Ten new books for the month. Not too shabby.
Dragons & Dreams Edited by Jane Yolen, Martin H. Greenberg and Charles Waugh. A collection of short stories. There is a Diana Wynne Jones story called Carol Oneir's Hundredth Dream. I have it in a Jones collection and another anthology. The rest of the stories are a mixed lot, liked some better than others. I don't need to keep it. The Flying Yorkshireman - Eric Knight. I found this in a box of books out in the garage. I don't know when I bought it. I bet it was in the 80's. Probably when I was on a humor kick. Sam Small learns he can fly and has an adventure or two, one of which involves Rudolf Hess. The other 8 stories don't have any flying at all. You can read a copy of it at Project Gutenberg. I liked about a third of the stories. The others were hard sloggin'. This is the same writer who wrote Lassie Come Home, which I might have read as a kid. Knight died shortly after The Flying Yorkshireman came out. He was in his mid 40's.
The Ratastrophe Catastrophe - The Illmoor Chronicles Book One - David Lee Stone. I enjoyed this book and might keep the series. I have the second one but none after that. There's a lot of humor and mayhem. The setting is the crappy town of Dullitch in the Kingdom of Illmoor. It's filled with all sorts of people and critters like gnomes, talking birds, elves and trolls. The ruler of Dullitch is Duke Modeset. He's a bit of a bastard and pretty much deserves what happens to him. The town is being over run by rats and the duke decides to clean them out. He hires some mercenaries, but that doesn't go well. Diek Wustapha has the power to control rats and he offers to lead them out of town. He doesn't know that the Duke, a right rotter, will not pay him. When Diek is tossed out of town in lieu of some cash, he gets his revenge by stealing all the children of Dullitch and hiding them in a cave. There's a bunch of other characters that have their own stories going on at the same time. The children get rescued and the whole thing blows up in the Duke's face. He's tossed out of Dullitch. Don't worry he'll return in the second book.
The Revenge of the Shadow King - The Rise of the Black Wolf - Grey Griffins #1 & 2 - Derek Benz and J. S. Lewis. I used some credit to pick these up at Sixth Chamber Books. It was on a whim. The series is set in northern Minnesota but that's not of much interest here. It could be anywhere. We follow a group of four kids and the guy who runs the local antique shop. There's a heavy Merlin theme running through the series. They kids play a card game that's based on the Round Table of Merlin and King Arthur, but with more mythical critters. It wasn't a bad series but one that didn't gel with me. The writing wasn't very good at times. I already got rid of them and won't bother with the rest.
Jumper by Steven Gould. I picked up several Steven Gould books on a friend's recommendation. Hollywood recently made this book into a movie which I haven't seen. There is a sequel which I don't have, and probably won't bother with. The story is different from the movie. I read about it online. The story has a young guy learn he can teleport. He robs some banks and has some other adventures. I didn't care for the guy very much. I didn't like the writing very much. The story was sort of interesting but the negative factors sway me to get rid of it. Better to re-read Alfred Bester's The Stars My Destination. It's arguably the best teleportation book ever, though Bester's The Demolished Man is pretty darn good too. Everyone jauntes or teleports in Bester's books.
Crusader by Edward Bloor. Another book from a friend, same friend. It's really a novel. There is no science fiction or fantasy element. Unless you count the virtual reality games that are played in the arcade that 15 year old Roberta, our main character, works in after school. It's the family business and it's failing like the mall it's housed in. There's a lot of racial stuff going on here, either in the games like Crusader which has knights killing arabs, or in the mall where the a store owner has racial slurs painted on his windows. The story unfolds all over the place and there are a steady stream of less and less likeable characters introduced. They weigh down the regular good folks. Roberta's father turns out to be a piece of shit, as does her uncle. At least she gets them out of her life by the end. I read through it wanting to find out what happens to Roberta but not really liking the story. Not a book I'd recommend or re-read. I gave it back.
The Moffats by Eleanor Estes. What a fun book. I had read The Witch Family by Estes and found it less than a keeper. This is more mundane and way more entertaining. The Moffats are a poor family living in a renamed West Haven, Connecticut during the last few years of WWI. Probably this was when Estes was growing up. A gentle book with lots of silly fun things going on. The Moffats are a family of 4 kids and a mom. They are poor but happy and do their best to be good people in the face of adversity. The main subplot has the doctor who owns their house wanting to sell it. It's a major worry, waiting to see if anyone will want the place and then where will the Moffats go. Don't worry, it all ends well, and it's a hoot to get to the end. There are several more Estes books that I bought and plan to read.
Blind Waves by Steven Gould. Another one that I didn't like very much, but others might. It's a murder mystery set in the near future when the ice caps have melted. The coasts of the USA are underwater and there are floating cities. I know I'm looking forward to that. There's a ship full of dead people and our heroine in her little submarine finds it. Then someone is after her. It would make a better movie than a book for me. Less time to think. I didn't care for the endless description of the vehicles and gear. Very Tom Clancy like. I find I have gotten less interested in the hard science kind of stories that people try to tell me. I won't keep this for re-reading.
Rufus M. by Eleanor Estes. Another delightful book. That's not the copy I have. I couldn't find a good sized copy of the cover to the newer edition I picked up used somewhere. I like this cover and as the title might indicate this one is mostly about Rufus Moffat. Rufus M is how he learned to write his name. He did this before he went to school and learned how to read or write. He wanted a library card so he could get books out of the library on his own. Rufus is a determined little boy. I like him. And I like these books.
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