The Foretelling by Alice Hoffman

Read: 25 September, 2008

I bought this book on a whim. I had never heard of it or of the author, but Chapters was selling it for pennies, so I figured it was worth the risk.

I'm glad I took the chance. It's a great book. It breaks several of the cardinal rules of writing (telling instead of showing, for an obvious example), but it does it well. The story is interesting and fast-paced, making it a quick read. It would have had to have been hundreds of pages long had Hoffman tried to cover the same amount of ground by "showing," and I do believe that she made the right choice.

This is obviously a Young Adult novel, but it deals with several mature themes such as sex (both consensual and non-) and war. However, Hoffman treats these subjects as "facts," without dwelling on them graphically as some authors do. These are just part of Rain's world. This is not to mention the tough concepts of love, responsibility, compassion, being one's self, feminism/patriarchy, etc. that are brought up. They are handled in a way that would be acceptable for a young teen or tween to read, while also serving the purpose of opening discourse on such subjects.

This isn't to say that the book was perfect. There are times when I would have liked certain areas to be explored more deeply. The ending, for example, tells of several important and life-altering events taking place without, I felt, giving them due consideration. The book works, but I feel that it might have been improved a little by slowing down the narrative pace at certain moments and describing certain events in more detail. I also would have liked a context: as the novel is written in the first person, it would have been nice to know who Rain is telling her story to.

Still, these are very minor complaints to a book that, overall, was a very enjoyable rainy-afternoon read with an uplifting message.

Hygiène de l'Assassin by Amélie Nothomb

Read: 24 September, 2008

This is my second Nothomb book. My mother joined a French reading club a while back that read this and Stupeur et Tremblements. Once done, she sent me these two books to read. I read the first right away and then waited an eternity before getting to Hygiène.

It's a great book. I love Nothomb's writing style. She uses almost no narrative, the vast majority of the story revealed through dialogue. It reads almost like a play, except that the speakers are not named. Yet, because her characters stand out so strongly and so uniquely, I was never confused as to who was speaking. It's amazing, also, that so much drama comes through in a story with next to no action. It's like reading a battle narrative, on the edge of my seat, watching a sparring match in which one seems to be the winner, then the underdog turns the tables, then the initial winner gains an advantage, etc.

It's a strange book. The first half introduce us to Prétextat Tach, a dying author being interviewed by a series of journalists. The second half is entirely different as one journalist is able to work her way beyond all Tach's masks and reaches the dark past and insanity he hides. It's sad, hilarious, and completely ridiculous all at once.

I don't know if there are any English translations of this book. If there are, I highly recommend giving it a read.

I am at a complete loss as to how to label this book. I apologize for the absurdly poor choice I've made, but I see none better.

Justin de Quincy Mysteries #4: Prince of Darkness by Sharon Kay Penman

Read: 10 September, 2008

This is the fourth in Penman's Justin de Quincy mystery series, but the first of her novels that I've read. In some ways, it was a shame because it gave me the feeling of falling into the story mid-way. The novel is definitely readable without having read any of the previous books, but since a lot of the characters are reappearances, I fear that I might know too much should I ever decide to read the previous novels in the collection. For those terribly curious, I started with this book because I found it for $2 at a Chapters inventory liquidation sale.

The fact that the order in which fate had me pick up the series is the biggest complaint that I can make about Prince of Darkness is quite telling. It was a fantastic novel with great characters. It was definitely one of those "can't put it down" books - so much so that I missed my bus stop by about 20 minutes today while finishing it up. Justin is a delightful character - believable yet naive - making his relationship with his daughter heartbreaking.

The only weakness of the novel is how it deals with climactic scenes. There are a few parts where potential action is skipped over entirely and the final "catch the bad guy" scene felt somewhat limp compared to the build up it received. Certainly, Penman's strength is in character, exposition, and presenting a living and utterly plausible world. It was an added bonus I felt that I recognized some of the Gieses' books in her descriptions.

