Expanding Her Horizons

We recently did some rearranging in our house so that Joy and Grace could have separate rooms. This, sadly, will last only for while we remain here, in this nice roomy four-bedroom house. Once Carl starts seminary and we're living in campus housing, it'll be back to sharing! For now, though, they both seem to be thriving on the separation.

Joy, in particular, delights in having her own space. One of the first things I did was take the tiny bookcase that had been removed from their shared bedroom after I found them trying to use it to leapfrog between beds (and it, shockingly enough, crashed and narrowly missed Grace) and put it in her room. Her special picture books are on the bottom shelf, tiny books like Beatrix Potter and Brambly Hedge are on the top shelf, and the middle shelf is reserved for big girl, read-aloud books. Books that Grace would lose interest in after two pages, but Joy is finally old enough to listen to while someone else reads. Books like The Secret Garden, Betsy-Tacy, The Wind in the Willows, Five Little Peppers, Swiss Family Robinson, Hitty, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, The Railway Children, etc.

This is real life. A few book jackets displaced, the Frances books on the floor because she was reading them most recently, and Bunny Douglas forlornly squeezed between the bed frame and the book case.

This edition of Anne of Green Gables took its place on the shelf on Christmas Day (Grace received Peter Pan).

The book I placed on the shelf with the most secret hope was The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. That was the very first long book I ever read all by myself, and it is the book that started my lifelong love of fantasy. I so want my girls to love it as well! But I didn't say anything to anyone, not wanting to influence Joy, and in fact didn't even push any of the books on that shelf. I borrowed Little House in the Big Woods from the library and we started reading that together, but I left the middle shelf alone.

Then, one night, out of the blue, after Grace was tucked in and Carl came into Joy's room to tuck her in, she handed him The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and said "Daddy? Can we start reading this?"

Carl's never read it either, so now BOTH of them are experiencing (and enjoying) it for the first time. Both of them (separately) tend to come and fill me in on what they just read. Carl is mostly blown away with how different it is from the movie. "This is SO MUCH better!" he enthused. "Why did they even call the movie 'based' on the book, anyway?" The other night Joy chattered to me all about how Dorothy melted the Wicked Witch with a pail of water and won back her sparkly shoes, and how the Cowardly Lion isn't really scary, he just pretends to be scary so he won't be scared by everything else, and isn't it silly that there's a man made of tin instead of skin?

And I am dancing with glee.

Only a few more years before we can start reading Lewis, Tolkien, and Alexander!

If I keep thinking of more books to add, eventually we're going to need a bigger bookshelf.

Going Back

With finishing my short stories (all spy- or detective-related), I decided to take a break from all the mysteries I've been reading lately and go back to my roots. This was partially inspired by the fact that I'm getting to loathe all fictional private detectives (except Sherlock Holmes, DUH), and partially because, to my surprise, some of my critique partners rattled off a few different writers whose style they could see had influenced me -

And not one of them was Lloyd Alexander.

Which quite frankly flabbergasted me, because for many years my writing style read like a composite of Lloyd Alexander and Brian Jacques, and Jacques only because he was so prolific that he infused my writing without me ever realizing it.

If there is one author I would aspire to write like, it's Lloyd. So I'm picking up some of his books again and reminding myself of just what it is in his writing that I love so well, and make sure that I haven't lost that in my own writing - not that I want to write in his voice entirely, of course, but that the same spirit breathes in my writing that lives in his.

I'm reading Westmark right now, which is the start of one of his less-popular series, but one that I love dearly. Then I'll probably go on to the Vesper Holly books, for their sheer outrageous fun (oh how I love Brinnie; as a kid I wanted to identify most with Vesper, as an adult I have utter sympathy for Brinnie), and then we'll see from there.

He breaks so many of the "rules" of writing, and yet his genius is such that it works. That doesn't mean I'm going to go about breaking rules willy-nilly, but it does help me remember to hold them loosely, and if I have to choose between the story and the rules, GO WITH THE STORY.

