The following are mini-reviews of books I read in 2005.
Also see the full index of books I've read.
![[Frances Hodgson Burnett]](burnett.jpg)
T. Tembarom
by Frances Hodgson Burnett (1849-1924)
(Wikipedia)
(pub. 1913)
Gee! Gee! Hully gee! Gee! Gee! By gee! Gee! Gee! Gee Whiz!
Okay, I'm making fun of all the "Gees!" flying around in this novel.
If you like Burnett's other characters, Sara Crewe and Little Lord
Fauntleroy, you'll like Temple Tembarom. Tembarom is a poor young man
in New York who inherits a wealthy English estate. The story brings to
mind Little Lord Fauntleroy, but there is an interesting
twist at the end (which you begin to suspect halfway into the book).
His English valet's early misgivings (unfounded) about Tembarom would
be no less apropos today:
And ten to one he'd be American enough to swagger and bluster and
pretend he knew everything better than anyone else, and lose his
temper frightfully when he made mistakes, and try to make other
people seem to blame.
And you've got to love the elderly Duke of Stone:
"When I am comfortable and entertained," Moffat, the house steward,
had quoted his master as saying, "you may mention it if the castle
is in flames; but do not annoy me with excitement and flurry. Ring
the bell in the courtyard, and call up the servants to pass buckets;
but until the lawn catches fire, I must insist on being left alone."
Project Gutenberg eBook:
T. Tembarom
Diana Tempest
by Mary Cholmondeley (1859-1925)
(Wikipedia)
(pub. 1893)
(The author's last name, incidentally, is pronounced
"Chum-lee".)
...
Project Gutenberg eBook:
Diana Tempest
Vol. 1,
Vol. 2,
Vol. 3
![[Book Cover]](penge.gif)
Rumpole and the Penge Bungalow Murders
by John Mortimer (1923-2009)
(Wikipedia)
(pub. 2004)
...
A Noble Life
by Dinah Mulock Craik (1826-1887)
(Wikipedia)
(pub. 1866)
That self-absorption of loss, which follows all great anguish;
that shrinking up unto one's self, which is the first and most
natural instinct of a creature smitten with a sorrow not
unmingled with cruel wrong, is, with most high natures, only
temporary. By-and-by comes the merciful touch which says to
the lame, "Arise and walk;" to the sick, "Take up thy bed and
go into thine house." And the whisper of peace is, almost
invariably, a whisper of labor and effort: there is not only
something to be suffered, but something to be done.
Project Gutenberg eBook:
A Noble Life
The Brown Mask
by Percy James Brebner (1864-1922)
(pub. 1911)
A somewhat lengthy, but gradually riveting, adventure/romance set in the
time of the
Monmouth
rebellion (1685) during the reign of James II.
Project Gutenberg eBook:
The Brown
Mask
Saved at Sea: A Lighthouse Story
by Amy Catherine (Deck) Walton (Mrs. O. F. Walton) (1849-1939)
(Wikipedia)
(pub. 1879)
A brief evangelical tract about a lighthouse, a storm, and a shipwreck.
Project Gutenberg eBook:
Saved at Sea
Blindfolded
by Earle Ashley Walcott (1859-1931)
(Wikisource)
(pub. 1906)
...
Project Gutenberg eBook:
Blindfolded
The Four Faces
by William Le Queux (1864-1927)
(Wikipedia)
(pub. 1914)
...
Project Gutenberg eBook:
The Four
Faces
Demons of the Mind: A Memoir of an Obsessive-Compulsive
by Christine A. Marriott
...
Who was the real person who looked out through these eyes every waking
day?
The book is available on-line in various formats at
OCD-Plus.
The Flood
by Émile Zola (1840-1902)
(Wikipedia)
(translation by Mary Jane Serrano)
(pub. 1880, original French)
Thomas Hardy-like in a nutshell - short and tragic.
Project Gutenberg eBook:
The Flood
The White Moll
by Frank L. Packard (1877-1942)
(Wikipedia)
(pub. 1920)
...
Project Gutenberg eBook:
The White
Moll
The Crime of the French Café and Other Stories
by Nicholas Carter
(Wikipedia)
(pub. 1900)
Nick Carter, America's greatest detective. Three great stories written
by ... I don't know who! The Nick Carter stories were ghost-written by
a number of authors.
