroic behaviour in a novel with romantic elements, especially when the whole story takes place within the span of 3 days.

Finn Family Moomintroll
This is an audio book version read by Hugh Laurie (the wonderful, talented, amazing Hugh Laurie!). Hugo and I were not really familiar with the Moomin clan, though we own several of the books in Polish, but they are enchanting & we are seriously bummed that there are no more Hugh Laurie audio versions to be found. Guess we'll have to make do with our own reading.

How to Be a Domestic Goddess
I like this! After my instant dislike for How to Eat (see below August-September 2005), I was hesitant to pick up another Nigella book but was eventually persuaded by Jane at Yarnstorm who mentioned this book several times. And I really like this book. In fact, we have had it kicking around now for almost 3 months; I keep renewing it or placing a different copy on hold. This is something I might just need to buy.

This Old House - Ask Norm
Everybody loves Norm. Norm is the man. If you're fixing up a house, you need Norm. My only quibble is not with the book but with the fact that I've seen years of episodes of This Old House & The New Yankee Worskhop and now I can't say Norm anymore. I say Nome. Norm also does something strange to the word "drawers". He makes it have only 1 syllable and he pronounces it like he has 3 large marshmallows in his mouth. And "roof" is just plain weird because he sounds like a dog saying it. But we love Norm and all his plaid shirts.

Remodeling a Bathroom
I got the biggest kick out of the fact that the finished product is so darned ugly, even though supposedly the author's wife is an interior decorator and they worked on this project together. What is really useful here though is that this is a bathroom reno that most of us can relate to. The size and layout are both pretty standard and so it's a nice contrast to many of the bathroom books which showcase bathrooms larger than our old apartment.

Writing on Both Sides of the Brain
Couldn't find either side of my brain long enough to do anything with this book. I got it out in anticipation of attending a workshop with the author but in the end, I had a scheduling conflict and wasn't able to go. Several people in my writing group indicate that the techniques in this book were very helpful to them so if you're stuck or need a nudge or want to make some changes, try it out. It's not just for fiction writers btw.

November 2005-February 2006

Self Made Man
Confession - haven't finished the damned book and probably won't. I dove into this with a lot of enthusiasm but found myself really disliking the author and fundamentally disagreeing with the picture of men she paints. Perhaps she gets more sympathetic to men later but I stopped at the chapters on the stripper bars & dating. My sense is that if you're looking for scum, you'll find it.
Added Later - I did finish it. Still feel ho-hum about it. I think the book reveals a lot more about the author than about men but as much as it irritated me, I think it's worth picking up.

Bet Me
Yeah, yeah, I know I said I don't read in my genre when I'm writing, but I needed a break and few people do it better than Jenny Cruisie!

The Lighthouse
I like PD James a lot and I think Dalgliesh and Barbara Havers are great characters but this one didn't quite work for me. It's essentially a locked room mystery, with the characters stranded on an island. The SARS angle is interesting but perhaps dated as SARS ended up not being as global a phenomenon as we expected. One passage caught my eye & I copied it out:

"If you decide to do without a personal god it's illogical to saddle yourself with a legacy of Judeo Christian sin. That way you suffer the psychological inconveniences of guilt without the consolation of absolution."

Loop-D-Loop
Ummmm. OK, I know I might face the wrath of knitters but I thought this was the silliest book I've seen in a long time. Roo and I giggled over it so hard I almost had an accidental wetness moment. There's this 1 male model in it who looks like he's a very pissed off Mossad agent bent on avenging some great injustice and he's going to go assassinate several people in the next hour, and probably first on his list is the knitwear designer who made him wear these ridiculous clothes. The only good thing out of this book is that if Roo gets lippy I threaten to knit him this little capelet thingy that another guy was modeling. It has a turtleneck and goes to just above your shoulders. Knitted in a fern green. With cables. Perfect for any man looking for something to go with nice brown tights; ideal for walking the dog in the forest. It might be good camouflage for hiding from the insane Mossad guy.

All the models are sulking. And apart from 1 scarf which had possibilities, I thought all the clothes were too weird. Color me unable to appreciate ART but these are supposed to be clothes and I like clothes to at least suggest that they might be comfortable, and that wearing them does not induce suicidal depression.

Sarah Dallas Knitting
There is a pattern in here for a knitted cabled water bottle cover which I covet. That's the only thing which caught my eye and I haven't started it yet because I can't decide if it really needs to be Rowan dk cotton or if can substitute some cheaper dk cotton....

How to be Idle
End the tyranny of clocks and schedules and efficiency. Funny chapters on sex and tea time and lots more.

