lory_enterenchanted's Reviews (582)

Reviews and more on my blog: Entering the Enchanted Castle

Stella Gibbons' later books really make me think of Jane Gardam, and Gardam was an admirer of Gibbons, so that makes sense. This book centers around a woman who inherits a cottage in her childhood village and proceeds to move there from London and make it into her own, working her "gipsy" magic on the local animals, with mice and cockroaches dancing about. (It's reminiscent of Lolly Willowes, too.) There were some enjoyable pairings of unsuitable mates, but the end petered out in a disappointing way, with the last chapter serving as an epilogue set in the 1970s to tell what happened to those characters, rather than showing them.

Read for The Dark Is Rising readalong - review on the blog

Reviews and more on my blog: Entering the Enchanted Castle

Reviews and more on my blog: Entering the Enchanted Castle

I enjoyed the characters and worldbuilding in this, although it still does not hold a candle to the dazzling inventiveness of Diana Wynne Jones, in spite of comparisons. A sequel is strongly hinted and I'd read it!

Reviews and more on my blog: Entering the Enchanted Castle

Of the four Dean Street Press books I read this month, this was my favorite -- a lovely story of a young man growing up in Scotland, moving to London and becoming a writer. There was nothing deep or surprising about it, but I just enjoyed spending time with him and the other characters. That's my definition of a comfort book.

Reviews and more on my blog: Entering the Enchanted Castle

I didn't get what I was expecting with this one, billed as the story of two female writers loosely based on the author and her friend, D.E. Stevenson. It would have been fascinating to have a glimpse into their writing lives, but instead the focus was firmly on domestic and family life, along with the traditions of the Scottish Border country where they lived. Mrs. Lorimer is the focus, an empty-nester who welcomes her four children and their families back for a brief visit, sorting out some of their difficulties before focusing on her younger son, Guy, and his romantic entanglements. It was a pleasant enough story, but Mrs. Lorimer's snobbishness spoiled it rather (she doesn't think Guy's ultimate choice of bride is good enough for him, although clearly she's worth ten of any of the local gentry, and is obsessed with her silly last name--really, who cares?) And it was depressing to see one of her daughters-in-law, who had flown airplanes in the war, reduced to being a do-nothing housewife who wasn't even good at ordering servants around. There was a missed opportunity for a really interesting character trajectory, but she was just a side note.

Reviews and more on my blog: Entering the Enchanted Castle

The author better known as Noel Streatfeild dashed off a set of twelve romantic novels that were hugely popular at the time, then fell into obscurity again. The first published is a Cinderella story of a girl who works as a seamstress for a fashionable dressmaker, then is thrust into the limelight when she's tapped for a modeling job. I loved the first half of this, with its typical Streatfeild cozy working-class family and the glimpse into the not-so-glamorous behind the scenes world of modeling, similar to the author's children's books about various theatrical and other professions. 
Annabel's sudden elevation puts pressure on our heroine to be other than her own naturally charming self, while also providing her with opportunities for love and self-determination that were absent in her former milieu. Even though there was nothing especially deep or remarkable about them, Streatfeild somehow manages to create characters who seem to live off the page, and make you care about them. 
The last section, which wrapped things up in a somewhat sketchy and superficial manner, was not so successful -- it seemed to have been written in haste, and could have done with a little bit more depth and thought to round out the promising beginning. I'd read more Scarlett novels, though, when I want a little glimpse into a mid-century working girl's life -- something Streatfeild always delivers on.

Reviews and more on my blog: Entering the Enchanted Castle

I had this on my shelf for years before I finally got around to reading it, pushed by my own Make Me Read It blog poll. And how glad I am that I did! It's a marvelous evocation of a lost form of country life, before the Great War, in Derbyshire, where Uttley grew up. She's fictionalized her experiences into a story about a little girl named Susan, but clearly they are rooted in reality, above all in the landscape and the farm that is a part of it. She beautifully describes this agricultural surrounding, with its beauty and hard work, cycling through the seasons - it reminded me of Laura Ingalls Wilder, but without the traveling around. 

