Second Reflections – a Muster of Mini-Reviews dealing with time travel, a gothic classic, teenage ghost hunters, space battles, and seeing the dead!

Ahoy there me mateys!  Today I bring ye a muster of mini-reviews.  What be a muster?

Well the Oxford English Dictionary defines it as:

1. assemble (troops) especially for inspection or for battle;
2. collect or assemble (a number or amount); or
3. a group of peacocks.

Here I take a second look at previously enjoyed novels from me younger days and give me crew me second reflections, as it were, upon visitin’ them again.  They don’t get full reviews because I don’t necessarily have a lot new to say but me rule is that I have to review every book I read.  Arrrr!

Side note: Click on the book titles to add the books to yer Goodreads’ Ports for Plunder List.  

to say nothing of the dog (Connie Willis)

Me reread of Willis’ bellwether made me want to reread this one.  This is part of the Oxford Time Travel series.  The first time I read the book.  This time I listened to the First Mate’s copy of the audiobook read by Steven Crossley.  I have never been able to get through three men and a boat that this book references.  Willis’ book is just so funny and clever.  I love the main character, Ned, who is suffering from time travel sickness.  He is sent back to Victorian England in 1888 to have a vacation, and to fix a time paradox, but of course nothing works as planned.  There is lots of silliness (like Ned not being able to read Roman numerals) and lots of heart too.  It is a light romance wrapped in a fun, zany romp.  Favorites continue to be Cyril the bulldog and Princess Arjumand the cat, everyone’s aversion to Mrs. Schrapnell, and Professor Peddick and his fish obsession.  I also appreciated Bane the butler and his trials more this time through. I also was more able to appreciate the interlocking narratives of the timelines, especially during the section of the Coventry bombing.  I will have to add a reread of doomsday book. Apparently Steven Crossley also reads a version of three men in a boat.  Maybe I should look into that.  Arrr!

“For the past two days I’ve been on the river with an Oxford don who quotes Herodotus, a lovesick young man who quotes Tennyson, a bulldog, and a cat,” I said. “I played it by ear.”
― Connie Willis, To Say Nothing of the Dog

jane eyre (Charlotte Brontë)

The First Mate recommended that I listen to the version of Jane Eyre read by Thandiwe Newton.  I have read this book a handful of times over the years and it was one of me early favorite reads.  I tend to love Jane’s younger life before Thornfield best.  This version did help me appreciate Mr. Rochester a little bit more.  Even when I was little, I never really understood why Jane would love him because he was mean to her and Adele.  This audiobook made me feel his love for Jane and sympathize with his situation a bit more.  His desperation at the end was palatable.  I found that Jane’s trial of wandering though the countryside in despair was sillier seeming.  Her cousin was horrible and I do not believe that he should have gotten away with treating her that way.  Additionally, Jane’s classist attitude was much clearer in hearing the language spoken out loud.  This is a great audio book if ye have never read this classic.

“I do not think, sir, you have any right to command me, merely because you are older than I, or because you have seen more of the world than I have; your claim to superiority depends on the use you have made of your time and experience.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

lockwood & co series (Jonathan Stroud)

The reread was inspired by watching the tv adaptation of books one and two.  I have to admit that, for once, the majority of the changes that were made for television were excellent.  In particular, I loved the updates to both gender and race.  I loved that George’s character was played by British-Iranian actor Ali Hadji-Heshmati.  It was nice also that the show cut out all of the fat jokes about George even if it was because the actor is thin.  I also loved that Albert Joplin was changed to Pamela Joplin and that this change led to the creepy addition of George having a crush on her.  Hayley Jones, as Flo Bones, and Ivanno Jeremiah, as Inspector Barnes, were absolutely fantastic.  I loved Kipps too.  I was so grumpy that Netflix cancelled the show after one season and that it ended on such a cliffhanger too! 

Listening to the audio books, read by Miranda Raison, was excellent fun.  It was amazing how much the tv show influenced how I wanted the books to be.  Usually adaptations do not have that much impact on me.  The First Mate also really enjoyed the series after watching the show.

“Of the first few hauntings I investigated with Lockwood & Co. I intend to say little, in part to protect the identity of the victims, in part because of the gruesome nature of the incidents, but mainly because, in a variety of ingenious ways, we succeeded in messing them all up.”
― Jonathan Stroud, The Screaming Staircase

vatta’s war (Elizabeth Moon)

I was in the mood to reread these and so I binged the series.  I love it so.  I wish all military SF was so fun.  Kylara “Ky” Vatta is an excellent character to root for.  Part of what I love about the series is that she starts out being rather naïve but grows and changes into a lovely powerhouse.  But just because she is powerful, doesn’t mean that she doesn’t care about the greater good.  I also love Ky’s cousin Stella and their goofy Aunt Grace, neither who end up being as originally expected.  The highlight of this series for me is always the characters, their interactions, and the way the author twists the plot with unexpected, but rational, consequences.  I have not reread the sequel series vatta’s peace but now I want to.  Arrr!

“If a military life was long periods of boredom punctuated by moments of stark terror—as one of her instructors had said—then civilian life seemed to be long periods of boredom interrupted by moments of dismal reflection.”
― Elizabeth Moon, Trading in Danger

the cemeteries of amalo series (Katherine Addison)

This series is another comfort read for me.  I just love the world building in this.  But mostly I love Thara Celeha.  He does not believe he deserves love or forgiveness, always tries to do the right thing, and is a lovely character to follow.  The dignity of how he deals with the dead is so heart warming and also heart wrenching at times.  Another favorite in this book is the Pel-Thenior, the manager of the Vermillion Opera.  Their interactions sweet.  I continue to love how real the world feels.  I love how tea is used in the culture.  The first book of this series can be read as a standalone.  The second cannot.  I do not know when book three comes out but I wants it!  There seem to be a couple of short stories set in the world that I will have to track down.

“I went home, shared sardines with the cats that were not mine, meditated, went to bed, and dreamed nothing that I remembered. I woke in the middle of the night, as I sometimes did, and could not remember where I was.”
― Katherine Addison, The Witness for the Dead

So there ye have it.  Me second reflections on some of me favorites from me past.  Arrrr!!