tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36604762024-02-28T05:26:21.613-08:00BookSpotWhat I am reading and why you should read it too.Camille Gooderham Campbellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11224240292844358174noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660476.post-29889455505652779662013-08-12T22:42:00.003-07:002017-07-20T00:12:18.975-07:00It Has Been A WhileWell. I just discovered that my Google profile links to this old blog, which I'd pretty much forgotten about. Okay, then.<br />
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I actually blog on my own domain now; you can find my currently active blog at <a href="https://kellacampbell.com/">kellacampbell.com</a>.<br />
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Maybe I'll pick this one back up one of these days, to post more book reviews or something. But in the meantime, I haven't been here, because I'm there. Kella Campbellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03687757220464576917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660476.post-26105155536610025162007-07-14T21:17:00.000-07:002007-07-15T14:23:35.078-07:00Wicked!Should I feel guilty for being so excited about finding a brand-new <a href="http://www.jillycooper.co.uk/">Jilly Cooper</a> novel? It's hardly <a href="http://www.pemberley.com/">Jane Austen</a>, after all... except that, in some ways, it could be. Consider the similarities: Jane Austen wasn't considered high-brow literature in her day either; her novels are centred around relationships and romance, and mix ordinary people with wealthy high society; wit and humour caricature society's excesses and bad behaviour, and people usually end up getting what they deserve. Hmm... Well. Anyway.<br /><br />I was absolutely delighted to discover <em>Wicked!</em>, in which Jilly Cooper takes on the British school system. Readers of previous Jilly Cooper novels will remember references to Bagley Hall; here, we get to experience the boarding school of the rich and famous for ourselves. For contrast, we also have Larkshire Comprehensive, stuffed with the county's poor and problem children. Disguised as a juicy romance, the book is really a scathing indictment of teachers and administrators who act on petty jealousies and play power games instead of actually teaching. It is also, even more pointedly, a strike against those who would sacrifice real education in favour of modernization, convenience, and the financial bottom line. Light summer reading at its best!<br /><br />Essentially, the plot follows protagonist Janna Curtis, new head of the struggling Larkshire Comp, as she tries to save her school and its wild and troubled students. She's not perfect, of course— and it's not the carefully crafted "imperfections" of the typical romantic heroine either— she has a not-always-charming temper and shouts at people, she has not one but two affairs with married men, and she gets passing-out drunk on a couple of occasions. But this is classic Jilly Cooper; real-life imperfections are her trademark, and her characters get pimples and go on diets just like real people do. Admittedly, at times I felt a little less than comfortable with this one: fidelity in marriage is a pretty big thing for me, and while affairs aren't unusual in Jilly Cooper's novels, they are usually either true love rising above bad marriages, or just unpleasant people gratifying themselves. Janna is our heroine, and yet she has a passionate affair with a likeable man whose wife we also like very much.<br /><br />One of my favourite things about Jilly Cooper's novels is that the recurring characters don't just become static cardboard. Relationships continue to change and develop. In <em>Wicked!</em>, Taggie & Rupert Campbell-Black return, along with their two adopted children, now teenagers attending Bagley Hall. Rupert and Taggie take on challenges so totally unexpected that I was blown away; quite apart from the challenges of parenting teenagers, Taggie takes on a new job and Rupert writes an exam. Jupiter Belvedon's machiavellian nature descends to a new level of, well, Machiavelli-ness, and Cosmo Rannaldini grows from a one-dimensionally mercenary schemer to a troubled wrongdoer who does actually have a redeeming moment toward the end. Really, one has to wonder whether Little Cosmo will find true love in some future novel...<br /><br />I also really enjoy the side relationships, the ones that aren't a major focus of the novel but are lovingly detailed anyway, such as the growing romance between elderly Lily Hamilton (Aunt Lily from <em>Pandora</em>) and her neighbour. I think that's one thing that really sets Jilly Cooper apart from the chick lit and summer reading crowd: the level of detail and care that is given to the minor characters and relationships. The intertwining families and relationships sprawl and tangle together the way real lives do— so often in novels, the characters are neatly defined as major, minor, and incidental, and one or two plot threads run smoothly side by side, artfully crossing— <em>Wicked!