It feels like visiting old friends, going back to Westmark and thinking about Vesper &co. I'm actually glad for an excuse to go back there, preferably with a cup of tea by my side.

Mmm ... anyone else remember when the weather was cool enough to want wrist warmers? Yeah, me neither.

(Mind, I'm not complaining about any of the writers that were mentioned as being obvious influences on my writing; they are all brilliant writers and have influences me in one way or another, but since Lloyd is the BIGGEST influence on me, I was just surprised that he didn't make the list.)

Lists, Part the Second

Thoughts from this week:

1. Along with a suitcase for the TARDIS, one should also always carry a frying pan with one on any journeys, in case one needs to clunk Jenny Green-Teeth or fight the Queen of the Elves.
2. Summer tastes like sun-warmed strawberries; it smells like sun-warmed raspberries.
3. Any time you find a Freddy the Pig book in a bookstore, you must buy it at once. No hesitations allowed.
4. $10. kiddie pools are one of the greatest things ever invented. Along with popsicles.
5. Sometimes, writing with pen and paper is far more satisfying than typing on a computer.
6. Homeschooling kindergarteners is great - you can buy a coloring book and call it science AND art (seriously, Joy loves this sort of stuff, and doesn't even realize she's learning)!
7. Getting up early can be a pain, but watching the rising sun illuminate the tree leaves from underneath is one of those sights that more than makes up for it.

And your bonus for this weekend: my own recipe for strawberry rhubarb crunch, adapted from an old family recipe, probably originally my Great-Grandmother Whitmore's.

for the filling:

2 cups chopped rhubarb

2 cups chopped strawberries

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 TBS flour

3/4 tsp cinnamon

Mix sugar, flour, cinnamon together in a large bowl; add fruit and toss until covered. Spread in greased 9x11 pan (or 8x8 if you want it thicker) and set aside.

for the topping:

3/4 cup flour

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/3 cup melted butter

nutmeg

Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, and baking soda together. Stir in melted butter. Sprinkle or pat over top of the fruit. Sprinkle a light dusting of nutmeg over top of the whole thing. Bake at 350º F for 40 minutes. Serve warm with whipped cream or ice cream.

picture by my sister, the fantastic Lis of Designs by Lis

Enjoy your weekend, friends!

The Year of The Author

I have a hard time keeping track of what books I read in a year. I start out well enough, in January and February, but by March, I've completely forgotten about writing down what books I've read. Probably because so many of them are re-reads, and it seems silly sometimes to write down that I've read Anne of Green Gables for the 500th time.

However, I did realize, recently, that I tend to have a year of an author. For the last few years, there's been one author that I've discovered, either new to me or newly-loved, and I've spent the year reading everything I can get my hands on by that author.

First it was Dorothy L Sayers, and spending the year borrowing one Lord Peter book after another from the library. I even read all the Monty Egg stories I could find. Sayers' writing still enthralls me - I find something new about it to cherish each time I re-read. And Lord Peter himself ... I have mentioned before how bitterly I resented Harriet Vane because he fell in love with her, yes? All right then. Nothing more about that really need be said. He is as human and real and swoon-worthy a hero as was ever written.

Then it was Tamora Pierce - first Kel, then Aly, then Beka. Though Pierce's tendency (as I see it) to sometimes subvert the story in favor of her point irritated me (and still does, though the more I write the more I understand that temptation, and also how easy that is to do without realizing it), I did so appreciate her strong heroines - especially Kel and Beka, who were both quieter and more sensible than many female fantasy protagonists and were not blessed with special gifts that made them stand out; it was their character and determination. I truly do love that.

This past year, it was Diana Wynne Jones. I'd read one or two of her books before last year, but 2011 was the year I fully fell in love. Also, it happened to be the year she died, which left me feeling outraged - I'd finally found out how much I loved her writing, and then she was gone, before I even had a chance to say or think "thank you." The woman who created Sophie and Howl, Chrestomanci, Cat, and so many others, and wait, what, they just barely sprang to life for me and their creator was gone? Bad timing, Louise and world!

