August Book Reviews: Love of the Sirens and Batgirl Vol 2 Family Business

Hi Friends,

Yet again it's been a while, but this summer has definitely been a long, hot, and sad one in the news.  So I hope you all can understand my absences, as they have honestly been for my own mentally health, not because of you all!  I'm doing ok, but sometimes being online too much when there's bad news almost everywhere is just hard for anyone.  So I took a rather impromptu break....maybe I shouldn't have because I really enjoy writing.  It makes me glad to be back.  But let's get on to what you came here for, the book reviews!

August Book Reviews

I've got two for you today, and I want to keep up with at least two interesting book reviews each month.  I know some of you readers love it, and I'm really glad to share anything interesting I've read with you all.

Love Of The Sirens

The Love of the Sirens by Edith Zack is a little bit off my typical path of fiction and comics, but I really loved the format of small historical biographies of women in music.  If you get to know me well enough you know I enjoy my history and women's studies.  So this book is a fantastic combination of both.  It allows many of the women who were well known in their time to be made known now to modern music and history lovers despite the fact that many history of music textbooks leave these ladies out.

There are twenty different women profiled in the book, all in historical order from 1098 CE to the last who was born in 1931.  There's also a nicely written prologue that gives a bit of an overview of women in the world of music and what has at times kept them from being as popularly known as their contemporaries.

I'll be honest, I haven't read all the stories yet, but none of them are terribly long.  It just right for a lunch break or before bed reading.  The women detailed are all what we might think of as more classical musicians or composers and lived in the western world.  There's nothing too crazy or exotic among them that I've discovered, but the fact that there aren't any women I could name meant I had to read this book to find out more!  I was given a copy of the book for free by the publisher to review, but as always this review is my own thoughts.  If you'd like to check it out you can find out more here through my affiliate link on Amazon.com.

Batgirl Volume 2 Family Business

Some of you may have read my somewhat frustrated review of the first Volume in this series The Batgirl of Burnside.  There was some rather sexist bits in what was otherwise a great story, and it left me conflicted.  It took me a while to get back to it, but I decided I'd add it to my birthday list, and then I did indeed get it for my birthday a couple weeks ago!

It's a much better volume, with a lot more emphasis on character development, and it includes some really fun storylines as well.  Barbara has to deal with family and friends who she wants to protect instinctively, while also learning to allow them to choose their own paths.  There's less drawing for the male gaze too, I really only noted it one or twice, whereas the other volume seemed to include it in every story!  If you're interested you can find this book on Amazon via this affiliate link or in your friendly local comic book store.

But Wait There's More....

I've got a lot of exciting things coming up, including another post about another amazing subscription food box.  It's not really the kind it's easy to just do a video about either, so I'm looking forward to sharing it here on the blog with you later this week.

Thanks for sticking with me.  I'm really excited to get back into the swing of things with you all as summer is finally winding down.  See you again soon!

Rereading YA Fiction

Hi everyone,

I've got to the part of my reviews where I started rereading books I've owned and loved when I was younger.  Honestly I still love them, despite their young adult designation.

Young Adult Books Round Two

My two favorite books in my preteen years were Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine and Wren to the Rescue by Sherwood Smith.  I think Wren to the Rescue and many books about fairies were what began to interest me in fantasy books.  With Ella Enchanted I think I was 14 when I first read it, and it was an easy read, but I loved it so much I had to immediately read it again before returning it to the library.   Something I'd never done before with any book.  Ella (an adapted Cinderella figure) is spunky and at times obstinate as she fights her curse.   It's been a little while since I read Ella Enchanted, but I still read it every few years.  All the books below fall into the category of books that are great for advanced readers in 3-6th grade on up, though they're generally classified as "middle grades" level.

The Two Princesses of Bamarre by Gail Carson Levine -

A pair of sister princesses, a mysterious illness, fairies, a young wizard, and an epic quest are fairly average fantasy subjects.  But Levine writes renewed fairy tales and her own fantasies masterfully adding wonderful humor, and strong female characters that make great role models for young readers.  Characters also work to overcome their personal fears and weaknesses, with all problems being resolved neatly by the end of the book.

 Wild Magic, Wolf Speaker, and Emperor Mage by Tamora Pierce - 

are the first three books featuring the character Daine, a young girl with wild magic.  Pierce's books have a much more fleshed out magical system and characters that appear in one book often make cameos in others too.  Daine has some interesting quirks, her wild magic is much stronger than in others who might have it, and those who do have it are an oddity in her world or specialize in one area, taking care of horses for instance.  But Daine's power goes beyond all that and her family origins are mysterious.  Throughout the series we see her grow into her powers and encounter new enemies as her new home is thrown into chaos with various immortals being unleashed from a realm they've been confined to for generations.  The books have both adventure and quest elements as well as mystery solving in a swords and sorcery world created for teen and preteen readers.

Wren to the Rescue by Sherwood Smith - 

Has all the coming of age story hallmarks, orphans, a princess, sorcerers in training, and evil wizard kidnappings.  But it uses the familiar story line to introduce great characters and concepts that help shape young adults.  We see a woman with ambiguous morality and learn that people don't start out good or evil necessarily, but can be taught morals along the way.  The heroine and her best friend continue their relationship despite changes in status and new friends join them.  This book is the start of a series with the original trilogy available in both print and ebook, and the 4th book, written a bit later only as ebook.  The whole series is worth reading, and get a bit more serious in tone as they go on, but this first book is very lighthearted and would be a perfect introduction to fantasy books for young readers.  I have an 8 year old cousin who is about ready for it in fact.  The great part about Smith is she has also written books for teen and adult readers, so her books are perfect to grow up with.

Thanks for joining me, I'll be back with a full report on my capsule wardrobe Friday and more book reviews next week.

Love,
Lydia

National Park Adventure Part 1

Over the past couple months I've managed to have two great encounters with park locations.  Here's a quick write up of the first adventure!

So back on Labor day weekend I was itching to do something as my husband and I visited my family in Richmond, Virginia.  No one was feeling like going too far, so I took Bryan and my dad out to the Maggie L. Walker historic site for a tour.  My mom and I had visited a couple years ago and were highly impressed.  My husband and dad agreed with this opinion once they saw the importance this site has.

Maggie L. Walker was the first female, African American bank founder, and the bank was the longest continuously running African American operated bank in the US, 1903-2009.  Plus she did amazing things in her community through the Order of St. Luke and her connections with other prominent individuals during her lifetime.  The site includes her home as well as several nearby buildings, and her house is a gem among them.  She presented a completely modern, elegant face to the world through her home, which had electricity, indoor plumbing, and eventually an elevator, all before 1930!  It's heartbreaking that Walker isn't better known to the world considering this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to all she did during her lifetime.

This picture is from the NPS site

There's a fantastic virtual tour you can see here at the NPS website, but I recommend a visit in person if you're able!

Next up, I cover some some stretches of the Blue Ridge Parkway I've never visited here in North Carolina.  Plus a blog about some interests that lie closer to home, and updates on art.  Til next time!

Love,
Lydia