</em> is tangled, exciting, convoluted, and surprising with characters popping up into prominence and then sinking back into the background as the plot rolls on.<br /><br />I'll admit it, I'm a huge Jilly Cooper fan, and this is possibly my new favourite of all her novels (well, with the exception of <em>Rivals</em>, when Rupert met Taggie...).Kella Campbellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03687757220464576917noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660476.post-83798589991387542542007-07-04T22:45:00.000-07:002007-09-06T23:48:12.745-07:00The Three-Martini PlaydateHeather gave me my copy of <a href="http://www.christiemellor.com/3martini.html"><em>The Three-Martini Playdate</em></a> by Christie Mellor ages ago, I think it might even have been shortly <em>before</em> Gem was born. However, it bears re-reading every so often; a refresher, one might say (and for any parent of small ones who hasn't read it yet— get it at once, you need it!).<br /><br />This is not one of those "serious" parenting manuals, and neither is it one of those collections of anecdotes designed to make you feel better about your own parenting skills and experiences. I have no objections to either of those types of parenting books; indeed, <em><a href="http://www.amazon.ca/What-Expect-First-Arlene-Eisenberg/dp/0761129588">What To Expect The First Year</a></em> and <em><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Girlfriends-Guide-Surviving-First-Motherhood/dp/0399523308">The Girlfriends' Guide to Surviving the First Year of Motherhood</a></em> are both still on my bookshelf (with well-creased spines to show my love for them). But <em>The Three-Martini Playdate</em> is another order of book altogether.<br /><br />Part dry humour and part common sense, it has chapter headings such as "The Childproof House: How to Know If You've Gone Too Far", "Diaper Bag or Steamer Trunk?", and "Self-Esteem and Other Overrated Concepts". Every time I read this, either piecemeal or whole-way-through, I end up howling aloud with laughter... and then vowing to live by the underlying principles of it. Not the part about teaching your toddler to mix martinis, of course. But the advice on handling things like mealtimes and screaming is pretty good.<br /><br />Any book that recommends Bizet's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmen"><em>Carmen</em></a> as child-friendly music— "Explain that <em>chien</em> means 'dog' in French and why Carmen uses such a pejorative to her lover, and your children will not care that this is opera and sung in a foreign language."— has definitely got something going for it (Mellor also recommends <a href="http://www.beatles.com/">The Beatles</a> and <a href="http://www.redhotjazz.com/django.html">Django Reinhardt</a>). Plus, I love the tone of dry sarcasm (not to mention the assumption that grown-up drinks, pedicures, and adult socializing are important parts of existence) which lifts <em>The Three-Martini Playdate</em> up above the usual gooey the-child-comes-first-you-are-of-no-importance tone of so many parenting books. This is parenting for Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly.<br /><br />Finally, the writing— the language itself— is clear and intelligent and multi-syllabic. Mellor uses words like 'egregious' and 'insidious'. She says 'paraphernalia' instead of 'stuff'. It isn't pompous at all, just well-written and a pleasure for educated readers. No talking down to the lowest common denominator here.Kella Campbellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03687757220464576917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660476.post-52542250112400795742007-06-21T19:38:00.000-07:002007-07-14T23:30:41.006-07:00Disgrace<BR>I just finished reading <em>Disgrace</em> by <a href="http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/2003/coetzee-bio.html">J.M. Coetzee</a>. You may have heard of it... the book took the Booker Prize in 1999, the author was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2003. A well-regarded book from a well-regarded author, obviously, and not at all my usual sort of thing. But my father was reading it on our flight home from Toronto (we had been attending Spring Reunion at Trinity College— it's been 10 years for me, and 40 for him), and he kept laughing to himself and muttering things. So, of course, I had to know what was so funny.<br /><br /><em>Disgrace</em> is very well written, but it wasn't my cup of tea, and I doubt I'll ever re-read it. This is in no way a criticism of the writing, which is superb: it's the subject matter that I disagree with, and that is my priviledge.