I think I already know what author will dominate 2012 for me - another one who died shortly after I'd finally read one of her books*, though that was a few years ago.

2012 seems a fitting year to immerse myself in this author's writings, seeing as how it is the 50th anniversary of her most famous work. That work? A Wrinkle in Time, and the author is Madeleine L'Engle.

I've mentioned on here recently just how moving I found A Ring of Endless Light. 2011 (well, and 2010) was a year of a lot of personal darkness for me, and the message of hope and encouragement to persevere that rang through Vicky's experiences was just exactly what I needed, when I needed it. I sobbed my way through the last few pages - and I am not a big crier (I mean, sure I get choked up Every Single Time I read OR watch Sam's "I can't carry the Ring, but I can carry you," bit to Frodo in Return of the King, but who doesn't? I'm not made of stone, after all).

While we were visiting my MIL for Christmas, I started reading A Circle of Quiet, one of L'Engle's memoir-ish works. By the time I was a few pages in, I know this was going to be one of those books that picked me up, shook me out, and set me back down again dazed, refreshed, and seeing the world with new eyes - or old eyes that simple had too many scales on them now shaken off.

And I was right. My thinking hasn't necessarily radically changed on anything, but the book both affirmed and challenged me right where I needed it, helped me shake loose some ideas that have been weighting me down, and filled up the spaces with fresh ones. It also made me laugh, which is grand.

So now I am certain that 2012? Is going to be the year I read everything I can find by L'Engle.

(*So, the story about why it took me so long to read anything by L'Engle - when I was very young, I picked up a book from the library called The Door in the Wall, which I thought was going to be exciting, and WAS NOT. I hated it. After that, I always got that book confused with A Wind in the Door, and so transferred my loathing of that darn non-exciting children's book to anything by L'Engle. Kind of like how I never read anything by Jones for so long because I always saw cats on the covers of her books, and unless Lloyd Alexander is writing it, I have no interest in feline fantasy. It took me until I was an adult to finally brave picking up Wrinkle, at which point I realized it had nothing whatsoever to do with EVIL BORING DOOR BOOK, but it was so very different from what I had been anticipating that I wasn't sure what to make of it. Same when I finally read Wind, and it really did take me until Vicky and Ring before I could start to better appreciate L'Engle's beautiful, strange writing. The End.)

What Books ...

... are on your Christmas wish list?

I've been very naughty this year and buying most books that I want myself, as I want them, but there are a few I've managed to hold off on, just in case. These are the sorts of books that, if they don't appear under the tree, will end up in my hands (or on my computer, for e-book versions) in early January.

First! Death Come to Pemberley, by PD James. Confession: I've never actually read any of James' books, but come on, a published Jane Austen fanfic by a well-known mystery writer? How could I not want this book? The only thing that would make it better would be if it were a Persuasion mystery - can't you just see Anne and Frederick as Tommy and Tuppence (except I think Anne would by Tommy, and Frederick Tuppence), or Nick and Nora? Someone needs to write that story.

Next: all the books in the Austin Family Chronicles by Madeleine L'Engle. As I mentioned recently, A Ring of Endless Light is a book that has been a tremendous help to me whenever I get discouraged. I've actually never read any of the rest of the series, but I would like to own them, so that I might read them as slowly as I want, in order to properly savor them.

The e-book version of Shadow Magic, by Patricia C Wrede. I am an enormous Wrede fan, and when I saw that the Lyra, some of her earliest ones (and ones I've not read yet), were available as e-books ... well, let's just say I was really, really glad that I'd downloaded that Kindle app a week earlier.

Also by Wrede, I've been (im)patiently waiting for the paperback release of Across the Great Barrier - I have Thirteenth Child in paperback, and I like my books in a series to match, but hey, if someone wanted to pre-order this for me, I wouldn't complain (hint hint, Santa).

And then there's the book that I remember so fondly from my childhood, and would like to have to keep and to read to my girls: Once upon a Time in the Meadow. This story of six cousins and the bunny they rescue from the trap is sweet and heartwarming, and like I said, brings me back to my childhood as soon as I see the distinctive illustrations.

