Lory
Reviews and more on my blog: Entering the Enchanted Castle
I had to skip the next Uncle Fred book because it was still on hold at the library. So I went straight to book 2, which is not a problem as the situation with Uncle Fred never really changes. He simply causes trouble, whatever venue he may find himself in. The usual mess of mistaken identities and impostures, absurd plots and romantic mix-ups was gloriously silly and cheered me up no end.
Reviews and more on my blog: Entering the Enchanted Castle
I do not think I will ever be a Christie fan. I'd read a couple of the early ones and was not impressed. So I wanted to try this, some say her masterpiece, and found it similarly ho-hum. I don't think it's just that the premise is so well known that the element of surprise is lost; I simply don't care about any of the characters, they are so clearly mere shadows made to hang the puzzle on. I enjoy mystery stories where, however preposterous the plot, the people ring true to me and I can feel some kind of connection to them. With this one, they were as anonymous as the china figures that got lost or smashed each time one died.
I'm going to try Murder on the Orient Express since I picked up a free copy of that, and maybe a Miss Marple story, and if those don't turn out to be better, I'm done.
Reviews and more on my blog: Entering the Enchanted Castle
A comfort reread of a childhood favorite. I always loved to imagine myself into Menolly's place, studying music, making friends and enjoying the company of tiny dragonlike creatures on a variation of the usual vaguely medieval fantasy world. Right now it provided some welcome escape.
Reviews and more on my blog: Entering the Enchanted Castle
After Year of the Mad King, I went back in time to Sher's previous Theatre Diary about his performance as Falstaff. This one had less about his personal life and more about his uncertainty about playing the iconic character, doubts which did not show in the end (I watched the filmed performance of Henry IV Part I and he seemed totally at home, only – in spite of his “fat suit” – not terribly fat). It was most interesting to read about some of the artistic choices and decisions that went into the final product, including some shades of interpretation and meaning. I'd really like to read Year of the King as well now.
Reviews and more on my blog: Entering the Enchanted Castle
My first Richard Rohr. I loved it and would have liked to underline something on almost every page. Probably need to buy my own copy so I can do that, and read it repeatedly.
My only caveat is that there wasn't actually much about “contemplative prayer” – i.e. what it is, or how to do it. That information has to be sought elsewhere.
Reviews and more on my blog: Entering the Enchanted Castle
Very interesting survey of a year of turmoil and conflict in English history, following the Gunpowder Plot. I found it very illuminating to place Shakespeare's plays within their social and historical context. It also gives a glimpse of how historians come up with some of their ideas based on fragmentary evidence. Though Shapiro identifies three plays, King Lear, Macbeth, and Antony and Cleopatra, as being produced in 1606, only the first is fairly certain (that's why the book is called “The Year of Lear”). He makes a good case for the others, but this and many other statements should be taken for what they are: theories. There is also a fair amount of speculation, of the “Did Shakespeare feel this or that at the time? We can't know for certain” variety. Overall, it's like a tapestry with huge holes that has been filled in – convincingly, and helping us to see the big picture that otherwise would be hard to imagine, but keep in mind that it may not fully match the original.
Reviews and more on my blog: Entering the Enchanted Castle
Read this for review on Shiny New Books (coming soon). I was riveted by this account of one family's struggle with schizophrenia, interspersed with information about the history of how the condition has been understood and treated. Some individuals, particularly the father, remained quite shadowy, but I thought the author overall did a fine job of presenting the information he gathered as a fluent narrative, allowing the reader a way into this complex drama. There is so much to learn and the willingness of at least some of the Galvins to share their story can help us to inch forward in understanding and hopefully treating this mysterious disease.
Reviews and more on my blog: Entering the Enchanted Castle
I loved reading about Sher's life and his artistic process, woven together. Especially moving was the way mortality and his aging body affected him in the course of bringing Lear to production. I would definitely like to read more of these memoirs.