<br /><br />The disgrace referred to in the title (or at least the chief and most obvious disgrace) comes about when 52-year-old protagonist Professor David Lurie has an affair with one of his students, a girl named Melanie, and of course he ends up being dismissed for harassment and abuse of power. I found the whole premise distinctly off-putting, and the protagonist rather distasteful: an old professor lusting after a young college student, but then acting on it (and once rather against her will too), and then admitting his guilt but refusing to be sorry. The slyness and flirtatiousness of the girl affected me in a negative way also, almost as if these attributes somehow were supposed to mitigate the professor's behaviour. Coetzee makes the point that what ostensibly started as a mutual relationship became the basis for a harassment accusation after the fact, and equally the point that a confession of guilt may be demanded but repentance can't be compelled— but that doesn't make me like these characters any better. The fact that the professor uses prostitutes, including one younger than the college student, not once but twice during the novel, only serves to alienate me further. He also has an unemotional affair with a woman that he considers dumpy and unattractive, which seems vaguely offensive as well.<br /><br />Actually, I feel rather badly saying I didn't completely enjoy such a well-written novel. The prose itself is clever and beautiful. The dry humour is entertaining; I can see what made my father laugh— in particular, the portrait of modern academia is killingly apt. And there were elements of the plot that I found very good indeed. There is some political subject matter in <em>Disgrace</em>, which is set in South Africa, switching between Cape Town and "the uplands of the Eastern Cape"; I am no expert, but to me it was interesting and well-handled. There is also a gritty storyline about recovery from robbery and rape, which is needfully grim and distressing, and again well-handled. Coetzee is clearly a master writer.<br /><br />I think what I wanted, and didn't get, from this novel was one uplifting moment. That's a personal bias of mine; I like some hope with my fiction. The professor sees himself as "just an old lag serving out [his] sentence", equating the remainder of his existence with imprisonment. And the very last scene of the book, while poignant and beautifully written, is... well... not how I wanted it to end. Just more gritty reality, no light at the end of the tunnel.Kella Campbellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03687757220464576917noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660476.post-1633780728452601182007-06-17T18:52:00.000-07:002007-06-17T21:10:02.201-07:00The Birth of Venus<BR>For some reason, I just had to re-read <em>The Birth of Venus</em> for what must be the third or fourth time.<br /><br />Subtitled "Love and Death in Florence", this powerful novel by British writer <a href="http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p=auth32">Sarah Dunant</a> is described by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Schama">Simon Schama</a> as being "a beautiful serpent of a novel, seductive and dangerous". I don't know about "dangerous", exactly, but edgy and subversive it certainly is at times. "Serpent" may also seem to be an odd choice of word to describe a novel, but in this case it makes sense on reading the book.<br /><br />A classic coming-of-age tale, the story centres around Alexandra, a young girl growing into womanhood in Renaissance Italy. She is surrounded by privilege and luxury, but also by education, fabulous art and artists, creativity... and splendid fabrics; her father is a cloth merchant. All the requisite elements of the coming-of-age story are present: sibling rivalry, rebellion against parents, independence and adventurousness in the heroine, and of course love in many forms.<br /><br />Be warned, though, that despite a Renaissance backdrop, this book takes a swing at a number of edgy issues, including homosexuality and adultery. People who are uncomfortable with a discussion of these topics may not enjoy this book.<br /><br />Sarah Dunant, originally a writer of mysteries & crime fiction, has lost none of her skill in creating suspense with this move away from genre writing. Clever plot twists and moments of discovery keep the story moving along at an exciting pace.