Getting Things Done
Execution
I was joking that these books would be warring with How to be Idle but I found they complemented each other well. Figure out the things that are important to you and organize your life so that they get done. The end. Simple. Right?

Delia's How to Cook - Book 2
The children's cookery lessons were temporarily suspended while we were parked at this small condo. The kitchen is tiny, half the equipment is in storage and the mood just wasn't there. But, this book is definitely inspiring and Roo especially will enjoy some of the recipes from this book when we make them. It will come back into rotation when we've moved and settled.

Cartoon Guide to Chemistry
I borrowed this from the library for Hugo, who is really interested in Chemistry and in cartoons. It's over his head but he still liked chunks of it and it's on our to buy list.

October 2005

100 Best Poems for Children
This is a keeper. Very nice collection of a great variety of poems. There are lots of the 'important poems you should know' like Blake's Tiger, an excerpt from the Rime of the Ancient Mariner, the Lady of Shalott, and In Flanders Fields. But there are also lots of (often funny) poems which will appeal to kids of all ages.

Starter by Tony Bradman
Hi!
I'm cousin Art,
And I like to start
A new thing every day.
But I never finish anything;
At least that's what ...
they ...

Illustrations are sparse - there is some color on every page but it's not what I would call lavishly illustrated. I can't decide how I feel about that. With this mixture of poems it is hard to maintain a consistent graphic style so I can see why then went for a sparse, modern look. On the other hand, I know Amelia likes to sink into a really engaging illustration.....

The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady
We came to this book via a video production of the same name. The kids found the video hypnotic and promptly resurrected their nature journals. Any of you doing the Charlotte Mason thing, should check out the book and video. The book is a full size reproduction of the author's nature journal and we all liked seeing her artwork. I was bugged that she seemed to struggle with apostrophes. Even in copying out poems she botched it's and its. Still, a nice soothing book with poetry and nature observations. The sheer number of plants and birds she identifies is quite amazing to the modern city dweller.

Delia's How To Cook - Book One
Oh I like this! Lots of illustrations, a wonderful no nonsense tone and a great mix of recipes. I still don't understand why Europeans insist on weighing flour and sugar instead of going by volume & it's a bit of a pain to convert weights to volume but well worth it.

August-September 2005

Collapse - How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
You all are probably getting the sense that I'm a fairly busy person, right? You know that I don't have endless hours to sit in a comfortable chair, with an ergonomically placed light, to read an intellectual book? The only damned time I get to read is in bed, with a really dim light (so as not to disturb the occupant(s) - yeah, weird - nearby) and this is a BIG book. Uncomfortable to hold. I dropped it once & scraped some skin off my nose. Just sheer luck I didn't break my fancy new glasses. I ended up only reading the chapters on mining & exploration - seeing as I live with a geologist (yes - one of those rapists of the earth!!!!). The rest - well, life is short, and shortening it by braining myself with a book late at night, just isn't on my list. But if you have a nice leather chair, and several hours to spare, then I heartily recommend this book because the author is knowledgeable and interesting. Depressing too. Make sure you have a little decanter of your favourite soul soothing beverage on the little table beside your comfy armchair.

Don't You Have Time to Think?
Well, no, actually. Thinking takes a lot of time, Dick. And time is something I'm perpetually short of. Of course, Dick thought at the speed of light and it seems he was frustrated that the rest of us take just a tad longer. Honestly, I don't know if I would have liked Dick Feynman if I had ever met him. Of course, he probably wouldn't have liked me either so that's not an issue. But he is interesting to read (his Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman is very funny in places. In others it's just totally obscure). This is a collection of his letters, edited by his daughter. I always like reading people's letters and I think future biographers will have a poor time of it because e-mail just isn't the same.

What Happy People Know
That life sometimes sucks and that's just the way it is. Get over yourself already.

Eleven on Top
Ranger. Ranger. Ranger.
Yum.

Junior Knits
meh

Pleasures of Knitting
meh

Delia Smith's Complete Illustrated Cookery Course
Not enough illustrations but otherwise scrumptious. Have since discovered newer books by her with lots of yummy pictures. Love Delia!

How to Eat
Puleeze.
Didn't like this book at all.
1) the only real photo (other than the artsy chapter starters of the "empty green bowl on linen cloth in sunshine" variety) is of the author. And she looks frighteningly like she's been working in the kitchen of the residential methadone treatment center.
2) she's pretentious. More pretentious than Martha Stewart. "oh I just love these simple dishes! I remember so well when my nanny, with the help of the cook & the maid would whip up these wonderful treats for us for tea on rainy afternoons! It was so comforting - esp. when we were home alone because maman was in Europe!" I'm making this up completely, btw.
3) I hate her comments about babies and children's foods. As an IBCLC, I get my bras in a knot when yobos with bad hair spout off about infant feeding.