Reviews and more on my blog: Entering the Enchanted Castle
A revealing but not particularly “delightful” look into the world behind the curtain, centered around the star of My Fair Lady, Rex Harrison. Garland, who directed Harrison in the American revival of the musical in the mid-seventies, seems to see reminiscing about the production as a fine opportunity to collect his memories of the man he considered a friend as well as a great artist, and perhaps to demonstrate why he remained so attractive to many in spite of his irascibility. But much of Harrison's in-person charm is lost when we are confronted with his bald words upon the page, divorced from his finely modulated voice and manners. He comes across as insensitive, boorish, and even cruel. One of his ex-wives (he had five, plus a current model) commits suicide during the tour and he appears largely unmoved. His treatment of his own son – which took even Garland aback – is horrible. Off the stage, intermingled with Wildean quips he spews a constant stream of profanity; his nickname for My Fair Lady is “F*** the Music.”
This attitude also demonstrates his contempt for any artists involved with a production other than himself. Challenged by his own lack of singing skills, his “speech singing” became a brilliant and very suitable expression of the character of Henry Higgins, which largely contributed to his success in the role. But it IS an eminently musical show, and he had no respect for music or for singers. He ignored the long-suffering conductor's requests for Harrison to follow him, demanding that he lead and the orchestra follow. He sank the revival production because when his co-star playing Eliza became overwhelmed by the vocal demands of the score, he refused to allow an understudy to take over. When forced by the crisis to do so, played so coldly to her that she ended up prostrate in her dressing room after the preview performance attended by the New York critics. I suspect that he feared being upstaged by any talent that might have proved to be greater than his own, and used these antics to keep other actors in their place.
I'm sure such attitudes and practices are not uncommon among stage folk, and so Garland's record allows us to see a side of show business that is not at all glamorous. But it left me sad, and wondering why Harrison became such a dreadful person – a question not addressed in this particular book.
Reviews and more on my blog: Entering the Enchanted Castle
I really enjoyed this first of the Tessa Crichton mysteries, reissued by Dean Street Press, always to be depended on for coming up with some good rediscoveries. The mystery is negligible, but there's a lot of pleasure to be had from the breezy voice of the narrator. This made me smile on almost every page, especially her banter with friends and relations including an attractive police inspector who I gather will become her husband in the next book – seemingly unfazed by his lady love's obstruction of justice and concealing of information in the interest of her loved ones. I wonder how this will work out in future books, so I definitely look forward to more from Tessa and Co.
Reviews and more on my blog: Entering the Enchanted Castle
A scattered sort of story, posited as a novelist searching for the truth about her famous mother's invented life and eventual madness, her own paternity, and the reality of love in a confusing world. Not at all straightforwardly told, it's more in line with how most of us probably process and slowly work through memories and impressions, but written in much more poetic language. I found it absorbing and moving, though I gravitate to more conventional narratives in general and am not sure I'd read another by this author.
I didn't listen to the full audiobook, but given the positive comments from several readers about the author's narration, I listened to a sample. I think Enright did a terrific job as a narrator, and if you're an audiobook fan, I can imagine this would really enhance the experience. The prose is meant to be heard, in a finely modulated Irish voice, so the author doing that for you is a great benefit.
Reviews and more on my blog: Entering the Enchanted Castle
Read for the umpteeth time to celebrate March Magics at We Be Reading and Reading the Theatre at Entering the Enchanted Castle. It qualifies for the latter because of a brief but chilling Punch and Judy scene (imagine the horror of being forced to play the role of one of those murderous puppets), and because the magic in the book is wonderfully performative – enacted specifically through singing. I love the wizards' battle and its description of magic made manifest through choral singing, a magic I sorely miss during the pandemic lockdown. The warring families theme is a nod to Romeo and Juliet, but with a much happier ending. The child characters, as often in DWJ's books, need to discover their true powers and stop worrying about external expectations; it has some terrific cat characters as well. It's not as hilarious or twisty as some others, but I'm very fond of it and was so happy to escape to Caprona for a while.