<br /><br />Note: Try to figure out the identity of the Painter before the end of the book. Bonus points for guessing the secret that Alexandra's mother keeps.Kella Campbellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03687757220464576917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660476.post-1075752076203466462004-02-02T12:01:00.000-08:002008-02-28T01:00:21.119-08:00Memory, Sorrow and Thorn trilogyFor those who enjoy large-scale epic fantasy, the <em>Memory, Sorrow and Thorn</em> trilogy by <a href="http://www.tadwilliams.com/">Tad Williams</a> is one of the best I've read. The trilogy begins with <a href="http://www.tadwilliams.com/book.aspx?id=8"><em>The Dragonbone Chair</em></a>, continues through <a href="http://www.tadwilliams.com/book.aspx?id=9"><em>Stone of Farewell</em></a>, and wraps up with <a href="http://www.tadwilliams.com/book.aspx?id=10"><em>To Green Angel Tower</em></a>. These are not short books, particularly the last (the paperback edition is split into two volumes), and so should last even fast readers a good bit of time. Don't be put off by the cover design, which does very little to convey anything about the story or characters; just read.<br /><br />All the usual epic fantasy elements are present; the world "somewhat like ours" (or at least like ours might have been long ago), the requisite dark power wishing to conquer it, the wise and beautiful elven/faerie race who may or may not involve themselves in the struggle, and of course the young protagonist who goes from ordinary joe to epic hero during the course of the adventure. The story is also sprinkled with a nice selection of trolls, giants, wizards, castles, peasants, etc. in the best fantasy tradition. There are also, however, a few things that make it different from your ordinary epic. Instead of one wise white wizard as a source of safety and advice (think Gandalf, Dumbledore, etc.) throughout the story, there are a series of learned advisors who are wise but realistically not all-powerful. At one point, vaguely reminiscent of Gandalf blocking the Balrog's pursuit out of Moria (Lord of the Rings, for anyone who's not familiar with it), the wise Jarnauga enables a similar escape... by breaking off a knife blade in the door hinge to jam it. The quest element is also less precise that usual for a fantasy epic; instead of one item or task that needs to be found/disposed of/completed, the quest element unfolds more like a search for answers in how to halt the coming evil, with sub-quests being revealed as the answers arise.<br /><br />A most interesting thing about the land, history and religion of Osten Ard is its relative but not exact similarity to our own. It's like a translation in which the translator has taken quite a lot of poetic license, or a different adaptation of the same play. The Aedonite religion of Osten Ard bears many similarities with Christianity, but also some interesting and creative differences; some of the "pagan" deities seem somewhat familiar too. The city and fallen empire of Nabban certainly bear some similarities to Rome and the Roman Empire, which naturally leads one to play guessing games with the other regions and cultures. Is Erkynland England? What is Perdruin supposed to represent? And the Wran... India, Africa, or somewhere in Southeast Asia? It's like an itch you can't scratch; enough similarities to cause your subconscious to try figuring it out, enough differences to make clean answers impossible.<br /><br />Cultural references also abound, hidden throughout all three books. The folk hero Jack Mundwode (appearing in assorted songs and tales throughout the story) bears a strong resemblance to Robin Hood, but with the higher ideals filtered out; he's charismatic, but very much a bandit. There are also some nicely subtle Arthurian references, with the Lancelot/Guinevere story delicately played out in the background by characters you wouldn't initally guess at.<br /><br />Finally, the cast of characters is what really makes this long tale worth reading. It's a multi-threaded story, told through many points of view as the narrative switches from thread to thread. The segments that deal with Simon, Prince Josua, and Miriamele are particularly compelling, with Maegwin and Guthwulf being the least interesting, in my humble opinion. But the major players are all well-crafted and dynamic characters, which is impressive in a work of this size; the author could easily have populated much of the book with the usual fantasy suspects, and instead chose to spend eight years creating a world full of characters you can believe in.<br /><br />Of all the epic fantasy I have read, this is one of the few that brings something new and interesting to the genre. I would give it four stars and recommend it highly to anyone who reads fantasy.Kella Campbellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03687757220464576917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660476.post-881955212003-01-28T19:53:00.000-08:002008-02-28T00:55:09.888-08:00re-reading The Lord Of The Rings and more<BR>Unfortunately, I haven't been reading as much as I'd like lately. I just finished an old <a href="http://www.simonsays.com/subs/index.cfm?areaid=12">Mary Higgins Clark</a> book called <i>The Cradle Will Fall</i> (1991), given to me by Peggy recently. I ended up enjoying it very much, and I can see why she is such a popular writer, although I would not go so far as to compare her to P.D. James or Agatha Christie.