It's that time again--time for a round-up of the books I read this month.  Technically, February isn't over, but my chances of completing another book before March roars in are slim.  So, below, find out if I'm keeping up with my reading :)  Also, reviews and possible spoilers.

February began with Ursula K. Le Guin's Voices, snatched off a bookshelf and purchased at Actual Real New Book Price.

Voices

This book leapt straight from "to-read" to "read".  I picked it up last night to start reading before going to sleep, and finished it at four o'clock this morning.  I don't know what better recommendation I could make!

The story is a gripping, yet simple, tale of Memer, a young woman living in the occupied country of Ansul, and dreaming about revenge on the conquering Alds.  Yet Memer herself is half-Ald, a rape baby (or, as the narrative more gently puts it, a "siege baby").

Memer learns the dangerous skill of reading from the Waylord, the head of the Galva household.  To the Alds, words are the breath of their god, and placing them in writing is blasphemy.  They destroy books and kill anyone who owns them.

Yet the Galvamand, where Memer and the remnants of the Galva household live, hides a deeper secret than the hidden room of books.  Here dwells the Oracle, able to tell them if--or when--to launch their revolt against the Alds.

This book makes heroic attempts to see the conflict from both sides, while sticking to a single viewpoint--Memer's.  In a couple of places, I thought it preachy, and preachy's annoying even if you agree with what's being preached.  The author's voice seemed to break through and put itself in Memer's mouth.  But apart from that, this is a seamless, heart-wrenching narrative.

The month thus begun continued with a Mark Twain omnibus bought cheaply at the remainder shop.

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

I started this book at the beginning, but the opening line of Huck Finn suggests that Tom Sawyer comes first, so I skipped HF for the moment and began with Tom instead.  Obviously not a lot of thought was put into the order of the books.

I think I've read Tom Sawyer before, or I may just have seen a film or tv adaptation.  Certainly some bits are familiar--the iconic fence whitewashing scene, and the young people getting lost in the caves.  The book's written in a rollicking, friendly style that evokes affection for the characters.

The unselfconscious imaginative play of the boys is beautifully evoked.  Less inspiring, sadly, is the way girls are treated only as objects of desire.  When Tom and Becky are trapped in the caves, Becky is worse than useless.  And that's putting it mildly.  Product of its time, yada yada, but given Twain himself represents the story as being for boys AND girls, it's necessary to wonder just what impression he thought girls would take away from it.  They exist only for Tom to want or not want--when he finally discards Amy, she disappears from the narrative.  There's no further role for her to play.

The book ends somewhat abruptly, after giving the impression that it could carry on for a fair few more pages yet.  An interesting read, though--and now on to Huck Finn!

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Huckleberry Finn reads better than Tom Sawyer--perhaps reflecting Twain's growing maturity as a writer.  It's an excellent yarn of Huck's travels along the Mississippi and his fallings-in with escaped slave Jim, a couple of hucksters known as "the king" and "the duke", and, finally, with Tom Sawyer his own self.  The mood of the book changes when Tom comes along, and I think it helps here to have read Tom Sawyer first.  Up until he appears, passing himself off as his brother Sid because Huck has already been taken for him, the book has been somewhat solemn and Huck's actions have been thought-out and reasonable.  Not that there haven't been funny interludes, but when Tom appears it's almost all fun from then on.  Were the reader not familiar with the didactic, over-imaginative Tom, this switch might not work, but when you know what Tom's like, it makes perfect sense.  Well, almost.

The lengths to which Tom makes Huck and Jim go while they're trying to rescue him from a hut in which he's imprisoned, waiting to be returned to his owner or sold, have to be read to be believed.  They're hilarious.  I was laughing so much I could hardly focus on the page.  Truly, a masterpiece.

What I also found interesting is how Twain doesn't compromise on Huck's mindset.  He feels there's something low and shameful about helping Jim escape--stealing someone's property--and yet he can't bring himself to give the man up.  His attempts to reconcile what he sees as low-down behaviour with his impulsive response to Jim's gratitude are funny and saddening at once.  The book then has Tom lowered in his estimation when he pitches in to help Jim with no apparent twinges to his conscience at all.  But eventually the book reveals what Tom knows but Huck doesn't--Jim has been free all along.  It was all one huge jape for Tom.  Huck is revealed as the more serious, deep-thinking character, and his conscience is probably relieved of the guilt of nigger-stealing.