Reviews and more on my blog: Entering the Enchanted Castle
Sometimes all I want from a book is to spend time with some new people, living into their lives and their problems. Not extremely challenging people or dark and twisted problems, just people with enough quirkiness to raise them above the merely mundane, and lift me out of my everyday existence for awhile without making me wrap my head around an utterly different world.
This is such a book, a set of character studies loosely connected with the inhabitants of the house with the pink front door, a charming little place in Hampstead, London in the mid-20th century. Its mistress, Daisy, is prone to “overhelpful-itis,” taking care of an assortment of wastrels and hard-luck cases at the expense of her own family. We meet a number of these, along with some of Daisy's relatives, as their lives entwine and unravel in various interesting (but not overly tortuous) ways.
I ended up smiling at Gibbons's light but vivid way of delineating character, and her amusedly compassionate glance at all these flawed, yet relatable humans. For me it compared favorably to another book I read recently, A Man Called Ove, which aspired to be a similar collection of lovably quirky character studies but fell flat for me; the characterizations did not spring to life. Gibbons did it better, I think.
Reviews and more on my blog: Entering the Enchanted Castle
A moving story of how a young journalist decided to overcome the habits of his life so far and delve into a difficult family history. In the process he found healing and transformation for himself as well as a new relationship with his estranged parents. The style is prosaic, with little in the way of sentimental flourish, but the bare bones of the story itself come out all the more strongly that way. To turn within ourselves and choose to go in a new direction, opening our hearts to the other who has hurt us while admitting where maybe we ourselves have been at fault, is such a simple and yet such a difficult process. This is an example I will long remember.
Reviews and more on my blog: Entering the Enchanted Castle
I found this rather unremarkable considering the rave reviews. The characters are not very developed, especially the minor ones, some of whom are quite one-sidedly stereotypical (a “bent” boy, his bigoted father, an overweight neighbor). And Ove keeps wondering why his wife, Sonja, chose to be with him – I'm not at all sure either. They seem to exist in parallel universes.
The narrative flowed along and was pleasant enough to read, but in the end I was not very satisfied. The repeated suicide attempts were not so pleasant and could be triggering for anybody with suicide trauma. They were played for black comedy, which will be a matter of your taste and tolerance.
Reviews and more on my blog: Entering the Enchanted Castle
Really loved the atmosphere, characters, and voice of this one. The way it switched from Annie's first-person narration to third-person was a little jarring and unexplained, but I shrugged it off as I was enjoying the story overall. I think the plot could have used a boost, however; there is a love story with absolutely no tension, for example. Sweet but quite boring. It seemed the author wanted to bring in excitement through fistfights, but I started to skip the blow-by-blow descriptions as those also are dull for me. Others may differ!
More interesting was when Annie was first learning to fight and she described it as a process of reading. I would have appreciated more on that theme. She did learn to read, as well, but there was not much about that except her gushing about how lovely Burns and Wordsworth were.
Reviews and more on my blog: Entering the Enchanted Castle
I'm glad I finally read this after many years of circling around it. I'm also glad I had also read/watched some other resources on the Nag Hammadi texts and Gnosticism, because Pagels emphasizes the opposition of Orthodox/Gnostic views, and it's actually more nuanced than that. But there is no question that the rediscovery of Gnosticism and the re-emergence of Gnostic texts is a transformational event of our time. I would like to go back to the book and consider again all the ideas it brings up. I think that I am a Gnostic and after centuries of burial and suppression, there is a lot in me that wants to come out and needs rediscovery too!
One thing that stuck with me was a point she made at the end, that Gnosticism did not become a larger movement, and went underground, because such a solitary path oriented on individual discovery could never have survived on the scale that the orthodox church, with its community orientation and outward mechanisms of transmission, did. That seems to me true. However, that outer “carrying” mechanism seems to me to have be in danger of falling into emptiness and oppressiveness, and needs to be re-enlivened by the spirit of true knowledge, personal experience of the divine. This was not possible before, because not enough human beings were ready for it. But the time is now! We have evolved further, and now, we can potentially take up the call of Gnosticism. I hope we will, and that we will not reject and oppose the other side but bring about a marriage of these seemingly opposite impulses. Each side suffered from their separation.