So there you have it! Not a tremendously extensive list, since, as I said, I tend to buy most of my book-fancies for myself, but enough to probably include Christmas and my birthday in a few months! (My 30th birthday - I am sososososososo not ready to think about that yet.)

What books do you have on your Christmas wish list?

Battling the Blues

I've been feeling pretty discouraged lately. Some of it, odd as it sounds, is the weird weather. It's December; it's supposed to be snowing and cold, not spurts of warm-ish and cold-ish weather, with no snow but lots of rain. We live in upstate NY!

Then there's just been a lot of example lately, right in my face, some involving me in the middle of controversies I really wanted nothing to do with, of people's selfishness and unkindness. Yech.

And it doesn't help that we are trying not to be anxious as we wait to hear back from Carl's interview two weeks ago, to find out if we'll be moving halfway across the country in a couple of months or not.

So to combat this discouragement, I've been trying to focus on the good. Thinking about the people who helped to bring resolution to the above-mentioned controversy. Smiling at friends who have sent me notes or videos of encouragement on Twitter after I mention my discouragement. Making popcorn before noon for my littles, just because. Scheduling an appointment to get my hair CHOPPED OFF this weekend, just because I've been wanting to go short again for a while.

And trying to figure out good books to read to help fight feelings that the human race is made up of jerks.

A Ring of Endless Light, by Madeline L'Engle, is top of that list. Unfortunately, I don't own it, and can't order it in e-book form, so I can't read that until I get out to the library again.

Anne of Green Gables is always, always on that list, as are any of the books in that series, especially the first three. Wives & Daughters, by Elizabeth Gaskell, is one that always makes me smile. Emily of Deep Valley, by Maud Hart Lovelace, is a story I deeply love for its exploration of a girl whose dreams are thwarted by circumstance, and yet finds ways to shape those very circumstances to develop those dreams even better - AND it dares to have her fall in love with someone who is NOT her initial love interest at the beginning of the story. Shocking!

And I might re-read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, just because I love it so. Same with Lloyd Alexander's The Arkadians, or any of his books that I own.

And then there's Gaudy Night or Busman's Honeymoon, or any story featuring my beloved Lord Peter.

Wow, just listing these books off is making me feel better and more hopeful.

What are the books you turn to in order stave off discouragement and remind you of the joy and hope that does exist in this world, and in people?

Book Snippets

I did not start on my Shakespeare reading this week. I was going to - I had borrowed The Taming of the Shrew from the library, and sat down at the computer to skim over the summary first (my preferred way of reading Shakespeare, since otherwise I lose much appreciation for the language in trying to decipher the plot and keep all the character straight).

And considering that in my reading of the summary I decided that Petruchio was an abusive jerk that Kate should have poisoned at their wedding feast, I figured I wasn't exactly in the best mindset to read Shakespeare this week. Maybe I should start with Hamlet?

We have been plagued with mice all week long; Carl finally brought home new traps Saturday evening and we caught six - SIX - in a four-hour period. Have not seen any since, though I am planning on using a combination of peppermint oil and mothballs to keep them out until we've had a chance to talk to our landlords and find out if they want to bring in a professional to seal every crack and cranny.

So the mice might have soured my appreciation for the Bard. I certainly was not in any mood to read any Redwall books, either.

I did, however, read The Queen of Attolia, which prompted me to re-read my recently purchased copy of The Thief, because it had been a while since I read it and some of the details were a bit fuzzy. In case you are one of the few people on the planet who (like me) hasn't read this fantastic series by Megan Whalen Turner, go to your library now and start borrowing them. They are incredibly good. So good that, even though I need to be packing today for going up to my parents' for Thanksgiving, I'm still planning on making a library run to get the next two books in the series. I really, really wish I could read in the car without getting sick!