A more complex book than Tom Sawyer, and one that would certainly bear re-reading.  It's unflinching in its examination of the attitudes of the day, and the insights into superstition are fascinating.

And now, I suppose, on to the Prince and the Pauper.

The Prince and the Pauper

I didn't enjoy the P&theP as much as the other two books in this omnibus.  I suppose I had a feeling of "what's the point?".  Two boys, one highly privileged, the other very poor, inadvertently swap places.  The poor boy finds the privileged position hard, but it has its compensations.  The privileged boy finds poverty very hard, but manages to discover a true friend.  Then they swap back.

Parts of the book are tedious, and I skipped the detailed account of the coronation.  I suppose there is here a brave attempt to make history interesting--or rather alternate history!  I wonder if there are earlier examples of the genre?

After ploughing through a great deal more Twain than I've ever read before in my life, I moved on to Lady Franklin's Revenge, a book with something of a saga inadvertently attached to it.  To be brief: I ran across it in my explorations, and ordered an overstock copy (at greater expense than I usually pay out) from the US branch of Alibris.  Although described as "excellent", the book when it arrived wasn't.  Page 83 was torn, folded and bound into the spine.  So, I sent it back to Alibris, who recently processed my refund--minus the £5.12 postage expended to return the book to them.  Meanwhile, I'd found a cheaper, better copy on Amazon Marketplace.  Still, that £5.12 rankles--I could buy another book for that!

Lady Franklin's Revenge by Ken McGoogan

The book takes a long time getting to the parts I bought it for, but that's okay.  The history of Jane Franklin's time in Tasmania and her search for her husband when he goes missing in the Arctic make more sense in the full context of her life.  It was particularly interesting reading about places in Tasmania that I've learnt about from Monissa.  A lot of names were already familiar, which meant I could identify more with events.

Jane Franklin was a remarkable character, and particularly so when reinventing her husband's disastrous venture into the Arctic as heroism and discovery.  She might have been a role model for Captain Scott's widow, who achieved a similar reimagining of history.

At times, the narrative is annoying--it sometimes leaps to conclusions on somewhat flimsy evidence.  Two weeks of bedrest after a lot of travel does not equal proof that Jane was in love with someone during the trip.  Bah.  The author does however do a good job of demonstrating how she overcame the daunting obstacles to a woman born into the upper middle classes during the Victorian era.  Monissa and I had a conversation not long ago in which I suggested that a woman wanting to strike out and make a name for herself should first "get rid of the husband".  Jane Franklin took a different route--she married a pliable husband who basically couldn't stop her using "his" money to travel the world.  Good for her.

Then, on to another non-fiction book, this one by Marion Schreiber and somewhat grimmer in its content.

The Twentieth Train: The Remarkable True Story of the Only Successful Ambush on the Journey to Auschwitz

Not sure if the clunky writing originates with the author or if it's crept in during translation.  Either way, it's something of an impediment, but not much.

This books spends a lot of time on the buildup to the raid on the train, introducing those involved, those around them, and the general atmosphere and tensions of occupied Belgium.  Unfortunately, this has the effect of reducing the raid's events to insignificance; they get far less detail devoted to them than, say, the routine in the Mechelen transit camp.  This reduces the promised focus of the book to one of a number of small incidents.

There is so much here that's brave, and so much that's sad.

Normally, I avoid Holocaust material because it's so distressing, but this book seemed to offer a ray of light.  More of a glimmer really.

And so on to what's frequently described as "escapism": some good old-fashioned SF by Arthur C. Clarke.

The City and the Stars

In many ways, this is typical Clarke--it talks about equality, but, at least in Diaspar, all those (at least nominally) in charge are, of course men.  His imagination just doesn't stretch to "equal" women being on Councils or not having to do the cooking (okay, there's no cooking in this one).

Once again, we set out on a mission to learn why immortality is a Bad Thing.  Abolishing death means abolishing children; citizens of Diaspar hatch almost fully grown.  That this is a decision made by whoever founded the city, rather than an inevitable side-effect of immortality, is ignored.  We're in preaching territory here, dudes.

