Well, turned out that March was a better month than the previous. Nineteen books. All but two kids books. They read pretty darn quick. I can polish off a couple a day on the weekend with out breakin' a mental sweat. Nice.
I picked up the The Girl, The Dragon, and the Wild Magic by Dave Luckett when I was hauling books into the stores to get rid of. I tried hard not to bring anything home but occasionally I would see an interesting novel or two at Sixth Chamber Books and pick them up with some of the credit. I hadn't heard of Luckett, the isfdb says he's from Australia. You don't see many Aussie authors or their books. I have to admit what attracted me was the dragon on the cover. I like dragons. Rhianna is at the local magic school and she's not doing very well. She has trouble with her magic. Keeps making mistakes. Turns out she's got too much magic. A really clever wizard helps her get things under control. A dragon comes and he causes trouble. It's a pretty slight book, meant for the younger crowd, but it's ok. I haven't added it to the pile of books to go back yet, I might. There are three books in the series. I might come across the rest and finish the series. I like the cover but if it's just a piece of art, then a nice scan is all I need. Prefer, sometimes. Hey, I just found one. Thanks Internet. You are my pal.
Something Upstairs by AVI is a murder mystery ghost story. Kenny finds a ghost in the attic room of the house his family has just moved into. Don't you just hate that. They never put that on the disclosure form. I don't even think there is a box. The ghost is a young boy. Turns out he's a murdered slave. Kenny works with the ghost to find out who the murderer was. I liked the story better than the last AVI book but I still don't care for his writing. I will toss this into the pile to go back to the bookstore. I don't have any more AVI books and I don't plan to buy any more. Almost as good as finding a new writer is dumping a writer you've tried and found lacking somehow. Saves me wondering if their books are anything I want to read in the future.
Project: Scoop by William D. Hayes is the 1966 sequel to the 1964 Project: Genius. Hayes also illustrated both books, and several others for other writers. Like the first book, it's more a series of short stories that have the same theme running through them. Many books for younger kids use this format. The theme is kids running a newspaper as a project for school. There are some jokes and some silly situations but it's not a keeper. I don't think Hayes ever caught on as a name writer. He hardly shows up on the internet. It's probably not that unusual, plenty of writers no one ever heard of. This was an ex-library book that's in pretty good shape. As an ex-zine producin' guy, who had various duplicating equipment through the 70's and 80's, I was sort of interested in the type of printing that the kids were doing but they don't get into it very much. Sounds like a mimeograph type printer. There was talk of stencils. I used to have stencils in the house and all the stuff to produce them. I gave it all away several years ago. When I got access to cheap copying I didn't need mimeo's anymore and now with the internet, why copy anything. Really a blog is like a zine but much more flexible in it's content. And who can't not like the low-cost delivery system.
Beezus and Ramona by Beverly Cleary has a great cover by Louis Darling. I just love the look on Beezus's face. So resigned. Ramona, the star of several of her own books, is the jumping girl. She has too much energy for me. She's four in this book. Beezus is nine. She has to put up with her younger sister, who wrecks a library book, shows some old women her scab, and invites half her class home for a party Mom did not know about. In the last chapter Ramona ruins Beezus's birthday cake by putting her doll in the oven while it was baking. That Ramona, she sure is annoying, huh. I guess that's why I like her. It's a nice fun read and there are many nice illustrations by Louis Darling. I have been enjoying these books, some parts make me laugh out loud. This library edition came out in 1967. I bet I bought it 20 years ago from the Minneapolis Public Library. I used to haunt those library book sales in the mid 80's, bringing home arm loads of books, stockpiling them for the future. Buying way more than I could ever read. But when they cost 10-25 cents each who cares if you never read them. Hell, you can use them for kindling. I bet 15 to 20% of the books I sold to the bookstores recently were unread. Some of the art and architecture books were partially read. Some of them I bought for the pictures and I never bothered to read the blather that surrounded them. I have several boxes of unread books still. I'm thinking about reading them. Maybe you'll hear about them later.