Oryx and Crake
It's compelling, sucks you in, and Atwood is a very, very accomplished author.
But I hate this literary way of ending books so that you sit there guessing what the hell happens next. This is fundamentally the difference between literatooore and sci-fi, mystery & romance. In literatooore, you have to make up your own ending based on obscure clues left by the author. This is so that the author's books get to be studied at universities and people can make a living writing long dissertations on the role of the taxi as a metaphor for sexual liberation, and bored undergraduates can be assigned essays such as "compare and contrast the use of setting as metaphor in any two of Margaret Atwood's novels" Meanwhile, the hapless undergrad is thinking - "um, this was kind of a good book. I mean I really enjoyed it until the end but I can't figure out what the hell actually happened" but is embarassed to ask because "you know, it's a thing you need to really think about yourself" and then the conversation digresses into epistemology and the undergrad slinks away.

Locked Rooms
I liked Beekeeper's Apprentice more but it's always nice to visit with Russell and Holmes.

Watching the English
This is quite a hilarious book written by an anthropologist who likes creature comforts and thinks sitting in a mud hut, dodging snakes and observing native rituals would be a tad too harsh on the wardrobe, and so instead, studies the English. If you like the English, or don't like the English, or think you might like the English if you just understood why they run away when you say "HI, I'M JANE FROM NEBRASKA!", then this is the book for you. Also buried in its depths, are a bunch of class rules (not 'school' class, 'class' class - the ton, the right people, as Mrs. Honeychurch says "Yes Freddy, there are right people"). You shall learn how clean to keep your car, what books to keep by your toilet, and whether to allow gnomes in your garden.

July 2005

Knit Socks!
OK, I did!
It's a good introduction to knitting socks. It did bug me that the patterns call for 5 dpns but I had a really hard time finding 5 dpn sets in any of my local stores, and so I ended up converting the patterns to use 4 needles. There is a nice variety of difficulty levels in the patterns, and the patterns themselves are written out in detail. The toe & heel instructions were just OK. I used some web streaming video tutorials to help with the heel & toe because I didn't really understand what she was trying to say and the illustrations were not as detailed as I needed.

The Creative Habit
I really love this book. I read it first when it came out in 2003 & I think it may be one of those books that I'll dip into regularly. Creativity is about discipline, about working whether you feel creative or not. It's also about rituals and habits. This book, and Elizabeth George's Write Away, are being very helpful to me.

Blacklist
Oh dear. I really wanted to like this. I have enjoyed this series so much but I totally lost my place in this one. I couldn't keep track of the names of the characters & I really didn't care who did what to whom. It was all so convoluted and complicated.... There is politics in this one, and that's the only part I did like; obviously because I share the concerns expressed about the Patriot Act.

With No One as Witness
Oh fabulous. Absolutely grand. This is a wonderful series. Elizabeth George excels at characterization which means that readers come to love the regulars in her books. She throws in a huge and emotional surprise at the end. If you don't know her books, I'd suggest starting at the beginning of the series with A Great Deliverance. George's books are quite different from the hectically paced modern mystery; they are gritty but thoughtful.

Master and Commander (again)
Roo is reading his way through all of them and I've decided to follow along - though I'll be trailing far behind. I re-read the first just to get back in the groove.

No Graves As Yet
Anne Perry moves away from her Victorian mysteries in this book, and takes the reader to England just months before WWI. I found it a little too loaded with pathos and foreshadowing. I think it's very hard (impossible?) to write objectively about that period without it being colored by the knowledge of how horrible the next 4 years will be. Too many of the characters were just waaaaay too depressing and depressed about 'what is coming'. I really felt that unless they're habitually melancholy people, that was a tad unlikely. Nevertheless, I enjoyed this book & will seek out its companions, as Perry is apparently working on a series in this time-period. BTW, my favourite book about this period is Vera Brittain's Testament of Youth.

Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles
Well, they may well do so. The method looks intriguing and fairly easy but in the end, I couldn't afford to buy 2 pairs of circulars right now (especially not the Addi Turbos) and so I decided to stick with dpns for now.

8 Minutes in the Morning to a Flat Belly
The great weakness of this book is that apparently it's not enough to read about the ideas, to think deeply about them, to debate them with friends. It seems you actually have to get down and sweat. Well. Shocking, isn't it?

The basic 'method' in a nutshell is: build up muscle using weights and resistance, and don't pig out. None of the exercises was new to me; if you've done aerobics classes in the last few years, you'll know them too, as it seems every instructor is now throwing in a bit of pilates, yoga and core conditioning to their workouts.