Project Gutenberg eBook:
The Crime of the
French Café and Other Stories
The Miracle Man
by Frank L. Packard (1877-1942)
(Wikipedia)
(pub. 1914)
...
Project Gutenberg eBook:
The Miracle
Man
The Tracer of Lost Persons
by Robert W. Chambers (1865-1933)
(Wikipedia)
(pub. 1906)
A combination of adventure, romance, and comedy. Various gentleman ask
the omniscient Mr. Keen of "KEEN & CO. - TRACERS OF LOST PERSONS"
to find the women who match their ideas of the perfect wife.
Project Gutenberg eBook:
The Tracer of Lost
Persons
The Mystery of Monastery Farm
by H. R. Naylor
(pub. 1908)
(I've been unable to find any biographical information on H. R. Taylor,
not even what his initials stand for!)
Project Gutenberg eBook:
The Mystery of
Monastery Farm
![[Book Cover]](catholic.jpg)
Why I Am a Catholic
by Garry Wills
(Wikipedia)
(pub. 2002)
...
The Stowmarket Mystery
by Louis Tracy (1863-1928)
(Wikipedia)
(pub. 1904)
...
Project Gutenberg eBook:
The Stowmarket
Mystery
The Devil's Admiral
by Frederick Ferdinand Moore (1877-????)
(Possibly married to Eleanor Gates)
(pub. 1913)
...
Project Gutenberg eBook:
The Devil's
Admiral
![[Anna Katharine Green]](akgreen.jpg)
The Woman in the Alcove
by Anna Katharine Green (1846-1935)
(Wikipedia)
(pub. 1906)
...
Project Gutenberg eBook:
The Woman in the
Alcove
![[Scene]](turn.jpg)
The Turn of the Screw
by Henry James (1843-1916)
(Wikipedia)
(pub. 1898)
A psychological thriller that gets nowhere fast. I was getting bored out
of my mind, so I gave up about halfway through the book.
Project Gutenberg eBook:
The Turn of the
Screw
![[Book Cover]](parnassus.jpg)
Parnassus on Wheels
by Christopher Morley (1890-1957)
(Wikipedia)
(pub. 1917)
...
Project Gutenberg eBook:
Parnassus on
Wheels
![[Book Cover]](snare.jpg)
The Golden Snare
by James Oliver Curwood (1878-1927)
(Wikipedia)
(pub. 1921)
...
Project Gutenberg eBook:
The Golden
Snare
Christian's Mistake
by Dinah Mulock Craik (1826-1887)
(Wikipedia)
(pub. 1865)
...
Project Gutenberg eBook:
Christian's
Mistake
![[Book Cover]](measure.jpg)
The Measure Of All Things: The Seven-Year Odyssey and Hidden Error
that Transformed the World
by Ken Alder
...
OCD: A Survival Guide for a Life Among Secrets
by Steven Diamond
Steve Diamond is a professional Las Vegas magician who suffered from OCD
for many years. This autobiography is available through the
Be Happy For Life web site.
At the time I signed up for the site's newsletter, I received a free
PDF copy of the first three chapters of the book. Unfortunately, that
only covers his rather depressing childhood; his writing and his story
are very interesting, so I plan to order a complete copy soon. Be
forewarned: the lengthy list of acknowledgements to all these famous
people Diamond knows is daunting!
![[Book Cover]](lewis.gif)
Nothing's Sacred
by Lewis Black
(Wikipedia)
(pub. 2005)
...
The Talleyrand Maxim
![[Book Cover]](money.jpg)
by Joseph S. Fletcher (1863-1935)
(Wikipedia)
(pub. 1919-1922)
I read these mystery stories on my PDA - interspersed with books listed
above - from some time in the spring through the end of August. I really
enjoyed them: long enough to have something to look forward to reading at
night, but not too long to take forever. With each story clocking in at
70,000-80,000 words, the plots seemed a little formulaic. Still, they
were different enough to keep me interested and Fletcher does an excellent
job of letting you escape into the atmosphere of turn-of-the-century
Britain.