I also recently finished the Song of the Lioness quartet - I've been friends with Kel and Aly for a few years now, and recently with Beka Cooper, but I'd never been able to find all the Alanna books until we'd moved and gone to a new library. I was bitterly disappointed in the ending of the fourth book (villains NEED more motivation than just, hey, let's destroy the world for kicks, even though it's going to destroy me too), but at least it gave me enough background to read the Immortals series. Alanna will never replace Kel as my favorite Tamora Pierce heroine, though.

My writing goals are still out of reach. I have two - TWO - chapters left in my 1920s fantasy-adventure, and do you think I've been able to write them? No, because I've been scrubbing my floors and counters every other day to get rid of mouse droppings! By the time Carl's home from work and the littles are in bed, I've been able to do little more than collapse in bed or on the couch and either read YA fantasy, or watch my newly-purchased first season of Star Trek: Voyager. (Chakotay is STILL my favorite character out of the entire Star Trek canon, although Worf is a close second. Picard is right on Worf's heels as third. What can I say? I really, really like nobility, goodness, and conflict within oneself in my heroes.)

However, I am tentatively hopeful that maybe this evening, after my packing is finished, or perhaps while we're at home, in between cooking and cleaning and practicing makeup techniques with my sister, I might be able to squeeze out those 5,000 words.

Because wow, November has flown by. Can you believe it's almost December? I am starting a new tradition for our family this year - 25 days of Advent activities (or candy, on those days when my inspiration ran out) leading up to Christmas.

Christmas, my friends! It's just a little over a month away!

Are you a fan of any or all the Star Trek shows? Do you have a favorite character? What good books have you been reading lately? Can anyone tell me if I missed something crucial at the end of Lioness Rampant explaining the villain's actions and goals a little more clearly? Am I reading too much into The Taming of the Shrew? Do you have exciting plans for Thanksgiving?

"She Was Only Anne"

I am not a book reviewer, and this blog is not a review blog. I adore book review blogs. I just don't review very well. I have a hard time being objective, and looking at something as either well-done or poorly-done, instead of "I liked this" or "this irritated the heck out of me."

However. I am re-reading Persuasion for, I don't know, the seventh time? Tenth? I don't keep track of how often I read books, honestly. I know I started reading Austen back in my college days, and have re-read her books many times since. Sense and Sensibility is my least favorite - I would venture so far as to say I rather dislike it, mostly because all the characters are in good need of a Gibbs-head-slap - and my favorite keeps changing throughout the years. Right now, and for a few years, it is Persuasion, followed closely by Emma.

I think Anne Elliot is the best of all Austen's heroines. More depth to her character than Lizzy Bennet, more spirit than Fanny Price, more clarity of vision than Emma Woodhouse, more common sense than Cathy Morland, and more understanding and wisdom than the Dashwood sisters. I love, as I approach my thirtieth year, that she is an older heroine, and one who blossomed later in life instead of early. I love how she shows that gentleness does not equal weakness, just as Louisa Musgrove proves that spiritedness does not equal strength of character.

Captain Wentworth is, I think, a bit of a jerk. He's held a grudge against Anne for years, is deliberately rude to her, and flirts with the Musgrove girls without a care for how he might be affecting them. Yet, he is no Darcy, because we get to see him improve slowly throughout the book - not just changing after he is confronted with his faults, because he wants to be worthy of his love (I really hate the message that sends - that if you love somebody enough, you can change their character flaws. IT DOESN'T WORK THAT WAY OUTSIDE THE MOVIE AND BOOK WORLD). He sees his flaws for himself, recognizes where he has been unjust and acted wrongly, and then moves decisively to correct himself.

And I think that's one reason why Anne and Captain Wentworth are such a good match - they loved each other as youth, were separated and grew up apart from each other, each developing into their own person, and then came back together as fully realized adults, each offering something special to the other, to help make the other complete.

Persuasion is great not just for the MCs, though. The supporting characters are all brilliantly drawn too - Mary Musgrove cracks me up with every re-reading; Admiral and Mrs Croft are delightful; Mr Elliot and Mrs Clay are just the right sort of villains - not too obvious.