As an only child, with busy, preoccupied and somewhat stern parents, Susan has a very vivid inner life; the book starts and ends with her nightmarish fears in the dark wood through which she must pass every day to school, but also has lovely evocations of her imaginative connection to homely household objects as well as to the natural world. In her child-consciousness, everything is alive, everything can speak, and her sense of wonder can give us new eyes for what is still wondrous in our own everyday. I'll be keeping this and reading it again.

Reviews and more on my blog: Entering the Enchanted Castle

I read this rather quickly, thinking I would buy a copy and read it again and take notes. It started out really strong, but I was disappointed with the last section on healing - it could have gathered much of what has been discovered about healing from trauma in recent years, synthesizing the work of many authors that Mate cites in the rest of the book (van der Kolk, Perry, Schwartz, etc). Instead it kind of fizzled out with some vague strategies, and a chapter on psychedelics, of which I am quite suspicious although they're so popular nowadays.

Still, the earlier part makes the case for what I think is a very true observation, that our society is organized in a way utterly counter to human nature and human health, and that this must be addressed rather than just shifting the blame around in superficial ways. How to address it is a big question, but one that must be asked. To me, all the fuss still circulating about the virus that shook the world should take a back seat to this, the actual problem behind all other health issues, but of course it's easier to "fight germs" than to change ourselves and our whole way of interacting with one another.

I do still intend to read again, but I'm not sure when I'll get around to it.

Reviews and more on my blog: Entering the Enchanted Castle

My review of Neverwhere appears on Shiny New Books: https://shinynewbooks.co.uk/neverwhere-by-neil-gaiman

Reviews and more on my blog: Entering the Enchanted Castle

Revolutionary love in action. Schwartz has hit upon a fundamental truth: that exiling, scapegoating, and punishing any part of ourselves only leads to fragmentation and dis-ease -- which is reflected in outer relationships, families, communities, and societies because the way we relate to ourselves is the way we relate to others. And he's also developed a way for bringing back the exiles and relieving other parts of their burdens, although I do not think it's the only way. 

In fact, becoming "Self-led" is what Christianity should really be about, or perhaps I should say the way of Christ -- because this way should not become institutionalized and thus robbed of its true life and meaning, as it sadly has been in the Christian religion. It's not something that can be trademarked and sold, as all discoveries tend to become in our commercial world, but a birthright of all human beings. Even IFS probably runs the risk of institutionalizing the impulse and killing it. But if it can stay alive and active, there is hope for humanity. Real hope.

It's amusing/sad to see the negative comments on this book revealing the commenters' own protector parts, who do not want to hear the message. Our protector parts really do not want to be put out of their job -- they are distrustful, scared of being taken in or deceived, and with good reason. The commenters do point out some valid weaknesses, but that overall premise is sound and must be reckoned with. Without myself wanting to go full-on into IFS, it has given me a different way to think about oppositional forces in other people and in myself, and reinforced my determination to foster Self-leadership in myself. To look at all the parts, including those critical protectors, with kindness and curiosity, wondering what it is they really want and need -- that is the healing gesture that has already helped me, when I hit upon it intuitively. 

And surely this is the true message of Jesus, who did not want to foster the angry, judgmental separatism that's come into being through many streams of Christianity, but rather exactly this way of union and reintegration. "Love your enemy" is finally given a concrete path to follow, and that's a huge gift. To me, it does not matter by what name you call this message: the important thing is to DO it, to incarnate and shine forth the kindness and compassion, the healing mercy and love. Jesus said that, too. It doesn't matter how much you say "Lord, Lord"; what matters is that you feed the hungry, clothe the naked, etc. That's not only or even primarily about physical needs. Through the lens of comforting and healing the "parts" we can see how our unmet inner, soul needs are causing untold harm and dysfunction, and how meeting those needs changes everything.

Particularly interesting to me is the statement that Self appears in everyone when blocking elements relax and step back, and does not have to be created or developed or even strengthened through forceful inner work. This is very much different from the strenuous "inner work" spiritual streams I have been connected with, that have never worked for me and left me feeling defective and inadequate. I think I've been devoting my energy to the wrong thing, and a simple shift toward relaxing, opening, giving permission and letting be might make a difference. I will be exploring this and seeing where it leads.