Project Gutenberg eBooks:
A Room with a View
by E. M. Forster (1879-1970)
(Wikipedia)
(pub. 1908)
Not bad, but nothing to write home about. The first 40% of the book drags
on in Italy; the remaining 60% takes place in England and was a little more
compelling. The only characters that seemed to show some worth - in my
opinion - were old Mr. Emerson and, in a surprising twist left to the end,
Charlotte. The phrase, "room with a view", has a concrete meaning at the
beginning of the story, but is given an abstract turn later in the book.
Project Gutenberg eBook:
A Room with a
View
The Diamond Cross Mystery
by Chester K. Steele (Pseudonym for various authors)
(Wikipedia)
(pub. 1918 and 1911, respectively)
More turn-of-the-century mysteries ...
Project Gutenberg eBooks:
The Lost Stradivarius
by John Meade Falkner (1858-1932)
(Wikipedia)
(pub. 1895 and 1898, respectively)
The Lost Stradivarius is a horror story that struck
me as a cross between A Room With a View and
Ghostbusters II. An enjoyable read, but some
non-trivial aspects of the story were not disclosed until
a poorly fitted wrap-up at the end.
Moonfleet is Falkner's better-known novel and rightly so.
An excellent story: sort of a Treasure Island (which I
haven't read in decades) with rum runners, romance, and a diamond.
Project Gutenberg eBooks:
In the Sargasso Sea
by Thomas A. Janvier (1849-1913)
(Wikipedia)
(pub. 1898)
A young man on his way to Africa aboard a sailing ship of shady repute
is tossed overboard and ends up stranded in the dreaded
Sargasso
Sea, doomed to roam the ancient vessels searching for food and a
means of escape. A fun story!
Project Gutenberg eBook:
In the Sargasso
Sea
Where Angels Fear to Tread
by E. M. Forster (1879-1970)
(Wikipedia)
(pub. 1905)
...
For a wonderful physical tie binds the parents to the children;
and — by some sad, strange irony — it does
not bind us children to our parents. For if it did, if we could
answer their love not with gratitude but with equal love, life
would lose much of its pathos and much of its squalor, and we
might be wonderfully happy.
Project Gutenberg eBook:
Where Angels Fear to
Tread
Pollyanna
by Eleanor H. Porter (1868-1920)
(Wikipedia)
(pub. 1913)
To quote Cream performing Skip James: "I'm so glad, I'm so glad, I'm glad,
I'm glad, I'm glad." Shortly into the book, I felt like Aunt Polly slowly
being driven crazy by the incessant glad-this, glad-that from Pollyanna!
Project Gutenberg eBook:
Pollyanna
![[Anne Shirley]](annegreengables.jpg)
Anne of Green Gables
by Lucy Maud Montgomery (1874-1942)
(Wikipedia)
(pub. 1908)
What we have here is a failure to communicate, a lack of "scope for
imagination"! This story is similar to Pollyanna in some
ways: where Pollyanna lets her gladness run wild, Anne Shirley lets her
imagination run wild. Although the Library of Congress classifies both
Anne of Green Gables and Pollyanna as "Juvenile
belles lettres" (according to Project Gutenberg), the former seems
especially aimed at young girls, while the latter has a broader appeal.
My impression is probably due to Anne of Green Gables being
nearly twice as long as Pollyanna, with endless fussing over
clothes, etc., seeming to make up the difference in length!
Anne's adoptive parents, Marilla and Matthew, are wonderful characters.
Anne's imagination and the trouble it gets her into will drive you crazy,
as they nearly did Marilla. Fortunately, Anne settles down as she gets
older.
The descriptions of nature in the book are breathtaking. I was reminded
of my mother. When she was young, her grandmother (who lived on a farm)
used to take her on walks and teach her about wildflowers and so on.
Another day and another age ...
Project Gutenberg eBook:
Anne of Green
Gables
A Strange Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder
by James De Mille (1833-1880)
(Wikipedia)
(pub. 1888)
After finishing Janvier's In the Sargasso
Sea, I was in the mood for more naval adventures. This story
started out well enough at sea, but gradually turned into a The Land
that Time Forgot at the South Pole. Lots of philsophical ponderings
on a civilization that values "unselfishness" above all else and how this
turns society on its head - the unconvincing point being that our selfish
society is really a good thing.