Reviews and more on my blog: Entering the Enchanted Castle
This was a brave, honest, and beautifully written memoir about a young woman's spiritual journey toward self-acceptance – represented by accepting an alternative sexuality not generally approved of in Christian circles. What shone through to me was how important it is to love the world and all the gifts it brings to us, and not to close ourselves off from possibilities of love, through fear of hurt or criticism or rejection.
Sometimes You Have to Lie: The Life and Times of Louise Fitzhugh, Renegade Author of Harriet the Spy
Reviews and more on my blog: Entering the Enchanted Castle
Pro: learning about the unconventional author's life, the story behind one of my favorite books.
Con: the writing style with its extraneous whimsy and weird formal-kitschy tone. The swoony, verbose analysis of Harriet was so at odds with Fitzhugh”s dry humor, it was not at all a good match. Flights of fancy, like long descriptions of what Fitzhugh MIGHT have worn to a dinner party, felt like padding. (This is rampant in biography, I find.) Plus the lack of editing, down to the level of subject- verb agreement, was quite egregious.
Overall worth reading, though, because it's the only truly frank and honest book on the subject, who is really fascinating – though no reproductions of Fitzhugh”s artwork, why not???
Reviews and more on my blog: Entering the Enchanted Castle
Enjoyed this especially since we visited Grindelwald last summer. Gibbons captured the atmosphere well, along with a slew of entertaining characters, few of them very likeable but all convincingly themselves. Sly glimpses at their future fates are inserted, with one major exception that I think is meant to leave us wondering.
Reviews and more on my blog: Entering the Enchanted Castle
I read this because I wanted to know what was behind Rudolf Steiner's very negative comments about Woodrow Wilson. I learned so much! His story really is a great tragedy of moral overreaching and hidden weakness. We need to learn from this to have the honesty to admit and overcome our faults, rather than ignoring and covering them up until they become a disaster of epic proportions. Working on it myself – I can't even imagine trying to take on the challenges of political office.
As others have noted, the book is really mostly about Wilson's presidential years (his earlier life is much more briefly treated) and “The World He Made” gets a brief postscript in the epilogue. The peace conference was covered in great detail, and left me in awe and dismay. What mistakes were made there, that we are still not recovered from. Eye opening. And the cover-up of Wilson's final years in office, what a bizarre episode in American history. I had no idea this had even happened.
Reviews and more on my blog: Entering the Enchanted Castle
This was an above average middle grade historical, well written and with good atmosphere. Marjan immediately has our sympathy, the slow reveal of her story is skillfully played out, and the humanization of legendary figures is also believable. I liked the underlying message of the power of stories to shape our lives.
Reviews and more on my blog: Entering the Enchanted Castle
In the introduction a comment about de Mille is repeated, that she is a better writer than she is a choreographer. I thought that was an insult until I read the book. She is an excellent writer! I am not a judge of choreography, so can't say anything to that, but her words often show a sense of movement and rhythm that is a joy to encounter, given the plodding and inelegant prose one so often encounters these days. Language is a bodily art too, she reminds us.
The book is a sort of a hodgepodge, which she says she scribbled in odd moments while taking care of small children and handed over to her publishers as a mass of material in a shopping bag. Bits about her early life and dancing career are interspersed with backstage views of the creation of works like Rodeo and Oklahoma! and portraits of notable figures like Martha Graham, Antony Tudor, and Marie Rambert.
I think it's likely that as a dancer she was not as great as these, and that she was kept afloat so long as a struggling young artist only by her family's money and influence (she was the niece of Cecil B. De Mille). There is too much in the book about these early concerts, which become boring to read about since one cannot actually see the dancing. But there are other moments that absolutely shine and give wings to the words in a remarkable way.