Oh & I got sick of seeing the same asinine photo of the author on every 4th page. Enough already. There isn't much material in this book to start with & what there is - text & images - is repeated ad nauseam. I see he's got more titles - all probably the same.

June 2005

Headhunter
Oh heavens, this was a scary book. It's been a while since I've read the hard-core thriller type books, and this series is often mentioned in the same breath as horror, which is something I don't enjoy at all. I still pick up Patricia Cornwell every once in a while but I've been moving away from the serial killer, sado masochistic, torture, gross, gross, yuck genre. I read this one because the author came to our RWA meeting to do a talk. It was great to hear his ideas on plotting and on maintaining tension, and then to read an example of it; he does maintain tension very well. And the ending is a wonderfully scary surprise.

Walden
This was my 2nd or maybe 3rd stab at Walden and I still didn't get far. Maybe I'm just not in a mellow enough mood (and who could be after reading Headhunter?) I am all prepared to like Thoreau, but I just can't get into the book. I'll try again another time. Favourite quote: Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes. And honesty compels me to report that I got that quote from the movie version of "A Room with a View".

The Blind Watchmaker
Well, I find it convincing. Yes, I believe in evolution. I don't recall ever having not believed in evolution....

Bride and Groom
This is part of a mystery series with a canine touch, by Susan Conant. They are what I would call 'cozies' and dog-lovers will enjoy a couple hours of blissful escape reading with her books.

Countdown
Bombshell is a relatively new line at Harlequin books. Bombshell features tough heroines; these women don't need the man to rescue them, thank you very much. But they might need the man for some post-rescue R&R. Ruth Wind, who also writes women's fiction as Barbara Samuels, does a fine job with this one. I enjoyed reading it for the smooth prose, good characterization and tight plotting. Very fine mind candy.

May 2005

Steve Allen on the Bible, religion, and morality
Yes, the Steve Allen who was on TV. He wrote books too. This book is organized alphabetically by biblical character, place, or event. The thesis of the book is that the bible is full of contradictions and differences in translation, which leads Steve Allen to dismiss the possibility of taking the bible as the literal word of God. He quotes a number of Christian scholars who take the same view. I particularly enjoyed his comments on the Old Testament; truly disgusting things are in the OT. BTW, Allen writes a theist and a Christian (though no doubt, some Christians will say that he's not the right kind of Christian at all.....)

HD Thoreau's Letters to a Spiritual Seeker
I dipped into this on & off over a month. I like reading people's letters though as the editor points out in the introduction, Thoreau was aware that these letters were not really private, but were the source of regular discussions among a group of friends. Maybe I just wasn't in the proper contemplative mood this month because I could never really sink my teeth into this book. I kept thinking that it's an amazing thing anyone cared enough about Thoreau's thoughts to decipher his handwriting. Photo of his awful scrawl as soon as I can manage it.

Here it is. Click to enlarge. It doesn't get any more legible. Yes, it's something about Walt Whitman, but what??? Luckily, the letter is decoded within the book.




Olivia Joules and the Overactive Imagination
By the author of Bridget Jones. I liked it but didn't love it. There is something wrong with the character's progression in the story; it somehow didn't ring true. Had its funny moments though.

Last Man Standing
This one didn't make it to the ballycumber; it's hopped right into the archives because it was a fast read (despite being 548 pages). I just realized now that it's a movie too. Yeah, I don't really keep up; but it probably explains why I picked this book up off the 'New & Interesting' shelf: I must have heard the title in the past.

It was just OK; not the most compelling page turner. One of the plot twists was obvious from fairly early on, though Baldacci throws in a bunch more at the end as he's tying it all up. I didn't really like any of the characters, & they didn't seem terribly real to me. There was some obvious information dumping, esp. in dialogue. Picture this - 2 FBI agents talking to each other about oxycontin and explaining all about the illegal trade thereof. Oh please. Why would 2 agents be having this conversation? They already know it all! They're only talking so the reader can be clued in.

Home by Design
The Not So Big House
Schola put me onto these books by S Susanka. I got a whole bunch of them out. Great books about designing and living in small spaces. As we are four people (+ various animals) living in 1065 feet (+ small deck and NO yard), it's all very applicable for us.

Serpent on the Crown
I love Elizabeth Peters. She is smart and funny and a fabulous author. I want to be just like her when I grow up.

The Ocean Between Us
Susan Wiggs does an interesting thing in this book. She writes out a scene in 3rd person POV at the beginning of the book. The at the end, she gives us the same scene, again in 3rd person POV, but more in the head of one of the characters. I'm not sure what I think of it. I know that when I came across the 2nd scene, I had to flip back to the first and compare them para by para.

Tags: book lists, books, recommended reading, homeschooling, Hornblower