Project Gutenberg eBook:
A Strange Manuscript
Found in a Copper Cylinder
![[Sister Carrie]](carrie.jpg)
Sister Carrie
by Theodore Dreiser (1871-1945)
(Wikipedia)
(pub. 1900)
One of the longest novels (over 150,000 words) I've read on my Palm Pilot!
This may not seem like much, but trying to read a lengthy book a few lines
at a time on a dim black-and-green screen (using Bill Clagett's free E-text
reader, CSpotRun)
can feel like a daunting, if not endless task:
Sister Carrie is a classic American novel, exploring poverty,
riches, and poverty again in the late 1800's. The story of the first years
in New York City gets a little tedious, but it is worthwhile to keep
plugging along until the excellent - although not totally satisfying -
closing chapters of the book.
Can a heart ever be happy?
Oh, Carrie, Carrie! Oh, blind strivings of the human heart!
Onward onward, it saith, and where beauty leads, there it follows.
Whether it be the tinkle of a lone sheep bell o'er some quiet
landscape, or the glimmer of beauty in sylvan places, or the show
of soul in some passing eye, the heart knows and makes answer,
following. It is when the feet weary and hope seems vain that
the heartaches and the longings arise. Know, then, that for you
is neither surfeit nor content. In your rocking-chair, by your
window dreaming, shall you long, alone. In your rocking-chair,
by your window, shall you dream such happiness as you may never feel.
Project Gutenberg eBook:
Sister Carrie
(the other version has
numerous errors!)
Cord and Creese
by James De Mille (1833-1880)
(Wikipedia)
(pub. 1869)
...
Project Gutenberg eBook:
Cord and
Creese
![[C. E. Brock Illustration]](pride.jpg)
Pride and Prejudice
by Jane Austen (1775-1817)
(Wikipedia)
(pub. 1813)
...
Project Gutenberg eBook:
Pride and
Prejudice
![[Illustration]](sense.jpg)
Sense and Sensibility
by Jane Austen (1775-1817)
(Wikipedia)
(pub. 1811)
...
Project Gutenberg eBook:
Sense and
Sensbility
![[Book Cover]](howards.gif)
Howards End
by E. M. Forster (1879-1970)
(Wikipedia)
(pub. 1910)
...
Project Gutenberg eBook:
Howards End
![[Harriet's Portrait]](emma.jpg)
Emma
by Jane Austen (1775-1817)
(Wikipedia)
(pub. 1815)
...
Project Gutenberg eBook:
Emma
![[Harriet's Portrait]](trunnell.jpg)
Mr. Trunnell, Mate of the Ship "Pirate"
by T. Jenkins Hains (1866-1953)
(Wikipedia)
(Searchable Sea Literature)
(pub. 1900)
(Interestingly, Hains Point in Washington, D.C. is named for the
author's father. I don't remember the book.)
Project Gutenberg eBook:
Mr. Trunnell, Mate of
the Ship "Pirate"
![[Book Cover]](daphne.jpg)
The Brother of Daphne
by Dornford Yates (1885-1960)
(Wikipedia)
(pub. 1914)
Throughout the past year, I've been fitfully reading and enjoying this
collection of 15 humorous episodes in the lives of Daphne and her brother,
"Boy". If you like P. G. Wodehouse's Bertie and Jeeves characters, I'll
think you'll like these stories. Unlike Bertie, the more sensible Boy
usually manages to land on his feet without the help of a Jeeves and,
sometimes, despite the "help" of his down-to-earth sister, family, and
friends.
Everyone is related, so, if you get confused, G. A. Michael Sims'
"A
Book for all Reasons" lists the main characters of the stories:
Berry Pleydell
Daphne Pleydell, his wife (and cousin)
Boy Pleydell (Daphne's brother and narrator of the books)
Jonathan (Jonah) Mansel (cousin to all the above)
Jill Mansel (Jonah's sister)
Project Gutenberg eBook:
The Brother of
Daphne
![[Palm Pilot Screen]](pilot.jpg)