Danny Dunn and the Anti-Gravity Paint by Jay Williams and Raymond Abraskin has Danny and the gang going into space. It was an accident. That Danny, always impulsive. Professor Bullfinch trying to invent an insulation for a space ship comes up with an anti-gravity paint. After that he builds a space ship in the shape of a globe. It would just float into space, no need for big rockets, just small ones for steering. There's a picture of the ship in the book and there's no bathroom. While Professor Bullfinch is showing Danny, his friends Irene and Joe, and visiting scientist Dr. Grimes around the ship, it takes off. They are stuck in space for several days. With no bathroom. I wonder if I thought about the lack of a bathroom when I read the book the first time. That was 40 or more years ago. From the library markings it looks like this book was bought in 1966 and withdrawn about 20 years later. It's another from the library sales of the 80's. This one has some interesting stains in it. Here's a picture of my favorite one. It kind of reminds me of the LEGO bat I like so much.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J K Rowling. I decided to make a list of all the times I had read this book. This is lucky number 7. I finished the first book on 4-22-03, followed by the rest in short order. I had gotten the first couple from the SF Book Club. I got several books for joining and had to buy three or four. I was disappointed with the quality of the books. Even crappier than I had remembered. In fact I have better, but older, SFBC books in my attic. I didn't stay joined very long, and I have gotten rid of most of those books I did get. After I read the first one I started the next. Before I had finished the second one I had picked up 3 and 4 at DreamHaven. When I was done the first four I sold them to a guy at work and picked up a set of hardcovers. I got those at DreamHaven too, with my employee discount. I wanted durable books to last several readings. Something always seems to happen to books when I am reading them, small bits of damage, mostly, nothing as good as that stain in the Danny Dunn book. That's a good one. I was a late starter to the series, suspecting something that was so popular. So often I am disappointed by that sort of thing. I read it the second time in June 2003, twice in 2004, once in 2005 and 2007. 2006 was not a year I read the books for some reason. I did listen to the audio books twice that year, and once last year. I haven't gotten a copy of the last audio book yet. Now I am at the series again and I still am enjoying them. In the first book Harry finds out he's a wizard and Hagrid breaks down a door. I don't want to give it all away for that one or two people who haven't read them.
Runaway Ralph by Beverly Cleary is the sequel to The Mouse on the Motorcycle. I haven't read that. A guy at work said there were tv specials of the series. I haven't seen those either. Ralph, the mouse who has the motorcycle, decides to leave the relative safety and comfort of the Mountain View Inn for the open road. He's tired of his family, their demands, and the uninteresting life they live. Ralph meets a gopher and has an adventure or two before he gets caught. He winds up in a cage in the craft room at Happy Acres Camp, where he makes a friend with some kid. Ralph talks to people and they understand him. Smartly, he doesn't talk to everyone. There's a dangerous cat that's after him. He's okay though and he eventually he figures out that there is no place like home. The kid he makes friends with delivers him back to the Inn and his family. It's an ok book. It's going on the pile to go away. I won't need to read it again.
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J K Rowling. That's the Swedish adult cover. I like the big snakes. In this book Harry kills a big snake and meets with a young Voldemort. The snake is called a basilisk and it kills you if you look it in the eye. Snakes figure a fair bit in the books. Harry can talk to snakes. Because of his interaction with Voldemort as a child he can speak Parseltongue. It doesn't help in his fight with the basilisk but he gets there in the end. Like the first book this was my seventh reading. I have been reading the series at night, before bed, I have other books to read during the day. I'm reading the US editions. I change off every time I read the series. The US editions are nicer but heavier. Such is life. As I read I think occasionally of recreating an occasional scene with LEGO.
Ramona the Pest by Beverly Cleary has Ramona starting kindergarten. Ramona is excited to go to school and she doesn't think she's a pest. You can tell from the title that someone thinks she's a pest. Don't worry it works itself out in the end. Ramona takes her doll Chevrolet for show and tell, chases Davy around the school yard trying to kiss him, and pulls the bouncy curls of her class mate. A little pest like. She also skips school when her teacher is out sick, choosing to hide behind the garbage cans rather than face the substitute teacher. I remember my brother ran away from school after his first morning. He came home and didn't want to go back. To be fair his teacher was a horrible old battle ax that threw things at the kids. Nice. There are the usual nice illustrations by Louis Darling. There a couple of them below.