Then there is the scenery, and the overall feel of the book. I almost always read Persuasion in the autumn or winter months. It is that sort of book; it feels wrong to read it when it is light and sunny out. With only a few words Austen gives us a clear picture of Kellynch, of Lyme (oh how I want to visit there someday!), and of Bath. Bath comes through even clearer in Persuasion, I think, than in Northanger Abbey.

It shows the mark of being written by an older, experienced author. The pace is calmer, the humor subtler, the tone quieter and deeper than the others. It is, I think, Jane Austen's masterpiece, and I think it a true pity that it is so often overshadowed by the brighter but shallower Pride and Prejudice.

Next up on my fall/winter reading list: Shakespeare and Elizabeth Gaskell! What are you planning on reading this month?

Shakespeare, Attempting

I recently finished reading The Wednesday Wars, by Gary D Schmidt. It's not the sort of book that I usually read (which was one reason why I picked it up in the first place, actually - I like to stretch myself sometimes), but I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. It made me think of my parents, who grew up in that era and have shared their memories of that turbulent time with my sister and me - and my dad loved Shakespeare in high school, and my mom's always been crazy for English. So it ended up having a very familiar and comfortable feel, and I most of all appreciated that it ended on a hopeful note, unlike so many of the YA books set in that era. It acknowledged the hardships, but didn't let them control the protagonist - in fact, much of the theme woven through was how he learned how to use those very hardships to forge his own fate. Good stuff.

And, to get more to the point of this post, it inspired me to give Shakespeare another try. Because my dad loves it so, every few years I go to read another play, and if I'm lucky I get through one, and then my eyes glaze over partway through the second. I would really, most of all, like to take a class on Shakespeare (never got to that one in college - maybe someday, when I go back), to have others help me discover the themes and hidden notes, but for now, I'll just give it another go on my own.

I asked for recommendations on Facebook and Twitter yesterday, and the overwhelming vote was in favor of one of the comedies, with the Taming of the Shrew coming up over and over again (Hamlet was mentioned a couple times, too, but I think I'd like to start with something a little lighter). So I'm going to give that a go. My usual method for reading these? Find an outline online, or even the Cliff Notes, and read that first. That way, I can soak in the language and pick up the subtleties better when reading the play itself, because I'm not as distracted by also trying to figure out the plot.

So that's my plan. Hopefully I'll be able to get through more than just one this fall and winter, and maybe even develop a richer appreciation for Shakespeare - because right now, I must confess, I have a sneaking suspicion that he's overrated. Heresy, I know!

Are you a fan of Shakespeare? If so, which is your favorite play? Are there famous books, plays, or writers that you secretly (or not-so-secretly) think are overrated? What's on your reading list for fall?

Why Fantasy?

This is a reasonable question, yet one I've never really asked myself before. Why, out of all the genres out there, is it fantasy, most specifically YA fantasy, that appeals to me the most?

My bookshelves are so full that I have to stack books on top of books, and some of the books that I don't want to get rid of but rarely read (ahem *Star Wars novels*) are packed away. I'd plead for more shelf space, but Carl has hogged it all already.

On my shelves, I have a smattering of classical literature - mostly Austen, Gaskell, Dickens, and Shakespeare. I have some of the Russians - Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky - but I've never made it all the way through one of their novels. The problem is I keep picking them up when I'm either pregnant or just had a baby, and I'm already prone to depression ... not a good time to read the Russians, I have found.

There's my history books covering two shelves, the books that I gleefully claim I need for research, but really just get because history of all kinds fascinates me. Then there's my children's lit - LM Montgomery, Maud Hart Lovelace, Elizabeth Enright, Louisa May Alcott, etc.

Agatha Christie gets one entire shelf to herself (she was a Very Prolific Author), and Dorothy Sayers, Margery Allingham, Josephine Tey, and Dorothy Gilman cover the next (none of them, alas, were as prolific as I would have liked). I do enjoy a good mystery, especially one that's not too gruesome. And if you've been reading this blog for any period of time at all you know I have an illicit love affair going on with Lord Peter.

