Books

As previously mentioned I like to re-read old childhood favorites.  I've been working my way through the Laura Ingalls Wilder books and the latest one was By the Shores of Silver Lake.   I really enjoyed re-reading this.   I love her writing style with its little, intimate details, and I'm always so impressed by the ingenuity, self-sufficiency and determination people had back then.   In this one Laura and her family leave Plum Creek and head out West again.   When they first arrive at their destination there's nothing there.   But then the town appears, pretty much in the space of two weeks.   Amazing!   Development in action.   The wild birds and wolves leave.  How sad.   Laura also describes going to see the railroad being built.  Wow.   It's very impressive stuff.   Bit of a change going from agricultural ingenuity to industrial ingenuity.   A very enjoyable and interesting read, and a testament to the achievements of man.

Next, The English Patient, by Michael Ondaajte.  I decided to read this because I'd enjoyed the film and thought I'd enjoy the book, and I have to say that I really did.   The writing style reminds me of Louis de Bernieres, only not funny.   It's extremely beautiful in places.   It's about a young Canadian nurse, Hana, at the end of the second world war who is taking care of a mysterious patient with no identity in war torn Italy, because he's too ill to be moved.  The two of them are joined by Kip, a young Indian sapper and Caravaggio, a fellow Canadian and friend of Hana's father's.   The English patient is not all he seems, in fact he's not even English.   Gradually his story comes out and he tells the young nurse about his time spent in the Sahara desert, and the woman he loved, and how he came to be so badly burned.   Mostly I loved this book.   The story is original, and I love the writing style.   However, the end is fairly unsatisfactory, in that there isn't really a proper end, and there are a few bits of the book that I just found silly and self indulgent, such as Hana talking to Kip and then she pours milk on his arm.   What?   That's just silly.   Unless there's something deeply symbolic I'm missing here?   Or when Caravaggion commits a robbery in the nude.   Why on Earth would he do that?   Or when Hana helps Kip dismantle a mine and then decides she wants to have a nap on his chest.   Well that's not exactly realistic, is it?   There'd be far too much adrenaline for napping.   Still, despite the odd bits, it's a thought-provoking and beautiful book.

And finally, Monstrous Regiment, by Terry Pratchett.   This is the 31st book in the Discworld series, of which I am a big fan.   It's about a young girl called Polly who disguises herself as a boy so she can join the army and search for her brother.   She slowly discovers that all the other recruits in her regiment are also all women, who have disguised themselves as men and run away for various reasons.   She also discovers that her country is losing the war she believed they were winning.   Eventually, of course, her regiment is victorious, with the help of a minor goddess, and peace breaks out.  She and her fellow troops are also found out, but her Sergeant saves them from trouble by revealing that several of the military's top officials are also women in disguise.   I don't read Terry Pratchett for the plot, but more for the larger-than-life characters and the hilarious writing style, and this one didn't disappoint in that sense.   The plot was a bit dodgy in places, such as discovering a band of dead zombie generals in the basement of the fort, but the writing style was brilliant.   And I always love the little, clever touches he puts into his books, such as naming the main character Polly, and her male alter-ego Oliver (as in the song about sweet Polly Oliver), and calling the book Monstrous Regiment, as in John Knox's tract The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Montrous Regimen of Women.   Very clever.   Another hit from Mr. Pratchett.