<br /><br />I also had to re-read the entire <a href="http://www.tolkien.co.uk">Lord Of The Rings</a> trilogy (when <a href="http://www.lordoftherings.net/">The Two Towers</a> movie came out), which led to endless nitpicky discussions with Grant (also re-reading same) along the lines of "But it wasn't Eomer who came to the rescue at Helm's Deep, it was another guy Erkenbrand-- Eomer was in the siege!" and "That whole bit about Arwen leaving with the elves, they totally made that up, it wasn't in the book at all!" You have to believe, this went on for weeks... in bed... over dinner... and so on.<br /><br />Currently, I am re-reading <a href="http://www.annemccaffrey.org/">Anne McCaffrey</a>'s <i>Freedom's Challenge</i> (I re-read most of her books periodically, a fix of old favourites).Kella Campbellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03687757220464576917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660476.post-842628762002-11-08T20:05:00.000-08:002008-02-28T00:55:09.897-08:00light reading<BR>Well, it's been a while, but I'm back. My mysterious absence is in large part due to the fact that I've been reading rather a lot of <a href="http://www.suegrafton.com">Sue Grafton</a> and <a href="http://www.dickfrancisbooks.com">Dick Francis</a>, and didn't want to admit to it. Not that I'm maligning either of these two fine authors; on the contrary, I wouldn't spend so much time and money on their books if I didn't enjoy them. It's just not very literary, and I feel silly when my bookspot is entirely filled with popular fiction, and nothing obscure or academic mixed in.<br /><br />Speaking of literary, I volunteered at the <a href="http://www.writersfest.bc.ca">Vancouver International Writers (& Readers) Festival</a> again this year. I always enjoy giving my time to this annual event, and this year was no exception. I found out that <a href="http://www.cchumphreys.com">C.C. Humphreys</a>, who wrote <i>The French Executioner</i>, has a new book out called <i>Blood Ties</i>, and I can't wait to find myself a copy.Kella Campbellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03687757220464576917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660476.post-813916032002-09-09T21:57:00.000-07:002008-02-28T00:55:09.908-08:00A Desert in Bohemia<BR>I just finished reading <i>A Desert in Bohemia</i> by <a href="http://www.greenbay.co.uk/jpw.html">Jill Paton Walsh</a>, a beautiful novel beginning in Central Europe in 1945. It is set in a place called Comenia, which she describes in an author's note as follows: "There is no such country as the one describe in this novel; rather, there have been several such countries." This novel is full of beauty and magic and humanity as it describes the darkest of times. One of the things that I love about Jill Paton Walsh's writing is how it seems to follow many threads at once, gradually weaving them into a single story. I think that I loved this one almost as much as her earlier novel <i>A School For Lovers</i>, which I have read many times.<br /><br />In the last couple of weeks, I have also read a couple of crime novels, kindly lent to me by Peggy whom I talk to on the bus. One was <i>The Forgotten</i> by <a href="http://www.mysterynet.com/kellerman_faye//">Faye Kellerman</a>, about hate crimes and white supremacists. It was a bit too heavy on the religious aspect of Judaism to be a light read, and the kinky sex stuff, though there was only a little of it, was a bit too weird for me. But it was reasonably good and fast-paced. The other book was <i>The Associate</i> by <a href="http://www.phillipmargolin.com">Phillip Margolin</a>, and it was just what the doctor ordered for a long bus ride home: full of lawyers, conspiracies, ex-cops, seemingly unrelated murders, and all that good stuff. Both of these books are currently on bestseller racks in grocery stores and pharmacies everywhere. Enjoy!