The rest of my shelves are all fantasy, and mostly YA or MG. From Narnia to Middle Earth to Prydain to E Nesbit's England to Mossflower to Ancelstierre and the Old Kingdom to the Enchanted Forest and covering a whole lot more in between.

So why? What is it about fantasy that draws me so, that makes want to read it more than anything else? What is it that makes it my default for writing? Even trying to write a simple adventure story set in 1920s England turned into an alternate history type fantasy (really have to get back to that as soon as I'm done with the rough draft of Cadi's story - Maia does not take kindly to being set aside for a time).

I never got all that into the traditional sword-and-sorcery fantasy. I've read some of those sorts of books and enjoyed them, but not for writing, and I usually only borrow them from the library instead of buying them for my very own. And I'm definitely not big into paranormal or urban fantasy. I have yet to read the book-whose-title-is-synonymous-with-dusk, and vampires etc just don't really interest me terribly. Unless that vampire is Angel. Duh. Again, I have read some urban fantasy and enjoyed it, but not to the point where I ever want to buy any of the books.

So what is it about certain types of fantasy that draws me the most?

This might be an unfair post, because I don't really have an answer yet. I think it's important to ponder, though, and I suspect it boils down to something along the lines of a Lloyd Alexander quote I love:

Fantasy is hardly a way of escaping reality; it's a way of understanding it.

I think that for me, fantasy has helped me understand this "real world" better, while also allowing me to accept things which we cannot see or understand. I do still believe in fairies, you see, and that belief has helped to shape me into a better person.

And if I can be an ambassador of a magical realm to this one, then that is a task I am proud and yet oddly humbled to accept.

What are your favorite genres to read or write, and why? Do you believe that fantasy does help us to understand reality better? Do you - as Peter Pan might demand - still believe in fairies?

A First!

I have won my first-ever blog award! Many thanks to Laura Josephsen for presenting me with this:

I see also that I have picked up a few new followers - welcome to all of you! I'm afraid real life has been creeping into my writing time lately (we are potty-training our youngest, which means I pretty well collapse into bed by 9:00 at night and don't think or stir until the littles wake me up the next morning, plus we are preparing for a week-long excursion to my parents' house while my husband travels to Chicago to visit schools), but I hope soon to get back to writing semi-interesting posts, as well as getting back into my actual MS writing.

In the meantime, I could use some opinions from you all. We are currently reading through the Winnie-the-Pooh stories at bedtime. What would you recommend for when we are finished with them? The girls are three-and-a-half and (nearly) two. Oh, and something with plenty of pictures is a must - we thought about The Wind in the Willows, but my edition has very few illustrations (though the ones it has are beautiful).

So, what would you suggest for good longer, read-over-a-period-of-weeks, bedtime stories with lots of fun illustrations for littles?

Two Giants

I've been re-reading the Redwall series ever since Brian Jacques' death. Thankfully, I own all of them but the most recent, so the biggest challenge in reading them has come from trying to remember the original published order instead of the chronological order I had them in on my shelves. Thank goodness for internet resources!

With the passing of Diana Wynne Jones, I've decided to intersperse the Redwall books (and the Flying Dutchman books, which I also own) with some of hers. I was going to start re-reading the Chrestomanci books, but I don't own any of those, and somebody else at our library must have had the same idea, for the first two were checked out today when I looked. As was Howl's Moving Castle, which was my second choice.

So I'm reading Enchanted Glass right now, and I have the collection of short stories Unexpected Magic to read as well. It'll do until I can get my hands on the Chrestomanci books.

I came to Jones late - not until last year or the year before as a matter of fact. I'm not sure how I missed her as a kid - with my affection for Lloyd Alexander, E Nesbit, and others of like ilk, she would have been right up my alley.

Be that as it may, I have thoroughly enjoyed her books ever since I discovered them. Sometimes I have a hard time wrapping my head around what's happening, and often the endings leave me feeling vaguely confused (or, in the case of Fire and Hemlock, completely and totally confused, and having to re-read the ending several times over to make any sense of it). But I like that. It's not the same frustration I feel when I read Robin McKinley, and the first half is thrilling, I get bogged down in the second, and by the end I am so in the dark I barely remember the story I'm reading at all (though oddly enough I keep going back to McKinley, so there must be something compelling about that sort of writing, too).