Ribsy by Beverly Cleary is told from the dogs point of view. Ribsy, who is Henry Huggins dog, accidently gets into the wrong car when the family is at the mall and winds up way across town. He spends the rest of the book trying to find his boy. First he winds up in a house with 5 kids who really like him. They give him a bubble bath so he smells pretty good. But it's not home and he runs away from that house. Then he stays with a lonely old lady. Then he's the mascot at a school but that's not the place for him either. He joins a football game and gets his picture in the paper. That helps Henry eventually find his dog. It was a pretty good book. I had some dogs in my life. None of them ever ran away for such a long time. Ribsy was gone for a few weeks. Usually the dogs I had came back in a day or two to finish wrecking the house and chewing up stuff of mine. I still like dogs but I wouldn't want one. I understand dogs can eat LEGO.
The Unofficial LEGO Builder's Guide by Allen Bedford turned out to be a mixed bag. It has some good information and building tips. I did learn a few things but I think I'm further ahead in building than the level of the book. It would be good for the beginner. It's written pretty well, in easy to understand language, and there are lots of illustrations. You can see a PDF of a chapter here. It's a nice condensed look at building styles. I liked the chapter on the miniland scale. That's the scale that they use in the Legoland Parks. Minifig scale is 1:48 scale and the miniland scale is 1:20. Minifigs are 1 1/2 inches tall and the miniland figures are just over 3 inches tall. They have some potential in my mind. It's a $24.95 book, which kept me from buying it. When it turned up at the LEGO store for $14.98 it sure made it more attractive. I'll keep it as a reference book, there is some good techical stuff in one place. Most of the info can be found on the internet but you've got to look all over. As I said a mixed bag.
Danny Dunn and the Fossil Cave by Jay Williams and Raymond Abraskin has Danny and the gang exploring a cave. They are joined by Professor Bullfinch and a geologist named Dr. Tresselt. They get lost a lot but the portable x-ray machine they have can see through rocks. It helps them find each other. Someone gets hurt. I'm not finding these as good a series as the Beverly Cleary books. I'm not keeping this either. Still, they are ok reading. This exlibrary book is marked 1968 and it was one of the many books that I picked up in the 80's at library sales. It didn't have any interesting stains. You wouldn't find me in a cave that didn't have a bathroom and stairs. It's far to claustraphobic to go climbing around in little spaces. I don't mind reading about it.
Blade Runner - A Story of the Future by Les Martin is a very short novelization that has a lot of pictures from the movie. The pictures aren't the greatest but there are 60 of them. It's an exlibrary book that I picked up back in the 80's and never read. Got stuck in a box, forgotten about. This month has been largely about resurrecting old soldiers and giving them their day in the sun. That's some mixed metaphors there, huh. I doubt I will keep it. It's just more bulk. I don't need the pictures, I have 5 versions of the movie in a plastic box. There's nothing much to recommend about the novelization, it's pretty much the same as the script, kind of like reading the movie and what's the point of that. There is a novel, by Phil Dick, that people should read.
Harry Potter and the Prizoner of Azkaban by J K Rowling has Harry concorting with a known murderer. Cool, huh. The only criminals I ever consorted with were no murderers. Lucky me, huh. We meet Professor Lupin and Sirius Black for the first time, and the traitor Peter Pettigrew hidden away as Ron's rat Scabbers. There's an inflated aunt, the Grim, the Knights Bus, time travel, flying beasts, dementors, the shrieking shack and Hogmeade. There seems to be more danger in this book, it's a bit darker than the previous two. That's the cover for the Ukraine edition. I like the artist for that series of covers and I like this book a lot. I don't like to play favorites with individual books in the series. I like them all and treat them as one long story just broken up in different volumes. This was my seventh time through this book and it's still holds my interest. I don't think I've read any other book that many times, except for Lost Horizon. I might have read that 6 or 7 times already. Three or four times seems to be at the top of the range for the most part.