<br /><br />Incidentally, it's Grant's birthday today, and one of the things I gave him was Timothy Findley's Spadework. So we'll see how he enjoys that, and I will probably read it eventually. Also, for everyone who told me (after my blasting of "Shopaholic") to read about her visit to Manhattan, thank you! I have borrowed it from Emma and will let you know what I think of it.Kella Campbellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03687757220464576917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660476.post-806433552002-08-23T21:27:00.000-07:002008-02-28T00:55:09.919-08:00Taken At The Flood<BR>One of my constant stand-by favourites is <a href="http://www.agathachristie.com">Agatha Christie</a>. She wrote so many books that one can never possibly have read them all, and I am always rather excited when I come across one that I haven't yet read. <br /><br />I picked up <i>Taken At The Flood</i> the other day (in our local <a href="http://www.londondrugs.com">London Drugs</a>, of all places); it features Hercule Poirot and a whole string of twists of identity. <br /><br />With a twist-of-identity plot, the characters become the most important feature of the mystery. A couple of my favourite characters from this one are Aunt Kathie-- who is "under spirit guidance" and puts great faith in ouija boards and mediums-- and Frances, "one of those lean greyhound women who look well in tweeds", with "a rather arrogant ravaged beauty about her face which had no make-up except a little carelessly applied lipstick". That description in particular says so much with so few carefully chosen words, which is one of the reasons why I love Agatha Christie. <br /><br />Anyone who dismisses Christie as a serious writer because of her prolific writing or her status as a 'mystery novelist' is missing some very clever snapshots of human nature and life in England... and in the case of <i>Taken At The Flood</i>, an interesting perception of life after war-- for those who stayed behind and those who went to war and returned-- for men who stayed at home and women who went as Wrens and returned. <br /><br />Even more than most Christie mysteries, this one is worth reading.Kella Campbellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03687757220464576917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660476.post-804629462002-08-19T22:18:00.000-07:002008-02-28T00:55:09.929-08:00I Think I Love You<BR>I am clearly in a lighter vein of literature right now. There's certainly something about the guilty pleasures of the Safeway "books" section-- best sellers, a slim selection of mysteries, and a vast array of romances... In any case, the other day I picked up <a href="http://www.stephaniebond.com">Stephanie Bond</a>'s <i>I Think I Love You</i>, which is described on the cover as a "romantic comedy". I think I would call it a sex comedy; romantic generally implies emotional depth. Anyway, it certainly is funny. No deeper meaning here, but I wasn't looking for deeper meaning in the Safeway anyway, just something to read while my husband was out of town for a night. It kind of turned into a mystery halfway through, which added to the page-turning enjoyment, and while it was lighter on the sex than I had expected given the write-up on the back cover, that was okay too. I'll probably end up donating it to the kitchen at work (circulating stash of light reading), but it kept me content for a night, and that was all I wanted.Kella Campbellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03687757220464576917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660476.post-800158272002-08-08T22:58:00.000-07:002008-02-28T00:55:09.940-08:00Confessions of a Shopaholic<BR>Some books do earn my righteous indignation. <i>Confessions of a Shopaholic</i> by Sophie Kinsella, lent to me by Emma on the weekend, is one of them. Not that it's a badly written book-- far from it! Badly written books just make me laugh (or weep, as the case may be). A weak book cannot provoke more than annoyance; I read this one in four hours, and it made me sulk and rage for a good hour afterward. Escapist literature is supposed to provide a distraction, not drive you to distraction!<br /><br />Our heroine (if you can call her that) Becky Bloomwood spends the entire book alternately spending way too much money and trying to get out of paying her debts by devious means, telling all kinds of horrendous lies along the way. Basically, all the petty little things that God, karma, and the law are supposed to punish... and of course, generally don't. Actually, it's quite a brilliant portrait of a morally weak and financially incompetent woman, which Sophie Kinsella cleverly layers under a cotton-candy wrapping of gorgeous clothes and glitzy giggles. So far, so good.<br /><br />Unfortunately, Becky does not meet with her just desserts. By all the laws of fiction, as a flawed character, she ought to experience a life-changing epiphany before being rewarded in some way. By all the laws of nature, as a hopeless spendthrift with no work ethic to speak of, she ought to wind up bankrupt and out of a job. And yet, she somehow winds up with a fabulous job in television (just like <i>Bridget Jones</i>! Wow!) and snares a wealthy boyfriend too. All problems solved.