Meanwhile, in much-more-down-with-the-Nature yet still scientifically-advanced Lys, an old man faces his forthcoming death with calm and equanimity.  Yeah, because that's totally what all dying people are like.

Lys has *gasp* a woman in charge, but she's cleverly defeated by protagonist Alvin, and takes a back seat to the "men of Lys" from then on.  Oh, and a woman also has a hand in defeating this woman's Irritating Plan, but only inadvertently.  As it should be!

Alvin is a cipher whose actions drive the plot.  He's a Unique in Diaspar--rather than having had many previous lives that will come back to him when he reaches twenty, he's never lived before.  This uniqueness enables him to leave the city and, in an amazing feat of insight, travel immediately to The Only Other Inhabited Place on the Entire Earth.  Yeah, right.  Later miracles including finding The Robot That Controls the Only Surviving Spaceship, and Encountering the Magical Mind that Can Explain Everything.

Better or even more interesting characterisation might have concealed the Massive Plot Conveniences.

It wouldn't be book-reading month without at least one book by Patrick O'Brian.  And so I give you:

Treason's Harbour

Cries of "Come on, Surprise!" probably aren't what one's other half wants to hear while they're trying to sleep.  But certainly that's what the thundering climax to this book evoked.  Riveting!

A shame the rest of the book wasn't as exciting.  Just as many of O'Brian's sailor characters prefer to be at sea, so do many of his readers.  Onshore scenes aren't nearly as interesting.  To sea, to sea! and in the dear old Surprise, is a long time coming.  Meanwhile, there's some intrigue with French spies, a British traitor and a compromised woman.  After book after book of mooning after Diana, Stephen really shouldn't be lusting after someone else so soon!

O'Brian does a good job of evoking Jack's love for the Surprise, and his difficulty reconciling his pride in her with the knowledge that she's to be condemned or sold out of the service, knowledge that throws a pall even over her splendid victory against a French frigate.  It's small touches such as this, as well as the splendid sea battles, that make these books unputdownable.

We're not finished yet!  Stop running away!

The Gender Divide by David Boultbee

No review on this one yet--it'll appear on GUD shortly.

The Voyage of Charles Darwin: His Autobiographical Writings Selected and Arranged By Christopher Ralling

This book serves as a taster of Darwin's writing, as it includes extracts from the diaries he kept on board the Beagle, the official Journal of his five-year voyage, and his autobiography.

The book was published to accompany the BBC drama documentary that brought Darwin's voyage and the development of his thinking regarding the origin of species to a wide audience.

At times, the book is disappointing.  It feels as if a fiction writer who had never visited any of these places could have written about them more evocatively.  Darwin observes carefully, and thinks deeply, and yet there's something missing, something that might convey his experiences more vividly to the reader.

What is fascinating is the ability to trace how Darwin came to his revolutionary views.  It's a long, deeply-considered journey, and there is sadness in the way a man who once intended becoming a clergyman finds that his own observations make the position of a believer untenable.  Darwin even hints that spirituality might be an inescapable part of our genetic makeup--a position we now know to be true.

I would certainly be tempted to read more of Darwin's writing, especially the Beagle diaries.

(No mention of Lady Franklin, though!)

Long title, short book.

Then, back to SF, this time by Robert Charles Wilson.  Evil Editor recommended this one and my dear friend ze bought a $1 copy on Amazon Marketplace US for me...and then read it! before I could!

The Chronoliths

Mysterious monuments appear from the future, celebrating victories that haven't yet been won--destroying cities and killing thousands.  Asia is thrown into chaos.  Kuin, the unknown conqueror, cannot be found or stopped.

Chronoliths is narrated by Scott Warden, whose life becomes inextricably bound up with these monuments, and with others who find the connection impossible to escape.  Maybe it's just life or maybe it's tau turbulence--part of the mysterious physics by which the chronoliths are sent twenty-plus years into the past.  Sulamith Chopra is determined to find out how the chronoliths work--and how to disrupt them--but her work makes her a target for Kuin fanatics, while inevitably making the possible the very threat she's trying to fight.

