The First Men in the Moon

In my quest to finish Seven Science Fiction Novels of H.G. Wells, I have now completed The First Men in the Moon. Like The Invisible Man, I can say it started slow. It opens with a man--the narrator, Mr. Bedford--renting a bungalow so he can spend his days writing a play. He's not really writing because he's a writer. He's "writing" because he hopes it will be a way of making some money. It is all about $$$ for our narrator. Which is why when Mr. Cavor interrupts Bedford's routine with his nightly walks--he is prone to humming--he quickly abandons his work to join with Mr. Cavor in his scientific experiments. Cavor is out to invent something new. Something breakthrough. Something amazing. Something gravity-defying. After some experimentation--not without accidents I might add--the thing is invented. Soon the two hatch a new plan. A plan to journey into outerspace. A plan to journey to the moon. But if you know anything about Wells, you can imagine that this adventure is not going to be complete without some danger, some risks, some unforseen consequences. He likes to show how hasty, how ambitious, how greedy men are. I won't say much of what happens on the moon--boom, boom, boom, being the only hint I'll give. But I will say that it did pick up and become more interesting. I did not find The First Men in the Moon to be as exciting as War of the Worlds. But it certainly was an enjoyable enough read.

Writing that lives on...

I just wanted to share a snippet of an article I found today. It is not new--it is from June 2007--but it is relevant to what I'm reading these days--H.G. Wells.

There are few enough writers in any field whose short stories will be read 100 years after they were written...H. G. Wells’s stories are still readable, and can be read not as curiosities from the past but as living things. Wells himself said of his short stories: “I make no claims for them and no apology; they will be read as long as people read them. Things written either live or die . . .”

Of all the things one can say about his stories, to my mind unquestionably the best is this: long after they were written, they live.

Back to the Future, Neil Gaiman. Times Online.

Thirteenth Tale

Haunted by the loss of a twin she never knew and wasn't supposed to know about, Margaret Lea, the daughter of an antiques and collectibles bookseller, accepts Vida Winter's strange offer to come stay with her and hear her true story. Ms. Vida Winter is a famous--a world-famous--author. She's known not only for her excellent prose, but for her ability to spin a story--a web of lies--for the journalists and reporters that come round every time a new book is released. There are hundreds of printed stories about Ms. Winter's childhood circulating about. None of them are true. Miss Lea knows this, of course, when she goes. The invitation was so touching though--leaving words that echo down deep inside her--that Margaret just can't say no.

Preparing for her journey, Margaret immerses herself in Winter's novels. Within a matter of days, she has fallen in love with the way this woman tells a story, writes a book, crafts a narrative.

Of course one always hopes for something special when one reads an author one hasn't read before, and Miss Winter's books gave me the same thrill I had when I discovered the Landier diaries, for instance. But it was more than that. I have always been a reader; I have read at every stage of my life, and there has never been a time when reading was not my greatest joy. And yet I cannot pretend that the reading I have done in my adult years matches in its impact on my soul the reading I did as a child. I still believe in stories. I still forget myself when I am in the middle of a good book. Yet it is not the same. Books are, for me, it must be said, the most important thing; what I cannot forget is that there was a time when they were at once more banal and more essential than that. When I was a child, books were everything. And so there is in me, always, a nostalgic yearning for the lost pleasure of books. It is not a yearning that one ever expects to be fulfilled. And during this time, these days when I read all day and half the night, when I slept under a counterpane strewn with books, when my sleep was black and dreamless and passed in a flash and I woke to read again--the lost joys of reading returned to me. Miss Winter restored to me the virginal qualities of the novice reader, and then with her stories she ravished me. (32)

The story is a weaving of the past and present. Each day Miss Winter shares a little bit more of her life story. The beginning. The middle. The end. Each night Margaret is haunted not only by her day's work but by the loss of her twin. Her own family secrets. Her own hurts and pains. The story is both Miss Winter's and Margaret's. Secrets. Lies. Broken families. Ghosts. Violence. Loss. Betrayal. Love.

The Thirteenth Tale is an unforgettable read. Enjoyable from cover to cover. It's haunting. It's powerful. It's one-of-a-kind.

http://www.thethirteenthtale.com/

Salome

Gormley, Beatrice. 2007. Salome.

Salome, the daughter of Herod and Herodias, is perhaps best known for her role in the death of one of God’s greatest prophets--John the Baptist. Very little is known about her, but Gormley wanted this story to come to life. How did this teenage girl become involved in murder in the first place?

Salome is the fictional accounting of this story--both before, during and after--told from her own point of view. The priveleged daughter, one might think she could do whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted. But actually, Salome wasn’t free to follow her heart at all. What Salome wanted most was to devote her life to the goddess of Diana. She felt a calling, dreamed a dream, saw a vision. The priestess herself said that she was ‘destined’ to be a priestess in Diana’s temple. But her mother, Herodias, had different plans for her daughter.

Herodias left Herod Junior to be with her brother-in-law, Antipas, the ruler of Tiberias. (Both men were her uncles.) She decided her daughter simply must come with them. Even though, Salome, felt her life was in Rome.

New home. New country. New rules. Salome doesn’t quite know what to make of it all. She doesn’t like who her mother is becoming. Her stepfather keeps making eyes at her. And overall, it’s just very very strange. Her maid, Gundi, knows that Salome is becoming a fine woman, a beautiful woman, who can start manipulating men and getting her own way. But Salome isn’t sure that’s what she wants.

One of the big thing her mother obsesses over? The wild and crazy Baptizer out in the desert preaching to the crowds. I suppose I can understand her perspective. After all, what woman wants to be told that her “new” marriage isn’t a marriage at all. That it is plain and simple adultery. And incestrous adultery at that. Her big fear? What if her husband pays attention to him? What if she is tossed aside like Antipas’ first wife? She’ll have no home and no power.

To keep her man, she must kill the prophet. But her husband, he has his own perspective. He doesn’t see the man as a threat. In fact, he’s drawn to the man for some strange reason. He likes to hear him talk.

No, if something is going to be done about this prophet, it won’t come from her husband’s orders...

Which leaves one manipulative mother and one vulnerable teenage girl who is out to prove to her mother once and for all that she is not out to hurt her. Not out to take her place. Not attempting to be “more beautiful” or “more powerful” or “more enchanting” or more whatever. Herodias feels threatened, and it is Salome that has to make it up to her. To make her mother happy.

One dance.
One request.

For better or worse, this is Salome’s story.

I really enjoyed this book. I thought it was very good.

Beatrice Gormley's website

Cassie Was Here

Hickey, Caroline. 2007. Cassie Was Here.

Bree is an eleven year old girl who wishes she could be thirteen just like the girl-next-door Cassie. Cassie is so different. She’s older. She’s wilder. She’s vibrant. And compared to her new friend, Bree feels she is...well, rather boring. But Bree also learns that sometimes you’ve just got to be yourself and hope people like you for that. Bree isn’t really boring in the traditional sense either. Most “boring” kids aren’t eleven and still playing with their imaginary friends. But while Bree has her quirks, she really begins to learn more about herself during this turbulent summer.

Overall, Cassie Was Here is an enjoyable book.