<br /><br />It is really too bad that a novel with so much potential should be brought down by such an ending. This book is too clever (and in some ways, too dark) to simply be a light escapist treat, and I wanted that epiphany-- or failing that, a gritty reality ending. I thought, briefly, during the scene in the tv studio where Becky is giving financial advice on-air and catches sight of her bank manager, that she was having her life-changing moment-- that she would face her problems and emerge victorious. But no... she simply finds a rich man to solve all her problems. The book ends with Becky blowing off a meeting with her bank manager to lounge in bed with her rich boyfriend, and we are left with the impression that all her financial worries will now be taken care of. It is a shameful ending for such a clever book.Kella Campbellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03687757220464576917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660476.post-796258722002-07-30T21:14:00.000-07:002008-02-28T00:55:09.950-08:00Visual Quickstart Guide to HTML 4<BR>My hot book of the moment is non-fiction... to be precise, a computer manual. Yes, I decided (on Sunday) that I wanted to learn HTML. So I picked up <a href="http://www.peachpit.com">Peachpit Press</a>' <i>Visual Quickstart Guide to HTML 4 for the World Wide Web</i>. Now, this isn't my usual light reading, but I would have done this years ago if I'd realized how much fun a girl can have with just any old text editor and an HTML textbook. <br /><br />Initially I chose this book out of the mega-millions of choices available for two reasons, one worthy and one not so worthy. The worthy reason is that the textbook for the Adobe Pagemaker course I took at <a href="http://www.bcit.ca">BCIT </a>was another book from the <i>Visual Quickstart Guide</i> series, and I had liked using it to study. The less worthy reason (though still appreciated by me) was that I liked the cover. I think what really sold me on it, standing in the computer books section of <a href="http://chapters.indigo.ca">Chapters</a> on Sunday night, was the hexadecimal colour chart on the back inside cover. Colour charts always get me!<br /><br />In any case, I made a good choice. In three short days, I have conquered links and tables and been introduced to frames, and I smugly think of bold and italic as "easy". After turning my light out these last few nights, instead of pondering plot and character development, I've spent my moments of semi-wakefulness contemplating the mysteries of web forms and graphics. This could become addictive... I can see it now... one of these days I'll be back for a book on javascript... they'll find me years later, eyes permanently glazed over from staring at the monitor, subsisting on caffeine and cold pizza and wearing a pocket protector.<br /><br />But, seriously, for anyone who doesn't yet know HTML and wants to learn, this is a very good book.Kella Campbellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03687757220464576917noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660476.post-793806312002-07-24T22:33:00.000-07:002008-02-28T00:55:09.959-08:00One For The Money<BR>I just finished reading the first of <a href="http://www.evanovich.com">Janet Evanovich</a>'s Stephanie Plum novels, <i>One For The Money</i>, which Heather very kindly lent me. I am definitely going to read more of these! I particularly like the fact that she can have a character just oozing sex appeal (Joe Morelli), and yet stay well away from the sort of overly descriptive sticky sex scenes that often plague crime fiction.<br /><br />Actually, I've done rather a lot of reading in the last couple of days. Another new favourite is <a href="http://www.deryni.net">Katherine Kurtz</a>. I hadn't read any of her books before, then I picked up <i>St. Patrick's Gargoyle </i>on the way to the airport. I read the entire book on the plane to San Francisco, simply couldn't put it down. The combination of the Irish backdrop and the fact that most of the characters are gargoyles is simply too good to resist. There is a touch of the divine in this one, though, so anyone who's turned off by God stuff might be less entranced than I was. Anyway, now that I've discovered Katherine Kurtz, I've got all the Deryni books to look forward to...<br /><br />Finally, I also really enjoyed the most recent Amelia Peabody novel, <i>Lord of the Silent</i>, by <a href="http://www.mpmbooks.com">Elizabeth Peters</a>. Possibly it is not <i>the</i> most recent one, really, as apparently <i>The Golden One</i> is now out. I will have to look for it. I always enjoy these books; Amelia herself is fabulous, marching around ancient Egypt with a parasol and cucumber sandwiches as usual. If you haven't read any yet, don't start with this one. It would give too much away about what happens in earlier books.<br /><br />I only wish I didn't read so fast, I am always running out of books.Kella Campbellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03687757220464576917noreply@blogger.com0