It was interesting the way Penman skips travel narration altogether. Justin will say that he wants to go to X location and the chapter ends. When the next chapter begins, he's in X already. I don't think I've ever seen travel handled quite so abruptly and I'm not quite sure how I feel about it yet. When the novel first opened, I found it confusing. I didn't know if this was a flashback, a different set of characters, if I'd missed something. A couple times, I found myself having to read nearly a full page before I could confidently situate myself in the narrative. After the first couple chapters, though, I became accustomed to it and it no longer confused me. Once this happened, I somewhat enjoyed not having to let go of the action every time an exposition scene would have been found.

The mystery wasn't as good as I would have hoped. There certainly was one, but there was no discernible method to the gathering of clues and the thinking out of the whoddunnits. It really didn't matter all that much. I found myself so interested in the characters that I forgot about the mystery entirely.

In any case, it was a great novel. I highly recommend it for anyone interested in Medieval historical novels, character driven novels, or political intrigue. Mystery lovers may be disappointed, however.

Better Baby Food by Daina Kalnins & Joanne Saab

Read: 5 September, 2008

Overall, I'd say that this book is fine if you are reading it among a whole bunch of books - in which case it may provide a few extra ideas or inspirations (though, even there, I found it to be lacking). If, on the other hand, you are thinking of reading this as your first book on baby nutrition, choose something else. It's written from a very biased perspective and has quite a bit of advice that simply does not reflect contemporary understandings. It also, surprisingly, seems to show an irrational distrust of medical advice.

Firstly, there's an entire section on breastfeeding that never mentions that some women cannot produce milk properly. It explains that women shouldn't worry about whether or not they are producing enough milk for their infants. Okay, fair enough. It's not something that one should be worried about. But nowhere does it say "if you are concerned, ask your doctor." It just flat out dismisses it as a non-issue.

The book also says that if your newborn is "not demanding to be fed at least every 4 hours, they should be awakened to feed." This is the kind of advice my mother's generation was given. If a child is getting enough nutrition, is growing at an appropriate pace, and is a healthy weight, why make him cranky by waking him up all the time? This advice is bad, not just because it isn't true and because it never takes the family's doctor into consideration, but also because it could make relationships between the parents and their newborn even more strained than they may already be. What if the newborn doesn't want to eat yet and resists, but the parents (panicking because of the "feed every four hours or your child will STARVE!" advice) keep trying to force him? He's already cranky and now he keeps getting nipples shoved in his face. Yeah, great advice.

Another example of this comes later with a blurb that explains that parents must start their infants on solids at 4 months or the baby won't accept textures later on. Never mind that an individual baby may not be ready for solids that early. Again, no mention that a mother should consult with her doctor about her individual child's needs before taking such a big dietary step.

That's the tone this book carries most of the way through. It rarely has the more sensible advice of "don't panic, trust yourself, trust your baby - but if it's concerning you, double check with your doctor." Instead, it just provides instructions as though a baby could actually come with a manual. Any book that doesn't allow for an individual infant's needs is not to be trusted.

There are also some strange additions, such as a note in a margin that reads "(Authors - Correct???)". I can only assume that this is from an editor. In either case, this is the sort of sloppiness a good book might get away with, but points a much larger issue in Better Baby Food.

And finally, the recipes leave a lot to be desired. Some looked interesting, but they were few and far between. For one thing, many of them contain eggs or sugar - both of which are fine in moderation, but probably shouldn't be consumed for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every single day. I also found pages and pages devoted to overly simplistic recipes. For example, the first four pages of the Lunches section talk about making purées - that's seven different recipes of "take [fruit/vegetable] and boil. When soft, mash into a purée. Serve." I can understand including one to go through the process (though even this would be borderline since it is just so incredibly simple), but to actually include seven such recipes, each with a different fruit or vegetable, is just ridiculous. Not to mention the almost identical apple sauce recipe in the Breakfast section. I got about half-way through the Lunch recipes when I gave up and put the book down. There just weren't enough interesting recipes to warrant reading through.

My closing thought on this book is that if you've read a lot about baby care and nutrition and feel that your knowledge base is already fairly solid, this book isn't an entirely wasteful way to spend an afternoon. That being said, don't buy it and don't follow any new advice that strikes you as odd without first consulting with your doctor. I would have expected much better from two registered dietitians.