I like having to think while I read. I like the sense of satisfaction when I've figured out the hidden twist (I was so very tickled when reading The Game because I got it before All Was Revealed); and I like, sometimes, knowing that the writer completely pulled the wool over my eyes.

The Redwall books are my comfort books. Not only have I read them a million times, they all follow the same pattern. I know exactly what is going to happen in each one, and reading them gives me a comforting sense that everything is right with the world, and whatever isn't will work out eventually.

I'm so very, very sad that these two marvelous writers had to die at all, especially so close to each other, but I think that reading their books intertwined with each other is actually going to be very good, and very helpful for me as a writer, because it will be me a much clearer sense of their very different styles, and what each style accomplishes, and what I need to do in order to achieve a certain atmosphere for my books.

And hopefully in studying their styles I will start to break myself of my habit of over-using adjectives - something I didn't even realize I did until I was working on the last few chapters of my LMM fanfic the other day, and discovered that I peppered it with adjectives all over the place. Not too bad for LMM fic, since she was also adjective-happy, but not a habit I want to indulge in for my own writings!

Are you familiar with Jacques and Wynne Jones? What do their books do for you? What are your "comfort" books, and what are your "mind-stretching" books? Which do you prefer in the Redwall series, hares or otters? And finally, what are some of your bad writing habits that you have a hard time shaking?

Reading List - 1/8/11

Here's what I'm reading this month:

Just finished Terrier and Bloodhound, by Tamora Pierce. I am never entirely certain that I like Pierce's works, but I did thoroughly enjoy the Beka Cooper books (as well as the Trickster duology, which I read last year), and I'm looking forward to when the third book comes out, hopefully this spring. (I'm also hoping that the little bit of feminist rhetoric that slipped into Bloodhound has something to do with the third book, and is not as out-of-place as it felt in the story, seeing as it had nothing to do with the plot or character development.)

Re-reading The Game, by Laurie R King. This was one of those that confused me a great deal by the time I ended it the first time around. I kept feeling there was more I was supposed to be getting from it. I'm hoping that confusion clear up on a second reading. It usually does, with the Mary Russell books.

Re-reading The First Two Lives of Lukas-Kasha, by Lloyd Alexander. This was one of the very first books by Alexander I ever read, and I love it. It's out of print and hard to find, but I was able to get a good deal on a used copy, and it even has the old cover! I purchased this with Christmas money from my parents, and I'm so excited to savor it again, after going so many years without reading it.

Reading (coincidentally enough) The Game, by Diana Wynne Jones. Jones is one of those authors who really makes you think through her books. They are not light fantasy (even the Christomanci books I have to read in short sections so really absorb what's happening) reads, but they are very, very good.

Reading Water, by Robin McKinley and Peter Dickinson. I love the prose of these two authors, and I've never read one of their collaborative works before.

Reading two of the Inspector Felse books, by Ellis Peters. I love her Brother Cadfael books, and just recently discovered the Inspector Felse books, so I'm enjoying delving into those. (Fun note - I introduced my mother-in-law to Brother Cadfael. She enjoyed them so much she asked her librarian what else Peters had written, and found out about the Inspector Felse books. Then she told me about them, and I'd never heard of them, so now I get to enjoy them too. I love it when things go full circle like that.)

For non-fiction, I am currently halfway through The Classic Maya, by Stephen D. Houston and Takeshi Inomata. If I manage to finish this before the end of January, I will start Yucatan Before and After the Conquest, by Fr. Diego de Landa (translated by William Gates).

I'm also hoping to start The Lost World of Genesis One, by John Walton. We're starting a study of Genesis with friends next week, and my husband recommended that book as good background.

Whew! Seems like a hefty list. Good thing most of the fiction books are easy reads.

What's on your reading list to start the new year?