Otis Spofford by Beverly Cleary is the story of a kid who is a bit of trouble. At least the kind of trouble that kids in Beverly Cleary books rise to. He's always looking to stir things up and create a little excitement. He throws spit balls, cheats by feeding the class experiment, steals a flea from his friends dog, and cuts off part of Ellen Tebbit's hair. His teacher says he'll get his come-uppance. I'm a fan of getting your come-uppance, in fiction. This is the book that taught me that word over forty years ago. This copy came from a library sale. It's pretty beat up from being read by a series of kids in it's 20 plus years in the Mpls Library system which purchased it in 1967. I got it in the 80's and packed it away until now. Now I'll pass it on to someone else to enjoy. After a series of troubles Otis gets his come-uppance. So, don't screw around with Ellen Tebbits, she'll get her own back.
Henry and the Clubhouse by Beverly Cleary details the adventures that Henry Huggins and the other local boys have in building a clubhouse. The usual gang of kids appear. I like Ramona Quimby in this book, she points her finger and yells at people. "Remember! Only you can prevent forest fires!" Ramona watches a lot of tv and remembers it. Henry has a paper route in this book. He does build a clubhouse like the one on the cover of the book. It's no girls allowed, which bothers Beezus, who thought she was Henry's friend. Even Henry isn't very happy with the arrangement. Oh, well, it won't be too long before those boys will want to have girls join them in the clubhouse. Not that it's going to happen in a Beverly Cleary book. We used to build forts as kids but they were not as nice as the one Henry and the gang build. At least until we got hold of the garage for our hangout place. When we lived out near Lockport there were some kids who had a fort that I remember as being huge. Several kids could fit in it. That was a long time ago in a whole 'nother country.
Danny Dunn, Time Traveller by Jay Williams and Raymond Abraskin had Danny and the gang going back in time and meeting Ben Franklin. Professor Bullfinch invents a time machine and while testing it Danny, Irene and Joe, hiding in the back room of the lab, get carried into the past with him. The house the professor lives in goes back to Ben Franklin's days and he just happens to be visiting the original owner when the gang drops in on them. At first they lie about where they come from but eventually Ben and the house owner find out the truth. They can hardly believe it, but are delighted to help get our time travellers get back to the future. There's a bit of history and some science mixed in here. Not a bad read.
Henry and Beezus by Beverly Cleary has no dust jacket. I do like the illustration on the cover. That's Henry on his new bike. It's his goal during the book, which looks like I paid 35 cents for. That's a lot less than the $60 for a nice new bike. Henry Huggins finds some abandoned bubble gum in a vacant lot. He sells it at school trying to make some extra cash. That doesn't turn out too well. Then he gets some part time paper route work and Ribsy screws things up. His bank is not growing very fast. Then Beezus, trying to help, bids on a bike for Henry at a police auction. It's a girls bike. Henry tries to fix it but that goes wrong too. There goes most of his money. The family visits the new Mall where Henry wins a door prize. $50 worth of beauty treatments. He parlies that into the bike he wants, with the help of a bit of cash from his parents. I never had a new bike. I had a hand me up from my younger brother. I was nearly killed on that bike when the brakes failed. I went through the stop sign and just barely turned to travel along side a car. I still can remember the look on the face of the driver as I road parallel to his car, a foot from his door. Cheatin' death. That's a good thing. I never had another bike. Probably didn't figure I would be that lucky again.
Henry and the Paper Route by Beverly Cleary is about Henry getting his paper route and the troubles he has keeping it up. I had a paper route for a couple of years in high school. I remember there was one guy who answered the door in his underwear, I think he was a day sleeper, and he never had any money on him to pay for the paper at collection time. Henry has to collect for the paper too. What a pain in the ass that can be. Still there were tips at Christmas time and the chance to look into the houses of strangers. That never gets old. I had one young mom that spent part of her summer day in a bikini. That didn't get old either. I didn't have Ramona as a problem on my paper route. She looks up to Henry and wants to imitate him. She picks up all the papers he's just delivered and tosses them about. I did like Henry's solution, turn Ramona into a slow moving robot that can't bend over to pick up the papers. Imagination, it's a powerful deceiver.