This understated novel is gripping.  You never know what's going to happen next--to Scott, to his family, to the world.  Narrated in a melancholy, reflective style similar to that of Dickens' Great Expectations, it neither sensationalises nor makes light of tragic events.

Well worth a read.

Next, more non-fiction--extracts from the log Captain James Cook kept as he searched for the fabled Southern Continent.

Great Journeys No. 7: Hunt For The Southern Continent

A fascinating introduction to Cook's fruitless search for a southern continent, land much believed in and even mapped, but not real.

He sails here, he sails there....

Short book, short review :).  Seriously, though, fascinating enough to make me want to read the unabridged version.

Then, I read Marcus Zusak's odd novel, picked up cheap in the supermarket.  It was a twofer deal: I got one book, my husband got another.  He hasn't read his yet.

The Book Thief

An intriguing book, although Death, the narrator, does have a habit of stating the bleeding obvious--and more than once.

Nine-year-old Liesel is sent to live with foster parents on Himmel Street.  She doesn't know what happened to her father, beyond that he was a communist--whatever that is--and she'll never know for sure what happens to her mother, either.  But in the Hubermanns, Hans and Rosa, she finds parents, and love.

This book humanises the ordinary Germans who were, whether willingly or otherwise, part of the Nazi war machine.  And considers the price they paid, for both collusion and resistance.

Sad and hopeful at once, this book does a good job of describing Nazi Germany from the inside.  For me, it makes the mistake of reducing the Hitler Youth's activities to low-league bullying (it went far beyond that) and the figure of six million given for deaths in the concentration camps is far, far too low.  Death should know better--seventeen million is nearer the mark.

After that, more O'Brian.  Gotta love O'Brian.

The Far Side of the World

O'Brian's on top form with this novel--I could hardly put it down.  Surprise is sent to intercept American frigate Norfolk, whose mission is to harry British whalers in the Southern Pacific--and not in the Greenpeace fashion.  Surprise is struck by lightning, there's murders, chases, shipwrecks and more.  Fantastic!

Final stretch!  After the O'Brian, an odder (and older) sea-faring book by Harry Collingwood.

The Log of a Privateersman

I bought this one out of curiosity (and because it was cheap).  Turns out to be a "book for boys".

My copy was published in the 1930s, as it has a sticker in front stating that it was given to a pupil of The "Fleet" Central school in London, as a prize for Excellent Progress, in June 1938.  Apparently, this school was later destroyed by bombs during World War II.  The work itself is much older--one copy I found on Amazon was published in 1897.

New, my copy cost "two and six" (two shillings and sixpence).  It has four illustrations by W. Rainey, RI, one of which, the frontispiece, is now loose.  The book is also--to use a technical term--slightly foxed.  I hope Harold Higgs enjoyed reading it!

Although at times this is a rollicking story of sea-borne life, at others it bogs down in reams of explanation or long, somewhat unconvincing, dialogue.  The best part is undoubtedly when one of the prizes, an Indiaman called Manila, is lost at sea after a severe lightning strike.  I found all that highly believable--unlike the time when the privateer schooner Dolphin disables then captures a French frigate all by herself--and without sustaining significant damage.  Yeah, as we say here in O'Brian Central, riiiiiiight.  Also, the narrator's pious declarations at the end that he has always wished to serve in the Royal Navy ring hollow.  Of course, when you're speaking to an Admiral, perhaps that's what you'd better say, but Tom Bowen never struck me as being that attached to the naval life.

Which is a fundamental problem with this book--the first person narrator never comes to life.  I didn't feel I knew him any better by the end of the book, which is a shame.  Of course, it's not a character-driven book--it's about the action at sea--but still, something a little thicker than tissue-paper might have been nice.

And finally...more non-fiction.

Sailing Alone Around the World by Joshua Slocum.

This entertaining book brings the character of Joshua Slocum very much to life as he sails around the world, single-handed, in the sloop (later yawl-rigged) Spray.

Slocum is a character--no doubt about that--and his sloop's one, too.  She does the sailing while he lounges below with a book.

This book is joyous, full of the love of life and of the sea.  Still, towards the end, it's possible to see that Slocum has had enough of sailing, and is anxious to be home.

Whew, what a busy month!  Total for February: 16.